Utopia

Nestled deeply in her favorite chair, Caroline took a sip of piña colada and contemplated the beauty of the universe. She knew exactly how large it was, and was comfortable with her relative insignificance.

She heard a noise behind her, and turned her head to see who it was. Though she lived alone, she had several neighbors who would come and go. They knew when she didn’t want to be disturbed, and when she did.

Charlotte was there, dropping off a flyer. Caroline said hello, but her visitor was in a hurry, as usual. She came every day with some sort of anti-government propaganda. Caroline read every pamphlet and zine and considered the points they made, but in the end, she always sided with the government. After all, they had encouraged the dissension. Charlotte had made that point in today’s flyer. “How can you trust a government that invites you to destroy it?” Caroline shrugged, as though paper could be convinced by a gesture.

She felt like doing some work today, and went to the employment agency. After a brief instructional video, she was constructing paper hats that would later be affixed to dolls for children, or for adults who played with dolls. The work was tedious, and she was soon tired of it, so she stopped.

At home, she fell asleep for a while. She woke up a few times because she wasn’t feeling enough pleasure, but once that was taken care of, she had nice dreams. Charlotte came and lied next to her for a while, and her revolutionary embrace had a nice sweat in it. She needed to resist to feel happy, and that was fine. A few more friends piled on in the night, and as they lied there content, they contemplated the end.