Government For The People

Yrag pushed his chair back from his electronic monitor screen and stretched his skinny body. 'Damn',he groaned, 'I am so sick and tired of monitoring these stupid citizens day in and day out!'

The government should have, by now ,come up with a way to do it by computer alone.Lord knows,they had taken enough of everyone`s money to have done so years and years ago.

YEEEEEEEESH!! The pain grabbed him and sent him reeling..'Why,in Hell could he never remember that the monitors were also monitored ?' He hoped his vacation would be approved soon! He could hardly wait to get away from people even if it would be just for a few hours.

Quickly,Yrag went back to work at the large screen.His job was to monitor a small section of the city and administer discipline by pushing a button when he saw indiscretions .He had 'zinged' at least fifty today.Some were really pitiful..kids just trying to sneak a snack from the food simulator.

Yrag kind of goofed sometimes and administered an adult 'zing' to some of the children.They couldn`t survive adult zing but he was allowed a few goofs before the GFTP came down on him with their own 'zing'.

Yes,Yrag knew he was better off in his position than most government workers.Were his father-in-law not an official of the Government For The People he might be one of the death squad cleaners sent out to retrieve bodies of those who had the Ultimate Discipline administered.

It wasn`t a pleasant job because it took awhile to get around to some of the addresses and the bodies got quite messy after a certain time period.He remembered the old man with the house full of cats that he had to terminate.

Yrag had caught him on screen about to perform an act of unapproved sex.Yrag had seen him reaching for his wife`s hand.They knew better than to go ahead without an okay from the GFTP first.

His body was left there three months before he was picked up.The rest of the family had a hell of a time living in the house with the remains .The cats had dragged pieces of the old man all over the house making clean up a chore.It was so much neater back when the GFTP still allowed funerals.

As Yrag viewed people on the corner waiting for a bus, he noticed a woman waiting with her fifty dollar fare ,for the government bus ,dropping it from her tired hand as she dozed.Yrag watched the woman on his monitor and saw the man next to her pick it up and put it in his own pocket.

Yearningly,Yrag thought of the fifty in the man`s pocket.If there was a way he could let the clean up crew know they might split it with him.

Damn,this time the pain shot to every part of his body and seemed to take hold with long claws and shake him viciously!! ARRRRRRGH! The monitors were monitored for thoughts, too,not just actions, by a higher up in the GFTP.