• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

Walter was intrigued. Young folks for the most part never had this discussion with him. “Part of what I do is so people do not suffer needlessly. I don’t make judgments based on their age.”

“Well, do you think people are kept alive beyond a reasonable time?”

“What do you mean, ‘a reasonable time’?”

“Are people living too long?”

“Some are, yes.”

“Mr. Masters, may I ask how old you are?”

“No. It doesn’t matter.”

“Well, whatever it is, you must know that the world has changed since you were my age.”

“I know that. But why don’t you tell me how it has affected you. Don’t talk in generalities.”

“It hasn’t affected me. I have money. But anyone who doesn’t is screwed. The debt on young people is too great to crawl out of. The girl I live with, for example, owes almost four hundred thousand dollars for a medical loan and her father is already dead.”

“What does this have to do with me?”

“At a time when it’s harder than ever to get a piece of the pie, the world has decided to keep its older population going forever. Who the fuck pays for that? Excuse my language. I do. And my friends. And five-year-olds who don’t even understand it. I thought you also might feel the same way.”

At that moment the food arrived. A pleasant-looking woman who obviously had no interest in the fat pill put the order down and said, “If you need anything else, just buzz.”

Max scarfed down his sandwich and kept talking. “I lead a group of hundreds of younger people called Enough Is Enough.”

“What do they do?”

“I don’t know. That’s one of the reasons I’m talking to you. We need a plan. The olds are—”

“The what?”

“We call everyone over seventy ‘the olds.’ It’s just easier that way.”

“I’ll have to remember that. Go on.”

“The olds have all the power and access to the money. Something has to be done. Even if violence is part of the equation.”

“Mr. Leonard, I hear your frustration. And I agree with much of your thinking. But I don’t know what I can do to help you.”

“You could kill all of them.” Max hoped, really hoped, that Masters had a sense of humor. If not, this was the end of their lunch.

“I don’t have the time,” Walter said, “or the medicine. I can only kill half of them.”

Max was relieved. “Half would be fine, sir.”

“Listen, my friend, I think you have real issues here and I think you are to be commended for trying to change a system that is impossible to budge. But unfortunately, I don’t know how I can be of any help to you.”

“So killing half of them was a joke?”

“Do you really want me to answer that?”

“So why do you do this kind of work that no one else does? Are any of your reasons like mine?”

“No. You and I both have a revolutionary quality to our souls. If I was your age, I would be in your group. But my reasons are different. I abhor suffering. But I don’t do it to balance out the population. As a matter of fact, many times I have helped young people pass when there was no hope and the medical establishment would not recognize that.” Max was silent. He didn’t know what he had expected at this meeting, but it didn’t sound as though it was going to be as helpful as he thought. And then Walter asked him that exact question. “What did you expect when you came here?”

“I wasn’t sure. Maybe, I thought, if you felt like I did, you would help our group.”

“How?”

“I don’t know.”

“Yes, you do. In your mind you thought I might step up the pace, right? Start eliminating the enemy?” When Max heard it that way, he knew Masters was right. And he knew it sounded truly crazy. “Listen,” Walter said, “I understand why you wanted to talk. But you need to go in another direction. I don’t prolong life, I do the opposite. You need to talk to the people who keep it going. The doctors and lawmakers and religious nuts who want as many minutes as you can squeeze out of this existence, at any price. That’s where you’re going to find some answers. Not here. Does that make sense?”

And at that moment Max could not get the image out of his head of all those olds worshipping Sam Mueller. “I guess it does. Yes. It absolutely does.” Max got