Writers Tribe Review: Sacrifice Writers Tribe Review, Vol. 2, Issue 2 | Page 14

check and cash in hand. “The government identifies all eighteen-year-old kids and drafts them into Public Service Training Corps. How the hell is a small town supposed to maintain their population with an attrition policy like that? They can’t, and that’s the government’s plan. Call it Constructive Consolidation. But it ought to be called Designed Destruction. Get people off the land and into the planned communities of the big cities. Isn’t that the way the argument goes?”

The young man slipped his arm around his wife’s shoulders. “Dangerous words, Sir. Best spoken outside.”

“Or not at all,” Marshall added hastily.

The waitress came out of the kitchen. “We don’t want any trouble, Mister,” she said as she rang up the charges, took his cash, and gave him change.

The man flashed a badge. “Agent Norris Sherman of the EPA, folks. No cause for alarm.” His right hand was on the pistol in his hip holster. Had it been a test? Had they passed?

“I was just trying to get a little information, Sir,” Marshall said weakly. At fifty-five, he had no inclination to be arrested. “I’m a recruiter for Meritsville. We’re struggling to make census quota this year. We’re desperate,” he said more for the benefit of the young couple than for the agent. “Some of the folks have been there for eight and nine generations. Don’t want to see their houses on the auction block.”

The Agent cleared his throat. “I’m headed to Meritsville to do a structure inventory now.”

“What’s that? Nobody told us we might lose our new house at auction,” the blonde said.

The agent nodded to the waitress. “Bring me a decaf, will’ya? he said, and slid onto the stool next to the register.

“Better add cream, it’s been settin’ a while.”

He emptied the creamer. “It’s a simple mathematical calculation, Ma’am. I go to a city, check my inventory against the city records—some people build sheds or barns without reporting the improvement—then I total the value of the city’s structures, deduct half for taxes, deduct a third for destruction and reclamation . . .”

“What’s that?” the blonde said.