“I’m
here to tell you…” his voice echoed from the amplifiers, distorted by the walls
of the buildings on the plaza and the gathered bodies and by the weird
electronics they used on this timeline, “that people don’t have to live this
way. I have seen alternatives, other ways of living, and I know they are
possible. We don’t have to live under this regime that oppresses us, we don’t
have to fear one another, we don’t have to hide away and only dare to speak our
minds once a month for five minutes. There is another way to live, and I have
seen it!”
I
doubted he had, but he still had my attention. After all, if he had actually
jumped timelines or even viewed, he would be worth recruiting.
“I have
walked the streets of this city and seen people walking proudly and free,
speaking their minds freely on every corner, not just in this one plaza in this
one hour a month. I have seen people greet one another with the handclasp of equal
to equal, unafraid, not with the servile salute of lesser to better. I have
seen children playing in parks, dressed in bright colors, like the flowers of
Springtime, not marching like soldiers in the drab colors of school uniforms. I
have seen it, and I know we can live that way, too!”
He was
almost in tears. He had clearly seen something that had affected him deeply. I
definitely needed to speak with him and get some details out of him.
“We can
remake our society to make that kind of life possible! We can be free! W can-“ His
microphone cut off with a flatulent squawk which I had always suspected was
intentionally irritating, as a way of punishing people who ran out their allotted
time.
The next
speaker stepped up to the microphone. I was already pushing through the crowd,
trying to reach the man before he slipped away.
The Magic Eight-Ball says: "Speak up."
https://improvisedlife.com/2020/10/26/how-to-redeem-lifes-spoilers-andy-goldsworthy-and-hala-alyan/
