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Page 19.
 Each afternoon, the break whistle shrilled. Today, as usual, the men went into the lunch room with its orange and lemon colored plastic chairs and wooden tables. There they brought their snacks and sat listening to the Daily Chat with Roger Thomas. "Good afternoon, friends," said Roger Thomas of the friendly face and thick black hair combed up in a wave. Like most men of middle and upper classes, he wore the common white shirt and dark tie. "We'll talk with our guests in a few moments, but first the News Update. Good news in the North Dakota Regional Command. American troops repulsed a probing attack by Canadian irregulars, leaving nearly one hundred of the deformed uranium men dead. Three Americans were killed and six wounded, one critically. We pray for his survival. The Central Canadian Government has refused to apologize. President Shepherd said this morning that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty in a world that has reverted to the middle ages, all but here in America. The Magnum Line, the Great Wall surrounding our nation, is effective every day in protecting the homeland. On the Southern Wall, a truckload of illegal invaders was caught and the 79 men and women on board were taken to detention in the San Diego, where they will be processed for return to Mexico. All other regions and border sectors are reported to be secure." Thomas' voice broke as he said: "The Shepherd, our President Shepherd, has again reassured us that America's defensive strategy in the Magnum Line is working totally well. With over ten million men under arms, and the loyal American women supporting them as auxiliaries and helpmates on all our borders, America is secure again today. And, Mr. President, as one loyal American patriot who salutes you, I pledge that we will all remain alert and vigilant. We have your back, Great Shepherd." It was said the President had once rejected the notion of being called the Good Shepherd, because this was one of the titles of his Boss in heaven, who spoke through him.
The lunch room resounded with cheers. Men pounded their fists on the table. "Right on!" "Yeah!"
Tom continued his news program. "We have reports of a plague outbreak in France."
At the very mention of France, many men started booing. Someone yelled: "Serves them right. Let them all die." Another yelled: "Damn devils, they're all going to hell anyway."
"The crumbling French infrastructure has failed to provide medical care, but the death rate among French peasant farmers has been so intense that the disease appears to have outrun itself and arrested itself. The American Defense Health Administration reports it does not represent a danger on this country's soil. In Russia, there has been a coup d'etat in one of the rival capitals, St. Petersburg. Dmitri Valadin, a New All-Russia Communist, with the aid of several paratroop brigades, seized the capital and now appears to be enjoying total control of the media. There are reports of wide-spread executions as the new regime asserts total control. The rival presidency in Moscow issued a statement deploring what it called illegal balloting in the nation's northeast sector, and demanded a return to Moscow's jurisdiction. Although Siberia was conquered by China fifty years ago, there is a Russo-Siberian government in exile, which has thus far issued no formal statement on the situation in St. Petersburg.
"In Tokyo's limited elections, in a nation that has lost half its population in a famine, the newly resurgent Japan National Party claims a solid victory, placing a warlike premier in power. The White House has issued a statement warning the Japanese to restrain their bellicose, anti-American rhetoric." An empty milk carton flew in the air and struck the video screen. Men booed.
"Here is some dreadful news. Muslim extremists have bombed a Christian church in the Holy Land, killing over 100 Bible-fearing worshipers. Vatican collaborators are said to have helped the Mohammedan terrorists to infiltrate the Sunday morning service in one of Palestine's last remaining churches, inflicting heavy damage on the building. The State Department has called for all real Christians in the world to organize a crusade to retake the Holy Land. We are hungering for that, ladies and gentlemen, but America is a nation beset and attacked by radiation freaks, communists, socialists, illegal invaders, and other demons night and day. We are an island of sanity in a broken, medieval world that hates us. We first have to focus on securing our borders with the help of God, and then we can reclaim for civilization and Christ those lands that have fallen by the wayside.
"That's the world for now, ladies and gentlemen—a total mess as always. We have to keep America strong and independent. We are surrounded by enemies, and the threat level is orange today. One nation, fifty sovereign states, with the freedoms we all cherish—freedom of speech, freedom of guns, freedom of religion. Above all, we have to fight the pestilence of socialism and communism that keeps threatening to creep in and undermine the greatest nation there is. The only free nation left on earth!" His voice rose to a hoarse shout. "There will be no damned socialism in my America!" Men in the break room shouted and banged on the table. It was a great release for them, Kenny thought. Thomas thundered: "Be free men—hang on to your precious freedoms!"
The video screen winked off. The foreman's annoyed voice crackled on the public address system. "You have five minutes to return to your stations. We are falling behind schedule, and any man who is a minute late will be docked an hour's pay for every minute lost. Let's get cracking, men. Let's pitch in for victory."
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Copyright © 2018 by Jean-Thomas Cullen, Clocktower Books. All Rights Reserved.
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