free

by nick nelson

it was a beautiful day in the bermuda triangle. elon musk and jeff bezos sat in deck chairs on the roof of the rulers of the world club, sipping gin and tonics. george soros was napping in an easy chair in the corner of the roof, and mark zuckerberg was doing a 2,000 piece jigsaw puzzle on the floor. vladimir putin and crown prince mohammed were playing cribbage at a table in the opposite corner. suddenly george soros woke up, and blurted out - let the people go! you know, elon musk said to jeff bezos, i think that might be a good idea. i do too, jeff bezos replied, i have been thinking along those lines myself. vladimir putin chimed in. let’s do it! hear, hear! the crown prince added heartily. and so it was settled. it was announced all over the world that civilization was disbanded and its inhabitants were free to go back home. the towns and cities, the factories and offices and schools and universities and military bases and seaports quickly emptied. the eight billion inhabitants of the planet drifted back to the countryside where the accumulated nuts and berries and mushrooms of centuries waited for them. the same scenes of joy and exhiliaration were repeated a billion times over. jared carter, 15, of waxahachie texas exclaimed, i have dreamed of this day all my life. this is even better than making the football team! anna jardine, 88, of vienna austria, who had been confined to a wheelchair for twenty-two years, got up and walked. the reverend mark tucker-st john, of stokely-on-the-marsh, set fire to his church before abandoning it and joining the throng rushing to the countryside, and shouted to the sky - freedom, freedom, freedom! i knew it would happen if i just waited long enough, willem johnson, an uber driver in oslo norway,, told a reporter. ali, a holy man in azerbaijan, came down from his mountain and headed to the countryside. on his way he met his brother selim, whom he hd not seen in nineteen years and who had been working as a busboy at a burger king in baku. now they were both free! astronauts and waitpersons, financial consultants and pizza delivery drivers, prison guards and prosecutors and panhandlers, housewives and tv producers and assassins, embraced and danced as they left the metropolises behind to crumble into dust. everywhere teeth crunched on nuts, and the juice of billions of berries ran down billions of chins. and the sun came up - really came up and dispersed the clouds. for the first time in 100,000 years.