Hadrian's Rage (33 page)
Authors: Patricia-Marie Budd
“Dean, I want Frank at our wedding. I want him to sit at the head table with us. Roger can stand up for you, but I want Frank to stand up for me.”
Dean is stunned. Of course, Geoffrey wants his eldest son at their wedding. Seeing how important this is to Geoffrey causes Dean to wonder about his own feelings for Frank. “Geoffrey, I need a little time to think about this.”
“Take all the time you need, but know this, I can’t see myself reentering our relationship without the full acceptance of our family. You once loved him as a son. Please look inside and try to find that love again.”
“I don’t know if that’s possible, Geoffrey.”
“If not, then meet him on neutral ground and try to build a new connection. I can’t, as much as I love you, Dean, consent to remarry you if that means leaving Frank in the background. He’s our son. I know he’s done horrible things, but he is paying for those, and he will continue to pay his dues for the rest of his life. But I cannot, I will not, countenance a continuance of judgment thrust on him on our part.” Sighing, knowing that Dean’s decision in this matter will determine whether or not they can live their lives together, Geoffrey adds, “One does not abandon one’s child, no matter what the circumstances are.” And although Geoffrey is taking a huge risk playing this next card, he knows it might be the only way to get through to Dean and bring him back to accepting and loving their son. “I am not Mike Fulton.” Looking directly into Dean’s eyes, he asks, “Are you?”
Dean turns white, his breath catching painfully in his chest. Mike Fulton. He abandoned his son, Todd Middleton, the boy Dean loved like a son. “I’m not…” Dean desperately wants to say he is nothing like Mike Fulton, but the facts have just punched him in the heart. “Oh, Geoffrey, forgive me.”
“I have.” Feeling love and empathy, but refusing to give in to pity, Geoffrey clinches it for Dean by saying, “Now it is up to you to forgive Frank.”
Dean finally admits to his own personal truth. “I abandoned Frank, just like Mike abandoned Todd.”
Geoffrey does not dispute him. “Yes, you did.”
“Can he—will he—forgive me?”
“Roger and I are scheduled to visit him next Sunday. Come with us. What you and Frank need is for someone to make the first move. He can’t, not where he is. But if you forgive him, maybe he can learn to forgive himself, and then learn to love you as his papa again. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
All Dean can do is nod, words choked by emotion, but when he finally gets his voice back, he answers Geoffrey’s behest. “Yes. I want that.”
*****
Stiles Takes a DIVE!
HNN—Danny Duggin Reporting
Oh, people, did you watch yesterday’s
Real News
? I did; well, not when it was broadcast, but as soon as I heard about what was said on it, I blinked right into that newscast, and all I can say is “Madame President, THANK YOU!” This is just too good to be true. Not only did she admit to having lied to our country, having been voted in under false pretense, but she also admitted to having brought her own personal strai agenda to the table. You know, she claims that 85 percent of the population is bi—well, that sounds like a confession to me. I always knew Stiles was straight. She just has that strai look about her, something in her eyes. And here I was worried that Cooper Johnston was going to have a fight on his hands. Prior to yesterday’s stunning announcement, Elena Stiles was winning in the polls. I don’t even have to look at the polls now to know that she just handed over the office of the Presidency to Cooper Johnston. She might as well step down now.
Cooper Johnston really is the best choice for President. He is not harboring any deep dark secrets, nor is he willing to give any credence to the strai agenda, which is, as we all know, to turn everyone in Hadrian strai so we can join up with the rest of the world in polluting and overpopulating our planet. The soon-to-be Mr. President’s platform is simple and easy for all of Hadrian to understand: strengthen our military; strengthen our education systems, and reestablish the laws mandating that all youth who display heterosexual tendencies be incarcerated into reeducation and all citizens of age be expelled; and, of course, investing heavily into pollution clean-up and environmental restoration here inside our walls. Cooper Johnston also promises to keep the Wall closed, blocking entrance to “emissaries” from the outside world. Nor is he prepared to create a whole new government plutocracy to send Hadrian citizens to other countries as ambassadors.
We know full well that the lives of these “ambassadors” would be at risk, not just from violent barbaric heterosexuals, all of whom are rabid homophobes, but also at risk of catching any of the multitudes of diseases that ravage the outside world. Cooper Johnston will not expose anyone from Hadrian to that!
So we all know how to vote next month when we are asked to voc into our individual election links. When you cast your ballot into the virtual basket, make your vote count. Vote for Hadrian, not for the barbaric strais!
Vale!
Elena Stiles walks forward out of the dusk. Dark clouds slowly dissipate into the background as she is slowly engulfed by a rainbow. Behind her, Hadrian’s government building’s solar panels shimmer with new morning light.
Directing her attention to the camera, Elena Stiles asks, “What is the rainbow?” She pauses briefly to allow her viewers time to ponder this question. “When we first look upon a beam of light, we see stark white, but when the storm passes and the light shatters through infinitesimal dew, what is revealed is its true spectrum.” Here, Elena opens her hands to gesture to all that is inside the rainbow. “And that, my friends, is humanity. When we embrace the rainbow, we embrace humanity, not just one facet. This is what our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters fought for, still fight for, outside our walls. but they didn’t fight alone. Included in their ranks were bisexuals, transgendered, the intersex, and their straight allies. Together, they fought for equality amongst humanity. And this is what we must fight for inside our walls. Look at our rainbow. It is not one mere stark band of bright white. It is, like the human race, a multifarious display of color.”
Destiny Stuttgart emerges from the storm that is receding in the background. Walking forward into the light, she joins Elena Stiles. The two women stand engulfed in the rainbow.
“Mother Stuttgart stands firmly beside me, inside the rainbow.”
Destiny Stuttgart holds Elena Stiles’s hand. Also walking out of the dark clouds in the background are citizens of Hadrian who step forward to join them. Two men enter, both wearing the traditional symbol for gay men, followed by two women wearing the traditional symbol for lesbians. Next, a dozen men and women join them, all wearing shirts with the symbol for
being bisexual. A transgendered man enters wearing a shirt that proudly proclaims his trans status, and a trans lady emerges wearing the same. An intersex then joins the collective, followed by a man and a woman, arm-in-arm. All reach out together, holding hands, forming a semi-circle behind Elena Stiles and Destiny Stuttgart. Each woman walks to one end of the human rainbow’s spectrum and links all of humanity into a circle.
The camera homes in on Destiny Stuttgart’s face. She smiles. “Hadrian, join us in holding hands with all of humanity.”
The camera returns now to Elena Stiles, who finishes with, “Join us in accepting the true diversity of the human condition.”
*****
Happy Fifty-Fifth Birthday Hadrian!
December 31, 21__.
HRNâMelissa Eagleton Reporting
A lot has happened in the last five years when I helped you all ring in Hadrian's fiftieth birthday. We have seen the exposure and death of one of Hadrian's favorites, young Todd Middleton, son of the great Will Middleton, both known for their exceptional skills on the b-ball court, and Will Middleton known as the agricultural engineer who genetically altered the soya bean so we could grow it here in our northern climate. We also learned that Will Middleton was straight, that one of our finest was not gay as all had presumed, but a heterosexual. That, in no way, lessens his accomplishments and all he strived for in making our lives easier in Hadrian. Rather, what it illustrated for many conscious and thinking citizens is that we may be harboring too much prejudice towards those of a differing sexual orientation.
After Todd Middleton's unfortunate demise, all of Hadrian watched the Frank Hunter trial with bated breath. Hunter was found guilty of murder under unique circumstances, and rather than be exiled, he was sentenced to a lifetime of military service. This set a dangerous precedent for Hadrian, opening the door to our military growing in numbers by sentencing citizens to military service. That Private Frank Hunter's military service record is so exemplary was compounded by the fact that the military came to like this new means of recruiting.
From here, we began witnessing a rash of strai-bashing incidents, culminating in brutal murders, one of a four-year-old boy, another of a detritus fisherman, who was murdered and burned inside his bubble, and most recently, the horrific rape and murder of uni student Tara Fowler.
Considering the vile turn our country has taken, President Stiles felt the urgent need to reeducate all our citizens about our laws and what they are really saying. And, though I personally believe these laws need refining,
President Stiles at least refused to allow our citizens to blatantly abuse the system to harm our neighbors. The reeducation system was changed for the better, initially under the guidance of Jason Warith, and continued under the leadership of Adrian Adams, the man Warith claims should have been given the position in the first place. Adams, like his predecessor, works tirelessly to create a more humane approach to reeducation. Warith and Adams have introduced such reforms as the removal of corporal punishment and also of the questionable practice of medicinal intercourse.
Jason Warith, exposing himself as a celibate strai, also took Hadrian aback. This announcement was unexpected, and the backlash of hate speech and threats made against his life was only further evidence to support President Stiles's concern regarding the level of bigotry we harbor in our nation towards our own children who are born bisexual or straight.
There is another piece of news with respect to Hadrian's former minister of reeducation. He recently announced his engagement to Cantara Raboud. Of course, the union between a man and a woman has no legal status in Hadrian; still, the two lovers will be sharing vows and dedicating their lives to one another at a private ceremony to be held in an unknown location. They naturally fear repercussions if the day, time, and place of their wedding are publically publicized.
Lastly, perhaps the most important piece of information to date was the stunning revelation President Stiles made on this very news show. She revealed to Hadrian that her daughter, one Crystal Albright, is not only bisexual, but that she played an intricate role in the case of Todd Middleton's exposure. That was a daring, brave, and extremely risky move on the part of our President. She illustrated for us how family supersedes everything, even one's political career. She knew full well that revealing her personal truth could very well be the end of her political career in Hadrian.
I am proud of our nation. Not only was President Stiles not wiped off the face of the political map as Cooper Johnston had predicted, but she was elected for a second term by a majority vote. Thank you, Hadrian, for showing compassion, understanding, and, most of all, integrity during this time of tribulation for our country. You made the right choice in electing Elena Stiles to work for us over the next four years to restore balance to the planet's ecosystem, accepting all our children regardless of gender or sexual orientation, and further strengthening our military so our country's
defense will allow for the opening of our gates once more to the rest of humanity. We are entering into a new age Hadrian, one in which we can proudly say we are on the right side of history!
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And, as our founding mother, Destiny Stuttgart, said, one that will see us “holding hands with the rest of humanity,” and, as our President wisely states, will help us learn to accept “the true diversity of the human condition.” To you and all who believe, it pleases me to say happy fifty-fifth birthday, Hadrian.
TRUTH!
President Elena Stiles stands on the steps of Hadrian’s capitol building. Before she begins her inauguration speech, she looks out at the crowd. Never would she have imagined, just a few years ago, that she would be giving such a speech, and yet, she feels completely at peace, as if her destiny is being fulfilled. Smiling at her supporters, she begins:
It is customary for a newly-elected President to extend her thanks to the people for having been chosen for such an auspicious and critical role in the governing of our nation. Hadrian, I thank you for electing me for a second term as your governing head. It is also customary that the President’s inaugural speech outline the key focus for the upcoming four years of service. I intend to do so now, but in a way not seen in our nation in over four decades. Today, for my inaugural speech, I will read to you from the original document that forms the very basis for our country’s constitution. For it is upon the words of this document that we have laid the basis for our laws and treatment of our fellow citizens. This document will not sound like the document we all believe to be the founding families’ original constitution. That is because this document is the original constitution of our nation.
Like you, Hadrian, from my childhood, I was raised and educated to believe that our great nation was founded on four ideals—the four ideals that create the four cornerstones, or as they are sometimes called, pillars, of our community: Hadrian’s sexual preference is homosexual; Hadrian is a safe haven for homosexuals from around the globe; Hadrian
establishes as its goal to restore balance to nature and learn to live in harmony with our planet; and lastly, that Hadrian’s population will never exceed that of ten million. All of these sound good, do they not? But sadly, Hadrian, this is not true. Our country was not founded upon these four cornerstones. Rather, our country was founded upon the Human Pentagram.
Needless to say, we have all been educated, perhaps I should say inculcated, to believe that the first and foremost of these four cornerstones is that homosexuality is the preferred and acceptable sexual orientation of our nation. Nothing could be further from the truth. This cornerstone, in fact, the pinnacle point, the very head of our pentagram, is the point which recognizes and accepts all forms of gender diversity, gender expression, and identity as well as the full spectrum of consensual human sexual orientation. What this means, Hadrian, is that our founding families never excluded bisexuals or heterosexuals, nor did they ever recommend that we strive to rid our country of anyone expressing opposite sex attractions. Rather, we have allowed our fear of overpopulation to govern our irrational behaviors for too long. As a result, inspired by the guidance and wisdom of both Jason Warith, head warden of Hadrian’s Reeducation system, and our founding mother, Destiny Stuttgart, I have disbanded the arm of Hadrian’s educational system that indoctrinated our youth towards a sexual lifestyle foreign to their very being. No longer will Hadrian be home to the tormentors we formed this country to escape. No longer will Hadrian judge our children for whom they are and press them through the mood of an unfair, unjust educational system. We must learn to love and embrace our own without fear or reservation.
Does this mean Hadrian is suddenly going to embrace a population explosion? No, I assure you it does not. The second point of the pentagram, that being on the right-hand side, is the expressed need to quell and control human population through planned parenthood with each of Hadrian’s citizens being responsible for bringing one child into this world and to
register that child through the government census so a firm grasp can be held on population growth. Hadrian is, and always has been, firmly committed to a ten million-population mark, and nothing changes that.
On the left-hand side of the pinnacle is the promise to the people of Hadrian that whoever lives here, regardless of his or her cultural heritage, race, faith or non-faith, gender or sexual orientation, will be allowed to live in peace and with acceptance. Hadrian is to be a safe haven for humanity. No one faith supersedes another, no one race dominates another, no one gender subjugates another, and no one sexual orientation takes precedence over another. Let me repeat that last phrase: No one sexual orientation takes precedence over another! These are the original words of our founding families’ constitution! No one sexual orientation takes precedence over another.
The right leg of our pentagram points directly to our country’s pledge to move forward as a species towards ecological restoration and living in harmony and balance with our natural environment. Arresting and reversing climate change, along with all of the other catastrophic damages resulting from humanity’s raping of our Mother Earth, to our excessive use of her atmosphere, land masses, and waters as our collective dumping grounds will forever be the focus of our people.
The left leg—sadly, the left leg was severed. This point on the Human Pentagram points to the need for humanity to work together as one. Hadrian once had an international policy. Our founding families believed it was critical that Hadrian retain communication with the international community. For that is the only way we can ever fully restore balance to our planet and help diminish human population. We are meant to be the model upon which other nations can see how it is possible to maintain a stable population, run a healthy economy, avoid entrapment, and live in harmony with Mother Earth. We have not been that model, Hadrian. It is time we try to live up to our own standards. In keeping with this idea, I intend to open communication with the outside
world, allowing back inside our borders emissaries from other countries, as well as sending our own ambassadors abroad. We must work together as a human species if we are ever going to get a handle on the numerous problems our forefathers created for our generation and for future generations yet to come. I don’t know about you, but I want my children to live in a clean world, one rid of hate and prejudice. And, even though this is an ideal that humanity may never achieve, I will work to my dying breath to strive for nothing less.
Our country was not founded on four cornerstones! Our country was founded on the Human Pentagram. Knowing this, I will not, in good conscience, sign any laws that allow for the domination, subjugation, and/or eradication of any human being! No human beings will be exiled or forced to learn how not to be themselves. Never again, Hadrian!
Many of you may ask why I have embraced what seems to be a radical departure for our country’s ways? I do not depart from our nation’s purpose, as stated in its original constitution, to embrace humanity as a whole and rectify the damages we have committed against our once beautiful earth. Not only do I not depart from them, but I turn the light back onto this document and invite all from our good nation to open this file and read it. This is Hadrian’s true intent. And as your President, I not only hold these words to be true, but I will govern our nation according to its true intent!
But you’re right. I haven’t answered the question. Why was I willing to listen to Mother Stuttgart? Beside the fact that she is one of our founding mothers, she also took me on a virtual tour of Hadrian’s National Archives. It was there she revealed to me the original founding documents. It was there that I learned the true intent of our nation. And it was there I learned I could no longer turn my back on my daughter. My daughter—as I shared with you in an interview with Melissa Eagleton on Hadrian’s Real News—my daughter is bisexual. My daughter had a male lover. His name was Todd Middleton. Just as I no longer deny my daughter the right to be who she is, I will no longer deny that right to any of Hadrian’s citizens. We are all human!
Look again at our pentagram: The Human Pentagram. We have the head, the right hand, the left hand, the right leg, and the left leg. Humanity stands strong in Hadrian!
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