The Huxleys
It was nine o'clock on Thursday morning as John Huxley awoke, by his own accord, and slipped out of bed to start his day. His wife had already left; taking the boys to school and starting her day. He hadn't made any particular plans for the day, and he wasn't scheduled to work at the Water Department again until next Monday. He turned on the timer switch for shower's water heater and found himself looking out the bedroom window into the yard, watching the last remaining oak leaves lazily tumble to the ground. As he watched the autumn scene, he ran his fingers across the top of the dresser. He had always liked this dresser; it had an old, handed-down appeal, but a clean, unmarred finish. He remembered selecting it, over ten years ago at the Furniture Bureau Store. He chose it over dozens of other styles of refinished chests, as well as an assortment of brand new ones. He just liked something about it that he couldn't describe; that "grandma's old dresser" kind of feeling.
The Furniture Bureau is charged with maintaining an adequate stock of major home furniture such as sofas, arm chairs, bedroom sets, and armoires. Unneeded furniture is returned there for cleaning, repair work, refinishing if needed, and then redistribution. Very little furniture is actually unsalvageable, but in that case its fate is determined by the utility of its component materials. Good drawer pulls and knobs are recycled. Broken hardware is reclaimed as scrap metal. Solid wood is reclaimed and made available for new furniture construction or supplied to the public. Scrap wood and particle board is sent to a processing facility where it is recycled into composite board.
Carefully arranged in the bedroom, was an eclectic assortment of furniture; a pair of mission night stands, a bonafide antique oak dresser that his wife used, and his stout refinished maple dresser with brass pulls. This was a typical North American bedroom set. It was not so much that matching bedroom sets were not available; they were from time to time and you could put in a request for one. Eventually you would get a message that your furniture was ready and delivery of the new furniture and retrieval of any unneeded furniture would be arranged. It was more a reflection of the prevailing social paradigm. Each piece of furniture was in good repair, pleasant to look at, and it did the job it was intended to do. That was all that mattered. There was no status associated with having the best bedroom set in town, mostly because a fine cherry bedroom set had no greater value than did a mismatched set to its user other than its aesthetic value. In fact, neither had any value what so ever except in that they held clothes well.
John got ready for his shower. He sniffed the towel cautiously, but it still smelled clean. The light but brisk stream of shower water was immediately warm as it emerged from the shower head, only a few feet from the water heater. He reached for the bar of fine milled lavender soap he was currently using. It was manufactured in the Region of Old France and had an aroma and smooth texture that pleased him more than the other varieties that had been available last week at the Domestic Supply Store. As he washed his hair, a small light began to blink over the shower door, indicating that he had three minutes remaining of his planned six minute shower. There was no law prohibiting a longer shower, but John knew he could shower in less than six minutes and merely wanted to be reasonable in his use of electricity and water. Last Sunday, he spent 11 minutes in the shower after working in the garden all day. His thoughts briefly filtered back to his school days and his third grade teacher lecturing the class about the necessity for water conservation and his fifth grade teacher showing a video about hygiene and rapid showering techniques. He mused on a part of the video that gave a statistic about the cumulative water and energy savings of one billion people shaving five seconds off of their shower time.
After his shower, John dressed himself. His clothing collection was not spartan, but not elaborate either. Most of his clothing had a specific intended purpose; a few pairs of khaki and poplin pants for work, several pairs of blue jeans ranging from new to very old and paint-stained, a variety of tee shirts, pull overs, a few cotton oxford shirts, a suit, and a number of sweaters and sweat shirts. He could have more clothes, but he didn't really need any others, and these were familiar to him and comfortable. Periodically he would pick out some fresher clothes at the Clothing Supply Store, and take a pair of ill-fitting pants back for recycling.
He also had a heavy sweater that he liked to wear. It was hand-knitted of Icelandic wool. He had selected it last fall in Wisconsin while visiting family there. He had seen it in an artisans shop and she was proud that he had wanted to have it. Her name was printed on a small tag sewn into a seam. "This sweater proudly crafted by Jean Anderson" it read. It was common for artisans to sign their work, as a matter of pride. It would be an honor to be hundreds of miles away from your shop and find a person happily wearing a sweater that you created. He had also selected another sweater for his wife, but she found it too bulky and returned it into circulation at the local Clothing Supply Store, where it was almost immediately selected by another shopper who was grateful to have such a fine sweater.
The Huxley's house happened to be one of the older houses in his neighborhood, and so was also somewhat larger. It was a two story brick colonial house with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, as well as a kitchen, family room, dining room, and front room. Most of the newer single family dwellings were a bit "cozier". Two or three small bedrooms with a sleeping loft in the kids' room, one or sometimes two bathrooms, a laundry and utility area, and a kitchen/livingroom which was the primary living area. There was no particular benefit to having one of the older, larger homes; the smaller ones suited most people just fine. Since ownership and status had no meaning anymore, a larger home if unneeded was just more work to keep clean.
The Front Room had a fairly large window on the front wall, leaving the room well illuminated for much of the day. On the opposite wall hung a large watercolor painting of a hillside of rhododendrons in bloom. His wife came across the painting at an art repository in North Carolina many years ago and brought it home. Art was plentiful, and most homes had an assortment of works either found at a repository, commissioned, or made at home. Some people exchanged their pieces often, keeping a work or two that they particularly admired, others rarely did so. Not all works of art were available for the taking; the Arts Council had the task of regulating which art was to be protected and restricted to viewing in specified, environmentally controlled locations. Some of the protected pieces were thousands of years old; others were less than one year old but were felt to be of such importance that they should be protected.
The living room was where the family spent a great deal of time together; catching up on the progress of Jason's basketball team, explaining to Susie how an electric motor works, retelling favorite family stories, and watching entertaining movies together. On the far wall of the living room was a large multipurpose viewing screen. This device, along with its associated sound system was capable of displaying Internet pages, news, video phone images, digital photographs, home movies, and multimedia materials and movies requested from the Unified Public Data Repository.
It is easy to select
and play any one of millions of movies in the Repository with a few keystrokes,
or by stating vocal commands into the microphone. New movies are continually
being produced as well. The new movies are regularly released at public
viewing theaters, where they can be enjoyed on the large screens. Those
who prefer to see them at home, or who are unable to travel due to health
or distance, can choose to view the new releases at home, or any appropriate
public location with a viewing screen.
John walked into the kitchen and turned the viewing screen on to the news.
The anchorman was in the middle of relating the details of an incident
that occurred over night; a large old pine tree had toppled over in the
wind and damaged a corner of the Bloomfield Commune's Dormitory Six. There
was one minor injury, and already at this hour a work crew had been allocated
for the repairs to the structure.
An occurrence such as this is easily handled. Immediately after the tree fell, the commune manager contacted the local Housing Authority and requested an urgent dwelling repair. A contractor arrived by 9:30 and assessed the damage. An estimate of the required materials, labor and specialized equipment will be submitted electronically and work will likely start later in the day. Since the building is public property, and there is no concept of profit, and there is no home owner or insurance company to deal with, a good deal of red tape has been eliminated. Of course, if the job is not completed to the tenant's satisfaction, a complaint against the contractor could be filed with the housing authority. The contractor would then have to answer to the charges, and a record would be kept on file. If sufficient complaints were to accumulate regarding the contractor, he may be sent for further training, demoted, or instructed to take on a different occupation. The more specialized a job is, the more of an honor it is to be allowed to perform that job. The job is its own reward; that and the satisfaction of knowing that your work is well respected by those who benefit from it. For these reasons, the contractor aspires to perform well.
John put on a small pot of coffee to brew. He decided on Sumatra beans today, since he was not working and would have the time to enjoy it. On work days he would usually make a Columbian Region blend, which is readily available at the Grocery Supply Store. The finer beans are dispensed at small coffee shops in one half pound bags. By limiting the distribution of "finer" commodities to smaller, more out of the way stores, less consumers seek them out, thus decreasing the demand for them somewhat. Only those individuals who have a significant desire for better coffee, or jumbo shrimp, will take the time to go get them. Whimsical impulse shopping is reduced.
Even now, in our better world, some goods truly are scarce. Since there is no cost deterrent to prevent consumers from obtaining scarce goods, their distribution is controlled, but fairly so. For example, there simply are not enough lobsters caught for every person to eat a lobster each day. For this reason, when attempting to order a lobster at a restaurant or pick one up at a Fine Seafood Store, the consumer's Swipe Card is "swiped" through a reader. A sophisticated computer algorithm compares the consumer's past use with current supply and anticipated regional and global demand. If conditions are met, the lobster is dispensed. There is no favoritism, privilege, or priority. From time to time lobsters will spoil in the store. These are ground and sent for disposal or reprocessing as animal feed. The shop keeper must answer any questions regarding unusual amounts of spoilage and waste that may be submitted by the Bureau of Food. The review process is designed both to encourage efficient management of resources, as well as to prevent diversion of scarce goods to the black market. The shop keeper realizes that it is an honor to be allowed to run his shop, and takes pride in his clean, well managed store. If he does not manage his store well, he may be required to have further education, or may be reassigned, possibly to a less desired occupation.
The news program was now giving a schedule of the notable civic events for the day; including a fellowship gathering at a church at 7:00, a performance of a Mozart Horn Concerto by the local orchestra at 8 pm, and a display of textile art at a local gallery starting at 8:30.
There is usually very little crime to report. Since all individuals have free access to all goods and services, theft is very uncommon, mostly involving uniquely crafted items. Once in a while an episode of violence is reported.
Even in the best of circumstances, humans have the tendency to get frustrated and angry, and then act irrationally and violently. By eliminating unreasonable work schedules, financial strife, and hunger, most of the factors leading to aggression have been eliminated. But, there can still be frustrations. Tracy Smith's children may not be performing well in school. The current Neighborhood Chief would not give the approval for Steve Anderson's request to add a room on to his house. Mr Phillips' wife might not be affectionate enough. Linda Johnson might be developing a problem with alcohol.
At a few minutes before ten Karen Huxley arrived back at home, carrying several reusable nylon sacks full of groceries. "Hey." said John, as he walked over to Karen, took one of the bags and simultaneously kissed her. Her nose was cold and she smelled like autumn. "Did the kids get off to school all right?" he added. Karen busied herself unpacking the groceries. "Yep. We almost missed the shuttle. Susie left her PE shoes in the house and we had to run back for them, but we made it to the station right when the shuttle got there. I went along with them and got off at City Center and went to the store. We needed a few things. The apples didn't look too exciting, but I thought maybe we could go over to Millers and pick some?" John agreed "Sure. I don't have any plans for the day. Let me grab something to eat first, have my cup of coffee, and I'll be ready to go."
The Huxley's house is about a mile from the shuttle station, and is a pleasant walk. For this trip, they chose to ride their bicycles however. The decision was based partly on the fact that Millers is about two miles from the stop where they will need to get off the shuttle. Also, they will be carrying a heavy bag of apples, and their bikes are well equipped for carrying packages. It is simple and very common for passengers to ride the shuttles with bikes, small scooters, and a number of other Personal Transportation Devices.
The transportation system is effective, and includes almost every conceivable creative device for carrying passengers and cargo. The bulk of long distance transportation utilizes a variety of high speed Hitrains, capable of operating at speeds over two hundred miles per hour between stops, which are a minimum of twenty miles a part. In addition, there are long distance express routes which make stops only at major cities. These trains run at posted intervals, subject to change based on demand.
Branching out from the Hitrains are a system of shuttles, which are basically smaller electric monorails. Most people who live in urban or suburban areas find that a shuttle stop is within the range of walking or other Personal Transportation Devices. Individuals in more rural areas may have access to solar or electric vehicles, horses, and delivery services.
Joan and Karen peddled to the shuttle stop and waited a few minutes in the crisp air for the shuttle to arrive. When it did, they boarded and found room for their bikes and sat down. Karen watched the monitor casually to see what the weather was going to be like. John relaxed and watched the scenery. He noticed an elk grazing in a small corn field as they approached their stop. "Ok..." he said, "Let's get going." He and Karen unloaded their bikes and were soon peddling towards the orchard.
They parked their bikes under the awning of the barn and went over to speak to Ron Miller who managed the orchard. "Hello Ron" said Karen. "How are things going? Sally Mitchell said you had some good Crispens this year." Ron, a thin thirty five year old man with a weathered complexion, took off his worn baseball hat and replied "Oh, we're doing pretty good. The weather has held out, no early frosts, and the apples are, I think, even better than last years. And, with this new organic spray we are using, the apples are almost completely blemish-free. Are you going to pick some, or if you want, I have some bags already picked." John joined in "we'd like to pick them ourselves; it's a nice day." Ron offered "Do you need any bags, then?" "No, we brought a couple with us. Thanks." replied John, and they walked off to where the sign indicated the Crispens and Red Delicious apples were growing.
When they finished picking, they briefly stopped back at the barn. Karen swiped her l Card and a young female clerk entered into the terminal that she was dispensing eight kilograms of apples. They thanked her and were back on their way. "Do you want to stop and get some lunch at that restaurant by the stop?" asked Karen. "Sure, that's fine with me." said John "as long as they have soup and coffee, I'm set."
When they arrived at the restaurant, it wasn't too busy and they were seated right away. "Thanks for coming in- I need the business!" said the manager as he swiped their Cards. He was a somewhat heavy middle aged man of about forty-five with a mustache and unusually thick dark hair. "I was just given approval for this restaurant two months ago, and I am still trying to demonstrate its need. So, I hope you have a good lunch, and come again." He left them with menus, printed on a recycled plastic card stock.
The waitress came and took their orders and left them with a basket of fresh rolls and butter. They spent a few minutes reviewing the rest of the week's activities and talking about Jason and Susie. They enjoyed their meal and prepared to leave, despite the managers near insistence that they try his cheesecake. Before leaving, John tapped a few places on a monitor to complete an exit interview. It was commonplace to be asked to complete a survey when eating at a new or provisionally approved restaurant, or after visiting a store under new management, or after a complaint had been filed.
The two made their way to the shuttle stop, where they boarded after a fifteen minute wait, and rode to the school's stop where they got off. They were a few minutes early and spent the time talking to a few other parents. John thought about going in the school to use the bathroom, but decided it wouldn't be worth the trouble to go through security. Jason and Susie came out of the building to the security area and swiped their Cards. John swiped his Card, signifying that he was taking the children home, and they left for the shuttle.
When they arrived at their home shuttle stop, they got out of the car with the two bicycles and headed over to the Personal Transportation Device storage shed and picked up Jason and Susie's bikes and rode home.
After putting their bikes away carefully in the shed, the Jason and Susie trudged through the crackling fallen leaves with their backpacks to the kitchen for a snack, before starting their homework. John carried in the apples and Karen took a few minutes to look around the yard.
Karen came into the house a few minutes later and as she took off her coat. "What's the plan for dinner?" John asked her, gazing through the refrigerator's insulated glass door. Most current refrigerators have an insulated glass door which allows browsing without opening the door and wasting energy. Many models also have a hinged decorative outer door facade for those who don't want to show off their messy refrigerator. "I was planning to make stir fried vegetables and rice- I got everything we needed at the store this morning. I'll make it. You need to look at Jason's homework list and make sure he does everything.
After dinner John poured a few drops of a biodegradable dish soap in the sink and added some cold tap water and enough instant-hot water to make the water warm. He washed the dishes and other tableware, and released the water down the drain. In their house, the waste water is sent to a septic system. In areas where water is less plentiful, waste is sent to a holding tank from which it can be processed and reclaimed, or through a municipal city sewer to a treatment plant for processing.
John walked into the living room, where Susie was watching an animated cartoon on the viewing screen. "Do you want to watch a movie tonight?" he asked her. "I found one more old Disney movie you haven't seen yet- Lady and the Tramp." Susie replied with surprise "But dad! We have to read first, silly! You know that!" She reached into her backpack and pulled out her digital schoolbook, which was programmed with the course work for the entire term and entered a few simple commands on the touchpad to bring up her book on the screen. As she read to her father, the book occasionally offered pronunciation tips when she mispronounced a word. After she was finished, John swiped his card in the book's card reader to signify that had supervised Susie's reading tonight and they called up the movie on the viewing screen. Jason was up in his bedroom, trying to find out what was happening in the world of football. The two of them relaxed and enjoyed the movie, which neither one had seen previously, and then it was time to get ready for bed.
Karen helped Susie get ready for bed. She filled up a small glass with water and dipped the toothbrush in to soften the bristles, and applied a small dab of toothpaste. After Susie brushed, Karen wetted a washcloth with warm water from the instant hot water tap at the sink and she gently washed Susie's face. They walked to Susie's room and Karen tucked her into bed and spent a few minutes talking to her quietly. "Jason- It's time for you to get ready for bed now. The bathroom is free." she called out across the hall. "Ok mom, I'm gonna in just a minute..." came the muted reply through his bedroom door.