Free The End of Marking Time by CJ West

hours later I saw a shimmering head of red hair outside my new doorway. I stood up immediately and said hello. Charlotte came in, followed by two people I hadn’t met. David Jones wore a suit as well tailored as Morris Farnsworth’s, but David was a regular guy. He told me he was my employment counselor. He’d help me get a job when my training was finished, but he didn’t have any urgency about the undertaking. I didn’t need to either since the government would hand me forty K a year for sitting on the couch.
    The woman behind him was a sexier, brunette version of Charlotte. She was young and enchanting with an amazing figure. She met my eyes and smiled devilishly, like she knew what I was thinking when I saw her long legs. Her smile said she considered it a compliment. Joanne introduced herself as my relationship counselor.
    My mouth hung open. Wendell, Dr. Blake, Morris, Charlotte and now David and Joanne. Leaving prison was a major adjustment, but how could they afford to send all these people to help me? Were they trying to scare me straight? Or were they trying to make everyone earn their forty thousand?
    Joanne wasn’t pleased with my reaction. She was lowest on the totem pole of talking heads and assumed I didn’t want her help. “No one wants to believe they need help finding a date, but there’s a stigma associated with running afoul of our government’s conformance policies. We’re doing our best to help people see that’s not right, but in the meantime, I’m here to help you find someone to share your life with. Someone who makes you happy.” As hot as she was, she talked like she was reading from a policy manual. I tried to ignore it, but it wasn’t easy.
    “And I can’t do that on my own?” I would have been glad to hook up with Joanne or Charlotte, but neither was extending an invitation.
    “I’m an expert in relationship dynamics. I’ll help you reflect on what qualities will mesh best with your personality, what traits a partner should have to join you as a successful mate.”
    “Do I need an ok from you to get the little red light turned off?”
    “No.” She wasn’t happy about that.
    She was even less happy when she saw me mentally writing her off. She jabbed her card toward me and told me she’d call when I got settled. That was the first indication I was leaving the prison and my first hint that my counselors could find me whether I wanted them to or not. In the next minute, David handed me his card and filed out behind Joanne. Charlotte opened a folder when we were alone.
    “It’s time to find you a place to live.”
    “What’s wrong with my old place?”
    “I’ve contacted the Berniers. They’ve decided to stop renting the apartment over their garage. Don’t take it personally. Many people who used to rent rooms have stopped.”
    I’d never caused the Berniers any trouble. I’d helped Hank Bernier haul lumber for his deck and helped him take out the trash whenever I saw him making trips to the curb. I never brought anything to that apartment that could cause problems for him. And now he was throwing me out? And why was this woman contacting him for me? Did she really ask them about me moving back in? Or did she encourage them to throw me out? She seemed nice enough, but I wondered why Charlotte did what she did.
    My stuff was in storage. Moving would be easy, but I’d been in that apartment for three years. I lived alone over the garage, but it was the happiest home I’d ever known.
    Charlotte saw how frustrated I was and put her hand on mine. “Don’t take it personally, Michael. Lots of people rented rooms years ago to make extra money. It just doesn’t make sense anymore.”
    I was baffled. “Why not?”
    “Taxes,” she said. “The government takes eighty percent of what you earn over forty thousand. For people who already have a job, renting the room doesn’t really earn them enough to justify the hassle.”
    “Hassle?”
    I didn’t know much about