Free W: The Planner, The Chosen by Alexandra Swann, Joyce Swann

and then you can see the units.” Janice walked them down to one more huge building on the right. This building was as big as the dining hall, but it did not have windows, although it did appear to have skylights, and it certainly was fitted with solar panels.  “This is our all-purpose community center.” As they walked inside they could see that the building had been outfitted with stadium seating in the form of cushioned seats. The chairs were arranged around a large stage.
    “What is it for?”
    “Whatever the residents of the community want. Community meetings if the Division Director needs to meet with the residents. Movies—this building is fully equipped with sound and lighting and a retractable screen to rival the best movie theatre you have ever seen. Stage performances—who knows, we might end up with an aging Barrymore in here, and maybe he or she will want to start a theatre company. Religious services—community members who want to can attend worship services right here. We have a clergy member who will be here on Sunday mornings to provide religious instruction to anyone who wants to attend. The best thing about this building is that it can comfortably house every single person living in W at one time, plus every anticipated worker and staff person. You could put the entire population in this building. That really encourages community.”
    “Excuse me,” Kris raised her hand, “you have a member of the clergy to provide services?  How do you plan to accommodate differing faiths and religious traditions?”
    “Remember,” Janice reminded her, “the community is designed to gather people of similar belief systems and religions. Based on the makeup of this community, we are rotating one member of the Protestant clergy and one Catholic priest. If we have enough requests, we can see about adding some additional alternatives. But based on our data, what we have provided should be sufficient.”
    The class exited the final building and found themselves across the street from the first cluster of housing.  Janice led them to the first building and opened the doors for them. Kris noted that the main entry area was almost identical to her building at FE.  The sand-colored walls were bare except for a large poster that read, “Volunteerism is the heart of W.”
    She immediately looked for the elevator; it was on the left almost behind the stairs just as at FE.
    “I have a question,” she immediately asked, “I just moved into the federal employees housing, and our elevator is locked and requires a keycard for access. I suppose I understand that on some level for us—maybe if you aren’t healthy enough to take the stairs you shouldn’t be working for the federal government. But for seniors it’s different.  Surely we are not forcing people in their sixties, seventies and eighties to walk up numerous flights of stairs?”
    “Smart Seniors encourages physical activity. Many younger seniors are healthy enough for stairs, but if they have access to the elevators, they won’t use them. The presiding physician will determine if someone is unable to use the stairs, and he will issue elevator passes for those people. But we want to encourage our residents to push themselves to a greater level of physical activity than they have in the past, and taking the stairs is one easy way to do that.”
    Janice unlocked a ground floor unit, and the class squeezed in. Kris noted that the unit was almost exactly like hers, but it was a little more than twice as large. There was no kitchen and no microwave in the seniors’ units, but the stainless steel sink sat in the recycled glass counter top, and there was more cabinetry and an actual closet in this unit.  The sofa bed looked as if it would make out to a double or a queen. The same two chairs and the reclaimed wood table flanked the sofa bed. The primary difference between Kris’ unit and this one, other than the size, appeared to be that these units were