Free Peace Out (The Futures Trilogy Book 1) by G.M. Whitley Page A

Damn.
     
     
    Jenny didn’t come the next day. Marty looked for her every evening for a week, but she didn’t come. He watched her leave for school. He watched her come home. He watched her leave with a boy on a date on Friday night. He took out the trash while she was helping her mother in the yard on Saturday. She didn’t even look at him. Damn it all, Marty thought, shuffling back into the house. Why did he care?
    Marty had Indexed Jenny after eating a salmon dinner he barely tasted. It required a thumbprint since she was a minor. He learned that Jenny ’s grandfather had died of natural causes at an Enclave in Boca Raton. The services were held that day Jenny first visited him. So her family hadn’t gone down for the funeral. He wondered why. It couldn’t be money. Her father was a heart surgeon. They were hardly on BL.
    Marty tried to read a book on his tablet. He got about ten pages in and realized he had no idea what he was reading. He started over. That damn girl interrupting his routine, he thought. Everything had been fine. Just fine. Marty turned on the television. Digistar Lovey Michaels was doing a concert. She was pixilated perfection, a masterful piece of code. She shimmied across the virtual stage. Marty changed the channel. Detectives crouched beside a dead body. He changed the channel. Jeopardy featuring a digistarred Alex Trebek. He turned the TV off. Damn. Damn. Damn. Marty got himself a beer. Instead of going to his chair, he went to Diana ’s old desk and pulled open one of the drawers. Inside, there was still a small stack of envelopes and cards. A fancy curlicued “L” wound its way across the front of the cards. He took one out and scrounged around for a pen. He tested it on a piece of paper before opening a card to write.
     
    Dear Jenny,
    I am sorry for the loss of your grandfather. I am also sorry that I accused you of those things. I have been alone for many years now and I am not used to the kindness you have shown me. Please forgive me.
    Sincerely,
    Marty Lawson
     
    Marty put the card into the envelope and sealed it. He thought about going over to her house to put it in the mailbox but chickened out. Diana had bought a bunch of those forever stamps a while back. There should be a few left, he thought. He tried the drawer with the office supplies and found a lone stamp on a sticker sheet. He neatly addressed the envelope. The mailman had already come by and tomorrow was Sunday. He would put it in the mailbox first thing Monday morning.
    Feeling much better, Marty finished his beer. He went through his movies and picked out an action film. He fell asleep to the sounds of gunfire.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    SAMMY AND BECCA
     
     
    Look, in the animal kingdom there are predators to cull the old and sick from the herd. In olden days when times were tough didn ’t the Inuit stick the elderly on an ice floe and push them out to sea? And here we take the majority of our resources and pour them down the old fogey drain? [Laughter.] That’s a technical term people. Look, they’ve bred. They’ve worked. They’ve finished. The last contribution they can make to society is to, um, leave it. Right? Here with me today is author Lamont Seldon, his book The Young Republic in stores now.
    The Daily Show with Wyatt Dirks, 12/1/2023.
     
     
    “Quiet children,” Mr. Eggers said. “Today is Peace Out Education,” he said. “If I call your name, you may go to the library for the day. I think Mrs. Jefferson will let you watch a movie if you ask nicely.” He pulled out the stack of permission slips and flipped through them. “Valerie Jones, Faith Morales, and Pierce Fairweather. Everyone else, please remain seated.” The three students gathered their things.
    Becca raised her hand. Sammy poked her in the side. Hard. “Ouch,” Becca said, lowering her arm. Mr. Eggers hadn ’t noticed anything. “What’s going on?” she whispered.
    “What do you think?” Sammy whispered. “I