Thursday, October 27, 2016

That Mennonite Dress


Continued from Leery Mennonite

I caught a glimpse of Hilary one last time as he waved back to me when I drove away. On my way driving to the club, I couldn’t help but wonder and daydream about where I might be driving to at that moment if I would have had a person like Hilary telling me that going to school was wonderful in my life.   

When I walked into the club I felt all eyes looking at me and immediately assumed that every single person in the club was thinking ‘what is she doing in a place like this?’ all because of the dress that I was wearing.

I spotted Sam and walked straight to him.  He had already ordered me a piña colada and handed it to me when I got there. I sat down at the table, inhaled deeply and took a sip of my drink before I looked around to see who was all there.

Sam sat down across the table from me. “I’m so glad you came, Anna.”

“Thanks, but I feel wired every time I walk into a place like this you know.”

“You shouldn’t.  It's just a place where people come to hang out and talk.”

“Yeah, but I’m not sure if this weird feeling will ever change for me.  Thanks for the drink, Sam.”

“You’re welcome.”

I looked up and saw the group of guys walking in toward us that I had overheard talking about how disgusting Mennonite women were. One of them made eye contact with me and quickly looked away. It was so awkward. I wanted to disappear. Sam noticed how tense I was as I held my breath. He slid his chair closer to me.

“Just try to ignore those guys.”

“Okay, I will try, but it's not that easy you know.”

“I know Anna. Hey, I’ve been wondering, whatever happened after you wrote that punctuationless letter.  Did you actually send it to your family in Mexico?”

“Yes, I did, and I got a letter back after that. They don’t even know what I did. They didn’t get it but I knew that they wouldn’t and that was the whole point.”

Sam laughed and took a sip of his beer.

“Since my mom visited me, she has backed off a bit. She’s still not happy about my choices but at least she is not begging me to come back every time I talk to her.”

“Well, that’s good.”

“Yeah, it sure makes things a bit easier for me when I don’t have to feel like I should be feeling guilty about it all the time.”

“Yeah, no kidding.”

“So, do you know when you are leaving to go to Alberta? Orwhere were you going again?”

“Yes, Alberta, and I am leaving Monday.”

“You mean this Monday?”

“Yes.”

“What? I can’t believe you are leaving that soon.”

“I know, me neither.  I am nervous about it and wondering if it’s the right thing to do. But if I don’t go, then I won't know, right?”

“Right.”

“How about you? Do you know what you will be doing after you finish school?”

“You mean IF I finish school?”

“No, I mean WHEN you finish school, Anna.  And you will.”

“I have no idea.  I can't even think that far ahead.  I feel like I am going to be going to school forever and ever.”

“Well, it might feel like it right now but it will be over before you know it. Do you think you will go back to Mexico anytime soon?”

“Well, I have been thinking about it a lot lately, especially since all this talk about the world ending in a year. I was thinking that I should go back one last time, in case it is true.”

“That’s a good plan, I mean we never know when our worlds will end. That is true.”

“I mean I can always come back here, if it isn't, right?” I asked as I took the last sip of my drink. I felt my confidence meter rising as the alcohol began to kick in.

“Right, and how is your Spanish coming along? Are you still learning it?” he asked.

I thought I should answer him in Spanish just to see if I could do it. I took a deep breath and went for it.

Sí, muy bien, estoy aprendiendo mucho. Gracias,” I said and turned all red because I knew it sounded really bad as I heard myself say the words out loud.

“Very good Anna. You should be very proud of yourself,” he said and gave me a high five. We both laughed.

Queres una cerveza?” he asked.”

“No gracias,” I replied.

“Anna, you have totally inspired me to learn Spanish.  Watching you read that dictionary every day at work made me want to learn it too. I got myself a Spanish-English dictionary and in my spare time I have been learning Spanish too.”

“What? I inspire you?”

“Yes, Anna you inspire me. You know how many people talk about learning another language but never actually do it? And you are learning two at the same time. I think it's amazing.”

“Okay…”

And there it was…an awkward silence. I couldn’t figure out what to say to that. I dared to look up at Sam’s face and found him looking right back at me. I turned all red as I thought, “Ay caramba! what do I say?” I held my breath.

“Are you sure you don’t want another drink?” he asked.

“Yeah, I don’t really trust anyone when I am drinking, not even myself. I get way to brave and then I say stupid things that I shouldn’t be saying.” I answered.

“Alright… Wait! You don’t even trust ME?”

“Ah… if I wasn’t drinking then maybe,” I answered and felt all awkward again.

“Okay, so you mean you don’t trust yourself around me when you are drinking?”

“What a relief,” he sighed as a bunch of people that I didn’t know came over to our table and sat down. I got up and went to the bathroom feeling most awkward as they all stared at me.

In the bathroom, I splashed cold water on my face and looked at myself in the mirror.  I thought, “Anna, it's this dress, you should have gone home to change.”

I had been wearing my dresses a lot more since I had run into my uncle at school. That memorable day would have turned out so differently if I wouldn’t have been wearing jeans. But the more I tried to wear my dresses at the right time in case that should happen again, the more it seemed that it was always the wrong time.

As I was walking back to the table, I noticed that a few of the guys that thought that Mennonite women are gross, were talking to Sam. I walked past the table toward the door and thought “I just can't be here.  I need to go.” Sam got up and followed me.

“Anna, where are you going?”

“I think I should go home now.”

“Can you please stay just a little while longer?” he asked as he grabbed my hand.

“Anna please come and sit beside me just for a little while longer, okay?” The song Mombo Number Five started playing and most of the people from our table went to the dance floor.

“Okay, I will stay a bit longer,” I said as he guided me back to the table. The music was so loud it was hard to hear people talking.

It was incredibly awkward no matter how hard Sam tried to include me and make me feel like I was part of the group.  I just didn’t feel comfortable, and he felt it too. Finally, he had enough of it and asked, “Hey, would you like to get out of here and go for a walk around the block or something?”

“Yes, I would love to get out of here.” We left and went for a walked around the block. The streets were crowded with drunks coming out of the club across the street.

“Grrrr…. So much for getting some alone time with you! This is the worst time to go outside,” Sam growled.

“Yeah.  Wow! Where are all these people coming from?” I asked.

“It’s Friday and it’s closing time. Everyone is trying to get a cab to go home.”

“Wow! That’s a lot of people!”

“Yeah, well it's normal for a Friday night. This is what most people do around here. Whenever you want to go home I’ll walk you to your car.”

“Okay, thank you. I think its time for me to go home now. It’s been a really long and hard day for me.”

“Alright, I’m sorry Anna. I have been completely selfish keeping you from going home.”

On our way back to the parking lot, we kept getting stopped by drunks asking us for cigarettes. We just kept walking to the parking lot behind the club where I parked the car. I stopped, turned around,  and leaned against the brick wall of the club to catch my breath.

“Anna, I can't believe that this is it,” said Sam in a sad voice.

“I know, I can't believe it either, nothing is ever going to be the same. I never imagined it being this hard.”

Sam walked up to me and put his arms on either side of me, resting his palms against the wall and looked down. He lifted his head to look at me and said, “Anna, I’m so glad I was able to get to know you. I don’t know if I will ever see you again,” He sighed as he rested his forehead against mine.

All I could think was, “Anna, get your salsa jar out of your purse quick!” He took a deep breath and pushed himself way far enough so our foreheads didn’t touch anymore. He put his hand under my chin to lift my head so I had no choice but look into his hazel eyes as he asked, “Anna, ¿qué harías si te besara ahora mismo? (What would you do if I kissed you right now?)” He hugged me tightly against himself as he waited for my answer.

The Dietsch side of my brain said, “Oba, Anna quick! Grab the salsa jar, wack him with it and run like the Jriese Diesta is chasing you.” But every inch of my body and the other side of my brain said, “Wait!” My heart began pounding out of my chest uncontrollably. I reminded myself to breathe as I thought of something clever to say back to him in Spanish, but I my brain was to mixed up. At that moment I couldn’t find any of the Spanish I had stored in there. So I worked up the courage to ask, “Would you risk finding out?”

“In a heartbeat,” he whispered in my ear.

I closed my eyes and thought, “Oh no!” I braced myself for the worst as memories of Jake Dyck surfaced. But nothing terrible was happening. Instead, I felt the touch of his hands on either side of my face. I thought I was going to pass out, but when I felt his lips touch mine, I dropped my purse with the salsa jar in it to the ground. Every inch of my body felt like it had the first time I had put on my favorite ‘purple dress.’ My entire body felt like it was being gently wrapped in warm and shiny purple satin until I couldn't feel my feet anymore. I felt so light I felt like I was floating off the ground.

When he stopped, he pulled me in for a hug and I felt his hand slide down my arm to my hand. He gently took my hand as he pulled himself away from me. “I’ll walk you to the car,” he murmured.

I picked up my purse with the salsa jar still inside it, miraculously unbroken. He walked me to my car and gave me one last tight hug before he opened the door for me and backed away. He put both of his hands into his pockets standing there hunched over and quietly said, “Goodbye, Anna.”

“Ah… okay, bye Sam,” I stammered.

When I parked the car in my parking spot at my apartment building, I couldn’t remember how I got there or if I had even stopped at any stop signs on my drive home. Click here to continue reading my story.



Thursday, October 20, 2016

Leery Mennonite


Continued from A Mennonite ending

George reassured me that our SIN cards were not our one-way tickets straight to hell. He said, “Anna, the people that are making all this stuff up are full of crap! Don’t listen to them. No one knows when the world will end.”

“Okay.”

“Remember all the other times when you thought something bad was going to happen to you and it didn’t?”

“Yes,” I replied in a low voice.

He walked over to me, put his arms around me and said, “Don’t worry so much about things that people say or do.”

“Okay, I will try.”

“It’s time to go, have a good night Anna.”

“Okay, you too.”

As much as I tried to listen to George and shut my thoughts down, I just couldn’t. I thought there must be a reason for this to come up now and I was still very suspicious of that SIN card that everyone had to have to be able to work in Canada. It made sense that this could be it and I just couldn’t leave it alone until I knew for sure.

When my shift finally ended I sped home to check my SIN card. I was so relieved when I couldn't find the numbers 666 anywhere on my SIN card.

By the end of the week, I had learned that Hillary was not Tony’s friend who just happened to be a girl. She was Tony’s ‘girlfriend’ and there were a lot more people that thought the same thing as George told me, about the whole y2k and the world coming to an end was bullshit. Still, I had no choice but to listen to people argue about it during computer class while I was learning the keyboard. Some days I was positive that someone was sneaking into the school at night and mixing up the letters on the keyboard because I just knew that the letter J had been in a different spot the day before.

As the teacher explained that we were to type words only looking at the computer screen, without looking at the keyboard. I thought, “yeah, that is not even possible. You’ed have to be an absolute genius to be able to learn something that complicated.”

Going to work at the factory for my last shift was incredibly hard and emotional for me. As I reminded myself every step of the way: This will be the last time you will do this, Anna. This is the last time you will see most of these people, as all of the day shift people left with big smiles on their faces. They didn’t even look back once as they drove away.

I thought, “They must be going to an even better job than this one, they are so lucky” as I looked for George everywhere and couldn’t find him in the crowd, so I just went straight to work and started my sewing machine one last time.

Sam came, sat down on my sewing table during break time and asked, “How are you doing Anna?”

“Sad, weird and I am not even sure, how about you?”

“The same,” he answered in a low sad voice.

I hadn't seen Sam in a while and I was curious to know what he thought about the world coming to an end. So I just dove right in and began talking to him. “This week went by faster than I thought. It's probably because of what I learned in my computer class, you know, about the world coming to an end. People in my class were talking about something called y2k and that this is what is going to cause the world to end. Do you know anything about that?”

“Yes, I do, can you believe that there are people planning for this to actually happen?”

“No,” I answered in my guiltiest voice as I thought “Ah… I was starting to plan, but only in my head so far.”

“I mean no one knows when this is going to happen, so why worry about it so much right?”

“Right.”

“Anna, what are you doing after work?” Sam asked as our supervisor walked by and gave us a weird ‘get back to work’ look.

“We should probably get back to work before we get in trouble,” I suggested.

Sam laughed and said, “What are they going to do, fire us?”

I felt guilty for agreeing with Sam as I gave him a fake smile.

“If he has a problem with me talking to you on our last day working here, he can go and ah… never mind. So are you doing anything after work?”

“Going home to try to go to sleep,” I replied.

“Who can sleep after this?”

“I didn’t say sleep. I said try to sleep.”

He laughed and said, “Yes, you did say that, would you like to come and join us for a drink at the bar after work tonight? I mean, endings like these shouldn’t pass by us uncelebrated.”

“Ah… who is all going?” I asked.

“A few of the guys that work at the back and some of my friends are meeting up with us.”

“Okay, I will think about it and let you know,” I answered as I thought, “I wonder which guys, the day shift guys that think that Mennonite women are disgusting?”

“Okay, I will talk to you at the end of our shift.”

“Great, sounds good Anna, see you later.”

I thought about it long and hard as I fought thoughts about how those guys made me feel after I heard them talking about us like that. I thought, “How can I be in a group with them and not feel awkward? Or what if the Mexican cowboys show up again? And George and Christina won't be there to help me?”

I began to talk myself into going, knowing that I still had that salsa jar in my purse. Sam had been nothing but nice to me, but if he or anyone else tried anything, they would leave me no choice but to pull that jar out of my purse and use it.

As I continued sewing in deep thought wishing that I wouldn’t have to use my salsa jar on anyone, a deep voice behind me asked, “How are you doing, Anna?”

I turned around and saw Hilary standing there, beautifully dressed as always, leaning against the sewing desk with his arms crossed.

I looked at his shiny black shoes as I answered him, “I am sad but I am okay.”

“Me too, I just wanted to come and say thank you for all the hard work you have done here and to wish you the beast of luck with whatever you decide to do in the future.”

“Thank you, you too,” I said as I looked up to his elbow.

“I didn’t have a chance to get to know many people that worked here. But because of your, um, situation that happened here, I have gotten to know you and I can't help but feel bad about leaving you unemployed knowing how much you have relied on the income that this job had provided for you.”

I slowly moved my head up to look at his face and saw a tear rolling out from under his big glasses as I began talking. “When I first learned what a pink slip actually was, I thought that getting one with my name on it would be the end of me. But then George found out that this new Harris government had passed a new law. A law that allows people like me to stay on unemployment while I go to school, long enough to be able to get my GED. I won't even need to look for another job,” I explained, and a tear made its way down my cheek as I realized the this was probably the last time I would ever hear the sound of his deep, haunting voice.

“That is wonderful news, Anna, wonderful! How exciting. I am so happy for you. Thank you for sharing that with me, I feel relieved to know this,” he said and reached out to shake my hand.

As he shook my hand he said, “Anna, it has been wonderful to know you. I wish you the best of luck with everything you do.” All I could think about was something like, “To have gotten a hug from this man named Hilary with the deepest haunting voice ever, would have been THE ultimate hug for a girl like me, but I’ll take his words and a handshake.” 

I so badly wanted to ask him all kinds of questions about what he was going to do after the factory closed. Or if he was moving away too like many people were, but I didn’t because I wasn’t sure it would be appropriate and I didn’t want to ruin the moment. So I just held onto the sound of his voice for as long as I could because I didn’t know if I would ever hear him speak again.

While I continued working all I could think about were the words he said and the sound of his voice when he said them. It left me feeling incredibly sad. I didn’t like that I was losing that many people all at once, people that I had seen every day for so long, and learned to care about.

Hilary’s words led me to decide that I would go out for a drink with Sam. As I remembered when George told me that I needed to go and live the shit out of life. Sam was leaving for Alberta soon and I didn't know if I would ever see him again either. I had grown to like Sam. I considered him a good friend. After all, he had proven himself to me over and over again that he was a good person and that I could trust him.

I thought to myself, I can't just go home and carry on like nothing has happened when such an enormous part of my life has just ended. The more I thought about it, my chest began to feel so tight that it was hard to breathe.

My life in Canada started at that factory. I had learned to speak English there. I had experienced so much at that factory I just couldn’t be happy that soon, it was just going to be another memory. I knew that no matter how much I would learn and even if I would eventually get another job, maybe even a better one, I would never forget how much I learned and loved working at that factory.

I knew I had no choice but to remember George’s words about being forced to change, grow and move forward. That all of that was good for us just to get me through that. I didn’t want to meet new people and do different things. I wanted things to stay the same and keep the people I knew in my life just the way they had been. But the end of the shift bell rang and I had no choice but to turn off that sewing machine one last time and walk out of there.

When I walked into the cafeteria one last time to grab my lunch bag, fighting back the tears that were ready burst out of my eyes. Sam was sitting at the table waiting for me. “Hey Anna, so what do you say, are you meeting us for a drink?”

“Hey Sam, yeah I think so, are you going straight there from here?”

“Yes.”

“I think I should go home and change first.”

“Why? You don’t need too, you look great the way you are dressed, Anna.”

I turned all red when I asked, “Really Sam? You think I look great in this dress?” I was wearing my brown pleated Mennonite dress.

“Yes, you do Anna, you don’t need to go home and change first.”

“Okay, I will go for one drink.”

“Great! I'll see you there,” he said, walked out and didn’t look back.

I sat there for a while and looked around the cafeteria one more time. It was so quiet in there after everyone had left. All I could hear was my heartbeat and the fridge running. It reminded me of my fula’s funeral. I was standing there alone in the silent aftermath not knowing what to do with what I was feeling after everyone had left.

I got up, picked up my bag, walked past the perfect attendance plaques that didn’t have my name on any of them, and the first phone I had ever used, on my way out. I got into the car, started it, took a deep breath, looked up at the door and saw Hilary standing there leaning against the door frame, legs crossed with his hands in his pant pockets. It looked like he was in deep thoughts staring into the distance. I looked at him, smiled and waved as I slowly drove out of the parking lot. Click here to continue reading my story.

Leery Mennonite image courtesy of Nan Peters

Thursday, October 13, 2016

A Mennonite ending



Monday morning I woke up to my new life. I had one more week of work and that was it. After that all I had to do was go to school and pass all my classes. Thinking about my conversation with George, about changing and growing, I felt relieved and accomplished that I had actually made it this far.

I put on my favorite brown pleated dress with yellow tulips, white socks and black strappy sandals and off I went to grade ten ready to face whatever came my way. I was the first one to show up in my class. I picked a seat in the back row  the second chair in, and put a notebook on the table at the first spot to save it for my friend Steve. I closed my eyes and inhaled a deep breath as I remembered my Mennonite school back home. As doubts and fears began to surface, I thought to myself, “I chose to sit here! This is my choice.” I quietly said all my memorised prayers in my head for Steve to show up. I relied heavily on his notes to make it through grade ten.

While I sat there with my eyes closed wishing with all my heart that Steve would show up, I felt someone walking in and sitting down beside me on the chair to my right. I slowly glimpsed over moving only my eyes to see and all I saw were these snow white hands with black polished fingernails. I slowly moved my eyes back to my spot thinking what a relief, a woman is sitting on my right side. As I exhaled a relieving breath, a deep voice asked, “Is this seat taken?

My heart stopped for a second while I searched for words and said, “Ahhh no.”

“Wicked,” said the deep voice.

I turned my whole head to see what could be happening and I saw the whitest man I had ever seen. He was dressed in black from head to toe. His hair was black and spiky. Before my mind took over thinking all kinds of what-the-hecks, he said, “Hi, my name is PJ, do you mind if I sit here?”

“Ahhh okay, sure.”

As he moved around and dug books out of his backpack I noticed a familiar scent that surrounded him. He smelled like Christina’s friend Josh’s apartment but mixed with smoke. He smelled like he had smoked a lavender cigarette before he came to school. It was the oddest experience.

I got so worried as the class filled up quickly, the teacher started writing on the blackboard and Steve was nowhere in sight. When the teacher said,  “Welcome to grade ten math class, everyone,” I realised that I had assumed that everything would be exactly like it was in grade nine only a level higher because that was how it was in my school back home.

By the end of the class, I was relieved when I realised that math was a lot easier for me than English and that I just might be able to do math class without Steve’s help. I had hope again that my friend would show up for English class.

I ran to my English class. I looked for Steve, everywhere on my way there and again I was the first one in that class. I picked the back row and sat down in the second chair in and put my books on the chair to my left to save it for Steve. I closed my eyes and whispered all my prayers in my head for Steve to show up. When I opened my eyes he was standing next to me, and I yelled “STEVE!”

My heart sank when I made eye contact with him and saw how depressed he looked.

“Hey girl,” he replied in the most depressing voice I had ever heard him speak.

“What’s wrong, why are you so sad?” I asked.

“Anna, I really hate this, I don’t want to be here,” he said as he sat down next to me.

I thought to myself, “Oh shit! What do I say to him? I didn’t know what to say,” and said, “Well, I am so happy that you are here, I looked for you all morning. There are so many new people here, it's kind of scary. I haven't seen anyone that I know from the last term, not even Chung.”

“I know, eh? Anna, you were actually my motivation for showing up here today. When I thought about how excited you were about learning and how far you came in just one semester. I realised that I have never valued learning like you do. I have taken all of this for granted my whole life and now I am paying for it. That’s why I am so far behind and I have to do this while I watch my friends get promotions, make good money and live their dreams. Anna, I am such an idiot.” 

I thought,” Oh crap! What do I say?” and it came to me.  I told him what George told me when I thought that I was a hopeless idiot.

I worked up the courage, knowing that I couldn’t look at his face and concentrate enough to say what I was going to say him. I looked down at his hand and in a shaky voice, I went for it, “No Steve, you are NOT an idiot! You are smart! And you are just doing your life in a different order then your friends are and there is nothing wrong with that.” I looked up at his face and found him staring at the pleats on my dress again. Then I realised that I was wearing the same dress that had caused his accident on his way to school the first time I met him and I felt bad about it all over again. 

As he looked up at me with a smile on his face about to say something, a beautiful tall young woman with curly red hair half way down her back walked into the classroom and said, “Good morning, my name is Marla and I will be teaching this class.” The whole class stared at her as she so effortlessly began writing on the blackboard.

At the end of the class, Steve handed me his notes from the class and said, “Thank you for encouraging me to keep going. It helped a lot.”

“You’re welcome and thank you for these notes. I would never be able to do this without your help.”

“Anytime girl, I don’t think you will need my help much longer, you are doing great Anna. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Okay, see you tomorrow,” I said and off I went to my first introduction to computers class. This was the class I feared the most. I had only used one once after Steve typed everything in for me when I was searching up information about my recurring dream about Posen Land. Again I chose the spot furthest away from the front of the class. Now that I was able to choose where I sat, there was something familiar and comforting about sitting at the back.

As I sat there and stared at the computer wondering how the heck I would turn it on, a tall woman dressed in baggy jeans, a plain plaid button up shirt and a baseball cap with her long blond hair pulled back into a ponytail walked up to me. The way she was dressed reminded me of how the men back home in my colony dressed on the weekdays. She sat down beside me and said, “The button on the bottom of the screen.”

I looked up at her and asked, “What?”

“That’s how you turn it on, push the button.”

“Oh, okay,” I replied.

“Hi, my name is Tony, are you saving this seat for anyone?”

“No.”

“What is your name?” she asked.

“Anna.”

“Okay, nice to meet you, Anna,” she said as a woman walked in and sat down next to her. They hugged and talked for a while and Tony turned to me and said, “Anna, this is my girlfriend Hillary. Hillary this is Anna.”

All I could think about was “What? I am so confused, I thought Hillary was a man's name.”

“Hi, nice to meet you, Anna,” said Hillary.”

“Hi, you too,” I said awkwardly as a group of guys walked into the class talking about how they were going to party every day for the next whole year because the world was coming to an end. They were talking about something they called y2k. I forgot all about the girl named Hillary as I watched those guys search information on y2k.

It didn’t take long until the class was full and everyone including the Ken the teacher was talking about the world coming to an end. It got me thinking to the point that my nerve problems were waking up again. That class discussion brought me back to a time when everyone in my colony was worried about it soon being the end of the world. I didn’t really understand it but we heard bits and pieces of this story that people in the colony talked about how this would happen. That there would be two groups of people, one group would have something with the numbers 666 on it and with this they could get anything they desired, but having this meant that they would belong to the beast, the devil. And everyone that didn’t have this thing with the numbers 666 on it would suffer until they would die of hunger and thirst, but only they would go to heaven.

By the end of the class, I had learned how to turn on a computer and a whole lot about y2k that I didn’t understand at all. I couldn't stop my mind from wondering how to make sense of what I already knew and what I had learned in computer class. I couldn’t help but think back to my SIN card and how I couldn't do anything in Canada without it. It was starting to make me think that this just might be it.

On my way to work, I thought, “When I get home tonight I need to check my SIN card again. I need to make sure that there are no combinations of the numbers 666 anywhere on this card.” The more I thought about it, it all began to make sense and it scared the pleats right out of my dress.

I couldn’t help but feel very depressed about the whole thing. I thought what good is all of what I have been doing if the world is going to end in a year? And it hit me when I walked into the factory, that that would be the last Monday that I would work there. In a way my world as I knew it was coming to an end. I sat down in the cafeteria and just felt all of that weighing me down and it only got worse as I watched George walking toward me showing me his teeth while he smiled at me.

I thought, “Oh no, what if George’s card is marked? I can't keep this important information to myself, I need to warn him about this.”

“Hey sweetie, what’s wrong you look worried, how was your first day of grade ten?” he asked.

“Hi, George, it was okay, there were a lot of people that I have never seen before. How was your day?”

“It was scary, like most Mondays here, you know, I couldn’t smile at anyone because I didn’t want to get beat up.”

“Oh yes, I know. I remember. Hey, have you ever really checked all the numbers on your SIN card?”

“Ah… I’m not sure, I think so, why what's going on, whey do you ask?”

“Well, I got all worried about it today in computer class. When people were talking about the world coming to an end because of something to do with computers and y2k.”

“Okay… yeah, I have heard about that but what does that have to do with my SIN card?”

“Do you know about the mark of the beast? You know, the numbers 666?”

“Ah… yes, but no Anna! No, that’s not… ah… that wouldn't be on your SIN card, wait, what? Oh f#ck.” Click here to continue reading my story.


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