alternatehistory.com

It was Saturday, and as in most of the world it was a holiday. While most of his classmates were out playing or watching television, Martin had a pretty bad case of the flu, which caused him to miss school the previous day. Martin was up at night, probably nine, and as his family only had one television in the living room, he didn't have much to do. He could read, but his books were packed in a bag, because his parents told him to. Martin did not know why, but obeyed them and did so. Now, with nothing to do Martin was wondering if he really should had been that obedient.

So Martin laid down, looking at nothing but the white ceiling, hearing nothing but the television on in the living room. It was like that for about another half an hour until the television turned off, and he could hear the front door opening. His mother came into his room and told him to get up, and gave him a bowl in case Martin vomited. His mother never told him the reason, but Martin decided to go into the living room anyways. When Martin came in he saw around thirty people, all of them he knew, as they were his parents' friends and their kids, who were either his friends or his brother's friends. Recently, he had been seeing them every week, but have been given permission to play with his friends outside while they talked. One of them, a short, pudgy, balding man in his late 40s spoke up.

"I believe we all know what happened to Charles" he said. "Couldn't keep his mouth shut, ended up getting reported by a Konny". Konny, Martin had heard that word many times by his parents. His parents used to talk about people they did not like, so Martin figured it was an insult. What Martin did not understand, however, was why his parents always lowered their voice while saying it, and why they used it against people they did not even talk to, like the old man who dresses like a soldier across the street.

Another man, this time a tall, young man, responded. "He is a coward, will end up-" before being interrupted by his wife, "Johannes, Engela and her kids are here, maybe show a little bit of respect?", her husband nodded, and said "What I am trying to say, is that Charles might end up telling what we're up to, so we must leave, right now". The man's wife responded, "Yes, though I believe that we must have a show of hands like we did last week at our house, who here we thinks it is not possible for us to leave?". Nobody raised their hands, save for Martin's parents. The tall man responded "But Andries, it was you who came up with this plan, and had been its most ardent supporter against some of us who thought it wasn't possible, why are you raising your hand?". Martin's father responded, "Oh, sure, we would begin to leave right now, but..." and pointed to Martin, whose sickly face was evident to everyone across the room.

Another man, who was short, yet skinny and was not showing signs of hair loss responded, "So? We all remember what happened to us during the civil war, and look at where we are now - people with a stable job and children, and now we are going to cancel our plans for a better life, all because of a sick kid?" Martin's father responded "He might vomit, which would reveal ourselves". This did not come to the short man, who responded "Yeah, so? He might vomit, though maybe not, and if we are so worried about it why don't we make him vomit? Hey, kid, put your hand in your mouth and count to ten, let's be finished with thi-" Martin's father told the short man to stop, and nobody spoke for about a minute.

During that minute, Martin had begun to slowly get up and go back to his room. He was feeling sleepy, and he was in no mood to listen to a bunch of grown-ups talk nonsense, about a "better life" and all that. What better life? As far as Martin was concerned, his family had got everything they needed, and then some. The Volkstaat was the only country for people like him, and all other countries (
besides a friendly country to its east which Martin had forgotten the name of, and some in Asia) were conspiring to destroy it, yet it still stood, which was all the evidence shown for how great of a country it is. Martin knew this, which was why he always excelled at his studies and why his teachers loved him. Martin had hoped his parents weren't talking to the traitors his teachers had been talking about at school. Martin laid down on his bed, closed his eyes, and went to sleep instantly, the talking of the adults resuming notwithstanding.

---

A few hours later, his mother opened his room and picked him up without any provocation. Martin had asked what had happened, though his mother had told him to shut up. His father was carrying bags, and he could see a lot of grownups and kids carrying bags and running. This had continued for a couple hours, and Martin felt like he was about to share his medicine with the grass, until his family and their friends had encountered a fence. Martin saw at the corner of his eye a soldier with a gun, and Martin, in a state of delirium, had thought that his father was joining the army for a moment, until he was thrown over the fence and saw everyone else climbing the fence and falling down. He was picked up again until he saw a flag. It did not look like the Volkstaat's flag, not anything like it in fact. He saw a sign next to it in Afrikaans, the language spoken in the Volkstaat, and apparently here as well. Martin saw "The Republic of the Western Cape" on it. Martin had heard about it in school, about how it was a terrible country full of degenerates, but Martin had little time to think about it, as all he could do was to wonder why his parents were talking to soldiers for about half an hour, and why some soldiers had a different color on their body. Next to the flag and the sign was a building, which his family entered, with soldiers at the door. The guns looked better, Martin had thought to himself.

Almost as if on cue, all the grownups started hugging each other as they entered, with tears in their eyes. They had all looked like they had accomplished something great, something which would be remembered for a long time. A lot of the kids were asking their parents what had happened and where they were. One parent responded "We're in a better country", something which Martin had wanted to argue against, but he couldn't. There was a couch in the building which Martin had decided to sleep in. He immediately went to sleep once closing his eyes.

Martin had a dream that night, about him having a second television, his family having a car, a bigger house, a pet dog and his father coming home happier, not talking about "inflation" and "embargo" and other big words Martin did not know. Martin woke up at around two in the afternoon, feeling a lot better. Martin had woken up in a house of someone he did not know, this time on a different couch. Someone took his family in during the night, and Martin still slept as he was being placed on the couch. Martin looked outside and saw a bright sun, which made him worried that it would be another hot day which would lead to him not wearing a shirt, as was the case around this time of the year. However, inside the house he didn't feel any warmth whatsoever, just an average temperature. Martin had decided to go outside to see how hot it was there, and it was pretty warm outside. Martin could not figure it out, how could it be so brisk inside the house, yet outside it was house? Martin could not figure it out, and went back inside. Martin's father was talking to someone when he came back inside, his father thanking him. Martin had put himself back on the couch.

---

Martin looked outside again. A thought crossed his mind, maybe it would be better. He tried to suppress it, but it kept coming back to him. Martin had wondered if his dream of a good life had meant something. Soon, the thoughts of life getting better and the teachers lying began to play in his head to the point where he could not suppress it any further. Not only that, but Martin believed that his parents were right in most cases, and that if they were saying that the Volkstaat was terrible and the Western Cape was great, who was he to argue?

Martin had finally accepted it, life, indeed, was going to get better.
Top