The Mother of Exiles
#5 of Writing Group Challenge
This was for a writing challenge in a Telegram group I joined (link here if you're interested: https://t.me/joinchat/CPoeZhclggenrOEh0yYwvg). In under a thousand words, we would write a short story fitting a chosen theme. This week, we were supposed to, "write a story consisting of mostly dialogue. Make sure it's clear who's talking, and make sure to make the dialogue smooth and natural." Overall, even though it's at 1,100 words, I am glad I wrote this.
If you're wondering, this is a prequel to my upcoming "Maverick Hotel" series, and the excerpt can be found here: https://www.sofurry.com/view/1443095 I hope this makes you further excited about this series, because I certainly am!
With a determined sigh, I pressed the 'on' button.
"This is a message to every thinking fur dwelling across the Interweb. Let me tell you a story. It...It isn't one you will find on any bookshelf or any Interweb site. My...My name is Johanna Cardinal, but until today, I existed under a different name...
"I was born John Jeremiah Cardinal, on September 5th, 1973, in what used to be an American city called Denver, Colorado. Now it is a warzone. My mother, bless her soul to the ends of Heaven, told me it was a gorgeous morning when she gave birth to me.
"Before we became a 'nation reborn'--I'm using air quotes by the way, the United States of America was going through recession, homelessness, high oil prices and a bad crime-wave not seen since my granddad walked the Earth. I remember being in middle school when I heard about the newest president abandoning his political party, only to build a new one dedicated to 'religious freedom' and 'making America devout again'.
"Growing up, I knew I wasn't ever meant to be a buck. No...I was meant to be a doe, slender and female and beautiful...but I also knew the costs of having these thoughts. I saw on the evening news, around the time the Revenant Party started their anti-gay 'Save the Cubs' campaign, how furs treated those considered immoral. Before the conversion clinics and reeducation camps, before the horrors we currently endure, God-fearing fundamentalists were the ones to punish their enemies. One classmate of mine was beaten to a pulp by his parents for staring at a shirtless man on the TV for too long. Daddy was like that too, except....except he'd break my arm after catching me...trying on Mom's clothes."
Clearing my throat, I suppressed the memory and moved on,
"I joined the Army when I was eighteen--mainly to escape my folks--unaware of the changes yet to come. Our nation was thriving thanks to new alternative energy initiatives, as well as what historians would can 'revenomics'. The Revenant Part had been enjoying sixteen years of dominated elections when in 1997, Congress finally enacted a one-party system, renaming ourselves 'The Devout States of America'. That year, many Americans rejoiced as the Ten Commandments replaced the Bill of Rights. Our nation was reborn under God. The rest of us either protested on the streets, risking arrest in the name of freedom, or did the next best thing: secede from the Union.
"I was stationed outside Denver when many of my fellow soldiers joined in the mass exodus to the west coast. You youngsters know them as 'The Immoral States'--California, Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington and so on--thanks to that propaganda they'd been feeding us. However, the Western Republic has managed to survive for over twenty years, despite being considered a loose team of secularist rebels. I fought them, you know...I was among the first soldiers to fight in what would become the Disputed Zone, a battlefield spanning the Rocky Mountains, fighting and killing for God and country. My track record eventually caught the attention of the DSA's new secret police force, the Archangels. It was my duty to round up the country's enemies, from deviants to criminals and the occasional terrorist.
"You're probably wondering why I did it. Why did I abandon my duty as an Archangel captain? Well...I have Georgina to thank for that..."
Keep going, I told myself. Do it for her.
"My hate dissipated with the wind a few years ago, when my wife found me in our bedroom, crossdressing. As much as I tried to repress this side of myself, it was a part of me that would never go away. I expected her to be disgusted and report me, but...she didn't. Or rather, she couldn't. That is when she told me her allegiance to the underground resistance. Despite her marriage to be coming from duty, she still loved me, and I did too. She was the same doe I fell in love with. From her, I slowly reopened my eyes to the truth: the country I once fought for had died long ago.
"Several days ago, somebody betrayed our trust. Some sniveling_coward left an anonymous tip to the Archangels how one of their own was not only a sexual deviant but conspired with a wanted criminal. I _refuse to call my wife a 'terrorist', because she didn't use fear to fight. She fought with truth and knowledge, believing America deserves better than a theocracy veiled under rigged votes and a watchful government. During our escape, her resistance friends managed to save me, but...but at the cost of her life. I miss you Georgina, and I plan to finish what you helped start.
"Even as I speak, the Homeland Security Agency is probably trying to trace where this video was posted, but they won't. They will tell you I'm a traitor and an extremist seduced by the enemy, but I'm not. They will tell you America is a nation that is the voice of God's Word, but they aren't. For decades, the Revenant Party has corrupted and twisted America into a tyrannical shadow of its former self. Alongside the existence of many persecuted furs, now my comrades I fight with, they have made our rights, our beliefs, and our very thoughts a crime, but God has refused to purge our free will from the Earth!
"My name is now Johanna Cardinal. And if you are listening to this, you are a freed fur. You are the Defiant. This won't be the last video I post, but I will end it with a poem my beloved wife shared with me a couple months ago. It goes like this:
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
'Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!' cries she
With silent lips. 'Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!'"
Click.
Taking a deep breath in my chair, the video now being shared and reposted across the Interweb, I smiled and waved my long hair over my shoulder.
I love you, Georgina. Thank you, for accepting who I am