Short Story: Hingespring

Short Story: Hingespring

"All Aboard!"

“All aboard!” the Conductor snorted.

The crippled children were herded aboard a magnetto train called MoreFurther. They were going to a medical facility called Hingespring on the other side of the planet and to be made perfect. The Mistress of Conductors, who the children called Mad Myrna, snorted and shouted and prodded the children and called them 'crips'. Her breath was foul, her body odour was odorous, her tongue was tart, disrespectful; she was disloyal and told lies and her heart was cold and stained. She believed in doom and gloom and told nightmares to the children. Oh, she was a horror of society perfection and she hated imperfections.

Rico, the Small Boy, sat next to Buddy, the Blind Girl, and did not speak for two days. And yet they spoke volumes as they mindmelted.

Rico had been made small by the Agent Orange defoliant that was sprayed on his family farm and killed his parents during the pandemic plague. Buddy, the Blind Girl, was made blind when the Agent Blue defoliant was sprayed on her family kiwi-pie shop during the pandemic plague and killed her parents. Rico, the Small Boy, and Buddy, the Blind Girl, were orphans.

And the magnetto train called MoreFurther chugged and chugged to Hingespring, the medical facility on the other side of the planet, where they were going to be made perfect.

Mad Myrna was jealous of Rico, the Small Boy, and Buddy, the Blind Girl, because she knew they had fallen in love and were soul mates and she hated people who were true-love soul mates. Mad Myrna told Rico, the Small Boy, and Buddy, the Blind Girl, they were ugly and should not sit together. Rico the Small Boy, told Mad Myrna that she didn't have to be mean, that she could be nice. And Mad Myrna screeched and screamed and called Rico, the Small Boy, a 'crip' and took Buddy, the Blind Girl, by the wrist and pulled her out of her seat and led her away.

And the magnetto train called MoreFurther chugged and chugged to Hingespring, to make the crippled children perfect, to live in a world of perfection.

Mad Myrna scolded Buddy, the Blind Girl, and told her that Rico, the Small Boy, wanted to take her for everything she was worth and since she wasn't worth anything he wasn't worth sitting next to.

And the magnetto train called MoreFurther chugged and chugged to Hingespring, to make the crippled children perfect, to live in a world of perfection.

Mad Myrna shouted and screamed and told the children they would be arriving at Hingespring and to get their crippled bodies up and ready to be made perfect, and she cackled and hackled and all the children thought she smelled stinky and were afraid of her.

And the magnetto train called MoreFurther chugged toward the Hingespring station on the horizon where the perfect doctors in white coats and rubber gloves, holding giant rats on leather leashes, waited to make them perfect in a world of perfection.

Mad Myrna shouted and screamed and prodded the children to get their ugly ‘crip’ bodies up from their seats and form a line to get off the train called MoreFurther.

And Rico, the Small Boy, took the hand of Buddy, the Blind Girl, and ran to the back of the train called MoreFurther, and they jumped off it as it entered the Hingespring station.

And they ran and they ran hand-in-hand to a world that wasn't perfect but where at least they could be free and in love and live happily together as soul mates beholding their own beauty....and it was called Merika...