Idol of pigs
Each day (jhon) wakes up at 6:00 am as the image of a pig waking up from a peaceful slumber is sharply interjected into their minds by the machine. He walks out of his house, on the walls lay pictures of pigs making their way to work. In the dining hall there are moving images of pigs eating away to have a productive day at work.
(jhon) had only one aspiration to be like the poster, like the ideal pig-in constant service of the machine.
In the dining hall, he forced the grey mush down his throat.
“Remember.. A well fed pig is a hard working pig” He mumbled to himself, now gaging a little. After finishing his ‘meal’ he rushed out the grey building and into the city.
The road in front of him buzzed with cars moving forward in unison. All moving towards the MACHINE OF THE ALBANY DISTRICT where everybody worked. The MACHINE itself was a steel brutalist building covered with screens showing ads.
The inner building where he worked was divided into various cubicles, (jhon) walked into it with a false pretense of excitement.
At lunch he again ate the same grey mush with a side of bland vegetables. He didn't have anything better to eat as everything good and nutritious was expensive. Some days he even skipped meals.
“If i just work hard enough i will be able to eat what i need.” was his mantra for those days.
A bell rang not 30 minutes later, (jhon) made his way back to his cubicle. (Jeff) who worked one cube over, walked out of the manager's office, with a look of a broken pig.
“Hey what happened?” (John) asked with concern.
“I didn’t get my raise despite my overtime.”(Jeff) he said with a sad look that soon turned vicious. “He[the manager] runs around in a fancy car like he does any work.” he finished.
(jhon) looked around, fearful that someone might hear them. He ushered both of them out to somewhere else.
“Maybe if you worked a little harder, you would get a raise” he replied and promptly left him alone. (jeff) was too heretical for (jhon).
Last week, his landlord informed him that he will evict him if he doesn’t pay his rent(he had been unable to pay rent for the last few months), since then he had been working overtime.
“Jeff has always been a lazy scum, dragging us down.” he thought to himself repulsively. In his mind, people like Jeff were the reason for everybody else's poverty.
A few days later, the road which was always inching forward in the morning rush had slowed down. (John) looked outside irritated, at the long mass of cars, waiting. To end it a few pigs were being dragged by the cops. There was a long line behind the strikers, who were leaving the office.They had signs demanding fair wages and bread.
As he looked in, he noticed (jhon) who was shouting something at a cop. Within a few minutes all of them were dragged away.
As he entered the office, he noticed a deathly silence. He opened his email, “you were laid off this morning.” it was announced.
He quickly left the building and rushed to his home in a panic.
He arrived at his home, he jammed his keys in the lock but it didn’t open. The lock had changed.
Yesterday was the last day for rent. He stared at the poster of an employee working for his company with a hollow heart.