Esther’s Dystopian Days.

Esther’s Dystopian Days.

One “Nerd Punk’s” attempt to create a world she can control, when the real one is spinning out of her control.

Esther’s Dystopian Days. | Facebook

  • Esther’s Chance Meting with her Ex.

    Anime Penny Whyte by Cidolfuss Episode: 5 Esther’s Chance Metting with her Ex.                 Esther sank into the bench at the light rail station, her fingers brushing over the treasure she’d snagged at the consignment store: a boy’s large blue blazer. It hung a bit loose on her frame, but that was fine—it paired perfectly…

    Read more: Esther’s Chance Meting with her Ex.

  • Esther Got Hit by a Nazi.

    Esther and Ruth Goldbaum by Peggy Jo1 Creator’s Note: This is my first Esther Goldbaum story. Originally published on Facebook. It came out the day…

Esther’s Dystopian Days

By

David Heath

Episode: 2  The Thrifting Trip

                “Oh my gosh! This place is amazing!” Emily Bright gushed.

“You act like you’ve never been to a thrift store before,” Cleopatra Parker replied.

“I haven’t,” the blonde explained. “I mean, I’ve been to boutique consignment or vintage stores, sure, but nothing like this. My old friends don’t know what they’re missing.” A hint of sadness tinged her voice when she mentioned her old clique. “This place is huge—like supermarket huge!” she said, nearly overwhelmed.

“It might’ve originally been an Albertsons or Fred Meyer or something,” Cleo mused. “I’m pretty sure this is the biggest secondhand store on this side of the river, at least that I know of.”

                Esther Goldbaum finally emerged from the Salvation Army’s book section, which spanned more square feet than the mall bookstores her mother had grown up visiting. “Score!” she exclaimed, holding up a book. “A copy of Neuromancer for under three bucks, and it’s only halfway beat up!”

“That’s your favorite book. Don’t you already have, like, five copies?” Cleo asked her best friend.

“Sure, but this one has a green cover, and I don’t have one with a green cover yet,” Esther replied.

“Even for a nerd, you’re kind of obsessive,” the African-American girl teased.

Giddy from Red Bull and her new experiences, Emily ran up to Esther, grabbed her arm, and belted out, “E, I saw this tan sundress you’d look so cute in!”

“Esther doesn’t own a dress,” Cleo teased.

“I do too,” Esther said with mock defiance. “I have my bat mitzvah dress.”

“Wait, what? Wasn’t that when you were thirteen?” Cleo asked, shocked. “It still fits?”

Esther answered in a deadpan tone, “Own a dress and that it fits? Now you’re just moving the goalposts.” Even Cleo had to laugh at that, as Esther walked over to the men’s dress shirts and pulled out a yellow dress shirt, rubbing its sleeve between her thumb and forefinger. The shirt was close enough to the right color for her cosplay, though it was bigger than her frame—but that worked for her costume. She wasn’t sure if the worn fabric was thick enough. Holding it up to her friends, she asked, “Can you see through this?”

Cleopatra Parker looked up from the rack of blouses she was browsing. “A bit sheer,” she concluded.

Emily took the shirt from her friend and held it up to see if the thrift store’s overhead lights would penetrate it. “Yeah, I mean, you’ve got three weeks before RedOniCon. I’m sure you’ll find something that’ll work.” Three months ago, she would’ve been with her “friends”—the ones her mother still called “our kind of people”—at an exclusive Old Town boutique, not with a couple of self-proclaimed “nerd punks” in a Salvation Army, hunting for a costume for an anime convention. At the very least, she wasn’t afraid that Esther and Cleo would stab her in the back.

“How’s your Sailor Moon costume going, Em?” Cleo asked the blonde girl.

Before she had cut ties with her old life, the only anime Emily could remember watching as a child was Sailor Moon, and though her new friends had introduced her to more Japanese animation than she could have imagined, the Princess of the Moon still held a special place in her heart. “I think I’m going to have to order the top, but I found the perfect skirt at this cute little consignment store…”

She was interrupted when an employee turned on a large-screen TV to demonstrate it was still working for a customer. A loud screech of static filled the store. On the screen, an aerial shot showed men in camouflage body armor, hats and bandanas obscuring their faces, wielding assault rifles with no identifiable badges, moving on civilians—some of them women and children—fleeing from the aftermath of tear gas canisters. At first, Esther thought they were watching a dystopian war movie, until she saw the chyron scrolling below the scene, next to the news channel’s logo: “Camarillo, California – Live – ICE Moves on Farm Protesters.” She realized it was real-time helicopter footage of government agents clashing with protesters.

Emily gasped, and Cleo shook her head. “When you were down there last month working on that documentary about ICE and farmworkers, did you see anything like this?” she asked Esther.

                Esther was grateful that there was finally a question about her trip down south that didn’t involve a rather regrettable makeout session. “I think we were in a town nearby, but I’m not sure. We only got some choppy footage of farm bosses locking gates and ICE agents dressed like corporate Mad Max cosplayers.”

“It’s so sad,” Emily said softly. They all knew that if her parents were watching, they’d be cheering for the federal agents.

“This is bad,” Cleo added.

“Yeah, it gets worse,” Esther replied. “That slimeball in charge of DHS said he’s coming to Portland soon. No doubt he’ll bring his goon posse with him.”

“Why?” Emily asked.

Esther shrugged. “NPR didn’t go into details, but he probably wants to stir things up. Thinks he can trigger the same response they got in 2020—push a protest they can call a riot and roll in tanks. This country’s one Reichstag fire away from martial law.”

“What’s that?” Emily asked.

“It was the German legislative building,” Esther explained. “A guy set it on fire, and Hitler used it to blame Jews and communists, cracking down on them. The guy who did it was probably unhinged, but Hitler and the Nazis used it to tighten their grip on Germany.”

Emily gasped, “I don’t know what to say.”

None of them knew what to say, so they stayed silent for about a minute as the bustling Salvation Army hummed around them.

After a minute, Emily found her words. Looking down at her feet, she whispered, “I love you guys.”

With a faint smile, Cleo said, “I love you too, babes.”

Finally, nodding, Esther added, “I love you dudes.”

It was all they could say.

With hope, it would be all they’d ever need to say.

  • The Saga of Queen Ruth

    Esther’s Dystopian Days. By David Heath Episode: The Saga of Queen Ruth                 Ruth Goldbaum let herself into the apartment she shared with her adult…