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Thursday, May 21, 2009

3WW: Mama Lockdown: The Beginning

The battle of between D-town and the Hills had been fierce. City folk and suburbinites fought over what was left after the Burn of '44. If the polticians had been treacherous before, what each side's army did to each other was worse. I'm not talking bodies. The Burn took care of that, I'm talking wasting what few resources we collectively were depended on: the freakin' land, metals and textiles. In the end neither side ended up any better off: both sides lacked enough resources and we remained co-dependent whether we liked it or not. Now the city folk actually had the upper-hand. You know the joke, poor folks know how to make do. So after the Burn, those in the epicenter got busy plotting out community gardens, establishing neighborhood turfts and making pacts with micro gangs for protection.

And while the burbs were slow on the uptake they weren't without their wits. The ex Suits knew when it was crunch time, you had to act on your feet, be efficient. Instead of looking to optimize profits, they pooled intellectual property. City and Burbs bartered their best assets. Necessity will make bedfellows out of estranged partners.

Now this is Auntie's sanitized version. Auntie says if folks had been reasonable and sane, we wouldn't have had the Burn to begin with it. Besides, she says no sense in wasting more time than necessary to explain what has happened. Auntie has no time for blame or tears. She says neither will feed us nor protect us.

My name is Tyemba, I'm eleven, and I live with my Auntie, Mama Lockdown. Auntie is no joke. She thinks she's cool and don't get me wrong, she is but she's my Auntie. Even with her cool outfit and superpowers and all, she's still the woman who wiped my butt as a baby. Know what I mean?

Anyway, gotta go. Auntie sent me on an errand, and if I'm not back when she think I should be back she won't have to use no super power to make my butt hurt. I'll holla at you later. Peace.

p.s. Nobody and I mean nobody calls her Auntie but me. Last thing you want to do is piss off my aunt. So if you meet her, show mad respect. It's Mama Lockdown to you.

Every week Thom at 3WW gives us three words. This week's words are treacherous, efficient and optimize. I was late writing mine and must have been fate. Read a post about a contest and make your own superhero and here we go. Did I mention I met up with my nephew this week, too, so life's little episodes led to this. I think I'm going to ask for his input for future installments. To read more go here.

8 comments:

anthonynorth said...

An excellent take on post-Apocalyptic, with a good family angle too.

Neverending story said...

Very good, I want more... Loved the local lingo.

Thom Gabrukiewicz said...

This is soooo cool. It drips cool. The human side of it, her being an Auntie and all, makes the Apocalyptic angle really work.

pia said...

I see the words 44 and a D and for second think ancient history--very ancient to an 11 year old

It was very real and I loved how you used a super hero to tell a story that might not be fiction soon and scares the crap out of me as I have a 14 year old niece--who is way too cool to have called me "aunt" but I'm her favorite adult so I feel like a rock star

This reads like the beginning of a book and I think you should seriously think about that--and thanks for scaring me :)

susan said...

Hey Pia, I only recently began reading Apocalyptic/dystopia fiction, and I enjoy it though like you I think it foreshadows a reality we're creating. I have always enjoyed discussing social critique and commentary in my literature courses. I had a favorite aunt and I called her Auntie. I'm from Detroit and I was thinking 2044.

I think I mentioned before that I had not thought of writing fiction until recently. Truthfully 3WW tapped an interest I didn't know I had.

Anonymous said...

fabulous voice and pace. I too want more! -Meg

susan said...

Thanks, Meg. I'm totally flaky. I will try.

Alyce said...

This is awesome! I thought it was a book review at first, and you had me interested in finding the book. Haha! I hope you post more! :)