The Community
Sophie Edwards
The plan for The Community had been to build the perfect community. A utopia with safe streets and warm houses and every belly full and kids with crisp, linen shirts and bright eyes
that made them look like miniature 19th century sailors; it was not the first idea of its kind.
But then, Pierre knew that the best business proposals were rarely originals. With the venture capital funding raised, the proper permits obtained, the land purchased, and the first 100 sign ups secured, he was buoyed with hope, practically ecstatic with the knowledge that absolutely nothing could go wrong as he set out to build a world based purely around one mane’s vision of how society ought to function.
Sure, there had been that ghastly business in Los Angeles in the ‘60s, but Pierre’s idea was cleaner, purer. There would be no free love. Plus, drugs would be explicitly prohibited. Not only by law and signs hung at frequent intervals around the barbed wire perimeter of The Community, but also by dobermann pinschers guarding the entrance, their gnashing fangs poised for any poor unfortunate soul who dared to disobey.
The Community was designed to hold 300, but could carry a capacity of up to 400, if absolutely necessary. Within days of announcing the project, Pierre’s waiting list had already reached 10,000. This was all, of course, before the eclipse. Now, the waiting list has reached a billion and counting.
Sure, everyone is required to wear an itchy uniform, and yes, they must be inside their designated Pods by 10 PM and, of course, every single one of them became legally married to Pierre in an unbreakable contract upon entering The Community, but also, there, unlike everywhere else, there is still light.
When The Community-sponsored media asks Pierre on the nightly mandatory-watching news broadcast if he knew that the land he bought would be, impossibly, the only two mile radius that still got sunlight after the permanent eclipse blocked all but a sliver of solar power from penetrating the Earth’s atmosphere, he solemnly shakes his head no. This, of course, is also a lie.