As he wiped the sweat off his upper lip, the sun beat down some more on his friends. It was, a wonderful day in Britain, but still, far too hot, they thought.
And perhaps, in a way, it was a wonderful day to die.
All around them, people were smiling, commenting pleasantries on the sun, the heat, the lives they've had. Their greying hair, some fully white, were done up nicely by the student volunteers. Some of them had hairstyles they'd lived in for the past sixty or seventy years of their lives; some had hairstyles they've always dreamed of, but never had the guts to do. But today, indeed, was their time to go, if not today, when else to do up one's hair?
The fact that their families would have to collect their fallen heads must have occurred to some of them. Most of them wore the clothes they were most comfortable with, but the ladies wore tons of makeup, knowing that only their heads would be kept.
Unfortunately the makeup was running under the tremendous heat.
But still, the elderly did not mind. What a fine day, they said, finally a spot of sunshine, right on the day when we die! How wonderful!
Nearing the pedestal, the feelings remained the same, though now one could see the tears in their eyes. Maybe... maybe I'd get to see my grand-daughter being born tomorrow, if only the day of dying wasn't today! But oh well. Life is as it is. Nearby, families gather under the tent, their eyes tearful where their parents' were not. The sun's rays did not penetrate the thick material, and the sons and daughters of the elderly wore sunglasses so as to see their parents die in clarity.
Indeed, it was a wonderful day to die.
chiiyo's comments :
This was a strange piece. It started off being just a piece that said "The heat was indomitable that day", partially because it really was damn hot when I was writing it. Call it my twisted imagination, but the heat soon turned what could have been a genial piece into a rather skewed one. The idea is as such: to control the ageing population, the government has decided to create "days of dying", where people who were older than a certain age would be put to death. The reason why it did not feel like an execution, was that the tradition had become so ingrained into the people's culture that it has long been taken for granted, and thus sheds its barbaric label. I wanted to bring across the idea that no matter what kind of action it is, so long as it becomes accepted in society, it would be ethical and moral in time to come. Strange, but quite possibly true.