by M J Dees
“Sorry,” said the warden. “We didn’t get our delivery this morning. You’ll have to get something in the centre. Most of our residents have gone to the soup kitchen.”
They walked into the centre and back to the town hall, where another member of staff was dismissing the crowd. This time, when it was Jim’s turn, the member of staff checked her stretch and let him through.
At the reception, they gave him directions to an office where he found a man in his mid-fifties who looked like a lawyer. Jim explained his story, and the man was very sympathetic.
“Our bosses talk a lot about Unity atrocities against those with foreign heritage,” he said. “But they don’t do enough to help the survivors.”
Jim waited while he checked some details on his stretch.
“Unfortunately,” he said at last. “There is nothing I can do immediately to solve your case. I’ll get in touch with you through the hostel.”
Jim was very despondent as we walked back outside to join Annabel and Olivia.
“I tried to get new food cards,” said Annabel. “But it was no use.”
They got some soup in the soup kitchen
“Let’s just go back to the house,” said Annabel.
“But there’ll probably be someone living in it,” said Jim.
“It’s a chance we’ll have to take.”
“I’d like to see the house,” said Olivia.
“Okay, let’s get our things from the hostel.”
At the hostel, Jim explained their plans, and the warden went into a side room and came back with a bag of food.
“For the journey,” he said, handing it to Jim.
“You know, we’ll never make it in one day,” Jim said to Annabel when they were on their way.
“I know.”
They walked as far as they could until it got dark, then Jim asked for directions to the local police station. It transpired that the local police station was a private house where the local police officer lived.
When Jim asked him for accommodation, the police officer directed him to a local hotel. They went to the hotel; it was full. They went back to the police officer.
“I thought I told you to go to the hotel,” he said.
“It’s full,” said Jim.
“Did you tell them I sent you?”
“Yes.”
The police officer sighed.
“Follow me,” he said, grabbing his coat and walking past them into the street, swinging the door shut behind him.
He led them back into the village to the village hall, where someone had arranged rows of beds. There were bags and belongings strewn all over the place.
“There’s no-one here now so you have the place to yourself,” said the officer.
“But all the...” Jim gestured to the belongings.
“Those people have left. I’ll check in with you in the morning, if you are still here.”
“Thank you,” said Annabel.
They cleaned up some beds and then sat down to eat the rest of the food the warden had given them in Manchester.
*
In the morning, the bright sunshine came through the net curtained window. They went through the abandoned belongings to see what they could find, which turned out to be a cup, some cutlery, a penknife, and a rucksack.
As they were leaving, they met the police officer coming the other way.
“How was your night?” he asked.
“Fine thanks,” said Annabel.
“I’m sorry, I can’t offer you any breakfast.”
“That’s fine, we don’t have far to go today.”
“Have a safe journey.”
Over the course of the day, the roads became narrower and narrower until they reached their village. Rather than go straight up to the house, they called on Mark first.
“Jim! Annabel! Olivia!” Mark stood staring at them for a moment before he remembered to invite them in.
Mark and Sophia made them something to eat and drink and then listened to their stories.
“Stay here tonight,” said Mark when they had finished. “I’ll go up to your house first thing in the morning to make sure there’ll be no problems before you go.”
They accepted Mark’s offer of diplomacy
*
They were eating breakfast when Mark came in.
“So, the situation is like this,” he began. “There are some others with refugee heritage staying in your house at the moment. Do you mind if they stay with you until they can find alternative accommodation?”
“That’s fine with me,” said Annabel. “As long as they don’t stay forever.”
“You’ll have to go to the housing office, Jim,” Mark continued. “I’ll give you a lift into town if you want.”
“Thanks,” said Jim. “I’ll take you up on that. Can we go up to the house and meet our new tenants first?”
“Of course.”
Yilmaz was a man in his forties with foreign heritage. His wife had no foreign heritage and seemed to be much younger than him. She was clearly his second wife because they also lived with his daughter from his first marriage and the second wife’s mother.
“We must make the wrong you have suffered right, completely right,” said the housing officer. “The house is your property and you must decide.”
“What happened to Wyatt Reed?” Jim asked.
“He disappeared as soon as the Unity regime collapsed,” said Mark.
“Use the furniture he left,” said the housing officer. “Until you can replace it with your own. We are arranging accommodation for the Davis family who are currently in your house. Would you mind letting them stay there for a few days?”
“I’m sure we can manage,” said Jim.
“If you insisted, we would remove them immediately.”
“That won’t be necessary. What about the shop Reed added to the house?”
“It’s entirely up to you whether you keep that. The council was hoping to use it for a co-op. To be honest, I always thought it was a bit out of the way for a shop.”
“No, that’s fine. The shop can stay for now.”
“Good, pop into finance on your way out to top up your food cards, your allowance has been upgraded.”
“You were very magnanimous in there,” Mark commented as they headed back to the car.
“It’s a good idea to build up a bit of goodwill in the council, don’t you think? Besides, I like our new tenants. I’m sure I can tolerate them for a while. They offered to cook and they keep the house tidy. Where are we going?”
Jim had noticed they had gone in the opposite direction when they left the town.
“We are going up to the old hall. The local Unity branch used it as their headquarters. They have lots of confiscated clothing, we’re going to get you all a new wardrobe.”
The old hall was a 16th century mansion which had been restored before the bottom fell out of the economy, long before Unity came to power. The quality of the clothing was disappointing, but Jim felt moved because everyone seemed to make an effort to please them. They left with bags to take home for Annabel and Olivia.
They drove back to Jim and Annabel’s house, where Annabel and Olivia were trying to arrange their rooms. Everything in the house belonged to Wyatt Reed. All Jim’s and Annabel’s belongings had been confiscated or disappeared. Jim didn’t mind, he actually quite liked Reed’s taste in furniture. There was even a pool table, pinball machine and antique space invaders game. Jim was just worried that Reed might come back to claim it at some point.
“I wouldn’t worry about Wyatt,” said Mark. “He was feathering his nest, thanks to his connections with Unity. He cheated everyone in the village and spread false rumours about you. Everyone thought you were dead. He pretended he was your protector, providing you with food, arranging a new mortgage. In reality, he was just trying to get the house for himself.”
“I just don’t want to appear triumphant or seeking revenge,” said Jim.
“The hous
e is in excellent condition,” said Mark, following Jim around.
“Yes, just a few windows broken, a door, a bit of the chimney. It needs a paint job, but otherwise it’s not in a terrible state.” Jim sighed. “Obviously, the shop he has created will have to be removed once this co-op thing has been sorted out.”
Annabel was wandering listlessly around the garden.
“She’s a bit upset about her plants,” said Jim. “Look, it looks like a jungle.”
“Yes, but wait till it’s all in fruit,” said Mark.
They wandered over to her.
“I have a plan,” she said. “I’m going to rearrange everything. I think it’ll be okay. Look, there are some tomatoes over here.”
She was home, they all were.
*
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Endnotes
I base everything in Hatred on actual events or on predictions of the future. The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-2047 by Lionel Shriver was my initial inspiration. As I was listening to the novel on audiobook, I wondered whether she had based the story on the events in Germany in the 1920s and 30s. I don’t think she did. I think she was aiming more for a modern take on the Grapes of Wrath.
I had already written a book set in a near dystopian future called When the Well Runs Dry and Shriver’s book inspired me to write a prequel using the events in Europe in the early part of the 20th Century as inspiration because, as Mark Twain is quoted as saying: history doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.
I began my research with the diaries of Victor Klemperer. Munich 1919, I Shall Bear Witness, To The Bitter End and The Lesser Evil. I plugged the gap between 1919 and 1933 with Hans Fallada, especially his novel Little Man, What Now? which is now in the public domain.
This research formed the backbone of the story but I wanted it to remain consistent with other dystopian works with similar themes, so I tried to synchronise the events with the events in The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-2047, Years and Years, which is a British drama television series which is a joint production by the BBC and HBO, Another Now: Dispatches from an Alternative Present by Yanis Varoufakis which actually presents a possible utopian future, however I took the optimism of Varoufakis and took a pessimistic view that the measures required to create a fair future might not be applied equitably and that also, it might not be possible to implement the measures he suggests without the complete collapse of society because those with a vested interest in the status quo are those who currently hold the power and it’s difficult to see how anything but a complete collapse will topple them from their thrones - I would be happy to be proved wrong. Expect more ideas from Varoufakis in Hatred’s sequel, Collapse.
I modified some speeches made by President Trump for those made by Roberts, see if you can spot which. I also took other elements of the novel from actual events such as the flyer found by Jim in Edinburgh demanding people speak Scots. I modified this from a poster on a housing estate in England. There are lots of other examples where I have changed actual events and changed them for this dystopian fiction.
The reading list to research for a novel like this could be endless but I had to decide of where to draw the line and plan a couple of prequels to this series as final books in other series which will give me the opportunity to explore these issues further. The problem is that reality keeps getting more dystopian than my writing, which means I have to keep revising my ideas. Issues like the treatment of refugees and the attacks on the BBC are frighteningly real and I fear reality will become more dystopian than my books before I publish them.
Not ready to leave Jim, Annabel and Olivia?
Collapse, Book Two in the Collapse Series
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
M J Dees is the author of seven novels ranging from psychological thrillers, to dystopia, to historical, to humorous fiction, and the Mastery of the Stars sci-fi novella series. He makes his online home at mjdees.com.You can connect with M J on Twitter at @mjdeeswriter, on Facebook at facebook.com/mjdeeswriter and send him an email at [email protected] if the mood strikes you.
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DEDICATION
To all those who are displaced through no fault of their own. May they find communities open-minded and tolerant enough to embrace them.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am indebted to the following for their help. Victor Klemperer, Hans Fallada, Lionel Shriver, Russell T Davies, and Yanis Varoufakis, for first inspiring me. My beta reading team, especially Peggy Coppolo, Matthew Zeniff, Janet Schaaf, Mike Brett and Zarza Ardiente for spotting errors, and my Advance Review Team.
