“Where am I?”

“In The Village.”

“What do you want?”

“Information.”

“Whose side are you on?”

“That would be telling.  We want information…  Information…IN-FOR-MA-TION.”

“You won’t get any.”

“By hook or by crook, we will.”

“Who are you?”

“The new Number 2.”

“Who is Number 1?”

“You are Number 6.”

“I am not a number!  I am a free man!”

“Hah-hah-hah-hah-hah...hah-hah.  You voted for me in November.  Remember, Number 6?”

“I didn’t vote for all this.”

“So…I lied a little.  Like all the Number 2s before me.  Like the last Number 2.”

“I will not be pushed, stamped, filed, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered.  I am a free man!  My life is my own.”

Oh, how Sixties of you, Number 6.  You know, NUM-BER 6, you’re being UNMUTUAL.  Like Number 5, that awful Michael Colby PER-SON.”

“Colby?!  Where is he?”

“He’s in a very safe and restful Special Place.  He seems to like us a bit more now, unless he’s pretending.  We had to put him through DEGREE ABSOLUTE.”

“What’s that?”

“You’ll find out, Number 6.”

“I am not a num!…”

“Yes, yes.  There, there, Number 6.  No need to be so UNMUTUAL.  It’s so…shall we say…INCORRECT?  Bad for one’s heart.  Not to mention just getting along.”

“This is insane.”

“It is not for you to judge, Number 6.  We want INFORMATION.  Why did you resign?”

“From what?”

“From all that The Village stands for.”

“You’re not making any sense.”

“There is sense here, Number 6.  You’re just not getting it.  But you will.”

“I want to see Number 1.”

“None of you gets to meet Number 1, Number 6.  He…She…is a very busy PER-SON.”

Doing what?”

“Why, everything you see here.  And so much more.”

“I won’t stay here.  I’ll escape.”

“Good luck on that.  And where would you escape to, Number 6?”

“To where people are still free.  To Vermont, perhaps.”

“VER-MONT?  A-hah-hah-hah-hah!  Look around you, Number 6.  You’re in The Village.  THE VILLAGE.”

“Then I’ll get people here to fight you.”

“Hah-hah-hah-hah-hah!  Oh, Number 6, you are a Hoot.  Go ahead.  You’re free to walk about and talk to these people.  They all have numbers, like you.  Some of them just don’t know it yet.  My predecessor was very thorough about that. The NSA stuff, you know.  Security.  IN-FOR-MA-TION.”

“I’ll find Michael Colby.  And a twenty-something Young Man.  And we’ll defeat you.”



“A-hah-hah-hah-hah!  Like ‘Them bones, them bones, them dry bones‘ eh?  Try it, Number 6.  You’ll find it is futile to fight us.”

“I’m going out now.”

“By all means.  Feel free, as you put it.  My little friend here will just follow you along.  In case you get lost, or inadvertently stray.”

“What the Hell is that?”

“We like to call him ROVER.  Consider him your own personal drone friend.”

“Outrageous!”

“Oh...hah-hah-hah-hah!…Lordy, Number 6, I do believe you’ve given me the munchies from all this laughing.  I should go bake some cookies now.”

“I will fight you.  I’ll never stop.”

“I…I!…I!!…I!!!  Yes.  Hah-hah-hah!  BE SEEING YOU, Number 6.  Hah-hah……”

(So, what do you think?  Who will get elected the new Number 2 in 2016?)

Peter Buknatski

Montpelier, Vt.