Heartbreak and Hope Ch. 01

Joshua Simmons b January 9 1997 Masters Mechanical Engineering 2018 6'1, Men's Fitness muscular (Defined but not huge). Shortish dark brown hair. If there are 100 random young men in the room, he is the twentieth best-looking man.

Ashley Simmons b January 3, 1999, AS Web Design 2018 5'4, Shoulder blade length natural light sandy blonde hair. Fit and trim. If there are 100 random young women in the room, she is the fifteenth prettiest.

Jennifer Simmons b January 12 1998 BS Accounting 2019 5'4, shoulder blade length natural light brown hair. Fit and trim. If there are 100 random young women in the room, she is the twentieth prettiest.

Yes, I know this is not close to reality. This is fiction. My universe, my rules. Pass this one if you want realistic.

I recycle names. This story has nothing to do with other series.

One of those stories that fits partly into too many categories and none of them completely.

There is a shit ton of emotion in this one and it's wordy. I'm painting scenes in the characters' lives like in a movie. I even put a several music suggestions that fit the moment and describe them like a movie. This is a dark dark world though chapter two is considerably lighter.

There is ZERO political intent in this story. Do not read any political bias or blame for the events that take place in this story.

Differences in my world

Covid does not exist.

The Cornwall Islands are two fictitious islands 150 miles southeast of Bermuda. Each is about 170 miles east-west by 50 miles north-south or a bit larger than Jamaica. The islands are only about five miles distant from each other at one point near the respective centers of their east-west coasts. At both ends of these stretches, there are peninsulas that come within a half mile of each other. The effect is to create a large natural harbor about five miles across and fifteen miles long. Breakwaters a half mile from the ends of the harbor, provide shelter and a place where even small watercraft can travel. Both ends of the harbor have massive surge gates behind those breakwaters.

Demographics are similar to the US state of Washington. Weather is basically a high of 75 every day in January and 84 in July. In other words, paradise far enough north to not bake in the summer and in the middle of the gulf stream to prevent any cold. The climate is humid and rainy.

The capital, Somerset is on the south island which is named St. Ives. The north island is named St. Austell. The administrative center of the north island, Devon is directly across the harbor from Somerset. Both cities are located in that large harbor. There are no road connections between the islands, but plenty of ferries go back and forth between them. The total population of both islands is around 1.7 million with 900 thousand on St. Ives and 800 thousand on St. Austell. The population of the city of Somerset is around 600 hundred thousand and the population of the city of Devon is around 450 thousand.

*******

Friday, February 14, 2020

(Joshua Simmons monologue.)

Scene: Joshua holding his wife Ashley who is crying into his shirt in a room with many other people. The people behind them are out of focus.

Crushing emotional pain, deliberate of course, all for your viewing pleasure and videoed on motherfucking Valentine's Day. I held my beloved wife of one and a half years, Ashley in my arms. as I silently cried, trying to hold it together. She wasn't even trying to hold it back, sobbing softly into my shirt. I love her with all my heart and... I'm about to divorce her. Why? Desperation. I'm Joshua Simmons, I am twenty-three years old and my wife is twenty-one. We have sold our souls to the devil, the corporate devil. The devil doesn't have red scales and horns. He wears a thousand-dollar suit and has a thousand lawyers behind him.

Scene: Static picture Joshua graduating college in the late spring of 2018

Graduating early plus AP courses and early summer college classes meant I graduated with my Masters in Mechanical Engineering degree at age twenty-one in 2018. I was immediately hired by a construction company as a junior project manager. Ashley graduated with an Associates degree in Web Design the same year at the age of nineteen. We had met a year before at the county fair in 2017. Yes, one of those love-at-first-sight things. Her pretty shoulder-length blond hair, five-foot-four frame, and her pretty face drew me in. No, the C-cup breasts did not go unnoticed. Was she the hottest woman on earth? No, but I found her the most beautiful woman. From a neutral perspective, if five women were in a room, she was the prettiest. If there were ten in the room, she was second. Our connection was instant and deep. She completed my sentences... You know; sickening sweet. We were happy. Sue me. We married in a civil ceremony in June of 2018 after our respective college graduations.

Scene: Static picture of armed national guard troops facing an angry crowd. Cars are burning behind them.

The recession of 2007 was followed by the recession of 2018. Unemployment had stopped rising, but jobs were rare with an unemployment rate of nineteen percent. The homeless now included millions who had been laid off and run out of money. Barely starting our post-collegiate lives, we were both laid off in October of 2018 and were on the verge of being homeless by December 2019. Both our fathers had passed on and our mothers had remarried men hostile to us. I graduated high school a year early as did she... anything to get away from my bastard stepfather. I left with some savings and what I could fit into my car along with that of a friend. In late May of 2018, I snuck out of my childhood home with nothing else.

Then came Black October. Our jobs were gone, unemployment compensation ran out and so did our money. 2018 got worse and worse... Then came 2019. It never seemed to stop.

Then... A way out, permanently. Of course, there was a catch. A giant catch...

[Bon Jovi. When We Were Beautiful]

Scenes: 1) Meeting at fair 2) Deep kiss and exchange phone number at end of that night 3) Second happy hiking date 4) Ashley walking out of bathroom nude and approaching bed with Joshua - their first time together. She smiles shyly and climbs onto the bed. 5) Proposal and she says yes. 6) Joshua's college graduation with Ashley in the audience 7) Civil marriage ceremony and kiss. (in color)... Switch to black and white (at the guitar solo portion of the song about 2 minutes 50 seconds) Scenes: 8) FNN cable channel with headline Dow loses 11000 points to 7566 9) FNN cable channel with headline Dow loses 3000 points to 4523 10) FNN cable channel with headline Dow loses 1000 points to 3423 11) Headline of 1 million laid off this week. 12) Headline of foreclosures spike 150 percent. 13) Reuters New video: Memphis homeless riot. 14) Reuters News video of 15 dead in a homeless riot in Detroit.

*******

(Scene now plays as a memory in real-time.)

Friday, January 3, 2020

We were in the grocery store looking at another grocery run of cheap food that we hate and were sick to death of; beans, noodles, and no meat. Neither of us was vegan, but our unemployment benefits had run out and any other benefits for childless couples were very low. There was no family help available. Both of our mothers ignored us in favor of their new families with our stepfathers.

A man approached us, looked at our meager cart, and said, "I will let you have a ten-minute shopping spree for twenty minutes of your time."

My wife and I looked at each other, then I looked at him and I asked, "Uh. Huh. What is the catch?"

He said, "A proposal to permanently end your obvious poverty."

He had both of our attention.

I asked, "What is the real catch?"

He said, "Literally twenty minutes of your time. The ending poverty part has a huge catch, but the shopping spree... Twenty minutes of your time."

I will make the twenty minutes shorter. He worked for Movie Max Mature, the streaming channel. Yes, that one with all the softcore and not-quite-soft porn. Yes, I know we all pretend we don't ever 'surf' by it as part of their package of more traditional channels. We aren't talking anal fuck twelve-inch cock and plastic tits hardcore, but they did not pull punches either. I was about to get up merely at the mention of the channel when he explained what we get if we take part in his upcoming production.

He said, "One hundred fifty thousand dollars each at the end of two years, a lifetime pension of one thousand dollars per week each with an inflation adjustment, a three-bedroom house or two-bedroom condo free and clear in your choice of twenty metropolitan areas of the United States, or one other location I will mention later. Basically, a do-over for the impoverished lives you are currently in."

I said, "There is more than a twenty-minute sales pitch for a house and all that money."

He said, "For the money, there are giant catches and quite a few of them. But. I would imagine your stress level now is enormous. Imagine not having ninety percent of your current worries... for the rest of your life."

It wasn't like we had to be anywhere soon. He led us to an office trailer in the parking lot. When we got there, there were three other couples in the trailer. Misery loves company.

I asked, "What are the catches and why would anyone take a two-bedroom condo over a three-bedroom house?"

He said, "The house question is simple. If you win, you get the house. If you lose, you get the condo. I will now explain the catches."

The deal was scary and just soul-crushing. It was a contract with severe penalties that would ruin us forever if we breached the contract. He promised us that if we breached the contract, they had lawyers on staff just to make our lives hell.

He said, "You would be relocated to the Cornwall Islands southeast of Bermuda to start a new life there. You would have a complete restart of your adult life."

We would be considered legal residents for our stay with all the rights that it conveys. Civil rights were similar to the US with some exceptions. I knew that The Cornwall Islands were a very nice place and that they were a parliamentary democracy. Politics were best described as stable, dull and the citizens liked it that way. They were doing relatively well because they had deposits of rare earths, natural gas, and the world's largest deposits of lithium. The population of under two million was well off and doing considerably better than most of the world during the crisis.

I was waiting for him to tell me the catches. They were soul-crushing and he handed each of us a list. He wasn't kidding about a complete restart.

Movie Max Mature (MMM) Presents: MMM Wife Swap X

1) You will divorce your current spouse and begin a new life in the Cornwall Islands for the contract length of two years. The divorce will be legally recognized, arranged, and handled by our offices in the Cornwall Islands in real time, as you officially accept the contract. You will become a legal resident of The Cornwall Islands for two years and will be subject to their laws once the contract goes into effect.

2) You will be provided with a new spouse and will have a legally binding marriage ceremony six hours after the start of your contract. This spouse will be a fully legal spouse with an official marriage license and a ceremony. This marriage will include having sexual relations as part of this production. This marriage will also be arranged by our offices in The Cornwall Islands. Think of this as a giant wife swap show rated X. You will do everything on your new honeymoon that people in typical marriages do just like a typical honeymoon. Sex will be expected with much higher frequency from the FIRST night together through the first week.

3) After the first-week honeymoon phase, you will have intercourse a minimum of four sessions per week and five-minute quickies will not count.

4) Your residence will be cammed for a streaming show. There is no place to hide, not even the bathroom.

5) You will be naked the entire time. Covering outside of actual sleep will not be allowed. This is Movie Max Mature. Understand, The Cornwall Islands are entirely clothing optional. Note that sex in public is not allowed and carries heavy punishment in any open public space where you can be seen. Sex in your residence will be above the blankets with the lights on. No camera crews will be present and everything is covered by the home cams. You may sleep (as in rest) under blankets.

6) You will move out of your current residence and separate your current possessions into two moving containers that will be kept for you for the duration of your contract. One will be for the husband and one will be for the wife. You will bring NONE of your possessions with you to the Cornwall Islands. You will be stripped naked of everything and will walk into your contract as a naked person with nothing.

You will receive:

1) A job. A skill-appropriate and fulfilling job. For example, If you are skilled as a manager, you will be a manager of some sort. The standard workweek in the Cornwall Islands is thirty-six hours. Eight hours Monday through Thursday and a half day Friday. Retail stores and restaurants use different schedules. For the sake of encouraging new couples to spend time together, your job will be on the schedule mentioned above.

2) To start: A joint account of ten thousand dollars and five thousand dollars in certain sponsored gift cards to personalize your new residence and get settled.

3) Health care is free to you thanks to the VAT tax.

4) A specially designed one-bedroom residence with a view that will take your breath away. Your rent will be nine hundred dollars per month.

5) One thousand dollars per week salary to supplement whatever your job pays. Figure take-home pay of seventy percent. Yes, you get to pay taxes. The VAT tax on the island is sixteen percent. Your spouse will have the same salary supplement. This is more than enough to have a comfortable lifestyle. You will receive three weeks vacation and you are encouraged to see the island in its entirety. Note the small islands within one mile of the shoreline of the large islands are considered to be part of that larger island. It is NOT permissible to go to the other large island or its associated small islands. Your original spouse will be on the other island.

6) One lunch and two dinner restaurant vouchers for local restaurants per week. You are encouraged to date your new spouse and have fun with them. This is not just sex! Be romantic! There will be scheduled day trips for all couples and your participation is mandatory. Many times, you will have a choice of two different activities. These will be enjoyable things like horseback riding or skydiving.

Example: Skydiving. Some people refuse to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. The alternative that day is faux skydiving in a wind tunnel.

7) One hundred fifty thousand dollars each at the end of two years.

8) A lifetime pension of one thousand dollars per week with an inflation adjustment.

9) A three-bedroom house or two-bedroom condo, free and clear in your choice of twenty metropolitan areas of the United States, or The Cornwall Islands.

10) If you wish, and have not broken any significant laws, the right to keep your life in The Cornwall Islands permanently with your choice of permanent residency or citizenship in The Cornwall Islands. Note you will have to move out of our special condos used in this production.

I was getting agitated and asked, "So after you destroy my marriage and all I hold dear, what is winning and what is losing?"

He answered, "Winning is seeing another person at the end."

One of the other husbands asked in an outright hostile manner, "What the fuck does that mean?"

He answered, "That is the finale of the series. Some people are going to fall for their new spouse and stay with them. On the last show in February of 2022, you will be flown back to our set in Charlotte and everyone will be lined up with their new Cornwall Islands Spouse. To stay together, you simply must mutually agree that you stay together and you win."

He took a sip of water from a bottle and continued, "If you don't stay together, our offices in The Cornwall Islands will process a legally binding divorce for you and you will walk through a door into a room to wait for an hour. That hour will be us doing simple logistics and moving people into place and placing the consolation letters. After that hour, you will be told to go to a different room. If your old spouse is waiting in that room, you win. If there is just a consolation letter, they have chosen the other person, and neither spouse wants to be with you. That is losing and you get the condo. Note all other money and prizes earned are yours regardless of winning as long as you fulfill your contract."

He continued, "Simplified version, single people get a cheaper condo to live in, but a couple gets a house together."

He asked me, "How old are you?"

I said, "I will turn twenty-three next week."

He said, "So at the end of this, even if you lose, you will be barely twenty-five years old, have a condo with no mortgage, one hundred fifty thousand dollars, and a pension for the rest of your life. You are a young good looking man. EVEN IF YOU LOSE... there will be a line of women wanting their chance to be with you."

I shook my head in disbelief at the sheer audacity and awfulness of the whole setup and said, "You are taking advantage of desperate people who have no hope and taking away what little they have from them. This is a deal with a corporate devil."

He nodded, "Absolutely true. We take away everything; your possessions, your spouse, and even all your secrets. We will lay your life bare and expose you literally to the world... BUT... Even if you lose, you will have an amazing restart.. Oh and in the meantime, I may introduce you to someone you will spend the rest of your life with AND... also, give you the adventures of a lifetime in one of the nicest places on the planet. This is a huge undertaking by Movie Max. Setting this up has already cost two million and we are going to burn three plus million in the selection process AFTER this first recruiting drive. The citizenship cards, if taken, cost a half million each. The production and end rewards are millions afterward. That is also the reason the contract is so long. We need to be able to get an enormous amount of content from it.

He paused for emphasis and said, "Think about that for a moment. A lifetime pension of one thousand dollars per week. You will never be impoverished again unless you do something extraordinarily stupid."

For the free house, he showed us a map of the twenty metropolitan areas in the US that they included. Most were East of the Mississippi River. They were all moderate-cost areas, none were exciting, but not banjo country either. No high-cost areas were included. I guess they did not want to pay two million dollars for a shack in San Jose.

"You will have ZERO contact with your current spouse for the duration of the contract. You will be on one of the two large islands and your old spouse will be on the other island. You will not be allowed on the other island while they are on it. All of your communications will be monitored and if necessary, censored. You will have a cell phone that can only call certain numbers and additionally has certain numbers blocked."

"We will only be looking for communications for your former spouse and note, cheating on this one will be considered a severe breach subject to all the severe penalties. Telling your friends in the US your plans so they can pass it on is cheating. In addition, you will have no off-island communication for the final six weeks."

"If you are consistently unkind to your new spouse, you will be warned and may be kicked out if it continues. This is not from a one-off incident, but rather a pattern of cruelty. If this happens, you gain nothing. Note that arguing is not unkind, calling someone names is. You will be warned and we have impartial counselors to aid your adjustment on call 24/7."