Chapter 6

“So much for telling the Feds, right? They got bigger problems now, what with the fundies seizing entire cities and counties in southern Virginia. That’s some seriously wacked up shit, if you ask me. Forget that election campaign of yours, babe. Ain’t gonna be no gubernatorial election this fall at this rate, is there?” I observed while snuggling with Becca and Taslima now.

“At this point, yeah, survival is the key. Not exposure of what’s already unstoppable. The fundies are gonna kick off some kind of civil war, all the way. It’s the revenge of the Karens and Darrens with their McMansions and their Southern Baptist potlucks and their MAGA rallies and private Bible colleges. All the while their second cousin twice removed is suffering gingivitis due to poor dental health, malnutrition, and piss-poor education, their jobs already shipped to Macau or Ho Chi Minh City or Veracruz. Not that the drug cartels won’t take a cut on the latter, of course,” Becca mocked the smarmy self-righteousness of white Southern evangelical politics.

“You know, America really is a tale of two cities. Best and worst of times. Great strides in innovation and growth, new advances, new ideas, new breakthroughs in social justice, all the while the ‘Average Joe’ sinks further into a pit of drug use, poverty, debt, loneliness, and despair. Average Jane, too, of course. Obscene wealth alongside horrific hunger and total desolation. Fat executive bonuses and Flint water. Drug wars, foreign wars, and franchise wars, too. Amazon can deliver you the best products ever to your home, but the workers burn out fast from being worked like slaves with zero empathy or decency,” Taslima remarked on the paradox of our now disintegrating country.

“Golden Globes with red carpets being watched on TV networks supplied by cable firms that gouge their shrinking customer base with bullshit fees. Dedication speeches about the effin’ planet made by men and women who flew in on Learjets that pump tons of carbon and other toxins into the atmosphere each. Oprah celebrates a young woman as a supposed victim of racial bias by Buckingham Palace while the real story about actual victims of Prince Andrew and other friends of Jeffrey Epstein is swept under the rug. Yep, it’s a load of crap. So the uprising or something like it, misguided as they are, was only a matter of time,” I snorted while fondling both of my ladies ... my girlfriends, concubines, or maybe wives?

“You know, the more you grope me, the more I’m gonna wanna be groped even more, right?” Becca warned me now.

“Same goes for me. You’re our man now. We’re your women. We’re in this together. I couldn’t ask for a bigger commitment than that. Your actions speak for themselves. You got us out of Dodge in a hurry and saved our lives as well as your own. Any body parts you want to caress, do so freely with the knowledge that I’m happy to please you that way,” Taslima backed Becca up, of course.

Boy were we an interesting and conspicuous trio, weren’t we? How many Jews walk around with an Arab girlfriend on one side and a black one on the other? Or lie down that way, for that matter. All that I knew was that I was glad that we had survived the initial crisis and found two very sweet ladies worthy of my trust and affection in a way that few other women could be. If this situation created a bond of intimacy and faith for them with me, it was certainly mutual for me with them.

Just as I began kissing both ladies again and stroking their lovely tresses of jet-black hair, the TV news flashed an update on the screen.

“This just in. Several firefights have broken out in downtown Washington, DC today, as a heavily armed band of insurgents have occupied the headquarters of the National Organization for Women and several other feminist agencies or institutions. These terrorists have branded themselves the ‘Incel Liberation Army’ and vowed to create a separate nation ruled by incels, to be known as ‘Incelastan.’ They have reportedly taken several hundred hostages, perhaps as many as thousands, and have executed at least two while negotiating with the authorities in this siege,” the rather sweaty and terrified anchorman informed his viewers, namely us.