Nata Kay - The Choice Era. Part 1

The book was back in the case. Harry didn’t want Mona to found out that her husband, despite her wishes and common sense, continued reading. It’s unpleasant to keep secrets from a wife, but it wasn’t a big secret, and Mona’s calmness was much more important than such insignificant little things.

Harry took a quick shower, brushed his teeth, cleaned himself up, undressed and tiptoed into the bedroom.

Mona was sleeping peacefully. All Harry’s confusion, anguish and worries didn’t touch her at all, and Harry was infinitely happy about it. He married Mona not to get her involved in dubious life situations.

Harry got under the blanket and laid down facing the window.

Harry wished he could fall asleep as quickly as Mona. As a rule, it took him half an hour to fall asleep.

In his dreams Harry often found himself in unexpected and difficult situations at work or in the thick of strange events in shops, restaurants and other public places. When he woke up, Harry realized how awkward the situations were, but in his dreams they looked serious and he had no idea he was sleeping.

This time Harry fell asleep surprisingly quick, though a whole bunch of thoughts in his head didn’t end up. He only looked out the window for a few minutes, and then his eyes closed themselves. Harry was rapidly plunging into another reality.

Now he was dreaming not of his work or an absurd situation. The dream was remarkably beautiful and rather picturesque. It could easily be an inspiration for photographers and artists, or a backdrop for a film about country life.

Harry was on a large field overgrown with long grass and flowers. Nobody took care of it, the grass was wild. One might feel the blades of grass and its tickling under trousers.

No paths, no beaten tracks, the grass was growing up and bending a little because of a gentle breeze. This ordinary and at the same time incredible place seemed to never be touched by a man.

Far away across the field there was a cliff, beyond which the blue sea was spreading out at the very horizon. The sound of the oncoming waves calmed an ear. The glare of the sun, peeking out of the passing clouds every now and then, mirrored in sea surface and made it shining and glittering.

Harry walked calmly towards the cliff. Not alone. He followed a woman. Why? He had no idea. He was just walking without asking her, and he had no idea who this woman was. He didn’t see her face. She didn’t turn around and Harry himself didn’t try to surpass her. He was fine with it.

The wind played with the stranger’s dark wavy hair tousling it. The woman didn’t try to fix her hair, leaving it to the wind. She didn’t look back or look around, as Harry did. Her walk embodied the tranquility that city people often lacked.

Even the stranger’s dress showed her moral distance from big cities. No, she wasn’t wearing a complicated ancient Greek toga or one of the magical dresses from the cartoons with princesses. All her clothes were the simplest jeans and a white T-shirt. There was nothing unnecessary in this girl, there wasn’t a drop of fuss in her.

She was barefoot. Even in a dream Harry thought that walking in bare feet on such a ground must be painful, but the woman walked confidently.

Harry and the stranger didn’t reach the cliff. Space in the dream was distorted, and absence of time made the field huge like almost infinity. No matter how much Harry followed ahead, there were still dozens of meters to the cliff and the horizon was out of his reach.

Like many other dreams, this dream was interrupted by an alarm clock. A sudden call, though it was one of Harry’s favorite tunes, was completely out of turn in that serene atmosphere reigned in the field.

Harry didn’t want to wake up and return to reality. He could have walked across the field for a very, very long time, and perhaps finally he could have reached the cliff.

When Harry woke up and realized where he was, and that he was no longer sleeping, he was still seeing the images from his dream.

During the next two weeks Harry secretly left the book he had read at the office and immediately took home the next one. The pile was the same size, and during working hours Harry pretended not to be interested in books. He looked at them with the neglect and begged Bob to take them away. Bob blowed him off and wasn’t going to take anything. Other colleagues were kidding about the fact that books became a cute and original part of the interior.

From time to time the head of the department came into the office. At first he was skeptical about such an interior thing, but then he understood the humor of his workers.

For obvious reasons, Harry couldn’t read in public. He had to hide almost from everyone. After work he went to the park, found a secluded corner, sat on the grass or among the roots of large trees and started reading. At home he read only after Mona went to bed or somewhere on her business.

Harry was finishing his last book, sitting on the edge of the bathroom with the sound of water pouring from the tap. The water served as a cover, of course. The next day Mona said she didn’t expect such accurate hygiene from her husband. After such a statement Harry was afraid his new hobby was revealed, but after Mona’s following laughter he understood his wife was joking.

«The check-up is soon,» Mona reminded one day at breakfast, pouring Harry tea and setting up cookies on a plate in a beautiful way. Her skill of table setting and creating patterns from any kind of things amazed not only Harry, but all who had ever been drinking tea with Mona. «As well as desexualisation.»

Harry carefully took one of the cookies, trying not to damage the pattern. He didn’t look at Mona. He perfectly remembered that the elective procedure was coming up.

No pain, no complications, hundred percent safe. The desexualisation procedure was perfect, and just two weeks ago Harry had no mixed feelings about it. But things were more complicated now. Harry was still completely confident that he could give his child the free choice. Only now he desperately wanted to know who this child would be regardless of the procedure. His imagination was intrigued and excited by guesses and that was making life brighter and more interesting.

Nevertheless, gender recognition was prohibited. Society believed that parents who knew the sex could accidentally tell it to a child, and this would influence on personal identity and future choice, which a child certainly had to make on his own. It was too risky to lose the freedom.

Harry kept his thoughts to himself, although that was really hard for him. A couple of times he came up with the idea of suggesting Mona to think it over, just to consider refusal to desexualise, but Nelson immediately abandoned this crazy idea and then reproached himself for such an incredible stupidity for a long time.

In fact, he had a right not to sign a standard agreement between future parents and the clinic at the legislative level, but such actions were made only by the most reckless people, who were far from conventional life in society and had a vigorous outlook on life.

Of course, there was no punishment for such actions. None of the employers had a right to fire a person for extraordinary views. And relatives and friends had no right to refuse to communicate with those who went their own unusual way.

Moreover, parents who decided to abandon the procedure had exactly the same rights as the others, but the attitude towards them was still quite particular. Not in a good way.

«I know,» said Harry after a pause and started eating cookies to keep himself busy and to avoid saying something carelessly.

Harry knew there were no options for Mona, there was only an obvious need for desexualisation. And he couldn’t blame her for that. Mona was an expectant mother. She already loved her child, wished him or her happiness and wanted to give all the opportunities she could. This amazing and unique maternal love often outweighed all other feelings and arguments. And, perhaps, this was normal.