There once was a utopia where -believe it or not - all citizens were declared free and equal - where women enjoyed the same rights as men, where education was free, and work communal, where the state provided for its elderly, where racism was outlawed - and fascism in all of its ugly forms was verboten - and rule by the workers for the workers was enshrined in law... All of the traditional hierarchies were overthrown condemned to the dust heap - the old rulers eliminated, the old oppressive class hounded, vilified and cast out - the backward types requisitioned, called to the cities or for military service or else left to their haggard and destitute form of agrarian subsistence...Oh the songs and posters, the artwork, the inspiring films, the news broadcasts, the daily papers - a spirit of "can-do, must-do..." in the face of imperial threats from abroad ...a terrifyingly beautiful conformity - a state of single-mindedness - all questions answered and known by all ...yet still yet still - desperate people afraid for their lives, whispering in corridors anxious of being denounced as enemies and traitors - or else singing the praises of the leadership loudly in fulsome agitated little declarations - and still and still waited to be carted off...In this perfect world - everything must be "just right" - the slightest deviation from the norm will bring the entire weight of the punitive state down upon you...The world was already made "perfect" - as you describe it - not once, not twice, but three, four times over with harrowing monotony - and still you demand another round of cleansing and overhaul ???
On a well-traveled corridor of the East coast - where tourists drive northward every summer on a sleepy (and sometimes dated) old thoroughfare that meanders (roughly speaking) with the shoreline - there lies a coastal village renowned for its posh homes and proud inhabitants - and at the center of this village which boasts of a main street, a historic library and a stately boat landing, a garden shop can be found nestled among costly domiciles - just a stone's throw from the private academy and the gourmet ice cream shop. Set upon five acres of serene commercial flatland - the property houses multiple plants and trees and flowers - providing an oasis of greenery for anyone conjuring up daydreams of bucolic bliss. Set apart from the store - a no-frills wooden edifice - were greenhouses, rows of plants and flowers, larger trees in back and an old modest mansion of a house - still occupied by the family, Estabrook, which had owned the place going back three (3) generations. Th...
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