Memorandum of Relations: Guidelines for Cooperation

From: Oberofficer Narren
To: XXXX 134 XXXXXX
To be posted immediately and forthwith in all offices and secret headquarters!

SOCIALIZE THIS:

All that we do is legal. All that we do is legal, because we say that it is. And holy. All that we do is holy. We protect the law even as we bend it to suit our purpose. Mutinies, like skulls and ribs, are broken with iron. And Iron sharpens Iron, and long knives. There is no tolerance for the opposition of dwarves or worms, no discussion of dissent. Sorrow’s child shall remain silent and unnamed.

IN ATONAL hostility:
Those who are unwilling to salute will be crushed with atonal hostility. Those who are suffering our abuse deserved it, so stop your moaning (or we’ll give you something to moan about.) Bloodlust and Blind Rage have their own momentum, things in motion that tend to stay in furious motion. Put down the Pacifist. Insult him without mercy. Strike her unrelentingly.

for A BETTER PRAIRIE:
Call it a cleansing action. We will admit no personal grievance; we carry no outward grudge. Use ultraviolent light-dark light for dark matter and dark days. This is how we solve for radicals. This is why we are adored.

***

Dawn broke over the city like an unlucky mirror, sunlight glittering like blood and fire in the shattered windows of bakeries and shoe stores now closed and in rainwater puddles on crumbling concrete sidewalks. “Take the oath!” the ridiculous corporal shouted and punched me in the gut again. “Demonstrate loyalty!” He punched me in the mouth and I felt a tooth splinter into sharp fragments that bloodied my mouth. “Swear on the flag! Swear TO the flag!” He kicked me in the groin with his heavy boot. He kicked me in the anus. He kicked me again, and again, and again he kicked me.