***
Monday’s classes started off the first full day of Incorporation Instruction. I was just happy that there would be no more long lectures to lull me to sleep. I was looking forward to the day, even if our first class was Personal Grooming for a Pleasing Presentation.
Thirty-seven students sat in the room and Trainer Beta stood in front of us. His grey suit with darker vertical pinstripes had a slight metallic sheen to it and his tailor had cut it perfectly to his trim, muscular build. His lapels were wide, his tie was thin, and his shoes were shiny (without a hint of a scuff on them). A small white flower adorned his suit. So, I thought, this must be a Pleasing Presentation.
Trainer Beta’s waxy hair was perfectly combed, not a hint of a stray. What had looked like a porcelain sheen, from my seat in the Main Hall, actually had the appearance of a fine porcelain glaze, from my seat in the middle of the room. Up close, his skin looked even more artificial: perfectly smooth, perfectly colored, perfectly perfect.
“Young men and young women, we are here to discuss the importance of proper grooming and presenting yourself in the style that is befitting your station. Since we do not yet know what occupation or social standing you will be in by the time you have completed your training at the Career Education Center, we will be looking at all facets of society. From Guardians to trainers to tailors to Council members; everyone must look their part and do it well. There is no excuse for slovenly attire or a disheveled appearance. Pride in oneself means pride in the tasks you have been destined to perform for Concord.
“A few months from now, you will no longer be expected to wear your hair a certain way or dress in the same uniform every day. You will suddenly be able to make your own choices and I expect them to be good ones. A first impression, once made, is hard to be undone. You’d do best to make sure you come across in the right manner the first time,” Trainer Beta explained.
“How do we become a fine specimen, such as yourself?” Stone asked.
Trainer Beta smiled and walked around the podium in a slow circle, showing every angle of himself to every student in the room. “It takes diligence, young men and women. You must develop an eye for style, figure out the trends and stay ahead of them, and find the top people in the industry to keep you looking your finest. No, looking THE finest.”
Holly raised her hand. “How do you look so, well, so young?”
Holly had the kind of parents that looked like they’d barely dabbled in the whole beauty treatment thing. Her mom had flawless skin, but she’d allowed the wrinkles to start to gather around her eyes. Holly’s father was aging gracefully as well. But they were aging. It still seemed like such a silly question. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t seen the other parents on Visitation days.
“The same way everybody else does,” Beta replied. His tone implied that he agreed with my assessment. It was a silly question. “The youth serums can work wonders, if you make sure you are obtaining the right ones. Quality, not price; that is the key. If you are looking for a bargain, your face will look like a bargain. But, young ones, they are not for the youth. They are to obtain youth.”
My eyebrows squished together as I tried to decipher his words. “I don’t understand.”
Beta stood in front of the podium and scanned the room. “To quote from the Mandate on Reproductive Health… ‘Though the effects of these treatments are highly desired and envied by those who have yet to achieve them, they should not begin until the fertile have produced their offspring.’ You see, when the serums get into the blood stream, they adversely affect the reproductive system for both men and women. And if a skin serum is taken by a woman while she is pregnant, the unborn child has no chance. He or she will be infertile, forever marked as such. That practice is highly against The Council Mandates.
“If you have been marked infertile then it matters not. You will be able to indulge in all forms of beauty treatments whenever you wish. But no reputable physician will administer the serums without checking your Citizen Brand first. However, there is a black market for everything and the desire to appear youthful wins out over the desire for a child in some cases. Do not let yourselves fall into that trap. If you are discovered, you will be reprimanded, fined, shamed, and maybe even cast out.”
Cast out of what? I wondered. Cast out to where?
We had barely been given a glimpse of the world outside of Training Tech. We exited the grounds so few times each year. Our twice yearly vacations to the beach cottages were the only times that we were able to freely observe people about their daily routines. Of course they were fleeting moments, achieved in a blur of movement from a bus window as we travelled to and from Training Tech. Our Guardians were at our sides, trying to engage us in conversation, to keep us from longing for the world outside.
I had always managed to tune them out though. I tried to absorb and internalize every single snapshot that my eyes could take. Those moments that I observed through the bus window, those were real moments. I imagined that the personal exchanges were quite different from all the approved videos we had access to. I imagined that life outside Training Tech wasn’t as picture perfect as we were led to believe. But then, maybe it was my job to create my own perfection, take my place in society, and fill in the slot that had been made for me… and do it in a proper and pleasing way.
I know that is what Aspen expected of me… my father as well.
Holly’s brother Ash, who was also good friends with Fisher and Stone, raised his hand up high. He waved it back and forth until Beta pointed at him.
“What does it mean to be cast out?” Ash asked the question I had been thinking.
“Being a Citizen of Concord is a privilege,” Beta explained. “If you do not concur with Concord, then you do not belong in Concord. The Council will cast you out and leave you to fend for yourself, far away from the structure and comfort of our society, never to return again. You would lose all contact with family, friends, and proper society. Only the worst possible offenders are cast out. That consequence is far worse than the termination of one’s life.”
“How awful,” Lily breathed.
Beta nodded his head in agreement. “But we digress.” He clapped his hands together. “Our topic is one of Personal Grooming. Let me steer us back onto the correct path of discussion.” He switched on the wall screen and began a slide show of proper and improper fashion and grooming.