Melanie looked up from her coloring book to see her father plop firmly into his favorite armchair. Along with the house, the armchair has been in the family for generations.

“Hi Daddy!”

“Hey sweetheart. How was school?”

“Fun! We got twenty more minutes of recess today!” she exclaimed.

“That’s nice, did you get to play with ... uh ... what’s his name ... your friend, Billy?” John, her father, asked while opening todays newspaper. Newspapers were hardly in circulation anymore as most people living in the city preferred a virtual transmission of their choice news straight to their googlebot. But in rural areas such as Melanie’s, old traditions die hard. John still enjoyed reading the newspaper everyday after work hours around 6 pm - even though he was already retired. Although Melanie didn’t always quite understand, she loved to listen as her father and older brother discussed whatever awesome event happened that day miles away from her own little town.

“No daddy! Remember? Billy pulled my hair so I’m not talking to him anymore. We’re not friends until he says sorry!” She puffed as she faced back towards her colouring book.

As John read the front headline of the newspaper, a horrible scowl formed on his face. He audibly whispered mostly to himself, “What? No more Cloyster subsidized products?” John gripped the newspaper firmly, and continued reading. Melanie could see his facial expression dampen.

“What’s wrong?” Melanie asked.

“This could be quite problematic.” John sighed and sat back before continuing. “The government passed a bill causing everything made by Cloyster to be a lot more expensive for people living outside the city like us.”

“So? What’s the big deal?”

“Well sweetheart...You know ever since Cloyster settled in this country, we have become more and more dependent on them. They manufacture many of the everyday things that make life out here manageable; especially the cheap fuel that keeps us warm and powers are cars. Other sources of these things are no longer easily attainable as they were years ago and would be too expensive for daddy to pay for on such little savings. Unfortunately, Cloyster factories are only in places near water and lots of sunlight - much like the city. It seems the government no longer can subsidize for us folk living in the country-side. I fear that with this bill, we will have to re-evaluate some things…”

Before Melanie could ask what ‘subsidize’ meant, down the hall, someone opened the front door.

“Sean. That you?!” Melanie’s mother yelled from the kitchen.

“Yeah, mom it’s me. Where’s dad?”

“Talking with Melanie in the living room,” Melanie heard Sean’s frantic footsteps as he made his way into the small living room. Her face lit up at the sight of him.

“Sean! Did you bring me any donuts?” Melanie prodded.

“No, sorry Melanie. Not now,” he turned to face his father, “Don’t tell me you’re just reading the news now dad! I told you to get a googlebot! Everyone at work’s done nothing but talk about it.” Tom paced as he spoke. “I knew the bill would pass. I just knew it. And I told you it would pass, but no. You never take a thing I say seriously! Now look who was right! I was. And now you’re screwed. We’re screwed. There’s not a thing we could do about it now. What can we do? What will we do? What are we gonna do! Don’t just sit there say something dammit.” His father stared straight down at the newspaper sternly. Sean continued, “Tommie says their family’s been planning on this happenin’ for ages. They already got a place to crash in the city...”

Sean stopped pacing suddenly. He furrowed his eyebrows and carefully mulled something over in his head. His demeanor soon changed and his eyes were now bright with hope. “I think we should do that too. It’s about time we move to the city. We gotta start looking for a place now. No point in staying here anymore. I bet it won’t be too bad actually - the city that is. I never liked the idea, but hey! Who knows. Maybe we’ll like it - city life that is. Hearing people talkin’ about it at the Dunkin Donuts got me thinking. There’ll be plenty of sun and the beach wouldn’t be too far. I wouldn’t need to drive my Ho2 bike 20 minutes into town anymore. Yeah - this might be good for us! I’ll find a new job in the city, maybe even go back to school and get my GED. I could even - ”

“We’re staying”, John interrupted. All remnants of hope instantly drained from Sean’s face.

“What do you mean ‘we’re staying?’”

“Just what I said - ‘we’re staying’!”

“What do you mean we’re staying?” Sean repeated. “Staying. Where? Here? We can hardly afford life out here as it is!”

“We’ll figure it out.” At this, Sean boiled with anger.

“What do you mean ‘we’ll figure it out’, dad? Do you even know what you’re talkin about? How we gonna pay for Melanie’s school? How will we pay for heat? What about the fuel for my Ho2 bike? It’s completely powered by Cloyster made fuel! How about YOUR expensive medicine. Your pension won’t cover even half of our monthly expenses when the government subsidies stop!”

“We are not moving to the city and that’s final.”

Sean gaped at his father. Melanie had never seen him so angry. “What’s so special about this old house anyway,” Sean continued, “You’ve always been so against the city. I mean, I was too. I get it, it’s loud, and hectic. Cloyster and Ho2 ads everywhere. No chance to see the stars at night. But you’ve never even lived there - how do you know you won’t like it?”

“Our family’s lived in this house, in this town, since 2002. 2002! Believe me. Things were much worse back then than they are now! Please Sean, you’re only 17 - no need for you to go to the city. You’ll stay here, you’ll work, you’ll find a nice lady dumb enough to marry you, and you’ll all live here long after I’m dead. You and Melanie. If your folks back in 2002 were able to figure out life here, then so help me you’ll be able to figure it out as well.”

“Dad! It’s not about that! We can’t afford it. Are you blind?! There is NOTHING here for us!”

Melanie’s mother poked her head into the room, “Now what’s with all this ruckus. You’re upsetting poor Melanie!”

“Mommy, we’re moving to the city!” Melanie spoke up.

“We’re not. Jenn go back to the kitchen” John commanded.

“Yes we are. Mom, tell dad he’s being stubborn” Sean fumed.

Jennifer, Melanie’s mom, probed, “What’s all this about now? Who’s moving to the city?”

“I swear, you two both live in the stone ages! If you had a googlebot you’d already know that the government is going to stop subsidizing Cloyster products for areas outside the city!”

“Say what now? The bill passed?”

“Tommie said prices for everything we need will go up 50%! FIFTY PERCENT MOM! We gotta move to the city or we won’t last here for long. Come winter time, heat will be ridiculously expensive. I won’t be able to afford my Ho2 bike anymore by just working at Dunkin Donuts!”

“Oh dear. That’s quite horrible isn’t it? This is why we should have a system like they have in Nigeria. You know? They got those independent bioreactors you can just use at home! State’s got no say in it. We live much too far from water and hardly get any sunlight, so that’s impossible here. You know, I actually wouldn’t mind moving over there.” Jennifer proclaimed.

“Yeah mom we couldn’t have that system like they got in Nigeria. There’s nothing but clouds out here! Besides we wouldn’t even need it because everything is … was subsidized

“But ... but Billy said in Nigeria, bad people are making bio-poisons!” Melanie peeked up, happy that she could finally add something to the conversation.

They all burst out laughing. Sean with tears in his eyes said, “Well don’t you know. Where’d Billy hear something like that from? What are they teaching first graders nowadays?”

“So you are still talking to Billy then, Melanie.” Melanie’s father laughed together with Sean.

“Well! He’s talking to me, but I’m not talking to him!” Melanie puffed and went on with her drawing. She was just putting the finishing touches to her Cloyster logo design assignment. Melanie was sure her design would win! It should at least beat Billy’s.