Healthy or Else, A. B. R. [mind reading books .TXT] 📗

interrupted. “Sir, our records show you called here five minutes ago. Don’t call here again, or the automated phone system will report you to Health Security.”

Zack gives up. Guess I better make something for dinner. Zoë will be mad if I let Ashley fill up on popcorn. Zack returns to the kitchen and sees Ashley has left the room.

“Ashley, where are you?” He calls out.

She walks into the kitchen a moment later. “I was watching t.v. Daddy.”

“Stay here with me. You can help me make supper. I hope you’re still hungry. You didn’t eat too much popcorn did you?”

“I don’t know.”

Zack checks the bowl and is glad to see it is half-full. He goes to the fridge and opens the freezer door hoping his wife has prepared something for dinner, on weekends she often prepares meals for the coming week. But he is out of luck. All he sees are bags of leftovers and frozen ingredients. He pulls out a bag of leftovers and recognizes the stir-fry from dinner earlier in the week. That should do the trick, he thinks. He tosses the frozen stir-fry into the microwave and hits defrost.

He sits down at the table to wait, and scoops a few kernels of popcorn from the bowl and pops one into his mouth. He points at the bowl. “You can have some more while we wait.”

“I’m saving the popcorn for dessert Daddy.”

“Good girl. Supper should be ready soon.”

He hears the front door bang open. “Your mother must be home.”

Ashley’s face flares into a grin, and she pushes her chair away from the table to go and greet her mother. Before she can stand up the door to the kitchen is thrust open and a stiffly dressed middle-age woman struts into the room, followed by a younger man and a policewoman. “Domestic Health Inspectors. Stay where you are!” The woman orders them.

Jason, Kayla, Rodrigio,” the unidentified woman calls out. Three more people rush into kitchen. “Inventory the contents of this kitchen,” she orders. “Where is Mercedes? Mercedes!” Another woman literally runs into the kitchen, almost out of breath. “Oh. There you are. Check the bathroom for banned substances and inventory the contents.” The woman named Mercedes swivels her head rapidly from side to side to get her bearings, and rushes out of the kitchen to find the bathroom, as ordered. Jason, Kayla and Rodrigio have computers in hand and are reconnoitering the cupboards.

“Wait a minute!” Zack objects. “You can’t just break into my house and start tearing it apart.”

The boss lady looks down her ample nose at him, implying that to answer him is below the dignity of her position. She walks over to the kitchen table and looks at the contents of the bowl. “Popcorn!” She says in a disgusted voice. She pulls a palm computer from a jacket pocket and makes a note.

“Don’t stand around!” She orders her subordinates, who have stopped to watch this scene unfold. They scurry for the cupboards like mice fleeing from a cat, and begin pulling out the contents.

“Daddy, what’s going on?”

Zack reaches for his daughter’s hand and gently pulls her over where he can pick her up and sit her on his knee. “I wish I knew Ashley. I don’t know why these people are here.” The defroster on the microwave pings. “Oh, to hell with this.” He stands Ashley on her feet beside his chair. “Stay here,” he tells her, and walks to the microwave. He removes the stir-fry, dumps it into one of the microwave dishes the minions have stacked on the counter, stirs it with a fork, puts it back into the microwave, and sets the timer for two minutes. Then he stands beside Ashley, resting his hand protectively on her shoulder.

The woman glares at him for challenging her authority.

Zack returns her look and says, unapologetically, “My daughter has to eat.”

“Of that, I am sure.” The woman says in a voice loaded with disdain and worse, an implication that he does not take good care of his family.

Zack resents he implication; he does everything he can for his family. He turns away from the woman. “Sit down, Ashley. Supper is almost ready. I’ll get you more juice.” He gets the juice from the fridge and refills her glass.

The microwave pings to indicate the stir-fry is ready. Zack stands up to go to the microwave.

“Rodrigio,” the woman orders. Rodrigio opens the door of the microwave, takes out the container and discards the unsealed lid. “Soya noodles, chicken, broccoli, mushrooms, and little bits of carrot. It looks acceptable.”

“It’s better than that,” Zack retorts and snatches the dish from his hands. Zack turns on his heels and takes the dish to the table, and forks some onto Ashley’s plate. “How much can you eat?” He asks her.

“She’s probably already filled her stomach with popcorn,” the woman says in an insulting tone of voice. “How much popcorn did you eat little girl?”

“Don’t answer her, Ashley.”

The woman is not about to be put off that easily. “How much popcorn did you eat?” She repeats, more insistently, in what she undoubtedly thinks is the voice of maternal authority.

Ashley puts her fork down carefully beside her plate, demonstrating the good table manners her mother has taught her. She turns to look at the woman: “I am not supposed to talk to strangers.” Ashley looks away, and tossed her head in haughty manner that shocks Zack. She picks up her fork and resumes eating. “This is good, Daddy. Can I still have popcorn for dessert?”

Zack glances at the woman. She is fuming. “If you eat everything on your plate,” Zack replies, hoping he hasn’t given Ashley too much to eat.

He dumps what is left in the microwave dish onto his plate and joins Ashley in a meal. The inventory proceeds as they eat and more or less try to ignore what is going on around them.

“We’re finished with the cupboards and the fridge,” a female voice says. “Do you want us to check the basement, to see if they have a freezer or food storage units?”

The boss lady is scrolling through her palm computer. “Jason and Rodrigio can do that. Download their records, Kayla.”

“Yes; Ma’am.” Kayla walks over to the table. “I need to download your records.”

“I thought medical records were confidential.”

The boss lady snorts indignantly. “That was a relic of the old free world. We got rid of that nonsense when we took over. Medical records are transparent, so health officials can determine if people are engaging in unhealthy activities. Give Kayla your bracelet.”

There is a pleading look in Kayla’s eyes as she makes eye contact with Zack.

Zack doesn’t want to make things difficult for her. He removes his bracelet and turns it over to her to download. The bracelets were originally worn by seriously ill senior citizens and automatically notified ambulance crews of heart attacks or other medical emergencies. Their functionality was later expanded so paramedics could identify and quickly obtain information to treat people with chronic medical conditions. Universal medical bracelets were now required by law, and monitored vitals signs and recorded aberrant readings as well as storing complete medical histories. Until now, Zack thought the records were confidential except in cases of emergency.

It takes a couple of seconds to download his medical records. Kayla returns his bracelet, and moves over to Ashley’s chair.

Ashley looks at him for instructions. “It’s okay. You remember going to the doctor. Don’t you?”

“I remember.” Ashley lifts her arm to allow Kayla to remove her medical bracelet.

“Bring their records here.” The boss lady orders Kayla.

The woman studies their records and hands Kayla’s computer back to her. Then she consults her own palm computer, and walks up to the table and hovers over Zack. “I see you were involved with the New Democratic Party.”

“That was a long time ago.”

“Answer the question please.”

“I wasn’t in the NDP government, or a member of the party. I worked as an anti-smoking lobbyist when the NDP were in government.”

“They’re a banned organization.”

“At the time the NDP was the legitimate government. Elected by the people in a democratic election.” Zack allows a trace of irony to infuse his voice; democratic elections have not been held for almost a decade.

“Historical nonsense. Those primitives were banned because they thought the state should make all the decisions instead of doctors.”

The woman Mercedes walks into the kitchen. “I finished the inventory of the bathroom. I didn’t find any banned or dangerous substances.”

“See if they need help downstairs. I’m interrogating this health abuser.”

“What do you do now that no one smokes, and everyone has had the fat sucked out of them?” The reference to fat purges is lost on Zack; he has never suffered from obesity.

“Work in a tofu processing plant.”

The posse comes up the stairs from the basement, and the woman diverts her attention to them. “Find anything downstairs?”

“There isn’t any food stored in the basement,” one of the inspectors reports.

“I guess that does it.” The woman fiddles with her palm computer and a printout rolls out. She tears it off and drops it on the table, beside the bowl of popcorn.

“What is that?”

“The law requires parents to feed their children nutritious food. That is a citation for feeding your child banned snacks.”

“Banned snacks? … What is wrong with popcorn?”

“It is hard on gums and contains unnecessary carbohydrates. It was banned two years ago.”

So that is why the popcorn was stuck up in the top shelf behind those containers. Zack picks up the citation to see if there is a fine. “Two thousand dollars!” He says in disbelief. “This is ridiculous.”

The woman glares at him. “You are lucky that is the maximum fine I can give you. If it were up to me you would be incarcerated in a health re-education center for feeding a child banned snacks. Especially before meals — and you put salt on it. You don’t deserve to be a parent!”

Zack is stunned into silence.

The woman glares at him for a second, to make sure he gets the insult. “Let’s go,” she orders, and leads her flock of cowed inspectors from his house.

The kitchen is in disarray; all the contents of the cupboards are piled on counter tops except for the bigger pots and pans left lying on the floor. Everything from the fridge is piled on a counter. I better put that stuff back in the freezer.

But he ignores that thought and sits down at the table. He sees Ashley’s empty plate. “You ate everything on your plate.” He says to compliment her.

“I did. I ate it all Daddy.” Ashley smiles proudly at the compliment.

“Help yourself to the popcorn.”

Ashley smiles eagerly at the bowl, but she turns to him, and her smile fades and is replaced by an expression of concern. “Will you get into trouble Daddy?”

“I promised you popcorn for dessert, so you can have popcorn. Pass the bowl over here. I think I’ll have dessert, too.”

While they finish the popcorn Zack tries to make small talk about school. Ashley is in grade one, and it is a lot different than preschool. But she is more interested in the popcorn, and eats one kernel at time, to extract the maximum flavor. Watching her almost makes the fine worthwhile.

Ashley reaches into the bowl, can’t find any popcorn, and tips the bowl to look inside. “The popcorn’ s all gone Daddy.”

“Run your finger along the side of the bowl.” Ashley looks at him and shakes her head. “It’s okay, just this once. I won’t tell your mother. Go ahead.” Ashley gingerly runs a finger around the inside of the