"But how?" she demanded, her eyes snapping back into focus. "I mean, I suppose the Resistanceā¢ could've blacked out our memories. They'd do it if they needed to. If they thought it'd serve the mission. They have that kind of tech..."
"Yeah", Joe agreed, "they have the tech. They could easily have fucked with our heads. There's any number of barriers they could've put up, to keep us from remembering. They could even have patched up the gaps with false memories, or done a major overhaul, erased everything, taken all the memories that were real, replaced 'em with something else...we wouldn't have a clue. Well. except for this..." He paused, glancing back at the kids. "The real question is: how could they have erased the taste of it? You know what they say about it. You know it as well as I do. 'Once you taste it...'"
"...you never stop tasting it'" Jane finished flatly. "Yeah. I know. The whole fucking world knows. It's the business model to end all business models. The slogan to end all slogans. In the future, anyway. Our future..." She trailed off, frowning. "But...ok, look...but how are we supposed to know what it actually tastes like? I mean, nobody can describe it...so what if we actually are tasting it? What if we've always been tasting it? What if we've been tasting it this whole fucking time, and we just can't tell, because we're just...we're just used to it?"
Karate Joe snorted. "Not likely. I think I'd know if I was a deranged lunatic hell bent on destruction. Or a superhero".
"Would you though?" Jane asked gently...
Note: this installment contains Sunday's prompt, "more barriers", as well as today's prompt, "future business" because I cut the story off too early in the Sunday episode š
Read Ep 1 here: @bennettitalia/the-chronicles-of-karate-joe-episode-1-ball-winders-short-fiction-for-freewrite-prompt-ball-winder
Read Ep 2 here: @bennettitalia/the-chronicles-of-karate-joe-episode-2-more-barriers-short-fiction-for-freewrite-prompt-more-barriers
Written in response to the following prompt: @mariannewest/day-1928-5-minute-freewrite-wednesday-prompt-ball-winder
Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash