The BEGINNING: The Life of Catkin Key

“This is it,” I yelled at her. I didn’t mean to.

“You sure? There’s something missing, like a building,” Jillian was confused and treading carefully because she knew I was riding the edge.

I felt ashamed when I knew I was making her nervous.

“Yeah this is it. The other building you’re thinking of is gone they razed it for a new community garden,” I said looking at the flier.

There are no more GPS.

There are no smart phones.

Some people resent The Pause and the Coalition of Allegiances Front (CAF, not to be confused with the CAFF) but that cohort is shrinking by the day as life improves, for everyone.

The old media has been disbanded as well. Countless trials are underway for the thousands of Enablers and just this last weekend some of the former members of the 1% started secretly giving up The Names.

The Names of those who really sit at what I call the Demanding Heights. The ones who nearly ruled the world for hundreds of years and almost sealed the deal.

Still, some people were wild with fury at first. But like I said that group is shrinking. For starters they can’t spread their hate anymore. But I think its deeper than that.

Things will continue to improve as people eat well and live well.

As people can breathe fresh air and breathe without panic. We all got so used to panic we hardly recognized that we were hyperventilating most of the time.

We were being violently abused, manipulated, and used.

We parked and got out of the car.

Yes, a car. Another thing we almost lost and have back. And we have the freedom to move around. Of course, it requires more caution these days, but all-in-all the level of freedom is beyond anything I ever imagined was possible.

Don’t get me wrong I miss the internet too but to say the temporary loss of it and the destruction of the cloud and the chain wasn’t worth it is a sign of mental illness. A sign of someone aching to be a slave and hey, I’ve been saying all along if there’s a group of folks that feel they need that we can give them an island or a sparsely populated state.

We’re going to get those tools back and use them the right way. The Allies include everyone, and the technology belongs in the hands of the People.

Before all this most people thought that was the case. They thought it was in our hands. They also thought they were playing checkers when they were playing 10-dimensional chess. These are some of most hopelessly brainwashed humans.

Some held onto that nonsense right up until it was impossible to deceive themselves another minute and some died with the lie. Some still live with it, too. It reminded me of that old movie from the 90s. It came out when I was in high school. Catchy couldn’t understand the point of watching it. He said, “we can totally change the future because we know where shits going but the titanic hit the iceberg and not even James Cameron can undo that.”

Then he watched it with me. I knew he’d appreciate the theme. People make self-destructive decisions because they distance themselves from the fundamental laws the govern it all, they exempt themselves thinking they’ve learned. The ending for these people is never anything less than completely predictable. It ends badly.

Next week this will be where the ceremony for the tributes is to be held. And if it wasn’t for that last detail, the one about a weeklong ceremony, I wouldn’t be as put off by the space.

One giant slab of concrete surrounded by overgrown grass, abandoned buildings covered in graffiti and trees without leaves on this cool, overcast day. One of the only redeeming features are the raised beds for the community garden being built around the giant cement slab where hundreds of people will gather next week.

I feel I would be remiss if I didn’t address the depressing scene. It’s literally like they picked the most depressing space they could find. Granted its nothing compared to what we’ve all witnessed over the past several years but it’s hardly the place I would pick to celebrate a win. I think the people at CAFF feel like this spot is the perfect reminder.

I hate that, but I get it. I really do.

Still if brighter days are ahead couldn’t the venue be less a reminder of death and devastation? Maybe it could be a mixture of themes: one to remind people of what we’re honoring and what happened, and one to brighten the mood and boast the morale? Could we not all agree that despite everything that’s happened and despite the fact we have a long way to go, we have every reason to take a fucking victory lap?

I spaced out at when I realized the building to the right was what remained of the Health Maintenance Facility.

“Where is she,” Jillian asked. She was cold. I could tell.

“She’ll be here. You wanna borrow my jacket?”

“I’m fine babe thank you though.”

“Are we doing this outside?” Kristen asked, “look at the chairs.”

There were exactly five chairs in a circle. We walked up to them and sat down. 1 chair sat empty.

The four of us are:

1. Me. I am Immanuel Alvarez, everyone calls me Manny. Only one person ever called me Immanuel and it wasn’t my mom.

2. Jillian Alvarez, my wife. We met in college freshman year, and we’ve been together ever since.

3. Josiah Arn, a psychiatrist who was a medical student when Catchy and me were freshmen. Dr. Arn had found memories of Catchy Key.

4. Kristen Hill, a friend from our youth who had known Catchy since pre-school and

5. Kholaina LaFonta, Catchy’s girlfriend from freshmen year until the bitter end.

I looked around and said, “right smack dab in the middle.”

“He would’ve appreciated that,” Jillian said.

We all laughed.

“That was the idea,” a soft, sweet voice said from behind me.

Kholaina walked up looking beautiful as always. Wearing an old hoodie I recognized.

“Still has the burn holes,” I said, forcing a laugh that almost got stuck under the lump in my throat. I had to push the words past the lump like it was a real thing I could choke on.

“I remember the night those burn holes got made,” Kristen said, smiling, blushing some.

There was a moment of awkward silence.

Kristen looked embarrassed and apologized, “I’m sorry Kholaina I shouldn’t have said that.”

Kholaina genuinely didn’t care and took her seat. She told Kristen, “You have nothing to say sorry over. You guys had a thing when he was a freshman in high school. I didn’t even meet Catchy until our freshman year in college.”

“Its wild how did you manage to get a hold of it?” Josiah chimed in and asked.

“Officer Harmon, the one who liked Catchy a lot. The one who gave me his last journal. All they had were the clothes he was wearing, the journal, couple pencils, and this hoodie. It’s like most of the soldiers couldn’t wait to do the right thing,” Kholaina said.

“Ha…yeah and then you had the fuckin psychopaths ready to follow any order. Did you hear about the one unit that kept track of who had done the most fucked up shit to people in the facilities?” I asked, feeling my heartrate pick up.

“We’ll they’re either in lockup or they’re being hunted down by the CAF and the military so let’s focus on this,” Kholaina said.

She handed us each a flier from CAFF.

“So, The Fearless Five huh?” Josiah said, looking uncomfortable as Kholaina handed him his paper.

“Way too late,” I was getting angry, and Jillian rubbed my back. “Too late to give them a name like that. There’s repenting and there’s just plain fake and that shits just plain fake.”

“It is too late, but he still deserves it so we’re gunna snatch the chance to cement his legacy,” Kholaina said with wet eyes.

Looking directly at me.

I knew I had to calm down.

Kholaina continued, “the ceremony begins in 10 days and our day is the last day which means we have about 15 days to prepare. Me and Manny have been looking at the flier for the event which is being put together by CAFF. In case anyone’s doesn’t know that’s the Civilian Advocates Freedom Front and they worked and still work to promote the material of anyone advocating for freedom and they’re still taking on the digital dictatorship, or what’s left of it. They’re not affiliated with CAF, the Coalition of Allegiances Front, but they work together.”

“I’ve never heard of these others,” Josiah said looking at the names.

“That’s probably why Catchy won the vote to be the highlight,” Kholaina replied.

“What’s that mean?” Kristen asked.

Kholaina looked at me to answer. She was worried she was talking too much; I could tell. She wasn’t but I let her pass the torch.

I explained that “It means that we go last and get more time. We’re gunna do something different. CAFF wants to spotlight the life of each of these people to show that everyday people can make actual change even if it comes at great costs. They want to know about the individual lives of these folks and every tribute gets 2 hours to be honored, but we get four.”

Kholaina nodded and when I finished added “Exactly and CAFF had a vote recently which you all remember?”

Everyone nodded.

“It was overwhelming throughout the entire country,” Kholaina continued, “the counterculture that sprung up from Catchy’s drawings and viral rants and all the rest isn’t anything he would’ve ever thought was possible, but it's spread like wildfire and people of all political persuasions started to be interested. It didn't mean people agreed on everything but there were breakthroughs as we are all aware as far as reaching a consensus on some basics and that's what led to the big push, and obviously where we are now with The Pause. If there’s only one thing he was wrong about, or sort of wrong, it’s that we would be where we are now. Who’d have even imagined during the Lockdown of 20, then The Easing of 2020 and 2021, then the Re-Try Campaign of late 21, the National Lockdown and The Edicts of 22, and then the Breakdown & Regroup of 23 that the chaos would be something we could push through,” she paused and then went on to say, with conviction, “I sure as hell didn’t but it’s here and we’re not letting this fall apart.”

I was always skeptical.

“Gotta love the names, The Edicts, The Breakdown & Regroup which is when they snatched Catch. Now we have The Pause. Who’s to say it’s not bullshit?” I asked, knowing full well that despite my understandable lack of faith and skepticism this time was completely different.

Kholaina needed me to be positive and gave me a look that reminded me of that.

“Manny why don’t you tell them what we have in mind,” Kholaina said, looking down at the fliers.

I pulled my shit together in my head. Do it for your boy I told myself. Jillian said the same thing last night before bed.

“In Catchy’s last journal entry he talks about his life in days. We’re gunna write a story, kinda like a story or narrative or whatever, that corresponds with some of those days. We’re gunna start with the end and work our way backwards to his childhood. Most of the stories will begin and end with a journal entry from the days the story took place,” I explained.

“All of us?” Josiah asked.

“Is that ok?” Kholaina looked up at Josiah.

“Oh, absolutely! Sure, but I’m not much of a writer and I didn’t know him like you all did.”

“Dr. Arn one story is all you man, trust me, and we’ll collaborate and all that but mostly it’ll be me, Jillian and Kholaina. Kristen the last two stories you said you could help right, since you knew Catchy since like pre-k,” I asked her.

“Absolutely. As best as I can.”

“Thank you. It means a lot,” Kholaina’s eyes were damp again. But she did not cry.

“So, the details of the stories? Where are we getting them?” Josiah asked.

“Honestly we’ve outlined all of them and written a few already so…but you, Dr. Arn, you’ll have everything you need to write and read your piece, your story doc cause it’s about your time with Catchy. Kholaina will tell you what style she wants it in and fill in the gaps since she was his girlfriend and knew just about every detail, but don’t worry we’ve got you covered,” I told Josiah.

Kholaina then presented the outline and the plan.

“There will be The Beginning,” she said. “The Beginning is this and Manny will write it from his point of view. Then there will be several stories in order of age going backwards and right now it looks like this we have: The Beginning read by Manny, then the first story here just read the list,” Kholaina passed the copies around.

Outline for Tribute

1. The Beginning: The Life of Catkin Key- Written by Jillian and Manny Alvarez, presented by Manny Alvarez

2. They Called me Catchy: The Inconsiderable Life of Catkin Key (39)-Written and presented by Manny Alvarez

3. In a Room Like This- (21) Written by Josiah Arn and Kholaina LaFonta and presented by Josiah Arn.

4. Three Dirty Days-(17) Written by Manny and Jillian Alvarez, presented by Manny Alvarez

5. Purely, Decent, and Unspeakably Beautiful-(16) Written by Kristen Hill and Manny Alvarez, presented by Manny Alvarez

6. Set ’Em All to the Wind-(14) Written by Manny Alvarez, presented by Manny Alvarez.

7. Sane fer The Summer: Tree Frogs and Triangles-(12) Written by Kristen Hill and Manny Alvarez, presented by Kristen Hill.

8. Hickory Lane (10) Presented by Kholaina LaFonta, this is a story written for AP English by Catchy.

9. On The Way Down (6) Presented by Kholaina LaFonta, also a story by Catchy for school that seems fitting

10. The End Based on journal entries, compiled and edited by Kholaina LaFonta and Manny Alvarez, presented by Kholaina LaFonta

“Most of the work is done but we still have to review it. I know it seems like a lot, but we’ve given it a lot of thought and CAFF loves it,” Kholaina said.

“I think it’s great I’m only concerned that it may ruin his reputation. Why bring in such deeply personal information?” Josiah asked.

I understood his concern on the surface but also found it troubling that he didn’t grasp the premise right away.

Kholaina beat me to the punch. She said, “Catchy was definitely one of a kind. There’s no doubt. But that’s not what made him see the open path. And you’re the psychiatrist so maybe you disagree but I think-I know. I know it wasn’t Catchy’s brilliance or his illness that brought us here today. Those things contributed, I’m sure. It’s possible if he hadn’t bi-polar and OCD we would all be in bad shape or someone else would’ve filled the void. But I think it was his basic ability to see the plain nature of something. Catchy wouldn’t see window dressing he just saw the window. At the end of the day, he understood puzzles. He understood sequences of events and he had the common sense it took to see what was behind us, to understand any given moment, and recognize the destiny we were crafting. I think that’s where he got his preview or plot outline for what was coming next.”

Kholaina was making me dizzy now. She wasn’t wrong. Its just far less complicated than that. Some people go along to get along.

That’s most people.

Those people will come and go and have hobbies and families and routines and their lives matter but they’re unremarkable. Save for some small talk, some low-brow banter, they would enter this world and exit without leaving too much behind. I’m one of those people.

Catchy wasn’t. That’s why he’s worth remembering.

**********

The pile of journals sat on my desk and I stared at them while Jillian brushed her teeth.

His last journal on top.

I opened it to the last page.

One drop of blood on the upper righthand corner.