Blaine tried desperately to avoid falling into the same endless routine that everyone else seemed to. If one would come to the ten-mile long street known as Jenson Avenue, they would be greeted by an iron gate with a security guard checking to make sure you weren't going to harm the perfection of the community. Once through the gate, hundreds of houses, not particularly large or small, lined both sides of the avenue. Each was marked with a number and a color, but other than that there wasn't much variety. Blaine Samuel Anderson lived in house 231 with a green stripe. He was 17, only a year away from finding out what his occupation would be for the rest of his life. While walking, the thought crossed his mind. Blaine sighed. It wasn't in his best interest to do a tedious job until he aged and retired at 74. However, that was the future of him and all his classmates, along with their parents and their parent's parents. The concept of assigning people their job has been around for centuries.
Blaine had to explain the process many times to his sister so he knew it just as well as the person who created the system. First, a group of people who have been doing this same job for years would look through the report card of a particular person. Then they would sort them by the student's best subject. Blaine already knew his was Science, even though he only had a B+. Next, more specialists would decide which branch of the profession that individual was sorted in. Finally, they would randomly place people in the positions that were available.
Blaine arrived to his house only to find his parents arguing. That was typical in house 231
It was hard to have Blaine's family. His parents were complete opposites and arguments were common. He was positive that if it were possible, they would end their marriage. His mother had told him that outside of places like Jenson, people do that. She was born somewhere outside, way past anywhere anyone here had been. Blaine still didn't know how she ended up in Jenson but somehow, her 24 year old self ended up meeting his dad in the Cafeteria. When Blaine thought it through, it actually made sense considering that the Cafeteria is the only place to eat on the entire grounds. They got married and were forced to have Blaine two years later. By the time Blaine turned 8, both his parents assumed that their family was done growing until one day, the family was in the cafeteria eating dinner when the head of Jenson approached them. Blaine remembered that night clearly.
"Hello James." He said to Blaine's dad. The head was a big, bulky man and he was definitely intimidating at first.
"Hello." James nodded in response. By now, Blaine, who was only 8 at the time understood that this was a serious conversation.
"We need to ask your family a favor." He clasped his hands together as he spoke. James shot Addie, Blaine's mother, a look.
"Do share please." Blaine's father insisted.
"We need your family to produce again." He said, plainly. Blaine looked up at his mother. She wrapped her arm around him for comfort.
"Have another child?" James asked, just to clarify. His voice was clam, the opposite of the expression on Addie's face.
"Yes sir." The head replied. He rarely called people sir but Blaine's father was pretty important in the community. James looked over at his wife who nodded in agreement. Blaine never understood the telepathic connection they had but it had always amazed him.
"Alright." James smiled and then turned back to face his family. Blaine's mother and father continued a conversation as if the Head had never come over. All Blaine could think about for the rest of the evening was what it would be like to have a younger sibling. Most families had two kids so Blaine felt lucky to be an only child. It wasn't until later that night that Blaine had learned that his parents just wanted to avoid worrying Blaine and saved their real conversation for that night when they thought Blaine was asleep.
He crawled and stood next to the banister for the stairs linking the floors. Below, his father was speaking with haste towards his mother. Again, not unusual.
"Addie. I know you don't want to do it but if you want to stay here, in this house, with THAT boy…" James pointed up towards Blaine's room. "…Then I suggest you do as I say." He sighed and looked at his wife. When she spoke, her voice was weak but she stood her ground.
"Fine." She said, not with a tone of defeat but of acceptance. And that became the story of how Tenny Julia Anderson came into house number 231.
The night before Blaine's final year of education, the family sat for a dinner together. He helped his sister cut her meat and poured her water. She thanked him, and then grabbed her knife awkwardly, stuffing the food into her mouth. James looked at her with disgust while Addie smiled. There was silence for a few moments until finally, James spoke.
"Do well this year, okay Blaine?" He said, almost as if it was a threat. Blaine had always been scared of his father but especially when that tone began a conversation. He simply nodded his head in response, reassuring his father that he would. There wasn't much else he could do. Even with all the restrictions, teenagers still seemed to find rebellious ways to break the rules. Of course you needed friends for this, which Blaine didn't have. He used to though.
It's a story Blaine avoiding thinking about. Back when he was 14, he realized that he was different than his classmates. They began talking about who they planned on marrying, examining the girls and choosing their top three. One of them, Blaine couldn't remember who, asked him what his top three were. Blaine sighed and explained that he didn't picture any of them his spouse. Everyone turned, appalled by his statement. In they end, they walked away hating Blaine and he walked away with bruises and cuts. When he got home that evening, his father wasn't there. Luckily, he was on a business trip to another community and wouldn't be back for a week. This gave Blaine's injuries time to approve, which meant he didn't have to explain anything to him.
"What happened to your eye?" his mother had asked. Blaine explained in full detail everything. He mentioned the conversation while his mom just nodded, hand on her chin.
"You know that people back where I'm from there are boys who like boys and girls who like girls." She said, smiling. Blaine looked astonished, not distraught, just astonished.
"Really?" He asked, amazed with such a different lifestyle.
"Yes sir." She laughed at her son's interest. Blaine didn't even wonder why she had brought it up. "Now go relax, you look horrible." She winked and then went to tend to Tenny, who was 6 at the time yet, a handful.
After that incident, Blaine was sure that he was one of the people his mom had mentioned. He never told anyone though, not even his mom. It had explained so much to him though, all these thoughts he's had through the years. Although it was scary being different, he was happy that he knew who he was. The bad thing about living in Jenson, or anywhere similar, is that you can't even be yourself. Blaine knew that too well. He'd spent 6 months in a juvenile prison once for singing. That's what his mom called it. She had taught him and he began making up singing things for himself. There was this place behind the cafeteria that was completely secluded and Blaine could go there and sing. He'd sung for his mother once (of course his father wasn't home) and she clapped saying it was amazing. When he was caught though, they said that if they caught him again, it would be worse than jail. This was enough to scare Blaine and he never made the singing noise again.
These two stories suddenly became completely relevant in Blaine's future because he would be stuck in a job that's not nearly as good as singing and he would have to choose a spouse (not somebody he would ever love, not that it mattered to anyone). He almost hoped that this last year of school never ended, just so he could avoid his future.