The bodycam man hugs, presses, pats. The art is to do all of it without any sexual undertones whatsoever. For a moment, these tense English people soften in his arms. Many cry. And afterwards they function phenomenally. So. Door open, here’s his studio. A little cuddling package is available for just ten pounds, a deluxe session costs fifty. He works nonstop. Weeping oligarch’s wives convulse beneath his hands on the mattress, bankers who have because of stress ground their molars to blackened stubs curl up in his arms, sobbing. When it comes to collecting plus points, the bodycam man’s business is perfectly suited. Nearly every customer gives him a good rating. Immediately, with their mobiles. In the points app. Kiss my ass. You can access the public point standing of any citizen online. If someone has accumulated a certain number of points, it indicates a cash value that will be added to the basic income. If someone has no points or even a negative point total, you can reckon with a shitstorm, though a more civilized one than prior to the era of points. Nobody says things like “You should be gassed” anymore; women are no longer called “cunts” and “sluts” and “whores who should have their brains fucked right out of their bodies,” because you get points subtracted for verbal abuse. Quiet, disdainful censure by others is almost more painful than the previous vulgar attacks people had been accustomed to. Apart from praise or criticism from the hive mind, the point system is also interesting for landlords, banks, insurance companies, and potential sexual partners. Or not. Every week a Loser of the Week is announced, someone at the very highest rung of the negative rankings. The losers, who appear on the karma points home page, see their status follow them online in the following weeks: with a drop in social contact (people shun losers), with the loss of their flats, their jobs, their heat, their water. Societal satisfaction reaches its apex when such a subhuman ends up on the street after all the public attention. At which stage the point system losers get beaten up. Beating up a point system loser does not entail a points penalty.

Once a week the bodycam man turns off his camera. On Friday. After his final client. And he writes additional reports. Requests. Letters of complaint. In order to bring attention to the connection between arson, unlawful gains, and fraud and murder of the real estate firms. He won’t give up.

Good that we persevered—

“There she is,” says Peter, pointing at

His, which is to say

PETER’S MOTHER