Was a courier for ten years. Had been. He’d started during his university days (literature and education—WTF?). “I like to be around people,” the courier said. “I get to exercise my legs and be out in the fresh air.” He said, unprompted. To other couriers. Because soon he broke off his studies because in order to afford his studies he had to ride his bike so much that he had no time left to study. Yes, well. There were no jobs for literature graduates anyway. Nobody read anymore, either. “I’d love to read a book,” people said, unprompted and a little sheepishly, “but—time.” Of course, time was spread thin. There were online chats to be had and houses in Costa Rica to look at, hate comments beneath articles nobody read, and after that TV series, TV series. Series that prepared people for actual conditions. Everyone remembered—like the cherry blossoms in grandpa’s garden, which they never had, that is, no garden and no grandpa—the wonderful effect of a good book.

In the meantime the courier was over forty and in excellent physical condition, as long as you look past the bronchial infections he contracted during the era when the cityscape was still dominated by combustion engines. And if you ignore his HIV. Which had been totally ignorable. The medicine is infernal stuff, but

Then the health system was revolutionized.

Something that

THOME’S FATHER

Emphasizes in one of his talks in the House of Lords: “Too much inequity marked our previous health system. The costs to treat the so-called uncooperative members of society, who wantonly endanger their own health, fell on the shoulders of the common man. The system is deeply unfair. With the new system, each person pays what they should. You’re hardworking, keep yourself in good shape, don’t take drugs, don’t drink? Then you are like ninety percent of the population, who up to now had to pay for the ten percent of spongers. For people who engaged in overly prodigious sexual activities, who put parties and drugs above the willpower it takes to lead a healthy, responsible life. Now that the free primary health care has been eliminated as a result of abuse by parasitic foreigners, the fair system of health insurance…”

And so on.

THE COURIER

has not received his medicine for a month now. He is no longer able to pay the premiums for the new, wonderfully fair insurance. He already had pneumonia, but he’s getting by at the moment. If you look past the Kaposi’s sarcoma lesions on his face.