Is with Don in a so-called public space, which is accessible to the people but doesn’t belong to them. How nicely the so-called populace conducts itself while populating when they’re suddenly no longer anonymous. Aware of being recorded and evaluated every second. A totally abstract but somehow revalued existence, that transcends the meaningless performance of shopping, which has long since become hollow. Had. Over. Peace. They’ve been phenomenally well trained to be seen. Ten years of social media has left behind vast mental devastation. Speaking of damage—

Most webcams transfer their material to the internet, where it lives forever. That way everyone can archive all evidence of one’s existence on the planet. Can profile and exhibit oneself, reread the comments about oneself in a bar yesterday evening. Hey, you in the red dress, you’re hot, want to meet up? Super performance, thanks. The comments are almost all positive. It appears as if all the hate of recent years is being siphoned off to some gully, as if there’s no more reason to be angry at the world now that one is taken notice of, now that there’s money just for showing up, now that the island is swimming alone in the sea and everyone has for various reasons really shown the elite a thing or two. Now there’s nothing left to hate, Brussels is gone, the elite defeated, the foreigners stuck in Calais, the poofs are afraid to show themselves on the street ever since a referendum repealed marriage rights for such obviously deranged people. And the public display of affection between those of the same sex is also punished as indecent behavior. People are no longer distracted by abnormality during social gatherings and can dedicate themselves to themselves. So to speak. Through the removal of paper from the street, driving in an orderly manner, showering in an environmentally conscious way, by the approved consumption of approved foods, by keeping physically fit, by refraining from visiting the doctor, and by picking up dog droppings. Even from other people’s dogs. All dogs. Humanity picks up a giant pile of dog shit in order to grab bonus points in order to augment the basic income. Some earn as much as a hundred pounds, and their photos are pinned at the top of the karma points website. How pleasing. The new life.

A WOMAN

UTILITY: utterly insignificant, appears only to illustrate the scene

Walks into one of the concrete street barriers that had been erected all over the city to protect against Muslim-oriented individuals who, by order of some operator or other, had flattened people with a motorcar.

She had.

Seen.

PETER