Markets For Fleas And Stocks Of T Vs Act 2 Part 1

karmavacation

“Markets For Fleas and Stocks of TVs” is the first part of Act Two of a space rock piece I am working on. The story may change, but this if you’d like to know what this piece is “about” at this moment then read on. It is meant to be a ballet, but it’s highly likely that it will not happen.

A few years in the future, the world is in chaos (unlike now, haha). The stock market has collapsed, nuclear war is no longer a possibility but is a fact of life that doesn’t have much impact on the minds of the jaded citizens of City XV. North America is a unified body without countries, states, territories or provinces. The cities have been renamed and amalgamated to make them easier to govern - easier to provide rations to, easier to imprison dissidents. The rations are sold in flea markets, which is where this takes place.
The Markets are set up in the hours before sunrise and dismantled in the early morning. Being in the sun too long reacts with the pollution damaged skin in a way that most find unpleasant: it burns it instantly. So the market gets set up, and people begin to trade. They trade bread, watches, paint, gloves, and so on. Anything and everything is available to be traded, including children and virtue, though not in conjunction.
The action revolves around a single family and a bank of tv/computer-like screens that broadcast the news, some of it official (government warnings, war stories), some not (war stories, economic news). It is from these screens that news of an undeniable UFO visitation is broken.