He stands in the middle of the carriage ensuring that all of the children are accounted for and makes sure that they can see him when he gives them the signal to exit the pod. He notices that other passengers are looking at him strangely and he can only guess what they might be thinking. He had just paid the fare for thirty-five street children to ride from the Eastern sector to downtown. He was young and not physically able to be any of their parents and much too old to be an older brother. Such suspicious and questioning looks even started to present themselves from within the Eastern sector. People speculated about his intentions with these children. Some would keep close watch from afar but they kept their distance because he seemed to do them no harm. Either that or they were just curious and didn’t care enough to do anything about it even if something was up. The reality was that no one really cared about these kids. He had come across them in the park because this was where they always hung out. They were the children of simulative dependent parents, they were children of broken and dysfunctional homes. There was no other reason to reside in the East. Those that lived there were pushed there by financial necessity. Often a drug addiction was to blame. When simulative drugs first entered the legal market they were very expensive. They were described as the greatest feat in the history of chemical engineering, the cure for depression, the magic bullet, “the inspiring muse”, the drug to end all drugs. Those that could afford them bought them and they did so again and again. They couldn’t have enough. They wanted to experience everything, explore every possible avenue. The appetite for these drugs was never sated. Suddenly it was possible to live multiple lifetimes in just one night. To experience glimpses of oneself in parallel universes while remaining true to the one you existed in. Sooner or later, those with the greatest curiosities or wonder were mortgaging their properties, they were selling their vehicles. Those that were unhappy with their regular lives couldn’t go back. They relied on the new highs, the new experiences. Relationships deteriorated. Spouses of simulative drug users started to view usage as infidelity. The drug users would argue this case, that highs and experiences were just sensations, thoughts, not physical actions, but nonetheless they were usually done in absence of the spouse and suddenly a huge chasm or drift would occur in the relationship. They suddenly viewed things differently, their beliefs and thought patterns changed. They no longer understood each other. Everything began to break apart.
