Charlie's father has had heart surgery. They are waiting for him to wake.
All Characters © Beverly Taff

There was a bleep on the coms unit in Charlie and Chloe’s quarters.

“It’s Dr Indra. Your father is awake Charlie.”

While they walked to the ICU she told Charlie he should make a full recovery. He was very undernourished and his testicles were badly damaged. She told him they may have to be removed and he would need to be given a testosterone implant.

“What happened to his testicles Dr. Indra? Did it happen in the shed?”

“No it’s an old injury. I only noticed when I checked him this morning. We can ask him now. Mr. Rodgers, please meet your son, Charlie Sage.”
Charlie stood frozen. His Dad looked just like him. It was like looking into a mirror, with the man looking back at you much older and gaunt.

“Dad? Can I call you that?”

“Oh my god son, it’s true. You really are my son.”

He reached forward to get to Charlie, but the Doctor pushed him back down.

“Don’t over exert yourself let him come to you Mr. Rodgers.”

Charlie bent down and carefully hugged him. He was overcome with emotion. It was a meeting he thought would never happen.

“Son, I loved your mum so much. It broke my heart when we parted. I never knew she was pregnant.”

“She never told me about you. I thought that she had me by insemination.”

“Well she probably did that to stop you from looking for me. We know you would have got into trouble doing that.”

“How did you meet her dad?”

“Dad? That feels so nice. The last person to call me that was young Billy. I hope he’s alright.”

he looked worried.Chloe tried to calm him.

“Many of the men from the camps in the UQ are being helped now. There is a program to re-house men. I don’t suppose you are aware of what’s been going on, what with hiding for a year.”

“I got a little news from old newspapers when I was scavenging from bins.”

Chloe saw Charlie’s fists clench, she quickly changed the subject.

“Where did you meet her Dave. Hey I just thought. You’re my father-in-law!”

He smiled at her. He had Charlie’s smile, or rather Charlie had his.

I keep thinking I’m going to wake up and some women is going to beat me, or zap me.”

“Not now dad. If anyone so much as looks at you wrong, they’ll deal with me.”

Charlie almost snarled these words.

“I was working for a building company when I met your mum Charlie. I worked too late one night. She saw I was panicking that I wouldn’t get back to the rookery before curfew. She offered to let me stay in her shed. Later that night she asked me to join her for a meal. She had a wonderful mind your mum. We chatted, and well fell in love. She kept me there getting more buildng work done. My boss didn’t mind as long she was making money. “

“So why did you stop seeing her?”

“You know how it was. Her neighbors were getting suspicious. They were threatening to report us. She was worried I’d get hurt. We knew it could go nowhere. It was the happiest month of my life with her though. How is your mum?”

Charlie’s eyes filled with tears.

“Mummy died years ago.”

“I’m so sorry son. Come here.”

They both cried as they hugged.

“I’m sorry for crying dad, I know it's not manIy.”

“Charlie that’s rubbish. Men cry all the time. There’s nothing wrong with it. We just try not to do it in front of anyone. It shows weakness. What a load of bollocks.”

“I’ve got you now dad. I’m going to look after you. Did you know you have grandchildren? Look.“

Chloe showed David pictures of the children on her tablet.

“Hell, yesterday I was running for my life, now I have a family. A real family. You don’t know what this means to me Chloe.”

“Charlie wants you to live with us in Australia. Would you like that?”

“Anywhere my family is home. Although I’m not sure about the moon. The nurse told me that’s where we are now. Is that true.”

Chloe saw the disbelief in his eyes.

“Yes Dave, all due to your sons wonderul brain. Amazing isn’t he.”

“Dad what happened at the camp?”

“Well I got ill ten years ago and couldn’t work. My boss fired me, so I was sent to the labor camp. We got very little food and had to work twelve hours a day. I knew it would kill me. I’m sure that was what they were for. Getting rid of useless men.”

“I was always afraid of going to a labor camp. Women used to threaten to report men so they would be sent there. Sadistic bitches.”

“Some of the guards were sadistic. They would drive us out in vans to pick litter or cut grass. There was one guard we called the ball buster. She liked to select a man from the group. She would tie rope to our arms and legs between trees. When we couldn’t move she would kick us between the legs until we passed out. That’s why mine are so damaged. She liked to pick on me. I don’t know why.”

Charlie punched to wall and bloodied his knuckles.

“Fucking twisted bastards. I should have killed the fucking lot of them. I even sunk that bloody ship in shallow water so they could get off. I'm too fucking nice. I should have got some revenge for the shit they put us through.”

Chloe jumped in.

“Dave if you can describe her, or have her name, we can ask our friend Peter to track her down. They are prosecuting women that mistreated men now.”

“She was the one that tried to kill me. She set up her phone to record it. She said someone called Wilson wanted to see me dying. She told me that the feminist party had sentenced me to death. They must have known that I was your father. I never knew at the time. When I heard her say that I tried to run. She hit me with the taser. I passed out. When I woke up she had put me in a chair. She said she wanted me to put on a show before she killed me. Then she stamped on my groin, I remeber screaming and then..”

“If I find her she’s dead. I will strangle her with my bare hands. Sick fucking bitch.”

“Calm down son, I’m OK now. Let me tell you the rest.”

“My scream was heard by Billy. He saw her aiming her taser at my chest. He knew about my heart, so he hit her with a chair. We knew we would be in big trouble so we had to escape. Most of the guards had left. I didn’t know what was happening at the time. Later I found out there were a lot of arrests for corruption. We split up so we would stand a better chance. I have been hiding ever since. I have nearly been caught a few times. Women came looking. Always in a black Range Rover, always with guns.”

“Well you won’t have to worry about that anymore. The women and the black range Rover are spread all over the woods behind the allotment. Sometimes dad, I really hate women I know Chloe and many others I met aren’t bad, but I just…”

“Oh son. Don’t give in to hate. There was a guard called Sarah. When she found out about my heart condition she tried to get the camp medics to help. They told her I was not worth the treatment. She used to bring me boxes of aspirin. She thought it might help. Who knows perhaps it did.”

Doctor Indra nodded.

“Yes Mr. Rodgers. Aspirin blocks an enzyme called cyclooxygenase. That makes your body less likely to produce chemicals that can help cause inflammation.”

“Bless her then. You see Charlie when I was young in the rookery, I shared a room with an old man. He was a history teacher before the feminists took over. He said men voted for them as they said they would just make everything equal. This included visitation rights for dads. They did all they said they would in the first term. So they got elected again, In many other countries the same thing happened. Some European and America countries had feminist governments. Then almost as one, they disenfranchised men. It was like a global conspiracy.”

“Almost none of the Asian countries, Russia, Canada or Scandinavia did though dad. Over two thirds of the world isn’t feminist . I know it seemed like that though, living in the UQ.”

“Yes Charlie. They were very good at hiding the truth. After few women were murdered by men, all men were all blamed, and they put a curfew on us. It all went downhill from then. Our human rights disappeared.”

“I helped get them back in Oz dad. UQ is on its way back now. I have an idea to spread this to the rest of the world.“

“What I’m trying to say son is, it’s not women’s fault really. The old teacher told me that in the past men were expected to beat their wives. They could sell their wives. They were treated like property. Women were even put on funeral pyres with their husbands in some cultures. The men just accepted it .It was how they had been raised. The same happened to women. The ones that were to blame were the ones around when it happened.”

“They must have known what they were doing was wrong though dad.”

“The old teacher told me an about a saying. He said; The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. it comes from a speech from a philosopher, John Stuart Mill."

"What did he say?"

"Let not any one pacify his conscience by the delusion that he can do no harm if he takes no part, and forms no opinion. Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing. He is not a good man who, without a protest, allows wrong to be committed in his name, and with the means which he helps to supply, because he will not trouble himself to use his mind on the subject.”

“In this case son it should have been; The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good women to do nothing. We need to stop this happening again. Forgive them son. Hate just eats you up. Life is too short.”

Chloe could see she was going to learn to love this old man. He was going to be so good for Charlie.

He sat back in his bed and drifted back to sleep. Charlie had a lot of work to do. He promised himself he would find this Billy his dad’s friend.

I have a few more idea's Please let me know if I should continue.