helvetica

everyone traveled by foot as they followed the edge of the river. there were no cars anymore, but we still had the capacity to print on white shirts. not tees, olde timey shirts with cloth ties and crudely carved bone closures instead of buttons. obscure slogans and phrases that (presumably) only held meaning to the wearer (and never gave you any insight regarding the origins) were printed off center (sometimes a word or phrase would start in the center of the chest and finish in the back) making them even more difficult to read. black ink only (the only color we had left...) in various sizes of helvetica (apparently the only font still allowed). everyone seemed crabby and would only accidentally make eye contact with you as they passed. after a few hours of nudging by people in cryptically printed shirts, i'd come to the conclusion that the slogans weren't arcane at all, they were illiterate and utterly meaningless as anything other than ornamentation. when i shared my epiphany with my older traveling companion he stopped dead in his tracks and turned around to grab both of my shoulders. 'SHHHHHH!' my friend ordered, 'it's a dictate of the state. never let anyone know you can read or it will be bad for you. everyone is afraid of knowledge now and if the locals think you have any they'll burn you as a witch. 'people can't READ anymore?' i asked in a horrified whisper. he glared at me as another human animal approached to pass us on the path. now i knit my brows and held my head down like the others i had seen all day.

i began to plan my escape.