The Trial of Unemployment:
The Trial of Unemployment: Part I
The Trial of Unemployment: Part II
She woke up the next morning to a knocking at the door. Dressing quickly, she answered it as promptly as she could. On the step stood a state police officer.
“Can I help you?” she asked, pushing her hair aside where it had fallen over her left eye.
“Are you @alexisbest?” he asked, stepping closer.
“Yes,” she replied, backing away to avoid contact. “Why?”
“It was reported that you threatened the Governor last night.”
“I, what?!?” her arms moving rigidly to her sides, releasing her hair which cascaded down her face.
“Ms, calm down,” he said.
“I am calm. What are you doing!”
“I am going to need you to come downtown with me for a statement,” he said, one hand reaching out to her, obscuring the other which was at his side.
“Are you going to release me afterwards? I need to tell my husband,” she said as she stepped away from him into the kitchen.
“Stop! Moving!” he said, like a bulldog's bark, causing her to freeze like a rabbit before a fox. “You need to come downtown, and you need to know that you could be arrested, or fined.”
“I, I, this is ridiculous.” Alexis felt herself floundering.
“Are you resisting?”
“Don't be ridiculous,” she managed to stammer, softly.
“Then let's go,” he said, reaching to grasp her arm. She dodged the attempt, and yelled into the house, “Derek.”
After explaining the situation to her husband, she traveled downtown in the back of a police car. Eventually escaping after filing a report, Alexis walked two miles to the solid, stolid building which housed her state's Department of Economic Opportunity. She had never hoped to see it, and released a long, extended sigh. A line circled around five blocks, with people spaced six feet apart, like large dominoes. If she tipped over one, they would spill into the street.
With her mask tight against her checks, the time felt suffocating, even as she recognized its usefulness. As she neared the entrance a worker with a tablet walked down the line, signing people in. Alexis waited anxiously, and when they finally arrived she fumbled with a wrinkled form she kept in her purse.
“Name and ID.”
“Alexis, Goodwin. K32139990.”
She watched as he typed in the digits. The tablet beeped irritatingly.
“I'm sorry,” he said, “but it says the account doesn't exist.”
“I definitely have one.”
“Oh, this is a common problem. When did you make it?”
That was an easy question. “About two months.”
“And have you renewed it?” he asked with knowledge already in his eyes.
“What do you mean?” Alexis said with anxiety rising like the tide, “I check in daily!”
“Yes,” he said patiently, the tablet hanging by his side, useless. “But you need to click a button on the website, weekly, to keep the application active.”
“What can I do?” she said, upset, but now angry too.
He pulled her out of line, she recoiled from the touch, but he pulled a bit more anyway. “I'm going to help you. I'll get you inside faster, send you to the office, and they can help.”
Inside they wandered through maze-like halls, masked faces milling about like doctors. At last her guide said, “This door,” and disappeared into the labyrinth. Inside the room, a single person, in an expansive room sat behind a school desk.
“Yes?” she asked without looking up.
“I'm Alexis, I'm here to renew my application,” said the customer as she handed over her now crumpled paperwork.
With barely a glance, the woman tossed it aside. “Not the correct location. Need to fill out file 1182-G from office 32-II, and use it to complete a 1-73-8, before returning here.”
With eyes on her desk, the worker didn't see the reaction of Alexis as she fled in the room in dismay.
In disarray she wandered the corridors, her mask wet and salty. At last, she entered into what looked like a waiting room, old worn magazines, a half-empty vending machine, threadbare chairs, and a single decade old TV. But on it the President was walking up to a podium.
“Today,” they said, “at my direction, the federal government will take over all unemployment claims, and process them swiftly.”
Alexis, eye's blurred, stumbled out through an exit into the sunlight. Her eyes already blurred with, she sobbed new tears of a different variety.
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