So some of you may have seen that there’s another followup to the story of Omelas. Which I hate. HATE. And the followup, which everyone is raving about, made me nearly as mad.
So I present to you, Nomelas.
Once upon a time in the city of Omelas, a Bargain was made. You’ve probably heard about it. They are a Camelot, a golden city shining in the sun, all for the low low price of keeping one child miserable in a dark hole.
This is not Omelas.
Don’t get me wrong, our ancestors weren’t any more noble. One of them figured out that where one dark Fae might make a deal for a constant and directed stream of low level misery, another might too. Also, they had a particular feud with one of the families of the city known to have a particularly beautiful toddler and… well. Not pretty, but long story short, the same deal was struck. A child was kidnapped. The whole ugly cycle was the same here as there for a couple of hundred years.
But then our city, let’s call it Nomelas because no, I am not telling you where I am, did something different. We elected a mother whose child was dealing with treatment resistant depression.
After being sworn in, she discovered that she had access to an expert in fae contract law and started asking questions.
Did the child need to be kept in the dark? Yes.
Did the child need to be kept isolated? Yes.
What happens if the child passes unexpectedly, can the child be switched out for another? Yes.
How Interesting. What if the child falls ill and into a coma? If the child is unconscious is this a breach of contract? Not immediately, but if it lasts more than 8 days the child will need to be replaced with another.
And before then — can we send in health care professionals to administer aid? If the child is unconscious, help isn’t going to make them less miserable. Yes, that doesn’t break any of the conditions of the binding.
Why 8 days? It’s a fae thing.
Does it have to be a child? Yes.
Fuck. Yes.
So our Mayor called in doctors from the local pediatric hospital and asked about inducing comas in children. Because this is Nomelas and medical research actually happens here without for profit industry interference, we have the technology. It can be done safely.
So the plan was hatched. The lottery which used to be once in a lifetime to draft a child and make them miserable was adjusted to be more of a blood drive. Volunteers are sought and compensated. A new child with depression is brought in every week.
Because this is Nomelas, we don’t have a lot of children with untreated or untreatable depression. We have some, but we also reach out to nearby cities.
It’s a government job so it doesn’t pay well per se, but minimum wage for 40 hours plus time and a half for the rest of the week isn’t a bad gig, especially for a child that comes from outside the city. They have it explained that because they’re already always sad, they fit into the system without being forced to be miserable. That they’ll spend a little while in the dark, but then someone will bring them a drink that will put them to sleep for about 8 days.
They’ll wake up later sore in some odd places because after they fall asleep, nurses come in to put them on feeding tubes, catheterize them, and attach vital signs monitors to make sure that they’re okay. The dark is sad and scary, but only for a little while and nothing will actually hurt them in there. The child is told that they are a hero, and thanked for helping to save someone else’s life. They are also sent home with a couple months worth of antidepressants, on the city’s tab.
Is the system perfect? Not quite, but we don’t see a way completely around the child labor issue without triggering the vengeance of an unpaid Fae. But is it better than Omelas? We think so. Not just for the children, but for the rest of us. We don’t have a city of people lying to themselves that there’s nothing we can do. We don’t have a city full of people forcing themselves to turn cruel.