(Some Spoilers Contained within, if you don't want it spoiled read it first it is really short!)
A while back I was browsing the Amazon market on my Kindle Fire and I stumbled upon the free book section. In there I found two short stories by Kurt Vonnegut 2BR02B and The Big Trip Up Yonder. Since they were free I did not hesitate in downloading both of them. The other day I opened up my Kindle, for what seemed like the first time in forever, and I decided to read the first of the two short stories, 2BR02B (in this case the "0" is pronounced Naught).
This short story tells of a future where aging no longer exists. Everyone in this universe takes a miracle serum and it allows them to live forever. The caveat to this longevity is that nobody is allowed to have children without finding someone who is willing to die so that the net population remains constant. This trade off it appears has become unnecessary because with everyone living so long the population had blown up to unsustainable proportions.
The dilemma in the short story is that there is a man who has decided to have a child and has gone through the appropriate measures, finding someone willing to die so that he can bring his child into the world. Everything seems to be in place until the father to be learns that his wife is having, not one but, three children. I wont spoil any more. Read it it is good.
This and Harrison Bergeron were the first two Vonnegut pieces I ever read, and they were great enough to inspire me to just go right out and buy his most famous book, Slaughterhouse-Five, with full confidence that I would love it. (I did.) The rest of my time with Vonnegut's works is plainly evidenced across the history of this blog. Anyway, yeah, it all started with 2 B R 0 2 B. So good.
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