A Simple Glass of Water

by M. Lewis, Lancaster High School, Lancaster County, Virginia

Nick Johnston walked down the carpeted hallway pushing a cart full of files and sighed. As an intern for the United Nations, he thought he would be listening to delegates from around the world discuss the human society and how to advance it as a whole. He had always imagined sitting in on sessions, listening to the future of the world being decided. Instead, Nick spent eight hours a day walking up and down a hall picking up files from boxes and putting them through a shredder.

He was discouraged about the whole project. As a graduate student, the entire point of his coming to work here was to study human interaction on a grand scale. He had even been thinking about doing his thesis paper on the work of the United Nations. If only he knew what that work was.

An hour later Nick could be found leaning against the wall, feeding files into a shredder. They all had TOP SECRET stamped across the top in red ink, like the writers were some sort of James Bond wannabes. For the first few weeks it had been exciting to handle that sort of stuff, and he had been tempted to open just one and read what was inside. But he knew if he was caught opening one of the files, he would not only be out of a job, but he could go to jail.

At that very moment, a paper which had been stuck to the bottom of a file came loose and fell to the floor. Nick apathetically picked it up, went to put it in the shredder, then paused. He looked around him to make sure nobody was watching, then read the most terrifying document he had ever laid eyes on.

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To: # 32054409

Re: Hormone update

All eight test sites have shown reduced fertility rates with no apparent side effects on the natives. As a result of this unprecedented success we are initiating the addition of the hormones Kacolsu U-A and Bromida 3-U into the public drinking water supply of the following American cities:

New York

Los Angeles

Chicago

Dallas

Boston

This will begin February 10, 2037. Hormones are being introduced concurrently in various parts of Japan, China, India, South America, and are continuing to be used in Africa. Within two to three years, we expect the age model of these countries to shift dramatically, and within a generation we should reach ZPG. Please remember that this information is code white.

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Nick felt dizzy with shock. He read the document again, making sure that his eyes weren't deceiving him. Then he quickly folded it and slipped it into the inner pocket of his shirt, under his jacket. Hormones, ZPG, code white, fertility rates -- these words spun in his head, breaking apart any other idea. Nick spent the rest of the day walking like a zombie, thinking of nothing but getting out of work and going to his apartment and reading the letter again.

As soon as he got home, he locked all the doors, closed all the blinds, and pulled the letter out. Fertility hormones were being introduced into the public water supply in order to lower the rate of population growth. People didn't know that every time they bent over a water fountain, every time they brushed their teeth, they would be reducing their chances of having children. And the United Nations was funding all of this.

Nick couldn't believe it, but the more he thought, the more he realized it was true. After all, everyone knew that the United Nations had been working for over twenty years to reach ZPO -- zero population growth. It had been shown that even with a vegetarian diet and conservative use of all resources, the population would exceed the carrying capacity of the Earth within 30 years. The United Nations had always been working on population control. But still, they had always defended a woman's right to choose to have children, at least publicly. What they were doing here was taking away that choice, without even telling people. It was scary to know what they were doing. They had already been using hormones in Africa. And February 10-- that was less than two weeks away.

But what could he do about it? Nick knew that to even admit knowledge of the operation would cost him his job, but to oppose it could cost him even more -- his entire future, his career, any hope of success he ever had. But to not say anything would cost millions of people their freedom. And he had to wonder, what else were they doing that nobody knew about?

The next morning, after a restless night, Nick got up and dressed as unobtrusively as he could, caught the bus, making sure not to be early or late, but right on time, and not to do anything that would catch anybody's attention. Inconspicuous was the name of the game. But nobody even looked his way or talked to him all day long. As the days passed, Nick realized nobody knew and that he wasn't going to get caught.

But at night, his conscience gnawed at him. It was inhumane. It was wrong. He knew that much. But what could he do about it? Would anybody believe him? And, more importantly, was he willing to take the risk of telling people? It was more than just that, though. It was personal. Nick's sister Susan had been trying for five years to have children. She'd paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for fertility treatments. He'd been there time and time again when she'd gone in only to have a failed pregnancy test. Now all her hard work and fertility treatments would be washed away... with a simple glass of water.

After a week, Nick came up with a plan. He didn't dare to take off work or do anything which might attract attention. He took the letter and made copies of it. He also wrote a letter of his own to accompany the United Nations one. It stated that he was an intern there, how he had found the letter, and what the ramifications of it were. He also put in a request that the letter and the relevance of it be printed on February 10th and that the people were made aware of what was happening. He then sent a copy of the letters to each of the major newspapers in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Boston, and Washington, DC.

In two days, it was everywhere. The first headline, UNITED NATIONS INFILTRATING PUBLIC WATER, turned people everywhere to bottled water, softdrinks, and lawsuits. Within a week the public water system had been tested, the hormones had been identified, and purification systems had been put in place. The governments of the other countries involved had also been notified. Various United Nations officials had been taken into custody by the FBI and the matter was completely taken care of within a month.

But Nick Johnston never got a chance to see it. On February 9, the night before the first headline came out, Nick was on the subway leaving town. He'd packed a suitcase and was leaving. He knew that trouble would be coming, and that he'd be at the center of it. It wasn't like he really wanted to learn anything else or start any more trouble. He just wanted to get away. He was sitting on the subway, watching the flashing lights go by and holding onto the pole. The only other person sitting there was a man reading a newspaper. He didn't notice the UN stamped into the handle of the man's briefcase. First, Nick reasoned, he would tour England. He'd already bought a one way airplane ticket to London, using up most of his savings. Then maybe he'd settle down, get married, and raise sheep, or goats, or something else quaint. He was lost so deep in his thoughts he never saw the man lower the newspaper or put the silencer on the gun.