the mistake

One day it was announced that the war was now imminent.

The announcement was made on television. Thereafter only two television stations were available, both rolling 24 hour news channels which looked at the way the state was responding to the news and what people should do to prepare.

After 48 hours both of these channels went dead.

At the same time mobile phones ceased working, as did the internet, and twelve hours later land lines stopped working. All petrol stations were closed.

There was nothing for people to do except go back to their homes and wait for the war to happen.

During the whole of this time no-one had informed anyone exactly what the war was. Who the enemy was. People thought it might be the climate war, or a nuclear war, or a biological war, or a chemical war, or an ideological war, or a state-sponsored war, or perhaps a vestige of the class war, or even the gender war.

However, whilst there had been much discussion on this point on the television before it closed down, and whilst people had initially debated it amongst themselves, in the end they realised it didn't matter. They had all been expecting the war, in some way, sub-consciously or semi-consciously or just innately. There had been so much peace for so long that people realised in their guts it just couldn't last, and when the war came they were not surprised. In fact many, although they didn't express it, in spite of their fear, were quietly relieved that the war they'd been anticipating and warned about all their lives was finally arriving. 'Good', they thought to themselves. 'Let's get it over with.'

Tanks made sweeps down wide roads. Soldiers could be heard talking outside on radios. People sat in their silent homes, waiting. Some went through phases of hysteria and then depression, and then realised there was no point in even these emotions. Others left their homes, against their family wishes, and walked the street. Some of these were shot at, and then tried to return home.

After two weeks, the electricity was cut off.

An hour later it came back on again.

When it came back on, all the televisions and radios and computers came back to life.

The television was running as normal.

So was the radio.

The internet was back.

People charged their mobile phones and found they were working.

Buses started appearing on the streets.

Over the following week, people returned to their former lives. They stocked up at the supermarkets and went back to work. They cleaned their houses and started jogging.

For a week or two there was much discussion over what had really happened, and the government offered its apologies and one or two people resigned, but at the same time the population was praised for the way it had handled the crisis and the armed forces were praised for the way they had handled the crisis, and everyone had to acknowledge the state had done better than anticipated and people felt good about this in a quiet and understated way.

In two months the season had changed and life was normal. People went about their day to day existence as if nothing had happened.

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