Background:

After a month or two of dutifully following the virus narrative, I began to have a strong sense of things being ‘not quite as they seem’. I was starting to look at the data and saw it didn’t always map with what the government and media were telling me. I began reading obsessively about the virus and the political response in late August. I have been down many rabbit holes.

I was impressed that my son had read The Trial by Kafka whilst on holiday. I picked it up again for the first time in several decades and flicked through it. One day in early October , whilst driving along the A420 to Chippenham, I started thinking about how Kafka might write about what was happening. It felt like I was in a Kafkaesque universe – the bizarre rules being implemented overnight, the being told I and my children were ill although we appear to be in perfect health; the constant message of fear, doom , fear.

I wrote this over a couple of months or so. It was mainly completed in early December.

The story kind of became more like Orwells 1984…thus the title .
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One day Josef K was informed that a serious disease was spreading across the world. He was shown film of people in a faraway land being dragged screaming into hospitals, by what may have been policemen, although  as they were dressed in white suits and had masks over their faces,  it was difficult to be certain who they were.

The government announced people must stay inside for an unspecified period of time, in order to keep them safe from this terrible disease. Each person would be allowed out once a day to exercise.

People were asked to volunteer to help in the fight against the coming disease. “If we all work together, help each other, and do without some of our luxuries for a short period, we will soon be back to normal, and the disease will be beaten”.

Josef was happy to volunteer. He would do his bit. A local man needed hep setting up his computer so that he could communicate with his family via a digital device. Josef enjoyed visiting the man. The man was an expert on Russian literature, and talked enthusiastically about Turgenev with Josef.

Other than that, Josef was not asked to do any tasks that would help fight this terrible disease.
Josef was lucky to live near a park, which led, by way of a gate, into the open countryside. He was able to go out more than once a day, as it was so quiet. The sun shone the countryside exploded with Spring beauty. There was much less noise than usual from the roads and factories and shops, and people noted how good life was when it was quieter. Josef thought that in a few weeks, when this was all over, the people would have learned so useful lessons about what is really important in life.

One early evening, Josef was walking to his local grocers, to buy food for his meal. He enjoyed seeing the young people who worked in the shop. They did not appear to have been affected by the terrible disease, despite working long hours in the store.

On this evening, Josef aimlessly passed a man and his wife, who were walking hand in hand.   As he passed the woman, she suddenly jumped to one side and exclaimed “he is too close to me”. Josef was shock by the hint of fear in the woman’s voice. “I am sorry” Josef muttered, “I won’t hurt you”. The man consoled his wife and they carried on walking, hand in hand.

On another visit to his local shop, Josef overheard a member of the health service say that the hospital was coping well, and actually, there were no more people in the hospital than normal.

It felt to Josef like things would return to normal soon. The news bulletins said that lots of people had died, but the number of deaths was receding. Many of the dead were old people who were in special homes, like boarding houses, that were designed to care for older citizens in the last days of their lives.

The leaders asked the people to stay at home for a bit longer. Josef looked forward to working again and seeing his girl. He thought it was worth a few more weeks of isolation as this disease must have been terrible somewhere.

Josef’s girl, Felice, contacted Josef and said it would be OK if they met in a park. Josef walked to see her. She suggested they buy some food for a picnic. In the grocery store there were many signs advising customers in which direction they should move. Felice girl accidentally came out of an aisle in the opposite direction to that advised. A big man, about 30 years old, saw Felice and shouted at her, in a very aggressive voice:  “You could kill me! You have to stay away, it is Government regulations”. This man also shouted at two other young women in the store, who were with their young children. Outside of the shop, Josef, Felice and the young women spoke to each other. They asked each other is they were ok. They laughed, but as the man stormed past them, clearly angry, there were unpleasant feelings within them.

The next time Josef and Felice met, they went to a different store that sold higher quality food. To look at the salads, Josef had to closely pass a member of staff who was unloading a box. As Josef passed, the member of staff got up abruptly and move away from Josef. She looked at him in horror and said: “You are invading my space!” and went and stood by a work colleague. Josef wondered whether there was something obviously frightening about himself.

The summer ended, and schools were allowed to open up again. Children had not been to school for 6 months. Josef was so happy that he could resume his job as a teaching assistant in the local primary school. He loved the children and they loved to see him again. 

One morning, one of the pupils said he was thirsty. The State had said that children must now bring in their own drinks to school, but this one boy said his mother had been rushing in the morning, having other children to care for, and had forgotten to give the boy his bottle. Without thinking, Josef did as he had done many times before, and bought the boy a glass of water from the sink.

At lunchtime that day, Josef was surprised to receive a instruction that he was to see the Headteacher. In his office, the headteacher informed Josef that he had noticed, on the newly installed CCTV cameras, that Josef had gone against Safety protocol and allowed a child to drink tap water from an unauthorized receptacle. The headteacher reminded Josef that regulations had changed due to the danger posed by the disease; the headteacher praised Josef’s historic record but advised him that he must adhere to the rules, that were only there to protect everyone.

That evening, Josef checked the document “Safeguarding Children at School: Your responsibilities as a Teaching assistant”. Josef had to read this as part of his training, and it contained the crucial guidelines for his role. As he expected, Josef found a section that stated:

“Children must be kept hydrated at all times. Each teaching room has a sink and a number of clean glasses. Pupils must take a drink after each lesson, and should always be allowed a drink if they ask for one”.

Josef was puzzled as to how he had managed to miss some communication about the change to the guidelines.

A week later, one of the children in Josef’s class was celebrating their fifth birthday. The children loved Josef to tell stories before they all sang Happy Birthday. Josef led the singing as usual. Half way though the song, the door of the class burst open and the headmaster marched in, looking flustered. “This must stop immediately! Children are not to sing . Josef K! You must know this. You are putting people in danger! The rules clearly state that children must only hum now. To Sing is to Kill”.

After the headmaster had calmed down, he called Josef K to his room. Josef was informed that as this was his second dangerous offence, that he would be relieved of his position.

Josef was sad, but managed to secure a new position as a porter at the University. He was to clean the students’ rooms. Josef was given appropriate equipment to keep himself and other people safe from the deadly virus. The State has discovered that young people, whilst appearing to be perfectly healthy, were in fact deadly carriers of the disease, and must therefore be treated as bio-hazards.

One evening, one of the students, a young man, began to talk to Josef as Josef sprayed chemicals over the kitchen tables. The young man said how sad and lonely he felt, that he knew no-one and had been told not to leave his room. Some days he had very dark thoughts. He showed Josef an email that he and the other students had just received. It stated that: “ in the event of a fire, any infected students must remain in their rooms, to allow un-infected students to leave the building first.” The student asked Josef whether this was correct, as it seemed to be odd that students were expected to stay in their rooms if the building was on fire.

Thinking back to his experience at school, Josef replied that the disease was clearly a terrible thing, and all the rules must have been made for everyone’s benefit.

 Josef felt guilty, as he knew what he had told the student was wrong. Josef was starting to feel some unease. Things were very strange in a way he could not quite define.

Josef walked home from the University that evening. In the distance, he could see a few lights from the new temporary hospital that had been built. It looked like it was now being dismantled. In the town centre, Josef walked by boarded up hostelries that only a few months ago would have been thronging with people at this time. Now, there were just a few masked workers around.

The State had begun to broadcast to the people at the same time each evening. Josef was in the market square as the broadcast began; it was relayed on a big screen, so that people unable to watch via their televisions at home could see it.

The Leader was speaking:

“The Science has told us how many people will die if we continue to allow you to live normal lives. Our hospitals will be overwhelmed. We must act.
To that end, I am delighted to say that I am recruiting 20000 extra police officers, I have created a new role of ‘Disease Monitor’, and I have secured the support of the army.
Overnight we have passed 107 new regulations that will help stamp out selfish activities, and keep us all safe”.

 The Leader was then replaced by the Minister for Human Health and Happiness, who explained in detail the strategy for fixing the people:

“We will use a world class testing system called PCR. We can then prove that the people are ill and need to be fixed.
Too many people are still living with under the mistaken belief that they are healthy; the young, especially. This is very dangerous.
Our new World Class test can , via a simple medical exploration at the boundary of the brain, find any scrap of viral matter, magnify that matter millions of time, and prove that the person is infected with a deadly disease. The army have kindly offered to help with the task of testing the healthy populace.
You , the people, will then have the reassurance that you are ill and dangerous.”

The Minister was now clearly excited, although it was unclear whether he was laughing or crying as he finished his speech with a rousing finale:

“Once the people have the reassurance that are ill, we will be able to release The Fix, a magic injection that will be offered to all the People. The injection has been created by the Division for Chemical Control.

We walk the path to the Sunlit Uplands!”

That night Josef had a dream.

Jesus was being crucified on the cross. On either side of him, about one hundred yards away, were two other  men on crosses. The landscape was rocky and barren. Beneath Jesus’s cross were two women, both draped in cloth material so that you could not see their faces, and one Roman soldier. The women were stood some distance from each other.

Jesus was nearing death. As he uttered the words: “Eloi Eloi lama sabachthani”, the two women, wailing, ran toward each other; seeing them run, the Roman soldier dashed to intercept them, shouting “Stop!…it is forbidden to be within 10 feet of each other”. The two women embraced briefly before the soldier reached them. With his shield he smashed into the two women. They fell to the ground. The soldier, shouting profanities, then pierced both the women with his spear. At this moment, Jesus took his last breath. A large raven flew down and landed on Jesus’s soldier. The raven had the face of the ‘Minister for Human Health and Happiness’. The raven pecked at Jesus and then squawked loudly before flying off.

Josef awoke feeling perturbed. He contacted Felice, and agreed to meet her during her lunch hour. They met on a bench in the road near the offices where Felice worked.  After speaking for 5 minutes, Josef leant in towards Felice, stroked her arm and kissed her. At that moment, Josef heard the screeching of tyres and the screech of a siren; a police car pulled up by the bench. Three officers came out of the car and grabbed Josef up off the bench, shouting “no touching, get away form her!. Josef stumbled as he was being pulled toward the car. Looking up from the ground, Josef noticed that the street lights had cameras attached to them now. He was sure he glimpsed a uniformed man with binoculars and radio, standing on a balcony opposite the bench.

Josef was taken to a holiday camp a few miles outside the town. He was led to a large building, possibly an old gymnasium. There were several other people in the room. Josef was given a suit and a mask to wear, and told to stand in a space on the floor delimited by tape. An educational video was shown to Josef; he learned about the Disease, how the State had looked after him, and how he must now fulfil his responsibilities toward the State.

After the lesson, Josef was taken by to a small room. After an hour, four people entered the room. One was dressed in a white coat, whilst the uniform of the other three was an unusual combination of black and high visibility. These three took hold of Josef and held him; they cut a piece out of Josef’s sleeve. “This is for your own benefit” they said. The man in the white coat plunged a needle into Josef’s arm. The last thing Josef remembered was seeing a brief vision of a Raven. Then he was filled with a warm feeling as he felt himself sink into unconsciousness.