Photo by Alonso Reyes on Unsplash
“Georgia, Frank, welcome back!” Meeting them at the door, the travel agent shook both their hands. “Great to see you again, and so soon. I hope the cruise was good.” He walked them back to his desk.
The small office had four desks, two to each side, and a little door in the back which led to a bathroom and a small breakroom which Tom never used. Sometimes Jennifer claimed the right side desk closest to the window, but she only came in for the major holidays and at the beginning of the year when everyone planned their tax-free travel. He liked the left side, furthest from the window. The big plate glass let in the sunny heat in summer and the winter chill once the days turned longer, and with the rolling blackouts, the back of the office keep better temperature control.
“It was amazing. Having the grandkids along made it even better. You were right that an all-inclusive cruise was the way to go for a family reunion. Even Margaret had a good time, and she never does.” As they sat in the two chairs in front of the Tom’s desk, Georgia pulled out her phone. After a couple of seconds of screen flicking, she turned the phone around, “Look at that smile! I haven’t seen her smile like that since…” She looked to her husband for help.
“Since she was in orchestra. Damn, she loved music and it broke her when the budget got cut.” Frank shook his head. “We couldn’t afford private lessons, not with two kids, and besides, it wasn’t like there was going to be a future in it once AI started composing.”
After Tom muttered assurances the smile on the forty-something looked as broad as the Atlantic they had sailed across, Georgia pulled the phone back and looked down at it with a proud smile. “She’s good at retail, like really good. One of the best cashiers and stockers in her town, been employee of the month four times since 2035. They’d even talked about making her full-time before they bought the robo-stocker.”
“The overtime hours she pulled teaching that thing how to properly stock the shelves let her pay for her and Jerry’s share of the trip.” Frank supplied.
“Jerry is her kid?” Tom asked, already knowing the answer.
Georgia responded immediately. “Yes, and he is just as in love with music as she was at his age. He constantly asked the DJ in charge of the children areas how programming worked, how to mix music for an audience, if he could make a career with sound.”
“And how did Daniel and his wife Eva and their two do?”
“They all had a blast.” Georgia grinned, pulling out the phone again. “Look at them in the pool!”
After appropriate appreciation of the vacation pictures and a few more questions, Tom managed to turn the conversation to what brought the retired couple in today.
“Well, we realized how much we missed seeing Danny and the grandkids.” Georgia said. “Margaret, being only twenty minutes away, comes by on the regular.”
“Less so now.” Frank grumbled.
“Yes, since her hours were cut back.” Georgia agreed, sounding annoyed. “You think with more free time she would come by more often, but she says she has to spend the time job hunting and applying for food stamps and housing assistance since they require you to reapply every month.”
Frank added. “We offered to have her move back.”
“We have plenty of room in our house, but she wants to be independent.”
“Very industrious of her.” Tom commented.
“Anyway, since Danny can’t come to us, we thought we would go to him for the holidays.”
“Remind me where he lives again?” Tom said as he pulled up their file on his computer.
“Oklahoma, Stillwater.” Georgia supplied.
“Hmm, that is nearly six hundred miles from here.” Tom grunted. “Are you wanting to do this trip this year or next?”
“Oh, this year.” Georgia said. “Thanksgiving to Christmas if possible. It was so nice to see him and his teenagers.”
“You will want to fly, of course.”
Frank interrupted. “Doesn’t that come with all kinds of taxes if you aren’t flying for work now-a-days?”
Tom nodded. “Entertainment tax, travel tax, atmospheric interruption tax.”
“Then just set up the state travel papers.” Frank ordered.
“Well, actually, since this is the second trip of the year for you and you are over sixty-five, plus you both have a history of international travel—”
“We’ve only been to France for a school trip, and the cruise, and what…” Georgia turned to her husband.
“Five years in the military. I got deployed to twelve different countries.”
“Yes, that is the problem. All the travel in your youth counts against travel now. With all the taxes underwriting the climate change requirements, plus being over sixty-five, travel is expensive.” He turned around the screen to give them three options: car, train, and plane. All of them exceeded their retirement payments for the year.
“You are kidding me.” Georgia’s mouth hung open.
“The registration fees to cross states increases with each border and you are looking at four each direction. The plane skips the state crossings, but have all those taxes related to non-renewable resource use to help keep the airplane industry afloat. The train gets hit by both the border crossing and the non-renewable taxes related to climate change. Everyone gets one tax-free vacation according to law, within reason.
***
…and this isn’t working. I need to start over.
(words 911; first published 9/2/2026)