Zu Works

Looking at the UPside - Part 4

An hour or so had passed back in Ken's office when he was interrupted by another knock on the door. This time the figure behind it waited for him to answer.

"Come on in," Ken said.

Jenkins curly head peeked in from behind the door and he stepped inside. "Just wanted to ask about the UP case you did earlier. Gracie said you had to cover for me, I Just wanted to check in before I left to make sure it was getting handled. I have an early flight tomorrow so I don't wanna be up all night worrying about it."

"Not much I could do. I did the lotus procedure. I already wrote it off as a QOL."

A QOL was short for a "Bad Quality of Life". It's what the UP department used to write off most cases involving minors; it simply meant that the U-Cit would have had a poor life if they hadn't done the lotus procedure. The procedure could only be performed on Non-persons anyway so nobody really noticed what happened. One way or another, an UP case usually ended in the lotus procedure. For criminals and adults that got judged as a U-Cit and became a non-person no one cared, but minors left some people more sentimental. Just in case, by some off chance someone did look into a case of a minor like Marion's, they'd be justified in their action. A QOL was an accepted and perfectly legitimate reason according to public standards.

"Oh that's alright then. It's what's best for the kid. Glad you sorted that one quick, I owe you one Ken. I'm off on holidays tomorrow, flying out to visit the in-laws in Saskatoon. You have yourself a Merry Christmas!" Jenkins said before leaving Ken's office.

Ken didn't bother to say anything more back to him. According to his tally, Jenkins owed him quite a few favours now. He leaned back in his chair and looked out the window once more; it was still snowing outside. Getting up from his desk Ken strode over to look outside more closely. The snow had covered the streets now in a soft blanket of white; the street below had various decorations of gold, red and green strewn about. He really needed to do something with his office, and Ken thought again of purchasing a little snow globe to put right on the edge of his desk. He was sure that somewhere in the attic he could find a wreath for the door.

Below on the streets Ken could still hear the carollers; they must have gone the whole block by now and come back around. Opening the window he let their music drift in with the cold to fill his office. They were singing a new favourite, Jing-Ga-Lye-Ya, an acapella non-sensical winter jingle that had been made famous by some recent you-tube clip. Ken watched and listened, trying to pick out some of the melodies amongst the rounds of complimenting harmonies. Ken spotted the choir where they stood just across the street in bright blue uniforms.

The voices of the adult choir were strong and emphatic. Just before they finished Ken caught the last few words of their song as they seemed to echo in his office: "Hello, hello Marion, high upa na carrion, hello, hello Marion. Oh where, oh where oh did you go?"