Chương 73: Chapter 72 - No One Cares, Ray.

Mordak looked blankly at the group milling into his office. He watched as they began taking seats, chatted pleasantries at one another and flipped through various papers that they brought in with them. This was the part of the job he hated most. It served no true purpose in his eyes. It was simply a way to maintain the illusion that he cared about the things and people they represented. He sighed loudly, watching the clock. Did they think he had all day to sit here and listen to their dribble?

He had better things to do than listen to the director of child welfare blather that pulling children out of school and putting them to work so they could pay for their lunch was obscene. What was so obscene about paying your way? He didn't care if they were in kindergarten. Why should rich families pay for these leeches to eat? The clock on the wall struck nine, and the group was no more settled than they had been when they walked in.

He huffed loudly as he watched the group continuing their banter, completely ignoring the time.

"Ah hem," he called loudly trying to shift their focus from their trivial conversations to the reason why they were there. His frustration grew as his attention seeking went ignored.

"It's after nine folks, I have a tight schedule, we need to begin," he yelled, over the murmurs filling the room. All eyes shifted to him, that's more like it, he thought, socialize on your own time.

"Good morning, sir," a voice called out from the far end of the room.

"Yeah, morning," he said dismissively.

"Who's up first?" he asked, looking down at the agenda on his desk.

"That would be me, sir," the same voice called out from the far end of the room.

"That tells me nothing. Who are you and what do you want?" he grumbled, not looking up from the papers in front of him.

"My name, sir, is Raymond Farrand, and I am with the Institute of Goblin Child and Elderly Welfare," he said, firmly.

"I am here to respectfully submit my request for the repeal of the Child and Elderly work requirements enacted last month. We find the requirements mandated in your Executive order 12765 to be detrimental to the health and wellbeing of the individuals targeted within."

"So, your do-gooder organization thinks that these people should, what? Get everything handed to them? For free? Do you think it is perfectly acceptable for them to take money out of the pockets of hard working goblin's everywhere, without giving something back? They put me in charge for a reason and one of those reasons was to put an end to free loaders draining hard earned money from their pockets," Mordak snapped.

"Sir, I do not believe that requiring children, especially as young as the mandate suggests, to work fifty hours a week for meager rations is what the populus was suggesting. I do not believe that requiring the sick and infirmed, as well as the elderly, are capable of meeting the mandatory sixty hours a week in order to continue with needed health resources was what they had in mind," Ray said with a sense of conviction.

"Some of these individuals die before they even work enough hours to satisfy the mandate." Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"Well, if they are dead then they don't require treatment now do they?" Mordak said with such callousness the assembly let out a collective groan.

"The kids are young, they are putting their energy into being productive, it keeps them out of trouble. You know, since I implemented this mandate, street gangs and the violence perpetrated by them has gone way down. Everyone says that's because of my policies, that they are a tremendous success and they support it." Ray reached down and pulled out a paper from the stack before him.

"Actually, no sir they do not," he said walking to Mordak's desk.

"As you can see by the documentation I just handed you…" he paused looking around the room.

"If the assembly will turn to Appendix 4d in the agenda," he said walking back to his seat, "The populus on a whole does not support the mandate as written, they feel that it needs significant modification or repeal." Mordak did not so much as glance at the document.

"Yeah, and I can pull out twenty more pieces of paper that contradict those claims." Mordak sighed, loudly.

"Tell you what I will do." Mordak said, rolling his eyes.

"I will assign it to a special committee to review your claims against our statistical analysis. If your claims stand up to committee review we will initiate a full investigation into the matter." Mordak said, mechanically as he scribbled something on the paper, hoping it looked official enough for him to sit down and shut up. He looked up at the group.

"Okay what's next?" he asked, desperate to move on.

"No sir, I'm sorry, but that is unacceptable," Ray interrupted.

"Rubber stamping this item for committee review simply means that it will get lost in bureaucratic paperwork never to be brought up again. Our organization is demanding action be taken now to prevent any further suffering by the most vulnerable of the population."

"Excuse me," Mordak said, raising his eyebrows.

"I think I must have misheard you."

"With all due respect, sir." Ray said through a clenched jaw.

"This matter is of the utmost importance and requires due diligence now, not when or if, it makes it out of committee," he said, biting his lip.

"I am proposing that Executive Order 12765 be suspended until such a time as the matter can be reviewed by an independent team."

"Request denied," Mordak snapped.

"The matter will go to committee and that's the end of it. Now who's next."

"Sir, I am not finished and am not leaving until this matter is addressed and given the proper attention it deserves." Ray said, slamming his hands on the table and leaning forward.

"See, that's where you're wrong. This matter has been addressed and that is the end of it," Mordak growled.

"And you are leaving and you're leaving now," he said, snapping his fingers. Two armed guards that were waiting inside the doorway quickly rushed in. Mordak pointed to Ray.

"Get him out, now!" The guards forcefully took Ray by the arms.

"Mister Farrand, you are hereby barred from any further proceedings in this office. You are barred from even entering this or any other government building. Have I made myself clear?" Mordak said, smiling.

"I'm in charge, not you or your group of liberal hacks. I was mandated to fix this corrupt system of parasites feeding off the greater good. When are you people going to understand no one cares if poor, sick and old people die as long as their money stays in their pocket."