October 8, 2866, was a memorable day for young Riley Ashton. It was his sixth birthday. It was the day he got his first good look at American City. Also he learned a new word, a thrillingly naughty word, and Aunt Betty came to live with the Ashtons.
At that time it was the custom all over the world to keep the children secluded in their own homes, or at least in their own neighborhoods, until they were six years old. On his sixth birthday the child, escorted by one or the other of the parents, was taken for his first tour of the city in which he lived.
Excursions of greater length, to other cities and sometimes to other continents, were planned for future birthdays. Like many another convention this custom can not be explained. It was simply the way things were.
"Mother, what does 'work' mean?"
Mrs. Ashton was shocked.
"Riley, where did you hear that dreadful word?"
"It's the automeks," Aunt Betty moaned. "Haven't you heard? They've quit—uh—you know. They just won't go. The agricultural automeks didn't raise any crops last year. The warehouse automeks won't make any deliveries. It's the most horrible thing you ever saw. The people are being forced to leave the city."
The mosquito was known for hundreds of years to be a carrier of disease. Not only was it a carrier, but it was a nuisance because of its habit of sucking blood and leaving irritating welts on its host. The hum of its tiny, fast-moving wings was synonymous with discomfort. Fortunately the last of these pests was exterminated in the year two thousand three hundred and fifty-five."
The next picture and description was of a grasshopper, extinct, so the legend explained, since 2318. The grasshopper was characterized as a destroyer of crops.
You Too Can Be A Millionaire by Noel M. Loomis
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