Harrison Burgeron:
Narrator: The year was 2081, and the government has designed different ways to get all people to be equal. There is no contrast among individuals. Has the government gone too far? This is for you to answer. Here's the Burgeron's story; George and his wife Hazel's son Harrison was taken away at age 14 for being too unordinary. The fact they can even remember that is an amazement. George is very intelligent giving him the disadvantage of having to wear a mental handicap radio in his year which tuned to the government transmitter. It only allowed him to think about things in short bursts, and using his unfair benefit of his smart mind. His wife on the other hand, was perfectly average.
George: Change the channel honey.
Hazel: Oh look! Ballerinas! That was a nice dance.
Narrator: The ballerinas were really no better than anyone else. They were obligated to wear sash weights, bags of birdshot, and masks to cover their faces.
BZZZ
Hazel: What was it this time?
George: It was like somebody hitting a milk bottle with a peen hammer.
Hazel: You know, I would like to be a handicap general one day. To be able to pick all those different sounds to send to people would be interesting, and then chimes on Sunday! They would be in honor of religion.
George: I would like Sundays then. You'd be as good as anyone else.
EEEEK
Hazel: That sounded bad...
Narrator: George was white, trembling, tears rolling down out from his red eyes, shaking across the floor.
Hazel: Come sit on the couch and rest your neck.
Narrator: George's head hurt, but when you have 47 pounds of birdshot in a canvas bag padlocked around the thing holding your head up...that's misery.
George: It's okay. I don't notice it anymore, just apart of me.
Hazel: Do you think we can adjust the bag by taking out just a few lead balls?
George: No, you can't just get away with that. If I tried, then someone else will, and then someone else, and then we'll end up back in the dark ages again. Society would crash.
Narrator: The television tuned into a different channel for a news bulletin. The announcer had a serious speech impediment making the message unclear. He gave up quite fast.
Hazel: At least he tried.
Narrator: The man let one of the dancers continue. She must have been beautiful having to wear a hideous mask, and there was no doubt she was the most graceful of all them. She was stuck with weights that were as big as those worn by two-hundred-pound men.
Ballerina: Ladies and gentlemen...I'm sorry. My voice is unfair, excuse me. Harrison Burgeon, age fourteen has escaped from jail, where he was held on suspension for plotting to overthrow the government. He is a genius, an athlete, under-handicapped, and extremely dangerous.
Narrator: She changed her voice into a squawk, and a picture of Harrison flashed across the screen. No one had ever had heavier handicaps, and he outgrew then faster than the H-G men could make them. He was stuck with massive headphones, spectacles that made him part blind and gave him serious headaches. Also to top it off was a nice red nose, no eyebrows, and black caps to cover his pearly white teeth. He carried 300 pounds in weights.
Ballerina: Don't try to reason with him.
BOOM.
Narrator: A sudden earthquake, and then Harrison appeared on the stage.
Harrison: I am the emporer! Do what I say! Remove your handicaps, and the first woman to stand up will be my Empress!
Ballerina: I want to be me, show what I am capable of.
Narrator: Harrison removed her handicaps, her mask and then smiled.
Harrison: Now let us dance! Music! Play your best, and I'll make you barons, dukes, and earls. Narrator: Their best did not show, and it was unexceptable. He took two men from their chairs and waved them like batons and sang the music as he wanted to hear it.
Harrison: I said your BEST!
Narrator: After his masquerade, the music started and improved. Harrison and the ballerina danced, swung, and leaped.
Diana Moon Glampers- Not on my watch!
BOOM
Narrator: She pulled out her ten-gauge shotgun, and in two shots both of them were dead. She turned to the musicians.
Diana Moon Glampers: All of you, put your handicaps back on or else!
Narrator: The Burgeron's television burned out.
Hazel: What happened to the tel..
George: I need a beer.
ZAP
George: You been crying?
Hazel: Yeah, I can't remember why though.
George: Forget sad things
Hazel: I always do.
George: That's my girl
ZING
Hazel: You okay? I could tell that one was a doozy.
George: You can say that again.
Hazel: I could tell that one was a doozy.
Narrator: That day their son died. Right in front of their eyes, but forgot it instantly. Did the government go too far?
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