Deplorable Monsters.

"Mathew, food's ready. Come down to dinner." His mother's voice beckoned from downstairs. Mathew closed his computer and went down to the dining room. The rest of the family was there, waiting for him. They always waited till everyone was together before they said grace. It was grandma's turn today, and she expressed how thankful she was that they live in peaceful times.

It started a few years ago. There has always been violence in the world since the very beginning of civilization, and there has always been hatred, but something changed. Hyperbole about people different from us being evil, or garbage, or animals was no longer simply dismissed as political rhetoric.

The roast was very large, and think. It was obviously a thigh. It must have been a muscular man, from the looks of it, although some women can get that big as well. As father sliced the meat, Matthew's older brother told the story of how difficult the hunt was. The "brownie", as he called them, almost got away across the border. Dark skinned people are getting harder and harder to find in America since the hunts began. As a result, the government keeps shifting the baseline of what is or is not an animal. Now it is "Paper Bag Brown". Anyone lighter than a paper bag is human, anyone darker is meat.

Father sliced a chunk and put it on Matthew's plate. The skin was still on, to keep the roast moist. It had the lower half of a partial tattoo, with the letters "USMC" still visible, even after cooking.

After dinner, Matthew went up to bed.

When Matthew woke up in the morning, there was a commotion downstairs. He heard fighting, and screaming. He ran down to see what was wrong. His brother shot Father. The TV was on. The president was making an announcement, that from now on anyone with black hair is an animal.

Mother knelt down over the body of her husband, and began stripping the meat from the bones.

Matthew was glad his skin was light pink, and his hair was strawberry blonde, like his mother, brother, and the President for Life.