Clap Back by Nalo Hopkinson

Author:Nalo Hopkinson [Hopkinson, Nalo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-08-30T16:00:00+00:00

“Twelve hours working every day in running shoe factory. I have twelve years old. I forgive you.”

—From the Malawi “Forgiveness Quilt,” author anonymous

COUTURIER AGNETTA BURRI ARRESTED

Oh my darlings, how the pricey have fallen! Hold on for the ride; this scandal’s going to be a bumpy one.

Last year, we couldn’t get enough of tech-startup-whiz-kid-turned-designer Agnetta Burri’s Forgetful clothing line. We fell over ourselves in the department stores to pay a good portion of a month’s wages for “destructed” fashion that looked as though it’d been through a trash compactor, then vomited on by a toddler who’d eaten too many Skittles.

But as expensive as the ready-to-wear version of the line was, customized pieces cost a pretty penny more. The 17 wealthy or famous-enough souls who snapped these pieces up received a little something extra woven right into the fabric: invisible micro-robots that sank into the wearer’s skin like shea butter, causing the wearers to randomly recite snappy little phrases from the Malawi “Forgiveness Quilt” project for a week. More about the quilt project later.

After seven days of using their owners as their mouthpieces, the wee robots would deactivate, break down into their component parts, and be flushed harmlessly out of the body. I’m sure you can guess how. Does it all sound just a bit . . . science fiction-y, my dears? Of course it does. The future is here, and we must come to terms with it.

There’s a catch, though—a glitch in the programming. The tiny micro-nanites don’t deactivate or break down before exiting their hosts and being flushed into our sewage systems. In fact, scientists are fearing that some of them may be replicating themselves. The problem was first detected when doctors began reporting on rare but mysterious cases of people developing short-lived urges to quote words of wisdom from “The Forgiveness Quilt” project. (For me, the real horror is imagining how the nanites are getting from our sewers into other people’s bodies. And now I bet you’re imagining it too, aren’t you? Good. I shouldn’t have to bear this burden alone.)

It turns out that La Burri isn’t the hotshot programmer she told us she was. In fact, she didn’t do the work at all. She put a team of coders together, then snatched their work from them before it was finished because she wanted to have the Forgetful clothing line ready in time for the Paris season.

And “The Forgiveness,” my darlings? That heart-warming meme about a group of young African girls using the power of knitting to forgive us all our sins? An utter fabrication, invented by Agnetta Burri to boost her sales! She took a chance on the tried-and-true technique of marrying fashion with light blackface, and as ever, scads of us found it irresistible. Burri didn’t even write the homilies herself! That was uncredited wordsmithing by the artisans who toil in her couture outfit, custom-fitting every dart, pleat, and cunningly shaped French seam.

Overnight, Agnetta Burri has gone from Forbes woman of the year and youngest self-made billionaire to pariah.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.