We Need New Names

The men and women of Paradise prepare to vote. The mood is different in town, as if real change is coming. The men no longer play draughts but are dressed and speak with conviction. They even greet the kids, though the kids are weary as they’ve been beaten by the same hands that now greet them. The women, seeing the men, make themselves look pretty with clothing and accessories. Darling and her friends go around and put up the “Change, Real Change” posters like Bornfree and Messenger instructed them to. They converse about what actually happens when the adults go to vote, though none of them really know. They also don’t know what the change is they’re putting up posters for, but they put the posters up on every door but Mother of Bones’s (she said she’d kill them if they did) because Messenger and Bornfree said they’d give them Chinese money for doing so. They then get into another argument because Bastard thinks he will be president one day, but the others know you have to be old to be president. They then sing and dance, while mocking American accents.