The Price

'LIGHTNING DOES STRIKE TWICE IN THE SAME PLACE, AT LEAST IN THE HEARTS'.

BY MATTHEW LUCAS BECKETT

The day was bright and sunny in Washington D.C., which was quite appropriate or quite inappropriate, depending on whether you were a supporter or an opponent of Obamacare, as The Twenty-Six Attorneys General, with Greg Abbott at the head, marched purposefully towards The Supreme Court building.
“Today begins the end of Obamacare,” he began. “And the beginning of a return to Money Care, where coverage is only for the profitable. . .”
They all started to laugh as he opened is mouth to continue. Before he could say another word, however, a sudden bolt of lightning came out of the clear blue sky, directly hit and momentarily engulfed him. He screamed in agony and then a look of horrified recognition came over his face. He gave a terrified scream and then dropped dead within the fireball. The lightning bolt soon turned his corpse to ash, and then he was gone.
His colleagues paused, stunned. After a moment, though, they shook their heads and continued on. “Strange things sometimes happen with the weather,”one began. “It was just bad luck that. . .” Suddenly, she screamed as another freak lightning bolt struck, killed and incinerated her, and at the same moment four of her colleagues screamed as they met the same fate.
The remaining twenty were still for a long time, for six of their fellows dying so suddenly and in exactly the same manner and each with that horrified look of recognition on their faces was something to give them pause,for it was a quite abnormal turn of events. However, after a time they all agreed that, as one put it “There's nothing we can do about it, and the rest of us do still have a job to do,” and so they continued on towards their destination.
As they moved closer to the building, there was suddenly a crash from above. Two of the attorneys general looked up just in time to see a huge chunk of masonry falling from a nearby building and barely had time to scream before it flattened both of them to the ground, crushing both of their heads. The remaining eighteen were quite shaken by this unexpected turn of events, but still had a job to do and so continued on.
Suddenly, there was a crash right beside them.
“Help!” cried two more of the Attorneys General,, pinned under a large fallen tree. Before anything could be done, however, the weight of the tree pressed down on them and they screamed once more as life left them, each with the same horrified look of recognition on their face.
Shaken, the sixteen remaining Attorneys General continued on towards their destination, for they were nearly there.
Suddenly, another screamed and collapsed, a look of horrified recognition on his face and a huge and solid piece of bird poop cutting right through the bald top of his head.
The remaining fifteen quickened their pace towards the building they sought.
“At last, we're in the building,” said one Attorney General. “We only lost eleven on the journey here, and now we're sa...”
He trailed off at a creak from above. Looking up, too late, he saw part of the ceiling collapsing on him and two of his fellows. They all three screamed as the ceiling collapsed on top of them, and all three bore that horrified look of recognition upon their faces just before they died.
Shaken, the twelve remaining Attorneys General entered the actual Chamber of The Supreme Court when they were told that The Justices were ready for them.
“Honorable Justices of The Supreme Court,” one of them began. “The mandate to purchase Health Insurance in The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act violates The Constitution's guarantee of Liberty. . .”
“What about the liberty of those of us with preexisting Health Conditions?” shouted someone from the gallery. “Forced to buy Risk Pools required to always be twice the rate of comparable private coverage by state law and even at that rate the lowest deductible available being $1,000 and in other states having absolutely nothing?”
The person was removed by the guards.
The Attorney General had just opened his mouth to continue when the rumbling started. Instead he said “What's that?”
“It's an earthquake, you imbecile,” said The Attorney General from Utah. “I'd know that feeling anywhere.”
“But there are no fault lines around here. . .” someone began, but then the shaking intensified and parts of the ceiling began to fall. Huge chunks of masonry fell on Justices Scalia and Thomas and three more Attorneys General, killing all five instantly, although not before the same look of horrified recognition came over all five of their faces.
The remaining nine Attorneys General and seven Justices ran for the exits as the entire building shook. They all made it out just before the entire building collapsed, although the outside all was in such confusion it was hardly safer than the place they had just left. All were running every which way in chaotic confusion as the ground continued to rumble and shake.
Suddenly, there were three tremendous “BOOMS” in a row as three more freak lightning bolts struck, killed and incinerated three more Attorneys General. Then even the survivors of The Supreme Court building collapse, who had until then managed to maintain some level of calm, began to run in all directions, joining in the screaming as well.
Suddenly, a new sound joined the human screaming. A buzzing sound. It started off weak and indistinct, but slowly it grew into a sound with more definition. Suddenly. . .
From around a corner of the square came a swarm of tens if not hundreds of thousands of bees. They attacked everyone in the square, and children screamed and cried, and even the adults panicked. Most panicked of all, however, was one of the six remaining Attorneys General, who did not remember ever having been stung by a bee before, but realized with the fist sting that she was allergic. She looked everywhere for a means of escape, everything she had come there for forgotten, thinking only of self preservation. But the place was so packed with terrified people running in all directions, there was no hope of escape. And then the bees were upon her, hundreds of them, and at least she felt her airway close and collapsed to the ground, a look of horrified recognition on her face as she died.
Her colleagues watched in horror as she fell lifeless to the ground and her body was then trampled by the panicked people fleeing the earthquake and the bees.
Then a huge shadow fell across the whole mall, blocking out sun, star and moon. Looking up, everyone saw a huge asteroid headed straight for the mall. Everyone ran for it. However, Justices Aleto and Roberts along with three more Attorneys General were not fast enough and were all five crushed beneath the asteroid when it crashed into the mall itself, leaving just five of the Nine Justices and only two remaining suing Attorneys General.
Then the two turned their eyes towards The Heavens. “OK,” they cried. “All Right. We were wrong. Obamacare.. I mean, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is right in every way.” Then each pulled a Bible from their brief cases, placed their left hands below it and their right hands upon it, and said, as one,, “I swear upon Your Holy Word never to even think of a legal challenge to The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act again, nor to allow any others to do so, for I now see that I was completely wrong and it is completely right, and I will henceforth stop fighting and fully support it in every way, So Help me GOD.”
After they had said this, a alight rainbow appeared in the sky, over the wreckage of The Supreme Court Building, and all present knew what that meant and resolved to work for it in all possible ways.