The Designation

Chapter Description: Richard is a young man in a world where, at eighteen, everyone is designated as either a Big or Little. It's a big fork in the road and Richard has always downplayed the idea of "preparing" for it. As soon as it walks into the Designation Office he finds himself regretting his lack of preparation. Once he is designated, he has a lot to learn about his new life.

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The Designation

By Elfy

“Good luck, son.” Dad said.

“You know we’ll love you regardless of what happens.” Mom added as she leaned down from the passenger seat to see Richard out of the car window.

Richard looked back at the car and raised a hand to wave and then turned to face the Designation Office. He was far from the only one, there were a lot of people walking in and whilst most were walked out again, some were wheeled instead, in large strollers with varying expressions on their faces but usually ranging from complete shock to horror.

“I’ll see you in a bit.” Richard said as he casually walked away from the car.

They had driven into the city for this. Arriving at the one Designation Office in their region, one of many families coming for the mandatory classification of a loved one, it was a day few looked forward to even if few had reasons to dread it. Richard, newly eighteen-years-old as of a week previously, hadn’t really felt any particular anxiety about what was to come. He was confident that he would get the result he wanted to hear. He may not have been the most diligent student and sometimes he had made mistakes but, if nothing else, he knew the odds were in his favour. Many more people received good news rather than bad.

That was what Richard’s sister had repeatedly reassured him anyway. That more people came out happy than not. Kate had spent a lot of her teen years exasperating her parents by going to the many protests against Designation. It was something she felt passionate about, to the point of nearly getting herself in serious trouble a few times. She was fifteen years old, three years younger than Richard, but she was much more switched on to what was happening politically. She’d been annoying Richard when he was trying to relax and watch TV, constantly showing him pamphlets and reading off tips she’d found online for passing the Designation. It didn’t matter how many times Richard told her he would be fine, she just looked at him with concern and tried again to reach him.

The large concrete building was imposing. It looked like City Hall with steps leading up to giant columns and big oak doors guarded on either side by armed men. They looked bored as they watched the people going in and out, everyone knew the trouble was far less likely to come from those entering the building compared to those leaving. To say some were disappointed with what they were told inside would be an understatement.

For the first time, Richard started to feel some butterflies in his stomach as he walked up the steps. The main lobby was humming with attention. On the far side of the hall was a desk with a couple of young women standing behind it, pointing people to the places they needed to go. Richard joined one of the queues and tried to look as unbothered as possible. He looked up at a poster on the wall that showed a cartoon image of a baby along with the caption “Every Little Helps” and then some text about the benefits of Designation.

“Here alone?” A man asked from the queue next to him.

“My parents are outside.” Richard replied to the stranger. He looked away, hoping to dissuade further conversation.

“Good idea.” The man replied, “If things go wrong, they can…”

“Nothing is going wrong.” Richard said firmly.

The man smiled and nodded his head a few times before striking up a conversation with someone else in the queue behind Richard. As he waited, the queue long and not moving particularly quickly, a middle-aged woman walked up and down the lines handing out leaflets.

“Thanks.” Richard said as he took one.

“Good luck.” The woman replied with a motherly smile.

Richard turned the leaflet over and looked at the front cover. The title made his stomach flip over. “Designation Little” and underneath was the text “What happens next?” There was a photo on the front of a man not to dissimilar to himself who was smiling and waving for the camera, a pacifier in his mouth and his crotch bulging with the clear outline of a diaper. Richard didn’t open the leaflet. He folded it up and put it in his pocket, not wanting to see it any longer.

“Next!” One of the women behind the desk shouted. Everyone in Richard’s queue took a step forwards.

There was an uneasy tension in the air that Richard didn’t like. He knew some of his friends had been worried about their own trips to the Designation Office, but the ones who had gone said it was easy, and they’d all been assigned Big. Richard had never been one to pay much attention to teachers, his natural intelligence was enough to just about give him passing grades, and, in particular, he didn’t listen when they talked about Designation Day. He wished he had paid a little more attention now, if only so he knew what was coming.

There was a lot of noise and confusion in the large lobby. Richard turned this way and that as people hurried through different doors. Whilst the new adults that were there to get designated were the main source of people, they were far from the only ones. There were a lot of other services that the Designation Office took care of, though Richard couldn’t remember all of them, mostly he just remembered the adult adoptions. In particular, he remembered a conversation between two of his friends, Troy, the captain of the football team that Richard sometimes played on, and Charlie.

“Would you rather go back home afterwards…” Charlie had asked when the three of them were hanging out one day, “Or go for adoption?”

“Home.” Troy had replied after a few seconds of thought.

“Really?” Charlie had seemed surprised, “I’m not sure I’d be able to face my family again.”

“They’d take better care of you than some random people, right?” Troy said with a shrug, “What do you think, Richard?”

“I think it’s a waste of time thinking about it.” Richard had replied, “It’s, what, two percent of people that get designated Little? I don’t see the point in worrying about things that won’t happen.”

“You’re not worried that you…” Troy had started.

“Nope.” Richard cut him off, “Not at all. And you shouldn’t be either.”

Richard had remembered Charlie and Troy looking at each other before the conversation moved on to other topics. Charlie had been to the Designation Office a fortnight before Richard, he’d been assigned Big quite quickly apparently. They didn’t even bother with the test, just looked at his history and gave him the green stamp. Troy wasn’t due for his own trip to the Office for another month.

As long as you set your Designation Day no later than a month after your eighteenth birthday there generally wasn’t any problems. Despite him saying he was confident, Richard had booked himself in on the last possible day, putting it off for as long as he possibly could.

The queue was moving incredibly slowly. Richard shuffled back and forth on the spot and looked around at the other people in with him. There was an interesting mix between the confident and the anxious, it seemed to have a lot to do with body size. The taller and stronger people seemed, in most cases to be more confident. Richard had heard the rumours that being big and strong could make you more likely to receive the Big designation, but as far as he was aware, that was just an urban myth. The process took into account a lot of factors, most of which were already decided before you set foot in the building. The exact process and calculation was a closely guarded secret though, people could only guess what they took into account.

“Next!” The queue moved forwards again.

Richard looked at his phone. After half an hour he was finally nearing the front, he would be the next person to step forwards. He watched the person currently at the table, it was the young man who had tried to speak to him earlier. After giving his name, the person behind the desk started to type some things into the computer. Richard noted that the young man’s foot was rather rapidly tapping on the ground.

“Good news.” The woman behind the computer said, “We’ve collated all the usual background data, and I can confirm your designation as Big.”

“R-Really?” The young man asked. He seemed shocked, but in a good way, “Just like that?”

“Congratulations.” The woman said with a professional smile, “Your grades along with extra-curricular activities put you past the threshold, there will be no need for anything more from you today.”

“Oh, wow.” The young man let out a deep breath of relief.

“If you want to take a seat over there.” The woman pointed at a seating area to the side of the room, “We’ll get the certificate and card printed out for you. Someone should come out and see you in about five minutes.”

“OK, great.” The man had a skip in his step as he turned away, “Oh, thank you!”

The woman smiled at him. As the young man started towards the seating area, he turned and looked back at the queues he had just left. He caught Richard’s eyes and gave a big smile and double thumbs up. Richard smiled and nodded back.

“Good luck!” The man mouthed and he showed he had his fingers crossed.

Richard repeated the gesture as the man turned and walked away. It was starting to get irritating that everyone was wishing him luck. That random guy didn’t seem all that special, certainly no different to himself, if he was waved straight through into the Big category without any other problems then surely Richard would as well. He must’ve been starting on a good footing at least

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