asked the interviewer.

“Well,” I began, “that is a very good question.” I took a long sip from my glass of water, which I had already nearly emptied. “But I’m afraid I cannot answer it—you see, I don’t have twenty-twenty vision.”

The interviewer screwed up his face. “Excuse me?”

“It’s simple, really—were you to direct your gaze to the electronic watch strapped on your forearm you would surely realize that the date is December 12th, 2019. Twenty days from now would be January 1st, 2020, a date within the year 2020. Funnily enough I have excellent eyesight, surely surpassing 20/20, but that is not essential for the joke to work. Both the name of the year 2020 and the visual acuity measure 20/20 are pronounced twenty-twenty, thus a play on words can be sculpted by expressing the lack of 20/20 vision as an inability to foresee events within the year 2020.”

“Oh.”

He laughed. I laughed. Eventually I got the job and after the interview I took him to my place and we had rough, passionate sex.

Three weeks later, the Times Square Ball dropped, and at that moment, the world changed forever.

Let me ask you a question: how many people have 20/20 vision, without corrective measures? The answer is about 35% of all people. Let me ask you another question: how many people, including those with corrective measures, have 20/20 vision? The answer is about 75% of people. Let me ask you one more question: what if, for an entire year, 25% of humanity went completely blind, and another 40% had to rely on corrective measures to see at all? The answer is that would be absurd and ridiculous.

And yet, against all odds, it happened.

At first, of course, there was mass panic, but soon those who could still see attempted to make sense of the ordeal. Millions of blinded people were helped to their homes, to their soft couches, and they sat and listened to the TV for further information from the news. Each government addressed this issue slightly differently, and because of this a war would have surely started had it not been for the fact that a good portion of their troops could not see.

Most of the still-seeing people, often called the Seers, tried the best they could to assist the blinded ones, or the Blindmen. Factories amped up production of eyeglasses and contact lenses, and they were distributed wholesale. This saved quite a few of them, but there were still some for whom the corrective measures simply didn’t do much.

By March, a great social division was starting to develop. The Blindmen protested to lower the prices of corrective measures, which were currently soaring. These protests, that were led by Blindmen for Blindmen, unfortunately didn’t do much, although they enabled some of the Seers to criticize their actions. According to these extremists, the Blindmen should simply stay at home and wait for the year to pass. Despite the ridiculousness of these opinions, because they were broadcasted on television, they began spreading like wildfire, even among the politicians.

By June, a majority of Seers held contempt for the Blindmen, and protests against them were held in public. Seers complained that idle Blindmen filled the cities and blocked traffic, and demanded they stay in their homes where they cannot be harmed and they cannot harm others. Congress was gradually pressured, and eventually forced, to pass a new law, requiring that Blindmen do not leave their homes on weekends. Food would be delivered to these homes by various philanthropic foundations, though the support for even these was beginning to wane.

By August, only a minority of Seers were still in support of Blindmen. More bills were passed by Congress, demanding of Blindmen to only work from their homes, later revoking their right to equal pay, and eventually completely forbidding their employment. Some establishments ignored the law and hired Blindmen anyway, providing them food and shelter, but these were few and far between.

By September, the Blindmen were beginning to disappear from their homes. This at first caused public unease, but over the course of the weeks the reaction to these disappearances grew quieter. When it was discovered that the government was responsible for them, few people took this seriously, and by the end of the month, some Seers even encouraged this.

By October, the Seers began breaking into Blindman homes and kidnapping the Blindmen, often taking their belongings as well. A number of cases of slavery arose, though the public eye seemed less and less concerned about them. Soon many Seer families shared a Blindman or Blindmen amongst themselves, usually to perform simple tasks that didn’t require vision like scrubbing the windows or doing the dishes. Later they were also used for mindless entertainment, and eventually for sexual conquest.

By November, many eyeglass factories were being shut down, in hopes of preventing the possibility of revolution. Existing eyeglasses were smashed en masse, and well-respected Seers who wore glasses or contact lenses transformed overnight into sex slaves for those who simply chose them. No longer could you take off your glasses at night—they had always to be on your person, lest their protection might one day vanish and you will be left helpless against humanity.

By December, hatred against Blindmen and support of their enslavement had grown near unanimous among the Seers. Even most of the Blindmen themselves had accepted this fate, simply agreeing that they were an inferior race not worthy of experiencing the pleasures of life. The Seers became the Sirs, and the Blindmen became the Bondmen.

And thus concluded the year of 2020. You might be interested to know what happened after that—how did the Blindmen react to their eyesight suddenly returning? What about the Seers? Did a massive revolution occur followed by a total collapse of the government, or did the Seers manage to suppress them completely?

These are all very good questions,” I say, taking a long sip from my half-emptied glass of water, “but I’m afraid I cannot answer them—you see, I don’t have 20/21 vision.”

“Sir, this is a Wendy’s.”