The Perfect Plan
Prologue
When asked how she came up with the idea of Boys R Us, Sylvia Durden will always tell the same story.
She was young, reckless and in love, with the most incredible man ever. Or, at least, she thought he was. In her eyes, he was perfect. She saw past his many flaws – and there were, indeed, many of them – because, despite everything, she loved him with a fire so fierce it burned her bridges with everyone else she knew.
She gave him everything, and asked for nothing in return. Got nothing in return. But she was happy, or at least she fooled herself into thinking she was happy. This is what love does to you, she always says. Love makes you stupid. Love makes you blind. Love makes you do things you’d never do if you were thinking rationally.
Her faux happiness didn’t last, of course. They’d only been dating for four months, two weeks and five days when she caught him cheating on her with his secretary. It was so cliché she almost laughed when she caught them kissing in a cupboard. She was blonde, of course. Skinny, too. And so pretty it almost hurt to look at her.
Sylvia laughed until she was hysterical. She laughed until her shuddery laughter turned into uncontrollable sobs, and the tears of laughter became tears of pain, sorrow and betrayal. She didn’t let him explain. She knew that if he started talking, that if he begged and pleaded for forgiveness, she’d give it to him, no questions asked. Because that’s what love does to you. It makes you weak.
It was later, much later, after the well of tears inside her had dried up and she had consumed every single piece of chocolate she could find in her lonely, one-bedroom apartment, that the idea of Boys R Us came to her.
It was just a random thought at first, swimming around amongst the others. It occurred to her that the world would be a happier and kinder and altogether better place if a girl could choose her perfect man, rather than having to make do with salvaged scraps from life's rubbish heap. They could pick and choose the perfect looks and their perfect characteristics, and create the ultimate man. That way, no poor, innocent girl would ever get her heart broken and have to suffer as Sylvia had suffered ever again. They'd have their perfect man, and therefore the perfect relationship.
And that was when it hit her like a bullet train through the misty fog clouding her brain. Why shouldn't they? Wasn’t it about time women were in control of the world instead of the stupid men, who just seemed to get it wrong anyway? Didn’t they deserve that much after all they’d been made to suffer through the years?
It would be easy enough, she mused, the cogs already whirring in her brilliant brain. An empty clone, the template, could be made, and then the desired characteristics could be cut and pasted into its genes. Genetic engineering was so advanced by that point that to do so would be child's play.
Granted, there would be legal problems to overcome, as well as the obvious ethical issues surrounding the entire field. But she was confident could overcome those. They didn’t even feature in her racehorse vision.
She grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and started sketching out her ideas, muttering calculations and equations to herself. It was a complex and an extremely risky idea, but it was brilliant. Pure genius.
And that is the story she will always tell. She’ll leave out the part where she worked mercilessly hard to find investors for her project, when everyone scorned her because she was a woman. She’ll leave out the part where, when she finally managed to get her business up and running, she sold her soul to the devil to ensure it spread as far and wide as possible, not caring about the consequences of her actions.
Back then, she was innocent. Just a brainy science graduate of a no-name community college in her hometown, with dreams so painfully high no one ever expected she would achieve them. But she did. She did everything she ever wanted and more.
She had no clue that twenty years from that bittersweet day, her tiny, seemingly insignificant project would start the biggest war since the twentieth century, between those who called themselves Perfectionists, and those who called themselves Naturalists.
It was just an idea, then. Just a simple, brilliant, stupid idea.
But in under twenty years, it would have revolutionised the entire world.
She was young, reckless and in love, with the most incredible man ever. Or, at least, she thought he was. In her eyes, he was perfect. She saw past his many flaws – and there were, indeed, many of them – because, despite everything, she loved him with a fire so fierce it burned her bridges with everyone else she knew.
She gave him everything, and asked for nothing in return. Got nothing in return. But she was happy, or at least she fooled herself into thinking she was happy. This is what love does to you, she always says. Love makes you stupid. Love makes you blind. Love makes you do things you’d never do if you were thinking rationally.
Her faux happiness didn’t last, of course. They’d only been dating for four months, two weeks and five days when she caught him cheating on her with his secretary. It was so cliché she almost laughed when she caught them kissing in a cupboard. She was blonde, of course. Skinny, too. And so pretty it almost hurt to look at her.
Sylvia laughed until she was hysterical. She laughed until her shuddery laughter turned into uncontrollable sobs, and the tears of laughter became tears of pain, sorrow and betrayal. She didn’t let him explain. She knew that if he started talking, that if he begged and pleaded for forgiveness, she’d give it to him, no questions asked. Because that’s what love does to you. It makes you weak.
It was later, much later, after the well of tears inside her had dried up and she had consumed every single piece of chocolate she could find in her lonely, one-bedroom apartment, that the idea of Boys R Us came to her.
It was just a random thought at first, swimming around amongst the others. It occurred to her that the world would be a happier and kinder and altogether better place if a girl could choose her perfect man, rather than having to make do with salvaged scraps from life's rubbish heap. They could pick and choose the perfect looks and their perfect characteristics, and create the ultimate man. That way, no poor, innocent girl would ever get her heart broken and have to suffer as Sylvia had suffered ever again. They'd have their perfect man, and therefore the perfect relationship.
And that was when it hit her like a bullet train through the misty fog clouding her brain. Why shouldn't they? Wasn’t it about time women were in control of the world instead of the stupid men, who just seemed to get it wrong anyway? Didn’t they deserve that much after all they’d been made to suffer through the years?
It would be easy enough, she mused, the cogs already whirring in her brilliant brain. An empty clone, the template, could be made, and then the desired characteristics could be cut and pasted into its genes. Genetic engineering was so advanced by that point that to do so would be child's play.
Granted, there would be legal problems to overcome, as well as the obvious ethical issues surrounding the entire field. But she was confident could overcome those. They didn’t even feature in her racehorse vision.
She grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and started sketching out her ideas, muttering calculations and equations to herself. It was a complex and an extremely risky idea, but it was brilliant. Pure genius.
And that is the story she will always tell. She’ll leave out the part where she worked mercilessly hard to find investors for her project, when everyone scorned her because she was a woman. She’ll leave out the part where, when she finally managed to get her business up and running, she sold her soul to the devil to ensure it spread as far and wide as possible, not caring about the consequences of her actions.
Back then, she was innocent. Just a brainy science graduate of a no-name community college in her hometown, with dreams so painfully high no one ever expected she would achieve them. But she did. She did everything she ever wanted and more.
She had no clue that twenty years from that bittersweet day, her tiny, seemingly insignificant project would start the biggest war since the twentieth century, between those who called themselves Perfectionists, and those who called themselves Naturalists.
It was just an idea, then. Just a simple, brilliant, stupid idea.
But in under twenty years, it would have revolutionised the entire world.
♠ ♠ ♠
This story was originally going to be written between me and littlebabyanything, but she doesn't really want to write it any more so she'll just contribute the odd bit. Hopefully lots of odd bits.Characters will be up soon. :)