Jane wasn’t surprised. That was the point. To make absurdity familiar. To turn exaggeration into background noise.
The same week, Caleb asked her if they could get strawberries again. She said yes.
He smiled, and she watched his fingers hover over the receipt machine, like he might take it himself.
Instead, she reached for the magnet on the fridge. Another receipt. $3.09. She pressed it into place.
Not out of hope.
Out of record. Out of ritual. Out of the need to say: I was here. I saw it. I’m still counting.
The lies move fast.
But she’s still keeping score.
And maybe, in some future audit of truth, those small slips of paper will matter. Not as proof of what was bought, but of what was survived. A ledger of quiet resistance. A civilian archive.
Bibliography
1. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Consumer Price Index Summary.” Last modified June 2025. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm. Provides official inflation and pricing data, directly contradicting claims in the story about grocery costs being “WAY DOWN.” Useful for verifying real-world economic pressure described in Jane’s narrative.
2. U.S. Department of Agriculture. “Egg Markets Overview.” Accessed July 2025. https://www.ams.usda.gov. Offers verified statistics on food price trends like the egg price drop—important context for the discrepancy between presidential claims and Jane’s receipts.
3. Associated Press. “Fact Check: Trump’s Claim on Gas Prices Lacks Context.” April 2025. https://apnews.com. Debunks the $1.99 gasoline claim referenced in the story, aligning with Jane’s own check of local gas apps and her distrust of exaggerated statements.
4. Congressional Budget Office. “Medicaid Work Requirements and Coverage Effects.” Published March 2025. https://www.cbo.gov. Details the actual impact of work requirements on Medicaid coverage, backing the section in the story where Jane struggles through a reapplication process for Marcus.
5. U.S. Customs and Border Protection. “Fentanyl Seizures and Overdose Data.” Accessed July 2025. https://www.cbp.gov. Contrasts Trump’s inflated claim about “saving 258 million lives” with actual fentanyl-related death and seizure statistics, reinforcing the story’s theme of overblown political rhetoric.
6. The White House. “Remarks by President Trump on Tariff Strategy.” February 2025. https://www.whitehouse.gov. Source of the “enrich our citizens” claim, giving insight into how economic policies like tariffs directly affected characters like Marcus in the story.
7. The New York Times. “Trump Calls January 6 Defendants ‘Hostages’ in Campaign Speech.” June 2025. https://www.nytimes.com. Confirms the shift in tone toward January 6 and the rebranding of rioters, as seen in the story’s critique of historical revisionism and Jane’s reaction to the language.
8. PolitiFact. “Did Trump Say Prices Dropped 1,500%?” Accessed July 2025. https://www.politifact.com. Verifies and analyzes mathematically impossible statements like “prices will fall 1,500%,” echoing the story’s themes of absurdity and eroded logic in public discourse.
9. Jefferson, Thomas. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, edited by Albert Ellery Bergh. Washington, D.C.: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1907. Cited in the story’s challenge to fabricated Jefferson quotes used in modern political theater—underscoring historical misuse for ideological ends.
10. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. “Medicaid Eligibility and Work Requirements.” Accessed July 2025. https://www.medicaid.gov. Reinforces the bureaucratic challenges faced by Jane and Marcus, grounding the narrative in real administrative barriers.