Wrote a Letter... by Donald Barthelme

Beyond Borders: USA's Lunar Exodus.

Donald Barthelme does Science-Fiction? Sort of. It's more like his post-modernist and satirical spin on the genre. "Wrote a Letter" is very very short, and only takes a few minutes to read. The narrator is corresponding via letters and cutting-edge technology (an Apple Computer!) with the President of the United States who is now stationed on the moon. His new government has spearhead a utopian society committed to the welfare of its inhabitants like never before. For example, most governmental assistance programs such mental health services, employment and retirement benefits only cost a dollar!  No wonder the narrator is adamant to leave Earth. The political satire is a tad explicit but does not detract from the story's social commentary, which is reinforced by Barthelme's unconventional humor: 

"Well, I needed mental health real bad that week, so I wrote back saying I thought I could get there by the spring of '81, if the space shuttle fulfilled its porcelain promise, and to keep some mental health warm for me who needed it, and could I interest him in a bucket of ribs in red sauce? Which I would gladly carry on up there to him if he wished?" 

This quote pretty much sums up the delightful concoction of wit and absurdity found in this story. Funny and irreverent, it is a delicious slice of post-modernist absurdity. 

You can read this story HERE.