It is vacation time for the Casper family.  This year, they have packed up the family car and headed for the theme parks in PowerSource! Florida.
    "Do you think we could stop in Disney Orlando?" asks 10 year old Wilhelmine.
    "I'm afraid not," says Father. "We don't have enough time, and besides, Disney Orlando is passe.  Just games and rides and things like that.  The really neat stuff is in PowerSource! Park City."
    "What does 'passe' mean?" asks Wilhelmine.
    "What's the difference between 'Power Source! Florida' and 'PowerSource! Park City?'" asks Peter, who is only 6.
    "One's a state, and one's a city, of course," says Father.
    "Huh?"
    "It's like the Microsoft United States of America and the Microsoft State of Washington," offers Mother helpfully. "The MUSA is the country, and ... Well, the same company bought the advertising rights, that's all."
    "That's right," says Father. "Years ago, people used to be confused about Washington State and Washington, D.C.  But now that they're the Microsoft State of Washington and Wal-Mart Washington, D.C., it's much clearer."
    "It is?" asks Wilhelmine.
    "We would probably be living in the Power Source! USA, if they hadn't sold the rights so early," continues Father. "Get it, Peterkin?"
    "I wish you wouldn't call me that," objects Peter. "I'm six years old now."
    But Father has successfully deflected the conversation away from his inability to explain the international branding system that reaches from the MUSA to Sony Japan to Stolichnaya Russia.  He is able to drive on in relative silence for some miles.
    "Um, Mom?" says Wilhelmine experimentally. "I heard that Mrs. Blake died."
    Father and Mother exchange quick glances.  Father almost rear-ends a semi.
    "Yes, dear," says Mother. "Where did you hear that?"
    "Tommy from school told me.  He said it was because her utilities were turned off."
    "Yes, dear," says Mother. "She was behind in her payments."
    "That isn't fair!" pouts Wilhelmine. "They shouldn't turn off old people's utilities!"
    "I know you're upset because she was your babysitter," says Father. "But people have to pay their own way.  There are laws!  What would happen if we let Mrs. Blake get away without paying for her utilities?"
    "She would be alive?" suggests Wilhelmine.
    "No," says Father. "Well, maybe yes.  But everyone would stop paying.  They would say, 'Hey, old Mrs. Blake is getting a free ride.  Why should I pay anything?'  Right?  The Rightful Owners wouldn't be extracting all the benefit they could out of their rightful property.  It would upset the natural order.  It would be chaos."
    "Sounds like BS to me," says Wilhelmine.
    "Watch your language!" say Father and Mother in unison.

    "Hey!  We're crossing from Dell Texas into Dow Louisiana!" announces Father. "IBM - Hewlett Packard Mississippi can't be far away!"
    "I've always wondered.  Why IBM - HP Mississippi?" says Mother.
    "It was all they could afford, I guess," says Father. "I can hardly wait to get to PowerSource! Florida!  I can just about smell those parks!  The water parks are my favorite."
    "I like the sun parks," says Mother.
    "Ah, sunlight is overrated," says Father. "It was because of sunlight that they had to build the Dome in the first place.  Depleted ozone layer.  Ultraviolet rays.  All that.  Dangerous stuff, sunlight."
    "What's sunlight?" asks Peter.
    "Oh, Peter!  You're so stupid!" says Wilhelmine haughtily.  She has read about sunlight at school.
    "Sunlight is wonderful," says Mother. "It's warm and beautiful.  And you can see things so clearly!  Without electric lights or anything!"
    "Hurts your eyes," says Father.
    "Well, that's because we live in the dark all the time," counters Mother.
    "What are water parks like?" asks Peter.
    "You get to see lakes and rivers," says Father. "At some of them, they even let you have a peek at the Standard Oil Atlantic Ocean or the General Motors Gulf of Mexico!"
    "Wow!" says Peter. "Do you get to swim and go on rides?"
    "No," says Father. "All you get to do is look."
    "Doesn't sound so great to me," mumbles Wilhelmine. "So, what does PowerSource! have to with all this?"
    "They own the sunlight and the water," says Father. "Among other things."
    "They built the Dome?" asks Wilhelmine.
    "Um, not exactly," says Father. "That was built with tax money.  It isn't appropriate for a private company to pay for something that's built for the common good."
    "So, the government owns the Dome?"
    "No," says Father. "PowerSource! owns the dome."
    "But they didn't pay for it," objects Wilhelmine. "How can they own it?  Didn't you say everyone has to pay their own way, like Mrs. Blake?"
    "That's different," explains Father. "We had to pay for the Dome because it was built for our own good, but Power Source! owns it because corporations are more efficient than governments."
    "Maybe," says Wilhelmine uncertainly, "but I still don't understand why Mrs. Blake has to pay for her utilities, but the utilities company doesn't have pay for its dome."
    "You're too young to understand," sputters Father.
    There is silence again for a time.  General Electric Baton Rouge and Philip Morris New Orleans go by.  Then Wilhelmine pipes up again.
    "Tommy said something else," she says.
    "Oh, you're not on about that again!" grouses Father.
    "What did he say, dear?" asks Mother.
    "He said they found her ... Mrs. Blake ... with both hands on her breath mask.  Like she was trying to take it off."
    "Well, I should think so," says Mother.
    "It's horrible," says Wilhelmine.
    "No, it isn't," says Father. "It's the triumph of Free Enterprise."
    "Can't we ever take them off?" she continues.
    "Of course not," says Father. "But don't worry.  We pay our air bills."
    He fiddles with his own breathing apparatus.  The things are damned uncomfortable.