"Just one kid?" the traveler asked. "Not, like, one out of ten, or one per family, or anything?"
The Mayor of Omelas hung her head. "Yes. One child must always..."
"Just one," the traveler said flatly. "One. Not millions?"
"No, not millions," the Mayor said. "Literally one. But you must understand, this is no accident of fate, we have chosen to..."
The traveler cut her off again. "Just one child suffering from your choices, though? Not thousands? Do you people not realize what you have here?"
"What we have here," the Mayor said, "is sorrow and shame at the heart of our beautiful city."
"Bullshit!" the traveler said. "You have, in both absolute terms and relative, and adjusted for intentionality and severity and whatever else you want, fewer suffering children than anywhere else!" He paused, thought. "That's an amazing per-child yield. Have you considered adding a second?"
