Chapter 3

“Lise! Wake up.” Rayla shook her.

“Mmmmph...”

“Grott and I are going to work. You said you needed to be up earlier.”

“Yes ... and I must ride the streetcars today.” She sat cross-legged on the mat and rubbed her eyes. Lise took a towel out to the courtyard. She scanned the area for Tagg and didn’t see him. She began her bathing.

She rode the streetcar to Megan’s home, changing lines in the center city. The buses were crowded and traffic was slowed by the commuting rush. She found house number 505, climbed to the door and pressed the chime.

Megan cracked open the door, smiled and let her in. “Klarissa and Geddes are finishing breakfast,” she said. “Thank you for coming early ... Lise -- last night after you left Klarissa had a hundred and one questions about adopting novonids. I was wondering if you knew what prompted it.”

“She saw a BSS announcement on the mediascreen,” Lise replied. “Klarissa is a bright girl who thinks about things.”

“She certainly always is thinking.”

“I know this topic could be awkward, especially since I don’t know your circumstances. I’m grateful for the work you’ve given me. I’m aware that females are often adopted out of the shelters to serve as caregivers, and...” Megan closed her eyes and shook her head. “Did I say something wrong?”

“Not at all, Lise. I can see you think about things, too.” Megan lowered her voice. “I would never own one of you because I don’t believe in it.”

“Someone has to own us -- it’s the law. I’d rather it be a kindly person like yourself than some of the owners.”

“I never looked at it that way. I agreed to hire you because I’m comfortable with how Ramina runs her end of it. The city gives me a stipend toward the twins’ day care. I prefer the individual attention you can give them, rather than sending them to a center. I’m telling you this, Lise, in case one of them starts asking you awkward questions.”

“I understand. Thank you, Megan.”

“Now -- I must be on my way.”

“Before you go ... Yesterday the twins convinced me you permit them to watch a program on the mediascreen... ‘Ask Jaks.’”

“That horrid thing? I hope you didn’t let them.”

“I’m afraid I did. I watched it with them and realized it probably wasn’t ... appropriate.”

“I suppose once won’t injure them too badly. I hate that program. I wonder why they play it at a time when little ones are at home.”

“I’ll make sure they don’t watch it today. Have a good day, M ... Megan.”

The twins’ mother headed out the door.

Lise filled a glass with water and sat with Klarissa and Geddes at the kitchen table. Klarissa regarded her. “Don’t you eat anything?”

“Not much,” Lise replied. “We talked about this yesterday. I get my food from the sun.”

“You don’t eat at all?”

“We must eat for protein and minerals,” Lise replied, “once every two or three days. I do need to drink lots of water.”

“Do you go to the bathroom?” Klarissa asked. Geddes giggled.

“Yes.”

“Do you pee or poo?”

“I do both -- though I don’t poo very often.” Geddes giggled again. “What’s funny, Geddes?”

“That you poo.”

“Why is it funnier for me than you?”

“Because you’re different,” Klarissa interjected.

“Yes, I am -- but I’m also like you.” She took Klarissa’s hand and pressed it against her wrist. “I have a pulse like you do.”

“Let me feel,” Geddes said. Klarissa felt her own wrist.

Klarissa rubbed her finger along Lise’s forearm and then examined her fingertips. “It doesn’t rub off,” Lise said.

“Oh! It’s time for ‘Ask Jaks,” Klarissa said.

“You’re not going to watch it,” Lise replied. “Your mommy gave me explicit orders. It’s not an appropriate show for children your age. I don’t think it’s appropriate for anyone.” She turned to Geddes. “You lied to me yesterday when you said you always watched it -- didn’t you?” Geddes sat stone-faced. “Geddes -- and, Klarissa, too -- we can’t have lying. Some day it may be very important that I believe something you say. I need to know I can trust you. I won’t lie to you. Don’t lie to me.”

Klarissa looked at the floor. Geddes sat, closed his eyes and began to breathe deeply and deliberately. He reached into himself for something and found it. His lip began to quiver and tears began to flow. “I want to watch Jaks!” he exclaimed, sobbing. “Please, let me watch Jaks.”

“This isn’t going to work, Geddes,” Lise said. “You might as well save your effort.”

“I WANNA WATCH JAKS!” Geddes shrieked. He fell on the floor and began pounding his fists and kicking.

“Come on, Klarissa,” Lise said. “Let’s go into the bedroom and I’ll read you a story or something.”

“YOU can read?”

“Of course I can. Come on...”

Klarissa accompanied Lise into the bedroom she shared with Geddes. Geddes followed them, wailing, and threw himself onto the floor.

Lise picked up the squirming boy, carried him to the living room and set him on the floor. “You can carry on all you want, but you’re NOT going to disrupt our story.”

Geddes doubled and redoubled the volume of his wailing. “Okay, Klarissa -- what shall we read?” The door chime sounded. “Just a minute...”

Lise opened the door to a middle-aged white woman. The woman looked her up, down, and up again. “Hello -- my name is Lise. Megan hired me to watch her twins.”

“What is the commotion?”

“Geddes is throwing a tantrum because I won’t let him watch ‘Ask Jaks.’”

“Is that all it is? It sounded like someone was being flayed...”

“I’m letting him wear himself out.”

The woman lowered her voice. “I’ve baby-sat for Megan. Geddes is a strong-willed boy. I think you’re handling it the right way.”

“Sorry to have disturbed you.”

Lise joined Klarissa in her bedroom and began reading a story from an electronic book device. Geddes’s wailing tapered off to silence. Lise looked into the living room and saw him, lying asleep in a puddle of tears and drool. She picked Geddes up and placed him on his bed.

Lise let Geddes nap. He roused around lunch time, walked into the kitchen and sat at the table, avoiding eye contact.

“Here’s your lunch, Geddes,” Lise said. The boy turned his head away. “Geddes -- let’s get something straight. I don’t care if you like me or hate me. Well -- I DO care -- I’d rather you like me. I like you -- I think you are a darling little boy. But -- if you hate me ... well, I can live with that. You must understand, when I’m watching you...” She tapped her chest. “I’m the one in charge, here. I will not take direction from a child. Do you understand me?”

Geddes turned his face toward Lise and stuck out his tongue. Lise stuck hers out in reply. Geddes suppressed a giggle. “Good,” Lise said. “Now, we have that straight.”

Lise heard the front door open. Megan walked in. “Megan!” Lise exclaimed. “Is something wrong?”

“We had a problem at the factory where I work. They let everyone go home early. If you’d like, you can have the afternoon off.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes -- I won’t dock you for the time.”

Lise lowered her voice. “You’re SURE everything’s all right?”

“Yes, Lise.” Megan grasped Lise’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “It’s sweet of you to be concerned. A pipe broke and flooded the place. It’ll probably be on the news tonight. They should have everything back to normal by morning. Since I’m getting the afternoon off with pay, so should you.”

“Thank you. I’ll say good bye to the twins and see you in the morning.”

Lise stood on the platform at the rear of the bus heading toward the Green Zone. The route took her through sector ten. She saw the park and a green figure sitting on a bench holding a pad.

The bus pulled to a stop. She hopped off the platform and walked through the park to where Tagg sat. He was sketching a portrait of a little boy, handed it to a woman and received in return a scrip card. He held it to the light, then slipped it into his pocket.

“Hi, Tagg.”

He jumped. “Lise! What are you doing here? You weren’t fired on your second day, were you?”

“No -- I have the afternoon off. I can’t believe what I just saw. She gave you scrip for that sketch.”

“Of course she did.” He pulled the card from his pocket. Lise snatched it and looked at the punches. “There are two and a quarter units left on this.”

He reached into another pocket. “Here’s what I have for today.” He handed her a stack of scrip cards.

Lise looked through them. Most of them were completely used except for one or two punches -- pocket change. She began adding them up in her head. “Tagg -- you have nine and a half units here.”

“Not bad for half a day’s work. I tell you, Lise -- I have more scrip than I ever had when I was working.”

“If you sketch me -- do you really think you can sell it?”

“I do. I can probably get four or five units for it.”

“Four or five units?”

“I’ll give you half I make of any sketches of you that I can sell.”

“What are we waiting for? Let’s go sketch.”

Tagg picked up his pad and tucked it under his arm. Together they headed to the bus stop, climbed onto the back of one and rode to a stop near the Zone.

“Come on,” Lise said and broke into a sprint. Tagg ran after her.

They reached his apartment building. She followed him up the stairs to the top floor. He turned the knob on a door, cracked it open and poked his head inside. “They’re all gone -- all at their jobs,” he said. He rolled back a mattress on the floor and scooped up another handful of scrip cards. “Look at this, Lise.”

She took the cards and began totaling them. “Seventeen units! Add to that the nine and a half today ... Tagg -- I have never seen so much scrip.”

“Let me sketch you. We’ll make us rich.”

“What do I do?” Lise asked.

“Sit on that window-sill,” Tagg said. “Put your legs out ... now, bend your knee. No -- the other one. Lean forward and hug your shin...”

Lise giggled. “Like this? This is uncomfortable.”

“I’m fast,” Tagg replied. “It’s one reason the whites like to watch me draw.” He uncapped his marking pen and began sketching. “Almost done -- there!”

“Let’s see...” Lise jumped down from the sill and looked at his work. “That’s nice, Tagg.”

He looked up. “I don’t know if I can sell this one. I know I could if you were nude.”

“Nude! No way, Tagg.”

“It’s for art,” he protested. “Pictures of nude girls always sell.”

“Some art ... Do you really think so?”

“I know so. Pose again and I’ll make you nude in the sketch. You don’t have to take your clothes off.”

Lise climbed back onto the window-sill. Tagg began sketching.