Chapter 10

The competition ended three days later. There were speeches, a massive closing parade, and an official party for the competitors that lasted well into the night. Sammi was exhausted by all of it. In those three days her friends had insisted on sightseeing. She wanted the time to rest up from the nightly parties. She couldn't tell them that, of course, so she dragged herself along, looking at the sights of Center, and longing for her pillow.

The day after the closing ceremonies was filled with good-byes. After many tears, hugs and promises to write, she waved to Cindy and Cheryl as they left for the train station. The people from Three Valleys weren't going home for two more days, and there were plenty of guesses and rumors about why. They were all laid to rest the next morning.

Mr. Gilbertson, a strength and conditioning coach, called a breakfast meeting. "We're going to take a tour," he said as everyone grew silent and looked at him. "We're going to go up to see the ice sheet."

He lifted his hand to still the buzz of conversation. "The ice sheets are one of the major events in Earth's history. We all agreed that it would be a shame not to see them. This will be an overnight trip. When we get back tomorrow afternoon we'll be heading directly home, so I want everyone to pack and be back down here in an hour."

"Will it be very cold?" someone asked.

Mr. Gilbertson and about half the people present laughed. "Of course it'll be cold," he said. "We're in an Ice Age. We're going to see a glacier that covers 20% of the surface of the Earth. We'll have coats for everyone at our destination."

A frantic hour later they boarded buses that took them to the northern railroad station. The engine huffed and puffed, pulling the cars out of the station with a rattle-clank and a cloud of smoke. Everyone crowded the windows to see what they could, which wasn't much: they passed houses and farms all morning.

In the afternoon, with the train rattling along at a fair rate of speed, they entered the first of the hills pushed up by the ice sheet. The tracks followed a river that had been carved out of the hills by the run-off from the ice sheet. Dark, tree-covered hills towered on either side reminiscent of Three Valleys. The tracks curved back and forth, sometimes quite sharply, and the train had to slow down so it wouldn't jump the tracks.

"They have to rebuild this section almost every year," Mr. Gilbertson said over the PA System. "There are constant landslides and floods, plus the weight of the ice affects the ground beneath us. There's been some talk of closing this line, but the vagaries of the weather over the end of the ice sheet make flying too dangerous."

"What about roads?" someone asked. "Wouldn't that be less maintenance than a railroad?"

Mr. Gilbertson shook his head. "That was tried at another site. What you gain with less maintenance you lose in reduced carrying capacity and damage to the vehicles. No, right now the train is our best bet. But people are still working on this problem."

It was early evening when the train emerged into a clearing and slowed to a stop at a station. Everyone crowded the windows, trying to see what they could; but there wasn't much, just the buildings of a small town on both sides of the tracks. Sammi could see the people walking between the buildings--everyone was wearing a coat of some kind, and when people stopped to talk their breath hung in the air between them as a fog.

"Everyone stay in your seats," Mr. Gilbertson called from the front of the car. He was holding a clipboard in one hand. "I'll be coming down the aisle. When I stop at your row tell me your size."

"How cold is it out there?" a man asked.

"A little below freezing. Today's one of the warmer days here."

"This should be fun," Jeannette said from the row behind Sammi. "I've always wondered what the ice sheets looked like."

"I've seen pictures," Stan said, "but I don't think they really give you the enormity of it, not like seeing it in person."

"Sort of like the ocean," Jeannette said. "You don't feel how big it is until you stand on the beach and stare out at it."

Twenty minutes later they followed Mr. Gilbertson off the train. Sammi immediately felt the cold air sweep up her legs. She wished she had some of those pants like Traci wore. Once inside the station house the men went one way and Mrs. Gresham led the women to another room. A woman wearing pants greeted them there.

"We're going to get you outfitted," she said as she stood next to a large fireplace. "You'll each be issued a coat, a hat, a pair of pants and a pair of boots. You won't need the pants tonight, but believe me, you'll welcome them in the morning."

"Aren't we going out on the ice sheet?" a woman asked.

"Not tonight. There's a blizzard blowing across it right now and the conditions are too chancy. The weather is expected to moderate in the morning. When you leave tomorrow you'll have to turn these clothes back in."

"It can't be that cold out there, is it?" one girl asked. "I live next to a glacier back home and I'm used to it."

The woman nodded. "You probably are, but do you stay out in it very long?"

"Well, not in a skirt of course; I usually have leggings on underneath it."

"You'll need more than that, dear. This is the middle of summer and in a skirt you'd freeze in just a few minutes out on the sheet. This valley is protected from most of the weather, which is why we built here. Now get in line. I have your sizes and I'll be handing out your clothes."

When everyone had their clothes Mrs. Gresham escorted them back to the main room. There they joined the men and boys who were carrying their own cold weather gear. Mr. Gilbertson led them along a covered walkway to a hotel. Room assignments were handed out, and Mrs. Gresham cautioned everyone that if they wanted to swap around roommates, to do so quietly. Sammi and Stan immediately switched so they were together. After everyone got settled they gathered downstairs in the main room of the hotel.

"There are a lot of explanations for the current Ice Age," Mr. Gilbertson said by way of introduction. "Some scientists say we are in a solar minimum where the output of the sun has decreased. Other scientists blame it on more interstellar dust in the solar system. Others say it's the precession of the Earth's axis. There are probably a dozen other reasons for the Ice Age, including some we haven't thought of yet. The studies are still going on, and nobody expects a conclusion just yet.

"In a few minutes we will board a tour bus that will take us to the local museum. Aside from the exhibits the people there will cover the safety rules. I want everyone to stay with your group. The same thing applies tomorrow morning. Stay with your group and stay in the marked areas. If you wander away from the group you could fall in a crevasse; if that happens, at the very least you'll be in danger of breaking a bone or two, but the crevasse could cave in on you and we couldn't rescue you. In that case it is quite likely that you would die. But if you stay with the group and stay in the marked areas, you'll be all right.

"Now the buses will be here in 15 minutes. We won't get back here for at least three hours. I would suggest everyone go do what you have to do before we leave."

After all of the build-up the museum was anticlimactic. Sammi had seen most of the exhibits in a textbook. They could look through a television monitor to see the ice sheet, but the sun was setting and all anyone could see was a white expanse that stretched out of sight to the north.

"A bit of a letdown," Sammi said as they returned to the hotel. "I thought we'd get to go out on it."

"Tomorrow morning," Mrs. Gresham said.

Jeannette joined her when they reached the hotel. "Got a few minutes?" she asked.

Sammi glanced at Stan, who was headed for the stairs--this place didn't have an elevator. "Sure." She headed toward the couches next to the fireplace. She wasn't used to the cold and the fire felt good. "What's up?"

"I, uh, I was meaning to ask you something the other day, you know, when you came up to the roof with me, and I didn't get the chance." She settled on the couch next to Sammi. She looked around as if to make sure they were alone, then leaned forward and lowered her voice.

"You've heard about the school swap program, haven't you?"

"Not really," Sammi replied. "Oh, wait, isn't that the program where you change schools for a term?"

Jeannette nodded. "You can pick any school in the Three Valleys or Seaside School Districts. You go there for a quarter before returning to your regular school."

"And you were thinking about doing that?" Jeannette nodded. "Are you sure? Unless it's Seaside the students wear clothes."

"I know. I'm curious about that. I've been up in the Valley, and I've had to wear clothes, like this trip to Center, so I'm sort of familiar with the way they feel and all, but that isn't the same thing as living in them all of the time."

"True, but..." Sammi thought about the normal day to day activities. "What I'd suggest, before you sign up for it or anything, is that you find a reason to come up to the Valley for a week or so. That way you can see what its like."

"That's a good idea," Jeannette said. "We're getting back just before school starts, so I couldn't do it this term, but I could during the next break."

There was another point and Sammi tried to find the proper words. "A personal question," she finally said. "Have you ever been with a boy?"

Jeannette shrugged. "I've dated several guys."

"That's not what I mean. Do you know about sex education?"

"Well sure. We learned all about that back when I was 11 and 12."

For a moment Sammi wished she lived regularly outside of Three Valleys so she would know the proper euphemisms. She gave up. "Did you know that in our sex education classes they teach us about sex, and how to do it, and that we then do it?"

Color flooded Jeannette's cheeks as she looked down. "I, uh, I heard about that, but I didn't know if it was a rumor or what. That why I wanted to talk with you."

"It's no rumor," Sammi told her. She outlined what a typical day at school was like.

"So you, um, you do it, and with a different boy every day?"

"By the time that first year is over you've been with every boy in your class. My twin brother is in my class, so I haven't done it with him, but other than that I've been with every boy in my age group, and a few boys from the year ahead of me."

"From the year ahead of you? What's that all about?"

"There are parties, we call 'em pool parties. You meet someone there, and if you hit it off you go find a place on the lawn beside the pool somewhere and you have sex. It's just casual, friendly sex, nobody sets any deep meanings behind it. It's almost like having sex in class. Nobody gets upset about that."

"Nobody gets upset... ?" Jeannette shook her head. "I don't follow you."

Sammi suppressed a sigh. It was so difficult trying to explain something she was used to. "All right, let me put this way," she said at last. "My brother is seeing a girl named Anna. They've been going together for more than a year. They go to dinner together, to movies, to mixers and things like that. Generally, except at school and at certain parties, they only have sex with each other." She laughed. "They do it at least three or four times a week, and they can sure be noisy about it. His room is right next to mine, you see, and I can hear them through the walls.

"Anyway, when they're at school, during Sex Education class, they do it with other people. There's sort of this rotation, you see, and you do it with each boy in turn. And nobody thinks of it as coming between those two. I mean, when you have sex with somebody its part of your classwork. The teachers say it is all part of overcoming jealousy and possessiveness."

"I don't know," Jeannette said slowly. "That sounds, I don't know, that sounds kind of strange."

"You do get to see boys, don't you?" Sammi asked. "I've heard rumors that you aren't allowed to touch and things like that."

"It's discouraged," Jeannette said, smiling shyly. "Boys can get this obvious, um, this obvious reaction to touching a girl. We do too, of course, but it isn't quite so obvious. Part of learning to be an adult is learning to have the self-control so that doesn't happen."

"Do you mean you don't have dances or parties?"

"Oh, we have parties, but there are a lot of adults around to make sure things don't get out of hand."

"We don't have any adults at our parties," Sammi said, "at least after the kids at the party are beyond a certain age, because we let things sort themselves out. My Mom said part of growing up is learning to deal with these things. After a while you get so you can hug a boy, and while he might or might not react physically, both of you have to learn that it can happen, and what to do about it."

"What happens?"

"Sometimes you and the boy go off and find a blanket, sometimes you tell him "No" and that's the end of it."

"What if he, you know, persists?"

Sammi tried to remember if that had ever happened. She knew what her older sister had told her. "If you tell him "No", and he keeps coming after you, there are plenty of people around to make sure he doesn't bother you. What happens if a guy... reacts... where you live?"

"Well, first of all, he isn't supposed to react that way, but..." Jeannette giggled, "it does happen. Guys get a, you know, a stiffy, and then they have to hide it or do something until it goes down. It's a real social no-no. And it's not like they don't know what a girl's body looks like, they've seen it every day."

"I could say the same thing about up in the Valley," Sammi said, "but my brother assures me that that isn't the case. When they hit a certain age that's all boys think about."

"Even if they can do it every day?" Jeannette looked surprised.

"Even if," Sammi said, nodding. "I think that's just the way boys are."

"I-I..." Jeannette looked down, the color coming back to her cheeks. "I, uh, haven't done it. That would be a problem, wouldn't it."

Sammi nodded. "Yes, it would. Everybody would expect you to." She tried to think of what the school would do. "It's possible they might put you in a class with other girls where that doesn't happen--there are rules about how old you have to be before you can have sex."

Jeannette looked relieved, but a little apprehensive, too. "Um, yeah, I suppose." She thought about that. "What do they do in those classes?"

"Everyone is still learning about sex, and their bodies haven't developed far enough, nor are they old enough, emotionally, to do it. So they explore each other."

"Explore?" Jeannette's voice quavered a bit. "Does that mean what I think it means?"

"You get to look at a boy's dick, pick it up, handle it, find out what it feels like when it's soft, and when it's hard, and believe me, that happens. And boys get to look between a girl's legs. They get to see what all the mystery is about, and you tell them what feels good and what doesn't; you're also learning what it feels like for someone else to touch you down there, which a girl has to get used to."

"And you do this every day?"

"We have sex every day," Sammi said, "except, of course when we're having our period." She giggled. "A lot of us look forward to Sex Ed class. You get so you like it, especially every day.

"Now gym is mostly in the nude," Sammi went on, "but you'd be used to that."

"Yeah, well, it depends on what do you do in gym."

"Work-out machines, swimming, a lot of swimming, and things like that. Girls wear bras for support, except in the pool, of course, and boys wear supporters."

"That's what happens in Seaside," Jeannette said. "We do a lot of things in the pool. What kind of bra do you wear? Ours are mostly just bands around our breasts."

"Special athletic bras. You can buy them at the school store. Showers are communal, of course, and--"

"Communal? As in boys and girls together?"

"Of course." Sammi looked at her friend's expression. "Let me guess, showers are separated by sex. And bathrooms, too."

"Of course. A girl has to have some privacy, especially about that."

Sammi sighed. There was a bigger gap here than she'd thought. "Aren't there showers and things next to the beach so someone can rinse off the salt water?"

"Oh, those. Of course, those are right out in the open for anyone to use, but that's just a rinse, that isn't a real shower. Did you say the bathrooms aren't separate?"

"No, they aren't," Sammi said. "Boys have their things, their urinals, and girls, we have stalls where we can go, but that's it."

"I think that's the strangest thing I've ever heard of," Jeannette said after nearly a minute of silence.

"Think about it," Sammi said. "At home you all use the same bathroom, don't you?" Jeannette nodded. "And you aren't covering yourselves up, are you? Everybody sees everyone naked, don't they?" Jeannette nodded. "So it's logical that you just have bathrooms that everyone can use."

"It might be logical, but that doesn't mean it makes sense. A girl has to have some privacy. You know, there are times, there are things a girl does that are kind of intimate and private."

"In Three Valleys guys learn very quickly about a girl's period. It's something they have to learn to deal with as they grow up."

"But... does that mean you want boys to know why you're having your flow?" Jeannette sounded shocked at the idea.

"Oh, they learn very quickly. Those are the days you're not in Sex Education class. And they might as well learn; regardless of what they think, that we can't have sex every day."

"I think," Jeannette said slowly and after much thought, "that in Seaside people want it to be like Center, only with no clothes. And in Three Valleys it's sort of like Center, but people are open about sex."

"We get visitors from Center and other places all of the time," Sammi said. "You're told to be on your best behavior in the larger towns. But in the smaller ones there's a greater, I don't know, a greater casualness about it. Like remember how in Center there were these changing rooms where you could try on clothes? Well, except in Terminus it's very common to have the mirrors near the clothes rack. You'll see somebody trying on clothes right there. And if she happens to show a bit of skin, well so what? She doesn't walk around naked like, say, in Seaside, but if you see her breasts, what's the big deal? Women have them.

"But in the smaller towns, well, last year I was in Overlook, that's a town that's built up the side of the valley wall. We were at this one place to eat that had a great view of the whole valley. But if you walked down this path a little you were right above the swimming pool, and you could see people naked, lying out in the sun or swimming in the pool. We don't take people from Center to that spot, naturally, but nobody stands there and stares, either."