Anomaly (17 page)
“Then come out.” Stone laughs. “I want to see it.”
I open the door and step out, the air feeling strange against my bare legs.
April claps and pulls me into a hug. “You look beautiful. Come see.”
She leads me to a tall mirror mounted on the wall. She removes the elastic from my hair and it falls to my shoulders, thick and wavy. I see so much more of myself than I am used to seeing. I cannot stop looking.
“You are a wonderful Clothing Specialist,” I say to April.
“We call her a Seamstress.”
“Seamstress.” I like that word. It sounds more worthy of a piece of clothing like this. “I should change.”
“No.” April fluffs my hair. “It’s yours.”
I look down. “I can keep it?”
“Certainly you may.” April’s smile is so much like Stone’s, kind and open. “Of course, they won’t allow you to wear it below. But I will have it cleaned and ready for you every time you come to Progress.”
“And when you live here”—Stone puts an arm around me—“you can have a whole room full of dresses. Right, Mother?”
I suddenly remember my task today. In the joy of trying on the dress and being with Stone and April, I had forgotten that they might not be real, that I need to discover whether or not this place actually exists. Watching them interact, seeing them, smelling the fabrics in this room, I am sure they are real. I just have to prove that to Berk.
“What would you like to do today, Thalli?”
“I want to know more about Progress. Can I see what’s in the other rooms? What the other jobs are?”
Stone smiles. “That sounds like the request of someone who is thinking of joining our community.”
Stone doesn’t give me time to respond. He just takes my hand and leads me into Progress.
A
nd this is the technology center.” We have visited every room in the large building. Stone pushes the door open. “My father works here.”
I see a large man, larger than any I’ve ever seen, sitting behind a huge machine. He is wearing thick, protective glasses and using an instrument that makes a loud, squealing noise.
“This must be Thalli.” Stone’s father stands, and I have to stop myself from gasping at his height. He is a full head taller than Stone, who is a head taller than I. “I am Miller.”
His hand swallows mine. He is darker than Stone but has his dark eyes. Miller, however, has no hair at all. He is older than
April, and his eyes wrinkle at the sides in a way that reminds me of John. “I hear you enjoyed my movie theater.”
“Your theater?” Stone lifts an eyebrow and his father laughs—a deep, loud laugh. The sound—and his size—remind me of a tuba.
“All right,
our
theater.” Miller puts a large hand on the machine below him. “And I am close to getting this to work—it is another film. It was damaged pretty badly, but I was able to bring it back to life.”
I think of the film I saw with Stone. My cheeks heat at the memory.
“My father’s main job is to keep Progress running. He and his team keep the electricity going and the machines working properly. But films are his love. He has missed many meals working on this.” Stone motions toward the equipment.
Miller pats his ample stomach. “I haven’t missed that many meals.”
These two are so comfortable with each other. So different from the way we interact with our Monitors. They enjoy being together. They appreciate each other. They love each other. This is what John was talking about. He had this with his wife and children. With his son. Is that why Dr. Turner was not able to send him to annihilation?
“We’ll let you get back to work.” Stone grabs my hand. “I have one more place I want to show Thalli.”
I wave good-bye and try to keep up with Stone’s long strides. “Where are we going?”
“Be patient.” He smiles at me and keeps moving. We have left the town and are walking toward what appears to be a greenhouse. I don’t want to disappoint him by telling him I
have seen this before. Each pod has its own greenhouse. But he isn’t walking there.
“So your . . . parents?” I ask the question that has been burning in my mind. “How did they choose to—” I don’t even know how to phrase this question. It is so strange, so uncomfortable.
Stone stops and looks at me, his eyes dancing. He sits on the earth and motions for me to join him. “My parents were some of the first to be allowed up here. The Scientists allowed forty people from below to try to begin this new city. They were about our age when they arrived.”
“Why did I never hear of this?”
“Only those who were chosen were told.”
“But surely not everyone wanted to go.”
Stone shrugs. “The State can be very persuasive.”
They weren’t really given a choice. Of course. That is the way of the State. “So how did your parents survive?”
“Each of the members chosen had training that would help up here.” Stone stretches out his legs. “And they went through a few months of training below. It was hard the first few years, but the Scientists helped as much as they could. And our founders were strong and resourceful.”
“I can see that.” Knowing this place was made from so little, in such a relatively short time, is amazing.
“But back to my parents.” Stone smiles. “They knew each other, of course. And they talked. But there weren’t really any feelings yet.”
“They were designed without feelings?” I think of my malformation. “But that changed? Did the Scientists adjust their makeups?”
Stone laughs and I marvel again at his smile. So open.
So relaxed. He stands, helps me up, and we walk again. “No. Something about being out here, in this air, changes everyone. It’s like a child who goes from a liquid diet to a solid. They learn to chew and to swallow. People here learn to feel and to think. It is encouraged.”
I don’t want to tell Stone I don’t know anything about children. But he is lost in the story and doesn’t seem to notice my ignorance. I am grateful for that. He would never finish his story if I asked every question that came into my mind.
“A few other couples were joining together and beginning to have children.”
“They were married, right?” I am happy to know at least one of these words.
“Married?” Stone seems confused.
“They had a wedding? April walked down the aisle in a white dress?”
Now it is Stone’s turn to need an explanation. I tell him what John told me, about weddings and love and commitment.
“No, we don’t have that here.” Stone blinks a couple times. “But it sounds nice. Some couples here stay together awhile—like my parents. Others go on to pair with someone else.”
“Oh.” Was John odd, even among the anomalies?
“Anyway, my parents found that they were attracted to each other, so they chose to be together. I was born a few years later.”
“The sky is getting darker.” I have been so busy listening to his story that I didn’t notice. I realize I spend little time noticing the sky at all here in Progress. I rarely look up. There’s no need to below, except on our moon-viewing days. And usually when I am here the sky is so bright, I don’t want to look up. “It is beautiful.”
I have to stop. The sky is blue and pink, and I see the moon, although it is almost translucent. I wish I had my violin with me. I would like to play this beauty. I wish I could capture it on my learning pad and look at it again. But it wouldn’t be the same. My little rectangle on the pad couldn’t truly display the grandeur. I can look in all directions and see the sky. Part of it is blocked by mountains, but it is never completely blocked. This is so much more amazing than seeing the moon through the panel.
“I had no idea the sky was so huge. Why have I not seen this before?”
“You were too busy looking at me.” Stone is laughing at me. It is a kind laugh, and it makes me feel good. Happy. “We’re here.”
I tear my eyes away from the sky and I am shocked by what I see.
“A river.” Stone points to the water.
Water! “I thought—”
“It was all destroyed? Toxic?”
“Yes.” I think of the huge tanks we have below, tanks that bring in ocean water from far away. The tanks I sat by when Berk and I had our picnic. “Can you drink it?”
Stone shrugs. “I suppose. But we usually filter it first.”
“So it
is
toxic?”
“No, it’s perfectly safe.” Stone scoops a handful of the brownish water into his palms. “Our Water Technicians devised a way to remove the contaminants before I was born.”
I look at the water in Stone’s hands. Amazing. I have only ever seen it come from a faucet, never straight from the earth.
“I’ll show you what I like to do in it.” Stone kicks off his
shoes and then lunges toward the water. He puts his hands over his head and jumps in, submerging his entire body in the water. “Come on in. Give it a try.”
I step away. I cannot go in there. I don’t care that it is safe. What would I do? I’d sink in that much water. But Stone isn’t sinking. He is kicking his feet and moving farther in.
“Come swimming with me,” he shouts.
I swallow hard. “Swimming?”
Stone comes out of the water and grabs both of my hands, walking backward and propelling me toward the water. “Don’t worry. I’ll show you.”
I reluctantly take off my shoes and follow Stone into the water. The ground feels so soft, so strange. The footprints I leave are deep and some of the water fills in the spaces where my toes and heels have been. I want to examine that, but Stone won’t let me stop.
“Just step in to your knees.” Stone is still walking in front of me. As the water gets higher, I slow down.
“I’m scared.” My dress feels heavy where it has gotten wet.
“It’s all right. We can stop here for now. Just get used to the feel of it.”
I close my eyes and focus on the water. It isn’t cold, exactly, but it feels good. I move my toes and the ground below shifts. I feel Stone step closer to me and I open my eyes.
“You are beautiful, Thalli.” He runs a hand over my hair and leans close. He smells like the fabric from his mother’s textile room mixed with the scent of the outside. He steps closer still. His face is inches from mine. Just like in the film. The image of that couple fills my mind and I turn away.
“I need to go back.”
Stone grabs my arm and turns me to face him. “What are you afraid of?”
My heart is beating fast. I am afraid of so many things. I am confused about so many things. Stone tells me there is a place for me here. Berk tells me this might not even be real. John tells me I have a great purpose. Until a few weeks ago, I was sure I was an anomaly. And I might still be. I don’t know. Until a few weeks ago, I knew nothing of love. And now?
I look into Stone’s eyes. Could I love him? But what about Berk? When I am with Stone, I cannot think about Berk, and when I am with Berk, I cannot think about Stone.
I must be an anomaly.
“It’s all right.” Stone lets go of me and we walk back to the ground. “We have plenty of time.”
We are sitting on the grass. Stone lies back and I follow. The sky is now a dark blue. The moon is bright and white against that backdrop, and as my eyes adjust, I see stars. So many stars. Far more than I knew existed, than I could see from the panels.
“This is so beautiful.”
“Yes, it is.” Stone isn’t looking at the stars but at me. I don’t know how to respond.
I sit up and my hand touches the ground. We have grass below, but this feels different. Thinner. Less perfect. It reminds me of the patches of grass I saw when Berk took me on our picnic. I smile at the memory, then I remember—I need to take something from Progress, to see if it is still with me when I return. Something I can stick to my skin. I could bring grass, but we have that. If Dr. Loudin is constructing this, he is also watching. He could place a blade of grass on my arm when I am sleeping.
The thought that this might not be real, that Dr. Loudin could be watching, causes me to stand. “I should go back.”
I can tell Stone is confused. I look at him. “I’m sorry. I will explain everything the next time I come.”
“Why can’t you explain now?” He stands beside me, wiping wet dirt from his pants. “Why all the mystery?”
I shake my head. “I’m sorry.”
Stone doesn’t speak as we walk back. He is upset. If he wasn’t real, would he be upset? Am I ruining our friendship by choosing to believe he might not actually exist? Will he speak to me when I return?
I want to throw my arms around him and tell him everything. I want him to laugh at me for thinking that any Scientist could ever devise this place, with all its beauty and wonder and eccentricities. But I can’t. I have to know.
I am at the washing room before I realize that I haven’t taken anything with me.
“Good-bye, Thalli,” Stone says, his voice sounding more like an oboe than his usual upbeat trumpet. I have hurt him.
He closes the door and I remove my dress, admiring, once again, its vibrant colors. I want to take it with me, but it would attract too much attention below. I see a string hanging from the bottom. I pull it. It is bright pink with one small section that is blue. I pull it off the dress, cover one hand, and, as subtly as possible, tie it tightly around a hidden finger.