The boy stole
back into the hut. He wiped himself dry
from the early morning drizzle with a coarse rag he kept under the sleep
sack. He thought of his secret and covered
his mouth to muffle the soft laughter. After looking looked across the room at
the two sleeping adults, his parents, the boy breathed a sigh of relief. He sat
down on the edge of the sleep sack and eased in. He heard his mother’s first stirrings seconds
after securing himself in his cocoon, “Just in time”, he thought and a smile
widened across the small face. His
secret was still safe! Seconds later, he
fell into a deep sleep.
Dull gray
light filtered into the one room hut.
Jill McDermott opened her eyes.
She stretched her thin gray arms and nudged her husband with an elbow
before rising from their sleep sack. She
glanced over at the boy snoring soundly across the room. His mouth curved upward in that curious
expression which too often preceded an annoying sound. Hearing it disturbed and perplexed her. She wasn’t accustomed to feeling
anything. That child puzzled her when
she allowed herself to consider him.
Jill walked
across the hut to the basin filled with sludgy grey liquid collected from the
puddles outside. It would serve for
washing up until the new shipment of supplies arrived. She splashed some on her face and arms before
checking on the food. On a shelf above
the basin stood a tall cylindrical container made of dried mud. She shook the container. “Good”, she thought, “enough to last until
the next shipment.
At that
moment, Jack joined her to wash and help with food preparation. The couple looked oddly alike; both short and
thin with gray hair, loose gray skin and eyes.
Their faces, vacant of expression, gave only slight indication that life
resided within their emaciated frames.
They acknowledged each other with a nod and some grunts. As Jack washed, Jill poured some dehydrated
plant flakes into three gray dried mud vessels and added liquid from another
container. This liquid, only slightly
less murky than that used for washing, served to soften the plant matter and
make it edible.
Jack nodded
toward the boy. Answering the silent
command, Jill walked to his sleep sack and gave it a soft kick with her bare
foot. The boys did not awaken. She kicked harder. He opened his eyes and as he focused on her
face, turned his mouth upward even more sharply until his entire visage changed
its shape. “Jeremy, stop,” she
grunted. The boy nodded and tried to
control the expression which so irritated his parents. Finally, Jeremy McDermott sat up in bed. The boy’s bright black hair and eyes sparkled
in contrast with the vast span of gray that permeated his entire world. He stretched and bounced out of bed. Jeremy’s lithe body skipped over to the wash
basin where he slapped himself with liquid. His quick slim figure contrasted
greatly with the others; the frail, slow Oddkinians. If the people were inclined to think about
it, which they weren’t, they might have wondered when the leaders would notice
this aberration.
After
Jeremy washed, the family sat on stools at a small table fashioned of the same
dried mud that formed all their furnishings and home. Silently, they spooned the mushy gray
substance into their mouths. Only the
sounds of spoon against bowl and munching pierced the silence. Jeremy had learned long ago to keep his
comments to a minimum as his chatter seemed to bother his parents. To amuse himself, the boy made circles in the
porridge with his fingers while he thought of his hidden treasure. Jill and her mate ignored him. They stared blankly across the room.
After the
morning meal, Jill removed the bowls from the table, wiped them out with a
coarsely made gray cloth, the same cloth of their garments, and placed them
back on the shelf.
A hole just outside the gravel floored hut served for
bodily elimination. Jack shoveled gravel
over the latest accumulation of waste.
Then the
three people moved to their personal computer tables and sat down. A
computer with a large screened monitor sat on each table. A skull cap out of which various electrodes
protruded lay next to the monitor. The
electrodes connected the cap to the computer base. The three family members placed their skull
caps on their heads. The computer
screens automatically came to life. Dull
gray images merged into one another on the screens as voices transmitted
through the skull caps communicated instructions to the three people.
The faces
of Jill and Jack looked blanker than ever as they sat mesmerized in front of
their machines. Only scant traces of
life remained visible in their bodies as the voices in their skull caps droned
on and on. Occasionally, their hands
moved to strike keys on the keyboard in obedience to some command. Otherwise the two sat unmoving while watching
and listening passively.
Luckily for
Jeremy, neither parent looked at their son during computer time. They sat transfixed before their
machines. Jeremy had no patience for the
long computer hours required of Oddkinians.
Although his skull cap sat on his head, nine year old Jeremy had learned
long ago to tune out the sounds. Instead
of listening to the drone, he thought his own thoughts.
He glanced
sadly at his parents. “I wish I understood
why I am so different from everyone else.
My parents sit for hours perfectly content listening to this boring
noise. Their faces never change. I don’t even know if they have thoughts. Why do I?
If only I could tell someone about my treasure. It is most amazing, but there’s no one to
tell.”
Jeremy looked
again at his parents. He signed a deep
sigh before returning to his daydreaming.
The boy
often squirmed while he sat thinking. He
could not remain still like his parents.
When he got to the point of feeling he would explode, he had to escape
outside.
Jeremy
pulled an object from under his table.
It was a dried mud ball with pieces of his hair glued on. This will keep the circuits going while I
leave.” The boy smiled to himself as he
prepared his deception.
At last, Jeremy
escaped from the hut. His heart raced wildly within his chest and at
the same speeding pace, thoughts rushed through his head. “I wonder what causes my body to pulsate
so. It happens whenever I step out. I like it. I wonder if the leaders will discover that I
defy the rules. What would they do” Perhaps
one day I will be caught. Maybe they would answer my questions.”
Jeremy looked around him. The bland vista and still air insulted his
senses. A few puddles remained from the
evening rain, and a few gray bushes dotted the landscape.
Then,
Jeremy put his thoughts aside. Now he ran,
skipped and rolled somersaults on the rough gray ground. Free from scrutiny, the boy whooped and
chortled as he danced about the terrain in front of his home.
When Jeremy satisfactorily expended his bottled up energy, he cautiously looked about him for
signs of being watched. After assuring
himself that he spotted nothing but bleak landscape, the boy quietly walked to
the back of the hut and knelt down. He
engaged in his favorite activity, digging for rocks. This time, however he looked for something
specific; his buried treasure.
A few years
earlier, Jeremy found the first rock. It
was a small gray pebble the size of a thumb nail. It lay atop the ground. He felt its rough surface with his toes and
bent to pick it up. He examined his find
carefully turning it over and over. He
rubbed it on his skin then licked and bit it.
He tapped it with fingernails to hear the sounds they made on its
surface. “This is something new. I
wonder how many more of these lie around here.”
He spent many hours since trying to answer that question.
The boy
pursed his lips as his hands scraped the soil.
His fingers had toughened after all the time spent digging. Piles of course dirt lay aside the small hole
of Jeremy’s current investigation. Finally,
he felt something more solid than dirt.
“Whee!” he shrieked. He dug more
furiously with his fingers until he uncovered the round glowing stone. Rainbow colors, Jeremy’s first experience
beyond gray, melded into each other causing the sensory starved child to giggle
with delight. Soft humming sounds of
varying pitches accompanied the visual display further enhancing the boy’s pleasure
as he rocked to and fro with the cadence of its pulses.
Remembering
the computer and his parents, Jeremy said to himself, “I must return now before
I am discovered.” Jeremy refilled his
excavation, patted down the soil, and cautiously entered the hut. Again, he felt the pounding within his chest.
He placed the ball back under the table with rapid motion. Then,
sighing, he sat at the computer and replaced the skull cap. Looking at his
parents’ total fixation on their computer screens, Jeremy knew they noticed
neither his departure nor his return. “Good,”
he whispered and then resumed his thinking and day dreaming unobserved.
Much later,
heeding a signal that Jeremy ignored, Jack and Jill removed their skull caps
and pushed themselves away from their computers. Their activity served as a warning to Jeremy that
he needed to do the same. Nodding to
each other, the boy and his father sat at the table as Jill prepared the
evening meal which was identical to their breakfast.
After the
dinner, the family retired to the sleep sacks.
They never changed their clothing or bathed. Water, fabric and food, scarce commodities,
had to be conserved. They became
accustomed to body odors and didn’t notice the smell.
Another
Oddkinian day had passed. Jeremy lay
still until he heard the shallow breathing of his parents. He sighed.
When they slept he felt free to examine his growing rock collection
hidden beneath the sleep sack. He used
his fingers to search out any unusual curves or crevices within the rock pile. Until he had found his special rock, this had
served as his only evening entertainment.
Jeremy then sought out the sharpest rock to carve a notch in the dried
mud wall next to his bed. He ran his
fingers over the myriad of marks that now decorated his wall. In this manner, Jeremy McDermott recorded his
days. Later, when he knew his parents
slept soundly, Jeremy would revisit his treasure.
The next
morning, Jill shouted to Jeremy, “Hurry, Jeremy, time for gathering. Jeremy groaned. The weekly social gatherings used to interest
him but not anymore. Jeremy thought, “I wish I could find a way to avoid these
meetings. Mother and father insist I go
and drag me along if I don’t. They won’t
tell me why we need to go each time.
Nothing new happens there. Still,
it is a change from the computers.”
En route he
watched as other Oddkinians, old and young, trudged breathlessly while their
emaciated frames struggled with the three minute exertion. For a while Jeremy
dragged his feet along the rough dirt path.
He savored any sensation against his skin even if it stung a
little. He noticed that his feet made
marks in the dirt. He amused himself by
making little patterns of circles and swirls.
He tried to invent variations on the patterns by extending or smoothing
over parts with his bare toes. As usual,
his parents ignored this activity. They
found it prudent to ignore the boy unless he forced their unwanted attention. Jeremy dragged his feet in circular motion
while he moved forward. He paused to add
marks inside the circles with his toes.
Jill
noticed he lagged behind. Heat rose up
her face as she saw that once again the child defied custom. “Jeremy, move!” shouted Jill. She didn’t want to exert herself by walking
back three feet to grab him. He stood
transfixed moving his toes in the dirt.
“Jeremy!” she shouted again this time with more menace in the call. He looked up and decided he’d better move
on.
So, identical
to every other week, Jeremy and his family trudged to the large hall left over
from an old world that no one remembered.
The gray empty hall lacked any furniture or adornments to warm its
interior. The people always clustered
together in the middle of the cavernous space waiting. A wall sized computer screen hung on one
wall. From this screen the leaders greeted
their subjects.
Jeremy followed
his parents to their spot in the middle of the gathering place. They always stood in the same spot. A few adults nodded and grunted greetings to
Jill and Jack. They moved ever so
slightly away from Jeremy.
The
Oddkinians stood awaiting the hum that proceeded messages. After the hum crackled through the room, a
voice from the screen announced, “Greetings from your leaders. Prepare for exercise time.” Some of the Oddkinian adults groaned. Each week everyone participated in the exercise
program to keep their flaccid bodies strong enough for survival. During his earlier childhood Jeremy tried
using this time to jump and twirl in abandon.
He desisted after Jill pulled on him to stop and said, “Jeremy, the
leaders.” He did not want to risk the
wrath of the leaders whoever they were. On cue, the Oddkinians reached upwards and
then bent down as far as they could.
Some of the stronger youth attempted to jump up once or twice. Like his compatriots, Jeremy despised the
exercise routine but for different reasons.
To amuse himself he made up little ditties which he sang to himself
while moving, “It’s so boring, very boring.
Up and down we go. The time has
passed; we’re done at last! Then to home
we go.” “Well,” he thought to himself, “I can really exercise my own way when
no one watches.”
During exercise time everyone performed their “calisthenics” in
front of the screen. Jeremy watched the
animation of an Oddkinian demonstrating a variety of stretches and very slow
jumping jacks. “Come on everyone; one two, one two. You can do it!” After two minutes, the majority of Oddkinian
adults were gasping and staggering.
Within five minutes, even the children had reached their limit. Jeremy, yawning, felt nothing.
The voice from the loud speaker blasted out, “Complete.” The cartoon figure vanished and the frail
population of Oddkins puffed, panted and slowly recovered from their weekly
exertion.
Then the voice from the speakers returned to further capture
the attention of the crowd. “Announcing
new arrivals: Welcome Juliette Horton, Paul Cranston, and Pat Harvey. The voice droned on. “Leave containers outside tonight for replenishing. You will find new supplies in the morning.”
Long ago, Jeremy
had longed to play with the other children.
In his mind he envisioned them running together squealing in
delight. He had once attempted to engage
them in play. “Come,” he shouted. “Let’s run around the room.” The other children simply stared at him
without moving. Finally, Jeremy gave up
trying.
After the
announcements, the people spent a few moments exchanging bland
pleasantries. “Welcome little Juliette
to our gathering. Katrina and Lewis, we
offer congratulations on your pairing. Hello to you Jill and Jack.”
“They never say anything new or different,”
thought Jeremy. “Why, why, why? How do they stand this monotony when I cannot?” He knew better than to say anything out
loud. It was best to keep still and
innocuous during the gatherings. He
focused on his prized rock and tuned out the sounds around him.
Finally, the Oddkinians nodded to each other and shuffled off
to their homes. Jeremy sighed in
relief. Another community ordeal had
ended.
On
gathering day everyone ate a noon day meal which they cherished after all the
exertion. Jeremy, lost in thought about his rock, made humming sounds while his
parents prepared the food and set the table.
Jill looked
at the boy. He made new noises. Would he never stop finding ways to disturb
her? The sounds grated on her nerves. She told the boy to stop, but he ignored
her. Then Jill did something she had
never done before. She slapped her son’s
face with great force. He looked up at
her with wide eyes. He put his hand to
his face where her slap still stung.
Water ran from his eyes. He
thought about telling Jill that she hurt him, but decided not to. The family ate in silence.
While they
ate, Jill shook with newly born emotions.
She pictured Jeremy’s face in her mind with the water falling from his
eyes. She shuddered. Something like remorse filled her. She thought, “No other children in the
village behave in this way. I need the
skull cap.” She looked at jack. He quietly ate his porridge while staring into
space. She wondered why he remained so
calm. She could not. Only the skull cap could bring Jill back to
her normal state of emptiness.
After they
ate their extra meal, the family returned to the computer monitors. For most Oddkinians, identical days passed to
months and years in their gray, gray world.
Jeremy promised himself, “I will make my time count for something.”
Each
evening, in their remote underground fortress, the leaders droned a nighttime
salutation to each other before pulling their switches to sleep mode.
