Cat Out of the Bag

by A L Fogerty

  “I’ve known at least a dozen people who’ve gone off to look for better situations. The price of rent in the cities is insane, and most employers won’t hire you if your only experience is garbage picking. There’s a real stigma against it. People in the Imperial city think garbage pickers are unclean… And there might be something to it, considering we traipse around in toxic sludge all day, every day.”

  “We want you to come with us,” Toby said, his eyes beseeching.

  “I just don’t think that it’s going to be any better there than it is here. When I finally win a race, I’m going to pay off our taxes, get Pappi his surgery, and go back to the farm.”

  “Mango, you know you’re never going to win a race,” Toby said. “The races are fixed. The only ones who win are the likes of Jym Boe over there, the lapdogs of the Landlords. Why don’t you use your head instead of your heart just for once? You need to make a rational decision. Now is the time to leave, when your friends—when I am leaving.”

  “I can’t just leave Pappi,” I said.

  “You can send for him once you’ve settled in the city.”

  “By then it’ll be too late,” I said. “I can’t. I can’t leave him.”

  “Mango. You are a great mechanic. You of all people could get a job in the city. Why won’t you listen to reason?”

  “Just let me think about it, Toby.” I wanted to end the conversation.

  I wasn’t going to leave Pappi. I had seen the spark in him die, and I was going to do whatever it took to bring it back. He was my pa, and he had taken care of me and kept me safe all of my life. When I was a little girl, he had been a totally different man. I remembered that man, who had been fun, playful, and full of light, and I was determined to bring him back. He was the one who had taught me to believe in myself and my dreams.

  The trash heap and the Landlords may have taken everything from me, but they couldn’t take my dreams or my love.

  He turned away. “Fine. We’re leaving by midweek, with or without you. I hope you make the right decision.”

  Chapter 6

  Toby stormed across the trash heap and out of sight. He had a point about leaving then sending for the elders. The young could travel light and settle in the city. If Pappi hadn’t already been so sick, I might have been tempted to go. But I had already heard enough about the Sho’kin who had left and come back to know that even if we made it and avoided the marauders on the road, and even if we managed to get jobs and homes, by the time I made the money to send for Pappi, he would already be blind or dead.

  The only real option was to stick to my plan. Maybe it was irrational, but I had been working toward that goal for too long to give up.

  “You are a summoner,” I heard the voice whisper again.

  “Who are you?” I yelled. “What do you want?”

  No one answered.

  I stomped through the trash, jabbing my stick into the garbage with force. I was angry, and I didn’t mind showing it. If Jym Boe had come over to harass me, I might have jammed my stick right into his beady little eyes. But luckily, I began my descent on the far side of the heap without putting myself in danger of going to prison for life. Grumbling, I started down the other side of the mountain of trash. My boots slipped on a slick of wet garbage, and I went tumbling onto my behind.

  I yelped as I smacked hard and then began to slide down the hill on a piece of cardboard. I gasped with astonishment as I rode the cardboard. I gripped the sides and smiled—it was more fun than poking through trash. And even though I was hurtling toward a wall of trash at the bottom of the heap, it was the most exciting thing that had happened that day, including being invited to go to the city with my best friend.

  “Whoa!”

  I barreled down the hill, flew over a jump, and caught air. The cardboard fell out from under me, and I was thrust forward onto my stomach. I fell with a smack at the bottom of the hill then slid into the wall of trash. My chest and mouth burned, and I’d lost my hat and basket somewhere back up the hill. I was super annoyed that I would have to tread all the way back up the hill to find them.

  I stood and dusted myself off. My stick had jabbed into the wall of trash, so I pulled it out. With my stick came a wooden box. I placed my boot on the box and yanked out my poker. The wood splintered, and the box disintegrated. When I looked into the busted box, I nearly had a heart attack.

  I fell to my knees and pulled the fragments of wood out of the way to find a transformer inside. It was in almost pristine condition. I quickly shoved it in my pants and tied my shirt around me to conceal it. If any of the Landlords’ guards saw me with it, there was no way that I would get to keep it or get a fair price.

  I pulled myself to my feet and started back up the hill. Luckily, the contents of my basket had not fallen out, and I would have something to show for my day’s labor beyond ripped jeans and a sore stomach.

  As I crested the hill of garbage, I found Jym Boe charging in my direction. I looked around and realized he was headed toward Toby, Pepper, and Hilde, who were over in a different section of garbage. He must’ve gotten wind of their plan to leave. I bit my lip, wishing I could help, but I was armed with a garbage poker, and he had a fully automatic laser rifle. It wasn’t exactly a fight I could win.

  I hurried past, found my hat, and pretended that I couldn’t see them.

  “Hey, you there!” I heard Jym Boe bark.

  Crap. I turned and put on an obedient expression, walking toward the security guard with my eyes downcast. “What is it?” I asked.

  “Are you planning to leave with your friends here?” He jutted his chin toward the others.

  I saw Toby’s expression, and I knew what he wanted me to say. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Don’t play dumb with me, girl. The minute the Landlords imposed their rents, these two began to plot a rebellion. Leading the young out of the dumps?” He laughed. “If you think that you can take our strongest workers on some quest for freedom without any repercussions, then you don’t know what you’re dealing with.”

  “We don’t have any plans to leave,” Toby said in the most sincere voice he could manage.

  “Yeah, right,” Jym Boe barked. “You Sho’kin people are all alike. You’re liars and cheats. That’s why you lost your homes and your forest. You can’t stand to do an honest day’s labor, so you couldn’t pay your taxes.”

  I gritted my teeth, anger boiling like hot lava in my core. I gripped my poker, using every ounce of my willpower not to jab it into his eye. How dare he say that about our people? The land had been robbed from us. The Landlords had exploited their position with the Imperial officials. It never should have happened, and the fact that it had was one of the greatest tragedies in our world.

  I was about to say as much when Toby spoke up, waving his palms at Jym Boe in supplication. “You’re right. The Sho’kin hate working. So what makes you think that a group of us are going to get organized enough to travel all the way to the closest Imperial city to get jobs? Everyone knows that the jobs in the city are much harder than picking trash. We have it good here. Life is easy. We have so little responsibility that we can spend all of our spare time drinking ale in the tavern and playing dice. Isn’t that right, Mango?”

  “Exactly. Exactly right. We hate working. You hit the nail on the head with that one, Jym Boe.” I tried to say it with as much sincerity as I could possibly manage. And from the look in his eyes, I could see that he bought it.

  At least I thought he did. He turned to me, looked in my basket, and grabbed most of the computer parts. I opened my mouth to object, but Toby shook his head.

  “That’s my fee for having to stop you people. I have more important work to do than to loiter around with a bunch of teenage Sho’kin. Now get back to work.”

  He left me nothing but the broken motherboard, and a wave of anger and hopelessness spread over me so fast and hard that I nearly lost my footing. I doubled over and tried to catch my breath. Toby rubbed my
back, and I motioned for him to back off. I was pretty sure it was either a panic attack or what happened when a person holds too much anger inside for too long.

  Pepper, Toby, and Hilde stared at me in the heat of the sun as I sucked in short breaths. I finally stood, took a deep breath, and smiled.

  “Well, that was interesting,” I said.

  Toby attempted a weak smile. “It looks like we’re going to have another obstacle in our quest to leave. We really could use your help, Mango. Your speeder is fast, and it can carry at least three people. We only have one other speeder, and mine is too small for anyone but me. Everyone else will have to walk.”

  “Pepper has money saved up. She could buy a cheap speeder and take Hilde.”

  “I’m not leaving the dump,” Hilde said. “This is my home.”

  We all looked at her.

  “What? I like the heat. And like Toby said, we don’t have any responsibility. All we have to do is sift through garbage all day, and then at night, we can drink ale at the pub. It’s the perfect existence, in my opinion.”

  “Your home,” I repeated. It confirmed my suspicion that Hilde was hiding from someone. Maybe it was Imperial officials. Maybe it was police from her home world. Nobody but the rats and the cockroaches wanted to stay in the trash heap.

  “We’re leaving Wednesday night with or without you, Mango,” Pepper said. “Toby and I are going together.”

  She said it with a challenging expression and a glint in her eye that told me she didn’t really want me to come.

  “I told Toby that I would think about it. So let me think about it. I have until Wednesday.”

  Pepper grunted and turned on her heel, charging toward the buyers’ station. Toby stared at my chest for a minute, and I squinted at him. Then I looked down and realized that the edge of the transformer was sticking out of my shirt.

  “Where did you find that?” he asked.

  “I found it in the trash heap,” I said out of the side of my mouth.

  “Is that really what I think it is?”

  “It’s nothing. That’s what it is. Nothing.”

  “If you sold that, you could easily buy a new speeder. Heck, you could buy a transport vehicle and take everyone, including Pappi.”

  “I know, but I’m not gonna sell it. I’m gonna put it on my speeder and win the race. You realize that those races are worth ten years labor in the trash heap? All I need is one win, and I can get back the farm.”

  “Mango, why can’t you just give it up?”

  “This is a sign. I know nobody believes in magic anymore. But if there was a time for miracles, it’s now. This means something. If you don’t believe that, I feel sorry for you.”

  “Someday when you’re all alone, you’re going to remember this and regret it.”

  “Toby, you’re my best friend. Why can’t you support me?”

  “I am your best friend, and that’s why I can’t support you.”

  He turned and followed Pepper down the trash heap toward the buyers. I rolled my eyes and groaned. If he was my friend, he would have supported me, and I would believe that to my dying day.

  I loved Toby, but he had forgotten who we were, just as Pappi had. Am I the only Sho’kin in the garbage heap who remembers?

  Just then, I saw the shaman walking in the distance. I recognized her colorful clothes, the same multicolored skirts she wore back in the forest. I wanted to run after her, but I knew I needed to sell my broken motherboard and get my transformer safely back home. I made a mental note to pay a visit to the shaman as soon as possible.

  Chapter 7

  I hurried down the trash heap to the buyers just as Toby and Pepper were leaving the tents. Pepper gave me a side-eye that told me more than I needed to know. Toby just avoided my gaze. I sighed and dropped my shoulders. Why do things have to change so much? Why do we have to pressure each other? Why can’t we just be who we are? I proceeded up the line toward the junk buyer and checked the transformer. It must have slipped out of my pants when I’d had my panic attack. I secured it once more and covered it with my shirt. I was lucky it hadn’t happened while Jym Boe was around, or he would have taken it too.

  Slowly but surely, I made my way up the line and presented my broken motherboard to the trash buyer. He squinted at it and then looked up at me with pursed lips.

  “It can be scrapped for copper,” I said.

  “One tenth of a credit,” he said, counting out the small change. I widened my eyes and put out my palm—I would take what I could get. He dropped the coins into my hand, and I shoved them into my pocket. Turning away, I held myself around the belly, as if despondent from my meager earnings that day. I hurried back to the hut I shared with Pappi, clutching the ten pennies in my hands. I made it inside and found Pappi snoring on his cot. Since his eyesight was so bad, all he could do most of the day was sort through nuts and bolts by size, which paid even worse than garbage picking on most days. He refused to not work. I practically had to force him to stay in out of the sun in his days as a garbage picker. But in the end, he finally relented.

  He sat up on his couch, blinking in the dim light of the hut. He squinted, sniffing the air. “Is that you, Mango?” His eyes were getting worse every day.

  “Yes, it’s me.” I walked across the room to kiss him on the forehead.

  “I came home to drop something off,” I said, climbing the ladder to my loft. “Then I’m going to buy us some shish kebabs.”

  “Did you find anything good?” He pulled himself off the couch with his cane.

  “Couple things. Some computer parts. Jym Boe took most of it. But I’ve got enough for a decent dinner.”

  “Good job, dear,” he said, tottering into the kitchen. He was cooking cactus stew again. I could hear the spoon squelch through the gooey liquid. I scrunched my face in disgust and vowed I would never eat cactus stew again.

  “What are you doing up there?” he called.

  “Oh, I just found some old scrap parts that I can add to my bike.” I tucked the transformer under my mattress.

  “You should really sell that to the scrap buyers, Mango. We’re going to need to start paying rent on the hut. That means longer hours for both of us.”

  “Don’t worry,” I said, climbing back down the ladder. “I have it all figured out.” I jumped down the last few rungs, landing gracefully on my feet. Too bad I couldn’t have done that when I slid down the trash heap. The saying about cats always landing on their feet was true almost ninety-nine percent of the time, except when they fly down a trash mountain on a piece of cardboard. Maybe a cat’s luck only went so far… And I’d spent all of mine finding the transformer. “I’ll be back in a minute,” I said, slipping out the door.

  I hurried down the street, past the crowds of whispering Sho’kin people. The news of the rents had spread throughout the entire camp, and no one was happy. When I made it to the tavern, I noticed that there had been an increase in guards, all holding fully automatic laser rifles and wearing the insignia of the Landlords. I slipped into the tavern, ready to buy a platter of sand-mouse kebabs and pancakes. I immediately bumped into Sweeney, who was an Imperial official’s son.

  “Hey, Sweeney,” I said, bowing low in the greeting expected by all Imperial aristocracy.

  But Sweeney and I were something akin to friends, even though he had tried to bribe me to lose every race we’d run together. He smiled.

  “What brings you down to the shanty?” I asked.

  “I heard there might be a riot. I wanted to see if it would happen,” he said, popping a bit of pancake in his mouth.

  “Hasn’t started yet, but the evening is young.” I gave him a smile and a salute as I slid past.

  Sweeney was okay for a rich kid. I preferred the Imperial crown to the Landlords any day, but they were still just a bunch of wealthy people who like to lord their superiority over the common folk. The Imperial crown had sold us out to the Landlords over a hundred years before, when they came here from another world. The
Landlords had the gold and technology that the Imperial crown wanted, and in exchange, the crown had given them sanction over large swaths of land. The Landlords were meant to be overseers, protectors. But over a short span of decades, the Landlords had gained more and more power, to the point where it was hard to see who was in control. At least the Imperial crown had only taken a reasonable amount of taxes and left the people alone for the most part. Trade was fair, and the people lived in peace. Nowadays, the rich in the capital cities across the globe lived in luxury with their advanced technologies and weapons, while people like those from my village lived in the squalor of the junkyards.

  I approached the bar and ordered a platter, sliding into one of the stools. The barkeeper, Sydney, winked at me as he took my order and slid it into the line for the cook. “How was your day in the pile?” he asked.

  He was one of the few Sho’kin who owned a business in the junkyard. Almost everything else was run by the Landlords and their kobold and goblin underlings. The three races had very little honor and nothing in the way of compassion.

  “As good as can be expected. I’m getting my Pappi a good meal before the shiz hits the fan, so to speak.”

  “The rent increase is not sitting well with most of the population,” he said.

  “Doesn’t seem to be.” I didn’t want to get into it after my experience with Jym Boe on the junk pile.

  “There’s word of a riot,” he said. “That’s why they brought in additional guards.”

  “Everything will go back to normal,” I said as he set my to-go platter down in front of me.

  He looked genuinely concerned. “Let’s hope.” He was a Sho’kin from another village, and he had come to the trash heap several years before my family. In those days, the Landlords had taken less of the Sho’kins’ earnings, and he was able to buy the tavern.