by Alia Hess
After a while, the door creaked open and Dusty entered hesitantly. She sat on a mattress opposite him. “Well, thanks to your little outburst I got seventy tins instead of twenty. Pretty good. But you got a busted lip out of it too. You wanna split the money?”
“You make me sick. That guy makes me sick. Why you won’t take my money? I was going to give it for free so you wouldn’t do that.”
Dusty smiled. “You jealous?”
“No!” Sasha pouted.
“Look, I appreciate that you want to look out for me, but you don’t even know me. You don’t know anything about me or why I do what I do. You can’t just barge in and mess up my trades, okay?”
“Tomorrow we can go get electronics, okay? I find some really good ones for you to keep. You don’t need to do this stuff.”
Dusty took a rag from her knapsack and splashed some water on it. She pressed it to Sasha’s mouth. He tried to pull away, lip stinging, but she held his face firm, looking in his eyes.
“You want to know why I need money? Remember when I asked you if you were a Boss? There are a lot of Bosses in Hammerlink. They aren’t exactly like slavers—not like the one you shot, anyway. Everything they do is perfectly legal. In the East, people can buy children, and they become their slaves. They’re called Bosses. A Boss owned me when I was a little kid. And I know I told you I killed him with a hammer, but… I don’t honestly remember. That’s what people said I did, and I remember him being dead, but I think I might have just found him that way. At any rate, because of that, I was able to get away, but most kids don’t have that opportunity.” Dusty took the rag from his lip.
“How can people buy children?”
“They have to be orphans. Kids who no one wants. You know what orphan means?”
“No.”
“It’s a kid who doesn’t have parents for one reason or another. No one to take care of them.”
Sasha shut his eyes. “Then I know what that is, because I am that. Orphan. My parents died in car crash when I was ten.”
“Really? I’m an orphan too. I had parents, but they didn’t have money to feed me so they sold me to a Boss when I was five or six.”
“Wait. Your parents sold you?” He rubbed at his face, frowning. “I don’t even know what to say to that.”
Dusty blinked and a tear fell onto her cheek. She sat next to Sasha and he slipped his hand into hers. She shrugged. “Anyway, you can’t just go around killing Bosses in Hammerlink. They haven’t technically done anything wrong. So I try to get as much money as I can when I’m out traveling, and then when I get back to the city, I buy the children from Bosses and set them free. Orphans are pretty cheap, sometimes only ten or twenty tins, so if I can offer a Boss double what he paid, usually they’ll sell. Once I do that, I send them to a friend of mine who can smuggle them out of the city so they won’t get bought again.”
Sasha looked into his lap. “So you are trying to give better life to slave-children? That is good, but what about you? Don’t you need better life too?”
Dusty let out a joyless laugh. “My life is beyond help. I don’t think I could ever change, even though I want to. I’ve been doing trades for so long—” She put a hand over her eyes. “Who would ever want me for anything other than—than what you know I am? Besides, I’ve helped a lot of kids. That’s more important. They need someone, y’know?”
Silence settled like the dust of the room. Sasha put a hand on his chin, his other still laced in Dusty’s.
This girl is amazing. Selling her body for money to save children. And I’m a screw-up who failed to save anyone.
“Okay, I have trade for you. I give you all the tins in my pockets and bag. I got like sixty, maybe. And for that money, you, uh”—he poked her in the stomach—“close up your shop, yeah? For one week. And while we are walking to Hammerlink, I help you find good parts to sell. Okay? It is good deal.”
Another tear fell onto Dusty’s cheek, and she looked away. “Deal.”
Sasha nodded, letting go of her hand to reach into the cart for his bag. “Okay, good. Going to get my money for you now. If I see you kiss some guy again, I want refund.” He dug through his pack and pulled out a handful of tins, depositing them into Dusty’s hand, then reached into his pocket for the rest. Once she had all of them, he curled her fingers around the money.
“Thank you.” She put the tins in her pocket, then put her arms around Sasha and gingerly kissed him on the mouth.
He pushed her away. “Whoa. Hey. I said close up your shop. Hug is okay, but don’t kiss me… Can’t believe I just said that.”
She gave him a squeeze. “You’re a good guy.”
Her shirt no longer smelled like his laundry soap. It smelled like the cowboy. Sasha released his embrace, unsettled. “Yeah, well.” He clapped his hands together. “Okay, enough talking about this stuff. You want to go hang out with those weirdos at campfire?”
“Sure, but won’t that be awkward since you just got in a fight with Cal?”
“Wasn’t fight. Misunderstanding. Besides, they got dog meat to share with us. Yum yum.”
Dusty laughed.
6 ~ Triangle ~
Three silhouettes still sat around the fire, and the man in the cowboy hat leaned against the hood of a crumpled truck. Sasha stopped before them, trying to exude confidence, with Dusty by his side.
“Hey, sorry about Cal trying to cheat your girl,” Lucky said. “He does that a lot. Cheats people.”
Cal folded his arms. “I’m standing right here. And it was an honest mistake. I’m sorry.”
“She’s not my girl. I only met her today,” Sasha said.
Dusty sat on a cinder block, the firelight setting the fuzz on her head aglow.
“Then you’re not her Boss?” Cal asked. “So why do you care so much about what she does?”
“Because womens should not have to do that stuff. Prostitute.” The word made him reach into his pocket for a piece of hard candy. He unwrapped it and put it in his mouth. “She is nice girl.”
Dusty looked at her feet as Sasha sat next to her. The blonde woman, Dewbell, put a hand to her head, then drew it to her chest, smiling.
“What she says?” Sasha looked at Lucky.
“That you’re a gentleman.”
“Really? I think that is first time lady has called me that.” He grinned at Dewbell. “And I’m sorry I don’t know sign language. I can barely speak American. But you don’t need to say anything, anyway. You have beautiful smile, baby. That is all I need.”
Dusty stomped on Sasha’s foot, pain shooting through his toes. “Ow! Why did you do that?” His mouth twisted into a mixture of anger and amusement. “You jealous because I say she has nice smile? You have nice smile too. Don’t be mad. I like you both. There is enough Sasha to go around, I promise.”
“Stop talking.” Dusty glowered. “You’re only making it worse.”
“Making what worse? I can’t talk to two ladies at same time?” He looked at Dewbell. “You mad at me too? Want to slap me? Step on my foot?”
Dewbell shook her head, smirking.
A chuckle came from under Gentlewave’s hood. Sasha turned to Dusty. “If I want to talk to this guy, you going to get mad too?”
“Shut up.” Dusty folded her arms.
Sasha shrugged, palms up. “I can never do anything right. At risk of getting my foot stepped on again, Gentlewave, why you out here, far away from Islands?”
“I have my reasons.” He pulled down his hood and squinted at Sasha. “How are things on Nis now? It’s been… over twenty years since I’ve been there.”
Sasha whipped his tablet out of his pocket before the Islander was finished speaking. He scrolled through a multitude of drone photos, stopping on one of domed white houses near a slice of beach, bulbous trees with waxy green leaves clustered near the edges. He sat next to Gentlewave and showed him.
A small smile formed at the edges of Gentlewave’s black lips. “Do you have more?”
“Oh
, yeah. Tons.” He swiped the air above the screen and a new picture appeared: a lagoon of turquoise water so transparent that silver fish and gray sand sparkled clearly underneath.
“Heh.” Gentlewave leaned toward the tablet. Sasha offered it to him.
“Here, you can take it and look. I have lot of shots. But, uh, if you go too far, probably pictures you don’t want to see.”
Gentlewave took the tablet, eyebrows raised.
Lucky pulled out a metal case and flipped it open, depositing dried leaves into a white paper and rolling it into a cigarette. “You know how rare it is to make that Islander smile?”
Gentlewave gave Lucky a stormy look and wrenched up his hood, then swiped above the tablet.
Dewbell signed and Lucky said, “She wants to know if you have any pictures of Cadestown.”
“Sure! You from Cadestown, baby?”
Dewbell nodded.
Dusty was making a daisy-chain from a patch of weeds near the fire, her face unreadable.
“Well, you going to have to fight Gentlewave for tablet, I think. I only have one.”
“No, let her look.” Gentlewave handed the tablet to Sasha. “Thank you for letting me see.”
“Yeah, no problem.” Sasha clicked a new folder of images, then moved closer to Dewbell, holding up a picture of a crowded marketplace, a variety of people packed in between stalls and tables of produce, herbal tinctures, clothing, and farming tools. Dewbell tugged on her braids and cocked her head. She grinned at Sasha and held out her hand for the tablet.
“Yeah, you take.” He gave it to her and winked, his gaze falling down her pale braids and into her ample cleavage. Sasha rubbed his face and frowned, looking back at Dusty. He scooted close and nudged her. “What you got there?”
Dusty shrugged, holding out the crown of weedy purple flowers. Sasha took it and placed it on her head. “There, you are queen now… You looking for king?”
“Maybe.” Dusty turned to Cal, who was still leaning against the truck with his arms folded. “Cal, you wanna be my king?”
Sasha’s mouth fell open. Dusty whispered. “Feels good, doesn’t it?”
Cal chucked a dog bone into the fire. “I was your king, girl. And at seventy tins lighter, I’m a poor king now. I’m going to turn in. But, uh, you need someone to keep you warm tonight, you let me know.”
Sasha glowered at the cowboy as he rounded the fire and headed toward a door in the strip mall. Dusty’s face was pulled into an angry half-smile.
Dewbell tapped Sasha on the shoulder. She winked at him, then handed him the tablet.
Never thought I would have more women than I know what to do with.
“Lucky, you got place you want to look at too? Where you from?”
“Oh, I’m from Hammerlink. I don’t need any pictures.” He took a drag from his cigarette. “Dusty says that’s where you guys are headed?”
“Yeah, but tomorrow we are going to look for some good electronics and parts to sell.”
Lucky stroked his beard. “You’re pretty knowledgeable about electronic parts then? I mean, what with that tablet and all?”
Sasha turned off the tablet and put it in his back pocket. “Yeah, I guess. I know lot about drones and computers, but other kinds of parts—like car—I’m not so good at.”
“I know of this place that has tons of computers. I took a few pieces to a dealer, but I guess they weren’t the right ones because I didn’t get much. They told me that it’s the precious metals inside they’re after. Would you know what parts have those?”
“Sure. CPUs have most, then memory, circuit board connection… What is this place? Office building?”
Dusty took off her crown of flowers and slowly ripped it apart.
“Nah, it’s like a science lab or something.” The end of Lucky’s cigarette glowed red in the settling dark.
“Oh, that could be even better for metals then. Good computers usually have PCBs with more metal inside—gold, silver, zinc, copper. That stuff you’re looking for?”
“Yeah. Definitely. Other stuff too. Hang on, I got it somewhere.” Lucky dug into a pocket in the leg of his cargo pants and pulled out a tiny notebook, flipping through the pages. Did all people in the East carry around papers with part names written on them?
“Neod—neodymium? And, uh, tantalum, rhenium, osmium, platinum, ruthenium… You know those too?”
Sasha scratched his head. “A couple, yes. Also in computers. The others I don’t know. You asking for help finding this things? Because I already promised Dusty I would help her.”
Lucky shrugged. “Why don’t we go together? I know where this place is, you know what parts we need, and Cal and Gentlewave are perfect for handling anything we come across on the way. I used to be, but I can’t handle a gun the way I could back when I had my other arm.”
“Would we split things fairly?” Dusty dropped her destroyed flowers.
“Of course. This place has a lot of parts, so there’s plenty to divide up. It can be half for you and Sasha, and half for us. I’ve got more people with me, but they owe me big time so they can’t complain. Cal still owes me money for gambling debts.”
“That sounds okay to me.” Sasha looked at Dusty. “What you think?”
She nodded and smiled. “Yeah. That sounds great.”
“What you guys doing out here, anyway? You all looking for parts?” Sasha asked.
“We were escorting some fellas to South Station. They didn’t want to travel with a caravan. Dewbell here is my trainee. She don’t have much experience escorting people, but she wanted something new to do after my brother died. She’s my sister-in-law, see.” Lucky covered his mouth. “Between you and me, I don’t think she’ll make a very good escort since she can’t hear shit, but I’m going to humor her. I let her do what makes her happy.”
Sasha eyed Dewbell. “Oh, so you are brave woman, too, huh? I’m so glad I got these tough ladies to protect me.”
Dusty yawned. “Yeah, well, you’re on your own for now, pal, because I’m tired. Gonna go back to that mattress place.”
“Okay. I probably sleep in there too since that’s where all my stuff is. Going to hang out bit longer, though.”
Dusty stood up, waffling for a moment. She glanced at Dewbell, then pulled a stray purple flower off her shirt and flicked it at Sasha’s head. She left the campfire.
“You guys see that? Ornery girl.”
“It is getting a little late,” Lucky commented. “Think I’ll bail on you too.”
Gentlewave stood up from his cinder block and left without comment, heading into the same nearby store that Cal had.
Lucky looked into Dewbell’s face. “You going to be okay, darlin’?”
She nodded, then turned her eyes to Sasha. A slow smile grew across Sasha’s face.
Lucky followed her line of sight, then clapped Dewbell on the shoulder and left the fire. Sasha shifted awkwardly as crickets chirped a rhythm in the weeds at the edges of the parking lot.
“Guess is just you and me now, baby. You want to look at more pictures? I got different ones. You like cat video?” He searched on his tablet for a video and pushed the icon.
Dewbell stood, her leather pants creaking as she walked to the cinder block next to him and sat. She scooted close as he pressed play. On the screen, a cat crept from a pantry and pounced onto another sitting on a kitchen counter. A small noise of amusement escaped Dewbell’s mouth. Sasha shut his eyes as he inhaled her powdery, floral scent.
There was a tap on his hand. He opened his eyes. Dewbell made a writing gesture.
“You want to tell me something? Hey, you can do it on tablet, right here.” Sasha switched to a different screen. He slid a stylus from the back panel and drew a smiley face. “See?”
Dewbell smiled and took the stylus.
“Item? No, no. I only met her today. She is nice girl, but I’m not sleeping with her.”
A screw-up like me doesn’t deserve to sleep with an amaz
ing, selfless woman like her. Old me wouldn’t have cared. Old me would be trying to convince Dusty to let me join her on one of those gross mattresses. I’ve messed up enough with amazing women as it is.
Sasha eyed Dewbell. “Are you and one of these guys item?”
She shook her head.
Sasha gave her a sly glance. “Why you like me?”
Dewbell set the tablet in her lap, then motioned both hands over her heart. She wrote,
“I’m kind of what?” He grinned. He thought about asking her if she wanted to hear his “Russian poetry,” then realized that trick wasn’t going to work.
“Hey, you are stealing my lines. I am supposed to say that to you.”
Sasha’s gaze drifted over Dewbell’s demure face: slight crows feet at the edges of her icy eyes, smile lines around her mouth, a smattering of freckles over her nose. His examination continued down her neck and into her low-cut top. “No, baby. You are beautiful. But listen, I am not really… er, relationship material if that is what you are hoping.”
Dewbell laughed.
“I am good at that.”
She wrote something new and showed him. Fire crept into his cheeks and he grinned, eyes wide and heart racing. “I’m ready.” He took the tablet back from her, stuffing it into his pocket. Dewbell stood and grasped his hand, pulling him into a nearby store.
A myriad of different toys—rubber balls, xylophones, stuffed bears, hula hoops, and plastic horses—lay about the tiled floor in colors that had probably been bright at some point. They now sat faded and dusty between large metal racks. Sasha stepped on a rubber duck and it wheezed a strangled squeak. Dewbell looked between aisles, finally deciding on a pile of huge bean bags barely visible in the light from the campfire.
“Oh, this looks fun.”
Dewbell pushed Sasha onto one of the bags. A stream of styrofoam pellets sprayed from a tear in the plastic cover. She straddled his lap and kissed him. It stung his cut, but he kissed back, sinking further into the bean bag.