Lenders

by Johnson, John

  “But, I want you to stay,” Amy sobbed. She fell into Nanny’s soft bosom and Nanny held her with a gentle smile and rocked slightly.

  “It’s okay, Amy. I am ready to dream, and live, even if it is only for a short time. It’s what I want. And, when the time comes for us to join together and make that purple status—I’m gonna show ‘em what this old lady’s got!”

  Amy looked up to her, tears filling her lids, and squeezed. She felt like a grandma, one she’d never had a chance to have. She read plenty of books about grandma’s and knew in her mind—she believed it now, through to the bone—Nanny would be hers.

  “Nanny, would you be my grandma? I never—”

  “I’d love to dearie,” Nanny said slowly, and they hugged again. In that moment, the present, not the past or future, they lived and loved. Both enjoyed the precipice of happiness, then the rest of the day.

  34. Skatepark

  Part Asian descent, Lia was thin with eyes that contained a universe: so large and compelling many could understand her by taking a moment to look into them. Her skin appeared young and flawless—on one side—the other was a mix of red and pink, a web of scars from the cheek down, always curtained by her glossy jet-black shoulder-length hair. The scarring glazed her entire left side. She wore an elastic neck sleeve for cover and pressing comfort. Under her blue lender uniform identical sleeves tightly wrapped her arm and distorted left hand and parts of her torso; a similar material capped each leg stub. She’d lost both, one above and one below the knee. She was the only lender that worked six days a week.

  When Amy first saw her she wondered why she couldn't use a prosthesis, perhaps try to walk, so eventually asked Jim. He told her she didn’t have control over her motor functions—or likely, the will to do so; that the doctors had already tried physical therapy along with many other remedies. They concluded that it could be possible, for her to walk again, but cited she lacked willpower to continue. They agreed it would take months or years of tortuous effort just to regain the basics. Possibly, Jim explained, and many lenders believed the same—she cared only for life inside the dream world—and had accepted it to be her foremost life—the only one with value. To her the outside world was merely a delay, worse yet a waste, to which she gave little interest or care. Maintaining her physical body was a chore; she could only truly be alive for eight hours a day.

  She was almost always carried around by him, her long time lending partner. Rarely did she use her wheelchair, preferring always to be held safely by the giant that was Abell. Both he and her caretaker Betty cared for Lia’s physical needs.

  Amy half devoured a double cheeseburger in the break room. She had already eaten a large breakfast but was as usual, still hungry. When she saw Lia enter, draped over Abell’s shoulder, she quickly stuffed the remaining half and rushed over to say hello.

  She walked alongside Abell looking up at her. “Hi Lia!” Amy said. “I can’t wait to work with you. Hey Abell.”

  “Hey,” Abell said shortly, walking steadily with a friendly smile. Being normal for him to utter only one or two words per day, that was one. He set Lia down in a comfy break room chair. Ted caught Amy’s glance and held up ten fingers. Amy nodded.

  In reply to Amy’s excitement Lia managed a sliver of a smile and nodded the best she could. Her glossy eyes widened returning an equal dose of enthusiasm. Amy read her clearly, and knew she was equally delighted. Lia had the largest most beautiful eyes she had ever seen; her iridescent light and dark brown irises were a deep river flowing between her large pupils and a uniquely outlined edge of black. Even Jessie with her florescent greens had nothing on her.

  Jim arrived and joined them. His hair had finished falling out and made for a large bald spot with receded hair line. Amy noticed he’d cut his hair to suit and he looked older, but quite handsome. He also walked purposefully, head high, no longer such the malcontent.

  “Hi Jim. The haircut looks great.” Amy said, barely beating him to a greeting.

  “Good morning Amy and thanks. Abell, Lia,” he greeted. With a brighter than usual smile he lifted his coffee thermos. Abell nodded and headed away to the kitchen.

  “Abell really doesn’t talk much does he,” Amy asked.

  “He’s a good man. He really takes care of Lia, until they log in. Then it’s a different story and you’ll soon see why.” He winked at Lia. “She’s the fastest and most agile person on the team—and can she skate.” Jim opened his thermos and took a big chug of his lukewarm extra-black coffee.

  “Skate?” Amy asked turning to her. Lia managed a tiny grin and winked.

  “You’ll see,” Jim said slowly. “Hey we better get ready Ted’s shooting some hand signals our way. I’m gonna do a few quick stretches. I pushed it pretty hard at the gym yesterday. Bye Lia, have fun with this one. Oh, and get ready for a few DC’s.” He grinned. “I’ll see ya later Amy, gotta go. You both have a great day.” Jim walked as if he was a little sore. He jerked his neck side to side and swung his arms ripping at his tight muscles while heading over to work out his kinks.

  It was a must to keep a hush tone in the broadcast room so Ted had a hand gesture for just about everything. He swirled a finger around and Amy knew it was her call. She headed over and hopped onto the bed she would be using. In a sitting position she looked around while swinging her legs, expending a few joules of her never-ending supply of energy. Ted sent her a thumbs up.

  He brought her a special shake from the fridge after warming it. She guzzled it quickly. Her mind burned fuel rapidly, like Amy’s, although Amy ate considerably more. All knew, her shakes were labeled LIA ONLY, and contained a special blend of high-energy proteins and slow-absorbing carbs and nutrients. She couldn’t chew regular food. After the meal Abell carried her to the beds.

  Jim headed over merging with Abell and Lia. Ted gave the six of them an anytime-your-ready signal. George and Jessie were across the room and had been awaiting the signal too. George had a spiteful gaze fixed on Amy and Jessie tugged at him to come on.

  “Looks like I’m with you today,” Jim said looking up to the giant towering over him. Abell gave a single slow nod and a basic smile then ascended his specially reinforced bed. It creaked and moaned under the immense pressure.

  Moments later each of the lenders quietly commanded the director. At the HAT Ted slowly moved a slider control for each. The hologram was divided into three slices showing a portion from each of the initiating maps. The stability meter fluctuated on Devon’s screen as each successfully entered the dream-state. Devon turned his head signaling a 10-4 and Ted finalized the login procedure.

  Moments later Amy woke; as usual on a bench. But something was very different—quite extraordinary actually.

  Lia had already sprung vibrantly to her feet, beating her to the login; a first for Amy. She ran around the deck, looked over the edge, jumped up and down a few times, and darted back, overflowing with alacrity.

  It was an enormous skate park but it certainly gave no resemblance to planet Earth. For one there were two planets in the star-peppered sky. From her reading Amy quickly recognized the large one. Fine traces of blue got lost at the edges of its white bands. But most revealing was its domineering great red spot, surrounded overwhelmingly by churning oranges and reds, mixing wildly, beautifully. She could feel its celestial presence on her face, tugging at her with an almost ghostly magnetic draw; as if somehow, on some scale, it was alive in its own way. Seemingly so near it took up most of the sky; its storming swirls were utterly hypnotizing. She found it stealing her attention, turning every glance into a stare.

  The smaller one, grey and rocky, mirrored sunlight brightly. It was splattered with white blasts like it’d been hit with snowballs, and full of impact craters. She determined it was a moon.

  The glow from the celestial neighbors lit the world amply but it was a night scene. The park had many tall and scattered lampposts. At one end a still-water ocean could be seen, and far beyond, barely distinguishable, were what seemed to
be snowy arctic mountains. The white sand beach was edged with chairs and tables stabbed right into the thick sand. Some were half planted in the still water. A pieced-together shack of a restaurant, a long eyelet-shaped dock with a futuristic boat-like craft, and tall purple-leafed palms with a glossy appearance adorned the seascape. The reflection of the night sky and all of its ingredients were beautifully mirrored onto the motionless water. The sum was nothing less than paradise.

  It’s wonderful, Amy thought, realizing one could lose all lucidity, forever, never get it back, and happily merge with its beauty for an eternity.

  “You like it?” Lia asked. “They made this world just for me, exactly how I wanted it.”

  “Wow.” Amy said dully, shaking her head slowly as if her mind had been blown. “Can I say that again? Wow. It is, amazing Lia. I’m, speechless, really.” She couldn't stop looking around. “But I thought the worlds were predetermined long ago and we can’t change any of the programming.”

  “Well, they are but this one is a gift,” Lia explained. “They, whoever they are, must have overheard me talking—or thinking. They created it for me.”

  “They? Who?” Amy asked.

  Lia took a seat next to her. “Ted thinks there’s something inside our system that thinks intelligently. At least that’s his best guess. And it had never come forward before, or since, except for this map, so he told me. Amy I was sad once, really sad. I tried to kill myself in one of the maps with Abell, long ago. I cried out, and lost it. I mean, you see my body. Life isn’t exactly easy, and I just couldn’t go on—” Lia lowered her head in sad remembrance, then rebounded. “Something heard my cries. The next day this map appeared. I told Ted it was exactly as I had imagined it. I was depressed for a long time and it hurt my work. But you know what? Whenever I’m here, I’m happy. You know they were gonna give me the chair until Ted found enough data to back up my story. But he’s never been able to figure out how or why, or where it came from. It surprised everyone. When this map first appeared a day after my breakdown it was named LIA, to me! Can you believe it? I call it Terra Lia. And I welcome you Amy.” Lia slapped a lively arm around Amy’s shoulders. They were the same size, looked the same age—although Lia was at least 20 years older—and had the same enthusiastic spunk; and they looked happily into each other’s eyes. “Come on now, let’s have some fun. And be careful jumping because the gravity is less. We are on a moon you know. ”

  Lia stood and extended her arms and tilted her face to meet the warm glow of the massive planet. Her smile fought the universe with a pure and rapturous flow of contentment. And Amy focused on her, and could feel it. It was a feeling of goodness that was new to her. It made her tingle all over. She made a strong mental note of it, and its possible potential which her creativity so quickly began to ponder about.

  Away from the bench, Lia walked to an open area beneath a fabulous structure made up of numerous elegantly styled arches and towers. Its gleaming white spikes extended high into space.

  Amy followed but found herself distracted and veered off. If the ocean had the east, a canyon had the west. A wooden deck and a seemingly never-ending boardwalk bordered yet more magnificence. Lined with benches and telescopes it flanked a canyon that literally dwarfed the one in the desert canyon map she’d been to with Myron weeks earlier.

  Lia continued to the structure on the north end of the boardwalk while Amy found herself drawn to the spectacular canyon and roamed daze-like in the opposite direction. In the distance she could see waterfalls that pooled into icy blue rivers far below. They carved the silver and white striped canyon like slivering bright-blue snakes. The low gravity magnified the fall’s splashes ejecting mist high into the pellucid night sky. She touched the railing, mesmerized, and followed it even further, glued to the scene. And again, farther in the distance; she squinted to see and could make out what looked like white snowy mountains. She peered into one of the telescopes, and it was. A monumental dam structure made of massive blocks of ice held back a frozen world. Beyond the dam as far as could be seen was an arctic ice-world: meandering chasms resembled jagged cracks, geysers spewed water high into space. Wow, wow—wow, she thought. Her mind juggled the wonders.

  “Come on back,” Lia yelled from far away. “Get your skates on.” Amy turned. She shook her head to break the trance and headed over smiling. She skipped on the way, jumping ten feet between each. From afar the structure Lia stood below looked like some sort of exotic alien mega-structure. Beneath it lockers, skates, and benches circled a stairway that led high into the sky spiraling around its largest central spike.

  Lia said, “Just grab a pair and go. You do like to skate don’t ya?”

  Amy was looking toward the sky. “Um, I never tried it,” she said a bit late, after a good five seconds had passed. Her eyes had gotten lost once again, following the stairway up and beyond. After it reached the top bridges spanned to the other spikes which had more lookout points. Returning her eyes to the ground, she glanced to the side. The large black bag caught her eye, and she actually had to try to remember where she was. This map really has an effect on me. I can’t keep my focus.

  Lia noticed Amy looking at the bag and interrupted her gaze. “We don’t use that here. I have a, very special tactic, and I hate the blood. Here put these on—should be your size. I’ll teach ya. If Abell can do it—” She laughed. “—anyone can.”

  There was chatter in the distance. People were arriving to the park by the mobfull. Mostly youngsters poured through the gates, at least half ran toward the structure to pick up their skates. Many brought skateboards, one carried a scooter, others toted bicycles. In the distance couples were walking on the dock holding hands and others were sitting on various benches that surrounded the park. Toward the beach dozens strolled along the shoreline, a few started swimming.

  “Wow, now that’s a lot of people. Abell and I never got near this many,” Lia said. “For sure, this will be interesting.” She glanced back to Amy still fiddling with the skates. “No not like that. Here, let me show you.” Lia scooted closer and showed her exactly how to lace up the neon pink six-wheeled roller skates, “Nice and tight. There, you’re all set.”

  “Cool,” Amy said. She stood up next to Lia and started wobbling slowly around the boardwalk, just trying to figure it out. But it wasn't long until she was whizzing around.

  “Totally,” Lia said watching her pick it up lickety-split. “When you're ready come on out here with me. It’s really easy once you get the hang of it, especially with the low gravity. You can go really high—” She dropped into one of the medium sized bowls, then yelled as she came back up, “—but don’t go too high!”

  “What happens if we go too high?” Amy yelled in return, peering over the drop.

  “Well let’s just say—” She leaned forward and thrust herself out of the bowl and into the air. “—you’ll spend the rest of the day spinning around—way up here.” She descended with high speed, back into the bowl and up onto its edge catching the rail with a groove in her skates then rail-slid to Amy before hopping onto the boardwalk and skidding to a stop. Breathing a little harder she said, “And you won’t be able to get back. But don’t worry about it too much, it actually takes quite a bit of thrust to blast into space.”

  “Oh,” Amy replied with a slightly nervous smile. “And without the bag? How are we to—”

  “Watch this!” Lia dropped in again leaning her skinny body forward as she sped down, then she went over a smooth cement hill and descended into a larger deeper pool. Amy could no longer see her.

  It must be a really deep, she thought. She waited. Gee, a bottomless pit or something?

  Lia finally ascended the other side flying twice as high and spinning. She managed a 1080 while holding one leg outward then straightened out and dove back in, doubling her velocity. Amy skated along the rim to get a better look.

  On the second leap Lia ascended higher still, surpassing her last leap by more than double. She paused at the precipice
with arms and legs splayed. Back lit by Jupiter, with a full-blown smile she screamed, “Watermelon!” She soared so extremely high, her body hovered for a good ten seconds, taunting the boundary of the weak gravity. She eventually fell back to the park skidding into the bowl. Her velocity slowed and she maneuvered around DC’s as if they were orange cones, coming to a perfect stop near the lip she had first dropped into. “Try it! It’s exhilarating,” she said. “But don’t go that high. I’ve got loads of practice—that’s how I know just how much I can push it.”

  Amy timidly dropped into the bowl, wobbled a little, leaning backwards, went on one foot then caught her balance. But she caught on fast, like lightning, blazingly fast. She and Lia practiced enjoyably for over an hour. Amy realized why Jim said she was fast. She was incomparably so, enough to leave a tracer, and did fancy tricks after potent launches, flashing around the park so quickly it made the DC’s twitch with double-takes. A few, expertly-attired, tried to follow her but gave up hastily. There really was no catching her. Even Amy, with her newly learned tricks—couldn't quite come close. And there were hundreds of DC’s, which Lia owned like an obstacle course.

  She really loves being up on her feet and running around, especially skating. Nice to see. If there ever could be a skating competition one day, Amy thought. But realized, remembered, it was only a dream world, and the real Lia could never do any of that. But Amy was happy for her now. She took advantage of her position in the program. Liberated, she could do what she loved.

  Amy skidded to a stop. She felt depleted by all the exertion, and hungry for lunch. Yes, it was just a map but she could still enjoy a meal. Somehow it worked; perhaps a mental thing. She’d pondered over it numerous times. Eating somehow provided an energizing feel, like a reset. She wasn’t sure how it worked but didn’t dwell on it. Food was food after all, one of her all-time favorite things.