by Richard Lord
Venetia turns to Tina and Tina smiles at Venetia. Then she looks up at Tomorrow, standing in the doorway and says, “We came to thank you for doing all that you do around here. The kids were restless, as they always are when not given a task to complete so we told them it was half-day and to come in after lunch.”
Venetia adds, “It is getting hard to cover for you since we hired you to do a job we would prefer to do ourselves, but didn’t have the time to do.”
Tomorrow nods, “I understand. And it isn’t right of me to treat your kindness in a way that must seem to you as if I don’t care. I do care. I’m just not good with time, I guess.”
Tina, feeling the tension replies, “Well, the good thing is, it’s not overtaxing right now. The city is doing well at the moment. Apparently someone dealt with some people who were terrorizing pilgrims looking for a better life within this city.” She looks at Venetia who remains silent. Then she says, “It was a pretty crazy story and the one who told it has been arrested. Apparently, he didn’t even try to run, but he’s also scared to blink, even though he does. I suppose while incarcerated he’ll continue to tell the tale. From the reports he seemed extremely effected by the events and he’s not the only one in the last few months telling the same story, so it will get around. True or not.”
“That’s interesting. Well, after lunch is two hours from now, so is there anything I can do to be productive or that would help you?” Tomorrow says while placing her books on her desk and briefly abandoning her purse. She has become accustomed to her purse. She likes the tradition but wonders why the custom doesn’t lend itself to men. Then she remembers Adam often asked her to carry things so he could have both hands free, in case something were to go awry. She understood his logic on that. He was more experienced and while older, far stronger than she was.
Venetia turns, without moving the chair, so she can face Tomorrow. “So you are not interested in the man’s tale?”
Tomorrow looks up and replies, “What man?”
Tina swivels to look at Tomorrow too and then says, “The one I was just telling you about.”
“Oh yes, the brigand you brought in. Go on. I’m trying to get settled in so I am ready for when the kids get back.” Tomorrow replies.
Venetia quickly replies, “You just noted that’s two hours from now!”
“Oh, yeah, I suppose so. Well if I am prepared now, I’ll be prepared then, right?” She half smiles at the two leaders of the city. They had actually been lovers with the martyr she grew up hearing everyone talk about, but her mother tell her about. Tomorrow looks back at the purse and considers that it would be interesting if someone had made a version that could be helpful, not burdensome in a combat scenario.
Venetia stood, her finger motioned to Tina to do the same and her other hand motioned towards the door to Tina. “Okay, Tomorrow. We’ll leave.” Venetia pronounces.
Before Tomorrow can respond Tina adds, “We are thankful for everything you do around here.” Then Venetia opens the door, holds it for Tina and they both exit the classroom.
Tomorrow lays her face in her hands and says out loud to herself, “Well, Adam was right, kind of. As if there weren’t so many women around town that could disappear in one place and re-appear in another.” She let her head sink to her desk. She knew they knew. That was obvious. She simply didn’t want to talk about it. Adam had trained her and brought her hear for a reason. He had stopped coming back, so clearly this was her home and she was determined to make it a better place because it was the martyr’s dream. That dream shouldn’t be destroyed by brigands and bandits. Just thinking about it she began listening to all of the thoughts of people in a certain part of the city, then she clicked.
As she appeared she saw rocks being hurled at a man who was destitute. She saw they were teens. She began clicking and catching the stones with her right hand while cradling them all, as she caught them with her left arm. They stopped coming and she stopped clicking. She turned and addressed the teenagers. “You are free! Why would you subjugate someone else?”
They didn’t respond at first, not sure what they had just seen. Then one of them said, “Because he’s a crap.”
Tomorrow hurled a rock directly between is eyes and as he fell to the ground the youngest amongst them began drawing a stain on his trousers that was obvious to all. She looked at him. “Has this man done anything to you?” The kid didn’t respond but his friend did in his stead.
“Yeah, he smells and we don’t like him in our city.”
As the rock hit him in the groin Tomorrow said, “Your friend smells now, so are you going to throw rocks at him?” She watched as a third one literally stepped forward to her and said, “At least our friend know how to take a bath!” Then he looked down at his abdomen, sure that in that instant she had hurled a rock that had broken his rib.
“You have that luxury because the martyr gave his life so that all people could be happy again. Remember that.” Then she was back at her desk. She looked over at her purse. If it hadn’t have been cumbersome she could have used it to store the rocks she had caught. She pulled out a piece of paper and began drawing up different thoughts on things that would hug her body tightly enough not to shift and throw of her movements or center of gravity.
Eventually the kids came in and she decided to explain her drawings and what it was they should work on so they would learn about momentum. They seemed simply nonplussed at first, but eventually they began competing with each other and her on designs and by the end of the day, the three had come up with something interesting to Tomorrow.
She was sitting in her room, trying to find an efficient way to place things so she could get to whatever she needed, faster. She had very little. She had never had her own room before and she didn’t have much when she came and had acquired very little since coming to the city.
The door to her room came alive with a knock. She clicked to it listening for the thoughts of the person on the other side of the door and then she opened it.
“May we come in?” Venetia asked.
By gut instinct she thought to look for the guard who had helped her with seating arrangements before, but he was not the one on duty and she didn’t think she would get that lucky twice. She had no idea where to invite Venetia and Tina to sit. She felt awkward and noted to herself that she did have funds from her job. She might want to invest in chairs. However, that did not ease the moment and these were the two whom had been lovers with the martyr himself. They had escaped with him and built a city. She knew the stories well by now. She stared at them in wonderment, as she had done since the day she met them. She looked back into her meager room. It was efficient, but it was not well setup for company. She began to think of other ways to balance that. She decided that she should buy a portrait to hang over the two chairs she would buy. Then she realized they were still awaiting a response from her. “I’ll buy some chairs tomorrow. I promise. I’m sorry, I don’t get too many visitors.” Then she motioned into the room and stood clear of the door.
Tina said, “You can take us to our meeting room. You know where it is.”
Venetia added, “You have permission for this trip, but always ask first. Ok, Tomorrow?”
Tomorrow stood straighter as she replied, “Yes, Ma’am.” Then she puzzled over which one to click there first. Would she offend one if they were first to go and the other because they were last to go? She didn’t want to make an error. Whatever they had come to speak to her about must be important. It wouldn’t be good to start off with a blunder. Then she blurted out, “Who’s first?”
Venetia smiled seeing both questions in that. She moved her body to face Tina as she said, “I am patient. I think it should take mere moments. Phillip did it all the time. Have you been practicing your skill?”
Tomorrow caught the shrouded question and grabbed Tina’s out held hand and clicked. Then she appeared before Venetia, held her hand and clicked.
They were in the meeting room Adam had brought her to so
long ago.
Venetia spoke first. “Tomorrow, do you know what a vigilante is?”
Tina leaned in towards Tomorrow awaiting the answer.
Tomorrow said, “I know what vigil means. Is it the same thing?” She watched as Venetia and Tina raised their eyebrows and both of them took a deep breath simultaneously. She could hear the familiar jumble of thoughts in their heads but she kept focusing for the dominant thought.
Venetia then leaned in and said, “Sort of, but here’s the thing. We think we have one in this city and vigilante’s tend to become obsessed and start acting on their own judgement without the council of others.”
Tomorrow could feel her own nervousness and wondered if they could see it. Then she said, “Wouldn’t that slow the person to wait for others to decide?”
Tina said, “Perhaps, but at least they wouldn’t do more harm than good.”
Tomorrow rolled her eyes and then became aware that they definitely could see that. “Why is this urgent to you and why have you decided to talk to me about it?”
Venetia said, “We’re starting to believe there may be some credibility to the stories the person has the ability to do what you do.”
Tomorrow froze. She knew this conversation was coming, but she wasn’t ready for it. Her mind raced and she felt her heartbeat raise. “You tow have done such a great job of keeping order here and making this dream happen, but you have never named the city. It’s known by it’s location as a place of comfort to the people outside of it. The ones you take in. But they don’t have something to call it. Adam taught me that when you can refer to something with a name it means more to you and to the person you are discussing the thing with.” She barely pause and continued in her panic, “Like that bottle. If I say bottle you know I am talking about the bottles in this room. But if I knew the contents I would say that bottle of and you would know immediately and distinctly which bottle I was referring to. You could focus on it more. It would mean more. You can’t just say a bird and expect someone to catch what you intend unless you tell them what type of bird you are hungry for. Then that person knows what they are looking for, by a name. The city is too hard to get to because people just call it the city. It should have a name to help people focus on getting here and helping to build the martyrs dream.”
Venetia looks at Tin and Tina back at her. Tina says, “Very well thought out. It’s why you’re the teacher. What would you name it?”
Tomorrow had begun looking around the room and was caught off guard by the question. “I don’t know how to name a city. This is the first one of it’s kind. I suppose I would call it First. No, that wouldn’t be good. Marty’s Dream?”
Venetia spoke, “Tomorrow, if we knew how to name city’s we would have thought about what you just said, a long time ago.”
Tomorrow thought on that and then said, “Well, I think it should be one word. More focused.”
Tina looked at Venetia who smiled back at Tina at the irony of the statement. “Perhaps we name it what it means to you, in one word, as you suggest.”
“That’s too important for me to do.” Tomorrow began to look confused at why these two would even suggest that something so important would be left to her to decide. Then she blurted out, “!”
They both looked at her confused. Tina said, “What does that mean?”
“I think it means retreat point or something like that. I remember the word from one of the stories Adam told me. There was a man who fought hard. When he needed to rest, he would go to a city he founded called Shang-tu. The martyr fought hard and is now at rest. This is the martyr’s Shang-tu. It is what he died for and you tow made it real.”
Venetia responded, “We had help. If it weren’t for Adam we could not have a place to grow as much food as we can here.
“Did you love him?” Tomorrow again blurted out a question and realized it only after it had slipped past her lips?
Tina answered. “Adam? We barely knew him, but we thank him. That’s not really the definition of love.”
“I meant the martyr.” Tomorrow felt ashamed of herself for asking so inappropriately.
Both of them looed at each other and answered at the same time, “Yes!”
Then Venetia said, “Phillip was a deep feeling person. That is why he spent so much time with your mother while she was on the line.”
Tina added, “And he could be funny. He seemed to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders but make you laugh as if you were floating up into the sky,”
Tomorrow saw Venetia’s eyes roll. For the first time she considered that while the martyr was alive these two might have been in competition. Then she thought about her mother. With these two in his life, caring about him the way that their faces suggested they did, why would he talk to her mother so often?
A few hours went by of the two leaders discussing Phillip and Tomorrow asking questions about the man. Venetia stood and said, “It’s late. We should finish what we needed to ask you.”
Tomorrow felt more comfortable with them than she had with anyone beside Adam and she said, “Oh, ok, well…”
“So will you help us find the person doing this?” Tina asked.
Tomorrow was sure the look of shock on her face was evident to both of the women, but then she realized they may not know the reason why. “Why do you want to stop someone who is helping Shang-tu grow and be a place for everyone, like the martyr would have wanted?”
Venetia smiled. “So you’ve decided on that name?” She sat back giving an impressed look at Tomorrow. “You are now using it in as the descriptor of the city. I like that. It shows initiative, Tomorrow.”
Tomorrow responded, “Well, right now the name is young and wouldn’t be worthy of a belly full yet. But if nurtured it will grow into a rabbit, make more rabbits for later feasting. Only then should you eat it. It will grow and when it becomes a full grown, you have two choices. Lie with hawks. You can watch them in the sky and see where it most often swoops. Then you know of a good place to find food. Or you can wait for it there and eat the hawk.” Tomorrow’s face changed as she looked downward, “But then you no longer have a way to find good grounds worth the effort of traveling to for food. Food feeds us to give us energy. It is disrespectful to eat and then waste the energy provided.”
Venetia responded, “I suppose that is something Adam said to you?”
“He taught it to me, yes. He’s usually right, so when it comes to the city, we have to do what we can to let it grow so that we can feed many people, not just the ones who got here first.” Tomorrow concludes.
Tina looks at Venetia and takes a breath. “I think we agree on the idea then. So what could you do to help us find this person who seems to do what you do?” Tina wanted to focus the conversation, but she found that she learned from Tomorrow if she let Tomorrow wax philosophic. However, by this time of night the kids were usually done with the entertainment provided and considering going to sleep and that was when it was good to be around to tell them to go to sleep. Then she thought to herself, “I suppose they are growing up now.” She was aware at some point they would stop blindly following the direction of their mothers. She had done the same when she was a teen. In fact, so much so that she followed Phillip out of the place below, come topside and risked her life with his crew of other teens that had an idealistic view of what tomorrow could be like. Then she looked at the woman in front of her. She thought about her name and she realized the irony.
“Would it be okay if I explained that I wouldn’t want to stop that person?” Tomorrow asked.
Venetia held up a finger quickly to Tina, motioning for her to allow a moment. Then Venetia said, “You do understand the problem, right?”
“No, not really. Those people were just trying to get in the city and the bandits treat them horribly and make them afraid to be part of Shang-tu.” Tomorrow explained.
Venetia again helped up a finger of pause to Tina and then pressed Tomorrow, “How do you now they are treating people badly
?”
Tomorrow, realizing she had given herself a way, a bit, responded, “Well, things were growing, people were coming in and things were growing more and more of the things we needed people with skills to do were getting done by the people who had experience. The people who were coming in. Then it stopped around the time some jerks made the decision to stop those people from coming in for their own selfish reasons, but not for the good of Shang-tu.” Tomorrow was breathing hard, but not fast.
Venetia looked at Tina. Tina looked at Tomorrow and said to her, “You didn’t lose your innocence in the desert, you gained it there.”
Tomorrow looked at Tina, “What did you gain in the desert?”
Tina said, “A child.” Then motioning around her she added, “A city.” Then she thought for a moment then added, “A chance for freedom and a dream come true.”
Tomorrow stood and said, “So why shouldn’t everyone have that? We are people now!” She realized she was yelling and sat back down.
Venetia said, “How about we have this discussion after we’ve all had some sleep.”
Tina got up and walked out of the room. Tomorrow turned to watch her, sad at herself for having been so inappropriate. When she turned back Venetia was staring at her and that made her feel even worse about her outburst.
“Tomorrow. We understand, at our root we are still the young people who thought that Phillip was going to do all of this for us. He didn’t. He chose to die. So now we have to be careful about our decisions in what we do because we never imagined it would be our job to make those decisions. Do you understand?”
“Eating requires hunting and cooking or working off a debt to the person who feeds you.” Then before she realizes what she was saying she continues into, “You owe the martyr, he doesn’t owe you.”
Venetia’s eyes narrowed. She had never seen Tomorrow speak quite like this, but she considered the words. Then she nodded and said, “Ok, I understand. I will remember that, Tomorrow. It is why you are the teacher. Thank you.” Then Venetia got up and left the room.