“Um, can you get me a towel?” It had been the reason I’d re-twisted my ankle and I’d forgotten it again outside my stall.
She left and returned a short moment later. “This one’s a little damp,” she seemed to apologize. “I could dig around and find you a drier one.”
“No, this is fine,” I said, gratefully taking the towel from her. It was soggy at the edges, but it would serve its purpose. I immediately wrapped it around my torso to cover up my naked body.
Nora continued to linger in the stall. “Do you need any help getting dressed?”
I cleared my throat. “Ah, no. I can handle that.”
“Okay. If you’re sure.”
“I’m sure.”
“By the way,” she said, a wide lazy smile stretching across her face, “nice tattoo. It’s very unexpected.”
I’d wanted to do something rebellious and unlike me, so for my eighteenth birthday I’d gotten the outline of bird, tethered to a long string, tattooed on my right hip. It was located low enough so my parents would never see it.
I ducked my head, unwilling to make eye contact again. “Thanks.” For some reason her seeing me naked and floundering on the floor hadn’t been nearly as embarrassing as the compliment. It was still embarrassing, but in a different way. Something about her seeing my tattoo made me feel more vulnerable than when I’d been naked.
“Okay, well just give me a holler when you’re dressed and I’ll help you get to the infirmary.”
“I’ll be fine, really,” I insisted as I started to gingerly re-wrap my ankle.
“I’m helping you, and that’s final,” she said with equal stubbornness. We were quite the pair – two rams continually butting heads.
“Fine, fine,” I grumbled. Nora slipped out of the stall and I began to dress, careful this time not to slip again.
+++++
We found the doctor in the sickbay room by herself, reading a book. When she saw the two of us, Nora with her arm around my mid-section, and me favoring my ankle again, she leapt into action. Unfortunately, it could only be a limited action.
“I’m sorry, Sam,” Dr. Allyse apologized. “The best I can do is set you up with an air cast and crutches. It’ll at least keep your ankle immobile until it can heal itself. I’ll also give you some more painkillers, but don’t expect anything like Vicodin that’ll actually work. We have medical supplies,” she said apologetically, “but they’re painfully primitive and short-sighted.”
“Thank you, Doctor,” I said. “This is great.” I tried to flex my ankle, but the air cast kept it securely in place. It was a significant upgrade from the ace bandage and butterfly clips.
Dr. Allyse’s solution wasn’t good enough for Nora though. “It’s not like the world above ground was decimated,” my feisty travel-mate pointed out. “Can’t we just round up some people, head on over to the closest hospital, and lug an x-ray machine and other supplies back here?”
Dr. Allyse ran her hand over her face. “I wish it were that easy. But the closest hospital with equipment like that is in Plains, over 20 miles away. We’d have to find a vehicle big enough for transport and then siphon off gas from someplace. Honestly, even if I thought it was worth the trouble, I’m sure my fellow townsfolk wouldn’t agree.”
“Well, who do we have to talk to in order to make this happen?” Nora demanded.
“The Mayor,” Dr. Allyse said with a small frown. “And the four council persons. They say it’s a democracy down here, but it’s been more like a theocracy with those men in charge.”
“The air cast will be fine,” I said awkwardly. I hated being such a bother. My ankle wasn’t broken. It just needed some time to heal and I’d be better.
“Why are there separate bunks for men and women?” Nora asked the doctor.
“Why do you ask so many questions?” I threw back at Nora.
She glared at me. “Because I’m curious. And so far, Dr. Allyse has been the only one willing to answer my questions.” She snapped her attention away from me and looked expectantly at the doctor, waiting for her answer.
“Population control, I suppose,” Dr. Allyse guessed. “Life underground can be pretty boring. That’s why conception rates are always highest in cold states during winter months, you know.”
“I suppose sex does help to pass the time,” Nora noted thoughtfully. “So even married couples have to sleep in the separate bunks?”
“Married people were kind of a minority in Hot Springs before Apophis,” Dr. Allyse revealed. “There’s a separate bunkhouse for them, but I hear it’s a bit of an orgy. I myself steer clear of that part of the compound and I’d suggest you girls did, too.”
As much as I might have wanted to join the conversation to feel included, it was too embarrassing to my sensibilities to be talking so frankly with a stranger about sex. Add Nora to that equation, and I’d turned into a blushing adolescent.
“What about families? Parents with small children?” Nora pressed. “They all have to live split up?” Her questions seemed unending.
“Children under 3 or 4 are even more rare than married couples,” Dr. Allyse noted. “But I know the Mayor is very interested in changing that.”
“So there’s three bunkhouses, a cafeteria, and a hospital,” Nora ticked off. “What else does this cozy little bomb shelter of yours have?”
“It’s your bomb shelter now, too,” Dr. Allyse remarked. “I hear that the Mayor’s letting you stick around.”
“That’s never happened before, huh?” I said, finally chiming in now that the conversation had steered toward a more comfortable topic. I vaguely remembered the doctor’s comments about that from the night we’d arrived.
Dr. Allyse shook her head. “Not before you folks, no. Everyone down here is native to Hot Springs.”
“Does that worry you?” Nora asked. “That the Mayor is letting us stay?”
“It sets an uncomfortable precedent,” the doctor said carefully. She chewed on the inside of her cheek before continuing. “As part of my medical training, I had to take the Hippocratic Oath. But that doesn’t mean I’m willing to sacrifice my own survival so someone else can live.”
+++++
Between the shower and the unexpected visit to the doctor, we’d completely missed lunch. I had thought it strange that our fathers hadn’t come looking for us when we didn’t show up in the cafeteria. But when we tracked them down after leaving Dr. Allyse’s office, I found out why.
“Check.”
“Damn it.”
In addition to the bunks, the doctor’s office, and the mess hall, Hot Springs was also equipped with a room for worship, a library that doubled as a school house, and a recreation room. We found our fathers deadlocked in a competitive game of chess in the latter room. Apparently they had missed lunch, too.
Nora pulled up a chair and sat down next to her father. “Wow, Dad,” she remarked. “Mr. Poulsen is kicking your ass.”
Her father made a humming noise, but his stare stayed focused on the few white chess pieces that remained – his King and three pawns. There were over twice as many black pieces on the board.
My attention was stolen from the nearly complete game by a cheer of voices in the far corner of the room. A flat screen television was set up on an entertainment center and a group of boys, most of them in their late teens, were playing video games. I recognized Ryan, the guy who had carried me when I’d originally injured my ankle, in the center of the group. Our eyes locked momentarily and he waved.
Seeing them playing video games as if they didn’t have a care in the world felt like a slap to the face. Above ground, people were freezing and starving to death. It felt wrong enough having just had a warm meal and a hot shower without the addition of an Xbox.
“You okay over there, wiggle-worm?” Nora must have noticed my agitation.
“Yeah. I’m still adjusting,” I said. “All of this feels a little surreal.”
She nodded her understanding and then returned her attention to
our fathers’ chess game. “But it sure beats sleeping on the ground.”
+++++
That night, when I returned from the bathroom after brushing my teeth with my allocated ration of toothpaste on my allocated toothbrush and after washing my face with my allocated washcloth, I discovered someone was already in my allocated bed. Since we were now official citizens of Hot Springs, we’d each been given a small bundle of supplies complete with a few changes of clothes.
I leaned my crutches against the frame of the bunk-bed. The crutches were a little short for me, but they served their purpose.
“You’re really going to make me climb up top?” I sighed.
“Of course not.” Nora flipped the top covers back and slid to the far edge of the mattress to make room for me. “Unless you like it on top?” She arched her eyebrow at me.
I rolled my eyes, the double entendre not lost on me.
“I thought we could have another sleepover party tonight, if you don’t mind,” Nora explained.
I gingerly sat down on the mattress and slid beside her, mindful to keep my ankle as immobile as possible so as to not reinjure it.
“This feels like summer camp,” I remarked.
“It feels like prison,” Nora countered.
“You speaking from experience?” I was only half teasing. For all we’d been through, I admittedly knew very little about my bunkmate.
“No,” she scoffed. “But I’ve watched enough TV.”
“I don’t think they let people sleep in the same bed in prison.”
“You speaking from experience?” she teased me back.
“Yeah,” I snorted. “I’m a hardened criminal.”
“What was your mom like?” Nora asked me. Her hand slid under the covers and found mine. Her slim, feminine fingers intertwined with mine. It was a friendly show of solidarity, but the familiarity behind it made me sweat. I wasn’t expecting the question either, but it momentarily took my mind off of her hand.
I sucked in a deep breath. “She was…a sunflower. And my dad was her sun. I’ve never seen two people more in love.”
Nora blinked once. “People don’t talk like that.”
“I know.”
When I felt her thumb start rhythmically stroking along the top of my hand, my eyes nearly rolled in the back of my head. I was wound up too tight.
“What about your mom?” I shifted in bed so I could look at her, but she refused to let go of my hand. If she wanted to keep touching me, I wasn’t going to stop her.
Nora’s mouth twisted. “She was your typical WASP, I suppose. We didn’t always have money, but she acclimated to the lifestyle pretty quickly.” She made a face. “Maybe too quickly. I got shipped off to the most expensive boarding school she could find as soon as my dad’s first major paycheck cleared.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s what you do to your kids when you’re rich,” she stated as if it were the most obvious answer.
“What was boarding school like?” I was genuinely curious. I’d only ever gone to public schools.
“Horrible at first. I didn’t know anybody,” she sighed. “And there were all these unwritten rules that everyone seemed to know about, but not me. But then I caught on and it wasn’t so bad. Besides, it was better than being at home. My dad was gone all the time, traveling for his job, and my mom…” she trailed off. “We just didn’t get along.”
Her velvety voice was hypnotic. Its rich tenor lulled me into a feeling of false security. It was addictive after such a long stretch of living on edge.
“Are you listening to me or have you tuned me out already?” she accused.
“I’m listening, I’m listening. I’m sorry. I’m just having a hard time keeping my eyes open. I think all our traveling finally caught up with me.”
“Some slumber party,” she pouted.
I stifled a yawn. “You wouldn’t want to invite me. I don’t know how to braid.” While I was climbing trees and tearing up the knees of my jeans, other girls were learning how to put on makeup and were stuffing their training bras and memorizing facts about their favorite member of their favorite boy band. It wasn’t anybody’s fault by my own, though. I had rejected each of my mother’s attempts to turn me into a girl.
“You can start a fire with your bare hands, but you can’t braid?” she asked incredulously.
“You teach me to braid and I’ll teach you how to build a fire.”
The overhead lights flicked off for lights out and I could no longer see the aqua blue of her eyes.
“You’ve got yourself a deal.”
+++++
CHAPTER NINE
The next morning I woke up to Nora’s hand on my knee. It was certainly less awkward than the compromising position I’d found myself in the previous morning, but it still made me sweat nonetheless. I was attracted to her, yes. But just the feel of her hand resting solidly on my knee was comforting. It made me feel human.
She turned out to be a heavy sleeper, or at least pretended to be, so I was able to wiggle out of bed without interrupting her sleep. I smiled a little as I lifted her hand from my knee and felt her fingers curling as if refusing to let go, even while she slept. If I hated myself I would have put her hand back on my knee. I would have basked in the comfort it provided, its solid, reassuring weight. I would have let myself get used to the heat of her body making me sweat for so many reasons. But instead I got out of bed.
The first thing I did when I stood up was flex and stretch my ankle. I’d taken off the air cast before going to sleep so my foot could breathe during the night. The swelling had reduced significantly and the dull ache only flared to full on pain when I lifted my toes and arched my foot.
The second thing I did was glance back at the bed and a still-sleeping Nora. Her strawberry blonde hair framed her heart-shaped face. She remained sleeping even with the din of others waking up and getting ready for the day. Her mouth was slightly open and when she pushed air in and out of her lungs, it made a whistling noise. I might have denied myself the indulgence of staying in bed with her, but I allowed myself a hungry look while she slept. I shook myself out of the self-induced trance. This kind of thing had to stop.
After having breakfast and a shower, I didn’t know what to do with myself. We hadn’t yet been assigned any chores or a job, so I found myself in the recreation room. A few people were playing board games and that same group of boys were playing video games. I wondered if perhaps playing Madden all day was their designated job.
Ryan, in the center of the teenage boys, called out to me as I hobbled in on my too-short crutches. Luckily I hadn’t slipped again in the shower that morning. Nora, naturally, had offered her assistance to lessen the chances of me reinjuring myself. I, naturally, had turned her down.
“Hey, Sam,” he greeted, jogging up to me.
“Hey,” I returned, nodding my head.
He handed me a video-game controller. “You play?”
I arched an eyebrow. “That depends. Do you like to lose?”
His grin grew. “Oh, you’re on.”
A handful of lopsided victories later, Ryan and I had changed games. I hadn’t been joking earlier; I was really good at video games. When you grow up in a small town, entertainment is limited and you acquire certain skill-sets. Mine included Madden and Grand Theft Auto.
“Are you really playing ping-pong?” I heard Nora’s incredulous voice ask.
I kept my eyes trained on the little white ball as it fluttered over the net. “No, Nora,” I deadpanned. “We’re baking a cake.”
I could practically feel her scowl even though I wasn’t looking at her.
“I’m bored,” she pouted.
“Then pick up a paddle and join us.”
“You shouldn’t be on your ankle, Sam,” she nagged. “You’re just going to hurt yourself again.”
I let the ball fly by me. “I’m a big girl, Nora,” I sighed. “I’ll be fine.”
Her eyes traveled between me and Ryan,
who stood at the other side of the table. “Fine,” she huffed. “I’m sure you know best. Sorry I made you lose a point.” Without another word, she turned on her heel and left.
“What’s up with her?” Ryan asked.
I retrieved the ball and tossed it back over the net. “Who knows,” I sighed. “Your serve.” I knew there was no use trying to figure out Nora and her Personality of the Day.
Ryan served the ball awkwardly, and when it bounced back my way, it hovered too long in the air for me not to take advantage. I waited patiently for it to bounce again on my side before spiking it back across the net. Ryan thrust his arm out, but he was too slow for my volley. The ball went sailing past his outstretched paddle.
“Nice shot, Venus,” he joked. He grabbed the ball off the ground and tossed it back over to my side.
I set the paddle and ball down on the table. “Sorry I can’t stick around to beat you properly, but I’m gonna get going. I probably shouldn’t be messing around on my ankle anyway.”
Ryan snorted. “Right. Because ping-pong takes skill.”
I arched an eyebrow in his direction. “Let me guess – you hate losing to girls.”
His lip curled at the edge and he shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his oversized cargo pants. “Well it’s hard to impress a girl when you keep losing to her, even if it’s just video games and ping-pong.”
I cleared my throat. “Times must really be tough if you think you wanna impress me,” I said uncomfortably. Lord, I didn’t want to lead this kid on.
He shrugged his broad shoulders and looked away. “You don’t seem so bad,” he said stiffly. “Don’t sell yourself short.”
“Thanks for the compliment,” I snorted. “I think.”
He looked back at me and grinned. The wide smile made his boyish features look even more youthful. “See you at dinner later?”
“Yeah,” I nodded. “I’ll be there.”
“Awesome. I’ll save you a seat.”
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