by Hannah Ross
"I'm… I'm happy to hear that. So, umm…" Ben paused for a deep breath. "I'm coming into the Boundary next Tuesday, to see…some people about trading and… and I was thinking maybe we can meet?"
"That's brilliant. Where will you be staying?" Priscilla quickly jotted down the address. "Great. That's not too far from here. And I think there's a park nearby."
"Are you sure they'll let you go?"
"I didn't ask anyone's permission before and I won't now." She heard Aunt Daphne's heavy step and huffing and puffing as she climbed the stairs. "Listen, Ben, I must hang up in a second. But call me again when you're here. And if you can't reach me, I'll call your Mom's mobile from time to time." I need a mobile phone.
Aunt Daphne knocked on her door. "Prissy? Are you in there?"
"I must go," she said. "See you in a week."
She hung up, hastily folded and hid the paper with the address Ben gave her, and went to open the door.
"Hi, Aunt Daphne."
"What have you been doing, Prissy?" Her aunt took in the innocent scene with an open trigonometry book and a paper-littered desk.
"Homework."
"No, I mean a second ago. You were on the phone, weren't you?"
"Yes." Priscilla wildly groped for a plausible story. "With Lucy. We're handing in a history paper together."
Aunt Daphne's eyes narrowed. "Why did you say, see you in a week, then? Aren't you going to meet at school tomorrow?"
Priscilla crossed her arms and drew herself up to her full height. "Have you been spying on me?"
"Don't be so ridiculous! It was that boy, wasn't it, Prissy? Tell me the truth."
She realized it was useless to lie. "Yes, it was Ben."
Her aunt's expression softened and she squeezed her niece's hand.
"You'll find it hard to believe looking at me now, Prissy, but I know what it's like to be young. And he's a very nice boy, I guess. It will be better if you drop all contact with him, though. Trust me, my dear, nothing good will ever come out of it. How can it? You are way out of this boy's league."
The 'this boy' irked her. "His name is Ben."
"Yes. Well. You know I'm not like your father. I believe every human life has value. But there are classes, and differences between them, and it would be useless to deny this. There are people like us, and your father's family, and the Thorntons, and there are ordinary workmen living in tiny apartments in city blocks. And then there are the vagabonds and stray elements living beyond the Boundary. People like that boy Ben, who isn't just a nobody, but who can never become somebody, because officially he doesn't even exist."
Priscilla's hands balled into fists. There was an odd ringing in her ears, and for a moment she wondered whether she might not have been better off going back to Silver Oaks after all.
"You have to promise me that you won't try going across the Boundary again to see him."
Priscilla looked her in the eye. Her path was clear. She was under her relations’ roof now, and she would play by their rules. Open defiance would only make them watch her more closely, and then she would never be able to see Ben.
"I promise, Aunt Daphne." Because I won't need to. He will come to see me.
Her aunt nodded, satisfied. "Good. You're a bright girl, Prissy, and you have a brilliant future ahead of you. It would make no sense at all to break your heart because of some wild wanderer."
Priscilla nodded, not trusting herself to speak. "Can I go on with my homework now?"
"Yes, of course. I didn't mean to interrupt you. I'll go downstairs. I must remind Tilly not to over-salt the soup. The doctor told me it's bad for my blood pressure."
For a long time after her aunt left, Priscilla stared at the closed door. I'm only sixteen, and they think I'm some hapless little girl who has no real opinions and no idea what she wants. Time will change that, though. In less than two years I'll be a legal adult, and three years later I'll come of age and inherit the private fortune Grandmother left me. Then I can do whatever I want, and nobody will be able to stop me. But until then, I have four-plus years to get through somehow.
She smiled. The first step is to get a mobile phone.
47
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Tuesday, July 15
"Your documents," the guard at the crossing point said, scowling in a manner that conveyed his displeasure at being disturbed.
"I'm a Class A citizen," Kate said as she handed him her ID card. "So's my fiancé. Our friends in the back have visitor permits signed by Captain Dale of Resurrection Town."
The scowl on the man's face deepened. "Let's see these permits."
Tony handed them to her and she passed them through the window.
The guard's scowl vanished as he leafed through them and saw the photos in the top left corner. He leaned down enough to see if their faces matched the photos.
"Did you tell them these are only good for five days? That if they try to stay longer they can be arrested, fined, and banned from ever coming back?"
Jimmy Stone, who was crammed into the back with Ben, Tom, and Shauna wanted to tell the guy they weren't illiterate, but figured it would only get him mad and maybe prompt him to slowly search them all and the vehicle just to annoy them.
"They know, sir. May we pass now, please?"
After the guard handed back the documents and pressed a button, the crossing point gate creaked open, and the car revved back into motion.
"I thought he might not let us in," Shauna said.
"It was easier when I went through with those government guys the last time, when I was going to look for Mom and Dad," Ben said. "They didn't use photo IDs back then."
"I'm a little surprised at how easy it was to get the permits in Resurrection," Tony said.
Kate nodded. "Especially with none of you having even Class B citizenship, not that I would ever advise anyone to take it."
"A total sham," Ben said. "You gotta go where they tell you to go and do what they tell you to do. If I were Class B, I'd ditch the whole thing and move out across the Boundary today."
"You talk that way now, Ben," said Tony, "but it isn't easy to leave an established life."
"Remind me," Tom said. "Why can't these new guys meet us in Resurrection Town? Peter always does."
"Peter doesn't think he's too important to travel to places like Resurrection," Ben said. "These people do. And maybe they are."
Tom made a face. "I thought that if they need us..."
"We need them as well."
"No, we don't. We're doing just fine without these little gigs they offer us."
"We can do better, though," Shauna said. "We can have more resources. We can feel more secure. Never run out of food in winter. We can have medicines, and vaccines, and... and help when we need it."
"That isn't the right attitude either," Ben said. "We aren't looking for help. People who help, especially if they represent government, want control. Control means loss of freedom and I don't think any of us want that. All we're doing is considering trade opportunities."
Kate and Tony took them to a small apartment in the Urban Islands, one of the cramped, poorly aired places which so many residents of the Boundary considered themselves lucky to have. Ben was struck by the resemblance to the apartment where his parents used to live, and which he visited once. The layout of the rooms and the placement and size of the windows were much the same. This place, however, differed in being sparsely furnished. There were a few forlorn-looking mattresses thrown upon the floor, a couple of old chairs, an ancient refrigerator in the kitchen, and not much else.
"This is a safe house owned by friends of ours," Kate said. "It isn't a five-star hotel, but we should be safe enough here."
Ben looked around at the dingy walls and the faded carpeting and, with some reluctance, put down his backpack. "Do you know these people?" he asked his sister. "Apart from Peter, I mean."
Kate shook her head. "Not personally. But friends of friends of ours do. One has to be careful, of co
urse, but this doesn't feel dangerous to me. You don't have much to lose, except being deported back across the Boundary. But they would be putting themselves in a very compromised position if it were known you're meeting."
"When will it be?"
"Tomorrow, half past five in the afternoon."
Ben perked up. "Oh, good. That means I have the morning to myself. "He saw the suspicion in her eyes.
"We all do. But you're not thinking of going out, are you? Because if someone asks you to present your documents, Ben, this could end up very..."
"Yes, yes, I know. I'll be careful, Kate. But I'll also have my pass with my photo on it. So even if someone asks for my ID, I'm just some uneducated wilding from outside the Boundary sightseeing. Nobody's going to waste their time on me unless I rob a bank or something."
Kate sighed and nodded, still unhappy with the idea.
A cordless phone on the wall caught Ben's eye. He picked it up and carried it into one of the tiny, neglected bedrooms. It was empty except for a dilapidated closet, two more mattresses, and a big dead fly on the windowsill.
He closed the door behind him, walked over to the window, dialed a number he knew by heart, waited a few seconds, and spoke in a low voice.
"Hi, it's me. Can you meet me tomorrow morning?"
48
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Wednesday, July 16
Ben made it to the park about half an hour before the appointed time. He looked about the green expanse of lawn, shrubs, flowerbeds, and sparse trees, so very different from the wild lands or the fields and gardens he was used to.
As expensive and scarce as land was within the Boundary, the White Tower still saw it as a matter of prestige and credit to maintain these green park areas, where people jogged, spread picnic cloths upon the grass, or pushed their children on the swings. For many, this was their only contact with trees, grass, birds, and open air, such things being almost nonexistent in the rest of the Urban Districts.
Several people were already out jogging, walking, and enjoying the fine morning, but to Ben, the well-kept place still seemed oppressive, with the shadows of the tall buildings all around falling upon it, allowing for no more than intermittent glimmers of sunshine. He looked around, impatient to see Priscilla, and glanced at the waterproof watch that was a gift from his parents. There were still fifteen minutes to go, and he let out a resigned sigh, but then she appeared.
She looked different from both the glammed up Priscilla Dahl in an evening dress, flashing a strained smile at the camera, and the girl Nell with a smudge of dirt on her cheek who tended the vegetable garden alongside him. She wore a dark, knee-length skirt, a blue cardigan, and black boots. Her short hair was loose and windblown, and Ben's breath caught at the sight of her.
"Hi," she said, smiling. After a furtive look around, she bent down and gave him a quick kiss. "I can never know for sure nobody's watching." She settled down on the bench next to him and set the picnic basket she carried beside her.
Ben smiled as he resisted the urge for another kiss. "Did you have a lot of trouble getting away?"
"Not really. Aunt Daphne doesn't know my schedule very well. I take some classes over the net, and some at school and sometimes the hours shift, so I just slipped away without saying anything. She'll assume I'm at school."
"How's school going?" He only had a vague idea of what Priscilla did there, but suspected it had very little to do with the drudgery of letters and numbers he and his classmates endured at the orphanage.
She shrugged. "It's... well, mostly a bore, but not as bad as it could have been, I guess. My drama class is pretty fun, and I'm also taking Environment Awareness this term. Never mind, though. I promised Mom and Aunt Daphne I wouldn't drop out, so that's that. But tell me…" She lowered her voice and pressed his hand. "Who are you meeting with today?"
"Some fellows who are evidently important enough to want to keep themselves in the dark until the moment of truth. There's one person… I've heard he's called General E."
Priscilla frowned. "That might be General Evans. I've met him a couple of times at Silver Oaks. Oh, Ben, be careful. Opportunities are great, but none of these people are acting out of goodwill."
"I know. You don't have to convince me of that."
"Don't say anything rash, and don't make any promises."
"I wish you could come as well. It would be a good idea if only it weren't so totally out of the question."
Priscilla shook her head and laughed. "Are you up for a bite to eat? I don't suppose they gave you a very good breakfast wherever you're staying."
Ben grinned. "Kate ordered a pizza last night that tasted like cardboard, and was about as filling. We nibbled on some jerky we brought from home, and opened a can of beans for breakfast." He nodded at the basket."What do you have there?"
"Just a couple of things I picked up at the deli. If I knew you were hungry, I would have ordered something more substantial, but this will have to do."
The day was fine, and they sat under a tree in a secluded spot partially shielded by hedges. Priscilla opened the picnic basket and took out several brown paper bags. "Here are some sandwiches. There's Thai chicken and avocado, and marinated salmon with lettuce and mustard. Is that OK?"
"Sure," said Ben, taking out his folding knife to cut the sandwiches into triangles. "I'm not picky about food."
Ben had not eaten many sandwiches since leaving the orphanage. The fare at the camp was very different, and whenever he visited his parents, his mother spoiled him with stews, roasts, and pies. But the ones in front of him now looked and smelled delicious. He took a bite and chewed slowly. Yes, this is chicken. But there are so many different flavors and textures in there that I might not have recognized it if I didn’t know what I was eating. The salmon was equally good. "Is that the sort of stuff your folks serve to their guests at tea parties?"
Priscilla rolled her eyes. "My mother would never buy anything from a street deli, not even these posh ones in my aunt's district. Tilly always cooked all our food, and when it was too much for one person to handle, there was someone to work under her." She reached for another sandwich. "Besides, mom's tea parties are more about scones and muffins. She has beautiful silver serving dishes for cream and jam – with the Van Wullen family crest, you know – and loves to show them off."
The picnic basket also contained two small, savory onion pies, a couple of apple tarts, a pair of apples, and a thermos of tea. After all this was happily dispatched, they settled down on the grass and reclined on their elbows, their faces mere inches apart. When their eyes met, the city around them faded away.
"I wonder how long it will be until we can meet like this again," Ben said after a few minutes.
Both were painfully aware of the time slipping by.
Priscilla brushed a stray curl from his forehead. "I don't know, but there will be chances. There always are. We should just take them as they come."
Ben nodded. "For now, maybe. But there's one thing I've been meaning to tell you for a while now, Pris. I don't plan on leaving it all to chance forever, and I don't want all our moments to be stolen. If... If you feel the way I do, we'll have to find a way to be together... always."
He stopped, afraid for a moment he went too far, moved too fast, assumed too much. But her eyes sparkled with something between exhilaration and fear, or perhaps with a bit of both.
"There's the Boundary," she said, "and there is everything outside it, the lands of the Wild Children. And there's nothing in between. Could you live here, Ben? Even if my family arranges a Class A citizenship for you?"
Ben shook his head. "Your family will never accept the idea of you having anything to do with someone like me. You know it."
She sighed. "I know. You're right. In that case, we'll have to look for a place across the Boundary, a place where we can both be happy. It can't happen very soon, you know, but at the age of twenty-one, I'll receive my share of an independent fortune Steph and I inherited from our g
randmother. My family won't be able to do anything about that, however they try."
Ben frowned. "Fortune? We don't really need money across the Boundary."
"You've learned to do without it, which is great, Ben, it really is. But having some can be a big help, and don't tell me you don't believe it. Didn't the Eagles find a good use for that mysterious cash you said all the camps received?"
Ben shifted and lay next to her so her head could rest against his shoulder. "We did, yes. Everyone did. But I don't care about money. If it helps out and makes you easy, fine. If not… well… whatever. And though they might rule the world, I don't care about your family. I only care about you. I've felt this way for a while and it isn't about to change. I want you to know that, Pris."
"I do know, Ben. And I promise that someday, I can't say when, but someday, I will come to you."
"This you'll do so over my dead body, young lady," a loud voice from behind them said.
Hardly daring to breathe, they looked over their shoulders and saw Aunt Daphne, angry, fat, and formidable, standing over them with her hands on her hips, looking ready to exhale fire.
"I knew something wasn't right the moment I noticed you left your laptop at home." She swelled with triumphant indignation. "You might think you're oh-so-very sly, but you have to be cleverer than that to fool me, young lady."
Priscilla stuck out her chin as she stood. "Thanks for bringing it to my attention."
Daphne ignored her and turned to Ben. "As for you, boy, I neither know nor care what you are doing here in the Boundary, but it can hardly be legal. If I were you, I would think twice before messing with a girl whose family can crush you like a beetle in ten seconds flat."
"They tried to do that already when I was twelve, and I'm still here," Ben said, but listening to the likes of him was evidently beneath Daphne Van Wullen's pride. She took Priscilla firmly by the arm and began steering her away.
"Come along, Prissy. We are going home."