Steal Tomorrow

by Ann Pino

  “I’m sure you’re right,” Cassie said, wishing she had been paying attention.

  “But honey is a whole other matter. Do you know anything about bees?”

  “Not a thing.”

  “Damn.”

  By now they had cleaned their plates and since there was still food in the bowl, they each got another half-ladle.

  “Will there be dessert?” Cassie asked.

  “For us? Probably not.”

  “But you never know,” someone said. “It’s happened before.”

  As it turned out, there was no dessert, except at Mundo’s table where everyone got a few teaspoons of something that looked like vanilla pudding.

  “Don’t bother being jealous,” a girl said, seeing where Cassie was looking. “It’s mostly for show and probably not very good.”

  “One time they all got sick,” Doc added. “I don’t know who got in bigger trouble for that—David for foraging bad food or Sandra for letting it get served.”

  Someone else leaned forward like he was going to say something, but Mundo stood up and one of his guards took a swipe at a small brass gong. The room fell silent.

  “Regents! Thank you all for another good day. Our perimeters are secure, our foragers had two successful supply runs to the suburbs, and we have new water filters. We also have ideas for how to generate electricity, and an excellent lead on a free source of vitamins.”

  He continued with an itemized summary of key events and concerns of the day, then asked each of his commanders to give a report. The group heard what goods had been foraged, what security breaches foiled and what plans had been carried out. When all the reports had been given, new plans were voted on and assignments given for the following day. Then Mundo thanked everyone for their cooperation, led them in a chant of “Keep the Faith,” and dismissed everyone for the evening. On the way out, they were each given a flashlight with their room number on it and a mark indicating the date the battery had been replaced. Each flashlight had to be returned at breakfast if the owner wanted to eat.

  Since food rations would be docked if the batteries had to be changed more than once a month, Cassie kept her light off and followed someone else up the stairs, only turning her light on when she got to her room. Leila arrived a few minutes later and they agreed to take turns using their flashlights while they washed and changed into fleece and flannel to go to bed.

  “I can’t believe I’m on honey bucket duty tomorrow,” Leila said as she washed her face.

  “I’m on for Thursday. It looks like everyone but Mundo and the pregnant girl has a rotation, so you can’t say it’s a job that’s not assigned fairly.”

  “In the suburbs we could go outside.”

  Cassie nodded. In their old neighborhood there had been more options for sanitation, even if it had been harder to find food. “I wonder where they dump the buckets?”

  “I guess I’m going to find out.”

  Leila finished washing up, then Cassie washed too and lay down. When she turned off her flashlight the darkness overwhelmed her. She had become accustomed to it months ago, but tonight she found herself missing street lights. The dark of the room pressed in around her, not malevolent, but not particularly friendly, either. “I’ll be glad when Sid gets those generators working.”

  “Yeah, he’s smart.”

  “You should get him to teach you how to make them. It’ll be a good skill and will make you valuable to the group.”

  Leila sighed. “I don’t want to do stuff like that. I’ve spent my whole life doing math and science things because I was fat and ugly and it was all I was good for. But everything’s different now. I’m better off making one of the important guys my boyfriend, don’t you think?”

  Cassie raised herself on an elbow and looked toward Leila’s bed, even though all she could see was darkness. “We can be important people all by ourselves if we play our cards right.”

  “No, your way is hard.”

  Cassie lay back down. “I think your way would be a lot harder.”

  Leila didn’t answer, and after waiting and hoping they could talk frankly like they used to, Cassie closed her eyes to sleep.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Weeks passed quickly and Leila was voted on as a full member. Meanwhile, the weather grew warmer and the hotel became stuffy. Since the building had no windows that could be opened, a meeting was held to discuss which ones would be broken and how they would be covered when it rained. Galahad found some box fans at about the same time that Sid got his prototype generator to work, and now there were new assignments on the daily roster. Alternators had to be scavenged from abandoned cars, and tools and parts had to be found.

  Galahad’s cousin Paul spent each afternoon helping make the little windmills. He was slight and pale, with faint rims of red around his eyes after his bout with scurvy, but Cassie appreciated his quiet company on the afternoons she could take a break from her other chores and indulge her fascination with mechanics. For his part, Paul enjoyed the way Leila hung around their group pretending an interest in generators, although Sid showed no interest in her and Cassie had begun to suspect he was gay.

  One afternoon as they were busy at their work, they heard a commotion at the hotel entrance. Curious, they abandoned their projects and went to see what was going on.

  In the drop-off area half a dozen guards in white uniforms with red sashes and berets surrounded a group of boys carrying an enormous curtained box on poles. They set the box down and one of them pulled the curtains apart. There was a scuffling inside and then a girl stepped out, so heavily swathed in fur, velvet and jewels that for a moment Cassie wondered what century she was in.

  “Thespians,” Paul explained.

  By now the girl was looking around like she expected something to happen. She was thin and compact, with a face powdered chalk white and eyes rimmed with purple all the way to her eyebrows, making her look as if she had been bruised in a fistfight. On top of her brown curls she wore a tiara that caught the afternoon sunlight in its prisms.

  As two little girls scrambled out of the litter to pick up her velvet train, the Thespian guards all bowed. The regal visitor motioned them to rise, her hand glittering with rings. Then a boy in red velvet blew a sour note on a trumpet and this seemed to be a signal for silence. Cassie and the other Regents stopped shuffling and whispering. Now that he had their attention, the page scanned the crowd with an authoritative lift of his chin. “The Empress Elissa of the Thespian-Operatics is here to speak with your leader, Reymundo Guzman Morales.”

  By now someone had found Alex and he pushed his way through the crowd. He gave Elissa the briefest of bows and in polite tones that just skirted sarcasm, he welcomed Elissa to the hotel and offered to take her to Mundo personally. “But no more than two guards,” he said. “The others have to wait here.”

  Elissa scowled. “I never go anywhere without my retinue.”

  From the look on his face it was clear Alex didn’t know what a retinue was, but he covered for this lapse by restating his previous words. “No more than two armed guards. You can take anyone else you like as long as they leave their weapons here.”

  This was deemed satisfactory. With her page preceding her, two guards at her sides armed with fake swords and real M16s, and two little girls carrying her train behind her, Empress Elissa swept into the hotel on a mission of importance.

  * * *

  After the group disappeared into Conference Suite A, Cassie went back to working on the alternators. But in spite of the group’s good intentions and Sid’s patient instructions, no one got much done. Instead, they speculated on the meaning of the unannounced visit.

  “Seems like a bad idea to make yourself so obvious,” Paul said.

  “No way can she run away in that dress if something goes wrong,” someone else pointed out.

  “Sitting ducks,” Sid agreed. “Now remove that c-clamp. What do you mean you lost your needle-nose pliers? They were right here a minute ago.”

&n
bsp; Just before dinner one of Mundo’s messengers came out of Conference Suite A and ran outside. A few minutes later the Thespian guards trooped in and headed toward the dining room.

  They were going to feed the interlopers! All thought of finishing a generator vanished. Cassie and the others put their heads together, wondering if the Thespians were paying and what they should say to Mundo if they weren’t. They were still discussing the matter when the dinner gong rang.

  “Generosity is good policy,” one girl tried to reassure the group as they headed toward the restaurant. “It’s how we maintain our alliances.”

  “Alliances don’t mean jack when you’re dead from starvation,” Sid told her. “If they want to show up at dinner time, let them bring some food or toilet paper with them.”

  “How do you know they didn’t? Could’ve hidden a whole warehouse under that stupid train she was wearing.”

  The group entered the dining room and Cassie noticed Leila was at David’s table, leaning forward to listen while he talked about something that was clearly bothering him. She headed over in the hope that they were discussing Elissa and she could get some inside information, but was waylaid by Doc, who waved her to his table. She slid into the seat Doc was holding for her and asked why Elissa had come and why they were feeding her guards.

  “We’re feeding everyone, including the Empress," he said. "Elissa and her retinue will be here any minute.” He looked around. “I think they’re just waiting for us all to get here so they can make a big entrance.”

  “But what’s it about?”

  “I don't know, but this is only the second time Elissa has come in person. The first time was to ask our help in pressuring the Pharms to lower the price of vitamins for the winter. This must be pretty big or she would’ve sent a representative.”

  At Mundo’s table some children were setting out candles, crystal goblets and bottles of wine. “Looks like they’re going all out,” Cassie said.

  “Well, she is an empress, although when they were just the Thespians she was only a queen. Merging with the Operatics made her figure she deserved a fancier title.”

  They were silenced by a fresh banging on the dinner gong followed by a few short notes on a trumpet. With a regal swish of her skirts, Elissa swept in on Mundo’s arm. Mundo’s two girlfriends followed Elissa’s train-bearers, looking annoyed, and a combination of Regent and Thespian guards took up the rear, blocking aisles and stumbling into things. When they got to their table and found their seats, they paused before sitting. By now the Regents had figured out they were expected to stand in the presence of the leaders. It wasn’t their usual custom, but with a scraping of chairs on the parquet floor, everyone got to their feet.

  “Friends,” Mundo announced, “I’m pleased to introduce Her Excellency, Empress Elissa of the Thespian-Operatics.” He paused for effect, although only the youngest children were impressed. “She and her people are our guests for the evening. After we’ve eaten she will share some important news with us. But for now, please have a seat and enjoy your meal.” Mundo motioned for everyone to sit.

  Dinner was unusually quiet and formal. Elissa’s bodyguards stood behind her throughout the meal, tasting new dishes for her and acting like she really was royalty. This made Mundo and his girlfriends Nisha and Kayleen put on airs too. Cassie thought the meal would last forever, with dish after dish of food going to Mundo’s table while everyone else ate the usual inadequate slop. After their first glasses of wine, the leaders grew more animated, leaning across their table and sharing jokes. By dessert it seemed they had forgotten they weren’t alone and the Regents sat in sullen frustration, watching them eat pieces of chocolate off a plate passed around by the page.

  It was Alex the guard leader who figured out that they had better quit acting like kings and queens and tell the group what was going on. He said a few words to Mundo, who glanced across the dining room and then got to his feet. He didn’t need anyone to bang the gong for silence, although someone did.

  “Regents, our honored guest, the Empress Elissa, has news to share with us.”

  At these words, Elissa stood. Her page blew a note on his trumpet, and with an arrogant lift to her head, the empress spoke. “I’ve come to tell you of an alarming new development in the city. We have reason to believe that someone is kidnapping children.”

  Cassie and many of the older teens suppressed sighs of annoyance. Kidnappings weren’t new, nor were they something anyone could do much about.

  Elissa went on to explain that two Operatic children had vanished recently and that the younger brother of one of her consorts had been stolen in broad daylight by an older teen wearing the signs of a group unknown to them. “We’ve heard rumors,” she said, “That these children are being picked up by loners and minor gangs and traded to a new group based outside the city. We’ve also heard that this gang, who kids are calling Obits, sometime come into the city to do their own raids. We don’t know the habits of this group and are conducting an investigation.”

  By now the Regents guards were fidgeting with boredom. Doc leaned toward Cassie and whispered, “Someone’s picking up kids for slave labor. Sad, but it happens all the time.”

  Elissa picked up the vibe in the room and glanced at Mundo for help.

  “These are not typical child-raids,” Mundo explained. “The children are being taken by unknown people who have access to diesel fuel. They’re being put into vans and are never seen again. We have reason to think outsiders are involved.” He looked around the room. “The Thespian-Operatics are asking us to join them in the creation of an alliance for the purpose of investigating these kidnappings. If this is a new group from outside the city limits, they must be killed or driven out. If the children can be recovered, we must do so. We will tolerate no disrespect.”

  By now the Regents children were wide-eyed with concern and many teens who had been skeptical were sitting up and paying attention. When Mundo opened the floor for comments, he got an earful.

  “How do we know this is being done by outsiders?”

  “It could be just a group of outcasts from here in the city.”

  “Kids should stick with their groups. If they get picked up, that’s between them and Charles Darwin.”

  Elissa listened in increasing annoyance, butting in once to say, “Wait until it starts happening to your kids. See how smug you feel about it then.”

  Finally Alex stood up. “Whether you believe what’s happening is important or not, an alliance will be a good thing. It will increase cooperation and security for all of us.”

  This sparked a few murmurs of agreement and Mundo seized the moment to put the matter to a vote. “All in favor of joining the alliance, raise your hand.”

  Cassie and most of the others raised their hands. Elissa gave a regal smile and made a formal speech of thanks, but although her words were cool, there was relief in her eyes.

  * * *

  To celebrate the new alliance, Mundo called for a movie night. Sid had managed to recharge a laptop computer, and set it up on a table in one of the ballrooms. There wasn’t enough power for a monitor, but everyone was so happy at the prospect of seeing any movie at all that no one cared. Mundo even authorized a glass of wine for everyone sixteen or older.

  Cassie sat with the others, sipping her wine to make it last and watching the images on the tiny laptop screen. It had been so long since she had seen a movie that she expected to enjoy it. Instead, she was surprised to find herself bored. The younger children were mesmerized, but many of the older teens used the occasion to kiss, grope, and whisper about each other. Cassie noticed Leila was snuggled up to David, ignored by Sid and oblivious to Paul sitting a few feet away. Alaina and her fashion-conscious friends sat together, pointing to figures on the screen and giggling about shoes and hairstyles. In the rows behind Cassie’s seat were sounds that suggested a few couples were sufficiently engaged with each other that they would’ve been better off going to their rooms.

  With so
many distractions, the movie soon lost its appeal and Cassie tried to sneak away without attracting attention. She was in the hallway and had just turned on her flashlight when someone said her name.

  “I never could get into those romantic comedies,” Galahad said, emerging from the darkness. He motioned for her to turn off her flashlight so they could use his instead. “Where are you going?”

  “To get some sleep. I promised to help Doc make herbal tinctures tomorrow and I want to do it early, since I’m supposed to teach the garden committee how to plant lettuce in the afternoon. Thanks for finding those seeds, by the way.”

  Galahad shrugged and started walking toward the lobby with Cassie tagging by his side. “No need to thank me for stumbling across something by accident.” They were now walking past Conference Suite A and could hear wild laughter from behind the closed door. Galahad shook his head. “Mundo had better be careful. It’s one thing to make alliances, but if he keeps carrying on like it’s pre-Telo times, people are going to get mad. Just because he’s our founder doesn’t mean we can’t vote him out.”

  “It’s not every day we get visited by an empress, though.”

  Galahad scoffed. “Alex went to college with her older sister and knows all about the self-appointed Empress. She’s just Elissa Templeton, B-student, failed to make the junior varsity cheerleading team so she got into drama instead. She’s nothing special.”

  By now they were at the base of one of the two great spiral staircases that dominated the lobby. They climbed the steps to the halfway point, then sat and dangled their feet over the side. Galahad turned off his flashlight to conserve the batteries and Cassie took a few cautious sips of her wine. Observing that he wasn’t drinking, she asked, “Finished your wine already?”

  “I gave away my share. I drank enough in the first months of the Telo to last me a lifetime.”

  “Me and Leila kept all our liquor for trade.”

  “A smarter move than drinking it, that’s for sure.”

  They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes.