Children of a New Earth

by Eliason, R. J.

  “Don’t worry,” James shouted over the music, sarcasm in his voice, “it gets much worse.”

  “Dad had a crush on her when he was young,” Jake told her.

  “I wasn’t the only one,” James said. “She was very popular. It’s hard to imagine now . . . you guys grew up never knowing MTV or superstars or any of that.” He shook his head.

  “Dad’s always talking like that,” Jake informed her. “Don’t worry; he’s just old.”

  The salvage yard was a vast wasteland of dead and dying cars. Amy’s presence quickly proved an incredible benefit. The ranch had just over a half dozen vehicles. Amy had seen them every day of her life. While the others had to read the make and model on each car, she had only to look around for familiar cars.

  “There,” she said, and they pulled up alongside a car.

  As they got out, James pulled a toolbox out of the back of the pickup, and Jake, a boom box. He put in a different CD, one that was, if possible, more jarring and pounding. He jumped up and down, his hair flying as he shook his head wildly. He held out his hands and mimicked playing a guitar.

  James shook his head. “I told you, it gets worse.”

  That music is awful, Amy thought, but I’ll never tell him that. She watched his arms and chest flex to the beat. It was hypnotic.

  Those thoughts were soon buried under grease and sweat. The sun beat mercilessly on them. James was only slightly less merciless. A strong, hard-working man, James simply didn’t understand little things like taking breaks or stopping for lunch.

  By the time they went back to base, it was midafternoon. Amy felt filthy. Jake walked her home and asked her over for the evening. “I have way more music and stuff,” he said. “I’ll stop at the store and get a few beers.”

  “More mellow music, maybe?” Amy asked with a hopeful smile. The thought of spending the whole evening with that jarring stuff was too much. She had a headache as it was.

  “Sure,” he replied with a mystifying twinkle in his eye.

  “Boy, you are filthy,” Lexa greeted her as she came in the door.

  “Thanks,” Amy responded dryly. “Good to see you too.”

  “Oh, I didn’t mean it like that.”

  “I know. I am just beat.”

  “How bad was it?”

  “As bad as I look.”

  “Ugh!”

  “Yeah, but on the upside, all we have left is to strip an old refrigerator tanker for a better compressor unit. Won’t take long. But right now, I need a bath.”

  “Want some help?” Lexa asked. “Or are you happy to be some place where people still bathe alone?”

  Amy was unsure how to answer at first, but feeling her hair clinched it. “I’ll never get this grease out by myself,” she moaned.

  “Daisy can always get it out of my hair,” Lexa answered. “I’ll just have to remember what she does.”

  While sitting in the tub as Lexa scrubbed her hair, Amy said, “Oh by the way, Jake invited us over to listen to music tonight. Even said he’d get a few beers. What do you say?”

  After a short hesitation, Lexa said, “Sure.” She didn’t sound thrilled. “I thought you didn’t like to drink.”

  “Once in a while is okay.”

  When they arrived at Jake’s house a little later, he didn’t seem any more thrilled about Lexa’s presence than she was about being there, but he accepted it in his usual good-natured way.

  Upstairs was his bedroom, if one could call it that. His mother had died while he was still young, and James had perhaps been a bit too permissive in his fathering. At any rate, some time in his early teens, Jake had systematically removed every non-load-bearing wall in the second floor, making the whole thing his room.

  One corner was a dance floor. Jake had removed the carpet and sanded the wooden floor smooth. Over this hung a glowing ball. “A disco light,” he beamed, pointing at it.

  “A disco,” Lexa explained, “was a sort of dance club. And dance clubs, as near as I can tell, were the only redeeming feature of pre-collapse society.”

  Jake flicked a switch and a set of colored lights came on. The ball swung, and a strobe light started up. The effect was dizzying. “Lexa loves to dance,” Jake said. “She helped me build this.”

  He started for the stereo system, but Lexa raced after him. “I pick,” she called.

  Amy was grateful for the move. Jake’s idea of music makes my head spin. Unfortunately, Lexa’s taste was, if anything, worse. She liked something called techno—all electronic sounds and driving beat.

  Lexa closed her eyes and began moving to the beat. It was, Amy decided, like a cross between the seductive “Middle Eastern” dance that Daisy had shown her and someone having an epileptic fit. Even so, it had its own strange appeal.

  “I could never dance like that,” she muttered enviously.

  “Sure. It’s easy,” Jake said.

  “Oh right.”

  “Just watch.” He jumped onto the dance floor and began to shake wildly in a very poor imitation of Lexa. Amy laughed so hard she nearly fell over. He blushed and Amy felt sorry him, but she couldn’t help laughing all the more.

  “I see you have wowed her with your awesome dance moves,” Lexa teased. Jake laughed sheepishly.

  Lexa took Amy by the hand. “Come on, it’s easy. If you are not a doofus, that is,” she added, glancing at Jake.

  “He was cute,” Amy protested, which made Jake look a lot happier about being the butt of the joke.

  “Just close your eyes for a moment,” Lexa said, ignoring the last comment, “and feel the beat. Once you got the rhythm, the rest is easy.”

  Is not, she thought to herself as she tried in vain to follow Lexa’s graceful movements. They danced for a long while.

  “Who’s up for a beer?” Jake asked as he staggered off the dance floor.

  “Me,” Lexa and Amy answered together.

  Amy swayed as she left the floor.

  “You okay?” Lexa asked.

  “Those lights and that music,” Amy answered. “I haven’t even opened a beer and I feel half drunk.”

  “I know, isn’t it great?” Lexa said.

  Jake opened three bottles and set them on a ledge by the dance floor. Then he went to the stereo again.

  “Amy said she wanted something a bit mellower,” he said as he selected another CD.

  Lexa looked at her. “We listened to music all day,” Amy explained. “And it was starting to give me a headache.”

  “I think he has a different idea all together,” Lexa replied, nodding at Jake, who came across the dancefloor as the slow song started, arms outstretched toward Amy.

  “I’m not a good dancer,” she warned him.

  He ignored her comment and drew her in close. Closer than any dance that was allowed at the ranch. Then it hit her. He invited me, not Lexa and me. On top of that, I’d asked for mellow music and . . . oh god, what does he think?

  Well, it was pretty obvious, now that she thought of it. Did she want him? Truthfully, yes, but it wasn’t that simple. It might be down here, or for the men, but not for her.

  “Ouch,” he said.

  “Sorry, I told you I am not very good. Hey! Ouch.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said. In the background, Lexa laughed.

  After several more ouches and god knows how many stumbles, Lexa broke them up.

  “You two have four left feet,” she laughed. “Come here, big boy.” She took Jake around the waist and counted aloud while they danced. “Are you watching?” she asked Amy.

  “Yes,” Amy replied, hoping the envy didn’t show in her voice.

  “Good, then you can do it.” Lexa swung away from Jake and practically fell into Amy’s arms. She leaned in close and whispered into Amy’s ear, “One, two, three.”

  After several awkward steps, she fell into the rhythm. “Good,” Lexa told her then broke away. “Now, you two,” Jake and Amy moved together. Lexa counted aloud again. They made a few halting steps before Jake trippe
d her up.

  “I can see this is going to be a long night,” Lexa said, taking a drink from her beer. She pulled Jake in close again. “Just relax and listen to the music.”

  The sky was dark as Lexa and Amy wove their way back to their apartment. This time, it was not the lights or the music that had her dizzy.

  A figure crossed the parking lot ahead of them.

  “Kurt!” Amy cried. “Kurt, how are you doing, old buddy?”

  “You’re drunk,” he grumbled. “I thought you were too good for that sort of thing.”

  “I am not drunk,” she declared boldly, patting Lexa on the chest. “Lexa is drunk. I am . . . I am . . . what was that word?”

  “Plastered,” Lexa supplied.

  “That’s it,” Amy agreed.

  “Well, I am going to bed,” Kurt said.

  “Want to come to ours?” Lexa asked. Kurt looked shocked.

  “She’s just teasing,” Amy told him.

  “Was not,” Lexa insisted.

  Kurt left them there, arguing.

  Amy woke to knocking the next morning. She rolled over and ran into Lexa. “Stop stepping on my toes, Jake,” Lexa mumbled. She rolled over and fell off the bed.

  Amy drug herself to the door. Spider peered in at her. “Aikido in thirty minutes,” she said. “Big class here. You’ve got to come.”

  Amy mumbled something about being there and shut the door. She stumbled back to wake Lexa and get ready.

  The class was worth it, despite her aching head. They had practitioners of every rank, even several higher ranked than Spider. They were phenomenally good. Most were eager to work out with someone new and only once during the whole class did she work with Lexa.

  While Lexa had her pinned to the ground, Amy told her, “If I ever tell you a beer once in a while is okay again, use this move on me.”

  “Deal,” Lexa replied.

  Between the early morning exercise and a good breakfast, she felt almost normal by the time they headed to work.

  She saw Kurt and hurried over to apologize. “It’s okay,” he told her. “I wasn’t mad at you. It was kind of funny really.” He shook his head and moved on, still looking upset.

  “What do you think is his problem?” she asked Lexa as he left.

  “Well,” Lexa began delicately, “I have said these guys are barbaric. One of the things they share with your people is their sexual attitudes.”

  “They don’t go for casual sex?”

  “No, that’s one thing. They understand about open relationships and preventing inbreeding and all that. It is homosexuality in particular they object to.”

  “And if Kurt didn’t know that . . .” Amy finished. “Oh my, that must have been nasty.”

  “Yeah, that’s another one of the reasons Lorn doesn’t like it here. One of the many reasons, that is.”

  At the shop, Jake looked a little green as well. As they drove out to the work site, his father joked, “What? No music?”

  Jake groaned but didn’t answer. “Here let me,” James continued, reaching for the knob.

  “Not if you value your life,” Jake replied, blocking the move with his hand.

  By the time they were finished for the day, Jake had recovered his usual good humor and even suggested another round. Amy vetoed this firmly. They met Lexa and Spider as they walked toward their mutual homes.

  “Spider has found something to make Lorn happy,” Lexa said to Amy and Jake.

  “Yeah,” Spider explained, “this lady, Tara, has a hot tub.”

  “What’s a hot tub?” Amy asked.

  “Well,” Spider pondered momentarily, “I guess it’s like a cross between the public bath we have back home and these guys’ private baths.”

  “It’s about this big,” Jake explained, gesturing wide with his arms. “And it’s full of hot water, and there are jets to move the water around. I’ve been in it a few times. It’s fun.”

  “Anyway, she offered that I could bring some people over. It’s big enough if you guys want to come along.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Lexa replied. “What do you say Amy?”

  Amy shrugged. “Sure, I’m game.” She turned to Jake.

  “Count me in,” he said cheerfully.

  They went their own separate ways for dinner. Tara wasn’t expecting them for a couple of hours. Her house was just a few blocks away, so they planned to meet up and walk down together.

  As Lexa and Amy left their townhouse, they saw Luke heading for his. He stopped and hurried over smiling, his face bright. “I have great news,” he said.

  “What’s that?” Amy asked.

  “I think we have a recruit.”

  “A recruit?”

  “Jake,” Luke informed her. “I just got done talking to him, and he’s interested in coming up to see the ranch. I hadn’t thought about it until he asked, but we will be getting back just in the nick of time. Getting everything installed and working is going to be a big job. He can help with all that.”

  “That sounds . . . nice,” was all Amy could get out. It was a startling thought, Jake at the ranch.

  “You mean he wants to go live up there?” Lexa asked.

  “I don’t know,” Luke replied. “I am not sure if that’s allowed. I don’t think he even knows if that’s what he wants. He said he had his own vehicle and he could come with us and help us get everything set up. Then he could decide if he would stay or go.”

  “Why would he want to come all the way back with us?” Amy pondered. Lexa gave her a look she couldn’t read.

  Luke just shrugged. “He’s curious about us. Also, he wants to get away from here for a while, so why not? I can’t wait until we see their faces back at the ranch. A second mechanic. Marlin can take some time off if he wants. Or he can keep working with an assistant. Imagine that.”

  “An assistant,” Amy said dryly. “Imagine that, my dad with an assistant.”

  Luke realized too late what he had just said. His face blanched, and he backtracked hastily. “I didn’t mean it like that. I know you’ve always helped out as best you can. But that’s not the same as having an actual mechanic.”

  “Just stop while you can,” Lexa said condescendingly. She patted him on his head. He blushed fiercely but held his tongue.

  Amy just stood there, not trusting her voice. Lexa wrapped her arm around Amy’s and led her away. As soon as they were out of earshot, Amy exploded. “Who does that moron think he is?”

  “He’s not thinking,” Lexa answered with surprising vehemence. “Seems to be a common problem up there. Must be something in the water that addles the brain.”

  “What on earth does that mean?” Amy asked, taken off balance.

  “It means Amy, my dear, that you are about as dense as a brick.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Why does he want to go all the way back there?” Lexa mimicked.

  “Well, why then?”

  Lexa rolled her eyes. “Oh, have you really managed to miss how he stares at you? How he fawns on you? How he practically groped you last night?”

  “We were dancing.” Amy protested. Lexa just shook her head.

  “You think he likes me?” Amy asked.

  “You really don’t know?” Lexa said in amazement. “The guy’s been hitting on you since we got here and you really missed it?”

  Amy blushed. “Well, I thought, maybe, but I didn’t know . . .” She threw her hands up in despair. “How should I know? I am new to all this, remember? All I ever knew was that Luke and I would end up together because, well, he’s not horrible.”

  Lexa shuddered. “That’s terrible.”

  “What?”

  “That you would marry him because he’s not horrible.”

  “Well, if you put it like that,” Amy protested.

  “I didn’t. You did.”

  Amy paused. “Okay, but you know what I mean. You’ve seen the others.”

  “Yes, and I would choose Luke, too,” Lexa agreed. “But
you ought to have a real choice. Maybe find someone who likes you and who you like.”

  “Like Jake?”

  “Not necessarily. You could meet lots of people.”

  “You don’t like Jake do you?”

  “It’s not that,” Lexa griped. “I have known him for years. He’s fun, a good guy, and a good friend. But he’s goofy and, well, there might be someone else, you never know. You shouldn’t just take the first guy that comes along, you know.”

  Spider and Lorn were coming down the street toward them, so they stopped their conversation for the time being. The four of them chatted idly about their day while waiting for Jake.

  Once Jake arrived, they made their way to Tara’s. Spider did the introductions. The hot tub was out back, behind a privacy fence. Tara had several extra swimsuits and promised that she could find something to fit everyone.

  Amy looked suspiciously in the mirror as she tried hers on. It left nothing to the imagination. Amy was just sure she couldn’t possibly have cleavage like what she was seeing.

  “What’s wrong?” Lexa asked.

  “This barely covers anything.”

  “So?”

  “It’s just weird. Why is it more embarrassing to wear this than to go nude like they do at your home?”

  “That,” Lexa replied sagely, “is one of the great secrets of life.”

  Lexa spun in front of the mirror. She was wearing a hot pink bikini that was nearly two sizes too small. Even her small breasts seemed to spill out. “I say, if you got it, you might as well flaunt it.” With that, she strode out of the room.

  Feeling more than a little apprehensive, Amy followed. As they approached the tub, Jake caught sight of her, and his jaw dropped.

  They all climbed into the tub. Amy sat next to Jake. He continued to stare. She found herself reveling in his attention, constantly distracted by the downy hair on his chest. She wondered what it would be like to run her fingers through it. They chatted, but Amy could only follow about half the conversation. Sitting this close to Jake made her mind scatter.

  The hot tub was wonderful. Hot jets of water massaged Amy’s back. Tara provided cold drinks: beer and, thankfully, iced tea.

  Tara bowed out first, telling them she had an early day tomorrow. She insisted they all stay as long as they wanted. They could let themselves out whenever.