“Um, excuse me,” Ester twirled the hair on the back of her neck. “Is there a store around here that sells blinds?”
She laughed nervously, but the clerk seemed unamused. He must have been a distant relative of Captain Pole. The clerk allowed his magazine to flop over to get a better look at Ester. He snorted, and the sound of phlegm being pulled to the back of his throat made Ester want to gag. He grunted and lifted his chubby fingers towards to underground train station.
“South mall, you’ll find what you’re looking for there. Three stops west.” He coughed as he motioned for the next customer to come forth.
“Thanks.” Ester managed to get out.
She’d ridden the trains many times before but always with the help of a map or a guide. She had an idea where the station was, but it was still kind of intimidating. Even despite Angel’s little breakdown of which lines went where. She was nervous about taking a train from around here, but she needed blinds. She exited the shop and looked around for any signs or post markings. Back home, there was always something that pointed to a bus station. She hoped there would be something similar here. She headed in the direction the clerk sent her, making her way through the wave of people. She would get nowhere trying to see through everyone, so she stopped and stood on her tippy toes. There had to be a sign somewhere, she just needed to search. A man down the street shouted for a cab another person just got out of and that caught Ester’s attention. She saw a faded sign that looked like it had a train on it with an arrow. That had to be it.
She followed the arrows on the bent-up sign and walked down litter-filled streets until she reached the opening to the underground train system. The smell and heat coming from the ground made her feel like she was walking into a horse’s ass. How can Ans-On, one of the most technologically advanced nation states, allow for such poor living conditions? Ester shook her head as others passed her with no problem. She watched them walk by unfazed by the smell, rushing up and down the stairs. She stood at the entrance like a rock, wondering if it were worth it at all, but what other choice did she have? This was her life now, and she really needed blinds. She cringed as she took her first steps. The heat got worse, and it was very humid and loud underground. The moving trains rumbled the entire station as the sounds of beeping and clicking turnstiles assaulted her ears. She looked around for a sign of anything familiar. The last time she was in a train station she was with Angel. He was from Ans-on, so everything he did was second nature to him. She twisted the curls on the back of her neck as she started to think. She needed to go west to South Mall, but there were no clear signs of routes or train lines. No kind person to help her out. She was on her own and moments away from giving up.
“Train cards! Have your train cards ready! Turnstile eight is down and we checkin’em manually!” A woman with a bell shouted over the crowd. “Train cards! Have’em ready!” She repeated.
Ester stared, then slowly moved her heads over her pockets and patted them down. She didn’t have a train card, but she found the card Angel had given her full of tones. She was lost, but before she could go anywhere she needed a train card and that was at least a place to start. She spotted the ticket booth on the other side of the station and breathed a sigh of relief. She stood in line as people inched closer and closer to buy their train cards. In front of her was a woman in a thick coat with her bouncing child pulled close to her. Ester looked down at the child and the child looked up at her and made a funny face. Ester made one back and the child giggled with excitement. The child bounced around once more but this time she tripped and stumbled over her own feet and fell onto Ester.
“Oops.” Ester reached down to help her up.
The mother, once aware, turned to Ester with tired eyes and picked up her child right away.
“I am so sorry, miss.” She looked at her daughter. “Sartine, what do you say?” The tired mother scolded.
“It’s okay, ma’am.” Ester’s smile broke up the clouds on the mother’s face, and the woman apologized again as she walked away to the next ticket window.
“Next!” An older man with greasy dark blond hair waved, tearing Ester away from her thoughts.
Ester ran right over to the ticket booth, which was nothing more than a closet space with a glass window and counter. Ester looked around the cramped room in discomfort and wondered if the people in Ans-on liked shopping and working in cramped places.
“Um, hi. I need to buy a train card.” Ester hovered in front of the tiny voice box.
“Alright, you got a digi-id?” The man said over his computer.
“Yes, sir.” Ester held up her card.
“Scan it.” Ester did as she was told. “How much?”
“Excuse me?”
“How much you want on the card?” The man looked at her like he said this a million times.
Ester wasn’t sure how much she needed per ride and she didn’t feel like asking. “Twenty?”
The man looked at her as if she had gotten the question wrong. “Okay, kid. Let’s start with this.” He gave her his full attention. “Where you headed?”
“Um, South Mall.”
“Okay, and you gonna be using the train ere’day?”
“No, sir. Well, I’m not sure.”
“Ere’day then. It cost two tones for local stops and five for non-local stops. Most folks load’em up for the month, depending on travel. Twenty for a doe like you won’t get you far if you’ve never been around these parts. It’s too easy for you to get lost down here.” The man typed some information into his computer. “You got fifty tones?”
Ester thought for a second. When she last checked her balance, she thought she had about one hundred and twenty tones. “I think I have about one-twenty.”
“Don’t think, scan.” The man pointed to the scanner. Ester scanned her tone card and she was off by thirty tones. “Always check.” The man typed in some more info. “Now, I’m gonna load fifty tones on here. A train pass is worth its weight in ore. You gon use it a lot. Is that okay?” The man looked Ester in the eyes and she nodded.
“South Mall, do you know how to get there?” Ester squeezed in the question before her time was up.
The man pointed. “Scan and head to the non-local train seven. It’s three stops. Don’t get off on anything but your stop, save your tones. That’s it?” The man looked at Ester and she nodded. “Next!” He waved on the next customer.
Ester left, feeling a little better. She walked over to the turnstile and scanned her new card. The light turned green and she headed as instructed to the non-local lines, line seven. It was crowded, but she made her way on the train. She stood in a sea of people, which was hot and uncomfortable. This was a far cry from the mega trains she took with Angel, but she guessed it served its purpose. She got off on the third stop and arrived at a much nicer train station. It smelled a little better and was cleaner too. She made her way to the exit and once outside she was greeted with the smell of cold fresh air. It was a nice change. She missed being able to breathe without the smell of sewer clogging her nose.
Above ground, the streets were crowded with people. She wasn’t sure how she would find South Mall, but she was able to find a directory down the street. She rushed over to the display and found out she was in a shopping district and that South Mall was right across the street. She sighed with delight and bundled up as she waited on the opposite side of the street to cross.
Walking with the crowd, Ester marveled at the silver dome shaped building. She remembered the last time she was in a mall. It was with Angel, but that mall was on top of a skyscraper. It was huge and a little overwhelming and this one was no different. She wondered if Ans-on had malls like this all over the place. She wouldn’t be surprised. She looked around wishing Angel was here to direct her. Taking a deep breath, she tried not to worry as she walked through the sliding doors. This mall was smaller but cluttered with shops stretching three stories high. She hadn’t the slightest clue where to begin. There were so many sights,
sounds, and smells, but she calmed her mind by remembering her trip to the markets when she was young. She remembered how scared she was and how it felt holding her father’s hand. Her father’s words stuck out in her mind, what you seek will find you because it wants to be found. Ester took a deep breath. What she wanted wanted to be found. She took a step forward past a few shops selling clothes. She looked through the displays and tried to piece together like products. If she was looking for blinds, then more than likely it would be sold in a shop that carried home décor. She looked up and saw a hover screen with a display of beautiful vases. Vases were home décor, so feeling optimistic, Ester headed to the second floor.
Ester found the store, but when she arrived, she found out that she didn’t have enough money to buy blinds. She cursed under her breath as she looked at the prices. She couldn’t even afford to buy the discounted blinds. She was so frustrated she left the store. She didn’t know why she was so surprised. Places like these were bound to be out of her price range or maybe she was just naïve on exactly how much blinds cost. Either way, she felt like she had wasted her trip.
She left the mall and went back out into the cold, resigned on giving up and returning to her apartment. As she made her way back to the train station, she couldn’t help but stop and look at the window displays. There were so many shops outside the mall, she barely noticed before. They all sold those ride suits Angel was crazy about. She kind of smiled as she remembered Angel fussing over which suit to wear the night of the concert. They weren’t bad and definitely not as thin as they looked. The hardest part was going to the restroom and the fact that they were so tight. As she passed the shops, the smell of fresh manure grazed her noise. She stopped immediately as the distinct smell of home wafted in the air. She stood and inhaled. In what metropolis would a smell like this be coming from? She looked up and down the streets, searching for the source. Following her nose, she headed in the direction of where she thought the smell was coming from. She was in a metropolis, all the way in Ans-on, miles anyway from any farm. Was her mind playing tricks on her? Her pace quickened as the smell intensified, mixed with the aroma of fresh grilled food. She started jogging; this couldn’t be real. She looked up ahead and down every alley she passed. The smells and sounds of large crowds intensified, but it all made her think of home. Could it be?
She jog-walked down one street and passed an alley. She double-backed when she thought she saw a pig. She stopped and looked down the short alley; there were lots of people on the other side walking by. She looked behind her trying to figure out if she was about to enter a portal or something. Laughter broke her train of thought, and she started moving. The closer she walked, the more intense the smells of grilled food, fresh produce, and animals got. Her ears were bombarded with sounds of chirping, snarling, heckling, and chatter. It reminded her so much of home, she thought she was really there. Coming out on the other side, she found herself in what she thought was another state. A huge bustling market was right in the middle of a metropolis in Ans-on. She looked around at all the vendors with their crates full of fruits and vegetables laid out. Herding animals were tied to post in the ground ready to be sold. There was a little bit of everything here. She walked through the crowd with ease, not at all stressed by the crowd of busy shoppers. This place felt like home, drawing up memories of riding horse drawn wagons with her parents. It was the Adum-la way of life, and it was right here in Ans-on. She passed a booth with rows of fresh ripe fruit. She picked up one and inspected it for blemishes or bugs. As she looked it over a heavy-set man with sweat covering his face eyed her. He leaned over his booth and snapped his fingers.
“Are you going to buy that? If not, move on.” He folded his arms.
Ester glared at him and sat the fruit down. “I’m not now,” she scuffed.
Rude vendors were a common thing at the markets. She continued around the booth to another area with fresh fruit. She looked them over and picked one up and smelled it. It was a mango and almost ripe too.
“Excuse me,” an elderly lady grabbed Ester’s attention. “I’m from out of town, and we don’t have this variety of mango where I’m from. How do you tell if it’s good to eat?”
Ester picked up another fruit. “Easy, ma’am. This one is near ripe. You can tell by the smell and feel.” Ester smelled it. “See, it smells of dirt and its very firm, but this one,” Ester squeezed it a little. It was softer and a little squishy, “this one is perfect. One hundred percent ripe. You know it’s ripe because it practically turns to mush in your hands, and that’s what you want in this variety of mango. I know farmers from my nation state who grow this, and these are best bought when they are firm. Sit them on your table if you don’t intend on eating them in the next day or two. Or you can buy them super ripe like this and make the best thick mango jam you’ve ever had.” Ester held out the two mangos for the lady to inspect.
“Thank you,” The woman smelled and felt the mangos.
“No problem.” Ester replied as the lady smiled and picked the super ripe fruit to buy.
Unknown to Ester, the rude vendor from before was watching. He was the boss of this entire four table booth. He walked closer to Ester and snapped his fingers at her again.
“Hey, you’re good at this. I have a proposition for you.”
Ester squinted her eyes but did not walk away. “Um, okay.”
“We are short staff,” the man continued. “If you need job, you can start tomorrow at eleven hundred hours.”
A staff member tapped the man’s shoulder, and he turned and addressed him. Ester didn’t know what to say, but before she could think about it the man turned back around.
“Eleven hundred hours, come early, good pay,” the man said, then returned to his work as if she wasn’t there.
Ester gaped at his back, frozen in the spot. After his rude behavior, she couldn’t believe he was offering her a job. She wasn’t going to work for someone who was rude, even if she was almost broke. Ester left his booth, determined not to let that bit of drama ruin her day.
Despite the small amount of tones she had, she left the market with a lot of goods. She may not know about the prices in the malls, but in the markets, she knew how to shop. It had been so long since she’d had fresh produce. Now she could prepare a proper meal.
Back at her apartment, she cooked herself up some tasty stir-fry. It made her stomach very happy, but she couldn’t help but think about what she was going to do with her dwindling allowance. Angel had been kind enough to pay her rent a few months in advance. It was cheap here, but it wasn’t free, and she felt bad about relying on him for money. Angel was the type of person that would probably support her for life, but that kind of kindness was easy to take advantage of and Ester didn’t want that. She was healthy and had no limitations to stop her from working. She just lacked the motivation to find a job. After all, finding a job wasn’t how it was back home. Back home, she knew everyone and all she had to do was walk up and ask. It was an easy system based on trust, which was easy to earn because everyone knew each other. She would sleep on it and see how she felt in the morning.
Chapter Sixteen
In the shower the following morning, her mind was made up. She had had a terrible night’s sleep because of the flashing lights on the emergency hover cars that seemed to run all night. There must have been something serious going down, but the bright multi-colored lights, did nothing to help her get a good night’s sleep. She would not spend another night or morning being woken up because of her blinds. If just for the sake of getting a restful morning’s sleep, she would take the job.
She got out of bed and flipped her bag upside down on her bed in search of a clean pair of undergarments. She’d barely unpacked and amongst her things was her kiko robe that Sister Genevieve made for her. A small bitter smile appeared on Ester’s face. She didn’t want to look at it, so she neatly folded it up and tucked it away in a drawer. From one of the folds, a picture frame fell out. Ester picked it up, it was her f
amily portrait. Seeing their faces made her want to well up with tears.
What would they think of her now? Would they be disappointed? Ester looked at the faces of her mother, father, and brother.
No, she told herself. Failure only comes when you give up, she remembered her father saying and Ester broke out in tears, hugging her picture close to her chest. She placed the photo next to the one Angel had taken of them. She wiped her face and gathered her things for her shower.
The water ran down her back. Taking a market job felt like step back, but it was the best she could do. After all, this was her life now if she could even call it that. The smell of the market reminded her of home; it reminded her of Luck. She wouldn’t know what to do if she ever ran into him again, and she wouldn’t be surprised if he showed up with a hover car full of vegetables.
“You happy, Luck? I’m back to selling produce again.” Ester laughed a little as she stared up at the shower head and frowned. “Back at the same place I was before.”
Ester gave her hair a quick shake. Now was not the time to feel sorry for herself. Not sure what to wear, she put on a thick lavender ride suit with long sleeves and a white crew cut crop top. She put on some boots and grabbed her coat and headed out the door. She walked quickly, hoping to get to the train station fast. She ran down the stairs and turned the corner only to crash into a young boy.
“Watch it, hag!” The boy yelled as he got up and ran off.
“Screw you, twerp!” Ester yelled.
She groaned in disgust as she looked around. She landed in a wet spot and now her lavender suit had a big spot on it. She wiped and wiped it to get it clean, but it was no use. She didn’t have time to change, and now she was pissed. This was one of the ride suits Angel had bought her, and now it had a stain on it. She tried one last attempt to cast the stain away, but it was fruitless. Maybe she could get it out later, but she had to run.
The Distance Between Page 19