HELPER12, Jack Blaine [reading in the dark .TXT] 📗

I think about things.   And now he’s taking care of Jobee and setting out our meal on the gentle slope of this meadow, while I walk along the lake like a Society member.

I get as close to the edge of the lake as I can go.  The water makes a sound I hadn’t expected, lapping at the shore.  The pictures all look silent and serene, but actually it’s quite noisy here.  There’s gurgling and sloshing, and I hear the sounds of other people, somewhere over the next slope.  Then I hear Jobee scream.

I’m running in an instant, slipping up the embankment, scrabbling at the rough grass for handholds.  I clear the slope and there they both are—Thomas, and Jobee in his arms.  Thomas is turning round and round the way Jobee likes.  By the time I am next to them, Jobee is giggling between sniffles, his red cheeks still wet from tears.

“What happened?”  My heart is pounding.

Thomas looks up, just noticing me.

“What?  Oh.”  He sees how worried I am, and turns so I can see Jobee’s face.  “It’s fine—he took a tumble out of the whizby before I could quite catch him.  It scared him, but he’s fine.”  He wipes Jobee’s cheeks with a cloth, and chucks him softly under the chin.  “Aren’t you, Jobee?  Yes, you are, you are just fine.”

I have to smile at that sing-song voice coming out of Thomas, whose natural tone is deep.  He does love Jobee.  And I don’t think he’ll let anything happen to him if he can prevent it.

Chapter Twenty Three

Thomas has set everything up.  There is a large, thin blanket spread out.  On it, he has placed Jobee’s whizby, a thicker, softer pad for Jobee to lie on, some boggles and a bottle, and the food Helper packed for our day.  There is some sort of fizzy drink, which he’s poured into some squat glasses.

“Let’s eat!”  Thomas laughs and helps me sit.  He lays Jobee down on the pad and hands him a boggle toy.

I’m starving.  After I’ve had enough to take the edge off of my hunger, I look around me.  There’s a slight breeze coming up off the lake, and the sun is shining down on us.  I don’t think I’ve ever felt the particular set of emotions I’m feeling now.  Content, wistful, excited, something I can’t quite put my finger on—it has no name that I know.

I hear the voices I heard before, by the lake’s edge.

“Who is that?”

Thomas shrugs.  “Just some other people, enjoying the lake for the day.”

“So this is what you do?”

He cocks his head.  “What do you mean?”

“I mean, Society members.  You go to school, you go on vacations, you go to the country.”  I wonder what Ms. Sloane would do if she had to spend one day living in a complex, working as a Helper.

Thomas looks at me, gauging my mood.

“Are you angry at me?  For being one of them?”

“No.”  I’m not, I don’t think.  “It’s just the way things are, isn’t it?”

He doesn’t answer right away.  Jobee’s favorite boggle has rolled away from his grasp, and Thomas puts it within his reach.

“It does seem to be just the way things are.  I don’t know how to change it, and to be honest, before I met you, I didn’t give it much thought.”

It’s my turn to watch him.  He meets my gaze steadily.

“My parents will be back in two days.”

“I know.”  I’ve been counting the hours, actually.  It’s been such a strange, wonderful time.  When the Sloanes return, all of it will change.

Thomas moves closer to me.  He brushes my cheek with his fingers, and I feel an electricity from that soft touch that I’ve never experienced.

“I need to know something,” he whispers.

I have to look away.  I stare at Jobee, who is happily chewing on his boggle, oblivious.

“What do you want to know?”

He puts his hand under my chin and lifts my head until my gaze meets his again.  He studies my face, his eyes focusing on my hair, my lips, back to my eyes.

“I want to know your name.”

For some reason, tears threaten to well up in my eyes.  I take hold of his hand, and cover it with both of mine.  I’m surprised to feel him trembling.

“My name is Benna.”  I say it quietly.  It feels right to tell him.

He smiles.

“Benna,” he says, as softly as I did.  “I’m so glad to have met you.”  And he kisses me.

I’ve been kissed before.  Complex boys can be charmers, especially when they want to grab a touch.  I’ve kissed back, and enjoyed it.  But I’ve never felt this.  Thomas isn’t some complex boy, barely more than a stranger, sharing a physical need for relief.  His lips are gentle, careful with me.  His hands aren’t grabbing me; they’re caressing me, holding me.  And his tongue, his tongue is making me press myself against him, harder and harder, wishing there was some way to—

“Benna.”  He breathes my name, gasping for air.

I’m gasping too.

Thomas is trembling even harder, his hands on my arms shaking.  He takes a deep breath, exhales with a sort of laugh.

“I think we’d better take a minute.”

I don’t want to take a minute.  But I know he’s right.  We both scoot a little further apart, and I settle Jobee in his whizby so he can have his bottle.  I pull the tag and wait for the formula to heat.  Once Jobee is settled, I feel less flustered, and I chance a look at Thomas.

He’s more relaxed too.  He smiles, and gets my drawing tablet and charcoals out of the baby bag.

“Maybe you should try these out now—what do you think?”

I look around as I reach for them.  I’m still nervous about having them out in the open, even though I know Thomas is right; nobody could tell I am a Helper by the way I look today.

“I will.”  I open the tin and take out one of the charcoals. It’s wrapped with paper on the bottom half, so I can