Lise, DM Arnold [bearly read books .TXT] 📗

on in that old hotel?”

“Yes,” Tagg replied. “I thought it was just tales -- that it would be deserted in daylight. It turned out it wasn't.”

“That's right,” Lise added. “Someone came in while we were there. I don't think they saw us.”

“Did you get a good look at them?”

“No,” Lise and Tagg replied in unison.

“Could you tell if they were registered or not?”

“I don't remember, Father. I think the one I saw was.”

“Thugs?” Tagg asked.

“Who knows...” Grott lay back down on the bench.

“Tagg saw something else,” Lise said.

“Yes,” Tagg added, “a feral.”

“A wild novonid?” Grott shook his head. “Not likely.”

“We were looking through the fence at the edge of the Zone. We saw him in the woods.”

“More likely a renegade,” Grott replied. “Maybe one of Mott's trainees ... perhaps even Mott himself. Ferals don't come this close to the city. They live out in the country -- past the pomma farms, in the wilds.”

“I know what I saw,” Tagg said.

“Think what you like, but I'm sure it wasn't a feral.” Grott stretched and locked his hands behind his neck. “What are you kids up to now?”

“I don't know -- wander around,” Tagg replied.

“Look, you two... If you want to spend time alone together -- go ahead and use your room, Lise.”

“Father?”

Grott sat up and swung his feet to the concrete. He approached Tagg and began squeezing his bicep. “Do you really love this runt?”

“Yes, Father -- I do.”

“Boy -- how long have you been drawing?”

“Since I can remember. I used to pick through trash outside the Zone for scraps.”

Grott nodded. “Tagg -- you're welcome to move your things over here.”

“Father!” Lise exclaimed. “I can't believe I heard you say that. Don't tell me you approve...”

“I never said I approved. You two have done it once. Whether I approve or not, you'll do it again. I remember what it was like. I was young and in love once...”

“You were young once. I know you still love Mother.”

“Do you really mean this, Grott?” Tagg asked.

He nodded. “I do. Since I know you'll do it anyway, I'd rather you be here in the safety of our home -- not in some thug-infested, run down hotel.”

“Oh, Father... What will Mother say?”

“It was her idea.” He turned to Tagg. “You'll need to supply your own food.”

“I have scrip,” Tagg exclaimed. “I'll buy food for everyone.” He began sprinting toward his building. “I'll go get my things,” he said over his shoulder.

“Wait!” Lise yelled. “I'll help you.”

Lise placed the cover on the tin-can lantern to extinguish it. She had positioned it between her mattress and the sheet separating her space from her parents'. Tagg lay on his back. She slid onto the mattress and snuggled under his arm. He held her around her waist. She kissed his chest.

She felt his hand slide down and caress her buttocks. “Are you trying to start something up again?” she whispered. “Haven't you had enough for one night?”

“No, I'm not trying to start anything. You do have a terrific ass, Lise.”

She smiled. Her eyes were beginning to adjust to the dim light filtering through the sill window. She placed her hand against his breast and began caressing him. With her fingers she explored his body. Lise traced the outline of his ribcage and smoothed her palm along his abdomen.

She found his pelvis and felt its shape. Tagg jerked. “That tickled.”

“Sorry...” Lise moved her hand lower. She wrapped her fingers around him. “It's so different than how it was just a little while ago. It was so big... so firm...”

“This is how it usually is,” he replied. “A guy couldn't go around like that.”

“I suppose not...” She continued to finger him.

Tagg slid his hand around her ribcage. He worked his fingers under her arm and stroked the side of her breast.

Lise continued to caress him. “Tagg... Look what it's doing, now. Are you making it do that?”

“No. You are. You're making it want more.”

“More?” She climbed up and lowered herself onto him. Tagg embraced her. She nuzzled his neck and felt his fingers explore her back and spine. “Mmm ... more...” He locked his legs with hers. “Quietly,” she whispered.

His hips began a slow rocking. “Feel good?” he asked.

“Mmm...”

“As good as before?”

“Mmm...”

Tagg increased the vigor of his rocking. Lise began moving her pelvis with his. He gripped her buttocks, pressed himself against her and swallowed a groan.

She put her hands on his face, turned it toward hers and kissed his lips. “Was it good?”

“So good it almost hurt... Was it good for you?”

“You know I like it ... with you.”

“But ... did you...”

“Tagg, you know I don't need to in order to enjoy it.”

She felt his body relax. His hands slid from her back to his sides. She lay her face against his chest and closed her eyes.

Morning light waked her. She had slid off of Tagg during the night but still lay clutching him. “Good morning,” she said.

“Good morning.”

“Let's go wash.”

He followed her as she grabbed some towels and soap and headed up the steps to the courtyard. “Where do you get the towels?” he asked.

“They're discards from the laundry where Mother works -- the soap, too. We might not have much, but we're clean.”

She wrapped a towel around her body, trotted down the steps and slipped into her bandeau top and shorts.

“Must you leave now?” he asked.

“I can't keep Megan and her twins waiting.” She kissed his cheek. “I'll see you tonight.”

“I'll take those sketches to the park.”

VIII

The streetcar pulled to a stop near the Zone. Lise hopped off the platform in back and headed through one of the gates in the wall separating the novonid ghetto from the rest of Vyonna. She reached her courtyard and found Rayla lying on the concrete bench, sunning herself.

“Tagg's waiting for you downstairs,” she said. “He has some news.”

Lise sprinted down the stairs. “Tagg?”

He handed her a red twenty-five unit scrip card. Lise read the punches and saw twenty units remained on it. “I sold those sketches. The same guy who bought the first one gave me forty for the others.”

Rayla worked her way down the stairs.

“Forty units, Mother!”

“That's wonderful,” Rayla replied.

Lise threw her arms around Tagg. She leaned to kiss him but he pulled away. “Tagg ... what's wrong?”

“Oh, Lise... My owner found me.”

“And?”

“He has a job for me.”

“Where?”

“At the big eatery in Quadrant Two, up in sector six. I'll be bussing tables and cleaning up.”

“When do you start?”

“Tonight -- in a little while.”

“Tonight?”

“It's a night job.”

“When will you be home?”

“That's the problem. I won't be done until after curfew, so I won't be home until morning. They have a barracks there for the workers who stay overnight.”

“Oh, Tagg! No!” She began crying.

“They're giving me one day off per pay period, and the restaurant is closed another. That's two days off.”

“Two days out of ten!”

“Since it's a night job I can still go to the park and sketch. What about those three rest days when you don't go to Megan's? We can be together, then.”

“Oh, Tagg...” She wiped tears from her eyes. “How much are they paying?”

“One fifty.”

“How much of it can you keep?”

“None of it. My owner says I still owe for my registration.”

“They all say that,” Rayla interjected. “Registrations seem to cost more and more as time goes on.”

“You could make more sitting in the park and sketching. Did you tell your owner what a talented artist you are?”

“I didn't dare. If he knew I was making money from it, he'd claim it's really his and want it. I've already spent some. Lise -- I have to go.”

“No, Tagg...”

“Please -- don't make it more difficult. I must go. You KNOW what'll happen if I don't show up.”

“I know...”

He pulled from her embrace. “I'll see you later.”

He headed up the stairs, stopped halfway, turned and waved.

Lise collapsed, sobbing in her mother's arms. “Oh, Mother... It's not fair!”

“It never is.”

“I thought we'd be so happy together.”

“You will be together, two nights out of ten.”

“But, Mother... Eight nights out of ten we won't be.”

“The nights you're apart will make the ones you're together more special.”

“You don't really believe that.”

“It's better than none at all. When I was your age and living on the pomma farm -- we weren't permitted relationships with men. We lived apart and the overseers determined who we'd spend...”

“You've TOLD me this already, Mother.” She sniffed and wiped tears from her cheeks. “You and Grott are SO lucky.”

“I know we are. I also know it could end on a moment's notice. You're lucky to have Tagg. You must live each day one at a time. Enjoy every moment you have with him. It might be the last.”

“I know...”

Rayla embraced Lise and caressed her bald head. “I had just gotten used to having him around, myself.”

Lise carried a tin can lantern into her room and set it on the floor. She slipped out of her bandeau. From her pocket she retrieved the twenty-unit card Tagg had given her and she dropped it on her mattress.

She pulled off her shorts, put out the light and flopped onto her bed. She reached under the cushion and found the fiver Tagg had given her the other day. Holding the cards in her hand she closed her eyes and sobbed herself to sleep.

The streetcar stopped near a residential neighborhood in quadrant three. She headed toward number 505 and saw Ramina's sleek black car parked at the curb.

She rang the bell and Megan opened the door. “Lise -- come in.”

“Lise,” Ramina said. “Megan was telling me how happy she is with the job you're doing.”

“Thank you, mam.” She smiled toward Megan.

“She also told me about that awful incident with the constables. I wish you had told me about it -- I would've had that cop's credentials.”

“I'm sorry, mam -- I didn't want to bother you with it.”

“It is my job to be bothered by such,” Ramina replied. “With all the crime out there, why should they harass law-abiding folk?”

Megan opened her bag, retrieved two blue fifty-unit scrip cards and handed them to Ramina. “Your fee.”

“Look at this, Lise -- two down and thirty-eight to go.” Lise watched as Ramina put them in her bag.

“Ms Ramina?”

“Yes, Lise?”

“How... Can...”

“What is it, child?”

“Mam, I'd like a way to keep track of the wages I earn -- so I'll know when my debt to you is paid.”

“You can trust me, Lise.”

“But, mam...”

“I understand.” Ramina opened her bag and withdrew a business card and a stylus. She made two strokes on the back of the card. “We'll keep this as a record.”

“May I hold it?” Lise asked.

“Lise?”

“I'm sorry, mam -- I would like to keep the card.”

Ramina's eyes narrowed. “You are a sharp girl, Lise... If I let you hold this, how do I know you won't add an extra mark now and then -- when I'm not looking?”

Lise chewed her lip. “I wouldn't, mam. I never thought of it.”

Ramina withdrew another card. “You can recognize your own name when you see it written, can't you Lise?”

“Yes, mam.”

“Yes, a very sharp girl...” Ramina wrote LISE on the card and put two strokes beneath it. “I'll keep this card and you keep that one. Every pay period I'll add a mark to each. Does that sound fair, Lise?”

She smiled. “Yes, Ms Ramina. Thank you.”

“Good. Now, I'll be on my way...”

“Ms Ramina?”

“Yes, Lise?”

“After the forty pay periods are up -- how much of my wages may I keep? ... Mam?”

“Lise... I have tolerated all the rude talk of wages I can for one day. We will open that discussion after another thirty-eight periods have passed. Understood?”

“Yes, mam. I'm sorry.”

“I accept your apology, Lise. Now, I really must be on my way.”

Megan approached her. “I meant what I said, Lise. I'm very pleased.”

“Thank you.”

“I can see a difference in Geddes's behavior.”

“I do, too.”

Megan opened her bag and removed a yellow five-unit scrip. “This is for you, Lise. I made such a fuss with the livery company over