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

like this. I'm getting my things and I'm going.”

Tagg bounded down the steps. He returned with an armload of his clothing. “I should've left the other night,” he said and headed toward the far end of the Zone.

Lise sat on a bench, her face buried in her hands. “It's my body,” she said. “I can do with it what I please, and it pleased me to sleep with Thom.”

The warning chimes sounded. “Lise...” Rayla approached her. “Lise, come inside.”

“You heard what Father said.”

“He said it in haste. Neither of us want you to spend the night out here. Come along.”

“Do you think what I did was really so wrong? Thom's a good man. He's helped me ... he's helped all of us, and I love him.”

“I thought you loved Tagg.”

“I do. All I wanted to do was to get the bounty lifted.”

“Was that the bargain? Your honor to lift Tagg's bounty.”

“Honor? What is honor? No, Mother. I love Thom, too. How does it damage my honor to make love with a man I love? What difference does the color of his skin make?”

“We live in two societies, Lise.”

“It's one world and one society, Mother. And, why does it have to be one and only one man?”

“That is the generally accepted arrangement.”

“It was a one-time thing with Thom.”

“So you say. One time 'til the next time.”

“Maybe I should go to his house and not come back.”

“You could've gone there. The chimes have sounded and it'll be curfew soon. Now, you dare not leave the Zone.” Rayla sat beside her daughter and put her hand on Lise's knee. “I think you need to choose the life you want to lead. You can be the kept mistress of a wealthy white man, or you can be poor and free, here in the Zone. You can't live in two worlds.”

“There is a third way, Mother. Tagg is a good artist. He can make real money selling his art. We can find a place outside the Zone. With my work and his art, we can afford it. Why doesn't he want that?”

“He may yet. Give him time. Remember, the more you have, the more you have to lose.”

“That sounds like Father talking.”

“If you want to make a life with Tagg, you had better make your peace with him. If that means forswearing Thom, so be it.”

“I know.”

The curfew siren sounded.

“Come inside, dear,” Rayla said. “The night's long and dangerous.”

Lise stood and embraced her mother. “You're a good friend.” She walked to the steps and barred the door behind her.

XIV

“Lise! Grott!” Lise awakened to her mother calling.

“What is it?” she asked, pulling aside the sheet to her room.

Rayla was holding her mediascreen. “The pomma farms -- they're all on lockdown!”

“Lockdown?” Grott asked. “All of them?”

“All within five hundred kilometres of Vyonna.”

“Someone must've got wind of the strike.”

“Yes -- one of the farms struck a day early.”

“The idiots! There goes the element of surprise.”

“What does lockdown mean?” Lise asked.

“They bar the doors to the farm workers' barracks and close the shutters. The workers are locked inside, away from sunlight. I was in a lockdown, once. It's terrifying. You're shut in the dark -- you lose track of time, of the sun rising and setting. Then, the sun hunger sets in. It takes a strong worker not to crack after three or four days.”

“So, Mott has lost the farms,” Lise remarked.

“Right. Before the pomma crop is ruined, it'll be worker turning on worker in the barracks. They'll hand over the strike organizers and it'll be over. They'll be begging to go back to the fields. Without the threat to the pomma crop, the city strike will have no teeth. None at all.”

“The strike's a failure before it started,” Lise replied. “They might as well call it off.”

“And, regroup for another day,” Grott added. “That won't happen. Mott has whipped those hotheads into a frenzy.”

Lise headed up the steps to bathe. She spotted Tagg heading toward the building. He stopped and faced her. “It's not going to work, Tagg,” she said. “Leave this bunch. Come back and do what you're good at doing.”

“No.”

“You've lost the farms, Tagg. Before the strike started you lost the farms.”

“It only makes it more important that we all go out tomorrow. All of us, Lise. You, too. That's why I'm here. I want to know you'll go out with us.”

“I'm not striking, Tagg. I have no complaint with Megan.”

“She's white. That's complaint enough.”

“She's my friend. She's a mom who needs work. Her kids need watching.”

“It's all for one and one for all, Lise. I was up all night. I need sleep.” He pushed past her and down the steps.

“Tagg!” Lise shouted after him. “I thought you said you were moving out!”

“He's welcome here,” Rayla replied.

Lise bathed and dressed. “Mother -- I'm going.” She headed back up the steps and toward the gate leading from the Zone. A group of novonid men loitered around the gateway. She looked them over. They were a motley bunch, with many unregistereds among them.

She passed through the crowd. “Strike tomorrow,” they chanted.

Lise made her way to the corner and waited for the bus. Her ride to Megan's house was uneventful. She rang the bell. Megan greeted her with an embrace.

“The strike is all that's on the news this morning,” Megan said. “It seems somehow someone let it slip.”

“Yes -- one of the pomma farms struck a day early. I don't think it'll amount to anything. Some of the factories in Quadrant Four will be shut for a few days.”

“Do you expect violence?”

“I don't know. I expect to be here tomorrow.”

Megan headed out her door. Lise sat on the sofa and flicked on the mediascreen.

“Hey!” Klarissa said, “I thought you didn't like watching.”

“This is the news,” Lise replied.

“The news is boring,” Geddes added. “Let's go to the park.”

“When I want to go to the park, you want to watch. Now I want to watch and you want to go to the park.”

“Let's watch Jaks.”

“No, Geddes. I want to watch the news.”

“Why?” asked Klarissa.

“Because it's about the strike. Please be quiet and let me watch. Go look at a book or something.”

Lise watched the news reports. Klarissa sat on the floor with her back against Lise's shins.

“Lise?”

“Yes, Klarissa?”

“What are they saying about the strike?”

“They're interviewing people ... both humans and novonids. The consensus is that it's the Zone that'll be striking.”

“What's the Zone?”

“The Green Zone -- the part of the city reserved for novonids.”

“Is that where you live?”

“Yes, Klarissa.”

“I thought you said you weren't going to strike.”

“I'm not. Not everyone in the Zone agrees with the strike. I think it'll be just a couple of factories that will strike.”

“Why?”

“Because these factories hire lots of workers from the Zone who are likely to strike. Klarissa -- I want to listen to this. When this news report is over, we'll go to the park and then I'll make your lunch. Okay?”

“Okay...”

Lise heard Megan unlock the front door. “How did it go?”

“Fine,” Lise replied.

“What's the word on the strike?”

“The city wants to make sure anyone who wants to work will be able to. They're assigning constable's deputies to ride the busses.”

“You mean on the back?”

“Yes, where we ride.”

Megan laughed. “It'll serve them right. I never knew why you had to ride there.”

“The fare's affordable,” Lise replied. “I'll see you tomorrow.”

“Good luck. Lise -- don't do anything foolish.”

“I won't.”

“We should go to the bus stop together tomorrow,” Rayla said. “Some of them might try blocking the path, but they won't get in Grott's way.”

“Or, we could use the tunnel,” Lise replied. “Not everyone knows about it.”

“It'll be interesting,” Grott said. “We might as well turn in. We'll see what tomorrow brings.”

Lise stretched out on her mattress. She wished Tagg were there, but imagined he'd spend all night in meetings with Mott or his henchmen, planning strategies to attempt to enforce the strike. She closed her eyes and willed herself to sleep.

Morning's light woke her and she could hear a commotion outside and chanting of “Strike! Strike! Strike!” She performed her morning routine and joined Grott and Rayla as they headed toward the path leading from the Zone. Grott had armed himself with a piece of iron pipe.

A mob of novonid men and boys milled around the gate leading outside the Zone. The three of them paused. “They look nastier than I figured,” Grott said.

“I hope the fervor fades in a few days,” Rayla replied.

Lise spotted a young novonid male hanging back from the crowd. He approached them. “There's no way through,” he said. “All the entrances are blocked.”

“Come through with us,” Grott said. The young man shook his head.

“You two go through,” Lise suggested. “I'll take him with me through the tunnel.”

She watched as Grott and Rayla approached the mob. Grott took Rayla's hand and walked through. The crowd parted to let him pass.

“They won't mess with him,” Lise said. “Follow me.”

She led the young man into one of the other buildings, down into the basement and through passageways. She picked up one of the sticks and felt her way through the tunnel until she saw light filtering from the street.

Lise set down the stick and climbed the steps. At the corner was a smaller crowd harassing those awaiting the bus. One of the coaches lumbered down the street and stopped at the corner.

Lise grabbed the young man's hand and made a dash for the bus. She felt hands grabbing for her and feet trying to trip her but she made it to her goal and climbed onto the platform. Standing there was a constable with his weapon drawn. It was the first time in her life she was happy to see one. He smiled and nodded at her. She grabbed the overhead rail and held on as the bus pulled from the corner.

Megan greeted Lise with a hug. “I see you made it.”

“No real problem,” Lise replied.

“It's pretty quiet in this part of town.”

“It's pretty raucous over in Quadrant Four.”

“I hear some of the farms are back to normal operation already.”

“Yes,” Lise replied. “It's playing out about how Grott expected it would.”

“Who?”

“My stepfather. He spent time on a farm before coming to the city. The farms have hundreds of years of experience in dealing with this sort of thing. They just locked them down -- shut them into the barracks without sunlight. A white person can't appreciate how distressing it is for us to be locked in a dark room.”

“They need to lock the strikers in a dark room.”

“That's the trouble here in the city. There isn't that sort of control.”

“Lise -- I'm surprised to hear you talk that way.”

It's the few that spoil it for the many", Lise replied.

“I suggest you stay indoors today,” Megan added. “No sense asking for trouble. I even told the children they could watch Jaks.”

Lise sat in the courtyard soaking up the last strong rays of sunshine. Her mother sat beside her with her mediascreen. “Grott pegged it,” she said. “The only disruptions were to the factories here in Quadrant Four. In a few days the fervor will burn itself out and we'll be back to normal. So far, we've avoided bloodshed. That's good.”

“The constables on the busses help,” Lise added.

“Yes... I never expected to be happy to see a deputy.”

“We should go below and lock up,” Grott said. “Just in case things get rowdy after dark.”

Grott followed Lise and Rayla into the basement. He dropped the bar across the door.

“Maybe we should turn in early and get up early,” Lise suggested. “We can beat the mobs to the bus stop. I wonder how long it'll take them to figure out about that tunnel.”

Lise stretched out on her mattress. Dusk had given way to night. She closed her eyes and attempted to sleep. She was beginning to drowse when pounding on the door snapped her awake.

“Lise! Open up!”

She lifted the bar and let Tagg into the basement. He carried a