by Teresa Grabs
She stared at the last page that had only one question: Why would anyone choose to become an enemy of the state? She read the question multiple times in her head. Am I an enemy of the state? She did just eat a contraband candy bar. Does that count as being an enemy? Why is this so hard to answer? Principal Sharpe’s voice played in her head saying any answer was better than no response. She licked her dry lips and wished could get a drink. Why would I want to be an enemy of the state? All I want to be is a citizen. Isn’t it? Before she could answer the question, the official blew his whistle. Echo’s heart broke as Agent Dobson looked at the blank page, stared at Echo, and tutted before moving on to picking up Jasper’s examination.
“You may take a ten-minute break, but I remind you to take it in silence,” the official announced.
Echo walked toward the fountain for a long drink of water, but the stress of the day wreaked havoc with her stomach. She ran to the bathroom and vomited. She remained in the bathroom for the entire break and only realized she was late returning to the examination when Agent Dobson appeared by the bathroom stall door and tapped her shoe on the tiled floor.
“I’m sorry,” Echo said.
“You are two minutes late. You are causing delays in the examination.”
Echo gulped. She was determined not to vomit again and give Agent Dobson a valid reason to send her to the re-education center. She quickly washed her hands. “I am hurrying. I’m sorry.”
When she finished, Agent Dobson stormed out of the bathroom and down the hall a good three strides in front of Echo. There was just enough time between them to force Echo to enter the room on her own. Two hundred and ninety-six faces watched and snicker as she made her way to her seat. Only three looked concerned. She avoided looking at any of the agents or the official as she sat down. She wanted nothing more than to become invisible and run home, but instead, she had to sit and finish her examination.
“You will have one hour for this examination,” the official announced. The agents handed out the examinations and a new pencil. “Begin.”
Dread surged through Echo again after one look at the first question. She flipped through all five pages and died inside. Math. All ten items were math. She took a deep breath and sighed. Math was her worst subject. She wasn’t even in tenth-year math. Every day at two o’clock she had to join the seventh-year students for math. There was no use. She didn’t even understand what three questions asked. Only one question sounded familiar, but even then, she doubted she would answer it correctly.
Every time she glanced up to the front, it seemed as if the official stared right at her. Do they think I’m cheating? For the rest of the hour, Echo stared at her paper and turned the page when others around her turned their pages. She closed her eyes and imagined she was standing by the well in front of her dream house watching the trees sway in the cool breeze. The official’s whistle brought her back to her current situation.
Agent Dobson collected Echo’s examination and gave her the most furious expression she had ever seen before, and her mother was often angry with her. Agent Dobson’s expression terrified her. Echo’s heart pounded, and her leg muscles twitched trying to convince her brain to flee from the hunter standing mere inches from her. The official cleared his throat, and Agent Dobson continued down the line and collected the remaining examinations. Echo sighed silently. The only thing that ran through Echo’s head now was what would happen since she was going to fail the Citizen Fitness Exam. Would they punish Johnny? Would her father lose her job? What would her mother say? She was in tears as Agent Dobson passed with the third, and final written examination.
“Keep your head where it needs to be, Miss Monat,” Agent Dobson said.
That was the first cordial thing Agent Dobson had said to her all day. “Yes, Ma’am,” Echo whispered.
A quick look at the questions after the official announced the two-hour limit for this examination improved her mood. The first question regarded the composition of dirt and its effect on architecture. Answers to questions on how to handle lost property, a crying child, and care of housing units came naturally to her and lifted her spirits so much that Echo began to smile. She raced through this examination and sat quietly with her hands clasped on the desk in front of her. Secretly she wished Faith and a few other students who thought themselves better than everyone else would fail this part of the examination. Nothing pleased Echo more at that moment than the idea that someone else had as much difficulty with the examination as she had all day. Her mind wandered as she waited, but this time it wandered through Bakerton and all the potential careers that laid at her feet. She must have appeared to be daydreaming because when the official blew his whistle, Agent Dobson stared at Echo and shook her head violently as she made scribbled in her notepad. Echo’s joy turned to regret.
“You have one hour for your meal,” the official announced after the agents collected the examinations. “Remain in the cafeteria until your agent calls you for your interview.”
◆◆◆
Three hundred students quietly filled the cafeteria where a special afternoon buffet was waiting. Normally, students would sit and eat, quietly and efficiently, but as the cafeteria was only tenth-year students and it was a special occasion, they could sit with whomever they like and talk. Ansel was the first of her friends to find a table and reserved it by laying on the table top. Echo couldn’t help but laugh as she walked in and saw him spread eagle as if he had died. She didn’t stop at the buffet for food. All she wanted was to be with her friends and forget the day.
“That test killed me,” Ansel said, lifting his head.
He winked and stuck out his tongue at Echo before sliding off the table and flopping on the floor. Everyone in the cafeteria laughed or shook their head.
“Buffet is served,” Jodi said, setting two trays loaded with protein bars, sweet mash, sugar squares, and jellied fruit on the table.
Echo sat down as Megan walked up with her tray. Her friends knew Echo wouldn’t go to the buffet, so they all grabbed something extra for her. Within seconds she had a complete meal sitting in front of her.
“It’s not right to have you take the same math exam,” Ansel said through a mouthful of sweet mash.
Echo just shrugged and picked at her jellied fruit.
“The first set of questions really made me wish I had taken the extra tutoring sessions,” Megan said. “I’m pretty sure I only answered half of them correctly.”
As she listened to her friends complain about the exam, Echo’s mood improved greatly until she was her old, relaxed self. That was until Ansel started talking about the last test.
“What should you do if you see a crying child on the street in the commercial district?” Ansel asked in a high-pitched voice that made Megan and Jodi laugh.
“That one was so easy,” Megan said.
“Leave them alone,” Jodi and Megan sang, making Ansel laugh.
Echo stopped chewing mid-bite and stared at her friends. “What?”
“Yeah,” Jodi said. “Leave ‘em alone. Why am I going to get involved in whatever their problem is?”
“They’re probably disobeying their parents,” Megan added.
“What’d you answer?” Jodi asked.
The call for the first interview saved Echo from answering Jodi but sent her confidence crashing again. The personal interview was the last part of the Citizen Fitness Examination, and it couldn’t come soon enough. One by one, agents summoned a student over the intercom to go to their interview room. Three hours later it was Echo’s turn.
“Sit,” Agent Dobson said from behind the desk as she turned over the first few pages of Echo’s examination packet. “I ask questions, you answer them. That is how this works, do you understand.”
“Yes.” Echo’s mouth ran dry as she gulped the last drop of moisture in her mouth. Agent Dobson scared her to death. She would rather face Mrs. Harris’ dog that attacked her when she was six again than her inquisitor.
“How wel
l did you perform on today’s examinations?”
“I don’t know. I know I didn’t do well on some of them, but I think I did okay. I hope I pass.”
Echo watched as Agent Dobson wrote every word as she said it. Fear, panic, stress, and worry filled her entire body again, but she reminded herself it was over. At least she hoped it was over. All she wanted to do now was go home, say hello to Johnny, and retire to her room where she could hug Charlie and cry. For the next hour, Agent Dobson asked question after question about this and that, her school, her home, what she wanted to do for Bakerton, and how she thought she could help Bakerton if she could not even complete the math part of the examination or have enough coordination to jump a rope. Echo answered the best she could, but the look on Agent Dobson’s face told her it wasn’t.
“Have you, or anyone you know, ever broken a school rule or Bakerton law?”
Echo gulped. She knew she had. The candy bar that very day. Did Agent Dobson, Mrs. Hooper, or Principal Sharpe know already? Did someone tell on her friends? Did her friends tell on her? Was this a test to see if she was loyal to her friends or the State more? She sat across from Agent Dobson and blinked.
Agent Dobson snorted and wrote a page long response to Echo’s silence. “Your examination is complete.” Agent Dobson turned the packet over and threw it on top of a pile on the corner of the desk. “The bus will take you and any waiting students to your housing block. We expect you to keep your grades up, and fully take part in school activities until we announce results in three months. You may go.”
“Okay,” Echo said, looking confused.
“Excuse me, Miss Monat!” Agent Dobson yelled as Echo stood up.
“I’m sorry. Yes, ma’am.”
“That’s better, Miss Monat.”
There were only twelve students on the bus, and none lived in her housing block, so it was a very long and very quiet ride home where she hoped her family would be waiting to support her. She desperately wished her father would be home, but he did not get to come home for another two weeks. As the bus drove through the city, she wondered if her mother would be supportive. She didn’t have to wonder for long. As the bus pulled up to her housing block, only Johnny was waiting to greet her. His smile and waving arms were all that she needed at that moment. She leaped off the bus and scooped him up in a bear hug and swung him around in a circle until the bus driver honked his horn and wagged his finger at them. They hurried to the elevator and pushed their floor and made plans for the night.
Johnny burst through their door and accidentally slammed into their mother who had been pacing the hallway since he left to meet Echo in the lobby three hours earlier. Margaret couldn’t hold back a smile when Johnny danced around the living room and shouted Echo’s arrival home. Her smile however disappeared just as fast as it came when she saw Echo’s face.
“Well?” Margaret asked as she closed the door.
Echo walked into the living room and sat down on their dark gray sofa. She took a deep breath, picked up a small square pillow, and hugged it. “I don’t know.”
“Oh.” Margaret sat next to her and watched Johnny lounge upside down in Gregg’s chair by the heater. “You know you don’t have to get every question right—”
“Mom, I don’t know how to jump rope! I’m behind my class in math! All Agent Dobson did was stare at me as she wrote notes on her notepad.” Echo cried, unable to hold her emotions back any longer.
“Agent Dobson?”
“Yeah,” Echo reached into her jacket and handed her the agent’s card.
Margaret’s eyes widened as she read the card.
“What?”
“Nothing, dear. I’m sure you performed adequately. There are many positions you could get. I wouldn’t worry.”
Margaret took another look at the card and handed it back to Echo as she went to the kitchen and prepared the evening meal. That was not the reaction Echo expected. What else could her mother have expected? Did she know Agent Dobson? Echo was glad her mother wasn’t furious with her, but a little support would have been nice. Echo watched Johnny swing his feet in time to the clock for a few moments, then went to her room where she knew Charlie would be waiting to properly listen to her and support her like he always did.
Charlie was napping on his dog bed when Echo opened her door. He raised his head and started panting as she walked in and sat on the floor next to him.
“How was your day?” she asked, scratching his head.
He stood up, stretched, and yawned. Echo laughed lightly then cried. Charlie licked her face and let out a small yelp as she grabbed him as the day flowed through her eyes into his long scruffy fur. She remained on the floor and laid next to Charlie until her mother announced the evening meal was ready.
The family ate in silence, and for the first time in Echo’s life, she wished her father was there. He would know what to say. She wasn’t that close to him as some male citizens were required to live at their workplaces except for every other weekend when they could return to their family homes. The only citizens exempt from living at their workplace were top officials, and that was only because Premier Steiner declared their children needed more support to become officials themselves when they were fifteen. Echo needed her father just as much as they did, but she also knew there was no point in being upset by something she had no control over.
Echo picked at her fish patty and potato flakes until Margaret had enough. “Go to your room if this food isn’t good enough for you.”
“Finally!”
Echo stormed out of the kitchen and slammed her bedroom door as a final protest. She sat on the floor with Charlie’s head on her knee writing in her journal about the day’s events until the evening’s lights turned on and it was time for bed. Echo climbed on her bed and drifted off to sleep.
Four
A warm summer breeze teased Echo as it brushed against her cheek and danced around her bare feet. Sounds of songbirds filled the air as sweet, unfamiliar scents engulfed her in a blanket of security, comfort, and happiness. She was home. The grass under her feet was warm, and the stones of the old well radiated the summer sun. She knew every inch of this dream world and the small house behind her, but the dirt path leading away from her home and well up a new tree-covered hill was new. The hill was new. The trees were new. The man standing on the path under a tree was new.
Echo panicked seeing someone else in her dream world. Up until now, it had just been her and the house. Her dreams couldn’t hurt her though, could they? She admitted to herself that this recurring dream was unlike all her other dreams, but something about him and the changes to her dream world filled her with curiosity.
“Hello,” she called out to the man.
“Well, are ya comin’ or not?” he hollered back, beckoning her with his arm.
She jogged up the hill carefully avoiding touching the trees, leaves, or branches that lined the new dirt path. When she neared the middle of the hill, the man turned back and stretched out his arm to rest on a tree while waiting for her to catch up.
“STOP!” she screamed, bolting the rest of the way to the top of the hill.
The man grabbed his chest and gasped. “Why in tarnation are ya yellin’ at me ta stop?”
“Trees,” she said between pants, resting her hands on her knees.
“Yeah, they’re trees.” He was confused. “What about ‘em?”
“They’ll kill you instantly.”
Her breathing returned to normal, and she was able to get a better look at the newest addition to her dream world. He was old. Gray hair, gray beard, thin but not real thin. She had never seen clothes like his before. The pants were dark blue and extended up over his chest and held up by two pieces of dark blue material. Under that, he had a dirty white shirt. No shoes. Looking at him, Echo thought he looked very comfortable in his clothes, and the clothes looked comfortable on him. When she looked at his wrinkled face, she couldn’t tell if that was his normal face or not because he was laughing hyst
erically at her.
“What’s so funny?” she asked.
“Killer trees.” The old man’s face was bright red from his laughing, and he started slapping his thigh.
“Yeah, trees kill instantly.” Echo became annoyed with the old man. She didn’t like people laughing at her.
She looked around at the various kinds of trees surrounding them. Then she noticed all the birds sitting on the branches watching them. Small furry animals ran up and down a tree behind the old man in the distance.
“At…at least that’s what I’ve always been told.”
His eyes met the sincerity in Echo’s face, and he slowly stopped laughing. His expression turned to pity as he sighed and shook his head.
“Well miss, trees will not kill you,” he said. “Here, watch.”
He gently placed his right hand on the aspen near him and watched Echo squirm and look away until she realized he didn’t die. He gently chuckled then put both hands on the tree. He laughed as he gave the tree a hug and the sight of an old man hugging a tree made Echo laugh too.
“Come here, miss.”
“I…I…okay.”
Echo walked slowly up to the old man and stretched out her arm. Her whole body tensed and cringed as he softly took her hand and placed it on the tree. Nothing. She opened her eyes and smiled. She was still alive. Echo laughed as she patted the tree.
