by Teresa Grabs
“The scientific research center is exploring new synthetic polymers for clothing,” Jodi said. “It was fantastic.”
“You’ll find a wonderful job you love,” Megan told Echo. “We’ve only had one field trip.”
Echo wasn’t sure about that, but she smiled and nodded to be nice. She was glad her friends enjoyed their first shadow experience, and she tried to keep her hopes up. Those hopes were dashed the following the day when she was assigned to the family planning workshop while her friends shadowed in her dad’s department. She accepted that they were better than she was, and that was just the way it was going to be. There was nothing that could be done.
Her mother must have had the same impression about her as Principal Sharpe did because every night she called Echo into the kitchen to help prepare the evening meal. Her lot in life was to serve others. She understood that now. Not serve them in any real meaningful, contributory way, but just to serve. Like a machine. Nothing more and nothing less. It was a very long two months filled with shadowing cleaners and other service workers and workshops on the role of families within the Bakerton. Echo gave each shadowing experience a three. If that were to be her life, then she would just have to accept it. There was no use in saying whether she would want to perform that task or not. The only glimmer of hope she had for a more exciting future came when all tenth-year students went on field trips to Bakerton’s Resource Center complex.
She impressed the agents and officials at the State Natural Science Research Center on her knowledge of dirt, sand, and how natural elements affected property. She loved natural science and felt like it was the only place she shined. Two of the agents took down her name and said they would be following her during the selection process. No one else from her school was told that. She was still giddy when she told her mother as she prepared the evening meal that night.
“That’s nice, dear, but don’t hold your breath,” Margaret said. “You need really high scores for that office.” She handed Echo a spatula for the hash.
“I know, Mom, but it would be really great to work there, and I think I would be really good at it.”
“Go for it!” Johnny shouted from the table. Echo blushed and smiled, but Margaret simply pursed her lips.
“Don’t get your hopes up until graduation and the assignment ceremony.” She was done listening to Echo discuss her future.
◆◆◆
Twelve weeks had passed since Echo took the citizen fitness examination and it was the end of her last day as a student-citizen. They returned from their last job shadowing experience, and Echo’s arms and legs ached from carrying soundproofing tiles up ten floors so that facility repair teams could install new flooring in a housing block. Ansel and Jodi spent the day at the Climate Bureau and Megan read to children at an elementary school.
“No matter what,” Ansel said, putting his hand in the center of the table, “we agree to remain friends.”
“Agreed,” Jodi and Megan said together. They put their hands on his.
Echo looked at her friends and sighed. She knew the truth. They may say hello on their way to work in one of the offices or nod as they passed her on the street, but they would eventually forget about her. She put her hand in nonetheless. “Agreed.” She did her best to smile, but inside she had already given up.
Ansel tickled her until she laughed out loud, and Jodi poked her until she said she really meant they would stay friends. They could always tell what she was thinking, which was one of the things that made them great friends to have.
“Don’t give up yet,” Megan said. “We don’t know where we’ll be assigned.”
“Yeah, besides, the last twelve weeks have been Principal Sharpe’s ideas, not Bakerton’s,” Ansel reminded her.
Echo thought about that for a moment. He was right. Principal Sharpe had assigned everyone’s group to their destination. Maybe she did well enough on the examination to get placed at the Natural Science Research Center. After all, she felt she did get all the questions correct on that section, and the agents there did take down her name. Maybe there was hope after all. Her spirits lifted, and the four friends spent the rest of the day in the library talking, laughing, and enjoying the moment until Principal Sharpe announced the buses had arrived.
“See you tomorrow, future citizen,” Ansel joked as he left.
“I hope we get assigned somewhere together,” Megan said as she left.
“We will always be friends,” Jodi said. “Or more,” he whispered as he kissed her cheek.
Echo blushed. He had never done that before. It wasn’t allowed. Jodi and Ansel were never really ones to follow the rules all the time, but she was shocked he would do it at school. She giggled as he left the library.
Mrs. Dobson chuckled lightly. “You better be going too.”
“Sorry, Mrs. Dobson.”
Echo couldn’t wait for the next day to arrive. She would take part in the graduation and assignment assembly, attend Johnny’s promotion ceremony, and be a full-fledged citizen once and for all. She smiled as she walked down to the buses and the whole way home.
“I have something for you,” Margaret said. She held up a large gray box with a black ribbon it.
Echo was surprised. Her mother rarely ever gave her anything special. She threw down her backpack and smiled. “Thank you, Mom!”
“Well, you don’t know what it is yet,” she chuckled.
Echo laughed and took the box. Johnny came running out of his room shouting, “What is it? What is it?”
“It’s for your sister, not you, silly.”
“Ah, it’s okay.” Echo pulled Johnny close and whispered, “Wanna help me open it?”
“Uh-huh.”
Together they pulled on the ribbon until it unfurled. She carefully folded it and put it in her pocket. Johnny lifted the lid the of the box and gasped. Echo’s eyes bulged as she too gasped in delight. If she could have jumped up and down while doing cartwheels, she would have. Citizen’s clothes! Her mother gave her a set of citizen’s clothes. Not any set though. Echo held up the jacket as tears trickled down her cheek. This was the lightweight citizen 3W. Solid black fabric, soft, ever so soft fabric. Light red trim with matching lining. Just the one she wanted. This set came with the soft, flowing white shirt and matching light red tie. Finally, she could wear a shirt that didn’t scratch all day long. Tears flowed faster.
“Don’t cry on it,” Margaret quipped.
Echo wiped her eyes with her school uniform and carefully took the box to her room and set it on the small table. She couldn’t wait until tomorrow to wear it. After the evening meal, Echo retired early so that she could think about Jodi’s kiss, her mother’s gift, and what the future held in store for her in just twelve short hours in peace and quiet. It had been quite a day, and she quickly fell asleep petting Charlie. That night she dreamt of Jodi and her applying for permission to cohabitate and applying for admission into the future citizen program. As she stirred from those dreams and laid on her bed and listened to Charlie’s snores coming from his dog bed, her mind turned toward her little house by the stone well and the old man. She wondered if he was still there in his camp with Betsy since she had not dreamt of the house for months as she drifted off back to sleep. A loud knocking on their housing unit’s door jolted her from a nightmare that included anghenbeasts and Agent Dobson. Echo glanced at her clock and rubbed her eyes to make sure it really was flashing two thirty.
Six
Charlie’s ears perked up, and he growled when Margaret opened their housing unit’s door. They rarely had visitors, and Echo never recalled a time when a visitor arrived in the middle of the night. Even her father would not come after dark. She sat frozen in her bed and strained to hear the slightest movement in the hall. Charlie’s fur rose, and his growling intensified.
“Shh, Charlie,” Echo whispered.
Her heart leaped into her throat when someone knocked on her bedroom door.
“Echo,” Margaret whispered, opening
Echo’s bedroom door. “I need you to come to the living room please.”
Echo got out of bed and smoothed her nightgown. “Stay, Charlie.” She joined her mother in the hallway. “What’s wrong?”
“Shh.” Margaret put her finger up to her lips. “Just come on.”
As they rounded the corner into the living room, Echo saw a Bakerton official and Agent Dobson sitting on the couch. Every inch of her body told Echo to run. Run as far and as fast as she could, but with them in front of her and her mother behind her, she knew there was no escape.
“Miss Echo Alexandra Monat?” the official asked as he stood up.
Few people ever used her full name. Even her parents never used her full name unless she pushed them beyond their limits. She blinked and nodded. Agent Dobson handed her a medium-sized black backpack she had been holding.
“You have five minutes to change into the clothing in that bag and collect any personal items you wish to take with you,” the official said.
“Take with me?” This must be a dream! Right?
“Yes, Miss Monat,” Agent Dobson said, standing next to the official. “Take with you. You will be coming with us.”
Going with them? Why? Echo’s heart pounded so hard she was sure it could be heard by everyone in the room, and they just ignored it. What’s going on? She looked to her mother for answers, but she seemed as shocked as Echo felt.
“Now, Miss Monat,” Agent Dobson said.
“I’ll help you,” Margaret said, taking the backpack from Echo and together they walked down the hall to her room.
“Quickly change into whatever’s in here, hun,” Margaret said, tossing the backpack on the bed. “I’ll grab a few things for you.”
“What’s going on, Mom?”
“I…I don’t know. If I did, I would tell you.”
Echo quickly opened the backpack, emptied it on the bed, and handed it to her mother. She exchanged her tan nightgown for soft black shoes, tan pants, and a thin white shirt like Johnny wore. As she changed into her new clothes, she watched her mother rush around her room tossing in her hairbrush, toothbrush, and family photo. Echo nearly gasped out loud when she watched her mother open the nightstand’s drawer, sift through the books and trinkets, pull out her journal and pencil, and toss it into the backpack.
“Miss Monat, you must come with us now,” Agent Dobson called from the hallway.
Margaret latched the bag and handed it to Echo without looking her in the face. The fact that her mother would not look at her hurt more than anything else that was going on. Together they walked back into the living room where the official and Agent Dobson paced impatiently.
“What’s going on?” Echo asked again.
No one responded.
“Am I going to be gone long?”
Again, no response.
“Can I say bye to Johnny?”
“No, you may not,” the official said.
Tears welled up in Echo’s eyes, but she was not about to give Agent Dobson or the curt official the pleasure of seeing her cry. They headed to the door when Charlie scampered down the hall and jumped on Echo’s leg. Neither Echo nor Margaret had thought about Charlie until that moment. Echo didn’t have the heart to look down at him. If she had, she would have collapsed into a pile of mush on the floor.
“Can she take the mutt?” Margaret asked. “It’s hers, and I don’t want it.”
What! How can Mom call Charlie a mutt! Echo was shocked, but her mother’s statement just defined their whole relationship. Echo and Charlie were nothing more than pests that she had not been able to get rid of. It explained why her mother acted differently around Johnny. She really did not care. Echo had never felt more alone in her life.
“The contents of this housing unit are under your control,” the official said. “If you wish her to take the animal, we will accommodate the request.”
The official ignored Agent Dobson’s disgruntled expression. Echo reached down and picked Charlie up. All the way through the housing unit’s hallway, Charlie licked her face. Down the elevator, he licked her neck. When they sat in the back seat of the official’s car, Charlie laid down beside her with his head on her leg. He was the only thing in the world that cared she was alive.
They drove through the city toward the Bakerton City Center and State Building. She wondered in silence where they were going but didn’t dare make a sound. She watched the buildings flash by, and the flicker of city lights here and there provided the backdrop for a daydream in which Echo was not in trouble, but instead scored better than everyone else, and she was being taken to the State Building for a special meeting with Premier Steiner where she would be given an official position. They drove past the State Building and shattered her daydream.
Her heart pounded as they drove closer to the re-education center, but at least that wasn’t death, right? She quaked as they drove out to the far end of Bakerton where she had never been before. As far as she knew, none of her friends had been out this far. This area was the buffer zone between the Austero Plains and Bakerton where drones and security units patrolled a large metal fence that encircled Bakerton and kept the anghenbeast out. At least that’s what she had always heard about the fence. What are we doing out here?
The official pulled the car into a driveway in front of a building marked Outpost 3 and parked the car. It was a simple, square, two-story building with two windows and a small door, but the building felt so final. As if so few people ever saw this building that it didn’t need anything more than the necessities.
“Watch your dog, Miss Monat,” the official said as he and Agent Dobson exited the car.
Agent Dobson waited outside Echo’s door as she secured Charlie and slipped on her backpack. The official and Agent Dobson escorted them into the outpost. Just inside the door was a counter and beyond that were two agents in solid black uniforms. Everything inside the building seemed as final as the outside. One agent fiddled with things on his desk while the other looked at Echo and flipped through file folders behind the counter.
“I’ll take it from here,” she said. “Miss, stand over there please.”
Echo clutched Charlie tightly and moved to the corner of the room on the backside of the door. She watched in terrified silence as the outpost agent set a file folder on the counter and asked the official and Agent Dobson to each sign the top sheet in the folder. They then left the outpost without further thought. Echo watched through the small window as they drove away and headed back to Bakerton.
“Come here,” the outpost agent said, flipping to another page in the file.
The agent verified Echo’s address and student-citizen number.
“Names are no longer important,” the agent said. “You have been found unredeemable.”
Echo’s eyes widened as she tightened her grip on Charlie. “Does that mean you’re going to execute me?”
Both agents laughed. “At your age? Hardly worth the time,” the agent at the desk said, handing the female agent the gadget he had been tinkering with.
“Put out your left wrist.”
She shifted Charlie to her right arm and watched as the agent put a metal bracelet around her wrist. Three red lights flashed, then turned green.
“Sit over there until the others arrive.” The agent pointed to a small room in the rear of the outpost where five chairs were waiting for people.
Others? Others are coming? Echo was secretly glad that she would not be going through whatever was going to happen alone, but she also felt sad for whoever else was going through this. She picked a seat that allowed her to watch the process for whoever came next. A few minutes passed without interruption, so Charlie curled up in her lap and went back to sleep. He didn’t like being woken up in the middle of the night and forced out of his home either. If it weren’t for him though, she would have been an emotional wreck. She felt horrible that he would have to endure whatever happened, but she was happy he was there nonetheless.
Two cars pulled up at the
same time and, just like with her, an official was driving, and an agent sat in the passenger seat. They had to drag the person from the first car in because he fell to the ground and refused to move. Echo heard his cries from her seat inside the building. She felt horrible for him but also secretly applauded his ability to show his emotions. She wanted to sit and cry too but would not give them the satisfaction of knowing she was hurt. She never felt such anger and resentment toward the very thing she had wanted to be a part of until she watched the official and agent pick him up under his arms and drag him inside. They dropped him on the floor in front of the counter, signed him over, then returned to their car and drove away.
The person from the second car walked stoically into the outpost ahead of his official and agent escorts just to spite them. Once inside, Echo recognized him from her first year at Bakerton High School. Andrew Harris wasn’t in her year, but was three years ahead of her and, rumor had it, was sent to the re-education center because he attacked another student with a knife. The expression on his face sent shivers up her spine. Even the outpost agent seemed intimidated because she didn’t ask him any questions. All she did was put his bracelet on and send him to the back with Echo.
It took the outpost agent several minutes to verify the first person’s information and put the bracelet around his left wrist. He collapsed on the floor and hugged his stuffed animal. Both agents left their post and dragged him across the floor to the waiting room.
“What’s your name?” Echo asked.
“Edward,” he said between sobs.
Andrew shook his head and tutted. “Weakling.”
“Shush!” Echo demanded.
“And just who do –”
Charlie growled and snarled as Andrew started to stand up. He shook his head and scooted his chair away from Echo and Edward. She hugged Charlie and whispered how good he was in his ear. Time passed slowly in the outpost. Two more cars pulled into the parking lot. One brought an older man with a horribly scarred face from the re-education center, and the other car brought a woman from the Bakerton Medical Center who had chains around her wrists, waist, and feet. They received different processing than the former student-citizens. There were no bracelets, and they were not told to sit in the waiting room. The outpost agents placed them in different restraints, and their escorts took them through a door on the other side of the building and returned a few minutes later. Their escorts then signed a few forms and left the outpost.
