Turnabout

by Carmen Webster Buxton

“Speaking of what we need,” I said, groaning as my muscles told me how unhappy they were, “how about letting me up?”

  Marjani chewed her lip as she studied me.

  “If you expect me to walk later, you’d better untie me now,” I said, groaning for effect. “I’m going to be stiff for a while.”

  Marjani undid the knots on my ankles while Esi untied my wrists. As soon as my hands were free, I tried to move my arms. “Agh!”

  “Shh!” Esi slipped her hand over my mouth. “Quiet!”

  “Ack,” I said more quietly when she moved her hand. “My arms hurt.” I moved one leg tentatively. It was sore, but nowhere near as bad as my arms. I tried to sit up and nearly screamed again. “In fact my whole body hurts.”

  “Poor thing.” Esi pushed me to a sitting position. “I’ll have to give you a koru ba.”

  “A what?” I’d never heard the word before, so it alarmed me.

  “Like this.” Esi kneaded my neck muscles for a second, and I got it. A koru ba was a massage.

  At Esi’s direction, I sat cross-legged on the ground. Meanwhile Marjani put the door back in place and then sat down at the table. It seemed much dimmer in the room after that, and I realized it must be late in the day.

  Marjani lit the lantern and began inspecting the things she had taken from the canvas bag, muttering to herself as she did it. She sounded like she was deciding the best way to assemble a disguise.

  I watched Marjani thread a needle while Esi knelt behind me and put her hands on my shoulders. At first Esi just rubbed lightly, but after a while she dug her fingers into my shoulder muscles, and I let out an exclamation. “Agh!”

  Esi moved her hands away.

  “Don’t stop.” I twisted my head back and forth trying to get the kinks out of my neck. “It’s painful at first, but it helps.”

  Marjani cut and stitched while Esi rubbed my back and my arms for me, kneading vigorously and even pounding on my back. I still hurt, but at least I could sit up without screaming. After Esi finished my arms, she told me to put my legs out straight, and then she began to massage my calves.

  Marjani stood up and lifted something that looked sort of like a cross between a padded bra and those corset things women wore a long time ago. “Let’s try this on him.”

  “I’m not wearing that,” I said at once.

  Marjani smiled, but it wasn’t a warm smile. “Would you care to wager on that?”

  “You have to, Jayzoon,” Esi said in a rush, her face contorted into a distressed frown. “If people realize you’re a man, you could be pulled to pieces.”

  Marjani came over to where I sat on the ground with my legs spread in front of me. “Hold out your arms, Jason.”

  I wondered again why Marjani could pronounce my name when no one else from Makoro could, but I had other concerns at the moment. I shook my head. “I don’t think so.”

  One of Marjani’s feet shot out in a swift kick to my groin.

  I saw it coming just in time to move, so she got me in the thigh instead of the nuts, but it still hurt. “Ow!”

  Esi screamed, but Marjani just grabbed my hair and yanked my head back. My hands were too busy shielding the family jewels for me to try to fight back.

  “Don’t make me do worse,” Marjani said.

  What did it matter if I wore a bra? No one I cared about was going to see me in it. I pulled off my shirt and held out my arms.

  “Lace it in the back, Esi,” Marjani said, slipping the thing over my arms.

  Esi tied it on. It felt like a fucking corset.

  “Do you really wear these?” I asked.

  “Marjani does,” Esi said, adjusting the straps. “I’m small, so I don’t bother.” She held up a high-necked gray tunic. “Now this.”

  I stood up to put on the tunic. The collar was too snug to be comfortable, but the bra was the worst part. I had fucking boobs. Small as they were, they got in the way when I moved my arms.

  “I feel like an idiot,” I said, tugging at the tight collar.

  “Now the pants,” Esi said, picking up the black trousers.

  “This goes on first.” Marjani held up something that looked like a girdle, but the seat had been padded.

  I opened my mouth to say I wasn’t going to wear it, but a glare from Marjani made me change my mind. I turned my back to the two of them, dropped my jeans, and pulled on the girdle. It fit snugly but wasn’t uncomfortably tight except for the crotch where Marjani had fastened a round piece of plastic that flattened me out but good. It was almost like wearing a cup, but one that someone had stepped on first.

  I pulled the pants up next. They fit tighter than the girdle, especially around the waist. I fastened them and turned around, feeling like I had been shrink-wrapped.

  The disguise wasn’t complete yet. My hair was cut in the short, distinctive Mr. Spock style that Hobart had insisted on. Esi put a long brown wig on my head and twitched it into place. It itched, and it felt really weird.

  Marjani gave me a critical stare. “You look like a girl who grew too fast for her own good. But you’re not so homely as I thought you’d be.” She frowned and slapped my hands away from the collar. “Don’t unbutton the tunic. That bump on your throat will give you away.”

  It took me a minute to realize she meant my Adam’s apple.

  “And the beard,” Esi said.

  I rubbed my hand across the stubble on my chin. I’d been shaving for over a year, but in the last few months my beard had started to come in much thicker.

  “I’ve got some tacha for that,” Marjani said. “It cost more than it should, but it’s supposed to work.”

  When Marjani picked up a small jar and opened it, I realized tacha must mean lotion or cream. The stuff looked more like Mom’s moisturizer than anything else.

  Marjani held the jar to the lantern light and read the directions. “It’s supposed to be quick.”

  It was quick. Marjani slathered some of the pale blue cream on my face while Esi went to fetch more water. The cream tingled a bit, but by the time Esi came back with the water, Marjani said it was time to wash it off.

  Esi poured the water into the wash basin and I washed my face. My skin felt remarkably smooth—much smoother than I’d ever gotten it with a razor.

  “There.” Marjani sounded pleased. “That will do.” She looked at the small jar. “Hopefully, we can sell him within the next day or two, or we’ll need to buy more tacha.”

  Esi flinched, but she looked me up and down, too. “He does look better. But his hands are too masculine.”

  I looked down at my own hands—square, with long but blunt fingers and uneven fingernails. They reassured me; I might be wearing a wig and a bra and have a padded butt, but I wasn’t really a girl. I tucked my hands behind me before Marjani could suggest using the cream to get rid of the hair on my knuckles.

  “Hopefully no one will pay attention to his hands.” Marjani tilted her head. “Should we make his poorchai bigger?”

  When Esi patted my padded bra I figured the word must mean boobs.

  “No,” Esi said. “He would look out of proportion. He’s slender, like me, so he should be a little small.” She took a step closer and studied my butt. “You did a good job with the padding.”

  A wave of dizziness came over me. I was standing in a homeless squat, wearing a wig, a padded bra, and pants tight enough to make my mother frown. Not even the months I’d spent in Adeola’s and Hobart’s house had prepared me for the possibility of reality changing that much.

  “He looks faint,” Marjani said. “We had better feed him before we go.”

  Esi laid out the food while Marjani pushed the concrete block back over toward the table. I sat on the concrete, and they each took a stool.

  Dinner was a lamb pie, that was more crust than meat, and an apple. I ate because I was ravenous, but the food tasted like ashes in my mouth. Sitting at a dinner table, even with two homeless kidnappers, reminded me of family dinners with Mom and Lorrie. Missing them broug
ht a lump to my throat that made it hard to swallow.

  I chewed the stringy lamb and prayed that my stay in Makoro wouldn’t get any worse.

  But I knew very well it could.

  MARJANI blew out the lantern, screwed the lid to the fuel compartment shut, and then slipped the lantern into the pack on my back. She gripped my shoulder. “Remember, if you try to run, I’ll tackle you and then put the bag over your head again.”

  I nodded. I knew it, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t run if I got the chance.

  “We should wait until it’s darker,” Esi said, shifting the bundle on her back. The bundle over my shoulder was even bigger, but Marjani had left her own arms free so she could keep me in line.

  “I don’t want to have to climb that hill in the dark,” Marjani said. She gave me a shove. “Get moving.”

  I started forward, but as soon as I stepped outside I halted. It wasn’t much lighter outside than it had been inside after Marjani blew out the lantern.

  Esi stepped around me. “I’ll go first. I know the way.”

  I started walking but took a moment to study the area, as best as I could see it in the approaching twilight. The maglev track, a thick concrete causeway on low pylons ran in a long gradual curve toward the city. Marjani and Esi’s squat was built underneath it, where the pylons rose up to cross over the stream and meet a line of nearby hills. Off in the distance I could just see three dots of light and faint shapes moving around them. I realized the lights were campfires. I decided it was the Kabarega camp the two women had talked about.

  We took a trail that led away from the camp, but we had only gone a dozen steps when I felt a faint vibration in the ground. I twisted my neck to look back and saw a sleek silver shape gliding effortlessly and incredibly swiftly on the track. The few dozen cars, lit up from inside, held women sitting at tables and half reclining in comfortable seats. From where I stood the train made very little sound. It was gone in a flash, leaving nothing in its wake but a faint glimmer on my retinas.

  “The express from Dodomah,” Marjani said. “It’s right on time.”

  We went down a slope, and I heard running water. That explained how they could always get water so quickly. The stream looked deep, but we crossed where it was narrow, leaping from one bank to another, first Esi, then me, then Marjani.

  I wanted to look around to get my bearings, but Marjani gave me another shove.

  “Get going, Jason.”

  I walked as slowly as I could from sheer perversity, while it got darker and darker. I didn’t think dawdling would do me any good if someone found us, but I was mad enough at Marjani to want to spoil her plans.

  Marjani kept literally pushing me to keep up with Esi, who walked more briskly than I did. Even though Esi’s stride was shorter, I managed to let her get ten or twelve yards in front of us before Marjani swatted at my head.

  I ducked, but she caught me on my ear and it stung.

  “Walk faster, or I’ll make you sorry.” Marjani said.

  “I can’t see where I’m going.” It was partly true. It was getting hard to see. A half moon was up, but clouds obscured it so thoroughly it gave hardly any light. But even in the semidarkness I could see we were headed toward some hills, most likely the site of their cave. The ground was already hillier, and the trail had petered out to nothingness. “What happens if someone else is staying in this cave when we get there?”

  Marjani snorted. “They’d have to be desperate for shelter.”

  I opened my mouth to point out that she and Esi had been desperate enough to find the cave the first time, but before I could say it, Esi let out a scream and I heard a thud.

  “Esi!” Marjani pushed me out of the way and ran past me.

  I dropped the pack and took off in the opposite direction, running as fast as I dared.

  For a few seconds I heard Esi crying and Marjani talking at the same time, and then I heard nothing but the sound of my own feet thudding in the darkness, and my breath coming fast as I ran. I ran steadily, glad for all the time I had spent lifting weights and exercising in the gym.

  I lost my bearings and had no real sense where I was going, but I kept moving anyway, as fast as I could manage. If I could find a place to hide overnight, I could travel early in the morning and try to get away from the city. Now that I had a disguise, I would be less noticeable, and that could buy me some time. There had to be somewhere on Makoro where I could live on my own, even if I had to turn into Mowgli the wolf boy to do it.

  All at once, the ground seemed to disappear under my feet. I caught desperately at a scraggly bush and stopped myself from falling off a ledge. Just as I noticed moonlight glinting on water, I heard the sound of the stream.

  I had to walk a little ways to find a place to cross, and then I set out again, still running as fast as I could. I tripped on a rock and fell, got up, and slowed to a walk. I stopped to listen, but I didn’t hear any sound of pursuit or even running water.

  My chest ached from running so long, and I unbuttoned my collar so I could breath better. I debated about taking off the itchy wig, but I knew I was better off with the disguise than without it.

  I stared hard through the darkness and thought I could make out a white line running across the ground. It dawned on me that this must be the railroad track.

  I looked at the small clump of trees that grew beside it and debated whether to look for a place to sleep for a few hours or to keep going. I didn’t want daylight to overtake me in the open. Suddenly a vaguely familiar voice said, “Who the hell are you?”

  Twelve

  I nearly jumped out of my skin. I started to blurt out the same question, then remembered that I was dressed as a girl. “Who’s there?” I said, pitching my voice just a little higher than usual. I didn’t want to sound fake, but I didn’t want to sound like a guy, either. I had never been so happy to be a tenor.

  A woman stepped into the open from the trees. I could vaguely see her outline in the remnant of moonlight. She was shorter than me by a good bit, and almost as slender. “I asked first,” she said.

  I placed the voice. It was Dorscha, the unseen Kabarega who had come to check on Esi.

  I knew my accent would give me away as a foreigner so I made a split-second decision. “My name is Teleza Urbi Kondo, and I come from Dodomah.”

  She took a step closer and turned on a flashlight that she shone in my general direction. “What are you doing here?”

  “Looking for a place to sleep.” I blinked as the light hit my eyes, and then gestured toward the trees. “I got lost. I’ve been in the city looking for work, but I don’t have any money, so I thought I’d sleep in the woods where it’s safer.”

  She nodded. “A wise decision. The city is no place for young girls on their own.” She hesitated and then spoke again. “We’re a Kabarega household, but you’re welcome to a meal and a night’s shelter in our camp.”

  I shook my head. “Thanks, but I won’t trouble you.”

  Just then the clouds over the moon broke, and it got noticeably brighter. I could see that Dorscha wore her dark hair short, looked about forty, and was giving me a sharp glance.

  “Well, I’ll be on my way,” I said.

  “Dorscha?” a woman’s voice called. “Dorscha, are you there?”

  “Over here,” Dorscha said, raising her voice and moving the flashlight back and forth in signal.

  I inched away, prepared to make a run for it.

  Three women appeared from the darkness, all of them younger than Dorscha. The plumpest one looked about twenty-five, the skinniest one a little younger. The third woman was almost as tall as me and looked like she worked out. I couldn’t guess her age; she could have been anywhere from twenty-five to forty.

  I froze. Outrunning all four of them would be tricky in the dark when I didn’t know the lay of the land. I didn’t want to run into a maglev pylon or a tree.

  “Who is this?” the buff-looking woman asked.

  “Her name is Teleza Urbi
Kondo,” Dorscha said, shining her light toward me. “She’s lost. I just offered her a night’s shelter.”

  The plump one smiled at me. “I don’t mind sharing my tent.”

  The buff one laughed and slapped me on the back so hard I nearly fell over. “Don’t mind our Vasha. And don’t worry. The rest of us won’t try to seduce you.”

  “Uh,” I said, “it’s really nice of you, but—”

  “We insist,” the buff one said. She put an arm around my shoulder and tugged me along. “Come along. Our camp is quite close.”

  It was close, less than fifty yards away behind the trees. I realized I must have run in a big semicircle around Esi and Marjani’s squat, and come out by the camp.

  A half dozen tents of various sizes stood on either side of three campfires. When we walked up to the center campfire I was conscious of being an impostor. I had no clue how to walk like a woman, so I walked as naturally as I could, except I shortened my stride.

  Five women came out of the tents, four of them middle-aged or older, and Dorscha introduced me. No one shook hands; it was all just nods and polite greetings. None of them seemed to suspect the truth about me. Still, I was almost afraid to breathe for fear of doing something wrong.

  At Dorscha’s urging I took a seat on a stool, copying another woman’s pose as best I could with a damn plastic plate over my crotch. The aroma of meat and vegetables wafting from a pot hanging over the coals made my mouth water, even though I had eaten recently. One of the younger women ladled a generous serving of lamb stew into a dish and added a thick slice of bread to it. When she handed it to me, I thanked her and started to eat.

  Everyone else seemed to have eaten already, as no one else asked for food. Except for Dorscha, the four older women all went back to their tents, leaving Dorscha and the five younger women sitting around the campfire. I figured I would wait for my chance and slip away as soon as I could.

  “So where is Esi tonight?” Vasha asked. “She hasn’t come by to get dinner.”

  “I don’t know,” Dorscha said. “I went by there, but neither of them was home.” She frowned into the campfire. “It looked almost like they had moved. Some of their things were gone.”