Carlon watched, his face impassive while his gut churned in anger. “Are you sure?”
Jem also watched Karra. “Ask her. She saw it too.”
“Don’t you dare ask her anything!” Suzin snapped at them. “Look at her. She’s barely functioning as it is.”
At that, Karra got up and ran out of the apartment. Where she had been sitting lay a red full five-wen note.
Suzin burst into tears.
Carlon felt suddenly very old. No doubt about it now. The whole responsibility of his siblings’ survival rested on him. He had just turned seventeen. Would a children’s home be better? He did not think so, and he intended to honor his father’s final request: Keep them safe. Keep them out of the Nevians’ hands.
Two days later, upon returning from work, Carlon found Mama sitting on a pallet, a sweet, weary expression on her face. She did not look healthy, but she looked at peace.
“Suzin tells me you’ve been caring for all my babies for me. I am so proud of you, Carlon. Sit down and tell me about it.”
Her children, except the two babies who no longer remembered her, and Jem who had not returned since bringing the news of their father’s murder, had crowded around her, but they made room for Carlon.
“Sit down, everyone,” Suzin said. “Karra brought home some sugar, so we’re having an apple dessert tonight after supper.” Supper was bean and soyham soup, and strips of dried flatbread.
“They let you go,” Carlon said, amazed.
“Except as leverage against my husband, I was of no value to them. They hoped to catch one of you older children as a witness against him, but we made sure you children knew nothing, and repeatedly told them so.”
“Mama,” Suzin said. “Was it bad?”
A fit of coughing kept her from responding immediately. Flecks of blood dotted her lips. Suzin handed her a rag, already bloodstained.
“For your father, probably. For me? Not really. They were hardly gentle, but those of us in the women’s section were not abused. You see, they assume that because Nevian men run their women’s lives, human women have no lives apart from their husbands either. I suppose in their opinion that was true of my life as well. They never understood that my husband never ran my life, that caring for my children was my chosen career.”
“Were you involved in the Homelander Front?”
“They thought so. They still do. Su, baby, we were never part of the Homelander Front. We fought against it as well as the Nevians. A military solution is no solution, for then we trade one tyrant for another.”
Carlon believed otherwise. Dad had definitely been involved in the Front, no matter what he had told their mother. But he would never share his doubts with his mother. It was too good having Mama home to let dissention spoil it. Her presence eased the harsh grip of bitterness on his soul. When he went to work the next morning his steps resounded with renewed energy. He would work harder, find a doctor, get Mama some medicine…
She never lasted that long. Mama died before the spring snows melted. Carlon was devastated. He had found a doctor willing to come to their apartment, and had requested medicine, but the doctor merely shook his head. She needed intensive hospital care. Her disease was well past dosing with medicine.
They had all crowded around Mama’s pallet. Carlon closed her sightless eyes and he gently wrapped her in a blanket. Suzin’s eyes were swollen and red from weeping, although her tears no longer flowed. With Jem’s help, Carlon continued wrapping their mother. Like Suzin, they had cried earlier when they told the younger children that their mother had passed on. Dugaan and Saril clutched their mother’s blanket, sobbing, not yet willing for Carlon to fold the corner of the blanket over her face. The two youngest, Kata and Benej, clung to Suzin and wailed, but not because they missed their mother. Suzin was their mother. They cried because she was upset. Each one wore sorrow like a cloak. But Karra reacted strangely. She scowled. Her eyes remained tearless.
Suzin, seeing the familiar look, watched helplessly as Karra stormed from the apartment.
“I’ll get a cart,” Carlon said, grateful for something to do. He would borrow a pushcart, and he and Jem would load their mother onto the cart and parade her through their neighborhood. Others would join them, singing and praying to the Maker, until they reached the Mound. After spending some time celebrating her return to the Maker, they would place her onto the Mound.
More than likely there would also be a few other bodies, with their mourners in attendance. Some mourners, unwilling to leave their dead, would remain until the Deathcart came. Because the Irelli no longer roamed the Northland Wilderness, no funeral pyres were allowed. Besides, no one could afford the fuel to burn a body, as was the Irelli custom. The Zarindan, Daddy had told them, used to ship their dead out to sea. He wasn’t sure what they did with their dead after the Nevians took control. But here in Sector Five, at least the Nevians honored Irelli dead by allowing a Deathcart, which arrived every evening at the Mound, to remove the dead and take them to a public incinerator.
Karra never made it to the funeral. In fact, Karra did not return home at all. As each day passed, Carlon found himself hoping she had found other living arrangements, and then a moment later would feel guilty for wishing that the child was no longer under his care. But she didn’t act like any little girl he had ever known.
She was gone for a full mooncycle, returning just as the family loaded the last of their belongings into a borrowed cart. Karra accused him of moving away while she was gone so that she would never find them again. In truth, the money he had saved for his mother’s medicine and hospital stay could now be spent on a better apartment. He had also secured a job under his own name. Karra had been gone so long, no one even knew if she would return. And no one, except possibly Su, had any energy left to care.
His struggles with Karra never ended. She refused to explain how she made her money. She often disappeared. Each time Carlon hoped she would never return. She came home drunk for the first time the year she turned twelve. The beating he gave her, intending to put a stop to such nonsense, resulted in her once again leaving the apartment. That time she was gone for two years, and he thought he had succeeded in finally ridding himself of her. But like a disease, she returned, this time with a brat.
Carlon finally secured a job with a future. The fact that he could both read and write in Nevian, plus the fact that he could sell the coat off a freezing man, eventually led to the position he now held as vice president of sales in a Nevian firm. All he knew was that he needed to keep his position safe from entanglements with Jem whose work with the Homelander Front sometimes brought Security to their door.
Karra was nowhere near his thoughts when he arrived home that evening. Expecting supper, he found Karra sitting on the couch nursing an infant.
Carlon exploded.
Karra, however, no longer cringed from his wrath. She calmly handed the baby to Suzin who slipped into the girls’ room, locking the door behind her. Karra planted herself in front of the door, daring him to intervene. He tried, using his bulk to intimidate her. It had worked in the past. But her quick knife sliced his palm and forearm, ripping a gash in his new longsuit. The rip in his longsuit bothered him more than the cut in his skin, even though it would require stitches. He still wore the scar on his wrist and palm. The longsuit had been harder to replace. Incensed that she had ruined the sleeve of his longsuit, he charged at her again. This time she cut his cheek just under his eye.
“I could have killed you then,” she told him in a voice too young to be that deadly. “Please be reasonable. Chalatta will stay and you will allow it. I promise that you will never need to be responsible for a single dit of her care.”
To her credit, she kept the promise. But he always doubted that she earned her living by barebacking, as she claimed. Street paygirls made far less than Karra brought home. She was involved in something illegal, he was positive. He hoped that once Chalatta entered school, she would take her brat with her to whatever hole
she called her home.
But recently Karra decided she couldn’t just crawl away into a hole somewhere. No, she was going to “better herself”’ by taking advantage of the Second Start Option, designed for people who had passed their sixteenth birth year and not secured the Primary Basic. True, all of them had promised their mother they would try to graduate from Basic, if not the Public Academy, and perhaps even attend one of the upper level academies for a profession. Their father had been an educated man. She wanted the same for her children. But to Carlon’s way of thinking, Karra had used up her chances. It was time she lived the life she had chosen, and remove herself and her ill-begotten child from his home.
“You already work a profession,” he had told her just two days ago. “Whether by barebacking or whatever else strikes your fancy, take it somewhere else. Better yet, take your brat with you!”
“Carlon!” Suzin gasped.
But he ignored her. “What kind of an influence do you think you’re leaving on this family? All your life decisions have been warped, twisted by whatever you consider when making choices.”
Karra regarded him with an expressionless calm that made him think of ice.
“I never asked for your permission,” she said, her voice low, almost seductive.
“That fact I know. You come here telling me that your sister will care for your youngster while you pursue something grander? Well, I won’t have it. You’re well past your sixteenth birthday. Get your freetin’ backside out of my home!”
“You know I will leave soon enough,” she said. “But I only wanted to know if Suzin would mind being home when Chalatta arrived here after school. My little girl costs you nothing, so what’s your problem?”
“I’ll tell you my problem, you ungrateful freet slappin’ witch. It’s you coming here as if you belonged. Well, I don’t know where you belong, but it isn’t here with decent folk. You take whatever you have left here and never come back!”
Suddenly Chalatta darted forward. “Don’t you tell my mama to leave, Uncle Carlon! She’s my mama, and even if you don’t want her here, I do!”
In that moment, Karra lost her icy calm. She pulled her daughter to her in an unmistakable gesture of motherly protection, and glared at him. Carlon would never have believed it if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes.
“You stupid little backside,” he shouted, regardless of what the girl thought. “Don’t you see what you’re doing to your daughter? You’re no more than trash, a cold, hard and ugly lump of something that only appears human. You’re worth no more than rubble on the streets, good for only being walked on, and either you’ll make your precious baby just like you, or she’ll learn to hate you for what you are.” He was pleased to find that her face paled slightly, that finally he had gotten through, if only for a moment.
Carlon threw more explosive words at her, fully aware that words were all that remained in his arsenal. He insisted that she should return to her felonious friends, and quit moving in and out of his life. But it changed nothing. True to form, once Su agreed to be home for Chalatta, Karra left.
Chapter 7
Carlon comforted himself with the announcement he would make today; he planned to marry a lovely Inner City woman and move out. He had been making these plans for years, but told no one, not even Su. He imagined her response. She depended on his income to support them. The check she received from Karra’s investor would not support everyone. But with all the kids in school, even Chalatta, Su could get a job. It was about time she did anyway. Carlon resented the fact that he had been supporting his siblings since before their father died. Carlon had been only seventeen, but no one had asked him what he wanted. His support was expected. Soon his only concerns would be between himself and his new wife, no Karra, no Jem to interfere. His eyes followed the windows of each floor to the top of the buildings as he walked past. He anticipated the day lived in a beautiful Inner City dwelling. Never intended to return to this neighborhood afterwards.
"Hi, Su," he greeted as he walked in.
There was no response. The place looked empty.
Maybe she's shopping, he thought as he went into the boys' room to change clothes. He hung the business suit neatly beside his other longsuits, and changed into the patched thickweave he wore around the apartment.
The silence surprised him. Although not unusual for the apartment to be nearly empty, especially on nice days like this one, it was rare for it to be completely deserted. At least one brother or sister lounged around the place, doing homework, helping Su, reading.
"Is anyone here?" he called.
"I'm in the girl’s room," Su called back, her voice muffled through the door. He heard a wet sound as though she were blowing her nose, or stifling tears. Concerned, Carlon stepped forward just as Su came into the living-dining area, rubbing her nose. One eye was red, turning purple, and swollen shut.
"Su? What happened to your face?"
"It's all right. Just a bruise." She backed away as he reached to touch her.
"Who did it? Did Karra hit you?" As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he felt foolish. Where Karra might relish a conflict with him, she went out of her way to be conciliatory toward Su.
Suddenly, she laughed, hysteria not far away. "I'm not sure what she would do."
"What are you talking about? Where is she? And where is everybody else? Home is never this quiet."
"I sent them away so I could talk to you. I didn't send Chalatta with them. Did you know that? She just ran off as soon as she heard. Ran off. Karra used to do that, remember? She's going to turn out just like her mama, and I can't do anything about it!" Her voice rose until, flooded with a fresh supply of tears, it broke.
This time, when Carlon reached for his sister, she let him hold her, the way he used to during the earlier, leaner years. He rocked her slightly.
"All right," he soothed finally. "Let's see if we can talk now. Maybe you could tell me about the bruise. Is that a good place to start?"
She nodded. "Security. They were after Karra."
"There must have been trouble." For all the problems he had had with her, Security had only once arrived looking for Karra.
“Yes. Trouble.”
He gave what he hoped was an encouraging nod. "So what happened?"
Suzin started slowly. "I didn't really have anything to tell Security. I think we have been kept deliberately ignorant for a long time."
"What are you talking about?"
"It's just that we don't know anything, do we? How many of her friends have we met? There have been a number of times she has come home drunk, but do you know one bar she frequents? We know that she barebacks, but who are her Drakes? Who sponsors her? Does she gamble or use drusa? Sell it?"
"Su, stop it! What happened here? Tell me!"
"Oh, I'm sure she'll deny it if they catch her. She'll put on that innocent face of hers. Innocent! Can you believe it?"
"Believe what? You haven't told me anything yet."
"Tell me honestly, Carlon. As much as you hate her, would you think Karra capable of murder?"
Suzin's lower lip trembled, a forewarning of impending tears. Carlon watched it, fascinated, as though the turning of the planet revolved around that minuscule action. He should be asking who Karra had murdered, but his mind was stuck on a trembling lip.
"There must be a reason, don't you think?" Su continued as though he had responded. "He must have threatened her somehow. Wouldn't that explain it, if she were threatened?"
"Threatened?" Carlon asked stupidly. How could Karra kill a man? "Who did… Who was… Murdered?"
"The Chief Administrator of Education. Throat cut."
Carlon fingered the scar on his palm. He knew what Karra could do with a knife.
Throat cut? Maybe he didn’t know anything. "She must be stopped!"
"Sure." Su glared at him as if he were incredibly dense. "So stop her."
"Do you hear?" Carlon bellowed. He jumped up from the couch and began pacing wildly ac
ross the floor. "Stopped! If I have to do it myself, I’ll…"
"You'll what?" The corners of her mouth turned down. "You haven't been able to touch her in years. What makes you think you can now?"
“That bite! That freetin’ excuse for a human. I meant it two days ago when I told her she was no more than trash, a cold, hard, ugly lump of something to be thrown away and trod underfoot.”
“Carlon, please! I know you hate her, but words can hurt, more than you realize.”
“Some words ought to hurt, hurt like a festering frostbite.”
“People can’t grow if you stomp them down. You know that.”
“That’s assuming she passes for humanity.”
“She’s your sister!”
“Someone should have stopped her years ago before...before… By the Maker, Su, murder? What kind of twisted piece of flesh kills?”
“Carlon!” Suzin wailed, close to tears again.
"Su, listen."
"No. You listen! Look at that scar on your hand. I see you rubbing it. She was fourteen, remember?"
"I remember," he said in a low voice, but he had stopped pacing.
"Confront her now and see which one of you gets hurt first."
"That's silly. I'm twice her size."
"That’s what you thought then, and who got hurt?"
Carlon scowled. Now what was he supposed to say? With Karra wanted by Security, would the checks to Su for Chalatta’s care stop? He wanted to curse. No matter how well he planned, either Karra or Jem managed to foul things up.
“What are you thinking?” Su asked him.
“I guess there will be no good time to tell you after all. I thought that with both Karra and her daughter in school that the burden on me would ease up some.”
“Ease up?”
Best to come out with it, he decided. “Su, I’m getting married.”
If he expected a response, he never saw it. Suzin froze like stone.
“It’s time for me to live my own life. I sacrificed my childhood…”
Her Darkest Beauty_An Alien Invasion Series_The Second Generation Page 6
