New Kings of Tomorrow

by J. M. Clark

  What time did the watcher say Teacher Paul would come down to talk? Was it 10 a.m. or 11 a.m.? She looked into the mirror on the side of her bed and brushed her hair straight. Knots of blonde kinks came undone with every brush stroke. The quiet snapping sounds turned into silky brushing movements, transforming her hair from a pale blonde nest into a blanket of long beautiful hair that reached down to her shoulders. The freckles on her nose and cheekbones had always bothered her, but she had learned to accept it. “One must accept who they are, because we are all special.” No matter how many times she repeated that saying, it didn’t change the fact that she hated her freckles.

  Michelle set the pink brush on her white nightstand and looked back into the mirror to make sure she looked presentable for Teacher Paul. She was as pleased as she could be with her appearance. Brown speckles danced in the forest-green irises of the eyes she used to survey herself. She was ready, but she wasn’t. On the outside, yes, she could put on the pretty face and the smile that went along with it. She could say the words that provided a source of commitment and confidence, but did she feel that deep in her being? No. She knew that none of the ten-year-olds felt that. It was all a farce, but what was the alternative? The floor was not open to opinions or recommendations. Her time in the child center was over. It was best to accept that and play the game.

  As if on cue, a watcher arrived then to take her to the meeting. He had a cleanly shaven bald head, no facial hair, and a stare that made him look bothered, like the task of retrieving Michelle was not at the top of his list. She had to walk fast to keep up with him. They passed by the nursery window, and she looked at the babies for what could be the last time. How many would make it to the pods in the next ten years? She would be twenty years old, and they would be the same age as she was today. That thought alone hurt her stomach; it felt as though her heart fell into her feet. She mentally grabbed those tears and stuffed them back into her tear ducts. Be strong, Michelle, she told herself, and the forced pleasant look on her face came shining through as she followed the watcher.

  Michelle was shown to a small room, the same room that watchers came and went from. She had never been inside. Upon entering the small room, she noticed there was only a table and two chairs, along with another door on the other side of the room, which she thought led to the rest of the Palace. An older white man sat on one side with a big inviting smile on his face. He had one hand extended out, palm flat, inviting Michelle to have a seat on the other side of the table.

  “Hello Michelle, I’m Teacher Paul, and I’m here to help you with your level ascension. We are very happy to have you moving into a pod and ready to commence with MEs, lectures, and getting you accustomed to the way we do things in the adult portion of the Palace. You can have a seat.” Teacher Paul nodded his head toward the chair in front of her.

  Michelle reluctantly pulled out her chair. The watcher closed the door on his way out, leaving them alone to conduct their business. She had never seen a man dressed this way, or one who acted so friendly. The watchers wore white pants, white button-up shirts, and white shoes. Teacher Paul was wearing a black jacket with a white-collared shirt beneath and black pants. He was smiling and talking differently…like she was a friend or something. The watchers weren’t like that. They weren’t mean either, they were just different. It was hard to explain. His disposition and kind face made her feel better about everything. Still not happy, but better, and that was a good thing.

  Michelle clumsily got into her seat, almost tripping on one of the legs of the chair. She couldn’t take her eyes off the older man and the softness of his face. So foreign to her.

  “Thank you, sir, I’m happy to be getting the chance to move up to the pods. It’s exciting to begin my adult learning and come into adulthood. I can’t express how happy I am.” Just like the teachers rehearsed with her. I wonder if he believes me? Michelle thought to herself as she gave the fake smile she had been perfecting since she’d had a memory of anything. Teeth exposed, lips peeled back, eyes fixed upon those of the person she was talking to. What she felt on the inside though was fear, a feeling of being exposed, and ill prepared for what was to come.

  “That’s a good thing, right?” Teacher Paul reached down into a plastic carrying bag on the side of his chair and fetched a manila folder. He opened the folder and pulled out a few papers before laying them on the table.

  “Your pod is ready for you. Remember the latest member to move on to the Greater Understanding Program? Andre? He used to occupy that pod since the very beginning. Andre was able to keep up on all of his learning and be a great role model for everyone around him. Now he is out in the world, helping to make it better for all of us. We are getting much closer to being able to leave these Palaces and get back to living the way we were meant to, amen. I thought you would get a kick out of the information regarding the prior resident of the pod.”

  Michelle abruptly burst with excitement, throwing both hands in the air and letting out a small yelp of happiness. Her cheeks became flushed, providing a rosy backdrop for her assorted freckles.

  “That’s so amazing! That has to mean wonderful things for me as well. I’ll keep the tradition of the pod going by being someone you and the other teachers can be proud of. I’m ready to start learning and being an outstanding member of the Palace. Anything asked of me, I’ll be sure to perform that task to the best of my abilities.” Wow, why did I do that? She wondered if he was able to read just how disingenuous that was. But the smile never left Michelle’s face. She held the eye contact with Teacher Paul the whole way through the exchange. Nailed it.

  Teacher Paul gave a quick smile and looked back down at the papers in front of him. He licked a finger and peeled through them individually. Reading over a few lines, he nodded his head in agreement with what he saw.

  “Looks like you have been a model child in this sector. All great recommendations from the watchers, and your peers see you as a helpful and delightful friend. That’s great, and it’s something we look for in the adults we accept into the Greater Understanding Program.”

  Teacher Paul slid the papers back into the folder and put it back into the bag on the floor by his side. She was nervous and wanted to go back to the child center and be with her friends. She wanted to go back and watch the babies, to still be a child. With all of her being, she did not want to be an adult. She didn’t feel ready. She didn’t feel like a big person.

  Even still, Michelle went on raving about how happy she was. She even cried a bit while listening to Teacher Paul explain a day in the life of a pod member. Michelle could tell that he was happy to see such emotion out of a youngster coming into her own. The tears were real, they just weren’t for the reason he assumed.

  “They are doing a great job with you all here in the child center. It’s nice to see this amount of enthusiasm for what’s to come,” Teacher Paul said as he got up and grabbed his bag. He walked over to her side of the table, shook her hand, and explained that a different teacher would be back to retrieve her in a few hours. She would have time to say goodbye to the people in the child center and collect any small belongings she had.

  Even after the door shut behind him, Michelle cried.

  Like the infants who died because they lacked acknowledgment and human touch, Michelle was being thrust into an adult world before she was ready. She felt like no one would be there for her when she left the child center. Immediately, she felt alone…again. A part of her died in that small room. To grin and bear the idea of walking away from every friend she had, and then to be put into a situation she was not ready for—it was heartbreaking. In that moment, she understood why some of the babies…just died.

  As she wiped her face clean, she put away the sadness and pulled the happy mask over her face once again. Michelle left the small room and ran over to the other ten-year-olds to tell them how happy she was about leaving, making sure not to look in the direction of the nursery. She would not cry saying goodbye to her friends.

&n
bsp; Chapter Twenty-Five

  Mary

  Lying on her back in Jacob’s bed, panting like an excited dog, Mary struggled to catch her breath. Her mind was spinning out of control as she tried to maneuver around the wet spot she’d created. Mary’s thighs were burning, and her lower back was yelling for her to stop the madness. She was spent, but she loved it. Her legs were hidden beneath the soft cotton of the white sheets, one big tangle of trembling flesh and bedding. Her upper body was exposed to the cool AC, which had her nipples standing at attention. Aroused and ready to be stimulated, she could go for another round.

  She sat up in the bed with her back straight against the headboard. Reaching for the water on the nightstand, she almost knocked it over, nudging the glass with her index and middle finger and leaving it slightly tipping to the side. Mary managed to catch the glass, and she brought it to her dry lips, letting the cool water bathe her tongue. She could feel the cold liquid move from her mouth all the way down her chest. She needed it.

  Watching Jacob from the bed was her favorite part of the relations exercise meetings. This impromptu meeting was unscheduled and solely for their pleasure, and she enjoyed watching his older but still fit body go about its work of showering and putting on lotions and hair gel. She sometimes wondered if he even noticed she was tracking his every move in those moments. Measuring every stretch of the muscles in his back when he reached for the shampoo in the shower, every ripple that appeared in his biceps and triceps when he washed his hair. She even noticed that he was afraid of the shampoo getting in his eyes, and so he washed his hair with his head down and eyes tightly shut. This tickled her every time she spied it. Even though he was so strong and manly to her, she liked how he could be such a baby sometimes.

  Mary had never lingered like this with any man she had sex with (she was ready to just call it what it was—it was sex). The enjoyment she felt with Jacob was otherworldly, and it went against everything she’d been taught in the child center about pod living. There was not supposed to be more to this sex thing than reproduction and basic health benefits. Sure, it felt good (in some cases), but there was much more to her attraction to Jacob than just the sex.

  Jacob stepped out of the shower, dripping water and placing his feet heel first so as not to trip on the slick bathroom tile. He grabbed a towel and dried his face and hair first. Jacob wrapped the towel around his waist and winked at her before moving to an area of the bathroom she could not see. This scene had played out a few times though, so she knew he was putting on deodorant first, then hair gel. His hair had begun to thin on the top recently, and she knew he thought the gel helped to hide that fact. Truth was, he couldn’t hide a new mole on his body; she had studied every part of him from head to toe.

  Mary decided that the time of appreciating had come to an end, and it was now time to get up and get dressed. She couldn’t stay in Jacob’s room the entire day, after all. She freed her legs from the sheets and stood up on the left side of the bed. It was a struggle, but she managed. Yawning, Mary reached up to the ceiling as far as she could. Her back thanked her for this with a slight cracking sound. Jacob walked out of the bathroom, still nude, but dry, and walked toward the nutrition dispensary, no doubt to grab a drink for himself. Mary bent over, knees straight, and touched her toes, stretching a bit more (and giving Jacob a little show). While touching her toes, she looked from behind her legs to see if Jacob had noticed. He hadn’t.

  He had a way about him that almost made her want him even more. As of late, she’d been thinking about him more than she wanted to admit, and she didn’t even know if he thought about her at all. He didn’t talk a lot, but when they were with each other sexually or the few times when they were discussing things that were real, the bond was powerful. A man short of words, but passionate about the things he cared about. The thought of her being one of said things brought the hint of a smile to her lips.

  After going into the bathroom and cleaning herself up, removing the smell of him from her skin, she pulled her blue jeans back on and put on her Cheers tee shirt. She loved this shirt; it was her favorite, even though she had no idea what Cheers was. Jacob tried to explain to her that it was a television show from a long time ago. There was a lot lost in translation when people from the Old World tried to explain things to Palace-born folks. Mary slid into her shoes and sat on the bed next to Jacob, who was now in his boxers, drinking a glass of water.

  “Are you going to get dressed?” she asked. “The day is still early, and I know you have some lectures or activities you could do for the rest of the day. Did you get a chance to see the two new babies in the child center?” Mary rubbed Jacob’s knee and displayed a beautiful smile full of bright white teeth. She’d learned that trick as a kid in the child center, the smile of champions.

  “Yeah, when you leave I’ll put some clothes on. Don’t feel real motivated to do much of anything today.” Jacob sat at the foot of the bed with her, staring into his glass of water, swirling it around in circles. “I was down there the other day, didn’t notice any new babies though. I don’t really care, honestly.”

  “Ouch, big meanie.” Mary clutched her stomach as if she’d taken a shot to the gut. “That’s our future down their, sir.” She rubbed his shoulder gently. They both laughed.

  Jacob got up and took the glass of water back to the silver tray next to the food dispensary. “Yeah, that’s what I keep hearing from everyone here.” He walked over to the closet area of the pod, opposite of the bed and bathroom. Mary watched him pull a pair of pants off a hanger and lift a navy blue sweatshirt off the top shelf of the closet. Patriots was printed across the front of the shirt.

  Mary stood and walked toward Jacob. “I know you are starting to get more and more discouraged about the progress being made here, but I can assure you—”

  “Please do not lecture me about what’s going on here,” Jacob cut her off, pants in one hand, sweatshirt in the other. “I have the teachers and everyone else to do that. Not you, please. This is all that you know, Mary. With all due respect, I’ll feel the way that I choose to on matters concerning the Order. I’m just saying I don’t buy the whole ‘child center is the future’ nonsense. No offense to you, but drop it.” He began putting on his pants.

  “I respect your right to feel that way, Jacob, I was just saying it’s not so bad here, and you are among one of the top authorities on the Old World. I know that myself and a lot of the other members here highly respect you for sharing all of your knowledge and point of view. You will be getting into the Greater Understanding Program in no time.” The thought of Jacob leaving her here alone almost made her want to cry mid-sentence.

  “And I’ve been hearing that since the first year I got here. It’s the same thing year after year. ‘We are getting closer to leaving the Palace. You are valued here, and the Greater Understanding Program is gonna be lucky to have you.’ Yet nothing ever happens. I’ve learned the same things over and over, counseled so many Palace-born people, and still nothing.” Jacob’s anger was showing now, his brow furrowed and lips pressed together tightly. Mary watched him visibly struggle to get his temper under control. He exhaled and calmed down.

  She was trying to have a heartfelt dialogue with Jacob, but couldn’t stop looking at his body. She snapped out of her trance and moved closer to him, touching his chest and smiling at him, hoping to help calm the situation. She put both hands on the sides of his face, feeling the fuzz of his beard rub between her fingers.

  “It’s going to happen, Jacob, I know so. For both of us. We will both get into the Greater Understanding Program and leave this place forever. You have to believe that.” Mary attempted to move her hands to his head and play with his hair like she did when he was asleep.

  “Stop, Mary.” He knocked her hand down.

  “Jacob! What’s wrong with you?”

  “You know what’s wrong with me. Same thing that’s wrong with everyone here. None of this is okay. It’s not normal, and maybe you don’t feel it, but I t
hink you do. I’m just getting sick of the bullshit. For me, this was never supposed to be a long-term thing. It was meant to be a year or two and then back out into the world.” He looked at her, and for the first time, he looked vulnerable. Like a child almost.

  “I don’t know what the plan is here, but it doesn’t seem to be getting back to living outside of this building.” Frustrated, he punched the closet door and slammed it shut. “Listen Mary, you are more likely to get into that program before me, and that would be great for you. You have this grand plan about what it’s gonna be like to get out there and heal the world, and that’s admirable. Facts are though, you don’t know what’s awaiting you or anyone else outside of the quarantine area. None of us do. We know what they tell us, and that’s it. You need to open your eyes to some of the shady things that are happening in here. Nothing adds up, Mary.”

  “Would you like for me to leave here without you? Would that make you happy if I got into the program and you didn’t? You are saying all these terrible things about the Palace—what if I got into the program and had to go without you. Then what?”

  Jacob looked confused and amused at the same time. He giggled and began to put his belt through the loops of his pants. He mumbled something under his breath and then looked up at her.

  “What do you mean? Why would that even matter? Remember, no one belongs to anyone in this new world, so it doesn’t matter. The Order has made sure to deprogram you all from feeling anything. Are you telling me that you care if we leave here together or not? I’m an old man; you are a young, beautiful person with a lot ahead of you, I’m sure of it.” Jacob walked past Mary to sit on the messy bed again, bending down to get his shoes from beneath the bed. As he put his shoes on, she realized he was using getting dressed to avoid getting close to her.

  She stood there with her back to him, not knowing what to say. There was no ME for this situation, no lecture that could have prepared her for a talk about personal feelings for another human romantically. She was lost and befuddled as to what was going on inside of her. Mary turned to face him.