“It sounds like a wonderful thing to do; tiring too!”
“Very tiring,” Barla agreed, “but mostly very rewarding when you see the young people graduate with a sense of confidence and make a positive contribution to our society. These children would have been living lives of crime and poverty, otherwise. We also have five children living with us who are too young to start school; they certainly keep me on my toes as well.” Barla laughed and smiled lovingly at Captain Ahn.
The Captain returned her smile and nodded his head. “We both love kids and wish we could have had more ourselves, but these other kids kind of took their place. Ceren is one of our first graduates. We got him when he was about twelve. Skinny little shaver, he was. Remember, Barla?” Captain Ahn winked at Barla with a small smile of remembrance for the scrawny youngster.
“How could I ever forget?!” Barla replied. She turned to Amanda and continued, “He was just standing on the pier looking out over the ocean as the sun went down. The Captain and I were working late, preparing for another audit, and we almost fell over him as we were heading home. He kept his face turned away from us, but I could tell he had been crying as his shoulders were shuddering uncontrollably. I asked him if he were okay, but he only nodded.
“I suddenly realized there was more to his story than we were going to find out in the dark of the dock, so I asked him to come home with us for supper. He was so eager he almost fell off of the dock into the water. The Captain barely caught him by the scruff of his collar as he tumbled so close to the edge.
“When we got home we turned on the lights and saw just how filthy the little boy was. We offered him a bath which he refused. I told him he needed to at least wash his face and hands before we ate. He agreed and busied himself in the washroom while the Captain and I looked at each other and decided on the spot we would keep him with us until we found out where his parents were.
“Our first meal together taught both of us lessons in how much little boys could eat. We had to raid the pantry twice before he finally sat back with his engorged belly and said he couldn’t eat another bite without bursting. The Captain and I both laughed, and poor little Ceren looked like we were going to beat him for making a pig of himself. We assured him we didn’t mind, but he was still wary.
“Ceren stood up, saying he needed to be on his way. We asked him where he was going to go, and he just shrugged. I suggested he sleep on our couch for the night, and he just shrugged again, but I could see relief in his eyes. I can’t tell you how much his look tore my heart! We tucked him right in, and he fell asleep before we were finished banking the fire for the night.
“There were times I thought he would run away, but he has been with us ever since. He was kind of our first experiment in the work experience program. We never did really find out what happened to his family. The most we could ever get out of him was they were lost at sea. That year we had had more than our share of storms, so it was hard to find out who they could have been. He couldn’t remember much of anything, but he was ours, and we loved him.
“Anyway, back to you,” Barla smiled at Amanda, “When your work here is done, and we have whatever information we can get about Neal, we still need to decide if you want to take your case to the Elders.
“I would be remiss if I didn’t caution you about them; the Elders are a group of their own. Some of them are good, and some are bad, and it’s hard to tell what you will get when you ask to speak to one of them. They have their own opinion about people like you and me. We are called old souls by them, and they are always very curious about what we might know. Some Elders will be kind about their questioning, but I have also heard stories about people being kept by them if the Elders feel they know enough about Earth to help our society.”
“Don’t be too harsh about the Elders, Barla,” Captain Ahn cautioned. “They also have large ears and many spies. They govern our society, and some of them do a really respectable job. We can’t blame them for wanting to glean new knowledge, now can we?”
“Come now, Ahn,” Barla rebuked, “you’ve heard the stories as much as I have. How would you feel if they had taken me and not returned me to you? I have never regretted not turning myself over to them.”
Barla turned back to Amanda and added, “The Tualan citizens are required to turn over any old souls they come across. If we don’t, then punishment can be very severe. So you can also see the wisdom of asking you to remain hidden in the back offices here until we know more, right?”
Amanda nodded, “Maybe I should leave so I won’t bring trouble to you.”
“Don’t be silly, Amanda, how will you find your fiancé without our help? Where would you go? How would you eat? We know how to take care of you and get you back on your feet. Just be careful to do what we ask and don’t tell anyone where you came from unless you find you can trust them as you trust us. Sound fair?”
Barla gave her a quick hug and then stood up. She straightened out her clothing and looked down on Captain Ahn with love in her eyes. “As much as I have enjoyed our time together, I must be getting back to the house to put the children to bed. Will you be joining me, Ahn?”
“I think I will,” he replied and stood up beside her. He peered into the basket and said, “I’ll just leave this with you, Amanda. There’s enough left for breakfast.”
Barla gripped Ahn’s hand. “I’ll look into arrangements for Amanda while you try to find her fiancé. I’ve got two weeks to get something together, and I must say, this is kind of exciting!”
Captain Ahn winked at Amanda over his shoulder as he spoke to Barla while they were leaving the room. “You always did have a reckless streak. It’s what I first loved about you.” As he shut the door behind them, he called out, “See you in the morning, Amanda. Please sleep in, okay?”
As it turned out, Amanda did sleep in. She reveled in the comfort of the cot, thick blankets, and fluffy pillow. She did not remember laying her head down or dreaming. She woke slowly, stretching luxuriously and feeling her muscles stretch and joints crack.
She smiled and felt at ease as she heard the noises of business being conducted in the front office. Reality set in as she sat up at the edge of her cot as nausea struck her quickly and violently. It was all she could do to run to the washroom and wretch into the sink.
She rinsed her mouth and went back to the office to get her new toothbrush and hairbrush. I must have eaten too much food yesterday, she thought to herself. She walked slowly back into the washroom and started her morning ritual. She brushed her teeth and washed her face.
As she looked at herself in the mirror, she decided she had better figure out a way to wash her hair. She looked in the cabinet under the sink and found what appeared to be shampoo. She took it out, opened it, smelled it, put a little bit onto her fingers and ran a little water on it to see if it would bubble up.
Convinced it was at least soap, she dunked her head under the faucet of the sink and got all of her hair wet. She used the found soap and worked it into her scalp; she rinsed with care then wrung it out as much as she could. She used the hand towel to take any additional water from her hair; it felt soft, and it looked shiny in the mirror. She used her new brush to work the tangles out.
With her hair done, the rest of her body felt like it needed to be washed as well. Without a proper shower or tub, she took off all of her clothes and used warm water on a washcloth and bathed the best she could. She could not do anything about shaving since she did not have any kind of razor. She shrugged and thought there was no one to impress in the back office anyway.
She dressed, gathered her bathroom supplies, and returned to her office to begin working. As she put her things onto her cot, she looked down and saw the food basket. She was suddenly ravenous, which surprised her since she had just been nauseous.
She rummaged through the food and discovered some fruit at the bottom. She took out an apple, said a quick prayer of thanks, and ate it slowly. Better not push my luck, she thought to herself.
&n
bsp; As she ate, she thought back to the previous day and her talk with Barla. There was something about the woman which made her feel safe. She could not decide why it might be, but she waffled between three choices. First, it could just be because Barla took in stray children and made them feel welcome and at home; Amanda was definitely a stray. Second, it could be because Barla, herself, was also from Earth; maybe she was feeling the connection. Or third, it could just be because Barla reminded her of her own mother whom she desperately missed and wished she could see again.
With her apple gone, Amanda decided she should probably get to work. She felt guilty for shirking her duties the entire day before while speaking with Barla. Since her work was already organized, she had no trouble entering invoices into the patil with ease. She plowed through the first two stacks which were each at least two feet tall. As she entered the last invoice from the second stack, she realized she had not taken any time to eat or drink.
She went back over to the basket of food and selected a salad with crumbled cheese and a vinaigrette dressing. She had another piece of fruit which she thought was an orange, but the taste and texture were nothing like she expected. It started as tangy and crunchy, but the longer she chewed it, the softer and sweeter it became. She decided, once she realized her mistake, it really was quite good after all.
Originally she was going to wait until the end of each day to do her filing, but she was tired of sitting down so she grabbed up the first stack, moved the papers over to the filing cabinets, and began to alphabetize them. Each stack took about half an hour to complete.
Once the filing was finished, she knelt down and grabbed the first stack of papers beside the desk and set it next to the patil. Then she picked up a second stack and put it on the desk alongside the first. Her day continued in this vein until she had gone through another four stacks of paper.
She realized as she finished filing the last stack, she no longer heard anyone talking in the front office anymore. Curious about how late it might be she poked her head out of the office door to see if there were any daylight left; it was fully dark, and the office was locked and vacant. Amanda wondered why Ceren had not said goodnight or why Captain Ahn had not come by to see if she needed anything. What am I thinking? Amanda chided herself, they have lives, too. I am not their only concern.
Amanda decided she had done enough work for the day. She went to the bathroom and freshened up. Back in the office, she picked up the vegetarian sandwich and another apple which were the last of the food items out of the basket and ate them. When her meal was finished, she realized she did not have anything to do except sleep so she lay down on the cot and covered herself with the blankets.
She wondered if Barla or Captain Ahn had had any luck in locating Neal or the missing yacht. She chastised herself quickly because it had only been one day and they probably had other things to work on. Even though she did not have anything pressing to do it did not mean they could drop everything just to help her out.
Because this train of thought was not helping anything, she decided to review all the things she remembered since she came to Tuala. Maybe there was something she had overlooked or mistaken because she did not realize she was not on Earth anymore.
Suddenly she knew what she had not thought of before; Petre had seen the yacht. There was no other way he would have called her Jesisca unless he had read it on the ship. If they could find Petre, they would find out what happened to the yacht. Maybe Petre would also know what had happened to Neal.
Another thought suddenly came to her. She should mention to Barla and Captain Ahn which vessels she had seen sail by them while she and Petre had been together. She also thought it might be important to mention the timing of her jumping from Petre’s boat to being picked up by the shipping vessel. If they could pinpoint the last known location of Petre’s boat, they might have a better idea of where he might have gone after she escaped from him.
No, she thought, that won’t work because he didn’t have the Golden Jesisca with him then because I would have seen it, too, and I didn’t. She was going to have to try to figure out exactly how many days she had been with Petre to be able to calculate the time she was sick and recovering with drugged sleep. This would have been the time when he would have seen the yacht or possibly did something with it. This was going to take more time than she thought.
She was concentrating so hard on trying to count the days, she never realized when she fell asleep. All night she dreamt of the days and nights she had spent with Petre. She tossed and turned and was thankful for the next day to finally arrive. She woke up feeling dirty; all she could think of was getting into the bathroom and cleaning herself.
She gathered her bathroom supplies and walked as fast as she could to begin her morning ritual; unfortunately, this also included retching into the bathroom toilet. This time felt more like a reaction to last night’s dreams. She made quick work of her routine, thinking she might have enough time to write up a timeline before she had to begin working.
As she walked back toward the office, she could see it was still quite dark outside, and she did not hear any noises from outside to indicate anyone was up and moving yet. She did not want to go back to sleep even though it was still so early; she had a new assignment for her future.
She found a pencil and some paper and started writing down each day she could remember, beginning with the previous day. She only made brief notes to encompass the entire day, just enough to let her know what day it was. To her surprise, she remembered every day in bizarre detail; almost as if her mind were in hypersensitive mode. Thirty-five days.
Just as she put her pencil down, she started hearing voices in the front office. She wondered what time it was, but thought it must still be early since she did not hear much traffic noise on the other side of the office wall which faced the alley. Her curiosity was growing just as a knock on the office door startled her. What should I do? Who is at the door? Should I say to come in, or just stay quiet? She started to panic just as Captain Ahn spoke through the door, “Amanda, are you awake?”
Relief washed through her as she answered in a rush, “Yes, Captain Ahn. Come on in.”
The door opened, and Captain Ahn motioned for Barla to precede him into the room. He closed the door behind him. Barla carried a bag of food which she came forward and handed to Amanda.
“You look tired, Amanda,” Barla spoke quietly. “Is the bed too uncomfortable?”
“Oh no,” Amanda replied quickly, “I just had nightmares last night, so I didn’t sleep well, and I got up way too early.” She shrugged and then pointed down to the paper on the desk and said, “I did create a timeline of my days since coming to Tuala. I thought it might help you in some way. It occurred to me last night that Petre saw my yacht. He had called me Jesisca after all. It’s not a common name here, is it?”
Barla shook her head and reached for the paper. “I think this might be very helpful, Amanda. You’re correct. Jesisca is not a common name on Tuala. Petre probably does know something about your yacht.” She turned to Captain Ahn, “Do you think maybe he towed the yacht to the nearest Elder to sell? It sounds like something a man like Petre would do. There could be a lot of money involved after all. He may even have sold Neal to the Elders. What do you think, Ahn?”
“Maybe, Barla,” Captain Ahn replied. “Let’s sit down and talk about this while Amanda eats. She looks a little peaked.”
Amanda reached into the bag and retrieved a wonderfully warm glawlet. Her mouth salivated thinking about eating it. She smiled at Barla and said, “You make the most wonderful glawlets. Thank you for this.”
While she ate, she discussed her ideas from the previous night with them. They sat in contemplative silence when she finished. Amanda wondered what had happened the previous day as she looked back and forth from the Captain to Barla. Again, she felt the familiar pull to Barla when she looked closely at her. Uncomfortable with the continued silence, Amanda asked, “Is something wrong?”
Barla smiled and patted Amanda’s hand, “Nothing’s wrong which concerns you. We had another fishing vessel capsize yesterday, and all aboard were lost. We spent most of yesterday telling the next of kin and making arrangements for the children who are now orphans. Ceren handles the boys who are a little older very well, so we had him close shop early yesterday to help us out. We’re just a little preoccupied, but we still want to get things moving for you.” She held up the list Amanda created and asked, “Do you mind if I take this to read through?”
“Go ahead. I made it to help.”
Captain Ahn had been quiet throughout this exchange; as he had been looking around the room. “You’re sure making good progress in here. I don’t think you will need a full two weeks at this rate.”
He smiled and shook his head. He turned to Barla and commented, “You may as well make arrangements for Amanda to be moved by the end of next week. Otherwise, she will get bored just looking at these four walls.”
“I’m already ahead of you, Ahn.”
Amanda looked from Captain Ahn to Barla, confusion clearly written on her face.
Barla noticed and commented, “Ahn and I agreed you would be safer farther away from the harbor. Once your work is finished here, I have a friend of mine who will take you further inland and farther away from Petre MacVeen. Bryon doesn’t know anything about Earth, other than the usual childhood fairy tale stories, so don’t mention anything to him about it, okay?”
Amanda thought this sounded reasonable so she nodded her head. “Sounds good. I should probably get to work now if you want me to be finished in another seven days.”
Outside Ascension Page 10
