“We need to talk about Satumi.” Ish said
“I agree. Do you hear that?” Levy said
Chen rose from his seat and all 3 of them stood at the top of the stairs and looked down towards the door.
“It sounds like, a party.” Levy said
Then Levy skipped down the stairs, unlatched the many locks on the reinforced door and peered out.
“It’s a party! Levy yelled.
In the decrepit street flanked by decrepit buildings was a crowd of people who seemed full of life. Levy stepped out to join them.
“It’s actually pleasant outside. Look how jolly everyone on the block is.” He yelled back inside.
. The air did not sting his skin, the california orange reigned over top of them gentle and a cool wind was flowing. It looked like a parade outside, there was music playing on the corner and people selling sticks with meat on them.
“I haven't seen a piece of meat like that in 10 years!” Levy exclaimed.
Ish could hear Levy’s voice through the door calling for him to come out and they both cautiously approached the door. Chen peaked his own pale face out, but clutched ol Beatrice tightly in his hand just out of view from the outside.
Ish peaked his face out next to him and he was equally astonished to see the people, it was like a party on the block. Ish smelled the meat before he saw it and his belly quaked.
“Holy shit is that meat! Chen! Chen! Meat!!!!” Ish yelled as he hopped up and down and put his hands on Chen’s shoulders and squeezed them like he was the star quarterback ready for his first star.
He hadn’t left the building since he entered it 5 years prior. Chen came from the east in the Sierras, the frontier where people were starting to reclaim some of the land that had been made arid. His family was killed by the redmen and he wandered into one of Ish and Levy’s smuggling routes in a drunken stupor. Some goblins descended on the trio and Chen flung himself into a dagger meant for Ish, so Ish and Levy snuck him back into the zone and Emma patched him up. He had no official status in the LAFPZ so any encounter with an ancillary would be the last time he ever saw his the california orange again, and then no one would be around to watch the door, no one would be around to keep the community safe at night. Ish and Levy were strong, but they had responsibilities outside that took them away so often. Chen couldn’t risk getting taken away from his cot at the top of the stairs by the ancillaries.
“You’re the best doorman anyone could ask for. I’ll buy you some meat. You deserve to feel the sun when it’s like this, the wind is cool and the air is warm.” Ish said.
Chen looked again outside and saw the grand time everyone was having. And he wanted some meat. He had spent many hours studying the minute details of the lobby. He’d named every beam on the railing after whittling figures into them and held small ceremonies for them when they gave way to rot. He’d light a match from his special tin with a naked woman on it, sing a little song and then smoke some tobacco in silence. Sometimes Chen would walk down the stairs with his chair and put it behind the desk and it was like being in a whole new room. The beams had different names from that angle and some of them didn’t seem like they had quite died when looking at them from below. He liked to carve, he kept his set of utensils under the desk and would etch intricate abstractions into symmetrical patterns on tables, on old lamps, on the covers of books. Chen was oddly satisfied by his small life in the tenement, he felt intimately a part of a vibrant scene that no one else noticed. There was so much to see and notice in a tiny room, so much to learn about life and living from sitting silently. But outside there was some meat and today Chen wanted some so he followed Ish into the crowd, leaving ol’ Beatrice to watch the door herself.
The woman selling the meat was small, dark and stout with a wide face. She had beady eyes and spoke only broken english, she shouted in what sounded like spanish but wasn’t to a young boy only assumed by the trio to be her son. She had dreaded hair and greasy skin marked by dust like she’d been working with gun oil in a dirty room, there was a buckskin pouch of water strapped to her side and she wielded a large cleaver to which was vigorously chopping hunks of meat to skewer and roast over an open fire. The horns of a great deer or elk were wrapped with a hide string to a post that was being held up by the small boy.
“You’re doing a mighty fine job of holding up that post lad.” Levy said to the boy as he nibbled on a fired kebab.
“Madre mía no me deja ir—mi espiritu lucha, mi corazon arde, ya no quiero quedarme aquí” The little boy jabbered.
“Well that’s exactly right isn’t it?” Levy replied
“Una perra una perra!!” The boy said.
“Una perra!!” Levy replied jovially.
The woman swung the cleaver at Levy then pointed it at him and wagged it like a finger as she scolded him in the same ferret language the boy used.
“You’re gonna spoil the meat.” Chen said
“She needs to focus on roasting.” Ish said
“This poor boy shouldn’t have to hold this pole up all day.” Levy said.
He pointed his finger at the lady and wagged it too and then pointed over towards another developing crowd.
“Look over there at all those boys huddled around Mister John, they have a soccer ball he’s struggling to pump up by hand that looks like it came out of the womb 5 minutes ago. You ever seen a soccer ball that ripe lady? All the ones I’ve seen look sad and rotten, that one looks young and plump like you used to be. I bet when you kick it, it makes a satisfying sound. And this poor boy is holding up a sign. It’s the most beautiful day he’s ever seen and he's been relegated to sign holder instead of getting the once in a lifetime chance to kick a mint soccer ball. That’s not right. I’ll hold the damn sign if he can go play soccer.” Levy said.
Ish had already paid for the meat, which he and Chen were devouring it in silence. He was hoping to buy seconds, but Levy was ruining their chances.
“Leave the poor woman alone. Maybe the kid is a little devil, he’s from outside the wall. He might not know that when you lose a game you aren’t supposed to stab your opponent.” Ish said.
Then Levy picked up the post from the kid and kicked him gently in the butt.
“Football! Vamanos!” Levy yelled and he pointed towards the gang of kids who were now kicking the ball around.
The beady woman yelled something in the ferret language, but the kid was emboldened now and ignored her, and a large line was forming so she let him be.
“Feed me Ish, I have to hold the sign nicely or she might come at me again with that big cleaver.” Levy said
“Feed yourself you fool.” Ish replied.
Next to the little stand selling meat, the first stand ever to sell meat on their street, a band was forming. 2 neighbors, Bob Kears and Lenny Little were setting up different size buckets. Lenny tapped the buckets with 2 drum sticks and Bob plucked at a banjo. A woman named Sally ran up and started to shake a cup full of dried beans. Then a 2nd woman Ish had never seen walked up, she was voluptuous in bosom with equally voluminous black shaggy hair that didn’t match her eyebrows. The dark featured woman wore black boots and hummed with a powerful baritone voice before she started to sing a song about the beautiful weather. A little crowd formed in front of the band and many people started dancing. Levy was doing a jig and the pole with the antlers was his new partner while the beady woman watched him from the corner of her eye.
“Ese palo—medicina—díí tsin… hózhó nah… corazón arde, shił łeeh… no caer, shadow guarda, hágoó… vida corre—no drop—medicina…” She said with her cleaver
“This is the dance I was doing with Herman!” Levy yelled.
Emma was dancing with Senna and Ish watched her as he passed the gin he stole from Jimmy Minge to Chen. How do they know what the other one is going to do?” Ish said
“It’s like a language. They both count the steps. We would have a swing night in Heller.” Chen said
Emma and Senna were seamlessly rocking their arms to the beat of the drums, stepping in the trail of the other, spinning effortlessly with grace in what looked like a choreographed danced to Ish. Senna would dash away only to be pulled back and spin into the place Emma was standing as Emma used the momentum of the pull to take Senna’s place.
Ish watched and he felt very nice. His belly had real meat in it and the weather was fair, he wasn’t hot and there was no dust in his face.
“Maybe we can talk to Bob after this. Try to organize the tenements on the block together into something bigger than just ours. Look at this.” Ish said.
Levy was dancing with the pole in 1 hand and the beady woman in the other. She was smiling and had put her cleaver down to do the jig.
Watching over the whole crowd was the tall white pillar with its eyes and ears. 3 teenage boys were standing beneath it looking up. 2 of them were blonde with bleached hair and the third was shorter and stood hunched over like a little chimp. They picked up some rocks and started hurling them at the camera.
“These fucking kids.” Ish said.
Ish remembers being a stupid kid in the zone, the days were harder then, but that didn’t prevent him from doing the stupid things like these kids were doing. Once Ish threw rocks at a passing LAFPZ truck, not because he was a terrorist, but because he thought it was funny. He’s not sure why he thought it was funny, but it was. There were lots of other boys that said they were going to throw rocks and Ish wasn’t going to be the only one that didn’t. Unfortunately he was the only one that did and that rock shattered the windshield. The ancillaries that caught him beat him and the other boys senselessly. They all blamed him for throwing the rock, their insolence enraged the ancillaries who focused most of their beatings on the other boys. That was the start of Ish’s good luck. Ish knows that could have been the end of his life, they could have taken him to a labor camp, shot him on the spot, or just logged him in. Putting his name in the system so early would have changed his entire life, he never could have joined the underground or associated with them in anyway. They wouldn’t touch him if he was logged. Now these kids were throwing rocks, itching to get themselves beat, logged or shot because kids are fiendishly curious whether they grew up in the glut of suburbia or the apocalypse.
“Stop!” Ish yelled
The small chimp kid heard and pretended not to, so Ish started jogging towards them.
Before he got to them, the chimp kid hurled a baseball size rock with 2 hands straight up and it hit one of the cameras.
It threw sparks and then detached from the pole and hung by a mess of wires. The band stopped playing and Ish could palpate the tension in the air as the block full of jolly people looked towards the dangling camera on the white pillar at the end of the street.
Everyone froze except Ish who was closing the distance and the cool wind became still.
When he did, he smacked the chimp kid with the back of his hand and then one of the blonde boys kicked Ish, so Ish smacked him too.
The chimp kid tried to run, but Ish grabbed his shirt. The 2nd blonde boy, seeing the lick his twin received, ran off and the other followed him.
The little chimp boy struggled and tried to bite Ish, so he smacked him again.
“I’ll stop hitting you if you stop squirming.” Ish said. A lie.
Ish clasped both the boy's arms and he had to use his thigh to block the incoming kicks meant for his groin. He was thrashing like a rabbit that had it’s leg wrapped in a snare
“Fuck you!” the chimp kid whooped.
Ish shook him violently like a mother who hates her toddler and finally he accepted defeat. This big predator had caught him and was going to eat in, now it was just time to sit quietly and wait for death. Bob Kears had come over and was watching with his arms folded. Bob had long blonde curly hair not unlike the 2 deserters and a blonde scruff to match it.
“Hey.” He said.
“Hey.” Ish replied.
“Who’s your parents?” Ish said.
“Fuckin dead.” Chimp boy said.
“You know what you just did?” Ish said.
“Broke the man’s camera,” Chimp boy replied.
“You just ruined this fine afternoon we were having at the least and killed multiple people at the worst.” Ish scolded.
“You gonna beat him some more?” Bob said.
“Probably should, shouldn’t we Bob? Ish said.
Bob smacked the boy a few times, but his heart wasn’t in it. He pulled his hand at the last second each time and the chimp boy’s whimpers and shrieks tugged at Bobs’ soft soul. He said sorry between each blow. Bob grew up in an ancillary academy and he boasted about receiving more demerits than anyone else; throwing bread at dinner, yelling Corporal in a boisterous tone and hair too long at inspection. Despite his antics, he was popular amongst his peers and superiors; for his personality was magnetic. Bob could speak in such a way that inspired the people around him to love him. He never could have become an ancillary as he was too pure and he died of abroken heart, the inciting event for his court martial and eventual departure from the academy was ordering the cadets under his supervision to duel with sausages. Now Bob had aged, his witt had matured and he fancied himself a leader amongst the people that were so dearly attracted to him, but he had no stomach for violence. He was the same age as Ish and they both hung around the Haymarket bars when they were 18, jabbering with the underground spooks trying to prove he was hard just like Ish did. Only Bob was a good man. And good men didn’t get to be freedom fighters.
Ish gave the boy a few more hard slaps with his open hand before he and Bob walked back toward the crowd. He caught Emma’s glance before the voluptuous woman started to hum loudly again and the mood quickly became festive again. She kept on dancing with Senna and she didn’t again look towards Ish.
“I heard you got pulled in?” Ish said
“I’ve been fishing, ancillaries caught me. I thought I was dead. They brought me to their dock and made me apply for a permit. Told me to tell everyone that they needed permits if they were going to fish.”
“You’re eating fish?” Ish questioned
“I never thought I would, but they don’t make you sick like they did when we were kids. I’ll bring you some tomorrow.” Bob said.
Ish wanted to ask more questions about the water and the fish, but Bob was looking over towards his banjo. And a lot of people were looking at the 2 men with judgement in their eyes. Bob was a friend to everyone, he was the kind of man you couldn’t help but adore, with an emotional and social gravity that pulled everyone around him. Ish slapped his shoulder and Bob dashed back to his strings.
Chen was dancing in the crowd alongside Emma and Senna, the block felt prosperous and safe even with the dangling camera and the looming response of unknown and arbitrary magnitude by the LAFPZ. The sun was higher in the sky and the air had grown warmer, but the cool wind felt divine and it was sweeping through the narrow street, funneled by stone buildings that outlasted the civilization that built them. Ish stood alone against one of those buildings and sipped his gin. He watched Bob Kears and his beautiful blonde curls that hadn’t aged a day since Ish met him, he was plucking the strings, already forgiven by the crowd of people for beating a child in plain view of everyone. A lot of people knew that what the chimp kid had done was very bad and would have consequences for everyone, someone had to make a show out of it. Bob thought that could be him because like Ish knew, he fancied himself a leader and sometimes leaders had to do unscrupulous things such as slapping an unruly child with an open hand. But everyone saw Bob’s slaps carried no weight and that Ish’s were laced with the fury of an overzealous judge itching to make an example. These were new times that would need new leaders. And Bob was a leader. Ish was too of a sort.
Levy had propped the antler pole up and was playing soccer with all the children, including the 2 blonde teenages who were with Chimp kid and the small dark boy with the meat woman. The chimp kid was sitting by himself on the sideline with his knees tucked in, rubbing his bloody face.
--
When 3 technicians came to look at the camera, they were accompanied by ancillaries carrying automatic weapons. Much of the crowd dispersed as the men with guns walked towards them and the technicians tossed a rope up to ascend the pillar. The soccer game however, was not interrupted. 4 teams had been made, the little kids and Levy weren’t paying enough attention to notice. Ish walked up to the men holding the automatic weapons, Bob Kears slung his banjo over his shoulder and walked up too. He carried his banjo in the same way the men carried their guns. The kids and the russian were yelling so Bob Kears couldn’t hear what Ish was saying to the ancillaries. The one doing the talking was skinny and had a big nose, his uniform was too big and his pants had to be cuffed around his ankles. When Bob finally got close enough to hear he felt hot for the first time that day. The sun was reflecting off the freshly polished assault rifle and was burning a hole in his flesh. He took a big gulp and then wiped his forehead as he came into earshot.
“We gotta take the kid in.” He said
“Did you ID him?” Ish asked
The ancillary scoffed and looked beyond Ish towards the kids playing soccer, chimp kid was not present.
“We handled it ourselves. He’s been punished.” Bob Kears said.
Ish shot a charged glance at Bob as if he had just done something awful. Then Bob thought maybe he had, he had no idea what Ish had been saying to the men. Ish could have been lying, been playing them. They might just shoot the both of them on the spot now. The skinny man in front bent his head and looked at Ish and Bob, silence reigned between them.
“So, you admit you saw him?” He said nasally.
“He’s fuckin little rat. We’ll just take him. He probably begs at all your doors and throws rocks at you too when you walk by. I don’t want to deal with this shit, just let us have him so we can all get back to our lives.” He added.
The more the skinny man talked the more his nostrils would flare and the more nasally his words would become.
“Come on come on come on.”
Waving his hands and speaking with insolence was a good way to compel compliance in proles. He threatened trouble for everyone if the chimp kid wasn’t given up. There were a lot of proles around and none of their guns had more than 1 magazine, but butchering proles was bad for everyone. He just wanted to take the kid so his CO wouldn’t scold him or call him names. The big man he thought said his name was fish had a hard look that he couldn’t read. Something was going on behind his eyes that rhymed with death and rage.
“Like you heard from Bob. We took care of it. You can’t have him.” Ish said.
Then the skinny man flared his nostrils 1 more time and finally balked, the other 2 who weren’t much in the mood for conflict followed back to the technicians. Bob Kears let out a long sigh and looked at Ish, who only glanced over at him before walking over to Levy and speaking with him. Then the 2 walked off toward the ration line.