Three Converts

Part 45

Ridiculously, we all napped. It seemed absurd after all that happened, but it was exactly what we needed. When we woke, we ate again and even Griff looked like he was ready to take on the world. And it was only mid-afternoon. Rocco and Misty set out into town to find jobs, Griff planned to get word to Gordo about the fire and their dad's incarceration.

"Need help with that?" I asked.

"Nah. I'll figure it out." Gordo was a drifter, so Griff's plan was to find whatever drifting friends of his were in town at the moment and ask that they spread the word. "Unless you want to come with? I'm always happy to have you." He kissed my cheek and I was relieved to find the ashy smell of fire was beginning to disappear. He smelled more like his old self again.

"Believe it or not, I have a couple errands to run," I said. "Nope, I'm not telling you what they are." I stopped him. "Yet, anyway. I do need some luck though." Griffin hugged me, I felt his face in my hair, and stepped into him. How was he so sturdy after the day he'd had?

"Good luck," he said, kissing me. I fought the urge to press harder against his lips. We had things to accomplish yet today.

With a sigh, I pulled away. "Thanks. Be careful?"

"Yeah, I'm not the one with a psychotic commune council after me. You be careful. Don't get thrown in any pits, okay?"

"Got it." I laughed, but his words gave me pause. Was it really that wise to venture out by myself? I shook my head. The lack of weight since Misty cut my hair still surprised me. I couldn't live in fear. My whole life I lived in fear of not making three conversions. I am free now. I repeated over and over. I am free. I am free. I walked in rhythm to my mantra. It carried me all the way into town.

I shivered in front of the medical center. It wasn't big, but it was clean and professional. It occurred to me that Sam was somewhere in here. I hoped his painkillers were wearing off and he was hurting badly. A gut check revealed I also didn't feel guilty about my unkind thoughts.

I stepped into the building. It was much cooler and quieter than I'd expected. A man at the front desk looked at me. "Yes?" He wasn't impolite, but I could see he was busy.

"I'm here about a job, please."

He thrust a clipboard at me. "Fill this out."

Without asking, I took a pen from a little jar on his desk. The form asked a lot of questions I didn't have answers to. My education (None. I could read and write, but the council always said we shouldn't focus on things of this world. Which included school.) Previous experience (None. I cited helping Eliana give birth, even though I was sure that wasn't exactly what the form meant.) References (None. I supposed I could put Annie, but how would they reach her? I just talked her into moving to the commune.) I tapped the pen against the clipboard, until I felt the glare of the front desk guy.

"Sorry." I stopped tapping. This was stupid. "You know? I think I'll just fill this out later, then bring it back some other time."

He squinted his eyes at me. "You look familiar." I didn't hear that very often. My face, hair, build, was all very plain. I always blended into a crowd exceptionally well. He stared hard at me. I let him inspect me until he snapped his fingers. "You're a Robe."

"No. No, I'm not."

"Then you used to be. You tried to convert me once. I remember because when you left, I thought they should train you guys better. You were awful."

"Wow. Well, okay." I was offended, until I remembered I didn't believe any of the commune's philosophies. Of course, I was awful.

"I mean, you were nice and everything, but really bad at giving your pitch."

"Yeah. I guess I was." I laughed a little, and so did he.

"You give it up? I thought once you were in that commune you were in for life?"

"I thought so too. Turns out that's not exactly true. But leaving isn't easy."

He squinted at me again like I was a cracked window that he'd just noticed. "I bet it's not," he said slowly. "So, now you want to be a doctor? Is that it? Let's see your application." He pulled the clipboard from my hand before I could stop him.

"Oh, no. I just- I've delivered some babies," I blurted. To his credit he didn't laugh. He leafed through my application and breathed out.

"There's not much to go on here."

I blushed. I was so stupid to think this would work. "No, I know. You can just throw it away, actually."

"Well, hang on! If you've delivered babies, you've delivered babies. That's no easy thing. Listen, let me ask around. Come back tomorrow about this time and I'll let you know if I found anything."

"Really? Thank you! Thank you for that!"

"No promises! And I hope you're better at delivering babies than you are at the ministry."

"I am! I really am. Um, may I ask your name?"

"It's Bruno. And you are..."

"Lucy."

"Lucy. Cute. Okay, Lucy. Try back tomorrow." Hegave me a wink, and I gave him my most intelligent, hard-working, professionalsmile. Once I was back outside I jumped up and down, clapping like a littlegirl, who just won a spelling bee.