The giver

Application (7)

"The year we got you Lily, we knew that we'd get a female because we'd made our application and been approved but I been wondering and wondering what her name will be" mother says as she smiles

"I could have sneaked a look at the list prior to the ceremony, the committee always makes the list in advance and it's right there in the office at the Nurturing Center" father confided

"As a matter of fact, I feel a little guilty about this but I did go in the afternoon and looked to see if this year's naming list had been made yet. It was right there in the office and I looked up the number thirty six that's the little guy I been concerned about because it occurred to me that's it might enhance his nurturing if I could call him by a name. Just privately of course when no one else is around" father went on

"Did you find it" I ask
I was fascinated, it didn't seem a terribly important rule but the fact that my father had broken a rule at all awed me.

I glance at mother, the one responsible for adherence to the rules and was relived she was smiling

Father nodded "his name if he makes it to the naming without being released of course is to be Gabriel"

"So I whisper that to him when I was feeding him every four hours, and during exercise and playtime. If no one can hear me" father explains

"I can call him gabe actually" I said grinning

A good name I decided, since I was the youngest I couldn't wait to become a older sister that would protect him just like Noah

I was the twenty three child to be born unlike Noah who was the nineteenth child and Gabriel being thirty six. Putting me right in the middle

"When I was an eleven as you are Lily, I was very inpatient waiting for the ceremony of twelve. It's a long two days  I remember that I enjoyed the ones, as I always do but that I didn't pay much attention to the other ceremonies except for my sister's, she became a nine that year and got her bicycle. I'd been teaching her to ride mine even though technically I wasn't supposed to" father chuckled

It was one of the few rules that was not taken seriously and was almost always broken. The children all received their bikes at nine; they were not allowed to ride bicycles before then. But almost always the older brothers and sisters had secretly taught the younger ones

As I imagined the future I couldn't wait to train Gabriel just like how Noah taught me when I was a eight

There was talk along time ago about changing the rule and giving the bicycles at an earlier age.

A committee  was studying the idea when something went to a committee for study the people always jokes about it. The rules was always very hard to change and rarely happen.