Equals

Chapter 4

The Hideout

           The city’s amazing, even beautiful in its own way. My eyes are locked on it, this strange little city, concealed in woods and valleys, all natural, full of grass and buildings, made of brick, not glass. People walking and using roads, instead of hover cars and boards... Everything excites me. Eventually Madison guides me to my new home, a small little three room house. Bedroom, kitchen, and a bathroom included. I tell her I really have nothing else, so she takes me to a place called the market. When she sees me running around looking and touching everything, asking a million questions, she laughs, looking at me acting like a small child. I would’ve laughed too.

           “Come on, Azurite, we don’t have a lot of time. Markets do close.” I tell her all I have is a pack of pills. Her eyes almost pop out of her head. “How did you get these?!”

           “What these? They’re just food pills. Everybody uses them in the city now. It’s how we eat everything.”

           “These are like gold here! How many packs of these do you have?!”

           “About…six more, why?”

           “Dummy don’t you get it?! You can get anything you want with these things!” She has a huge smile on her face, and she pulls me to the front of the trading post. We end up getting me jeans, a hand-made t-shirt (something I’ve never heard of), and a sleeping bag, for about two packs of spaghetti pills.

           “Wow, these are really nice, what are they?” I say, running my fingers across the soft fabric of the t-shirt.

           “It’s cotton, hand-woven. They used to do all clothes like this, but once cities like yours were made, nobody wanted them. Now they have special skin-tight suits and—“

           “Yeah I know, I was there six days ago, remember?”

           “Oh, right.” She blushes and laughs a bit, “Sorry.”

           “No problem. So…what else is there?”

           “Oh! There is one thing you have to see!” She pulls me for what feels like miles, but once we get there I don’t care.

           “Wow…what are these things? They’re beautiful!” Through the huge glass window I see beautiful decorated circular things, some small, some big, all of them smell sweet, like sugar pills. Some say things like, ‘Happy Birthday,’ or, ‘Happy Anniversary.’

           “Haha, Azurite they’re cakes. They’re really good! The pretty stuff you see on the outside, it’s called frosting, and on the inside, it’s warm, and soft, and tastes like chocolate, and vanilla. Sometimes they even have more frosting or ice cream inside.”

           “Wow…. Can we eat one!?”She laughs.

           “Azurite, these things are really filling. We couldn’t eat one between the two of us.”

           “So, let’s share it! Come on Pleeeease, I really, really want one!” She giggles, and finally gives in. We sit down at a table where she cuts two slices. I stare down at it on my plate.It looks so pretty, I don’t want to eat it, but it smells so delicious and sweet, I can’t help it. I put a small piece on my tongue, the frosting slowly melts and the soft, chocolate flavored cake inside explodes with flavor in my mouth. The minute I finish chewing I keep digging in for more, and more, until the piece is finally gone.

           “Looks like you enjoyed that huh?”

           “It’s the best thing I’ve ever had! Can I have…more?” At home you can’t ask for more. If somebody else at the table is full, and you get more, it’s unequal, and some people have less than others, so asking for more usually ends up in punishment.

           “Haha, sure, here you go.” She cuts another piece, and I devour it almost as quickly.

           “It’s too bad it won’t last until tomorrow…”

           “What do you mean? Put it in your fridge, and wrap it up. Then we can have more tomorrow if you want.”

           “What’s a-a fridge?”

           “You’ve never heard of a fridge? It’s abox shaped electrical thing that keeps your food a little cold so it’ll last longer than if you keep it sitting out. Everybody here uses them, but I guess they’re a little old fashioned for your city.”

           “Oh! A frid-er-ador... I’ve seen them in museums! They look really neat.” She laughs at my pronunciation.

           “No, no, it’s fridge-er-a-tor, and you have one at your new house. “

           “Can we try it out now?”

           “Later, Azurite, don’t you wanna see more of the city?”

           “Mmm…okay.” Next she shows me an ‘Amusement Park’ filled with games, (which we play), and amazing, thrilling, roller coasters. We ride a couple, they’re so fast, the wind blowing through your face,the blood rushing to your head when It goes upside down, the fear of falling but the relief and joy you feel when you’re going uphill. We don’t have roller coasters. To have fun, we do things with more risks. Swimming in freezing oceans, bungee jumping, sometimes even jumping off of the tallest buildings we can find, landing on a trampoline below. She looks at me like I’m sick, but I remind her how different our worlds are. All of the ‘city kids’ love a good scare, a chill, anything to keep us…exhilarated. We love thrills.

           “Hey Azurite, I want to introduce you to someone.”

           “Who…?”

           “I want you to meet Michael.”