Clackers

Clackers - Part 2

CHAPTER FOUR - DRAFT

Everything looks better in the early morning light; every new day brings the chance to see things in a new way. I don't believe that—not for a second, it's what Dad likes to say. It's the advice he'd give me now. Stay strong, it'll get better. He said it each week when I'd take him home from the liver specialist and each week his eyes would get more and more yellow. His words sound like they did back then, a joke. I did survive the night in the holding cell but I'm not so sure about the woman beside me. She didn't speak, all I heard from the cell next door was quiet sobs. Sometimes I'd look over to the sidewall and see her face pushed right up against it, the lights outside our cells making her oval face appear long and narrow. Then I'd hear her back in bed, sobbing, always sobbing. In the morning I tried to say good-bye but the woman was gone. Guard said she left early.

The holding cell is behind me now and the first step in orientation is my new apartment at the Palladium. It's great to be out of the prison blues and in a nice dress with comfortable shoes. The dress is expensive and has Mara written all over it. The sun is blood red and the heat is oppressive.
Finally I see Mara step out of her all white car to greet me in front of my new apartment. She walks right by me and opens the door to the apartment, I think she mumbles a hello but I can't be sure.

Mara says, "Not bad, eh?"
She speaks to the empty apartment, certainly not to me. I always dreamed of my own apartment and this space exceeds all expectations. The first real smile since I've clacked onto Saffire crosses my face. The contemporary cabinetry in the kitchen is a gray lacquer. The walls are pure white and the floors are a pale blond hardwood.

Mara says, "When I clacked I was dumped over on South Block. Never liked it. This end of the Palladium is much nicer."

Mara sits on the dark gray sofa. I choose a luxurious red velvet chair with high arms across from her.

"I can't believe this is my place," I say.

"I worked with my designer on the colors. All high end furniture."

"Thanks," I say.

Mara's cellphone rings, "Gotta take this."

The photo that popped up on the cellphone is the man with the scar across his face. The man she kissed at Atticus. I try not to listen but can't help hearing bits and pieces of the conversation. "Just get it done," the man says. Mara looks at the phone then returns to the gray couch.

Mara, "That was Jago, the Eminence. You saw him with me at Atticus."

The tall broad-shouldered boy seemed more Mara's type to me. What a smile he had.

"There was another guy at your table?"

Mara says, "Aiden. He's amazing."

"When did he clack?" I say.

Mara says, "Not too long ago."

Aiden is a very cool name. I pick up the little red book on the side table near the window, "The Octavo."

Mara comes over, "Did you read it?"

"Part of The Coming," I say.

Mara says, "Good. Then you've already begun your orientation. There are eight sections of the Octavo, each tell us about Saffire. Past, present, and future. No child is born on Saffire. We're all clackers. The Coming is a prophesy that's the most important part of the book. One day a child, the Unum, will be born to save Saffire."

"But when?" I say.

Mara says, "When there is need. A special woman called the Gravidarum will bear that child. All citizens hope to be that woman."