Island of the Unemployed

COCONUTS

The company made sure everyone was well aware of the vulnerabilities of the natural world. Too much heat. Too little heat. Too little food. The list went on. There was much to fear, but the primary vulnerability advertised by the company was the lack of water. Deja needed to find water fast, and Deja knew it.

Her decision to take River along gnawed at her gut. Here she was, fighting for her life, and she had to drag this boat anchor everywhere she went. The worst part was she only had herself to blame. It's a simple rule, 'No Mercy.' Why did I have to break it? Now I'm stuck with this guy! Never again!

"Hey, you! Where do you think you're going?" She doubled back to retrieve River for the umpteenth time. He kept wandering off in random directions. She looked down at his pant legs. His clothes were so big on him that the bottom of his shirt and the crotch of his pants hung down to his knees. His pant legs extended beyond his shoes, and she tired of watching River trip over them. "Here! Let's roll those pant legs up."

She fixed his pant legs, then looked upward, and squinted. "Damned sun!" It beat down mercilessly. The temperature in the Grid was always just right, with nothing glaring at you. Now, it felt like the sun was about to burn a hole in the back. Her throat and mouth felt like cotton.

After an hour of searching, they came to the base of a small mountain. Deja looked to the top. Maybe, if we get to the top of this mountain, we'll be able to see where the water is. It shouldn't take more than a half an hour.

So, they started their way up the mountain. It was their first experience with an incline of any sort. A half hour later, they were a quarter of the way up. It proved to be an exhausting and frustrating lesson Beside the hassle of the incline, she found the plants and trees to be a nuisance to navigate. Branches sticking out, bushes coming out of the ground, rocks laying around in unpredictable locations. The randomness of the natural world irritated her. How was she expected to navigate the chaotic mess?

The biggest frustration, of course, was River. "Where's River." She looked around and found him staring face first into a tree. She stomped up to him, grabbed his shoulders, and whipped him around, bringing their faces only a few inches apart. She squeezed his face hard enough to make his lips puckered.

"Pay attention!" she seethed. "Do you understand?" He started off into space. "Of course, you don't! You don't understand anything, now, do you?" She pushed him away from her. "And you stink too!"

"Okay. Let's try this. You go first, and I'll follow." She nudged him forward. He responded by obediently hiking up the slope in a stumbling, mechanical fashion. It wasn't long before he walked smack into another tree. He let out a soft grunt, and came to a halt.

"What are you doing? What is the matter with you?" she screamed. "Can't you do anything right?"

That's it! I'm going to have to leave him behind. What else can I do? It's not my fault he can't keep up. Maybe I can come back for him later, once I find water. She watched him, as he stood face first into the tree. He looked so pitiful! Could she really just leave him there?

"Okay, here's what we're going to do." She pulled him away from the tree. "I'm going to go first, and I'm going to hold your hand. That way you can't get lost. Got it?" He stared into space with tree bark stuck to his face. "Of course, you don't!"

She took River's hand and continued up the hill. They moved along without a major incident for about twenty minutes. Then River slipped on something, jolted toward the ground, and almost fell flat on his face. He was out of breath, and obviously tired. So was she.

"All right, you know what? Maybe we should take a break. But we can't stop for long, though. We need to find water soon, so you're going to need to keep up!" She plopped River down on a rock, and sat down a few feet away from him.