Fadeout

Chapter 4: Jamar

The scream could be heard outside in the carriage. Jamar felt his heart leap and he craned to look. Lemuel paused for a moment and moved to take a step back toward the house, but then the side kitchen door was flung open and a pink faced Edworth ran coughing into the yard. Ted and Henry tried to follow him with a rag, but Edworth refused to let them touch him.

Lemuel closed the carriage door and pressed the button, letting the driver know they were ready. As the carriage pulled down the driveway, Jamar couldn’t resist getting out of his seat to catch one more look. Edworth must have wiped his eyes, because he was glaring at the receding carriage.

Jamar just smiled and waved. It served him right, the cookie monster. Predictability was the greatest weakness a Tirean could have and Jamar knew how to exploit it. Although his family might not be as close to the political action as it once was, he was determined to change that one day. Perhaps he would have Edworth for an assistant or as someone to wipe his mouth during dinner. The thought made Jamar smile as he settled back into his seat.

“How long are we going to be at the Cartiam?” Jamar asked.

Lemuel had his reading glasses on and was pouring over a file.

“Until we leave or are needed elsewhere. I’m having Carlyle meet us there.”

Carlyle was Jamar’s tutor, which meant they would be there for a while. At least long enough that he would have to continue his studies. Jamar was glad to have Carlyle there. He enjoyed learning anything he could. Knowledge was power and Jamar planned on having power. Being around boys like Edworth, Ted and Henry only made him realize how important knowledge and learning was. The more he knew the more he would be able to control. When Edworth was busy sneaking cookies in the kitchen or scaring the horses, Jamar would be learning politics, energy efficiency and business smarts. Edworth might be a lord one day, but Jamar would have respect, even if it was given grudgingly.

He’d seen the looks the staff would give Lord Dumas or his son when they passed by. They did not have respect. They were buffoons. What did it matter if they thought he was an energy farmer? One day things would change and Jamar could hardly wait. His gold medallion was just as pure as theirs. He even got his a year younger than Edworth did. Lemuel started training him as soon as Jamar could read. The gold medallion was proof that Jamar was a member of Tirean society, that he was not just a person, but a person of note.

Jamar pulled the chain off his neck and looked closer at the medallion. It showed the ape, the man and the superior man. The ape was down on all fours, the man’s shoulders were slopped and the superior man had his head high, his arms presenting himself and small rays of light shooting from his head. On the other side of the medallion were the words Protecting Society and Never Go Back curved around an eagle flying across the waters of a lake.

All the medallions had the same imprints, but there were also silver, copper and iron medallions. Sometimes it depended on the race of a person. Tireans as the ruling race most often received gold and less often silver, Faans as the warriors received silver and copper and Ajaks depending on whether they were lower Ajak, the servants, or upper Ajak, the merchants, received copper or iron. Sometimes it depended on the way a person answered the questions or on their perceived potential contribution to society. There were some upper Ajaks with silver, Faans with a rare gold or a mixed Tirean with copper. Having different metal medallions was a way to instantly identify the value of another.

Jamar fingered the medallion and settled back into his seat. He wished he had something to read, but he had not thought to keep one of his books out of his bag and now it was stowed away. He glanced over at the file Lemuel was holding. It was an analysis of energy consumption in the south and east sections of the country. Jamar wasn’t too familiar with the cities there, but he knew several of them were large and would require a lot of energy. As the owner of Pelacroix Energy, Lemuel was in charge of the sole provider of energy for the majority of the nation. There were always discussions on finding a new source of energy or taxing the current system to make more money. Jamar could tell from one of the graphs that over the last year the demand for energy had risen.