Section One
The Migration North
The warm April sun streams through the vehicle window onto the seat beside Ann. It is almost baseball season and after a winter apart from her best friend, she will soon see Brian again. Ann has every reason to be happy but she is riding in a little bearer vehicle, wearing drab, synthetic bearer clothes, with her boring bearer parents and all of this irritates her.
'Well at least they requested a vehicle,' she thinks. 'It could be worse; we could be on the mag-train with a thousand other bearers going north for the summer.'
Ann unfolds her allcom and messages Brian, "Where are you?"
While she waits for a reply, she goes over, for at least the thousandth time on this trip alone, all the things she doesn't like about being a bearer and how those things will change once she becomes an Aquisitive. 'I'm never going to wear synth clothes; I don't care how good they look from a distance when they are new. Maybe Mom can't tell the difference but I can. My entire wardrobe will be made of silk, cotton, wool, and linen. I'm never going to eat in a common dining room. I'll only go to private, Aquisitive eateries or I'll have my meals catered in. I'll drive a big, bright, powerful, Aquisitive vehicle that will sit parked in my garage even if I have no use for it that day. I'll vacation at exclusive resorts, always in a suite with a view and for long trips I'll ride the express routs in the private Aquisitive rail car. No more going on the bearer network to request transportation and housing every time I want to make a move, I'll keep a residence in each of my favorite locations.'
Ann always feels better when she fantasizes about her future and her ruminating is starting to have its desired effect. She is about to launch into her second favorite fantasy, about how interesting her work will be after she receives her Aquisitive appointment, when her allcom comes to life.
Brian replies, "Hi Ann. We are on the train about thirty K from the Valley Station. I wish you were here too. It's been great. It seems like I've talked about baseball non-stop. Ted and Buck are here from last year's team and a bunch of kids we played against. They are sure our team can three-peat. Most of them want to be traded to our team so they can be with the best! The food hasn't been too good but I've had the run of the train."
Ann and Brian have been friends since they met on a peewee league baseball team six years ago. Brian is a natural and Ann thinks he can be a pro if he could just stay focused. "Brian, you are as bad as my parents, they wanted to take the train inland from the ship this year but I begged them to request a vehicle. How can you stand waiting in line for everything? All that constant scheduling would drive me nuts! We stop when we want, we eat when we want, and we stay where we want. I can't stand those trains. As far as I'm concerned they are a form of slow torture."
"I still wish you were here," he replies, purposely not answering her question. "I know it would make you crabby but at least we could talk face to face."
"If we could find a private place to have that conversation," she responds, hoping her irritation will show.
"I mean about baseball and stuff like that," he shoots back.
"We have more privacy communicating on the allcom. At least there isn't anyone listening in, and as far as talking about baseball, I don't know if I am going to play this year. What's the point? Last year I sat on the bench most of the season while coach tried out guys he wanted to use in my place," she complains.
"There's no one who can play second better than you. And you are still one of the fastest players on our team from home to first," he says.
"If I hadn't taught myself to bat lefty I wouldn't be! I'm just the sacrifice bunt specialist who gets on once and a while or moves the runner up, and I'm tired of only being brought in for defense once the game is almost over. When was the last game I started? The last two years I have seen guys who are better at almost everything I can do and this year I may not even make the team," she writes back.
"Coach wouldn't do that! It is our last year in the minors. You know you are on the team. Come on, don't quit until they kick you out. You know you have at least one more year. I read where another woman made it into the pros this year."
"I saw that too and have you seen a picture of her? I think she could punch your lights out."
Brian didn't have a response to that either. He was big for his age but he had also seen a picture of her and wasn't sure the person he saw was a woman.
Ann waited then added, "But no-one can play first like you."
Ann's Mom interrupted their conversation. "Ann dear, Ann," Ann looked up from her allcom, "we're almost there." Beth wants to give Ann time to finish what ever she is doing on her allcom before they get to their summer home. She knows how Ann hates to be interrupted and doesn't want to put her in a bad mood now that they are almost to their summer residence.
"I have to go," Ann enters. "We are nearly home. We got the same place as last year, did you?" On Ann's insistence, her parents requested the same address as the previous year and when it was available, they took it. It really didn't matter much to any one but Ann because the homes are all pretty much the same but her parents agree that it is nice to use the same address year after year.
"I don't think so." Brian replies, "I'll get our new address from Mom and send it to you. Bye."
"Bye." That is another reason to be an Aquisitive, Ann thinks as she folds her allcom and stores it in her pocket, they are allowed to claim more than one residence at a time and keep them for as long as they like. She will try to remember that bit of trivia the next time her parent's question her quest for an Aquisitive appointment.
'They don't understand me. They are happy little bearers with their happy little bearer lives.' Ann is proud she has set her sights higher and is determined to become one of the select few Aquisitives, even if no one she knows supports her.
