To Breathe Only Smoke

Chapter Two

Six chimes rang through the streets outside our home, signalling the start of the workday. Six o'clock in the morning was a normal waking time for anyone with work to do that day, but I was up almost an hour earlier. I swept the kitchen floor, hung the clothes out to dry, and weeded my section of the garden as the sun rose over the horizon. A warm breeze blew over my skin on the last day of May, sending the warmth deep into my body and bringing a small smile to my face. I wore a work dress that ran rapid with grass stains and a tan sweater Mother had sewn for me. I looked like every other girl in the sector, which was fine by me.

The buildings in the residential section of the sector were all the same style. They were two stories tall, with small windows on the top floor and wide ones on the bottom floor. Grey shutters flapped in the breeze, and small hedges lined the house sides. There were no mailboxes or garages because we believed in face-to-face conversation and manual labor rather than relying on technology. The peaks of our technological advances lie in ice-boxes and wood-burning stoves. I had never known any other way of life, so this didn't bother me. I liked working with my hands. It gave me a way to pass the day by.

A wind chime serenaded me as I pulled another weed from the soil. It was my final chore, and as soon as I finished I could go with Elias where it was he wanted to take me. I was sure he was awake, so I kept my head down and waited until he came for me. Marlene was stirring too, making breakfast with Mother and getting my siblings dressed for the day. She came out into the yard with an anxious demeanor about her at first. By the time she reached me, she was back to her collected and poised persona. "Vintage, it startled me that you weren't in bed with the other girls."

"I'm sorry," I replied quietly, continuing my work. Marlene stood before me in her night clothes and long robe. Her hair was a mess, pulled back in a loose bun with a black bow. She had dark circles under her eyes and lip marks on her neck that she tried to hide with the robe collar. "I'm guessing that Gerome came around last night?"

Her eyebrows furrowed and her lips pursed in objection, "That is nothing you should concern yourself with, Vintage!"

"I know," I laughed and smiled down at the weeds, "but it's funny when you get offended like that."

Topics like this were very taboo in this sector. Sex and the idea of it was never something to be discussed, even though it was happening everywhere around us. It seemed our sector was known for sudden inclines in babies born, especially because women married so young, like Marlene and Mother. I had never had any interest in the subject, I just thought it was amusing to watch Marlene squirm.

She calmly walked away. She couldn't do anything else. Anger was a futile emotion; one we had to take in and forget; never express. She just closed her eyes, counted to ten, and walked away. Elias quickly took her place, jogging up to me with a pep in his step that I rarely ever saw in him. He wore his leisure clothes and an excited smile as he came up right in front of me. He carried a satchel over his broad shoulder with his identification badge clipped to the strap, which gave me the impression that we were going to be passing through at least one sector boundary. He didn't have to say a word. I dropped my gardening gloves and followed after him. "Where are we going, Elias?" I asked and nudged his shoulder with a teasing smile. He put his arm over my shoulder and laughed.

"You'll see, little sister! Not knowing is part of the fun of it."