The Dome

The Old Lady Next Door

"Excuse me?" Silasque called out to the old lady, "Could you spare some time? I have some questions."

"Why of course dear! Come on in," the old lady waved Silasque over and hobbled inside.

"Careful not to slip on those grains, I always leave some out for the birds," the old lady smiled and held the door open for Silasque.

Silasque nodded her thanks and stepped inside, finding it strange that the old lady left grains out for the birds when birds didn't exist. At least, not anymore. Silasque remembered learning about animals in history class in school. They had fascinated her and Silasque found herself wishing animals hadn't all died when humans had to move into the Dome. She had raised her hand during class and asked why we didn't take animals into the Dome along with us. Instead of answering her question, the teacher had dismissed the class early and pretended she had never asked the question.

Instead of reminding the old lady that birds didn't exist, Silasque decided to play along with it, "Yes, hard for them to find food around here."

"Indeed," the old lady said sadly, seeming far off as she said it.

"Would you like some tea?" she offered.

Silasque nodded politely, "If it's not too much to ask."

She wondered how the old lady had tea considering tea was a thing of the past. Vegetables were delivered once a week and there was a water tap at the Square and that was all there was to eat and drink.

"Not at all dear!" the old lady hurried over to where she was brewing tea, "Have a seat! I hope you like jasmine tea."

Silasque had never tried jasmine tea before, and the prospect of drinking something other than water and vegetable soup excited her.

"The tea still has a couple of minutes. So, you said you have questions! Whatever about?" The old lady took a seat across from Silasque.

The old lady seemed to welcome questions. Silasque decided she liked the old lady already.

"Yes, did you happen to know someone by the name of Maritha?" Silasque inquired, suspecting the old lady might know due to her age.

The old lady seemed to lose her composure for a moment, but she quickly regained it and smiled at Silasque, "No, no, I don't recall anyone by that name. Could you describe her?"

Silasque shook her head, realizing that the old lady had said 'her,' meaning she knew it was a girl. It could have just been a guess though. It was likely she was just looking too hard into things.

"She ran away before she had to take the Test," Silasque said, hoping it would be helpful.

"Ahhh yes, the girl who disappeared," the old lady nodded thoughtfully in recollection, "It's rumored that she ran away, out of the Dome."

"And she would have died then since the environment out there is toxic?" Silasque pushed.

The old lady seemed to pause for a second before answering, "Yes, I suppose so."

Silasque opened her mouth to ask another question, but the old lady stood up and walked over to the tea, "Wonderful! The tea is ready!"

She poured two cups of tea and handed Silasque one.

"Thank you," Silasque smiled at the old lady and took a careful sip of her tea.

A sweet but subtle taste erupted in her mouth and Silasque almost sighed in delight. The taste was nothing like she had ever tasted before. It held a delicate yet fresh taste.

"Like it?"

Silasque nodded and sipped her tea vigorously. The old lady chuckled and sat down, taking a sip of her own tea.

"I'm glad you like it."

When Silasque finished her tea, she gently set her cup down on the table.

"I would offer you more, but that was the last of it," the old lady smiled, but her smile didn't quite reach her eyes. It was as if the last of the tea meant something more than 'the last of the tea' for the old lady, but Silasque didn't know what.

"Oh no that's been plenty. Thank you, the tea was delicious!" Silasque offered the old lady a small smile.

Then, as the old lady collected the cups to put them away, something on her bookshelf caught Silasque's eye. Surrounded by many old books was the book 'Our History.'

...

As Minski crawled through the air vent ducts of the building, she listened carefully for the sound of voices. When the sound of muffled voices was no longer muffled, she stopped and pressed her ear to the bottom of the air vent duct.

"What happens when this illness gets out of hand?" a deep voice that she recognized as Father's said accusingly.

"Then what do you propose?" a female voice asked calmly.

Silence.

"We could bring the woman and her family in for inspection," another female voice suggested.

"I second the motion. I propose that be our first course of action," a male voice, clearly younger than the rest, affirmed.

Someone snickered but was silenced by Father, "Does anyone want to express their dissent?"

Again, silence.

"Have the family brought in tomorrow morning," ordered Father.

"I will send out the order to the guards immediately," a young female voice replied to Father's order.

"Good," said Father.

Then there was the sound of footsteps, followed by the sound of a door opening and eventually closing. Wow, thought Minski, wow.

...

"Thank you for the tea, it was wonderful! I hope you don't mind, but I have to go now," Silasque stood up and started making her way to the door.

"Not at all dear!" the old lady hobbled over to the door and did something unexpected.

She hugged Silasque.

"I know life can be hard. I know it can put you down again and again, but you need to keep getting up every single time," the old lady whispered kindly into her ear.

She then pulled away and gave Silasque a warm smile. Silasque returned the smile and nodded, stepping over the grains on her way out.

The way the old lady said those words, it made Silasque wonder what her story was. She wondered if it was in any way similar to hers.