Shadows of Glass (22 page)

I need a bath. It has been days since I had one. The first thing that comes to mind
is the stream and the waterfall I saw yesterday when Levi and I saw the deer, but
I am not really sure if I could find it again, and there is the risk of running into
the rovers. I could go back down to the sea, but there is no privacy. My last resort
is to go into the cave. If only I had soap and clean clothes. Perhaps I could ask
Zan for some soap. I could wash my clothes and then bathe and then just wait in the
cave until they were dry enough to put on. I sigh at the sight of Pace walking in
front of me, handsome and cheerful and totally unaffected by the fact that he hasn’t
bathed in days. If anything, he looks even more attractive with the shadow of a beard
on his jaw and the gun belt slung across his hips. Why is it that men seem to adapt
so much more easily than women?

The area around the awning is busy with activity. Sally and Rosalyn are with the children,
having the little ones wash up while the older ones sit at the table eating breakfast.
I can’t help but notice Freddy sitting next to Nancy a little apart from the others
and wonder what Peter thinks of the budding romance going on with his little sister.
It is good to see that Freddy is embracing life after losing his family.

The little boy who consoled Stella on our first day out sticks close to Rosalyn. It
is our way to look after everyone. Rosalyn will never take the place of his parents,
but he will be cared for. All of them will. I can only hope that they aren’t left
with deep scars after all the death they’ve seen.

James, Adam, and Alcide don’t look any better than I feel as they come yawning to
the awning, having just awakened themselves. We all meet at the long table covered
with food and fill our plates. In the distance I hear the steady
ping-ping
of a hammer against metal and see George, Peter, and Jon gathered around a small
brazier of coals. George is the one hammering. Zan and Levi drop a bundle of long,
thin branches close to the brazier and come our way.

Lyon, Jane, and Dr. Stewart, along with two of Lyon’s men, are busy loading supplies
onto the most amazing little carts I have ever seen. They have three wheels, one in
the front and two in the back. They are powered by a small steam engine, like the
carts used by the vendors inside the dome, but they look to be much more maneuverable.
Two people can sit astride on them, and a large basket stretches across the wide back
end to carry things. There is even a leather sleeve to hold the rifles. Four carts
sit on the road beside the catwalk. I can’t help but wonder what else they will pull
out of their airship. It seems as if its storage capacity is endless.

Dr. Stewart comes to us with a basket in hand. “Here are your goggles,” he says. “You
shouldn’t have any trouble with the sunlight now, as long as you wear them during
the middle of the day.”

“Thank you,” we all say. I put mine on and the world is suddenly amber. The bright
colors of morning are suddenly muted and drab. I look at the others, who are all trying
them out like I am. This will definitely make things easier on our eyes, but I prefer
the lovely colors of the outside world.

Pace hastily consumes his breakfast and goes to Lyon, who motions at him. James snorts
in disgust. I know he is resentful of the fact that Pace got a gun and he didn’t.
Hopefully he will excel at shooting with a bow.

I down my breakfast, sharing bites with Jonah, and then give him the plate to lick
before I go to join the group with the steam cycles.

“Good morning!” Zan exclaims. Levi smiles at me and adds his own greeting to the group.
Beside their golden glow I feel even more disgusting, if that is possible.

“Mr. Hatfield has invited me to go with them,” Pace informs me with a big smile on
his face.

“To the rovers’ camp?” I ask incredulously.

“We have room for one more on the steam cycles,” Lyon explains. “And it does the lot
of you no good if I do everything for you. Someone needs to know where it is located,
and since Pace is familiar with our weapons, I think he’s the best choice.”

It does make sense. I cannot help but wonder how James and the rest will react to
the news. They still do not consider Pace to be one of us because he’s from above.
But it is not our decision, it is Lyon’s to make.

“Meanwhile the rest of us have plenty to do,” Levi says. “Making weapons and then
learning how to use them.”

I realize that it will be a long time before I can get my bath.

Lyon climbs astride a steam cycle and Pace climbs on behind him. He adjusts his goggles
and grins at me, gloriously excited about his adventure. Dr. Stewart gets on behind
one of Lyon’s guards and another two climb on the third cycle. James, Adam, and Alcide
walk up as the steam cycles start with a loud roar before they simmer to a gentle
put-put
.

“Where is he going?” James asks as they pull away.

“They are going to find the rovers’ camp,” I say.

James crosses his arms and looks sullenly down the road. I stand beside him and watch
as they disappear into the trees, waiting to see if he has something bad to say about
Pace.

“Come on,” Adam says. “We have work to do.”

“I promise it will be entertaining and fulfilling,” Levi says. Zan rolls her eyes
behind him and Alcide grins.

We go to where George, Peter, and Jon are hard at work. A pot of water sits over one
fire, while another fire is open. A small table sits off to one side and is covered
up with thin pieces of wood. Peter and Jon are busy with small axes, chipping away
at what I realize are the antlers of the deer.

“What do we do?” Adam asks.

“While they are working on the arrowheads, we will make the bows and arrows,” Levi
explains. “The girls can separate the hide for us for the bowstring.”

“Seriously?” Alcide asks. “The bowstring is from the deer hide?”

“Yes, but is has to be cut extremely thin,” Levi says. “Fortunately Zan knows what
she is doing.”

“How did you learn how to do this?” Alcide asks.

“From the time I spent with the Sioux,” Levi answers simply. “First we start with
the bow.” He picks up a long thin branch and immediately goes to work with his knife,
stripping off the bark. The rest of the men do the same as Levi goes into detailed
instruction.

I join Zan.

She seems so pretty and fresh in her hide pants and a white shirt with the sleeves
rolled up to her elbows. Her bright hair is twisted on top of her head in a careless
way that makes her even more beautiful, if that is possible. Zan picks up the deer
hide and goes back to work, shaving off long strips that are not even as big as my
smallest finger. I watch her for a moment until I figure it out for myself and go
to work. Jonah swats at the bowstring while keeping a cautious eye on Beau and Bella
who both lie off to the side beneath a tree watching everything with their kind eyes.

“Welcome to ‘How to make a bow and arrow’ class,” Zan says with a grin. “To be followed
by ‘How to shoot a bow and arrow.’”

“Can we follow that up with a bath?” I ask. “I feel as if I desperately need one.”

“Of course,” Zan says. “Believe me, we will all need one by the time we are through.”

“How exactly do you make a bow and arrow?” I ask since we are a little apart from
the men and the fire, sitting on two folding stools. The sun feels warm, even though
it has just cleared the trees. I am most grateful for my amber-tinted goggles because
the day is already bright and the dew gone from the grass. I take off my jacket and
my long-sleeved shirt, baring my arms to the sun.

“You should watch that,” Zan says. “Take the sun in small doses so you don’t burn
up.”

“Funny,” I say, “that’s what we were always told. That we would burn up if we came
outside.”

“It is remarkable how some people can twist the truth to suit them.” Zan doesn’t know
my father yet she described him perfectly. “So here are the basics for making a bow
and arrow. We cut the string for the bows,” Zan explains. “Levi is soaking the wood
so that it is pliable and then bends it to give it the arch. He will then tie it with
the string so it will keep its shape and then you dry it over the fire. To make the
arrows, first you have to make sure the wood is straight and smooth so the arrow will
fly true. So you strip off the bark and any knots or splits. You make a notch on the
end to slide the arrowhead into, and it is tied on with more of the bowstring. George
is making the arrowheads, some from iron and other scraps of metal, while Peter and
Jon are sharpening bone and antlers.”

I nod, fascinated with all the knowledge Levi and Zan have at their fingertips. “Do
you think we’ll be able to shoot them without killing themselves?”

Zan turns her warm brown gaze upon James. “I am certain of it,” she says, and a delicious
grin spreads across her face as James slowly takes off his shirt. He knows that Zan
is looking at him. I just shake my head at his posturing and steal a look at Levi
who is doing the same. They all take their shirts off and their skin glistens in the
sun with sweat.

There is something about a young man with his shirt off that is fascinating. The smooth
breadth of their chests, the work of the muscles in the back, the dips and curves
in the stomachs and hips. It is a strangely beautiful thing to see, especially when
there are so many before me. The shiners are all sinewy muscle, lean and long, with
Peter being the thinnest and James the broadest. Jon is as small as Peter due to his
poor nutrition as a scarab. Levi is taller than the rest, and I realize that he and
Pace are close to each other in height. I’ve seen Pace without his shirt on, and I
know they are close to each other in build too, with broad chests that angle down
to slim hips and flat stomachs that resemble washboards with their ridges and angles
and strange curved muscles on their hips that dip into their pants. I cannot take
my eyes off Levi, yet I feel strangely embarrassed for looking at him.

“Why did he live with the Sioux?” I ask Zan. I feel a tingle on the skin of my arms,
so I pull my shirt back on but leave it unbuttoned. I hope Zan’s promise of a bath
comes with a loan of clothing, because the back of my shirt is quickly soaked with
sweat from my work.

“His father was part Sioux. That is why his skin gets so dark when he is in the sun;
he has Indian blood in him. Their skin is darker than ours, but not nearly as dark
as those who live on the African continent. Of course in America we have citizens
of every color. That’s why it is called the melting pot. Most everyone there, except
for the original indigenous Indians, came from this part of the world.”

I am amazed once more at what a wondrous place America must be with all the diversity
of people who are a part of it. But I really want to know more about Levi.

“Does Levi still have family with the Sioux?”

“His grandmother went back to live with them after Levi’s grandfather died. Levi was
only three when that happened.”

“She is the woman in the photograph with him?” I ask.

“Yes,” Zan says. “Levi decided to spend a year with her when he was fifteen. We were
both so far ahead in our schooling that my parents thought it would be a good idea,
being exposed to different cultures and all that. So while Levi was with the Sioux,
I spent six months in China. The airship company has offices over there, and employees.
Our cousin from my father’s older brother, who runs that branch of the company, lives
there, and I stayed with his family while I was there. It was quite fascinating as
their culture is so very different from ours. They bind the feet of the women so that
their feet are incredibly small. They can barely walk. It’s a horrible tradition,
quite barbaric, yet the women think of it as a badge of honor. The smaller the feet
the greater their symbolic rank.”

I listen to Zan but keep my eyes on the men, especially Levi and the way the muscles
in his back move as he shows Alcide how to bend the bow and tie off the string. “That
is appalling,” I say.

“Different cultures,” Zan shrugs. “We all have our horror stories,” she continues
with her eyes on Levi. At that moment he turns around to pick up another bow and I
notice two long and jagged scars on his chest, right over his pectoral muscles.

“What happened to Levi?” I ask.

Zan looks at him and then realizes what I’m asking about. “Oh,” she says. “You will
have to ask him about that. It was part of a rite of passage. The Sioux culture.”

“It looks like it was painful,” I say.

“It was,” she replies. “But now he is part of their tribe. He will always have a home
with them if he chooses to go there.”

“Do you think he ever would?”

Zan shrugs. “Who knows where any of us will be ten years from now? Or a year from
now? Did you think, looking back at your life a year ago that you would be outside
the dome?”

“I imagined it for so long that it still does not seem real,” I reply.

“Tell me about your culture,” Zan asks. I see that she is just as infatuated with
watching the men as I am. “Do you have anything exciting and different?”

“We lived in a village underground. When we are four we go to school. We go until
we are twelve and then we go to work in the mines. We die young, usually by the time
we are forty.”

“That is horrible.” Zan hands me a length of string, and I coil it up to keep it from
tangling with the rest. “You spend your entire lives underground?”

“Most of us do. Some go up to trade or meet with the dome council. Some even go up
to work. We have a friend, Lucy, who did that. She’s one of our friends that I’m worried
about.”

“It sounds dreadfully dreary,” Zan says. “Did you have anything you did for fun?”

“We swam,” I say. “And some of us would fly.”

“Fly?”

“I guess you could say it was
our
rite of passage. A few years ago, during a tunnel exploration, a large chasm was
discovered. It was bottomless, or so we thought. If you dropped a torch into it the
light would just disappear from sight. On occasion a mighty wind would blow up from
it. It was so strong that it would suspend you in the air.”