reaction to the donkey tech.
We must have left him behind, on the windy prairie, in the concealing
dark.
----
Five
BILLY WASHINGTON: EAST OLEANTA
Every once in a while I need, me, to go off in the woods. I didn’t
used to tell nobody. But now when I go, two-three times a year, I tell
Annie and she fixes me up some raw stuff from the kitchen, apples and
potatoes and soysynth that ain’t been made into dishes yet. I stay out
there alone, me, for five or six days, away from all of it: the cafe
and holodancers and blasting music and warehouse distribs and stomps
with clubs and even the Y-energy. I build fires, me. Some people ain’t
left East Oleanta in twenty years except to go by gravrail to another
town just like it. The deep woods might as well be in China. I think
they’re scared, them, of hearing themselves out there.
I was supposed to leave for the woods the morning after the cafe
kitchen broke and we talked, us, to Supervisor Samuelson on the
official terminal. But I sure wasn’t leaving Annie and Lizzie without
food, and I sure wasn’t going no place, me, that had rabid raccoons and
a broken warden ‘bot.
Lizzie stood by my couch in her nightshirt, a bright pink blot on my
morning sleep. “Billy, you think, you, that kitchen is fixed yet?”
Annie came out from her bedroom, yawning, still in her plasticloth
nightdress. “Leave Billy alone,
Lizzie
. You hungry, you?”
Lizzie nodded. I sat up, me, on the sofa, with one arm shielding my
eyes from the morning sun at the window. “Listen, Annie. I been
thinking, me. If they do get that kitchen fixed, we should start taking
all the food we can, us, and storing it here. In case it breaks again.
We can take right up to the meal chip limit every day—
Lizzie
and you don’t ever hardly do that and me neither, some days—and then
raw stuff from the kitchen. Potatoes and apples and stuff.”
Annie pressed her lips together. She ain’t a morning person, her.
But it felt so good to be waking up at Annie’s place that I forgot
that, me. She said, “The food would rot in just two-three days. I don’t
want, me, to have a lot of half-rotten stuff around here. It ain’t
clean.”
“Then we’ll throw it out, us, and get some more.” I spoke gentle.
Annie don’t like things to be different than they’ve always been.
Lizzie
said, “Billy, you think, you, that kitchen is fixed
yet?”
I said, “I don’t know, sweetheart. Let’s go look, us. Better get
dressed.”
Annie said, “She got to go, her, to the baths first. She stinks. Me,
too. You walk us, Billy?”
“Sure.” What good did she think an old wreck like me’d be against
rabid coons? But I’d of walked Annie past them demons she believes in.
Lizzie said, “Billy, you think, you, that kitchen is fixed yet?”
There wasn’t no raccoons near the baths. The men’s bath was empty
except for Mr. Keller, who’s so old I don’t think even he remembers if
he’s got a first name, and two little boys who shouldn’t of been there
alone, them. But they were having themselves a wonderful splashing
time. I liked watching them, me. They cheered up the morning.
Mr. Keller told me the cafe kitchen was fixed. I walked Annie and
Lizzie
,
sweet-clean as berries in the dew, to get our breakfast. But the cafe
was full, it, not just with Livers eating but of donkeys making a holo
of Congresswoman Janet Carol Land.
It was her, all right. No tape. She stood in front of the foodbelt,
which offered the usual soysynth eggs, bacon, cereals, and breads, plus
some fresh genemod strawberries. I don’t like genemod strawberries, me.
They might keep for weeks, but they never taste like them little wild
sweet berries that grow on the hillsides in June.
“… serving her people with the best she has, no matter the need, no
matter the hour, no matter the emergency,” said a handsome donkey into
a camera ‘bot. “Janet Carol Land, on the spot to serve East Oleanta—on
the spot to serve
you
. A politician who
We must have left him behind, on the windy prairie, in the concealing
dark.
----
Five
BILLY WASHINGTON: EAST OLEANTA
Every once in a while I need, me, to go off in the woods. I didn’t
used to tell nobody. But now when I go, two-three times a year, I tell
Annie and she fixes me up some raw stuff from the kitchen, apples and
potatoes and soysynth that ain’t been made into dishes yet. I stay out
there alone, me, for five or six days, away from all of it: the cafe
and holodancers and blasting music and warehouse distribs and stomps
with clubs and even the Y-energy. I build fires, me. Some people ain’t
left East Oleanta in twenty years except to go by gravrail to another
town just like it. The deep woods might as well be in China. I think
they’re scared, them, of hearing themselves out there.
I was supposed to leave for the woods the morning after the cafe
kitchen broke and we talked, us, to Supervisor Samuelson on the
official terminal. But I sure wasn’t leaving Annie and Lizzie without
food, and I sure wasn’t going no place, me, that had rabid raccoons and
a broken warden ‘bot.
Lizzie stood by my couch in her nightshirt, a bright pink blot on my
morning sleep. “Billy, you think, you, that kitchen is fixed yet?”
Annie came out from her bedroom, yawning, still in her plasticloth
nightdress. “Leave Billy alone,
Lizzie
. You hungry, you?”
Lizzie nodded. I sat up, me, on the sofa, with one arm shielding my
eyes from the morning sun at the window. “Listen, Annie. I been
thinking, me. If they do get that kitchen fixed, we should start taking
all the food we can, us, and storing it here. In case it breaks again.
We can take right up to the meal chip limit every day—
Lizzie
and you don’t ever hardly do that and me neither, some days—and then
raw stuff from the kitchen. Potatoes and apples and stuff.”
Annie pressed her lips together. She ain’t a morning person, her.
But it felt so good to be waking up at Annie’s place that I forgot
that, me. She said, “The food would rot in just two-three days. I don’t
want, me, to have a lot of half-rotten stuff around here. It ain’t
clean.”
“Then we’ll throw it out, us, and get some more.” I spoke gentle.
Annie don’t like things to be different than they’ve always been.
Lizzie
said, “Billy, you think, you, that kitchen is fixed
yet?”
I said, “I don’t know, sweetheart. Let’s go look, us. Better get
dressed.”
Annie said, “She got to go, her, to the baths first. She stinks. Me,
too. You walk us, Billy?”
“Sure.” What good did she think an old wreck like me’d be against
rabid coons? But I’d of walked Annie past them demons she believes in.
Lizzie said, “Billy, you think, you, that kitchen is fixed yet?”
There wasn’t no raccoons near the baths. The men’s bath was empty
except for Mr. Keller, who’s so old I don’t think even he remembers if
he’s got a first name, and two little boys who shouldn’t of been there
alone, them. But they were having themselves a wonderful splashing
time. I liked watching them, me. They cheered up the morning.
Mr. Keller told me the cafe kitchen was fixed. I walked Annie and
Lizzie
,
sweet-clean as berries in the dew, to get our breakfast. But the cafe
was full, it, not just with Livers eating but of donkeys making a holo
of Congresswoman Janet Carol Land.
It was her, all right. No tape. She stood in front of the foodbelt,
which offered the usual soysynth eggs, bacon, cereals, and breads, plus
some fresh genemod strawberries. I don’t like genemod strawberries, me.
They might keep for weeks, but they never taste like them little wild
sweet berries that grow on the hillsides in June.
“… serving her people with the best she has, no matter the need, no
matter the hour, no matter the emergency,” said a handsome donkey into
a camera ‘bot. “Janet Carol Land, on the spot to serve East Oleanta—on
the spot to serve
you
. A politician who
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