Justin Caas by The Third Sex

Author:The Third Sex [Sex, The Third]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-07-29T12:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

I think in a moment of weakness, you might surprise yourself.

—Lisa Kleypas, Mine Till Midnight

The six week tour of duty in my home town was over. I packed my few possessions and waited for the Ministry vehicle to take me to the railway station. My new appointment a slightly smaller city some eighty miles away. The train journey was uneventful, passing through rolling countryside and fertile fields where cattle grazed. A little over an hour later outskirts of the city appeared. Factories, then office buildings loomed up close and the train was slowing.

Smells of a new city. Oils and hot machinery mingled with the sharp aromas of coffee and fresh rolls from a nearby café. I stepped on to the platform with my suitcase, looked around me. I could always get a taxi to the Ministry clinic but public transport would be cheaper. I sort of knew which direction to take. A young woman in a smart business suit was studying me carefully then approached. “You Erin?” she queried.

She extended a hand, “Welcome to small town blues, I’m Zoë.”

“Pleased to meet you.”

“I’ll take you to the clinic.” She led me towards a small red car. I stowed the suitcase in the back, joined her in the front. “What’s with the blues?” I was puzzled.

“Oh, just a joke,” she laughed. “It’s pretty quiet here, at least most of the time. After all it’s only a Metro VI”

“So are you the nurse here?” The position was usually held by older women. Zoë was no older than mid-thirties and, I thought, surprisingly attractive. Long dark hair framed an oval face, high cheekbones and an olive complexion hinted vaguely at Spanish ancestry.

“Yep,” she nodded. “Nurse Becka at your service. How did you fill in your spare time in Metro III?”

“Reading sometimes. Jean—the nurse there, was a good conversationalist and we often had long talks but most of the time we were kept pretty busy with clients so there wasn’t much time for relaxation. What about you?”

“Well generally there is more spare time here than clients and the last stud said I wasn’t much of a conversationalist but I was very good at pretending to be a client, so the time passed quite well.”

I was startled. “Isn’t that a bit, er, unconventional? I mean what if he impregnated you. Bit awkward to explain that I would have thought?”

Zoë shook her head. “No chance of that. I’m sterile, which is largely why my husband divorced me, the miserable sod. Yet he couldn’t father a child if he tried—which he didn’t. Had to leave it to a Stud for that. But by that time he’d found someone else. Still, as long as I’m on the payroll the Ministry takes care of expenses and I have no other family.” Zoë paused for breath.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to lay my life story on you.”

I smiled to myself. And here I was thinking a life of endless routine stretched before me, but the reality is that nothing ever works out the way you expect.

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