Sanctuary by Grace Agnew

Author:Grace Agnew
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Woodhall Press
Published: 2021-05-13T05:07:58+00:00

He woke to the patter of gentle rain on his cheeks. Not the slashing outside rain, but the rain his mother had invented. Although he would never admit it, Alex loved the rainy days in Sanctuary. The air, the sky, everything felt different, and different opened the way for new possibilities to disrupt the sameness. This felt just like Sanctuary rain, ticklish and cool but not really wet. Why wasn’t it wet? The question made Alex sit up and look around, knocking into a small body as he did. The child pulled its dirty fingers away in response. Not rain, but a child, exploring his face.

The child backed away into another child, who carried a cup of something and a plate.

“Foo, mas?” the second child said, thrusting the things forward.

The cup held something hot and bitter but pleasantly warm as it moved down his throat to his stomach. The plate held bread and that moist white stuff that was thicker and harder than packfruit paste, but which Alex knew from experience would sit heavily in his stomach.

To make conversation, he pointed at the white stuff, which was hard and crusty on the edges but soft in the middle.

“What is this?” he asked the children. Both had long, tangled hair, grimy faces, and just a scattering of teeth. He couldn’t tell the sex of either.

They looked at each other before one answered shyly, “Chee.”

“Chee,” Alex repeated. “I don’t really want it. Would either of you like it? Maybe to split?”

The children looked at each other, puzzled.

Did they only understand the abbreviated English they spoke?

He broke the chee in two and held the pieces toward each child. They backed away in alarm, like it was poison. Alex pushed a piece into the nearest child’s hand.

“Eat it,” he said. “I don’t want it. Don’t let it go to waste.”

The child took an experimental bite.

Behind them, the door pushed open, and Birna was in the room. The child dropped the chee on the floor.

Birna cuffed the child on the head. “Corn Seven! You know better than that. Your job is to serve the young master his breakfast, not eat it. You can work without rations this morning.”

The child began to cry, and the other snuffled in sympathy. “Apple Twenty, the same can happen to you. Get out of here, both of you, and get to your chores.”

She raised a hand, which caused the children to flinch and scramble out the door, but she made no move to hit them, perhaps remembering Alex’s reaction yesterday.

“I made them take it,” Alex said quietly. “I didn’t want it, and I didn’t want it to go to waste.”

Birna looked at him, and the creases around her mouth deepened. “Oh, it won’t go to waste,” she said. “But we can’t have the workers scavenging for food because it’s been thrown away. That’s good barter, there.”

She stared at him challengingly until he got the message.

“That’s right. You have to eat every bite.” He smelled her sour breath as she leaned over him for emphasis.

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