World-Mart by Leigh Lane

Author:Leigh Lane [Lane, Leigh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, General, Science Fiction
ISBN: 9780615555744
Google: q3bOygAACAAJ
Amazon: 0615555748
Publisher: Cerebral Books
Published: 2011-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

GEORGE stormed into the dark kitchen with both of his hands up in the air. Kurt had been screaming and crying in his bedroom for two hours, calling desperately for his mother, and George had exhausted every idea he could think of to calm the boy down. Muttering to himself, he sat down beside Shelley, who had spent so much time writing poetry earlier that she was now forced to finish her homework in the dark.

The Mart Education System turned out to be less horrific than Shelley had thought it would be, and despite her initial desire to give up, she seemed to be coming around. She was still reluctant to make any new friends, but she did find the decreased academic pace to be a refreshing mental break. She was scheduled to test for job allocation tomorrow, and she held hope that her many years of Corp education would set her above the other students. If she was going to be a part of the Mart Segregate, she was determined to be the highest-ranking Mart employee there was. Maybe she could even have another shot at a career that involved writing.

“Can you do something about Kurt?” George finally snapped, his left eyelid beginning to twitch.

Frustrated and probably even more tired than George, Shelley dropped her pen and went to console the boy. Kurt lay on his bed, sobbing and crying out in heavy anguish, and he barely noticed as Shelley entered the room.

“Hey, you,” she said, sitting down beside him.

“It’s not fair! I need her here!” Kurt cried. “Mommy!” he screamed after working a moment to catch his breath. “Mommy! Please come back!”

Shelley fought to keep from crying with him, knowing that he needed her strength right now more than her added mourning. “How about I tell you a story?”

“I don’t want a story—I want my Mommy!”

Shelley tried to think quickly, heartbroken over Kurt’s pitiful display. She hugged him as tightly as she could. He continued to scream and cry, but after only a moment, he closed his eyes, calmed down, and hugged her back. He took long, shaky breaths, whimpering here and there, reveling in Shelley’s maternal embrace. She wasn’t his mommy, but she would have to do.

Shelley kept silent and still, afraid that any quick movement might set him off again.

Kurt had acted out in class several times since their mother’s passing, refusing to do his work, and even picking fights with other classmates. George didn’t know how to discipline him, given what they had all endured throughout the past few weeks, and he feared that the boy was at the beginning stage of a behavior problem he might not be able to fix. Virginia’s death had left a painful void deep within him, and he knew that Shelley and Kurt both felt that same emptiness. He didn’t know how to fill the void within any of them, and so he convinced himself that going to work and paying for Kurt’s expensive education might compensate for at least some of the boy’s loss.

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