Blue (5 page)

Out of her peripheral vision, Anytha saw both of her parents’ hands shoot into the air. She had no idea that her parents felt so strongly about the choice of termination of pregnancy. Normally, her parents were not ones to jump on a cause so quickly, but were usually very decisive on what they felt was worthy of their service time. She had heard them talk about it briefly in passing conversation around the dinner table, but obviously from their simultaneous reaction to this invitation to a cause, it had been something they had spent time talking and meditating about together. The decree came by and placed a small packet of papers into each of their eager hands.

Commissioner Inali continued to go through the current causes that were in need of volunteers, and gave updates on what was happening in the capitals, sharing rumors that had been heard over the past week. He reminded everyone of upcoming political rallies and activations that would be taking place in the coming month, and spoke dramatically and wholeheartedly about the causes that had been stirring him over the past couple of months before he began to preach.

“I’ll tell you, friends, when I asked myself the question that I asked you to consider this morning—to remember the moment when I felt most empowered—so many wonderful moments came to mind that it was extremely hard to pick just one. I remember the first time I took the stage in this auditorium and breathed in the congregation of history-makers that we have in this place; and there was Power in that moment. I have been able to hold and bless so many newborn babies in the past five years as commissioner; there was Power in every one of those moments,” Inali said, pausing for a few seconds.

“I have had the honor of being in love with many beautiful women, and tasted Power on their lips,” Inali said with a chuckle, as the congregation laughed along.

“But no other moment was more empowering to me than realizing the Power that I had within me. Finding MY Power,” Inali said, his voice trailing off into a long silence.

“For those of you that might be new to our camp today, Practitioners of Blue are not told that there is a higher Power, or that there isn’t a higher Power than themselves. We don’t preach that there is a god, or that there isn’t a god. We preach only that we trust in our members to figure out where their own Power comes from each and every day. We champion the individual idea of their own, centered Power. If you choose to believe in a god, or believe that your Power only comes from within, we do not judge you; we actually encourage you to seek out that belief with all of your heart and become the deepest, most empowered individual that you can become. So this morning, I encourage anyone that hasn’t found THEIR Power source to meditate on the moment in your life when you felt the most empowered. In that moment, you can discover many things about your Power source,” Inali said, pointing at the camera that was projecting his picture up on the screens.

“I tell you today, folks, that the day I felt most empowered is every day that I pursued my Power further,” Inali said, the crowd responding with nods, some even speaking “that’s right” audibly.

“For those of you that aren’t aware this morning, we rally behind the Law of the Land in the Practice of Blue, because it is the one Power that we all have to support, no matter where our Power comes from. In all of my years in the Practice, I, and so many of our founders, have noticed that one sure-fire way to squelch your empowerment is to break the Law of the Land. In order to live an empowered life, the Law of the Land needs to be followed, supported, and fought for. Respect for the law is respect for yourself and your growing Power. We accept the entirety of the law for what it is, and we summon our Power, or some would say we ‘pray to our Power,’ for guidance on what laws we are to commit our minds and time to see enacted. Just like our own Power has the ability to shift sources or completely change over time, so does the Law of the Land. It is our goal to be an upright, empowered group of citizens; respecting the laws of our country and acting in our responsibility to vote to better our nation is our primary goal. We have been given a great responsibility—to be an example of exemplary citizenship and to walk empowered, to give back to our communities with everything that we can,” Inali said as the spotlight followed him down the steps at the front of the stage.

“For us to make this service possible every week, and to empower us to bring about change in the communities around us, we will now take an offering. Give only as much as your Power says is suitable, and nothing more. Decrees, please feel free to pass around the baskets as we are serenaded by our elementary school choir,” Inali said as the spotlights turned to the corner of the stage, where risers had been set up with about fifty children on them.

The decrees walked through the rows, passing around the baskets as nearly everyone in the room threw checks, envelopes full of cash, or even spare change into them. As the choir finished their song, Inali closed the service with a blessing over the camp, and the lights and music faded in again.

Anytha rose up from her seat, adjusted her skirt, and turned to see her parents walking over to greet a few other prominent decrees near the stage. She turned and headed toward the entrance of the camp. Near the back of the room, she paused and leaned against the side of the sound-booth. After a minute or so of nodding and greeting camp members as they left for the week, she turned around to see how far behind her parents might be lagging.

As she turned her head, Inali appeared suddenly to greet her.

“Anytha, I hope that you were blessed by our service today!” he said, lifting his arms a bit, then letting them fall to his sides.

“Very much so, Commissioner!” Anytha replied. “Beautiful as always. By the way, I wanted to personally say thank you for committing to come to my activation. It really means a lot to me and my family.”

“Oh, you’re modest, Anytha—one of your many great qualities. I’ve known that you were one to watch for years now,” Inali said, looking Anytha directly in the eyes.

“Well, thank you anyway. It is an honor,” Anytha replied, blushing a bit at his unwavering stare.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Inali replied, looking in her eyes. He tapped her on the side of her ribs, then let his hand slowly slide down her side to her hip before turning his attention back to the crowd.

C h a p t e r 
4

The sun had just risen, and beams of light were shining through the window in the cinder-block wall of the girls’ quarters where Tabitha’s room was located. The breakfast bell rang as Tabitha sat looking into the mirror in her room, putting a layer of brown eyeliner around her eyes and blush onto her cheeks.

Tabitha reached for a red floral scarf from the top of her dressing table, and reached up to wrap it around her head. As her forearm grazed her hair, she let her arms fall back to her lap and paused for a moment to look at herself in the mirror. Her hair had grown significantly since its last harvest. The staff had peculiarly decided to let it grow the last few months—telling her that longer hair was more lucrative to the healers. She inspected the growth with her fingers, running them through the silky, white coat. It was probably almost five centimeters long now, and starting to lie down flat against her head rather than sticking out straight from her scalp, as it had been until recent weeks. She liked the way it felt between her fingers and the way it was beginning to frame her face. She quickly covered her head with the scarf and tied it briskly and firmly behind her ear. There was no use getting attached to the idea of having hair; she knew it probably wouldn’t survive another harvest. She pulled on a pair of white, tattered shorts, laced a pair of sandals up above her ankles, and layered a vest over her baggy, beige t-shirt. Then she headed out across the courtyard to the dining hall.

Marguerite was serving gravy over biscuits this morning to the children making their way down the line. She scooped the gravy onto each plate, calling each child by name and filling their plates with a smile on her face. As the younger children were finishing being served, Tabitha filed into the line, catching Marguerite’s gaze and acknowledging her with a smile. When she reached Marguerite in the line, Tabitha nodded her head and said “thank you,” as everyone did when they were served their food, then went to find a seat in the dining hall.

There was nothing in writing that said Marguerite couldn’t be friends with the residents since she had been given a position on staff, but Marguerite thought it would be best if they kept their distance within the compound walls. Marguerite didn’t want any of her superiors suspecting that she may be treating any of the residents with partiality, and she definitely didn’t want anyone snooping around into where she and Tabitha might be going on Sunday mornings before sunrise. Tabitha also truly valued the heightened level of trust that Marguerite enjoyed with her superiors, and wouldn’t want to sacrifice that trust for anything. That trust was what made Sunday mornings interesting—to be able to talk about any news that Marguerite may have overheard from the rest of the staff.

Tabitha sat at the end of a table, picking at her biscuit with her fork, thinking about what the end of the week meant for her and the rest of the residents. No matter how many times she went through it, monthly harvest day was never something that she could get used to. It was a somber day around the compound, as the residents came to terms with being shaved and shorn again—the price for their safety in the walls of the compound.

Tabitha poked at a small piece of sausage with her fork and placed it in her mouth, setting her fork down on her plate as she chewed. Sometimes, she couldn’t help but think about how the price she paid for this food was the unneeded pieces of her body—the very hair on her head the price for her sustenance.

After she had finished her breakfast, she walked back to her room to grab her books, and walked across the courtyard to the schooling hall. The sky was darkening overhead, and she could hear small thunder claps in the distance. Today would be another rainy day.

Tabitha always seemed to be the first person to arrive to every class, which she didn’t mind. She liked to be there early to ensure that she would be able to sit at her favorite desk in the back of the classroom. She sat looking out the window as the bell rang to summon the students to their classes.

From across the courtyard, she could see a group of young people being escorted from the main office building over to the schooling hall by different members of the staff. The faces of these children did not look familiar to her, and she knew that they must be new residents. In recent months, a few of the other compounds around South Africa had closed because of inadequate funding, and there had been a steady influx of new residents to Humanity every couple of weeks. The girls’ living quarters were filling up quickly, and Tabitha hoped that they wouldn’t be getting too many more residents before the new girls’ residence hall was complete.

The students filed into the class and took their seats as the late bell rang, and the algebra teacher, Mrs. Sheffield, walked into the classroom. She turned, looking out into the hall, and held her hand out flat, seemingly telling someone to stay put.

“Class, I want to formally introduce you to two of our new residents at Humanity, and your new classmates,” Mrs. Sheffield said, waving to the people in the hall to come into the classroom. “They have been transferred to Humanity from a compound known as Safety, outside of Johannesburg. I hope that you give them a warm welcome. Everyone, this is Charlie, and this is Alyssa.”

The class welcomed them, and Mrs. Sheffield showed them to a couple of empty desks. She had them set their things down, and then proceeded to begin class as usual.

Charlie was tall and thin, with dark eyes. He seemed to have the same affliction as Marguerite, his skin dark with white patches covering certain areas of his body. Alyssa was small and pretty, with clear, blue eyes. She was colored by race, but colorless with albinism, just like most of the residents were.

Tabitha made eye contact with Alyssa as she settled into the seat next to her. As Alyssa pulled her hand out of her pocket to retrieve her notebook from her backpack, Tabitha noticed that she was missing two fingers from her right hand. Tabitha quickly averted her eyes to be sure that Alyssa wouldn’t assume that she was staring at her deformity.

Many of Humanity’s residents, like Tabitha, were lifetime residents, ones that had been sold to the compound shortly after they were born. Very few of the long-time residents at Humanity had been maimed before being registered here, but Tabitha had noticed that a majority of the residents being transferred from other compounds had obviously been a victim of the slinging of the black market harvesters’ machetes at some point before admittance. Tabitha had heard that many of the other compounds, especially in the poorer parts of the country, were full of children like Marguerite who had lost limbs or other body parts to a harvester, as their parents fought with the idea of admitting them into the compounds for protection. Sadly, in many instances, it wasn’t until their child was bleeding out on the floor of their hut that they realized they had no power to protect them against the harvesters.

As the bell rang to signal the end of the period, Tabitha made a point to catch Alyssa’s gaze, hoping to offer assistance in finding her next period class.

“Do you know where you are headed next?” Tabitha asked, peeking her head around Alyssa’s shoulder and subtly facing her, clutching her books close to her chest.

“Not exactly. I believe my next class is in this same hall, though, actually,” Alyssa replied, pulling out a piece of paper and showing Tabitha her schedule that had been printed by the front office.

“Room L4 for History. I’m actually headed to the same place,” Tabitha said, handing back her schedule. “You can walk with me, if you want.”

“Sure, thanks,” Alyssa replied, falling into step with Tabitha as they made their way down the hall.

“How are you settling into Humanity so far? I’m guessing they have you set up in your room already, right?” Tabitha asked as their shoes clicked on the linoleum floor under their feet.

“Yeah, we actually moved our things over early this morning. Humanity is nice. I’m sure we will all like it here well enough,” Alyssa replied, nodding her head and smiling at Tabitha as they walked in perfect step.