World-Mart (18 page)
Virginia heated up the other pan and poured a small amount of oil into it. She waited a moment for the oil to heat, and then dropped a generous serving of potatoes and onions into the pan. She covered it
with a metal lid
, and then returned to the coffee pot and poured Mr. Conrad’s coffee.
Nadine loaded the first course onto the dumb waiter and sent the lift upstairs, ringing a tiny bell. As the bell rang, Virginia froze to hear the screeching bark of a small breed dog.
“What was that?” Virginia asked.
“Mrs. Conrad has a pet dog. Nippy little thing,” Nadine said, not fazed in the least bit about the pet.
“Where did she get a dog?”
Nadine shrugged. “I’m guessing that Corporates have some sort of black market that only they buy and sell through,” she said, keeping her volume low. She pulled a large bowl from a cupboard and got started on the waffle batter. “It’s not like anyone is going to tell any of them what they can and can’t do.”
Virginia stirred the hash browns, found salt and pepper in the spice rack, and gave the dish a light powdering of both. The sweet smell of onions and potatoes joined the lingering aroma of fried bacon and eggs, and Virginia grabbed her stomach as it began to growl.
Nadine started a waffle, watching as Virginia went to pick a small crumb of egg from the cooling pan. She quickly passed Virginia, pretending to look for something. “Cameras,” she breathed, and then grabbed a container of syrup from the cupboard and set it beside the dumb waiter.
Virginia stopped herself, instead taking the pan to the sink and scrubbing it down. She set it aside to dry, and then checked on her hash browns again. “How do I know if the potatoes are seasoned properly if I can’t taste them?” Virginia asked, feeling justified in her reasoning.
“You’ll learn,” Nadine said.
The transport box lowered back into the kitchen’s end of the dumb waiter, and Nadine loaded the syrup immediately so she wouldn’t forget about it later.
The steam from the waffle iron soon diminished, and Nadine opened it. The waffle was a perfect golden brown, and Nadine smiled as she grabbed a fork. With a remarkably believable set of movements, she pretended to burn herself as she went to move the waffle to the plate. The waffle went into the air, and she feigned an impressive attempt at saving it before it fell to the floor. “There is one exception,” Nadine said, calmly starting another waffle in the iron.
Nadine picked up the fallen waffle and tore it in half. “They both get a kick out of seeing us eat off the floor,” she said, handing half of the waffle to Virginia and taking a bite from the other.
Virginia could tell that Nadine kept a clean kitchen, and she ate the waffle without a second thought. “Thank you.”
She checked the hash browns as she finished her waffle, deciding that they looked done enough. She arranged them on a large plate and placed them in the transport box just as Nadine slid the second waffle
o
nto another plate. With the rest of the breakfast order loaded, Nadine sent it up with another ring of the bell. Once more, there was a yippy bark in response to the bell.
Nadine finished her waffle, and then licked her fingers before rinsing them in the sink. “Now it’s time to get this place cleaned up,” she said, then grinned thoughtfully. “Mrs. Conrad likes to keep a spotless kitchen.”
GEORGE
stormed into the dark kitchen with both of his hands up in the air. Kurt
had been
scream
ing
and cr
ying
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. With Kurt’s recent behavior, however, George had to wonder if he was working as hard as he was, only to be wasting his money on educating the wrong child.
It was too late to change his decision now, as reintegration into the Corp Education System for Shelley would be an expensive and lengthy process, despite the fact that she had only just begun to attend the Mart Education System. He needed to regain control of his family before the legacy he and Virginia had worked so hard for was crushed for good. But how could he convince a seven-year-old to look to the future when he couldn’t even help
him
move past all he was suffering through right now?
There was a knock at the door, and George slowly got up to see who would be rude enough to come by unannounced after dusk. He looked through the peephole, surprised to see William nervously waiting on the other side. Suspicious of William’s intentions, George called to him through the door. “What do you want?”
“We need to talk,” he said, turning back to make sure Judith hadn’t come out behind him.
“What about?”
William impatiently shifted from one foot to the next, and then looked straight to the peephole. “Virginia’s not dead.”
George swung open the door and quickly joined William in the hallway, quietly closing the door behind him. He charged toward William, backing him into the wall by his door. “What the hell are you trying to pull?”
“Do you think I’d lie to you about something like this?” William asked, trying to find a way to squirm away from the wall and gain some distance between the two of them.
George had his face right up to William’s, and his breath irritated William’s nose as he spoke: “I don’t know what to think anymore! But if either of my kids hears you, so help me, I’ll make sure you hurt as much as they do over it!”
“She came by on Friday, about an hour before you got home,” William insisted.
“Why didn’t you say anything before?” George growled.
William looked hesitant. With a deep breath, he looked George straight in the eyes, his face terrified and sincere. “She wasn’t human anymore,” he said, and then quickly added, “
P
lease don’t hit me!”
George backed away from William, shocked and terrified, suddenly unsure what to think.
Judith came out, storming over to William. “What are you two talking about?”
“Nothing!” William quickly said.
“You told him, didn’t you?” she asked, her voice going deep and angry. She turned to George. “It wasn’t her! People don’t just turn into deviants!”
With Judith’s angry prompting, William went back into their apartment and the door slammed shut.
George fought to remain on his feet, his legs suddenly feeling as though they were comprised of gelatin. He made his way back into his apartment, bracing himself against the door as he closed it. Searching for the strength, he made his way to Kurt’s bedroom to ensure that neither he nor Shelley had heard William’s claims.
Kurt slept in Shelley’s quiet arms. She looked up as George came to the door, wanting to get up but also afraid of waking Kurt.
“I have an errand I have to run after work tomorrow. Can you pick up Kurt and hold the fort until I get home?” he asked, his voice a hushed whisper.
Shelley shrugged, half asleep. “Is tomorrow macaroni night?”
He patted her on the shoulder. “Can you do me th
is
favor?”
She nodded. “Yeah. No problem.”
“I really appreciate it,” he said. He felt his pocket and the stolen informa
tion
, and a strange sense of relief came over him when he felt that the paper was right where he had left it.
Shelley sat up, her eyes blinking away the sleep. “Go ahead and turn out the click-light. I think I’m stuck right here for the time being.”
George nodded, and then switched off the click-light.
He moved through the darkness, feeling his way into his bedroom, and then stopped beside the box where Virginia’s ashes supposedly lay. He felt the ring that still rested on his left finger, and he fell to his knees. Closing his eyes despite the darkness, he silently began to pray.