Miriam and Todd

detail of "Dome City" by Jeff Brown Graphics

    Miriam lay naked on the old mattress looking up at the floor joists just above her head as Todd gently and seductively ran his fingers over her body.  His dark skin almost took on a blue radiance in the diminutive light of the glow tube which made her body appear a ghostly white.  She put her hand on his and turned to look into his mahogany brown eyes.  She smiled. 

      

     "We don't have no time for that now," she said gently.  Todd looked disappointed but withdrew his hand.  "Tell me your dream again," she said returning her gaze toward the floor joist. "Tell me again about bein' free and us livin' in the woods."  

     Miriam's mind wandered through the thoughts and images of which they had so often talked.  She'd never seen a real tree but she had seen a picture of a forest before they closed the library, and she loved to listen to Todd tell of dreams of the two of them being able to leave the confines of the sphere and live together in a fantasy forest where they didn't have to fear the secret police finding them.  Even the fleeting thought of the secret police caused a quick stab of chilling fear.  What if they got caught?  Todd would be tortured and killed and she would be sent to the brothel which doesn't exist but provides plenty of money for the king. What if the secret police could read her mind and knew that she was in love with a Darkie?  

     Before she could go any further down that terrifying thought stream Todd, who had been dressing and fussing with something in his pack, brought her back to the present. 

     "Forget dream stories," he said turning toward Miriam.  "I broke into the library last night."

     "You did what?"  Miriam had heard, but she didn't want to believe what she heard. 

     "I broke into the library," Todd repeated and held out a book toward her. "And I got you this book."  

      Miriam took the book and looked at the cover.  It was  Jon Stallworthy's book "Love Poetry".                                

     The library had been closed shortly after Miriam had had her first bleed.  She was always glad that she had learned to read before they closed the schools. She put the ancient book to her nose and breathed deeply.  She loved the smell of a book.  Now all they had were terribly redacted short stories and approved books on the public monitor. She had always wanted to read Stallworthy's love poems.  She had seen the book in a glass case at the library.  The date inside said "1973".  She had no idea how long ago that had been, but she knew that it must have been a very, very long time ago.  The King had started the calendar over when he conquered Dome City and they were already up to year fifty.  But she knew that Love Poetry had to go way back before that.  

     In school Miriam had learned about hundreds of years of great disasters and wars before King Troef captured Dome City and made it a safe haven for his people.  That was King Troef I.  His son, Troef II is now king.  The king and his court live in a beautiful villa on the escarpment.  That's next to the air generators and water filtration facilities, both of which are heavily guarded.  Troef is always telling the people that they should be thankful to him because we have an unlimited supply of water and air. The rest of the world is dead.  Of course, his circulation fans always work, while those in the rest of Dome City only work sporadically.  Dome City is divided into four sections around a central square.  Central Square is dominated by the police station which is at the foot of the escarpment on which King Troef lives and through which you must pass to climb the steps to the King's villa. The only people allowed on the stairs are police and servants. Most of the servants are Darkies. You can easily spot them in Central Square. The women are required to wear black dresses with white aprons while the men wear grey and black stripped trousers, a white shirt with a big black tie, and either a grey waistcoat or a funny jacket that doesn't close in the front and has tails.   

     Central Square is the only common ground between the very poor White citizens and even poorer Darkie residents.  Darkies and Whites are not allowed to mix unless it is for work. "Citizen" denotes one who supposedly had rights.  Miriam wasn't sure what her "rights" were, but at least she had them.  The Darkies were considered "residents" which means that they are allowed to live in Dome City but have no rights.  The fourth quarter was a work area where there was hydroponic farming, maintenance buildings, warehouses and the air-lock leading to the outside. Miriam had met Todd working in the hydroponic farm. 

     She and Todd had ended up working together in the hydroponic farm.  It was a good job for a Darkie man and an orphan.  Todd had told Miriam that she was pretty, but she wasn't really sure.  All she knew was that she made sure to look bad and be smelly when the Royal Conscriptionists came through looking for "companions" for the boys and men of the royal household.  Miriam had no desire to be either a companion or a maid even if the villa was a much more pleasant place to work.  Miriam couldn't remember how they started talking. Well, they actually whispered because they really weren't allowed to talk to each other.  Neither could remember what had made them risk losing their job, or worse, but it had happened.  Todd had found a building by the outer wall, near the air-lock, that backed up to the White living area. The authorities, saving time and materials, had used the old building as part of the wall.  The building was being used to store old machinery parts, so workers rarely entered.  He had discovered that there were basement doors opening out on both sides of the building.  Todd had found an old mattress and some broken furniture and made a little secret meeting place. It wasn't long before it was their love nest.  Miriam could leave work, walk to the White living area and enter the building through the basement door on that side.  Todd merely mingled with the Darkie workers who were unloading supplies and trade items coming through the air lock and enter through the other basement door. 

     "I got myself this," said Todd.  He held out a book entitled "Bushcraft 101: a field guide to the art of wilderness survival." He grinned.  

     "It's a survival book," Miriam laughed leafing through the pages. 

     "I know," Todd said proudly. "I figured that out from the pictures."  He took the book back and opened it to a page on building shelter. "I can read the pictures, but you're going to have to read the words to me."  

     "Why do you want me to do that?" asked Miriam.  She felt herself tingle with the anticipation of his answer. 

     "Because I want our dream to become real,"  Todd said looking her square in the eyes.  His eyes could make Miriam melt. They spoke of abiding love, tenderness, gentleness and an unfathomable longing to live in freedom with the love of his life far away from the racism and servitude of Dome City.  

     For Todd, Dome City was nothing more than a slave labor camp.  Miriam may not have been able to tell you about her rights, but she sure could tell you about the privileges of being White.  Even what should be a simple act of walking across Central Square could easily be a harrowing experience for a Darkie.  People yelling at you if you're headed toward a shop on the White side of the square. Darkie do this ... Darkie do that. King Troef frequently made it clear that Darkies should keep their heads down, look appreciative, speak quietly and be happy that they aren't put out in the deadly wilderness outside the dome.  It is the Darkie who carries the heavy boxes of supplies from the warehouses by the air-lock to the villa on the escarpment. The Darkie house servants were allowed to use the front stairs up the escarpment. Along the side wall by the Darkie residential area there was a second set of stairs used only by the human pack mules.  They were in horrible disrepair and it wasn't uncommon for a "porter" to fall to his death because the stairs broke. The poor Whites didn't get much in the way of health care, but they did get some. For the most part, those living at the foot of the escarpment, Darkie or White, were left to die unless they were of some particular value to those who lived in the villa. Todd's parents had both worked in the villa. His Father had been a man-servant for one of the King's household. He had just dropped over dead one day several years ago. His Mother had been a cook. Todd didn't know whether she was alive or dead. She had been thrown in prison for taking left-overs home. Todd's older sister, Geneva, raised their little brother. She married a good man, Robert, who works as a porter.  Geneva makes money by taking care of children while the parents are at work. Half the time she doesn't get paid, but she knows that is because the White bosses almost always take a tithe from a Darkie's wages and sometimes more. She doesn't complain.  She and Robert have sufficient food and a place to live, but most of all they have each other. 

     What Miriam called home was a one-room apartment above a second-hand shop just off the central square. Actually it was an attic. The pitch of the roof made it so she could only stand up straight in the middle, but it was as comfortable as anything she was going to find.  

     The old couple who owned the second-hand store were the only people who would take her in after her mother died.  Her mother had been a companion in the villa. Miriam's father was one of the rich men living up there, but, of course, none are going to admit to an illegitimate daughter. Her mother had died of syphilis when Miriam was probably seventeen.  That had been at least four years ago as the king counts it.  Miriam was already working in the hydro-farm when her mother became ill.  When her Mother died, she couldn't afford their apartment and had to move out. Since Miriam was a bastard-child and her mother was a companion who died of syphilis, no one would talk to her or help her except Rudy and Rose.  They didn't charge her for the attic but she gave them whatever she had left after buying food and paying any bills. Like most people in Dome City, they were extremely poor and could barely make ends meet. She figured that giving them whatever she could was the least she could do for their kindness. 

     Miriam thought about Todd and his dream of one day walking out of Dome City to live free in the forests.  Of course no one except those in the villa knew exactly where Dome City was located, and, besides never having seen a forest, neither of them knew whether or not a forest actually exists.  The idea of getting away from Dome City both excited and frightened Miriam.  Dome City, with its high block and metal walls, and superstructure on which the special glass was mounted, was all she had ever known. In school they had been taught that it was almost immediate death to go outside the dome. Now Todd was wanting to make his dream a reality.  Could she go?   Miriam smiled to herself. Of course she would follow Todd anywhere. She loved that beautiful Darkie and there is no way she could live without him.

     The next morning Todd's time card showed that he was in the farm building but Miriam couldn't find him.  She was worried and it was hard to keep her mind on her work. 

     As Miriam worried, Todd had already found an XPS;  exterior protective suit; put it on and was looking around for another.  He soon found that no one looked twice at him when he was wearing an XPS.  Having procured a second suit for Miriam, Todd moved on toward the airlock.  He was surprised to find that the airlock appeared like any other set of gates and doors. There was a large red and green light above the gates. The red light was on. He watched as workers opened the giant double-doors for a lorry to enter.  There was a man-door that didn't work any differently than any other in Dome City. He had really expected some form of special seals or construction.  It was just a door, and not a particularly good door at that. Its appearance attested to the fact that it had had a long and heavily used existence. 

     Todd carefully opened the man-door and looked in.  A handful of workers stood around a large area big enough for at least two lorries.  A lorry sat at the far end where the lights, like the set he had seen before, were red. He noticed that the lorry drivers were not wearing XPS. Perhaps, he thought, the cabs were somehow protected.  Of course the steady flow of lorries in and out of the air-lock made Todd wonder about the King's claim that the rest of the world was dead or dying.  If that was true, why was Dome City getting so much of its supplies from somewhere else? As he watched the light turned green, and workers opened the outer gates. A lorry rolled in and the one that was waiting pulled through the gate into what appeared to be a long plastic tunnel. 

     Passing through another man-door, Todd found himself inside the long plastic tunnel with another door to his right that appeared to open directly into the outside.  He could see the end of the plastic.  Todd walked toward the light and was soon looking outside. There was a gravel road that stretched out before him and disappeared over a hill.  On the hills around them he saw trees. He just stood and looked. After several minutes he stepped outside the tunnel into the full glare of the sun. The air smelled clean and fresh. He could feel a gentle breeze against his face. It soon began to get uncomfortably hot in the XPS and Todd returned to the tunnel. 

     Quickly Todd returned to the hydro-farm, clocked out, and headed toward their hideaway. Miriam had been waiting for him and would have scolded him except he came almost literally bouncing into the room saying "I've been outside."  Time and time again Miriam had Todd tell her about the sun, the trees the smell of the air.  

     Over the next several days, Miriam and Todd bought as many supplies as they could without drawing attention. They fabricated backpacks and filled them with their supplies. Each day after work they would talk about how they were going to leave. 

     Todd visited the air-lock late one evening after dark. He found that only those unloading the lorries were around and the man-doors were not locked.  Most of those unloading the lorries were Darkies like himself, so none paid him any attention. That, he thought, was their way out. 

     The next night, after work,  they met in their hideaway. They had talked about this moment so much that they hardly spoke.  Each put on their XPS over their backpack.  

     "Are you ready?"  asked Todd.

     "Let's do this!"  exclaimed Miriam excitedly.

     As Todd had experienced the night before, there were only a few workers unloading a lorry.  Only one looked up. Todd waved, making sure the worker saw he was a Darkie, and the worker waved back.  What Todd hadn't anticipated was someone standing by the man-door.  

     They watched the person as they walked toward the door. At first they couldn't tell if the person was male or female, Darkie or White. They were almost to the door when the person turned around. It was a White woman. 

     "Hi," said Miriam cheerfully. 

     "Hi," said the woman less cheerfully, only giving the two a brief glance. 

     "What are you doing down here?" Miriam asked.  She figured that it was better for them to ask the woman such a question than to wait to be questioned.  

     "Oh, there's one last damn lorry," the woman looked annoyed. "I have to stand here and wait for it." 

     "Bummer," said Miriam. "Hope they get here soon."

     The woman shrugged as Todd and Miriam went through the door. They didn't offer any explanation of why they were there and the woman was evidently annoyed enough with having to be there herself that she didn't care why they were entering the airlock.  

     Quickly the two walked toward the end of the plastic tunnel.  They were struck by the darkness and the cool air against their faces.  Miriam began to giggle and soon the two were laughing as they walked down the gravel road.  

     They walked quickly and occasionally danced along the road until they came to their first hill and trees. The road had been cut through the hill. Miriam and Todd climbed up the hill and stood on the edge of the woods looking back toward Dome City. It was nothing more than a dull light in the distance. Both lost in their own thoughts, neither of them felt any remorse for leaving.  Any thought of fear or danger was lost amid the giddy ecstasy of freedom, space, fresh air and the smell of the forest. Having any remorse toward leaving Dome City would be like feeling sad to be released from prison.  In fact, later both would have to deal with the anger when they realized what they had been denied.  Sitting arm in arm on a pile of pine needles Todd and Miriam looked at the glow in the distance.  Their eyes grew heavy and soon they were asleep. 

     Both were awakened by a phenomena neither had ever experienced. They were awakened by sunrise. They sat in awe watching the magnificent event.  Looking back toward Dome City they saw the large open area they had crossed the night before.  There were no trees but tall plants and bushes.  From their vantage point they could see what appeared to be water running in rivulets through plants with an occasional open area where the water collected in various size pools.  At the bottom of the hill was a pond. On the bank was a large animal with long black hair that seemed to be trying to get something out of the water. Two smaller creatures played nearby.  Todd and Miriam decided that the larger one must be the mother. The two smaller creatures stood up on their hind legs from time to time and looked around.  Todd and Miriam had no idea what they were but they were beautiful creatures.     

     "I think you should'a taken a book on animals when you was at the library," Miriam laughed. 

     "They's pictures of them in my survival book,"  Todd held out his book. 

     "They're bears!" Miriam exclaimed.  "This here book tells us how to keep our food away from them. They can be ferocious, it says."   

     As they sat and admired the giant creatures they were startled by movement behind them. There looking at them through the underbrush was a brown elongated face with beautiful big eyes set on either side of  its head.  The four-footed creature quietly turned away and started nibbling on leaves and plants. Miriam thought it might be a horse or a cow but it didn't look like the pictures she remembered.   Todd again had the answer. It was a deer.  

     Miriam walked over to a nearby tree. It was tall and stately.  Its bark comprised of large  pumpkin colored platelets with deep black furrows. She wrapped her arms around the tree and began to cry. Todd knew that it wasn't a cry of anguish or sadness.  He knew the joy she felt and her tear of joy were his reward.  

     Still giggling and crying with happiness Miriam asked, "Do you think we should go back and tell them the truth?"

     Todd starred sadly off toward Dome City. "And who's going to believe us?"

     For a long time the two stood holding hands, as they surveyed their new world. Finally Miriam asked, "Okay, mate. Where  to now?" 

     Todd pulled out his book on survival. He opened to a page that had been marked with a dog-eared corner.  It had drawings of places that are good to camp.  Miriam read the descriptions out loud as Todd looked over her shoulder at the pictures. 

     "I guess we need to look for someplace like one of these pictures."  He hesitated to see if Miriam agreed. She smiled.  

     "That makes sense," Miriam teased, "and where are you going to find such a place?" 

     Todd feigned confusion, did a complete three-hundred-sixty turn, looked off along the mountain ridge, pointed and said "that way." 

     "And," flashing a defiant look over his shoulder toward Dome City, "from here on I ain't no Darkie. I'm a man."  He looked at Miriam with a satisfied grin which she return with one of pride. 

     Miriam took a quick look back toward Dome City then, with a heart filled with hope and joy followed her beautiful man into the woods.