had suspicions. Still, they “didn’t want to
know”, or let it come to the surface, because they could not face such a
fearful thought.
Griswolt gave a skeptical look at Martha, and said, “You bit your
tongue, huh?” he sighed, “When was the last time you bit through your
tongue like that?”
Martha realized she did not want to go down this path because it was
a loser — and the talking was making her tongue hurt. She retorted, “That
inthructor thcared the hell out of me! Weren’t you lithening, or do you
only look out for yourthelf?” Owww.
Griswolt thought about the class they had to sit through that day. That
was really rough, he thought to himself. What hell these girls have to go
through to have a baby. My baby. He looked at Martha. She had her
scales done for the class, and they looked positively beautiful in the
moonlight. Under the full, lesser moon, their polished surfaces seemed to
glow with a deep, gray-almost luminescent-blue.
Griswolt smiled. Our baby, he thought.
Chapter Two
Trachnas Interruptus
J
an woke up. He had just celebrated his third birthday yesterday,
and his next-door neighbor Rebecca was coming over to visit
today, too. He jumped out of bed and ran upstairs. His mother
Martha was in the kitchen, cooking breakfast. The toasted yama
bread smelled wonderful.
The kitchen was large enough to have room for a table and chairs. It
was the central room of the home, with the home entry stairs coming
down into it. From the kitchen, a hallway went to the bathroom and
parents’ bedroom. From the other side of the kitchen, one could enter the
living room. In the living room were the stairs that led down to Jan’s
bedroom, and a storage room was down there as well. From Jan’s room
there was also a narrow-staired emergency exit to ground level. The black
stove was the newest appliance in the kitchen. The refrigerator and toaster
were black as well. The very light green walls of the rest of the house did
not extend into the kitchen. The kitchen had tan/yellow paint over a coat
of a nonporous ferrist, same as in the bathroom. The well-lit rooms in the
home had recessed lighting in all the ceilings. The cabinets were a shade
lighter than the walls, the counter top was a finely polished deep green,
white, and black striped marble.
Although Jan was too young to care about yama bread’s source, his
mother was always cognizant of the fact that yama was the only plentiful
source of carbohydrates, essential amino acids, minerals, and certain
vitamins on D’ot. They harvested yama directly from the ocean in the old
days, which was dangerous. Sea creatures would stalk the harvesting
areas, particularly along the NOV’s coastline. Now they had aqua farms
that were free of those dangers. Huge corporations processed yama in
many different ways. Differing extracts were plentiful, and people used
them as spices, medicines, cosmetics, as well as a multitude of other
specialized uses. Yama was part of most meals, in one form or another.
Jan looked forward to the butter and suka she would be putting on the
toast. He always asked if his mother would put more of the sweet suka on
it, and sometimes she would.
Jan also smelled something he was not too happy with — keesh. The
slices of keesh his mother was preparing came from an animal that used
its mouth to attach to sea creatures when it was in the ocean, or in lakes
and rivers. Once attached, it did not matter if the host animal stayed in
water or not. The keesh would then suck blood and lymph fluid from its
host. It looked like a big, black blob with a pointy tail. These days they
raised and harvested keesh from the bodies of elas. Farmers would keep
them caged in the keesh farms. Elas were dangerous, long slithering
creatures that could support the growth of this parasite without dying.
Keesh could be prepared in many different ways. It was a common part of
breakfast, because it could be fried quickly, and only needed salt and