Last Wild Boy (2 page)

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“I hate picking berries,” Alice complained. She groaned and flung
her graceful frame onto the manicured lawn.

“You wanted blackberry pie.” Nora barely managed a smile. “And you promised to help.”

Nora brushed her hands off on her jeans and continued plucking fistfuls of the juicy deep-purple berries from the bushes along the pathway by the pond. A few minutes later, she glanced back at Alice, who was still lounging in the soft grass. Even with the sour look on her face, she was still beautiful.

Alice's beauty began at her perfect toes, elegant as small fingers, each nail a rosy petal surrounded by powdered alabaster skin. Her feet were slim and sleek, like a pair of well-crafted shoes. From ankles to waist she was built like a runner; every muscle drew eyes in her direction when she passed by. She carried only enough fat on her torso to give a healthy lift to her unblemished skin. But it was Alice's flawless face, with its shining blue eyes, upturned nose, and full lips, and her blonde head of hair, which bleached almost ivory every summer, that Nora believed granted Alice much of her capacity to dominate her world.

It was the confidence that came from this power that had attracted Nora to Alice in the first place. Nora still couldn't believe that Alice, who could have had her pick of all the insider girls in Aahimsa, had returned her affection. As the mayor's daughter, she would have been expected to choose a partner closer to her social standing, not some orphan who had been employed in her home as the housekeeping assistant. Nora still didn't understand why she hadn't.

Nora was shorter than Alice by several inches. She wore her hair cropped, and by now the summer sun had bleached it from auburn to a coppery red. Her green eyes sparkled with specks of gold when she laughed, which was seldom, but even more so when she was angry, which was often, although she seldom let it show in any other way. Her body was generous, she thought, a bit too much of everything, but fortunately, only a bit too much.

“Are you done yet?” Alice called, her voice overly sweet. “I'm bored.”

“It's fine with me if you want to turn back,” Nora said with a shrug. They had walked almost to the edge of the western section of the wall that surrounded Aahimsa. The sun was hot today and there was little breeze near the wall. Nora would be happy to get back to the summer house and cool down.

“You're mad at me,” Alice said, grinning, “aren't you?” She smiled and cocked her head.

Nora said nothing. She just continued picking the berries and tossing them into her basket, though perhaps with a bit more vehemence than before.

“And, no, I don't want to go back,” continued Alice. “I want the pie.” She fluttered her long eyelashes playfully. “I simply adore your sweet blackberry pie,” she said in her most impish voice.

Nora set her feet and clenched her teeth. “Then help me pick.”

Alice turned her head suddenly toward the grove of evergreens
beside the great pond that separated them from the summer
house and the city centre. She could see the tall communications tower looming in the distance, its powerful electronic eyes and ears constantly scanning all parts of the city and far into dark and distant wilds. “Shh!… Did you hear that?”

“What?”

“Listen!… Shh!”

This time Nora did hear something — someone's old cat on the loose, perhaps. Yet it didn't sound quite like a cat. It didn't sound much like anything she'd ever heard inside the walls of Aahimsa.

“Let's go see what it is!” said Alice. She sprung to her feet and brushed away the wisps of grass and dirt that clung to the light cotton dress that she had borrowed from her mother's closet in the summer house.

“You go,” said Nora with a sigh. “I'll finish picking.”

“Leave the stupid berries. Come on!”

Nora shrugged, rolled her eyes, then set down the basket and followed. She scrambled across the well-maintained lawn into a grove thick with willow and evergreen, having a hard time keeping up with Alice. It seemed odd to see Alice in a hurry to get anywhere.

Nora finally caught up, and found Alice staring down at the long grasses in the shade of a weeping willow, a look of wild excitement in her blue eyes.

“Holy mother!” said Alice. “A baby.”

Nora moved closer and looked down into the red face of a baby. The child was wrapped in a coarse gray blanket, the sort used at the civic hospital for the poor. Nora recalled from childhood how these rough blankets felt against the skin, and how much she'd missed her mother when she'd lain beneath one alone in the charity hospital as a child. She stared at the baby and waited to see what Alice would say.

“What do we do?” Alice finally asked.

“Call the caretakers, I guess,” Nora said. This was the first baby Nora had ever seen, but she knew about the Palace of the Caretakers, where babies were raised before they were returned to their mothers. Her mother had been a caretaker for a few years, and had told her all about it before she'd died.

“Let's take her home and play with her,” Alice said. “No one will know. My mother's staying downtown for the next few days, and she'll be in council meetings all day anyways. And no one else would come out here.” Her eyes flashed with defiant excitement.

“What about the pie?”

“Forget it! We'll eat the berries with cream instead. Come on!”

“But the security patrols,” said Nora. “What if we run into one?”

Alice shrugged. “I can handle them. They wouldn't hassle us, anyways. They're all too scared of what my mother would do. None of them would dare give Mayor Blanchefleur's daughter a hard time.” She gestured to the baby. “Come on, just pick her up and let's go.”

Nora picked up the silent baby. She felt something firm under the baby's blanket as she did so, and she lifted the edge of the blanket to see what it was. A tube labelled “Infant Nutrifier” was tucked in beside the baby. Nora wrapped the blanket back up and followed Alice toward the pond.

Alice stepped gingerly from the shelter of the trees onto the pathway beside the pond. She glanced in the direction of the wall and caught movement in her peripheral vision. She turned her head to see two police officers striding along the shore of the pond in her direction. Alice quickly looked behind her into the trees and was relieved to see no sign of Nora or the child.

“Hello,” she called out to the officers, who were approaching rapidly. The first officer, the younger of the two, she didn't recognize, but the second officer she knew as Nancy. Nancy was a regular around Blanchefleur's residence and the mayor's offices at City Hall.

“Hi, Alice,” said Nancy. “Where's your friend?”

“Back at the house,” Alice lied.

“You shouldn't be out here by yourself,” said Nancy.

Alice watched nervously as the younger officer poked her head into the nearby trees and surveyed the area.

“It's safe here,” insisted Alice. Her heart was hammering through her chest, and she felt her hands begin to shake. She hoped Nancy hadn't noticed.

“Your mother wants your companion with you at all times,” said Nancy. “You know how she worries about you.”

“I know,” Alice said sweetly. “I'll head right back. I just wanted a little time alone.” She flashed Nancy her most dazzling smile. “You won't tell my mother, will you?”

“Not if you get back right away and promise not to get into any more trouble,” Nancy said, giving Alice a wink.

“I'm going. Thanks, Nancy.”

The officers waited until they saw Alice turn toward the house and disappear from view before they continued their rounds.

Alice took a deep breath, then circled around through the trees, back to where she had left Nora and the baby. There was no sign of them. Panic gripped her. She turned and raced back toward the house.

When she arrived there, she found Nora waiting, alone, outside the front door.

“Where's the baby?” Alice asked. “I was so scared.”

Nora took a moment to suppress her anger before she answered. “She's safe. I hid her back in the grove.”

“Go get her,” Alice said. “And let's get inside.”

C
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The summer house was twice the size of a normal family
housing unit in Aahimsa. Like the children of all the upper level city officials, Alice had certain privileges. Using the summer home when her mother wasn't around — as long as the watchful eyes of the mayor's security detail were close by — was just one of those privileges.

As Alice and Nora stepped up to the door of the house, the sensor above the polished marble entrance emitted a fierce green glow and began to pulsate.

“It's all right!” Alice snapped as she ran her hands through her sun-blonde hair. “It's only a baby, you stupid robot.” The light dimmed as the computer finally recognized Alice's voice and the heavy door slid open long enough for the young women to step inside.

The child started crying again. Its tiny hands opened and closed and its little arms waved about as its dark brown eyes surveyed the new surroundings.

“Here, let me have her,” said Alice, pushing her hair back behind her shoulders. She turned her almond-shaped eyes excitedly to the baby and then to Nora, who hesitated. “Don't worry, silly. I'll be careful.”

“Like you were careful back by the wall?” Nora's eyes flashed gold. “What if the security detail had caught us?”

Alice shrugged and searched the spotless terrazzo floor of the summer house for nothing in particular.

“Fine, then,” Nora said, carefully handing the baby to Alice.

Alice cradled the baby in her arms and made soft cooing noises, but it wouldn't stop crying. “Shush, now,” she said, frustrated, “or we'll have the police on our doorstep.”

“Let me try,” said Nora reaching for the baby.

“She's all yours,” Alice said, handing the child over. “I'm dying of thirst anyway.” She flounced into the kitchen.

Nora held the baby close and rocked it back and forth, but it didn't stop crying. “You must be hungry,” Nora said, feeling the bump in the blanket where the nutrifier tube was tucked. “How long has it been since you've eaten?”

Nora carried the baby over to the couch, pulled the nutrifier tube from the folds of the blanket, and removed the cap, exposing a rubber nipple underneath. She held the nipple up to the baby's mouth, and it sucked greedily.

As the child fed, Nora looked down into its soft brown eyes, which focused back on her. It looked almost as if the baby was smiling up at her. Nora's heart beat in an irregular way and felt as if it flipped over in her chest. She tried to look away, but as she did, the child made a gurgling sound. Nora looked at the baby again and it smiled even more brightly. She turned and glanced back toward the kitchen door to make sure Alice wasn't coming, and then quickly kissed the baby's forehead. It smelled like a fresh orange peel, mixed with something slightly musty. She kissed the baby again and it closed its eyes. Nora did the same, with the scent of oranges on her mind.

“Well it looks like she's finally quieted down,” Alice said, coming back into the living room with a half-empty glass of water and a handful of blackberries. She popped the blackberries in her mouth and chewed carefully, trying not to let the dark juice dribble down her chin onto her dress. “I guess that means I can play with her now. Here, hand her over.”

Nora lifted the baby gently up to Alice, who rested it against her shoulder. “There,” she said to the child. “Now you're not so bad.” She started humming quietly, but she was interrupted by a loud, liquid rumbling noise from inside the baby's diaper. Alice's expression went from smiling to shock to disgust in a matter of seconds. “Ugh!” she said, thrusting the baby back at Nora, then looking down at her chest. “Look at my dress! The little rat pooped all over it!”

“I'll change her,” said Nora, chuckling. She held the baby carefully away from her as she walked toward the kitchen. “Get out of that dress,” she called back over her shoulder. “I'll toss it in the washer.”

“Yeah, that would not be nice to explain to my mother,” Alice said with a laugh. “Can you imagine what she'd say if she saw her dress like this?” Alice unzipped the dress and stepped out of it, careful not to get any of the baby's mess on her. She left the dress in a pile on the floor and stepped into the bedroom to get something clean to wear. “You know how to change babies?” she called from behind the door.

“My mom showed me,” Nora said as she lay the baby down on a towel on the kitchen counter. “It isn't hard. I used to practise with my dolls.”

“Poor people are lucky,” Alice said, bouncing back into the room in a pink floral sundress. “They get to learn so much about life.”

Nora didn't answer. She just scrunched up her nose and worked at opening the baby's diaper without getting any mess on her.

“It'll be nice to play with the baby, won't it?” said Alice, flopping down at the kitchen table. “It'll be like we have our own little family.”

“I guess so,” Nora said, her mind still on Alice's remark about poor people. “But I'm nervous. If your mother catches us with her…”

“She won't,” said Alice. “Besides, she always gets over things quickly. She can't stay mad at me for long. And as long as you're my partner, you won't have to worry either.”

Nora finally managed to get the baby's diaper undone. “There!” she said. “Could you watch her while I get the cleaning stuff?” she called to Alice.

“I suppose.” Alice wandered over and hovered just close enough to prevent the child from falling off the counter.

“This should do it,” said Nora, coming back carrying a basin of hot water, a cloth and soap. There were strips of cloth from a faded old pillowcase draped across her shoulder.

“Finally,” Alice said, holding her nose. “I can't stand this for another moment. The stench is unbearable.” She headed to the living room and flopped down on the couch.

Nora plugged her nose with one hand and started to remove the baby's diaper with the other. As she did, she uncovered a fold of paper wrapped in plastic that had been tucked inside. She turned to call Alice, whose head was buried in a fashion magazine, but then she stopped herself. Somehow she knew that whatever was in that package was something she shouldn't let Alice see. She made sure that Alice wasn't looking, then hastily wiped the packet on a dry portion of the diaper and stuffed it into the pocket of her jeans.

When she looked back down, she gasped.

“What is it?” Alice said, her eyes not lifting from the magazine page she was reading.

“Alice!” Nora whispered frantically. “You've got to see this…”

“No way! I already know what poo looks like, thank you very much.”

“It's not that! Come here!”

With a look of disgust, Alice peeled herself up from the sofa and stomped over. “Holy mother!” she exclaimed as she caught sight of the naked baby. “It's an outsider!”