When Dem got off work and arrived home, Tir was crouching in the toilet corner, trying to wash the mushroom soil from her hands and arms with a rag and a bowl of water. When she looked up and saw the smile on her brother’s face, she felt so excited that she knocked over the bowl. The water quickly disappeared into cracks in the rock.
“Oh, no! That was a quarter hour at the drip with four people in line yelling at me to hurry up!”
He knelt down near her. “It’s okay. I found the Pictures — including the Map!”
Tir smiled while washing her hands with the moisture left in the rag. “I know four girls who will go with us, and one’s bringing a boy. One says she’d rather jump off the balcony tunnel into the Gathering Cavern than start mating with boys.”
“The new law starts next week . . .”
“I know, I know.”
“And I found out today that boys ten and eleven will get assigned to food-collecting . . .”
“No, Dem! You’ll die out there!”
“Maybe I’d be lucky and they’d let me keep sorting trash and garbage a little longer.”
The girl didn’t know what else to say, so she just dried her face on an old towel.
NEBADOR Book Ten:Stories from Sonmatia 20
Dem lurked out to the connecting tunnel to make sure no one was around before pulling the Pictures from his tattered old lunch bag. He spread them out on the stone floor as his sister’s eyes grew wide with wonder.
“They
were
really well-hidden,” he explained, “in a crack in the rocks behind the podium in the Council Chamber, covered by gravel. I covered it back up so no one will know they’re gone.”
“They’d
kill you if they found out!”
“I don’t plan to be here.”
She nodded. “Dem, they’re beautiful! I wish I’d been old enough to see them the first time. What are those giant things with lots of arms?”
“Those are called trees. Our world used to have them, up on the surface.
I’ve seen drawings of them in the old books, before the Leaders quit letting us look at them.”
“That color is so amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before.”
“It’s
called
green. The Angels said that all the green creatures can make their own food from sunshine, and many of them have leaves, fruit, or seeds we can eat.”
“Hooray! No more mushrooms!”
“I’m tired of them, too. It’s been a year since I even tasted something from the old canned stuff that the food collectors bring in. The Tunnel Leaders keep almost everything for themselves now.”
“You mean the Tunnel Thugs?”
“Shshshsh!” he warned, and slipped out to the connecting tunnel again to make sure they were still alone.