Seeds

SEEDS

By Carolyn Royce

“Quick”, come with me! the voice was friendly but rushed. She discretely hooked arms with the seemingly intended captive.

Cassie was confused, it was already hard enough starting at a new school, in the middle of the school year. She loved her parents, was happy at home, but why had things changed?!

“Wait, what’s going on?!” Cassie expressed irritation but low key enough not to draw attention.

It was the end of the school day and she was tired. Adjusting to public school after being home schooled was emotionally and physically draining. Her mom was lax; as long as they got the required assignments done, Cassie could wake any time each day. But now, her dad had become ill, and her mother had to go back to work.

Her mother tried to stay positive and upbeat, but she hurt when her daughter hurt. Now in 9th grade; public school, Cassie was doing her best, trudging through from one period to the next. She just wanted to go home take her shoes off and go into her own safe zone. Now, being rushed down the hall by someone she barely knew from chemistry class, it started her head spinning.

“Where are you taking me?”, Cassie demanded in a hush voice. She figured out very quickly how to act in this school. Noise was always kept to an extreme minimum, interactions were always polite, smiles were always pasted on, distances kept.

The girl walking alongside her wearing the same required red and black jumpsuit, and putrid grey hat, presented extreme calmness.

“Trust me, just trust me, paste on your smile and keep walking.”

Cassie following the girl’s lead, kept in motion. She didn’t feel scared, she had no reason to trust this person, only a feeling that everything would be ok. Cassie watched intently as the girl discretely waved a small heart shaped locket in front of a doorway at the end of Hall B. Once inside the door, which instantly closed, the girl waved the locket again over a spot in the floor. The dimly illuminated staircase appeared through the floor opening as the two girls maneuvered the stairs downward.

“You made it Val! I was thinking we would have to send out reinforcements!” The girl lunged at the newly arrived pair, almost taking Val down.

“Of course, Bridge, chill, this is Cassie, she doesn’t know anything yet, don’t overwhelm her.”

Cassie’s head was spinning as she took a few seconds to take it all in best she could. The girl that brought her in, Val took off the hideous school uniform hat and shook out her tight purple curls. Bridge thrust out her hand to greet Cassie, revealing a small tattoo of colored bubbles, on her inner arm. In the corner of the small room, two guys sitting close together, one with a silver stud and chain in one ear and the other with black painted nails, waved a sincere, friendly hello.

“I don’t get it”, Cassie was confused and surprised. None of this approved! The Norms are going to arrest you!

“You too!” Brad, the guy with the pierced ear said with a laugh.

“Relax Cassie,” the other guy, Theo reassured her, “we’re unknown down here”.

Val approached Cassie with a small heart shaped locket identical to the one she used to get into this room and gently placed it into Cassie’s hand. “You’re one of us, you are part of us.”

Cassie stammered and tried to refuse the locket, “What are you talking about?” No one is different, its against the law! You know that!

Bridge, who had settled into a furry bean bag chair, got up and came to Cassie. Taking the locket out of Cassie’s hand, Bridge opened the clasp and put it around Cassie’s neck. “Keep it tucked in when you’re out there”.

“I am not like all of you!” Cassie almost screamed but afraid breaking the voice level rule in school, suppressed herself.

Val put a reassuring arm around Cassie’s shoulder, “I’ve seen it, the word tattooed on your ankle.”

But how wondered Cassie, her mother taught her how to cover it up with concealer, warning her what would happen if it was discovered. “Crap”, thought Cassie, it must have been the day I was in a hurry, it was her younger sister’s fault, whining about going to school and dragging her feet. Cassie was nervous all day but thought that her sock kept it covered.

“Your tattoo reads ‘STRENGTH’, doesn’t it?” Val said kindly and softly. “You are, aren’t you? Strong?”

“I don’t feel so”, Cassie admitted sheepishly. Things are so messed up. Everyone dressed exactly the same, acting the same, scripted conversations, no self-expression, noise level laws, fake smiles. I can’t stand it! Her voice did raise this time, embarrassed but in desperate need to express emotions that had been bottled up.

“Don’t worry,” Theo piped up, it’s soundproof down here. “There’s more of us you know”, he said reassuringly.

Cassie glanced around for the nearest seating. “Here”, Brad offered her his folding director’s chair as he situated himself on the floor.

“This is too much to take in,” Cassie sighed as she melted into the chair.

“Hey, no worries Cassie,” Val gently removed the hat the Cassie dreaded wearing and gave her jet-black hair a gentle, friendly stroke. “Take a minute to soak it in then we need to get to work”.

Cassie tried hard to keep her heart from pounding out of her chest, after a few minutes, she was able to quietly yet confidently announce, “I’m in.”

The small band of ‘Weirds’ as they were labeled in the days when diversity and individuality were not outlawed, excitedly rushed to Cassie for a group hug.

Realizing that she hadn’t fully processed her response to the group, Cassie cocked a puzzled yet gleeful look on her face and asked, “Wait, what are we doing now?”

“Taking down the Norms!” They all exclaimed, “getting our lives out there back!” They all demonstrated to Cassie their group ritual of bringing each one of their heart shaped lockets together to touch, proudly proclaiming, “Seeds!”

The next morning, Cassie woke with a genuine smile and an inner dialogue, “Others like me, a plan to get our way of life back, true friends!” Finally, a cause, hope for change. Overwhelmed a bit but determined to keep her emotions and feelings in check, she got ready for school.

Cassie had first period with Bridge, they sat a few rows apart, but Cassie could tell that something wasn’t quite right with Bridge. The pasted-on smiles couldn’t hide what was inside a person’s soul, Cassie could look into the eyes of anyone and get a sense of how they were really feeling. Her grandmother told her it was a special gift, Cassie saw it as a curse. Today, in first period, Cassie started to believe her grandmother. Cassie’s new friend was in emotional distress and she knew it.

Cassie fought against herself the last period of the day to contain the anxious thoughts, her foot was becoming stiff from forcing it to stay still. Finally, the signal from the instructor that the class was dismissed. It was excruciating trying to move politely and slowly past her classmates, she really wanted to scream, “get out of my way!” followed by some expletives she picked up from bawdy uncles.

Shakily but covertly, she tapped her locket on the same spot she saw Val use the day before. As Cassie expected, the others were in the room. They were rallied around the distraught Bridge.

“They got her, her mother was a little late picking her up yesterday, so they detained her for loitering,” Theo was the only one holding back the emotions enough to talk.

Cassie carefully and compassionately reached for Bridge’s hands and as she drew Bridge closer, stared in shock at the site where the cute and colorful tattoo was just the day before.

“The Norms searched Bridge while she was detained.”, Brad continued explaining, “They have some kind of device that zaps away tattoos and body markings.”

“It was all that I had to remember my sister,” Bridge revealed as she choked back tears. “We used to…” Bridge couldn’t keep herself composed.

Val stepped in, put her arm around Bridge and picked up the story, “Bridge and her younger sister used to spend time together blowing bubbles and making up games.” They were in the park one day, the Norm patrol confiscated the bubbles and took her sister away. They told Bridge that she was too old to do such childish things, slapped her parents with a fine and gave her a manual to read on ‘proper’ sibling care.”

“I’m sorry you had to go through that”, Cassie expressed as she hugged Bridge. She looked at the others with grave concern in her eyes, “Time to step up the plan!”

The plan was no surprise to Amy. She knew that her daughter was clever, and she believed that she had instilled Cassie with enough skills to be safe, but it was a huge risk. Ray Morris tried in vain to talk his daughter into leaving things be. He was never one to rock the boat, always obeyed rules, but even he knew that there had to be change and knew deep down that his daughter was the one to champion for it.

“Be careful, Cass, just be careful,” Cassie went to her father’s bedside and bent forward for Ray’s kiss on her forehead.

“I can’t be anything but, you raised me right,” Cassie gave her parents a loving goodbye and snuck off at dawn to meet the others at the school.

“Do we have everything?” Cassie whispered.

The ‘Weirds’ gave Cassie a nod and started out to their assigned posts.

Cassie wanted to give the, “if we don’t see each other”, speech but time was valuable, the sun was coming up and the campus would soon be full. “Seeds,” she whispered somewhat to herself.

She could have sworn she heard an answer from each one in the group; at least she told herself she did.

Theo and Brad had broken into the school director’s office and grabbed the gate remotes. Val lifted the keys to the school van, placing a fake Fumigator’s sign on the outside of the van, she climbed in and crunched down hidden under the dash. Bridge snuck into the school building, placing signs on the door to the administration offices that read, “Fumigation in Progress”, DO NOT ENTER. Then locked herself in the director’s office.

School personnel had congregated in the cafeteria to discuss the fumigation issue. Miss Blart, the confused secretary was getting the blame for not informing the rest of the office staff. Brad and Theo made sure that they were locked in.

The identically dressed students arrived at their expected start time. School began promptly at 7:45 a.m., at that same moment, Theo pushed the main button on the control that brought down all of the emergency gates; locking everyone in the school building. On that signal, Bridge began the daily announcements. “Attention Norms: Things are about to change, back to the way it was before, only this time, we live in harmony and acceptance of one another. You buried us, but you forgot one thing….we are seeds!!!”

Cassie made her way into the school building to join Bridge through their private underground entrance.

“For you and your sister,” she said with emotion as the a/c system, started to blow out bubbles in masse, throughout the school. The true ‘Weirds’, in every classroom, threw off their hats and chanted in unison, “seeds!”

“Seeds!”, Bridge and Cassie shouted over the intercom. The Weirds grew in confidence, strength and hope of a better life. A life of expression, sharing and acceptance.

THE END