Servo 2:1
Apologies for not having this out yesterday, but we were supposed to take 2 sick birds to the vet at 2 pm, instead the vet called us a 9 am to have them there at 11:30. Needless to say, we were there almost 3 hours, and when we got home, we had gobs of stuff to take are of with them and the rest of the flock. Hoping all will be well. So, without further adieu, here's Servo.
Chapter 2:1
I gazed out the window of the plane. It was a small one. We’d had to change planes in Chicago in order to get out of the Inner States. Our flight from New Philadelphia had been pleasant. The food was good, and the stewardesses nice. Now we were crammed into this flying tin can that pitched and bucked with every little thermal. I watched the skies change from deepest blue to something of a washed out sepia color. I figured it was what they called pollution. Having never seen it, only heard about it in school, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. The land below seemed dusty. I saw circles and squares of green interspersed with large amounts of brown as the plane descended toward our destination. Everything looked flat. Not a hill, not a valley, nothing. Our family plan representative assured us that everything was taken care of. She’d contacted our only surviving relatives, Abe and Eliza Cranwinkle. They were my mother’s parents. We’d heard about them, but never met them. I often wondered why they didn’t live in the Inner States. My mother never said she came from a poor background. In fact, she never said much about her early life. Was she that ashamed?We were headed to somewhere called Broken Bow, Nebraska. I’d tried to access information about it on my tablet, but we lost signal after we left Chicago. I suppose I should have done it earlier. According to what I found, we were going to the geographical center of the state. After The Great Separation, the Inner States reorganized and some of them were combined or renamed. The Outer States, for the most part, retained their original identities. Well, except for that place that was once known as California; it had mostly fallen into the ocean after a massive earthquake and was basically uninhabitable. Only the utter scum of the Earth lived there in clan-type societies where the strongest survived. The images and accompanying text on our tablets told a chilling story. I’m glad we’re not going there.
The plane touched down and rolled to a stop. I peered out the window and didn’t see much. To my right was the “terminal” with a few hangars and tarmac. To my left was a field that held long stripes of dirt pushed into neat rows. Little green leaves came from the ground. I didn’t know what it was. I assumed it was some sort of food crop. In the Inner States, all our food is brought to us processed. We were told what each food item was supposed to be. Sometimes they all looked and tasted alike. As the plane taxied to the end and turned around, I saw a property with a few shiny metal buildings. Some were long and rectangular; a couple were round with pointed roofs. I wondered as to their function. The whole landscape stretched on for miles. I glanced over at Suz and Rory, both somehow still asleep. Perhaps all the crying exhausted them. It had been a rough two weeks. I knew I’d have my time to cry, but it seemed I wasn’t ready yet. Someone in the family needed to be mature and stoic. Somehow that responsibility fell on me.Minutes later, the tiny plane was pulling up to the terminal. The door opened and people started to get up. There were only fifteen of us on the plane, so it didn’t take long. I nudged Rory and Suz. “Hey, wake up, we’re here.”Rory opened his eyes, yawned and stretched. Suz rubbed her eyes. “We’re here?” she asked.“Yeah.”“Well?”I think she was expecting me to give her a rosy statement about the fabulous grandeur of the place. “It’s small, really small.”She squinted and looked out the window. “This?”“Yeah.”“Oh, no, this won’t do!”I gave her a shove, trying to get her out of the seat. “It will do; we don’t have a choice.”Rory got up and collected his things. “Maybe Grandpa Abe has a horse.”“A horse?” I said. “What do you know about horses? You’ve never even seen one in real life.”“But I want to.”“I hear they smell,” Suz said, roughly snatching her bag from under the seat and elbowing her way down the aisle. I shrugged my shoulders. “I dunno, Rory. We’ll see.”We walked off the plane and into the brilliant sun. I could feel the dust hanging in the air. And there was a heat to the gentle breeze that I found unwelcoming. So far my observations of the place hadn’t revealed anything exciting. In fact, it was just the opposite.A man dressed in a blue uniform held the door open as we entered the terminal. Our baggage would be unloaded and brought inside shortly. We felt a cold rush of air hit us. This building had air conditioning! I breathed deep, feeling the coolness chilling my lungs. It felt wonderful. There were few people in the terminal. I scanned the area hoping to find someone who resembled a grandfather or grandmother. Having never met them, it was a strange and unnerving feeling. I wasn’t even sure how old they were. I only assumed that they were old.“Suzette? Jonah? Rory?” a raspy male voice called.I turned to my right and saw a tired-looking little old man standing about fifty feet from us. He wore a faded red plaid shirt, brown pants, and held a brown narrow-brimmed hat in his hands. Grandpa looked ancient. Most of his hair was gone, leaving gray wisps trailing from the sides of his head, and brown splotches dotted his pale face and head. Wrinkles covered every inch of exposed skin. He must have been a thousand years old.“Jonah?” he said again.“Grandpa Cranwinkle?” I said, still very leery of him. “That’s right, Abe Cranwinkle.”I think he did that to reassure me we weren’t being kidnapped. Somewhere I’d read that kidnapping was a common practice in the Outer States. This place was bad enough; I didn’t need it getting worse. For now, I was the protector of my older sister and younger brother; neither had their wits about them. I was forced to remain calm and logical until such time that I felt everything was safe and sound. “Hello, son,” he said, holding a hand out to me. “Let’s get you three home.”“How old are you?” Suzette blurted. Despite her unobvious high intelligence, my sister had the tact of a rock.“I’m eighty-seven years old.”“Why are you so wrinkled up? Don’t you have laser-primming surgery?”“An old man like me has no use for that sort of stuff.” He motioned. “Come, you all must be exhausted from your journey.”We collected our bags from the carousel and he guided us out to a large truck-like vehicle. It was yellow, mostly rusted, and covered in dust. “I’m not getting into that,” Suz protested.“It’s that or you’re walking home,” Grandpa said, not flinching from her intentional barb.“That thing is gross!”“Get in,” he said firmly, putting our bags in the back of the open bed. “I want to go home, back to New Philadelphia.”“I’m sorry, this is your home now.” He opened a rear door and gestured for her to get in. Suz stood fast. “No!”I was tired and in no mood for an argument from my sister. I reached out and smacked her on the back. “Get in!”She spun around, her hand reared behind her head ready to strike at me. “Jonah!”“Let’s not fight, Suz, just get in the truck.”“It’s filthy!”I stared her down. “Get in,” I said in a low tone. She regarded me with distaste and let out a little rebellious snort as she climbed into the backseat. I’d won the battle, but not the war.Rory got into the backseat, and I took up position in the front. We set out from the airport, going what I thought was south. After a few minutes, we entered a small town.“This is Broken Bow,” Grandpa said. “The population used to be about three thousand, but now, with the feedlot closing, it’ll probably drop more.”“Feedlot?” I asked, unsure of the term.“It’s where they bring cattle to fatten them up for slaughter.”“How gross!” Suz cried from the backseat. “How can they kill animals?”I turned in my seat. “Suz, you know those hamburgers at the Paradise Café that you love so much?”“Yes?”“Where do you think they come from?”“EW!”“Yes, you are eating what once was a living, breathing, animal.”“Oh! I thought they made those burgers from plant material.” I shook my head. “Nope.” Was my sister just playing blind to the issue? Or was she really that dumb about life in general? I’d make up my mind later about that.
Chapter 2:1
I gazed out the window of the plane. It was a small one. We’d had to change planes in Chicago in order to get out of the Inner States. Our flight from New Philadelphia had been pleasant. The food was good, and the stewardesses nice. Now we were crammed into this flying tin can that pitched and bucked with every little thermal. I watched the skies change from deepest blue to something of a washed out sepia color. I figured it was what they called pollution. Having never seen it, only heard about it in school, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. The land below seemed dusty. I saw circles and squares of green interspersed with large amounts of brown as the plane descended toward our destination. Everything looked flat. Not a hill, not a valley, nothing. Our family plan representative assured us that everything was taken care of. She’d contacted our only surviving relatives, Abe and Eliza Cranwinkle. They were my mother’s parents. We’d heard about them, but never met them. I often wondered why they didn’t live in the Inner States. My mother never said she came from a poor background. In fact, she never said much about her early life. Was she that ashamed?We were headed to somewhere called Broken Bow, Nebraska. I’d tried to access information about it on my tablet, but we lost signal after we left Chicago. I suppose I should have done it earlier. According to what I found, we were going to the geographical center of the state. After The Great Separation, the Inner States reorganized and some of them were combined or renamed. The Outer States, for the most part, retained their original identities. Well, except for that place that was once known as California; it had mostly fallen into the ocean after a massive earthquake and was basically uninhabitable. Only the utter scum of the Earth lived there in clan-type societies where the strongest survived. The images and accompanying text on our tablets told a chilling story. I’m glad we’re not going there.
The plane touched down and rolled to a stop. I peered out the window and didn’t see much. To my right was the “terminal” with a few hangars and tarmac. To my left was a field that held long stripes of dirt pushed into neat rows. Little green leaves came from the ground. I didn’t know what it was. I assumed it was some sort of food crop. In the Inner States, all our food is brought to us processed. We were told what each food item was supposed to be. Sometimes they all looked and tasted alike. As the plane taxied to the end and turned around, I saw a property with a few shiny metal buildings. Some were long and rectangular; a couple were round with pointed roofs. I wondered as to their function. The whole landscape stretched on for miles. I glanced over at Suz and Rory, both somehow still asleep. Perhaps all the crying exhausted them. It had been a rough two weeks. I knew I’d have my time to cry, but it seemed I wasn’t ready yet. Someone in the family needed to be mature and stoic. Somehow that responsibility fell on me.Minutes later, the tiny plane was pulling up to the terminal. The door opened and people started to get up. There were only fifteen of us on the plane, so it didn’t take long. I nudged Rory and Suz. “Hey, wake up, we’re here.”Rory opened his eyes, yawned and stretched. Suz rubbed her eyes. “We’re here?” she asked.“Yeah.”“Well?”I think she was expecting me to give her a rosy statement about the fabulous grandeur of the place. “It’s small, really small.”She squinted and looked out the window. “This?”“Yeah.”“Oh, no, this won’t do!”I gave her a shove, trying to get her out of the seat. “It will do; we don’t have a choice.”Rory got up and collected his things. “Maybe Grandpa Abe has a horse.”“A horse?” I said. “What do you know about horses? You’ve never even seen one in real life.”“But I want to.”“I hear they smell,” Suz said, roughly snatching her bag from under the seat and elbowing her way down the aisle. I shrugged my shoulders. “I dunno, Rory. We’ll see.”We walked off the plane and into the brilliant sun. I could feel the dust hanging in the air. And there was a heat to the gentle breeze that I found unwelcoming. So far my observations of the place hadn’t revealed anything exciting. In fact, it was just the opposite.A man dressed in a blue uniform held the door open as we entered the terminal. Our baggage would be unloaded and brought inside shortly. We felt a cold rush of air hit us. This building had air conditioning! I breathed deep, feeling the coolness chilling my lungs. It felt wonderful. There were few people in the terminal. I scanned the area hoping to find someone who resembled a grandfather or grandmother. Having never met them, it was a strange and unnerving feeling. I wasn’t even sure how old they were. I only assumed that they were old.“Suzette? Jonah? Rory?” a raspy male voice called.I turned to my right and saw a tired-looking little old man standing about fifty feet from us. He wore a faded red plaid shirt, brown pants, and held a brown narrow-brimmed hat in his hands. Grandpa looked ancient. Most of his hair was gone, leaving gray wisps trailing from the sides of his head, and brown splotches dotted his pale face and head. Wrinkles covered every inch of exposed skin. He must have been a thousand years old.“Jonah?” he said again.“Grandpa Cranwinkle?” I said, still very leery of him. “That’s right, Abe Cranwinkle.”I think he did that to reassure me we weren’t being kidnapped. Somewhere I’d read that kidnapping was a common practice in the Outer States. This place was bad enough; I didn’t need it getting worse. For now, I was the protector of my older sister and younger brother; neither had their wits about them. I was forced to remain calm and logical until such time that I felt everything was safe and sound. “Hello, son,” he said, holding a hand out to me. “Let’s get you three home.”“How old are you?” Suzette blurted. Despite her unobvious high intelligence, my sister had the tact of a rock.“I’m eighty-seven years old.”“Why are you so wrinkled up? Don’t you have laser-primming surgery?”“An old man like me has no use for that sort of stuff.” He motioned. “Come, you all must be exhausted from your journey.”We collected our bags from the carousel and he guided us out to a large truck-like vehicle. It was yellow, mostly rusted, and covered in dust. “I’m not getting into that,” Suz protested.“It’s that or you’re walking home,” Grandpa said, not flinching from her intentional barb.“That thing is gross!”“Get in,” he said firmly, putting our bags in the back of the open bed. “I want to go home, back to New Philadelphia.”“I’m sorry, this is your home now.” He opened a rear door and gestured for her to get in. Suz stood fast. “No!”I was tired and in no mood for an argument from my sister. I reached out and smacked her on the back. “Get in!”She spun around, her hand reared behind her head ready to strike at me. “Jonah!”“Let’s not fight, Suz, just get in the truck.”“It’s filthy!”I stared her down. “Get in,” I said in a low tone. She regarded me with distaste and let out a little rebellious snort as she climbed into the backseat. I’d won the battle, but not the war.Rory got into the backseat, and I took up position in the front. We set out from the airport, going what I thought was south. After a few minutes, we entered a small town.“This is Broken Bow,” Grandpa said. “The population used to be about three thousand, but now, with the feedlot closing, it’ll probably drop more.”“Feedlot?” I asked, unsure of the term.“It’s where they bring cattle to fatten them up for slaughter.”“How gross!” Suz cried from the backseat. “How can they kill animals?”I turned in my seat. “Suz, you know those hamburgers at the Paradise Café that you love so much?”“Yes?”“Where do you think they come from?”“EW!”“Yes, you are eating what once was a living, breathing, animal.”“Oh! I thought they made those burgers from plant material.” I shook my head. “Nope.” Was my sister just playing blind to the issue? Or was she really that dumb about life in general? I’d make up my mind later about that.
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