Seven In a Thousand

Chapter 2

      Naomi stared at the list on the bright computer screen, slack-jawed. The list of volunteers had been blank for a whole month, but since she had signed up, four more people had joined by the next morning.

     "Hold your plate level, would you?" Kitsune glanced up from the coffee machine as he noticed the sliced apples on her plate sliding towards the edge. She blinked, straightening the plate before the slices tumbled off.

     She kicked her chair away from the small, round table so she could sit in it and chew on a piece of the juicy, red fruit. The taste was delicious, and she declared again that apples were amazing. Kitsune stuck out his tongue, "Not for me. The skin gets caught in my teeth."

      She smiled, watching him pick up his mug of coffee and down it in one, long gulp. He coughed, reaching on the table for a cup of water. She pushed her own towards him, and the clear liquid was gone down his throat within a moment. "Hot," he wheezed, rubbing his neck.

      Naomi frowned at the empty glass he returned to her hand, but shrugged it off, "So do you know how long you'll be gone today?"

     "I gotta get to the industry at two hours past rise, and I won't be back until late tonight," he pulled on his mud-lined boots, not minding the black crumbs that fell to the dirty wooden floor. His hammer and pickaxe vanished into his bulky gray duffel bag, and he pulled it onto his shoulder. "I heard Prez Lexington is going to make a speech at sun high about the Litorian Higher Education Program. Watch it for me and tell me what I missed, 'kay? And, er... please don't go anywhere by yourself."

      She knew he was afraid of her attaining a much worse injury than the bruise on her cheek, but she lifted her cup, "Only if you refill the water you stole from me."

     Kitsune smiled, taking the cup in one hand and using his elbow to turn on the water. The glass was set in front of her with water dribbling down its rim, but she didn't mind.

       "Have fun at work!" She called after him as he pushed open the front door, and he gave her a sarcastic thumbs up. The wooden door swung close, and he was gone again. Naomi rested her chin on the table, watching the water trickle down the glass cup. She didn't have any school to do. Her computer only had access to a few, old sites. And she was certain she had read every book in the house.

      Naomi sighed, then said aloud, "Activate television, channel 42." No sooner had the words left her mouth, the old TV on the far counter flicked on. Channel 42 was playing an old cartoon she had used to watch as a little kid. Now, being sixteen, she was incredulous she had ever watched the show for hours on end.

      "Channel 51," she tried. Hoverboard races. These could be interesting, but only when they weren't doing laps. The obstacle courses were usually entertaining, but those were never played in the morning. "Channel 38." This one was only to advertise a special 'invisisuit', a new invention designed to make the wearer mostly transparent and nearly impossible to spot while standing still.

      Naomi knew the other three stations were either static or old-fashioned sports such as football and tennis.

      After watching a few minutes of people swimming in laps across a pool, Naomi saw a headline at the bottom of the screen. "President Lexington Pierce will be giving an explanatory speech on his allowance of Litorians enrollment into Willow Creek College at sun high in Zocalo, Orin."

     Her eyes widened. The Zocalo was only a few streets away, and with a peek out of the window, she realized it was nearing sun high. She had never heard any public speakings in the town plaza before, let alone by the President of the entire country! She had never seen him before, and curiosity prickled in her stomach.