Webber's Story Cubes

The Fabrics

Completed 2019-01-17. Edited 2021-01-14.

     I LIVED IN THE FABRICS. My parents had been born, raised, and married on this side of the Bridge, which assigned me a fate of the same. I didn't really mind. Sure, the Metals looked pretty cool from a distance — five kilometres away to be exact: the minimum distance the law instructs us to maintain — but they taught us in school that it's polluted and messy and confusing.

I didn't want that.

Life in the Fabrics was simple and comfortable. It wasn't easy, but nor was it difficult. I liked it.

My best friend Leigh didn't like it as much. She always dragged me over to the Bridge in those two or three hours after school ended and before work started. We'd sit and talk for a while, watching the Metals. Watching for what, we didn't know.

At first, we'd hidden in the bushes a little ways away from the Bridge, just in case someone crossed over. But eventually, we'd learned that nobody from the Fabrics went to the Metals or vice versa during the day. Then, we'd sat on the Bridge; never crossing, but oh, so close.

"Why do you think there's a Bridge separating the Fabrics and the Metals?" said Leigh once.

"Do you ever pay attention in class?" I teased her. But I answered anyway: "We, the Fabrics, are in the charge of taking care of nature, right? And the Metals make things easier with technology. Together, we take care of ourselves. Technology keeps us healthy and safe, but so does safeguarding nature."

Leigh rolled her eyes. "I know that. Even if you never pay attention in class like me, you have to know that. It's kind of..."

"Everywhere?" I offered. "In everything?"

Leigh nodded slightly.

"Well, I just wanted to make sure you had context," I said. "A bridge is something both Fabrics and Metals can be comfortable with. It's not 'high-tech' as my dad calls it, so we're not put off by it. And it's not 'caveman', as Mr. Walker calls it."

Leigh looked out across the Bridge. "Why do you think we never cross it?"

"Oh, c'mon," I laughed. "That you must know too!" Still, I couldn't help but consider the distance between us and the Metals before answering. "The law forbids us from crossing. We're to live out our lives on this side of the Bridge, tending to nature like our parents and grandparents. Unless you train like Mr. Walker did to be a teacher or council member over there. But I doubt that's your calling."

Leigh shook her head. "That's not what I meant," she said. "Yeah, the law tells us not to go to the Bridge. But it also advises us to stay with the village at all times, and we're out here basically every day anyway. Why do you think we never cross it? It'd be so easy, you know."

She stood up from where she was sitting on the stone ledge and started walking up our side of the simple, wood plank Bridge. She took her steps so slowly that I'd been sure she was in a trance. I myself must have been in one, for it took me a moment to realise what was happening and stand up too. In a few panicked leaps, I'd gotten to her side and gripped her arm.

"What are you doing, Leigh?" I demanded. "You can't do this. Just stop and think this through."

Leigh did stop, and she did seem to be deep in thought. She stared across the wide and long expanse of land before us: a green and grassy field stretching for kilometres, separating the Bridge from the Metals. I couldn't help but stare with her.

No matter we'd spent hours just looking at the Metals; I still would find myself marvelling at our faraway neighbours. Their "skyscrapers" truly did seem to scrape the sky. They were so tall and great, like lumbering giants. The concrete and glass forming them glinted in the sunlight, and the shimmering effect made those giants almost look like they were moving. Moving towards us.