Page 40 of Trade
“It hasn’t been five hours.”
“Quit arguing with me!” My voice has gone shrill with panic. I force myself to take a deep breath through my nose. I can hear Bennett in my head.How do you expect to be taken seriously, Gloria, if you sound like a banshee?
“Okay, Glory,” he says, watching me warily. We’re at a standoff, five feet between us, me glaring at him, my knife clutched in one hand, the other balled into a fist. I know I’m being ridiculous, but he left me alone, and I’ve never been that alone before in my entire life, and I was totally unprepared.
“What was it?” I ask again.
“Scroungers heading toward the mountain.”
“To trade?”
He nods.
“So we’re okay? They’re not coming this way?”
He nods again, slowly, brow creasing like he’s trying to puzzle out what’s set me off.
“I don’t know what’s a danger out here.” Hot tears spill from my eyes, washing down my cheeks, now, when he’s back and I’m fine. So stupid. I’m not a crier.
The crease disappears like I’m making sense, like I’m not a hysterical woman. “Scroungers are a danger to me since I’ve got you, but they wouldn’t hurt you. If I was alone, they would most likely leave me be. The valley is a safe zone. Most of us abide by that. Not all. But most.”
He stares at the tears streaming down my face, his pupils wide with alarm. He holds up his hands like a cowboy in a movie trying to calm a spooked horse, but he isn’t telling me to hush, and he isn’t saying, “Calm down, Gloria. You really need to put it in perspective.”
“What can hurt me out here?” I demand.
His nostrils flare, but he doesn’t hedge. “Rogues.”
“What’s a rogue?”
“Men too fucked up to trade. They drink too much or been alone too long or no one ever bothered to raise them. If we see them near the valley, we kill them, but they get through sometimes.”
“‘We’ is scroungers.”
He nods.
“And that’s everything? That’s all the dangers?”
His brow knits. “Drowning, I guess. You could fall. I’ve seen bobcats around.”
“What about the birds?”
His eyebrows rise, but his matter-of-fact tone doesn’t change. “The birds won’t hurt you. None of the smaller animals will, either, but if they’re friendly, don’t get near them. They’re only friendly if they’re sick. They could bite. So I guess animal bites, too.”
“But the water and the air aren’t poisoned?” I know it probably isn’t, or at least it won’t kill you quickly, since he’s standing in front of me as healthy as any person I’ve ever seen. I need to get it all out, though, now that the floodgates are open.
“The air, no, but the water, you have to be careful. Don’t drink from still water, and use the pills or boil it. Unless you’re desperate, if it smells, don’t touch it. You can die from bad water. Guess I should’ve mentioned that, too.”
“And people get old out here? Like older than me?”
“Sure. If they’re lucky. People who live places like the Mill live longer.”
“Where did all the women go? Why do you have to trade?” The questions are coming a mile a minute now.
He shrugs a shoulder. “I don’t know. There have never been many.”
“Why don’t you trade for the women you have? You said there were some on the farms and at the mill.”
His lips lift in a wry smile. “Women on the Outside don’t trade unless you have property. You have to be a man of means. If you can’t pay the subscription, they won’t talk to you. You can’t get close enough to even see them.”
