Elements' Eyes (Book 1: Going-Through)

A Surprise 1.4

"Heernah!" cried someone behind her.

So, she met little Keat before next spring, for a change. He caught up to her, running as fast as he could, so he wasn't able to talk for a while. They walked together to the city center.

"You've almost memorized my name already," Keernah encouraged him, hoping to get distracted from her melancholy. "How have you been? Didn't your Mom scold you?"

"No, she only scolds my older sister. She called me to give me a cake and she said I could play on the shore again. Do you want a cake?"

"Ghosts don't eat cakes," Keernah grumbled, surprised at the distaste Keat's naive generosity aroused in her.

"What do they eat then?"

"Food for ghosts."

"Is it delicious?"

"Maybe," Keernah muttered indifferently. Her mouth wouldn't be watering at the sight of her favorite dish right now. Little Keat sensed her mood.

"Hirnah! You look sad."

"I am sad."

"Why? Did the evil teacher get mad at you?"

"No, she's never been evil nor getting mad at anyone. But one of my friends is leaving for good and I won't see her again."

"But you can talk to her on the phone!" Keat suggested cheerfully, unaware that Keernah's teacher and her friend were the same person.

"No, I can't. We don't have the telephone here anymore."

Keat was taken aback for a moment, but found a solution immediately. He actually did like books and paid real attention to the pictures.

"You can send a letter to her!" he said.

"There's no postal service either," replied Keernah with a bit of grim curious satisfaction – would the smart boy be able to beat this one?

"Why?" simply asked Keat after some thinking.

"It can't work anymore. Broken."

"Doesn't anyone repair it"

"No. People have nothing to repair things with, and many of them have already forgotten how to do it."

The thoughtful child was pondering on it for such a long while that Keernah turned to see if he was still here.

"Something's very badly broken where you are," he said at last.

Keernah couldn't agree more with the simple way he'd expressed the idea, but she still specified, "The resources are broken. It's a very important thing."

"Oh, I know what resources are! Dad said it's something we can use but can't produce. Meaning I can only eat a cake, but I can't make it, so it's a resource for me. But Dad can make cakes, so they aren't his resource. His resource is flour, because he can't make it himself."

"Well then," Keernah said. "My friend is certainly my resource, because I can't make another friend. On the other hand, I'm not sure I could eat her either..."

"So you're all alone now?" asked the boy, ignoring her attempt at a joke.

"No, I've never actually been alone. I have a Mom and a Dad of my own. And yet another friend, but I meet her only rarely."

"Why?"

"She lives too far away."

"You can go to her place and live there," Keat said. He apparently wasn't the one to be easily disconcerted.