Desert Wake ✔

Ch. 3, pt. 1: Partygoers' Luck

A few months into his first year of college, Ro meets up with a fellow student, name of Stuart. Him and Stuart started a real friendship, which includes drinkin' what he refers to as copious amounts of liquor. Now, a thing you gotta know about the Regions is that they don't take kindly to alcohol consumption. So this liquor drinkin' takes place where the authorities ain't bound to care overly much about it—at an underground tavern in the poor part of town.

Time and time again, Ro and Stuart make their way to their favorite spot, a hole in the wall called Mattie's, and it don't take long fer Ro to start seein', I mean really seein', what's 'round him. That exposure from his childhood starts creepin' out of his subtle mind into his not-so-subtle mind and he's back to bein' a spectator in the middle of a field growin' up sufferin' like it's a fertile vineyard. Only now, he ain't just passin' through the fields, he's there to squeeze juice from them grapes.

It don't take long fer his emotions to get all mixed up. Here he is, comin' to a place most people hope to escape, and he's there to recreate, like he's back on a wilderness expedition, playin' at something everyone else considers the hardest form of hard labor. It makes him feel real bad, and after a while, he cain't stop his bad feelin' from spillin' over.

One night, several bottles already drained, he tells Stuart these here poor parts of town is startin' to weigh on him. Something's not right, he says to his friend. Something's not fair.

He expects... I don't know... a pep talk from Stuart, I suppose. Stuart's every bit as lucky in his life as Ro is in his own. He'll probably slap Ro on the back, buy him another drink, and tell him not to worry about these sorry saps beggin' on the tavern's threshold. Don't mind the shoeless children, or their doped-up parents. Just look at 'em. They ain't us, he'll say to Ro. They deserve to live this way.

Well, Stuart don't say or do none of those things, 'cept he really does slap Ro on the back. He smiles as he tells Ro, "Finally. I've been wondering when you were going to come around." Then he hops out of his chair and leads Ro back behind the bar, ignorin' the Employees Only sign. Stuart pushes open a door and it turns out, there's a back room to Mattie's Tavern. Ro's jaw nearly hits the floor at what awaits him in that room. Papers and books and a printing press, and mixed up with all of that, folks, lucky and unlucky, all workin' together. Fer what? Well, the word Stuart uses is, "justice."

Turns out, their printer had up and got herself arrested a few weeks back. "So," Stuart says, "I need you to take over. You in?"

Ro wouldn't be spendin' tonight up in Granddad's bed if he'd declined Stuart's offer, but of course, he says yes. He starts out printin' fliers about rallies and organizational meetings, tryin' to convince the capital's poor to come together. These sorts of activities, in which poor folks try to figure out how to get themselves not poor, ain't even close to bein' acceptable in the eyes of the law. Ro knows he'll be in trouble if it's found out he's usin' his skills to spread the message that people don't just have to mistake misery fer a death sentence. He believes things cain change, and he calculates his personal risk based on that believe.

This goes on fer a while, him almost gittin' caught on three separate occasions. They have to move the underground press to different locals to keep it secret. One time, they don't beat the law and all their stuff gits burned up and two of their workers git arrested. But they persist, none-the-less.

One night, him and Stuart are talkin' with this commoner, name of Amos. Amos is a refugee, newly arrived from the heart of the Desert and he says to 'em, "Fer all of yer learnin', it's funny how none of yous know what all of us desert dwellers have accepted as true fer years."

And Stuart and Ro are like, "Tell us, Amos. We don't wanna be stupid city boys no more." Course they say it more proper than that, but anyways, Amos responds, "Well, the desert, it's spreadin'."

"Yeah, yeah." They shake their heads. "We know all about desertification."

"Yes, but no." Amos shakes his head back at 'em. "This ain't something that cain be reversed. The situation seems to be permanent. It just stopped rainin' at the center of the world and the no rain is spreadin' itself out. Pretty soon, it's gonna be a desert here too. All us refugees know it, cuz we've lived through our houses and our towns goin' under the sands, but you folks in the Regions, you've turned a blind eye so that you could enjoy the party fer another hour or two. But the party's gotta end at some point."

The two lucky boys don't know what to say to that. Everything' they was doin', it has to seem pretty futile in light of Amos' revelations.

"May," Ro breaks from his storytelling. "That's why you're wrong about lucky and unlucky. It doesn't matter if you're living on a goat farm east of a dried up gulch, or in a fancy house surrounded by the capital's luxury. Sooner or later, luck's going to run out for every single one of us."

A/N: What do you think of Ro's story?  Has your opinion of him changed at all now that you know more about him?  His story will continue in the next chapter and let me just say, there's a lot more to be told!

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