COMPLETE! The Wasteland. A woman screams in the night. Spotlights flash on a pile of dust in the desolate patch of land that lay just beyond the tall crosses that picket the boundary of Encampment R-34. A group of curious students leave their bunkho...
"Once you have completed your final lesson, you will each be greeted by the Job Heads. You will be pinned. Then you will join them. It is as simple as that. Are we understood? A nod is sufficient," the High Elder instructed. I nodded with the others, mourning the festivities that had been reserved for us since birth. "With the ceremony abandoned, I will cover the Elucidation now in the simplest of terms. Your jobs are your family. As you know, we do not have family...not in the traditional sense. You do have a birth mother and father. They are a Breeder, they are a Bearer."
At that word, Edie sniffled.
I turned to see that she was already crying.
He continued. "They hold no emotion for you, nor should you hold emotion for them. If either of you are pinned those most important of jobs, you will be trained to withhold emotion from those you birth. There are reasons for this, as you know. Emotional attachment gives rise to chaos. Perhaps not straight away, but over time. And, as you will learn from your teacher today, we are more concerned with the long-term plans for this encampment. Your feelings are meaningless. Success is essential. Since the dawning of R-34, preventing chaos has been our sole mission. Nothing matters more than the protection of the encampment and the growth of our numbers. But, be reassured. You do have family. Most of you already know this, but allow me to reiterate to you that, at the close of the day, you will find yourself sleeping in bunks beside the others performing your life-job. Together, you work. Together, you eat. Together, you associate. That is the meaning of family."
He strolled through the configuration of desks, hands still clasped firmly behind his back. "Typically, every member of a graduating year is pinned with a different life-job, in order to avoid connections and attachments within their family. I do not believe that will be the case this year. Our need is great in one area in particular. But for those of you who are not jointly pinned, it is important to note that separation should begin, at least in your mind. Because you will no longer associate with one another after today. Not directly. That is all that must be said. It is shameful that we cannot make today more celebratory. Everyone in the encampment enjoys Commencement Day, but you broke the rules. And disobedience yields consequence."
As Hemaris sauntered past the desks to leave the classroom, Job Priest's steely, creased face widened in a puzzling smile. With a few inaudible words, he approached Lenny and pinned a cloth cross to his fine-whites.
"Follow me, son. You are to become a Priest," Job said in a silky tone.
Lenny's bottom lip was trembling, as he stood and followed Job out of the room. The nine of us remaining sat in silence until the room felt heavy with it. Even Roz held back a comment about our punishment. Bryne wouldn't look at me. I think he was already conscious of what was coming and felt the need to sever his feelings for me. Watching him do that hurt more than I can describe with something as simple as words.
By the time Teacher Deirdre entered the room, all of us had pictured ourselves in one job or another, and we all knew which life-job we didn't want, which is typically the same one. Deirdre walked slower than usual this morning. She looked unhappy. Maybe she was disappointed in us. It might have been because Teachers are as much a part of Commencement as their students. Or perhaps she was sad to see us go. Either way, when we recited the Pledge of Obedience to the colorful fabric scrap on the wall with the squiggly lines that merged to form something like a Scaver's boot, she didn't say a word.
Today's lesson was far different than any we had ever attended. Instead of cranking the side of the wooden music device and placing the black Count Basie disc on the spindle at the top, Deirdre remained standing at the wall of cupboards. Then she turned Lenny's empty desk toward the center of the room and motioned for us to do the same. When we finished, she sat. Once facing one another, we could see our shared anxieties. Expressions were mixed. Even from me, I'm sure. We dreaded the jobs to be pinned and yearned with excitement for the answers to come. And they did.
There is much more to write. I would like to keep writing as the encampment sleeps — about the attack on Edie — about the loss of my darling Bryne. I think that writing it all down would take away the sadness I have tonight, as I rest in this new family bunk, in this new bunkhouse, feeling further away from Bryne than ever before. But rest is essential. I have a long day of work in the morning. My life-job begins.
How disheartening it is for me to admit that this life-job will continue on until I reach the Neverdowns and close my eyes one last time.
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