SWNOVELS Chapter 14: The Great Exile (Part 5)
Lunch was fresh greens mixed with a chewy white substance and some sort of tangy sauce. Memories of the chewy soft taste of fresh meat mixed with the strong spices the village used crossed my mind. City fare was so bland in comparison and quite repetitive.
A thunk alerted me to Dan setting his bowl down on the table next to me. He’d eaten faster than anyone sitting at the table, but maybe that was because he was standing with nothing to say while the rest of the table chatted.
It seemed like the rest of them were close friends here for a picnic. I was just a nobody sitting here on the periphery of their vision; an unknown variable best forgotten and ignored. What point was there to paying attention to me when I would just be leaving anyway?
I stabbed my fork into the bitter leaf of salad, and took another bite of the Honored fare. Disgusting.
Richard came back and calmly ate his leafy meal as calm as a cow. He definitely was a master of perception manipulation. He slid his way in, chatting with the gray haired woman whose eyes watched everything like a hungry dog.
A woman clothed in a plain gray dress grabbed Dan’s bowl. As people finished up, she snatched the bowl off the table.
Richard stood up as soon as he finished, “Anyone still eating can continue, but I would like to move on to the next topic, voting blocks. Is anyone against this?”
No one responded. They sat in their seats with their gazes gently resting on Richard expectantly, and he smiled largely to meet their expectations.
“Great! The two most popular theories for voting blocs are through equal land distribution or through population distribution.”
The older woman sat rigidly straight, “Of course it should be by population. A huge amount of land in the city is just the people empty stacks. It wouldn’t be fair to get the vote of the one or two people that live near the stacks as your entire voting base!
One man with brown hair combed back to look like a hat on his head shook his head vehemently, “The best way is to use the current districts. We have 12 equally divided districts that the Most Honored watch over and manage. It should simply by that area becomes the area that votes for their Most Honored representative.” He looked around, daring anyone to disagree.
Our young blond haired home host, Richard Revacks, shook his head, “Ridiculous. You only say that because that option favors you.”
Around the table heads nodded and agreement was mumbled.
Richard waved his hand, and the group grew silent, “Then let’s have a vote. Those who want it decided by population, raise your hands now.”
Everyone except for the man with the slicked back brown hair raised their hand. “Well, looks like that’s an easy vote. Population it is. The real question is how do we split it. Does anyone even know how to quantify the number of rats that live in the Undesirables slum?”
“They’re people, not rats!” I called out, unwilling to let the people who fought for me be bad mouthed like that.
“People, rats. They breed like rats.” A balding man near me called out.
“They smell like rats,” The old upright woman chimed in.
“But they are people of the city now. Everyone is a person of the city now!” I insisted. The change in the honor system was the one thing I couldn’t let go. Even after my sister and planning to leave, I couldn’t let anyone speak in such a way that perpetuated that evil.
All eyes were glaring at me. “She is right,” Richard Hongew backed me up, his dark eyes boring into me. “We are making these changes to make the people of the city all have a say, so I shouldn’t have called them rats.” He bowed slightly, his straight black hair flopping on his forehead exactly like his brother’s hair.
“Rewording my question, does anyone know how we account for all the people crammed into city blocks?”
A lesson came to mind from time in the Wall and I spoke, “You could do a counting of people. Make them all come and tell you where they live and register to be part of future votes.”
A few people nodded, and the old woman even gave me a hint of a smile, but the bitter man with his slicked back brown hair frowned, “Isn’t this woman leaving the city? How can we allow her to give advice to us when we are the ones who have to live with it.”
The old woman grimaced, “Michael, at least have the decency to listen to well thought out opinions without trampling them with your lack of decency. I understand you spend all your time with the pigs, but you don’t have to sound like one too.”
The other people at the table lifted their hands to cover their mouths. Were they hiding that they were laughing at her comment?
Michael’s eyes narrowed in anger, “I keep that population you are so proud of fed. Without the stacks this whole place would’ve starved and died.”
“It was a good suggestion,” Richard interrupted, bringing the attention back to himself. “If we agree to running a count and identification of where everyone lives, then we should move onto other topics and schedule the City guard to collect the information we need. Raise your hand if you agree.”
Everyone except Michael, who had his arms crossed over his chest and his jaw clenched, raised their hands.
“Fantastic!” Richard exclaimed and then looked toward the crowd of people watching, “Jane, can you get started on that task?”
A woman with with brown hair tracing the edge of her jaw nodded and quickly strode off down the hill on her mission.
“On to the next topic, Laws. What should we make law, and what laws should we get rid of?”