They slipped underneath the chain
link fence that separated the village from the outer regions of the city that was
off-limits. Ignoring the sign that read DANGER! RADIATION ZONE!, they remained
hunched over as they scurried over the barren ground until they reached the
dark shadows cast by the tall, crumbling buildings. The weather had turned
unusually cold, which meant the guards were huddled inside their little sentry
shacks, trying to keep warm. That had given them the advantage they’d been
hoping for.
Aris stopped at the end of one
street and dropped to his knees. Famke crouched behind him to keep watch as he
checked the map. “Can you read it?” she whispered. They didn’t dare use the
flashlight they’d brought with them for fear of having the light spotted within
the dark ruins, and the laws were very strict about people trespassing.
“Yeah.” He pointed skyward. “The
moon’s bright enough to see by.”
She glanced overhead. The milky orb
looked huge where it hung just above the rooftops. It was so bright, she could
read the names on the buildings. “Can the guards see us here?”
“Not unless we walk out so it shines
on us,” he remarked. “As long as we stay in the dark, we’ll be okay.” He
checked the map again, then grunted. “What’s the name of this street? Can you
tell?”
They both squinted at the rusted
sign poking out of the crumbled cement slab nearby. “I think it says Borleans. B-o-r-l-e-a-n-s.
Is there an Borleans on the map?”
“Yeah! That’s it!” He threw a grin
at her. “That’s the street!”
“Which way do we go?”
He gestured to their right. “That
way, I think. If the next street isn’t Tumball, then we need to backtrack and
go left.”
Famke snorted. “What if Tumball is two
streets that way?”
“It isn’t because this road beside
us is Dekker. We’re on the right block.” He turned the old paper map around. “I
just can’t tell which side of the block we’re on.”
They went right. It was
approximately fifty or so feet before they reached the next intersection, but
by then they no longer had to check street names. Their destination lay right
in front of them.
Famke gasped as she stared at the
ornate carved stone edifice of the building. She would have been satisfied to
stare at it longer but Aris grabbed her hand and pulled her inside with him. “I
thought you said it was safe to be outside if we keep to the darkness!”
“From the perimeter police, yeah!
But there’s still the outcasts we hafta watch out for!” he hissed.
She cast him a wide-eyed look of
fear. Outcasts were those people who’d been thrown out of the villages,
condemned to survive on their own, God knew how. Word was most of those poor
souls took refuge inside the radiation zone and hid inside the buildings.
Neither Aris nor Famke knew if those stories were true, but they didn’t want to
take the risk.
Aris waited until they were inside
the building before pulling out the flashlight and turning it on. Even though
they were no longer outside, he kept his hand over the end, shielding the beam
so it wouldn’t reflect off the grimy windows. Despite the dim glow, they were
slack-jawed at the sight in front of them. “Have
you seen so many books in all your life?” he whispered.
Famke shook her head. “It’s like
paradise! This must be what heaven is like. Full of books, and all of eternity
to read them!”
Simultaneously, they turned to look
at each other, identical grins on their faces.
“Where do we start?” she softly
asked.
“I dunno.” His eyes darted to
something over her shoulder, and he pointed. “There’s a table with some books
on it. Let’s check those out first!”
She agreed, and they hurried over to
the nearest long wooden table. Dragging an extra chair next to her, he sat on
the dust-covered seat and focused the flashlight on the tome.
“What’s it about?”
“Umm…” She checked the title on the
cover, sounding out the words. “As-tron-o-my. Astronomy. What’s that?”
“I think it’s the study of the stars
and planets. Does it have pictures?”
She flipped through the pages. They
both oohed and awwed over the colorful photos.
“Man, wouldn’t it be something if we
had books like this back at the village?” Famke wished aloud.
“We can’t,” he reminded her. “The
leaders say it’s because of all this knowledge that our world was destroyed.
That’s why books are no longer legal.”
“It’s not fair.” She blinked away
the tears rising in her eyes. “Not all books are bad. Many of them have
beautiful stories in them. And pictures, like these. Oh!” She stopped and poked
a photo of a creamy white circle. “That’s our moon right now!”
Aris peered over her shoulder. “Yep,
that’s it! What do the words say under it?” Although he had the required
rudimentary reading skills needed to get by, Famke was a lot better at it than
many people he knew, including himself.
“Uhhh…” She ran a finger down the
list. “It’s about all the full moons. Wow. Did you know every month the moon
has a different name?”
“It does?”
“Yeah!”
“What does it say about this month’s
moon? Does it have the name for November’s moon?”
“Uh-huh. Right here. It says the
full moon in November is called the Beaver Moon. It’s named after beavers who
build their winter dams this time of year. It is also called Frost Moon and
Mourning Moon.”
“Frost Moon I can understand because
it’s cold this time of year, but why a moon in the morning?” he interrupted.
“Not morning like when the sun comes
up,” she corrected. “Mourning as in feeling sad when someone dies.”
“Oh. Why is it called that?”
Famke shrugged.
“Well, why would it have all those
different names instead of just one?”
She read a little more of the
description. “It says the name depends on the winter solstice.”
“On the winter what?”
“Solstice.”
“What’s that?”
“I dunno, but I bet it’s explained
somewhere in this book.”
“I’ve heard about beavers but I’ve
never seen one,” he confessed. “Have you?”
She shook her head. “No.” She
grinned. “But I bet there’s a book about ‘em here!”
They both chuckled when an
unexpected sound made them immediately seek cover underneath the table. Aris
shut off the flashlight, and they nervously waited in the darkness for the
sound to come again.
Pressing her lips to his ear, she
murmured, “Think it’s outcasts?”
“I dunno, but it’s too dangerous to
stay here any longer. Let’s get back to the village.”
They crawled out from under the
table, keeping their eyes and ears peeled for any sign or sound of movement.
Famke gave the book they’d been perusing a final look. “I wish we could take it
with us.”
“So do I, but you know the instant
someone else sees it, they’ll report us and destroy it. And that’s just for
beginners.”
She nodded. They’d heard horror
stories about what happened to people who’d been caught with illegal
contraband. Sneaking into the forbidden zone was one thing. Having possession
of a banned object, like a book, was an entirely different and more serious
matter.
Aris noticed her sad expression.
Reaching out, he took her hand and squeezed it. “Hey. We’ll come back and read
some more.”
“Really? When?”
“As soon as I think it’s safe
enough. I dunno when that’ll be, but I promise we will.” He smiled. “Hopefully
next month. Then we can find out what the December moon is called.”
She leaned forward to give him a
quick kiss on the lips. Grinning from ear to ear, he led her out of the
library, and together they hurried back to the outer perimeter where they
managed to sneak underneath the fence and make it home before anyone realized
they’d been gone.
