A Longer, Continuous Novel Excerpt. Always #FightForward

A Siamese pelt and eyes is what I envision for some of the wealthier characters.

This morning, I actually wrote for over an hour on my novel, The Harvest, thanks to my wonderfully supportive husband who woke up on time.  I decided to paste in a continuous excerpt to the blog; after all, I have few fans and may get some feedback.  In terms of this rewrite, I like the flow of the piece, but I do have a lot of research to do on fights.  I also should watch images of cats fighting as that is a premise in the novel.  The women are genetically modified as felines. 

The characters are also coming along nicely and having them fleshed out does save a lot of work.  I am not one for over planning the novel, but it helps a lot. 

This morning I have time to really think about this work because I will be packing and cleaning.  I want to shape up the character Alex Carpenter a little more; I purposely gave the character a gender-neutral name because he should be named after his mother and take the last name of his mother’s profession.  That is something I decided to do with a characters a couple of days ago.  I mean, if the society is a matriarchy, albeit a twisted one, there should be aspects of naming that correspond with that. 

Well, today, I also hope to meditate and pray as I work; I have a goal of putting in a day of prayer and meditation as I go along my day.  It was a recommendation from a priest to spend an hour in prayer and two, according to St. Gregory, when you are really busy.  The busy Christmas season is upon us, and for me busy, is always the order of the day.  That type of meditation is really hard to do and fit in my day, but today is Sunday, and I feel that spiritual work is in order. 

This entry is going to be shorter than usual because I have to clean and pack and generate a grocery shopping list for Friday.  (Oooh, a government feast day should be in the novel.)

Here’s to planning and mapping our creative work and creative lives. 
 
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A Novel:  The Harvest
            My mother hands me an old gallon container; this one is grey without a filter.  I look out the window and see no Red Guards on the street.  No Guards means no Harvest, most of the time.
            “Now, Ashley,” says my mother, as if I haven’t been doing this run since I was six years old, “Don’t talk to strangers.  Don’t stay out in the sun too long.  If you hear the sirens, run to the old bunker.  Just last week, Mrs. Lopez’s boy was harvested right before he got to his safe spot.  You can’t hide here during harvest.”  Her faded grey eyes are still beautiful, and Ashley wants to trace that deep indentation with her finger, but caring too much is a sign of weakness.
            “Mom,” I sigh looking at her weary face.  She is leaner than I remember with ever graying hair and perpetual orange stains on her hands and face from the processing plant.  Her hair is a knot over her head with nothing holding it tight but a wispy strand of her own fading hair.  I want to give her a biting remark, as really, I should outrank her because I am more productive now, but instead I smile and say, “Don’t worry Mom.  I’m the fastest runner in my class and besides, there was just a harvest yesterday.” 
            Mom hesitates like she wants to tell me something, but even plant workers are not supposed to talk about their trade, and I am always suspicious of the packing plants. 
            “Just be careful,” she gives me an unusually long hug, “Remember-“
            I clamp my hand over her mouth like I used to as a toddler and say in a robotic tone, “ ‘Be productive.  Be accountable.  Be safe.’”  But safe doesn’t mean from the Harvest, but dangerous anti-government ideas.  I take my hand off her worried face, “I got the red ribbon again this month.  I will be safe.”  It’s true.  I have gotten the red ribbon award for being productive, accountable, and punishing those who are not true patriots.  I am safe.
            I step out into the harsh glaring sun wearing a large Panama hat.  Panama was once a country, and that is all they tell us in school.  I walk confidently because running is suspect, but I manage to walk 3.5 miles an hour like I have purpose, when my only purpose is to get clean water. 
            Half way down the street, my heart freezes.  The sirens begin softly, like an old song you can’t forget, and then the sound rises to a near immobilizing pitch.  I check to see if guards are around and run, making sure not to drop the gallon.  I wonder where everyone is or if someone got an underground notice I didn’t.  I crash hard into an old man.  It’s the homeless man who has been avoiding harvest since I was a little girl:  Old Hope, I call him.  He’s too old to be processed, but I always wonder what they do with old spare meat or old people in general.  I don’t ever want to find out. 
For a moment, we both have the same impulse.  Though I am only twelve, I am strong and lethal.  I have learned fifteen ways of killing someone, two with my bare hands.  I could maim him or at least stun him, so he will be left behind.  But instead, we both get up and run in opposite directions.  I guess we are not productive citizens after all.  I head down Victory Road toward the retiree compound.  She will be waiting for me, my old friend. 
            I look quickly to my right and see a red squad beating a young boy down.  He is unusually fat for the neighborhood and is overburdened with water jugs.  Water jugs!  I only carry one, and although I can lift 40 pounds easily, the empty container seems to weigh more than anything.  To my left a grey volunteer emerges out of nowhere and grabs for my arm, but I offer a swift punch to her throat and easily scamper away into Mrs. Jenkens’ apartment.  Maybe she will get it, even though she volunteers.  I despise volunteers.  They are normal women who can’t afford genetic modifications, unfortunate women who couldn’t find a sponsor.  Still, that doesn’t give them the right to harvest us.  Especially not me. 
            I am a girl with high prospects.
            I look for any squad member that might be lurking about.  Hiding from the squads inside your own home if our are on the streets when the harvest starts is illegal; that tracking is possible because the census software at home tracks your arm-port; one must be accountable.  Being hidden in others’ homes is frowned upon, but Mrs. Jenkens doesn’t care what the neighbors think.  She doesn’t care if she gets sent to the processing plant because she too is too old to be productive anymore.
            “Thought I was going to have to get out there with my shotgun,” chuckles the old woman.  She sits by the window, unafraid of gunfire.  I know she has been waiting for me because she is holding the old history book in her hand, the one with all the pages in it.  There is the familiar smell of green tea and black market biscuits.  I spy them on the table and besides the adrenaline rush, I feel a strong surge of hunger.  I wonder how much they cost her; in the market, non-meat products run astronomically high.  Last week, I traded a whole leg of dog and two bananas for mom’s sanitary products.  Mom never said where she got the leg; dogs are also rare and bananas even more so.  I give Mrs. Jenkens a sincere grin, and know better than to pester her for details.
            “Oh please,” I answer catching my breath, “You wouldn’t last a millisecond.  Out there,” I point, “With your broken hip,” I aim at her hip.
            I try not to stare at the bright orange shawl she wears, it matchers her orange feline fur, “Or that ‘kill me’ flag you have on.”   Only Mrs. Jenkens favors them over the military style uniform retirees wear.  Today, the woman sports a knee-high pink dress which makes  absolutely no sense and clashes against her intense blue eyes.  Her cat like ears flicker back, although I know they are her playful ears.
            “Hmmm,” I admonish with mock-disapproval, “Trying to get arrested with those clothes?”
            Taking my gallon, she walks with the step of a young girl into the kitchen, despite her slight hobble “Bah, no one cares about a woman over fifty.  I don’t taste good anyway.”  She winks at me and swishes her tail.  It is long and playful, like the tails on our neighborhood cats that run rampant. 
            “Don’t you mean sixty?” I say.  A loud bang makes me head for the kitchen but not too quickly.  After all, we are trained to be unafraid of death. 
            When I enter Mrs. Jenkens has the gallon filled to the brim.  I never ask how, but she always has water.  Always has enough, but then, she lives alone. 
            “Two liters, not worth the risk,” says the woman, “You should go out on Sundays and with your escort.”
            I snort, “Mom sold it.  Besides, she doesn’t have the money to have me engineered, again.  Not that they’ll take me,” I pause and look over my should, “I still can’t eat government protein.  I tried again this morning.  Doc B says it’s the enzyme, but she hasn’t reported me.  She can’t run the test to figure out what is wrong with me.  It costs too much money, and mom is already so in-debt from the internal mods I have.”  I stare at her, longing to have fur on my skin and some day, claws, “Mrs. J, are you sure the meat doesn’t come from the harvested?  Is it human meat?  Tell me, honestly.”  I always ask her the same questions, and she always answers the same.
            “No way, that’s just a rumor to keep people more afraid.  People are harvested for organs and whatever the government needs.  Most people are intact and become servants.”
            I give her a skeptical look, “Right, Mrs. J.  Intact.”  Almost everyone I have seen harvested is bloody mess. 
            “The Beatrice is a good woman,” she says switching the subject, “She was one of my students once, before all this—” she says, “You’re so tall.”
            “What?” I ask.
            “You’re so tall and smart.  I’m worried someone will want to patron you, sooner than  your finals” she looks out the small kitchen window, “Then, I won’t see you anymore.”  That is rare; patronage starts when a girl is 16, usually, but some girls are more adept, and I have been hiding some of my skills.
            I give her a knowing look, “No one will take me.  You know that.  It’s too expensive to feed someone who can’t eat government meat.  Anyway.”
The sirens end and the announcer reports, “There will be no more gatherings for thirty six hours.  Be productive.  Be accountable.  Be safe.”
“Liars.  Liars.  Liars,” I say in the same robotic voice, “This is the third harvest in two weeks.  Do you think we are gong to war again?”
Mrs. Jenkins gives me a squeeze, “We’re always at war.  Now, go take this to your mother and come back.”  She hands me a small pouch, “Plant this in the rooftop like I taught you.  Be sure no one sees.”
            “Ah Mrs. J, everyone has a rooftop garden hidden under solar tarps—“
            “Yeah, but not for girls.  Now hurry along!” she yowls at me playfully.
            I know she is right.  The gardens are to grow food for boys, the lucky boys who have brave parents.  My mother jokes that the extra food is to fatten them for the harvest, but she is bitter having lost two sons by the age of sixteen.  I never got to meet them, so they don’t mean much to me, but she still mourns them, even though truly, she doesn’t know what became of them.