Читать книгу The Choice Era. Part 1 - Nata Kay - Страница 3

Any day is supposed to end up, and this working day came to its end. Harry’s colleagues managed to complete their work on time. Their business was going well as usual, so the office friends said goodbye and went home. Some of them had forgotten about the books, the others were smiling and joking while leaving.

Bob didn’t stay long either. He cracked a few caustic remarks about Harry and the books that Harry would anyway open, and after that he went straight away from his working life to his personal life.

Harry had no doubt that Bob went on a date. Harry and, perhaps, Bob himself lost count of such dates. A year ago Bob broke up with a woman with whom he had a relationship for several years. After this he found himself in a colorful world of flirt. As a rule, Bob’s dates didn’t lead to anything serious. When Bob was talking about them, he usually shrugged his shoulders and stated that there had been no sparkle.

Harry himself still got job to do, so he just couldn’t go home.

He always felt uncomfortable when he stayed late at the office, even if he realized that it was really necessary. As soon as the clock showed the time to go home, something had clicked in Harry’s mind, as in many other minds, the mode switched and Harry felt a burning desire to leave the office immediately.

Nevertheless, a project of a business proposal, which promised to bring the company a large profit in case of success, should have been completed today. Harry texted Mona with apologies for being late for dinner. Thirty seconds after Mona answered it was okay and wished to finish things painlessly as soon as possible.

The project didn’t want to form into a coherent whole. Harry’s thoughts were running in all directions like the ripples on a pond after a rock falling. Harry couldn’t think of what to do with it, what to focus on. All his previous experience was telling him to find two or three main ideas and cultivate a concept within them, but now this trick didn’t work for some reason.

Staring at the screen didn’t help too, as well as walking around the room. Harry managed to go downstairs for coffee and drink it sitting on the desk. Then he went to a smoking room, looked out of the window, checked the messages, reread all of his progress, but still there were no ideas. Harry joked to himself that maybe today they decided to visit someone else’s mind.

Breathe in and out, in and out. Harry closed his eyes, concentrated and tried to get all the thoughts out of his mind. Unfortunately, he knew that it wasn’t easy to reach such ringing emptiness. Thoughts were still coming out of one subconscious corner and then from another. Harry didn’t understand where they came from, why they were hiding so meanly and then suddenly pop out of a shelter at the worst possible time.

It would seem that mankind, having mastered the removal of any kind of pollution, should had already dealt with the removal of any kind of thoughts, but alas… If any research in this area existed, it progressed obscenely slow.

Harry glanced at the desk.

The books were where Bob had left them in the morning. Books. Still and silent, totally out of fashion and a little bit funny. Everything, even the soft, but still present smell, made anyone think about long time ago.

Harry knew that these sheets of paper dotted with letters and stapled or glued in the middle were attaching attention of millions or even billions of people for centuries. It meant there was something in them, something that made eyes at least pause, as if something was saying «Open me». And then another force worked, and that force didn’t allow a reader even to think about a possibility of putting the book aside.

Some of the covers looked so decrepit that they seemed to crumble at first touch. Bob must have been very careful as he was carrying them to the office.

Harry slowly put his hand to the stack, hesitated a little, but finally he made up his mind. He touched the upper book with his fingertips. Its surface was radically different from usual smooth plastic or varnished wood. The cover was rough, soft and rigid at the same time. Nothing in the modern world was the same to the touch.

Harry winced, removed his hand from the book and gazed into the title. Bob probably had chosen this book for a reason. The title was strange and, in Harry’s opinion, completely ridiculous. «It’s a girl».

Harry heard this phrase in old films which sometimes were shown on TV for people to get acquainted with history. Such words were said during the ultrasound or childbirth of a little feminine human. In the latter case after these words a crying child was brought to a mother who had just gone through terrible torments. Harry was always afraid of episodes like this, even of those that the filmmakers condescendingly softened.

In the modern world doctors in maternity hospitals didn’t say anything like that. Children were born almost painlessly for mothers and these children had no sex characteristics. Their bodies were something in between a boy and a girl. And this fact suited absolutely everyone, including government, society, doctors, parents and eventually children themselves.

This couldn’t but suit children because they had an opportunity to freely decide who they wanted to be in future – a boy or a girl. However, not at a young age. At the state level it was prohibited to decide it until ten years. Majority made their choice by the age of twelve, the others hesitated and decided a little bit later. Everyone had to officially declare who they wanted to be at sixteen.

As soon as one decided and confirmed the decision legally, he or she was scheduled for an elective surgery.

No one was afraid of such operations. All manipulations with the body had been worked out to the last detail. Something went wrong only in one ten-thousandth of a percent.

After a surgical intervention, which implied the male or female body formation with all its functions and capabilities, a patient was receiving a monthly treatment and society was replenished with one new formed unit.

Of course, it took some time for a body to adapt and acquire a more masculine or feminine appearance, but after this one was feeling different and as a rule he or she was very happy about it. By the age of seventeen anyone had a gender.

Harry and Mona’s child was to follow this standard and not difficult path, and Harry had never thought that someone would tell him one day «It’s a girl».

Harry frowned and turned away from the book. He didn’t fully understand why he noticed and even touched it. As if the book could help him in some way…

Help him? This thought suddenly run through Harry’s mind.

Such outdated experience as reading a book had no more importance or influence on people. Society invented other methods and tools instead. Books were subjective and individual. Books described events and actions of people who by the way could be completely inadequate. What could be given by a book demonstrating wrong behavior? It would never give any advice or suggest how to solve a problem.

Modernity itself offered solutions that had been tested empirically and focused on the very essence of the problem. There were no distractions or unnecessary emotions, only high-quality help.

On the other hand, Harry kept on thinking, what was bad in reading a few pages? In any case he urgently needed a change of pace. His routine working process didn’t work so Harry desperately needed something quite opposite.

Harry hesitated for a few more moments and then threw another glance at the books, shrugged his shoulders, cheered up, took the top volume and opened the first page.

The story told in the book was as old as time, but still it vividly stood out the stream of similar plots and scenarios, according to which films and TV series were filmed in recent decades.

The book narrated about a woman who gave birth to an illegitimate daughter and had to raise her alone. She had to face a lot of difficulties. She went through condemnation from her family and friends, struggled with failure to combine work and child-rearing, plunged into financial instability and experienced many other troubles.

No doubt, this story happened at a time when parents didn’t know until the last who would be born – a son or a daughter. The sex was told after birth itself by doctors. There were no procedures to cancel the gender identification, no ultrasound, only uncertainty, intuition and a set of unreliable omens.

Of course, the whole plot with all its details and shades couldn’t be revealed in several pages, and so far Harry managed to read only two. Frankly speaking, Harry was almost not interested in the plot as well as in the stylistics, but the emotions of the woman, on whose behalf the story was narrated, attracted his attention.

The woman was glad that her daughter was born. This woman gave herself fully in girl’s happiness. The author didn’t leave any doubts about it, but questions in Harry’s head were rising one by one. For example, how would the woman have behaved if she had had a son? Would she feel the same or something different? Unfortunately, the writer didn’t intend to answer such questions, in his creation he sought to answer the different questions.

«From the first seconds of her life I knew what I want her future to be like,» the book said. «Strong, successful, independent.»

These words immediately stumped Harry. What if the daughter wished to be a simple housewife who waited for her partner to come home from work every day? Or if she decided to follow not the business, but the creative path?

Harry frowned again. He remembered his parents dreaming of him growing up, choosing sex on his own and then enlisting the civil service. They were exactly dreaming of it, because it was strictly forbidden to impose their opinion on kids. They had their own lives to fulfill their desires.

Harry’s parents didn’t want their child to choose private business. The reasons for this were, as expected, quite conditional and subjective, but they were voiced after Harry had grown up. Harry never expressed displeasure or reacted aggressively to his parents’ silent dreams. He respected his parents, but in the end he went into the world of private business and never regretted his choice.

He enjoyed his life as it is. Though there were some small disasters such as annoying working problems or tedious evenings with too cheerful friends, Harry usually handled moments like these.

Over the years parents came to terms to their son’s choice and learnt to enjoy his happiness. Or maybe they learned to pretend to be happy. Anyway, Harry’s parents were doing fine with their son going his way.

But now Harry wasn’t going anywhere. He kept reading and each line gave him strange contradictory feelings. Nelson perfectly knew that the main character wanted the best for her child, but in fact she was choosing this best for the daughter, prejudging her life’s path. And Harry was particularly struck by the fact that the heroine wasn’t absolutely embarrassed by this kind of behavior.

On page ten Harry literally made himself take his eyes off the book, close it and put it back to its stack friends.

A thought led to another in Nelson’s mind. Sometimes thoughts were mixing-up, sometimes getting in each other’s way. Harry didn’t like this careless state of affairs in his own head, but now, despite the endless stream of consciousness unformed into a final opinion, Harry suddenly realized the obvious. He didn’t think about work while he was reading. At all. He had even forgotten where he was.

Harry must quickly come back to reality. He didn’t know he could sink into some different world, the world created by the book’s author, but the whole thing was making it clear that it was an exact immersion into the book. Harry had no right to allow that to happen, because he still had a work to do.

Harry started to act. He suddenly pulled the keyboard and put his fingers on the keys as if he was not an office worker, but a pianist who was to play a concert.

His fingers typed almost on their own. The inspiration was so unexpected that Harry was afraid he would miss it. Harry hardly blinked. The main thing was to complete the idea without losing it.

In half an hour the business proposal was fully prepared. Harry reread it again and contentedly leaned back. He didn’t expect it to be so good. No detail was seemed to be missed, there was no reason to worry about whether the customers would like it or not.

After the work Harry had every right to go home exhausted, but with a sense of accomplishment, although in moments of complete lack of inspiration he thought it would never come to an end.

Harry always got ready fast. He double-checked if the progress was saved, turned off the screen, got up from the table and went to the exit. On the verge of the door Harry stopped and looked back.

The book he started was lying motionless at the top of other books. What else would have happened to it? Maybe Harry should put it in a briefcase?

Harry kept a small briefcase in a drawer. This thing proved useful every now and then in unplanned travels for talks. Harry could put a tablet there and make himself more solid at the same time. Harry wasn’t averse to use this helpful trick on any occasion.

The book would also easily fit into the case and no one would notice a strange object Harry was carrying. Meanwhile, Harry was surprised to let himself think about it as at first he wasn’t even going to touch the books.

His feet moved instinctively towards the desk. Harry came back, looked around, took the briefcase out of the drawer and put the book in it. Just one book. The rest were left on the table. Tomorrow, when Bob comes to work, he might not notice that one book is missing, because the stack still looks ponderous.

Harry fastened the briefcase and headed for the exit again. This time he left the room and closed the door.

The sun was about to sink below the horizon when Harry walked out into the street.

This year warm weather wasn’t long in coming. Air had warmed up and the trees had dressed up in their bright green robes. Fresh leaves pleased the eyes and made everybody completely forget about recent cold.

In such weather it was better to walk in fresh air with family and friends than sit in the office, so Harry promised himself to go out for a picnic with Mona next weekend. Good weather must not be missed in order not to be offended and spoiled.

A stair of three dozen steps led to the entrance of the building, where Harry worked. Every five years each worker in the building was interviewed about the necessity to install an escalator. Most people didn’t need an escalator. There was an elevator to transport bulky items on the other side of the building and going up the stairs before a start of the working day pleasantly invigorated a lot of workers.

Harry went down one step and stopped. He took out his phone and dictated a message for his wife. The message said that he had already finished work and would soon be home. He just needed to send it, but Harry didn’t command. Instead he froze with a phone in hand and stared down.

Harry’s attention was drawn to a young woman perching on the railing down the stairs. She was sitting with her head slightly bent and her legs were dangling. Her large green eyes were fixed on Harry. After she realized he had noticed her, the young woman smiled and gladly waved at him.

«Ivy?» Harry was surprised. He put the phone into his pocket, quickly went down and approached the girl.

It was his sister.

Since Harry had chained himself for life with Mona, he and Ivy saw each other not very often and he kept reproaching himself for that. Being older than his sister, Harry felt obliged to take care of Ivy, but taking care of two women at once was difficult for him, especially if these women were completely different. And Mona and Ivy were so different that at times it seemed as if they were born on different planets.

«Hello!» Ivy deftly jumped off the railing and approached her brother. «I haven’t seen you for so long.»

A breeze was blowing through her long blond hair and flowing flower dress. This girl could be the spring ambassador and look at people from huge electronic billboards hanged all over the city. By looking at her a lot of women would notice a new perfume or lip gloss that would make their lips even more attractive. However, Ivy never dreamed of anything like this.

«Hello,» Harry came to his sister. «We really haven’t seen each other for a long time. It’s my fault. I’m sorry.»

«First I wanted to drop in,» continued Ivy ignoring the apology. She was smiling. «But then I decided I could meet you after work. And here I am. Let’s have a walk?»

Harry smiled back, nodded, and they silently walked towards a nearby park.

This small green oasis helped Harry and his colleagues many times to take a break from surrounding bustle. Sometimes, especially on dog days, they got take-out lunches and enjoyed them in the open air Why not? Most desperate office workers were sitting on the grass trying to spice up their routine on boring chairs.

«So you were standing and waiting for me from the very end of the working day?» Harry asked on their way to the park. It took him some time to understand it and now he felt guilty. «Why didn’t you call? I would have come down earlier.»

«You’ve been busy,» Ivy shrugged her shoulders without a shadow of resentment. «I didn’t want to bother you. You are working late because you have a lot to do and not just because of boredom. How is Mona?»

Ivy knew about Mona’s pregnancy, of course. Harry shared the news with his sister as soon as he found it out. Harry was so happy about he and Mona would have a baby that he was ready to tell everything not only to friends and relatives, but also to anyone who was just asking him about something new. Only Mona’s desire to share their happiness merely with closest people limited his readiness.

Harry replied Mona was fine, the pregnancy was going well, doctors said the fetus was developing the way it should. Then he shared his plans for the nursery repair. Despite there were a lot of things to prepare for the birth, Harry was excited about all these things. Though it was boring and ordinary such a necessity didn’t upset the future father at all.

When Ivy asked about the work, Harry described today’s hard day and the latest working news in the whole. It was easy to talk about the business proposal now because it was ready. Harry found it hard to believe he had faced so many difficulties at work today.

He didn’t mention a book. Harry couldn’t imagine how Ivy would react to her brother’s new experience. Ivy distinguished with impressionability and unpredictability and therefore it was unknown how she could respond to the books. The fact that Harry couldn’t discuss something with his sister made him sad. It was easy and pleasant to talk to Ivy. She was good at listening as well as Mona and it was unnecessary to ask her for encouragement. Ivy came to help as fast as possible.

In addition, Ivy often gave Harry interesting ideas without even realizing it. These ideas Harry modified a little later and used in his professional activity. His sister had «fresh eyes» on life and this abundant skill sometimes was very useful. Harry appreciated it.

Harry, in turn, was helping his sister in solving other problems, most often of a domestic nature. He was helping with the move, assumed the equipment maintenance and was always checking the air purifiers every time he came to visit her. Ivy insisted that she could handle such things on her own, but Harry was only smiling in reply and saying he enjoyed helping.

«How are you?» Harry asked soon. He asked this question more often by phone, and now and then Ivy answered that it was more pleasant to have a conversation face to face. And Harry completely agreed with her.

Someday virtual communication seriously surpassed the real one, but those times had already passed and mankind was reluctant to return to it. Psychologists recommended to communicate live as often as possible and to use telephone talks and messages only to exchange information. Society obediently followed this advice.

«Everything is okay,» Ivy replied with her inherent simplicity. «Exams are soon. I’m scared, but this is just usual case of nerves.»

She was preparing to become an astrophysicist and to graduate with a bachelor degree this year. Everyone expected her to continue her studies. Harry was proud of his sister and her choice of embarking on the path of science. He enjoyed listening to her stories about her studies and recent researches. Sometimes he didn’t understand Ivy’s speech, but it didn’t bother him. Harry loved watching his sister’s expression changing when she was talking about planets, constellations, galaxies, space flights and everything else, which once again reminded of the endlessness of the Universe.

«But I would like to tell you something very important,» Ivy continued after a pause and Harry caught a faint note of alertness in her voice. By this moment the Nelsons had just walked up to the park and went through the open gate. «Don’t get mad, okay?» Well… I don’t want to continue studying. Mrs. Thompson said I could work at her flower shop.»

«What?» Harry flinched. At first he thought Ivy was joking, but her expression showed she was serious. Harry certainly didn’t expect such news. «Work at the flower shop? As who?»

«As a seller, a florist,» Ivy calmly but enthusiastically replied, ignoring her brother’s eyes getting wider. «The shop is doing well. Business is good, sales are stable, sometimes they get some large orders for premises decoration. Flowers at the office, you know, decorations at banquets and all that. Sometimes I work there part-time on weekends. I think I’m good at it. And you can’t even imagine, how much pleasure I get from such work.»

Ivy sighed dreamily.

Harry knew that his sister wasn’t practicing her profession and got a job in the shop, but Harry didn’t take it seriously. Let it be a side job. This was a good experience. It wouldn’t interfere with her Ivy’s and there is nothing bad in extra money, especially when you are a young girl.

«You’re kidding, right?» Harry asked after a moment of hesitation. «You are studying now, you are going to graduate. You can become an astrophysicist. A flower shop is just… not serious.»

Harry couldn’t believe this conversation was real. It didn’t seem right in his mind that someone could swap a great future in science for… flower arrangement. Harry had nothing against it, like most people, he was fond of flowers, regularly brought them to Mona and admired the beauty and diversity of nature. However, Harry would hardly be able to live with a thought that a close person would change his or her way so radically and weird.

«I don’t want to spend my whole life doing something that doesn’t really thrill me, Harry,» Ivy looked at her brother with sadness. She could have guessed beforehand that Harry would be no less than shocked. Ivy was sympathetic to this reaction. She continued. «I like studying, I like astrophysics, I like research, I kind of like to think I’m exploring something really meaningful. But I can’t look through a telescope, make calculations and write articles all my life.»

«Do you think you can pick flowers all your life?» Harry let himself exaggerate the question with a sarcastic tone. He rarely allowed such liberties in conversation with anyone besides his old friends, and he almost never treated Ivy with irony or sarcasm.

«Yes,» Ivy said firmly.

«Ugh…» Harry breathed out loudly and passed his hand over his forehead. It wasn’t how he pictured a meeting with his sister.

«The world seemed to start to go mad, but the news said nothing about it. First Bob with his odd conversations and books, now you with your flower shop…»

«What kind of books?» Ivy perked up.

«It doesn’t matter,» Harry dropped his hand. He regretted he had blabbed about Bob’s jokes, but now it wasn’t about Bob or the books, but about his sister’s future. She probably would have loved to change the subject, but Harry wasn’t going to do that.

They saw an empty bench nearby. Harry nodded his head, walked across and sat down. Ivy obediently followed him and sat down next to him. She was looking at her brother, but he wasn’t looking back at her.

He gazed out somewhere into the distance. Both kept silence for a while. Harry couldn’t decide what to say. He perfectly knew Ivy would do whatever she wanted. As a child she was very nice, but a little bit reckless. Ivy didn’t like stereotypes and people, who were afraid of everything in the world. Ivy was always somewhere outside the limits and it made her charming and suspicious at the same time.

Harry loved the way she could pursue her dream for years, but now her dream didn’t make any sense. Harry couldn’t allow that. He faced a real challenge to make Ivy think as the most people thought. After all, a majority knew for sure: science was better, more profitable and more stable than a flower shop.

«Okay, let’s agree on the following,» said Harry. He put his hand on his sister’s hand. «You’ll think it over again, weigh the pros and cons, take into account not only your desires, but also common sense. And one day I will pay a visit to this shop, talk to Mrs. Thompson and look around. Then I’ll think about it all by myself, weigh everything and we’ll meet again and discuss everything.»

Harry was at a disadvantage. He had just heard unexpected news and didn’t know how to react. It took a long time for Ivy to build het plans for the future. She definitely planned this conversation, so things between her and her brother weren’t equally balanced.

In addition, Harry had no right to command his sister and interfere into her decisions. She as everyone else could manage her life whatever she wanted. Within the law, of course, but such laws, to Harry’s great regret, didn’t prohibit anyone to work in flower shops.

Ivy smiled and nodded slightly.

«Now,» continued Harry. He took a deep breath and clapped his hands loudly on his knees. «Let’s pretend you didn’t drop a bomb on me with your desire to derail science for retail. We can talk about something else.»

The Nelsons managed to change the subject.

They talked about various minor things. Ivy had no difficulty in the conversation, but Harry almost forced himself not to mentally return to Ivy’s words about the change of activity. He reminded himself that one couldn’t pressure a person, one needed to let him go his own way. Soon Harry succeeded to convince himself, managed to relax and started joking.

Ivy loved his jokes. She always laughed at them so sincere that sometimes Harry deliberately used humor in his own speech just to hear his sister’s sonorous laugh. Nobody laughed like her.

The conversation didn’t last long. It was interrupted by a group of young people spending time near the Nelsons. Ivy was the first who noticed them. Harry spoke for a few more seconds before he understood his sister had stopped listening and was looking the other way. He followed her gaze and frowned at what he saw.

Young people seemed like typical graduate students. They were actively discussing something. And with every passing moment this discussion became more tense and unpleasant.

Harry wanted to get back to his conversation with Ivy, but she didn’t follow his attempts to distract herself from the students. Harry sighed. From an early age Ivy was sensitive to any violent display of emotions, so now Harry didn’t have the slightest chance to captivate her with the conversation again. He had to join the observations.

Harry and Ivy were unable to hear the whole conversation, but they heard some scrapes and the tone.

«I thought we were friends,» one young man said loudly.

«We are friends,» the second answered no less loudly and then the volume of both went down.

Two guys were getting closer and closer to each other. Harry noticed that one of them, the one that was heard first, squeezed his fists. There was rage on his face. It looked like he had forgotten to blink. The second young man, if he was angry, he was hiding it. He was completely focused on what was happening. He was probably afraid of getting punched in his face.

Three more acquaintances were standing nearby and watching the dialogue with thrill. Everyone kept silence. They didn’t almost move, standing in a row like marble statues, which had learned to change their expressions.

«You can’t just steal my girlfriend,» the first young man started talking again loudly.

A quarrel over a woman… Harry looked down ironically and stared at the pavement. Despite this was a surprise for him, the arguing was as old as the world. Nothing original. How many films had been shot about fighting for love? And still people couldn’t calm down… However, Harry thought, if one looked at this question from the other side, one could remember that women were beautiful and certainly worth fighting for. But why people did it so clumsy?

«I haven’t stolen her,» the second one stretched his arms. He tried to talk his friend down. «That was her decision. This is her choice.»

«Don’t you dare say that!» the first swiftly streamed right ahead, the second took a step back, but he groped a small cliff with his foot and stopped. The first moved forward and now the young people were standing close to each other. Both were clenching their fists. A little longer, and there would be a fight.

Harry wanted to take Ivy away. If a scuffle begins, the young girl should not witness it. Otherwise she would have nightmares later. Harry himself wasn’t eager to watch how these two beat each other right in a public place in an awkward manner.

He almost voiced an offer to leave out, but the fight had ended before it even started.

The first guy remained being angry with every breath, but he backed off. He was busy eyeballing his enemy.

«We’re not done yet,» he almost spelled it, turned around and walked fast out of the park. One of his quiet friends followed him, the other two decided to stay with the guy, who claimed that he had not stolen «her».

Nobody raised their voice anymore.

«I’m sorry you saw that,» Harry looked at his sister. «How silly… To fight in front of everyone in the park.»

«I don’t think they did it on purpose,» replied Ivy. She followed the argument more attentive than Harry. Even now, when one guy was out of sight, Ivy continued staring at his opponent. «It seemed it was an accident. Don’t blame them.»

«A kind soul!» laughed Harry. «You’re always ready to justify everyone.»

«Not really,» Ivy said it almost seriously. «I’m ready not to blame everyone. All actions and events have an explanation. And the consequences.»

Harry looked at her in theatrical amazement.

«You sound like such a grown-up,» he smiled again. «Okay, I suggest we go home. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very glad to see you, but I think Mona has already started to worry.»

Ivy agreed that Mona shouldn’t worry and stood up. Harry followed her and they walked out of the park.

Despite their meeting was short, it was very eventful. Harry had to come to terms with his sister’s choice or find a way to get her back to normal life. The world around Harry had definitely decided it was high time for Nelson to cheer up. Otherwise, Harry couldn’t explain the strange ideas and actions of relatives and friends. Nevertheless, he intended to cope with all this business.

On their way out Harry and Ivy were discussing the weather which was apparently about to change. There was a cyclone moving from the north and it could bring a small cool-down.