Fisher of Men
By Laura Schiller
Based on: Matched/Crossed
Copyright: Ally Condie
It's in the early morning that Vick Roberts remembers Laney the most.
It's the freshness of the air, the cool crispness of beginnings. It's the sound of the river running through the Carving, so much like the river where they used to sit together on the rocky banks, talking quietly so as not to scare the fish. He always thought her eyes were the same shifting, shimmering blue-gray-green as the water. When she told him the old legends about women turning into seals and back again, or women with shining fishtails instead of legs. he teased her about being a descendant of these mythical creatures. The river's in your blood, he told her, and she tossed her sleek black hair and laughed.
He tries to remember her this way: by the river, wild and free, instead of standing behind the meal hall counter at the Army base with her hair bundled into a hairnet. Drafting Anomalies from the nearby reservation for all the menial duties had been an order from his father's superiors; in spite of General Roberts' vehement protests, back then the High Command had still believed in trying to "integrate" these "primitive" cultures into the Society. But they hadn't integrated Laney. Hairnet or no, she moved with a confident grace none of the Officers or their families had. Even in workers' plainclothes, Vick could spot her in the densest of crowds.
"You're an Anomaly, aren't you?"
"No, sir, that's what you call us. My name is Laney."
The respected General's son, whose life was run with military efficiency, was deeply embarrassed for the first time in years. He fell in love – and one sincere apology and many quiet hours of fishing later, so did she.
"You're not what I expected," she said.
"How so?"
"Well, you're … nice."
"Nice?"
"What? It's a compliment."
He didn't care to examine the idea that this Anomaly girl had not expected the son of General Roberts to be nice. Instead he surprised a squeak out of her by splashing water in her direction.
"Damnit, Vick!" she yelped. "You're scaring the fish!"
But she splashed him back, arcs of water glittering as brightly as her smile, and before long they were both soaking wet. He didn't catch any fish that day, but he caught her, slipping on a wet rock and landing in his arms.
"What was that for?" she asked, wide-eyed, after their first kiss.
"I think I love you."
She kissed him again, fierce as a thunderstorm, but when they broke apart, the drops on her eyelashes were not from the river.
"I think I love you too," she whispered. "We are in so much trouble."
She was right. Trouble meant the General, red-faced and thundering with rage, evicting every single Anomaly worker from the base. Trouble meant whispers behind his back, disapproving eyes following his every move, and a guard by his bedroom door every night to stop him sneaking out. Trouble meant watching the Enemy's airships flying in the direction of their village, with the General's orders not to interfere.
"You are my son, you have a duty to the Society, and I will not allow you to throw your life away on that girl!"
"So, what, you're throwing their lives away?"
The crack! of his father's slap lingered in the air for hours.
What he tries to remember, with a desperate attention to detail in case he forgets, is his Contract: the last happy memory, before everything went wrong. This memory, more than any others, means hope to him. It helps him to believe that perhaps, against all odds, he will see her again.
"Today I … I caught a rainbow trout," he said, standing awkwardly in the rough wooden doorframe of Laney's house. "I threw it back, but I can prove it."
He held up the three glittering scales in his hand, already turning dull as they dried. To his relief, Laney's parents (sunburned, gray-haired, looking older than their age in patched homespun clothes) nodded as if they believed him.
"It reminded me of your story," he continued, gesturing to the symbol on the wall: two wooden bars, nailed together in a lowercase "t" shape. "About the man who fed a crowd with just two fish and some bread. I … I haven't been brought up to believe in these things, but I think it was a sign. Please, sir, ma'am … I know you refused before, but I have to ask again. Will you give me permission to Contract with your daughter?"
He glanced at Laney, who nodded with fierce determination and came to stand next to him.
"You're a fine young man, Mr. Roberts." Laney's father shook his bearded head, slowly, frowning at them both. "In any other circumstances, we'd be happy to have you as a son-in-law. It's just … are you even aware of all the risks you'd be taking if you did this?"
"We know the risk we'd be taking if we didn't," Laney retorted, squeezing Vick's hand. "C'mon, Dad. You know I'll only find someone else to say the words. I'd rather it was you."
It was Laney's mother who came forward to embrace them both, her gray eyes steadier, but just as bright as her daughter's.
"Well, I for one believe the boy is right," she said, smiling. "The fish was a sign, from Him who would not want true love to be denied. Laney, darling, may God bless you and protect you."
She tied a soft blue scarf around their joined hands as her husband read, in a deep solemn voice, from a leather-bound book which could not have been one of the Hundred.
"If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing … "
"Love is patient, love is kind," Vick whispers to himself, looking down at his empty hand, as if he could still feel the brush of wool or the warmth of Laney's fingers. "Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres … "
He thinks of Ky, his comrade, who has a way of attracting followers despite his protests about not being a leader. Ky reminds him of the Pilot, and also of the man in Laney's parents' stories. A Fisher of Men. Ky, only one more boy searching for a girl he lost. Vick knows how wrong he was to be disappointed. Not only has Ky led him and Eli safely this far, but his goal is as worthy as any.
Vick prays to his Laney's God, the one who watches over Anomalies, Aberrations and all those who are lost, that Ky will find his Cassia again and never let her go.
"Love never fails."