Something dark, glowing, and emaciated to the point of see-through
skin, looked down at itself and said, "Ooooohhhh... dear... I seem to
be missing some things. Fancy those not preserving. Excuse me, miss,
you wouldn't happen to have a robe handy, would you?"
-Bishonen Muyo OAV#1
###
Amy Lynn went to bed at around ten at night and rose with the sun. It was, she had concluded some time ago, the most efficient use of her time. She did not waste time lying in bed, but rather immediately gathered her things and marched down the hall to the tub, which she filled with water. Dipping her finger in the water, she held it there for a moment. Roughly sixty five degrees, she decided. It was not yet hot enough for the ground, and therefore the pipes in it, to retain heat overnight. Perfect, she decided, and pulled off her sleepwear.
Ten minutes later, she was out and towel drying her hair. Not bothering with a robe, she walked back to her room and donned underclothes, a t-shirt and jean shorts. Returning to the bathroom, she picked up her hair brush and went to work on her hair.
Amy Lynn's hair was bobbed. It covered her head, didn't get in her eyes, and quite frankly, that's all one should expect from hair.
Normally, she would have been done in thirty seconds, but today she paused, and examined herself critically in the mirror. Her hair was black, but in bright light, it seemed to turn blue. Her face had once been described as "like a doll's". Her skin was pale, setting off her blue eyes. Her jaw was slightly square, a legacy of her father, judging by the one picture she had of him and the few times she had seen him after her parents' breakup.
Pulling off her shirt, she turned sideways and examined her profile in the mirror. She was in reasonably good shape. Walking everywhere, especially through snow in the winter time back in Saint Paul had seen to that, but she lacked the curved, yet firm tightness of Bunny. Again, she felt the irrational surge of jealousy.
"But then again," her rational mind pointed out, "Bunny was raised on a farm and as such, her figure came from a lifetime of hard work that no reasonable exercise program could duplicate." She would never look like that and there was little point in worrying about it.
Amy Lynn pulled her shirt back on, finished her hair and walked down the hall to the kitchen. The front door was open, and dishes were on the counter.
On the table she found a note from her mother which explained that she was out making rounds with Doctor Jackson and would not be back until late that afternoon. The note also instructed her to unpack her room, the kitchen, and the living room. They would assemble the furniture that evening.
Amy Lynn sighed and reached for the cereal.
*****************
She had just finished breakfast when there was a knock at the door. Going to see who it was, she found herself face to face with Molly and Bunny. Both girls wore T-shirts and jeans, Molly had on sneakers, and Bunny wore work boots and what appeared to the same work shirt she had on yesterday. Amy Lynn also noted that the "machete" was actually a very large knife.
"Hey," Bunny said with a grin. "Moll and I were gonna go down to the creek an do some fishin, an we thought mebbe you'd like ta come along."
"It sounds interesting, but I have to unpack. The movers arrived yesterday evening and the furniture needs to be assembled."
"You need some help?"
"Well, yeah, I-"
"Great!" Bunny dashed down the stairs, there was the sound of a car or truck door slamming and then she returned with a box of tools. "Where's the furniture?"
Wordlessly, Amy Lynn pointed at the stack of boxes in a group in the living room.
"That's furniture?" Molly asked as Bunny whipped out her knife and opened up one of the boxes.
"Mom likes to buy furniture that can be assembled and disassembled at will," Amy Lynn replied. "I think it's a habit she picked up in the Army."
"C'mon," Molly said with a grin. "Let's get ta work."
*****************
While neither Amy Lynn nor her mother were mechanically inept, Bunny's affinity with tools was astounding. In the space of three hours, the blond had already put together both couches and the large computer desk. Even now, she was humming to herself as she used a screwdriver to put together the first of several bookcases.
In her room, Molly and Amy Lynn were slowly emptying boxes.
"Who's the guy?" Molly asked, studying an eight by ten framed photo. In it, Doctor Anderson and a handsome man with a shock of white hair were smiling for the camera.
"My dad," Amy Lynn replied, taking the photo from Molly. "He and Mom divorced when I was five because he was gay. This is the only picture I have of him. Mom destroyed the others and fought like mad to limit his visitation rights." Amy Lynn ran a finger over the image. "I've seen him only three times in the last ten years and the last time was almost six years ago."
"I'm sorry," Molly said, more out of feeling the need to say something than anything else.
"Sometimes, I wish things could be different. I love them both, but Mom goes into hysterics if I so much as mention him." Amy Lynn took the frame and placed it up on the shelf of her closet and closed the door. For a moment, she stayed like that, and then sighed and turned to face Molly. "What else is in that box?"
*****************
By one, the trio had finished unpacking and placed the furniture more or less where Amy Lynn thought her mother would want them. Janice Anderson was a creature of habit, and the second story apartment was similar in terms of layout to their condo back in Saint Paul.
"C'mon," Bunny said. "Let's go fishing."
And so, having no way to gracefully refuse, Amy Lynn left a note for her mother and followed Bunny and Molly down the steps to where a Great Dane--the same Great Dane that Amy Lynn had seen at the general store yesterday--sat beside an old pickup truck that had to be a good twenty or thirty years old. The maker's logo was written across the grille in dirt-covered chrome and the truck's colors were red and patches of primer gray. The back window had several stickers on it, but she couldn't see what they said. A dirty pink rabbit hung from the rearveiw mirror.
Bunny placed the toolbox behind the seat and rubbed the dog's head. "This is Luna," the blonde said to Amy Lynn. "Luna, this is Amy Lynn."
Luna held out her paw, which after a moment, Amy Lynn shook.
"Creepy, aint it?" Molly whispered as Luna clambered up the rear wheel and into the truck bed. "Sometimes I swear that dog understands everything we say."
"All aboard," Bunny said as she got in. Molly and Amy Lynn got in on the other side. Molly in the middle, Amy Lynn by the window. Immediately, she began to feel around for the seatbelt.
"You have a driver's license?" Amy Lynn asked as Bunny turned the key in the ignition and the engine growled to life.
Bunny grinned cheerfully. "Nope." She stomped on the clutch and shoved the shift backwards, forcing Amy Lynn to grab whatever she could to keep from flying forward and banging her head on the dashboard. "No seatbelts, neither," she continued, seeing Amy Lynn now franticly looking around. "Pa cut them out. Said we didn't need 'em." Wrenching the wheel, she swerved the truck onto the road, shifted again, and floored the accelerator.
*****************
Bunny's driving skill seemed to be best described as "Pick a direction and try not to hit anything. Oh, and use of the brake is forbidden." For fifteen minutes, the truck bounced, rattled and jerked across the fields. Several times, at least during the time when Amy Lynn could still think through the fog of sheer terror, the wheels actually left the surface of the Earth as Bunny steered it one-handed over the grassy fields at speeds better suited for high-speed aircraft. The entire trip, she kept up a stream of chatter about anything and everything; livestock, produce, even the weather. Occasionally, she would gesture with one or both hands, even looking away from the windshield, but always looking back and grabbing the wheel just in time, it seemed, to avert disaster. Finally, she brought the truck to a screeching halt at the top of a small hill.
"We're here!" Bunny said and turned to look at her passengers.
Molly looked slightly queasy, but Amy Lynn was sitting stiffly, her face white as a sheet and an expression of sheer terror on her face. Her hands were white knuckled as they held onto the edge of the seat in a death grip.
"Amy Lynn?" Molly asked, touching her arm. With a shriek, Amy Lynn jumped, slamming her head into the roof and then grabbing it in pain.
"Where...the hell...did you learn to drive?" Amy Lynn said between clenched teeth as she gripped her head as though if she didn't, it would crack open like an oyster.
"Pa taught me. 'Course, I don't drive recklessly like he does."
Amy Lynn let out a whimper.
*****************
"Feeling better?" Molly asked as she took the canteen of water from Amy Lynn.
"Yes,"ÊAmy Lynn replied as she leaned against the side of the truck. The two girls were sitting side by side on the ground. "I'm glad you had you had those headache pills with you." Nearby, Bunny knelt in the dirt beside a bush, digging with a trowel.
"Oh, I carry them everywhere," Molly replied. "Especially when I go fishing with her. Bunny's a good person, but she tends ta drive like she's in that car on Knight Rider. Still, you won't find a better friend anywhere."
"How can she drive like that?"
"Around here, you learn to drive as soon as your feet can reach the pedals, and as long as you don't hit anything or anyone, nobody cares," Molly replied with a shrug. "Personally, I prefer to stick with my dirt bike. Think you can stand?"
"Yes," Amy Lynn replied as she stood on shaky legs.
"Hey, guys!" Bunny called. "I found some worms, we got bait!"
"Don't worry," Molly said. "You get used to her driving eventually." Together they walked over to where Bunny was waiting.
They spent the rest of the afternoon fishing. No fish were caught, but Amy Lynn did get a rather nasty sunburn and a stern lecture from her mother about skin care.
*****************
Molly proved to be correct and as the days became weeks, Amy Lynn got used to Bunny's haphazard driving. Often, the trip was just into town, and the two girls spent time in the general store, listening to the town's old men argue and swap stories as they sat on front porch. She even got to meet Rayelene Hino, daughter of the county judge, who lived with her grandather, who was the preacher at the local church.
Rayelene's grandfather was a tiny man, scarely over five feet tall, but he had a boisterous laugh, and you couldn't help but like him. He and Amy Lynn spent several hours one day debating physics theories--a debate he won, much to Amy Lynn's chagrin.
Rayelene, on the other hand, was intense as the heat from a raging fire, which tended to set teeth on edge, especially Bunny's. According to Molly, the two depised each other with an almost unholy passion and whenever they were together, you could cut the tension with a knife.
Current odds were three to one that Raylene and Bunny would come to blows by Christmas and five to one that Bunny would use her knife.
More interesting to Amy Lynn, however, were the rumors of a blond-haired woman who roamed the woods near the lake whenever the moon was in the night sky accompanied by a black-haired wolf, searching for something. When she asked Molly and Bunny about it, however, neither one could tell her anything.
Later, when Amy Lynn gave it some thought, she realized Bunny had looked a little worried and even uncomfortable. The next day, however, a heat wave struck and Amy Lynn forgot all about it.
Several weeks later, school started and Juuban Hollow's forty-five or so children, ranging in age from six to seventeen, gathered in the school house, a dilapidated scructure on a hill west of town. It was a single room and run by Miss Haruna, a tall, imposing woman whose manner was almost as intense as Rayelene's.
After Amy Lynn, two other new students were introduced. One was Mina, a hyper blond girl whose hair was tied with a red ribbon. In several ways, she reminded Amy Lynn of Bunny. The second student was Lita, a tall, amazon-like girl who looked as though she could lift the schoolhouse off its foundation if she felt like it.
Once Mina and Lita had taken their seats, Miss Haruna got down to business. "The state says that this year, those of you who are aged fourteen through seventeen have to study the life cycle of plants and animals. The folks over at Black Mountain Plantation have agreed to let us use their facilities as part of this. So starting in two weeks, class will meet two days a week at Black Mountain where you will spend the day tending and careing for a small herd of sheep, twenty four head of cattle, and a small, one-acre field of various plants, including cotton. At the end of the school year, I expect each of you to tell the class what you learned." A few groans and complaints were heard throughout the room. "I know most of you have have spent your lives raising plants and animals which is why I expect A's all around as you will help the others with what you know. Any questions? No? Good. Open your math books and turn to page fifty-one."
As Amy Lynn did so, she noticed two things.
The books had been printed nearly forty years ago.
They would be studying Long Division.
"Oh, no..." Amy Lynn whispered.
*****************
Black Mountain Plantation was a huge estate that covered most of the county east of Juuban Hollow. The main house, was in fact the mansion Amy Lynn had seen when she and her mother first arrived in town. The owner, Ms Abagail Beryldane, was a recluse and her four managers did most of the work.
Amy Lynn sighed and pulled on her work gloves. The brown leather was shiny, having been purchased the previous day from the OSA-P. Amy Lynn was wearing a straw hat to keep the sun off her face and neck, one of Bunny's work shirts, old jeans, and a pair of work boots with paper in the toes to make them fit. The boots had been left in the clinic by a previous paitent. For a moment she reflected that the only thing of hers that she was wearing was her hat, gloves, underwear and socks.
The students, about twelve or so in all, trudged along the dirt path towards the large brown field. Green sprouts could be seen forming rows in the brown dirt.
At one edge, Ms Haruna stood with a man dressed in a white, button-down shirt, and kahkis. His white hair was tied back in a ponytail and his smile was friendly.
"Class I want you to meet Michael White. He's-" she broke off as Amy Lynn gasped and then loudly exclaimed;
"Dad?"
*****************
Father and daughter stood at the edge of the field that Black Mountain had loaned to the students, watching them move through the rows as plantation employees described each of the plants and how to care for them. One or two of the workers made Amy Lynn nervous in the way they moved, like they were shells wrapped around something...else.
"Amy Lynn...I'm sorry, if I had known you were coming to Juuban Hollow, I would've called, come by...done...something."
"It's okay, Dad. Mom wouldn't have come if she knew you were here. We got to see each other again. That's what's important, right?"
Michael smiled. "Right. How are things?"
"Good...great...actually," Amy Lynn lied. "I've made a few friends and Juuban Hollow is very different from Saint Paul. I just wish it wasn't so hot." She stared out at the field for a few moments and then sighed. "Why does Mom hate you so much?" It was abrupt, but the question had been weighing on Amy Lynn's mind for years, ever since she was old enough to understand what homosexuality was.
"Because she doesn't understand. Janice has a very simple view of things. I think it's because she was raised here in Juuban Hollow. Homosexuality is a strange word to these people. Some have probably never even heard of it."
"But Mom's a scientist. A doctor. She's not supposed to have prejudices. Isn't that part of the Hippocratic Oath?"
Micheal laughed softly. "Janice never let her prejudices and opinions get in the way of doing her job. I think that's why I fell for her in the first place. I remember when you were about three, a few years before I discovered...what I was. I took you and a picnic lunch down to the Emergency Room where she was on duty. As she was getting ready to go off duty, the doors opened and an ambulance crew rushed in bearing Leslie McDaniels, the president of the local chapter of the Gay and Lesbian support group, who was bleeding to death. Right then and there, Janice dropped everything to tend to her. Without her skill, McDaniels would have died right there in the lobby of the ER. That night, you turned to me and said 'Daddy, I want to be a doctor when I grow up.'"
"I don't remember that," Amy Lynn said softly. "All I remember is the fighting and then you left."
"I know," Michael said he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "I'd give anything to change that, but I can't."
Another man dressed in a blue shirt and khakis walked up to them. He had short blond hair, a pointed chin and the coldest eyes Amy Lynn had ever seen.
It was as though there was nothing behind those blue orbs. "This is Jeddadiah Wright," Michael said. "He's currently in charge of the Plantation's permanent work force. Jed, this my daughter, Amy Lynn."
"A pleasure," Jeddadiah said perfucntorily. His handshake was very stiff. "Her teacher, while pleased that she has been reunited with her father, would like it if she began her project."
"Of course." Michael gave his daughter a hug. "I'll drive you home tonight, and talk to your mother. Maybe we can work something out."
"I'd like that." Amy Lynn said softly and walked back towards her friends.
"You're fooling yourself," Jeddadiah said. "Once we find Empreya's trinket, the Queen will slaughter her and the rest of the humans in this valley like pigs. You really think you can save her?"
"Shut up, Jeddite," Malachite snarled.
###
Amy Lynn went to bed at around ten at night and rose with the sun. It was, she had concluded some time ago, the most efficient use of her time. She did not waste time lying in bed, but rather immediately gathered her things and marched down the hall to the tub, which she filled with water. Dipping her finger in the water, she held it there for a moment. Roughly sixty five degrees, she decided. It was not yet hot enough for the ground, and therefore the pipes in it, to retain heat overnight. Perfect, she decided, and pulled off her sleepwear.
Ten minutes later, she was out and towel drying her hair. Not bothering with a robe, she walked back to her room and donned underclothes, a t-shirt and jean shorts. Returning to the bathroom, she picked up her hair brush and went to work on her hair.
Amy Lynn's hair was bobbed. It covered her head, didn't get in her eyes, and quite frankly, that's all one should expect from hair.
Normally, she would have been done in thirty seconds, but today she paused, and examined herself critically in the mirror. Her hair was black, but in bright light, it seemed to turn blue. Her face had once been described as "like a doll's". Her skin was pale, setting off her blue eyes. Her jaw was slightly square, a legacy of her father, judging by the one picture she had of him and the few times she had seen him after her parents' breakup.
Pulling off her shirt, she turned sideways and examined her profile in the mirror. She was in reasonably good shape. Walking everywhere, especially through snow in the winter time back in Saint Paul had seen to that, but she lacked the curved, yet firm tightness of Bunny. Again, she felt the irrational surge of jealousy.
"But then again," her rational mind pointed out, "Bunny was raised on a farm and as such, her figure came from a lifetime of hard work that no reasonable exercise program could duplicate." She would never look like that and there was little point in worrying about it.
Amy Lynn pulled her shirt back on, finished her hair and walked down the hall to the kitchen. The front door was open, and dishes were on the counter.
On the table she found a note from her mother which explained that she was out making rounds with Doctor Jackson and would not be back until late that afternoon. The note also instructed her to unpack her room, the kitchen, and the living room. They would assemble the furniture that evening.
Amy Lynn sighed and reached for the cereal.
*****************
She had just finished breakfast when there was a knock at the door. Going to see who it was, she found herself face to face with Molly and Bunny. Both girls wore T-shirts and jeans, Molly had on sneakers, and Bunny wore work boots and what appeared to the same work shirt she had on yesterday. Amy Lynn also noted that the "machete" was actually a very large knife.
"Hey," Bunny said with a grin. "Moll and I were gonna go down to the creek an do some fishin, an we thought mebbe you'd like ta come along."
"It sounds interesting, but I have to unpack. The movers arrived yesterday evening and the furniture needs to be assembled."
"You need some help?"
"Well, yeah, I-"
"Great!" Bunny dashed down the stairs, there was the sound of a car or truck door slamming and then she returned with a box of tools. "Where's the furniture?"
Wordlessly, Amy Lynn pointed at the stack of boxes in a group in the living room.
"That's furniture?" Molly asked as Bunny whipped out her knife and opened up one of the boxes.
"Mom likes to buy furniture that can be assembled and disassembled at will," Amy Lynn replied. "I think it's a habit she picked up in the Army."
"C'mon," Molly said with a grin. "Let's get ta work."
*****************
While neither Amy Lynn nor her mother were mechanically inept, Bunny's affinity with tools was astounding. In the space of three hours, the blond had already put together both couches and the large computer desk. Even now, she was humming to herself as she used a screwdriver to put together the first of several bookcases.
In her room, Molly and Amy Lynn were slowly emptying boxes.
"Who's the guy?" Molly asked, studying an eight by ten framed photo. In it, Doctor Anderson and a handsome man with a shock of white hair were smiling for the camera.
"My dad," Amy Lynn replied, taking the photo from Molly. "He and Mom divorced when I was five because he was gay. This is the only picture I have of him. Mom destroyed the others and fought like mad to limit his visitation rights." Amy Lynn ran a finger over the image. "I've seen him only three times in the last ten years and the last time was almost six years ago."
"I'm sorry," Molly said, more out of feeling the need to say something than anything else.
"Sometimes, I wish things could be different. I love them both, but Mom goes into hysterics if I so much as mention him." Amy Lynn took the frame and placed it up on the shelf of her closet and closed the door. For a moment, she stayed like that, and then sighed and turned to face Molly. "What else is in that box?"
*****************
By one, the trio had finished unpacking and placed the furniture more or less where Amy Lynn thought her mother would want them. Janice Anderson was a creature of habit, and the second story apartment was similar in terms of layout to their condo back in Saint Paul.
"C'mon," Bunny said. "Let's go fishing."
And so, having no way to gracefully refuse, Amy Lynn left a note for her mother and followed Bunny and Molly down the steps to where a Great Dane--the same Great Dane that Amy Lynn had seen at the general store yesterday--sat beside an old pickup truck that had to be a good twenty or thirty years old. The maker's logo was written across the grille in dirt-covered chrome and the truck's colors were red and patches of primer gray. The back window had several stickers on it, but she couldn't see what they said. A dirty pink rabbit hung from the rearveiw mirror.
Bunny placed the toolbox behind the seat and rubbed the dog's head. "This is Luna," the blonde said to Amy Lynn. "Luna, this is Amy Lynn."
Luna held out her paw, which after a moment, Amy Lynn shook.
"Creepy, aint it?" Molly whispered as Luna clambered up the rear wheel and into the truck bed. "Sometimes I swear that dog understands everything we say."
"All aboard," Bunny said as she got in. Molly and Amy Lynn got in on the other side. Molly in the middle, Amy Lynn by the window. Immediately, she began to feel around for the seatbelt.
"You have a driver's license?" Amy Lynn asked as Bunny turned the key in the ignition and the engine growled to life.
Bunny grinned cheerfully. "Nope." She stomped on the clutch and shoved the shift backwards, forcing Amy Lynn to grab whatever she could to keep from flying forward and banging her head on the dashboard. "No seatbelts, neither," she continued, seeing Amy Lynn now franticly looking around. "Pa cut them out. Said we didn't need 'em." Wrenching the wheel, she swerved the truck onto the road, shifted again, and floored the accelerator.
*****************
Bunny's driving skill seemed to be best described as "Pick a direction and try not to hit anything. Oh, and use of the brake is forbidden." For fifteen minutes, the truck bounced, rattled and jerked across the fields. Several times, at least during the time when Amy Lynn could still think through the fog of sheer terror, the wheels actually left the surface of the Earth as Bunny steered it one-handed over the grassy fields at speeds better suited for high-speed aircraft. The entire trip, she kept up a stream of chatter about anything and everything; livestock, produce, even the weather. Occasionally, she would gesture with one or both hands, even looking away from the windshield, but always looking back and grabbing the wheel just in time, it seemed, to avert disaster. Finally, she brought the truck to a screeching halt at the top of a small hill.
"We're here!" Bunny said and turned to look at her passengers.
Molly looked slightly queasy, but Amy Lynn was sitting stiffly, her face white as a sheet and an expression of sheer terror on her face. Her hands were white knuckled as they held onto the edge of the seat in a death grip.
"Amy Lynn?" Molly asked, touching her arm. With a shriek, Amy Lynn jumped, slamming her head into the roof and then grabbing it in pain.
"Where...the hell...did you learn to drive?" Amy Lynn said between clenched teeth as she gripped her head as though if she didn't, it would crack open like an oyster.
"Pa taught me. 'Course, I don't drive recklessly like he does."
Amy Lynn let out a whimper.
*****************
"Feeling better?" Molly asked as she took the canteen of water from Amy Lynn.
"Yes,"ÊAmy Lynn replied as she leaned against the side of the truck. The two girls were sitting side by side on the ground. "I'm glad you had you had those headache pills with you." Nearby, Bunny knelt in the dirt beside a bush, digging with a trowel.
"Oh, I carry them everywhere," Molly replied. "Especially when I go fishing with her. Bunny's a good person, but she tends ta drive like she's in that car on Knight Rider. Still, you won't find a better friend anywhere."
"How can she drive like that?"
"Around here, you learn to drive as soon as your feet can reach the pedals, and as long as you don't hit anything or anyone, nobody cares," Molly replied with a shrug. "Personally, I prefer to stick with my dirt bike. Think you can stand?"
"Yes," Amy Lynn replied as she stood on shaky legs.
"Hey, guys!" Bunny called. "I found some worms, we got bait!"
"Don't worry," Molly said. "You get used to her driving eventually." Together they walked over to where Bunny was waiting.
They spent the rest of the afternoon fishing. No fish were caught, but Amy Lynn did get a rather nasty sunburn and a stern lecture from her mother about skin care.
*****************
Molly proved to be correct and as the days became weeks, Amy Lynn got used to Bunny's haphazard driving. Often, the trip was just into town, and the two girls spent time in the general store, listening to the town's old men argue and swap stories as they sat on front porch. She even got to meet Rayelene Hino, daughter of the county judge, who lived with her grandather, who was the preacher at the local church.
Rayelene's grandfather was a tiny man, scarely over five feet tall, but he had a boisterous laugh, and you couldn't help but like him. He and Amy Lynn spent several hours one day debating physics theories--a debate he won, much to Amy Lynn's chagrin.
Rayelene, on the other hand, was intense as the heat from a raging fire, which tended to set teeth on edge, especially Bunny's. According to Molly, the two depised each other with an almost unholy passion and whenever they were together, you could cut the tension with a knife.
Current odds were three to one that Raylene and Bunny would come to blows by Christmas and five to one that Bunny would use her knife.
More interesting to Amy Lynn, however, were the rumors of a blond-haired woman who roamed the woods near the lake whenever the moon was in the night sky accompanied by a black-haired wolf, searching for something. When she asked Molly and Bunny about it, however, neither one could tell her anything.
Later, when Amy Lynn gave it some thought, she realized Bunny had looked a little worried and even uncomfortable. The next day, however, a heat wave struck and Amy Lynn forgot all about it.
Several weeks later, school started and Juuban Hollow's forty-five or so children, ranging in age from six to seventeen, gathered in the school house, a dilapidated scructure on a hill west of town. It was a single room and run by Miss Haruna, a tall, imposing woman whose manner was almost as intense as Rayelene's.
After Amy Lynn, two other new students were introduced. One was Mina, a hyper blond girl whose hair was tied with a red ribbon. In several ways, she reminded Amy Lynn of Bunny. The second student was Lita, a tall, amazon-like girl who looked as though she could lift the schoolhouse off its foundation if she felt like it.
Once Mina and Lita had taken their seats, Miss Haruna got down to business. "The state says that this year, those of you who are aged fourteen through seventeen have to study the life cycle of plants and animals. The folks over at Black Mountain Plantation have agreed to let us use their facilities as part of this. So starting in two weeks, class will meet two days a week at Black Mountain where you will spend the day tending and careing for a small herd of sheep, twenty four head of cattle, and a small, one-acre field of various plants, including cotton. At the end of the school year, I expect each of you to tell the class what you learned." A few groans and complaints were heard throughout the room. "I know most of you have have spent your lives raising plants and animals which is why I expect A's all around as you will help the others with what you know. Any questions? No? Good. Open your math books and turn to page fifty-one."
As Amy Lynn did so, she noticed two things.
The books had been printed nearly forty years ago.
They would be studying Long Division.
"Oh, no..." Amy Lynn whispered.
*****************
Black Mountain Plantation was a huge estate that covered most of the county east of Juuban Hollow. The main house, was in fact the mansion Amy Lynn had seen when she and her mother first arrived in town. The owner, Ms Abagail Beryldane, was a recluse and her four managers did most of the work.
Amy Lynn sighed and pulled on her work gloves. The brown leather was shiny, having been purchased the previous day from the OSA-P. Amy Lynn was wearing a straw hat to keep the sun off her face and neck, one of Bunny's work shirts, old jeans, and a pair of work boots with paper in the toes to make them fit. The boots had been left in the clinic by a previous paitent. For a moment she reflected that the only thing of hers that she was wearing was her hat, gloves, underwear and socks.
The students, about twelve or so in all, trudged along the dirt path towards the large brown field. Green sprouts could be seen forming rows in the brown dirt.
At one edge, Ms Haruna stood with a man dressed in a white, button-down shirt, and kahkis. His white hair was tied back in a ponytail and his smile was friendly.
"Class I want you to meet Michael White. He's-" she broke off as Amy Lynn gasped and then loudly exclaimed;
"Dad?"
*****************
Father and daughter stood at the edge of the field that Black Mountain had loaned to the students, watching them move through the rows as plantation employees described each of the plants and how to care for them. One or two of the workers made Amy Lynn nervous in the way they moved, like they were shells wrapped around something...else.
"Amy Lynn...I'm sorry, if I had known you were coming to Juuban Hollow, I would've called, come by...done...something."
"It's okay, Dad. Mom wouldn't have come if she knew you were here. We got to see each other again. That's what's important, right?"
Michael smiled. "Right. How are things?"
"Good...great...actually," Amy Lynn lied. "I've made a few friends and Juuban Hollow is very different from Saint Paul. I just wish it wasn't so hot." She stared out at the field for a few moments and then sighed. "Why does Mom hate you so much?" It was abrupt, but the question had been weighing on Amy Lynn's mind for years, ever since she was old enough to understand what homosexuality was.
"Because she doesn't understand. Janice has a very simple view of things. I think it's because she was raised here in Juuban Hollow. Homosexuality is a strange word to these people. Some have probably never even heard of it."
"But Mom's a scientist. A doctor. She's not supposed to have prejudices. Isn't that part of the Hippocratic Oath?"
Micheal laughed softly. "Janice never let her prejudices and opinions get in the way of doing her job. I think that's why I fell for her in the first place. I remember when you were about three, a few years before I discovered...what I was. I took you and a picnic lunch down to the Emergency Room where she was on duty. As she was getting ready to go off duty, the doors opened and an ambulance crew rushed in bearing Leslie McDaniels, the president of the local chapter of the Gay and Lesbian support group, who was bleeding to death. Right then and there, Janice dropped everything to tend to her. Without her skill, McDaniels would have died right there in the lobby of the ER. That night, you turned to me and said 'Daddy, I want to be a doctor when I grow up.'"
"I don't remember that," Amy Lynn said softly. "All I remember is the fighting and then you left."
"I know," Michael said he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "I'd give anything to change that, but I can't."
Another man dressed in a blue shirt and khakis walked up to them. He had short blond hair, a pointed chin and the coldest eyes Amy Lynn had ever seen.
It was as though there was nothing behind those blue orbs. "This is Jeddadiah Wright," Michael said. "He's currently in charge of the Plantation's permanent work force. Jed, this my daughter, Amy Lynn."
"A pleasure," Jeddadiah said perfucntorily. His handshake was very stiff. "Her teacher, while pleased that she has been reunited with her father, would like it if she began her project."
"Of course." Michael gave his daughter a hug. "I'll drive you home tonight, and talk to your mother. Maybe we can work something out."
"I'd like that." Amy Lynn said softly and walked back towards her friends.
"You're fooling yourself," Jeddadiah said. "Once we find Empreya's trinket, the Queen will slaughter her and the rest of the humans in this valley like pigs. You really think you can save her?"
"Shut up, Jeddite," Malachite snarled.