Chapter 10: Getting comfortable

[April 2373 AD – POV Timotheus Mellark – District Twelve]

During my vacation time after the Easter holiday, which I spent hiking right in the Appalachian Mountains, I had observed an old fashioned plane powered by a radial engine crashing, and the only survivor had been a little girl. She had claimed that she was much older than she looked, and she had a number of very odd features, like overly long ears, large eyes with slit pupils, long canines, and short dense fur on some parts of her body. With nobody else around in the area, I had brought her into my camp and taken care of her, and she seemed to be fine around me. As I only had my one sleeping bag, we had to share, but that did not appear to bother her at all. On the contrary, she had even claimed to feel safe and comforted close to me. Based on what she had told me, she was now a full orphan, with her mother dead since a few years ago already, and now her father and her only sister killed in the plane crash. Frequently, I needed to comfort her when she started to sob, but overall, she seemed to take in the events reasonably well, much better than could have been expected.

After our second night together, I woke up quite late, triggered only by the first sun rays tickling my nose, and I realized that I had slept very well, without waking up a single time. Rue was apparently still asleep, and while I enjoyed the quiet early morning time, my thoughts wandered off for a few moments; I imagined how nice it might be to have an adult young woman so close to me rather than a young girl. I was certainly longing for that, but finding such a young lady, one who actually wanted to be close to me, had been an impossible endeavor so far, as it had turned out. Based on what I got told by some friends, the problem could well be on my side; maybe I was too shy and tried to avoid conversation with young women, as they confused me, and I always had a feeling that I did not know what to say.

I sighed, and a few minutes later Rue woke up as well; she still had her back to me on my chest, and my arms were still wrapped around her, like I frequently used to do with my big teddy bear at home. With an older girl, that would have been a somewhat intimate hug, as my arms were around her upper chest, but with her entirely flat and undeveloped chest – while she claimed that her real age was thirteen, her body was like that of an eight or nine year old girl – there was not really something to worry about. I had hugged and spooned my baby sister Ruth like that more than once, and she had told me that she liked it and felt very safe and protected when I did that; I could only hope that Rue perceived my behavior and attitude towards her in a very similar way. I felt more than saw that she yawned, and then I asked the little girl:

"Good morning Rue, how did you sleep?"

"Just wonderful. I feel rested and much better, and I did not have a single nightmare!"

She turned around to face me and pressed her cheek against my neck and shoulder. When she moved a little higher, her soft cheek touched mine, and she giggled:

"That tickles!"

"Oh yes, I need to shave, I guess."

She giggled again, and I asked:

"So, how is your ankle?"

"Much better, too; let me see..."

The little girl crawled out from the sleeping bag and started to walk, but stopped soon again. She hobbled towards the corner we use as latrine, and when she was back minutes later, she told me:

"A little better, I guess, but not quite good enough. Maybe we can start walking home tomorrow."

When she had said that, she suddenly stopped and looked down and started to sob, and I asked with concern:

"What's the problem, Rue?"

"I do not have a home any longer! Where do I go?"

"Don't you have any relatives left?"

"Well, there are my grandparents, but I do not know where they live. I just know that they have a farm somewhere."

"I am sure that somebody will help you to find them."

"You think so, really?"

"I do, but we will have to find out later. For now, as I have told you, you have me for as long as you need me."

Instead of talking more, I pulled her closely into my arms, and I allowed her to be the frightened little girl in need of comforting she looked like rather than the smart teenager she apparently actually was. Her tears made my skin and tee short wet in some places, where she placed her head next to my neck and shoulder, but that did not matter.

After breakfast I applied ointment on her ankle again, and later on I showed her my tricorder and demonstrated some functions it had, like identifying plants and rocks, taking photos, running basic medical scans, checking for levels of radioactivity, and much more. Rue admitted that she had never seen such a device before, and this was not surprising at all. Tricorders were manufactured by a high tech company which was part of the Sinterguth empire, and while they were common in Central Europe, only few people in Panem had them. My cousin had helped to get a few for the district rangers, and I had an advanced prototype. For outdoor activities they were very helpful, and for samples and information which could not be analyzed on the spot, the data could be stored locally and taken home into a lab for detailed analysis.

My cousin had told me that the inventors had been fans of a popular TV series from the old times prior to the Great War which was called 'Star Trek', and they had been inspired by similar devices in that series and taken the name from it rather than inventing a new name. I liked both the device and the name, and it fully fitted my nerd image, too.

I allowed Rue to use it for some time, under my supervision, and I found that she was surprisingly quick in understanding how it worked and how it was operated. There was a large display which was also touch sensitive and a number of real buttons on the sides, and after half an hour or so she was working it faster than I could; this girl certainly had talent. Fortunately, I did not have to be afraid of running out of battery power. The device was larger and heavier than most other mobile devices, mostly due to a heavy duty battery, and due to the progress of technology battery capacity was good enough to easily keep the tricorder powered for a week or more. For emergencies, I also had a small foldable and very lightweight solar panel which I could use to charge the battery. Sure, a tricorder was more bulky and heavy than the so-called 'mobys', the compact mobile devices many people used for purposes like notes, taking images and communication in areas where a mobile network was available, but it was also more rugged and much more versatile, plus it had a decent screen size and an additional small holographic projector, too.

We spent another lazy day around the camp, as Rue's ankle did not yet allow much else. I learned that I could talk with her about many topics related to nature and science. While a lot of the teenage girls I knew cared more about fashion, music, and such, Rue's interests were somewhere else, apparently, liked she had hinted in the evening before and when we talked, her way of phrasing sentences and her insight into certain topics made her almost appear like a young adult, and a very educated one, too; as a matter of fact, most adults I knew did not have that kind of interest into that many scientific and technical topics; I did, but I was a nerd after all.

Around noon time, when we were getting hungry, I lighted my small camp stove again and showed Rue what kind of supplies I had with me. Lacking a fully equipped kitchen, most of my supplies consisted of canned food and concentrates, and although I had had to carry all of the stuff in my back pack, I had some variation, including many with pasta, like ravioli and tortellini. I did like to cook, and Italian food was one of my favorites; Rue opted for ravioli, and I heated the content of two cans in my bowl. Fortunately I had a second spoon, and once the food was ready, we could both eat from that same bowl.

"Have you ever eaten something like that before?"

"Maybe once or twice, but at home we don't have a lot of food like this. It's delicious!"

For quite a few minutes Rue did not have a chance to say more as she was busy eating, as was I. The way she devoured the food I was going to run out soon, and we probably needed to leave on the next day, indeed. She even lapped the plate clean with her tongue, and I could not help to notice how well her tongue fit between her canines and how long it was when fully extended; that seemed to be another one of the feline like features. Her way of lapping the plate clean reminded me of a cat lapping milk from a small bowl; I had seen that a few times on a farm. When she noticed me watching her doing that, she looked somewhat abashed and told me:

"Sorry for that; Dad told me that I should not do this in public, as it is not decent to do so, but sometimes I can't resist, and the meal was really great."

"That's all right, Rue, I don't mind, and I would be honored if you'd consider my presence not as being in public; please make yourself comfortable and do whatever you like."

This earned me a smile, and when she was done, we shared an apple for desert. When Rue started to yawn after eating, I suggested that she might want to nap for a while, which she did.

Meanwhile, I got my writing utensils out and started to write a letter to my cousin and friend Timotheus Sinterguth. His mother was my mother's twin sister, and even we were not always easily able to find out who was mother and who was aunt when they met and decided to dress in the same way, like they had frequently done when they had been children. On the other hand, they did not mind at all when we both called both of them 'Mom'. While my aunt lived in 'Rainbow Valley', in an area of Panem outside of the standard districts, my cousin had spent some time there and some in Europe. Right now, I knew that he was in Europe, finishing his academic education. He had studied to be an ecological engineer like I had, and he was working towards his doctor's degree now, in the city of Erlangen in northern Bavaria.

He had told me that he was very fond of his professor and that this had been one of the key reasons to stay at university for the time being. I was more of an outdoor person, though, and my job with the district administration and the rangers allowed me to spend a lot of time in nature rather than studying more. Nonetheless, I kept up to date on his work, too, as it was related to my practical topics as well. His university and ours had close ties, and we benefited from each other. About once a month I spent a day or two with my former professor, and we discussed new insights my cousin and his professor's team might have gained, and we pondered to what extent some of that could be applied in our area.

My cousin and I were much alike, as a matter of fact. We were even born on the same day, on April 6th 25 years ago, when my mother and aunt had been in the same hospital to give birth. We both had tanned skin with a little bit of a golden hue, heritage of our grandmother from South America, and very dark hair, and we were both tall at about 195 cm. We not only looked alike, but also had a similar character, being quite shy with people and socially somewhat inept, with adults at least. We could both have very productive technical conversations, but social topics did not go well. With children, though, that was different, at least with those in our families, like Ruth and Daniela.

Some people who knew both of us well had nicknamed us the 'twin cousins', and I liked that expression. Despite living apart, we wrote a lot of letters to each other, at least for the less urgent and more personal communication. Right at this time I decided that I needed to write to him about the girl who had kind of dropped on me from the sky. 'Tim S' and me – 'Tim M' – shared almost everything, specifically including our multiple failures to find a nice girlfriend so far. We were both nerds, and he still proudly wore his glasses, whereas I had had my eyesight surgically corrected a few years ago, as I found that much more practical for my many outdoors activities.

When Rue woke up later, I told her about my twin cousin, and when I mentioned that we were nerds, she wanted to know what that implied. I told her one of my friend's favorite joke on that:

"You know, just assume a nerd is going for a walk and is about to pass a pond in a forest. A big frog jumps out and starts to talk: 'Kiss me – I am a bewitched princess!' - what do you think a nerd is going to do?"

"Well, kiss the frog, right?"

"No, wrong. The nerd is going to keep the frog as it is."

"Why that?"

"Because, what's so special about a princess? But a talking frog, that's real cool!"

Rue laughed about that and told me:

"I need to remember that one – this is good! But seriously, you would not want to have a princess?"

I shook my head:

"No, I guess not. She would only want to order me around, have me buy expensive clothes and jewelry for her, and all that. No thank you, not really."

Rue pondered that, and than she told me that this was different from the fairy tales she had read. Well, of course, in many of the fairy tales the hero finds a pretty princess, and after the heroic deed is done, they fall in love with each other, get married and life happily ever after. I neither did heroic deeds nor had I ever encountered a princess, although I may have considered my youngest sister cute enough to be one. On the other hand, I probably would not even recognize a princess if I met one in bright daylight. Honestly, what would I do with a princess? I wanted to find a girl I could talk to and share all of my thoughts, one who understood my love for nature and science, one who did not talk about silly things like fashion all of the time, and one I'd really like to be close to, like my sister Ruth. So far, none of those had showed up, and I had to admit that I was unlikely to find them out here in the wilderness. Unless, of course, they almost literally dropped from the sky like Rue had done.

After another night in the camp Rue's ankle was better, and she hobbled less; I asked her:

"I wonder if we should start the hike back to civilization today or wait yet another day; sooner or later we are going to run out of food."

She shrugged her shoulders and admitted:

"Staying here with you appeals to me more than getting back to a city. Up here, just with you, there's nobody mocking me, nobody hurts me, nobody asks me to do things I do not want to do, and nobody but you gets close to me; you accept me as I am. If I had not just lost father and sister, I could really enjoy it."

Thinking about the loss made her sob and cry again, of course. I placed her on my lap, facing me, wrapped my arms around her, and pushed her head close to my neck. We sat like this for maybe half an hour, without saying anything, and I felt happiness filling my mind and soul about her statement that she liked and enjoyed being here with me. Feeling her close, being able to smell her body and her hair and liking the way she talked, I could probably easily stay out here with her for weeks without getting tired of her company, and that by itself was a remarkable observation. Why couldn't I find a girl close to my age who enjoyed spending time with me like this, without the need to talk all of the time, just feeling in sync and very comfortable with each other?

When she finally looked up after she had run out of tears Rue told me:

"Not even Daddy was patient enough to hold me like this for such a long time and to wait until I am done with sobbing. This is amazing; thank you very much, Timotheus!"

Had she really just told me that I was comforting her better than her father had done? Anyway, it was time to apply more ointment on her ankle, and while I did this, I asked:

"Rue, I have to admit that I am a little bit surprised about your interest in all kind of technical and scientific topics; how did you manage to know that much at your age?"

"Yeah, that's something my Dad also used to ask when I had another list of questions and nobody was around to provide answers. I got used to that, and thus I started to read a lot. Fortunately we had a decent sized public library close to our home, and Dad got me a library card when I was still in elementary school. The lady in charge of the library could not believe that I actually read all of the books I borrowed, but I did, and most of the books were technical ones, like on physics, astronomy, climate warming, and much more."

"Wow, that is not very common."

"No, apparently it is not, and unfortunately it contributed to alienate me from my class mates, too. But this was the only source accessible to me without a computer, and I only got one a couple of years ago, an older model. Books are better, though – I can take them to a nice place outside and enjoy."

"There are portable computers, you know."

"Sure, but looking into a book or a magazine is better than looking on a screen!"

"Good point. But, this all really interests you?"

"Yes, it does! There are so many interesting concepts and schemes both in nature and in technology. Just think of the way energy is generated! There is a very simple and chemical process called photosynthesis in green plants, which we still cannot really replicate well, but we don't need to, because solar cells are actually more efficient. On the other end there is nuclear fusion, and the sun shows us how this is done on a huge scale."

She talked on like this for some time, and I could not fully hide my astonishment. There was a girl who looked like eight but claimed that she was already thirteen years old, and she talked like somebody who had at least graduated from high school or even studied sciences at university. Of course, she was my type of person, as I was a science and technology geek as well, and I happily obliged and got into an extended discussion on the topics she cared about. She continued to tell me:

"Since I got my own computer for my twelfth birthday, I started to write down a lot of information and my own thoughts on topics; fortunately I had attended a class on using office programs properly."

When she was running out of questions and statements for a moment, I asked her:

"So, I assume that your classmates did not exactly love you for your interests, right?"

"No, they did not. For some time I had a few friends who got along with me, and they appreciated the benefit of me being able to kind of tutor them, but it felt odd for me to, well, to understand some specific topics better than most of the teachers did. At the end, it did not really make a difference. With my looks, I was mobbed and mocked anyway, and I was called names…"

"Like kitty cat?"

"That and worse, yes."

"But, it somehow fits, doesn't it?"

"You too? Tim?"

"Well, I mean calling a real cute and special girl 'kitty cat' is not really bad, I guess, but of course I won't use that name unless you like it."

"No, I don't like it much, although I have been called worse. Yes, I know, with my long ears, slit pupils, partial fur and the protruding mouth with the long canines I do look a little bit like a feline, but that's no reason to make fun of it."

"No, it is not, but I can only repeat what I have already said before; I believe that you are really cute and adorable, even pretty, despite of or maybe even because of your special features."

She looked directly in my eyes and asked:

"You really mean it? Honestly?"

"Yes, honestly and truthfully. You are the most amazing girl I have ever met, with the possible exception of my sisters, and I would not have missed it for anything."

She seemed to believe me, and I had spoken the full truth; she was amazing, and I liked looking at her. For now, Rue was happy to sit on my lap and lean back into my chest, and for a moment, her world seemed to be all right. My world was also quite all right at this time, and I really enjoyed having her with me here in the wilderness.

[Author's Notes: I could not resist the temptation to bring Star Trek tricorders into the story; to a certain extent, this is science fiction here, too. I hope that you like the idea; please let me know!]