BHS Inkwell 2017-2018

needs to eat.Then touch the fur on my head and back, and feel how soft it is. I should not, she answered. You may bite me. Yes, he answered her. I might bite you. I am wild and have been known to break into chicken coops and gobble down the fowl. But if you do not touch me, you will never know the feel of a wolf ’s fur. I do not need to know, she says. He answered, don’t you?Then, he said, ask your grandmother what it was like when she was young. I will not do this either, said she. Very well, he said, and having given her three paths, vanished into the forest.The young girl went to her grandmother’s assigned living space and gave her the bread. After this was all finished, she returned to her house.” Hey, keep your head down. Listen. At the ceremony tonight, I’m bringing something brought in from out of the district. Over the border. Get that look off your face. I’ll be past the restrooms. You can have some if you want. “Why have you told me this?”The girl rose to her feet in a flight of rage. “I don’t understand it! And you look at me as if you expect me to want to!” “Do you?”The woman opened her eyes again. She turns on the heel of her shoe and walks out of the alley, back into the sun’s steely light. Why is the wolf talking? You have done well on your mathematics. You understand the things you need to. You read well. You write quickly. You type quickly. You have done very, very well. She walks home.The afternoon colors turn pink.The neat rows of living spaces move past her. When she turns the corner to see her own living space, she sees rows of white shades drawn closed. Across the street from her house are men in black uniforms with stars embroidered on their backs, carrying batons and flashing lamps.The lights of their transport blink.The door of the living space is smashed to splinters, and the men are dragging a man from his house. His shirt rides up over his belly. She steps up to walk across the cement walkway, and then she opens the door, closing it behind her.The house is dark, its shadows falling on the couch, the stove, on her baby brother’s sleeping form, all except for the rectangle of light slipping through the crack between the window frame and the blinds.

Inside the house is a pristine, simple silence. Outside is the held breath of every person on the street. In the police transport is the man in cuffs, guilty of something Unnecessary to know about. Why did the wolf talk, and why did he want that girl to eat the bread herself ? She goes to

the stove and heats up some water.They don’t

have much in the

pantry, but it should be enough before Distributions the following week. At six her parents will come home from the factory. Raise high the flag, the proud mark of faith, all hail the Republic! She isn’t going back to Story Alley.The Unnecessary is too incomprehensible, wrapped up in layers, perhaps, or simply nonsense. She understands why they are against the law. It feels like an awful thing to understand. She suddenly feels filthy,

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