Chapter Twenty Three: Party of Nine — Part 5

Because of the conditions on the road, it takes two days to reach the coastal highway. Among them, ChoCho is the most tired. He’s happy not to have to work with everybody to push another trail of burned up cars out of the way as they come down the freeway. He is the first to see, with some contentment, the ocean Joe has been craving probably since he first left it behind. In the two days they have traveled, Heath has chosen time riding in both the Girl and with the boys, her flute always at her side, always waiting for night to come so she can take it out and play with it.

She isn’t skilled enough yet to be said to be playing it. Her tones are oddly off, skewed and rough, but Blake is teaching her the basics, and Heath is an eager student. Tonight, though, after nearly an hour of instruction, she’s sounding pretty good, for a beginner, and Blake asks her for the flute for a moment, starts playing the large base pipe, adjusting the fetish to get more hiss from its low tones. He has a sound in mind. It is both eerie and haunted, but in the end, somehow hopeful. It is quite a range for such a primitive device.

The sounds resonate with the flames, with the muggy atmosphere, with the general feeling of pace and patience, and on some level with the sore muscles that everybody is experiencing from pushing wreckage from their path. Jynx has eaten double portions tonight, as have everybody. Despite the stress of the road, Jynx decides, everybody is looking healthy. While Blake plays and Kevin and Daria cuddle, ChoCho sketches frantically in his book, undoubtedly having more ideas than time to work with them. There is a sort of deep smile on his face as he works, so Jynx decides not to bug him. When he hands it back to Heath, she is both awed and pouting.

Jynx gets up, toys with his hair, and stretches first right, and then left until the stress pops her bones, walking over to Joe, who is alone with a map made moist by what appears to be air undecided on a dew point. The ocean is within range of the ear. Jude and George are nowhere to be seen, though Gryphon is hanging out with Kevin and Daria, begging for scraps from their rations bags. They are far enough removed that Jynx knows they will have some privacy from everybody except perhaps ChoCho, who seems to have the ability to hear a whispered conversation at five hundred paces upwind in a stiff breeze.

“That Jude’s map?” Jynx asks, leaning in so she can see the map, highlighted by a couple of fluorescent lanterns so Joe can do his studies.

“Yeah.” Joe says. “The man is smart. He’s predicted the location of several of the smaller gravity arches, but his math comes up short, like ChoCho’s bowl. Your nose though, seems more sensitive than the math or the bowl. We have to decide something tonight: North, or south. Jude knows that there are several arches in either direction, but he thinks south is a smarter choice.”

“What do you think?” Jynx asks, thinking that this decision had already been made, wondering why it is being revisited.

“North is tempting. But it gets colder to the North. I don’t want you guys to suffer on two counts because of me.”

“Coastline will always be warm enough.” Jynx says.

“So you’re sure we should stick with north? What if we don’t find the arch we need?” Joe pauses. “After Vegas I got to thinking maybe I’m a little selfish about what I want. I don’t want to think I’m dragging you up into the woods when you’d rather stay closer to Tó Naneesdizí or maybe head toward the tropics.”

“You want to take it to a vote? We can wait until George and Jude are done having sex and ask everybody their opinion, then let the majority decide.” Jynx says quietly. “We do tend to run as a democracy, if you haven’t noticed.”

” … I hadn’t. When did we ever vote on things?” Joe asked.

“You know, when we all sit around at night and ask each other what we should do, and then when most of us agree, we do it. That’s how we’ve decided almost everything on this trip since we first met up with Jude. Even Gryphon gets one half vote on all matters involving food.” Jynx says. “At least that’s how I like to think of things.”

By the time Jynx and Joe have decided on two potential locations, one north and one to the south, George and Jude have returned from the shadows and are sitting by the fire, warming their bodies against the mug and chill of the coast. Jynx leads Joe back over to the group.

“Hey, everybody, listen up for a minute. Joe has some concerns about being a selfish douche, because of his hording all that gold in Vegas, and wants to make sure that we’re all going to the same place willingly.” Jynx says quietly. “I want to go North.” Jynx says. “Anybody want to go south?”

“Depends. Are there more arches to the south?” ChoCho asks. “All things being the same, north or south is the same to me, so long as we find a good arch, like the one in the Glenn.”

“There are plenty of arches in both directions.” Jude says. “And you know that better than anybody.”

“You really want north, and I never want to see the desert again, so I vote North. You of course can vote against me, honey.” Jynx says.

“North is fine.” ChoCho says.

“We want North.” Jude and George say.

“Let’s go North.” Heath says, while Blake votes thumbs down, if only so he can hear Kevin and Daria shout out “North” three or four times in near unison to try to subvert his currently worthless vote.

“So we go north, stick to the coast like we had planned.” Jynx says quietly.

Things return to normal, people are talking about how good it will be to find a place and settle, to not have to wake up in the rain or sleep in the truck and trailers. It is really late when Heath timidly raises her hand, smiling gently at a thought. It is an odd behavior for Heath to make, and everybody turns their eyes toward her. She starts to blush, and almost goes quiet, but then speaks up, if only loud enough for her to be heard by the two people nearest her.

“Could somebody put holes in these ears?” Heath speaks all sudden like. “I mean I got all this jewelry and its pretty an all … ”

Daria smiles momentarily. “I’ll pierce them. I pierced Kevin and Jynx.”

Kevin smiles. “She did a good job, too. Of course, I haven’t had anything in them since before the storm.”

Blake walks back to the truck and gets some jewelry out of the stash of stuff looted from Vegas. He also takes up some rubbing alcohol from the first aid kit while Daria pulls out what turns out to be a rather well vested sewing kit kept in her pack in the truck. She smiles almost wickedly as she sits down across from Heath, examining Heath’s ears. Heath has the kind of earlobes that don’t hang or protrude. Combined with her cute little nose, she’s almost edible to Daria.

There is an uncomfortable moment when Daria pretends to get lost in Heath’s eyes, and giggles coyly. Heath looks away until an uncertain bit of hot pressure in her chest settles, her eyes drifting toward the various rings of metal that Blake has taken the time to lay out from thin to thick in front of Heath. They are all gages that can be started with, and Heath, for reasons that might be obvious to some, chooses the thickest gage presented to her. Blake pours some alcohol in a cap and drops the rings in. They are the kind of ring that form a partial circle, so that each side of the piercing has to be capped by inset scewpoints. Heath has chosen caps that will cause her semicircles to end in conical spikes.

ChoCho leans over everything, very curious about what he sees. Daria is washing her hands, and the rings are sitting in the alcohol, where they remain as Daria puts on purple gloves. Daria rubs Heath’s ears with some kind of lotion that he is unfamiliar with, but smells of lavender. She has a series of sharp leather needles each curved like a hook, shining silver in the small flood light, and she chooses a matching pair slightly larger in diameter than the piercing Heath has chosen, and sets them in the small bowl with the alcohol. Heath is shaking when she sees the needle, and ChoCho feels something for her. It isn’t sympathy, because she is choosing this. It isn’t empathy because he has never had his ears pierced. He’s trying to place this odd feeling when Daria’s dirty mind shifts his mood entirely.

“You know,” she starts seductively, “when I pierced Jynx and Kevin’s ears, they traded something for it.” Daria says quietly. “It is only tradition that you should trade something as well.”

Jynx growls something incoherent, while Kevin sounds shocked. “Daria — ” He starts, sounding ashamed, if not of her, then for her.

Responding to this admonishment, Daria smiles even more deeply. “Oh,” she says gently, “I was only going to ask for a kiss — ”

Jynx starts to grumble something even more cryptic than before, sounding like an angry chimpanzee imitating a growling wolf.

” — On the cheek, of course.”

In response Heath kisses both of Daria’s cheeks and sits quietly, eyes set on Daria, waiting. Daria wipes down the first needle with a sterile piece of gauze dipped in alcohol, freshly opened. She smiles kindly, never taking her eyes from Heath’s.

“Now sit still sugar. This might sting a little.” Daria says.

Daria’s hand moves quickly, and she leaves the needle in, doing the same to the other ear. In a matter of seconds she’s pushed both of the piercings into place, and screwed in the caps. Heath’s ears are puffy, but she hasn’t made a sound. Jynx lets Heath look at herself in the mirror, and Heath starts smiling. Heath looks at her ears from each side of her face, and straight on, her smile growing the more she looks.

“Now somebody will need to wash your ears every day.” Daria says, intending to set the tone so she can assume that responsibility.

“I’ll be washing her ears for her until they heal.” Blake signs adamantly, Joe repeating on instinct what is obvious to everybody.

Rather than say anything in response, Daria smiles deviously. Whatever Daria’s plans are, and however she thinks they are unfolding, ChoCho knows they are not going in the direction she has planned. He is also certain, with Blake acting as Heath’s over protective father, Daria’s plans will always be kept in check.

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