Chapter 11

The next few days went by without much discussion between Mist and Rain. Most non-school days, they would go out into the woods and walk around, but it had rained on Saturday, and the ground was still muddy on Sunday, so Rain had declined Mist’s invitation. It hadn’t deterred the nature-lover, though, so Rain had spent the day studying and reading in her room. Thoughts of the points Mist had brought up recently about the way the Motherhood viewed men kept coming back to her, leaving an unsettled feeling in her gut.
Monday morning, she went to class as she always did. She had an hour of her history course before she’d report to Mother Swan’s anatomy class. Having the same Mother for all of her medical classes was helpful because she got to know each of her students so well. Rain had thought it was great only having one instructor until she considered that also meant she’d only hear one person’s interpretation of everything. But then… didn’t all of the Mothers tend to think alike? She’d never heard any of them say anything contrary or disagreeable with what the others said, and she certainly never heard any of them say anything controversial. The only women Rain heard speaking divisive thoughts were her own roommate and her lab partner.
It made her question if the Mothers ever allowed themselves to think about the sort of topics Rain and Cloud had brought up. Or did they all just accept what they’d been taught, blindly? Were they like the animals the Slaughterers brought through the lines at the processing plant on the far side of town? She’d never been there, but Rain had always heard that job was reserved for men who weren’t strong enough to be Constructors, were too smart to be Cleaners, and too ugly to be Inseminators, but not disabled or mentally deficient enough as children for the Bridge. Rain began to question why men were so closely scrutinized. It hadn’t ever occurred to her before that it didn’t seem fair, but sitting in her history class, her mind went to places it never had before. Listening to Mother Indigo discuss how women in the last century invented glastic and a number of other products womankind would never have had if it weren’t for the Claiming, Rain started to wonder what might’ve happened instead. What if men were also capable of coming up with inventions, solutions, and ideas? Hadn’t they been before the Claiming? Why were they limiting the advancement of humanity to the thinking of just one of the two sexes? Perhaps men thought differently than women and would’ve had different ideas--not necessarily better, but not worse either. Were there men in other countries coming up with inventions and new ideas? They weren’t allowed to learn about other countries, and the Mothers always eluded to the fact that the rest of the world was uncivilized, compared to Michaelanburg. Rain couldn’t help the thoughts circling her head, and she was thankful to have made it through the class without Mother Indigo calling on her and finding out she was no longer paying attention to her lecture.
Walking out of the classroom, Rain bumped shoulders with a tall, dark haired girl named Owl. “Sorry,” she muttered.
“It’s okay. But are you?” Owl asked. She wore her hair in two braids, like a little girl, even though Rain thought she was twenty-two, a year older than she was. Most of the girls in her classes were since she’d been advanced. “You look like you’re deep in thought.”
“Oh, yeah, just… thinking about the lecture.”
Owl raised an eyebrow at her but didn’t ask anything specific. “Well, I hope you do well on the quiz tomorrow. I think I only caught about half of what she said, she was telling us so much all at once.”
“Right?” Rain snickered in agreement, like she thought the same thing, even though she hadn’t been paying careful enough attention to note how much information there was. And she’d had no idea there was to be a quiz the next day. She’d have to go home and study.
The hallway was crowded with girls headed all different directions. Only the upper students had classes here, so most of these women were as old or older than Rain, but a lot of them sounded like little children, giggling and carrying on in groups as they made their way to class. She wondered why she’d never noticed before. It was as if they just went through their day, from one class to the next, doing what they were told. Eating, sleeping, studying when it was expected of them. They listened to everything the Mothers told them. They believed whatever the Mothers said.
At the next corner, Owl waved. “Well, see you Wednesday.”
“Yep. See you later.” Rain found a small smile for the girl, thinking she was nice and maybe they should talk more often, and watched her turn down the hall that led to the Communications wing.
Rain hurried up to the next corner and went left to Medical, trying to press her thoughts from earlier aside. She could probably skate through a quiz in history class and do okay, and even if she did poorly, she had a good enough grade in that class that it wouldn’t knock her average down too much. But Medical was a different case. She would need this information in the future in order to do her job. She couldn’t fake that.
Cloud was already there when Rain walked in. She smiled and gave her a little wave, and Cloud did the same. This class wasn’t a lab, only an hour of lecture, and then Rain would have the rest of the day off, which was good because she’d need it to make up for what she’d missed in history.
“Hi,” Rain said, sitting down in her seat in front of Cloud. “How was your math class?”
“Yuck.” Cloud stuck out her tongue. “We’re having a quiz this week.”
“Great.” Rain had the same class, only on Tuesdays and Thursdays instead of Mondays and Wednesdays, like Cloud, and at a different time. So she’d have to be ready to listen tomorrow. She couldn’t screw up quizzes two days in a row. Rain got her tablet out of her bag and then turned around so she’d be ready when Mother Swan started, but the instructor was still at her desk, looking over her notes.
“I wonder what the lecture will be on today,” Cloud said in her ear. “I kind of hope we are done with fetuses for a while. All I’ve dreamt about since the lab is crying babies.”
Rain turned halfway to look at her. “Really? Crying in the incubators? Or out?”
“Both,” Cloud said with a shrug. “But mostly… on the Bridge.”
Rain wrinkled up her nose and turned back around. “That sounds… awful.”
“It has been,” Cloud admitted. She leaned in even closer to Rain’s ear and whispered. “I know they say it doesn’t hurt, and the fetuses don’t know any better. But I’m not sure I think that’s true.”
A lump formed in Rain’s throat as Mother Swan stood and approached the door so she could lock out anyone who wasn’t in her seat when the bell finished ringing in about twenty seconds. Images of tiny babies screaming their red, scrunched up faces off came to mind, as Motherly arms carried them across a Bridge shrouded in clouds. Rain had no idea what the Bridge really looked like, but that’s how she’d always pictured it. She’d never allowed herself to picture what was on the other side, but now that Cloud had shared her secret, Rain couldn’t help but think it wasn’t good. Not good at all.