After Trash

Zhea~ Year 7839

In a junkyard after dark, Elise loses one part and finds another.. 20pp. Rated G. Short Story. medical science fiction, romantic science fiction

ASIN: B002IPHBNY File Size: 47 KB (Kindle Edition - July 22, 2009)

After Trash - Short Story Kindle Edition

Excerpt. © Dannis Cole. All rights reserved.

As the ramp unfolded, the sharp warning beep made him grab his head. Second beep, he fainted. I struggled to hold onto his head, but we fell on the ramp just as it lowered into place.

“Oh, no! Let me help.” Quickly, the driver took Kimmer off me and dragged him into a front seat. “Are you—oh, there you are. Where you going?”

I sat beside him and held his head on my lap. “Friends From Space. It’s 222 Wiggins Street. You know, by that new 80’s disco restaurant—“

“Yeah. Why there? Don’t you think he needs to go to the hospital? I can call 911—“

“Nope, they’ll just wave up Grady Hospital, and they don’t treat Zheien unless they work someplace that has insurance. Friends From Space is a small slave rescue outfit with a good Zheien healer. They treat everybody. I’ve brought ‘em Zheien before. One was a trader. They helped him get his ship back.”

“Be careful. Those places change hands a lot.”

My arms ached from holding him on the seat. This route took a lot of turns and none of the roads were straight. But, I finally saw the corner with the disco and rang the bell.

Our driver helped me get Kimmer off the bus. “Son, can you walk?”

He smiled, but his head stayed on my shoulder. “Eae.”

We ambled up the sidewalk. I shivered again. Not even dawn yet. In the same strip mall with the disco was a former thrift store. Friends From Space had a hand-painted sign with an alien landscape in deep blue and bright orange. Kimmer looked up at it.

“Here we are, finally!” I helped him up the ramp to the glass doors. Knocked.

Slowly, a man came to the door. “Oh, it’s Elise! Let me help you with him, if he’s not scared of me.”

“Perry! You look diff. New hair style?”

He laughed. “Glasses.”

Kimmer shivered when he reached for him. “Nae! Please, nae!”

“I’ll get a wheelchair. Hey, Asha!” By the door, from behind a partition, he brought one out, with lots of padding. “See if he’ll sit in this. Whoops, Ba, you should be sleeping—“

Another Zheien rubbed his head as he wandered out to stand in front of Kimmer. “Ki, help me!” He cried.

Kimmer reached for him, but his hand swung down at the shoulder. “I am—in—jured.”

The Zheien helped him sit in the wheelchair. Kimmer pulled him into his lap. “Healer Asha helped me, but I frighten here! So many injured!” He sobbed.

Perry wheeled them very slowly to the back.

A disheveled Asha ran to us. His eyes turned dark blue. “Ba, this man isn’t able to hold you. Let Perry take—“

“Ki is my friend! Please—“

“All right, Ba. Lie on this cot, and I’ll let you stay. You need a lot of rest before you walk much.” Gently, he eased Ba from Kimmer’s lap to the flimsy cot. Made sure Ba laid still before he let go.

Concrete floor under us with battered tile. Then, he turned to Kimmer. “Will you lie on a cot? I think you’re too injured to sit up.”

“His name’s Kimmer—“

“Kimmer. I am Asha, Healer of Prov One, and I do not wish to know anything. All I want is to give you healing. Can you give me your hand?”

Kimmer whimpered, but he held out his good hand. Asha hummed, and healed several deep cuts across it. Slowly, he relaxed. His eyes drifted shut.

“You’re overexhausted, Kimmer. Just moving you to a cot so you may rest. I have ea fae for these injuries. Does your head ache?”

He sighed. “Always.”

“Always, even before you got hurt?”

“Eae. Old injuries.”

Tenderly, Asha slid his arms under Kimmer’s and pulled him up. Sat him on the flimsy cot and steadied it with his knee. The cot’s aluminum frame bent. “Perry, another bad one.”

Perry slid that one out of the way and put another in its place. Helped Asha lay Kimmer on it.

“I am a bad one?” Kimmer groaned.

“Not you, Kimmer. The cot bent. Do not move much, or this cot will make you fall. I wish we had soft mattresses! Sometimes people donate ‘em, but they get smelly fast. Here’s a soft pillow for your head.” He reached behind the cots to a cabinet, pulled the bottom drawer open, and yanked a plastic-covered pillow out. Put it under Kimmer’s head. Then he pulled up a camp stool and felt Kimmer’s forehead. Hummed; the deep cut down his face vanished. So did all the bruises and scratches.

Kimmer sighed.

“Oh, I hate to see Zheien come in like this. My son, before you sleep, tell me what happened to you.”

He moaned. “A meeting—who was it?”

“I don’t care about names. Did he give you something? Did you get sick? How did they get you?”

“I felt drunken. Fostok. They drank fostok, and one spilled his flask.”

“Did he spill it on you?”

Kimmer held out his sore hand. Asha hummed, and healed it. Then, he worked on Kimmer’s feet. Wiped sweat off his face. “I can’t do much more for you, my son. What else did they give you? Did they try to read your mind?”

He shook all over. “Eae. But, they stopped. Then, the lady gave me peridah. I nae slept.”

“That wasn’t peridah. Did you try to sit up?”

“I could nae move. Days. She stop bring-ing food two days past. Men drop me in sharp. Elise. Pulled sharp off me. Four bahef.”

Asha wiped tears off his face. “I see it, my son. Elise, you saved him. Let me see your hands—“

“You need to help him—“

“Now, Elise.”

I held out both grimy hands. Red and black streaks. Blood dripped on the floor. I looked back, and I’d left a trail. “Oh, no!”

“Don’t worry. Let me heal this.” A hum here and there, and the red vanished. I still had dirty hands. I looked down my dress. My beautiful red dress, my hose, my red leather pumps, all of it had torn places and black grease. “Oh, don’t cry, Elise!” Asha waved again.

I now had a clean body with very bruised arms wearing a pretty deep blue dress. And, white tennis shoes. “Thanks, Asha.” I blubbered.

“Gerry’s a slopfah. He should’ve pulled that stuff off Kimmer, not a beautiful lady like you.”

I nodded.

Asha got out some herbs. “Kimmer, I want to give you some nesfa. Will you take a leaf?”

Kimmer’s body tensed. “Let me—wake—“

“You have to sleep. They gave you perifah. You haven’t slept enough—“

“Had wak—ing sleep—“

“That’s not restful sleep. Your head is hurt. If you don’t sleep, you’ll have more damage.”

“Nae herbs.” He whimpered.

Asha put his hands on his knees and leaned. Sighed. “Elise, he’s not like the others. They were scared, but too far gone not to accept me as their healer. Kimmer, he’s scared of me. If a Zheien won’t take herbs and you force him, he dies anyway. Can you stay here? I’m sorry I can’t offer you a soft bed—“

I cried. “I can’t stay! I gotta work tomorrow—well—today—in two hours.”

“Where?”

“KenCo Demolition. I work dispatch.”

Asha’s blue eyes turned even darker. “Be honest. Do you like working there?”

I cried.

“Listen to me. Every week you’re bringing me a somebody you found near a work site or in a friend’s work site. You never smile any more. You’re thinner than you were. Ever since you got mixed up with Gerry and got that job—“

“Asha, I have to work—“

“You can make the same amount working here, and none of these fellas will bother you. If anybody gets rude with you, I’ll set him straight.” Asha held my hands. “And, it’s 30 hours a week. No lost sleep, outings to pick up heavy equip that a woman shouldn’t have to handle, or errands to take supplies to remote places with vulgar men. Dispatch is supposed to be radio work, not girl Friday slopmach. A healer knows what a body can stand. You see any people your age at that place doing what you’re expected to do?”

Couldn’t argue with that. Asha pulled up a cot and bodily moved me into it. Gave me a pillow and blanket. Then, waved for modest pajamas. I smiled.

Kimmer snored next to me. “Kimmer, here’s a leaf of nesfa. Look next to you. Elise stays.”

His eyes barely opened, and he let Asha feed him three leaves, after frequent checks to make sure he really needed that much. Gently, Asha pushed my cot up against Kimmer’s, and put our hands together. Then, Kimmer finally went limp.

I slept most of the day, then tried to get up and got sick.

Asha came off a nearby cot. Waved for hygiene. “Habis maif, Elise!”

Kimmer cried loudly. His friend did, too.

“It’s all right.” I shivered so hard my teeth chattered. With a feeble wave, I got my dinner-for-2 to come up. “Eat, Kimmer. I can’t. Give your friend some.”

Asha held out a little stem with leaves on it. “Chew this. It’ll settle your stomach.”

“I’m not Elshar—“

“I studied Earthan Healing at Sghan Mas! A lot of our herbs work better on Earthans. Try it. This is salisch. It doesn’t make you sleepy or give you dry mouth like most of the drugs doctors give

you.”

Kimmer whimpered. I forced a smile. “Asha’s my friend. I trust him, I’m just—I never got sick so he did healing on me, that’s all.” Quickly, I took the vine and chewed it. Asha hummed as I

swallowed. “How’s it work that fast?”

“Zheien healing.”

“Yeah, and I’m purple—“

“I’m serious, Elise. Lie still and let me see you.” Gently, he put his fingers across my forehead. I felt as if he stuck me with hot pokers.

“Asha! Come quick!”

He sighed and smoothed my hair. “Sleep. I’ll write progs.”

I couldn’t sleep. It hurt to move. Someone cried on my other side; the new one.