2 Chapter 2: The Red Dress

Every day it makes me realise how changeable society has been, the change that always stretches out to me on the way back to the outskirts is remarkable. The people on the streets wear more inconspicuous garments from one residential area to the next. The languages I picked up the transition to Dead English. It's a kind of slang that we foursomes and fringe threesomes used to be among ourselves. The only thing that belonged to us alone, that we didn't have to pay for, that no one could take away from us. It was enough to work every day among the wannabes of the nation. I once asked my father why our language was different from National English. It should be mentioned that at the age of nine, I had not been exposed to much of the outside world. Dad explained to me that before we all existed, a god had created the world and the dead used English as their guiding origin language and we were lucky to still speak it. I screwed up my face and went to my mother, my father is very religious which is why he is always trying to tell us all the correct, according to him the only, version of how we came to be.

So, in order to get an honest answer, I went to my mother and asked her about it. "Well, in the old days, our country was called Great Britain, and British English was spoken there, the language you know as Dead English now. The country was made up of many nations, which over time broke away from the monarchy and became independent. With them, British English also perished and Britain became Little England. Here, in our neighbourhood, it is still spoken because it is still taught. The authorities had no money to retrain all the teachers, in my generation, there was no possibility to learn both languages. That means go back to your vocabulary and do your homework," she put a bedsheet in the laundry basket and sent me outside. I had my answer.

"Hey beautiful, are you still looking for a sponsor for the audition?" I turned around and stopped. I had been in thought, all distracted by my past. Across the street I spotted a paperboy, carrying the latest gossip rag, The Winters White, under his arm and smoking a cigarette. Smoking was commonplace here, medicine had proven that it even cured. A great breakthrough of our country, since this realisation percolated through all classes, there was a great economic boom in the smoking industry and the tobacco graphics just mushroomed. A few years ago, researchers discovered a plant that stored pure oxygen. It was called aqua folium arborist, it grows in the Andes and was discovered by Nepomuk Büchner. Cigarettes were rolled from the leaves and sold expensively, as always, here in this neighbourhood.

The one who called me kicked out the end of the stalk and stepped towards me. There were hardly any cars in our neighbourhood, those who were lucky could cycle to work, otherwise, we had to walk. Consequently, we could cross the streets without much thought. I rolled my eyes and replied: "Don't bother, I'm not interested in you paperboy, go back to your place." He smirked. "So, a loser from the loser district, I should have guessed right away, the way you walked along the streets with contempt in your eyes," he put his hands in his trouser pockets. His robe was ochre Trenker corduroy. His blouse and tie were silk. I could bet they were stolen. We may have had dress codes, but that didn't mean we didn't deal with inexpensive goods.

Once I was on the verge of grabbing a red taffeta dress from a ditch, but I left it at that. With the daily patrols, it was too dangerous for me, I didn't want to end up in prison or even be expelled from the country. "You're one to talk, you're from there too and didn't you steal your whole ensemble?" He held up his open hands: It's alright, I didn't want to disturb Mademoiselle on her rounds, I'm just doing my honest work." I found his ridiculous: "Oh you know, how honest can spreading rumours be," I pointed to the headline in The Winters White under his arm. "Nicolas the saviour of the nation, he will make a great king". , Goodbye then, I hope we won`t see us again", I turned around and stalked away, suddenly I noticed that I was holding a card in my hand. It was brown and had gold lettering on it. "Always at your service" I wrung the card and had to laugh, he had written in pencil "If you do need me, you know where to find me". I put the business card in my pocket and as I did so, my eyes fell on my wristwatch, a gift from Madame Pariese. The hands were close to one. "Oh, damn it," I cursed and ran off.

My sister Megan hung bored on the fence as I raced into the schoolyard. Completely out of breath, I tried to apologise to my sister: "Meg, I'm so sorry, there was this weird guy who stopped me. I am sorry for that my cute girl!" Out of the corner of my eye, I notice a teacher coming towards us. Wonderful, just what I needed. Meg and I both turned our heads in her direction.

The teachers at the school were just as sneaky as the Red Watch, trying to get all kinds of information through the kids, from infractions to family circumstances. Especially in an outlying district, I hated this surveillance, we were not criminals. "Miss Woodstock, you're late again, do I have to check on you at home!", Meg's teacher really is the worst scrapper there is. I speak from experience, I had her for four years too.

Mum and Dad once moved us in with our neighbours for a week when they were on holiday so they couldn't insinuate we had a flat too small for a newborn and three toddlers. Mrs Kirnmilkbaum didn't want me and Meg in her class because our names sounded too foreign. But honestly, anyone whose surname was Kirnmilkbaum wasn't pure Little English either. Meg, Train, Benjeman and I were born and raised here.

"No, Madame Kirnmilkbaum, I was just held up, the work, you know," I answered this fake snake to her face. I took Megan by the hand and left the courtyard with my head held high, letting her show up again. As we turned the corner Megan started laughing: "Oh my goodness Belle, you really have it in for everyone today." Meg was still too young to really understand the background of the Red Watch and the system, I wanted my little sister to believe that any longer. She was so innocent and sweet. She called me Belle, as everyone in my family did, it was short for Maybelle. I loved my nickname more than my whole.

I looked down at the pavement caught in the act, to find that it was very clean. Usually dirty, shabby and sometimes bloody, but today spotless, as if no street fights had taken place, no one had been stabbed, just because of a ridiculous red dress, a simple colour. The reason was the castings, the time started again, our community wanted to make a good impression. They got a grant from the royal house, the only one I noticed. Still, it wasn't quite enough and they raised taxes to be able to afford a professional street sweeper. Meg tugged at my maid's uniform: "What are you having for dinner today, I could eat a horse."

I could hear her stomach, had they taken away her sandwiches again. It tore my heart every time. I had to sigh: "I'm really sorry, but we have to pick up your brother from school first and then go shopping, I wanted to be back earlier but..." Megan smiled at me, I was so grateful to her, she knew how hard it was for me to be a surrogate parent and myself at the same time. "Belle I can wait, besides I can't imagine how a whole horse fits in with me," she replied bravely. I had to laugh slightly: "Ok, if you say so." She grinned wider and bounced on the pavement in front of me. I glanced at my wallet, yes I could forget the cinema today, but Meg and T would get a meal instead.

I was cleaning up the kitchen when the doorbell rang, I glanced at the grandfather clock, no it wasn't my parents. They were out later so it could only be Taylor and Chimney. I mentally prepared myself to cancel, I was still in my uniform. It was a very classic one in black and white.

If we weren't walking around in private and could identify ourselves on the street as being on duty, then we were allowed to wear a different colour. I put the tea towel next to the dishes and went to the door. "How do you look, is this the new desperate housewife look!", I honestly didn't expect anything else. I looked at her with my typical smile that said our evening was not going to work out, especially as I didn't want any more tonight. Tay gave me a punishing look: "No Belle, we've been talking about this for months, you're coming with me now." "Even if I wanted to, I can't, I'm broke," I sighed in dismay. Please, let me get through this quickly. "What is the name of the army did you do with it, donate it to a clothing drive or what?", Chimy's anger faded into pity, "For your siblings, man Belle, as much as I love the little ones, you have to think of yourself too."

If there was one thing I couldn't stand, it was them meddling in my family affairs. They were threesomes and not very poor, worlds collide, they didn't know the self-evidence of money and gnawing at the hunger cloth at all. "You know, I would also like to have a lot of money and go to the cinema all the time like you, I would also like to go to school, but I can't and you know that. I have obligations, I practically have to bring up my brothers and sisters myself, comfort them when they miss their mother and father, they have had to go through so much and I try everything to make them happy, even if it means spending my money on a cinema ticket. I don't want them to be robbed of their childhood like I was. But you can't understand that because you have everything because money is a matter of course for you," I slammed the door and exhaled. I had taken enough today. I was sorry for shouting at them, but I just couldn't take it any more. They would forgive me, in three days at the latest.

I slid down the door, exhausted, and stroked my dishevelled Deut. In the course of the day, a few strands had come loose and were standing slightly away from my head. Suddenly I noticed tears forming in my eyes and running down my face. I wiped the back of my hand and went back to the kitchen, before I passed out I grabbed a chocolate bar, I had earned it.

Pissed off and angry, I finished the dishes and retreated to my room, the only place I had any privacy. Train would realise he had to go to bed with Megan himself tonight. And Benjeman is lucky with the neighbour, she sometimes kept him overnight, just to give us a hand. I brushed the stockings off my legs, unclipped my hair and folded up my uniform. I crawled under my duvet and closed my eyes.

The next morning I was woken by something warm under my covers. Megan had joined me and was kicking me in my sleep. I straightened up and slipped sleepily out of bed. I couldn't really call my room a room, it used to be a storage room. But I had far more comfort than many other people in this house. I looked at the clock and was relieved, it was too early for school which meant I still had time to get ready. I got a cup from the box and filled myself with a Saft concentrate powder.

It was a substitute for food, so I could get through the whole day without going hungry. Also an invention of Nepomuk Büchner who was a German. The Third Caste swears by this product as if there were no tomorrow, "It's great for losing weight!" was written on the shelf in the supermarket, which is not true, because it nourishes you just like a normal meal. It's expensive, but it's far more economical than buying food over and over again. I took a sip and got a gag reflex. I bent over the washing up and spat the contents back out.

Why was there mint in my mixture? There was no such thing to buy, at least not in our part of the country. I felt something unpleasant sticking to my cheek and took it out. A small piece of paper lay in my open palm. I unfolded it and immediately recognised the writing.

Well, did you miss me? Meet at 10 o'clock at the Boulevard Temple, be on time.