Hard For You
Jellia stood on the front porch, watching the skimmer take ska-drek away. Her heart was breaking and she didn’t even have Gregory here to comfort her.
“Why, Darling, you are crying!” Mother said, as the two went into the house, the skimmer gone.
She clung to Ska-drek-a, “Oh, Mother, why did he have to go?”
“But, Darling, we discussed this. The en-drek leaves when the kesh is weaned, and we all agreed it was time for Bobbin to stop nursing.”
“Oh, but Mother, I will miss him.”
“Well, I am surprised. After all of the physical chastisement he gave you… and you have always said that the whole ‘en-drek’ thing was a silly… no, your words were ‘barbaric custom’. And now you wish to make it even worse by having the man hang around even longer? He did his job, and got his pleasrue out of it, and now he should be off.”
“Well, that was before I really got to know ska-drek!”
“No, that’s not true. I remember the night I told you I was pregnant. You had quite a bit to say then.”
“Oh, maybe I did,” she said, clutching her own stomach, “but, oh, Mother.”
Ska-drek-a let her cling for a while longer, then said, “Get lunch on, Darling. We only have two hours… less now… before this Ben’nin Korvau comes, and I will need a few minutes to prepare myself.”
“And we will need to meet him on the front step,” Jellia agreed. Just then Bobbin wailed from upstairs.
“Bother. I was hoping he would wait a few more minutes. Get lunch on, Daughter,”
Lunch was soon on: soup and bread to dip in it. And Mother and Bobbin were soon back and soon everyone was busy eating.
“Now, Darling, you need to calm yourself before Ben’nin comes. I must confess I am shocked by your attitude. You act like last-ska-drek should have just stayed on forever. Surely you understand how awful that would have been.”
“No, no, I don’t. We were… we were comfortable. Even Gregory was comfortable with him.”
“Well, that is neither here nor there. I don’t see how it is hard for two men to be comfortable. Not that Gregory is really what we would have called a man back on Ephemera…”
“I don’t care about Ephemera,” Jellia said, and her ska-drek-a stared at her in shock.
“Why, Darling, what are you saying? Certainly this job has been very good for me, and I am now reconciled to having a couple more kesh-u, however barbaric it seems. But surely you don’t see any value in this system?”
“I think it is wonderful!” Jellia said, her voice quite a bit louder than she would have wished. “Well, parts of it anyway,” she admitted, remembering how they had started this conversation. “I think it is wonderful having a man in the house…”
“And to have him decide when and how you should bed? And what you can wear? And eat? And physically chastise you at the slightest infraction?”
“They aren’t slight!” Jellia said, her voice rising. “They are violations of command! He never chastises me for anything trivial…” the she stopped, appalled. “I don’t believe he physically chastised you for anything trivial, either!”
“No, no, Daughter. He hardly ever chastised me. I was far, far too careful for that and studied far too well. If I wasn’t careful I might have let my feelings slip and then, well, I would lose this job at least. And we are doing very, very well with this job. Better even than I thought. And it is all going on my resume for when we leave.”
Her heart plunged at that but, their contract was for at least ten years and, if Mother was doing so well she wouldn’t be eager to leave even then. “Anyway, certainly Gregory, and Iloh, and my teachers never chastise me for anything trivial, although they are allowed. But they all praise my learning and… and I think Gregory is very pleased with me.”
“Of course he is, you…” Mother flushed, and stopped. “It is harder for me, I suppose. I grew up, on Ephemera, knowing, being taught by everyone, that ‘consent’ was the most important value in the world. The men on Ephemera were very, very careful to make sure that a woman was truly ready for… for whatever they were going to do. And the very idea of an educated woman of my age being pregnant again was unthinkable.”
“Oh, Mother, this must be hard for you.”
“I hadn’t realized that it wasn’t hard for you. Iloh was always telling me that you were doing well, and that kesh-u and youth were adaptable, but I always thought you were just… I know you only came here because of me. My job. My career.”
Jellia looked at the clock. “Oh, Mother, we need to finish. I want to have everything clean by the time new-ska-drek comes.”
—
Contract Marriage
Contract marriage is an adult dystopia examining the issues of marriage. Like 1984 and Brave New World, Contract Marriage treats the relations between the sexes as a fundamental aspect of how a society is formed and, thus, how a society can go wrong.
Unlike those dystopias, Contract Marriage isn’t all horrible all of the time. The characters for the most part have a good time and get along in their society. But the issues of sexuality, of marriage or not, monogamy or not, faithfulness or not, and gender roles… keep coming up and causing tension and conflict and joy and pain.
My desire is that my readers would be thinking along with my characters about these issues and perhaps even arrive at the same place (minus the flying cars).
Thank you for reading Von’s Substack. I would love it if you commented! I love hearing from readers, especially critical comments. I would love to start more letter exchanges, so if there’s a subject you’re interested in, get writing and tag me!
Being ‘restacked’ and mentioned in ‘notes’ is very important for lesser-known stacks so… feel free! I’m semi-retired and write as a ministry (and for fun) so you don’t need to feel guilty you aren’t paying for anything, but if you enjoy my writing (even if you dramatically disagree with it), then restack, please! Or mention me in one of your own posts.
If I don’t write you back it is almost certain that I didn’t see it, so please feel free to comment and link to your post. Or if you just think I would be interested in your post!
If you get lost, check out my ‘Table of Contents’ which I try to keep up to date.
Von also writes as ‘Arthur Yeomans’. Under that name he writes children’s, YA, and adult fiction from a Christian perspective. His books are published by Wise Path Books and include the children’s/YA books:
The Bobtails meet the Preacher’s Kid
and
As well as GK Chesterton’s wonderful book, “What’s Wrong with the World”, for which ‘Arthur’ wrote most of the annotations.
Arthur also has a substack, and a website. On the substack you can listen to some of his published books. Free.
Thanks again, God Bless, Soli Deo gloria,
Von
Other Stories
Island People’s is not my only story on Substack. I have two light dystopias, or cultural sci-fi, or one of them is military sci-fi with aliens… Science Fiction can be difficult to categorise :)
Article 17: Intro
She was pretty, popular, snobby, and a planetary governor’s daughter. He was the son of shopkeepers, a social misfit, and a decorated hero. She thought she was there to dance. He had other ideas.
And a fantasy-esque series of morality tales:
Prologue IP0
Island People is a young adult fantasy book centring on a young prince. The book starts with his kidnapping and follows his adventures as he not only escapes from his kidnapper but gains critical allies and friends.