Not of my planting

Apr 25, 2025

Article voiceover

1×

0:00

-5:09

It was weird, but Jellia was nervous. Her en-drek was gone and there was this new ska who had replaced Iloh, and she didn’t know what he liked to eat and she wanted him to like what she made. But Mother had given her this fish and this fruit that she wanted her to test, so she had been forced to make a recipe with both! A new recipe.

But Jellia was very hopeful that it had worked out. She had sautéed a bunch of vegetables and added in the fruit, all chopped, and sautéed it down to… not really a mush but pretty soft. And she had really fussed with the spices, including that orange nut, which had a rather gross name but which tasted really good, and she thought it had worked.

Then she had broiled the fish, broken into pieces, and she brought the grain, the fish, and the sauce to the table.

Bother, no one was there. “Mother! Ska-drek! Dinner!!” she called out.

“Coming Darling,” Mother said, and, carrying Bobbin, she and ska-drek Ben’nin came down the stairs. Oh, good.

“I experimented with that new fruit, and the new fish,” Jellia said, as they sat down. “I hope it turned out… I think it did, I tasted it and I think it did.”

“Well, I hope so,” Mother said, ladling the sauce on top of the fish which she had put on top of the grain. When they were alone she didn’t eat that way, but she was very careful to eat in a very Libertas way when her en-drek was present. “It certainly looks good. Serve Bobbin, please,” she said, and Jellia hurriedly put some rice, fish, and sauce in his bowl… which he plunged his hands into but didn’t seem eager to start actually eating.

“Well, my daughter,” her new ska-drek said, and she turned to him. He didn’t sound at all upset, but he did sound serious, so she put on her serious face.

“Yes, ska-drek?”

“We have very good news for you,” he said, putting his hand on Mother’s stomach.

“Already?!” she asked, shocked. “Three days?”

He laughed. “It is not a kesh of my planting, Daughter, but is of Iloh. We estimate it is already four decas along.”

“Oh… oh, well, what will that mean for… for you?”

“For me?”

“Will ska-drek Illoh come back until it is weaned or…”

“Daughter!” he snapped. “Well, I suppose this is an unusual enough custom but you have an assignment, I will snip your teachers. You must study your code better than that! An en-drek can never come back. Even in the rural areas they enforce this. There is one area where, when all intervening en-drek-u are dead, they will allow it but… but only rarely happens and most of the planet does not allow it. No, I will continue.”

“Then… then how long is the contract?”

“Ah, I see your question. Our contract will continue through the birth and weaning of this kesh, then through the birth and weaning of the next kesh.”

“Oh, oh, I see. Oh, my, I forgot. Congratulations, Mother,” she said, coming over and kissing both of them.

She waddled back to her place, her mind spinning. She had almost reconciled herself to the system and now it threw her a twist like this!

“When is Gregory returning, Daughter?”

“Oh, his internship took him far out of town, Mother. Iloh got him an internship with a new-growth areas along the hills oh, far from here. But he will have tomorrow morning off and I will have school off. Well, I will have to finish it tonight.”

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

The Bobtails and the Cousins

The Bobtails go to France

and

No Ordinary School

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