“Well, my love, I have some news for you.”
Everyone at the table looked at En-drek, who smiled. “I have spoken to your supervisors and Ska-drek and have arranged for us to have a deca off. I have reserved a place for us in a mountain resort. Normally I would have thought of a beach resort, but as you spend a good part of most days on the beach already I didn’t think that best.”
Jellia stared at him, her mouth open. He what? “When, umm, when do we leave?”
“This evening. We will skim down to the docks, and take the overnight liner to Gradeen. From there, a train into the mountains.”
Her mouth dropped open. How many times had she seen the overnight liner tied up and dreamed of going on it? But… with him? Away from Ska-drek-a? Just the two of them?
She shook her head. She was being silly. She spent a lot of time just with him. Often whole several days with Ska-drek-a and Ska-drek gone.
Oh, this was so beautiful! The boat had all sorts of decks and railings all around it, with big open rooms inside, all set up with tables and buffet.
“Oh, this is so nice!” Jellia said, leaning against her en-drek. Oh, this was so nice of him… even if it did make her nervous.
The boat started to move, and the breeze hit me. She so loved this breeze!
“Good morning, Ska-u,” the loudspeaker said. “Welcome to Gradeen Lines. Our first point of interest will be the fish docks and and fishing fleet of North Dock…
It took a couple minutes before we got there, but it was a marvelous sight. The huge dock complex, with the processor factories, and the boatc coming and going. “I’m surprised tht they aren’t all out or in,” I said. He was still cuddling me from behind.
“Not with modern fishing,” he said. “It’s a twenty four hour process. They go out, fill up, and come back all day and night.”
WE were an hour out when a bell rang and my en-drek took my hand. “Breakfast,” he said, and led me inside. “We can eat at any time, but if you go when the bell rings you get the most company.”
Oh. We went through the buffet line, and I was paying a lot of attention to what was being served. I had never seen half of these dishes! I would have to ask the cooks how they made them…
“Come, my love,” en-drek said, pulling me away and steering me to a table… with a bunch of old folks! Well, she thought, blushing internally, they were about en-drek’s age. But certainly not people she was used to dealing with… except at home with en-drek. They were all older than Iloh. Ugh.
“Are these seats taken,” En-drek asked. Which Jellia hoped they would say yes but, of course, “Why no, have a seat. Who is this pretty young thing,” the old ska asked him. Yuck!
So they sat down and Jellia started eating and listening. Boring. All sorts of stuff about stock price movement and all.
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!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.
Thanks again, God Bless, Soli Deo gloria,
Von