Дэймон Найт - Orbit 13

And they is all drinking beer-a and punch-a, and sitting on rows and rows and rows of benches, piled high like a mountain, and all going in a big circle, round a little park. And in the park is a bunch a tommies in white leggies, and they shoulders maked huge, with maybe pillows in they tunics, which was red or white, and like potties on they heads. And they is throwing around a little bit of a ball and they is running and a-kicking and a-punching and a-hitting of each other, and Jonsy said how each side are trying to steal the ballsy for theyself, and them as manages gets lots of points, but them as don’t gets demerits. And that we was favoring the red tunics, but he didn’t say why.

But then one of the white tunic tommies getted ahold of the ball, and started quicking along with it, up into the crowd, trying to get it out of the ballsy park. But some folks in they seats was trying to stop him and catch him and throw the ball back, while other folks was trying to stop them , and pretty soon there were a lot of fighting and yelling and folks was a-beating and a-stomping on each others.

And I getted kind of scaredy, but Jonsy laughed and said this were the funsy part and no one never getted too hurt, and besides it were headhi and pretty soon he were a-beating on some folks sitting near us, and they was a-beating back on him and I were hystering and trying to hide under the bench. . Then someone managed to throw the ball back into the park, and the tommies was fighting by theyselves, somemore. And folks was watching and petting they sore places. And then, someone getted the ball again and folks was fighting somemore. And then, no one knowed where the ball were and so folks was running all around and into the park and a-grabbing and a-beating of each other and they was yelling and screaming and it doedn’t seem so funsy to me. And Jonsy were gone someplace, a-fighting with the rest. And some old daddy failed back and stumbled over my legs, which I couldn’t get all a way under the bench, and it were real cold and dirty under, so I started to hyster real loud and lots of other folks was hystering too.

And then a loud buzzerbell ringed and a voice said, from the singalong, “The reds has taken the ballsy. I repeats, the reds has taken the ballsy. Go back to your benches, everyone. The reds has taken the ballsy. The game is over. Go back to your benches. The reds has taken the ballsy.”

And so on, while folks was sitting down again. And some was hystering happy, and some was unhappy cause they was all mangly or cause the reds winned all the points.

And I were worrying about Jonsy finding me again, but then I seed his lovey-face and it were all grunchy and blubby, and his clothes was all mangly, but he were all upper cause his side winned. And he helped me out from under the bench and said, “Weren’t that jolly-fine?”

And I said, “Headhi,” cause I were so glad to see him again.

And he said, “Its jolly-fine you thinks so, cause lots queenies too scaredy of the ballsy.” And he gived my hand another squeeze.

For sure hearing him say that maked me feel sugarsweet, and I doedn’t even care, that my tunic and leggies was all torn and dirty and there were a grunchy on my ankle.

On the way back to the rapid, Jonsy putted his arm around my shoulder again, real super-tight, and his lovey-body were even warmer now cause of all the fighting and sweating, and he were breathing hard.

The rapid was super-crowded, cause of every going home from the ballsy. Folks was a-pushing and a-shoving, and lots was still hystering from behing hurt or cause they side had loosed. But the rapid-daddy said to quiet down, or we’d all get demerits. And there was no seats and we was packed standing, tight as could be, but we doedn’t mind, cause it gived Jonsy a chance to hug me hard.

Then a weirdy thing happened. The singalong were playing “Old Man Moses,” and it getted to the place where it says, “He climbed up the mountain.” And the singalong getted stuck there, and it keeped singing, “He climbed up the mountain, he climbed up the mountain.”

And for a while, no one gived it no juice, and we just keeped singing. “He climbed up the mountain, he climbed up the mountain.”

And then some brainsy folks noticed and they starts to hyster and yell that the rapid weren’t going nowhere and were stuck in the tunnel, and that howcome the singalong were stuck.

And other folks was hystering again, too, but the rapid-daddy yelled real loud that he would take our numbers for demerits, sure, if we doedn’t quit.

So soonly all was back to singing, “He climbed up the mountain, he climbed up the mountain, he climbed up the mountain, he climbed up the mountain.”

And we keeped on singing it for a super-long time, and most folks was kind of downer about it, but not me and Jonsy. We just gleamed and gleamed at each other, and no one noticed how he haved both his arms around me, real tight.

And then, finally, the rapid gived a big jerk, and moved along again. And we getted to sing the next words of the song, “To chitter with Godsy, what gived him all the rules, so we wouldn’t get demerits.” And so on.

And the rapid-daddy gived us all passes for being late. When we getted off at the Powell Street stop, there were a tommy proper from the Real Food League. He were reading a newsy-bill about how eating food-a makes folks dumdum and ruins they reflexes so they eyes don’t blink right, and they can’t make babies, and sometimes they forgets how to breathe! This were making me feel real downer, but then Jonsy start to chitter with him.

“Howcome you knows this?” he asked the proper.

“Cause I is a brainsy, and gets to hear about it in school, and I doesn’t like to see folks brains getting rotted.”

“Well, what can we eat if we doesn’t eat food-a?”

“We can eat real food, like in the oldy days.”

“Where would we get the real food?”

“We gots to grow it in the parks.”

“But how would we get to the parks without tickets, and how would folks know how to do the growing?”

“We gotta learn how again!”

“But how we gonna do that? And what is we gonna eat in the meantime?”

“I guess we’d eat food-a.”

“Well, that what I’s doing right now, so howcome I should do all this bothering? I doesn’t think you is very brainsy at all!”

And then the proper getted real mad, and telled Jonsy he were dumdum, and his brain were already rotted. And then Jonsy gived him a big grunchy in the face and said his brain were rotted, too. And then we runned away real fast, before someone seed us, and gotted us demerits for fighting. And I telled Jonsy he were the most brainsy tommy I never meeted.

And he said, “Yeah, that’s howcome I wanna get in the army, cause I is too brainsy to sit around the commune all a time.”

And I said how I were sure he could pass the test. We seed somemore propers, from the Mother Mary commune, but we was too dozy to chitter with them. And we seed lots of freakies, laying around in the street, sleeping. I never beed out so late to see it before, even though the commune-mommy all a time tell us how we’s so lucky our parents getted enough points to have us in a commune when we growed up, and how there aren’t room for lots of folks what gots to sleep in the streets, and gots to stand in long linies for tiny bits of food-a with no flavor at all!

Some of them freakies waked up and tried to grab us, asking if we haved any food-a to give them, or any grass. But we telled them “No,” and they goed away, cause they knowed it were true. But a couple of tommy freaks tried to pooch me, in a nasty way, and I were glad Jonsy were there, cause he gived them a kick, and they goed away.

It were after lights-out when we getted back to the commune, and we haved to bang super-loud at the door. While we was waiting to get letted in, Jonsy putted his both arms round me and pulled me super-close to him and kissed my curlies and said, “You is a sugarsweet queeny.”