She always liked that before.
That was when he realized, something was different.
As he used a cloth to bathe her, he noticed the little ball-belly was soft and near flat. He growled with anger, understanding quickly what had happened.
They have stolen our baby!
And that meant only one thing. It had been one of the dreaded girl babies.
But, I like girls! They aren't bad! I want my baby!
The thought of the tiny thing dying, brought tears coursing down his whiskered cheeks.
And they have hurt Lydia bad, too!
As he sponged her, the water kept running away crimson with blood. No matter how often he let the liquid run between her legs, the stream came away red.
He finally pulled her out of the shower fall, got a large clean towel, and tied it, diaper like around her hips. He got a new laundered dress, and clothed her, wrapped her in a blanket, and carried her up to the waterfall campsite.
Lydia listlessly lay on their mat, quietly sobbing, inconsolable.
Da resolved, he wasn't going back to work until Lydia was well again. The whole thing angered him, hurt him near as much as his mother-woman.
How could they do this? I will get our baby back! Just as soon...as Loni comes.
Trouble was, he didn't dare leave Lydia alone, to go look for him.
Loni will take care of Lydia, while I go rescue the girl baby...
He knew they didn't kill the aborted infants right away. Some they kept in incubators; others even survived to grow bigger.
Da knew where they kept them, to study why they were different. And he had seen what some of the overseers did to girl babies...
They do bad things...they play grownup with them...
Da knew that was wrong!
I have to get the wee thing back. If only Loni would come home...fix Lydia, like he always fixes my hurts. Then...I can go rescue belly-ball.
****
Lydia just wanted to die; she wanted this nightmare all to end. Mother would say, she was being punished, for being promiscuous.
She would be wrong! I've died, and gone to hell!
She had known right from the first, the minute the water started rising around the plane; there was no ever going back to her husband and first baby.
When Da offered comfort, she couldn't resist, and what followed was only natural.
She and Da had been so happy; he was like a small child treasuring the gift they had been given. He waited expectantly the arrival of this new born.
And with one stroke of their knife, the heartless physicians had ended all that. They hadn't asked her if that was what she wanted. The monitor had shown a girl, and apparently, that was a death sentence for this her second child.
Even on the table, she had bled profusely, almost as if her body was weeping after what it had lost. It wouldn't have been so bad if it had been a miscarriage, but to have them deliberately cut away her second baby...the loss was beyond endurance.
Her first husband and baby were lost to her forever, and now...a second little one, as well.
There was no reason to live. Let the blood ebb her life away. She didn't care...and would not fight!
Chapter 25
As the days passed, Gem near forgot there had ever been a brighter, pleasanter side to life. Loni's memory receded, and Galar became her focus; her only source of provision.
When finally, he took the chains off, she simply lay at his feet, resigned, too weak to fight, any mental abilities useless.
As Galar worked above her, Gem had very little view of her world, and not much awareness, of sound either. To her, the constant drone of the buzz saw was the essence of her new world.
She learned to feel an almost empathic sympathy for the crippled worker, as he struggled, hobbling about, on his crutch and one leg, dividing the various cuts of meat.
It was seldom he was given a human carcass; most were goat, pig, and sometimes a whole cow. These last, he had to kill himself...she later learned, this meat was for the elite, the Physicians who worked away, and returned on leave. They were used to better fare than human.
Galar would confine his livestock between iron stanchions, the head stationary, and when it finally stopped its struggle, he slammed it between the eyes with a gun-like ramrod. The animal immediately dropped, like a sack of limp grain; then the man quickly slit its throat, raising the carcass with a winch, catching the blood, of which he himself partook, before he passed it on to be used to make a blood sausage at another department.
He offered Gem this warm drink, but she refused to indulge.
After the creature was drained, came the skinning, and quartering, which went slow, with only one man, as Galar's twin remained absent. Gem soon realized why he needed a helper. It was messy, and unwieldly, especially for one so handicapped.
At last, Gem softened toward him, and out of pity, began to help him. At first, Galar was impatient, and down right rough with her, but despite this, with slight memory of any other treatment, Gem began to form an attitude toward him, that was little short of attachment.
The work became much easier, and Galar began to change, also. He constantly prattled on to himself, not expecting her to answer; as she had realized, so did he, that they couldn't talk to each other.
He explained, how he wasn't allowed to eat this privileged food, nor was he fortunate, like those who worked the gardens. He was restricted, only allowed human meat, no vegetables or fruit, except on special occasions, when he was permitted to go to the cafeteria. Sometimes, he supplemented his diet by catching rodents that ran through the gutters.
Galar began to cheat
