“Everything will be okay. Even the things we can't control. I'll make sure you're okay.” Maybe it was his tone or that this was the one moment of serious conversation we ever shared. Still, I felt happy, hopeful for the future, and ashamed to be so happy all at the same time.
How could I be happy today? There was something genuinely wrong with me. Jason's serious tone didn't last long. The ground would be red-hot for the next hour. We jogged to the edge of the block where two thick concrete slabs met. The captured heat from the day melted most common items.
Jason mixed a blue and a red crayon with a piece of an old candle he liberated from under the kitchen sink. Once the items turned to liquid, we took sticks and painted the resulting purple goop on our hands and arms. It was hot and burned a little, but the sting helped affirm I was still alive even though it appeared death was hovering all around me.
We talked about Jason's plans and all the legal work he and his grandfather had been doing to prepare for his life ceremony. It sounded like they traveled to Old San Francisco quite often, and I couldn't help but imagine riding on the train and stopping at a shop or two before coming home. These trips weren't for pleasure, but an escape to someplace new sounded beautiful.
“Taking a trip to the city sounds like fun, but all this crap s so morbidly horrible and unnatural.” The truth escaped my mind in a winded rush. Things I wanted and things I didn't want seemed to be fighting for space in my mind.
“Death is entirely natural. If you think about it, I'm the definition of unnatural. I was born from two sets of DNA collected from two families last heirs after both of them died.
“My parents may never have met if they both lived. My father died almost one year to the day before my mother. Tell me that's not freaky. None of the arrangements made for us are natural.” Jason peeled the purple slime off his forearms. The red welts left behind resembled the tribal cave paintings I had recently seen in an art class documentary.
“I'm my family's secret shame,” I confessed quietly. “I'm sure you notice that I'm their third child?” I questioned, though the answer was obvious.
“Uh yeah, you are younger than Beryl and Hess.”
“Well, thankfully, I'm fifteen years younger than Hess. I was born with a heart mummer and was slated to be terminated. According to my sister, my mother and grandmother were inconsolable.
“They planned to smuggle me out of the hospital and give me to a Red woman who would hide me until the heart problem killed me or resolved itself,” I explained.
“Oh shit, that's some illegal, black market plan they hatched. Your mom is kind of scary.” Jason declared. “I imagine she would go total annihilation if pushed too far.” Jason added a red metal cube to the makeshift crucible.
“Hess gave his status as a chronological one to me. The hospital had to allow ninety days for me to recover. As a chrono three, they weren't required to waste more than five days of medical resources.
“That’s why Hess is Labor class and works on the Tree when he could be doing anything else. Karine is the name of a superhero from one of the comics he loved.”
“Well, remind me to thank him. Kinda sounds like neither one of us should be here,” Jason noted the facts with a reverence I rarely hear pass his lips.
“Yeah, but I don't think Hess will be happy with my Domestic path choice. I don't know what he is going to say. He's sacrificed for me, and I don't want to disappoint him. I don't want to disappoint anyone.” Jason brushed a stray piece of hair from my cheek and kissed me on the mouth. It was a closed-lip kiss, light, and lingering. I wasn't quite sure what it meant.
“You realize this is the first time you've kissed me on the mouth.” I folded my arms and waited for Jason's response.
“I'm sorry I got overwhelmed. You just told me you could have died, and I would never have met you. You can't be mad at me for kissing you after something like that?”
“No, I'm not mad. Today and tomorrow are not good days to commemorate happy moments. Maybe a few days from now, you might want to kiss me again, and that day can be the first time you kissed me,” I suggested.
“I don't understand. But I will be happy to kiss you for the first time again, a few days from now,” Jason repeated my words as if he were reciting a particularly odd math problem.
“Great, thanks for indulging me.” I wiped a stray clump of melted purple goo from his cheek.
“You know I don't care if your brother or your entire family is unhappy with your path choice. You're happy with your choice, that’s the important part. Plus, it happens to be the path I'm choosing, so we can choose this path separately today and then choose it together in a few days?” Jason questioned.
“See you do understand me, that was perfect. What other paths would you have chosen?” I asked, swirling the melted mix with a scrap of metal.
“Protection, I guess, but you don't get to choose a spouse for five years with the protection path, so that won't work for me. You would be taken in five years. I can't imagine you don't already have several solid proposals. Your birthday is only a few weeks away.”
“Nope, no proposals today. I'm sure because there aren't any dead men sprawled on the front entry rocks. I guess my father could've dragged them all to the back, seeing how the house is full of guests tonight.”
