“Finally,” Sela said, exasperated with all the waiting. “Mom is still broken so she isn’t coming with us.”
“Broken? Sela, since when are you reverting to baby speech?” Marina asked her.
“What else can I call it? Seriously.”
“She’s got a point,” Joseph broke in. He took out his clean set of coveralls from the bag left by the hotel laundry service. He held out the bag for Sela so she could get her things out. They were all checking out today. She took it and went around the partition, leaving her parents some semblance of privacy.
“You can come if you want. We’ll get porters,” he offered as he toweled off his hair.
Marina snorted. “That would be more chits than we’ll spend for the entire vacation. No, forget about that. I don’t need to see it that bad. If you can, find one of those artists that draw the view with colors. Find a nice one and just bring me that, if you like.” She thought for a moment and added, “But only if the cost is reasonable.”
Joseph hung the towel to dry on the rod their privacy curtain hung from and then hopped onto the bed and bumped his cold wet head into her neck, eliciting a shocked combination of giggle and squeal. He laughed at her but it faded quickly and he asked, “How are you this morning. Any better?”
“I’m doing much better. Sore, but better. I’ve got my pills and I’ll be fit soon enough.”
“Well,” he said, giving her a quick peck on the cheek and standing up to dress, “I think a picture is a good idea anyway. A memento. I’ll find something nice for the compartment. Are you still going to the Memoriam?”
She nodded. “I am. I’ve actually got a room there waiting.”
He wiggled his eyebrows at her. “So you’ll be sleeping with Historians tonight?”
She made a sound of disgust and heard a remarkably similar sound emanate from the area beyond the partition.
“I’m only joking!” Joseph exclaimed, his eyes round with mock innocence.
“Anyway, I’ll get to spend some time piddling around the area and see the kind of artifacts they are looking for.” At his expression, Marina explained, “If I know what they already have, then I’ll know when I see something that looks new.”
“Ah, I see.” The look on his face told Marina he didn’t really see at all but was letting it slide.
“Anyway, I’ll enjoy it. Getting a personal tour and all of that. I’ll do some shopping at a couple of places and then go to your mother’s. It will be fine,” she promised him.
“Hmm,” he murmured, not entirely convinced and certainly not pleased to have a family vacation become a split adventure.
“Kiss me, you idiot, and then go get your daughter and wife some breakfast. Tea, too.”
He kissed her, taking the opportunity for a squeeze which she giggled at, and left the room. Marina sighed in contentment and considered whether it was time to get up and take a shower and more pills. Her pain was significantly less and she wanted to keep it that way.
Sela poked her head around the partition and said, “You guys are just disgusting, you know. I’m standing right over here.” She held out her arm as if to demonstrate that it was merely an arm length or two.
Joseph returned balancing a meal tray piled high with food and two cups of tea. Hot corn muffins, fruit wedges, vegetable spread and jam made Marina’s mouth water. She decided breakfast was more important than a shower for the moment. She wasn’t leaving at the same time as her family so there was no real reason to rush. She got out of bed and fished the vials of pills from the coveralls she had draped over a chair the night before. From each of the vials she took one pill and washed them down with a little water. The family met at the table and they feasted.
Later, she saw her family out the door and watched as they strode away. Before they exited the double doors from the hotel lobby to the landing and the stairs beyond, both turned and waved one last time. Sela blew her a kiss and she returned it. Her daughter turned around smartly, her hair shining and neat with her braids coiled around her head and her part ruler straight. She was so obviously eager for the day’s adventures that it gave Marina a warm feeling inside. She didn’t go back into her room until the big doors shut behind them just in case they looked back again.
It was strangely still in the room once they were gone. It wasn’t like when they left the compartment for work on the rare day that Marina was staying home. Then it was still home and it was only blessedly quiet and ready for her to have some alone time. This was a different kind of empty. The room seemed almost forlorn. Marina shook off the feeling and made ready for her own departure.
A shower so long it could only be called decadent left the room steamy and moist, but it revived her and made her muscles feel better. She packed her things after putting on her spare coveralls and then searched the room for odds and ends that might have been left behind. She found hair pins left by Sela and the vegetables left on the shelf by Joseph and she tucked those away.
Joseph had lightened her load by taking her tunic, pants and slippers as well as her spare canteen and a few other items. The package of metal objects she would have liked to have given him, and he did offer, but she was responsible for those items and didn’t feel she could let them go, even to her husband. It weighed almost as much as all the things he had relieved her of but was only a fraction of the size. After she checked them out of the hotel, using the chits she had gotten from Joseph and some of her own, she made her way to the landing and immediately wanted to go back and stay another night in the hotel.
There was plenty of traffic since another conference was in session and the stairs in this area were busy, if not actually crowded. She hated the idea of slowing others down. She took a steadying breath and then made her way toward the stairs, waiting for a decent gap in the downward traffic. She could feel the pull in her foot as it bent during each step but it wasn’t bad. She kept her pace slow and ignored, as best she could, those who grumbled when they passed her. When she heard the call, “Passing down!”, she squeezed to the side as much as possible and avoided eye contact. It was embarrassing.
She dutifully exited at the third level down and sat on the bench near the wall for a few minutes. It was boring even with people to watch and it would take a long time to get all the way to 72 if she kept it up. She was tempted but she did exactly as she was directed to and when she finally reached Level 70 she stopped for a late lunch at the deputy station. No one was there except the dispatcher and he was busy so she had no one to talk to and pass the time.
Deputies didn’t just enforce actual laws. They also helped with other matters that just needed a third party. Noise complaints were most common on residential floors where children often used hallways for their complicated made-up games. Reports of messes were also common and those could range from leak reports that deputies would then record and report, to trails of debris left unwittingly by someone passing by. Medical reports, accident reports and a whole host of things that would be considered outside the norm came first to the deputies. It kept them very busy, indeed.
Two children, perhaps eleven or twelve years old, were brought into the station for fighting while she rested. One sported the beginnings of a respectable black eye while the other had a split lip that made it seem as if she were pouting rather dramatically on one side of her mouth. Both were crying miserably. Marina made her exit as the deputy began lecturing them on the myriad of ways such fighting broke the tenets.
Once on Level 72, she stood to the side of those waiting their turn for entry into the Memoriam. It wasn’t always this busy but there were only so many people the Memoriam spaces could safely accommodate and still be open enough so that everyone could see the exhibits to full effect. When the historian shadow that was at the door dutifully handing out number plaques caught her eye, Marina held up the slip of paper Greta had given her. The shadow waved her over and accepted the paper, flicking it open and reading while still keeping an eye out for any newcomers to the line.