Five hundred
years from now, the necessity of population control and a preference for male
children has resulted in a shortage of women. Down from the Appalachian
Mountains, comes Tory White, an unusually tall and muscular young woman. Unable
to read, she is deceived into signing a lifelong contract as a concubine.
Entirely unsuitable for the position, she soon finds herself slotted for the
‘beds,’ where few girls live beyond a month. Yet, her honest and forthright
manner charms the head of security into saving her and sets her upon a path in
which she becomes the ‘heart’ of the world and the savior of man’s future.
Excerpt
Finally, Tory’s
time at the Gentleman’s club was coming to an end, and she couldn’t wait to
leave. She was sick and tired of being called ‘monster’ and ‘freak’ by the
hateful girls. The only person who’d been nice to her was Link Taylor. Him,
she’d miss. He was unquestionably the nicest and smartest man she’d ever met.
But it was more than that. He really seemed to understand her, and he never
made fun of her ignorance or her largeness.
The truth was,
she had never met a person she liked more, except for her Grams. And she had
feelings for Link Taylor that she’d never had for Grams. She wondered if she
might not be in love.
People made a big
deal about it in the mountains. Whenever a girl had to marry someone they
didn’t want, they’d claim themselves in love with someone else. And sometimes
it worked. May Hatchet had declared herself in love with Jeffrey Summers, and
at first there was a big fuss because she had been promised to Charlie Smith.
But Charlie admitted he loved Anna Summers, and the families all got together
and sorted out the couples, so that Charlie Smith and May Hatchet became
brother and sister-in-law instead of husband and wife.
Everyone had been
much amused and pleased by the whole matter, believing the marriages to be true
‘love matches.’ A few years later when Charlie and May were found in bed
together, the Summers family wasn’t nearly as understanding. Charlie was forced
to leave the mountain, and Anna, being his wife, had to go as well, even though
she hadn’t done nothing wrong, and Charlie didn’t even like her anymore.
Tory had always
felt bad for Anna.
“What has you
looking so pensive this morning?” Link asked as he sat down beside her on the
grassy hill overlooking the lake.
“Love.” She
laughed at his look of concern. She explained the nonsense of the
Summers/Hatchet/Smith affair. When she stopped talking, he still looked
confused.
“People get
married in the mountains?”
“Of course. How
else would they keep the farms going? There’s man’s work, woman’s work, and
children’s work. And you need all three parts to keep a farm running.”
“Why did you
leave there?” he asked. His voice sounded strained as if he was upset that
she’d left the mountains. He could probably hear in her words how much she
missed her old way of life.
“Well, none of
the boys wanted me for their wife. They were willing to take me on their farms,
but not respectfully. So, when Leroy come around looking for a partner to sing
duets in city clubs, Momma said I should go, for there weren’t nothing for me
in the mountains but a future of shame and misery.”
“And you think
this will be better?” he asked in surprise.
“No,” she
laughed. “This ain’t at all what I thought I’d be doing. I was supposed to be
singing for my living, but I ain’t done nothing here but get myself in trouble
every time I turn around. I’ll be so happy when this week is out, and I can
leave here!” She then paused. “Except, I’ll miss you terribly, Link. I ain’t
never met a person ’cept for Gram that I like more.”
She had expected
him to smile, for surely, he understood how big a compliment that was. But he
didn’t smile. In fact, he looked most upset.
“What do you mean
leave?”
“I mean pack my
bags and go,” she said. “I’m sorry to sound so ungrateful, because you’ve been
awfully nice to me. But beyond you, there isn’t one thing I like about this
place. I will be very glad when our contract is up, and Leroy and I can leave.
And just so you don’t think I’m some stupid-headed female, the moment Leroy
hits the other side of that gate and I get my half of the money, I’m going on
my own. Leroy only cares about himself and will sell me out any chance he gets.
I see that now, and he’s not pulling this shit on me a second time.”
Link seemed more
upset than ever. “Tory, only Leroy is leaving in a week. Your contract is for
life.”
“For life? Whose
life? Mine? That can’t be! Who would
hire a musician for life?”
He shook his head
as if trying to make sense of her. “They didn’t hire you as a musician, Tory.
You signed on as a concubine.”
“A what?”
“A concubine.”
She’d never heard
the word before. “Exactly what does a concubine do?”
He stared at her
a moment and then he sighed. “It won’t work. We tape the contract signings to
prove the girls are not under duress when they agree to become a concubine. I
watched you read that contract word for word, myself. You cannot claim you did
not know you were signing on as a concubine.”
She sighed. “Can
I trust you with a secret?”
He nodded and
reached out and took her hand.
“I can’t read.
Girls aren’t taught in the mountains. But Leroy says it’s against the law not
to teach girls, and if I told anyone I couldn’t read, they’d go up in the
mountains and kill everybody for breaking the law. So, I did like he told me,
and looked at each and every block of print for a moment before going on to the
next block.”
“Which is why you
smiled when you finished it,” he said, as if he finally understood something
that had been bothering him.
LINKS
D2D
About
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Liza
O’Connor
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