Marigold by Heather Manheim (best books for 8th graders .TXT) 📕

for them. And finally, the older wives took care of the tigers. The tigers had cages that had vast grasslands with sleeping caves and pools for them to swim in. He mentioned that Everett had an “animal,” too, although he never paid attention to his crash of rhinoceroses; he used handlers.

“Oh,” Namaguchi added, “there are so-called ‘Den Moms.’ Not wives, so they just have the customary last names; yours will be Cox. Be careful of her. Supportive of President Everett and the government, very much under brain control. You can’t trust her nor count on her for any help.” He continued to tell her that the Den Moms had a separate bedroom and a small bathroom within the harem room. Their apartment was not as nicely appointed as the area for the wives, and Den Moms were in charge of logging weight and ensuring each girl got enough water and food per day, was not complaining or starting fights, or spreading rumors. They kept calendars for medical appointments, public appearances, and dinners with President Everett. “Dillion is the Den Mom in the older wives’ room. She may be more helpful; she’s more sympathetic than Cox. However, she’s still loyal to President Everett and under the brain control.”

“There is one room where the wives might meet and run into each other—the gymnasium with every workout machine you could fathom. There are treadmills, weight balls, even a swimming pool, and an area to do dance and aerial arts, where instructors come in to give classes to the ladies.” However, Namaguchi did not think that Ruby went there often. “Besides, President Everett will do whatever he can to keep you two apart. He doesn’t want you to find Ruby or knowing the story of you two. Everett had only planned on marrying you after your mom passed, after all. That would have been the ultimate way to keep his secret. The circumstance we are creating will force it on him, but he’s not going to hand it all to you on a silver platter.”

Davis was focusing on meeting her mom and all that Ringo and Namaguchi told her. It was such a whirlwind, though. They inundated her with information, and they had given her so much data on varying topics so fast. As if they needed to shove the last twenty-nine years of information into Davis as quickly as possible. Therefore, she wasn’t listening to Ringo or Namaguchi as closely as she should be. She hadn’t meant to be rude, but this was a lot they were giving her. So, Davis didn’t quite hear everything Namaguchi told her about the outfits that the wives wore. Something about them being more elaborate than Davis typically wore. She knew that the wives wore a dark cream tunic and jodhpurs in public and, in the back of her head, figured that was maybe what Namaguchi meant.

Ringo seemed to pick up that Davis was overwhelmed by the amount of information delivered so quickly. “Look, we don’t expect you to remember this all. It’s just to give you a reference point of where you’re going and what to expect. You can’t be upset there. Because when you get there, it will behoove us all that Everett gets poisoned quickly. Hopefully, before your wedding, even. He’ll likely have dinner with you the night before; if you can slip it into his food or wine then, that will be perfect. Then you don’t have to go through the process of marrying him, either.”

“I understand. I just don’t want to let anyone down. And I do want to meet my mom. That is important to me.” Davis seemed close to tears.

“Absolutely,” said Namaguchi. “I think that the best way to get to your mom will be to sneak out at night. I can draw you a map of how to get to the older wives’ room. You’ll have to figure out a way to wake up your mom without her screaming; that’ll be the trick. But we can noodle that out together.”

~

The next few days felt even more like a chaotic whirlwind to Davis. Coming up with all the plans to make sure she could meet her mom, that she snuck the bee pollen in without getting caught, and that everyone believed her story. She was glad she would get quarantined for two weeks before having to go to the Palace. She would have, as Namaguchi put it, “wife lessons.” That would give her a little bit better idea of what to expect. And then, before she knew it, it was the night before departure and the start of yet another new chapter in her life.

September 24, 2056 –

Departures

To say Davis awoke early was an understatement because, once again, she didn’t sleep at all. She closed her eyes now and then, but tossing and turning had haunted her all night. So, when 5 a.m. rolled around, she wasn’t exactly feeling rested but was anxious to get started and move onto the next step in this journey. Davis went down to the restroom and enjoyed one last hot shower. She didn’t have time to make it as leisurely as she would have liked but made sure it was more than nine minutes because she knew it was back to timed showers again after this.

There wasn’t much for Davis to pack. She pondered taking the copy of The Great Gatsby, but she didn’t want to raise any flags and make it look like she had something she shouldn’t. That made her think, and she checked the hidden pocket cleverly sewn into the seam and lining of her knapsack for the vial of bee venom. It was about the five hundredth time Davis had checked that pocket, and the vial was still there, as it had been the first time and every other time too. The darn thing made her nervous, though, and also, probably for the five hundredth time, she wished there was a different way to deal with all this.