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

close he came to being killed. I’ll probably get Namaguchi’s position, come to think of it. But, I digress, back to our relationship. I’m still willing. Why not? Most of the wives have some kind of side thing going on with somebody here.”

“You…want…to have a…relationship with me?”

“Well, whatever, that’s not the important part. So, what do you say, ol’ sport? You in or out?”

“Out. Most definitely out,” Davis said with displeasure and loathing.

“Okay, you’re going to be executed then. I will make sure President Everett knows this plan of yours. I’ll keep it secret from everybody else at first so I can arrange for Ringo to ‘meet’ you. A Security Patrol will then trail us so the bunker can be found and destroyed; everyone there will also face execution. The trail between Canada and here will most certainly be closed. And your mom, Ruby, well, I’ll say she was in on it too.”

After a few minutes of thought and puzzling out her bleak options, Davis said, “Well, I suppose.” Davis stammered as she tried to find the right words. “I mean, you haven’t given me a real choice, have you?” The anger was rising in Davis’s voice. “I’m under duress. I’m not happy about this. And, I hope you fail, even if it means I go down with you! But, to protect my mom and the others, I guess I’m in.”

October 9, 2056 –

Late Afternoon

Davis didn’t sleep after she got back to her bed. She crawled in and felt sick, then lay there all night trying to figure out how to get out of this predicament.

She got ready for her wedding in silent sorrow and regret. She took a shower, her allotted time, and then ate a few nibbles of her nutrition biscuit and took some small sips of water before the wives went to their exercise class. She thought for a moment that perhaps she could find Namaguchi and talk to him, but when she asked where he was, Cox told her that he was off. Brookshire had planned well.

“Why do you want him?” Cox said as she tightened the corset that would be under Davis’s wedding dress.

“I was just wondering; he came to see me in the hospital. I wanted to ask him something about that day. It’s not important.”

As Cox attended to Davis to get her ready, depression hung on Davis more heavily than her large beaded white gown, the layers of fabric almost swallowing her up. She almost wished they would. She couldn’t figure out how this could have gone so wrong, how Brookshire could have fooled everybody. She also couldn’t figure out how to solve the problem. As the last step, Cox put very high-heeled high heeled shoes on her feet. Quickly realizing she wouldn’t be able to walk in these, she asked Cox to please help her stand up and get the hang of it.

Cox was clearly not pleased to be asked this; she gave a gruff “humph” before extending her arm to help her up. Davis teetered and wobbled as she tried to find her footing. These were far tighter and more pointed than the heels she had the day before. It was almost as if someone was trying to punish her by shoes alone.

It was unfortunate that this was such a dismal day for Davis. Under normal circumstances, she would be fascinated by the beauty of her bridal preparation room. It had spotless white walls with a plush dove gray carpet. She had a beautiful chair covered in a soft pink fabric that she sat in while Cox applied makeup and styled her hair. The windows had thick, luxurious coverings the same color as the carpet. Of course, the curtains had a large golden E monogrammed in the middle, but they were still pretty. The beauty continued with an antique white mirror that Davis sat in front of while Cox attended to her. The candle holders, with their fake candles, were the same crane ones she had seen on the Palace stairwell when she first walked through. There was even a little golden capuchin monkey waiting for her when she came into the room. It was President Everett’s wedding gift to her. Too bad it’s too small to bash him over the head with, she thought.

A little bit before the ceremony started, Davis sat in this room on the side of the Palace church. Only Cox was with her, staring at her like she never hated anyone more. Right when she heard the music cue up, there was a soft knock at the door. Cox got up to open it, and Ruby was standing on the other side.

Ruby spoke first, “We are the people, and the people are we. Can I see Delilah for a moment?”

Davis held her breath, never thinking Cox would permit Ruby entrance. Luckily, Cox could not care less about her, the wedding, or anything to do with and of the wives. Davis hadn’t realized it when she met Cox, but she must just be another one in the line of cooperators looking for a way to increase her power and position, in any way that she could. Or, for the safety of the secret, Davis presumed only the upper echelons knew that Ruby was Davis’s mom. Cox must have assumed there was nothing wrong with letting a current wife talk to a future wife. It was natural to think Ruby would want to welcome Davis into the household and get her excited about her big day and the fantastic future that awaited her. However, even though Cox let Ruby into the room, she stayed put.

Ruby said somewhat harshly, “Alone, perhaps?”

Cox left, saying she would be right outside the door, and not to take long. Davis could tell she was suspicious of something but was trying to hedge her bet she’d do the right thing by granting this favor.

After she left, Ruby spoke quickly, “Dear. I remembered some things last night. Some things that made me uncomfortable.