Weeds by Joy Barnes (uplifting books for women txt) 📕

Part One:

The day went by as expected, there were no surprises. The sky was the usual shade of gray, the outfits chosen for us were the usual black and white, school was the same as always, work went about as usual, and really nothing changed much. Tomorrow is Saturday, so I will do a full day’s work. Nothing will change tomorrow either, I suppose. Lights go out at 9:30, so I have seven minuets to bathe. I run the scentless shampoo through my uniformly brown hair, rinse the day’s dirt off my body, and turn off the water. I am dressed in my nightgown and in bed just as the lights shut themselves off. Who really needs change anyway?


“Good morning, Miss Parim.” I greet my employer with a respectful nod. She smiles at me; a cold smile that does not linger, nor travel any farther than her thin lips.
“Good morning, Dayna. Work hard today.” I nod to her, punch myself in and make my way to my bus. I will eventually take over driving my bus, but I am only seventeen now. That job will be mine when I turn twenty-one. For now I work with Miss Carter, checking passes and announcing stops. Miss Carter is not as cold as Miss Parim, but she is just as formal. No, wait, she is even more formal. Rather than a nod, she expects a bow at the waist.
“Good morning, Miss Carter.” I clap my arms to my side and give her the courtesy bow she is expecting. She smiles.
“Good morning to you, Dayna. You get a full day’s work today, so let’s get started.” She says. I nod and ascend the bus steps. The doors swing closed behind me and we take off, the buss’s engine purring healthily.
We drive route three, and it is our job to get people from home to work and back, because the only vehicles here are company owned. Our first stop is at 7:45 am on Miner Street, to pick up the miners for work. Following that we pick up the breakfast workers and take them to the mines at 9:00 am sharp so that the miners can have their breakfast. We eat with them. At exactly 9:15 we load the breakfast workers up and take them back to their kitchens.
At 9:30 am we drive down postal street, picking up the postal workers. We drop them off at their office at 10:00 am. Then we drive half an hour each way to pick up the lunch workers, and at 11:00 we drop them off at the kitchen. At 11:10 we are on Shopkeeper Street, picking up the vendors and taking them to their stores. They open their doors up at 12:30.
We head back to the kitchen and take the lunch workers to the mines at 12:00. We eat with them again. At 12:15 we take the cooks back to the kitchens. At 12:30 it is time for a job related lecture. This lasts until 1:30. From 1:30 to 4:30 it is up and down each domestic row, bringing the people of each street into the shops to get supplies for tonight’s dinner. From 4:30 to 5:00 we are given leave to fetch our own groceries for the night. Each night’s dinner is chosen for us, and we are given the supplies needed. Tonight is roast beef, spinach and boiled potatoes. We get what we need quickly and move on. From 5:10 to 5:45 we take the shopkeepers home. Then it's back to the mines to take the miners home. Then the bus is returned to the depot, and I walk to my house. It's only a mile from the depot.
I eat dinner at 6:30. Then I do my weekend homework, assignment one. Then a shower. Then bed. Nothing changes.
The next day follows exactly the same pattern, and then it is Monday again, and I have classes.
I walk through the door of my classroom, which is identical to all the others, and am greeted by my teacher, Mr. Graham. Without a nod or greeting he hands me my papers from last week. As expected, all perfect scores. Just like every other kid in the class. We spend from 9:00 in the morning until 12:00 doing school work. Then fifteen minuets for lunch, and off to work. I walk quickly and manage to get to the depot right on time at 12:40. Miss Parim isn't there to greet me. I swipe my card anyway, thinking how strange it was that Miss Parim isn't here. She's always here. My mind is racing, and my heart is pounding. What was happening. Why wasn't she there? As I round the corner into the large parking lot of the depot, I am already completely freaking out. I don't understand any of this. What is this pounding in my chest? What is this feeling threatening to engulf me and transform my brain into a useless puddle of chaos? I walk more quickly, I need to be on my bus with Miss Carter, running our route. I need normal. Now.
She's not there. I can feel my mind begin to melt into a puddle. I look around and then smile. I have found Miss Parim. My smile dies instantly as I see who she is with. Two men, taller than uniform and dressed in colors I do not recognize are speaking with Miss Parim and several others. A beast sits at their feet, covered in fur, a long tongue hanging from one side of it's mouth, large teeth exposed. I've never seen a creature like that before. To be truthful, I didn't even know there were living things outside of humans. And I've certainly never seen those colors before.
I am shaking now. Why am I shaking? That feeling is still there, and my mind is more rapidly becoming a puddle of chaos. I try to hang on to my senses. The creature notices me. It makes a noise I do not recognize.
“Quit yer barking, mutt!” One of the men yells, then he notices me. He lifts the corners of his mouth in a strange sort of smile. I bow in greeting, my knees buckling a bit. His smile widens as he reaches for the piece of rope around the beast's neck. Miss Parim notices what he is doing, and follows his gaze. Her eyes widen at the sight of me. What is that expression?
“Run Dayna!” There is a note in her voice I do not recognize, a strange note that makes me sure there is not time for questions. I turn and run as fast as I can for the gate of the depot. I hear the creature following me, still making that awful sound the man had called barking. My mind shuts down. The only thing I can think of is putting one foot in front of the other as quickly as possible. When I next look up, I am in a part of the country I have only heard of in class. The reproduction district. This is where all the mothers live. I wonder which one is mine.
The barking noise reaches my ears again, the beast is catching up. I stop thinking and start running. I look up as a massive shadow rises above me. A large wall. No one has told me about this. Why is this here? There is a hole in the wall. I bolt through it without thinking, hiding behind the structure of the wall, praying the beast wouldn't find me. I hear it sniffing a lot. Briefly, I wonder what it could be doing.
“Hey!” A voice sounds in front of me. I realize that the creature behind me may be the least of my worries, as I look forward to see another too tall man, sitting on the back of a massive furry beast. My mind goes completely black. I feel my back sliding down the stone of the wall, then, nothing.

I can still feel the coolness of the wall behind my back, but now something soft and warm is behind my head. I open my eyes. What must be the massive beast's nose is so close it is almost all I can see. I let out a yelp and back up against the wall even further.
“Oh, come on, Fay, don't scare her!” I turn my head towards the sound of a voice. The man is still here, but he has gotten off of the massive beast's back. He pats the animal's neck, and pushes it's nose away from me. “Please forgive him. Fay is harmless, but way too affectionate. I'm Shannon Mills. Nice to meet you.” He holds his hand out to me. What kind of name is Shannon for a guy, I wonder as I shake it. The soft object behind my head is an article of clothing, a sweater of some sort, obviously his. I hand it back to him.
“Dayna. My name is Dayna Cross. Pleased to meet you.” I say. The beast snorts. “What is that?” I ask, gesturing to this “Fay” creature. He makes a strange sort of noise and smiles really widely. I've never seen anyone smile so widely.
“Fay? Well, he's a horse, naturally.” Shannon answers.
“And what, pray tell, is a horse?” I ask. He makes that weird noise again. It's not aggressive, it's a happy sound, I think. And it makes me smile.
“Sheesh, they expect perfect grades out of you, but they don't teach you nothing.” He mutters.
“Who is they?” I demand.
“Not important. What is important is how you managed to escape. How'd you do it? And why?” He looks at me expectantly. His eyes are an unusual color, but it's a nice one. I wonder what it's called.
“Escape? What did I escape from?”
“The city.” He says. “Who told you there was a world beyond the city?”
“I left the city? I didn't know there was anything but the city.” Now I'm stunned. He is too.
“Well, why are you here, then?” He asks.
“I was being chased by that loud beast and there was this wall and I saw a hole in it and I hid there.” I say.
“What kind of beast were you being chased by.”
“The loud hairy one.”