Social Psychology: reading creative fiction; The Righting 9

The Righting

1. Jellin kicked first, his square-toed boot striking Wallace in the side. Then Konnor. Then Sturgent. Wallace didn’t cry or even grimace in pain. Finally, Frackal’s kick elicited a soft yelp. And still, Wallace stared ahead vacantly, as if he wasn’t lying in the Cube’s central corridor, scrub bucket spilled at his side. It was as if he had left his body.
2. Wallace, please don’t make this worse, I silently pleaded, hoping we still shared our old telepathy. But instead, he half rose and sneered at us Westsiders. “Is that the best you’ve got?” he challenged.
3. Sturgent lunged, but I was able to hold him back. “Just wait a minute, Sturgent,” I said. “Let him go, I’m sure he’s sorry for spilling the trash in your room.”
4. “He did it on purpose, to get back at us just because he’s got such a chip on his shoulder, ” said Jellin. “He walks around with an attitude, like he’s too good for the Cube. You know him, Ramcheck. Tell him his life will be much better when he complies with the rules.”
5. “Wallace, just say you’re sorry. Everything will get better for you if you just fall in line,” I attempted lamely.
6. “Easy for a Westsider to say,” Wallace said. He grabbed his sopping rag from the floor and flung it at my feet. Dirty water splashed all over my just-polished shoes.
7. The other Westsiders rallied around me.
8. “Don’t let him get away with that,” Konnor snarled.
9. “Yeah, what are you going to do?” challenged Sturgent.
10. My mind reeling, I leaned over Wallace and he finally met my eyes with his.
11. I had known that face my whole life. About a year before, Wallace and I had come up to the Cube together, just days after our 15th birthdays. We were selected for inclusion into the Central Government’s grand design for a well-oiled future, coined as the Great Change. Us poor scraps from the Shallows!
12. We spent the first week of training bunking with 66 other Initiates. There was barely any time to absorb what was happening or to reminisce about our old lives in the Shallows, so filled were our days. There were hours of physical trials, a battery of mental acuity tests, and endless lectures. Despite the exhaustion, we were thrilled to be there—to be part of the Great Change. We had told ourselves over and over that we’d be happy to take any station the Central Government had for us.
13. The Righting Ceremony came at the end of the week. Each Initiate, dressed in white, lined up in front of the Q Class Superiors. Superior Esper clanged a great bronze gong to signal the culmination of the event. Then Superior Mitter went down the row with a small wooden barrel, pausing so each Initiate could draw a folded square of paper from within.
14. Sweat soaked the back of the linen tunic I wore. Superior Esper sounded the gong again and we all unsealed our fates. Among the Initiates, there were cheers and groans and swallowed sobs. My head dizzied with elation. I had made it to the west side of the Cube! I would be given the best training and personal quarters the Central Government had to offer. I would be groomed to become a Superior and to one day rise to the highest ranks of the Central Government. Immediately, I turned to find Wallace, sure that we’d be ascending together.
15. His smarting eyes said it all. He would be stationed at the bottom rung, subjected to a life serving the likes of me and the other 33 lucky ones while receiving minimal education. As we parted that night, I swore we would always stay friends, tight as we had been when we spent our days—inside the swamps between the Cube and the Shallows—turning over every mossy stone.
16. Of course, maintaining our bond became much too difficult after our lives had drastically diverged. My westside quarters had ample provisions and were bathed in light. On the eastside of the Cube, Wallace lived with sickly greenish-gray lighting and meager sustenance. I could feel his hatred for me whenever we crossed in the corridors. But it wasn’t my fault—he knew what we were in for! The Central Government had made no promises, and we knew that coming in.
17. The dinner hour bell sounded, snapping me back to the present. I looked around at the Westsiders and down at Wallace. There was no good reason that I wasn’t down there with him. Suddenly, what I had to do became crystal clear.
18. I offered Wallace a hand to help him to his feet.
19. The Westsiders looked at me with anger.
20. “He’ll never learn his place like that!” cried Frackal.
21. “Leave it alone,” I countered. “It’s over. Now go to dinner. I’ll meet you there.”
22. The Westsiders stood stock-still until a RoboGuard sped in our direction. “Dinner’s at 1700 hours. No crowd-gathering in the hallways,” it intoned. They finally scattered.
23. Wallace picked up his bucket and rags, stooped with sadness.
24. “They’re not going to let up. Life will get only worse for me and probably you too,” he said.
25. With a fierceness I didn’t know I had, I grabbed him by a shoulder.
26. “No, it’s not, Wallace, I promise you this: We are going to get out of here together. Nothing is worth this misery.”
27. Quickly, we bent our heads together and hatched a plan. Once we made it back to the swamps, they’d never find us.

Practice question