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ALEENA

For a moment Aleena just sat there, feeling sick. What was she going to do? Her mother needed her treatments—without them the sickness in her blood would spread to the rest of her body and she would surely die! But now that her heartless stepmother had refused to live up to her end of the bargain, there was nothing she could do.

She couldn’t ask her new husband for money—it was strictly prohibited and though Bear seemed very kind, she didn’t think he would be happy about her asking for fifty thousand credits only a day into their marriage. No, she had to think of a way to raise the money herself—but how?

Immediately the image of her new breast shield popped into her mind. The gold one with jewels that Bear had bought her might cover the costs. Of course, it was wrong to sell such an expensive garment that her husband had bought for her and doing it might get her disavowed, but Aleena couldn’t think of anything else to do. She was beginning to really like and care for her new husband, but she still hadn’t known him very long. She would rather be disavowed than watch her mother die.

She went to get the new breast shield—it was still in the bag the saleslady had put it in along with the receipt of purchase. That was good—maybe she could just return it for the full amount, Aleena thought hopefully.

She took the bag and hurried out to the waiting hovercoach before she could change her mind. This was certainly going to get her into trouble with her new Kindred husband, but it was worth it to save the life of her beloved mother. And at least it should be a quick and easy transaction—she hadn’t even worn the breast shield once and it was still in its original bag. She ought to be able to get the credit for it and go straight to the Healing House so her mother could get her treatment.

At least that was what she thought . But the minute she tried to return the breast shield, there was a problem.

“I’m sorry,” the manager of the shop said, looking disdainfully at the bag containing the golden breast shield. “But we cannot possibly take this back.”

“What? But I only bought it last night!” Aleena protested. “It’s never been worn once—look, it’s still in the same bag from your shop and here’s the receipt.”

“So you bought it?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “Or did your husband buy it for you?”

“Well, he…I mean, he let me pick it out,” Aleena faltered.

“Exactly. It was your husband who bought it and only he can return it,” the manager said. “If we let you return it you might take the credit and use it to run from him. Believe me, we’ve had that happen more than once and I refuse to let it happen again.”

“I’m not trying to run from my husband—I just want…something different. Something else that’s not this ,” Aleena protested.

“Well then, if you’d like to make an exchange?—”

“No, never mind.” She took the bag back, feeling both frustrated and worried. What was she going to do now?

The only answer that came to mind was trying to pawn the golden breast shield. Of course, she probably wouldn’t get nearly what it was worth, but even if she could get half, she was sure she could convince the Healing House to give her mother another treatment.

With a resigned sigh, she took the bag with the breast shield in it and got back into the waiting hovercoach. She gave it directions for the pawn shop she and her mother had used in the past, when they gradually sold everything and anything of value in their tiny, cramped living area to pay for food and heat. It wasn’t in a very good part of the city, but she didn’t know of anywhere else that would deal with a woman who had no man at her side.

She felt nervous as she descended from the hovercoach in front of the shop and her anxiety wasn’t helped any when the mechanical voice of the coach announced that it was leaving.

“This area is suboptimal for my safety standards,” it said. “I must go.”

“But this errand will only take a few minutes!” Aleena protested. “Please don’t go—I need you to take me to the Healing House.”

“I will return if you call for me, but I cannot stay in this area,” the hovercoach said in its mechanical voice. “Goodbye.”

“All right—I’ll call you later,” Aleena said but it was already whizzing off down the street, leaving her alone in an extremely shady neighborhood.

Aleena had never liked going to the Lucky Leaf pawn shop by herself. Usually her mother was with her, which helped—two women together, especially if one was older, didn’t draw too much attention. But as a young woman alone, she would no doubt get more male eyes on her than she wanted.

She felt especially alone and vulnerable as she walked down the street, clutching the bag with the breast shield to her chest. She tried to tell herself that at least she had on new clothes and she wasn’t wearing the old shield which had allowed her nipples to poke through but still she?—

A sudden thought nearly stopped her in her tracks. Bear had forgotten to replace the nipple bands that he’d taken off her last night. Which meant that she had no way to prove that she was married and had male protection!

That realization made her feel even more anxious and alone. She almost called for a hovercoach immediately but the thought of her mother’s plight stopped her. She couldn’t just give up—she had to get the credit for her mother’s treatment!

Walking quickly, she finally got to the front door of the Lucky Leaf—it had a golden frizla leaf with five points painted in faded gold on the front—and let herself in.

Inside the shop was crowded with all kinds of junk—used multi-dusters and dented fast-cookers along with other second and third-hand appliances took up one whole wall. Another was filled with scratched and dented entertainment cubes and gaming headbands. Yet another held miscellaneous items—antiques and furniture that had been pawned after their owners died, no doubt Aleena thought with a shiver.

She walked up to the front counter. Under the scratched plasti-glass she could see necklaces and earrings, toe rings and nipple rings—all pawned in moments of desperation by their respective owners.

Behind her the bell at the door jingled and she turned her head to see a scruffy looking man in dirty clothes standing just inside the doorway. Seeing him there made Aleena nervous, but he appeared to be staring at the entertainment cubes, so she turned her head again, being careful not to meet his shifty-eyed gaze.

“Yes? How can I help you?” a familiar voice asked.

Aleena felt a small spark of relief. It was Mr. Tanz, the Lucky Leaf’s owner, just coming out of the back of the shop. She had dealt with him before, when she and her mother had pawned things.

Mr. Tanz was a tall man with rounded shoulders and long silver hair that had gone white over the years. He was rather deaf but he was also fair—he offered women who sold to him exactly half of what he would have given a man pawning the same item. In most shops, a woman was lucky to get a third, so this was considered a good deal by most of the women Aleena knew.

“Eh—now who might you be, young lady? You look awfully familiar!” he bellowed, misjudging the sound of his own voice, as people who are hard of hearing often do.

“Hello, Mr. Tanz,” Aleena said loudly. “It’s me—Aleena. I have something I’d like to pawn, please.”

“Aleena—that’s right! I haven’t seen you here in ages . And where’s your mother?” he bellowed.

“She’s sick, I’m afraid—at the House of Healing,” Aleena shouted back. “That’s why I’m here to pawn something—I need to pay for her treatment!”

“Oh, that’s sad! Sad indeed!” He nodded, the light winking off his ancient gold-rimmed oculars. “Sorry to hear it, my dear.”

“Thank you!” Aleena said loudly. “Here—this is brand new,” she added and drew out the golden breast shield.

Mr. Tanz took one look at the shield and whistled through his scattered teeth.

“Whew! And where did you get such a thing, young lady?” he demanded.

“I…my father gave it to me. As a nameday present.” Aleena felt bad lying to the old man, but she was afraid if she told him the breast shield was a present from her husband he wouldn’t let her pawn it for the same reason the manager of the shop hadn’t let her return it.

“This is some nameday present, my dear!” Mr. Tanz declared. He held up the shield and turned it this way and that. The fine golden links shimmered and the jewels picked up the light streaming in the front window and sent rainbows bouncing all around the shabby little shop.

Aleena wished that he wouldn’t show off the breast shield quite so obviously. It made her nervous that the two of them weren’t the only ones in the room. However, a quick glance over her shoulder showed that the man who had come in after her appeared to be completely engrossed in the entertainment cubes.

She turned back to Mr. Tanz and looked at him hopefully.

“What can you give me for it? It’s brand new. See? Here’s the receipt.”

She showed him the sales slip and he whistled again and shook his head.

“Well, I can’t give you that price, I’m sorry young lady,” he said. “What I can do is give you half.”

“Only half?” Aleena protested. “But that’s not nearly what it’s worth.”

“No, but it’s what I can pay,” he said firmly. “How much credit do you think I keep on hand? I’d only give a man two thirds of the price so I’m actually doing you a favor,” he added.

Aleena’s heart sank but she knew she had no choice but to accept. It was getting late and she still needed to get to the Medical Center to pay at least part of her mother’s debt and sit with her during her treatment.

“All right,” she said heavily. “I’ll take half.”

“Good girl!” Mr. Tanz broke into a snaggletooth smile and nodded. “Now just you wait here and I’ll get you the cred chips.”

He disappeared for a moment and then returned with a small velvet bag that clinked musically when he shook it.

“Here it is—I’ll count it out for you!”

“Er, that’s all right, I trust you,” Aleena said nervously, glancing behind her at the strange man again. Now he was looking at a broken fast-cooker—what would a man want with that? Men never cooked for themselves.

“Nonsense! Got to be sure the deal is fair. Now look here…” And he spilled the metallic cred chips out onto the scratched plasti-glass counter and began loudly to count.

“…twenty-five thousand credits!” he finished, some time later and then scooped the chips back into the velvet bag. “There you go, young lady! That should keep you comfortable for some time!”

Aleena started to explain again that the credit wasn’t to “keep her comfortable” but to pay for her mother’s medical debt, but it wasn’t worth trying to make the deaf old man understand. So she simply nodded and thanked Mr. Tanz.

“I’m going to call a hovercoach—can I stay in here until it comes?” she shouted.

“Oh—why of course, my dear! You stay right here. I just have to do something in the back,” he told her.

As he disappeared into the crowded back of the pawn shop again, Aleena shoved the velvet bag into an inner pocket of her skirt and nervously punched in the number of the hovercoach company that she’d been using earlier that day.

But though she’d gotten a quick response when she’d called for a coach at her palatial new home that morning, now the company was slow to respond. It took forever to even get an acknowledgement that they had received her request and even longer for them to dispatch a coach to her location.

Aleena waited nervously, watching the strange man in the shop from the corner of her eye. He still looked like he was browsing the assorted items on display, but he was slowly getting closer and closer to her. She couldn’t be sure if that was on purpose or not, but she didn’t like it a bit.

At last a hovercoach hummed up to the sidewalk outside the pawnshop. Aleena breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn’t nearly as nice as the one that had brought her here in the first place—the coach’s paint was scratched and its windows were dirty—but she didn’t care. At this point, she just wanted to get out of this shop and go to the Healing House as fast as possible.

She darted out of the shop and ran for the coach. She heard the bell over the door jingle again and from the corner of her eye she saw that the shabby man with the sharp looking eyes was right behind.

Feeling like her heart was in her throat, Aleena reached for the door latch of the coach…only to see it hover away at the last moment.

“Suspicious presence detected—you called for a single rider, not two,” it declared as it hovered away down the street. “This ride has been terminated.”

“No, wait!” Aleena exclaimed, running after it. But though she chased it down the street, it kept accelerating faster and faster until it disappeared around the corner and out of sight.

“Hey, pretty lady—what’s your hurry?” a man’s voice asked behind her. “Why don’t you slow down and we can talk a while?”