A Love Of Life

“It's amazing to be alive,” Aaron said.

Bryan leaned back, enveloped by the stifling blades of grass that reached above his head. They cocooned his face; filling his nose with their scent, limiting his view, and smothering his ability to hear. The sound of Aaron's voice reached him as through a heavy woolen blanket, and he could not distinguish the words. After a minute or two, and it was difficult to tell how long with his senses repressed, he sat up. Shading his eyes to see his friend he said,

“It sure is.”

Aaron, looking across the field, turned around.

“What are you saying?”

“I was replying to you.”

“I stopped speaking about a minute ago when I realized you weren't listening to me.”

“But it isn't all there is,” said Bryan, “To be alive, I mean.”

“What? That's what you thought of, lying there surrounded by life?”

“You know there's more to life than living. That's the crucial lesson of the community.”

Aaron clasped his hands, looked at the five fingers on each and returned to his observation of the plains.

“Living is so perfect.”

Bryan stood up, and placed a hand of Aaron's shoulder.

“No, it's not. Our own limited experience, mixed with our emotions, may lead us to feel so, but the lifelong learning of the wise demonstrates it's not so. You don't have to look so sad.”

“I trust youth.”

“Then let's live it to the fullest. Run with me?”

They hurtled forward, trampling thick grasses and scattering wild flowers. In the distance, one thousand wooden houses abutted a dense deciduous forest on one side, and bordered a narrow river on the other. The boys lost their view of the village as they entered a dale, and then stumbled suddenly into a small tributary of the local river. Spluttering, Aaron pulled Bryan to his feet, but Bryan returned the assistance by splashing a wave of water into Aaron's face.

Panting and chilled they arrived on the bank. A few members of the village looked at them kindly and then continued on their way.

“That was wonderful!” said Bryan.

“See you tomorrow,” said Aaron, turning away.

“Are you scared?” said Bryan.

“Of course, but I don't know what to do.”

“Relax. I'll be there too. Remember, life needs life.”

“And all that, yeah.”

“And thanks for not condescending to me.”

“Well, you know, just because you're a B and I'm an A. It doesn't mean anything beyond chain levels.”

….

“We can't.”

“Why not?”

“Your parent's won't allow it. You're an A, I'm a C, you would suffer too much.”

“The chain doesn't work that way. I would never... and you would never have to unless I was already dead.”

Cecelia held his gaze as they lay on the edge of the forest, but far enough away from the village that no one would stumble upon them.

“You're right about that, but our parents. They're old fashioned.”

Aldo reached around from his reclined position, picked a handful of flowers and placed them where her hair and skin met.

Laughing, she sat up and the petals fell from her forehead like precious stones. He reached out to her, but she pushed him away, still smiling.

“Your friends will mock you.”

“I have friends that aren't As. In fact, most of my friends are Cs. Because there are so many of you, proportionally. And I value everyone in the community anyways.”

“You could never live with what will happen to me.”

“I could,” he said, and she heard a hint of irritation in his voice.

“No you couldn't,” she said, looking away so he couldn't see her face. “You can't really understand. Most of the days of the year I enjoy a normal life. But every seventh... And though it is the way it should be, on each day the terror infuses every cell of my body. There is no escape, and that's ok too, but the fear exists and it can't be dismissed casually. The fear doesn't say that the event is wrong, but the emotion needs to be validated. You couldn't do that every year, because they will never come for you.”

“I love you,” Aldo said, and she saw in his eyes that he believed it. She loved him too. She clasped him tight, and they held each other on the edge of the woods all through the night.

….

The next day the sun shone just as brightly as it had before. The river was as blue and the grass as green. The people of the village gathered for the weekly ceremony: the weekly feast.

“Today,” said Bethany to the crowd, a crowd that included Aldo, Aaron, Bryan, and Cecelia, “is the day where we are reminded that we are all part of the community. And the community knows that life can only come to some through the giving of others. All are bound together, and no faction rules over any other. The As do not rule, even though they are never sacrificed to feed the community. The Cs do not rule, even though they outnumber the As and Bs many times over. We must remember that though they may seem the lowest, the Cs supplement their fruits of the earth with the flesh of those As who have died naturally. And the Bs do not rule for, I mean, have you seen me try to bring order my household? My child barely follow my command, forget the whole community...”

The crowd laughed.

“Bryan, I can't,” said Aaron, from where they stood, in the back of the crowd, “I just couldn't.”

“You'll have to. You've eaten Bs every week of every year of your life. Nothing's different this time.”

“I've never been friends with one. I always avoided it. Until this year, but I don't think I can befriend another.”

“Aaron, think of it as the changing of seasons. Each has its distinct qualities that set it apart. Each passes in time, to be replaced by another. Eventually it returns but is not quite the same. Age has changed your perception of it. Friends and family have celebrated life's transformations, but also succumbed to old age and disease. If I am to go, let this be our season and do not scorn those to come. Let's listen.”

Aldo, Aaron, Bryan, and Cecelia listened for those names they did not wish to hear. And though many Cs were chosen that day, and at each name Cecelia's heart beat rapidly, and Aldo's did not for he did not understand, Cecelia was not chosen. Though she breathed a whispered thank you to no one, she knew her life's trials were as yet unended and unending.

But Bryan was chosen from the Bs to feed the As. Aaron tried to pull him back, but he marched firmly to the dais, though now his breast felt warm and his brain sluggish. If he could have viewed himself as Aaron did, he would have known he was brave, but he thought instead of what his death meant.

He comforted his despair and fear with the knowledge he would feed his friends and neighbors, and curtailed any resistance to the killing blow with the understanding his death aided the stability of the community of life.

He loved life dearly, all of it, not only his. 

....

Inspiring Quote:

Well, I won't weary you with all your outraged exclamations and their baffled explanations. Eventually you piece together the whole ghastly scheme. The A's are eaten by the B's and the B's are eaten by the C's and the C's in turn are eaten by the A's. There is no hierarchy among these food classes. The C's don't lord it over the B's just because the B's are their food, because after all they themselves are the food of the A's. It's all perfectly democratic and friendly. But of course it's all perfectly dreadful to you, and you ask them how they can stand to live in this lawless way. Once again they look at you in bafflement. `What do you mean, lawless?' they ask. `We have a law, and we all follow it invariably. This is why we're friendly and cheerful and peaceable and all those other things you find so attractive in us. This law is the foundation of our success as a people and has been so from the beginning.

From Ishmael