{"id":503,"date":"2010-10-19T23:15:39","date_gmt":"2010-10-20T03:15:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.old.caraghobrien.com\/book\/?p=503"},"modified":"2010-10-19T23:52:58","modified_gmt":"2010-10-20T03:52:58","slug":"gaia-at-eleven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/writing\/gaia-at-eleven\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaia at Eleven"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Here\u2019s a bit story about a character from Birthmarked when she was a kid.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Gaia plugged the last jug with its stopper and tied the handle to the end of her pole.\u00a0 Once more, she tested the grip of the faucet in the great wall to be certain it was off tightly.\u00a0 Spilled water had absorbed into the dust already, making it a richer brown, and she messed her bare toes into it for the coolness before she lifted her yoke pole and balanced it over her shoulders.\u00a0 With two water jugs on each end, she could have taken more weight, she knew, but her father didn\u2019t want her carrying more.\u00a0 \u201cBad for your back,\u201d he\u2019d said.\u00a0 It only meant she had to make more frequent trips.<\/p>\n

\"\"She turned towards the path that dipped back down into Wharfton, feeling the weight of the water give the pole a heavy, slow-motion balance all its own. \u00a0She liked the pleasing proof that she did her share for her family now that she was growing.\u00a0 Low, early sunlight streamed in sideways from her left, and though she wanted to tip her hat to keep it off her scarred cheek, it would have meant setting her water pole down again to have a free hand, so she bent her face low.<\/p>\n

She didn\u2019t see the older boys coming up the path until it was too late to sidestep them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe it’s little Gaia,\u201d Ralph said, and he set the tip of his pole directly in her path, compelling her to stop.<\/p>\n

There were two other boys as well, both as dirty as Ralph, and burdened with over a dozen empty jugs.\u00a0 She knew their families from the other side of Western Sector Three, but she\u2019d never talked to them much.\u00a0 She\u2019d never wanted to.\u00a0 The other two spread out on either side of Ralph, and their poles made a crisscross pattern around them.\u00a0 The shortest one had a couple teeth missing in front when he smiled.<\/p>\n

\u201cGet out of my way, Ralph,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s your hurry?\u201d Ralph said.\u00a0 He lifted his pole, but only to give one of Gaia\u2019s water jugs a nudge.\u00a0 She had to swivel heavily to keep her balance.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t,\u201d she said, but she was getting scared.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow\u2019s your scar?\u201d Ralph said, flicking a finger at her.\u00a0 \u201cI heard sunlight\u2019s bad for scars.\u201d<\/p>\n

She stepped off the path to try to go around them, but Ralph only maneuvered his pole to block her feet again.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t leave us,\u201d Ralph said.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re just trying to make friends.\u00a0 It looks like you need a hand with your hat there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t touch me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Ralph laughed.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m just trying to help.\u00a0 You\u2019re so sensitive.\u201d<\/p>\n

When he came a step nearer, she rolled her pole off her shoulders to set down the water, and put up her fists.\u00a0 She was trembling and she\u2019d never felt so small.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t want your help,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I\u2019m not sensitive.\u201d<\/p>\n

The other boys laughed.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou going to fight a little girl, Ralph?\u201d the gap-toothed boy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t a fight,\u201d Ralph said.\u00a0 Then he frowned at Gaia.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019d be pretty if you smiled more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you wouldn\u2019t stink if you washed more,\u201d Gaia said.<\/p>\n

The two other boys laughed again, and the taller one started on up the path towards the wall.\u00a0 \u201cLet\u2019s go, Ralph.\u00a0 Leave the warp-face and come on.\u201d<\/p>\n

The gap-toothed boy also moved around Ralph to continue onward, but Ralph leaned down for a little yellow flower in the grass and picked it.\u00a0 He twirled it idly, looking at Gaia, and still his yoke pole waited beside her feet, ready to trip her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could have liked you, you know,\u201d he said to Gaia.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s not too late.\u201d<\/p>\n

She shook her head.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust say please and I\u2019ll move it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

She looked down at the pole, where the end lodged in the dry, spiky grass.\u00a0 Even the rope tied at the end was dirty, fraying, like nobody in his family cared about such details.\u00a0 She met his gaze again and beamed all her hatred at him.\u00a0 It made her feel stronger, this anger.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Slowly Ralph pulled his pole away from Gaia\u2019s feet.\u00a0 \u201cJust to be clear,\u201d he said, \u201cthe mean one here was you.\u201d<\/p>\n

He flicked the yellow flower past her face and walked backward up the path, still watching her.\u00a0 She jammed her hat lower on her head and reached for her pole.\u00a0 Relief was making her shake worse than her fear had, but she didn\u2019t feel like she\u2019d won exactly.\u00a0 It took her forever to get her yoke pole balanced right again on her shoulders, and even as she\u00a0 started down the path again, she knew she\u2019d have to come back for more water the next day.<\/p>\n

The important part was going to be not telling her parents, so they wouldn\u2019t prevent her.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Here\u2019s a bit story about a character from Birthmarked when she was a kid.) Gaia plugged the last jug with its stopper and tied the handle to the end of her pole.\u00a0 Once more, she tested the grip of the faucet in the great wall to be certain it was off tightly.\u00a0 Spilled water had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[29,11],"class_list":["post-503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birthmarked","category-writing","tag-gaia","tag-tie-in-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=503"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":514,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503\/revisions\/514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}