“Ha! That wall is a joke. Do you really think it would keep us out if we wanted in? I could climb that wall in thirty seconds if I wanted to. If it wasn’t because of that peace treaty and the death penalty for breaking it, I would have done it already.”
Wilma’s young face lit up. “I want to see what’s on the other side.”
“Then come with me, Wilma. I’m sure that if you came to the Motherlands and experienced freedom, you’d realize that you never knew what you missed out on.”
Again, Wilma squeezed my hand. “Do you have big parties and dancing?”
“We do. There are festivals during the summer and everyone is kind and caring.”
“Maybe I could just go for a few days.” Wilma looked to Tyton, who ran his hands through his hair.
“You’re not going anywhere. Not when you’re a few days away from your tournament. That’s insane.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” She turned back to me. “No matter how curious I am to see the Motherlands, now isn’t the right time.”
I opened my mouth to tell her that any time before being auctioned off was the right time, but Tyton asked me a question first.
“Going back to the peacekeepers. Why do they only send us boys and never girls?”
“So your numbers can never grow.”
“For real?”
“Yes. You’re a threat and we don’t want the ten million of you to grow in numbers. Everyone knows that.”
He leaned forward and narrowed his eyes at me, giving him a menacing look of danger. “Let me get this straight. Are you saying that the clinics can control whether they impregnate the mother with a boy or a girl?”
“That’s right.”
“Then why the fuck do you still have twenty women to every man? If you’re all created in clinics it should only take one generation to even out the numbers.”
Knowing that he wouldn’t like my answer, I tucked my hands under my thighs and tried to sound casual about it. “It was male aggression and hunger for power that led to the Toxic War. All their warmongering had to stop and with the loss of eighty-five percent of the world’s population, only one man was left per twenty-six women. It was natural that women stepped up and formed a new way of living based on nurturing the planet back to life.”
“You’re not answering my question.”
“The reason we haven’t evened out the numbers between men and women is that the council fear a repeat of the past. It’s safer for everyone if women remain superior in numbers.”
Tyton’s nostrils were flaring, so I hurried to add:
“Although you have to admit there’s been an improvement since the imbalance has gone down from twenty-six women per man to twenty women per man.”
“It’s been one hundred and seventy-six years since the war ended. How long are you going to blame men for what happened?” Tyton leaned his head back and groaned. “For fuck’s sake, this is brutal.”
“All right, then let me ask you this.” I blushed red because my question was confrontational and impolite. “On our side of the border we’ve had peace for those one hundred and seventy-six years. Can you say the same?”
His answer was redundant since I already knew that the Northlands had been consumed in war on and off for all that time.
Tyton pulled back and stuffed his hands under his armpits. “We’ve had changing rulers. I’ll admit to that.”
“And have the transitions been peaceful, democratic elections or…?”
A snort was followed by an eye roll. “We are men and we do things differently from you.”
You mean that you fight, kill, and start wars for power.I didn’t say it out loud but turned back to Wilma. “I have to get back. Are you sure that you don’t want to come with me?”
She pulled me into a hug. “Yes, I’m sure. But I love you for offering to bring me with you.”
Disappointment weighed down on my chest when I stood up. “All right. Then I’ll let you get back to sleep.”
