Juno of Taris by Fleur Beale Read Free Book Online Page A

their faces changed my mind. I spoke slowly, choosing my words with care. ‘I have learned what I always knew without the words being spoken.’
    ‘Speak them now,’ said Danyat. His face was wrinkled like a dried fruit but there was nothing old or soft in the look he fixed me with.
    I struggled to put into words the knowledge that lay inside me like a second skin. ‘Grif is educating me. She has given me the written form of words because …’ I shook my head. I wasn’t entirely sure. I just felt the strength of her purpose every time she read to me, wrote for me, got me to read and write for her.
    ‘You have told your parents?’ Bazin asked.
    I shook my head.
    ‘You know it’s dangerous?’ Leebar asked.
    I nodded. ‘But I don’t know why.’
    Danyat said, ‘Just to know is enough right now.’
    I struggled with my thoughts. They watched me and I felt their sympathy but also the strength of their will. ‘Why can’t you tell me? This is Taris. Nothing is secret.’
    Grif smiled at me, her face softening. ‘Some things are more open than others. All this time, you’ve kept the secret of your writing. Do it still.’
    I stared at her. I had, of course I had. But somehow I’d never thought of it like that.
    ‘Put the book away now,’ she said.
    I slid it back into its hiding place and ran back to the main room. ‘Listen!’ Bazin held up a hand.
    It was the sound of running feet. We wrenched open the door and launched ourselves into the night. ‘What news? Have they decided?’
    My parents leapt up the steps and grabbed us, whirling us around. ‘It’s us! We’ve got permission to have the baby!’
    The seven of us hugged, tried to get through the door and fell in a heap of laughter.
    ‘The genetics?’ Leebar asked once we’d sorted ourselves out.
    ‘From the Outside store,’ Dad said. He bear-hugged me. ‘But we don’t care. Look what we got from that store last time.’
    We laughed, cried, hugged some more. I couldn’t believe it – my goodness and compliance had worked. Now I could relax. But swift upon that thought came the knowledge that I couldn’t – not yet, not until my sister was born and maybe not even then. What if they took the baby away from us? What if they thought our family an unfit family? Had such a thing ever happened before? I didn’t know – on Taris, we did not speak of our history.
    I would have to be good. I would have to be compliant. I wanted to weep in the midst of all the joyousness.
    Neighbours came running. They brought food, wine and laughter. A party, they shouted. We must have a party!
    Vima, a flask of wine in her hand, sat down beside me. ‘You’re not happy about the baby?’ she asked, her eyes searching my face.
    I glanced at my happy parents in the centre of a laughing throng of people. ‘I am. Of course I am. It’s what I wanted for them, and I’ve tried so hard, been so good …’ I couldn’t go on.
    She reached out, grabbed a couple of beakers off the table and poured wine into each of them. ‘Drink up. You can behave any way you like tonight. It’s a party. Nobody withdraws from anybody at a party.’
    ‘I’m not allowed wine yet,’ I said, taking the beaker.
    She glanced around, looked at my parents, then at my grandparents. ‘Don’t reckon anyone’s going to stop you, but you’d best go easy on it if you’ve never had it before.’ She grinned at me. ‘This baby – we’ll make her a techno-nut.’
    I choked. Wine! Why drink it? It was worse than medicine. ‘No, not a techno-nut. She’ll be …’ My voice died. Why wish her to be like me? Being me wasn’t comfortable. Why wish it on somebody else? To have company, whispered my mind. I choked on another gulp of wine. Well, it wasn’t up to me what she’d be like and probably just as well.
    Creen plopped herself down between Vima and me, wriggling to make room. ‘I might be there at the birth, young Juno. Just think of that!’
    I stared at her. ‘But will you know enough