The Unnameables by Ellen Booraem Read Free Book Online Page B

relief, Book Learning was canceled for the week it took to pack down the streets and sidewalks. This did Prudy no good at all—it just meant she spent more time up in the Archives with Councilor Learned.
    The blizzard was even worse news for others. Old Millicent Tanner, Arvid Tanner's grandmother, was sealed into her cabin by a drift and couldn't get to her woodshed, though it was right outside her back door. She died of the cold before Arvid's father could get to her through the snow.
    Councilor Freeman Trade came back from the spring's first Trade voyage with tales of something the Mainland drivers called a snowplow. Instead of packing the snow down on the roads with a team of horses and a heavy roller, Mainlanders attached a sheet of metal to the front of a motortruck and scraped the snow right off the roads. The motortruck was faster than horses and didn't mind being out in the storm, so the roads could be cleared sooner.
    '"Twill save lives," Freeman told the Council. "And the spring melt-off won't be so messy with no snowpack to soften up the mud. The snow'd just be gone."
    Verity Farmer was not impressed, even though she was Councilor for Island Safety and Welfare as well as Head Councilor.
    "With no snow on the roads," she asked, "how would I use my sledge?"
    "Thou wouldst use wheels the year round," Freeman said.
    "But then I'd have to stay on the plowed road," Councilor Welfare said, her face rock-hard as if Freeman were trying to wheedle more than his share of the wheat stores. Even her hair looked like granite.
    "Aye," Freeman said, "but in the spring we would no longer be mired in mud."
    Councilor Welfare shook her head. "Nope. Not for me."
    "Councilor Trade wishes us to import more parts and fuel," Councilor Naming said. "And what have we to Trade with people who don't even wear neckerchiefs?"
    "Councilors," Deemer Learned said, "shall we consult the Book?" He flipped pages back and forth, looking for the right place. "Ah," he said at last. "Here 'tis.
Ye need not fear the New. But ye need not embrace it, neither. Weigh carefully the consequences of Convenience.
I believe our ancestors would have continued as we are. Sledges and sleighs be best in winter."
    And with that flat pronouncement, the subject was closed.
    As Transition drew near, Boyce appeared before the Council to claim four acres of land for Medford on the North Shore Road an hours walk from Town. This caused comment, since even on Island fourteen was young to leave home.
    "Something wrong with the boy?" Councilor Welfare asked Boyce.
    "He's ready to be on his own, Mistress Head." Boyce would not explain further.
    Deemer Learned read them what the Book had to say about the Rights and Responsibilities of a Parent or Guardian. (
Question not a Parent's writ, lest thou be Questioned in thy turn.
)
    "Ah," said Grover Gardener, Councilor Physick. "Same passage we heard after thy daughters departure." Deemer gave Councilor Physick a cold pewter look. The other Councilors hastily dropped the discussion and granted Medford his four acres.
    Medford wasn't so sure he was ready to be on his own. He would have to trade carving for lumber, shingles, windows, and other fittings for his cabin, and for Twig's time building it with him. He needed seed for vegetables and pots to cook them in. Everything he would carve for the next year was spoken for.
    Transition came. Prudy grimly became a Learned and Arvid became a Sawyer. A Pickler, a Smith, and a Dairyman were created.
    Medford held on to hope until the last possible minute. But after everyone else had been granted a permanent name the auditorium went silent and he knew. "As to Master Runyuin," Comfort Naming said, "we need more time to make sure he doth merit the name Carver as his foster father proposes. Return next year and we shall see."
    Medford tried to be happy that Boyce had at least proposed the name change.
    "Once a Runyuin never a Carver," Arvid whispered from the other side of Prudy and Deemer.