They arrived in a tiny town located smack-dab in middle of the dusty, snake-ridden desert island of Wadjet, Jade League. It was Abu's home town; he had come home for a family emergency. They were a goodly distance away from the capital just outside of the floodplain that fed the majority of Wadjet’s settlements. He had not been away for more than a couple months, but already he felt nostalgia swell in his heart as he gazed upon his old stomping grounds.
“Abu!” someone called. Abu recognized the voice and peered through the dim, evening light for its source. A variety of lanterns and torches, some fueled by wood and others by oil or even electricity, were just now being erected. It was just in time too as starlight began to filter through the cloudless, desert sky. After scanning the locale, Abu’s eyes settled upon an old friend he had had since primary school. Sure, his friend had often punched him, stolen his dessert, and pulled all sorts of adolescent pranks as they grew up together, but Abu had given as good as he got. Their mothers had done a lot of business together, so it was natural that they became friends of a sort.
“Simeon,” Abu greeted with a smile. His voice was less horse and his lips less chapped. Some petroleum jelly and a long drink from Tifawt’s water stores had helped alleviate some of his dis-ease. It was good to see his friend, actually. They enjoyed one another’s company despite male posturing and boy fights that had taken place many a time. “A Thousand smiles,” Abu added somewhat facetiously, referring to the smiles of the Thousand Gods. It was a formal greeting between adults and people whose station was above you. It was rarely said by minors unless greeting a schoolmaster or a friend of one’s parents. Simeon was now a tamer too, his own man, and had become one within days of Abu. They had parted ways soon after having had different goals.
Simeon was dressed similarly to Abu; although, Simeon’s clothes were a bit nicer, higher quality fabric and some ornate patterns decorated his shemagh. Both men pulled their headdresses down to reveal their faces. In this late hour, the sunshades had become quite useless with the Sun finally disappearing over the horizon, and both young men had relegated the accessories to hanging around their necks. Now seeing one another’s faces, Simeon’s lips drew back into a toothy grin. His teeth were crooked and beginning to yellow, not standing out as pearly white contrasted against Simeon’s ebony skin like they used to. Perhaps without the watchful gaze of his parents and aunts, he had slacked off on their care. “Oh shut up,” he replied eloquently to which Abu arched one of his bushy, caterpillar eyebrows. Simeon rolled his eyes and said, “A Thousand smiles!” His tone positively dripped with mock affectation.
“That’s better,” Abu shot back haughtily. There was a pause. Quite a bit needed to be covered, really. Although short in time, the most recent period of their life was the most eventful.
“So, are you here for the passing?” Simeon asked bluntly, sombering the mood immediately. The answer was an obvious obvious yes. Abu had come back home only a couple months after departing to start his life as a man because another one of his sisters had died. Her passing was today, a ceremony very similar to a pre-funerary wake held in the western world. The immediate and some extended family had returned home to say goodbye to Abu's little sister.
It was a shame, really. She had just been accepted to one of the better post-secondary schools, and this was despite not having even begun her eleventh and final year of school. She had been aiming to be a doctor, something fortunate for the family pocketbook. In Jade, centers of medical study were fully subsidized by the Sultanate, even at provincial colleges. A consequence of this was only those with exceptional grades could get in. The van Wongs were not an especially affluent family. They did not starve or eat too poorly, but they had no disposable income, breaking even at the end of each period. A doctor in the family to help the family out would have been a godsend since doctors were well compensated by the Sultanate. Yet, she had been taken from them.
That did not particularly matter to Abu, though. He had left home some months ago as soon as he had finished his last year of secondary school. Currently, Abu existed outside the immediate circle of the family, living the migrant lifestyle as a tamer. It was one of the few jobs best-suited for men over women since they were the more expendable of the sexes. His grades had been above average but nothing to brag about like his late sister’s. Although, that had not stopped him from applying to technical and college institutions. Still, you still had to be exceptional to get into the high-demand fields that the Reginas and Sultana herself sponsored. Without a free ride, Abu lacked the opportunity to continue his education. If he ever wanted to, he would have to scrimp and save during his taming career, but that quite frankly unlikely. If it were that easy, everyone would do it. Plus, he would be worn out, old, and tired by the time he had the nest egg to carry out such a plan assuming he lived that long.
A forced smile firmly attached itself to Abu’s face. “Yes,” he said simply. Simeon nodded sympathetically and clapped him on the back.
“Well let’s go then,” Simeon said, “Your family’s waiting. Don’t let me keep you here when we should be walking.” And then they headed off. Behind them, Simeon had only one pokegirl out like Abu did. Abu was clueless as to what type or breed she was, but he could sometimes make out a bushy, bottle-brush tail that sometimes swished under her robes. Sometimes, the headdress twitched a bit too, likely from the poor ‘girl’s ears being uncomfortably compressed . The most remarkable thing though was her yellow, slit eyes. They were quite beautiful, actually. It was a shame she, like most pokegirls who lacked desert adaptations, had to hide herself under protective clothing.
Perhaps this is why Tifawt attracted so much attention from the locals staring at her, men, women, and pokegirl alike. Her nudity was something not often seen publicly in this region. Simeon too stole many glances at her chest, swollen many sizes up with her water stores, and her crotch. This visibly agitated Simeon's pokegirl who sent repeated, furtive glances of jealousy at Tifawt. There was no real taboo about Tifawt’s nakedness other than common sense dictating its dangers. Yet despite mounting jealousy, Simeon’s pokegirl made an attempt at polite conversation as they headed off to Abu’s home together.
There was a brief period of silence as they mosied. Silence was tolerable, but awkward silences were just not for Simeon. “So how’s business?” Simeon asked with a renewed smile. His deep, resonating baritone with its hint of Afrikaans accent was once again cheery.
“Business is good,” Abu responded, warming back up to a less dreary topic. He straightened his back and shoulders, displaying some fledgeling signs of happiness once again.
Simeon’s sideways glance revealed the sclera of his eyes to be so rich with melanin that they were coffee-with-milk brown. He nudged Abu and pressed further, “And?”
Finally, the corner of Abu’s lip curled, cracking his expression, and he said, “Twelve.” There was a sparkle in his eye. Oh, he knew something.
Nodding in approval, Simeon hmmed in the back of his throat. “In four months, twelve isn’t bad,” he congratulated. He seemed to not quite get Abu’s sly look.
Abu tossed his head back and letting out a single, barking laugh. “Twelve this month,” he clarified. Victory was his!
Simeon made a funny step and staggered. He took two sloping steps like a harassed chicken and created some very similar noises. He threw his arms up, gesticulating wildly. “This month?!” he exclaimed. He then stood back up and peered at his friend. His sloping brow furrowed, and wide, African nose and nostrils flare. “How?” Simeon demanded.
“Trade secret,” Abu retorted, pursing his lips in a sassy manner.
Simeon’s eyebrows knitted together more tightly into a look of unhappy contemplation. “I don’t believe you,” he said at last, “There is no way you earned twelve bounty points this month.”
At this point, both young men had come to a standstill. Abu gave his friend a thoughtful look and, without breaking eye-contact, produced his league-issued pokedex with a flourish. One button press revealed his account balance. A proud set of digits displayed there, 23.5 shiny bounty points that were his. They were supposedly worth over 175,000slc, but exchanging them for hard cash wasn’t easy. Still, that amount was more than many made in a year. Another input into the device and it showed his last period’s payment. This last month, his fourth of taming, yielded him twelve shiny bounty points.
Simeon stared in a sort of dumbfounded fugue. There’s a moment that flashes in every man’s eyes, and that moment is covetousness. Everyone wanted things. Their merit as a human being often came from how they dealt with their wants. Simeon's was to smile more and throw his arm over his friend’s shoulder. He brought Abu into a one-armed hug. and exclaimed in a most boisterous manner, “Congratulations!” He jutted one thumb back at himself and continued, “You are officially richer than me!”
At that, Abu rolled his eyes. “I am most certainly not richer than you,” he denied, “I’ve seen your home.” Simeon’s family was indeed quite well off. They owned three ferries which carried passengers between islands. They had some competition, but overall they were getting by much better than the average. Abu never quite understood why they chose to live out in the boonies.
“Not my home anymore,” Simeon said, shaking his head, “My mother is rich, not I. If any of my sisters survived into adulthood, they’d be rich. Me? I’m a second son. Mother will want more babies and maybe they’ll be rich one day. I sleep in the dirt just like you now.”
In response, Abu wrinkled his nose and said, “At least put a blanket down first.” They both laughed.
“Abu my friend, I’ve made but fourteen since I set off,” Simeon admitted, “but Mamma uses me to exchange my bounty points for the ‘girls she wants for her business and tries to pay me less than the League does.”
“At least the money is staying in the family, Simeon,” Abu said, unsure. He squirmed in discomfort. This at its simplest sounded like a no-win situation.
“That’s not all,” Simeon groaned, “Mamma won’t shut up until I get a boat and specialize in oceanic pokegirls so I can be her supplier. Might cut me off if I don’t.” He looked about to spit but refrained. That sort of behavior was not tolerated. To punctuate his sentiment instead, he added, “I mean completely.”
“Well at least you’re getting a boat?” Abu said, grasping at straws, “Your family network is surely worth hanging onto. You’ll have advantages that’ll make up for the cut in price.” There had to be a silver lining.
“Mamma wants me to buy the boat from her,” grunted Simeon with a glower.
“Wow,” was all Abu could say. They stood there in silence, having stayed stopped. Behind them, their pokegirls had stayed quiet and discrete in their whispering among themselves. Abu glanced back at them and started walking again, nudging Simeon forward with a hand on his shoulder. “What about your older brother?” Abu inquired, “What’s he doing?”
Simeon gave a half-shrug. “Same as I. He’s been roaming the islands for about a year now,” he said, “I think he bought a lot and had a home built on it though, last I heard at least. Haven’t visited yet.” Simeon wasn’t looking Abu in the eye.
That made Abu suspicious. When one has a perfectly good home to return to with family and instead they elect to spend good money elsewhere, that showed that there was an upset in the home life. Abu suspected that Simeon’s big brother had been given much the same treatment and told their matriarch to stuff it once he had a taste of freedom. “Maybe you should get in contact with him,” Abu suggested, “If he’s not on good terms with the rest of your family-” He paused, seeing a rather venomous look shot his way. Looks like he struck a nerve. Abu braced himself and continued, “-either you can see how he’s making it on his own or perhaps work together to force a fair deal from your mother.”
The two walked in silence for a time. Abu surreptitiously checked over to see how his friend was faring with the suggestion, but eventually Simeon responded, “She’ll bite her nose to spite her face.”
“Pfft. Let her!” Abu exclaimed with a small amount of contempt, “Once she sees that she’s moved on to biting a hole in her purse, she’ll either work with you or she deserves what she gets.”
At that, Simeon perked up. “Put like that, it almost seems like justice,” he said, mulling the thought over, and then his grin was back.
“Indeed.”