The Rainbow Maker's Tale Read Online Free Page B

examinations … Trapped doesn’t make it sound
like you enjoy them that much.”
    Cassie was teasing: throwing my
own words back at me. It made me smile again.
    “That’s just the room, not the
activity,” I explained, enjoying the warmth of the sunlight on my
face too much to turn away from it. My guard was clearly down
because when a question ambushed me a moment later I repeated it
aloud before I could stop myself. “Don’t you find that living here
is just…” I struggled for the word, trying to tie down what the
feeling I had was, “…claustrophobic sometimes?”
    As soon as the words had passed
my lips I regretted them. Why would Cassie find the world as
negative a place as I did? In the same instant, another thought
struck me: now that I had said this aloud to someone else, I wanted
to explain myself. The compulsion to do so was undeniable.
    “Even out here, I feel it
sometimes.” I looked at her now, the warmth from the mirrors
forgotten: I wanted to see her reaction to my feelings. “Perhaps
it’s because I know that when I look up and see the sky, that it is
not really the sky : there are no clouds, no stratosphere and
troposphere, nothing… Just thousands of mirrors, precisely angled
to follow the path of the sun as we orbit around it and recreate
day and night as though we were still on Earth. It feels real, but
I know that it isn’t and so that feels wrong somehow…”
    Cassie watched me closely,
listening intently it seemed, as though she were truly engrossed in
what I was saying. “Don’t stop,” she encouraged when I paused. The
intensity of her voice was persuasive, but I felt unsure now. My
earlier confidence was fading fast and revealing my thoughts
unedited no longer seemed as appealing as it had a moment
before.
    “Sorry – I have a tendency to
waffle once I get going – you don’t need to listen to my morose
views on life here,” I sighed, reining myself in. My attempt at
nonchalance hit a false note and I wondered whether Cassie would
notice.
    “Don’t be sorry. It’s nice to
hear you speak,” she said.
    It was obvious that she was the one who was speaking without thinking now, surprising
herself as well as me I thought. Cassie blushed attractively, blood
pooling beneath the soft, creamy skin of her cheeks as she
struggled to explain her words, clearly trying to take back what
she had just openly admitted. I suppose it was a little mean of me
not to step in and save her the effort, but again I selfishly found
myself enjoying her unease, hoping that it was more to do with me
than it probably was.
    “What I meant is you’re
normally so quiet – ”
    She sputtered to a stop and I
could see her mentally revising her words before she continued. I
decided it was too cruel to leave Cassie
scrambling for apologies and so I turned away before she looked at
me, feigning indifference to make her feel better. It was a
struggle to keep the smile from my lips, but I managed it.
    We lapsed into a comfortable
silence, moving through the late afternoon pedestrians meandering
on the plaza, each of us preoccupied with our own thoughts. I paid
little attention to the people milling around – reverting to my
normal behaviour in company – with the exception that I was
thinking for once. Right now, I was thinking about the pretty girl
walking by my side.
    Now that I was focused, I
realised that the comfortable silence was no longer so simple. Long
ago, I had been told that Cassie held answers, before I really knew
what the problems were. From everything I knew of her, that seemed
doubtful, but at the same time, it felt a shame to waste the short
time I would have with her. I wanted to know more. If I could, I’m
sure I would have wanted to know everything – I always did –
but that was never going to be possible. I settled for the first
question that came to mind.
    “Why don’t you use automatic
discourse in your exams?”
    “I don’t always use the
keyboard,” she disagreed. “I