Botanicaust

attention slid past Tula. “ Eily! You were supposed to stay with Beth! ”
    Tula twisted and saw Eily peering from the doorjamb behind her. She put an arm around the child and drew her against her side.
    “ They gots kids, too? ” Josef didn ’ t seem distressed.
    Levi answered. “ I ’ d meant to introduce you to Eily later. She was a cannibal who the Blattvolk converted. She and her twin sister. But the bad scientists — not Blattvolk, the ones who live in the mountain — stole them and were doing bad things to them. And to Katie. ”
    “ That ’ s when your papa rescued us all. He carried me all the way out of the mountain. ”
    “ Does she eat people? ”
    Eily stepped further into the room. Dirt and leaves caked one entire side of her skirt. “ Eat people bad. ” She spoke in Old Order. Tula beamed at her, glad Levi had taken time to teach the girls.
    Sister Amelia ’ s hands fluttered about her throat, but she relaxed as she looked Eily up and down.
    Levi met Tula ’ s gaze over Eily ’ s head. “ She doesn ’ t speak very well, yet. But she knows the Lord ’ s Prayer. ”
    “ Do you like being green? ” Josef asked, sitting forward.
    Eily cocked her head at the boy. She looked over her shoulder at Tula. “ Boy is sick? ” She spoke cannibal.
    Tula nodded. “ Levi ’ s son. Josef. ”
    Eily turned back and approached the bed. The nurse ’ s butterfly hands darted toward Josef and then back to her throat.
    From the pocket of her skirt, Eily produced a long thread she must have taken from Beth ’ s weaving. Sitting next to Josef, she wrapped the strands around her fingers and held them out. “ Play. ”
    The boy regarded her with solemn eyes, checked in with his father, then plucked at a string. Eily flipped her hands around and started her singsong voice with a story. Although Josef couldn ’ t understand, he played along, a smile darting over his face.
    Tula stepped into the room, freeing the door so the nurse could leave.
    Sister Amelia stayed and watched the game.

    “ There are a lot of sick children. ” Tula ’ s thoughts returned to the larger problem as they left the Ward, passing room after room of sleeping children. Ten percent of the population, if Levi ’ s numbers were correct.
    They walked to Bethy ’ s in near darkness, lights from the perimeter fence a few miles away glowing against the drift of steam from the methane stacks. They each held one of Eily ’ s hands. Tula was glad for the connection.
    “ God has beset us, though we know not why. ”
    “ You think God wants your children to suffer? ” Tula was horrified.
    “‘ Accept that which we cannot change, and turn always to the Scripture for comfort. ’“
    “ But you sought change. ”
    Levi was silent for a few steps. “ I sinned against God. I put the life of my boy above Gotte ’ s Wille. ”
    “ But maybe it is Gotte ’ s Wille for you to find the cure. It is curable, you know. The Haldanians can do it. When they found the flaw in your DNA, I begged them to fix — ”
    “ You must not talk this way. ”
    “ Science can make people better! ”
    “ God created everything according to its Kind. The green plants of the land, the birds of the air, the fish of the sea. He gave the world to us to care for, to have dominion over. But to mix the plant with the animal, the bird with the fish, that is against God ’ s purpose. The Blattvolk are an Abomination of Kind. ”
    The air was suddenly too thick to breathe. Her chloroplasts were a part of her, a part she had long treasured. She hoped Levi might come to accept the value of her photosynthesis. The scar on her arm, hidden by the darkness, itched. “ Do you really believe I ’ m an abomination? ” she whispered.
    Levi halted. Tula turned to him, but couldn ’ t make out his features.
    “ I ’ m sorry. I ’ m reciting dogma. You are not your body. You are your soul, and your soul is good and beautiful to God. And to me. ” He raised a hand and cupped her cheek in the pale dark.
    “ Levi. ” A man ’ s voice called from Samuel and Beth ’ s porch. Levi jerked back the hand on Tula ’ s cheek as if he ’ d been burned. A dark form clumped down the steps toward them. “ There ’ s been a call to meeting. At the Lundgren ’ s. ”
    “ Yes, Brother Amos. ”
    “ The Blattvolk are not welcome. ”
    “ They can stay here. ” Beth ’ s voice emerged along with a shaft of light from the house ’ s open doorway. Tula gratefully