Dreams Ltd (8 page)

As I was about to knock on her door I stood there trying to hear if there was any noise inside. All I could hear was a quiet rattling sound as if someone was washing dishes but no voices, so I knocked.

The door opened almost immediately. At first Jenny looked at me with a surprise - she was holding a damp cloth and her hair was sweaty; she waved towards the kitchen inviting me in.

“Oh, I didn’t expect to see you. Come in. I decided to clean the kitchen a bit; it really needed it. I finally forced myself to do it today…”

I stepped inside my neighbour’s apartment. A quick glance at the mess revealed that the kitchen needed some tiding up a couple of centuries ago but its owner probably had more important things to do: piles of dirty dishes were soaking in the sink covered in bubbles; the foam was everywhere - on the floor, all over the cupboard doors, on the stove and on the kitchen table. A holey doormat was keeping dirty puddles of water together on the floor; a dust pan and broom were lying next to it. The broom looked like it had survived a war with only a few straws left.

“Do you want to borrow mine?” I asked pointing at the short ugly brush.

“No, thanks. I am done sweeping for now.”

“OK. If you are busy I can pop in tomorrow?”

“It’s alright, the chores can wait. It’s good that you came - I was so bored.”

She threw the cloth in the corner where it landed with a disgusting slurping sound.

I smirked and thought to myself that the cleaning will probably have to wait for another couple of centuries.

“I brought you some more jam. I didn’t really like it myself, you know...” of course that was a lie as my mouth was watering looking at the jar. “And you like sweets.” I added.

“Oh! Thank you very much for that! I’ve already finished the other one... it was so yummy...”

Suddenly Jenny went all red and looked at her plump legs as though she was ashamed of their appearance.

“Take it!” I handed her the jar. “You can always start your diet when you do some more cleaning tomorrow”

“That’s right!” A smile instantly appeared on her face and I reluctantly thought that when Jenny smiles she looks quite cute despite her podginess and dirty clothes. Little dimples appeared on her chubby cheeks and happy eyes transformed her face. Not the most beautiful woman on the planet but still...

“You can sit in the armchair or wherever you want. I’ll wash my face and put the kettle on. There are some biscuits somewhere in the cupboard.”

“Ok.”

While Jenny was in the bathroom I looked around. The furnishing of this room was very similar to mine: the same chairs, black TV on the wall, the same wardrobe. Only the curtains and sofa colour was slightly different and the kitchen layout wasn’t like mine: at my apartment it was located at the end of the room and here it was right by the front door. Overall this room could be identical to mine, if it wasn’t for the stains on the walls, dust in the corners and mess in the kitchen. Another thing that distinguished our rooms was the view from the balcony; or rather the lack of it, as instead of the mountains Jenny had the view of the back yard. I much preferred what I saw from my balcony; it would be lovely to enjoy the sunsets sitting on the balcony with a cup of tea.

At last Jenny came back in to the living room - her hair was washed and her t-shirt was fresh. She clattered in the kitchen and then brought two cups full of hot water and some tea bags. Next minute she got out a pack of biscuits and some jam.

“What’s mine is you yours, as they say..”

She sat in front of me and for some time I couldn’t decide how to start the conversation.

“Could you not sleep?” Jenny made the first step, opening the pack of biscuits and putting them out on the plate.

“Kind of… I was reading the book about the laws of Tally. Is it true?”

“What’s true?”

“Everything, you know, for instance the stuff about the bus tickets. Do you really need to solve some sort of mathematical formula to find your seat?”

“Yeap. Sometimes it’s so complicated so it’s easier to bribe the driver.”

“Bribe?” I was surprised.

“Yes, bribe. It’s much cheaper than paying five points. Of course there is a risk he’ll grass on you.”

“Grass on me?”

For a few seconds Jenny was silent, chewing her cookies and watching me as if she was trying to understand the real reason why I came here. She then shook the crumbles off her fat fingers and gave me an answer.

“You just don’t know anything yet and before you do you’ll make so many mistakes. But it happens to everyone. You cannot trust anyone in this city, not a single person, do you understand me? This is a prison and everybody’s prepared to do whatever they have to do to bring their freedom closer.”

“What’s going on here? Can you explain? I know nothing… where to go or what to do.”

Jenny sighed heavily and leaned back in the armchair.

“Ok, listen then… but I’m not an expert on this system. Robert understands it much better than me. Anyway… Do you understand that in order to leave this place you must collect a thousand points?”

I nodded. Her words confirmed that my conclusion was correct as well - this city is a prison.

Jenny continued.

“So you can spend years collecting the points but it does not guarantee that you will ever collect a thousand. All the rules here are against you. If you don’t break any of them you might get about a hundred a year but if you put your foot wrong just once you can lose them all in one day. Look, people betray each other here all the time because if you grass on your friend or neighbour - they will be punished and you’ll earn some points. The more you grass on people the more points you get and the victim can lose everything or even go into a negative score…”

“A negative score? Is it possible?

“Huh, I’ve heard that some people had minus two or three thousands on their bracelets. Or even worse! And then you hear about the suicides, not everybody has the strength to keep going round in circle.”

All this was making the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

“This is just absurd!”

Jenny nodded.

“I can’t say that I am used to living here but after few months you start getting your head around it”

“How long have you been here?”

“Two years and three months.” she bit another piece of her biscuit. “But I’m not giving up because I still want to get out of here. So I’m making contacts, you know…”

I went silent for a moment.

It would be interesting to know why she is here but at the same time I didn’t want to be too direct and force her to open up to me if she didn’t want to.

“So who can I trust then? Do you have any friends here? Is there anybody you hang out with?”

“There are a few people… It’s not an easy task to make friends when people are like wolves. Each and every one stands for themselves. When you first go to the shop you’ll learn quickly.”

This warning sent shivers down my spine. I don’t need a shop, I just need to find a phone box and make one call to Laroche; after I pass the parcel I’m out of his place as soon as possible. I can starve for a couple of days if I have to. On a positive side my fridge is still full.

“How did you end up in here? What for?” Jenny obviously wasn’t as tactile as me. Or maybe it was just a common question here.

Since I couldn’t tell her the truth about the Corporation or my mission, I decided to use the same story as I fed to Brodsky.

“I’m a hacker.” I said without going into too much detail.

“Are you kidding me?” Jenny’s reaction reminded me Brodsky’s - she looked at me with more respect. “You definitely must meet Robert then. He is all about the electronics when he is not drunk…”

The last unfinished sentence hung in the air.

“Who is he and where does he live?”

“He lives on the same floor as us, at the end of the corridor. He is a very clever guy but he’s weak. He starts drinking too much when he sees no result with cheating on the bracelet’s score…”

Jenny quickly shut her mouth staring at me with her blue round eyes.

“But you won’t tell anyone, right? We are friends, aren’t we?”

“Of course, I won’t!” I confirmed instantly in order to calm my chatty new “friend” down, although I felt very nervous myself. I didn’t need anyone’s secrets! I had too many of my own. I moved on swiftly.

“And why are you here, Jenny? What for?”

As Jenny was reassured I was not going to reveal her secrets she relaxed.

“It’s a long story but we are not in a hurry so I’ll tell you.” She tossed on the couch and began the story. “A few years ago I got a house – a big, spacious and beautiful house. I had a boyfriend who I thought I was in love with. We had it all: the dates, chocolates, romantic walks and everything else that goes with it. At the beginning things were going well but then we started fighting more and more for no particular reason. In his opinion I couldn’t do anything right so we suffered like that for three years and eventually we decided to call it a day. I begged him for that house like mad and eventually he agreed to leave it to me as well as some money.”

Jenny laughed smugly as if she was very proud of herself.

“I wasn’t really upset about the break-up. I thought I’d find a better man and a better job but things didn’t go according to my plan. I couldn’t find a proper job for ages and it was getting harder and harder to pay for the house. I was getting into a lot of debt and the food starting to run out. I was working from dusk till dawn but still couldn’t manage to pay the debt on time. After some time I made a decision to sell the house and buy something smaller or even rent an apartment. But in order to sell the house I had to restore it and redecorate it first. A lot of things had to be done: repair the pipes in the cellar, fix the garage, re-plaster the walls and it would have been good to replace some patches of the roof as well. But I needed thousands of dollars for such a big job and I didn’t have it. Despite the fact that the location was really good, buyers’ offers were ridiculously low - all because of the previous expert’s evaluation. I couldn’t force myself to sell it for peanuts and at the same time I couldn’t keep it or repair it. I was also a bit selfish at that time, I was used to the luxury lifestyle and numbers with less than five zeroes didn’t even count as money.”

Jenny sighed as if regretting her own stupidity and then she shook her head.

“Now I understand that I should have accepted what I was offered but I wasn’t smart enough. Day by day I was gradually falling into despair knowing that it’s never going to be possible to get as much as I needed. Then, instead of trying to think sensibly I made a decision which I’m still paying for now. Since it was the only way I could get enough money I decided to burn the house down and get the insurance pay-out. I found some dodgy guy from the street, paid him to do the job and paid for his silence. After we agreed on the date when the arson should take place I went to play cards with my friends so I would have the perfect alibi. The house burnt down to ashes spreading them all across the street. During the meeting with the manager of the insurance company I was crying as loud as I could, pretending to be beside myself with grief. But inside I was already celebrating and expecting to get the compensation soon. But unfortunately I miscalculated everything. The insurance company sent their sharks - the arson experts who quickly discovered the real reason of the fire and the insurance company got a tight grip of my arse. It only took a few days for them to question all my neighbours and find out that the house had been on sale for a very long time and because of the evaluation I couldn’t sell it. Finally they found that guy I hired who confessed everything trying to save his rotten skin. So now I have not only lost everything I had but I also was brought before the Commissions’ court where I was given a choice – I either had to pay an unbelievably huge fine and get four years in a normal prison or I go to Tally. I chose Tally. I don’t regret my choice, you know… First of all I wouldn’t be able to find money for the fine anyway, and second I prefer to have at least some illusion of a freedom. Here I can go at work and I can come back home in the evening; I can go to the shops, I can go in any direction I want and I talk to whoever I want. What would I have in a normal prison? A cell with a bed and bog? I’d eat some lousy porridge and drink tea which is not even a tea but piss? In Tally I can eat tasty food - of course it costs money but here it’s possible to earn it and make contacts. Here I can try and do something! Not everybody has a good life here but it’s up to them whether they agree to come here or not. Everybody could choose the normal prison but instead they decide to come to Tally. You know that as well I as do.”