The Penny Drops (Sea the Depths Book 1) Karmon Kuhn (life changing books TXT) 📖

other resources that I needed, I knew that the sort of free minded chaos that he’d created did not result in utopia. Not like my home.

“I haven’t read that one yet. I’ll have to check it out. Maybe we can get another coffee and talk about it after I read through it,” she said, looking up at me through her eyelashes, a submissive and tentative posture.

“Yes. I would enjoy that. I want to come here again for another chocolate croissant.”

The conversation flowed easily, and it didn’t take long for Penny to confide in me. I was unsure of whether this was due to her personality or the bonding chemicals that her body produced in response to me, but either way, it was beneficial. I learned that Penny had lost her mother to cancer, that she had no siblings but was close with her cousins, and that she deeply loved animals and children. We talked in detail about our favorite books, and she told me about many of her dreams. I was entranced by the way in which she believed that anything was possible.

“What about you?” she asked, “What do you want for your life?”

“No one has asked me that before.” I said quietly and then thought. “I never considered that I might do something other than continue studying language and possibly have a mating ceremony someday.”

“What?” she asked, raising one eyebrow.

“I mean, have a marriage ceremony.”

“Oh! That makes sense,” she answered, “You know, I think you’re the first woman I’ve met who isn’t all excited by the possibility of getting married.”

“It’s usually arranged by community leaders where I’m from and based upon reproductive capability. It’s nothing like the mat . . . I mean marriage . . . for love in books. It’s purely practical.”

“Is that what you want?” she asked, sitting back in her chair and looking somehow, disappointed.

“I never thought much about it. There is not an alternative where I’m from.”

“Well, you’re here now. There are plenty of alternatives in California,” she said, leaning forward again and placing her hand on mine.

We continued to talk, and I saw more and more signs of the bonding process. Penny’s behavior spoke volumes from the way that she leaned in close to the way that she looked up at me through her eyelashes, and the aroma was intoxicating. A smell of intense warmth and immense success.

I’m not sure how long we sat in the cafe, but at some point, the sky darkened outside and an attendant told us that they would be closing soon.

Penny’s cheeks reddened. “Oh! I’m sorry. Are you ready to head out?”

I looked at her without comprehending.

“Leave,” she broke in, “Are you ready to leave?”

“Yes,” I answered and then added, “Can I walk you to your home?”

Again, Penny’s eyes sparkled as she nodded her head. She grabbed some of the things from our table and took them to a bin near the door. What did they do with the materials?

“What process do those things go through when they are put in that bin?” I asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Are they recycled or compacted and used for fuel or something else?”

Her brows squished together in the middle of her face. “Nothing like that. They just go to a landfill with the other trash. I don’t think this shop recycles at all.”

I could feel my eyes widen and pupils dilate. I must’ve looked strange as we walked out of the cafe because Penny didn’t speak for the first few moments of the walk.

“Those things are just wasted after a single use?” I asked.

“I guess so. Do they do things differently where you’re from?”

“Yes. Our resources are precious. Nothing is single use. Articles are reused, formed into different materials, recycled, or otherwise given long life spans. We would never fashion something, use it once, and then waste it! If we did, we would never have enough materials to survive! And, that waste would further pollute the water we live in!” I breathed somewhat heavily, and I knew that it wasn’t from the exertion of the walk.

“Do you mean, like, the island you came from?”

“. . . yes. Of course.” I said, seeing that my passionate response had nearly caused me to make a mistake.

“That makes sense,” she said. “You’ll have to show me some things that people do where you’re from.”

I was quiet for a moment. She’d caught me off guard. “You want to learn how to be less wasteful?”

“Yeah. We’ve only got one planet, and I know that we need to treat it better. I’ve just focused my efforts on how I eat for the environment. I haven’t really had much exposure to the rest of environmentalism. I’d like to learn more, if you’ll teach me.”

Chapter 6

O

nce we arrived at Penny’s home, a small squat building with doors and windows wrapped around the exterior, I was unsure of the social protocol. I sensed that her expectation, but rather than guess and choose poorly, I waved my phone at her as she’d done to me in the hospital and said, “I will send you a message!”

I turned away and nearly skipped back to the inn. Everything seemed to be going so well with the bonding! Perhaps, I could successfully retrieve the first potential tsùges̈ss with which I’d come in contact.

Back at the inn, I consumed another nutrient pack and read more about Alice’s journey. Her upside-down world was so much like my own. Everything had changed for her in an instant, and even though I’d been aware of this rite of passage my entire life, the decision to send me early, made it every bit as jarring and sudden as the descent into Wonderland. My dreams that night were filled with Cheshire cats and rabbits in coats, hopping through the tunnels of the tsez̈ø deep below the Pacific.

***

Quick raps on the door woke me. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and answered. The scent of one of my own greeted