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

Midwest away from the coast. My close family members are all hunters too, so if anyone comes to hurt us . . . I mean, my dad’s a good shot.”

“Would we go there in the car?” I asked and grimaced.

“Yeah. That’d be the safest. What do you think?”

“My people will not be in the Midwest, but others like us may be. Others like Darius, perhaps. We will still have to be careful.”

“I understand,” she said. “I don’t know what our long term plan will be, but I think getting away from the beach is a good, next step.”

“Yes, I agree.” I answered, but a pit formed in my stomach. I’d never been more than a couple of miles from an ocean before, and I already missed my home.

“Let’s leave this evening right before dark. That way, it’ll be harder for someone to follow my car. I know the back roads of this area well, so I think I can get away if anyone follows.”

“What shall we do until then?” I asked.

“I have a few things in my backpack, and there are card games and stuff in the other room. Lemme see,” she said, digging through her bag and the boxes from the other rooms. “Here we go! I’ve got some playing cards, a board game set, and a couple of novels. Any of those sound good?”

“What are playing cards?” I asked, picking up the box that she had titled as such.

“Cards are pieces of cardboard or paper with pictures and numbers on them. You use them to play games like poker or go fish. Do you want to learn a game?” she asked.

“Yes,” I smiled. I’d loved games as a child.

“Okay. I’ll deal the cards out,” she said and then asked, “What kind of games have you played before?”

“I don’t think there is an English word for it, but there is a timed game for children that I always liked very much. It requires arranging a set of hollow spheres in a particular order before they can sink to your play mat. Each sphere fills with water at a different speed and emits a vibration that corresponds to the fill speed and the pattern. If they are arranged in the wrong order, they all simultaneously fill and sink.”

“Wow,” she replied. “That’s a kids’ game? How old do you have to be to play it? It sounds difficult.”

“Age is calculated by shark migration patterns in my community, so I’m not sure how old I was in human years when I played that game. But, I think I was close to four or six years old then,” I answered.

“Huh.” she answered. “How old are you now?”

“I’ve lived through about forty shark migrations which would make me about half as many years old.”

“You’re only twenty? I thought you said that you were a researcher.”

“Yes. I am. Education and specialization begin very young. I knew that I would study languages for the betterment of my people as soon as I had survived ten migrations.”

“Wow. That’s intense. How did you know that you wanted to do that?”

“I didn’t. My instructors found that I was talented in this area and fostered my learning.”

“That’s kinda awesome. I’m nineteen now, and I’m just barely getting started. So, why shark migrations?”

“Large sharks pose a major threat as predators and have been worshipped throughout our history. They impacted when and where we lived when we were transient, and community members who survived a migratory season would have a large celebration. My people still have large festivals each year for this occasion.”

The cards sat in three stacks in front of us untouched now and Penny asked me another question, “What’s the festival like?”

“It’s breathtaking. Everyone paints themselves like the hunters from the old times and hangs bright and colorful decorations all over their homes, community areas, juz̈uṣùs̈s, everywhere! We shine lights behind sea glass and crystals and then serve a feast of various fish, sea vegetables, and prepared eggs.”

“What’s a choozoozoosss? You said that before too.”

I snorted at her poor pronunciation. “A juz̈uṣùs̈s is a type of vehicle.”

“So you guys, like, drive around?”

“We use technology daily, much as you do. It is just that our technology has developed very differently. For example, my juz̈uṣùs̈ is designed to dive in the ocean and runs on a sequestered algae. Very different from your car.”

“That’s not what I imagined. I mean . . .” She looked up at me then and her face flushed, “I mean, I only saw the one side of Darius, so I thought . . .”

“Yes, I understand, but he doesn’t represent all of our kind. There are cultures around the world that differ greatly from mine in technology type and reliance, and also in beliefs. I hope,” I began tentatively, “that you don't perceive me in the same way that you do Darius. The freshwater tribes and communities are being rapidly displaced as nearly all of the Earth’s land has been overtaken by humans. I think that any hate or fear comes from the desire to survive and regain some kind of dignity and identity. And why should they not have that? His people have the right to live. As do yours and mine.”

I looked into her face and hoped that she understood me. When she took my hand and looked back into mine, I knew that she did.

“I believe that you’re a good person, or . . . a good, you know. Heh.”

There was hope in her face, and she squeezed my hand slightly. A jittery feeling filled my abdomen, and I had to catch my breath. I wasn’t sure what was happening, but more and more, I wanted to be here with her. More and more, I wanted to protect her. Needed to protect her. Just needed her.

She broke the connection between our locked eyes first and sighed, “Okay! Let’s check out these cards, huh?”

She spent the morning teaching me card games like Go Fish and War. I especially liked the most ridiculously named of