LIKE VEINS OF RED RUBIES
By Nicolas Abel
~~~
Like Veins of Red Rubies
Copyright © 2015 Nicolas Abel
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
The characters in all of the stories are fictional. They are not meant to represent any real persons living or dead.
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CONTENTS
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
ONE
"Look at them, Victor. The gems, they're lovely aren't they?"
"Yes Ms. Emily," said Victor. "They're quite the shiners."
"I'll ask that you call me Mrs. Barrett now."
"Oh well of course, Mrs. Barrett." Victor said. "Again, congratulations on the wedding. Stanley's lucky to be with you. But if I may speak about my cousin, he's a genuine guy. I do hope you keep him sane."
"That's why I'm with him."
"My conscience is clear then," said Victor. "See you around." He waved and walked away.
"Did you show the ring to Victor?" said a voice from within the domicile. A man in a clean, brown suit emerged.
"Oh Stanley, everyone loves this ring. I love it the most." Emily jumped and wrapped her arms around him.
Stanley caught her and held her up. He smiled and whispered, "I'm glad you like it."
Emily looked into Stanley's eyes and said, "It's not just about the ring. It's great, but a ring's just a ring. It's that we're finally able to be together in our own domicile."
"Yes," said Stanley. "Thank you for thinking like that, really." He stroked Emily's chin. "Where in this entire bunker can I find a girl who's as thoughtful and pretty as you are?"
"I’m just as lucky to have found you."
Stanley smiled widely, creasing the sides of his cheeks. "Let me tell you something, our babies are going to be really adorable. And smart."
Emily pecked Stanley's lips and giggled.
Stanley said, "Come on, let's go get our pills." Stanley draped his coat over his shoulder and held Emily's hand. As they walked down the domiciles, the lights along the ceiling brightened. The metal wall panels changed from their black hue to a light grey one. They reached the main chamber. People passed by, giving smiles and some gasps when they saw Emily's ring.
"That Stanley Barrett boy, he's a man now," said Mr. Albertson, who was sitting on a bench with his grandson. "Not that dreaming little boy who used to dash around the streets, no. He's got a real heap of duties now."
Stanley and Emily went up to the end of the queue. They pecked at each other and swiped each other's noses. They whispered into each other's ears and giggled and did this the whole time until the line shrunk. They inserted their coins into the vending machine and received their pills and cups of water. They went aside and swallowed their pills then drank their water. Stanley picked a drop of water that hung off Emily's lips and she giggled.
The clock of town hall rang nine times, signaling nine in the morning.
"We've had our nutrition for the day," said Stanley. "And we have the rest of it to ourselves. Do you have any suggestions?"
"We should visit your sister; she wants to see the ring."
Stanley crunched his nose. "Okay," he said.
"You don't seem too excited."
"I wanted to go somewhere else."
"Where in this small bunker could we go?"
"I'd say we should go to the cave," said Stanley. "Let’s get away from everyone else."
Emily smiled and bit her lips. She placed her hand on Stanley's chest and leaned in. She whispered into Stanley's ear, "I didn't really want to visit your sister. I was just thinking about your family."
"You know we're the closest family now," said Stanley.
"I'm so glad we can communicate like this," said Emily. "I'll lead the way." With both hands, she pulled Stanley away from the street and to the wall. They walked along it until they reached an open part. A water pipe had broken five years ago and the metal sheets had burst and folded to the side. The council advised that no one should be near it, but Stanley and Emily would sneak in and have private talks.
They walked inside to a spacious cavern. A small pool of water was at the far end, and the rocks had formed to look like beautiful statues. Even the ceiling had jagged rocks that pointed downward. Stanley and Emily would lie down and stare at them, talking and letting their minds run amidst the grooves and curves of the intricate outcroppings. Sometimes, the odd drop of water would fall and land on their heads, and they would laugh.
Emily led Stanley to the base of the lake and lay down. Stanley did too.
Emily raised her hand and let the ring sparkle. "Tell me how you got the ring," she said. "It must have taken ages to dig this many diamonds."
"You know, I thought of mining that only two months after we met. I thought you were the most beautiful thing ever, and I just had to prepare." Stanley pointed across the lake to an opening. "You see that hole over there? Whenever I had free time, I'd sneak over there and just dig. It was a fool's hope to find anything, but my intentions were set. It took ages, heck it took so much of my time that I couldn't sleep some days. But I kept digging, knowing that one day, I would find some pretty gems. And surely, I found a cluster of them. I was so overjoyed that I danced within that small tunnel and hurried back home to get them refined."
"I never knew that it took so much effort."
"Do you like it?"
"Yes."
"Then my work has paid off," said Stanley.
Emily kissed Stanley's cheek and he giggled.
"You know," said Stanley, "I came across a vein of rubies yesterday. I wasn't going to tell you, but I can't keep it from you."
"Rubies?" said Emily, her voice waning.
"Yes. Rubies. I'm planning on coming here tomorrow to get some more." Stanley turned his face to look at Emily. "How does a ruby necklace sound?"
Emily didn't look back. Her gaze remained on the ceiling and she paused before saying, "Good. That sounds good."
"Just good?" said Stanley. "You don't like rubies?"
"No, I'm just afraid of what you might dig up," she said. She turned and faced Stanley. "If you get all of these fancy things for me, I might fall in love with them, instead of you."
"Emily, I know you and you are not like that," said Stanley.
"But you never know."
Stanley reached out and laid his hand on Emily's face, turning her closer to him. "I know you will stay the same," said Stanley. "And I want you to. Because that's the reason I love you; you're perfect just now."
Emily brought Stanley close and kissed him.
"Let’s stay here for a while," said Emily, "alone, together."
Stanley kissed her forehead. "That sounds great."
They spent the whole day there, talking and laughing. Their joyous
banter echoed within the hall that kept them separated from world. And they were able to ignore everything and focus only upon themselves. But when they heard nine rings from the town center, they returned to their domicile, as everyone else did.
Emily lay on her bed and slept, but Stanley could not find rest. He changed into his casual white shirt, jeans, and apron. He grabbed his duffle bag and quietly slipped out of his domicile.
"Rubies," he said, as he started toward town. "She’ll like the rubies."
TWO