The Vacation.

         
          Tunnel City existed as a cancerous infestation beneath the ruins of a city whose name was long forgotten.  After the fall of civilization, the web of underground railroad had obvious appeal.  Tunnel offered two very desired elements; already built, and easy to access.  Chopped and divided amongst various gangs, the surface still served most of the city's diminished population.  Tunnel remained the only place open to everyone, not ruled by any one faction.  The city defined the word slum however, remaining unclaimed only because no one wanted it.


          "Mom, I'm hungry" Only six years old, Laralyn never said mommy or mamma. She just said 'mom'.  Similar idiosyncrasies, for most strangers, added up to an overall weird sort of child.  She had the personality of an old crabby woman, interrupted by fits of random childishness.  Only a few people, her mother and a handful of others, learned to accept her personality.  More often than not, she was simply avoided or ignored.

         "I know Larsie, Mommy knows."

         Laralyn scrunched up her nose and sat in silence, like she always did when she wanted people to notice her discontent.  She hated the nickname Larsie.  Her mother knew this.  She preferred silence to hearing Lara's complaints of hunger. They constantly struggled to find food, a fact which broke her mother's heart more and more everyday.

         "Just let me think for a bit, Lara."  Julia didn't need time to think, she needed time to once again choke down what little dignity she possessed. Resigning herself to what she came to realize days ago, Julia rose from her seat on the steps of an abandoned building.  She paused a moment before taking Laralyn's hand, then set off to face the inevitable, to sell the only valuable thing left to her, to the entrance of Tunnel City.

         Julia wound her way through a dense crowd, firmly gripping Lara's hand.  The child observed the familiar scene with more than a little detachment.  Their destination, a line of subway cars repurposed for profitable enterprise, eventually presented itself.  A short grub of a man moved to greet the pair.  He reeked of alcohol, he glowed with greed, he sickened her.

         "Ah... Come lookin fer work, have yeh?" He observed Julia's agreeable features with clear intent.

         "Yes, Fletcher.  Is Pony around? I need someone to watch after Lara while I conduct business."

         "Oh, ya that oaf aroun' her summers. Yer In luck. I got a customer all lined up for ya.  He been lookin fer sumtin like you for a while."  He produced a greasy lipped smile.  "Wait here.  I'll go fetch him."

         Julia turned to Laralyn and hugged her.  "Mommy has to talk with the man Fletcher is bringing back for a while.  After I'm done, I promise, we'll get food.  Does that sound good, baby?"

         "Yeah, Mom."

         Fletcher returned with a giant of a man, who said nothing, as he entered one of the old train cars, as well as another man with a long pony tail, for which he was aptly named.  Lara liked Pony, he wasn't much for games, neither was she. He also didn't mind talking to her.  Pony led her over to an empty bench and sat down with her.

         Lara noticed right away the posters, normally used to occupy her imagination, had been torn away to reveal a peculiar painting on the side of a train car.  The unusual image perplexed the child.  No concept of such a place existed for Lara.  When asked about the curios landscape, Pony explained the mural to be an advertisement, whatever that was, for a vacation area.  He said, in the old world, people left their homes to visit other places for fun.  This place, a beach, was where the ocean water met up with the ground.  People liked the beach because they felt calm. Two colorful things lay on the beach. People sat under them to keep from getting too hot. Two of them... Just two?

                Growling in Lara's stomach earned her looks from nearby people. She wanted to knock on the door to her mother's train car.  Lara knew to ignore this impulse once now, the thought of that lesson made her shudder.  After an eternity, her mother came out of the car.  Pony jumped and ran to her, yelling somthing Lara didn't understand.  He bolted for the train, nearly slamming through the car's door before Julia stopped him. They talked for a bit, Pony walked away, and Laralyn ran to her mother.

         Julia now sported a purple bruise around her eye and her shirt was a little torn.  Lara thought she might have seen a tear in her mother's eye.

         "You ready to go, sweetie?" Julia asked her daughter in a shaky voice.

         "Yes, mom. Are you okay?

         "Yes, baby."

         "Mom, can we go to a beach some day?" Lara pointed at the painting.

         Julia just stood for a moment, then spoke with a steadier, more confident voice. "Yes Lara, one day."

         "There are only two 'brellas, so... that means it'll just be me and you right mom?"

         Julia hugged her daughter tightly. "You. Me. No one else, baby. No one else."