A New World

George knocked on the cabin door, a splinter from the rough wood sliced his knuckle. Shit, he thought as he pulled the bit of wood from his skin. The wood in this land is hard, the lumberjacks call themselves steel-cutters the wood was so hard. George nursed his wound as he waited at the door. After there was no answer George rattled the doorknob and found it unlocked. He pushed the cabin door open, and glanced around the main room of the cabin. It was sparsely furnished, a stove, a table, four chairs and a cabinet. A majority of the light came from a large glass window opposite the door and a door on either side of the room. A rug and luggage lay heaped in a pile by the window, most of the bags were closed and gathering dust.

“Don? Hey Donnie! Hey! Donnie?” George called out. A mumble sounded from behind one of the doors. George walked across the room, hobbled a little bit as his right knee was a bit stiff and the journey hadn’t helped any. He pushed open the first door, revealing a bathroom with aspects of a broom closet. George turned and opened the second door.

“Donnie, you in here?” George said.

“Yeah, yeah I’m here.” Donnie answered. Donnie was sitting at a desk facing a window. Behind him was a bed and something covered with a sheet. Donnie was nothing more than an outline, a mere shadow cast into the room. He never turned to greet his friend.

“There’s a ship coming in, at noon.” George said. “They’re thinking we’re going to need all hands on deck for this one. Or we could just watch it. Or go get a drink.”

“Work may be good for me, but I- ah- I just don’t want a drink. My father drank. He’s Old World now. We came here to leave the Old World behind and start a new one.” Donnie turned to look at the covered thing. “But I guess that wasn’t in the plan.” Donnie sighed and ran his hand through his hair, it was thick and black and healthy, a stark comparison to Georges own prematurely balding, grey hair.

“Listen, Donnie, I think you should get some fresh air, really. I know you hurt -  ”

“No, no really don’t know George!” Donnie shouted, he leapt from his chair, throwing it to the ground.

“How can you know? How? Answer me!” Donnie shouted to his friend.

“I-I’m sorry Donnie I don’t know I just –”

“No, see? You don’t know, you won’t know! You bald, crippled shit!” Donnie continued to sling insults at George, and George stood and looked Donnie straight in the eye for every second of it. He waited until Donnie collapsed onto the bed, chest heaving and sobbing, but no tears.

“The sheet, pull off the sheet George, please.” Donnie gestured towards the covered thing. George shuffled over to it, and slipped the sheet off, revealing a delicate rocking crib.

“Oh, Donnie…” George said.

“Two months, just two months and she was so… happy. So happy during those two months, she had wanted it for so long, and I felt… like I did too, but didn’t know it, not until I came home, saw her smile and then she whispered it in my ear. Then, all of it was gone when I woke up and she didn’t, like it was all a dream.”

George checked his watch. Quarter till noon.

“Come on, Don. Come on, get up Donnie, don’t make this bald crippled shit whoop your ass. We’re going to go see the ship come in, do some work. Alright?” George rolled his friend over. Donnie took a deep breath, held it, then let it out in a gust and sat up.

“I’m sorry, George, I didn’t mean what I said I – ”

“No, don’t be, I get it. It’s not like any of that is news to me. You know I always considered you the lucky one, Don. When we were kids you could run and climb and swim.”

“You could do all of that.”

“Not as well, not nearly.” George chuckled, so did Donnie.

“And then we got older, and you had all the looks and moves and girls.”

“You got laid.” Don said.

“With help from you, Don, only with your help. I still get nervous around women. Then, when we went to get tickets to the New World, they only let me on because of my education. They looked me in the eye and told me if it weren’t for a slip of paper I wouldn’t be allowed here. And you got through on a physical only; they didn’t even bother with the written test for you.”

George and Donnie sat in silence. Finally George checked his watch. He pulled Donnie up with him from the bed and shambled alongside him as they walked up the hill to the docks. The ship was just landing as they reached the top of the hill, and automatons were already doing maintenance on it as colonists unloaded the cargo and the crew made their way to the pub by the river. The docks seemed out of place in this New World, gleaming metal among wood, sharp edges compared to organic shapes of vines and the precise movements of the automatons juxtaposed to the unpredictable behavior of animals. This may not have been the New World Donnie had wanted, but he decided this was the one he was going to have.