Agreeing with The List

Agreeing with The List

     Jacom turned toward his living room just after answering his front door. “Our new neighbors are here.”

     “Welcome. Come on in.” Jacom returned his attention to the young couple at his front door.

     As they walked toward, and into his living room, he introduced himself to Breandon and Tatinna. Who in return told him who they were. Jacom also announced his Love, Pati, to Breandon and Tatinna after they entered the living room.

     “Please, have a seat. Would you like something to eat or drink?” Pati sat on a long chair. Jacom joined her. Breandon and Tatinna took single chairs opposite them.

     “Thanks, but no. We just finished eating our morning meal,” replied Tatinna.

     “Don’t take this the wrong way, but why are you here.” Jacom took a drink of the drink next to him.

     “We just moved here a few weeks ago,” said Breandon. “This is the first chance we have gotten to meet our neighbors.”

     “How many of us have you met so far? Jacom asked.

     “You are the first. We just started today,” said Tatinna. “This house is the only one who still has someone here.”

     “That’s because we don’t have any children. We don’t have to take them to The Learning Center on our way to work,” said Pati.

     “We can sit back and relax a little before go into work,” continued Jacom. “What kind of work do you do?”

     “I’m a GraveDigger. I have been all over Hannom. There are a lot of ruins to discover on Hannom.” Breandon said.

     “I have the toughest job of them all,” answered Tatinna. “With my mate gone most of the time I stay at home taking care of the house and our four kids – two males and two females.”

     “What kind of work do you do?” Breandon asked.

     Pati started to speak. But Jacom beat her to it. “I own and run a small Eating Place. Pati handles the supplies and inventory while I do the cooking and the visitors.”

     “That’s why we can take the time to relax a little,” continued Pati. “We need to after working twenty-five hours a day.”

     “We don’t open for business until early midday or close until just past overnight. Once we come home we usually go right to sleep. Somedays we have trouble getting to our sleepers. We are that tired.”

     “I noticed you didn’t mention the name of your Eating Place,” said Tatinna. “Does that mean we wouldn’t be welcomed there?”

     “I’m sorry to say you wouldn’t.” Jacom said with a sadness in his voice. “It’s not that we don’t want to do it, but it’s The Law that says you can’t.”

     Breandon and Tatinna looked at each other before Breandon spoke. “We aren’t surprised about this. This happens to us all the time.”

     “That’s one of the reasons why we have moved around so much. Most of it is because of my mate Breandon. But it’s also because of the hatred we face every day.”

     “We have been One for fourteen years,” continued Breandon. “This is our sixth house we have moved to.”

     “The reason we moved here is because of Breandon. They discovered the Temple of Villanicine in the desert near here.”

     “I know what you are going to ask,” replied Breandon. “You want to know why we live about a hundred miles away. It’s because it’s the closest we could get to it.”

     “We had to lie to do that too,” continued Tatinna. “There sure is a lot of hatred toward us in this part of the region.”

     No one said anything for several minutes. Everyone opened their mouths to do it. But they didn’t. It was Breandon who finally broke the silence. “Do you know when your neighbors will be coming back to their houses?”

     “Some of them should be coming back at any time now, but you don’t want to try to make friends with them. They make hatred sound like a good thing.”

     “Pati, you shouldn’t be telling them about that. They don’t need to know about it,” responded Jacom.

     “If you are talking about The List, we already know it exists. We also know you didn’t agree with it,” said Tatinna.

     “That’s another reason why we came here first,” continued Breandon. “It’s because you didn’t agree with that List.”

     “We aren’t the only ones who didn’t agree to it. There are a few others,” said Jacom. “I’ll give you their names. You should get to know them too.”

     “I will admit that we did think about agreeing to it, but we talked about it – and decided not to. We don’t care who lives in this neighborhood,” replied Pati.

     “You don’t have to worry about The List,” responded Breandon. “We have seen a lot worse hatred than this before.”

     “There is nothing they can do to use that hasn’t been done before – including trying to stop us from moving here to begin with. We aren’t moving no matter what they do to us.”

     “I hate to say this, but we need to get ready for work. We do want to continue this conversation though.”

     “Don’t worry about having to go to work. I understand. I’m not due to start working for another month. So we have plenty of time to get to know each other.”

     They all got up and headed for the front door. Breandon barely had it open when Tatinna shouted. “NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOO.”

     Tatinna ran out that door. But Breandon stopped her before she got too far. Their new house was engulfed in fire. It looked like a house of flames.

     “We told you we didn’t want you here.” A male said as he boldly walked up to them.
“Our children were in there,” said Breandon. You just murdered them.”

     “I, we, didn’t kill anyone. You may look human walking upright and with your hands, but you’re not.” A female spoke that time. You’re a dog and a cat.”