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Dump Miner
- Chapter Seven
mariA and leO apply to have a child.
mariA and leO walk towards the Bishop’s office.
leO:
mariA, we need to be strong. The Bishop will surely try to talk us out of this.
mariA:
Why would he do that, what we are doing is a beautiful thing.
leO:
I don’t talk too much about when I was active as a Priest, but one of the things we where taught in seminary school was to talk miners out of reproducing.
mariA looks at leO, shocked to hear what he just said.
mariA:
Is that true? Why?
leO:
There are so many dump miners already and barely enough food to feed them all.
They walk to the Bishop’s mansion and pause at the door.
leO:
Are you ready?
mariA:
Yes, I am ready.
leO knocks on the mansion door and it is answered by an altar boy. The altar boy opens the door and stares at the couple as they stand waiting.
alter boy:
What do you want?
Father leO:
We are here to see Bishop Lamb.
altar boy:
I will let him know you are here.
With that, the altar boy tries to close the door, but leO is on a mission and no one is going to stop him from his divine right to sire the messiah. leO pushes the door open knocking the altar boy back a few feet and grabs mariA’s hand. They work their way through the mansion towards the Bishop’s office, with the altar boy trying desperately to stop them.
altar boy:
You can’t do this…Please stop…I am going to get in trouble…Please stop…
LeO and mariA ignore him and continue to the Bishop’s office. Once there, the altar boy throws himself in front of the office door and makes one final plea.
altar boy:
Please I beg you…
leO pushes the altar boy to one side, opens the door, and barges into the Bishop’s office followed by the pleading alter boy. Bishop Lamb, sitting at his desk with his B.I.B.L.E., appears to be unhappy. The altar boy runs to the Bishop desk and tries to explain while leO enters the office with mariA following.
Bishop Lamb:
What are you all doing in here? Did I call for any of you?
altar boy:
Forgive me, holiness, I tried to stop them but they were able to force their way past.
Bishop Lamb looks at the altar boy with disgust.
Bishop Lamb:
I will deal with you later. Eight o’clock tonight, my quarters. And bring your cilice. I don’t want you to forget this lesson. Now go!
The altar boy grabs his right thigh. Trying to keep his composure, he turns and leaves the Bishop’s office occupied with anxiety and fear. leO walks up to the Bishop’s desk as mariA skittishly follows behind. The Bishop turns his attention to mariA and leO.
Bishop Lamb:
Should I save us some time and just call the guards now?
leO:
We are here to apply for a child in accordance with the laws of Americo. You may not deny us this right.
Bishop Lamb:
You are joking, right? You are just trying to make my life miserable, right? If that is the case, then you are doing a pretty good job. Too bad, you can’t put this much effort when you mine the dumps.
leO:
You can say what you want, but you have no choice in this matter.
Bishop Lamb:
You really want to go through with this? The chances of being approved for a child are very slim. Why don’t you take a couple more months to reconsider this? The processing alone is going to take forever. Why get your hopes up for nothing? mariA?
mariA:
Yes, I would like to apply.
Bishop Lamb:
This is a huge waste of The Party’s time as well as mine. You like to waste people’s time don’t you, leO?
mariA moves behind leO as if to hide.
leO:
It is our time.
Bishop Lamb:
Right, your time. Well let’s get this over with.
Bishop Lamb extends the B.I.B.L.E to mariA.
Bishop Lamb:
mariA, please place your right hand on the B.I.B.L.E.
Maria reaches out and slowly places her hand on the mechanical device and a loud beep emits from the device.
Bishop Lamb:
leO, now you.
leO does not hesitate and swiftly, with confidence, places his right hand on the B.I.B.L.E and a loud beep emits from the device. leO starts to remove is hand from the B.I.B.L.E and the Bishop quickly grabs it and holds it down.
Bishop Lamb:
Don’t remove your hand quite yet. While I have you like this, I have a question to ask you.
leO:
I am not afraid, ask your question.
mariA:
leO, don’t! It’s a trick.
Bishop:
No tricks, just one question. Do you really believe that you and mariA are going to sire the messiah?
leO pauses and takes a breath. mariA stares at leO’s eyes and can see a tear well up.
leO:
I do.
A loud beep emits from the B.I.B.L.E. Bishop Lamb looks at the device, then at leO, then at mariA.
leO:
Were you expecting a different result?
The Bishop just stares at leO with a very pained look over his face.
Bishop Lamb:
I will call for you when your results are returned. Now get out and get back to work
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