صبحانه رو دوست دارم

CHAPTER TWO

I love breakfast

Dan followed her into the corridor. He looked at the rows of doors on both sides. They were all the same. They walked along to the lift. Tina pushed the button, and the doors opened.

‘Morning, Tina, morning, Dan.’ Russell, the sports organizer, was already in the lift. He smiled. ‘I hope you’re both ready for the tennis match,’ he said. We’re playing Level Fourteen this afternoon. They’ve got some good players.’

Tina laughed. ‘Level Five, Level Five,’ she sang, ‘Level Five is really alive!’ It was their team song.

The lift went down to the restaurant level. They joined the long line of people. They were all waiting for breakfast. Dan looked around. Everyone was wearing shorts and T-shirts, the men and the women.

Dan looked down at his T-shirt. It was light blue, the Level Five colour. His shorts were light blue too. There were different colours for all the levels. The man in front of him was wearing a yellow Level Nine T-shirt.

‘Oh, good’ said Tina. ‘Cornflakes. I love cornflakes.’

‘So do I,’ said Russell.

Dan smiled. Every day breakfast was cornflakes with thin milk. Every day Tina seemed pleased with it. She always seemed pleased with lunch too. And dinner. Everybody seemed pleased. He thought about the food. Lunch was usually soup, and some bread. Dinner was usually soup, and some kind of rice. They sometimes had a little meat or fish, but not often. But they were never hungry.

Dan took a tray, a bowl of cornflakes and a vitamin drink. He followed Tina and Russell towards the tables. The restaurant had big windows, and through them you could see the large swimming pool. The families with children all lived on the other side of the pool. On this side there were only people without children.

Dan stopped and thought, ‘And none of us ever have children. And the youngest children on the other side are ten or eleven years old. They used to be younger.’ He could remember babies. ‘So, no children are born here, and the youngest children are ten or eleven.’

Dan waited for a moment. He put his tray down on an empty table. It was difficult. Thinking was difficult. ‘So, maybe that’s how long we’ve been here. Ten or eleven years.’ He felt pleased with himself. He looked around quickly. Nobody was watching him. He picked up his tray again and walked over to the waste disposal unit. Quickly he threw the food and drink away.

He looked around again. No, nobody saw him. He started to walk to Tina’s table. ‘And there are no sick people,’ he thought. They take them to a hospital somewhere. Nobody else leaves. Never.’ He stopped. There was Jack! Jack went to hospital– but when? He walked over to Jack’s table.

‘Jack! Good morning,’ he said.

‘Good morning, Dan. Lovely day, isn’t it?’

‘How’s your leg, Jack? Is it better?’

Jack looked surprised. ‘My leg? There’s nothing wrong with my leg.’

‘Don’t you remember, Jack? You hurt your leg. You cut it by the swimming pool. I was with you. You fell on a bottle and it broke, and cut you badly. They took you to hospital. You went in a helicopter.’

Jack stopped eating. He looked worried for a moment. Then he laughed. ‘I’ve never been to hospital in my life,’ he said. ‘And I’ve never been in a helicopter. Is this a joke?’

Dan looked down. Jack was wearing green Level Eleven shorts. He could see the long red scar on Jack’s leg. He looked at Jack again. Jack was smiling.

‘Dan, are you all right?’ It was Russell. He was standing behind him.

‘I was just talking to Jack; About his leg. He cut his leg when we were at the swimming pool. Look, there’s the scar. You remember, Russell. He fell on a bottle. You carried him to the helicopter.’

Russell wasn’t smiling. ‘Dan, can you come to my office after breakfast? I want to talk to you.’

Dan looked at Russell carefully. Russell was the sports organizer for Level Five. There were a lot of organizers. They all lived on the highest level of the building, Level Twenty. There were organizers for sports, pottery, yoga, music, everything.

‘No, I can’t come to your office, Russell. I’m busy.’

Russell looked surprised. ‘Busy? What do you mean?’

Dan turned and walked quickly out of the restaurant. He walked to the lifts. He got to the lifts, pushed the button, and the door opened immediately. Dan stepped in. Russell was hurrying along the corridor towards him. Dan pushed a button, and the doors closed. Dan looked at the buttons. There were twenty levels. He pushed number twenty.