Chapter One Bedtime Story

Once upon a time there was a Mother named Laughter.

Laughter was a very special Mother, she was Joyful Tears’ younger sister. Joyful Tears was the first Mother and the founder of the colony. She brought Laughter, her sister, and her aging mother Doris with her when she left the dead City. The City had been destroyed by bombs and nothing that was once considered civilized was left standing.

But that’s a story for another time.

Laughter had been given the Drone Beautiful as her first mate, and they mated together on the night of the Beautiful’s sixteenth birthday. The mating was successful and Laughter became pregnant with a child. Laughter could not have been more happy, for the most beautiful thing on this earth is a birth and the life of a woman is nothing if she cannot reproduce.

When her time came to bring forth her child, there was much celebration. Beautiful was even allowed to sit in the room with Laughter and Joyful Tears and the other Mothers during the birthing, something that most Drones are never allowed to do. Beautiful held Laughter’s hand in his while she struggled with the pushing and pulling. Finally, the child came.

It was a boy, which should have made Laughter very proud, but there was something terribly wrong. The boy’s skin was a lovely chocolate color with tufts of dark brown hair atop his head, this also would have been celebrated if the child’s parents had not both had skin as pale as new snow. It came to light then that Laughter had, against the rules of the colony, taken a mate before Beautiful. Laughter and the Drone she had mated with were sentenced to death and Beautiful was given to another Mother to mate with. Before she was taken away, she called the dark child a cockroach, the first word she had said since the child’s birth. And, as was custom, this became the child’s name.

Cockroach.

The Mothers called the boy Roach for short, and it became unlawful in the Mothers’ home to say anything badly of the boy’s namesake. They couldn’t even kill them! If one was found in the house, it was taken away by one of the Drones and released outside. The boy was given as a Son to a Drone named Lovely. Lovely remained in the Mothers’ mansion with Roach and raised him, teaching him in the ways of the Drone and everything the boy needed to know about mating. Roach learned quickly and grew into a beautiful drone, admired by everyone. Joyful Tears herself laid claim to him, and so for his first mating, he will be with the Great Mother. When…”

“Roach?”

Roach opened his eyes, batting his lashes rapidly as he was drawn from his narrative. He turned his head, looking at the boy laying beside of him. “Yes, Precious?”

The boy called Precious wriggled beneath the beige sheets that covered his small mattress that laid on the floor at the foot of Roach’s king sized bed. Precious’ blonde hair fell about his childish, round face in gentle curls; his bright blue eyes were half closed and drowsy. “I don’t think I quite understand, Roach.” His full lips parted in a yawn that slurred his quiet words. He lifted one slender hand and pressed its heel against one of his eyes. “What exactly are Drones again?”

“Drones,” Roach began sagely, tapping the tip of his index finger against the freckled tip of the younger boy’s nose lightly. “Drones are fertile males that mate…”

“Mate?”

“You know, Precious. They sleep with them. Have sex so that the fertile women, the Mothers, can have children.”

“What if the drone is in-infer…”

“Infertile?” Roach shivered at the word, feeling a tendril of fear snake through him. “If that happens then the Drone is put down. Killed.” He added as Precious raised one pale brow questioningly. The boy shuddered.

“Can you tell me about Sons?”

Roach smiled and nodded, glad for a change of subject. “Yes.” He shifted in his own bed and lifted himself to his elbows, leaning over the side to peer down at the inquisitive boy next to him. “You are a Son now, Precious. Sons are boys that have reached puberty and need to learn how to be a Drone. When you reach my age, you’ll be a Drone and you’ll be able to mate with the Mothers.”

“Have you mated with anyone yet?”

Roach shook his head, his long, straight brown hair dancing in front of his face. “I’m supposed to mate very soon, though, when I’m sixteen.” He laid back down onto his back, toying with the buttons that ran down the front of his silky red pajama shirt.

Precious closed his eyes and fell still. “When is your birthday?”

“Tomorrow,” Roach murmured, nibbling his pouting lower lip. “I’m mating with Joyful Tears tomorrow.” A twinge of excitement fluttered through his now pounding heart. “Precious?”

“Yes, Roach?”

“Why don’t you come up here with me?”

Roach stared up at the canopy hanging over his four poster bed as he listened to the sound of creaking mattress springs and the rustle of sheets. Precious slid beneath the sheets beside of Roach and tugged the blankets up over his shoulders, yawning softly. Roach turned onto his side and brushed his fingers through the dozing boy’s curls. “Goodnight, Precious.”

“Night, Roach.”