One (4)

Chance woke up on a Thursday. That was reasonable enough: yesterday was Wednesday, tomorrow Friday.

Thursday seemed the right place to be.

His clothes were already selected and neatly placed on a low table against one wall. They fit him perfectly, breathable fabrics designed for the maximum of comfort. They didn’t last long, but Chance didn’t know that: if they started to look abraded or worn, they were replaced. He had never worn anything of a lower quality to compare them to.

Looking over the itinerary that lay next to his clothes, he saw that Swimming would start the day, then breakfast; Music before lunch; then he had to fast, as it was his birthday. Everyone fasted on their birthday, to focus the mind for meditation and contemplation, which meant he got to skip classes this afternoon.

He hoped he would be able to see Lucky today. If it was going to be his last day of school, it would be good to say goodbye to his best friend in person. If it was one of Lucky’s better days, they’d meet at lunch. If it wasn’t, well, who knew? Chance decided he would ask Doctor Hoggestrom about a last meet-up, if it came to that.

Lucky was already in the cafeteria when Chance entered. His plate was full of food, but Chance wasn’t going to guess how much of it he had eaten.

“None,” said Lucky as Chance sat beside him.

“None what?” asked Chance.

Lucky smiled at him weakly, one eyebrow raised. They had this conversation almost every time they met, now, though their meetings were fewer and fewer over the last year.

“You look...” He didn’t know how to finish the sentence. Lucky was thin, but he was always thin. Today, right now, he looked wasted. Exhausted, as if his spirit was somehow visible – and also famished. “They let you out early.”

“Couldn’t miss my best friend’s big day, now, could I?” He smiled in that half-faced way he had: one eyebrow, one side of his mouth. Though nothing from his eyes.

Chance watched him push mashed potatoes in small circles on his plate, dropping some of it off one side. He knew he’d tuck it under the rim with his other hand, out of sight of whoever was watching.

"You have to eat, Lucky," he said. "You have to eat." Now Lucky did laugh, and threw his arms wide.

"I have been!" he cried. "Am I not a temple?" He stood up quickly, knocking his chair backwards. "Look upon this work, ye lardasses, and tremble!" He lifted his shirt up over his head, catching his elbows inside it and forming a mouth. "Is not the great pale worm the mightiest of creatures?!" With a roar he bent forward and engulfed his plate, pulling it into his shirt-mouth and standing upright, spilling food everywhere as he made loud chomping sounds.

Chance put his head in his hands, protecting his plate from the edible debris showering over the table. He was grateful Lucky avoided all sauces these days.

"Lucky," said an adult voice from beside him. Chance looked up to see Doctor Li standing at the table. Lucky turned and looked out between his arms.

"Yes Doctor Li?" he said.

"Please put your shirt back on. Then get another plate for your lunch."

Grinning, Lucky pulled his shirt back into place and shook food out of his hair.

"I got a couple good mouthfulls there, I swear! It was either that or drown, so I ate it all up just like a good boy should, Doctor Li!" The Doctor was unmoved. "Aw, man! Okay." He shuffled to the selection line, obediently picking up a tray and waiting his turn.

They watched him as he grinned manically at anyone who stared until they turned away.

"Doctor Li?" Chance asked. "Why did you let him out early?"

Doctor Li looked at Chance, then back to Lucky.

"For your graduation day," she said. "He was insistent. Congratulations, by the way."

Chance thought about this.

"Thank you," he said. "But I don’t think it will help him." Lucky waved at them and ordered everything he could see with hugely exaggerated gestures.

"No," she said, "I don’t think it will. But he is for us to worry about, not you. Not you anymore."

They watched Lucky mock-stagger back to the table, precariously balancing mountain of food on his tray. He finally dropped it to the table with a loud "WHEW!" Chance was hard pressed to see any sign of a plate.

"Boy, I hope this will do for lunch!" he said loudly. "I think they ran out of food, doc!" Doctor Li frowned.

"All we care about is that you are healthy, Lucky." Her voice rose. "We have managed to prevent anemia, but you still run a risk of long-term organ damage if you continue to -" She stopped and closed her eyes for a moment. When she spoke again, her voice was calm. "Look at yourself, Lucky: joke as much as you want, but you’ve got sweat on your forehead and hands. You dropped into your seat hard enough for it to hurt. Your skin is flushed, and I imagine your heartbeat is far higher than it should be. Carrying that much weight even that little distance has exhausted you. Aren’t you tired of always being tired, Lucky?"

Lucky’s grin hadn’t budged.

"Aren’t you tired of asking, Doc?" he said. She gave him another scowl and turned away, marching to the hall doors.

Lucky watched her until the doors closed, and Chance watched Lucky. What she said was true, now that Chance knew to look. Even Lucky’s gums had started to pull away from his teeth – at least, he thought so. He’d never really looked at his friend’s teeth that closely before, but right now they were hard to avoid.

"She’s right," he said, "you look awful."

"Model beautiful, baby!" said Lucky. "Do you see any peas in here? I don’t think they gave me any peas."

"You’ve got to eat. You know this; you took the same biology classes I did."

"And you know what that class was missing?" Lucky asked, pointing at Chance with his fork. "A cadaver! Now THAT would have been instructive!"

"What kind of condition are you going to be in when you graduate? You’re leaving in a month!"

"Yeah? Really?" Lucky flicked a layer of something green off his tray and leaned closer to Chance. "Reeeeeaaaaly?"

"Yes! Or, okay, probably! Unless you’re too sick to leave or something. You’re a month younger than I am, right? So since I’m graduating today, right? You’ll be graduating in a month’s time. See how that works?"

"And how old are you, bud?"

"Bud? Seriously?"

"How old are you? Do you even know?"

"Of course I do. So do you: three, give or take a few hours."

Lucky nodded.

"Very good, student. Now, question two: how old is Professor Hoggestrom?"

Chance blinked. They hadn’t talked about the teachers much during their time here – none of the students did, outside the occasional complaint about class. There was sometimes a bit of idle speculation, but most of the students just assumed that they lived somewhere in the building.