Though to Zenny he was perfect, in this world, Zakt had only one flaw, one defect . . . He was practically blind. Though to read he used this thing he'd gotten at a building he always visited. It was a circle of glass connected to handle. A Scientist there had given it to him. Apart from that, his hearing really by far made up for it. As well his sensitive nerves which helped him pick up on even acute vibrations. These "gifts" made living a life in the constant company of the screech and grinding of metal a pain for him.

Zenny crouched low trying to sneak up on him, as part of a game they often played. Zenny's objective - to sneak up on him without being detected. She had gotten better, but was still no match for Zakt's ears.

Zakt in fact had heard her a few moments ago when she coughed from the stench. Yet he continued to rate her progress. If not for that one blunder of a cough she would have made it a good deal farther than she'd gone in all her previous attempts. In Zakt's minds' eye her astonishing level of maturity and ability to learn at such fast rates was a miracle in a place like the slums. Zakt thought to himself that she would make it Up Top someday. Just then he found what he'd been looking for and stood straight smiling. "You would have gotten quite a bit further hadn't you coughed earlier", he informed the still crouching Zenny. He chuckled to himself hearing Zenny stumble over rubbish in her surprise.

"Why didn't ya say something earlier?" she huffed lifting herself from a small pile of junk she'd fallen into.

"Because, Zenny, like I said and you would have very well heard had you listened, you'd have made it closer if you hadn't coughed before," Said Zakt a tad sternly as the girl dusted herself off. Zenny scowled and tensed herself ready to charge at him. "Settle down, I never meant it as an insult. You always simply allow your frustrations to get the better of you." He added sensing the foul tension in the air, and barely having been able to make out the image of Zenny's small frame standing stiffly.

When angered, Zakt and few others knew that Zenny either came at you or became sloth and severely silent. It all depended on where you stood with her in terms of relationship. With Zakt, Zenny got quiet and prepared to pounce. No one, not even Zenny fully understood the great trust yet immense hostility she felt for the young man. Zakt had a pretty well drawn out idea though. It seemed to him that the closer Zenny got to someone, the more uncertain she became about them. From what Zakt could see, Zenny did love to trust people with her whole heart, but she feared, however, those she trusted the most. In her mind, you cannot ignore, or very well argue with someone so close to you, that they can predict and understand you. You wouldn't be able to ignore them long enough or win an argument well enough to really get your point across. Not before they would begin to say those sweet things that always calmed you down; or before they bait you with your favorite things. Yet, you could get a few punches in, so that they would feel your pain. Zenny felt the closer you got to someone, the more actions had more influence than words.

Zakt sighed at the child's naivety and prayed it would pass with time. It pained him deeply now, not to be able to see very well. Over time and help from his "reading glass", he'd been able to pick up some facial and bodily traits of Zenny. He knew her eyes changed color with her emotions but remained at most times a deep, yet soft purple. They were almost soft enough to be called lavender, though not quite. He also knew that her nose was a medium size and fit her face just right, not particularly sharp or round; though it was a bit more on the round side. Her lips were not thick lips, but had plumpness to them. Her eyes, beautifully a diamond like almond shape sat under long nicely curved violet lashes. Her chin was weak, a round small thing. When near the right light he could clearly see facial expression up close. She used them a lot and showed almost everything she felt on her face, though her eyes gave a lot away on their own. Zakt now rarely saw these things for he did not carry her, hold her, or even hug as he once did. He'd have settle for her frail figure and strange stance at the moment

His latest invention was to fix that. Smaller versions of his Reading Glass, to wear on his face; made to suit his eyes and not cause so many headaches. This was something he'd have to do if he wanted to see Zenny, or the rest of this world in all of its glory. Even if only once so that he might engrave the image in his mind and on his heart to look back upon whenever he might please.

"Zakt, somfin' wrong? You okay?" asked Zenny waking Zakt from his trance. He looked up and smiled. Zenny raised her head to stare at the ceiling miles high above them. A roof mixed up of dirt, cement and metal was the "Sky" over all the slums. And was all there was to see anywhere down there. The ever present reminder of how "low" they were. Zakt gazed up squinting, hearing a slight leak that had developed.

"Must be raining up there . . . Maybe it'll flood?" he pondered teasingly. Zenny laughed aloud at this. She admired people who could twist something about Up Top into a joke. They always seemed wise somehow. She guessed it was because most people took everything about Up Top too seriously, or feared it. There was a bitter envy that people of the Slums had for those up there. If you could joke about it, or shrug it off, you must be stronger than others or be comfortable right where you are. Either that or you were just crazy.

"Zenny, I'm going to be able to see soon. Maybe I'll . . . Pass the Exam even. If I do, I am going to change things, in the slums, Up Top, everywhere. I'll get Up Top and, so will you. You are a very healthy girl, so much so that no one even knows why you're down here. Despite, other possibilities. . ." Zakt started looking down to Zenny.

"Zakt, I'm not sure I know what you mean . . ." Zenny looked down. That is what she said, however in truth Zakt could tell, she simply did not want to have this conversation. He knew all the too well the internal struggle Zenny was always fighting.

"Zenny I think you can pass the Exam." Zakt encouraged. Looking at Zenny he realized that there was much they had in common, and yet so much difference between them. The Exam was a large one.

The Exam, they held it every year. Scientists would come down to join "Resident Science Workers" and give physical and mental examinations to those who want to go Up Top – mostly people BORN in the Slums. If you have an E.I.T. Eye-Identification Tag saying you were sent down from Up Top, nine times out of ten you weren't even allowed to take the Exam. It was most likely that Zenny did not have one. Children sent down from Up Top were usually either babies or around six to ten years old, not three or four years-old like Zenny had been. However Zakt seriously doubted she was a BORN slummer, despite the idea that she was just from another quadrant, though that did make her arrival into a large mystery.

"Hey Zakt, I wonder wha' my parents was like . . . I wonder if they"

"WERE like, you wonder what they WERE like," corrected Zakt interrupting the girl. He hung his head and sighing paused in his steps. "You don't have to pretend when you're with me. Remember you grammar, you're going to need it one day if you plan to do well Up Top," he smiled. He turned around and felt around for something. Finding the strap to his sack he lifted it carefully adding his new find to his collection inside. He looked down at her figure, and she, up at him in defiance as she grabbed his arm and walked with him.

"Do you ever wonder what they call the Slums? What if they call it Down Bottom?" she asked, nearly jumping out of her skin in excitement as they made their way. "Do they eat potatoes? Can they even grow up there? Oh, Jelm said that probly they eat only tubes of paste and water. Whatcha think? I think that'd be too funny!" Zenny poked and prodded Zakt with strange questions and ideas as they walked. He couldn't help but smile the entire way, ignoring all the grammatical errors as she talked. She had made her decision. With so much she had to say, Zakt found it a bit sad that she was only this open and outgoing with him. Zakt could see how much of a sweet heart she was, he knew someday she'd be able to open up more with everyone. 

______________________________________________________________________________

Zenny had always been special. She was smart –almost as scary as I was. We had talked about it, when she was around five. I told her that if she wanted people to like her, she had to talk like other people did; even if she wasn't thinking in the same ways. The day directly after that conversation, she was talking and acting just like other girls her age. That scared me more than how she was normally.

She was healthy even though the smell made her dizzy and she'd secretly take off her mask. Her health, so much better than most, never saw her seem actually ill. On quite often occasion people would see her hair and, her eyes and immediately decide that she was some monster they'd created Up Top and no longer wanted. They even went so far as to accuse her of being the host of some new disease. Those of us who got to know her, however, soon felt that if they didn't want her up there anymore it was their loss. What kind of future could a girl like her have had? What opportunities?

Yet and still I shuddered inside at the thought, that she might have had some blood disease or brain malfunction that would be waiting to consume all of that energy she had. I was so jealous, of those who could see well enough to tell her how beautiful she was, and those who would tell her so in the future.

Zaktem is no fool, and is no wise man. My secret that I never told, was that in all truth I knew ways I could see just fine perhaps even, better in some ways. Sounds reverberated in my ears to create the world around me in my eyes. If I wanted I could sense heat, and the differences in temperature painted pictures in my mind, so even the darkest places it was as if I could see everything. The problem however, was there was no color, and there was no writing there. I needed my natural sight to be like those around me. So I could see the things they saw, in the way that they saw it. Or else, I would end up back where I started, only then with no way to escape. Though, I'm intelligent and strong at least down here. Nevertheless, I was never sure that I would be capable let alone brave enough, to let go and head Up Top when the time came for it. So I'd wait until she was older to take my large step from tiny and confused ant, to a curious cat, and hoped it wouldn't kill me.

~Zakt