she told her. "-What do you want to do about Teal?" "I'll let this one slip, but consider it the one and
only time I M'Lady Three told Teal.
We were then ordered to enter.
Before us were five wooden cots lined up
beside each other.
Two had mattresses, pillows, and blankets on
them. The other three were just bare.
"Those three are yours," M'Lady One said,
pointing to the bare ones.
Robin raised her hand.
"Permission to speak," M'Ladv Two said. "There are no mattresses or anything on them." "You have to earn that," her buddy replied. "But... how...?"
"Reality checks. remember? You earn the
points and then you are rewarded with comforts. It's how it works. Here we earn everything we have, even ever morsel of food we eat. Whoever doesn't do her share, doesn't share. That includes water as well as
food."
We all looked about despondently. The floor
literally had straw over it. The place smelled like a
real barn. The four windows had no curtains over
them. The walls were bare and there wasn't much of
an interior or any other furniture. Only by the two
beds that had mattresses, we saw what looked like two
small wooden chests.
Teal raised her hand.
"What?"
"Who sleeps on those?" she asked.
"Those are Gia Carson's and Mindy Levine's
beds, They've earned enough points to have an hour's
recreation time in the library where they can read
approved books and listen to approved music. They
will be back here momentarily. I now advise the three
of you to go to sleep."