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DAMONEY AND TANZINA
They met one night, 'neath the stars, as the Pids came to Freeride for their annual jaunt - from Prudence - to partake of the most talked about Meal of the Moment. Their mind had been set when they discovered the Eatery that everyone was speaking of, and the Pids being the Pids, couldn't resist but to keep up with the Jones's, or in this case, The Frots.
And there she was, young Tanzina. A pretty girl, to be sure, but she lacked the maturity for true beauty. Young Damoney Pid, the prodigal son of the Pid family, saw past this, and couldn't keep his eyes from staring at her for practically the entire night.
They each stole a word, when both youths headed for the Outhouse together. They both looked embarrassed, but couldn't help themselves.
"Hello." she managed.
"Hello." he replied.
Two syllables. Hardly scintillating conversation. It wasn't much, but to them, it was enough. It was all.
And it was forbidden love, to be sure. Cross pollination between Houses was frowned upon, and sometimes the frown turned into sanctions, eventually turning to violence and death. But they were young. They cared not of the consequences of their attachment. They planned to meet next time the Frots visited Prudence, which wasn't often, but it was the only place Mrs Frot could get that ointment she needed. Plus there was a particular masseuse that knew exactly on her back where to hit for maximum effect. She suffered greatly with back problems, apparently. Mr Frot let it go, because he got to visit his favourite club, if only for an hour or two.
Young Tanzina Frot was left to fend for herself on those occasions, but this time she met with Damoney Pid, in the shade of the Garden of Pleasure - full of penile and vaginal shaped flowers, of course. Pride of place was the Self-Inserter Flower. What it did with its stamen is best left to the imagination.
The first hour, they spent looking at each other. The second, they spent in conversation, "So, you're from Freeride." said Damoney.
"And you're from Prudence." she replied. Truthfully, that was mostly what their conversation consisted of. There were one or two other words exchanged, but practically all the talking they did was non-verbal. They held an entire, extensive conversation, it seemed, just with smiles, touches and gestures. A foreign language, practically - but they seemed to understand it.
Oh, the tale could end there, if that were all; a simple, basic puppy love, with no incident, slowly petering out and them going their separate ways. But the consequences of their love sent ripples - dangerous, rip-tide kind of ripples with big spiky bits, if water had spiky bits.
No one quite knew how, but the families found out about the tryst. Probably a bored Attendant, with gossip to spill and an ear to collect that spill.
Of course it was stopped immediately. Neither the Pids nor the Frots could afford to have their reputation put on the line by the association with the other House, because both families held important places in their respective Houses. Besides, Tanzina was promised to the Frobes's youngest; a marriage of enterprise. Tanzina had seemed fine with it at the time. Damoney had been promised to Fanny, the Daughter of Mr Pid's competitor, for a coupling of financial benefit to both families. He, too had agreed to the joining, when it had first been touted. Of course, and as they explained to their parents, that was then; that was before they met each other and fell in love. Both parents almost simultaneously, separate of each other's knowledge, explained that their kids knew little or nothing about real love. When it was pointed out that their parent's marriages had been out of convenience also, the parents said, "You know what? Shut up and go to your room!" Typical parents. For the time being, both children complied with their parent's wishes.
It soon became the wedding day of Tanzina and Honk, her unfortunately named fiancé. It seemed the love affair between the children was ended, and that maturity, duty and honour had won. Damoney too married his Fanny, in an equally trouble-free ceremony. Everything seemed good, prosperous, even hunky dory.
But what the families didn't know was that the couple of Tanzina and Damoney had continued to meet secretly - the kids had come to a mutual decision; they would do as their families had wished and marry those they didn't love, but continue to see each other, without their respective spouses finding out. It worked for a while, and all parties involved were none the wiser.
It was a fortnight after the wedding that Damoney learned something from his Father, "Good job you ended it with that girl and married Fanny. I hear that girl, the one you were - ahem - seeing? She's pregnant. And apparently Honk isn't the father. Got something wrong with his - downstairs, if you know what I mean?" Damoney didn't, mainly because he was an idiot, but as soon as he could, he high-tailed it to Freeride, on some pretence of business.
"Is it true?" asked Damoney of Tanzina.
"It is true." she conceded.
It was happiness, but only for two. The families went into turmoil. Now the spouses of both Tanzina and Damoney became aware of what the families had known, but hoped to keep quiet - that the young ones had defied their families, the law, decency, just about any rule set out by the Houses. All for love. Or a version of love the pair thought they had.
It had repercussions that were felt far and wide. They became known as the Defilers of Decency, the Stolen Lovers, and in looser places, Them Little Shits. It would take a while for the Houses to rebuild a trust broken between them that had sat for decades, broken for a bonk and a bit of slap and tickle.
It nearly destroyed the Pid's. Mr Pid lost much business because of the scandal. Eventually he borrowed more than he could pay back, and received a visit from Child. Child left with more limbs than he had arrived with.
The Frot's, they lost everything. The residence was taken from them, the work they used to have dried up. Mr Frot threw himself from the south wall one night, and Mrs Frot took to selling her skills to anyone who would take her.
Very few did.
Tanzina herself sadly lost the pregnancy in a miscarriage, but by then, all the damage had been done. In a fit of desperation, Tanzina's husband, Honk, journeyed through danger to confront Damoney in conflagrant anger about his dalliances with his wife.
"You ruined my life! You ruined my family's life! You ruined any happiness I could have had with Tanzina!"
"But, we love each other?" expressed Damoney.
"And that's worth the destruction of so many lives? Because you couldn't keep your hormones in check? You know what? You deserve this!" Honk plunged for Damoney, but slipped. The knife Honk held got spun around, ending up in Damoney's hands. The knife slid up, under Honk's chin, through his mouth and into his brain. He was, in fact, dead. How could he not be? Oh, the fates had conspired, alright.
So, soon to be branded a murderer, what could Damoney do? It was obvious. Well, obvious for him, anyway. He ran to Freeride, to Tanzina. They plotted. They formed plans. They ran away.
And they continued to run, past the Hermits and the Machines, past the safety of the Droke, and out into the wild Wastelands. Further in they went, deeper and deeper, to hide from the world, to be together for always.
But, with the Wastelands being what they are, they got sick. First the buboes showed, then the coughing, then the blood spurting from every orifice. Then horrible, horrible death.
So where's the up side, I hear you ask?
Sometimes there isn't one, you know. Sometimes there's just life. Oh, Damoney's wife went into prostitution in one of the fine establishments throughout Providence. She found she had an aptitude for it, and actually quite liked it. So that's - good?
Because, as they perceived it, the people were conspiring to keep them apart, though their fates intertwined. But, let's face it; they were too stupid to survive. They died together in that naive stupidity. If they were that stupid, imagine what their children would have been like?
You know, just sometimes, fate might have a bloody good point?
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