Outside the Oasis: Part 1

The wrench clicked as Taylor’s father tightened a bolt into its metal home. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he placed his foot on something sturdy and continued to tighten the bolt. Letting out a final grunt, the bolt creaked with submission. Taylor’s father looked at his work with pride and grabbed the driveshaft he was tightening. He swore as the hunk of metal still felt loose.

“That’s a bad word,” Taylor replied in a gotcha tone. She was laying on her stomach under the same machine her father was working on. Taylor held her flashlight with both hands to ensure the light was steady for her father.

Her father smiled with guilt, “You are right my little lugnut, and we aren’t going to tell mom, right?”

“Right,” Taylor answered confidently, “So what is this thing?”

Taylor’s father spoke through gritted teeth as he loosened the bolt again, “This is a dump truck, it hauls all the dirt from the bottom of the mine and brings it to the processing plant.”

“Is it important?” Taylor continued to ask.

“It is important, without this machine, we would have to carry all the dirt up ourselves.”

“So if you are fixing the important machine, does that mean you are important?” Taylor continued to interrogate. It was her first day on the job, and she wanted to make her father proud.

Taylor’s father stopped what he was doing to look at his daughter. He pointed the wrench at both his daughter and himself, “We are important. I’m going to teach you everything I know and one day we will be fixing these things together.”

Taylor smiled at the thought of working with her father. She always cried whenever her father had to leave for extended trips down into the mine, and the idea of going with him made her excited and happy. “What are you doing right now?”

“I’m tightening this drive shaft. This is the part that connects the engine to the wheels and allows the truck to move,” Her father put the wrench back on the bolt and began to tug, “But it just won’t stay on.”

“And if it falls off, that would be bad,” Taylor replied with confidence once again.

“Yes, it would be very bad if this thing fell off. It could really hurt someone,” Taylor’s father agreed. He paused to look at his daughter with a playful smile, “You know, you’re the smartest twelve-year-old I know.”

Taylor giggled, “Dad, I’m the only twelve-year-old you know.”

Her father continued to shine his radiant smile while acting surprised, “Really? I guess you’re right.”

Suddenly, Taylor saw the thick boots of another man enter the vehicle bay. Her father immediately began to scoot out from underneath the dump truck to greet the visitor. Taylor crawled on her belly to get a glimpse of the man as well, ignoring all of the sharp pebbles that dug into her forearms. With the stranger was a wagon full of crates and Taylor craned her neck so she could see the contents. The man tending to the crates was large and dirty, reminding Taylor of a mountain troll she had read about in children’s stories. His beard was patchy and his eyes were dark.

“John Forthright?” The brute asked with a rough voice.

“That’s me,” Taylor’s father brushed his hands off on his jeans before extending a hand in a gesture of greeting.

The hulking man didn’t react and instead thrust a container towards John, “Today’s lunch is beef jerky, butter crackers, and raisins. Keep your lunch close, we aren’t responsible for thefts.”

“Can I get two meals today?” Taylor’s father chuckled nervously as he pointed under the truck at his daughter, “She’s my apprentice.”

The mountain troll shrugged and reached into his wagon for another container, “She’s a little young to be at the bottom of a mine, don’t ya think?”

“She’s twelve, but my dad always said that you’re never too young to learn a trade,” her father responded as he accepted the other container, “Before you leave, can I get an apple as well?”

“That’ll be fifteen dollars garnished from your wages,” The visitor replied with a flat tone.

Taylor’s father thought it over for a couple of seconds before nodding, “That’s fine.”

The lunch brute reached into a different crate and procured an apple wrapped in thick plastic. Taylor’s father accepted the fruit and waved to the lunch attendant as he left the bay.

“Can I hold the apple?” Taylor asked as she desperately tried to get a look at the fruit. It had been a long time since she had seen a fresh fruit, and it didn’t have nearly as much mold as the last one did.

“Sure thing little lugnut, why don’t we have a snack,” Taylor’s father smiled as he began to unwrap the fruit.

In her excitement, Taylor shot to her feet and winced as her back made contact with the drive shaft directly above her. The bolt that her father had worked so hard on snapped and the large metal drive shaft slipped from its place.

It was as if time had slowed down. Taylor watched her father’s eyes grow with fear as he lunged toward his only daughter. The apple tumbled from his hands and fell into the dirt below. Taylor felt her father’s hand push her shoulder, and she was so stunned that she didn’t resist. The force pushed her backward and the heavy metal driveshaft tumbled down in front of her, hitting the ground with a loud thump and soft metallic ring.

Silence followed. Taylor’s heart pounded. She couldn’t see her father through the dust that the metal object had kicked up. She looked at her arms, legs, then torso and found that she hadn’t sustained any injuries. Everything seemed fine until she heard her father begin to cry for help.

--=|=--

Taylor woke up with a gasp. Her skin was cold and clammy and her hands desperately clawed at the sheets around her as she looked for the drive shaft that had fallen on her father, but she was alone in her bedroom. She had hoped that a softer bed would lessen her nightmares, but it only seemed to make them worse. It was the same nightmarish memory that haunted her ever since the accident.

She rubbed what little sleep was left out of her eyes before reaching for her phone to check the time. It was far too early to be up and about, but there was no chance she was going back to sleep. Taylor rolled out of bed and slipped on a pair of jeans and a hole-ridden shirt before exiting her room. The house was dark except for a light in the kitchen, and her curiosity got the better of her.

As she turned the corner into the kitchen she crossed her arms and leaned against the archway separating the kitchen from the hallway, “It’s a little early for that, don’t you think?”

Taylor’s father stood near the sink with a bottle of liquor in his hand. He was trying to position his body so that he could unscrew the top of it, but his lack of two arms made a simple task difficult. Her father chuckled when he realized he was caught, “I figure I’d start now, and by the time I get this cap off it would be well into the afternoon.”

Taylor heard the voice of sadness masked behind her father’s jokes. “Let me get it for you,” Taylor offered and she began to step closer to him.

“No, I got this,” Taylor’s father began to twist his body to keep his daughter away from the bottle, “Don’t touch it.”

“Dad, I can help you,” Taylor insisted as she tried to grab the bottle from him, but her father kept an iron grip on the bottle’s neck.

“Please Taylor,” Her father pleaded, “Let me get this. Stop reaching for it.”

“Dad,” Taylor could feel her frustration heating up, “Give it here. I’ll help you. Just sit down.”

As the two of them wrestled over the bottle, it slipped off the edge of the counter and shattered on the tile floor. The dark liquid rushed to the edges of the kitchen floor and the broken glass sparkled like the night sky. Both Taylor and her father were silent.

“I,” he began, “I’m sorry lugnut.” He kept his face hidden from his daughter, but Taylor could hear his voice break and see tears welling in his eyes.

“Dad,” Taylor began to apologize, but her father waved the words away.

“It’s been seven years, yet I still am getting used to it every day,” her father said quietly. He wanted to face her, but any eye contact would reveal his true emotions.

Taylor was silent as she pushed back her own tears, “That’s understandable. I should be the one apologizing.”

“No!” her father’s response was quick and firm before he softened his response, “No, you shouldn’t be apologizing.”

The two of them stood under the bright white kitchen light in silence, neither of them looking at each other. There was so much that both of them wanted to say, yet neither of them dared to. Taylor hated the fact that their relationship changed after the accident because it only strengthened her guilt. Part of her knew that her father didn’t blame her for what happened, but the other part knew he had every reason to be upset.

“I’ll clean this up,” Taylor said as she reached for the broom.

“Please,” Taylor’s father finally turned to his daughter. He placed his hand on the broom handle and spoke softly, “Let me clean it up.”

Taylor could see a tear drip from his eye. She didn’t want to fight him again. “I’m going to go for a walk,” Taylor responded quietly as she let go of the broom and began to leave, “I’ll just be around the block or something.”

--=|=--

Taylor exited the lobby of the building she lived in and took a deep breath of fresh air. Fresh air was a new concept for her. She never thought that she would ever breathe in air that didn’t stink of exhaust and gasoline. Here, whenever she took a breath, it smelled of flowers and tree bark.

The direction she walked was random. Since there was no destination in mind, there really was no right way to get there. Taylor simply let her legs begin taking her anywhere but back inside.

She noticed that the main walkways were constructed similarly to roads, designating each side to a certain direction of travel with crossroads built wherever the pathways intersected. One road sank into the ground while the other road became a bridge. The clear floor of the bridge allowed sunlight to reach the lower road, and Taylor watched bicyclists zip underneath her as she traversed.

Along the main pathways were drinking fountains, fruit trees, and the occasional flower bed. Everything looked so happy and healthy wherever she looked, and it twisted her insides. The more daisies and peaches she saw, the more it reminded her of the yellow front lawn outside her old house. Each outdoor cafe she passed reminded her of the hundreds of hungry people she would pass when she drove to work with her father. Every person she saw relaxing by a pond reading a book reminded her of how much her father hated the decision of moving to this city.

Her surroundings were completely foreign to her. Colossal buildings showered the grass below in shade, and leaves danced in the wind above her head. She had eaten more food in two days than she would have eaten in a week if she was still working in the mines. Her father didn’t have a weapon close to his body when he walked through the house. Everything around her was completely different, but why hadn’t she changed with it? She still felt scared. She still felt on edge. She still felt like she couldn’t trust those around her. The city felt like a rug that could be pulled out from underneath her at any moment.

Taylor looked up from her stroll and realized she had been walking quickly. She looked around and realized that her home was nowhere to be seen. Pulling out her phone, she began to find directions that would lead her back home, but something caught her eye.

Taylor looked up from her stroll and realized she had been walking quickly. She looked around and realized that her home was nowhere to be seen. Pulling out her phone, she began to find directions that would lead her back home, but something caught her eye.

On the ground floor of the nearest building, there was an odd-looking store. There were mannequins aligned in the front window, each taking a unique pose to demonstrate their physique. Except, this wasn’t a clothing store like she had seen. The mannequins all had various metallic limbs. Some of them had one silver leg, others had a set of matching bronze arms.

A television screen near the mannequins showed videos of the various machines in action. It showed athletes lifting enormous items, running fast, and even showed a couple of eye implants that she didn’t quite understand. Eventually, the footage switched to a clip that struck Taylor like a freight train.

The video displayed a man who was missing an arm securing a robotic limb to his shoulder. After a moment of calibration, he stood up and hugged the person closest to him. Taylor felt paralyzed. For a moment, the man in the video looked just like her father. Suddenly her thoughts became clear.

If she was the reason he lost his arm, she was going to be the reason he got it back.

--=|=--

Taylor knocked on the wall in her living room to get her father’s attention. He looked up from the TV and smiled at his daughter before patting the sofa next to him.

“How was your walk?” Her father asked softly.

“It was good,” Taylor replied, trying not to blurt her discovery out. She didn’t know how he would feel about something like this. Was it insensitive to offer a prosthetic to someone who potentially didn’t want one?

“It’s a nice day outside. I’m glad you were able to enjoy the weather,” her father spoke again before getting lost in the TV.

“Dad,” Taylor spoke before realizing it, “I saw something on my walk.”

“Really now?” her father’s brow lifted and he was curious what she could’ve meant.

“There’s a store not far from here,” Taylor desperately thought on her toes for the right way to bring it up, but there was no better way than to just say it, “They sell robotic prosthetics. They could give you a new arm.”

Her father’s eyes widened in surprise and he rubbed his grey stubble with his hand. Every second of silence felt like an eternity for Taylor. She tried to read his eyes but she had no clue what he was feeling.

Eventually, her father spoke up softer than usual, his voice full of emotion, “That would be the dream, wouldn’t it? Frankly, we just don’t have that type of disposable income right now.”

His voice sounded defeated, and Taylor felt guilt once again that she had given him a sliver of hope only to take it away from him. Her own shoulders began to sag as she regretted telling her father anything.

“Funny enough,” her father began to chuckle, “our boss owes me three months of paychecks. I think it’s about six or seven thousand dollars. Too bad we left a day before payday.”

Taylor fought it, but hope sparked in her chest, “Can he send it to you?”

Her father laughed once again, this time a deeper laugh that came from the gut, “If he found out I was living in the city, he’d rip up my check and spit on it. I’d go get it, but I’m not planning on leaving this city any time soon.”

Silence fell over the pair as they watched television together. Taylor leaned against her father and he wrapped his arm around her. Her mind raced as she thought about what it would be like if her father had both arms again. It would be like the good old times when she was a kid.

Her father wasn’t planning on leaving the city any time soon, but Taylor knew someone who was. Just as she had that thought, her phone began to ring.