Chapter 4

Jenn wandered off. She walked a long way past rolling hills, and valleys. Jenn noticed the unusual trees and flowers. Jenn walked until she was almost exhausted. Soon she came to what looked like a farm. There was a short little path. At the end of the path a man was sitting on a stump whittling a stick.
Jenn walked up to him. "Where's the nearest town?" she asked.
"Well," he said stroking his imaginary beard. "Rome is a few miles ahead in the same direction you were going. But if I were you I wouldn't stay there."
"Why, is there something wrong with it?'
"No, not really. But you can get into all kinds of
trouble if you don't know the rules. They're not hard to
follow, but sometimes they can be pretty ridiculous.
Besides, the folks there aren't as friendly as they are in the
rest of these parts."
“Well, I've got to stop at some town, and as long as I
can stay a night and move on, it can't be too bad."
"Just as long as you do that. But personally it's not
my favorite place.”
Jenn thanked the man and continued walking. Pretty soon
she came to what was obviously a large city. Jenn saw tall
buildings and wide streets and cement sidewalks. People were
running around like they had everywhere to go and no time to
get there. It was like every other cement jungle she had
ever seen. But there were no cars. Jenn hadn’t seen a single
car since she got here, so she shrugged it off and didn't pay much attention to it.
Jenn ran into a woman who looked like she knew where she was going . " Excuse me, do you know of a place I could stay?"
"Well, since you don't have any reservations, the only place I can think of would be the slop house downtown.."
"How do you get there?”
"Do you have any tokens?" Jenn shook her head. "Well you'll have to walk. It's about 20 blocks ahead. You'll have to look for it because it's easy to miss."
Jenn thanked her and continued walking. As she was walking she noticed several orange and yellow vehicles that looked like electric trolleys. She also noticed that the buildings were very colorful. Jenn continued to walk. It seemed like she would never get there. Each block seemed to be longer than the last. Jenn began to notice that people on the trolleys were wearing yellow or orange shirts and the people walking frantically on the sidewalks were wearing either blue, green, yellow, or orange shirts. Reflecting back she realized that the woman who had given her directions wearing orange and she herself was wearing a yellow tye-dye shirt. She thought about this for a while and decided it must have something to do with the transportation they took. Maybe it referred to social status or a caste system.
Finally, Jenn got to the slop houses. Unlike the rest of the city the buildings here were a drab gray. They were unkempt, shoddy buildings. People hurried even faster past this part of the city. Jenn walked up one of the slop houses. The place was ominous. The door was old and unkempt and many of the windows were broken. Jenn could hear people screaming and arguing.
As she walked to the door Jenn shuddered. She sighed accepting that she didn't have much choice. A man beckoned her to his desk.
"May I see your card, please?" he asked politely
"What card?" she replied, startled.
"Visa or American Express. Your credit card, miss.
With a second glance Jenn realized he looked rather kind, and although the place was old, it was still warm, clean, and hospitable. She took out her Visa, which she had in her wallet, and placed it on the counter.
The man took it and ran it through his register."Excuse me, but this doesn't seem right. My system doesn't recognize your name." Jenn discovered that she had been naive and dumb trying to pay by credit card as usual. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to call the police."
Jenn sat down to think it over. She didn't have much time because he came quickly. "You're under arrest. Come with me," said the officer, who was wearing a yellow uniform. He had an unusual uniform. It was more like a chef’s uniform than the typical police officer's.
"On what charge?" she asked holding her arm out to be handcuffed.
"Not registering, of course. " he replied. Just walk this way." She put her arms down when she realized he wasn't
going to handcuff her.
Jenn was escorted down the street into a large rainbow
colored building. As they walked in and down the hail, she noticed that all the rooms were painted a single color. The
officer, whose name was Rob, led her to the front desk which
was brown.
"What is the charge?" asked the secretary at the desk. She was dressed in orange.
"Not registering," the officer replied.
"How unusual." The secretary looked up from her computer in order to scrutinize Jenn more carefully. "That
would be a 1017 A. All the way back, last room on your right."
He led her back to another desk with another secretary. This time the room was assigned. "What number?" asked the secretary.
"1017 A."
"Ah, yes," he said. "That would be failure to register. Put her in 1739. Let her stay with one of her own kind."
This time the officer led her to a cell. It was a
typical looking cell with bars and two bunks, except that it
was rainbow colored. There was already a guy on one of the
bunks. So, exhausted from walking all day, she took the
second bunk and fell right asleep.