City of Culture

Olive was not content with her life. It was not her choice to live in a tropical prison with one other human. It was not her choice to abandon the society in which others lived in but she'd never seen.

Nothing was her choice till the day came. At the age of 18, she was an adult and thus ousted from her government placement on Island K. A rectangular building colored to blend in with the surrounding forest.

Living her whole life away from humans was the reason she was there. A Lonely Lord of the Flies if you will. She'd been taught by her caretaker for as long as she could remember about everything a normal kid would learn about in school.

But none of that mattered anymore. The boat to humankind was arriving soon. The vessel which would transport her from a lonely upbringing to a society. The society she'd dreamed of since the day she learned about societies in school. Cities, Languages, Culture, Love, Conflict. All abundant in New York.

She heard a toot of the horn. It had come. Grasping her large bag of belongings, she took one step away from the life she knew and one towards what she'd dreamed of. Plain to most and a dream to others.

Walking on the sandy shore towards the small dock, she got a close-up of the machine. A little trawler with a few red stripes against white. Plainer than what she'd seen in books.

A man dressed in the blue uniform of the coastguard offered his hand to help her get on with a neutral look on his face.

"Thank you, kind sir," she struggled to say.

Without a reply, Olive walked towards the back of the boat, bag firmly in hand. She looked towards the sea as the boat began to move out of the dock.

The qualia was breathtaking. The salty sea racing past her, the wind whipping through her hair and slapping her face. Another living human being. It was an overload of her senses.

Entranced by the sea, Olive only took notice of the man when he began speaking to her.

"The pile of clothes over there," he pointed for a bit. "Is for you so you don't freeze to death in New York. You don't have to wear it now though." He turned to walk back to the control panel.

"Wait!" Olive exclaimed, barely even thinking. "What is your name?" came bursting out of her mouth.

He chuckled. "I see you're just like the others huh? Going wild for outside contact and begging for names? I guess they're all the same."

"Let's see..." he thought out loud. "Call me Bruce then. I can't tell you my real name but that can be the first real one you hear."

The first of many to come, the name she'd never forget.

-----

A few hours had passed. Or minutes. Or days. Couldn't tell without her packed away watch. In the distance, something not blue came up. A city! A real city! More sea wasn't anything new at this point but a city meant constant change, a constant exchange of ideas, thoughts, and best of all, culture.

Bruce came back to Olive again. "We're nearly at Miami. We'll probably get there in 30 minutes. After that, we’ll take an Uber to the Miami Airport, fly to New York, I’ll take you to your apartment, I’ll stay with you for 3 weeks, then you get to be the freest free you'll ever be."

"Freezy free I'll ever be? I've never read or learned about that..." whispered Olive, puzzled by her lack of knowledge on the topic. It seems like there was a lot for her to learn about such things. The books always said they couldn't teach you everything.

-----

The boat docked and from that distance, Olive could hear— no, feel the city in her bones. She'd read about noise pollution and how bustling the cities were but learning is nothing compared to experience. The qualia.

"Whew!" Bruce exclaimed, docking the boat and looking at the city. "It's noisy today because of all the college students here on break. It's the first day so they're partying hard and loud."

That explanation didn't make much sense to Olive. "Shouldn't they be studying or at least following noise rules?" she pondered. She'd never heard of rule-breaking that wasn't at a high level after all.

"They're free from the restrictions of their parents and schoolwork. Of course, they're going crazy and wild." Bruce said it like it was the obvious conclusion. Just common knowledge. Just more she never learned about.

Olive would puzzle about why she was never taught this apparently obvious common knowledge but she was still overflowing with the feel of the city. It'd be a while till she got over it.

Bruce looked behind himself to Olive and smiled. "Let's go over to the airport so you can get to New York in the next 24 hours and not a year. Got that?"

She snapped out of her trance and vigorously nodded her head. Grabbing her belongings, she walked down the dock towards the road, right behind Bruce.

"Aw come on! You don't gotta walk single file like we’re at school or something!" he pointed out.

"Then where do I walk?" she questioned. "And why is it so bright? And why are they screaming? And—"

Bruce put his finger in the air. The quiet symbol she learned about! There was something Olive actually knew!

"Hush up. You look out of place here and you'll attract questions talkin' like that. You can have as much internal dialogue as you want on the plane," he sternly stated.

Olive nodding her head, the duo continued down the street till Bruce called an Uber to the airport. Olive took a mental note of the whole experience of course, not even knowing what to look at because of the buildings flying by.

-----

It felt like it'd only been 2 minutes by the time they reached the airport.

"We've arrived," the driver said. "I'll help you with your items if you guys need it."

"No that's ok. We don't have much to carry anyways," Bruce declined.

He tapped Olive's shoulder. "Let's Go!" he exclaimed.

She nodded.

Walking away from the car and into the airport, undistinguishable noise filled her ears. It was human speech but there was so much of it that she couldn't understand a word of it. She knew in the evening places generally weren't full but still, there were so many people of all walks of life. Elderly, young, White, Asian, Black, Hispanic, families, couples, loners. She stared at them all.

"Hey, it's rude to stare by the way," Bruce pointed out.

How had she forgotten about such a basic social rule?! Especially when she was taught it on the island?! "Forgive me," she mumbled.

"Dunno why you're apologizing but—" Bruce pointed to the sign above them "—we gotta get to gate D46 in concourse D. Luckily I'm not some newbie to the MIA so I know where everything is. Now come on!"

He grabbed Olive's hand and started to briskly walk towards Concourse D.

Olive looked at everything that passed by her for as long as possible. It was like the car ride all over again.

But then there was security. A line of impatient passengers went through at a tedious pace. Bruce stopped the two and got them in a line.

While waiting, Olive got a better chance to study people than she previously had. Most of the suitcases were solid colors but some were vibrant. Some were bulging and others thin. One was even wrapped in a transparent film.

"Bruce, why is that one wrapped in that?" she said, pointing to the bag.

"I have no clue," he responded.

So even Bruce didn't know everything, huh. That gave her a bit of reassurance about her lack of knowledge.

Eventually, the checkpoint reached them and they sailed through it smoothly. The customs officer did point out Olive's large carry-on, but Bruce showed the officer his badge and that was that.

"Phew! We're through!" Bruce rejoiced, bringing his arms behind his head.

Now that she'd noticed it, "Bruce why don't you have any belongings on your person?"

"I'm your Assimilation Agent so I don't live anywhere near here. Hell, I came here only today with my wallet and phone. I don't need anything else at the moment."

"What do you mean, Assimilation Agent?"

"Means I'll make sure you fit into society nice and proper now that you're 18. Don't worry, I'll only stay with you for 3 weeks then you're free free."

Ah, he'll leave one day. That's... she thought, not being able to accurately describe her feelings.

I don't know how I feel, she admitted for the first time in her life.

-----

After a few minutes of walking, they'd arrived at the waiting center so Olive observed her surroundings in detail as always while the duo sat down. Bruce opted to scroll on his phone.

There was a call for boarding after 10 minutes and they walked up to the desk. The worker scanned their boarding passes.

"Please have a safe flight," she added before turning to the next group.

The two walked down the boarding bridge into the plane. The cabin was smaller than Olive expected, even though she'd read about planes before. She and Bruce waddled their way to their seats.

"Jee, we're lucky to not have any neighbors aren't we?" Bruce said as he settled into his middle seat.

A stranger, a boat, a city, a car ride, and a whole airport! Olive didn't think her brain could handle any more.

Sat on the window seat, she looked outside the oval window to the workers below.

Then she dozed off, to wake up in another city of culture.