The price of freedom
When I went into The Outers, the plan was to pass through. I needed to get as far away as possible. However, on my second day there I heard an old man say something that sounded like music to me. A young guy was complaining about the conditions in The Outers, to an old man whom I wrongly assumed was his grandfather. There had been no electricity in the outers since I arrived and it had apparently gone off two days prior to that. The old man laughed at the young guys complaint and responded with these words; “We don’t stay in The Outers for luxury, we stay here for freedom. This is the one place in the world where no one expects anything from you.”
He looked right at me when he said it and smiled as I put my luggage down. So I stayed with him, Old man Ray and the young guy who was called Misch, a runaway from The Islands. I didn’t need luxury, I had that in New Country and it wasn’t enough. I needed freedom and when I got the offer to have it, I took it.
