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“So show it to me.”
She lay there a moment. Then she placed her hand on my leg.
I was beginning to enjoy this communication system already.
“The English alphabet consists of twenty-six letters,” Maddy said. “C and K are doubled up to create one letter. That leaves twenty-five letters. Then we divide up each set of five letters into a horizontal row, one on top of the other. That makes five rows. To identify each letter we give two taps. The first tap refers to the row and the second number to the column. So, one tap followed by a pause, then another tap, means A. Two taps followed by a pause, then three taps, means H. The letter X is used to break up sentences.”
“Cool,” I said. “Computer. Create a new language file. Title: tap code.”
Now I could tap code fluently the way she could.
“You know, we could never have anything like that with the Titian language,” I said. “It’s too complicated. Why did your teacher show it to you?”
“It was done as part of my engineering course,” Maddy said. “In case we were working on a building that collapsed in on us and some people were sent to come and dig us out.”
“Did that ever happen to you?”
“No. I’m a very good engineer.”
“I bet.”
I looked her over again with newfound respect. She wasn’t only beautiful. She had brains too.
“So what were you tapping earlier?” I said.
She tapped her finger on my leg.
“S. O. S?” I said. “Sos? What does that mean?”
“People think it stands for Save Our Souls or Save Our Ship but it doesn’t. It actually doesn’t mean anything, except for someone to come save you.”
“Huh,” I said. “That’s interesting.”
“No, it’s not. But thanks for pretending.”
For the first time that day, she smiled up at me. Even upset and depressed as she was, she was a marvel to look at.
Then a serious look came to her eye. She pushed herself up onto her elbows. She leaned forward and was about to press her lips to mine but she hesitated. She kissed me on the cheek instead.
“What was that for?” I said.
“For being nice to me,” she said. “I know I… overreacted a little earlier. It was just a setback. That’s all.”
But it wasn’t just a setback. It was a major blow. After all, if everything got reset every day, what realistic chance did you have of escaping?
Then she looked at me again. I’ve never had a girl look at me that way before. It sent a shiver through me, right to the very tips of my toes.
She leaned forward, mindless of the nightgown that hung open. I could get a real eyeful if I wanted.
But I didn’t. I mean, I did, but I was so enveloped in her eyes that everything else was a welcome distraction.
She came so close to my lips that I could taste her.
“Wait,” I said. “Maybe we shouldn’t do this. You’re not feeling yourself.”
“You don’t know anything about me,” she said. “This is me. And I need this. Please.”
Please.
