Page 9 of Sloth

He gave me a genuine smile. “Enjoy.”

I began eating more. “Why do the aliens care if we are healthy? Are they enslaving us or something?”

“Something like that.” Garrett rose from the table and took his plate to an old-fashioned metal washbasin.

I watched in fascination while he tended to his dish. Thank God I had paid attention to my history lessons. I couldn’t believe I was in a living museum. No running water. No access to electricity.

Garrett returned to the table and picked up his water glass. “I meant to ask earlier. What’s your name?”

I watched him take a deep drink. “My name is Acedia.”

He suddenly choked and spewed the fluid all over me. I screamed and jumped to my feet. The large man doubled over to violently cough out the liquid he’d aspirated.

I picked up a cloth napkin to wipe up the mess on the front of my borrowed shirt and nearly empty plate. I couldn’t take him to task for spitting all over me when the poor guy was coughing up a lung.

“Are you okay?” I asked then patted his back.

“I’m sorry—I didn’t…” He wheezed. “What’s your name?”

“Acedia.”

He cleared his throat. “Your parents named you that?”

I nodded. “I know. It’s not very inventive.”

He rubbed his chest. “You don’t find that name inventive?”

“It’s a very common name in the city.” I scrunched my nose. “Lots of girls have it.”

“No shit?” He seemed so surprised. “What’s your mom’s name?”

“She has a beautiful name. Inertia.”

Garrett’s eyes widened before going narrow. “Are you fucking with me?”

“No.” I frowned. “Why?”

He moved over to the metal tub to deposit his glass. “Do you know what those words mean?”

I shrugged. “They mean nothing.”

“Like doing nothing?”

“No. They have no meaning. Why are you so weirded out? Have you never heard of these names?”

“I must say I have never heard these words as names. What’s your father’s name?”

“Torpor.”

“No fucking way.”

I took another bite of the scrambled eggs. “These are just old names, as common as clouds in the sky, their meanings lost to history.” I held out my hands. “Someone once told me my name means ‘acid’ or ‘acidic’, but when I went to verify with the universal computer, it said that was not true.”

Garrett abruptly turned around. “Do you know what sloth means?”

I nodded. “Yeah. Who doesn’t?”

He crossed his arms. “What does it mean?”

---