Snippet #1854172

There was an old saying that Sienna had read when she was little. It had been from over two hundred years ago, in her old history text book. Although Sienna had finished Genie school, she still had all her old books - including an old history one from her second year of school when she was only 8 years old. When night fell, and Sienna wasn't tired, which was most nights, she would drag the old book out from under her bed and flip open to page 459, staring down at the small black print letters.

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. By Dr. Seuss." Sienna would say to herself in a quiet whisper, running her finger over the words. She didn't even have to read them off the page anymore, she knew the quote so well by now at age seventeen. She had no idea who Dr. Seuss was or how he became so smart to end up in a text book, but she liked his saying. If she thought about it long and hard enough, she came to the realization that that quote didn't really apply to the society in which Sienna lived. And yet, every morning, Sienna woke up at 4:00 AM sharp to help out in the chicken coop.

It was rough work, being a Genie, and having to deal with animals all day. Sienna was also involuntarily in charge of the children of the sector. Parents dropped their kids off at Sienna's parents house with an "I'll see you later honey, go play with Sienna" and go on their way to their own farming work. Thankfully, cows didn't try to sass you when you told them they had to stop bothering the pigs. At about 7:00 AM, Jason Lekowski always came by to play with the kids and help Sienna out. He stayed with her the entire day, always offering to package the meats and, if Sienna wasn't feeling up to it, shooting the animals. It was dirty work, being a Genie, and especially smelly when it came to manure, but it was fun. Sienna wasn't intelligent, and she knew it, because she'd often be at a loss for words when speaking. Words she never learned. Words other Genies never learned, and so her sentences would sometimes fall short a word.

"I just really feel..." Sienna would say, look at Jason for help, and shut her mouth, not knowing the word for exactly how she felt, even if it was something like 'melancholy'. In fact, she felt really 'melancholy' a lot, often looking around and thinking to herself that she just wasn't happy here lately. But then she would go to bed, pull out her text book and read the quote, and wake up at 4:00 AM sharp to help out in the chicken coop.