To Wear a Blooge
"But, Dad," he said, "girls get to wear a lot of our things. Why can't we wear theirs?"
Dad sat down and smoothed the pleated hem of his bot. "I know some things seem unfair, Ry, but that's just the way they are. Back in the Old Era, originally only men wore bives. Then everyone wore them." He looked out on the yards wistfully. "It was a different time then...in some ways."
Ry stood up. The uni was similar to his Dad's, though the bot wasn't pleated. "Mil gets to wear her blooge under her form." It seemed like his older sister always got privileges that he'd never have.
Mom came to the door. "It's time," she said, using her words economically.
Ry felt that women got all kinds of privileges. They could expect to be understood without saying many words. They got to wear anything they wanted, including a lot of things that Ry wanted to wear. It was unfair.
As usual, he and his sister said nothing during evening. Mom and Dad had one of their typically cryptic conversations.
"Time?" asked Dad.
"Past," said Mom. "John's?"
"No. Dells and Watt's. But later."
"Past, too," she said. "Done."
Ry and Mil cleared the table after evening. He looked at her with her blooge on under her form. She stuck her tongue out at him. "Sisters," he mumbled.
She kissed him. He hated that. He liked kissing, but not being kissed. It was just a thing with him.
"Change?" Ry asked. Mil looked at him.
"Why?" she asked. "Boys."
"Yes," said Mom. Ry went to his room and put on his wrap-bot. It wasn't as comfortable as a blooge, but at least he was out of uni.
"Talk," said Mom as Ry came back into the sitting.
"Long?" asked Ry, using the short-speak that his mother and sister and other women and girls always used.
"Must," she said, though with some annoyance.
"You know I want to be able to wear a blooge and other things like some girls do," Ry started. "You even let her wear hers under her form. Why I can't I do the same with my uni?"
"You're wearing a wrap-bot now," his father said. "It's like a blooge."
"Have you ever worn a wrap, Dad?" Ry asked. "Or a blooge?"
"Not recently," he answered, proud to always wear his uni.
"They're not the same," Ry explained. "The wind always blows open a wrap-bot. Same with a wrap-form."
"Point?" sneered Mil.
"Wind doesn't open blooge."
"Point," Mil acknowledged.
Ry, being a boy, always had to wear a sec with his bot, especially if it was a wrap-bot. He didn't know if Mil or Mom wore a sec. Dad said he usually did, but Ry wasn't sure whether that meant almost always or just more often than not.
A few days later, Mom and Dad were gone somewhere. Ry was home alone with Mil when she came and sat with him. "I know you want to wear girls' clothes," she said to him.
Ry tried to deny it, but she wouldn't let him. "I'm a girl, remember? We can hear a lot more than what you guys say," she laughed. She put her arm around his shoulders. "Would you like to wear a blooge?"
Ry looked at her. What was she up to? Of course she knew he wanted to wear a blooge. Maybe this was some sort of trick. "Yes," he finally said.
"Come here," she said, and they went to her space. "I think this blooge will fit you. I used to wear it sometimes."
Ry pulled on the garment under his bot, but over his sec. He took off his bot. The blooge was as long as his bot, maybe even a little longer. "I wish this was a little shorter," he said, "to wear under bots." Most of his uni-bots ended only an inch or two above the ankle. The blooge ended at the ankle. He wanted to wear a blooge under his uni to studies. He'd never be allowed to wear one in public, of course.
The sec was shorter than either the bot or the blooge. He felt its hem somewhere around his knees. It was comfortable, though not really necessary under the blooge. Yet everyone always wore a sec, or so he was told.
A few days later, studies ended early for both Ry and Mil. Ry had not had a chance to wear the blooge, but Mil told him she had something better. "Have you ever seen a bife?" she asked.
Ry had heard about bives from his dad; but they were not worn anymore. Supposedly they were very comfortable, and many were made of the same material as blooges. But that was the past. "No," he said. "Pics?"
"Got one," she said. One picture? thought Ry.
"This is kind of a bived blooge," Mil said in her space, showing Ry the garment.
"Just a blooge," said Ry.
"No. Look," his sister said. "See?"
Ry looked at the garment, which looked like an ordinary blooge on the outside. Inside, however, he could see that a mini-bife was attached. He tried to put it on, and, with a little difficulty, succeeded.
Mil laughed at him. "It was hard for me the first time, too," she said.
"Short enough," Ry said, planning to wear it to studies under his uni.
"Can't wear your sec with it, unless it goes over," said Mil.
Ry pulled his sec down so that it covered most of the bived blooge. "Maybe too hot. Go without sec," he said.
"Dangerous. You know the rules," she said.
"Attach a sec hem," Ry said. "To the blooge."
"Can be done. But doesn't that defeat your purpose?"
"Not really, since it's bived."
Ry wore his bived blooge under his uni several times to studies, and managed to never get caught, though a couple of windy days made things interesting. Later, after he finished advanceds, he vowed to wear blooges all the time, even though most lacked bives. He was considered a rebel, till fashions and rules changed again and blooges, bived or not, became the norm.
But that was another Era.
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