Lise
Copyright© 2026 by D M Arnold
Chapter 14: The Green Strike
“Lise! Grott!” Lise awakened to her mother calling.
“What is it?” she asked, pulling aside the sheet to her room.
Rayla was holding her mediascreen. “The pomma farms — they’re all on lockdown!”
“Lockdown?” Grott asked. “All of them?”
“All within five hundred kilometres of Vyonna.”
“Someone must’ve got wind of the strike.”
“Yes — one of the farms struck a day early.”
“The idiots! There goes the element of surprise.”
“What does lockdown mean?” Lise asked.
“They bar the doors to the farm workers’ barracks and close the shutters. The workers are locked inside, away from sunlight. I was in a lockdown, once. It’s terrifying. You’re shut in the dark — you lose track of time, of the sun rising and setting. Then, the sun hunger sets in. It takes a strong worker not to crack after three or four days.”
“So, Mott has lost the farms,” Lise remarked.
“Right. Before the pomma crop is ruined, it’ll be worker turning on worker in the barracks. They’ll hand over the strike organizers and it’ll be over. They’ll be begging to go back to the fields. Without the threat to the pomma crop, the city strike will have no teeth. None at all.”
“The strike’s a failure before it started,” Lise replied. “They might as well call it off.”
“And, regroup for another day,” Grott added. “That won’t happen. Mott has whipped those hotheads into a frenzy.”
Lise headed up the steps to bathe. She spotted Tagg heading toward the building. He stopped and faced her. “It’s not going to work, Tagg,” she said. “Leave this bunch. Come back and do what you’re good at doing.”
“No.”
“You’ve lost the farms, Tagg. Before the strike started you lost the farms.”
“It only makes it more important that we all go out tomorrow. All of us, Lise. You, too. That’s why I’m here. I want to know you’ll go out with us.”
“I’m not striking, Tagg. I have no complaint with Megan.”
“She’s white. That’s complaint enough.”
“She’s my friend. She’s a mom who needs work. Her kids need watching.”
“It’s all for one and one for all, Lise. I was up all night. I need sleep.” He pushed past her and down the steps.
“Tagg!” Lise shouted after him. “I thought you said you were moving out!”
“He’s welcome here,” Rayla replied.
Lise bathed and dressed. “Mother — I’m going.” She headed back up the steps and toward the gate leading from the Zone. A group of novonid men loitered around the gateway. She looked them over. They were a motley bunch, with many unregistereds among them.
She passed through the crowd. “Strike tomorrow,” they chanted.
Lise made her way to the corner and waited for the bus. Her ride to Megan’s house was uneventful. She rang the bell. Megan greeted her with an embrace.
“The strike is all that’s on the news this morning,” Megan said. “It seems somehow someone let it slip.”
“Yes — one of the pomma farms struck a day early. I don’t think it’ll amount to anything. Some of the factories in Quadrant Four will be shut for a few days.”
“Do you expect violence?”
“I don’t know. I expect to be here tomorrow.”
Megan headed out her door. Lise sat on the sofa and flicked on the mediascreen.
“Hey!” Klarissa said, “I thought you didn’t like watching.”
“This is the news,” Lise replied.
“The news is boring,” Geddes added. “Let’s go to the park.”
“When I want to go to the park, you want to watch. Now I want to watch and you want to go to the park.”
“Let’s watch Jaks.”
“No, Geddes. I want to watch the news.”
“Why?” asked Klarissa.
“Because it’s about the strike. Please be quiet and let me watch. Go look at a book or something.”
Lise watched the news reports. Klarissa sat on the floor with her back against Lise’s shins.
“Lise?”
“Yes, Klarissa?”
“What are they saying about the strike?”
“They’re interviewing people ... both humans and novonids. The consensus is that it’s the Zone that’ll be striking.”
“What’s the Zone?”
“The Green Zone — the part of the city reserved for novonids.”
“Is that where you live?”
“Yes, Klarissa.”
“I thought you said you weren’t going to strike.”
“I’m not. Not everyone in the Zone agrees with the strike. I think it’ll be just a couple of factories that will strike.”
“Why?”
“Because these factories hire lots of workers from the Zone who are likely to strike. Klarissa — I want to listen to this. When this news report is over, we’ll go to the park and then I’ll make your lunch. Okay?”
“Okay...”
Lise heard Megan unlock the front door. “How did it go?”
“Fine,” Lise replied.
“What’s the word on the strike?”
“The city wants to make sure anyone who wants to work will be able to. They’re assigning constable’s deputies to ride the busses.”
“You mean on the back?”
“Yes, where we ride.”
Megan laughed. “It’ll serve them right. I never knew why you had to ride there.”
“The fare’s affordable,” Lise replied. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Good luck. Lise — don’t do anything foolish.”
“I won’t.”
“We should go to the bus stop together tomorrow,” Rayla said. “Some of them might try blocking the path, but they won’t get in Grott’s way.”
“Or, we could use the tunnel,” Lise replied. “Not everyone knows about it.”
“It’ll be interesting,” Grott said. “We might as well turn in. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.”
Lise stretched out on her mattress. She wished Tagg were there, but imagined he’d spend all night in meetings with Mott or his henchmen, planning strategies to attempt to enforce the strike. She closed her eyes and willed herself to sleep.
Morning’s light woke her and she could hear a commotion outside and chanting of “Strike! Strike! Strike!” She performed her morning routine and joined Grott and Rayla as they headed toward the path leading from the Zone. Grott had armed himself with a piece of iron pipe.
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