Jessa decided on one of the dresses that she had not worn in a while. She did not know why, but she wanted to look nice for once. She even put on a little makeup before she brushed her hair out and left it down. The dress held close to her curves and accentuated the woman’s long legs. She usually did not dress that way so as to deter unwanted attention. As the new girl in town she got a lot more of it than she wanted anyways. They had been there almost 6 months in the town with no name and she still was receiving lascivious looks from all the wrong people.
About a half an hour later, Jessa knocked on the door of Teresa’s little villa style home with her son swinging his arms by her side.
“Come on in, dinner is almost ready.”
“Do you need any help?”
“Sure, come on in the kitchen, the men will be here soon. You look real nice. I don’t see you dress up much. Is it because of the fella I told you about?”
“Well there is rarely a reason to anymore, so I thought, ‘Why not?’”
“Isn’t that the truth.”
Shane ran off in the direction of Aidan’s room, knowing the way by heart. Teresa had one of the larger houses in the community and the two boys played there often. Her house was bigger, not because of her family size, but because she was married to the leader, Billy. He was a nice enough guy, though Jessa didn’t like the way he looked at her when his wife looked the other way or tended to something in another room. That was just another reason to dislike Teresa. She was unable to keep her man on a leash.
Jessa couldn’t stand those types of men, one eye always looking for a woman on the side. Times had changed with so many more men to women, and as such, a woman had to be extra careful even going out of the community. There was no longer an option to be a victim or the luxury to leave personal safety in someone else’s hands. Luckily, Jessa was raised to defend herself from just about anything.
A person could not be over ten years old without a gun or some similar type of weapon. People used crossbows, spear guns, and sometimes just relied on hammers or crowbars. Whether it was a gun or a baseball bat, one thing you could count on was that everybody was packing something. While many would think this would make things more violent, it seemed to have the opposite effect. People respected each other and their space a lot more than they used to back when government and business ran the world.
Women had more of a choice in how they were treated, though they had to stick to groups to avoid becoming prey to some man’s indiscretions. In the few years since Kraven’s passing, she had been both in groups and on her own at times. She found the group she was with currently and had stuck around. It was just safer in numbers, especially for women. If you were an attractive woman, with a face like Jessa’s, and an ass to boot, you had to be twice as careful.
Jessa stuck with the group for many reasons. A group would typically accept anyone to boost its numbers, but her survival skills and planting and herb knowledge made her a valued member. The fact that she already had one son boasted towards her fertility as well, which was highly valued. She was 29, a bit older than society used to like, but she was a survivor. That was what was needed now, and had become more highly valued than a delicate figure. Of course she happened to be both skilled and hot. She was tall and lean, with a mind that was sharp and thoughtful. She could grow, preserve and cook food better than most and she knew the skills needed to thrive in the rough landscape. She was a prize in many eyes, yet she had no desire to give herself up to a man.
Still, she had to admit that there were some aspects of being with a man that she missed, and not just because of the protection such an arrangement offered. Her physical needs often drove her to consider a toss with one of the locals, though she hadn’t broken down just yet.
Jessa was in the kitchen next to Teresa. They were talking about their day and making final touches to the meal. In addition to being her annoying neighbor, Teresa was the local teacher to the colony. Shane adored her as a teacher, so despite her irritation with the woman in general, Teresa tried to keep it in check for his sake. And there was still something deep down that she liked to preserve – a sense of neighborliness that she missed from the world she had grown up in. Besides, as much as it pained her to admit, she could see that Teresa had the best intentions.
Teresa was a typical woman of the colony, soft spoken with a hidden strength in her eyes. She was about a half a foot shorter than Jessa and quite a bit smaller because she lacked the heavier muscles and body structure that Jessa had utilized for her own survival. Teresa had clearly not been on her own the way she had been, raising Shane after Kraven’s passing. To boot, Teresa had health problems that kept her from hard work and her skin and muscle mass showed it.
The new breed of women were either independent like Jessa, with bodies that showed it, or they were like Teresa, living from one man to the next to ensure their safety and survival. Jessa thought of them as leeches, and felt disgusted by their parasitic nature. It was shameless to rely on someone else for your survival, and inexcusable unless you were a child. It was too difficult for her to respect.
The two women used the two wood stoves to finish making dinner. They even added some meat, making this meal a treat that Jessa was excited to share with her son. Once, long ago, there had been meat in every meal and acres and acres of domestic pigs and cows to make such extravagance possible. That was a thing of the past now. At this point almost all meat came on the point of an arrow, though some chicken and milk cow domestication was still practiced. There were two milk cows, a couple of goats, and about ten chickens in the community. One chicken apparently met an untimely end just for this occasion, and was now the main dish of their feast.
“Jessa, can you grab that skillet out of the bottom cabinet? I just can’t seem to lift it.”
Trying not to huff, Jessa grabbed the pan and hoisted it up onto the top of the table. It couldn’t have been more than 20-25 pounds, she thought, struggling to mask her annoyance. Luckily she didn’t have to try long.
The back door swung open at that moment and Jessa looked behind her to see a few men coming through, led by Teresa’s husband. Jessa was about to turn back to what she was doing at the table, when she saw a stranger walk in. He was trailing along behind the rest of the men and came in last, closing the door behind him.