Back to Culture Clash - Chapter 01
Chapter 2: The Seminoles
Marcia Shevat entered the host family home in the detached townhouse in
the northwestern section of Danubia City, following a trolley ride two
blocks from the trolley stop.
She learned that the public penance she had joined with her host family
included standing while on all public transportation. The stares she
received from those riding the were many more than even Ivanka, with her
bruised bottom, had gotten.
The three other Siminov children were waiting at home for Ivanka and her
parents to return, with or without the exchange student. Marcia wasn't
sure which of the three and was more excited to meet the now nude
American student.
The girls, two weeks before, began barraging Marcia with questions
before she had a moment to cross the threshold into the Siminov home.
With typical curiosity did you have a good trip, was Danubia a surprise
to you, what do you like to eat, do you listen to Socrates Mistresses,
what does a varsity swimmer do, and what over and over happens to your
hair?
Marcia was trying to answer each question at her Kivar, looked at them,
and reprimanded with, "Martina, Kaleen, go set the table as Mamma asked
you before she left. We shall have plenty of time to ask questions on
that day."
Among the cultural differences between Danubian and American siblings
interacted; however, the tone Kivar took sounded very condescending and
somewhat demeaning toward the twins and her.
"Thank you, Kivar, needed a moment to get my thoughts together as to the
events of the day, and I guess you will be my foster brother for the
next year," Marcia offered her hand.
"Men and women do not have public physical contact unless married or
engaged," Kivar noted at her extended hand to look nowhere else. He did
not add that the rule did not apply to criminals, the butchered head
hair, and lack of body hair. Marcia must be a wicked criminal in
America. Oddly, he found Marcia's tan lines strangely erotic and found
himself responding physically in a rather uncomfortable and unexpected
way.
Kivar turned beet red from embarrassment, muttered something in Danubian
slang under his breath, and backed out of the living room. Leaving
Marcia standing there alone and listening to the clatter of the dining
room. Ivanka came to her rescue and offered to show her the house and
yard.
"As the sitting room, you have already seen," Ivanka smiled, "let us
step out the doors into the rear yard."
Once outside, I viewed a well-kept and gardened area about eighteen by
ten meters. It almost looked like a suburban yard in America was a
four-meter fence around its three sides.
Ivanka explained that although everyone sunned and swam in the nude in
Danubia, family privacy was the norm. To intrude upon that privacy was a
breach of Danubian protocols.
Ivanka showed Marcia the swimming pool shared by the four units in the
quadrangle. It was adequate for social swimming and aquatic exercise,
but Marcia would have to find a fifty-meter swimming pool for her lap
and speed training. Ivanka explained that the school and work kept the
swimming pool open to the public. Ivanka showed Marcia the raised "air
bath" platform where the family sunbathed in the descent weather, nude
and as a family.
Marcia thought for a moment and then realized her body showed evidence
of sunbathing but in the form of tan lines where her swimsuit had
covered her when she remembered that swimwear was illegal under Danubian
law. Her host family wasn't accustomed to seeing tan marks left from the
bikini.
Back into the house through the kitchen door, Marcia and her host passed
through with a quick hug from Ivanka for her mother, who was busy
stirring a noodle dish on the stove. The twins had finished setting the
large family table in the dining room and had retreated to their room
just down the hall. Ivanka did not knock; minor children expected
privacy from family members and found the two younger girls quietly
squabbling with each other over who would get to read a book first.
Popular culture magazines and books were not allowed in Danubia, and the
type of book a young girl or boy might desire was the latest in a series
of novels for young adults dealing with Danubian history and
relationships in a way that interested the tween reader. ‘The Silver
Duke of Danubia' over which the girls were was a prize worth winning in
their eyes. Ivanka walked up to the pair, took the book, and shook her
head hard enough to loosen a braid. As pouted looks on the younger
girls' faces made it clear they were happy it was Ivanka and not Mamma
or Poppa who had witnessed the display.
Marcia was beginning to wonder how this young woman could have become a
criminal when the purity of her heart and spirit seemed to shine in
everything she did. Carrying the offending book in her hands, Ivanka
opened the door to Kivar's room. Kivar, cross-legged, in the middle of
his bed with a bewildered look on his face.
"What seems to be the trouble, little brother," Ivanka asked the
fourteen-year-old when he looked up at her. "Her," was his one-word
response while pointing a finger in Marcia's direction. "Oh, precisely
what did Marcia do to make you so upset," the older sister inquired.
"She threatened to hug and kiss me," Kivar used a tone suggesting this
would have proved the worst form of punishment short of a pillory.
Hiding the giggle that was forming under her breath, Ivanka very
authoritatively suggested to her brother, "Well, I will strongly suggest
to you that you not repeat the behavior that provoked such a threat."
The two young women backed out of Kivar's room and closed his door just
before the giggles got to hold. "He likes you, probably had one of the
physical responses young teenage boys get when they like a girl and was
so embarrassed he had to retreat to his room. Oh my, I'd hate to see the
reaction he'll have if you do hug and kiss him." Ivanka was still
laughing when she showed Marcia the bathroom. Here a sunken tub, more
like a hot tub than a typical American bathtub, took center stage. It
was communal and for soaking, resting, and relaxing, but not for washing
one's body.
That was done in the shower, separated from the tub by a meter and a
half-tiled wall. It had wall-mounted and handheld shower heads and
provided for total cleansing before one stepped into the tub. After a
long soak, a person would shower again using an exfoliating scrub.
Marcia soon found that each bedroom had a "water closet" integrated with
a commode, sink, and mirror but bathing communally.
Ivanka opened the door to the room the two young women would share for
the next twelve months. A large French door with curtains flung to the
sides showed a view of the air bath platform. A rose bush beside it on
the fence line. The room itself was a thing of female beauty. Done in
lavenders and pinks, from carpet to walls to ceiling, and dominated by
two full-size beds. One with a pink spread and the other with a pink and
purple striped. Each student's desk at the foot and a small dresser
against the wall. Their door to the water closets opened on one wall was
empty. Not a dress, skirt, blouse, sweater, or undergarment remained in
Ivanka's room.
Having agreed to accept participation in the family's public penance, no
problem with this, as she also had nothing to be hung up or folded in
drawers. The few soaps and lotions she had been allowed to keep in
school supplies were in the one backpack. That, for now, she simply sat
in the corner by the French doors to the yard.
"Which one will be mine?" Marcia asked Ivanka. Ivanka pointed to the
room nearest the water closet. "I thought it would be less of a
navigation problem for you at night if you found yourself needing to use
the facilities," was Ivanka's explanation. The discussion ended for the
moment as Momma called the family to the table for dinner.
