by Ike Hamill
Gloria nodded.
Chapter 8: Brad
“You look like hell,” Romie said.
“Thanks,” Brad said. He sat down on the chair and removed his shoes. “You know that set of power lines that looked like it was going to come down across the highway?”
“Yeah?”
“They came down. There was just enough tension that I couldn’t drive over them. The lines wanted to wind around the wheels. I had to disconnect everything and clear it by hand. Took forever.”
“You know where there are no power lines?” Romie asked.
“Yeah, in the ocean. Trust me, it would have taken a lot longer by boat. I don’t think you realize how much time it takes to swing around the cape. Besides, solar is free. Diesel isn’t.”
“Brad! You’re back,” Lisa said, coming into the foyer. “You missed all the excitement.”
“No, I didn’t,” Braid said. He straightened up with an involuntary grunt. “You and your co-conspirator called me up in the middle of the night and dragged me into the conversation.”
Lisa shook her head. “No, not that. I’m not worried about Ash. She can take care of herself. I’m talking about the family of groundhogs that burrowed under my fence yesterday. Jim claims that you promised to give him an orange for every groundhog he killed, but all he was loading into his slingshot was pebbles. He sent his little sister up to get me, and I was supposed to stab the poor thing while he kept it cornered by pelting it with rocks.”
Brad and Romie both laughed. Lisa kept a straight face and raised her eyebrows.
“I’ll talk with him about cruelty,” Brad said.
“Again,” Lisa added.
Brad nodded.
“I want to have a conversation with both of you about what’s going on,” Brad said. “I think that it’s time for us to consider our role in what’s about to happen.”
“What’s about to happen?” Romie asked. She looked like she was already hardening her face for an argument. Brad wished he had brought it up before, back when things were a little simpler, but he couldn’t have. Before, everything was conjecture.
“That’s what I want to talk to you about.”
“Talk with Jim first,” Lisa said. “I told him you wanted to talk to him right away. He needs to know that this is important.”
“Yeah. Okay. Sun room in twenty minutes?” Brad asked.
Everyone nodded.
Brad paused at Janelle’s door as he passed by. She was sitting at her desk and swinging her feet. She had homework on the desk in front of her and she was studying something carefully. It was all an illusion. Brad knew that if he looked under the paper, or in her desk drawer, he would find whatever diabolical, time-wasting project she was actually focused on.
“Hi, Uncle Brad,” she said, turning her innocent smile to him. “Did you have a good trip?”
“Peachy. Finish your work so you can go do something fun.”
The things she said always sounded strange coming out of her. Today was no exception.
“I researched four modalities of learning, and the lecture model has been widely criticized by all the studies. Passive learners experience a decrease in problem solving attitudes over time,” she said.
Brad nodded. “Sounds like you’re going to be a fine teacher one day. You can develop a whole new way to instruct the next generation.”
Janelle made a face like she was about to throw up.
“Teacher? That’s absurd,” Janelle said.
“Get back to work. You can decide to follow whatever course you like once you’ve graduated.”
Janelle rolled her eyes and went back to swinging her feet as she turned her eyes down to the paper.
Brad found Jim on his bed, reading a book that was propped on his chest. He shut the boy’s door most of the way and sat down behind Jim’s desk. His homework was done and organized into a tabbed binder.
Jim turned the page and then closed his book.
“Hey, Brad,” Jim said.
“Why do you do that?”
“What?”
“You don’t use a bookmark, and you turned the page before you closed the book.”
“I don’t need a bookmark. I just remember what page I was on.”
“Then why turn the page?”
“It’s easier to remember if I picture it in my head, and it’s easier to picture if I looked at it.”
“Huh,” Brad said with a shrug. In a lot of ways, Robby’s kids were like miniature versions of the man. It was interesting to see them grow up and pick up some of his traits. Because Brad saw them learn and grow, it was much easier to understand them.
“You’re here to talk about Ashley? Or the groundhog?”
“Groundhog.”
Jim nodded. “I know what Lisa is thinking. She thinks that I was being cruel by keeping the groundhog pinned against the fence.”
“You weren’t?”
Jim tilted his head and glanced away. “I was and I wasn’t. It was a choice. I really didn’t want to let it get away. They’re territorial, and if we could take out that one, then we could make it through the whole summer without losing too much of the garden.”
“There are less cruel ways to remove an invader.”
“The trap has been out there for weeks. We baited with everything that the groundhog likes—carrots, lettuce, even berries—and it wouldn’t go in. I set up a camera to watch it.”
“So, you were outsmarted by a rodent and then turned to violence.”
“Exactly. I gave just as much thought and consideration as the situation warranted. I’ve never seen you pause and think about the ethics of setting a mouse trap.”
“That’s not the same.”
“It’s not? They’re both rodents. They’re both pests that are trying to take our food.”
“Where does it end?” Brad asked.
“Huh?”
“Would you kill a neighbor if they tried to take our food?”
“Of course not. That’s a person.”
“How about a dog?”
“No.”
“A deer?”
“Maybe. If we were going to eat it, then probably.”
“Ah. Good. So, if taking the life has meaning for us, other than simply ridding the yard of a pest, then it’s okay to kill it?” Brad asked.
Jim nodded.
“So, as a culture, we have drawn the line at mice and rats. Those animals are abundant, not valuable for food, and they infiltrate the house. Those are the ones we kill indiscriminately. The others, like groundhogs and rabbits, we show some compassion. If we are forced to kill them, we try to do it humanely and without unnecessary suffering.”
“Because…” Jim started to ask.
“Because they’re cuter than rats to most people. Whatever the reason, that’s the line we have drawn as a household. It’s just one of the unwritten laws.”
Jim shrugged. “I don’t understand.”
“Then, I suppose, it’s just one of those things you have to memorize,” Brad said with a smile.
“Okay.”
“Okay.”
Brad grunted again as he stood. If he didn’t concentrate on not doing it, it was something that just came out of him. Brad shook his head and moved toward the door. When he turned back, Jim still had his book on his chest, unopened.
“Are you going too?”
“Where?” Brad asked. He knew what Jim meant, he was simply stalling by asking the question.
“Are you going to go after Ashley?”
Brad intended to, but he didn’t want to admit it yet. First, he had to get out of a promise that he had made.
“Your sister is an adult and I’m sure she’s fine,” Brad said as he moved through the doorway.
“That doesn’t answer the question,” Jim called after him.
Brad kept moving.
“I want to go after Ashley,” Brad said, once he joined Lisa and Romie in the sunroom.
“No,” Lisa said.
Her answer was so quick and definitive that even Romie raised an eyebrow.
“I’ll wait until I can get in touch with Robby and get his permission, of course,” Brad said. “I made a promise to him that I would stay and watch the kids until he returned, and I’m not going to break that promise until I talk with him.”
“You just did,” Lisa said. “You went off to Donnelly to look over that refinery that Mike set up even though it was clear that he knows what he’s doing. Then, you went all the way to Maine to upgrade equipment that hardly anyone uses.”
“Those were hardly vacations, Lisa, and I talked to Robby beforehand.”
“It’s not completely up to their father,” Lisa said. “We’re watching the kids too and I’m telling you that it’s not enough. They need you here. You’re the one they actually listen to. Romie exerts the discipline, and they certainly like me enough to do what I say most of the time, but there are some things that require your voice.”
“They’re good kids,” Brad said.
“That’s not in dispute,” Lisa said.
“They’re going to be fine,” Brad said.
Lisa shook her head. “These are not normal kids, Brad. These children need to be nurtured and disciplined, sure. Romie and I can take care of that. But they also need a sounding board. They need someone who can explain things in a way that doesn’t sound preachy or demanding. That’s what you do for them. When you’re not here, they don’t do as well.”
“I won’t be gone for that long. I’m sure they will be fine,” Brad said.
Romie put up her hand to stop the back and forth between them.
“Who are you trying to convince?” Romie asked him.
He took a breath and let it out slowly. “Both of us, I guess.”
“How long are you really talking about? Do you know what Ashley has in mind?”
“It would just be a guess,” Brad said.
Romie narrowed her eyes. He wasn’t fooling her.
“Then what’s your guess?”
For a moment, he considered lying. It would never work. They both knew him too well.
“My guess would be Texas or Arizona.”
“What?” Lisa burst out. She threw up her hands. “What does that even mean? There is no Texas anymore.”
“We don’t know that,” Brad said.
“Of course we do,” Lisa said. “That thing erased all borders, buildings, features, and everything.”
Brad turned up his hands.
“What do you know?” Romie asked.
“Nothing, really. It’s all conjecture.”
Romie shook her head. “That’s bullshit, Brad. You’re not the type who runs off based on conjecture. You have evidence of something. What is it?”
“I’ve seen a satellite photo,” Brad said.
Lisa looked shocked. Romie looked angry.
“What photo? Why doesn’t everyone know about this?” Lisa asked.
“What would be the point? We’ve decided that the jungle is potentially dangerous, right? We don’t know what forces are at play out there, and we’re not letting anyone venture into it, so what’s the point in getting excited or upset over a satellite photo?” Brad asked.
“It’s information that we should all have,” Lisa said.
Romie’s anger faded from her face. She appeared to be reconsidering her first reaction.
“Maybe,” Romie said.
Brad pointed at her.
“See? I’m still trying to figure it out, too. I believe that Robby is the one who captured the signal from the satellite and decoded it. I doubt he shared it with Ashley, which means that she must have stumbled on it as well. It was hidden on one of the remote computers and I assume that Robby left it there as a backup, assuming that nobody would find it.”
Brad scratched the side of his face. It wasn’t like Robby to make an assumption like that, but it was one of the only explanations that made any sense to him.
“And what was in this photo?” Romie asked.
“I think it showed that there were some elevated buildings that might have survived. Like, remote buildings that happen to be located on top of mountains.”
“What kind of buildings?” Lisa asked.
“Probably observatories,” Brad said.
Lisa and Romie had the exact same reaction. They turned their heads toward the ceiling and barked out tired laughs.
Brad could only nod. They were reaching the same conclusion that he had. If anything could drag Ashley out into the jungle, it was an observatory.
“I can’t know for sure. The image didn’t stay up long enough for me to really study it, but it’s my best guess. And, of course, I don’t know if my database matches the world we’re in, you know? After the churn, anything could be anywhere out there. But, it makes sense. I suppose that they put the biggest observatories up high in Arizona where the weather was pretty consistent, the air was thin, and there wasn’t too much light pollution.”
“How does she expect to make it all the way down there?” Lisa asked.
“Past the Outpost, she can’t fly or drive,” Romie said.
“I don’t know,” Brad said. “I honestly don’t know.”
“Someone has to stop her,” Lisa said.
Brad held his tongue. He let Romie answer for him.
“We can’t,” Romie said.
“What? You’re kidding, right? We have to protect that girl. She doesn’t know what she’s getting into and she’s barely able to keep herself safe up here, where Robby and Brad have cameras everywhere and there are no big animals. If she goes past that Outpost, there’s no telling what will kill her first. She’ll starve, drink bad water, or get eaten by some giant snake. She’ll never make it alone.”
Brad looked at Lisa and nodded. Everything that she was saying had merit. It was precisely the conclusion that he had already come to.
They sat in silence. The clock next to the door ticked the progress of the seconds as they all thought about the safety of the young woman that they had helped to raise.
“I guess Brad has to go then,” Romie said.
“No,” Lisa said, shaking her head slowly.
“She won’t be safe, Lisa,” Brad said. “I know that Jim and Janelle will be a handful, but we have to keep Ashley safe.”
“You’re right,” Lisa said, “but you’re wrong. Someone has to go, but it can’t be Brad. Let’s face it, you don’t get around very well anymore. You and Romie wouldn’t be able to keep up with her on foot.”
Brad felt stupid that it took him a moment to realize what she was saying. He watched it dawn on Romie.
“I’ll leave tonight,” Lisa said. “I trust that you guys will make sure that my garden doesn’t suffer in my absence.”
“Lisa,” Romie started.
She was cut off as Lisa raised her hand.
“You know I’m right,” Lisa said.
Romie kept her mouth shut.
“They don’t know,” Lisa continued. “We worked so hard to make everything feel normal and safe for them. The kids don’t know how dangerous the world really is. It’s our fault. We felt so guilty that we were raising them in this place that we did our best to make them blind to it.”
Brad wanted to object. He couldn’t find the words.
Chapter 9: Ashley
“You’re probably wondering why I’m taking so many back roads,” Robby said.
Ashley wasn’t. She was looking through her window at all the passing houses. She had never been to this part of the world before. On the trip between Gladstone and Donnelly, there were plenty of towns and cities that they passed through. None had the sprawl of the New Jersey suburbs. Ashley had only been to New York City once, and she had been so young that it felt like a strange dream.
“Ash?” he asked.
“Huh?”
“We’re taking the back roads so I can mark which ones are clear and might make a good detour if something happens to the major arteries,” her father said.
“Okay.”
He glanced at her. She could feel her father’s eyes, studying the back of her head. When he looked at her like that, sometimes it felt like he could tell what she was thinking. She was surprised by his next question.
“What’s bothering you?”
“Nothing. I’m fine.”
Robby sighed.
Ashley knew that the lie wouldn’t stand.
“I’m just thinking about entropy,” she said, hoping to change the subject away from herself. “So much energy was spent to organize the raw materials of this place into these houses and offices. Now, it’s all being broken up or repurposed by nature. Where do you think that energy goes? Heat? Radiation? What becomes of all the potential that this place used to have?”
“It’s insignificant,” her father said.
She looked over at him and he shrugged.
“You know those jars of colored sand that your sister likes?” he asked.
“Sure.”
“If you shake one of them up, you haven’t really added or subtracted any energy from it. They’re simply different. The wood in those houses hasn’t been fundamentally altered from when the trees were growing. Trees die and wood rots. The process is just slowed down by the arrangement of wood under the shingles. It hasn’t changed.”
“I think it has,” she said. “Just by standing it upright, it has been given potential energy. When it falls down, it will release it. Even in a hundred years, this place will still bear the marks of all the people who used to live here.”
“Why does that matter?”
“It matters because everything is sliding downhill and we’re living our lives on that slope. You guys don’t see it because you’re from that old world and all this stuff seems normal to you.”
“It’s not normal to you? You grew up in this world. How could it not be normal?”
“Everywhere I look, I see reminders of instability. We didn’t make any of this and yet it’s all around us.”
Robby nodded.
“Must be weird.”
“What’s weird is that so many of you don’t see it as weird at all,” Ashley said.
“You’ll have to forgive us. A lot of us have been a bit preoccupied,” her father said with a big smile.
