The Pacifist

by Elin Peer

  Jonah stopped what he was doing. “Do you need ideas?”

  “No. I’ve already decided that the best way to spend the money is on the most fragile in society. The children don’t need my help, since most of them are born into families now. It’s the old Nmen that we need to target. Those are the people who are skeptical of my dad making the Northlands into a democracy, but I reckon that many of them are just lonely and worried about what the future will bring for them.”

  “Old people never like change,” Christina added. “It’s the same in the Motherlands.”

  “I know. Grandma Isobel can be stiff like that too.” Freya looked thoughtful. “It’s funny, you know, because I was one of the first kids to be born here in the Northlands with parents from each side of the border. Maybe that’s why I see the contrast between my parents and how they both could learn from each other. My mom needs to relax more. She’s too proper, and I agree with my dad that Motlanders have too few problems and that’s why they invent stupid ones like fussing over curse words and getting offended for no reason. It has to be a type of boredom. But then I really think the Northlands could learn from the Motherlands when it comes to caring about each other. Do you know how high the suicide rate among old Nmen is?”

  Anne and Jonah shook their heads.

  “Nine out of ten suicides are committed by men older than fifty.”

  I knew those numbers and felt a heaviness in my chest.

  “Why is that?” Jonah asked.

  “Because they don’t have family and when they get old and lose their jobs, they lose their identity. They are too proud to ask for help and end up lonely and isolated. That’s why I think we should have community homes like in the Motherlands where people take care of each other.” Freya spoke fast with excitement.

  “Everyone needs a sense of community and to feel like they belong. How would you feel if no one knew your name?”

  “I would hate it, which is why I love your idea, Freya.”

  “Thank you, Mila.” Freya gave me a wide smile. “If we build community homes, it would also be a great place for people with physical handicaps to work and live. Inclusion is something the Northlands have never been good at, but the Motherlands are experts at it. We just need to make sure the Nmen have a job. It’s a matter of pride to them.”

  “What if someone is paralyzed from the neck down?” I asked.

  Freya faced me head-on. “If they’re paralyzed from the neck down, they may still have the ability to speak, which means they can help combat loneliness by being friends with others.” She held up a finger like she’d just thought of something. “Or they could work as a taster for different food products.”

  I loved how easy everything seemed in the mind of an eleven-year-old and even though I realized that things were rarely that uncomplicated in the real world, I chose to give her all my support. “It’s a great idea to mix old and young people.”

  “I know, it’s almost like we’re creating family units for adults.” Freya swung her hand to all the boxes in the storage room. “That’s why we need to raise a lot of money to help the poorest in our society.”

  Jonah crossed his arms. “I’m impressed, and you’re right about one thing. From the polls there’s clear evidence that the older and destitute voters don’t like Khan’s idea of democracy.”

  “But that makes no sense,” Anne said. “Democracy is always good for the weakest in a society.”

  Jonah shook his head. “They wouldn’t know, as they’ve never had it. All they hear are all the presidential candidates out on the streets talking about the things that are wrong with the way Khan rules the Northlands. The biggest audience that those candidates have right now are the poor and miserable who long for change.”

  “Jonah is right.” Christina supported me while picking up a heavy box. “If Khan is to win this election, then we need to convince the old Nmen that they have the brightest future with Khan as their leader.”

  “Here, let me take that.” Jonah was quick to help Christina with the heavy box.

  “Freya, I’m sold on your idea.” I smacked my hands together. “Let’s do this.”

  Anne chipped in, “Can I just say, that I think many of the Motlanders living here will be naturally drawn to volunteer at these community homes because it’s what we know from home. I used to work in a nursing home and if I lived here, I’d be happy to help.”

  “That’s a good point.” I gave Anne a nod of recognition and then we heard a loud gasp.

  “What is it?” All our eyes were on Christina, who sat squatted down in front of a box.

  “This is…” Words failing her, Christina picked up an item wrapped in a sheet, with slow and careful movements.

  “What is it?” I repeated.

  “Wait.” Christina moved like she was carrying unstable explosives and, one slow step at a time, she moved the item in her hands to the only clear surface there was; the floor.

  Jonah, Freya, Anne and I moved closer, holding our breaths to see what had Christina so excited.

  Opening the wrapping of the white cloth, Christina stared at the item on the floor.

  “Is that it?” Freya’s shoulders fell with disappointment. “It’s a chipped vase. No one is going to want that.”

  The small item was a brown-colored vase that didn’t look very impressive, but the way Christina pulled out a pair of white gloves from her pockets and put them on gave me hope that it was special somehow. “You’re right, Freya, it’s an old chipped vase, but if we’re lucky it’s millennia old. We know that before the Toxic War there were museums full of old artifacts but most of that was lost when the old world was buried. It’s long been speculated that some of the first Nmen might have had private antique collections that they brought with them when they came here to avoid being ruled by women.”

  “But I thought the first Nmen were all bikers.” Anne straightened up. “Why would they care about antiques?”

  “They weren’t all bikers. Some were religious leaders who felt superior to women, other were successful businessmen who didn’t like the idea of sharing their wealth,” I informed Anne, but Christina, who was examining the vase, cut me off.

  “Look at the drawings on the side. That symbol is called the key of life and those signs are hieroglyphs. It’s a written language.”

  “What does it say?” Freya squatted down and leaned in like she could read it herself.

  Christina bit her lip. “I learned a bit in school, but I’m ashamed to say that I’ve forgotten.” She looked up. “But don’t worry, I have colleagues who can help me.”

  “How much is it worth?”

  Christina pulled the vase closer and gave Freya a disturbed look. “You can’t put a price on something as precious as this. It belongs in a museum.”

  Crossing her arms, Freya raised an eyebrow. “Are you saying that a broken vase is worth more to you than helping people battle depression and loneliness?”

  “But this is a lost part of human history.”

  “It’s a vase, Christina. We’re here to find valuables to sell and raise money.”

  While the two of them continued arguing about what to do with the vase, I moved over to the box where Christina had found the vase. It was yellow with age and had three letters written on the side. “FBD,” I read aloud and looked inside. “Why would someone hide a real artifact in a place like this?”

  “I think it’s clever. What better place to hide treasures than in a crowded storage room where any thief would think there’s only discarded old stuff?” Jonah came over and kneeled down next to me. “Maybe there’s more than one treasure in that box.”

  There was an empty wooden box inside that I guessed had protected the vase. Taking it out, I saw two other wooden boxes beneath it. “This one is heavy.”

  Jonah took it from me and set it down on the floor. “If you two are done arguing about the vase, maybe you want to see what else we have?” he called out to Christina and Freya.

  “Hang o
n.” Christina wrapped the cloth around the vase with care and returned it to the wooden box before joining us. “I’m ready.”

  “Finally!” Freya sighed and then I opened the flat lid of the wooden box.

  A collective outburst of joy filled the storage room as we all screamed. The box was full of gold and jewels.

  “I knew it. I knew it!” Freya exclaimed.

  “You knew there would be gold and jewels down here?” I still remembered her skepticism when I first brought her down here.

  “No, but I knew we would find the money some way. I’ve been visualizing attracting money to build the community homes and here it is.”

  We sorted through boxes for another two hours and there was a lot of joy and laughter as we speculated that one of the kings and rulers that had lived in this house had hidden away treasures in the basement but been killed before telling anyone about it.

  Scratching my neck, I looked at Freya. “I wonder if our dads are still going to be okay with donating everything in here to charity like they promised.”

  Freya, who was sitting on her knees and counting silver coins from another box we’d found, rose up enough to fish out a note from her pocket. “I got them both to sign an agreement before Christina began her work.”

  That had me laughing. “Of course you did. I wish I thought ahead like you do.”

  “My dad always says that we need to expect the unexpected.”

  Jonah gave Freya a sideways hug. “He might regret teaching you that when he realizes that he’s had millions in his basement all this time.”

  Christina stretched her arms above her head. “My back is killing me. I need a break. We should have all of this moved to a secure location and, Freya, you should run upstairs and get Khan and Magni. They need to see what we’ve found.”

  “But I wanted us to catalogue all of it before revealing it to them. I want them to be really surprised and happy.”

  We laughed and assured her that they would be.

  “Okay, I’ll go get them then, but just because we found all this doesn’t mean we can’t still do the film events, does it?”

  “What film events?” Jonah asked.

  Freya explained to him about her idea to show the first five episodes of the Men of the North series at live events and added with excitement, “Christina and Alexander already agreed that they would be on stage to answer questions about how they met and fell in love.”

  Christina nodded. “We did.”

  “I didn’t know they were making a whole series about how the integration began between our countries.” Anne looked to Jonah. “Did you?”

  “Yes. It was pre-approved by the council, but withdrawn after we saw the first episode. Of course, I loved every part of it.”

  “But if they pre-approved the series, then why can’t it air as planned?”

  “Because there were violent scenes and the romance wasn’t as toned down as the pre-approval had requested. A small majority argued that the violations to our entertainment laws were too great and it could make viewers uncomfortable.”

  Anne sighed. “Now I want to see it even more.”

  “Then you can buy a ticket. It will be fifty dollars,” Freya said with a satisfied smile. “You’ll have to be quick though, because there’s only twelve hundred tickets and they are going to sell out fast.”

  I grinned. “If you’re sure about that, then maybe we should raise the price.”

  “Is there a family discount?” Jonah asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  Jonah pulled me against his side, placing his arm around me. “Mila and I are getting married. That will make Anne and me family, won’t it?”

  Christina looked surprised but opened her arms to hug me. “So it’s final, is it? You won’t have that awful tournament after all?”

  “There will still be a tournament, but they’ll fight for money and not me.”

  Anne wanted to hug me after Christina. “I was afraid to ask him if you’d said yes. Jonah was so nervous that you would rather marry a big warrior in that tournament.”

  Freya angled her head. “Tell you what, Anne. If you become part of the family, you can sit on the balcony with the rest of us. It’s free.”

  “I would love that. When is it?”

  “Maybe next week or as soon as we can make it happen. I’ve already talked to my parents about it and they loved the idea. My mom promised that she would contact the production company and set it up.”

  “I’m serious, people, I’m starving.” Giving Freya a gentle push toward the door, Christina reminded her, “Run upstairs and get your dad and Magni to come down here. Just tell them we found something they need to see.”

  “I’m on it!” My cousin threw the words over her shoulder before she was out of sight and ten minutes later, she returned with Magni and Khan.

  Khan walked straight to Christina, who was sitting on an old piano stool with her legs crossed. “This’d better be good, I was in an important meeting.”

  “Didn’t Freya tell you what we found?”

  “She mentioned something about a broken vase.”

  “Ah, but did she mention that it’s an old Egyptian artifact?”

  Khan shook his head and gave Freya a questioning look.

  The sneaky smile that grew on her face had me laughing. “Tell him.”

  “Okay, we found a bunch of super old stuff that Christina says people will pay fortunes for.”

  Christina got the wooden box and gently uncovered the vase. “May I present to you, this ancient Egyptian amphora from the later part of the eighteenth Dynasty, created somewhere between year 1350 and 1321 before the common era.”

  Khan reached for the vase but Christina pulled back. “This vase is almost four thousand years old. You can’t touch it.”

  Lowering his hands, Khan studied the vase. “Yes, I can count, but are you sure? How do you know it’s not a replica?”

  “Because we found a certificate in the box that explains its origin. Before the Toxic War it was in a museum but one of the executives moved here after the war and brought several artifacts with him.”

  “We also found a lot of gold and silver.” Freya took her father’s hand and pulled Khan a few steps further into the storage room.

  “Whoa.”

  “What is it?” My dad was quick to follow and the way his face lit up when he and Khan saw the fortune we had found made me reach for Jonah’s hand and squeeze it.

  “Now, are you okay with us calling you out of your meeting?” Christina was grinning with the brothers, who were touching everything.

  “You found all of this down here?” Magni’s hands ran through his hair and his tone was full of disbelief. “I can’t wait to tell Laura.”

  “Remember you promised that Mila and I could donate the money we could get from selling everything in the storage room.”

  Khan opened his mouth to protest, but Jonah stepped forward. “Actually, Freya has a brilliant plan to help the people and secure you more votes.”

  “She has?”

  “Yes.”

  “We’re going to build community homes where people can work and live. That way no Nman has to be homeless or lonely.”

  Khan frowned. “Sounds like the Motherlands. Our people aren’t used to a safety net like that. They won’t like it. It’s humiliating to have to accept help.”

  “Which explains why far too many who need help choose to commit suicide as a way out of their misery,” I argued. “We just have to sell it to them in a way that doesn’t hurt their pride, and I have an idea.”

  “I’m listening.” Khan locked eyes with me.

  “You know how I’m always talking about creating animal shelters. What if we created community homes and advertised that we needed live-in caregivers for a group of pets?”

  Christina had put away the vase and walked to the door. “I’m happy to hear all your great ideas, as long as it’s over lunch.”

  “Lunch? We should have a fucking f
east with this kind of amazing news.” Magni winked at me. “Why don’t you tell Sheriff and Jimmy to find some good bottles of wine and do a bit of their food magic?”

  CHAPTER 25

  Outrage

  Jonah

  All morning I’d been talking to Khan, Magni, and Pearl about upcoming events that would help shine a positive light on Khan as the future President. Everyone had jumped at Freya’s idea to have film nights, and the first was already planned to happen the following Saturday night.

  Tasks were delegated to a small army of people and I was proud when Magni, Khan, and Pearl praised me for my idea of a meet and greet booth called Friends of Khan. By making a few calls, Pearl had added Salma Rose, Willow Darlington, and Shelly Summers to the list of celebrities who would volunteer to campaign for Khan.

  Magni had arranged for a security meeting this afternoon and assured us all that his special forces would guarantee our safety.

  There were times during the meeting when it was hard to concentrate because I still felt high from the three nights that I’d spent with Mila. Flashbacks of making love to her made me smile at random times and when I remembered our naked play-fighting from this morning, I accidentally chuckled. Magni, who was discussing the logistics of moving the line along fast enough, stopped and gave me a funny look.

  When we broke off the meeting, I went straight to find Mila and found her in the entertainment room where she was talking with Anne.

  “What’s wrong?” I could tell Anne had been crying.

  Mila was holding Anne’s hand when she looked up at me. “The News is showing all the protests in the Motherlands.”

  “Still?” I looked to the screen.

  “Yes, it’s been three days since the vote, but people are still out walking the streets across the Motherlands. We figured that it would die down now that the weekend is over, but no.”

  Anne dried her eyes. “I received hate mail. One wrote that she was happy that she doesn’t have a sister like me.”