“Well when you put it that way…,” Justin had said. “But still, there’s also the age difference. After all, I am old enough to be her father.”
“So fuckin’ what?” Lampert had rejoined. “So you’re older than her. Big deal. If you ask me, that’s as relative a thing as any other. I mean, to me, at a hundred and fucking two, you both seem like children, know what I mean? Twenty, thirty, fifty, to me, that is the goddamn bloom of youth! And anyway, who’s gonna care about it, anyhow? Who’s left to care? Naw, doc, that’s a weak argument, at best. Yer gonna have to do better than that.”
Justin had frowned. “I’m not sure that I can, or that I want to. I don’t know, maybe I was just thinking that our relationship was more of an infatuation. That, once we were through with the mission, I would finally realize that she was, well, more of a fling, a sort of marriage of convenience. I guess I’m just torn. On the one hand, I admire her strength, but on the other, I’m appalled at her more violent tendencies.”
Lampert had laughed again, shaking his head. “Same old Just In Case,” he’d cackled. “Still thinking too much. Hell, doc, this ain’t somethin’ you can pin down, it’s nothin’ you can see under your microscope. An’ you shouldn’t bother to try! Love is a messy, stupid thing, Doc. No tellin’ where it’ll go, but you sure as hell gotta take the ride!”
Justin had smiled. Despite the Old Man’s left-handed delivery, the conversation had made him feel better, in a desperate, fatalistic way. After all, who knew whether he and the Old Man (and, by extension, the rest of humanity) would even survive this latest insane caper? If they made it, well, then there would be time for such things. Time for life and love and even mistakes. At the time, smiling warmly at the Old Man, he’d nodded.
“I believe you’re right,” he’d said. “And if I am still the same old Justin Kaes, over-thinking? Then you are still the same Howard Lampert, born philosopher. Perhaps we should find some comfort in that.”
“Yeah,” Lampert had said, settling back. “Not a lot o’ things left these days that stay the same, are there? Not like you an’ me.”
There was an amicable pause. From the next room came the constant buzz of animated conversation. He should be getting back in there. Who knew what mayhem they were contemplating? Then he shrugged and left it alone. He’d made his position more than adequately clear. After a while, his mind wandering pleasantly, for once, he’d asked about something.
“I was wondering…” he’d said, by way of preamble.
“Yeah?”
“Well,” Justin had continued, “I was just thinking about earlier, and your comparison of our mission to The Wizard of Oz.”
“And?”
“And how are we doing? That is, do you still think that it’s an apt analogy? Are we still in Oz?”
“Heh,” the Old Man had chuckled dryly. “Yeah, I been thinkin’ about that, too. Especially ‘cause we ended up in Kansas, like in reverse, you know? Like Toto, I don’t think we’re in Oz anymore. Weird. But all in all? I dunno, maybe this New America is the Emerald City. Maybe this Governor character is the Wizard and these Council people are the Tinman and Lion and Scarecrow. You know? One thing always bugged me about that, though.”
“What’s that?”
“The name Oz itself,” Lampert had waved. “I mean, they probably screwed it up, going from the book to the movie, but the title is The Wizard of Oz, right? As in, the Merry Old Land of Oz. But then, when they actually meet the guy, he calls himself Oz, the Great and Powerful. So what’s the deal? Is the world named Oz or is the wizard named Oz? Or both, or what?”
Justin had smiled. “That’s a good question,” he’d admitted. “And I’ve also been wondering something else about that story.”
“Yeah? What’s that?”
“The ending. As I recall from the film, Dorothy finally prevails and gets her wish. She returns, home to Kansas. Is that right?”
“Yup. Clicks her heels together and doodly-doodly doop! One crappy special effect later, she’s home. So?”
“Well, what happens after that? After all, she returns to a somewhat less than appealing future, doesn’t she? Living in dustbowl Oklahoma on some sort of hardscrabble, tornado-ridden farm with her aged aunt and uncle? And don’t forget, Miss Gulch, the mean lady down the way who was going to do away with poor Toto? Well, she hasn’t gone anywhere, has she? She wasn’t the witch; she didn’t melt. Maybe Toto escaped from her once, but what will prevent her from simply returning and snatching the poor dog all over again? Indeed, if you think about it, none of the things that made Dorothy run away in the first place have changed in the least!”
“Heh, ya know?” Lampert had nodded sagely. “That’s right! But at the end, she’s all happy and shit anyway! She’s gonna quit lookin’ for anything, because whatever it is, it’s right in her own back yard. No place like home. All that crap. Makes you think she’d been a helluva lot better off just staying where she was! In Oz, hell, she’d have been best buds with the Wizard, she’d have had her pals, the Tinman and all. Probably could’ve even taken over the witch’s place, all her minions and flyin’ monkeys, that big-ass castle? Just do some painting, redecorating… damn, she coulda been a freakin’ queen!”
Justin had nodded and smiled. “That’s what I was thinking,” he’d said. “And I think that maybe Dorothy was just plain mistaken. Perhaps there is someplace other than home, so to speak.”
Lampert had wheezed another laugh, stubbing out his smoke. “Oh man, doc! That’s like, deep, you know? But hell, all that really was, that ending—and I still would bet they screwed with it for the movie—all that was was a plain message to the kiddies and the more ambitious folks to forget about anything better. Just do your job, whatever back-breaking, thankless slavery it is, and don’t look beyond your own back yard for anything better, because Oz is just a dream. It ain’t real, so don’t bother even lookin’ for it. Sorta like religion, you know? Opiate of the masses?”
“I suppose so,” Justin had allowed. “But that’s not really my point.”
“So what is?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Justin had said honestly, tiring of the whole topic. “I suppose I’m just seeing connections, analogies, what have you, that aren’t really there. After all, we’re talking about an old children’s book here, aren’t we? And this is no kind of world for children.”
Lampert had grunted, whether in agreement or dissent, it was impossible to tell, and sat back in his wheelchair. Justin had sat for a moment, feeling somehow both better and worse for the conversation, and now, waiting nervously as the people around him strapped on arms and armor and got ready to go, he had the same feeling, a bittersweet sense that he’d done just about all he could for the Mission and that now it was in the hands of others.
He was deep in thought, recalling all of this, and hardly noticed when Teresa appeared in his field of vision. Then he shook himself and looked up at her. As beautiful as ever, her features were nonetheless set in a sad, angry sort of expression and her mouth turned down at the edges. Nodding to him once, she cocked her head and shrugged.
“Guess you gonna go soon, hey?” she said sullenly.
“Yes, I think so,” Justin said, eyeing a nearby window. “It’s almost dark.”
He smiled at her as best he could, then led her gently by the hand, back to the same cafeteria where he’d chatted with Lampert. There, he smiled and took her in his arms. Stiff at first, she quickly yielded in his grasp and hugged him back.