“These are hard times, Mom,” Matt said. “The important thing is not to quit.”
“I’m not quitting,” she said. “Just despairing.” But she laughed, and Jon knew things were all right again.
“The moon crash anniversary is a week from Monday,” Miranda said. “I guess I should look at it as a day off, but I dread it.”
“Sunday night will be worse,” Mom said. “Matt, will you be on the road?”
Matt shook his head. “I’ll get home Saturday afternoon. I won’t be going out again until Tuesday.”
“Mom, do you remember that first anniversary?” Miranda asked. “When you and Syl and I had that crazy ceremony?”
“What are you talking about?” Jon asked.
Mom and Miranda had just finished telling the story of their ceremonial sacrifice to the moon goddess Diana when Alex came in. He hugged Miranda and Jon and shook Matt’s hand.
“You look tired,” Matt said to him.
Alex shrugged. “I am,” he said. He sat next to Miranda and squeezed her hand. “But it’s worth it.”
“I’ve been waiting until you got home before I mentioned something,” Matt said. “It involves you and Miranda. Mom, too.”
“What is it?” Mom asked. “Is everything all right?”
“Everything’s fine, Mom,” Matt said with a grin. “It’s something good. Or at least something to consider.”
“I’m listening,” Alex said.
“You know how much I travel,” Matt said. “Mostly from enclave to enclave, but I spend the nights in lots of different places. Keep this confidential, but there’s a group of people who’ve set up their own community. Not an enclave, no government involvement, but not… well, not a place like White Birch either.”
“Not a grubtown,” Alex said.
“I hate that word,” Mom said.
“Laura, that’s what this is,” Alex said. “You’d rather I called it a slavetown?”
“The point is, this new place won’t be any of those things,” Matt said. “Remember communes? Kibbutzes? That’s what they’re planning. They’re starting small, but they figure to expand. Syl and I are talking about joining, but we’re not ready to make a commitment yet.”
“What will they do for food?” Jon asked.
“Grow their own,” Matt said. “They’ve put together the money for two greenhouses, and they’ll build from there. It’s going to be rough, a lot rougher than White Birch, to start out with. But they won’t be dependent on the whim of some enclave. They’ll be independent.”
“Where do we fit in?” Alex asked.
“I told them my brother-in-law is a mechanic,” Matt said. “That you’d passed the mechanic’s test, but you’re not connected enough to get the promotion. A place like that is going to need mechanics. They love the fact that Miranda’s pregnant. Actually, they’re so pleased with the thought of you two, they are willing to take Mom, also.”
“That’s very gracious of them,” Mom said.
“We know you’re essential,” Matt said. “But you don’t bring a lot of skills to a community like they’re planning. Alex does.”
“What about me?” Jon asked.
“I didn’t ask,” Matt said. “You’re fine in Sexton.”
“What do you think, Alex?” Miranda asked.
“I don’t know,” he said. “Carlos and I have been saving money for our own truck,” he said to Matt. “In another year, eighteen months, we should be able to buy one. We figure that’s the only way, to go independent.”
“But you’d stay in White Birch,” Matt said.
“There are some pretty nice sections in White Birch,” Alex replied. “And there’s no law against fixing our home, buying more food if we can afford it.” He grinned. “Living the middle-class life.”
“We can’t go anywhere until the baby is born,” Miranda said. “But if we did decide to move, Mom, you’d have to come with us. I’d worry about you if you were here alone.”
“Yes,” Alex said. “If we go, you come with us, Laura.”
“I’ll come, too,” Jon said.
“No, you won’t,” Mom said. “Whatever happens, you’re staying in Sexton.”
“Why?” Jon said.
Mom stared at him. “Look at your sister, Jon, and your brother and Alex,” she said. “Matt’s a courier and Miranda works in the greenhouses and Alex is a bus driver. You call them grubs. Well, you’re not going to be a grub. You’ll graduate high school and college. That’s the whole point of your living in Sexton, so you can get an education, make something of yourself.”
“What if I don’t want to?” Jon asked.
“I don’t care,” Mom said. “In case you haven’t noticed, none of us are doing what we want. We’re doing what we have to, and we expect the same from you.”
“Matt?” Jon said, but Matt just shook his head.
“Listen, Jon,” Alex said. “You have a chance Miranda and I will never have. But it’s not just us. It’s Bri’s chance and Julie’s. You’re the survivor, Jon, and survivors have responsibilities. If you walk away from your chance, you make all that loss, all that sacrifice, meaningless.”
“All right,” Jon said. “But don’t go without telling me. Let me know where I can find you.”
“Of course we will,” Miranda said. Then she laughed. “The baby’s kicking. Here, Jon. Feel.” She put his hand on her belly, and he felt the movement that promised life.
“Soccer player,” Jon said. “Takes after me.”
For a moment they laughed, and for that moment they were a family again.
Chapter 3
“He’s looking at her again,” Zachary said as they sat in the cafeteria.
Ryan snapped his fingers in Jon’s face. “Earth to Evans,” he said. “Come in Evans.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Luke asked.
Ryan shrugged. “I don’t know,” he replied. “But my father says it sometimes.”
“What?” Jon said. “What about your father?”
“What about you?” Ryan said. “Why do you keep staring at Goldman that way? She isn’t even pretty.”
“You could have any girl you want,” Luke said.
“No, I can’t,” Jon said.
“Okay, some of the girls won’t go out with you,” Luke admitted. “Their parents won’t let them. But most of the girls would, if you asked them. Instead, you keep staring at her.”
Jon tried not to look at Sarah, who sat silent and alone, while the other students were laughing and talking. “You’d think she’d have friends by now,” he said.
“No one likes her because of what she did to my grandfather,” Zachary declared.
“She didn’t do anything to your grandfather,” Jon said.
“She’s living in his house,” Zachary said angrily. “She’s worse than a slip.”
“Look, Evans, if you feel sorry for her, be her friend,” Tyler said. “Go sit with her. Just don’t expect to sit with us again.”
“Her or us,” Zachary said. “Get that, slip?”
“I get it,” Jon said, and stayed where he was.
“What’s going to happen Sunday?” Sarah asked Jon as they began their walk to the bus stop.
“I have a soccer match,” Jon said. “In Longley. It’s about an hour, hour and a half from here.”
“I mean Sunday night,” she said.
“Some of our neighbors are having a party,” Jon said. “Carrie and Val will be in White Birch, so Lisa’s taking Gabe to the party with her.”