However, with the bright sun came the dark news. My search would once again take another turn. Not only were they integrating more camps, they were preparing to send people back to America, repopulating and rebuilding the southernmost areas first.
I had befriended a woman named Genevieve. She worked really hard for the new government office, The Department of American Migrants.
We fought a lot, I accused her of doing a poor job of keeping track of people, and she called me insane. I was the biggest pain in her ass at first. She threatened to have me arrested for abandoning a government issued job. Eventually we became friends and she was the one who told me about the merged southern camps and how they were scheduled to ship back first. She suggested I go there and start, at least if I didn’t find Davis, I knew he was still in Argentina.
The camps were named after states in the US and the first one scheduled to return was the Alabama camp. Under the agreement that I would deliver documents and reports to the camp commander, I caught a ride with a military unit and following a two day ride, arrived at the Alabama camp.
One of the soldiers in that unit told me that he believed the camp had registered everyone.
I didn’t believe it until we pulled in.
I honestly didn’t want to leave. It was the first time that I entered a camp that was organized and clean. The tents were dismal, but they were in order and straight.
I knew that this particular camp had been there for a while and was once smaller. I was there in the beginning. It had grown and matured. Gardens were planted on the perimeter, children ran around, and down the main path people set up vendor stands, bartering fresh cooked food for other needed goods.
It wasn’t a camp, it was a community. It was life.
The command center was no longer a tent, but a small building. I wanted to get in there, drop off the information and find out if they had a registry.
Just as I opened the door, I heard the call of my name.
“Madison!”
I turned around and to my surprise it was Callie.
She rushed my way and greeted me with a huge bear hug, nearly toppling the items from my arms. I was so shocked I couldn’t register the reunion.
“This is amazing,” she said. “I just got here last week. How long have you been here?”
“About five minutes. I just got dropped off.”
Callie looked at the things in my arms. “Are you working for the administration?”
“For today,” I said. “Let me drop these off and we can talk. I missed you. It’s so great to see a friend.”
Callie opened the door for me. “I know. Where’s Lacey? Did she find her family?”
I stopped cold.
“No,” Callie groaned out. “Not Lacey. I thought you were carrying her backpack.”
“Never leaves my side,” I set down the box of folders on the secretary’s desk and told her it was from American Migration. I took a deep breath and faced Callie. “Lacey died in an accident. She never found her family. That’s what I’m doing. I’m searching for her family.”
“What about yours?” she asked.
“Bruce and the boys didn’t make it.”
“I’m sorry. I am so sorry.”
“Thank you.”
“How long have you been searching?”
“Three years, two months, six days.”
“It can’t be easy. They keep merging camps and moving them.”
“Tell me about it.” We headed back out. “That’s why I’m here. I brought the papers here so I could look. I heard this camp was moving back to the US.”
“Yeah, it starts in three weeks.”
“This place is amazing,” I said as we walked down the main road through the vendors.
“Most of the established camps are now.”
“Not like this.”
“We’re south,” she said. “The southern camps have been like this a year.”
“That explains it.” I tossed up my hands. “I started in the south and headed north. I heard they have a registry here.”
“Every camp that is preparing for the return has a full registry, we need to keep track now on who is going back, where they were from originally, what skills sets they have. But… Madison, her family isn’t here.”
I sighed out and lowered my head. “It figures.”
“I checked. This is the third camp I have been to down here that has a registry. They aren’t at any of them. I check every camp.”
“I appreciate that. But…” I upped my voice. “If you checked three, that means I have only four.”
“I can get you a ride to the Tennessee camp tomorrow if you want.”
“I would like that.”
“So…” Callie hesitated. “Del. What about Del?”
“Del? Last I saw him was three years ago. I am hopeful it’ll be easier to reunite with him. He was injured in that accident and was placed on a yellow ship.”
“Wait. He went to a yellow camp? I didn’t see him. Of course I was only there for the transition to return. That’s what I do. I go to camps for three weeks, get them ready to leave then move on.”
“So he’s back in the states?” I asked.
“Yes. El Paso. If he was in a Yellow Camp he left last week. Ruth is, too.”
My breath shivered and I couldn’t speak. “You saw Ruth?”
“Yes, I did. Celebrated her ninety-fifth birthday. She’s doing great. Told me she was too old for traveling, but we sent her anyhow. That’s where I’m going to end up when it’s all done. El Paso. You have to make plans to go there.”
“I will. This is all coming together, you know. It has to mean something. Seeing you, hearing about Ruth.”
“It means you’re close.”
“Hopefully, Maybe I’ll…” At first the mild arguing, or rather louder bartering, caught my attention and I turned my head.
The face.
I knew that handsome face. I saw it every day for three years. The two children with him were older, but their blonde hair was unmistakable.
“What’s wrong?” Callie asked.
“I just got another sign.” I slowly walked over.
The man was trying to get a fresh tomato for his children and the woman at the vegetable cart wouldn’t budge. She wasn’t interested in his items.
I undid the front pocket of my backpack and pulled out two plums. “Here.” I gave them to the children, staring at them, their faces. They had grown. “It’s not a tomato, but they’re sweet. Enjoy. Don’t choke on the pits.”
“What do I owe you?” he asked.
“Nothing.”
“Hey!” The vendor woman shouted. “That’s my business.”
“Too bad,” I said.
“Thank you again,” he said. “We just got here yesterday from another camp. I don’t know how this bartering works. Usually my homemade flint gets us lots of stuff. Not here. So thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Can I give you flint?”
“No,” I shook my head. “You can tell me… This is going to sound strange. Is your name Clark?”
“Yeah, yeah it is. Do I know you?”
Callie came over and asked if everything was all right. I told her, “It’s more than all right. It’s a sign.” I undid the zipper on the backpack and pulled out the plastic bag. “These belong to you and…” I pulled out the notebook and ripped out the first page. “This is for you. Your wife loved you very much. You should know that. Those belonged to her.”
A soft ache crept from his mouth as his fingers cradled the bag and he fought his emotions. “You knew my wife? Did she suffer, did she…?”
I held up my hand. “I didn’t have the pleasure of knowing her, but my friend did. Your wife saved her life and helped her get out of California. My friend always wanted to find you, get that to you and say thank you.”