Bob tried to stand up, but found he was much too weak. He was starving and thirsty, and it felt as though he’d soiled his pants again. He looked over at his wife once more; she had not moved.
“Honey? Honey?”
He sighed. She wouldn’t answer. Geeze, he thought, I’ve got to get something to eat. This is ridiculous.
With great effort Bob managed to pull himself to his feet. He teetered for a moment, feeling dizzy and seeing spots. He took a step toward the kitchen, paused to steady himself, then took another. The screen behind him blinked, the speakers making a strange noise: fffFFOP! He turned around in time to catch a brief glimpse of the Travels sphere before it was replaced by more video snow. Again Bob glanced at his wife. She still had not moved. She didn’t seem to be breathing.
“Denise?”
No response. No movement. Her skin was a very unhealthy color.
“Denise?”
He took a step toward her, but fell to the floor and lost consciousness. Next thing he knew there was a wonderful, rich music surrounding him. The white ceiling above danced with reflected colors. Something was wrong, he knew. Something was terribly wrong. He felt so weak. Grunting and panting with the effort, he pulled himself to where he could see the television screen. The Travels sphere was bouncing lightly through a meadow, surrounded by wild flowers; Bob drew a breath and sighed, smiling, feeling himself following along. So pure, so peaceful.
It led him a long way.
40. SECOND COMING
The wind was blowing hard, yanking the trees back and forth, their branches whipping and leaves rustling. The late afternoon sunlight shone down pale yellow, filtering through the smoke in the sky. Savina clung to his right arm with both hers, rocking back and forth. She was crying over the news of Greg; she had not known until Dodd had told her. He felt bad, now, thinking that maybe he should have kept it to himself. No, he thought, that wouldn’t be right. He was the father of her child.
Dodd watched the fires burning in the distance, feeling a quiet excitement deep inside him. The world was ending as he knew it. This time he was welcoming the change.
They were sitting on a balcony on one of the bigger buildings of the enclave, facing west. The rest of the enclave wasn’t in sight. It was just them and the fields and the trees. Savina was holding herself against him in a intimate position; it was either a childish lack of self consciousness or sexually possessive, depending on what was going on in Savina’s mind. Dodd didn’t know for sure, but he was getting the idea it was the latter. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. A lot of his internal voices were telling him how wrong it would be, and yet another, more enlightened voice was telling him, “Hey, this is a whole new world.”
Echoes of shouting and a commotion reached them, and Savina untangled her arms and legs from him and they went to go see what was going on. There was a crowd of men, women and children in the courtyard cheering two men who had come stumbling in on foot, their clothes torn and faces smeared with dirt. Savina gave off a shout of excitement and rushed to meet them. Dodd had never seen them before, and wondered who they were. It turned out their names were Wiley and Aaron, and they’d just come back from some kind of mission. The mission, apparently, was successful, but Dodd was having a problem understanding what it was all about. Then there was the mention of Danny Marauder, who Dodd did know, and all the faces turned grim and worried.
The one named Wiley approached Dodd. “Dodd Corely!” he said.
“A man who speaks his mind!” They shook, and Dodd got a tingle of pride that his effort and humiliation on the stupid Politico channel had not been entirely in vain. “Savina talks a lot about you,” he told Dodd. “You’re a lucky guy. I’m glad you came out and joined us.”
Dodd was at a loss of words. “Uh … thanks,” he stammered.
Wiley clasped him on the shoulder and then went to greet another friend.
As the sun sat the wind calmed down, and bonfires were started in the courtyard. It seemed some sort of celebration was starting. I’m not up to this, Dodd thought. He was still going on hardly any sleep, and he was still suffering from the 80 proof bourbon. He smelled something cooking, though, and that got his tortured stomach growling. They were putting large wild turkeys on spits over the bonfires. That’s going to take a while to cook without microwaves, Dodd thought unhappily. He found Savina, and told her he was going to go take a nap until it was time to eat.
She kissed him warmly and said she’d join him.
“No, Savina, that’s okay. You stay with your friends.”
“I’d rather stay with you.”
Dodd looked into her eyes. It was very inviting, but he just couldn’t do it. He shook his head. “Really, I don’t feel well.”
Now her eyes were filled with concern. She led him to her room and put him in her nice soft bed, then kissed him again and promised she would wake him up in time to eat. She left and he felt terribly, terribly guilty. I’m kissing Toby’s daughter, he thought.
Dodd half-slept for a few hours, then awoke to another commotion. He sat up and saw a woman standing in his room.
“Savina,” he said. He had a raging headache. “Savina?”
The woman sat on his bed, and reached out and touched him.
“You’ve got a headache, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Dodd said. It was Evelyn Sunrunner. “How did you know?”
“You look like you have one,” she said. “Here.” She massaged his head for a few seconds, and the headache was gone. In fact, his whole hangover was gone. He felt so good so suddenly that it startled him.
“You feel like you have no right to feel good,” she said.
“Yeah.”
“Tell me why.”
“I killed a man today,” Dodd said. The words had leaped unbidden from his mouth, again startling him. “I didn’t mean to do it, it was an accident.”
“I know. I forgive you.”
Dodd stared at her, feeling the emptiness in his chest where the guilt had so recently been. It was gone. He was forgiven. Dodd was starting to get nervous around this woman.
“You’re alright,” she said, smiling at him. “Your friend Danny is outside, maybe you should come greet him. He’ll be happy that you’re here.”
“Danny Marauder?”
“Yes.”
Dodd stood up, and walked with her out to the courtyard. It was Danny’s turn to be held over everyone’s head and spun around amid cheers. “Hey,” he yelled, “Dodd! What are you doing out here?”
Dodd shrugged. “It seemed to be the place to be,” he called back.
“What happened to your life in the city? Who’s garage am I going to sleep in now?”
“You’ll have to find someone else’s.”
Danny laughed.
Savina slipped up beside Dodd, putting herself under his arm.
He looked down at her, smiling, and for the first time noticed the bulge of her stomach. It was noticeable in the firelight.
“Are you ready to eat?” she asked.
Dodd nodded. “Yes, I’m starving.”
Arm-in-arm they went off to supper.