California(114)

Cal turned to Frida, whose face looked calm in the dark, even beatific, and he decided to follow her intuition. Cal wished he could feel as certain.

“Careful now,” August said, when they approached the broken glass in the ground, but he would give nothing else away.

When they reached the last Spike, August said, “You’re okay now.”

“Thank you.” Cal was ready to shake his hand, but August was gripping the flashlight and made no move to let go.

“Anika,” Frida whispered.

“I know,” August said.

“Shit,” Cal said. “How did you find out? Does everyone know?”

August smiled. “You really think she went up there without telling anyone?”

“Why didn’t you stop her?” Frida asked.

“Micah wanted it like that. He knew Cal would handle it. Anika was getting to be trouble for us.”

“I only hit her with the gun,” Cal said. “I didn’t shoot.”

“You did just enough,” August said. He took one hand off the flashlight and patted Cal on the shoulder like he was a goddamned dog.

Cal’s ears burned. “It wasn’t a little trick I did for you.”

“Please stop,” Frida said, and Cal didn’t know whom she was talking to.

“Can we go home then?” Frida asked. “Just like before?”

August shook his head. “You can’t go back there, not with everyone on the Land so upset. It wouldn’t be safe. Besides, the Millers’ place is going to be occupied. Peter isn’t happy with us. He thought we could convince the others to let in a child.”

“And because Micah disagreed, he’d rather live on his own?”

August shrugged. “It’s not Peter’s choice to make. I suppose we’ll find out what he’d rather do when he’s apprised of the situation.”

“I don’t understand,” Cal said, but he did. Micah would bend the Land back to his original vision. He had to get rid of detractors, Peter included.

“Where will we go?” Frida asked.

“The bus,” August said.

“The school bus?” Frida suddenly looked scared.

“Don’t worry,” August said. “We’ll talk there.” He started walking again.

Cal knew immediately where they were going.



In a few minutes they reached the bus, parked in the middle of the field as if it were a perfectly normal place to find it. Cal wondered if the goldenrod they’d seen on the way in was still there. He’d find out tomorrow when the sun rose. Unless they were leaving right away.

August opened the accordion door. “After you,” he said.

Frida climbed in first and, as if this were a field trip, sat in the second row. Cal followed her only when she tapped on the window and called his name.

“Hurry,” August said.

The inside looked just as it should: the aisle carpeted with ribbed rubber, the rows of dark green seats, that close-body smell. Cal sat next to Frida, and she dropped her head on his shoulder.

August ascended and immediately went to the first row of seats. He pulled up the bench seat and from its innards retrieved a blanket and two cans of beans. “I have a can opener around here,” he said. “After we eat, we’ll get going.”

Cal shook his head.

“You have to eat,” August said. “You’ll need the energy.”

“Where are you taking us?” Frida asked.

“I’ll tell you on the way,” August said.

“Wait,” Cal said. “I have more questions.”

August sighed. “If it’s about how we travel by bus, that’s easy. I’ve got a vat of cooking grease in the back. This is a diesel. Again, I’ll explain more once we’re on our way.”

“It’s not that.”

August raised an eyebrow, but he was listening.

“What happened to the Millers?”

“Oh, darling,” Frida said. “Don’t let Anika get to you.”

“Stop, Frida,” he said. “August? Tell me. Tell us.”

August pulled out the can opener and handed it to Frida. She took it and squeezed the handles. She wanted the story, too, Cal saw.

“No one but me was supposed to have contact with Sandy and Bo,” August said. “I’d told Micah about the boy, and we’d agreed to keep him to ourselves.”

“Why?” Cal asked.

“Why not? Who would benefit from that information?”

“You wouldn’t want everyone thinking they could just start a family out here,” Frida said.

“When Sandy told me she was pregnant, I delivered a large canister of protein powder and a stethoscope and a kit to read her glucose levels. I had to risk a lot to get that to her. Without me, and the stuff I gave them—traded, my ass—there would have been no kid. Sandy would’ve hemorrhaged during birth. Even if they both survived that, the kid would most likely have died his first year.”

Cal wondered if Micah knew what August had done for the Millers, or if keeping it from him was part of the risk.

“Peter went to see the Millers, without any of us knowing. Well, Anika knew. She requested he go.”

“Was he angry when he found out about Garrett?” Cal asked.