by G H Edwards
While eating Claire felt the breeze on her face and looked up. She saw the ocean just across the field and noticed that the sun was setting and the sky was a blazing orange. All the windows and curtains were open, and a refreshing breeze blew in. She took a deep breath and looked at Michael, who was slowly picking at the meat. She couldn’t remember the last time she had seen him eat or even sit up this long. He looked at her and their eyes locked; they both smiled and he took her hand in his. Claire felt relaxed and happy for the first time in a long time. The table was quiet other than the clanking of the old silverware on the chipped plates. Claire didn’t know if it was the sight of Michael eating or the strange surroundings, but she wanted to stay here forever; maybe this place was magically curing Michael. Suddenly she remembered something her hosts had said. She put down her knife and fork and looked at Tim and Jenny, who were eating aggressively as Judy picked at the food as though she were unsure what it was.
“Do you have the cure for gerivirus?” Claire bluntly asked.
The table fell even more silent than it had been. The Billies looked up at her.
Michael placed his hand on her back. “Claire, that’s what we need to talk about, but let’s wait till dinner is finished”
“Wait until dinner is finished? To save your life? Or to tell me they already gave you the cure?” Claire said, half happy and half angry.
“Claire, it’s not like that. They don’t have a cure. Don’t get riled up again.”
Claire’s glimmer of hope disappeared. “But why do you guys keep looking at me funny when I talk about gerivirus? You look like you know something I don’t. What is it?”
“Lil lady, we ain’t never heard of no gerivirus,” Tim said in his slow drawl.
CHAPTER 20
After dinner, Judy excitedly gave Claire a tour of the house, seemingly tripping over every board on the floor. The little girl showed off her few toys, which were mostly woodcarvings, and Claire played with her until it was Judy’s bedtime. Jenny and Claire laid Judy down in bed and each told her a bedtime story. Judy excitedly told her that the next day she could show Claire the farm and all the animals. Claire said that sounded exciting. The women said goodnight to Judy and all the adults had found their ways to the living room. They sat comfortably on the furniture, which formed a half circle around an old fireplace. The windows were still open and a cool, slow breeze lightly blew the thin white curtains, revealing the blackness outside.
Michael was sitting slumped and sharing the old floral-print couch with Jenny as Claire sat on the floor in front of Michael, gently stroking his legs. She had just learned from Tim, who was sitting in a very old recliner across the small room, that gerivirus was a new term to him. Claire listed the symptoms, but Tim still shook his head. She sat on that floor thinking for some time. She was brought out of her thoughts when she heard Michael gently snoring. She and Jenny laid him down on the couch and covered him with an old quilt.
“Listen, Claire,” Tim said in a slightly lowered voice, “Michael told us all about his sickness and the reasons for yer trip. To be honest I think ya’ll are insane to be doing this without any help. You two are the most unprepared, unequipped, naïve people I’ve ever met. If ya think ya can just drive between the cities with no problems, ya’ll really are crazy.”
“We are taking this tri—” Claire began to say until Tim interrupted her.
“Lil lady, let me finish. I know yer gonna take this trip no matter what I say, but let me just tell ya, that boy ain’t gonna make it much further.” Tears welled in Claire’s eyes. “And pushing this here trip on is only gonna cut his last few days down.” Claire was obviously crying now. Jenny sat down next to Claire and put her arms around her.
“That’s enough, Tim,” Jenny said in a near scold.
Tim lowered his thick eyebrows at her. “Now, I dunno this virus is yer talking about. Our parents lived well into old age. I’ll tell ya what, it’s sumpin’ their doin’ in them cities. Them cities are the worst thing that has ever happened to this country. In fact, I think yer probably crazier to live there then ya are to travel between them,” Tim said, his gravelly voice getting louder.
“Tim, please don’t. She’s already upset enough,” Jenny begged.
“What? It’s the truth, ain’t it? You guys are just slaves stuck in your cage.”
Suddenly a rage built inside Claire, and before she could stop it, she half cried, half yelled, “We’re slaves? I have a nice life! I live in a huge building in the safest of the seven cities, and yet I’m a slave?”
“Ya have a nice life, then why did ya leave it? I’ll tell ya why ya left, because that ‘safe’ city ya’ll are livin’ in ain’t nothing but a cage, holdin’ ya in and keepin’ ya running on the wheel,” Tim spat out.
Claire had heard of and met many people who talked like Tim. People who blamed their problems on the Central Government and its control over them and their lives. She had even taken classes in school about the governmental control system. She learned how the Central Government—the “Central” as it was called—was always trying to take over Houston’s hospitals, water supplies, housing, and many other things. On nearly every news channel there were stories about other cities and how they had let the Central in too much and paid the price. She heard about how expensive it was for them to make a trip to the hospital or how the government rationed out the city’s water or made the cities raise rents through new taxes. Claire understood why people hated the Central and was glad Houston was fighting to keep the Central out of their city as much as they could.
Regaining her composure, she said, “Just because I live differently than you doesn’t mean it’s wrong, but I do agree with you—the Central’s control in Houston is too much,” Claire said, trying to relate to her host.
“The Central?” Tim asked.
“Oh, I’m sorry, the Central Government. The local government is always fighting with them.”
Tim sat in his chair, confused. “So yer sayin’ the Central Government is always tryin’ to control things in Houston and the city government is fightin’ them off?”
“Yeah, it’s all over the news. Houston is one of the better cities to be in because the local has fought off the Central so well. But the Central still passes lots of stupid laws that we have to follow. But the local is always trying to get rid of those laws.”
“What kind of laws does the Central pass?” Tim asked.
“Well, the worst one was passed about five years ago. It blocked almost all the air travel between the cities. On the news they said that Houston has been fighting hard to get rid of that law, but the Central claims the ban is supposed to stop the gerivirus from spreading—but it’s been years and it’s still very bad,” Claire said gesturing toward her husband on the couch.
Tim quietly laughed to himself. It sounded at first like coughing but soon turned into a full belly laugh as he leaned back in his old chair. Claire looked shocked then mad. “Is this funny to you? This virus isn’t some joke!”
Tim quieted down and leaned forward. He locked eyes with Claire and lowered his eyebrows. With a crooked smile he said, “Lil lady, your whole world is a fuckin’ joke.”
CHAPTER 21
Tim had started a fire in the small fireplace and was now leaning back in his chair telling his story. “My mama used to tell us about our town—well, what use to be our town. She lived in this house her whole life and saw this whole area empty out. She said we used to have businesses and neighbors and hell, even traffic. Then everyone left. Even when I was a kid, there were only two families who lived in the area, and they left when I was still young.”
“Where did everyone go?” Claire asked.
“The cities. They mostly went to Houston but some went to Miami. But my daddy and mama were very stubborn and stayed here. Even when it was just us, and no one lived close, we stayed.”
“Why did everyone leave?”
“Because they were weak! They couldn’t handle life when it got hard, so
they run off,” Tim scoffed.
Jenny finally spoke up. “My mama used to say that everything got much harder when the town couldn’t afford water. But they still had a school when she was growin’ up. She was very proud to have gone to school in town. But when we were youngins, we stopped getting electricity and everyone who was here left.”
Claire looked around and for the first time realized they only had candles and the fireplace for light and warmth. She saw the metal bucket hanging above the fire in the fireplace and the large metal pots in the kitchen. She hadn’t even noticed they were missing basic utilities.
“Why did your town lose electricity and water? Was there a big storm or something?” Claire inquired
“Yeah, there was a big storm…Evergreen.” Tim said bluntly.
“Evergreen? The power company?” Claire asked, looking confused.
“You’ve heard of ’em?”
“That’s the power company in Houston.”
“They kept the same name? Arrogant bastards! But yeah, the power and water company was called Evergreen,” Tim said.
“I know they do power, but a different company does the water in Houston—well, at least I think it’s a different company—but they cut off your electricity and water? Why would they do that?” Claire asked.
“No they didn’t cut it off. I remember being a kid, askin’ my parents why we didn’t have power anymore, and they’d always tell us we couldn’t pay the bills, so it would be easier to just stop usin’ it. That’s how they moved everyone out. They just kept raisin’ the prices till no one could afford it. Lil by lil, everyone ran away to the cities, where everything was cheap and easy. Hell, they even had companies drivin’ ’round handin’ out brochures about how much cheaper the bills were in the city. And Evergreen had deals sayin’ that if you moved to Houston from another city you’d get a discount on power and water forever. Ya know what? I think I still have one of them papers,” Tim said with a grunt as he stood and walked across the room and up the stairs. A wave a dust floated around the room as he moved. He returned a few minutes later and handed Claire an old trifold piece of paper. The brochure was so old that the colors were faded and the page felt dirty; it reminded Claire of the magazine article from the beach. There was a drawing of a smiling, clean-cut man in a uniform on the front with “Evergreen” in big bold letters. On the inside it advertised a 10 percent discount on your power and water bills if you moved to Houston. “But none of that mattered to Daddy and Mama,” Tim said. “They stuck it out and so will we!”
Jenny sat back on the couch and was looking very uncomfortable.
Tim looked at her. “Well, that’s the true story ain’t it? But that’s not what they told us to believe.”
“It was too expensive for ’em to supply us anymore. We lived too far from the cities,” Jenny said quietly.
“Ha, this is where we disagree on things.” Tim leaned forward and stared at her. “Why the hell do ya think the prices suddenly went so high when Evergreen bought up the other power companies? Huh? Did the power plants suddenly get so expensive to run right as Evergreen bought ’em up? Evergreen wanted us out, wanted us to move to the cities so they could save a buck and control us. Don’t be an idiot!”
Claire wanted to ask more questions but felt incredibly uncomfortable as Jenny shrank into her seat. There was a moment of silence between all of them as Tim leaned back in his chair, looking satisfied.
“So, when Evergreen took over and squeezed everyone out,” he continued, “our town died; people left and moved to the cities. Soon the stores weren’t makin’ much money, so they had to cut back on stock, and eventually no trucks would deliver here. All the stores left and the schools closed. Sissies. And not just in our old town—the damn whole area. By the time I was a teenager, there wasn’t even a store we could go to. It took a while, but Evergreen won. Everyone ran away, moved to the cities just like they wanted, but we stuck it out.”.
Claire, eager to lighten the mood said, “Wow you guys are really strong. How long have you been together?”
Jenny was squirming even more than before, and Claire thought she might have asked the wrong question.
“Well, now, Jenny how old are ya? Thirty-eight? Yeah, since she was born, so about thirty-eight years.” Tim was leaning forward again, but this time his eyes were locked on Claire. “She’s my little sister.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Claire said, embarrassed at her mistake. But quickly she remembered Judy, their daughter.
CHAPTER 22
Although fear filled Claire, she tried her best not to show it. Everything she had heard about the Billies was true: they did practice incest; they really were sick and probably criminals. She wanted to run away as fast as she could. She wondered if she could carry Michael out by herself. She felt Tim’s stare burning a hole in her. She did her best to sit still as if nothing was wrong.
“You think we’re a buncha freaks, don’t ya?” Tim said with the crooked smile Claire had seen before.
“Of course not,” she said, her voice obviously shaking.
“Ya think I’m fucking my sister and Judith is our freak baby, and now were gonna tie ya up and eat you or sumpin’, right?”
“Of course not,” was all Claire could think of to say, but she didn’t even know if the words had come out.
Tim leaned back and started laughed his loud belly laugh. “Well, we are Billies, right? So we must be all crazies, I tell ya, you city people are just a buncha gullible bastards.” Tim continued to laugh, and Claire joined in quietly. After a few moments the laughter died down, and Tim looked at Jenny. “She’s just my sister—not my wife or the mama of my child. Don’tcha worry.”
Claire let out the breath she didn’t know she was holding and started to laugh at her silliness. She felt the tension in the room melt away.
“No, Judith is just my whore sister’s kid,” Tim blurted out.
Jenny started to cry. Claire sat in sudden silence, the tension returning, almost worse than before.
“Oh, quit yer crying, Jenny. Ya did it!” Tim said aggressively. Claire wanted to run from the house again.
“Who is Judith’s daddy? yer thinkin’. Well, let me tell ya,” Tim said, leaning forward, “it’s one of you damn city people, who, just like you, stopped in one day, and just like you, had supper with us, and just like you, sat right there and asked the same questions yer asking,” Tim shouted, pointing at Claire. “And they left Jenny with a little present, right before they stole from me and ran off!”
Claire felt the heat rising in the room. Panic was setting in. “I’m sorry. We should go,” she said hurriedly.
“All right, listen here, lil lady. I ain’t worried about yer corpse of a husband doin’ anything to Jenny, but I am worried about you. Ya city folks are the Billies—ya’ll are the criminals and freaks,” Tim spat out
“I swear I won’t do anything bad. I’m sorry that we bothered you. We can leave now.” Claire said, nearly pleading.
“They’re stayin’,” Jenny said through her tears. “These are good people, and we’re gonna take care of ’em. They’ll stay in my room. This is what the Lord would want us to do.”
Tim leaned forward again, looking at Jenny. “Okay.” He slowly turned his gaze and locked eyes with Claire. “Las’ time a city person stayed in this house, someone got pregnant.” The crooked smile returned to his face. “Let’s see if that happens again,” he said, looking her up and down and letting out another belly laugh.
CHAPTER 23
Claire put her arm around Michael and led him upstairs to Jenny’s room, where she had slept that day. She was worried when she noticed Michael seemed not to be able to even hold himself up anymore. She hoped he was just tired, but she doubted it. After laying him down under the dusty covers, she curled up next to him and stared at the cracked walls. She heard Jenny cleaning one of the many pots in the kitchen. She shuttered when she thought about Tim’s last comment about someone getting pregnant. He told her he was jo
king and she wasn’t his type anyway. She wondered what his type was—Probably a goat, she thought and laughed to herself. But Tim’s talk about Evergreen really made her think. She’d never heard anyone express such radical ideas like that before. Even though she thought he was wrong, she still found it fascinating, and soon it was all she could think about. She kept thinking of questions she wanted to ask him and ways she could prove him wrong. She didn’t know why, but she had the desire to defend her city. She knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep, so she snuck out of the creaky bed and walked back down to the living room.
She found Jenny leaning over a large pot of water, cleaning dishes. Tim was still sitting in his chair but was now whittling a piece of wood with a small knife. Claire marched through the room and sat down on the couch, facing him. He stopped shaving the wood and looked at her in surprise.
“So you’re saying a power company bought up other companies and pushed everyone out and the Central didn’t do anything about it?” Claire asked.
“Hell, the Central, as you call it, was bought up a long time ago.”
“Bought up by who? The power company?” Claire asked, almost laughing. “So Evergreen owns the whole country?”
“No, they don’t own the whole country,” he said, putting down his small piece of wood and the knife. “And I don’t think it’s Evergreen, but someone owns your entire city. Other rich bastards own the other cities.”
“So every city is owned by a different company? How could you know that?”
“’Cause it wasn’t just Evergreen. There was another power company that tried to get us to move to Miami. The cities were out here fightin’ over the scraps. My family watched it all happen. First, someone started to buy up utility companies, so the other cities followed. Then someone else bought up a big retail store, and the other owners followed. Then they started kickin’ out the retailers they didn’t own. They started blockin’ out the other retail stores by controllin’ the shippin’ companies. And when that wasn’t workin’, they started cuttin’ off the transportation routes that brought the stuff. I know because my daddy used to drive trucks between Houston and Miami, but that business disappeared when the roads got tore up. That’s how the cities got so separated.” Claire thought about someone destroying transportation routes and wondered if the destruction of any the bridges or roads they had passed had been intentional.