Harper cringed.
“I don’t like eating fishes.” Elijah flexed his biceps. “But I gotta or I won’t get big.”
An uphill grade forced her to pedal harder, causing the bike to wobble since she only had one hand to steer with. “My little sister doesn’t like eating animals at all, but she’ll do it now if it’s all we have.”
“Yeah.” Elijah rubbed his belly. “I like French fries. But the bad guys blowed up France so there’s no more.”
Darci laughed. “Well, we’ll have to make Evergreen fries then.”
“Cool!” cheered the boy. “What are those?”
“Kinda the same thing but made here instead.” Darci held up a finger. “Just gotta find some oil.”
“Oh, boy. Please don’t try cooking. There isn’t a fire department anymore.” Harper winked.
Darci stuck out her tongue.
She kept quiet for a little while, letting the boy stare out at the lake until Route 74 curved away from the water, still going uphill. “So, just between kids, how many times did you sneak into the garage?”
“Couple times.” He held up four fingers. “It wasn’t fun, so I didn’t stay long.”
Hopefully, he didn’t get too much exposure.
They talked about random things like trees, fish, what if vegetables could eat people instead, and so on for the remainder of the ride. As soon as she stopped outside the medical center, Elijah wriggled loose, slid to the ground, and ran to the edge of the parking lot—where he proceeded to hike up the T-shirt and water the grass.
Darci got off her bike. “Yeah, total kindred spirit to Lorelei.”
“She’s not an outdoor pee-er. Just ‘forgets’ to put clothes on. Must be a boy thing.” Harper folded her arms, waiting. He’s used to being left alone. No rules. If Darce does get the okay to take him in, she’s going to have her hands full.
Once finished, Elijah ran back over. Harper took his hand and they went inside.
“Good afternoon, Harper,” said Ruby from behind the reception desk. “Find another stray?”
“I’m not Stray. I’m Elijah.”
Harper approached Ruby’s desk. “He was living in the south part with his dad. Need to ask Dr. Khan or Tegan to check him out. There’s a bit of a possible situation.”
“Oh?” Ruby partially stood out of her chair to look at him. “What happened?”
“He might have been exposed to radiation,” said Darci.
Harper cringed, unsure how much detail to talk about in front of a five-year-old, but he probably wouldn’t understand it, anyway. “Yeah. We’re not sure how much of a dose he got, but the house had a bunch of glowing junk in the garage.” She silently mouthed, “His father died.”
“Oh, my. Go right on back. Dr. Hale is free. Dr. Khan is with someone.” Ruby gestured at the hall. “Room 3.”
“Thanks.” Harper led Elijah into the hall, Darci following, and walked up to the door marked ‘3.’ “Hello?” She peeked in.
Dr. Tegan Hale sat in a blue padded chair by the window, reading. “Come in.” She bookmarked her place, set the novel aside, and got up.
Harper walked in, scooped the boy up, and set him seated on the exam table. “Elijah, this is Dr. Hale.”
“Hiii.” He waved energetically.
“Why hello there, big guy.” Tegan smiled at the boy, then looked at Harper, eyebrows up. “What brings you in today?”
“Darce,” muttered Harper. She nodded at the door and stepped outside.
Darci proceeded to keep Elijah’s attention.
Tegan walked into the hall. “Bad?”
“Elijah’s father spent some months scavenging things from blast zones. He collected a bunch of radioactive junk… and we found him deceased. Made Roy’s Geiger counter squeal.”
“Oh, no.” Tegan put a hand over her heart. “That poor child. Does he know?”
“Not sure. He told me his father ‘wouldn’t wake up.’ Best I can figure, the man died a day or two ago. I kinda think Elijah has an idea what happened. As far as contamination goes, he’d been left alone long enough that he decided not to wear clothes. So, he wouldn’t have had any fabric keeping radioactive dust close to him. Darci gave him a thorough bath at the sheriff’s office. He’s clean on the outside, but we were worried about him suffering exposure. He told me he went into the garage a couple times but didn’t stay long. Roy said the junk pile was about as hot as an x-ray.”
Tegan glanced left down the hall. “Hmm. We’re not really equipped to deal with contamination. No DTPA or Prussian blue. We do have some potassium iodide though. I’ll give him that as a preventative.”
“Okay.”
“Be right back.” Tegan hurried into the storeroom at the end of the hall, returning to the exam room a moment later with a pill bottle.
“Hiii!” Elijah waved.
Harper and Darci stood off to the side while Tegan performed a basic physical exam on the boy, including weighing him and listening to him breathe via stethoscope. She appeared concerned by the reflex test and when she examined his eyes.
“Is something wrong?” asked Harper.
“Has this child been given marijuana?” Tegan shot a pointed stare at Darci.
“Just a tiny bit. Little man had a bad day.” Darci tried to stuff her hands in her pockets, but miniskirts didn’t have them, so she tried to be smooth and pretended to adjust it.
Tegan frowned. “I’d strongly advise against repeating that.”
“Okay.” Darci looked down, kicking at the floor.
Harper couldn’t help but smile.
“What’s funny about this?” Tegan shifted her displeased glance to Harper.
“Nothing. I mean it’s just… Roy already chewed her out for it but, she didn’t look anywhere near as ashamed of herself as when you did.”
“She’s a doctor,” said Darci in a ‘well duh’ voice. “Cops always lie about stuff like that.”
“So, you believe her?” Harper held her hands up in exasperation. “What about me?”
“You’re technically a cop now.” Darci wagged her eyebrows.
Harper sighed.
“All right, kiddo. Need you to be really brave. This isn’t going to taste good.” Tegan cut an iodide pill in half and gave one piece to him with some water.
Elijah made a face after swallowing it. “Eww.”
“Good! You did really well.” Tegan patted him on the head. “Taking a little eww like a warrior.”
He puffed out his chest.
“Well?” whispered Harper.
Tegan brushed a hand over the boy’s wild hair, trying to set it to some kind of order. “He’s not showing any outward signs, so I’m thinking he should be okay. However, I’d like to keep an eye on him in case something happens down the road. If he received enough of a dose to be problematic, any symptoms would develop over the next few days.”
“Are we gonna need that DTPA stuff? If it’s that important, maybe we should hit the hospital in Denver again.” Harper narrowed her eyes, thinking of Lawless. She wouldn’t necessarily mind trimming their numbers, but asking for a fight felt like teasing fate too much.
“DTPA?” asked Darci.
“Diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid,” said Tegan. “It reacts with some radioactive metals to help purge them from the body.”
“Oh. Sounds expensive.” Harper bit her lip. “I mean… before.”
Tegan chuckled. “If nothing else, the war broke the strangle hold the pharma companies and big insurance had on medical care.” She grimaced. “Of course, it also broke medical care in general… so we’re not exactly better off. But hey, I no longer spend eighteen hours a week filling out forms.”
“Yeah. So, he’s okay?” Harper forced a big smile. Maybe excessive hope would help.
“As far as I can tell right now, probably. We don’t have any of the stuff I’d need to evaluate his level of radiation exposure more thoroughly.”
“Thanks.” Harper exhaled, relieved. “Okay. He’ll b
e staying around here up north to be closer to the school. Whenever you want to check on him again, just let me know… or did you mean you wanted to keep him at the clinic for a few days?”
Tegan shook her head. “I don’t see any reason to keep him cooped up since he isn’t showing any outward symptoms. Why don’t you have him back here in three days, or sooner if you notice any vomiting, rashes, unusual changes in behavior, mood, eating habits, hair loss, and so on.”
“Don’t cut my hair.” Elijah grabbed his head in both hands. “I like it.”
Darci scooped him up into a hug. “No one’s gonna cut your hair. C’mon, I’ll show you where you’re gonna stay now.”
“Okay.”
“Umm.” Harper offered a weak smile. “We should really go see Anne-Marie so she can assign him to a family.”
“I’m serious.” Darci pivoted the child away defensively. “I wanna take him in.”
“Since when did you have baby fever? You never talked about wanting kids.”
Darci smiled. “Because I didn’t want to have to deal with a guy.”
Harper blinked. “Wait, you’re saying the girl who did you know what you know where with you know who at sixteen isn’t into boys?”
Tegan whistled innocently.
“Boyfriends are one thing. Having a kid with a dude is totally different. Keeping a guy around long term is way more work than it’s worth.” Darci laughed. “And, your face. I am totally teasing you.”
Harper sighed out her nose, her eyebrows flat. “Not funny.”
“Nah, I never really thought about it, yanno.” Darci looked at Elijah, almost nose-to-nose. “Something clicked in my head when I saw him.”
“He’s not a stray puppy,” said Harper. “Having a kid to look after is a big responsibility.”
Elijah looked back and forth between them. “Why can’t I stay with Daddy?”
A ten-ton anvil of guilt fell out of the sky and flattened Harper. Or at least crushed her heart. Darci rocked him, patting his back.
“Elijah…” Harper gently took his hand. “The stuff in the garage is bad. It made your daddy very sick. He, umm, went to be with your mother.”
The boy stared at her, his huge hazel eyes growing even larger. Realization set in after a few seconds and he looked down. “Oh.”
Harper squeezed his hand. “He didn’t want to leave you. It just happened. The kind of sick he got from that stuff happened slow. Your father didn’t even know it was making him sick.”
Elijah nodded, continuing to gaze at the floor for a while before sighing. “Okay. Are he and Mommy happy now?”
“Pretty sure.” Darci looked around. “I bet their ghosts are right here with you now making sure you’re okay.”
Elijah gasped in awe.
Ugh. Harper fidgeted. She’d never believed in ghosts, an afterlife, or anything spiritual. He’s five. What’s wrong with a little Santa Claus if it makes him feel better? She smiled. “Yes. I’m sure they’re together now. They were worried about you, but now that you’re safe, they can be happy.”
He grinned, waving randomly at the room. “Bye, Daddy. When you get to the good place, tell Mommy I miss her.”
Tegan choked up. Harper closed her eyes, trying not to cry.
“Aww, man.” Darci sniffled. “Whoever hit the button needs to get ball cancer and die painfully over the course of six weeks.”
Harper barked out the bastard offspring of a sob and a laugh. “Yeah. Seriously.” She stared at her friend and the kid for a long moment. “I really should have you talk to Anne-Marie. If you tell her you’re interested in looking after him, she’ll probably be okay with it. You’re eighteen, after all. But—please don’t give him pot again. At least not until he’s fifteen.”
“Swear.” Darci grinned at him. “No more kind bud for little man.”
Elijah blinked in confusion.
Tegan walked them out to the front, past Room 2 where Dr. Khan and Grace worked to stitch up a nasty slice in a man’s shin. Harper shivered at the poor guy clutching the sides of the exam table and trying not to scream.
“Thank you.” Harper smiled at Tegan when they reached the waiting area. “I’ll make sure he’s back here in a few days.”
“Sounds good. You girls be careful out there.”
Darci followed her outside. “Okay. Let’s go talk to Anne-Marie.”
“Cool. Thanks.”
Harper headed across the street to the militia HQ building. Her perpetually high friend didn’t strike her as the ideal candidate for being the guardian of a child, but maybe having the boy to look after would do her some good, too. Harper could keep an eye on them, and if she worried too much about Elijah’s safety, she could always intervene. She wondered if Aaron North understood the junk might have been radioactive, and that’s why he’d told the boy to stay out of the garage. Perhaps he simply underestimated the strength of it. If not, there might be other dangerous things in there. Either way, cleaning up that garage would be a giant mess.
Fortunately, she wouldn’t have to deal with it. That thought made her feel a little guilty, but not enough to stop her from being relieved.
“Am I gonna see Mommy and Daddy again when I go to the good place?” asked Elijah as they approached the HQ building.
“Yep.” Darci opened the door for Harper. “But you’re not allowed to go to the good place yet. You’re way too little. Gotta be an old fart to get in there.”
The boy laughed—and made a fart noise.
20
Smart
The aroma of fire-roasted vegetables, chicken, and bread hung in the air over the table.
Harper teased her fork at a hockey-puck-sized disc of potato crisscrossed by grill burn lines. She ate in no great hurry, due mostly to being lost in thought but also to savor it. Having a large gathering for dinner time no longer felt like a special occasion or a holiday. It made sense to pool resources and share. Less firewood, no wasted leftovers, people to talk to and appreciate being alive with.
In addition to her family, which she now considered to include Carrie and Renee, Grace and Darci (who brought Elijah over) had come by to eat. Despite the large group, they had enough food even if most of it consisted of potatoes, squash, and carrots. One whole chicken went pretty quick given all the mouths clamoring for some. Madison happily offered to trade her portion of meat for extra veggies, but Harper insisted she eat it for the protein.
The arrival of Elijah naturally precipitated an explanation of how he’d come to be there.
Cliff got that look in his eye like he wanted to have a ‘teaching moment’ the instant Harper mentioned the junk being radioactive, but waited for her to finish telling them how Anne-Marie agreed to let Darci look after the boy provisionally. If she thought things worked out, they’d consider it a permanent family placement.
“Does Anne-Marie know Darce pretty much has a continuous ten percent level of THC in her blood?” asked Grace.
Darci raspberried her. “It’s not that high, and yeah. I told her I smoke often. Agreed to cut back a bit. But you know, I never get totally wasted.”
Harper and Renee exchanged ‘yeah okay’ glances, which made Darci sigh dramatically.
“Suppose it needs saying.” Cliff wiped his mouth, then wiped his hand on his leg. “Everyone should be careful about metal objects that came from places damaged by a strike. They become radioactive. Way back when they were first making nukes, they had an accident with a plutonium core. It didn’t explode, but it let off a nasty burst of radiation that killed the lead scientist. All the men in the room had to drop their watches, rings, belt buckles… anything metal.”
Darci whistled.
“Neutron activation.” Grace held up her hand while she finished chewing. “Exposure to strong sources of neutron radiation can irradiate various metals. Something like that demon core experiment you mentioned or the detonation of a nuclear weapon releases a ton of high energy neutrons which can bombard metals they come into contact with, changing
them into inherently radioactive isotopes of their former material. Some substances are harder to activate since they take double or even triple neutron captures in the nucleus in order to change it into the radioisotope. Like water. I’m pretty sure hydrogen needs a double capture to become unstable tritium, and oxygen needs a triple capture. That’s why water makes such a great coolant for reactors.”
Cliff gawked. “She’s an alien.”
Laughter went around the table.
“Alien?” asked Harper.
“Look at her. Captain of the cheer squad with the brain of the kind of nerd that goes to college at twelve.” Cliff grinned and stabbed his fork into a hunk of squash. “Damn smart. Ought to go to college. Oh, wait.”
Grace blushed, chuckling hesitantly. The kids looked around, unsure how to react. Darci laughed, which made Elijah laugh. Renee sighed. Harper pushed food around her plate.
Carrie playfully swatted at Cliff. “That wasn’t nice.”
“Sorry. Too soon.” Cliff took a gulp of water from his glass.
“It’s okay.” Grace shrugged. “It’s almost been a year. We can’t stay gloomy forever. Besides, the world needs smart people now more than ever. We have to figure out how to re-create all the stuff that’s lost. And, dark humor is a good way to manage impossible situations.”
“You okay,” whispered Renee.
Harper looked up. “Yeah. Mostly worried.” She looked across the table at Elijah. “Life’s become so brittle.”
“Not as brittle as you think.” Cliff smiled and indicated Lorelei with a glance. “Sometimes the most delicate looking little critters just refuse to quit.” He grinned in a ‘that goes for you, too’ way.
“Heh. Just trying to do what I can.” Harper kept pushing food around her plate, wondering how she could be simultaneously embarrassed at being called a ‘delicate critter’ and grateful to have a dad.
Madison faced Lorelei. “Two out of three?”
Lorelei nodded.
The girls started doing rock-paper-scissors.
“What are you two deciding?” asked Cliff.
Madison paused. “Harp’s sad, so one of us is going to pull teddy bear duty tonight.”
Evergreen (Book 4): Nuclear Summer Page 18