Leveling

by Diana Knightley

  He slowly released his hands down her thighs and collapsed away.

  Her head down beside his, he said up to the universe, “I’m sorry. I should have asked first, about protection. Was that okay?”

  In answer, she whispered a non-answering, “Yes,” into the side of his neck, near the place where his heart beat loudest. His arms went around her back, hugging her tight.

  Soon she pulled up and off him and slid to his side, head on his bicep. Beckett smiled. A full dimple-cheeked smile. He stroked the side of her face and kissed her on the tip of her nose.

  “That was awesome.”

  “Yes, indeed.”

  Beckett sighed and after a minute staring at the night sky, gestured with his free hand, “Do you know anything about these stars?”

  “I do, I’m a navigator.”

  “Really? Cool. Can you teach me something?”

  “Never. Great-great-great-grandmother Jane would never forgive me if I did. No, my friend, these water stars are not for you. At your mountain house you can look up and learn the land stars. Then my conscience will remain clear.”

  “Great-great-great-grandmother Jane is a formidable presence in my life.” Beckett grabbed an edge of the quilt and pulled it to their waists.

  Luna said, “I wonder if she would like me?” Then she giggled so much she hid her face in Beckett’s side.

  “Probably not, but come to find out, I share a lot of similarities with her lost-at-sea husband, George, so I doubt she would have liked me much either.”

  They lay like this for a while staring up at the sky, a soft ocean breeze blowing across the rooftop. Luna rolled her fingers around the soft hairs on Beckett’s stomach. Occasionally kissing his chest nearest her lips.

  Finally Beckett said, “You know I was thinking, I know I just met you, but I —”

  Luna adjusted to look up at the side of his face as he spoke.

  He said, “I don’t know if you’ve heard, but many prestigious scientists predict that this is the last big emergency. One more swell of water, a rising and then a leveling. If we can just adapt, stay safe, we can get through it. I’m so sick of change, but I don’t know, I have hope.”

  Luna kissed his chest.

  Beckett reached for her hand and entwined her fingers just over his heart. “I have the mountain house, and it will be above the predicted water level, everyone agrees.

  “So what I was thinking, was that I hope—I want to come and get you. You and your family. I have time left, of duty, but I get to pick now, since I volunteered, and I was thinking that I would ask to be transferred to the settlements. Maybe I could even be there by the time you get there. Then we can—”

  “Me and my family?” The words caught in Luna’s throat.

  Beckett pulled his head up and looked down at her, “What Anna?”

  “It’s nothing, It’s just so—I wasn’t expecting.”

  “But that would be okay? If I came to the settlement to find you?”

  Luna nodded her head, tightening her hug on his body.

  “Good, I’ll put in my request tomorrow. I’ll be there when you get there.”

  Luna nodded again.

  Beckett kissed the top of her head, then held tight.

  Finally, she quietly asked, “My whole family?”

  “Of course. Or wait, how many of you are there?”

  “Either seven or twenty-one depending on the day.”

  “Hoowee, twenty-one? Well, I’ll figure that part out.”

  Luna flipped over onto her stomach looked down at him and kissed him on the lips. A tear rolled down the side of her nose, dropping to his cheek.

  “Are you crying?”

  She nodded and buried her face in his chest.

  His hands stroked the back of her hair and he tried to pull his head up and see her expression, but she was hiding her face, her tears.

  “What’s happening, what’s going on?”

  “You just surprised me, and I don’t know—I feel so safe and—”

  “You are safe. We’ve got this.”

  Luna’s head shot up. Her eyes were red-rimmed, scared. “Beckett, you have to be careful. You can’t just say that—we. The word we, it means a lot to a Nomadic person. It’s a big word. It’s the kind of word that means you’re becoming a part of someone’s family. You can’t just use that word with me and not mean it, it’s too big.”

  “I mean it, Anna. I mean it exactly like that.”

  “Me too.” She dropped her head to his shoulder so that her forehead rested at the steady thrum of his neck. “Tell me about your mountain house.”

  “It’s beautiful. It’s been in my family for a really long time. It has three bedrooms and two baths, which is big these days, and—”

  “What direction does it face?”

  “Southeast.”

  “Sunrise.”

  “And there’s a trail, about a half mile, that ends in a place that faces west.”

  “Sunset.”

  “See, sunrise and sunset.”

  “When we get there, can we buy chocolate?”

  “Enough for twenty-two people. And thank you for your ‘we,’ Anna.”

  “You’re welcome,” said Luna.

  Luna slithered over Beckett’s body and rolled onto his other side. “Are you sleepy?”

  He said, “I’m having a hard time keeping my eyes open, actually.”

  She sat up. “How about I do the lashing together tonight.” She pantomimed uncoiling a rope, wrapping it around them both, and tying a big, firm, pretend, yet perfect, holding-while-you-sleep-out-on-the-ocean knot. The kind of knot her family would have approved of if they had seen it. The kind of knot that, if real, would have meant no one would ever drift away in the night. “And I’ll take the first watch.”

  Luna curled beside Beckett, hugged into his side, holding on and watching as he fell asleep. She tried to sleep on her back and then her other side. She tried covers and uncovered. Then she really did keep watch, standing and, like a sentry, walking the perimeter of the roof top, looking in all directions. Her gaze watchful, searching, the breeze ruffling her hair. Until finally she was tired enough to sleep.

  She lay down beside Beckett and drifted away.

  Chapter 20

  When Beckett woke up Luna was standing naked at the railing facing east and the sun.

  Beckett strode up behind her and wrapped her in the quilt, kissing the back of her neck. “Good morning.”

  “Good morning, it’s six am. What time does your helicopter come?”

  “Ten a.m. When do you think your family will return?”

  “Any time now, but if I leave first, I’ll mark the building. They’ll catch up before I’m too far out.”

  Luna turned for a long lingering kiss. When her arms went up around the back of his head the quilt dropped to the ground and the two stood naked, completely exposed on an Outpost in the middle of the ocean.

  Beckett chuckled into Luna’s ear, “What if your family showed up and saw us like this?”

  Luna considered two responses, before she joked, “They’d be surprised by the full moon—get it?”

  Beckett chuckled more. “I get it, silly. I wish we could go back to bed, but we have so much to do—”

  “So you’re still using we, even in the light of day?”

  Beckett pulled back to arm’s length and peered into her eyes. “Yes, we. I mean it. Do you still mean it?”

  Luna nodded and threw her arms around him, hugging her head to his chest.

  Beckett hugged the back of her head, encircling her in his strong arms. “So what we have to do is be sensible. We have to pack up. We have to say goodbye. I have to go to work. I have to convince my superiors that I am sensible and unemotional and detached, and that I should be transferred to the settlements. Then I have to find you.”

  Luna pulled away and watched him nodding. “And I have to paddle east to the mainland with due haste.”

  “And when you get there, you go
to the settlements. Get your name on as many lists as possible. I’ll be looking for you, but the settlements are big, and there are a lot of people there. Find people in charge and ask for Beckett Stanford. Tell everyone your name and ask everyone for me.”

  “Beckett Stanford. I can’t believe I didn’t know your last name.”

  “Stanford. You’ll remember it?”

  Luna nodded

  Beckett kissed her brow.

  Luna and Beckett dressed and then packed up the last boxes and crates, stacking a pile in the middle of the roof beside the helicopter landing port. After a couple of hours Luna said, “It’s almost nine, I ought to go get Steve and Boosy ready for my trip.”

  “I’ll bring one of the packs down, give me about ten minutes.”

  Chapter 21

  When Beckett descended the three floors, the landing was waist deep in water. The second Beckett’s leg plunged in, he knew this wasn’t right. Shoving the door open was difficult, and it stayed open, stuck, then wading across the expanse of the 118th floor was near impossible. Oh, no no no no.

  Luna was turned away from him at the far windows near her paddleboard tightening a knot. Hard at work, preparing for her journey. Beckett held the backpack of supplies and the water filter overhead and waded toward her, while inside a litany of, no no no no no no, continued in his mind. Upstairs the scenario had played out effortlessly, sensibly. Down here, where water was overtaking land, the plan made no sense at all.

  “Anna!” He shoved one leg forward and then the other, with swells and currents surging and pulling on his body. “Anna!” His brain repeated, no no no no no.

  She smiled over her shoulder, “Did you get everything done?”

  Beckett closed the gap between them. “Anna, you have to come with me on the helicopter. You have to, this is—” He deposited the supplies on her board. “Come with me.”

  “I can’t Beckett, how would that work?”

  “We can tell them you’re injured, that I have to get you to a hospital. Ride with me to the mainland. Please.”

  Anna dropped the rope and placed her hands on his chest, smoothing the front of his t-shirt. “You have a job, work, you can’t risk it. And I can’t leave my things behind. What about Tree? My paddleboard?”

  “No no no, Anna, none of it makes sense—you have to come—look at this water, god, the water is everywhere.” His hands went up to his head and he rubbed them all around on his barely existent hair.

  Anna stroked down the side of his face, soothing, appeasing. “Shhhhhh, shhhhhh, it’s okay. It’s going to be okay. Your plan is good.”

  Beckett closed his eyes. “Don’t.”

  “I’m a paddler. I don’t fly in helicopters, it’s not my style.”

  Beckett wrapped his arms around her.

  She said, “We have a plan, right?”

  He nodded into her hair.

  “Me and you and a future.” He nodded again. “I have to go though, I have a lot of paddling ahead of me.”

  “This just doesn’t feel right.”

  They could hear the faint sound of a helicopter growing louder.

  “I know, nothing feels right, but it’s the way the world is.”

  Beckett took a deep breath and exhaled. He kissed the top of her hair. He grabbed the pack, opened it, and introduced her to the contents. “I added some extra food. I wrote my name and my service number here. He pointed to a place inside the pack. And then I wrote it here and here.” He pointed to the side of the water filtration kit. “And here.”

  “I’ll remember.” She stood looking at him. One hand on her paddleboard.

  “The helicopter is coming any minute now.”

  Luna nodded.

  “Anna, please.”

  “I’ll see you soon Beckett.”

  She turned away, climbed onto the paddleboard and knelt, bringing Boosy into loading position and strapping down the pack and filtration kit. The helicopter sounds loomed closer and closer. She pushed Boosy back and away and stood with two graceful motions, paddle in hand.

  Beckett held the nose of her board. “Be safe. Go fast.”

  She smiled, “You saw me right? I’m super fast.”

  “Due east.”

  The water around the Outpost rippled with the wind created by the helicopter’s rotors.

  Beckett said, “Wait, here’s the marker.” He pulled a fat marker from his pocket and handed it up to Luna.

  “The marker?”

  “Yeah, to change the marks on the Outpost wall, for your family.”

  She clipped it to the front of her top. “I’ll tell them to grab packs from the rooftop, then meet me.”

  She paddled her conveyance backward, away from the opening. Beckett clung to the board before it pulled away from his hands. “Anna!”

  Luna concentrated on her paddling.

  He said, “Be safe.”

  Luna grabbed the water behind her with the paddle, spinning the paddleboard into the right direction. She wouldn’t look at him, she looked at her paddling arm as she said, “We’ll see each other soon.”

  “Anna!” He wanted to stop her. Needed her to look at him. None of this seemed right, and she wouldn’t look at him.

  She took the first stroke.

  “Anna!”

  She turned the board by degrees to face him, looking him in the eyes from across a precipice of feet and deep ocean plunging to the depths between them. He inside and she out and both going away. He had nothing else to say but, “Don’t go.”

  Luna said, “I love you,” and shoved her paddle deep into the water, stroking away, fast, without looking back, leaving him standing in waist deep water. No no no no no.

  Chapter 22

  Luna headed north to the corner with the Outpost’s marks. She pulled up alongside, uncapped the marker with her mouth, and clung to the building with one hand while she drew with the other.

  First, she drew the mark that meant ‘Outpost unoccupied’: a square with a water line and a circle inside.

  Then she drew a mark that meant ‘food inside, help yourself’: an outline of an apple.

  Lastly she drew the simple outline of a moth, just in case anyone was left to see.

  Chapter 23

  Beckett plowed his way across the expanse of the 118th floor, and pulled, with effort, the door open and jogged the stairs to the rooftop, arriving just as two men descended from the now-landed helicopter. Beckett presented himself and met the captain, Hansworth, and the copilot, Janson, and directed them to the pile of boxes he and Luna had filled.

  Hansworth said, “We don’t have enough fuel for a big load. We can only take two—the equipment.” He pointed at the equipment boxes. “Grab what you need out of the others.”

  Beckett helped them heft the two boxes deemed worthy of transport and then flipped open the lid on his own trunk and grabbed his toiletries bag, a pair of shoes, his pillow, his Great-great-great-grandmother’s quilt, and his book of Calvin and Hobbes comics. He raised the pile questioningly. Hansworth nodded, and then he and Janson climbed into the helicopter to prepare for take off.

  Beckett stood in the middle of the Outpost, his home for almost five months. He did a small turn to check for anything else he might need, mindful that right now Anna was paddling, performing her own turn, heading east to meet him a long, long way away.

  Chapter 24

  Beckett climbed into the helicopter and stuffed his belongings under his seat. The seat beside him was empty, causing his stomach to lurch. He latched his shoulder belt, pulled his headset on, leaned back, and closed his eyes.

  The helicopter lifted and swept in a turn to the East. Beckett searched from his window for Anna. The horizon was empty, the blue sky cloudless, the glistening ocean barely rippling. Beckett scanned below and found her—much smaller than he had imagined. So small he could barely see her move. Almost still in the wide expanse of the sea.

  She was headed north.

  Where was she going? What was she—

&nb
sp; Hansworth said, “What’s that?” His sudden, amplified voice caused Beckett to jump.

  Once Beckett recovered he said, “A young Nomad woman I gave a pack to this morning.”

  “Hooweee, that’s a sad sight. A Nomad by herself won’t survive out there for long.”

  Beckett turned sharply, “What?”

  “Where’s her family—she didn’t mention why she was alone?” Beckett looked from Hansworth to Janson.

  Janson said, “Nomads are never alone unless something awful happened. Didn’t you see the documentary about them?”

  “No, I—”

  Janson said, “Oh that’s right, you were already here on the Outpost. It was called, Last of the Water People, or something. They travel in large families, they lash together at night, they need their group for protection, extra rafts for supplies. A lone Nomad is a dead Nomad. That’s a fact.”

  Beckett grabbed his shoulder, “We have to go back!”

  Janson shoved his hand away.

  Beckett banged his fist in his seat, “Fuck, we have to go back. We have to go back.”

  Janson said, “Cool it Stanford. We’re not going back. We don’t have the fuel.”

  Beckett gripped his armrest staring back out the window at a tiny Luna, “We’ve got to go back. We can’t...”

  Hansworth shook his head. “You did what you could do, right? Gave her the pack, told her to go east.”

  Janson said, “It’s not your fault she lives like a Nomad. What more can you do?”

  “Go back, go back and—”

  Janson said, “I’m not dying for some lone Nomad. We don’t have the fuel. And seriously how much effort has the Government put into Nomad relocation and settlements? We shouldn’t worry about them, they made their choices.”

  Beckett craned around trying to keep Luna in view for a little bit longer. “We have to go back, we can’t leave her alone out there, we can’t.”

  Janson ignored Beckett and asked Hansworth, “Did you see the documentary?”