Raising Avon

by Rebekah Shelton

  ****

  The next couple of weeks went much the same. Avon and Jeremy would run each morning, have breakfast, do their weight training, eat lunch and then spar on the lawn with their bamboo sticks. Occasionally they would help Iramy in the garden. Jeremy was learning more and more about eating fresh and raising vegetables. He even started to find the smell of the soil relaxing. It didn't smell like the toxic dirt back in the slums. It was sweet and woodsy. It smelled of life, not death.

  Each night after dinner everyone would disperse, to relax and do their own thing. Jeremy spent a lot of time in his suite, practicing his piloting skills on the simulator. Avon would soak in her tub. Iramy would curl up in the study with a good book.

  About a week before the scheduled camping trip, Jeremy approached Iramy. "The General sent me the coordinates for the camping site. He advised me everything we should need for the week is in the bunker. We're going to need a tent and he said something about fishing poles."

  "It's been forever since we've gone fishing," Iramy stated with a bittersweet smile. "We used to go a lot when Avon was little. It seems like a lifetime ago."

  "Sounds like it was a happier time," Jeremy mused.

  "It was," Iramy smiled. "Life has been good to us though. I have no place to complain. I wouldn't leave Avon and the General for anything. They are my family."

  "What about love?"

  "I fell in love once," Iramy replied. "But it didn't work out. We had different goals. Our paths took us far away from each other. But I don't regret it, not for a moment."

  "Maybe you'll find love again," Jeremy suggested.

  "Maybe."