Under Vanishing Skies (16 page)

 “
Hold on,” I said as I got to my feet. “You’re the one who talked me into joining that goddammed Council and now you want me to just give up?” 

“
I never said we have to give up,” she looked up at me. “I’m just saying that they’ve finally given in a little. Did you see the latest list?”

I shook my head. I’d been completely obsessed with trying to figure out Jin’s decryption plan. I never even glanced at the list.

She stood up and took my hands in hers. “Ahmed dropped over a hundred candidates from the list. My group of islands picked up sixty two seats and you gained over twenty.”

“
Really?”

“
Really,” she said. “And I have every reason to believe that we’ll get more than that before the next vote.”

“
But why would they suddenly give in?”

Smiling, she said, “I may have suggested to Ahmed that some people might view Michio’s resignation as suspicious. And I may have told him that if we don’t get our fair share of people on the list then I might raise the suspicion myself…at the party tonight.”

 “
You threatened Ahmed?”

“
I wouldn’t call it a threat. It was more of a promise.”

“
But you said that you hadn’t heard from Michio. How do you know they actually threatened him?”

“
I don’t know.” She laughed. “But Ahmed doesn’t know that.”

“
Then let’s really stick it to them. Let’s–”

“
Take it easy, Aron. One thing I learned back on the streets of Dublin is that you should never back your opponent into a corner. We got almost everything we asked for. Who cares if they still have a few people on the list who aren’t qualified? As far as I’m concerned we won.”

She leaned in and kissed me. The sweet scent of coconut and jasmine filled my nose and I felt the sting moonshine on her lips. 

She pulled away.

“
Wow,” she said. “You really haven’t been with anyone in twelve years, have you?”

“
Where’d you hear that?”

“
Rick may have mentioned it.”

I smiled. “That bastard promised to keep that a secret.”

“
Don’t blame him. Rick and I tied one on after the first Council meeting. The moonshine made him chatty.”

I wasn’t sure if it was the kiss or the thought that we got more people on the list, but suddenly I felt like a giant weight had been lifted from my shoulders. Shannon was right.

Why the hell should we fight to the death? So what if Ahmed had a few unqualified people on it?

Shannon stroked my arm, stopping when she came to the scar on my wrist. Without looking at it, she traced the outline with her thumb and kissed my neck.

“
Is William on the list?” I asked.

She nodded.

“
Okay.” I said. “I give up…I mean…I agree. Tomorrow we throw in the towel.”

She grabbed the bottom of her shirt, and pulled it up over her head. “And tonight?”

I smiled, “And tonight 
I
 throw in the towel.”

 ***

I breathed in her aroma and was ready to go again. But I didn’t move. I wanted to lay there next to her for a little while longer, soaking up the warmth of her naked body. Her head rested on my chest and I listened to her shallow breaths, grinning at the occasional soft snorts.

Why the hell did I wait so long to get back on the horse?

With my free hand, I stroked her short, soft hair. I let it wander down past her neckline and trace the wonderful contour of her back. I was about to explore further when a series of high-pitched beeps made us both sit up.

“
What the hell is that?” she asked.

“
It’s my data mat. It beeps like that when I receive an urgent message. Probably just another communications server going down.” I smiled. “Good thing we’re here. It’ll be a short commute.”

I stood up and looked down at her. The blue evening light streaming through the ventilation slots  and lit up her body in a silky light.  She rolled over and reached for her clothes. 

The beeping was driving me nuts.  I reached down, grabbed the data mat, and acknowledged the alert. I read the message twice before throwing the data mat across the room.

 “
What’s wrong?” Shannon asked. “I thought you said it was a bad server?”

 “
She’s dead.”

“
Who’s dead?”

“
Sarah. Rick’s wife.”

She came over to me. “I’m so sorry, Aron.”

She tried to hug me, but I stepped away and began to gather my stuff. We both finished dressing in silence.

When I was done, I lifted the hatch and said, “I’ve gotta go. I’ll send Ahmed a message to let him know that I may not make the meeting.”

“
Don’t worry about the Council. It’ll take a couple days to find a replacement for Michio anyway. Go take care of William.”

I climbed down through the hatch without another word.

 
Chapter 10

Helen was waiting for me on the dock when I arrived. Her usual bright, cheerful face was a red, blotchy mess. Fresh tears rolled down her cheeks when I stepped off the boat.

“
Aron, thank God you’re back. Sarah went so quickly that there just wasn’t time to call you.” She wrapped her arms around me and squeezed tightly.

I hugged her back and looked up at the sky. After clearing the lump from my throat, I asked, “Where’s William?”

She released me and took a step back. “Up in his tree. You know the one. He won’t come down and he won’t talk to anyone... Not even me.” She started to cry again.

I nodded and said, “When’s the funeral?”

Sniffling back the sobs, she said, “Sundown. Some of the men are building the pyre now.” More tears fell and then she said, “What are we going to do about William?”

“
Don’t worry. I’ll talk to him.” I paused and finally said, “Sarah asked me to—”

“
I know,” she said. “She told me.”

I could tell that she wanted to say something else. Maybe she wanted to ask how the hell I was going to take care of him. Thankfully, she didn’t ask, because I didn’t have an answer.

I headed down the path, walking past thatched huts and ignoring the sympathetic stares of everyone I passed. In a clearing near the beach, some kids kicked a soccer ball back and forth seemingly oblivious to the drama unfolding.

As I approached Sarah’s hut, I saw Mohamed standing at the base of the tall palm tree in front of the deck.  He was looking up at the foliage.

“
William, it’s time to come down,” Mohamed said. “Be a good boy. We need to talk about the ceremony.”

I looked up and saw William’s skinny legs poking down through the palm fronds. His dirty feet clenched the trunk like a vise. The rest of him was hidden somewhere up above. I switched my attention to Mohamed.

Shaking his head, Mohamed looked at me with sorrow-filled eyes. “Aron, I am so very glad that you are here.”

That made one of us, I thought.

I nodded.

The palm fronds rustled and I looked up again. His legs were gone. In their place I found William’s dirt-encrusted, angelic face peering down at me. Even from way down here, I could make out the trails of tears on his cheeks. His eyes were red, but he wasn’t crying. He just stared at me. I held his gaze as I spoke to Mohamed.

“
Why don’t you give me and the kid a little time alone so we can talk, okay?”

“
But of course, my friend,” Mohamed said. “I will be in the infirmary if you need me.” He hurried off.

On the boat ride out here I had tried to think of what I would say when I saw him. But what do you say to a ten-year-old kid who lost his mother so soon after his father was brutally slain?

I recounted all of the stupid platitudes that everyone had said to me after the storm. Things like, they’re in a better place now and you’re still young enough to start again. Their words didn’t help. They stung like ocean water on a fresh cut. But the one comment that really pissed me off came from a guy who said that their death was all part of God’s plan. I felt like strangling that son of a bitch.

No…I couldn’t say anything like that to William, especially not with that look in his eyes. I knew that look. It was the same look that I had seen in my own reflection the morning that I had slit my wrists.

Rick had pulled me back from the brink that day and now I guess it was my turn to do the same for his kid. I just wished that I had something deeply profound or at least comforting to say to him, but I didn’t. So I said, “I’m going fishing. Want to go?”

William studied my face for a few seconds and then said, “I thought that fishing was too dangerous? You said that I would get hurt on the reefs”

“
Yeah, well...who gives a shit what I said? Do you want to fish or not?”

He studied me for another few seconds and then shimmied down the tree. He came up beside me and we walked in silence to the beach. We didn’t speak at all. We had paddled a hundred yards off shore. William sat in the front seat of my kayak and I sat in the rear. I figured he would talk when he was ready, and an hour later he was ready.

“
Won’t they be mad?” he asked.

I set my paddle across my lap, grabbed my fishing pole, and baited the hook. “Probably. Helen’s definitely going to be mad, but she’ll only be mad at me.”

Silence.

“
Why?” I asked. “Do you want to go back?”

Shaking his head, he said, “No.”

I handed him the pole and said, “Here. You can use my lucky rod. Just hang on to it, okay? If it goes overboard then you go overboard. Understand?”

He twisted around, took it from me, and nodded. I watched him play the reel and get used to the feel of the pole. He lifted it above his head and cast out the line. It was a good cast. Rick must have taught him how to do that. I readied the other fishing pole and cast out on the opposite side of the kayak.

We fished like that, in silence, for more than two hours. Out of the corner of my eye, I occasionally saw people watching us from the beach. Helen came out twice. The second time she brought a set of binoculars and tried to get our attention by waving her arms. When it appeared that she had finally given up, William asked, “So what’s going to happen now?” His voice broke a little.

“
I don’t know. I guess you’ll be staying with me. Your mom asked me to take care of you.”

He set the pole on his lap and said, “I don’t need anyone to take care of me. I can take care of myself.”

“
I know you can, but I can’t break a promise I made to your mom,” I said. “So what do you think we should do?”

William paused, “I don’t know.”

“
Me neither.” The tip of my pole jerked towards the water. I pulled back and set my line. William looked over his shoulder and watched as I reeled in a pretty good-sized squirrelfish. He picked up the net and scooped it up. After I unhooked the fish, I tossed it in to the bottom of the hull with the rest. Then I cast out again and said, “I’ll tell you what...until we can figure it out, why don’t you bunk with me for a little while?”

“
I told you that I don’t need you to take care of me.”

“
I didn’t say I would take care of you. You take care of yourself and I’ll take care of myself. We’ll just do it under one roof, that’s all. We’ll be roommates.”

William sat still for a few seconds and then said, “Okay. But you can’t tell me what to do.”

“
Agreed, but we got to have some house rules. I don’t want my hut ending up like my college dorm room.”

He tilted his head as he looked at me with a puzzled expression.

“
You know…house rules. My college roommate and I had three simple rules. Keep the room reasonably clean. Keep the noise down after lights out. And stay away if the other guy has a girlfriend over. You know, your run-of-the-mill house rules.”

I thought I saw a brief smile, but it quickly disappeared.  He reached back and held out his hand. 

“
Deal," he finally said.

We shook on it. “Deal," I said.

After a few minutes, he reeled in his line and said, “Aron?”