Julia Karr - Truth

My PAV beeped. It was a robotic message from the hospital.

“Nina Oberon. Yes or No.”

“Yes.”

“Mrs. Edith Oberon is allowed one visit, fifteen minutes in duration. Two family members in the room at one time. No visitors between eleven a.m. and one p.m. To repeat this message, say ‘Repeat.’”

I clicked off. “I’ve got to get a hold of Dee. We can go see Gran before eleven, but only for fifteen minutes. I hope she’s up.”

“You want to eat first?” Wei asked.

“Nah. I’ll grab a bite downstairs,” I said.

“See you later for sledding?”

“Sure. I’ll message you.” I picked up my PAV and clicked in Dee’s number.

Gran looked so much better than the day before. She was sitting up, smiling. Dee threw her arms around Gran’s neck.

“Watch the wires.” Gran laughed. “Don’t know what’ll happen if I come unplugged.” Her eyes were sparkling.

“How are you?” I asked.

“I feel ten, no, make that twenty years younger,” she said. “I don’t know what that doctor did, but he’s a miracle worker.”

Everyone seemed to feel the same way about Dr. Silverman, everyone but me.

When we got back to the house, Wei’s dad came out of his office. “Nina, may I see you for a minute?”

“Sure.”

Dee went into our apartment, and I followed Mr. Jenkins inside. He took out his PAV receiver and clicked in a number. “Alan? Here she is.” He handed me the receiver and left the room.

“Nina?”

“Dad!”

“I finally read all of the book.” The sadness in his voice poured through the receiver. Dee’s baby book. My mom had written messages to my dad in secret in that book.

“Mom loved you so much.” It was pathetic, but the only thing I could think of to say.

“I know that.” He sighed. “I never stopped loving her. To find out… all the sacrifices she made. That Delisa, your sister, that she’s my daughter…” His voice cracked. I waited. “Does she know?”

“No. She thinks that Ed is her father. You know, Mom’s ‘boyfriend.’ The source of the FeLS info. Her murderer.”

“She can’t know,” he said. “Not yet. It’s too dangerous.”

My heart sank; telling Dee the truth was one thing I’d hoped for.

“Mr. Jenkins told me you’re working at the Art Institute.”

“For Mr. Long, he’s great.”

“Ah, Martin Long.” Dad laughed. “A true friend. Don’t be fooled by his mannerisms, Nina. He can be deadly when necessary.”

It was my turn to laugh. I couldn’t think of anyone less likely to be called “deadly” than Martin.

“Did you see the Alert last night?” he asked.

“Yeah. And, Dad, that’s not what those chips Ginnie hid said. It wasn’t just Ed; it’s bigger, it’s been going on the entire time FeLS has been in existence.”

“Yes, I know. It involves Governing Council members, B.O.S.S. agents, people from every level of the government. And Media, which may well be the driving force behind it. Lessig will spin this story however he wants, but you don’t need to worry about that. It will be taken care of. I didn’t call to talk about him, Nina. I got word that my mother is in the hospital—that she had an attack. Is she going to be all right?”

“Gran is much better, I just got back from the hospital with Dee, and she looks great.” At least I could give him good news. “Dr. Silverman says she has to go to rehab for a while, but then she can come home.”

“As for Silverman,” Dad said. “We’ve got a watch on him. Something there isn’t right.”

“That’s what Mr. Jenkins said.” I didn’t want to bring up Pops, but I had to. “Dad, Pops got arrested by B.O.S.S. He’d been talking on the scrambler to his friends, and it ran out. I have to appear at B.O.S.S tomorrow morning. But I don’t know if…” My voice trailed off. I didn’t want to think about what might happen if Pops had to go into reassimilation. “I don’t know what’s going to happen. We’re living with the Jenkinses now.”

“Yes, I know.” He sighed. “We’re doing what we can to get him out. I also heard what you did with regard to his medications.” He cleared his throat. “Nina, you can’t take chances like that. It isn’t safe.”

“Safe? Dad, how can you talk to me about safe? After what Ginnie—my mother —went through for you and the Resistance, and all you’ve been doing since forever. ‘Safe’ doesn’t exactly run in our family. Besides, being sixteen is daily danger, wouldn’t you say?” I didn’t wait for his answer. “I would have thought you’d be glad I’m not some spineless sex-teen who goes along with everything Media tells her to do.” Skivs! I could hardly believe what was coming out of my mouth. Three minutes into only the second conversation I’d ever had with the father I’d never met, and I was furious and frustrated with being told not to do anything.

There was a long silence. Almost too long for me to bear.

“Nina, I can’t change the past.” It sounded like he was choosing his words in the same way a bomb defuser picks which wire to snip. “I wish things had been different. Much different. But the decisions made were not just mine. Your mother also had a say in how things were.”

“Did she?” This was not going the way I wanted it to. Not at all. “It doesn’t seem like she had much choice after you disappeared. After you left us.” I clenched my fist. “And she sure as hell didn’t choose to be murdered.”

“You have every right to be angry—” His tone was placating, too calm. I’d had enough.

“Damn straight I do.” I clicked off. Damn straight. Tears of frustration threatened, but Mr. Jenkins walked back in.

“Everything okay?”

“Fine.” I forced a smile. “Just fine.”

Afew hours later, Dee peered around the door of my room. “You busy?”

I shuffled a clean sheet of paper over the sketch I’d been working on. I’d been reworking the drawings from the hospital. Dee didn’t need to see them, to be reminded of what had happened at Metro. “Come on in.”

“Sledding was ultra! You should’ve come.” She put my all-weathers that she’d borrowed, clean and folded, on top of the dresser. “I ran these through the Laundry Queen. Thanks for letting me wear them. I would’ve been frozen otherwise.” She snuck a look over my shoulder. “Whatcha working on?”

“Nothing much.”

“You know, Nina, I’ve been through the same stuff you have. We both lost Mom. We both nearly lost Gran, and Pops is in custody.” She walked around the chair to face me. “Whatever it is you’re hiding, I wish you’d share it with me. We’re pretty much all each other has anymore. Please don’t treat me like a little kid.”

She looked so grown up. And, she was right. But still, I didn’t want to burden her with the truth. Mom had taught both of us certain things, like how to think for ourselves, not to get caught up in Media hype, to respect our bodies, and to make our own decisions. She knew how to think as well as I did. And it wasn’t realistic to believe she wouldn’t see the dirty side of life eventually.

The triptych from the hospital. My hand shook as I uncovered it for Dee.

Dee stared at it for what seemed an eternity.

My insides clutched. I shouldn’t have showed her. It was too graphic, too real.

She gnawed her thumbnail. “That’s just like it happened.”

“Yeah.” I clenched my teeth.

“Why doesn’t Media talk about this?”

“I don’t know. Maybe because if they did, they’d have to stop making girls believe that being sexy and attracting guys is the most important thing in the universe.”