J. Curtis - Calexit - The Anthology

His mother came out on the porch, wiping her hands on a dishtowel, then waving at him. It would have looked right in some Western movie. Ryan waved back, and then helped get his gelding out of the trailer. Holding Salsa’s reins, he shook the driver’s hand awkwardly. “Thanks, Sam.”

“See you tonight.” the other replied. He tipped his hat in the direction of Irina, and then climbed back in the truck.

Ryan entered by the kitchen door after he’d put Salsa safely in the corral. He started levering his boots off in the mudroom. “Mom?”

His mother put her head in. “Oh, good. Come in here, please?”

Ryan walked sockfoot into the other room, which was full of people. He looked around, bewildered. His mother was standing at the stove, cooking pancakes from the smell. “Um, hi?”

“Ryan.” Dr. Brandt looked up from the table. “This is Letrice.”

“Hey?” Ryan waved awkwardly at the slender teen girl sitting at the table. She looked vaguely familiar, but he didn’t know from where. There were very few people in town with that velvety black skin. The other people in the room were an older couple, probably her parents as there was a strong resemblance, and a nurse he recognized from the clinic, but didn’t remember her name.

“Hi.” The girl flicked her fingers. “I’m, um, Space Whale.”

Ryan’s jaw dropped. He couldn’t help it. No wonder she looked familiar. He’d seen her on grainy video chats more than once when the group chat he was part of was feeling social. “Spacey?” his voice cracked at the end of her nickname.

“You said… you said if it got real bad I should come to Jefferson. I, uh, brought my family too.”

Ryan stepped forward and hugged his friend. “I was worried about you when you stopped talking in the group chat.”

She clung to him for a minute and he could feel her shoulders hitch, like she was trying not to cry. Her short, curly black hair felt soft and he tried not to pet it while he patted her shoulder. He was having sensations he’d rather not, at the moment.

“Not that I’m not glad you’re here, but how did you find me?” He asked. Ryan looked over at his mother. “I’m not putting our address out there, Mom, I promise. Not even to the chat.”

Letrice shook her head. “No, I played detective. You put a pic of those cool spurs you got in the chat?”

“Yeah?” Ryan sat down at the only empty chair. He was still wondering why the doctor and nurse were there.

“You sorta put the package too close…”

“You hacker!” Ryan laughed. “Okay, I didn’t even notice.”

Letrice grinned. “Anyway, so we came.”

“You’re okay?”

“I’m okay. Or I will be, once…” She ducked her head.

The doctor cleared his throat. “We need to get the chips out of them as soon as possible. And now that we know how they found us…”

Letrice’s father leaned over the table, holding out his hand. Ryan shook it, feeling weird that this older man should be offering his hand. “Thank you, young man. Letrice wouldn’t tell us how she knew where to go. She just kept saying you were like a brother — well, she said you were the chat dad.” He looked at his daughter with a bit of a wink. “I don’t mind. Not now that I see you.”

“Oh, ok.” Ryan shrugged. “It’s just that I make bad jokes.”

“And take care of people.” Letrice put in.

“What’s this about chips?” Ryan asked.

His mom interrupted the conversation. “Water’s boiling. That’s the timer.”

“Right. It’s time.” Dr Brandt stood up, and Letrice’s dad stood up too. “You first?”

“I gotta set the example.” He grinned at his daughter and wife. “If’n the big bad Marine can take it…”

His wife rolled her eyes at him. “Former Marine, Jon, former.”

“Honey, they ain’t no former Mah-reens.” The cocky man followed the doctor out into the other room, where Irina and the nurse had already disappeared to.

Ryan turned his attention to Letrice.

“Chips?” he asked.

“Microchips. They chipped us like dogs!” She threw her hands in the air. “And they can track us anywhere, so if we don’t get them out they can track us down and drag us back.”

“What?” Ryan didn’t believe it. “You’re not slaves. They can’t just haul you off. Can they?”

Letrice’s mother put her hand out and her daughter reached across the table to hold it. “No, we’re not slaves. But that chip, it made us feel like they thought they owned us. And Jon really fought hard against it. But we didn’t have a choice if we were going to be allowed to work, to have a driver’s license, to keep our house…”

Ryan felt his jaw drop again. Before today, he’d thought that was a figure of speech, but today he was learning a lot.

“So now your house is like the Underground Railroad.” Letrice bounced a little. “And it’s such a cool house! Your mom is the bomb.”

“Um. Yeah, she is.” Ryan was still trying to wrap his head around the whole microchip thing. “You have a chip, too?”

He didn’t think she had a job, and he knew she wasn’t old enough for a driver’s license.

“Yeah. They said it was a vaccination, but it wasn’t. Dad lost his mind.” The two women exchanged glances.

“That would make me mad, too.” Ryan said. “So you decided to get out of Cali?”

“Yeah.” Letrice sighed. “Took a while to persuade mom. Sorry, Mom.”

“It’s okay, honey. I just didn’t see the whole thing crumbling around my ears until what happened to you. I was more concerned with work than politics and such.” She patted her daughter’s hand.

“So we’re here. And your Dr. Brandt said that he had work for dad, already. I guess medics are in short supply.”

“Social workers, not so much.” Her mother put in drily. “I’ll find something.”

“And your mom said I could get a job.” Letrice sounded super excited, and she was bouncing up and down again. “It’s not illegal for kids to work, here!”

“Uh, yeah.” Ryan remembered how mad she’d been about the elevation of legal age for work in Cali. “You know, I think I might be able to talk to someone about that.”

He was thinking about the Fritzes, alone at their place all day while their son was trying to keep the fences mended and cattle in. “I don’t know how much they could pay, but it would be a place to stay.”

Jon came back into the room in time to hear that. He was shirtless, and he twisted around to show them the small bandage in the center of his back. “See?”

“My turn, I guess,” Letrice’s mom stood up.

“A place to stay?” Jon asked, before kissing his wife and swatting her on the butt. “Go, woman!”

“Well, maybe. It’s just an idea.”

Ryan’s Mom came back in carrying a pot of steaming water. “What’s your idea?”

“Well, the Fritz’s could use some help.” Ryan squirmed. He wasn’t used to being the center of this much attention.

“That’s a good idea.” His mother put the pot back on the stove. “Have you eaten?”

“Yes, but I’ll take pancakes.” Ryan got up and fetched a plate. “Spacey, did you eat?”

“I’m stuffed. Your mom is a great cook.”

Irina laughed. “Thanks, Letrice. He really is the dad, isn’t he?”

“Oh, yeah. Makes sure we all eat, and do our homework.” Both women laughed, and Ryan could feel his ears heating up.

“He’s a good kid.” Jon had gone somewhere — probably the bathroom, Ryan guessed, and was now fully dressed. “Ryan.” He stuck out his hand. “Seriously, man. Thanks.”

Ryan took his hand again, balancing his plate in the other. Jon pulled him in and hugged him.

“We woulda come out, anyway, but this…” He let go and waved his hand toward the other room where his wife had just let out a yelp, “this is a lifesaver.”