The Island by Hall Teri

Author:Hall, Teri [Hall, Teri]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-12-16T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Elizabeth dusted the last one of the china cups and set it back on the shelf with the rest of the dishes reserved for special occasions. They hadn’t had one of those since Vivian and Rachel and the Others from Away had eaten here, before they all left to Cross. She smiled, remembering how astonished those two boys had been—Pathik and Fisher—at the hot running water and the abundance of food.

“I don’t believe I’ve seen you dust since you were a little girl.” Jonathan leaned on the door frame. He’d just returned from misting the orchids. He smelled like the greenhouse—like earth, and sun, and the perlite used in the potting mix.

“Mother always thought this sort of work was beneath us. When I was little, I loved it when the housekeeper would let me help, but that soon changed.” Elizabeth shook her head. “I guess I became a lot more like Mother than I ever meant to be.”

Jonathan grunted. “You’re not so like her if I remember her correctly.” He tilted his hat back off his forehead and changed the subject. “No sign of any EOs this morning.”

Since the man from the government had paid his chilling visit, they’d both been nervously watching the road, dreading the daily EO drive-by. They came slowly down the long lane, crawling past the house, making certain that Elizabeth and Jonathan saw them. The officers always remained in the vehicle, staring from the windows.

“So far.” Elizabeth sighed. “They’ll be by. They want us to know they’re watching.”

Jonathan nodded. “Do you think I could talk you into a cup of kalitea? I’m ready for a break already today. Getting old.”

Elizabeth smiled. “I’m ready for a break, too, after just doing the dusting. We’re both getting old, I think.”

When they’d readied the kalitea—a comfortable, silent routine consisting of Jonathan brewing the tea while Elizabeth took down mugs, sugar and cream—they settled in the parlor. Elizabeth was glad Jonathan had asked for kalitea; she had something on her mind. After they’d each had a few sips, she set her mug down.

“I think we may need to get out those books you had—the ones about Salishan.”

Salishan was one of the relinquished islands—the ones that had been left out of Unifolle’s Border Defense System. It had been too expensive to include them, so the government had evacuated the inhabitants instead, and now the islands were abandoned. Radiation from the bombs dropped in a long-ago attack made it unsafe—according to the government—for anyone to set foot on the islands.

There had always been rumors that some people weren’t evacuated, that they may have survived the bombings. But those were just whispers, like the whispers about the territory Away. When Rachel and the Others had Crossed, Jonathan had researched Salishan, hoping to draw Elizabeth out of the fog of grief she’d wandered in since Indigo’s death. He’d been careful to stay off the Net, so finding information had been difficult, but he had found some books.

Jonathan and Elizabeth thought Salishan was the island Indigo had talked about, the one Rachel and the Others would go to, if they could.

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