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Nora woke to an exceptionally quiet house the next morning. Soren was still asleep beside her while the sun crept over the horizon and through the window to cast a sunbeam right on her pillow. Everyone else seemed to be still asleep after the feasting and revelry the night before. Nora carefully got out of bed and dressed herself. She was curious to see what the Clemson farm was like when there weren’t people everywhere. While she was brewing tea, Nora noticed that the house creaked a lot on its own and was also quite cold when largely vacant. She wondered if she would live to see the house that way normally if she somehow stayed on Earth. She poured the tea into a thermos and headed for the stables.
“Hey Pepper, how’s it going?” Nora checked the horse’s saddle. “Want to go for a stroll?” The horse whinnied in reply.
Nora dismounted in the field facing Julie’s cabin. She removed Pepper’s bit and stashed it in one of the saddle bags. The horse nodded in thanks and wandered off to graze. Nora looked overhead. A few cirrus clouds drifted high above in an otherwise orange sky. Occasional breezes blew across the countryside making ripples on the surface of the reservoir and waves in the grass. The water level in the reservoir was lower than she remembered it, exposing even more layers of rock and mud, spoiling the normally pleasant landscape. Nora leaned against the railing as she stared at the reservoir in thought.
“What could I even do to help the Clemsons if I decided to stay?“
“You would need to find replacement sources of power and water. Wind and solar at a large enough scale might work but the water table is depleted. Water recycling is not an option due to the need for irrigation.”
“What if we got to the root of the problem?”
Nora looked at a faded map near the dam’s causeway entrance showing the local terrain. Nora traced the river upstream until her finger drew close to a larger river. Tracing that river, she found it led to a different, much larger mountain range with a massive glacier in it. The label of the area read “Great Survivor Glacier.” Recalling her schooling, she knew that the Great Survivor Glacier was essentially the last in the Americanas and was so large that it would continue to thaw for hundreds of years releasing trillions of liters of water.
Nora’s heart and mind started to race. The two rivers came so close to each other and were at different elevations such that it would be relatively easy to redirect that river into theirs. A thin but hard wall of rock was all that stood in the way of the Clemson family’s survival, they only needed to find or make several hundred kilograms of explosives.
Some part of Nora’s mind tried to apply the brakes to this wishful thinking but it was soon drowned out. Besides, there were several military bases in their area.
“I thought I’d find you here, sweetie.”
Nora whirled around to see Julie riding up to the overlook point.
“Hello, Julie,” said Nora, “I woke up early so I figured I would just go for a stroll until everyone woke up.”
Julie removed the bit from her horse and set it off to graze with Pepper.
“That’s alright,” Julie joined Nora at the fence, “I often come out here to collect my thoughts too.”
“What do you think about?” Nora looked at Julie’s face as she stared over the reservoir.
Julie signed deeply, “the future mostly. And to be perfectly honest, I’ve been thinking about you these past few months.” She looked at Nora.
Nora suddenly got the very strong feeling of wanting to be somewhere else. Before she could stop herself, she averted her eyes, first to the reservoir and then quickly switching to the cabin.
“Tell me sweetie,” said Julie, “have you thought about staying and joining the family? I know you’ve only had a night but maybe that’s enough? You have my word that we have only love and kindness for you. Although I can’t guarantee that you won’t get spoiled to more than your liking from time to time. I know I am certainly guilty of that.”
Nora managed a small laugh, “I appreciate the honesty, but it pains me to say that I still need more time to decide.”
A large measure of joy left Julie’s face although she managed to maintain a cheery smile. “I see,” she said, “by all means. I want you to be confident in your decision.” She rested her elbows on the fence as if from fatigue. Nora felt a pang of guilt from the idea that she did this to Julie.
“Forgive my asking,” said Nora, “but I’ve always wondered: why are you so nice to me? I appreciate all of the care you have given to me, but I don’t think I’ve ever done or will do enough to repay you.”
“Well, truth be told, Nora, I’m tired,” Julie stared distantly over the reservoir.
“She does want to use you!”
“I-I’m not sure I understand,” said Nora.
“I’m tired, Nora,” continued Julie, “I’m tired of looking out for the family, of managing daily affairs, of navigating a strange world that makes less sense every day, and especially of pretending that everything will be okay.”
Nora barely managed to say, “everything will be okay,” but it was so quiet that she was the only one who could hear it.
“You know, Nora, when I was your age, the Decline was still in its early stages. We were all so convinced that life would get simpler as civilization downsized. I even looked forward to it!”
She looked to Nora for her reaction but only saw a perplexing mix of emotions.
“I lead this household,” said Julie, “proudly, in fact. Everyone looks to me to guide them and plan for the future, even Thomas although he would never say it explicitly. And I have solved most of our problems, but there are many solutions that are only partial or workarounds because that’s the best I can do, and I’m not sure how much longer I can keep doing this.”
“Um,” Nora wasn’t sure what to make of Julie’s confession. Was she telling her because she trusted Nora to keep a secret? Or was it part of her appeal to Nora to stay?
Julie turned to Nora, “what I am trying to say is that you inspire me Nora. You inspire me with the way you solve the most bizarre problems, both when you do it with ease but especially when you do it with great effort and pain. When you stay with us, I feel like I can tackle the items that have been on my to-do list for weeks.”
For a spell, the two stood at the fence. It was quiet save the sound of the wind and the rushing of the dam. And for that moment, they could very well have been the only two people on Earth.
“It’s not just me either. Shortly after you leave, Soren often has breakthroughs like with the tomato plants. Dawn finds rare items, even Ian works longer days. I think we Clemsons are all very much cut from the same cloth. The Pelletiers bring their own way of doing things to the table, but they disagree with us less every year. In some ways it is good, but in others I think it’s bad.” Julie clasped her hands over her apron, “I just feel safer and more hopeful when you are with us.”
Nora stared hard at the ground. She felt vaguely guilty before, but now she knew that there was a reason for it. The idea that the Clemsons needed her to survive had been an unwelcome but seductive tenant in her mind for a while. But now that Julie had confirmed it herself, it was hard to deny any longer. If she left, regardless of how long they survived, she would have to live with the fact that she cast a vote for their demise. If she wanted to live without guilt, her only choice seemed to be to radio her father and tell him that she wouldn’t be leaving Earth.
She tried to puzzle out how she ended up in her position, what she did wrong.
Nora just wanted to be helpful to the people she loved and who helped her. Why did she have to make this ugly choice?
“You can’t be responsible for the happiness of others.”
Nora’s breathing became ragged. She wiped her eyes with her shirt collar.
“Oh, are you alright dear?” Julie was distraught.
“No, I’m fine,” Nora tried to regain her composure. She didn’t want to cause the Clemsons any more trouble.
“Here dear, it’s okay,” Julie wrapped Nora with a warm hug.
Nora’s thoughts raged for a moment, desperately trying to arrive at a consensus, a course of action, however they quickly slowed in Julie’s embrace, melting back into the crevices of her mind to be dealt with later.
Nora returned with Julie to find Soren, Dawn, and some of the other Clemsons’ operating machinery at the grain silos. Dust and chaff flew every which way amid the heavy buzzing of motors.
“How much grain is there left to store?” shouted Julie over the din.
“Well we have one and a half wagons left but we’re about to top off the last silo,” Dawn took off a work glove to wipe her face creating a patch around her eyes that wasn’t covered in sweat and dust, “what should we do with it?”
“We can leave it in the wagons,” Julie dismounted from her horse, “if we focus on feeding the cows that stuff first, we should go through it all before any critters get to it.”
“And then we’re done right?” asked Ian, he spat out a piece of straw. “Please say yes,” he added in a lower voice.
“We’ve harvested all of the fields, put the potatoes and corn in the storerooms, and siloed the soy already. With the last of the grain put away, yes, this harvest is officially concluded,” said Julie. Nora dismounted from Pepper while the group breathed a sigh of relief.
“Hey Nora!” Soren jogged to meet her, “we were wondering where you went.”
“Sorry, I didn’t know you were doing work this morning,” Nora wiped Soren’s face with her sleeve, “otherwise I wouldn’t have gone for a walk.”
“Don’t worry about that,” said Dawn, “as you can see, we are quite dusty, so we decided we should go play in the pond until lunch. Naturally you’re invited.”
“O-oh, that’s nice.” Although Nora could swim, she hated being cold as well as the assault on the senses that plunging into the water always created and especially didn’t like the idea of being in water that she couldn’t see the bottom of. However, she didn’t want to spoil their fun in any way. “Unfortunately, I didn’t bring a bathing suit, but I’ll come with you all for sure.”
“That is no problem at all!” Dawn put her arm around Nora’s neck, “I’ll lend you one of mine. Come on everyone! Meet at my truck in fifteen minutes.”
The Clemson pond was a small body of water existing on an offshoot of the main river. The day had turned out uncharacteristically hot, so Nora was enjoying herself lying on a duct-taped plastic chaise lounge near the edge of the pond. Dappled sunlight filtered through a dense canopy of trees that attenuated the chorus of birds and animated splashing from the rest of the crew.
“I’m gonna do it,” Terry held a rope from atop a rock overlooking the pond.
“Do your worst,” shouted Dawn from the water.
Terry swung on the rope before impacting the pond with a huge splash much to the amusement of everyone.
“All right,” said Dawn, “who hasn’t jumped off the rock?”
“That’s all of us,” said Soren.
“What about Nora?” Ian paddled his way to the rest of the group. “Nice one man,” he bumped fists with Terry, “although I think my belly flop was bigger.”
“You deserve that win for sure you madman,” said Terry.
“Well technically, she wasn’t filling the silos so she didn’t get all dusty like the rest of us,” said Soren.
“Yeah,” Nora walked to the edge of the pond, “wasn’t the whole point of this activity to get cleaned off in a fun way?”
“Well she got a little dusty when she came at the end,” said Dawn.
Nora crossed her arms, “hardly.”
“W-wait, that doesn’t matter,” Dawn waved her hands, “all that matters is that I lent you my bathing suit because I wanted you to play with us in the water before you go into outer space or whatever. Come on, you’ll have real fun after the first dunk.” She waded through the water towards Nora who retreated behind the lounge chair. For a moment, she was able to keep it between Dawn and her. Dawn then walked over the chair, ripping the duct tape holding it together before picking Nora up. Nora wiggled to make the trek as difficult for Dawn as possible.
“Hey easy there,” said Dawn, “you want me to slip on these rocks?”
Nora ceased her struggle and closed her eyes.
“Oh my god,” said Dawn, laughing, “it’s not that bad.”
Below the crew was chanting for Nora’s plunge as the final act of a bizarre sacrificial ritual.
Suddenly, Nora experienced weightlessness for a brief moment before being engulfed in bubbling, ice cold water. She swam up to the surface, gasping for air in response to the water’s freezing embrace.
“Are you okay dear?”
Nora, not quite being able to see through the hair over her eyes, swam in the direction of Soren’s voice. She heard another splash behind her from Dawn jumping into the water.
“I apologize for my sister,” said Soren.
“C-cold,” Nora latched onto Soren for warmth.
“So cute,” Dawn put her hands on her hips, “you’re welcome, bro.”
Lunch was extravagant: pasta, steak, potatoes, salad, and, to Nora’s relief, a warm hearty stew. Also to her delight, lunch was held in a dine-where-you-want fashion so she could eat in peace with just Soren, Dawn, Terry, and Ian. They ate in the front furnished basement room. Nora always found doing anything in that room exciting in and of itself since that room was normally where the Clemson and Pelletier “elders” met to discuss the direction their joint household should take. It was surprisingly plain, having mostly banged up furniture and plain walls with foam padding that stifled sound and sensitive conversations. For light it had some dusty lamps and a small window near the ceiling. Nora liked the room since it reminded her of what she imagined a kid’s clubhouse would look like.
“What do you want to do now?” Soren asked as he reclined in his armchair.
“I want to go for a walk,” said Nora, “just the two of us.”
“Ooh-OOh,” Dawn was balancing in her chair on two legs.
“Anywhere particular you want to go?” said Soren, ignoring his sister.
“Yeah, Dandelion Hill,” said Nora, getting up.
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