AmEarth

A few hours after the chat with her son, Barbara Johansen received a call on her slim cell phone wafer.

“Bolivia conceded?” Barbara asked.

“Yes! I’m on my way home, honey. This is really going to change things. I did it!” Peter said, overjoyed for the first time in what felt like ages.

“I’m so happy, darling. Come home soon. I can’t wait to see you tonight.”

“I need you, too.”

“That means all of South America is done, right?” Barbara’s voice was filled with sincere excitement.

“Yes. They’ll announce it tomorrow morning in the news. I got interviewed…they might show me.” Peter tried to be professional, but occasionally he got a bit star-struck by it all.

“That’s good, honey, that’s good, but how long will it be before they close the gap? I mean, in the sky? That’s what really worries me.”

“Honey, don’t worry about that, please. We are completely safe here in Connecticut. The gap is on the other side of the world, my dear. You shouldn’t lose any sleep over that.”

“Promise?”

“As always, yes. Now go to bed…don’t wait up. I’m still a couple of hours out.”

“All right, see you soon.”

Barbara touched the phone screen off and placed the wafer back onto her robe sleeve, where it adhered like a magnet. Scott had been watching his mother throughout the whole conversation and smiled. She kissed and hugged him, tousling his hair as she leaned over.

“You see, Mom? There’s nothing to worry about,” Scott spoke quietly.

“I know, I know…You’re right.”

She looked up into the sky and closed her eyes, as though she were praying. A few minutes later, Scott watched her head back upstairs to sleep. As soon as she turned up the main staircase, he went straight for the back door. From a wall hook in the mudroom he grabbed his down jacket and went out of the back door toward his electric Audi-3, parked directly in front of the garage doors. As he left, he threw the jacket over his shoulders and reveled as puffs of steam burst from his breath in the cold March air.

Driving at fifteen miles per hour brought Scott to Cate’s house in less than three minutes. Fortunately, she only lived ten blocks away. In the summer, he usually walked there. Cate Richardson and Scott had been off-and-on best friends, worst enemies, a couple, and everything in between. Their fathers both worked at the ACA. They had attended the same schools since kindergarten and they were both graduating that year. They had also shared the loss of their virginity to one another. He parked a block away from Cate’s house, as it was already close to eleven at night and formal visiting hours were over. He walked around the house to the back and climbed up the oak tree that leaned toward the second story. He used the back sunroom roof that met up with Cate’s bedroom window. This entry was as normal to him as using the front door. He’d been doing it for years.

“Hey,” Scott said as he gracefully dropped through the window frame. He lowered his legs onto Cate’s carpeted bedroom floor.

“Hey yourself,” Cate replied.

Scott closed the window behind him, sat on Cate’s bed and leaned in for a kiss. There was a brief spark of more, but he felt distracted, unable to clear his head. Cate could sense that he wasn’t completely there with her, and she pulled away.

“Bolivia fell,” Scott said.

“I heard.”

“How? My dad was the one who did it. A few minutes ago!”

“I heard my dad talking on the phone. It was a big deal. The American continent is now fully AmEarth.”

“Right. News sure does travel fast. Even top-secret news.” He laughed.

“He also said that an alien ship crash-landed in Sucre.”

“What?”

“That’s what he said. I’m sure that’s what I heard. Where’s Sucre?”

Scott spoke the name into his wafer. The answer appeared on the screen.

“Bolivia,” Scott said.

“My dad said that only a few Pacific islands haven’t signed, but there’s nothing important left. New Zealand, Burma…not sure exactly, but I think it’s like ninety-nine percent now. Ninety-nine percent! I heard my dad say that number. Can you believe it?”

“Yeah, it’s amazing. It’s crazy..” Scott’s face fell, suddenly pensive.

“What is it?”

“Well, I don’t know…”

“What?”

“Well, something just feels weird about it, you know? I know that millions of people say that, but…I don’t know. Maybe you haven’t noticed, but everybody seems really scared about this whole alien thing. But not our dads. It seems like everyone that I meet without a connection to the ACA is terrified. Have you noticed that?”

“Our dads are hardly a control group, Scott. Two people who don’t rattle easily are not exactly statistically significant.”

“Yes, but all the ACA events and parties, you’ve been to them. Everyone is just so happy and content.”

“They’re in power, Scott. Most people in control are happier than those being controlled.”

“I guess. That’s it, then. Global rule by ACA and the World Protection Project.”

“Would you prefer the alternative? When we study the past, how much of it was about wars and famine and suffering? I certainly think the world is a better place now.”

“I know. You’re right.” Scott kissed her again. And then a few more times. The next fifteen minutes were a swirl of hands and tongues and tumbling bodies, but at a natural break point, when they were both catching their breath, he looked at his watch and knew that he should get to sleep. He kissed her good-bye and left the same way he’d come in, unbeknownst to her parents.

Scott had been feeling the distance between he and Cate growing as of late. She simply didn’t share some of his concerns and thoughts about the world around them. There was something that stopped her, as though she were not willing to argue anything to its natural end. This frustrated him, despite knowing that this was common in many people. She had always been something different, but maybe that was changing. Walking back home, his mind drifted as he yearned for a deeper conversation.