After the War--The Journals

In which the kids return: their news has long range effects.

Day 36 May 1, 2005 Journal II

6am

Dal and Skye finally made it home last night! It was a very long few days. I worried so about them, although Duncan insisted that they would be fine. He was right. They were. In fact, they found a minister down in Manchester who married them! My son is married. It still feels….strange I guess. He has changed. We all have, I suppose. Rob, um… Dal said he wasn’t sure if it was legal in the old sense of the word, but as far as he and Skye are concerned, it is. They arrived in good spirits and we all were up until a few hours ago hearing about their adventures.

They have also brought us another member to join our family. His name is James. He was just passing through on his way to Boston from Michigan when the bombs fell.

I have a lot of catching up to do in my journal. The past few days have shown me how much I miss writing. Duncan says he doesn’t miss it much at all, but I found myself without my outlet and it was very disconcerting. I guess I really need this to figure out my thoughts. It is easier, sometimes to write out my thoughts or worries or wants rather than talk about them. Now, right now, I think I shall go make some coffee and see if the lilacs have bloomed yet. I have too much to write and I don’t know where to begin.


9am Mayday

Sammy is a most funny, wonderful and strange woman. For the past few days, she has been talking nonstop about missing her journal and hoping the kids would be able to find notebooks in town. Silly woman. Now she has enough paper for a year’s worth and instead of finding her scribbling away this morning, I find her, instead, sitting out by the lilac trees with an armful of lilacs. For a moment I was back home outside Stonehaven.
May morn, Beltane…that time of ‘no time,’ that small space of time between winter and summer. The time of faery and growth and the banishment of winter. The time of new beginnings. She looked so beautiful and strong and fragile all at the same time, sitting there with her face buried in lilacs. She looked up, her face wet with the dew still clinging to the blossoms and I was instantly transported back to Scotland.

This May morn truly heralds the new beginning. Nothing is as it was. We have a chance, a choice to begin anew. Fresh starts. Starting over. Starting again. I want mine to include Samantha.

10:30 am
Geeeze, hard to get hold of this book today. Everyone wants to write! Too funny. Wonder if mom’s seen what Dunc wrote. Gonna be cool when she does. Happy too, I’m thinkin’. *grin*

Well, Gotta document the big new first. Skye and I are married. Officially we are now Dalthyrian and Skye Carrington. We are keeping our Realms names and Carrington is the ‘House’ we were part of at that last event. New lives, new beginnings (as Dunc said) and new names. Never did I ever figure I’d be married. I was always the hermit type. Go figure! I’ll let Skye fill in all the marrage stuff.

Our trip took way longer than we thought it would, but one thing after another kept us in town longer than expected. We spent 2 days visiting ‘the castle.’ I think they only let us in cuz mom, Lilac and Duncan had been there before. They weren’t all that happy to see us, but I kinda figure they wanted to know what we all were up to. We actually hadn’t planned on letting them know about mom and all, but without it, we would never have made it past their gates. And as it was, we just said we knew her and were looking for her.

Never said a word about her being my Mom. The place is a freakin’ fortress, run like a detention camp. Glad they got out when they did. Regent John (that’s his title now) keeps his minions firmly in check, with help from his lackeys Doc, Cindy and some preacher dude. I guess there’s maybe 8 people staying upstairs and about 15 more in the basement. They didn’t let us move around much and we never saw the kids mom said were there. The only reason we stayed all night was because of the storm. We offered them the deer I got just before we got to the castle. They hadn’t had fresh meat since everything happened.

The best part about the castle was the radio. They can pick up people from all over the country. There is a rudimentary government now in southern Virginia. Richmond. Found that funny. All the bomb zones have been declared dead zones and no one is allowed in them. Fricking sea of glass, why would anyone want to see them?

Lots of warnings about rad doses and triage. We were very lucky up here. Couldn’t pay me to go into those areas. A bunch of states (for lack of a better word) have declared themselves countries. Colorado, Montana, Texas are all countries now, with closed borders. The bomb that we thought hit Detroit really hit in Ontario about 50 miles from Detroit. Took out Lake St Clair and a town called Stoney Point was obliterated. Good News! Means my sister and her kids might still be okay. They are near Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Which brings up James. We met him when we were ransacking the pharmacy. Got all the bp meds we could carry and a bunch of other goodies too. So like looting treasure from our ‘games’…only this is real. And treasure isn’t gold so much as useful stuff. Priorities sure ain’t what they used to be. Anyway, back to James. He’s an older dude, gotta be 60’s, maybe 70’s. He was sitting on a bench outside the drugstore smoking a pipe. Skye doesn’t smoke, but she loves the smell of pipe tobacco so she had to start talking to him. He’s from Michigan. Brighton. I know where that is. Kinda near my sister. He had no place to go really, and hadn’t much figured out what all he was doing, just taking things day by day, so we asked him if he’d like to hike back up the mountain with us. He used to be a college professer so we thought he’d fit in okay.

We managed to find most of the stuff we’d been looking for along with some stuff we hadn’t been and should of. Funny how that worked out. Also got some other stuff I’m not mentioning. *grin*

Lilac’s are blooming…all of them!


2:00pm

I’m married. Dal and I are married. We are a real family now. Me, Dal and Timmy and, well, I’m not sure yet, of course, but I think I’m pregnant. Gonna tell everyone tonight. Dal knows. Kinda why we felt we needed to be married. Old fashioned, given the current state of things, but it feels right for both of us. Course, he asked me even before we thought I might be, in fact, he mentioned it the first time we did anything. One of the things I love about him. Just one of many. We found the minister in town, still puttering around this typical New England white steepled church. He was trimming grass around the graveyard. He looked so happy to see us. His wife and James were our witnesses and I think his wife picked every daffodil that was blooming for me to hold. It was pretty and conventional and she played “here comes the bride” on a piano. She even found an old lace veil that was her mother’s for me to use. I cried, all of us did. I am so happy.
Want to keep this from Mom till after dinner.

5pm

My name is James Larson, Phd. I am a retired professor of literature from Eastern Michigan University in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I was on my way to a seminar in Boston when class was cancelled. I am a widower with one grandson who is a Lieutenant Colonel in the army and stationed in Baghdad. I doubt I will ever find out if he is alive or dead. So many are dead and dying. Then again, so many have been in that state for years whether they knew it or not. I am a realist. The current reality is that nothing is as it was and that this new reality will be what we make of it. I am glad to be a part of this group. They seem like an intelligent, happy bunch of folks who are determined to go onward. More so, they all seem to be writers. This says a lot about them, in my book.

9pm

A baby! Skye thinks she’s pregnant. Rob, grrrr (gotta remember…Dal!) Dal is glowing more than she is and wow. Going to be a grandmother again! I hope I still am a grandmother. From what James has said, he thinks that where my daughter and grandkids are may still be okay. Please God……

Duncan wants to talk to me about something. Says it’s important, so I will continue this later.

1am

Maybe she will tomorrow or later today. Right now she’s sound asleep curled up next to me. We talked tonight. I finally shared with Sammy all the thoughts I have wanted to write about but couldn’t, all the things I have been wanting to say to her but never felt was the right time. I simply couldn’t wait any longer. Not after this morning. Not after today. If the past 5 weeks have taught me anything, it is that we never know, one day to the next, what may happen. The cliché about life is too short is truer than I’d ever realized. I will not waste whatever time I—we—have left. I will spend it with this woman. Love is too precious. Life is too precious.

Thus ends one hell of a good day!