Chapter Forty-Two

There’s Nothing Better Than Brisket

The Rolling Greens Deluxe Mobile Home Park was none of the above. It was more like Burnt Culvert’s newest landfill. Like the rest of the world, it had been picked on by strange things and left for dead.

Dooley Hornbackle had brought in a number of tractors to remove debris and help clear things out, but so far they hadn’t made a dent. Had the Rolling Greens Deluxe Mobile Home Park been torn apart during an average time in history, its inhabitants might very well have been able to roll up their sleeves, work hard, and one day restore the place. But the park had been torn apart during one of Reality’s most trying and difficult times. There were thousands of places in need, and nobody knew when their needs would be met.

The only structure still standing was the cement shelter in the middle of the park. Most of the residents had found other places to stay, and only a few were bothering to come back and search the wreckage for salvageable items or personal mementos.

Geth and Winter and Phoebe and Lilly had left Ezra to sleep it off. They were walking around the park helping anyone who wanted help. But soon the sky began to turn white and red, and what sounded like vulgar thunder rang though the air. The thunder had evidently taken on the bad habit of the thunder in Foo and was calling people names.

“Pathetic,” the thunder cracked.

Mr. Hornbackle spotted them and asked Geth to help him lift a bed off of a car. Geth helped, and Mr. Hornbackle then offered them brisket sandwiches and remarkably cold root beer. They sat under a sturdy tent out of the wind, near what used to be the entrance to the park.

“Oh,” Phoebe said after taking her first bite and sip. “Now I see why people like Reality.”

“It’ll never be the same,” Mr. Hornbackle said with a loud sigh.

“What won’t?” Geth asked.

“The world,” he replied. “It’s been a long time coming. I always suspected things would fall apart; I just didn’t think it would involve a whole other world.”

“Foo, you mean?” Winter asked.

“Foo,” he echoed softly. “You know, I was a pilot in World War II. We chased some lights over Germany one time that later became known as Foo fighters. That was a scary time, but now I fear Foo even more.”

“You shouldn’t,” Geth said. “There’s nothing to fear but selfishness.”

“Another sandwich?” Dooley offered.

As Dooley handed Geth his second sandwich, Geth noticed the old man leaning to one side. “Are you okay?” he asked.

Dooley didn’t answer but continued to tip until he was lying on his right side with his eyes wide open.

“Dooley!” Winter said.

He didn’t blink or move in the slightest.

“It’s happening,” Geth said.

“What’s happening?” Winter asked.

“Everything’s changing,” Geth answered. “We’re moving into the third day. Those who are older will fall first. Dooley might never get up again if Leven doesn’t come through.”

“My wings don’t work,” Phoebe revealed. “I didn’t want to alarm anyone, but they stopped working a while ago.”

“I don’t understand how Leven can affect any of this,” Winter said. “He’s so far away. We should never have left him in Foo.”

“Don’t say that!” Geth snapped, banging the picnic table. The reaction was so unlike Geth that both Phoebe’s and Winter’s jaws dropped. “Those who doubt fate will be among the first to go. Leven will come through.”

“Are you okay?” Winter asked.

“I don’t know,” Geth answered honestly. “I need to talk to Ezra.”

Dooley groaned.

“Do you think he would mind if I took another one of those sandwiches?” Phoebe asked.

“I don’t think he’s going to mind anything for a while,” Winter replied, grabbing another sandwich herself and handing it to Lilly.

Once they were out from under the tent, a timid rain began to fall and the thunder picked up its insults.

“Flightless,” it mocked Phoebe.

“It’s so personal,” she said.

“Hurry,” Geth urged.

They worked their way back to 1712 Andorra Court. When they were about a hundred feet away, Geth ran to the stump. There was nothing there besides the purple tassel and the bent paper clip. Small flecks of green nail polish lined where Ezra had once lain.

“Where is he?” Lilly asked.

“I don’t believe it,” Geth said, kneeling next to the stump.

“He soaked in?” Phoebe asked innocently.

“He’s gone,” Geth said sadly.

“That’s a good thing, right?” Lilly asked.

“I don’t know,” Geth answered honestly.

Winter put her hand on Geth’s back and rubbed it as the rain picked up. The small bits of green nail polish ran off the stump, followed by the purple tassel. All that was left was the bent paper clip. Winter picked it up and put it in her pocket.

It is only appropriate to point out that, despite his anger and hatred, Ezra had done his bit to fight for Foo. His life was also a fantastic reminder that even the smallest bit of anger can cause damage and unnecessary drama in our lives.

“It’s getting close,” Geth said seriously. “I have been alive for a long time and I’m not sure I ever thought this time would come.”

They all just stood there getting wetter and wetter and staring at the stump. They might very well have stood there all day if it had not been for the loud cracking noise that shot through the air and shook the ground.

Geth and Phoebe fell down.

“Look,” Winter yelled, pointing at the stump. “Look.”

Geth and Phoebe watched the stump as it raised up two feet into the air.

“Is that because of Ezra?” Phoebe asked.

“Leven’s knocking,” Geth smiled. “Are you two—”

Lilly cleared her throat.

“Excuse me,” Geth said. “Are you three ready?”

Nobody answered; they just stared at the stump, waiting. Had they turned around and looked all the way down the road back toward the entrance to the mobile home park, they might have been able to see long strands of black shoot up into the air and pull Dooley Hornbackle down into the soil.