Quietly, Jeremy rode in the van back to the complex. As usual, Don was driving, while Bernie rode in the front passenger seat. On one hand, he was glad to be seeing his grandparents again. But on the other hand, he did not relish the thought of being separated from the friends he had made at Lincoln High School, particularly Alicia. But perhaps his grandparents would find a home located where he could still attend Lincoln High. He had no way of knowing.
Upon arriving back at the complex, Don and Kurt Willis helped Jeremy pack his belongings. Kurt had brought several boxes from the kitchen that were no longer needed. Within minutes, it was all packed.
Kurt then escorted Jeremy over to the commuter train station. On the way, Jeremy realized that he had hardly interacted with Kurt or the other guard, Jerry, since he had been introduced to them. Kurt replied that both he and Jerry liked to stay in the background making sure that no trouble happened. Then he assured Jeremy that he had been a good resident there. They were glad to have helped him.
Kurt stayed with Jeremy during the train ride. On that ride, Kurt revealed something that Jeremy did not realize. Kurt explained that whenever Jeremy walked between the compound and his job at the mall, either he or Jerry would watch him. They knew he was wanted by Virginia more than any other escapee. They stood ready to summon help right away if somebody tried to take him.
“There have to be plenty other escapees that they are trying to chase down,” Jeremy mused. “Are they making efforts to bring them all back?”
“If they made the effort to catch every escapee, they would use too much of their time and resources,” replied Kurt. “Most escapees just sneak across to the RSNA and just settle right in. Your escape was much more dramatic. Besides that, you are under eighteen. We needed to place you in somebody’s care.”
“So now that my grandparents have been found, I will be placed in their care,” concluded Jeremy.
“That’s right,” replied Kurt. “But please be careful. While the authorities in Virginia may think you are dead, they also realize there is a chance that you survived. If they find out you are alive, they will make a concerted effort to find you.”
“What about the other escapees?” asked Jeremy. “I have heard about Virginia spies trying to catch them.”
“Most of the spies stay close to Virginia. They feel like they have a better chance of catching them while they are close by,” Kurt explained. “They have snatched people and taken them back to Virginia.”
“But they should not be allowed to do that,” Jeremy commented. “Those escapees haven’t done anything wrong.”
“They certainly haven’t,” agreed Kurt. “It’s just that escaping is against Krakowski’s law. He sends people out of Virginia to try to enforce it. That is why most escapees try to distance themselves from Virginia. It is also why we relocated you out here.”
As they approached the railroad terminal, Kurt gave Jeremy one final warning. “You must not tell anybody that you killed a man to start your escape. The more people you tell, the more likely word will get around.”
“I can’t even tell my grandparents?” asked Jeremy.
“No,” replied Kurt. “They certainly want to help you. But if you tell even them, you will increase the chance that word will get out.”
“OK,” promised Jeremy.
Even though he had not seen his grandparents in over ten years, he recognized them right away after he got off the train. Despite his growth, his grandparents recognized him right away too.
Jeremy ran to his grandparents, shouting, “Grandma! Grandpa!” He embraced his grandmother, then his grandfather.
Kurt walked out to greet Jeremy’s grandparents, shaking their hands. Then he motioned for Jeremy to come back onto the train to get his belongings. Grandma and Grandpa followed, all four of them taking Jeremy’s things out. The train pulled out before Kurt could get back on, but he was not the least bit concerned.
First, he took Jeremy aside. “Don’t talk with your grandparents about Virginia until you get home,” Kurt whispered. “And remember what I told you on the way up.”
Next, Kurt walked over to Jeremy’s grandparents. He whispered something to them. They nodded their heads in agreement. Jeremy could not hear what Kurt said to his grandparents but surmised it was something like what Kurt had told him.
Next, the foursome, taking Jeremy’s belongings, took two flights of escalators up to the station’s top deck. The Voorhies’s train was not scheduled to depart for forty-five minutes. They had some time for idle chitchat. Much of it centered around the weather and the Drake-Maryland football game. All four knew that Drake was trailing 14–10 at halftime, but none of them knew anything about the second half.
At one point, Jeremy whispered to his grandfather, asking where they were going. “We are going to Grinnell,” his grandfather whispered in reply. “I found a job there.”
Grandpa immediately noticed a tinge of unhappiness on Jeremy’s face. “What’s wrong?” asked Jeremy’s grandfather.
“It’s just that I have a girlfriend here,” replied Jeremy. “I want to keep seeing her.”
“We’ll try to help you with that,” Grandpa answered. “I understand how you feel. But you must understand that it is hard for a man my age to find work. I was lucky to get this job in Grinnell.”
Jeremy acknowledged that he understood.
After a while, a train swooshed up from the west. Then it stopped gently at the terminal. This was something much more advanced than anything Jeremy had seen before. After the passengers getting off at Des Moines were off, Kurt, Jeremy, and his grandparents loaded Jeremy’s belongings onto the train. Grandpa showed a conductor three tickets. Jeremy then boarded the train with his grandparents. He waved and said goodbye to Kurt. Soon the train doors closed, and they were on their way.
Jeremy had never felt anything so fast before. Taking an elevated track, they arrived in Altoona minutes later. After a brief stop, the train whisked onward to Mitchellville for another brief stop. Then Colfax, then Newton.
They had a longer stop in Newton. The train pulled onto a side track where some passengers disembarked, and new passengers boarded. Then the train remained motionless. In a few minutes, another eastbound train rocketed past. Jeremy surmised that it was going faster than his train. He asked his grandparents about it.
“That is an express train,” Grandpa replied. “It does not make any stops between Des Moines and Iowa City. It only stops at the larger cities on this track.”
A few minutes after the express train passed, Jeremy’s train started up again, taking only a few minutes to reach the next town, Kellogg. Grinnell was the next stop on the route. Once again, the train only took a few minutes to reach that destination.
A porter helped unload Jeremy’s belongings when they arrived in Grinnell. Everything got packed onto a vehicle that Jeremy felt was like a small bus. Grandpa paid the driver some money and said something to him. After a few more passengers boarded, the driver pulled away from the train depot. He dropped a few other passengers off before turning onto a street called Prince Street. He stopped in front of a house in that street.
“Here we are!” announced Grandma as she and Grandpa got up to leave the bus. Jeremy followed. The bus driver helped Jeremy unload his belongings, then drove away.
Jeremy looked at the house that would be his new home. It was not a big house, but it would comfortably accommodate three people. He took his first load inside, where Grandma showed him his room. It was down a hallway to the left from the front living room, facing out of the front of the house. Jeremy put down his load, while Grandpa brought in another load. They went out front together, gathering the remaining boxes. Soon all of Jeremy’s possessions were in his room.
It was not until Grandma started fixing dinner that Jeremy found out the results of the football game. Grandpa had turned on a radio. Shortly, it announced that Maryland had won the game, 41–22. Drake scored four field goals in the second half, while Maryland scored four touchdowns. The game was over. Maryland had won the RSNA championship. Drake finished second. That was still a good performance by Drake.
Jeremy looked out of a back kitchen window. The lots behind the houses on his side of Prince Street were all vacant. Across the way, Jeremy saw a school building sprawling across the area across a street from the vacant lots. He surmised that it would be his new school.
After dinner, Jeremy’s grandparents were eager to find out what things were like in Virginia and what had led up to his escape. Jeremy filled them in as best he could.
“At first it was total chaos,” he started. “Things were so violent that Mom just stayed home with us kids. Bart, Jane, and I could not even go outside. That meant I missed school, but the schools were all closed anyway. Suddenly, there were army troops everywhere. They restored order. The next thing we knew, General Krakowski was the leader of the state. Army men were in charge. We all had to do what they said.”
Grandma Voorhies just shook her head.
Jeremy continued. “We all had to wear uniforms to school that fall. That is the way it has been ever since. Our teachers, men and women, also wore uniforms. We had to call our teachers ‘sir’ or ‘ma’am’. The principal outranked all the teachers. The teachers all had to speak with the same courtesy to the principal as we had to with the teachers.”
“What did they teach you?” Grandma Voorhies asked.
Selecting his words carefully, Jeremy replied, “In math and science, it was much like the way they teach it here. In English and reading, we had to read and write things that spoke highly of General Krakowski and his ambitions. Social studies was even worse. It all dealt with Krakowski’s greatness and how everything in English-speaking North America was rightfully part of Virginia. We all had to learn the names of the other states and their capitals, but instead of calling the nation the United States, we called it Greater Virginia.
“For history, we were taught that Virginia was deprived of most of its territory in the American Revolution. Later, Ohio and Kentucky were made from land that was forcibly taken from Virginia. The final insult happened in the Civil War. We were taught that it was an act of aggression of the North to subject the South to its tyranny. They ripped ‘the West’ from Virginia and made it a state, even though it was unconstitutional. Then the Northern armies proceeded to completely devastate and humiliate the South. All the South wanted was to live in its own way. Nothing was ever mentioned about slavery.”
“Didn’t any of the adults who knew about the dissolution say that was untrue?” asked Grandma.
“Nobody dared contradict General Krakowski,” Jeremy replied. “Penalties were very harsh. I was even a victim of it.”
“Please tell us what happened to you,” Grandma requested.
“A friend of mine, Vince Blake, found a way to sneak under a fence next to the Potomac River. He wanted to go under it to explore the District of Columbia. He wanted me to go with him. We went under the fence, swam across the Potomac, and began exploring,” said Jeremy. “It was very interesting. We found some black rubble that looked like it had people’s names on it. There was some white rubble strung out in a line that looked like it was once part of a tall tower.”
“That was the Washington Monument,” Grandpa inserted. “It got blown down in a windstorm.”
Jeremy continued. “We went into a few buildings. The first two did not seem like anything General Krakowski would want to hide. Just mice, dust, broken glass, and a bunch of rubble. We figured Krakowski just wanted to keep us out of here because of hazards. One building had a big, round hole in the floor. It only dropped down to the next floor down. A person falling into it would probably survive.
“The third building was much more interesting. It was better maintained than the first two. In it, we found a sheet of paper with all but the top torn off behind some broken glass in a display case. We read the piece of paper. It started with ‘We the people of the United States’ and spoke about blessings like tranquility, justice, welfare, and liberty. It finished with ordaining a Constitution. Then it was signed at the bottom by a man named David Grove. He was from Wiota, Iowa.”
“David Grove? Wiota, Iowa?” asked Grandma incredulously.
“That’s right,” replied Jeremy. “At first we thought David Grove must have been some great thinker who wrote the piece. But the name meant nothing to us, just like that paragraph didn’t, nor did Wiota, Iowa. Shortly, a crusty old man walked into the building. He said he was David Grove and that he had grown up in Wiota, Iowa.”
“Wiota must be a small town,” commented Grandpa. “Have you heard of it, Vivian?”
“No, I haven’t,” replied Grandma. “OK, go on.”
“He told us about what the United States had been and how good things were before the dissolution. Since then, most people wanted the states to be united in one country again,” stated Jeremy. “He told us that everything we had been taught about General Krakowski and his ambitions for Virginia were wrong. He said that Krakowski is one of the most corrupt people of our time, that he feeds us inferior food in order purchase weapons for his conquest ambitions.”
“Finally, David Grove told us that the United States will eventually be reunited, even Virginia. But then he told us not to go back to Virginia. He encouraged us to try to get to Maryland. But before we could start, some Virginia army men charged into the building and killed David Grove. They took me and Vince prisoner. They took us back to Virginia, forcing us to keep our hands held up all the way. They took us to a warehouse where Vince and I both worked.”
“And then what happened?” asked Grandma.
“They drove us down to Richmond in the back of a van,” explained Jeremy. “They took us to separate, empty rooms and made us stay there and wait for hours. One time, I had to urinate. I knocked on the door, pounded on it, and yelled through the door. Nobody answered. Finally, I just urinated on the floor, in a corner opposite the one where I was sitting.
“It was dark outside before they took me out of this room. As they walked me down the hall, I passed Vince, being escorted, presumably, to the room where he had been held. I tried to smile at him, but he just gave me a blank look.”
“How awful!” commented Grandma. “What had they done to him?”
“I don’t know for sure,” Jeremy replied. “What I did know was that I did not like what was soon going to happen.”
“I bet!” inserted Grandpa. “Go on.”
“They took me down to the basement.” Jeremy went on. “They grilled me about my visit to DC and about my talk with David Grove. I knew what I had to say. I had to convince them that General Krakowski and his government were right. I told them that there was nothing interesting in DC. I told them that David Grove was a madman who did not know what he was talking about. The whole time, I kept standing by everything that I had been taught. Finally, the three men left the room.”
“What happened next?” queried Grandpa.
“After a few minutes, the men walked back into the room. They told me that they thought I could be rehabilitated. Then they took me to this house that was really a type of prison. I had to wear orange prison garb. They made me take a pill so I could fall asleep faster. I had to sleep on a cot in a small room. My cot was underneath a window that was nailed shut. My roommate was a large man who slept in a cot blocking the door.
“The next day I really found out what I was in for. My breakfast was just a few bland wafers and some victory juice.”
“Victory juice?” asked Grandma with a puzzled look.
“That stuff was all over the place in Virginia,” replied Jeremy. “I guess they made it out of whatever fruit and sugar they had available. It tasted OK. But it is not nearly as delicious as the juice we have in the RSNA.
“Next they took me to this reading room. They let me choose a magazine there. I knew all the magazines promoted Virginia propaganda. I picked one up and pretended to read it. After lunch, they had me talk with this major. He asked me about the article. I tried to bluff as best as I could, but he was not fooled. Three large men then dragged me into the basement, forced me into a position facing a wall, then handcuffed me to the wall. Then they pulled my pants down. Soon I got five hard lashes on my butt.”
Both grandparents recoiled in horror.
“Then the major scolded me, telling me that whenever I was in the reading room, I was supposed to really read the magazines there. For the afternoon, they had me pull weeds in the backyard garden. I had to use a plastic bucket with no handles on it. Though I was overpoweringly tempted to eat some of the food, I did not dare. I knew that if I did, they would find out about it. The punishment would have been intolerably fierce.”
Jeremy’s grandparents just shook their heads.
“After picking weeds for the rest of that afternoon, they called me inside. They had me take a shower. There were some buckets in the shower room. When the water stopped running, we rinsed ourselves with the water in those buckets. Then they provided us with towels and clean clothes. After that, we had dinner. It was the same chips, just more of them. Of course, we drank more victory juice.”
“Having to eat the same thing for every meal must have been monotonous,” commented Grandpa.
“It was,” replied Jeremy. “But I had only been there for one day. Imagine how those guys who had been there a long time must have felt.”
“So, what did they have you do after dinner?” asked Grandma.
“They took us out to a warehouse. We had to load boxes onto trucks for the next few hours. By the time we were done, we were all exhausted. Then we went back to that house. We had to take one of those sleeping pills again. Pretty soon, I was fast asleep.”
“Did you go to school the next day?” Grandma asked.
“I did,” Jeremy responded. “But because of my orange clothes, everybody there shunned me. The students stayed away from me. The teachers ignored me. I could not even look at a textbook or get a pencil, pen, or paper. I spoke up one time and was completely ignored. They even had a test in one class, but they wouldn’t let me take it. I knew that I had no future there.
“On the ride back from school, my bus crossed over a viaduct with railroad tracks underneath it. I figured I had to make a break for it. If I could somehow break away, maybe I could jump a train and get out of there. I knew it was risky, but it was better than whatever I had in store there.”
“We know you broke away,” inserted Grandpa. “How did you do it?”
“After bedtime that night, I pretended to take my sleeping pill, pressing it under my tongue,” Jeremy explained. “When I knew that my roommate was asleep, I gently moved his cot away from the door. Then I quietly slipped downstairs and took a chair from the kitchen. Taking it to the reading room, I used it to smash open a side window.
“Right away, sirens started blaring. I just scrambled out the window and into the backyards. While emergency vehicles sped toward that house, I ran toward the railroad yard. Sometimes I would hide behind a house to avoid being seen. But I made it to the railroad yard. I quickly climbed over the fence and hid in some foliage. Thankfully, a northbound train chugged by slowly enough that I could run up to it, place both hands on the floor of an empty boxcar, and jump in.
“The train chugged slowly northward. I was scared that somebody could find out I was in that car, run up and get in, then catch me. I felt better when the train sped up as it got into the country. It slowed down some when it went through Fredericksburg but sped up again when it got past there. When it started slowing down again, I could tell we were getting close to Arlington. Soon, I bailed out.”
Both grandparents continued looking at Jeremy, intent on what he would say next, even though they knew he had gotten out of Virginia.
“After getting away from the railroad tracks, I looked around a little. I surmised that I must have been near Mount Vernon. I began my way eastward to the Potomac. The Potomac is much wider there than where Vince and I swam across. I knew it would be a tougher swim. Also, I had to get past another fence, this one with rolled barbed wire along the top.”
“But you certainly made it,” commented Grandpa.
Jeremy continued, “At first, I looked for a low place where I could crawl under or something I could dig under with. When I could not find either, I realized I would have to climb over that fence. Knowing that those baggy orange clothes could get caught on the barbed wire, I stripped naked. Then I climbed up the fence, pulled some barbed wire to the right with my right hand, and pulled some more to the left with my left hand. Next, I climbed my feet up to the top of the fence, holding on to the barbed wire the whole time. From that crouched position, I plunged forward into the river.”
“I’ll bet that hurt,” empathized Grandma.
“Not nearly as bad as being whipped,” replied Jeremy. “I had some cuts and scrapes, but I had to keep going. I waded out into the river as far as I could. Then I started swimming. At first it wasn’t hard. But it got harder the closer I got to the middle. The current got faster. The waves got bigger. It was harder to get air. I tried lying on my back to both rest and breathe easier. But the waves still inhibited breathing, while the current pushed me downstream. I kept swimming forward.
“When I could tell that I was closer to Maryland than Virginia, I felt more confident. I noticed a light on the Maryland shore. I started swimming toward it. Gradually I got to the point where I could wade again. Last thing I remember, I had just barely gotten onto dry land. Next thing I knew, I was lying on an examination table in a doctor’s office. There were three other people in the room. An elderly doctor, a young nurse, and a man who did not work there. That man had found me lying naked on the ground behind his house. He got medical help.”
Both grandparents emitted heavy sighs. “It is amazing that you were able to do all that,” complimented Grandpa. “You must have been in terrific shape.”
“That is one thing they encouraged in Virginia. We always had to participate in athletic activity,” Jeremy commented. “I was planning to join my school’s baseball team. Anyway, the Maryland doctor’s wife soon brought me some breakfast. I could not remember the last time I tasted such a delicious meal.”
“So, then they moved you to Des Moines,” concluded Grandpa.
“The doctor there called the police. They arranged for me to fly to Des Moines the same day. The policeman also brough me some clothes. I did not like going so far away from home. I had never been anyplace besides Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Des Moines seemed like it was the other side of the world. But they wanted to get me far away from Virginia. At that point I knew I had no choice.”
“How did you like Des Moines?” asked Grandma.
“Actually, I liked it there,” replied Jeremy. “Everyone at the compound treated me well. The other students at Lincoln High School really liked me. Even though I never said it, they all knew I had escaped Virginia. That made me a kind of a hero. Then, of course, there was Alicia.”
“You must really like Alicia,” Grandma commented.
“I do,” Jeremy replied. “When I was in Virginia, I wanted this girl named Cynthia Sullivan. But there were many girls at Lincoln High who were much more desirable than she was. Alicia was the first student I met at Lincoln High. I was attracted to her right away. Some friends of mine noticed how much interest I had in her. They held a party where they set me up with her. She and I had a wonderful time together. I had been seeing her ever since.”
“Don’t worry,” assured Grandpa. “You will get to see her if you want. But you must realize, this is where I found work. This is where we must live. Your grandmother and I were advised to move out here when we learned of your escape. They told us of the risks of keeping you near Virginia. We did this because this is what is best for you.”
“I know,” replied Jeremy. “I am glad to be with you two again. I would much rather live here with you than in that compound.”
“I would certainly hope you would rather live with us than in that compound!” Grandma responded, half laughingly.
Next, his grandparents told him about life back in Pennsylvania. The dissolution had forced Grandpa to find other work. They had to leave Danville, taking Vicky and Cindy with them. They relocated a few times. They were living in Pottstown when they learned of his whereabouts.
Both Vicky and Cindy were married. Vicky had married a man named Jason Carter and was living in Philadelphia. They had two children, a boy and a girl. Cindy married a man named Warren Davidson. They also had two children, both boys. They were living near Pittsburgh. Jeremy expressed interest in seeing his aunts again, along with meeting two uncles and four cousins who had not even known about. His grandparents assured him that he would.
Jeremy spent most of the rest of the afternoon arranging his things and putting them away. Grandpa helped him, while Grandma was in the kitchen fixing dinner. They had roast beef with potatoes and green beans. Jeremy liked this meal better than anything he had eaten at the compound. Somehow, the love that Grandma put into her cooking made it even better.
Jeremy spent most of the rest of that night playing cards and chatting with his grandparents. When Jeremy mentioned that Grinnell had won the Iowa Baseball League championship, they were shocked. Grandpa claimed that a city Grinnell’s size would not be allowed into Pennsylvania’s baseball league. Their league had sixteen teams, similarly split into eastern and western divisions. Philadelphia had three teams. Pittsburgh had two. They said one of the Pittsburgh teams had won their championship.
When they were ready to settle down, Grandpa told him what time he was supposed to get up. He was to wear his best clothes. Someone would pick them up the next morning to take them to church. Jeremy was not sure exactly what going to church meant. But he figured that if his grandparents wanted him to go there, he should go.
Jeremy got up at the time Grandpa told him. Taking his shower, he enjoyed being able to take one in private. Then he put on what he considered his best clothes. Unsure which ones were the best, Jeremy put on some blue jeans and one of his black Iowa sweatshirts. When his grandparents saw him, they looked like they did not like what he wore, but they did not say anything.
Grandma whipped up a fresh batch of pancakes for breakfast that Jeremy thoroughly enjoyed. It seemed like nothing could taste better than Grandma’s cooking. After they finished eating, they waited, looking out the front window.
Minutes later, a bus like the one that had picked them up at the train depot pulled up. All three of them filed out of the house and boarded the bus. They journeyed across town, picking up three more passengers along the way. The bus finally pulled into a parking lot for a building with a steeple, adorned with a cross.
Upon entering the church, all three were given bulletins. After sitting down together in one of the pews inside, Jeremy looked around. He surmised that most of the people there were better-dressed than he was, though he was certainly not the worst. People continued to walk in. Soon the pews were nearly full. Jeremy soon realized how quiet the people were, except for an occasional whisper.
The silence was broken by the sound of organ music filling the entire sanctuary. Momentarily, the people started singing a song to the melody being played on the organ. Jeremy noticed that his grandparents were singing the song but had no idea what they were singing. He looked at a book his grandmother was holding. He took a book that looked like it, turning to the same page numbers.
Jeremy soon realized that the page number was the same as the number posted on a board up front. Soon he started following along. Then he noticed two men walking up the main aisle in the center.
After the song, one of the two men started speaking. Jeremy quickly realized that these men were the leaders of the service. He also realized that the service was about God, the same God that was mentioned in the Pledge of Allegiance. As the service progressed, he ascertained not only that was God not a physical entity but also that it was extremely powerful and extremely good. It must be something about this entity that the nation must abide by. This was certainly nothing that would be taught in Virginia.
Then Jeremy remembered his parents taking him to a building like this when he was a small boy. It also played organ music and had crosses. Then he figured out that both buildings had stained glass windows. That Virginia building was also a church. Finally, he remembered seeing his church being torn down shortly after Krakowski took over. He tried to think if he had ever seen any churches in Virginia after that. He could not think of any.
While paying close attention to the service, he began to think about the Pledge of Allegiance, along with the lack of churches in Virginia. General Krakowski certainly did not want anyone to believe that anything could be more powerful than himself. Meanwhile, this God must be something that had to be looked up to as a guide, and we must try to emulate its goodness. That is why the nation must be under it. Our nation must strive to be good.
Jeremy and his grandparents mingled with the other people there after the service. His grandparents, like he was, were attending this church for the first time. All the other people there were interested in getting to know them. Jeremy was glad to see his family being so warmly welcomed. He even met several people close to his own age. He exchanged introductions with many people of all ages; he had difficulty remembering any names. At least he knew they were good people.
A man named Bruce Lane asked Grandpa if he and his family would like to have lunch with his family. Grandpa accepted on the condition that they could get transportation back home afterward. Bruce readily assured Grandpa that they could get the transportation.
Both families piled into the same bus after the congregation disbanded. The bus driver must have taken the Lanes home many times before, because he drove straight to the Lanes’ house without asking for directions. While Bruce’s wife, Marian, and daughter, Andrea, prepared the meal, Bruce and his son, Doug, talked with Jeremy and his grandparents.
Jeremy guessed that Andrea was about two years younger than he was and that Doug was about two years younger than his sister. While Andrea seemed like a very kind girl, she did not appeal to him the way Alicia did.
Jeremy soon realized that Bruce was a very religious man. He talked about how much he studied the scriptures, hours each day. But Bruce also seemed like a very astute man, the kind of man whom he could look up to. Bruce also talked up his church like he was trying to convince him and his grandparents to become members. He spoke highly of the two men who had led the service that morning, whom he referred to as pastors.
For Sunday dinner, Marian and Andrea prepared ham, rolls, baked potatoes, and steamed vegetables. They talked about many things. Doug liked it when Jeremy brought up Grinnell winning the Iowa Baseball League championship. He, like all the boys in town, loved watching the home team defeat the teams from those bigger cities.
For dessert they had a fresh-baked blueberry pie. It provided Jeremy with another delicious taste of freedom. Marian claimed that those blueberries were grown right there in Grinnell, where growing food was a major pastime, a result of the dissolution. Food had become much harder to come by, forcing people to grow much of their own. Grandma and Grandpa both acknowledged that they had experienced the same thing. Jeremy remained silent. The situation was much worse in Virginia, but Jeremy did not want them to know about his escape.
Before the talking was over, the Lanes had figured that out anyway. They realized that Jeremy was living with his grandparents, and they had just moved here. They also realized that Jeremy had been staying in Des Moines before they arrived. That was all they needed to know. But they were polite about it, like they would remain silent, not telling anybody else. They also promised that they would help if needed.
The Voorhies stayed with the Lanes for most of the afternoon. They talked about many things, such as sports, personal interests, and current events. Just before the Voorhies left, Andrea told Jeremy when school started the next day.
After getting home, Jeremy and his grandparents caught up more about what had happened since they had last seen each other. Jeremy told them that his father, Loras, had fought in the West Virginia invasion. When he said that his father had become strangely quiet after he returned, his grandparents naturally became concerned. As grown-up as their son was, they still worried about him.
Jeremy arrived at school on time Monday morning. He went straight to the office, believing they would have his class schedule ready for him. To his surprise, they did not even know he was coming. But after he thought about it, Lincoln High did not know about his move either. He had left on a Saturday. This was a Monday. Both schools had been closed the whole time. The office secretary asked him to have a seat.
Momentarily, a bell rang. The halls were nearly empty. Classes had started. Jeremy just sat in the office, wanting to get this situation resolved. Then a man walked into the office. The secretary took him aside and spoke with him. Then the man motioned for Jeremy to come with him.
The man led Jeremy to an adjacent office. He closed the door behind them, then shook hands with Jeremy and introduced himself as Lyle Clausen, one of the school’s vice principals. Jeremy introduced himself to Mr. Clausen. Then he motioned for Jeremy to take a seat, while Mr. Clausen sat behind his desk.
“What brings you to our school today, Jeremy?” asked Mr. Clausen.
“I just moved here Saturday,” replied Jeremy. “I know this is the school that I am supposed to attend.”
“When did you find out you were moving here?”
“I had no advance notice of it at all. I was at my girlfriend’s house watching the football game. Suddenly, a man who worked at the place where I was staying told me that my grandparents had arrived. I had to go to downtown Des Moines to meet them. I had to leave right away.”
“And when you met with your grandparents, they told you to move in with them here.”
“That’s right. Grandpa had found a job here in Grinnell. They now have custody of me.”
“Where did you attend school before?”
“I attended Lincoln High School in Des Moines.”
“I see,” concluded Mr. Clausen. “You escaped from Virginia. You were brought to Des Moines for your own safety. Next, they tracked down your grandparents. When they were informed of your situation, they moved out here so they could take care of you.”
“That’s right,” replied Jeremy.
“I’ll tell you what,” continued Mr. Clausen. “I will contact Lincoln High and tell them about our situation. They can tell me which classes you should be taking. Then we can make a schedule for you. Meanwhile, Mrs. Benson will take you to our library. You can relax there. Feel free to do some reading if you want.”
With that, Mr. Clausen got up to walk out of his office, motioning for Jeremy to come with him. He introduced Jeremy to the secretary, Mrs. Benson. Then Mr. Clausen instructed Mrs. Benson to take Jeremy to the library, saying that he was to wait there. Mr. Clausen would determine Jeremy’s class schedule, then send for him.
Mrs. Benson led Jeremy down a hallway that led to the library. Upon arriving in the library, Mrs. Benson told the librarian that Jeremy was to wait there. Mr. Clausen would send for him when he was ready. The librarian smiled at Jeremy and told him he could sit wherever he wanted and feel free to read something while he waited.
Jeremy found a book about the Civil War. Then he found a comfortable spot to sit and started reading. A few students took brief looks at him when he walked to his seat but did not say anything to him. Jeremy sensed that they knew he was a new student.
After Jeremy spent about twenty minutes reading about the intensifying debate over slavery during the 1850s, Mr. Clausen walked into the library. Walking over to Jeremy, he whispered, “Please come to the office with me. I have your new schedule.”
Jeremy silently followed Mr. Clausen back to his office. They sat down in their respective seats. Mr. Clausen handed Jeremy a yellow card. His schedule was written on it.
“The folks at Lincoln were kind of concerned when you didn’t show up this morning,” commented Mr. Clausen. “Word soon got around that you had moved. They were glad when my phone call affirmed it.”
Jeremy just silently smiled at Mr. Clausen.
“Anyway, they told me that you are an excellent student,” Mr. Clausen continued. “We are putting you in our advanced curriculum. I will take you to your next class. Meanwhile, I would like to talk with you a little.”
Mr. Clausen asked about Jeremy’s escape from Virginia. Jeremy told him about his escapade with Vincent Blake into Washington, DC. He went on to talk about their encounter with David Grove and how the Virginia men had killed him when they caught Vincent and himself. He then talked about the harrowing ordeal in Richmond. How Vincent had seemed completely incoherent. The grilling he got in the basement. His couple of days in the halfway house. The bad day at school. How he knew he needed to escape. How he managed to get out of the house and hopped a train back to northern Virginia. He concluded with his long swim across the Potomac River.
Mr. Clausen commented about Jeremy’s good physical condition to make such a swim. He also commented that the swimming team might be interested in him.
The remainder of the period was spent with Jeremy asking about the school. Jeremy asked about his teachers and conditions at the school. Mr. Clausen assured Jeremy that while they had disciplinary issues, like all other schools, the students overall were well-behaved and helpful. He told Jeremy about each of his teachers, assuring Jeremy that they were all competent and helpful. But he also informed Jeremy that Grinnell High School had never received a Virginia escapee before. They might not understand Jeremy’s needs as well as the faculty at Lincoln High did.
When the school bell rang, Mr. Clausen escorted Jeremy to his second-period class, math. First Mr. Clausen introduced Jeremy to his new teacher, who then introduced Jeremy to the class. So went the rest of the day. Jeremy was glad that Mr. Clausen was so willing to show him where his classes were. For lunch, Mr. Clausen made sure he got a free meal. Jeremy went home happy with his first day at his new school.
Thursday was Thanksgiving Day. Jeremy was surprised that school was closed that day. That never happened in Virginia. Instead, he and his grandparents were invited to a potluck at the church. All three readily accepted the invitation.
Grandma baked a green-bean casserole for the potluck. As usual, a bus picked them up to take them to the church. Another large turnout attended the occasion. While the food was stored in the church’s kitchen for the meal, the pastors performed another church service. The pews were full. Ushers put folding chairs in the alcove at the church entrance. At least his family got seats in the pews.
At the potluck, Jeremy had never seen such a wide variety of food at one meal. He tried many things, making sure he ate some of his grandmother’s casserole. The highlight was a plump turkey for the main course. That turkey turned out to not be enough for everyone attending. But once it was finished off, another one was promptly brought out. When that turkey was all dished out, a third one was brought out.
Jeremy ate until he was thoroughly stuffed. He could not remember ever being so well-fed. He ate two pieces of pie for dessert, one peach and one pumpkin. This was truly the taste of freedom.
The people socialized during the potluck. Much of the talk centered around Drake’s unsuccessful run for the national college football championship. Some people commented that it would not stay that way once things grew back to normal. Another commented on the good teams Alabama used to have. He thought Alabama would probably love to get a shot at some of our best football teams. There was also some talk about recreating the National Football League. Jeremy surmised that it must have been a football league a cut above the colleges.
At one point, Jeremy thought about Vincent Black. He must not be doing well back at the compound. If only he could be with people like this. Perhaps he would feel better. Then he thought about Bruce Lane. Maybe he could help Vincent Black.
Taking Bruce Lane aside proved unexpectedly difficult. He was among the best-liked members of the congregation. But Jeremy finally got his chance. He whispered to Bruce that he wanted to talk about something. Bruce willingly accepted.
“I have a friend back at the compound,” Jeremy began. “He was pushed out of Virginia by some bullies. Some people in North Carolina found him and sent him to Des Moines. He is very unhappy there and misses his family terribly. He really did not want to leave his family in Virginia.”
Bruce, knowing what Jeremy was building up to, replied, “So you are wondering if somebody in Grinnell could take him in.”
“That’s right,” acknowledged Jeremy. “The people at the compound are helping him every way they can. But he would probably feel much better in an environment like this.”
“Does he have any relatives outside of Virginia?” inquired Bruce. “There is a good chance, seeing how he must have lived so close to the state border.”
“I don’t think he does,” explained Jeremy.
“I am not sure we can help him,” Bruce responded. “The workers in Des Moines are probably looking for his relatives now. I don’t know if they would relocate him to Grinnell when he does not know anybody here besides you. But I can check into it.”
“Thank you for being willing to help,” Jeremy acknowledged.
“I will do the best I can,” Bruce assured him. “Now, what is that boy’s name again?”
“Vincent Black,” answered Jeremy. He did not mention Vincent Blake back in Virginia.
After Thanksgiving, everyone started getting ready for Christmas. Various houses in the neighborhood put up outdoor lights. Downtown Grinnell displayed some Christmas decorations. Many houses displayed Christmas trees. His school also put up a Christmas tree. One night, Jeremy’s grandfather brought a Christmas tree home. He and his grandparents enjoyed decorating the tree. He also heard plenty about Santa Claus.
Jeremy found all of this very interesting. He remembered how much Christmas was hyped up before the dissolution. He remembered having Christmas trees in his own home. He also remembered how much he enjoyed getting presents from Santa Claus. While Virginia continued to honor Christmas after the dissolution, the decorations, the Christmas trees, and Santa Claus were all gone. He remembered how Santa Claus did not come after the dissolution. He remembered how disappointed he had been, wondering if it was because he had been bad. At least now he knew the truth.
Jeremy corresponded with Alicia and Vincent Black via letters. Alicia was always prompt about writing him back. Vincent Black did not respond quite as well, but he would still answer back. Jeremy often thought about how much he wanted to be with Alicia again. He became acquainted with several students and several people at church. One girl, named Kim Mullen, took an interest in him. While Jeremy enjoyed her company, she still did not appeal to him the way Alicia did.
The weather gradually became colder, with occasional snowfall. One day, Grinnell was hit by an ice storm. School was cancelled that day. Aside from the ice-storm day, everything proceeded as normal. Jeremy’s grandparents bought him a pair of new boots to help him walk through the snow, particularly when needed to walk to school and back.
Jeremy and his grandparents bought Christmas presents only for one another. At least the six presents made the area under the Christmas tree less sparse. It was better than nothing.
The church really fancied itself up for Christmas. It displayed a huge tree in the altar area, with a myriad of lights and ornaments from top to bottom. At the top stood a big, white, sparkling star that seemed to generate its own light. This splendor went far beyond anything Jeremy had ever seen for Christmas decorations. The tree was not the only splendid decoration in the church. There were perhaps a dozen extra candles on the altar. Every stained-glass window was adorned with a Christmas wreath. Even the pews had pine twigs and pine cones neatly wrapped at each end.
Jeremy soon figured out why the church was making such a big thing out of Christmas. The purpose of this holiday was to honor God. No wonder all these things disappeared in Virginia after the dissolution. General Krakowski did not want people to honor God.
Meanwhile, Jeremy found part-time work at one of the downtown stores, helping with its Christmas rush. This way, he earned the money he needed to buy his grandparents’ Christmas presents. Then he started saving money to buy a round-trip train ticket to Des Moines. He wanted to see Alicia again.
His biggest surprise of the Christmas season, and the best present, came two days before Christmas. His aunts and their families all arrived from Pennsylvania to spend Christmas with him and his grandparents in Grinnell. The house was very crowded with eleven people staying in it, but nobody cared. They just worked out sleeping arrangements as best they could. Everyone was so happy to see Jeremy that crowding did not matter.
On Christmas Eve, they all went to a Christmas pageant at the church. As the people entered, all but the smallest children were given candles. So many people attended that the overflow had to sit in the Sunday school rooms. The Sunday school children sang several Christmas hymns in front of the attendees. For the final hymn, everyone lit their candles. The lights were turned off. The final hymn was sung by candlelight. It gave Jeremy a peaceful feeling like he had never felt before.
The next morning, the younger cousins expressed joyful surprise over the presents brought by Santa Claus. Jeremy just sat back and enjoyed seeing his cousins so happy. Then everybody unwrapped their own presents. Jeremy got a pair of new trousers with a belt wrapped inside with them. He also got a new blue dress shirt. Jeremy realized why his grandparents had given him those presents. These were the clothes that he should wear to church.
The relatives stayed for a few more days. Jeremy enjoyed getting reacquainted with his aunts while getting acquainted with the uncles he had just met. He told them about what life was like in Virginia, his misadventure into Washington, DC, and his harrowing escape. They all agreed that it was a good thing that he escaped.
He told them how his father had fought in the West Virginia invasion and how he behaved after he came back home. They all become very concerned about Loras and the rest of the family. They also empathized with Jeremy about how much he missed his immediate family. Jeremy agreed that he was better off in the RSNA, but he knew could not live in the RSNA and have his family too.
Jeremy particularly enjoyed playing with his younger cousins. They were all younger than his siblings, unaware of the challenges swirling around them. He felt a kind of big-brotherly bond with them. If only he could get to see them more often.
Tears were shed by everyone when the relatives left. They all shared hugs, with plenty of kisses. Jeremy and his grandparents looked on as the train pulled out of station, eastbound, until it went over a hill. They could see it no more. Then they boarded a bus to take them home.
For New Year’s Eve, the Voorhies went to a party at the church. While there, Bruce Lane took Jeremy aside.
“We have gotten approval for your friend Vincent Black to move in with us,” Bruce informed him. “We will go over to get him on the second.”
“How did you do it?” Jeremy queried, surprised that the Lanes could pull it off so quickly.
“He could not think of any relatives who lived outside of Virginia,” Bruce replied. “Nor could the authorities find any relatives closely enough related to him that they would know him. So they decided it would be best for him to stay with us.”
Jeremy thanked Bruce for caring so much about Vincent Black. He hoped to see him again soon.