JUDITH LOOKED ANGRY when George finally found her. The temperature in the tunnels had dropped below freezing with dusk, and she stood by the heat of a floodlight, shivering beneath her thick coat. She gave George a sideways glance as he approached her. "I didn't expect to see you here," she said, not quite looking at him.
"William sent me."
"Please don't tell me I waited all this time in the cold only for my husband to stand me up," she growled.
"There was a . . . well, an incident at the Law-Corp garage. William almost got shot by a deviant. Freaked him out a little. He sent me to walk you home."
She crossed her arms, making a show of her protest. "I stayed out here for a good meal, and a good meal is what I'm going to get! What do you feel like, Chinese or Mexican? Or maybe Mexanese?"
George shook his head. "Virginia's got pork chops waiting for me at home."
"Fine. I'll get a to-go bag from the Fast Food-Mart," Judith said. George followed as she stormed toward the large main building.
The Restaurant Division of Food-Mart was much like any shopping mall, and was one of few establishments licensed to stay open past dusk. Most buildings, fitted with solar panels and windmills, could only generate enough electricity to keep lit for part of the day. No longer supplemented by local nuclear or water-powered generators, the energy crisis had hit its peak and then stayed there. George had barely been old enough to remember when Corporate had reduced the people's allocations, telling them that there was no longer enough energy for them to be able to use it day and night.
A typical home only had enough energy to offset the extreme temperatures, light a few rooms for a few hours before sunrise or after sunset, and cook one small meal. Most businesses lost all electrical power at dusk. Transportation-Corp began to shut down its services shortly thereafter, running only commuter shuttles until seven, and then keeping minimal lines open for the Police- and Medical-Corps until dawn.
George followed Judith to the fried chicken line.
"I should probably get something for William," Judith mumbled. "Of course, it will probably be really cold by the time I get it home."
"I'm sure he won't mind," George said, indifferent. He jumped with a start as a deviant bumped into him, grabbing his jacket to keep from tripping over and falling to the floor. With a smile, the deviant turned around and took off.
"Hey!" George turned to grab the lanky young man, but he disappeared in the crowd of people.
Judith glanced over with an annoyed huff. "Some people!"
George dug into his inside pocket, relieved to find that his wallet was still intact.
Judith got to the front counter and ordered two dinner combinations, and an apathetic food associate handed her a ticket with a number on it.
"Your bags?" the associate asked.
Judith looked at the associate for a moment, and then dug into her coat pockets with a sudden look of realization. She pulled out two folded up burlap bags and handed them over the counter.
"Thank you," said the associate, gesturing to the credit reader.
Judith zipped her credit card through the reader, and then she and George moved aside to wait for her number to come up. The line suddenly became extremely long.
Judith smiled. "Looks like we got here just in time."
George watched a few people who waited alongside them while they listened for a food associate to call Judith's number. Judith moved closer to the counter as the people walked away with their bags of greasy food. She impatiently looked at her ticket.
Judith was only a secretary for Medical-Corp, but she somehow managed to dress like a high-level manager. She wore an expensive full-length coat, covering a long, finely embroidered skirt and black, short-heeled boots that made her almost as tall as George. She had perfectly guided make-up, with flawless red lips and subtly defined eyes, and she wore her dark hair back in a tight bun. She looked smarter and much more interesting than she actually was.
Judith moved to the counter as her number blared through a loud speaker, and she traded her ticket for two bags and two large sodas. She carefully balanced the entire load in her tiny arms, and then handed the cold drinks to George. She turned to the tunnel entrance that led to Housing.
George immediately understood why Judith had handed the drinks to him, the cold air combined with the icy cups numbing his fingers. He noted Judith's quick pace and hurried to keep up with her.
"That was really nice of you to walk me home," Judith said, staying just a few steps ahead of him.
George nodded. "Sure."
Judith dug into one of the bags and began eating her French fries. "So a deviant almost shot William?"
"Yeah."
"No joke?" Judith turned to gauge George's face.
George's face was serious. "I don't miss pork chop night on account of a joke."
They continued down the tunnel, and the rain began to pound loudly overhead. The tunnels were an elaborate system that connected most of the main structures in each district. Most of the tunnels were made for pedestrian traffic, although a good number of them also shielded parts of the shuttle tracks. One could travel outside, but only when the weather permitted, and that was rare these days.
The sounds of precipitation overhead grew louder and heavier, and George looked up as if the ceiling might collapse with the deluge. "Man, it's really coming down," he said.
"Can you believe they're having a drought just fifty miles away?" Judith said with another huff.
"That's got to be an exaggeration."
She looked around to see if there was anyone nearby who might overhear her words. "I've seen pictures," she finally said, keeping her voice low. "My father works for Info-Corp. You wouldn't believe the things that don't reach the associates." She put her first finger over her mouth. "We don't tell too many people, so if you could keep it our little secret?"
George nodded. He cleared his throat. "Of course."
By the time they reached Housing, the cups in George's hands had gone soft with condensation and Judith's bags of food were greasy and cold. George handed the cups to William as soon as his door opened, and then he went across the hall to his humble but cozy apartment.
Tired and cold, George found a light on in the kitchen. Virginia sat, her untouched dinner sitting before her. George's dinner waited for him beside hers. "I waited for you," she said in her sweet, soft voice.
George sat down, seeing that the kids' plates had already been cleared. "Sorry I'm late."
She nodded. She took a bite of processed pork, prompting him to try his. She had blond hair that she kept long, often tying it into a loose ponytail over one shoulder. She was a patient and thoughtful woman, and even after so many years of marriage, she never failed to stir a feeling of deep contentment in him every time she smiled. And he thought her canned, reconstituted pork chops were amazing, even after sitting on the table for two hours.
"I had a long day," he said, the pork chops helping him to forget about the numerous events that had complicated his evening thus far.
"So I heard," she said, trying the room-temperature garlic-mashed potatoes. "You want to talk about it?"
He shook his head, "no."
"Well, my day was the same as usual." She got a strained look to her face, as if she were drudging up a willfully discarded memory. "The women at the office are all such nosey gossips. It's like working in an Info-Corp circle on a slow day."
"You're lucky if that's the worst of it." George took off his heavy jacket, the outside chill finally having left him. He laid his jacket over the back of his chair, too spent to go all the way to the hallway closet and hang it where it belonged.
Virginia noticed the time and got up to turn out the light. The faint glow from the wall heater was suddenly all that lit the room. Virginia had gotten counting their nighttime wattage allotment down to a science, so rarely did they suffer the steep restriction penalties.
"Did you know that Judith's father works for Info-Corp?" George asked through the darkness.
She made her way back to her seat. "Really?"
"You can't tell anyone. She told me in confidence."
Virginia nodded.
The two finished their dinner despite the dark. Virginia determined that washing the dishes could wait until tomorrow, when she had more light, and so they quietly retreated to the bedroom to make love and wait for sleep to take them into another day.
Virginia fell asleep quickly, smiling, as she fell into happy dreams.
George lay in silence, contemplating the day.