27 Connecting the Dots

Clare and Dante

 

Clare looked at her chair and then at the door. Jason was already outside. She knew she couldn ’ t wait for the next politics class. She wasn ’ t even sure if there would be another one, as now all inside lectures were dependent on the weather. And besides, Stan had acted like everyone knew what happened in 2064. She left her chair for someone else to put away and rushed toward the door.

“ Jason, wait up. ” He didn ’ t hear her. She ran to catch up with his quick gait. “ Jason! ”

He turned. Clare thought how he looked older. His stern face caused her courage to briefly falter. “ Wait up. Where ya goin ’ ? ”

“ Walking, ” he said. “ Thinking. ”

“ I don ’ t know, ” Clare began, “ what happened in 2064. I don ’ t know who James Gardener is. ”

Jason shook his head slightly, made a little puff sound through his nostrils. “ I swear, Clare, sometimes I don ’ t know what you ’ re doing here. ”

She opened her mouth to respond.

“ Look, I ’ m sorry ,” he said. “ It ’ s just . . . this has been my whole life. My family has always been a part of Seed Savers. The Movement and the crackdown were stories I grew up on. I cannot wait to get back again—when the time is right. I lose my patience with people here who don ’t share the urgency I feel. ”

Clare felt a little guilty; her only sense of urgency was in learning to garden. She got the feeling Jason meant something more. He always seemed so— so restless. Discontented.

“ So, ” she said quietly, “ will you please tell me about 2064? ”

“ Isn ’ t that your host mom over there? ” Jason nodded toward the orange truck pulling into the driveway.

“ Yes, ” Clare said, grimacing. “ And I can ’ t ask her to leave me here. ” She needed to think fast. She had to find out.

“ How about I call you on your mini-Mon, ” he offered . “ On second thought, I ’ d rather talk in person. Maybe I can come over tonight. ” He handed her his notebook. “ Write down your address. ”

 

Clare was out in the yard when Jason drove up in an EVC shortly after dinner.

“ I looked it up on the Monitor, ” she said after they had made small talk, “ but I still want to hear it from you. You know, I was born in 2064, ” she added.

“ If you already read about it, what else do you want to know? ”

Clare shrugged. “ Details. What went wrong; how they could make such a big mistake. ”

“ Okay, well, so you know that Seed Savers grew and bec a me a very widespread and powerful underground movement? ”

“ Yes. ”

“ So they kept teaching more and more people to garden, preservation skills, how to save seeds. There was massive networking across the whole country—that was key. Imagine, without the Monitor, they continued to keep in touch and actually grow . Mostly through a print newspaper —”

“ T he Keeper —”

“ —yes, the Keeper . James Gardener was awesome, and his wife Junko was a great teacher, according to my parents. ”

“James Gardener ’ s wife was named Junko? ” It couldn ’t be.

“ Yes . . . why? ”

“ I know a Junko Gardener. ”

“ You do? ”

“ My best friend ’s mom is named Junko Gardener.”

Jason studied Clare. “ You were born in 2064 and your best friend ’ s mom is named Junko Gardener? ” He was thinking about everything Clare had told him.

“ Where did you say you were from? ”

 

When Jason and Clare discovered that Clare was directly linked to James Gardener, it was as if they were long lost family, newly united. The bonding and sense of trust was immediate. Jason stayed until nearly dark as Clare shared with him every detail she knew about Ana and Lily and the Gardeners. He was stunned to learn that Junko had brought Lily up believ ing her father was dead . Impossible to comprehend that t he legendary Junko of the Movement could be the same Junko whom Clare knew as Lily ’ s mother.

Likewise, Jason in turn shared with Clare what he knew about Seed Savers and the betrayal, Trinia Nelson and her ilk, and James ’ s long imprisonment and recent escape. Clare wanted to run get Dante but was hesitant to stop the flow of conversation. She could hardly believe what they and Lily had stumbled into in their after-school tutoring with Ana .

“ I’ m thinking maybe that ’ s why GRIM was watching you, ” Jason said, after they ’ d discussed everything.

“ They were really after Junko? ”

“ Or Ana. Probably just keeping the town under surveillance once James escaped. ”

Clare nodded her head. It was a lot to think about. Why hadn ’ t Ana told them anything? Obviously she had known. On the other hand, it did help explain why she stopped meeting with them once she had seen the GRIM official.

“ I wonder where Lily is now. If she really ran away like I was told. ”

“ I don ’ t know, ” Jason said. “ I suppose anything is possible. ” He reached out and squeezed her arm. “ It ’ s okay, Clare. Everything ’ s gonna be okay. ”

 

That night Clare asked Dante to sleep on the floor in her room. “ I have something important to tell you. Something I learned from Jason. You ’ re not going to believe it. ”

“ Secret Seed Savers stuff? ” he asked.

“ Very, ” she answered.

And so they huddled closely as they ’ d often done throughout their cross-country journey, while Clare first explained a simplified version of food politics history and then about how they ha d lived in a city where a great leader of the Movement had lived and worked. Dante thought th is was the important secret and was plenty excited. When he found out Lily ’ s parents were the leaders, and that her father was still alive, he jumped straight up and shouted “ No way! ” so loudly Clare was afraid he would wake the Woods.

“ Shh! Sit down. There ’ s more: Lily ’ s dad escaped from prison. ”

“ No way! ” Dante said again, this time in an exaggerated whisper. “ Do you think Lily found out somehow? That ’ s why she left? ”

Clare w rinkled up her face. She hadn ’ t thought of that. “ I . . . I don ’ t know, ” she said. “ I doubt it. What Jason and I couldn ’ t figure out was why Junko never told Lily anything. I mean, obviously she knew her husband wasn ’ t dead. Jason couldn ’ t believe how Junko sort of faded away and became so, so, you know, the way she is. So ordinary. ”

“ Wow, ” Dante said, shaking his head. “ I can ’ t believe it. There we were, running around stirring up trouble and we didn ’ t even know it. No wonder those guys kept following us. ”

“ I know, ” said Clare. “ Who knew? ”