6 A-A-Abner and Evelyn

Lily

 

“ Now why the h-h-hell are you out in this st-storm? ”

Rather than answer, I turned and looked at the boy in the back seat.

“‘At’ s my grandson, ” the man said. “ Nice lookin ’ , ain ’ t he? ”

I nodded. “ Sure. ”

“ Look at y-you, ” he said, “ soaked to the b-bone. Don ’ t you worry. Grandma will get you all fixed up . Name ’ s Abner, and ‘ at there ’ s Junior. ”

“ I’ m Lily, ” I said. “ Where are we going? ”

“ Not far. You can c-call yer folks when we get home and let ‘ em know yer okay. G-g-goshdarn it, what were you thinkin ’ ? ”

“ What are these walls for? ” I asked, changing the subject and sincerely curious about the odd-shaped and ubiquitous barriers.

The rain had stopped, for which I was grateful, because after I asked the question about the walls, the man ’ s eyes were too busy staring at me to have safely driven in a downpour.

“ Where you from, girl? N-n-now, everyone in P-Plant City knows about the walls, Lila. H-h-hell—”

Junior grinned every time his g randpa cussed. The old man seemed to have a propensity for the word “ hell, ” maybe because it was as hot as blazes in these parts.

“ Well, ” I said, “ I don’t know about the walls because I’ m not from around here. ” I said it rather rudely, but I was soaking wet, after all.

We turned onto a long private drive, bordered by a shorter, less expensive-looking wall that eventually ended altogether. Abner took his time answering.

“ The walls hide our crops, ” he said at last.

I stared at the empty fields around us.

“ But there ’ s nothing here. ”

“ N-n-not now. These are strawberry fields. Too hot now. Season ’s over.”

I considered this information for a moment. “ But I passed a lot of crops on the way here, ” I said, “ and only a few walls. Why are there so many walls around here? What ’ s so special about strawberries? ”

“ Hmph. Indeed. N-n-now little girl, ” he stuttered, “ guess you ’ ve never had a strawberry. ”

“ No, sir.”

We had reached the house, a ramshackle old place with a lot of rusty cars and machinery littered about. It reminded me of the abstract art I ’ d seen on city street corners and squares. A faded scarecrow in a checkered shirt, missing his left arm, hung in what looked to be a garden that had run its course. A hound dog tethered to a large metal stake barked and jumped as we approached. Abner pulled up, entirely too close to the back door, and turned off the vehicle, letting it coast to a stop. “ Here we are. ”

A woman with hair the color of faded poppies in curls too tight to be natural stepped out. “ Abner, where you boys been? I had lunch ready an hour ago. Who ’ s that with you? What have you gone and done this time, you old fool? ”

“ Th-th-this here ’ s April. N-n-now, Evelyn—”

“ Lily, ” I said.

“ — s he was caught in the d-downpour. ”

“ So I see . Y ou, come on in and get out of those wet clothes before you catch your death, ” she said, looking me up and down.

It was sort of silly, the thing about catching my death, being so warm and all, but I wasn ’ t about to protest . A nd besides, wet clothes in high humidity aren ’ t comfortable. Without speaking, I followed as the woman led me through the old house, cluttered high with unidentifiable paper products, faded photos stuck to the walls, and a large glass case filled with what—dead animals? I tried to keep my jaw from dropping to the floor, though I couldn ’ t stop staring and nearly walked into the wall, so entranced was I by the fading menagerie of wildlife posing for eternity in their glass home on the wall. I had never seen a squirrel stand so erect and tall, as if at attention—forever—the nut between its paws never to be cracked or eaten.

In a tidy but stained bathroom, I changed into my extra set of clothing, Evelyn whisk ing away my wet clothes as I opened the door. Then I joined Abner and Junior at the kitchen table for a late lunc h. A bowl of something rather . . . lumpy. I surveyed the dish in front of me. I recognized chunks of Protein, but what were these other things? They reminded me of seeds . . . were they bean seeds?

“ Are these bean seeds? ”

Abner laughed joyfully. “ Did you hear that, Mama? Lila knows beans. ”

“ Lily, ” I muttered into the bowl of beans.

“ Yessiree, them are beans. Evelyn prides herself on how l-l ittle of the super-processed f-food we eat. ”

“ So you have a garden? ” I asked in a low voice.

“‘ Course we have garden, ” Evelyn snapped. “ But can ’ t keep much goin ’ in this heat. ”

“ Tell ‘er Mama,” Abner winked at me as he spoke, picking up a spongy slab from a plate next to the pot of beans. “ She didn ’ t grow these b-beans, ” he said. “ Back when the grocery s-stores started changing into the S-Stores we have now, and the old kind of food began t-t-to disappear, Evie an ’ me started storing up what we could. Food that lasts—dried beans, p-peas, lentils, rice, wheat. Freeze-dried meals, canned stuff—some of them d-d-damn ‘ preppers’ meals. Ha! Thirty-year shelf life! That sh—”

“ Abner!!! ”

“— t hat junk was worse than the f-food they have n-now, galldurn it. ”

“ And it wasn ’ t easy, ” Evie broke in, “ not in this humidity. You got to be ingenious. ” She opened her eyes wide and smiled.

“We ’ ve kept these beans for th-thirty years. It ’ s the last of ‘em.”

Although they tasted great, I now stared down at the dish in front of me, doubting the wisdom of eating more. Evelyn read my disdain.

“ Now, there ’ s nothing wrong with them beans ,” she snapped, eyes flashing. “ If I were you, I ’ d be a whole lot more worried about what ’ s in the processed food you eat every day than in the age of these here beans. Abner just likes to get people riled up. ”

I wasn ’ t so sure. “ What ’ s that? ” I asked, pointing to what Abner was eating.

“ This is bread, Lily; the missus bakes it herself. Grinds the wheat herself, too. N-n-now, I kinda like the Carbo squares— I - I - I mean they ’ re hard and all, but they ’ re not so bad. ” He winked again as Eve ly n scowled.

“ You old fool . . . if you like Carbos so much, stop eating the bread and leave more for the rest of us. ” Then she smiled sweetl y, and I realized this was just how they got along— h e incessantly teasing her, she calling him an old fool in return.

Abner and Evelyn proudly explained the details of how they had stored up a vast supply of food in the underground, temperature and humidity-controlled room they built when regulations began to tighten and food choices were becoming limited. They bragged about the produce they still grew in their GRIM-sanctioned garden . A pparently if you were a government grower, you could own a private garden as long as you didn ’ t sell or share with others. They boasted about how they saved seeds right under the government ’ s nose, Abner making a point of the illegality of it.

“ But you work for the government? ” I asked. I was confused. I had wondered about the wisdom of their telling me so much about the special underground pantry, not knowing anything about me, and now it sounded like they were working for GRIM while at the same time working against them.

“ We grow for the government. ” Abner looked a bit dismayed for the first time. “ It ’ s not—we d-don ’t like it, ” he said. “ B-b-but I-I-I c-c-couldn ’ t raise st-st-strawberries otherwise. ”

He’ d had a hard time getting it out, and now he hung his head.

“ Abner ’ s life is the berries, ” Evelyn said. “ Without them he might just wither up and blow away. ”

“ N-n-now Mama, ” he protested, cheering up a bit.

“ What about you, Lily? ” Evelyn asked bluntly. “ What ’ s your story? ” Her eyes were small and piercing.

Based on what Abner and Evelyn had shared, I figured I could trust them, and besides, they seemed like totally good people. “ I’ m trying to find H. J. Jiminez, ” I said.

They exchanged looks.

“ He’ s gone, ” Evelyn said.

My face fell before I could catch it.

“ You related? ” Abner asked. “ I thought mebby you had more of an Asian look to you. ”

“ Abner! ”

I giggled. I’ d never known grandparents, but I decided right then and there that Abner would make a pretty nice grandpa. “ No. H e’ s on a list of people I can trust. ”

“ Listen, girly, cut the mystery talk, ” Evelyn said. “ You ’ re what, ten, twelve years old—”

“ Th irteen —”

“—traveling alone. Where you from, and how do you know about beans? W hat kinda list you mean? ”

I inhaled and let my breath out slowly. “ Have you heard of Seed Savers? ”

Abner ’ s eyes changed. The dancing man inside them stopped.

“ Yes, ” said Evelyn.

“ Well, Jiminez is a Seed Saver, and, well, I ’ m sort of a Seed Saver in training; are you—”

“ No,” Evelyn interrupted, “ we used to be. Before the laws. When it became political we got out. ”

“ G-g-good thing, t-t-too. Th-th-that f-f-fool l-let that witch t-t-talk him—”

“ There, there, Papa. ” Evie looked at me. “ Abner gets worked up thinking about James Gardener and that woman , Trinia Nelson. If we had logged in on that awful day, we ’ d have lost everything. ”

She continued her story, but I didn ’ t hear it. I was too stunned hearing my father ’ s name. Eventually Evelyn noticed my silence.

“ I’ m sorry, sweetie . You probably don ’ t have any idea what I ’ m yammering on about. ”

“ Oh, no, no. I do, actually. A friend told me and my best friend some of the history. I ’ ve heard of James Gardener and Trinia Nelson. ” I felt my ears getting red. My feelings were hurt that Abner had referred to my dad as a fool. His actions had set the Movement back, so maybe I could overlook the slight. “ Have you heard anything about either of them recently? ”

“ Gardener and Nelson? ”

“ Yeah , like where he ’ s being kept ? W hat she ’ s up to? ”

“ Well, goshd-d-darn it, I think he ’ s still detained over in Cuba. ”

“ And I ’ m pretty sure that two-faced Nelson still works for the government. Some high-level, high-paying job no doubt, ” Evelyn added.

“ I heard things might be turning around, ” I tried. It was like tiptoeing into a place you knew you shouldn ’t go.

“ H-h-hell, Lily. ”

“ Abner, you watch your language around this child. ”

“ Y-y-you young people give me hope yet. ”

They confirmed what Ana had told me: Seed Savers were connecting on a massive scale, much like in the days before the Set b ack. A new leader—known only as JALIL—had emerge d, uniting rebels across the country as well as gaining international support. GRIM, in the meantime, was struggling. The country was in a spiraling economic downturn with government cutbacks looming in many departments. Abner and Evelyn had hear d the number of GRIM inspectors and enforcers w ould be slashed, and t here was even speculation that government agencies might be reorganized, eliminating GRIM altogether .

“ And this JALIL—who is he? ” I was miffed someone was replacing my father.

“ A mystery, ” Evelyn said , raising her tangerine eyebrows. “ Mind you, like we said, we ’ re not really part of the Movement. But we know people. And from what I understand, even insiders don ’ t know. Apparently, he doesn ’ t want a repeat of what happened before. All I know is this JALIL is a pretty smart cookie and very busy sending out the rallying cry. Abner would love to be a part of it, but I keep him sensible. We can ’ t risk losing what we have here. ”

I looked at Abner, thinking about the many contradictions of these old folks.

“ That ’ s right. Mama is the smart one, ” he said.

“ We always say, I ’ ve got the brains and he ’ s got the heart, ” Evelyn added, taking Abner ’s hand.

There was a pause, and once again, Evelyn focused her pale eyes on me. “ Where are your parents, Lily? Did something bad happen? ”

I wasn ’ t sure what to do. Should I tell the whole truth? “ Um, you know, based on what you just told me, I think it ’ s better if I don ’ t tell you everything. I may be a kid, but I am involved in Seed Savers. The less you know, the better. ” I looked at them hopefully—would they buy this?

“ L-l-look, Lily, we weren ’ t born yesterday. Did you run away? ”

Concern lines cut deeply into Abner ’s kind face. I almost changed my mind, came clean. “ No. No, my mom knows I left , it’ s not like that. I told everyone where I was going. ” It was true—I told them I was going to find my father. “ I didn ’ t want them to worry about me. ” I reached into my pocket. “ Here ’ s the list my friend gave me, ” I said, pushing forward Ana ’ s paper as proof of her permission.

Abner turned it over, staring at the many names and numbers, then handed it to Evelyn.

“ Jiminez is gone, ” she said again. “ He’ s gone to work more closely with the Movement. ”