The Passage

Off to this side there are several thin Zetas, transporting injured people or

assisting those too weak to walk into the domed city from a dull gray saucer

shaped craft suspended a couple feet off the ground. Those who can't walk are

being transported by levitation, their prone bodies floating alongside a

walking Zeta who is apparently in charge of the levitation and transport.

Billy is out digging for potatoes in a field behind the tent city. It is

gloomy as though early dawn, the trees along the creek starkly outlined

against the gray sky. Their leaves have fallen off, not as they do in fall

when they color and then drop, but because about half have turned a sickly

yellow and dropped while the remaining leaves are still green. Billy is

scrapping and chopping at the soil with a short hoe and digging tool, turning

the earth, looking for potatoes.

He has a cloth sack lying on the ground beside him, lumpy with the few

potatoes he has found. He is dusty and frankly dirty in places, as much from

his work as from infrequent baths. Billy looks solemn and forlorn, with a

slight frown on this face. Billy drops to his knees to dig by hand, failing to

notice that he is no longer alone.

Suddenly Billy notices a thick gray Zeta foot, developed over eons to deal

with a heavy gravity draw, and the thin leg above it. The foot appears to be

booted in a seamless gray material. Billy sees the foot and freezes, but does

48

not look concerned. He eases back into a sitting position, putting his legs

out in front of him a bit, and looks up, squinting.

The Zeta holds a capped vial of smoky colored glass. The long slender fingers

in the Zeta hand are wrapped around the vial, held in place by just a hint of

a thumb, a bump where the thumb should be. Billy starts talking to the Zeta as

though he has been doing this all his life, as though there were nothing

unusual about the scene. He blurts out, in a natural and relaxed voice, as

though talking to a family member he trusts, speaking quickly and with fervor.

She just won't talk to any of us.

At this tears well up in his eyes. Billy continues, with a quiver in his

voice.

She stares at me like she doesn't see me.

His breath quickening as though he were about to start crying in earnest,

tears starting to stream down his face.

I asked her to come with me, digging, so we could skip

stones like we used to, and she didn't even say

nothing. Nothing!

Billy wipes the tears away with the palm of his hand against one cheek,

suddenly jerking his head up and looking clear faced at the Zeta, whose face

we never see. There is a moment of silence as he is obviously listening to

something intently. He glances at the vial and raises his hand to take it

from the Zeta. He smiles slightly through his dusty tears, glancing at the

Zeta briefly during this, by way of thanks.

_______________________________

Though it is mid-day, it is still gloomy, as though a very overcast day during

early dawn at the ranch city. Martha is sorting laundry, looking for items to

be mended, seated on a chair in an open area, the laundry scattered about her

in little piles on the ground. Her two children are behind her on the grass,

Billy bringing Tammy what appears to be a glass of water. Billy sits down

beside her, holding the glass up near her face. Tammy weakly raises a hand,

and Billy uses his own hand in addition to her hand to steady the glass as she

raises it.

Issues around the food shortage and what to eat have come up continually

lately, with creative meal-making resulting. Martha cooks what she and Red

decide is good to eat, and the others are told not to ask. This has included

atypical menu items such as earthworms picked up off the damp grass after the

last rain and some slow moving possums Red has caught, as well as edible

weeds.

49

Big Tom strides in to talk to his wife, squatting before her so they can talk

face to face. He looks up into her face.

We're out, plumb out, and the canned goods are going

fast too.

Martha is unperturbed, as she and Red noticed this long before the others.

She keeps on mending through all of this without missing a stitch, though

looks up and into her husbands eyes a lot, letting him know she has heard him.

She smiles.

Red is bringing some possum back, and I've got some

special soup tonight, you'll see, it'll be all right.

Big Tom pauses, then rises to his feet.

Special soup?

Martha starts picking the laundry up off a pile, folding it on her lap as

though getting ready to go.

Never you mind, it'll be good for you.

_______________________________

It is supper time in the tent city, where the group has gathered around a

glowing camp fire in the center of the makeshift tents. Martha is ladling out

soup, handing bowl after bowl to the group as they come up one at a time.

Some members of the group eat heartily, others sniff and hesitate. Herman

says,

What's in this?

He receives no answer nor even a nod from Martha. All eventually start

eating.