Chapter 7
Peace and Love
February is a tough month to have time on your hands. The greenhouse had to be kept warm and there were a few chores but not enough to take your mind off things. Winter vegetables had to be harvested: potatoes, rutabagas, beets. There was always lettuce growing in the greenhouse and tomatoes and squash, although not enough to feed to the entire community every day. Produce had to be picked and taken to market and bartered for necessities. The market was held inside at the Center in winter. Trips to the thrift shop, although there were few pieces of clothing on the racks, helped families with growing children. But tasks hardly filled the days. Mo felt that time moved uncommonly slow. He spent the first few long afternoons in the Underground gaming, hoping to catch glimpses of future plans in the chat rooms, but no one broke the silence.
There was the extreme irritation of that guy hanging around with Hannah, that Chris Anderson guy. He never came Underground but he seemed to know when Hannah would be around the community rooms because there he would be. Mo had no real reason to dislike the guy except that he was an outsider; except that he raised the hair on Mo’s arms; except that he made Hannah laugh; except that he might have feelings for Hannah himself; except that he might be jealous. With his Trump Troops radar triggered and all mixed in with this desire to cold cock the guy if he didn’t leave Hannah alone and go visit another city far away, Mo couldn’t really trust his Spidey sense which said that this Chris character might be sniffing around more than Hannah. Perhaps he suspected the community’s involvement with the Resistance or there was a leak, or the GSAT connection was not secure. He said he was visiting relatives but he never named them and he never showed up in their company.
Henry and Drew were physically nearby, but they were in a SCIF and immersed in planning the Rebellion, but, oh how he wished he could see if they felt Chris’s wrongness as deeply as he did. Haircuts were part of the problem. All men and boys had to have a military haircut. If people were allowed to express themselves through their haircuts it was easier to make assumptions about identities, although it was an imperfect metric Mo admitted, and it worked for both sides.
Hannah didn’t seem to be crushing on this man, but she wasn’t pushing him away either. Mo was shocked to find out about his own feelings for Hannah. They had known each other since childhood, and they had always been three, not two. What if Drew also had this attraction to Hannah? What could be done about this magnetic pull with war looming, when one or both could be killed, when they were still living in a prison state? But when Hannah smiled and said “hey, Mo” his knees almost gave out and it was totally involuntary. He was going to take some time to think this over. And he was going to keep a sharp eye on this Chris Anderson character. Mo also vowed to spend some more time with his mom, who seemed a bit lonely these days, and worried. “Guys don’t get moony,” Mo thought but he wrote all this in his journal anyway (except he didn’t speak of himself in the third person).
Mo stayed close to home for the next two weeks helping his mother cook and clean; laundry was especially tough in winter. It was quite a physical undertaking. Mo hung the sheets outside to dry because his mom loved the way they smelled like fresh air and ozone. Of course, they stiffened in the frigid air and had to be stretched to dry inside before they could be folded or used. The Samuels had electricity but couldn’t afford to be spotted using too much of it, especially with that ‘shark’ circulating.
Mo spent time in the small barn with a book about the Civil War retrieved from the collection in the Underground and kept hidden in this barn which was off the beaten path because it was given over to Mo and his friends. One day, out the blue, his brilliant mom said, “You need to start dancing some attendance on that sweet Hannah, sort of stake your claim. What if Chris Anderson isn’t a snitch? Women need a little clue once in while about where your feelings lie. And if Hannah is no longer unattached this man will have no good reason to stay. In case he is stubborn we can issue a formal invitation to his ‘family’ to come to a mid-winter dinner at the Center. If he can’t produce an actual family he might have to move on.”
“Mom!” was Mo’s first response, but then he spoke as the rebel he was, “I thought about that but you know that old saying, ‘keep your friends close and your enemies closer.’ At least right now we know where this guy is and can play him. I am pretty sure that regardless of how Hannah feels about me she is also wary of this guy, unless he is far more charming than I think he is. He’s handsome but he looks a little too ‘pressed’ to be one of us.” Mo realized that if he thought he was keeping anything from his mom he was mistaken. He put his arm around Bea’s shoulders and pulled her close, planted a little kiss on her cheek and said, “Thanks, Ma.” “Anytime, son,” she replied with a smile that somehow conveyed compassion.
Mo had a Chris-free opportunity to use a secret entrance to the Underground. He chose to play Super Mario Brothers. He might not have control over his own life right now but he could control Mario and make that funny little guy do as he wished. The chat screen opened up and Mo read,
“Pump ya fists if ya feel me, holla if ya hear me.
Learn to live in the nine-tre’
I make rhyme pay, others make crime pay. Whatever it takes to live and stand,
Cause nobody else’ll give a damn” Heart00
Oh, that Theo Oxford, Mo thought, not so great at following rules, but since no one would see this as anything but a shout-out to Tupac, it was cool. And all it really was there for was to lift his spirits. It gave away no secrets. Mo’s spirits were definitely lifted. The Rebellion was alive and well. But his human heart was still doing that lovesick thing for the first time in his relatively short life. Living is complicated.
He sensed he was no longer alone and there was Hannah looking over his shoulder with that lovely long mane of curly dark brown hair and she was smiling. “Chris has gone away for a few days,” she says. “Let’s go sledding.” And he is reminded of that line from a favorite old movie A Knight’s Tale, ‘This day just keeps getting better and better.’