Terah and Mich huddled near a meager fire as the dark settled in. On some level they both realized they’d need to find more proper shelter before reaching St. Grosstestes. Terah had guessed in the light of day that Mich was female. The constant shadow of the asylum meant he never had much in the way of visual cues. She, for her part, had good reason for keeping the truth hidden. Now with Terah requiring some tending, and the practicalities of biological functions, she had to be honest.
“This doesn’t change anything,” Terah assured her.
“Why should it?” she asked. “It ain’t like were Eve and Adam. I just figured you should know.”
“My apologies for being so crude back in Honest Oahusha.”
“It ain’t like I never seen a dick before. I just don’t want ya thinkin’ that now I’ve seen yers I want it or anything. I don’t.”
“I didn’t assume. We’ve got our work cut out for us with all these complications.” He rubbed his leg. “We’ve got to find suitable shelter. A place where we at least won’t freeze while it’s still winter.”
“And where we can get supplies. I’d been gatherin’ things at my house for a long time, and we hadda leave most of it behind.”
“Because of the ghosts. I had no desire to drive you from your home.” The mention of spirits wasn’t exactly welcome with night pressing in all around them. It was dark so much of the time in January and they had a long way to go. Outside their rock shelter, things looked eerie though the fire. “My leg’s pretty banged up, but I can walk. You’ll find out that you don’t spring back as quickly once middle age hits. I’m afraid you’ll need to be on supply duty until I can be a reasonably competent accomplice.”
“Main thing is to find a place where they won’t notice a thing or two missin’. It’s best if there’s a few stores around.”
“You’ve got no money at all?”
“Just a little that I’ve picked up. For emergencies.”
“Picked up?”
“You’d be surprised how often people drop money. One time I was tryin’ to figure out how to get unnoticed in a new convenience store. I get real nervous when I have to go in when a place is all lit up. I was desperate, though. I was young enough to get away with sayin’ my parents were comin’ in an’ would pay for things, but you can only do that once in an area. I was screwin’ up my courage when I saw paper on the ground. It was a twenty. That’s not the most I found at once, but when I do I tuck it away in case I really get stuck. How ‘bout you?”
“Well, it makes sense to pool our resources. Carrying a wallet’s a dangerous thing to do when you’re a person of interest. I always used to keep an emergency twenty when I did. Before I ditched it I had about fifty in cash. It’s in my pack. Like you, though, I think that has to be for emergencies only. I’d trust you with it.”
“You ain’t afraid I’ll run off, now that my secret’s out?”
“I trust you, Mich.”
“It’s really Lindsey. You might keep callin’ me Mich, though. Like you said, Cal, real names can be dangerous.”
“What about your last name? You trust me, right?”
“Szmyd. S-Z-M-Y-D.”
“That’s easy to remember.”
“Polish for ‘Smith.’ Makes sense if you think about it. Means I can’t give my name as Smith though—it’s too close to the real thing.”
“You might consider Miller, then.”
“I kinda feel sorry for all the Smiths, Millers, and Joneses, but they come in handy when you wanna be anonymous.”
“Parents have no idea who their children will become. And some of them lack imagination. I always thought that if I became a parent I’d give my kids distinctive names. Even with a name like Economy you never know when someone else with that name will call their kid John or Robert.”
“What about Terah?”
“It comes from the Bible. It’s the name of Abraham’s father.”
“Abraham Lincoln?”
“I used to have students who assumed that. No, history stretches far longer back than we might realize. Abraham Lincoln was named after the biblical Abraham, but he came along about 3,000 years later.”
“Three thousand years is a lotta history to remember.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to go into professor mode. It’s second nature, I’m afraid.”
He was obviously hurting. “You take the emergency blanket tonight.”
“This shelter’s pretty open—it’s going to get cold. I know it’s not ideal, but we should share it. No, no! It’s nothing like that! I promise you’ll be safe. I won’t try anything. It’s only being practical.”
The temperature had begun to drop and flecks of snow fell beyond the overhang.
“When I was still a guy you didn’t suggest it.”
“You had a hammock and a sleeping bag. We need to find an outdoors store.”
“We shoulda never left.”
“Something I’ve learned, Mich. You can always do what’s right and still end up suffering for it. I’m not going to try to fuck you just because we share a blanket. If we don’t one of us likely won’t survive the night.”
Reluctantly she accepted his offer. They had to press up against one another to both wrap up. Terah realized how suspicious it all looked. He’d shacked up with a student much younger than he was. He was on the run. She’d just confessed to being a girl. Now he invites her to share the blanket. He knew his own motives, however.
“This snow,” he yawned, “hopefully means the fog is gone. At first light we’ll start looking for a place we can shelter for a while.”
It had been a long time since he’d had another person so close. Mich remained completely silent, wrapped tightly upon herself. Terah couldn’t blame her. Eventually he drifted to sleep.
Lindsey’s scream woke him with a jolt.
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