Page 106 of A Better World

“Anyway, we had to kick it up to New York. The judge made an emergency decision because of the kidnapping. Rachel got sole custody. But then Kai said he was sorry, and Rachel took him back. They recommitted. It was adorable.”

“Wow,” Linda said, imagining the scene with horror. Man wants to leave with his kids; man gets stopped; man goes back to same life, pretending he’s happy. Wife apparently doesn’t give a shit, so long as she gets decent childcare.

“But Kai had a condition: Rachel had to check herself into the hospital and dry out. It’s a good thing, too. She was getting out of hand.”

“She was,” Linda agreed.

“Apparently, I’m a whore,” Daniella said. “Can you imagine?”

“No,” Linda lied.

“I’m all for gossip but she went a little far. Anyway, she’ll be out of commission for a while. You’ll see her at the Winter Festival—she has to go to that—but otherwise, she’s taking a break. I told her she’s out of ActHollow. She can come back once she apologizes. I’m a little miffed, to be honest. It’s okay to talk aboutotherpeople, but it’s not okay to stab your best friend in the back.”

“Right,” Linda said. “It must have hurt your feelings.”

“Feelings? No. Nothing hurts my feelings. I’m a grown-up. But I helped her. I had her in good position. She was going to be in leadership, and now that’s gone.”

“Jack’s definitely getting CEO?” Linda asked.

Daniella blew a frustrated raspberry. “It’s going to make Lloyd’s job much harder, having Jack around. Mine, too, without Rachel. She’s been my person for a long time and now I’m alone,” Daniella said, flatand angry, like the sorrow in there was an underwater volcano. She had no access to it.

“Is she going cold turkey or are they administering something to ease her symptoms?” Linda asked. “I don’t mean to sound alarmist, but alcohol is the only drug where the withdrawal can literally kill you.”

“Oh, who knows. She’s done it enough you’d think she’d have written a manual,” Daniella said.

Linda pulled the device away from her ear and stared at it. “I’m so sorry you had to deal with all this,” she said.

“Thank you,” Daniella said. “Honestly, between your little revolt and Rachel falling apart, things with Lloyd have been shaky. It’s every man for himself.”

Thursday

Russell was avoiding Linda, and Linda was too angry to seek him out. He’d been sleeping in his office. They walked circles around one another. As if she could no longer be trusted, he’d taken it upon himself to drive the kids to school. That Thursday morning, she went to the border.

“Today’s not your day!” Sally said, waving big and seemingly over her anger.

“I know! But I wanted to have a look at the halfway house I’ve been hearing about.”

Sally’s eyes widened. “Oooh! Hot gossip. Are you visiting someone?”

“No. I just want to let them know that the clinic’s open to them if they need it.”

“Sure. Just be careful. Too many trips outside starts to look bad.”

It was snowing and had been snowing. Drifts settled across lawns and sidewalks and sides of streets. PVE looked clean for once. The car wasn’t great on the ice—and neither was Linda. She skidded, rolling across the median. But there wasn’t any oncoming traffic.

She passed the clinic, and after a short kilometer made a left at aten-foot-high snowbank. Then down that street. She was surprised to see that the houses here were tended, their shutters freshly painted. Great air purifiers were mounted to side yards. PVE’s middle class—engineers, plumbers, and architects.

On the radio, a story about the fall of Berlin. Another story about nuclear capture. Working in tandem, United Colonial scientists and Chinese scientists had made another breakthrough that they were now testing in Nevada, Tehran, Chernobyl, and Yangjiang. Except for Tehran, which had been badly hit, the new technology had scrubbed all ambient radiation within forty-eight hours. People in Chernobyl were wandering through overgrown fields that had once been roads. The scientists involved in the breakthrough had been arrested for espionage and sedition to overthrow their respective governments. Instead of seeking asylum, they’d surrendered and were facing death penalties. In a Chinese-American joint statement, they announced whatever was done to them was worth it. They believed it was important to stand trial in the hopes of proving their innocence and paving the way for more open communication.

Despite all that was happening in her own life, a feeling of wonder rippled through her. You get used to people doing terrible things. You get used to being told that only suckers take risks. You hear this so much you believe it. You believe that if you try, you’ll try alone, and because of that, you’ll fail. But here were people who’d done something, who were willing to die for that thing. They existed. Always had.

She made a right at the next block, which followed the Omnium River. The snow at its banks was an unnatural, oil-slick grayish black. She went another kilometer, the car skidding the whole time. She stopped in front of a run-down Victorian house with smoke pluming from its chimney. It reminded her of Poughkeepsie.

Upon knocking, the door opened to Gal’s familiar face. She was wearing a wool cap that covered the scars along her scalp, along with a long-sleeved shirt and plain trousers. Her hands glistened with some kind of ointment she’d probably applied for the pain.

“Hi,” Linda said. It oddly felt like she was talking to an old friend.

Gal’s eyes welled with tears. “You found them.”

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