Page 47 of The Champion
Marco thought about it. “It does sound like a unique experience.” Turning to Shelly, he mused, “Maybe we should consider it.”
My brain was starting to recover from the shock of Shelly’s so effortlessly coming up with an answer I hadn’t considered despite thinking about this conundrum nonstop since yesterday. “You talk about it as if it’s a few months away, but a project like that will take enormous resources and planning,” I pointed out.
Marco nodded. “You’re right, Freya. Don’t mind my family. They pop out ideas as easy as the rest of us fart.”
Wrinkling her nose, Ada looked to her father. “At least our ideas don’t come with a foul odor.”
“Maybe not, but ninety percent of the ideas you three come up with never go anywhere.”
“That’s because people don’t always see the genius potential in them,” Shelly interjected.
“Well, they may not smell, but some of them are still shit, so there’s that.”
Shelly leaned against Marco and smiled up at him. “You know what they say, to have a great idea you must have a thousand ideas.”
“Who said that?” Marco asked. “I’m not sure anyone actually said that because it’s bullshit. You wouldn’t need a thousand ideas if you have the right one from the beginning.”
As we continued investigating the ruins, my mind was full of speculations about starting a new settlement with Victor. There were other people much better suited to live in the wilderness, but maybe if we managed to create something decent to live in from the beginning, we could do it.
I almost stumbled on a pile of bricks and Shiva was quick to offer me a hand of support.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, thank you.” With a grateful nod, I continued on while Ada moved closer to him.
“Albert says that the pre-war people were so poor in this country that they used to eat frogs and snails. Is that true, Shiva?”
He shrugged. “I have no idea. I’m just a carpenter who is cleaning the land. History was never my thing.”
“It’s not that they were poor,” Albert lectured Ada. “It’s that those things were seen as delicacies.”
Ada wrinkled her nose again. “Now I know that you’re lying.”
“In other parts of the world they would eat testicles from bulls.”
“Albert, stop freaking out your sister and start looking for souvenirs we can bring home.” Shelly bent down and picked up what looked like a broken tile with a vague pattern. Holding it up she turned it from side to side. “The colors are faded, but I think it used to be a flower motif.”
“Probably,” I agreed.
“Let’s find something better,” Ada suggested and so we went hunting for souvenirs to remember this glorious day.
When we returned to the safe zone hours later, the part that I took with me was our conversation about settlers. Victor had sworn loyalty to his country in a public ceremony once. Getting him to leave France wouldn’t be easy, but as I saw it, a light of hope had been turned on for us. We had slept together every night for two weeks now and I dreaded when my six weeks in France would come to an end. The thought of not seeing Victor for a year made my stomach hurt.
I had told him plenty of times that I loved him.
With his upbringing and conditioning, it might be impossible for him to ever say those words back to me, but I would know he loved me if he chose a life with me over his country.
CHAPTER 12
Optimizing
Victor
The part of my job that I disliked the most was attending meetings. People talked too much. I had told Celeste a million times that my hours were better spent working on solutions than talking about them. As the head of the Environmental Department, Celeste was technically my boss and the one who struggled to get funding for our work. She insisted that she needed me to keep the members of Parliament updated and interested in our progress. That meant sitting in boring meetings with the Environmental Planning Group once a week. Besides Celeste and me, there were three other members in the group: Zola, who was part of the delegation that went to all international summits, and then there were Frédéric Nattier and Joseph Faubert. Both men were longtime members of the parliament and among the rumored candidates to take over as prime minister after Rafael Moreau, who was sick. I disliked the way the men spoke to me as if we were close friends. Joseph loved to hear himself talk and was the worst at wasting my time. Today he was rambling more than ever or maybe my annoyance with him had to do with how much I was on edge. Several times I lost focus because I kept thinking about Freya’s meeting today with a potential husband.
Earlier, when Freya told me that Aubri set her up with a candidate, I was angry at myself for being bothered. I had always known my time with Freya would be limited. My resistance to her marrying was selfish when I knew how much Freya dreamed of starting a family. Rationally, I was aware that I should be happy for her, and yet my feeling of concern that I would lose my relationship with Freya kept growing inside me. Now that it was late afternoon, I had reached a state of dread so strong that I felt nauseated.
What I had with Freya was like nothing else in my life. The way she looked at me and made me feel like I was her man was different from any woman I’d ever been with. No one in their right mind here would speak of love, but Freya did it without hesitation or shame. When she cuddled up to me at night, I found myself holding on to her and loving her closeness. I didn’t return her words of love but sometimes when she needed a water or bathroom break, I would hold on to her, refusing to let her go. It was my way of showing her that I couldn’t get enough of her.
