The Gathering (6 page)

Sam laughed.

"Your brother is determined to get my dad to recommend him for congressional status."

"I know.
 
You'd think with the destruction of the old political system we wouldn't have the politicians of old, yet, I find myself related to a junior ladder climber."

Sam smiled.
 
Scott moved forward and threw another sack of food in the wagon and then leaned down to pet Madison.
 
He continued to scratch the dog's ears as Sam worked.
 
He then stood up and leaned against the wagon, crossed his arms and thoughtfully watched Sam.
 
After several minutes Scott looked down and took off the dusty cowboy hat that covered his short brown hair.
 
He wiped the sweat from his brow, then put the hat back on his head and looked over at Sam, who finally turned around.

"What?"

"Are you gonna ask her?"

Sam looked at Scott and shook his head.

"I don't know…I’m kind of pathetic, huh?"

"Kind of."

Scott smiled at his friend as Sam sighed.

"My mother thinks I’m gay, did you know that?"

Scott leaned forward and patted his friend’s shoulder.
 

"You should tell them you're planning to move to We Ho."

"Shut up."

Scott started to laugh, but Sam continued.

"I don't even think she knows I’m alive."

"That's probably true."

"Thanks."

“It's not personal, Sam.
 
She only has about a dozen guys following her around at every Gathering."

"Tell me about it."

"Not to mention the fact that you never talk to her.
 
You watch, but you never speak.
 
No, I'm sorry… I think you have told her hello about a dozen times.
 
Then you watch her walk away."

Sam frowned at his friend and moved to grab more items to lift into the wagon, when a breeze brushed past both of them, but the air was not just cool, it was freezing. All the hairs on their arms stood at attention and Sam could feel himself shudder, but it wasn't from the cold.

He looked up at the spot where he had looked earlier and he thought he saw a mist moving quickly and darkly towards his village.

"Scott?"

He looked over at his friend, who was now on the ground, grabbing the back of his head.
 
Sam tried to move towards him, but his muscles seized and he felt himself falling. Then he felt as if something were stealing his very breath.
 
He could feel the air being taken from him, the lack of oxygen making his lungs constrict.
 
He wanted to scream for help, but he couldn't.

He struggled to get air, but the darkness was coming.
 
Just as his eyes closed, he swore he saw a light.
 
“
A light
,” he laughed to himself.
 
“
I knew there was a god
.”
 
Then, black.

6

Aaron Levine and his wife Lorraine sat in the front of their wagon looking out across the low desert of the old San Fernando Valley.
 
Aaron was the president of Bethel Israel, the Jewish camp, which was located in the area once known as Simi Valley.
 

Riding along side the wagon were their oldest children, David and Rachel.
 
At sixteen, David was tall and thin with short dark hair and brown eyes that were gentle and wise.
 
Rachel was fifteen and a spitfire.
 
She and David fought often, but they were fiercely protective of one another and their younger brother, Joe, who was twelve and was leaning on the seat between his mother and father.
 
David looked over at his sister.

"Hey, Rach?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think Rebecca would dance with me tonight?"

Rachel raised her eyebrows and looked ahead, smiling.

"If nobody else asks her… maybe."

David let his shoulders slump and looked ahead, disappointed.
 
Rachel could see she hurt his feelings and stared at the back of her horse's head.
 
She then raised her glance to her older brother.

"I'm sorry, David."

"No, that's ok.
 
I was just wondering."

"Honestly, I don't know.
 
I don’t see why not though.
 
I mean I guess you're good-looking enough."

As she said this last sentence, she shook her head and had a look of distaste.
 
After all, he was her brother.

Aaron and Lorraine had heard the conversation and were trying not to laugh.
 
Joe popped his head up.

"I don’t get why you want to dance anyway.
 
What's the point?"

Aaron pushed his youngest son's head back down.

"In a few years, you'll know why.
 
For now, don't worry about it and leave your brother alone."

David blushed as he realized that his parents had heard the conversation.
 

"I don't think so," Joe announced.

Lorraine turned to her youngest.

"Didn't your father tell you to leave it alone?"

Joe sat back down and made a face at his parents behind their backs.
 
Lorraine sighed.

"I saw that, young man."

Rachel and David laughed quietly.
 
Aaron found himself smiling at the thought of this Gathering and seeing his friends.
 
It had been six months since the last Gathering and he always enjoyed seeing Alia and Sean as well as the Hearsts, Turners and Forresters.
 
Lorraine looked at her husband.

"You look happy."

"I am."

"You love a good party.
 
You always have."

"Sure do.
 
Besides everyone is envious that you're my date."

"Shut up."

Aaron laughed.
 
He looked at his wife and it occurred to him that he still had no idea why she had married him.
 
Lorraine Levine was, by all accounts, gorgeous.
 
She was blond and curvy with the biggest brown eyes Aaron had ever seen.
 
She had been out of his league when he first asked her out twenty years ago, but she had still said yes.

They were the youngest of all of the dignitaries, but Aaron was a rabbi in great standing.
 
That was why he was chosen to lead his people five years before when Rabbi Goldfarb had passed away.
 
Aaron was forty and Lorraine was thirty-eight.
 
He often missed the Old World and the Gatherings were a piece of that, something that was still tangible about the past.
 

"Knock it off, Rachel!"

Aaron looked over to see his two oldest going at it again.
 
He looked at Lorraine who just shook her head.

"This is gonna be a long trip," he said.

She nodded and settled in.
 
She could not wait to get to the Fail.

7

Rebecca Stark was sitting at the kitchen table reading a book about King Arthur.
 
She mulled over the picture of Guinevere and Lancelot and sighed.
 
Alisha walked into the kitchen and grabbed an apple from the large bowl near the sink and turned around, leaning against the counter.

"What's the matter, Beck?"

Rebecca turned around and shrugged.

"Nothing."

Alisha walked over to the table and sat next to her sister.
 
She reached over and moved the book so she could see what her little sister was staring at so intently and smiled.

"An undeniable love."

Rebecca started to blush and looked down at the picture.
 
Alisha smiled and pushed the book back.

"Anyone in mind?"

Rebecca smiled.
 

"No, not really.
 
Lish?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think any boy will ever like me?"

Alisha cocked her head and shrugged.
 
She looked at the teenager, her shoulder-length brown hair, nose covered in freckles and those warm brown eyes hidden behind the wire-framed glasses.

"Sure.
 
Why do you ask?"

Rebecca shrugged and continued to look down.

"C'mon, Beck."

"It's just that I'm not exactly beautiful like the rest of the girls in this family.
 
I mean I wear glasses and have this awful dull hair.
 
I heard some of the other girls at school say how plain I was.
 
Why would anyone like me?"

Alisha dropped her shoulders and leaned on the table.

"Well, first things first.
 
You're only fifteen.
 
You're just starting to grow up, Beck.
 
Give yourself a chance.
 
You probably weren't paying much attention when I was fifteen 'cause you were still playing with dolls, but I was a mess."

"But boys still noticed you."

Alisha laughed.

"No, they noticed these."

Alisha pointed to her chest and continued to laugh.

"I developed early and they weren't interested in me, only these two."

Rebecca blushed and looked down.

"I don't have that problem."

Alisha took her sister's hand.

"Do you know why Vance fell in love with me?"
 
Alisha asked.

"Because of your boobs?"

Alisha smiled.

"Although he likes them, no.
 
He fell in love with me because of who I am… every part of who I am, not just what I look like.
 
He thinks I'm beautiful because he loves me."