Moonliner: No Stone Unturned (20 page)

              “So how did your day go?” she asks Beau.

              “Well,” he answers while staring up at the TV.

              “Do you think you got the job?” she asks.

              “I think there’s a good chance, but it won’t start for a few months,” Beau tells her.  “I could go to work for their tech support team in the meantime until the IT job opens, if it opens.  It would help me train for the IT opening.”

              “That sounds wonderful,” Kendra says with a little look of relief herself, knowing the stress that’s been on Beau.

              “Yeah,” Beau replies.  “It feels good to have an option on the table, whether it’s right for me or not.”

Their server delivers Kendra’s wine and the two touch glasses to toast Beau’s encouraging interview. 

              “So how was your day?” Beau asks.

              “It was nice actually,” Kendra answers; “our manager was out of the office today, which always makes for a more relaxed atmosphere.”

Kendra spots the Volans in the entrance to the restaurant.  She waves them into the bar right as their waitress arrives to tell them that their table is ready.  Just as they walk out of the bar, the TV screens flash images of people flooding onto the street from an evacuated apartment building.  The title across the TV reads, “Breaking News, San Francisco.”

Kendra and Beau carry their drinks as the four of them follower their waitress to a table nicely situated by a window, where docked just outside, harbor cruise ships sway on the water.  The sun breaks back out from behind the cloud, again brightening the room.  It feels good.

The server hands them menus as they all sit down at the table.  Silently, they all sit reading them for a minute.

              “What looks good?” Rich Volan asks.

              “I think I’m gonna have the Royal Red Robyn Burger,” Beau says.

              “That looks good,” Amber says. 

              “He always gets that one when we eat here,” Kendra says.

Their server soon returns to take their order.  Beau and Rich both go for the Royal Red Robyn, Amber orders a club sandwich, and Kendra a shrimp Caesar salad.  The restaurant is filled to capacity with a dozen or so people waiting in the entrance for tables.

              “So what’s new with you Beau?” Rich asks to break the silence.

              “Well as you may know I was laid off at work a few weeks ago,” Beau says to get the topic out of the way.

              “Amber told me,” Rich says; “sorry to hear about that.”

              “Thanks,” Beau responds; “that’s nice of you to say.

Beau orders another beer.  Rich and Amber order beers as well.  With a glass still half full of wine, Kendra holds off. 

              “So have they found that missing airliner yet?” Amber asks the group.

              “No,” Kendra answers; “isn’t that the weirdest thing?”

              “They’re coming up with new theories every day,” Rich says.

              “It’s a reminder how big the planet is,” Beau adds.  “They’ll find it soon.”

              “Not according to the future guy,” Kendra says, smiling at Beau.

              “Who’s the future guy?’ Amber asks, conscious of the private exchange.

              “I recently picked up a few messages over my shortwave radio from a guy claiming to be from the future,” Beau answers while giving Kendra a quick little dirty look for bringing it up.

              “He came from the future?” Rich asks.

              “No, he sent the messages from the future,” Beau answers.

              “Fascinating!” Amber says smiling.  “How far into the future is he from?”

              “Fifty-five years,” Beau answers with a smile.  It is a fun story to tell.  “He lives in 2069.” 

              “Does this future guy have a name?” Rich asks.

              “He didn’t say,” Beau curtly replies, now wanting to drop the subject.

              “It may be a scam of some kind,” Rich warns.

              “Or it may be a guy from the future,” Amber optimistically adds.

              “You don’t really believe that, do you?” Rich asks her.

              “Believe?  No,” Amber answers; “but look how quickly we discard it.”

              “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence,” Beau adds.

              “That’s right, but a claim remains a claim until either proven or disproven,” Amber retorts; “leaving some degree of question until the answer is known.”

              “True,” Beau says; “I can’t argue with that.”

              “But this claim sounds more outlandish than extraordinary,” Rich says; “Unfortunately we live on a planet gone mad, making the likelihood of this guy being some raving lunatic very high,” Rich adds.

              “That’s true too,” Kendra says, emerging from her silent observation.

The server soon returns with their food and another round of beverages.  The conversation carries on, jumping from topic to topic.  The mood steadily softens as the laughter continues to rise throughout dinner.  Beau looks around the room, then around his table and realizes that he’s actually having a good time.  Who would have guessed?

Satisfied with their meal, the conversation, and how the evening has played out, both parties finally call it an evening and part ways from the restaurant.  Beau and Kendra walk back to their car, still parked in the lot of Seattle Systems where Beau had interviewed earlier for the job.  The sun is long gone and a brilliant crescent moon brightly lights up the clouds.  The bay is still and the night is tranquil.  A ferry’s fog horn echoes over the harbor. 

Driving home along Dexter Avenue, Kendra and Beau discuss their evening and the surprisingly good time Beau had.  Kendra, having only had a glass and a half of wine, drives.  Beau sits on the passenger’s side staring out the window at all the houseboats on Lake Union.  They roll across the drawbridge and into Fremont, virtually the only car on the road. 

              “I’m sorry I mentioned the future guy tonight,” Kendra tells Beau.

              “Oh, no,” Beau replies; “don’t worry about it.  I’m just glad you didn’t mention the coin.  Rich, being the skeptic he is, would think I’m nuts for giving the matter any attention at all.”

              “Well, I won’t mention it again,” Kendra says.

              “It’s over anyway,” Beaus says; “as far as I am concerned.  He doesn’t know who we are and I’m not going back to Vancouver to leave any more coins under any stones.”

Once home, Beau kicks off his shoes and heads for the sofa.  There, he leans back and stretches his legs out in front of the coffee table.  He grabs the TV remotes but tosses it aside before turning the TV on.  He’s too tired to watch the tube.  Kendra comes into the living room and sits beside him.

              “I liked the highlights in Amber’s hair,” Kendra says in a soft voice; “I’m thinking about getting highlights too.  What do you think?” she asks Beau.

              “Highlights sound beautiful,” he mumbles, barely awake.

              “But which do you prefer?” she asks; “highlights or no highlights?”

              “I will think you are beautiful if you get them, and I will think you’re beautiful if you don’t.  It’s a win-win,” Beau answers, trying to side-step a no win situation.

              “I’m happy you think I’m beautiful,” Kendra replies after a few minutes of sitting silently in the dark; “and I like it when you tell me, but sometimes I want to hear what you really think.  I want you to pay attention to my hair long enough to give me an honest answer.  That’s all,” she tells him.

The room stays silent.  Kendra looks over at Beau but he’s fallen fast asleep.  She’s been talking to herself.  She smiles at him and kisses his forehead before covering him with a blanket.  She turns the TV on and switches to an ambient music channel.  She turns the volume down low and sits thinking in the dark.

Moonliner
4:05

Kendra wakes to natural light in their bedroom.  It’s clearly getting lighter earlier.  She slides out of bed without waking Beau and tiptoes into the kitchen to put some coffee on.  She opens the kitchen window just a little to let some fresh air into the room.  The rain is back but Kendra welcomes it.  The two-day warming trend has left the air a little dryer, making this the first rain she’s been able to smell all year.  The Azalea in their back yard is full of pink buds bursting at their seams; they’ll open any day.  Enjoying the morning silence, Kendra grabs her IPAD and starts reading facebook posts. 

The cooler air eventually circulates into the bedroom, carrying a subtle hint of expresso.  Beau smells it but feels like hell.  It’s not only the beers but the general fatigue he’s been under.  Last night was good for him to get out and take his mind off of things, but it can sometimes leave a heavier hangover than alcohol when rest catches up with a busy mind.  Beau is drained of energy.

After another fifteen minutes of drifting in and out of sleep, he rolls out of bed and into the kitchen, where he helps himself to a cup of Kendra’s coffee, grabs his IPHONE, sits at the table, and begins reading his email.

              “I barely remember going into the bedroom last night,” Beau says.

              “I had to wake you on the sofa.  Your head was pushed sideways against the armrest,” Kendra replies.

              “I am seriously tired today,” Beau tells her.

              “Well, it’s no wonder.  You didn’t really ever rest after your Vancouver trip,” she replies.  “It ate up most of your weekend and then you jumped right back into your job search when you got back.”

              “And I had two too many last night,” Beau adds; “those were five-percenters.”    

Kendra grabs the remote, turns the TV on and starts flipping through channels.  She watches a cooking show for a few minutes, but quickly grows bored with it.  She scrolls through the menu to look for anything interesting, but her efforts are in vain and she soon gives up the search.  She tosses the remote to Beau who turns to a twenty-four hour news channel, then mutes the TV but leaves the video broadcast on in the background.

Kendra gets up and goes into the bathroom to run a bath.  Beau can feel a headache seeding and starts to close his eyes, again drifting into sleep.  His eyes open several seconds later, heavily, to images of Japan flashing across his TV.  Then a map accentuating Kyushu Island is displayed.  More asleep than awake, it takes Beau several seconds to process the silent news report.  He laughs to himself, thinking of the future guy’s transmission and the earthquake predicted in Kyushu.  His eyes then spring wide open; an earthquake in Kyushu.  He grabs the remote and restores the volume. 

“A magnitude six point three earthquake struck off the coast of Japan’s Kyushu Island earlier today.  There have been reports of some minor structural damage, but no deaths or injuries thus far have been reported.”

Beau gets up from the sofa and begins searching the room for his memo recorder.  Excited by the thought that the future guy could have one right, he looks all around the room.  His head begins to throb in pain, forcing him to pause, slow down, and think; this isn’t worth getting excited over.  Earthquakes happen in Japan all the time.

“What the hell was the magnitude mentioned?” Beau asks himself, looking the room over for the recorder.  He finally spots it on the coffee table.  He finds Cedric’s message and scans through it until he gets to the part about the earthquake in Kyushu.

“…fire.  The next day, March 13th, a 6.3 magnitude earthquake will occur near Japan’s Kyushu Island.  Three days later, on the 16th, a 6.7 will strike off the coast of Chile, triggering tsunami warnings.  The tsunami will never come.  The next day, president Obama will announce sanctions on Russia over the Crimean crisis.  And if that’s all too soon, on March 26th, the first-known ringed asteroid will be discovered; 10199 Chariklo circling the sun between the orbits of Saturn and Uranus.  If you find this to be more convincing, please leave…” the message plays.