Grandfather by Anthony Wade Page A

place?
    “This place is like a
maze,” I said, more to myself.
    She took it as an
opportunity to have a conversation. “Yeah,” she said. “That’s what
I thought at first.” She slowed down to make sure we stayed
side-by-side as she talked to me. “It’s not too bad once you get to
know it.”
    We were silent for a
while. I walked with her, wishing for the tour to be over. The
silence between us became awkward. Marley eventually asked what I
had seen of the underground facility.
    “My room,” I told
her.
    She laughed. “I knooow
that,” she said. “I mean anything else?”
    “Nah,” I said. I thought
about the first room I was in. I had completely forgotten. “I did
meet Belladonna and Robert in this really nice room.”
    “Yeah, it’s really nice,”
she said. “I’ve only been in it once. It’s mainly where Edgar,
Belladonna and Robert plan for things.”
    “What do they plan?” I
asked.
    “That’s where they plan
before any of them goes into the city to learn more about
Grandfather. They talk about any problems and concerns going on
with people down here and work out a way to fix them. They’re
really good at it.”
    She turned down a hall to
the right. I forced myself to keep up beside her. It was a little
difficult since I didn’t know where we were going.
    After a few minutes of
more silence, I figured I’d force myself to talk to her. Perhaps
that would make things less awkward. “What do you think about this
whole Grandfather thing?” I asked, not believing I was the one bringing
it up this time. But I was curious to see if she had the same
opinion as the others.
    “What do you mean?” she
asked, sounding shocked.
    “Well,” I started. “I
mean, do you believe it?”
    “Do I believe it?” Marley
asked loudly, as if she had never heard anybody ask such a
thing.
    “I mean . . .”
    “Yeah I believe it,” she
said.
    I said nothing.
    “Don’t you?” she
asked.
    I scratched my head, not
sure if she would be mad if I said no. Perhaps that was a terrible
question to ask. “I don’t really know.”
    “How can you not know,
Carsyn?” she asked immediately.
    “I don’t know,” I
repeated. Marley stopped in the middle of the hall. I did the same.
Her eyes narrowed, but she didn’t seem angry, really . . . just a
little suspicious. Or maybe she was angry, and I just couldn’t tell. I never got the
chance to talk to other girls. The houseladies were the only women
I was around, and . . . well, you know how I feel about them. I
wondered if all girls were like Marley.
    “You can’t not know, Carsyn,”
Marley said. “There has to be a reason.”
    I thought for a second,
making sure I didn’t say the wrong thing. “Well, I did just learn
about all of this yesterday.”
    “So,” she said.
    Now I was getting
annoyed.
    “Okay. Well, Edgar tells
me that something big is going to happen one day. He pretty much
attacks me. Then, the president is killed. He and Belladonna then
tell me that these Grandfather people and their Imperial leader
dude needs me for something, which apparently means that I’m in
danger.”
    Marley didn’t say
anything.
    “ That all happened within a
day.”
    Marley looked at the
ground. Then, slowly, she started walking again. If I had known how
to get back, I probably would have left. But I didn’t. I was lost.
I walked with her.
    “I guess I didn’t think
about it like that,” she said. “Sorry.”
    “I’ve not seen proof,” I
said. “I’ve not had time to see proof yet. The only thing I have is
that Edgar knew my name, and he said that something huge would
happen the night the president was killed.”
    I had been talking to
Marley to try and take away some of the awkwardness, but if there
was one thing I did, it was make things more awkward. Oh well. I
wasn’t exactly taught how to communicate with people. That could’ve
been my fault too since I didn’t even try.
    “Sorry,” she said. “I get
carried away sometimes.”
    I shrugged my