eight in the morning. Please make sure you are punctual and have your belongings with you. Enclosed is a map to the train and headquarters.
Seriously?! That’s it?! Geez. It doesn’t say who we are to ask for, or where to meet once we get to headquarters which I assume is massive. “Have your belongings with you.” Does this mean that in two days, I am leaving my home forever? I can tell Wes is going through this same thought process in his mind. To distract me from our thoughts I pick up the enclosed map. Every zone has a train station. Not very many people know where it is because it is only used for Ministry work and those professions that use it for transferring food and delivering supplies to the different zones. Only if there is an emergency can you get clearance from the Ministry to use the train. It is a magnetic bullet train that is very fast, efficient and works perfectly for our uses. We don’t believe in polluting the air more than we have to, so the fact that it’s run on magnetic fields saves us from having to breathe in the fumes that most trains use.
Members of the community are all given bikes as soon as they are able to ride. Certain professions like emergency doctors, troopers, and ministry workers all have electric scooters that can get them around a little faster. When I was younger my father used to tell me grand stories of how Americans used to all have their very own car. Some even had several per household. I had a hard time trying to imagine this. Not only did they have cars operated by gas which released harmful fumes into the air, but they also had buses, which were just huge cars that carried many people at once. They had trains that were powered by fuel and others that were powered by coal. So many things that made the air filthy and all those people breathing it in everyday! And they wondered why everyone was getting sick all the time.
After the rebellion was won, the founders' first act was to sell off large portions of land. After that they decided to sell all the remaining vehicles. It’s never been said just how much money was made from that transaction, but I know it must have been a huge amount! The money was then used to rebuild United America. Once everything was slowly coming together, they realized that in order to make our country self-sufficient we would have to find a way to transport food from zone to zone. For a while people just lived off of what their own zone could grow. But once the scientists and engineers were able to get the magnet bullet trains up and running we were able to expand the zones and the people were able to choose where they wanted to live. Schedules were made for food and supply deliveries and the more the population grew, the more we were able to do.
I have only seen the train in pictures, but my mother has been on one several times. As a nurse for the dying, she is the one who takes care of them in their last months. When the time nears that the family is needed to say good-bye, there usually isn’t much time so she has accompanied a few family members on the train. As excited as I am that we are going to be able to go on the train, I’m also nervous that this might just be my last time home.
I turn to Wes, who still hasn’t moved or said a word. “So are you excited about riding on the train?”
This has been on his top five list his whole life, “Of course I am.” He said flatly. Apparently I wasn’t going to be getting much out of him today.
“Well, I guess I should head back home and start my packing then.” He doesn’t even look at me, just nods. “It will all be OK, Wes. I’m going to be with you the whole time. You will have me. I will be your constant.”
He closes his eyes and nods his head, whispering to himself quietly, “Yes, Roz will be my constant. I will be with Roz, just as always.”
There I go, feeling sorry for myself, freaking out
Seriously?! That’s it?! Geez. It doesn’t say who we are to ask for, or where to meet once we get to headquarters which I assume is massive. “Have your belongings with you.” Does this mean that in two days, I am leaving my home forever? I can tell Wes is going through this same thought process in his mind. To distract me from our thoughts I pick up the enclosed map. Every zone has a train station. Not very many people know where it is because it is only used for Ministry work and those professions that use it for transferring food and delivering supplies to the different zones. Only if there is an emergency can you get clearance from the Ministry to use the train. It is a magnetic bullet train that is very fast, efficient and works perfectly for our uses. We don’t believe in polluting the air more than we have to, so the fact that it’s run on magnetic fields saves us from having to breathe in the fumes that most trains use.
Members of the community are all given bikes as soon as they are able to ride. Certain professions like emergency doctors, troopers, and ministry workers all have electric scooters that can get them around a little faster. When I was younger my father used to tell me grand stories of how Americans used to all have their very own car. Some even had several per household. I had a hard time trying to imagine this. Not only did they have cars operated by gas which released harmful fumes into the air, but they also had buses, which were just huge cars that carried many people at once. They had trains that were powered by fuel and others that were powered by coal. So many things that made the air filthy and all those people breathing it in everyday! And they wondered why everyone was getting sick all the time.
After the rebellion was won, the founders' first act was to sell off large portions of land. After that they decided to sell all the remaining vehicles. It’s never been said just how much money was made from that transaction, but I know it must have been a huge amount! The money was then used to rebuild United America. Once everything was slowly coming together, they realized that in order to make our country self-sufficient we would have to find a way to transport food from zone to zone. For a while people just lived off of what their own zone could grow. But once the scientists and engineers were able to get the magnet bullet trains up and running we were able to expand the zones and the people were able to choose where they wanted to live. Schedules were made for food and supply deliveries and the more the population grew, the more we were able to do.
I have only seen the train in pictures, but my mother has been on one several times. As a nurse for the dying, she is the one who takes care of them in their last months. When the time nears that the family is needed to say good-bye, there usually isn’t much time so she has accompanied a few family members on the train. As excited as I am that we are going to be able to go on the train, I’m also nervous that this might just be my last time home.
I turn to Wes, who still hasn’t moved or said a word. “So are you excited about riding on the train?”
This has been on his top five list his whole life, “Of course I am.” He said flatly. Apparently I wasn’t going to be getting much out of him today.
“Well, I guess I should head back home and start my packing then.” He doesn’t even look at me, just nods. “It will all be OK, Wes. I’m going to be with you the whole time. You will have me. I will be your constant.”
He closes his eyes and nods his head, whispering to himself quietly, “Yes, Roz will be my constant. I will be with Roz, just as always.”
There I go, feeling sorry for myself, freaking out
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