Earlier Heaven
a novel by Alexandra Jefferds
Theresa woke up the next morning to find Jamie on the phone and Gabe hovering around him. Jamie talked very quickly in Khaich, to the extent that he sounded winded from the exertion of speaking. Theresa couldn't understand much of what he said. The kids were in the kitchen having breakfast, and Oskar told her that there was oatmeal on the stove. She got herself a bowl and was mixing in brown sugar from a jar on the table when Gabe entered the room.
"Everyone, we're going on a trip," he announced.
"Where?" asked Oskar.
"To visit Poppa's friend Ronaq in Majana. Poppa is on the phone right now, but when he's done, we're going to leave as soon as possible. Theresa, do you need anything before we go?"
"You're leaving?" Theresa asked in a panic, her mouth full.
"Don't worry, you're coming too."
She managed to swallow her hot oatmeal.
"Why?"
Gabe sat down at the table next to her and said quietly, "Last night, the government seized a database of Revolutionary Democrat contacts. We got a call from Fiona this morning saying she was leaving. We think we should get out of the city, too." His accent was rather soothing.
"But you're not with the army anymore."
"Unfortunately, I'm a patient with the ophthalmologist who kept the records."
Jamie charged into the kitchen. The floor vibrated with each tense footstep.
"Ronaq says we can stay as long as we need to. Can you imagine what would have happened if Colin had unlocked those files?" He knelt down and rifled through the refrigerator, finding perishables to throw out. "The government could have seized the entire roster, right down to the last accountant and IT guy. Everyone's personal information is in there."
"Has anyone gotten through to Dr. Satin?"
"No, they've been trying all morning." Jamie tossed a bag of old carrots in the trash. "Everyone needs to pack. Theresa, would you mind taking over for me here, since all your stuff is together already? Just throw anything away that looks like it won't last. I have no idea how long we'll be gone." Jamie grunted and clung to a cabinet as he got to his feet. Given his youth and slim body, Theresa found it puzzling that he moved with such intense effort.
Two hours later, they were on the road. Theresa had never seen anyone pack for a trip that fast. The trunk was stuffed tight with suitcases, sleeping equipment, and Theresa's wheelchair. Theresa was afraid she would be stuck in the car, unable to get to a bathroom until they reached their destination. She hoped that the drive wouldn't be too long and that she wouldn't have an accident—or at least that if she did, that she would be able to hide it from Jamie and Gabe. Over the years, she had experienced a number of embarrassments and learned to not care very much whether everyone in The Town knew about her unpredictable bodily functions, but she was not about to admit anything to two male strangers.
The Bishop-Donners were preoccupied with their own concerns, however.
"Did you call the station telling them you'd be gone?" Jamie asked.
"Yes," said Gabe.
"Good. I don't want to have to make any phone calls from Ronaq's. They could be traced. The bag of meds got in the car, right?"
"It's at Dao's feet."
"Oskar, is my green bag down there?"
"Yeah."
"Could you hand it to me, please?"
Oskar complied, and Jamie examined the bag's contents.
"Ronaq gave me the address of a pharmacy in Majana in case I need anything, but it looks like everything's here."
"Good."
"If we're up there for more than a couple weeks, I'll have to make a trip there."
"That's true."
"I think my prescription expires in a month."
"I doubt we'll be away that long."
"Yeah." Jamie zipped up the bag and handed it to the backseat again. Apparently, Theresa wasn't the only one calculating time in terms of physiological needs.
Outside of the vast Río Inodoro metropolitan area, the road turned into a four-lane highway that stretched across the plains of Golden Province. And golden it was—field upon field of grain rippled in the wind. Periodically, they passed through populated areas that boasted attractions such as "Yanyu's Famous Fruit World" and "Bahir's Dodo Farm." Gabe mentioned that Hearth's solar year lasted thirty-five Earth calendar months and that farmers grew three harvests back-to-back during the warm seasons. They had to in order to hold the province through Hearth's nine-month winter.
"So," said Gabe, "what we're driving along is Highway 29. This is the westernmost highway in free Golden Province—the part that isn't controlled by Abalone Bay. Basically, the western half of the province—mainly the mountains—has been under Abalone control since 1980."
"Yeah, Colin told me about that."
"Río Inodoro is the lifeblood of the free east, which also includes Majana and the immigration station."
Jamie added, "If it weren't for the Revolutionary Democrats and other groups, the whole province would fall to Abalone."
"They're that strong?"
"I would say the army has been struggling since Twyla took over, but there are also several other groups making things difficult enough for Abalone. I mean, Alexander would love to conquer the whole province. She especially wants the immigration station. But we'd give them a street war in Río first." Jamie held up his fist, looking immensely proud of his city. Theresa noticed that he wore a medical bracelet in addition to his watch.
A while later, Oskar poked Theresa's knee.
"Can you feel that?"
"No." Theresa thought that by the age of ten, Oskar should have learned to keep his hands to himself.
"What about there?"
"Get your hand off me."
"Oskar," said Gabe. "What are you doing?"
"Talking to Theresa."
"Ok, talking is fine. But just talking."
"What's wrong with you? How come you can't walk?"
"Oskar."
"It's a valid question," said Jamie. "Let him ask."
"Nothing's wrong with me," Theresa said. "And I can walk."
"You can?"
"Yeah. I just don't, like you don't run everywhere you go."
Jamie turned around in his seat.
"I think what she's trying to say is that she doesn't want you to think of her disability as something that's wrong. How she is isn't a problem. Is that right, Theresa?"
"Yeah."
Theresa realized that she had been puzzling over Jamie's body in the same way Oskar had been over hers, so Jamie's insight felt refreshing on more than one level. Most of the adults Theresa knew whispered behind her back about what a shame it was that she had been born with spina bifida. It was an attitude that bothered Theresa, but not because of her general policy of disagreeing with adults. When people talked like that, she felt as though they were blaming her—or her mom—for something. Here, she had caught herself beginning to fall into those same traps, wondering what was wrong with Jamie. Perhaps nothing was wrong. Perhaps he was happy in this family which, despite its unconventional composition, was much less fractured than Theresa's.
"So," Jamie said, "you have to tell me about what's been going on in The Town recently."
"Ok, yeah. Your family's doing pretty well. They took in a boarder named Darla Jade, and she runs the mail route with Kevin Cleament. You know how Mrs. Donner loves Japanese things? Well, so does Darla, so they get along really well. I hang out with Julia sometimes, and…" Theresa just couldn't stop herself from saying it: "I hate Emilia so much, I'd punch her if she was here right now!"
Jamie's laugh was sharp. "I can believe that."
"She's your sister," Gabe said.
"Oh, the little twerp. No, really, I love her, though."
"She's been oh so sweet lately because she's been trying to convince your dad to let her learn to drive, but I know what she's really like."
"Oh my, you do hate her."
"She once told me that you haunt Kenneth and Martin's bedroom."
"That's… interesting. I haven't been back to Earth since I died, as most people here have not. Please tell her that if you ever get back there."
"She wouldn't listen to me. She doesn't believe in Hearth. Just heaven and hell."
"And ghosts," added Gabe with a shrug.
Jamie fingered the coins that lay in the trough between the seats. "Has anyone tried to correct her?"
"We get into wrestling matches about it sometimes." It was a rivalry that had begun in elementary school and not evolved much since then. "I usually pin her to the floor."
"I'm not going to ask." Jamie shifted his slight frame back into a forward-facing position. "But tell her that I send my regards. So who's died recently?"
"Um, I don't think anyone's gone to Hearth. Principal Decker and Franklyn Ingley died this last year, though."
"Decker died? Bloody hell!" Jamie clapped his hands a little too ecstatically. "Oh, rapture!"
Gabe snorted.
"What? That guy made it his hobby to be out to get me from about fifth grade on."
"What did you do?" Gabe asked.
"Nothing. Klaudia Quartz was crying so hard that Decker misheard her when she told him Jemmy tried to kiss her. I got a twenty minute harangue about how school was ‘not the appropriate place to express my budding interest in the opposite sex.'"
"Ah, I see."
"So, Theresa, who's running the school now?"
"Mr. Bartlett."
"Good for him."
Dao reached out, pulled Jamie's braid through the headrest hole, and brushed her face with its tassel end. Gabe searched for Río news on the radio and was frustrated to find none. He settled on a classical station.
"Aha, I know what this is," he said, "We're right in the middle of the second movement, too. Wait for it..." A few minutes later, both he and Jamie broke into whimsical song along with the symphony. Shortly thereafter, they ran out of lyrics and stopped as abruptly as they had started.
"What's that?" Theresa asked.
Jamie replied, "That was the Golden Province anthem—the free Golden Province anthem, I should say."
"Someone put it in their symphony?"
"No, no. This is Mozart. We took that passage from him."
Gabe drummed on the steering wheel in time with the horns. Theresa was still thinking about Emilia.
"How come people are so religious here?" she found herself asking.
"Are they?"
"Well, not any more than on Earth, but you'd think that being here would show them that they were wrong about things. You would think they wouldn't be religious anymore, but there's Colin, who's really Jewish… well, I guess he is. He wears one of those hats, anyway."
"He is," said Gabe. Jamie nodded in agreement. "The answer to your question is that there's more to a religion than just lore about what the afterlife brings. A religion is a cultural identity that people don't just give up when they die."
"Sometimes," said Jamie.
Gabe gestured at his husband and said, "True. This one was desperate for any excuse to stop going to confession."
"I wasn't desperate. Dying and arriving here just rattled my faith. Ouch!" He retrieved his braid from Dao, who had pulled hard.
"I know. I was just kidding. Sometimes, though, the religious community is all people have when they get here."
"Some people never find anything else," Jamie added.
Gabe reached across the emergency brake and took Jamie's hand.