Midnight by Anna Dove (books for new readers .TXT) 📕

They sat in silence for a few minutes, the grandfather clock ticking unceremoniously on the wall.

“Come out with me,” he said after a while. “I’m going to get groceries. You should come with me for some fresh air.”

He pulled on her elbow gently, and she stood with him. Tucking her arm through his, they went out to the front porch. The air was warm for September and the sun beat down hotly on Haley’s face. She raised her countenance to its light.

They made their way down the street to the grocery market, Landon dutifully keeping watch around them.

Bread, sliced. Milk, in glass jars, stored in buckets of ice. Vegetables, fresh from northern Virginia farms. Landon took several zucchini and a head of romaine, and handed Haley a jar of milk to hold. He paid in cash, and they walked towards the exit.

As they approached the door, a tall, thin man entered, and stopped in his tracks at the sight of them.

“Jack!” exclaimed Haley, and ran to him, embracing him with the milk still clutched in her hand. She clung to him, and he wrapped his arms around her tenderly.

“Haley,” he said quietly, in a calm tone. “It is so wonderful to see you.”

“I was afraid—I was afraid that you…”

“Shh,” said Jack, his eyes darting around the market. “Let’s go out into the street.”

The three entered into the bright sunny street, and Haley introduced the men to each other. Jack, she explained, had wandered into the encampment where she had stayed after the attack. He was on their side. He had joined her and Elizabeth and Carlos—and Haley broke off her sentence, as the memories of her friend overcame her again.

“Haley?” asked Jack, as he watched her lose her focus and become lost in thought.

“Jack, a few days ago Carlos disappeared. We discovered that—well, we discovered that he was assassinated.”  Landon spoke low, and Jack leaned in to hear. As the words hung in the air, Jack looked up sharply, and then raised a hand to his head.

“No. No, no.”

He took a step away, turning his back to them, and stood still, and then kicked a stone in the road, which went ricocheting off the curb.

“Come back to our house tonight,” said Haley, stepping after him. “Elizabeth and I are living with Senator McCraiben and his family and Landon in the brick house on the end of this road. We would love your company. We both miss you.”

Jack nodded, avoiding eye contact. “I’ll stop by.”

“Where are you living now? Where did you disappear to?” asked Haley, remembering the rally.

Jack looked up at the sky.

“Nowhere special,” he said slowly. “I’ve got a job with the Virginia Water Sanitation Company. We pump the water through filters all day.”

Haley sensed that there was more, but chose to remain silent on the topic. With Jack, one could never know. She didn’t smell any liquor on him—presumably he was still sober—but she sensed that he was holding something back, that there was more to the story of where he had been and what he had been doing. She nodded.

“I’ve got to go,” said Jack, very solemnly. “You’ll excuse me.”

He stepped down off the curb into the street and strode away, not looking back.

+

At six pm, Jack knocked on the Senator’s door. Haley let him in with a smile and an embrace. Dinner was on the table, a spread of meats and cheeses and potatoes. Jack seated himself next to Haley, joining the Senator and his family and the others, who had all just begun to eat. Haley introduced him, and the others welcomed him and expressed their gratitude for his company.

Simple, pleasant conversation ensued; they spoke of the cooling fall temperatures and the preparations for winter and the increasing economic development in the area. Mrs. Mcraiben, a small brunette woman with kind brown eyes, shared a few stories of when she and the Senator had been a young couple, and the others listened attentively, subconsciously relieved to be conversing about anything but Carlos or the election. After their plates were empty and the water glasses drained, the Senator pushed back his chair and took a deep breath.

“Jack, I’d like to have a word with you, if possible,” he said. “Just briefly. Would you come into my study?”

Jack acquiesced and the two stood up and moved towards the study, while the others cleared the table and washed the dishes.

The Senator’s study, adjoining the living room, smelled of books and candles and wood, and in fact those were the most prominent three items that one could find in the study. Bookshelves lined the walls, and there was a fireplace, and two red plush chairs with wooden legs, and a wooden desk upon which lay stacks of papers. The Senator took a box of matches from the desk drawer and lit the candles that were placed around the room, casting a soft yellow light around the space. Reaching into the top drawer of his desk, the Senator pulled out a long, thin box and extracted a thick cigar.

“Cigar?”

“I’m alright.” Jack replied.

The Senator replaced the box, and then motioned to the chairs, and he and Jack sat down.

“Thank you for coming tonight,” began the Senator, folding his hands. “Haley and I spoke about you earlier today, and I have something to ask you,” he said, sparing formalities in his usual brusque manner.

“Of course,” replied Jack.

“She told me about your time on Baker Island. Is all of that true?”

“Now hold on,” said Jack, caught off guard. “Why are you asking me that?” His eyes darted to the door in sudden suspicion.

“I’m on your side,” said the Senator, folding his hands in front of him. “I