The World of Tom Stafford by D.A. Sanford - HTML preview

Chapter 19: Home

He liked coming back to the surface. Tom knew that it truly was home. The late spring sun was warm but like turning on a light in the dark, he found that he had to close his

eyes for a few moments. Then squinting for a few until his eyes adjusted. He saw Nadean going through the same experience.

Looking around, he finds that there is beauty even in the decay of the world. Nature left alone is reclaiming its rightful position on the world. Even during the height of man, the plant life would even grow in the cracks of the pavement. Now there were whole stretches of road that were almost entirely covered in some sort of plant life.

The animal life has taken hold and moved in. Birds nesting in the houses that now have windows broken. Big cats hunting, both predator and prey alike now dwell in the old human habitats.

Tom looks around at the scene. Around him is nothing but an over grown, neglected world that once were the habitations of billions of people. Now they seem like the old rags that have been discarded.

There is the lone collapsed skeleton on that park bench. It still had remnants of the blue jeans and that leather vest. Marvin carved into the wood of the bench his name, his birth date and the death date. If Tom searched, he would find the rusted pistol that he used to blow his brains out. He felt sadness come over him even though Marvin ended up killing himself, he now knew that we surface dwellers, that were not forced, should never have gone into what we thought was an underwater paradise.

That paradise had its snakes. All it took was a plot started by one of the underwater kings to eventually turn the vast majority of the native water population to blame the surface population for the crisis in their “peaceful” Eden.

Even though that furor has abated somewhat, the damage has been done. The trust of the returned is gone. The returned are looked upon as trouble makers and must hide the fact that they are returns to get along. In the best interest of Seaden, I abdicated and Gar returned to assume the role of king. I no longer had any interest in staying in Seaden or any other of the kingdoms.

I told Nadean that I was going to return to Thornton and do as my ancestor did. I will give up my undersea extended life. I let Nadean know that it was up to her. She had Bart there. Bart has found a woman that is a native and is going to marry her. They will live in Seaden. He told his mother that on the surface he had no life so he will use his father’s last name.

Nadean insisted that she wants to be with me. Bart will be fine. She told me that they had a long discussion and Bart said that he wanted her to have her own life. He was happy to see her finally really in love. That was something that was missing from her life even when her husband was alive. With that she said that she would be returning with me.

Jim and Doris knew that they had to wait to be the last ones up.

Reba’s mother has told her that she would stay undersea. It was easier on her “old bones” and the crowd she lives with are not interested with what others think. They like her for her.

Charles and Susan were going to return also.

It has only been a little less than a year since they left the surface and now, they again breathe air. It has become clean and to them it was like the finest wine. They also found that the telepathy, that they became accustomed to was gone. The sounds of nature sounded like they were in a closed room. The sound does not travel as far as it did underwater.

It was almost like trying to ride a pedal bike after long years had passed since you last rode. Tom tried to talk but found that, at first, he could only grunt, then the words slowly came as the vocal cords remembered how to produce those sounds. It was only a matter of a few minutes and he was talking slowly. His voice sounded funny. They both laughed.

Nadean looked to the river and sighed.

“It was fun for a while. Like going to that amusement park in Florida” she said without even looking at him. “But it was no longer fun living there. That royal life just was not us.”

She looked around. Seeing the Nomad still there, she grabs my hand and leads me to it. Of course she gets in the driver’s side. The keys were still in the ignition where she left them. She laughed with delight when the engine came back to life.

I tell her “Shouldn’t we find something to put on the seats. Our clothes are wet.”

She says no problem as she steps out of the car and proceeds to strip off all her wet clothes. Letting them plop to the ground.

“I declare the first old law that is repealed.” She says “There is now no law against driving naked.”

Why not. I shuck off mine.

“Let’s go home.”

We had to drive around a few fallen trees and I noted that I would need to bring a chain saw with me to clear the main road. There are a few burnt houses along the main road.

More than likely lightning strikes or poorly stored volatiles that spontaneously combusted. I hope that Thornton fared better.

Thornton was home, our home. As we caught sight of the gas station, and the store, Nadean had tears streaming down her cheeks. This was the town that she lived in for most of her life. She stopped in the lot for a moment to gather her thoughts. Then drove the last distance to our home. The gate was still closed. The both the house and the store house appeared intact.

We got out of the car, walked through the door of our house. I flipped the lever to start the generator. It came back to life. We had electricity.

Turning to her I said.

“We’re home.” and hugged her.

“Yes” is all she said.

We get dressed in the clothes we left behind and get on shoes. Yes! Blue jeans and a band tee shirt but I’m missing those boots. Oh well, I have a few others. Nadean is dressed the same.

After a while, she ushered me out of the house.

“Go check the stores and the other houses. It won’t be long before we have company and for some unknown reason, this house is full of dust.”

It’s good to be home. I did visit to pay my respects to Gladis and Sadie. I will need to freshen up the paint on their grave marker. Maybe I’ll try my hand at stone carving.

We found that there were couples that were from the town that we went into the water had also returned. They came to Thornton to ask if they would be bothering us if they settled in the town near us.

After we said it wouldn’t bother us as long as it they have a peaceful coexistence with us, they did ask for our help in setting up their community. We said that we would advise them.

Within the week, the majority of the people that lived in Thornton have returned. Charles and Susan were the first after Nadean and I. Then Brian and Reba, after Reba said her good byes to her mother. A few more couples that we knew in Seaden that were good folk that were from the surface joined us. The last ones to return were Jim and Doris.

Jim told us that things were already calming down. He had heard from the last couple that were from Thornton. They chose to remain in Seaden. They were settled and welcomed in the small communities. They were happy with their life in Seaden. Jim made it perfectly clear what he was going to do and they still told him that it was their choice.

After Doris said good bye to the staff, she returned to the surface with Jim. Once she had cleared the surface and was on land, he opened his canister which was at his feet under the water. He put my letter in it and went ashore. It settled near the pile of shoes.

After changing into dry clothes, both of them got in the back seat of the Nomad.

I know why Doris has a disgusted look. Jim’s shoes are getting the Nomad floor wet.

Tom went to the rear hatch and removed a similar canister, about the size of a gallon paint can. Placing it on the ground, he opened it and a faint cloud emerge from it. The four of them immediately felt their gill openings close over leaving no trace of them.

The changes have the same effect whether on the surface or under water. We surface dwellers can still swim without losing our lungs and the water dwellers can break the surface but they will not lose their gills. Neither will ever get back what they have lost.

What was not disclosed is that it is genetically permanent. All future born will be either or but not both. Water to water born. Air to air borne.

Looking at the surface of the water, their appeared a man that Tom recognized as one of the original plotters. The politician started to get out of the water but got the fish out of water look. He could no longer breathe air. That man ducked under for a moment. Then resurfaced.

“What have you done?” He grunts indignantly at Tom.

“I see you were let go. Friends in low places. I have made the surface safe from people like you. Your kind can never bother us again. Your lungs no longer there. You will never breathe air again. If you do come up, I’m sure that you will just be able to find a pistol on the ground by that skeleton. Either way you will be dead.”

He yells this time, “I own property in Thornton. I’m important. I’m intitled.”

I now know who he is, “All your guns are mine, your everything is mine. You will never see it again. Just know that up here, you are nothing but the gun guy. Have a nice life.”

He sinks below the surface.

Then Tom gets in the Nomad.

“Nadean, did we stock Jim and Doris’s pantry?”

My letter to the people of the water world reads

To the citizens of the water world;

Leaving for the surface has been the right thing, for we few, to do. You are now in charge of your own destiny. We are also in charge of our destiny. To the end that neither

the surface or the water people can interfere with each other, I have today released two canisters. One underwater in the very canister that this letter is in and a similar one on shore.

The one in the water has by now spread throughout the world’s oceans, seas and rivers. That is the same that we deployed on the kingdoms of Pacifica and Tridinia but stronger and quick spreading. You now no longer can come and live on the surface. You no longer have air lungs. I opened one on the surface has the opposite effect. It has, by now, spread in the air of the surface worldwide. We no longer can breathe under water due to the fact that we no longer can have gills.

Both the surface world and the water world will go on with no ill effects. The researchers that created this have been released. Their notes and labs were destroyed. I was told by the chief researcher that the effects can never be reversed.

I leave you with the knowledge that the surface world will be at peace. There are only scattered inhabitants in the different countries. We surface inhabitants will not have any water wars for a very long time so you will not have any of those worries.

Live in your version of peace as we will live in ours.

Your former king,

Thomas Stafford

Chapter 20: Epilogue, Years Later

Our underwater time now seems like a fantasy. A good fantasy, but also a nightmare.

According to Bart, from the monthly mail system both he and Nadean came up with, my reputation is getting better. Seaden as well as the other kingdoms have gone back to the peace that they had before.

They now can see the sacrifice that I made due to the fact that both kings, Gar and Kar have published a true history book that details everything that happened behind the scenes. I care but I also don’t care.

I am in the sun, breathing the clean air and enjoying the fact that Thornton is the home that we were born for.

Because the word of what I did for the two worlds, the news of that has reached even the couples that we knew were in the area. We have been living peacefully with the people that live within our area of the country. They come to Thornton for advice. We are like the trip to visit the elders to have us impart our wisdom. We do not allow any act of worship. We are not gods.

I’m back in my first love, a diesel truck. I put a diesel in that old pickup. The gas supply is going bad. It has gummed up some of the carburetors and ruined Sadie’s son’s car.

The funny thing is that Nadean insisted we drop a diesel into the Nomad. We were able to get a pickup engine into it. With fuel oil in abundance, we will not worry for a long time.

It seems that some electronics survived. The dealers that had the pickups on the showroom floor those pickups work. Circuit boards in the parts stock were also good.

We have enough of them repaired. I’m even working on a trailer cab. I knew of a dealer a few towns over near a major highway. I go shopping with Nadean every so often. She shops, I tinker. It should be ready on the next trip.

When running, I can raid the depot for all those things that we don’t really need but want anyways. Boxed electronics seemed to mostly escape the big fry.

Our town still has only the eight people here that came back. Since it is safe to explore, at least one couple leaves to scavenge i.e. getting out of the house, every so often when the mood arises.

We explore out further and further. This is mostly to give them a break. We have chickens, cows, pigs and a few other livestock. We farm and can. All have become experts on that.

Relearning lost skills is always going on. We now grow wheat and found mill stones in a farming museum. We make enough flour to have bread, whole wheat of course.

I have been thinking that we may need to tame a few horses for plowing, but we have diesel tractors so for now we are all set.

The only subject that we have not broached is what happens to us in our old age. The funny thing is that it seems that we don’t seem to be aging. I have to wonder if that portion of our undersea life has not changed.

It was assumed that once you chose to live on the surface, you gave up the long life but I wonder if that is a myth. There may be a chance that we still may have those nine hundred years. We’ll see.

I wonder if my third great is still out there. Who knows.

Anyways, it’s a nice summer night, the stars are out, the moon is full and we are in a hammock on the wrap around porch watching the fireflies blink. It’s a good life.