Ruins of Tomorrow [Climate Change Action Story]

Chapter 6

It was getting late, and Penelope's mother called to know where she was. Her mother wasn't the person to always be worried about where her daughter had gone to, because she knew her daughter was intelligent and independent, but if Penelope wasn't home before dark things could get heated at home.

"Where did you run off to this morning?" her mother asked.

"Uhm..." she started. This would be hard to explain. She had seen an official criminal on TV and instantly gone to his house. Afterwards, that sounded like a pretty bad idea. "I visited a friend to work on a project."

"A project? In the summer vacation? Since when do you do extra effort for school?", her mother wondered. It was suspicious, to say the least.

"It's not for school, mother. And I found out why fossil fuels are bad, like we discussed this morning. Aaron explained it to me and I'll tell you when I get home." Penelope told her mother. Only after the words got out of her mouth, she realised her mistake. Penelope knew what would happen now.

"AARON? Are you at a boy's house? Penelope Thomas Samuel Dalton, you get home RIGHT NOW." 

Adding the fact that the boy in case was a criminal would not be helpful, so Penelope shut her mouth. And then there was her name. When you hear your full name as a teenager, you know you did something wrong. The fear that automatically rises in your body is inexplicable.

She was proud of her name, of course. All of her names were historical figures. Penelope was once the wife of Greek hero Odysseus, who came home from a long journey and fought all of her suitors to be with her again. There was Thomas Edison (great inventor), Thomas Jefferson (Founding Father of the USA), Thomas More (English writer, philosopher and statesman who was beheaded and became a saint) and Tomas (one of Jesus' twelve apostles). The name Samuel was given to her because he was her Mexican ancestor, but is also a well known name because of the historically important prophet Samuel, the actor Samuel L. Jackson, Samuel Morse (co-inventor of the telegraph and Morse code) and Samuel Johnson (important English writer). Then there was Dalton. The Dalton brothers, a group of American outlaws who specialised in bank and train robberies, and John Dalton, a scientist who formulated an amazingly precise atomic theory for his time, are some of the famous Dalton name bearers.

But at the moment, Penelope's only concern was getting home as fast as possible. Her mother was a loving woman who had always cared about her, but no one wanted to be the reason she got mad. "I'll come home right away, mom! I'll be on the first bus that I see." she quickly said.

"I could drive you home if you wanted. Probably faster than waiting for a bus to show up." Aaron offered. A little more time spent with a pretty girl couldn't hurt.

That made her blush. Her mom was already mad for being with a boy, and showing up at her front door in his car would not put out the fire. But a ride with him wouldn't be so bad, would it? "You can drive me, but let me out before we get there. Couple of hundred meters should be enough." she decided.

"Didn't realize I was such a bad influence. Scared that your mother will see me?"

"Yes Aaron, that's exactly what I'm scared of. How would your mother react if you showed up in a criminal's car? And she doesn't really like me hanging out with boys."

"Well, Penelope, I can promise you I'll behave like a gentleman. And please don't call me a criminal. We both know I did nothing wrong, I only wanted people to know the truth. That's not a crime, or at least, 30 years ago that wasn't a crime." 

"You're right, sorry." she apologized, while wondering if she hurt him by calling him a criminal.

"Let's get this lovely girl home to her lovely mother, shall we?"