The Moxy Byrd

Chapter 5

Tony's alarm jarred him to his feet. Something about not getting enough sleep always made waking up a shorter, more instantaneous process for him. He blundered into his dresser as he looked for his glasses. His mother coughed in the adjacent room. He froze, hoping she wouldn't wake. The sound of her snoring set him back into motion. A moment later, he found his glasses in his dresser, wadded up in a pair of dirty boxers. "What?" he muttered as he slipped them on.

Being that he was still in his clothes, he considered whether it was necessary for him to even change. Monique would say something. He dug through the pile of clothes in his closet, finding what he thought was a clean shirt. He left his jeans as they were. He was going to have to change at the hospital anyhow. He staggered out into the living room.

As expected, his grandmother was sitting at the table, drinking coffee. "Working early again?"

"That thing happened, Halmoni."

"Ah, yes the thing with the Dome," she said.

"Yes," he answered shortly. Halmoni was right, his Korean really was getting worse.

"Hungry?" she asked, standing to get him food.

"No breakfast, Halmoni."

"Aren't you hungry? You didn't eat dinner." She was already at the refrigerator.

"No. Not hungry. Tired. Just want to go," he muttered as he trudged to the front door.

"Don't ride the skateboard. You're too tired today. I'll drive you." She trailed after him.

"No. Skateboard is okay. I'm going." He kissed her cheek and picked up his skateboard. As he rolled through town, he noted that there were a lot of people out for 6:30 on a Tuesday morning. People were piling their kids into cars, suitcases strapped on top. Random groups of his neighbors were standing outside chatting between themselves, shaking their heads, and jabbing their fingers at the vacant space the Dome had occupied.

In town, many of the little shops had signs in their windows stating that they were closed. Was everyone fleeing the city? He could hear chanting and yelling from the direction of city hall. Someone screeched something over a megaphone. A cop car flew by him, siren screaming. A few blocks later, an ambulance. He shuddered. What was going on?

Hopping off his skateboard and trotting into the hospital, he found it somehow busier than it had been when he left the previous night. There were more than a hundred people milling about in the waiting area. Nurses and intake workers were darting around, shouting names.

In the men's changing room, he quickly changed into a pair of clean scrubs. The TV was going. The man from the local news station was outside city hall. There were mobs of people out on the stairs, screaming and chanting.

"Citizens are demanding the city be closed to Domers, stating that they may be dangerous to public health."

The people were holding signs with phrases like, "Domers Go Back," "Domers Not Welcome," "Hell No! Not the Dome!" Since when had Wytheville been filled with this much hate? He started to sink down onto the bench, but his pager went off. Brow furrowed and thoughts churning, he stepped out into the corridor.

Tony made his way to the nurse's station, still somewhat in shock. Monique, the charge nurse, glanced up from a huddle of five other nurses. She looked like she'd aged a full decade overnight.

"Did you go home last night, Monique?" he asked.

She glared at him. "What do you think, Hop-a-long? The whole world's gone crazy. We went from two hundred patients to three hundred in a day, and for some reason beyond my comprehension, there's a man in a dinosaur costume in the lobby."