Sord in Prosperity - Hope Beyond the Apocalypse

EP. 138 - INTRIGUE

AS IN PROSPERITY'S OTHER city-states, many activities in Durango revolved around its city center. A large, domed edifice commonly called 'The Donner' defined the location. No one could recall exactly who named it that, but everyone believed it referenced the ill-fated party that attempted to traverse the Rocky Mountains in the middle of an 1800's winter, only to resort to cannibalism for survival. It was the perfect spot for the two to meet, away from the cramped, low-ceiling confines that pervaded the tubes, tunnels, and living quarters spread throughout the city and its suburbs.

Sord glanced at his watch, the one his father forgot wear on that fateful day. It was on his wrist when the racnines attacked, and the crystal showed a scratch mark from a claw or tooth, or so Sord believed. It was his ornament of pride now for multiple reasons.

"Daisy!" he shouted, seeing her from the shuttle exit on the second floor. Her back was to him, and she didn't hear his call. Vaulting down the stairs, he kept a steady eye on her, fearful his ten minute tardiness might engender second thoughts about meeting with him at all. As he approached, he could hardly contain himself with joy until he tripped on the last few steps, splaying out face-down on the floor.

"Oh my!" a middle-aged woman screamed. "Are you conscious? Are you okay?"

"What happened?" Daisy inquired, running to the scene and worried he might have re-injured himself.

He quickly stood at attention as if nothing had happened.

"I'm fine," he mumbled. "Something caught my shoe on that last step. Sticky, like gum. Sorry, our adventure was not supposed to start like this."

She smiled and pointed to a single tangerine rose on the floor. "Did that lady drop the rose?"

"No," he replied, leaping to snatch the flower before a passer-by crushed it. "It was the closest they had to the color of your hair. I love your hair."

"Really?" she replied. "That's very sweet."

"What an inauspicious start to the day," he thought. "Falling down stairs I've walked a million times."

Sensing his nervousness, she grabbed under his arm, wrapping her forearm around his and grasping his hand in hers. "I see a little scar," she observed, lifting their connected arms upward and gazing at his arm. "Isn't it amazing to recover this quickly from such a serious injury?"

Sord's heart was pounding in his ears so loudly, he could hardly hear what she said. But he understood one thing – she was holding his hand, just like at the hospital. "Yeah?" he replied, uncertain of what she actually asked.

"Shall we get going on this big adventure you promised me?"

"Sss..sure," he stuttered. "But lots to eat here. Hungry for anything?"

"Just ate breakfast, Dearie," she replied with a wry smile.

A quizzical look spread across his face, and his mind whirled back to the hospital. "Did Mom call me that?' he wondered. "Jesus, I was on pain meds and my head wasn't clear."

Daisy was sensitive. Confident. She had to be. Too much had happened in her short life to be anything but confident. Her mother was kidnapped from a Prosperity tunnel when Daisy was three, never to be heard from again despite her father's ongoing attempts at finding her or the villains.

A daughter missing a mother as she grew. A father vexed and grieved. Was she alive or dead? No ransom messages. No word from the kidnappers. Just an abduction while she was visiting her sister from Helena, with few hints of foul play.

Daisy's self-grown confidence informed her every action and reaction. "You don't like it when your mother calls you that? I'm just teasing," she giggled.