The Destroyer of Worlds

Welcome to the War

"During the Battle of Britain, I found myself increasingly out of sympathy with the policy of neutrality that Communists advocated." I said, turning the page to my statement. "Right after Hitler invaded Russia and we became allies, these Communist sympathies, did they return?" Robb asked. "No." I said confidently, looking back down at my statement. "I need to make clear that my changing opinion of Russia did not mean a sharp break with those who held different views. For a year or two, and during a previous marriage, my wife Kitty had been a Communist Party member." I read from my statement.

***

"This is where I keep the good stuff." I said, leading Kitty into the house. "Well, I thought this was the Tolmans' house." She said, grinning as I opened up the liquor cabinet. "I live with them when I'm at Caltech." I replied, grabbing two glasses.

"Do you two need anything?" Ruth asked, a mischievous grin on her face. "We're good, Ruthie." I said as she went up the stairs.

"So, you're a biologist." I said to Kitty, popping open a bottle of alcohol. "Well, somehow I have graduated to housewife." Kitty said as I turn around to face her. "Can you explain quantum mechanics to me? Seems baffling." She said, tilting her head as I pour the alcohol into a glass. "Yes, it is." I confirmed, leaning toward the countertop, grinning. I quickly fix my posture, grabbing one glass. "Well, this glass, this drink, this countertop, uh, our bodies..." I begin as Kitty grabs the glass from my hand, our fingers touching ever so slightly. "All of it. It's mostly empty space." I said as she takes a sip of the alcohol. "Groupings of tiny energy waves bound together." I said, moving my hands in a certain motion. "By what?" Kitty asked, putting the glass back on the countertop. "Forces of attraction strong enough to convince us that matter is solid..." I say, as I slowly grab her hand and push it towards mine. "And stop my body from passing through yours." Kitty then slowly interlocks our fingers, smiling ever so slightly. I look to my right to see a gray-haired man in what seems to be a very good conversation with Tolman. "You're married to Dr. Harrison." I said, looking back at Kitty. "Not very." She shrugs. "Well, there's someone that I..." I begin. "Does she feel the same way?" Kitty asked me. "Sometimes. Not often enough." I told her.

"You know, I'm going to New Mexico. To my ranch, with friends. You should come." Kitty stares at me for a moment before I clarify myself. "I meant with your husband." I said. "Yes, you did. 'Cause you know it won't make a bit of a difference." Kitty said, shaking her head.

***

Kitty rides quickly on horseback, as I follow her. She comes to a halt, brushing her hair away from her face. "Why did you marry him?" I yelled across the howling wind so Kitty could hear me. She dismounted her horse before responding. "I was lost and he was kind." She said. "Lost?" I had asked, getting off my horse as well, as we both tied our horses to a small bush. "Well, my previous husband had died, and, at twenty eight, I wasn't really ready to be a widow." Kitty said. "Who was your first husband?" I asked, following Kitty to the edge of the mountain. "Nobody. But my second husband was Joe Dallet." She said, looking at the landscape while I looked at her. "From money, like me, but he was a union organizer in Youngstown, Ohio. Fell hard." She continued. "How hard?" I asked, laughing a bit. "Hard enough to spend the next four years living off beans and pancakes, handing out the Daily Worker at factory gates." Kitty said, as she brought out a hip flask. She drank some alcohol, then continued. "By '36, I just told Joe I couldn't take it anymore. Quit the party, and a year later, I wanted him back so... Him, not the Daily Worker." Kitty clarified, as she gave me her flask and I took a sip. I handed it back to her as she continued. "And he said 'Swell, I'll meet you on my way to Spain.'" She said, before taking another sip from her brown colored flask. "He went to fight for the loyalists?" I questioned, looking at the landscape, then back at her. "And then he went to the brigades and I waited. And... Joe got himself killed first time he popped his head out of the trench." She said softly, sighing and looking at the ground. "Ideology got Joe killed. For nothing." She continued, looking at me. "Spanish Republic isn't nothing." I said, my hands now in my pockets due to the cold breeze. "My husband offered both our futures to stop one fascist bullet from embedding itself in a mudbank. That's the definition of nothing." She replied, staring at me. "Seems a little reductive." I responded. "Pragmatic. Now here I am. Wherever the hell this is." Kitty said, looking at the vast landscape. I turn to her, grabbing her neck and kissing her hard.