Firefly

Fifty-One

The University

We had made our way towards the university Tommy had told us about where the fireflies had a lab. Before we got too far and while we were in the countryside, Joel agreed to teach Ellie how to use the rifle better. She was good with the pistol, but her aim with the rifle was a little off. Joel set a target up for her to shoot it. She lined the target up and pulled the trigger, missing it completely. “Wide right. You're flinchin','' Joel said. “The target's too small,” Ellie argued back. “I made it bigger than I should've. Eject the cartridge.” I was over with the horse by the tree right behind them. I shook my head in amusement at their antics. “And I am not flinching,” Ellie said. “Mm-hmm.” 

“The rifle just sucks,” she said. “Okay, give it,” Joel told her, taking the rifle. “It doesn't aim right.” Joel just hummed at her and lined his sights up. “You'll see,” she said. Ellie sat back and watched and listened to him. “A deep breath in, slow breath out.” Ellie sighs and rolls her eyes at him. “You squeeze the trigger like you love it. Gentle... steady... nice and slow.” I shifted around, clearing my throat, and averting my attention to the horses. “You gonna shoot this thing or get it pregnant?” I laughed at Ellies comment. “It isn't gonna work. It doesn't aim right,” she said. Joel took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, pulling the trigger. “You dіck!” Ellie exclaimed when he hit the target dead center.

After a few more minutes of practicing we moved on. Ellie decided to ride with me this time but wanted to be in the front. I moved back and let her climb up, and take the reins. “It's not too hard. If you want to turn, just pull gently to the left or right. She'll follow your lead and pull back on them if you want to stop. Push your heels into her side gently but firm enough to let her know to move forward and start walking. If you want her to pick up the pace, do It again and make a clicking noise. I made a noise for her and she nodded. “Got it.” She did what I told her and the horse moved forward.

“So the way they ran stuff in Jackson, was how things used to be?” Ellie asked after riding for a couple hours. “No. The country was too big for that. Back then, there were basically two main ways of lookin' at things. Some people wanted to own everything.” Ellie hummed as she listened to Joel. “And some people didn't want anyone to own anything at all.” She was quiet for a few seconds before asking, “Which one were you?” She asked. “Neither. I just did my job,” Joel told her. She looked over at me. Ellie had switched over to ride with Joel when we stopped for a short break. “Neither. I was in college and watched Sarah for Joel until he got home from work.”

She nodded her head and went back to talking to Joel. “And your job…which was... building?” She asked. “That's right. Houses, stores, that kinda thing. We were called "contractors.",” he said. In a deep voice Ellie said, "The Contractor." That's pretty cool.” Joel smiled with a small chuckle. “Yeah. We were cool. Everybody loved contractors.” I scoffed out a laugh and shook my head. “Nice,” Ellie said. We only had a few hours from the University of Eastern Colorado. “So you used to watch Sarah?” Ellie asked me after being silent for twenty minutes. I hummed, “Yeah, all the time. I started watching her when I was still in high school.”

“You lived across the street from Joel, right?” I nodded, “Mm Hmm. I lived with my Nonna,” I said. “Did you like each other back then?” Joel and I looked at each other. His mother opened and closed but nothing came out. “Well, I was only nineteen when everything happened…” she cut me off, “but you started dating not long afterwards didn't you?” She got me there. “Umm…yeah…yeah we did  but…” Again she cut me off. “How many years are between you guys? Joel is like…old.” I clear my throat trying not to laugh. “Excuse me?!” He grunted out. “There's seventeen years between us?”

He grunted again as an answer to me. Joel never liked talking about the age difference between us. He was always self conscious about it. “But I turned twenty not long after.” That wasn't a complete lie; I did turn twenty not long after we finally got together. “So that means you were thirty-six going in thirty-seven?” Joel hummed, his shoulders were stiff. “Well, I don't see any problem with that. I mean if you want to be with a grumpy old man that's on you!” Ellie laughed. I snorted out a laugh. “Ellie…” She laughed more, “You can't say he's not grumpy! Look at his face!” Joel let out a long sigh and Ellie and I burst out laughing.

After an hour of silence, well, except for Ellie's rambling now and then, Joel started teaching here about sports. “Okay, so if you mess up your fourth down, then you give the ball to the other team?” She asked. Joel nodded, “Right. It's called a "turnover.",” he said. “Turnover. But if you make it to 10 yards, then you're back to first down?” Joel gave a simple yep as an answer. “So, basically just moving in one direction,” she said. “Basically... but violent,” I told her. “Oh, well. There's that.” We turned a corner and there it was..the university.  “Well, how 'bout that? Made it in five days.”

“Easy days. I don't know what Tommy was so afraid of,” Ellie said. “Still time to find out,” Joel said, looking over at me. Ellie decided to mimic Joel at that moment. "Still time to find out.".” Yhen in a whisper says, "The Contractorrrr." Joel just sighed with a roll of his eyes. “Home of the Big Horns,” I said. “What does that mean?” Ellie asked, confused. Joel stopped in front of a wall with a ram on it. “Team mascot. It's a kind of sheep,” he told her and moved on. “Oh, see? One step closer to your dream. Don't see any Fireflies, though,” Ellie said. Joel had told her his dream was to be a sheep farmer which was a complete lie.

“They're probably in the middle. Tommy said to look for a glass building,” I said. We moved forward slowly making our way deeper into the university campus. “So these places... people would live here and, like, what? Go to classes and stuff?” She asked, looking at me. “Yup,” I answered. “Even though you were adults,” she said. “Sort of adults. I think it was just as much about partying and finding ourselves as anything else. Figuring out what we wanted to do with their lives.” She nodded and looked around at all the buildings. We were all silent while we kept an eye out for any sight of the fireflies.

“So I've been thinkin',” Joel said, breaking the silence. “Mm-hmm?” Ellie hummed. “I don't want a sheep ranch, actually. I mean, if the deal is, can I do anything?” Ellie added her head, “That's the deal.” Joel was quiet for a few seconds. “Well... when I was a kid, I wanted to be a singer,” he said. Ellie laughs, “Shut up.” Joel turned his head a little, “Why is that funny?” He asked her. “You gotta sing something now,” he told him. He shook his head “No,” he said quickly.  “Come on, man. I'm not gonna laugh!” I heard Joel sing and he was actually very good but kind of shy about it. “You're already laughing,” he grunted. “Yeah, okay, true. Well, you're singin' for me later. I'm gonna save the fսckin' world, man. It's the least you can do for me,” Ellie told him. Joel gave her a curt nod and said, “Fair enough.”