The Wakeful Wanderer's Guide to New New England & Beyond

Little Blue Light

["This isn't how things were supposed to go. I'm a traveling historian."] Marto sat up on the bed in Zeke's guest room, messaging privately with Helen who lay next to him. ["I don't want to become the center of a cultural conundrum."] The room was filled with the sweat of their day's farm work and the salty odors of their more recent exertions.

["I don't really understand what the big deal is,"] Helen said, still a bit put off by the unsatisfactory brevity of their awkward intercourse. However charming Marto was, his lovemaking skills left something to be desired, quite literally. ["I mean, I have had no problems feeling at home in tribal life now. I feel more and more comfortable all the time, and aren't I someone from a family of greedy takers?"]

["It's not the same,"] Marto said, looking out the window of the second story room toward the ripened crops. ["I've done research on your family, you know. It's what I do. Do you know what your predecessors did before The Vengeance? Your great-grandfather was a landscaper. He looked after the grounds at Baywood estate. The real owners, the Haywoods, were all killed. Their money came from mining coal, almost the same as my father's family. After the violence, your family took over the home and worked their way into power over the city. Did you know Pittsburgh had a huge interconnected community back then? It was a progressive and forward-looking place. The Reynolds drove them all off, and forced the rest of the populace to pay them tribute."]

["Okay, so I come from a line of opportunists. Are they really so different from your distant relatives? So, you said your family got rich from mining and oil. Both of those enterprises started with gritty land grabbers and low scruples. It's the story of the American West. You and I are the same."]

["But you've always known where you came from and I just found out. I didn't even know I had a living mother until a few days ago. I thought my mother was a woman named Maria who died giving birth to me. I didn't know anything about my real father until yesterday. I thought he was a man named Rex who died at the hands of the Raiders when I was four. Now I know my father's name is Ignatius. Before I met you, I was a motherless, fatherless child and it never bothered me, because I had my tribe. The Interconnected have been all the family I've ever needed. Now I don't even have them."]

She put her hand on his back. His skin was cooler than hers. He had a nice back. Maybe they just needed practice. ["Marto,"] she started.

["It's Matthew,"] he sent. His message style was bitter. ["As far as I can tell, my name isn't Marto « Maria « Denise « Marta « Joia « etc, as I have known since I can remember. My name is really Matthew « Emily « Joan « Somebody « Somebody « etc. I'm terrified of the interconnection coming back up, because I will find out the name of my maternal grandmother's mother, and also her mother, and my entire lineage will have references and histories, and everyone following me will know I have been a fraud all these years."]

["Can they really see that? Stuff you are just looking up?"]

["Sure, if they want to. It's all open, the data we use and share. I'm certain the super-mods will be on it the second I make the query."]

["So don't make the query!"] Helen was starting to think that getting him back under her was a lost cause. ["If you just go on the way you were, who's to know?"]

["You mean lie? That's a horrific idea. Lie to all my followers while I espouse the benefits of interconnected life? You want me to lie about my own history while I travel about and give the histories of all these towns and peoples? It would be hypocritical. Moreover, I will be bad at it. I don't have much experience with lying, or hiding anything. I will let it all slip out in under a week. I'm certain."]

They stopped messaging for a while. Matthew's back was expanding more with each of his breaths. He might have been crying. Helen reached over and pulled him close to her. He curled himself up under her right arm and reached a hand across to cup her left breast. She felt a little too maternal with him in this position to be amorous. Awkward as it was, it gave her an idea.