Silent Fog

Chapter 14 - Clara and Daniel (Part 2)

"I don't know why my father had this stupid idea!" Samuel complained, as soon as Daniel closed the door behind him. "Why do I have to show the HQ to the poultry farmer's son? Am I some kind of tour guide?" he continued measuring Daniel and making him uncomfortable.

"Don't be stuck up, Samuel! As the future Governor, you must be prepared to deal with all people." Clara said with a smile and patted his arms crossed over his chest. "My name is Clara." she stretched out her hand to Daniel waiting for him. His motionless made her feel uncomfortable. "Well... Let's go?"

Clara walked slightly ahead, showing the various HQ areas and explaining about its construction. The round design, she said, was built to shelter the most important people protected. In case of some bombardment, the tallest and narrowest buildings where lived the servants, cleaners, cooks and other servants protected the HQ. Those would be hit first.

"Unfair, don't you think?" She gazed through one of the narrow windows of the main hall and observing Daniel by the corner of her eye.

"Too much" Daniel answered, looking at the small buildings that surrounded the HQ.

"The walls are made with a mixture of concrete and steel, so thick they can withstand the heaviest bombardment." Clara ran a slender hand across the wall.

"How do you know all of this?" Daniel asked, looking in her direction for the first time since they had left the Governor's office.

"Because her mother is General Monteiro." Samuel's tone was sharp when he stepped between them.

"Upstairs are the bedrooms." Clara went on, walking again and being followed by the two boys.

"Who sleeps here?" Daniel looked up at the top of the staircase bisected, each part leading to a different wing of the building.

"Only the people who rule here." Samuel kept his hands on his back and observed Clara and Daniel with a frown. "The rest stay in the other buildings."

"Do you sleep here, too?" Daniel asked Clara, who felt her cheeks burn at the boy's gaze.

"Of course she sleeps here! Didn't you hear when I said only the ones who rule here stay in this building? She is General Monteiro's daughter and, like me, someday she'll take over her mother's place." Samuel faced Daniel who held his gaze though he was slightly lower than the other boy.

They reached the ballroom where several people set up tables and chairs, decorated walls with masks and streamers for the party that night. A massive table in the background seemed to be prepared for the most important people there.

"And this is the place I love the most!" Clara opened one of the huge heavy doors of the place to a room with walls covered by shelves from top to bottom. "The library!"

The three of them advanced into the middle of the room as Daniel watched in wonderment at thousands of volumes on each shelf. Nana had taught him to read but in yellowed, time-worn books, very different from those that his fingers wandered. Thick or thin, with leather covers, with gold lettering on all subjects: mathematics, physics, novels, history of Brazil...

"Brazil... It was the old country's name from where we live nowadays," said Clara, standing beside him, seeming to read his thoughts. "Before the great epidemic, I mean. As they said, there was a lot of mankind knowledge on those boxes there," she pointed to what looks like small TVs on some desks. "They saved all the files in the 'cloud', whatever that means. But after the solar storm, all the electrical appliances burned and after all, only the books remained."

"Where are the other people?" Daniel looked at some opened books scattered on a table. "I mean, there are other important people who live here, isn't it?" he added, looking at Samuel who was motionless in the middle of the library, his face frowning and crossed arms on his chest.