The Journey to Freedom: Path to WW3

Chapter LXV

One thing that struck me in my study of history is how people are excluded. I don't mean just racial minorities or women. Pretty much all poor people who don't have documents are excluded from history and its records. People who were illiterate usually didn't leave any primary documents.

Min Jin Lee

The whole entire night we talked about all the fun things we used to do before the blackout and at one point we all fell asleep. I woke up and it was already 6 am. I get up and turn on the fire under the pot that had the beans. The morning was a little fresh. The cold air felt good on the back of my neck.

"Good morning dad." Jasmine greets me.

I reply with a good morning.

She comes up to me and gives me a soft hug and then asks "Dad, you miss mom? I know that Eve was your wife and Zaelia was the twins' mom and Elizabeth gave you Genesis. But can you be honest with me? Did you love mom?"

I look at her and stroke her cheek. I run my hand to the back of her head and pull her in close and tell her that I loved her mother first, of all the women in my life.

"Your mom was something incredibly special. She saw something inside of me that no one else could. She saw my intelligence, my character and she was willing to help me bring out my potential. And in a way she did. She pushed me forward to be better. To make a life for myself. When your mother and I made you. It was out of pure love. A love so strong that I think that honestly, I loved her more than she loved me. I think this is why my DNA was stronger because you are just as smart as me and as loving as her. You and Lydia look just like her. And I am grateful for that because this way I get to see her every day. Elizabeth gave me Genesis and I had her for the little time that I had. Maybe it wasn't meant for her to be with me in person, but she's here now on my wrist and on all the computers. Zaelia gave me the twins and when Elizabeth practically sent my emotions and psyche to hell and back. Zaelia practically saved me with her love and with the girls. When she died she told me that she would find a way to come back to me and the girls. Honestly, the girls would be better off with Eve. You and your sister are grown already. So I don't think that I would be any more use to you two. The ranch is stable, I gave you money. You have a home here. What else could you use, nothing. You're grown. Eventually, in the end, you will marry and have your own life and your own family. I've done my job as a father as best as I could. I wanted to be a father but that didn't happen the way that I wanted it to be. So I improvised and did what I could with what I had."

Jasmine hugs me and tells me that she will always need me and that she misses her mom. Even when they were grown and married, they would always need their father. I smile and tell her that I would always be there for them and if she ever gets sad and wants to see her mom, I tell her to look in the mirror and she'll always look back at her and to keep believing in the heart of the people and she'll always be like her mother. She hugs me even tighter and I can feel my ribs being squeezed. I hold my pain in and hold my breath also so that she doesn't know that I was in dire pain. Once she lets go, I breathe out and let out a sigh. She tells me to sit down and that she would finish up the beans. I smile and tell her that there was no need to do anything else because the fire was on, the pot was on the fire and now the only thing that we needed to do was to just wait.

We go inside the kitchen and she sits down and Genesis greets me from the wrist computer. She tells me that she's down to 20%, I tell her that the sun isn't out yet, so I can't charge her until the sun comes out. She says ok and will go to sleep until I put her outside so she can recharge. I tell her ok and say sweet dreams. She tells me that she wishes she could dream. I tell her that she can, all she has to do is think about the good days and when she powers down, her AI will kick in and in the background, she will play videos of the old days when we used to play. She smiles and says that she will try it. I smile and say good night and see the screen go dark.