Chapter Five

Sitting at her desk finishing her homework Samantha Wilkins heard a vehicle pull into the drive. She thought it sounded like the truck, had to be dad. She was half way down the stairs when her father came through the door.

 

“Did you bring dinner?” she asked, smiling expectantly.

 

He held up a white paper bag with grease stains near the bottom, while continuing to talk into his phone, probably Chinese she thought.

 

“…Well, why not?” he was asking, obviously annoyed.

 

“Mom?” Samantha asked.

 

Her father gave her a quick nod, and pointed a finger at the bag he had plopped down on the counter. She sniffed it, fairly sure it was Kung Pao chicken & pork fried rice.

 

He was still talking to the phone as he walked through the kitchen toward his office, "...just doesn't seem like the time..."

 

Getting a bowl from the cupboard, she said “No problem dad, I’ll just keep myself company while I eat!”

 

Her father stuck his head back in the room “Sam, I’m sorry…”

 

His mouth sat open, as he tried to think of what to say “please just eat and get ready for bed… ok?”

 

She rolled her eyes at him, while chewing.

 

“Love you honey!” he said, closing his office door.

 

Claudia must have been asleep on the sofa, she shuffled into the kitchen rubbing her eyes. “¿Su padre está en casa?” she asked. Claudia had been their nanny & tutor since Samantha was two, and spoke to her only in Spanish.

 

“Sí Claudia, regresa a casa por favor y toma algún alimento chino” Samantha answered, spooning some of the food into a tupperwear.

An hour later Samantha lay in bed replaying bits of her day, as she always did before letting sleep take hold. She heard arguing below, mom must be home, she thought.

 

Her parents didn’t often have loud fights, and when they did she usually pull a pillow over her ears and try to sleep, but this sounded different somehow. Her mom was saying something like, “That’s why I have to go!” Her dad came back with, “Well if this is so damn bad, then you should not be away!!”

 

Samantha quietly padded out to the top of the stair where she could hear more clearly. “Listen…” her mother was speaking slowly, in her argument-defusing tone.

 

“The CDC is down there… Ok, it seems like whatever it is, is contained.” She paused “It will only be a two day trip, including travel… I’ll be back Friday night… ok?”

 

She normally didn’t notice her mom’s accent, but when she was upset (as she was), it became more pronounced. Her dad said “I don’t really get why you have to go anyway, you’re a little low on the totem pole to be attending a Governor’s meeting.”

 

“Ouch” Samantha whispered to herself.

 

“Alden, you know I’m not in this job for status, Pat trusts my feedback and opinions on things… I was asked to go, and I think I can help.”

 

Her father’s response was so quiet she had to strain to hear, “Maresa… you know I just worry about you, I… we would be lost without you.”

Sam’s heart skipped a beat. “Without you”, what did that mean? She was scared, her dad sounded scared, so her being scared only made sense.

 

She kept listening for a while, but heard nothing else. Samantha tried to analyze what little info she had, as she tip-toed back to bed. Her mom “had” to go to some governor’s meeting somewhere, somewhere that might be dangerous, for some unknown reason.

 

Her dad thought whatever this danger was, it required the family to stay close together, here. The CDC, whatever that that might be, was “down there”, where ever that was, and something unknown, that sounded dangerous, was “contained” down there.

 

As she tried to sleep again, Samantha couldn’t get the phrase out of her head, “without you”. She was thinking she would find out what this was all about in the morning, one way or another, when she began to dream. She was looking for something she had lost & couldn’t find, looking everywhere frantically but it was gone, something or it might have been someone.