Salvaging day. Large beads of sweat roll down the back of Nick's neck as he stands at his post. They should be back soon, he reckons. There's never been a Salvaging that lasted more than two hours, the Aunts liked to make their point and be done with it. Even they had places they would rather be.
The Commander's car appeared in the distance, the hot sun gleamed off the shiny hood Nick polished day after day. He admired his work as he stood aside and the car passed through the gates. The tires slowly crunched the gravel and through the black tinted windows he could make out the dark silhouettes of the Commander and his wife. Offred would be coming later in a van with some other Handmaids.
The Commander parked and they got out slowly, as if the Salvaging had made them weary and stiff. Possibly it had, he wasn't entirely sure what happened at the Salvaging. Just that women were hanged, but surely a hanging doesn't take two hours. It wasn't his place to ask.
He watches the Commander walk inside and as he does, he puts both arms behind his back, folds one hand over the other, and walks upright and formal through the doorway. That's the signal. Nick remembers to cock his hat to the right, mostly for the Commander's benefit. He knows Offred hasn't been going to the Commander much lately; this he will keep to himself. Just then he sees the van barreling down the long road carrying the Handmaids. He feels a flutter, a hope, as the van comes closer. He doesn't think he loves Offred, not in the general sense of love. They share a lust and a freedom together. He says this to keep himself centered but the fluttering grows rapid and he clears his throat, stands tall, and watches the van pass through the gates.
Offred hops out, a little shaky he notices, but he doesn't stare. It's not polite, and more importantly not smart. He feels jealous as she walks inside, an air conditioned house seems a lot better than standing in the hot sun, but it passes quickly when he remembers that he has it better in almost every other aspect.
The van leaves and another Guard walks up to his post. Nick steps down off the ledge and walks to the Commander's car. He's always grateful for when it's time to wash the car, he is allowed to walk after standing still for a while and it's something not so rigid and policed. There's no creative outlets anymore, men aren't supposed to want to create. He misses drawing, and he's afraid that he'll forget how to do it. Art classes were his favorite in school, much to his father's dismay, but his father is probably happy about it now. Or dead, he can't be sure.
He hoses down the car for five minutes and then Offred walks back outside again holding a basket for her daily trip to the market. He doesn't look at her, but knows that at some point she must look at him to see the crooked hat. He wonders how she feels when she knows the Commander has summoned her. He also wonders what happens when she visits. His mind lulls over possibilities from the craziest kinky sex to just a question about how her day went. He hasn't spoken to the Commander often so he's not entirely sure what he might be capable of, and he doesn't want to ask Offred because he's just the messenger, it's not his place to know.
Offred and another Handmaid walk away down the road when suddenly he hears a shriek from inside the house. He sprints inside to see the Commander's wife holding one of her blue robes; hastily making her way to the Commander's office. Rita and Cora poke their head out of the kitchen, and Nick makes eye contact with Cora who he gives a nod to, to say, get back in the kitchen before she sees you staring. They duck back in and Nick joins them in the kitchen where they can still hear yelling.
"I can't BELIEVE YOU! I can't believe HER! EVERYTHING I did for her?! And this is how she repays me?!"
The wife is stomping around, they can feel the boards vibrating and thumping as she storms around his office or possibly towards the Commander.
They hear soft muffling from the Commander's much deeper voice, but it's cut off over and over as the wife rampages and threatens to have her sent away.
"JUST like the LAST one huh Fred?! You have a soft spot for the young ones?! I thought it was different this time—"
"Serena I—"
"No NO, you do not get to say ANYTHING. How could you do this to me AGAIN?! Do you not remember what happened to the last one?! You can sure as hell bet Cora does, you wanna go ask her?!"
"I remember—"
"Oh you just must not care, do you even want a baby Fred? I want this baby, and you, and HER, oh god I'm going to kill her! I'm going to ship her off to the Colonies, she's lucky I don't declare her an Unwoman!"
A cold raced through Nick, his heart beating uncontrollably he raced out of the kitchen and ran to his room over the garage. He lifted his mattress and pulled out the black market phone the wife had gotten for him in return for the twenty packs of cigarettes about six months prior. He hadn't actually ever called anyone on it, he wasn't sure who to call, whether they would pick up, or who was listening. But right now he knew exactly who he was going to dial.
He flipped it open and dialed a number he had memorized a year ago when a Guard he became close with told him about Mayday and the large political movement to overthrow the system. He learned that they pose as Eyes, and snatch people on the street in order to bring them into their ring and also keep others in the dark.
"If you're ever in trouble, or someone you know who needs help and a way out, dial it and just say Mayday, and the name of the person who needs to get out."
That friend disappeared a month later, he might have been relocated, perhaps he was caught spreading information that was banned, Nick never found out. He just knew he didn't want to think about it that much.
After dialing the number it rang once, a synthesized voice spoke out.
"Password."
That's all it said. He was panicking, what if Mayday wasn't the real password, what if this organization were actually Eyes that found people who were trying to escape.
"Password."
He had no choice, he either had to take this risk or risk Offred being sent to the Colonies, or killed.
"Mayday. Handmaid Offred."
"There are many Handmaid Offred's. Real name."
Good, the password worked. But her real name, he knows it, she told him. Oh god what was it, why can't he remember, why can't he just—
"Sarah! Sarah Williams."
"Thank you."
There was a click. He did it. But what exactly did he do? Everything was buzzing around him. He looked out his window and saw Offred and the other Handmaid walking back up the path. Oh no, what if the wife does something before Mayday can get here. What if he was too late?
He leaves his room and walks back outside, he can't look at her, and he can't let her see his fear. She walks inside and he immediately hears the shrill screams of the wife.
"I trusted you!"
He stands silent and listens to their conversation. He winces and gets fired up as the word slut rolls off the wife's tongue. There's silence so he assumes Offred walks back to her room, that or the wife took her to another part of the house. Oh god, where is Mayday? And how do they know where she is? He didn't even give them an address. He stands outside near the half-washed car pacing back and forth. What happens if the Commander walks out with Offred and tries to take her somewhere, take her away, what can he do? He can do nothing, and he knows that. If he tries to stop the Commander, he would be tortured. And Offred might get an even worse punishment.
The last Handmaid was caught too, and she killed herself. What if Offred kills herself? Nick's knees shake and his breath catches in his chest, he has to stop her, he can't let her do that. What if she's doing it right now?
A black van turns the corner down the road and heads toward his gate. He doesn't know what to think. Is this Mayday? Is this the van to take women away to the Colonies?
He rushes out to the gate to let the van in and they park, get out, and one turns toward Nick.
"Offred," he says sternly.
"Mayday," Nick stammers hoping that that will somehow give him something or let them know that he can be trusted.
"Mayday," the man replies.
A large burst of relief almost knocks Nick over and he motions for them to follow him. He bursts through the front door, ignores the yelps from Cora and the wife, and makes his way down the hallway to her room. He opens her door and finds Offred standing in the middle of the room, pale, and with a blank expression on her face.
He runs over to her and whispers "it's alright, it's Mayday, go with them."
"Them?" she says as she looks past him at the men standing just outside her doorway.
"You must be crazy," she says hurriedly as she looks him straight in the eye. A gesture that surprises him since he knows Handmaid's are taught to never look directly at anyone.
"Trust me."
They stared at each other for a second longer and Offred moved around him and walked through the door. The two men escorted her out and Nick, weary and exhausted, sat down on her bed. He watched through the window as Offred climbed in the van and he never saw her again.