SYLVIA
This is Emily's mother. I've just learned that Ollie has been taking my contributions out from his letters to you, tossing them at the Sweet Grass USPS before mailing his parts.
He and I have had a most stern talk about that. It seems he's wanting to placate you, thinking that you are our most direct contact in finding out Emily's status in Gilead. You wanted straight talk from us, and I fear that Ollie's not been doing that. First off I want to thank you for all the information you have passed on. The Toronto consulate obviously has more resources than Calgary.
But you wanted straight talk. First off, you are not kin. Let's not play "pretend". I appreciate that me and Ollie have not always been there for Emily. If we had been, perhaps all this unpleasantness could have been avoided. So I bear much responsibility for Emily departing the normal path.
We also acknowledge the obvious care you put in for Oliver, while you mind him during Emily's enforced absence. Out of all sorts of regrets, one of mine is that what remains of The United States seems to have abandoned 'defence of the family' to Gilead. Ever since Ronald Reagan, we have been involved in both church and politics in strengthening the traditional family. Sadly, Gilead takes it way, way too far - and the Americans-in-exile have pretty much abandoned it.
That's all I wanted to say. I remind you, that you requested that we be frank with you. As it is, your efforts to find out what's going on with our daughter in this difficult time is not unnoticed, and much appreciated.
Oliver's grandma
SYLVIA AND OLIVER
Em's mom and I are obviously not on the same page. Please believe me when I say that I've never deceived you, or even tried to. The situation here in northern Montana is getting worse as the months and now years tick by. Whereas Emily's mom has investigated ways to get Oliver to come here to live with us, that is totally unrealistic. I don't think she and I will ever see eye-to-eye on that. Besides, the Montana court system has collapsed, and Canada is even more liberal minded than we are comfortable with.
Gilead now calls this area the Northern District. However, being 40 minutes from the Canadian border, our locale is still contested. At least that's what the Calgary consulate has said. The Flathead Reservation people near Missoula recently got a written ultimatum from the 'Northern District of Gilead' to surrender their lands. You know what the Chief there did? He wrote "NUTS" in big letters on it and returned it otherwise uncommented on. Gilead messes with the Indians here at their peril. As well as those of us exercising our Second Amendment rights.
We used to get our information from FOX News, but they have all gone over to Gilead. So we're stuck with the Voice of America and Oprah fucking Winfrey. Please don't read my curse word to Oliver. Also the CBC from Lethbridge, Alberta. The CBC is State-run, so you have to take what they say with a grain of salt.
So we've heard about the nuclear exclusion areas to the south of here. You've told us that Emily is probably still in surrogacy-servitude in Boston, under the name 'Ofglen', because of her fertility. But what worried us is that Gilead also sends "undesirable women" to those exclusion areas, as a workforce to decontaminate them. Gilead considers what you and Emily do as undesirable. I'm just saying, and these are the ramblings of a father going crazy out here.
There's also a report of a resistance-bombing in New Gilead at their training center for surrogacy. I had to turn off the radio when that came on.
What do you know? Please, do not cut us off.
Grandpa Ollie
Mr and Mrs Malek
I think it is best if I just ignore a lot of what you both wrote. It seems that dialogue is impossible.
I mean, it's bad enough. Yes, there was an explosion at a surrogacy facility in Boston. Rachel Tapping is the officer at the Consulate who has forwarded what little information about Emily that there is. When the rumour of the bombing spread through Little America, everyone converged on to the consulate. Ms. Tapping at first gave partial information but hoped that more details would be available by the end of the day. Everyone was yelling at the poor woman.
I mean, Ms. Tapping was the one who a few weeks ago speculated that Emily's patrynomic (her Gilead name) had been Ofglen. Moira then remembered that Ofglen had been the name of Luke's wife's shopping partner. That she was probably gay.
I went hysterical when the rumour spread that the suicide bomber had been 'Ofglen'. I called the telephone operator to see if lines were open to northern Montana, I felt you had a right to know. That did not work out. We were told that over two dozen surrogates and an equal number of Gilead high level officials had been killed. Even more seriously injured.
Luke dragged me to the briefing at the end of the day, a briefing I did not want to be at. Rachel Tapping had names. I nearly fainted when they showed a picture of the bomber, a surrogate named 'Lillie Fuller', also known in Gilead as Ofglen. There was some confusion as to whether the 'Glen' of the 'Ofglen' was Commander Glen Deeds or Commander Glen Cooper, for either Emily or Lillie. Tapping had headshots of most of the 31 surrogates who'd died in the bombing. Emily was not among them.
A rumour also spread that Commander Deeds, as well as his whole household were executed as a result of the bombing. That means Fuller belonged to him. But I had thought that that's where Emily was. This is all so confusing, because Emily's whereabouts is now unknown. All I know is that her picture was not shown as one of the victims of the bombing. But she could have been a second 'Ofglen' to Glen Deeds and dealt with later when the household was executed. I don't want to contemplate the rest.
Look, Mr & Mrs Malek. I 'get' that you don't like me or even who I am. I am not doing this for you, I am passing on all this for Emily. My wife. I'm desperate here. I assume you are too. Whether you like it or not, Emily is my wife, my kin. If I even get a whiff that you're going after Oliver, my son, I will fight you.
Sorry to be so harsh. One thing I will not do is cut you off from information about your daughter. Kin does not do that.
Sylvia
Dear Sylvia and Oliver
Sylvia, you've found out we're plain speakers. You say dialogue is impossible? I thought that that's what we were doing. I don't know about your family, but if we are 'kin', this is the way it is done. Especially in rural Montana. Maybe you Canadians are too polite.
Yes, you are Oliver's mother. Sounds like you'll fight for him. That's what mothers do. My wife, she's a mama-bear, too. You may have noticed. As such, thank you for not giving up on us. We're dying here.
Where the hell is Emily? If she's dead, we should know that. Gilead is no champion of conservative values. No champion of family values.
Is there anything else?
Mr & Mrs Malek
Ok, Mr. Malek, I concede we're having a conversation. As families do. I really get tired of having to defend myself from lesbian stereotypes. You should know that what attracted me to your daughter was the studying she put in at Harvard. It wasn't political correctness that got her the tenure-track position. She worked hard. Like I said, she's one of the smartest people I know.
I feel a lecture coming on, one that I gave to my parents when I was a teenager. But lecturing is not dialogue. So I'll quit. I'm not going to waste paper and pen, especially when you hear the latest.
Good news. Rachel Tapping says that Emily may have been found. If so, she's now in forced surrogacy service to a Boston Commander with the first name of "Roy". Ms. Tapping called her "Ofroy". No reason given about how or why she escaped the bombing. Tapping's guess? Emily had been sentenced to one of those decontamination colonies. She was deported some time ago, then recalled because of the loss of 31 surrogates in the bombing.
Ms. Tapping says that things can be known about Emily (and maybe not others) since she has some sort of 'Mayday' background, 'Mayday' being a nickname for the secretive resistance. Tapping seemed almost purposely vague, like she knows stuff she's not letting on about. Others have noted this about the Consulate in general, and have protested that they may be hiding information relevant to their own loved ones.
Oliver has been asking about you and his grandma. He senses tension, he's a very sensitive boy. Last night he told me he's trying to stay strong - for me.
Look, he needs to meet you. I will leave it to you - if you are allowed to make it north of Coutts, Alberta, for any length of time at all, just give me 48 hours notice. Me and Oliver will meet you.
Sylvia
Dear Sylvia and Oliver
It means a lot to us that you're still communicating. Hearing that Emily is alive is what keeps us going.
I ran across an old calendar, I'd written on it for that year that today is the day you and Emily got engaged. I guess our reaction to that is why we didn't receive an invitation. We could have made it to Maryland. But since we are finally 'communicating' I should be honest that we would not have come.
If you and Emily ever have a chance to celebrate an anniversary, would we come for that? I guess we could always use the excuse that we're trapped in no man's land between Gilead and Canada! But try us.
Tell you what. If you ever have that chance, you and Emily back together, give us a chance. I'll work on Em's mother.
Ollie (grandpa)
Dear Grandparents!
Your prayers have been answered! Emily is in Canada! You read that right, I cannot believe I just wrote it! At a refugee medical facility near Montréal. I was going to book into a hotel, but they told me not to. I'm not allowed to go there. I spent 45 minutes last night with a telephone operator trying to find a way to get the news to you by voice. To any working phone in your town. Could not be done, I'm so sorry!
By the time you read this? I don't know, I hope that Oliver and I are reunited with her by then. It has been way, way too long. Oliver is beside himself, says he's a little scared. But he wants to hug her and tell her how much he loves her. That goes for all of us.
Details are sparse. Sit down for this part. Rachel Tapping said that she arrived with a baby. A baby. She tried to prepare me for anything, including that the baby may be hers. If so I pledge to you, that that baby will be ours.
But Ms. Tapping also said that my patience will probably be tested, as family reunions in these cases are always complicated. Survivors of Gilead may have done dark stuff to have survived. Gilead is already starting up a propaganda campaign about Emily and the baby. No one knows what that's about.
Me, I don't care. She's here. She's in Canada! With a baby. Please do the praying for both of us. The guy upstairs needs to be thanked!
Sylvia and Oliver
