After everyone had finishing eating lunch, Lynn left Jacob and Lilly to take their naps in the children's nursery while she walked over to the farm's office to speak with Mistress. And, following 603's introduction to Moby (and vice versa) Garcia spent the afternoon visiting with 603, admiring his latest carpentry project, and being taken on a tour of the farm.
"It was quite an experience," she told Lynn afterwards. "I knew all those fruits and vegetables and things grew on trees and in the ground and all, but I never realized how much work was involved in getting them to do it. I'm a city girl, what can I say?"
Jack, in the meantime, spent the afternoon with his father going around the farm and being introduced to numerous people.
"Did you tell everyone here about me?" he groused as they walked from the vegetable gardens to the barn. "Didn't you have anything else to talk about?"
"I did talk about you a lot," Hotch admitted. "But only because I missed you so much and wanted to get back to you. There isn't anything wrong with that, is there? A father wants to spend time with his son."
Dinner that evening was a noisy affair with Blake, her husband, James, and their grad students joining Hotch's family at one of the dining room tables while many of the farm's residents stopped by to greet them and welcome them back to the island.
"You are about to have the adventure of a lifetime," James told Jack. "It's not often that someone your age gets to visit a civilization like this. Actually, it's rarely that the opportunity arises to study a group like this."
"Well, I'm on vacation," Jack reminded him. "So I'm not studying at all."
"You had better watch out," one of the grad students smiled at him. "You might end up learning something, whether you want to or not."
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
It was late the next morning when Jack finally got out of bed. There didn't seem to be anyone else in the men's dorm and he remembered that 433 had told him his cot was located with the 'late risers' group. Reaching under his bed, he pulled out his suitcase (no taking clothes from the communal wardrobe for him!), extracted his clothes for the day, and headed towards the showers. After getting himself washed and dressed, Jack sauntered over to the dining hall.
When he pulled the door open, he was immediately struck by how quiet the dining hall was. As Jack looked around, he noticed that the only occupants were a boy and a girl, who appeared to be around his age, and were busy washing off the tables and chairs.
"Good Morning," the girl looked at him curiously. "Are you looking for someone?"
"I'm here for breakfast," Jack told her.
"They've already stopped serving breakfast," the boy spoke up. "If you want something to eat, you'll have to wait until lunch."
"Wait until lunch?" Jack repeated. "But, I'm here on vacation and I'm hungry now.
"Breakfast is over with," the girl shrugged. "You'll have to wait."
"That's not right," Jack stated imperiously. "Who do I need to talk to?"
"Five oh two and her kitchen staff are right through there," the girl pointed at a door at the front of the room. "But you do know they are really busy right now and don't like to be disturbed, don't you?"
"But, I'm hungry," Jack replied as he headed towards the door.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Five oh two quickly set Jack straight regarding the meal schedule. "The meals are served when the meals are served," she told him firmly. "And, if you aren't here to eat on time, you go hungry. Now, get out of here - We have work to do. Lunch isn't that far away and I don't think you'll starve to death in the meantime."
Upset, Jack wandered outside and looked around at the various wooden buildings. He needed to find Lynn he decided. After what he had seen yesterday, he assumed that she had some clout around here. She could straighten this out for him. But, where would she be? He headed for the nursery.
"Lynn - Five eighty six?" the woman in charge repeated. "No, we haven't seen her today and I have no idea where she is working. Have you tried Mistress's office?"
"I don't think she went there," another woman contributed. "At least not right off. I saw her not long ago heading around behind the schoolhouse."
"That does make sense," the first woman agreed. "Why don't you try there? And, if she's not there, try Mistress's office."
"The schoolhouse," Jack thought. He remembered where that was from the tour he had been taken on yesterday. But, he didn't remember having gone around behind the building. Determined to find Lynn, he set off in that direction. As he rounded the back of the structure, he saw a field with numerous stone slabs set in rows and about halfway down the second row, he could see Lynn sitting on the ground holding Jacob and Lilly.
As he started towards her, Jack realized that each stone had a number and, sometimes, a name carved on it. Carefully, he corrected his route to make sure he was walking on the path between the stones.
"This is my mother," Lynn spoke up as she saw him approaching. "She died when I was studying at the sixth level."
"What happened?" Jack asked curiously.
"An accident in the orchards," was the sad reply. "She fell and hit her head. There was nothing anyone could do."
"You made sure I visited my mother on her birthday and on Mother's Day and on Christmas," Jack remembered. "And you went with Dad and me to visit his parents and grandparents at the Hotchner Family Plot. But, your mother is here and you can't visit her."
"That's why I am visiting her now," Lynn responded softly. "And I brought Jacob and Lilly with me so they'll know where she is, too. I can only hope that she knows we're here."
"I'm sure she knows," Jack stated. "The same way I'm sure my mother knows when I visit her. I don't know how but I just know."
"Well," Lynn smiled at him. "I guess that means we both have to believe that."
"Now, I assume you came looking for me for a reason?" she said as she stood up and brushed herself off.
"It's not important," Jack replied as he reached down to take Jacob's hand. "Why don't we take a walk through here and you can tell me about your mother and about anyone else you know who is here?"