Harvey

Harvey left the dinner in a somber mood. Despite the jokes and laughs he shared with his crew mates, Harvey sat at the table with a heavy heart. Unlike the others who volunteered for this mission, Harvey was forced to go by his bosses at NASA. Well, thought Harvey, as he steered through traffic, he wasn't exactly forced. He had a choice: go on the mission or find another job. With a wife and child to support in a bad economy, leaving a lucrative job with good benefits was not an option. Harvey's wife, Sandra, had begged her husband to leave his job and not go on this mission.

"Please," pleaded Sandra, staring at Harvey with those brown eyes that always made him melt. "We have my job and can make it until you find another."

But in a world where the biggest source of energy was dying, jobs were harder to come by. The world economy had begun to shrivel as resources, such as food and oil, became non-existent. World superpowers, such as Russia, the United States and China, found their populations die by the millions, and those who survived did so under the most extraordinary circumstances. Harvey did not want his family to suffer because his own weakness. That weakness stood about 5'2, had wavy black hair and dark brown eyes and had been his wife for the last seven years and despite his job at the NASA, the two had rarely been apart for more than a month at a time. The mission to the sun was extremely dangerous and required Harvey to be gone for about three years, if he made it home at all.

"Sandra," whispered Harvey as he turned into the driveway of his house. "I can't live without you."

Turning off the car engine, Harvey got out and proceeded to walk to the porch of his home. The temperature gauge on the porch read about -16 degrees. Harvey tapped on the gauge, but the temperature did not seem to drop any further. Well, thought Harvey, this is turning out to be a warm evening. Killing the lights, Harvey stared out into the darkness. The snow and ice glistened off of the house lights and for a moment, Harvey was mesmerized. As a child, he had always loved the snow, but now, he would give anything to see the ground. Sandra had always teased Harvey about his love of snow and unknown to him, she had taken up skiing and other winter sports he loved just to share that with him. He loved that about her. That she loved him enough to share his interests. Although Sandra ended up with a broken leg for her efforts, she told Harvey that skiing with him was the best time she had ever had.

Sandra, thought Harvey, how am I going to live without you?

As if she could hear Harvey's thoughts, Sandra opened the front door and stepped out into the cold, calling for him.

"Harvey," she asked, querying for him, "what are you doing in the car?" From his seat, Harvey could see Sandra peering into the car, looking for him. Harvey smiled and got out of the car. Leaving the warm car for the frigid cold air left Harvey gasping for air. Sandra grinned and ran into his arms. Wrapping her arms around him, Harvey breathed in her smell. This would be the last night, for several years, that he would hold his wife in his arms. As he reflected on the unfairness of his predicament, Sandra held him tighter and whispered, "It'll be okay." Looking up at Harvey, she grinned, "I know that you will find your way back to me."

Harvey held his wife close for a moment and then arm-in-arm, they walked inside.

2 a.m.

Sandra got up from their bed and wrapped her robe tightly around her. Pausing, she stared at Harvey's sleeping form. In a couple of hours, he would be gone and they would not see each other for at least three years.

If he made it back at all.

Sandra closed her eyes and banished that thought from her mind. But every day, the fear of losing Harvey on this mission became stronger. In the seven years they had been married, Harvey had been on exactly five missions and each time Sandra knew that he was coming back to her alive, but this time was different. This was a mission to the sun where another crew had already been and died trying to restart it. Sandra knew that the odds of Harvey returning to her were very slim, yet she had to hold on to the hope that she would be granted a miracle.

Walking to her office, Sandra stood for a moment in the darkness. Her office had the best views of their back yard in the entire house. Sandra watched the snow falling mesmerized by its beauty. Shaking her head to clear it, Sandra walked to her desk and unlocked the drawer. Reaching in, Sandra grabbed the package she had been working on since Harvey told her about the mission. Sitting down, she ran her fingertips over the envelopes and pressed the paper against her lips. Sighing deeply, she stood up and walked back into the bedroom. Harvey was still asleep and stirred only slightly when Sandra unzipped his suitcase. Removing some of his clothes, Sandra kissed the letters and placed them in the suitcase. Putting his clothes back, Sandra shut the suitcase and walking over she went to bed. In the morning, she would wake up and make Harvey breakfast for the last time. In the twilight of sleep, she dreamed of Harvey, flying at 29,000 miles per hour, reading his letters. He would know that she loved him and that would bring him home.