[Todd]
Lee just sighs as he sees things through my perspective. "You're lucky, you know – that she loves you." "Lee, I'm sorry," "Don't be. It's not your fault. She just loves you. I'm at least glad I can be close to her." An awkward silence follows. Our noises don't do much talking, just a weird mix of emoshuns, both seeming similar and yet different. His is more blue. Understandable. We just sit there, and Ben comes in. "Hello," he says, both to Lee and I. I look up. Lee stares, if you could call it that, at the floor. Lee? and Where's Viola? and Todd in his noise. "Viola went to get some food for us all," Lee sighs. "Are you eating with us tonight?" "Yessir. Todd said I should stay."
Viola comes back and we all eat. Dinner is unsurprisingly quiet, and Ben is questioning why in his noise. Dinner ends and Lee leaves to his tent, next door. They're temporary, while houses are being built. Ben says Viola will live with us, down by the orchards, with a view of the lake, the steeple of the old cathedral still barley breaking the surface.
"Actually, that's the surprise. I guess I couldn't hold it in much longer. I was never very good at keeping secrets." "Really? Ben," I ask, excitement swirling in my head, slowly drowning out the sadness that came before it. I get up and hug him. It'll be just the three of us. The two people I love the most on this planet. Then I think about Cillian again. I cloud that over with as much happiness as I can, and that seems to work. Viola gets up and joins the hug. We go to sleep and slowly the morning comes.
I wake up and everybody's already gone. I get changed and I take a granola bar from the ground by the cooker and finish it off, then I go outside. I find Viola and Lee and a strange man in a doctor's coat talking. Viola's face looks kind of sad, which makes me sad, too.
As I walk over I hear the man talking about "ocular implants" and a "negative match." The doctor leaves and Lee and Viola just stand there. Lee I think is using my eyes to see, and his head just stares forward. "Morning, Todd," Viola says with a fake smile. "Morning both of you," I say back. "We were just talking with Dr. Gordon about Lee's eye implants. They won't work. Negative match. The doctor says Lee's body will reject them. Sucks." "Oh. That's kinda sad, I guess." "Guys, I'm fine. Actually, I'm almost happy. I've gotten used to seeing like this, and I think the old way would just seem strange to me now," Lee says with confidence. It's the first time we've properly met besides last night. Weird that I've just noticed that.
Viola decides to take us down to the orchard. Our house looks almost done on the outside. It's a lot bigger than my old one in Prentisstown. Lee doesn't say anything, but I can tell he's disappointed that he won't live here. With Viola.
No one's here yet. There's scaffolding and construcshun equipment set up, but no one's working on it. "Ben's working on it with the help of some others. He's made some friends here already." I look at Viola. "Not surprised," I say.
After a quick look inside, we all three of us head back up the hill, Viola and I walking next to each other, just a space of millimeters between us. I make sure to keep an eye on Lee so he can see where he's going.
We pass Ben on the way up and exchange "'Morning"s. Viola and I go back up into the tent for another reading and writing lesson. Lee goes off to do whatever he does.
The next few days mostly pass like that. Viola finds things for us three to do in the mornings, then Lee goes off and Viola and I read and write or we just talk, mostly about all the new changes. It's good to know how well we've managed to rebuild. After. We have a calendar, which is weird. In Prentisstown, we always just counted days. I'm getting used to it tho. Tho? Though. I finish reading my ma's journal. It's chilling, if not… interesting to hear my ma's own words, and even though I never knew her, I feel like I do. I'm getting better at writing, too. And spelling.
[Viola]
Todd's really improving with his writing. He's smarter than his illiteracy made him seem: he's a quick learner. With practice, he could probably even beat my essay on the Ancient Victorian empire I wrote for Old World History in 5th grade. I chuckle a bit. "What're you laughing about?" Todd asks playfully. "Nothing, just remembering something I wrote back on the settler ships." "Oh." I stare down at Todd's feet, and say the first thing that comes to mind.
"You know, we met one year ago tomorrow." "Really?" "Ya. You're birthday's coming up in a month. That was fast." I sigh. "Wow. Vi–" but he stops and his noise swells. It just fills with memories of us running away together, memories of us, just 5 and a half moths ago, in the tent, just after Ben came back, after Todd saved the Mayor, and I kissed him. He cuts it off there, but the same thoughts he thought then are coming back. He stares at me, but as soon as I meet his eye, he turns away. He's embarrassed, I can tell, but he's not shameful. I lean close to him and I just touch him on his neck, and he looks at me again and touches me back, on the shoulder, and runs his hand down my arm, brushing past my band, which stings a little in response, and he comes down to my hand and closes his around it. I close it back.
We walk outside. It's evening already. The sun is low in the sky and cast our long shadow as we look for Ben. Or I look for Ben. He's become a father figure to me, I guess, even though I've never really given any thought to it. I always go and talk to him when I have nothing else to do. Or maybe when I feel awkward.
Whatever.
I lead Todd down to the orchards, where Ben probably still is, even though everybody else has already left the house. He's there. Wilf, too. The house is almost done; it looks like work is already being done on the inside. "Howdy, Hildy, Ben." Of course Wilf means Todd, but Ben's always been confused by the name, and so his neck snaps towards him. Todd is the first to reply. "Hi Wilf and Ben." "Evening," comes Ben's reply.
"The house looks almost done," I nod towards the entranceway. "Yeah, we just have to install the windows, flooring …a-and the kitchen sink," Ben says. I laugh at his joke, but Todd doesn't, his noise confused and slightly frustrated. It's kind of cute. I blush a little. "It's an old joke," I explain. "Ya, I'm sure it is," Todd mutters, but his noise says it loud. "Y'all should be able to move in in a couppla day' time," Wilf interrupts. Move in, Todd says in his noise. Couppla days and Viola and Ben on an infinite spiraling loop.