Chapter 116
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After they brought the packages into the basement Amy and Eve sat down with Ted's family for dinner. They really seemed to appreciate the girls taking such a big risk in defense of freedom. Eve liked these people, that would make it harder to inform on them. Eve tried not to remember their names. Ted had three kids, the youngest only one month old. Eve knew the baby was named Ted Jr, she didn't know the name of Ted's wife or the older kids. Ted and his wife were proud of how they'd had a baby after 2/4. No government would tell them they couldn't have more children. Admittedly this ecame harder. Like most of their co-workers Ted and his wife were reduced to part-time. With jobs becoming more scarce this became common, giving people just enough money to feed themselves, thus preventing riots. Plus people could only buy gas on certain days, usually based on their liscence plates. People were encouraged to conserve fuel by keeping theirhomes colder in winter, warmer in summer. Mason did the same thing for the white house, his wearing sweaters at press conferences did little to quell Ted's frustration. At 8pm this night Ted and his family bega watching a movie on the Trinity Broadcasting Network. This drama made the president, a metaphor for Mason, to be the anti-christ. He manipulated ELE events to sieze power for himself, forcing everyone in the shelters to take his mark, thus damning themselves for eternity. This anti-christ's endgame seemed to be either to defeat God and take his power, or at least deprive him of souls. Nadia and Amy were criticalof Mason, but they didn't claim he was evil for the sake of evil. After the movie Ted's wife prepared sleeping bags for Amy and Eve, apologized for the lack of beds. Despite her inner turmoilEve was exhausted and fell asleep quickly.
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On Sunday Febuary 26th Amy and Eve woke up tothe smell of cooking eggs and toast. They ate breakfast as Ted read his newspaper and gave his opinions. It seemed unclear if the Israeli workers who stayed in Pakistan were being held against their will as hostages. Ted felt they'd betrayed their country and deserved whatever they got from either side. Another story was about a 13 year old girl suing for her right to die. Currently the minimum age for mercy clinics was eighteen. Sixteen with parental consent. Ted couldn't imagine any parent giving their child permission for this. At any rate the case was going to be heard before the supreme court this week. Euthanasia activist Hailey was supporting this girl. There were more rumors of the plot to murder president Mason. Ted said he could understand Allen wanting to take his place, but it made no sense for general Douglas to plot his murder when he couldn't gain power for himself. Despite who Douglas worked for, Ted seemed to respect the general. After breakfast the family went to church. They invited the girls but Amy and Ee declined and headed back home right away. On the way home Amy and Eve talked. Two nine-hour car rides together in as many days could wear thin on any friendship, but these two tried to make the best of it. This drive was good practice for Eve. She had her learner's permit, not her liscence yet. They talked about the escalating tension between Israel and Pakistan. There was no doubt the Israeli workers had chosen to stay. Now they were either guests or hostages, possily both. Eve tried to follow the euthanasia case. This girl was at a hotel in Washington with her parents and younger siblings. The five of them seemed to be co-habitating well, despite the fact that she was fighting her parents on this. Eve could only imagine how that felt for any of them. This had been Eve's first delivery, the first time was always nerve-racking. Amy didn't seem to find it suspicious that Eve became nervous after the tet message. he text was from Murphy, he wanted to see Eve as soon as possible.