CW2, D.R. SMITH [little readers .TXT] 📗

Most of that had come to fruition. But the ‘nice family’ part had crumbled before the rest of the country went to ‘Hell in a handbasket’.

As a black couple, Daryl and Mick had become confused and were not necessarily on the same page about what ‘side’ of this conflict they wanted to land on. Both were agreed that decades of Democrat controlled inner-city governments had failed the black community in nearly every respect. By not expressing this conclusion outwardly, the mere color of their skin gave them a pass to exist within nearly any metro area in the country. But Mick was not satisfied with this ‘racial ID’ as she referred to it. The lack of freedom to express her true feelings and ideals on government control had finally gnawed its way into her gut and caused an upheaval in hers and Daryl’s relationship. She knew he was right in pointing out that some of the Conservative Militia members were racists and could possibly ‘shoot on sight’ a black person attempting to drift into their organizations. But Micky was convinced this was in fact racial profiling towards white males.

 After weeks of scanning news tidbits, she had discovered there were, in fact, White Supremacist that had formed into entire militia groups and crossing them was very dangerous business for people of any other race. But Mick had also learned there were groups that denounced such exclusionary and racist actions and were accepting anyone into their ranks. Daryl had listened to her time and again as she attempted to explain that if an effort were made to discover which CM groups were racially tolerant, they could carefully plan an escape from Denver and end up living a truly free life… instead of the façade they were now engaged in. It was when he overheard her attempting to sway Brandon to this line of thinking that he had finally had enough.

Late one night, Daryl and their 17-year-old son vanished under the cover of darkness. Five weeks later there had been no word of their whereabouts although she was sure they were still in the Denver area. That was a given considering the current governmental/political atmosphere and the peril involved in leaving the metro area. But that still encompassed an enormous search area that she did not have time to scour.

McKenna Rogers now found herself staring back at her own unhappy face in the bathroom mirror struggling, every moment she was alone, to hold back tears. She swallowed deeply with eyes now shut and commanded in her mind… You can do this McKenna. Her hand shakily reached for the side of the mirror that would snap open the medicine cabinet and reveal the tools of pre-workplace preparation. Toothpaste, makeup, mouthwash, nail polish. McKenna’s youthful 34-year-old skin barely needed anything to improve her beauty. But no normal woman went to work without some level of enhancement on skin, lips, and eyes. To her, this had become a necessary evil to which each day she succumbed with mild internal conflict. Although her trips to the gym had ended recently, she continued to maintain her physique through a skimpy diet… which with growing food shortages… was becoming a necessary way to eat anyway.

Mick thought about the text message she had sent to her son three days ago. Key words in phone communications were now being monitored by leftist hacker groups and any questionable comments were dealt with harshly. This had driven Mick to spend nearly a week in constructing her note to Brandon. Any improper verbiage could wreak havoc on him or herself… neither of which she wanted.

Would he understand what I’m actually trying to say, she thought. Or have I lost him permanently? She stared into her own eyes in the mirror. Her thoughts drifted back to a moment when the two of them were laughing so hard at a loaf of bread she had made. Mick had forgotten to put yeast in the dough leaving the final product flat and dense. Brandon had been the one who pulled it out of the oven and immediately began cracking up over its appearance. The recollection caused Micky to slide into a deep emotional well she fought to avoid. The corner of her mouth trembled in a painful quivering smile… her eyes closed pushing a tear free. Good thing this happened before I had my base on, she thought.

One more adjustment to her hair was made using the fingertips of both hands and the final approving glance in the mirror sent her into the walk-in closet to select a top. About the time she was hanging the deselected blouse back up, a ‘new message’ chime rang from her phone sitting on the dresser. With her right hand awkwardly poking into the sleeve of a blouse, Mick froze and wrenched her head in its direction, her mind and heart now burning with hope. A deep breath swelled her chest as she inwardly coached herself to not get too discouraged if Brandon had misunderstood what she was trying to tell him. Her hand paused above the facedown black rectangle in fear of what it might display. Snatching it up with one hand and swiping the screen open with the other, Mick slowly shook her head as she saw the notification of the incoming message.

“Seriously?!?” She said in a whisper. Her eye was instantly drawn to who the sender was. Daryl. The deep red painted nail of her thumb tapped the ‘open new message’ tab on the screen. She read…

 

“Hey. I know all of this is hard for you Micky. But I don’t want Brandon associating with you right now. And you know why, Babe. So don’t go trying to sneak around me to get to him. I won’t let it happen. I’m sorry”

 

In order to prevent a complete breakdown that would include a total re-do of her make-up, she looked at the time at the top of the screen and said aloud…

“McKenna Rogers… you need to get your butt headed in the direction of work. Right now!” Within six minutes the door to her remotely started Toyota Land Cruiser slammed shut and the shiny white vehicle backed out of its covered parking slot and slid out onto Grant Street. While navigating the route to her employer, her thought processes battled between the complex project she had been assigned to manage at work and her scheme to get her son back. The obligation to focus on her career’s stipulates had recently become far less rewarding than the search for a personal squaring up of everything that was wrong in her life.

Work, in the current ‘state of the union’, was feeling unimportant, useless, and misdirected. It was like scrubbing the floors of the Titanic. But her employer, EnerTech, was spearheading a major natural gas exploration push in the north eastern Arizona region and Micky had been selected to remotely manage the research team assigned to the project from her office desk. The notification chime on her phone rang out once more. As she ground to a stop at a red light, she again anxiously flipped the face down phone over to see who it was. Her boss. Disappointedly, her thumb tapped the ‘recall’ button and she then hit the Bluetooth connect on the Land Cruisers sound system screen. The ring tone gurgled over the speakers.

“Hey Mick”, the overly loud blasé voice blared out on answering. She adjusted the volume with her finger on the steering wheel. Ted Jergeson, Vice President of operations for Enertech and a board member for the mother company, Pace Energy Source, Inc, was a micromanager… unfortunately. Through the course of a day, Ted would stick his nose into nearly everything that went on inside that building. Ted’s upper 6 figure income was not only reflected in his position at Enertech, it was reflected in his car, his clothes, his vacations, and his women. Company parties were made interesting simply on the basis that everyone couldn’t wait to see what would be hanging on Ted Jergeson’s arm. Unmarried, his image was flaunted in upper crust circles giving him the pick of the crop when it came to available unattached females. One thing was for certain, Ted’s outside resources for dates was healthy enough that the women at Enertech’s facility had no fears that one of them might be ‘hit on’ by the boss. Hadn’t happened. Probably never would.

“What’s up Ted?” she casually questioned as she turned her head to glance over her shoulder to change lanes.

“How would you feel about joining the exploration crew to north eastern Arizona?” the male voice asked with just the right blend of caution and inquiry. If Ted Jergeson would have been in the vehicle with her at that moment, he could have easily read the interest that was reflecting on her face. McKenna silenced a deep breath before answering so as to not sound overly enthusiastic. She had been careful to keep her personal life out of her workplace. Thereby, no one at EnerTech had any idea she was currently alone.

“Hmm? Well. Can you give me some time today to think it over?” she replied, pretending to be possibly disinterested.

“Sure. In fact if you want, we can discuss it in more detail when you get here” Ted answered. “Sound good?”

“That’ll do! See you in a little bit then Ted. I’m getting onto the interstate and I need to get off this phone”

The sound of the call ending, bleeped just as her Toyota merged into the heavy southbound I-25 traffic. She quickly accelerated to the pace of the throng and allowed her thoughts to shift from driving momentarily. A lump formed in her throat as she anticipated the possibilities of legitimate travel outside the city limits. Could she and would she bolt without Brandon? And just how difficult would it be to go through with something like that while operating with her co-workers? All the thoughts of ‘how and should’ consumed her journey to the office causing her exit to sneak up on her.

As Mick stepped through the glass doorway, she caught Ted standing and conversing with the receptionist. He looked up with a tight-lipped smile and then spoke.

“Meet in my office? Or would you rather wait a few?”

“No. Now is fine” she responded, “Let me stick this stuff by my desk and I’ll be right there” She felt a nervousness start to wash over her entire body. So much so, that her hands started to feel jittery. Get a grip Mick, ran through her mind. It now moved to her stomach and she started to doubt whether she’d even be able to sit in his office and talk about something for which she had ulterior motives. Once inside her own cubical, she jabbed a finger into the intercom button and spoke.

“Ted? Give me about 5 minutes. I have to hit the restroom” she lied “Morning java payback!”.

“Oh yeah! I know it all too well” Ted chuckled “I’ll be here waiting”

Trying a bit too hard to look ‘normal’, Micky strolled into the ‘one-sy’ women’s restroom and locked the door behind her. She stepped up to the sink and propped her hands on its edge. Mick now stared at her reflection for the second time this morning. It wasn’t the same person she spoke with earlier in the day though. This time she saw excitement, panic, and deep, deep concern in her expression. It was evident that what she would decide here and now would change the course of her life, her husband’s life, and her son’s life… forever. All of the weight of her upper body suddenly slumped onto her arms. A nervous breath exhaled as her neck seemingly gave out and her head, slowly shaking back and forth with eyes closed, fell limply in front of her. When she raised her line of sight back to the mirror, she now saw the person of resolve and determination she once was.

“I am NOT living the rest of my life this way” she said in