Immortal Mistakes

i want your help

The coordinates David punched into the port dock took them to an old building with the roof caved in on one side and a forest of cacti and empty shelves reaching to the open sky. The rim of the sky had darkened and shadows filled the building. Pigeons dozed in the rafters overhead. Several poked their heads up to glare and coo at the intruders. It smelled of dirt and bird droppings.

"San Diego," David said. "Home." He stepped out of the port dock, shuffling around the bricks and wood lying on the dirt floor. "It didn't always look like this. This building used to be a RiteAid, a shop for mortal medicines. They don't have as many medicines now. The population isn't big enough to support manufacturing anymore. We have a lot to answer for your mother and I." 

Chloe and Henry followed David out of the port dock through the debris of a building giving in. They were still holding hands and Chloe didn't want to let go. The warmth, the shape of Henry's hand was real. When Chloe squeezed, he squeezed back. She hung onto him, her source of reality. She stepped over a brick but it wasn't a brick. It was a dead pigeon. Chloe shivered and leaned closer to Henry. It was cold in the dark building and she was wearing a summer smart suit. Henry put an arm around her shoulder.

The port dock powered down and it's lights blinked off.

Henry's eyes flicked to the dark dock. "Is that it? No way back?" 

"It's solar powered," David said. "Most everything here is. It'll be back on tomorrow morning." He rubbed his hands together. "The northerners never believed us but it gets chilly in SoCal in the winter. Come on, Ana's expecting us."

"Who's Ana," Chloe and Henry said at the same time.

"She's one of the doctors here. And she's my wife." David kept walking and a spiny cactus arm snagged his sleeve. "Damn," he said, ripping the fabric of his smart suit as he shrugged his arm free. "Look, things haven't been right for a long time between your mother and I. I made a mistake, trusting her and her crazy ideas. I wanted to be President. And I wanted her. I loved her. I really did. We got caught up in it all and we did terrible things. I have to live with that. I've tried to make amends as best I can by helping rebuild this community."

"You've been coming here for while then," Henry said, his voice sharp at the edges.

"Yes," David said, "and this time I won't be going back."

Chloe let go of Henry's hand and snaked her arm around his waist, turning sideways as they threaded through the cacti and out onto the street. The light had leaked from the sky now and a full moon bobbed above the horizon, bright and white. They walked behind David along a cracked concrete footpath past a series of houses. They were big, these houses, with two stories. They looked more like research buildings than habitation pods. Cars were parked in front of the houses and driving down the street, people controlling them with a wheel. Chloe felt like she had stepped into a mortal history class. 

David opened a gate outside a big white house with a red tiled roof and a dark wooden balcony and a jumble of pink and white flowered plants. He walked up the stone gravel path, pulled a key out of his pocket and opened the front door. Light and warmth and the smell of food rolled out the door and surrounded Chloe and Henry where they stood shivering on the path. David held the door open and waited for them to come inside. As soon as they stepped over the threshold, heat washed over Chloe, lapping at her limbs and winding around her body. She was grateful to be inside.

Terracotta tiles stretched across the floor of the entry way into the kitchen where a woman with long brown hair stood stirring a pot of food on the stove top. Shiny copper pots hung in a wrought iron rack above her head. She looked up as they entered the room and smiled, the creases in her face deepening. David went straight to her, put his hands on her hips and pulled her towards him. She held his face in her hands and kissed him as if no one were watching.  Then she came over to where Chloe and Henry were waiting, uncertain, in the doorway and gave them a each a big hug. She rubbed Chloe's arms and hands. 

"You're freezing," she said, guiding Chloe to a big wooden table and benches next to a fireplace. Bright blue bowls and glasses sat on the table, empty, waiting. "Sit down and warm yourselves up. Dinner's almost ready."

David opened a bottle of wine and brought it over to the table, filling up three of the four glasses. The fourth he filled with water. "Sorry Chloe," he said. Heat flashed through Chloe and it wasn't only from the fire crackling at her back. 

"The baby," Ana said moving around the kitchen. "Current guidelines say no alcohol while you are pregnant." She was wearing a loose shirt and long pants that didn't hug her body like a skin suit. Chloe crossed her arms over her chest, feeling naked.

"You're a doctor, Ana?" Chloe said.

"That's right," Ana said. "A gynaecologist. I bring babies into the world." She carried the pot over and put it in the middle of the table then went back to get a plate piled with flat circles of bread. "I hope you two like Chile," she said. "It's one of David's favourites. Although I don't have any kimchi left, sorry." Chloe didn't know what Chile and kimchi were but the food looked like some kind of meat floating in a red brown sauce. She dipped her spoon into the sauce and tasted it, salt and spice bursting across her tongue. It was delicious. Relieved, she took a big spoonful, letting the soft meat fill her mouth. She hadn't realised how hungry she was.

"Don't forget the tortillas," Ana said. She handed them a bread circle each then heaped some of her meat onto one, rolled it up and ate it.

"How long have you known David?" Henry said.

"Oh." Ana laughed. "It's been thirty years I think." She laid her hand on top of David's.

"How did you meet?" Chloe said between mouthfuls.

"I was an intern at the hospital and he came in to ask about memory medicines."

Henry was frowning. "You do know who he is, right?" He gestured at their matching skin suits. "Where we come from?"

Ana's voice darkened. "I do now. I've known for quite a few years."

"And you don't want to come to our world? To be immortal too?" Chloe said.

"I think we've come up with a better solution," Ana said. "Something I want your help with but don't worry about that now. Let's eat. I'll show you tomorrow."

Thanks so much for reading. How do you feel about David having a second life?