Family Dinner

TUESDAY

"You sure you ready for this?" was the first thing Pa asked me in the morning, right outside the old mine shaft that connects our home to the surface. I nodded, probably a little too enthusiastically, and he was grinning.

That's how my first Collection began.

Even with the sunglasses Mama had tucked into my new shirt, the light is still overwhelming. Dizzying, at points. The sky stretches above us endlessly, so vast and open I feel like I might be about to fall into it if I stare too long. The smells, the sights, even the noises all feel larger and more potent up here, from the greenery around us to the rattling grumble of the engine inside Pa's truck. I can see the damage and devastation that the hurricane and water have caused from the passenger seat where I write, even though the city is many miles off yet. Trees uprooted and flung about, reminding me of the way Jasper used to break my toys and then throw them aside like old garbage. Water-choked roads that force us to veer around or else abandon them entirely in favour of the sodden earth that lies to their sides. The few buildings we've passed look like they've had chunks torn from them by a raging animal.

I'm starting to think Pa's talk of God's wrath wasn't all that exaggerated.

It's hard to imagine who else could unleash this.

Within a few hours, we've started coming across the first sight of our Quarry: the city may be far off but they've spread far and wide. Huddled, damp shapes clinging together as they trudge down along the sides of the roads of else travelling along in their own vehicles. So many of them, enough that I rapidly lose count. More than I could ever have imagined witnessing, and we're not even at the outskirts yet. Just a few moments ago I was turning to Pa, observing that at this rate we don't even need to go into the city to finish the Collection.

He looked and me and grinned, said I catch on quick.

I get the impression it's gonna be a busy day.

Whole lot of Quarry to gather up, after all.