End on Extinct

Chapter Seven

Summer 2030

FOLSOM

Another Saturday where Folsom hated to leave his children alone. Clark now was fourteen, allowing more weight to be shouldered onto him. A neighbor would stop by around lunchtime. But still, Folsom didn't like leaving the children on a Saturday.

Cormac cried at the goodbye. Just as he'd cried at two-years-old. When Haizley had left for the hospital, never to ever truly return home again.

And now, six-year-old Kate, kept using Folsom's absence to sneak into the corners of Haizley's life. First wearing her makeup, then her perfume, then her high heels, and last it was her jewelry.

It shouldn't have bothered him, Kate taking Haizley's things. Except when he scolded Kate, it was the response, "Why can't I? She isn't coming back. Why can't I wear them?"

Bit by bit he was losing his wife. The routines. The artifacts. The memories.

Which was why, as Folsom drove away from the warm suburb morning toward the quiet weekend freeway, he accepted the pull, usually coming from Ashyr, to keep moving. To not let more weeks turn to months, more months to slip into years.

Sometimes it felt like he'd signed up with a rigid taskmaster. But it was true. If Folsom could successfully build this, he could share the rich experiences with his children, he could preserve his family, sharing with them the best of times, when they had been a complete unit.

So, now, as he veered off the freeway, making his first left in a series of turns toward the lab, Folsom again revisited his early morning call from Ashyr.

A mandatory team meeting. Something fun involved.

The words didn't work for Folsom. Fun had never been Folsom's specialty. Still, he appreciated Ashyr. His confident promises and the smiles Ashyr brought to Folsom. Lessons on living again, finding joy within these creative moments, and tucking hope into their joint venture.

When he reached the lab, only Mariana's smile greeted him. "Hey," he said. "No Ashyr?"

"Brody and he ran to get food." From a seat near the card table, she gave a quick nod before returning to scrolling through details on her tablet.

"Food." Folsom couldn't restrain the eye roll. This mandatory team meeting most likely a code for a long working Saturday. He'd miss taking Kate to her birthday party this afternoon. But Clark had already said he would walk her over, all four of the kids, walking the three blocks together, so Kate could attend a playmate's birthday party.

He exhaled a breath; everything was under control. One day at a time. He could get through this.

"I think he said something about cake, or donuts," Mariana added. "Brody was supposed to decide."

And then Folsom felt it. The twist of a smile. Somehow Ashyr's actions did that to him. That bringing in cake would break up the cyclic take-out routine of pizza, burgers, pizza, Chinese, and then more pizza. And that also, by categorizing Folsom's presence at the lab on a Saturday under the category of a team meeting would lessen the hints of burnout, which Ashyr had asked Folsom about last week.

"When did you hear about this team meeting?" Folsom mocked Ashyr's sly attempts as he spoke to her.

With her stylus, she crossed something off her tablet before looking up. "I was already headed in when he called. I have a long list of things I need to take care of, so I hope this little powwow between us doesn't take long."

"Powwow." Another word that sparked a grin. "What happened to a partnership executive meeting?"

Mariana scanned the room in a slow, deliberate fashion. When her eyes met his, she pressed her lips together as if stifling a laugh. With an open hand, she waved toward his Burl Burger's t-shirt. "Next time, I'll make sure the conference room is reserved for us."