Atlantic Island aic-1 Page 11

  Theo considered what the mayor had said. Something was odd and he couldn’t quite place it. As the mayor talked about preparations for the town hall, and told Theo that he was invited to sit up front for the gathering, Theo’s brain went round and round trying to discover what he was missing. Something about the meeting being on Halloween, which was coming up much sooner than he would have thought.

  A light bulb went off in Theo’s head as a connection was made. “Sir,” he said, “what’s wrong with the weather?”

  The mayor gave a coy smile. “What do you mean, Theo? It’s been lovely.”

  “Well, we’re only a few weeks away from Halloween and it still feels like summer.”

  The mayor clapped his hands together. “Precisely. See, we normal people are just as bright as those bigwigs in the science lab! I noticed this myself the past few days and told the head of the science committee. It’s not unheard of for warm weather to follow us into September or October, but the weather patterns are identical week in and week out. I think that’s a bit odd, don’t you?”

  Theo agreed. This made him think of something else. “Mayor Lucas, Bill and I have noticed that the land where the street was broken off is…” he struggled to remember the word that Ryan had given him. “…fused. Like a laser cut it or something.”

  The mayor nodded. “Yes, the science committee told me as much. They’ve run a series of tests on samples and they are not quite ready to draw a conclusion but I have high hopes that what you’ve mentioned will enter into their presentation before the town hall.”

  “The science committee is going to share everything they know with everybody?” Theo asked.

  “Well they will share everything with me and important members of the government, and I will filter that for the general population. I imagine what I say will be an overview of the important key points. Truth is important, Theo, but so is maintaining calm. It would not do us any good to tell people things that will cause them to panic. As I said, the full report will be presented to a select group prior to the public meeting. Would you like to join?”

  “Of course! Thank you!”

  “It will be great to have you there, Theo. I want to be able to rely on your perspective and I think it only fair that you should have all the information we can give you.”

  The next few weeks seemed to take forever. Theo and Mayor Lucas agreed to meet at the end of the school day three times per week. Theo did his best to focus on his classes and actually succeeded in paying attention through most of them. All the teachers droned on in lectures (Bill called them the “dregs of Atlantic Island education.”) but Theo found that if he kept his mind on the enormous responsibility, the monumental trust being placed on him by Mayor Lucas, he could at least stay awake and focused long enough to learn the fundamentals of what he was being taught.

  It didn’t take long before Theo’s concerns about the rough looking teens became justified. The bald leader of the pack was in Theo’s eleventh and twelfth grade physics class, and was neither qualified to take such a course, nor very interested in education in any form. Theo wondered what flaw in the scheduling system had allowed that to take place. After the teacher, a tall, rail thin man named Mr. Ramar had admonished the teen four different times, the boy, whose name was apparently “Mr. Bertier,” decided he had listened to enough.

  “What the hell do you want from me, man?”

  The teacher’s eyes opened wide. “Mr. Bertier, please do not use that sort of language in my classroom.”

  “I asked you what you want from me. You been riding my ass since the first day.”

  “Well, perhaps if you chose to pay attention rather than harass your fellow students, you might avoid my consternation and learn something in the process.”

  “Yeah you keep running your mouth and spouting off all them big words. I ain’t impressed, man. This class sucks ass and the people here suck ass and I don’t have the patience for this crap.”

  “Mr. Bertier, leave my class immediately.”

  Bertier walked up to the teacher’s desk. The class was silent with all eyes on the teen’s bald head as he sat down on the corner of the desk. “C’mon man, one second you tell me all this crap about how I have to be here, how it’s mandatory island law to sit and listen to you talk about all this boring ass stuff, now you want me to leave? Which is it?”

  Mr. Ramar was shaking. Theo wondered if it was rage or fear he was seeing. The teacher pointed a finger at the door. “Out. Now.”

  Bertier slid off the desk and walked up to Mr. Ramar. He grabbed the teacher’s shirt and pulled him in close. The teacher was at least six inches taller, but Bertier’s neck was twice as thick and muscular. They made for a strange pair when viewed that close together.

  After what seemed an endless expanse of time, Bertier relaxed his grip on Mr. Ramar’s shirt. “Fine,” he said, muscles rippling under his black t-shirt. “I’ll give you a break this time. Too nice a day to be sitting in class anyway.” He turned and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

  That incident aside, Theo was doing just fine in his classes. He wondered occasionally what life would have been like if he had been in his senior year at Mifflin High instead of sitting in a makeshift classroom in a former resort and casino. Would he have been as motivated to get into college as he was to make a good impression on Mayor Lucas and the other advisors?

  Theo came to love his meetings with Mayor Lucas and he would wait all day for the chance to sit down with the man. Lucas had years of experience running the city and dealing with the bureaucracy that came with the job. For reasons Theo still couldn’t quite understand, the mayor was happy to share all that experience and advice with him.

  They discussed in broad terms the strategy for Atlantic Island for the immediate future. Theo told Mayor Lucas his concerns and was always shocked to see the mayor nodding, if not in agreement at least with understanding.

  Theo found himself constantly referring to and praising his friends. He was still uncomfortable with the idea of being Mayor Lucas’s “chosen one,” and he found every available opportunity to remind the mayor of the virtues and positive attributes of Kylee, Bill, Jamie, Ryan and Michelle, all of whom were spending the weeks working away at school and jobs.

  One day Theo walked into the room where he had his sessions with Mayor Lucas. The mayor was standing by the window and staring out into the distance. He seemed to not realize that Theo was in the room. For a moment Theo remained silent, not wanting to rudely interrupt the man’s thought process. Finally he decided he ought to announce himself before too much time was wasted.

  “Mayor Lucas?” Theo said quietly. The mayor tensed as he was startled out of his thoughts, but he did not turn around.

  “Hello, Theo,” said Lucas. His voice was strained and Theo realized the man had been choked up by whatever it was he was thinking about. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

  “I didn’t want to disturb you sir. Um… is everything okay?”

  Lucas turned around. He smiled wanly. “I suppose, Theo. I suppose. You’ll forgive an old man for getting a little emotional, won’t you?”

  Theo laughed. “Sure, but what were you emotional about? I mean, if you want to talk and all.” He flushed, embarrassed at his clumsy display of sympathy.

  “I don’t want to burden you too much with my concerns but… well, we are here to share things, are we not?”

  The mayor walked to his chair and sat down. Theo did the same.

  “I grew up outside of Philadelphia, just like you. Did you know that?” he asked.

  “No, I didn’t realize that!”

  “Well it’s true,” the mayor laughed. “Of course, the suburbs were a little different back then. A good deal more farmland. My father worked in a grocery store, sweeping the floors. It was my mother who truly raised us… my brother and two sisters and me. She taught us much of what we had to know about life, and read to us from the books my father borrowed from work. My mother had taught h
erself to read. She didn’t even understand half of what she was reading us but she did it anyway. To ‘open our minds’ was how she put it. And open them she did! Through her I learned about the vastness of space, the brutality of World War II that ended just before I was born, and the plays of Shakespeare.

  “I loved the plays…loved all of it really. She sparked my enthusiasm for learning and my creativity. I wouldn’t have made it half as far as I did without her…and my father as well. He worked himself to the bone to provide for his family, and it caught up to him. He died in 1968. Just keeled over one day in the store.”

  Lucas mulled this over for a minute. Theo waited patiently. “He did not live long,” the mayor continued, “but he achieved what he needed to for his family. By the time he passed I was already in college. My sisters were married and had children of their own. My brother was in high school but was a brilliant mind, wise beyond his years.

  “My family was so very important to me, Theo. Though my siblings disbursed around the country we remained close in each other’s hearts. I kept my mother nearby so I could make sure she had the help she needed as she entered old age. When I became mayor of Atlantic City I rented an apartment for her in Mays Landing a few miles inland.”

  Mayor Lucas looked directly at Theo. “My mother was nineteen years old when my eldest sister was born. She did everything for us…was everything to us for all those years, and I don’t even know if she’s alive.” He opened his arms wide. “All this, this so-called Palace, this island, all the power I’ve been given, and I can’t help my own family. I miss them terribly, Theo.”

  Theo sat frozen for a few seconds as he debated a course of action. Slowly, deliberately, he stood up and put a hand on the mayor’s shoulder. “I miss my family too, sir.”

  Theo shared bits and pieces of these meetings with his friends, usually as they sat down for dinner on weeknights. The teens alternated between each other’s homes enjoying the rations they brought home at the end of the day. Ryan was excited to hear Theo’s comments about the weather, which remained unchanged. As Mayor Lucas had said, the science committee was working on this and other information, but Ryan was sworn to secrecy about almost everything.

  As the weeks passed, Ryan became more withdrawn and serious. Whatever it was he was working on was taking a toll on him. He spent his evenings after school at the science labs and would return home so mentally fatigued he would go right to bed. Theo and his friends tried to get Ryan to talk but he would not share anything. Kylee tried to pry some info from Michelle, but she swore that Ryan wasn’t telling her any more than he told anybody else.

  One weekend evening in mid-October, Theo and Bill were waiting for Ryan as he arrived home. “Hey guys,” Ryan said, “I’m totally beat. Gonna get to bed.”

  “Ry, just chill with us for a minute,” said Bill. “You need to take a second to stop stressing.”

  Ryan tried to protest but Theo and Bill talked and physically maneuvered him into sitting down next to them. “Listen man,” said Theo, “we know you’ve got a ton of stuff on your mind and you aren’t allowed to talk about most of it. But we’ve been wondering- what is it that’s bothering you so much? Shouldn’t progress be like, I don’t know, a good thing?”

  Ryan sighed. “Yeah… I mean, some of it is good, sure. But…” he stopped as he considered how to say something without revealing too much. “Part of why I signed up with the science committee was to get to do some cool stuff and to play with computers and all, but I also really wanted to solve the biggest problem facing all of us.”

  “You mean being stuck on an island and not knowing where the hell everybody else is?” asked Bill.

  “Exactly. And I’ve been really lucky to get to work on some amazing projects. Projects that I really think are going to help everybody here and make life a whole lot better in the long run.”

  “So…” said Theo, “what’s the problem?”

  “The problem,” said Ryan, “is that the progress we’ve made on the most important project is making it look less and less likely that we’re ever gonna help anybody in the way that matters most. Everything I’ve seen, everything I can’t talk about but you’re gonna hear about pretty soon, I mean I’m not the smartest guy in the world but to me this is impossible.” His eyes gleamed in the fading sunlight as they filled with tears. “We’re stuck here. Mark’s dead and we’re stuck and I don’t think we’re ever gonna see anybody else ever again.” With that, Ryan stood up and walked inside.

  Chapter 12

  Finally, the week before Halloween, Mayor Lucas told Theo that the science committee would be presenting its findings that evening.

  “Do you have any questions for me beforehand?” Lucas asked.

  “Just two, I think,” said Theo. “I’m getting the impression from Ryan that the news isn’t very good. Is there anything you can tell me? Any kind of preview I can get so I know what I’m in for?”

  “I don’t know much more than you do,” said Lucas. “They gave me a little bit of an overview but I’m truly going to be getting all the info at the same exact time as you at tonight’s presentation.” He thought for a moment. “I suppose I can tell you that I also got the impression that the news isn’t what we had hoped for, but I also am hearing whispers that there are elements of the findings that are downright fascinating. Small comfort, I’m sure, but there may be something positive hidden in there.”

  Theo didn’t feel much better after hearing the mayor’s thoughts. “I… appreciate that… I guess we’ll hope for the best and plan for the worst.”

  Mayor Lucas smiled. “I had an aunt who used to say ‘Set your expectations low and you’ll never be disappointed.’ Personally, I think that’s a depressing way to live one’s life. Let’s agree to be cautiously optimistic and hope for something that can provide some context to this world we live in. What do you think?”

  “I think that’s a good idea, sir.”

  “Good, Theo. Now, what about your second question?”

  “Well… I don’t really have anything nice to wear.”

  Theo entered the small ballroom ten minutes prior to the 8 PM scheduled start time for the presentation. As he scanned the room, he saw the thirty or so other people dressed in what might be called “business casual.” Theo felt a little overdressed in the crisp black suit Mayor Lucas had presented him from his personal collection and had tailored precisely to Theo’s body.

  Theo took an available seat in the second row next to a woman who stared directly at the podium at the front of the room. Her eyes never wandered and she didn’t acknowledge Theo’s arrival at all. The people in the room all appeared to be seasoned government employees. As very few government workers had left the island the weekend of the Event, nearly everybody who had previously worked for Atlantic City or Ventnor was around and available for the positions Atlantic Island needed filled.

  Theo considered this, and thought about his position on the mayor’s advisory committee. He still couldn’t reconcile his view of himself that he had carried for as long as he could remember with Mayor Lucas’s view of him. The mayor seemed to see him belonging among this group of people. No, more than that. Mayor Lucas thought Theo offered the government and the island something unique, an “x factor” that couldn’t be found among the tried and true government employees.

  Theo appreciated everything about Mayor Lucas, and everything that the man continued to do for him, but as he scanned the room he just couldn’t see how he belonged with all these older, wiser, experienced people. He wished he could be sitting with his friends rather than next to this woman with her bat-like, nearly unblinking stare. But no, most of Theo’s friends were home anxiously awaiting his return and Ryan, of course, was in the next room with the rest of the science team preparing to stand politely in the rear as the team’s findings were presented.

  The lights dimmed, signaling the start of the presentation and shaking Theo loose from his self-deprecation. Mayor Lucas approached the podium to polite
applause. Theo was glad to see at least the mayor was dressed for a formal event.

  “Good evening,” said Mayor Lucas. He wore his same calm, friendly smile that Theo had come to know from their private meetings, but he spoke in a more official, stilted manner than he did with Theo or in his speeches to the populace of the island. Theo realized that the Mayor Lucas he saw before him tonight, the down-to-business serious Mayor Lucas, was the affected, artificial character. The charming, bright spirit Theo saw all other times was the true Sam Lucas, a reflection of who the mayor had been since childhood. Theo wondered how hard it was for the mayor to play this part, to be what people thought they needed him to be and not himself.

  “We are here tonight, as you know, to hear from our esteemed science committee. Led by Dr. Johnson, this team includes the finest minds we have available to us, including one who is a student in our school.”

  Low rumbles of conversation greeted the statement. Theo wondered if the reaction to his being on the advisory committee would be as uncomfortable as the reaction to Ryan’s being a part of the science team.

  “Dr. Johnson and his team have been tasked with an enormous responsibility ranging from…” Mayor Lucas paused to look down at the podium. Theo realized the mayor was consulting his notes. There was something strangely empowering in seeing signs of the mayor’s humanity.

  The mayor continued, “Ranging from geological studies to tidal analysis to marine biology to meteorology, and that is just scratching the surface. We have charged them with an enormous responsibility, demanded of them a series of answers, and now we await their full report.

  “Please understand the seriousness with which we ask you to keep this information in the strictest confidence. My committee and I will decide what is appropriate to disseminate to the citizens of Atlantic Island at the town meeting Halloween night. Until then, as difficult as it may be, please do not share these findings, and be very careful discussing anything with each other. I hope you all understand how catastrophic information can be in the wrong hands and without the proper explanation.”