Hope in New Beginnings

“Open your eyes.” Dad removed his hands from Ella’s face.

“Finally, one sprouted. I hope the others sprout. I’ll be back in a minute.” After running to the broken-up airplane fuselage, Ella rummaged through the organized pile she and her father had managed to collect since—the day. She retrieved a metal saucer and dipped it in the dew collected from the night tarp.

Watching Ella, Dad leaned on his crooked cane while shading the poor seedling. “Even the morning sun is brutal.”

“It is. I’ll give some of my daily water rations to the seedling.” With tender love, Ella poured every drop of water on the seedling and then she licked the last of the dampness from the saucer. “Can’t waste any.” After placing a stick near the seedling for support, she carefully patted the soil.

Dad hung his head. Inside he hurt worse than anything since the Aktorks from Thisum invaded their planet and killed his beloved wife and son. He wished Ella didn’t have to work so hard in their apocalyptic surroundings. He continued, “I wish I hadn’t broken my leg; I could help more.”

“It’s okay Dad. I miss Mom and Sam as well, but we must be strong. We’ve been able to collect some valuable things to help with our survival and the airplane has provided a nice place to live. We are going to be okay. Your leg is improving daily.”

“But…”

“…I know Dad, we haven’t met anyone else yet, but sooner or later we will. We can’t be the only living beings left on Earth. We will find others in time. Let’s get back inside before the sun strengthens its daily brutality. I’ll fiddle with a few things and build a small netting to shade the seedlings.”

With Ella’s cheery spirit, a glimmer of hope dashed through Dad’s veins, and he limped back to the fuselage. Pausing at the door, he looked around at all the debris remaining that he and Ella still needed to sift through. He ducked his head and went inside. Wiping the sweat off his forehead, he noticed Ella scavenging for items to build the netting contraption for the seedlings.

He leaned against the wall and slid down onto a torn cushion. Ravaging memories flooded his mind from—the day. Images of the decaying bodies they uncovered beneath the rubble they rummaged through surfaced in his mind as he stared out the door at the intensifying sun.

Except for Ella and Gertrude, not many other signs of life existed. He could only assume most everyone, or everything died on Earth in the great interstellar battle between Earth and the Aktorks. He remembered watching in horror as explosions filled the sky during the great war. Earth had lost and somehow the Aktorks stole half of the Earth’s ozone layer. In the far distance, he noticed another dead tree with a few animal silhouettes huddling underneath the remaining trees. Life seemed to be fading with each daily rotation of Earth.

What would he and Ella do? No teenager could maintain a positive attitude and continue working hard forever. He worried about how they’d survive when Ella eventually collapsed. If only he hadn’t fallen over that stupid broken wheel.

He shielded his eyes and looked up. Could the ozone be strengthened, he wondered. Maybe if people remained, there would be hope, but how could they find them?

By night, the temperatures cooled. Beneath the pile of fragmented pieces of blanket, he and Ella squished next to each other for warmth. Gertrude plopped her frayed chicken feathered butt on their laps.

The Earth lay silent. No noises—nothing could be heard outside the fuselage. Now that Ella soundly slept and Gertrude’s beak lay hidden beneath her wing, Dad closed his eyes.

“Dad, Dad, come quickly. More have popped up.” Ella adjusted the netting over the seedlings.

Dad hobbled with his cane, stopped, and stared down. “Wonderful. Maybe in a few months, we can have fresh corn and potatoes. The old spuds and corn kernels we found were still packed with life. Amazing what you consider precious when all seems lost.”

“I’ll go check the traps. At least we’ve caught a few weak animals for meat. Now if the seedlings grow, we’ll have some vegetables.”

“Yes, vegetables would be nice.” Dad looked out toward the horizon.

Ella tiptoed hoping not to spook anything that might be snared in their traps. Last week, a lonely rat limply hung in the trap and provided a few meals. The strong sunlight produced quick meat jerky.

With his eyes slowly scanning the early morning sky, lightning flashed in the farthest atmosphere. Rain—how he wished for rain. Shortly after the war, rain fell once—but not since. Daily, he had witnessed the drying up of the small pond in the distance near the trees. It had completely vanished earlier in the week and the animals looked worse.

“Dad. Dad. We got something.” Ella held up a stiffened rat's body as she ran inside the fuselage to skin it and hang it on the line to dry.

Past the rat, Dad looked out into the far distance. His eyes caught an abnormality. If there could even be something called normal about their new lifestyle. The dust in the distance moved and grew bigger. His eyes focused carefully on the horizon. It came closer and closer. “Ella—get out here! Something is wrong.”

Ella dashed outside and stood beside Dad. Together they watched the dust move, grow, and come closer. An engine noise roared from within the dust. Their feet refused to move. Nervously, their hearts beat faster. Soon a rather prehistoric jumble of metal and bolts smoothly zoomed across the land and came to a stop hovering in front of their frightened faces.

The rider pulled off a mask. “Good day, I’m Jasper. It’s nice to meet you. Sorry to come in so noisy but we’ve yet to get this clunky hover thing to sound quieter. It does the job of moving us around though; so, we are thankful for that.”

Ella stared at the blond-haired young man as if he were an alien. He didn’t seem much older than she. “What? Who? Where did you come from? Are there others? Oh, I’m Ella and this is my dad, Rob.”

Jasper shook Rob’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Rob. Are you two alone?”

“Yes, we’ve been alone since the war ended. And you?”

“There is a whole group of us in the caves. My father, a space physicist, and a few of his colleagues moved us to nearby caves before the last battle. Food is getting scarce, so he’s been sending me out on the hovercraft to look for other survivors. We figured if we could find other survivors, maybe we could pull together our resources.”

Ella spoke. “Where did you get that hover thingy?”

“We were lucky to find alien technology that fell from the sky after the war. We gathered it up and began working on something to help us move around and look for other survivors and food. We’ve powered it with broken solar panels and other metal bits we found ransacking the war surplus.

Would you two like to visit our Nucleus?”

“What’s a Nucleus?” Dad’s mind filled with a thousand questions.

“Since no towns and cities exist anymore, someone mentioned the term Nucleus in our group one day, and it stuck.”

Ella continued, “Are there other Nuclei?”

“Yes, I’ve discovered two so far, but I’m limited in the range the hovercraft will go. Currently, we only have one hovercraft operational. Another Nucleus is working on farming techniques and yet another is only one family. The mother is a doctor. They moved in with our Nucleus. The Farmer Nucleus are staying in their location at the backside of the hill our caves are located in.”

“We have seeds sprouting.” Ella pointed toward the potato and corn sprouts.

“Wonderful. If you decide to move in with us, the seedlings are so small, we probably could transplant them. The Farmers would have the best ideas on how to transplant them.”

Sputtering and spitting choked from the back exhaust of the hovercraft. Jasper hit the backside and the clamoring quit. “There are many things we are still working on. I only travel in the early morning in case this thing quits, and I must walk.”

Putting his loving arm around Ella, Dad whispered. “I think you should go with Jasper.”

“I won’t go without you.”

Jasper spoke up. “You both can come. Ella can sit behind me. Rob, you can sit in the sidecar. One of our Nucleus members found this old motorcycle sidecar. It has come in handy on many occasions. It will hold you. It might sputter and kick a bit, but it will be fine.”

“Only if you go Dad—I’ll go.”

“Okay, we’ll both go.” Dad looked at Jasper. “If we decide to move to your Nucleus, can you come back and pick up our things?”

“Yes, sir. We aren’t far away, but with the intense heat, we couldn’t walk this far. It’s about a thirty-minute hovercraft ride. We could easily get your things tomorrow. You can bring anything you’d like now if you wish.”

“We can’t leave the sprouts. We’d have to come back tomorrow to water them. Let me give them a little extra water before we leave.” Quickly Ella ran to get the saucer and water from the tarp.”

Jasper hollered over the noise of the hovercraft. “We still have a small pond at the base of the hill. Tomorrow we can bring more water.”

“Great.”

Gripping tightly to the sidecar, Dad climbed in and situated himself in the small seat. He pulled in his makeshift cane and placed it next to his body.

Ella returned and plopped Gertrude into Dad’s lap. The chicken squawked as Dad firmly held onto the fluff of feathers. Ella stuffed the meat jerky into her pockets, climbed onto the back of the hovercraft, and hugged Jasper’s waist. They both were the same height, but Ella ducked slightly down as the hovercraft sputtered, jerked some, and eventually took off.

With her caring brown eyes, she looked down. “Are you okay Dad?”

“I’m fine. Jasper, you can step on it if you wish. Don’t hold back for me.” Looking up at Ella and Jasper, Dad thought they made a nice couple.

Jasper pushed a couple of buttons and pulled further back on a bar and off they went zipping across the desolate landscape.

Sadness overwhelmed Ella’s heart at the visions of dry land and water-bare lakes and ponds. A rotten dead animal smell infiltrated the landscape. The breeze blew through her short brown hair as she held on tight to Jasper’s muscular abdomen. After about thirty minutes, they followed the topography up the side of a hill and then leveled off and stopped in front of a cave entrance.

The distinct crying of a newborn baby could be heard echoing out of the cave. Jasper spoke up. “That would be Mrs. Athena’s baby. That’s the main reason the doctor moved in with us so she could deliver the baby.”

With Gertrude tightly under his arm, Dad pried his body out of the small sidecar and stood up with his cane.

Jasper took hold of Ella’s hand and ventured toward the cave. Ella turned around. “Are you okay Dad? I can stay with you if you need help.”

“No, I’m fine. I think I’ll enjoy the outside a few minutes.”

“I won’t be long.”

“Take your time Ella. Don’t worry about me. You go exploring with Jasper.” Dad liked the subtle smile on Ella’s face as she disappeared into the cave.

He knew the path ahead of Ella would not be easy. It wouldn’t be easy for any of them. But as Dad saw people walk by and give a kind nod and a warm welcome, hope invaded his thoughts of a brighter future for him and especially Ella.

Dad’s body relaxed and for a moment, a smile appeared on his face, as he enjoyed the crying of the newborn baby still echoing out of the cave. He thought about all he and Ella had suffered in the last several months. He knew he had sunk into a dismal pit of depression once he broke his leg. But now, getting out of their situation and seeing—people. An excitement thrilled him seeing people walking around and going on with life.

An attractive red-haired lady walked by and nodded but she shyly looked away.

He nodded back.

“Nice chicken,” She pointed in the opposite direction then quickly looked away and continued walking toward another cave entrance.

Dad's eyes followed out to where she pointed. In the distance, a rooster perched on a tilted fence post.

He thought about Jasper mentioning the Farmer's Nucleus. It delighted his taste buds knowing others were endeavoring to grow food again. He listened to the encouraging conversations of by-passers. They nodded a warm welcome. Many pointed to Gertrude and smiled.

Even though they had just met, his fatherly instinct had a good feeling about Jasper. He knew Ella needed a friend even though she wouldn’t admit it. He hated hearing her weeping at night because of the loneliness engulfing them both.

He limped over and sat on a bench underneath a scraggly-looking tree struggling for life. Now with friends, Ella wouldn’t have to bear the whole burden of caring for them. He could get help from the others in the Nucleus and when his leg healed, he could pitch in and do his duty to aid in their survival.

He felt a whole lot better knowing they weren’t the only ones left on planet Earth. It seemed a heavy burden lifted off his shoulders as he sighed in relief. A newfound hope ran through his veins as he thought about Jasper and Ella exploring their youthful friendship. The newborn baby’s crying ceased, and a peaceful quietness overwhelmed the cave’s entrance.

Something plopped on his head. He looked up. A drop of water splashed into his eye. He blinked as a few more drops of rain fell onto his face. Others stopped and looked up. A cloud shifted and swirled above their hill. A steady rain began falling.

For the first time since the war, hope existed—a hope that the Earth would tarry on—and a hope that Ella would find love and be able to experience a full life. Hope would help them persevere and endure.

His mind wandered in many directions. Now with hope, where would it lead? Only time will tell.