Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever?

BUILDING 53

— Congressman, did you do anything over there that surprised yourself?

— Sure. Wait. What time is it?

— Sorry to wake you up. There’s just not much time left, and I have to get down to the beach soon, to see if this girl is there again.

— What’s that? What girl?

— This woman who I like a great deal, sir. She’s been walking on the beach with her dog, and yesterday we talked, and I know there’s a reason she was there when I was there. But that’s not why I wanted to talk to you. I was just spending some time with this lady, this other lady from the hospital I poured gasoline on, and at a certain point I knew I wasn’t getting anywhere with her.

— Wait. You poured gasoline on—

— Not on the lady. On the hospital. It was minor. It was symbolic. And she didn’t know why I did what I did, because she’s always been a perpetrator of the system, as opposed to a victim of it. I trust you know what I mean.

— Well, son, I understand you have a unique perspective on it. You say you took another person? This one a woman?

— She works at the hospital where my buddy was taken. They burned his body to hide the evidence. They shot him seventeen times and said it was three, so a few weeks later I poured some gasoline around the administrative part of the building, and I lit it.

— Anyone hurt?

— No sir.

— You intend to hurt anyone, son?

— No sir. But I had no other recourse. Or I didn’t think I did. I wasn’t about to sue them or some other useless thing. I wanted to make a point, and make it quickly. I needed to shove the dog’s nose in the shit so they would make the connection.

— And you’re saying you weren’t caught?

— No. Some people thought it was me, but everything was all fucked up because of Don, and the cops didn’t want to make it any worse, so they didn’t pursue it.

— Did it solve anything for you, lighting that match?

— It felt pretty good in the moment. And when I saw the newspaper reports, and read about the administrative people all shaken up and scared, that felt good, too. The best thing was that some of their records were burned, and that felt like justice.

— It’s not good that you went about it that way.

— They shot my friend.

— The hospital people didn’t shoot your friend, son.

— Well, they helped kill him.

— I have a feeling he wasn’t going to make it, what with seventeen bullets in him.

— You must have had moments like that, sir, where there’s some human being that’s acting like, well, shit. For some reason the hospital woman makes me madder than the cops who shot him. I mean, why is that? Two years later I still don’t understand it.

— Killing feels more natural in some way. Killing is some kind of connection. It’s a convoluted connection, but it is one. You know how when you’re a kid, and you’re wrestling around with some friend, there’s always that moment when you think you could snap his arm or bite through his nose?

— Yes, yes! I know that.

— But what happened at the hospital is something else. It’s not human. It’s not primal. So we don’t understand it. It’s a more recent mutation. The things we all have, love and hate and passion, and the need to eat and yell and screw, these are things every human has. But there’s this new mutation, this ability to stand between a human being and some small measure of justice and blame it on some regulation. To say that the form was filled out incorrectly.

— Yeah, yeah, what is that? That’s the doom of us all.

— This is a new thing, son, and it’s a frightening thing. It’s something I saw every day in the VA. And if you think it’s bad in some hospital, Christ, you wouldn’t last a minute in Washington. Wait. You hear that?

— I do.

— I really think this is the end, son. That’s at least three choppers, and they’re getting closer. That’s not good for you.

— They’re going too fast. They’ll pass.

— I think the clock’s running out, kid. Now listen. There’s no reason anyone has to be hurt. I’ve been thinking a lot about this and I have a plan for you.

— That’s not necessary.

— I know it isn’t. But listen. You’ve probably heard some pretty frequent helicopter activity out there, right?

— It’s routine.

— It might. Might not. Now listen. I have some empathy for you. I think you are mixed up but I don’t think you should die for it, okay?

— I won’t. I have a plan.

— Well let me give you a better plan. This is the right plan. You ready?

— Sure.

— You trust your mother, correct?

—

— I’m going to hope that’s an implicit yes.

—

— Good. So you leave this place with your mother. You drive to whatever town you want to drive to. Then you drop your mother off. Maybe you’re headed to Mexico, in which case you give yourself seven or eight hours. You tell your mom that after eight hours she can call the police and let them know where we all are. That way you personally know we’ll all be safe and more importantly, that she’s safe, too, and not languishing here for days and days, right?

—

— See, you hadn’t thought of that, I’m guessing. You probably had your own escape planned but not the rescue of your mom. Thomas, she probably needs care. How old is she?

— I don’t know. Sixty-something.

— Okay. She is not suited for this kind of experience, do you understand me? So you need to remove her from this. You drive your mom to safety and then you give yourself enough time to make your way to and over the border. After that it’s up to you.

— That’s the most generous thing anyone’s said to me. But what about Sara?

— Who’s Sara?

— The woman on the beach.

— On what beach?

— I met a woman down there on the coast. And I think I already love her and there’s some kind of destiny at play here. There’s a glow around me, around everything I think about and everything I do, and I think it’s brought her to me.

— Okay. Okay. Now listen. I don’t know if you’re going to fall in love here at Fort Ord with five people kidnapped and chained to posts. Okay?

— Six. And I disagree, Congressman. I really do. You should see her.

— I’m sure she’s marvelous, son, but anything that keeps you here any longer guarantees your death, you understand me? She can’t save you from a SWAT team.

— They won’t get me. I have a plan.

— But my plan is better. My plan ensures that absolutely no one gets hurt. You go around and tell everyone you have chained up that they’ll be found tomorrow, then you and your mom get out of here. This whole thing will be over and you’ll be in Mexico living a new life. It’s the only way. Anything else jeopardizes your life or hers.

— Congressman, you are such an honorable man. And I plan to model my life after you when I leave here. I plan to tell Sara about you, too. She wouldn’t quite understand how we’ve been talking, but I’ll figure out a way later on to explain our acquaintance.

— Son.

— Shit. I better get going. This is when she walks her dog. For now I have to make it look like a coincidence that I’m seeing her again but after today there won’t be any need for any fakery or lies or anything like that. I’ll bring my light down around her and I’ll take her with me.

— Son.

— I’ve really enjoyed getting to know you, sir.