Dani's Heart

“Was Gran a terrorist?”

Dani’s father raised one brow and cut his eyes towards his little troublemaker.

Mom dropped her fork into the remains of the grey and yellow stuff on her plate.

“Honey… give me a break… I’m late and dad just walked in the door… can we not be… theatrical today?”

Dad closed his eyes, like he was in pain, as mom pushed away from the table and stepped from the small dining area to the small kitchen area.

“Sure Dani… you caught her… grandma, asleep in her chair, is a criminal genius!”

Dani watched her mother as the woman slid her dish into the sink and looked up to study the low ceiling.

Dani’s preset apology “sorry mom” filled her mouth, but before the words formed her mom spun back to the table.

“I’m sorry sweetie… that was mean… we’ll talk later… ok?”

Mom threw dad a kiss, with a “love you” and dropped a smooch on top of Dani’s head before dancing out the door.

Dad pantomimed an outlandish face slap causing Dani to giggle softly.

“That was fun Dani, if you’re bored with breakfast tomorrow you can just light my hair on fire, or… here’s an idea… join the Truth Team and see the world!”

Despite his dark words dad was smiling as he reached over and gently tugged one of Dani’s ears.

“What in the world made you say that?”

He asked as he picked at his food.

Dani reached into her pocket and pulled out a small artifact, the thing that had led her to the question.

She held a hart shaped locket between two fingers.

“Gran gave me this yesterday, she told me it was my birth right.”

It was no bigger than a fat green grape, it was tarnished and the loop on top was broken into a crooked little hook.

The heart’s face showed three letters, etched in a fine swirling calligraphy… H.S.L.

“They told us in school that the HSL were terrorist… before the reunification.”

Dani watched her father’s face change from playful to confused and then… something like afraid.

“I’m wrong… of course… I’m so stupid… I’m just playing dad… really… just fooling.”

She said, as she pulled the little heart back across the table.

Dad took her retreating hand and the locket within.

“Ok… wait… wait a second… just wait.”

He let her go and slid his plate to the side, he gave Dani a brief scowl and then rubbed his face with both hands.

Dani felt hot, her chest was tight, she desperately wanted to take the whole thing back. She had frightened her sweet father and that, in turn, had frightened her!

Why had she asked such a stupid question?

The locket sat on the table between them like a radioactive fragment.

“Ok” dad said “the truth is… yes but also… no.”

Dani blinked slowly as her father’s words bounced around her skull.

“Your grandparents started the HSL… but they were definitely not terrorist… no matter what your damn teachers tell you.”

Dad stood up and paced around the small room.

He went to the sink with his arms crossed and started nodding to himself, answering some sort of mental question Dani guessed.

Father hurried over to Gran, still sleeping in her chair by the only window in the apartment.

Dani watched as her father fussed over the woman.

He tucked a thin blanket around her and gently pushed her white hair away from her face.

Dad returned to the table and sat down very softly… now concerned that the squeaky chair might be too loud.

In a hushed voice, Dani’s father told her this.

“Over yonder sits a great hero and if you ever tell the bosses about Gran they will take her away… never repeat what I’m going to tell you… not even to mom… promise me that… ok?”

Dani nodded her agreement without thinking… a voiceless “yes daddy” she had performed a thousand times.

“Say it honey… out loud… promise me and promise Gran... your word of honor on it.”

Dani looked over at her sleeping grandmother and back to her dad, she wanted to jump up and run away, she was just a little kid for Truths sake!

Part of her was screaming… “Never mind… I don’t want to know… thanks anyhow but I’ll just go back to being the stupid baby I was twenty minutes ago!”

Another part… the part that wanted daddy to understand that she was a brave girl said.

“I give my word; I will not tell.”

Dad nodded and smiled at that… he looked at the old woman snoring softly by the window and then he began to tell Dani a bit about history… a factual story that would never be taught in the school she attended.

“I know you’ve learned about the separation… when some of the states, parts of The America, succeeded from the union.”

Dani nodded that yes… she knew this story.

“The separation was a bad time everywhere, but here on the west coast, we had it fairly good. Things were tight here, but the folks in the east were fighting and dying and terribly sick.”

“You see honey in the east they had food shortages, no fuel for the machines they drove, decades of global warfare and bad trade deals with the other countries. The America was shut out by those who once might have helped.”

“When Washington, Oregon and California became Cascadia, the rest of The America looked to us to provide for their needs and for a time we did.”

Dad looked at Dani.

“Did Gran ever tell you that you were named after Grandpa?”

Dani turned and looked at her sleeping grandmother… “no” she said, “was grandpa named Dani too?”

“Daniel” he said softly, he quieted for a moment trying to collected his thoughts before continuing.

“Cascadia was struggling to help our neighbors… we simply couldn’t feed everyone in need and folks from the east were pouring in all the time. Our numbers swelled far beyond our ability to govern ourselves, Cascadia was on the verge of collapsing the way the east had and in our desperation we elected a new leader. He was insanely wealthy, as well as handsome and charming, he said all the right things and the citizens of the new state were fooled by his lies.”

Dad got up and circled the table one time before sitting back down and continuing the story.

“That was Justin Truth… much later he would be called, “The Truth”.”

Dani knew this part as well and she nodded again.

“Grandpa Daniel was an artist, a good one, until he got sick… the kind of sick that takes strong medicine to fix. The medicine he needed had been cheap and plentiful before Truth and his followers came along. Overnight the cost of med’s soared, and they became impossible for most to buy.”

“When your grandparents and others, spoke out about this injustice they were attacked by the TRU Force… protest were not allowed you see… the right to gather and the right to question authority was crushed with violence and imprisonment… most were disappeared.”

Dad leaned back in his chair and rubbed his face again before he continued.

“Sweetie… there’s danger here… word of honor baby… never tell.”

Dani wanted to cry or just run away, but she nodded and gave what she hoped was a brave smile.

“Because the protesters were being spied on and stalked by the TRU… Gran started to form a secret group… like-minded people working to end the corruption and abuse. The TRU had ears and eyes everywhere, many of your Gran’s friends ended up with black bags over their heads… Do you know what that means honey?”

Dani shifted in her chair and whispered, “Yes.”

“I told you that grandpa was an artist… well his art was making little metal figurines. He had tools and supplies for that purpose, but your grandmother found a new use for those tools… knowing that they were being infiltrated by the bad guys she started making pieces of jewelry that she could give to folks they trusted… a way to identify each other from the fakers that the TRU might send. She made bracelets and rings and… heart shaped lockets.”

They both looked at the heart laying on the table.

Dad continued.

“HSL stands for Honor, Service, love… it also means Heart Shaped Locket… and that became their greeting to one another.”

Dad nudged the trinket towards Dani.

“This became more than jewelry… it became an idea… a rally call to every person in Cascadia who felt smothered or bullied or ignored by the powerful and rich who ruled in Sacro City. The dissenters couldn’t meet in public or even talk openly about their doubts and fears. The rule of the day was that anything not in line with policy was an act of terrorism and would be met with overwhelming and instant judgment.”

Dani was fixated on the heart lying on the table until dad leaned forward and took her chin in his hand… he tilted her face up to see her eyes.

“Of course that didn’t stop the brave and heroic HSL… from one end of Cascadia to the other… from the canyon up north to the rusty iron wall in the south, people started to make their feelings known... Every overpass, rail car and barricade were painted with messages of hope... Some said eat the rich, or Meds for Dan, or just heart shaped graffiti. Day after day the news was full of stories about the destruction of government facilities and about people walking off their jobs in protest of one thing or the other… when Truth looked out over his kingdom he saw that it was on fire, it was all slipping away from him.”

Dad looked at Dani… he smiled at her, and she was able to breathe again.

“This is when your Gran became labeled a terrorist… The Truth agreed to the requested improvements but only to end the violence and the labor strikes. His new laws included some upgrades in the area of human rights… especially when it came to a cap on the cost of vital medications… but in exchange for these improvements he and his party wanted… demanded in fact… the leaders of HSL.”

He bent closer to Dani and whispered.

“Your grandparents and their captains knew it was a death sentence… of course it was. Many wanted to keep fighting, to destroy everything infected by Truth and the TRU but Gran saw it differently... She understood what was coming.”

Dad closed his eyes and faced the ceiling for a moment before continuing.

“Their plan was to quietly surrender at the central court in Sacro, but a hundred faithful followers of the HSL showed up to block them. During this gathering someone called the BOOTS and in minutes the street was full of tear gas and bullets... Almost every member of the HSL were unarmed, of the hundred gathered that day, only nineteen survived the massacre.”

As Dani imagined that scene, the injustice, the wrongness of it all, heat and tears began to climb up from her belly.

“My father… grandpa… fell right away… I never met him. Gran was hit twice but a friend saw it happen and took her away to safety. Another woman, their second in charge actually, was mistakenly identified as the leader of the HSL.”

Dani was weeping now, and her father pulled her into a tight hug and kissed her cheek.

“It’s ok baby… we’re ok... but they can never know… the TRU are still in power sweetie… you know that honey.”

The little girl looked across the room at her Gran, and then to the small shelf in the kitchen where her own bottle of pills sat in a dark plastic bottle.

She whispered, so softly that even her dad could not hear.

“Thank you Grandmother.”

End.