You Are Safe

2035

The outside world was unknown to her, but she could see a glimpse of it through the window in his room.

2001

“We’re going to implement precautionary measures. As we’ve seen, the world isn’t safe anymore. America has been under attack. We have to keep the baby here with you. Our jobs require that we safeguard the nation. We are leaving all duties up to you. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir,” Morla Goldenfield replied with a solemn look in her honey brown eyes. She had skin the color of nutmeg. A broad nose and full lips completed her round face. She signed the contract. She was eighteen.

The two CIA agents Riffkin and Sandy Blanc, both thirty-two-years-old, took the paper and looked at it. Sandy placed it in an attache case and left the house for good.

2035

A sense of joy kicked up around Phoebe Blanc. She possessed dark features. Long lashes hung over her eyes as she plucked them and primped her face. It looked angular and her cheekbones looked as if they could go on forever. She had a small, button-like chin.

It was another celebration that she and Morla had made up. They picked certain days of the calendar at random: April twenty-seventh, October sixteenth, November thirtieth. This was December fifth. She applied makeup to her face. some rouge and blush just became benefits to her face.

Morla did the same. She got gussied up and played music. It was Christmas music which Phoebe had become accustomed to over the years since the beginning of her life. They wore little black dresses and heels and would giggle at one another’s sense of style, realizing each other’s ability to dress with glee.

Now, Phoebe was in what Morla designated as Phoebe’s older brother’s room, even though she had no older brother. “Morla! Morla! Come here!” Phoebe called, excitement bubbling up in her voice.

Morla had always tried to keep Phoebe out of this room. She felt as if the window would be a screen into the possible, the enchanting, the dangerous. They both sat next to each other.

“I want to go outside. We’ve covered all of the wonders of this world and how great it is but I’ve never been outside of this property. I want to touch saffron. I want to swim in the Amazon. I want to taste chilis in New Mexico. I want a boyfriend. Alas, I’m cooped up in this house in Delaware.” Her face dropped slightly.

“We’ve been through this. You’re under my protection as designated by your parents. Look at us. We’re having fun, aren’t we? The music is playing and I can still whip up a mean Martini. Extra dirty, of course.”

“Of course…but I want to be out there in the world. I want to see the tall buildings in America….”

“About that. There are no more tall buildings in America. A government statute ordered that all skyscrapers be reduced in size.”

“What?”

“Yes, child. Let that sink in, now. Those things I taught you were about a past America. The United States now is a shell of its former self. They even stopped air travel.”

“Really?! No planes or helicopters fly in the skies?”

“Not unless they’re government bombers, cargo vessels, or fighter jets. Or other military grade aircraft or the police.”

Phoebe left his room. Morla followed her. “It’s okay to be upset.” The Christmas tunes continued to play. The doorbell rang. Morla shot to sound of the chime and greeted the delivery man at the door. Blanc and Sandy made arrangements for the house to be technologically advanced and to have food and supplies sent on a regular basis. Morla always reached the door before Phoebe. As a child, she retained the rules of the house well into adulthood.

“What is it, Morla?”

“It’s…it’s nothing,” The grim news wouldn’t mean anything to Phoebe she surmised, but her parents were both killed in an expedition to Saudi Arabia. It would never matter to her, Morla thought, so she didn’t tell her.

“Why don’t you get some glasses and we’ll have a cocktail and toast to life,” Morla suggested.

Phoebe followed the instruction. Glasses clinked. Drawers opened and shut. Morla walked over and performed her magic.

“What was that package in the mail?”

“I said it’s….” she started. She took a drink, the brine stung her throat.

“It’s your parents. They were shot down,” Morla admitted.

“But you said there was no air travel,” Phoebe reminded.

“They were government agents. I’m sorry you had to hear it like this. I know you’ve never known them, but they were good people,” Morla acknowledged.

“I’ve got to get the hell outta here!” Phoebe shouted. She shot upstairs to her room.

“Phoebe, wait!”

Morla walked up to Phoebe’s room and knocked. She her light sobs.

“It’s alright, Morla,” she said through the tears.

“Again, I’m sorry it had to be like this. I wanted to keep it from you but you would’ve found out somehow knowing your sleuthing skills. Your ability to investigate is just like your parents,” Morla encouraged.

“I never knew them but they still were my parents,” Phoebe lamented.

“It’s alright. I mean this with no contradiction. Your parents were happy, smart working, selfish people. They cared about themselves and other people they valued. Their self-interest was not a sacrifice in making sure you grew up in an environment sheltered from the world.”

“But I still think they could have left a video at least.”

Morla looked down at her stilettos. “They did.”

Morla cued the flat screen from the ceiling in the family room. The video then illuminated.

Phoebe looked at her parents who peered into the camera with solemnity and truth.

“We’ve never been a part of your life. We never will be. Something happened. We loved you enough to at least recognize the fact we wanted to keep you safe in this world,” her father said.

Sandy said, “You’ll always be our baby, no matter what happens. You are the shining star in our constellation of thoughts and memories. It was the most difficult thing to let go of you. We knew, though, that Morla would take good care of you. So, we’re glad. Don’t be dismayed that we never met. Just consider the fact that you will be safe despite the circumstances.”

“We love you and goodbye,” Sandy and Blanc said into the camera. They waved. The picture faded to black.

Morla handed Phoebe a box of tissues.

“What you just saw was just a sliver of the character, verve, and wisdom of your parents. You reflect those qualities in everything you do.”

“Thanks, Morla,” Phoebe said, wiping makeup from her face. The doorbell rang. Phoebe shot from her room and opened the front door.

“Phoebe, wait!”

It was a delivery woman but Phoebe didn’t care about a new doodad or frozen pizza. She bolted right past the woman and kept running.

Morla was prepared for a moment like this. She put in the code for officers to scramble to intercept Phoebe.

She darted with her heels in her right hand and tears streaking her face. The winter cold and the asphalt under her feet never deterred her. Finally, lights shone from vehicles and she heard a sound system.

“Phoebe Blanc,” an authoritative female voice called.

“You are safe. We are not here to harm you.”

A helicopter flew overhead.

Phoebe stopped her trek.

“Yep…government,” she said under her breath.

Two men charged towards her with blankets and ushered her into a squad car.

On the way to wherever, Phoebe had the inkling it was not back to her house.

They checked her into a psychiatric facility under the idea she may hurt herself. Morla met up with her at the cafeteria and noticed Phoebe wanted to go out in the cold. The orderly opened the door for the two women. They traveled to the smoke pit. Phoebe pulled on an e-cig. The warmth from the small hut nearly stifled them.

“You had to have been taken in at least for evaluation,” Morla explained.

“I get it.”

“Now, you can be home in a few days. I’ll keep the house clean for you and await your safe return,” Morla continued.

“Okay,” Phoebe mentioned. She pocketed the device and headed back to her room at the Core Psychiatric Center.

Morla brushed away a tear and made her way back to her car. Once she entered the vehicle, she screamed. The rush and mixture of emotions overtook her and she rattled with fury. Then, she put the car and drive and prepared in her mind how to best receive Phoebe when she got home.