What Remains Here

Chapter 9

November 10

I spent the morning cleaning the plastic sheeting around the greenhouse with a rag and bucket of water. Even though we only made the greenhouse fairly recently, the sheeting was already smeared with gray and quickly going from translucent to opaque, and if it remains that way, then we all know what's going to happen.

It turns out that wiping ash from the sides of the sheets wasn't as easy as I anticipated since some of the ash had been caking itself into the sides and because the sheets bent every time that I attempted to scrub them. Plus, I didn't want to accidentally knock over any of the cans and trays filled with sproutlings or damage the structure of the greenhouse, so I had to be extra careful and slow. It didn't help that I had to make sure to quickly dry the sheeting because otherwise, if the wind blew ash on the sheets and they were wet, the ash would firmly stick to the plastic.

"It's tough work, isn't it?" Caspian's dad said as I turned back in surprise. I guess I must've been so caught up in wiping down the sheets that I hadn't noticed him climb up a ladder to begin wiping down the panels on the rooftop.

"Yeah, it's pretty hard," I said, about halfway through the process of wiping both sides of the greenhouse.

"I could put a request for the scavenging mission to look out for vinyl cleaners," he said. "Might make things a bit easier."

"That's alright. I can manage," I said. "How are the panels doing?"

"Well, they're managing as best as they can with the ash," he replied. "Still, I believe we've stored enough energy in these past few weeks to keep the lights on in the greenhouse for a couple dozen nights. Don't worry though, I've talked with the Shepards about heading down to the warehouse in a future scavenging mission, so hopefully, for all our sakes, we're going to get more panels."

"Yeah, hopefully..." I said, though I didn't do a good job at feigning enthusiasm since I was worried that he'd given too much information to the Shepards. I mean if things go sour between our two groups then they'd know the location of the most precious resource available and could take it all or even just move there and cut us off.

The conversation lapsed for a bit as I continued wiping down the greenhouse while he began dusting off the ash with what looked like a makeup brush. But then, he said, "I've heard that you and my son have been working on some secret project. It must be something if you guys have been spending so much time together. You want to clue me in, a bit?"

I guess I froze because I knew that I couldn't tell the truth. Caspian mentioned that he was especially vulnerable to grief, which is why Caspian always has to be positive around his dad, and I didn't want to be responsible for sending Caspian's dad on a spiral or whatever he went on. So, instead, I just dodged the question.

"Caspian kinda made me promise to keep it under wraps, you know."

His dad laughed a bit. "Alright. I get it now. Whatever you're doing, it's making Caspian feel better, so I'm not in any position to question it."

There was a bit of an awkward silence as Caspian's dad dragged himself across the roof to clean the second set of panels, but he then turned back to me.

"You know that he's been taking a liking to you?"

"He has?" I asked.

"Well, he hasn't mentioned it directly, but I can tell," he replied. "Every time that he's gone out and done something with you, he's been awfully chatty about everything he did that day. I suppose I may be overreaching a barrier here, but I was wondering what you two talk about."

"Oh, well I don't know," I said. "I mean, sometimes, I help him with stuff, like breaking open nuts or making rope, but I guess we just talk about the usual stuff, like bad jokes and just the world around us in general and about the new members, I guess. I can't really think of super-specific stuff on the top of my head right now, but maybe if you're looking for something specific, I might be able to remember."