What Remains Here

Chapter 12

Today was a fairytale.

Alright, maybe not a fairytale, but there was this energy that flowed through our home, the warm tangerines and goldens of the fireplace bathing the walls in a magic hour glow for the entire day. I guess I was right for once. Things went great today, even if it's not in the ways that I had imagined.

Of course, it's annoying that all magical days have to spring from the most hectic, rushed mornings. Mom and Dad were running around, going overdrive on cleaning up our home, making sure that all our comforters and blankets were folded and that the bathrooms weren't too disgusting. It's weird that Dad was acting like normal again, but no one wanted to test how fragile the seemingly hard shell he was putting on for today.

In the meantime, even before the sun had fully risen, May, her wet hair wrapped in a towel, was barking orders at us. "Neal, Mira. Hurry and set up the rest of the games in Dad's room–where's your sense of urgency–Mom, Dad. I really hope that you guys, like, actually mopped the floor because I don't want everyone to think that we're literally living in filth. It's not a good look. At all."

"Yes ma'am," I said a bit sarcastically to May, and she shot me a withering look.

"Don't give me that attitude today. I'm the boss," she replied. "You should be referring to me as 'boss.'"

"Yes boss," Mira replied, joining in on the fun. "What would you like us to do to further the capitalistic, machine-labor–"

"I have literally no idea what you two are saying. You guys are literally so annoying," May responded, clearly unamused. "Just get the thing done, and hurry. We're leaving to gather fish, in, like, an hour."

"Yes boss," Mira and I said at the same time, giving May a salute that she shrugged off as she went to make sure that each game station was stocked up with enough supplies.

We went to Dad's bedroom to set up the game of shuffleboard and croquet, and while I was placing down the hoops for the croquet balls, Mira asked, "You ready to party like it's the end of the world today?"

"I don't know about that," I said. "Don't think that the world's going to end today, so..."

"Fair enough," Mira said. "God, I'm excited. I've finally got a chance to show everyone what our future could look like, and I'm going to try to pitch some of my bigger ideas while everyone is high on hope. Well, that's if everything goes well."

"What ideas?"

"Oh, you know, just casually creating a diplomacy group for when we meet other communities and planning out an electricity generation project to harness the tides," Mira said with a knowing smile. "It's going to be a piece of cake."

"And I thought I was the crazy one here," I said with a smile. "Whatever happened to smaller things, like mushroom farming or building more greenhouses."

"That's how I'll make those ideas less crazy. When you're bargaining with people like Mom and Dad, it's better to aim for the moon," she said. "Maybe not the moon now. Or maybe I'm just making excuses since I'm just high on hope too."

Before I could respond, the doorbell rang, and when I opened the door, the first thing that I noticed was Caspian's outfit, a red plaid button-up with jeans that looked a bit rough around the edges. He even had the bandana around his neck, crimson red to match with the shirt, and the only thing that he was missing was the distinct cowboy hat. Well, that and the boots with spurs on them, but I made him take off his shoes before walking around inside so it didn't particularly matter.

"You actually dressed up as a cowboy?" I said, still surprised.

"Couldn't resist the urge to dress up," he replied before shivering a bit. "You mind letting me in?"