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Damian doesn’t answer Sarah for a moment because he does know it, has always known it, but on the surface puts a good face on the situation for others. His job is to care for his family, to provide for and protect them, and with that task in mind, he has more or less gone through the last few years without thinking on those things. His own ennui would surface from time to time but he would fight to overcome it, not for himself but for his family, not for now but for the future. ‘What future?’ he thinks.
“I know what you’re saying and I know we don’t have a great life, but when we made the decision to come here, we all knew what it would be like. And, you know, we talked about staying behind with the others and giving it a try but it just wouldn’t have worked. The situation was getting worse quickly and if we hadn’t done something who knows where we’d be now,” says Damian to his wife. “There was really only one choice for us to make, so we shouldn’t spend too much time revisiting it,” and he then reaches over to hold on to her hand.
A small, single tear appears at the corner of one of Sarah’s eyes and then slowly snakes its way down her cheek. A weariness and weight pushes her down in the chair until her head reaches the table and then rests on his hand. Gently stroking her hair, Damian looks down on his mate, his companion of these many years as the love and respect he has for her swells inside him, and then the loss and regret of things that might have been deflates the moment and Damian is saddened. “I want things to be better for all of us,” he whispers to her. “I do, I really do and if I could change things to make them better, I would.”
Sarah, slowly raising her head, moves closer to Damian and says to him, “I know, dear, I know you would. I’m sorry and I shouldn’t be so ungrateful. It’s not just me, though, I feel so bad for Christopher and sometimes I don’t know what to say to him. I hear myself saying things that I don’t really believe just to make him feel better. And that seems wrong sometimes.”
“No, that’s okay. We have to stay strong for him, we have to stay happy and hopeful. We have to try,” he says.
Clare’s shift is over for the day and she prepares to return home. Gathering her things, she quietly exits her workplace and enters the darkened streets. Moving quickly along the sidewalks, she stays close to the buildings, trying to avoid being noticed. Although the area around the desalination plant is relatively safe, the bounty she carries home each night can be greatly coveted. If others knew that she was carrying pure clear drinking water, it might be a different story. Clare doesn’t want to unnecessarily tempt anyone at this time of the night.