“The whole country?” Tyler asked.
“I doubt that,” Harry told him. He then explained it was a big country and that more than likely, whoever was starting trouble, was just taking a small piece as their own —just enough for them to have some sort of control over the United States.
Tyler didn’t quite understand it until Harry explained it.
“What’s your favorite toy besides a ball?” Harry asked. “Do you like cars, toy soldiers? Is there anything you collect?”
Tyler nodded. “Action figures. Especially wrestling.”
“Ok, now let’s suppose they only made a hundred, special edition wrestling figures. And suppose you found every one of them and had it all to yourself. Now let’s say some kid at school wanted to fight you for it.”
“I don’t fight, Harry.”
“I can tell that.” Harry winked. “And you wouldn’t fight that kid. It’s not worth it. Why bother. So… then he takes five of your dolls.”
“I’d be mad.”
“Sure you would. I’d be mad too. But suddenly, you know longer have all the collection, you have most, but he still has a piece of your collection. He has your stuff, even just a small amount, and by doing that, he controls a part of you, whether you like it or not. And you have two choices. Let him have them or fight him for them.”
“What if I just wait until he’s sleeping and take them back?”
Harry smiled. “That would work. No violence that way. Maybe that’s what the US is doing.”
While Tyler still didn’t get the entirety of it, he got enough. He wondered what the United States was going to do. He even asked Harry that, but Harry didn’t have an answer yet.
But he would, he promised he would. Then they finished their meals.
A lot of people sat in the fire hall and ate. It wasn’t a big meal, just something to tide them over. Harry was told, eventually, they’d sneak out to get more food and everyone in town was pulling resources.
George invited Harry and Tyler to stay with him. By the time they walked the secret path to George’s house, Harry was even more tired. He asked Tyler if he minded if he went to bed.
Tyler didn’t. He knew Harry was older and even though he looked strong, he was bound to wear out early, just like Mr. Newman who lived two streets over. Mr. Newman was Harry’s age; he sat on his porch all the time but went to bed early. When Tyler asked his mom about that, she simply told him that the older a person gets sometimes they just need a little longer to rejuvenate.
Tyler wanted Harry to get all the rest he needed. He wanted Harry to be strong.
Harry was all he had, at least until he found the rest of his family. Tyler couldn’t get his hopes up that they were alive. What if they were like his mother?
His mother.
Sipping on a juice box, as he stayed close to Harry, Tyler thought of his mother. And as he did he started to cry again. He loved his mother more than anything in the world and she was gone. She looked so sick lying on that couch. It wasn’t fair and it was cruel to make her suffer.
And his father.
What did his father ever do to deserve to die like he did?
When all the other kids in school complained about their parents, Tyler didn’t. He thought his parents were cool, a bit goofy at times, but cool.
He and his dad played Friday night video games when his mom went with the girls to the movies.
He loved his life and now it was over and everything had changed. Tyler didn’t know what to make of that and he wasn’t quite processing the severity of all that occurred. Somewhere in his mind he believed that it was all a bad dream and that it would change back at some given moment.
He wasn’t tired, not at all. He sat with his back against the bed listening to Harry’s heavy breathing.
What is in the box, Harry?
Tyler could see it sitting on the dresser. At one time that box was gift wrapped beautifully, but now it was tattered and torn.
It was time for Tyler to open that box. He had permission and looked forward to seeing if he knew what it was.
He lifted the box. It was heavy. Carefully and quietly he removed the gift wrap paper and folded it.
The box wasn’t as old as Tyler expected. It was silver and heavy and engraved on the lid were the words, ‘Freedom leads to prosperity. Freedom replaces the ancient hatreds among the nations with comity and peace. Freedom is the victor.’
“Wow.” Tyler read the words. He wasn’t quite sure what it all meant together, he’d ask Harry, but he knew the words Freedom and Peace, and even if he didn’t have a clue what was in the box, those words truly fit what was happening.
The hinge was a small silver knob and Tyler turned it.
He lifted the lid, the box had a black interior and it was thick. But he didn’t expect to see what he did.
There was an envelope and inside there were papers and a picture of a president and another of a man with a sledge hammer ready to hit something.
But those weren't what surprised Tyler. He could see those being important. But that other thing in there baffled him. Why was it there?
It was simply a small, fist sized, piece of rock.
How, Tyler wondered, was that so important?
