\nAt\nthe Edge of the World\nDave\nthought it was a Tuesday when the stranger came. He\u2019d tried to keep\ntrack, but it was hard. He was certain he\u2019d missed days in his\ncounting. There was no work week without civilization to insist on\nit. The world was gone and the only time that still existed was right\nnow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nFrom\nthe window in the kitchen, he watched Jonathon out in the garden,\ntrying to pollinate the cucumber blossoms without any honey bees left\nto do the job. Jonathon poked at each tiny flower with a dirt-covered\nfinger, convincing them to give up their pollen. He looked up and\ngave Dave a goofy smile, smearing dirt across his forehead. Dave\nlaughed, short and sharp. But it was gone quickly as the memories of\nthe world pushed back in on him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nBehind\nJonathon, the laundry snapped in the warm, salt-flavored air, a soft\ncontrast to the crusty ground and crashing waves beyond. Tuesday was\nalways for laundry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nIn\nthe distance, the silhouette of a man crossed the isthmus that\nconnected their homestead to a larger piece of land. No one had\ncrossed that land in years. Dave had finally stopped feeling that\nclench in his stomach every time he looked toward it and now his\nstomach dropped. He called out to Jonathon, who hadn\u2019t noticed him\nyet, while he went to get the shotgun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cWhat\ndo we do?\u201d Jonathon asked as the ground crunched beneath Dave\u2019s\nsteps. Jonathon had their farming hoe in his hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cThat\ndepends on what he does,\u201d Dave answered. He was no longer smiling.\nHe hadn\u2019t felt like this since the dark days, before they\u2019d made\nit to this safe place. The weight of the shotgun in his hands felt\ngood. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nThe\nstranger waved as he approached and Jonathon gave a little wave back.\nDave raised his weapon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cI\nwouldn\u2019t get too close,\u201d Jonathon shouted. \u201cMy friend is a good\nshot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nDave\nblocked the word \u201cfriend\u201d out of his mind while he concentrated\non this moment. This was now. The stranger stopped where he was, his\neyes taking in their house. Their garden. And the sea beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cWhere\ndid you come from?\u201d Dave asked, keeping his weapon steady. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nThe\nstranger turned to point back up the road, but Dave stopped him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cKeep\nyour hands where I can see them,\u201d Dave said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nThe\nstranger turned back and lifted his hands up to shoulder height. He\ngave a little shrug as though this whole meeting was perfectly\nnormal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cI\nwas just trying to say, I\u2019m from a village about six days back that\na-way,\u201d the stranger said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cIs\nanyone else out there?\u201d Jonathon asked, leaning on his farming\ntool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cNot\nwith me. But, like I said, there\u2019s a whole bunch of us gathering,\ntrying to get some kind of life going again, you know?\u201d the\nstranger said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cUh-huh.\nAnd what do you want from us?\u201d Dave asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cJust\ntaking a look around, finding more supplies, people, maybe someone to\ntrade with us or join us or whatever,\u201d the stranger said. \u201cYou\u2019re\nthe first people I\u2019ve come across since I left. I was just about to\nturn back, but here you are, out in the middle of nowhere.\u201d \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cEverywhere\nis nowhere nowadays,\u201d Jonathon said. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nDave\nleaned his shoulder into the gun, testing the dirt beneath his\nshoes.\u201dYou\u2019d better go ahead and turn back, right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nThe\nstranger stayed where he was. \u201cI don\u2019t mean you guys any harm.\nJust meeting the neighbors, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cWell,\nyou\u2019ve met us. Now go back where you came from,\u201d Dave said. He\ngestured with the gun. The stranger waited a moment, looking between\nDave and Jonathon. Jonathon gave a little wave good-bye and the\nstranger turned to go. Dave waited until he was well out of range\nbefore he lowered the gun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nDave\nwas quiet for the rest of the night. Their bedroom was oppressive in\nthe darkness. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cWhat\u2019s\nwrong?\u201d Jonathon asked well after midnight. He rolled onto his side\nto look at Dave, but Dave kept his face to the ceiling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cThey\u2019ll\ncome back now that they know where we are. They\u2019ll bring others,\u201d\nDave said. His stomach was still an iron weight threatening to pull\nitself free from him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cWould\nthat be such a bad thing?\u201d Jonathon asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cAnd\nwhat if they decide they like our little bit of land better? What if\nthey take this place from us?\u201d Dave asked. He liked the way\nJonathon acted when they were alone, when he didn\u2019t call Dave a\nfriend. He missed the old days less than Jonathon did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cWhat\u2019s\nthis really about?\u201d Jonathon asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nThe\nsilence after that question was too much for Dave to bear. \u201cHow\nmuch longer until you leave?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nJonathon\npropped himself up on an elbow and leaned over Dave\u2019s face. \u201cWhat\nare you talking about?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cNothing,\u201d\nDave said, rolling over and away from Jonathon. He fell asleep angry.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nHis\nshoulders ached in the morning when he woke up to an empty bed. For\njust a moment he lay there, wondering if this was his future. He\nfollowed the smell of baking into the kitchen and found Jonathon\nsmearing honey on one of his homemade biscuits. A plate of biscuits\nand a pot of jam sat on the table. Jonathon held out the other half\nof his biscuit, but Dave chose to sit instead. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cAre\nwe going to talk about it?\u201d Jonathon asked, coming to sit beside\nhim. The chair squealed on the old linoleum floors as he did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nDave\nmade a show of shoving half a biscuit into his mouth and instantly\nregretted the amount of jam that dripped down his face in the\nprocess. Jonathon reached across the table and took his hand and Dave\ndidn\u2019t feel like he could pull back. He swallowed hard under\nJonathon\u2019s patient stare. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cYou\nalways liked people more than I did,\u201d Dave said, wiping the jam off\nhis face. It would stain the napkin, but it was better than having\nthis conversation with raspberry puree all over his face. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cI\u2019m\nnot going anywhere,\u201d Jonathon said. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cNow,\u201d\nDave said, picking at some biscuit crumbs. \u201cBut you know where they\nare. You\u2019ll get curious. And they\u2019ll be curious. Either way, it\u2019s\nthe end of what we have here. Together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nJonathon\nwove his fingers between Dave\u2019s, pushing his chair back. \u201cCome\non.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cWhat\nare you doing?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cDance\nwith me,\u201d Jonathon said. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cWhat?\nThere\u2019s no music.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nJonathon\npulled him out of his chair. \u201cWe never had a real wedding. We never\ngot that couples dance. Dance with me now.\nDance with me and pretend the world doesn’t exist,” he pleaded.\nAnd after that, there was no going back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nDave\nlaid his head on Jonathon\u2019s shoulder as Jonathon hummed some old\ntune he didn\u2019t remember. There was only now. The future would have\nto wait.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At the Edge of the World Dave thought it was a Tuesday when the stranger came. He\u2019d tried to keep track, but it was hard. He was certain he\u2019d missed days in his counting. There was no work week without civilization to insist on it. The world was gone and the only time that still […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[250,422,1004],"class_list":["post-11191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction","tag-dance-with-me","tag-flash-fiction","tag-short-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11191\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}