10. Meeting At Harrison's

A Chapter by WritersBlock

Taylor woke up, combed her hair, rinsed her mouth and washed her face in a basin her father had set out in the bathroom every morning. The water was warmer than usual almost hot. As she splashed water on her face she took a moment to study her features. Her face red from the heat of the water, scanning for any blemishes she may have. She read somewhere in a magazine that there was this thing called 'acne' that girls her age suffered from. She checked everyday to see if any signs would appear. None today.

"Taylor!! Breakfast it ready!!" Her father shouted from the bottom floor.

"Okay! Just let me get dressed!"

She shouted through the doorway, quickly, running to her room and changing out of her pajamas, putting on fresh under garments and a pair of jeans she hemmed. Whenever peopl traded for clothing the sizes were never exact as to not waste materials. They always purchased them a size bigger allowing children to grow into them. These jeans, like her shorts, were also made from denim. Denim was very hard to come by these days. By chance there happened to be a factory in the city that specifically made denim ware.

Since it was abandoned rolls of fabric were up for grabs. Took a month to transport them all. Denim wasn't cheap either, most people wanted labor in return. Taylor's father, Vel, happened to be the best medicine man in the entire town. To be treated by Vel was considered a blessing by the Gods. So, naturally, he took advantage and traded for denim whenever he could. Before the war Vel was a licensed herbalist, naturopath, and botanist. Plants were his love and reason for being. It's how he met his wife, studying a rare kind of Orchid that grew in the rainforest, she happened to be his guide. By trade she studied forestry and had travelled the world. Instantly, they fell in love. Three years later they were married and Taylor was conceived.

Taylor buttoned her jeans and picked out a tie die shirt from her closet. She also had a fascination with clothing, colors, and styles of dress. She wanted to become an apprentice to Don's parents but her father felt she was too young to start, convincing her to enjoy friends and life before choosing a trade. To make him happy, she agreed but still secretly practiced making clothes.

Taylor grabbed a pair of old red and white Converse from her closet. The red was more a brown, caused by all the layers of dirt and the white was actually beige. The laces were new and the sneakers happened to be her exact size. It's the only reason she kept them, they were comfortable for the most part and unique. Most people walked around barefoot or wore oddly shaped handmade shoes. She tied her last sneaker and put her hair into a ponytail then raced downstairs to the kitchen barely dodging a bushel of garlic hanging from the ceiling. Her father, a tall, lean man with straight black hair down to his jaw stood in the corner munching on a fresh corn muffin. Taylor eyeballed him.

"Hey, I was hungry. I couldn't wait."

"You better have saved me some, Vel." Taylor always addressed her father by his first name, she developed the habit because everyone did it. It wasn't until the age of five did she realize that children call their parents Ma and Pa. Vel understood this and never took offense.

"I made you one with blueberries and few extra for the guys over at the shop."

Vel tossed her a red hankerchief.

"Use that to carry them."

Taylor walked over to a bowl of muffins sitting on a wooden table and grabbed the one with blueberries. She bit into it, heaven. They weren't too sweet and a bit tangy. She loved the taste of blueberries ever since she was a toddler. Her dad recalled the story about coming down one morning to find her eating a bunch he harvested from the garden.

"You were caught blue handed." He used to say.

"Alright. Gotta go. Harrison is waiting for me."

"Hey, before you leave, everything ok? I mean, last night you seemed pretty upset."

A quick flashback of the previous night with Quinn played in her head. Taylor was never one to dwell on the past. She watched her father become a shell of his former self doing the same exact thing. Vowing to never do the same, she tried her best to brighten his mood and make sure he was okay. It helped a lot, within a year he was back to his normal self. Living in the past was deadly, the best option is always to move forward.

"Don't worry about it, Vel. He just said some thing that made me angry. I ll talk to him when I get to Harrison's."

Vel smirked.

"What? Don't say it."

"Just like your mother." Taylor smiled and shook her had.

Grabbing the hankerchief full of muffins she gave her father a kiss and hug, then made her way through the door. As she closed the door behind her she peered at the sun, it just finished rising. She smiled and made her way onto the street. She took a moment to consider picking up Quinn but decided against it. After all, she did smack him. Who knows what mood he'd be in or if he even wanted to talk to her. Staring at his house for a few seconds she made the decision to head to Harrison's on her own. Walking along the street she noticed a young boy sitting on the curb next to a larger person covered in a green and white hand woven blanket. Whoever was under there was a lot larger than the boy, at least six feet. The boy looked to be a little older than Don, his face was dirty with a tan complexion and hair tangled in a mess. The shrouded figure was the same color, she could see his hands dangling outside the blanket. The little boy turned his head as he watched her pass by. She wasn't sure if he was watching her or just curious. She had never seen these two before, suddenly she got an odd feeling they were still watching her as she continued to passed

by.

After a few minutes, Taylor arrived at Don's house. He was sitting on his front step, holding his head up trying not to fall asleep. His hand slipped almost causing his head to hit the wooden railing. He opened his eyes in shock and saw Taylor approaching. Don jumped up with excitement as if never having been tired.

"Tator!" Running up to her and hugging her around what waist.

Then a confused look had taken over.

"Where's Quinner?" Taylor rolled her eyes.

"Long story Don." "

Oh, ok. I like stories, you can tell me on the way to the shop."

"I guess I will. Hey, those new overalls?"

"Yep. Like them, Tator?"

"Yeah, real cool. Might have to ask for a pair."

"Then we can be twins!" Don jumped up as he said this.

Taylor smiled while grabbing his hand continuing to the shop. Harrison slept in his leather chair with a blanket too small for his body. Patching up the window did little from keeping the heat from escaping. It was a cool fifty degrees after midnight. His flask tipped over, empty of every single drop. He muttered in his sleep.

"Shirley....no....Stephanie....please, no."

He threw his head from one side to another trying to get comfortable.

"Harrison. Oooo, Harrison Ford. Wake up."

The voice was female, gentle, young and familiar. A gentle warmth took over one side of his face, it felt like a hand. It registered in his brain this wasn't a dream, someone was actually touching his face. Harrison opened his eyes and came face to face with Taylor. He screamed and jumped at the same time causing the chair to roll back.

"Hey, man, you ok? Looks like you were having a bad dream."

Harrison shook his head to make sure he wasn't still dreaming and then realized Don was standing behind her munching on a muffin, crumbs falling at his feet. Hunger took over immediately.

"Don, where did you get that."

Without speaking he pointed at Taylor.

"Here."

She chucked him one. Harrison caught it and without any preference of flavor or texture bit into it. The center was still warm. He devoured it like a ravenous animal. It had been a long night and he hadn't an appetite up until now. Don started to laugh as Harrison made a mess.

"I ll let my Dad know you like his muffins."

Swallowing the last bit of muffin Harrison realized how dry his throat actually was and how hard swallowing a clump of pastry would actually be as he started choking. Pointing at Don and made the gesture of drinking, things began to become frantic. Taylor understood immediately.

"Don get him a liter, now! He's choking!"

Don dropped his muffin and ran to the bathroom. He searched beneath the sink, found a liter of purified water and brought to Harrison. He guzzled it down in less than a minute, swallowing hard followed by gasp for air.

"I knew... you were holding... out."

Don loved water, especially purified water. It was a rare commodity these days. Normally they would just catch rain water and drink it, but lately there had been very little of it and everything was being rationed. Purifying water was a process and most people were too thirsty to bother.

"What happened to the window? Did one of the kids throw a rock through it or something?" The front door opened again and in walked Quinn. Immediately his and Taylor's eyes met. They both looked away. A few moments of silence passed until Harrison spoke.

"Solar glass. That's what they call it."

This caught Quinn's attention.

"The shard Don found is Solar Glass?" "Yeah? Ok. What is Solar Glass?"

"It's what they make the domes out of."

Don picked up the remnants of his muffin but before biting into it yelled,

"Coooooooolll!"

Quinn sat Indian style next to Don as Harrison spoke. "I know what you are thinking Quinn. you want to sell it and I don't think that's a good idea at the moment."

"Why not? It's not like any of us can use it. We can all share the profits."

"No. Quinn. I don't trust it. You don't know what this means. I would be happier if Don never found it to begin with."

"Well we did. What's the big deal? What are you worried about? It isn't like you haven't sold anything to Squid before."

Taylor nodded her head.

"Quinner is right."

Harrison bit his lip and debated his next line words very carefully.

"Listen. You kids mean a lot to me. But you don't understand what this means. This shard is technology that should have never made it out of the dome, but it did. Someone meant for it to come here."

Quinn and Taylor's eyes both grew with curiosity. Taylor spoke first.

"What do you mean, Harrison? How do you know this?"

Harrison looked down lacing his fingers together, squeezing them to handle the pain of hearing her name again.

"Shirley and I, we were doing research on the shard. We discovered it has a manufacturing code or apart of one."

"And?"

"Taylor, I believe part of the code were coordinates. I wrote them down."

Harrison reached in his back pocket revealing his notebook.

"Ok. Just have Shirley run the numbers and see what we get."

Harrison's head hung low and the sound of tears hitting the floor began. Quinn walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Harrison, what's the matter?"

Harrison lifted his head, eyes blood shot from crying, his nose running.

"They took her, Quinn."