Chapter 5

It wasn't every day that someone came to Dawn from the outside. As a matter of fact, no one from Dawn can honestly say they've ever been anywhere else. They have heard of places like Denver and New England over the years from visitors. These visitors would occasionally stop through, showing off some invention, or some crop they had grown and decided to share. Although the people of Dawn have never been to any of these places, they had to assume these visitors were telling the truth. They may be complete strangers, but why would they lie?

Joseph Garfield was one of these visitors, coming from a place he called Chicago. A large group had already begun to congregate at the town hall where he was expected to speak. It wasn't large enough for the twenty thousand or so inhabitants of Dawn, but it had plenty of space to fit the people who were curious enough to see this visitor and what he had to say.

Charles Walker had spread word the previous day about Garfield’s arrival, sparking curiosity about what new revolutionary thing might be introduced. General consensus was that he was bringing something related to Caleb Hayne's magical blue man-made lightning, but no one could know for sure.

"That doesn't make any sense." yelled one man. "Caleb invented that not two weeks ago, how could another town have already invented something related to it?"

Enthusiastic nods began circulating throughout the group.

"Why not?" announced a small elderly woman from the other side of the room. "That man, James Pierce, brought those... matches... only a few days after Caleb had made his damn ciger-rets!"

That thought had occurred to Thomas Conway on more than one occasion. Thomas was a resident of Dawn, born and raised in the same home that he currently owned. When Mr. Pierce had brought his "matches," Thomas couldn't help but point out this coincidence to his wife. She eventually convinced him to "just be happy with Dawn's fortune," so he had let go of the issue. Now, he felt validated hearing this woman raise the same suspicion. Yes, the portable instant-fire was convenient for smoking the ciger-rets, but he just couldn't ignore the strange coincidence.

The same enthusiastic nodding began to spread throughout the crowd. The woman's exclamation had changed the way everyone viewed the matches.

"So what?" yelled another man, causing everyone's heads to swivel towards the newest voice in the conversation.

"What do you mean, so what?" The woman screamed back, "Don't you find that a little too convenient? It's as if... as if he were waiting for Caleb to make his ciger-rets!" Gasps rose from the crowd.

"Don't listen to that woman," the man yelled, "She's old and senile." The woman's eyes bulged as she swiftly brought her hands to cover her mouth, too dumbfounded to even speak. Quiet chuckles could be heard around the room. "Yes, it was convenient that Mr. Pierce brought his matches, but think about it..." He paused, giving the crowd a chance to think. "What else do we use those matches for? Lighting lanterns. And candles. I guarantee that is what they used them for, not for smoking Caleb's ciger-rets." To the displeasure of the old woman, a wave of relief washed over the crowd, the conspiracy solved.

Thomas, on the other hand, was still unsure. As he stood there contemplating the two sides of the discussion, general conversation in the crowd began to arise concerning the logic in lighting lanterns with the matches. At the peak of conversation, the front doors of the town hall swung open in a dramatic fashion, quieting the crowd. With everyone's eyes on the door, two men stepped inside. The only sound in the room was the shuffling of feet while everyone tried to get a better view.

Thomas recognized one of the men as Charles Walker. The other man was a complete stranger, towering over Walker by at least a foot. He had a smirk on his face as he scanned the room, not laying his eyes on anyone in particular. Walker stepped forward and began to address the crowd, "I'd like to thank everyone for being here today, showing interest in Dawn's future. I'd like to introduce you all to Joseph Garfield." Garfield raised his hand to his head, touching his forehead with two outstretched fingers, then pointed with those fingers somewhere above the crowd. "Howdy," was all he said, his deep voice sending chills down Thomas's spine. What was that? he thought as he watched Garfield return his arm to his side, into a pocket inside his jacket. Thomas could see him digging through his pocket, intent to find whatever new innovation that would bring prosperity to Dawn. Prosperity. Hmph.

"Mr. Garfield here comes from Chicago, as I told most of you before," continued Walker. "Chicago is quite far from here.”

"Chicago is truly a wonderful city," began Garfield, "You folks should really try the pizza sometime. It's quite delicious." Garfield chuckled, proud of his town's so-called pizza. The problem, however, was that no one knew what pizza was, or  why Chicago's pizza was so delicious, as Garfield claimed. Heads began turning and eyes began squinting all around, deep in thought. No one spoke, not sure what exactly they wanted to say, other than "What is pizza?" Their mutual expressions asked the question despite the silence that engulfed the room.

Amidst the confusion, Thomas could see Walker's expression, his reaction to Garfield's pizza. His eyes were closed, and his lips were pressed together so tightly that they had started to turn white. He was breathing heavily, his chest calmly rising and falling with each passing moment. With one final exhale, his eyes opened again, and a smile returned to his face. Thomas quickly glanced around to see if anyone else saw Walker's distressed expression. Everyone still seemed concerned with Garfield's pizza, leaving Thomas as the sole witness to this strange behavior.

"Now," Walker began, breaking the silence, "as many of you know, Mr. Garfield has come here to share with us a piece of his town. Unfortunately, he did not bring any pizza with him." He turned toward Garfield who was still politely scanning the crowd, giving him a look halfway between scolding and disappointment. "Nevertheless," he started again, returning his gaze to the people, "let's all give him our full attention as he shows us what he has brought." Walker then stepped back, allowing Garfield to take the spotlight.

Without taking his eyes off of the crowd, Garfield thanked Walker for the introduction. He took one last scan of the room before addressing them. "We got word of Mr. Haynes's lightning a little over a week ago. Our scientists, myself included, have been experimenting with the discovery." I'll be damned, thought Thomas, She was right. The old woman was right. "Through our research," Garfield continued, "we have discovered a useful application for his lightning. Ladies and gentlemen of Dawn, I'd like to introduce you to the newest form of pain therapy." He turned his back to the crowd and began walking toward the exit. Before he reached the door, he bent down to pick something up. A black box. Just like Caleb's.

As Garfield turned back around, box in hand, he spoke again, "Many of you might recognize this box as Mr. Haynes's." He held the box over his head, turning it from side to side, ensuring that everyone got a glimpse of it. Approving nods spread throughout the crowd as everyone agreed that, indeed, it was Caleb's lightning box. Although everyone was too busy nodding, Thomas couldn't help but notice that something was different about the black box. The box that Garfield was holding up was smaller than the one that Caleb had showcased only a couple of weeks ago. It also looked cleaner, somehow, to him. They made their own black box, he realized. Caleb's box took over a year. They made their own in under two weeks. Not only had Mr. Garfield made his own box, but he apparently already improved on it. Thomas stood aghast, unsure if the crowd would shoot down his concerns like they did the old woman's.

Garfield brought the box back down and placed it on a table next to him. "Mr. Walker here has granted me permission to use him for the demonstration. Charles?" Garfield motioned for Walker to come toward him, the action resembling one an owner would make toward a disobedient pup. Walker clenched his jaw, grinning at Garfield. "Absolutely," he replied, not loosening the tension in his jaw in the slightest. He stepped forward, keeping his hands behind his back, eyeing the crowd stoically.

"And now," Garfield began, reaching down again to the box, "I'd like to show you all what exactly my team has done to Mr. Haynes's box. We made some slight adjustments to the metal rods that Caleb used to emit the elec... ah, the lightning..." He had caught himself from saying something. Thomas wondered what it was he was about to say, and why he hadn't finished. There was no doubt that something was odd about Mr. Garfield, but all of the visitors who came to Dawn were a little odd. Thomas waived it off, too curious about what was happening to say anything that would disrupt the spectacle.

Instead of the metal rods, we have employed the use of these smaller metal clips." Mr. Garfield again raised these above his head, although they were too small for most people to even see. "They will be clipped to these elastic pads, all of which allow the lightning to pass through them." He did not show these to the crowd, but most people could see what they were used for when he placed one on each of Walker's temples. As he was placing them, Walker stood still, a bead of sweat dripping down his face.

Mr. Garfield, content with his placement of these white circles, reached back to grab the metal clips. He placed each of the clips onto one of the white circles, connecting Walker's head to the black box. Once again, Mr. Garfield turned toward the crowd to address them. "Normally, I would attach the clips to the source of the pain, but Mr. Walker is currently devoid of any pain. Therefore, I have placed them on his temples for this demonstration.

"Mr. Walker will feel a slight tingling sensation in his head, and it will spread throughout his body." Judging by the expression on Walker's face, Thomas wondered how strong the so-called tingling sensation would actually be. A man whom Thomas didn't recognize leaned in, "I'll bet it kills him," he smirked, his eyes never leaving the action.

"Let's hope not," he whispered back, not really sure who he was trying to convince. A majority of the crowd seemed to have a similar mindset, eyes wide open, watching intently.

"Without further ado, the new and improved lightning box." He took one more minute to make sure everything was the way he wanted, leaving the crowd holding their breath. Finally, he moved over to the box and knelt down, disappearing from Thomas's view.

Not two seconds later, Walker's head jerked forward, his eyes pinching shut. He had to take a step forward to keep himself from collapsing, his extreme discomfort unnerving. He reached out to grab hold of something for stability, but found himself grasping at empty air. One woman toward the front had fainted, unable to handle the sight of Walker's uncharacteristic distress.

Almost as quickly as it began, Walker opened his eyes, exhaling deeply. A circle had cleared around the woman who fainted, giving her room to breathe. One man was on his knees attending to her while the surrounding onlookers were having a hard time deciding who to watch, the unconscious woman or the recovering test subject.

Walker brought his eyes from the ground to look out at the crowd as he ripped off the clips, not making eye contact with anyone in particular. He took a large gulp, the sweat now running down his face. "It looks a lot worse than it feels," he stated. Thomas heard a stifled laugh from across the room. "If  I had actually been in pain, this method would have helped alleviate the pain." At this point, Mr. Garfield came back into Thomas's view.

"Mr. Walker is correct. This will not rid the person of the pain, but it will stimulate the muscles, making the pain more... tolerable." Garfield stood there, content with the demonstration.

"I thank you all for showing an interest in Dawn's future, and for showing our gratitude to Mr. Garfield." Walker took a slight bow toward the crowd, concluding this man's visit. He grabbed Garfield's arm, leading him back through the double doors and out into the town. The room held a quiet that went straight to Thomas's bones, everyone too nervous to break the silence. The abrupt ending to the demonstration had left everyone somewhat confused.

"If you ask me," the same man from before began, "I'd rather endure whatever pain I'm going through." Thomas looked over at the woman who had fainted, now sitting up while someone else attended to her.

"Yeah, me too."

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Once the door to the town hall shut, Walker strengthened his grip on Garfield. "Pizza? What the f**k were you thinking?" Garfield looked back at him with a blank stare, unsure why this sudden outburst had just occurred.

"I was just saying that Chicago's pizza is damn good, not like they'll ever go there." Walker removed his grip on Garfield.

"Joe, they don't even know what the f**k pizza is!" he said, throwing his hands in the air in frustration.

"I..." Garfield hesitated, a moment of realization spreading across his face. "I'm sorry, Charles. It slipped."

"Yeah, it slipped," Walker replied. "I'm sure that excuse will be fine with John. He'll love that one. I didn't mean it, I swear." Walker shook his head, disgust etched across his face.

"I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

"Damn right it won't happen again," Walker said. "You're not coming back here again. We can't risk another slip like that." Garfield moved his gaze to the ground, an admission of defeat.

"Let's get you out of here. I'm sick of seeing your face." Walker grabbed his arm again, leading him back to his house. Garfield slumped his shoulders, following Walker without hesitation.

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From the front doors of the town hall, Thomas watched the encounter between the two. What made Walker blow up like that? Thomas, determined to find the answers to his questions, decided to follow them.