Off The Grid Read online

  Gina saw Luke fixate on the cash crop.

  “That’s how I can pay for her medicine and machines. I’m not proud of it, but it’s not hurting anyone – in fact it’s actually helping Tilly.”

  “You don’t give her-“

  “No, you boob. I mean the profits help her. Walter Perkins sells it behind the market every weekend. Folks use it to ease the pain of their ailments. It’s a lot easier than getting prescription drugs.”

  She tossed him a pair of gloves and began thinning the carrots. Painfully familiar with the technique, he joined in.

  “I sent you those letters because I wanted you to meet your niece before it was too late. Like I said, I have no idea how long she will hang on and I at least wanted her to know her uncle.”

  “I’m sorry I got upset and I’m glad I came, but you know how I loathe this way of life and wish you’d come with me when I left and not just because of what happened that night. There was no reason for you to stay.”

  “This is our home. Our parents’ home. That was reason enough. Besides, you were the big shot college athlete, what were you planning on doing, hiding me in your dorm room?”

  “You would have fit nicely in my closet,” Luke said with a smile. “It was rather roomy.”

  “You needed to go. And besides, I had this house to take care of and now I have Tilly.”

  The two worked in silence for a while, clearing weeds from the gardens. His back ached after only a few minutes.

  “I haven’t done a lot of gardening lately,” he said.

  ***

  When the power first went out at Salk High School, Luke was in a 12th grade history class. The classroom he was in had no windows. The students were pitched into blackness. The teachers knew what had finally happened because it had been all over the news for the past six months. Their electricity provider, Intra Power had gone belly up and the federal government had failed to come to its aid. Residents didn’t have a choice to pay more for electricity – there was nobody to provide the distribution of power. When the lights went off, they didn’t come back on again.

  One of Luke’s teachers said it best. “We’ve been studying ancient history all year. Today we’re part of making history. Things aren’t going to be the same anymore.”

  The students were moved to the cafeteria filled with natural light and held until the school day ended. Traffic was heavy on the walk home. The roads were filled with moving vans and cars stuffed with family belongings. Several of Luke’s friends waved goodbye as they went past. Gina was then a full-time cashier at Creaseman’s Hardware. She met him on the walk halfway home.

  “I lost my job today,” she said. “Mr. Creaseman doesn’t think the store can survive. All his customers are leaving.”

  A town council meeting was held that night. The meeting was arranged in advance to be held on whatever night the lights finally went out. It wasn’t a surprise and plans had already been put into place to deal with the situation. There was no hope for the power being restored, they said, the poles and wires were already being removed to sell for scrap.

  Those who chose to stay in the town were asked to check in at the council chambers by the next day so an accurate head count could be established. The Mill Creek Sheriff’s office had planned ahead and was still in operation. All laws followed before the blackout were still in place. Theft or looting of any kind would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. It was an empty threat. Several deputies had fled the town days earlier and its capacity to enforce laws was weak at best.

  By the next day it was announced that 753 area residents, about one-fifth of the population, had decided to stay, at least for now.

  The next day Henry and Eleanor Kincaid were killed in the car accident. Gina and Luke were completely alone.

  Chapter 6

  The next day Tilly and Luke played a board game while Gina made a breakfast of pancakes on the propane stove. They were up early for the long walk down to the Sunday morning church service. Luke and Gina had stayed up past midnight catching up on just about everything they’d missed about each other’s lives over the past several years. Luke stuck to his cover story about his job-hopping, not explaining that he was doing StuTech’s dirty work to get in its good graces and find a way to gain influence at the company.

  She’d always wondered about his choice of careers. His motives for working at StuTech would not be lost on her, but it wasn’t a conversation Luke wanted to have. Not yet. So she didn’t ask him about StuTech and he didn’t offer. Besides, his new employment would make him flush with cash. Maybe he would have the means to move Gina and Tilly to a city on the grid – maybe even Seattle – or at least provide his niece with the medical care she needed.

  Tilly’s father wasn’t in the picture. He and Gina had dated for just a few months when they found out she was pregnant. Once she told him, he split. She had been on her own ever since. Gina said friends stopped by when they could to visit and keep her spirits up. The bonds were strong between those who remained behind in the town. Book clubs and sewing circles were formed and no one missed church on Sundays.

  A national television news show had once profiled the town and interviewed several of Gina’s close friends. The show chronicled the plight of the towns severed from the power grid. Mill Creek wasn’t alone. Across the country hundreds of cities and towns were in the same situation. Several were just abandoned all together. The trend was on the rise globally too as clean-energy groups persuaded governments to stop burning coal. Wireless hadn’t yet been introduced on the international stage, so the current concern was the simple lack of electrical generation. Third world leaders were lobbying StuTech to come to their country first.

  The global implications of the power grid were all but lost on Mill Creek. No Internet, phone or television reception meant word just didn’t make it to them. A few enterprising individuals had satellite radio and TV service and would sell tickets to watch shows or listen to live music. The entertainment was a welcome distraction. Tilly particularly liked listening to dance music on their radio when the batteries were charged. She wasn’t able to move to the music more than just tapping her toes to the beat, otherwise her coughing would overcome her.

  They left for the long walk early because she liked to sit in the front row at the Christian Community Church. Parishioners played music at the beginning and the end of each service. The guitar and piano combination was the only live music regularly played in the town.

  The church had a large glass window on one side that filled the sanctuary with light. The other side was boarded up. A tree had smashed through the glass years ago and they didn’t have the money to repair it. Plywood was ugly, but it did the job.

  They reached the church just minutes before the service was about to begin, but there were two places held up front for Tilly and her mother. There was a slight commotion when some of the churchgoers noticed that the third member of their party was Luke Kincaid, who hadn’t been seen since his high school graduation a decade ago. Someone gave up their seat in the front so they could sit together.

  The pastor gave a rather uninspired sermon on community giving and helping those in need. Luke did his best to focus on the meaning behind what the man was saying, but he was a bit out of practice when it came to pretending to pay attention in church. He scanned the audience, who sat in respectful silence. It was clear that people were attending the service out of a need for human contact and engagement, not any spiritual awakening. He recognized some of the older people, who looked very much older than he remembered.

  When the service and music concluded everyone filed out onto the dry church lawn for their weekly round of gossip. Tilly went off with some friends. Luke stuck to Gina’s side, but was quickly swept up in the goings on around town. A family of outsiders had moved all of their belongings into an abandoned home and planned to take up residence there. The school was under threat from the state education board for their lack of computer access. The medical center was low
on supplies.

  There were also rumors that a new cluster of wireless transmission towers was being sited for the town. This was always a popular rumor because it gave hope to many that maybe someday the town could be normal again – back on the grid. Luke knew better. Towers could only be linked together a certain number of times – a few hundred miles at best. As the electricity is transmitted farther away from its origin, it loses strength. Mill Creek wasn’t close enough to power plants to ever get electricity wirelessly. But the rumors persisted because it was a small town and that’s just how it goes.

  Luke was relieved when the small group they were standing with switched back to discussing the medical center’s supply shortage. He really didn’t want to answer questions on behalf of StuTech, his “previous” employer. He stepped away, thankful that he’d not been asked to contribute anything to the conversation. He didn’t want to dash their hopes. It just wasn’t possible to reach the town wirelessly and with no local utilities providing wired service due to the insanely expensive cost, it was really a lost cause.

  “Luke,” a deep male voice called out his name from across the church grounds. He turned to see Walter Perkins, striding over.

  Walter and Luke had been in the same class from kindergarten through high school and through proximity over taste, had maintained a touch and go friendship the entire time. When the town went dark, Walter and his family packed up and left. Just a few months later, Walter alone returned to town and moved back into his parents’ farm. Rumor was that he had run into some kind of trouble and was hiding from the law. Given his current position as Gina’s weed distributor, the rumor was probably true, Luke thought.

  “Hey college boy. How you been?”

  “Good, Walter. How about yourself?”

  “Can’t complain. Got a nice little side project that pays the bills around here. Bet you know about that one. Anyone need something. They know where to go.”

  “Yeah, I heard about that.”

  “You need something, man?” Walter said, looking around the area for no apparent reason.

  “No, I’m good, but thanks for asking.”

  “It’s all good,” Walter said. “We’re like family, you know.”

  Walter Perkins was not what Luke considered family.

  “I followed your exploits at UCLA,” Walter said. “You weren’t a chump like in school. You were the man.”

  “It was Stanford. I had a good run, but that’s mostly behind me now. I haven’t been on a soccer field in a while. Not sure if I could even keep up.”

  “Yeah, guess not. You know, your sister won’t shut up about you. Showed me newspaper clippings of your games and stuff. And when you got hired up at that jacked-up wireless place in Seattle. What’s that all about anyway? Can’t say I’m a fan. Know what I mean?” he motioned around to the boarded up storefronts. “Bad for the local economy. Bad for my business. Thought you’d be the last guy to sign up with those fools.”

  “The devil you know is better than the devil you don’t,” Luke said, knowing Walter wouldn’t understand his reasoning even if he spelled it out for him.

  “Don’t be spouting all that college-boy stuff on me. Tell me, any chance we’ll be graced by your company’s presence any time soon?”

  And there it was. Luke recited his rehearsed answer and said he didn’t work for the company anymore, but explained the limitations of the technology. Walter soaked it all in without a word until he’d finished his pitch.

  “I know why we don’t get power, but I want to know what’s being done about it. It’s hard for me to imagine with all those big brains up there, that nobody has it figured out yet.”

  Hundreds of power companies had operated for a century before they were forced out of business because of carbon emission legislation. Even today there was yet more legislation forming that would give StuTech greater powers to regulate the wireless market. StuTech wanted assurances that the radio frequency it used wasn’t going to be given to up-start competitors. Legislation seemed to drive all meaningful, even harmful change.

  “I know they’re working on it,” Luke said. “Trust me, I’ll be the first in line to get this place back up and running if its possible.”

  “You do that.”

  About that time Tilly grabbed his arm and pulled him to safety – the swing set. He said goodbye. Walter nodded, looked to the right, the left and behind him and then walked off without a word. Luke followed his niece and was quickly put in charge of pushing her on the swing. Her blonde hair fluttered in his face when she swooped back toward him for the next push. He made a concerted effort to keep the pushes low and short, hoping she wouldn’t get too excited and have another coughing attack. He really didn’t know what to do around kids.

  “Mommy talks about you a lot,” Tilly said after a few moments of silence.

  “She does? What does she say about me?”

  “Well, she mostly talks about me and her, because we’re the only ones that live here, but she says that you used to live here too and that you are the best family we have, even if we don’t ever see you. How come you never came to see us before?”

  Luke wasn’t a child psychologist, but he was pretty sure that telling his niece that he didn’t know she even existed before yesterday probably wasn’t the right blocks to be building a relationship on.

  “I live pretty far from here and just haven’t had the chance to come by. I hope that I can see you both a lot more in the future. Maybe you can come visit me.”

  “Is it far to walk? Because I don’t like it when we have to get rides from people we don’t know. They aren’t very nice all the time.”

  “Maybe we could arrange a ride for you that didn’t involve hitchhiking. Would that be OK?”

  “I think that would be a lot better.”

  “Tilly, do you like living in Mill Creek? I mean, you’ve visited other places to see the doctor, did you notice any differences?”

  “It’s loud pretty much everywhere else. Here it’s quiet and I like that. And you can walk in the middle of the street most of the time. In Sacramento we had to be really careful walking around because it was so loud and there were so many people. Mommy didn’t like it either. We like the quiet.”

  “What about your doctor. Did you feel any better after seeing him?”

  “I sort of did. He gave me medicine and I think that’s good.”

  “I worry that since you’re so far away from your doctor that you’ll-“

  Luke stopped, realizing what he was about to say. He’d never really had a conversation with a seven-year-old before.

  “I just hope you get better,” he managed to get out.

  “Me too. Can you push me higher?”

  “You bet.”

  ***

  The family had an early dinner and the sun was just starting to set when it was time for Luke to go back to his faux job at Millennium Optics. He packed up his things, including as many fresh vegetables as he could possibly fit in his backpack - Gina’s orders. The ones at the stores have too many chemicals and pesticides in them, Gina said, stuffing more into the pack. He gladly took them. Brother and sister walked out to the motorcycle in the front drive.

  “You should have told me about Tilly,” Luke said. “If I would have known she was here, maybe I would have come back earlier.”

  “And maybe you would have resented us for being beckoned back to this place out of guilt.”

  She was right Luke thought, but said nothing.

  “I won’t stay away as long this time. I promise.”

  “I hope not, if for no other reason than to weed the garden. You’re quite a bit faster than Tilly even if you’re out of practice.”

  “Glad I could help out.”

  She gave him a hug and he mounted the motorcycle.

  “I can’t really talk about it much, but I’ve got a few projects happening at work that will mean some more money. Maybe I can help you guys out a bit.”

  “We’ll be OK, we-“
>
  Tilly began coughing hard on the porch. “I’d better get her medicine ready. See you soon brother.”

  She turned and walked briskly back to the house, her attention turned completely to her daughter, blocking out the rest of the world. Tilly waved as the two went inside.

  As he pulled away he couldn’t get out of this thoughts what he’d said to Walter, “I’ll be the first in line to get this place back up and running.” He still hadn’t figured out how that was going to happen.

  Chapter 7

  Portland, Oregon

  Present Day

  Kathryn Tate, MassEnergy’s striking Director of Research and Development set down her briefcase on the desk at the front of the classroom. She was wearing a black pencil skirt and a white blouse that was tailored for her toned figure. An attorney in her mid-30s, she gave off an air of professionalism mixed with sex appeal that couldn’t be ignored. She’d used her looks to climb the ladder at several tech companies throughout her career, but it wasn’t her sexual allure that had landed her the job at MassEnergy two years earlier. She got the job because she was a shark.

  In her professional circle she was a killer, brought in to clean house and move on. Most recently she had brought a software company from the brink of collapse to a wildly successful initial public offering by advising the client to fire everyone on staff and starting fresh with her at the helm. She found the people that fit what she needed and discarded the rest. She captured the vision and direction an organization wanted and made it happen at all costs. Her methods were not popular among her subordinates or co-workers, but she never hung around long enough to have it matter much. The hired gun wasn’t in it for the retirement pension. She was in it for the thrill of the kill. This shark didn’t always bare her teeth, but she could smell blood in the water.