21- Xerondar

Xerondar filled the glass with ice cubes before pouring the Dr. Pepper into it. Over the past few years, he’d become accustomed to drinking his carbonated beverages American-style, with lots of ice. The ice cut down on the sting of the carbonation and kept it cold. Glancing at his watch, he tucked his laptop computer under one arm, held his sandwich between his teeth, and carried his drink outside.

The house he’d bought had a covered front porch large enough for a comfortable wicker arm-chair and a small end table. He plugged his laptop’s AC adapter into the electrical outlet behind his chair to save the battery and settled into the chair. He glanced at his watch. 7:22. He had about forty minutes of free time. He opened up the laptop and turned it on, taking a bite of his sandwich while he waited for it to load his operating system.

Xerondar smiled. The miracle of refrigeration had transformed the way he ate. In his hand he held two slices of bread, a thin layer of mayonnaise, a little squirt of ketchup, and a thick slice of cold leftover meatloaf from his cooking experiment the night before. He’d been teaching himself how to cook the kinds of meals that were common to households in this region of the world. If, after he had Nira with him, she might one day have a sudden craving for meatloaf, he was now fully prepared to make it for her. He took a sip of his drink and opened his internet browser.

First the world news. A bombing in Israel. A shooting in Colombia. These weren’t the kinds of things he really wanted to think about this early in the morning. He sighed. Why was it that bad things were always reported in the news, but good things always seemed to go unrecognized?

Xerondar pulled up a search engine. He typed a name into the search box, then hesitated. This was something he had been thinking about for over a month now. He knew that if he ran a search of this name, there was no going back. He would be found. But he was tired of being alone here, and there weren’t many people he could trust.

He knew he couldn’t get involved with Aterat’s people or Shepetheleh’s people. They would be easy to find, but Nira wanted nothing to do with either of them, and he agreed with that decision. Let them sort things out on their own.

Then of course there were several independents who were neutral, like he and Nira were. But most of them were simply out of the question. Nadina was tied to that sociopath M’boku, so he didn’t want anything to do with her. Finbar had too many of his own problems. Alexei . . . well, no one really knew much about him, but from what Xerondar did know, that guy was pretty badly screwed up. So that left only one person that Xerondar could think of.

He sighed. What was he so afraid of? It was no big deal. He pressed the Enter key and slumped back into his chair. A list of search results populated on his screen. Nothing that concerned him. A few pictures of people he didn’t know. The lyrics to a song. A link to some kid’s school project. Of course he never expected to get any actual results from the search. The point was the search itself.

He set the laptop down on the table beside him and took another bite of his sandwich. What had he done? Had he just endangered them both? No. He wouldn’t think about that now.

He glanced at his watch. Any minute now. He turned toward the street corner, waiting.

Every weekday, after her other two children left for school, the carrier would get dressed, bundle Nira into her stroller, and go for a brisk walk. She was obviously trying to walk off those extra pounds she’d gained during pregnancy.

Since the carrier had started her new exercise routine, Xerondar had started a new morning routine of his own. Every weekday morning around this time, he could be found sitting in this chair on his front porch, harmlessly eating his breakfast and either reading a book or doing something on his laptop. He made sure to always wear something that made him seem completely non-threatening. Today it was a pullover sweatshirt, some flannel pajama pants, and a pair of fuzzy house-slippers. He had also pulled his dark, curly hair back into a tight ponytail and given himself a good, clean shave. He didn’t want to appear scruffy or wild. Just friendly.

Ah, there she was. He saw the stroller rounding the corner, the carrier power-walking behind it. Xerondar took a sip of his drink to wet his throat and pulled the computer back into his lap. Sometimes it was difficult to keep himself from rushing down to the side of the road to greet her.

He waited until she was in front of his own house, then he smiled and waved. "Good morning!" he called out.

"Morning!" the carrier replied with a smile and a nod. The greeting made her slow down a little.

"I could swear that baby of yours gets a little bigger every day!" he commented. The remark about Nira made the carrier look a little nervous, so he flashed a big smile to set her at ease. She smiled back and continued on her walk.

Once they were out of sight, he relaxed back into his chair. It was over. The carrier’s route went in a loop around the neighborhood and ended back at her house without doubling back. She wouldn’t pass by him again. Not until tomorrow. He took another bite of his sandwich. Nira had looked healthy.

He heard a soft ping sound from his computer and looked down. An instant message popped up in the corner of the screen.

Hello, Xerondar. Long time, no see.
Xerondar’s heart skipped a beat. That was a lot faster than he had expected.

That’s a nice house you’ve got there. How’s Texas?