Fresh Air
Taking a deep breath, April moves through the door as if she’s stepping into a cold ocean. Even though she knows it’s perfectly safe outside, her body doesn’t quite believe what her brain is trying to tell it. She thinks she might actually have to reach down, pick up her feet, and place them one in front of the other over and over until she’s out in the world again.
Everywhere around her, people walk along sunlit sidewalks, talking, laughing, hugging, even crying. Trees wave in the gentle breeze. Rainbow-colored kites sail overhead. The scent of blossoming flowers reaches her and she tilts her head back, taking a long, unobstructed, divine breath. It’s all more beautiful than she remembered.
She walks faster now, heading towards a central plaza lined with cafes and wine bars. People are clustered around wrought-iron tables, drinking coffee and wine and chatting in tightly packed groups.
“April?” Her neighbor Nancy, who she hasn’t seen in two years, waves to her, and April heads over to Nancy’s table with a smile. After a brief moment of hesitation, they hug.
“So good to see you again,” April murmurs into Nancy’s hair, which smells like lemons.
“You too, dear. It’s been so long. And oh! I was so, so sorry to hear about Mitch.” Nancy glances down at the table as if she perhaps shouldn’t have brought that up.
The mention of his name causes a fist somewhere inside April to clench hard. “Thank you,” she says. “You and the kids are still doing OK, right?”
“Oh yes! They’re over there.” Nancy’s redheaded twins Becca and Bailey run around a playground, playing tag with a few children April doesn’t recognize.
Nancy introduces April to the other people at the table, friends of hers from work and church, and April joins them, pulling up a wrought-iron chair. She takes a slow, deep breath and then another one.
“Are you all right?” One of Nancy’s friends, a dark-haired fellow named Dan, watches her. He’s got dark, sad brown eyes that remind her a little of Mitch, and she wonders if Nancy is trying to fix her up before thinking No, don’t be silly, she’d never. Why would she?
“I’m fine! Sorry. It just feels so good out here. I want to drink it all in.”
“Heh. I’ll drink to that, and you should too,” Nancy says, pouring a glass of white wine and handing it to April. They all clink their glasses together. The wine is fruity, crisp, and cool going down her throat.
After the wine and some idle conversation about people and places April doesn’t know, she takes her leave of the group and heads towards the riverside walkway. The narrow pavement is crowded today, and April has to watch her step as she weaves between people walking dogs, pushing huge strollers, or walking slowly side by side.
People. So many people. Her heart speeds up every time someone passes close by, but then she takes another wonderful breath and reminds herself that she’s OK. They’re all OK.
Wooden benches line the walkway and April finds an open space on one of them. The river sparkles in the sun and the air blows over her, neither too warm nor too cold. She feels calm and completely at peace for the first time in years.
“This is something, isn’t it?” An elderly woman on her left speaks up. “Never thought I’d get to see a day like this again.”
“It’s glorious. All of it,” April says.
A shriek startles them and they glance over to see a child on the ground holding a skinned knee and wailing. Several people rush to the distraught little girl and bend over her, their heads close together as they fuss. They wipe her running nose and her bleeding knee and within a minute she’s back on her feet, running through the crowd and laughing.
The old woman shields her eyes against the sun and stares upward.
“I wonder how they… hmm. I suppose it doesn’t matter.”
April leans back against the bench and closes her eyes as gentle breezes waft over her. She focuses on the simple joy of breathing the clean, fresh air. She wants to bottle this feeling, to keep it forever and uncork it whenever she needs to feel calm and centered and safe.
She’s not sure how much time has passed when a beeping sound disrupts the peaceful scene, quietly at first and then more insistently. It sounds for all the world like an alarm clock. If this has all been a dream, April doesn’t want to wake up.
“It can’t be time already,” she says to everyone and no one. “Can it?” A few people near April pause and then burst into tears, and she has to fight the urge to do so herself as people turn and begin to walk away from the promenade. Her eyes sting.
And then a voice sounds in the air all around them. A male voice, polite but insistent.
“Ladies and gentlemen, your session has ended. Please head to the nearest exits, where we will collect your entrance bracelets and provide you with PPE. Thank you for your visit.”
What would happen if I just didn’t leave? April wonders. The thought makes something soar inside her. She’ll hide somewhere. If they want her out, they’ll have to find her first. She remains seated on the bench, scanning the area for anything that could conceal her. There’s a heavily-wooded area across the river that looks promising…
“April?” Nancy appears in front of her, her kind blue eyes shimmering. “It’s time, hon.”
“But why? Who says?” April swallows hard.
“We all signed the contract.”
April shakes her head. “That’s not fair. Air is for everyone. Why do they get to hoard all the safe stuff?”
“They’re still working on the technology to make it widespread.”
The dark metal bracelet placed on April’s wrist before she came into the plaza grows warmer and begins to vibrate. It isn’t an unpleasant feeling. Not yet. She works her fingers around it, but there’s no clasp, no way for her to yank it off.
“April?” Nancy’s pleading now. “Don’t make it harder. At least we got to have this much, right? Lots of people never will.”
April knows Nancy’s right. And there’s nothing she can do, anyhow. The bracelet’s getting hotter and the vibration is becoming a sharper jolt to her arm. She won’t be able to stand that much longer.
Her throat gets tight with tears as Nancy helps her to her feet, links an arm through hers, and leads her to the closest exit. And as they move away from the river, her bracelet cools off and stops thrumming. The trees that had concealed the doorway part, revealing a scrolling black and red marquee over the archway.
WE HOPE YOU ENJOYED YOUR VISIT TO THE SAFE-AIRE PRESERVE. STAY HEALTHY, AND SEE YOU NEXT TIME!
