June 20, 2004 |31|

Ursula lowered the 5 x 5 mm microchip delicately into the modified staple gun, alone in the Johansons' basement. Half of the space was furnished with a couch, a TV, and carpeting while the other was a workshop Gerald used less and less in his advancing age. Ursula sat in the latter, surrounded by her expansive collection of spare electronic parts.

For the past two years, Ursula had played her role faithfully. She was well behaved at home and in public, delighted by her dollies, and even afraid of the monsters in her closet. In short, she'd made herself an ideal foster child and the answer to the Johansons' prayers.

Coming from a time when children of Ursula's age worked the farm and/or cared for younger siblings if they had them, the Johansons offered her a fair amount of independence. After finishing her chores and Bible study, she had hours of free time each day, most of which was spent in the basement.

Presently, she heard the basement door open and then feet stepping down the stairs so she slipped the Hawking Blocker into the drawer of the work table and slid a partially assembled VCR in front of herself.

"You down there, Madison?" Gerald asked.

"Yes, sir," Ursula answered as she secured the video head drum.

Gerald appeared at the bottom of stairs gripping the railing painfully. "Still working on that VCR, huh?"

"I am," Ursula said. "Last time I put it back together it didn't work, but I think I know what I did wrong."

"Well, you keep at it," he said as he made his way to the couch. "You mind if I watch my show? Mildred and her hens are up there cluckin' away."

"Not at all," Ursula said cheerfully. Mrs Johanson hosted a bridge game Sunday evenings and Gerald escaping to the basement was to be expected. He smiled, took a seat on the couch, then turned on the television. Over his shoulder, Ursula could see Tobey Maguire swing between skyscrapers in an ad for Spiderman 2. She silently retrieved the Blocker from the drawer as the commercial ended. The sound of a stopwatch ticking signaled the opening of 60 Minutes and then a familiar voice:

"...Because the generation in power wishes only to keep their power..."

Ursula looked up and said, under her breath, "Get the fuck out..."

"What's that, Madison?" Gerald asked without looking back.

"Oh nothing, just some muck on my screwdriver I have to clean off."

"Oh yeah, you gotta keep your instruments clean."

Standing at a podium and clad in a black cap and gown with cardinal valedictorian stoles draped over his shoulders, the speaker continued, "...The gravity of the coming decades is undeniable. And so my plea to the graduating class of 2004 is this: we simply cannot wait our turn. We must take action now. We must realize our power now. For the sake of our generation. For the sake of the next generation. And for the sake of every generation, the responsibility falls to us and we must rise to the occasion!"

An explosion of applause and cheering by the graduating class and other attendees could be heard before Ed Bradley's voice began to narrate: "If you've spent any time on the internet the past few weeks, chances are you've come across this clip from USC's graduation ceremony." The program cut to a wide of Bradley, sitting in a chair with a still image from the ceremony superimposed over his shoulder. "And if the speaker in this so-called viral video looks and sounds familiar, it might be because we at 60 Minutes interviewed the young man a decade ago." The still dissolved to one from the aforementioned interview, the speaker smiling and baby-faced.

"His name is James Quinn and he caught our attention back in 1993 after he, at the age of sixteen, licensed several patents for gas/electric hybrid vehicles to each of the major auto manufacturers." The program cut to footage of a younger James guiding a younger Bradley through a mechanical engineering lab on the Berkeley campus. "His innovations took the scientific community by surprise and are responsible, in large part, for the robust electric car market of today. We won't be interviewing James, this time around. He is, in fact, touring Europe this month as part of a UN climate action initiative..."

Ursula rolled her eyes. The Jimmy Quinn Charm Offensive was starting already. There was usually a spectacle similar to the graduation speech followed by some kind of global outreach. The second 60 Minutes profile was new, however.

"...But after researching James and speaking with those who know him, we came to find there was more to this story than the man, himself. We came to find a story that upended our expectations and bordered... on the miraculous."

The program cut to a montage of still images and home videos illustrating Bradley's narration. "When we left James, he appeared destined to be the next titan of technology; a Thomas Edison for the 21st century. And while he had his pick of the most prestigious Universities in the world, he spurned them all... for a girl."

The program cut to another familiar face, sitting for an interview with Bradley, in the present. "I was a fifteen year old science geek..."

The mother... The sight of her face and the sound of her voice made Ursula's skin crawl. She put down the Blocker so she could focus on whatever bullshit this woman was about to spew.

"...I'd read about his regenerative braking innovation and wrote to tell him how inspiring his work was. He wrote back and... it was like we'd known each other for centuries."

"Her name is Martha Beckett," Bradley's voice explained over more b-roll. "And their correspondence inspired James to move to Pasadena, California from his native Illinois upon graduating high school, all to be closer to her. After Martha graduated as valedictorian of her own school a year later, she too declined the copious offers from prestigious Universities. Having turned their backs on higher learning, Martha and James set off on the road."

"We were just so crazy about each other," Martha said, smiling in interview. "We knew college would be there later, if we wanted. And at that time, our only focus was being together and exploring the world."

"But then I came along," a child's voice said, off camera. "And ruined everything." The program cut to a wider angle, showing a giggling seven-year-old Serafina sitting next to Martha as she chuckled at her adorable daughter's joke.

It's them! Ursula's spine stiffened and jaw clenched. The Quinns were pulling out all the stops. A full frontal assault...

"And who might you be?" a smiling Bradley asked.

"My name is Serafina Quinn and I am my mommy and daddy's daughter- oops," they stopped, then smiled bashfully. "That sounded silly. Should I try to say that again?"

"No, no," Bradley assured, smiling at Serafina's delightfully awkward schtick. "You did just great."

Bullshit. Bullshit. Bullshit...

"Sera didn't ruin anything," Martha said. "But yes, everything did change. So James and I had to pivot."

"And pivot they did," Bradley narrated over b-roll. "Buying a plot of land next to the Mendocino National Forest in Northern California where they would build their own version of Eden."

"It was going to be the three of us, alone within the natural world, living each day to its fullest," Martha said. "Sounds a little self-absorbed in hindsight. But we were so in love with each other and with Sera that we wanted to make the most out of this life together."

"I don't remember any of it," Serafina said. "Because I was too little."

"Thankfully," Martha added.

"Thankfully because of my mommy's accident."

"Yes, the accident," Bradley said. "Would you mind telling me about that?"

"Ooh, can I?" Serafina asked.

"But I thought you were too little to remember," Bradley countered, amused with the child.

"Well, yeah, but I've heard the story a bunch of times, so I can tell it. Please, Mommy. Can I tell it?"

"Sure, why not?" Martha said

"Yes!" Serafina said, dramatically jumping to their feet to act out the story. "We were all outside and I was flying a kite with my daddy. And then he let me hold it but it slipped out of my tiny fingers and flew into a giant tree!"

Ursula closed her eyes to choke back memories of Serafina's playfulness – dressing as a witch and scaring trick-or-treaters... hooting like an orangutan as they picked 'bugs' from her hair... reciting King Lear as Kermit the Frog... She pinched her eyes tighter and focused on the terror and betrayal she felt when she first woke up. My father standing over me impossibly... The rage returned and her eyes reopened.

Serafina continued, "And then I cried and cried and cried but Mommy said I'll save the day! And then she climbed up the tree like a superhero just to get my kite. But... one of the branches BROKE and she fell all the way to the ground, right onto a spike!"

"It was part of a fence surrounding our vegetable garden," Martha clarified.

"Mmm-hmm. And it went right through her. POW! Show 'em, Mommy. Show 'em."

"Oh, I don't think so, sweetie," Martha said nervously.

"Come on. It's just your tummy," Serafina pleaded. Then they turned to Bradley. "My mommy tells me not to be ashamed of myself or my body..."

Martha sighed. "Fine." She stood up and lifted her shirt to reveal the scar.

The program cut to a tighter shot of Martha's exposed midsection and the unmistakable, pink scar. Serafina entered the frame, pointing at it dramatically. "X marks the spot! There was blood and vegetables everywhere, but then my daddy sewed her back up and saved my mommy's life."

"I'm lucky to be alive," Martha said as she lowered her shirt.

"It wasn't luck, Mommy. Daddy saved you."

The program cut to stills of Martha recovering in the hospital. "It's quite a story," Bradley narrated. "A tall tale perhaps, filled with embellishments from a child's imagination. And so, to discern truth from myth, we decided to get... a second opinion."

The program cut to a man seated behind a desk in what appeared to be a doctor's office. "My name is Emilio Suarez. I am a trauma surgeon at John Muir Medical Center in San Francisco. But in 1998, I was finishing up my residency at the Adventist Memorial in Willits and on duty the night Miss Beckett was brought in."

The program cut to slightly defocused stock video of a hospital exterior with subtitles as audio played.

OPERATOR: 911. What's your emergency?

QUINN: I need an ambulance... my wife... significant injury to her abdomen... and loss of blood.

OPERATOR: What is your address, sir?

QUINN: [UNINTELLIGIBLE]

OPERATOR: Sir?

QUINN: [UNINTELLIGIBLE] 14 Eel River Ranch Road.

OPERATOR: Up past the Hill Road Bridge?

QUINN: Yes, at the end, just off Mill Creek

OPERATOR: We'll send an ambulance your way.

QUINN: Yes, thank you. Please hurry.

"When the ambulance radioed in," Dr Suarez said, back in interview. "It sounded like a lost cause. Because of our proximity to Mendicino, we get a lot of hikers and mountain bikers or what have you. They'll come in with lacerations or broken bones... Nothing too complicated, but because they're so hard to get to, time is often our greatest enemy. Small injuries can prove fatal.

"So when I heard the patient had been impaled through the abdomen and that the object had been removed... Well, we prepped the OR just in case, but I assumed the patient would be DOA. If not from blood loss than certainly from sepsis.

"But Miss Beckett arrived alive and when we got her on the table, I couldn't believe what I saw..."

The program cut to a three dimensional graphic of a human body with its organs visible beneath transparent skin. Bradley narrated, "The injuries were consistent with the Quinns' account." A rod appeared and pierced the body through the lower back and out the stomach. The graphic zoomed in to show the critical points of damage. "The fence post missed Martha's spine, fortunately, but still managed to puncture her kidney, spleen and splenic artery."

"All three critical injuries had been sutured," Dr Suarez stated, in interview. "And when I say 'sutured,' I don't mean someone DIY'd a couple of stitches, hoping to stop the bleeding. They were tight. They were even. I'm not sure I could have done any better. If I were teaching a class on suturing, I'd use them as an example of perfection. On top of that, there was no sign of infection, nor would there ever be while we observed Miss Beckett during her recovery." 

The program cut away to photos from the scene – rolled out white butcher paper, its middle saturated with Martha's blood, lay next to the garden – as Dr Suarez continued to speak. "And that night has never left me because... You must understand. I've devoted over half my life to science and medicine – to understanding the limits of the human body and brain. What Mr Quinn accomplished is technically possible." The program cut back to Dr Suarez. "But I don't think I'd have believed it had I not been there at the hospital to witness it myself. I am a man who abhors pseudo-science and hyperbole, but this was... The only word to describe it is: a miracle."

"Well, I'll be!" Gerald commented. "Did you hear that, Madison? What'd you think of all this hooey?"

"It reminds me of a Bible verse I read just the other day: 'For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.'"

"Well done, Madison. Boy, that mind of yours is something else. And it sure does sound like they're making him out to be just like our Lord." Gerald yawned. Sounds due for a nap. "But they'll feel His wrath in the end. They all will..."

The program returned to Martha's interview. "At that point, James only had a high school diploma. But he knew we would be living in the wilderness, virtually cut off from civilization, so he studied first-aid and field medicine before we moved to Mendicino. And from my experience, when James Quinn sets out to learn a skill, he has a habit of mastering it. But..." She shook her head and shrugged. "I'm sorry. I know that still doesn't really explain what happened or how he was able to do what he did."

"I know how," Serafina said.

"Oh?" Bradley said. "How do you think he did it?"

"My daddy loved my mommy so much that it gave him superpowers."

Ursula scoffed. She couldn't believe it. The Quinns were actually leaning into the messiah angle. The squeaky clean idealists are finally getting their hands dirty, pushing good old fashioned superstition!

But she knew a significant number of people would eat it up. And having Martha, Serafina, the doctor, and 60 Minutes crown him instead of James doing it himself would give him plausible deniability with the non-believers. It's fucking brilliant actually. She would have to adjust her plan. No biggie. Might even be able to use it...

The public nature of the Quinns' campaign was to Ursula's advantage, in fact. Their behavior was easy to track, while she could remain anonymous, working in the shadows.

Speaking of which! She picked up the Blocker and looked back at the couch and TV. Bradley was wrapping up the segment, but Ursula had heard enough. "Gerald?" she tested. He didn't respond, but snored softly. Blocker in her left hand, she used her right to find her C1 vertebrae on the back of her neck. She pressed the staple gun head just above and squeezed to inject the microchip. The gun fired with a clang and she felt the pinch. She set the Blocker down and applied a bandaid to the puncture. Now the hard part...

She grabbed a wooden spoon and gripped it with her molars, then took a homemade taser from the drawer. It didn't have enough voltage to electrocute her – but it will knock me on my ass.

Taser in hand, she sat on the ground against the wall. She held the taser to the side of her neck, took a breath, and pulled the trigger. 

Then Ursula's timeline was dark once again.

Author's note:

I hope the formatting isn't too weird. Wattpad doesn't do indents which is how I would have differentiated the room from the tv.

I'm not trying to save the world with this book (though the world needs saving), but recent events  (elections) are on my mind as I write. I don't know how ethical it is for the Quinns to intentionally manipulate the masses. But when one side is willing to do so while the other is not, the former has a distinct advantage.

Thank you so much for reading!!