An engineer was working on a project to create a man-made floating island. He had been part of this project from its inception, and during its long development, he had risen in influence becoming one of the lead engineers on the project. During all this time, he had met his beautiful wife and had become the father of a wonderful child named Tommy. He loved his family very much, but his identity was in this project. He would see it through, unlike those before him. After a decade and a half of sweating every detail, building working models, and constructing the base of the island, the time had come to set sail on the floating city, the largest man-made vehicle in history. He was one of the first people to move onto the island, in the developed area near the center. He would visit home from time to time, but overall he trusted his wife with the task of raising his son. He thought about backing out, but in his mind it was too late. He only hoped he could keep his family together.
He could not. He came home to divorce papers. He could hardly blame her for leaving but was nevertheless angry over how she so clearly desired to hurt him. She took much of his wealth and was never seen again. This left the engineer with a dilemma: he was more invested than ever in the project, but he had a son to raise. His colleagues encouraged him to take a smaller role on the team and move off the island, but he could not do it. He would be on the island when it was finished. Tommy, his son, would join him on the island. Anyway, he'd be done with his part in the relatively near future, so there was no reason in his mind to give up his position. This did Tommy no favors. He had gotten to that age where he'd started to make distinct friends, his first network, and he was torn away from that. The people on the island were sympathetic to his predicament, but there was little they could do to help. They were adult engineers. Tommy had little interest in their activities. They also did their best to keep him safe.
In the center of the island, there was a valve used to regulate water flow through the center of the island. There was a pool in the center, which was the recreational hub of the entire island. It also served another purpose. To reduce turbulence during storms among other things, water could be allowed to fill a central pool. Because they were not using it recreationally, and they were not in turbulent waters (they remained somewhat close to land for the construction), the pool remained empty, making it a simple matter to walk up to this valve. When the island was to be finished, the valve would be operated by a computerized system, but at this point it was operated by a large, red lever to be operated only by professionals.
The adults told Tommy the same thing over and over: “Don't touch that lever. Don't touch the lever, or you could sink the island. Don't even think about touching that red lever.” They would tell him in the middle of recreation or fun. He felt like the grown-ups cared a lot more about the island than about him. He grew disinterested in their company and resentful of his father. Instead of humoring them, he became an imaginative boy and lived in his own thoughts most of the time. His father sensed his son's resentment toward him, and it broke his heart. He thought quite a lot about leaving the island, but it seemed too late now. He was here to stay. That being said, outside of leaving, he would do anything to please his kid.
Everything changed when Tommy came home one day. He ran into their suburban home and shouted, “Daddy! I met a friend today! I met a friend, and his name is Nate.” His father asked if he could meet this Nate. “He's in the garage,” his son said nonchalantly.
To the engineer's great surprise, in his garage was a wild-looking dog. It was a mutt so thoroughly interbred, one could not decipher the breeds at play. It moved its head erratically. It was lean about the belly. It had no tags or labels. Tommy must have named it. It looked like a street dog. The engineer was taken aback by this because there were no animals allowed on the island. “How the heck did you get here?” he said to Nate. Nate foamed at the mouth a little. The dog appeared sickly. A contagious illness could do very bad things on an isolated ship. He knew he ought to shoot the dog before it was too late. But that was impossible. His son had taken such an instant liking to it. It already had a name. He couldn't remember ever seeing Tommy this happy. He could hardly remember ever seeing Tommy happy at all. A supply ship would be there in five days. They could take Nate back to land. He told Tommy he had five days with Nate before he had to go away. He also told Tommy that the dog must stay in the garage and not be touched and that Tommy was to wash his hands if he were to break the second rule.
Nate's puzzling appearance lit up Tommy's well-trained imagination. He figured that the only way Nate could have come to this water-borne limbo was by flying through the air like Superman. Nate must have known that he needed a friend and flown through the sky to lift his spirits. Nate coughed up foam. Tommy was very grateful. Nate the Wonder Dog. He was the smartest dog in the whole world. He could fly from place to place. His barks could tear through walls. He helped kids and stopped criminals. He was immune to both bullets and loneliness. Nate rolled over. Tommy relayed this fantasy to his father over and over again. It was killing his father inside. The dog appeared more and more sickly. He wouldn't kill it now. It was too late. Throughout his life, the engineer had always felt he was too late. He regretted never having done what he had to.
The night before the beast was to go away, the engineer awoke to noise coming from the garage. He leaped out of bed. Tommy was in the garage. His son explained that an enclosed area like a garage was no place for a flying dog. They were to go exploring together before they were forced apart. But the moment he had a path, Nate bolted from the garage, running mad. He bolted at an ungodly speed toward the dried-up pool. Toward the red water-control lever. The engineer knew what he had to do. He ran upstairs and grabbed the shotgun. Tommy followed. “What are you doing? That's my friend!” he screamed.
“He's going for the valve. He could sink the island.” The engineer set his sights on the dog, approaching the red switch with no sign of diverting or slowing down.
“He's not gonna hit the lever, Dad!” Tommy was in a total panic.
“I have to be sure. I thought you said he was bulletproof.”
“I don't know!”
He'd said the wrong thing. He'd have to live with that. At this moment there was one thing left to do. One thing he had to do before it was too late. The dog was only about ten feet away now. The engineer took in a fluttery breath and squeezed the trigger. He whispered to himself,
“Better Nate than lever.”
No comments:
Post a Comment