The red-and black jacket found its proper place from the rack, and Thomas stuffed within the hanging sleeve. With careful nudges he tried to straighten up the red-black flannel-shirt revealed underneath. The stride across the room was a long one with all of the faces turning to check on him, though he was headed towards friendly eyes. Well, friendlier eyes.<br/>That Beth over there was sure a sunshine to the smoldering ruins, so to say. Always energetic and always happy. Her smile was a catching one, and it sure did make Thomas’ smile just a tad wider. Thanks to the Lord that some people never changed. Beth, as long as Thomas could remember, was always like that. Jumpy, energetic, positive, a general ray of light where everybody else were grumpy and sour. Sometimes to the point where her positivism caused some negativity in other people, who just wanted to sulk in peace.<br/><br/>Sitting next to Beth, there was Tatum. The one who got away and ran to the big city to chase her big dreams. The smart enough to leave the saw-dust of this place and find the civilization out there, and probably got far. Perhaps all the way to Edmonton, or Quebec - to the big cities, where the future was to be bright and full of Canada’s wealth and class.<br/>Thomas had his dreams, too, but somehow he just got drifted into playing hockey, drinking with the boys, not learning french, and doing mediocre where you were supposed to shine. And he drifted into a profession which was supposed to give a man enough work for life. An electrician, as the amount of electricity in our lives was an ever-growing resource, was a profession which would never run out of work. What a laugh!<br/>She had her chestnut-hair on a cute bun. It was just a quick note that Thomas took. They never hanged around in the same circles as teens, though the circles here were so small that in a bigger place they could say that they hanged in the same circles.<br/><br/>The long walk of shame, so to say, through the circle was finally over and Thomas sat next to her. It felt like landing on a safe port after a storm. “Hi.”, he whispered as not to break the muffled susurration. He didn’t quite have the time to settle in before Beth’s blonde head looped to question him from Wullie.<br/>“Uh.”, was the best answer he could give her right away. Most of his thinking capacity rolled around Tatum’s chestnut bun, for some reason, and back in the “good old days” when they had power for video games, television and radio in general.<br/>He reeled his chin up before he’d blurt out anything. Not that it was a big secret what Wullie was doing out there, but he didn’t like from Carol’s eagle-eyes that had snapped on his temple like two beam weapons. She also had her arms crossed. That was never a good sign.<br/><br/>Tatum flew to the rescue and nudged Beth back with her good-willing question. Thomas’ answer broke into a quick, canted smile, his silence unbroken. Their glances met briefly, and he leant back to relax with a huff.<br/><br/>Most of the townsfolk were here, all in this stupid circle. Wullie was right, Thomas thought while reeling in his arms in the same defensive position which Carol over there had. This was stupid.<br/>Though, there was a good explanation for all of this. As they did live The Time After, they needed to keep together. Simple community meetings, where information could be easily spread, they said. But this did seem like something.. different. And if they already had the congregation where all the information was being said, why did they have to sit in a circle on every friday? And why was the atmosphere..<i>hostile</i>, in a way? Why did all this give Thomas’ spine a chill he couldn’t quite shake off? Was it Carol’s eyes that were on them? Tatum smelled nice. The thought just infiltrated itself in, and it felt to be off from the rhythm of his train of thoughts. Like a pink cart in a coal black train of thought.<br/><br/><br/>The choo-choo of his thoughts was derailed with a soft nudge, and a quick touch next to his knee. The saboteur had a smile on her face.<br/>“Oh, yeah.”, he quickly drove his hand amidst the blown thicket of his head and tried to comb it back into formality and order. It resisted, but he wasn’t a man to give up easily.<br/>That’s when Thomas identified the chill on his spine, as Carol’s icy growl flung across the circle. He couldn’t help to note all of those faces staring at them. Hard, judging eyes landed on Tatum. She had broken a “New Rule” with a quick touch.<br/><i>“You know better”</i>, said Beth, too. Thomas couldn’t help but glance at the blonde with his brows raised. This was 2019, not 1855! So when did touching became felony here?<br/>But Tatum held her ground. “Yeah.”, Thomas carefully added. “Just a nudge, it wasn’t a big deal or anything. Don’t worry.”, he played the silent drumbeat behind the hairbunned ex-lawyers small rebellion. “Thanks, Tatum.”, he’d touch her knee,<i>if</i>it wouldn’t be illegal.<br/><br/>He needed to derail the conversation into something else, before they’d have an all-out with all of these new rules. And it really wasn't a secret what Wullie was doing out in the woods.. He'd get Tatum out of the hook.<br/><br/>“So Wullie was at the stream, the one that flows onto the creek north of here. You know, trying to fix things, as usual.”, he couldn’t help the small grin creeping out on his face. “He thinks that this all’s a waste of time for a guy on his forties - can’t blame him. No-one tells Wullie what to do.”, he had a quick glance on Carol across the room.<br/>“He’s still trying to get the apparition to work, a small self-made generator. I’ve been telling him that it’s a waste of time, but he keeps smashing that head onto a wall and trust me, the wall gives in before his head does.<br/>If it doesn’t work, I think that he’ll build up a time-machine for us.”, the canted grin spread out on a brief small smile.<br/><br/>“I mentioned him about the moose we got early this morning, and about the sunday feast. He went nuts, I tell you, and dashed at the city hall. He’s going to have a talk with the mayor.” Or the Preacher… or the sheriff. Or all three of them.<br/>He leant closer to Beth and lowered his tone into a whisper. “He’s worried that we’ll run out of food. We can’t afford to feast every da.. rn.. sunday, when the winter is just around the corner. It’s not the early winter that’s gonna hit us, it’s the late spring.<br/>He’s gonna cancel the feast.”