Free Grandfather by Anthony Wade

to see what this
whole Grandfather thing was about and how I was involved. President
Cornelius just sounded like a man who was dealing with the loss of
his friend and truly wanted to protect the people of the regions.
There was a good chance that’s all he was trying to do. He probably wasn’t
the Grand Imperial.
    After a while, Belladonna
and Edgar came to our table. “. . . Nothing we can do,” Edgar was
telling her.
    “We’ll figure something
out,” Belladonna said.
    They both took a seat
across from me. “Many will support the law,” Edgar went on. “Too
many damn naïve people in this world.”
    “That’s something that’ll
never change,” Belladonna said. “All we can do is hope they
don’t.”
    Mae frowned. “Well, isn’t
that just wasting time? We know most people are going to fall for
it.”
    “These damn people within
the wall have their heads up their asses,” Edgar said angrily. “And
I’d be damn if those outside of the wall just don’t care either
way.” Edgar looked at me.
    I knew I was one of those
people, and it killed Edgar. What killed him even more was that he
knew there were a lot more like me.
    “Patience,” Belladonna
said quietly. “Yes, people in this world are naïve. Some of them
also tend to lack patience.”
    “It’s easy to lose
patience when you’re running out of time,” Edgar snapped, his face
getting a bit red.
    Belladonna didn’t appear
offended. She actually seemed amused. “Well, Edgar, if you only
knew how patient I’ve had to be. It’s not fun.”
    “Belladonna’s right,” Mae
said. “It sure isn’t fun. But by golly it’ll be well worth it in
the end.” Mae’s concern had completely vanished, quickly replaced
by the familiar jovial expression.
    Edgar forced himself to
agree. “You’re right, Maebelle. As usual.”
    Mae appeared satisfied,
giggling at him.
    Belladonna stood up. “If
the people want to support the tracking law because it will appear
to stop people like the president’s so called killer, then let
them. They’ll learn eventually.” Without another word, Belladonna
left the dining hall. Edgar still wasn’t happy by the address and
said the law would make “our” job harder.
    “Me and Robert will go out
tomorrow,” Edgar said. “See what the people are saying about
it.”
    They were going out again.
It was my chance. “Do I get to go on this one?” I asked.
    He shook his head. “No
point,” he said. “Still don’t think we should let ya.”
    “You already agreed,” I
said. “Belladonna agreed. She won’t take it back.”
    He looked as if he already
knew that. “You’ll get your chance,” he said.
    “But I want to now,” I
demanded. I was ready to actually do something.
    “Did ya not just hear us
talking about patience?” Edgar asked with a smirk on his face.
“It’s not fun, but we got to do it.”
    Whatever. I would just
talk to Belladonna in the next few days. She would make him take
me. Without telling anybody “bye” I went back to my room where I
finished the book about the boy and his dog and hated it. The
author killed the dog. Who does that?

    The next day, after lunch,
Marley planned on taking me to the hilltop again, just as she said.
I didn’t really want to meet another person, especially Ashton. I
hadn’t had much luck with other boys. I mean, what if Ashton was
just like the boys back at the orphanage? I was tempted to say no,
but it was going to happen eventually. Best to get it over with.
Hey, at least I’d get to see the amazing view again.
    Marley led me through the
many halls, talking about how I was going to like Ashton. “He likes
it down here,” she told me. “And he really likes the people here
too.” I just nodded and listened.
    We entered the familiar
small room with the ladder. I admired the view of the city as I
climbed up from the ground. I wasn’t the only one doing so. A guy
stood tall at the edge of the cliff, gazing at the buildings. His
shaggy brown hair blew in