The Only Ones (31 page)

Back on the island, there was the smaller version of the machine, the one Martin had built with his father. Martin assumed it still sat in that empty room in that gray-shingled cabin, where they had lived and worked and waited. That version of the machine had a glass door, which opened into its heart. In the heart, there was a small basin at the back of a tall hollow chamber.

Looking at Hope now, Martin imagined an alternate past. He imagined an alternate eleventh birthday, where his
father’s skiff was arriving safely on the island. He imagined his father stepping out from the boat, with that tree branch resting over his shoulder and the alarm clock tucked under his arm. He imagined the two of them climbing the ladder and going to the cabin and pulling the machine out into the yard. He imagined placing that branch in the basin and running through the procedure and laughing with his father and looking through the glass door into the machine’s heart and seeing Hope standing in there, looking back at them. She had the type of eyes that memories held on to, the type you yearn to see again.

But that moment never happened, because it was never meant to happen. This was the moment life was giving Martin, and he didn’t care whether he had any choice in the matter. He was taking it.

“Don’t worry,” Martin told her. “Your husband figured out a way to find you. And together, we can figure out a way to find him.”

J
AMIE
W
YETH
. I don’t know him, but his painting planted a seed.

E
LISABETH
W
EED AND
S
TEPHANIE
S
UN
. They cast a light on a strange little sapling.

R
EBECCA
S
HORT
AND
M
ICHELLE
P
OPLOFF
. With patience and brilliance, they pruned and watered and trusted.

J
ENNIFER
B
LACK
. Her clear eyes and magical pencil set things straight.

L
ISA
E
RICSON
AND
V
IKKI
S
HEATSLEY
. Give them an object and they’ll summon art.

C
ATE
S
TARMER
. She encouraged. She believed. She loved. None of this could have happened without her.

Aaron Starmer is the author of
DWEEB
. He lives with his wife in Hoboken, New Jersey.