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and Miranda. Mom, too.”
    “What is it?” Mom asked. “Is everything all right?”
    “Everything’s fine, Mom,” Matt said with a grin. “It’s something good. Or at least
     something to consider.”
    “I’m listening,” Alex said.
    “You know how much I travel,” Matt said. “Mostly from enclave to enclave, but I spend
     the nights in lots of different places. Keep this confidential, but there’s a group
     of people who’ve set up their own community. Not an enclave, no government involvement,
     but not . . . well, not a place like White Birch either.”
    “Not a grubtown,” Alex said.
    “I hate that word,” Mom said.
    “Laura, that’s what this is,” Alex said. “You’d rather I called it a slavetown?”
    “The point is, this new place won’t be any of those things,” Matt said. “Remember
     communes? Kibbutzes? That’s what they’re planning. They’re starting small, but they
     figure to expand. Syl and I are talking about joining, but we’re not ready to make
     a commitment yet.”
    “What will they do for food?” Jon asked.
    “Grow their own,” Matt said. “They’ve put together the money for two greenhouses,
     and they’ll build from there. It’s going to be rough, a lot rougher than White Birch,
     to start out with. But they won’t be dependent on the whim of some enclave. They’ll
     be independent.”
    “Where do we fit in?” Alex asked.
    “I told them my brother-in-law is a mechanic,” Matt said. “That you’d passed the mechanic’s
     test, but you’re not connected enough to get the promotion. A place like that is going
     to need mechanics. They love the fact that Miranda’s pregnant. Actually, they’re so
     pleased with the thought of you two, they are willing to take Mom, also.”
    “That’s very gracious of them,” Mom said.
    “We know you’re essential,” Matt said. “But you don’t bring a lot of skills to a community
     like they’re planning. Alex does.”
    “What about me?” Jon asked.
    “I didn’t ask,” Matt said. “You’re fine in Sexton.”
    “What do you think, Alex?” Miranda asked.
    “I don’t know,” he said. “Carlos and I have been saving money for our own truck,”
     he said to Matt. “In another year, eighteen months, we should be able to buy one.
     We figure that’s the only way, to go independent.”
    “But you’d stay in White Birch,” Matt said.
    “There are some pretty nice sections in White Birch,” Alex replied. “And there’s no
     law against fixing our home, buying more food if we can afford it.” He grinned. “Living
     the middle-class life.”
    “We can’t go anywhere until the baby is born,” Miranda said. “But if we did decide
     to move, Mom, you’d have to come with us. I’d worry about you if you were here alone.”
    “Yes,” Alex said. “If we go, you come with us, Laura.”
    “I’ll come, too,” Jon said.
    “No, you won’t,” Mom said. “Whatever happens, you’re staying in Sexton.”
    “Why?” Jon said.
    Mom stared at him. “Look at your sister, Jon, and your brother and Alex,” she said.
     “Matt’s a courier and Miranda works in the greenhouses and Alex is a bus driver. You
     call them grubs. Well, you’re not going to be a grub. You’ll graduate high school
     and college. That’s the whole point of your living in Sexton, so you can get an education,
     make something of yourself.”
    “What if I don’t want to?” Jon asked.
    “I don’t care,” Mom said. “In case you haven’t noticed, none of us are doing what
     we want. We’re doing what we have to, and we expect the same from you.”
    “Matt?” Jon said, but Matt just shook his head.
    “Listen, Jon,” Alex said. “You have a chance Miranda and I will never have. But it’s
     not just us. It’s Bri’s chance and Julie’s. You’re the survivor, Jon, and survivors
     have responsibilities. If you walk away from your chance, you make all that loss,
     all that sacrifice, meaningless.”
    “All