Chapter 3
Edward was happily greeted by his wife Ajna who worked in an emergency clinic in Westbrook. She was a strikingly beautiful woman in her late twenty’s with curves that would make an hourglass jealous. She arrived in the U.S. from India with her parents when she was a child. Eventually, she attended Harvard Medical School and did her residency at Maine Medical Center. After becoming licensed as a practicing physician, Ajna decided to stay and put down roots. When they met, Edward was working as a banking analyst at TD AmerAsia. He studied at Vermont College in Burlington and upon receiving his Ph.D. in finance took the first job that was offered to him and found himself working for the Chinese. Seven years ago, U.S. intelligence reports revealed that in order to collect the debt owed to them China had made plans to launch a neutron bomb attack against every major city and military installation in the country. With eighty-five percent of the population dead they would simply cross our borders and take control of the country’s infrastructure. When this intelligence reached Washington, the president tried to open a dialog, but the Chinese demand at least forty percent of their loan money or they would go to war. So, the U.S. gave in and turned over control of forty percent of the banking system to the Chinese government. It was now required by TD AmerAsia that Edward learn Mandarin, as he would have to occasionally go to high-level meetings at corporate headquarters in Beijing. Now, he was in Portland with the girl of his dreams living what most people would call ‘the good life’. They were, however, looking for a place further outside Portland, away from the not so distant sounds of gunfire. They had spent many sleepless nights peering out of the front windows with a paranoid anxiety that the nearby street violence might explode at any moment. Occasionally, Edward would discover one or two new bullet holes that had penetrated the siding on the front of their house.
Ajna came bounding down the stairs and threw her arms around him, kissing him passionately on the mouth.
“Well,” Edward said. “You seem rather excited today. What’s up?”
“I think I found us a house!” she replied. “Really?” Edward inquired.
They had been looking for a new house almost since moving into the Rosemont district. The realtor showed them the house during the quietest part of the day, telling them how safe the area was. It wasn’t soon after moving in that they realized everything the realtor had told them was an outright lie. So, they made it a point from then on to stay away from the front of the house.
“So, let’s take a look,” Edward said. “Did you find it on the internet?”
“Yes,” she responded. “I even looked at the area with Google Earth and the neighborhood looks beautiful.”
“Alright,” Edward replied. “Did you look at the outlying area?”
“I did,” Ajna answered. “It looks a bit sub-urban.” “Great!” exclaimed Edward. “Let’s take a look.” They sat down together in front of their computer’s 3-D touch display. It was beautiful. A traditional white two-story house that had been built during the late twentieth century – it was the quintessential family home.
“Wow!” Edward said guardedly. He knew that if something seemed too good to be true it probably was. “When did it go on the market?”
“Last week,” answered Ajna. Edward hesitated a bit.
“What’s wrong?” asked Ajna. “It’s perfect!”
“Well, alright,” Edward said. “Let’s think this through a little. Who were the last owners?”
“An elderly couple,” Ajna answered.
She had become somewhat irritated with Edward’s hesitation.
“Ed, we have to get out of here. We can’t even walk around in our own house!”
“I know,” Edward responded. “It’s just that buying a new house isn’t something you just jump into.”
“Ed,” Ajna retorted. “Listen to yourself. There are fucking bullet holes in the front of the house. And how many times have we had to listen to sirens all night? It feels like it’s getting closer every day!”
Edward paused again. “I’d like to see the inside,” he said.
Ajna grinned slightly, turned back to the display and touched a button that read ‘Interior View’. “Tah Dah!” she said.
Edward leaned toward the display and studied each image.
“Well,” he said. “How can we pass this up?” Ajna excitedly rose to her feet and threw her arms around him.
“Thank you,” she quietly said in his ear. They made eye contact and smiled at each other.
“Now, we can finally have a family,” she said.
Her face lit up like the sun whenever she talked about having children. Edward was all for the idea but was firmly against trying to raise a family so close to the war zone.
“Yeah,” Edward whispered. “So, who do we call to make an offer?”
“I thought you’d never ask,” Ajna answered. “It just so happens that this realtor’s website is biometric. We can make an offer right through their site and instead of a signature you give them a thumbprint. It gets confirmed through the Maine D.O.T. database and they send you a confirmation e-mail.”
“Sounds simple enough,” Edward replied. “So, let’s make an offer.”
Ajna’s face blushed with joy and anticipation as Edward investigated further. “They want two hundred thousand for it,” Edward said. “Well, there’s only one way to do this – bid high.”
They agreed to place a bid of two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars on the property. Edward placed his thumb on the white biometric square and within about an hour received a confirmation e-mail.
Three days later, their offer had been accepted and a contract had been e-mailed to them. All that was required was another biometric thumbprint - this time from both of them. The inspection came soon after and everything checked out. One week after closing they found themselves moving in. They had to hire a moving crew but had some difficulty finding one that was willing to go into the Rosemont district. However, they did eventually find one.
They settled into their new house putting up with nothing more than a few creaks that were typical of an older home. They were surrounded by small families and a few elderly couples. Ajna felt very much at home, starting a garden and getting involved in a few small craft projects. She was well within her comfort zone and Edward took great joy in seeing his wife’s personality blossom knowing that they were now living someplace that truly felt like home. Even at work, they both felt as though a weight had been lifted off their shoulders.