Chapter 5
It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon and Ajna was up early tending to her garden. The July heat was three degrees warmer than the record set four years ago, but the smog index was surprisingly low. Ordinarily, there wasn’t much activity in the neighborhood, but today people were out walking and children were out playing. The end of the month marked the beginning of the rainy season and it would last for about two months. People got out whenever they could before being forced back inside by high winds and downpours. Edward was just getting up as Ajna was returning from her garden. He was making a pot of coffee and just before opening the bag he noticed that in small print it read ‘Grown in America’. Due to fifty years of climate change it was now grown in places like northern Maine, the southern slopes of Mount St. Helens as well as the sides of what was left of Mt. Rainier.
Ajna went to the kitchen sink to wash the dirt off her hands.
“So, how did you sleep? Edward asked.
“Slept like a baby,” Ajna replied. “I have to say, ever since we moved here I’ve been sleeping really well.”
Edward nodded in acknowledgment.
“Yeah,” he replied. “I feel like we can finally live our lives.”
“Me too,” Ajna said as she walked up to Edward and put her arms around his waist. She backed away quickly with a smile and said, “Hey, let’s go to South Portland beach. We can take our scuba gear and check out the ruins. Wouldn’t it be cool if we could find the lighthouse?”
“That would be awesome, wouldn’t it? Edward said. “And what was the name of that lighthouse?”
“I think it was called Portland Headlight,” Ajna replied.
“Well,” Edward started. “If we want to beat the crowd we should get going”.
So, while Ajna was busy packing a lunch Edward brought up their scuba gear. He checked the tanks and regulators, making a close inspection of the hoses and mouthpieces. Everything looked great, no rust or cracks in anything. But, he double checked Ajna’s gear as he didn’t want to miss even the smallest thing. They were both certified divers, but Edward had the most experience.
They parked their car a few yards from where the road had broken and collapsed beneath the water. Rising ocean levels and erosion had their toll and eventually leveled the area that was, at one time, called Cape Elizabeth. The wealthy of that area tried everything they could and no expense was spared. They hired engineers and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars building an enclosed sea wall. But, a hurricane slammed into the coast and Maine took a direct hit. At the same time, the tide came in and left the seawall in ruins. After that things went from bad to worse and Cape Elizabeth became eroded away into the ocean leaving South Portland as beachfront property. Most of the roads were gone and the houses that once stood as symbols of wealth had been washed out into the open sea.
Neither of them had been diving in this area before, as it was usually closed to the public due to abnormally strong rip tides and frequent storms. After putting on their weight belts and strapping on their tanks, they again checked their mouthpieces and regulators. Everything was in perfect working order. They dived in from a sitting position off the edge of the broken road and swam toward the ruins of Cape Elizabeth. The water was unusually calm and clear giving the ruins a haunting stillness. Some remained partially standing, with their windows blown out by the ocean’s power. Occasionally, Edward and Ajna would find a still standing fireplace – a stubborn monument to the destructive forces of time as well as a planet in the process of evicting its tenants. After ten more minutes, they discovered an enormous pile of rubble and rock ahead of them. They surfaced for a moment.
“Where are we?” Ajna asked.
“There used to be a land mass here,” Edward answered. “I think I was called Portland Head.”
The erosion there was brutal and over time as ocean levels rose, the waves grew more powerful, causing the rock wall to collapse. It was not long after this that the rapid erosion quickly undermined the land the lighthouse stood on. Then, one night, a loud crack was heard followed by a rumbling sound and Portland Head as well as the lighthouse were gone. On last inspection, the lighthouse was still intact in spite of being half buried in mud and encrusted with sea life.
They slowly made their way toward the top of the lighthouse. The water was calm, but the bottom was somewhat murky as lose pieces of seaweed swayed back and forth with the ocean's current. Edward pointed to his tank gauge reminding Ajna to do the same. They gave each other a thumbs’ up and continued toward the top of Portland Headlight. The windows surrounding the once beaming light had long since shattered when erosion sent the spire crashing into the sea. However, the Fresnel lens still lay intact just inches beneath the mud. They gently waved away the mud that had collected inside the black framework where the light was once mounted. Suddenly, they saw something that caught the sun’s shifting beams. It took several minutes, but they had managed to uncover the slightly cracked face of the lighthouse lens. Again, they gave each other a thumbs-up while nodding their heads in excitement. Edward pointed up toward the surface and they both and they both made their way up. Upon breaking the surface they removed their mouthpieces.
“That is so cool!” Ajna exclaimed. “What do we do with it?”
“I don’t think we can remove it,” Edward said.
After Cape Elizabeth essentially fell into the ocean the state declared the area that was Portland Headlight a historic site and it became highly illegal to remove anything from it.
“We should cover it back up!” Edward said.
Ajna nodded in agreement and they returned to where the lens lay half buried. Their tanks were beginning to run low, so they quickly covered the lens with several inches of mud. They wanted to be sure that no one else would find it.
They began to return to the section of broken road where their car was parked. Their tanks were too low for them to swim back through the ruins, so they breast stroked their way back.
“Do you think anyone will find it?” Ajna asked.
“I don’t know,” Edward replied. “Usually, the current and weather keep people out.”
They started home after loading their scuba gear in the trunk, continuing to talk about the dive site.
“Are there any more places to dive nearby?” Ajna asked.
“There might be an old Navy wreck not far off the coast,” Edward answered. “Let’s check on the net when we get home.”
Upon returning home, they both noticed for the first time that there were no bullet holes in the front of their house. Ajna looked over at Edward with a smile.
“What?” Edward inquired.
“Nothing,” she answered. “I really love this neighborhood,” she said after a slight pause.
As Ajna was in the shower, Edward busied himself by bleeding their scuba tanks in the backyard. After he was finished, Edward went inside and washed the oil off his hands. Ajna was just turning off the shower as he sat down to turn on the television. He sat down just in time to catch the news and his eyes quickly widened in disbelief.
“You’ve gotta be kidding!” Edward said as Ajna was coming down the stairs.
“What’s up?” she said, as she continued toweling her hair.
“Listen to this!” Edward said.
He turned the volume up as the news announcer outlined the state’s new ‘Well Baby Initiative’. They both sat in disbelief as the announcer continued informing viewers that the program’s screening process was both necessary and mandatory.
“Are they fuckin’ kidding?” Edward exclaimed. “They’re gonna make everyone get screened?”
“It sounds like only people who are having kids have to go through this,” Ajna said.
“O.k.,” Edward replied. “Let me get this straight. If we want to have kids ‘we’ have to get screened. What does that have to do with a healthy baby that hasn’t even been born yet?”
They continued watching the news as the announcer moved on to the next story.
“Just the parents,” Edward said. “But not the baby.”
“Well,” Ajna began. “Hospitals and doctor’s offices already do lab work on newborns.”
“Yeah, but why should the parents be screened?” Edward asked. “And why is the state saying that everyone who either had kids or wants kids has to do this? What if they find out that there’s something wrong - maybe something genetic?”
Ajna shook her head slightly.
“I don’t know,” she said.
“Are they going to start tell people who can have kids and who can’t?” Edward asked. “Something’s not right about this.”
That night, as Ajna slept, Edward searched the internet for articles on the ‘Well Baby Initiative’. Every article said the same thing – almost verbatim. No one seems to have any details about it. Of course, the state and the media only knew what the government wanted them to know and there were no information leaks. The next day, everyone in the neighborhood was talking about what they had seen on the news and everyone had their own ideas on what might be going on. Some people thought their constitutional rights were being violated – even though there was nothing in the constitution about having the right to privacy or to have children. Others thought it was an attempt at genetic exclusion, while some looked back on history and made comparisons with Hitler’s ‘Final Solution’. But, in actuality, no one knew anything more than anyone else and everyone was a bit bewildered about why a program like that was started in the first place. Ajna’s presence in the neighborhood, as a doctor, generated more than a few questions and a few young couples came to visit with the intention of asking her what she might know, or what her impression might be.
“We’re trying to have a baby,” one young woman said. “What if we don’t want to have this screening done? What would they do, lock us up?” “I’m sorry,” Ajna said. “I wish I had an answer.”
“But you’re a doctor,” the young woman continued. “Isn’t there anything you can tell us?”
“Look,” Ajna said.
She was trying her hardest to be patient, kind and diplomatic.
“I work at the Riverside Emergency Clinic, not downtown. Besides, we’re planning on a family too, so we’re gonna have to get screened along with everyone else.”
Over the next two days, the neighborhood began to quiet down, but everyone remained glued to their televisions waiting for any new information to be broadcast. Sometime within the next few days, the news station received a question from a caller.
“What if we don’t want to get screened?” the unknown voice said.
The response was minimal at best and the caller was simply told to contact state officials with any requests for information. Later in the week, an announcement was made by the state. Apparently, they had been flooded with phone calls from people asking the same question – ‘what if I don’t want to get screened?’ The state tried to be diplomatic with its response, but they could only tell people what they knew. So a contingency plan was drawn up for those who refused to get screened. A limited news release was then passed on to the media and broadcast by television, digital newspaper, and the state’s website. It was decided that the screening registry would be compared to the yearly census records. This would uncover and ‘discrepancies’, meaning those who failed to appear for screening, those who had slipped through the cracks as well as those who would refuse outright. The announcement also made the claim that parental screening was made mandatory for the benefit of detecting any abnormalities that might be passed on to unborn. This would give the medical community a heads-up and treatment plans could be drawn up as part of both prenatal and neonatal care. Those who refused could be fined, but a specific amount for that fine was not mentioned. Obviously, the state was being careful to tell people only what they believed they should be told while at the same time trying to downplay any emotional aspects of the screening process.
The only problem officials saw was the public’s tendency to overreact, but the announcement was so carefully written, so skillfully crafted, that it could have come from the lips of God. Everyone bought into it and the public now saw the program as something that would be beneficial to future generations of Maine children. People even began to see the fine as a necessary measure of compliance. And even though Ajna and Edward began to see some sense in the program, Edward remained skeptical and continued to question the morality of the legislation behind this fledgling program. There were others as well who remained suspicious - quoting articles of the constitution that they believed gave them the right to privacy. In fact, as many legal experts pointed out, the constitution provided for no such guarantee and the fourth amendment had been repealed as society had begun to degrade into lawlessness.