His sister leaned in to him before he could dismount. She threw her arms around his neck and squeezed.
He returned her embrace, worried about denting the creases of her neat uniform. ‘What the hell are you doing here?’ he asked.
She let go and took a step back, smoothed the front of her shirt. The air-force dress hat disappeared back under her arm, every motion like an ingrained and precise habit.
‘Are you surprised?’ she asked. ‘I thought the Senator would’ve let it slip by now.’
‘Hell, no. Well, he said something about a visitor but not who. I thought you were in Iran. Did he swing this?’
She nodded, and Donald felt his cheeks cramping from smiling so hard. Every time he saw her, there came a relief from discovering that she was still the same person. The sharp chin and splash of freckles across her nose, the shine in her eyes that had not yet dulled from the horrible things she’d seen. She had just turned thirty, had been half a world away with no family on her birthday, but she was frozen in his mind as the young teen who had enlisted.
‘I think I’m supposed to be on the stage for this thing tonight,’ she said.
‘Of course.’ Donald smiled. ‘I’m sure they’ll want you on camera. You know, to show support for the troops.’
Charlotte frowned. ‘Oh, God, I’m one of those people, aren’t I?’
He laughed. ‘I’m sure they’ll have someone from the army, navy and marines there with you.’
‘Oh, God. And I’m the girl.’
They laughed together, and one of the bands beyond the hills finished their set. Donald scooted forward and told his sister to hop on, his chest suddenly less constricted. There had been a shift in the weather, these breaking clouds, the quietening stages, and now the arrival of family.
He cranked the engine and raced through the least muddy path on the way back to the stage, his sister holding on tight behind him. They pulled up beside Anna, his sister hopping off and into her arms. While they chatted, Donald killed the ignition and checked his phone for messages. Finally, one had gotten through.
Helen: In Tennessee. where r u?
There was a jarring moment as his brain tried to make sense of the message. It was from Helen. What the hell was she doing in Tennessee?
Another stage fell silent. It took only a heartbeat or two for Donald to realise that she wasn’t hundreds of miles away. She was just over the hill. None of his messages about meeting at the Georgia stage had gone through.
‘Hey, I’ll be right back.’
He cranked the ATV. Anna grabbed his wrist.
‘Where are you going?’ she asked.
He smiled. ‘Tennessee. Helen just texted me.’
Anna glanced up at the clouds. His sister was inspecting her hat. On the stage, a young girl was being ushered up to the mic. She was flanked by a colour guard, and the seats facing the stage were filling up, necks stretched with anticipation.
Before he could react or put the ATV in gear, Anna reached across, twisted the key and pulled it out of the ignition.
‘Not now,’ she said.
Donald felt a flash of rage. He reached for her hands, for the key, but it disappeared behind her back.
‘Wait,’ she hissed.
Charlotte had turned towards the stage. Senator Thurman stood with a microphone in hand, the young girl, maybe sixteen, beside him. The hills had grown deathly quiet. Donald realised what a racket the ATV had been making. The girl was about to sing.
‘Ladies and gentlemen, fellow Democrats—’
There was a pause. Donald got off the four-wheeler, took a last glance at his phone, then tucked it away.
‘—and our handful of Independents.’
Laughter from the crowd. Donald set off at a jog across the flat at the bottom of the bowl. His shoes squished in the wet grass and the thin layer of mud. Senator Thurman’s voice continued to roar through the microphone:
‘Today is the dawn of a new era, a new time.’
Donald was out of shape, his shoes growing heavy with mud.
‘As we gather in this place of future independence—’
By the time the ground sloped upward, he was already winded.
‘—I’m reminded of the words from one of our enemies. A Republican.’
Distant laughter, but Donald paid no heed. He was concentrating on the climb.
‘It was Ronald Reagan who once said that freedom must be fought for, that peace must be earned. As we listen to this anthem, written a long time ago as bombs dropped and a new country was forged,