The Cost of Coffee, part 17

Back after vacation with the next installment!

In case you’ve forgotten, here’s a summary:

Life in the Bio—Mars’ fragile colony—grows increasingly tense as promises of equity and collaboration give way to hidden power struggles. Pinta’s quiet observations and small found objects—a chipped mug, a checkers board, a mural of old Earth—have stirred questions she can no longer ignore.

As Council hearings grow chaotic and danger creeps closer to home, Pinta and her family are left to puzzle over strange symbols, forgotten stories, and signs that change is coming.

Or, if you prefer, start from the beginning here

Prompts for 4 July 2025

• Write about a holiday

• patriotic apparition

• “whom it may concern”

• A character who collects artifacts

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17.

Father led the way into the bedroom where Mother sat, not in the bed, but in a comfortable side chair near the window. She held a notebook and was drawing furiously as the family gathered together.

"Mother? Naimeh spoke quietly, to avoid breaking her mother's flow of thought, and Mother held up a finger as a symbol to wait. Finally, she put down her pen and looked at the anxious faces around her.

"How secure is this room, dear?" She directed the question at her husband, who blanched. She laughed a little. "I see the camera pointing toward the landscape. What other accommodations for peace have you made?"

Father stuttered, not quite sure what to say. Naimeh spoke for him. "Mother, this room is for our family alone. Unless you ask for something specific, the, um, butler, will respect us."

Pinta looked at her sister quizzically. "How…"

"Never mind for now," said Naimeh. "I have my own secrets here and there. I felt a need for a private space and made a buffer here."

Father shook his head. "Then I supposed we are doubly safe, because I, too, buffered this room from observation. Still, caution is always a good idea."

Mother nodded and then opened her notebook so that the family could see her drawing. "I had a strange dream the night before Arturo was supposed to testify. I thought if I could capture the images, I might be able to make sense of it. I started to draw while in the custody sector, but before I could do much, someone tapped my shoulder. I looked up and everything went dark. I woke up here, in my bed."

Pinta interjected, "You've been so absent lately! What's wrong? Why are you in trouble with the Council? What's going to happen?"

"I'm sorry, love. I don't know the answers; I'm not sure I even know all the questions. I do know that our community is in trouble somehow, and I'm not sure I didn't play a part in all of that. First, let me tell you my dream." Mother pointed to her drawing. It looked like a dream, with shadowing figures that merged into multiple forms.

"Are those fireworks in the shape of, what, Uncle Sam?" Father peered at the sketch, tilting his head to get a better angle.

"Who's Uncle Sam?" asked Pinta and Naimeh at the same time, making Father laugh.

"A figure in a story that I guess I should tell you about."

"Story and religion. Two things missing from the Bio community," Pinta remembered. Maybe story did matter more than she previously believed.

It was Naimeh's turn to look at Father. "Story and religion? I thought I was the only one who dreamed about stories. You mean, there's more?"

"Maybe," replied Father. "Let's hear from your mother first."

Mother smiled. "It does look a little like what I remember about Uncle Sam, but I don't think that's it. Interesting interpretation of the apparition, though. But do you see here, where the figure blends into what looks to me like an old bill of sale? And then that bill of sale just sort of fades away? There's something important there, but I can't quite put my finger on it."

Father looked more closely at the drawing. "You have a lot of old Earth artifacts in this dream of yours. You must have quite a mental collection. Look over here: a compass, a lockbox, and some kind of book--all connected by this string of mist."

Pinta examined the drawing as well. She spotted the same man with the pipe that Father had painted in his mural. She pointed at it, saying, "Look, Father. You have this person…"

Father cut her off. "I have seen that figure before--in a book when I was a child. I can't quite place it, though; it's just out of reach."

Naimeh looked at her mother. "We've looked at the drawing, and I sense it means something because dreams can reveal hidden things. But tell Pinta and Father what you told me while they were out."

Pinta had forgotten about Mother's message that had Naimeh so excited earlier. She half listened to her mother talk about the questions from the Council that someone had slipped to her. The figure of the man with the pipe, however, kept her from really listening. Who was he? What did he represent? Was he real? Is that why both Father and Mother drew him? In the background, Mother's voice grew more animated and Pinta heard her name.

"When Arturo pointed at Pinta as a troublemaker, three Council members argued to bring Pinta in for questioning herself. Three others immediately squelched that idea. And the other three kept silent. When the chaos broke out, it took council members a long time to restore order."

"That's when I took you home," Naimeh said to Pinta. Then to her mother, "Father told us that Arturo and others would serve in waste management for a while? But that's only part of what's coming. Those people love power too much."

Mother nodded. "You are perceptive, Naimeh. I am learning from you that visions and dreams have a purpose. Now if I can just make sense of it. Anyway, the main thing I wanted to tell you, Pinta, is that Arturo apologized for pointing you out as a source of trouble."

Pinta was skeptical. "If that's true, then why were you brought here unconscious? Something isn't right. It's like all the pieces of your drawing. I see them and I recognize things, but something is still lurking in the mist." She looked at her Father. "I think," she whispered, "that I need to go to Norway."

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