Microstory 2039: Alaska

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Like I said, it took a long time for me to get adopted. While they were working on it, my fathers put off their honeymoon. They got married in 2015, but it was 2017, and they still hadn’t gone on it yet. It was looking like they were going to have to wait even longer for me to be ready to come home with them, so they decided to finally go on the trip. It was almost the wintertime, but they had their hearts set on an Alaska vacation, so that’s where they went. It was really, really, really cold there, but they still had fun. They slept in a cabin, but it was heated, and they packed a lot of clothing. While they were there, they got a call from the adoption agency, telling them that a child was ready, but they had to get to New Jersey right away. They hadn’t gotten much time to relax. They quickly packed up their belongings, and got back to the airport. The problem was that there weren’t any flights until the next day. It was a really stressful time for them. They didn’t get to enjoy very much of Alaska, but they said it was beautiful. My papa used the word gorgeous to describe it.

Microstory 2036: Massachusetts

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I was on the news. Well, I wasn’t really on it myself. My dad would call it featured if I was, but they told my story, and we think we can see me in the background in some of the footage. While my fathers, my aunt, my uncle, and my cousins, were moving to their new houses here in Plymouth, Massachusetts, they had TVs on. We always have the TV going, even if we’re not really watching anything. We just like to have it on in the background. As they were carrying all those boxes, though, they noticed something on the news that was running. Everybody stopped what they were doing to watch. That’s how they even knew that I existed at all in the first place. Until that day, my fathers had not thought much about having children. Two men cannot have a baby the normal way, and they were both so busy with their jobs, they had not thought much about anything else. They did want kids at some point, though, and they realized while they were watching the news that they wanted to help. They didn’t know that I was one of the kids there, but they knew that someone like me would need a good home. The house they were trying to move into was small. It was really only big enough for the two of them. They were supposed to go to their honeymoon right after they were mostly done, but they decided to cancel their plans. Instead, they only moved as much furniture as they would need at the minimum, and then they started to look for a completely new house. It had to be big enough for a full family, even though they still didn’t know how they were going to adopt me yet. They stayed there for two days while they were canceling the contract from the people they bought the house from. I think it made them upset, but they found someone else to buy it all the way. Meanwhile, my fathers moved in with my papa’s sister, and stayed there until they could find the house that I live in now.

Microstory 2035: Vermont

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Vermont was the first state in the U.S. to legalize same-sex marriage. They did it in 2001. During my research, I learned that Massachusetts was the first state to introduce making it legal for gay people to get married, but it took them longer to pass it. By 2015, the whole United States said that you have to allow gay marriage no matter what state you’re in, but my papa and dad still wanted to get married in Vermont. It is a beautiful state, especially if you go there in the fall when the tree leaves are changing colors. They got a really nice outdoor spot where everyone could see a lot of the trees. It was a little cold, but not too cold, and it didn’t rain or snow. Everybody’s family was there. It sounds really expensive, but my papa was used to spending money on travel. He visited dad in Virginia a lot when they were still dating. When they weren’t in the same state together, they talked on the phone, and on the computer. Dad’s family thought it was weird that they lived so far away from each other, but they somehow made it work. They wouldn’t have to make it work like that for much longer. After the wedding, they decided to not have a honeymoon just yet. They were too busy. They first went to Chicago to pack up papa’s apartment, and then they went to my Aunt Cooper’s house to pack. Lastly, they went to dad’s house to pack up his stuff. And then they all moved to Massachusetts together. I’ll give you more details on the next slide.

Microstory 1916: Partners No More

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Fugitive Agent 2: Where have you been, man? We’re supposed to be partners.

Fugitive Agent: I’m on special assignment. I sent you a text, and the OSI should have sent Senior Fugitive Agent an email about it.

Fugitive Agent 2: Yeah, and she’s presently working on a replacement partner, but I wanted to speak with you in person. What is this assignment? What are you doing?

Fugitive Agent: I’m looking for the escapees.

Fugitive Agent 2: That’s what we were doing...together. Why am I being reassigned?

Fugitive Agent: I’m sorry, man. I gotta do this. I’m just here to pick up my stuff. The road is gonna be my office for the foreseeable future.

Fugitive Agent 2: You saw something.

Fugitive Agent: What?

Fugitive Agent 2: OSI asked for a meeting, and then suddenly we don’t work together anymore. What did they show you? What exactly are they asking you to do?

Fugitive Agent: I can’t talk about it, Fugitive Agent 2. I really am sorry. I gotta go.

Fugitive Agent 2: No, that’s not good enough for me.

Fugitive Agent: Let go of my arm.

Fugitive Agent 2: Hey, it’s cool. We’re cool. No need to give me that tone, or that look.

Fugitive Agent: What tone? What look?

Fugitive Agent 2: You’re treating me like one of our fugitives. You always say that there’s a line between us and them, and now it feels like you’ve drawn a new line, and left me on the wrong side of it.

Fugitive Agent: That was not my intention, I’m just trying to do my job.

Fugitive Agent 2: Your new job with OSI. I read the brief—or what was left of it after the redactors got their hands on it. The Fugitive Service has nothing to do with it anymore. When I said I was reassigned, I meant the whole department. Who are those detainees, and what makes them so important? This should be an open and shut case.

Fugitive Agent: I don’t know what to tell ya. That’s above my paygrade, same as you. I just go where I’m told, and right now, I’ve been told to go in deep.

Fugitive Agent 2: In deep? You’re undercover?

Fugitive Agent: I didn’t say that.

Fugitive Agent 2: But you are..undercover.

Fugitive Agent: You need to stop asking questions. I can’t protect you anymore.

Fugitive Agent 2: What the hell is that supposed to mean?

Fugitive Agent: You remember last fall; those kids from Baltimore?

Fugitive Agent 2: That wasn’t my fault. You didn’t lie for me. It was complicated.

Fugitive Agent: No, I didn’t lie, but I didn’t tell them the whole truth either. Now, I’m not threatening you. That goes to my grave, just like it was always going to. I’m just explaining that I can’t do those kinds of things for you anymore, and you can’t do them for me. You’re getting a new partner. Learn to trust them, and teach them to trust you. This is the nature of the business. We don’t always get to choose.

Fugitive Agent 2: Funny how you always seem to choose, and I always get screwed.

Fugitive Agent: Fugitive Agent 2. Fugitive Agent 2! Come on, don’t end it like this!