Chapter 10
Sherry Birkin had come to accept the fact that her father was not home very often, and in the past couple weeks she barely saw him at all. She wasn’t the only one, as several of her schoolmates also had parents who spent long hours at their jobs, so it was easy for her to understand. Although her schoolmates parents at least slept at home every night, something her father rarely did. On the few nights when he was at home, she made sure to talk to him and learn about what he did at work, to keep updated about his life. Her mother was always so vague about their jobs, but her father usually was more specific. Whether this was because he was less careful when he talked to her, or because he actually respected her intelligence enough to tell her, she wasn’t sure.
While writing in her diary up in her room, she heard the front door close and was surprised to hear her father’s voice. She immediately ran down stairs and into the living room.
“Hey, honey,” Birkin said as he came into the kitchen, where Annette was waiting for both of them.
“Hey, daddy,” Sherry said. “I didn’t know you were coming home tonight.” She ran over to him and gave him a hug.
“I wanted to surprise you,” Birkin said with a smile. “Me and your mom have some pretty big news for you.”
“That’s right,” Annette said, kneeling down so she was face to face with Sherry. “But first, why don’t you help me set the table while your dad gets ready for dinner?”
“Sure thing, mom.”
Birkin patted her shoulder and walked over to the stairs, setting his briefcase and jacket on his recliner. As usual, he seemed tired and weary. Sherry went over to the silverware drawer and took out some knives and forks while Annette went over to the oven.
“So what’s the news?” Sherry asked when her mother didn’t say anything.
Annette opened the oven door and took some mitts off the counter. She sighed and smiled, but just said, “You’ll have to let your father tell you.”
“Is it good new or bad news?”
“Depends on how you look at it.”
Sherry placed the silverware on the kitchen table. “That means it’s bad news.”
Annette laughed at that, but it was one of her fake laughs. She pulled out a steaming tray of casserole from the oven and set it on top of the stove. Deciding that she wasn’t going to get any information from Annette, Sherry decided to hold off on the questions until her dad came back.
She suspected that something was up when she came home from school to find her parents’ bedroom a mess, and a couple half-packed suitcases on their bed. And her mother was even more sullen and moody than usual. Yesterday, Annette barely said anything to Sherry all night, and when Sherry tried to engage her in conversation, she shrugged it off by saying she didn’t feel well. Sherry could tell she wasn’t ill, she was just preoccupied, but Sherry had learned long ago not to try to get information from Annette when she was in one of her quiet moods.
Sherry got some glasses, but the plates were in a higher cupboard and she couldn’t reach them. By the time the table was ready, Birkin had come back downstairs, still wearing his work pants, but with a loose t-shirt on instead of his wrinkled work shirt. He had washed his face as well, and his hair was now wet and combed back..
“How was your day at school, honey?” he asked as he sat down. His voice was slow and quiet, betraying his weariness, but he had a peculiar smile on his face.
“It was okay. We handed in our history projects today.”
“Really? Is that the one you were doing about the Pilgrims?”
Sherry knew her father was rarely up on current events, but it still made her laugh sometimes how behind the times he was. “No, Daddy. That one was like two months ago. This was one about Abraham Lincoln.”
“Oh, okay. I think your mom told me about it. I just forgot. What did you do for the project?”
“I made a log cabin out of popsicle sticks. Lincoln grew up in a log cabin.”
“I didn’t know that,” Birkin said with a smile. “I was never all that interested in history.”
Sometimes, adults pretended not to know something that they actually knew. She guessed that they did it because they wanted children to be proud of knowing something, but it was cheap way to foster knowledge as far as she was concerned. Usually, she could tell when an adult was being honest, or just patronizing her. Her father, who was a brilliant scientist, was being honest this time. It amazed Sherry, because she thought everyone knew about Lincoln growing up in a log cabin. It amazed her more that there was something her father didn’t know.
Annette kept quiet during dinner, as Birkin and Sherry chatted back and forth a bit about school. Talked died down as they ate their chicken casserole, and Sherry watched with familiarity as Birkin wolfed down two full plates worth. Whenever he came home for dinner, he always seemed to stuff himself. Didn’t they feed him where he worked?
Annette had three glasses of wine during the meal, which was more than usual. Sherry noticed it but Birkin didn’t pay attention. If anything, her father seemed more talkative than usual, while her mother was quiet and withdrawn. She didn’t seem angry though, so Sherry was kind of confused.
Sherry and Annette were both done by the time Birkin finished his second helping, and had already cleared some of the dishes. Annette stacked them in the sink and then turned the water on, letting the sink fill up.
“I wouldn’t worry about the dishes, dear,” Birkin said with a chuckle, pushing his chair back. He set his plate into the sink and turned off the water.
Annette paused for a moment and said, “Yeah, I guess not.” She smiled, pleasantly warm from the wine, and dried her hands on a dish towel.
Birkin helped Sherry stack the rest of the dishes in the sink, something he almost never did, and then went into the living room as Annette took the tray of casserole, covered it with a glass lid, and placed it in the refrigerator.
Sherry followed Birkin into the living room. “So what’s the big news?” she asked, taking a seat on the couch.
Birkin set his briefcase and jacket on the floor so he could sit down in the recliner. He put his feet up on an ottoman and sighed, folding his hands in his lap. “Well,” he said, “There’s some good news and some bad news, I guess.”
Annette came into the living room, and leaned up against the wall, crossing her arms. “You might not like the news, honey,” she said softly.
“Well then, give me the good news first.”
Birkin smiled at that. “The good news is that I made a very important discovery at work the other day. I mean an incredible discovery, something totally amazing. It’s what I’ve been trying to find for years now. I’ve been working on it since before you were even born.”
“Wow,” Sherry said. “Is it going to make us rich?”
Annette could not help but laugh at that, and she quickly covered her mouth, as if embarrassed by the outburst. Birkin smiled as well, and said, “It’s more than that, honey. It’s going to change the world.”
“So what’s the bad news?”
Birkin shrugged and looked over to Annette, who just sighed and shook her head. “No, Will. This is your news, you can tell her.”
Birkin pursed his lips and took a deal breath before putting his feet back on the floor and leaning forward. He set his elbows on his knees and folded his hands. “The bad news is that we can’t live in Raccoon City anymore.”
It took Sherry by surprise, and she stuttered, “You mean we have to move away?”
“Yes,” Birkin said. “I’m sorry, honey.”
“Why? Did your boss tell you we have to move?”
“Not exactly. To be honest, I don’t really have a boss anymore. But that’s beside the point.”
“Why do we have to move, then?”
Birkin got up from the chair and walked over to the couch. He sat down next to her and put his hand on her shoulder. “It’s complicated, honey. I don’t kn
ow if I can really explain the whole reason.”
“Try to explain. I can understand a lot.”
Birkin smiled warmly, and Sherry noticed for the first time just how rarely he did that, how rarely he connected with her this way. He wasn’t just a busy person in the background who sometimes talked to her on his way through her life. For the first time in recent memory, Birkin was actually acting like a concerned, sympathetic parent. Somehow, Sherry began to realize just how bad this news really was.
“It’s not that you won’t understand, honey, because I know you will,” Birkin said. “But there’s some bad things about my job that I don’t want you to know about. Now that I’ve made this big discovery, I don’t want to deal with those bad things anymore. So we have to move away, so I can get a new job somewhere else.”
“Why can’t you just keep the job you have now?” Sherry asked helplessly.
Birkin looked at her and just shook his head. “Believe me, if I had a choice, we would stay here and everything would be fine. But sometimes people have to make difficult decisions like this. I don’t want to move away either, but we can’t stay here in Raccoon City anymore.”
Sherry glanced to Annette for help, but Annette merely looked at her sadly and nodded her head in agreement. She fidgeted with her hands and then walked back into the kitchen, probably going for another glass of wine.
“I don’t understand,” Sherry said. “I thought you liked your job. Maybe you can get another job here and we don’t have to move.”
“I know it’s tough, honey. I know you have friends at school, and I know you don’t want to move away, but I’m afraid we don’t have a choice.”
Sherry recalled the suitcases in her parents room and made the connection. “When are we moving?” she asked nervously.
Birkin looked right at her and did not hesitate. “We have to move away tomorrow night. Mom will help you pack up tonight and then you’ll stay home from school tomorrow. When I come home from work tomorrow, we’re packing up the car and moving away.”
Sherry said nothing as a horrible sense of dread crept up her back. She felt as if she was in the middle of a nightmare, and desperately wanted to just pinch herself and make it go away. Birkin held her hand tightly, holding her steady.
It wasn’t just the fact that they were packing up and moving away so suddenly, without any warning at all. That upset her, but at least she could accept it. But it seemed like there was much more going on that just moving away from home. Annette was already downing another glass of alcohol, and Birkin was finally acting like her father. That alone made Sherry realize just how bad this really was. Her parents were scared.
“What’s going to happen?” she whispered.
Birkin put his arm around her. “It’s okay, honey. We’re going to be fine. One day I promise I’ll explain everything, but right now you’ll have to believe me. I promise that after this is over, everything is going to be just fine.”