Season 1, Episode 6 - The Tree Plot XXIV - "The Pastrami"

Still mildly annoyed, Isaac walked home with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his greatcoat. Fortunately, the rain wouldn’t resume until later that night, but the sky still had the look of an autumn gray. When he looked at the his surroundings, he saw that, compared to the strong caramels and browns of earlier in the season, most of the trees now stood empty. Damp and soggy leaves crowded the edge of the streets and sidewalks.

Isaac and Reed planned on seeing a movie after meeting with Narragansett Publishers. With that no longer happening, Isaac was placed in the rare position of having no idea about what he wanted to do next. Or rather, there were plenty of things he could do - meet up with friends, read a book, exercise, watch television - but none of them sounded particularly appealing. The bad taste in his mouth put a damper on everything.

Isaac arrived back at his apartment and walked up the steps with weary legs. Wind blew through his air, sending some of it to cover his eyes. As he arrived on the top step of the stairwell, he pushed it off his face and saw something unexpected.

Esther stepped out of Audrey’s apartment, struggling to carry a large black trash bag. When she made it onto the walkway, she stumbled a bit, dropping the bag. As she knelt down to pick it back up, Isaac arrived next to her and leaned over a little to say hello.

“Hey-”

Isaac’s voice startled Esther enough for her to immediately stand back up. Her forehead smashed right into his; Isaac kept a neutral expression while Esther rubbed her beet red face.

“S-sorry,” she offered in her usual well-meaning but weak voice.

Isaac wiped his forehead. “Don’t worry about it. I can walk it off.”

Esther smiled, then went back to picking up the trash bag.

“Hey, I can help,” Isaac offered.

“You sure? This is my sister’s trash…there was a whole lot of it. She likes to collect...things.”

Isaac nodded (in agreement about both helping with the trash and Audrey's garbage rummaging habit), so Esther thanked him and stepped out of the way. With ease, he hoisted it over his shoulder. Esther led the way down the stairs.

“Why are you picking up your sister’s trash?” Isaac asked.

Esther didn’t particularly upset about it. “Um…well, we’re doing Thanksgiving at her place, and…she’s busy with the groundbreaking ceremony today, and peace is important…though the thought of Audrey sharing any sort of responsible for peace negotiations between the Academy and State Police keeps me up at night sometimes…”

Isaac thought of a comical scene involving Audrey and friends going on a wacky adventure to save the groundbreaking ceremony. “I’m sure she’ll be fine.”

As they reached the bottom of the stairs, Esther nodded. “Yes, I’m sure, too…I believe in her. So, if she’s off doing something important, I might as well do something, as well. And it would be great to get the cleaning out of the way this early, since we still have two days before Thanksgiving.”

When they arrived at the dumpster, Esther fidgeted with her hands. “Speaking of that…are you going to Audrey’s for Thanksgiving?”

Esther pulled open the dumpster’s lid; Isaac tossed in the bag. He heard the sound of metallic cans crunching as it landed inside - Audrey must’ve picked drinking soda back up. She probably had a lot of morning coffee remnants in there, too. And iced coffee remnants from Calvin’s Corner - iced coffee was a New England specialty.

Isaac brought his thoughts back to the present. “Yeah, I’ll be there.”

Esther smiled, then immediately dropped down to tie her shoe. Isaac could’ve sworn both shoes were tied before - actually, loafers didn’t have laces.

Esther must’ve realized this since she now busied herself by adjusting her foot inside the loafer. “Um, Isaac, I’m definitely not doing this as an excuse to lengthen our conversation or anything because I can’t think of what to say…but, um…um…oh, how did your meeting go today?”

Isaac sighed and looked away at the gray sky. “It was alright. Worked out for Reed, but I dropped out of writing it.”

That made Esther look up. Her black hair fell around the side of her face, down to her shoulders, as she did. “Oh? Um…I’m sorry…if I should be sorry about it. Otherwise, I’m happy if I should be happy about it.”

Isaac chuckled. “Well, it was my own doing. You could say we had creative differences.”

Esther adjusted her loafer for the nth time. “So, you walked away? But I thought writing was your passion.”

Isaac felt the breeze on his face. “It’s funny, Reed and I sort of talked about the same thing.” He looked down at his fist. “Writing’s just a fun hobby for me. Rddhi’s my real passion. It’s something I genuinely want to make the focus of my life. But I guess I even have some doubts about that.”

“You have doubts about your passion, too?”

Isaac looked back at her and nodded.

Her loafer apparently all set, Esther shot back up and accidentally smashed her own forehead into Isaac’s once again. This time, both of them rubbed the growing tender spots on their faces.

“We should stop meeting like this,” Isaac said with a wry grin.

Esther gave a small smile as she rubbed her forehead. “Say, Isaac…are you doing anything right now? I, um…I was about to take a break from cleaning. And was going to make lunch. And I can make some for you too, if you want to…eat, you know.”

Isaac’s calendar was completely open. “Sure. It’ll be good to preview your cooking before Thanksgiving.”

Esther smiled and nodded; as she turned around to lead the way back to Audrey’s apartment, Isaac saw the smile widening across her face. It must’ve sent a similar feeling throughout her whole body, since Esther looked distracted as she started walking. She ended up walking straight into a pillar near to the staircase.

With careful hands, Isaac placed the band-aid on Esther’s forehead, right over the small cut that appeared courtesy of three head-smacks in a relatively short amount of time. Esther kept still as she sat on the stool at Audrey’s counter, her face flushed with embarrassment. Isaac ran a hand over the band-aid, smoothing it out so it stuck to her forehead.

Once he finished, Esther let go of her bangs; they covered her band-aid completely, as if it was never there.

“Good as new,” Isaac said with a thumbs-up.

Esther nodded and looked away in embarrassment. “Thanks. I guess I was daydreaming.”

The whole head injury, though completely minor, put a little damper on cooking. Esther twiddled her thumbs again. “Say, Isaac…you want to just order something instead?”

Isaac felt for his wallet in his pocket - it’s not like he was going anywhere for Thanksgiving, so he had money. “Sure. What are you in the mood for?”

Esther answered almost immediately. “Something with pastrami.”

Isaac didn't get the reference. “Pastrami, huh…oh, how about some reubens? Piper loves reubens. It’s her only redeeming quality.”

Isaac looked around Audrey’s fridge for a Calvin’s Corner menu, something made difficult by all the photographs, poetry, drawings, and other slips of paper completely covering it. Isaac smiled at the photo of himself, Audrey, and Reed from two days ago, already posted front and center on the fridge. Right next to it was a photo of Audrey and Esther taken from a Cabot Shopping Center photo booth; Audrey had a wide smile while Esther smiled shyly at the camera. Both photos were black-and-white; Isaac mentally filled in the colors and thought they each formed a nice scene.

Esther spoke from her seat. “You…you don’t like Piper?”

Isaac sighed as he searched the fridge. “Well, I guess that’s mean of me. We grew up together so it’s only natural that I see her like a sister, and an annoying one at that. I like to dislike her.”

“Hmm...what about Audrey?”

Isaac’s head flooded with fond memories, ranging from the first karaoke session that truly made them friends to their more recent shenanigans like fighting a microwave together. Her goofy smile flashed through all of them. “She’s like a sister, too. I wouldn’t trade her for anybody.”

“And Reed?”

Isaac paused, and it wasn’t just because he finally found a Calvin’s Corner menu. “That one’s complicated. We have a lot in common and share a lot of similar interests, but she’s just way too much in her own head sometimes.”

“...and me?”

That question seemed smaller than the others. Isaac glanced back at her for a moment, looking small on that stool despite her being nearly as tall as him. He also realized how difficult it was to answer a question like that in person.

“Well…I think you’re nice. I wanted to learn and you gave me some books, so that was nice.”

Esther gripped the sides of her skirt. Isaac wasn’t sure if he could actually believe where this seemed to be heading.

She looked up at him. Her face burned a flaming red. “Um, Isaac…earlier you mentioned having troubles with your passion. Could we…talk about them? I want to change. I want to figure out what my own passion is.”

Even though that was a pretty deep question, Isaac didn’t mind the conversation going in that direction. This was something he could actually give a straight answer to.

Because opening up is tough! Audrey and Reed almost got him a few days ago, after that whole thing with his brother, but to say what was really on his mind was another thing entirely.

Maybe, by this point, Isaac just really needed to tell someone. And Esther seemed like a person who had a good understanding of the mind.

Isaac set the menu down and rested against Audrey’s kitchen counter, right where her New York Minute used to be. “Basically, I’ve realized that I’m not fighting bad guys - I’m fighting people who believe they’re in the right. They’re only in the wrong from my point of view. They’re fighting since they believe in their way of fixing the country. And because of that, I’m not just fighting a one-off thing - if I take down one guy, the next man steps up.”

Images of previous fights flashed through his mind - the final blow against Jackson, the final blow against Harriet. “I’m fighting a belief system. It’s not enough to take down one guy - I need to be able to fight against their beliefs as a whole, too. And that’s not something I can just punch away. I need to be able to fight with my words. And that involves understanding the other side. I can’t just shout my own beliefs and then start throwing fists when they disagree.”

Isaac concluded his thoughts. “Essentially, I need to learn as much as possible as fast as possible. I can’t just accept the government’s version of things anymore. These are real people I’m fighting with real consequences. I need to understand.”

Esther nodded, looking away, thinking things over. “There was a Pre-Socratic philosopher named Parmenides,” she began. “He proposed that our perception of our world is limited since we perceive the world through our senses. The only way to reach the truth, to properly Understand, was to strengthen your mind.”

She tapped on her temple for emphasis. “Learning is the only way to teach the truth. Through the Class system with its 5 ranks, there’s an emphasis for Rddhi users to increase physical strength. Maybe that’s to keep them from properly Understanding.”

Esther always placed an emphasis on Understanding. There seemed to be a difference between that and normal understanding. Isaac also supposed Esther could also speak clearly about topics like this.

Though I gotta admit - I have no idea who this Parmenides guy is. Maybe he’s friends with that Zeno guy.

But Isaac focused - he needed to. Everything Esther said made sense to her. That meant that Isaac, even if he was clueless, could one day understand as well. Perhaps even Understand.

Esther fidgeted in her stool for a moment. “Isaac…I can clue you in a little more. About what’s really going on with the Rddhi. But you can’t repeat it to anyone.”

She had an unexpected edge in her voice during that last phrase. Isaac had never felt Esther to be threatening before. For different reasons, both Adzinoki sisters carried a distinct level of non-threatening to them.

But she didn’t need to. Isaac wouldn’t betray anyone’s secrets. But he also didn’t want to get her in trouble.

Esther must’ve seen his hesitation. “This is something I’ve decided for myself. I want…I want to change, too. You help people but don’t know anything. I know things but don’t help anyone. Maybe we can both change, you know, together.”

Isaac took a brief glance through the window behind her. Gray clouds continued to blanket the sky.

Well, today’s a good to just stay inside and get closer to the truth.

“I promise not to repeat this to anyone,” Isaac said.

Esther sighed in relief. But before she could get started, both their stomachs started rumbling.

Isaac glanced back at the Calvin’s menu. “Maybe we should order first.”