Jules and Wells sat inside the home of Wells, silently stirring cups of tea. Wells offered a lemon slice and Jules too it, squeezed it into his tea, then made a face and tasted his tea. “Bitter.”
Wells nodded. “But good for you. The military doctors over at Dover claim it aides in the body’s defense against illness.”
Jules smiled. “What a wonderful idea. Healing fruit.”
“Lemons are not fruit.” Wells responded.
“They most certainly are. “ Jules insisted. “And with a dash of honey, they become a nice glass of lemonade as well. I have one every morning after I get up. Have a hard time getting oranges these days, you know.”
Wells nodded, then added. “Hard time getting anything these days for that matter.”
Wells suddenly slammed his fist down on the table, startling Jules into spilling his tea into his lap. Jules jumped up and wiped at himself.
Embarassed, Wells got up and grabbed a towel for him. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what made me do that.”
Jules wiped and grinned at his friend. “I know it’s all kind of overwhelming, isn’t it?”
Wells sat back down and put his chin on the palm of his hands and watched Jules silently, then spoke. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Would you have believed me then, when you didn’t even believe me before?”
Wells shrugged his shoulders. “Guess not. Sorry, my friend.”
“No apologies necessary.”
Wells waited until Jules reseated himself, then added more tea to Jules’ cup from a beautiful ceramic pot with golden flowers embossed on its sides. “It’s just damned strange that so many are just up and gone. It’s as if they were pieces of iron drawn by a magnet to some destination only they know.”
Jules creased his eyebrows in thought, then nodded. “I still have no idea where they are either.”
Wells looked at him. “How long?”
“The ship?”
“That too.”
Jules smiled and Wells felt his warmth. “For a long time. Maybe five years.”
Wells stood up, astounded by the words. “And all this time you’ve said nothing to me?”
“Or anyone else quite frankly.” Jules replied. “Look at it this way. We both knew the world was coming to a turning point. But the British, give it the old stiff upper life attitude wasn’t going to save our butts, and the French, let’s toast to success wouldn’t either.”
Wells sighed. “What a dismal world this is.”
“Was. Wells. Was. That’s all going to change.”
“If we live long enough for that to happen. You’ve destroyed one of the ships of the Invaders, but they have many, many more.”
“Yes, but when I find out where…” Jules responded. His eyes hardened and his lips compressed. “When I find out where…” He left an air of malice in the air.
“How do you know they won’t come looking for you now that you’ve destroyed one of them?”
“They haven’t the ability to find where their ship is now.” Jules stated matter of factly. “And quite frankly, neither do I.”
Wells gave his friend a look of astonishment. “But Jules, how in the world can you invent something like that weapon without knowing what it does?”
Mysteriously. “It wasn’t my weapon.”
Another time to be shocked. Wells shook his head. “I am merely a humble writer. This is beyond my experience and imagination.”
Jules put an arm around his friend’s shoulder. “Dear Wells, nothing is beyond you and even less beyond the both of us. We will fight this war together…in our own ways.”
Wells turned to look into Jules’ eyes. “But we don’t know the enemy, where they come from, what they look like, how well fortified they are, how many of them there are?”
Jules laughed with a hint of amusement. “Then we will need friends won’t we?”
Jules nodded his head and Wells turned to look where he was looking. From many directions, young people, just like themselves were stealthily converging on Wells home.
“You see, my friend, we are not alone.” His eyes hardened again. “Our parents may be gone I know not where. Our armies may be vanquished. Our air and our navy, but we are not. As long as one of us is alive, the human race shall not perish from the face of this earth. And one day. One day soon we shall find our enemies and…”
Jules crushes his right hand into a fist. “And then it will be our turn to take the war to them!”
And thus ends "War of the Worlds: Volume One, The Forever Friends
Beginning on Monday: War of the Worlds: Volume Two, The Nest
