Timescape Chapter 43

1998

• Peterson rolls up to his farmhouse. For years, he's been preparing the place, reinforcing the walls, stocking up on food, furnishing the place with his comforts. The farmhouse has become a fort ready to withstand any assault—be it time, nature, or other people.
• For a moment, he wonders if he should have brought Sarah or even Marjorie, but he ultimately decides that the person he would really need here is someone like Markham.
• A man from the village approaches, noticing Peterson has returned.
• The village man brings bacon and dried beef, but when Peterson tries to put it on the account, the man says he wants payment in vegetables and tinned goods.
• Peterson detects an edge in his voice.
• Inside, Peterson has tea with his dementia-suffering aunt and reticent uncle.
• Afterward, Peterson goes to the library and has a cigar. He thinks back to the village man and realizes that beneath the civilized niceties there was a clear threat: food for security.
• Peterson realizes that now that he is here, he cannot leave.