Chapter 26: California

At the hospital, Kate figured the doctors already knew Eva wouldn’t make it through the night. She was approached by a man only minutes after Eva’s passing, with options on which airliners she could use to transport her sister back to California.

Kate was on a flight within the hour, headed back west before the sun came up. The last thing she remembered was looking out the window and staring in awe at the moon once the jet made it above the clouds. Kate opened her eyes to a flight attendant gently shaking her awake.

The first thing she noticed when she exited the plane was how warm and sunny it was. Most considered the weather pleasant, bright skies combined with mild heat in early winter being the preference of nearly all the people who lived there.

Kate removed her coat, sweater and cardigan and stuffed what she could into her backpack and strung the rest through one of the straps.