Trudy and Heidi were baking rolls in the kitchen and sharing a bright green, juicy apple. They took turns taking bites.

“It’s good to see you, Wanda,” Trudy said sincerely, covering her mouth while she spoke because she was still chewing her last bite. Heidi nodded in greeting, her teeth sunk in the apple. Jamie nudged me, trying to be inconspicuous about it—pointing out that people wanted me. He wasn’t making allowances for common courtesy.

“Did you save her dinner?” he asked eagerly.

“Yep,” Trudy said. She bent down beside the oven and came back with a metal tray in her hand. “Kept it warm. It’s probably nasty and tough now, but it’s better than the usual.”

On the tray was a rather large piece of red meat. My mouth started to water, even as I rejected the portion I’d been allotted.

“It’s too much.”

“We have to eat all the perishables the first day,” Jamie encouraged me. “Everyone eats themselves sick—it’s a tradition.”

“You need the protein,” Trudy added. “We were on cave rations too long. I’m surprised no one’s in worse shape.”

I ate my protein while Jamie watched with hawk-like attention as each bite traveled from the tray to my mouth. I ate it all to please him, though it made my stomach ache to eat so much.

The kitchen started to fill up again as I was finishing. A few had apples in their hands—all sharing with someone else. Curious eyes examined the sore side of my face.

“Why’s everyone coming here now?” I muttered to Jamie. It was black outside, the dinner hour long over.

Jamie looked at me blankly for a second. “To hear you teach.” His tone added the words of course.

“Are you kidding me?”

“I told you nothing’s changed.”

I stared around the narrow room. It wasn’t a full house. No Doc tonight, and none of the returned raiders, which meant no Paige, either. No Jeb, no Ian, no Walter. A few others missing: Travis, Carol, Ruth Ann. But more than I would have thought, if I’d thought anyone would consider following the normal routine after such an abnormal day.

“Can we go back to the Dolphins, where we left off?” Wes asked, interrupting my evaluation of the room. I could see that he’d taken it upon himself to start the ball rolling, rather than that he was vitally interested in the kinship circles of an alien planet.

Everyone looked at me expectantly. Apparently, life was not changing as much as I’d thought.

I took a tray of rolls from Heidi’s hands and turned to shove it into the stone oven. I started talking with my back still turned.