Locomotion

These past few days, Papa's cheeks have gone hollow, and his eyes grown dull. He's emptied himself out, piece by piece, a shell of what he once was. He goes about his days mindlessly, working the fields and sleeping. He eats, but hardly. And he doesn't say a prayer at supper anymore. There is no God, not after that bastard taking my Marian, he'd say. No God.
Ivan was worried about Papa, and so were Lance and I. Lex, of course, didn't really know what was going on in depth. All I told her was that Papa was upset because Mama was away, and he might not want to talk to her. She accepted this after a few moments of confusion, because Papa had always been cold towards her in the past.
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Lance left.
He packed his backpack and headed off with a hug goodbye to each of us. He nodded to Papa before starting his second-hand Jeep and taking off.
Ivan explained to me that night why Lance left. He said, "We're going to take down the Queen, Theo. And you-" He pointed to me. "-are going to replace her."
"But Ivan," I protested. "I'm only twelve! There's no way they'll let me rule!"
"Yes, there is, Theo." He was speaking grimly now. "Lance is instilling new morals into the people. He's going to make them hate the Queen, and make them love you."
"But why?" I cried.
"Because, Theo," Ivan said softly. "They took our Mama, we've got to take something that's important to them."