To Paradise

The next part takes place 50 years earlier, in autumn 2043. It consists of notes and letters. The notes are written by a man who signs off as “C”, who is writing to someone named Peter. C describes his approaching wedding to Nathaniel, with whom he has a four-year-old child. Shortly after the wedding, C and Nathaniel move from Hawaii to New York; C has taken a job as a principal investigator at the Larsson research facility and heads a lab focused on emerging and incipient infections. C is excited about his new role and the prestige it offers, but he concedes that the move limits Nathaniel’s career possibilities. Nathaniel is a scholar with expertise in 19th-century Hawaiian art.

By 2045, C is less optimistic; his lab is facing funding cuts, and America is at war with China, which limits collaboration opportunities. C is particularly concerned because there has just been an outbreak of a novel virus; the virus was contained, and the incident was hushed up, but C sees it as a harbinger of future outbreaks. C laments that “there seems to be this unvoiced but persistent belief that illness is something that happens over there and […] we’ll be able to halt any future diseases in its tracks before it ‘gets too bad’” (401). Nathaniel has a job as an art teacher and seems to be doing better. A few months later, in November 2045, C reports that his lab has suffered massive funding cuts. C knows how dangerous it is to cut research funding when the nation is vulnerable to outbreaks of contagious diseases, but the general public doesn’t know how dangerous things have been and still are.

C also reports that Nathaniel has made friends with a wealthy gay couple, Norris and Aubrey. Aubrey has an extensive collection of Polynesian artifacts and hired Nathaniel to catalog and authenticate them. Although C is relieved to see Nathaniel building a social life, he also feels left out and jealous as Nathaniel gushes over his new friends’ lavish lifestyle. C describes meeting Norris and Aubrey for the first time; he expected the men to be white but is surprised that Aubrey is Black and Norris is Asian, and he asks if Norris is Hawaiian. C talks about his work, explaining that there have been consistent and increasing outbreaks of pandemics and “how we’re absolutely due for another catastrophic pandemic, one that this time will have the potential to eliminate up to a quarter of the global population” (410). C also argues that swift containment and isolation are necessary when outbreaks occur, even though those measures can be controversial and unpopular. C points out that the public often focuses on how many deaths occur, whereas the focus should be on how many deaths are prevented via containment.

C is unhappy when Norris describes how he became interested in Hawaiian artifacts; C sees this collecting as a form of cultural imperialism and appropriation. After C and Nathaniel leave, C expresses his unhappiness, and he can see how Nathaniel’s friendship with them is going to drive a wedge between them. In March 2046, C attends Peter’s wedding to a man named Olivier. Afterward, C writes to tell Peter that things have improved with Nathaniel; however, funding continues to decline, and American cities are experiencing rations. C is also hearing news from other scientists about a deadly new virus.

By January 2049, C reports increasingly grim conditions in New York as water and electricity become harder to access; less wealthy people, mostly people of color, seem to be suffering the most. C and Nathaniel have enough money to maintain a comfortable life for themselves and their son, but they are alarmed by the inequality they see around them. C (now revealed to be named Charles Griffiths) also faces new challenges with his son David, who sometimes gets into trouble at school. One day, C learns that David ordered syringes online, brought them to school, and threatened other children, saying he was going to infect them with the virus. C becomes enraged and hits David; Nathaniel sides with David and abruptly leaves C. They move out, and C is left feeling more despair than ever.

The narrative resumes in winter 2094. The narrator thinks back to childhood memories of her grandfather treating her with tenderness and care. She also thinks about how he prepared her for marriage by teaching her how to talk to other people and be kind and considerate. The narrator has been feeling somewhat more cheerful but is still haunted by the notes she found in her apartment. In their society, married partners each get a “free night.” The narrator has never known what to do with hers because she does not have hobbies or friendships, but she notices that her husband spends his free nights outside the apartment. The narrator describes with sadness how “every Tuesday, I lie in my bed in our bedroom, waiting for my free night to be over, waiting for my husband to come back to me” (439).

She begins following her husband on his free nights. Since the narrator’s husband usually goes out directly from work, she needs him to come home first so she can follow him. She claims their shower is leaking, so he plans to come home from work to be there when the inspector comes and then go for his free night. When the inspector never shows (because the narrator hasn’t contacted him), her husband decides to go out to continue with his plans, and she slips out after him. She follows him to a house and watches him go inside.

A week passes; at work, the narrator can tell that the scientists have received bad news and are worried, but she can’t glean what happened. When it is time for her husband’s free night again, she goes directly to the house he entered the previous week and hides across the street. She notices a different man enter the same house, and then a few minutes later, her husband arrives and enters. The narrator waits for a while and eventually goes home. At work, the scientists continue to be worried, but she does not think it can be another truly deadly outbreak like the pandemics of 2056 and 2070.

The narrator and her husband celebrate the Lunar New Year, which is followed by a day of mourning and remembrance. The narrator thinks about her father and her other grandfather, who died together in 2066 from some unnamed event. Her beloved grandfather, who raised her, was her father’s other father. The narrator was extremely ill as a young child but ended up recovering; she only has a few memories of her father, but her grandfather was always very loving toward her. The narrator thinks about a childhood event when she and her grandfather listened to a well-known storyteller tell about a man who, 200 years earlier, had given up a life of wealth and privilege in New York to follow his beloved to California. The storyteller didn’t complete the story and was not able to return, so the narrator never got to hear the end.

On the day of remembrance, the narrator listens to a public performance from a storyteller, and a man sitting next to her strikes up a conversation. Although this is unusual and surprising, the narrator finds that she likes speaking with him. He suggests they might run into each other again and asks her name; the narrator says that her name is Charlie.

The narrative resumes with letters between Dr. Charles Griffith (“C”) and Peter, beginning in winter 2054. C describes nearly being attacked by a bear in Central Park; a ranger saves him and explains that that park is going to be repurposed into a research facility. By this time, C has reunited with Nathaniel, and David is nearly 15 but continues to be troubled. One day, C is called by school authorities, who are alarmed by a paper David wrote. In the paper, David describes how a virus called NiVid-50, or Lombok syndrome, has been ravaging New York for the past four years. David argues that blame for the origin and spread of the disease has been wrongly attributed to Asian countries and that the American government is wrong to create containment camps to isolate sick people and refugees. In the paper, David acknowledges that his father, who works as a scientist, “supports the quarantines, as well as the camps [and] says that sometimes you just have to hold your nose and do these things” (478).

C is saddened by the life his young son has been subjected to and worries that Nathaniel does not agree with C’s beliefs. Almost a year later, C sends another letter to Peter, explaining an encounter with two children who were administered antiviral drugs after contracting NiVid-50, and experienced debilitating side effects. C hopes that his husband and son will stay healthy. A few months later, in August 2055, C notes the emergence of a dangerous new virus; by October 2055, C is participating in a multidisciplinary task force trying to respond to the threat posed by a potential outbreak. There is some hope that they are better prepared this time, but C mentions that information gleaned from those events will lead to more drastic measures being taken.

By July 2056, many people have isolated due to outbreaks in New York. Aubrey and Norris have enough money to afford expensive precautionary measures, so David, Nathaniel, and C go to visit them. C still dislikes Aubrey and Norris but concedes that they are important to Nathaniel and have a positive influence on David. During the visit, Nathaniel, David, Aubrey, and Norris voice their arguments that the quarantine camps are inhumane and should be shut down. They swap stories of atrocities, but C argues that the stories are rumors manufactured to create dissent. David becomes incensed and accuses his father of colluding with the government and contributing to the design of the camps. David eventually runs out into the night; Aubrey reassures C and Nathaniel that their security guards will make sure that he is safe. They also suggest that David spend the night at their house to cool off.

As C and Nathaniel head home, Nathaniel asks his husband if C is indeed involved in designing the camps. C doesn’t know what to say. While he is aware that terrible things have happened at the camps, he still believes that they are mostly good because they reduce the number of disease casualties. Distressed, Nathaniel asks C to spend the night at his office.

The next letter is almost two years later, in 2058. Norris has died, and C attends the funeral with his husband and son. C is largely estranged from them. After the funeral, Aubrey recounts a story. During the 2050 outbreak, he and Norris went to isolate at one of their country houses. An old but distant friend turned up; he was close to dying from the virus and begged to be allowed to stay with them. He had escaped from one of the quarantine centers. Aubrey and Norris offered him money and promised to try to get him somewhere more comfortable but were unwilling to let him stay. Then they rushed back to the house and locked themselves in. Ever since then, they were both obsessed with safety and ridden with guilt. Aubrey explains that he is telling the story to show the lengths people will go to protect themselves. He urges David to forgive C for participating in the anti-disease efforts. C wonders if he might eventually reconcile with David and Nathaniel.

A year later, in 2059, C is more isolated than ever, with David and Nathaniel living with Aubrey full time. David is now 20 years old but doesn’t work or study and doesn’t seem to have any interest in the future. Despite their tense relationship, C goes to Aubrey’s house for dinner on his birthday. C is surprised to see that his son has gotten a large tattoo, and David explains that the tattoo commemorates him joining an activist group dedicated to overthrowing government responses to the epidemic. C is hurt and outraged and asks Peter to send him more information about the group, known as The Light. In a letter dated from 2062, C alludes to a forthcoming controversial political event. Due to the work he does for the government, C will maintain power and influence through this political shift.

The narrative returns to spring 2094; the narrator, Charlie, has run into the man several times when they both go to listen to the storyteller. The man’s name is David, and Charlie notes that her father had the same name. David also works at the Farm taking care of plants. Charlie talks with David about her job and marriage, confiding that she and her husband are unable to have children. Charlie’s husband notices that she seems happier. Preoccupied with her new friendship, Charlie has stopped following her husband on his free nights. One day, Charlie’s husband runs into her and David walking together. After they briefly greet each other, he leaves David and Charlie together.

Charlie reflects on how her grandfather arranged her marriage; it was difficult because she was considered undesirable as a sterile woman and the daughter of a man who had been declared an enemy of the state. Charlie was matched with her husband because his parents had also been declared traitors. She was reassured that her grandfather’s promise that her husband would always treat her well. Later, Charlie’s husband asks her about David; he doesn’t mind that she has a friend, but he worries that David could be a state spy. Charlie dismisses this possibility, although she does wonder why David singled her out and continues to spend time with her. David’s friendship makes her consider new possibilities: “I knew I was dull, and unexciting, and that I often didn’t understand people. But maybe I had changed, somehow, without even knowing it” (526).

One day, David asks Charlie about her grandfather, and Charlie is surprised to realize that David (unlike almost everyone else) doesn’t know that she is the granddaughter of a famous scientist. She lies and tells David that her grandfather was a lab tech, like her. Afterward, Charlie goes home and looks through old photos, showing her grandfather when he was young. She is fond of a picture of him with her as a baby, taken in September 2064. Charlie also thinks about how she learned that her grandfather was a controversial man. In school, Charlie learned that new state measures took hold after the outbreak of 2050 and increased after another outbreak in 2056. The new state was established in 2062, and relocation centers were developed that helped control the impact of the 2070 outbreak. Charlie’s grandfather, Dr. Charles Griffith, was one of the key architects of these camps.

Charlie asked her grandfather about the camps. He explained that they were controversial at first, but people came to see them as beneficial because they provided people with a quiet, calm place to die and prevented the spread of illness. Charlie later learned about the claims made by those who opposed the camps and has always wondered which version is correct. Nonetheless, she loved her grandfather and was loyal to him. Charlie also thinks about the stories her grandfather told her about his youth, when people could freely travel, exchange information, and study new ideas. Charlie is curious about what that world would have been like but also accepts that her reality is necessary to keep people safe. She is sometimes alarmed because David seems to question the status quo and express dissatisfaction.

One day, Charlie impulsively embraces David and is hurt when he doesn’t embrace her back. As she wanders angrily, an older woman approaches and offers to sell her a love potion. Charlie considers but then flees, frightened by the risk she was close to taking.