Tim Jamieson expected Wendy Gullickson home from Columbia for supper, but she called to say she would stay overnight for a final meeting about Fairlee County law enforcement. Tim hoped everything at the farm was fine and cooked a large pot of spaghetti. Luke Ellis prepared a Bolognese sauce, and Kalisha Benson and Nicky Wilholm made a salad. Annie Ledoux withdrew as she often did and did not join the group.

The meal was warm and lively, with laughter and conversation. As Tim brought out a Pepperidge Farm cake, he saw Kalisha crying while Luke and Nicky silently comforted her. Their quiet and inward looks suggested they were wrestling with their own doubts as well.

Kalisha voiced her fear that the man calling himself Bill Smith might have been right: if the group did not return to the Institute’s mission, the world could end in months or years, and the blame would be on them. Luke insisted he was not wrong, arguing he was better at the math than the Institute’s experts and accusing the organization of magical thinking. When Kalisha pressed that Luke himself was uncertain, Luke did not deny it, silently acknowledging his doubt.

Kalisha turned to Tim, asking who would bear responsibility if even one catastrophe were real. Tim hesitated under the weight of influencing their futures but recognized they were looking to him as the adult. He told them the visitor had come to poison their lives, not to warn them, and that the burden was not on them.

Tim wiped Kalisha’s tears and affirmed that the children had used love and wits to survive and that survival was their essential human accomplishment. He urged them to move forward and suggested they have cake, gently closing the moment of crisis and restoring a sense of calm.