Over the course of the week Chloe came to know Armin and Anahita Naptya. They were both in their sixties and had lived there for a while. Armin was the foreman of the local oil drilling complex. Chloe eventually found this out through all the technical manuals scattered about the house. Although not terribly interesting, the books provided her something to do while her strength recovered. She spent a good portion of time sleeping.

After a couple of weeks, however, her strength returned and she grew bored. Not wanting to seem ungrateful, she asked if there was a TV set anywhere, to which the response was “No, no use for that sort of thing.”

When she was well enough she started helping out in the small garden patch beside the house. In a way it was therapeutic. It was like a small part of her old life she now had back.

The Naptya’s bought her brand new clothes as well. Armin began teaching her the ways of chess, and though Chloe didn’t understand it very well, she played a game with him every night, and sometimes he would let her win.

Almost to serve as a reminder of her temporary status, Anahita would make a call to various adoption agencies. And each day Chloe would wait with excitement to see her new family. Anahita would tell her about potential prospects and Chloe would daydream about having a family again. Though secretly she always envisioned not a new set of faces, but a return to her parents, as if they might somehow come back.

However no such time came. Each result led to a dead end, and Chloe would be disappointed at the end of the day.

“It’s not you Chloe, it’s just so hard right now with all that’s going on. You just have to be patient.” Anahita, whom Chloe took to calling Ana, would say.

Weeks soon turned to months. As summer soon diminished, talk of adoption turned to talk of school, much to Chloe’s dismay. Since the nearest town was several kilometers away finding a school was hard. Eventually they found a local grade school for her to attend.

As time passed she became a part of the lives of the old couple without anyone realizing it.

While they were nowhere near as wealthy as the shah, the Naptyas were not exactly poor. Aside from the house and furniture, they had several paintings and rugs that did not look Artabanian. In the living room was a record player that Armin would listen to every time he came home from the oil field. He would listen to not only to the locally popular music, but jazz and classical music from the northern parts of the continent. Chloe knew these people had travelled.

They also had a car as well, which was rare for this part of the world. Chloe had been in buses, but never a personal vehicle. Although it was a sandblasted box of a sedan, she could not care less. There was something very comfortable about going to school sitting in her own seat instead of a crowd. She would have Armin or Ana’s attention all to herself, and they would indulge in long talks as the flat barren Badland scenery raced past, dust trailing behind them.

At school Chloe had much catching up to do. Her classes were much smaller, but she often stuck around after class for tutoring. Though she hated it, she felt she at least owed it to her new foster parents to do well, as they were very strict about the need for a good education.

On the days off from school she would go with Armin to his job at the oilfield. Ana saw it as a way to “get her out of the house,” and Chloe saw it as an adventure. There was not much to do at the old house. First, Armin would take her to his office, a dingy yellowing affair piled high with grimy papers and telephones. She didn’t care for this and soon Armin would head out to do the day’s work.

This part was much more interesting. Armin would check on workers and sometimes do maintenance work. Chloe took this opportunity to explore. The long labyrinth of pipes and towers belching smoke looked to her like a dark kingdom hidden away.

Armin, to keep her out of trouble, would teach her about various parts of his work. Sometimes he would send her on little errands to help out. As time passed he often joked to his colleagues that she would soon be as knowledgeable as him. “We might have to hire her someday!” he would say.

Ana convinced Armin to actually pay Chloe to do small chores around the field. Nothing dangerous, she said, just running errands. Armin thought that a good idea, and Chloe beamed with pride at a job well done at the end of the day. She had enough money to buy candy and other treats all to herself whenever she went into town.

She did not spend all of her time at the oilfield, however. Between that and helping Ana in the garden, she would often take a book from their vast collection, wander around, and sit out among the grass in the plain. The empty landscape no longer daunted her, but now invited her with its solitude and endless possibility. There was much fun to be had with no streets or walls to get in the way. As long as she had her new house and family behind her, her life was complete.

For family is what they had become.