The radio tower sat high in the Smokies. At the watchtower you could see the Carolina mountains to the east. To the west the rolling hills of Tennessee. June was keeping watch while Bobby and Melissa were cooking their dinner, a caught fish and small greens. A small propane stove still worked here, the tower hooked directly into a government pipeline. One day it would run out but for the group it had provided plenty of meals and warm evenings up in their metal skyhigh home. June saw motion in the woods below and grabbed her binoculars. Out of the trees came Jessie and Ben, their hands entwined. June was slightly jealous of them, finding each other when the options were so few. But Ben was terrible in bed, at least that’s what Jessie told her. But sometimes late at night she would wake to their motion in the watchtower and see the dark shadows moving in harmony. Jessie was quiet throughout, perhaps bored, but June still envied her. 

June had a boy once, until he was mean and she sent him away. Maybe she could have given him a pass but her mother always taught her not to suffer men. She missed her mother terribly these days. She would have liked it up here where you could feel the wind blow thru your hair.
“Sing low, sweet chariot” she would sing to June in her baby days, walking through Appalachia looking for a safe haven, and going from place to place. Until she no longer could walk without pain. And one night while June was sleeping she wandered off into the wilderness and did not return. June held out hope for years that she would see her again, but now the math of fantasy gave way to the reality of nonfiction. 

“Dinner is served.” called Bobby, and a few minutes later Ben and Jessie would climb up and join them. They sealed the hatch below them that led to the long staircase down to the ground. Only they could open it from the inside. It kept them safe. They settled down for the meal, as they did every night. Shared the evening in the Smokies, enjoying each others company, and slept under the stars.

It was a good castle in the sky.