LOCAL ENGINEER DIES AFTER STARTUP COLLAPSE
The article was short. Too short for a life.
Paul Whitaker, thirty-four, had been developing low-cost modular power systems for rural communities. His company had failed after a major investor withdrew funding. He had died six weeks later in a car accident outside Portland.
I read the paragraph three times.
Low-cost modular power systems.
Rural communities.
My hands went cold.
I clicked on another article.
This one included a photograph.
A thin man with kind eyes stood beside a workbench, holding what looked like an early prototype of a portable energy unit. Behind him, taped crookedly to the wall, was a child’s drawing.
A moon.
A row of dark houses.
One glowing window.
My breath caught.
I knew that drawing.
Not because I remembered making that exact one, but because I had drawn the same image over and over as a child. The storm. The generator. The glowing window across the street.
