“It looks like poop.”
Carefully, he took a tiny bite. His eyes lit up, and he popped the whole piece into his mouth, as older teens looked on enviously. He and Star hugged Yuie.
As Lincoln watched Yuie give the children the precious chocolate, he shook his head. I’m in love with a peacenik from Berkeley, he mused. He asked Yuie to take a walk around the track with him. When they were away from everyone else, down where the river left the valley and entered the woods, they turned to look back toward the village. He pulled her back against his chest, and she lifted her arms above her head, so she could lean backwards and place them behind his head. Lincoln laid his chin on her head, reveling in the aroma of her long, silky black hair, and they stood there together down at the far end of the meadow.
Then Lincoln said, “Yuie, I have another deal to offer you. Here it is. I promise to teach our children to respect and to honor people like you. People who question the government. People who demand accountability from our representatives. People who protest against the government when they think it’s wrong, especially when the government is sending our people to fight and die.
“In return, I would like you to promise to teach our children to respect the people who wear the uniform of our country. I want you to promise to teach our kids that it isn’t the military who make the choices of when to fight and die; that it’s the civilian government that makes those choices, and that the men and women in the military have a duty to faithfully carry out the orders of those civilians. Will you accept this deal?”
Then Yuie said, “I do accept this deal, and I do want to have your children.”
Then she turned, and she kissed him, accepting now that she was in love with this Army man. She had not expected this change in her life and in her attitudes, but she realized that she was happy, even if this was a great surprise.
On the grassy area below the Lodge, Mike, John, and Desi watched the two lovers at the end of the meadow. Desi sighed when Yuie turned to kiss Lincoln.
“I always thought that Yuie would end up with you, Mike,” she said wistfully. She was holding Michael in her lap.
Mike laughed. “I liked her at first, but later she was kind of like my sister. I never even kissed her, even when we shared our sleeping bags.”
“Oops. Gotta change Michael. Come help me, John,” Desi commanded as she rose.
John sighed. “Yes, dear,” he said, and the two of them went into the Lodge.
As Mike looked out over the panorama of his village, he felt intense satisfaction. He took in the golden fields, the running stream, the buildings of his village, and his people. He glanced again at Yuie and Lincoln who, were walking again on the track. He saw Hector and Kathy down by the river, busy as usual, measuring a spot for the sawmill. He saw Howard and Jean talking with Eric and Cody. He saw Rasul holding Diego and escorting Imee into the dining hall, where the fair was centered. Some of his people were not here. Even on a holiday, the guard posts at Davis Brown Farm, Logging Road junction, the hill, and upriver, had to be manned. Then Mike glanced sadly at the three graves, and he noticed that someone had recently placed fresh flowers on them.
Suddenly, Mike felt a strong urge to see Major Collins and Erin again. I could take a walk, he thought. I could go see the Army post and the new post below Evil Hill. The Fog is going down. There are all kinds of places I could explore. But he wouldn’t tell that to Howard today. He would wait a few days. Today was a time for fun. Mike walked down to the dining hall.
Two days after the fair ended, Howard sent Nathan and Kevin to Davis Brown Farm. With them went Paige and Kylie, who had stayed behind when the wagon carrying the others had left. The four rode the bicycles. Ralph had warned them not to dawdle along the way.
Howard needed to send two of the bikes to Major Collins, but he just wasn’t sure how he was going to accomplish that. He wanted the other bikes to be available to convey messages from David Brown Farm to Petersburg. A strong rider using a bicycle would take only one day to get a message from place to place. This would make the horses happy.
The days after the fair were dedicated to cleaning the village. Petersburg needed a good cleaning before winter set in. The villagers worked diligently with few complaints, and when they were finished, the kitchen sparkled, the Admin’s cabin was organized, and the Lodge smelled better. Tired from his part of the work, Mike was unpleasantly surprised to be roused from his bunk before dawn.
“The Mayor wants to see you, Ch… uh, Mike,” Tyler said.
Mike rubbed sleep from his eyes. “Do you know what it’s about, Tyler?” he asked.
“Only that one of those guys from the Retreat is in trouble,” Tyler replied.
“Shit,” Mike grumbled.
He used the Porta Potty and then went down to the Village Office, which used to be Chief’s Headquarters. Howard was there, along with John, Eric, Ahmad, Rasul, and Jacob. The original Spears, thought Mike. I don’t like the looks of this. The oldest teen from the retreat was sitting on the bed, a sullen expression covering his face. Tyler was told to wait outside.
“This clown has been pressuring one of the artists to have sex with him,” Howard said.
Mike looked at the boy from the Retreat. “Is that true?” he asked mildly.
“It’s none of your business,” the boy said. “I’m over sixteen, so I have a right to get laid, even by your stupid rules.”
“He told the woman that if she didn’t put out for him, he would tell everyone in Petersburg what a whore she was. That she was every man’s lay at the Retreat. He told her, she was a worthless bitch, and that no man in Petersburg but him would ever want to touch a used up cunt like her,” Jacob stated flatly. “Those were his words.”
Mike glanced at Jacob and recognized the intense anger beneath his friend’s calm surface, and then he looked back at the boy. He doesn’t know, Mike thought. This stupid shit doesn’t even know that he’s lucky to still be alive.
“Calm down,” he said quietly to Jacob. “We’ll take care of it.” He waited until he saw Jacob relax.
“You didn’t ask Kennedy to be here,” Mike said to Howard.
“No, Chief. I wanted Kennedy to be able to say that he knew nothing about what we did to this dickhead,” Howard replied.
“Good thinking.”
Mike nodded and faced the boy. “Have you been down to the Hanging Tree?” he asked.
The boy became agitated. “I haven’t done anything wrong. I didn’t rape her. I only talked to her. She’s a lying bitch, if she says differently.”
Jacob stiffened and then relaxed again, at a glance from Mike.
“How did we get the evidence?” Mike asked.
“Lily and I overheard him, Chief,” Jacob explained. “We’ve been sleeping out on the lawn in front of the Lodge. So we can be together, you know? We heard her go to the Porta Potty. Then he came out of the Lodge. When she left the Porta Potty, he started talking to her. She started crying.” He gave the boy a contemptuous look. “He didn’t realize we could hear him. And he didn’t realize that I had my Spear.”
Mike gave Jacob a wry smile. “Thanks, for not killing him, Jacob.”
Jacob nodded. The boy’s face paled. At last, he began to understand the danger he had brought on himself. Mike turned to Howard.
“If we hang him, there’s no way the rest of the tribe won’t hear about it. We’ll probably have trouble with his mother and brother. We’ll have trouble with Kennedy. And he didn’t actually rape her. At least, not here.”