Stan Morris - Surviving the Fog

Finally, they were ready to move the floor. But even with kids surrounding and lifting, the wooden floor wouldn’t budge. Depressed, they stood around arguing until Ahmad discovered that the concrete piers beneath the floor had metal straps that were bolted onto four by four wooden posts which were then bolted onto the floor frame. Ahmad crawled under the floor, and he unbolted the posts from the frame. Then, with kids working shoulder to shoulder, they lifted the heavy floor and moved it to one side, away from the concrete piers. By this time it was late afternoon, and Mike called a halt to the work.

The next day, they discovered how heavy the concrete piers were. Mike almost despaired at this point, until one of the boys remembered that there was a steel dolly in the shed. Using the dolly, and with two people pulling and one person pushing, they were able to move the concrete piers over the bridge to the boys’ side. Accomplishing this cheered them considerably, and in the afternoon they moved the walls over to the boy’s side of the river. Once again, Mike called a halt to the work. He wanted to wait until morning to begin the difficult task of moving the heavy floor over the bridge.

Just after they called it quits for the day, Mike had to deal with a new problem. A girl approached him as he was talking with John. Her name was Erin, and she was a beautiful blond and blue eyed girl who was very popular with both the girls and the boys. She was followed by three other girls.

“Mike, we want to talk to you,” she began. Mike discovered that he was a little irritated that she had not called him, “Chief.”

“Yeah, what is it?” he asked brusquely.

“We’ve noticed that you’re only asking certain people’s advice when you have a decision to make. Why is that? Why don’t we vote on these things at Meeting?”

“Because these certain people are people I trust,” Mike responded. “That’s why I ask them.”

“But that’s not fair, Mike,” Erin argued. “You have to let everyone vote.”

“No, I don’t. That’s why I’m the Chief. See, there is a vote taken. Only, I decide who gets to vote. People who have been helping out a lot get to vote. Not you.”

“So how do we get to vote? How long before we’ve helped out enough that we get a vote? Do only the boys get to vote?” the girl angrily asked.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Mike replied curtly. He was tired of this conversation.

“Does Desi get to vote?” another girl asked.

“Yeah, so?” Mike replied.

“She gets to vote because she’s John’s girlfriend, doesn’t she?” a third girl charged.

“Yeah, so?” Mike repeated.

“So is that what we have to do?” said Erin, really angry now. “We get to vote if we have sex with one of the Spears?”

“Yeah, that’s right!” Mike snapped. “Now get lost!”

The girls’ mouths dropped open as they stared at him in shocked silence. Abruptly they turned and stormed away. Mike was just realizing what he had said. He turned to John who was shaking his head sadly. He blushed red, and then yelped when John bopped him on the top of his head with a fist.

“Not cool, dude. Not cool at all,” John said.

“She started it,” Mike whined. John rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, I know. That was stupid,” Mike sighed while rubbing his head.

“Yeah, there’s going to be a lot of pissed off girls at Meeting tonight. Yuie will be pissed too, and when Desi finds out that she can vote only because she’s doing me…” John shook his head in pity.

Mike paled. “Oh, shit,” he muttered. He looked at John anxiously. “Do you think that you could explain to Desi?” he asked.

“Man, I’ll be too busy trying to explain why I was standing next to you,” John replied.

“I guess I should apologize at Meeting,” said Mike gloomily.

“Good idea,” John responded.

During the day, word spread about what Mike had said. As he stepped up to the podium that night, the room was obviously tense. Some of the boys had taken the girls’ anger as an excuse to taunt them. This had made the girls even angrier, and they blamed it all on Mike. The room was abuzz with low angry voices. Desi stood at the back of the assembly glaring balefully at Mike.

“I apologize,” he said immediately. This quieted down the room. Everyone wanted to know just what Mike was apologizing for.

“I apologize to Erin and to the girls who were with her today, and I apologize to all the rest of you. What I said was wrong. I shouldn’t have said it.”

He paused and waited to see what the effect of his apology would have on the tribe. Erin stood up, and she raised her hand. Mike pointed to her.

“All right, Chief, I accept your apology. We know you guys are in charge. We understand why. But it’s worrying us. We believe you’ll try to protect us from outsiders. But… well, it’s some of you guys that we are worried about.” She sat down.

“I glad you brought that up, Erin,” Mike said. “As of tonight, I’m making a new rule about sex.” Everyone got real quiet and real interested. This was one subject guaranteed to get them to listen.

Mike continued. “From now on, no one can have sex unless they’re at least sixteen.”

Some laughter broke out and some chuckles, and some scornful comments were heard, but many of the kids, both girls and boys, were relieved to hear Mike make this rule. This would take some strain off the younger kids who made up over half of the campers. Now they could point to Mike’s rule if they felt pressured.

“How are you going to enforce that,” challenged one of the boys who stood amid laughter.

Mike stared at him. “I’ll enforce any rule I make,” he replied coldly. “Don’t test me.” The boy shrank down. The laughter died. Many of the younger girls smiled.

“I have another new rule,” said Mike to the crowd. They calmed down and waited. “This is it. If any guy forces a girl to have sex, I’ll hang him.” This was met with stunned silence. “Do you understand?” Mike looked intently at a few boys, and each one nodded hastily.

After Meeting concluded, Erin made her way to the front and waited until Mike noticed her. When he did she shyly said, “Thanks, Chief. Thanks for making those rules.”

Mike shook his head. “Erin, I should have made those rules a long time ago. Um… Erin,” Mike continued. “The thing is, I really do try to listen to everyone. But sometimes I, like, poll people when I have to make a decision. And the truth is, if a guy has a girlfriend I usually let her have a vote, even if I know that she hasn’t helped as much as the other girls. That’s just the way it is.”

Erin was not happy to hear this, but she replied, “Chief, I know that the boys helped you more than we did, at first. But now most of the girls are really trying to help, too. We’re doing almost all of the kitchen work now. Don’t you think that sooner or later we’ll get to vote? When you get to know us, I mean?”

“Yes,” answered Mike firmly. “And from now on, I’m going to ask your opinion on all kinds of stuff. I promise.” Erin’s face lit up with a bright smile. Shortly after, she left with her friends. They all seemed contented.

In the weeks ahead, Mike’s authority would be questioned sometimes, especially when he was not around. Once a boy was complaining about Mike, and he asked a couple of the girls why they should listen to a kid who was younger than them.

“The Chief brought Maria back alive,” was their blunt reply. The boy admitted the truth of that answer.

All in all, it was a good meeting, Mike thought. And afterwards, he was able to escape to his bunk without having to face Desi. She would calm down by the morning, he hoped.

Then the next morning, as they prepared to move the cabin floor, Jacob came rushing down from the guard post on the hill