Stan Morris - Surviving the Fog

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.”

“True,” Howard said. “But we have to do something.”

“Yes. Here is my advice. Put him in the storage room for the night. Set a couple of guards on him. Call a Meeting tomorrow morning, first thing. That will let everyone know how serious we’re taking this. Let everyone who knows him have their say. And if we decide he’s guilty, then banish him. Let the guards know that if he shows up here again, he’s to be killed on sight. But that’s just my advice. If you’re going to hang him, tell me now, and I’ll get my spear. Otherwise, I’m going back to bed.”

Mike waited. The others exchanged looks and then nodded their acceptance of Mike’s advice.

“Alright, that sounds like a plan,” Howard said. “Ahmad, you and Tyler stick this scumbag in the storage room. If he tries to leave, spear him.”

Mike and the others went back to bed. The next morning, Howard let out the word that there would be a Meeting immediately after breakfast. Rumors were flying when Meeting began. Howard explained the charges against the young man to the community. Jean had carefully scripted the order of the witnesses. The strongest went first. Watching them gave confidence to the other victims. Lily spoke first, and then Diana was asked to tell what she knew about the teenager. Imee was asked to describe her experiences with him. Slowly, the vileness at the Retreat, and the teenager’s part in it, became apparent to all of them.

The boy’s mother interrupted at the beginning of the interrogation. Howard quickly kicked her out of the Meeting. She was taken under guard to the storage room. The boy’s brother sat silently.