As I stood there, looking to see where he walked away to, Tanya walked up.
“Did you see where Chris went?” I asked her.
“I didn’t see him, was he here?”
“I was just talking to him.”
“Ah, no, I have been watching you for a couple of minutes, talking to yourself, but there was only a child there with you. That was why I came over; to make sure you were alright.”
“A child? I…..” I looked around some more, almost frantic, was I losing it?
“yep, I saw no one else,” She added.
I told her about the brief encounter I had with him, Chris. It is something that will haunt me.
I asked around the fort, talked with a bunch of people, none of them had seen Chris, or even recognized the description, the long hair, the dressed in white. I think they believed I was not all there with the frantic way I was searching. Then it hit me, a voice, his voice, just said, “relax, you’re okay, you know who I am, who I was, and who I will always be.” I smiled, and looked at Tanya, she seemed to sense something else had happened with me.
“Tanya, I know you may think this is crazy, but I would like to visit Helen again on our way back to the camp.”
She looked at me briefly, and said “I think that is a good idea, we were thinking about that before, just to check on her, so yes, let’s do that.”
I spoke with the Major and we decided that I could take the Zoidberg. It was too cramped for carrying 4 so it would work. We had shuffled some supplies and people around to make it work.
(Margo) My task had been pretty straight forward. I was to take the guy closest to me out, and I did. But when Womack grabbed Pam there was no way I could take the shot. He kept moving, and it was too risky, If I hit him wrong, she was dead too. Then, he just went down. I saw her hand go into her pocket, then heard the pop, and saw him on the ground screaming. As much as I wanted to watch what happened next, I had to keep sweeping the rampart, making sure no targets popped up.
We got the all clear message and broke down our position and joined the rest of the group inside the fort. There was a sort of celebration going on, excitement, people clapping each other on the back, and at the middle were Keith and Pam. We did all the work, they got all the praise, I was I was okay with that, I guess.
A little kid, about 12 came up to Code and me, he was looking at the sniper rifle.
“Wow, that is a Barrett, Mk 82, 50 Cal….that’s yours?” he asked.
“Yeah, it is.” I answered.
“Did you use it today?”
“Yeah, we did.” I was kind of annoyed with this pesky kid.
“Thank you, you were awesome!” he said excitedly.
I was shocked, and it hit me, we had done something good, something special, that kid put a face on it. It changed everything.
“Thank you,” I said, feeling a little humbled now.
“Who taught you how to shoot? Someday can you teach me how to shoot? I want to be a sniper, to save people.” He went on.
I smiled, almost feeling embarrassed at the attention. “Maybe, we can see what happens; it is up to your folks.”
Almost as I finished saying it I saw the bullet leave the gun, I couldn’t stop it, too late.
“My folks are dead, Womack killed my dad, and then my mom, she killed herself. “
“Oh, I, I am sorry.” I kinda knew where he was coming from, I had lived through it.
“No, it is okay, well, not really, but I am okay, it hurts sometimes, I miss them.”
I felt the arrow in my heart too. “I lost my mom and family too. And it was hard, but we keep going.” I am not sure he believed me, but then every once and again I am not sure I believe me. Thank God for Code.
His name was Charlie, but wanted to be called “Dead Bane C”, he was a small kid, typical black 12 year old kind of trying to be a rapper type kid with his hat on wrong, and his baggy pants. He hung out with Code and me the rest of the day. He showed us around, and talked constantly. Actually, he talked or rapped constantly. I liked the kid, he was kind of cool.
The undead be walkin’
But Imma not balkin’
Always ready to rock’em
And in the head knock’em
When I not chillin’
The undead I be killin’
And if they be willin’
The bitches I be thrillin’
He gave us a sample of his work, and I could only kind of chuckle, not my music, but he was not half bad. He believed in himself. And that was what you needed to get through where we are now.
That evening there was a big gathering, kind of buffet in the mess hall. Nick does a better job, but then it was kind of short notice, and early in the food producing year. It was a little tight and noisy but it was fun. We would be leaving in the morning to get back to camp.
For the most part we, the Romanica people stayed together, Dead Bane hung with Code and me, and we hung with Del and Lance. I hadn’t noticed it before but Lance had a katana strapped to his back. That was odd.
We all, the Romanicans, stayed in one small area, except for Keith, he was sort of the man in the middle of everything. Pam was with him, and she was looking more alive than I have ever seen her. She actually smiled a little, and laughed.
The get together broke up about 10pm although some of the natives partied on until who knows when. We all turned in, tomorrow will come early, and I was exhausted.
June 2nd.
(Margo) It looks like we will all not be heading back to camp together, Keith has asked if Teckla, and the Major could hang out for a bit, he and some of the others wanted to talk to them about the Fort and what they might do in the future as a community. Ron has offered to ride back with them and so has Fred.
Del, Code, Lance and I have all loaded up the Coyote, the big red truck, ha ha, just thought about that old kid series with the big red dog. We left about 10. Dead Bane helped us and hung out with us until we left. As I said, I kind of like the kid, and I think that he will to be fine. I told him that I would come back to the fort if we had a group coming up for a visit, or to help out.
We were back at camp by 4:00. Mark, Langley, LJ and Chels all came back at the same time. They were stuffed into the Kia that Teckla had driven out with the intruders.
It was good to be home. Code and I talked a little about the events, and Fort Stanwix, but not much, it was good to know that they were there, and that we had friends kind of close by. But we both think that unless there is some serious situation we will probably not run into them again. I know I promised Dead Bane, but, fuel, and just trying to survive, I just don’t think we’ll get there, but one never knows, never say never.
Lucy was very glad to see me.
(Lance) We rode back with Margo and Code in the Coyote, it was kind of a fun road trip, we cranked the music, rolled down the window, laughed until our sides hurt and just tried to let go of all the stress of the past couple of days. We did good.
It was good to get home, not much had happened there. It was back to business as usual. We even had the Fire Pit gathering tonight. We talked about what had taken place, and told those who had stayed behind what had happened. Really, we all had our little parts in the play, but it was Keith and Pam who were the main players.
Master Nick asked me how it went, at the fort. I told him, it was not much of a sword situation, but I had done well. He was pleased.
(Matt) We watched the others leave, the Coyote, the Kia, the Zoidberg, and it was almost time for us to go too. Keith gave Tanya and me the white pick-up he had been driving, he was home and he did not need it he said. We had decided to retrace some of the steps that originally brought us out to Rome. I really wanted to talk to Helen, the Library Lady. I had questions for her about Chris. I think she might have some answers.
We said our goodbyes to Keith and Pam; I knew all along that they would stay at Stanwix. That was what it was all about, this whole mission. I knew that he would become their leader; actually, h
e had become their leader the moment he stepped out of that truck and blew the horn. He was a good choice. He is a good man.
Pam, well, she may have a tougher time of it. There was still a lot of baggage there from what Womack had done to her, and I have to wonder if the vengeance thing may not have added a wound that will be tough to heal.
Tanya talked to her before we left, I think it helped. I tried to get some insights of that discussion from Tanya, but had to be satisfied with “it was girl talk”.
We hit the road about 11:00 and made our way toward Johnstown and Fulton-Montgomery Community College just beyond it. We took Route 5, the more direct route rather than the back roads like last time. As we traveled along, we saw that we had the chance to stop at Fort Plain. We debated a little and then it was the gas gauge that was the decider. Besides, we really should stop to check to see if Linda the Real Estate lady was okay.
We hit Fort Plain at about 3:30, gassed up, without the help of Linda, then headed toward her office. As we drove up there she was, outside the office on her cordless phone. She had her green blazer with the logo and black skirt on. She waved, and with hand signals told us to wait a minute.
“Yes, yes, I will be in the office all day tomorrow, stop by any time, my calendar is open at the moment, I have some lovely properties to show you. I think you will like it, no love it here.” She said into the phone. “Good, good, I will see you tomorrow.” And with that she hung up.
“Welcome back,” she said cheerfully, “I knew you couldn’t resist Fort Plain.”
“Actually, we are just traveling through on our way home and wanted to check to see that you were okay, we had some things happen up the road and were worried about you.” Tanya told her. I just smiled and shook my head.
“Oh? Bad things? Close by? No, no, no, that will not do.”
“Not that close, out in Rome, that was where it happened.” I said.
“Oh, that is better, those people out there, they were always a little ah, different, I always thought that radiation leak all those years ago at Love Canal made them different.” She exclaimed.
I just looked at Tanya, we kind of shrugged and just said “okay,” Love Canal was years ago, and many miles from Rome and chemical waste, but then we were dealing with Linda.
“We really just wanted to check to see if you were okay, we were worried some of the bad people may have come by here and, well wanted to check on you.” I stammered.
“That is so nice of you, I am fine. Would you like some coffee? I just made some.” She offered.
Simultaneously we both said “No”. Tanya continued, “No, we just wanted to check on you and will be……”
Linda put up her hand, clicked the talk button and then began to speak into the phone, “Linda Harris Real Estate, This is Linda, how can I help you?”
She put her hand over the mouth piece, and mouthed “Sorry, it has been like this all day, call after call.”
“Its okay” Tanya said, “We will stop back later when it quiets down.”
Linda nodded, and then spoke into the phone, “Yes, we have a number of wonderful farm locations listed, and some real show pieces. I can show them to you any time tomorrow if you would like.”
We walked to the truck and drove off. We made about a mile before we spoke. “That is so sad,” said Tanya.
“It is, and yet she is in her own safe little world where everything is as it was, wonderful, and she believes that.”
“Still….” Said Tanya softly.
We got to Fulton-Montgomery at about 5:45, we parked and headed toward the library. As we entered the building it was quiet, but there was a smell. It was a wonderful smell, I felt like I was in an Italian Restaurant. We followed the smell and found Helen in the little office dining area.
“Ah, just on time,” said Helen as she walked out of the kitchen area with basket of warm bread.
We stopped, and stared at her. “How did you know?”
“We’ll get to that, I know why you’re here, and to answer the first question, yes, I am fine, thank you for checking on me.”
“I, ah, we, ……” I started.
“Better sit down, I’ll get the spaghetti, we don’t want it to get cold. The sauce is a meat sauce, if that is okay.” Helen said.
“Yes, that sounds wonderful” answered Tanya, she always was a little better at the uptake than I was.
Helen caught me looking around, “No, Sylvester is in the kitchen not in the sauce” she said. I felt a little embarrassed.
We sat down and ate. I was like a kid at Christmas dinner waiting impatiently to be able to go and open my presents. I so wanted to being asking about how she knew we were coming and what she knew about Chris. But I held on.
We cleared the table and cleaned the dishes and then retired to the study room with cups of tea. Sylvester was peacefully sitting on Helen’s lap, purring loudly.
“Okay Matt, begin the inquisition,” said Helen with a laugh.
I flushed a little and began, “How did you know?”
“Oh that was easy, Chris told me. He said you would be here for supper tonight at about 6:00 and that I should have something ready for you.”
“Chris, Chris was here?” I said excitedly.
“Not actually here, but he told me to expect you.” answered Helen.
“I, I don’t understand.”
“Chris, yeah, he is a special one, he has powers, that one does,” she smiled.
Sylvester meowed and turned in her lap then settled down again.
“What do you mean powers?” asked Tanya.
“It is hard to explain, he, well, he is sort of not really in this world. Few can see him, and then only if he wants them to.”
“But we’ve seen him, we’ve talked to him, I saw him at Fort Stanwix just two days ago.” I stammered.
“I am sure you did, but did anyone else see him? No, you are special to him, you both are.”
That one sat for a few moments, what to say, what to think. I didn’t know.
Finally, slowly, “Helen, who is Chris?”
“Does it really matter, who, or what, is it that important to know if he is Jesus, or Buddha, or Allah, Father Sky or just someone you imagine?” she answered.
More silence and a battle inside my mind, was it that important? Does it really matter?
I laughed, “You’re not going to tell us are you.”
“Correct, because you already know the answer, you know the truth and I am not going to spoon feed it to you.” She said with a peaceful smile.
I sat back, I knew, Tanya knew, the answer was obvious, well, the two answers were obvious, the first was who, and that truly it didn’t matter, call Chris what you want, he was Chris. Chris was goodness, all that is hard wired into our DNA specialness that made man his most noble, his best, his closest to God, whatever name you give Him. He was not the character that we see written about or interpreted in the Bible or the Koran or other religious texts. He was the real deal, plan, simple and unfiltered.
“Thank you, Helen, thank you.” I said.
“I have one question if I may” said Tanya. “You said that only some can see him, I guess what I want to know is, is if he is real, I mean, does he really have physical form?”
Helen smiled, “I don’t know, I have never had the chance to see or meet him here at the library. He comes to me in my sleep, in my dreams. I just know he is there. What do you think?”
Silence, only the snoring of Sylvester filled the room. Finally, Tanya said, softly, “I don’t think it really matters, we saw him, or something, and I believe it was ….. I am not even sure what. But I saw something, someone, I felt a presence, but that is enough.”
We sat in the faded light, and then by candle light for a long time, just quiet, Sylvester snoring away, it was peaceful, it was warm, and it was good.
June 3rd
We spent the night at the library; it was good to know that Helen was safe and sound. She had a small bowl of fresh berries for u
s each to have as breakfast.
“Did you sleep well?” she asked.
“Yes” we answered as one, and as I thought about it, it had been the best night sleep I have had in a long time. There was peacefulness in this place.
“We will be heading back today, to our camp, our people. Are you sure that you would not join us?” I asked, but as I did Tanya caught my arm. I realized it was the wrong question.
“Matt, you know better than that” Helen said, “I belong here, and you can come here at need, but here is where I belong, me and this fat old cat, tending to the books and needs of travelers like yourself.”
“Do you think you will meet others?” I asked.
“Oh yes, there will be others, he told me so.”
“He? You mean Chris?”
“Yes, he said there are others on the way, but they are still far off.” She answered.
So many questions, yet they really don’t need answers. We know what we needed to survive, and to start building a new world. Actually, we have been building it; this just gives us a little more to work with. We had danced with religion, now, we dance with God, or should I say Goodness.
(Margo) Back to the real world, no war games, no excitement, just the simple day to day tasks of survival, a girl, a coyote and my BF.
I am a little not myself today, well, actually, I am my monthly self, but the things that Charlene has taught me, the herbs and such help in that regard.
I drew Keith and Pam today, they are people we may never see again and yet, they were part of us for a while. I want to remember them.
(Lance) “Hey Red,” a female voice called out as I was walking back from breakfast with Del.
I didn’t make the connection at first then realized she was talking to me. It was Langley.
“I just wanted to tell you that you did good the other day at the Fort. I had my doubts, but Delany sold me on you. Then, well, you sold me on you,” she said.
I looked from Langley to Del, she had her head down a little, and was flushed. “You sold me with that sword play the other day, I knew you could do it, and be okay, but don’t get cocky, I still gotta watch out for your skinny ass…..Big Red.”
Wow, I smiled for the rest of the day.
The Event Series (Book 2): The Gospel According to Matthew, Margo & Lance Page 24