by Chad Leito
And then, they started to go back into the top of their ant hill. It was the strangest day that I had ever experienced. They walked in a straight line until they had all disappeared. We were left alone holding our new cubes of wood and our satchel. Once they were gone, we were on our own again as if nothing odd had ever happened. With each event of the day, I was further away from understanding what had happened. I didn’t understand why they had taken us, what that weird ceremony was, or what our wooden blocks were for. The more I thought about it the more it confused me.
“They’re funny creatures,” Saul said. We both laughed.
We camped that night in a small clearing with trees and bushes all surrounding us. When we opened up our satchel we found that the huboons had given us some fruit for the road. “Well that was nice of them,” Saul said. Saul and I talked about the day and laughed as we lay down. It was ridiculous, really. I was still a little uneasy about sleeping out in the open about being taken the night before, but again, found no option. Saul said, and I thought that he was right, that the huboons had tested us. The case falling on the guard was a test of our morality. I was thankful that Saul had made me help him and I shuddered at the thought of what would have happened to us had Saul just ran off with me.
The moon came up and Saul fell asleep beside me. Just as I had felt small the other night looking at the moon, I felt small that night thinking about the huboons. There were whole civilizations out there that I didn’t even know about. I looked at the stars and felt insignificant. I felt around my neck and found that the turtle necklace my father had made was still there. I held it and it comforted me as I fell asleep.
12
The Stranger in the Woods
Eight hot days had passed since we had left the farm. Sometimes at night, even though I didn’t go to church or anything like that, I would get on my knees and whisper prayers for Lauren and Julia. I prayed that they were protected. Julia and Lauren didn’t mean to harm anyone, they hadn’t done anything wrong; they just got caught up in something that was too big for them to control. I was often kept awake thinking about what had happened to them.
The morning after the huboons had released us we traveled in what direction we thought was away from the town. Even though the huboons had let us go, that lake scared us. We still felt as though we were too close to the Salyer town, and the Theatre, for comfort. The fruit that the huboons had given to us was eaten quickly but our water supply was preserved by scattered showers. Saul was hungry and he let me know often. “When will we ever find food?” “What are we looking for, Walt?” “Can we hunt or something?” My answers to these questions never satisfied him.
One day, as the sun was high and the day was hot, Saul and I were traipsing through the forest. “We should stop,” I said. “It’s the hottest part of the day, and I need to think about how to get food. Wandering aimlessly hasn’t been working for us so far.”
Saul looked exhausted. He mumbled something, nodded his head, and lay down in the dirt. I looked around in the trees. Birds flew overhead, red and blue ones with fluttering wings. I wished that I could catch one, but didn’t know how. I had seen squirrels and other varmints scurrying around the forest floor, but I had no way to catch them either. I thought about hunting methods that I had seen in the movies or read about in books. I had heard that some people used to hunt with bows and arrows, but I had none and trying to make one would be useless-I had no idea where I would start. Think. Please think. Another thing that I considered was making snares to catch critters that ran through. Again, though, a lack of experience discouraged me and I went back to brain storming.
Barks rang out in the air from behind me. Saul sat up and we looked at each other. His eyes were wide and worried. Barks echoed through the still air again. They sounded like they came from the huge, 160 pound dogs that were around Glen’s fences or the huge dogs at the Theatre. Then we heard another sound, a gruff human voice coming from far off. “Stop ‘yer yappin and calm down, will ye’?” it said.
“Did you hear that?” Saul whispered to me.
I nodded and turned around to see if I could make out anything. Saul stood up and got behind me. We stared in the direction of the noise, but the vegetation was too thick to offer much visibility. “Follow me and be quiet,” I whispered. “If I start to run, you follow.”
Saul gave a grunt of compliance and we tiptoed on through the woods, stopping occasionally to prick our ears up and listen for any foreign noises. The only things that we heard were the occasional barking and the man’s voice. Finally, we scooted up and peered over a tangle of bushes and in between a few trees we saw a house. The building was made of assorted white and gray bricks, the roof was slanted and wooden, and a chimney rose up out of the top. We were looking at the back of the house. To the left was a clay oven and to the right was a great metal cage with a snarling angry dog sitting inside. In front of the cage stood a man. It was obvious that he was a Beardsley by his short stature, thick beard, and wide set shoulders. He was the only Beardsley that I had ever seen, however, to have red hair. His red hair was coarse and curled toward the back of his head where it pulled into a pony tail. His beard ran all the way down to the middle of his torso. He held a cane and limped when he walked.
The dog was barking at him and scratching at the front of his cage.
“Shhh!” the red haired Beardsley told the dog, “Stop ‘yer barkin’. I’ll be back in a few minutes, I’m going to get some fire wood so that I can cook yer’ some meat! Calm down, you’ve got to watch over the house while I’m gone.”
The red headed man then limped off into the forest, using his cane to support his weight while the dog continued to bark.
“You stay here,” I told Saul, and began to tip toe away.
“Where are you going?” he whispered.
“Just stay here, I’m going to try to get us some food.”
Saul looked at me with hungry eyes and then slumped down behind the bush. The man had said that he was going to try to go and get fire wood, so I guessed that I didn’t have much time. I looked over the house. I wasn’t sure if it was empty, but the man had said, “you’ve got to watch over the house while I’m gone.” Even though that was a man talking to a dog, I believed that there was no one else to watch over it. And besides, we hadn’t had food in days and were starving. I was hungry and desperate.
I ran over the back lawn and the dog went mad, barking, snapping, and clawing at the fence that it was in. I ran up onto the wooden backporch and tried the knob to the back door. It was unlocked. I looked behind me and saw Saul peeking over the bushes at me. I motioned for him to stay down and I went inside.
The inside of the house was completely paneled with wood. A wooden pillar stood up in the middle to support the little home. I was in the room that served as both the living room and kitchen. It was a small and yet comfortable room with a bearskin rug, a wooden kitchen table, and a counter with a stove built in. Pictures and paintings lined the wall and a fire place sat in front of a leather couch. I didn’t have to go in far before I found what I was looking for. Two loafs of bread were still warm on the counter. I snatched them and was out of there before I had time to find out whether or not I was right about it being vacant.
I sprinted over the lawn and brought the loaves behind the bush to Saul. I ripped one of the loaves into halves and handed one over to him. I crouched over and looked out over the lawn. I had gotten back just in time. The man with the red hair was just returning, cane in one hand and a pile of wood under his other arm. He was whistling a tune as he went.
“That was close,” I said, and I took a big bite of my piece of bread. It tasted wonderful in my watering mouth. It was just the right consistency with raisins and various nuts mixed in. After I had taken a few bites I noticed that Saul hadn’t started eating his bread. “Why aren’t you eating?”
Saul looked from me to the bread. His eyes looked horrified. “You stole this.”
“Haven’t you been the one com
plaining to me all of the time? ‘Walt, I’m hungry. ‘Walt, when can we eat?’ ‘Walt, get me some food.’ Well, now I’ve gotten you some. Eat up.”
I could tell that Saul still felt uneasy, but his eyes flashed to the bread with desire and he took a bite. A smile came upon him. “It is good,” he said.
“C’mon, let’s get a little bit further away.” We walked about a quarter of a mile away from the cabin and then sat down and each enjoyed our food. The loaves were big, and sharing one filled us both up. I sipped on my water and smiled-satisfied. “That was great!” I laughed in the afternoon air. “Now all that I need is a nap and I’ll be as good as new. Maybe we can even try hunting once I’m rested.”
Saul didn’t respond. I lay down under the shade and closed my eyes. A cool breeze floated over the air and I felt wonderful.
Then I heard him crying.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. I sat up and looked at Saul. Big tears were running down his face.
“We stole, Walt, that’s what’s wrong.”
“But we were hungry! We were going to die!”
Saul shook his head. “That doesn’t matter, we stole and stealing is wrong.”
“But we had too. Anyone would have done the same thing.”
Saul blubbered. “It doesn’t matter what anyone would have done. We’re not them. Stealing is wrong.”
Saul picked up the uneaten loaf and stood up.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
He started to walk away and said over his shoulder, “to give that man his bread back.”
I sprang onto my feet and rushed out in front of him. I put my hands on his stomach to stop him and he looked down at me. “Can we please just talk about this?” I asked. “What if he catches you? What if he kills you?”
“I shouldn’t have stolen,” Saul said, and walked right through me.
I ran up in front of him and again tried to block his way. “Saul, listen to me! This is silly. That guy has a brick oven, and inside, I bet that he has loads of other food. He didn’t need that.”
Saul walked on.
I ran up ahead of him and stopped him once again. “Please, okay. You’re right. We were wrong. I have a compromise. I’ll give the bread back.”
Saul stopped and considered.
“Listen Saul, I took the bread, I should be the one to take it back. I’ll run to the house, put it on the back porch, and run back. He will get his loaf back, and we won’t get in any kind of danger.”
“But what about the other loaf?”
I shook my head. “I’m sorry, but there’s nothing that we can do about the other loaf. It’s gone. We can only make this as right as returning this one piece.”
“And do you promise not to steal anymore?”
“I promise.”
Saul handed me the piece of bread. “How will I know that you do it?”
“I will, you have my word. But if you want to, you can watch me from the bush that you stayed at last time.”
“What if he chases you?”
“Don’t worry. He couldn’t catch me if he tried. He has a bad limp and needs a cane.” I paused. “But if something does happen to me, although I don’t think that it will, you have to promise me something.”
“What’s that?”
“That you don’t come after me.”
Saul shook his head. “I don’t think that I can do that.”
“Please, Saul. Just promise. There’s no way he’s going to catch me.”
Saul looked up into the tops of the trees and considered. Finally, he said, “Okay, I promise.”
So Saul went and got down behind the bushes and I tip toed to the edge of the forest. With the loaf under my arm like a football, I looked around the back yard of the house. There was no movement. The shades were drawn at the house and the dog was snoring in its cage.
I made a break for it. I sprinted in a straight line for the back porch, my legs kicking just as they had those nights under the moon. The dog jumped up and began to bark in its cage. I didn’t stop, but kept on digging my feet over the grass. Just as I was about to reach the back porch the back door flung open, startling me so much that I dropped the loaf on the lawn. The red haired Beardsley stepped out looking angry. He held a rope in his right hand and he began to swing it round his head. The top of the rope made an oval as he swung it; it was a lasso. I slid to a stop and tried to move my momentum towards the other direction when I saw the rope loop over my head and then felt it tighten around my torso. I tried to struggle, but was brought to the ground. The red haired man, although short, was thick and had incredible strength. He tugged me towards him relentlessly and soon I was inside the little home and the doors were locked to the outside.
The man picked me up and placed me on a wooden chair beside his kitchen table. Despite my thrashing, he managed to get me tied up and soon I wasn’t able to move. He grabbed a rope and began to tie me to the chair. He stood up over me and looked down at my face, his beard dangling in front of me. Once I was tied down and the fight was over I grew frightened. The man standing over me had complete power to do whatever he wanted to do with me. My eyes began to water and I resorted to the only option that I was left with.
“Please don’t kill me, sir, please. I beg you not to kill me! I’m a good boy, I really am. I’m so sorry. Please have mercy on me!”
“If you’re such a good boy, then why did you take my bread? What did you take, two loafs?” The man’s teeth were yellow and crooked in his mouth. His voice was low and gruff.
“I was so hungry. I was starving.”
“What do yer mean, you was starvin’?”
“I mean I was starving. I hadn’t eaten in days. I was going to die.”
“Why hadn’t you eaten in days?” the man asked me.
I didn’t know if I should tell him about Glen’s farm, and I was too flustered to think of another story. My eyes danced around the room looking for an option.
“Ain’t no one here te’ help you, son,” the man said. “Ye’ might as well just come out with it.”
And so I told him. I told him about the farm and Glen and about how we were beaten. I gave him a brief outline of events leaving out specifics. Instead of telling him our escape story I just told him that we escaped and left it at that. I left out killing Glen for my image’s sake, and I left out the part about the haboons because it would have sounded too unbelievable coming out of my mouth and I didn’t want him to discredit the rest of my story. When I was done, the kitchen was quiet except for the ‘tic-toc’ of a wooden clock on the wall and the man stared out the window.
“So ye’ were hungry, right? That’s why ye’ took the food, to try to keep alive?”
I nodded.
“If that’s the case, and ye’ took two loafs to begin with, what were you coming back here for more then? Were ye’ still starvin’ after scarfin’ down both loafs?”
I shook my head defiantly. “No! That’s not what happened. I wasn’t coming back to get more food. I ate the first loaf and then felt bad about it. Stealing your food made me feel guilty. So I came back here after I ate the first one and I was going to set the other loaf that I took on your back porch.”
The man paused and gazed out the window once more. “If that’s so,” he said. “Then where is the other loaf? I thought yer’ was bringin’ it?”
“I dropped it when you lassoed me. It’s on the grass out there.”
The man looked at me sideways. “Don’t lie to me, boy. I’m being nice. Don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not lying,” I said. “Go look.”
The man picked up his cane and limped over to the back door. He unlocked it, opened it, and limped out. I closed my eyes and hoped that a stray animal hadn’t taken the loaf or a bird hadn’t swooped down and seized it. When the man returned, he had a big smile on his face and the loaf of bread in his hand. “Ye’ were telling the truth!” he said. He limped over to me with a big smile on his face and tears on his eyes. He bent down and wrapp
ed his arms around me in embrace. He stunk, but I accepted it. I was still his prisoner and I didn’t want to do anything to upset him.
He stood up straight and began to untie me. “Thank you fer’ being honest.”
“Oh, yeah,” I said. “Of course.”
When I was untied I stood up. He put a hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eyes. “If you and yer’ friend are still hungry, come over for dinner. Come around sun down, I’ll have some food for ye’. Good meats and things.”
“What friend?” I asked.
The man gave a sly smile and said, “Now yer’ lyin’. My name is Burl by the way.”
He put it out his hand. “Walt,” I said, and shook it.
“Now run along and if yer’ hungry at dinner, come by.”
I told Burl goodbye and ran out of there. When I came upon Saul he was sitting behind a tree and crying. “Walt?” he asked. “How are you alive?”
I sat down beside him, hugged him, and told him the whole story. “And then,” I said. “The man offers to have us over for dinner.”
“How does he know about me?” Saul asked.
“I have no idea. But anyway, the point is, I’m not having dinner with a strange man who apprehended me and tied me up!” I said defiantly.
Time went on though and Saul and I talked through it. We were truly out of food with no way to get any more, we had been on our own for over a week, and we needed help. “He was just trying to protect his food, he’s not a bad guy.”
“I guess that you’re right,” I said. I was twisting the top to one of the canteens on and off. “And I told him that we were wanted and he didn’t try to turn me in.”
We thought it over and by the time that night fell we were knocking on the front door of Burl’s house.
13
Burl
“Come in, come in,” Burl said. He smiled with his yellow teeth and shut the door behind us. “I was beginning to wonder if you two was goin’ to show up. It’s good to see you, Walt. And what is yer name?” Burl said putting a hand out to shake Saul’s.