by Vance Huxley
“No hugging, or I might come over all gay, and then you won’t respect me in the morning.” There was a quaver in Casper’s voice, but he was trying so Harold did.
“I’d be tempted but then Holly would beat me up.”
“Wimp.”
“Fairy.”
Casper sighed, climbed to his feet and rooted about in the broken sheds until he found an old crockery plantpot. “Have you got any water? I used mine on Fury’s eyes.” He was trying very hard to keep his voice under control, but Harold could hear how near Casper was to losing it again.
“Here you go.” Most people carried water while working in the gardens, to save going back in, so Harold had a couple of plastic bottles with him.
“Put it by the pyre, please.” Harold did while Casper put soil in the pot to seal the bottom.
“Do you want a hand?”
“I’m good, thanks.” Harold sat and watched as Casper pulled charred timber from the pyre and scooped up the rest with a piece of battered plywood. He sprinkled water in the pot until it stopped hissing, and tested the temperature of the outside. “Might be a little while?”
“Got nothing better to do.” Harold had already waved away Holly and Alfie so nobody would be disturbing Casper until he was ready.
Casper sat by the pot, talking quietly to it and periodically testing the outside. “That’ll do it.” He picked up the pot and set off for Orchard Close, but not to the door in the guardhouse. Harold soon realised where the big man was going.
“Give me time to talk to the Army, Casper. Don’t get shot over this. Please.”
Casper hesitated. “You already dealt with that. It’s not a problem now, Harold. I won’t go over the line.” He set off across the front of the gatehouses, ignoring the questions from two of the windows. Harold followed because he really wasn’t quite certain Casper didn’t intend doing something drastic. He was even more uncertain when Casper kept going towards the exclusion zone.
“Casper?” The big man ignored him and walked forward, carrying the pot and remaining water, until his toes were almost over the line. Harold winced as Casper plunged his hand into the pot. He did it again and again, scattering the ashes over the line until there were none left. The remaining water washed out the pot, and then sluiced Casper’s scorched hand before he dropped the pot and turned.
Tears were streaming again and Harold wasn’t sure Casper even saw him as he came past. Harold turned to follow and stopped after climbing the wall. At least a score of people were waiting and many spoke or put out a hand, while others avoided Casper’s eyes. Harold didn’t think it mattered, because he doubted Casper noticed any of them. The big man went straight to his home in the back of the guardhouse, and the crowd started towards Harold. Eventually he’d explained enough times and they let him go home, or maybe Holly just told them to go away and took him there.
In the following days the edge had gone off the happiness of summer. The gardens still produced, and still more crops were planted, but smiles were few and far between. Casper stayed in his rooms and wouldn’t talk to anyone, and everyone missed him. They’d all become used to the big smiling man who made silly jokes and always turned up wherever a bit of extra muscle had been needed.
* * *
Harold opened his door to a deputation, and didn’t have to guess what it was about. “We have to do something about Casper.”
“Good luck with that, Emmy. Sorry, that was sharp. I’ve been and tried to talk to Casper every day, and he won’t open the door.” Harold shrugged. “I have considered breaking the damn thing down.”
“We’ve all tried talking but someone finally came up with a solution.”
Harold frowned. “Who?”
“Umeko and Suzie. They both feel responsible for letting Sukie run out. I blame the piece of shit that had Fury before Casper.” Harold could hear the anger in Emmy’s voice.
“Casper won’t talk to those two either.” Casper wasn’t angry at any of them, he just wouldn’t answer. If he hadn’t seen Casper’s unshaven face at the window Harold really would have broken the door down. “It’s been a week and so far there’s no sign of him opening up, except the night he came out and tore down the pen.”
“What do you think he’s eating?”
“The stupid sod is starving?” Harold started forward because the damn door was going in, but Holly put a hand on his shoulder.
“Listen to Emmy.”
“Casper will open the door but not to adults. He’ll open up for kids but won’t let them in, so they take him food.” Emmy’s faint smile was a very sad one. “He can’t bring himself to turn them away or refuse the presents they bring.”
“Can the kids talk him out of it?” Harold frowned. “Do the kids understand enough to do that?”
“They know Casper is very sad because Fury died and they take him presents to make him feel better. The kids aren’t stupid but they’re going along with food as presents and they really do worry about him and understand he needs food.” Emmy sighed. “It’s mean but we can use them to get him out of this rut. To jerk him back into the world.”
Daisy knew that Fury had died. Harold sat with Daisy and helped to draw a special place for Fury because Uncle-Casper loved him. Daisy had even gone down to ask Uncle-Casper why he wouldn’t read stories, only to be told Uncle-Casper felt too sad just now. Harold couldn’t see what else might work. “How?”
Emmy moved aside and Umeko presented a little bundle of fur. “She’s marked like Fury, but she’s a girl and brown.” Umeko looked behind her for a moment. “Suzie is coming as well, and Sukie is going to hand the pup over. We’re going to lie, and tell Sukie the puppy has been rejected and needs nursing, lots of nursing.”
Ten minutes later all the adults involved were watching Casper’s door, all except two from windows and doorways. They were too far away to hear as Casper opened the door, listened to Sukie, looked at the two women nearby and accepted the little furry bundle. Casper glared at Suzie and Umeko, and then towards the hidden watchers before stepping backwards and closing the door. “He knows.”
“But he still took the puppy, Harold.”
Harold, among others, waited. Two hours later the door opened and a scruffy, unshaven Casper headed towards the garage containing the rat freezers. He had a little wriggly something wrapped in a shirt and held gently against his chest. “Sukie told him the puppy needed her feed of minced rat every three hours.” Holly tugged Harold’s arm. “Come on. It might take time but Casper will be all right now.” Harold wasn’t so sure but he settled for being hopeful.
Chapter 10:
Nightfall
While Casper tried to get his head back together, Harold found himself with a bit of a problem because Casper made a superb bodyguard. Especially when meeting nasty sods like the Geeks. “Remember what I said, Bernie, Jeremy? Ignore the comments because they’ll try to wind you up. Are you all right with this, Finn?” The four men sat in a pickup at the edge of an old car park. At the opposite side a wrecked Burger King outlet had been left standing in solitary splendour. Beyond that a wide swathe of ground had been cleared of ruins and rubble, right back to a chain link fence.
“The Geeks will pay well and we need putty and cement. I’ll keep my trap shut, fix their electrics and be out of there long before dark.” Finn glowered. “I won’t stay overnight, not here.”
“No problem. That’s all agreed and we’ll hold the hostage just over the border until you call.” Nobody in Orchard Close wanted to go and visit the Geek Freeks after Umeko arrived. Harold handed Finn a small radio. “They’ve got radios but this way nobody plays silly sods. We know this one reaches far enough.”
“Yeah, these things should reach more than a couple of miles, Trev reckons it’s because of the jamming on all the other wavelengths.” Finn grinned. “Except Barbie Radio. They must have one hell of a transmitter.” He lost the smile. “Here they come.” Four people came from the compound, crossing the open ground towards
the wrecked Burger King, and Harold’s group went to meet them.
Both groups went inside and sat at tables well apart, except Harold and Galileo who sat at the same table. At least the plastic tables and seating didn’t deteriorate even when the rain or snow blew in. “Cheeseburger and fries please.” Harold smiled as he spoke because this time Galileo had come to deal, and he wasn’t quite as Geek Freeky as some of the other managers. The two armed men with the Geek managers smiled as well.
“In your dreams, Soldier Boy. Fair warning, there’s rumours that some of the burgers for sale have rat in them.” Galileo frowned. “The ones we had were in the right packets, but they’d been opened. At least if there was rat, it tasted okay. We’ve been tempted to try some out, though not personally of course.” He hooked a thumb at the two guards. “On those two when they’ve had some of the weed those Barbies are selling to the GOFS.” The guards still smiled.
“We’re happy with bunny and occasionally deer. You know Finn, our electrician, but which one of you pair is the hostage?”
“You know which one, Tell because you aren’t sure the rest won’t trade me for an electrician. Before that, we reckon that house is six hundred yards from our gate.” Galileo pointed.
Harold weighed it up. “About.”
The Geek held up a pair of binoculars. “Almost exactly according to these. Don’t get excited but watch the front wall.” Galileo nodded to one of his guards who went outside and waved. A deep thrumming and clang rang out, followed by a crash as a hole appeared through the house wall.
“Impressive, but a slow way to knock the house down.”
“Ha, ha. That’s our new sniper deterrent. Tell and I upgraded the crossbow and made a giant version. The hole was made by a six foot length of steel bar.” Galileo looked straight in Harold’s eyes. “Caddi passed on your concerns about mystery shooters with hunting rifles.”
Harold kept his face straight. “That should do it. Is that why you’ve cleared the buildings back to there?”
“If Caddi reckons he needs half a mile, we thought this should do it. After all, we haven’t annoyed anyone as much as Caddi does.” Galileo sat back and relaxed. “Does Finn want a hand with his gear?”
“No thanks. He might want to take a few electrical bits from your store in part payment. We’ll sort out the difference those make to the cement and putty once he’s looked at what you’ve got.” Harold turned and waved Finn over. “I’ve mentioned electrical bits. Don’t talk price, okay?”
“No problem Harold.” Finn held up his toolbox and smiled. “Let’s get on with it.” Tell stood up and came over for the exchange.
* * *
Finn had lost his smile when he eventually returned. “Jesus Christ Harold. Can you stop so I can get out and swear, please. If I say what I want to the women will cane the skin off me.”
“We’re barely out of sight Finn. Can you hold out to the border?” Finn could let rip now and probably wouldn’t offend the men in the cab, but not swearing had become a point of principle among the residents of Orchard Close.
“If you drive fast.”
Harold turned up the pickup radio and then smiled. “We might hear the odd expletive anyway.” The Barbies didn’t actually swear on the radio very often, but they did enjoy making up gossip about the neighbours. Caddi’s exploits with various animals had become a favourite. Even so many radios in Orchard Close tuned in to Barbie radio, because they did play almost continuous rock music with an occasional protest song. Just across the border Harold pulled up and turned the radio up even louder. “Number of the Beast, we’ll not hear a word over Iron Maiden.”
After five minutes of stomping up and down and waving his arms about, and throwing a couple of bricks, Finn came back. “That’s better. Now I can tell you with the expletives deleted. Though there won’t be much left then. The Geeks are getting worse.”
“Tell didn’t seem different, though he talked about the weather and the marts and anything but what happens in there.”
“I suppose the Geeks might be the same as always and some are a bit better than others. There were some cracks about Wellington coming to join us because he’s got used to a woman bossing him about. The others are either worse or now its blatant and Einstein just glared when he saw me. Darwin is another bad one, and he brought me an assistant.” Finn pulled a face. “He brought in a lass wearing sod all and told her to hold or pull anything I asked. The guards thought that was funny. I told her to stand in the corner and keep out of the way.” Finn sighed. “The bastards insisted on bringing her along to every job.”
“Was that it? We’ve all been offered women even if not as blatantly.”
“Not just that Harold, it’s the general attitude. The managers and even the fighters aren’t pretending now. The men and women who aren’t in charge are unarmed and treated, well not like slaves. More like…” Finn thought a few moments. “Maybe what a serf would be treated like? All orders and no manners, and the servants, serfs, run about obeying because they’re frightened.”
“The Hot Rods aren’t that bad all the time, or weren’t, or Caddi was but as a windup. I’ll know better next week because Caddi has either been fighting again or his lot have ruined some weapons.” Harold thought about it, but there was nothing Orchard Close could do. “Did you see that weapon, the bar thrower?”
“Just a shape under a tarpaulin that did resemble a huge crossbow on wheels.” Finn smiled. “Even Patty wouldn’t want that, though she might want the latest handheld version. They look lighter.”
“I’ll tell her. There’s already enquiries about knitting and winter is coming.”
Bernie sniggered. “Patty won’t want it if there’s any loss of power.”
“If she does, I’d like the old one.” Jeremy shrugged. “Matti said she’d like to learn to use a crossbow like that, because she won’t have to hide it like she does a pistol.” The last half mile home was spent teasing Jeremy about types of practice with Matti, which seemed to cheer Finn up a bit.
* * *
The Coven and girl club descended on the pickup on arrival back at Orchard Close to see what Harold had brought. “There’s enough putty here to fix up Cherry Tree House.” Susan smiled. “Rob reckons the plumbing isn’t too bad and that would be ten flats if more of the girl club want to leave home.” Between numbers four and six along the border wall of the enclave a long building had, according to Betty, been converted from a nursing home into the block of single bedsits called Cherry Tree House. Many windows were broken, and since the frames were odd sizes any repairs required glass, not complete replacements from houses.
“Hazel might want to go straight there where I can’t see what she’s up to when she moves out. We’d have to make sure the floors are all right but then if a few couples move in we might persuade Casper out of the guardhouse. Living in there with memories isn’t helping him.” Harold smiled. “Though he did have a shave this morning.”
Patty grinned. “Amber is working her puppy charm. She’ll be called porky if someone doesn’t tell him that rat every three hours is a bit much. We need a bit more room in the girl club anyway, for when Hazel and Veronica move in because we’re full again. If any more single women turn up on the doorstep they’ll have to sleep on the floor.”
Liz smirked. “I might take one so I can stay out all night and nobody will notice.”
Harold looked her over. “I can’t see either soot or cream?” He frowned. “It’s not Harvest Festival.”
“Some of us wash occasionally.” Liz preened. “Some practice our fertility nights, oops, rites, on different days to you lot.”
“Hmm, privacy could be handy someday.” Patty looked out towards the crops. “I might take one of those flats, because they overlook the gardens. I could relax in an evening with my crossbow by the open window. Then when some pigeon, bunny or hopefully deer raids the salad, pow, cold cuts.”
“Better still, if you’re bored you could take pot
shots the other way at the visitors.” Sal scowled. “Especially any Geeks.”
“It’s a plan. Between that and your main squeeze wandering about with her cane, it’ll keep them all honest.” The women all laughed.
“Will you lot stop calling her that.” Harold looked at the four smiling faces. “I mean it. That sounds like I’ve got several squeezes, girls.”
“So what do you call her? In private.” Sal opened her eyes really wide. “What does she call you?” Harold retreated because he wasn’t answering those sorts of questions. Though he did smile when his only anything turned up with her cane.
“Real Cauliflower tonight and Sharyn swears she can create a cheese sauce. No wonder you call her the head witch, because that cauldron of hers is magical. It must be magic because the cheese isn’t real cheese, and the milk sure ain’t milk. Better yet, Curtis has unleashed loads of good stuff.” Holly gave a little twirl and laughed. “Cripes, I’m excited about fresh cucumber, peas and peppers.” She hugged Harold’s arm. “And carrots. Fresh crunchy carrots. Maybe it’s all the rabbit we eat?”
“Could be. Though the rabbits don’t seem to spend as much time as we do weeding and slugging.” Harold had been on slug and bug duty again and wasn’t impressed. “I thought all the flowers were supposed to stop the pests?”
“Stop grumping or I’ll set Liz on you, I’ve only got to shout loudly.”
“Not a chance. She’ll beat on me instead of the iron.”
“In that case, you can help me pick peas, a perfect job for a wimp I’m told. Better yet, you can pick flowers because that encourages more to grow, honest.” Harold laughed and went to join the other pickers while the weather held. The mood had improved all round now as the bulk crops came in, and at least partly because Casper seemed better.
Though by evening something else had brought smiles to several faces, and a huge grin from Holly. “Real honey!”
“Calm down. Jeremy just said he followed the bees home. I think he has ulterior motives.” Harold laughed. “I thought veggies floated your boat?”