Worth Saving

by G. L. Snodgrass

  Feeling a little easier, I fell asleep on one of the large stuffed chairs by the window. I hadn’t come to any conclusions except for the fact that it had to be done, and in such a way that everyone would accept my decision. I also realized that I was setting a precedent about how we treated outsiders, and each other.

  I started reading from the paper in front of me; “Jim Richardson, Tony Skoon, you are both charged with attempted kidnapping, In that you tried to remove a five year old girl from her home and family against her will. Assault, in that when a recognized authority of this community tried to stop your criminal actions, you did resist and cause serious injury. And trespassing, in that you did enter through our gates with the intent to commit a crime. Before you answer, Please realize that the penalty for Kidnapping and Assault can result in a sentence of death. The nature of the execution will be decided by the Judge.”

  Both of the prisoner’s faces turned whiter than a ghost, I think this was the first time they realized how serious this was. The smaller man, Tony, started looking around frantically for some way to escape, or someone to stop this whole charade. Jim just hung his head like a whipped dog.

  “I have reviewed the information of this case, talked to the witnesses, and am ready to pass judgment. Before I do, is there anything you wished to bring to my attention that might impact my judgment, Please remember, any lying, or attempts to deceive may have significant impact on the sentence, or type of execution.”

  “You can’t do this,” Tony screamed. “You have no right. Who put you kids in charge? You can’t do this,” he kept repeating.

  “I’m not going to argue what we can or can’t do, it remains. Do you have anything to say?”

  Jim raised his head and looked me in the eye, “We were sent here on purpose,” he said.

  “Shut up, Big Jake will kill us,” Tony said, his face turning red, I swear he’d have killed his partner then and there if he could have. This Big Jake obviously had this man almost wetting himself.

  Jim shook his head as he looked at his friend, “Don’t you get it, Big Jake isn’t going to get a chance. These kids are going to do it for him.” Turning back to me he said, “Big Jake sent us here with the specific purpose to get the girl, don’t ask me why, he said if we brought her back, we could be promoted out of the fields and into the army.”

  “Why didn’t you just escape, there’s a whole country out there, you could have gotten away so easily,” I asked.

  “We wanted to be in Big Jake’s army,” Tony chimed in, obviously not wanting to be left out of the discussion.

  “Why?” I asked, confused as to why anyone would want to live like that.

  “Because they get everything, the food, a gun so that no one messes with you and the women, when Jake is finished with them,” he said, looking at Susan with a little guilt and I swear lust.

  I looked at my four friends sitting next to the wall. They looked shocked, although Susan didn’t seem to be too surprised.

  “Why Ellen, why a little girl, you already had Susan, why risk it for a little girl.”

  “We don’t know why, only that we can’t come back without her. If we do, he’ll send us back to the fields, or kill us like he did the last guy.” Jim Said, I noticed Tony shuddered at Jim’s comment.

  “What guy,” I asked.

  “Two guys came back and said they’d found the girl but that a third guy got killed and the girl escaped. Big Jake shot the smaller man, right between the eyes and stripped the guns from the other guy and sent him to the fields.” Jim said, obviously hoping that his cooperation was helping his case.

  Mr. Rifle must have been the one to survive I thought, and smiled to myself thinking oh him toiling away in some corn patch. “So let me see if I have this correct, this Man, Big Jake, offered to put you into his army if you came here and kidnapped Ellen. How did you know if she was the right girl or not,” I asked, I hadn’t thought of that before.

  “Because they told us the general area and her age and described her and stuff,” Jim said.

  “Do you have anything else to say?” I asked.

  Both of them looked at each other, desperate to find the magic words. Tony looked at the ceiling and then back to me, “We didn’t hurt her. We weren’t going to hurt her, we didn’t hurt Susan, even though we had the chance,” he said, obviously pleased with himself.

  “No you were just going to take her from her home and turn her over to a sick evil monster, a known rapist and murderer.” I said, shaking my head at their depravity and their obvious cluelessness.

  Ignoring the two idiots before me, I turned to my group. “Do any of you have any questions?” All four shook their head no. I turned back to the prisoners and checked to make sure that Schick/Shuck was ready. “Jim Richardson, Tony Swoon, You have confirmed with your own words that you came here and attempted to kidnap a member of this community. I find you both guilty of all charges and sentence you to death.”

  Jim fell to his knees and was only stopped from toppling by the quick action of Schick when he pulled tight on the rope. Tony silently began weeping. I looked again at the group of four for any objections. Claire looked upset, biting her lip to stop from saying anything. I knew she didn’t agree. I was also pretty sure she’d support me and stay quiet, at least until she could get me alone and really tell me what she thought of my decision. Margaret was white with her hand clenching her chair. She couldn’t seem to look at the prisoners, Susan’s expression was blank, emotionless, as if she hadn’t a care in the world. It was Hector’s expression that surprised me, he was looking at me as if he was expecting something more, another surprise maybe.

  Schick/Shuck were smiling from ear to ear, but both looked a little green around the gills.

  “Impaling? Schick asked a little hesitantly, keeping a tight hold of his prisoner.

  “No, the stake with bonfire,” Shuck interjected.

  “You are not part of these proceedings, you are both guard, please remember that and be quiet,” I said and watched their faces fall in shame. I knew I had hurt their feelings. I needed to make sure I kept them under control for my next pronouncement.

  “Jim Richardson, Tony Skoon. Tomorrow morning at sunrise, you will be taken to the edge of town and executed via…’The Hunt.’” They froze, confused, trying to figure out what I meant. Wondering what terrible deed I was going to perform.

  “You will be taken to the edge of town and set free without shoes or weapons. Given a head start, the grace period will be unknown to you, it might be thirty seconds, thirty minutes, or three hours. You won’t know and really it isn’t that important, because from the moment you are set free, you are under a sentence of death, any member of this community can kill you at any time for the rest of your life and they will not be judged as a murderer. You could be sleeping next to a fire and an arrow from the darkness could pierce your back, and that would be okay, in fact it will be celebrated. You could be sitting down to dinner in some road side inn somewhere and be poisoned at any time anywhere, and that would be all right, in fact commendable.”

  Both of the criminals continued to look confused. A glimmer of hope was creeping into their eyes, “What I am saying is that if you are ever seen around here again, in fact if you are seen anywhere in this city, I will personally hunt you down and castrate you before I slit your throat. Do you understand?”

  Jim nodded his head, Tony started to ask a question, but Jim quickly shot an elbow into his side to silence him.

  “Schick/Shuck escorted the condemned back to their holding area, making sure they are securely tied up. Post a guard at the door all night with orders to shoot to kill if they try to escape.” Both boys came to attention then started pulling the pair towards my bedroom door.

  “And Gentleman, I’d start thinking about Texas, I hear it’s beautiful down there at this time of year.”

  Chapter Eleven

  I spent the next week working on my project, or trying to anyway. The two prisoners had been brought
to the edge of town and set free. Both of them had taken off running so fast that I was positive we’d never see them again. Schick/Shuck had been really disappointed when I wouldn’t let them chase them.

  “I wondered how you’d handle it, A man with your cajones, is usually a real mensch, I didn’t figure you would really kill those guys,” Hector said.

  “Oh I would have if I had to, but I don’t think we will see them again,” I said. “I mean, your guys talk of impaling and burning at the stake has got to have scared the crap out of them.

  The boys seemed to accept my decision and we started walking back to our home. The thought warmed my insides just thinking about it. The farm in the mountains had been a home, but it hadn’t felt right since my father had died. For the first time I was starting to feel all was right with the world, and maybe I’d made the right decision about staying?

  Claire pulled me aside when we returned. Leading me into one of the aisle between the book stacks. She stood there for a moment, looking at me, her hand resting on my shoulder. I know she wanted to say something important, she couldn’t find the right words. She let her hand drop down to hold mine.

  “Thank you Kris, You did the right thing,” she said, squeezing my hand as she stood on her tip toes and pulled me down for a little to kiss me on the cheek. Her lips were as soft as a butterfly and sent chills up and down my spine; the good type of chills.

  She smiled and walked away, her pony tail bouncing with every step. I watched her go, my eyes drawn to the jean clad hips and that circling pocket corner. I had to fight to keep my sanity. The girl never ceased to keep me confused and bewildered

  My special project was a rope bridge connecting the Library roof with the apartment building next to us. They were both four story buildings separated by a narrow alley. The bridge would allow us to cross between buildings without having to go down to the street. The warehouse to the right of us was a six story building, so a rope bridge wouldn’t really work, I’d figure something out.

  Everyone had laughed when I told them about my plans, but I was serious, plus I needed something to keep myself busy. I spent the next few days cutting the necessary 2x4’s into three foot lengths and using a hand drill I found in a wood working shop to make a couple of half inch holes in each end of each board. The work was slow, my left arm didn’t have the grip it should but it felt good to spend the day building something.

  Once I had all the pieces laid out, I started weaving the rope through the boards. I went down through the first hole, underneath and then back up through the second hole. That way the boards would be resting on the half inch nylon. After all the boards were laced up I ran another line from a three inch hawser as thick as my wrist. I’d found it in a boat shop by the river; it was the kind they used to moor barges to a pier. The smaller line looped under the board and then four feet back to the hawser and overlapped to stop any slippage. This pattern created a web that would stop anybody from falling through to the street below.

  A huge sense of satisfaction filled me when it was finished, until I tried to move the darn thing. It weighed a ton. It took the entire group of us to pull it to the other building. When we were done and everything was secured, I felt proud, and I think Claire was impressed. She only looked a little concerned when I made the test trip across. I turned and took a bow when I reached the far side. I’d been pretty sure it’d work, I over designed everything to be on the safe side. It was really really great to accomplish something tangible.

  My project set off an explosion of building stuff, Schick/Shuck built a metal bridge between the Library and warehouse on the other side, they used a part of the fire escape to span the twelve feet between the two escapes on the third floor. Claire was real nervous about their work, Susan of all people stood up for them and encouraged their efforts. The boys would have stormed hell with a water pistol for Susan after that. They spent all their free time working on the project.

  I still assigned chores, sending people out on patrols/scavenges, cleaning duties. Everyone had tons of free time though and needed something to keep them busy.

  Hector decided to go a different way, he built a pulley system out of a huge metal wheel and hung it over the side of the building. His true genius was in tying each end of the rope to a metal basket.

  He demonstrated his new toy by loading a basket on the street with some sand bags and gathering us all on the roof to watch him step off the roof and into the other basket. He’d done a good job in judging the weight because he slowly dropped below the edge of the roof, a big smile on his face. Finally the other basket full of sand bags reached the roof.

  We now had an elevator; everyone cheered and congratulated Hector who accepted the accolades with a shy smile.

  The boys Schick/Shuck were enamored and spent the morning loading the basket with items and taking turns using it. Margaret told them if they were going to bring stuff to the roof they could focus on planters and top soil. She wanted to build a garden.

  I figured it would be a plant or two. She and the boys worked on it for a week, finding all they needed at the huge hardware store a few blocks over. They soon had a dozen planters spaced around our roof, full of dirt and bags of manure standing by ready to mix in. I was happy for Margaret, she seemed to have found something that she didn’t have to be told to do. In fact, Claire had to stay on her to finish her chores before going to the roof and had to call her several times for dinner every night.

  “What are you going to do about water,” I asked one night.

  “We have some ideas,” she said, shooting Hector a glance.

  I looked at people around that table and smiled thinking what my father would have said about getting involved. Everyone was busy talking and passing plates of food. Claire had made a rabbit chilly with beans and homemade tortillas and some instant lemonade. I caught her eye and smiled my appreciation, she blushed a little and quickly turned to Ellen and told her to stop talking to Jenny and finish her dinner. Ellen looked surprised; she’d been eating fine, and was confused by Claire sudden attention.

  Sighing with contentment, I cleared my throat to get everyone’s attention. “I wanted to thank everyone for their hard work over the last few weeks; you guys have been doing a great job. I think we should take tomorrow off, have some fun.” The boys look bewildered, they had fun every day.

  Everyone else was on the edge of their seats waiting for me. “I don’t know about you, but I’m going swimming in the river,” I said.

  ‘Me too’s’ and ‘Can I go’s’ erupted around the table,

  “Is it safe?” Claire asked.

  “Yea, there’s a place where a barge crashed into a pier making a great breakwater. There’s a nice calm spot,” I said, looking at her hopefully, I knew everyone else would want to go. It was Claire I wanted to get away, she worked harder than everyone else. Whenever I tried to shift some of the load she refused, saying she got bored.

  Our eyes locked, I was sure she knew what I was up to. She smiled and said, “If we’re going to go swimming, then that means we’ll have to go shopping first.”

  There were a couple squeals from the two littlest girls and a big smile from both Margaret and Susan.

  “Why do you need to go shopping? Cut off some jeans and you’re ready to go.” Schick said.

  “No, we have to go shopping,” Jenny said, and that settled the matter.

  The next morning found us four guys sat around twiddling our thumbs while we waited for the girls to return. I was getting ready to send out a search party when they came back from their shopping trip, all giggly and happy with themselves. They were all wearing shorts and matching tank tops, Jenny wanted to show us their swim suites, Susan stopped her and said it could wait until we got to the river.

  I was pretty sure that we didn’t have to worry about a dog attack, there was too many of us, but I wasn’t taking any chances. I put Hector in the lead and the boys on either side, each with a fully cocked and loaded crossbow. I brought up the rear wh
ere I could keep an eye one everyone, shepherding them along. Claire carried a picnic basket and the other girls carried blankets and towels.

  The park smelled of summer, green grass and hot humid air. The sounds of cicadas and crickets buzzed through the trees blocking out any gentle voices more than a few feet away. Jenny and Ellen held hands and skipped down the path behind Hector, Susan and Margaret where laughing at some shared secret. Shuck smiled at something Jenny yelled back to the group but kept his eyes peeled for danger.

  Claire was quiet, more so than normal, she kept glancing back t at me, I could tell she was worried about something, but had no idea what it could be. Life was going great.

  The park path meandered down to the river’s edge. A big rusting barge blocked forty feet of river where it had toppled a small marina pier, creating a tranquil pool in the larger flowing waters. It looked cool and tempting and perfect for our needs. The old wooden pier had collapsed on one side with a lamp post hanging out over the deeper parts.

  Ellen squealed and started running for the water, Claire yelled for her to stop and come back and get sun screen. The little girl stomped her feet as she marched back to the group of us.

  “You didn’t even show Kris your new swim suit,” Claire said.

  Ellen smiled and twirled and accepted my praise as if it was her due. Jenny showed off her yellow one piece and laughed when Shuck whistled. Claire grabbed both girls and liberally lathered them with heavy sun screen telling Jenny to be sure to keep an eye on Ellen and neither of them was allowed to go too deep. The girls turned and ran to the river. I saw Claire relax a little when Margaret joined them.