Jennings' Folly

by Thomas C. Stone

  “Sometimes I wonder that too,” Jonah replied and the crowd laughed in unison. Confused and intimidated by so many humans in one place, Kaliis alternately stared at the crowd and looked at the floor.

  Papaw introduced himself, then did the same for me and Toby, who shut his eyes and burrowed his face into my collar. Whether he did it on purpose or not, I don’t know, but Papaw didn’t introduce Kaliis.

  Someone came out with steaming bowls of food and we were taken to a long table where we sat on a bench with Papaw on one side and Kaliis on the other. We ate the stew we were offered and drank a sour tea until we were full. I tried the tea but hated it so they gave me water. Kaliis didn’t touch his food but drank three glasses of the tea. We were in the middle of the meal when Jonah sat down across from us and reported that Aunt Liza was having her baby.

  “She’s early,” said Papaw, spoon in mid-air. “Six weeks, maybe two months, I don’t know, it’s hard to keep up.”

  “Well, the baby is coming.” Jonah looked at me with a wide, open mouth smile. I have since been told by Aunt Liza that particular expression is a clown face, although Liza admitted it freaked her out whenever anyone did it around her.

  “Is she going to be all right?”

  Jonah faced Papaw again and said, “Yes, I’m sure. The midwife said so and the doctor agreed. Do you mind if I ask you a question?”

  Papaw shrugged.

  “Where are you from?” When Papaw didn’t answer immediately, Jonah added, “I know you’re off-planet. I can tell. Everyone in this room can, so maybe that’ll save you some trouble. You know, by the knowing of that fact.”

  Papaw leveled his gaze and for an instant I saw fire in Papaw’s eyes, but then he said, “I thank you, sir, for your honesty as well as your generosity. We are, as you can see, but poor travelers caught up in circumstance on a bad night.”

  “A destination, perhaps?” interjected Jonah.

  Papaw maintained the level gaze and this time, instead of fire, I saw ice as he said, “My son’s ranch.”

  “Oh? Is it near-about, then?”

  “Aye, that it is,” admitted Papaw, “and I, for one, can barely contain myself in anticipation of our arrival. This new baby gives me added pleasure to the task before me.”

  “And what might that be?”

  “The destruction of each and every beastie in this countryside, and when I’m finished here, I’ll go to other communities where the kitzloc, or whatever you call them, reside. I will kill them wherever I find them. I will do it for the good of all, but for myself I will do it until I’ve sounded the depths of my own revenge – and that, most likely will not occur until every last one is dead.”

  Jonah looked at Papaw in amazement. The room fell silent.

  “What is it?” asked Papaw. “If I have given offense…”

  “No, no,” interrupted Jonah. “It’s just that your arrival is indeed a coincidence.”

  “How do you mean?”

  “Our community is plagued with the very creatures you seek to exterminate. Less than a week has passed since two of our young men were killed. Needless to say, it has been a difficult time for us.”

  “Have the beasties been tracked and disposed?”

  Jonah shook his head and gestured toward the door. “The weather has prevented any real effort. A couple of men from the boys’ families go out every day but because of the cold must return every evening. They can’t sustain a hunt.”

  Papaw grunted his understanding.

  Papaw and Jonah kept on talking until I pushed my empty plate aside and laid my head on the table top. Toby was stretched out on the bench beside me, fast asleep, his head in Kaliis’ lap, drool collecting in the corner of his mouth.

  Jonah said, “But you must be tired. We have prepared rooms for you.”

  “Thank you. We’ve had a long day.”

  Papaw tugged at me and I stood beside the table. I didn’t complain when Papaw picked up Toby and followed him and Kaliis out of the room – some people I didn’t even know said, “Goodnight, Amanda” and I mumbled goodnight back, I think. We went upstairs and down a hall to a door that opened into a large room with three beds. There was other furniture but I didn’t pay any attention. I just wanted to go to sleep and then I’d wake up in the morning and get to see Aunt Liza’s new baby. Papaw put me in the bed by the window with bars across it and that was the last thing I remembered that night.

  *

  In the morning, bright light shined in and I heard crunching sounds and voices coming from outside. I rolled over, swept aside the sheer curtains, gripped the iron bars at the window and pulled myself closer to the glass. The surface was fogged so I reached between the bars and wiped a spot in the pane clear with my hand before taking a look. The wind had ceased and the snow had stopped falling. I imagined it had stopped because it had snowed so much it had finally run out. The sky was empty because every spot on the ground was covered in snow. Paths had been blazed by the community’s early risers. Drifts had blown against buildings and in places had accumulated as high as the roof. The crunching sounds came again from below and I saw a woman carrying a bundle. Each time she took a step, the snow crunched under her weight. Walking was difficult because the snow was so deep. Yet, my first reaction was to jump up and run outside. I nestled back into my warm place and looked at the other beds. Not only were they empty, they were still made.

  I sat up and looked around. Only then did I realize I was alone. Never one to lie in doubt while beasties are about (Papaw taught me that), I slipped from the bed covers, over the side, until my sock-covered toes touched the floor. I found my clothes and got dressed, lastly pulling on my prized boots, still new because I always wore space footies aboard Glaucus. Thinking about Glaucus made me sad so to forget about it, I opened the door and went out into the hall. Even though I’d pigged-out the night before, the breakfast smell coming from downstairs was alluring; however, my first stop was in the necessary room that I luckily found next to the stairs. Otherwise, I might have had an accident in front of strangers and been scarred for life. I’ve always been lucky like that.

  Back in the big room with the fireplace and tables, I found Papaw and Pat and Kaliis sitting at a table. Pat was finishing breakfast and Papaw was sipping something hot, probably coffee – that’s all he’ll drink if he can’t find whiskey and as we were to find out, there wasn’t a drop of liquor on that side of the county. Kaliis just sat there, like always. If he didn’t blink once in a while, you’d think he was some kind of over-sized, stuffed toy.

  Toby was on the floor before the fireplace absorbed with a set of old-fashioned, toy blocks. The kind with letters engraved on the sides.

  I walked up behind Papaw and Pat saw me first. He grinned and waved from across the table. “Morning, Sunshine.”

  Papaw swiveled in his seat. “There you are. Thought you were going to sleep all day.” He reached down and picked me up, setting me on the bench beside him. He asked if I was hungry as I stared at Pat’s glass of milk and what was left of a stack of buttered pancakes. I nodded and he got up and walked through an open door, loudly asking if “we can get a short stack and a glass of milk?”

  “Why, shore,” came a female voice. “Did the little girl come alive?”

  “She did,” boomed Papaw’s voice, “and she’s hungry too.”

  “I’ll take care of that. Gimme a minute.”

  “All right, thank you kindly.”

  Papaw reappeared at the door and walked back to the table. He looked at me and winked. “They’re gonna fix you up,” he said. Then he looked at Pat and asked, “Did you tell her the news?”

  “I was just about to,” said Pat, grinning so hard I was afraid his face might break. Uncle Pat looked at me and made his announcement: “Liza had the baby last night – this morning actually.”

  That woke me up. “Oh! I want to go see!”

  Papaw patted my shoulder. “Get some breakfast first.”

  I was so excited I wasn’t really
hungry anymore, but I ate anyway because Papaw wouldn’t ever let me do anything without finishing what I was currently doing. As I ate, Papaw spoke to me. “We’re going to need your help, Amanda.”

  “My help?”

  “Yes. Your Uncle Pat and I are going to repay these people by getting rid of a problem, so the two of us are gonna have to leave you here for a while.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t want to stay here by myself. Unless Kaliis stays.” Kaliis stared but offered nothing.

  “Kaliis is going with me,” said Papaw and I could tell from the tone there was no use arguing.

  “You won’t be by yourself,” said Pat.

  Papaw leaned his big face down to mine. “We need you to help with Liza, to stay with her and do things for her so she can rest. Also, you’ll have to look after Toby.”

  That didn’t sound so bad, after all. I imagined myself holding the new baby. “Is she a girl?”

  “He’s a boy,” Pat said proudly.

  I’m sure I couldn’t hide my disappointment because the next moment Papaw was asking if I wanted to go see him, and Liza, of course. Naturally, I wanted to go and we got up and put on coats over our overalls. The lady who cooked breakfast insisted on watching Toby and Uncle Pat said okay.

  It was cold and I was glad my grandfather made me put on a coat. Outside, we crossed a courtyard and entered a long, low structure built against the outer wall.

  It was the infirmary. Nothing fancy, just the basics. Because visitors in Summit – that’s what they called the place – were uncommon, they already knew who I was. A lady in a long, white skirt and matching pullover told me she’d been waiting on me.

  “Really?” I said, “On me?”

  “Yes,” she responded, “I imagine you’d like to see your little brother.”

  “He’s not my brother,” I told her, “but he’s family.”

  Papaw laughed.

  As soon as I saw the baby, I forgot all about him being a boy rather than a girl. Aunt Liza felt good and wanted to get up but the midwife told her to take it easy.

  “What’s his name?” I asked Liza.

  Liza looked at Uncle Pat before saying, “Riley.”

  “Riley?” Papaw repeated.

  Pat didn’t say anything but Liza said, “I like it!” Of course she did. She’d picked it out. “Riley Ramey,” she said. “It’s got a nice ring to it.”

  And indeed it did. I liked the name. I couldn’t wait to hold little Riley, but the truth was, I got to hold him a lot over the next couple of days. Uncle Pat and Papaw and Kaliis left with some other men right after that and didn’t show up again until a couple of days later.

  When they returned, they carried the carcass of a kitzloc with them.

  Chapter 3

  The parade was the first indication things weren’t so good between Jonah and Grandpaw. Pat said it was their stupid rules against using technology and I have to admit at the very beginning they made us leave the striders outside the gates like they were infected or something. On the other hand, the people of Summit did give us shelter and helped Aunt Liza. But I could tell Papaw didn’t like those people. Could be, it was their religious beliefs. When confronted with rules about God and prayer and stuff like that, Grandpaw almost always disagreed. “It’s not what they believe that bothers me,” he said. “They utilize the rope-a-dope, passive-aggressive, sort of intellectual baiting to make converts. And everybody is a potential convert. Even when you tell them you already believe in God.”

  Anyway, when they returned from their hunting trip everybody in Summit came out to greet them. Liza was up and around by then and we had just moved her out of the hospital room that very day.

  The hunters came in at noon on horses and on foot in ones and twos and threes, waving to people like it was a parade. Jonah and his men rode in first on horseback, a big thrill for me because I had never been close to horses before and I was amazed they could walk and poop at the same time.

  Next came the dead creature hanging on a sling carried by two men who staggered under its weight. Only later did I discover they’d transported the carcass via snowmobile to a garage outside the gates of Summit where they rigged the sling. They wanted the effect of a parade to display the beast en mort to calm the residents and it seemed to do the trick. Jonah waved to the crowd like a returning conqueror. Beside him rode the fathers of the boys who had been killed.

  The creature was as horrific in death as it had been in life. They said it was a chameleon, that it could change its skin color to match its surroundings, but in death, its true colors were exposed and this one was gray with a yellow-beige colored belly. It was carried upside-down on the sling and its diamond-shaped head rolled loosely amid the jostling. The tail dragged along the ground through the mud and snow and I remember thinking that as evil as the creature was, I felt bad about how they treated the carcass.

  Along with Kaliis (who struggled to keep up), Papaw and Uncle Pat brought up the rear of the parade. Spotting me and Aunt Liza, they came over. Papaw lifted me up and rubbed his whiskers against my face. Both looked like they hadn’t slept and the only thing that smelled worse was the decaying corpse of the kitzloc.

  Even though he must have been exhausted, Pat insisted on going to see the baby, so he and Liza went to the hospital while Papaw carried me inside the big communal building. A last glance at the kitzloc revealed at least a dozen of the Summit women closing in with unsheathed knives. Kaliis lingered outside to watch. Bloodthirsty little bugger.

  Papaw took me up to our room while I peppered him with questions about the hunt. He seemed distracted but finally said, “We got the damn thing. That’s what matters.”

  He told me to stay put while he used the gentleman’s facilities up the hall so I did like he told me and waited at the window, watching those women cut up that kitzloc monster.

  It was a bloody business but they made short work of it. Before they were done, I spotted Uncle Pat carrying Toby with Aunt Liza and the new baby across the courtyard. Pat was talking fast so I knew something was wrong.

  As soon as they came in, Pat said he just wanted to wash up and go.

  Aunt Liza shrugged and said, “They’ve been more than good to me. They helped with the baby and they haven’t asked for a thing in return. I don’t see how you can have an attitude after they’ve been so good to us.”

  Pat shook his head. “They’ve got these rules, see, about using what they selectively consider as technology.”

  “You just don’t like them because they’re believers,” she said.

  “That’s not so,” complained Pat as he fished in his backpack and withdrew a memory button. He held it up. “Jonah would croak if he knew how much ‘technology’ we carry on our persons. I got some great video of the hunt and the kill but look at the argument Gary had with Jonah beginning at about 12:24 on the video marker.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Same thing Gary’s doing. I need to wash. That lizard stinks something awful.”

  Simultaneously, Liza and I said, “That’s a good idea.”

  *

  While baby Riley and bigger baby Toby slept in the middle of the adjacent bed, Liza held the memory button between thumb and forefinger and squeezed. Light streamed from the device, forming a simple 3D menu. Liza selected PLAY and placed the button on the bed cover. I crawled behind her and watched as she fast-forwarded the video to 12:24.

  The playback was a night scene but the gadget used a light-gathering lens and a complex algorithm to sort the light, so we still had a good view of Papaw walking in snowshoes alongside Jonah. Pat had hidden the camera somewhere on his person, so he was there too.

  Two men entered from the side. One of them spoke softly to Jonah and after the message was passed, Jonah held up his hand. The group halted. I could see a rocky trail in the direction they were headed.

  Jonah stepped beside Papaw and the camera got closer. Apparently, Uncle Pat wanted to hear what they had to say. They were hot on
the trail of the monster that had killed the boys and it looked as though the men were closing in on their prey.

  Jonah leaned to Papaw’s ear. “Those are Vimbachers you and Pat are carrying?”

  “Yes,” whispered Grandpaw suspiciously. “So?”

  Jonah sighed. “That’s a problem.”

  “Why is that?”

  “We don’t use Vimbachers here. They’re sort of… outlawed.”

  Papaw stared at Jonah and looked at the man’s weapon of choice, an ancient mechanical shooter that held three lead projectiles in a single disposable clip. Not very reliable and just a step up from the crossbows most of the other men from Summit carried. “You’re telling me this while we’re less than a hundred meters from finishing up our business?”

  “I’m sorry. It was just now brought to my attention. I…”

  Jonah was interrupted as a series of shots came from ahead, and then distinctly a lone voice proclaiming all to “Look out! It’s headed your way!”

  The picture changed as Pat took a defensive position. A portion of the display showed the unmistakable long barrel of the Vimbacher. The effect was similar to an old-fashioned video game. Pat picked the right direction to face because the animal suddenly loomed out of the darkness, heading directly toward him. My uncle didn’t wait for an order to fire. His Vimbacher barked a long burst with tracers that pointed the way for the others. The 3D display came alive with light as the beast unwittingly ran into a crossfire while the hunters opened up.

  Before it was over, the video showed Grandpaw stepping up beside Uncle Pat and firing his gun as well. From the recording, it looked like Papaw was the one who dealt the killing shot.

  Of course, I didn’t understand any of it at the time, but as it turned out, Jonah and his people had passed regulations against using certain non-sponsored products, despite whatever need might exist. A little explanation is probably in order here because it wasn’t until years later that I was able to put the pieces together. Simply put, not all colonies were sponsored by one corporation. Colonial worlds were open to any Earthers who could afford the enterprise. The people at Summit were affiliated with a non-evangelical Christian organization who in turn got their money from NeoSpark, a conglomerate of corporations similar to half a dozen other Earth organizations; namely, the Hyde Group, General Electric, Hayakawa, Braithwaite, Nobel AL & S, and Weyland-Yutani. So, Summit was sponsored by a different corporation than the other settlements on Dreidel. The towns and counties had different cultures and different rules. During the hunt for the creature that had killed those boys, my Papaw and Uncle Pat ran up against some of those rules. The situation was a case of organized political correctness being used to cover for local economics. In this case, it was a boycott against Braithwaite that, among other things, happened to manufacture the Vimbacher line of fine weaponry. It seems a small thing, but these fringe colonists come up with all kinds of laws just because they can. In the county where Summit was located, NeoSpark rules.