And The Children Shall Lead

by Michael J. Bowler

  Over the ensuing weeks, it became more obvious to other knights that Kai and Dakota had become a couple, though the Indians were not the least bit demonstrative in public. But the looks they directed at one another spoke the truth for all to see, and Lance was proud that no one paid it any attention. Those who knew the boys well congratulated them, especially Esteban and Reyna. She kept saying they were almost as cute a couple as Lance and Ricky, embarrassing all four boys each time she did.

  With the Congress in Washington off for Christmas break, Lance and his team focused on their supporters in key states that had freshman senators or representatives beginning their terms in January. And the boys began setting up their back-up plan that would begin in April if Congress displayed further unwillingness to cooperate. Thus far, the response from kids country wide was very enthusiastic. By April they should have more than enough participation to rock the vote big time, and show this country where the real power lay.

  Christmas was just the family, and they liked it that way. Justin and his parents had been invited by Bridget to her house for Christmas dinner, and Ryan insisted Gibson go with his family. New Camelot had more than enough protection to spare them for one day. Darnell and Techie, who more often than not remained at New Camelot now that they were eighteen, had gone home to their moms for the holiday and would return in a couple of days. Reyna was shocked when her parents had called Esteban’s mom and invited her, Rosa and Este to their home for Christmas dinner, and so they were absent too.

  Other than the omnipresent Secret Service agents, it was only Arthur, Jenny, Lance, Ricky, Chris, Kai, Dakota, Merlin, and Ryan for Christmas, and, despite loving all the others dearly, Lance found it to be his best Christmas ever. Midnight mass filled his heart with peace and hope, while the day itself was quiet and relaxed. There were lots of presents to open in the morning and a wrapping paper fight between Lance and Ricky that Chris happily joined into, setting everyone to laughing.

  The family gathered in the Throne Room before dinner to watch Jenny’s favorite movie, “It’s A Wonderful Life.” None of the kids, and needless to say Arthur or Merlin, had ever seen it, and despite the fact that it was “In black and white,” as Ricky had exclaimed like it was the worst crime in the world, the whole family loved it.

  The heartfelt message about everyone’s life having meaning and purpose struck a cord with Lance, and with Dakota. Both boys realized that, despite their past failures and perceived weaknesses, much good would not be in existence had they never been born.

  Dinner was filled with laughter and love. Dakota smiled more and even laughed at Kai’s lame jokes. He seemed so much more relaxed as to almost be a new person.

  The day came to a peaceful and joyous close, despite the tiny fear creeping up Lance’s back that this might, in fact, be his final Christmas on earth.

  †††

  During this period of time, from Thanksgiving into the New Year, Lance and Ricky put a lot of extra time into their senior year schoolwork. The plan was to begin traveling the country in June when the climate would be more hospitable in the northern and eastern states, so the boys wanted to have their diplomas by then.

  While completing their spring course load, Reyna, Esteban, Justin and Darnell already set in motion plans to take online college courses for the fall semester in anticipation of their traveling with Arthur. Justin was taking prerequisites in criminology. Despite feeling disdain for his father’s profession as a boy, he had decided that he, too, wanted to be a police officer, but a good one like his dad and Ryan, not like the ones who’d beat up Lance and harassed kids. Darnell, on the other hand, had his sights set on being a general contractor and owning his own business some day. He’d learned so much during the Cleanup Tour throughout the city about repair work and construction that he’d fallen in love with it.

  Reyna, who insisted on organizing the entire tour, sat with Lance and Ricky and plotted their zigzagging route across the country, south to north to south to north until they hit New England. After that, it would be straight back to Washington, D.C. They would use the bus Arthur had taken around California during the prop campaign, and be accompanied by several Secret Service vehicles. Reyna then set about finagling deals with hotel chains in every state they’d visit. Most were ecstatic to welcome Arthur and his knights, especially the world-famous Boy Who Came Back. Every venue offered substantial discounts on both rooms and amenities just for the bragging rights and inherent publicity they’d generate from hosting such high profile guests. However, to maintain a closer relationship to middle-class America, Arthur decided not to stay in high-end hotels, but those considered more affordable to regular citizens. As plotted, they’d be on the road from June till the end of October, and Reyna was stoked with excitement.

  The “Once Upon a Time in America” tour, as she’d dubbed it, would consist of herself, Arthur, Jenny, Lance, Ricky, Chris, Dakota, Kai, Esteban, Justin, Darnell, Techie, Sylvia, Merlin, Ryan and Gibson. Sylvia insisted her mother would allow her to go as long as she kept up with her schoolwork, and Reyna agreed. Ryan, as a deputized federal agent directly accountable to the president had to go, but Gibson needed special permission, and handily got it from Mayor Soto and Chief Murphy.

  The biggest development around this time was Helen’s promotion – she’d been hired by ABC network news as a national correspondent and would be the sole embedded journalist recording every facet of Arthur’s tour. She would have her own truck, and managed to talk ABC into hiring Charlie, her favorite cameraman, for the journey. As the journalist most prominently associated with New Camelot, Helen had been covering the crusade since day one and Lance was stunned she hadn’t gone national long before. When she told Arthur and the others the good news, she especially grinned at Lance.

  “I owe it all to you,” she said warmly, reaching out to hug the boy gratefully. Having always loved this lady and her integrity, Lance hugged her right back. When she released him and stepped back, she stood a moment in awed silence, giving his face and height and size a searching look. “You’re not a boy anymore, Lance.” Her tone sounded wistful, yet she smiled anyway. “But you’re still beautiful.”

  Lance mock groaned, and then grinned his thanks at her compliment.

  †††

  Over the next few weeks, Lance and Ricky noted the skittish devotion Dakota and Kai showed toward one another. Despite them being a year older, Lance knew neither boy had ever been in a serious relationship before, so the experience was new, exciting, and uncertain.

  One night in late January, the two entered Lance’s room holding hands as they usually did when no one but the other two boys were looking. Lance and Ricky were reading Paradise Lost on Lance’s bed, Lance sitting back as usual with Ricky’s head in his lap. They both looked up when the other two entered.

  “Hey, guys, what’s up?” Lance asked absently, his mind still caught up with the ambiguous characterization of Satan, the hero/anti-hero of the epic poem, and with the idea that eating from the Tree of Knowledge had been mankind’s downfall. He was in Book IV and the line swimming around in his head when the two boys entered was, “God pronounc’t it death to taste that Tree.”

  The Indians crossed the room hesitantly and stood at the foot of the bed. Dakota looked positively tongue-tied, and even Kai wasn’t smiling or laughing as usual.

  Their odd demeanor caused Ricky to sit up and pull his legs under him, and Lance to set down his book and eye them intently. “You guys have a fight or something?” Lance asked, exchanging a look with Ricky.

  Kai shook his head, but Dakota still wouldn’t look up at either boy on the bed. Their hands remained clasped together as though they were afraid of losing each other if they let go.

  “We, uh, we don’t talk about stuff like this on the rez cuz, well, it’s like, personal and private and… oh, shit.” Kai turned to Dakota and nudged him until the other young man looked up and met his gaze. “C’mon, Cloudy Boy, help me here.”

  Now Dakota turned a mortif
ied look on Lance and Ricky, who still gazed at them in puzzlement. For his part, Lance couldn’t imagine what would be so hard to say after all they’d been through together.

  “We don’t know what to do, Lance,” Dakota murmured as though afraid of being overheard. “We, you know, kiss a lot and make out like that, but we don’t know what else to do, like who should do what and…” He clearly couldn’t go on and simply trailed off, looking humiliated.

  Now Lance blushed as he realized just what the boys were asking about. Sex. He looked at Ricky, and the other boy reddened too. Great, Lance thought, we’re a big help.

  “You guys’ve been together longer,” Kai began haltingly, “and we wondered if…” He obviously couldn’t finish the thought.

  Lance understood anyway. “If Ricky and me are having sex?”

  That made both Kai and Dakota turn red around the ears, looking like embarrassed little boys instead of the eighteen year olds they were. But Lance understood their ignorance. They’d grown up on reservations without much Internet or other outside world influences to educate, or poison, their minds and hearts. They were, in many ways, touchingly pure and almost innocent. The way I wish I still was, he thought wistfully.

  He shook his head. “No, we’re not.” Kai looked slightly surprised, but Dakota just stared silently. “We can tell you how to hurt each other with sex, but that’s about all. That’s been our only experience. We’re waiting till we’re ready to, you know, figure out how to love each other with sex.”

  He reached out and Ricky’s hand instantly found his. Then he offered his warmest smile to these two boys who could be so badass in a combat situation and now stood trembling like leaves in a summer breeze. “Like my friend Mark once told me, just let it be, and it’ll all work out the way it’s supposed to.”

  Dakota looked at him quizzically, but Kai seemed to understand. “You mean we’ll figure it out on our own?”

  “Yup. You’ll decide to do what you think is right and not something someone else told you about.”

  Kai smiled. Appearing relieved, he looked at Dakota and saw intense relief on the other boy’s face too.

  “There’s no hurry, guys,” Ricky said reassuringly. “Nobody’s keeping score around here.”

  That drew a laugh from Kai and a smile from Dakota. Once again, Lance noted what a handsome smile the Lakota youth had.

  And so the four of them sat and chatted about the road trip to come, and Lance noted how relaxed the Indians became compared to when they’d entered the room. He wasn’t sure why they’d felt so pressured to have sex since neither one seemed to be in a big hurry, and decided it was probably the media influence they’d been exposed to while surfing the net.

  They may not have had much stuff growing up on the rez, he mused, but at least they had some innocence big city kids didn’t.

  City kids were exposed to way too much these days, but he supposed there wasn’t anything that could be done about it. Maybe that’s why that line from Paradise Lost haunted him, because knowledge, once acquired, could never be un-acquired, and Satan knew this when he tempted Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. Once she did, all bets were off. Lance knew all too well that once a child’s innocence was stolen by the wrong knowledge, there was no going back, and that was a tragedy of epic proportions.

  †††

  The beginning of February brought Lance the stunning and unexpected news that Richard Thornton wanted to see him. Ryan found Lance and Ricky up in Lance’s room one afternoon. The boys were in their usual positions on the bed discussing the themes and messages in Paradise Lost when the sergeant knocked at their open door. When Lance looked over and saw Ryan, Gibson, Arthur and Jenny all spilling into the room, he knew it had to be serious.

  Ricky lifted his head from Lance’s lap and both sat up to face the adults with immediate trepidation.

  “What’s wrong?” Lance asked, his heart already beginning to pound.

  All four adults looked wary and cautious, as though afraid to broach whatever subject had brought them all here at once.

  “Is everybody okay?” Ricky asked, his heart beating faster with dread.

  Arthur shifted uncomfortably. “Yes, son, everyone is fine.”

  Ryan sighed and squinted at Lance with compassion. “We got a call from the CDCR.”

  Lance furrowed his brow at that. “The what?”

  “California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation,” Gibson explained soberly, but then he fell silent.

  Lance looked from one face to the next. “So? C’mon guys, you’re scaring the crap outta me here.”

  Ryan shook his head. “Sorry, Lance, it’s nothing like that. It’s just, well, Thornton has asked to meet with you, face to face.”

  Lance’s eyes widened with stunned shock. “Richard?” It was almost a breathless utterance.

  Ryan nodded, and Lance could see Arthur slip his arm around Jenny and pull her in. She looked so upset that Lance felt bad for her.

  “Why?” He’d put Richard behind him. He hadn’t even thought of the vile little man since the trial. Why now?

  Ryan cleared his throat. “He claims to know something about who’s been attacking you and Ricky, but he won’t tell anyone but you.”

  Lance glanced at Ricky and saw the same dubious look in his eyes. “Isn’t he in prison by now?”

  “Yeah, up at Corcoran. But if you agree to see him we can arrange for the state to bring him down. Parker Center. A secure interview room where we could watch everything through two-way glass.”

  Lance sat in stunned silence a moment, digesting this unexpected and shocking news. “Do you believe him, nino?” he finally asked, his heart thumping with a fear he thought he’d buried forever. “As a cop, what does your gut tell you? Does he know something or is he just trying to mess with me again?”

  Ryan exchanged a look with Gibson, but both men seemed reticent. “I couldn’t say, Lance,” Ryan admitted with a sigh. “I didn’t talk to him. One of the CO’s up there relayed the message.”

  “You do not have to do this, son,” Arthur said, his voice calm and laced with compassion.

  Lance looked at his father, at the man who had taken him off the streets and given him a new life, the man who meant everything to him. “But what if he does know something, Dad? What if he does, and I didn’t see him and you got hurt or Ricky got….” He trailed off, flicking his gaze over at the boy who made his heart flutter and his soul sing.

  “I think he’s lying, Lance,” Ricky said quietly. “Don’t forget I know him too. He’s a liar.”

  Lance nodded. Richard’s lies and evil deeds against him spun wildly through his memory like a cyclone. “I know. But I can’t take any chances with you or Dad.” He turned to Ryan, and sighed heavily. “I’ll see him.”

  Ryan eyed his godson with a look of deep admiration on his jaded face. “Okay. Gib and me’ll make the arrangements.”

  The two men left the room, leaving the family together in silence.

  “Are you sure, Lance?” Jenny asked, coming to him and placing her hands gently around his face.

  Lance’s heart pounded with apprehension, but he knew he had to do this. “Yeah, Mom. I got this. No worries.” Then he smiled that beautiful smile she’d loved since first meeting him in her freshman English class, and she pulled him into a hug. She’d known then he was something special. Little did she realize just how extraordinary he’d turn out to be.

  Arthur hugged him, as well, and then stepped back to look into the soulful green eyes of his son. “I’m proud of you, Lance, each and every day, and I love you more than life itself. I shall never not tell you these things every opportunity that I have.” He smiled warmly and Lance grabbed him in another intense hug.

  Yes, Jack’s simple words about the things we don’t say to each other had become a mantra for both of them, and a life lesson neither would ever forget.

  Once their parents left them alone, Ricky turned and enveloped Lance in a hug, just holding onto th
e boy he loved in silence and solidarity. Grateful, Lance hugged him back, his head resting against Ricky’s solid shoulder, his pounding heart gradually easing down into a muted beat. He could do this. Ricky would be with him. With Ricky, anything was possible.

  †††

  Over the next few days, while arrangements were made for the CDCR to transport the convicted rapist from Corcoran Prison to LADP’s Parker Center lockup, Lance and Ricky focused on shoring up the states already lined up to support the CBOR, and networked feverishly to get more. They figured the more states that put pressure on Congress to vote on the amendments, the more likely Congress would be to act.

  Mark’s dad up in Washington had been in regular contact with Lance and assured them that state was squarely behind the CBOR, by a wide margin. Idaho, where Jack’s mom led the adult supporters, was proving to be more obstinate, but she assured the boys she would not give up. She owed it to her son and other kids everywhere in the country.

  According to their supporters in Oregon, that state was behind the CBOR, as were New York, Pennsylvania, all of the New England states, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, New Mexico, Delaware, Hawaii, and California. That made twenty states pretty solidly in their corner, but they needed a lot more than that. They needed three-fourths of the states for ratification, which meant thirty-eight total, and were focusing heavily on all the others, especially those considered swing states during elections. Florida, which had even tougher laws against minors than California, would be hard to convince. Lance and Ricky were appalled that Florida put kids as young as ten into adult court for the purpose of giving them long prison terms. That revelation sickened them.

  Ohio was leaning in their direction, as was Indiana, Colorado, Nevada, North Dakota and South Dakota. The heavy Indian presence in the two Dakotas was having a strong influence as more and more residents of those states learned of the injustices being perpetrated against Native children. Oddly enough, Arizona was not so rapidly swinging in their direction, despite the heavy Native population, but the boys had been told through Navajo contacts that there was a large Mormon presence in Arizona, just as there was in Utah, and the Mormons apparently didn’t like the idea of giving children those kinds of rights, especially Native children.