Domino Falls

by Steven Barnes

  “What, Sonia?” Kendra said quietly.

  “They gave me a mushroom, that’s all,” Sonia said. “That doesn’t change anything. I know what I saw.”

  “What kind of mushroom?” Ursalina said, although she already knew. She stepped away from Sonia, as if making a mental note not to let her out of her sight. “Better not be that yahanna all these Threadies are into.”

  “Hope to hell you haven’t had a flu shot,” Darius said. The room had grown a little colder.

  “I haven’t!” she said, embarrassed and just a little scared, as if just then understanding the implications.

  “Hell, girl,” Piranha said. “You know the routine. Mushroom plus flu shot equals freak. Have you ever had a flu shot?”

  “Five years ago!” she said, voice breaking.

  “You’d better hope that’s long enough,” Terry said.

  “Different strain too,” Piranha said. “Every flu shot is different. Avian flu would be different antibodies, different proteins.”

  Sonia seemed to relax a little. A little.

  “Did anyone see you there?” Kendra said.

  “I was with a friend,” Sonia said, and faltered, glancing at Piranha. “Chris is a Gold Shirt. He’s the only one who knew I was there. I played it cool with him. I asked him some questions, but I’m not stupid.”

  “You sure you can trust this … friend?” Piranha said.

  “I trust him,” she said. “He likes me. He seemed really shocked—”

  When someone knocked on the door, they all jumped and stepped away from each other as if to hide what they’d been talking about.

  Marv was at the door. He glanced at them one by one.

  “Take it you’ve heard what happened at the ranch,” he said.

  Sonia gave them a triumphant look: See?

  “We heard,” Kendra said, staring too hard. Sonia avoided Marv’s gaze, wiping her face, glancing at the floor. Terry hoped Marv wouldn’t notice how upset she was.

  “Yeah, a longtimer here got shot and killed,” Marv said. “Real sad business. Town meeting in two hours.”

  “What’s going on?” Terry said, voice low. “Anything we should know about?”

  Marv shrugged. “I wasn’t there, but I’d say it’s about a man who drank too much since he had to put down his son and his wife when they turned.”

  Then Marv excused himself, dewy-eyed, and was gone.

  Ursalina grinned, her point made. “That never happened in my neighborhood either. They’re coming to us to explain?”

  “He could be spying on us,” Kendra said.

  “I don’t know if he’s spying, but he just lied,” Sonia said. “Brownie wasn’t drunk. That’s not how it happened.”

  “He said he wasn’t there,” Darius said. “Get the mushroom out of your ears.”

  “Anyway,” Terry said, “they’re having a meeting to air it out.”

  “And we’re not going to miss it,” Kendra said.

  The dining hall was packed shoulder to shoulder. People must have gathered early, Kendra guessed. Sorrow hung across their anxious faces; even the children seemed to know not to stir or make too much noise, recognizing how fragile their world was. Anything that threatened the peace was a threat to them all.

  The meeting began as a memorial service to Brownie, and Kendra felt like a spy at his funeral, an uninvited guest. A man dressed in farming clothes climbed to the stage to take the microphone. Formal dress seemed to have died on Freak Day. Jeans, sweatshirts, and sneakers ruled. The man was nervous before the crowd, barely raising his eyes to the audience as he spoke.

  “Nobody here didn’t know Brian ‘Brownie’ Browne. A lot of us have stood with him at the fences, and a few of us knew him back before we needed the fences. A lot of us knew what happened that night at Brownie’s place, and what he had to do. We know Sissy was all he had left to hold on to. And the last thing we know is this: Brownie was a good man.”

  Townspeople murmured and hummed with recognition.

  “It’s gonna be hard to swallow whatever happened at the ranch last night. So in the end, it’s only what we believe. But a good man was forced to do something back at his house, to his own blood, that nobody in this room wants to even think about.”

  A sudden movement caught Kendra’s eye: Dean was flicking away a tear. She had never heard him talk about his family, but Dean might know exactly what Brownie had been through. Suddenly, the memories of her father’s loveless eyes and her mother’s screams gouged Kendra’s chest.

  “What that does to a man,” the speaker finished, “none of us can judge.”

  The room was stone silent as they remembered Brownie’s horrors and their own. In the back, a woman sobbed as if she’d been holding her breath.

  “So I’m here to celebrate the life of a good man. A generous man. A good husband. A good father. No matter what you hear about what happened last night, nothing can take that away.” His voice choked off at the end. As he climbed down the steps from the stage, most people clapped loudly. But a few hissed. Were they hissing at Brian Browne? At the story to come?

  Instinct made Kendra reach for Terry’s hand, and she was glad she was beside him. She was watching her future unfold.

  The mayor took the stage next. He stared down at the microphone a moment, transforming himself from the bumbling, solicitous mayor to a man standing as tall as the power and poise of his office. The proceeding veered from memorial to trial.

  “Last night, Brownie went to Wales’s home with his hunting rifle and tried to shoot his way in,” Van Peebles said. “That’s the cold, hard truth of it.”

  Sonia’s mouth dropped open. Kendra opened her notebook and started recording every word.

  Van Peebles went on. “Brownie pulled a gun, threatened the Gold Guard, and crashed through the gate. Brian Browne is dead, yeah. But we all know who killed him …” A pause, and his jaw trembled. “Brownie did. The bottle did. And we, each of us, have a Brownie inside, and if we don’t learn to control that fear, we’re all going out like Brownie. One way or the other.”

  “Lying sack of shit,” Sonia whispered to Kendra, so she wrote that down too.

  In the back, a few people applauded enthusiastically. The applause sounded out of place, strangely synchronized, but Kendra couldn’t make out who was clapping. While she scanned the room, she spotted the mechanic and his family. His wife, Deirdre, caught Kendra’s eyes, and they shared a sad smile: an orphan and a grieving mother.

  “Where’s Wales?” a hard-faced older man called from across the room.

  Van Peebles pursed his lips as if the question disappointed him. “He was too upset to come out here, Ned. Mr. Wales is not to blame for the irrational actions of others, but yet, that man is back there blaming himself. It’s not right. And it’s not right for any of you to blame him. This whole terrible incident was a family matter that got too big. But you don’t have to believe me. Sissy can tell you herself.”

  Sissy! Kendra stared with fascination as Van Peebles guided Brownie’s daughter to the microphone with a hand on her back. She looked like a long-legged bird stumbling through a haze. Maybe she’s in shock, Kendra thought.

  “Thank you for all the well-wishes and prayers,” Sissy said. She named several townspeople who had given her words of support, names Kendra didn’t recognize. “I keep thinking Daddy’s still waiting for me at home like he always did, eyes glued to his clock. You can imagine what he said when I said I wanted to be an ambassador and go out into the world.”

  The audience murmured its empathy.

  “After what happened …” She paused, taking a deep breath. Sissy’s face seemed to divide itself down the middle, one side mourning, one side … smiling? Kendra blinked to make sure she wasn’t imagining it. Sissy went on. “That wasn’t easy for me and Dad. Now I just wish I could stay his little girl forever. I’ll never forget the sight of my father … killing himself like that. Because that’s what it was—a kind of suicide. I’m just so grateful that ri
ght before he died, I had the chance to cradle him in my arms and tell him I would be all right.”

  Then she sobbed so long that Van Peebles had to hold her upright. Kendra felt a crack in her resolve; Sissy didn’t sound anything like Sonia had described. But what about that strange expression that had crossed Sissy’s face?

  No way, Sonia mouthed, stunned and angry. She moved as if to raise her hand and object, but Kendra, Terry, and Piranha surrounded her and held her still.

  “Not here, Sonia,” Kendra said.

  “Don’t be crazy,” Piranha said.

  Kendra glanced at the two Gold Shirts near the stage, but no one was paying attention to their group. Kendra watched the people of Domino Falls, California, population 931. They didn’t seem to quite believe the story of how Brownie died or how Sissy had comforted him. Maybe they’d heard conflicting accounts too.

  But they wanted to believe. They wanted to—badly.

  And finally, they did.

  “That’s not what happened,” Sonia said once they were outside the meeting hall.

  “Shhh,” Terry said. “Just wait.”

  On the street, the crowd broke into small huddles of people in passionate conversation. The true townies, the longtimers, were eyeing their neighbors with suspicion. Gold Shirts lined the streets on horseback, outnumbering the plainclothes Citizens Patrol two to one.

  Jackie’s white pickup pulled up just as the Twins came down the steps behind Sonia. Does Jackie have a GPS tracker on them? Sonia thought. She’d never liked the way Jackie carried Darius and Dean around like a hot new designer purse, but now she wondered if Jackie was under Threadie control too. Keeping the Twins happy for Wales.

  “Give you a lift to the fences?” Jackie said to the Twins. “I’ve got your guns.”

  Dean and Darius glanced at Terry and Piranha, and Sonia was happy that the meeting seemed to have cracked their resolve. They were trying to decide what to do.

  Terry nodded. “Yeah, go shoot one for me,” he said. “I’m not on till tomorrow.”

  Apparently, just another jolly day in Threadville. As the Twins climbed into the bed of the truck, Kendra went to the driver’s side window, so Sonia followed. Jackie smiled a greeting, but then she turned her eyes to the windshield.

  “Heard anything from Rianne?” Kendra said.

  Jackie sighed, shaking her head. “Not yet.”

  “Sissy seemed kind of spaced out,” Sonia said, double-teaming Jackie.

  “What does Wales want with them?” Kendra said.

  “I’m not the droid you’re looking for,” Jackie said, dismissing them with a wave of her hand. “I don’t live other people’s lives for them.”

  “Then why’d you tell me about Rianne?” Kendra said, keeping her voice low.

  Jackie gave her a sidelong glance. “Fair warning, that’s all. So you could make up your own mind without all the razzle-dazzle. Now if you’ll excuse me, we’ve got to go protect the community of Domino Falls. There are good people here, and they need us. I don’t win every battle, but I’ll settle for a few.”

  For the first time, Sonia noticed Jackie’s red eyes, as if she’d been crying. Darius and Dean were already perched in the truck’s bed, guns in hand. Darius looked as grim as Dean usually did, and Dean looked grimmer than ever.

  After the truck drove off, Sonia led Piranha, Terry, and Kendra to a less crowded street, near a vendor selling tamales from a cart. Bidders were too busy haggling to pay any attention to them.

  “Suicide?” Sonia said. “Sissy was lying. They told her what to say.”

  Ursalina nodded. “Gotta agree with you on that one,” she said. “She wasn’t acting right. That story didn’t even make sense.”

  Sonia glanced right and left, checking for spies. “The mayor was lying too. Brownie never had a gun. He had a crowbar, and he put it down. That man was on one knee, and Sissy saw the whole thing, which means she’s signing off on her own father’s murder. Am I the only one worried here?”

  Piranha sighed. Maybe he was remembering his promise to always have her back. “So Domino Falls is a wholly owned subsidiary of Josey Wales,” Piranha said. “Maybe it’s time for us to decide if we can live with that.”

  Sonia wanted to kiss him, but when she moved closer, he narrowed his eyes and leaned back. In time, she hoped, he might forgive her.

  A young teenage boy surprised them by rounding the corner and slipping beside them, and it took Sonia a moment to realize that it was the mechanic’s son, Jason. The kid looked distressed all the time, his brow furrowed with constant worry like his father’s.

  “Are you okay?” Kendra asked him.

  “Just read this,” Jason said, and he gave Kendra a neatly folded slip of paper. Before she could unfold it, Jason scooted off on a skateboard. He raced down the sidewalk with surprising speed, full of purpose, as if he were running late or being chased. Or a combination of both.

  They walked halfway down the block before Terry opened the note, and they all craned to read it. The note was in blocklike, masculine handwriting:

  We should talk—you and all of your friends. Barn beside the fence factory: NOON today.

  —Myles

  “This isn’t our fight, guys,” Ursalina said.

  But intrigue burned in her soldier’s eyes.

  Kendra and Ursalina arranged to take a lunch break from the day care, and Sonia, Piranha, and Terry had the day off, so everyone except the Twins made the fifteen-minute-long walk to the abandoned barn. The farmhouse beyond it was burned beyond recognition, a reminder of a day gone wrong. The empty barn waited.

  “Hello?” Kendra said, calling inside after Terry and Piranha pushed the barn door open. Myles appeared from behind a column, waving with his red rag, which he then turned nervously in his hands.

  Myles motioned for them to close the barn door. “You alone?” he whispered.

  When they confirmed they were, Myles’s wife and son emerged from behind a red John Deere tractor. Had Myles and his family been chased from their home? Piranha stayed close to the door, instinctively scouting through the cracks in the aged wood.

  “Why are you in here?” Terry said.

  “Small town,” Myles said. “You never know who’s watching.”

  “Shhhhh,” Piranha cautioned, and they heard a truck engine roll slowly past. Through the wall’s cracks, Kendra saw flashes of a white Ford turning around in the dirt, crunching pebbles before it drove back the other way.

  “Gold Shirt?” Myles said.

  “He’s gone,” Piranha said.

  “Just a patrol, then,” Myles said. He exhaled with relief. “Not a tail.”

  “Excuse me,” Ursalina said. “No offense, mister, but are we cattle rustlers? Did we just rob the stagecoach?”

  Kendra was so angry, she felt her eardrums pop. She was glad the Twins weren’t there to chime in. “Why’d you bother to come if you don’t want to listen?”

  Ursalina pursed her lips, biting back whatever she wanted to say. All eyes went back to Myles and his family, who glanced at one another before Myles went on. “We were at the town meeting,” Myles said. “And Sissy—”

  “Sissy’s not the same girl we knew!” Deirdre blurted. “We could see it.”

  Sonia sneered. “Told you guys.”

  Before Terry could shush her, Sonia told her story of what had happened at the gates. Myles and his wife grew more wide-eyed and distraught as they listened.

  “I knew it,” Deirdre whispered, horrified. “I knew he wouldn’t have done what they said. We have to talk to Rianne … get her away from Wales.”

  Kendra’s heart surged. “Yes, you should,” she said. “We were inside the ranch, and …” Again, words failed her. The family stared, waiting for news. Should she tell them about the DVD and the dream image? About the strange sensation of touching the wall and feeling … something … on the other side? Instead, she blinked tears. “What can we do?” she said.

  “Could you get in again?” Myles said.
<
br />   Kendra and Sonia looked at each other. They hadn’t talked about it, but one look at Sonia’s wide eyes told Kendra neither of them had any interest in going back to Wales’s ranch. But what if they could rescue Rianne?

  Poor Terry was yanking so hard on his hair that Kendra was afraid he’d pull a hank of it out of his scalp. He looked scared. He had promised to help her make her case for leaving Threadville, and now Myles and his family were making the case for her.

  “Why should they go back?” Terry said.

  “Yeah, for what?” Piranha said.

  Kendra couldn’t tell if Terry and Piranha were trying to protect them or merely negotiating terms.

  “You asked about your bus before,” Myles said.

  An expectant silence. Terry stepped toward Myles. “Yeah,” Terry said. “What about her?”

  “I can get her running,” Myles said. “Give you enough gas to get to Southern California. What’s that place? Devil’s Wake?”

  “You said she couldn’t be fixed,” Terry said.

  “No,” Myles said. “I said she couldn’t be fixed without stealing.”

  Terry’s eyes stayed riveted on Myles’s. “Oh, I get it. So she stays dead unless we do something for you?” he said. “Like helping you get Rianne?”

  “It’s not like that, son,” Myles said.

  “It sounds exactly like that,” Terry said. “Doesn’t it, P?”

  “That’s what I heard,” Piranha said.

  Deirdre stepped forward, begging. “Please, just listen to him. Go on, Myles.”

  Myles held up his hands. “Nobody’s saying ‘Do it or else.’ Could you buy the parts you need for your bus over time? ’Course you could. Brave, skilled kids like you will do well here. You could scavenge a better vehicle and take your sweet time deciding if you like it here or not, but I suspect in the end you’ll want to move on. Rianne can’t wait that long. Wales is shipping Sissy and Rianne out in the morning.”

  “We’ve heard things,” Deirdre said. “From inside the ranch.” Her voice fell to a whisper as she protected her source.