The Girl Who Owned a City

by O. T. (Terry) Nelson

  Lisa thought for a long time before answering. “Somebody has to grow food, that’s true. But do you really want to hide away on a farm? I’d rather get the world back to the way it was, with schools, and hospitals, and electricity. See how important those things were?”

  She paused, expecting him to say something. He kept quiet instead.

  “Just think of the big jets at the airport,” she continued. “Once they carried people thousands of miles away, and now they just sit there. They’re useless.

  “We’ve spent whole days trying to find food, and now we’ve found a big supply. Next, let’s try to figure out a way to get things working again. I mean the jets and trains and things.”

  “Lisa, you’re a dreamer. Don’t you know that it takes years of training to fly a jet? Besides, there aren’t any teachers left, so who would show us how? Books can’t teach us that. Forget about it, Lisa. We’re just kids.”

  How could she answer? He was probably right, but would they have to live like the people in olden times, working all day in the fields? Or, even worse, would they end up like those children in really poor places, begging, stealing, and having no time for fun? Would they grow old and tired while the jets on the runway rusted away?

  “Craig, I know it sounds crazy, but I think we can do it. We can make things work again. Sure, we’re just children, but—” Her words, like her confidence, faded into confusion.

  North Avenue was still deserted as they moved toward home. Where are the children? they wondered again to themselves. They drove without speaking from North Avenue to Swift Road, to St. Charles, then Riford, and then turned onto Grand.

  The children were waiting in the street for the militia meeting and their popcorn feast. As the car moved into the driveway, they surrounded it. Without saying much, they opened the back doors and began unloading the cartons and boxes. They moved quietly, with sure steps. They knew exactly what they had to do. To Lisa and Craig, those children didn’t seem like children any longer.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  T

  his is not my meeting, thought Lisa, grateful to Craig for taking charge. At the moment she was feeling too confused to be a leader.

  Although Craig was describing his plan for the Grand Avenue defense, Lisa could see that his heart wasn’t really in it. He wanted to farm, not fight. He needed peace and simple things instead of all this talk about war.

  The other children were listening carefully. Tomorrow they would begin the work of setting up a different alarm system for each house. From the Glen Ellyn police station they would get guns and ammunition. They would pour gasoline into glass bottles to make bombs. Each house would collect a stray and train it as a watch dog. They would also gather an arsenal of knives, rocks, and other simple weapons.

  After listening to Craig’s plan, the children were no longer afraid. They felt even better when they heard about the fantastic treasure in the Secret Place. Everything was going to be all right. They had plenty of food, and nobody would dare attack Grand Avenue.

  Lisa studied their faces. Look what Craig has done for them, she thought. Erika looks as happy as she did on her last birthday. Even Julie is smiling.

  Finally her eyes came to Todd’s face, which had an altogether different look. He was staring down the street and turning pale. He pointed toward Chidester. She turned to look.

  The Chidester Gang! There must have been 50 of them, mean looking and moving slowly toward the happy gathering. A few of the children screamed and ran away. The meeting was over.

  “Wait!” Lisa ordered. “Stay here, and we’ll see what they want. Don’t run away! Don’t look afraid!”

  The gang stopped, and Tom Logan walked forward alone. “Lisa Nelson,” he called out, “I want to talk to you.” She stepped away from her group to meet him. “What do you want?” she asked, calm and strong.

  “I’m Logan,” he said, “and I’ve got a deal for you.” He was the tallest and strongest kid in the Chidester Gang, and he didn’t look at all afraid.

  “Let’s hear it,” Lisa replied with a fearlessness that matched his. The children watched.

  “I know that you’ve got all kinds of supplies. We don’t know where you’re getting them yet, but we’ll find out—soon.” He was threatening her.

  “We could wipe you out right now and take everything you have, but we don’t want to do that.” He paused to make the threat sound more frightening. “We don’t want to do that,” he repeated. “You have the supplies and we have the army. I want to make a deal. We’ll protect you with our army if you’ll share your stuff with us.”

  Lisa said nothing and waited.

  “There are other gangs, you know,” Logan said, getting impatient. “These gangs are as strong as we are, and tomorrow—or tonight—they could wreck you. You need our help, and we’ll give it to you in exchange for a share of your supplies.”

  Still she said nothing.

  “Lisa, my sister was your babysitter for two years. She liked you, and I liked your family, too. We should cooperate. We can . . . .”

  He knew she was waiting for him to say something else.

  “Okay, Lisa,” he said finally. “I’m sorry for what we did to Todd, but we had no choice. You can’t run a gang without food. My boys were starving. I had to do it.”

  Now she understood him a little better. “Sorry, Tom, but I could never trust you or your gang. If you would betray a neighbor once, you’d probably do it again. At least I’d never be sure.”

  “Now wait a minute!” Tom wanted to defend himself, but it was still Lisa’s turn to speak.

  She went on. “We can take care of ourselves! You’re right, we have supplies, more than you could ever dream of. Soon we’ll have power too—a militia that could stop your gang any day. So go ahead. Take our things. You’ll be wasting your time, because today there’s not much here for you to steal. But by tomorrow or the next day, we’ll have things that you will never have, because you’re not smart enough to find them yourself. Just try to attack us then. You won’t know what hit you!”

  Don’t get so emotional, she cautioned herself. She wanted to hurt him for hurting Todd.

  “I don’t blame you, Tom . . . really.” Her words softened. “And I don’t want any trouble with your gang. It’s just that we don’t need your help. We can take care of ourselves, and we will!”

  The children were silent. What gave Lisa the courage to say those things?

  Tom’s confidence was shaken. He could scare them into an agreement, but there was something about her that stopped him. He walked away, saying nothing more. His gang followed him back to Chidester.

  It took some time for the militia meeting to return to order. No one wanted what the gang offered, but they were uneasy about Logan’s threats. They had food and supplies and a strong plan for defense, but still they worried.

  “Anyone want some more popcorn?” Lisa asked, hoping that the old bribe would bring the meeting back to order.

  “No thanks” was the general reply. The popcorn could be saved for another time. They began to ask a hundred questions about the Secret Place and the militia.

  Lisa whispered to Craig. “Don’t forget your promise. They must not know where the Secret Place is.”

  Craig nodded, thinking about Lisa. Sometimes she seemed a little crazy. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep the promise,” he said. The whole day seemed incredible. This morning he was starving, and now he was the general of an army and an insurance policy for a little boy.

  Lisa, even more than the other children, understood the day’s importance. “Come on,” she hollered above the many voices, “let’s go to Lake Ellyn for a campfire. I’ve got a whole sack of marshmallows, and there’s soda and chips in my trunk. Craig, help the boys get some wood to burn. We’ll build a bonfire by the boathouse. You girls go get the blankets. Julie, get your boom box and some tapes. We’ve got batteries for it. Todd, give me a hand with the pop.”

  In a few minutes, Grand Avenue was empty. Every chi
ld happily joined the procession to Lake Ellyn. The bronze Cadillac led the way and 20 kids were following it, singing a Christmas carol.

  They had almost forgotten about Christmas, and it was coming soon. When Eileen, one of Jill’s kids, wondered if Santa would bring presents this Christmas, Lisa assured her that he would. There had been thousands of toys in the warehouse.

  Lisa turned to Charlie. “Run back to your house and get all the Christmas tree decorations you can find,” she said. This surprised him. It was still a little early for Christmas, but he did as she asked.

  They had built a huge fire near the lake by the time Charlie came back with the box of ornaments. “What do you want these for?” he finally asked.

  “What do you think? We’re going to decorate a Christmas tree.” But when Lisa carried the boxes to a pine tree near the fire, the children began fighting over the decorations. “Wait a minute! We can’t all do it,” Lisa said. “Katy and Todd will decorate the tree.”

  They sang all the Christmas carols they knew. There were a lot of them, because Julie had a fantastic memory for songs. The marshmallows were gone in no time, the fire was huge and bright, and the children laughed and sang and forgot about their problems.

  It was just like the parties in the old days. They were children again, and life was fun.

  Charlie, who had been more afraid than anyone, began to act like his old, mischievous self, teasing his sisters and making them mad. Even that was fun, except, of course, for Julie and Nancy. The children laughed until very late into the night. They hardly noticed the cold.

  The moon was full and shining on the icy lake. Lisa wandered toward the shoreline to be alone for a moment. There were many problems to think about, and this would be a good time for thinking. What will happen to us? she asked herself, over and over.

  But now she didn’t fear the answer as much. It seemed that they were beginning to control their own futures. They would use their heads. That was the key.

  “Lisa, is that you?” called Jill from her dark perch on the dock. “Come over here for a minute. There’s something I want to talk to you about.”

  Lisa sat beside her. They listened, for a while, to the songs in the background. There was no hurry.

  Lisa finally broke the silence. “What is it, Jill?”

  “Well, I’ve got a problem, and I thought you might be able to help me. There are 14 kids at my place now and they eat like crazy. We just don’t have enough food or supplies. Will you help us? We need lots of things, especially medicine. Some of the kids have bad colds. Do you have anything for us?”

  Lisa knew that she could help them. In fact, she’d be happy to share the wealth of the Secret Place. But why should she, if Jill’s kids wouldn’t help with the militia?

  “Okay, Jill, here’s what we can do. I’ll be happy to help you out, but not for free. I need someone for every hour of the day and night to walk up and down Grand Avenue. They’ll alert us if an enemy approaches. I’ll get my dad’s trumpet, and the sentries can learn how to make a warning blast on it. But I’ll need someone night and day, every day.

  “Also, I’ll need at least two of your kids to help Craig and me on our supply missions. It will take about four hours for each trip, but we’ll probably go only three nights a week until January.

  “If you’ll agree to those terms,” Lisa said. “I’ll guarantee you and your kids all the supplies you need.”

  But Jill’s awkward silence made it clear that she wasn’t ready to accept the deal.

  Finally she spoke. “Lisa, can you imagine what it would be like for a five-year-old to walk up and down Grand Avenue late at night, afraid of everything that moves? Can you imagine how scared they’d be? You and I are older. We can find the courage to do it, but they can’t. I think it’s cruel of you to demand it of them. They need our help. They’re afraid, Lisa. Don’t you remember what that’s like?”

  “Of course I remember, Jill,” she replied. “I’m afraid almost every minute of the day, and so is Todd. He’s not much older than your kids, but he’s fighting that fear. He earns his way and it makes him happy and strong.

  “We’re still children, but we have to keep alive. Everything is different now. Those kids need the same things we do! They’ve got to try, too!”

  But Jill wasn’t listening. Even Lisa, when she thought about it, realized that she couldn’t expect helpless children to join an army.

  Lisa gave in, finally, but only because she couldn’t put the facts together. Was she expecting too much of them? She started again.

  “Okay, maybe you’re right. Maybe I expect too much of everyone. But you have to understand the way I feel. Surviving isn’t such a bad problem if we can just use our heads. In fact, we’ll really have something when we know we’ve actually earned our survival. That’s the way I felt today when we found the secret supply. Try to understand what I’m saying.”

  To Jill it sounded good, but the facts she faced every day didn’t quite fit with Lisa’s ideas. To Jill, life was just little orphans and the problems of finding food and medicine for them. Somehow, she just couldn’t think of those real problems as fun or satisfying or as being part of a grand plan.

  “Jill, you know that I’ll help you,” said Lisa. “There’s plenty for your kids in our Secret Place, and you’re welcome to whatever you need.”

  Lisa didn’t think much more about that conversation. She knew something was wrong, but she couldn’t figure out what it was. Were her feelings so strange? Was all this struggling such a bad thing, or was it the key to their happiness? She wasn’t sure.

  She did realize one very important thing. Her ideas might bring them all a year of freedom from hunger. The warehouse, the car, the farm—all these ideas would help to save lives.

  But it seemed that they all felt it was her duty to help them, and that what belonged to her was theirs also. Oh, well, they’re afraid, she thought. I can understand that. Maybe I’m just lucky that all this craziness is a challenge for me.

  In the warmth of their bed that night, Lisa tried to explain her feelings to Todd. Would he understand?

  “At first, this whole mess scared me,” she told him. “I thought we were going to starve. It was horrible just to stay alive.

  “But then struggling began to seem like the best thing I had. What fun would it be if we were robots—if everything was automatic, and we couldn’t change anything?

  “Just think of a robot, Todd. It can’t feel, or choose, or gain, or lose. It can’t think, and it doesn’t even know that it exists. Think what it would be like without any problems, Todd. Life would be dull. Sure, we have a lot of problems right now, but problems are really challenges, and they can make life exciting, if you’re not afraid.

  “I’m proud of my discoveries, even though it’s true that anyone else could have found them. That’s really true—anyone else could have done it.

  “Todd, are you still awake?” He was. He had understood his big sister. He didn’t ask for a story that night. Their life was becoming an adventure that was as good as any of her stories.

  “Lisa,” he said, “I’m glad you’re my sister.”

  They went to sleep.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  T

  he week that followed was filled with activity. The plan was under way, and the children of Grand Avenue were excited.

  Defense was important. Even the little kids could understand that now. The Chidester Gang and other gangs would try to capture their supplies. They had to be ready.

  Julie and her family were training the watchdogs. The dogs would attack on command—at least that’s what Charlie promised.

  Each child-family had its own defense alarm. At Lisa’s house, it would be Todd’s trumpet. Craig’s kids would use a loud whistle, and Jill’s would beat a drum. The Harris’ house would ring its old bell, which once had been heard for blocks at dinner time.

  Grand Avenue sounded like a machine at work. There were hammers, dogs, alarms, rock slides, and child
ren shouting. But the gunfire was the hardest thing to get used to.

  At nine each morning, Craig held target practice in the Triangle. Everybody older than five had to come. They fired small .22-caliber rifles at tin cans lined up along a low branch. Even though he didn’t know much about guns, Craig was their teacher. The children all feared this part of the training, but they tried to learn.

  It sounds like we’re having a war, Craig thought. He wondered how many curious children from the other streets in the neighborhood would come over to check out the noise.

  Each house adopted Lisa and Todd’s idea of a rock slide on the roof. Lisa and Todd showed the others how to set it up with wire hangers and string.

  Craig helped the family captains find bottles and gasoline to make Molotov cocktails. They were crude but impressive weapons. When thrown onto the pavement, they made a frightening explosion and burst into flames. Since there was no more gasoline at the gas stations, each house used the cans left for the lawn mowers in their garage. The children filled old bottles with gas and stuck rags in them to serve as fuses.

  The militia captains from each house met with Craig every morning to discuss the day’s plans. The captains left the briefings with drawings, tools, and all kinds of junk—rope, wire, tin cans cut up in odd ways, ladders, planks, and saws. They needed all this stuff for construction. Each captain had to modify the plans according to the special needs of his or her house.

  Craig worked in Julie’s basement because there were more tools available there. Charlie and Todd helped out in the shop. They reported for work at six each morning, and the three of them hammered and sawed furiously to get their contraptions ready for the captains.

  “Darn it,” Charlie said, whenever he hit his thumb with the hammer. Craig had stopped the swearing because he thought it was bad for Todd to hear it. He would have been surprised to hear Todd’s own muttered words when he bumped his head on the work bench for the fifth time in one morning.

  It was strange to see the change in the captains as the days passed. They were collecting a lot of bruises, but there were no major injuries. “Hey,” Craig said, laughing, “we look like a real army with all these bandages, and we haven’t even had a battle yet.”