by E A Lake
Wilson laughed. “Well, I got a giant, so good luck.” He glanced at Tiny. His expression was not as confident as Wilson’s. “Open up and come out. We’ll just talk.” He heard the popping of metal hasps being opened. Tiny grasped the weapon tighter, ready for an attack.
The door opened slightly and then with a small push a little more. Tiny and Wilson heard the voice inside again. “It’ll be okay,” it said softly. “Just follow my lead.”
Timidly, a small figure stepped from the darkness, knife held in front of her. Wilson scoffed. It was a girl, a young girl. Her large, dark eyes darted between him and Tiny. She had to be a foot and a half shorter than the big man. And she was thin, almost slight. The knife shook in her hand as she pointed it at Tiny.
Wilson reached out and grabbed her armed appendage. He squeezed it tightly and shook the knife from her hand as she reached to bite his. He let go and pulled back just before her teeth could grasp his skin. He roughly grabbed her by the collar of her dirty, tattered jacket.
“Yeah, whatever kid,” he said to the defeated youth. Fire danced in her eyes as she kicked at his shin. The second kick hit home and he let go of the girl. “Just cool it!” he screamed. “Otherwise, I’ll turn Tiny loose on you.” The girl stepped back, scowling at the pair.
“Leave us alone. You’re trespassing. Get out of here.” She spoke with authority and confidence. Wilson was unimpressed.
“Where’s the rest of your crew?” he asked. Eyeing her cautiously, he tried to step behind her, into the closet. She leapt back suddenly, blocking his path.
“Leave them alone. Just get out of here.” Wilson sensed the false bravado coming from such a small child.
“Get your butts out here!” he yelled into the dark enclosure. He heard small footsteps. A group of three came out sullenly. His head shook as he looked away and hollered up the stairs. “It’s just a group of kids, Sharon. You and Judy can come down here now.”
The smaller boys filed in behind their leader. Their slight figures hid easily behind the older girl; older than the rest, at least. Dirty faces, a few tears in large, sad eyes, and the same slight build as the girl.
“Are you going to hurt us?” asked one of the boys.
Wilson ignored the plea and shined his light into the dark closet. “Found the coats and boots,” he called out as Sharon and Judy stepped off the last stair. He looked back to see Sharon stop and look at the children, wide-eyed. Judy moved past her cousin, arms extended for the ragged group.
“Oh, you poor souls,” she began through tears of her own. “What are you doing here alone?” The girl avoided her reach, but the smaller ones all welcomed her feminine touch.
The girl, their obvious leader, looked at Wilson sternly. “You need to leave. This is our house.” She stepped closer to him. “Are you listening? I said –” Wilson cut her off with a glare.
“Your house? Right. You’re living in the basement. Those beds upstairs weren’t hardly messed up at all when we came in.” He crossed his arms and stared the girl down. “You just got here and discovered we were here. So you snuck downstairs and locked yourself in the closet so we wouldn’t find you.” He shined his light into the open room. “That’s a bag of our food. You been stealing from us. I ought to take you to the sheriff. Stealing’s punishable by hanging nowadays,” he finished with a grin.
One of the small boys gasped and looked into Judy’s loving eyes. “I’m too young to die. They can’t hang me, can they?” he asked, fright filling his face. Judy smiled and shook her head. She stared back at Wilson; he smirked at the group.
“No,” Judy began. “No one is going to hang anybody.” The girl came over and shushed the boy. Judy smiled at her. “What’s your name?” The girl’s expression was still harsh. She stared Judy’s caring face.
“Miranda. Miranda Hosgrove. And this little guy,” she said reaching for one of the young boys, “is Brock. My brother. He’s seven; I’m almost 14.” Her face still tense, she appeared to not want to trust Judy.
Sharon finally approached the group. “And who are these other two young men?”
Miranda looked at Sharon confidently. “Dalton and Tim Hardy. Neighbor boys from back on the farm. Dalton’s eight, Timmy’s six.” The boys nodded at Sharon as Miranda spoke. Unlike the dark-haired brother and sister, these lads were both as blond as a wheat field before harvest. They had blue eyes, not the brown eyes that Miranda and Brock shared.
Wilson joined the fray once more. “Where’s your folks, Randa?” he asked stiffly.
She glared at him evilly. “My name is Miranda, not Randa.” She softened for the second reply. “I have no idea where our parents are. They left a while back. When we came here from our farm, our dads went looking for food. We found some stuff in jewelry boxes upstairs. They thought they could trade it in Eau Claire.” Miranda’s face saddened, but no tears came.
“Why would they go into Eau Claire?” Sharon asked. “We’ve heard that’s not such a great place to trade.” She tried to get Miranda’s attention, but the young teen’s gaze remained locked on Wilson’s face.
“This fellow they call Captain Wayne, he loves gold and jewels they say. He gives the best trades for that stuff.” Finally, she released her grip on Wilson’s eyes and looked at Sharon. “Those cheats in Menomonie try to rip you off every chance they get. They’ve been doing it for years. If you’ve got good stuff, you take it to Captain.” She finished quietly, moving next to her ragtag group.
“What about your moms?” Judy asked, fearing the worst.
The girl’s eyes went to the floor. Her head shook slightly. “They went looking for them a while back. Before the snow got real deep.” She looked around at the strange faces in the room. Most of the expressions were caring; Wilson knew his wasn’t so sympathetic. “They brought us to this house and told us to wait here in the basement. They put the locks on the inside of the door, to keep us safe. It didn’t matter. You’re the first people we’ve heard or seen.” Miranda scratched her greasy hair. “That was a while ago.”
“Why’d you come here from a farm?” Wilson tossed at the girl. “Sure you had better times there.”
Miranda stared back at Wilson again. “People came and took it from us. Late last summer. There was a group of 10 or so. Said they’d kill us all if we didn’t leave. Burn the place to the ground with us inside.” Wilson noticed the boys squeeze tighter to Judy as Miranda recounted past events. “So our folks said we needed to leave. We went to the Hardy place for a while. That’s where Dalton and Timmy lived.”
Wilson shook his head as his gut tightened. More bad news was coming.
Miranda’s sad eyes gave away her story. “More people came then. Just like the ones from our farm. So we left there, too.” She moved over by the stairs and sat on the bottom step. “We hid out at a place just north of here, but it was too close to the road. When we came here, we were almost out of food. Enough snow to melt and drink, but not much food. That’s when our dads took the loot. Mom decided we should stay down here. She was kind of spooked by being run off twice. So this is our home.” She stared at her thin, dirty hands after she’d finished.
Tiny stepped between Wilson and Miranda. “How long you been hiding here by yourself?” he asked.
Miranda cocked her head and looked up at the giant. “A while. Don’t know exactly how long. Dalton carves a notch for every day in the cinder blocks on the back wall in there.” She tossed her head at the closet. “None of us can count real good. I mean, 10 or 20 is fine. But when it gets too high, it’s too many for any of us.”
Wilson stepped into the closet and flashed his light around the room. Coats, a lot of coats made up their beds. There were a few containers of food laying around the small shelter, but not a lot. Finally, his beam showed on the back wall. He saw a block and approached. Sixteen marks, he counted. That ain’t so long. He was about to laugh and harass the youth when his light moved further. His eyes narrowed.
“Sharon,” he called out. “You’d bette
r get in here,” concern filling his voice.
Chapter Fourteen
Captain Wayne sat silently, scanning the report in his small hands. After a few moments of deep thought, his eyes rose to the man across his large maple desk. He shook his head briefly.
“How many seeds are missing? Wayne asked. “And what variety?”
The man ruffled through his papers. “Approximately 200 pounds, sir.” His nervous fingers scanned the list. “Some green beans, some corn and some tomatoes.” He looked up at Wayne’s stare. “Seems to be equal portions of each.”
Leaning back in his chair, Wayne considered the report. “And you think you have the culprit in custody? The right man?”
George Hanson nodded. He looked like he expected Wayne to explode at any moment. Instead, Wayne surprised him with a shrug.
“Well,” he started, looking back at the report. “Find out where the seeds are and once you have them back, get rid of the guy.” Wayne looked at George like the conversation was complete.
George’s face gazed away. “How, sir?” he asked quietly. “Banishment or death?”
Wayne’s expression steeled. “Well, if we banish him and his family,” Wayne considered the option, “that just sends a message to others that we’re weak on crime. Can’t have that.”
Wayne looked around Hanson and stared to the back of the room. Jerry sat quietly staring at his boss. “Jerry has a couple of guys that don’t mind the dirty stuff. They’ll take care of it, but be sure you have all those seeds back first. We need as many as possible for planting this year after last year’s lack of rain. We have to replenish our supplies.” Wayne leaned forward on his arms. “People are hungry, George. We’ve got to give them food. Another year like this past one, we’ll have trouble on hands.” Wayne’s face showed no emotion, only determination.
George considered his boss’s words and finally nodded briefly. “We’ll get them all back, sir. I promise that.” Sweat formed on his forehead.
Wayne sat back and smiled. “I know you will George. You’ve never failed me. I like that in a man. A fellow has to do his job to keep everyone happy.” The two men rose and Wayne shook hands with his foreman. “And quit being so formal, George. Call me Captain like everyone else does.” Wayne smiled as he felt the foreman’s sweaty hand.
Sharon stood next to Wilson in the nearly dark closet; her eyes focused on the wall before them. Her face showed the anguish the wall could not. “That’s a lot of lines.” She turned to Wilson. “How many?”
Wilson shrugged. “I can’t count that high. I stopped at 30. I figured you’d be able to get a better count than me.” He continued staring at the marked-up wall.
Sharon stepped out of the closet and whispered in Judy’s ear. Judy released her grip from the smallest child’s shoulders and stepped into the closet.
She frowned as her eyes scanned the wall. Finally she turned to Wilson and spoke quietly. “One hundred and twenty-two.” Wilson flinched; even a hardened finder had his limits.
He turned to his friend, sullen. “Alone, you figure?” he asked, just as quietly as Judy had spoken.
She looked out the door and at the young girl standing next to Sharon. “Let’s ask Miranda,” Judy answered. The pair stepped out of the dark and back into the somewhat lighter basement opening.
“So, Randa,” Wilson began.
“Miranda,” the girl quickly corrected.
Wilson shrugged. “Whatever. Do those marks go back to when you all first came here?” She shook her head. “Since your dads left?” Wilson continued. Another shake. He licked his dry lips. “Okay, when did they start?”
“When our moms left, Dalton started the count. It was cold, probably winter already. Plenty of snow.” She looked up at Sharon as she finished. The older woman’s face failed to hide her shock.
“That’s a long time without parents, Miranda,” Judy said. “Are you sure Dalton didn’t double up at all?”
“If anything, he missed a few, in my head.” Miranda shot a nasty glance back at the older of her friends.
Dalton scowled. “No I didn’t. You know that, Miranda. I was careful.” He looked sharply at Wilson. “The marks in there are the exact number of days we’ve been alone. God’s truth.”
“What’d you do for food?” Wilson wasn’t convinced with their tale.
Miranda turned and glared at him. It appeared she already didn’t care for him. “We brought some with. And we found some on the way. Scavenged it, my dad said.” Her high voice was confident and proud. “We melted snow every day to be sure we had water. We used the bucket in there for the bathroom. We’d sneak in the woods every day and dump it.” She stopped and gave a small smile. “Until you all showed up.”
“Why’d you take our food then?” Wilson asked quickly.
“’Cuz we been living on peas the last few weeks. That’s all we had left.” She shot a glare back at Wilson. “Anything you had was better than another day of peas.” She tossed her chin at him with her last words.
Wilson grinned and stared at Sharon. “Thieves. Nothing but a pack of little thieves.” Turning to Miranda, his eyes narrowed. “So, any good stuff left in your hiding spot? Jewelry, gold maybe?”
Miranda’s thin face answered his question. She gazed down at her feet. “Nothing. Our dads took everything,” she answered.
“Okay, these little grubbers are worthless,” Wilson started. “We need to grab our packs and get out of here then.” He glanced to Tiny. “No sense wasting any more time in this place. Let’s go make our trade and be off.” He started for the steps. Miranda stepped in his way, her right hand outstretched.
“You gotta help us. Help us find our folks,” she said, her eyes pleading.
Wilson grinned and stared at the waif. “Ah, I don’t think so little girl. You’ve been fine on your own this long. You’ll be okay ‘til they all get back.” He slowly moved her hand away from his body.
“Jim,” Judy began quietly. “What makes you think their parents are coming back? They’ve been on their own for four months now.” She looked from face to face of the smallest ones. “We need to help them.”
“Help them?” Wilson scoffed. “A pack of little bandits? I don’t think so. We’ve seen plenty of orphans on the road. They can take care of themselves. They always do.” He placed his foot on the first step when Miranda grabbed the back of his shirt.
“We’re not orphans. Our parents are out there somewhere. They just can’t get back to us yet.” Miranda spoke quickly, somewhere between upset and hysterical.
Wilson spun, tearing her hand from his shirt. “You are not our responsibility. That’s the law of the land. People wanna be stupid enough to have kids, then they gotta take care of ‘em. Plain and simple, little girl,” his voice rose as he thrust a finger in Miranda’s direction. “That’s the way it is out there. Been like that for almost 16 years now.” He leaned closer to her defiant face. “You don’t have to like it, just live with it.” He turned for the stairs again.
“Jimmy,” Sharon started. “We can’t just leave them here – alone. That’s not right.” She stepped closer to Brock and stared into his frightened eyes. “We need to do something, Jim. This isn’t right.”
Wilson’s face showed his disbelief. “We’ve never done this and you know it. We seen lots of kids alone before. And we just left ‘em.” His eyes narrowed, staring at his gang. “You wanna change the rules? We vote. I know how you and God’s little angel over there feel, but it’s gonna be a tie vote. And a tie means no change.” He cast his glance at his large friend. “Right, Tiny?”
Tiny hadn’t spoken a single word the entire time. He stared at the two boys between he and Sharon, the Hardy brothers. His head began to nod ever so slightly. Wilson smiled.
“I don’t know, Jim.” He peeked at his friend. “This don’t seem right, leaving them behind.” Wilson’s mouth fell open hearing Tiny speak. “I mean look at them, they’re just kids.”
“Tiny, don’t go all soft on me,” W
ilson pleaded. “We need to stick together and keep moving. Just the four of us.” He motioned to the children. “They’ll just slow us down.” Tiny’s expression didn’t change.
“We’re going into Eau Claire,” Sharon said. “We can take them along. Maybe their folks are stuck there for some reason or another.” She glanced at an agreeing Judy and Tiny. “At least they’ll be safe there until someone claims them. They’ll starve out here, Jim.”
Wilson frowned at his friends. “You’re kidding, right? You know what leeches kids are. We’ve seen it a thousand times.” Faces showed no change. He threw his hands up in disgust. “This is a terrible idea.” He stormed up the stairs, taking two steps at a time.
Sharon smiled at the four children. “Don’t mind him; he just likes to get his way.” She winked at Miranda, which made the girl smile for the first time since they’d met. “Grab whatever stuff you have. We’ll take off this afternoon.”
The children scurried to grab their few belongings from their cubby and followed Judy up the stairs. Bringing up the rear, Tiny and Sharon shared a smile.
Chapter Fifteen
“This isn’t the right road,” Miranda’s small voice shouted ahead. “Hey you, Wilson.” He stopped and turned to face the girl. “We’re going north. We should be on the east road.” She turned to Judy. “What kind of a finder is he?”
Judy smiled at Miranda and dug out her map. After carefully studying it for a few moments, she gazed at the road behind them.
“I think he just wants to go up to that main road,” Judy said, showing Miranda her map. “Up to this 29 here.” She pointed at the intersection. “We’ll take that to 60th and then go south into the community from there.” She carefully folded the map and shoved it in her back pocket.
Miranda frowned. “There’s trouble on that road most days. You know, road people. They’ll steal our stuff and kill us,” she said quietly, seeming to not want to alarm the smaller boys behind her. She looked back at the group. All of the boys were mesmerized by Tiny’s size. He broke large branches at their request, bringing “ohs” and “ahs” and even more “cools.”
