Samurai Summer

by Edwardson, Åke

  “It looks deserted,” said Janne.

  “Good.” I went to the moat. There was mud at the bottom but no water. “Maybe they’ve been here and gone.”

  “What should we do now?” asked Sausage.

  “Let’s make a fire,” said the boy with the hat. “It’ll be hard, but we can do it.”

  The explorers had brought the perch with them. I lifted one of them. It must have weighed more than half a pound and was nice and solid.

  Lennart and Sausage went to gather some twigs and branches. I flattened out the ash in the campfire. Everything inside the ring of stones was cold now. I wondered again who had been there earlier and made a fire. Maybe Micke with Weine’s troop. I still couldn’t understand how he could change sides. Was it because I hadn’t been a good enough leader? Had I left them too much on their own? Been too unyielding with Matron and the grown-ups? Maybe I should have been smarter from the start. Been more laid back. Said nothing about the Twist bag. Eaten everything that crawled around on my plate in the mess hall.

  A quarter of an hour later we had a good fire burning. We sat around it in a circle and watched the flames. Kerstin was sitting next to me. I had been waiting for the right moment to ask her what had happened, but that moment hadn’t come yet.

  “Won’t they see the fire?” asked the archer.

  “No,” said Janne. “We’re too far away. And the wind’s blowing in the other direction.”

  The archer looked around.

  “This is a nice place you’ve built.”

  Nobody answered, but it was nice to hear.

  “We’ve got a reserve castle,” said Janne. “We can go there later. They’ll never find that place.” He looked around. “The walls are higher than they are here.”

  “Do you have a place of your own?” asked Sausage. “An encampment or something like that?”

  “Only the canoe,” said the one with the hat. “That’s our encampment.”

  “Explorers are nomads,” said the archer. “We move around all the time.”

  “Samurai are nomads too,” said Sausage. “We keep moving like the waves of the sea. That’s why we’re also called ‘wave men.’”

  Sausage looked at me. I nodded. Maybe it sounded a bit strange right now, but it was true.

  “You build pretty well for being nomads,” said the archer with a laugh. “But there’s not much in the way of waves in that moat.”

  “We need some place to keep coming back to,” I said. “You have your canoe. We’ve got our castle.”

  The one with the hat nodded and started counting heads sitting around the fire.

  “There are five of you here from the summer camp,” he said when he’d finished counting. “They must have finished eating supper by now. And you’re not there.”

  “That’s true,” said Sausage cheerfully.

  “So what’ll they do? Send out a search party? Or phone the cops?” said the one with the hat.

  I looked at Kerstin again. As long as she was here, they would wait as long as possible before calling the cops. I think Matron and Christian realized that she was with us. Pretty soon they’d come back here to look for us but not until it had gotten darker.

  For now Kerstin was safe, but that wouldn’t last forever. We weren’t safe ourselves. They were crazy and it wasn’t just because they were grown-ups.

  “Aren’t you missing too?” asked Janne.

  “Mom and Dad won’t mind as long as I make it back before school starts,” said the archer.

  “Wow,” said Sausage.

  “For me, it’s enough if I’m home the day before my confirmation,” said the one with the hat.

  “You’re gonna get confirmed?” asked Sausage.

  “No,” he replied and burst out laughing.

  “Then you’ll never get home,” said Sausage.

  “I’ve got the canoe. I can paddle wherever I want. Have you seen what the world looks like? There’s water everywhere.” He looked at me. “I can paddle to Japan. You can come with me if you want.”

  “But we were going to go to Missouri,” said the archer. “Follow the Missouri River all the way.”

  “That’s on the way to Japan.”

  “No it isn’t.”

  It depends on which way you go,” said the one with the hat. “On second thought, no it doesn’t. The world is round. You always get to where you’re going if you keep at it long enough.”

  “He’s always like this,” said the archer looking at me. “Should we grill the fish now?”

  I can’t say that everybody got full, but we all had some and it was the best thing I’d tasted all summer—along with the hot dogs the lady at the stand had given us. We didn’t have any salt but I doubt anyone cared. I asked Kerstin what she thought and she said it tasted great. She didn’t say anything apart from that. She started shivering again but only for a few seconds.

  Sausage ate some of the skin as well—those pieces that were crisp enough.

  “This only made me even more hungry,” he complained.

  “We’ve got dessert,” I said. “The bag of Twist.”

  “Do we dare open it?” asked Sausage.

  “Why shouldn’t we?” I said. “It’s mine, isn’t it?”

  “Twist,” said the archer. “I haven’t had Twist since we found a bag at the supermarket a few weeks ago.”

  “Those weren’t Twists,” said the one with the hat. “They were some other kind of chocolates. And we didn’t exactly find them.”

  “Same difference.”

  “I’ll go get it,” I said. I stood up and walked over to the hiding place.

  It was empty.

  The glow from the embers was like a red eye staring up at the dark blue sky. Everybody sat there thinking about chocolate. You couldn’t start talking about chocolate and then expect everybody to stop thinking about it.

  I had been robbed of my bag of Twist twice. I don’t know which time was worse.

  “Weine,” said Sausage. “Or Micke.”

  “Probably both of them,” said Janne. “I’ll have their heads for this.”

  “No,” I said, “they’re mine.”

  “Did you know that it was the white man who started taking scalps?” said the one with the hat. “At least in the American Northeast. The state of Minnesota. Cheyenne country.”

  “Swedes,” I said.

  “Huh?”

  “I’m talking about the whites. It was mainly Swedes who emigrated to America, wasn’t it? To Minnesota.”

  “You may be right.”

  “So it was Swedes who taught the Indians to take scalps.”

  “I don’t know if they taught them exactly,” said the one with the hat. “It must have been a pretty painful thing to learn!”

  Somebody burst out laughing.

  Kerstin started crying.

  “He… chased me in there.”

  She had started talking at last. I knew she would. At first her teeth were chattering like castanets.

  “He told me to go in… in… to… the room.”

  “What for?” asked Sausage.

  “Shut up, Sausage,” I said.

  “Which room?” asked Janne.

  “That… office. The one that Matron has.”

  “Were you alone?” I asked.

  “Yes… by then. Ann was outside but he said he wanted to talk to me about something.”

  “Was he alone?”

  “Uh… yes.”

  “Where was Matron?”

  “She was in the hall.”

  “So she knew that Christian wanted to talk to you in the office?”

  “Yes, she saw us.”

  “She saw Christian and you going into her office?”

  Kerstin nodded.

  “What did she say?”

  “She didn’t say anything. She… started walking away. I just caught sight of her turning her back on me… on us… and heading outside.”

  “Then what happened?”

  Kerstin’s teeth s
tarted chattering again.

  “I jump… jumped out of the window,” she said.

  She didn’t want to say what had happened in the office, but she had told us the important part—that she’d escaped. That was starting to look like the only way out of this place.

  “I think we’d better get out of here now,” said Janne.

  We went deeper into the woods. It had grown darker, and it felt like we were walking deeper into the night. There were no rules that applied any more. There were less than two weeks to go before the summer camp closed down for the season. But not even that applied now.

  The wall looked like a dinosaur’s spine in the dim light. The reserve castle was not much more than the wall and a lean-to where you could shelter from the wind. I could see the field and the edge of the trees on the other side. The field was like a lake. I thought of the explorers’ canoe. The grown-ups might have found it by now, but the explorers didn’t seem worried. They had become a part of our troop. Maybe they were tired of being on their own. There’s strength in numbers.

  “How many of them are there?” asked the archer out of the blue. He seemed to be reading my thoughts. “Grown-ups at the camp?”

  I thought for a moment. Matron and the counselors. And Christian. And the cook.

  “Seven altogether.”

  “And we are…”

  “Nine,” I said, “with you two and Kerstin.”

  “Good. What weapons have you got?”

  “Only the ones we took with us from the castle.”

  “No hidden supplies here?”

  “Not yet. We’ve thought about it.”

  “There’s one other thing,” said Lennart, who was standing beside me. “Weine’s troop. And Micke.”

  “What about them?” asked the one with the hat.

  “They’re our enemies too,” said Lennart.

  “Do you think they’d fight on the same side as the grown-ups?” asked the archer.

  “Are we really going to fight?” wondered Sausage.

  “Haven’t you understood anything?” said Janne.

  “We can’t trust anybody apart from ourselves,” I said. “Everyone standing here.”

  Although not everybody was standing. Kerstin had sat down inside the lean-to and was gazing out over the field, as if she thought somebody might approach from that direction. But if they did come, it would be from inside the woods behind us.

  I was sure of one thing. This wasn’t a game—if it ever had been. They wouldn’t call the police. They would try to catch Kerstin first. And us. I felt my sword. It was just as heavy and sharp as before. The sword was ready. But was I ready? Was the troop ready? If we really were samurai, we were ready for anything. I heard a sound. It could have been a twig snapping. Sound travels a long way in a silent forest. Then I heard another noise.

  “There’s somebody out there,” whispered Janne, nodding toward the trees.

  We couldn’t see anything moving. We waited, but there were no more sounds.

  “What is it?” whispered Sausage.

  “We don’t need to whisper,” I said. “They know we’re here.”

  “It could be a deer,” said the archer.

  He had his bow ready with an arrow in place. He was prepared to shoot at anything that emerged from the trees. The point of the arrow was as sharp as a needle. Anybody hit by that would be in trouble.

  There was another crack that was louder this time. Whoever was moving around out there wasn’t trying to creep up on us. It must be an animal that, maybe, was heading away from us.

  “Kenny!”

  I gave a start. We all did. If it was an animal, it could talk.

  I could see something moving over by a tree twenty yards away. It was a white hand waving at us.

  “Don’t shoot. It’s Micke!”

  He must have seen the archer. The arrow was aimed straight at the tree. The archer didn’t lower his bow.

  I recognized Micke’s voice, but that didn’t mean I trusted him.

  “Are you on your own?” I shouted.

  “I’m here with Weine. And his troop.”

  “What do you want?”

  “We want peace.” I thought I caught a glimpse of his face. “We’ve come in peace.”

  “You’ve betrayed us, Micke.”

  “Can I come and explain?”

  “Where are the others?”

  “They’re waiting a little farther back in the trees. Kenny! You’ve got to let me come up and talk to you. It’s important. Life and death, Kenny!”

  I listened for Weine and his gang but couldn’t hear anything. No disturbed birds or other forest animals. If Weine’s soldiers were there, they were very skilled at moving through trees.

  “Lower your bow a little,” I said to the archer, “but keep the arrow in.”

  “I’m coming out now,” said Micke. “Don’t shoot.”

  “Hold your sword over your head,” I said.

  It was strange, but I was pleased to see him. But we were still keeping a close eye on him. Nobody cheered when he made it to the wall. Micke kept an eye on the archer who was standing at the ready, but he didn’t ask who he was, nor who the one with the hat was either. He asked about somebody else.

  “Is Kerstin here?”

  “Why do you ask?”

  “You should see what it’s like at the camp, Kenny!”

  “What’s that got to do with her?” I asked.

  “What do you want?” It was Kerstin’s voice.

  I turned around. She was standing next to the lean-to with the blanket wrapped around her.

  “Kerstin!” He took a step forward, still with his sword above his head. “You’re here!” He looked at me. “Thank God.”

  “What’s going on at the camp?”

  “Can I lower the sword?” he asked.

  “Put it on the ground.”

  The archer was aiming at Micke as he put the sword down at my feet. I didn’t want to look at it. I didn’t like it when somebody was forced to lay down their sword.

  “The other one too,” I said.

  He took out his wakizashi without saying a word and put it down beside the katana. He was almost naked now, but it didn’t seem to bother him—at least not yet.

  “What’s going on?” I asked again.

  “They seem to be out of their minds,” he said. “Matron and Christian. Especially Matron.”

  “What are they doing?”

  “All the children have been forbidden to leave their dormitories. Nobody’s allowed out.”

  “What’s so strange about that?” asked Janne, who was standing next to Micke. “It’s always like that.”

  “But now they’ve put out guards. Matron and Christian are patrolling outside. And the cook, too, I think. They’re going in and out of the main building. If you get in their way, you won’t make it out alive.”

  “But you made it out. And Weine and his gang,” I said.

  “Exactly,” said the archer.

  “We never went in,” said Micke. “We slipped away after the search party got back.”

  “How do you know they put up guards then?”

  “Ann,” he said. “She hid under the steps when they ordered everybody to go upstairs. I don’t know how she did it. You’ll have to ask her.”

  “Is Ann here?” I heard Kerstin ask. She’d been standing behind me the whole time. “Where’s Ann?”

  “She’s waiting with the others,” said Micke.

  “What do you want us to do?” I asked. “You and Weine.”

  “We have to join forces and fight them,” said Micke. “We won’t be able to do it if we don’t.” He looked at Kerstin. “There’s something damn—very strange about Matron. More than usual. And Christian too.”

  “Have they called the police?” asked Janne. “Do you know? Reported her missing?”

  “Not as far as I know,” said Micke. “But we can ask Ann.”

  14

  They came out of the trees one by one with Weine l
eading the way. This time he didn’t look like he wanted to trip anybody up. He was looking around all the time as if expecting to be attacked at any moment.

  “Who are they?” asked the one with the hat. “Are they samurai too?”

  “No,” I said. “They’re just bandits.”

  “Do you trust them?”

  “About as far as I trust the grown-ups.”

  “Then maybe we should start disarming them?”

  “We can’t keep them as prisoners,” I said. “If we did, we wouldn’t be able to do anything else apart from guarding them.”

  Weine had reached the wall. He looked at me but wasn’t smiling. He looked scared. But it wasn’t me or us he was afraid of. He looked around again to see if whoever he was scared of had been following him and was lurking in the shadows.

  “So you found your way here,” I said.

  Weine gestured toward Micke.

  “It was necessary,” said Micke.

  “What’s so necessary?” I asked.

  “That we join forces,” said Weine.

  “How are the other kids, the little ones?” I asked.

  “Locked inside.”

  “What are they doing to them?”

  Weine shrugged. “They’re scared.”

  I saw Ann cross the path and run up to Kerstin.

  “I’ve been so worried,” said Ann.

  Kerstin hugged her without speaking.

  I went over to them.

  “Ann?” I said.

  She looked up. I hardly recognized her close-up. Her face looked older. It seemed like she’d aged ten years over the last few hours. Her brown hair was glued to her forehead as though she’d swum here. She wasn’t cocky anymore, that was for sure.

  “I heard you went and hid,” I said.

  “Yes… under the steps.”

  “Didn’t anybody look there?”

  “No. They were in such a hurry.”

  “To do what?”

  “To lock everybody inside.”

  “Why did they want to do that?”

  “To stop any more of them running away, I think.”

  “Why would anybody else want to run away?”

  I felt like a detective interrogating her.

  “They were… trying to hit us,” said Ann. “Chr-Christian and Matron. They were going crazy.”

  She looked at Kerstin when she mentioned Christian’s name. Kerstin looked away.