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Parched

Page 7

by Lou Cadle


  “You picked a drought-tolerant grain, I see. Smart.”

  Dev didn’t like that, and he wanted to somehow remind the man it was theirs, not anyone else’s. It wasn’t free for the taking.

  Gili broke the silence that followed. “I know you want us gone. I can even understand it, but if we could just have a week to rest.”

  Saul glared at her. “I’m not sure a week would buy you much information.”

  “Did you come through Payson?” Joan asked. “I lived there. Had a church there. Still have friends there, but it has been a long while since I saw them.”

  “That would be information. If we’re going to trade, I need something in exchange.”

  “In a different world, I’d be thinking about g’milut chasadim,” Joan said.

  That made as much sense to Dev as the species designation Saul had used.

  “Tz’dakah would be the more appropriate obligation,” Gili said. “But you aren’t Jewish.”

  “No, I’m not.”

  Saul said, “That life is over. No one has time for compassion or enough to give as charity.”

  “Aren’t those the times we’re supposed to practice charity the most?” Joan said. “When it’s the hardest to do so, when it costs us the most?”

  Dev was surprised they were talking about what he thought of as Christian obligations. He didn’t know anything about Jews and what they believed. He’d never met any that he knew of.

  “If so,” Saul said, “your obligation is clear. You let us stay here and go on home.”

  Gili said, “Saul’s really an atheist.”

  Joan said, “Before we lost oil, or after?”

  Gili had been about to answer, but Saul threw her a glance and said, “That’s information. You want to barter, we’ll barter.”

  “I can’t speak for our whole group.”

  “You have five here?”

  Dev said, “More, but that’s information as well, if we’re going to argue over sharing every little bit. And honestly, you’re not going to get that from us easily. Not our armaments, how much ammunition we have stored, or what other weapons we’re good at using.” He thought about that. “No, I’ll give you this for free. We have enough.”

  Joan stepped in. “We don’t really want to be adversarial.”

  Saul laughed at her. “We are adversaries. There’s no reason to beat around the bush.”

  Joan said, “I wish we weren’t.”

  “Then it’s on you to make it so. You know my faith. Do not oppress a stranger, for you know the nefesh of the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”

  Dev knew that—Exodus—but there were extra words in there.

  Joan said, “I was a stranger to these people. They took me in, and my children, and now I am one of them.”

  “But they have no interest in doing that for us.”

  “It’s all about food,” Joan said.

  Dev shifted. He didn’t want her telling them anything that would give them an advantage.

  Joan turned to Dev. “We could probably give up the hunting land, but we can’t give up the grain.”

  “Joan,” Dev said. A warning.

  “It’s amaranth, isn’t it?” Saul said.

  Joan said, “I tell you this because I need you to have sympathy with our position. And if you’d tell me about yours, we might feel more sympathetic toward you.”

  Dev said, “You can’t have the grain. Period. It’s ours.”

  Joan shot him a look. “It’s not ripe anyway. The fields over on this side were planted behind the others.”

  “You want a steady harvest,” Saul said. “Makes sense.”

  “It’s the only good part of the hotter world,” Joan said. “We can grow more, for longer. Two seasons of planting, really, for a lot of crops.”

  “It’s damned hot right now,” Saul said.

  “But we have ways of growing food. You’re right: picking the right grain did a lot of the work for us.”

  “Joan,” Dev said again, not wanting her to say any more. He did not want these people thinking of what else they had, what might be stolen.

  “Don’t worry,” Saul said, with a disgusted expression aimed at Dev. “You’re better armed. Even were we inclined to, we couldn’t steal your shit.”

  Gili said, “We’re not inclined to. We just want to be left in peace. If not forever, for a week. Or even a day.” She lowered her head and put her hands over her face.

  It took a second for Dev to realize she was crying. Saul went over to her and put his hand on her shoulder.

  Joan glanced at Dev, as if to say, “See? They’re people just like us.”

  Dev knew that. But he had a daughter, and not enough food as it was—though the last few days had been good because of the javelina. Charity was a great theory. Charity that killed you might even win you a place in Heaven, if there was such a place. Who knew? But dead was dead. And the thought of Zoe dead, from something that could have been prevented in this very hour?

  Unthinkable.

  The woman looked up, wiping her face. “I’m sorry. I thought I was done with crying. But I’m tired. That’s all. I’m tired.”

  The thought of Zoe’s needs had hardened his heart. The woman’s words tried to soften it.

  Dev tried to hang tough. “My father is going to want to demand you go.”

  “I understand,” Gili said. “I’d do the same in your position.” She looked to Joan. “What if we promised to leave your grain alone? Just let us rest here a day or two.” She glanced at Saul. “Maybe they could leave a guard here even.”

  He shook his head. “They wouldn’t leave just one person. One person with a gun against a half-dozen angry adults wouldn’t work.”

  “What if I tell you my story,” Joan said, looking from Saul to Dev. “It’s an old story. It can’t get you much in the way of advantage over us. And it’s Payson’s story as well—or the first part of it. The fever was the second part of their story.”

  The two strangers glanced at one another.

  Dev read that as saying they’d been through Payson. Or skirted it because it wasn’t safe. Found it—what? Totally empty, perhaps. No, that made no sense. They’d have stayed there if that were the case. Well defended, perhaps. To Joan, he shrugged. “Just don’t mention our numbers.”

  Joan told a brief version of her story, about the troubles in Payson and the invasion from the valley. Without naming her own daughter, she told of the rapes and outright killing and jailing of the men. And how without Dev’s family and neighbors and another group, it would have continued.

  “So they’re the good guys, you’re suggesting,” said Saul, sounding skeptical.

  Dev said, “I’m not sure about that. I’ve killed. We’ve killed. It never feels good, and it bothers some of us quite a bit even now.” He knew it ate at Sierra most of all. It hadn’t bothered him at all until Zoe had been born, and he’d thought about how he felt about her, so protective, and that everyone he had shot had a father and mother who felt the same about them once. Parenthood was a sobering change, making him more ferocious and at the same time more sympathetic. “Do you both have kids?” he asked.

  They looked at each other.

  Joan said, “If we’re going to trust each other, we have to move forward somehow. Maybe you tell me your story at the beginning. Nothing sensitive, nothing recent. How it started for you.”

  Saul pulled his mouth to one side as he thought. Dev thought he wasn’t going to talk, but after a half-minute, he spoke. “I was based in Tucson, and my family was there.”

  “We’ve been in Tucson since the 1880s,” Gili said. “My family, that is. Saul’s family came during World War Two.”

  Joan said to Saul, “So you’re native to Tucson?”

  “Yes. And was lucky enough to get a job with the USDA there. But I was assigned to Chandler temporarily. And nearly stayed there too long. I barely made it back.”

  “He had to walk the last twenty-five miles,�
� Gili said. “We were all so relieved when he showed up one evening, tired and thirsty.”

  “Things went to hell slower in Tucson than in Phoenix, from what I understand,” Saul said, “but when it was clear they would go to hell, we left town—my brother, my sister, and their spouses. I headed toward a colleague I knew of in Safford. Based on what I’d seen, I thought the smaller a town, the better. She didn’t exactly welcome us with open arms, and she was getting ready to leave that area herself. So we went with her plan, and it was good we did, for we needed the larger numbers by then. It was rough going. There was violence. We made it up into the mountains, and we found a place that took us in.” He shrugged. “And this year we left the place. That’s all I’m willing to share.”

  “Did you have guns at first?” Dev said. “It’s pretty clear you don’t now.”

  “I bartered for what we had, and it cost dearly.”

  “Too dearly,” Gili said.

  He spoke to her, not to Joan or Dev. “We needed to defend ourselves. And I doubt they’d have let us in where they did without a way to add to their defensive capabilities.”

  Joan said, “Is your colleague still with you? Still alive?”

  “No, and yes, respectively, so far as I know,” Saul said.

  “It’s just the family now,” Gili said.

  Joan glanced at Dev, as if weighing her words by his expression. “We’re many families. Plus found family, like my adopted son.”

  Kelly walked out of the hall just then without the other woman. “How are things in here?”

  “Okay,” Gili said. “Cool but warming. How’s Janine? Do you know what’s wrong with her?”

  “I don’t know. I can’t know without diagnostic equipment. But my fear is she has a placental issue.”

  “What do you mean?” Gili asked.

  “The placenta can detach from the lining of the womb, or it can move to a dangerous position. Because of her bleeding, I’m thinking it’s the second thing, but I can’t swear that’s what it is.”

  “Is it dangerous?”

  “Yes,” his mom answered. “Very. Perhaps not for the baby, but definitely for Janine.”

  Saul said, “Will she survive it?”

  His mom hesitated, glanced at him, and then said, “I can’t say. I might be wrong in my diagnosis. I’m not a doctor. I’ve delivered one baby and had one. It’s not a lot of experience to go on.”

  “But you think it’s bad,” Saul said.

  “I do. In fact….” And she looked around and didn’t finish the thought. “How’s the talking going?”

  “I don’t know,” Joan said. “As well as can be expected?”

  “Becca says she’d like to stay here—you all would—at least until Janine delivers and is on her feet again.”

  Gili nodded.

  “And our main concern is that you don’t hurt us or destroy our grain crop. What’s here won’t be ripe for another month, and you’ll be long gone, but you could still do us damage out of spite or ignorance.”

  “We wouldn’t,’ Gili said. “Out of hunger, maybe we could have eaten some before you came. Out of spite, no, never. Food is too precious.”

  “As I say, it’s just flowering now on this side of the road. At the earliest, there will be grain in a month, and we’d expect you to be gone by then.”

  Dev was surprised his mother was offering them a temporary home, especially without consulting his father.

  Gili and Saul exchanged a look.

  Saul said, “And there’s a cost to this.”

  “Not a cost so much. A deal. An arrangement.”

  “Kelly!” His father’s voice startled Dev, coming from not far from the front door. “Is everything okay in there?”

  “One second,” she said to Saul, and she slipped out the front door.

  “What does she mean, a deal?” Saul said to Joan.

  Gili looked nervously at the front door.

  “I haven’t a clue,” Joan said. “Dev?”

  “Mystery to me.”

  Outside, his parents’ voices were soft, and Dev couldn’t make out what they were saying. That his father wasn’t yelling surprised him.

  In five minutes, his mother came back in. “Okay, so I have a proposal.”

  “Which is?”

  “Number one, you keep your hands off our plants. That’s non-negotiable. Number two, you don’t come looking for where we live. Also non-negotiable. Stay here, hunt, trap, hunt for mushrooms or pine nuts, and rest from your troubles.”

  “For how long?” Saul said.

  “We’ll see. But until the baby is born, at least.”

  “And what do we have to do to earn this favor?”

  “I’m not done offering you favors. I’ll take Janine with me so I can keep an eye on her. And I’ll do my best for her when she goes into labor.”

  There was a long silence. Gili looked stunned, then hopeful. She turned to look at Saul, who was frowning. He said, “You mean you want her as a hostage.”

  His mom gave a little shrug. “It does end up working like that. No one will hurt her, I promise you. But her being with us would be a guarantee of your good behavior.”

  “Maybe one of you should stay here. An exchange.”

  “No,” his mom said. “That’s not going to happen.”

  Dev wouldn’t volunteer, that was for sure. He’d feel as if he couldn’t risk falling asleep. He didn’t want to end up a hostage himself, only bartered back to his family at the cost of hens or rabbits or bushels of fruit.

  Gili said to Saul, “It would probably be best for Janine.”

  “I have to be honest with you,” his mother said. “I don’t expect the childbirth to go easily. Truth is, were it fifteen years ago, she’d have a C-section, and I can’t do that.”

  Gili said, “Did you tell Becca that?”

  “I was honest with them both.”

  “She’ll want to stay with Janine,” Gili said.

  “Not going to happen,” Dev’s mom said. “Janine will be in bed. We can keep an eye on her there. We can’t afford to have someone healthy wandering around our homes.”

  “You don’t trust us,” Gili said.

  “You don’t trust us either,” Dev’s mom said.

  Joan said, “I know there isn’t any reason to trust us, but there is no way we would hurt Janine. Kelly will take good care of her.”

  “Not even if we did everything you just ordered us not to?” Saul said.

  “Not even then,” Joan said. “But I hope you cooperate. Surely you can see it’s to your benefit.”

  “You have to be prepared for Janine not to make it despite my best efforts,” his mom said. “I won’t do a thing to hurt her, but I don’t know that I can guarantee a good outcome.”

  “And Becca agreed to this?” Gili asked.

  “No,” his mom said. “They both said no. I understand why they don’t want to be separated. So I thought you could convince them. If you can’t, you should pack up and leave.”

  Saul cursed under his breath. He gnawed at his lower lip and looked down at the floor. Finally he looked up. “I can’t make a decision like that on my own.” The combative tone was gone from his voice for the first time.

  Dev found himself relaxing, and only when he felt his muscles unclench did he realize how tense he had been.

  “I understand,” Dev’s mom said. “We’ll give you overnight to talk it over. At least, even if you decide to move on, you’ll get a good night’s rest tonight, and possibly eat a good meal or two. We’ll be back a couple hours after dawn, and either we’ll take Janine with us, or you’ll be moving on, and packed and ready to go. Are we agreed?”

  Saul gave a sharp nod.

  Gili said, “Thank you for the day’s rest. I’m worried about Janine. More, now that you’ve said what you just did.”

  “I could be wrong,” his mom said. “I hope I am.”

  “I don’t know how we’re going to manage a baby,” Gili said. “But I guess we have to. B
ut how, if there’s no mom and no milk?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Saul said, “You have a goat? Or a cow?”

  “No,” his mom said. “We don’t. Wish we had thought of that.”

  Joan stood. “I hope we can talk more in the future.” She offered her hand to Gili, who hesitated only a moment before shaking it. Joan glanced at Saul but seemed to think better of offering her hand to him. He didn’t look welcoming, that was for sure. But he looked more worried than angry.

  Dev waited until the women had left before he left.

  “So?” his father said. “How’d it go?”

  “Let’s discuss it in the car,” his mom said, and they all walked back to it.

  Pilar fell in beside Dev. “What are they like?”

  Dev shrugged. “Just people. Tired. Hungry. Worried. Defensive.”

  “Did you like them?”

  “I wasn’t thinking about if they were likeable or not, to tell you the truth. I was thinking about if they were dangerous or not.”

  “Are they?”

  “I guess anybody is if they’re desperate enough. This group seems fairly desperate. But tired.”

  “Hmm,” Pilar said. “I’m going to get Rod.” And he peeled off from the group and jogged across the street.

  Once everyone was back in the car, they drove home, leaving the car in their own driveway instead of at Crocker’s, and everybody split up, for they all had work to do. Dev said to his dad, “I’m going to relieve Curt on watch. I guess we should keep a watch for now.”

  “I guess we should!” said his father, as if Dev hadn’t suggested it in the first place. This situation was not good for Arch, Dev thought. He had mellowed from the influence of Zoe on their lives, but the old Arch must have been waiting, just under the surface. Did he enjoy having enemies? Maybe he did.

  Dev did not.

  First, he had to at least get a glimpse of his daughter and make sure she was okay. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Sierra with her—of course he did. But he had to see for himself.

  Chapter 5

  Sierra saw Dev come around the house. “There’s your dad, safe and sound,” she said to Zoe.

  “Dad!” Zoe said, dropping the basket of eggs she’d just helped collect and running off.

 

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