Further:

by Travis Mohrman

  After the death of his parents, he didn’t see any real reason to continue his life. He would drift in and out of sleep, not bothering to feed himself, much less worry about cleanliness or infections. He preferred to be asleep, dreaming that his parents were still alive, waiting for him to gather a few things so they could move on.

  Nearly an entire season went by. Handro had barely eaten anything and had grown rail thin. He assumed one morning he merely wouldn’t wake up. That was fine with him. He was done with this life.

  The dreams began as the cold started moving in for the year. He was still having dreams about his parents nearly every night, but these dreams were different than the rest. His parents were yelling at him. Over and over again they would rail against him for wasting their sacrifice. Why did they even bother trying to protect him if this was how he was going to treat himself?

  It may have been the hunger messing with his head, but he soon believed that these dreams were real. Fearful of letting his parents down, he began to slowly eat again. The act of gathering the food began to bring his body back into shape.

  The dreams continued throughout the entire cold season. Now that he was feeding himself again his mind was clear, but he still felt that the conversations he was having with his parents were real. He didn’t know how, but he had never known anyone who died before. He just assumed this was another step in life.

  As the cold season faded away and warmth started coming back, Handro looked nearly as he did before the beast shattered his world. He was a very different man on the inside, but his body was physically capable of doing what it needed to do to survive in this land.

  After all that, he began walking again. He never saw another settlement until he came upon the men powering up river on the barge. In several spots he had come across locations where settlements had been, but after observing them for several days and seeing no life, he would move on.

  In one instance, he explored one of the dead cities. He wondered if he could find things he could possibly use later. As he walked into it, he knew things were very bad. He could feel it. The hair on his neck stood up as he peered into one home after another, finding everything burned.

  When he got to the center of the city he saw the cause of his unease: a long line of bodies in a row. Dozens of people were neatly lined up, lying on their backs. The flesh was long gone, but the bones were still wrapped in tattered clothing. At the end of the line was a body more colorfully decorated than the rest. In his hand was a large mug full of old dry herbs. He could still smell the astringent perfume of the poison plants.

  Handro couldn’t make sense of it, but he hated it and vowed he would allow the dead cities to remain dead.

  It was a full year after that when he came upon Cooper heading up river. His loneliness and curiosity compelled him to see where they were coming from. He had spied on them for days until Caitlin was injured and he saw a situation he may be able to help with. That was when his life had changed dramatically for the second time. It was when he bucked the rules set forth by his father and began writing his own rules. Rules made strictly for him. Rules he could change whenever he wanted to.

  12

  Several months had passed since Cooper had returned with the children. It was well into the hottest part of the season now and he enjoyed watching the various ways everyone reacted to the sweltering heat.

  Most people, like Seabee and FZ, just took to complaining. Often, Seabee could be heard yelling about how it never used to get this hot where he was from. Basically, he would just walk around complaining until he found a person who would listen to him rant. Cooper had even listened once, just for the comedy of it. Seabee tended to sweat profusely. The combination of his anger at something no one could control and his sweating was hilarious to the redhead.

  Others, like Aria and Ceannt, just slowed way down. Not only did it seem like they walked slower in the extreme heat, but they even seemed to speak slower. He wasn’t sure if it was a conscious thing or not. He would never hear them complain about the heat, other than to joke that the air was so thick it felt like they were being hugged.

  Handro exhibited no change in behavior. He didn’t seem to notice the heat himself, but he was always quick to pass out a tea made from a flowering vine he called passion. He made sure everyone knew they should drink this tea if the heat got to them and made them dizzy.

  Handro had taken Cooper out to see this passion flower and it was magnificent. It grew near the small creeks around the village and the flowers were unlike anything Cooper had ever seen. They had a small center disk surrounded by light purple petals. This disc was nearly the size of his palm! The oddest thing was that erupting from this disc were three separate white structures that came straight up and bent over at a fork. It created something that looked like the bones of a tent without the tarp covering over the disk. Cooper had drawn it several times and spent many hours trying to understand those structures. Handro hadn’t given it much thought beyond its use as a treatment for heat exposure.

  Cooper had no problems dealing with the heat, but unlike Handro, he had to stay out of the strong rays of the sun during the hot season. His milky white skin would turn an angry red and grow very painful. When he wanted to be out all day catching fish with Tom, he had taken to smearing a thin layer of mud on his skin. He rarely did it though. The teasing from Tom, and nearly everyone else, was almost non-stop when he was covered in the shield of stinky goo.

  Cooper spotted Katherine, the village’s teacher, walking out of the woods on one of the warmer afternoons. “Hi Katherine, how are things going?”

  “Hi Cooper. I was just too hot. I went up to one of the springs for a drink of cold water. Brought some down if you want some? It won’t stay cold long.”

  Cooper was excited for some cold water, he had been thinking of walking up to one of the many springs that surround the village and this would save him the trip. The two were quickly at the small group of houses where they lived and Katherine settled onto the large bench in the shade on Cooper’s porch. The redhead went inside to bring some mugs out.

  After pouring her mug first, he poured himself a tall drink of cold water and sat beside her. “So how are things at the school with the children?”

  Katherine smiled big. She always smiled when she spoke of the children. “They are coming along very well. Some of those kids are simply brilliant, Cooper! Albert has been creating musical instruments. Jackson has been taking apart small engines and following Scoob every chance he gets. It’s precious! That Thomas has a gift for drawing; he needs to spend more time with you. I’ve never seen one as young and talented as that one.”

  “How’s John doing?” John had been getting more independent and moved into his own house, within sight of Cooper’s. He decided to stay with the children and go with them to the school with Katherine. While at first it may have been to protect and calm the children, it was obvious that big John was learning just as much as those young ones in the class. Sometimes he would come back with facts he had learned that day and regale Cooper with his new knowledge.

  “He’s wonderful. He has even started asking questions in class now. I’m so happy he feels comfortable enough to do that. The kids really do love him being in there with them also. He’s such a sweet man,” she said wistfully, taking a drink of her cold water.

  Cooper liked hearing good reports about John. In his city, John had seemed to ‘live’ in a bit of a dream world. It was probably some way to manage the depression. He seemed to be embracing life much more here in the village and it was exciting to watch. Some of the kids who were born in the village and didn’t know John had to get used to him. Being a large man with one eye that points at his own nose can be intimidating to small children. Soon, all the kids were treating him just as they would any other adult, even if this particular adult was sitting alongside kids ranging from four to ten years old.

  Cooper took a long gulp of the cold water and stared out at the village. Nearly everyone goes in
side during the hottest part of the day. Some always went to gulf to relax in the water but this time of year even the water was uncomfortably hot for Cooper’s tastes.

  “Have you been venturing out with Handro at all?” Katherine asked while finishing her own mug.

  While Handro seemed to truly enjoy it at the village and was quickly accepted among them, he could not seem to put aside his restless legs. Every few weeks he would decide to go out walking. He was never gone for more than a few days and he rarely came back with any exciting news. Sometimes he would come back with game though and that was always appreciated. It was just something he seemed compelled to do and no one urged him otherwise.

  “No, I have been busy catching up on everything else. I haven’t even gone down to the brewery in some time! I plan on going out with him one of these times, assuming he wants company. I don’t want to force myself into his private time if that is what his trips are for.”

  “Always thinking of others. Good job, Cooper.” Katherine had finished her mug, so she stood up and handed the empty container to Cooper. “Well, I need to get the rest of the cold water over to Asher before it warms up. I don’t want a thirsty husband.”

  “Ha. Of course not. I think I may head down to the brewery now that you got me thinking about it. I just remembered those fellas owe me an answer to a question.”

  “It sounds like you have yourself a mission of your own. Ok, I’ll see you later good sir,” she said as she headed off the porch carrying the large jug of water tight against her chest.

  “Yeah, thanks for sharing the cold water,” said Cooper as he followed her off the porch, but headed in the opposite direction down the slight slope towards the brewery.

  +++

  Once he got to the brewery, he could see most of his friends were already there. “So, this is where you guys are hiding during the afternoon huh?” Cooper slapped the bar with his hand as he asked his question; it was the general signal that he needed a beer.

  Lakewood mumbled “You gotta hide from it somewhere, why not here?”

  Cooper couldn’t find any problems with that logic, so he just nodded his head.

  Ceannt slowly walked over to him and slid a mug of hoppy, high alcohol beer in front of him. “Not my best batch. This heat is starting to get into my cellar and its bubbling too hot right after its brewed I think.”

  FZ lifted his mug high into the air and yelled “Yeah, but it’s ready so much faster!”

  All the guys in the bar started laughing and raised their mugs high into the air. “What’s new, Cooper?” asked Doc.

  “I think I earned my explanation, with the bloodshed and all,” Cooper said as he slapped down the patch that Aria and Caitlin had made for their trip back to the city. It rested there on the dark wood bar while the men all leaned over each other to see what he had just put down.

  “Oh yeah...” Doc exclaimed.

  “What, you still haven’t figured out what TKT means? Really? You’ve had all this time!” asked Lakewood.

  Everyone laughed again and Cooper began feeling like he might be having a joke played on him. Apparently, this was noticeable as Seabee walked over to him and put his arm over his shoulders.

  “Don’t worry Coop, they’re not laughing at you. Truth is these drunks don’t know what it means either!”

  “Hey,” yelled Lakewood, “we all know what it means, it’s just not the same thing for everybody.”

  Doc had stood up and was now looking at Ceannt. “Bring it out old man, I think the kid has earned his drink.” Ceannt disappeared down into the cellar just as Doc took the mug of beer from in front of Cooper.

  “You know, I was drinking that, Doc.”

  “Oh, I know. Now you’re gonna drink from a different kind of mug, just once though,” Doc said while lifting Cooper’s beer up and draining the rest of it in one giant gulp and finishing with a simple “ahhhhh.”

  Seabee was still next to Cooper and looked him square in the face. “There is one thing you should know before Ceannt comes back.” The entire room fell quiet and all eyes turned to stare straight at Cooper. “If you break this, no one is responsible for anyone else’s actions and it’s gonna get real ugly.”

  Cooper was surprised to find himself actually a little scared by the atmosphere of the room. He looked down, slightly flustered at the bar.

  Seabee slapped him on the back and the whole place burst out into laughter again. “Did you guys see his face?” Seabee hooted.

  “We’re kidding, Coop. It’s just a glass. Glasses break eventually. Nobody can believe this thing hasn’t busted yet, probably because Ceannt keeps it down in the cellar.” said Scoob.

  Ceannt emerged from the cellar with a glass full of crystal clear, frothy, amber colored beer. He slid it in front of Cooper.

  The redhead stared at it. He had never seen a glass like this before. He had seen glass windows, but never a glass mug. In large print, etched into the side of it, were the letters ‘TKT’.

  FZ came up and looked at the glass again. “See, this was found in that tiny bunker that had all the engine parts and stuff. It was just sitting there, on a ledge.”

  “So, what do you think it means?” asked Cooper.

  “Well, we’ve all pretty much agreed that it means ‘Time Kills Troubles’,” FZ responded. “It’s sort of our motto, you know? Sometimes things get rough, give it enough time and it’ll get sorted out.”

  “Yeah, that’s what FZ thinks it means,” snorted Lakewood. “All we have ever put in it has been beer, so I say it stands for ‘True Killer of Time’! I mean, if you’re stuck in a bunker smaller than my cabin, what else you gonna do but drink, right?”

  While everyone was joking about what else they thought it meant, Cooper reflected on both of those meanings while drinking his beer out of the glass mug. He liked them both, but he would see if he could come up with another

  The act of bringing out the glass mug had turned the night into celebration and everyone had to drink a beer out of it. Before long, everyone was pretty happy from all the booze but the heat outside had sapped most of their energy. Doc was asleep on the bar, which wasn’t very unusual. The odd part was that he wasn’t drooling all over the place and instead seemed to be truly sleeping.

  Cooper took that as a good time to exit the brewery and trudge back home. After fond farewells and more hugs than was necessary, he finally stumbled down the steps and began walking back to his house.

  On his slow and fairly crooked walk home, he had spotted Caitlin walking far ahead of him in the dusky light. He thought about yelling out to her, but thought better of it as he nearly tripped over his feet. Now was not a good time to talk to her.

  Cooper had grown fond of her, but he didn’t know what to do about it. He had no clue if she felt the same for him. He had never really been in this situation and he didn’t know who to talk to about it. The only men he could ask would be the brewers and he could imagine their response.

  He thought about talking to Aria, but she practically raised Caitlin, so that seemed strange. As he was thinking on it, his course of action struck him. ‘Time Kills Troubles’. He would give it time and see what happened. Cooper liked that glass mug more and more as he thought about it. He might be fairly drunk, but he was having some great ideas.

  When he finally arrived at his home, he tripped up the steps heading onto the porch and fell right on his face. He laid there for a few seconds, snickering to himself before realizing other folks may have just seen him do that.

  Sheepishly he rose up, brushed himself off and went inside to go to bed, still laughing at himself.

  13

  The heat of summer had finally started to break one afternoon when Handro returned from one of his trips. Cooper was on his porch braiding some rope that Ash needed to help raise a roof on a new building. He saw him walking through the village looking just as confident as he always did.

  This time something was different. He had something large in his hand. Usually Handro carried
only a small bag on his back to gather plants and things on his journeys but this item was very different.

  Cooper got excited that he may have found something unique and went running after him. As he got closer, he could see it was a large, white square, heavily stained a muddy color.

  “Hello Cooper, have you seen Aria?” asked Handro.

  “Not since early this morning. She was helping Tim skin a deer he had killed this morning. What did you find?” Cooper asked, while trying to get a better look.

  Handro handed him the mysterious item and said, “I really don’t know, I haven’t seen anything like it. I was up by the rivers, where the two large ones meet up, and this came floating down the one that heads off to the west.”

  Cooper turned it over and over in his hands. He had seen something like this before. It was so lightweight. He pushed his finger into it and it sunk in slightly.

  “You found this just floating in the river?”

  “Yes, I was walking along the river, looking for a plant that will cure rashes and then I saw it floating out there. I followed it for some time before the current eventually pushed it close enough to the shore for me to grab. I want to show it to Aria and see what she thinks. Have you ever seen things floating down the river like this?”

  “No, only thing I have seen floating in the river is sticks, or maybe a few dead fish sometimes. Let’s head over to Tim’s and see if she is still there.” Cooper handed the stained square back to Handro and they headed off into the direction of Tim’s cabin.

  Tim lived on the other side of the village. His cabin was farther back into the woods than anyone else’s. Tim said he liked it like that. Besides, as a hunter he was sometimes able to spy on the animals using the concealment of his house. Then, when they had passed through, he would sneak out and either set traps or wait to ambush them when they returned.

  As the trees of the forest began encroaching out into the village, the pair could see Tim’s house. They could also hear Aria’s voice, so they knew she was still here. Both Cooper and Handro were happy about that.