Amitola: The Making of a Tribe

by A. Grant Richard

  “Okay so let’s deal,” Allen said.

  “In exchange for the two hundred gallons of fuel, we want the following…” He stared at Allen. “You got a pen and paper?”

  He reached over and grabbed a notepad and pen off of the bottom of the table beside him. “Go ahead.”

  Caleb wrote as he spoke, “Along with whatever cigars you are going to give to us, we want twenty t-dap vaccines, ten each of the MMR and Polio vaccines, forty STD testing kits, twenty EpiPens, twenty each of Amoxicillin, Ampicillin, and Cipro. For the painkillers, we want twelve of those big bottles of morphine you’ve got. We want the ten birthing kits, and instead of cosmetics we want thirty boxes of what did you call those things?” he asked snapping his fingers.

  “Menstrual cups,” Maia said.

  He wrinkled his nose. “Yeah, menstrual cups…that’s it,” he said while writing it down in his notes.

  “We also need twenty boxes of condoms, one-thousand cable ties, ten packs each of double-A, C, and D batteries, ten bags of coffee, and 500 rounds of 9mm ammunition. Finally, she wants five containers of cocoa powder and fifty…” he said looking at Maia who was shaking her head no and pointing up. “Seventy-five, no, one-hundred chocolate candy bars.”

  Maia shrugged her shoulders. “I have pregnant women. They need chocolate.”

  Allen held the pen to the paper and tilted his head as he stared at them. “You want all that for two hundred gallons of fuel?”

  “Oh, I know it’s a bit unfair to us. I can add more items to our list if you want. I just figured we could start there until we get to where we’re going, and I have a better idea of what we need. I’m giving you the upper hand to show our appreciation,” Caleb told him.

  Allen grinned. “Go get me, Doc Tullier,” he told Jason. He closed his recliner and sat up. He leaned towards Caleb. “I’m curious. What makes you think this stuff is worth less than the fuel?”

  “I know it is. We can go out and scavenge or trade for all of this stuff. Some of it might be a little harder to come by, but I accounted for that by increasing the value. You can’t just go out and get fuel. If you could, then you wouldn’t be asking us for it.”

  Jason returned with Doc Tullier. Allen got up to talk with him. He asked Jason to check on Karen then turned his attention to the Doc. It was evident that they were discussing the list. Finally, Allen came and sat back down with them.

  He glanced over the list one more time, “Okay we’ll do it. When can we make the exchange? Mind you the powers that be say there’s a hurricane coming.”

  “Considering that, I need at least ten days,” Caleb put his notes away and picked up his cigar. He shook hands with Allen, and the deal was done.

  Just then Jason and Karen returned with a lanky young girl. She didn’t look a day over sixteen. She had long, straight brown hair and olive skin. Her big brown eyes were full of tears.

  “Maia, you remember my little sister Ann? This is her youngest daughter, Serena,” he choked up. “Ty, today when I asked you to throw the fight I was testing you. I needed to be sure you honored Maia and her values more than you valued your pride. I needed to know you’d protect her at all costs. What you did showed me what kind of man you are.” He laughed. “the way you did it made me feel even better about you. You threw it for Maia, but you still made him look like an ass. It was perfect.”

  Jason rolled his eyes. Tye, Maia, and Caleb looked at him, confused.

  Allen moved from the recliner to the sofa beside Serena, “A couple of weeks ago some of my guys saw her with a man three times her age. He’d bought her at auction. They invited him back here, and I wined and dined him and acted interested for other reasons. He had other women, so he had no problem betting her during a game of poker. I won. The problem is, she’s like a daughter to me. I can’t have her living here among my rules. She needs to be somewhere where she’ll be valued and protected at all costs.”

  Suddenly Tye and Maia both felt horrible. With everything they’d discussed about Tony and now seeing Serena, Maia’s mind finally started clicking and connecting with the hints Jason had dropped: the song he dedicated to her was the song they danced to at Ann’s wedding, how he told her to remember the Clarks and that it was ‘just like old times’. He was trying to tell her there was a domestic issue and they were just playing a role. So many things now made sense. He wanted her to understand something bigger was going on, but she was so focused on hating him for what happened between them that she couldn’t see past it.

  “I know I’ve given you all a hard time today, but I had to know I could trust you,” he took Serena’s hand in his, “Since you won’t stay here, I need you to take her with you.”

  “No, Uncle Allen, please. I want to stay with you,” Serena said, crying into his shoulder.

  “Why? Why do you want her to come with us instead of being with you?” Maia asked.

  “There are only five boys here between the age of twelve and twenty. None of them are any good for her. And some of the men here are already asking when I’m going to make her available like the other women. I can’t ever do that. She doesn’t want it, and I wouldn’t allow it. I know your boys. You have good boys. She has a much better chance at a good life with you. I know that now, especially after talking with y’all today.”

  Maia looked over at Caleb. This was happening. This is what they wanted, to be a haven for girls and do their part in rebuilding society and the world but it was hard to swallow the revelation that people were now willing to give up their children with the hopes they’d have a better life. Suddenly they understood how their ancestors must have felt putting their young children on boats to the New World not knowing whether or not they’d even survive the voyage but willing to take the chance because even death was better than the life they were confined to.

  “Okay, we’ll take her with us when we come back for the trade,” Caleb said. “That will give us some time to get settled and make arrangements.”

  “Done and thank you,” Allen said standing up to hug all three of them.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Serena, Sadie and Tobi’s daughter went to the craft room to make jewelry while Tobi, Sean, Jenna, Tony, and Kat joined the adults in the living room. That’s when the real conversation began. They were on their third or fourth drink, and the guys were on their second cigar. Jenna persuaded Maia to try a Montecristo because it tends to be sweet and fruity. She didn’t know she wasn’t supposed to inhale and her good friend neglected to share that bit of information with her. It took her a good two minutes to quit hacking.

  Ever the flirt, Jenna took a seat by Jason and started rubbing his leg, “So…guys, we know Maia’s problems with our little community here but why would two attractive, healthy men turn down women eager to rock your world? I mean, you gay?”

  “Here we go,” Tye said while he made himself more comfortable on the sofa.

  Caleb flashed his half grin and shook his head, “For the record, I didn’t turn anyone down because no one came on to me.”

  Jenna sat up and leaned forward. “Oh, well I’m interested. If you’re into women, that is.”

  Maia rolled her eyes. She did that a lot. She could not comprehend some people’s constant need to not live in reality. “What? Are you serious? A man doesn’t have sex with every woman who throws herself at him, and he must be gay? Jenna Renee, how much have you had to drink?” she asked taking the last sip of her lemon drop martini. But that’s all it would take. She wasn’t a big drinker. She was already feeling a buzz.

  “I had too many, I think. I need a filter when I drink.” She tilted her back and thought for a second. “I know they’re not gay. It’s fitting though that you’d find men with the same morals as you.”

  Kat rubbed her belly, “What morals would that be? No, no, let’s get this out there. We took a shower together, and it got pretty steamy. We made out…a lot.” She looked over at Tye as though she wanted him to say something. He just sat there. “We were going to have
sex, all right? He was all about it. Then Tony showed up, saw what was happening and didn’t say anything. I think that freaked him out a little bit. I get that. It had nothing to do with morals.”

  “What do you think?” He got closer to Maia and whispered, “That is strange, right? I mean if you were my girl and I walked in, and you were all over some guy I’d have to kill him.” They held each other’s gaze, searching for answers to questions they didn’t yet have.

  Tony and Kat argued a few feet away from them, but it didn’t distract them at all. Maia moved in even closer to Tye. “Yes, it’s strange. What’s even more strange is how some people can have sex with people they’ve just met and might not see again. But, you know what? I’m cool with that. If that’s what they want to do.” She took a puff from the cigar. She held it for a second and laughed out loud blowing the smoke in Tye’s face. He fanned it away and laughed with her.

  For a fleeting moment, she thought she might be starting to think differently about Tye. Yes, she was feeling the vodka. Otherwise, she never would’ve opened her mouth and said that. She knew where the conversation would go but somehow, vodka was her truth serum.

  “We can hear you, you know,” Jenna said.

  “I don’t care if you hear me. I wasn’t trying to be that discreet. We’ve had this conversation before. What you all do here doesn’t fit my perspective of what sex should be. Isn’t everyone entitled to their view? I respect your decision and y’all accept other people’s personal preferences about it, but you’re always giving me a hard time about mine? Why?”

  Caleb was sure he knew the answer, but he wanted to watch her squirm while she tried to explain it. Probing her mindsets had become a hobby of his. “I’ll bite. Tell me about this perspective of yours.”

  Of course, he wanted to know, and for some reason, she felt compelled to tell him. She took a deep breath and exhaled, “I just think that it diminishes sex when you aren’t picky about who you share it with. I mean, it is the most intimate act that can happen between two people. There’s no hiding who you really are once you’re in that place with them.”

  Tye turned to face her. He leaned his back against the full arm of the sofa and stretched his legs across her lap causing Tobi to move more towards Sean to accommodate him. He looked at Maia, “Okay, you gotta explain that to me.”

  She looked at Tobi and exhaled. “Don’t look at me. Explain it to the man,” Tobi said.

  Looking intently into Tye’s eyes she wondered if it was wise to be open so soon. But, she figured, she might as well. She could weed him out now if he isn't down with it. Besides, Caleb asked. She couldn’t backtrack on it now.

  “To me, it’s about more than connecting socially, or intellectually, or even physically. My ‘preference’ is to connect with someone on a higher level; spiritually, emotionally, mentally. Sex is the ultimate act of submission.” She paused to gauge their response. She decided it was worth it to keep going. “You can’t possibly be more vulnerable to another human being than you are during sex. If you do it right, you discover all the things most of us try to keep secret.”

  “And for the record, my wife happens to share her opinion, and I’m a very happy man if you know what I mean.” Sean held up his drink to toast. “To women.” They toasted with him then Jenna decided to poke at her friend. This was their usual banter.

  “So you wouldn’t do it just for fun?” Jenna asked her.

  She spoke louder and became more defensive, “Just for fun with someone I don’t know? No…think about all the information you process during sex; the sights, the sounds, the smells and tastes, the emotions, and all the feelings. It might seem like fun at first, but later you realize what you gave away.” She looked at Tobi, “Right?”

  Tobi leaned forward to look at Tye and then make eye contact around the room, “What she’s saying is there’s a transparency that comes with it, and you have to trust that person enough to reveal yourself to them. I guess some people lack that depth or don’t care to protect it, but we do because when we say we're giving it up, we mean we’re giving it all up.”

  Maia shook her head in agreement, “Exactly,” she said. During the conversation, she couldn’t help but think of Tye. She didn’t dare look over at him for fear that he might somehow know her thoughts. “I don’t think that’s the kind of intel people should have on each other unless they plan on playing a significant role in each other’s life.” The vodka provoked a smile and reinforced itself as her truth serum. “But that’s where the fun stuff comes in; the foreplay, the fetishes, the roles we take on, and the things we say,” she pushed her fear aside and looked at him. He was studying her. She spoke directly to him, “I can’t do that with strangers.”

  Tony covered his ears, “La, la, la, la, la. Okay, as your ‘other brother’ I am seriously uncomfortable with this conversation. But, but,” he held his hand up to hush everyone, “I’m also ridiculously proud of you even if I don’t share your opinion. I’m just glad Rob’s not here. He’d gouge his eardrums if he heard you saying shit like that.”

  She couldn’t resist arguing her position with him, “I don’t expect anyone to agree with me. I only want my opinion respected and for y'all to understand that’s why I don’t see sex as ‘just sex.' You are literally giving yourself away when you do it. You can’t get that back. I don’t want to live in a world where that kind of intimacy is taken away. It’s sacred,” she felt the rough texture of denim on her fingertips. She looked down to see she’d been rubbing Tye’s jeans between her fingers.

  Allen was in deep thought savoring his cigar, “All I know is I’m in the midst of reconfiguring what we do here. Most of the girls are pregnant now, and they’re starting to fuss about putting out and then they have their three or four favorites and don’t want anything to do with anybody else. I’m not a dictator. I don’t want to make them. But at the same time I have to keep these guys happy so what am I supposed to do, you know? That’s where I’m at.”

  Caleb understood what he meant. As a leader, you want to protect and preserve people’s individual rights and desires, but at the same time, you have to do it for the group collectively too. He wondered what Allen thought about other recent trends, “We ran into some people this morning, two men and one woman, and both the men were married to her. They said that’s what they’re doing now. You heard anything about that?”

  “Yeah,” Allen said quickly. “That came down the pipeline about two months ago. We keep bringing it up in meetings, and some of the guys are all for it. They’d rather a woman be exclusive to a few rather than the whole group. Even with that, we’d need more women so that each woman didn’t have to be with five to ten men each.”

  Allen went on to explain that though they had thirty-four women, eleven of them could no longer have children, five of them were under seventeen, three of them didn’t want to have more than two partners, and one of them was a lesbian. Of the one-hundred, twenty-eight men in their community, twelve were over sixty and three were gay. The rest wanted women who could or would produce children for them.

  The lesbian and the gay men chose to act as a family unit. She was artificially impregnated for one of them and would subsequently do the same for the other two. For her, she was able to fulfill her desire to be a mother and their desire to be fathers. Also, she helped them with their duties, and they provided her with protection and provision. On occasion, she spent time with one of the bi-sexual women in their community.

  Similarly, the women who were older in age or couldn’t have children were with the older men who were no longer interested in women for the childbearing but instead for the companionship. Their community had not yet decided on the age that was appropriate for a girl to enter into the adult world. That left those under seventeen out of the equation. The logistics were enough to make your head spin.

  All of this meant that the ratio of men to women would be eight to one. At that ratio, considering most of the women’s ages, it would be nearly impossible for some
of them to have seven more children. That meant some women would have to have fewer partners and others would have more. Some argued that if the teenage girls were included, they could have dozens of kids during their lifetime but their fathers, or father figures in Serena’s case, wouldn’t hear of it and he didn’t blame them at all. It was an algebraic equation no one wanted to tackle.

  While Allen was talking, Caleb jotted down ideas. He reviewed his notes, “What if we raided some of those out of the way brothels? I’m sure those women would be more than happy to stay with one of our groups, and that would add to the numbers. It would allow more choice, and to me, that’s what’s worth fighting for and worth coming back to.”

  “I’ve thought a lot about that, but we’d need some serious plans and training. We’d have to get in and get back without getting caught. And how would we decide who’d get who?”

  “Let them decide. It has to be their choice,” Maia said. “Bring all of the men who are still looking for a partner and whomever the women choose, if the man wants her too, then that’s where they go. If the women want more than one and they’re all okay with it, and if they’re in two different places she goes wherever the primary partner lives because I don’t care what anyone says, there has to be a primary partner. The secondary partner or partners would just have to visit.”

  Still writing down notes, Caleb shook his head in agreement. “Yeah, there has to be the primary partner, and that has to be made known, but here’s another thought…what if they don’t pick anybody.”

  Maia was still rubbing her fingers on the rough texture of Tye’s jeans. “Just like here, no matter what they want, if you spend some time with them you’ll find everyone should have a place. As long as they’re willing to contribute, then they should be allowed to choose.”

  Caleb winked at her “Except for the vunnables. We're going to be a no vunnable zone.”

  She winked back.