Separation

After a joyful reunion, Mildred introduced Sineta. When they learned that she was the daughter of the baron, it became clear to the prisoners why they had been granted release. At the behest of Sineta, the companions then walked the short distance to her home, where they bathed and changed into clean clothes Sineta had brought to them by women from the ville. Their own clothes were taken to be cleaned. The women returned immediately with food and drink.

“You will be given quarters later, so that you may rest. But first you must eat and we will explain to you what has occurred.”

” ‘We’ ?” Krysty asked, looking from Mildred to Jak who shrugged helplessly, knowing that Ryan wouldn’t like the situation any more than he did himself.

“Yeah, it’s not that complex, but it does need explaining,” Mildred offered.

And so, after they had eaten, the companions settled down to hear what Mildred and Sineta had to say. When they had outlined what had occurred and the conditions of their release, Ryan turned to Jak.

“What do you think of this?” the one-eyed man asked the albino.

Jak shrugged. “Good people here—some little crazy, but most fair. Good to me, mebbe not you. Mildred in for trouble, I think. But probably no real danger.”

“And do you reckon Markos’ll play this one down the line?” Ryan added.

“Good man,” Jak affirmed. “Listen albino brother too much. Weird shit ideas, there. Not about people at all, but some kind of self thing.”

Sineta interrupted. “Jak’s right. Markos listens too much to his brother, and for all his talk I have often felt that Chan uses ideas as a shield and mask for his real self. I would not trust him, but I would trust Markos.” Ryan chewed his lip, then fixed his eye on Sineta. “Okay. Look, I don’t want you to think that we’re not grateful for what you’ve done for Mildred or for us, but we don’t belong here. I figure the best thing is we get the hell out as soon as possible.”

There was a general murmur of agreement from all except Mildred. She looked Ryan in the eye and spoke low and clear.

“No, Ryan. If you want to go, you go alone. I can’t. I made a promise.”

“But, Millie! We can’t leave without you!” J.B. exclaimed.

“Yes, you can, John, and you’ll have to if you want to go right now.”

“You know we can’t do that. You’ll be ripped to pieces if we disappear and leave you. It’ll confirm everything that worries Markos and the others like him,” Krysty said softly.

“I can’t help that. I’ve given my word, and I want to stay,” Mildred asserted.

“But why?” Dean asked, although he thought he already knew. He needed to hear this for his own reasons.

“Because I’ve never been in any place where I felt I belonged, and now perhaps I do,” Mildred began.

They sat and listened while she explained to them about her background and the lack of identity she had sometimes felt since awakening in the postdark world. All the thoughts that had whirled around her head over the past few days now came tumbling out, taking better shape for her as they were spoken. She told of things that they had spoken of when they were first imprisoned: of the prejudices they had seen in the oil wells and the division of people based on skin and race they had seen in other places during their travels.

All of it made sense to them, but there was one vital question that remained unspoken and unanswered. It was a question that J.B. put to her when she fell silent.

“So who’s more important, Millie—us or them?”

It was a question that Mildred couldn’t immediately answer.

The atmosphere was strained for the rest of the evening and Mildred was glad when a sec man arrived to show the companions to the quarters they would share in the ville. Jak was told he would be relocated with his compatriots.

As they started to leave, J.B. noticed that Mildred made no attempt to move. “You coming with us?” he asked her.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126

Leave a Reply 0

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *