Mrs. O'Leary had started the tournament off with each student playing two games against a classmate. The person who had the biggest combined score played somebody else who had also won. Those who lost played somebody else who had lost. And so on. Everybody played a lot of games. Yes, any card game has a lot of luck associated with it, but in the end, the result was as Mrs. O'Leary had anticipated. Reese and Annika played the final two games with everybody looking on. Annika won.
"You're good at pegging," Reese said halfway home. They had been talking about the tournament since closing the school door behind them for the last time in 2085.
"Crib is a lot of luck. You're good at counting how much each hand is worth."
"After a while, the hands follow a pattern," Reese said.
"Those girls that came up to you afterwards – did they say nice things to you?"
"Yah. That surprised me. Somebody actually talked to me."
"What did they say? Start with what Jessie said. Tell me every word."
# # # # # # # #
As they had already planned, getting out of school for the holidays deserved a celebration. Annika had asked Reese on Thursday if he would like to come into her house on Friday and visit. He had said Yes, and he'd tell his mom he'd be a little late arriving home.
Annika opened the front door with the key hanging around her neck, poked her head in and yelled, "Mom, I'm home. Reese is with me."
"I'm in the kitchen."
They automatically dumped their backpacks at the door, shuffled out of their shoes, and walked in their stocking feet into the kitchen. If the reader is interested in such details, both had checked earlier that morning that there were no holes in their socks.
Annika made introductions, hands were shaken, and Reese was invited to sit at the dining room table while Annika prepared some food.
"Annika made some cookie dough last night," her mom explained as Annika turned the dials for the oven and a big heating element on top of the stove. "We'll have hot cookies."
"That's when they're the best," Reese said. "What kind?"
"Chocolate chip."
"My favorite."
A glance passed between mother and daughter. That glance may have included a touch of Annikian satisfaction on selecting the right kind of cookie to bake.
Reese watched as Annika measured some milk, poured it into a pot, and placed the pot on the stove element. Then she brought out a carton labelled Wilizy Hot Chocolate Mix and a bag of mini-marshmallows.
Annika's mom saw Reese looking intently at the preparations. "Do you like hot chocolate with marshmallows, Reese?"
Reese nodded. "All my family does. It's our special treat. My granny really likes it too, but I don't know if she'll be able to drink it much longer."
"Why is that?"
"When I visit her when she's drinking her hot chocolate, she chokes and it spills all over herself and the floor. I think something is wrong with her throat. I told my mom about that but she said I shouldn't worry. But still, it's her favorite drink and she'd be unhappy if she couldn't have it any more."
If the reader is interested in such things, that flood of information from chatterbox Reese contained fifty-eight words.
Annika's mom wheeled her chair to the head of the table where she could move back and forth to the kitchen if she had to. Annika was focused entirely on the pot of milk, stirring it slowly, and watching the blob of butter floating in the pot to know when the milk was hot enough to pour in the chocolate mix which she had measured out ahead of time. Concentration was necessary. Somebody else would have to take up the conversational duties. An unlikely source stepped up.
"My family likes chocolate of all kinds," Reese said. "My sister even has a chocolate store. The store is in Toronto but it blew up, so she's back home for the holidays."
I draw the reader's attention to something that Yolanda had said back in book #3 when Reese was dressed up like a cowboy and was guarding Winnie. Yolanda said: Once Reese started talking, he might never stop and who knew what he might reveal. When she said this, Yolanda had been concerned that Reese might reveal some secrets because he had the habit of just blurting out whatever thought might be going through his head at the time. Mind you, he was 7 years old when she had expressed that concern.
"Blew up? Was anybody hurt? Why did it blow up?"
"Uh, I don't know much about it. But Dreamer said that the store couldn't open again, but she was going to stay in Toronto because she wanted to play basketball for a university. My brothers, Lucas and Theo, were working in the store too, and they weren't hurt, but they want to stay in Toronto because they like playing basketball too. And, uh, that's all I know."
"Two brothers. Is Dreamer you sister? Do you have any other brothers?"
With a lot of brothers and sisters for Reese to run through, he was still talking when Annika made the announcement. "The hot chocolate is ready. So are the cookies."
# # # # # # # #
The hot chocolate was a big hit. The warm cookies disappeared quickly too. Reese sat up straight, and since he didn't nibble the chocolate chips out of the cookies first, there was no need for him to pick up his plate and lick it clean. He had figured out on his own that this might not go over so well. When Annika stood up to clear the table, he stood up too because that's what meals at the compound were like. The person who cooks doesn't have to do any more work.
"I can do that," Reese said.
Annika sat back down again and a look may have passed between her and her mother.
When Reese was sitting back at the table again, Annika's mom pulled out two packages from the bag hanging off her wheelchair and gave one to Reese and the other to Annika. "A little early Christmas present for the two of you," she said. Reese opened the long and flat package – a crib board. A brand new one. Annika opened the small package. Crib pegs that wouldn't break in two and which fit perfectly into the board. Plus a new deck of cards.
This was a big surprise for Annika and she came around and gave her mom a hug. Reese didn't know what to do. He didn't think a hug would be right, so he stuck out his hand for shaking and said Thank You.
"I hear the two of you are turning into pros. Let's see how good you are."
# # # # # # # #
They were in the middle of their third game, and Reese was looking at the four cards in his hand and the card that he had just cut. For those readers who know the game, Reese was holding the following cards: 4, 5, 5, and 6. The cut had been a 4. If you don't know the game, this is a great hand. They played it out, and when they both had only one card left in their hand, Reese put down his 6 and Annika paired it up.
"I don't know how you do that," Reese said.
"Do what?" Annika asked.
"You always get points on pegging. That six of yours was the only possible pair you could have made off my hand, and you made it work."
"I knew you had a good hand," Annika said.
"Yeah, but how did you know what card to hold back?"
"I looked at your cards as you put them down, and each card you put down gave me a clearer picture of what your hand might have been at the start. That meant I could predict what cards you would have left at the end."
"OK, I see that would help. But how did you know I had a good hand before we even started?"
"You told me."
"I didn't say anything."
"Doesn't matter. When you looked at your cards at first, you sat forward in your chair and squirmed a little. This told me that you wanted to play that hand. When the 4 was cut, your pupils got big and you smiled."
"Body language signals, Reese," Annika's mom stepped in. "If you know what to look for, a person can tell a lot about another person by how their body is positioned. Annika is becoming good at it. It's not cheating, by the way. She's just using her brain."
"My mom is writing a book on how to use body language to catch criminals. It's like being able to read their minds."
Reese opened his mouth. He wa
s going to say that he had a sister who was sort of like that and to stop her from knowing what they were thinking, people in his family would put tin foil over their foreheads.
Annika saved him. "Let's finish the game," she said. "You're going to win."
So they did, he did, and Winnie's tin foil weakness was not revealed.
"You've told me your secret weapon now."
"I'll still beat you more often than you beat me."
"You know," Annika's mom said tentatively. "The two of you could have a sort of tournament when school starts again. I mean if Reese is planning to walk Annika home every day to keep her safe, you could play some crib games after school here. Keep track of who wins how many games. Add the total scores up at the end of the week?"
Annika looked up at that. Sometimes her mom surprised her. "I wouldn't mind."
"We could put the scores into a spreadsheet," Reese said. "That way we could figure out each person's average winning margin."
"It wouldn't only be who won the most games, but who had the biggest winning margin too?"
"Sure."
# # # # # # # #
Reese was on the porch and had finished saying his thank yous and goodbyes. A thought came to mind. Then a question. One that Annika's mom might be able to answer.
"Mrs. Lee," he asked. "With you writing that book about criminals, you know a lot about them, right?"
"I suppose. Why?"
"I was thinking. Some of the kids in the school aren't very nice. Do these kids grow up to be adults who aren't very nice too?"
"That can happen. It's not guaranteed because things can happen as they grow up that could change them. Having a good teacher, for example. But yes, an adult that's a criminal very possibly started on that path as a young person."
"So if a person could identify the very bad kids in school, that person would know they'd turn into criminals and he could watch them as adults and catch them."
"Or he could try and stop them from becoming criminals."
"Does that work?"
"Sometimes. Why are you asking?"
"I was thinking about those two bad teachers in the school. Why couldn't somebody have caught them way earlier?"
"Those are good questions. I have other questions too. Why did the school district move them to another school where they could continue to hurt people? Why didn't they do something when they had the chance? Why did they disappear? And where did those two people disappear to?"
Reese knew why they had disappeared. Because they were continuing to be perverts. He even knew who had disappeared them. Bob, the invisible dragon. That was a secret that he didn't even come close to spilling.
"Mom."
"Oops, I forgot. Dinner to cook. Reese, I enjoyed talking with you. If you want to come over during the holidays and play some crib, you're welcome to. We aren't going anywhere." And then Mrs. Lee stepped inside and shut the door.
It turned out that neither had much to say. They just stood there awkwardly, so they fist-bumped and Reese left.
# # # # # # # #
Big Momma didn't have much to say either. She never had much to say to Big Daddy. Especially not when Ranch #4's finances were slipping. Big Momma had been staring at some disconcerting data when a knock on her office door interrupted her deliberations. Only two people had permission to knock on that door. Big Daddy and Pililiani. "Come in, Pililiani," she answered. Big Daddy would be sharing his affections with Renfrew at about this time; if these numbers were right, she'd have to talk with him about that.
The door opened. Speak of the devil. Speak of both of the devils. "Big Daddy," she acknowledged. "What's Renfrew doing in this part of the house?"
"She has a problem. You should hear this," he replied.
It turned out that little Karita had gone to Renfrew to tell her that her neck was sore. Renfrew looked at Karita's neck and asked for Big Daddy's advice. He just happened to be within consulting distance at the time. Karita's neck under the collar was quite red. Renfrew concluded that the dog collar was too tight and it had probably been chafing her neck. Karita had obviously grown. Safe Haven had been quite explicit in its instructions. The little blonde girls have to remain pure and perfectly white. No permanent marks are allowed on their bodies. Renfrew wanted permission to take off the collar, medicate the neck, and let it heal. She would need somebody in Ranch #4 to adjust the security software and remove the collar; she'd take care of the medication.
Irritated by her husband's lack of discretion, Renfrew's lack of good taste in selecting a sexual partner, and the problems facing the ranch, Big Momma simply gave the necessary permissions and shoo'ed them out of her office. When she returned to her spreadsheet, she saw a solution quickly. All she had to do was cut expenses. This was easily done. She would send more slaves to the island than she usually did.
It didn't take Big Momma long to decide which slaves to send to the island. She simply put a check mark next to the names of the twenty oldest women on the ranch. She didn't know any of the women by name. Pililiani was the one exception. She'd let her stay at the ranch one more year as a reward for keeping her informed about Big Daddy's excursions.
This was the time of year that Big Momma put excess staff out to pasture, so to speak. The slave island could easily accommodate twenty slaves. There'd be no need to change the procedures that she had perfected over the years.
First, she'd send eight bosses in a large copter transport to the island. They'd search the camp in case any of the slaves she had sent the previous year had managed to survive. Nobody ever had, but they'd conduct the search to be sure. Then they'd unload food supplies from the copters, distribute them to each hut, and cut more trees for the slaves' firewood. With a full twenty slaves to feed, she'd have to send more food than normal. A large copter could carry about three months of supplies. Plus she'd have to send replacement pots, blankets, and large knives. Typically, the eight bosses needed a day to prepare the camp.
The following day, she'd send this year's retirees to the camp in another large copter. The second copter would have enough room to take another three months of food. The bosses and the two empty copters could be home that night. After that, she'd use one copter to take this year's harvest to the drop-off point. In all, she'd have to pay for five days of copter rentals. Big Momma started on the paperwork.
Back to the Table of Contents
Chapter 38
Lucas and Theo spent the day before Christmas on the island with Marie and Nary. Ellen had died the night before, so Monday morning, December 24, Marie had chanted some unintelligible things over her body. Afterwards she and Nary had taken Ellen down to the shore and put her body into the water. It didn't take long for the water to boil up. In response to Theo's horrified look, Marie simply said that Ellen would prefer to be inside an alligator rather than buried deep in the swamps of this place that had killed her. "The copters will probably come tomorrow," she said. "Perhaps the next day."
"How do you know?" Lucas asked.
"It has been foretold."
# # # # # # # #
Subtle questioning revealed that neither Marie nor Nary had any awareness of Christmas or any celebration associated with it. They had never experienced a celebration or holiday of any kind.
Lucas and Theo agreed that they wouldn't make any mention of the holiday or gift giving. Theo would spend the afternoon with Nary – reading books. Lucas would spend the afternoon with Marie – preparing the battle site. He started by turning off the electronic jail's transmitter, popping some small restraints on Marie's collar, and taking it off. "I will keep this jewelry for later," she said.
After Lucas had turned the security system back on, he asked her if she wanted to save anything from the camp; if so, he'd put it in the middle of the island for safekeeping. They walked through the other huts and Marie chose to take all the blades, all the blankets, and some of the clothes that had belonged to the other women. She wanted to choose where they'd hide everything, so
they walked together out of the camp, Marie leading the way. Lucas suggested that he could wrap everything inside the blankets and then hide the blankets between two trees and cover it with brush and leaves.
"No, Shango. Deep in a swamp is better. Nobody will go there." She pointed and said, "We'll go that way."
A few minutes later, she put a hand on his arm to stop him and pointed again. "Inside the roots of that fallen tree. You'll find a hollow spot inside."
Lucas wasn't so sure about wading into the swamp and was looking for a dry route in.
"Did Shango forget how to fly?" she asked.
# # # # # # # #
When they arrived back at the cabin, Theo was sitting at the bottom of the steps beside the crate of books. The door to the cabin was closed.
"Where's Nary?" Lucas asked.
"Inside," Theo said. "She wanted to be alone."
"That is her way," Marie said. "Did she give you the page from the book that I saved from the water?"
"It's in here with the books."
"Nary and I will sleep dry tonight in the hut. Early tomorrow, we will take our blankets and our blade and will hide in the spot where Nary met with you first. We will meet you there when the moon is high tomorrow night. The first copter will hold the killers. The second will bring the new prisoners."
"We're ready," Shango said.
"Theogun, you take that crate and keep it safe. That page is all that Nary has."
"I'll show you where..." Lucas started.
"No, not there," Marie interrupted. "Too much water. Hide it in your ship." She pointed up at the sky. And with that, Marie climbed the rickety steps and joined Nary inside.
When they were out of sight of the huts, Theo asked, "Did you plant a spider on her?"
"Are you kidding? What do you think she'd do to me if she found it? She touched my arm when we were hiding the blades and the blankets. I don't want her touching me again, Theo."
# # # # # # # #
Back at Ranch #4, Big Momma's preparations for tomorrow had gone smoothly. Two of the bosses had flown to Safe Haven's regional copter storage facility and returned with the two rented transports. Slaves from the cattle camp had loaded crates of food into both copters. The official description of what Ranch #4's slaves could expect in their retirement was: No more hard work in the fields; a dry comfortable place to live, and food that they didn't have to pick out of the ground. None of the slaves knew that this retirement paradise was on a barren island surrounded by alligators. But every slave knew that food was transported to that paradise only once a year and the copters never took enough food to last a year.