She nodded – Yes.
# # # # # # # #
After three days, I haven't learned much more. Maddy's bum is healed. She's opening the front door, looking out, and then looking at me. Constantly. I get the hint. I'm sending her west. I bought her some extra clothes and those are in her pack along with everything else she brought. I have given her some water for the copter ride, but there's no room in the backpack for anything else.
Three things you need to know when you interact with Maddy. First, you must not take that flat machine from her. She panics if you even touch it.
Second, when I gave her a bath that first night, I saw she was wearing a sort of leather strap around her neck. When I tried to look at it more closely, she put her hands around it and wouldn't let me touch it.
Third, don't let a man near her. I had asked a friend of mine to use my copter to take Maddy to my friend in Rochester. I was planning to introduce him to Maddy and tell her that he was a nice man. As soon as she heard his voice at the door, she ran into the kitchen, took a knife out of the knife drawer, and squeezed herself into a corner. She was holding the knife in front of her as a weapon when I came in. Some man has hurt her badly. We have to get her to safety in Safe Haven Ranch #4 as quickly as we can so that her parents can help her get better.
Back to the Table of Contents
Chapter 24
In the first week of March, Momaka took Marie to New Orleans and skipped around in time. Marie watched both of her ancestors (Marie Laveau and Marie Laveau II) preach. She also floated in real time over the first Marie's flooded gravesite in the Saint Louis Cemetery #1 in New Orleans. According to historical rumour, people who wanted Laveau to grant them a wish simply had to put an X on her tomb, turn around three times, knock on the tomb, yell out their wish, and then leave. They'd come back later after the wish had been granted and put a circle around the X.
"An overly complicated way of getting a wish," Marie sniffed to Momaka. "Nary knows how to reach me. I'll save my post-death powers for her."
"You'll have powers after you die?" Momaka asked with some curiosity.
"Of course, but there are limitations to what wishes I can grant. And the requests must be made at the place where I die, not at the grave. What happened here was pure hoax. I could wake both Maries but I'd have to find where they died and New Orleans is completely underwater now. It would be difficult."
"To find the site?"
"No. I'd feel their presence. It would be difficult to mouth the commands. Alligators have trouble with vowels."
Momaka looked sharply at Marie.
"Consonants too," she added.
"You're teasing me?"
"Yup. Suckered you good on that one."
"Coming back for Nary's wish is a tease too?"
"Not teasing on that. I can come back to life for Nary three times, but she can't wait too long to ask. It's part of the deal that I made with the god that allowed me to have Nary."
"About that. How would you be able..."
"Don't ask. You wouldn't believe it anyway."
"You're pure white. Both Maries had black heritage. I could see that."
"It's not the body that you're living in that counts. A voodoo queen can live inside any body she wants – black, white, or mixed."
"You're teasing again?"
"Nope. How'd you like to let Bob loose and he can play with my alligator? They could be friends."
"You're teasing me now."
"Yup. My alligator is not very social. She doesn't know anything about friends. Just eating."
"She?"
"Of course."
"I don't know when you're pulling my leg."
"I know," Marie chortled.
"You and I could be friends."
"We could but I won't be around long enough. I like your companion. I may ask to borrow him."
# # # # # # # #
Back at the University of Toronto, Nary was holding a basketball in her hand and waiting for Dreamer to come on the court. To explain this, I have to go back ten days to a conversation that Lylah had with Dreamer after she had forced Lylah into a corner and taken the basketball away from her. Nary had been standing in line for more hamburgers while they had that conversation. She had already sucked in six of them and was going back for more. Lylah had been suggesting that Nary could be a University of Toronto basketball player.
Dreamer had told Lylah all of the reasons why Nary could never play basketball at the university. She couldn't read, write, or do arithmetic. She was still learning how to live in modern society.
"How could she be this old and..."
"Don't ask, Lylah. You wouldn't believe it anyway. She's my sister. I won't put her in a situation where she could be humiliated. She'd never be able to pass any of the university's classes. We'll be lucky if she can learn to read simple books. Nary is stubborn and she's not too interested in thinking skills."
"She has physical skills though."
"Yeah. She's very athletic."
"So why don't we see how much dribbling she can learn in a week or two? What's the harm in it?"
"No harm, I guess."
Today was the day that Nary would show Lylah how well she could dribble.
Dreamer came on the floor, took the ball out of Nary's hands, and bounced it a few times to test that it was still fully inflated. The basketballs that Nary practiced with tended to develop leaks when Nary got frustrated and squeezed too hard.
Dreamer handed Nary the ball and said, "Beat me."
A minute later. "That's very good, Nary. You're improving. You can dribble the ball five times before losing it."
"Is five a big number?"
"Pretty big. You should continue to practice right now. I'll be talking with Lylah."
...
"She can't look up when she dribbles. Plus she dribbles with the palm of her hand. She doesn't curl her fingers."
"None of this is a natural action for her, Lylah. It's very difficult for her to learn new things."
"Too bad. She would be so good defensively. Can she shoot?"
"We never got that far. I doubt it. She can't curl her hand properly."
"Nary," Lylah called out. "How would you like to score a basket before we go for some burgers?"
"Sure. What do I have to do?"
"Just put the basketball through the round thing with the netting."
"From below or from above?"
"From above."
"Do I have to dribble?"
"No. Just try and get the ball to fall through the basket. I'll give you ten burgers if you can do it."
"OK."
...
"You owe me ten burgers, Lylah."
"Holy kangahoopdedoodle," Lylah said.
"I'm hungry now, Lylah."
"You know the way. Dreamer and I will follow."
...
"Did you know that she could dunk?"
"I didn't have the foggiest notion. We never did that."
"Her head was above the rim! Dreamer, no woman I know can jump that high and she's only my height!"
"She did a lot of jumping when she was a kid, I believe. It's a natural action for her."
"And did you see what she did just before she jumped? She was almost on all fours!"
"Yeah, I noticed that too. What's with the kangahoopdedoodle saying, Lylah? I've never heard that before." Dreamer was thinking that creating a distraction would be a very good idea about now.
"It's something my family says. My younger sister invented it, I believe."
"That's quite the word. Does it mean anything?"
"Only that my family is a little different."
You think your family is different? Want to meet mine?
# # # # # # # #
By March 8, Maddy had completed a hop to Rochester and a second hop from Rochester to London Ontario. This put her about 300 miles closer to Seattle. But that's not where she would be delivered. Maddy didn't know this yet, but she would be delivered to
the area around the headlands of the Missouri River. More precisely, she'd be delivered to Fort Peck Lake. This area in Montana was one of the few remaining pieces of land in the center of Canada and the United States that had water all year long. Total distance from Watertown: 1900 miles. Total distance remaining for Maddy to travel was 1600 miles.
The Weight Watcher guides that transported her to Rochester and then to London had little to add to Maddy's bot. They arranged transportation for her quickly, and as a result, they didn't have any time with her. One guide noted that Maddy was willing to help with the chores by peeling vegetables, but the guide was on the anti-vegetable diet so she didn't use her. The other had nothing to say.
Back to the Table of Contents
Chapter 25
It was the third week of March and Brute and Pissy were still inside a locked cell. At least their bodies were. Brute's soul might have been floating inside the big beer barrel in the sky by then.
When Maddy shut Brute and Pissy into her bedroom, they had plenty of water so hydration was not an issue. But if the body doesn't get food, it starts converting fat on the body to usable energy. It also breaks down muscle as well. When the heart loses muscle mass, it becomes cranky. We don't know the exact day that they died, but it would have been between two to eight weeks after February 21.
In building a cottage in an isolated area, and then dissuading people from coming around, the pair effectively sealed their fate. Obviously, building a cell that nobody could escape from played an important role as well. Plus, the Safe Haven personnel officer was not particularly diligent in checking up on Karita. He had other things to do and he really did not want to see Brute and Pissy at work. He didn't come back to Watertown until mid-May. He estimated the couple's deaths as the third week of March and that's what I'm going on. Even if he had filed a report with Safe Haven that they were dead and that Karita had escaped, the report wouldn't have been received in time to change what happened afterwards.
It's possible that Pissy died earlier than Brute, but that's impossible to determine. The personnel officer's report indicated that she had suffered a number of health incidents besides starvation by the time she died. It might be romantic to think that the two had discovered true love in the end and they had died in each other's arms. However it's hard to do that when one lover has two broken arms.
When I've told this story to my family over the years, some have complained that Brute and Pissy never had a chance for a normal life. It wasn't their fault that they turned out the way they did. If only Brute's parents hadn't named him Brutus. If only Pissy's parents hadn't turned her into a prissy person. If only the kids in their schools hadn't teased them. If these things had never happened, they never would have turned into the brutal people that they became. They were doomed from the beginning – at least that's what some of my family argued.
Others have been more hard-line. Nobody forced them to torture young girls. They didn't have to take that job and do it with pleasure. Pissy knew that she had murdered her own child and she still had another? And she murdered that one as well? Brutus received a lot of pleasure by beating women. Did he believe that he was normal? Could he not have sought help?
The question of whether Brute and Pissy deserved what they got is part of a larger question that has been around a long time. Were Brute's and Pissy's lives determined by how they were raised? Or were their lives determined by the bodies and personalities that they received at birth? In other words: Did the environment in which they were raised dictate their lives? Or were genetic influences the determining factor. People have debated this question of environment versus genetics for a long time. The majority of my family believed that the duo deserved to die the way they did. Brute and Pissy had killed and tortured young children. A minority of my family believed that they may have committed some terrible crimes, but they couldn't help themselves. It wasn't their fault. I leave it to my readers to form their own conclusions.
My family's opinion on Maddy is not split. Did Maddy murder her kidnappers by locking them into her bedroom? No, she did not! My family said that she had no intent to kill them.
Did she kill them accidentally? Was it an accident for which she has to be taken in front of a judge and tried? Again, my family said No. She was too young to understand the consequence of her actions. In fact, no matter how many times I have told this story to different members of my family who were old enough to hear it, all of them applauded when I told them about Maddy slamming the door on her two kidnappers. My readers may have their own opinions on whether she should have been brought in front of a judge.
Speaking of starvation... Wizard has been in the wilderness for almost a month now. Bear with me; I'm getting to his story.
# # # # # # # #
Doc was leaning over a chart that listed the staff of the Surrey WC&D store when there was a tap on the door. He had promised Hank that he would look for some staffing efficiencies.
"Come in," he said, not taking his eyes of the chart.
Wizard walked through the door. His face was covered in fuzz, his hair was matted into a greasy looking mop, his visible skin had multiple scratches and welts, his boots were covered in mud, and he reeked.
"Grunt."
"Grunt," Doc replied.
They fist bumped.
"Grunt," Wiz said on the way out.
"Grunt," Doc replied and returned to his chart.
# # # # # # # #
Wizard's visit with his parents was a little more informative. But only a little.
Yolanda had heard Wiz come into the house and go down to his bedroom. Then she heard the sound of water running. Wizard's back, she messaged to Hank.
Coffee break? Hank messaged back.
The two were sitting idly in the kitchen, sipping on some coffee, munching on a Granny cookie – only the two mugs on the table. Not three because, officially, they didn't know that Wizard was back. They heard his footsteps approaching the kitchen and began a conversation on why Hank was asking for Doc's help.
Wizard entered. "I'm back," he said.
Yolanda and Hank tore themselves away from the intense discussion they were having. "Good," Yolanda said.
"Anything exciting happen?" Hank asked. Yolanda was determined that she would not pry for information. She was equally determined that Hank would perform that function.
"Treed by a young male grizzly who got curious."
(Remember – I did tell you to bear with me.)
"Tried to shake you out of the tree?"
"Yah. Then he hung around at the base of the tree. He had lots of food to keep him there."
Yolanda had trouble swallowing.
"Grunt."
"Grunt."
"Grunt."
"Yah. That's what I thought too," Wiz said.
(If they don't say at least five words, I'm not dignifying it with a sentence.)
"We have hot coffee and some of Granny's cookies if you're hungry," Hank was still the only parent talking. But Yolanda had been sending him urgent body language messages. Looking at the cookies. Staring at Hank. Looking at the cookies, steam spewing from her ears...
"Thanks, but I'm off to Toronto for a couple of days. Heading out now, actually."
"Why don't you take the Wilizy/Europe and stay there. Melissa has called a full family meeting for the 31st and we'll need accommodation. The ship is already stocked. This thing with the judge is way bigger than we had imagined."
"Grunt."
"Grunt."
"Grunt."
"OK. See you in Toronto. Bye, Mom."
Sound of door closing.
"Why don't you stay in Toronto? You actually suggested that he stay in Toronto? For eight days!"
"Sure. There's no point in going all the way to Toronto, coming back to the compound, and then turning around again."
"No point? Yes, there's a point to coming back! To tell us what happened!"
(Here Yolanda was using us when she actually mean
t me.)
"What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, Yolanda. You know that."
(Yes, people in the 2080s did still use that expression even though they had no idea what Vegas was. Some people thought it was a form of meatless diet, so if somebody said What happened in Vegas, stayed in Vegas, that was now a polite way of saying that the person was constipated. Yolanda herself was experiencing a form of blockage right now; a strong urge was building up pressure and would be released real soon.)
"Men!"
The sound of a slamming bedroom door followed a few seconds after her stormy exit from the kitchen.
# # # # # # # #
Maddy arrived in Wisconsin on March 23. She had reached Milwaukee in three hops: London to Sarnia, Ontario; Sarnia Ontario to Lansing Michigan; and Lansing Michigan to Milwaukee. Maddy was now 1100 miles from Ranch #4. She was almost halfway and she had made it that far in about three weeks. If that pace continued, she'd be in Big Momma's clutches by the end of April.
The Sarnia guide had added a small comment to the bot. "I know how to sign with people who can't speak. Maddy doesn't know how to sign. She likes to have people read to her."
The Lansing guide had a longer contribution.
"When I put Maddy into her bedroom, I showed her how she could put a chair up against the door so that nobody could come in if she didn't want them to. When I got up the next morning, I noticed that Maddy had opened her door and had put the chair up against it so that it would stay open. I don't know what that means. She was too hot and wanted fresh air?"
Back to the Table of Contents
Chapter 26
The March 31 meeting of the full Wilizy family took place in the cargo hold of the Wilizy/Europe that was anchored over Toronto. They needed to use the cargo hold because there'd be thirty-one people if everybody in the family attended the meeting. Actually, make that twenty-five because the six little children wouldn't be in any of the planning meetings. Mathias had brought the Wilizy/America to Toronto as well so that there would be ample space for all of the families. Everybody's first thought when they saw Mathias was how much taller he was now.
The hatch to the Wilizy/Europe's cargo area had been removed and the sunlight streaming into the bottom of the ship provided ample light. It was raining in Toronto but the three Wilizy ships were sailing high above the clouds. Wanda had brought four portable light standards for meetings held during the evening hours. Chairs from the community hall provided the seating, and these included the sofas and armchairs for directors.