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Chapter 45
"Why'd Annika do that?" Winnie asked Reese after she had hustled him out of the courthouse with all of its screaming.
"I don't know. She said she hates me and I don't know why. She's never going to see me again."
"You don't know that."
"She had a new colour. It's small but very bright. I don't know what it means."
"Is the prosecutor really her dad?"
"I guess so. Her last name is Lee. I saw her hugging him. That was her mom in the wheelchair."
"Let's do some TiTr'ng. I want to finish up an assignment the general gave me. You can help."
# # # # # # #
Winnie thought that she could distract Reese from the loss of his girlfriend by showing him somebody who had bigger problems than he had. So she TiTr'd with him to the island just off the old Watertown airport. They saw Brute setting Maddy down inside a circle of poisonous snakes that Marie had said weren't really poisonous at all. They watched Pissy beating her. Winnie TiTr'd once again into the future, fully expecting to see Brute or Pissy beating her to death, but they saw Maddy slamming her bedroom door shut on her pretend parents instead.
"That was cool," Reese said. "That'll teach them. Who is this girl again?"
While they skip TiTr'd through Maddy's attempts to escape off the island, Winnie told her brother about all the things Maddy had endured. They cheered her on as the Weight Watcher guides took her west. Then they heard the lady in Dickinson tell the lady in the overalls that she was trying to contact Safe Haven so that Maddy could be returned to her parents. They both watched as the lady in overalls read the bot about Maddy. They read it too. "The first Weight Watcher got it wrong," Winnie said.
"They're taking her back to the slave owners, not to her parents," Reese agreed. "The copter would have picked her up last Saturday. We're way too late."
"Maybe not."
Skip TiTr'ng to Friday April 26, Reese and Winnie followed Maddy and the lady in overalls to the work camp at Fort Peck. They watched Maddy babysitting the little kiddies while the overalls lady spent her entire time in the trailer cooking or snacking. They watched Maddy putting the kiddies to bed while the cook lounged in her tiny living room sucking on bottles of beer. When Saturday morning passed and the cook did not put up a flag to bring the Safe Haven copter into camp, the conclusion was obvious. Overalls Lady had brought Maddy to the camp to babysit. They had time to rescue her.
That optimism dimmed slightly Saturday afternoon when they watched Overalls Lady yelling at Maddy and slapping her by the slide. It dimmed further during the bare bottom beating. Reese and Winnie were behind her when Maddy read the note on the calendar and filled the backpack with clothes, food and water. Their optimism light was extinguished that Monday morning when Maddy left the camp walking south.
They immediately skip TiTr'd after Maddy to present time – 1 p.m. on Wednesday. She was sleeping in the animal den, her right hand clasping the knife. Reese and Winnie retreated down the hill. There was a small flat space near the lake. Small tufts of grass of some kind grew in the sandy soil, but nothing else.
Winnie was looking around at the lake and the distance to the animal den when Reese asked, "We can't just pull her out, can we?"
"We'd scare her. She'd start slashing at us with that knife and perhaps hurt herself. We'd just be another bunch of horrible people chasing her."
"Could we put some food in the den that she'd find when she woke up?"
"I don't think she'd eat it. She wouldn't know how it got there. Food appearing like magic could frighten her even more."
"You saw her when she was climbing the hill. She's really weak. Could we tempt her to come out of the den with some food?"
"We're adults to her, Reese. At least you are. I could dress up as a little kid, I suppose."
"Is that worth a try? You could sling home and be back quickly. If you slung home in TiTr time and returned in TiTr time, you'd be back almost immediately."
...
"I have a better idea. It's 1:10 real time. I need to use real time to do this. I'll be back here in two hours. While I'm away, you should go back to the dam. Find out what's happening back there in present time. They're bound to be searching. Make sure that no search team can get here before I return."
"OK."
"Reese, you have to do that in real time. You can't go back in time and change the future. Don't let them find her. They'll stop her from escaping again and then deliver her to the slave ranch."
# # # # # # #
Reese returned to the dam to find a dozen men sitting or standing in the picnic area. He counted ten horses wandering around the camp looking for something to eat. Two transport copters were sitting on the helipad. One copter was the one that Birdie had used to bring Maddy into camp. The man who brought the five tracking dogs probably owned the other copter. The dogs were sitting on their haunches watching the men in the picnic area. The man who owned them was probably the man holding a pair of small boots and a pair of jeans in his hands.
Maddy would be easy to track. Running dogs and galloping horses would cover a lot of ground quickly. What Reese really needed to scare those horses away was Bob the invisible dragon. What he had instead was a faint memory of reading a bot on horses from his school library. He also had an invisible TiTr'ng sling.
Two minutes of real time later and about 6,000 miles of TiTr'ng later, Reese was back holding several water snakes by their tails. Horses are deathly afraid of snakes, especially when they're hanging upside down in the air immediately in front of their heads. Nobody would be riding those horses in the next two hours. When the men started talking about setting the dogs on Maddy's tracks and trailing them by copter, some raw meat in Birdie's fridge disappeared and so did the dogs.
# # # # # # #
In the 1500s, Sir Walter Scott wrote, "It's an ill wind blaws naebody gude." The meaning? Even something terribly bad can be good for somebody else.
In this case, when Annika dumped Reese on his butt and broke up with him, that was a bad thing for Reese. But because of that, Winnie tried to distract her brother by resuming a search that she had no intentions of resuming. Without Annika's actions, Maddy would have died in that animal den. But because of Annika's action, Winnie continued her search.
Here's another example of ill winds blowing good. While the Raging Gardeners were conducting a burial ceremony in a clearing in Ontario's woods, Lucas, Doc, and Doctor Sandman were meeting with Basher who was all by himself without any food in his apartment. (The judge's three henchpersons had been rounded up as part of the military pursuit of terrorists and were now out of circulation. They'd eventually end up in a B.C. prison.) Basher had no money of his own and didn't know how to care for himself. He didn't realize the future that was waiting for him. But right now, Basher was listening to an appealing offer. Would he like to stay with a grandmother that he didn't realize he had? The grandmother was willing to care for him; was he willing to care for her? While Judge Lewis and Prosecutor Lee were beginning to share a long deserved chilly stay in the ground, Basher and Eldreadth were sharing something chilly as well. A mutual love of ice cream. Yes, this good news of Eldreadth being united with her grandson is small in comparison to the terrible harm that the two men had inflicted on others around them, but It's an ill wind that blaws naebody gude.
# # # # # # #
I'm one minute out. Are you sure Maddy's in the den?
Yes, I peeked in. She's still sleeping.
Good. I'm bringing some noise that should wake her up. We'll worry about the knife later.
A minute later, a solar copter put down on the hard dirt that bordered the lake. Five children exited in a way that only five children between the ages of 1 and 5 can exit. Winnie and the oldest child brought out supplies. Reese entered the copter invisibly and emerged visibly carrying a big picnic hamper. The other four children ran around yelling excitedly, "We're having a picnic, we're
having a picnic." Two of the youngest were twins, but you'd never know it because one had white skin and the other had black.
While Reese, Winnie, and Liset spread the picnic blanket on the ground and started uncovering a large assortment of food, the others played an exciting and nosy game of kick ball. As you would expect, that ball and the noise ended up going all over the place, including up a hillside.
I can see her eyes peeking out, Winnie sent to Reese and Liset.
We should all play tag, Liset sent back.
So they did. And then the little family sat down on the picnic blanket and Winnie and Reese filled some plates and handed those out. They all ate what was on the plates and they all drank something in glasses.
I can see her face now. It's very dirty, Liset sent.
She has to be starving. Why isn't she coming down? This from Reese.
Time for Plan B, sent Winnie.
Winnie pulled Will and Izzy close to her and whispered a question. How would they like to play a game where the two of them would see who could cry the hardest? Both of them nodded Yes, but Will wanted to be white now, and Izzy said she'd be brown, so they both changed their skin colours and began to wail. Fortunately, that change was instantaneous, and since they were dressed the same, Maddy never noticed a thing.
Will and Izzy put on their performance. Both Winnie and Reese tried to comfort them, but couldn't.
Now, Liset sent.
Winnie turned around. "Oh, look. A little girl. We've almost finished our picnic but we have lots left. Would you like to have some food and something to drink?"
The little girl stood there, watching Will and Izzy who were continuing to wail as Winnie messaged them, We're not sure who's the best. Keep crying. We'll give the winner a bigger piece of cake.
The wailing increased.
"I don't know what to do. They won't stop crying. Could you help me?"
Maddy walked over to the twins and held her arms open. Winnie didn't have to message anything; the twins just naturally went to get their hugs.
Some time afterwards, after Maddy was starting to eat more slowly, Winnie explained. "The twins were crying because I told them that we brought a cake, one with little pieces of chocolate in it. Chocolate is a delicious candy, but I forgot to bring a knife to cut the cake. You wouldn't happen to have a knife that I could use, do you? You can share our cake."
Maddy nodded.
"Where is it?"
Maddy pointed to the den on the hillside.
"Would you let Reese go and get it? I'll bring the cake out of the copter and you can show me what piece you'd like."
Maddy nodded, went to the copter and looked inside while Winnie uncovered the surprise that even the youngsters knew nothing about. So everyone became all excited again, and Reese returned from the hillside with a big knife and a black backpack, and Winnie cut the pieces that everybody asked for. Naturally, they all asked for pieces that were too big for them to finish. Then the wind started to blow and it looked like rain. They cleaned up the picnic site and left.
Winnie knew that it was OK to change the future; it wasn't OK to change the past. Maddy wouldn't die in that den after all.
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Chapter 46
By Wednesday night, most of the people in our story were ready for a well-deserved sleep. Judge Lewis and Prosecutor Lee, for example, had been tried, found guilty, and planted. Their long sleep was certainly deserved. Yolanda performed the honours on behalf of the Raging Gardeners. Much later, Momaka would help both Eldreadth and Madhuri release their anger.
Madhuri Lee was sharing a bed with her friend Millie because Annika had barricaded herself into the second bedroom. Madhuri confessed to Millie that she was broke and the idea now of finishing a book where she explained how to read the body language of criminals was laughable. Millie offered to share her home for as long as they wanted. She'd also help her search for a new job. Perhaps something in the publishing house – Madhuri was a good writer. Or, both had friends from their university days who were working at the U of T. Perhaps something there. Annika had already broken it off with Reese so Madhuri had no real reason to return to Penticton.
"How far had their friendship gone," Millie asked.
"He was stranded partway to first base," Madhuri replied. "Still up to bat, though."
"No troubles then."
# # # # # # #
Lucas had returned the lieutenant's uniform to Jock and thanked him for his help in learning what it would be like to have a military career.
"It would be possible to combine military training with university, you know," the general enticed. "Most armed forces would want their officers to have a university degree. You'd still be able to pursue your basketball interests."
"I'd be an officer?"
"Sure."
"I'll have to think about it," Lucas demurred.
"Are you worried that you won't be smart enough to go to university?"
"It's not that. Mom would have a fit."
"Some battles can be won with diplomacy."
Later, the general would take the lieutenant's uniform back to Saskatchewan and store it away in his closet. Jock had tried it on before giving it to Lucas. He been surprised that he could still fit into it after all these years.
Speaking of Lucas' basketball interests, Lucas was currently floating over the University of Toronto and was watching Lylah. He was just making sure that she reached home safely. He was confident that she wasn't Azure. Their voices were similar but not dead on. If he didn't have to solve the challenge of a marriage between two different species (human & angel), the challenges facing him were not so daunting. Dreamer had told Lucas that Lylah wasn't interested, but Dreamer hadn't given a reason. Finding out the reason would be something that an army officer would do, wouldn't he? Operation Lylah had begun.
# # # # # # #
By bedtime, Yolanda had calmed down and was now speaking with Hank without her saliva speckling his cheeks. You might be wondering what Hank could have done that would have aroused such non-Yolandian behaviour.
Hank had wrapped Yolanda in one of her aprons, tied up the apron strings, and then had tied himself to her apron strings. He began following her all over the galley while saying in a whiney, teenager voice: "But Mom, I don't want to peel the potatoes; But Mom, I don't want to dust the furniture; Mom, do I have to bake cookies with you?" It's possible that he had taken the act a little too far. As Yolanda had pointed out when she was trying to cram a colander over Hank's head, cookies are what Granny does. She was more than a bit irritated about the apron strings thing, even though as Hank pointed out, he was dead right about what would happen if she kept Lucas so attached.
"I didn't have any trouble letting Wolf go," Yolanda said calmly although also defensively.
"Wolf was easy to let go. He always was mature; the least likely to get into trouble."
"I let Yollie go and I haven't interfered."
"You let Yollie go because she got married; you haven't interfered because she lives on the other side of the globe."
"I do have to bite my tongue sometimes when she lets Yo-Yo boss her cousins around."
"Yeah. I'm not so comfortable with how much she lets Liset sneak around and listen in on meetings, either. But, back to Lucas. You have to let him go. You have to do that soon."
"Or?"
"He'll do what you don't want him to do anyway, but he'll always believe that you doubted his ability. It'll be the worst of both worlds. He'll be on his own and he won't talk to you."
"Jock says that he's just impetuous; that military training will give him the skills to think things through. Do you agree?"
"Yah. Lucas is very much like I was when I was his age. I resorted to violence too quickly; he resorts to charging into situations too quickly. You can't stop him from doing what he's good at just because he's not perfect at it yet. He's already living mostly on his own; let him go some more." br />
"Being an army officer is dangerous."
"So is following a woman around when she's threatening incarceration inside a colander. I managed to survive. So will he. Being in the army will be like living in a second family that can protect him."
"Operation Colander has not ended yet, Mister whiney-mouth. Your survival is still very much in doubt. Remember. I know where you sleep."
# # # # # # #
On the other side of the globe, Wolf and Mac were sleeping the sleep of the blessed, tiny Emily nestled between them. In a flying submarine well above their own bedroom, William and Melissa were enjoying a well-deserved holiday from the rigours of commanding a battle. Melissa didn't know it at the time, but she wouldn't have to stress out any longer about not being able to get pregnant.
Doc and Granny were staying in Melissa and William's bedroom next door to Wolf and Mac. Jock was in another bedroom. All three had wanted to check up on Mac and see the new baby. Doc and Granny were talking about Marie and how she had convinced Eldreadth to talk to them. Doc had been greatly impressed.
"She and Winnie are getting close," Granny said.
"They have a similar sense of humour," Doc observed.
"This closeness will not be a good thing for Winnie when Marie burns herself up."
"Are the Raging Gardeners set to go after Safe Haven Ranch #2 now?"
"No reason not to."
"Will you say something to Yolanda about Winnie and Marie's closeness?"
"Nope. She'll have enough to cope with when Lucas tells her he wants to join the army."
# # # # # # #
Back in the Wilizy/Europe, Wizard and Dreamer were sitting together on one of the sofas in the command center. Monty the Python had joined them. They had run out of things to say about the battles, but neither wanted to leave the privacy of the hold. As they both drifted off to sleep, it was natural for them to turn sideways on the sofa and slump down on the length of the sofa in a gentle horizontal embrace. In the middle of the night, as men's hands are prone to do, Wizard's left hand developed a mind of its own and went roaming. Dreamer felt it find its mark. She left Wiz's hand there for a bit and then gently put it back where it belonged.