My decision to dress up in green and white and a mask was just a whim; but carving the letters into the apprentice's cheek had strategic values. It would reduce the effectiveness of Zzyk’s DPS security forces in the cities and villages. Zzyk would never allow a DPS guard to appear in public with a W-Z scar on his face. Instead, this guard would be removed from active duty – at least with the citizens. If we were able to apply enough scars, Zzyk would have a numbers problem. The actual W-Z symbol came to me unexpectedly. Told them that I did it only to the one man – we didn’t have to do it again if Will and the others didn’t like the idea.
The technician had also been a whim. I explained that he had ended up on Hugo’s team as punishment for circulating cartoons that I had drawn of Zzyk. Both he and I were sure he wouldn’t see the morning if I disappeared and left him tied up in the apartment. I offered to help him escape to B.C. but the technician surprised me by asking to join the Wilizy instead.
I realized that it wasn’t up to me to decide. Involving a stranger in any way, no matter how trivial, was a threat to us all and to the Aboriginal Nation as a whole. Doc left him on an A.N. mountainside with the remains of my food and water and a map to the nearest community. Doc told him that if he were serious about joining the Wilizy, he should sit there and wait for us to decide if we wanted him; someone from the Wilizy might come and get him; or, we might not. I figured that abandoning the guard was a reasonable first test of his desire to join us; if he was still there in a couple of days, Yollie could give us a reading.
I finished by telling them about my last whim – the poster about the babies. Zzyk’s use of the babies as hostages had made me realize that the babies were the keys to our war with Zzyk. They, not his pumping stations, were his most vulnerable assets. So, I thought about saving the babies as part of my escape and tried to figure out what to do with them afterwards; realized that IOF adults would jump at the chance to have a baby. So, why not pretend to offer babies as part of a fake recruitment drive? Zzyk would have to assign his army to guard duty around infant day centers. The thinner those forces were spread, the more vulnerable he became. He’d never know if we were distributing the posters or not.
Told them that I had a bunch of other ideas too; asked when everybody would be available to discuss strategy. There was an awkward silence.
Saw Granny whispering in Winnie’s ear. Winnie climbed down from Granny's lap and held up her arms in front of me. I pulled her into my lap and wondered why Granny was trying to distract me.
# # # # # # # #
Will's words:
I had to explain to Izzy that the agreement that I had made with Hank and Yolanda was for this operation only. I hadn’t talked with them about anything further than that. I looked at Izzy and raised an eyebrow. She nodded. So, I said that we would like to extend the agreement with everyone.
Yollie jumped right into the silence. Asked if there would be danger? Would they have to fight the DPS again? I hesitated because we'd always be facing high risk no matter where we were or what we were doing. Looked at Izzy for help.
“Zzyk will be doubly dangerous now,” she said. “He underestimated us; thought I was just a slut; thought Will was predictable.”
“Count me in,” Yollie said.
“Are you planning to continue to use the slings and light sabers?” Wolf asked me.
“Yes, plus I have ideas for some other weapons,” I replied.
“I’m in too,” Wolf said quickly.
Izzy and I both looked at Hank and Yolanda. I hadn’t been able to tell Izzy yet that they had been the biggest help in the operation. Both of them had been fighting the DPS for a long time. “Family of eight to raise,” Yolanda said. She hadn’t even looked at Hank – they had obviously talked about this possibility already. “Perhaps we could help with some short term operations,” Hank offered.
“I have to start grade one,” Winnie said from Izzy’s lap. I had thought she was sleeping. “But I can help on week-ends,” and we all smiled. Izzy gave her a little kiss on her forehead.
That left Doc and Granny. They whispered back and forth for a while. Doc spoke for the two of them. “We can help with planning sessions. We’d like to be involved at that level. We’d also like to have minor roles in your operations – just like this time. Both of us enjoyed tonight, but we’d be a risk to all if you had to rely on us for quick reflexes, immediate decision-making, or the physical mobility of people your age. Plus, we have medical teams to train. We’ll serve in emergencies of course, but we can’t contribute on a daily basis.”
I looked at Izzy and she had her head down, her face pressed against Winnie’s head. I knew that she had really wanted Doc to be on the team.
That left just four: Izzy, me, sixteen-year old Wolf who had hugged Izzy far too long and had been looking at her a lot during the meeting, and fifteen-year old Yollie who I knew Izzy didn’t like. Four teenagers against the DPS – at least it was double what we had before.
“It’s going to be a great team!” Izzy said.
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Chapter 28
Izzy's words: About 11 p.m., April 30.
We continued going around the circle of folding chairs – debriefing each other. I tried to hide my disappointment. Not about Doc. I knew that he was right about not playing an active role; he would help us with the planning and that was where we really needed him. I was glad that he was with Granny; saw them holding hands; wished that Will was next to me, not on the other side of the circle.
I was most disappointed about Hank and Yolanda. I didn’t know them very well, but having two adults leading the Wilizy would have been much better than four teenagers doing it on our own. I wondered about Yollie. Granny or Yolanda would have controlled her; without them, I figured she’d be bossing us all within a week. I didn’t know Wolf at all. He was the mirror image of his father – just younger.
Put my cheek back down on Winnie’s head; heard her snoring gently. I really liked Winnie; having her on my lap was making me feel good all over; had to drag my attention back to the debriefing.
While we talked, Yolanda and Yollie each took a turn passing out refreshments. Yolanda was subtler than Yollie, but I noticed that both of them passed out more drinks or food as an excuse for pausing behind me where I couldn’t see what they were doing. Later, when we were done, Granny hobbled over to where I was sitting, leaned over to wake Winnie, in the process putting one hand on my shoulder and leaving it there for a long time while Winnie struggled awake.
“Say good night to Izzy,” Granny said and Winnie grabbed both of my hands in hers to turn herself around and gave me a kiss on my lips. I felt a tingle. Not from the kiss. From her hands.
“Do you mind carrying Winnie to her hammock?” Granny asked.
I said, “Of course not,” and stood up to rearrange her. I put my arms underneath Winnie’s bum and she had her face against my neck and her arms around my shoulders. I felt her hands move up and touch the bare skin on the back of my neck. There was another tingle.
“Those stairs are steep, Mother,” Yolanda said. “I’ll help you.”
“I’ll come too so that I don’t have to sit next to Wolf any longer,” Yollie said.
That’s how all the women ended up in the middle of what appeared to be a hastily constructed cabin below deck for Hank, Yolanda, Winnie and the four babies. Yolanda closed the door. “The men don’t get to hear this,” she said.
I put Winnie down onto her hammock, and she sat with her legs dangling over the side, smiling sleepily at me. We were standing in a loose semi-circle around Winnie’s bed.
"First, I should explain what you have already noticed,“ Granny began. “You didn’t want to talk about what happened in the apartment and we suspected that would be the case. So, each of us read you during the evening. We didn’t do that to test you. We read you to try to assess the damage that Zzyk did to you. We agreed on the way down to the cabin that you have been hurt,
but not badly. A couple of hours holding Winnie in your lap for the next couple of days should fix that.”
“Holding Winnie?”
“In my family, first daughters are readers, second daughters tend to be healers. Right now, she has to cuddle and she has to like somebody for it to work. When she's older, she’ll be able to use just her hands.”
Yolanda took over. “All three of us agreed that you have changed dramatically since Yollie's first reading. We don’t know exactly what happened since you left, but its effect has been noticeable. Our culture is full of evidence that changes of this nature can occur after a cathartic event brought on by stress. I myself experienced such an event. Our children each go on wilderness treks without food or water, for example, as an attempt to artificially create that growing experience. Yollie completed her trek two years ago and it was only after she came back that we were willing to entrust her with any responsibility."
“I was angry at being a giant and angry at carrying the curse of knowing what my boyfriends were thinking when they were out with me,” Yollie chimed in. “I finally saw that the good outweighed the bad,” she added.
Yolanda resumed the speech-making. “What Yollie saw in you before is gone. We don’t know yet what will replace it. The change has not been completed. But that is not why we are standing together in this cabin and why Winnie is trying very hard to keep her eyes open."
I look and that was certainly the case.
Yolanda continued. “When Will came to us and asked for our help, he spoke about the strategic benefits of our two groups joining forces. How we had a common enemy; how any lever that he could find to weaken Zzyk would be to our benefit; and how he suspected that Alberta still had oil because of some reports that he had read. But, he couldn’t do the necessary searching for that lever while guarding you.”
“We listened and talked among ourselves. Hank, Yollie, and Wolf were the keenest to join. Mother and I were willing, but we wanted to know more. We invited Will to meet with us again and asked him - What would Izzy say to us if she were here?”
“Will spoke much more passionately, and indeed eloquently, the second time. He told us about your feelings about violence and justice. We learned about the massacre of the Nevadan pacifists and how you insisted that the dead bodies of the children and their parents had to be carried to their graves. We learned how hard you found that to do. We learned that afterwards you had to be alone for a couple of days and how you came back a different woman. We learned how intent you were on preventing the same thing that occurred in that village from happening to children like Winnie."
"We were moved by Will’s words and frankly surprised that someone as emotionally controlled as Will could not only recognize those feelings in you but also could express them with such intensity. We three women agreed what we would do after you were rescued from Zzyk’s control. We wanted to do this, partly because of what you had done for the massacred families, partly because you had deliberately placed yourself under Zzyk’s control in an attempt to save children like ours, and partly because we knew that you had been deprived of a loving family of your own.”
“There is an ancient ritual in our tribe,” Granny took over. “I have experienced the ceremony only once and that was in my childhood. Yolanda and Yollie have never had the opportunity to participate. Winnie is old enough to remember it and that is why she is here and has been practicing her lines ever since we told her what we were going to ask you.”
# # # # # # # #
So, that’s how I became a member of Granny’s family – an honorary sister/daughter/granddaughter. Everything was done in their language – even Winnie’s speech of welcome. Yollie stood close to me and translated the whole ceremony in whispers. I was holding on to my emotions, but just barely. Even Yollie seemed choked. It’s a secret ceremony, so that’s why I can’t say any more.
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Chapter 29
Izzy's words: About 11:30 p.m., April 30.
Winnie fell asleep the minute her head touched her pad, so the four of us tiptoed out of Hank and Yolanda’s temporary cabin. “Yollie, why don’t you help Izzy unpack her things?” Yolanda suggested as we passed the door to Will’s and my cabin. “I’ll bring your bag down for you, Izzy” she said when I started to speak. Then, she helped Granny up the stairs and Yollie opened my cabin door and motioned me in.
“There's one thing to learn about our mother. With the youngsters, she’ll flat out tell them to do something. With us older ones, it’s phrased as Why don’t you...? It’s still an instruction, no matter how it’s phrased. Wolf and I tease her about it, but she just smiles and says, You can always say no. Like we would. Our mother wants us to stay down below – get to know each other; sister-sister stuff, you know. OK?"
We took the pads off the hammocks and sat on them on the deck. There was a little rap on the door, a pause, and a hand deposited my clothes bag inside the cabin and then the door was shut. I got up and started to unpack.
“You don’t have to unpack – that was just an excuse. Both Granny and Mom want me to talk to you about something; they thought that you’d feel better about it coming from someone your own age than from them.”
“What?”
Yollie motioned to the pictures of Winnie that were all over the cabin. “Winnie came barging in here one day – she doesn’t have a sense of private space yet. Mom found her in here and saw the pictures. She knew immediately why they were here. Granny did too.”
“Just learning to draw,” I tried.
“Even if I weren’t a reader, I’d know that’s not the real reason. You’re using them to distract yourself from sex. Mom said to tell you – Been there, done that. Granny told me to give you the same message from her."
“And you?”
“I haven’t had to distract myself yet. Boys don’t like having their minds read – and every family in the nation knows about the Yolanda women and their mind-reading skills. Plus, I come in the large-package size that I can’t disguise no matter how much I’d want to. I was jealous of you – with your thin body and your cute boyfriend, so I was more direct than I should have been when I read you. I’m sorry about that.”
“Everything you said was true,” I admitted. “I got mad because it was true and reacted with my blade; shouldn’t have,” I ended lamely.
“OK, so that’s the awkward part out of the way. What are you going to do about those?” She pointed at the pictures.
“I need them to remind me of what could happen if I'm not careful. Strong emotions, remember?”
“Mom and Granny say that they can tell you about more effective ways of birth control if you ever want to know.”
I thought for a bit and shook my head. “Doesn’t seem right.”
“OK, I’ve done my duty as a sister. Now, can I have my underwear back?”
I fished in my bag and held out the pink monstrosity. “I figured you had bought them; knowing that your family was helping Will made a big difference for me.”
“I didn’t actually buy them,” Yollie said. “Plus, as you are delicately not saying, there’s no way those puny little things would fit my big butt. But, they’re mine now. I found them in Wolf’s camp and I’m holding onto them in case I have to blackmail him. He knows I have them, too.”
“You blackmail your brother?”
“Brothers, not brother. I have something on most of them now. Six boys, two girls; well three now. The numbers are not in our favour. I just even out the odds a little.”
“Yollie, do you mind if I keep these for a little longer?”
So, I had to tell her why I wanted them. About Will’s filament being there when I got out of my bath; and how I figured out afterwards that the filament had a camera on it because Will used that camera to see what was inside the video conference equipment; and how I just knew he had peeked at me in the bathroom when I had no clothes on.
“I can sit on him while you skin him.”
??
?I was thinking of something a little less drastic. Besides, he did rescue me, and he did send me more than my share of our chocolate bars, and he was responsible for finding me a family.”
“So why do you want the pink slingshot?”
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Chapter 30
Will's words: About 11:45 p.m., April 30.
Granny and Yolanda had come back from putting Winnie to bed, and we were just sitting around the galley. They were bantering back and forth, and I was listening, enjoying being included when we all heard this big howl of laughter from below.
Granny said “That sounds interesting” and she started to stand up.
“I’ll come too,” Yolanda said and followed Granny who was scuttling along faster than I had seen her move before.
I was going to get up too, but Doc shook his head at me, so I didn’t.
“That doesn’t sound good at all,” Hank said.
“Definitely a warning call,” Doc said.
“Have you been teasing your sister too much, Wolf?” Hank asked.
“Nope; other way around actually.”
“You and I should be clear of any danger,” Doc said to Hank. “Yolanda and Granny were upstairs with us when we heard the warning call.” Even Doc called Granny Granny when we were all together. Too much confusion otherwise. He told me he calls her Yollie when they're alone.
“If Wolf didn’t cause it, and since Hank and I are clear, that leaves you, Will.”
I stammered a little. I didn’t know what to say.
“Here’s the way I see it,” Hank explained. “That was Yollie’s howl. That meant that Izzy was telling her something. That something would be about you. Did you do anything recently that might make Izzy a little peeved with you?”
“But she kissed me when she got here, and she wouldn’t know what I did anyway.”