Granny was there to help Wanda recover from all the events that had plagued her recently. "Do you want to be present when we deal with what D-T did to Dreamer and to other girls?" she asked.
"No. I've killed him like I said I would. I just want to leave, Granny."
"Let's go to Helmcken Falls. I understand it's beautiful."
"It is. One of Dreamer's favorite spots. Is his perversion going to be dealt with properly? I wish Dreamer were here to see it."
"So do I. Momaka is taking care of the perversion part of the trial."
# # # # # # # #
Back in the meadow where the trial had taken place, a number of women were sitting cross-legged on blankets in front of a big screen. TG had made another bot with excerpts from D-T's life and Momaka was ready to show the women those clips. She took pains to explain that the other voices and faces they might hear and see were officers of the court running a sting operation. They were not perverts too.
Present in the meadow were Mac and five mothers who had been impregnated by their father/uncle/grandfather while they were members of Bubba Franklin's church. Double-Tom's face filled the screen.
I'm not threatening to reveal you if you don't take my case. I'm offering to introduce you to more nieces if you do take my case.
Then...
I've sold some girls to their buyer. He knows me, but I don't have much access to white, blue-eyed blonde girls. He pays the most for blondes, but he won't let any suppliers hurt them. They can be as young as 6 years old. I can sell him other girls at a lower commission but they have to be at least 10. For them, their guy doesn't care what condition they're in when they arrive.
You focus on brunettes then?
Yeah, of course. There's way more of them. Plus there are no restrictions on what happens during the kidnapping and delivery. It's easy to make good money if you're careful. A young girl disappears near a river and everybody assumes that it was an accident.
Then...
I know who I'll give you. I'll have to find her first. But that shouldn't be too hard.
Details?
Tall, skinny, about fourteen years old I think. I lose track.
Does she have a name?
Used to be Frances, but she goes by Dreamer now.
Isn't that your daughter?
I let her believe that, but no. She's the daughter of my dead wife and her dead lover.
How are you going to keep her quiet after you ambush her?
Klonk her on the head with a rock.
I prefer nieces that aren't brain-damaged. I'll give you a better way.
Whatever.
This is amazing. Double-Tom, are you actually going to kidnap a fourteen year old girl and secretly give her to me, a known pervert, so that I can do whatever I want to do with her.
Yup. No thanks necessary. I'm happy to help out a friend. We're friends, right?
Then...
Jennie Curtis, ten years old, fell in the North Thompson River near Kamloops in 2081. I was paid twenty klabooies for her. Pixie Landers, twelve years old, got lost in the bush by Shushwap Lake near Salmon Arm in 2081. Only fifteen klabooies for her because she wasn't pretty. Riley Allan, seven years old, tipped over her canoe in the Little Shushwap Lake by Chase in 2082. Safe Haven paid me seventy-five klabooies because she was so young and was a blonde.
You remember them by year?
No. Those are the ones that I kidnapped close to home. I was careful to spread myself around.
Momaka interrupted the video clips at this point. "Authorities have confirmed that all of the girls that Double-Tom listed did disappear. We didn't try to prove that he was responsible for their deaths because he freely admitted it. Here's the next clip."
We'll go through this one more time. I want to make sure there are no foul ups. Everybody tell me what you're going to do. D-T, you start.
I'm going to crawl slowly towards the back door and set up in the dark at the foot of the steps.
I'm going to make a noise by the garbage pails. Loud enough to be heard inside.
Wanda will think that it's a raccoon. She'll be in her soft comfortable chair by now. She'll tell Dreamer to check it out. When Dreamer comes down the steps, I'm going to grab her from behind, put the chloroform pad over her mouth and nose, and hold it there until she's unconscious. Then I'm going to hoist her onto my shoulder and take her to the copter. I'll tie her up there. From that point on, she's Mr. Stu's property. He can do whatever he wants to her.
I'll use a light from my pinky-ring to help Double-Tom carry her to the copter.
Mr. Stu and I will make sure that this Wanda doesn't interfere. Last chance for anybody to back out. Double-Tom, are you sure you want to kidnap a fourteen year old girl and turn her over to a known pervert?
Yah. I'm sure. Let's do it.
# # # # # # # #
Momaka turned off the display unit and turned to face her audience. None would meet her eye. The five Franklin women were huddled into each other, openly weeping. Mac was glaring at the clearing to her right. She had thrust a long thin knife from the sheath on her arm into the ground and it was still vibrating.
"I expect that you are all feeling terribly angry right now. Angry at Double-Tom's casual way of talking about his sickness. Angry with me perhaps, because I have brought things from your past back to life. I have done that deliberately, knowing that you would feel intense emotions from those events in the past. Events that you have gone to great efforts to bury deep inside you. You think that because they are buried deep, that they do not exist. You think that they do not affect your current life; that they will not affect your future life. You are wrong about that."
"I was abused decades ago. I still have nightmares. I still find it difficult to control my anger and my fears. A completely innocent event can occur in my life and I will be immediately transported back to the bad times of my childhood. But I continue to heal, and my reactions to my abuse are now short, although still full of rage. But I can control what I do at those times. I use a process called ritualized cleansing to cope with the beast that consumes me at times. Each time that I have the opportunity to engage in ritualized cleansing, I get better. I am going to get better today. You can too."
"This afternoon, the Raging Gardeners are going to give you the opportunity to engage in ritualized cleansing. You will use your memories of what happened in your past to let your rage flow freely with no harm to you or to your target. You may choose to decline to participate, and nobody will think badly of you. You may choose to participate, and nobody will know what form your rage has taken except for me. I will pop in and out of the nearby clearing to see if you need my support. We will not speak of this outside of our group. You may choose to never return to participate in this form of justice. Or you may choose to join the Raging Gardeners to help overcome your fears and anger, and later, to help others who need our help."
"In the clearing next to us is a dead pervert. You have seen him tried for murder; we didn't try him for what he did to the young girls that he victimized. That perversion trial has just been completed with those video clips you saw. As you witnessed, he is guilty of monstrous acts against young girls. I invite you now to administer justice on behalf of all of his victims."
"If you choose to participate, you will go one-by-one into the clearing. You will find a collection of weapons. A member of our group has donated a small sword that you may use. You'll find other weapons for cutting, stabbing, or pummeling. You won't find guns, bows, or other weapons that can kill from a distance. You will heal faster if you get up close and personal."
"I advise you to speak to the dead man; to tell him what a pervert like him has done to you. Do not try to hold back. Let everything out. Scream as loud as you can. The next time you won't have as much anger to release. If you are concerned about blood on your clothes, I suggest that you disrobe in the clearing. We've provided large tubs of water with linens for cleaning up afterwards. When you are finished, dress and return
to the clearing. I will be here if you wish to speak about your experience."
"I will be the last to enter the clearing. I assure you that I will participate energetically. After I am finished and clean again, I will bury what remains of the pervert in the clearing. I will plant this tree over his body."
Momaka went to the edge of the meadow and returned with a plant pot and a meter high tree of some kind. "The beautiful flowering Dogwood tree has disappeared from British Columbia because of climate change. I have created a new Dogwood tree that can withstand drought and other abuses. It has been like you – a victim of forces beyond its control. But now, the Raging Gardeners are going to bring its beauty and its strength back to life, just like you're going to bring your beauty and your strength back to your life."
"This flowering tree will remain in place for many years, marking the spot where a pervert received justice. From this one tree, more will grow around it. In time, many healthy Dogwoods will be in our forests, just as in time, many more victims like you will be healthy. Each victimized woman who sees a flowering Dogwood tree will know that the strength and beautiful innocence of some brave young girl has been recognized and a pervert has been brought to justice. If you wish to participate in a small Japanese ceremony as I plant the tree, you will be welcome."
Before Momaka could finish asking "Who wants...." Mac was striding into the clearing, unbuttoning her blouse as she walked. Minutes later, a horrific scream echoed through the woods.
Back to the Table of Contents
Chapter 30
At the same time as Granny was holding a trial, and at the same time as Hank and Yolanda were in Surrey worrying about a trial, Dreamer was thinking of a trial. A trial run of some new equipment, you might say.
The slip in the mud had caused Dreamer to lose consciousness, but other than a mild headache, she was fine the next day. Doc had looked her over and announced that she was as healthy as a giraffe. Dreamer felt much better that evening when a dream popped into her head. She looked at it, thinking – Wow, that's going to happen? A second dream was more of a business dream, which she was glad to have because it meant she had a queue again. It was the first dream that had taken away her headache.
On the morning of Double-Tom's trial, Wanda had asked Dreamer if she was going to be comfortable seeing D-T. Dreamer replied that she wouldn't be attending the trial. She didn't want to dwell on the past; she wanted to think about the future instead. Later that morning, Momaka invited her to a group activity after the trial that would help Dreamer get over the effects of D-T's molestations. Dreamer said that she had already forgotten about them and she had no lingering problems. She was perfectly happy. Momaka had tried to change her mind but gave up when Dreamer said firmly that she had other things to do today. If a mad scientist had invented a happiness-measuring tool, he'd be able to tell you that Dreamer's happiness reached giddiness levels after everybody left and she and Wizard had the compound to themselves.
Dreamer found Wizard, and after some exchanges with Wiz about how her head was, Dreamer grabbed Wiz's hand, pulled him out of the sofa in the community hall, and headed out of the building. "I have a surprise to show you," she said. "I believe you'll like it."
They ended up in Wizard's bedroom, which wasn't a big deal because Dreamer would often go there with Wizard to pick up study materials. This time, she sat on the edge of his bed and removed her shoes and socks. Next, she lifted the covers and scooted into bed. While Wizard watched in some befuddlement, Dreamer disappeared under the covers, and for a minute, it looked like a large python was wrestling with itself. Her face emerged, along with a hand that held all of her clothes that she let fall to the floor. She sat up against the headboard – the sheet pulled up to her chin.
"I had a dream yesterday about us. How I'm sitting right now is not exactly the same as I was in the dream, but I'm not ready to show you the new me yet."
In response to Wizard's confusion, she said. "They're getting bigger. You know..." and she gestured with her free hand at her chest. "In my dream, I'm sitting in your bed with the sheet down to my waist, but I think we can save that for later."
"Uh, I don't know..."
"William and Melissa slept together in the same bed for ages before they had sex. I don't think we should have sex yet, but we'll take baby steps towards that. Today, we'll cuddle under the sheets but we won't look at each other. The next time, I may let you peek at the new me under the sheet. The next time, if I'm ready for it, you can peek at the new me and touch them too. The next time... Well, we'll take baby steps, one new thing after the other. Best thing is I know that today is going to come true. It's the first dream in my queue."
Wizard was just standing there. The expression deer in the headlights couldn't describe his emotions. A mouse tumbling in the froth of an oncoming tsunami would be more accurate.
Dreamer patted the bedspread next to her. "Do you want the left side or the right side of the bed? I don't care. You can decide that part of our sleeping together. You'll have to take all your clothes off, Wiz, but I won't look because that can come later. Baby steps."
...
"Wiz. You'll need to sit down to take off your shoes, won't you?"
...
"Wiz. Sweetie. Where are you going?"
...
In her consternation at seeing Wizard leaving (i.e., fleeing) his bedroom, Dreamer forgot to hold the sheet to her chin, and as gravity can be prone to dictate, gravity did indeed dictate and the sheet fell to Dreamer's waist. As Wiz's footsteps quickly receded into nothingness, Dreamer's dream became perfectly accurate. Her dreams always came true and this one did too. Sadly, Dreamer had failed to notice that in her dream, she was alone in Wizard's bed.
# # # # # # # #
Later that morning, Wizard was waiting in his parents' bedroom when they came home. He had locked the door from the inside.
Dreamer was no longer in the compound. Her brain-plug indicated that she was at the satellite compound. But nobody else was there. Yollie found her on the step of the front porch to Melissa and William's home when she returned from the trial. Dreamer insisted that she had to speak with Melissa. Yollie told her that Melissa was on assignment. Dreamer would have to talk with Yollie or go back to the home compound. While she was making up her mind, Yollie needed help. Both twins needed their diapers changed.
# # # # # # # #
Later that evening, Momaka and Stu were sitting in the community hall, working on a set of recipes. Cookbooks were spread around the table. It had been an intense day, to say the least, and all of the other Wilizy were bedded down for the night.
Hank and Yolanda were in their bedroom, fretting about how they shouldn't have restricted the kids so much to the compound. None of them had been exposed to the real world. If they had only let Lucas learn what life on the outside was like, he wouldn't have been so gullible.
They agreed that Wizard had acted wisely, if late, but they marveled that so much had happened behind their backs. A few angry mind-messages had crossed the airwaves from Yolanda to Granny. Hank and Yolanda were now sharing some doubts about Dreamer and her continued residency in the compound.
Granny took Yolanda's criticism without complaint, admitted to herself that she should have broken Wizard's confidence, but she had chosen not to. Who would Wizard go to the next time if she had? She and Doc talked and they agreed that Wanda was not ready to hear this news about Dreamer tonight. Dreamer was safe for now with Yollie.
Lucas was asleep somewhere. He had unscrewed his brain-plug to turn off the tracker, loaded up several backpacks with supplies, and disappeared. He could not be reached. Some pressure was brought to bear and Theo admitted that he might know where Lucas was camping. Yolanda told Theo that he might find some hot food on the kitchen counter. Theo served as a hot food courier for the three days that Lucas lived in the woods before the trial. Lucas remained alone and communicated with nobody, not even with Theo during this time. Theo didn't even see him. He'd leav
e the plate of food high in a tree and the next morning it was clean. Raccoons? Lucas?
Lucas had left a big handwritten sign on the fridge before he had turned himself into the Surrey police. "I'm sorry!" he had written. Other than that, the youngsters knew nothing and no adult would tell them anything other than Lucas was having some difficulties right now. With stress levels in the compound reaching historic highs, Winnie was curled up in the woods with her two wolves. William's special visor was helping a bit, but she wasn't healthy enough to even try to pry into what was going on in Lucas' life.
Mac had come back from her experience in the woods with the courage to tell Wolf what had happened to her when she was living on Regina's streets and working at her first restaurant. She left immediately afterwards to tell her dad as well. He would undoubtedly blame himself, and Mac didn't want that to happen, but she didn't know how to stop it. Nevertheless, she flew to Saskatoon immediately after her brief conversation with Wolf. Wolf was left to pick up Jock from the babysitter and pack up supplies that would last them a week. He arrived at the Saskatoon base to find Mac cuddled in her dad's arms. Mac's family would remain in Saskatoon for the full week and would not participate in the events that would dictate if Lucas would return to a cell or not.
# # # # # # # #
Given this backdrop of high stress levels within the entire Wilizy family, why were Stu and Momaka sitting in the community hall looking at recipes? Recipes? Really?
They weren't. The open, scattered cookbooks were just the camouflage Stu and Momaka used when they wanted to have a private and personal conversation without anybody suspecting that they were more than colleagues.
"How was the tree planting ceremony?" Stu asked.
"Fine. Everybody stayed to the end, which is a good sign. We all left composed. D-T was starting to decompose."
"Good one. And you? Did you have a go at what remained of D-T's body?"
"I had some healthy exercise," Momaka admitted.
"Too bad that Dreamer wouldn't attend."
"I hope the family doesn't judge her too harshly over what happened with Wizard. She's not a sexual predator, but that's what the family is thinking right now. Dreamer's life is controlled by her dreams. She goes where they take her. She'd never have climbed into Wizard's bed if the dream hadn't indicated that she was going to."