Dark Road (23 page)

“I’ve already told Joel about it, and chances are that sometime today Josh is going to know,” Mallory said. “That is going to be one unhappy young man when he gets told he can’t join the Army until he turns eighteen. Everything looks good and I really felt like I needed to give Joel a bone he could throw Josh’s way.”

“It would almost be easier to grant a…” Jackson was only halfway through his thought before he was interrupted by Mallory.

“No, it would
not
be easier to grant any kind of anything, especially if it undermined a parent’s authority, and as much as I hate to say it, that goes double for Joel and Rachael.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Jackson replied, properly chastised. “And with just a few seconds of reflection I can see just how foolish that kind of thinking was. That wouldn’t just set a bad precedent; it would be way overstepping our authority.”

Mallory nodded her head and continued, “I’m just glad we’ve finally voted on The Framework, and we’ll be voting in a civilian government and local laws in two days. I know it hasn’t actually solved anything but it’s put some things first and foremost in people’s minds at a critical time.”

“Ma’am?” Halstead asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Nothing specific, just a feeling,” Mallory said.

“I appreciate you saying what you did about the vote for Mayor,” Stewart said. “I wouldn’t have been happy about not voting, but I would have followed the order if you’d given it. It would have set a
bad
precedent though.”

“Agreed, but I was almost certain Sheri, Rachael, and Karen wouldn’t have allowed the vote to happen in an open forum like that.” Mallory said. “They were pretty adamant about both a secret ballot and including the military in the vote. They mentioned a number of times how they didn’t believe that the absentee ballots for service members were always counted, and since we were starting over they wanted to fix past mistakes.”

…

“Mallory, we need to talk.” Joel said as he walked up to the Major.

“Sure, Joel, what’s on your mind?” She asked.

Joel tried hard not to glare at her, but was pretty sure he failed miserably. “I think you know darned good and well what’s on my mind.” Joel said. “According to Bill, under no circumstances will I be allowed to either enlist or apply for a commission. What gives?”

“Well, this isn’t a topic of conversation for the sidewalk,” Mallory looked down at the hard packed dirt path they were standing on, “such as it is. Why don’t we head over to my office?” Mallory suggested.

“Is there really that much to the explanation?” Joel asked as they started walking, trying not to sulk, with his hands stuffed in his pockets.

“Joel, you haven’t known me all that long but I think you know me well enough to know that I’m not going to answer that question until we’re sitting down, don’t you?”

Joel glanced at Mallory and sighed. “Yeah, I guess I do. Just trying to make conversation on the way to the command tent, I guess.”

“Well, in that case, how is Maya doing in school?” Mallory asked, deliberately not bringing up Josh.

“Fine, she’s going to dissect a fish and a pig next week and she’s actually excited about it. Of course, it’ll be a fresh catch and a
really
freshly butchered pig—and then it’ll go into the stew pot—but that’s neither here nor there.” Joel shook his head and snorted. “You know if they wanted kids to learn about biology in Jr. High and High School, why didn’t they take them to a butcher and have them be involved in the process then and there instead of looking at some stinking, mostly preserved giant cricket or toad or fish where everything was grey by the time they got to it?”

Mallory shook her head, “Don’t look at me, I was in 4H growing up and helped deliver horses and calves and baby just about everything else. I picked apart owl pellets and reconstructed countless mouse skeletons, and even spent a couple of hours over a fresh road-kill raccoon one afternoon just because I was curious. Kids nowadays,” Mallory paused while she collected her thoughts, “kids
were
getting a pretty screwed up education in biology. That may be changing, we’ll have to see.”

Mallory stopped at the Command tent as they had arrived, saluted the soldier on guard duty, and stepped inside. “Here we are, have a seat.”

Joel had a fleeting sense of déjà vu and had a brief urge to say something along the lines of ‘what if I don’t want to?’ but crushed it mercilessly and sat down.

“So, you and Bill had a talk and he informed you that we weren’t taking enlistments at this time?” Mallory asked.

“No, that’s not what he said, and with all due respect, Major, that’s not what I said a few minutes ago, either.” Joel had made the decision to switch to the more formal address during the walk. The change was not lost on Mallory.

“No, you didn’t. You said that under no circumstances would you be allowed to enlist or apply for a commission, is that correct?” Mallory asked.

“Yes, that’s correct. Would you care to explain why?” Joel was getting mad all over again after having cooled off before coming to see Mallory.

“Joel, I’m not in the habit of explaining myself,” Mallory said and she could see that answer made Joel even more upset. “But, you do deserve an explanation.”

Mallory continued, “There are several reasons to not accept your application for enlistment or a commission but I’m only going to go into a couple. First, I need a civilian advisor that isn’t in my chain of command.” Mallory stopped Joel from interrupting even though he may not have been going to. “I need you where you are. You have had, and continue to have, a perspective that nobody else has had from day one. I need that perspective and I need it where it is. I truly believe that if you were in my chain of command your relationship with me, Eric, Bill, and all of the others would change; it would change your point of view and that change wouldn’t be for the better.”

The look on Joel’s face told her that the message was getting through, whether he liked it or not. “Second, you are respected in the
civilian
community, as evidenced by this morning. You were the first person nominated for the position of Mayor and they couldn’t second the position fast enough.” Mallory had to hold up her finger to keep Joel quiet again and continue, “And no, that wasn’t a plant. Yes, they were in the audience—I’m not going to lie—but this morning they weren’t needed. Everything that happened was genuine. But back to my point.”

Mallory was ticking off reasons on her fingers, “You are respected in the civilian community and I have no doubt that the military, in general, and I, personally, will need allies there. If I were to grab everyone I wanted and put them into positions inside the military, who would the civvies trust? How could they? It would be ‘I’m from the Government and I’m here to help’ all over again. I don’t want that, and I don’t think you do either.”

Joel nodded at that.

“Third,” Mallory continued, “and this is a new one, after this morning are you trying to run away from the nomination?” She didn’t give him time to protest and just talked over him. “Don’t answer, but think about it.”

“Lastly, and this is going to make you mad when you hear it because you will realize you’ve known it all along. You can’t join the Army anymore. Joel, how old are you?”

Joel immediately took a defensive posture. “Mallory, Major…” Joel took a deep breath. “Some things are going to have to change. If someone is physically able to meet the …”

“Joel, stop.” Joel held his breath and literally bit his tongue.

“Should we also lower the age to enlist without parental consent?” Joel began to deflate.

“Or perhaps we could just …” Mallory started but was cut off.

“I get it. Point made.” Joel said. “One exception leads to another. Once you start making changes where do they stop.” Joel looked up at the ceiling of the tent, hands hanging down by his sides. “I told my son no. No because he was too young. No because he couldn’t really be sure yet. And because, because I didn’t want both of us in the Army, and if one of us was going to be in harm’s way I wanted it to be me.” He looked at Mallory.

“I know.” Mallory said. “I knew we were going to have this conversation when you first asked me about the age of enlistment, because Josh was hinting about it. That’s why I told you the maximum age at the time. I also knew you would hear it but completely ignore it until now.”

“How many times have you done this?” Joel asked.

“I don’t keep count, Joel, but enough. I don’t say that to make you feel any less unique though. I can guarantee that I’ll have this conversation again, though, if it helps.” Mallory said.

“I’m not sure it does, it probably doesn’t hurt, though. I’ll go tell Rachael that I won’t be leading any charges any time soon. That should make her happy.” Joel got up.

“Joel, as stupid as this sounds right now, don’t take it too hard. The first two reasons I gave are really the most important.” Mallory stood up. “That’s why I gave them to you first. You, Rachael, Chuck, Karen, Sheri, all of you have been a huge support and one of the biggest reasons that we as a community have been successful. I’m serious; I need you Joel—right where you are.”

Joel nodded. “I appreciate that, I really do. And I understand that.  It just took some wind out of my sails. I’ll be ok, promise.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

The mood around Promised Land was almost festive on Sunday, September 9
^th
. For the first time in Tennessee history, there could quite possibly be 100 percent voter turnout. In the future, there might be complaints about some type of irregularity in the voting, and people would surely claim there had to have been voter fraud of
some
kind, but for everyone involved today it was an affirmation that this was still America.

The school was the primary polling place and since Rachael worked there during the week, she’d been tagged to man the polls on Election Day. Joel, on the other hand, was prohibited from working the polls, as he was a nominee. It didn’t prevent him from walking his wife to work.

“So, how long have you known I was going to be a nominee?” He asked Rachael as they walked to the school.

“I didn’t know, for sure, but I had a feeling it would come up once Mallory pressed Sheri for the vote on The Framework.” She said. “We didn’t plan it that way, if that’s what you’re implying.”

“No, I’m not.” He said. “Mallory did though.”

That got a look from Rachael.

“Seriously,” he said. “She admitted it. Said there were seeds in the audience that were going to nominate me if it didn’t happen on its own. She claims they weren’t needed when I was nominated and it was seconded right off the bat.” Joel sighed. “The fact that she admitted it leads me to believe her too. She didn’t have to tell me about it at all, so she’s probably telling the truth.”

“Most likely” Rachael said. “As far as we know she’s never lied to us. Probably not told us the complete truth a number of times, but that’s not the same thing, and in her position she
can’t
just tell us everything she knows all the time. That’s her job, keep secrets.”

“Speaking of secrets, who are you going to vote for?” Joel asked.

Rachel put on a shocked look as she turned to her husband. “Excuse me, sir,” she said. “It’s a private election. If I wanted you to know who I was voting for I would have you in the booth with me.” Then she kissed him to take the sting out of the mock rebuke. She still didn’t tell Joel who she was voting for.

As they approached the giant tent they used for a school it became clear that there was already a line for voting.

“I hope you have enough ballots.” Joel said.

“We should,” Rachael said, “we’re using the indelible ink on the index finger routine to keep people from voting more than once.”

“We need to do a census and keep some sort of list…something to keep track of how many people we have, and who they are.” Joel said shaking his head. “That’s just one of many things for the first Mayor to have to deal with.”

“And that would be why you got nominated dear,” Rachael said. “Nobody said the word census but you, and you are already trying to come up with the solution. I have to go; the polls open in ten minutes.”

“Millie,” Joel looked down at their dog, who had, for the first time in weeks, stayed with them for more than five minutes. “Stay with Mommy.” With a soft “woof”, Millie trotted up to Rachael and lay down under the table set up for voter registration.

…

The lines at the polling places were never too long, but were consistent for most of the day. The Block Moms (and Dads) made an announcement when there were two hours until closing and then an hour until closing to make sure everyone had a chance to vote.

By everyone’s best guess, everyone who was eligible to vote and who
wanted
to vote was able to. The Guard had provided two Guardsmen at each polling place in case of any trouble and the sight of them had kept at least two fights about capital punishment from ever even starting.

Polling was conducted at the clinic in Redemption for all of the townspeople, and at the school and the mess hall at Promised Land.

…

“Karen,” Joel yelled to get her attention across the mess hall at lunch time and waved her over to where he was sitting.

“So,” she said, “you on pins and needles?”

“Not really.” Joel said. “Let me rephrase that. I have no idea how this is going to turn out but I can’t change the outcome, so I’m resigned to it either way, how’s that.”

Karen smiled. “That sounds like you. A little bit morbid but willing to go along with whatever comes.”

Joel gave her thumbs up. “Any idea when the results will be announced?”

“Nope,” Karen said. “I was going to be tallying with Sheri hourly but I can’t do that now that I’m a candidate. I think she’s still doing it but I’m not positive. I’m certainly not going to barge in to ask.”

“Yeah, that would look…bad.” Joel said.

“Little bit,” Karen said. “Chuck can’t even help since he’s a candidate too. If she’s still doing it I really hope she’s got help.”