Defective (9 page)

To prepare for an
early seeding, Jelly and Forest had set up a growing area near the
back door of the barn. The large double window let in the sun as it
crossed the southwestern sky. Perfect light for the seedlings
they’d started. Forest, with Narrow’s help, had built three
shelving units from items found around the barn and on their slats
now rested dozens of containers. Pearl apple trees, vegetables and
herbs sprouted from them.

The only plant
that would not cooperate were the cure-all seeds Jelly had brought
with her from the orchard. No matter what she did they would not
germinate. The small bunch that Narrow had brought her had also
gone missing. At the time she’d set the plants at the back with the
rest of their planting gear but the next day they were nowhere to
be found.

___

"We've got
company," Rank told Hap when Hap returned with the produce cart at
the end of the day. Rank explained the situation.

"Nowhere else to
put her, so you'll be bunking with her. No funny business."

They ate then Rank
went to bed. If she was trouble, Rank thought, Hap would have to
deal with it first.

Hap's bed was in a
dark corner of the cellar across the floor from where the woman sat
on the upturned bucket, her chin in her hands. He nodded to her.
She lifted her face and nodded back. An image of a brown-haired,
fox-faced woman came to his mind. He looked back at her.

"Can I help
you?"

Even her voice
sounded familiar. He reddened and turned away, back into the
shadows.

"No. I think you
remind me of someone."

"Think? You don't
know?" There was a sing-song quality to her voice.

Hap wanted to
talk. It was so frustrating not having anyone to confide in. He
occasionally had moments where pieces came back to him but the
images were jumbled and didn't make any sense. The image of the
fox-faced woman, however, was different. More solid. Real.

"You remind me of
someone."

"Who?"

Hap said nothing
for a moment. He sat down on his bed.

"Why are you
here?" he asked her.

"Ah. Changing the
subject. Okay, Hap."

"How do you know
my name?" Hap's heart beat faster.

"Rank. Overheard
him talking at the station."

Hap relaxed.

"Anyway, a change
of scene."

"What?"

"Why I'm here. I
wanted a change of scene."

"But you're going
to be sold!"

She shrugged.

"What about you
Hap? What's your story?"

I don't have a
story, he thought. To the woman he said, "I'd best get to sleep.
Goodnight."

"Goodnight,
Hap."

"What’s your
name?"

"Ask me
tomorrow."

Hap opened his
mouth but quickly shut it. He rolled towards the wall and tried to
sleep.

When Hap awoke in
the morning the woman was asleep, lying on the floor of the storage
locker and turned against the wall with the blanket over her head.
Rank told Hap about the plan for the auction as they’d jogged
through the rain to the depot to collect the day’s vegetables.

"Nothin’ can go
wrong, see? Got an important client coming tomorrow. The Landlord
of Battery. Go check on the men at the station in the morning and
get them cleaned up as best you can. That woman given you any
trouble?"

Hap shook his
head.

"Well, I can’t
take any chances. Once you’ve cleaned up the men the officer will
bring ‘em to the docks. Then start packing today’s loads in the
front room so’s you can watch for the flag to go up."

Here Rank stopped
at the top of the road and turned around. The road was steep and
below it were the harbour and the pier. Rank pointed to his
left.

"See that
flagpole?"

Hap nodded.

"When you see the
green flag go up, you come running, see?"

"Okay. ...
Battery," he said. "Is that north?"

Rank shook his
head. "West."

It was still
raining when Hap finally returned from his last load of the day,
too tired from pushing the cart through the muck-filled streets to
eat supper but eager to see if the woman was awake. Rank had
already gone to bed. Hap went down to the cellar but near the
bottom of the steps he could see that she was, as she had that
morning, turned to the wall with the blanket over her head. He
sighed. Maybe he’d have a chance tomorrow morning before the
auction. Maybe he'd waited too long.

Hap took off his
wet clothes and was about to crawl into bed when he saw something
on his pillow. He lit a candle. It was a photograph, printed on
thick paper, of the fox-faced woman. She was older than in his
memory but it was her. She stood in sunlight wearing a checked
dress and holding the hand of a little girl with copper-coloured
hair. He sat down heavily on his cot and stared at the photo.

"The little girl
is me," she said.

"What’s your
name?" Hap asked.

"Marvellous."

"That's a great
name," said Hap.

"The woman in the
photo is my mother. Well, our mother. I wasn't sure at first. She
told me about you. How she'd had to leave you with your father
because she was sick. She got better but then she had me. She died
when I was thirteen. I got sent to a labour camp."

I don't understand
any of this, Hap thought. He took a chance.

"I can't remember
anything about my life before I came here a few months ago."

Marvellous was
silent for a moment, looking intently at him.

"Then maybe I can
help fill in some blanks. I know it's you. You have the knife."

Hap’s hand
automatically went to his pocket and pulled out his folding
knife.

"How...?"

Marvellous stood
up and drew her fingers lightly against the wire cage.

"This doesn't stop
me," she said. "I checked your pockets last night after you fell
asleep."

Rank had hinted
that the woman might be defective and Hap was half expecting her to
wave a hand and the door to suddenly open of its own accord.
Instead she pulled a pin from inside her shirt, jiggled it twice in
the padlock then opened it. She crossed the floor and sat beside
Hap on the bed. She took the knife from his hands.

"Mama said she
gave it to you when you were four. She said you'd engraved a
four-leaf clover into the handle. See?"

Marvellous turned
the knife over and handed it to Hap.

"Is that what that
is?"

"You don't
remember what clover looks like?"

"I guess not. Did
my, our mother, tell you my name?"

"Well, that's a
bit strange considering you say you can't remember anything. She
said it was Hap. Said she named you after the road your father took
out of town. When Rank mentioned it, I wondered if it could be you.
You may not remember much, but you got your name right."

"It was the only
name I could think of," said Hap.

"Names are
powerful things."

Hap looked at his
knife, ran his fingers over the engraving.

"I can't let you
go tomorrow," he said suddenly, standing up. "I have to get you out
tonight."

Marvellous grabbed
his arm and pulled him back down to the bed.

"No. Too
dangerous. Has Rank told you anything about the auction?"

Hap told her what
he knew.

"This Landlord,
he's our buyer. He’s rich and since the rich are all bastards it’s
easy to give them what they want. Leave him to me."

Marvellous told
Hap what to do to prepare in the morning.

"Now, you need to
go to sleep," Marvellous said.

"There's so much I
want to ask."

She got up,
crossed the floor, and locked herself back into the storage
cage.

"When we get to
where we're going," she said, "there'll be enough time."

___

The Landlord
arrived in Andrastyne at supper time the night before the auction.
He left his horses at the Andrastyne Inn, gorged himself on a steak
dinner then spent the evening in the company of a young woman at
Mrs. Nibbs’. He left the brothel at dawn and returned to his room
at the inn to wash up. He was the first to arrive for the
auction.

Now, he stood on
the pier in the rain looking over the goods. Skilled labour was
always in short supply and many of the landowners relied on the
quarterly auctions to staff their lands. Men were brought in from
all over for sale. Some, like the four men Gaines had brought, had
sold their freedom for a chance at a job, regular meals and a roof
over their heads; many were former labour camp kids who had run
away and were easily threatened into service; others were free
labourers and they had a certain amount of rights. The Landlord
didn't want to use free labourers if he could avoid it.

The Landlord
walked up and down the line of manacled men, peering into their
eyes, squeezing their biceps and checking their feet. He needed the
right person for the orchard; someone strong and healthy, yes, but
also someone who would do as they were told.

The last person in
line was a woman. Unlike the men, she was not shackled, only
tethered with a leather strap by one hand to a railing. She was
tall and her skin was the same light coppery colour as her
short-cropped hair. The Landlord stopped and looked down at her. He
narrowed his eyes. A woman would be easier to control, he thought.
The last one was easy enough and this one was better looking. He
smiled.

"Used to hard
work?" he asked her.

"Yes," she
said.

"Where?"

"I've been in
labour camps most of my life."

"Uh huh. Know
anything about pearl apple trees?"

"They grow the
same as any other."

"You've worked an
orchard before?"

She nodded.
"Avocados," she said. "Lemons long ago."

"What the hell's
an avo..."

"Avocado. They're
a green fruit. They grow on trees."

The Landlord
studied her a few moments more.

"Wait here," he
told her.

The Landlord
haggled with Rank over the price, eventually settling on a figure
that had both men thinking they'd gotten the better deal.

"I'm at the Inn,"
the Landlord said, jerking his thumb up the hill. "Have her ready
for me in two hours. It's a long ride back."

Rank quickly sold
the four men who had come with Marvellous to a peach farmer from
the south, then raised the green flag on the pier. It was the
signal for Hap to come down. When Hap arrived, Rank told him to
take the men to their new ship.

"When you're done
there start delivering the loads. I'll take care of this one," he
said, gesturing at Marvellous.

While Rank settled
with the peach farmer, Hap quickly untied the men from the pier but
left on their wrist and ankle manacles. As he freed the last man he
glanced up at Marvellous.

"The Andrastyne
Inn," she said quietly, "in an hour."

___

While Rank had
been setting up the auction, Hap had taken the men to the station
then raced back to Rank's. In the cellar, he grabbed his bag and
canteen, rolled them up in a blanket, secured the bundle with cord
and slung it over his shoulder. Upstairs, he tossed some vegetables
in his pack and put on Rank's heavy oilcloth coat.

He had sat at the
window and watched as Rank led Marvellous down to the pier. He saw
the police officer pushing the four men, their hands and feet
shackled, towards it; saw Rank shake the police officer's hand.

Then Hap saw the
Landlord. It had to be him. He was a large man, fat, with a thick
head of wavy black hair that was starting to grey at the sides. He
had a square and prominent jaw. He shivered when he saw him take
Marvellous' sleeve and roll it up so that he could inspect her
arms.

When the Landlord
turned away to speak to Rank, Hap saw Marvellous' face tilt up
towards the house and the window where he sat. Even at that
distance, Hap felt his sister's eyes on him. Saw her nod. He nodded
back.

Now, Hap took all
the small side streets and short cuts he'd learned during his time
in the city. He arrived at the rear of the Andrastyne Inn, where
the guests' horses were kept, crouched in a clump of black spruce
across the road and waited.

Soon the barn
doors opened and two large black horses, harnessed to a wagon laden
with wooden crates were led out. The Landlord appeared holding
Marvellous by the arm. Hap crouched lower in the pines.

They settled on
the seat of the cart and the stable hand gave over the reins to the
Landlord. He yelled and snapped the leather to get the horses
moving.

There was only one
road wide enough to take the Landlord's wagon out of town; it was
the same road Hap had followed into Andrastyne; it had no turns or
intersections for several miles. Hap would let the wagon get ahead
a bit before he started to follow.

But as the horses
began to crest the hill to the road, a bakery boy came pedalling
round the corner. Hap had seen the two-wheelers around Andrastyne.
Even in winter, the bakery boys delivered bread on their bicycles.
One of the horses reared and the boy almost crashed but managed to
keep the bike upright.

The Landlord
stopped to yell at the boy. The boy leaned the bike against a
nearby tree then stooped to gather up the loaves that had fallen
from his basket.

"I'm sorry! I'm so
sorry sir! It won't happen again!"

"You idiot! What
do you think you're doing on that thing? You scared my horses."

"Sorry sir!
Sorry!"

The boy kept
apologizing as he turned and dashed through the door to the inn's
kitchen.

Hap waited till
the Landlord’s cart began to move again and had passed the clump of
trees before he ran across the road and stole the bicycle.

___

Mixer sat on
Titania's bed and looked out the window. It was warm but he didn't
want to take off his new coat, a birthday present from Santa. She’d
asked Titania if she could cut off part of the beaver skin coat to
make Mixer a new one.