Eden's Root (22 page)

“Your gift of the day was life, remember pig? Or you could keep complaining and I’ll just duct tape your mouth shut…or maybe your nose and mouth.” He shook his head and bit his lips. “Good,” Fi shoved him with her foot. “I’m sick of you already.” She turned and walked inside to join her Family.

----------- Fi -----------

After her slip-up in the rain a few weeks prior Fi had completely avoided any type of human habitation, at least when she was with the Family. No matter what the weather conditions, it was safest to stay in the forest. At least it was warm now, so even if it rained it was a warm rain. In fact it was pretty sticky by now, Fi thought, grateful to rest in just shorts and a t-shirt with bare feet. She sat propped against a log with her pack at her back with her father’s journal in her lap. Unconsciously, she flipped it open to the hardest part. The page was worn thin from the number of times that she’d read it.

“
I can no longer pretend that I have a lingering cold, I’m afraid. There is no denying the obvious. Thank God that Louis’ plans will get the girls to safety before I’m gone. Otherwise, I don’t know what I would do. I don’t know how I’ll tell Maggie. Her own burden is so great. If only Fi were older.”

Fi held the journal to her chest and took a deep, shuddering breath. If only she were older. If only Maggie’s burden had not been so great. If only Louis had not abandoned them. If, if, if…. She sighed and put the journal away. It would help if she could somehow stop herself from dwelling on the ‘ifs’. The thing about ‘ifs’ was that they ran around and around your brain with no end. It was always best to shut them off…if you could.

As she turned back again to rest against her pack, she tried to draw comfort from the beauty around her. This was such a wonderful spot, warm and peaceful. It wasn’t hard to guess why everyone was reticent to leave it. They were deep within the forest in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains. Or so she thought from her maps anyway. Regardless, the rock wall at the back of camp protected them from view and the clearing ahead of them was a bit of enchanted forest, with dappled shafts of sunlight and huge stands of fragrant, wild mint. Their smell is what made the breeze in this spot seem cool, even when it was actually warm. She chewed a mint leaf absentmindedly.

The other side of camp was bordered by an apple orchard, which of course led to endless jokes with Doc about eating an apple a day. This orchard was bearing fruit and whether it was possibly Sickfood or not, it was fruit. They sun-dried lots of apple meat while they stayed.

Hunting had been pretty good here as well. There hadn’t been many deer in a while, but rabbits and squirrels were abundant. Sean even said he thought he’d seen evidence of hogs. That would be a great thing, if they could get it. Any Truefood that they could get was like gold and they were low on canned supplies of Sickfoods from the raids anyway.

Maggie came into the circle by the firepit where Fi was sitting with one hand held behind her back. Kiara, Zoe, and Aldy danced behind her and Rachel walked slowly in the rear. Fi laughed.

“I always knew you were the Pied Piper Mama,” she said.

“Hey!” Kiara protested. “That makes us rats!” Maggie and Fi both laughed.

“Remember Kiara, the Piper led the children away when the villagers refused to pay him.” Fi reminded her.

“Oh yeah,” she said. “I forgot that.” She smiled. They all came to sit near Fi in a small circle.

Maggie pulled her hand from behind her back and said, “Taa-daa!” Who’s up for cards?”

All the kids said, “Me, me!” Rachel and Fi exchanged glances and Fi sat up, crossing her legs.

“Alright you little rats,” she said winking, “you’re on!”

Maggie spoke in a funny “dealer” voice. “Alrighty then, what’ll it be kiddos?” She shuffled the cards in the classic ‘rainbow’ to show off her skills. The kids squealed. They loved it. Maggie was such a wonderful entertainer when she had the energy. “You want Texas Hold’Em or Five Card Stud?” she asked in her nasal drawl. The kids looked confused and she laughed. “Oh I see how you are,” she quipped, still shuffling. “You want Gin Rummy, Go Fish, War…”

“Gin Rummy, Gin Rummy!” Kiara piped up. The others nodded.

“Gin Rummy it is then for the little lady,” Maggie starting passing out the cards.

“Wait!” they heard a voice approaching. It was Aliyah, who carried a load of their dry clothing in her arms. “Deal me in,” she hustled up the path. Everyone laughed and Maggie collected and re-dealt the cards. Maggie eyed the circle, her eyes narrowing.

“I warn you all,” she said, her voice conspiratorial, “You’re swimming in the deep end of the waters now. Maggie peered at Fi who smirked. She knew what was coming. “If you’ve never played cards, and par-tic-u-lar-ly Gin Rummy,” she intoned, “with one Fi Kelly…” Fi pretended to straighten her clothes and dust them off. “Then you better be prepared to swim with the sharks, because she will get you!” Maggie poked Kiara when she said ‘get’ and Kiara dissolved into giggles. Maggie straightened up.

“No seriously, the girl never loses. It’s ridiculous. I used to joke about taking her to the tables in Atlantic City so she could win her college fund.” This statement was directed to Aliyah, one mother to another. “She started beating me at Go Fish when she was five and I’ve barely won a hand of any card game with her since. She’s a stone-cold shark.” She winked at Fi, who grinned.

The group played rounds of Gin Rummy and Go Fish until the rest of the Family came back from their chores and activities. It was a rare and relaxing day off for Fi and she relished it. The time with her mother and sister was wonderful, but she’d come to enjoy the time with all of her Family now and she joked and laughed with Aliyah and Aldy as much as her own family and the Skillman girls.

“Hello, hello!” they heard voices and turned. It was Lucy and Sean, back from gathering. They were smiling.

“We did so well!” Lucy crowed. Fi smiled, Lucy had really taken to gathering this summer. It was clear that was partially because she got to spend quality time with her teenaged son, but she also seemed to enjoy the slow, deliberate nature of it, just like Sean. At the same time, John and Doc Ron appeared as they made their way back through the rows of the orchard. Doc Ron carried a stick with three fish speared on it and waved as he spotted the Family. As they emerged from the trees, the group could see that John carried a squirrel gathered from the snares. Together they joined the Family just as Lucy and Sean’s take was being pulled from Sean’s pack.

“Wow Luce,” John said, hugging his wife with affection. She blushed. “And you too Sean,” he added smiling. “You guys did great!” he smiled at the pile of seeds, wild herbs, roots, and mushrooms that they laid out and Fi chuckled. There was a time when John Skillman and his formerly sizable midsection would not have been pleased to see some mushrooms and a few seeds. John and Lucy were both at a normal weight after this summer. Most of the others had lost some weight, but they’d done ok with their hunting and gathering, Fi thought. No one was truly starving yet…except Maggie, who seemed to be unable to eat like she should. Fi sighed. Thoughts of Maggie grew in her mind with each passing day.

“Look at you John,” Lucy cooed, waving at the fish. “You really brought home the bacon tonight,” she joked and he laughed.

“Let’s get these cleaned,” he handed her the catch. Lucy turned to take the catch to the food prep rock and John smacked her lightly on the bottom. She startled and blushed, shaking her head at him. Fi smiled up at Sean from her spot on the ground. Even though it grossed him out that his parents were more affectionate now, she knew that he understood why their bond was strengthened. For her part, Fi thought it was cute, and was encouraged to see their love blossom anew rather than crumple under the stress.

“C’mon,” she would tease Sean. “Is it so wrong? What’s wrong with remembering how much you love another person when you’re both put through hell together?” Thought it was grudging, he had nodded. He could relate. Sean grinned down at her and her little circle of card players.

“She’s cleaning up at the table as usual, I’m assuming?” he asked Maggie, nodding to indicate Fi. Maggie nodded.

“Of course,” she sighed. “There’s no stopping her at cards,” she shook her head in mock annoyance.

“Or much of anything else for that matter,” Sean said affectionately and Fi blushed. He held her gaze. His dark eyes were warm but intense and Fi’s heart fluttered. What was going on with Sean? With a slow smile at her expression, he turned away to help Lucy with cleaning the fish.

That night they had enjoyed a mini-feast of sorts. The good thing about finding Truefood in the wilderness is that it often had to be consumed right away. It was perishable, and they didn’t usually have extra with such a large Family. It meant that whenever they got a lot to eat, they ate it. They were all seated around the fire. The Family still kept the cooking fire low and put it out at night so they did not draw visitors, human or otherwise. But for now, they had a regular cookout going.

As the light of the day began to fade, the flickering orange waves of the firelight were taking over, scrawling across smiling faces as spoons dipped into cups and drew out something tasty. There were little moans and outright ‘Thank Yous’ sent Aliyah’s way for the cooking. Tonight, Fi thought to herself, was actually a nice night.

Some days, too many days, they ran short on food. Those were days when the fish didn’t bite, the squirrels got away, or the area was dry and barren, and the Family had to follow the Food Laws. But today at least, Fi could smile. Today even Maggie managed to eat some food.

Lately Aliyah had been making a lot of ‘stews’. They weren’t really stews, more like meat and forest flavors simmered in water, but the water was simmered low and long. Her broths had a nice, soothing flavor, and the warmth did everyone good, even in the heat. It was just plain comforting. Maggie smiled at Fi as she took tiny slurps from her spoon with a sigh.

“Hey there,” a voice interrupted Fi’s thoughts, startling her. Sean plopped down next to her with his cup and spoon in hand. “Whatcha thinking about?” She took a small spoonful of the ‘stew’ and sipped it. A tiny bit of squirrel meat was in the bite and she savored the taste. It was funny, she realized, she couldn’t believe how much she liked squirrel. The thought suddenly struck her as funny and she nearly choked.

“Funny you should ask,” she replied as her shoulders began to shake with laughter. “I was just thinking that I can’t believe how much I like squirrel now.” Sean burst out laughing and the heads in the circle turned towards them.

“What’s the joke?” Maggie asked.

“I was just telling Sean…how much…I like…
squirrel
now,” Fi choked, now laughing so hard that tears ran down her cheeks. Sean was holding his stomach, he was laughing so hard. All the others looked at their cups and at each other and burst out laughing too. They were so loud that Fi had to shush them.

“Shhh,” she reminded them as she gasped. Heads nodded as they wiped their eyes, Kiara and Zoe looked confused. They had missed the joke.

“I think you spoke for us all there, Fi,” Maggie chuckled. “Squirrel has turned out to be an unexpected treat,” she said with a snort. She turned to Lucy, “Let’s start getting this fire down,” she nodded at the waning light. Yes, Fi sighed, it was time to put out the light. The fire fizzled and spit as the ladies poured water over it and the light disappeared. Sean’s face grew dim as her eyes adjusted.

“The other thing I was thinking,” Fi said with a smile, though Sean probably couldn’t see it yet. “Was that this was a really nice night.” She sighed. “I wish we could have more of these.” Her voice was wistful.

Sean reached out and held her hand in the darkness. She was right, he couldn’t see her either in the increasing darkness. His hand felt warm and reassuring, just like Sean, she thought. Besides her need to constantly hug everyone, she and Sean rarely touched each other and without her vision, it felt very intimate. He spoke, his voice soft.

“I know Fi,” he murmured. “I was thinking the same thing.” His thumb started to stroke the back of her hand and she felt confused. It was not that it wasn’t nice; it just wasn’t well, Sean-like.

“You know we are going to have to find Shelter soon,” she said, as her mind turned to the topic at the forefront of her mind. She was worried, as usual. They hadn’t made it as far north as she would have liked this summer. It was laughable now, she knew, that she’d ever thought that they could make it to Eden in one summer. That was a wild overestimate of what it took to move a party forward through sickness and danger and well, forest, for goodness sakes.

So now she knew. It took a LOT. Sean was silent and Fi continued. She didn’t notice that he’d stopped stroking her hand.

“I figure that we’ve made it about halfway now,” she said, lost in her thoughts. “I don’t want to get too far north before we find shelter because the winter upstate is…” her voice trailed off.

“Brutal,” Sean cleared his throat, his voice flat.

“Yes,” she agreed with a small shiver. “I think we need to start thinking about moving a little farther north and then looking for a winter shelter,” she murmured, almost to herself. Sean pulled his hand away and Fi finally noticed. “What’s wrong?” Sean sighed.

“Nothing,” he said, but his voice had an edge to it. Fi was confused. What had she done wrong? He was silent for a moment and then she heard him take a deep breath. “I just wish you weren’t all business all the time. It’s non-stop,” his tone was almost petulant.

“What?” Fi asked, confused and annoyed at the same time. “What is wrong with you?” She whispered angrily, listening to see if the rest of the Family were around.

“You yourself said that tonight was a nice night,” he said in a sad voice. “And you’re right, it’s a nice night. And we don’t get those very often,” he added and then paused.

“And?” Fi said, irritated. Out with it for goodness’ sakes, she thought.

“And I thought that maybe for once we should just enjoy it,” he said and suddenly Fi could feel that he’d shifted so that he was right beside her, his leg pressed to hers.