It Was 2052, High Haven (12 page)

He noted that a few looks followed the
honey blonde lady as she moved around the space and he gazed at the
gazers, trying to decide which of the customers might be willing to
talk to them about this town. So far, the citizens had been not
overly friendly yet didn't seem unfriendly. He was full of
questions. It wasn't hard to figure that the town buzzed from the
power provided by the wind turbines.
How in the heck had
they built those? How was the town functioning so well?
With
all the things he himself had seen happen in the world, he wasn't
completely surprised at the Secret City so high and remote,
understood why people
might want to hide away.
Still, establishing and maintaining this place would've been no small
job.

His eyes scanned the rustic eating
establishment and the patrons. When the waitress took their orders
he noticed that even though she was dressed quite simply, with her
mousey brown hair piled high on her head, she wore a couple of gold
rings, a bracelet and shiny hoop earrings. While scanning for a
“talker”, he noted that many of the customers wore pieces
of yellowy gold jewelry.

A young man came through the screen
door, let it slam shut behind him. He called the waitress by name and
lifted up a painting in his hands. Her voice carried across the
murmur of conversations, “Sure, anywhere you like.” The
man made his way to the wall where Cissy was engrossed in a large
painting. He pulled a hammer from a loop on his jeans, a nail from a
pocket and pounded it in, hung and adjusted the painting until it was
straight. Resembling the half dozen others that already hung on the
wall, a beautiful high mountain landscape filled the frame with rich
colors. On this new one two rams with large curved horns climbed up
the rough terrain.

“
Are you the artist?”

The man looked at Cissy and smiled, he
pointed to a small signature in the corner of the creation he just
hung, “Yep, I'm Cole.” The artist didn't seem to match
the simple serenity of his paintings. A bandana scarf was tied around
his head and behind his neck, thick straight hair fell halfway to his
waist down his back. A large shiny hoop swung from an ear. Deep brown
eyes peered from beneath dark brows and there didn't appear to be
many places on his exposed skin or clothes that wasn't dotted with
the various colors of paint that flowed across his pictures.

“
I'm Cissy.” She offered
her hand towards his color splotched one. “My friend and I just
got here,” she nodded toward Taylor. He had spotted her
talking to the man and stood, motioning them toward their table.
“Um-m, would you like to sit with us for a bit?” she
said.

“
Sure, I could use a break.”
He followed her and slid his slim form into a chair that Taylor
pulled up for him. “Nice to meet cha'” he said to
Taylor. Obviously, very much at home in his surroundings, he spoke
loudly to the passing waitress, “I'll take some chicken---and
pie please”

The woman fluttered gold sparkled
fingers as she swung by them, “You don't like cherry.”

“
Damn,” he smiled a
pleasant lopsided grin, exposing straight white teeth.

Taylor, in an attempt not to bombard
him with questions tried to make a bit of small talk. He looked at
the numerous paintings displayed, they were actually very appealing.
He thought the artist must be somewhere in his late twenties and had
a hunch that he didn't do much other than paint. “Are the
paintings of places around here?”

The laugh only had a touch of sarcasm,
“Round here is the only place I go, mister. Not much of a
traveler. Where did you two come from?”

Cissy explained about her community
and the general direction it lay. “Your paintings are
beautiful.” A lady they hadn't seen before brought food t the
table.

Cole just shrugged, crunched on a
chicken leg that was heavy with crust.

“
So, you've always lived here?”
Taylor had taken in the crowded cafe, where everyone seemed to know
everyone else. He noticed that in the corner, a scale sat on a tall
counter, a large tin can near it that looked like it had glitter all
around the rim.

“
Oh yeah,” biscuit swiped
through white gravy thick as honey. “My parents came here after
what everyone calls the Big Event. I was born right here on the
mountain.”

“
All this stuff,” said
Cissy, “the wind generators, the motor vehicles---how in the
heck did all of it get here?”

“
We've been climbing for three
days, there's no roads or easy way to get here. I'm amazed.”
Taylor waited for a response, an explanation.

The painter smiled, “Well, the
story is---and hey, that's all it is to me. I wasn't alive before
the event happened or when it happened. I only know the tales from
my parents and others around here.” He swallowed and wiped the
paint stained hands on a cloth napkin. “Dad said that he
assumed it was a thing called an EMP, there had been warnings that
such a thing could happen. He said a thriving society came to a halt
in an instant and their world was forever changed. Do you two
remember the country before?”

“
A little bit,” said
Taylor.

“
You can tell me about it
sometime. Anyway, after things went all crazy, it evidently got real
dangerous in the low country, bad things going on. My parents lived
on the western slope. Mom said that when things, the power didn't get
restored, panic and desperation ruled. People were starving, getting
sick and they would do anything to protect their children and keep
them alive. Not to mention all the ones that decided it was anything
goes and just were plain mean. My parents were young, in less than
two years all of their family had been killed or died of illness.
Only one left was my mother's sister.” He smiled toward the
woman that originally waited on them,“
My aunt
. Mom and
Dad and a small group of people started moving, searched for a safe
haven. Here was a place that they thought they could be safe. My
dad was a big hiker, a hunter and an outdoorsman, he had trained to
be an engineer and they more or less built this town, Secret. Over
time, a few desperate survivors found us, the town slowly grew.”

The very interested listener shook his
head, “I still don't get it---how did---?”

“
The jalopies? The wind
turbines?” Cole raised his hand toward his aunt, “Could I
have a beer---you two want a beer? Nice and cold and it's good.”

His aunt said, “You most
certainly cannot!”

His eyebrows lifted and he gave his
dinner partners an amused look, “Thinks I'm still a little boy.
My parents are gone now and she thinks she has to take care of me.”
Loudly again, “Bring me and my new friends a beer, auntie.”

“
Where was I---how did Secret
happen? Just a piece at a time, believe it or not. A couple of the
townsfolk would venture down to the bigger city, trade for pieces and
parts and supplies. The wind turbines actually were setting in this
location, my father said that there was lots of experimentation with
alternative energy before the event happened. My father and other
smart residents slowly constructed us a functioning town. Always
careful not to talk of our haven location. I've heard that from
certain areas you can see the glow of our lights but not many people
find us.”

The waitress aunt brought three
glasses of very cold beer. Cole thanked her and she gave him a kiss
on his forehead. A much more serious expression crossed his face,
“I'm surprised to see you two here. Don't know what you're
really after but I've got to give you a little warning. We just
don't have much trouble around here, main reason is because there's
no tolerance for it. Watch yourself.” He pushed back his chair
and started to rise, when someone slapped him hard on the back.

“
Hey, boy. Who's your friends?”
The voice was loud, even over the chatter. Just a flash but Cissy
thought that Cole had a look of dislike on his face.

He stood and said, “Hi, Mayor.
This is Taylor and Cissy. They came from a community at the base of
the mountains.”

“
Is that so? That's
interesting.”

“
Well, I've got to get along.
Nice to meet you two. I'd love to talk some more. Auntie can tell
you where I hang out,” said Cole. He raised his hand toward the
back of the cafe and was quickly through the screen door.

“
Where you folks staying?”
said the mayor, lingering next to Cole's empty chair.

The two of them exchanged a glance and
Taylor said, “Well, I don't know. We didn't expect to find
ourselves in a town, hadn't thought about it.”

“
Of course, I'm sure you're not
staying long,” there was no smile on the man's face. “If
you go on up and out the north end of town, the big whitewash
building is the church. Reverend Poe lives in the rear of the chapel
and there are three other small rooms. You would be able to stay
there for a night or two for free.”

“
Thanks, that's nice of you,”
said Cissy. Taylor stood to shake the man's hand and Cissy dug around
in her pack to find the jar of homemade jelly they had promised the
aunt. The mayor moved on, stopping to talk to several of the seated
customers. Taylor took the jelly and pulled a few old coins from his
pocket and went to pay for their meal.

Cole's aunt told them again how to get
to the church. Evidently, Cole hung out around the church a lot and
also had a small cabin not far from there, really more of a large
shed where he lived. “If you can call it living,” she
looked disgusted. “The boy has very few necessities, no
electricity. All he wants to do is paint. Loves to pretend he's
some kind of hermit. Hell---he's no hermit. He's smart and perfectly
capable, folks love him. He just wants to do exactly as he pleases,
that's his problem.”

Cissy walked up then, “The food
was very good, thanks.”

“
Sure hon,” and to Taylor,
“Trust me, Cole won't be hard to find.”

The light was fading pretty fast as
they left the cafe, the foot and vehicle traffic had diminished. A
big spotlight wired on the hood of one the fewer vehicles that still
crawled over the rough road suddenly came on. Taylor gave the dog a
piece of sausage and half a biscuit from his meal. The newcomers with
Peaches trotting beside them traversed the steep wooden walks and
moved away from the main street of the town toward the church. No
steeple rose on the white washed building but a simple tall cross
guided them to it's door. After introducing themselves to the pastor,
they were shown two tiny rooms, just barely big enough for a cot.

Though they said they had eaten at the
cafe, he took them to a good size kitchen. A long table and benches
sat in the middle, a couple of pale overhead lights swung above the
table and a fire smoldered in a small fireplace with a stone hearth
and more wood stacked beside it. Cissy had dug out her jacket when
they left the cafe and thought the low blaze felt good. “If you
would like something to drink, just make yourself at home. There's
tea and a kettle on the stove. If you don't mind, put a little wood
on the fire while you're here. I've work to do. I'll have a little
something here for breakfast. Good evening.”

“
Oh, sir---I didn't even ask you
if the dog was okay, I mean
do you mind?
”
Peaches
already lounged right in front of the fire.

“
All creatures are welcome in
God's house.” He looked at the giant canine, “Of course,
except the ones that want to eat us.” He moved smoothly out of
the doorway and was swallowed by the dark hall.

Cissy went to put the kettle on the
stove, “I'll make us some of that tea. I certainly want to
talk to you. I've got a hundred questions about this place.”

Taylor couldn't stifle a laugh, “I
agree. We found the light but
damn
, this place is a real
mystery. We've got to talk some more to Cole. Did you see that
everywhere we went there was gold? Jewelry, belt buckles, small
nuggets in the scale on the counter in the cafe and maybe in that old
tin can---its as common as rocks. I saw several things in the window
of the store all embellished with dots of gold, a bird like statue on
the front of a vehicle that looked like gold. Where would these
people get all that gold?”

“
I noticed, too. Even Cole had
on a big golden hoop, nearly everyone wore some pieces of jewelry.
You know, before Mom and I were rescued, Jeff and Kevin had been
traveling around in a big wagon with everything in the world hanging
off of it, for several years. He always kept lots of stuff for
trading. Once, after we arrived at our home, he caught me looking
through a large wooden box that was full of pieces of jewelry and
small items he had accumulated. He didn't get mad.” She
mimicked a deep voice,
he said, “Little girl, you can have
anything in that box
---go ahead, take anything you want.”

“
There was a bracelet that
looked like it was made from polished stones and it had small circles
of silver in between. She raised her sleeve,
this one
. It was
the only thing that looked good to me and I've worn it nearly
everyday since.” She rubbed on one of silver circles, “The
silver was all dark and tarnished, when he rubbed it to a shine it
seemed like magic to me. Never had much desire though, for a lot of
jewelry.”