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People of Stone, part 5 Earl waited quietly at his desk. He knew the shaman from Mother Earth would arrive in his grocery store either that evening or the next. She had left him a written note in reply to Ben's request to move to her world along with his 'friend' Cameron and two other buddies. The four young men had been accepted and given a list of items to bring along. Since Cierra didn't actually have living space for the newcomers, they would have to live in tents until they built their own homes. She had told them of how many were now building tree houses and what was needed to build them to be comfortable. Earl had supplied the boys with a trailer full of building materials and supplies as well as food stock for their contribution to the colony. The young men were waiting outside in the truck, too nervous to wait indoors. If she appeared then he'd bring the shaman outside to transport them. The owner was wondering if she wouldn't appear that night when he heard thumping at the front doors to his store. Puzzled, he left his office and headed for the front of the store. Cierra certainly didn't need to knock since she would merely arrive inside the building. As Earl approached the front of the building, he saw two police officers standing outside the glass doors. He took the keys from his pant pocket and unlocked the door. "Is there a problem, officers?" The older policeman spoke. "I'm sorry to disturb you, sir, but we noticed four teens parked outside in your back parking lot. They said they had your permission to wait there?" "Ah, yes. They were waiting for me to finish up my paperwork. I guess I was taking longer than I thought and..." Earl noticed the two patrolmen were not paying attention to him but looking behind him with shocked expressions on their faces. He mentally moaned. Please don't tell me Cierra appeared behind me, please, please, he prayed. He looked behind him and saw Cierra Foley-White. She shrugged at being seen but didn't appear panicked about it. After all, she could easily escape if she wanted to. "Is that who I think it is?" the younger policeman asked. Earl's odd sense of humor almost let him say 'who?' but he bit his tongue. "Is there any chance I can convince you fine officers from spreading this piece of juicy gossip?" Earl asked. "She comes here for items once in a while and I enjoy her visits. If you spread word on this she might not come back." The older officer pointed a finger at Earl. "Your store was the first to be robbed," he stated, getting an idea now that Cierra was indeed the one raiding the stores. Everyone just stood silently until the four boys came around the corner. The officers pointed at the boys and told them to stand back. Cierra stepped forward. "It's all right officers. I came here to meet these young men." She walked towards the front door then brushed past the policemen, who watched her as she walked by them. Their first impulse was to arrest her but that would be useless. Not only would the shop owners not press charges, she could easily vanish from any jail cell they had. They allowed her to leave the building and greet the teenagers. "You guys ready?" she asked. The boys gave the police wary looks but nodded at the shaman. They all began walking to the rear of the grocery store where the trailer was parked. The police followed as well. Once at the filled utility trailer, one officer took out his huge flashlight and looked it over. "Supplying the colony?" he asked curiously. "Not exactly," Cierra told him. She urged the boys to climb onto the trailer. Two of them stood on the tongue and the other two stood on the wheel protectors and gripped the sides of the trailer wall. Before the officers could form their next question, the trailer and people disappeared, leaving Earl alone with the policemen. ***** Ben crawled out of the tent the next morning, still feeling a bit shell shocked at the reality of what he and his friends have done. They were on another Earth. He resisted the urge to pinch himself as he crawled on hands and knees through the dewy grass and got to his feet. The sun was rising on the horizon, sparkling off the channel waters like gems. The morning air was cool in spite of it being late summer. Bird song filled the air and only a few night insects could be heard. He shivered and reached into the tent to grab his shoes and shirt. Cameron was still asleep and being his normal bed hog, spread out over both sleeping bags. He could smell smoke and the scent of food cooking coming from the mud house. Damn, they woke up early around here. He finished buttoning his shirt and headed for the brush on the hill. He needed to piss and didn't want to wait until he could get inside the barracks. A hasty trip to the bushes and he came back downhill, tucking in his shirt tails. Ben peeked inside the tent and saw Cameron stirring. "Get up lazy bones. I think breakfast is almost ready." Cameron grunted and crawled out of the tent naked. "Geez Cam, at least put on your pants." Ben's voice was stern although his eyes happily looked over his boyfriend with appreciation. "The sun is barely up and you're worried about someone-" Cameron slapped his hands around his family jewels and swore as he dived back into the tent. A woman was heading towards them. "Good morning, ma'am" Ben said politely, looking a bit embarrassed that his boyfriend might have been seen in his birthday suit. The woman's face gave nothing away. Carey returned his greeting and told Ben that he and his friends were invited for breakfast. "We'll expect you in about five minutes?" she asked. He nodded and watched her as she headed back to the mud barracks. "Is she gone?" Cameron hissed. "Yes, now get dressed, Nature Boy, before someone else sees you." Cameron grumbled from inside the tent and Ben could hear him as he struggled with his clothing and mumbled the entire time. Ben grinned at one remark. He looked forward to Cam showing him his version of Nature Boy once their tree house was built. ****** Ben listened to the women's plans on moving the contents of the trailer with guilt. It would need to be hauled to the barge piece by piece then transported upriver to the Napa village. The young man thought that was a lot of work. Perhaps it would be better if they settled at Carey's village instead. After all, it mattered little to him. Besides, he enjoyed the view of the channel and thought it was a nice place to live. He cleared his throat, causing the women to pause their discussion. "Listen, hauling all our stuff upriver seems more trouble than its worth. Why don't we just build our tree homes here instead?" he suggested. Cierra looked at Carey who shrugged. "Are you sure? There's fewer people here than my village." Ben smiled, "So? Seems to me that the place has been growing steadily from what I've heard. Besides, a few more guys to help with the grunt work can't hurt, can it?" Carey barked out a laugh. "I can't argue with that. We only have six men here." Cierra nodded and stood up. "Well, since we aren't hauling this stuff onto the barge then we can help you find a good location to build and help you take the supplies to the work site. There's few large trees near the water but there's some nice ones over there," she pointed up river. Ben and the other three young men followed the path of her gaze. About eighty yards away was a small stand of trees near the channel's bank. "Let's take a look-see," Percy suggested. A closer inspection of the tree limbs inspired the minds of everyone. Two of the trees even had intertwining limbs that would make a good bridge between housing. "You guys will have to dig a hole for an outhouse," Carey reminded them. She doubted they cared all that much. Men weren't as fussy about indoor plumbing as women. The group made tentative plans on how to build the two tree houses then began carrying the lumber and supplies to the trees. Cierra and JP decided to stay and help build for a while before leaving for home. Before they left they would check old Earth for anyone who might be waiting there then take off. Cierra was pleased to discover that Earl had included fast drying cement, bricks, and metal parts for flues on the trailer. He also had sent along bucket full of screws, nails and assorted hardware. The large trailer also had supplies for the boys' living comforts and suspected Ben's mother helped with the choices. Included with the basics such as bedding, clothing, and grooming items were sturdy kitchen implements, curtains with rods, a clothesline with clothespins, boxes of soap, and galvanized wash tubs. The later was large enough to bathe in if needed. Further digging into the crates they discovered books, candles, bolts of cloth, stacks of towels and rags, a sewing basket, rag rugs, and to the boys' embarrassment, a large supply of underwear and socks. "I'm afraid to look anymore," Cameron said with a mock shiver. Georgie was still digging in the crates and pulled out a hand cranked phonograph and a supply of records. JP looked at it and mentioned that she had never thought of something like that. Perhaps Eva and Shane could think of a way to make a CD player work without electricity. "Go ahead and put this stuff back into the boxes for now," Carey said. "We have some tarps we can cover them with so they won't get wet when it rains." They began the building of bases of the houses, planning out as they went and adjusting for the shape of the limbs. They would actually be building four buildings, one which would be the tiny bathhouse on the edge of the bank. In the trees, each pair of boys would have a set of living quarters and the third would be storage. That way they wouldn't need as much heat to warm the living areas once winter hit. A set of simple stairs would be built for easy access to the outhouse and ground level. Since the women had more experience building tree homes, they constructed the buildings while the boys dug out the hole for the latrine. It would be further away since they didn't want to have it upwind of either their trees or the village. A series of torches along the path would be installed in case they needed them during the night. The small lit torches would keep away most wildlife although the boys would have to keep the habit of carrying a firearm with them just in case. A week later the basic framework of the homes were completed. From there the boys and the others from the Napa-Sonoma village would do the finishing work and install the small fireplaces. Cierra and JP climbed into the barge along with the Coopers. Sean was having teeth problems and wanted to see Doc Debbie about it. He helped his wife and infant son into the barge along with their luggage for the trip. JP was glad they had extra help getting the awkward barge upstream. Even with a rigged set of sails to help in the rough spots it was hard to steer against the current in the best of times. Halfway through their journey, Elu began barking furiously. JP looked around, trying to see what the dog was excited about. She didn't see anything but that didn't mean the dog's keen nose didn't pick something up on the breeze. Nothing was ahead but the sharp bend of the river about 200 feet further upstream. She didn't need to warn the others to arm themselves and be ready for anything. JP then realized other than the sound of the river, nothing could be heard. The birds and wind even seemed deadly quiet. She unhooked the safety strap from her holster with one hand while holding the long pole used to steer the barge in the other. Her eyes looked everywhere, trying to see what was happening around them. The barge drifted slowly around the bend and JP felt the hairs on her nape stand on end. Something was close. A few seconds later, JP was unsure who's eyes held the most shock. Hers or the two native men standing a boulder with fishing spears. Suddenly women began screaming on the shore and running away from the sight of the barge and the strangers. Men grabbed their weapons and made threatening postures. Cierra held out her hands and used a few words she had learned from Tocha, hoping they spoke the same language. "Sout baytu sha!" she shouted, saying the equivalent of we come in peace. The natives on the bank seemed to freeze in place, staring at the people aboard the barge, unsure what to think. Cierra watched them carefully then told the others to toss the anchors into the water. None of them argued, lifting the heavy metal anchors and pushing them into the river. A moment later the barge came to a stop. "Okay, now what?" JP asked. The armed men weren't lowering their weapons yet. "Let me think." Next Chapter |