Chapter 22: Gypsy Grove
“Where are Paster and his sister?” Naomi said, as they walked into another room.
Clara said. “They were taken to de-Pastification.”
“Sounds bad,” said Sammy.
“It mostly involves eating vegetables,” said Clara. “A long time ago kids hated eating their vegetables.”
“When was that?” asked Naomi.
“Before me,” said Clara. “Come on. You guys are going to need some Brussels sprouts.”
She led them out the door.
“Okay,” Clara said. “We’re in the safe room antechamber. Wait here.” She took a lamp that was hanging on the wall and handed it to Sammy. Then she went back through the door.
“You think we can trust her?” Sammy whispered. Naomi looked at him. Sammy had never met a gypsy before, so she knew it might take him awhile to accept Clara’s help.
“We can trust her,” said Naomi. “Don’t you think?”
Sammy thought about it for a second or two. “Yeah,” he said. “I think so.”
Clara reemerged into the light, followed by the bearded man from the safe room. He still had a mask draped around his neck.
Clara took the lamp from Sammy. “This is James,” she said.
“Where’d he come from?” Sammy asked.
“He was waiting for me back there,” answered Clara. “Weren’t you, James?” James just nodded his head. Clara told them, “It takes two to seal the door so no one can see it from the Pastification chamber.”
They continued down the hallway and Naomi looked back at James. He smiled. As if answering the question on her mind, Clara said, “James is shy. Aren’t you, James?” James bounced his eyes off Clara’s face. “He’s never had much contact with the outside,” Clara said.
James said, “Not many have.” His voice was soft, yet rough, like burlap.
Clara led them through a narrower hall and into a room as big as the Pastery warehouse. “This is the compound,” said Clara. Behind them, James locked a door with another board. Clara turned to Sammy. “It’s like the Farmer’s Market,” she said, “but underground.”
The room was longer than it was wide, with high ceilings. To Naomi’s astonishment, the room was filled with little houses on wheels. Decorated in colorful patterns like the icing on birthday paste, the wheeled houses looked like caterpillars, curved on top, with rounded doors and porthole windows for eyes. They even had smokestack antennae. Wooden pillars stretched up to the ceiling of the massive structure like trees. Sunlight fell through windows at the top of the room, filling the place with smoky light.
“We’re underground?” Sammy asked.
Clara pointed to the windows lining the room. “There in the windows. See the grass?” Naomi saw grass swaying.
“Yeah,” Sammy said.
“There’s a field up there.”
Clara led them through the room. People were everywhere. Small children ran all over. Girls played a game where one threw a stone, and then skipped, picked up the stone, and skipped back. Women sat on chairs in a circle, weaving wooden strips into baskets. Farther on, a group of men threw metal U-shaped pieces at a stake in the ground. One man threw the U and it hit the stake with a clang. The men cheered.
“What are those?” asked Naomi.
“Those are horseshoes,” said Clara.
“Like on the gypsy symbol?” asked Naomi.
“How do you know about the gypsy symbol?” Clara asked.
She said, “The gypsy man told me if I got lost, I should look for the symbol. I first saw it by an alley that led me to Sammy. I wouldn’t have found him without it.” A half smile creased Sammy’s face. It made her feel strange inside to think that just yesterday she had never known he existed. Life is funny, she thought. “There was one on a Pastery van, too. And one on a box when we were in the bathroom.”
“We keep disguises there,” said Clara.
“You put that stuff there?” said Sammy.
“Yeah,” said Clara. Clara approached the men playing horseshoes. “Matt,” she said, “may I show them that?”
“Sure, Clara,” said a very big man.
To Naomi and Sammy, Clara said, “Matt’s my husband.”
He had a short, fiery red beard. Matt handed the horseshoe to Naomi, and she took it in both hands. Still, she almost dropped it.
“It’s heavy,” she said pumping it up and down. “Why do horses need shoes?”
“For working,” said Sammy.
“That’s right,” said Matt. He looked at Sammy, and nodded in approval. “How do you know that? You’re no gypsy.”
Naomi was afraid that Sammy would say something rude but he just said, “I’m a farmer.”
“I haven’t talked to a farmer in a long time,” said Matt. “You look to make a good one.”
Again, Sammy blushed.
Matt told Naomi, “Before the horses were stolen by the paste factory, the gypsies made pots and pans and barrels, metal things. We also shoed horses.”
“Doesn’t that hurt?” Naomi asked.
“No,” Matt said. “It doesn’t hurt. Their hooves are like thick fingernails.”
Naomi handed the shoe back to Matt.
“They the ones we heard about?” Matt asked.
“It’s them,” Clara answered.
“Glad you’re safe,” Matt said. “Welcome to Gypsy Grove.”
“Thanks,” Naomi and Sammy said.
Matt said, “How it go?”
“Five, not including these guys,” said Clara.
“Good,” Matt said. “I hope to see you two soon,” he said, and he returned to his game.
Clara walked them to the far end of Gypsy Grove. A metal roof slanted from the wall. They walked underneath the eaves. Naomi smelled something burning and felt the heat before she saw a line of fires raised on stone altars. There must have been twenty or more. A man in an apron and thick gloves stuck a piece of metal into the fire’s red coals. He pulled it out, picked up a hammer, and struck the metal with it.
“It’s a forge,” said Sammy.
“You got it,” said Clara.
“It’s where a blacksmith makes tools and things,” Sammy said.
Sparks jumped into the air as the man banged the red metal. His face was black with soot.
Past the forge, they went into another room that a single line of windows lit from above. Naomi heard the sound of running water and felt a chill.
“This is the pantry,” said Clara. “See?”
Shelves were covered with baskets. Clara lifted a basket, straining as she set it on the ground. She handed round things to them.
“A potato,” Sammy told her.
“A potato. What’s it taste like?” Naomi asked.
“Not very good raw,” Clara admitted, “but they can be cooked a lot of ways. People used to eat a lot of potatoes.”
“Can I try some?” Naomi asked.
“You’ll be able to eat a bunch at de-Pastification,” Clara said. “We have about half a year’s worth of vegetables. They come from the green house.”
“Yeah,” said Sammy, “we were there. Is that why you dress up? To steal vegetables?”
“We’re not stealing,” Clara said to Sammy, though Naomi detected no malice in her voice. “Food should belong to everyone. It’s wrong to hoard it.”
“I have to steal paste from the Pastery so my family can eat,” said Sammy sheepishly. “We don’t have any choice. It doesn’t even taste very good, either.”
“Don’t worry about it,” said Clara. She put her hand on Sammy’s shoulder. “The paste company has been taking advantage of people for a long time in a lot of different ways.” Sammy nodded.
Naomi found it strange that she lived in the same town as these people, but never understood how differently their families lived. Granted, she had never left home on her own or snuck into the Pastery, but still. It made her realize there was so much she had not experienced. She didn??
?t blame herself for not knowing these things. For some reason parts of the world had been hidden from her. The thought of what else she didn’t know about made her head swim.
“It’s colder in here,” Naomi said.
“It's the spring,” said Clara. “You probably hear it.”
“The water?” Naomi said.
“Yeah,” said Clara. “See here.” A creek ran right through the room. “Put your hand in there.”
“It’s freezing,” said Naomi.
“It comes right out of the ground like that,” said Clara. “The vegetables would spoil if they got hot. Though the greens will go bad before too long anyway.”
“Greens?” said Naomi.
“The ones with heads,” Sammy said.
Naomi was beyond confused.
Clara went to a shelf filled with flat baskets. Heads of different shapes, sizes, and colors were inside. Clara took one out. “Lettuce,” Sammy said.
Clara tore off some leaves and handed the leaves to them.
Naomi held the leaf in her hand, turning it over, looking at the small veins inside. Beside her, Sammy put the leaf in his mouth and chewed.
“What’s wrong?” said Sammy.
“It’s just…” Naomi couldn’t think of what to say. “It’s just… It’s just leaves!”
Clara laughed. “It is just leaves. But you can eat them.”
“Tastes sweet,” said Sammy.
“But…” said Naomi, “it’s just leaves!”
“You won’t know it’s good ‘til you try it,” Sammy said.
She smelled the leaf. “You sure?” she asked Sammy.
“Would I lie?” he said.
“Hope not.” She stuck the leaf in her mouth. At first, it didn’t taste like much at all. After a moment it tasted sweet, but not like pastecream or birthday paste; there was just a hint of sweetness.
“What you think?” Sammy asked.
“I thought it would be tough, but it’s not. It’s good.”
“Try this one, then,” Clara said.
“Eh,” said Sammy. “That’s bitter.” He chewed a little more. “But I kind of like it! It’s arugula, right?”
“You know your stuff,” Clara said.
Sammy was excited by the vegetables, but Naomi felt kind of overwhelmed. She had only ever eaten paste in her life. Paste, paste, paste.
Sammy looked at her, “Go on,” he said. “Even if you hate it, at least it’s different.” Naomi thought, yeah, at least it’s different, and she popped it in her mouth.
She frowned and both Clara and Sammy laughed. “Tastes like medicine,” Naomi said.
Clara agreed, snickering. “It does tastes like medicine. You can try some more things after de-Pastification, and I promise they won’t be bitter.”
Something occurred to Naomi. “How do you get the vegetables when they, you know, grow on top of the white people?”
“We harvest at night, when the green house is dark and the white people are hibernating. Or intercept vegetables that are on the way to the horses.”
“Then what do the horses eat?” Naomi asked.
“There are plenty of vegetables so there is plenty of paste.”
“Paste is horse poop,” Naomi said.
“It’s horse poop,” Clara agreed, “but the paste factory puts other things in it so it numbs people. That’s how Pastification works.”
Naomi knew her face looked as bewildered as she felt.
“Don’t worry,” Clara said. “It will all make sense soon enough. Come on. Let’s get you completely back to normal.” She gestured to Naomi and Sammy and they followed her once more.