Two days later I was there. It was exactly like Kara had described it. As a matter of fact, she was stunned when first she saw it. She rode her bicycle into a tree, but it was all right because she hadn’t been going very fast. I was glad because she was pulling me in a makeshift trailer that Ethan and Zach had made for me. It had more room in it so that I could recline a little and it would have hurt when Kara made us fall over sideways because she was stupefied by the reality of her dream.
The trip had taken longer than they had planned. I had to get out often and stretch my legs. I had terrible leg cramps and the place where the doctor had repaired my rib ached. I could take some painkillers, but every time I did, I caught Kara and/or Zach looking at me oddly. I supposed I deserved that.
Before we left Crescent City, I had Kara run me two errands. She hit the library for me, and she picked something up in a specialty store. I said I didn’t care what kind she got, but she brought me one that was obviously made for a man. So I stuck it in the trailer next to me and ignored the peculiar looks I gathered from the small group of people. The oversized book from the library garnered some other funny glances that I similarly ignored.
All bets are off people, I wanted to yell at them. Everyone’s got to figure that out one way or another. I had almost been killed by the same man twice, or three times if I wanted to count ripping out the stitches on my wound while reacting to his strange provocation and running for my life. I didn’t care to be ill prepared for a fourth attempt or for anything else that was going to happen for that matter.
The Japanese broadsword had protruded from the trailer like a little flag of defiance. It was still there in the trailer when we pedaled into the camp. Most oddly, it looked exactly like the one I had dreamed about. But I ignored it for the moment and looked at the camp instead. A pinewood sign announced it was no longer Camp Twegoh, but The Redwoods. The camp’s name had been crossed over and the new words inserted below. Sinclair informed me that twegoh was a Yurok Indian word for raccoon, which explained the engraving on the sign of a large, enthusiastic-looking raccoon.
I supposed I was looking at the sign to avoid looking at all the people. They had come out to greet us. A mass of people that made my mouth dry with shock. They had said twenty, but it seemed like it was forty, a hundred, a thousand, a million! I could hear their enthusiastic voices greeting everyone. More than a few gave excited hugs to the returning people. Of course, that didn’t include us. Zach, Kara, and I received curious examinations and friendly smiles as the reunions went on.
I slid a sideways glance to the wall of redwoods to the side, wondering if anyone would notice if I slipped off into the green shadows. Kara touched my arm and squeezed comfortingly. I think she noticed my discomfort immediately. “It’ll be all right, hon,” she said softly.
“What is it?” Zach said from my other side. “What’s wrong with her?”
“Nothing,” Kara sighed. “She’s a little gun shy, kiddo. How long has it been since we’ve seen more than us around?”
“A month? Six weeks?” Zach didn’t quite understand.
Kara gave me a little squeeze again. “Oh, figure it out, Einstein.” Then to me she said, “We can find some place for you to lie down, Sophie. Somewhere away from the noise.”
Gideon came up to us and waved his hands for quiet. “I’m going to make this short and sweet, because obviously we have an injured person here. Her name is Sophie, and she’s from Springfield, Oregon. Then this is Zach from Medford.” He pointed toward Zach. Then he motioned at Kara. “And last but least, Kara from Klamath Falls.”
Gideon looked at us. “We’ll get around to introductions of the folks here later. Right now, you have to know our rules. One. We don’t wander out into the forest alone. I think you can guess why. It’s doubly important now, considering what happened to Sophie. Two. I’m in charge. When I’m not in charge, Ethan’s in charge. Three. Everyone does chores. Sophie will be excluded until the doctor says she’s able to work. I’m sorry to put this on you here, but you need to know the rules.”
Zach shrugged. “I was expecting something like that. Are we talking about a democracy here?”
“They elected me,” Gideon said simply. “Next year we’ll have another election. And everyone is freely able to make complaints to a tribunal. We’re working on the rest. It’s pretty new to us, too.”
Kara nodded. “Do I smell food?”
Gideon laughed. “Smells like stew. Robert over there is getting pretty good with a crossbow. Elk stew, right?”
“Yep,” Robert said agreeably. He was a lanky thirty-something-year-old with brown eyes and a friendly face. “But I keep hoping to bag a wild hog. I’ve got a terrible hankering for bacon.”
I scanned the crowd carefully. The faces were smiling, curious, and interested. There was a range from ten years old to a man who looked to be in his sixties. Everyone was patently cheerful about our presence. There wasn’t dissent. There wasn’t unhappiness. There wasn’t anger, and I felt very strange.
My chest was tight, and I knew it wasn’t because of the healing lung. I didn’t like being here. Suddenly, I became aware that imposed rules seemed contrary. And Zach wasn’t speaking to me anymore. Instead, he asked Kara about me or shot me glowering stares from his frowning face. Then he would look away, if my eyes settled on him.
Sinclair and Kara came to help me from the trailer, and I shoved away everything I was feeling so that it went deep inside me. They put me in a cabin that was set up to be a medical clinic for the doctor and left me alone to go outside. There was a bed there that I suspected was the doctor’s. I clumped up the pillow, laid down, and stared at the ceiling.
The noise from people talking to each other so eagerly floated inside to me and bothered me. I wanted to escape. OMG!