The van pulled up at Town Hall during Karl’s story of how he once bounced a stone off two others, knocking the shot stone off the button and sticking it for the win. Marius laughed and teased Karl that his shot was mostly luck and not skill. Karl commented that Marius didn’t know the difference between the two.
They all piled out of the van, laughing at the comments from both men. As they stepped out, the door to Town Hall opened and out stepped Don Chen.
“Hi guys, did you have a good time?” he asked.
They nodded and he smiled back at them. He looked to Gurpreet, “Can I talk to you?”
Gurpreet’s smile faded somewhat. “Nothing bad,” said Don.
The two men stepped off to the side and spoke in barely audible voices. Soon, they turned back to the group and Gurpreet spoke.
“Well, I’m glad the first thing you will remember about the League is learning Kurling, and I think you all had fun,” he began.
They all nodded their heads in agreement.
“Sadly, it seems that today won’t be all fun and games. We have some work that needs to be done, and you four are perfect for the job.” He gave them a smile. “Let’s just step inside to talk,” he continued.
Adam looked at the others and followed Gurpreet into the building.
“Do you still need us?” asked Karl, referring to himself and Marius.
Don turned. “You can go home now, Karl, and thanks for your help. Marius, can you come in for a minute?”
Karl nodded, turned to Marius and shook his hand. “Thanks for the ride. I leave tomorrow for a month of holidays, but we’ll have to play another game when I return. I still have much more to teach you,” he said with a big smile.
Marius chuckled and shook his head. “No problem, Karl. I’m always ready.”
Marius followed the group into Town Hall.
Once inside, they formed a semicircle facing Don and Gurpreet.
“So, like I said, we have some work for you today… sorry! We usually want the first day of initiation to be filled with fun, but that’s how it goes. Anyway, the League likes to help out wherever possible, volunteering in the community for people who are in need, like the elderly or people who get hurt.”
“Then why didn’t someone else cut Ben’s lawn last summer? I wasn’t part of the League,” said Mark.
“No, you weren’t, but I was,” said Gurpreet, scolding Mark with a look, “and you needed to do something other than play video games.”
Mark was a little upset at being scolded in front of his friends.
“Anyway, we have a request for some help, and we’ve decided to send you four. An elder in the community needs some weeds pulled from their garden, and we’ve heard that you are experienced at that job,” said Gurpreet. “Hopefully Mark has figured out which ones are weeds.”
Adam looked to the others again and they tried not to laugh. Obviously, Gurpreet had heard about the job they did for Jimmy’s mom.
“It’s almost 3:30 right now. Why don’t you all go home and have a snack. Come back here around 4:30 in your work clothes,” he continued.
“Marius, would we be able to book your van for that time? We just need to drop them off for an hour or so and pick them up again.”
Marius nodded. “No problem. I’ll be here at 4:30.”
“Thanks,” said Gurpreet. “Now, go home. See you all in an hour.” He waved them all toward the door.
Marius held the door for everyone and Gurpreet locked it once all were out. Adam, Kevin and Jimmy walked toward Jimmy’s house, and Marius drove past with a wave.
“Well, so much for the fun,” said Jimmy.
“You have to admit, that was pretty addicting,” Kevin said to Jimmy.
“Yeah, it actually was. I can’t wait to do it again,” said Jimmy.
Adam was silent as they talked. He was lost in wonder, picturing his dad Kurling, throwing fantastic shots.
“See ya later,” Jimmy called as he turned at his house.
“How come you’re so quiet? Didn’t you have fun?” asked Kevin as they continued walking.
“Sorry, just thinking. I had fun, for sure…I was just thinking about my dad. You heard Marius say that I shoot like him.”
Kevin smiled. “Yeah…I guess it’s nice to hear stories about him.”
Adam nodded. “It’s the only way I’ll ever get to know him.”
They walked in silence until they were at the corner where they would have to split up once more.
“Meet you back here in half an hour?” asked Kevin.
Adam nodded and turned toward his house.
His thoughts drifted to his mother. She knew about the League, but how would she react when she found out that Adam was now a member? It wasn’t like he could sit down with her and have a reasonable conversation about being an initiate - or anything else for that matter.
He was mulling these thoughts over as he arrived home, worried about going in the house for fear of her anger. He had to eat something and get back soon, although he was still full from the meal at Kevin’s. After standing and thinking for a moment, he took a deep breath and stepped in the side door.
There she was, sitting at the table waiting for him. The look on her face told Adam that she already knew.
“Sit,” she commanded. He did as she said.
“So…where were you today?” she asked.
Adam could feel the anger in her voice. “Learning how to Kurl,” he said.
She paused for a long moment. “So, it’s true. You’re part of the League.”
“Just a Junior Initiate,” he replied, trying to minimize the meaning of his membership.
“There hasn’t been a Junior Initiate in nearly a century,” she replied with a snap.
Adam realized then that she knew a lot more about the League than he thought.
“Are you a member of the League?” asked Adam, already knowing the answer.
“This isn’t about me,” she snapped back again. “I can’t stop you from being a member because this whole town is filled with them. I stopped acting as a member when your dad died. The one thing I can tell you is that the League is the reason your dad is dead.”
She had never spoken so directly to Adam about his father’s death, and Adam found it disturbing.
“They are the ones that caused him to drink, always talking about the ‘danger’ coming. ‘Be prepared, always on guard’. The only way he could cope with the stress was by getting drunk for the last year of his life.” She sobbed into her hands. “And for what? Nothing! Nothing has happened in the last 11 years. They drove him to his grave for nothing!”
Adam was stunned into silence while Mary paused, holding back her tears.
“Don Chen told me everything while you were gone, if you’re wondering,” she said, gaining control over her emotions. “I told him that if anything happened to you I would never forgive him, and he promised to look out for you.”
She almost seemed to care, which seemed foreign to Adam.
“You are to do nothing dangerous for them, and I don’t want you ever to be more than a general member. Once you’re done initiation, you won’t have to do anything other than go to the odd meeting. That is what I want, understand?”
So many questions ran through his mind. When did she become a member? Were her parents members and that’s why she didn’t talk about them? Did she meet his dad because of the League? He knew he couldn’t ask though, because in her current state of mind she would just break down again. Instead he answered, “Ok, Mom. I’ll do what you want.”
She smiled at him, which didn’t happen often. Adam didn’t know how to respond, so he turned to the kitchen. “I’m going out with the guys again, so I came to eat something quick.”
She returned to her normal self in a hurry. “There’s a new canned soup in the cupboard, if you want to try it,” she said in her normal tone, but there was a slight change. Normally she would have told him to make two cans so there was enough for her as wel
l. This time she let him do it for himself.
Adam opened the can and heated the contents as fast as he could. He used a saucepan on the stove to warm it up, stirring constantly so it wouldn’t burn. The soup was Beef, Barley, and Broccoli – probably given to his mom by Mr. Garagan because no one was buying any. It smelled perfectly fine to Adam, even though he wasn’t terribly hungry. Being in a hurry, as soon as it was slightly warm he removed the soup from the stove, took it to the table and ate it directly out of the saucepan. Mary had resumed her usual position in the armchair watching TV.
He rinsed the saucepan and spoon in the sink, washed his hands, inspected his clothes and walked out the door. He didn’t need to change as his work clothes were his everyday clothes.
He checked his pocket and made sure the pin was still there. He didn’t know why, but he felt he needed to keep it close.
At the street corner he waited. It didn’t take long before Kevin jogged out his long driveway and turned up the gravel road leading to the intersection. It was 4:15 pm, so they had more than enough time to get back to Town Hall before 4:30.
“Did you eat half a cow?” Adam teased as Kevin approached.
“I’m not late,” replied Kevin. “We’ve still got plenty of time to get there.”
With that, they walked back to Jimmy’s house and returned to Town Hall. They were the first ones to arrive.
“We’re only 5 minutes early. Where is everyone?” asked Jimmy.
“Well, Gurpreet is probably waiting because Mark is stuffing food in his pockets in case he gets hungry later,” said Kevin, “and Marius has 5 kids.” Jimmy chuckled and nodded.
“There’s Marius,” said Adam, pointing up Main Street where a van had just turned the corner.
“And here come the Guptas,” said Kevin, pointing up the street to the left.
Mark was still chewing as he and Gurpreet arrived, which caused the other three to chuckle to themselves.
They piled into the van, a lot more comfortably for Kevin and Mark without Karl squeezing in next to them. Once they had all buckled up, Marius headed toward the school.
Adam had been wondering who they would be helping. Needing Marius to drive them meant that whoever it was lived outside of town. Thankfully it wasn’t Martha or Aggie that needed the help because Adam couldn’t handle listening to all the gossip those two spread.
Marius passed the school and turned south onto the gravel road. Adam figured it out quickly. “We’re going to Ms. White’s farm, aren’t we?”
Gurpreet and Marius looked at each other expressionless. “Yes. I wanted to talk to you all before we got there anyway. You’ve probably heard that Ms. White likes her privacy.”
“I’ve heard that she’s - demanding,” said Adam.
“She can be,” said Gurpreet, “especially with people she doesn’t know. I got to know her because she was friends with my father, so she trusts me. She doesn’t know any of you personally, so don’t expect much. Also, she doesn’t have power or running water, so don’t ask to use the bathroom. If you need water, pump some from the well. There’s an outhouse I will point out to you, if you need.”
Adam thought for a moment. “Is she a member of the League?”
“Yes,” said Gurpreet, but continued with his other train of thought. “She’s a little old-fashioned, so if she wants to meet you, just say ‘Pleased to meet you, Ms. White’. Ok?”
Adam didn’t find the instructions all that strange after hearing a couple of stories about her from others in town, but especially what he had heard from his mother. The most popular story was how Ms. White fired a shotgun at Mr. Garagan because he didn’t honk his horn before coming up the driveway.
They drove in silence for another mile, then over a small hill and down into a valley. At the bottom, they turned into the lane that led up to the yard. Marius gave the horn two quick blasts and one long.
Slowly, he drove up the lane. It was nearly overgrown, and scraped the sides of the van as it moved. Marius winced each time he heard a branch on the paint.
After what seemed like a long drive, the trees opened up to reveal a farm yard nestled into the edge of the valley. It was nothing like Adam had expected. He expected rusty steel machinery with fence wire and half collapsed wooden structures everywhere, but the yard was neat and clean. The buildings were old, but well maintained. Potted flowers were spread all over the yard. It was the complete the opposite of what he had expected.
Marius pulled the van slowly along the lane and stopped at the closest point to the small farm house. Gurpreet stepped out and told the rest to stay put, then walked up to the house. Before he reached it, the door opened, shielding the opener from view. Gurpreet stepped in and the door closed behind him.
“The first time I came out here as an initiate,” said Marius, “I had to shovel snow. The wind had made a 10 foot snow bank in front of the barn over there.” Marius pointed to the barn. “Ron Nagy had already been out here clearing roads and had cleaned out the lane, but the rest had to be done by hand. I was the only initiate that year, so I spent four hours shovelling. That really sucked. This will be much better.”
Adam noticed the garden beside the barn as Marius spoke. It was 4 times the size of the one at Jimmy’s house.
The door to the house opened again, and out stepped Gurpreet, alone. He waved for them to get out of the van and follow him to the garden.
The garden was lined in neat rows, and seemed to have everything from potatoes to radish plants. As far as Adam could tell, it had been weeded recently, and the weeds that were left were still small; half the size of the ones in the Jones’s garden.
Gurpreet turned over an upside down wheelbarrow at the back of the garden and wheeled it to the side.
“All of the weeds you pick go into the wheelbarrow. When the wheelbarrow gets full, empty it onto the compost pile here,” he said, walking up to a mound a few steps from the garden, far enough to not get the smell but close enough to use the compost in the garden. “When you’re done, wait out here by the lane. Don’t go snooping around.”
Adam nodded. After hearing the shotgun story, he wouldn’t wander far from the garden.
“It’s 4:50 pm now. We’ll come back to pick you up at around 6:00, so a little more than an hour. That should be enough time to get finished if you all work reasonably hard.”
“Well, let’s get at it,” said Kevin, grabbing the wheelbarrow and placing it at the edge of the garden.
Gurpreet and Marius smiled. “You are definitely like your dad,” said Marius. “Not afraid of a little work.”
Kevin smiled at the compliment as the other three stepped into the garden to start working.
Gurpreet and Marius hopped in the van and drove away while Mark watched, looking like a puppy that’s been left on the side of the road.
“Get over here and pull some weeds,” said Jimmy, “They’ll be back.”
Mark dragged himself over to the garden and began to work, half-heartedly at first. In a few minutes, he seemed to forget his cares and worked at a steady pace, harder than anyone else expected from him.
They worked in silence for half an hour when Adam signalled for a break. They had finished way more than half of the garden.
“I am honestly impressed,” Kevin said to Mark. “I didn’t think you could work for that long consistently. Good job!”
Mark was unsure if the comments were sincere or not. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” he replied.
“And I’d like to keep it that way, thank you very much,” replied Kevin, gaining a laugh from Jimmy.
Adam looked around the yard. It seemed strange. The trees bordering it were so thick that you could only see the sky above them and nothing beyond, except through the small opening to the lane. The trees far to the right of the opening were odd as well. They looked different than any he had ever seen growing around Grayson.
“Did you guys notice those trees?” asked Adam.
“Not until you
mentioned it, but now that I’m looking, they do seem strange,” said Kevin.
Jimmy said nothing and wandered toward the grove. He saw small bunches hanging from limbs, but didn’t recognize them immediately. When he got closer, he called out, “Come here! You have to see this!”
The others jogged down to the trees after Jimmy, and stared in amazement.
“Are those bananas?” said Mark.
“And olives on this one,” said Kevin.
“Look at the oranges over here,” said Adam, “but none of these should be here. We can’t grow tropical fruit here.”
“We can’t, but here they are,” said Kevin.
A voice called from behind them, “Don’t touch the trees please!”
Startled, they turned to see who they assumed was Ms. White. She called to them from behind the screen enclosing her small porch, so they could only make out her shape. Had she been there watching them the entire time? Was she pointing a gun at them?
They quickly returned to the garden and resumed weeding, but all thoughts were on the out-of-place fruit trees. How were they able to grow in the northern climate?
Because their minds were occupied with other thoughts, the remaining work went quickly. Kevin emptied the wheelbarrow one last time and returned it to its original spot.
With the job complete they sat at the edge of the weed-less garden.
“What time is it?” asked Jimmy.
“5:49,” said Kevin.
They sat quietly; not speaking for fear that Ms. White was watching them, all still wondering about the trees. Jimmy threw a rock down the lane out of boredom.
Adam had calmed his racing mind by telling himself he could ask Gurpreet about the trees once they were in the van and on their way back to town. He scanned the yard, looking for anything else strange, but nothing looked out of place.
In an instant the sunlight dimmed, like a dark cloud passing in front of the sun. At that time of day in the summer, the sun was nowhere near setting yet.
“I hope they come and get us soon,” said Mark. “Looks like there’s a storm coming.”
Adam looked in the direction of Grayson, which was to the right of where the sun had been. Over the trees, he saw the top of a dark mass billowing. It didn’t look like clouds, though. It was a thick mist, getting darker and higher as he watched.
Adam’s gut tightened as he realized what it was.
“It’s the fog! The one that happened at Langenburg!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE