Chapter 12. `Every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire - Matthew 3. 10
Martha Manning was looking out at the collection of women and children. Her eyes beheld Luke, the 9-year-old orphan boy, sitting on a blanket, on the snow, not to far from those other orphans - Jasmine and Jocelyn. Here was Seraphinaria with her son, Jackson, her daughter, Morgan and her youngest Jay-Jay. Valmyristarsis was with her 4-year-old, Hamilton, who everyone called Buddy. Martha Manning thought the other women, who gave given some speeches, should have done a better job covering the basics of mountain survival. They had arrived at the foot of the great mountain range. In less than ten days they had ventured 200 miles north from Barreiro. Now the kids would have to be carried up a granite wall 7,000 feet high. The fixed ropes, which took them a few days to put in place, extended more than half that distance, to a level spot where the kids could rest, at least rest until the fixed ropes below them had been repositioned and fixed above them. Way high up there, 7,000 feet above them, assuming no one died from a plunge of thousands of feet, becoming a bloody mess with one's bones busted and twisted, their most formidable enemy would be the intense cold. Martha ran over some mental notes. She thought it best not to crack any jokes about how they would have to slaughter the horses or barbeque the horses to make meat so they wouldn't starve. That sort of shock humor wasn't funny with anyone, and it would just make the littlest kids weep. It would be like telling a kid she had to kill her dog to survive. Martha decided to tell the kids the horses would be turned loose. They could fend for themselves, though it hadn’t actually been decided what would be done with them. There was still plenty of oats and dried apples and carrots. When they finished with that fodder they might walk back to the city of Barerro. If they didn’t walk to Barreiro, then spring would arrive in two or three months, and then there would be plenty of grass for them to eat, though they might have a tough time digging through the snow to find enough grass to survive on until spring arrived. Martha decided she had to stress the importance of communication, and stress the necessity of giving immediate attention to cold fingers and toes before they developed frostbite. Talk to each other people. That was a line her teachers always used. If your foot is black with frostbite then why didn't you tell someone earlier? We could have lit a stove for you! Don't be stoical about cold fingers and toes. You kids are too stoical half the time and not stoical enough the other half of the time. Martha looked into the eyes of the children around her and for a second or two she thought she was leading these little lambs to slaughter. She had to give a speech to reassure herself on a few points. Yes, Martha thought it might be best if she make a speech, just so everyone knew what they were up against, just so she didn’t feel as if she was leading little lambs to slaughter. But how would she get these little kids to listen to her? What did they need to hear right at this moment? How would she phrase matters? Martha thought she should begin with the simplest stuff, and then she could move on to the more difficult stuff. And what was the simplest stuff?
`Alright kids,' began Martha Manning as she rose to her feet, `those of us who are adults need you kids to do some things. So listen up. Your life depends on it.' Everyone had stopped talking and everyone was looking at Martha.
`We need you kids to be both tough and smart. You got to be smart, because, say, for instance, you need to take a leak, well, you got to look down, you have to look down below you, when you are climbing this mountain, to see if there is anyone right below you. So, when you pull your pants down to take a leak, you have to make sure you don't hit anyone below you when you are taking a leak. So, you have to be smart.'
These words brought some smirks and horseplay from the kids, but they were still listening.
`We also,' continued Martha, `need you kids to be tough. But you have to be tough in a smart way. You have to tell one of us adults if your little toes or if your little fingers are freezing, because we don't want you to get frostbite. If you get frostbite we'll have to chop off your fingers and toes, because, if we didn't chop them off, they would become gangrenous, and then you would die. So you have to tell us if you are freezing. You must tell us if your little fingers or your little toes get cold. But if you are simply tired, if you are simply out of breath, if you are simply scared of heights, then shut up and be tough. We're not asking you kids to do the impossible. I'm not asking you to perform a miracle in getting yourselves over these huge mountains. Like when Mike Eruzioni and the boys beat the Soviet Red Army in the Miracle on Ice. But that wasn't a miracle. The Americans were damn good hockey players, and though, probably, the Russians would have beaten them 9 out of 10 times, nevertheless, winning on a 1 out of 10 shot is not a miracle! Anyone can understand that cashing in on a 1 in 10 shot is not a miracle. Don't listen to what Al Michaels says. It’s wasn’t any damn miracle. We're not asking you to perform any miracles here, people. You are perfectly capable of getting your little butts over these here big mountains. You can do it. You just have to bear down - you got to be tough, like Norm Bulaich of the Baltimore Colts was tough when he busted through the line and just steamrolled that one guy in the Super Bowl. Rick Pitino, Paul Pierce and the Boston Celtics are not going to come riding down that road there to carry you kids over the mountains to save you from a lot of and blood, sweat, tears, toil and anguish. But it's not all hell and misery. It's like in `Breakfast at Tiffanies' when Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard are having some tough times. But there's still good times too, like when Audrey is singing `Moon River', and when they find their cold wet cat again at the end of the movie. So you got to be tough and you got to be smart, too, like when Joe Thiesman of Notre Dame would go into the Big House in Ann Arbor, and the Michigan Defensive had these huge angry homicidal dudes from the Detroit ghettos that just wanted to murder Joe Theisman, but Joe was smart, you know, he held on to the ball till the last second, till the receiver came open, and he stood in the pocket and took the punishment, especially when it was essential that he move the chains; yes, he hung in there and took a beating when he had to connect with open receivers, both in the red zone or outside of the red zone. But he was smart too. I mean he wouldn't just stand there in the pocket like a damn statue. He would make little side-stepping moves to avoid linemen or blitzing linebackers when the Wolverines were collapsing the pocket - but, you know, when you're playing against Joe Theismann, if you live by the dog you're gonna die by the dog - cause Joe will pick you apart all day long - so, Joe Theisman was smart because he didn't take more punishment than he had to - I mean he wasn't crazy - but he had to take some punishment. You can't go into the Big House and come out with a W without getting the crap kicked out of you to some extent. Everyone knows that. So you too have to be smart - tell us if your little toes and fingers are freezing, but you just have to be tough about other things. You can't go into the Big House and expect to come out with a W by playing candy-ass football. You gotta play smash-mouth football if you're going to go into Ann Arbor and come out with a W. So, you 3-year-olds, and you 7-year-olds, this here mountain behind me is like the Big House in Ann Arbor, and all the cold and exhaustion that's going to hit us the next few days or weeks is like all those big mean-ass angry mothers from the ghettos of Detroit - oh excuse me – I mean those student-athletes from the economically depressed sections of the Motor City - that were trying to murder Joe Theismann in front of 100,000 screaming fanatics. You're going to be exhausted. You're going to get the crap kicked out of you by these here mountains. But you can't be a candy-ass and quit. You can't be a baby if you want to get over these here mountains. So you're going to have to be tough, and smart, whether you're trying to get over these mountains, or whether you`re trying to move the chains, or whether you're going to go into Ann Arbor to come out with a W. You're going to have to fight and battle to get over this here mountain. So just keep battling, just keep battling, just keep battling. But tell us if you are freezing. Don't be a dumb-ass by getting
your toes and fingers frozen. Don't be afraid to speak up if you are cold. We don't want to chop off your frozen little fingers and your frozen little toesies. But we might have to chop them off to save your lives. So, please, please, please, tell us if you get cold. But if you are just tired and exhausted then tough it out. And then once we get off the mountain' -Martha was getting pretty warmed up as she was looking into the eyes of the kids, kids ranging in age from 3-year-olds to 11-year-olds, and, while she knew her speech was drawing lots of vacant stares, nevertheless she continued on with her sports analogies - `when we get off the mountain, well, you know, in war, and make no mistake, we are going into war, boys and girls, and in war it's either kill or be killed, and that's sort of the way it is when you're trying to win championships in sports. If you want to play championship baseball then you can't be afraid to pitch inside, you can't be all namby-pamby afraid to bring that 100 mph speedball right under the batter's chin; or when you're ballin' on the hardcourt, you can toss it in to the big man in the middle and then when he kicks it out you got to knock down the open J if you got the open look, but when you really need a bucket in crunch time then you got to drive hard to the rack and knock `em down from the charity stripe. I mean there's way to win a war and there are ways to lose a war; there's way to playing winning ball and ways to play losing ball; you got to block-out, you got to keep the other team off the offensive glass; if you want to win then you can't always be setting it up in your half-court offense; you got to get some easy buckets in transition; so you got to reward the big man when he runs the court; you got to give the big man a reason to run the court the next time and the next time, so reward the big man when he runs the court; get the ball to the big man for the easy slam when he runs the court; and you got to hammer the little man when he drives the paint; when the little man goes hard to the rack and challenges your big trees in the paint then you got to hammer the little man; sure if you can knock `em down from 3-point land all night long, then knock `em down. But to get to the Promised Land, to get the ring, you usually got to get to the charity stripe and win it in crunch time. Like I say, you got to pitch inside - up and in! up and in! - you can't always be nibbling on the corners; and when you're a receiver coming across the middle going for the ball then you got to catch the damn ball even though backers and D-backs are trying to take your head off. And when your QB drops back in the pocket he can't be a dumb-ass who takes three days to read a damn defense. If he can't move the chains cause he can't read a D then get him the hell out of there and find a damn QB who can read a damn defense. How the hell are you going to get to the Promised Land if you can’t move the damn chains? Anyway, our best hope is the element of surprise, but I'm not saying it won't come down to a vicious fight at times, you know, kill or be killed. You got to smack the big man and you got smack the little man and got to keep on smacking them and smacking them. We are going into a hostile environment, and when you go into a hostile environment then it's either kill or be killed. Never forget what George C. Scott told us - no poor dumb son-of-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. You win wars by making the other poor dumb son-of-bitch die for his country. When you go into a hostile environment, when you go into the Big House in Ann Arbor, or when you go into the Horseshoe in Columbus, or when you got into Happy Valley, then you're going into battle, gentlemen, and ladies, and in battle you just got to keep bashing the enemy, just keep bashing them, and bashing them. Generally speaking, when you go to war, you just got to keep killing the enemy, you got to just keep killing and killing, just keep killing and killing, killing and killing and killing and killing and killing. You know? But our mission is a little different, because we shouldn't have to do too much killing. We're hoping that there aren't any big brutal male sentries, and not too many big brutal female sentries for that matter either, guarding the walls of that walled city. If we can keep the element of surprise, if we can get our soldiers on top of that wall, without the enemy knowing it, and then if we can storm the guard house and get control of that and the main gate, without taking or inflicting many casualties, then if we can set up a barricade and send up the bonfire signal to our side, and just hold on till the Avallonian Army arrives, then things ought to work out perfectly for us. You've all studied maps of where this guard house is. It's right by the main gate, right off the main thoroughfare - right off Gerry Adams Boulevard - formerly Ian Paisley Parkway. If we lose the element of surprise then we'll probably have to make a quick retreat or else surrender. If we kill some of their soldiers during the fight, and then if we have to surrender, then they might throw some us to the tigers, so heads up about that. That's all the more reason to not lose the element of surprise. Seraphinaria is the commander of this unit not me, but you mothers listening to me want to protect your kids, and you know the enemy will be enraged if we kill some of their soldiers, so, if we do kill some of their soldiers then we better take control of that city, or we at least better make a successful retreat, because we have to assume they'll throw us to their man-eating tigers if they capture us after we have killed some of their people. But if we just keep our heads there's no reason we can't take that city and hold on till our army comes. We won't be thrown into any cages filled with man-eating tigers if we're smart, if we don't make any dumb mistakes.'
Martha didn't like the looks she was getting from the kids, from the 3 and 4-year-olds especially, many of whom were now crying. No doubt much of her violent imagery was just too much for the smaller tykes. Honestly, telling little kids they might get eaten by man-eating tigers! And since she had just about run out of sports clichés she thought it best that she just wrap things up and sit down and stop speaking. Martha could be a tough critic of Martha. And now she was feeling really low, feeling as if everyone was thinking she was a crazy woman. She knew these people didn't understand her sports references. She gave those references because, well because, she knew now, to her disgust, that she just wanted to hear herself talk and talk and talk. Such vanity! `Get easy buckets in transition' and `Reward the big man'. Oh, brother! Hubie Brown, who used to coach the Knicks, always used that phrase, and Martha couldn’t resist quoting Hubie Brown. What a chatterbox was Martha, and she knew it. She did push some simple messages at both the beginning and the end of her talk, as it doesn't get much simpler than: look below you when you're taking a leak! and don't get frostbite! and, try to keep the element of surprise! and try to avoid getting eaten by the man-eating tigers! She couldn't be accused of being unintelligible on those points. But were the key points lost in all of her extraneous material? Martha had nevertheless gotten some things off her chest, and she no longer felt that she was leading innocent lambs to slaughter, so, whether her speech was much of a success or not with her audience, Martha felt better about some things, even though she was feeling pretty low and stupid about some other things. And even if she earned for herself the reputation of being a crazy woman who spoke a lot of gibberish about sports, she was nevertheless ready to begin leading little kids up the huge merciless mountain and into the heart of the enemy territory, though she also hoped she hadn't convinced too many of kids that she was crazy.
`I liked what Martha was saying, though I didn't understand most of it,' began Seraphinaria. `I do think she was very clear on the most important parts. Now we've been over and over and over about how we expect you kids to know how to hold on to your fingers and toes. You know how to hold on to your fingers and toes, right? We've been over and over how you must tell an adult if you are cold. We'll chop your fingers and toes off if we have to. We'll chop `em off! I swear to you we'll chop `em off! I don't want to say to one you: this little piggy went to market, but this little piggy got frostbite and had to be chopped off.'
Some of the little kids started to scream and weep again at the end of Seraphinaria's speech. They feared that all this chopping of fingers and toes was merely random, indiscriminate acts of savagery from insane adults, as the youngest kids were very uncl
ear about the concepts of frostbite and gangrene. No doubt the mothers thought some tough love from Seraphinaria was not out of line, but it was not easy to explain to the youngest kids when one of their fingers or toes would have to be chopped off, and when it wouldn't have to be chopped off.
`We've also been over and over and over,' said Misevasundia as she began her pre-invasion speech, `that we want everyone to keep up with their journals. We have to leave our logs here in Avallonia, because of Queen Brittany's direct order. But she didn't say we couldn't keep our diaries. So, everyone who knows how to read and write must keep a diary. When we are negotiating with publishing companies to get the best book deals possible, it is essential that we be able to write the best books possible, so we need you people to keep good notes and diaries, so nothing important gets forgotten. When the story of our heroic re-conquest of Cromwell Town is written it must include everything important, so keep memos of all the important stuff - like how you wish you would just die during those times when you are just being crushed under all the anguish and suffering being heaped upon you - like how you wish a huge chunk of ice would fall on you and crush you and put you out of your misery - because you just can't take any more suffering from the bitter winds and the bitter cold and the terrible hunger and the endless hell you have to endure in marching through deep snow up and over and across these interminable mountains etc., etc. So don't forget to keep notes about important things - like how you felt when you almost slipped and fell thousands of feet to your death, or how you felt when someone close to you slipped and fell thousands of feet to their death! What did you feel in your heart as you watched your friend or relative go cart-wheeling down the mountainside? Did you see any blood and guts go flying? What did their screams sound like? Did their plaintive wails make you weep tears of bitter anguish? Did they hold out their arms in desperate supplication as they fell to their deaths? Readers want the details, gory details, emotion-filled details, details which fill the readers with either pity and heartbreak or bliss and exaltation, so give the readers what they want. Give it to them please….Again, we don't want anyone to get frostbite while they are writing in their diary! Though from the perspective of maximizing the number of books we sell I suppose it would be best if some of you people had some fingers and toes chopped off, because readers like that sort of gritty realism. Again, we expect everyone, even you 3-year-olds, to know how to hold on to your fingers and toes - as has been said in all seriousness, over and over - we'll chop off your little fingers and little toes if you let them freeze! - But let's also keep up with our diaries, people. If you forget to write down something important that happens, then you might forget about it entirely. Don't think you will be able to remember every detail of every horrible experience that you have on these mountains, and while in combat with the enemy, thinking that you could never possibly forget events that are that horrible. Trust me. You'll forget important stuff pertaining to your despair and your anguish if you don't make a note of it. If you forget important stuff then the books we write probably won't sell as many copies as they could have sold. And the lecture tours we give won’t be as riveting as they could be. So that's less money in your pocket, and less money in my pocket, and that aint' right.'
These speeches were not belated even though they had been at the base of the mountain for 14 days when those speeches were delivered. For the previous 14 days, during days of good weather and days of bad, their actions were very similar to the actions of pack mules. They carried no end of heavy loads up the mountains. The kids had a very easy time of it, aside from the tedium of having nothing to do. The eight strong women first established fixed ropes up to the level place on the mountain, 4,000 feet above the valley. Mountain climbing is really quite safe and simple under certain conditions, such as when: there is no chance of death by avalanche, there is no chance of death by falling into a crevasse hidden under the snow, there is no chance of dying by being struck by falling ice or rocks. When these conditions prevail then climbers are generally quite safe provided they establish sound belays on sound rock and sound ice. 3 days were required to find sound belays to position the fixed ropes up to the level spot 4,000 feet above the valley. They didn't have enough rope to lay in fixed ropes extending all the way up the 7,000 foot granite wall, a wall generally angled at 60 degrees. Thus they worked in two stages. 11 days were spent by the young women going up and down, and up and down, jumaring loads of food and kerosene, tents and equipment and clothing up the fixed ropes. The speeches they gave stressed the horrors of frostbite. But those warnings were given just to be on the safe side. They actually had an easy time and were never seriously threatened by dangerously frigid temperatures. Once they raised 2,000 pounds of supplies to the top of the wall, to the 7,000 foot level, they were no longer in danger of death by falls or avalanches. There was still the danger of crevasses, but with a little precaution - such as by traveling in single file all roped together on one rope - the main threat of death for all of them now came from an attack by an enemy patrol while the trudged through deep snow while carrying 70lbs packs. They were 7,000 feet up a 15,000 foot mountain, and now they had to traverse the west side of this mountain. The slope was gentle enough on the West Face to make a slip inconsequential and avalanches impossible. It was however a four mile trek across the West Face. Then there was a slight descent and then a long gradual walk up to the 15,000 foot pass separating two 20,000 foot mountains. From this pass they could look down into the valley of the Deuce. Far down in the valley, 30 miles away from the top of the pass, was Cromwell Town. It took 7 women, 11 days to haul 2,000 lbs of kerosene, gear and provisions to the top of the 7,000 foot wall. 1,000 lbs was cached there. Then 5 more days were required to haul the other 1,000 lbs 10 horizontal miles and lifted up to 15,000 feet. Everything was downhill from there. During the 16 days of heavy hauling for 7 young women, the kids could play, or sleep in the tents, or help the little kids learn to read. Seraphinaria, because of her emaciated condition, and Martha, because of her advancing age, were excused from hauling duty. Their main responsibility was to be vigilant in making sure the kids wore their goggles to avoid snow-blindness. The days were soft and easy for some, drudgery for others, but the sunsets were especially beautiful and it was always fun to gather round the stoves at night to drink hot chocolate under the starry skies. These nights were never brutally cold and even at their coldest everyone was cozy under their parkas and eiderdown blankets. The only drama they had during these 16 days of sweating and hauling was from Casilevatates' daughter Camille, who would wake up in the middle of the night screaming from nightmares. Every night that they were on the West Face, Camille would dream that Vyryvyr was in Cromwell Town, just waiting there to throw everyone to the tigers. At one point Casilevatates was thinking she might tell Seraphinaria, as many others had done, that she wondered if Camille's dreams might be warnings from God and not merely random nightmares.