Dell

Dell

"So you've learned a little bit about these 'lions'"

Merol

Why were they still there?  The officers were parked across the street, Kolber, from his house.  Kolber dead ended just after their house.  He had played on Kolber as a child.  He could remember playing Kick the Can which really involved a ball not a can and then tasting sweet victory as it skidded off and into a roll on the dusty surface.  The kick would free any captive sending them screaming and cheering as the lone keeper chased to return it.  Some girls would cry.

“You should never make fun of someone if it can happen to you,” his father said about the cruel jabs the captive would send out once they were freed.  Where are you, dad?  His dad should be retrieved by the Americans any day now.  Dell and his family had been involved with smuggling people out from Newtopia ever since the lock-down.  And his final task was to smuggle his father out who would be floating down the Pan-Atlantic this very moment low on oxygen and food.  Their technique involved airtight body-bags that floated low, but floated still just above the surface of the long, straight Pan-Atlantic river.  Once he was safely aboard and heading to America he would call, a call now would be disastrous.  If the men outside his house were looking for him and they've tapped the phone lines his father would be force to return lest his family remained hostages to Newtopia.

Hairs stood on his neck pointed towards the sky and he suddenly noticed how dry his mouth was.  The smell of grass faded as the young boy in the tall grass backed into the forest and out of the clearing.  The forest at the edge of their property was cooler than the field.  It was muddy from a recent rain imposing dark mud through Dell’s exposed toes as he walked.  Mostly the noise from his feet suggested to the forest he was human; other features were not so prominent. His beard of a week and a half was longer than it had ever been.  It was itchy and also dirty, he knew.  His clothes were reused and his ripped jeans were from Bailey Pleasant, a neighbor who lived to north of his family's home.  His breath was worse than ever since he began eating roots and bugs.  But when he worried of his civility he only needed to glance at Merol to feel a bit less primal. 

The large man who had come to help guide Dells body and belongings safely home had looked a little less than a full grown, highly-intelligent ape after a week and a half.  Hair on his chest previously concealed by thick, baggy green-gray robes now spread over the edges of his comically small t-shirt.  The quiet giant had been calculated and mild-mannered but always gave the orders.  But when Dell returned to their camp today he woke the man-ape with a soft kick on the feet.  “Get up,” Dell said and waited for Merol to rise, “We need to do something they’ve got the phones tapped and my dad will call soon to say he’s safe.  They will learn this and hold my family hostage until he returns.”

“Good, family reunion,” the hairy man said and laid back down.  Dell sat down on a large stone.  It uncomfortably held his butt high off the ground. 

“I can’t,” Dell said and then stopped.  He thought of two days ago when he said that also.  He had been hiding in the tall grass again watching his house when he saw the screen door open.  It was his mom and he winced.  He wanted to run far around to the back of his house along the side and whisper to her, “Don’t cry,” he would say, “we’re safe. Dad’s safe.  I’m just camping out until our guests leave.  Just be a good host; grandma would be proud.” I can’t, he breathed out-loud to himself because if he did that she would run to him in a burst of anger and relief.  She had wanted to help because she believed the lock-down was wrong but never for it to involve her own family.  But now the worst had happened.

“I can’t,” he said more certain now looking straight at Merol, “I can't just watch and patrol.  There are times when there is only one guard and he never pays attention because it’s late at night.”  Merol got up and Dell paused.  Realizing there would be no interruption he continued, “They may have surveillance we don’t know about but if they’re not tipped off by that guy they probably won’t check it.”  Large hands went to the guides face and began rubbing it.  But he still said nothing so Dell concluded, “I can’t just sit here waiting for my family to be screwed over!”

The man who was part his guide and part his bodyguard took a deep sigh and said, “have you ever been to South America where there are jungles?  Jungles that go on forever with trees, bugs, and dirt, heat, rain.”  His words seemed labored and callous.

“No, I’ve only been to Spain and here in Newtopia,” Dell replied defensively.

“”I meant no offense,” and the man summoned a lime-green glob of spit from somewhere deep inside him and spat it out away from camp. “It’s just that there is a saying, it says: tomorrow is a jungle so watch for lions and steep slopes.  But remember that lion meat is as good as any and steep slopes often lead to fresh water.” Dell liked that phrase immediately. “So you’ve learned a little bit about these lions,” Merol continued. “Their routine and what they do. But I’ve been waiting for a larger predator because I’m hungry.”

The words gave a stirring in Dells belly and then so did the noise in the bush to the right.  An immediate thought asked if the guide had magically made the bushes move to impress his point.  But when he saw Merol turn to the noise his stomach flipped upside-down.

“Ok,” said a high, young voice, “Don’t try to kill me, it’s me, Mara.”  Mara walked out slowly with her hands raised to her shoulders.  Her skin was sleek and sweaty.  Her black vest and pants made her look manly Dell thought.  But where her chest pushed the vest out it was clear she was no man. And that’s when he thought about the fountain with Nancy for some reason.  He and another Newtopian, Nancy Rodriguez, had reunited beside a fountain in Spain a year ago.  Just as the mist from the fountain had settled onto her skin to look like sweat so did Mara’s olive skin shimmer with actual sweat. Dell hardly believe it was the same girl he kissed only days ago.  Her hair was cut too.  It was stuck together on the side and she padded it down when she saw Dell looking at it. 

Dell smiled and the guide said, “Please tell me your father knows you’re here.”

“He does,” Mara said clear and much louder than Dell expected, “In fact,” she continued grinning and in between large gasps for air, “he sent me.  And I brought some help.”