The Knife of Never Letting Go

“It’s okay, Manchee,” I say, my voice and Noise near crying from relief that it’s just his tail. “We’ll get you fixed right up.”

“Okay, Todd?”

“I’m okay,” I say, rubbing his head. He nips my hand but I know he can’t help it cuz he’s in pain. He licks me in apology then nips me again. “Ow, Todd,” he says.

“Todd Hewitt!” I hear shouted from the front of the barn.

Francia.

“I’m here!” I call, standing up. “I’m all right. Matthew went crazy—”

But I stop cuz she ain’t listening to me.

“Ye gotta get yerself indoors, Todd pup,” Francia says in a rush. “Ye gotta—”

She stops when she sees Matthew under the silage.

“What happened?” she says, already starting to tug away the rolls, getting the one off his face and leaning down to see if he’s still breathing.

I point to the machete. “That happened.”

Francia looks at it, then a long look up at me, her face saying something I can’t read nor even begin to figure out. I don’t know if Matthew’s alive nor dead and I ain’t never gonna find out.

“We’re under attack, pup,” she says, standing.

“Yer what?”

“Men,” she says, rising. “Prentisstown men. That posse that’s after ye. They’re attacking the whole town.”

My stomach falls right outta my shoes.

“Oh, no,” I say. And then I say it again, “Oh, no.”

Francia’s still looking at me, her brain thinking who knows what.

“Don’t give us to them,” I say, backing away again. “They’ll kill us.”

Francia frowns at this. “What kinda woman do ye think I am?”

“I don’t know,” I say, “that’s the whole problem.”

“I’m not gonna give ye to them. Honestly, now. Nor Viola. In fact the feeling of the town meeting, as far along as it got, was how we were a-deciding to protect ye both from what was almost certainly a-coming.” She looks down at Matthew. “Tho maybe that’s a promise we couldn’t keep.” “Where’s Viola?”

“Back at my house,” Francia says, suddenly all active again. “C’mon. We gotta get ye inside.”

“Wait.” I squeeze back behind the silage rolls and find Manchee still in his corner, licking his tail. He looks up at me and barks, just a little bark that’s not even a word. “I’m gonna pick you up now,” I say to him. “Try not to bite me too hard, okay?” “Okay, Todd,” he whimpers, yelping each time he wags his stumpy tail.

I reach down, put my arms under his tummy and hoist him up to my chest. He yelps and bites hard at my wrist, then licks it.

“It’s okay, buddy,” I say, holding him as best I can.

Francia’s waiting for me at the doors to the barn and I follow her out into the main road.

There are people running about everywhere. I see men and women with rifles running up towards the orchards and other men and women scooting kids (there they are again) into houses and such. In the distance I can hear bangs and shouts and yelling.

“Where’s Hildy?” I yell.

Francia don’t say nothing. We reach her front steps.

“What about Hildy?” I ask again as we climb up.

“She went off to fight,” Francia says, not looking at me, opening the door. “They would have reached her farm first. Tam was still there.”

“Oh, no,” I say again stupidly, like my “oh nos” will do any good.

Viola comes flying down from the upper floor as we enter.

“What took you so long?” she says, her voice kinda loud, and I don’t know which one of us she’s talking to. She gasps when she sees Manchee.

“Bandages,” I say. “Some of those fancy ones.”

She nods and races back up the stairs.

“Ye two stay here,” Francia says to me. “Don’t come out, whatever ye hear.”

“But we need to run!” I say, not understanding this at all. “We need to get outta here!”

“No, Todd pup,” she says. “If Prentisstown wants ye, then that’s reason enough for us to keep ye from them.”

“But they’ve got guns—”

“So do we,” Francia says. “No posse of Prentisstown men is going to take this town.”

Viola’s back down the stairs now, digging thru her bag for bandages.

“Francia—” I say.

“Stay right here,” she says. “We’ll protect ye. Both of ye.”

She looks at both of us, hard, like seeing if we agree, then she turns and is out the door to protect her town, I guess.

We stare at the closed door for a second, then Manchee whimpers again and I have to set him down. Viola gets out a square bandage and her little scalpel.

“I don’t know if these’ll work on dogs,” she says.

“Better than nothing,” I say.

She cuts off a little strip and I have to hold Manchee’s head down while she loops it around the mess of his tail. He growls and apologizes and growls and apologizes until Viola’s covered the whole wound up tight. He immediately sets to licking it when I let him go.

“Stop that,” I say.

“Itches,” Manchee says.

“Stupid dog.” I scratch his ears. “Stupid ruddy dog.”

Viola pets him, too, trying to keep him from licking off the bandage.

“Do you think we’re safe?” she asks quietly, after a long minute.

“I don’t know.”

There’s more bangs out in the distance. We both jump. More people shouting. More Noise.

“No sign of Hildy since this started,” Viola says.

“I know.”

Another bit of silence as we over-pet Manchee. More ruckus from up in the orchards above town.

It all seems so far away, as if it’s not even happening.

“Francia told me that you can find Haven if you keep following the main river,” Viola says.

I look at her. I wonder if I know what this means.

I think I do.

“You wanna leave,” I say.

“They’ll keep coming,” she says. “We’re putting the people around us in danger. Don’t you think they’ll keep coming if they’ve already come this far?”

I do. I do think this. I don’t say it but I do.

“But they said they could protect us,” I say.

“Do you believe that?”

I don’t say nothing to this neither. I think of Matthew Lyle.

“I don’t think we’re safe here any more,” she says.

“I don’t think we’re safe anywhere,” I say. “Not on this whole planet.”

“I need to contact my ship, Todd,” she says, almost pleading. “They’re waiting to hear from me.”

“And you wanna run off into the unknown to do it?”

“You do, too,” she says. “I can tell.” She looks away. “If we went together…”

I look up at her at this, trying to see, trying to know, to know real and true.

All she does is look back.