If Willadean could emulate those whistles, they wouldn’t have to traverse all the ravines and thorny brush to get through the perimeter. She couldn’t though, mainly because the melody and cadence changed on a weekly basis and wasn’t shared with the children. The ‘signal’ was part of the group’s defense strategy. Unsophisticated, but effective.
Just before they arrived at the village, Pops motioned for them to stop. They stood in a half-circle facing her grandfather and waited for an announcement, or perhaps a lecture. Whatever it was, Pops didn’t want Serena Jo or any of her spies to hear.
“You know how I get them feelings...” His voice was a hoarse whisper.
Three nods.
“Well, I have one now. And it’s a bad ‘un.”
“A bad ‘un? Like a mountain lion eating us up?” Cricket squeaked.
Pops’ faded blue eyes latched onto her friend. Willadean had never seen fear in those eyes. Until now.
“Worse than a mountain lion, boy.”
“What then?” Willa demanded. “A bear? They avoid people, Pops. You know that. And there aren’t any wolves in this part of the country. The only apex predators are mountain lions and bears. And people, of course.”
“Bingo.”
The handwritten note she had read an hour ago flashed through her mind. A DANGEROUS WOMAN IS ON THE LOOSE. DO NOT VENTURE INTO THE FOREST UNTIL YOU TALK TO FERGUS.
“It ain’t safe to be in the woods right now. I know you kids go where you ain’t supposed to, and it’s gotta stop. At least for a while.”
“Until your feeling goes away?” Cricket asked.
“Yep. I’ll tell you when it does.”
Willa whispered, “Is it a woman?”
Pops eyes flew wide. “How’d you know?”
She withdrew Ray’s note from her pocket, unfolded it and handed it to her grandfather.
“Where’d you get this?” he demanded.
Instead of answering, she flicked out the blade of her new pocket knife, then fixed him with a steely gaze. It was a pivotal moment. He was an adult family member. By all rights, he could tell her to stuff her blood oath where the sun didn’t shine and demand to know the answer anyway. It wasn’t much of a gamble, though. Pops was in many ways a kid at heart. He knew that kind of behavior would get him kicked out of their club.
The gamble paid off. He extended a hand toward her, palm up. A half-dozen tiny white scars would soon welcome a new sibling.
After it was done, she told him the whole story: seeing the drone the first time; finding the clearing in the forest beyond the perimeter where food shipments were dropped; hiding the mac and cheese and devouring the Pop-Tarts; and finally, she explained the reason she’d asked him to cover for Fergus.
“You kids been busy, ain’t ya?” he said.
Harlan signed, Sorry we didn’t bring any back to share. Willa said we couldn’t.
Pops nodded. “’Course you couldn’t. Your mama would be on you like a duck on a June bug.”
“Like stink on shit,” Cricket replied with a solemn expression.
“Yep. I understand, kids. But you have to agree right now to stay in the village until I say different. No argument. From anyone,” he added with an uncharacteristic ferocity while skewering Willa with a glare.
Three heads nodded in unison.
“All right. Let’s get home. I got a lot of thinkin’ to do.”
***
Later that night, Willa lay in bed, contemplating her situation. Tomorrow was Monday, which meant Mister Fergus better get back before morning or Serena Jo would find out he was missing. The last place she wanted Mister Fergus to end up was six feet under in the newest section of Whitaker Holler cemetery. He was more fun than all the other adults except for Pops. His arrival at their village had been...fortuitous.
She smiled to herself in the dark. The best way to improve one’s vocabulary wasn’t to write with new words, but to first think with them and then to speak them. Writing them came naturally after that, and thus sounded more natural to the reader.
Just as she found herself dozing off, a loud knock on the front door of the cabin startled her wide awake. Her ears pricked up, straining to hear the conversation between Serena Jo and the late-night caller. She recognized the male voice right away.
“He’s gone. Just flat-out disappeared,” Otis said.
“Calm down, Otis, and tell me exactly what happened,” Serena Jo replied.
“Everett went to take a leak. We was in the northwest quadrant. He only stepped a few feet away. He was so close, I could hear his piss splashing on the leaves.”
Willa noticed his voice catching in his throat. Was he crying? The notion of a grown man weeping fascinated her. She had never seen it happen except in movies and on TV. Back when they still had movies and TV.
“Then what happened? Be precise,” Mama demanded.
“I kept expecting to hear him coming up behind me again, but after a couple of minutes of waiting, I turned around to see what he was up to. Thought maybe he needed to take a...I mean, go number two.”
It was a testament to Otis that despite his dismay, he still attempted to adhere to the no-cussing mandate. Or perhaps it was a testament to Serena Jo.
“He was just gone. Flat-out disappeared, like I said. I looked around for two hours. We need a search party.”
Willa crawled out from under her covers and crept toward the open bedroom door to hear better. Harlan was right behind her.
“We’ll initiate the emergency protocol.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll go wake the others.”
The front door closed.
“I know you two are out of bed,” Mama’s voice came from the kitchen. The lantern there flickered to life. “Come on out.”
She sat at their rickety table where she was lacing up
