“Good! You should make sure you get in touch with him immediately.”
“I’ll let the concierge know right now. They’ll call him for me. He’ll understand what I mean if I tell him I’m training up a replacement and need his assistance.”
*****
Rick shows up two days later, which is as fast as he can get a pass for entry into the camp. He brings his truck and Charlotte practically jumps up to greet him at the back of the stables. Tabitha is already there, holding her clipboard as if ready to get to work.
As always, a camp attendant stands nearby. Only after understanding what happens to at least some of those who leave does Charlotte understand the true purpose of the attendant’s presence. It’s always been purported to be for their protection when in contact with men who don’t have clearance. It’s to help keep them alive. But really, it’s to keep them under someone’s eye.
Now, she sees that clearly.
“Hey, Rick,” Charlotte says, waving despite standing only three feet from him. No visiting man…or attendant…is ever supposed to touch the women.
Rick’s eyes crinkle when he smiles back. He’s a nice man. “Hey, Charlotte. I heard you’ve been teaching classes. Is that true?”
“Only the total beginners. Mostly, I just teach them not to be afraid and how not to get kicked.”
He laughs and says, “I’d say those are the two most important lessons. You can’t do much until you learn that.”
This banter relaxes the attendant, which is why they’re doing it. The young men are always tense when a non-cleared man first arrives. Tabitha must see it too, because she waggles her clipboard and says, “We’re going to the feed room. I’ll be back in a few. I need an assist.”
The attendants aren’t supposed to be intrusive, only watchful. He looks uncertain for a moment, then nods. Charlotte decides to do what she can to busy the man.
“I’ve got to go in and check on Junior’s shoes, but there really should be two people for safety. Will you stand at the stall?”
He glances only once more at the retreating pair, then follows Charlotte into the dim interior, well out of earshot. Junior gives her a look, but patiently allows her to lift his legs and mess with his perfectly adequate shoes. She takes her time with it, chatting now and then to keep the attendant engaged. He actually seems interested, asking questions about horses in general and what it’s like to ride like she does.
When her mother reappears, she looks like nothing out of the ordinary has happened at all. She merely gets the attendant’s attention, tells him that her visitor is ready to leave, and requests that he be put in for a new pass in seven days. He’ll be delivering.
A moment later, they’re alone. That’s when Tabitha smiles and whispers, “And he’ll be leaving with some extra items too.”
Charlotte grins and hugs her mom. The relief coursing through her is almost as powerful as the fear she’d felt before. Then she remembers this camp is full of other people. The list of those leaving has two dozen people on it that she’s lived with since they arrived.
“What about everyone else? We can’t just leave them,” she says.
Tabitha looks apologetic, which is a kind of answer. “That’s a much bigger problem and will need a much bigger solution. And that includes those already taken. I’m not forgetting them, but we can’t help them from here or if we’re taken. My first responsibility is to you, and after we get you out, then we work on everyone else.”
At a logical level, Charlotte knows this is true, but that doesn’t make her feel any less guilty. Inside, she’s afraid for herself and her mother. And it’s true she can’t help from here. She decides that she’ll dedicate everything to the cause…after she’s free.
She has no idea what comes next, but it won’t be here and she’ll be with her mother. That’s the most important thing of all.
*****
Three days later, they’re doing the morning chores at the stable when the sound of an engine breaks the peaceful silence. It’s not the quiet purr of a cart, but a real engine. Charlotte glances at her mother over the back of the horse she’s brushing.
Tabitha’s easy posture goes tense and rigid in a hot second. Rick shouldn’t be here for days yet, and any visitor is always cleared first. There was nothing on the community schedule, or in their emails. Given that it’s the day before they were scheduled to leave with the others, any change is ominous.
“Stay here,” Tabitha says as she turns away toward the side exit near the parking area. After two steps, she stops and turns again. “No, don’t stay there. Go hide. You know where.”
“Why?” Charlotte asks, suddenly afraid.
“Because I said so, Charlie. Just do it.”
After all that’s already happened in this crazy world, Charlotte no longer questions any such order when it comes from her mother. She’s alive because of her mother’s quick thinking. She runs for the office.
Inside, she pulls away the loose wall boards they’ve already prepared for emergencies. The boards are in the dead space between the desk and the wall, so they’re in a good spot, one not likely to be examined. Squeezing into the narrow space between the wall of the office and the tack room behind it, she can barely bend her knees enough to fit the boards back in place.
The air is stuffy, hot and full of disturbed dust. It’s also dark and tight. It feels like she’s been buried alive. Only the tiniest slivers of light leak through seams in the boards. Charlotte presses her lips to one seam and breathes in, hoping the air will somehow feel fresher. It doesn’t. Sweat breaks out all over her body within seconds.
When she hears raised voices, she holds her breath, hoping to hear more clearly. She doesn’t. It’s
