Chapter 6: The Exodus

On Wednesday morning, a big bright shiny bus backed its way up the street and parked in front of Jason’s house. Five people, four females and one male exited the bus. All were dressed in hiking clothes and boots and all carried large back packs seemingly stuffed to the brim. To the casual hiker, they appeared to be over-outfitted for the degree of difficulty that the trail presented. They paid no attention to those who stared at them and continued up the trail until they reached the spring pond.

From there, the five headed east across the face of the mountain and soon disappeared into the rugged landscape. However, they were under the constant observation of the two sentries who, through the calls of a lone coyote, passed along the group’s progress to those eagerly awaiting word of their arrival.

Anna and Starry Sky met them at the top of the trail that led down to the valley below. After exchanging greetings, Jason asked Anna,

“Is everything ready here?”

“Almost, the animals have been taken care of. The crops have been turned over and will eventually die away. We are working on the flow of water that enters the valley floor. When we’re done it should provide just enough water for the trees to survive, so that from above, the trees will continue to hide what we’ve done to the valley floor.”

“Good. How are the babies and their mothers? Are they ready to travel?”

“Yes, ready and eager. We have decided that, once we get to the spring, the grandmothers will carry the babies in the center of the group. The mothers being the youngest and the strongest of the tribe will provide protection on the outside of the group. You and I will lead the tribe down the trail until we reach your house. From there, everyone will be in your hands. We’ll also have scouts about five minutes ahead of us making sure that the coast is clear.”

“Sounds good, we brought the baby carriers and outer clothes for everyone. We can’t have the tribe moving as a group down the trail dressed in moccasins and a loincloth. If we run into anyone on the trail or on the road to the village we don’t want to call any more attention to ourselves than we will already be doing.”

By nine o’clock, Jason determined that it was as dark as it was going to get and called everyone together.

“All right, everyone. We will travel in single file until we get to the spring pond. From there we will form our protective formation until we get to the house; and remember no talking and keep the babies as quiet as possible. I don’t think we will see anyone on the trail, but if we do, please do not attack without provocation. Anyone we encounter will be more scared of us than we will be of them. Just keep quiet and keep walking. Let’s go.”

With Jason leading the way, forty-five individuals from the age of less than a month to somewhere in her middle sixties made their way up the hidden trail to the rim of the valley. They traveled single file across the face of the mountain until they reached the spring pond. They were fortunate that the moon was full, easily illuminating their way. Jason took it as a positive sign of good things to follow.

They paused briefly on the hiking trail to allow those carrying the babies to group together in the middle, while the young mothers, their knives on their hips, took up positions on both flanks and their rear. Jason and Anna took the lead, followed close behind by Summer Rain and Angry Sky each holding their babies, trailed closely by Starry Sky.

The journey from the valley to the cutoff to Jason’s house took a little over two hours. The entire group circled around the house until they reached the street and then suddenly stopped. The bus looked absolutely huge in the moonlight. While Carlita climbed in and opened the rear door, Jason tried to reassure the group.

“This is nothing to fear. You are all great warriors; this is the first of many obstacles that you are going to have to overcome if you want to live as we do. Maria, Carlita, Jenny, Becky, Anna and myself will be right here with you, all the way to our new home. Nevertheless, this is the first step on that journey. Come, your new home waits.”

Each of the girls led small groups of the young mothers to the doors, up the stairs and into the bus. Anna and Maria were stationed in the aisle, trying to sooth their frazzled nerves, telling them to find a seat and prepare for the ride ahead of them. It took considerably longer than Jason had anticipated getting all the members of the tribe seated. Finally, they were all set; Jason gave a slight nod to Carlita, who turned the key and pushed the starter button and the bus engine rumbled to life.

Jason stood briefly in the front of the bus. He could see the fear in the eyes of those immediately around him. He reassured them once again that everything was going to be fine, and warned them that Carlita was going to shut the lights and that they were going to begin their journey.

As the bus slowly made its way down the street and turned onto the road that would leave his neighborhood, Jason was reminded of Joshua’s dream as described in his will; he quickly turned as the trail briefly came into view. Was it his imagination, or was there a lone figure standing in the shadows, waving goodbye.

Carlita, true to her word, could handle anything with eighteen wheels or less, and had little trouble guiding the bus along the nearly deserted roads across the Valley of the Sun. After a little over an hour of driving, she turned the bus into the entrance of the Hawke Tribe Village. There was a brightly lit waterfall, with water cascading down a terraced wall on one side of the entrance. Jason pressed his remote and the iron gate slowly opened allowing Carlita access to the complex. She drove down the palm tree lined access road to the front of the Community Center. The lights were still on, illuminating the entrance and the large foyer beyond the doors.

“All right everybody, we’re here; Please follow me.”

One by one everyone left the bus. As each person first set foot on the ground, they paused and looked up in amazement at the large glass and steel entrance to the building and, particularly at the sculpture of the large hawk, its wings spread wide, staring down at the newcomers from its perch mounted over the entrance.

“This way please; come don’t be frightened, this is your new home, and there is nothing to fear here.”

When Jason had them all gathered in the banquet hall of the facility he began to speak once again.

“We’ll be spending the night here. There are plenty of mattresses and blankets. This is just for tonight. Tomorrow, we will get you settled into your own houses. It is too late to do that tonight. Anna, Carlita, Maria, Becky, Jenny and I will be here to answer any questions and get you anything you need.”

At that moment, the silence was broken by the piercing cry of one of the infants.

“See, one of you is brave enough to ask for what she wants. Come, we will see to her comfort. You others, pick out a place to spend the night and make yourself comfortable.”

After about an hour, after a quick lesson in basic feminine hygiene, and several detailed demonstrations of how the toilet facilities worked, the tribe settled in for the night.

They say that every journey starts with the first step. The tribe had taken a great leap that first night, but the journey into the modern world would require hundreds of tiny steps, and years of patience.

Epilogue:

Jason walked the dark halls of the community center as he often did on the nights when he could not sleep. Everything was quiet: the sun was probably an hour away from clearing the horizon. He could just make out the upper peaks of the Superstition Mountains far to the east.

It was hard to believe that today marked the twentieth anniversary of that special night. The night that the tribe had left the valley and settled here. The night that he had fulfilled what he had been destined to achieve more than one hundred years before he was born. Getting the tribe here had not been the hard part; the hard part was the assimilation of the tribe into the modern world. The learning of a new language, the use of modern technologies, the acceptance of a new culture and new people; these were the problems that had to be overcome and which led to many times of frustration, but also to many moments of laughter as well.

To see the entire tribe sitting on the floor in the community schoolroom, their eyes fixed on the large television mounted on the wall for hours and hours watching Sesame Street and Mr. Rodgers. The numerous times that the plumber had to be called to clear out one of the toilets because one of the mothers had tried to flush a soiled baby diaper down the toilet. Getting the women to adhere to the dress code, which stated that all women must wear a shirt and a pair of shorts while walking to and from the pool area and their home, proved to be particularly distracting for the landscaping crew as they did their work around the village grounds, and which caused more than a few accidents?

As a group, they did fairly well; some better than others. Starry Sky, the last of her generation, saw little need to try to learn a new language. The next generation, which included Anna, Maria and Carlita, learned key phases and could make themselves understood and, when the situation suited them, they could understand as well. It was Summer Rain and Angry Sky’s generation that adapted the fastest to their new surroundings. However, it was the infants that benefited the most. They became bilingual almost as quickly as they could learn to speak. They grew into the electronics age without missing a step, and became the interpreters and instructors for the older generations.

Not that everything went smoothly. There were some times when the tribal council brought demands from disgruntled members of the middle two generations to Jason and Anna’s attention.

“They want what!” Jason said to his wives at the breakfast table one morning.

“They want access to men once in a while. They are jealous of us sharing you. They need sex, and since there are no men here other than you, they want you to do something about it.”

“We can’t have them going out among the rest of the community yet; they’re not ready. Who knows what kind of trouble they could get into? They could ruin everything for all of us.”

“They understand that. What Carlita and Maria suggested and what they seemed to be in agreement with, is that we bring in, on a regular basis, a group of male escorts, sort of like a bachelorette party, maybe once a month or so. We could use the community center’s banquet hall, set up temporary screened-off rooms and using those mattresses that we used that first night.”

“Absolutely not; I won’t have this village turned into some sort of brothel.”

“Well, what’s the alternative? Are you going to hold another ceremony once a month?”

“No, of course not. I guess you’re right; but we will have to keep it low key. I do not want our girls involved. We can set up a baby-sitting service for those who need it. Maybe even having sleep overs with the grandmothers watching them.”

“Ok,” said Carlita, “Maria and I will set everything up. I think ten guys should be enough.”

The party took place three weeks later and featured ten male escorts from the largest escort service that Phoenix had to offer. Jason made sure to lay down the ground rules as to health and safety requirements and restrictions on the use of drugs and alcohol. The business end of the occasion was negotiated to the satisfaction of both parties and a time limit was set.

The event was attended by all of the adult women, with twenty-four participating in the after the dancing portion of the evening. By three o’clock in the morning, every escort had been visited by numerous very horny women and were totally exhausted as they staggered out to their cars. The event was considered an overwhelming success; but after several days to reconsider, it was decided by all involved that once every six months would be sufficient.

One day, shortly after celebrating their fifth year in the Village, an excited Anna approached Jason.

“I can’t believe I forgot all about it.”

“Forgot about what, dear?”

“Do you remember me telling you about the hidden cave on the other end of the valley? The one in which they held the male prisoner. I can’t believe I completely forgot about it at the time we were getting ready to leave. I never got a chance to try to find it.”

“Yes, I remember; everything was so hectic back then that I completely forgot about it as well.”

“I was talking to Morning Dove a few hours ago. I asked her if she ever saw an entrance to a cave along that wall of the valley.”

“Why ask her about it?”

“That was the side of the valley that she was assigned to when she stood sentry duty. She told me that she never actually saw the entrance to a cave, but from her sentry post on the rim of the valley she used to throw rocks down into the valley trying to hit what looked like a hole about ten feet from the valley floor.”

“Could she show us where it is?”

“That’s just it, whenever she went down into the valley, she could never find it. The only time she could see it was from above.”

“What if we were to walk along the valley wall, while she stood where her post was; does she think she could guide us to the spot?”

“There’s only one way to find out. The three of us are going to have to go up there and try.”

“Tomorrow’s Monday, there’s usually fewer people using the hiking trail after the weekend. We’ll leave here first thing in the morning.”

They got to the trail by nine o’clock the following morning. There were only two other car’s in the parking lot. Although all three of them were nearly fifty year of age, they had little trouble getting to the valley rim.

“I’ll go over to my old sentry post while you two head down to the valley floor and cross over to the back wall on the side were the bathroom was; then start walking towards me. I’ll tell you when to stop.”

When everyone was in position, Jason and Anna started to walk towards her keeping one eye on her and one eye on the valley wall. Morning Dove started picking up small stones and began throwing them towards where she thought the hole was.

“I see it,” she yelled down to them.” Keep coming my way. That’s it you are almost right in front of it. Stop, it’s right in front of you.”

Jason and Anna started to climb up the embankment to the base of the wall. Anna’s experienced eye saw the telltale signs of man’s hand changing what nature had created.

“Jason, we found it. Look it’s like the others only this one seems to have collapsed a little. That’s why she was able to see it from above. Hand me a flashlight.”