Chapter 72

I was so frustrated because the insectoid had committed suicide rather than face the possibility of banishment; but the worst part was he escaped my punishment, for what he did to me and what he almost forced me to do to my lovely Barbara. For that, I wish I could haunt him in his grave. But I will have to take my frustration out on the vileness of the people like Rachell and Nigeltrain. I would get even, just not in the way I wanted.

I went out into the main cave and saw it was almost lunch time. I sat at my normal seat and Angel, Grenna, and Bertron came to sit with me. We played word games and tickle monster until lunch was served. Then I got to feed all three and they tried to feed me. Needless to say we all three needed a shower and clean clothes after that fiasco. I sat down after lunch and called all the leaders by radio to see how they were faring. Wonder of wonders, no one had gotten hurt; no predators were seen, except a long way off. The work was progressing along nicely. Teague said they should have just about half of the field baled by the time they quit to come back for supper. Dignar said that they would cut about the same amount as we did yesterday, but he was cutting along the edge of the plateau so they would be closer to the edge for protection. I told all of them how proud I was of their work and accomplishments.

I went back into the office to talk with Fred. “Fred, do you think I am an evil person?”

“No Bob, I do not. I think that you have faced evil many times and can see it and yet it does not control you. Some people are ruled by evil, but you are not. You are capable of great evil, but only on your command, it does not command you. Why do you ask Bob? Is it because of what you are being asked to do and that you are willing to accept the responsibility of your actions? What you said to Kilnary and then to Gloria and me today proves that evil does not rule you. You told us that we would not want to know the horrors that you can and will unleash when needed. You shield us and others from those horrors and only allow them to happen for good and honest reasons. No Bob you are not evil in the least.”

“Thank you Fred, I have been worried about that. I thought that you would condemn me as evil because of what I did to Rachell today. I would not like to be judged as evil because I unleash vile things on other very evil people. I am their judge, jury and executioner all rolled into one. I give them no chance for continuing their evil ways. That is not always right, but sometimes it is necessary.”

“Bob you are, I would say, 99.99 percent of the time a compassionate, considerate and gentle man who, on occasion, can become a very vindictive, evil and ruthless man who knows no bounds against evil. Yet any man that can put his evil side away locked inside a vault in his mind and only use it for good purposes when it is needed; is a man I can call friend.”

“Thank you Fred, I am so glad to hear that. It worries me that I have to do the things I do, to make a world were evil is a distant memory, yet I too, am a part of that evil. I guess I would be a paladin for the human cause of truth, liberty, and justice for all. Now I guess I will have to spread out my cleansing in the prison system. I do not want Nigeltrain getting suspicious of my cleansing work.”

“Bob, that is how you should look at what you are doing and about to do; it is the cleansing of the evil works of others. You do a service that is unpleasant, but necessary. I would not want to have to do that job myself because I don’t think I have the temperament nor the skills for it. But it is a job that is necessary, just like a garbage man or a pest control man. You could consider yourself as a pest control operator. You provide for the elimination or relocation of pests. Even though the relocation is the cemetery, it is still relocation. Now enough about that; you need to go visit your work crews to make sure they are working properly. Let your mind relax and think about other things for a while. Also, don’t you need to go hunting again tomorrow? You will need to continue working on the hay tomorrow, but you also need to hunt for meat for this winter for your people.”

“I guess you are right, besides I need to talk to Lisa to see where the herds are and where she will be tomorrow. Thanks Fred you are a big help to my mental wellbeing.”

I went out into the garage, but not before kissing my wives left in the cave. I whispered to Barbara to get ready for more loving tonight and to tell the women we would be hunting tomorrow so the butchers and skinners could be ready. We had already carved up the hanging cats and bison in the cooler and wrapped them up for the freezer.

I called Teague and told him I was coming out to see how they were doing. When I got to the field in the other canyon, I saw what seemed to be a choreographed ballet of pure poetry in motion. Gerona was again raking the area that needed to dry some more, Ambat and Nadira were working in unison one about 20 yards in front of the other, going up the windrows of dried hay. Harlou and Westboh were supervising about 12 workers apiece to take the bales as they slid off the baler and set them on end, then when the second bale came off, that person walked it back to the previous bale and they leaned them together. They then went back to the line of workers for the next bales. Teague and 2 workers were making sure the bales were stable as well as checking to see if the next windrow over was dry enough to bale. There were about 2 windrows not baled in the section they were doing but I could see Gerona had already raked it again. This was where a tedder would really be helpful.

I came up to towards Teague and he came over after saying something to one of the workers with him, who I recognized as Grounto. The other worker with Teague was Haritof. I asked how things were working out and he said that so far everything was fine. They had found a couple of spots where the hay was not dry enough, but they just drove around them until they found dry hay again. He said that Gerona would rake the windrow again to kind of spread it out to dry and then come back later to rake it again. He said too that he was going to have Gerona re-rake the other area before they left tonight, so it could dry tonight and in the morning so they could start on the new section in the morning, once the dew was gone. I told him to keep up the good work and I left to go to the plateau.

Once on the plateau I drove out to the hill and talked with Eriken about what he had seen today.

“Bob, I saw some grass moving about 200 yards out, but then it just turned around and went back the way it came. I didn’t understand it, the tractor and ATV were at the other end of the field and I was alone here; weird huh?”

“Yes it is; other than that how is everything going?”

“Great, standing is getting tiring, but it’s something we need to do.”

I contacted Lisa and asked if she knew anything about our mysterious visitor earlier in the morning. She said one of her pride was down that way this morning and once he smelled our scent he turned around and came back. He was investigating the noise and movement we were making. Once he knew it was us, he left. I thanked her and said we would be hunting tomorrow and asked where the herds were. “Bob the bison herd is to your right and quite a ways away. They are headed towards you, but are moving slowly. There is an auroch herd also to your right but closer and further to the right of you. There is also a herd of aurochs to your left and is the closest of all.”