Chapter 8: Sunday, November 18th, 2012 - 1000

Bill had to smile when he walked back into the earthship. Cherie was wearing a pair of his old jeans and a shirt. Mary had on a pair of Jimmy's cutoffs and a shirt. Both mother and daughter looked like little kids playing dress-up with their parent's clothes. All the clothes were too big.

Susan hadn't left any clothes other than some underwear at the property. She complained about wanting fresh washed things when she came up so always took them home. She didn't come up every time they made the trip. Rob, Jimmy and Bill came up at least once a month to work on something and some months twice. Susan only came up once every second or third month and was always appreciative of the progress being made. In her mind the properties build out moved forward in spurts.

"What?" Cherie asked defensively when she saw his smile. The one word question sounded kind of odd and she awkwardly kept the right side of her face toward him as she walked across the room.

Bill explained they looked like little kids playing dress up but his smile faded as he talked. He stopped her and turned her face toward him. Cherie had a large bruise that covered most of the left side of her face that was starting to turn yellow. Her lips were also swollen on that side of her face. Bill looked at Mary and saw that she also had a swollen lip and she had a black eye that was almost swollen shut.

"But you both look a lot better than you did yesterday," Bill concluded as he turned away and poured a cup of coffee.

He noticed it was a fresh pot because he had left it almost empty. He took a sip and smiled again appreciatively. "Your coffee tastes a lot better than mine." He shook his head and frowned at the coffee pot. "Susan's tastes a lot better than mine too. I don't understand. I put the same amount of coffee in the hopper. I put 12 cups of water in the reservoir. Why do yours and Susan's coffee taste so much better?"

Cherie tried to wiggle her eye brows but grimaced when she tried to move the left side of her face. "It's a woman thing," she mumbled, sounding odd by not moving her face when she talked and gave a weak smile.

"At least she has a sense of humor," Bill thought to himself.

"Mom showed me how to record the news on the short wave," Mary said. The statement sounded odd because it started out flat sounding and ended softly.

Bill looked at the young girl and noticed something strange about her too. Her demeanor was odd. Mary was sitting on one of the high bar stools that Susan had insisted on and she was framed by the soft spray of water behind her. What was odd about it was the way she was sitting and looking. She was wearing a pair of Jimmy's cutoffs but they were very big on her and the leg holes gaped open. The shirt was to big too and even buttoned it gaped open. Her hands were on her knees and as she spoke she looked at the floor. It wasn't as if she were embarrassed but more of an accepting, open, subservient look.

Bill looked questioningly at Cherie but she was just looking sadly at her daughter. No clue there about what was going on.

"Thank you honey," Bill said to Mary as he walked over to what Rob had dubbed the communications center. The short wave, cell amplifier, and AM/FM with powered antennas, and recorder were in a cupboard beside the catchment area. "Was there any good news?" he asked hopefully.

"Not really," Mary said just as softly as she turned on the stool so she was still facing Bill, head still bowed. "There is more news on the shortwave about Florida and some about the other states trying to fight back. The radio, Associated Press, said the government is trying to restore order. " Her shoulders hunched a little before she said, "I can't tell who the good guys are and who the bad guys are. Both the news and the shortwave seem to say they are trying to make things better but they both seem to be saying it different," she concluded with a catch in her voice, almost like a sob trying to escape.

Both Bill and Cherie reached Mary at the same time. Bill gently rested his hand on Mary's shoulder and Cherie cupped her daughter's cheek and she said, "Baby, we aren't sure either but we are safe for now."

"We can't tell from the news either honey," Bill said. "But all that stuff on the news is a long ways away. We know who the good guys and bad guys are here and we can handle that."

He tried to put as much confidence into his voice as he could. Bill really wasn't sure if they could handle it here. He was only one man. He felt sure that Cherie was mentally strong but if it came to a real battle, how would she hold up. He was worried. Bill knew that he needed Rob here.

Mary suddenly threw her arms around Bill and burying her face in his chest, started sobbing. They were the deep, soul wrenching sobs of a young girl that had lost all hope that her world would ever be the same again. She was trying to speak through the sobs but all Bill could make out was something about him being gone.

Bill looked over Mary's shoulder at her mother as he gently wrapped the young girl in his arms. "What?" he mouthed to her mother. To the young girl he just murmured, "That's alright Mary. Everything will be alright," over and over again.

Cherie didn't answer his silent question. She only stared at her daughter in bleak resignation and a tear rolled down her cheek too before she turned away.

Mary continued to cry those deep wracking sobs for almost 15 minutes. The sobs finally slowed to gasping hiccups but it was more from exhaustion than being convinced that everything would be better.

Bill continued to hold the young girl in his arms until her breathing was more or less normal again. Bill leaned back and looked at Mary seriously.

"Did you think I had left you?" Bill asked softly.

Mary just nodded her head and looked down as she hic cupped and gasped for breath again.

Bill gently cupped her chin and raised her head so she was looking into his eyes. "Mary, you don't really know me so I don't blame you for thinking I might have run out on you," he said softly. "But I want you to know that I won't leave you. I do have to go to the look out sometime and I need to go to the top of the other hills this afternoon to look for my son but, I will be back."

Mary's red rimmed eyes opened wide at the admission that he would be leaving. She didn't seem to hear the part about him coming back. A look of horror started blooming on her battered face when Bill got an idea and continued quickly.

"I will need some help when I go to the other mountains so maybe, if your mom says it is OK, you could come with me," Bill said hurriedly.

Cherie's head jerked up when she overheard his statement.

Bill caught the movement out of the corner of his eye and looking at the surprised mother, just shrugged.

"There are several things we need to do before we go," Bill continued. "You will need to be rested so you should take a nap, maybe an hour or so. Then, if your mom says it is OK, you need to know how to handle a pistol. If you go with me you go armed and know how it works. I need to leave here around 1:00 so that only gives us a few hours to get everything ready to go. Remember, your mom has to say it is OK," Bill reiterated one last time.

Mary looked at her mom and her face went from hopeful to sullen. "Mom, I can go. Right," she stated in a flat voice. It was clearly not a question.

Cherie jerkily nodded her head and her expression seemed to be of hopeless loss.

"Good. That's settled," Bill stated briskly. "We have two and a half hours before we need to be moving. You take a nap for an hour. A cry like that needs a nap so you can recuperate and I need you on top of your game when you go with me. I will pack what we need to take with us while you are napping. That will give me an hour to show you how a pistol or a rifle works. You won't be able to fire it but you will know which end the bullet comes out and a few other things."

Mary looked at Bill as he spoke and her face went through that transition from sullen to hopeful. She simply said, "OK," nodded her head, got off his lap and went to the bedroom they had used.

Bill watched her go in sympathy and a little confusion. He didn't understand the byplay between the mother and daughter. Bill got up from the chair he had landed in when Mary had thrown her arms around him after the door closed.

"Cherie, will you help me bring a few more things in from the truck?" he asked the mother.

Her jaw tightened but she nodded and followed him out. As always, he stopped at the door and looked around. He didn't see anything after watching and listening for a moment so he quickly walked across to the buried shipping container. He hurriedly unlocked the doors and stepped inside. Cherie followed him.

Bill handed Cherie a blanket that had been left in the truck and asked, "What was all that about?"

Cherie started to answer but a sob broke through her thin veneer of control and suddenly she was in his arms and crying as hard as her daughter. It had the same forlorn, hopeless quality too.

Bill was mystified but he just stood there holding her and murmuring the same meaningless phrases that he knew he couldn't back up. "That's alright," and "everything will be alright." Bill wished someone could tell him everything was going to be alright. He silently prayed for someone that could make him believe that it really would be alright.

Cherie didn't cry as long as her daughter but she had the same helpless look when she stopped.

"Cherie, you need to tell me what is wrong," Bill coaxed. "I can't help if I don't understand what is going on."

Cherie's jaw tightened again then her shoulders slumped and she leaned back against the tail gate of the pickup. She looked down, looking very similar to her daughter from a few moments before.

Bill hoped she was gathering her thoughts, and she was.

"Mary thinks I should have stopped those men yesterday. She blames me for what happened," Cherie started.

Her voice had a lost, forlorn quality about it that wrenched at Bill's heart. He wanted to cry for her.

"She thinks if we had stayed at the cabin that Uncle Frank and Aunt Nancy would have protected us," Cherie continued through fresh sobs. "I stayed between her and Uncle Frank's body when I rushed her to the car. I know if she would think about it she would remember Aunt Nancy's screams when we were sneaking away but she won't remember. I know what would have happened to her, to both of us if we had stayed. I know it, but can't convince her. Then I couldn't control the car when those men hit us and drove us off the road. All she can think about is that I should have been able to get away because they get away in the movies. She doesn't understand that this is real and movies are not."

Bill stepped in front of Cherie and enfolded her in his arms again while she continued. Her words were muffled against his chest but he could understand her. Cherie's arms went around his waist and she held him as if he were the last bit of sanity in a world gone mad.

"She blames me Bill," Cherie sobbed into his chest. "She blames me that she lost her virginity like that and that we are up here in the middle of nowhere. She thinks if we had just stayed home then everything would be alright and we would be safe. Now she has convinced herself that the only way she can be safe is to be close to you," Cherie concluded between loud sobs.

After that the poor mother just cried herself out, again, against Bill's chest. Bill thought about the problem. He also thought about something his dead wife had told him once in anger. Women want to tell someone what is wrong. Men are always trying to fix whatever the problem is when all that is really needed is to just listen. He wondered if this was one of those times that he was supposed to just listen. Finally he decided and thought to himself, "Damn it to hell, I am a man so I might as well act like one and there is no sense in trying to second guess my judgment."

Bill leaned back and raised Cherie's chin and looked at her tear stained face. "Cherie, I do need to go to a lookout point we made on those hills to the south of us. How about I take Mary along and talk to her. I was serious about showing her how to work the pistol and you can help with that. OK?"

Cherie just nodded her head between the sniffles and choked sobs that would break from someplace deep inside.

"Cherie," Bill said trying to calm the mother. "She still loves you but she has been traumatized. She will figure out that it is wrong to blame you. Don't worry. OK?"

Cherie just nodded again between sobs.

"Will you be OK here by yourself?" Bill asked. When her eyes widened at the realization that she would be alone he hurriedly reassured her. "You will be fully armed and we have enough ammunition here to start world war three. You will also have the two-way to contact us. OK?"

Cherie's sobs slowed to the now familiar hiccups and she wiped her eyes with her arm. "Thank you Bill for all you have done. I'm surprised that you don't just kick us out for all the trouble we are causing you," she said between the hiccups.

"No honey," Bill said gently. "I wouldn't kick you out for causing my trouble. My late wife said the primary mission of women on earth was to cause men trouble so I couldn't kick you out for what comes naturally to you as a woman."

Cherie smiled at the weak attempt at humor. "Thank you Bill. I can't ever repay you. Thank you."

Bill smiled back and straightened as he said, "You can thank me when we are finished lady," in an attempt to sound like John Wayne. In his normal voice he said, "We will get out of this mess if possible but let's tackle the problems one at a time. Right now the problem is getting your daughter back on track."

Cherie grimaced and straightened saying, "And that isn't going to be easy. What that man did to her yesterday really messed with her mind."

Bill took her arm and guided her out of the shed in deep thought. He didn't say anything until after he closed the lock he took her arm again to slowly walk toward the house.

"I think there are several problems Cherie," Bill started. "She doesn't feel safe so we need to find a way to make her confident she can protect herself. Showing her how to use a pistol and a rifle is one step towards that goal. She is blaming you for something that couldn't possibly have been your fault. I can talk to her about that but don't know how to convince her different. Do you have any ideas?"

Cherie shook her head and said, "All I know to do is play it by ear."

"Let's start with the weapons instruction and I will take her with me when I go up to the far lookout today. That will at least keep her from freaking out. Is that OK with you," Bill asked?