Chapter 28

I woke up, and for some reason I didn't feel alone on the couch where I slept. Feeling the little body cuddled up to me, I realized that Sarah, sometime during the night, had slipped into the bed with me. It was light enough that I could see her hugging her teddy bear as she lay next to me. I felt a little irritated at first, but thinking about it, I knew I was overreacting. I lay back down, listening to her soft breathing, remembering my daughter and how many times she had slipped into bed with me when she was little. Although I was a light sleeper for some reason she, and now Sarah, never seemed to wake me when they did. Any other movement or noise never failed to bring me wide awake from the soundest sleep. I wondered where my daughter and hers were now, and if they were safe.

I finally managed to slip out without waking her and went in to do my morning thing. This morning I speeded up 'cause I just knew there would be a knock on the door saying a little someone had to pee. I chuckled to myself because almost as soon as I had my socks and pants on, that little knock sounded. "Are you gonna be much longer, Pops? I really have to go." I opened the door with my boots in my hand and she rushed past me, shutting the door as she went inside. I sat down on her couch, lacing my boots, chuckling to myself as I did. I stopped by the bathroom door and told her to wash up and get dressed as I would be in the dining room waiting on her. "Don't forget to brush your teeth." "I will!" was the reply as I went out. When I got to the dining room I only saw four or five women, sitting around looking half asleep. Then I finally looked at my watch and got a helluva shock. 4:00 AM! What the hell was I doing up this early I wondered. I drew a cup of coffee from the seemingly never empty pot on the table by the wall. I went and sat down near the pot, sipping my coffee, thinking about what I was going to do today. A rather large woman got up and came to where I was sitting and sat down across from me. She seemed familiar, but I had never been introduced to her as far as I could remember.

"Marshal, my name is Gertie. I was the head cook here before all this happened."

"What can I do for you, Gertie?"

"I would like to talk to you about that little girl you brought in."

I had known that someone would ask, but it was the way she asked that got me a little pissed. I sat my cup down and looked her straight in the eyes as I asked; "What about her?"

Looking at me in the eyes, her whole demeanor changed and she seemed like she shrunk in stature. I never got to hear her answer because Brenda came over to sit down and noticed my look and tension.

"Gertie what the hell do you think you are doing? This isn't what we agreed on and you were told by the committee not to even try. Now take your ass back to your table before I lose my temper and do something which you will regret. We will be having a talk about this later this morning."

She was up and almost ran back to where she had been sitting and heavily plopped down in the chair, looking white faced when she noticed I was still watching her.

"Ok, Brenda, what was that all about and what is this committee you mentioned?"

"Marshal, the committee is just several of the women who are living here. We were elected by majority among just the women. We decide babysitting, assigning laundry and cleaners and who does the cooking. Now, I am sorry about Gertie. She is an old spinster who doesn't think that men should raise little girls without a woman's supervision. She started complaining that you should let one of us women take care of Sarah. I, as well as several others, told her to mind her own business. But from what I saw here just a minute ago, I think she is returning to her tendency to meddle. Marshal, Shelly and Sarah have become friends, with you being the focus of both of them. There is an age difference, but Shelly will be like a big sister to her. Shelly likes you as much as she liked my father before he passed last year. Barry and I have talked about it and we think it is healthy for her to have someone older to talk to besides us. Sarah has already made it very plain that as long as you will have her, she is staying with you. I think maybe that between both of them they will keep you from doing anything stupid while you are out roving. We all know you are under a lot of pressure to make sure all of us are safe and we all, even Gertie, appreciate it. Don't be too upset with her because she loves children and would probably give up her own life to protect all of them if it came down to it. She just has notions about kids and men that she will never give up. I think that she was molested many years ago and in turn made taking care of and guarding the kids her mission in life. She really has a kind heart, Marshal."