Chapter 12

Dear Brother Will,

Oops, I just realized that I made you sound like some lay monk or something and from your tales its pretty clear that you aren't living the life of any monk I've ever heard of. I also am a bit surprised that you are so happy to accept that you are a slave. I know that the laws of this new Confederacy makes concubines little more than slaves, but I would have thought that you were more than one.

Schools out for the summer. My grades haven't arrived, but I'm confident that the worst grade I received was an A- in science. I just never managed to get comfortable with the subject. I'd rather be out doing things than in some lab trying to mix chemicals and recording the reactions.

Erica and I went to the orientation for the new class. Wow, I don't want to say what it is yet, but Erica was right, it looks like a ton of fun. We were told that most people signing up either did as a single expecting the instructors to pair them up or full teams. Technically two people isn't a full team, but after a consultation with the Confederacy they decided to leave us alone and not add anyone. We did have our first class and it's a bit awkward with two people but Erica and I worked out a way to split the work. We actually came in fourth in our first exercise despite only having the two of us. There are currently thirty-six groups in the training. I'll keep what it is a secret for a bit longer. You definitely wouldn't approve if you knew what I was doing.

I took your suggestion about John. Erica has been living with her great-aunt a surprisingly tough spinster who is sixty-seven. The woman has been very nice and has been willing to act as a surrogate grandmother for John. We are using that both as a means to keep Grandpa Pickering away and to keep John happy. Mother is trying her best, but she's been involved in a lot of minor legal issues. Grandpa Pickering is trying to get her declared mentally incompetent so that he can try to gain custody of John. He's spending a lot of money on lawyers, but it still feels slimy. Mom has slammed the door in his face several times.

I've run into Grandpa's friend Mitchell Pratt a couple of times. He's a complete jerk. I can understand how he got the CAP he did, the man talks about the various natural and physical forces with an authority and knowledge that impresses me. He's strong, healthy and from what I've seen definitely impresses the ladies. When he does visit he always has at least two with him. The women seem a bit hard through. They don't smile and rarely say anything unless Mitchell says something to them. I think I confuse him because I refuse to act like he impresses me. He might if he wasn't such a jerk.