Eliot Strange and the Prince of the Resistance

13) Back to Business

The next morning Steven and I are back on sentry duty at the front of the property. The camp numbers have dwindled some. There is talk of moving on, but since we are waiting on word about the kids on the bus, we have to stick around, even though we are probably not safe here anymore. Those three "deviants", as Clay calls them, and all the world seem to know that we are hiding a prince in what is plain sight.

The only people on the road today are worn out groups of women and the elderly with a few children. They probably think they are in paradise now after they discover the set of cherry trees, though I would be surprised if they are not picked clean by now. I know they'll be more disappointment when they reach our camp and realize food is scarce there too.

Steven and I are soon bored. I have barely seen Steven in the last few days, and Tommy has a new duty now, so I finally have time to catch up on the romance between my best friend and his new distraction.

"I wouldn't call it a romance," says Steven.

"What do you call it? You been spending a lot of time with him. How's the kissing going?"

"A gentleman never tells."

"Oh really, Steven. Really. I tell you everything. Sex? Is it happening. All the dirt, tell me every little dirty secret."

"Oh, ok," Steven says because he is dying to tell me. "The kissing is divine. Not sex yet. He is very young, and I am by no means an expert in the area, you know that. We are taking it slow. You know, kind of like you and Patrick did."

"Hmm? Not so slow, then?"

"Well, slow by today's standards. You know the end of the world is making everybody's inhibitions go out the window," says Steven as his hands show a bird flying out the window.

"I wish you would quit saying the world has ended, Steven."

"Funny, but you know what I mean. You've seen it too."

Steven is right. Everyone left in camp seems to be paired up and doing it. Some with more than one person. It does seem like desperate times are making people take risks and opportunities they might not normally take. Walls and inhibitions and taboos are not going down, they are down. Everyone is having sex, or so it seems to me and Steven.

At least, he seems to be getting some action from Tommy the divine kisser.

Me, I got nothing to report.

"What about you and Prince Torin?" asks Steven.

"Not much, I hate to admit. I have hardly seen him, and I haven't got so much as a kiss except for on the top of my head like a mama kisses her child. Right now I would settle for a ten minute conversation without Clay around."

Steven loves to act like an expert in matters of royalty:

"Prince Torin does seem to be different now. It's tough being a leader. We are probably seeing the real Torin, what it is like to be a prince - always doing official duties and having to be perfect all the time. Doing what is expected - that's a lot of pressure."

"Yeah, it is," I say out loud trying to convince myself that Torin belongs to the people and not me. I guess he always did belong to his people. I do not understand at all. I guess we assume that the rich and famous have fabulous lives, but the truth is we all got stuff to worry about.

I don't tell Steven everything because I don't tell him that things seem to have cooled between me and Torin. I don't know why. It seems like I am a friend now, and not even a good, good friend, but one you sit with at lunch because they always sit at your table with your other friends. As I am thinking this, I'm thinking, how silly I must seem to a man. I still think of myself in high school, and I would be if the world was not over. Why would a real man, a man of the world, want me? I'm a girl in a time when a man needs a real woman.

I gotta a lot of growing up to do.

I don't tell Steven about me and Torin because if I tell him how I am feeling and voice it out loud, then it makes my thoughts real. It makes me a silly school girl in love with someone she will never have.

It sucks being a silly school girl. I don't like it at all.

Steven and I are so bored that I almost doze off until he shakes me awake.

"Look, two people coming. Soldiers?" Steven asks.

I watch the two approach and get my binoculars out of my bag. Something about them looks familiar. I believe it is a man and a woman, and then I am sure it is a woman because there is a swaying of the hips. A twitch, a slight wiggle that says "look at me and watch me". I know that walk. That walk is unmistakable. Steven readies his rifle to fire twice in the air. I pull his arm down.

"Wait," I say, "That's no soldier, That's Carli."

My cousin is not lost or dead. She is headed our way. I want to run to her, to scream at her, to hug her so tight she can't catch her breath. But, I am unsure if she is enemy or family now.

Steven is, as usual, more open-minded and willing to forgive. He starts laughing with excitement.

"Yes, it is. I can see that now. She's all right, Elie. She is alive. She must have escaped." He looks through the binoculars again. "Who's with her?"

I look closely at the man walking beside her. His gate, his stride, his watchful approach. All tell me what I need to know. "Go ahead, Steven. Fire the shots. Carli is with a soldier."