Colonel Seeders' Mail Order Bride, Hank

18 Michelle

The market, as both Hank and Hawk called it, looked exactly like a fruit and vegetable market. Stalls filled with strange and colourful fruit; Umbrellas, similar to the beach umbrellas on Earth, but bigger, covered the long tables; People buzzing around in search of whatever they needed; and kids running between the tables and their parents legs as they played their own version of tag.

Hank pulled her to the first table filled with familiar fruit and berries. "Fill a basket. Nothing will go to waste. Hawk loves those red things," he said, pointing at the strawberries.

She took two punnets of strawberries, a few grapes, a box of peaches - her favourite - and a bag of apples. It all went into a large silver trolley that Hawk pushed for them. At the next table she took a bunch of vegetable, also from Earth, which also went into the trolley.

They stopped at a table that had baskets filled with nuts, raisons, dried fruit - some of which she did not recognise-, and what appeared to be acorns.

"We do not like those. They have a nasty aftertaste," Hank said.

The girl behind the table, no older than Michelle, with long black hair braided into three plats, said, "You are meant to crack them open and roast them. You can grind them to make a beverage or eat them when you get indigestion."

Michelle took a small bag, just so that they can try it and promised to return if they liked it. She also took a few bags of the other nuts and dried fruit, explaining that it would be good for Hawk to nibble on between meals. She mixed a few of the nuts and fruit into one small bag and gave it to him to eat while they shopped.

When they got to the tables with all of the Trachtarian vegetables, the woman explained it all to her. She had a friendly smile but the same bob-haircut as many of the women Michelle had seen.

"Do all the women around here go to the same hairdresser?" she asked when they were a safe distance away from the table.

"There is only one and she does not know how to cut hair. Her mother owned the shop before her," Hank explained.

Okay, I have another question," she asked and then stopped walking to look up at Hank. "I don't mean disrespect to any of the women here, but do are they not able to buy those gadgets that you bought for me?"

Hank looked around at all the tables before he spoke. "Most of these women can afford it. I do not understand why they choose to cut their hair off. I've always thought that a woman with long hair looks more attractive. If you had to cut off all those curls, I would be very displeased. Not that I have a right to stop you if you choose to do it. I just mean that they are very pleasing to the eye."

Michelle scrunched up her nose, but could not stop the smile from spreading across her face. "I've never liked my hair. The curls knot and then I have to waste precious time brushing it out. With those new tools that you bought, it only takes a few seconds to style it and pin it up."

She touched her hair to make sure that it all still held fast, but then Hank yanked the clip from her hair and let it all tumble free.

"If it knots, I will help you brush it out. It is nicer when it is loose."

She reached for the clip, but he held it up, out of her reach. "I will leave it loose at home. I just do not want anyone recognising me. Whoever followed us could be watching."

The actual reason she wanted it pinned up was to relieve some of the pressure off her aching head. Though the clouds hung thick in the sky, the heat still affected her. Until she spoke the words, using the stalker as her excuse, she never once thought that her hair could actually give her away. How many women on Trachtaria had long curly, brown hair. None as far as she had seen.

Hank helped her pin her hair up again. "It is a shame that you need to hide those curls, but you are right. I did not think how dangerous it could be for you out here in the open. I have not felt anyone watching us, but I was not paying attention. I am sorry."

"Oh, don't apologise," Michelle said quickly. "I enjoyed our shopping trip, but I'm getting a headache. I guess I'm not used to all this fresh air and it's a lot hotter than it had been the last few days. I'm still getting used to the different climate here."

"We will finish up and go have lunch. After that we can get back home where you will be safe and you can rest. I will go with Hawk to collect his catches from his snares and we will make you some dinner."

"That's not necessary. Why don't I start dinner and then you and Hawk can go see what he caught. If there is anything that you would like me to make, you can clean it and explain what I'm meant to do with it. I will still have to take some time to go through some recipes, but your books are not in English," Michelle said.

"I will call up a translator and we can figure out the recipes together. Let's go pay. I am hungry," Hank said and just to prove his point, his stomach rumbled. "Really hungry."

They went to a steakhouse, instead of a fancy restaurant like the one from the previous day. It looked and smelled like any other steakhouse she had been to with her parents. Tables were set out in rows. The couches were covered in a light brown fur, but Hank chose to sit at a separate table set for three people. Hawk explained that they always sat at the same table when they ate out.

Naturally, Hank had to sit on the chair that faced the door so that he could keep watch. Unfortunately, he did not see the man coming from the side, before he grabbed Michelle by the hair and pulled her out of her seat.

"You think you can hide from us? We are everywhere."

Without thinking, she stepped back, bringing her elbow back sharply, right into the man's gut. His stomach wobbled just like Robert's did when she stabbed him. With that thought in her head, she spun around, grabbed the large man by the hair, brought her knee up just as she pulled down and then kicked out with as much strength as she could muster up.

He stumbled back and somehow tripped over a leg that appeared from under a table behind him. He grabbed for the table cloth and brought steaming hot plates down onto himself. In seconds the owner of the leg wrapped the table cloth around his face and slammed the fat Whallestraton's head into the ground, a few times, until he stopped struggling to get up.

"What did that man say to you?" Hank asked.

"He said they are everywhere. He's a Whallestraton. I studied the language so that I could understand my boss. He usually switched languages so that no one in the office could understand him. I had a few recordings of his conversations and used a translator at first, so that I could type out the notes he needed for meetings. After a while I just found it easier to learn the language."

"We need to discuss what happened to you. If I am to protect you, I need to know what happened," Hank said.

So the day had come. She had her last meal with Hank and Hawk and she would be sent off to who-knew-where. He might just call the general to come get her, though she doubted that Hank could be that cruel.