The Enthusiasts

16

"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." – T.S. Eliot

A secret knock, which the camp had agreed on several years ago, consisted of three kicks to the bottom of the steel door followed by the phrase, "I accept the risk." Emerson performed the secret knock as quickly as possible as he and Sasha anxiously waited outside for a response. Sasha's heartbeat quickened as the dog's heart rate slowed in what she was hoping to be nothing more than a short nap the stray was taking in her arms as they waited for an answer.

Achak was playing a game of solitaire, solo, using a very worn deck of cards, void of all jokers, while holding several outliers in the form of hand-drawn numbers written in Sharpie on white placard paper. They replaced cards that were missing from the spade suit, which ultimately resulted in the deck being deemed unsuitable for group play by the camp. The cards were organized in descending columns, laid out in front of Achak on top of an overturned bucket. He was on night watch. He had sat so remarkably still over the last two hours on his own overturned bucket, repurposed this time as a seat, without so much as a leg scratch of involuntary movement. He listened for any recognizable sounds coming from the other side of the well-disguised door. His seating quarters were in the perfect corner, shielding him nearly completely from wind. He hadn't laid a card down in over an hour. He just sat, listening, in ass-numbing silence. It was just after seven p.m. by his best guess given the season and sunset passing. The young man impressed many with his uncanny ability to tell time naturally — even more accurately than Sasha. If you asked him how he did it, the best response he could give was that it just felt like that time. He had brought his cherished four-foot-tall cannabis plant out into the yard for the only full and direct sunlight to be had that day. He had pulled a small, ripened bud off one of the stems and smoked it in his wooden pipe shortly after beginning his evening watch for the third night in a row. It was atypical for someone to work back-to-back night shifts, but Achak insisted without saying much other than placing his bucket and cards down next to the door each night. His silent request went unchallenged by any other camp members who were all too happy to oblige his request to work all night as they got some treasured shut-eye.

Achak looked at the potted plant he had wrapped in plastic for its own protection. The leafy cannabis plant stood only slightly below his standing eye level and he seemed to be saying his goodbyes to it. It was far too cold out. He would have to bring it back inside soon, if only these damn cards would let me win, he thought. He wanted to finish the game with himself before leaving. The imaginative part of him had sort of pretended that he was actually playing against the plant... He smiled momentarily after realizing that the idea of playing cards with a plant is only intriguing if you're pretty damn high to begin with, which he now realized must have been the case with himself. Achak breathed in the cool night air, looked at his green potted companion, and said quietly, "Okay, time for you to go back inside." He nearly toppled off his stool when he heard,

BANG BANG BANG

"I ACCEPT THE RISK," Emerson's sharp yet muffled voice rang through the wall.

Achak jumped up with a startle, listening closely to the pass phrase to ensure it was correct. He unlatched the reinforced steel plating which was barring entry and opened it hastily. Again, he was possibly even more startled at the appearance of Emerson holding two grocery bags and Sasha holding an injured German Shepherd than he had been whence hearing the knock which had uncharacteristically taken him by surprise as he sensed no forewarning of it.

"Holy velp, I thought you might not make it!" Achak blurted out, taking Emerson's bags from him. All three entered, and Achak quickly barred the door closed again behind them.