A Crying Shame (48 page)

She did more than well. She was one of those people who are not at all gunshy: she did not flinch, and she blew hell out of any target Jon pointed out or set up for her. She had been well-trained.

Jon nodded his approval.
When you leave the house—for any reason—this over/under goes with you. After you put on your jeans in the morning, the .380, in leather, is the second thing you put on. Both weapons go with you when you leave the house. Before you open the door, front or back, you will check your weapons, make certain they are loaded, and you will take the spare clip and the shell-belt with you. Understand?”

She slowly nodded her understanding, her eyes serious.
They'll be back, won't they?”

Jon pulled no punches at work. And this was his work.
Probably tonight.”

 

The five oldest males, leaders of their tiny clans, met under a cypress tree, on a blanket of damp moss, to talk of their mutual problem.

A grizzled old male, his chin solid gray, grunted and signaled,
I remember my grandfather saying, more than sixty springs ago, that one day this would happen.”

Your grandfather spoke of the madness?”

No, no.” The old Link brushed away the question.

He spoke of the day our way of life would end.”

It has not ended yet,” the youngest of the elders said grimly.
And I, for one, will not lie down and let the humans kill me. Not without a fight.”

A fight is what we are trying to avoid,” he was reminded.

That cannot be.” He was wise, although the youngest.
And you all know that is true. I believe that we must decide, at this time, whether we are to live in cages, as the human women have talked of, or whether we will die as free beings, in the place of our birth. Our place.”

I agree with the young one,” one elder spokesman said.
If the humans come into our swamp, attempting to destroy us, we must fight.”