Village

Village Part 5

The Meadows - Meeting Center

Five Elders sat in simple wooden chairs behind a crescent shaped table. The woman in the middle was old. If someone asked you how old, you might say eighty or so. Then you would have looked into her wild blue eyes and noticed that there were not as many wrinkles around the eyes as you originally thought. You would have noticed the grey hair was actually more white than grey, or maybe silver now that you mention it. And though she took her time sitting down, maybe it was only because she wanted to time. That she didn't look fragile, just calm. And when she looked you in the eyes after you were finished giving her the once over, you would have immediately looked away, although you would have not been able to articulate why.

"Erik Velling, Law, present."

"Hannah RokkJaer, Technology/Imports, present."

"Jakob Behrens, Worlds Best Coffee Maker, present."

"Leif Kastrup, Livestock, present."

"Gry, present."

Erik began, "Call to order the business for the evening. The Chosen One. Breeding. Internet access. Addendum, briefing update to include possible viewing of journals."

"Gry?"

"Let it begin."

"Well, surely we should begin with Internet access," began Jakob with mock seriousness.

"For the love of God," interjected Erik.

Hannah sighed and took a drink from her steaming mug.

Jakob continued, "How many java shops do you know without wireless? Killing my business. Killing it," he said, looking around the table for support. It didn't matter what was up for discussion, Jakob would bring it down to his level. And if the rest didn't like it, well, then screw them and the horse they rode in on.

"Any news on the Chosen one?" Leif tried.

"Not on my end," Hannah offered.

"Nothing for me," Erick said.

"Nope"

"Nothing"

Gry looked at Hannah. "And the supposed couple pretending to take pictures while they scouted out our entire town?"

Hannah hesitated.

"Raney Halberg marked them as leaving early this morning."

"Is that so?" Gry asked.

"That's what he said."

"Hmph," Erik added.

Gry said, "We'll send the Sweepers early and, Leif, you check the Festival for those two."

"Yes, mam."

"Hannah, dial up Richard. Make sure we have the Jets ready."

"Done, Mam. Sir Richard says everything is a go."

"Excellent."

"Jakob" said Gry.

"Yes, Mam."

"I need you to stay focused. I have a very bad feeling about today."

Gry was the glue. She was the wisdom. The others had their specialties and they were very good at what they did, but without Gry to hold their disparate ways in check and keep order amongst the chaos, things would not run so smoothly. Well, as smoothly as something like this could be expected to run. Only two of the people sitting at the table had ever heard her say these words before. This did not inspire confidence. It inspired fear. It was the equivalent of your father telling you to be careful when you went to sleep tonight because there might be monsters in your closet. But if you would have told a child of the Meadows that there was a monster in their closet, they would have laughed at you. They knew exactly where the monster was and the exact three days out of the year when the monster came.

"Yes, Mam," Jakob said in a tone as serious as could be expected of Jakob.

Gry turned to Leif.

"The sheep?"

"I think most." He sighed and looked over at Hannah. "But again with Raney. I don't think he moved his across. He's been a little stubborn as of late. Got a cell phone is what I hear. Although I don't see how he's got reception anywhere around. Maybe it's a walkie, not sure."

Erik stopped silently judging the conversation long enough to enter it.

"I don't see why we keep entrusting these things to him when he will clearly be a Traveler problem in less than a year. And no offense, but a counter is a rather important position, Mam."

Gry shuffled in her seat but did not address the question.

"One little, two little, three little Indian..." Jakob was mumbling absent-mindedly to himself. No one paying him attention.

Gry said, "Everyone is leaving early, so after the churches let out, we wait an hour and begin pre-sweeping. Now, on to breeding. Leif, would you like to start us off? We have a list of the new people, Hannah?"

Hannah pointed a remote at an over-sized flat screen in the front of the room. An infographic style picture came up. Gry liked big pictures; worth a thousand words, she said. Keep it simple, she said. It was a family tree of the six people they had carefully chosen as possible additions to the village. People who could offer something to the village. People who were open to new ways of thinking and extolled diversity. People who believed in God. Yes, they had to believe in God.

Leif tried to explain the breeding program without making it sound like some form of Nazi eugenics. Erik's smirk was a static painting on his birdlike face. Jakob watched with dreamy eyes. Hannah kept checking her tablet under the table. It did sound like Nazi eugenics, but maybe it was necessary now that the village population was shrinking.

Gry was shaking her head at Leif every now and then to keep his spirits up. Maybe this would help with quality of life in the village. Yes, that was important too. A new face. A new perspective. New conversations.

But deep down Gry was only thinking about one thing. The Tethered One. And why he wasn't already showing himself.

She stared at the infographic and was the only one at the table who wasn't feeling a little guilty about luring people to the village, knowing what they knew.

But she would have lured a million women and children here if necessary.

Whatever it took to keep the Tethered One properly tethered.