Trust : Why should I trust you?

Tell It to the Frogs

"I won't." I finished.

Then, Ed Peletier put a log in their fire, making the amber flames rise.

"Hey Ed, you wanna rethink that log?" Shane asked him. So he leads the group. Okay...

"It's cold, man." Ed replied to Shane.

"Cold don't change the rule's, does it? Keep our fires low, just embers. So we can't be seen from a distance, right?" Shane asked again.

"I said it's cold. You should mind your own business for once." Ed said.

Shane jumped up from his seat and walked over to Ed. 

"Are you sure you wanna have this conversation, man?" Shane asked quietly.

"Go on. Pull the damn thing out." Ed told Shane.

I watched, observed in silence as I noticed something was definitely up with Ed. His wife and daughter seemed a little, worried. Like something very bad was going to happen. 

Then, his wife, I've learned name is Carol, stood up from her seat and pulled the log out. Shane patted out the remaining embers on the log, and muttered something inaudible from my distance. Shane kneeled down, about four feet away from Carol and Sophia, who I now know is Carol and Ed's daughter, she's really nice and offered to let me use her pencil to draw with her and Carl earlier. I politely declined, for I was going to go grab a bite to eat.

"Hey Carol, Sophia. How are y'all this evening?" Shane asked them.

Then Carol responded and they had a small conversation that was hard for me to hear. Shane sat back down and Dale asked:

"Have you given any thought to Daryl Dixon? He won't be happy to heat his brother was left behind." 

"His brother?" I asked.

"Yeah. Brother. I dropped the key, it's on me." T-dog responded.

"I cuffed him, that makes it mine." Rick said.

"Guys, it's not a competition, I don't mean to bring race into this, but it might sound better coming from a  white guy." Glenn told everyone.

I looked around and wondered what Daryl Dixon was like. Was he like his brother? Where is he now, why isn't he here if he's with the group?

"I did what I did. Hell if I'm gonna hide from him." T-dog said.

"We could lie?" Amy interjected.

"Or we could tell the truth. Merle was out of control. Something had to be done or he'd have gotten us killed." Andrea commented. "Your husband did what was necessary. If Merle got left behind, that's nobody's fault but Merle's." She reassured Rick's wife, Lori.

"And that's what we tell Daryl?" Dale asked. "I don't see a rational discussion to be had from that, do you?" 

"How's he gonna react if we tell the truth? We should at least know what to prepare for." I added.

"He's gonna be mad. I don't know what he'll do. There's no way to know." Dale told me.

"Word to the wise, we're gonna have our hands full when he gets back from his hunt." Dale added.

"I was scared. And I ran. I'm not ashamed of it." T-dog said.

"We were all scared. We all ran. What's your point?" Andrea asked T-dog.

"I stopped long enough to chain that door. Staircase is narrow. Maybe half-a-dozen geeks can squeeze through at any one time. It's not enough to break through that. Not that chain, not that padlock.  My point - Dixon's alive." T-dog continued. "And he's still alive, handcuffed to that roof. That's on us."