Indivisible (Overlooked by Liberty) (36 page)

      
The glint in Billy Winifred's eyes changed to confusion.  Then to disappointment.  The look of shame Bill shot at his father would haunt the President for decades to come.

Balsams Pond, New Hampshire (August 11)

      
Thad stood on a boulder above Balsams Pond, fishing.  Helen and Chaos sat on a grassy knoll overlooking Thad, with the resort's charred remains in the background.  Though the structure made by mortals lay desolate, traces of bright green speckled the scorched woods surrounding the resort, life's eternal ability to start anew.  High sun of late August baked Helen's bare legs as she propped herself up with both elbows to soak her face with the remaining rays of summer.  Breathing deeply, she took in the fragrances of hemlocks and goldenrod before fall kills and winter covers nature with her blanket of snow.

      
Chaos' head was still wrapped.  He relaxed flat on his back with his black, Mail Pouch Tobacco hat over his face.  They sat on a large blanket, a cooler and picnic basket beside it.

      
Helen watched Thad from the other side of the pond.  "Do you think Thad will ever talk again?"

      
"I expect so," said Chaos with his baseball hat still over his face.  He lifted his hat and sat up to look at the slender, brown-haired boy casting into the water.  "Is he a keeper?" 

      
"He is a keeper.  His mother abandoned him, and I plan on adopting the boy."  Helen had realized through the ordeal that she must get on with her life.  Barry would always be with her in sleep's brighter scenes; inexplicably, the images of the Dixville horror faded in the shadows.  Another child needed to be taken care of.

      
"Thad will make a fine son."  Chaos shifted his eyes toward Helen to catch her expression, "But he needs two parents who love one another."

      
She understood, and reached for his hand.  Helen continued to be attracted to Chaos, but events whirling around her made it difficult for Helen to know when infatuation changed to love.  The philosopher, the poet, the patriot, Chaos was all of those.  He had been her friend and lover, enduring her tirades, her frustrations, her torment of outliving her child.  He had given her an unconditional commitment; he had been patient; he had been thoughtful.  The characteristics in a man as charming as him were hard to find.

      
"You've got what's left of me."  He rubbed the side of his head; the wound itched during the healing process.  "Did you have to shave my hair off?"

      
Helen smiled, "You still look good to me."

      
The fighting was over for now.  The disillusionment from Winifred's son had toppled the Presidency.  He resigned from office shortly after the Dixville battle.  Of all the weapons, the love of his son had proven the most powerful.  Margaret Sorenson had taken over as President.  Her first act had been to fire Chief of Staff Lucas Bennett.  Sorenson had always hated Bennett, she vowed to investigate his antics.  Sorenson also reinstated General Paz as Secretary of Defense.  She announced a plan to initiate a less centralized government.  She had always been sympathetic to the cause.  President Sorenson wanted to meet with the leaders of the covenants; Helen was now the head of Colebrook's Covenant.

      
To Helen's disappointment, Max had set the Balsams Lodge bombing.  It was believed, but not established that Vanessa Larson might have also been involved; Captain Thomas had died of knife wounds in his back.  If proven, the Covenant agreed she would be turned over to the White House.  They never found out who launched the model plane attack on the Oval Office.  Snake claimed that their part of the Triad had had nothing to do with it.  Evidence pointed to a militant faction in Island Pond, Vermont.  They might never know.  One thing for certain, there was no turning back.  Sorenson knew that compromise was a must to hold the Union together.  Once Steve Morrison's channel aired in-depth, covenants formed across the nation.  The blood spilled in the North Country and Boston had been the catalyst.

      
Steve Morrison remained in New Hampshire, taking over the communication hub at Max's deer camp as a means to get his stories out to Spectator News.  He walked up the knoll to deliver an E-mail note from Billy Winifred to Helen.  Steve waited for a response as she read it.

        
The story pulled out a sigh from Helen.  "Billy wanted to tell me he is sorry about his dad being behind the Feds.  He asked if the Akela would write him back . . . and he wondered if he was still part of the Ghost Pack."

      
Chaos spoke up, "He must have been with the Rousell boys at Max's computer and remembered the E-mail address."

       
"You bet I'll write him," Helen continued.  "None of this was his fault.  I'm sure he'd appreciate a note from Thad, too."  Helen shook her head, "The boy must have given his father the Rousell's version of events.  It had to have been an eye-opener for the President to learn his own son was one of the rebel forces."

      
Chaos added, "Butch and Thad's role in this whole thing has been grossly understated.  Butch and his oath secured the loyalty of my triad when Helen stood up to my brother.  And of course, the Rousells' rescued Billy Winifred."  The Southerner appreciated Butch and Thad's role in securing the loyalty of the rebels: The Mountain Boys had a special place in their hearts for the families victimized by the Dixville Massacre.  Helen was the embodiment of that tacit alliance.

      
Helen directed a question to Steve, "Are you anxious to get back to the newsroom?"

      
"Well," Steve hesitated as he looked past Helen to Chaos, "I'm staying here.  If you'll have me?"

      
"Of course."  But Helen had to ask, "Why have you decided to stay in Dixville, Steve?"

      
Steve recalled the campfire conversation with the young rebel Crucible, "Someone once told me 'You know you're home when you're willing to fight for it.'"  Morrison discovered that objective reporting was a euphemism.  If something is wrong, if something must be done, merely taking pictures of the event is as immoral as participating in the act.  Ultimately, he had chosen sides for the first time in his life.

      
Morrison turned and started walking up the slope.  Chaos yelled out and stopped him, "Steve!" the Southerner gave him a thumbs-up.  "Thanks."  Morrison smiled sparingly and returned the gesture.

      
Chaos told Helen about what Steve had done with the Armdriod unit back at the bunker.  "He can't go back, they'd convict him."  Chaos rubbed his eyes; he was tired. 

      
Helen looked down at the pond and watched Thad standing on a boulder above the water.  He reeled up his line and held up a tiny Bluegill for Helen to see.  Helen and Thad smiled at one another as though they had always been family.

      
"You know," said Helen, "some of the Scouts in town swear this pond is haunted, but the rumor doesn't seem to bother Thad."  Her comment caused a lull in conversation.

      
After all the turmoil, Thad was back on Balsams Pond taunting fish as Barry had a year ago.  In the sun's glare, he was the spitting image of her son.

-

      
Fall's twilight glow softens the reds and golds of distant hills, as still, chilled air works its way into the longer shadows beside buildings and trees.  Embedded in a fresh granite gravestone, just beyond the shadow of the Colebrook Congregational Church, an Eagle Scout medallion glistens in the autumn sun.

       
If you asked Butch what he wanted to be when he grew up, he would tell you: an Eagle.  An Eagle Scout is the highest honor one can achieve in Scouting.  Former President Gerald Ford was an Eagle.  As was every astronaut who walked on the moon.  Few boys attained such a level in Scouting, and those who did became successful leaders.  Butch knew that.  And though at times he didn't do so well in school, he excelled at what he loved, always finding time to filch trout and crawdads from the pond at the Balsams Resort.

      
And within the morning vapors rising off the water, before the sun rises over Dixville Notch in the east, three figures can sometimes be seen at the pond below Balsams' charred remains: One wading in the gorge, looking for crawdads beneath the rocks; and a boy and his dog on a boulder rising out of the pool; they stand motionless in the vapors--above the water, swimming in innocence.

Copyright 2008 -- Blair Smith --
Http://SmithLiterary.Com

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