Seeking Eden Read online

  He could learn, but he’d never fit in. Elanna might, because she’d lived so long with the Tribe, but Tobin had been on his own for such a long time. He might not fit in anywhere, he thought grimly, listening to the men shout back and forth as they worked together.

  Rachel’s niece Rebecca King tended her infant son even as she stirred a huge, steaming vat of boiling water. Every so often she’d punch down a shirt or pair of pants as they floated to the top with her long stick, and once in awhile, when she’d judged the clothes had soaked long enough, she used the same stick to pull out a piece and slop it into a smaller vat filled with cool water. The work looked hard, and though a nice spring breeze had kicked up, Rebecca’s face was red and covered with sweat.

  “Can I help you?” Tobin asked.

  “This women’s work is,” Rebecca said, shocked.

  So he couldn’t even do that, Tobin thought dispiritedly. He sat next to the baby, instead, letting the sight of the infant’s toothless grin take away the sting of Rebecca’s reproach. The boy waved his arms and gurgled contentedly, sometimes letting out a yell to let his mother know he was still there.

  “Ach, listen to him grex, naw,” said the young mother fondly of the baby. She paused in her stirring long enough to come over and adjust blankets that didn’t need adjusting. “And he rutches around so bad! I can’t hardly keep him covered.”

  “He’s wonderful.” Tobin reached out to touch the baby’s hand. The tiny fingers closed around his thumb with surprising strength. “Strong.”

  “Ja,” Rebecca said proudly. “A fine boy he is. My fourth.”

  Tobin looked at Rebecca, her work-worn hands and her red face. Her sturdy body covered in plain clothes, and her homely face made beautiful by the love she had for her child. She’d experienced the joys of pregnancy and the pains of childbirth, just like Elanna had, but Rebecca’s children were hers to keep and raise.

  Elanna would have the chance, too, he vowed. He looked again at the baby, now sleeping peacefully under his mother’s watching eyes. As many babies as she wanted.

  “Grossvatter!” Rebecca said in surprise, as Samuel came out of the house. “I thought you resting were.”

  Samuel scowled. “A man ven he’s dead can rest.”

  He nodded curtly at Tobin, and took a seat beside him. The old man looked down at the child, allowing a ghost of a smile to curve his lips before scowling again. Rebecca fussed with the baby a minute more, then went back across the yard to her vat of boiling clothes.

  “Ach, my back ouches me something fierce.” Samuel stretched, cracking his spine. He sighed heavily and looked at Tobin from beneath furrowed brows. “To the Gappers you wish to go.”

  “I have to help Elanna. And you don’t want us here anyway.”

  Samuel shook his head, saying nothing for a few minutes. He bent to tuck the already tucked covers around the child, who smiled in his sleep. When the old man did look back at Tobin, his expression was almost apologetic.

  “My children I love wery much,” he said.

  “I wouldn’t expect anything else,” Tobin said. “You’re lucky to have them.”

  “Blessed by God,” the old man corrected, but his face smoothed as he again looked down at the baby. “Blessed by God, Tobin Vinter, these children to have. I chust want them safe to be.”

  “I know that,” Tobin said, feeling a little sorry for the old man. “Believe me, we never meant to bring trouble.”

  “Ach, trouble brings itself,” Samuel said with a wave of his hand. “Those Gappers trouble are. Alvays were.”

  “As long as you keep giving them what they want,” Tobin said, “They’ll keep coming back.”

  Samuel looked at him with surprise. “And give them what they want we should not? Let them to our homes come and destroy, as ten years ago they did during their battles?”

  Tobin thought of the barrier, and the girl-children who’d killed grown men and women to defend themselves. The girl-children were on their way to becoming women now. But without men, their numbers would have to dwindle.

  “They won’t be around forever, not if they’re all just girls,” Tobin said. “And they’ve got to run out of ammunition for those guns. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve already run out for most of them.”

  “And the risk you want I should take?” Samuel asked shrewdly. “The lives of these children I should risk for your maybes?”

  “Have you ever tried to fight them?”

  “Plain People fight not,” Samuel said firmly.

  That explained the way Kodak and her crew acted. They weren’t afraid of retaliation, because there had never been any. These people didn’t fight.

  “I’m not Plain,” Tobin said.

  Samuel chuckled, poking Tobin’s vest and pointing at his hat. “A Plain man we will you make, ain’t?”

  “I don’t think so. I have to get Elanna back. If that means I have to fight them, I’ll do it.”

  “You afraid are not,” Samuel said, not asking the question but making the statement.

  Tobin thought about that. “I am afraid. But that won’t stop me from going. I have to. Tonight. When it’s safer to travel.”

  Samuel rested his hand on Tobin’s shoulder. “God go with you, then, Tobin Vinter.”

  Tobin stood. “I think I’d rather go by myself, thanks. God doesn’t seem to be on my side.”

  He left the old man in the yard, and went inside to make his plans.

  −

  39-

  “I have to pee,” Elanna repeated, resisting as much as she dared. The Gapper who’d come to get her tugged on her arm, hard, but the girl stood half a head shorter than Elanna. “And I’d like to do it soon, before I do it on the floor.”

  “Damn it,” the teener grumbled. “I’m just supposed to take you to the General, not any place else.”

  “Listen,” Elanna said reasonably. “I’ll only be a few minutes. I have to go really bad. You don’t want me making a mess in front of the General, do you?”

  Whoever this teener girl was, she wasn’t too bright. “Yeah, right. But I’m supposed to take you straight there.”

  The corridor was dirty and dim, lit only by the sunlight that managed to get in through a series of high, filth-covered windows up near the ceiling. Elanna held back again, despite the girl’s tugging.

  “Come on,” she wheedled. “What’s your name, again?”

  The girl hadn’t given it to her before, but she didn’t seem to remember that. Not the lightest matzoh ball in the soup, Elanna thought. The Gapper was still trying to tug her down the corridor.

  “Golden,” the girl said. “Sergeant Tina Golden.”

  “Well, listen, Tina,” Elanna began, but broke off when the girl began to laugh.

  “Tina?” The girl snorted, letting go of Elanna’s arm long enough to hold her sides. “Nobody calls me Tina. The name’s Golden. Or Sergeant, sometimes, but not Tina. You really are a dumbass.”

  Elanna mentally rolled her eyes. She wasn’t about to argue with the girl over who, exactly, was the dumbass. “Golden, then. Or Sergeant Sometimes. Whatever. I have to pee.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I heard you,” Golden said. “And I told you, I’m supposed to take you right to the General’s office.”

  “Sergeant!”

  Golden turned, laughter gone, and snapped her hand up to her head and down. “Sir, yes, Sir!”

  An older girl, dressed in the same green clothes as all the others, had appeared from around the bend. “Get your asses up here! He’s waiting!”

  “Sir, Lieutenant Dowd, Sir!”

  “Yes, Sergeant?” the older girl said wearily. Apparently, Elanna wasn’t the only one who thought Sergeant Golden might be a little tarnished.

  “Prisoner says she has to piss, Sir!”

  Dowd sighed. “Release her to me, Golden. I’ll take care of it.”

  “Sir, yes, Sir!”

  Golden dropped Elanna’s arm and pushed her toward Lieutenant Dowd. “Go with her. She’ll take