FOX Squadron
Episode 13 - Lessons
by GL Sandborn



     "It's not fair!" Lieutenant Samantha Fox moaned.  "It's just
not fair!"
     Captain Katherine Fox, the squadron's Executive Officer, sat
passively behind her desk, her hands clutched together on its
surface.  "Sam, after what you did, I believe the Colonel is
letting you off easy," she said in a calm voice.  It wasn't easy
dealing with an emotional pilot.  That pilot being her sister
made it doubly so.
     "I was just trying to help," Samantha gasped as she wiped a
tear from her eye.
     "Help?  How?  By abandoning your element leader?  Sam, we
operate as a team, each member doing their job.  By deserting
Lieutenant Robins and charging into a fight on your own, you left
both of you vulnerable.  As a result, there was nobody to stop
the UCS Veritech from crashing into that building.  YOU were
supposed to be trailing her.  YOU were supposed to be watching
for such things.  Instead, you threw yourself into a fight you
were unprepared for and almost got yourself killed."  Katherine
glared at her sister.  "The Colonel is right.  You are not
ready."
     "But...," Samantha responded in a tiny voice.
     "But nothing.  The only reason the Colonel didn't demand
your wings is we need pilots.  He agrees with me that you're not
beyond hope."  She paused, opening a folder on her desk and
reading its contents.  "As of now, you are off operations, there
will be a letter of reprimand in your file, and you will be
assigned ground duties until further notice.  Finally, you will
only fly with Lieutenant Colonel DeWitt until he is satisfied of
your progress."
     Samantha squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head like she
was trying to wake up from a bad dream.  With a sudden jerk of
her head, she looked at her sister with wide eyes.  "What about
Missy?"
     "Lieutenant Robins has been reassigned to fly with the
Colonel.  She's not happy about it but we don't have anyone to
replace you.  Until the doctor clears me to fly again,..." 
Katherine froze at the admission.  The corner of her mouth
twitched as she frowned at her desk.  It was hard to accept that
she, too, had been relieved of flying duties.  With a deep
breath, she regarded her sister with a tired expression.  "Just
do as you are told and don't screw up again.  You will be flying
with the others before the end of summer.  That is all. 
Dismissed."
     Samantha's shoulders sagged as she saluted and turned to
leave.  With the look of a whipped dog, she slunk out of the
office and disappeared in the darkened hallway beyond.
     "I'm sorry, Sis," Katherine whispered to herself.  "It has
to be this way."
     If what she just went through was tough, it was nothing
compared to her other main task this morning.  She had more bad
news to dispense.
     A knock on her office door frame announced the arrival of
the bad news recipients.
     "Enter," she said.
     Lieutenant Daisy Mills and Sergeant First Class Nancy
Montoya entered and snapped to attention in front of Katherine's
desk.
     "Reporting as ordered, Ma'am," they said in unison.
     "Stand easy," Katherine said in a soft voice.
     The two seemed to let out a sigh of relief at the same time. 
Nancy leaned on the desk with one hand, her other on her hip, and
grinned at Katherine.  "So, what's so important you have to order
us in on our day off?"
     Katherine flicked the edge of a paper on her desk and
nervously bit her lower lip.  "There have been some... changes."
     "Aw, great," Nancy moaned, rocking back from the desk like
she had just been slapped with something really bad.  "I knew
things were too good to last."
     Ignoring her friend's histrionics, Daisy cocked her head and
suspiciously frowned.  "What sort of changes?"
     "The good news is that Colonel Stuart has recommended you
for promotion to Captain.  It's not official yet but I'm
confident headquarters won't refuse his request," Katherine
replied to Daisy with only a hint of a smile.  She knew this was
just the candy before the sour medicine.
     "Hey, way to go, champ!" Nancy crowed, slapping her friend's
broad back.  "I knew you had it in you."
     Katherine cleared her throat to restore order.  "Yes, well,
that's the good news."
     "The bad news is that I will have to transfer," Daisy said
in a voice that almost sounded like a growl.
     "No! No, it doesn't."  Katherine tapped the paper with her
index finger as she tried to think of a good way to break the
news to her two pilots.  "You get to remain right here."
     "Okay, then what IS the bad news?" Daisy asked, leaning
forward just enough to convey how anxious she was.
     Katherine sighed and picked up the paper.  "Pursuant to
Article 227, Subsection C, Item 11,--"
     "Get on with it," Daisy cut in, her patience obviously
growing thin.
     "Of course," Katherine said with a modest nod.  "In summary,
the United World Government has ordered the RDF and all its bases
to assume security and law enforcement over their assigned
territories--"
     "WHAT?" the two yelled.
     "You've GOT to be kidding," Nancy growled.
     "We don't have the personnel to do that," Daisy added.
     Katherine held up a hand to calm them.  "I know and the
Colonel knows that as well.  He's been on the phone to
Yellowstone all morning, arguing with anyone who will listen. 
I'm afraid there's no changing the orders.  Until further notice,
we will have to act as peacekeepers AND law enforcement for our
immediate region until the UWG gets around to assigning security
personnel to relieve us."
     "I know I'm going to regret asking this but just why are you
sharing this with us and not everyone else?" Nancy asked, leaning
closer than Katherine thought appropriate.
     "Because Bravo Flight, that's you guys, is currently on
stand-down and you are the only people available to take the
first shift," Katherine answered as if it should have been common
knowledge.
     "What about Gloria and Linda?" Nancy growled.  "Don't they
count?"
     "Sergeant Graywolf is working with Commander Crittenton on
the base computer network and Corporal Crowkiller has been
assigned to work with base security for the week.  That leaves
only you two."  Katherine leaned back in her chair, if only to
get a little further away from the two ticking time bombs in her
office.
     "What about our time off?" Nancy yelled.  "I was going to
work on my tan."
     "You were born with a tan," Daisy said flatly.
     "I mean the good kind.  You know, laying out in my bikini on
the sun deck over sick bay.  Maybe I'd even try for an 'all over'
tan."  Nancy smugly planted both her fists on her hips.
     Daisy looked her friend up and down.  "You wear a bikini?"
     "Yeah, why not?"
     After another up and down scan of her friend, Daisy shook
her head.  "You're braver than I thought."
     "Hey!  I look good in a bikini."
     "Isn't that a bit... immodest?" Daisy asked with a raised
eyebrow.
     "Depends on how you do it.  You gotta be careful.  Too much
sun and you bake things better left unbaked.  Of course, that's
not nearly as bad as baking the lower half."  Nancy wrinkled her
nose at the thought of sunburns on sensitive parts of the body.
     "That's sick."
     "You ought to try it.  Guys really dig a girl with an all
over tan."
     "I'm already tan."
     "I mean the good kind!"
     "Knock it off, you two," Katherine snapped.  "This is
serious."
     "Fine," Nancy said with a sigh.  "What do we have to do?"
     Katherine held out a book-sized electronic note pad.  "This
has all the incidents you are to investigate.  Follow up on each
of them, resolve what you can and turn in your report at the end
of your shift."
     Nancy snatched the device from Katherine's hand and wrinkled
her nose at the list it showed.  "Are these for real?"
     "Just investigate each one and try not to agitate our
neighbors.  While out there, you represent this squadron and the
RDF.  So be polite, be diplomatic, and try to smile once in
awhile."  Katherine tried demonstrating what she meant but only
got incredulous frowns in return.
     "Right, shoot first and ask questions of the survivors - if
there are any," Nancy said with a sick smile.
     "Let's try to keep the gun-play down to a minimum, okay?"
     "You take the fun out of everything."
     "That's my job.  Now, get out of here and don't come back
until you've completed your investigations," Katherine said in a
say that left no doubt they were dismissed.
     "Come on, Sergeant Friday," Daisy said, turning to leave. 
"Let's draw our badges and get to work."
     "Hey, man, we don't need no steenkin' badges," Nancy replied
with a very bad Mexican accent.
     "GET OUT OF HERE!" Katherine yelled.
     "We're going," Daisy said as she pulled her friend towards
the door.
     "Hey, can we take the fifty-caliber?  It'll look real cool
mounted on one of the rovers," Nancy asked her big friend.
     "You heard the Captain.  We have to spread love and goodwill
amongst the common people," Daisy replied as they left the room.
     "Yeah, but there's nothing like a burst of large caliber
rounds over their heads to REALLY get their respect."
     There was a pause as the two disappeared down the hall. 
"God, you worry me," came Daisy's voice.
     Katherine groaned, dropping her head into both hands.  "I
just know this is going to be a mistake."

     It was only 8:30 and the day was already shaping up to be a
tough one for Colonel Stuart.  Maggie dropped the first of the
bad news on him with his coffee.  The recycling system was still
off-line and unless they got someone to pump out the holding
tank, it was going to stay off-line.  That is, until the whole
thing backed up into the living quarters.
     Then there were the squadron maintenance report.  Gail
pulled no punches in her description of their shortage of spare
parts.  She had even started scavenging parts from the S-models
they had found on the lower level of the South hangar.
     He was just perusing to Captain Baker's assessment of the
current Zentraedi military capabilities as he reached his desk
and began to sit down in his chair.
     A loud hiss followed by a deep-throated growl and a series
of sharp claws in the seat of his pants caused him spring back to
his feet.  Spinning around to face his assailant, he was brought
up short by the sight of a small orange-colored cat staring back
at him.
     "Maggie!" he yelled, snatching the feline up by the scruff
of its neck.
     His secretary quickly appeared in the doorway.  "Sir?"
     "What is THIS?" he growled shaking the cat her way.
     "That is our squadron mascot, Sir," Lieutenant Wallace
replied, edging her way around Maggie and into the Colonel's
office.
     "Mascot?  What mascot?  When did that happen?"  He held the
cat up enough to look it in the eyes.  His prisoner responded
with several attempts to sink its claws in his face.
     "Two weeks ago, Sir.  You signed the papers yourself." 
Cindy plucked the feisty feline out of his grasp and cuddled it
to her chest.  The cat continued to glare at the Colonel but made
no effort to escape Cindy's hold.  "Don't you remember?"
     "Papers?  What papers?"
     "It was a Monday morning.  Of course, you were still hung
over from the night before.  Honestly, I've never met anyone who
could drink like you.  It's a wonder you're still alive."
     Jeff could only blink, his jaw working slowly as random
thoughts squirted loose and tried to make themselves known.  "I
never signed any squadron mascot papers," he finally sputtered.
     "Of course you did," Cindy replied, handing the cat to
Maggie and indicating she was to take it away.  "You signed them
right after that week's security assessment report and right
before the requisition request for more requisition request
forms."
     "How do you--?"
     "Remember all those details?"  Cindy smiled his way. 
"That's what you pay me for."
     Jeff just groaned and slumped against his desk as his
Administration Officer wiggled her fingers his way before leaving
the room.  He couldn't believe it.  A cat.  He hated cats.  They
were so... so sneaky.
     "The least you could do is tell me its name," he called
after Cindy.
     From somewhere down the hall she answered, "Tiger, Sir."
     "Tiger?" he muttered.  "They bring a cat onto my base and
the best name they can come up with is 'Tiger'?"  He shook his
head and started for his chair.  "What next?"

     Daisy wrestled their rover through the rutted main street of
Osage City.  Despite her best efforts to avoid the worst spots,
it was obvious she was failing.
     "The least you could do is try to avoid the big ones," Nancy
growled as she clung to the passenger seat as best she could.
     "Doing the best I can."
     Nancy wasn't so sure.  There couldn't be that many holes in
the road.
     Bouncing up the main street, Nancy brooded over having to
pull duty on their only day off.  "Hey, what do think the real
reason is we got picked to do this?" she asked without looking
her friend's way.
     "For exactly the reason Captain Fox gave; we're the only
available people today."  Daisy ended her thought with a grunt as
the rover banged into another deep rut.
     "Well, I still think it stinks."  Nancy slumped back in the
seat and crossed her arms.  "Going out like this - alone -
wearing these uniforms is a mistake."
     "Why do you think it's a mistake?"
     "People hate uniforms and don't care much for those wearing
them," Nancy replied with a huff.
     "It's not the uniform.  It's the person in it they either
like or hate.  The uniform is just a symbol," Daisy corrected as
she slowed the rover to a more manageable speed.
     "Bull!  They hate the uniform and what it stands for."
     "You know, you need to lighten up," Daisy called as she
swerved to avoid a particularly nasty-looking hole.  "Remember,
we are here to spread the cheer."
     "Yeah, right."  Nancy grumped and leaned over, her head
supported by a hand.  Being cheerful was easy for her big friend
to say.  At least SHE got to drive.
     As they passed a trio of kids playing in front of what used
to be a souvenir shop, Nancy tried smiling and adding a little
wave at the kids.  To her chagrin, the kids just stared back,
making no attempt to even acknowledge her friendly gesture.
     "Got any other bright ideas?" she snapped at Daisy.
     "You just need practice.  They're probably not used to
adults smiling at them," Daisy replied.
     Nancy just went back to staring out, her chin in hand. 
"It's the uniform.  I just know it's the uniform," she grumbled
to herself.
     They turned south at the main crossroads in the middle of
town and soon found themselves on smoother road.  At least, this
road was less traveled and not as worn as the main road through
town.  The mid-morning sun beat down on them through a clear blue
sky, causing Nancy to tug at her collar.  Only the breeze created
by their movement made the trip tolerable.
     "Check the GPS system.  Find out if we're even getting
close," Daisy said, slowing the rover to avoid what was left of a
tree that had fallen onto the road and partially blocked one
lane.
     Nancy pulled out the electronic notebook Katherine had given
them and plugged it into their navigation system.  Doubling as a
GPS locator, the book quickly indicated on a road map where they
were.  Pressing a couple of buttons, she was rewarded with a
green dot that marked their expected destination on the map.
     "We're about a hundred yards from a road that is supposed to
lead directly to the Haney farm."  Nancy zoomed in the device and
nodded when the distances confirmed her earlier estimation.
     As they approached the turnoff location, Daisy slowed the
rover and stopped when Nancy announced they were at the indicated
location.  The road was supposed to be off to the right.  Staring
at an unbroken wall of trees and brush, it was obvious something
was missing.  
     "Okay, where is it?" Daisy asked, looking further down the
road and back the way they had come.  As far as she could see,
there was nothing but the road they were on bordered by unbroken
ditches on either side.  Trees and thick undergrowth paralleled
the ditch on their right, exactly where there should have been a
road.
     Nancy checked the GPS again before frowning at the jungle of
brush that had replaced their road.  "I don't get it.  According
to our navigation system, it's supposed to be right here."
     Standing up in the rover, Daisy crossed her arms and tried
to see if they were off by a few yards or so.  No luck.  Nothing
but ditches from where they were to the bend in the road about a
quarter mile ahead.  Around that bend chugged an old pre-war
pickup truck that had obviously seen better days.
     "Maybe the guy in that truck knows what happened to it,"
Daisy offered.
     "Why not?  We're not getting there using a road that doesn't
exist," Nancy replied, shoving the notebook up on the dash. 
"Think I should try smiling?"
     "Couldn't hurt."
     Daisy was about to wave the truck over when it pulled over
on its own, coming to a stop to the sound of grinding gears about
twenty meters from their rover.  Resisting the urge to unsnap the
cover of her holster, she tried smiling instead.
     Age-worn hinges creaked as the old truck's driver side door
opened.  Wearing faded bib overalls and a checked shirt with its
sleeves rolled up, an old man slowly stepped out.  Under his
broad brimmed hat, Daisy could see the man's jaw slowly work a
wad of something in his mouth.  Turning his head, he spit out a
long stream of black fluid onto the roadway.
     "That's... disgusting," Nancy hissed.
     "Keep smiling," Daisy warned as she instinctively held up a
hand in a time-honored sign of greeting.
     The old man stopped and squinted their direction.  
"Sold-geers," he finally snarled, adding another stream of expectorate
on the road, this time directly between them.  "What-chu want
here?"
     Daisy continued to smile, although the urge to at least free
her firearm was growing.  "We're looking for the Haney place but
the road our map says should be here is missing.  Any idea how we
can get there?"
     The old man was silent for a few moments, his jaw continuing
to work as he eyed the tall RDF officer.  "Ain't been no road up
that way in ten years.  Why you wannna go there?"
     "We're following up a complaint about a theft."  Daisy tried
to remain calm but the spooky old man was giving her the creeps,
especially the way he kept looking at her chest.
     "I'M Jubel Haney and it's 'bout damn time!"  The old man
spit again.  Nancy covered her mouth and made little gagging
sounds.
     "We just received the call this morning and came right over
to investigate--"
     "Investigate?  Hell, taint nuthin' to investigate.  Its them
damned Winslow youngens that took ma pig!  They's always snoopin'
aroun'.  Caught one gettin' close to ma pigs just last week. 
Learned him a lesson with a load of buckshot."  The old man
cackled, exposing his stained and rotted teeth.  Nancy made more
gagging sounds and hunched further over in her seat.
     "Pig?" Daisy gasped.  Turning to Nancy, she snatched the
notebook from its resting place and scowled at its screen.
     "Dat's right.  Them youngens took one of my sows."
     "I'll bet that left him lonely," Nancy muttered just loud
enough for Daisy to hear.  Daisy's response was to lightly rap
her friend on the head with the notebook.
     "Had to been last night.  I woulda done something 'bout it
myself but Mayor Kidd keeps harpin' on lettin' the law work."  He
spit again, wiping his mouth on the back of one hairy arm.  "If'n
I knowed they'd be a-sendin' wimmin, I'd never have called it
in."
     Daisy's jaw worked itself back and forth for a moment,
slowly discharging the insult before responding.  "You did the
right thing, Mr. Haney.  We will investigate thoroughly and
resolve this issue peaceably."
     "Ah!" he snarled with a disgusted shake of his head.  "I
shoulda knowed it."
     "How do we find the Winslow place?"
     "'Bout two miles down yonder.  You kin see their old shack
from the road."  The old man spit again.  "Git me my pig back or
bring me fifty dollars, that's what she was worth."
     "Dollars?" Daisy asked Nancy in a low voice.
     Removing her hand from covering her mouth, Nancy snagged the
notebook and tapped a few spots on the display.  "About twenty-two 
credits."
     "Oh."  Turning again to the old man, Daisy nodded.  "We'll
check it out and get back to you."
     The old man just snarled their way and delivered another
stream of brown expectorate onto the road.  He wiped his mouth
again on his arm.  From the brown streak that ran from his wrist
to almost his elbow, it obviously wasn't the first time he'd done
that.  With a dismissive wave of both hands, he climbed back into
his truck and slammed the door.
     "Can I shoot him now?" Nancy asked, forcing a sick smile his
way.
     "Tempting but I think, for now, we better just get on with
our job."  Daisy slumped back into her seat and sighed.  "He said
the Winslow place is a couple of miles down the road."
     "And you believe him?"  Nancy refused to take her eyes off
Mr. Haney, no matter how disgusting he was.  She obviously didn't
trust the old coot.
     "Got no reason not to," Daisy replied, starting the rover. 
"Besides, whatever is down there has got to be better than old
brown sleeves."
     It took them only a couple of minutes to reach their
destination.  The Winslow home was right where Mr. Haney had
said, just off the road.
     They pulled onto an overgrown but level area in front of the
house, stopping about ten meters from the building.  The place
appeared to have been decorated in 'redneck revival'.  Sections
of roofing material had fallen off, replaced by plastic sheeting
haphazardly nailed into place.  Some of the windows were broken
and boarded over.  There was discarded furniture in the front,
abandoned farm equipment off to one side, and a rusting pickup
truck slumped down over four flat tires permanently parked next
to what remained of an old shed.
     "Kinda reminds you of home," Nancy said.
     "Well, kinda," Daisy agreed.  "But I don't think I ever saw
one of our shacks back home look this bad."
     "So, do we flip a coin to see who gets to make contact?"
     Daisy sighed as she eased herself out of the truck.  "No,
I'll handle this."
     Picking her way through the debris littering the overgrown
grass, she approached the building and cautiously tested the
rotting front porch before committing her full weight to the
structure.  Even then, the wooden floor groaned in protest at
every step she took.
     Pausing in front of the screen door, she debated whether to
open it and knock on the closed wood door behind or just rap on
the side of the building and risk collapsing the entire
structure.
     Before she could decide, the wood door was jerked open and
she found herself staring down the business end of a double-barreled 
shotgun.
     Her breath caught in her throat as she took a step back, her
hand still raised to knock.  The shot gun might have been a
surprise, but what was holding it was even more of a shock.
     A small boy, not more than ten years old, glared at her over
the weapon's long twin barrels.  Wearing badly worn and patched
bib overalls that only partially covered what was left of an old
baseball jersey, the lad struggled with the heavy firearm,
balancing it with its stock under his armpit.
     "Whatchu wan'?" he snarled in what must have seemed to him
to be a menacing voice.
     Daisy gulped once and slowly lowered her hand.  "Uh... Is
you father or mother home?"
     "No! Go away!"  He shifted the weapon enough so he could
pull back the hammer on one of the barrels.
     The appearance of a single red dot on his chest confirmed
there was another player in this sudden standoff.  Daisy drew a
deep breath that seemed to catch in her throat when she heard the
shotgun's hammer click into place.  It was apparent the lad did
not know his own predicament.  
     "Young man, if you will check your chest, you will see a red
dot.  If you follow that dot to its source, you will see my
partner is currently aiming a very powerful automatic weapon your
way.  Now, you might pull that trigger but you will never live
long enough to find out if you got me."  Daisy tried to slow her
breathing enough to sound authoritative.
     The boy glanced down and did a double-take when he noticed
the dot.  Raising his eyes, he looked at Nancy.  The boy's jaw
slowly dropped open.
     "That weapon fires two rounds a second.  Each bullet goes
into a person the size of your little finger and comes out the
back the size of a frying pan, taking with it most of your
internal organs and a sizeable chunk of your spine.  I understand
it is most painful.  Now, unless you want to experience that
first hand, I suggest--"
     "Luke?  Who is it, boy?" came a female voice from somewhere
inside.
     When the boy failed to answer, a young woman, about eighteen
years of age, stepped towards the door, a child perched on her
hip.
     "Luke!  Put that thing down right this instant!" she
demanded.  With an exasperated sigh, she swept some of her long
blond hair from her face and pushed the boy aside.  "Pay him no
mind.  Since Paw died, he's got in his head that he's the man of
the house."
     "Aww, Suzi," the boy whined.  "That ain't no fair."
     "Hush, Luke!" she hissed.  Looking again at Daisy, Suzi
tried to smile.  "He couldn't have hurt you no hows.  Ain't had
shells for that old antique for nearly a year."
     "That old antique almost got him killed," Daisy said with a
slight jerk of her head to indicate Nancy in the rover.
     The sound of a baby crying deeper inside the house caused
Suzi to look over her shoulder with a frown.  "Luke, go see to
little Jacob."
     "Aww, do I hafta?" the boy whined.
     "Yes!  Do as you'se told."
     "Yes'm."  The boy let the shotgun slide to the floor, its
wood butt plate thumping as it struck the floor.  Reluctantly,
with his head down, he dragged the heavy weapon across the
cracked and discolored linoleum as she trudged back into the
house.
     "Honestly, that boy," Suzi said to nobody in particular,
adding a heavy sigh.  Turning again to Daisy, a tiny embarrassed
smile flickered across her face.  "Don't git many visitors aroun'
here.  The kind we do git are usually the kind we need the
shotgun fo'."
     "Understood," Daisy said with sigh.  She had heard how
things had deteriorated on the fringes of society.  What she had
seen this morning only confirmed what she had heard.  "We are
from Ozark Base.  I'm Lieutenant--"
     "Captain," Nancy corrected.
     "Will you just let me do this?" Daisy growled her partner's
way.  Turning back to Suzi, she sighed.  "Sorry about that.  Ever
since we started this job, she's got it in her head that she
needs to protect me."
     Suzi chuckled, her hand trying to hide crooked teeth that
otherwise spoiled her perfect smile.  "I see we both have problem
children."
     Daisy responded with an embarrassed smile and scraped the
sole of her boot on the rotting wood porch.  "Anyway, I'm
Lieutenant Daisy Mills.  My partner is Sergeant Nancy Montoya. 
We've been tasked by the United World Government to perform law
enforcement duties--"
     "Among all the other things they expect us to do," Nancy
grumped.
     "Knock it off," Daisy snapped.
     The butt of Nancy's rifle thumped on the floor of the rover. 
"Well, it's true," she grumbled.
     "As I was saying, we are here investigating the
disappearance of a pig from a nearby farm.  I'd like to ask you a
couple of questions, if I might?"
     Suzi nervously shifted the child she was holding to her
other hip.  "I... I don't...  Why don't Y'all come on in and
we'll have some tea while we talk about this," she stammered.
     She turned and disappeared deeper into the gloomy room.  At
first, Daisy hesitated to follow.  She had already encountered
one ambush with a shotgun.  The prospect of facing another, even
with Nancy's backup, was enough to make her pause.
     "So, are we going in?" Nancy asked from right behind her.
     Without answering, Daisy yanked open the old screen door and
stepped inside.  Immediately surrounded by the combined odors of
cooked food, musty old wood, and used diapers, she sniffed and
rubbed her nose trying to mask the disagreeable smell.  Probing
deeper into the room, her eyes became accustomed to the dim
lighting.  It reminded her of some of the shacks her people lived
in back home.
     An old wood-burning, pot bellied stove along the far wall
was flanked by an old Murphy bed with a sagging mattress.  In the
middle of the room was a roughly-made table surrounded by half a
dozen worn wooden chairs.  An old sink piled with pans and dirty
dishes was nearer.  A young girl wearing a patched and threadbare
old dress that reached to below her knees was standing on a
rickety chair trying to clean the mess in a rusty bucket.  There
appeared to be only one other room, behind the far wall.  From it
came the sounds of a distressed child.
     The two RDF pilots nervously stood just inside the doorway,
shifting their weight from one foot to another.
     Another little girl emerged from the back room and pulled up
a second chair next to her sibling to help with the dishes.  Both
stole suspicious glances at Daisy who seemed to tower over
everything in the room.
     Suzi soon returned carrying a baby.  Her shirt was pulled
back on one side allowing the baby to eagerly suckle her breast. 
"Sorry 'bout that.  Babies gotta eat, ya know."
     Daisy just nodded and tried a smile of understanding. 
Awkwardly, she tried not to look at the nursing mother any more
than necessary.  While the woman's partial nakedness didn't
bother her, the sight of the baby sucking on an elongated nipple
made her own breasts feel... funny.
     "We don't got much to offer," Suzi said repositioning the
baby so it could more easily feed.
     "Water's fine," Daisy said, rubbing her upper arm.  
     One of the girls washing dishes jumped down and selected,
after some indecision, a pair of glasses that appeared clean. 
She opened an old refrigerator that rattled with its door open
and filled the glasses from a large plastic jug inside.  Beside
it was the remnants of a partially-eaten ham, a thin towel thrown
over it.
     "It's cold," the girl said, handing one to Nancy with a shy
expression.
     When she came to Daisy, she paused.  Her face was frozen in
awe as her eyes slowly swept up the front of the woman.  Shyly,
she stretched up on the toes of her bare feet, the glass held as
high as she could.
     "Thank you," Daisy said softly with a tiny nod of her head
as she took the glass.  She was rewarded with a broad grin from
the girl.  Without another word, the child scampered back to her
dishwashing.
     "Are all these yours?" Nancy asked.
     "Mary and Rebecca are my little sisters," Suzi said. 
"Luke's my cousin."
     "And the babies?"  Nancy endured a sharp look from Daisy for
asking such an indelicate question.
     "They's mine," Suzi replied, her voice hushed.
     Daisy sipped some of the water.  It was surprisingly sweet
and fresh, like spring water from back home.  "Maybe we should
speak to your mother or father."
     Suzi shook her head.  "Maw died of the fever two years ago. 
Paw died last winter.  They's both buried out back under the
apple tree."
     "I'm sorry," Daisy said in almost a whisper.
     Suzi shrugged.  "That's the way of things.  He giveth and
takes away.  We gave 'em both a Christian burying.  Got markers
and everthin'."
     "How are you living out here with nobody to provide for
you?" Nancy asked before draining her glass.
     "We gets by any way we can.  Luke's pretty good at trappin'
rabbits and stuff.  I sometimes do some huntin'," Suzi answered
pulling the baby over her shoulder and patting its back lightly.
     "Like maybe a wild pig?" Daisy asked with an even voice.
     Suzi's chin dropped a little, her hand hesitated before
resuming to pat the baby.  "We don't go huntin' for nuthin' near
the Haney place, if that's what ya mean.  But Paw always said
that whatever came to us was fair game."
     "So it just wandered in," Nancy added.
     Suzi shrugged and fussed some more with her baby.  "It were
eatin' apples from the tree out back."
     "What did you use?"  Daisy checked the two girls at the
sink.  Both had stopped their dishwashing to look apprehensively
between herself and Suzi.
     Shifting the baby around so she could rock it in her lap,
Suzi drew a deep breath.  "That there bow," she said, indicating
the wall nearest Nancy.
     On the wall hung a fairly modern-looking compound bow
painted in camouflage colors.  It was the type often used to hunt
deer.  Below it hung a quiver of modern arrows.
     Without waiting for Daisy's approval, Nancy reached over and
gently lifted the bow off its mounting pegs.  Like the expert she
was, she checked the weapon's balance and drew back the string. 
It worked smoothly.
     "Someone's taken good care of this," Nancy said, easing the
string back into position.  She reached over and slid one of the
arrows out of its quiver.  "Broadheads.  Very nice."
     "Please don't take our bow," Luke said as he emerged from
the back room, the baby Suzi had carried when she met them at the
door on his hip.  "We gotta eat."
     "We're not taking it," Nancy replied, returning the weapon
to its place on the wall.  "Believe it or not, we do know a few
things about bows.  This one's a beaut."
     Daisy took another visual tour of the room, moving only her
eyes.  Old newspaper was used to patch the walls.  The room's
only window had only three panes of glass still intact, the
broken ones having been replaced by slabs of thin wood.  The old
stove looked like it had been wired together several times.  She
drew a deep breath before draining her glass.  No doubt about it,
these people were living difficult lives.
     "Out of curiosity," she began, pausing only because she
wasn't sure just how to phrase her question.  "You said the two
youngest were yours.  What happened to the father?"
     "Bobbie an' me were goin' to get married awhile back but he
weren't no good at huntin' an' stuff.  He sure weren't no farmer,
neither," she said with a painful little laugh.
     "So, where is he?"  Daisy couldn't say for sure but for some
reason this 'Bobbie' person bothered her.
     Suzi just shrugged and pouted at the table in front of her. 
It was almost as if she didn't want to talk about it.
     "Look, you got the pig - or what's left of it - in your ice
box.  And I accept your story about how it came to be there. 
What really bothers me is how you've been left to fend for
yourself like this."  Daisy crossed her arms over her ample chest
and glanced at Nancy.  Her companion appeared to have the same
question on her mind.
     "I know," Suzi said in a soft voice.  "He wants to help.  I
really believe that.  When he left the last time, just after Paw
died, he said he had a sure deal to make lots of money.  Said
somethin' about drivin' a truck.  I don't rightly know what it's
all 'bout but he said he'd be back and we wouldn't need to worry
'bout money no more."
     The girl's confession caused Daisy to make eye contact with
Nancy.  It was clear they both were thinking the same thing;
whatever it was this Bobbie person was involved in, it was most
likely illegal - possibly dangerously so.  Something they would
need to report.
     "Well, I guess we better be going," Daisy said, sliding her
chair back and standing up.  "Thank you for the hospitality."
     "What cha goin' tell old man Haney?"  Suzi repositioned the
baby she was holding so it could return to suckling at an offered
breast.
     "We'll think of something," Daisy replied with a shrug.  She
wasn't totally sure just what she would tell the old man about
his pig.  The only thing she was certain of was she couldn't tell
him the whole truth.  That would just cause more trouble.
     The two women said their goodbyes and trudged back out to
their rover.  Climbing in, Nancy leaned back in her seat, her
hands behind her head.
     "You know, they really are in a bad way," she said while
waving to the children jockeying for a position in the doorway to
wave back.
     Daisy started the rover.  "I know what you are thinking and
the answer is: No."
     "I didn't even suggest anything yet."
     "You were thinking how we should help.  We can't do that and
you know it."
     "Why not?  That Suzi girl is just trying to make ends meet
with nobody's help but a little brother."
     Daisy wrestled the rover back onto the road and set off back
the way they had come.  "Everybody here is in a bad way.  The
whole earth is in a bad way.  We can't save 'em all.  Face it,
there's nothing we can do about Suzi and her kids."
     Nancy grumped something about 'being uncharitable' and
slumped down in her seat with her arms crossed.