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Tanderon by Sharon Green - Chapter 12
grabbed my bag. The man stepped back a pace to let me pass, and his
partner pushed Teddy. She had to run a few steps to stay on her feet,
but she managed it and joined me in getting into the back of car.
They closed the doors on us, got in themselves in front, then after
backing up and turning around we drove into Wheatley.
The whole town of Wheatley is a monument to dry throats. The old
wooden buildings stood back in their coats of peeling paint, the dust
drifting over and around them, and just looking at those buildings
made me lick my lips and swallow. Teddy stared out the window on her
side of the car with a bored expression on her face, but I didn't
bother since I'd been to Wheatley before.
In a matter of minutes we pulled up in front of a dusty stone
building, and our honor guard got out. The one on my side opened the
door and said, "Out." Stunned by the brilliant conversation I climbed
out in time to have him grab my arm hard enough to leave
fingerprints. He hustled me inside the building, and his partner
followed with Teddy.
It was cooler and darker inside, but the air was still around the 92%
humidity mark. We were dragged over to a low desk that was surrounded
by a wooden railing, where a man sat working. His bent head showed a
bald spot, and when he looked up his jowly face was sweating. His
narrowed eyes took in every inch of me before he gave the same
inspection to Teddy, and when he'd finished looking he spoke to her
rather than me.
"You might be old enough for a license, girl, but your partner
ain't," he drawled. "Don't you know we don't like freelance workers
around here?"
"I don't know nothin' about your crummy town, and we never needed a
license before," Teddy answered sullenly. "That jerk was lucky we
even looked at him."
"Well, you look at any more a our people, girl, and a licence'll cost
you more'n you c'n pay without pain," he countered without changing
expression. "Where were you two headed?"
Teddy glanced at me and didn't answer, so the jowly face turned in my
direction to study me again.
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Tanderon by Sharon Green - Chapter 12
"You know what happens to kids we pick up around here?" he asked me.
"They get sent to live with some folks who don't like kids, and I
know 'em. They really won't like you. Where were you headed?"
"The Federation Academy," I told him in a bored voice. "We're new
cadets."
The fingerprint expert hanging onto my arm shifted his grip to a
point down near my wrist, then levered my arm back. When he'd gotten
it half way up my back I leaned over toward the desk and gasped.
"Where?" repeated the jowly man.
"Lammerly!" I gasped out, which caused my private arm bender to ease
off and then pull me upright by the shoulder. If I'd answered their
questions immediately they would have been suspicious; having the
answers forced out of me made them much more acceptable and
unquestionably true.
"What do you have to do with Lammerly?" the jowly man asked. I
hesitated until I felt my arm being pushed up again, and then I
talked fast.
"He's our old man's cousin!" I shrilled out. "We're supposta stay
with him!"
"Let's find out," the jowly man said, turning away. He reached over
and used his 'phone to call Lammerly, and asked him to come down
without going into details. Teddy and I were pushed over to an old
wooden bench at the side of the grimy room, and we all waited.
About an hour later, Lammerly walked in. He went over to the jowly
man without even glancing in our direction, and stopped to shake
hands.
"Had to finish some chores, Jake," Lammerly said to the man. "What'd
you need me for?"
"You know those two, Alf?" Jowly Jake asked, pointing at Teddy and
me. Lammerly turned his head as if noticing us for the first time,
then came over to stand in front of us and stare. He was dark-haired
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Tanderon by Sharon Green - Chapter 12
and almost a giant of a man, with a broad and humorless face and
dark, serious eyes.
"Where the hell've you two been?" he asked in a flat voice. "You were
supposta be here a week ago."
Teddy and I didn't say anything, but Jake did.
"They were hitchin' along the highway an' tryin' to work their way
here," he drawled. "How come they're visitin' you?"
"My cousin George couldn't handle 'em," Lammerly said, still staring
at Teddy and me. "I said I'd take 'em for a while and try my hand at
it. They were due a week ago, and I thought they went on to
Flowerville for sure."
"Serve 'em right if they did," Jake said, the creaking of his chair
saying he now leaned back. "You wanta take 'em, or should we keep 'em
for a while? Sorta soften 'em up for you."
"I'm pretty good at softenin' things up myself," Lammerly responded,
rubbing the knuckles of one hand with his other hand. "Walk, you
two."
Teddy and I exchanged sour looks and got up, then picked up our bags
again and walked out of the building just ahead of Lammerly. When we
were all outside he pushed us to the right and said, "That way."
He followed no more than two steps behind us as we walked down the
cracking street, and after a little more than four blocks worth of
walking he stopped us by a hand on each of our shoulders.
"In there," he said, pointing to a dirty yellow house that must have
once looked bright and cheerful and welcoming. The one-story house
was patched and repaired, standing alone among many others like it, a
driveway and carport to the left, scraggly grass running to a short,
gaping wooden fence on the right. Teddy and I walked up the worn
stone walk and then climbed the two overlarge concrete steps. We
stood and waited until Lammerly moved past us to open the door, then
I followed him inside with Teddy following me.
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