Ring of Fire(83)

Claude returned from the refugee center chuckling. Nissa looked at him with a question in her eyes, and he burst out laughing as he explained. "They just made all of the soldiers take a shower. Talk about a bunch of miserable mo fo's. I swear, most of them would rather've been shot!"





Nissa grinned, more from seeing the life come back to Claude's eyes than from his story. "I wish that I could've seen that."





"I'll bet! Couple of hundred naked men to ogle. Wouldn't have been right though. It was bad enough that the army guys were watching 'em. Worse than prison. One of the Scots was there and said that most of the prisoners were convinced that they were being condemned and wailing about the Inquisition. It seems that their own people are likely to turn against them and denounce them if they appear too clean. Be the first time that I've ever heard of someone being shot for not stinking."





Nissa's eyes clouded for a moment. "They wouldn't be shot. They'd be tortured and then burned at the stake."





Claude calmed down immediately. "Oh. Didn't know that. Still, from what I've heard, burning would be too good for some of them. Did you hear about the family that hid their girls under a shithouse to save them from the 'friendly' troops?"





Nissa nodded. "There's a long history of that, Claude. I've been talking to Ms. Mailey, the history teacher. Seems that the losing side's baggage becomes the property of the winning side. Including any women and children that are there. What she describes sounds a lot like slavery to me. White men taking white girls as sex slaves and drudges. Makes me sick to think about it."





"Well, those boys down there ain't taking nobody for nothing, I can tell you that. Even the toughest are a bit timid in the face of a twelve-gauge shotgun."





Now Nissa did grin. "Especially bare butt naked."





Claude nodded. "I need to get something to eat. Coming?"





Nissa nodded and joined him on the short walk. "I'm getting sick of this place," she murmured.





Claude nodded but that was all the answer that he could manage. They made their way to the plant break room and grabbed a couple of sodas. The machines were running low, and they were all too aware that when they were empty, they would never be refilled.





"I've been thinking about home, Nis. A lot." He paused to look around. "This isn't a home. This is . . . work. I . . . I need someplace to call home."





"Claude, please don't. You're tearing yourself apart, and me, too."





"Sorry, Nis. I'm really sorry. I'm really depressed." He paused to sigh deeply. "I'm really lonely."





"You're really going to get smacked in the nose if you keep that up," Nissa said softly. "I'm depressed enough without your help."





"So what do we do?"





"We? What's this we shit, White Man?" Nissa grinned as she spoke, uttering the punch line of a joke that was almost as worn out as she was.





Claude gave her a lopsided grin. "Us. I've been thinking about us lately, Nis. About how we used to be. You know, Bill has turned his office into an apartment of sorts. He already had a fridge and coffee maker, and his office has a private bathroom. He has to shower in the locker room, but that's not a big problem. I was thinking about doing something like that."





"Oh? And just where do you plan to do this?" Nissa asked, curious in spite of herself. Claude rarely talked about plans that he hadn't thoroughly thought out.





"Well, I want a place with a private john. I hate having to walk down the hall to piss in the middle of the night."





"Where, Claude?" Nissa said softly.





"A nice, big place. Not as big as a real apartment, but with enough room for a king size bed." Claude grinned and winked at Nissa as he mentioned the bed.





"Where?" she growled.





Now Claude was grinning. "Well, it has to be close. Don't want to walk to work in the snow, you know."





"Yardley!"





"Upstairs."





Nissa just looked at him for a moment. "Ya ain't getting Bill out of his office, Claude."





"Nope, sure ain't."





Nissa's eyes narrowed with real anger. "Talk or die, Yardley."





Now Claude laughed. "Remember when this was going to be the central plant of a huge power corporation?"





"Before my time, but go on," she answered softly, intrigued.





"Well, there are other offices upstairs besides Bill's."





Now Nissa's eyes grew from slits to round orbs. "You're insane."