“How ye getting on?” she asks.
“I know how to do a lot more than ruddy sweep.”
“Mind yer language, pup. There’ll be time enough to get ye to real work.”
She don’t stay, walking back towards the front, having another word with Ivan and then she’s off to do whatever Deputy Mayors fill their days with.
Can I say? It makes no sense but I sorta like her. Probably cuz she reminds me of Cillian and all the things that used to drive me crazy about him. Memory is stupid, ain’t it?
I dig into my sandwich and I’m chewing my first bite when I hear Ivan’s Noise approaching.
“I’ll sweep up my crumbs,” I say.
To my surprise, he laughs, kinda roughly. “I’m sure ye will.” He takes a bite of his own sandwich. “Francia says there’s a village meeting tonight,” he says after a minute.
“Bout me?” I ask.
“Bout ye both. Ye and the girl. Ye and the girl what escaped Prentisstown.”
His Noise is strange. It’s cautious but strong, like he’s checking me out. I don’t read no hostility, not towards me, anyway, but something’s percolating in it.
“We gonna meet everyone?” I say.
“Ye might. We’ll all be a-talking bout ye first.”
“If there’s a vote,” I say, chomping on the sandwich, “I think I lose.”
“Ye’ve got Hildy a-speaking for yer side,” he says. “That counts for more than aught in Farbranch.” He swallows his own bite. “And the people here are kind people and good. We’ve taken in Prentisstown folk before. Not for a while but from way back in the bad times.”
“The war?” I say.
He looks at me, his Noise sizing me up, what I know. “Yeah,” he says, “the war.” He turns his head round the barn, casual-like, but I get the feeling he’s looking to see if we’re alone. He turns back and fixes his eye on me. An eye that’s really looking for something. “And then, too,” he says, “not all of us feel the same.”
“Bout what?” I say, not liking his look, not liking his buzz.
“Bout history.” He’s talking low, his eyes still poring into me, leaning a little closer.
I lean back a little. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Prentisstown’s still got allies,” he whispers, “hidden away in surprising places.”
His Noise gets pictures in it, small ones, like Noise speaking just to me and I’m starting to see them clearer and clearer, bright things, wet things, fast things, the sun shining down on red–
“Puppies! Puppies!” Manchee barks in the corner. I jump and even Ivan startles and his Noise pictures fade right quick. Manchee keeps barking and I hear a whole raft of giggling that ain’t him at all. I look.
A group of kids is kneeling down, peeking in thru a torn-away board, smiling, laughing with daring, pushing each other closer to the hole.
Pointing at me.
And all so small.
So small.
I mean, look at ’em.
“Get outta here, ye rats!” Ivan calls but there’s humour in his voice and Noise, all trace of what was before hidden again. There’s squeals of laughter outside the hole in the wall as the kids scatter.
And that’s it, they’re gone.
Like I mighta made ’em up.
“Puppies, Todd!” Manchee barks. “Puppies!”
“I know,” I say, scratching his head when he comes over. “I know.”
Ivan claps his hands together. “That’s lunch then. Back to work.” He gives me one more important look before he heads back to the front of the barn.
“What was that all about?” I say to Manchee.
“Puppies,” he murmurs, digging his face into my hand.
And so there follows an afternoon pretty much exactly like my morning. Sweeping, folks stopping by, a break for water where Ivan don’t say nothing to me, more sweeping.
I spend some time trying to think about what we might do next. If it’s even we who’s doing it. Farbranch’ll have its meeting about us and they’ll definitely keep Viola till her ship arrives, anyone can see that, but will they want me?
And if they do, do I stay?
And do I warn them?
I get a burning in my stomach every time I think about the book so I keep changing the subject.
After what seems like forever, the sun starts to set. There’s no more damn sweeping I can do. I’ve already covered the whole barn more than once, counted the baskets, re-counted them, made an attempt to fix the loose board in the wall even tho no one asked me to. There’s only so much you can ruddy well do if no one lets you leave a barn.
“Ain’t that the truth?” Hildy says, standing there suddenly.
“You shoudn’t sneak up on people like that,” I say. “All you quiet folk.”
“There’s some food over at Francia’s house for ye and for Viola. Why don’t ye go on there, get something to eat?”
“While you all have yer meeting?”
“While we all have our meeting, yes, pup,” Hildy says. “Viola’s already in the house, no doubt eating all yer dinner.”
“Hungry, Todd!” Manchee barks.
“There’s food for ye, too, puppup,” Hildy says, leaning down to pet him. He flops right over on his back for her, no dignity whatsoever.
“What’s this meeting really about?” I ask.
“Oh, the new settlers that are a-coming. That’s big news.” She looks up from Manchee to me. “And introducing ye around, of course. Getting the town used to the idea of a-welcoming ye.”
“And are they gonna a-welcome us?”
“People are scared of what they don’t know, Todd pup,” she says, standing. “Once they know ye, the problem goes away.”
“Will we be able to stay?”
“I reckon so,” she says. “If ye want to.”
I don’t say nothing to that.
“Ye get on up to the house,” she says. “I’ll come collect ye both when the time is right.”
I only nod in response and she gives a little wave and leaves, walking back across a barn that’s growing ever darker. I take the broom back to where it was hanging, my steps echoing. I can hear the Noise of men and the silence of women gathering across the town in the meeting hall. The word Prentisstown filters in most heavily and my name and Viola’s name and Hildy’s name.
And I gotta say, tho there’s fear and suspishun in it, I don’t get a feeling of overwhelming non-welcome. There’s more askings than there is anger of the Matthew Lyle sort.