"Xenophobia" (Part II)

“Xenophobia” (Part II)
By: Bucky Adams
PrisonerFan48@yahoo.com

Unbeknownst to the strangers, many of the townsfolk gathered at the town hall for an unofficial meeting. They wanted to know why the team had entered their town. What did they want? Who were they? Where did they come from? The town was so set in their ways that they feared change. They all saw the little girl’s action of helping the strangers as a negative action, a gesture of defiance. The town wanted to know what they could do about the two girls. Then, people started to talk out of turn. The whole room began to lose control. One man said that they had not committed any crime and that he doesn’t feel as if they will. He decided that he was going to stop watching them.

Just when the room had almost reached its breaking point, a group of young men entered the room. While they were not as vocal as they usually were, they did try to convince the townsfolk to leave the strangers alone, and to let them finish what they needed to finish. They told everyone in the room how they surrounded the mute girl in the alley. Many people in the room gave them a look of disapproval. The young men also mentioned how they had no intention to harm her. In fact, they didn’t. And in a weird way, she harmed them. Not physically, of course, but psychologically. Without a word being spoken, she made them see the way they were. And because of that one event, the young men have learned the error of their ways.

It seemed that the room was divided. No one could agree on what action to take next, if any at all. Some viewed the girls as a possible threat, some saw the girls negatively if they were with the men on the team, and some just saw innocent girls. The small group of townsfolk that actually supported the girls reiterated the fact that they have not committed any crime nor does it seem that they are going to. The shopkeeper even admitted that when the mute girl left his store, she purchased the item legally. The shopkeeper was beginning to second guess his prejudices.

Back at the car, the girls went through every journal and newspaper clipping. But, they still had no answers. All they could figure out was that the old man used to live in the town a long time ago. Why didn’t the townsfolk acknowledge him? And why didn’t they care when he died? Didn’t he have any family in town? So many questions entered the girls’ minds. Even the little girl, who saw the old man die, seemed to care more than anyone in town. There had to be more information for them to obtain, but where?

In the woods, the young man came upon a small clearing. As ominous as the woods had become the more he trekked it, a brilliance of light shone down through a small gap between the trees and onto a small cottage. Its windows were covered in dust and grime. Cobwebs hung around the edges of the rooftops. It didn’t look as if anyone had lived in the cottage for a long time. The young man approached the front door and knocked on it. He didn’t know why he did that, he knew nobody would answer. He slowly turned the doorknob and pushed the door open. As he looked inside, he saw the whole cottage was in disarray. Whoever had lived here must have left in a hurry. Chairs were overturned, broken dish fragments covered the ground, papers scattered about. But, the young man entered the cottage with eyes of wonderment.

The town meeting was still at a stalemate. No unanimous decision could be reached. Everyone wanted to take different actions. Even the mayor, who had always looked after his people, admitted that he was undecided on what to do next. What the shopkeeper said next made everyone stop and think. He just said, “What if we do nothing?”. There were a few gasps, but other than that, nobody said anything after that. They didn’t know how to respond. The room was filled with so much confusion. From an outsider’s viewpoint, it was hard to imagine a reason behind all this fuss over two young girls. People shot icy stares at one another. There was a lot of tension in the air. While some people in the room could be swayed, it would take a lot to get rid of their irrational fears.

After wandering around aimlessly, the two girls found themselves back in the town square. The little girl pointed out the spot where the old man had died. And it was right in front of the statue, right at the base of it. They looked up at the statue and noticed it had a very powerful presence. It would act as a beacon to any stranger who entered the square. The mute girl pointed up at the face as if inquiring about who he was. The little girl didn’t know. She never really followed the town’s history, but was always at town festivals and celebrations. Only now did she question why she did it. She realized that she had been indoctrinated to think a certain way. But when the strangers walked into town, all that changed.

The young man looked around the cottage and realized that the old man used to live there. As he looked around the room, he noticed a dust-covered photograph on the bookcase. In the photograph, it showed the old man at a much younger age. He was standing with a few other men, but he was the only one wearing a medal of some sort on his chest. From the way that they were standing, it made it appear as if the old man was, for the most part, in charge. The young man wondered where the other men in the photograph were today. Weren’t they part of a team? Why were they all standing in front of the statue? It was hard to see the statue in the photograph. It’s head was just out of the picture. The young man realized that he needed to go back to town to get a better look at the statue.

The two girls wandered back to the car and started to assess the other items in the suitcase again. The mute girl was trying so hard not to look at each item individually, but as a whole. There had to be a bigger picture that she was just not seeing. Her skills in pattern recognition were one thing, but she had a slight feeling that she was looking for answers when there was possibly no question. It was like trying to find a needle when there may not be a haystack. And the little girl was so young that she probably couldn’t fathom all of the events that were transpiring. Both of the girls were so transfixed on finding an answer that they failed to noticed that it started to rain.

The young man exited the cottage and heard the rain. But, the trees were so close together and the tops of the trees were thick with leaves that the rain never touched the ground where he was. He looked up to try seeing the rain, but it was no use. He did notice that getting to the cottage was relatively easy. And, looking back, the path back to town was difficult to see. The young man had the logic that if it was easy to travel from A to B, then it must be the same to travel from B to A. He was great at math, but not so great when it came to logic. He wondered if he would be able to find his way back to town as he walked a path that seemed familiar to him.

‘Defiance’ was not a word that the town really knew. All of the townsfolk just went along with what the other townsfolk did or thought. But, some people were tired of it. Some just stood up and walked out of the town meeting. While it was the general consensus that sunny days were good and rainy days were bad, some walked out into the rain and smiled as they let the rain drench them. But, others stayed inside, partly out of habit, partly to stick to the majority. The ones that were out in the rain pitied those that chose to stay inside. The ones inside could not even appreciate the beauty of the rain.

The two girls finally noticed the rain. The little girl was always told by her mother to stay out of the rain. So, acting on instinct, she started looking around for shelter. The mute girl took her hand and showed her that there was nothing to be afraid of. The little girl looked caringly into the mute girl’s eyes, then softly asked of her family. The mute girl’s smile started to slowly diminish. And her eyes widened as a wave of fear shone of her face. The little girl saw what she had done and started crying as she apologized, and gave her a friendly embrace. But, the mute girl just stared off into space as a flood of unhappy memories engulfed her.

At a point between the cottage and the entrance to the woods, the young man wandered when his feet began to hurt. He saw a fallen tree just off the path and decided to sit and rest his feet. He set the shoebox beside him and briskly rubbed his feet. The rain found its way down between the trees at this point in the woods. Normally, the young man enjoyed the rain. But, the rain only furthered his confusion on which direction to go. It made him so disoriented. In fact, he couldn’t remember which way he was walking on the path. As he looked up toward the tops of the trees, he didn’t realize that he had walked aimlessly off the path. And to make matters worse, he left the shoebox by the fallen tree, which he could no longer see. He began to wonder if he even needed the shoebox anymore. He saw its contents already. What he got from it may have been completely different from what others may have gotten from it. He knew that the shoebox was meant for him, and only him.

The mayor demanded order at the meeting. People were starting to rebel against the authority. In a town that lived on habit, routine, and tradition, this was history in the making. The mayor was getting outraged. He wanted things to go back to the way they were, before the strangers showed up. He said that following the same old routine has kept the town going, no matter how boring the town was. Those that stood outside in the rain watched through the windows as they witnessed the fabric of the town coming apart at the seams.

When the rain started to die off, the girls both looked up toward the sky. The mute girl knew that the little girl was just asking out of concern. But, it opened a floodgate of bad memories nonetheless. The little girl asked her if questions about the mute girl’s past were a bad idea. And the mute girl blankly nodded. She doesn’t understand why someone can’t take someone else as they are. Why must they dig? There always has to be questions. And that fact bothered the mute girl. Without words, she showed the little girl that she accepted her as she was, no questions asked. The little girl felt bad now. A thin wall has grown between them. All because of one small question.

Now that the rain had stopped, the young man was able to get his bearings a lot better. He figured out the path to take which would lead back to town. He knew his way around the woods now. He was able to find his way back to the fallen tree, but the shoebox was nowhere to be found. Maybe it was an omen that he did not need it anymore. He wandered along the path more, noticing a few faint footprints from when he first entered the woods. The rain had washed most of them away. But, there was no mistaking his footprint. He was definitely heading in the right direction. In fact, way up ahead on the path shone a dot of light that he knew was the entrance to the woods. And he smiled as he started to run toward the light.

The townsfolk that stood outside of the town hall started to talk to one another. It was suggested between them that they would help the strangers obtain what they needed to finish the mission they were on. One of the teenage boys in the crowd said that he would scout around and look for the girls. Ever since the strangers had entered the town, he was curious about the mute girl. He wanted to talk with her, get to know her. And now seemed to be the best time to do that. He knew he wasn’t that social. With the exception of school, he wouldn’t really talk to anyone. And lost among the masses, no one really paid much attention to him. He was almost invisible to the other townsfolk. A cog in the machine. But, only now he saw an opening to change things. He didn’t understand why the mayor would not want to welcome newcomers into his town. He wondered if there was something that the mayor was hiding.

The little girl felt the wall that existed between them. Not as close as they once were, the mute girl understood her curiosity. But, the mute girl has a true independent spirit. Even when she was accepted as part of the team, she spent a lot of time on her own. She had inner demons she needed to control. And she feared the questions would bring those demons out. While she didn’t blame the little girl for her question, there was no escaping the fact that bad events have happened.

The young man exited the forest and noticed something very strange. Nobody was watching him like they were before. As he started making his way toward the town square, he noticed that the townsfolk were no longer one mass group like they were before. It seemed as if the numbers of watchers have diminished. The young man noticed the girls by the car off in the distance. Before he went to see the statue, he would need to catch up with them. The little girl saw him, ran up to him, and hugged the young man. She said that she thought that she would never see him again, because anyone that went into the forest before never cam back out.

The mute girl looked at the young man with eyes of gratitude. Her “brother” had returned safely from the woods. She showed him the contents of the suitcase and he shared with them the knowledge of the photograph at the cottage. The little girl felt like she was part of the team at this point. And the mute girl and young man did nothing to discourage that notion. The young man thought it would be interesting to get another person on the team, now that the old man is gone. A new perspective would be good. However, the young man said that he could not share any details of the mission until they have left the town. The little girl could respect that fact.

From nearby, a small group of townsfolk walked toward the team. At first, it seemed that the group was walking with a small degree of hostility. But, as the group got closer, they expressed their desire to help get them the items that they needed to help finish their mission. The mute girl was so happy that she started crying tears of joy. The group even said that they were not going to pry. They just wanted to help the strangers in any way possible.

And much to the surprise of everyone else in that small group of townsfolk, and older gentleman stepped forward and offered the team a place to stay. He said that they were welcome to stay at his home for as long as they liked. He also wished that the team lived in the town, but he knew that would be too good to be true. In his mind, he just tried to imagine what it would be like. He smirked to himself at the thought of that.

The team walked with the older gentleman to his house. He lived alone, but his house was spacious. They all found a section of the house to sleep in. They would worry about putting the pieces of this puzzle together in the morning, when everyone was more awake and alert. With that, everyone fell asleep the minute the lights were turned off. They were very worn out. And for the first time since they entered the town, things were tranquil.

End Part II