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Auburn Nash uncurled from her sleep into a weary stand. She regained her balance, scratching her head and yawning. Light streamed in from a tiny window at the top of her “room,” and she cracked it to discern the temperature of the world outside. Still summer, still humid. She looked down at the little grate where the wall and the floor met, the one that separated her cell and the cell next door. She crouched down, her head almost touching the floor, and peeked through. She couldn’t see much, though she could make out a patch of brown fur. She smiled, and opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by her door opening.
Camp councilor Wu stood on the other side, staring at her through impatient eyes.
“Morning!” Auburn said. She gave Wu a smile, large and squinty. Wu, as always, was not impressed, nor did he seem to be having a good morning. Auburn stepped out into the narrow hallways of the Goodship Firebrand, joining a dozen of her fellow campers. Wu ushered her and the rest of the campers out to the dining hall.
Auburn glimpsed over her shoulder to check out her new neighbor. He was short, brown-furred, dog of some sort. He had longish headfur that he kept brushed across his face, stylish in the Colony, though his headfur looked as if it had seem much better days. Wu prodded her in the back and shouted something that Auburn had come to recognize as “move”; Wu spoke little Latanian, and Auburn didn’t speak any Linian. All the same, it hurt just as much as any of his other jabs.
Auburn and the boy were separated in the dining hall. As soon she took a seat at a table, several other campers moved to join her. She turned to one, a Doric hound, and briefly described the boy. The hound disappeared into the throng of other campers.
Another camper sat across from Auburn. He was fox, his big ears common to Sandtribers, his fur the color of the light side of a dune. The councilors would have called Frank an ‘accomplice.’ Auburn would never hesitate to call him a friend.
“We lost Jens,” Frank said. He always had a bit of an accent; Latanian was his second language.
“What?” Auburn leaned forward. “How?”
“To the Glee Club,” Frank said.
Aubrun groaned, burying her face in her hands. “I liked Jens.”
“I know,” Frank said, patting the human on the head.
“How do you know? When did you find out?”
Frank pointed over to the table closest to a makeshift stage at the far end of the dining room. The councilors used this platform for announcements, and when they felt like it, to make examples of some of the campers. The Glee Club was happy, abnormally so, all smiles, chatting bubbly with each other. When one of the councilors would walk past, those with tails wagged them. In the mix of campers, Auburn could pick out a black and white cat, trying his hardest to smile like the rest.
She sighed. “I liked that boy.”
Frank nodded. He twisted back to face Auburn, but not before one of the Glee Club noticed.
“Alex is coming.”
“Balls,” Auburn said. She and Frank sat back from each other. A large, very attractive wolf strode over to them, his ever-present smile shining in the light of the dining hall. He stood behind Frank, who stayed focused on the plate in front of him, arms down at his side.
“Good morning!” Alex said, looking over Auburn’s group. “How are things on this side of the hall? Wonderful?”
“Are they never wonderful?” Auburn asked flatly.
“One never knows,” Alex said. “I worry about this little gang sometimes. Always so sad. Always so down. It’s summer outside! We should be happy for that!”
“I can barely contain myself,” Auburn said.
“Oh dear,” said the wolf, his smile fading somewhat. “You should see the nurse.”
“You know what? You are right. I’ll go see the nurse after breakfast. I bet that’ll help.”
Alex brightened. “There you go! Well, I’ll see you at assembly!”
“Pip pip and all,” Auburn said. Alex returned to his table, a swell of greetings rising up from the group.
“I’m going to be ill,” Frank said.
“What do you think that creep wanted?” Auburn asked, trying to look at the other table and not be noticed. “That was entirely useless.”
“I don’t think so,” Frank said. “They’re still watching, aren’t they?”
Auburn gave a quick glance. “Yes.”
“There it is,” Frank said. “That’s what they wanted.”
The hound, a boy named George, came back to the table, the new boy right behind him. Auburn lit up. “Hey!” She said. She patted a spot for the new boy, and then relayed the bad news to George.
“Augh,” George said. “Was… was he in?”
Auburn shook his head. “I don’t think so. Thank the gods.”
“That’s good,” George said. “I hate’d to have to beat that boy up.” He took his seat further down the table.
“Hello!” Auburn said to the new boy. “We’re neighbors!”
The new boy looked up at her, but didn’t say anything. Judging from the streaks on the fur on his cheeks, he hadn’t quite adjusted to his new surroundings yet.
“I’m Auburn,” Auburn said. “And you just met George. She went around the table, introducing the group. “And this is Frank. He’s Sandtribe.”
“MoGgi,” Frank said.
Auburn gave a squeak of joy at Frank’s lingual demonstration. “Tell him your real name, Frank.”
Frank, looking slightly bored, obliged: “Ggelanau.”
Another squeak. “Jay la now! Isn’t that pretty?”
Frank’s ears slid back against his head. He looked away.
“And I didn’t get your name,” Auburn said to the boy. He didn’t say anything. He dropped his eyes to the food in front of him. Frank looked back at Auburn, his chin in his hand, and raised his eyebrows. Auburn shrugged.
“Anyways,” she said. “It’s only fair to warn you that this whole thing is going to suck.”
The boy looked back up at her, his ears dropping.
“Oh, so you do understand. That’s good, at least.” Auburn gave the boy a smile. She figured he had to be fifteen, just a year younger than her, even if he looked young for his age. “There’s a couple things you should know: pick your battles with the councilors. They only take so much before they put you in “remedial classes,” and you don’t want to go there. Two, the Glee Club, no matter what they say, are not your friends. And no matter what, it’s not your fault. The councilors will try to make you say things that aren’t true. Don’t let them tell you what’s true.”
Frank looked up from his plate. “You seem nice, so you can sit here any time you want.” Auburn nodded in agreement.
A bell rang, and the kids in the hall started to get up. Auburn shoved the boy’s plate at him.
“Eat,” she said. “You may not get another chance for awhile.”
The boy quickly ate what he could. Auburn guided him to where his tray belonged, and then back again to the tables. Kids started to fold the tables and roll them to the walls, arranging them neatly. Auburn helped, motioning for the boy to come to her.
“Never be seen not working,” she said, keeping her voice low. “They don’t like that here. Always be helpful.”
The boy nodded. With the table folded up, their help not needed, Auburn pulled the boy off to rearrange chairs around the stage. Councilors walked between all of the kids, most of them with their hands behind their backs. Members of the Glee Club ran back and forth from their duties to councilors, chirping their accomplishments. Auburn tried not to pay attention to the little work the Glee Club actually did, making sure the boy was both busy and unnoticeable. Given what the stage looked like, Auburn could guess it was Confession time. She frowned, keeping an eye on the councilors.
The boy stopped. He let out a cough, and then sagged under the shock.
“That was pretty nasty sounding,” Auburn said, trying to stay just over a whisper. “You should get that looked at by the nurse later. Oh no.”
One of the councilors had taken an interest in the boy, and started over to them.
“Stay away stay away stay away,” Auburn whispered, keeping her eyes on the chairs. The boy looked over at her.
“You,” the councilor said. Auburn looked up at the councilor, who kept her eyes locked on the boy. “What’s your name?”
The boy shrank into himself.
“He’s not very talkative,” Auburn offered.
“Shut up, I was talking to him.” The councilor, a tall, slender fox, scanned a list of names on her clipboard. “Tobias Shaw?”
The boy met her eyes, and then dropped them away.
“You’re on the Confession list,” she said, and started walking away.
“No!” The word barreled out of Auburn’s mouth before she could stop it. The councilor turned back.
“What?” She loomed over Auburn.
“He’s new,” Auburn said, collecting herself. “He hasn’t even been to orientation yet.”
The councilor made an entirely uninterested sound in her throat. “Then you’ll be on the island tomorrow,” she said to Toby.
“That’s not orientation!”
“It will do. Now is that something you want to argue about?”
Auburn closed her mouth, her eyes focused through narrow slits.
“Good.” The councilor continued on her way.
“I’m sorry,” Auburn said, returning to setting up chairs. “I thought I was helping you dodge one bullet, but you may take another.”
Toby only nodded.
Auburn discretely pulled a napkin from her pocket and handed it to Toby. “It’s not much, but you should take it. You’ll need all the energy you can get for tomorrow.”
Toby peeked into the napkin.
“It used to be a roll,” she said. “You have to flatten things out so they don’t stand out in your pocket.”
Toby hid the napkin away, and went back to arranging chairs.
Within a few more minutes, the chairs in the hall had been set up around the stage. Auburn and Toby took their seats near the back, but not in the back row. Auburn explained that the councilors watched that row carefully. Frank joined them a moment later. He slumped in his chair, his ears down against his head.
Auburn looked him over. “So where ya been?”
“They were talking to me,” Frank mumbled.
“Oh no,” Auburn said. “They’re going to make you-?”
Frank nodded. “Again.”
Auburn sighed. She sat back in her chair, crossing her arms across her stomach. Very discreetly, she gave Frank’s hand a squeeze. “You’ll be okay,” she said, keeping her voice low. “It won’t be long before we end all of this.”
Frank looked around, his ears up, twitching like radar dishes around the room. “You shouldn’t-”
“No one knows. But we’re going to start spreading it.”
“The Glee Club’s going to find out.”
“Hmm.” Auburn sighed. “Fuck them.”
The lights in the hall dimmed, and all of the campers filed in to the rows of chairs. A man, an old bear, took the stage, and the campers fell silent. He cast his eyes over the room, and then, into a microphone, said “Good morning, everyone.”
The campers answered back, their response, “Good morning, Bob,” a cheerful drone.
Bob, looking satisfied, clapped his hands together. “Well, we all know how this works. A camper can’t heal without Confession, so let’s bring up the first camper.”
At once, several councilors invaded the rows of chairs, each pulling a camper up to the stage. Frank was the first in a long line, and a councilor took him and shoved him into a rickety wooded chair in the middle of the stage. Bob took the microphone from its stand and meandered to the boy.
“Frank,” Bob said, “how has your recovery been?”
“Wonderful,” Frank said. He looked at Bob from the corners of his eyes.
“Why are you here, Frank?” Bob asked, using a soothing tone. The fur on Frank’s neck bristled.
“The atmosphere.”
“Frank, that’s not an answer.”
“Sorry, sir,” Frank said. “The cooking.”
Bob leaned in close, almost nose to nose with the fox. “Last chance,” Bob said.
Frank drew in to himself, taking a long, deep breath. “I just…” He sighed, biting his lip. He took a moment for himself. “I just really love this part of the world.”
Bob stood up straight. He struck Frank with the back of his hand. Frank fell from the chair.
“Stand up,” Bob said. Frank tried to pull himself up, stumbled, and then fell again. “Stand up,” Bob said again, raising his voice. Frank struggled to his feet, holding his face and staring out into the audience of his silent peers.
“Why are you here, Frank?” Bob asked again, this time shouting.
The fox turned to him, fists down at his side. His ears snapped back against his head. “Because I ran away!”
“Why would you do that, Frank? Why would you run away from your loving family? Why would you forsake the people that gave you so much love?”
“They’re not my family!” Frank spat back. “I was kidnapped, you dumb bastard.”
Auburn tightened her jaw. “Frank, what are you doing?” She whispered.
Bob swung around again, catching Frank with the back of his hand. “You are here because do not respect your parents.” Frank tumbled down into a heap on the stage.
“Stand up, Frank,” Bob said. “We are here to help you.”
This was the campers’ cue. They stood, clapping, cheering. Auburn pulled Toby up. “You are here to help,” she hissed, though not at Toby. She wiped a tear from her eye.
Frank stayed down. Bob stood over him. “Stand up, Frank.”
One by one the campers sat down, until only the Glee Club was left standing. Nervous whispers floated up from the audience. Bob waved a councilor over. They hovered over the boy, and then, with the aid of another councilor, they carried Frank off stage. “See to it he’s on the island tomorrow,” Bob said after them.
Auburn covered her mouth. She sat stunned for a moment as the idea sunk in. “Tomorrow,” she said, forming the idea in her head, “I need you to make sure you get into Frank’s group. Stay with him. Make sure he stays out of trouble, okay?”
Toby nodded.
Auburn stroked Toby’s ear back. “Thanks,” she said, her voice cracking. “It’s going to be a weird day today.”
Jens was next, taking a seat in the chair. He smiled, just as he had tried to do all morning. Bob composed himself, and then turned to Jens, turning his soothing voice back on. “Hello, Jens.”
Jens’s tail twitched back and forth behind him. “Hello, sir.”
“Why are you here, Jens?”
The cat started to speak, but paused himself. He thought a moment. “Because… because I ran away?”
“Jens, you lie about the evils you have done,” Bob said. “Why are you here?”
The cat thought another moment. “Because I don’t respect my parents?”
“That’s right,” Bob said, and Jens lit up. “Now, tell your campers about the evils you committed.”
Toby let out another long, wet cough. Auburn sat back, crossing her arms again. Toby leaned against her, shaking. She gave him a quick hug around the shoulders before any of the councilors could notice. She closed her eyes, blocking out the world, save only the sound of her former ally betraying himself onstage.
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Boat Story 033 Notes
Mar 9th, 2010 by grantcravens
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Back to Part 032 Notes
This section. I just… ugh. This section.
This section fought me every step of the way. All the feelings I have wrapped up in the Goodship Firebrand suddenly didn’t want to come out on to the page. Every thing I wanted to talk about slipped away, and I had to retreat back into what could be called my “source,” Help At Any Cost by Maia Szalavitz. Originally a thread on Metafilter, her articles more or less inspired Toby’s character and his situation. It’s a good, upsetting read, and I recommend it to anyone interested in “rehabilitation” camps or programs like the Goodship Firebrand.
The Goodship Firebreand is largely a combination of a lot of the programs in the book. Manual labor and brainwashing, although I would argue that the brainwashing scheme that the Firebrand may or may not be using is weak and ineffective. Which is good for the kids. It’s more about the punishment here.
And Auburn! Hello, Auburn! New persons we get to me (says Yoda). Erin likened her to another heroine of mine, Ty: Strong, intelligent, protective. And I love how infatuated she is with Frank, her kidnapped Sandtribe buddy.
As for the atmosphere, I think this is where the section failed. This is where the story fought me. This was where I felt like I was back in college writing papers at midnight because they just did not want to come out. I hope I can pick it up in the next section.
As always, and questions you have are totally welcome.
[g]
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Back to Part 032 Notes
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