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39. CEMETERY REALITY CHECK; Homeward Bound.

Eenunh snuggles against me, and goes right to sleep. I hear her regular breathing, don't risk any conversation.

It has been an eventful day, an eventful trip. We're just people, trying to live, have our lives and each other, to work for a living, to enjoy the living we are working for, and the world, this world, is intruding on us. That's... what I thought we were doing. We were nobody's business, and they seemed to have no interest in us.

But money changes everything. When I started earning a living I think I started paying Taxes. Then the Government... See that? I automatically capitalized 'Government'. You can't ignore Government. Government can reach right into your life and demand your attention. The Government noticed me. That was part of the reason I had to get my own place. I had no real problem with that. It worked out in many ways for the better.

Then it became necessary to confront the government... the Government... to keep from being deported. They came ready and cleaned out my room, carried me out in the desert with the intent that I was leaving and Patrick was staying; not a question, a made decision.

Back on Earth we have a saying; "You can't fight City Hall." The Government. The commannh had the badge of authority, the weapons of enforcement. It wasn't a conversation, a discussion, it was decided and I was not going to change their minds. Thin Man did that for me. I was able to go back in, sleep in my own bed-hollow that night, hold Eenunh in my arms.

Just the thought of having been deported that day, made to go back up with Briggs, is disturbing. I try to dispel that... disturbance... settle to sleep. I roll my eyes up to the top of my head and sleep comes. If I dream, I don't remember.

It is morning. There is red light outside the window. She snuggles against me, pulls the blanket close around our shoulders.

'Home'. 'Home' is where Eenunh is. Wherever Eenunh is. I want to be 'Home' with Eenunh. We're up, dressed, packed, corn-knives belted on. We look around in the bathrooms and bedrooms, assure nothing's left behind. I carry out the mirror, my weapons bag atop it. We're all in the hall. There are five soldiers behind us, five ahead. We go.
In the trucks Eenunh and I stow the mirrors, sacrifice my sleeping bag to the purpose. Eenunh assures me their blankets will suffice for the long, cold drive ahead.

"Weapons check!" Thimiannh commands. We check for rifles pointed toward the back, safeties on, clips in both rifles, bags at arm's reach. Eenunh is driving again.

"We're going to the cemetery," she announces. Thin Man doesn't reply. I get the impression he already knew that, already briefed the soldiers. She's... telling me.


Down and out of the Government Complex, left out the gate, straight across the loop and down the street toward the restaurant. Oh! The furniture store. The lead truck has stopped. Two soldiers get out, run across the street, come back... with the mirror!

"An early wedding present," Soda says, her beautiful grin like sunlight! I laugh. There's a tear in my eye!

I say, "Thank you!" in Emoilihn. Eenunh says, "Thank you," in English.

We're rolling again. Out in front at the next loop two trucks roll off the curb and lead us. I look behind. Yes! Two more behind. We're in force! Seven trucks; sixty-four soldiers, our twelve... thirteen... and four armed civilians.

We cross two more loops, turn right on the third one, and not far... turn into a stone-walled cemetery. There are tombstones, many varieties, and many, many, many... small, simple ones. We've stopped! Eenunh flips up her gull wing, slips out with her usual grace. Thin Man goes out his. Tinunh is up at the back doors, opens, and out. I offer my hand to steady Soda as she goes ahead of me, and follow.

On the ground I see there is a substantial stone, as big as the small passenger cars I've seen on the streets here, red sandstone, raw, uncut, just a natural boulder, set atop a low mound of earth. At the base of it is one of the simple stones, set back into what looks like a natural cavity in the larger stone. I can sound out the writing,

"Entemannh, Aloyan; The Peacemaker."

Tinunh stands next to Eenunh, each with one arm around the other. The rest of us stand back. Our soldiers are scattered, around us, eyes out on the landscape. The four escort trucks are parked, behind us, ahead of us. Their soldiers don't deploy.

The wind is cold, begins to gust, bluster, shush through the bushes and barren trees. Clouds scud across the sky at a rapid pace. Sunstarlight brightens between clouds, dims again.

Soda and Thin Man step up closer behind Eenunh. I step off to the left, so I can still see her. She turns, eyes flicker, she reaches toward me. I step up, take her hand.

"This was my husband," she says, quietly, no emotion. She reads from a plaque laid in the ground by his small marker;
"He brought peace to Costaramannh, Entemannh Garibe, and Casah Sagribe Garibe. There was peace for many, and some even attributed our peace to the peace that spread further abroad. We could live again, raise families, just live, just be, feeling safe in our beds at night, safe at work, on the streets." There, at the end, is Eenunh's name.

Eenunh says, "You... had to know... what that was like... that...difference in everyday life, to appreciate the difference. I could see it on the faces. Hear it in the voices. Peace was hope. Peace was positive.

Everyone knew... or thought... the Terror Wars were over.

But... then... came the assassinations, Entemannh, others, and we lived in madness again, chaos, poverty, desperation. The... gangs were as well-armed as the government. Soldiers came and went, changing sides. The commannh could be corrupted, killed, and new people recruited whose allegiance might not be to ass Emoilihn and peace. It seemed like it was... at its worst... that evening... when Tinunh and I just happened to wander into the transports, and went back to Corrimannh. They changed the name to Entemannh Garibe later. I kept quiet about who I was. No one asked. But I felt safer there. People there just wanted to live. But were prepared to fight. When bands of soldiers or bandits came they found a united people, ready to take them on. They never came with artillery or they might have crushed us. They never came with a bigger force than The People could show either. We... were just lucky. And... The Peacemaker... his... legacy became the dominant thought... that we wanted to live in peace and anyone who disturbed our peace would have ass Emoilihn to answer to. We knew peace... again." She looks at Tinunh. They reach and hold hands. "We didn't have much but we had... enough."

"We had each other," Tinunh says, steps into her mother's bosom.

Thin Man and Soda step away, their footfalls on the cold ground, the gravel of the roadway behind us, attracting our attention. Tinunh steps over, bends, touches the small marker stone, brushes her fingertips over the engraved lettering, stands, puts her hand on the big red sandstone. She turns into her mother's stomach and stands. I let go Eenunh's hand and she touches Tinunh's back. I step away, wait at the edge of the mound.

The wind gusts, shushes. The Sunstarlight changes. They come, and I notice Eenunh moves... clumsily. Tinunh notices too, looks up at her, guides her to the back of the truck. They climb in. I go to the gull-wing, lift myself up and in. Thin Man nods. I close the gull-wing, start the engine, hear the doors close behind me. We're rolling; homeward bound.