Whakahapa, 6

(Might change the title to 'Left Behind')

Sure he knew what a micro-light was, of course he did. He'd never flown in one but the lightweight, miniature aircraft were a common sight in the sky, they were the cheapest way to fly.

Usually, microlights carried only the pilot, but sometimes they could take a passenger as well. This one up there looked like it might be big enough for two people, but he wasn't sure. It didn't have a passenger now, just the pilot, he thought. It was hard to tell, it was flying high-up.

Most of the valley was in shadow by then but the micro-light's wide-spread nylon-covered wings caught the afternoon sun and glowed brightly, it was a beautiful sight. Beautiful and really welcome!

He jammed on the brakes, leapt out of the car and danced around shouting and waving. The pilot didn't see him, didn't stop and sailed smoothly, and noisily, away. He'd already turned towards the closer fire and Amos was behind it now and being left behind. No! It had to stop. It had to! What could he do to catch his attention?

'Aha, yes!' He slapped his pockets, and then clambered over the fence and ran to the nearest windbreak – a long line of close-together pine trees stretching across the valley. Pines always had lots of detrius under them and it hadn't rained for days, so it'd all be tinder dry and would quickly flare-up as a huge fire. The pilot wouldn't miss that, hopefully.

The matches were still in his pocket from lighting the fire up on the hill. Using his outstretched fingers, he quickly raked together some fallen pine needles and set fire to them. When it caught, he threw on more and more and bigger fuel until there was a good-sized fire going. Then there was a small problem.

The fire wasn't spreading because he'd cleared the ground around it. That was easily fixed. Using a fallen branch, he scattered the fire around in a wide arc. Flames spread through the fallen needles and branches, ran across the ground and, suddenly, up into the trees.

Burning bits dropped to the ground and the fire-front grew rapidly. Now would be a good time to get out of there. He went back out to the road and the car.

It was scary how fast the fire was exploding. The whole of the windbreak would be totally munted, which was a shame but it'd grow again. He needed to stop that pilot.

But, it wasn't working. The micro-light had circled the hill where the grass fire was and, aparently seeing that there was no-one there, was now heading back up the valley to the other fire and he was not looking back. Dammit. Damm, damm, dammit!

He screamed his frustration but, of course, wasn't heard. What was wrong with the guy? There was this huge pall of smoke and flames and he wasn't seeing it? Was he blind or something.

That'd be a worry, a blind guy flying a plane! He grinned at the thought.

But, dammit! What was he going to do? He wanted to meet-up with that guy, whoever it was. He needed to. But how? He couldn't fly after him, he wasn't that clever.

He guessed that he'd just have to follow where it went and hope that he found where it came down. There couldn't be that many places where it could land safely and refuel. It was travelling back in the direction he'd come from. It'd be funny, and frustrating, if it landed on the air-strip back on his home farm.

So, he'd follow. That wasn't much of a plan, but it was all that he had. He turned the car to head back to where he'd come from. Dammit.

Then, at last, something went right. The micro-light circled around the hilltop and must've seen the new fire's smoke because it was coming back to where he was. Yes!

He stopped and got out again. He needed something to catch the pilot's attention, but what? He stripped his light-blue shirt off and waved that frantically, screaming and yelling as he did.

Did he see him? Yes, he did. He must have because it was now coming straight towards him. It came down really low and slow as it flew past over him.

He yelled and yelled and hurt his throat and yelled again. Yes, he'd definitely seen him. The micro-light turned in a sweeping circle and came back again, even lower. He wasn't going to try to land here, was he?

That wingspan was far too wide for it to fit on the road. He could not land here. But, he did. The wheels barely cleared the roof of Amos' car and it touched-down on the road shortly after. He was right, the road was too narrow and the wingspan was too wide – not by much but enough to be too much.

The wing on the right crumpled when it struck a power-pole, the micro-light spun around and was all-but shredded as it crashed through a hedge of trees. Whoah! Amos was not the only one yelling.

It stopped crashing and everything was quiet. His first thought was that he had no first-aid kit in the car – nothing! He'd had some first-aid training, all boys did, but that was no use without any gear. If the pilot was seriously injured, then he was in serious trouble and all because Amos Steadfast was incredibly stupid. Poor man.

He wasn't dead; maybe not even injured, not much anyway. The micro-light's wings were crumpled like paper, ripped off and left behind. The landing wheels were gone and so was the propellor, but the framework of the machine was still more-or-less intyact and sitting at a skewed angle a few feet off the ground, caught in the lower branches of a tree.

The pilot swung down from his crooked seat, landed lightly on the ground, turned and grinned at Amos. “I do make a grand entrance, don't I?” he said.

He turned, looked at the wreck and shook his head. “Can't see that ever flying again. I've made better landings, my old instructor would not be impressed. Still, he was the one who said that any landing you walk away from is a a good landing.”

Amos, all excited, was tongue-tied and staring. All he could see of the pilot was his smile. He was clad in heavy-looking brown leathers with matching boots and mittens and a close-fitting leather helmet. His eyes were covered by large tinted-lensed goggles.

Amos wondered about the voice, it was soft and high-pitched like a girl's. He soon saw why that was when the pilot pulled the goggles and helmet off and shook-out her long brown hair. Her hair – it was a girl, well an older girl, a woman, aged about 30ish.

“Aren't you a sight for sore eyes? Aren't you going to say something, Darlin'? You may be the only boy in the world and I may be the only girl, but if you say, 'Madam, I'm Adam', I'll hit you. We're not starting all that again.

“No. Yes. Ah, I mean, yes we're not. Definitely not. Hello. I am Amos and it is so good to see you! Are we the only ones left?”

“I don't know that for sure, but it seems that we are. I've been searching for days and seen no-one. Have you?”

“I haven't and I've been searching too. There no people anywhere and no animals either, not even any insects. Oh, there are fish; I've seen lots of fish, alive and swimming.”

“They are. I've seen fish too and the plants haven't died, they're all alive.”

“How do you know? Plants could take weeks to die off, they do when you spray them.”

“True, but they're not dead. Haven't you noticed the flowers, Silly Boy?”

“What about the flowers?”

“They close when the sun goes down and open again next morning. They're alive.”

“Oh, right. That's good. I hadn't noticed that. Why do you think we are left when everyone else has gone?”

“Sunshine, I wouldn't have a clue but I'm glad to be here.”

“You are? I'm not so sure. Are you a True Believer?”

“Am I a what?”

“A True Believer. A real Christian.”

“Oh. I'm not sure if I'm Christian, but I'm a True Believer all right. I truly believe that the Church is full of crap.”

“Oh. You are an Unbeliever then. One of the godless.”

“Yes, that'd be me, in their eyes anyway. You're a God-Gobbler?”

“I don't know. I might be, but not a very good one.”

“And why is that? No, don't bother. I don't give a stuff what the Church thinks of you, I'll form my own opinion. Your name is Amos? How old are you and where are you from?”

“I am Amos Steadfast. I am 16 years old and I'm from Joppa Community, about a hundred miles back there.”

“Joppa? Never heard of it, I'm from Hebron., which is empty. You're a long way from home. I presume Joppa is empty too?”

“It's empty, they've all gone. There's nobody anywhere.”

“Almost nobody. I haven't found any yet, except you.”

“And I found no-one except you. Maybe we are the only ones. Do you think that we are in Hell?”

“What? Don't talk bloody nonsense, Boy. We're not in any mythical hell.”

“Oh, good. What are we going to do now?”

“Do? Well . . .”She considered the wreckage of the micro-light. “Looks like the transport is well and truly rooted. I'll need to find another one. I'll go up to that town up the valley, get myself a car and I'll keep on searching. I'm not ready to give up yet.

If you'll give me a lift back there, that'll be good. Otherwise, it's a bloody long walk, but I'll get there.”

“You don't have to walk. I'll take you there. The car is very full, but if we move things around we can fit you in.”

“Right, let's do that then. The day is getting on and I need to find somewhere to sleep. The town will have lots of somewheres.”

“It will, it's a big town. We will find a motel or something, eat and sleep and tomorrow find a bigger car. A van might be better , or even a bus. No, a bus to be too hard to get around in and we don't know where we might finish up. Where will we go?” He was chattering away as they went to the car and started rearranging things. She paused and looked at him.

“We? Sunshine, I don't know where you're going but I'm going to find an air-strip, get myself another microlight and keep on searching. I haven't covered the whole country yet, far from it.”

“Can we find a microlight big enough for two?”

“Two people? You're not coming with me; I'll go on my own.”

“On your own? But I thought we'd travel together now.”

“You thought wrong then. Look, Amos whatever-your-name-is, you are not what I'm looking for. That's why I'm still looking.”

“That's why? But why don't you want to travel with me? What's wrong with me?”

“What's right with you? I'm old enough to be your mother, nearly old enough. I need a companion who knows something of the world not some prissy little churchy boy still wet behind the ears.”

“Hey!” he protested. “Do you really think that's what I am?”

“Just calling it like I see it.”

“There's something wrong with your eyes then, I'm not like that.”

“Nothing wrong with my eyes, I see very well. This Joppa Community that you're from, it's a church community, isn't it?”

“Yes it is. Joppa is a farming commune of about 400 people and we, they, have, had, lots of smaller industries as sidelines.”

“Like what?”

“Like making fertiliser, baking bread, making cheese, lots of things.”

“And you were born and raised there? It's the only world you knew?”

“Well, yes, it was.”

“Well then,” she shrugged. “Got a lot to learn, haven't you?”

“I don't know, have I?”

“You certainly have. There's a lot more to the world than your churchy stuff. Well there was a lot more. If all of your church have disappeared the world will be a better place.”

“How can you say that? It was the Church who started New Salem. There'd be nobody here if it wasn't for them.”

“There's no-one here anyway, except for us, one religious, one not.”

“I'm not so sure that I am religious. I was probably going to be excommunicated before long.”

“Oh? Maybe there's hope for you yet. Why were they going to kick you out?”

“They might not have, but they probably were going to. After what I've seen now, I think I'd leave anyway.”

“Oh? This is getting interesting. First, why would they probably boot you out?”

“Because I came to notice and I was under investigation.”

“Investigation for what?”

“For, well, being different I suppose. I can't fully accept all of the Church's teaching.”

“Is that all? You be out for thinking for yourself and disagreeing with what they told you?”

“Well, yes. But mostly for disobedience. Nobody can tell what I'm think, and that's good.”

“They probably couldn't, unless you were stupid enough to tell them.”

“I, ah – I might have done that, a little.”

“You did? You are stupid then.”

“Maybe. The Elders, they have ways of getting a person to talk. All of my life, I've always been under their authority.”

“So you talked? It's hard to kick against the pricks. That's in your bible, you know.”

“Kicking against . . It is not! The Bible doesn't say that.”

“It bloody does – Book of Acts, chapter 26, verse 14, look it up. I'm not completely ignorant of the bible. You can't live 31 years on New Salem and not pick up some of it.”

“Thirty-one years. Is that how old you are?”

“Didn't they tell you that it's rude to ask a lady's age? But, yes I'm 31.”

“You are old enough to be my mother. Some girls have babies at 13 and 14.”

“Far too young. Your church has got some perverted practices. Making girls have babies that young is just tragic. They're still babies themselves.”

“Well, not babies, but they are young mothers. They are physically mature so they are women, and a woman's first duty is to submit to her husband and to have children. That is in the Bible too, we are commanded to be fruitful and multiply and to fill the world.”

“That command is often quoted. Did you know that it is quoted wrongly? In the creation story, in the first chapter of Genesis, God created animals, fish and birds and told them to be fruitful and multiply.”

“He told Adam and Eve to do the same thing.”

“He did not. He told them to be fruitful and multiply, to replenish the earth and subdue it.”

“That's the same thing, isn't it?'

“It is not. You're not listening. He said to replenish which means to refill it. Re, as in do it again, so it must've been filled up previously. Who by?”

“But . . He . . I – does it really say that?”

“It does. Read it and see for yourself.”

“But why didn't the Elders say something about that?”

“Because it doesn't suit their little mind games and power trips. Enough of that. The Lesson endeth here. Are we going to that town or not?”

“Yes we are. We're going now.”

Amos started the car, turned and drove back up the road.