011 - The Board Is Set, The Pieces Start To Move

Lunch was at a beach on the west side of Lake Tahoe. Being still a late Sierra spring, there were no swimsuits in evidence. The water was still about 55 degrees, tolerable if you had to get in it. The kids ran around a bit, as kids do, while the parents got the food set out and afterward put away. Steven then drove them up through Truckee, and further north through the highways of the area, and ultimately a nearly random dirt road that wandered further. By mid afternoon, they drove into to Susanville, and picked up the 395 back down to Reno and further south to home.

In all of this, Diana and Alex bounced around the back seat of the truck, looking at things. Alex was trying out his new binoculars, and squabbling with Diana who wanted to use his, because she had not brought hers.

At one point, they came up to a Subaru wagon that the driver had high centered after driving too carelessly. With a skillful tug with a tow strap the wagon was back on the center of the road, and Rox was now at the wheel of her truck with Steven getting to play passenger. This suited him, as now he got to play with his new binoculars and attached camera.

Rox drove up the rural street they lived on, driving behind one of the other neighbors, the Brocks, with their horse trailer back from some horse event. The Brocks had the second largest yard in the area for their horses. They had moved up from The Valley over the winter. Rox had not yet gotten to know them, beyond that they were about her and Steven’s age, and had two horses that they took out every weekend. They did not appear to have any children that Rox had noticed. Rodeo seemed to be their profession, another neighbor had once commented that it was almost their religion.

The Brocks turned left into their yard and Rox drove further.

Next down from the Brocks on the right side of the road was the Fitches. Tom and Dana Fitch were good people. Tom worked for the County. Dana stayed at home, but seemed to have a cottage industry in hand-made crafts, when she was home. Dana had a welcome reputation in the neighborhood as a one-person service battalion. Josh, 17, Holly, 15, and Ryan, 12, were always wandering about the area, when they weren’t at school, or scout camp, or 4-H or . . .

Next door to the Fitches was the second oldest house in the sparse neighborhood. Doris and Marvin Winchel were retired, and their three children with their families were scattered to the winds. Doris was nice, if a bit overly forward, trying to fill the void left by her moved-away children by adopting the neighborhood. Marvin alternated between being the neighborhood grouch and indispensable help.

Just beyond the Winchels Rox turned right into her own driveway, as Steven pushed the button to open the garage door. Rox and Steven were the second to move into the area, building their own house, as the rest of their neighbors did. They owned two lots, backing each other, with Rox’s garage on the back lot, facing that road.

Further down the road, on the left side was the largest developed yard in the area, and the only log home. There Jake and Mable Peterson had their brood. Jake was a foreman for a Log Home construction company. Mable loved to grow her garden. Every year, she would pass out her corn and other spare vegetables. It was always welcome, and free. They also had some horses. One was a barely civil stallion that they used as a stud service. Jake and the youngest boy, Timothy aged 6, were the only ones who could enter its corral. Sam, 16, and Dean, 14-trying-to-be-30, the oldest two, were in 4-H, and had growing collections of ribbons. Samuel was always teasing Geraldine for shortening her name and flustering the judges. Brittany, 10, and Mitch, 8, were in the same grades as Diana and Alex, and came over to play some. Mable home-schooled all of her kids, so they were not as close friends as some of the kids at school. Sam and Dean were occasionally seen going about with the Fitch kids. Mable had approached Rox about putting Mitch into Rox’s martial arts class once summer started. Tim was wandering over to the Brocks when he could, or more so to their horses.

Beyond the Petersons on the same side of the road was the Cusicks. They were an older couple. Their youngest was attending University of Nevada/Reno Graduate School. The older three were graduated and moved away, though one was in Reno with her family. They were the first house in the area. Rox rarely saw them, as they both worked, and had their own circle of friends. Mable Peterson had reached out to them, and occasionally they came to her block parties. The Winchels got on well with them.

All of the locals figured that someday this might grow into an actual subdivision, but until then the neighborhood was generally quiet, and a good place to raise free-range children.

Rox had put dinner into a crock-pot before leaving, and Steven had the kids set the table. All they had to do was use the restrooms and serve things. Once that was done, and the dishes in to wash, Steven brought the two rifles used the day before upstairs, and began to clean them, while Rox helped the kids with their homework. Once the homework was done, and the rifles put back in the safe in the basement, they all sat around the dining room table. They then read from the Bible as a family, and talked about the passages they read.

Finally Diana and Alex got their things ready for school the next day, and went to bed. With the kids tucked in, Rox and Steven went for a brief walk with the dogs, and then home and to bed.

*          *          *

Two dark figures, one tall and one short, trekked quickly through the night, following the hiking trails south along the mountain ridges and valleys. The smaller one carried a faintly glowing stone that he occasionally checked for his direction.

*          *          *

Caspian awoke from proper rest on a good bed for the first time in a long time. It took him a moment to remember just where he was, as he looked around.

Off-white walls, with some kind of printed pattern surrounded him. Dark brown trim at the floor, mid-way up the wall, and at the ceiling. A cream colored carpet that stretched from one wall to the other. Fine furniture, that did not look hand made. Cyrril wrapped around the base of a lamp, on a nightstand. His clothes draped over a chair, his staff against the wall. Gauzy drapes over a large window, letting lots of morning sunlight in, without allowing anybody to see through in either direction.

Caspian pulled himself out of bed clad in just his breeches. He then checked the doors, as his memory of the night before ended with him sitting in a car watching the road go by. First, he found the linen closet, with several sets of bed sheets. Next was a large clothes closet, from which Caspian pulled a robe. The last door was the hallway. Quickly he found the lavatory, second door on the right.

Alistare had certainly done well for himself. Compared to where he was from, Caspian almost felt he was in royal quarters. And this was just the guest room. So much for economic and technologic differences.

Alistare came to the door as Caspian came out.

“Use whatever towels and soap you want. I have to go to church, but will be back at lunchtime to help you.” Alistare waved at the tub as he spoke.

Caspian looked, and recognized the basic design. Then turned back.

“Thanks. It’s the Sabbath here? Can Cyrril go outside?”

“Yes it is, and only in the backyard. And he is not to go beyond the privet hedges. The neighbors have animals about. Cyrril might disturb them.”

Caspian nodded, and then puzzled the knobs on the tub. Quickly he had the water running to fill the tub. Alistare just watched.

“My wife will be in and out; normally she comes with me, but today she is going to stay and help you; she will get breakfast for you. And Cyrril.” Alistare turned, waving again. “See you at lunch.” He pulled the door behind him as he went.