They all slept like logs. Their journey and the heavy food knocked them out, and no one minded the fact that the six of them were squeezed like sardines in the narrow trailer. They had all carried all their baggage inside: it was all they had, and they wanted to keep it close. Li Yang slept with his backpack serving as a pillow, as did Jake.
Jimmy Dow woke them all up knocking on the door just after eight. He'd come to tell Harper the big pow-wow with the Poet was scheduled for ten. He also invited all of them to breakfast: it was laid on and waiting, he said.
Li Yang and Jake left the trailer immediately, and went to the stream first, to freshen up. The breakfast consisted of leftovers from last night's feast, but they didn't mind. They both got busy, Li Yang gnawing on a piece of meat and Jake on a cob of corn. They were so immersed in this activity they took next to no notice of other arrivals at the breakfast table. These included Harper and Jimmy, who sat directly across from them.
And so, Li Yang and Jake Donato could not help but overhear what Jimmy was saying to Harper. And Jimmy was saying:
"Listen, bro, that's simply the way we do things here. Everything's shared. We share what we have, and we share what we get. And we're gonna get a whole fucking lot of stuff, man. To begin with, we goin' to get a couple of more trailers. One of them exclusively for you guys. Then we goin' to help out with the licenses. You a little short, we take care of that. But in return, we expect you to share what you have, too. Without keeping anything back. So when we go in to talk with the Poet, keep that in mind, bro. That's just the way we do things around here."
By that time, both Li Yang and Jake were totally tuned into what Jimmy was saying, and they got a shock when Olga inserted her head between theirs and said:
"Guys?"
"What?" Jake said, angry at having been startled.
"You want to go for a ride? I'm going to town to have a look around. It would be nice to have company. And if you don't turn out to be total assholes, I might tell you something very interesting."
Li Yang and Jake looked at each other. Then Jake said:
"Sure. After we've finished eating, and taken a dump."
"A dump?"
"After we've had a shit. Don't you Russians ever shit?"
"We do," said Olga. "We just don't talk about it all the time like you Americans. Shit this, shit that."
"We talk about shit all the time?"
"You do. Every second word is shit or fuck. I guess it says a lot about what you are like."
"Nice," said Jake. "And you're saying you want us to come with you?"
Olga shrugged.
"Do whatever you like," she told Jake. "I'm leaving in a few minutes. You'll be sorry, later, if you don't come with me. It's your choice."
She snatched the solitary boiled potato remaining in the bowl in front of Li Yang, and walked away. Li Yang and Jake exchanged glances. They'd started exchanging glances when they were about four years old, and after so many years each glance exchange was as eloquent as two long speeches.
They finished eating quickly, and did what they had to do in the bushes. When they returned to the camp, Olga was waiting, standing beside her bicycle and wearing her backpack.
"Are you coming with me?" she asked.
"Yes," said Li Yang.
"Then hurry up. And better take your stuff. Just in case."
Li Yang was tempted to ask in case of what, but Jake pulled on his sleeve and they went to get their bikes and their backpacks.
Harper came round to the trailer just as they were about ready, and asked:
"And where are you guys off to? What's happening?"
"We're going to check out the town," Jake told him. "We didn't see much of it yesterday. Maybe we'll come across something interesting."
"But why are you taking your backpacks? You're coming back, right?"
"I'm not going to leave my stuff lying around," said Li Yang, and Jake nodded in agreement.
Harper sighed.
"I understand," he said. "I understand only too well. I'll see you later, then."
They joined Olga with the intention of asking her a couple of questions, but they saw a man they'd never seen before emerge from the first trailer and stare at them in an unfriendly manner. So they all got on their bikes and quickly pedaled down the dirt track, and turned towards the town when they reached the crossroads by the burned-out Paradise Villas.
Back at the trailer camp, Harper was listening to his friend Jimmy Dow.
"You gotta understand something, bro," Jimmy was saying. "This New World, it's very competitive. We got a cube right in the middle of the town. We grabbed all the stuff we could before the cops showed up, and everyone else was grabbing as much as they could get, too. We've already ran into some people in the New World, and they weren't nice, if you know what I mean. You ever play King of the Hill? Don't look at me like that, it's an online game."
"I don't play video games," Harper said. "I'm too busy with real life."
"You don't get it, bro. For many people, video games ARE the real life. I guess I'll leave it to the Poet to explain things to you."
"I've been to the New World," Harper said. "I have an idea of what it's like."
"You don't. I know you don't because I've been there for a while, and you're talking nonsense. Come on, let's talk to the Poet. He'll explain it all to you."
"I hope he will," said Harper.
Li Yang and Jake forced Olga to stop as soon as the charred heaps called Paradise Villas disappeared from view. They had questions to ask, and they asked them.
"But I'm telling you the truth!" cried out Olga, after Jake pulled out his gun and began to scratch the bristle on his chin with its barrel. "My girlfriend from Russia works in this hotel on that cape across the bay in a town called Cambridge, like the university in England. I talked to her on the phone back in New York. The hotel is empty, she can put us up. And those people there, Harper's friends, I don't trust them. I don't even know most of them. There were a lot of new people this morning."
"They were busy in the New World when we arrived yesterday," Jake said. "Janice told me."
"Whatever. I still don't trust them. I'm leaving, and if you have any brains you'll leave with me, too."
Jake and Li Yang had yet another glance exchange. This particular exchange concerned the fact they both had an amount of precious metals in their backpacks, and didn't like the idea of turning that over to the commune.
Let's go along with it and see what happens, said Li Yang's glance.
Let's go along and see what happens and if worst comes to worst we've got guns, said Jake's glance.
They went along. They followed Olga to the junction with the road running along the coast of the bay. Olga insisted on turning left, and Jake made a feeble joke about her being a good Communist.
It turned out that Olga had good intuition. Before a minute had passed, they spotted someone working on a boat berthed at one of the piers that jutted into the bay. Like the others, it was on private property, so they dismounted their bikes and let Olga go first, making sure their weaponless hands were in plain view.
Olga dropped her bike onto the ground and boldly walked onto the pier and engaged the old man working on a sailboat in conversation. After a while, she looked at them and waved for them to join her.
"There are my friends from New York," she said, when they did. "And like me, they want to get away from this madness and wait somewhere peaceful until it passes."
"That's very reasonable," said the man. He was quite old, and probably had a good idea of what was reasonable. "But to take you across the bay - "
"Hold on," Jake said to Olga. "We're going across the bay?"
"Yes," said Olga. "If this kind gentleman agrees to take us." She smiled at the old man, and Li Yang had to admit that even given her punk hairdo and gold nose-ring, her smile was charming. Most likely it was something in her eyes.
The old man thought so, too. He said:
"I can take you folks across the bay. But as you can see, I'm old. My time is precious."
"We'll pay," said Olga.
"How much?"
Negotiations ensued. After a lot of smiling from Olga, the old man agreed to take them to Cambridge for ten elbow-lengths of Jake's thick copper wire, amounting to roughly a quarter kilo.
He warned them it would be dark by the time they got there, even though they had a good wind.
"I hope you know what you're doing," Jake said to Olga as they cast away, and the main sail started flapping to catch the wind.
"I don't hope," said Olga. "I make plans."
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