Editing And Not To Yield
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We sipped our tea and listened to the night noise through the open windows. The setting reminded me of another midsummer’s night in another man’s company and of the blanket we’d shared under the stars. I recalled the scent of pine needles and the campfire and cooking…and wished desperately for Mike, now missing over a year without a single word to tell me if he still lived. To say I was worried was an understatement and the message I’d cadged from the online boards—''Salisbury, Brothers come home if you are able. The wheat is ripe for harvest.''—did little to ease my misgivings.<br> | We sipped our tea and listened to the night noise through the open windows. The setting reminded me of another midsummer’s night in another man’s company and of the blanket we’d shared under the stars. I recalled the scent of pine needles and the campfire and cooking…and wished desperately for Mike, now missing over a year without a single word to tell me if he still lived. To say I was worried was an understatement and the message I’d cadged from the online boards—''Salisbury, Brothers come home if you are able. The wheat is ripe for harvest.''—did little to ease my misgivings.<br> | ||
That it was a coded message, I had no doubt, just as I knew it wasn’t meant for me. But given what Mike had told me of his days at the monastery and of what I’d gleaned when I’d been there, I seriously doubted that wheat was the reason the Brothers were being called home. Was Mike among them now? I could patch through a discreet message to the Abbot and inquire, but should I? Blue Sun was Quarantined and I knew that cargo and people weren’t the only things under hard scrutiny going in or out—communications would be monitored by the Feds and I had no wish to blow an op in the making. <br> | That it was a coded message, I had no doubt, just as I knew it wasn’t meant for me. But given what Mike had told me of his days at the monastery and of what I’d gleaned when I’d been there, I seriously doubted that wheat was the reason the Brothers were being called home. Was Mike among them now? I could patch through a discreet message to the Abbot and inquire, but should I? Blue Sun was Quarantined and I knew that cargo and people weren’t the only things under hard scrutiny going in or out—communications would be monitored by the Feds and I had no wish to blow an op in the making. <br> | ||
| − | Mike was wherever Mike was, doing whatever Mike was doing and I was stuck at the opposite end of the Universe from the one point that could give me a clue as to either. It made me crazy and it made me miss him, an ache of the head and the heart that ground away at me. I’d told no one yet about the message I’d found, not being entirely sure what good it would do. The unresolved matter with Mike weighed on me but I put a good face on it, hoping to keep the others free of my personal problems. It was the reason I’d sought the solitude of the Gator over sharing a tent with Nika and I had hoped I’d hidden it well enough to avoid notice.<br> | + | Mike was wherever Mike was, doing whatever Mike was doing and I was stuck at the opposite end of the Universe from the one point that could give me a clue as to either. It made me crazy and it made me miss him, an ache of the head and the heart that ground away at me. I’d told no one yet about the message I’d found, not being entirely sure what good it would do. The unresolved matter with Mike weighed on me but I put a good face on it, hoping to keep the others free of my personal problems. It was the reason I’d sought the solitude of the Gator over sharing a tent with Nika and I had hoped I’d hidden it well enough to avoid notice.<br><br> |
| − | I should have known better. | + | I should have known better. |
Christian was adept at reading people and I realized my dwelling on Mike was unkind to the man who had shown me uncommon kindness in the past six months. And though we were no longer bed partners, I still felt a fondness for Christian and my conscience nudged me to give him more than silence over our tea. I took his hand and squeezed it.<br> | Christian was adept at reading people and I realized my dwelling on Mike was unkind to the man who had shown me uncommon kindness in the past six months. And though we were no longer bed partners, I still felt a fondness for Christian and my conscience nudged me to give him more than silence over our tea. I took his hand and squeezed it.<br> | ||
“Do you think we’ll find him?” I asked, meaning the reason for our trip into the heights above Brisbane.<br> | “Do you think we’ll find him?” I asked, meaning the reason for our trip into the heights above Brisbane.<br> | ||
