Bill the Elder

“Three sacks short, Bill.” Susan says as she ticks the marks on her clipboard. She bends down, aligning the tops of the individual sacks back to their original position as she tips them back towards the wall.

“If we’re short, we’re going to have to count again.” Bill retorts, exhaling hard. “We have to be right before we take it to the council.” He puts his hands on his hips, and inhales hard, filling his lungs. He shakes his head.

“I know Bill, I know.” Susan looks at him, her eyebrows arching, concerned. “Let’s get started. If this...” Her voice breaks a little. “If this is where we are...”

“I know.” Bill interrupts, as he side steps the moved sacks, and works his way to the back of the barn. Susan follows behind him, working the turned pages of her clipboard as she steps along the pathway of grain sacks.

“Back to page one. Ready when you are.” Susan collects her pencil, ready to follow behind Bill’s steps, carefully working her feet between the aisles, avoiding stepping on corners and edges of the bags. Pointing with her pencil, she counts down the back row, mimicking Bill’s movements, a few counts behind. She finishes and waits for Bill, who seems to be counting again. He pauses, exhales, and starts counting again.

“Sorry.” Bill says as he looks over to her, eyes starting to tear. “Twenty five. I count twenty five. For the back row.” He tilts his head down.

“I got the same.” Susan eyes her checklist, and marks again on the first line with her pencil. “Let’s keep going.” She looks at Bill, trying not to stare as his chest starts to flutter. He is trying to hide his weeping, and it is not working.

“Bill, c'mon. Let’s keep counting.” She points with her clipboard. “Next row.”

Bill sniffles and starts counting with his pointer finger, working his way down the row, sack by sack. He gets to the end of the row, and starts on the first sack, counting again.

“You don’t have to count twice Bill. We are counting them all again anyway, and I am counting behind you.”

“I know!” Bill’s face reddens. “Sorry.” He wipes the tears from his eyes, and restarts his count.

“Susan, I'm sorry. I need to count them again. Let me do this.”

“Okay. Ok.” Susan shakes her head up and down. “That’s fine.”

“Twenty five.” Bill states softly, moving his head to make eye contact with Susan. “I got twenty five.”

“Same.” She looks back at Bill, and he sees that she is fighting tears too. “I got the same. Next row.”

Susan looks away, and then down at her clipboard. She makes another mark with her pencil, then lets the clipboard fall to her side. Aiming with her pencil eraser, she starts counting the third row. Bill takes a step backward, then sits hard on the sacks of grain behind him. He moves his hand over his eyes as he starts sobbing. Susan ignores him and continues accounting for the grain sacks, moving down the aisle as she counts with her pencil eraser, breaking only to mark the aisle counts on her clipboard. She finishes and walks over to Bill, sitting the clipboard down next to him. She grabs both of his hands and holds them.

“Bill I get three hundred and seventeen, just like we did before.” She tugs on his hands a little. He looks up, eyes watery, and shakes his head, agreeing with the accounting.

“C'mon.” She tugs on his hands, encouraging him to get up to his feet. He complies. He wipes his eyes with his hands and tries to collect himself by standing tall and breathing purposefully.

“Okay. Okay I’m fine. Thanks Susan.”

“No problem.” She picks up the clipboard, and hands it over to Bill. He accepts it, never breaking eye contact. They share a nod together and make their way out of the barn. As they open the doors, seeing new daylight, they find the council waiting, surrounded by what looks like most of the rest of the village. All eyes are on them.

“Well?” James demands, his hands making a gesture as if he has been waiting on this news for a long time. “How many did they take?”

“Three hundred and seventeen.” Bill mumbles, his eyes scanning over the crowd.

“What?” James steps closer. “What did you say? Three hundred.”

Bill cuts him off. “I said three hundred and seventeen. And that’s not what they took, it’s what remains. They took...” Bill looks at the clipboard. “One hundred and ten.” He looks up at the crowd and clears his throat.

“One hundred and ten sacks. They took one hundred and ten sacks.”

The crowd murmurs, individual conversations and concerns melding together. The council members eye each other.

“Margaret!:” James calls, looking across the crowd.

“Right here.” Margaret states, walking up next to James with her hand up, finger pointed towards the sky. “I’m right here.”

“When is the next grain shipment?” He looks at Bill, then Susan, finally landing his eyes on Margaret.

“Four months from now.” Margaret looks at the barn, then back to James. “Four months is what is scheduled for the annual, but the last one was weeks late. Let’s call it five for safety.”

“Ok, so what’s the count then? The headcount? From this morning?”

“We lost nine in the raid, and four were taken. West outpost has not checked in at all, we sent runners at early light. If we lost them all, that’s another five gone.”

James shakes his hands and shrugs his shoulders. “I can’t do the math in my head. What’s the count?”

“If we lost the west outpost, that’s eighteen gone, so sixty eight total remaining.”

“Shit. What’s the expected loss for the summer?”

“James.” Margaret shakes her head. “Not now.” She holds his arm. “Let’s not do this right now.”

“We have to do this right now. This is why we have the council. This is why we are here. We have to work this out right now. The survivors depend on us.”

“We just got raided! People lost loved ones!”

“It doesn't matter. Every minute counts. Every meal we serve counts. We are trying to save as many as we can!” James’ voice gets loud. “This is why we were chosen to lead!”

Susan steps up and starts to speak. She sees Bill, weeping hard. She stops and holds his hands. “It's ok Bill.”

Bill grabs Susan and hugs her hard. He is weeping loudly.

“Bill, I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.” James looks over at him. “This isn’t personal. You know the rules. You know the law. Our grain use will be audited before the next delivery, and we need to prove that we are willing to sacrifice so we can get a renewal.” James puts a hand on Bill’s shoulder. “Bill, the rules are clear...”

“I know the damn rules!” Bill yells. He knocks James’ hand from his body, tears engulfing his face. He steps in front of James, balling his fists.

“Hold on Bill.” Catherine looks at him sternly. “This is the deal. You knew the deal when we let you stay with us, in our village. We follow the New Federal Guidelines. We are not raiders. We are legal, and we will stay legal.” She catches herself pontificating. She runs her fingers through her hair. “Federal guidelines state that we have to maintain our population, and that they must be well fed. That we are not to sacrifice many to save the few.”

Bill’s crying intensifies. Susan holds his hand, squeezing it hard and holding firm, offering comfort. She shakes her head up and down in agreement with Catherine. “She’s right Bill.”

“That’s easy for you both to say! You aren’t elders! You aren’t old!”

Catherine steps between Bill and James. “Bill I know. I know it's difficult. I’m sorry..”

“Sorry? Sorry!” Bill catches himself, and works to regain his composure. He wipes his face with his hand, and looks at Catherine, then the group.

“Who else?” Bill clears his throat and repeats. “Who else.. Who else is..”

“The eldest are you, Matt, and Dolores.” Catherine states, reaching out to hold Bill’s hand.

“Ok.” Bill agrees. “Ok.”

“We need to do this right now Catherine. Right now.” James states. He is staring at her. He looks over to Susan.

“See if you can find Matt and Dolores.”

Susan lets go of Bill’s hand, and starts working through the crowd.

James turns to Bill. “C’mon Bill. Let’s head to the courtyard.”

Bill musters his courage, and starts to follow James and Catherine as Catherine waves her hands, and calls the accumulating crowd to follow.

“We are heading to the courtyard. Go get your families and meet us there.” Catherine calls toward no one and everyone in the crowd.

She comes up behind James and Bill, walking towards the open area next to the barn designated as the courtyard. She walks up next to Bill and holds his hand as they walk the rest of the way. The crowd has worked its way there as Catherine, James, and Bill approach the far side of the courtyard, next to the creek. They share hugs and small conversation as the rest of the villagers arrive, slowly filling out around them. Susan comes back, with Matt and Dolores in tow.

Dolores stands next to Bill, eyeing him nervously. James begins to speak.

“Thank you everyone. Thank you for coming. Everyone knows we were raided yesterday, and that we lost some grain. We lost one hundred or more sacks, and have to make the counts right so we can get our grain refresh after the annual audit. In order to keep our numbers correct, we have to..” James looks at the ground in front of him.

“We have to maintain our population to the standards set by the rules of law.”

“To hell with this, get it over with!” Bill interrupts. “Just get it over with!”

James closes his eyes and exhales. He looks over to Catherine and Susan. They join hands and start their prayer.

“The earth remembers what we forget.”