We were in his larger camp after my release from prison, and the other missions after that. He had been talking to me for a while as he explained my new home base. He waved toward the girl under the apple tree. “It’s time to meet others. Why don’t you go talk to her?” he said.
I obeyed and approached her in a direct line from my tent. He had helped me in pitching it, as he had in all other things.
She smiled broadly when she saw me. “Hello, sister!” she said.
I glanced over my shoulder before proceeding to ask, “How do you know I’m with you?”
“Oh, it isn’t that difficult,” she said, examining the leaf in her hand. She ran her fingers over the green veins before saying, “It’s just in the way you walk.”
“That’s interesting,” I said, at a loss to find anything brilliant to say.
“What’s your name?” She looked up from her leaf. Her eyes were startling, but not in their color or in their shape; rather, it was in their perception. I told her my name, and then I asked for hers.
“Cameron,” she said. She folded herself into a groove at the tree’s base. “Why don’t you join me?”
Wordlessly I plunked onto the soft spring grass next to her feet. I’d had other missions over these past months, and one that sent me several weeks away to do more of what I had been doing – waiting. After that, just sitting here, not speaking, seemed low on the list of priorities of all the things I probably needed to attend. Still, I could not make myself want to move. It was not a bad place to be motionless – the tree and its carpet neighbored the mess cart and a congregation area, beyond which was a larger field. All of it, except for the field, was surrounded by the tents of myself and the others.
“It’s nice here, isn’t it?” Cameron said. I agreed. We passed several more minutes in comfortable silence. The wind swirled down to us the scent of ripe fruit and sunshine.
“Say,” she said, “do you want an apple?”
“Sure,” I replied.
She had already begun to stand. She grabbed a low branch, and then she hauled herself onto it. Cameron tested the branch before proceeding. It wobbled, naturally, but appeared suitable support for her tastes. She wrapped her arms as far around the trunk as she could, and I saw her shimmy upwards, out of sight.
After some struggling and a twig cracking, a red, round fruit landed by my side. A minute later, Cameron was down, too.
Her eyes were bright with excitement. “There you go. You want to try sometime?”
“Maybe. Thanks.”
“No problem.”
I took the apple and bit into its flesh. It was good. The juice dribbled down my chin. I was occupied for a while trying to lap the juice with my tongue.
“That was a nice skill,” I said finally. I took more bites and let them sink into my tongue.
“Just something I picked up when I was younger.” She reddened suddenly.
“What is it?” I said.
“I’m just – so ashamed,” she said. Somehow she still had her leaf with her. She placed her hand on the grass. “I do want to tell you something.”
“Go ahead.” I took my time in swallowing the last bit of apple. There was just enough juice left inside to make it go down easy.
She waited until I was decently settled before she crossed her arms. “There used to be a woman belonging to a man. The man was her master. He made her promises and let her alone. When it came time for him to make good on the promises, he did not. If he did, it came with consequences never mentioned.”
“I see,” I said. I was trying to think of where to put my apple core.
“The squirrels take it if you toss it out there,” Cameron said.
“Oh. Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it.”
I rolled the apple core onto the broad congregation area, in the farthest shade of the tree. “This master,” I said. It seemed the best place to start.
“Yes?” she said.
“Did he make promises very often to her?”
“ Often enough.”
“That’s not uncommon around these parts.”
“No, it isn’t.”
As if drawn there, both of us rested our eyes on the direction that He had gone among the tents.
“What happened to the woman?” I said.
“After the promises of her master failed to deliver the comfort they offered her, she confronted him.”
I made a low whistle. “How did he take that?”
“He gave her over to another master. They were brothers. This master was different from his brother in that he rarely let her alone. But she was free to do what she wanted, as long as it wasn’t leaving.”
“What happened next?”
“I was born.”
My throat made sort of a closed hoot.
"Yeah, me," she said. "I grew up with him.” Cameron was somewhere else entirely. I could not have stopped her if I had wanted to. “She did what she wanted. I saw how he treated her. He bothered her on a daily basis. It was agony to see – that. I begged her almost as often to go somewhere else. She would not.
"Yeah, me," she said. "I grew up with him.” Cameron was somewhere else entirely. I could not have stopped her if I had wanted to. “She did what she wanted. I saw how he treated her. He bothered her on a daily basis. It was agony to see – that. I begged her almost as often to go somewhere else. She would not.
“Finally, the master said that she was terrible at making choices. He told her to sign over what little she had in her possession to himself. He insulted and beat her. Something had happened – I knew that when he wanted to take me away from her. He threatened her life.”
There had been no reason for me to speak. I almost whispered, “What happened?” I was not certain I said anything aloud.
“There was yet another master,” Cameron said. “He found me one day. I was climbing branches and he was walking nearby. He told me to come down. Funny enough, I did what he said. I wanted to, you know.”
It was expected. I nodded.
“He said he knew about my master. He asked me what I thought about him. Then he told me what he was prepared to offer. He would never leave me. There would be rules. I would not be alone. He made me promises.”
“Was this really a different master than the first one?” I said.
“Yes,” she said. “He proved it. And that’s exactly what I said to his offer. Yes. And do you know what?” She leaned towards me, her forehead lengthening as I looked at it from almost above her. “He has never broken a single promise.”
“It’s been possible for him to do that?”
“The thing is, he never promised me it would be comfortable. And it wasn’t. The other masters want me back sometimes. When that happens, he turns to me. And asks me.”
“What does he ask?”
“Will you follow me?”
“Will you follow me?”
“Is that all?”
“I say yes to him.”
“I say yes to him.”
“He’s still your master,” I said.
“Yes,” Cameron said.
“Whatever happened to your mother?” I said.
“Still with her old master.”
“Which one?”
“Either, or.” She turned to me rather seriously. “I need to find her.”
“You don’t know where she is?”
“This is a good place.”
“But it’s a camp. We’re not going to stay here.”
“I kept hoping she would find me and would ask him.”
“Cameron, we’re moving. A couple days, and we’re moving.”
Her hair fell in front of her deep eyes. I could not tell what she was thinking. “I know,” she said.
The mess bell rang. The others opened their tents and went to make a line.
“Hungry?” she asked me.
“Not really. I just had that apple, which was delicious by the way.”
“You’re welcome.” She flashed all her teeth. “I’m going to get something, and then I’ll bring it back. If you want anything from the plate, feel free to take it.” She used the tree as support in getting up.
I watched her walk away. My eyes wandered to the browning apple core just touched by some sun.
“I’m very proud of Cameron.”
I recognized his voice. I looked up to see his outline against the sun and the dappled leaves. “Yeah, she’s a nice girl,” I said.
His pleasure was tangible. “It’s good to hear that you two are getting along so well.”
“We are,” I agreed.
“Listen. I want you to go with Cameron as she goes to find her mother.”
I tried to let it digest before I spoke. “Does she know we’re going to look for her mother?”
“I haven’t told her to go yet, but she will.”
Another idea struck me. “Do you have an idea where her mother is right now?”
“Absolutely.”
It was not the answer I was expecting. “So you just let Cameron think that her mother is lost somewhere.”
“Her mother is a bit lost. Which is why she needs your help. They both do.”
“Me? Isn’t this your job?” I added, “My Lord?”
“Cameron’s mother is searching for me, although she doesn’t know it yet. You are going to share with her.”
“Me?” I repeated. I could still feel the way my hands and feet had been shackled, the weight of it.
He touched my arm. “You need them, too.”
“Another challenge,” I said.
“Did you expect anything different?”
I thought of all the challenges I had been through already, remembering how far I had traveled to get here. “I probably shouldn’t have.”
“Cameron’s ready for you to ask her to go. You’ll leave tomorrow.”
“Any particular time?”
“I’ll let you know.”
He stood back a bit, and I could finally see his face. I almost cried.
“She’s a dear woman,” he said. “Cameron takes after her. Love them as I do. Call to me when you can.”
He stood back a bit, and I could finally see his face. I almost cried.
“She’s a dear woman,” he said. “Cameron takes after her. Love them as I do. Call to me when you can.”
“You’ll hear me?” I asked.
“I will,” he said.
“Okay,” I said, “I’ll do it.”
“Good. Enjoy your lunch with Cameron.”
“I will.”
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