00047

Gov. Xavier Bright talked on his cell phone. "I am out in the Morning Garden. It was too noisy inside at Sheila's party, Security Leader Clyden, so I had to come out here. How did the raid go? Did you catch the whole Grametz family? With this bright moonlight tonight, certainly none of them should have given you the slip. Good, good. How did Osmo do? You know that my niece missed him when she opened the presents. I hope you took good care of him. Okay, you can tell me the whole story tomorrow. I have to get back; Sheila's about to cut the cake. I am glad to see you are on the right track. One less family belonging to the house church to oppose my government. Well, if they say the way we do things is wrong, isn't that the same thing?”

When he put his cell away, he turned and noticed Nina McCleer sitting on the garden’s bench, under the trees, in the trees' shadows. "

“Nina- You surprise me. I didn't expect to find you here."

"Obviously."

"So much for my assuming I can at least find privacy for security matters in the garden. But I thought X-9 said you wanted to be alone tonight- again. I thought you would be staying in your suite." He took the liberty of sitting next to her on the bench, not waiting to ask if she minded.

She told him, "I do want to be alone. But I never said anything about sitting in the rooms for the rest of the evening. Xavier, I couldn't help but overhear your conversation just now."

He grunted. "And I suppose you didn't let me know you were there because you didn't want to be rude and interrupt me while I spoke with Security Leader Clyden."

She nodded. "Now correct me if I am wrong, but I distinctly heard you say it is a good thing to round up whole families who belong to the house church, which you say is in opposition to you."

He gently replied, "Nina, like I said, my talk with Sec. Ldr. Clyden concerned a security matter. You needn't bother yourself about it."

Ignoring his advice, she inquired, "Why attack a whole family, Xavier, whose only crime is to worship at a place and in a way that doesn't have your government's approval? To me, that sounds like the actions of a very insecure man who is afraid. Or an egomaniac.”

“As if the house church poses any threat to me!" the Governor snickered. "No, Nina, it is more than that. Much more. I don't know if you watched the Earth news for today, but the show carried an interesting story about the so-called Brother Simon, who ran the house church. I always knew there was more to him than just preaching the Good Word. He went to Earth, and the authorities there found his bags full of illegal narcotics. Can you imagine that? So, this is what really goes on at the house church meetings? And, get this, this is the most outrageous part. It is rumored this Bro. Simon went to Earth to complain against me for some made-up grievances. And yet, look how it turned out. They caught him with his hand in the cookie jar!" He spat in disgust. "The hypocrite!"

Unimpressed, she said, "I know who the true hypocrite is, Xavier."

"Are you insinuating anything, Nina?"

She met his eyes. "Xavier, I want to know the truth. I need to know. Do not lie to me, for old times' sake. Where is my husband? What happened to George? Please, tell me, I beg you." She fought back tears.

 Xavier Bright appeared uncomfortable. "Nina, I- I have told you the truth. Every word of it. George was lost in a cave-in at the mines. I don't know what else I can tell you. You heard Security Leader Clyden verify it. Ask anybody who was there, my story will be corroborated, because it is the truth!" Toward the end of his denials, he became indignant over the fact that he would be questioned and doubted like this. "It is the honest truth, I tell you!"

She wiped her tears, shaking her head in contempt. "Okay, if that is the way you want it. I am supposed to believe all this, and yet you have not produced a body for me, so I can take George back home and bury him properly, and have closure. Where is the body, Xavier? Where?"

Angry, he stood back up. "Nina, if I knew, I would give it to you!

"Then, take me to the mines! I want to see the place where it happened, where my George is buried!"

Xavier Bright kept silent for a moment. After a long pause, he answered, "That I cannot do, Nina. I cannot allow it. The mines are dangerous, as is obvious. Look how George suffered an accident. Besides that, there are Eaters, and the miners were once horrible criminals. No, I will not allow anything to happen to you as well, Nina."

"I am willing to take my chances, Xavier!"

"Nina, the whole end of the tunnel shaft collapsed onto George. We are talking tons of rock. It's not something you can dig through with a shovel and find whatever's under it. You're not thinking, Nina!"

"Hmph. I need a shovel to get through all this that you're telling me," she snorted, now angry. "And to top off all your sins, you now want to make war on the house church, Xavier. -Why, Xavier, why do you want to do something like that?!"

Aggravated, he responded, "What is that to you if I do?"

"Because George and I always try- well, maybe tried, past tense, in my husband's case- to follow God, to do what He wants. So these people also are trying to please God, and you wish to persecute them. Think of your soul, Xavier! These people mind their own business, and you want to trouble them for being good people.”

"Oh, I am the villain, eh?" Xavier Bright shook his head. "No, not I. Like I told you, this Bro. Simon wanted to make complaints about me to the Leaders on Earth. I find that proof enough that the house church means me and my office harm. They want to impede proper governance, just to be anarchistic. Tell me, though, why, honestly, does it so concern you, Nina? Is that where you go when you leave at night, supposedly going to the movies or to concerts or something?”

“Why do you care, Xavier? If I go to the house church, then what? Are you then going to ship me off to the mines, too, like so many others who have disappeared under your administration? Maybe like George, who, as you probably guessed, would have filed a bad report about you to Earth. Or, maybe I will be instead sentenced to the farms outside the city, where it is said you send the women, where I will be at risk of being eaten by an escaped Eater wandering the desert outside the city limits."

Furious, she kept her voice low so those inside at Sheila's party did not hear, but her tone showed all her pent up anger finding a way out.

Dumbfounded, he stared, unable to answer at first. He seemed genuinely hurt.

Nina McCleer couldn't tell if it was an act, or if, for a change of pace, he was sincere. Either way, it made no difference to her.

“Well, Nina,” Xavier Bright replied, “if that's what you think of me- If you think I could really ever do that to you, then you never really knew me, you never understood me, all that time we spent together back in our college days..."

"That's true enough," she agreed. "Had I known you would be capable of doing the things you do here on the World of Hope, I don't think I ever would have dated you, because back then, as now, I would never date a man whom I knew I could never love-"

Sheila Bright came up behind them in the garden with a piece of cake on a plate. "Uncle, you missed me cutting the cake!" she complained, disappointed. "First, Osmo leaves, and now, you, too, are gone- Oh, Mrs. McCleer, I didn't see you there! I'm sorry, I hope I'm not interrupting-"

Xavier Bright said, "No, Sheila, not at all. I think Mrs. McCleer and I have said everything there is to say."

Sheila asked Nina McCleer, "Since you are up and about, would you care to come join us for the party? There's still a bit of life left in it, you know... If you’re up to it, I mean, Mrs. McCleer.”

"No, but thanks anyway, Sheila," said Nina McCleer, controlling her emotions.

"Can I bring you out some cake, then?" the young woman offered.

Nina smiled to her. "No, but thank you. You are too kind. I think I will be heading back to my rooms. Good night, Sheila. Good night, Xavier."

Xavier Bright glared after her, watching her head back inside the mansion. He remained silent. Sheila handed the cake to her Uncle, observing the coolness between the two of them, but wisely refraining from commenting on the matter.

(c) 2012 drk