Elephant Song

TWENTY-ONE

It was May 29th, the thirty-second year since The Crash. The sun was bright, and Johnjay sat upon the kraal fence. May was in the kraal finishing a drawing, and Johnjay was concentrating upon tying knots in the grass with his thoughts.

Forty miles to the southeast, Arnheim's Fault straightened out a kink, flattening approximately a third of the houses in Tarzak. The shockwave rumbled through the towns of Tieras and Porse, then hit the Town of Miira. The vibration was something more to be felt than heard. Johnjay looked toward Miira's square as he felt the kraal fence moving beneath him. The few people in the square stood silently, looking upward. The rumble of the ground grew much louder.

"Johnjay!" He turned at the sound of his sister's cry.

"May!" No sooner had he uttered her name, three of the spooked bulls trampled her. "May! May!"

When he reached her side, she was unrecognizable. The blood was in his eyes, hell in his thoughts, as he looked up at the rampaging pachyderms near the edge of the cliff.

That evening Johnjay stood in the center of the Miira Ring. The people of Miira moved silently into the blues, but Johnjay did not see them. He saw only his mother, Little Will. She stood a few paces away, her left side toward him, her arms folded and her head bowed. Beneath her left arm was the mahogany-handled, gold-tipped bullhook. Shiner Pete walked into the Ring and stood silently between mother and son. Pete studied Johnjay until his son turned away and looked at the blues. They were all there: teamsters, bullhands, cashiers, newstellers, riders, merchants. Turtlehead and his three apprentice priests took their places in the blues. Great Waxy would not sit with them, for his job was in the Ring.

Johnjay closed his eyes. "Mother, what I did was right!" The thought was sent, but refused. He bit at the inside of his lip until he tasted blood.

The sounds of motion stopped, and Johnjay opened his eyes. He blinked until the scene was no longer distorted by tears. He turned and saw the priest Waxy holding his book. Great Waxy's usually jolly face was hidden by his priest's hood. The shadow cast by the hood made him look headless for a moment—the ghostly dispassionate recorder of the town's judgement. Waxy's deep voice filled the Ring. "Who starts?"

Little Will lifted her head. "I will."

A man wearing the grey and maroon of the bullhands stood in the blues. "You are his mother."

Little Will unfolded her arms and pointed her bullhook at the man. "Lizard Bait, I am also Master of the Bulls. It is my place to speak for the bullhands."

Lizard Bait looked around the Ring for support, but found none. He resumed his seat. Waxy nodded toward Little Will. "Go on. You've got the ball."

She lowered her arms and let the bullhook hang down from her right hand. She turned completely around, looking at the faces in the blues, stopping when she faced Johnjay. She pointed the bullhook at her son. "Johnjay killed the five bulls Gonzo, Twinkie, Peg, Molly, and Lady. If I hadn't been able to control Reg, he would have killed Reg, as well. He drove them over the cliff behind the fence." She turned from Johnjay and faced the blues. "I saw this."

Shiner Pete walked over to his wife and touched her arm. She pulled her arm out of reach and turned her back on her husband. Pete faced the blues. "You all know those bulls killed my daughter, May. Johnjay's sister. You know May was a cripple and couldn't run. What you don't know is what May meant to Johnjay—"

"Bah!" A woman in bullhand's stripes stood in the blues. "Bulls kill bullhands; bullhands don't kill bulls! You're in harness, Shiner. Get out of the Ring!"

"I have a say! He's my son!" Shiner Pete stared down the woman. "Those bulls were too old and you all know it. They were old and mean." He looked around at the people of Miira. "Hell. If I'd been there, I would've killed 'em myself!" The people in the stands rose and shouted in anger. Shiner Pete held up his hands for quiet, but the noise continued until the harness man lowered his arms and stood motionless.

Waxy looked at Johnjay. "Say something, Johnjay."

Johnjay looked at Waxy. The priest's face looked very old. Johnjay looked down at the sawdust, then up at his mother. Her back was toward him. He talked to her mind. "Mother, I am your son."

This time she answered. "No son of mine kills bulls."

Johnjay looked at the bullhands in the blues. "Look at you. You call yourselves bullhands, yet when was the last time you worked a bull?" He pulled at his own gray and maroon striped robe. "This rag says I'm a bullhand. But I work harness with my father. My sister... May wore one of these robes, and she painted pictures. That was what she was doing in the kraal. She was painting pictures of those damned bulls so you and your children wouldn't forget what a bull looked like. That was when those damned animals killed her!" He spat on the sawdust. "Then I killed them. And if I could do it over again, I would!" He folded his arms.

Waxy sighed, bowed his head for a moment, then roared at the blues. "Spit it out, troupers! What does the Town of Miira say?"

A voice. "Put his trunk on the lot!" And more voices—all saying the same thing.

"On the lot! Put his trunk on the lot!"

Waxy looked at Little Will. "You brought the charge. You're Master of the Bulls. Can Johnjay pay off the bullhands?"

Johnjay's mother shook her head. "There is no price that can be set." Her back was still toward her son. "Let his trunk be put on the lot."

Waxy's voice faltered. "For... for how long?"

Little Will turned and pointed her bullhook at her son. "Let Johnjay not be within sight of the Town of Miira until... until the last bull dies." The mother looked at her son. "When Reg dies, Johnjay may return."

Waxy turned to the blues. "What about the rest of you?" A roar of assent from the blues washed the Ring. Waxy made the entry as Johnjay turned and walked from the ring.

He went to his house, gathered his things, then began walking north on the road toward the Emerald Valley. As he reached the incline to the Snake Mountain Gap, he heard the people of Miira singing "Black Diamond."

He sent his thought. "Good-bye Father."

There were tears staining the answer. "Good-bye, Johnjay. It won't be forever."

"Good-bye, Father."

"Good-bye, Johnjay."

Johnjay looked over the houses of the Town of Miira. "Mother?" There was no answer. "Good-bye, Mother." John-jay began to climb the incline.