Week 29: Waiting to see the Mad Hatter

Brenda and I approached the entrance to the settlement early this morning. There was a draw bridge at the north end with two guards posted to watch the entrance. They had the bridge raised so that no one could get in or out.

I left Brenda in the mail jeep and walked to the edge of the trench so that I was in shouting distance. I had both hands raised to show I was unarmed. The two guards just stared at me.

“Hey there, sorry to bother you but I was wondering if my friend and I could come in for awhile… just for the day?” I shouted at them. Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum just continued to stare.

I raised my voice and started to repeat myself. “We just wanted to know…”

The one on the left put a loud speaker to his lip and interrupted me. “Who sent you?”

“Well, no one sent me. We are just traveling through…”

“What do you want?” he interrupted again.

“Nothing, we’re looking for my son. He is thirteen and on his own. We just wanted to know if anyone had seen him.”

The one on the right started to say something but I couldn’t make it out. It didn’t matter because the one on the left quickly drowned him out. “You’ll have to wait for the leader”

So we waited while Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum just continued to stare. After fifteen minutes I asked if the leader was coming. Tweedle Dee told me the leader was busy and we would have to wait until he wasn’t busy. Of course Tweedle Dee didn’t have an estimate of time.

We have been waiting for two hours now. If I had not heard that other one start to say something when I asked about Matthew then I would have blown these jokers off long ago, but I think they know something. They may even have Matthew within their walls. So I’ll continue to wait.

…

Someone just came running up to Tweedle Dee and started whispering in his ear. The bridge is lowering. It looks like they are going to let us in.