Helpless

Chapter Three - Patrols

I woke feeling something softly kicking me in the back. I rolled over and saw Mrs Maggie standing over me. "What on earth are you doing!" She yelled at me. She gave me a lecture about sleeping in front of fires isn't safe. i rolled my eyes and put more wood on the fire. After she finished her lecture I asked her if she had looked outside.

Mrs Maggie shook her head so I told her what I saw last night. She looked at me in disbelief and we looked out the window. The patrols were still there. I heard an alarm sound going off outside. I went to investigate and saw the noise was coming the patrols. They were calling everyone to the town square. 

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Arriving at the town square we were all ordered into a sectioned off area. People refusing to come were being dragged from their homes. Everyone was anxious to see what was happening.

The patrols called for quiet. One of the patrolmen stood up on a table and talked through a megaphone. "Your town doesn't have a name. It's not important. We are here to make it better in the name of the Grand Castle. We will completely rebuild your town, give it a name and even give some houses electricity. We will supply patrols to serve as police for the town. Men will make this town better!"

What a load of rubbish I thought. They weren't rebuilding the town to make us more important, it is to try to get more people to like the people that live in the Grand Castle.

Most of the crowd rebelled against the idea, shouting at the patrolmen. They quietened us down to continue his speech. "We are doing this to show women that men are leaders and thus men shall contain all the power. Now I want the women and children to go to their homes so I can begin the real meeting just with the men present." 

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I don't know what they said in the rest of the meeting because we were ordered to go home. On our walk back to our homes Mallory's Mum told me she had seen this happen to a town before, and it isn't pretty. She promised me her husband will tell us about the meeting when he arrives home.

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Late that night we heard a knock at the door. I got up to answer it and it was Mallory's Dad. He told me his name was Brain. He came inside to explain to us what was going to happen.

"Women no longer have rights, they must be escorted by a man everywhere. As for the town plans, first they are going to rebuild the town square. It is going to be on the other side of town so we can use the current one until it is finished. Then they are going to build out from the new town square. First tar roads, followed by houses. To have a house you must have a man to represent you because they won't build a house only for women."

Mrs Maggie thanked him and he left. Mrs Maggie said she was going to go to bed to think this over. I sat down in front of the fire in shock. They were only giving houses to current households with men. Women couldn't leave the house unless they were with a man. Mrs Maggie and I won't be able to live the way we do now. I hope that John gets home soon.

After I calmed down and looked around the house. Nothing had been done except we had eaten a small dinner. We had been too anxious to hear about the meeting. I stoked the fire and closed all the blinds.

I grabbed the bucket and the basket and snuck outside. Now there was guards I had to be careful not to be seen. I walked down to the well, and as quietly as I could, filled the bucket with water. I snuck to the vegetable garden and picked two carrots, a lettuce and some shallots. My last stop was the chicken pen. The gate creaked loudly as I opened it. I looked around fearing for the worst, yet saw nothing. I found two eggs and gave the chickens the outside leaves of the lettuce. 

Inside once again I put everything away and climbed into bed. Luckily Mrs Maggie was already asleep. It was a warmer night and I drifted off to sleep.