'Are you a town official?' Thurston Marshall asked. 'If you're a town official, I wish to lodge a complaint.'
'I'm just the janitor,' Barbie said, then remembered they had almost certainly seen Al Timmons leave. Hell, probably had a conversation with him. 'The other janitor. You must have met Al.'
'I want my mother,' Aidan Appleton said. 'I miss her bad!
'We met him,' Carolyn Sturges said. 'He claims the government shot some missiles at whatever is holding us in, and all they did was bounce off and start a fire.'
'That's true,' Barbie said, and before he could say more, Marshall weighed in again.
'I want to lodge a complaint. In fact, I want to lay a charge. I was assaulted by a so-called police officer. He punched me in the stomach. I had my gall bladder out a few years ago, and I'm afraid I may have internal injuries. Also, Carolyn was verbally abused. She was called a name that degraded her sexually'
Carolyn laid a hand on his arm. 'Before we go making any charges, Thurse, you want to remember that we had D-O-P-E.'
'Dope!'Alice said at once.'Our mom smokes marijuana sometimes, because it helps when she's having her P-E-R-I-O-D.'
'Oh,' Carolyn said. 'Right.' Her smile was wan.
Marshall drew himself up to his full height.'Possession of marijuana is a misdemeanor,' he said. 'What they did to me was felony assault! And it hurts terribly!'
Carolyn gave him a look in which affection was mingled with exasperation. Barbie suddenly understood how it was between them. Sexy May had met Erudite November, and now they were stuck with each other, refugees in the New England version of No Exit. 'Thurse... I'm not sure that misdemeanor idea would fly in court.' She smiled apologetically at Barbie.'We had quite a lot. They took it.'
'Maybe they'll smoke up the evidence,' Barbie said.
She laughed at this. Her graying boyfriend did not. His bushy brows had drawn together. 'All the same, I plan to lodge a complaint.'
'I'd wait,' Barbie said. 'The situation here... well, let's just say that a punch in the gut isn't going to be considered that big a deal as long as we're still under the Dome.'
'I consider it a big deal, my young janitor friend.'
The young woman now looked more exasperated than affectionate. 'Thurse - '
'The good side of that is nobody is going to make a big deal out of some pot, either,' Barbie said.'Maybe it's a push, as the gamblers say. Hpw'd you come by the kiddos?'
'The cops we ran into at Thurston's cabin saw us at the restaurant' Carolyn said. 'The woman who runs it said they were closed until supper, but she took pity on us when we said we were from Massachusetts. She gave us sandwiches and coffee.'
'She gave us peanut butter and jelly and coffee,'Thurston corrected. 'There was no choice, not even tuna fish. I told her peanut butter sticks to my upper plate, but she said they were on rationing. Isn't that about the craziest thing you've ever heard?'
Barbie did think it was crazy, but since it had also been his idea, he said nothing.
'When I saw the cops come in, I was ready for more trouble,' Carolyn said, 'but Aide and Alice seemed to have mellowed them out.'
Thurston snorted. 'Not so mellow they apologized. Or did I miss that part?'
Carolyn sighed, then turned back to Barbie. 'They said maybe the pastor at the Congregational church could find the four of us an empty house to live in until this is over. I guess we're going to be foster parents, at least for awhile.'
She stroked the boy's hair. Thurston Marshall looked less than pleased at the prospect of becoming a foster parent, but he put an arm around the girl's shoulders, and Barbie liked him for that.
'One cop was Joooo-nyer,' Alice said.'He's nice. Also a fox. Frankie isn't as good looking, but he was nice, too. He gave us a Milky Way bar. Mom says we're not supposed to take candy from strangers, but - ' She shrugged to indicate things had changed, a fact she and Carolyn seemed to understand much more clearly than Thurston.
'They weren't nice before,' Thurston said. 'They weren't nice when they were punching me in the stomach, Caro.'
'You have to take the bitter with the sweet,' Alice said philosophically. 'That's what my mother says.'
Carolyn laughed. Barbie joined in, and after a moment so did Marshall, although he held his stomach while he did it and looked at his young girlfriend with a certain reproach.
'I went up the street and knocked on the church door,' Carolyn said. 'There was no answer, so I went in - the door was unlocked, but there was nobody there. Do you have any idea when the pastor will be back?'
Barbie shook his head. 'I'd take your checkerboard and go on up to the parsonage, if I were you. It's around back. You're looking for a woman named Piper Libby'
'Cherchez la femme' Thurston said.
Barbie shrugged, then nodded. 'She's good people, and God knows there are empty houses in The Mill. You could almost have your pick. And you'll probably find supplies in the pantry wherever you go.'