Alan and Mike drove out to Lorances’ place. It was a small home near the North Gate. As they drove up they found him in the front yard working on this garden which was a mixture of flowers and vegetables.
Lorance saw them coming and stood. The look on his face showed that he was not happy to see them. Truth be told, Alan and Lorance did care for each other. They were polar opposites on almost every subject and argued at the council continuously. But he was a gifted investigator, prosecutor and judge.
Alan got out, but Mike stayed behind. His mind was already made up and this was just a formality for those of with bleeding hearts that needed more to make the uncomfortable decision.
“Lorance, we need your services.” Alan said.
“Hi, how are you doing? How's the wife?” Lorance said sarcastically.
“Why do you have to be such an ass?” Alan asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s just you.” Lorance said.
“Well that’s not going to go away and besides she left, I didn’t drive her away from you.” Alan dug back.
“What the hell do you want?” Lorance was done with the sparing and turned to tend his plants.
“We need you to conduct an investigation into the Latons. Brian and Susan Laton are being detained on a small list of charges. Mostly Brian, but we feel there is grounds to charge them both with neglect for both their duties as colony members and their own children.” Alan explained.
Lorance turned back to Alan. “You need me to prosecute or defend.”
“Depends on what you find.” Alan said.
“Why me?” Lorance asked.
“I need you, because you will stand up to the council or you will prosecute with all due diligence.” Alan said.
“Wow, a complement.” Lorance shot back.
“I didn’t say it was a compliment, but it is the truth.” Alan counted.
“You want to toss them?” Lorance looked Alan in the eyes.
“Not if we can turn the situation around.” Alan was serious.
“Damn.” Lorance looked at the house, “Let me get my hat and coat.”
Alan was relieved that he was going to take the case. Lorance may be an ass, but he would remain impartial and that is what they needed right now.
“I’m doing this for the colony, not you.” Lorance had to have the last dig.
“I know.” Alan let him. Alan then jumped in the back of Mike's truck to allow Lorance to sit up front. They all went back to the Sheriff’s office to review what was found so far. Lorance scanned the paperwork and looked at Alan, “You shouldn’t have gotten involved.”
Alan shook his head yes, “That’s why you’re here.”
“I’m expecting that you won’t vote at the council meeting.” Lorance asked.
“I will let a proxy vote for me.” Alan said, knowing that Lorance would push for that anyway.
“I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me look into this.” He looked at the sheriff and Mike, “I’m going to need to have a recorder and time. About a week.” he looked back at the paperwork and shook his head. He then looked at Alan, “It looks like I’ll be the prosecutor and we are going to need an advocate.”
“That’s going to be tough. By now everyone is going to know what happened at the commons and Gladis’s daughter is one of the sweetest people everyone knows.” Alan admitted.
Coldly, Lorance said, “That’s not my problem.”
With that Mike and Alan left the office. They had to find someone to advocate for Brian and Susan. Someone that could stand up to Lorance. And there was only one choice. Ho. Alan didn’t even say anything to Mike, they both just got in the truck and drove out to Kan Ho’s fabrication shop. Kan saw them coming and stepped out of his office. He was just under two meters and had arms almost as big as Alan’s legs, to say he was a big man was an understatement. When Alan got out Kan’s face lit up. He gave Alan a big bear hug. Then shook Mike’s hand vigorously. His hands were big, calloused and strong. Mike's hand looked like a kids.
“What can I do for you guys?” Kan asked.
“We need you to be and advocate.” Alan stated.
“For Brian?” Kan asked.
“Yes.” Alan said, thinking that news traveled a bit too fast in the colony.
“NO!” Kan said immediately and shook his head no as well.
Alan was shocked that Kan turned it down so quickly. There was more to this story and he wanted to know. “Why not?”
Kan looked North and then rubbed his shoulder. He looked back at Alan, “Remember when I got shot with that arrow?”
Alan said “Yes.”
“Well it was the son of a whore that was on watch and he let them get so close to us that they shot at us with arrows.” Kan said as he continued to shake his head no. “No, I’m afraid I’m not your man on this one.”
Mike said, “Got it.” and turned to go.
Alan wanted to push it, “It looks like Lorance will be prosecuting and.”
Kan cut him off, “Good!”
Alan let it go. There was no one here that would advocate for Brian or Susan. He was going to have to look elsewhere. All afternoon Mike and Alan went to everyone they could think of that would stand up to Lorance. Walk said that Brain and his family had been abusing the commissary for a good six months and he would support a judgment of expulsion. Time and time again, everyone's response was no. Brian’s own father even refused. This was not good.
It was evening and Mike was driving Alan back to his place, “You know, you’re going to have to do this.”
Alan just looked out the front windshield, “I… I don’t think I can.”
“You have no choice.” Mike said.
“We might as well toss them on the other side right now.” Alan admitted.
Mike stopped the truck and looked at his friend, “You love this colony. Gave up everything before the downfall because you knew this was the right thing to do.” He looked out the window, “Now, it needs you to do this. To help protect it from itself.”
“They are guilty of so much neglect.” Alan shook his head.
“Then that is your argument. They are guilty, but want to change.” Mike said.
“I don’t know that.” Alan said.
“Well maybe that is where you need to start.” Mike made his point. He put the truck in gear and finished delivering Alan to his house.
Alan didn’t say anything, he just got out of the truck and went inside.
Alan tried to sleep but finally gave up at 3 am. He went down stairs and started a small fire in the stove and put some water on to boil. Then he went to the living room and sat there. He could not help but think that the colony had failed Brian and Susan. The signs were there. But nothing was done. The kids in school. The job. The lack of friends or social activities. All of this spoke to a bigger problem. But then there was the, how much is too much. How does a system invade the home to make sure it’s okay and where is the line that is too far? The Latons only had one child in the genetics program. The rest were theirs. Alan thought about using a social worker as a spy, but again they wanted people to be receptive to the program so that they could keep track of the genetic makeup of the colony. In-breeding at this point would have devastating results. And again, here is a place where the system becomes invasive. Everyone had to register and all marriages were scrutinized by the genetic program to ensure that genetic diversity was maintained. Now, with this situation Alan was contemplating more intervention. Where is the line? That is the biggest question that is going to come from this. And is this line going to be the same for everyone? There was a saying that every child is raised by different parents. Meaning that as parents become better, mostly by trial and error. Each subsequent child is then raised by parents with better skills. On top of the fact that each child is slightly different, the eventual evolution is that each child is raised by a very different parent. Would that be the same here? Would the intervention slow down as the number of children increased. Or would they have to evaluate each situation and judge it on its own merits. Damn that was just too much to swallow at once.
The short of it is this; If we are going to hold the people of this colony accountable as we do with the food production and manufacturing, do we do the same for parenting? Our kids are a product of the colony and to ensure future success a certain accountability is required.
Alan remembered back to the adoption of his two kids. The foster system. The social workers and a system tripping over itself to get kids back to their parents. Many of which could barely take care of themselves. That system was costly and failed more times than it succeeded which was why social workers left their jobs so frequently. He hated the system, and lost some precious kids to it. Now here he was again. He and the council were the system and he was stuck between taking the kids away or trying to find a way to preserve a family. No, it was bigger than that, he was looking for a balance between the family and the system.
This may be another assignment for Art. His clinical view of things helped separate the process from the emotions.
The pot was boiling over when Alan pushed all these ideas and thoughts to the back of his mind. He made himself some pine tea and sat back down. Dawn would be coming soon and he really needed a few more hours of sleep.
The next thing he knew, Alisen was waking him up. The sun was up and breakfast was on the kitchen table. He ate with his family all the while wondering how much intervention he would want here. His daughter was almost sixteen and his son was four centimeters taller than he was. He loves his miss matched family. Alisen was Irish white, he was a smorgasbord of European and Native American, while their kids were mixed caucasian and african. It was beautiful and sad. He certainly didn’t think they needed anything from outside of their little circle, but maybe a checkup wouldn’t hurt. So he asked, “What would you say to having someone question our parenting?”
Alisen stopped chewing.
Chentrel looked at him and almost laughed. Then said, “As compared to what?”
Jake just kept eating breakfast. Then he stopped. Looked at Alan and said, “Sure. We have nothing to hide.”
Alisen spoke next, “What is this about?”
Alan wondered that himself. Was this about Brian and Susan or himself or the colony? Where was this going and how far did it really need to go? “We need..” he took a deep breath, “Well we need a baseline. A starting point for parenting, styles and problems.”
They all just looked at him. He put his fork down and said, “We failed the Latons.”
Chentrel blurted out, “I don’t think so!” she kinda looked around the table for support then continued, “those losers have been warned about their issues over and over again.”
“And How do you know this?” Alan asked.
“I’m a teacher's assistant in a third grade class. I’m the one that has to check their daughter’s hair and send her home if she’s got lice again. And she smells so bad. I was thinking about quitting, but mom wouldn’t let me.” She indicated Alisen.
Alan looked at Alisen, “You knew?”
“Sweetheart, you really need to get out more. And I don’t mean from this house, I mean that dream world you live in. It’s not so pretty out there.” Alisen said.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Alan asked.
Alisen started eating again then said, “The council does not need to be in everyone's business.”
“Well it looked like we needed to be in the Laton’s.” Alan shot back.
“Maybe.” Alisen said.
“Mr Laton jus lazy and his wife has given up.” Jake said between bites. “They deserve what they get.”
“Did you?” Alan said without thinking. “I’m sorry. Thats… I just don’t want to give up too soon.”
Alison was about to give Alan hell when Jake said, “I know where I came from and my bio parents desired what they got. Jus like Mr. Laton.” He got up to leave.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t of said that.” Alan admitted.
Jake turned around and stepped up to the table, “If you and mom hadn’t taken us we would be out there.” He pointed North. “And most likely dead by now.” He looked at his father, “Those kids deserve better. This colony and those walls that keep us from chaos, deserve better. And if he can’t see that, then.” He stood tall, “They deserve what they get.”
Alan looked at everyone around the table, “I’m going to have to be his advocate.”
There was a pause as everyone thought about what to say next, finally Jake said, “Good, at least they would get a fair hearing.”
Alaison didn’t say anything, but you could tell she agreed with Jake.
“I’m sorry.” was all that Chentrel said.
Alan looked at his plate, “Me too.”
Alan divided his time between investigating the charges to spending time with Brian, Susan and the kids. He wanted to get to know them and their interests. Maybe they could find something they were passionate about. But the more time he spent with them, the more he was convinced that it was a lost cause. There was just no passion in these people. He then sought out their parents and friends. It was a very short list and they too were little to no help. A picture was beginning to form in Alan’s mind of people that just existed. They worked, ate and slept to get up and do it all over again, day after day. In the past these people watched sports, TV or entertained themselves with little things, but today, that’s all gone.
Alan found himself at Mike’s shop. He knew where the strong stuff was in his office and was drinking some when Mike walked in, “Oh, just help yourself.”
“I can’t help them.” was all Alan said.
“You knew that going in.” Mike had no compassion for his friend.
“They're not the only ones.” Alan said.
“And you're just discovering this now?” Mike said with his usual sarcasm.
“You know, Ivory Tower.” Alan said as he raised the glass then took a sip.
Mike sat down and poured himself a drink. He raised it to his friend, “To grand ideas.”
Alan raised his glass. “Grand ideas.”
They both drank. Mike finished his in one swallow, put the glass down and looked his friend in the eyes, “Save the kids.” then got up and walked out.
