Will and Sally stood on the beach, holding hands. If there wasn’t a group of soldiers standing in a ring around them pointing guns at them, Will would have felt a deep fluttering in his stomach. Sally felt the same way. As it was, they both felt a great deal of fear, never having had so many guns pointed at them all at once.
There was a deep pause as the soldiers stood at a rigid attention. A soldier that seemed to be the leader barked an order, and the soldier nearest Will, walked forward and began to gesture to Will to set down his bowling ball bag. Will and Sally were frozen in place. A warm wind blew in from off shore. A bird flew overhead, and Will’s eyes followed it unconsciously. Then he slowly slowly slowly set the bag on the ground.
The soldier very carefully and very deliberately bent down and agonizingly slowly opened the bowling ball bag. He quickly flipped it over. Out fell a bundle of the captains baggy floral underwear. The soldier twitched and then moved to Sally and her bowling ball bag. She set it down and backed up. The soldier carefully, but more swiftly opened the bag and dumped out the contents. A bundle of dirty kitchen rags fell onto the ground. The soldier looked at the lumpy pile then at Sally, then fell back into position. No one moved.
Then a phone rang. The sound burst into the scene loudly. It was a salsa dance tune. The ring cycled once, then twice. None of the soldiers even twitched. Will noticed that the nearest soldier had a line of sweat running down his forehead. The salsa dance tune began ringing a third cycle when a soldier at the back of the ring swiftly dropped his rifle and pulled out a phone, speaking something quietly and sharply into it.
There was a pause as the soldier listened into the receiver. Nothing stirred. The soldier said something sharp into the phone and then in one swift movement slipped the phone into a pocket of his fatigues. He shouldered his rifle and issued a sharp command. In one swift motion, every soldier stood tall, shouldered their rifles, and filed onto the boat they had come in on. Two soldiers pushed the boat away from the shore before jumping on board. The engine roared to life and a moment later Will and Sally were alone on the shore.
They still stood holding hands. When the reality of their situation finally dawned on them, Will looked down at his hand holding Sally’s. He looked up and found she was looking at him. He met her gaze, and they held there, then he leaned in and Sally leaned in and they kissed. And then the tension of being pursued by the military and being held at gun-point released and they fell into a long and grateful hug.
When the moment finally passed, Will and Sally walked further onto the shore and looked around.
“Well, what do we do now?” Sally asked.
“I don’t really know,” Will replied. “I haven’t really thought about what to do past our job drawing the military away from Crimson Hen,” he looked out at the sea thoughtfully. “What do you think made the soldiers leave like that?”
“I’m sure they got a call from a superior, and got an order to go,” speculated Sally.
“But, why?” Will said.
A moment of silence passed between them.
“We might never know,” Sally said finally.
“Yeah,” said Will. “That was weird.”
“I guess we just wait. Someone will come find us eventually, don’t you think?” Sally said.
“Uh, yeah,” said Will. “We should wait.
The pair sat down on an old log next to the frontage row along the shore and looked back out to sea. They sat this way for a long time. Then they could hear a car approaching. Will stood up and followed the car as it wove its way toward them. Sally stood next to Will and peered down the road as the car veered and swerved along the highway. It was lucky there wasn’t any other traffic.
Pretty soon they could see that the face behind the wheel, which appeared to be quite white and furry.
Will spoke what they were both thinking, “Sally, is that a . . . a . . . sheep?”
“I think . . . I think it is.”
They both stood at the side of the road in silent awe as the car pulled up next to them.
“You come me?” The little sheep said to Will and Sally.
Will looked at Sally and Sally looked at Will. They shrugged, and opened the rear door and slid into the car. The moment the door was closed, the little car lurched and pulled a hard U-turn, then sped down the road.
The Continuing Adventures of Crimson Hen 