lunchtime!
CHAPTER
SIX
Brattle Household, New Salem, Kingdom Moses was engaged in his favorite pastime—playing in the mud outside the Brattles’s home—when Dr. Joseph Gobels stepped out of his hopper. Moses took one look at the doctor and ran screaming into the house. “Mumee! Mumee! Devil!
Devil!”
“Good God!” Gobels gasped. “It can speak English! You didn’t tell me that, Braggle!” he said, turning to Zechariah accusingly.
“You didn’t ask,” Zechariah answered. He’d given up correcting Gobels’s mispronunciation of his name and wanted now only to get the unpleasant business over with and see the scientists’ departing backs. He was not looking forward to what he knew was going to happen. Zechariah had not informed his family they were coming; otherwise, he was afraid, they would have tried to hide Moses somewhere. He felt badly about that but his sense of duty to the Confederation overrode his guilt.
Gobels turned to Fogel. “It can speak English! My, my,” he chortled, rubbing his stubby hands together enthusiastically. He began laughing that annoying, high-pitched giggle of his that cut through Zechariah Brattle like a knife blade. The flight down to New Salem from Haven with the two scientists had been very unpleasant in the cramped passenger compartment because Fogel farted and Gobels’s breath stank. Zechariah endured most of the flight with a hand over his nose. About halfway into it he could stand the pair no longer. “Next time you go on a flight somewhere, Bogel, kindly move your bowels before you leave, and as for you, Bobels”—he derived great pleasure from mispronouncing their names—“try brushing your teeth once in a while, would you?” For the rest of the flight they sat in frigid silence staring out the ports at the landscape passing beneath them. Hannah Brattle, wiping her hands on her apron, stood looming in the doorway as the three walked up to the front door. Moses, clutching her skirts, peeked out from behind her. She knew instinctively what was about to happen. “No, you don’t,”
she said menacingly as the three approached. Hannah had always been a formidable woman.
“These men have come for Moses, Hannah. We must give him up to them. It is the law.”
“To hell with the law! Moses belongs to us and not to Caesar!” Hannah bellowed.
“Hannah—”
“Madam,” Gobels said, wiping the perspiration from his forehead as he stepped forward, “we shall not harm him and he shall be returned to you when we are done with him.” His insincere smile revealed dirty teeth, and Hannah visibly recoiled at the sight as much as from his foul breath.
“No! Joab, Samuel!” The two boys emerged from the back of the house where they’d been studying their Bibles. They realized immediately what was happening and took up protective positions on either side of their mother.
“Hannah, you will give him up now. These men are scientists on an important government mission. Moses will be returned to us when they are done with him. Now stand aside and give him to me. I will tolerate no more of this foolishness.” Hannah and her boys began to cry now. Zechariah made a sudden grab for Moses but the boy was too quick and scuttled away into the house grunting in terror. “You stay here!” Zechariah told the scientists and brushed Hannah aside.
What happened next was heartbreaking. Moses, motivated by mortal fear of the scientists, scooted away from Zechariah. He was aided by his small size, which permitted him to crawl into narrow spaces and under pieces of furniture, and he was very quick on his stubby little legs; he was even faster on his belly, zipping across the floor as though he were in water. Zechariah stumbled after him, barking his shins against furniture and knocking things over. “Moses, come here! Moses, come here!” he shouted, to no avail. Outside, Gobels and Fogel stood by apprehensively, listening to the crashing and yelling, keeping a wary eye on
CHAPTER
SIX
Brattle Household, New Salem, Kingdom Moses was engaged in his favorite pastime—playing in the mud outside the Brattles’s home—when Dr. Joseph Gobels stepped out of his hopper. Moses took one look at the doctor and ran screaming into the house. “Mumee! Mumee! Devil!
Devil!”
“Good God!” Gobels gasped. “It can speak English! You didn’t tell me that, Braggle!” he said, turning to Zechariah accusingly.
“You didn’t ask,” Zechariah answered. He’d given up correcting Gobels’s mispronunciation of his name and wanted now only to get the unpleasant business over with and see the scientists’ departing backs. He was not looking forward to what he knew was going to happen. Zechariah had not informed his family they were coming; otherwise, he was afraid, they would have tried to hide Moses somewhere. He felt badly about that but his sense of duty to the Confederation overrode his guilt.
Gobels turned to Fogel. “It can speak English! My, my,” he chortled, rubbing his stubby hands together enthusiastically. He began laughing that annoying, high-pitched giggle of his that cut through Zechariah Brattle like a knife blade. The flight down to New Salem from Haven with the two scientists had been very unpleasant in the cramped passenger compartment because Fogel farted and Gobels’s breath stank. Zechariah endured most of the flight with a hand over his nose. About halfway into it he could stand the pair no longer. “Next time you go on a flight somewhere, Bogel, kindly move your bowels before you leave, and as for you, Bobels”—he derived great pleasure from mispronouncing their names—“try brushing your teeth once in a while, would you?” For the rest of the flight they sat in frigid silence staring out the ports at the landscape passing beneath them. Hannah Brattle, wiping her hands on her apron, stood looming in the doorway as the three walked up to the front door. Moses, clutching her skirts, peeked out from behind her. She knew instinctively what was about to happen. “No, you don’t,”
she said menacingly as the three approached. Hannah had always been a formidable woman.
“These men have come for Moses, Hannah. We must give him up to them. It is the law.”
“To hell with the law! Moses belongs to us and not to Caesar!” Hannah bellowed.
“Hannah—”
“Madam,” Gobels said, wiping the perspiration from his forehead as he stepped forward, “we shall not harm him and he shall be returned to you when we are done with him.” His insincere smile revealed dirty teeth, and Hannah visibly recoiled at the sight as much as from his foul breath.
“No! Joab, Samuel!” The two boys emerged from the back of the house where they’d been studying their Bibles. They realized immediately what was happening and took up protective positions on either side of their mother.
“Hannah, you will give him up now. These men are scientists on an important government mission. Moses will be returned to us when they are done with him. Now stand aside and give him to me. I will tolerate no more of this foolishness.” Hannah and her boys began to cry now. Zechariah made a sudden grab for Moses but the boy was too quick and scuttled away into the house grunting in terror. “You stay here!” Zechariah told the scientists and brushed Hannah aside.
What happened next was heartbreaking. Moses, motivated by mortal fear of the scientists, scooted away from Zechariah. He was aided by his small size, which permitted him to crawl into narrow spaces and under pieces of furniture, and he was very quick on his stubby little legs; he was even faster on his belly, zipping across the floor as though he were in water. Zechariah stumbled after him, barking his shins against furniture and knocking things over. “Moses, come here! Moses, come here!” he shouted, to no avail. Outside, Gobels and Fogel stood by apprehensively, listening to the crashing and yelling, keeping a wary eye on
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