The Unexpecteds

The Unexpecteds

By Kathryn Judson

Copyright 2013, 2015 Kathryn Judson

Smashwords Edition

Updated November 2, 2015, to match the slightly revised trade paperback edition released on the same day.

All rights reserved.

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons or agencies is unintended. Other books in this series are The Smolder, The Birdwatcher, The Hidden, and Notes From Hiding. (The Birdwatcher is set in the same area and time as The Unexpecteds. The others are set elsewhere. Notes From Hiding is set several years later than the other books.)

Note to parents: Due to some of the subject matter in this book, parental guidance is advised.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter <[1]>

Shayna Miller bit her lip and fingered the emergency transmitter in her pocket. Was this an emergency? Under the usual definition of life and limb being in danger, it probably wasn't. But it felt like one, simply because she really, really wanted her dad there.

She looked over at Hanneli Charbonneau, her best friend. Hanneli's hand was in her pocket, and she was also biting her lip. Shayna guessed that Hanneli was also thinking of sending a message to her dad.

Hanneli looked her direction, and read the situation. I will if you will, she signaled, in a subtle sign they'd devised all by themselves.

Shayna was usually pretty good at resisting that sort of temptation, but she'd half decided to send an 'I need help' burst already. She nodded slightly, and both girls set the triggers on their 'panic buttons' and pushed.

Hanneli, come here, the teacher said.

Shayna cringed, fearing they'd been caught. She sent her friend a look to say that she'd at least try to do battle if it came to that, and then tried to look calmer than she felt.

Hanneli walked to the teacher, defiance starting to replace fear. (She was a Charbonneau through and through, no doubt about it.)

The teacher put a light meter close to her face. Hanneli batted it away.

There were gasps around the room. Some of the children who were lined up against the wall began to sob.

Hanneli! the teacher screeched with fury. Then she did one of her all-too-familiar instantaneous mood changes. Just like that, her manner got all sorts of supposedly-friendly coaxing.

Shayna hated it when Miss Couch did that. She also hated it that it was hard to say that someone was a screaming maniac if the person in question was that way only when no grownups were around. Who would believe you? Why should they?

She caught movement in the open doorway. One of the town sentries was taking a cautious peek into the room. Someone must have sent him a message that there was trouble in Miss Couch's room. He looked puzzled, and drew his head back.

Shayna hoped he hadn't decided to go away. She hoped he was just going to listen a while, while hiding just outside the door.

Hanneli, this is just an experiment. And it doesn't hurt at all. All it does is measure reflection, Miss Couch said, as she tried getting a measurement from farther back, out of Hanneli's reach. She smiled. There. Got it. Now go and stand between Grayson and Carlos. I think that's right. The teacher went over to take a quick reading off of Grayson, and moved over to get a reading off of Carlos.

Carlos, embarrassed that girls had stood up to the teacher before he had, grabbed the light meter and tried to wrestle it away.

Shayna caught movement at the door again. Now Mr. Carlson was peeking in. Pamalina must have also felt this was turning into an emergency, and used her panic button. Mr. Carlson started to come into the room, but someone held him back. He looked down the hall, and stepped out of sight.

Lt. Ott looked in, just in time to see Miss Couch start to put on a display of her worst sort of vicious, which always started with a hateful glare that wilted any but the bravest kids in their bravest moods.

Carlos gathered his courage, and then he saw Lt. Ott.

Carefully keeping his eyes away from the door, he let go of the light meter, stepped back, and apologized to Miss Couch. If she hadn't been so furious, she might have become suspicious of his sudden change of attitude. He wasn't a boy to give up so easily, usually.

Shayna thought that Carlos was being smart. Perhaps now the lieutenant would get a chance to see for himself what was going on, not to mention that he might get to see what Miss Couch could be like when she thought she was alone with her students.

It might have worked, too, except that several other kids noticed the lieutenant but weren't so smart about not letting on that they'd seen him.

Having been given clear clues that they had company, Miss Couch turned, her face going from hateful to blank before it got to where visitors could see it.

Oh, hello! What an honor! Did you want something? she said, sounding pleased and surprised and curious, her face bright with a smile now that she saw who she was up against.

We understood that there was some trouble down here at the school, and we're just checking, Ott said. He signaled to someone behind him, and several men stepped into the room. Most of them were old men, or men on sick leave, or men who were off duty, but a couple of the town sentries were there, and Trevin Lexington, too, all dressed up in his uniform, with his badge on to show he was on duty.

Shayna guessed that Lt. Ott must have been in town already, or at the church just outside of town, when he started hearing that kids wanted help. Otherwise, he'd probably just run as fast as he ever had in his life, to make it all the way over from the Annextun base. Probably he'd been close already, because otherwise he'd have brought more men over, she decided. Including Dad, she thought.

Trouble? Oh, my. Do you want us to get under our desks, or something? Miss Couch asked, after too long of a pause, and in too chirpy of a voice.

The kids looked at one another. What good would getting under your desk do, if you'd been invaded or something like that? Or if there was a fire, which might threaten the air supply? Maybe it made sense during an earthquake, but they weren't having an earthquake.

So, what is that? Ott asked, nodding at the light meter that Miss Couch had in her hand.

Oh, just a little scientific device I was showing the children, Miss Couch said, in a tone of voice that suggested that she didn't think it was anything worth talking about.

It's a light meter, and she was grading us by our skin color and making us line up darkest to lightest, Carlos said.

Then she said we'd be put in groups after we'd been sorted, like they did topside, back when they were starting to make people belong to breeds, Hanneli said.

Oh, the children misunderstood me, Miss Couch said. It's just a little experiment, showing how light reflects differently off of different skin colors. It's perfectly harmless, I assure you. She laughed. You know how children can be, she added.

Stanley Charbonneau, Hanneli's uncle, showed up in the doorway, sweaty and breathing hard, like he'd run for quite a distance. He took in the lineup of children against the wall, and shook his head, as if he didn't believe what he saw and wanted to try again. Another man leaned close to his ear and explained things.

Pardon me, boss, Uncle Stanley said to Lt. Ott, If I was the boss – which I'm not, of course – I think I'd do this. He went to the kids along the wall and began mixing them all up, until he had them in a perfect muddle, and most of them were laughing.

Even Lt. Ott smiled, but it was a grim smile.

Behind him, uniformed men from the base stepped into the room, their faces beaded with sweat, their breath deep. They were quietly briefed by men who had been there longer. For a moment, Shayna thought somebody might get killed, but when the angriest men looked at Uncle Stanley and the giggling kids, the anger in their eyes backed up some. When they looked at Lt. Ott, they calmed down almost completely.

It's good we have a local lieutenant whose men trust him to follow up, Shayna thought. Lieutenants were more or less in charge of pretty much everything, from ordering soldiers around to coordinating deliveries of food and other supplies for their towns. She understood that the title used to be for something different, for strictly military officers of a certain rank. Now it was used for a certain type of community leader who also had defense duties. Her dad liked to joke that people had liked the sound of it, and also liked to show off that they could spell hard words, so they'd just found a new use for the word after the old armies were replaced with the current system.

Speaking of her dad, where was he?

Hello, sir, excuse me, she said to Lt. Ott. I don't know if you'd remember me. I'm Shayna Miller, Thomas Miller's daughter, and I sent him a message that I needed help, and he isn't here yet, and I just thought that maybe you could call him and tell him he doesn't need to come now, since the rest of you are here and can take care of things?

I can help you on that, Stanley Charbonneau said. He was feeling like he was getting the flu, so we sent him home. Probably he's in bed, sound asleep, and doesn't have his communications devices on him.

Good guess, but I stopped in the mess hall for what passes for coffee around here before I headed home, and then I stopped at the church to catch my breath. I wasn't home yet, a raspy voice said from the doorway.

Shayna looked over to see her dad, drenched in sweat and looking gray, hanging onto the doorframe.

Oh, Dad. I'm so sorry I called you, she said. I guess a lot of other kids also used their panic buttons and so we have plenty of help. I think it's going to be all right now. Maybe you should sit down or something?

Yes, mother, he joked, but he let someone steer him to a chair that was just barely big enough for him.

Does anyone know where my dad is? Hanneli asked.

Stanley Charbonneau's eyes got big. Seeing that he was scaring his niece, he quickly said, Oh, he's all right. Mostly. But he twisted his ankle on the way over, and sent me on ahead. I'd better get back to him and, um, let him know you're all right. He looked at the lieutenant, who nodded. Uncle Stanley took off at a run.

Lt. Ott looked around at who was on hand. Lexington, take over this class. Miss Couch, come with me, he said. Everybody else, go back to doing whatever you were doing. We'll discuss this later, if we need to.

There was a chorus of 'yes, sir' from all ages, which seemed to do a world of good to many of the children in the room. Perhaps the ones who had panicked were the most satisfied, now that order was properly restored, with the bonus that someone other than Miss Couch was in charge.

As she left with the lieutenant, Miss Couch was trying to look cooperative and innocent, but wasn't doing a very good job of it, now that she was in one of those rare times when the evidence was obviously against her. This also seemed to cheer up some of the kids, especially those who had suffered most severely under her oversight.

Shayna went to check on her dad, but he waved her off. Darling, I'm possibly a factory for deadly viruses right now. I probably should go right off into quarantine. In the meantime, blow me a kiss and we'll call it good, all right? he said. Shayna didn't think it was an especially good time to be blowing kisses around, especially at her age (11), but she did what he asked.

Oh, goodie, I haven't been offered a suicide mission in a long time, a man joked. C'mon, lads, since he's such a lovely color, let's transfer him to the Ontario Hollows clinic for good measure, shall we?

Over his objections, volunteers picked Shayna's dad up and carried him off, toward what passed as the hospital for the community, laughing as they went.

Mr. Lexington started to wave the remaining adults out the door, but changed his mind and called them in.

Hugs all around, that's an order, he said.

The men looked like they weren't sure he should have said that, but kids ran to their daddies and uncles and neighbors, and soon everyone was in on it.

All right, grownups out now, and let us students get back to work, he said. Now that they were in hugs, some of the men pulled away reluctantly, leaving words of reassurance behind them. They turned to the door, to find it blocked by mothers and grandmothers who had caught wind of trouble, and had come down to see what was going on.

All right, all right. You can come in for hugs, too, but quick ones. We need to get down to business around here, Mr. Lexington said.

The men steered the women in and out in good order, and then it was just Mr. Lexington and the kids.

Back to your desks, and get ready to copy what I write down on the board, he said. He went to the board, and wrote:

1. Sorting people by skin color is evil. Don't do it.

2. Just because an experiment is possible doesn't mean it's right. Some of the greatest evil in the world has been done in the name of science. Think. Think. Think, before you act, and while you're acting, and after you've acted.

3. Thank you to everyone who sent for help.

4. Everyone makes mistakes.

5. …Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us…

6. If we confess our sins… (You finish this sentence. If you don't know for sure, look it up. It's in the Bible.)

He smiled and sat on the desk in the front of the room, which was a manmade cavern lighted with electric lights. I guess that might be a confusing list, but I hate to tell you, life's like that. How about some physics lessons?

Kids groaned.

What? You know more than you need to know about trajectories? he asked, as he wadded up a sheet of paper and lobbed it to a boy in the back row. Here's the deal. I want thirty different projectiles, some round, some oblong, some square, and I want half of them one weight, and half of them half that weight, and we're going to see what difference shape and mass have on how they fly through the air. But we are not, repeat not, going to get wild and crazy. I want steady observations, and accurate notes. You can do that, right?

The next thing Shayna knew, she and Hanneli were helping to make precisely-ordered folds and wads of paper to toss through the air.

They were still lobbing them around, taking careful notes, when the principal stuck his head in to say it was time to go home. Mr. Lexington made sure every student had his own projectile to take home, but said he wasn't going to let them out the door until they'd promised not to use them heedlessly around the home.

They all promised.

One more thing, Mr. Lexington said. Bow your heads.

Shayna looked around. Most kids were quietly bowing their heads, so she did, too.

Dear God, Please help us to move on from the yucky display of evil we had to go through today, in a way that pleases You, and honors You. In the precious name of Jesus, Amen, Mr. Lexington said.

Some kids giggled as they said amen. Mr. Lexington raised an eyebrow at them, but he clearly knew that he'd asked for giggles by using the word yucky, especially in a prayer. He waved everybody out, and watched them walk away.

Wow, what a day, Hanneli said, as she and Shayna walked down the tunnel toward their homes.

It's not over yet. I wonder if both our dads are in the hospital? Shayna said.

Hanneli's eyes got big. I didn't think of that. Let's run.

Let's go by our homes first, just in case our moms are actually there, Shayna said.