Sally and Billy in Babyland
Chapter 7 — Part 2
Billy had grown bored of talking. “What do we do? Get guns and shoot our way into town?”
Chuck shook his head. “They have a lot of guns and lots of bullets. You wouldn’t even get onto the bridge.”
“Do we sneak in, like ninjas, and creep around until we find Kitty?”
“You would be discovered at some point, and they would throw you out of town. The hard way.”
Billy sat down in the chair and crossed his arms. “So what the heck do we do?”
Laurie sat opposite him and leaned close. “Chuck and I discussed it last night. We think we know what will work, but want to make sure you understand that we can’t help you once you are in Baby Town.”
“You can’t come with us?” Sally asked.
“We only go into Baby Town when there’s a plugged toilet.”
“Ew,” Sally said. “Is that your job?”
Chuck shrugged, Laurie lowered her gaze, and Sally realized her mistake.
“Sorry,” Sally said. “That was mean. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“We don’t like it either,” Chuck said. “It’s the only work we’re allowed to do.”
“Why’s that?” Billy asked.
“When we first came here, we lived in a nice house, and we worked in a bakery. Laurie worked the cash register, and I baked.”
“Then what happened?”
Chuck sighed. “Then Big Baby took over, and he riled up the people with promises of how much better the town could be. He blamed people like us for all the problems, even though there weren’t that many problems.”
“Big Baby kept telling lies until he found enough people to listen who also wanted to blame someone else for their problems.”
“We only came here to help,” Laurie said. “But everybody hated us because of Big Baby.”
“They fired us from the bakery. Once we didn’t have jobs, and ran out of money, they kicked us out of town.”
“Just because we are from Canada,” Chuck said.
“What’s wrong with being from Canada?” Sally asked.
“Nothing. Except Big Baby blamed us for problems.”
“So why don’t you go somewhere else?”
“We don’t have enough money to make it on our own, so we’re trapped. Big Baby was going to send us back in chains, like criminals, but then they realized they needed people to do the nasty jobs no one else wants to do.”
“Like fixing plugged toilets?”
“Yes,” Laurie sighed. “Now I wish they’d sent us back in chains. We’re stuck right here, outside of the town, but not anywhere, until we die.”
They were all quiet for a moment, each one thinking their own sad thoughts about the situation.
Sally was the first to speak. “After we save Kitty,” she said, “maybe we can save you.”
“That’d be nice,” Laurie said. “But first we have to get you inside town.”
Chuck and Laurie fussed over Sally and Billy, tidying them up as they explained the plan. Then Laurie filled their water bottles and packed the last crusts of bread in the house into their backpacks, and Sally considered not leaving.
But staying here wouldn’t save Kitty, and Billy would go after her alone.
Chuck peeked out the window. “No patrols. Just the single guard at the bridge. This seems like the best chance.”
“Tell us your story again,” Laurie said.
“We are orphans who wish to grow up to be like Big Baby.”
“Don’t run away from guards with guns,” Laurie said. “Anybody running away is considered guilty and shot in the back.”
“And what do you hope to do when you grow up?” Chuck asked.
“Be just like Big Baby,” Sally said.
“And what else?”
“We hope we can be of service to him until we grow up.”
Chuck sighed. “I know it sounds stupid, but it’s all we can think of to survive in there.”
Laurie nodded and gave them each a hug. “We’ll come for you when it’s time.”
Sally and Billy thanked them, waved goodbye, and walked out the door. They decided their best chance was to not be seen with Canadians — though Sally, for the life of her, couldn’t imagine how a guard would know a Canadian on sight — so she walked with her brother toward the bridge into town.
The town looked different in the daylight, just like Chuck had said. The houses on the other side of the trench were larger than Chuck and Laurie’s house, but only a little larger. There was trash strewn along the paths and roads, and the trees and shrubs were barren and brown. Then the breeze shifted and a putrid smell overwhelmed Sally, bringing tears to her eyes.
“Do they have to keep people out of that mess?” Billy asked. “It’s a dump.”
Sally tugged on Billy’s sleeve and motioned for him to be quiet.
“Holy man, this looks like the part of town where Dad won’t stop for red lights.”
“Shhh. What if they can hear you?”
“All right stop — ”
“Halt,” the guard said. He had been around the corner of the building next to the bridge and as he approached there was a rubbing noise with each step. The guard wore a brown diaper, hiking boots, and a canvas cap on his shaved head. Otherwise, he wore nothing else.
From a distance, he seemed like a dangerous soldier. But up close, looking at the nipples on his chest and the sloppy corners hanging out of his diaper, he didn’t look so dangerous.
“Are you a soldier?”
The guard sneered, his eyes squinting and his nostrils flared. “State your business.”
Flustered, Sally forgot their story.
“We come in peace,” Billy shouted.
The guard relaxed and shifted his feet, and Sally realized the rubbing noise came from his diaper which had bunched up between his thighs.
The guard glanced over his shoulder. Sally followed his gaze to the door on the building. There was a sign that read, “Foreigners Not Welcome. Go Back To Where You Came From.”
“What are you kids doing here?” the guard asked. He was sincere, and his eyes looked sad and concerned.
Sally stammered a moment but said, “Oh, we’re trying to get into the town.”
The guard shook his head. “Just go back. You don’t want — ”
A strange sound came from the side of the building, a rhythmic rubbing in cadence with marching feet.
It was three more soldiers, each one in boots, a canvas cap on a shaved head, and brown camo-diapers, marching towards them in a hurry, their diapers rubbing between their thighs.
The guard in front of them snapped out of his relaxed posture and put his rifle on his shoulder.
The other soldiers arrived and fanned out around the guard. They pointed their rifles at Sally and Billy.
Then the guard’s sneer returned to his face and he joined the others and pointed his rifle at Sally and Billy.
