UNREAL

The fight in Volusia was in full swing, with the crowd's bellows and shouts drowning out any grunts, moans, or epithets that might have been made by the fighters. Which is why four of the combatants were so startled when the crowd-sounds suddenly cut off in mid-bellow. Oliver and Jody were oblivious; the unconscious usually are. But Penny's head whipped around to stare behind him, as Lem's fist forgot to strike.

"What...?" muttered Buck, in astonishment, to Penny's right.

"Where...?" Mill-wheel, to Penny's left, was glancing around himself in surprise.

The abrupt absence of sound was the least of the matter. The entire audience had vanished.

"Where'd every'body go?" murmured Penny weakly, in shock, and turned back toward Lem for answers, all anger forgotten. One look at the tall, dark Forrester was enough to reveal that he was as confused as Penny Baxter.

By now, all fists had dropped, the quarrel virtually irrelevant. Until, that is, Oliver began to moan and stir. "Wha' happened? Why's ever'body so quiet?" The sailor dragged himself to hands and knees and looked around. Then he eyed the Forresters accusingly. "You made 'em all go 'way? Why? And where's Twink?! What you done with her?!"

Lem bristled, his ire once again rising.

But Penny said, "Oliver, hush. They ain't done nothin'." He spoke distractedly, still searching for the vanished crowd.

"Oh, then I s'pose they all jest disappeared, like that?" Oliver shot back sarcastically as he rose to his knees enough to snap his fingers, in illustration.

"That's 'xactly what they done," Penny agreed, still peering in every direction, hoping to spot someone.

"That ain't possible," the blue-eyed blond protested.

"Well, then, you figger it out," Mill-wheel returned sharply.

Oliver struggled to his feet, staggered slightly, and joined the others in gazing in all directions.

"If this don't beat all," muttered Buck.

Oliver was still unconvinced. "Penny, you sure you-all ain't joshin' me?"

"We ain't," his friend confirmed.

"Well, I reckon I got to b'lieve it, iffen you say so," Oliver emphasized his faith in Penny, implying utter lack of confidence in the Forresters' word. This earned him a few black-bearded glares.

"'Scuse me." Penny circled past Lem, being careful not to bump into the most volatile Forrester, but also trying not to be too obvious about any avoidance, all the same.

All three Forresters and Oliver turned to observe him.

Penny tried the door of Boyles' Store and found it locked, oddly, in the middle of the day. He glanced at the others in additional consternation, and then rattled the knob. "Mr. Boyles? You in there? Hey?" He pounded on the door. There was no response from within. He peaked through the window. "Don't see nobody." He turned and gazed helplessly back at the others.

All three Forresters returned his look in bewilderment and perplexity at the baffling circumstances. Oliver sagged back down to the ground and sat cross-legged, exhausted and disoriented from the fight and the unbearable mystery. He propped his elbows on his knees and shaded his eyes with his hands, as if unwilling to confront the impossible any further.

At a loss for what else to try, Penny turned his attention to his son, still out cold in the dirt. He lowered himself to sit beside the boy and shook him gently. "Jody? Young un? Kin you hear me?" He got no response.

Morosely, Oliver commented, without looking up, "Least, he ain't disappeared."

"Yet," Buck added ominously.

Penny shot Buck an unhappy look, and then pulled the child's upper body to cradle on his lap.

Mill-wheel agreed with his brother. "Iffen the impossible kin happen oncet, hit kin happen twicet."

"Mebbe not whilst I'm holdin' onto him," Penny suggested hopefully.

Lem remained unimpressed with that logic. "Dogged iffen I kin figger why we-all ain't disappeared, too."

"Reckon I should wish you Forresters had," quipped Oliver with gallows humor.

His three former opponents didn't bother to get angry. Buck wondered, "Why? We ain't botherin' you no more."

"Uh, yeah, thanks for that."

Mill-wheel taunted, "Iffen you wanta go a few more rounds, we kin oblige you."

Buck grinned very briefly at that, before the reality of their situation smothered his feeble smile.

Oliver didn't even bother to reply.

"Listen!" said Penny abruptly, his head rising suddenly from gazing at his son.

"What?" demanded Buck.

"I hear...horses...mebbe a wagon...."

"I don't hear nothin'," grunted Mill-wheel shortly.

"Wait...!"

"I hear it," said Lem.

By then, they all did. All five who were awake turned as one to face the direction of the scrub.

"Hit's our brothers!" Buck declared.

"Oh lord!" mumbled Oliver.

"Arch and Pack on horseback, and Gabby drivin' the wagon," Mill-wheel observed. "Why's he fetchin' the wagon?"

They had only a brief moment to wait. As the three newcomers pulled up, Mill-wheel repeated his question to them.

"In case 'twas needed," Gabby replied simply.

When Arch saw that the listeners clearly did not consider that to be any real answer, he volunteered, "In case there might be trouble here, like 'twas to-home."

"What trouble was there to-home?" Buck demanded in concern.

Reluctantly, Pack spoke as if he could scarcely believe his own words. "I know this don't make a heap o' sense, but Ma and Pa and Fodder-wing, uh...."

"Disappeared," Buck guessed.

The three new arrivals exchanged astonished looks at Buck's apparent outrageous insight.

"Well, that goed a might easier'n we figgered," Arch stated.

"How come you to b'lieve us so easy?" wondered Pack.

"Same thing happened here. The whole blasted townsfolk disappeared."

Arch and Pack cussed softly and Gabby spat.

"Oh my," worried Penny. "I sure wish I knowed what were goin' on at our place."

"We checked," Arch immediately replied. "On our way here, after what happened at our place. Ory ain't nowheres to be found. In fact, we figgered all three o' you was missin'. We ain't knowed you was here in town."

It was only then that the three recent arrivals noticed Oliver, sitting, bruised and bloody, in the dirt.

"What happened to you?" demanded Pack.

"We uh...," Oliver said as he glanced at the three Forrester-combatants, "got into a fight."

"Agin' who?" Gabby inquired a bit densely, apparently assuming that Oliver, the Baxters, and his brothers had all fought on the same side against persons unknown.

"Agin' us." Lem then explained thoroughly but briefly.

The new three regarded Penny Baxter rather crossly.

"I'm sorry," Penny expressed mild regret at disappointing the Forresters who had not even been involved. "Made sense at the time. But we got bigger fish to fry now. And I thank you-all for at least tryin' to check on Ory. At least now we know." He glanced down at his still insensate son. "Or at least I know."

Impatiently, Lem demanded, "Well, what're we gonna do? We cain't jest stand here jawin' all day."

All exchanged glances.

Uneasily, Oliver cleared his throat. "I...know I ain't the most pop'lar feller right now, but.... Hit'd sure ease my mind, could we check on Ma."

Lem looked down at Oliver, cold and condescending. "You! Are askin' a favor of us?!"

Buck shrugged as if it were no issue. "We gotta start someplace. Might as well start there as anywheres."

Mill-wheel surmised, "You mean, go from buildin' to buildin', see kin we raise somebody?"

"That's jest what I mean. Less'n you got a better idea."

No one did. Buck went to Penny, wordlessly bent, and took Jody into his arms. Penny said not a word, but just rose and followed, limping, as Buck placed the boy carefully in the back of the Forrester wagon. Buck helped Penny climb up beside Jody, whereupon the father again took the son into his arms protectively, and nodded to Buck in gratitude.

Oliver watched, uneasily, as Buck and Mill-wheel approached him, reached down, and lifted him as well into the wagon. Mill-wheel remarked, "Well, come on, you."

"Umm, thanks."

Lem spat, and suggested, "Leave him here!"

Buck regarded him with his hands on his hips. "There's few 'nough of us left. We ain't gonna split up."

Buck, Mill-wheel, and Lem then went to where their own horses were tethered, pulled the reins loose, and mounted.

Without further discussion, the six Forresters set out on the brief route to the Hutto house, with their three former victims in the back of their wagon.

Upon arrival, the six dark men regarded each other uneasily. None was eager to go to the door; they knew that this old woman already hated them since long before today, and would certainly hate them worse upon sight of the condition of her son and the Baxters, if she were indeed at home.

Oliver made a move to painfully rise, intending to struggle down from the wagon, but Penny stopped him. "You ain't in no condition to go search for her, plus you'd skeer hell outen her, the way you look right now. I'll go. But," he cautioned, "you keep a hand on Jody every minute, and don't leave go, for I'm afeered he'll yet disappear on us."

Relieved, Oliver obediently took a firm hold of Jody's hand, as Penny slid down, wincing, from the wagon. He hobbled to the door of the house and knocked loudly.

"Olivia! You there? Hit's Ezra!" he called.

The Forresters exchanged surprised looks, as if they had actually forgotten Penny's real name, having long called him by the nickname that they themselves had bestowed upon him, so very long ago.

Then, Buck had another thought. He addressed Oliver, "Her name's Olivia? You're named after your ma."

Oliver nodded shortly to him, staring at the house and Penny, clearly worried.

With a frustrated backward glance, Penny let himself into the house. The group waiting outside could hear his progress as he went calling to her from room to room. All too soon, he emerged, his face gray with worry. In response to his expression, Oliver sagged in despair.

Penny pulled himself painfully back aboard the wagon. He took Jody back into his arms. "I sure wish he'd wake up."

"Least he ain't gone," Oliver said bitterly, thoughtlessly, thinking only of his missing mother. Understanding the torment Oliver was in, Penny let the unfortunate remark pass with no reply. Buck flashed Penny a vaguely sympathetic look, knowing how Oliver's careless remark had hurt, but also knowing why Penny had put up with it silently.

"Now where to?" Mill-wheel wondered aloud, ignoring the subtle byplay.

Just then was when Jody moaned and stirred. "Ouch!" he said loudly, miserably. He opened his eyes, stared right into Lem's dark foreboding gaze, where the big man sat on horseback near the back of the wagon, and then yelled, "Pa!" in fright.

"Shhh, hit's all right, young un. Fight's over." Penny cradled the boy soothingly, as Jody rubbed his painful jaw, where Lem had hit him. Lem looked back at Jody with a vaguely satisfied expression.

The strange entourage searched the town of Volusia, going from one house to another, until they ran out of houses, finding no one. They searched the church, circled back to the store, and broke in there just to be thorough. The peculiar group was alone.

By this time, the Forresters were beyond frustrated. Every one of them had become irritable, short-tempered, and exasperated, and so it was no surprise when Arch yelled, "All right! Whoever you are, doin' this to us! Face us! Come out and show yourself!"

Penny stared at him quizzically. "You really b'lieve a person is somehow behind this? That there's anybody kin answer for all this?"

"What else could it be?"

Penny cast around for ideas. "Some force...God...I dunno...."

Each Forrester, even Buck, the most even-tempered, shook an impatient head at him.

"I'm here," said a female voice.

The nine perplexed searchers turned as one.

She was plain, ordinary, middle-aged, standing placidly behind them.

"You? Made ever'body go 'way? You??" Lem demanded challengingly. "Why?!"

"They weren't needed," she said simply.

"Come agin?? Wa'n't needed? To who?" Mill-wheel was affronted.

"They weren't needed by me. They weren't real anyway. Neither are you."

Lem regarded her murderously. He raised a fist. "You wanta see jest how real I am?!"

She clearly wasn't worried. She went on, "But you-all are needed. I've always wanted to meet you."

"You might be sorry you done so," warned Buck.

She offered a slight smile with a brief shake of her head. "I'm sorry to have made all of you uncomfortable, but I've always wanted to meet you, ever since I read 'The Yearling'."

"The what...?" demanded Pack.

"It's a novel. Never mind," she added, to their blank expressions. "This is a holodeck."

"A hollow what?" asked Penny.

"A holodeck," she repeated.

Oliver tried to grasp what she was saying. "Like...the deck of a ship?"

"Umm, no."

"That's it!" Lem blurted, dismounted, and stalked straight at her.

Looking bored and vaguely disappointed, she rolled her eyes upward, and said calmly, "Computer, freeze character."

Lem became a statue.

"What'd you do to him?" demanded Buck.

"He's unharmed. I won't harm any of you. In fact, I can help." She walked around the Lem-obstacle and over to the Forrester wagon. "Oh dear," she said, examining Oliver, Jody, and Penny. She again addressed the air, holding out her hand, "Computer, medical tricorder and dermal regenerator." Devices instantly appeared in her palm.

"Where'd you git that stuff?" demanded Mill-wheel.

"I borrowed them from the Star Trek program."

"The what??" asked Arch.

"Never mind," she was clearly getting tired of saying, shaking her head.

A whirring sound came from the first device that she aimed at Jody. The small blond drew back from her, disquieted.

"It's all right," she consoled the boy. "You have a concussion and a bruised jaw. Take it easy for a while. You'll be all right." She moved the device toward Penny. "Sprained wrist. Black eye, obviously. Strained ankle. Walk as little as possible for a bit, and try not to overuse that arm." She moved on to Oliver. "Oh my!" Switching to the other device, she aimed it at the sailor's face. As she slowly drew it across his many facial injuries, they faded, one by one, and gradually disappeared. All of the men stared at Oliver, stupefied. "Feel better?" she inquired of the once-again-handsome blond.

"I...feel right fine." He was bewildered.

She gave him a quick smile and retreated from all of them, telling the air, "Computer, unfreeze character."

Lem jolted with a sudden start. "What the hell!" He moved toward her aggressively again.

"Please don't start that again; I don't want to have to keep freezing you."

He hesitated, supremely aggravated, but seeing no way to get at her.

Buck demanded, "Why'd you hafta git rid of our folks?"

"That was a glitch." She waved it away with a careless hand.

"A what??" Mill-wheel was clearly getting tired of having to ask.

"I made a mistake. I'm sorry. I only meant to delete the townspeople, not your families. I haven't had much practice at this. I'll fix it. Computer, restore Mr. Baxter's wife, the Forresters' parents and little brother, and Oliver's mother."

The aforementioned instantly appeared out of nowhere. All of them looked around, mystified. There was a mild clamor as the men greeted the returnees.

As things settled down, Lem again turned his wrath on her. "But we still got our quarrel." He glared at Oliver, inspecting him calculatingly. "And now we gotta mess him up all over agin."

"No, no." She waved it away with a wan smile. "That's easy to fix. Computer, restore Twink character, in duplicate."

Before any Forrester could again demand "What," two identical Twinks appeared. All three families stared at them in disbelief.

"Which one's the real one?" Oliver stammered.

"Why they both are," she reassured him. "They're identical, like identical twins, only even more so. See? One for each of you. Go on." She fluttered her hand at the doppelgangers.

The two Twinks, without a word or a glance between them, set out in two different directions. One went to Oliver, climbed up into the back of the wagon, cradled his head in her lap, and cooed, "My poor dear brave hero!" The other went to Lem, slipped her arms around his neck, and gushed, "My powerful man!"

Oliver and Lem couldn't help but be pleased. The other five Forresters were shaking their heads.

"And what you done all this here for? You jest wanted to meet us?" Buck asked in perplexity.

"That's all," she assured him, letting herself give them a big smile for the very first time.

"Well who are ya?" Mill-wheel wanted to know.

"I'm Jeannie."