As they pulled into the yard of their camp Samuel noticed there was another next door. "Who's is that?" he asked.
"Mine!" Major David answered. "When your people first came we agreed to give them half our camp."
Samuel reviewed his troops. There weren't many of them, two Damons and forty men. "What have we got for vehicles?" he asked Warlock Richards.
"Three ancient armored cars," the Warlock answered, "three assorted patrol trucks, and four supply trucks, also, rather battered, but somehow our mechanic keeps 'em running. Sometimes he literally has to make parts. You have to keep twenty men on the base at all times. The rest have to patrol the city, and the outlying district. We depend heavily on the locals, usually only one of our people goes with each patrol. The rest are locals."
"Why so many men on base?" Samuel asked.
"Supply, motor pool, clerical staff, all those duties have to be performed, plus barracks' maintenance."
Samuel shook his head, and determined to find ways to put more of his men into the field. Sharon came up.
"I notice," she remarked, "a lot of the windows have pieces of plastic or metal in them. Is there difficulty getting window glass?"
It was Major David that spoke. "Glass is extremely hard to come by here," he explained. "You will notice many of the panes are of several different colors. The children sift through the rubbish heaps salvaging bits of metal and glass. They take them to a workshop and trade the metal to have the glass melted down and made into a pane. It is a five year prison sentence here for anyone deliberately breaking somebody's window."
"Ouch!" Sharon exclaimed. "But I guess I can understand why!"
They were shown to their house. It was far larger than Samuel had expected. "More rooms than we'll EVER need!" Samuel complained.
Major David laughed. "You'll fill them!" he assured.
"We're going to need to find some glass," Sharon complained. "Almost all the windows are 2/3rds covered.
Little Sam piped up. "I'll find shinies for mama!"
No matter how much they'd tried they couldn't get him to say glass. Anything glass was shinies.
"Me, too!" cried Joy.
"I
will take them tomorrow," offered Major David's daughter Crysanthamum. "I go all the time. I know where the best piles are that have glass."
"Well, I suppose it's all right!" Sharon answered, looking to her husband who nodded.
The next day they really got down to work. Samuel wanted his people back out in the field as soon as possible, so they were busy with briefings. They hardly noticed the muffled "BOOM!"
"That doesn't sound good!" Samuel remarked. "Find out what that was, will you Damon Rice?"
"Yes sir!" the Damon snapped, rose, and quickly departed. A few minutes later he returned with Major David. Tears were running down the big man's cheeks.
"May Allah have mercy!" he cried, "May God forgive us! Your little soldier, your little son..."
Samuel stared at him in dread. "What? He asked. "Tell me, man, quickly!"
"The salvage yard," the Major managed, "a mine. It's impossible! The piles were sifted with the big machine your people made. Everything in the city was torn down and put through it. It couldn't have been, but it was!"
"Dead?" Samuel asked. The burly man nodded. "I'm sorry gentlemen," Samuel snapped, "we will have to continue this later. I have to go to my son."
"Of course!" Richards answered. "Shall I fetch your wife, sir?"
"Yes," Samuel answered. "Tell her....tell her we don't have to worry any more. It's Little Sam. She'll understand."
"Yes sir!" the Warlock answered.
Samuel hurried to the salvage yard. Many people were gathered there watching in silence, many crying. "Are the other children all right?" Samuel asked when they came up to the man in charge.
"Yes sir," he answered. "The boy had left them, gone around the pile. He must have hit it with his little shovel. The rest were protected by the pile. It blew some dust on them, but nothing serious."
"Where is my son?" Samuel asked.
"On the back of the truck over there," the man answered. "Please, no, don't look! What is left isn't your child."
Samuel went over to the truck and looked at the blood stained bundle in the back. He decided the man was right.
Sharon came running up. He took ahold of her and led her away. Little Chrysanthamum came over, looking very serious. "My apologies," she remarked. "I have lost your son. I was supposed to take care of him. I promise you, when I am old enough I will give you another son to make up for the one I lost."
Samuel knelt down and kissed her cheek. "No more nonsense like that!" he insisted. "This was not your fault. It was the fault of the mine. If nothing else the knowledge that he set it off alone, and that the rest of you were spared. You owe me nothing. Do you understand?"
The girl smiled. "Yes sir!" she answered.
"Take him to some appropriate place," Samuel ordered, "prepare him for burial. I want to examine the site."
"Yes sir!" everyone snapped and hurried to obey, as Samuel was led to where the mine had gone off.

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