Alex (fatheralex) wrote in thefield, @ 2009-04-11 23:51:00 |
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Entry tags: | alex, clay, z - 1st tribe - day 15 |
Imaginary actions sometimes have real consequences
Who: Alex & Clay
Where: Where Clay is making spears
What: THE talk
When: Day 15
They had been busy around the camp, discussing whether they should move or not, if they did then where and what it might mean for people arriving in the field. Plus, there was food that needed to be found and cooked. There was always things that needed to be done. Clay though, wasn't around the camp that much during the day, he'd go off and had a project he was working on. Alex could only assume it was something similar to Bazzer's skins which he thought was disgusting, but needed. Setting out in the direction Clay went, Alex went to look for him. He had something he wanted to discuss with the younger man, something he was pretty sure would not be a welcome topic at all, but something that needed to be said nonetheless.
Clay had been spending his days alternating between slingshot practice and fashioning the rough spears Jasper had taught him how to make. The spears got boring after a while, the repetitive action of scraping the points on a stone eventually making his fingers sore. Of course, throwing stones got boring after a while too. Not to mention frustrating when his arms tired and his aim got worse instead of better. Right now, though, Clay was in the zone--he'd limbered up and was hitting his target more often than not. As Alex approached Clay let fire with another stone which landed in the center of a depleted roseberry bush with a satisfying thump. Oblivious to the approach of the priest, Clay stooped to pick up another stone from the small pile at his feet.
"Incoming!" Alex called as he saw the stone hit the bush. He didn't want to accidentally be the next target! "Mind if I join you, Clay?" Alex asked, curious as to what he had been working on. It was obviously not finding food, which was both good and bad as they needed food, but they needed more than just food too that it was hard to be annoyed. And he wasn't looking for food right now either, but he would on his way back. There was still many hours of daylight left before the laughers came out for the night. "Want any help?" he asked, fairly certain that he didn't need help nor wanted it.
Clay jumped a bit at the warning call, but collected himself and set the stone he'd picked up into his sling, letting it dangle idly from the fingers of his left hand. He hitched a shoulder up in a shrug at the questions.
"Don't mind... And not unless you wanna throw stones," he added. Somehow, he couldn't picture the preacher-man slinging stones.
That caused Alex to laugh a little, "Want to hear a joke?" he asked. It was a bad joke, but it was what he had thought of when Clay had asked about throwing the stones. Without waiting for a response, he began, "People were throwing stones at this woman and Jesus defended the lady, saying "may he who is without sin cast the first stone". No sooner had he uttered the word "stone" than a rock came hurling out of the crowd and struck the woman on the forehead. Jesus grew angry and pushed is way into the crowd, asking "who threw that?" As he pushed his way to the back of the crowd, he found the originator of the thrown rock and said "Mom!? What are you doing here?" Okay, so it amused him anyways.
Clay frowned. The joke had seemed promising at first, but he'd failed to get the punchline. Rather than admit it, he smiled tightly at Alex and gave his sling one swing around--no force behind it, just enough to get it moving.
"Ain't no adulteresses in range," he deadpanned. "What's on your mind?" Might as well get to the point. He couldn't see the reverend seeking him out for no reason.
Oh. Obviously, Clay hadn't gotten it. Well, no one ever thought a joke that had to be explained was funny. He was sort of disappointed though that he hadn't gotten it though. "Just wanted to talk to you for a minute, about Payne," Alex said levelly. He didn't accuse Clay or suggest there was anything inappropriate going on, "I noticed you two were...very close," he continued, they were discreet, but it was impossible to be completely private in that tree. And they weren't the only ones who had become close, he heard Bazzer talking with Kenneth in low tones, though he couldn't hear what was being said and Thorne and Ryan were certainly close. That...that disturbed Alex, but he hadn't said anything and he wasn't going to unless he had a reason to later.
"So?" Clay kept his voice soft. What was the preacher getting at? Well, that would be obvious, wouldn't it--each and every one of them were dead set against sex. Or fornication, as the bible put it. Clay had to wonder why he and Payne were being singled out. Or maybe Alex was putting this line of questioning to everyone in the camp.
"I just wanted to make sure you were prepared for the possible consequences," he was certain that Clay was expecting some sort of judgment or condemnation for premarital sex or something, but he wasn't here for that. These were unique circumstances and it was unrealistic to expect people who were not even Catholic to begin with to conform to the same values. That did not mean however, they did not need a voice of counsel sometimes. "There aren't a lot of condoms or birth control pills here," two things he was not supposed to promote the use of, but they were practical and he wasn't stupid or ignorant. Just because the church did not approve of them officially did not mean that they weren't promoted privately by the clergy.
He almost laughed at that, and wondered briefly what Alex would think if he told him that there weren't going to be any consequences, because Payne and he hadn't done anything. Not anything like the priest was thinking of. But that was none of his concern, Clay reminded himself.
"This crazy-ass place, maybe somebody'll find some growing on a tree," he said, a trace of belligerence in his voice. Damn the clergy, anyway, always sticking their noses into everybody's business.
"Maybe," Alex allowed with a small smile, this world was crazy in a lot of ways, "I'm not saying get married or anything like that. You're both adults," he thought Payne was over 18 anyways, "But Rowan didn't get pregnant from..." well, that was a bad example, wasn't it? She had gotten pregnant with a turkey baster, to be crude. And not the old fashioned way. "Well, anyways. One pregnant woman is enough right now, agreed?" he wasn't even going to get into diseases or anything like that. There wasn't much that could done if one of them had an STD now.
Oh, Christ. Clay resisted the urge to palm a hand down his face. The thought of Payne with a big belly like Rowan's was really kind of disgusting. It took a moment for the priest's words to register fully, and Clay gave him a quizzical look.
"Rowan didn't get pregnant from... What?" He hadn't ever spoken to the woman in more than passing, and the facts of her pregnancy had flown right over his head. Something about Alex's earlier joke struck him, and he quirked a smile. "She get herself a immaculate conception, huh?"
"I don't know about immaculate..." Alex replied with an easy smile. It wasn't his place to know if it was or not, but he suspected not. That wasn't really his place regardless, "but yes. She had help from a doctor," and the particulars therein, he didn't know, but he had heard comments and things around the campfire. It wasn't too hard to figure out that Rowan had chosen to get pregnant despite not being married and had medical help to do so. Why she chose this and the other details, he did not know and was not going to ask about unless there was a reason, "I'm not telling you what to do. Or what the bible says. Merely stating that you need to be aware of the possible consequences of your actions preferably before you engage in them."
It was annoying, the way the priest just assumed that everybody was sinning. Clay tuned out the lecture, swinging the sling around in earnest this time, making the stone settle into the pocket. It flew free when he let the sling loose, dropping to the ground only thirty feet or so away--and nowhere near Alex. Clay wasn't that annoyed, after all!
"Ain't interested in making no babies," he assured the priest, keeping his eyes on the ground where his little stash of smooth stones lay. "How 'bout I promise you me and Payne'll be careful, and you let it drop, huh?"
Glancing at the stones and his sling, Alex nodded, "Deal. You seem to be getting pretty good with that," he said. "That'll be useful. Keep up the good work," with a nod, he headed away in a different direction than the one he had come from to go searching for something they could eat tonight. They all had to contribute to the group if they wanted to survive.