Secrets of Liberty Mountain (Final)

"Alice, that was quite ingenious. What made you think of it?" Sheila asked.

"Not my idea. It was his," Alice said with a smile.

"Oh," Sheila said as she changed to a view of our makeshift tent and the heaps of sleeping rattlesnakes slumbering against the back wall of the cavern.

"All things considered, Hunter One did an excellent job surviving the storm," Sheila said as the last images of our mineshaft survival camp played out on the huge screen.

"We've seen how this venture ended. Now we need to know how it all began. What went wrong? What prevented your return to base?" Sheila put her hands on her hips and waited.

I shook off the sensation I was a kid about to give some lame-ass excuse to my mother for missing curfew. They always say discretion is the better part of valor. I sat in silence, leaned forward, wiped my palms on my thighs, and returned Sheila's gaze. Group questions are a form of verbal volleyball. Not in a good position to answer, I let my partner do the honors.

"I knew there was a storm on the way, but I miscalculated its arrival." Alice passed to me.

"We decided to shelter in place and ride out the blizzard when we found the mine." I bumped the question back to Alice.

"Thank goodness we got the revised weather advisory," Alice answered the volley.

"Then, you also received the recall order I issued?" With that, the Society's leader spiked the ball into the ground at Alice's feet.

Bad move. Never put new information in circulation until all the questions are asked.

"So? You're responsible?" Sheila's jaw clenched as she took a step forward and glowered at Alice.

Sheila's expression reminded me of the Death Star sequence from the movie Star Wars. She had acquired Alice as a target. The next shot would be lethal.

"Don't blame everything on Alice. I also got your message and said nothing. What's my responsibility for not following your directive?"

I reached over and squeezed Alice's hand. We were in this together.

The Death Star held its fire as Sheila turned to the sisterhood and asked, "Are there any more questions?"

"Alice! Were you to have sex?" a voice shouted from the rear of the room.

I scanned the room for the owner. Nobody there.

"Yeah! I heard he assaulted you and your daughter in the shower," said one of the women from the coffee-line, apparently in support of her partner's sex question.

My pulse quickened as the hair on the nape of my neck and arms bristled. A nasty rumble of anger filled the amphitheater. The burning question was a lighted match dropping into a pool of gasoline.

"Belinda, that's a fucking lie, and you goddamned well know it!" Alice screamed as she pounded the table with her fist.

"Nothing like that happened! Why are you telling lies?" Starshine pleaded as she rose to her feet, turned around, and faced Belinda.

"Order!" Sheila stood behind the table and slammed the gavel down with an echoing crash. "Enough! Do not speak unless recognized. Is. That. Understood?"

She spit out the last three words, each a complete sentence accented by fury. Pausing to take a deep breath, Sheila continued as her tone softened. "Please direct all questions to the chair."

The leader surveyed the assembly as she made eye contact with every person in the assembly. Satisfied her statement was understood, she slowly lowered herself into her chair.

"Mr. Richards, would you care to respond to Belinda's charge?" Sheila faced me and nodded her permission to speak.

"I never force myself on anyone. I don't attend parties without an invitation."

I folded my hands in front of me and took a deep breath as a bead of sweat trickled down my back. I searched for the quiet center. Carry on, and stay calm. Darlene's arm shot into the air and waved as she jumped to her feet and demanded to be recognized.

"Speak your mind," Sheila waved her hand in recognition.

"Thank you. Two questions. The first is for Alice." Darlene hesitated and looked at Alice in the eye. "Alice, you were naked and sleeping with him for a week. Did the two of you ever engage in sex?" Darlene waited for the answer, her hands clasped before her like a shy schoolgirl.

Darlene deliberately scripted her body language to appear as a spontaneous display of innocence.

"Your answer?" Sheila turned to Alice.

Silence filled the air as members leaned forward with interested voyeurism. Intimate details are always crowd-pleasers.

"Yes. We had sex. The consent was mutual. We enjoyed each other's company." Alice touched the back of my hand.

"Thank you. One more question." Darlene stopped and waited for the chair's permission to proceed.

"And your question is?" Sheila said as she waited for her to continue.

"This question is for you, Sheila. I understand you shared your bed with Dennis. What happened?"

The leader's eyes widened in surprise, and she shifted in her seat. Darlene's blunt question put the presiding officer into an impossible position. If I had been in her shoes, I'm not sure how I would proceed. You can't adjudicate a hearing while also presenting new evidence and testifying as a witness.

"Due to potential conflicts of interest, I respectfully decline to answer. Please direct any questions concerning that night to Mr. Richards," Sheila nodded at me.

"Thank you. Dennis, err, Mr. Richards, did you spend the night in Sheila's bed? Please answer yes or no unless asked for elaboration," Alice demanded.

"Yes. We spent the night together," I cleared my throat as I fingered my wristwatch. Where was she going with this line of questioning?

"And both of you were naked?" Darlene pressed for details.

"Yes." I shifted and glanced around.

"Did you try to seduce Sheila?"

"No," I said.

"Did Sheila try to seduce you?"

We were in dangerous territory. I didn't want to throw Sheila under the bus, but at the same time, I didn't want to get caught in a lie. Continued silence wasn't an option.

I decided to tell the carefully varnished truth, and I cautiously chose my words. "I'm not sure seduction is the right question. Sheila invited me to her room, and I accepted,"

"Did you attempt intercourse with Ms. Carson?" Darlene's shift to proper surnames sounded like she had been watching too many Perry Mason reruns.

"Yes." The less said, the better.

"And?" Darlene asked as she pantomimed, opening an imaginary door in the air, and with a half bow, she waved her arm with a flourish and invited me to enter.

Her tight lips held back a smile. The sparkling eyes of a predator told me she was up to something. I took a sip of coffee, licked my lips, and glanced at Sheila and Alice before turning to face Darlene and the sisterhood.

"I think Sheila was trying to consummate my arrival at Liberty Mountain. Sex is her way of getting to know and trust people." I could see heads nodding as members recalled personal experiences of getting to know Sheila in the biblical sense.

"She did an excellent job of getting me aroused. When I attempted to return the favor, she tensed up." I shook my head and took another sip of lukewarm coffee. "I asked permission to proceed, and she declined. I stopped, and nothing more happened. We fell asleep in each other's arms."

"Is Mr. Richards' testimony accurate?" Sheila nodded in the affirmative. "I submit the testimony and statements given by Alice, her daughter Starshine, and our leader is proof that Dennis is not the sexual predator he was alleged to be," Darlene pronounced as she frowned at the two women from the coffee line.

The younger woman responded with a half-smile and shrug of her shoulders while her older partner glared at me like an industrial laser. If looks could kill, I would've been a smoldering ash heap.

Darlene's next words became submerged in a rising tide of conversation as the members began to digest the implications of her statement. Now and then, I caught a sister glance in my direction as she talked to her companion. Several of the glances ended in smiles ranging from bold to shy.

I was surprised at the silence of the moderator's gavel. And I was amazed she let the chatter run its course for several minutes. At the crest of discussion, she restored a comfortable silence with a few knuckle raps on the table. The subtle use of the human touch made the call to order more personal and less authoritarian. I smiled in spite of myself. She was likely a far better poker player than I thought.

"Thank you, Darlene, for the compelling testimony. Does any member of the Society wish to dispute the evidence of Mr. Richard's innocence?"

Crickets.

"The floor is now open to general questions. Those wishing to ask Alice or Dennis questions relating to their survival experience, rise and be recognized."

For the longest time, the invitation went unanswered. Then the woman sitting next to Starshine stood, and Alice asked, "What was it like being with a man, I mean Dennis, around the clock for seven days? You two couldn't take a shit in private? I would go crazy even if he were my brother."

One of the members brought the house down with the cat-call, "I would go crazy if it was my brother."

"Alice, you go first. Then I will ask Mr. Richards to respond." Sheila tilted back in her chair and motioned Alice to answer.

I shifted forward and rested my hand on my knee to keep it from shaking as the fear-induced adrenaline high from fear of a runaway lynch mob abated. That was too flipping close for comfort.

"I would have gone crazy if not for Dennis. I hate snakes. I was frightened to death," Alice said with a shiver as she fought to keep her composure.

Phobias are not logical creatures, and mind fear can paralyze an Olympic strongman. Or woman. I thought Darlene wore the crown when it came to the over-sharing of personal information. Darlene's prize crumbled as Alice embarked on an explicitly detailed account of every moment we were together. Her detailed description of lovemaking cut short by premature ejaculation left me blushing and fidgeting in my chair. I was getting sliced and diced like a laboratory rat.

My status was almost redeemed when Alice pronounced me to be an excellent lover despite my deficiencies. I licked my lips and suppressed the temptation to smile. The mood of the assembly was shifting away from hostile toward almost friendly, or at least friendly curiosity.

My turn to answer came after nearly forty-five minutes of testimony when Sheila thanked Alice for sharing as she turned to me and said, "And what was it like to spend so much time with Alice? What kept you from going crazy?"

"As far as our time together? It was a frustrating, aggravating, annoying, and wonderful roller coaster ride. We survived because we worked together, and we needed each other. As annoying as all this was to me, it had to be just as bad for Alice. We were stuck with each other for better or worse, so we made the best of it."

I shrugged and touched her hand with mine. "We had a choice. We could be friends pretending to be lovers or lovers pretending to be friends. We decided to be friends." I settled back in my chair as I finished speaking. I had no more to say.

For the next hour, the line of inquiry from the members meandered all over the map like a lazy river. Did we get bored with nothing to do? Sometimes, but mostly we were too busy being afraid to be bored. Did we ever lose hope of rescue? Yes, and yes. How did we spend our time? Sleeping, talking, napping, fooling around, being depressed, cheering each other up, screwing, and sleeping.

As time passed the sisters narrowed their questions and began to focus on my future status; Alice's daughter finally addressed the elephant in the room.

"Dennis, do you want to join the sisterhood as a permanent member of the society?"

Chapter 26

The moderator leaned back in her chair and studied Starshine for a moment before turning to me and sitting upright.

"Do you want to become a member of our Society?"

"Yes," I replied after a short pause. The question had caught me by surprise.

"Why?" Sheila asked.

"Survival," I responded.

Sheila tilted her head to one side as her eyes widened in an expression of puzzlement. "Survival?"

"Yes, survival. This is the high mountains in winter. Without the warmth and shelter of this place, I wouldn't last the night out there." I swept my arm in a broad arc and gestured at the wilderness beyond the walls of the conference room. "Survival is much more than staying alive while we wait to die."

I rose from my chair and walked to the edge of the stage. "Most of my life has been as a solitary man with few friends. Alone but not lonely. All my best friends have been female. I have no close male friends. Maybe it's because I was sexually abused as a kid, or maybe I'm weird. Whatever the reason, I enjoy the company of women more than I do the companionship of men."

I held the palms of my hands open at my side and looked into the faces of the members. "All my best friends have been women. Some relationships were sexual, and others were not. None have been with men."

I twisted around to face Sheila and Alice. "I've only been here a short time," I glanced at my wristwatch and fingered the necklace I wore, "and most of that time was alone with Alice in the dark."

I half laughed, brushed my thinning hair with my hand, turned sideways and scanned the attentive faces in the auditorium.

"Since my arrival, I have made the acquaintance of some remarkable people and shared time with Sheila and Alice, many, many moments with Darlene, and a brief encounter with Starshine." I smiled and did a slight bow of honor and appreciation to Starshine.

"You want to know if I would like to be a member of this family," I extended my arms to embrace the membership. "I already feel like we are kin. It's strange; even from the moment I first arrived, it was as if I were returning to a home I never knew I had. The answer is most definitely, yes!" I raised my voice and nodded in the affirmative. "Yes. Yes, I would," I spoke in a voice not much louder than a stage whisper as I returned to my seat.

My pounding heart drowned out the ringing silence of the hall. I forced myself to take slow steady breaths. It was unnerving. I couldn't figure from which direction the wind was blowing and that scared the shit out of me.

"Would you care to put that question into the form of a motion?" Sheila asked Alice's daughter.

The question appeared to take Starshine by surprise. For a brief instant, her eyes darted around the room as she appeared to waver before she turned to her mother for support. Her reward was a broad smile and an enthusiastic nod of approval. Her mother's support appeared to give Starshine the resolve she needed.

Her posture became ramrod straight as she sat in her chair, took a breath and said, "I move we let him join our society."

"So moved. Is there a second?"

When Alice shifted in her seat, I gave her a slight head shake while mouthing the word "wait." It would look less like a family affair if someone else besides her mother seconded her motion.

"We have a motion on the table, is there a second?" Sheila repeated as she scanned the silent meeting.

A voice called from the back of the hall. It was Brenda, the Society's quartermaster. "Second, for the purposes of discussion!"

"Moved and seconded. The question is now before us: shall Dennis Richards be admitted as a member of the Liberty Mountain Society of Sisters?"

Sheila spoke in the neutral tone of a seasoned meeting moderator. She gave a tiny emphasis to the word "shall." I couldn't be sure if she was using the word as a question or a command.

"Starshine, would you like to speak to the motion?"

"Huh? Er, yeah, I mean yes, Madame Moderator."

Alice's daughter hesitated as she rose to her feet, uncertain of the protocol of motion making. She was a typical meeting rookie. Folks making a motion for the first time are often unprepared to explain why members should support their position.

One of the women sitting behind Starshine whispered something, and the daughter nodded, paused, and stood straight and poised as she gathered her voice.

"I had never met a man before he came here." She studied my face and brushed her hair with her hand as a nervous smile wrinkled the sides of her eyes. "I like him," she grinned at me, "and my mother likes him also."

She paused and started to sit down. "And I think he likes me, too. Please vote for him." Starshine blushed and dropped into oh her seat with a soft woosh.

Doing a quick headcount, it seemed like slightly more than half the membership seemed to be on the friendly side with several showing obvious signs of approval. Many of the women had relaxed smiles, neutral to positive body language, and most returned my glance with a glance of their own.

Three or four ladies were in the same clique that accused me of assaulting Alice and her daughter; they glowered at me with faces which could have been carved out on a glacier. Then there was the woman of the twilight zone. I had no idea which side they were on; whatever emotional cards these ladies were holding were being played too close to their chests.

"Point of personal privilege, Madame Moderator," Alice held her hand in the air and rose from her seat.

"Which point is that?" Sheila inquired with her eyebrows arched in an expression of puzzlement.

"My daughter, bless her heart, misrepresented the relationship I have with Mr. Richards. I rise to correct the record." Alice's hand gripped the back of her chair.

"Continue," Sheila said with a wave of her hand.

"My daughter said that I like him. It's much more than like. We became lovers, but not the kind of casual lovers who enter our lives for a moment to be quickly forgotten. It was different, and it felt like we were family," Alice explained.

"So noted for the record."

Sheila tapped her gavel lightly on the wooden sounding block and checked her watch.

"We have a motion on the floor, and we've been meeting for just over two hours. The chair declares a ninety-minute recess for dinner and a body break; I've reached the limit of human endurance, and I gotta take a piss and get something to eat."

Sheila shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "We'll continue debate on the motion when we reconvene." She banged the gavel. "We stand in recess."

A chorus of "Amens" and one "Thank God" gave testament to her impeccable sense of timing as members headed for the exits and the nearest bathroom.

Darlene, Starshine, and Brenda, the quartermaster rushed into the well of the amphitheater and motioned for me and Alice to join them.

"Who is she?" I asked Darlene with a pointed wave toward my protagonist.

"That, my friend, is Belinda Rachel Richmond, she's been here since the beginning. Ex-Army, she has friends and influence. We've got only an hour and a half, so we've got to hustle!" Darlene gave me a hug as we gathered around her in a group huddle.

"I want you, Brenda, and Starshine to talk to as many people as possible while we're in recess and try to get their support for the motion," Darlene told Alice. "While you're doing that, I'll bring him around to shake hands and let him introduce himself. I think we may have almost enough votes to carry the question," she explained as she pushed me in the direction of the beverage cart by the exit.

"Everyone, grab a coffee for the road. We've got work to do," Starshine said as she thrust a hot mug of java in my hands.

The next ninety minutes passed in a hurried blur of introductions, handshakes, and friendly hugs as Darlene and I moved among the multitude of women. With the exception of the Frost Queen and several of her companions, most of the sisterhood were friendly and receptive to the idea of sharing their home with me.

Chapter 27

Alice and I took our seats on each side of Sheila as the last stragglers filed into the amphitheater and returned to their places.