Most of the boxes in the truck that brought me were filled with radios. My duty now was to teach the Alta soldiers being trained to use the radios. Lewis worked in training as an interpreter because the Sonoran language he spoke at home growing up is much like the language spoken in Alta. He tells the Alta soldiers what the Cockh Bros. military contractors say as they teach military fighting tactics. These skills include starching and ironing uniforms, shining boots, shining metal insignia. And marching in formation with wooden rifles. The plan was to have real rifles later on. They had tried training with real rifles at first but these disappeared quickly. The class size was supposed to be twenty. I never saw any one soldier for very long. They kept disappearing and being replaced. Lewis said after that they had about 100 Alta soldiers in total that came through the class. The contractors did not seem to care that they were always training different people.
There were enough radios so that each soldier had
one. These were so they could receive orders and talk
to one another from a distance. More radios arrived in trucks. I would do training lessons and Lewis would
translate. Some soldiers learned to modify their radios so that they would
receive music programs from Radio Alta. Others seemed to be talking to someone
far away. Lewis and I thought that because of the small population of Alta that
most soldiers had brothers or cousins or friends among the rebels. Often a
soldier would report that his radio had been stolen in the middle of the night
and so we would give him another. The Contractors did not care about this
either. They would leave at the end of each day in a helicopter that took them
to a large hotel somewhere in the middle of the city. The military officers in
charge of training would go with them. The rest of us stayed in tents among the
boxes. A lot of the time this would only be Lewis and me.
There were always a lot of boxes brought in by
trucks. Some were for sections of barracks for the Alta soldiers to stay in while
they were here in training class. Some of the barracks would be assembled and
then sections of wall and roofs would disappear during the nights. Then more
sections would arrive the next day. One of the duties of the Alta soldiers in
training at the end of each day was to take the empty boxes that brought
supplies and take them some distance away to a very large pit. At times the empty
boxes would not make it all the way to the pit and we could see them sitting
out in the field.
One day after several weeks we were told that for our
‘moral’ that we were to go to a show to see celebrities from home who had ‘volunteered’
their time to come to Alta to ‘entertain’ us. We rode in a truck to a large
arena in Llano near the University. We saw that trucks of soldiers came there
from all parts of Alta. Brightly Dawn the actor led the group that came over to
‘entertain the troops.’ Before the show I saw a few of our soldiers going
around to others who were seated and after some quiet talking collecting money
from some. After we were all seated and after some wait Brightly came up on the
stage holding a wacker. He had maybe ten young women with him who were wearing
swimming suits. They pranced around the stage with small wooden rifles and
posed. There were Security Guards to keep the soldiers away from the stage and
in their seats.
Brightly started the show by telling jokes. ‘How
high is Alta? Alta is so high the plane that brought me had to gain altitude
before it could land.’ There was recorded laughter for the jokes. The soldiers
mostly stayed quiet during all the time. The girls continued to prance and
smile and wink as they point their rifles at one soldier and then another. After
a few more jokes the girls went to the back of the stage and sat down. Then Brightly
said “But seriously folks.” And “those who say our best days are past, that The
Nation can no longer do great things, I would say to them, come to Alta!” And more
about our ‘noble cause.’ Tellin’ Bubba made a guest appearance on the stage.
Even more about our ‘noble cause’ for ‘the least of these’ and living a good
clean life and ‘setting a good example’ while we are in Alta ‘doing good.’ And ‘trust
in what the next day could bring.’ And then the young women got back up from
their seats and pranced around on the stage pointing the wooden rifles some
more. And Brightly smiles swinging his wacker. More Security Guards joined the
others at the front of the stage. We learned later that the money the soldiers
were collecting was to bribe the rebels to shoot Brightly so we wouldn’t have
to listen to him. It was said the rebels refused because Brightly would do more
harm to us alive.
About
a week after the Brightly show we had the
one last free day we would have during our time in Alta. So Lewis and I
decided
to visit the National University over in the middle of Llano. Since
Lewis had just
finished at Coast University at The Bay and I had finished, except for
my
project, we thought we could be friendly with the students in Alta.
Talk with
them and learn what they studied, about their student life, activities,
sports
and so on. Girls would be the best to talk with. We caught a ride on a
military
truck returning from the Training Base to Llano. We got out several
blocks from
the University. We did not walk into the middle of the campus as soon
as we
reached the ornate iron gate. We passed through the gate and walked
along the
curved street next to the iron fence that encloses the campus. We could
see all
the campus from the edge of the wide grassy area looking across to the
front of
the University. The buildings were large and in the classic Old World
style like the buildings the Sonorans built. These are a pale pink and
have
green tiled roofs. There was a large wide set of white steps going into
the
main building in the center. There were two smaller building on each
side. Each
houses a college. I remember two as Arts and Science. I think the other
two
were Philosophy and History. The main building had a large wooden door
and
large stained glass windows above. The other buildings were similar and
all the
doors were open. There were bright colored flowers growing in front of
all the
buildings and several small stands of trees on the grassy area. From
where we
walked we could see students sitting on the large steps talking and
students
seated in groups on the grass listening to lectures. Several groups of
students
under the trees were playing music.
There was a large wide red banner hanging from a
top window on the left side of the main building. It went down almost to the
ground. I could read a few words of the gold-colored lettering. I think they
meant ‘end’ and ‘foreign’. Lewis told me the banner read End the Foreign Occupation of our Homeland! I said ‘do they mean
us?’ and ‘won’t that get them into trouble with their government?’ Lewis tells
me it is custom and understanding going back to the ancients that universities
are free from any interference by Civil Authority. We decided to walk back down
across the grass and next to the buildings so we could meet some students. As
we could see them better we could see they dress in the formal style of Old
World students. The professors lecturing to the groups wear academic robes. A
lot of the students both women and men have bandages and casts. I tell Lewis
they must play hard at their sports. Lewis doesn’t answer. He just shakes his head.
We approach a group of the students playing music.
When they see us they stop playing and sit down on the grass and turn their backs
towards us. Across we see the doors on the two college buildings start to close.
As we walk closer to the main building the students on the steps stand and leave
up through the large door as it closes. The groups of students attending the
lectures on the grass all turn their backs towards us. As does another music
group and as we leave towards the gate the doors on the other two colleges
close. All students alone or in groups stop and turn their backs. As we walk
out through the campus gate we saw a truck of Alta military coming towards us. There
are soldiers in the back of the truck sitting stiffly in their starched
uniforms. We walked all the way back to the Training Base that afternoon in
silence. We are sad. And we are very ashamed. When we were most of the way back
the Alta military truck came back past us dragging the red banner behind.
The next morning we were told that this ‘class’ we
had been working with had ‘completed’ their training. There were maybe ten or
twelve Alta soldiers remaining. We were to wait for the next class. In the
meantime more military equipment arrived. The Alta soldiers remaining were put
on duty guarding the equipment with their wooden rifles. It was hard for them
to walk because their uniforms had so much starch. Lewis and I spent the rest of the day unloading
boxes from trucks and taking stuff out of them. I noticed again that some of the empty
boxes had not made it all the way to the pit. And as the sun set some of the
boxes in the field in between seemed to be closer than they had been. And seem
to be spaced in a semicircle facing the Base. And so the end of another day.
The officers and contractors left for the city in their helicopter. I settled
down on my pile of blankets between two large boxes. Lewis was somewhere over at
the other edge of the training area. I wondered if I would dream that night.
The
empty boxes out in the field are starting to move. Slowly they move towards the
Training Base. The semicircle moves together. The boxes move quickly and a
little at a time so that no one could notice. The boxes are coming closer and
closer. Silent. It is night but there is a lot of moonlight. The Alta guards
have all left. They slipped away in the darkness one by one. Their wooden
rifles are left on the ground. Silently figures appear from behind the empty
boxes. They are carrying book bags that they take to the large boxes in the
training areas. The figures run back towards the semicircle of empty boxes and
more appear with book bags. There is no noise. The figures stop coming and run
away into the night. All is silent. All at once the ground beneath me moves. I
am thrown up in the air and fall back down just before the two large boxes above
me crash together. There are explosions. There are more explosions. There are
large pieces of wood and equipment flying through the air. They crash to the
ground or into other boxes. This is not a dream. All I can think is ‘this is
happening and all they wanted were some newer parts for their railroad.’
I get down on the ground as close as I can to a
large box. I hope there are no explosives on the other side. The explosions
seem to stop. I wait. Then there are a few more further away. I wonder about
Lewis. I realize that I am in a battle in a war and I do not have a weapon of
any kind. I think is that it is
embarrassing to be in a battle without a weapon. The explosions have stopped. I
slowly get up. More pieces of boxes and equipment are landing on the ground
around me. I get back down and wait some more until I think that has all
stopped. I have to find Lewis. I slowly get up again. I do not see anyone. I
start towards the other side of the area. All at once I hear something hitting
the ground and broken parts around me. Something knocks the heel of my boot off
and my leg goes up and I spin around and am back down again looking up. I turn
over and try to get even flatter than the ground and think ‘why would they
shoot at us now.’ I hear trucks coming and hear more shooting. It
takes me a moment to realize that these are our soldiers coming from the camp
to ‘rescue us.’ I stay on the ground until I can hear that the trucks have
stopped and that soldiers are running through the training area tripping over
broken boxes and equipment. I stay low and start yelling for them to stop
shooting.
“Is that you Willson?” I answer with the ‘word of
the day’ and get up carefully slowly. I tell the soldiers Lewis is here also
and not to shoot him either. I start towards the other side of the area again.
I am yelling his name. No answer. The headlights from the trucks light up the
area. We don’t’ see Lewis anywhere in the open. There is a large pile of broken
boxes where he usually stays. I pick up a wooden rifle and use it to start moving
pieces of boxes. Some of the other soldiers help me. We find him at the bottom
of the pile. He seems to have been protected some by a large side of a box
covering him. He is alive but in pain. I start shouting for the medical people.
Soon they arrive and tell us not to move him. We all get out of their way. They
gather around him and I see they have bandages and bottles of liquids. Tubes
from the bottles go into his arms. He is awake and I talk to him. The last I
saw of Lewis in Alta was when I walked alongside him as he was being carried to
a helicopter. My ankle was sore and I did not have a heel on that boot. I
watched the helicopter leave. I wish this had been a dream. Nobody really gets hurt in dreams.
***
(To
be
Continued)
Contents