albert

What__ Albert going to do?_ a boy named Jim demanded. __here__ Albert?__lbert stepped from an inconspicuous position off to one side. He mounted the steps, moving carefully still, not entirely well even now.He carefully chose a position equidistant between Caine and Sam.__hat should we do, Albert?_ a voice asked plaintively.Albert didn__ look out at the crowd except for a quick glance up, like he was just making sure he was pointed in the right direction. He spoke in a quiet, reasonable monotone. Kids edged closer to hear.____ a businessman.___rue._ Toto.__y job is organizing kids to work, taking the things they harvest or catch, and redistributing them through a market.___nd getting the best stuff for yourself,_ someone yelled to general laughter.__es,_ Albert acknowledged. __ reward myself for the work I do.__his blunt admission left the crowd nonplussed.__aine has promised that if I stay here he won__ interfere. But I don__ trust Caine.___o, he doesn__,_ Toto agreed.__ do trust Sam. But . . .__nd now you could hear a pin drop.__ut . . . Sam is a weak leader._ He kept his eyes down. __am is the best fighter ever. He__ defended us many times. And he__ the best at figuring out how to survive. But Sam__ Albert now turned to him___ou are too humble. Too willing to step aside. When Astrid and the council sidelined you, you put up with it. I was part of that myself. But you let us push you aside and the council turned out to be useless.__am stood stock-still, stone-faced.__et__ face it, you__e not really the reason things are better here, I am,_ Albert said. __ou__e way, way braver than me, Sam. And if it__ a battle, you rule. But you can__ organize or plan ahead and you won__ just put your foot down and make things happen.__am nodded slightly. It was hard to hear. But far harder was seeing the way the crowd was nodding, agreeing. It was the truth. The fact was he__ let the council run things, stepped aside, and then sat around feeling sorry for himself. He__ jumped at the chance to go off on an adventure and he hadn__ been here to save the town when they needed it.__o,_ Albert concluded, ____ keeping my things here, in Perdido Beach. But there will be free trading of stuff between Perdido Beach and the lake. And Lana has to be allowed to move freely.__aine bristled at that. He didn__ like Albert laying down conditions.Albert wasn__ intimidated. __ feed these kids,_ he said to Caine. __ do it my way.__aine hesitated, then made a tight little bow of the head.__ want you to say it,_ Albert said with a nod toward Toto.Sam saw panic in Caine__ eyes. If he lied now the jig would be up for him. Toto would call him out, Albert would support Sam, and the kids would follow Albert__ lead.Sam wondered if Caine was just starting to realize what Sam had known for some time: if anyone was king, it was neither Sam nor Caine, it was Albert.

Mr. Albert? Mr. Albert?_ Harley said.__ust Albert__ fine,_ Albert said tersely.__e and Janice are thirsty._____ sorry, but I don__ have any water on me._ He managed a tight smile and moved on. But now Janice was crying and Harley was pleading.__e used to live with Mary and she gave us water. But now we have to live with Summer and BeeBee and they said we have to have money.___hen I guess you__ better earn some money,_ Albert said. He tried to soften it, tried not to sound harsh, but he had a lot on his mind and it came out sounding mean. Now Harley started to cry, too.__f you__e thirsty, stop crying,_ Albert snapped. __hat do you think tears are made of?

Albert had created a currency based on gold bullets and McDonald__ game pieces. He__ wanted to call the currency something else, but no one remembered what. So, __ertos they were, a play on __lbert,_ coined by Howard, of course, who had also come up with __he FAYZ_ to describe their weird little world.Sam had thought Albert was nuts with his obsession with creating money. But the evidence was in: Albert__ system was producing just enough food for kids to survive. And a lot more kids were working. Far fewer were just hanging out. It was no longer impossible to get kids to go into the fields and do the backbreaking work of picking crops. They worked for __ertos and spent __ertos, and for now at least starvation was just a bad memory.

I__ trying to help,_ Albert said.__y paying him with beer?___ paid him what he wanted, and Sam was okay with it. You were at the meeting,_ Albert said. __ook, how else do you think you get someone like Orc to spend hours in the hot sun working? Astrid seems to think people will work just because we ask them to. Maybe some will. But Orc?__ana could see his point. __kay. I shouldn__ have jumped all over you.___t__ okay. I__ getting used to it,_ Albert said. __uddenly I__ the bad guy. But you know what? I didn__ make people the way they are. If kids are going to work, they__e going to want something back.___f they don__ work, we all starve.___eah. I get that,_ Albert said with more than a tinge of sarcasm. __nly, here__ the thing: Kids know we won__ let them starve as long as there__ any food left, right? So they figure, hey, let someone else do the work. Let someone else pick cabbages and artichokes.__ana wanted to get back to her run. She needed to finish, to run to the FAYZ wall. But there was something fascinating about Albert. __kay. So how do you get people to work?__e shrugged. __ay them.___ou mean, money?___eah. Except guess who had most of the money in their wallets and purses when they disappeared? Then a few kids stole what was left in cash registers and all. So if we start back using the old money we just make a few thieves powerful. It__ kind of a problem.___hy is a kid going to work for money if they know we__l share the food, anyway?_ Lana asked.__ecause some will do different stuff for money. I mean, look, some kids have no skills, right? So they pick the food for money. Then they take the money and spend it with some kid who can maybe cook the food for them, right? And that kid maybe needs a pair of sneakers and some other kid has rounded up all the sneakers and he has a store.__ana realized her mouth was open. She laughed. The first time in a while.__ine. Laugh,_ Albert said, and turned away.__o, no, no,_ Lana hastened to say. __o, I wasn__ making fun of you. It__ just that, I mean, you__e the only kid that has any kind of a plan for anything.

Brianna__ looking for Drake,_ Edilio said, thinking out loud.__ou sent her out against Drake?_ Albert demanded.__ent her? Who sends Brianna out to get into a fight? She goes on her own. Anyway, it__ not like you__e left us with anyone else.__lbert had the decency not to say anything to that.__ou know, you guys put me in charge. I didn__ ask to be in charge. I didn__ want to be in charge. Sam was in charge and all you guys ever did was give him grief,_ Edilio said. __ou two, especially._ He pointed at Albert and Astrid. __o, okay, Astrid takes over. And then Astrid finds out it__ not so much fun being in charge. So it__ like, okay, let__ get the dumb wetback to do the job.___o one ever_,_ Astrid protested.__nd me, like a fool, I__ thinking, okay, that must mean people trust me. They asked me to be in charge, be the mayor. Come to find out, I__ not making decisions; Albert__ making decisions. Albert__ deciding we need to find more water and sending our two best fighters off into the countryside. Now I__ supposed to fix everything? It__ like you go, __ight a war,_ but you sent my army off on a wild goose chase.

About time,_ Brianna said.__ey, sorry, we were kind of busy,_ Quinn snapped. __nd I didn__ exactly realize I was on a schedule.___ don__ like what I have to do here,_ Brianna said. She handed Quinn the note.He read it. Read it again.__s this some kind of joke?_ he demanded.__lbert__ dead,_ Brianna said. __urdered.___hat?___e__ dead. Sam and Dekka are off in the wilderness somewhere. Edilio__ got the flu, he might die, a lot of kids have. A lot. And there are these, these monsters, these kind of bugs . . . no one knows what to call them . . . heading toward town._ Her face contorted in a mix of rage and sorrow and fear. She blurted, __nd I can__ stop them!__uinn stared at her. Then back at the note.He felt his contented little universe tilt and go sliding away.There were just two words on the paper: __et Caine.

If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut

Albert, I don__ know how long we can keep Sam involved at all,_ she said.__ou__e upset,_ Albert replied.__es, I__ upset. But that__ not the point. Sam is out of control. If we__e ever going to have a working system we may have to find someone else to play the role of savior.__lbert sighed. __strid, we don__ know what__ out there in the night. And maybe you__e right that Sam is out of control. But me? I__ really glad it__ him out there getting ready to face whatever it is.__lbert picked up his omnipresent notebook and left.To a now empty, silent room, Astrid said, __on__ die, Sam. Don__ die.

Um, people.__t wasn__ hard to get their attention. They gathered around. Even the littlest ones toned down their giggling, at least a bit.__irst of all, thanks to Albert and his helpers for this meal. Let__ give it up for the true Mac Daddy.__ round of hearty applause and some laughter, and Albert waved sheepishly. He frowned a little too, obviously conflicted about the use of the __ac_ prefix in a way that was not approved in the McDonald__ manual.__nd we have to mention Lana and Dahra, because without them, there would be a lot fewer of us here.__ow the applause was almost reverential.__ur first Thanksgiving in the FAYZ,_ Sam said when the applause died down.__ope it__ our last,_ someone shouted.__eah. You got that right,_ Sam agreed. __ut we__e here. We__e here in this place we never wanted to be. And we__e scared. And I__ not going to lie and tell you that from here on, it will all be easy. It won__ be. It will be hard. And we__l be scared some more, I guess. And sad. And lonely. Some terrible things have happened. Some terrible things_ For a moment, he lost his way. But then he stood up straighter again. __ut, still, we are grateful, and we give thanks to God, if you believe in Him, or to fate, or to just ourselves, all of us here.___o you, Sam,_ someone shouted.__o, no, no._ He waved that off. __o. We give thanks to the nineteen kids who are buried right there._ He pointed at the six rows of three, plus the one who started a seventh row. Neat hand-painted wooden tombstones bore the names of Bette and too many others.__nd we give thanks to the heroes who are standing around here right now eating turkey. Too many names to mention, and they__ all just be embarrassed, anyway, but we all know them.__here was a wave of loud, sustained applause, and many faces turned toward Edilio and Dekka, Taylor and Brianna, and some toward Quinn.__e all hope this will end. We all hope we__l soon be back in the world with people we love. But right now, we__e here. We__e in the FAYZ. And what we__e going to do is work together, and look out for each other, and help each other._ People nodded, some high-fived.__ost of us are from Perdido Beach. Some are from Coates. Some of us are_well, a little strange._ A few titters. __nd some of us are not. But we__e all here now, we__e all in it together. We__e going to survive. If this is our world now_I mean, it is our world now. It is our world. So, let__ make it a good one.__e stepped down in silence.Then someone started clapping rhythmically and saying, __am, Sam, Sam._ Others joined in, and soon every person in the plaza, even some of the prees, was chanting his name.

Sorry, folks, but the maximum occupancy is seventy-five,_ Albert said. Then he spotted Jack. __ack, how__ it going?___hat? Oh, fine._ Jack was confused as to how to proceed. He didn__ want to wait in line if Brianna wasn__ even inside.__ou look like a man with a question,_ Albert prompted.__ell, I__ kind of looking for Brianna. We had this_it__ a_tech thing. You wouldn__ understand.___reeze is already inside.__ne of the kids in the line said, __f course she is, she__ a freak. They always get in.__ second kid nodded. __eah, the freaks don__ wait in lines. Bet she didn__ have to pay, either.__lbert said, __ey, she got here a little before you guys did and she waited. And she paid._ Then to Jack. __o ahead in.___ee?_ the first kid crowed. __e__ one, too.___ude, he set up my sound system,_ Albert said. __hat have you done for me other than stand here and bust on me?

Sam, Edilio__ a good guy,_ Albert said, breaking in on Sam__ gloomy thoughts. __ut like I said, he__l tell the rest of them. Once the council knows, everyone knows. If everyone knows how desperate things are, what do you think will happen?__am smiled without humor. __bout half the people will be great. The other half will freak.___nd people will end up getting killed,_ Albert said. He cocked his head sideways, trying his best to look like the idea had just occurred to him. __nd who is going to end up kicking butts? Who will end up playing Daddy and then be resented and blamed and finally told to go away?___ou__e gained new skills,_ Sam said bitterly. __ou used to just be about working harder than anyone else and being ambitious. You__e learning how to manipulate people.__lbert__ mouth twitched and his eyes flashed angrily. __ou__e not the only one walking around with a big load of responsibility on your shoulders, Sam. You play the big mean daddy who won__ let anyone have any fun, and I play the greedy businessman who is just looking out for himself. But don__ be stupid: maybe I am greedy, but without me no one eats. Or drinks.

Have either of you seen Sam? Brianna can__ find him.__lbert sighed. __e__ out of town.__dilio felt the blood drain out of his face. __e__ what?__strid arrived, coldly furious. ____ not on the council anymore. You have no right____hut up, Astrid,_ Edilio said.Astrid, Albert, and Howard all stared. Edilio was as amazed as any of them. He considered apologizing__e had never spoken to Astrid that way. He__ never spoken to anyone that way.The truth was he was scared. Sam was out of town? With Drake running loose?__hat makes you think Sam is out of town?_ Edilio asked Albert.__ sent him,_ Albert said. __im and Dekka. Taylor and Jack, too. They__e looking for water.___hey__e what?___ooking for water.

Stay in your boats,_ Dahra said. __e__e still going to need food. Throw your fish onto the dock. I__l get Albert to send someone here to collect it. Then go back out, row up the coast a little ways, and camp out.___amp out?_ Quinn echoed.__es!___ou__e serious.___o, it__ my idea of a joke, Quinn,_ Dahra snapped. __ookie just coughed up a lung and fell over dead. You understand what I__ saying? I mean he coughed his actual lungs out of his mouth.

Leslie-Ann set down her own bucket and watched, marveling, as a quarter of an inch of water covered the bottom.When she looked away, she saw an older kid. She__ seen him around. But usually he was with Orc and she was too scared of Orc ever to get near him.She tugged on Howard__ wet sleeve. He seemed not to be sharing in the general glee. His face was severe and sad.__hat?_ he asked wearily.__ know something.___ell, goody for you.___t__ about Albert.__oward sighed. __ heard. He__ dead. Orc__ gone and Albert__ dead and these idiots are partying like it__ Mardi Gras or something.___ think he might not be dead,_ Leslie-Ann said.Howard shook his head, angry at being distracted. He walked away. But then he stopped, turned, and walked back to her. __ know you,_ he said. __ou clean Albert__ house.___es. I__ Leslie-Ann.___hat are you telling me about Albert?___ saw his eyes open. And he looked at me.

Dancers are the athletes of God.

Man, sometimes you are clueless. You don__ even see what__ happening._ He perched himself on the arm of the couch so he could look down at Turk. __t__ not just about freaks. I mean, you__e the guy who thinks of ideas and all, but you__e missing it. You don__ even notice that the whole council is either black or Mexican. See, that__ what__ happening: it__ all these minorities hooked up with freaks.__he wheels in Turk__ mind began to turn slowly. But they were picking up speed. __amal__ with us and he__ black.___o? We use Jamal. He gets us into Albert__. You do what you gotta do. All I__ saying is, you and me, we__e normal people. We__e not black or queer or Mexican. And we__e the ones digging toilets. How come?__urk knew the answer: because they had failed in their attempt to take over. But he__ never thought about this new angle.__strid__ a normal white person,_ Turk argued halfheartedly. __o__ Sam.___am__ a freak, and I think he might even be a Jew,_ Lance said. His eyes were glittering. He was showing his teeth, grinning as he talked. It wasn__ a good look for him. __nd Astrid? She__ not even on the council anymore.

Sam, I know you__e upset over what happened with you and Drake,_ Astrid began.__pset?_ Sam echoed the word with an ironic smirk.__ut that__ no excuse for you keeping secrets from us.___eah,_ Howard said, __on__ you know only Astrid is allowed to keep secrets?___hut up, Howard,_ Astrid snapped.__eah, we get to lie because we__e the smart ones,_ Howard said. __ot like all those idiots out there.__strid turned her attention back to Sam. __his is not okay, Sam. The council has the responsibility. Not you alone.__am looked like he could not care less about what she was saying. He looked almost beyond reach, indifferent to what was going on around him.__ey,_ Astrid said. __e__e talking to you.__hat did it. His jaw clenched. His head snapped up. His eyes blazed. __on__ push me. That wasn__ you with your skin whipped off and covered in blood. That was me. That was me who went down into that mine shaft to try to fight the gaiaphage.__strid blinked. __o one is minimizing what you__e done, Sam. You__e a hero. But at the same time___am was on his feet. __t the same time? At the same time you were here in town. Edilio had a bullet in his chest. Dekka was torn to pieces. I was trying not to scream from the_You and Albert and Howard, you weren__ there, were you?___ was busy standing up to Zil, trying to save Hunter__ life,_ Astrid yelled.__ut it wasn__ you and your big words, was it? It was Orc who stopped Zil. And he was there because I sent him to rescue you. Me!_ He stabbed a finger at his own chest, actually making what looked like painful impact. __e! Me and Brianna and Dekka and Edilio! And poor Duck.

What__ up, Albert?___ell, I__e done inventory at Ralph__, and I think if I had a lot of help, I could put together an okay Thanksgiving dinner.__am stared at him. He blinked. __hat?___hanksgiving. It__ next week.___h-huh.___here are ovens at Ralph__, big ones. And no one has taken the frozen turkeys. Figure two hundred and fifty kids if pretty much everyone from Perdido Beach shows up, right? One turkey will feed maybe eight people, so we need thirty-one, thirty-two turkeys. No problem there, because there are forty-six turkeys at Ralph__.___hirty-one turkeys?___ranberry sauce will be no problem, stuffing is no problem, no one has taken much stuffing yet, although I__l have to figure out how to mix, like, seven different brands and styles together, see how it tastes.___tuffing,_ Sam echoed solemnly.__e don__ have enough canned yams, we__l have to do fresh along with some baked potatoes. The big problem is going to be whipped cream and ice cream for the pies.__am wanted to burst out laughing, but at the same time he found it touching and reassuring that Albert had put so much thought into the question.__ imagine the ice cream is pretty much gone,_ Sam said.__eah. We__e very low on ice cream. And kids have been taking the canned whipped cream, too.___ut we can have pie?___e have some frozen. And we have some pie shells we can bake up ourselves.___hat would be nice,_ Sam said.____l need to start three days before. I__l need, like, at least ten people to help. I can haul the tables out of the church basement and set up in the plaza. I think I can do it._____l bet you can, Albert,_ Sam said with feeling.__other Mary__ going to have the prees make centerpieces.___isten, Albert__lbert raised a hand, cutting Sam off. __ know. I mean, I know we may have some great big fight before that. And I heard you have your fifteenth coming up. All kinds of bad stuff may happen. But, Sam___his time, Sam cut him off. __lbert? Get moving on planning the big meal.___eah?___eah. It will give people something to look forward to.