History of the Trap: November Harvest Part 4

4

It was hard to make a really good fence, so that we would not wander into the electrical field, and wind up crispy fried.  We had enough wood to have poles every six feet or so, but there was not enough to make slats to go across.  We didn't have enough rope, so we made do with different strings cobbled from home economics, maintenance and the shop area.  A team of students would work to repair, but sometimes the string would become undone or simply vanish, and people just trusted they would be safe if they did not pass the wood poles.

This was particularly true in the back areas, past our garden and crops, edging towards the woods.  It was still unfathomable how we could look out to where we knew the freeway was, and instead just see more forest. 

It was pretty much common sense not to go too close to the woods.  You would have to be crazy to try, or just so charged up that you weren't thinking right.

That had to have been the case with Randy Comleau and Connie Frapert.  They were so desperate to get off somewhere with each other that they ignored any fencing and determined that the woods were the best shot they had at privacy.

This should have been a horrible mistake.  They should have had their fried bodies discovered, or just be more of our puzzling disappearances.  They were not.

Even before we knew they were missing, they returned with the most amazing story.  They had gone into the woods.  They went deep enough to accomplish what they had hoped to do.  But when they were through, they got lost trying to figure their way back out.

They accidently went deeper into the woods.  And when they finally came out of them, they did not find the school.  They found instead a field.  A grassy field that was not unoccupied.  It had a large number of cows and goats.  In the distance, they could see a barn.  A red barn with huge lettering on the side, saying. SEE BRONNER'S IN FRANKENMUTH THE WORLD''S LARGEST CHRSTMAS STORE  HO HO HO!  It had a big bright picture of Santa.

It was the greatest stir of excitement since the first rocket penetrated past the trap.  Not wanting to get our hopes too high, and using caution, my father sent a team of teachers and a few students to test the barrier and see if it what they were saying could possibly be true.

The only way to test the barrier, besides getting fried, was to toss rocks at it that had organic matter rubbed on it.  Although it had been true the first day or so that the barrier seemed to stop cars, this was no longer true.  Inorganics could cross the barrier, but even the smallest amount of organic matter caused the barrier to light up and release its deadly charge. So rocks that had excessive sweat or blood on them, even rocks hat had been well smeared with vegetables or fruits, would cause the barrier to show itself.

To their surprise, the team found the barrier gone from where they expected it.  This caused a great surge of hope.  Was the barrier gone?  Were we finally free? 

Progress was slowly and experimentally made, test after test, slowly making their way deeper into the woods.  Until finally they came out the end of the woods and saw the field, the animals, and the barn.

Less encouragingly, the barrier was found again, just outside the barn area.  But the field and barn were safe.  We had not gotten out, but we had, if we managed it right and carefully rationed, the means to supply dairy and fresh meat.

But how was this so?  Did we miscalculate the barrier boundary before?  Or was it weakening and expanding?  Would it slowly fade away until we regained our homes?  We weren't sure what to think, and there was much debate for weeks afterwards as to what it meant.

It was weird.

We talked about the need for fresh fruits and vegetables, and then the wild raspberry bushes were found, followed by successful gardening with plants gestating at an almost impossibly accelerated rate.

We talked about the need for rain, and shortly thereafter it began to rain, every Wednesday afternoon, like clockwork.

And recently, I had heard discussion about the need for fresh protein, the desire for just a little bit of fresh meat.  And then these glorious animals were discovered.

Was it coincidence?  Was someone listening and making these things come about? What was going on?

It took me years to figure it all out.

And when the answer came, it was not what I expected.  Not at all.