The Old Man by Henry Sleesar

There had been revolts against the rule of the old man before, but this time the governors

were worried enough to send Tango their spy to the insurrectionist meeting.

Tango was a fair-haired laughing youth, liked by the farmers and mechanics of the village,

who forgave his laziness and ineptness with tools because he lifted their spirits,

when crops were stubborn or engines fell to turn.

None suspected his secret allegiance to the governors, who lived in the stone house on the Great

Hill.

He arrived at the meeting place with his one-string guitar on his back, and squatted in the

rear of the cave amid the grim-faced malcontents.

They were young men.

It was always the young who questioned the old man's sovereignty,

and they nodded to tango, and murmured welcome.

The meeting was captained by a dark-haired farmer's son named Sierra, and his opening tirade

was punctuated by the gestures of his withered, mutated right arm.

His speech was effective, and Tango found his own loyalty wavering, until Sierra allowed others to be

heard. Tango stood up, smiled engagingly at the crowd, and said,

You speak of liberty, and the word is sweet, but tell me what the village will do without

the old man.

Who will tell us when to plant our crops and where?

Who will know which fields are safe for our seed and which

contaminated? Who will know when the storms will come and when the rains will be radioactive

...