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The Secret Seal
“Let us all be brave enough to die the death of a martyr, but let no one lust for martyrdom.” -Mahatma Ghandi
Laura and her brother Josh watched as their mother paced the kitchen, smoking a cigarette in small, inelegant puffs. They had seen this before and it never ended well.
“Our secrets aren’t safe,” she said, glancing at them. “We’ve got to move.”
Laura began to cry. “No mom. We can’t move again. Please. I just got settled into my school. For once, I even have a friend!”
Her mother shook her head. “We’ll be found out. It’s only a matter of time. The police keep coming around. They’ve been patrolling the neighborhood. Knocking on doors. Asking questions.”
Josh stood up and began to pace. “I’ll go. I’ll leave. I’ll take the papers with me and travel by night. If I can just get across the border, I can get them into the right hands.”
Laura and her mother stared at him. What was he suggesting? That to protect them all he would need to leave them? He was 18, and with their father gone he was their anchor, their strength. It was unimaginable.
A decision had to be made, however. People had been tortured for less than what their family was guilty of - stealing the deed papers with the secret seal to prevent the monarch from completely taking over the country. It was the reason Laura and Josh’s father had gone away, to prevent suspicion. They had all believed that a mother and two children would be safe. It seemed now they had been mistaken. Homes were being searched. Everyone now lived in fear.
“I will leave tonight,” Josh said.
Laura could not believe what she was hearing. And worse, her mother nodded as she stubbed out her cigarette. “I don’t know what else we can do.”
The mail came then, splashing to the floor through the little slot in their door. Laura’s mother picked them up, scanning them carefully. Sometimes their father sent them a secret message, disguised as business mail. But they were advertisements and a few bills.
“Wait,” Laura said. “What is that one?” She pointed to a plain gray envelope that looked like a greeting card.
Her mother opened it and pulled out a card with a picture of a border collie with a tag that said “Chance.” The message inside read, “Take none. It’s ruff.”
She smiled. Any message from her husband was wonderful. It meant he was still alive. But then she shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
“He means ‘take no chances,’” Josh said. “That must have been all he thought it was safe to say.”
Laura took Josh’s arm. “You can’t leave. There has to be another way.”
Their mother closed the card and stared at the picture. “The dog,” she said. “What kind is it?”
Laura and Josh both said at the same time, “It’s a border collie.” And then they all knew. Their father was giving them another message. The borders were not safe. There was nowhere to go.
That night, they ate a simple meal of pea soup, trying to ration their food as the store shelves had become more and more bare. Laura remembered some happy nights before their father left, when they thought they could stay undercover until it was safe to get the stolen papers out of the country. Sure, they had moved a few times, changing addresses, jobs, schools. But he had been with them. They had all been together.
Suddenly, there was a tap at the backdoor, and they all froze, staring at one another. “Hide,” mother said. “In the closet.” Then she went to the door. Laura and Josh hid in the pantry, the door open just a crack where they could peer out. A man in a hooded sweatshirt stood there in the darkness. Laura could not see his face. She found that she could not breathe. Her mother stood motionless. Then the man pulled back his hood just enough to reveal his face. Father!
Her mother opened the door and he slipped in, pressing his finger to his lips. “The police are everywhere.”
Laura and Josh and their mother hugged him tightly, quietly. Then he pushed them away. “Come,” he said.
Together, they moved the large four poster bed aside and then father knelt and pushed on a loose floorboard, pulling it up. He reached in and pulled out the papers. “We have to destroy them.”
“But, Henry! There will be no proof that the monarch’s sister is the true ruler.”
Father nodded. “It’s okay. I have an idea.” He led them out to the backyard where they started a fire in the old fire pit, which was crusted with ash from past fires in happier times.
As the fire roared to life, he took out his cell phone, took a picture of the papers and the official seal. Then he sent the image to an email address, and told them, “I will send it in an encrypted message to the monarch’s sister and the ruler of the neighboring country.” Then he removed the SIM card from his phone and tossed it in the fire, followed by the papers.
“I have to go,” he said. “It’s not safe now. But it will be soon.” He kissed each of them, and walked out through the backyard gate.
Laura, her mother sank into chairs by the fire and watched it glow, like a message of hope, and Josh crouched near it, warming his hands.
“Thank you, Josh,” Laura said.
“What did I do?”
“You were willing to risk your life, to take the papers to safety.”
Mother put her hand on his shoulder. “I would never ask you to make that kind of sacrifice. But it’s comforting to know you are brave enough to make it.”
They watched as the embers died down, and a wind came up. Then they stirred some water into the ashes and went inside to sleep.
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