The horses thunder across the gravely beach. They swerve, dodge, or leap driftwood and other washed-up debris along the way. At both the start and finish line, people stand or sit cheering with excitement. Dianne and Gunther quickly pull ahead of the other four finalists.
Dianne overtakes Gunther for a moment, but then he spurs his stallion forward and bends his body into the gallop. Their horses draw side by side. Gunther pulls ahead a full body length, until Dianne leans lower, whispers to her horse, and catches up.
Gunther's stallion and Dianne's mare are neck and neck for several yards, but a mere ten feet from the finish line, Dianne slips slightly in the saddle. Her horse falls back, and Gunther overtakes her by two heads.
Carol wonders, but can't be sure, if Dianne's slip was intentional. The knight may have thrown the race to Gunther, but both are such good riders, it's hard to know. No one ever will know, Carol supposes, except Dianne herself.
When the riders dismount on the other end of the beach, Dianne sweeps Gunther's straw hat from his head and kisses him passionately. It's not the sort of passion she's ever shown in public before, and some surprised Oceanside women whistle and laugh. So do the former knights of the Kingdom. When Dianne finally pulls away, Gunther gets down on one knee, fishes into the front pocket of his faded blue farmer's overalls, and pulls out the diamond ring he claimed he wasn't bringing. This time, Dianne accepts it.
As he slides it on her finer, cheers go up from the Jamestown spectators – hoots and hollers and clapping and whistling. But Cyndie, who is near the finish line, only crosses her arms solemnly over her chest. She knows she's about to lose her head of security and one of her most trusted advisors. Jamestown has won this race – not just another gold medal to add to their tally today, but a human resource, a new deputy or watchman or scout, perhaps, a soldier, a knight – and one very happy farm manager.
[*]
Daryl carries a sleeping Sweetheart against his shoulder, his arm tucked beneath her bottom, as he and Carol stroll through the quieting campgrounds. The sun sinks into the trees while leftover wares are boxed, tables folded, and games taken apart. Jamestown sailors and workmen and single Oceanside women are beginning to trail up the path to Henry's pub, while families with exhausted children are disappearing into cabins. Mitch sits atop a picnic table, his feet on a bench, his rifle across his lap, talking to a flirtatious Oceanside woman who probably hasn't figured out he's gay, as he runs a rag over the hand carved wood of the barrel. He waves to Daryl and Carol, who wave back.
Carol pauses at the score boards – four, free-standing school chalkboards with wheels on their wooden legs, which are illuminated by the bonfire in a nearby old metal barrel-shaped trashcan. Each chalkboard features a different community's results. Carol pauses to read them, because there were so many competitions, they couldn't watch them all. The cursive, chalk lettering is so pretty and crisp and clear that Carol thinks whoever put this together ought to have won a gold medal for handwriting.
She starts with Jamestown's scoreboard:
JAMESTOWN
Gold medalists -
Daryl Dixon – crossbow
Carol Dixon – knife throwing
Mitch Robinson – long range rifle
Gunther Hamilton – horseback racing
Gary Barron – kids' sack racing
Madam Linda Cartwright – original cocktail: Captain John Smith
Shannon Baron – original sweet dish: Grandma's Strawberry Pie
"Wonder who got to judge all the drinks 'n food," Daryl mutters. "'Cause, hell, I'll volunteer next year."
"Is that Captain John Smith even better than Linda's Appletini?" Carol asks.
"Appletini's a girly drink."
Carol turns her head to him and flutters her eyelashes. "Well, I'm a girl."
He bites off his smile. "Stahp."
Carol glances over to Oceanside's board and sees Henry won the bronze for original cocktail for his Hurricane Henry drink, whatever that is. For Alexandria, Candy Porter won the silver for her Lemon Drop Candy Shine, which she sent with Eugene, pre-mixed and jarred. "It's weird," she says, "seeing Eugene's last name attached to hers. That must be a strange relationship. They have nothing in common."
"Sure they do. Both 're professional actors."
Carol snorts. "Stop. That's mean."
"Don't mean it to be mean. 'S just true. She's good at pretending to like men she don't, and he's good at pretendin' to know shit he don't. 'N both are good at survivin' by gettin' other folks to do shit for 'em."
"They're both shrewd," Carol agrees. "In their own way. You don't think she really likes him?"
"Think she don't dislike 'em. 'N after awhile…hell might even love 'em, you know, like…family."
Carol shakes her head. "I don't know how a woman manages to have sex with a man she doesn't like."
Daryl looks at her warily but stays silent.
"Oh God," she says, closing her eyes. "I did used to do that, didn't I? With Ed?" She opens her eyes again. "I'd forgotten somehow. It seems like another lifetime."
"Was another lifetime," Daryl insists.
"Well, Eugene's not abusive. And he's probably deliriously grateful Candy's with him. That can't be a terrible feeling for her."
She continues reading Jamestown's list of silver medalists:
Silver medalists –
Carol Dixon – longbow
Captain Arnold McBride – wrestling
Lieutenant Carolos Alvarado – foot racing
Ensign Merry Riggs – storytelling, "The Tale of the Mutiny of 7 NE"
Carol glances at the other boards to see who won the gold in storytelling. It was Oceanside's Erin, for "The Whispering Skins." It's hard to beat a tale of people who make masks out of walker skins and walk among them, she supposes. She continues reading the list:
Ensign Chandler Morgan – swimming, 500 meter
Seaman Norman Lincoln – rope climbing
Seaman Jeffrey Reedus – knot tying
Garry Barron - 50-yard dash (kids under 7 category)
Gunther Hamilton – pumpkin growing – weight: 22 pounds
Carol glances across the boards and sees Nabila took the gold for pumpkin growing for the Hilltop, with her pumpkin weighing in at 23.5 pounds, while a gardener from Alexandria took the bronze. All three of those monsters will likely be gutted, pureed, and canned tomorrow while the fighters are off gutting the walker horde.
Marcus Jones – fish line untangling – 65 seconds
Henry's wife Rachel won the gold for Oceanside for that one, untangling her line in just 55 seconds.
Jamestown Crew Team – head-to-head rowing
Much to the chagrin of the Jamestown sailors, the Oceanside women beat them at the rowing competition. Although both Hilltop and Alexandria also entered the race, those landlocked communities were far behind their waterside competitors.
There are also a few Jamestown silver medal winners who sent contest entries in, even though they couldn't make the journey themselves:
Dante Jones – hand-carved item: footstool
Inola Jones – hand-woven item: blanket
Mary Cudlitz – original poetry (kids 7-12 category), "Ballad of the Mutiny of 7 NE"
Leon Holden - original art, (kids 7-12 category), "Portrait of Captain John Smith," charcoal
Deputy Andrew Davies – original art, "Daryl Dixon, Hero of the Mutiny of 7 N.E.," pencil drawing
"You've won a silver," Carol tells him with a smirk.
"Least he didn't submit the one of you with the big tits."
"Well, he had to sketch a copy. Shannon wouldn't let him take the originals down from the museum wall. I guess my tits would have taken too long to handle."
Daryl drops his eyes to her chest. "'M happy to take the time to handle 'em."
Carol rolls her eyes. "Smooth, Dixon. Very smooth." But she can't help but smile. Carol reads on:
Mitch Robinson – original poetry, "Heartbreak"
"You never told me Mitch was a poet."
"'Cause he ain't."
"He won the silver in poetry."
"Huh."
"Alden won the gold for the Hilltop. Who would have thought an ex-Savior would be a poet?"
"Who the fuck has time to write poetry?"
Carol laughs and continues to read:
Jamestown Bronze Medal Winners-
Lieutenant Carlos Alvarado – swordsmanship
The lieutenant competed against his own romantic interest in that category, but Michonne easily took the gold – as usual.
Junior Lieutenant Stephen Payton – martial arts, hand-to-hand
Jesus took the gold for Hilltop in that one, predictably, but Carol is proud to see that Henry won the silver for Oceanside. Her son also won the gold for the staff competition this year. He's becoming quite the martial artist. Morgan and Ezekiel's training has stuck, and he's begun to grow beyond it.
Mrs. Norma Gentry – original savory dish: Butcher's Prize Jerky
Captain Arnold McBride – axe throwing
Carol wonders if Dante would have been able to beat Jerry in the axe throwing category had he been able to come to the fair, or at least take the silver over that big Alexandrian construction worker who won it.
Gary Barron – original art (kids under 7 category), "Abstract Expressions," fingerpaint
"Pffft," Daryl scoffs. "Abstract Expressions. Is that the one where he got into the wild berry patch and squashed all them blackberries 'tween his fingers 'n then smeared 'em all over that paper bag to clean 'em off?"
"I liked his painting," Carol says. "It spoke to me. I'm sophisticated. I appreciate abstract art."
"Keep tellin' yerself that."
"You don't know me."
"Pfft."
Carol sees Judith has won the silver in the 7-12 category for her watercolor "Portrait of Rick Grimes." Judith also won gold in the under 12 martial arts forms category (for her katana form). Carol wonders how the Jamestown kids would have done in the many physical categories (from obstacle course and team relay race to horse shoe toss and kids' archery) if any children other than Gary and Sweetheart had come. Next year, after this safe and successful trip, the Council might be willing to send more kids – a special field trip for the upper school, perhaps, and a chance for those 7- to 12-year-olds to get to know some of the allies they'll be trading and working with – and possibly marrying - in the future, when they become the leaders of Jamestown.
"Jamestown cleaned up," Daryl says.
Other than the various kids' categories, the only thing Jamestown didn't medal in was javelin throwing. And the relay race, apparently. Carol's not sure how they managed to come in dead last at that. She didn't watch that one. Maybe Jamestown had trouble scrounging up five good runners willing to compete when they could be flirting with women instead. "It looks like we have to work on our javelin throwing skills, though."
"Pfft. Why? Ain't like we live on the African plains."
"Fair enough," Carol concedes. She walks on, aware Daryl is probably getting tired of holding Sweetheart. When they get to Dianne's cabin, Michonne is easing out of the second spare bedroom after tucking both kids into bed.
"Judith hasn't gone out this easily in years," she tells Carol as Daryl carries Sweetheart into their borrowed bedroom.
"Sweetheart's been asleep for the last hour," Carol says.
"Are you two in for the night?" Michonne asks.
"I am, but Daryl's going to meet Aaron for a drink at Henry's."
"Would you mind keeping an eye on my kids? Carlos invited me for a walk along the beach, and Gunther and Dianne are out. I think they're celebrating their engagement."
"A walk along the beach?" Carol asks skeptically.
Michonne smiles. "A leisurely stroll."
Carol chuckles. "Of course I will. It's easy to babysit when everyone's asleep." Carol wouldn't mind a little quiet reading by the fire tonight, after all the excitement, and before the greater excitement that awaits them tomorrow. "You enjoy your stroll with the lieutenant."
