Warning, all of this may have been a dream. Which is a bad way to admit that I may have written myself into a corner. It's the problem with writing based on events of only the first 3 of Season 5's episodes. So fair warning of writer's-cowardice. All this may change as weekly episodes are released. I'm searching for a way to write out of boxes I've committed to!

Sue me.

GUARDIANS IN THE NIGHT

The male Guardian had almost drawn fire when he approached the Mayday Camp, popping suddenly out of the darkness. The women populating the camp had to be exactingly vigilant - new women, especially the ones unfamiliar with long arms, were the worst. It was a miracle that Gilead Guardians were not cut down when they approached in the dead of night.

This one, though, he'd had no people with him, no rescued handmaid, no fleeing militant martha. No password! Just a pamphlet. The women who'd confronted him, each one thought that they almost killed someone over a stupid, Gilead propaganda piece.

As recruiting material went, it was hard to believe that anyone would fall for the QAnon-inspired malarkey printed on it. The production values alone, looked like it had been produced by youngish teenagers using an inexpensive Wordprocessor, on an equally cheesy printer. Rather than experienced opinion-shapers. The USA still did their propaganda far, far better.

It was Lily who simply picked up the pamphlet, rubbed some mud off of it, then stuck it in her pocket. She'd shone her flashlight into the woods to the south, to make sure that no more Guardians were there to upset the night's quiet.

In the morning, Ms. Mayday herself, Sam, returned to the camp in her dilapidated and old Volkswagen Westphalia camper van. That excuse for a vehicle was a security nightmare - its extremely out of tune engine could be heard for miles. Then there were the loud squeaks, about which Sam would proudly proclaim, 'Oh, those - that's the original suspension'. Which turned out not to be the source of the noise, when a grateful refugee martha had once repaired/replaced it all. It still squeaked badly.

The Westphalia, though, meant that Sam could sleep just about anywhere - which she often did. Other than her bunk at the mobile Mayday camps along the border, the camper-van had been her bedroom since she, herself, had escaped Gilead.

A ZAPP OUTFIT

When the women who'd patrolled the night before woke at noon from their morning sleep, Sam asked them if all had been quiet.

It hadn't. Lily pulled the pamphlet out of her pocket. While handing it to Sam, she said, "strange things are happening. It's beyond me why a Guardian would hike all the way up to the border in the middle of the night, just to 'pamphlet' us. With a stupid tract about Pearl Girls!"

Sam separated the pieces of paper, held them edge-on to the sky, trying to catch any glint of sunlight from the paper.

Lily wondered what she was doing. Sam said, "I'm channeling World War II. J. Edgar Hoover called them Zapp outfits, but Hoover did not know what he was talking about." Spying something on one of the pages, Sam then took out a small pocket knife. She tried successfully to poke the sharp point under one of the tiny, printed periods at the end of one of the sentences.

To the surprise of all, the 'period' came off, and Sam stood with it in the centre of her outstretched hand. "Someone get me an envelope. Me, I'm going into town, into the university. I need to find a microscope."

When another women asked what on earth that little speck was, Sam answered…..

"There's someone in Gilead, probably high up, who probably hates the place more than we do. But this 'someone' cannot be caught. When I can get to a microscope, I'll let you know what this person's wisdom for us is…"

Some minutes later, Sam was bumping along the road headed away from the camp. Suddenly, the sound of automatic gun-fire behind her was inescapable, but that's what she needed to do - escape. Mayday protocol was clear. If attacked, grab essential material and flee. Do not defend the camp. Live to fight another day - women in Gilead were counting on you.

The Westphalia had no more horsepower to give, not on this road anyway. The envelope, though, it had to make it to a microscope. Sam needed to know who it was, high up in Gilead, who was sending info north. At much peril to its author.

People like Lily, she knew the score. The longer the sound of gunfire, the worse the outcome, both Sam and Lily knew that.

Sam thought to herself while avoiding potholes and speeding up a little, "Give them hell, sister."

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

The ITWC pediatrician had just told Serena Joy Waterford, "any day now." She had also assured Serena that the impending birth would happen amid the highest security that ITWC could muster. All would be bright, all would be calm, she said.

With the exit of the doctor from Serena's cell, she turned back to her desk to tackle the pile of applications on it - these were the people, mostly Canadians, interested in helping her be the eyes and mouth of Gilead to the outside world. (To prove their sincerity, the New Gilead Commanders had granted Serena Joy a blanket exemption for reading and writing, as they had done with the Aunts. The exemption also covered any female staff who Serena might engage. See! That would be the first press release from Serena, showing the outside world the new, liberalized face of God's righteous Republic.)

Going through the pile of applicants, it was not long before Serena stumbled upon a name which seemed annoyingly familiar. "Annie Bankole".

Where had Serena heard that before?

When Serena yelled, it was not totally out of sudden recognition.

The contraction pain had hit her like a rolling truck. So it was she hit the 'call button' on her desk.

When the guard opened the door, and came in - she was moderately surprised to find Serena Joy Waterford…

…... laughing. The only thing that could put a dent in the guffawing was another contraction.

"Praise Jesus," Serena yelled out, a bit too loudly for it to be from humble piety. It had been from a wave of contraction! She then laughed again. She said to the guard, "I think it's time. But I need to make a call, first!" She told the guard that Mark Tuello had left a satellite phone in the personal effect's lock-up. "I need to talk with Commander Lawrence before all this happens."

Serena yelled again, then followed it up with a laugh of victory.

UNPAID CITATION

All June Osborne knew was that she'd been arrested. For murder? No luck on that one. She'd been taken in over an unpaid $88 citation. For transporting biological specimens, namely Fred's finger.

Osborne was tempted to say to the officer from the back of his cruiser, "c'mon, it was in Canadian funds, it's not as if it was a real fine! Real money doesn't have a bird on it!"

That was it for June Osborne's talent in stand-up comedy. After being locked up, Mark Tuello had come in. Of course, Tuello.

The rest was fuzzy. Hannah. Purple. Rubie's Preparatory. Emily. The Mackenzies. Sylvia. Rita. Luke. Nick. The Mayday camp. Lily, probably Sam, too. Sewing winter jackets. She and Moira, the two of them had done that. Vests.

While in the fetal position in the cell, June Osborne kept repeating, "I killed Hannah. I killed Hannah."

It meant nothing to her that Tuello kept countering, "we don't know much, yet." Prison cells made for lousy psychological intervention. Every prison system knew that. Yet, why was it that we kept locking up people who were in a psychotic fugue?

At that, June sat upright in her cell, erectly on the metal cot. She said to no one in particular, "I need to see Serena. Five minutes ought to do it." She then stood, turned to look at Tuello through the bars.

She said to him apodictically, "Be a dear, Mark. Set that up, will you."

AFTERMATH OF DISASTER

Serena losing the baby only increased the sympathy she got in Canada. In the Strand-Bankole-Osborne house, they had called the birth, "a shredder". For the first time on Canadian soil, Rita Blue lost her temper, badly. She accused her Little America comrades as being worse than what she'd seen in Gilead.

Rita had saved the home's owners from kicking her out, by leaving even before she'd cleaned up or got her coat on.

Serena Joy had had a lengthy satellite conversation with Commander Lawrence - what to do about Annie Bankole? No mention, none, about her delivery. All Lawrence had said about the 'Annie Bankole plot twist' - the unlikely randomness of Luke Bankole's 'ex' turning up in Toronto - was that, as he said, "it makes you want to believe in God."

There was something about Annie that gave Serena caution, made Serena doubt that a spurned woman could be useful to Gilead's international image. When they'd met, Annie simply would not let up - Serena had trouble getting a word in. Yes, someone dominated a room more than Mrs. Waterford.

Annie would not stop about the sanctity of marriage, about the sanctity of vows made before God. So far, so good. But Serena sensed that if Gilead was to be more softly visible to the wider world, one should not necessarily 'lead' with a strident doctrine surrounding marriage!

What Annie offered, though, Serena filed away in the back of her mind. If she was ever to get near June Osborne again, there were a few choice phrases that Annie had used which Serena hunched would send Osborne for a loop. One needed to know where the buttons were, before pressing them. Serena's stock in trade.

It took six months for Ms. Mayday, Sam to reestablish the camps' presence at another isolated spot on the border. The Guardian attack had been in response to the Rubie's Preparatory bombing. If it hadn't been for the microdot, Sam herself would have been caught up in the firefight. Lily had not survived.

Sam's biggest regret had been the necessity of coordinating with the American Consulate in Toronto. It was more than the microdot - it had detailed incredible 'insider information' about New Gilead. It had to have been from some highly placed traitor to Gilead's cause - between Rachel Tapping and Mark Tuello, they'd narrowed down the list of candidates to a dozen. They excluded Commanders Blaine and Lawrence. Strangely, it had been Tuello who had insisted on two candidates' names from Ardua Hall.

Tuello had justified his opinion to Tapping by saying, "we cannot rule out that this info is coming from a true believer in Gilead, who thinks the place is not delivering on its original mission."

Just the same, the information on the microdot allowed people like Ms. Mayday, Sam, to better place the northern terminus of the femaleroad, 20 feet into Canada in Quebec. Sam, reluctantly, said that if Lily had been alive seeing this cooperation 'with the feds', Lily would have shit.

THE MACKENZIES

Agnes Mackenzie, she was alive. The Rubie's Preparatory bomber, she had made good on her promise to choose a time consistent with lessening 'collateral damage'. Agnes herself was transferred to a school for the domestic arts in D.C.

Tabitha Mackenzie was furious. She'd endured many beatings at the hands of her husband. She usually cowered. But not this time. She knew she was risking a good one, going after Kyle the way she did - for the first time the word 'deserving' departed her thinking on the subject.

What she'd done was burst into his office, while he was on the phone no less. She'd ordered him to hang up, which he did.

She then said, "you! You, Kyle Mackenzie! Grow a pair of Gilead balls. Protect your family! Whatever it takes, Kyle, whatever it takes. Deal with June Osborne. Do it quickly!" No, Tabitha had not been deserving of the subsequent beating. But she wore her bruises with pride, all be it misplaced. (True to form, he'd chosen his 'hits' so that she could go to the next Wives' Tea, with no bruising visible.)

But she would protect her family if Kyle wouldn't.

THE BLAINE HOUSE

"She's not here," Rose Blaine said when her husband came in the door. "The martha, she's gone."

Thinking fast, Nick asked, "are the hangers in her closet, pointed with the top-hooks inwards, or outwards?"

"Outwards," Rose said. "I've already packed." Rose got her coat, said, "should I call dad?"

"Seriously?" Nick sighed, leaving his coat on. "I don't think you'll be able to get him. We'd better get going."