Behind the Dark Side

by Mahnarch

Darth Dragger has finaly made it back home, on Earth. His only concerns now are housing several rogue Sith on his home planet, let alone his home town. He also has to claim his birth right his old farm.

15. Rising From Ashes

Rising From Ashes.

I find it amazing how so much can change over such a little time. Finding the old roads that I was once accustomed too – the once dirt packed and deserted country roads – are now paved and flourishing with urban expanse.
I turn the bus north at the same old street corner, now occupied with a Pizza Hut and a Subway where once stood an old bait shop and the Post Office.

Reaching the outskirts of town, however, everything starts to look like it did 16 years ago. Corn grows in the fields on both sides of the road and the familiar old houses of my old neighbors are still run down, with makeshift repairs done by the poor old farmers.

The tree line ends and I see my old schoolhouse still standing in the middle of an empty grass field. New, plastic playground equipment replaces the old, rusty metal swings and slides that I used to play on. Across the street from the school is a forest, surrounding the dirt road that leads to my old house.

I turn the bus onto Berry St. My old farm is only a mile down the road from the corner. Images of what the house must look like flash through my mind. I take a deep breath and let the bus creep at idle speed as I look at the forest passing slowly by. The low hanging tree branches scrape against the roof of the bus.I remember a lot of these trees. I remember them being a lot smaller, but I remember them all.

Suddenly, I see something familiar.
I stop the bus in the middle of the dirt road and, getting out of the drivers seat, I walk up to a tree with a small 'M' marked into the bark.
The mark is old, weathered and grown over, but it's still identifiable. I just hope my old stash is still intact.

I peer behind the tree. I'm looking for my old treasure chest. Finally, I see the corner of my old steel lock box that I kept trinkets in as a child. Time and weather has buried most of it in the dirt and the tree has grown a large root over it, locking it to the ground. Digging it out isn't going to be a very easy task. Unless...

I look back at the bus and down the street, making sure no one is coming.I pull out my lightsaber and carefully cut the root and surrounding ground to free my box that has become a makeshift time-capsule.I pull the box out of the ground and look it over. Rust has taken it's toll.
I don't have the key for the lock. I left it in the house – in my dresser - all those years ago. I just hope it's still there.
I just hope that the house, itself, is still there.

Our field starts about a 100 yards from this tree. That means the the house is over the next hill.
I bring the box to the bus and continue idling down the road.
The start of our field comes as a shock to me.

Where corn and wheat once grew, plentifully, now stands an unattended weed field that stands over 4ft tall. It's completely unidentifiable from any other wild field. Cresting the hill, I can see the remains of my house. The once bright yellow is now a tanish white - faded from the years. The back half is still in shambles and missing parts of the walling and roof. The widows are boarded up and the front door is covered with signs that state the dwelling is condemned. I pull into the overgrown driveway and shut the bus' engine off. I'm starting to have mixed feelings. I don't want to get out. My mother was killed here on that tragic day, and I don't want to disturb the makeshift memorial. On the other hand, I have to see the house. I have to know exactly what happened here. This land is also my birthright; my small, personal, 40 acre chunk of this planet.I get out.

I walk up to the house and push on the front door. It won't budge.Again, I look around to make sure no one is coming up the street and pull out my lightsaber.
I hold the humming blade out in front of me. My breathing gets faster as I anticipate what I'm about to walk into.
I lower my blade into the wooden door.
Cutting the rotten wood is like slicing warm butter.

The door swings open with a loud squeak. Dust fills the air in the living room as birds fly from their perches on the dust covered furniture and shelving. I step inside, slowly, feeling the floor creak under my weight. I'm the first person to set foot inside this house in a very long time; probably the first since the last fireman left the scene. This part of the house is left exactly the way I remember it – plus a lot of dust - before I left for school that morning, all those years ago. My report card still sits on the coffee table - my mother's signature at the bottom. I pick it up and stuff it in my inside pocket. Knick knacks still fill the shelves, but it looks like the birds have been having a nice time making themselves at home. I also realize that birds will poop on anything.

The stairs creak under my feet as I walk up to the second floor and to my old bedroom. As I swing the door open, I have a flashback to my last day here. I can hear my mother's voice. "Doug. Wake up, sweety. You have to feed the chickens before you go to school."
A tear runs from my eye, uncontrolled.
I pull my dresser drawer open. My old clothes still neatly folded in stacks, now too small for me to ever wear again.
I see my key sitting under my underwear and put it in my pocket.
Suddenly, I hear a sound from downstairs – the creaking of footsteps.

Using the force to lighten my gait, I descend the stairs to the halfway point. The trespasser is about to round the corner, I have to act quickly in order to get a jump on him.
I pull my lightsaber and jump to the bottom of the stairs, bringing the unlit handle over my right shoulder and reaching for the switch to ignite it before bringing it down on the intruder when I suddenly recognize the aged face.

With wide eyes, the man speaks, "Whoa! What? You gonna hit me with a pipe, Man?"
Luckily my quick reflexes keep me from igniting my saber; otherwise I'd have to explain the whole thing to Ben, my best friend from school.
"Ben.", I say, bringing the handle down to my side, "Son of a bitch.".
Ben comes at me and gives me a big bear hug, "Dude, I haven't seen you in years! Where have you been?", he asks as he lets me go.
I'm about to put my lightsaber on my belt clip when I suddenly realize that I can't explain why I'd be putting a plumber's pipe there in front of him, so I toss it on the coffee table as if it were a piece I picked up from the rubble. I go on to explain (lie) about how I was living in Europe with my estranged uncle until he passed away.
He seems to be buying it.
He tells me how he bought the farm next door after his family's house burned down, some 5 years ago.

"I saw a bus parked outside when I drove by, so I thought I'd better investigate.", he explains, "I'm just glad I did. It's good to see you again."
He looks around at the rubble and asks what I plan to do with the land. I hadn't really thought about it. It hadn't really sunk in until now that this land really was all mine – every square inch. The decision came as quickly as the question. "I'm going to rebuild everything. Start from scratch in the farming business.", I say. Then I remember about all the Sith refugees back at the hotel.
"I have a lot of friends that need a place to stay,while we rebuild.", I hint to Ben. Since he's next door I figure that it would be easier to keep all the Sith in one area until they can acclimate to living on an 'M' class planet.

He doesn't even hesitate,"You can all stay with me until then.", Ben offers.
I agree with a handshake.
We walk out of the house and Ben goes back toward his home. I make my way back to the hotel and explain to everyone the plans for the next day.
Later, I open my lock box. Inside are a bunch of papers from the teacher that I was supposed to bring home to my mom to sign.
They never made it. "Hmm, I wonder why?" I chuckle to myself.
Under them, I find a picture; a picture of me and mom the halloween after my father and brother were killed. I was too embarrassed of the picture back then to allow my mother to keep it. Now it's the only thing I have to remind me of her.
I put the picture on the night stand and stare at it until I fall asleep.

The next morning I arose early in order to gather everyone together. Once everyone is together we check out of the hotel and use the shuttle bus, under normal circumstances this time, to get dropped off at the farm. Pulling up to the house, I see that Ben is already here with his truck, unloading a bunch of tools from the back. He already has a stack of lumber piled near the house.
"Well, it's about time you city folks got out of bed.", he laughs as we all get off the bus.
I wave the bus driver off and walk over to Ben as the rest of my group scatters and looks in awe around the house. I grab Ben's hand and thank him for coming out to help.

I look around, taking in the morning smells and sounds.Birds chirp in the trees. The air smells of wet grass from the morning dew. I squint from the morning sun rising over the forest from the east. Something I'll have to get used too, again, since Earth is one of the few planets that spins counter-clockwise.
"So, what's the plan?", Ben asks, looking at the rubble at the backside of the house.
Shorty comes up to me. "Where are the Hoses?", she asks.
I kneel down to her with a confused look, "Hoses?" I think for a second, "Oh, you mean the Horses?".
"All of your horses were sold at auction in order to help pay for the taxes on this land – along with all the other animals. On top of that, all the farmers in the community have been chipping in; in hopes that you'd return some day.", he says, looking at the ground and shuffling his foot in the gravel. "Old man Anderson bought most of your animals, but time takes its toll.", he says, hinting that my old animals have long passed on.

I stand and bring Shorty in front of Ben. "This is Shorty. My appren...", I catch myself in mid-sentence, "...my daughter.", It's the only rational relationship that comes to mind at the second. "So, this must be your wife?", Ben asks as Lori walks up behind me and picks up Shorty. Lori looks at me for a second, confused, then at Ben.
"That's right. I'm Lori.", she starts, but Ben interrupts her.
"Lori from Miss Coverly's class! It's been a long time!", he says, excitedly laughing as he shakes her empty hand.

From behind me I can sense Nazarene approaching, "And this is Nazarene.", I say, stepping to the side.
Nazarene and Ben shake hands as they look at each other, intently, for a few seconds too long.
I think I sense a love connection, here.

In the distance a loud rumble comes from over the hill. I recognize that sound – tractors, and a lot of them. A few minutes later all the farmers from the surrounding area pull into the driveway to help in the construction project. Apparently, Ben had called everyone last night and told them that I was back and that we needed their help, and we sure do. That's what I love about the smaller towns, though.. Everyone is always willing to help each other.

Over the next few weeks I refamiliarize myself with the older farmers and meet some of the new faces in town as they help rebuild the house and barns, teaching my fellow Sith as they went. They even helped in repairing the tractors and combine; readying it for the following years' harvest. I already knew that this year was a bust, because it was already too late in the season to grow anything before the coming winter, and my fellow Sith had a lot of learning to do, beforehand. In those weeks, I also introduced Nazarene to one of our tractors – the 1952 Ford 1700 diesel. My 'Lead Sled'. Ben and Nazarene started seeing each other, heavily, and Rocky met one of the local farmer boys who was helping rebuild the barn. They hit it off, wonderfully. Maybe too wonderfully.
I waited up many a late night for her to come back home.

As several more of our friendly Sith were located over the weeks from their respective landings - all over the States - and brought to the farm the men took on jobs around the neighboring farms in order to pay back the farmers for rebuilding our land and to get the hang of living on Earth, let alone on a farm. The women joined the circle of farmer's wives and learned their ways, their rumors, their friendships.
All the while, me and Lori were playing husband and wife – which was hard at times since she still resented me for being a Sith.
I had always found Lori attractive, but figured that she'd never return the feelings. Not until that one day, a month later.

The night sky is filled with stars (and several planets that scientists haven't found, yet.) and I'm still fiddling around with this damned tractor. I just rebuilt the injector pump on the '52 Ford and used the Force – a skill only usable after the other farmers have left for the day - to turn the engine over when Lori walked in behind me."It's been a long time since I heard this thing run."
I turn around, catching her in a mistake.
She'd never been to my farm, that I know of. How would she know how this thing sounded before?
"Where you spying on me when we were kids?", I say, half jokingly.
She stutters, "I-I, err, No, I was...Just.", her face turns a bright shade of red as she crosses her arms, trying to hide them in her Earth clothing, which has no big sleeves.
She walks around the front of the tractor and leans on the wall, "Fine. I had a crush on you when we were in school.", she says, turning her back to me and staring at the rafters. "I used to follow you home and watch you do farm work after class.".
My mind flickers as I remember back to my childhood. I can remember "feeling" someone watching me when I was out in the field during harvest time. But, I had always blown it off as paranoia.
I suddenly realize that I must have been using the Force back then, subconciously, and felt her presence.
I walk around the tractor and grab Lori's shoulder, facing her toward me. I stare in her wide, light blue eyes for a second. She stares back at me as I grab her other arm and bring her into me.
I embrace her in a strong kiss, moving my hand to the small of her back.
Her lips are soft and ever so slighty moist. I can smell the sweet fragarence on her cheek as her small nose presses against the side of mine.
She resists for a second before grabbing the back of my head and pulling me into her. I can feel her teeth press against mine as she comes into me, tightly. Her breathing grows as she wraps her arms around my neck.
I pull her entire body into me as passion runs over us. She wraps her left leg around my right leg, rubbing it up and down my calf.

"Well, well.", comes a sudden voice from the door to the barn. Lori and I push apart, suddenly, and turn toward the voice – we both reach our hands for our sabers, hidden under our shirts.
"Hope I'm not interrupting.", Nex says as he walks in on our first real connection.
"Hi, Nex! Nice to see you!", I say, sarcastically loud.
Nex walks in and looks over the tractor. From what I know of him, he has no idea what he's looking at.
"The hole is ready.", he says, touching and pulling on the generator belt, pretending to know what he's doing. He must be feeling really awkward right now. He won't even look at us.

Over the last few weeks the Sith have been digging a basement type hole in order to store our ship, which was still at the bottom of Lake Michigan.We had been using the Force to make the local farmers think that we were digging the hole for a new septic tank.
If we hadn't, the farmers would have thought that the hole was suspicious because it was on the back corner of the lot, far from the house. Not only that, but the hole was over two acres, squared. A lot bigger than any septic tank that I know of.
Now the hole was ready and we were ready to go to the lake shore to raise the ship to the surface so we could fly it to the farm.

The only question was: How do you get a house sized ship through town?

Also, tomorrow was the first day of school for Shorty, now that summer was over. I'm wondering how that's going to turn out.