Chapter 19

As Sayid passed by Sawyer's tent, he heard the Southerner call out to him. Other than at the council meeting, they hadn't spoken to one another since the fight. The Iraqi turned back and waited with some impatience for Sawyer to make whatever sarcastic gesture the man felt compelled to make.

Sawyer held up a copy of the book he was reading, The Scarlet Letter, so that Sayid could see the title. "Listen to this," he said and began quoting: "The founders of a new colony, whatever Utopia of human virtue and happiness they might originally project, have invariably recognized it among their earliest practical necessities to allot a portion of the virgin soil as a cemetery, and another portion as the site of a prison." He put the book down. "Sounds like we're settling in, huh?"

"Are you trying to provoke me?" Sayid asked.

Sawyer could not miss the angry edge in his voice. "What?" he asked with genuine surprise. "Just making conversation--" Sawyer winced and looked away. "Oh, sorry," he said. "I swear, I wasn't even thinking about Shannon. I was thinking about that guy locked up in the hatch--"

Sayid did not let him finish before walking rapidly away. The sand scattered in light clouds beneath his feet. A cemetery and a prison. Those were the first two things. And what was the third? A church. That was what Eko was building now, by all accounts, and Charlie was helping him. The musician had deserted the project Sayid was working on to labor instead beside the priest.

As Sayid began working alone with his stack of bamboo, he considered that perhaps Charlie would not prove as useful as he had once hoped. However angry Charlie may have once felt over Claire's abduction, he was now preoccupied with building the church. He was not nursing his hate. He would not have the fuel that was required to inspire action when the time came. Eko might even urge him to pacifism.

Ana, however, would still have enough indignation—of that Sayid was sure. Perhaps Sawyer would too, if he could be reminded of his former wound. Jack had been ready to storm the Others after the threat to Kate, but where did he stand now? And who else had the will to fight? How, Sayid wondered, was he going to raise an army when the survivors spent their mornings lounging on the beach, their afternoons playing poker, and their evenings flirting by the fire?

He sighed as he tossed a long pole onto a growing pile, and he turned to see who had drawn up behind him. "Good afternoon, Bernard."

Bernard told him of his plan to build an SOS sign and asked for his assistance. Sayid apologized and replied that he was working on another project at the moment.

Bernard looked at the stack of bamboo with consternation. "You're digging in too?" he asked. "I thought you of all people…I heard you worked on the radios, I heard you…"

"I am not discouraging you, Bernard. I will help later if I have the time. But I have more pressing issues to consider. Dim hopes are not my priority."

Bernard's teeth were set on edge as he exhaled a raspy sigh. "Great. Just great. A dim hope? Is that everyone's attitude?" The elder gentleman continued to grumble as he walked away.

Sayid had not been working much longer when he felt another figure approach him. Jack came to a standstill and placed his hands on either side of his hips, his gray shirt soaked with sweat from the hike from the hatch. "What are you building?" he asked.

"A table."

"A table?" Jack's laugh sounded like a series of breaths.

"Yes. A table."

"It's a bit…large, don't you think?"

"It needs to seat at least thirteen," Sayid replied, now picking up a rod from the pile and beginning to tie it in line.

Jack's laugh fell again from his lips, mixed with a hint of disdain. "Don't you think you could be building something a little more useful than a table? I mean, we've managed to eat pretty well on the ground."

Sayid violently pulled tight a knot. "And what have you been building recently, Jack?"

Jack bobbed his head and half-smiled, but he defended himself. "I've been treating patients, Sayid. That's what I do."

"And this is what I do. We have had one council meeting. We will need to hold another. It will be easier to see and speak to one another across this table than in a circle around a fire. It will also be easier to spread out maps and draft plans."

"You're building a war table." The tone in Jack's voice was one of disbelief. Was this the same man who had come to Ana and asked her how long it would take to raise an army? Jack, Sayid thought, wanted to play at war but not to plan for it.

"Yes," Sayid answered simply as he went to grasp another piece of bamboo. "Was there something you wanted from me?"

Jack shrugged and looked as if he were rethinking his reason for approaching Sayid. But at last he said, "I'm going into the jungle. I'm going to the line to see if the Others want to do a prisoner exchange. Walt for Gale. Do you want to come with me?"

Sayid tossed the bamboo he was holding back onto the ground and turned slowly to Jack. "No," he answered.

"Why not?"

"Because it is an asinine idea."

Jack let out a scoffing breath. "Want to tell me why?"

"Indeed I do want to tell you why. I heard you beat Sawyer at poker."

"Yeah, what's that got to do—"

"Then you ought to know how foolish it is to tip your hand too early. If you go there, to the line, and you suggest this trade, they will know how little we know. If they take Gale back—and that is an enormous if—we will have lost our only potential source of information."

"Don't you want Walt back?" Jack asked angrily. "Don't you care about the boy? Or is all you care about your own revenge?"

Sayid turned his eyes away from Jack and took a moment to calm himself. "If I thought we could get Walt back that easily, I would support you. But they are not likely to give us Walt. They took the children for a purpose." The Iraqi now turned back to look Jack in the eye. "If you cannot by now perceive how cunning our enemy is--"

"So what, just leave the boy to…to suffer whatever they are doing to him?"

"The best way to get Walt back," said Sayid deliberately, "is to learn more about our enemies. We need to know their numbers and their strength. And then we need to train. We need to pursue our goal as a unit—not in pairs and triplets as we have been doing. Then we can recapture all of the children." Sayid glanced at his half-formed table. "We are doing it again. All of us. Running around in the jungle without unity or direction. We will accomplish nothing."

"And what do you suggest? You haven't broken Gale. You don't seem likely to. This is something, Sayid, this prisoner exchange. This is at least something!" Jack gestured angrily with his hands towards the jungle. "I'm going in there to the line, and you can either come with me or not."

Sayid shook his head. "I am not coming."

"Fine! I'll get Kate to come. She'll see reason in this."

Sayid shrugged and turned back to the table. "Little doubt she will accompany you, but not necessarily because she considers your plan reasonable."

Jack shook his head one final time and left the Iraqi to his work.