The Last Cavalier, Part 2c

Yesterday and the day before, I covered the first two portions of Chapter 2 of The Last Cavalier. Here is the final part:

     Chapter 2 (continued)
     “Yep,” Dad said. “You got it.” He put the arrow in the quiver which told me he really was happy, even though he didn’t look it. There were three arrows left.
     “You do the last few, Jakey,” he said. “I have to go pack.”
     “OK,” I said. I watched him go in the bedroom. His saddlebag was on the bed. I could hear Mom crying quietly. Dad ignored her. He put a few shirts in the bag and some other stuff then took off his work shirt and put on the white one, his Sunday Best.
     “Why, Jim?” she asked him. “Why not the black one?”
     “I have to Helen,” he said. “Everybody sees the black and runs. I have to show them that I’m different. That I’m true to the cause. The white will tell them something.”
     “They’re going to hate you no matter what color you wear,” she said. “They have all forgotten. They don’t want you to remind them. They want to pretend it never happened and never will again.”
     “It’s my job,” Dad said somberly. “It’s the job my father entrusted to me and the one that Jake will take over some day. It’s up to us. Father to son. It’s the only way. The Earth needs me.”
     “What about us?” Mom asked. “We need you too.”
     “Helen,” Dad said. “You knew I was a Cavalier when you married me. That was why you fell in love with me. Nothing has changed.”
     “Everything has changed,” she said. “Your precious Cavaliers are nothing but bullies and thieves. They don’t obey the rules themselves. Why should anybody else do it.”
     She stood up and put her arms around Dad’s neck. “Jim, stay here,” she said. “We don’t make a difference any more. Just be with us and some day, somebody else will figure it out.”
     Dad reached up and pulled her arms off his neck. “Can’t,” he said. And that was the end of it. “I leave tomorrow,” he said.

You can see where I stole the Sunday Best white shirt to fold into The Ark Lords. Tomorrow, the last little remnants of Chapter 3. After that, more on the world of Rome's Revolution.