Mission

Mabel insisted that she be included in the drawing of straws - that she be allowed to participate in the dangerous run for supplies if that was the path laid before her. Almost as if she knew, her straw had the black tip and she was giddy - comforting them that she was almost invisible and would be all right. They put her in the vest and gave her weapons and watched with their hearts in their throats as the tiny 80-something picked her way carefully out of the train tunnel's ruin of a staircase to find others and food and help. "We should ... maybe draw a second time," she heard Dalef whisper (and Mabel smiled, unoffended). She would teeter out of sight in character and then take her true form. She'd hit what was left of the market for the canned goods and loop back, pausing long enough to clear out the small camp of soldiers who were hiding near the tracks on the southern road. It was risky to overachieve in broad daylight, but these were desperate times ... and a girl's gotta eat.