Forge Faith

by Hayden James

  “Right, we see them meet every afternoon. It’s so strange,” confirmed Addy.

  “Maddy and Addy have also told me they are hearing more discontent with what the Mayor is doing while they are gardening,” said William.

  Bud replied, “That doesn’t surprise me. The Mayor is bound to make more enemies. If people start to realize what is going on, and that they’re giving everything up under one person’s control, they are going to start to grow untrustworthy.”

  “I don’t expect the town to move against us yet, but I’m sure it will not be long before the Mayor turns all the people who are not liking her control our way. All she has to do is highlight the fact that we have not given her any of our resources, then we have everyone who feels disgruntled coming over here and stealing everything.

  “That’s a good point,” said Sharon. “She can use their rage against her and filter it over to us in an instant.”

  “We might be sitting ducks,” emphasized Bud.

  “Yeah, I’m worried that the girls aren’t fitting in down there in the town. I don’t think they should be going anymore. I think we are putting targets on our backs and flaunting our resources in their faces,” confirmed William.

  Maddie must have heard this because both her and Addy got visibly upset. “Dad! You can’t tell us what to do anymore. We are technically adults! We want to work in the garden. We’re eighteen now, we’re adults we can make her own decisions.”

  “You to only want to go down there because Gary and Vince are working there as well,” Rachel shot back, supporting William’s decision.

  “That’s not the reason!” Addy shouted.

  “We enjoy helping people,” countered Maddy.

  “You will not go back to the garden, and that’s final!” William shouted. Both Maddy and Addy appeared to be infuriated, but they did not argue with their dad, but instead turned and headed into the house, slamming the backdoor. William filled with frustration his face turning red, sad and gnawed at the ribs.

  Shortly after that altercation, the party broke up early in the evening to allow people to get back to their homes safely. The sun was just setting, and the neighbors could have just enough time to arrive back at their home before sundown. As the neighbors disbursed, William had a moment to speak with Liam away from the house by the vegetable beds.

  “Glad you’re back, son,” started William.

  “So glad to be back, dad. For a while there, I wasn’t certain if I’d be coming back, let alone with Prue or with the Dints,” admitted Liam.

  “Who’s that? What happened?”

  “Let’s just say that Prue’s parents have a different ideology than we do.”

  “Explain.”

  “It seems as though Harv is anti gun. I mean, it’s justifiable. Assailants gunned his brother down when he was younger. And Carol is in a wheelchair because she went to the bank one afternoon. So happened there was a robbery there, and Carol, being an innocent bystander was shot. She’s paralyzed from the waist down. Ever since then, he’s sworn to never hold a gun.”

  “I see,” replied William, taking all of that information in. “Does Prue share those same ideologies?”

  “No. Prue has been carrying a firearm all this time.”

  “That’s what I thought.”

  “Right, if she hadn’t pulled the trigger when she did, I doubt I’d be standing before you right now.”

  “So, it’s just the Dints that seem to be not on board.”

  “Well, Harv’s street was attacked by a raid. He was willing to carry a firearm then. Before that, he was spouting ideals of pacifism.”

  “A pacifist? I admire that take on reality, but this new world is kill or be killed. We can’t have a pacifist with us. We’d just be protecting them with no reciprocity.”

  “I think since the raid happened, oh and gunmen burned their house to the ground, he’ll be onboard with defending us. He’ll pick up a gun to defend his family.”

  “That’s reassuring. How are we going to fit them into our homestead? What can Carol do?”

  “She can do just about anything. I think she’s a good cook, I wouldn’t know, however.”

  “She didn’t cook for you while you stayed with them?”

  “No. It was so pitiful when Prue and I got there. Nothing like what we have here,” started Liam. “All they had that hadn’t gone bad were a few loaves of bread, packages of crackers, and some water. All I ate there was sliced bread and crackers.”

  “That’s not food.”

  “No, it’s not. Made me missing life here real fast. I had no idea Dwight had this whole homestead ready to go if disaster struck,” said Liam.

  “I didn’t know if this well-thought was out. I mean, I spent most of my life with him saying the worst would hit one day. One day never came, and as you know, I resented him for it… Until one day did come.” William hesitated, thinking about all the emotions that referencing his childhood brought on. It was a duality of emotions. William just wanted his dad to take time to throw the ball around with him, or to come to one of his baseball games. No that one day did come, William became aware that his dad sacrificed his time with him so he could protect him when that time came. This was a hard pill for William to swallow, and he had to shift his perspective on how he saw Dwight, but slowly he saw how thoughtful, considerate, and loving Dwight really was. “Let’s get back.”

  William and Liam joined Carol, Harv, Prue and Rachel out of the porch. Rachel had a jar of Dwight’s moonshine with her. As William sat next to her, she handed it to him. He opened the jar and offered it to Harv. “No, but thank you,” said Harv, putting his hand up. “I’ll pass.”

  William then handed the jar over to Rachel who imbibed.

  “There’s no easy way to broach the subject, so I’ll come out and say it,” William started.

  “Yes?” Harv replied.

  “I want to know how you two you will be earning your keep around here. Every mouth that needs feeding requires work,” explained William. “We have a full house now, with my three girls, Liam, Gary and Vince, and Dr Tate. I realize Dwight invited you two to come and live here, but we must talk logistics now. What are you two going to contribute?”

  “I expected this. Carol and I will for sure earn her keep,” assured Harv. “I’m perfectly capable helping in the garden. Carol can make the meals.”

  “That sounds good,” responded Rachel. “If Carol did the bulk of the meals, that could relieve me to help more in the garden and with the livestock.”

  “Great,” answered William, relieved to know how Carol and Harv would work at the homestead and that the conversation was not more awkward than it needed to be.

  As the Conner’s discussed the future living arrangements, the chores and times everything was done out on the porch, William heard a noise coming from the HAM radio that he left on the emergency frequency in the van as they had discussed in the meeting, turning it on after the neighbors had left.

  The crackling of the radio because louder from the inside of the van. Hearing the odd static and crackling noise, William knew he had to get to the van.

  “Excuse me. I hear the HAM inside the van,” he said as he darted up, wondering what was going on since the hourly check-in wouldn’t happen for at least another hour, and he had a separate call with Dana much later in the night.

  As William opened the van where the HAM was running off of the car battery, he heard a familiar voice come over the radio waves. “CQ CQ CQ… Whiskey Alpha Charlie Six Tango this is Whiskey X-ray five Delta Romeo Alpha… over.”

  William picked up the handset of the HAM and answered, “Whiskey X-ray five Delta Romeo Alpha this is Whiskey Alpha Charlie Six Tango… over.”

  “Will?” the voice from the radio asked.

  “Tom? Is that you?” William asked taken aback by the odd time of the call. “Usually I speak with Dana on the HAM. What’s going on?”

  “Yes, William. It’s me, Tom. Dana is just beside herself and wanted me to m
ake the call. They have ransacked our entire house. It must have happened while we were out at the party.”

  “Oh no!” William exclaimed. “That’s horrible. It must be the Mayor.”

  “We had locked down everything including our gate before we left. But someone knocked down our gate, came into our house and took everything. They took everything! They took our entire stockpile of food; they took everything that was in our pantry and cabinets. They took her water reservoirs.”

  “That is simply despicable! Do you need any help?”

  “Not at this time. This call is mainly to let you know what happened and that you should be on high alert. Thankfully, we had a secret stash in the basement none of the thieves thought to check there. So we’re good for some time. Most of our weapons were taken as well,” explained Tom.

  Dwight came up behind William, “What is going on? You seemed panicked, Will.”

  “Oh, hey dad. The Anderson’s house was just ransacked,” William answered Dwight, knowing this was not going to go over well.

  “That sorry excuse for a Mayor. That socialist witch. She will pay for this,” shouted Dwight.

  “I know dad, this is not good,” responded William in an effort to calm down his dad.

  “Let the Andersons know that they are more than welcomed to come stay with us. We will make room,” said Dwight to William.

  “Hey Tom, Dwight said that you are more than welcomed to stay with us if you guys need to,” William said into the handset.

  “That is awfully generous of Dwight. Tell him thanks from Dana and I, but we are going to stay out here, for now at least. But we might take you up on that later,” answered Tom.

  Day Twenty

  Chapter Thirteen

  Addison Conner

  “Pick that one over there,” Addy said to Maddy, pointing to a zucchini that appeared to be ready as she held the basket of vegetables. The twins moved closer to a group of ladies who were also harvesting some vegetables. Vince worked the entrance of the garden, noting how many vegetables each person who left the community garden took. Gary watered some crops a large distance away from the twins.

  “Hear what happened to the Andersons?” a lady close to Addy asked the other lady she was working next to.

  “I did. Serves them right for not donating their food and livestock like the rest of us did,” replied the lady.

  Addy couldn’t control herself and she challenged the ladies and said, “You think they deserved that? The people who did that to them took everything.”

  “So happens I do,” one of the ladies answered back. “The rest of us donated all of our items. It’s not fair that those people get to not share their resources like the rest of us.”

  The other lady chimed in, “Right. Who do they think they are? Do they think they are better than us? Do they think their stuff is more important than ours? The rest of us donated our food so others could eat. We trust this system, and we don’t like people who aren’t willing to have faith in our town leaders.”

  Addy was just about to speak when her sister interrupted her, “Addy, it’s not worth it. Let’s leave it alone and go work on the other side of the garden.”

  Addy, flustered by what the ladies had to say nodded, and yielded to her sister pulling her arm for her to go to the other side of the garden.

  “Smiths, four red bell peppers, two heads of lettuce, and three yellow squash,” Vince said as a husband and wife left the garden. As the afternoon went on, the girls made their way over to where Vince worked the entryway to the garden, monitoring and noting which townspeople took which vegetables. They stood in the shade, tired from working in the sun, and Addy still flustered about her confrontation with the close-minded townspeople.

  Vince had told Addy that he did not thoroughly enjoy his job since he was more of a paper pusher, but he did enjoy the few times he could share his knowledge of crops and gardening with the townsfolk, but that was when they weren’t that busy. The girls and Gary accompanied Vince each time he came to work. Vince received some crops for his work, but the other three were purely volunteers. Addy was still convinced that by them working in the garden was the best way to keep tabs on the thoughts and feelings that swirled around in the community. She intended on reporting the run-in with the two ladies to her dad when she returned home.

  “Girls get over here,” whispered Vince. Not knowing why, Addy pulled Maddy closer to Vince, and they stood near the entry gate of the garden.

  A few short moments later, Addy realized the reason. “Howdy,” the Sheriff said as he and a cadre of his newly deputized goons entered the garden.

  “Good afternoon, Sheriff,” replied Vince. Gary watered crops in the beds right next to where Vince and the girls stood.

  “We are here to inspect the garden and make sure it is running smoothly,” said the Sheriff as his group filed in, roaming the beds and inspecting the crops.

  “I can assure you that everything has been running just fine,” answered Vince, seeming nervous at the confrontation.

  “I wanted to remind you that everything in this town is communal. Seems like that may have been forgotten, a member of this town reported that the workers in the community garden didn’t believe in sharing,” explained the Sheriff.

  “I’m sure it was a misunderstanding,” replied Vince. Addy was grateful that he was covering for her. She hadn’t told him about the brief argument but was sure glad he had her back.

  “Misunderstanding or not, I’d like to take this time to remind you that everything in this town is communal and everyone shares. If that’s not one’s mindset, then they should leave Tucker Hollow before they’re run out,” said Sheriff Murphy in a direct and harsh tone as he stared directly at the twins.

  “I understand,” said Vince. “I can assure you; this garden believes in sharing and everyone shares what they have here.”

  “Very good,” answered Murphy. “Men, we are done here,” the Sheriff commanded to his cadre who then made their way to the exit. “Good day.” The Sheriff and his twelve goons left the garden.

  When they were out of earshot, Addy shouted at Maddy and Vince, “I can’t believe those ladies told the Sheriff on me! The nerve! Then he has to come over here and remind me that everyone needs to be sharing?”

  Vince, in an attempt to calm Addison down put his arm around her. “I know, I know. That was mean and intimidating. I’d never let anything happen to you.”

  “Thanks, I know,” answered Addy, hugging Vince around the waist as he stroked her hair.

  Maddy interrupted the sweet moment, “Addy, let’s go take a walk and cool off before we go home.”

  Vince said as he hugged Addy with his right arm, squeezing her, “That sounds like a good idea. Gary and I still have work to do. It’ll be an hour or two before we can head back in the van.”

  “All right,” answered Addy, letting go of Vince.

  “I’m glad I got you away,” said Maddy as the twins walked down Main Street.

  “I could use the walk to clear my head. I’d hate to go home in the state that I am in. All dad would say was that he was right, and we were not allowed to work in the garden any longer,” answered Addy.

  “Well, I pulled you away from Gary and Vince for another reason. They’d never allow us to do this if they knew what we were about to do?” Maddy explained

  “About to do what?” Addy asked.

  “Keep quiet and follow me,” whispered Maddy, pulling Addy’s arm and looking at her as she placed her index finger over her lips with her eyes wide.

  Maddy led Addison to the outside of Mayor Elisa’s office. They hunkered down by the open window. “We are spying on the Mayor?” Addy asked.

  “Ssshhh!” Maddy reminded. “They should be in their meeting now,” whispered Maddy.

  Addy could overhear what the Mayor and Sheriff were discussing. “We have enough people on board now. We’ll be able to move forward with our plan,” the voice Murphy came through the window. Maddy looked at Addy with h
er eyes bugged out and her mouth gaped open.

  Then the Mayor’s voice came through the window, “That is fantastic. We can get the last of our hold outs.”

  “What do you think we should do about our good ol’ boy, Dwight?” Murphy asked.

  “Let’s save him for last,” answered the Mayor. “He has far more weapons than he is saying.”

  “Now, I know the plan is to arrest all the hold outs, but I was wondering if we could do something a little special for Dwight and the rest of the adults at his place?” Murphy asked.

  “What did you have in mind?”

  “Dwight has been the toughest resistor of them all. He has caused me more pain, agony, time and effort, that I would rather just shoot him. There is no way to reason with him, he’s an old dog who’s set in his way. I’d like to take a bullet and put it right square between his eyes when he gives me one of those blank stares and pretends as though he does not know what I’m talking about,” explained the Sheriff.

  “I think that is wise. I’d rather see all of them dead than put them up in our jails. There is no reasoning with them either. Dwight has brainwashed all the adults who live on that farm. Brilliant idea Murphy!” Elisa said.

  “Consider it done,” affirmed Murphy.

  Maddy let out an audible gasp as she frantically put her hand over her mouth. Addy could not believe what she heard.

  “What was that?” Elisa asked.

  “Let’s go find out!” Murphy shouted.

  Addy realized that they had been found out. She pulled Maddy’s hand, who had become paralyzed with fear, and the two girls made a run for it. The two girls darted down Main Street, sprinting at full speed.