Merry's Marauders (Book #2 ~ Scenic Route to Paradise, refreshed 2016 edition)

by Andrea Aarons

  The former inmate to join Merry at the coyote fence was Lyric Rodriguez. She was raised by her Anglo mother. Lyric was a hippy child gone wrong. At twenty-two she had been in jail for heroin use, possession and then this time for selling. She had attended middle-school with Angel Tapia although they were never close friends. Skinny but now clean from three months in the county jail, Lyric had short, limp blond hair that hung about her ears. She was about the same height and build as Merry but without the muscle tone. Junior had spotted her coming out of the bathroom and told Mac who in turn questioned Patsy about her.

  Who was her inside contact? How she entered the Hacienda?

  Last night Lyric had stayed back with the other inmate when Merry, Luz and eventually Kelsey doubled back in the arroyo toward the rusted wreck. Lyric and the other gal climbed up out of the creek bed to be confronted by three guys coming down from the mall parking lot. Lyric had turned around and running fell head long into the arroyo. She had an egg-shaped bump above her hairline but she didn’t remember passing out. The others heard the screams but Lyric hadn’t.

  She told Patsy and the others gathered around the table, “I don’t remember anything until I heard a dog barking... He was right next to me on the other side of a fence. He scared me and I threw a rock at him. Then I saw people climbing a fence and I hoped it was her...” Lyric nodded toward Merry and then she burst into tears. Luz went to her and held her. They both cried and soon everyone was wiping tears away.

  Merry let out a sigh and she supposed tears were the main ingredient and difference between a room of male makeshift soldiers and her band of hormonal women.

  Mrs. Ortiz hadn’t returned yet. Patsy cleared her throat and wiped her eyes one more time. She said, “Okay girls! We need to talk and take care of some business. First of all, it seems fairly obvious that God has put us together for His purposes. Some of you may not agree with me but I have been following Jesus for over 30 years and I know what I know. God loves you!

  “Some of you have taken the step to trust God and to believe in His plan through Jesus,” Patsy nodded to a few of the women including Consuela and Luz. “Others here are playing the religious gamble game or you have made the choice to not believe.” Sylvia looked significantly at Nikki. Nikki turned from gaping at the others to focus on Patsy. Patsy said, “Either way, you are here with us and therefore, you must flow with the house. We are no longer housemates of a halfway house being mainstreamed back into society but even so, there are rules and there remains a God in Heaven watching over us. We will give God glory for every victory and we will call upon Him for every need... Those are the foundational rules!”

  Nikki said with a grin, “Boy, Miss Patsy - if you were 30 years younger you would make the perfect wife to Captain Mac! You sound just like him but with religious overtones.” Nikki was poking fun but Sylvia didn’t like it and said so.

  Patsy interrupted their bickering to say, “Nikki - Sylvia, the difference between religious overtones and a genuine reliance on God... is that religion is rooted in man’s confidence in his own faith, his good works... even in a person’s personal holiness. Trusting in God and let me tell you - all of you, that is what we need today and tomorrow! Trusting in God’s willingness to help us and to actually meet our needs, to keep us safe… That is the new reality. Trusting in religion is fantasy... The world is full of various religions and apparently, they have gotten us where we are today!”

  Someone said, “Yeah… in a mess!”

  Mrs. Ortiz and the nurse were listening from the hallway but only Merry who sat next to the standing Patsy and also, Patsy saw them.

  “We are going to start our meeting in prayer. Come on now, let’s bow our heads and hearts before God,” encouraged Patsy. Then she gave a simple invitation to surrender to God’s plan by believing in Jesus - His death, and also His resurrection on the third day.

  Even the skeptics and pretenders felt Something. It was the first time in a long time that Merry sensed God’s Presence. It was a tangibly holy atmosphere. She was shocked and convicted that she hadn’t noticed His absence. Although, hell seemed heavy on Earth that afternoon, in Heaven a party was erupting at the repentance of sinners at a kitchen table in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

  The rooms and their occupants were assigned. The jailies would room together in the various patients’ rooms. Mrs. Ortiz and Patsy would take one side of the nurses’ quarters and Merry and Sarah would stay in the room that Sarah already occupied. An adjoining bathroom was accessed by both bedrooms. Junior and Lenny would continue in the lounge at the front of the house - Merry decided that because Mac was already ensconced in the back service room which was formerly used as an employees’ lounge and apparently, for the occasional extra overnight employee. The van driver who was yet to return after his nasty job of removing the cadavers from the home Tuesday night had roomed there.

  Mac would be in the back and Lenny in the front. It made sense from a security point of view. Tom Biggs maintained his private room in the middle of the hallway; no one dare try to place him elsewhere.

  Although Patsy was speaking for the most part, everyone including Sarah - Nurse Ratchet understood that Merry was in charge of the women contingent.

  After concealing the automobiles, Patsy’s hidden in the arroyo for the time being under brush and the other cars squeezed into the garage across the street, the Hacienda residents gathered for dinner. It was stew again but Mrs. Ortiz had a unique soupy mix each night. Tonight it was green-chili stew with beef. The green-chilies were her own from her house brought over frozen in a cooler and then transferred into the Hacienda freezer. The kitchen was lit with kerosene lamps and candles, as Mac forbid using the generator at night. It would draw attention to them and they didn’t want that kind of attention.

  Even Sarah the nurse emerged from her room to eat with the others. Initially, she and Tom Biggs glared at one another and then just ignored each other. The table fit all 15 people although Junior sat at the counter by himself.

  After finishing, Merry shifted to the counter leaning across to speak to Junior.

  “I’m sorry about Angel,” she began. Junior looked up from his third dish of green-chili stew. “I’m going to keep my eyes open for her because look, God has brought Luz back and I know He wants Angel here, too.” He nodded and then began to unburden his heart to Merry.

  It was still early when Junior was called to climb to the roof for nightwatch along with Tina. Moving from the countertop, Merry looked around the kitchen noticing the older women were cleaning up but everyone else had dissembled. Merry pitched in to finish the kitchen and then headed back toward the nurses’ quarters. She wondered if there would be trouble tonight.

  Unlike the rest of the house which heated quickly under the New Mexican sun, Sarah’s room, set up for two nurses remained cool being situated on the north corner of the building. During normal times, the Hacienda stayed warm into the night after a sunny day. In the summer it was hot unless the air conditioner ran.

  Merry was looking forward to a sound night's sleep in a real bed. She was brushing her teeth when Patsy came in. “What are you doing?” she asked Merry.

  Brushing my teeth!

  Merry shrugged and spit into the sink. There was no running water and she had to splash, rinse and wash from a jug brought in from the kitchen.

  Patsy said, “The meeting went well today. This room is better than sleeping another night in a recliner.”

  Merry said, “I slept comfortably on one of the couches last night.” She noticed Patsy was twisting her hands anxiously... Not a good sign.

  Merry said casually, “So, what’s up? Everything okay?”

  Patsy looked startled and then pulled her hands away from one another. Addressing Merry’s reflection in the mirror, she replied. “Well, no. Remember that stack of whiskey in the kitchen today?” Nodding, Merry recalled that the boxes had been relocated by dinner time. Patsy followed Merry through the bathroom door into Sarah’s room. “Did you see how every
one kind of snuck off after dinner? Well, I think Mac and the others are throwing a party on the patio... I saw him go outside with a bottle.”

  “You’re kidding? Come on!” Merry was pulling on thick pink slippers. There was no heat in the house at night and she had planned to sleep with wooly slippers on. Merry rolled her eyes and looked up to heaven. What to do? “Auntie Pats, when you say ‘everyone’ and ‘the others,’ who are you referring to... not the girls? Junior is on the roof and Tina too. Everyone?” she asked. Patsy nodded.

  “Crap! What do we do?” she asked Patsy.

  Patsy shrugged, “We can pray.” So they did.

  Merry had put her ultra thin long johns on to sleep in but she pulled her jeans and a navy blue sweater over top after their prayer session.

  Patsy’s past, in her youth had been full of drugs and alcohol so she advised Merry to steer clear of the patio bash. Merry had very limited personal experience with the party scene although she had been around social drinkers and a few drunks at the restaurant where she was employed for the last several months. She took Patsy’s advice seriously.

  Patsy plans to go into her room through the adjoining bathroom and lock the door, retiring for the night were overturned by Merry’s need her assistance.

  Merry asked, “Do you know where they put the liquor? It was in the kitchen next to the ladder almost all day... Where did it go?” Patsy suggested that it went into the back storage room with some of the other supplies they had accumulated but she wasn’t positive.

  “I suppose everyone knows where the stuff is but us... We cannot stop the party - not now but we can slow it down.” Merry surmised.

  A few minutes later, Merry and Patsy were creeping through the kitchen past the short hallway that led into the sun-room which opened through sliding doors, onto the patio. It didn’t sound much like a party although there was the constant flow of voices, laughter, giggles and more laughter. They had built a bonfire within the brick arrangement Tom Biggs arranged previously.

  Firelight reflection flickered into the kitchen, skipping about on the hallway walls. Mac’s room, a laundry room and a large supply closet were beyond the kitchen. The ladder was set-up under the kitchen skylight for the guards on the roof.

  In a low voice, Merry told Patsy she would check on the night guard and then be right down. She gave Patsy the flashlight telling her to look about for the whiskey but “don’t get caught!”

  Merry emerged from the skylight to find Tina sitting to the left of her, watching the revelers below.

  “Hey, Tina,” Merry called. Tina turned and getting up she came over to Merry. “What are you doing?” Merry asked as she swung up onto the rooftop.

  “I’m watching. What do you think I’m doing?” she snapped in reply.

  Merry sighed and said, “Oh. Well, where is Junior?”

  Tina gave a careless flutter of her hand toward the front of the house. “He’s probably over there or somewhere. I don’t know.”

  Merry asked her when her shift was to be over. Tina said at midnight but did Merry know what time it was? Merry told her no she didn’t know and then she said, “Tina, you’re supposed to be watching for the safety of the household. Everyone is trusting that you will keep an eye on the surrounding landscape... You know, making sure no one sneaks up and catches us by surprise. Right?”

  In the gloom, Tina bobbed her head. She said to Merry, “Yeah, but it’s not fair... Listen to them! They’re having a blast and I’m stuck up here.”

  Merry said, “When it’s your turn to be relieved from your post... from watching up here and you go to bed or say, you go out on the patio to join the others, wouldn’t you be really angry if a bunch of gang bangers busted in over the wall and killed Sylvia and Mrs. Ortiz and everybody? We told you what was coming down at the mall last night.” She added, “The person who relieves you from your watch is supposed to make sure you and the others are safe.”

  “I know that. It just isn’t fair,” Tina complained again but there wasn’t as much conviction in her words this time.

  Merry said, “I have a couple of things I have to do but after that, I’ll come back up and give you a break, okay? For now, you stay alert. Don’t be staring down into the patio fire. You won’t be able to focus on the darkness outside after staring at the fire - so stop it.” Merry left her and went to find Junior. He was straddling the short wall that ran across the front of the building and which continued along the exterior rim of the flat roof, southwestern style. He had a pair of binoculars hanging from his neck and a baseball bat in hand. Merry was glad he took his job seriously.

  They talked briefly and then she returned to the skylight. Merry was glad to see that Tina was walking along the roofline and not sitting and sulking anymore.

  Below, Patsy was waiting. She found the whiskey as she suspected stacked in the supply room. Merry followed her into the closet and the flashlight revealed the cache. All cases were sealed but one. Patsy showed Merry that three bottles had been removed.

  “How bad is that?” Merry asked her.

  Patsy replied, “Bad enough. They should be running out soon and someone will be back here for more.” Merry had wanted to talk to Mac about the problem that alcohol would cause for the household, especially this household but she hadn’t gotten the chance. The promise she made to him kept coming to mind as she thought of various methods of removing the stash from the premises or destroying it all together.

  Finally, she said, “Okay, let’s begin with the full cases. We have to relocate them. My room, I suppose unless you can think of a better place.”

  Patsy had thought of a better place and they began shifting the cache. It didn’t take long until there was just the opened case left. Patsy had this dilemma resolved too.

  A few minutes after Patsy retired for the evening and just as Merry neared the top of the ladder to check on Tina, Sylvia and Nikki now the best of pals stumbled through the kitchen to retrieve another bottle. They hadn’t remembered if the other boxes of whiskey were in the darkened closet when they took the first bottles out but they realized now the cases were not in the closet. Even worse, they found that the opened case had liter water bottles in place of whiskey. The women groaned. Why hadn’t they seen that earlier, they complained to one another? Merry heard them from the skylight where she hesitated waiting their return through the kitchen; she came down the ladder a few rungs to address them.

  “Hey! Sylvia,” Merry called out. “Sylvia, you didn’t drink those three bottles of whiskey did you? I hope not! The other bottles are simply bubbly spring water... There is no more whiskey.” Merry felt only a tweak to her conscience for the deception.

  “Uh, oh! Who is that calling from the sky?” Sylvia asked with a noticeable slur.

  Nikki replied with a giggle, “It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it’s superman or is it batman? It’s Merryman!” In their giddy state, the two women thought this slapstick hilarious.

  Waiting until they finished their nonsensical chatter and Merry then said, “Hey, you two go on to bed. if you want, I’ll let the others know that there is only water left in the cases. That way they won’t be angry with either of you. Good night!” Sylvia and Nikki thought this a good idea and together, they meandered drunkenly down the front hallway toward their rooms.

  Merry went back up the ladder. Tina continued doing her part and Merry was glad for that. Going to the patio side of the roof, Merry looked down. The fire was low as no one bothered to re-stoke it. She didn’t see Mac or Lenny but Tom Biggs and Mrs. Ortiz and Consuela were sitting in a circle. Kelsey with a cigarette hanging from her lip and Lyric were seated on the ground doing something that Merry couldn’t make out. Luz was spread out on a lawn chair. Merry decided she was asleep.

  Tina came over to stand next to Merry. After a brief minute, she told Merry to go to bed. “I thought about what you said,” Tina said. “Man, I haven’t had a drink in months and if I was down there... I decided God had me up here for a reason.” Her words cheer
ed Merry.

  After checking on Junior, Merry went down the ladder again.

  In the dark, Merry found Mrs. Ortiz in the hallway just outside of the nurses’ quarters.

  “Oh! You frightened me, Mrs. Ortiz,” Merry said. “Let me help you into your room.”

  Mrs. Ortiz said, “The door is locked. I wasn’t sure what to do.” Merry smelled alcohol on the older woman but she didn’t sound drunk or even tipsy. Merry led her through her own doorway and then into the bathroom. There was a candle with matches on the counter next to the sink so Merry lit this and gave her small flashlight to Mrs. Ortiz, taking the candle for herself.

  “Patsy must have locked the bedroom door but you can go through here,” Merry said and she opened the door into the adjoining room. She left Mrs. Ortiz in the bathroom, shutting her own bedroom door behind her.

  Sarah’s bed was empty although Merry had not seen her on the patio drinking with the others and she wondered about the nurse’s absence. She stripped off her sweater and jeans and climbed into bed wearing her long-johns. There was a commotion in the hallway but the sound was dulled by the heavy bedroom door and the insulation provided by the well built facility.

  Merry fell asleep.

  Hours later, Sarah was speaking and she nudged Merry awake.

  “Wake up! Mac needs to talk to you,” Sarah repeated.

  Merry sat up. The room was frigid and she really didn’t want to get out from under her covers. Recollections of her actions of climbing the roof, speaking with Sylvia and Nikki and of hiding the liquor jostled for preeminence in her groggy mind.

  “What? What about?” She asked Sarah. She replied that she didn’t know but he was in the hallway. Maybe, Mac wanted her to take the next watch or had he gone back to the supply closet for another round and found only water? Merry pulled on her jeans and then the sweater lying where she had thrown it. She left Sarah, snoring peacefully in the other twin bed.