by Robert Boren
“Yes, you do that, honey,” she replied as she took the empty plates to the sink. “I hope this place is defensible. I’d really like to hang out here for a while.”
“Me too,” Frank said as he walked back to the bedroom to retrieve his shoes. He brought them out, and then sat down on the couch and put them on.
“I guess I’d better get dressed too,” Jane said. She stepped into the bedroom and dropped her robe. She was naked underneath. Frank looked over at her.
“How much time do we have?”
“Not enough, Frank,” she said. Then she giggled. “Maybe later.”
“We are acting like kids, aren’t we?”
She looked back at him as she pulled her pants on. She had the embarrassed smile back on her face again. She was blushing.
“Yes,” Jane said, pulling her t-shirt over her head as she walked back out into the salon. “But I’m glad.”
“Me too,” he said, putting his arm around her waist and pulling her close. “You still get me going, even after all these years.” He kissed her. Her arms snaked around his neck and she held him close.
“Enough of this, or we’ll miss our meeting.” She giggled again.
They walked towards the door of the coach.
“Should we take Lucy with us?” Jane asked.
“You know, that isn’t a bad idea,” Frank said. “I’ll get her leash on.”
The three of them left the coach and made their way to the clubhouse. They saw several other couples on their way over there as well.
“Is it OK if we bring the dog in here?” Frank asked Hilda when they got to the door.
“Sure, as long as she's on the leash, and behaves,” Hilda said. She squatted down and looked at Lucy. “You’ll be a good girl, won’t you?” Lucy nuzzled her and licked her hand.
They walked in and sat down near the front of the room. Charlie, Jeb, and Chester were up at the front of the room talking. They all nodded when they saw Frank and Jane sit down.
After about ten minutes the room was full of people. Charlie and Hilda got up in the front and motioned for everybody to sit down. A hush came over the room as people found seats.
“Thank you all so much for coming,” Hilda said. She looked over at Charlie.
“Good morning, folks,” Charlie said. We want to do three things today. We’d like your help with this, but it’s not mandatory.”
“We’re with you Charlie,” somebody said from the back of the room. A lot of people made affirmative comments.
“Good, thanks,” Charlie said. “We want to see if this place can be defended against enemy scouting parties and scavengers. We'll need to look at the perimeter fence, the topography, and the hunting blinds that are back there. We might need to do some repair on the blinds and the fence.”
There was a murmur coming from the audience, and most people nodded in the affirmative.
“Secondly, we'd like to know how many of you have experience with firearms. How many of you were in the military or other armed organizations?”
About one third of the men in the room raised their hands.
“Wow, that’s pretty good,” Charlie said, “and how many of you have firearms and ammo with you?”
Almost everybody in the room raised their hands.
“Excellent,” Charlie said. “Oh, and how many of you are deer hunters, and know how to dress game?”
About ten people raised their hands.
“Good, then we know we aren’t going to starve,” Charlie said with a grin. “As most of you know, there is a ton of game around here.”
“Can we ask a few questions?” asked one man. He was tall and thin, and looked like somebody who had been in the military. “My name is Jerry.”
“Of course, Jerry. Fire away,” said Charlie.
“Thank you. What’s our water source? Is there a well here, or are we on city water?”
Hilda stood back up.
“We have city water, and it is still flowing,” Hilda said. “The infrastructure is fairly new. Before they put that in, we were on well water. We still have the well, so if anything happens with the city, we'll still have plenty of water.”
“How about power?” Jerry asked.
“We're good there, too,” Hilda said. “We have city power. Most of it comes from the Glen Canyon dam – Lake Powell. We also have three diesel generators. It might be a good idea to make a fuel run, though. We have some fuel for the gennies, but the tanks aren’t full.”
“Thanks,” Jerry said. “One more question….are there other RV Parks nearby that we might be able to join forces with?”
“There are several others, but the closest one is over five miles from here. Not exactly walking distance. I know the owners of all the nearby parks, though, and have good relations with all of them, so I’m sure we could help each other out in a pinch.”
“Thanks,” Jerry said. He sat down.
“Alright,” Charlie said. “Any other questions?”
He looked around the room. Nobody else spoke up.
“How about some volunteers for checking out the back fence and the blinds?” Charlie asked.
Frank raised his hand. So did Jeb, and Jerry, and a few others.
“Excellent,” Charlie said. “We could also use some people to help Hilda check out the fencing in front of the park.”
Jane raised her hand, along with Chester and several other people.
“Perfect, thanks. Any other questions before we get started?”
“Any word on the battle down south?” asked Jerry.
“No, not really. We aren’t seeing much on the news, and I can’t get a call through to my neighbors down there. Phone lines and cell towers may have been hit.”
There was another murmur through the room.
“Perhaps some of you who aren’t working with the perimeter teams could start listening to the radio and watching the local TV,” Hilda said. “Do any of you have shortwave?”
One person raised his hand. He was an old frail looking gentlemen.
“My name's Arthur,” the man said. “I’m a ham radio operator, and I have a system in my rig. I’ll get on it.”
“That'd be great, Arthur. Thanks,” Charlie said. “Alright, we best get started. We have a long day ahead of us.”
“Have fun, honey,” Frank said. “You want to handle Lucy, or should I?”
“I’ll take her,” Jane said. “If she gets in the way, I’ll put her in the coach and turn on the air conditioner.”
“May want to turn on the AC either way,” Frank said. “Mr. Wonderful is in there.”
“Oh, yeah.”
Charlie heard what they were saying.
“Frank, there’s a gate back behind the row that you’re in. We’ll go back that way, so you can stop off at your rig on the way.”
“Sounds good, thanks.”
Frank gave Jane a kiss on the forehead, and reached down and petted Lucy on the head. Then he followed Jeb and Charlie and Jerry out the door and towards the back of the park. He slipped into his coach and turned on their AC as they went by. The gate was down a curvy path, about thirty yards behind the coach. Charlie pulled a key out of his pocket and unlocked the large padlock. The gate opened with a creak. Behind it was trees and boulders and shrubs.
“Lots of cover back here,” Jerry said. “It'd be easy for somebody to watch us and not be seen.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Frank said. “I’m Frank, by the way.”
“Yes, I know who you are. I was in Williams, saw all of that stuff. I owe you, sir.”
Frank smiled and nodded.
“You were military, I suspect,” Frank said.
“Marine,” he replied. “That was a lot of years ago, but once a marine, always a marine.”
Frank nodded. Charlie stopped.
“Let’s split up,” Charlie said. Two of us go back to the left, and two of us to the right. Follow the fence all the way to where it joins up with the front section.”
“How do we know the front section?” asked Jeb.
“The chain link turns to wrought iron,” Charlie replied.
Frank and Jeb went to the left. They walked along silently, looking around them.
“Look, there’s one of the deer blinds,” Jeb said, pointing.
“Wow, good eyes! That’s hard to see,” Frank said. “Should we go check it out?”
“Let’s finish with the fence first.”
“OK,” Frank said. There was a curve ahead of them, which they followed around.
“It looks to me like there has been somebody around here recently,” Jeb said. “Look at the pine needles and the dirt over there.” He pointed.
“This is getting close to the space I’m in,” Frank said. “When I was out hooking up the cable TV line last night, I heard some rustling around. I pointed my flashlight over there, and saw several deer. They split in a hurry.”
“Really, they went running because of a flashlight? Usually they freeze.”
“Oh, shit, look at that,” Frank said, stopping in his tracks and looking at the fence.
“Uh oh,” Jeb said, looking down. A couple of the chain links had been cut. There was a large pair of bolt cutters laying on the ground, and a large knife….perhaps a bayonet. Jeb crouched down and started looking around.
Chapter 6 – Back in the Woods
Jeb and Frank stared down at the bolt cutters and the knife. Then they looked at each other.
“We should be armed when we're out here,” Jeb said.
“I was thinking the same thing,” Frank replied.
Jeb was crouching down, giving the bolt cutters a closer look.
“Well,” he said, “They haven’t been here for a long time, because they don’t have dirt on them. I think we’re safe for the moment, though, because whoever left them here did so several hours ago. Look at the dew on them.”
“What time does the dew fall?”
“Dew doesn’t fall, it condenses when the air gets cold enough. I’m thinking that whoever dropped these got spooked when you shined a flashlight over here last night.”
“Hmmmmm,” Frank said, rubbing his chin. “That tells me that they don’t belong to enemy soldiers. This is local scavengers.”
“You're probably right about that. I don’t think experienced soldiers would have dropped their tools when a flashlight shined at them. This might have been kids.”
Frank pulled his cellphone out of his pocket and took several pictures of the fence and the tools.
“Do you have a sidearm, Frank?”
“Boy, do I,” he replied, chuckling. Jeb gave him a quizzical look.
“What, do you have a derringer or something?”
“No, I’ve got a Ruger Blackhawk .44 mag.”
“Wow. Planning on hunting some wild boar?”
“We left Redondo Beach in a hurry. I have a .44 mag Winchester lever gun, and thought bringing the old hand cannon would be a good idea, because they both use the same ammo.”
“Well, good idea, as long as you can shoot the thing. After their first shot, most people flinch as they try to pull the trigger. There’s a lot of blast and recoil when one of those things go off. What size barrel?”
“Big – 7 ½ inches. It’s really not bad to shoot because it’s heavy. I’m pretty good with it too, but it’s a little much to shove into your belt.”
“You got a holster?”
“Yeah, but it’s an old west style…..you know, low, with a tie on the leg. Quick draw.” He laughed.
“Well, I think from now on you should be wearing that thing more often than not. I’m going to do the same, but we should discuss this at the clubhouse.”
“No problem. What do you have?”
“Colt 1911, .45 auto,” Jeb said, “among others.”
“I have one of those at home. Nice, but I can shoot the .44 mag more accurately. Would've brought it anyway, but I only had half a box of ammo.”
“You have a lot of .44 mag ammo?”
“Yeah, quite a bit.”
“Any other guns?”
“A 12 gauge. Good alley cleaner.”
Jeb laughed.
“You sound like my granddad. He was a cop on the south side of Chicago. That’s what they called their pumps.”
“I’ll bet they used an 1897 Winchester.”
“You know your guns,” Jeb said with a grin. “Yeah, that’s exactly what they used.”
“Let’s leave this here and continue down the fence. Then we need to tie in with the others about it.”
Jeb nodded, and they kept walking. There were no other problems with the fence. They got to the front section, and saw Jane and Chester coming their way. Lucy saw Frank and her tail started wagging. Jane let go of the leash and she ran over to him.
“Those Jack Russell’s are good little watchdogs,” Jeb said, bending down to let Lucy sniff his hand. “You should bring her along when we are stomping around back here. She'll know somebody is coming before we do.”
“That’s why I wanted Jane to take her,” Frank said. He picked up the leash and they continued on.
“Look, there’s another blind,” Jeb said, pointing. Frank nodded.
“Lucy was in a hurry to get to you,” Jane said, as she walked up with Chester. “How did things look back there?”
Jeb looked at Frank, and nodded.
“We found evidence of somebody trying to cut their way in,” Frank said. “There are a few links cut in the fence, and they left bolt cutters and a knife laying on the ground.”
“Recent?” asked Chester. Jane looked at Frank with fear in her eyes.
“I would say last night,” Jeb said. “There’s no dirt on the tools, but they were covered with dew. I think Frank spooked them last night when he shined his flashlight back there.”
“Either that or the deer scared them when they bolted,” Frank said. “The good news is that this probably wasn’t the enemy. This was probably just local scavengers. Maybe even kids. I’ll bet Hilda will have some insight.”
“I heard her talking about kids going back there to drink,” Chester said. “She has flood lights back there. Maybe we ought to be having those on for the time being. It will probably keep the locals from trying to come in and rip us off.”
“She has lights?” asked Jeb. “Yes, we definitely should be turning those on at night. How were things on the front section of the fence?”
“Everything looked good,” Jane said. “The brush and trees aren’t dense in the front, so I doubt any scavengers would try to get in. If it was some of the enemy army, that’s another matter. They’d blow through there in no time.”
“Look, here comes Charlie, Hilda, and Jerry,” Chester said, pointing.
Lucy barked, but she was wagging her tail.
“Well, see anything?” Charlie asked.
“Yeah,” Jeb said. “Somebody tried to cut their way in last night.”
“How do you know that?” asked Hilda.
“There are a couple of chain links cut, and there is a set of bolt cutters and a knife sitting on the ground.”
Hilda got a worried look on her face.
“How do you know it’s recent?” she asked.
“They weren’t covered with dirt,” Jeb replied. “I suspect they are local scavengers or maybe even kids.”
“I might have spooked them last night,” Frank said, “when I was looking at some deer back there. I turned on my flashlight and pointed it at them. The deer got spooked and ran. Maybe that scared them.”
“Does the fence need any repair?” asked Hilda.
“Not much,” Jeb said. “We could wire it shut. The hole isn’t big enough to crawl through. You could stick your arm through it, but you’d probably get cut.”
“Okay, I’ve got some wire in the shed,” Hilda said. “It probably was just kids. There’s a stream and some shallow caves back about 200 yards. Teenagers like to drink there. We’ve had them sneak into the park and steal liquor before. Most people don’t lock
up their coaches when they walk over to the clubhouse. Some folks even leave ice chests next to their coaches at night. Easy pickings for a few beers.”
“Maybe we should turn on the lights back there at night,” Jeb said.
“I’ll do that,” Hilda said. “I usually only do that on big weekends and after the big football games and dances at the high school. They kind of ruin the rustic ambiance.”
“We didn’t see any problems at all on the other side of the back fence,” Charlie said. “Saw one deer blind that looks like it may be usable with a little work.”
“No problems with the front fencing on the other side, either,” Hilda said.
“Good,” Jeb said. “What next?”
“I think we should check out the blinds,” Charlie said, “and fix that part of the fence. Maybe we also should go check out those caves and see if there is evidence that kids were back there last night.”
“Sounds like a good plan,” Hilda said. “Then we can meet in the clubhouse and figure out how we will go forward.”
“One other thing,” Jeb said. “I think we should be armed when we are back behind the park. Especially if we are going to go poking around back by the caves.”
“I agree,” Jerry said. “We probably should have worn side arms before we came back here this morning.”
“We were thinking the same thing,” Frank said.
“I’m fine with that, boys,” Hilda said. “As long as you don’t wear them inside the park.”
“If we have reason to believe that the enemy is going to send scouts around here, we ought to have some people in the park carrying side arms too,” Jerry said.
Hilda was silent for a moment, thinking. She had a frown on her face.
“I’d be open to discuss that, I guess,” she said, “but we need to have a reasonable suspicion that we are in some danger. I don’t want anybody getting drunk and accidentally shooting somebody.”
“Agreed,” Charlie said. “We should discuss this more with the entire group, but for now, being armed while in the woods is prudent.”
“Let’s go back into the park,” Hilda said. “Who’s going to help me fix the fence?”
“I’ll do that, sweetie,” Charlie said.
“Okay, then you can follow me to the shed and we’ll get the wire and tools out. How about the blinds?”
