Ranger just sat there for what seemed to Julie Anne to be an interminable time. But since Ranger was waiting patiently, and Brody was too, behind her, she just tapped the steering wheel in time with the music on the CD she was playing. It was nice in the car, since she had plenty of fuel at the moment, she’d run the air conditioning the whole time they were on the road. She felt a bit guilty at doing so, but the cool air felt wonderful after days without it. Brody hadn’t run the AC in his truck when they were working, to save fuel.
Finally someone came out of the woods the gravel road was cut through, startling Julie Anne, since he seemed suddenly just there. The man waved at Ranger and then unlocked and opened the gate to let the three vehicles through.
The man looked at Julie Anne curiously, but simply waved her on. Brody came through the gate after her and the man closed and relocked it. Brody waited for the man to come up and get in the cab of the truck with him before he followed Julie Anne up the road.
She parked beside Ranger when he stopped the truck alongside another non-descript pickup parked on a gravel parking lot. Brody pulled in be-side her and all exited their vehicles. Brody motioned Julie Anne over to join him and the man that had opened the gate.
“Ms. Baumgartner, this is Toby Green, owner of this farm.”
“How do, Miss?” Toby, asked, touching the brim of his wide hat. Julie Anne quickly decided it wasn’t worth the effort to correct him over the Miss and Ms..
“Hello,” she said, holding out her hand. “I hope I’m not intruding. Brody said it was all right if I tagged along.”
“Sure ‘nough,” replied Toby, taking her hand for a quick shake and re-lease. “We still have a lot of room. Only a few of the guys have shown up. Kinda surprising. I was expecting more.” He looked over at Brody. “You seen or heard from Katrina and Patrick?”
Brody shook his head. “Just me and the Ranger,” he replied. “Who else is here?”
Toby ran through a string of names that Julie Anne knew she wouldn’t remember until she met the people attached to them.
“Okay. Let’s get you settled,” Toby said. “You have luggage, Miss Baumgartner?”
Julie Anne nodded and moved over to Brody’s truck. Brody and Ranger handed the two suitcases out. Toby took the big one, but let Julie Anne carry the smaller. “You’ll be up in the house with the other unattached ladies,” Toby told her and headed off toward the building that Julie Anne took to be the house.
“What about Brody and Ranger?” she asked, picking up her pace a bit to keep up with Toby.
“Ranger will take a bunk in the bunk house. Brody has a trailer out in the woods where he stays when he’s here.”
“I see. I want to thank you for allowing me to stay during this… whatever it is.”
“Pure old disaster, if you ask me. The old balloon went up big time. Thought we’d be at war first, but this is just as bad. Them terrorists sure knew what they were doing when they took out the infrastructure. How bad was it in the city?”
Julie Anne’s face told much of the story to Toby. “Bad, huh?” he asked before she spoke.
“Very bad. We tried so hard…” Feeling safe now, Julie Anne was having a hard time keeping the emotion in check.
“Yeah. Brody would. Little surprised the Ranger helped out.”
“You know what we were doing?” Julie Anne asked in surprise, getting her emotions under control enough not to start crying.
“No. Just that Brody would be doing anything he could to help. What was it you do that he was helping with?”
“Burials. I’m the City Cemetery Administrator. My two people left and Brody said he’d help and then he called Ranger and he helped, too. I got them some gear and fuel and a little silver, but they just kept working when that all ran out and they had to use their own supplies and they took care of me, and…”
“Easy there, girl,” Toby said, as Julie Anne’s words came faster and faster and began to edge into hysteria.
Julie Anne took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. They were at the house and Toby led the way inside. They were immediately met by a short, heavyset woman that turned out to be Toby’s wife, Patricia.
“This is Miss Julie Anne Baumgartner. She came in with Brody and the Ranger,” Toby said, to introduce them. “My wife, Patricia. You’ll be helping her out where you can.”
“I’m sure that Brody told you there would be work here,” Patricia said, taking the large suitcase from Toby. “No idle hands on this farm. No siree. Idle hands lead to bad things. Come along up the stairs, young miss. We’ll get you settled right in. And then there is work to do.”
Rather at a loss as what to do or say, Julie Anne followed along silently. Patricia stopped in front of one of several doors lining the hallway in the second story of the house. “You’ll be sharing with Darlene. Baths are both down the hall. Darlene uses the bed on the left as you go in. Plenty of hangers and you have half the drawers. Laundry is on Mondays. Get settled in and come on down to the kitchen. I’m sure you can find it.”
Patricia set down the suitcase she had carried just inside the door and turned and left, leaving Julie Anne to her own devices. It hadn’t occurred to her that she would be sharing a room. “Beggars can’t be choosers,” she said and went about unpacking after exploring and using the bathroom.
The bedroom was neat as a pin, and Julie Anne felt quite comfortable. There didn’t seem to be any air conditioning running, as the windows were open, but it was comfortable in the room.
Everything put away, with a tiny bit of room to spare, Julie Anne went downstairs. It wasn’t hard to find the kitchen. Delicious smells were coming from it. When she entered Patricia and two other women, much younger than their hostess, were working. It seemed to be bread baking day. There were pans cooling, pans in the oven, pans of dough rising, and more dough being worked. By hand, Julie Anne noticed.
“This is Julie Anne. She’s new to all of this,” Patricia told the other women. “This is Peg and Samantha.”
Julie Anne acknowledged the introductions, foregoing handshakes as both women’s hands were covered in flour in one case, and bread dough in the other.
“Wash up,” Patricia said. “You’ll be helping Peg knead dough.”
“Is there enough water?” Julie Anne asked automatically.
“Of course. Good well water,” Patricia told her.
Julie Anne felt a bit embarrassed and said, “We’ve been out of water in the city for weeks. Just bottled…”
“Well, don’t go to wasting any,” Patricia cautioned, “but don’t be a’feared of using it, either.”
Julie Anne scrubbed, using the bar of soft soap. It was unlike anything she’d used before and had a wonderful lavender smell. She dried her hands on a flour sack towel and joined Peg at the freestanding butcher block where she was kneading a portion of dough.
“I have no clue what to do,” Julie Anne said, words she hadn’t had to use in years.
Samantha showed Julie Anne which bowl of risen bread to take to the block and turn out on the fresh flour she sprinkled on the block for her. Samantha turned back to doing what she was doing, and Peg took up the instruction on how to knead dough prior to a second rising and subsequent baking.
Julie Anne’s back, arms., and hands were aching by the time the last loaf of bread was ready for the wood fired oven build into one brick wall of the kitchen. She washed her hands yet again, and despite the fatigue, asked, “What should I do now?”
Patricia smiled at the game look on Julie Anne’s face and said, “You’ve done enough for the moment. Kneading dough can really take it out of you, the way we do it, baking enough at once for the whole week. Why don’t you go soak for a bit and take a lie down before you help get sup-per ready.”
“Thank you,” Julie Anne said thankfully. “I think I will. I might fall asleep. Would someone wake me if I do? I don’t have an alarm clock.”
“Sure thing, sweetie,” Peg told her. “I’ll knock on your door as I come
down.”
“Thank you,” Julie Anne said again and headed for the stairs. Still reluctant to use too much water, she took a shower instead of a soaking bath, and lay down on the bed in the bedroom, wearing her robe.
She groaned a bit when the knock came that Peg had promised. Julie Anne quickly dressed again and went downstairs. Patricia put her to work slicing some of the fresh bread, using a long bread knife and a wooden guide block to make even slices.
Peg and Samantha were doing other tasks, and there was another woman helping that Julie Anne hadn’t met yet. “I’m Julie Anne Baumgartner,” she said and held out her hand to the other woman.
“Darlene. You came in with Brody, I hear.”
“Oh. My roommate. Yes. Brody and Ranger were both kind enough to invite me out here until things get better in the city. Toby and Patricia were kind enough to agree to it when we got here.”
“Yeah. Brody always did have a soft spot. You and him got something going?”
“Enough of that, young lady,” Patricia said sternly. “You will not have those types of conversations in my kitchen.”
Darlene grinned and mouthed the words to Julie Anne. “We’ll talk later.”
Julie Anne wasn’t sure what to make of it so she just ignored the situation and did her assigned job. She heard activity in the large dining room as the last few things were done for the supper. Patricia led the way out of the kitchen to the dining room, carrying a platter of fried fish. The other women each picked up a dish and followed her.
Julie Anne hurriedly arranged the sliced bread in a towel lined basked and folded the towel over. She followed the others into the dining room and paused suddenly at the sight of half a dozen men of several ages standing behind empty chairs. Brody wasn’t one of them. There were al-ready three women seated.
Following the example of the other kitchen helpers, Julie Anne set her bread basket on the table and then stepped in front of the chair Ranger was behind. The men seated the women, and then took seats themselves.
Immediately all the others bowed their heads and Toby said a very heart-felt Grace, welcoming Julie Anne, Ranger, and Brody to the farm as well. Julie said a soft ‘Amen,’ with the others, wondering where Brody was.
She couldn’t remember ever having fish prepared the way this fish was. It was coated in salted cornmeal and had been fried in a large kettle of hot oil on the wood stove in the kitchen. There were French fries, hush puppies, and coleslaw to go with it. Not much of a fried food eater, Julie Anne found herself eating more than she probably should. It was good.
It was only after she talked to Ranger for a moment after the dinner that she learned she’d eaten catfish raised on the farm. In fact, almost every item on the menu had been grown or produced on the farm, except for the salt, and the sugar used in the pecan pie and ice cream that was dessert. The tea and coffee were two more items. not produced on the farm but purchased.
Even the corn was grown and ground, as was the wheat for the bread and pie crust. Milk and cream for the ice cream was from the farm’s cows. That was the limit of the conversation. The men were ushered out and Patricia, Julie Anne, Peg, Samantha, and Darlene took care of the clean up.
Julie Anne joined them for a few minutes in the living room after the work was done, but none of the men joined them. Julie Anne excused herself and said she was going up to go to bed. She was suddenly exhausted. This time she did take a soak before she went to bed.
Quite some time later, when Darlene eased into the bedroom and asked, “You awake, Julie Anne?” Julie Anne feigned sleep, though Darlene’s movements had wakened her. She didn’t want to discuss Brody or Ranger.
But she couldn’t avoid it the next morning after Darlene’s windup alarm went off. As soon as Julie Anne opened her eyes, Darlene was asking her about both of the men. Julie Anne made it quite clear she wasn’t involved with either of them and found herself a little annoyed at Darlene’s expressed joy at the fact.
It was several days before she saw Brody long enough to talk to him. “Ms. Baumgartner,” he said when she came up to him talking to Toby on the front porch of the house. Toby went into the house.
“When are you going to start calling me Julie Anne, like everyone else?”
“I guess now,” Brody said, not quite smiling. “Julie Anne.”
“That’s better. I haven’t seen you. Is everything all right?”
“Just tired. We’re pulling twenty-four seven security. There are only a few of us and I’m putting in a lot of hours patrolling.”
“Patrolling? Like in the Army?”
“Like all the services. But yes. This place is a ripe plum, ready for picking by anyone with enough firepower. Fortunately there isn’t much of an organized group in this area. We’ve run off several individuals trying to sneak in and steal food from the fields.”
“People are hungry,” Julie Anne said. She didn’t want to start an argument, but she had to express her beliefs.
“I know. Toby knows. He has some, what we call ‘humanitarian supplies’ for people in real need. Primarily families with children, pregnant women, women with babies…”
“Ranger said something similar once,” Julie Anne replied.
“Almost all of us in this group feel that way. Not everyone does. But we have to be careful. If word spreads far and wide enough, this place will be swarmed with unprepared people. At least unprepared except for arms. and ammunition to try to take it over. Always seems. like people that are anti-gun are more than ready and willing to use them to get what they want.”
Julie Anne was taken aback by Brody’s bitterness. “I… I… Perhaps I should go,” she said.
“I need to go get some sleep. I’m on duty again in a couple of hours.”
Julie Anne watch Brody walk away, his shoulders slumped. She didn’t know what to do. Ranger was acting chipper at breakfasts and suppers, which he had, along with the other single people, in the house. Only Brody, as far as she knew, was eating alone. Those with families had bungalows or trailers on the property and prepared and ate their meals as family units.
Going back into the kitchen, Patricia saw the concerned look on her face and asked, “What’s troubling you, dear?”
“It’s Brody. He doesn’t look good. He just seems.…different.”
It was Darlene that told her, before Patricia could. “He had to kill a man two days ago. He was trying to steal a horse and started shooting when Brody braced him.”
“Oh, no!” Julie Anne said. Brody and Ranger had spoken of using fire-arms. so casually. Apparently it wasn’t a casual thing, at all.
“Brody’s taking it hard,” Patricia said. “He’s a sensitive man and always wanting to help people. Something like this hits a man like him hard.”
“I think I’ll go check on him,” Darlene said, a gleam in her eye that Julie Anne didn’t like. “Did he say where he was going?”
“To get some sleep,” Julie Anne said firmly. “I don’t think you should bother him.”
“I’ll let him tell me that,” Darlene replied, already taking off her apron and heading for the door.
Julie Anne watched Darlene leave, but did nothing else, except frown.
Two days later Julie Anne took Ranger aside after supper and told him, “I want to learn to shoot. Can you teach me?”
“I could, Julie Anne, but I’m not that good of a teacher, and I’m pretty busy with security patrols. You should ask Toby. He taught several of the people here now how to shoot. They all do very well for people that shoot very seldom.”
“I will ask Toby, then. Thank you, Ranger.”
She found Toby where he usually was after supper, in his den, listening to shortwave and Amateur Radio traffic. Julie Anne knocked on the open door and waited for Toby to invite her in.
“How are you acclimating, Julie Anne? You certainly seem to fit in here quite well. Patricia says you’ve taken to the kitchen with a vengeance.”
“I just want to do my part. Which is why I wanted to ta
lk to you. Ranger said you might be able to teach me to shoot.”
“Oh, I’m quite sure I could. Most people can learn to shoot. If they really want to. Not everyone is cut out to own and use weapons.”
Julie Anne bit her lip for a few moments. “I really want to. I think… with things the way they are… I should learn to defend myself effectively. There might not be someone around to save me the way there has in the past.”
“Think it over tonight. If you still want to do this, catch me in the morning and we’ll set up a training schedule. I take it you don’t have any firearms..”
Julie Anne shook her head.
“Well, don’t worry. We have some loaners on hand.”
“Thank you, Toby,” Julie Anne said and then turned and left.
After a month of daily practice Toby declared her ready to defend herself. She immediately asked, “Can I go on the sentry duty rotation?”
Toby whistled softly and then drew in a breath. “Julie Anne, that is a huge responsibility. You don’t just have to know how to shoot, but when. You learned that in a personal defensive situation, but sentry duty is rather different. You are usually dealing with people for a while before gunplay enters into it, if it does at all.
“Are you sure you’re up to supporting the Farm’s values, responsibilities, and goals? I have a feeling they aren’t quite the same as your personal values.”
“In the past… I never could have done it, I know. But I’ve learned things the last few months. About myself and about the world out there.” Julie Anne made a vague gesture to include everything outside the Farm.
“Okay,” Toby said after a long hesitation. “I’ll put you with someone with experience.”
“Brody?” asked Julie Anne.
“No. It will be one of the other women who pulls sentry duty. Probably Angela, she’s experienced and patient with newbies. She’ll give you some more training in the specifics of sentry duty.”
Julie Anne nodded. Angela was one of the women with a family at the Farm. Her and her husband both did sentry duty and farm work.
“I’ll have her contact you when she’s ready to take you under her wing. It could be a few days before we change the schedule.”
The Liddy Scenario Page 6
