by AJ Newman
“I’m okay with that.”
Kate said, “Hook the trailer up, and Jackie and I can gather up the … hey, what’s their last name? I forgot to ask.”
Tom walked back into the kitchen area and didn’t see the couple. He saw Granny B, Jacob, and Lucy peeling potatoes. “Granny B, where’s the couple we brought into the group?”
Granny B whispered to her grandson. “June is showing them their room. I told her to give them one of the guest rooms to share as a family. If they make the cut, we’ll give them better rooms. What’s going on?”
Tom said, “I don’t remember getting their last name. Hey Jacob! What’s your last name?”
“I’m Jacob Clark. Daddy says we have family up here in these hills. We were looking for them when our truck died.”
Granny B’s nose wrinkled, and Tom’s eyes were as big as billiard balls. Tom did an about-face and almost scared the boy. “What do you know about these Clarks?”
The little boy said, “Mom said my great-grandpa was a mean old asshole and was mean to his brother. That’s all I know. Oh, he was mean to Mom.”
Granny B shifted from one foot to another. “What were your grandpa and great grandpa’s names?”
“I liked my Grandpa Jake. I’m named after him. I don’t remember Great-Grandpa Luke. I haven’t seen him in a long time. I miss Grandpa Jake. He’s still somewhere in Ashland,” Jacob said.
*
Chapter 5
The Clark Ranch – East of Ashland, Oregon.
“Tom, let’s discuss this before you go off halfcocked and ask too many questions.”
Tom smirked and then quickly changed to a smile to avoid Granny B’s wrath. “I plan to be fully cocked before I try to find out who these people are. Do you know any of the people Jacob mentioned? I never heard Grandpa Jonas mention those names.”
“Your grandpa would’ve never said a word about his brother Luke. Luke was a piece of crap and spent his first thirty years on this planet in and out of jail. He fathered Jake with a drunken floozy during an escape from the county jail. He robbed his relatives and bought drugs. I think I heard he got out of jail and tried to fool people into believing he found God while in jail. He went to jail for stealing our pickup and crashing it into a young family in a drunken stupor. Jonas and I disowned him, and as far as we were concerned, he was dead to us. I think he later married the mother of little Jacob’s grandfather, Jake. We lost track of them and steered clear the few times we ran into Luke or his son.”
Tom clasped his hands behind his head and sat back in his chair. “Granny, are there any other family secrets Jackie and I should know?”
Granny B grimaced while avoiding eye contact, “None worth telling or that are likely to bite us in the butt one day. How are you and Kate getting along?”
Tom knew she’d changed the subject to hide something.
Rick and Tom went up the hill to the pond with their ladies tagging along. The women started loading the trailer while Tom led Rick over to the hidden spillway. The turbine housing was about two feet below the waterline. He pointed to an indentation in the bank that was about five feet wide and three feet long. “See that limb sticking up at that odd angle? The pointy end has jammed the turbine. I’ll disengage the clutch and let the wheel turn freely.”
Rick asked, “How does it work with all of it below the water line?”
Tom said, “The wheel is in a box built into the pond's overflow pipe on the spillway. The wheel is offset so that only the bottom half of the wheel touches the flowing water. That spins the wheel, which turns the turbine to generate electricity. It could be a simple above the water contraption if we weren’t afraid someone would find it.”
Tom reached under the water, found the lever, and pushed it out toward the middle of the pond. The limb fell into the water, and Tom dragged it up on the bank. “We can’t put a screen small enough to stop the limbs or every fall the leaves would clog the spillway every day or two.”
Tom showed Rick how to engage the clutch and explained how the mechanism worked. A half-hour later, they joined the women who’d saved the heavy lifting for them. Kate pointed to the massive load in the trailer and pickup bed. “They must have stripped everything not nailed down at the ranch they came from. No wonder they borrowed a two-ton truck to haul their booty.”
Tom looked over the supplies and said, “My God, there are mechanic’s tools and a small gas-powered generator. Let me try the generator.”
Tom checked the generator for gas and oil and found it ready to go. He flipped the on switch, turned the gas feed to on, and pulled the choke out. He pulled the starting cord, and the generator sputtered and then ran as smooth as glass.
Rick said, “There’s more to this story, and inquiring minds want to know.”
Tom filled them in on what Granny B and the boy had told him. Kate said, “Skeletons in the closet always surface and bite people in the butt. What else do I need to know about this family I care about so much?”
Jackie shrugged. “Well, I wanted to wait until you and my brother tied the knot, but what the heck? Tom is a crossdresser. He likes to wear my clothes.”
Kate cocked her head and looked from Tom to Jackie. “How does he look in heels with a black thong? I always wanted a man with great fashion sense.”
Tom was speechless, but gave both of them the finger. Kate replied. “Not yet. I’m playing hard to get.”
Everyone broke out laughing except Tom, who pretended to be mad just to screw with his sister.
Tom and Rick unloaded the equipment into the barn while Jackie and Kate put the food and smaller items away. The food went down into the first fake storeroom at the bottom of the entrance to the bunker. Tom and Rick finished and joined the others in the kitchen area. Tom saw his grandma rocking the baby off by herself and joined her. Tom asked. “How are Doris and Jerry doing? Are they fitting in with the others?
“All is okay now. They’re stuck down here until you have a job away from the burned ranch house.”
Tom mentally slapped himself. “Yes, we can’t have them escaping and come back looking for a burned down house with the gang from Ashland. I’ll have Jack and James blindfold him and take him out on the range to check on the cattle. We need to have a roundup to figure out how many cattle have been lost.”
Granny B rocked the baby and put the pacifier back in its mouth. “That’s a good idea. I think you need to fetch that farm truck and catch some of those goats and fancy rabbits.”
Tom replied, “We’re going to get the truck in a few minutes. I just wanted to check on our new family before leaving. This should be a quick trip. We’ll use a temporary plug for the gas tank, put in five gallons of gas, and be back here ten minutes later.”
“I guess you’ll have to hide the truck up at the old cabin.”
“Yes, and we’ll have to figure out a new hiding place when we add farm machinery and a couple of vehicles. Don’t tell Jerry we’re bringing the truck up to the ranch,” Tom replied.
Tom, Rick, and Jack took the old pickup down the hillside, heading southeast to avoid leaving tracks close to the ranch under the powerline clear cut path. They crossed under the powerlines a quarter-mile east of where they thought the truck would be and drove through the sparse brush. The ground was rocky and covered in knee-high grass. Tom looked back in the mirror and saw two obvious tire tracks in the grass.
“Crap, Ray Charles could follow us in that grass.”
Rick snickered, but Jack gave Tom a dumb look. Tom said, “You know the blind singer from back in the 1970s.”
“Never heard of him,” said Jack.
“Young people!” was all Tom said
Tom drove north on Chinquapin Road and saw the powerlines ahead. “The truck should be hidden on this side of the road to our right side. I’m parking the truck in that stand of trees over there.”
Before Tom parked, Rick saw a glint of light coming from a stand of trees. “Look over there. Yep, it’s a truck.”
&nb
sp; They pulled the brush away and off the hood exposing a 1955 Chevrolet Series 6400 - two ton flatbed truck. The truck had removable sides and tailgate. Tom looked at the truck and saw Bald Mountain Farm’s painted on the door. He said, “This isn’t a regular farm truck. It’s got a headache rack and a roller on the bed. It looks like an oilfield truck that’s been used on a ranch or farm to haul heavy equipment.”
The truck looked old and rusty until they were closer. Rick said, “This is one of those ‘rustorations’ where the truck is completely restored but made to look like an old rusty vehicle. That rust and worn through paint on the truck is actually creative artwork done by the one who repainted the truck.”
Tom lifted the hood, and underneath was an old 454 big block Chevy engine with a carburetor, coil, and distributer. “The old six-banger was scrapped, but the new engine has the old-style carburation and no electronics. This thing will run better than new.”
Tom and the other two checked out the truck for damage from the gunfire and found the steel tailgate had been peppered with bullets. Only a few had penetrated the eighth-inch steel plate. Rick slid under the truck and quickly found the bullet hole in the tank. He yelled, “Give me the hammer and a handful of those plugs we cut. One of them should fit.”
All of the plugs were too large, so Rick drew his knife, shaved the plug down to fit, and then hammered it into the hole. “You can pour the gas in now, and I’ll check for leaks.”
Tom started pouring gas from a five-gallon-can into the filler neck. “Rick?”
“Huh?”
“Don’t fall asleep under there.”
“Nothing’s leaking. Let’s go home.”
Tom started the truck, and it ran without issue. He climbed out of the cab and said, “I want to look in the bed.”
Tom climbed up the side of the bed. “Holy crap! They’re holding out on us.”
Tom climbed down. They lowered the tailgate to reveal dozens of small buckets with Wise Company 52 Serving Prepper Bucket printed on the side. A couple dozen large tubs with a Patriot Supply 184 Servings label stuck to the side were also beside the other buckets. “We’ve hit the jackpot.”
Jack stared at the mountain of food. “Ole Jerry has been holding out on us.”
Rick pointed behind the pile. “There’s a winch in the headache rack. See the cable and hook poking out of the four rollers? You can load heavy machinery with the bed on or off.”
Tom frowned. “Why would Jerry trust us or anyone with all of his food and supplies? Let’s take the truck home, but not tell Jerry and his wife. This truck will come in handy. We can use the winch and dump bed to load vehicles and farm equipment.”
Jack shouted, “Be quiet! I hear someone coming this way. Hide.”
They readied their rifles and hid behind the truck. The ATV’s sound increased until its exhaust bellowed past them. Tom snuck through the brush and saw the ATV and its rider wearing a black leather riding suit. Tom was struck by the rider’s flaming red hair. His heart raced for a minute when he noticed the rider was a rather shapely woman. He thought, No! She’s dead! He continued watching and saw the ATV’s rider stop and search the ground, then ride back towards him. He ducked back into the brush while keeping an eye on the rider. Tom groaned when he saw the machine pistol strapped to the rider’s chest. The rider was soon out of sight, so Tom went back to his friends and filled them in on what he’d seen. He didn’t mention the red hair or that the rider was a woman.
Tom told the others, they had to wait until dark to head back to the ranch even though he’d initially thought it would be safe this far from Ashland. Eight hours later, he took a different route as he drove, and Rick watched ahead with the night vision scope from the crossbow. Tom went southwest this time and then worked his way through the hills on paved and non-paved roads. He ended up on Beaver Creek Road, not far from the ranch. Then he took an old logging trail to the north of the old cabin. He drove on down to the barn and parked it inside after James stopped them with a hundred questions on what had taken them so long to get back.
Tom went down into the bowels of the bunker and fended everyone off but Kate, who’d been worried to death. With all but James listening, he told a white lie about where they ran into the ATV, and conveniently left the farm truck out of the story. He left the others with Kate clinging to him to go get some sleep. Granny B frowned when Kate followed him into his bedroom and didn’t come back out until mid-morning with her grandson.
*
Chapter 6
The Clark Ranch – The Bunker
Kate slowly cracked the door open just enough to see there wasn’t anyone in the hallway. She looked back at Tom soundly sleeping and slid out of the room. She carefully closed the door when she heard a squeak and looked behind her to see Rick slipping out of Jackie’s room. Their eyes met, and they smiled.
Kate whispered, “Busted. I never saw you here.”
Rick chuckled but had a worried look. “I see nothing. But the person behind you sees everything.”
Kate started knocking on Tom’s door. “Tom, wake up!”
Granny B walked up to Kate and gave her a pat on the back. She pointed to the ceiling by the entrance to the living area. “Dang, cameras are everywhere,” she chuckled and then walked back to the kitchen.
Jackie stuck her head out of her room. “Granny caught you, didn’t she? I’ll catch hell for this,” she said, and then kissed Rick. “I think we probably just moved the wedding day up a week. I feel sorry for my brother.”
Jackie looked at Kate. “Hmmm, you dropped that playing hard to get, didn’t you?”
Kate looked over her shoulder. “Yes, I figured out that your brother is a bit slow when it comes to women, so I slowed up a bit and let him catch me. By the way, does she always treat you two like teenagers? You’re grown adults.”
Jackie laughed. “Yes, we’re grown, but the ranch belongs to Granny B. Granny’s house – Granny’s rules. Rule number twenty-one is no unmarried shenanigans in the bedrooms under her roof.”
Kate whimpered. “I’ll throw myself at her mercy and plead that it’s an apocalypse and she has to cut us some slack.”
Tom had peeked out of his room. “Oh, crap! Did Granny B catch us?”
Jackie, Rick, and Kate all replied at the same time. “Busted.”
Kate said, “I’ll take the blame.”
“Kate, Granny B won’t mention this to you. She’ll slice me up with that razor-sharp tongue. I’ll get the no ‘fornication under my roof’ speech. She might give you a few dirty looks but would never say anything to you.”
Jackie and Tom were anxiously waiting for Granny B to scold them. Nothing had happened all day as they went about their business until after supper. Granny B tapped her fork on her glass. “I’d like to announce that Rick and Jackie’s wedding has been moved up a week. They’ll tie the knot the day after tomorrow. Congratulate them,” she said and then stared at Jackie, who only smiled and gave Rick a kiss on the cheek.
After the congratulations died away, Granny B said, “I want to have a family meeting after dishes are done. Kate and Rick, please join us in the library for a short meeting.”
Jackie and Tom looked at each other, and both shrugged as Granny went to her room. Tom said, “Darn, I think we’re all going to get the ‘no fornicating’ speech.”
The four of them sat around the table in the library, waiting on the family's matriarch to arrive. Jackie wrung her hands like a schoolgirl who’d just been caught cheating on a test. “I know I’m a grown-assed woman, but I hate to disappoint my Granny. I’m so sorry Rick and Kate have to feel her fury.”
They all quietly sat until the door opened, and Granny B walked in with a book in her arms. “Y’all look like death warmed over. Get some life in your bones. I need some help figuring out how to approach Jerry about his rotten no-good grandfather. I hate to do this in front of you. Well, Rick is Jackie’s fiancé. What do I call Kate, Tom?”
Kate’s ears perked up, and her interest
was piqued. Tom stuttered as usual when he was on the hook. “I … uh … should say girlfriend … .”
Kate’s smile turned upside down, but then Tom took her hand and said, “She’s so much more than a girlfriend to me.”
Kate’s smile returned, and then Tom said. “Let’s leave it at girlfriend, until Kate and I talk in private about our future.”
Kate kissed him on the cheek and whispered in his ear. Tom turned and kissed Kate. They embraced for an embarrassingly long time for his family, only able to twitter with red faces. They broke apart. “I have a timely update. Kate is now my wife-to-be. We’ll discuss a date for the wedding as soon as possible.”
Granny B smiled. “Grandpa Jonas and I fell in love at first sight in the middle of a war. Who am I to stand in the way of young love? When the zing is there – everyone has to get out of the way. Now, get your hormones in check long enough to help me with this problem.”
Kate was shocked at what she heard. “So, the bastard was a pedophile. Why didn’t someone kill him?”
“My Jonas went over to shoot the sumbitch after we caught him alone with one of our kids. Jackie and Tom never met my daughter Sarah. She ended up in a mental hospital and killed herself about the time we adopted you kids.”
“We had an Aunt Sarah? Wow. Let’s go find the bastard and kill him,” Jackie spouted.
Granny B said, “Luke would be seventy-three years old and probably not worth killing. The last I heard, he was the preacher at a large church in Medford. The asshole has been fooling people for sixty years.”
Kate looked perplexed. “You said this Luke character was seventy-three off the top of your head without thinking. How did you remember that?”
