A Perilous Journey

by Darrell Maloney

  “I found a shell casing half a block away, behind a parked car.

  “They never gave him a chance. They shot him down like a dog, in the back, from half a block away.”

  Josie stood up from the table, sat on the old man’s leg, and wrapped her arms around him again.

  Frank and Eddie walked into the area, saw what was happening, and backed away again.

  Frank would wisely let Josie handle this broken man. As a woman she was much more capable.

  “I realized I made a huge mistake. The solution wasn’t to try to make David capable of defending himself on those mean streets. The solution was to find someone else I could trust. And to make the same deal with them that I made with Steve and Melissa.

  “After that I started asking around. It turned out there were several old friends from the force who’d have taken David in and watched over him. Damn it, God forgive me. I just never bothered to ask.”

  The old man cried a river into Josie’s shoulder while she rocked him back and forth.

  Frank and Eddie?

  They found a checkerboard in another part of Ronnie’s place and did battle while Josie worked her magic.

  -26-

  Josie was so caught up in the moment she shed more than a few tears herself.

  After a few minutes, though, she saw the importance of regaining control of the conversation. Ronnie was suffering enough from guilt and sorrow. Dragging it out would do no good.

  “Given all you’ve been through,” she said softly, “I think it’s even more amazing that you’d offer to take on Eddie.”

  “No, not really,” he replied. “You see, I tend to do things, make key decisions, on impulse. I’ve always been that way. I figure life’s too short to be indecisive or to waste time going through your options.

  “For most of my life there was only one time that habit failed me. When I married Sheila on the spur of a moment. We were both drunk and in Las Vegas and we married at one of those twenty four hour chapels on the strip. The one with the Elvis impersonator for a preacher.

  “Sheila was mean as sin and ugly as a coon dog. We were only married for five days, and up until I lost David that was my biggest mistake.

  “Losing David taught me I shouldn’t have been so quick to put him on the streets. I should have thought out my options. Come up with a better solution.

  “I prayed to God a thousand times to send David back to me. To let me have a second chance, even knowing in my heart that couldn’t happen.

  “Maybe God put us together because some day Eddie will be my second chance. Please, tell those people you’re driving down to stay with… if Eddie ever becomes too much for them to handle, to get on their radio and to call me.

  “Tell them I’ll come and get him. If they don’t want their location known they can meet me somewhere and I’ll take Eddie off their hands.

  “If that happens… if Eddie ever comes up here to stay, I swear to God I’ll take good care of him. I’ll make arrangements for a young officer and his wife to move in here like Steve and Melissa did. I’ll make sure it’s someone who’s God-fearing and good for their word. And I’ll make sure they take good care of Eddie when I go.”

  Josie kissed the old man on the forehead and said, “I promise, Ronnie. I’ll tell them. And I’ll make sure Eddie calls you every once in a while. So that the two of you can get better acquainted. Just in case one day he’s your adopted son.”

  That was it.

  There was really nothing else to be said.

  She knew Ronnie had slipped out of his funk and was back to his normal self when he grumpily said, “Now get off my leg, darn it. You’ve got a bony butt and it’s gonna leave a bruise.”

  She smiled, apologized for her bony butt, and sat in an easy chair across from him.

  “Are you gonna be all right, Ronnie?”

  “Yeah. I’ll be all right. I’m just an ornery old cuss who ain’t used to bawlin’ my eyes out in front of a pretty young thing like you.

  “But yeah. I’ll be all right.”

  Frank walked up, Eddie right behind him.

  Josie reached out and took Frank’s hand and asked, “Where have you two been hiding?’

  “Oh, Eddie’s been trouncing me at checkers.”

  Eddie very excitedly said, “I beat him five times in a row, Miss Josie.”

  Frank winked at her and added, “Actually, I think he cheated a couple of times.”

  “I did not! I swear! On account of I didn’t need to. You’re just a terrible player, Mister Frank.”

  Josie and Ronnie stifled laughter. They knew that Frank threw every game to let Eddie win.

  Frank feigned a hurt look.

  “Oh, don’t worry, Mister Frank. If you want to be a better player I can teach you how to play better. I don’t mind, really I don’t.”

  “Would you really do that for me, Eddie? Would you really coach me on how to be a better player?”

  “Well, sure I would, Mister Frank. On account of I just said I would. And I never go back on my word, on account of you told me yourself that people who go back on their word can’t be trusted with anything else, on account of…”

  “You’ve got yourself a deal, Eddie. Thank you for agreeing to coach me.”

  “Wanna go play some more games now?”

  “Um… no, thank you. Let’s wait until we finish our trip. You can teach me after we get to Junction.”

  Josie interrupted the conversation before Eddie got started again.

  “Just when are we heading out, Mister Frank?”

  She winked at Eddie when she added the “Mister.” Eddie was the only one who typically used the term.

  Eddie smiled back at her and Frank said, “Well, that’s up to our host here, and whether or not he’ll put us up for the night.”

  Ronnie said, “Of course. Stay the night, stay a month if you care to. It’s nice having somebody to talk to again.”

  Then he turned to Josie and asked, “Wait a minute. When you change into your night clothes you don’t run around in a skimpy nightgown, do you?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Hmmm…” he said with a smile. “That’s too bad. But I suppose you can stay the night anyway, since it’s too late to get on the road.”

  Josie picked up a sofa pillow and threw it at him. He dodged it. Frank chuckled.

  Eddie? He didn’t understand any of it.

  His mind was too busy scheming, trying to figure out a way to get Mister Frank on the other side of a checker board again.

  -27-

  It was the best night’s sleep Frank had in months.

  It was the first time in a very long time he didn’t have to worry about Aunt Stacy or one of Josie’s brothers sneaking into his tent and stabbing him in the heart as he slept.

  All he had to worry about tonight was old Ronnie Rosco sneaking in to make a move on his wife.

  And he wasn’t really worried about that. As much as Ronnie pretended to be a scoundrel and a Don Juan, Frank knew him to be an honorable man.

  Josie had made plans to get up early and make Ronnie a breakfast fit for a king, to show her gratitude for helping them out of their predicament.

  Ronnie said he’d grant her that wish, and then got up extra early to beat her to the punch.

  When she walked to his kitchen area at five a.m. she smelled the delectable smell of ham and cheese omelets.

  “Seriously, Ronnie? Where in heck did you get fresh cheese and eggs?”

  “Oh, dang it, Josie! It’s not bad enough that Frank can’t grasp the concept that preppers can get damn near anything. Now I have to explain the same thing to you too?”

  “Okay, never mind. How about a better question: How come you’re cooking breakfast when you told me I could do it?”

  “I never said you could do all of it. I saved some of it for you to do. Go wake up the guys and tell them to head this way. Then you can make the toast while we’re waiting for them.”

  “The toast? All you left
me to do is make the toast? Ronnie, how am I supposed to show you how grateful we are to you if you don’t let me do something nice for you?”

  “Darlin’, all you gotta do is smile that sweet smile you do. That’ll make my heart go pitter-patter and will warm my soul for days. That’s all I need in the way of gratitude.”

  “Awww, you’re so sweet.”

  “Sweeter than Frank?”

  “How about as sweet as Frank?”

  “Okay, if that’s the best I can get. Now run along and wake up the guys. The food’s getting cold.”

  After enjoying a good breakfast Ronnie took Frank aside to give him a desert-camouflaged duffle bag.

  “This is heavier than hell, Frank. But it holds enough weaponry and ammunition to get you where you’re going. There are even a couple of hand grenades, but I wouldn’t let Eddie anywhere near this bag.

  “He might pull a pin just to see if it really goes boom.”

  “Thank you, Ronnie. I wish I could say I’d get all this stuff back to you someday.

  “But you and I both know this isn’t the kind of world where you make any kind of plans.”

  “I understand, and I appreciate your honesty. Just promise me you’ll be careful. I don’t give a damn about the weapons. I just don’t want to lose any more friends. I don’t have very many of them left.”

  -28-

  Pete Martinez was an easy-going guy. Everyone who knew him said so.

  He wasn’t the type to lead a rebellion. He’d never carried a picket sign in his life. He wasn’t even the political type, as most civic leaders tend to be.

  Oh, he went out and voted. And from time to time he contributed to somebody else’s political campaign, if he really liked what they said.

  But mostly he just kept to himself, lived his own life, and let others live theirs.

  A couple other things about Pete Martinez, though… he was a faithful and loyal friend.

  And he was Morris Medley’s next door neighbor.

  He never called his friend “Colonel,” as everyone on the base and many of the man’s friends did. It was a formality which Pete never saw much need for. Pete had never served in the military. He worked for most of his life as a vehicle mechanic. After he retired he padded his social security income with cash-only repair jobs for his friends and neighbors.

  It wasn’t enough to make him rich, but put food on the table and paid his bills.

  When he got word his neighbor and good friend Morris had been arrested for treason, he summed up his feelings in a single word: “bullshit.”

  When asked to elaborate he said, “There’s no way Morris would ever be involved in treason. Why, he’s as patriotic an American as I’ve ever met. And he bleeds Air Force blue.

  When specifics of what happened that night at the bunker began to leak out Pete was outraged, and for the first time in his life he decided to take action.

  Pete visited the base two days after the arrest of his friend and found his way to the legal office.

  “I need to speak to Morris Medley’s legal counsel,” he demanded.

  He was sent to a young lieutenant, who promised to get word to Medley his friend and neighbor Pete would take care of his house while he was incarcerated. And that he was available and willing to do anything else Medley wanted him to do, up to and including “kicking the ass of any bullheaded generals who are causing you problems.”

  Actually, the lieutenant didn’t pass the last part to Colonel Medley. He kept that part to himself.

  Pete wasn’t satisfied with watching over his friend’s house and making idle threats.

  He felt there was more he could do.

  The trouble was, he didn’t know how to go about it.

  These days, communications were a major problem.

  Home telephones in San Antonio still worked, but few people still had them. Most residents had their land lines disconnected years before, switching to cell phones instead.

  Cell phones were more convenient. They’d go anywhere, and one never had to hang around the house waiting for an important call. Home phones, therefore, were going the way of the dinosaur and only a few houses in each neighborhood still had them.

  Now those people who still had wired telephones were considered the heroes of their communities, for they were the only phones working. The cell phone companies were out of business until the thaw. Cell phone towers were too hard to maintain and had fallen into disrepair. They were mostly in areas which were difficult to access even in the best of times. Places like isolated hillsides and mountaintops.

  Buried under four feet of snow it was almost impossible to get to them.

  Even those which were atop buildings and water towers in urban areas were out of service. For while they were much easier to get to, they only worked until they broke.

  Once they went down for any reason they were down for the count. That five cent fuse which blew on a tower in downtown Phoenix was sitting on a shelf in Cincinnati with no way to get it where it was needed.

  So communications were a problem.

  Even when Pete decided he wanted to get involved, finding out where the activists’ meetings were being held and when was a major challenge.

  Then again, getting information was nothing compared with the problem of traveling to and from the meetings in four feet of snow.

  -29-

  Pete asked his neighbor on the other side, a man named Sid.

  Sid and Pete had had a property line dispute several years before and weren’t the best of friends. Still, they were on civil terms, and both liked Morris Medley.

  So much so, in fact, that when Pete told Sid of Medley’s predicament, Sid was all in and said so.

  “Whatever you plan to do, I’m up for it,” he said. “It’s about time bullies stopped pushing around hard working men like Morris. Let’s put a stop to it.”

  With those few words the two neighbors cemented the foundation for a new friendship which would last them the rest of their lives. Adversity really does draw people together.

  Pete asked him if he knew of anybody close by with a working telephone.

  “Mrs. Willoughby.”

  “Mrs. Willoughby at the end of the street?”

  “The very same. During the thaw, before the second meteorite hit, she came knocking on every door on the block. She wanted everybody to know her phone was still working in case anybody needed to use it.”

  Pete said, “But she didn’t come to my door.”

  “Actually she did,” Sid responded. “She knocked on your door first before she came to my house. She said you weren’t home, and asked if I’d pass the message to you.”

  He looked at the ground, embarrassed and ashamed.

  “I never told you. I’m sorry.”

  Pete wasn’t a man who bore grudges. Grudges grew quite heavy after awhile, and weren’t worth the time or energy.

  “That’s okay. You told me now.”

  The pair fought their way through the snow pack to Mrs. Willoughby’s house on the corner.

  It was only six houses away, but took over an hour to reach.

  Theirs was one of hundreds of residential streets in San Antonio which had never been plowed.

  As they drew closer to her house, though, they came across several other paths in the snow, coming from different directions, made by other neighbors at one time or another to do the same thing they were doing: using Mrs. Willoughby’s telephone.

  They didn’t know the woman well. They used to wave at her as they drove past her house and saw her working on her flower gardens.

  Pete once took three letters to her that the postman had left in his box by mistake.

  Other than that they barely knew one another, as is the sad case of most neighborhoods in America.

  Once they met her and got to know her, they wished they’d done so before the chaotic circumstance of a frozen world necessitated it.

  As it turned out, Mary Willoughby wasn’t just the owner of the nearest telephone wit
hin three blocks in any direction.

  She’d also become, by default, the best source of what was going on in the neighborhood, and indeed throughout the city.

  Lately she’d gotten into the habit of writing little bits of news on a large blackboard in her living room, for visitors to peruse.

  She was a former newspaper reporter, you see. She worked for the San Antonio Light and was one of the last reporters to work for the paper when it went out of business in 1973.

  She liked to joke that she turned out the lights on the San Antonio Light.

  As a longtime reporter she knew the value of information. It was important to her she share as much as possible in this time of crisis.

  Mary greeted the pair warmly and said certainly, they could use her phone.

  She suggested they call a man named Mike Suarez, a local activist who was making plans to cut off JB Lackland from the rest of the world until General Mannix set Colonel Medley free and stopped, what Mary termed, his “nonsense.”

  As Sid talked on the phone to Mr. Suarez, Pete read Mary’s latest postings on her blackboard.

  DEATH NOTICE: Dennis Keegan, 2210 Maple, suicide

  DEATH NOTICE: Stuart Martinez and family: 2314 Oak Leaf Dr., suicide

  BIRTH NOTICE: To John and Nancy Benton, 4120 10th St., baby girl Amanda. Family needs diapers and formula

  MEETING SCHEDULED: Friends of the Colonels Group Tuesday Afternoon 5 p.m. 2344 Hein Road

  VOLUNTEERS NEEDED for snow removal: Meet at home of Widow Dominguez 4442 Pine Nut Dr. 0800 Tuesday

  “Looks like you’ve become the means for everyone in the neighborhood to get their news,” Pete said. “I wish I’d known about this before.”

  “Feel free to tell anyone you want. Most of the neighborhoods have something like this set up now. Between the few houses which still have working phones and the few houses which have ham radios we’re doing a pretty good job of keeping everyone informed of things.”