Jessica told them all that breakfast would be ready in about twenty minutes. She was cooking some eggs, cubed goat meat, and biscuits. Stacy went straight to Mike's room and gathered up his old, torn clothes. She was intent on mending what she could, and making something else out of what was too damaged to fix.
"Where's Brad?" he asked Taylor.
"He's up checking on the animals in the pasture. That's his birthday present to you. He's taking over all the chores on the farm today."
Mike kinda chuckled. "Nine years old, and that boy works like he's in his twenties. Let's not tell him I already made the rounds this morning."
He looked inside at Jessica cooking. Every day of the last few weeks he had thought about that quick kiss. He wanted it to happen again, but couldn't bring himself to say anything. He didn't know if he should say anything. He liked how things were, and didn't want any weirdness between them, or between the others if they found out.
He got up and walked over to a spot near the edge of the canyon where he liked to stand. Taylor followed along, mostly out of habit. He stood there looking down between the mountains. It was such a clear day he could see his reservoir glistening in the distance. As she wrapped her arms around him, Taylor said "I'm sorry I don't really have anything special to do for you or give you for your birthday."
Mike smiled. "But you are," He put his arm around her and hugged her tight.
"What do you mean?"
He gave her an abbreviated version of what he had told Jessica a few weeks ago. "You sitting here hugging me," he paused. "I can't think of anything more special I could ask for."
Off to the side they saw Brad coming towards them, speeding down on his bike. "Does he sleep with that bike too?" Mike asked jokingly.
"Hey, we're missing a goat," Brad said in a panicked voice, trying to catch his breath.
"Slow down, son. From where?"
He kept goats in three separate areas. Alpine goats, for milk, in a small pasture behind the barn. Boers, for meat, out with the sheep and cattle. And a weaning pen to separate kids from their does.
"There's a wether missing from the weaning pen."
"Just one? Any signs of blood or anything?"
"Nope. Just the little runt Alpine is gone. I can't find him."
"Well, we can try to look around more later. But if there's no blood or anything, I'd guess a bird got him. Maybe a hawk, or I've been seeing a few golden eagles around lately. As big as he was getting, an eagle would be more likely. It happens, kid."
After breakfast Taylor cleaned the table and dishes while Brad took some table scraps to the chickens and went to empty the compost bucket. Mike was standing by the canyon again when Stacy came up from behind him, pressed her body firmly against his and kissed him. He froze again for a moment, then he heard Jessica giggling.
"Sorry, I told her to," Jessica said as she walked up and kissed him too. "Happy birthday."
Stacy laughed and added "Happy birthday to the best, grumpy, reclusive, bastard, of a neighbor we could ask for."
"Wow! Um, okay. So...," Mike was on cloud nine and at a total loss for words.
"Okay, so today is all your day to do anything you want," Jessica told him.
"Yeah, today is yours. But tonight, we've got something planned for you," Stacy added, as they both grinned.
"Wait, what?"
"Don't worry about that," Jessica said.
"So what is the birthday boy going to do today?" Stacy asked.
"I think I'll put some holes in those targets down there. Then maybe we can all enjoy an afternoon swim at the reservoir."
Down the canyon, beside his mountain, Mike had set up a target practice range. Shooting and reading were his favorite ways of passing the time. He had targets set up starting at one-hundred yards, all the way out to a mile. He was very consistent out to a thousand yards, but beyond that his hit percentage went down sharply at the one-mile range.
Since he was celebrating his birthday today, he decided to pull out his home built .50 caliber. He had taken a partially finished AR-15 lower receiver, machined it himself, and paired it with a modified kit to give him such a strong caliber rifle for a fraction of the cost of the popular Barrett rifles he was too cheap to buy. He also decided to get out his old .270 as well. It was his first rifle, so it would always be sentimental to him. It didn't have the power for the long range shooting he wanted to do, but he enjoyed using it out to the six-hundred yard target. He had fun spending his time shooting, and even landed a few hits on his one mile target.
After a good lunch of elk stew Jessica cooked up, and an apple pie from Taylor, Mike asked the others to join him for a swim at the reservoir. They were all having a great afternoon. Stacy and Brad left as it started getting closer to diner time. Brad wanted to grill some goat meat for dinner, and she'd agreed to supervise him and cook some fried potatoes on the side. The others decided to swim for another hour, and then get out to dry off in the late afternoon sun.
As they laid there, Taylor spoke up and asked, “What's happening in the rest of the world? You guys are still listening to the news, right?” Jessica and Mike had been monitoring the ongoing events as best they could.
“Well,” said Jessica, “the president has ordered that the government take over just about everything. All banking, food, fuel and medical care was nationalized in the first week. Pretty much all businesses, housing, and everything else was nationalized about a week ago."
Mike added, “A lot of farmers are still told they own their farms, but they can only farm what they're told to, and they're not paid for selling it anymore. They just don't have to pay for anything, and are provided food and power and allowed to continue living in their homes. It sounds like it's the same for all businesses. And if they try to do things their own way or get paid for what they're doing, the government completely takes it from them. It's gotten harder to follow though because the news has stopped reporting on any of it. I'm guessing the government took over the news too. Most of what we're hearing is from Amateur Radio, and I'm sure the government is trying to locate their signals to shut them down.”
“Well, that doesn't sound too bad,” quipped Taylor. “People get to have their homes, food, work. What's wrong -”
Mike cut her off somewhat angrily, “There's a lot wrong with -”
“Okay, I think we need to get dressed and head home,” Jessica interjected. The tone in her voice making clear that she wanted the conversation dropped.
After dinner, Taylor asked Mike if they could talk for a little bit. She wanted to understand what was happening, and why. “Hey, sorry I made you mad earlier. I just don't understand all this stuff. How did all this happen?” She sat down beside him as he started to explain.
“I wasn't mad at you. Just mad at the situation. I know I avoid society, but I still care about my country. There was really only two options once we reached this point. Complete tyranny, or total anarchy. Both suck. Americans like the simplicity of order and structure, so tyranny just came naturally.”
“Yeah, but why did it all change? I mean, obviously most people would never have wanted this. But it's all out of their control,” she asked.
“Well, basically we became a nation of spoiled brats. Everyone felt like they deserved certain things just because they were Americans, so they voted for people who would promise to give them what they wanted. 'Give me liberty, or give me death,' turned into 'Give me a check, I'll give you my vote.'”
“Like what? What did people think they deserved?”
“It started with wages, retirement and food back in the 1930's. The Great Depression was bad, and poverty was horrid. At first, the cost of guaranteeing these things caused the Great Depression to drag out longer, but when the government started spending what was needed to fight World War II, people were able to really get to work producing things. For a long time, and even still today, people are taught that it was the laws promising things that made the economy strong again. But it was the war, the needs of
the war, that saved the economy then.”
Mike continued, “After the war, people had jobs, factories were producing goods that people wanted and needed. And everyone felt they deserved more. Minimum wages increased, making it more expensive to hire workers. Medical care for certain groups of people was the next big thing the government guaranteed. They had to pay for it of course, which meant more taxes, again making everything companies were producing cost more. And all the while, the government was steadily borrowing more and more money. And they had to borrow, because if they taxed everyone enough to cover the costs of the guarantees, people would have voted differently.
“To help cover the borrowing, the Federal Reserve had to create more money. You've seen at the farmer's market how, if there's too much of something, and not enough people wanting it, it gets cheaper. Not worth as much. Well, the same applies to money.
“So the government would look at everything starting to get more expensive, and decide to raise the minimum wage. That would raise the prices of everything, including things the government needed. To pay the extra costs, the government had to borrow and print more, again increasing the costs of everything until they had to raise the minimum wages again. This isn't easy to explain in simple terms. Is it making sense?”
“I think so,” Taylor responded. “Basically the government created a cycle where things had to keep getting more and more expensive.”
“Yep,” said Mike. “It kept going to the point that we shifted from a production economy, to a consumer and service economy. We'd been somewhat of a consumer economy for a long time, but produced most of the goods here. That started to change because the cost for making things here got more expensive than people were willing to pay for them. Other countries, especially China, started producing things way cheaper. So for the last few decades, a lot of our economy revolved around the selling of goods made in other countries, or providing services. Not that sales and services are bad at all, but when the balance with production is lost, after a while, it becomes an economy that can't support itself anymore. That's what's happened.”
“Damn, this all sounds so complicated.”
Mike laughed, knowing he was giving a simplified picture of how things worked. “It is. Our economy is probably the most complex man-made thing in history. There's a ton of other factors that have contributed to our total economic crash here too. Over-regulation of many industries certainly played a role. Allowing businesses to have too much influence through lobbyists in what government does to favor them. And our federal debt. We did that to ourselves, largely to cover the promises. I'd guess it's passed $20 trillion by now. That hurt us more than anything. And of course China basically declaring economic war on us like two decades ago, and us -”
“Wait, what?” Taylor interjected. “China declared war on us? I don't remember that war.”
“Economic war Taylor. Not bombs and battles. Back after the first Gulf War, before you were born, China saw just how fast we defeated Iraq. And at the time, Iraq had one of the more formidable armies. We beat them in a matter of weeks. China's People's Liberation Army published a book called 'Unrestricted Warfare.' It was a manual of sorts for using the economic path we were on, as well as other things, to ultimately defeat the U.S. and replace us as the world's superpower. And we pretty much played right into their hands. It's almost like we used the book as a guide for our policies to help them defeat us. It took time, but their culture is a lot more patient than our fast-food society.”
“So China put out a book about how they planned to defeat us, and we didn't do anything about it?”
“Not really. Like I said, we practically helped them. My fear is that they're not done trying to destroy us yet. We'll see. Anyways, knowing all this is part of why I built this ranch the way I did. I wanted to be alone and secluded, and to know that I'd be okay if any of this ever actually happened. Y'all kind of screwed up my 'alone and secluded' part of that,” he said with a smirk “but while everyone else is pretty much functioning as a government owned slave, we're sitting here free to grow what we want, hunt when we want, run this ranch how we want, and spend our time how we choose to spend it.”
“What do you mean they're not done trying to destroy us? What more could they do? They killed our currency and entire economic system,” Taylor said, sounding a bit angry.
“First off, they didn't kill our currency and economy. They just helped us in doing it to ourselves. As for what more they could do? Remember when I -”
"Okay you two," Jessica called out to them. "Time for me to steal him away."
"No, he's mine," Taylor responded jokingly.
As Taylor and Mike stood up, she gave him another tight hug. "Good night, Mike. See you in the morning."
Jessica grabbed Mike by the hand and started walking up to his place. "Where's Stacy?" he asked, feeling somewhat nervous about whatever it was they had planned.
"She's been up at your house since we finished eating." They were quiet for a minute before she continued, "You've had one heck of a day huh?" Mike nodded, with a slight grin.
"Well, I hope it was fun and relaxing for you, but the real fun is only just beginning,"she continued with a sly grin.
She looked at him as they walked, not letting go of his hand. He could see her eyes and smile sparkling in the moonlight. He had a funny feeling in his stomach. The only other time he'd felt that was the first time she'd kissed him a few weeks ago. He wondered if he loved her. He'd never thought about love before. He knew he'd never felt love before. Did he love all of them? He was confused and excited. A whole host of emotions was running through his mind.
As they got to his house, Stacy was waiting for them on the porch. She got up and took him by his other hand, and they both walked him to the outdoor shower. Candles and a pair of oil lanterns were lit and set out around it. Nothing was said as they started undressing him. Jessica turned on the water, and they led him back in to it before undressing themselves and joining him. Mike couldn't hide his excitement this time. Stacy pulled out some soap she'd made earlier in the week. He noticed a stronger smell than their normal soaps. "Lavender," he thought. With Jessica on his right, and Stacy to his left, they began washing his body for him. They scrubbed firm, but not too hard. When they were done, they stood close against him as the water poured down, rinsing them off.
As Stacy turned off the water, Jessica pulled out three chairs and sat him in the middle one. They sat on each side of him in the cool night breeze. All three of them had goosebumps, and none knew whether it was from the chilly air after a warm shower, or the emotions filling their thoughts. Mike still felt a little nervous, but was starting to relax some. It was probably the longest time without talking he'd spent around them since they met. He certainly had never imagined Stacy could be so quiet.
Stacy got up, and took him by the hand. Jessica whispered into his ear, "No more fear, Mike. No more fear," as they led him inside. There he found his bed turned so it wasn't against the wall anymore.
"Welcome to your first spa treatment," Stacy said invitingly as she guided him to lay on his stomach.
"With a fun twist that'd be illegal anywhere outside Nevada if you paid for it," Jessica added with a giggle.
Chapter 4
Reaching Out
The next morning Mike awoke to the sound of his name being said softly. "Mike. Mike. Time to wake up sleepy head." It wasn't Jessica's or Stacy's voice though. It was Taylor waking him up. "Come on Mike. Wake up."
He slowly opened his eyes and realized that the other ladies weren't there with him anymore. It almost felt more like a dream than reality. Taylor pulled the covers off him and said in a louder voice "Come on Mike. Breakfast is on the table, and there's work needing tended to."
She had his clothes set out for him and walked out to sit and read. Mike came out to find a glass of milk, and some meat and toast getting cold waiting on him. He walked over to Taylor, gave her a gentle rub across her shoulders, and said "Good morning."
"Uh, huh. Pretty rare for you sleep in like that after an easy day."
He just smiled as he sat to eat.
After breakfast, the day kicked off similarly to most days. She went with him to the barn to gather eggs, while he milked the goats. Brad was there on his bike, waiting to join in on the daily routine of checking on all the animals. Jessica was at her place splitting wood, and Stacy working on laundry. Everything seemed like nothing had changed.
Once morning chores were complete, Taylor approached Mike. "Is there any way for us to check on how people are doing? Like besides the news. Um, like, could we go in to town?"
Mike was trying to get his chainsaw ready to take down a few dead trees for the coming winter's firewood, and to make room for new growth. "I'll think about it, Taylor," he said. "I really doubt we're going to go in to town, but we can probably get closer in to try and see what's going on with the binoculars or telescope. Maybe we can use a CB radio to talk to someone in town to see what's going on."
She nodded, not thrilled with his answer, but happy they might at least try to see what's happening. It had been almost a month since the crash, and it was really starting to weigh on her that others might be suffering while they lived what was a pretty normal and comfortable life.
He got the four trees dropped, and hauled two to his house before taking the other two to them. Jessica and Stacy met him to help unload the wood, both giving him a quick hug and kiss before getting started. He wondered to himself if this was going to become a regular part of life or not. And if so, would it change anything for the worse?
Crashed: The Death Of The Dollar Page 4
