“Star?” Joshua asked, looking over at his daughter.
Star blushed. “Long story. It doesn’t matter. You can still call me Precious.”
“I guess I should introduce you to Patricia,” Joshua said, noticing Star’s eyes flicking toward the woman standing just to the side and behind him.
“This is Patricia. She’s my wife. The Captain married us.”
“What happened to Sue?” Star asked.
A grim look crossed Joshua’s face. “Another long story. We didn’t last long together after the war started. She got off with a bunch of the others at Savanna.”
“Savanna is on the hot list,” Brady said.
“I know. We’re part of an amateur radio network. They’re keeping track of things.”
“We’re in it, too,” Brady said.
“Small world,” Joshua commented.
Brady looked at Star and then Joshua. “I hope to tell ya’.” He laughed. “Oh, yes. I have something you might want back.” With Star and Patricia talking, Brady took Joshua over to the Suburban and brought out the Vierling case.
“My Vierling! You saved it.”
“Yes. Star brought it along. I’ve been using it hunting. Great gun. I’m sure you’ll want it back.”
Joshua began to shake his head. “No. No, I’m a fisherman. You keep it and use it. And then pass it down to your son. Something like that should be a family heirloom.” He looked down. Little Joshua had fallen asleep.
“Why… Why thank you, Joshua. I will do as you suggest. Thank you.”
EPILOGUE
It didn’t take long for Brady’s group, with the cruise ship residents’ help, to erect the two steel Quonset style buildings they dismantled in Branson and brought with them.
Brady and the Captain talked again. It wasn’t difficult to hammer out a mutual aid agreement. Brady’s group and the other retreat groups in the MAG would trade fresh produce and meat to supplement the ship’s gardens. They would also arm several of the residents, just in case more trouble developed, and as an aid to hunting. One of the first animals to make a comeback had been feral hogs and razorbacks. The shotguns the ship had weren’t doing that well on them.
The residents of the ship would provide frozen seafood to the MAGs, if a semi with a reefer trailer could be found. Brady told the Captain that it wouldn’t be a problem. Brady had already found three. Two were being used for refrigerated storage at the retreat. The other would be used for the round trips carrying food between the areas. If they could find a fourth, they would just swap filled trailers each trip. They would split the fuel usage.
As the weeks passed, and then months, the populations of the ship and the various Ozark retreats merged and inter-married. Life would go on.
The End
THANK YOU FOR READING
“OZARK RETREAT”
By
Jerry D. Young
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MEET THE AUTHOR
Jerry D Young was born at home, in Senath, Missouri July 3, 1953. At age 5 the family rented a small farm house on an active farm 40 miles southwest of St. Louis. While the family weren't farmers, they lived something of a homestead type life, raising a milk cow, sometimes two, and calves, a pig or two, chickens, and the occasional goat. Along with the stock, a large garden helped to feed Jerry's three brothers and two sisters for several years. Fishing and hunting contributed to the pantry, as did foraging the wild edibles on the property.
At the age of 14, the family, minus a brother and two sisters that were now adults and on their own, moved back to Senath. Having been encouraged from an early age to read, Jerry was a regular patron of the Senath Branch Library.
A love of a good story was born within him, and shortly before graduating high school, for a lack of stories that he liked at the library, he began to write short vignettes, and started taking notes for stories that he wanted to tell. Jerry eventually began to write in earnest and now has more than 100 titles to his credit including Prep/PAW stories, Action/Adventure, and a few of the romance type stories that first got him started.
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