Simpler Times

by Jerry D. Young

  It was much the same with those that wanted to take up residence at the Farm. Glenn knew they still had quite a bit of accommodations left, but he became very selective in who he would let stay. Never any groups of more than five, and there were only two groups that he let stay that summer.

  The rest of the new residents were individuals, either alone, or leaving a group. And they had to possess skills the Farm could use. Though he didn’t exclude women in the selection process, being male got a bit more weight. The Farm had been eighty percent women when the war started. The percentage was even higher when the Farm took in the rustlers’ family members.

  Familiarity, if not outright skill, with firearms was another positive factor in gaining residency at the Farm. While Glenn had no intention of forming his own army, he wanted better protection for the Farm. Everyone willing was given firearms training by one of the new members of the Farm, former US Marine Captain Christine P. Monteque.

  After a short interview with Glenn, Fredrick, and Alison, Christine was gladly accepted into the Farm family. She was also immediately put in charge of the defense of the Farm, and made a member of Glenn’s close advisors. There was an outcry of protest, led again by Tabitha, weak as she was.

  It made little difference. The weapons training took place, and improvements to the defensive posture of the Farm were made. The buildings themselves were more or less immune to gunfire, but Glenn would prefer to keep any attackers at some distance from them.

  One of the first things Christine did was to have those capable of sewing sew up sand bags. They were filled and placed on the roof perimeter walls, leaving gaps for firing points. That provided for better protected firing, as well as improving the lines of fire, rather than firing from windows or around corners of buildings if it ever became necessary.

  Glenn was hoping it wouldn’t, but from the radio reports they were hearing, raiding was becoming more commonplace. Many of those that had prepared by stocking food and such, but had not made preparations for long term sources of food, where beginning to run out of supplies. They were getting desperate.

  With much of the radio traffic taking place between Murphy Farm and people willing to trade for food, especially those traveling the Mississippi, Glenn was fatalistic about the Farm coming under attack. It was essentially a matter of when, not if, it would occur.

  Trip wire warning devices created by Christine were placed in the woods surrounding the Farm. A constant watch was kept on the easy approaches to the Farm, too.

  It seemed a waste of time as the summer passed and nothing untoward happened. Christine told Glenn that their preparations probably had kept them from being attacked at least twice.

  “I did a little recon when that group with the reefer load of fish showed up. I’m as sure as I can be that they had no intention of trading that fish for beef and fresh vegetables.” Christine was giving a summary to Glenn and the advisors, plus Tabitha.

  Tabitha had sparked another controversy. She and a handful of others started requesting the disbanding of the defense of the Farm to put more people to ‘constructive’ work Tabitha said, “You could just be saying that to hang onto your job.”

  “I could be,” Christine said calmly, “But I’m not. That wasn’t the only incident. The three guys that showed up out of nowhere weren’t alone. There were six more hiding out in the woods. I found their camp after they left. Just like the other group, they planned to get much more than they did, plus their gold back.

  “Having dealt with the three leaders, I’m also relatively certain they weren’t just shopping for groceries. They would have taken some of the women if they could have. I’m sure of it.”

  “What do you think of this River Rat character?” Fredrick asked.

  “It’s just some fourteen year old talking big on his Daddy’s radio,” Tabitha said with a weak wave of her hand.

  “Christine?” Glenn asked.

  “From what I’ve been able to pick up from the people we are getting here off the river, he’s real. I do think he is young, as Tabitha said. Though more likely eighteen or nineteen. But that doesn’t mean much if he has a strong personality, with leadership abilities. If he’s ex-military, he could be a real danger to us. Even more so if he’s slightly… off.”

  “Off?” Brittany asked.

  “Turned into a nutcase. A megalomaniac. Some of the river people are saying that’s the case. People and small groups are disappearing without a trace down around Memphis.” Christine looked at Tabitha, and then back at Glenn. “He’s a real danger. I think it’s only a matter of time before he has enough followers to come up here. From what I heard about your coal deal, he’s already bearing a grudge.”

  “Okay, Christine. We keep the defenses up, at least until hard winter hits. I doubt there’ll be much danger then.” Glenn said, standing up and moving his chair back from the table they were all sitting around.

  “The danger will be less, though not eliminated,” Christine cautioned Glenn, getting up herself.

  Thomas, Alison, Harry, and Fredrick all got up to leave, too. Tabitha put her hand on Brittany’s arm to signal her to stay behind. She was talking earnestly to Brittany when the others left the room. It did no good. Brittany was adamant that she wouldn’t buck Glenn over the defense of the Farm. She’d been very uncomfortable around the three that Christine had said might have tried to kidnap women.

  The farm did a great deal of trading that summer. Some of it from the locals, but much of it was to river traders who bought it with the expectation of reselling it along the river. Many of those trading with the Farm were trading scavenged goods. He allowed some fairly unequal trades, but he put his foot down on outright charity. People had to work at least a few hours around the farm to get something in return.

  Glenn was surprised at how much gold and silver coin was turning up. And gasoline. It seemed that some river people had located several barges of gasoline, much as Seth had found the coal. But it was now over a year old and was marginal in many engines. But Glenn took it, at greatly reduced value due to its age, in several large trades.

  He’d stockpiled some gasoline, but most of the farm equipment was diesel, supplied by the biodiesel the Farm produced. But he had stockpiled large quantities of PRI-G, just in case. He could treat the gasoline from the barges, use some of it, and trade some of it.

  As usually seems to happen, when things are going well, lookout. Don’t drop your guard. Glenn and Christine didn’t. They were ready when River Rat led a twenty-five man strong attack on the Farm. Red flares from the tripwires flashed into the sky in several places around the Farm. The sentry on duty tripped the Farm emergency alarm and armed residents scrambled to the roofs of the buildings.

  The River Rat gang was heavily armed, but so were the residents of the Farm. Christine’s training during the summer paid off. As the attackers left the cover of the trees, the defenders on the roofs poured fire down onto them. Half of River Rat’s men were killed or wounded during that charge. As they tried to retreat, more were killed.

  A select group of specially trained residents followed Christine in the direction she was sure the leader of the attack, perhaps River Rat himself, had taken. While the others on the roofs kept a sharp eye for another attack, none came.

  It was almost an hour before Christine led her small group back to the Farm compound. They had one man with them. Glenn got a good look at him when Christine brought him into the clinic building for treatment. Glenn had been there checking on the three attackers that had been wounded.

  Christine had been right. If this was River Rat, anyway. And it was, Glenn found out.

  “Glenn,” Christine said, “Meet River Rat.”

  “Pardon me if I don’t shake hands, big shot,” said River Rat, turning slightly to show his bound hands.

  “I want his wounds tended, before I take him out and shoot him.”

  “What’s your real name?” Glenn asked, disregarding Christine’s statement.

  “Doesn
’t matter. I’ve been River Rat since I was a kid.”

  “You’re still a kid,” Glenn replied.

  “I ain’t no kid!” River Rat almost yelled. “I almost took you down. Biggest between St. Louis and Memphis, and I almost had it!”

  “Not even close,” Christine replied. “Move it. Harry is ready for you.”

  Christine stood right with River Rat while Harry tended to two minor wounds.

  “Okay,” he said, rather jauntily. “What now?”

  “Like I said. I take you out and shoot you,” Christine said coldly.

  Glenn started to intervene, but when River Rat jerked back in alarm, he decided to let Christine handle the matter.

  “Wait a minute!” River Rat exclaimed. “You can’t do that! Just shoot me.”

  “Why not?” asked Christine, holding his arm a bit more firmly.

  “You… You… You… just can’t! It’s not right! You can’t just shoot prisoners. You have to take care of them. Feed them. And… stuff.”

  “Says who?” asked Christine.

  “That convention thing. It’s the law.”

  “Geneva Convention, you mean?”

  “Yeah! Yeah! That’s the one. You have to do what it says.”

  “That applies to a country’s armed forces. You weren’t going to go by it if you’d won. We’re under no obligation to honor it.”

  Glenn thought River Rat was going to cry. He looked even younger than he did initially.

  Christine shot Glenn a quick glance when he said, “Of course you get a trial, first.”

  “A trial?” River Rat asked, and then said, “Yeah! A trial.”

  “Sure,” Christine said. “A trial. And then I take you out and hang you.”

  “I’ve been to trial before, man. It takes years. I’ll get a lawyer, and…”

  “You sure you don’t want me to just take him out and shoot him?” Christina asked Glenn.

  Glenn shook his head. “No. We’ll try them all tomorrow.”

  “Now, wait a minute!” protested River Rat.

  Christine began to lead River Right away. “Take what you can,” she told him.

  Glenn turned to Harry. “How’d we make out? Anything serious?”

  “Nothing serious,” Harry replied. “Got a couple with sand burns from close rounds hitting the sandbags. Three with bullet creases. One with a through-and-through. Missed everything. They were all lucky. And the defenses worked well.”

  “Yeah. We owe a lot to Christine.”

  “Don’t sell yourself short. If you hadn’t had the foresight to obtain enough arms, we never would have been able to hold them off.”

  “Still don’t think everyone agrees with that.”

  “Don’t let Tabitha get to you, Glenn. She’s a minority of one.”

  “Some things. Other things, a lot of the people here agree with her.”

  “Well, perhaps so, but when it comes down to it I think people know how and why they survived the war and the winter after it. Without you, and this place, most of these people would be dead. And many, many people that are getting their supplies here would be in dire straits without you.”

  “That’s true. This place has turned into much more than I initially planned. And that’s good. But there are a great many more headaches than I planned, too.”

  “Better thee than me,” Harry said with a laugh and a slap on Glenn’s back. “I have to clean up things. I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Okay,” Glenn replied and headed toward his house. Christine came hurrying up before he got there. “Got them under lock and key with a guard. Tabitha wants to talk to them.”

  “Oh, Great! Just what we need!” Glenn shook his head. “Okay. Let her. But make sure they can’t take her hostage.”

  “Why?”

  Glenn gave Christine a hard look.

  “Never mind,” she said quickly. “They won’t get their grubby little hands on her.”

  With a sigh, Glenn entered the house, Christine headed back to the barn where the prisoners were, and Tabitha was waiting.

  He skipped supper, and went to bed early. He was exhausted both physically and mentally.

  It was with some reluctance that Glenn got up the next morning. He fixed himself some breakfast, and then headed for the equipment barn to help with the beginning harvest. There was a crowd already gathered, much to his surprise.

  Then he saw Tabitha, bundled up despite the fact that the weather was quite mild. She had a little color in her cheeks, but was otherwise pale as she addressed the group. Glenn heard nothing of what she was saying, as she stopped when she saw him.

  Someone else saw him and asked, “What time is the trial, Glenn?”

  “Trial? Oh. The trial.” He hesitated only a moment. “One o’clock.” He noticed that Tabitha seemed happy about it.

  Fredrick was approaching, a scowl on his face. “What’s the hold up?” he said in the forceful voice he had. People began to scramble to start working. Then he too saw Tabitha and muttered, “Should have known.”

  “There will be a trial of the attackers at one, Fredrick,” Glenn told him when he stopped next to Glenn. “Would you see to getting things set up by then? In the common area of the residence and work building.”

  “A trial? You’re giving those murdering savages a trial? They deserved to be taken out and shot!”

  Glenn sighed. “I was of a mind to just do that, but this is still America. I want to make sure we don’t forget that.”

  Fredrick looked a little sheepish. “You have a point. Okay. I’ll see to setting things up. After we get the troops in the fields.”

  “Of course,” Glenn replied with a smile. “I’ll get to work, too.” He put the trial out of his mind while he drove one of the Unimogs with a pull type combine to harvest canola for biodiesel production. But the lunch break came around and Glenn reluctantly left the Unimog and combine behind at the equipment barn. He skipped lunch and just lay down for a few minutes to rest before he had to deal with the trial.

  But eventually he had to get up and go over to the residence and work building. Fredrick was waiting for him. “All set up,” Fredrick said. “We’re just waiting for you.”

  “Who’s the judge?” Glenn asked.

  “What do you mean, ‘Who’s the judge?’ You are. Crimeny. Who’d you think would be?”

  “I don’t know. You. Or Harry. Brittany maybe.”

  “Even Tabitha expected you to be judge.”

  “Really. Now that’s a surprise.”

  “Not really,” quietly replied Fredrick. “Now, come on. Everyone is ready.”

  With a sigh, Glenn followed Fredrick into the building and then to the large first floor common area. It was standing room only. Most of the Farm residents seemed to be there. Fredrick pointed out the desk at one end of the room. “There’s your bench. When you get there I’ll call the court to attention.”

  Glenn nearly jumped when Fredrick said firmly, “All rise. Acting Judge Glenn Murphy presiding.”

  Quickly Glenn took his seat behind the desk and said, “Be seated.” His eyes were drawn to Tabitha. She was sitting beside River Rat and the four members of his gang that had been captured. All wore obvious bandages. They were sitting behind one of the long lunch tables from the common dining room. There were three guards sitting right behind the five gang members, whose hands were tied behind them.

  When he glanced to his right, there was Christine, sitting alone behind a similar table.

  It suddenly dawned on Glenn that this was a real trial. Apparently Christine was the prosecutor and Tabitha was representing the defendants. He felt rather detached as Fredrick stepped forward. “Court is in session.”

  Tabitha immediately stood up. “Your Honor, I request that the prisoners bonds be removed. There are three guards. It is degrading for the prisoners to be tied up like animals.”

  “Object, Your Honor,” Christine said, rising. “The prisoners have shown little regard for civilized behavior. There is a good
chance they will attempt to escape.”

  “Escape?” Tabitha asked. “With everyone here, including armed guards? They want their chance to be heard.”

  Both women looked at Glenn.

  “Untie them.”

  Tabitha beamed, and Christine just sat down calmly, with a neutral expression on her face. The guards untied the prisoners’ hands.

  “Okay,” said Glenn as the prisoners rubbed their wrists. “I suppose we should start with the charges against the accused. Captain Monteque.”

  “Object to the use of Captain in referring to Ms Monteque. She is no longer in the service.”