by Robert Boren
The Reverend started to speak.
“Good afternoon and welcome again. Charlie and Hilda are so glad to have you here on this beautiful day. Love is a miraculous gift, and a wedding is a celebration of that magic, and that is why we are here today. We are gathered together to be overjoyed for, and with, Charlie and Hilda, who are so wonderfully suited to one another that it is a pure delight to see. We are here to celebrate, witness, honor, dance, laugh, sing, eat, and be glad because these two people have found each other at this stage of their lives.”
A few of the women started to cry. The Reverend continued, asking Charlie the familiar, yet warm words of the Wedding Ceremony.
“I do,” Charlie said.
When asked, Hilda also agreed, luckily for Charlie, who was unconsciously holding his breath.
“Do you have the rings?”
Jeb got up and handed the rings to the Reverend, and sat back down. The Reverend handed one to Charlie and one to Hilda. They put the rings on each other, smiling like school children.
“Charlie and Hilda, by the power invested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride.”
Charlie pulled Hilda to him and kissed her tenderly. The crowd stood and clapped. The couple turned around and faced them.
“I now present Mr. and Mrs. Charlie Ackerman,” the Reverend said.
The Sheriff hit the boom box again, and played the recessional music. Charlie and Hilda walked arm in arm to the back of the room, and out the door onto the veranda. People were clapping and laughing and hugging each other and crying.
Chapter 03 – Somber Reception
“Alright, let’s get this party going,” the Sheriff said after he shut off the recessional.
People were filing out to the veranda to congratulate Charlie and Hilda, who were still standing out there as the sun was setting. Then they came back into the clubhouse. Some of the towns people went back outside and picked up some trays of food from the van they came in. They got it set up on the table by the window. Jeb went into the kitchen and rolled the cocktail cart back out. Somebody brought in a case of champagne and got that set up with some ice and plastic glasses next to the food table.
“Maybe I bartend,” Rosie said. “Since we don’t have Chester…” She broke down and cried. Jasmine rushed over and hugged her.
General Walker and Major Hobbs walked out on the veranda as the crowd out there died down.
“Congratulations,” the General said.
“Yes, Congrats,” Major Hobbs said.
“Will you stick around for some food and drinks?” Hilda asked.
“For a few minutes,” General Walker said.
“Great!” Charlie said.
People lined up for food. Not too many people wanted to drink. Jeb opened up a couple bottles of champagne. Charlie and Hilda walked in, and people turned and clapped. They mingled with the crowd, and got themselves some champagne and some food.
Jane and Frank were sitting down at one of the tables, starting to eat. They watched the crowd.
“I don’t know whether to be happy or sad,” Jane said. “This is strange.”
“I know, I’ve got the same feeling,” Frank said.
“Hopefully it won’t go on too long.”
Jerry and Jasmine walked over to them with their food.
“Mind if we join you?” Jerry asked.
“Of course not,” Frank said. “Kind of a somber affair.”
“I know, this is strange,” Jasmine said. “Mom just started crying over there, when she remembered Chester tending bar at the Happy Hour. That seems like so long ago now.”
“Yes, it does,” Jane said.
“Everybody seems so uneasy,” Jerry said. “Are we doing the right thing by leaving?”
“I don’t know,” Frank said. “I think so. Time will tell.”
“Mom’s not happy about it. She thinks we should stand and fight,” Jasmine said.
“She doesn’t know how many there are,” Frank said. “If we could make a difference, I’d agree with her, but this is the army’s job, and they’ve got good folks stationed here. We’re just in the way at this point.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Jerry said. “I’m nervous, but I think I’d rather be on the road in the safe zone than hanging around here, even if we do have to worry about a few people trying to track us down. I think we can be pretty tough to find, if we put our minds to it.”
“I agree, but it’s still going to be hard to leave this place,” Frank said. “It was starting to feel like home here.”
Jeb walked over.
“Charlie and Hilda are leaving to have their wedding night,” Jeb said. “You guys sticking around?”
“I don’t know,” Frank said. “What do you think, sweetie?”
“I think I just want to go home and relax for the rest of the evening,” Jane said.
“Me too,” Jasmine said. “Will you take us home, Jerry?”
“How about your mom?”
“I’ll check with her. If she wants to stick around for a while, we could come get her later.”
“Judging by the rate that people are slipping out of here, I don’t think there’ll be people here for her to chat with anyway,” Jeb said. “This was a tough day.”
Jasmine got up and walked over to Rosie. They talked, and then Jasmine looked back over at Jerry and nodded.
“Good, she wants to go home,” Jerry said. He got up. “See you folks in the morning.”
“Let’s go home, Frank,” Jane said.
“I’m ready. I don’t even see Earl or Jackson around anymore.”
They got up, and worked their way to the door, saying goodbye to people as they went.
“Oh, wait,” Jane said. “Maybe we should carry all that food into the walk-in fridge.”
Frank looked back at the crowd.
“Okay, looks like there’s nobody waiting to have any.”
They carried the food trays into the kitchen and put them away. Jeb pushed the cocktail cart back into the kitchen too.
“I’ll just leave the champagne on the table,” Jeb said. “It’ll keep.”
Frank nodded, and looked over at Jane.
“Let’s go,” she said.
They got out into the cool evening air.
“I’m so glad to be out of there,” Jane said. “I hope this wasn’t as depressing for Charlie and Hilda as it was for me.”
“Me too,” Frank said.
They walked silently back to their coach. Lucy started barking when they got onto their site. Frank unlocked the door and held it open for Jane. Lucy rushed past her, jumping, tail wagging.
“Somebody wants to take a walk,” Jane said. “I’ll go too. It’s nice out here.” She reached for the leash, and came back out. hooking up Lucy as Frank locked the door back up.
“I know we’re getting another coach just like this one, but I am feeling so sad about leaving this one behind,” Jane said.
“Well, home is home, I guess,” Frank said. “This one has our smells, and our stuff, and our memories…and then there’s the big bullet hole in the driver’s side.”
“It’s one more thing you don’t have to fix.”
“True, but I’m dreading that new coach shakedown. I wonder how things are in the civilized world now? What happens when we find things that aren’t right? I wonder if there are working service centers.”
“I hope so,” Jane said. “If it’s as bad as this out there, we’re in deep trouble.”
“At least I can do some of our own fixes if needed,” Frank said. “I can help the other folks too, at least with the electrical stuff.”
“She done?” Jane asked. “You done, Lucy?”
“I think so. Let’s go back.”
They got to the door, and Frank unlocked it and opened it up. Lucy jumped in. Frank turned to Jane and pulled her close. They hugged by the door.
“We do have each other,” Frank said. “We’ll get through everything. It shouldn’t be as bad as
the trip from California to here, either. We might even be able to relax a little bit. So don’t worry, honey.”
Jane nodded, and they got into the coach.
“I’m going to go get my nightgown on,” Jane said as she walked back to the bedroom.
“Can I watch?” Frank asked.
“Why don’t we just cuddle tonight,” Jane said. “Is that okay?”
“Of course,” Frank said. “I’ll be there in a few minutes. I want to catch some news.”
“Turn it on back here,” Jane said. “I don’t mind if the bedroom TV is on for a while.”
“Okay.” He came into the bedroom and shut the door behind him.
Frank woke up early. Jane was still next to him, snoring softly. He got dressed and snuck out of the bedroom, going right to his laptop. He turned it on and waited for it to go through its startup while he got himself a cup of coffee. Then fired up his programming environment and got back to work. The coding for the surveillance system was going quicker than he expected. He worked for about an hour before Lucy started begging him to take her out.
“Alright, girl, I got the message,” Frank said. The morning was beautiful. Sunshine and tweeting birds. Lucy pranced about, happy to be outside. People were just starting to wake up around the park. Frank caught a glimpse of a couple of privates patrolling on the back fence as he was heading back towards his coach. That sent a twinge through him. He liked having the army here, but he would be glad to be away from the tension of another battle coming any second. He took Lucy back into the coach and took off her leash.
“Good girl,” Frank said to her. Mr. Wonderful came over, tail in the air. He looked up at Frank and meowed. “Oh, you too, huh?” he said. He leaned down and petted him, and the cat started to purr loudly.
Frank fed them and got back to work on his software. He worked for another hour before Jane started moving around in the bedroom. He was just finishing it up when she came walking out.
“How’s it going?” she asked.
“I just got done,” Frank said. “It’s compiling now. Going to take a few minutes. I might have to fix an error or two, but it was simpler than I expected.”
“Good,” she said, as she got herself a cup of coffee.
“Pretty morning,” Frank said. “Ah, the compile is done already. No errors.”
“So what’s left?”
“Install it and test it,” Frank said. “Hilda had a PC in her office in the clubhouse. She told Jerry that he could take that into the tool shed and use it to serve up the video. I’m going to go over there in a few minutes and see if it’s set up yet. Shouldn’t take me very long to get this installed and tested. Then I can help you with the packing.”
“Great. Don’t forget to ask General Walker about the toads.”
“I won’t,” Frank said. “I’m going to go over there now, with the laptop.”
“Alright, good luck.” She went over to Frank and kissed his forehead as he was watching the laptop shut down. Then there was a soft knock on their door. Frank got up and looked out the window. It was Jerry. Frank opened the door and let him in.
“Good morning,” Jerry said. “I got the setup finished in the shed, so we’re ready for your software any time.”
“Great, I just finished it,” Frank said. “I’ll be ready to go as soon as the laptop shuts down.”
“Excellent,” Jerry said. “I’ll help you with the testing.”
“Good,” Frank said. He pulled the power cord for the laptop out of the wall. “Let’s go.”
“You don’t want another cup of coffee to take with you?” Jane asked.
“Don’t worry, there’s already coffee going in the clubhouse,” Jerry said.
The two men walked out the door and made their way over to the shed.
“Jasmine and I were thinking about something last night,” Jerry said.
“What’s that?”
“Our toad. Is Uncle Sam going to replace those too?”
Frank chuckled. “Yeah, we thought of that too. I’m going to ask the General about that the next time I see him.”
“Good,” Jerry said. “Hopefully they at least give us some kind of allowance for that. My toad is almost new.”
“Mine is still in its prime too,” Frank said. “It’s getting a little old, though. Probably isn’t worth more than about ten grand.”
“Don’t forget the tow bar and plate and auxiliary brakes,” Jerry said. “That set me back over two grand.”
“Yep,” Frank said. They got to the shed and entered.
“Well, there it is,” Jerry said. “I fastened everything down. Probably overkill, but we don’t need anybody walking off with parts of it. I wish we had an uninterruptable power supply.”
“Well, can’t have everything,” Frank said. “We’ll train the Major on how to work this, and how to re-start it if something goes wrong.”
Frank put his laptop on the work bench and fired it up.
“What’s the network name of that desktop?” Frank asked.
“Clubhouse_1”, Jerry said. “Password is the same.”
“I should have guessed. We’ll have to change that password,” Frank said, laughing. “That’s a pretty new desktop machine. Nice big monitor.”
“Yeah, ought to do a good job of showing the multi-camera view,” Jerry said. “Nice DVRs too. Hilda’s late husband did his homework. It may be a few years old, but this is a good system.”
“Wish it was wireless, but oh well.” Frank said. “Okay, I’m in. Uploading the software now. When it gets there, go ahead and pick it up and run it. It’ll have a shortcut on the desktop.”
“OK,” Jerry said.
“Should be ready now,” Frank said.
“Yes, there it is,” Jerry said. He double clicked on the shortcut, and the installation started.
“Hope there aren’t any bugs, but if there are, at least I’ve got the laptop here.”
“What’d you write it in?” Jerry asked.
“C++,” Frank said.
“Nice. It’s done. I’ll fire it up.”
The program started up and displayed a viewing window with a menu across the top, and some other tool buttons along the side. The picture from camera number one popped up on the screen. Resolution was good.
“Yes!!” Jerry said. “Beautiful.”
“See the button with the arrow going round on it? That’s the cycle button. Push that.”
Jerry clicked on it, and the program started to cycle through the cameras one at a time, in sequence.”
“This is great,” Jerry said. “Maybe you ought to sell this.”
“Naw, the new wireless surveillance systems on the market come with software that’s better than this.”
“Does it have multi-camera view?” Jerry asked.
“Yeah, just push the button that has the little grid on it.”
Jerry clicked on that, and all of the cameras displayed in a grid. It was a bit small, but watchable.
“Excellent,” Jerry said. “They could post a private in here to simply watch this screen.”
“That’s the idea,” Frank said. “I’ll see if I can log on with the laptop.”
Frank input the IP address of the PC into his browser window. He was asked for a password, and he put in Clubhouse_1. Then the view of the PC showed up on his laptop.
“There it is,” Frank said. “Here’s the limitation, though. It can only see what is live on the PC screen.”
“You could take control of the PC remotely and change that, though, couldn’t you?”
“Yes, we could, but then that would mess things up a little for the person here who’s monitoring the system.”
“Oh,” Jerry said. “Duh.”
“I could program a client to put on PCs that will allow us to change the view. I’ll do that, but it’s not going to work on the tablets. I’ll work on that in my spare time.”
Jerry laughed. “Well, I hope we have plenty of that now that we are getting out of the hot zo
ne.”
“Should we change the password?” Jerry asked.
“Actually, there’s no need to if we hide the network,” Frank said. “Outsiders aren’t going to guess where this machine was.”
“True. We just need to tell the people in this group that need to be able to monitor the system.”
Frank nodded. He shut down his laptop.
“Let’s go see if the General and the Major are around,” Frank said.
“Sounds like a plan,” Jerry said.
They left the shed and walked over to the barn. Major Hobbs and General Walker were sitting in front of their laptop.
“Good morning, men,” Frank said as they walked up. Jerry looked at them and nodded.
“Good morning to you, Frank,” the Major said.
“Good morning,” General Walker said.
“We’ve got the surveillance system working,” Jerry said. “Thanks to our genius programmer here.”
“Excellent,” Major Hobbs said. “How do we access it?”
“One of two ways,” Frank said. “There’s a desktop machine with a big monitor in the shed. That’s the main place, and you can select the view in there, as well as go back and look at history on the DVRs.”
“How long does the history go back?” the General asked.
“About a week, then it overwrites,” Jerry said.
“Can we access it from other machines?”
“Yes,” Frank said. “I’ll show you.” He got in front of the army laptop and brought up a browser. He put the IP address into the window and then input the password. The multi-camera view came up.
“Wow, very nice,” the General said.
“Can you change the view?” the Major asked.
“Well, for right now you need to do that from the PC in the shed,” Frank said. “But I’ll write a client for PCs that will allow that. I’ll send it to you guys if I don’t get it done before we’re out of here.”
