Catastrophe in America

by Pete Thorsen

  “Thank you again. It was stupid of me to travel without a couple of my guns.”

  “Then I will leave you to continue your journey. Please be careful. I think we are entering into some hard times ahead I think.”

  “I will be careful and I already feel better now that I have this pistol.”

  With that I walked toward my truck but I kept one eye on the girl and made sure she got in her car and left OK before I did the same to continue my own trip.

  I was in Iowa and as far as I could tell it was one big farm. That night I took an exit and setup my tent on the edge of a field with nothing else around anywhere. It all still looked the same when I got up in the morning, had breakfast and left. It was a very boring drive through Iowa and that just gets you ready for the boring drive through Nebraska. I stayed a night in the great state of Nebraska and then kept heading west.

  Not too far from the Wyoming border in Sidney, Nebraska there is apparently a large Cabala’s store. I had never been in one of their stores but the signs on the highway sure made it look interesting. Of course once you drive through Iowa and through most of Nebraska even a scrap yard would look interesting. So I decided to stop just to relieve some boredom.

  OK I freely admit that I was amazed at that store. They had mounted animals everywhere in that store and they even had huge aquariums full of regular fish like pike and trout. I just wandered around in that store looking at everything. I guess I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings and I heard a woman say…..

  “I said hello again.”

  “I’m sorry I wasn’t paying atten…”

  I started to say while I turned to make sure the woman was talking to me. I expected to see a sales clerk but it was that pretty gal that had slapped that guy in Iowa. I stopped talking and stared for a minute before I started again.

  “I’m sorry I wasn’t paying attention. Hi. I certainly did not expect to see you again.”

  “Nor I you.”

  “Isn’t this store incredible? I have never been in a place like this.”

  “I like this store too. I stopped to buy my dad a present on the way home. You left me in such a hurry that I never even got your name the other day. But I did notice that you watched to make sure I got to my car and left OK. My name is Lily.”

  “My name is Ron. I’m glad I could help you. I see that you are carrying that pistol now. Good idea.”

  “Yes it is a good idea. I have no idea why I left home without a gun except I knew I was going to New Jersey where they are still very anti gun and will throw you in jail if you even have one locked in your trunk. Why don’t you let me buy you a cup of coffee for saving me?”

  “That would be great. But I don’t think I really saved you. I heard that slap when you hit that guy and it even hurt me just hearing it. You must be very strong.”

  “I work on our ranch and there is plenty of hard work to do. It helps keep me in shape. Let’s get that coffee.”

  They had a coffee shop right in the store and we sat and had coffee and a snack. Then we wandered around the store together while she picked out a present for her dad. We talked for a couple hours at least. I asked her why she had went to New Jersey and she said a very close girl friend was getting married there so she had went to be a bride’s maid in the wedding.

  She asked where I was going of course and I said just west but I had no destination or job or anything. I had just woke up one day and something in me said to head west so here I am. Plus there was that major hurricane heading towards my place so it was best to leave anyway.

  We talked some more and she asked if I would be interested in working on a ranch. She said the work was hard and pay was poor but they needed a hand on the ranch and her dad found something wrong with everyone that tried to work for them. I told her that I knew nothing about a ranch and she said I could be taught what I needed to know. So I agreed to at least see if her dad would consider me for a worker.

  Lily’s ranch she said was about another two hundred miles and if we left now we could get there by supper time. So we each paid for the couple things each of us had purchased and with her leading we got back on the interstate to continue our westward journey.

  At Cheyenne we ate lunch then it was back on the road again. When we got to Laramie we each filled our gas tanks and left the highway. It was only about thirty or forty miles from Laramie to their ranch but it was certainly off the beaten path. I never could have found it just by following directions so it was good thing I could follow Lily.

  Chapter Ten

  We finally came to a valley or meadow or whatever they called it out here. It looked like a picture postcard with big trees all around a valley with a creek flowing through the center of it. I could see scattered cows and horses in the valley. There was the house and a barn and a few out buildings. She pulled up next to the house and stopped a short distance away. She tooted her horn when she stopped her car and shortly I saw a man come walking up from the barn or one of the sheds.

  Lily was taking a few bags from the trunk of her car and when she turned around the man was quite close. She set the bags down and ran to him and enveloped him in a big hug.

  “It’s so great to see you and be home again. Dad this is Ron, our new hired hand. Ron this is my dad, Ben. You two can get to know each other and I’ll go in and make us all some supper.”

  I shook hands with Ben while Lily started to pick up her bags but she set them down and gave me the pistol back.

  “Here is the pistol back that you loaned me, thank you. Oh dad, by the way Ron saved my life. I’ll get that supper ready.”

  She then picked up her bags and almost ran into the house before me or her dad could get a word in.

  “You saved her life?”

  “Sir you have a mighty strong girl there and truth be told I think it is just as likely that I saved the guy’s life that was bothering her.”

  “I think you should tell me what happened. Did she get hurt?”

  “It was in a rest area in Iowa. I had stopped to stretch my legs and was just walking around a bit when I noticed Lily come out of the ladies room and walk past me back towards her car. Before she got to her car a man stopped her and they talked but I could not hear what was said and it was none of my business anyway.

  I saw her shake her head no and she turned to walk away and the man grabbed her by the arm. Well she turned around and slapped him so hard I think it made the ground shake. Without thinking I had walked closer and after she hit him he made a fist and cocked his arm back to strike her.

  I wasn’t going to let that happen so I grabbed his arm and I guess I damaged it some because next he tried to pull this pistol out of his holster with his other hand. So I did punch him once and then gave his pistol to your daughter so she could feel a little safer on her journey. That was it. She said she was fine, we said good bye and each went our separate ways.”

  “So how did you end up together here?”

  “I was so bored driving across Nebraska that I stopped at the big Cabala’s store there and we met again. We ended up having a cup of coffee together and she asked if I wanted a job so I ended up here.”

  “Well that is quite a tale and you are right she is very strong. I think she could out work most men. Her mom passed away when Lil was fourteen and I was no good at raising a kid and especially a girl. I guess she was raised more like a boy than a girl and when times got bad and I had to let the hired hands go she just started doing more and more of the work around here.

  I don’t know what she told you but yes we do need some help with all the work here but we can not afford to pay even minimum wages. I’m sorry if you drove way out here under false pretenses because we just can’t afford hired hands and that’s why we don’t have one now. We could offer room and board and maybe just a small amount of spending money but that’s it.”

  “She told me about the same thing. I have no where to go but I do have some savings so I am not destitute. I think things are going to get re
al bad here in the United States soon and if I could stay in the middle of no where like this until things get better that would suit me just fine. But I have to tell you I know nothing about ranching but I am a hard worker if you want to teach me what to do.”

  “I agree with you about things getting bad. I don’t think we will see any of that way out here so I see what you mean about in the middle of no where. Why don’t you stay here a couple days and we can kinda see how things shape up?”

  “That sounds like a very good idea.”

  “Come on we can take a walk and I’ll show you around a bit. I got some chores that need to be done anyway and by the time I’m done with them I bet she will have supper on the table. Obviously Lily trusts you and that is good enough for me. She has a proven knack for picking friends and I totally trust her judgment in that area.”

  So I followed him around and he showed me around while he did his chores. I helped as much as could and I think it did make things go a little faster even though he had to explain everything to me. It must have been a couple hours later that we headed up to the big house and got washed up and sure enough Lily had quite a spread laid out for supper.

  We didn’t talk much during the meal instead we all paid tribute to the cook by eating as much as we could of the very good supper. We lingered at the table over coffee and conversation started in earnest.

  “So Ron here tells me that he did not save your life but that he instead saved the life of a hapless man that you attacked.”

  “No I’m pretty sure he saved my life, me being a poor damsel in distress. I was just about ready faint from all the excitement.”

  “I will just have to guess that the real truth lies somewhere in the middle of that. No matter what I never thanked you Ron for saving my daughter. She means everything to me.”

  “You are certainly welcome for the little bit of help that I provided. So I take it you have lived here a long time?”

  “Yes I got the place from my folks. We own a full half section of pretty prime land. We used to have grazing rights for a lot of the surrounding federal land but the last time the lease came up the feds refused to continue the lease.

  They said they would no longer allow grazing on any of the federal land around here. So we had to cut way back on the animals we had. Now we just raise a few head of beef instead of the herds that we used to. We make enough now to get by but that’s about it. I get a small amount of social security but I never paid in much so it doesn’t amount to much.”

  “I think you are very blessed to have this place here. It looks like paradise to me.”

  Over the next several days we got to know each other and I learned about working on a ranch. By the time a week went past we all got along fine and I decided I definitely wanted to stay here and Ben and Lily were agreeable to that also. I was learning more and more and they both saw that I was not afraid to do a hard days work. The three of us treated each other with the respect that we each deserved and we got along just fine indeed.

  Over the next few weeks I got to do many things that I had never done or even seen done before. The second cutting of hay was ready and I got to learn all about cutting hay and baling hay. Then loading, hauling, and stacking hay.

  Yes I learned all I wanted to know about hay and one of the first things that Ben told me about putting up hay was that it would make you sweat and then all the little pieces of the hay would stick to you all over and make you itch and the more you tried to brush it off the more it would stick to you. Only the shower at the end of the day would offer real relief. It was all a lot of work but I would occasionally stop and just look around at the incredible beauty of the place and just appreciate the fact that I was here.

  Chapter Eleven

  Often in the evening we would listen to the radio and then discuss the evening news. Ben and Lily had no television service here on the ranch. They could not get reception of the free broadcast channels here and they had not the extra money to spend on satellite service and nor did they want it. The old simple radio provided enough of a link to the outside world and gave them all the news they wanted to hear.

  The country continued to deteriorate and there were still terrorist attacks happening almost daily. The nation’s stock markets still had not been opened and things were certainly getting worse, not just here but world wide. I said we should make a trip to town and really stock up on food and any other supplies the ranch would need.

  “Do you really think things will get that bad so we might not be able to buy the things we need in town?”

  “Yes I do think that. I think things will really get bad, worse than the Great Depression. We should stock up now while things are still available to us. If we only buy the things we need then how can it hurt? We would need the stuff sooner or later anyway. At least then we would be in better shape if things really did get bad.”

  “Will that is a point. And I have to admit that things are getting worse just about every day. OK we will make a list and go into Laramie tomorrow. How long should we buy for do you think?”

  “At least enough for over winter at the minimum.”

  “That is certainly going to drain the checking account. But I agree if something is worth doing it is worth doing right. We will have to take two pickups in to haul everything back. And I will order a propane delivery to fill our tank and a tractor fuel delivery also.”

  “I’ll certainly chip in on buying the food and if possible I would like to buy a rifle so I have something other than just my revolver.”

  So we left in the morning just after morning chores with me in my little pickup following them in the larger ranch truck. Ben wanted to get some feed and other ranch supplies first and we had decided to stick together. Those supplies when purchased and loaded did just about fill the ranch truck and it was a pretty heavy load.

  We all picked up a little winter gear and at one store they had a public bulletin board where people listed things they had for sale or offered services. I saw an ad for a rifle for sale that seemed cheap and showed it to Ben. It was for a Savage 30/06 with a scope for $250. He said that was certainly a fair price so I called the guy from the ad and we met in the store parking lot we were at.

  The gun looked OK to me but I had Ben look it over and he said it appeared fine. The man seemed anxious to sell and said he really needed the money and to complete the deal he would throw in several boxes of ammunition. I then bought it without any more hesitation. I now had a revolver and a deer rifle.

  From there we went to three grocery stores (buying many sale items and staple foods) and by the time we left town my little pickup was also fully loaded down. I had suggested that maybe we should buy some chickens but Ben said one of his neighbors raised chickens and we could get eggs from them (which was what Ben and Lily had been doing for several years).

  While in town Ben had asked about shipping some beef cows out and was told prices were down but it could still be done and he made arrangements for transport and the three of us rounded up some cows that we had ready several days later when the trucker showed up to load and haul the beef cows.

  By the time we got back to the ranch and got everything unloaded and then finished the daily chores the day was done. We listened to the evening news on the radio and there had been another terrorist attack with the police again having to kill the terrorists involved.

  There was also good news that the FBI had found twenty two additional suspected terrorists and had taken them into custody with only one being killed during the arrests. They hoped to gain additional intelligence from the interrogations of these that they had just taken into custody and thought possibly more arrests might soon be forthcoming.

  The news stations now seldom mentioned any kind of economic news at all. I assumed that this was a bad sign and that the federal government had strongly suggested that economic news not be reported. But it did not take a rocket scientist to see that many people were out of work and really hurting for money.

  In
the city today we had noticed that a large number of businesses were now closed and some others had ‘going out of business’ sales. I was not familiar with the local grocery stores we visited today but the shelves appeared to be stocked quite thin I thought.

  When I mentioned this to Lily she said that had not noticed but now that she thought about it she said there was for sure a big reduction in the stock they had on hand. We also noticed that they had no one refilling shelves while we were there either.

  That evening we talked about everything we had heard and had seen today and none of us thought there were any good signs at all. Both Ben and Lily thanked me for getting them to buy the added supplies because from what they had seen today they now agreed that it sure looked like hard times were coming and it felt much better to have those supplies on hand.

  The following week went by with me learning more and more about the ranch and I think I was becoming more of an asset than just someone taking up space there. One afternoon we even took a little time off from work and spent some time shooting.

  My ‘new’ rifle certainly had some recoil and seemed very powerful to me. It was easy to hit targets using the scope that was on the gun. I learned about bullet drop and that I had to aim higher if my target was farther away. Plus that the farther away the target was many things had a greater effect on the bullet causing it to deviate from its intended flight path so it was harder to hit exactly where you wanted.

  I was learning so many different things and it seemed the more I learned the more I found out that I knew very little and had considerable more yet to learn. Many times Ben and Lily would laugh at some of my questions or the way I tried to do things.

  But it was always in fun and they were quick to correct me and did not mind all the questions I constantly asked. Ben was very impressed when he had me do some welding on a piece of equipment though and I told him that was my area of expertise.