by T J Reeder
This was the very last thing I expected when we came here. This town was running so well and I wondered if Ben and Ma leaving had left a door open for riff raff to slither in. My bad if so.
Well, we weren’t getting anyplace real fast so I walked over and grabbed the filthy shirt front of the mouthy shit and tossed him into the center of the room. Mostly because it put him between the girls and me and his friends. We could now see them all.
As he was scrambling to his feet, the one doing the talking called me a bastard and tried to draw a gun from under his jacket. It was pathetic, and he was so slow I think the girls took a nap waiting for him to make progress.
His progress ended abruptly with the blast of a shotgun. The load of buckshot dropped him like a sack of shit (which in a way was a pretty good description).
Nobody moved for a moment, then the sound of a pump shotgun chambering a round caused a lot of hands to head for the ceiling. The girls were zoned in on the group in front of us so I turned for the door and saw Jack standing there holding a riot gun.
I nodded and said, “Nice work, Jack. Personal?” He said, “Yeah, when these assholes came in and the weasel there on the floor showed a bill of sale on the place signed by the former owners, Jill and I were outnumbered and nobody wanted to go against this bunch.”
He said the personal part was the dead guy had grabbed Jill the day before and was feeling her up right on the street and nobody did a thing. He said it was over before he found out and he was heading here when we drove up. He was glad to see us, but had business to take care of first. Well, he did take care of it.
He said he and Jill were living at the café with Alma and ‘Jeff the hard working stable hand’, as we called him.
After we were settled in and had food on the table, I asked Alma and Jeff to join us and with no build up I told them about the canyons and about all the friends who were now moving there and that we wanted them to join us.
Jack and Jeff both looked uncomfortable and finally Jeff said, “Thank you John, but we have to learn to make our way without handouts.” May looked at him and said, “Jeff, my family is out there setting up camp because we refuse to stay in the place, nobody said a word about handouts. My people are moving because life is better at the lake than anyplace and everybody works at something. Nowhere near as hard as y’all have been working, but everybody helps everybody.”
Sandy jumped in and told them all about life at the lake, the Fort, the scavenging crews, the community cooking area and how we were more like a tribe than a community. The girls were really listening and I could see they liked the idea.
I capped the conversation by pointing out how just a few months had brought changes to their happy home and that it seemed strange how the town would let strangers come in and take away their living. Jack said the town had been changing; folks moving on, new folks coming in and not in a better way. That it wasn’t what it used to be.
I pointed out that our lifestyle didn’t depend on working for money because we didn’t use it. I told them we had a few tons of gold and silver at the fort and nobody even looked at it, that since we had all we needed, nobody was hungry or cold or without shelter and everybody was as busy as they wanted to be, and that we were the happiest bunch in the world at the moment.
I told them we were going to set up our camp. We would be back for supper and we could talk some more if they wanted.
After we had our tent up and the place ready we took naps. I was glad none of us had to shoot that asshole even though he needed it and had the girls known what he had done to Jill he would have died sitting there in the chair.
We headed to the café en mass and for a while the kids were working their butts off but we all got fed, and after pie and coffee the others headed back to camp and built a big fire.
The girls and I sat with the kids and waited for it. Jill spoke up first and said, “John, we want to go with y’all but what would we do? We don’t know anything but this and y’all don’t need a café.” Alma asked what Ma and Ben were doing. I smiled and the girls laughed out loud.
Sandy said Ma took over the Saloon and then described the place amid laughter. She told them Ben was providing the whole canyon with all the fish they could eat. He fished all morning then hung out with Ma playing cribbage till it was time to run his lines again before dark. Most times Ma helped him by rowing the boat with a cooler of beer between them.
They would come in just in time for the evening eat together then they sat with the other folks around a nice fire and just enjoyed the evening. Also Ma had been seeing a very nice widow lady and things looked to be gathering steam. They all laughed at that and the girls got teary eyed with happy tears for Ma.
Jill still asked what they would do. May asked if they liked kids? Both girls said yes, of course, so she explained how the schooling system worked and that several people kept a loose watch over the little demons to keep them from killing themselves. It wasn’t babysitting, it was kind of herding cats, but it really was important work.
Jack asked about him and Jeff. I asked what they enjoyed doing. Jeff said he had always liked working on vehicles so we told him about the rowdy bastards who took care of our fleet. Jack said he had always wanted to learn to fly but that was a dead dream. He learned real fast that wasn’t true! Sandy was telling him about bombing the assholes in the boulder field while I reminded her how she overdid it.
She started telling him about learning to fly the chopper and in mid-sentence got the ‘OH SHIT’ look. I just smiled and said, “Did you think I didn’t know?” At least she had the grace to turn pink which got May laughing and pointing.
Shortly after that the four of them looked at each other and one by one took a silent vote, then all smiled and hugged. We had two new young couples!
Alma whispered something to May who hugged her and said, “Sure and I’ll take care of it.” Alma was blushing and finally admitted that while they were all living together they hadn’t been able to get married, so, now we had new couples and got to have a double wedding and a huge party! Win/Win! May and Sandy would handle it and I expected Charley would tie the knot- People style.
We all set to and by dark the next day the café was empty of everything they wanted to take which included the big old wood cook stove and all the stuff needed to run a first class eatery. I had an idea that these girls were gonna make an addition to the community cooking plan.
The fun part was the locals showing up to be fed and whining about the leaving. Sandy asked them how many of them offered to stand up with these kids in keeping the motel from being stolen from them- that shut them up. She also added that none of them had best show up in our area for any reason.
We rolled out in a funny looking convoy of Hummers and newer and older trucks and trailers piled high with most everything one could think of.
Two days later we rolled into the Fort area where we were greeted by the whole place. Nobody was out ‘mining’ at the moment so we were given a grand welcome.
We just parked the vehicles outside the fort yard and headed in to find places for everybody to sleep. The cook staff had killed the fatted calf or two and I think a goat or two- seems they knew we were coming.
We had a feast and everybody welcomed the newest additions to the huge family. We had a great time and went to bed late and slept late. When we drifted into the chow hall we found the cooks fixing whatever people wanted, sort of a brunch. When our whole bunch was gathered I took them outside where we grabbed a bunch of golf carts and all headed for a tour of the storage area.
I could see they were blown away with it all. I told Jack and Jeff to pick out a truck as well as Seth and his boys. They just stood there with their mouths open. My ladies took all the other ladies on a tour of the household goods- that was a shocker!
After they had picked out vehicles the mechanics crew took over and got them up and running while the guys joined their women. I could see they would all be back very soon after their homes were ready
, be they Hobbits or Rock Piles...
After we got back to the Fort I took them on a tour of the cell blocks. The first ones were the gold and such; they were amazed at the piles of the stuff, cells full and not locked and nobody guarding it all. We looked at everything from art works to power tools to tooth paste- we had it all.
We left the Fort and headed home. I had had enough of war and driving for now and sometime in the distant future. I needed my babies and we all needed Beth. She helped us heal our minds after some of the shit we did and saw.
Our own earth mommy- 40 years ago she would have been wearing a long skirt with waist length hair filled with flowers and smiling her gentle smile while singing, “ Let’s give peace a chance” while I was blowing shit up and saying, “Fuck peace!” Now I needed her, we all three do.
We rolled into the home canyon before dark and found the entire population waiting for us. There were cheers and tears, we had lost some wonderful friends, the People had lost a part of their soul, but the rest had made it home and we saved a lot of young girls from a true fate worse than death. Plus we brought about a ton of coffee!
As we unloaded I saw Beth running at me and she launched herself into my arms and held on tight and cried a bit, then kissed me and one look into those eyes started the soul cleansing. I sat her down and let them at her and they were doing their girly, squealing, happy feet dance they always do over everything from getting a warm cookie to watching the babies do something like try to roll over. Pretty much anything.
We walked arm in arm to the cook fires where I found a stump and just flopped down. The brownie lady brought me a huge brownie and stood guard over me while I ate it, all but three bites I should say. Beth in my lap and the girls wrapped around us. There is a God. Her name is Woman!
We had a simple and wonderful meal of ‘Whatever Stew’ which is made from… well, whatever. I didn’t ask and didn’t care. It was home, and it was wonderful. After I was done the babies appeared and took up my lap for about 10 seconds before they got into it. I swear I never get more than five minutes a day with my babies!
“JOHN! OUR BABIES!”
Right…
Beth was laughing and then pulled me up and led me into the night. We made it up the path to the house and into the shower. It was a long shower and a long welcome home. I woke up with just Beth wrapped around me, so I went looking. Both dogs were laying outside the babies’ room looking pissed off. I opened the door and found the other two in bed with the kids between them. It was a beautiful sight!
I went back to bed and Beth smiled at me and said, “Welcome home, Marine!” It was a short night.
So here I am, sitting on the stump watching the sails on the lake, and here comes Beth with a sleeping baby in each arm, how she does that I’ll never know. I get one and she sits with me. We watch the day start together.
Then I hear the grumbling and scuffling of feet and May arrives with the coffee pot, Sandy arrives with the old beat to hell quilt and insists we all have to be wrapped up in it. They both take a baby and start nuzzling them until they wake up and demand food. Beth smiles. We are home.
But Charley isn’t, he headed off on a mission I requested and he’s late getting back. I’m not one to sit and worry about things. So at first light Ralph and I headed south in the chopper, and against every law in the old books we were hauling all the fuel cans we could load in. We flew with the doors open to avoid inhaling the fumes.
‘They’ were very unhappy but understood how I felt; had I not gone Sandy would have or May, but I am, so that leaves them sitting on their butts. Or so I thought.
After we were in the air about an hour the radio crackled and I hear, “This is your friendly gas station a few miles on your six, we even wash windshields.” It was May; I just shook my head and said I should have known better, and Ralph laughed. I’d shoot him but I can’t fly this crate. He laughed some more.
We flew on the route Charley had agreed on until we hit the ¼ tank fuel point so we landed on a nice flat stretch of highway and waited for the rolling fuel station. I had to admit that I should have thought of doing it this way- they can do an easy 50 miles per hour while we flew at about 90 mph, not a big difference.
It took them an hour to close the gap and I will admit I was surprised at the unit they put together in so short a time. Five hummers with fuel and ammo trailers, a six-by with a fuel bladder in the back for the chopper and another with fuel for the Hummers.
I just laughed and shook my head. They rolled up and jumped out and started the hugging thing until I gave up and said, “Good idea.” She and May did their high five thing while everybody else looked relieved that they weren’t in trouble for following these two. I was grateful they did.
We unloaded the fuel cans in the chopper and used them to fill it, and then left them in the fuel truck; we were both happy to not have them onboard.
We took off as soon as the fueling was done while the convoy rolled out behind us. We did this all the way to the border where Charley had planned to cross over. He had five hummers with four scouts in each with all the water, fuel and ammo they could haul.
I was very worried because with the going south aboard ship and all the other stuff we did we were way behind the planned timeframe- meaning Charley should have
been back a long time ago.
Now one thing I do know. There is nobody out there that can take on Charley and 20 scouts armed for a big war. Or, so I thought.
Something was holding him up and I intended to find him. One good thing about Sandy and her little convoy was the one Hummer full of scouts who were as fired up to find their people as we were.
On a whim I waited till we were in the air and Ralph had gained a good bit of altitude, then I used the radio to call our base station and told them what I wanted. In true military radio protocol the reply of, “You got it, big daddy” came rolling back.
I didn’t even shake my head, I just sighed. Ralph said didn’t you recognize that voice? I had to admit I didn’t. He was laughing again when he said it was the little brownie thief! Shit.
Now I laughed. Well, we tell them to find something they want to do and just learn it. Age don’t play into it, unless it’s just too dangerous or too heavy for young bodies. We have a good lifestyle.
We landed and set up camp; a dry camp with no fires- we were on the border and things here were much worse than on our side of the border. Guards were sent out and we crashed. It was quiet and I took the two hours before dawn. May joined me on a low hill where we used the night viz gear to keep a watch. We saw a lot of critters but none with two legs.
Breakfast was quick and simple- coffee and homemade granola on the roll. We crossed the border on a dusty dirt track that turned southwest, still on the route Charley had used. We saw some signs of vehicle traffic but whose was a mystery.
This became our routine for the next several days with nothing to show for it. Sandy and May were flying since better eyes are an advantage, plus Sandy could fly the chopper a bit once it was in the air. That allowed Ralph to relax a bit, he was really gonna burn out if we kept this up without a break.
We were finding sign now of our people; Hummer tracks and signs of camp spots- nothing much but the scout team with us could read it like a book. They said the tracks were made about the time we were on the black ship heading south. Shit, we were a month behind Charley and now I’m worried sick. Something had to have gone wrong.
I was wishing we had talked to Old Woman before we rolled, she might know something. Sandy looked over at me and said, “I did. She didn’t, but she said if Charley was dead she would know.”
Part of me was so relieved to hear that while the other part wanted to say, “Bullshit”, but I’d seen enough to know it was real, so I took hope.
I was starting to worry about fuel, I figured we had enough to run for a good while before we either headed back or broke off and found some along a highway. Not that there was any where we were- it would take days to get
to a paved road and the chance of a fuel station that may not have any left in its tanks.
I flew with Ralph so I could try to make contact with our base, but that didn’t work. I did get a faint reply and asked Ralph to head higher. The call came in a bit clearer and it was just who I wanted to hear!
I had requested a convoy loaded for bear and loaded with fuel to head out on our route, and they were about a day behind us. They had rolled 24/7, rotating drivers.
I decided right then to stay where we were until we could join up and then we would really haul ass…well as best we could hauling fuel tankers on dirt goat paths.
We got set up in a good spot for camp, posted guards and everybody crashed. Ralph was asleep on his feet when we got him to his tent.
The girls went thru the supplies and made up a huge pot of stew from all the freeze dried crap we had, and it was awesome!
We had a quiet night and we slept thru most of it; the girls and I would pull guard tonight. In this outfit everybody goes, everybody fights! And nobody quits…Ever. I love that line! But it describes our people to a tee.
