by T J Reeder
It was going great until he said, “I’m in your family now?” They said, “Yep”, and he said, “Shit. I’d rather fight my brothers- I’d have a better chance”. Wrong thing to say, Bear. They rode him like a stepchild, poor Bear. But his brothers loved it.
With no reason to screw around with it, the whole force rolled out, hit the place at daybreak, and it was a turkey shoot. Anybody with a weapon was shot so fast they didn’t know they were gone till they got there. It worked out good because the male prisoners were locked down at night, chained together. The women had their own quarters, (the ones not being used for the night that is).
The last building to get taken was a big stone house where the head rats lived. It took a while and cost the good guys some people, but in the end they took it. It was weird sitting off a ways watching others fight but I was fine with it. No losses on our side.
It was noon before the all-clear went out and we rolled in. The prisoners were released and families were finding each other, but some weren’t. It was so sad. And some of the children, well, it was just too much. The high point was the head rat and his top three had surrendered and were asking for lawyers. I still shake my head at this shit. How these fools think nothings changed is beyond me.
They were tried by the former slaves and hung by the same. I hoped it brought a sense of justice to them, but I knew the nightmares would haunt them for years.
Harry and Bear had been inside the stone house and one of the Brother Bears had been the first thru the doors and didn’t bother turning the knobs- he just about tore them off the hinges.
They all came out smiling and headed over to us and Bear’s big brother said, “Miz Beth? To show you our appreciation for taking care of our little brother, I want you to have this small token.” He handed her a briefcase, which, when she opened it had a wooden box that contained two beautiful engraved 1911’s with real ivory grips so old they were yellow. They had to be damn near pre-war. Why would these shitheads have them? Stolen for sure, or maybe they came with the big stone house.
I busted out laughing because ‘They’ were closing on poor Bear who was trying to say he had nothing to do with it. I was watching his brother and saw him wink at Harry, so I knew it was a set up to screw with Bear. Beth knew it too. She said, “Thank you Brother Bear! I will keep them forever- locked safely away in my own personal gun safe.”
That stopped the assault on Bear, and they weren’t going to tackle Beth, but they were drooling and making small moaning sounds until Beth couldn’t stand it anymore and handed the box to them.
In the midst of all the sadness and in the shadows of the hanging scumbags here we were having a good laugh. I guess you had to be there, but the girls were dancing their happy dance and taking turns hugging Beth and ‘Brother Bear’ and slugging poor Bear who was laughing as hard as anybody. We are a strange bunch and I often wonder if we lost something in all of this mess or had we gained? I prefer to believe we gained.
And last but not least Brother Bear handed Kid something rolled up in buckskin,. She opened it and found a beautiful mid-sized Bowie knife with matching yellow ivory handles. It was obviously a part of the set the girls had and in fact there was a place for it in the presentation case.
So Kid placed the knife in its place in the box and made a crooked finger motion to the big guy and when he bent over she hugged him and kissed his cheek. He picked her up and she looked like a kid’s doll in his paws.
After returning the hug he set her down and said, “Come see me when you grow up.” She laughed and said, “You couldn’t handle me now, how ya gonna do it when you’re old?” She is a crackerjack. We loaded up our people and headed to the homestead- so much for a quiet vacation.
After we were on the road and it was quiet I asked Kid if she had any issues with shooting any of the bad guys (if she in fact had). She said, “I know I hit two of them and no, I’m not bothered, but it’s not something I feel the need to talk about. It was like any other unpleasant job, had to be done, got done, forget about it.”
Our kids had to grow up so fast. Hell, I saw grown Marines who didn’t handle it as well. I told her we were there for her if she needed us. She hugged me from behind and said, “I know.” And she did.
We arrived back at the homestead to find normalcy (or at least what passes for normal these days). They didn’t know about our little war and we didn’t mention it. It was a sad, sick ordeal for the victims and another bad job of work for us. But we knew we had done a very good thing and escaped with not even a hangnail.
I know very well we had losses against the Chinese, but how is it we seem to come thru this shit unscathed so often? Charley said it was because we thought it out beforehand when we could. He gave me credit for being so careful with our people’s lives and that I didn’t assume the mantle of ‘All-Knowing, All-Seeing Leader’. I always asked for input and really listened- such as letting Kid lay out the plan back there. Hell, I had no idea outside of the old Marines ‘hey diddle-diddle, straight up the middle’. Kid is the sharpest tack in the box as far as I can see, so why not listen?
He had me thinking about what she reads and I know I saw her reading Sun Tzu, The art of war, Mao’s little red book, and Mein Kampf by Hitler.
I asked her why she read all that crap. She sighed at me (Charley’s influence) and said, “Know Thine Enemies, dad.” If Sandy and May are spooky with the witch stuff, Kid is scary with her ability to read and remember it all. She really is a different kind of kid, light years ahead of other girls her age- hell, any kid her age or even most adults in the way she thinks.
We stayed at the homestead for another two weeks and after the little war we fought, I for one wasn’t going anywhere for a while. Vacation, my old ass! I can’t believe the shit we can get into just minding our own business. Beth was in the tent with me where I was laying with the kids. She came over and said, “Baby, remember- we are going to take Buck and the crew and head for the high country as soon as summer comes up there.” I had forgotten that! Now I was in a better mood!
I swear Beth can make the world’s worst grump smile and be happy…hell, she just did! She lay down with the babies between us and we talked about it. She had heard all about the high country from the girls and about the hot springs and wanted to go and make it a part of herself as had happened with May. I was all for it, but with the kids? I need to be thinking about this. Kid was fine although I didn’t know if she could ride or had ever ridden a horse. More stuff to work on.
Now I was excited and suddenly I wanted to go home. We had to find a horse for Kid and get her lined out, we needed to figure out how to carry the kids… Beth was laughing and said, “John, Indian women carried their babies everywhere- on foot or horse back, it’s not rocket science.” Well yeah, I knew that but it was something to work on.
At supper that night I asked if anybody else was ready to head home, and they all were. Home is well…Home. We took a couple of days to make our goodbyes and reload our gear and one early morning after a walk with Miz Sheri and one of her forever hugs and a kiss, we headed out.
We had sent a message telling Harry and Bear what we were doing, and they were ready to head home also. We met them at the crossing where they were stationed as border guards. Willy and Joe showed up as well.
Sandy and May took the rig with Beth and the kids to meet old General Will. They all sat at the grave and Sandy told the story of the old 1911 she never seemed to be six inches away from and the story of his love for Ellie. They all came back with red eyes and smiles.
We stayed overnight at the crossing and as we ate breakfast the Harrys and Bears came in. There was a younger (but just as big) version of Bear who turned out to be his nephew. He had just turned 18 and wanted to see some of the world… and not from the south end of a north bound plow mule.
We welcomed him and assured him life wasn’t boring around us; well, not all the time. His folks had driven in to see him off. His Mom came over to me and said, “John, you keep an ey
e on Junior because we all know Bear ain’t got a lick of sense.” Sandy burst out laughing and said, “Don’t worry- I’ll help him out”! Mom said, “Now I am worried!” which got everybody laughing.
We rolled out in our road formation- scouts front and rear, guns up. We made it to Shiprock, stayed there for the night and come morning Charley came over and asked Kid to follow him. The girls all smiled real big and followed along. We all had to go watch.
At the corral there was several horses standing. Charley spoke quietly to Kid and she walked alone to the fence, climbed up on it and just watched. The horses all looked at her but nothing else. At Charley’s nod the young wranglers ran them out and ran in several more and again, nothing. They did it four times before one of the horses looked, took a few steps and stopped, then took a few more and then walked right up and nuzzled at Kid. It was a young filly, a maybe three year old paint. Kid ran her hands over the horse’s head and then whispered in her ear. She turned to Charley and nodded. He smiled and nodded; I think he already knew which one it would be.
Kid came over and hugged Charley and said, “Thank you” with a big smile. The horse was loaded in a trailer and two of the young guys headed for the canyons. I thanked Charley and said if he wanted to see the Rockies we were leaving in the spring.
He got a faraway look in his eyes and nodded, which was all I was gonna get at the moment, but I had a feeling it was going to work out. Plus having another man along would keep me from being overrun by all the females (“Don’t count on it…Dad) How do they do it? They all just laughed.
We headed home and were welcomed by the entire population with a big feast! I guess they missed us. No, they missed the babies I was sure. It was a great time; plenty of good food, ice-cold beer and laughter. God, I so love it here and these good people. Our tribe.
We trooped up the hill to the rock pile, just piled our gear inside the door, headed for the huge shower and I think we drained the big solar-heated water tank. I was tired but the shower woke me up so we built a small fire, made hot cocoa with peppermint schnapps in it and piled onto the bearskin rug. This was a huge bear but the rug was getting really small these days. Four adults, one halfway adult and two speed demons. It was either find a bigger bear or…I don’t know ‘Or’ what.
The girls brought the presentation case with them and spent the time stripping the two beautiful old Colts. I doubt the trash had them very long since they weren’t screwed up- those kinds of people didn’t as a rule take very good care of their weapons, but maybe he was different. There was nothing on them to tell us anything of their history.
By the numbers, (which were consecutive) they were made around 1932, and pretty much had to have been a special order. They had no holster wear and looked to have been in the box from day one.
How is it these two always end up with this kind of stuff? Well, to be honest about it they get all kinds of stuff given to them. They have some true works of art in the weapons world in their room- everything from the very old katana picked up in Mexico to these Colts- old and newer. I had no idea so many people had this kind of stuff put away.
Now while they love collecting the 1911’s they have everything- Smith and Wessons aplenty, most anything that was quality and ‘pimped’ out
(they hate that!) Their fame as collectors of fine weapons was known far and wide and all our people keep their eyes peeled for something they might want. I wonder when that room will overflow into the living area. Maybe I’ll cut a deal with the building crew to build them their own building for it all. It might be safest for the rest of us…especially the grenade collection.
We spent the next two weeks just cleaning our war gear, checking and loading magazines, in general just resting and enjoying home. We also had the vet checking out the livestock in preparation for the trip north. We were at least a month, if not two, from taking the trip. It’s cold here but not like up there in the mountains. We enjoy our fireplaces and use them but as a rule it’s not cold during the day.
Kid is spending more time at home, I think she’s not as into hiding in the communications shack as she was and there are others who like being there. It’s a good place to catch up on your reading. But it doesn’t have a fireplace and a bearskin rug or two busy babies who think book pages are for tearing. Kid has to stop reading when they are loose and on the prowl but she loves playing with them.
I always know when things are going good something will ruin it. This was one of those times. Kid was in the communications shack when a call came in from the Texas state guard telling us an SOS had been received from one of our trade ships in the gulf. They said they were under attack by pirates, of all things. Not much will really piss me off more then dicking with my coffee supply chain.
I had Kid yell out for Ralph to meet me in the communal cooking area where Kid was bringing the whole message to me. The girls were off beating on the grease heads and the gun dudes because their jeep didn’t have their mini-gun mounted on it yet. I figured if they were busy bugging somebody else they would leave me alone.
Ralph and I got there at the same time and grabbed some coffee and some cake the lazy bastards had missed. I saw his eyes widen and shoved mine in my mouth just as a hand tried to grab it. Ralph was trying but Sandy sat down beside him and stared at him until he caved in and offered her some. I called him a pussy, and he said, “Well yeah, but a live pussy!”
Kid arrived with the message and took the rest of Ralph’s cake. He shrugged and said, “Yeah, I know but she’s just as bad as them.” Poor bastard. I noticed May was missing, but before I could ask she showed up with a huge piece of cake, which left Ralph and me in peace to talk.
The whole message said the ship had come under fire from some power boats. They had turned off when the crew shot back but something was gonna have to be done about it. My thought was to fly down to Galveston and talk to the crew and Fox who was running the shipping setup. I really didn’t think I could do anything Fox (our resident former SEAL) couldn’t do. But I guess everybody thinks I’m in charge, so I get called.
Also, we hadn’t been down in that part of Texas and in fact I’ve never been there. Ralph said flying wasn’t an issue, but maybe we should find out what Fox might need before we go since we can use the skydiving plane to haul some hardware if needed. Good thinking on Ralph’s part. Kid was waiting, so I wrote out a message short and sweet.
“To Fox, what goodies needed? How soon? Need help?”
Kid took off with it while Ralph and I watched the two starving wolves finishing off a platter full of cake with no offer to share (“Share? Really John? We share the bed with you. Cake? Never!”) I didn’t even respond.
Sandy asked if we were going to Galveston but I had no idea. She asked Ralph if their jeep would fit in the plane, and Ralph just laughed. They want that Jeep with its gun and they want to use it. Werewolves crossed with cute- bad mix.
It took a while to hear back from Fox. His message was, “Bring warehouse, shooters, stop this shit now!” Well, we have a lot of stuff in the weapons containers since they got locked up, keeping ‘Them’ out of it.
Ralph planned it out with Sam flying his jumper plane with some heavy weapons and all our gear, while he would fly me and the girls in the new twin. On a hunch I had Harry get in contact with his people in the Texas guard force to see if they could lend some more shooters and anything we might need. The Texans liked their coffee too, and I’m sure would want to ensure the supply isn’t interrupted.
I wondered what the pirates thought the cargo could be that they would risk their lives for. Hell, maybe they heard about the coffee ships and want some. Whatever- it was gonna stop.
Beth had come down to the meeting with the kids- May had gone for her. The kids know this is the place where good stuff lives and they shortly had cake to work on with their few teeth. They are turning into little wolf cubs that consider most anything to be food.
After hearing the conversation, Beth asked why we had to rush into this. It
wasn’t like the ship was going to be turning right around to return for another load so why not plan it out and haul what we needed, plus enough shooters to make it safer for all? I love my ladies- they look good and they’re smart. I really don’t do much; the people around me bring it all together.
Beth was of course right; I was rushing to the sound of the guns before they really were booming. We all agreed to meet in the morning and get started with loading our gear.
We had a quiet night and Beth asked if I thought taking the kids on a ship was going to be safe because she was going. My first impulse was to say, “No way”, but in truth millions of kids were at risk all over the world and being on a ship at sea wasn’t that big a deal.
I didn’t intend to let these people get close to us if I could help it at all; we needed to know where they were operating out of and what we were dealing with before we did what we had to do. I just knew this shit was gonna be over with before it got warm enough to head north- nothing was gonna ruin ‘Beth’s vacation’ as we were calling it.
With the morning, after coffee and stump time followed by breakfast cooked by Kid and me, we headed down to meet with the command staff. Kid headed to the communications shack to contact Charley and let him know what was going on, but I was sure they had monitored the radio traffic and were aware.
