Creeping Tyranny

by Robert Boren

  Yvonne laughed. “Why, because I’m Indian?”

  “Well, yeah,” Sarah said. “Sorry, that wasn’t nice.”

  “Oh, please,” Yvonne said. “You know I’m not one of those. It was a valid question.”

  “Sid kept you up on the mountain too long,” John said.

  “It was my fault. I should have brought my hat,” Yvonne said. “I’ll remember next time.”

  Harry and Nancy joined them. “Hi, folks,” Harry said. Nancy nodded and smiled.

  “Where’s Clem?” John asked.

  “He’s already inside,” Harry said. “Saw him walk by a few hours ago. Said something about helping Sam.”

  The group entered the clubhouse, finding seats at the table a couple rows away from the stage. There was a podium with a microphone to the right side. A buffet sat on tables against the right wall, the smell of chili and enchiladas filling the room.

  “Food?” Sarah asked. “Didn’t know they were having that. Glad we didn’t eat before we came.”

  Connie walked out carrying an industrial sized bag of tortilla chips and a tub of salsa. “Come and get it, everyone!”

  “Thanks!” Sid said in a loud voice, standing, taking Yvonne by the hand. They headed for the table, others following them.

  “No beer,” Harry said. “Probably a good idea.”

  “Yeah,” John said. They got in line for food. “Too crazy to be walking around drunk.”

  Sarah locked arms with him and looked up, a comfortable smile on her face.

  The room was filled with conversation and laughing as everybody sat eating their food. Sam and Clem walked in the side door and got into line.

  “There they are,” John said, nodding. “Wonder what they’re up to?”

  “We’ll probably find out in a few minutes,” Harry said.

  “Damn, these enchiladas are really good,” Sid said. “I might have to go for seconds.”

  “Wait till everybody has had some,” Yvonne said.

  He grinned at her. “Yes, mom.” Yvonne elbowed him, shaking her head.

  “You like it?” Connie asked as she walked up, her pretty black hair swaying as she looked around the group.

  “Well, as you can see, I hated it,” Sid said, pointing to his empty plate.

  “Have some more,” Connie said. “We have plenty. Haven’t even brought it all out yet.”

  “Thinking about it,” Sid said.

  “Go ahead, honey,” Yvonne said.

  He grinned and took his plate back to the line. A few others were getting up for more too.

  “How are you holding up?” Nancy asked. Connie shrugged.

  “I’m scared, but I feel safe with Sam,” she said. “He’s had military training.”

  “Really?” John asked. “Which branch was he in?”

  “He was a Navy Seal,” Connie said.

  “Wow, really?” Harry asked. “I had no idea.”

  “Hey, folks,” Clem said, walking over with a plate of food. Sam was right behind him.

  “Get what you needed?” Connie asked.

  “Sure did,” Sam said. “We’ll put it all up tomorrow. It’s wireless. We’ll need a couple of repeaters, but I was gonna do that anyway to improve the Wi-Fi.”

  “You guys got a surveillance system?” Harry asked.

  “Yep, that’s where we went,” Clem said. “I’m anxious to see how the big one works.”

  “Big one?” John asked.

  “We needed a way to see down the access road without extending the Wi-Fi way out there,” Sam said. “We bought a really nice camera on a gimbal. It’s got a zooming SLR-quality lens, and we can point it from a PC or tablet.”

  “Wow,” Harry said. “Pricey?”

  “That baby cost more than the other twenty-four cameras combined,” Clem said. “It also has some night vision capability. This stuff has gotten a lot better since I retired from my home security business.”

  “I’m glad you still had the connections,” Sam said. “If we wouldn’t have gotten this stuff wholesale, it would’ve broken the bank.”

  “So, you got 25 cameras?” John asked.

  “Yeah, but twenty-four of them were part of a kit. The big one is standalone, and it can swivel around to cover almost all of the park.”

  “Where you gonna mount it?” Harry asked.

  “Flag pole in front of the office,” Sam said. “We can hard-wire it and switch it between wireless and the hard-connection.”

  “It won’t see all the way to the highway, though, will it?”

  “Nah, Harry, just down to the last bend,” Clem said. “But that’s eight hundred yards. It’ll give us some early warning.”

  “We got the alarm for the gate,” Sam said. “We’ll know if somebody crashes it.”

  “How are people gonna come and go?” Harry asked.

  “We’ll work that out,” Sam said. “It was the main reason for the meeting.”

  Sid came back over with a plate full of food.

  “Geez, you gonna eat all of that?” Yvonne asked.

  “I figured you’d want some too,” he said.

  She sighed. “You’re always trying to make me fat.”

  “We eat light most of the time,” Sid said. “Besides, climbing around in the hills and being in the sun all day takes a lot of energy. You should eat a little more.”

  “Oh, all right,” she said, picking up her fork. She joined Sid, eating enchiladas, rice, and beans. “This is really good, Connie. You make it yourself?”

  “No, I got it from my sister’s restaurant.”

  “You bought all this?” Sid asked. “Must have been expensive. You should take up a collection.”

  “We got it for nothing,” Connie said. “They had to close the restaurant temporarily because of the trouble. This food would have gone bad if she wouldn’t have given it to us.”

  “Oh,” Sid said. “So we’re helping out.” He chuckled. “Glad to be of service.”

  Yvonne slapped his thigh. “Really?”

  Connie laughed. “We owe you, Sid. Not only did you help in that battle earlier, but you convinced the others to stick around.”

  “I didn’t convince nobody,” Sid said. “I made a decision, and the others made the same decision.”

  “That’s true,” Sam said, “but you were the catalyst.”

  “Ah, shucks,” Sid said. Yvonne slapped his thigh again. “What?”

  “I can’t take you anywhere,” she said, shaking her head. “That’s what I get for marrying a crazy old Indian.”

  “Says the squaw,” Sid said.

  Harry, Clem, and John laughed. Sam almost spit out his food.

  Yvonne glanced at Nancy, Connie, and Sarah, then shrugged. “I guess it’s not so bad,” she said.

  “I’d better get this meeting started,” Sam said. “That microphone turned on?”

  “Not yet, honey,” Connie said. “You ready?”

  “No, but that never stopped me before.” He wiped his mouth with his napkin, took a big drink of soda, and got up.

  “I’ll go turn it on,” Connie said. She walked onto the stage and went behind the wall as Sam got behind the podium. He tapped the mic. Nothing.

  “Just a sec, sweetie,” Connie said. “There, now try it.”

  He tapped on the mic, and it sounded into the room. “Got it.”

  “Good,” Connie said. She came off the stage and sat back down next to Sarah. A hush came over the room.

  “Can you all hear me okay?” Sam asked.

  “I can hear you in the back of the room,” an old man said from near the door.

  “We hear you fine up here, too,” John said.

  Sam smiled. “Welcome. Thanks for coming.”

  “Thanks for the food,” Sid said.

  “You’re welcome. I won’t keep you for too long. We have a few things to discuss. Hopefully we can come to a consensus.”

  “We’re all ears,” Harry said.

  “Good,” Sam said. “I bought some hardwar
e today. A set of 24 fixed video cameras, one high-end zoom camera, and an alarm system for the gate down by the highway. First of all, does anybody have objections to the cameras being placed around the park?”

  “Why would we care about that?” Sid asked.

  “Some might think it’s an invasion of privacy,” Sam said. “If any of you have concerns, please speak up now and we’ll address them.”

  “Normally I would object,” said a middle-aged man in the middle of the room, “but at this point, I think they’re helpful. Will they stay up after this situation is over?”

  “That’s a good question, Josh,” John said.

  “I propose that we only use them during these times, however long they last,” Sam said. “I might not take everything down afterward, but at the very least I’ll turn them off, and have the display visible so everybody knows they’re off. Good enough?”

  “Good enough for now,” the man said. “Thanks.”

  “Any other concerns?” Sam asked.

  “Are we still going to set up a rotation of sentries?” Sid asked. “Humans are better than cameras.”

  “I’ll throw that open to the group,” Sam said. “My suggestion will be that we do set up a rotation, at least for now.”

  “I think it’s vital,” John said.

  “Me too,” Sid said. “We have better eyes and ears, and we can react.”

  “Anybody object?” Sam asked.

  “Do we all have to participate?” an older man in the back asked. “Some of us are in better shape than others.”

  “I think we can get enough volunteers without having to compel everybody,” Sam said. “We all know there’s a mixture of people here. I can put a signup sheet on the table right inside the door of this room. Sound okay?”

  “I think that’s a great idea,” Harry said.

  “Me too,” Sid said.

  “Okay,” Sam said. “Moving on. The alarm on the gate. We can restrict use of that to nighttime, or we can have it on all the time and set up times for people to be able to leave the park. What do you guys think?”

  “I think we ought to have it on all the time for the next couple of weeks,” John said. “We can go to nighttime later if things settle down.”

  “If we go for full time, how often would we have open times for people to leave?” asked Josh. “Some of us still work.”

  “I’ll let you in and out to support your work schedule, Josh,” Sam said. “Same with the others who are still working.”

  “Thank you,” Josh said.

  “How about guns?” Sid asked. “We’ve been carrying them since things went sideways. I know if scares some people. Do we want to talk about any guidelines for that?”

  There was a murmur through the room.

  “I wasn’t aware that anybody was afraid of it,” Sam said.

  “I don’t like it,” said a middle-aged woman in the back, “but I’ll go along for now. After things get back to normal, I think we should go back to the way it was before.”

  “I’m fine with that, Erin,” Sam said. “Anybody else have any comments about that?”

  “People who have been drinking should not be able to carry guns,” Josh said. “I think we can all agree on that.”

  Sam looked out over the crowd. “Well, what do you think? I’m okay with that, but I’m not going to get put into the role of law enforcement. You folks will need to police yourselves. Friends and spouses.”

  “I’m not sure that’s enough,” Erin said. “You can post rules so we’re all clear. That will make it easier. Then any citizen in the park can bring up the rules we’ve all agreed to if they see problems.”

  “I think that’s fair,” John said.

  “Me too,” Sid said. “We shouldn’t be drinking right now anyway, frankly. Not until the state gets back to normal. Never know what might happen.”

  “Okay, then we’ll draft up some guidelines and post them,” Sam said. “Who will volunteer to help with the drafting?”

  Several people raised their hands, including Erin, Josh, Harry, and Connie.

  “I’m okay with this,” Sid said, “but we need to vote on the final result before it goes into effect.”

  “That could tie things up too long,” Erin said.

  “No it won’t,” Sid said. “It’s only fair. Some of us are more likely to get into gun battles than others. I won’t put myself at risk with regulations that don’t make sense during the present time.”

  “So you’re not going to follow the rules if you don’t like them?” Erin asked.

  “I didn’t say that,” Sid said.

  “You almost did,” Josh said, “but I agree with what you propose.”

  “Anybody object on the vote?” Sam asked.

  Nobody spoke up.

  “Okay, we’ll use the volunteers to draft the rules, and everybody will have the chance to vote on them. That’s all I had to say. Anybody else want to discuss anything?”

  “I think we should continue the ban on campfires for the time being,” Sid said. “That smoke can be seen and smelled for miles.”

  “What does everybody think about that?” Sam asked.

  “Fine by me,” Erin said. “I don’t like the smell anyway.”

  “Anybody object?”

  Clem raised his hand. “I’m fine with it for now, but would like to see the restriction lifted after the trouble is over. Just like the other things we’re putting in place.”

  Erin sneered at him but stayed silent.

  “Anybody object to that?” Sam asked.

  Nobody spoke up.

  “Okay, I’m done, then, unless there’s anything else,” Sam said. “I’ll get out of your hair. Eat up. We’ve got more food in the back.”

  The group gave Sam a round of applause as he came off the stage. He joined Connie at the table.

  “Have some more food, dear,” Connie said.

  “Don’t mind if I do,” he said.

  “Sorry about that last one,” Clem said softly.

  “What?”

  “Pushing back at Erin on the campfires. I don’t want that control freak getting too many rules set up here. She’s hell on wheels.”

  Connie giggled. “Yeah, I agree.”

  “Bottom line, after we get past this, I’ll go back to trying to get overnight business,” Sam whispered. “People on vacation want campfires. She don’t like it, she can leave.”

  “Here here,” Clem said.

  “Well, I’m going back on the hill for a while longer,” Sid said. “It’s almost dusk. If we’re gonna get hit again, it’ll probably be after dark.”

  “Want me to go, honey?” Yvonne asked.

  “You don’t have to tonight,” he said, “but keep your phone next to you at all times with the ringer on, all right?”

  “All right,” she said.

  “I’m gonna watch the front gate area,” Clem said. “Maybe patrol it as far as the bend.”

  “Both of you guys watch for rattlesnakes,” Sam said. “Getting to the season.”

  “Will do,” Clem said. He got up to leave. Sid did the same, and they walked out the front door together.

  “Well, Sid, what do you think?” Clem asked.

  “I think we’ll be lucky if we don’t get hit tonight, and if we don’t get hit tonight, we probably won’t get hit at all.”

  “Hmmm,” Clem said. “It all depends on if somebody passed the word about us. If our location is known and passed around, we might not get hit until the next convoy comes through. That could be several days or a week.”

  “Or now,” Sid said. “See you. Going back up the hill.”

  “Watch your step,” Clem said, “and watch for rattlers.”

  Sid nodded and walked away. Clem watched him for a moment, then headed to his coach to get his gun.

  ***

  It was nearly dark as Seth parked in front of the South Redondo apartment building. The damp ocean air was coming in, fog building, making halos around the streetlamps of Prospect Ave
nue. There was gunfire in the distance, causing his heart to beat a little bit faster.

  “It’s getting closer,” he muttered to himself as he left the car, heading up the sidewalk past condos and apartment buildings. He hoped the cigarette smell was gone. He didn’t smoke, but he’d been around Matt all day long. Emma didn’t want him smoking, and bullied him into quitting. No, I chose it. He shook his head, fear and anger flaring and receding as he walked to the door of apartment G. He knocked.

  “Come in, I’m still getting ready,” Emma said from inside. He opened the door and walked in.

  “You shouldn’t have the door unlocked,” Seth said. “You know how things are now.”

  “It’s not bad here,” she said, coming out, drying her thick, golden blonde hair. She was wearing a white terry-cloth robe which was starting to come open, her ample cleavage showing.

  “Oh, geez,” he said, walking towards her. She looked at him, ready to give him a peck, but he moved in and kissed her hard, his hands going inside the robe.

  “Wait,” she said, pulling back from him. “You don’t like to be late, remember?”

  “It’s just another stupid party with my friends,” Seth said, coming in for another kiss. “You don’t like to be with them that much anyway.”

  She sighed, giving in and kissing him back as his hands pulled the robe off her shoulders, her shapely figure causing Seth to moan. “I’ve been waiting to see you all day.”

  “You’ve been with Matt, from what I smell,” she said. “You didn’t smoke, did you?”

  “No, I didn’t,” he said. “Really.”

  She backed up and looked at him, trying to see past his eyes, poised to get angry. Seth kissed her again, harder, and she melted. “Okay, let’s make it quick.” He led her into her bedroom and shut the door behind them.

  Afterwards they lay panting, still in embrace.

  “Wow, you were really into it,” Seth said, looking over at her. “You were wanting that as much as I was.”

  She looked into his eyes, face turning red. “Maybe,” she said softly.

  “Why does it embarrass you? This is what couples do.”

  “I know,” she said. “I can’t help it.”

  Seth sat up and chuckled. “Well, that’s part of your charm. When you give in it’s like a dam breaking.”