The Incident | Book 1 | They Called It The Incident

by Johnson, J. M.

  He looked around at his new friends. “I was lucky that I got bonked on the head before I could do something more foolish. I think we should go after Sam, “he added. “We don’t know who is out there or what they will do. He shouldn’t be walking alone.”

  “We’ll go!” Adnan grabbed Tom by the arm. “C’mon, let’s go bring Sam back.” He held up his new rifle, “We can take these for protection.”

  Irma looked up, her eyes snapping. “Don’t you go shooting those things,” she admonished. “That won’t help, and chances are you’ll just shoot yourself in the foot.”

  “Don’t worry. We’ll just show that we have them and that should be enough.” The door closed firmly and the boys were gone.

  Irma began to gently clean the wound on the dog’s side. His eyes opened and he looked up at his master, then with a sigh, he sank back into unconsciousness.

  “Don’t worry, boy,” Tony soothed. “We’ll soon have you right as rain.”

  Jason bent over his mother’s shoulder. “It looks like someone stuck a knife in him.” He said. “I’ll bet he ran at them and they just stuck out their knife for him to run into.”

  “I don’t think so.” His mother said sharply. “He’s wounded on the side. If they just stuck their hand out, he would have been hit in the head or shoulder.”

  George nodded. “I think I’ll go out and see what I can find around the root cellar. They must have left tracks in the snow.”

  “I’ll go with you.” Jason stood up. “You’re right about one thing. None of us should go out alone until we know the coast is clear. If they will stab a dog, no telling what else they’ll do.”

  The two men left the house and made their way through the yard, careful not to disturb any footprints that weren’t their own. Irma and Tony continued to minister to Rufus.

  “What about my sleigh ride?” whined Ty. “Did Dad forget?”

  “Don’t worry,” Melanie put her arms around the boy. “You’ll get your ride, just maybe not today.” She gave him a little pat on his backside. “Go take your coat and boots off and we’ll play a game or something.”

  “Aww. I wanted to go outside.”

  “Do as I say,” she spoke harshly. “Can’t you see that poor Rufus has been hurt? Gramma and Grampa don’t need you causing a fuss right now.”

  “He’s only little.” Stella laid her hand on Melanie’s arm. “It’s tough being stuck inside with a bunch of old people all the time.”

  “I think Rufus will be okay.” Irma struggled to her feet as Stella took the blood-stained basin of water from the floor and poured it down the sink. Tony continued to stroke the dog’s head. “It’s a cut, and he must have got a knock on the head. That’s why he’s still unconscious.” She continued.

  The five of them looked down at the dog and the man on the floor. From the living room, they heard the baby whimper from his playpen.

  “I’ll get him,” Melanie said. “And then Ty and I can play a game. Try to distract him and myself”. Soon they could hear her explaining the finer points of solitaire to her son.

  “I thought it was only a computer game.” He said and everybody smiled despite their own anguish.

  Irma and Tony were moving the old dog to his bed in the corner when Jason and George knocked the snow off their boots and came back into the house.

  They both looked grim.

  “There were more than two people out there,” Jason told them. “It looks like they were moving all the food onto some kind of sleigh or wagon.”

  “Yeah.” George agreed. “The root cellar is completely cleaned out. Rufus must have heard them and he ran over there as soon as I opened the door this morning.”

  Tony’s mouth formed a thin line. “He wouldn’t be able to hurt a fly.” He said. “All they had to do was pet him and he would have helped them carry stuff. They didn’t have to hurt him.”

  “I’m just glad they didn’t try to come in the house,” Irma added. “We were all so tired from Christmas we slept right through any ruckus they made.” She looked towards the sleeping dog. “I wonder why Rufus didn’t bark.”

  “I wonder who knew we had food stored?” Jason added. “The door was hidden in the snow and we hadn’t been out there for a couple of days so there were no tracks.” He sat down and put his head in his hands. “I noticed the snow was all messed up this morning, but I was more concerned about the dog than paying attention to that.”

  “You don’t think it was someone we knew, do you?” Irma covered her mouth in dismay. “Why would they do that?”

  “I don’t know, Mother.” Tony shook his head. “People do strange things when they’re desperate.”

  In the corner, the old dog stirred and lifted his head just as Adnan, Tom and Sam banged the door open and stepped inside.

  They all spoke at once.

  “How is Rufus?”

  “What happened?”

  “Is everything okay?”

  “I’ll get Rufus some water,” Irma spoke loudly. “You all go into the living room and discuss this.”

  They all trooped out of the kitchen, Tony last of all, after giving a worried glance at his pet.

  “Let’s have pretend tea and discuss what we should do.” Monica met them at the table with the kettle in her hand. They all took their accustomed seats around the scarred table. Ty and Melanie pushed their cards to one side and accepted cups of hot water.

  “Even I can have ‘pretend’ tea,” Ty told the assembled family importantly.

  After explaining the situation, Jason leaned back in his chair and sipped at his mug. “The question is,” he said, “what do we do now? Should we follow them and try to get our food back, or what? This leaves us in a bad situation. They took all our stores.”

  “It might be dangerous to follow them.” George looked back at his new friend. “Do we want to risk getting hurt?”

  “Do we want to risk starving?” Jason replied.

  “I think we should fight,” Adnan said and Tom nodded in agreement. “It’s our stuff they took. We worked hard digging that root cellar and putting everything in it.”

  The older men nodded. “But,” said Tony. “What does fight mean? If one of us gets hurt, there is no doctor or medicine to fix him.” He looked steadily at the boys. “It’s bad enough that we almost lost Rufus. He’s a dog. It would be unthinkable to lose a person.”

  “Somebody knew the food was there,” Jason said grimly. “There was just enough to get us through the winter. Now there is nothing.”

  Sam spoke up. “There’s still the farm. The cattle are surviving so far, so we have meat.”

  “And there’s still the sauerkraut under my bed.” Irma reminded them. “It’ll last for a while.” She took her place at the table and sipped the hot water Monica had poured for her.

  “What about wild meat?” Stella asked. “When we were kids we lived on deer and pheasant.”

  “I still think we should go and get our stuff back,” Tom said stubbornly. “The guys at the farm will help us.”

  “Maybe they are the ones who took it,” Monica said to him. “Did you think of that? They know we have vegetables and they were here yesterday, so they could have waited until we went to sleep and just helped themselves.”

  “That would make sense.” Tony agreed. “Rufus wouldn’t have barked at them if they never left.”

  Stella shook her head, and Irma looked shocked.

  “I can’t believe that.” She said. “They know we would share what we had. Why steal when all they have to do is ask?”

  “Well, who else knows about the cellar?” Jason asked her.

  “Anybody could have watched us walk out there and open the door. We don’t have armed guards around us.”

  Tom and Adnan glanced at their guns leaning against the wall beside the kitchen door.

  “Maybe we need to be more alert,” Tom said. “As people get hungrier in town, they are going to be spreading out looking for food.”

  Jason pushed back f
rom the table and stood up. “I’m going to follow those tracks,” he said. If they go somewhere close by, we’ll have the culprits. I won’t confront them, but I need to know.”

  “I’ll come with you.” George stood also, closely followed by the two teenagers.

  “Sam and I will wait for you here.” Tony remained sitting. “We’re too old to go traipsing through snowbanks. And I want to keep an eye on Rufus.”

  “I still need to check on the horses,” Sam said. “Monica, can you come with me? We don’t have to see the motorcycle gang at all. We’ll just go straight to the barn.”

  Jason stopped at the door. “I don’t want you going, Monica. We can’t both leave the baby.”

  She started to protest, but Melanie jumped up. “I’ll go with Sam.” She said firmly. “I haven’t been out of this house since we got here, and I need some fresh air.” She held up her hand when her husband began to speak. “No, George. I need to pull my weight here. It’s perfectly safe at the farm and Sam will look after me. Won’t you, Sam?”

  “Of course I will,” he agreed hastily. “Do you know anything about horses, Melanie?”

  “No,” she said. “I’m a city girl through and through. But I can help you look at them can’t I?”

  “Can I come?” Ty asked eagerly, already halfway to the door and his discarded boots. “I can help look too.”

  Melanie looked doubtful, but Sam nodded, so she agreed. “You can have your sleigh ride after all.” She told him.

  “Just be careful.” Monica helped Ty with his boots. “Do what Sam says and keep an eye open for anything unusual. And come back right away, because we’ll be worried about you every minute.”

  When the house was quiet, Tony grimly checked on the dog, then climbed the stairs to the attic. He moved slowly around the two mattresses parked next to the chimney towards an old trunk under the eaves.

  When he returned to the kitchen, he carried an antique revolver with a box of shells.

  “Where did you get that?” Monica looked up from where she was reading a battered copy of “Little Women”.

  “I have my secrets.” He smiled back at her. “This was my Grandfather’s gun. It’s so old, it’s never been registered and I don’t know if it will still shoot, but at least it looks threatening. This plus the pistol that George was carrying might make us safer.”

  “George’s gun wasn’t loaded.” She pointed out.

  He held up the box of shells. “Aha!” he said. “Look what I found tucked away in my stash. I think these might work.”

  Interested in spite of herself, Monica came over and examined the old revolver. She nodded. “I hope we never need to use anything like this,” she said. “but it’s a strange new world we’re facing. I mean who knew that I would be talking about going hunting for Bambi? ME!” and she pointed to her own chest. “I didn’t even like to see guns on TV, and now we might have to depend on them.”

  “Yep.” Tony was rummaging around in the bottom cabinet. “Where did Irma hide that damned gun?”

  “What gun?” Irma was coming from the porch with an arm full of wood.

  “George’s gun.” Tony reached back in the cupboard. “Here it is.”

  “It doesn’t have bullets.” She dropped the wood in the wood box and lightly stroked Jack’s head as she passed.

  “It does now.” Monica held up the box of shells. “At least we hope it does. And even empty it might be enough just to wave it around and look threatening.”

  “Where did you find Grampa’s old gun?” She looked with amazement to where it lay on the kitchen counter. “I thought we threw that away years ago.”

  Tony winked at her. “I have my secrets,” he told her. “I couldn’t bear to destroy such a beautiful thing, so I hid it along with this box of shells in the attic.”

  “You would be in such trouble,” His wife gave him a scornful look, “If things were different.”

  In the corner, Rufus groaned and the old couple quickly knelt at his side. “Are you okay, boy?” Tony said softly. “Mother, get him some water, will you?”

  She pushed the still full water dish closer to the dog’s muzzle. “He’s waking up, I think.” She said.

  And indeed, the dog opened both his eyes and lifted his head. “No, no. Lay down. Stay here.” He told the dog, and obediently he laid his white head back down on the floor.

  “How can he drink the water if you won’t let him lift his head?” Irma asked logically. “It’s better to encourage him to stand so he doesn’t stiffen up too much.”

  “I agree.” Monica put down the gun she had been examining and knelt beside them. “I’ll help you stand him up.”

  While they were discussing him, Rufus scrambled to his feet as if to show them no help was needed. He began to lap at the water.

  “Oh, thank God.” Irma stood up and Tony followed suit. They watched as the dog emptied the water dish. “You know,” Irma said thoughtfully, “I didn’t notice how thin he is getting.”

  “We’re all thin,” Monica answered. “We haven’t had anything except meat and vegetables for months, and even that’s rationed.” “And,” she continued, “Rufus has been eating the same as us. Not really a doggie diet.”

  “You’re right of course.” Irma looked troubled. “I hate to think the dog is hungry, but except for Ty and Jack, we all are.”

  “I’m not hungry,” Tony said. “But I have lost a few pounds.” He squeezed his own meagre waist. “But that’s a good thing, isn’t it? You said I was getting a little chunky.”

  “Okay,” Monica moved towards the living room. “Rufus is looking pretty good so let’s have some pretend tea while we wait for the others to come back. Then we can try out these old guns and see if they work.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  The living room was cloaked in shadows when they finally heard the stamping of boots on the front porch. Tony rushed to open the door.

  “It’s Sam and Melanie.” He said over his shoulder.

  “Oh, thank goodness.” Stella put down her knitting and leaned forward on her chair.

  “Are the men back yet?” Melanie shook off her own coat and then bent to help her small son with his boots. The others shook their heads and her shoulders drooped.

  Ty broke in excitedly. “I’m really cold.” He told them. “But I didn’t complain or cry once. Did I Mom?”

  “No, you were a very good boy.” She answered.

  Sam followed them into the house and set a large package on the floor. “He was a good, brave boy.” He affirmed. “The horses are all warm and as healthy as can be expected on a diet of straight hay. Luckily the boys had some meat all butchered when we got there, so we brought back a good-sized piece.”

  “I thought you wouldn’t see them?” Stella asked.

  “Mike heard us in the barn and came out to say ‘hi’,” Melanie explained. “They were as shocked as we were about the theft, and he put together this package for us. Luckily we had the sleigh so we could carry a lot.”

  “Good.” Irma picked up the box with difficulty and started towards the kitchen. “Come and help me get some cups, Ty and we’ll have some pretend hot chocolate to warm you up.”

  Happily, the boy followed her into the kitchen, chattering about the horses and seeing the ‘motorcycle gang’.

  When they had left the room and Sam was sitting beside his wife next to the fireplace, he filled them in on the news.

  “We have to be careful,” he told them. “The boys think someone tried to break into the barn last night but ran away when Gerry shouted at them. There were boot prints around the doorway too. They went to the school to see if anyone was there but didn’t get that far. They met some guy from town. He said everybody is pretty much out of supplies and those that have them aren’t sharing.” He sighed. “Can’t blame them, I suppose. It’s still a long time ‘til spring and even then, we can’t expect food to just appear.”

  The others were silent, listening to Irma and Ty chatting in the kitchen.
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  After a moment, Monica spoke up. “If only the power would come back on,” she lamented. “Or even if we knew for sure what caused it.”

  “I know,” Stella seldom spoke but now her voice was firm. “Not knowing makes it worse. And a power outage is one thing, but having everything motorized quit is downright scary.” Sam reached out and put his age-spotted hand over hers.

  She glanced down in surprise, then continued, “And, who’s in charge? “We haven’t seen any military, or police, or anything since that nice young man on a horse came by a few months ago.”

  The hand on hers tightened. She set her chin firmly. “No, Sam, I won’t be quiet. You don’t think I notice things, but I do.”

  “Of course you do.” Irma placed a pot of chopped beef on the barrel heater’s flattened top.

  “I’ll get this cooking,” she said briskly. “The men will be hungry when they come back.”

  “I’m hungry now!” Ty announced. He stared at the pot as if willing it to boil.

  Baby Jack began to sob and Monica picked him up from his nest in the playpen. “Jack’s hungry too,” she told the little boy. “But you both have to wait until it cooks.” She began to rock the baby, trying to soothe him as he continued to wail. “Hush, baby,” she sang softly to him and his sobs turned into sniffles.

  Irma turned away. “I’ll cut up some more meat.” Tears filled her eyes and she didn’t want Ty to see them. “The smaller it is, the quicker it cooks. I do have a bit of salt to add, so that’ll help, and we still have the vegetables we brought in before Christmas.”

  “Anybody want sauerkraut?” There was a collective groan, but Monica stood and moved towards the stairs. “I’ll go get a jar. It’s a nutritious supplement even if we aren’t fond of the taste.”

  “And,” Tony added, “the sooner it’s out of my bedroom the happier I’ll be. It smells like vinegar up there.”

  Yesterday felt years away for all of them.

  Stella’s needles began to click, the only sound in the darkening room. Even Jack had stopped crying and Ty was drifting into sleep on his mother’s lap. Sam sucked on an empty pipe and watched the fire. On the stove, the pot of water and beef began to bubble.