It was more for cover than anything else, so when it came time to check out, they combined carts, ditched the one in the middle of an aisle, and paid. People in the store were not quite panicked, but you could tell that they were worried and muttering every time their list sent them to a spot on the shelf that was empty. The duo were doing some pre-scouting. If things had looked dangerous, they would have skated right away.
“Do you want to head into Fort Smith?”
“Not really,” Angelica said, “but it would help if we knew for sure what was going on.”
“It’s not that I doubt Sherry,” Anna said, “but cops, in my experience, usually have a glass half empty outlook in life.”
“Girl, don’t get me started on Sherry,” Angelica said, throwing the groceries into the toolbox of the Littles’ truck.
“You still sore about that?” Anna asked as she got in the passenger side.
“Wouldn’t you be? Pretty cop lady who has the hots for your husband?” she asked her.
“I heard she wanted to get to know more about him, but then found out he was married.”
“Yeah, to me,” Angel said. “God, and then she sat down next to him at the dinner table last night?”
“You’re just a ball of jealousy and insecurity,” Anna told her, teasing her friend.
“Don’t get me started. For a bit there, I wanted to monkey stomp your bitch ass too.”
“Oh God,” Anna said with a giggle. “What made you change your mind?”
“Well…” she said, “this is just us two, right? Not our husbands or Momma gonna find out, right?”
“Sure,” Anna agreed, as Angel fired up the truck and got on the road to Fort Smith.
“And promise you won’t get mad at me until I tell you all of it?”
“It’s ok,” Anna told her giggling.
“It’s just that… Rob likes spending time with you. At first, I thought it was because you’re so athletic and pretty and you shoot guns like Jesus walked on water. But it wasn’t that.”
“What is it then?” Anna asked, not laughing now.
“He sees you like one of the guys. You’ve been there. You've done that, and you’re good at it.”
“You mean killing?” Anna asked her.
“No, I realized this before that… He respects you as a person and you both have the same interests and hobbies. He’s my husband and I love him to pieces, but I learned how to shoot because he loves shooting and that gave us one more thing we could do together.”
“But you and I built that range, we practice all the time,” Anna said, sort of getting where the other woman was coming from.
“But here’s the thing. Shooting used to be mine and Rob’s thing. I did it for him. Now? I’m doing it for me. I don’t know when it changed, but someday maybe I’ll be half as good as you. But you have to teach me that quick draw you pulled on Ed.”
“That takes lots of practice,” Anna said. “I actually took a month's worth of classes and training on western shooting for a gig I had. It wasn’t still pictures, they wanted video. I stressed out I wouldn’t be good enough, but I ended up having a lot of fun.”
“And now you’re greased lightning,” Angelica told her.
“I’m nowhere near as fast as my instructors, but I did beat most of the guys in my classes,” she admitted. “Only somebody who’s practiced or a natural can get good at that, I guess?”
“I don’t guess, I know. But here I am, off topic again. Thank you for being my friend and putting up with my jealous ass sometimes.”
“Don’t worry,” Anna told her, “and remember, we have to do some cardio tonight. I can’t get out of shape in case that modeling gig happens before this month's shoot.”
“You’re still going to do it, with everything that’s happened?” Angelica asked her.
“Especially since everything that’s happened,” Anna shot back.
They did not even get out of the truck at the first two places in Fort Smith. The parking lots were full, and people were acting stupid. Angelica was not for sure, but she thought somebody had been about to get mugged over some toilet paper as they were pulling back into traffic and heading to Costco.
“Do we even want to go inside?” Anna asked her.
“I don’t know. Is it worth having to put the beatdown on somebody trying to steal my toilet paper?”
Anna pulled the back of her t-shirt over her head, leaving her stomach bare, “I am the great Cornholio,” she proclaimed in a messed-up voice, “I need TP for my bunghole. Are you threatening me?”
Angel cracked a grin, “I miss those guys on MTV.”
“Back in the day when they still played music,” Anna said, pulling her shirt back in place. “Naw, if it looks the same at Costco on a weekday we know things are about to go pear shaped.”
“Ok, that sounds good, because we’re pulling in.”
Anna patted her side. She was comfortable with many different gun platforms and did not subscribe to the whole ‘a Glock for everything’, mantra that so many preppers went for. On this day, she was carrying a full-size CZ-P07 in a Hawg Holster, tucked into the small of her back. With a long t-shirt on, she knew people would have a hard time seeing it, as it did not print well. Guys would be looking a little south of there, or at her front. It was sort of the way of life, and that is how she knew she could get away with a full sized 9mm full of Maker P-Rex 135 grains.
She had learned her lesson during the assault at the farm. She now understood Rob’s frustrated rant and denigration of the 9mm round. She had used it with great effect, but sometimes you needed the right tool for the right job. On top of that, she needed the right bullet to stop it from over penetrating. Which meant she had her 9mm on her, because she had forgotten to order more, so she could load her own.
“Hold onto your ass,” Angelica said, turning into the lot.
“Looks pretty full,” Anna admitted. “Hey, pull up next to that dude loading that black minivan. I want to ask him something.
Angel nodded and did, hitting the window button for Anna.
“Excuse me sir,” Anna asked.
The man turned around, then saw that yes, indeed the lady was talking to him, and walked over to the side door.
“Hi,” he said simply.
“How crazy is it in there?” Anna asked him. “We kind of need to go shopping, but not if it’s nuts.”
“It’s getting bad in there,” he said. “The paper aisles are just gone. No TP, no paper towel. You can still find some meat there, but it’s getting pricey. Like, ‘four dollars a pound for chicken’ pricey.”
Angelica whistled. “How about ground beef?”
“They still had some of the ten-pound tubes of ground chuck, but the rest of it was gone. Same with most of the steak cuts. They had some pork loin, but that was about it. Lunch meats were actually pretty stocked still.”
“Thanks. Did you see how the dry goods, or the canned goods were?”
The man pointed at his flatbed cart. It was full of cases of shrink-wrapped cans, “People are buying it up like me. Probably have a day’s worth left in there if they miss another truck this week.”
“They didn’t get a delivery?” Anna asked.
“Apparently there’s some sort of big protests going on back east near one of the supply warehouses, and they’ve missed quite a few trucks.”
Shots rang out somewhere ahead of them in the parking lot, and they all flinched.
“Gotta run,” Anna called, as Angelica put the pedal down. People had started running all over the lot as more shots were fired. Being in the back of the lot, they were able to get out of there before they got stuck.
“Have we had enough fun for the day?” Angelica asked.
“Yeah, let’s go home. I just can’t even.”
“Me neither,” Angel said, patting her friend’s shoulder. “Think the boys will have things figured out for supper?”
“I was kind of hoping they would have Harry catch a mess of catfis
h again,” Anna said. “I really like your Mom’s way of frying it.”
“And the cornbread Luis made to go with it that night?” Angelica said, with a mock orgasmic voice.
“Holy shit, like, what the hell is going on there?” Anna asked, changing the subject.
“I know, but nobody is talking about it. It’s not official, and they’re afraid of hurting Rob’s feelings.”
“So, they’re like, going out?” Anna asked, being nosy and not caring one bit.
“You don’t go out in your late sixties and seventies,” Angelica said. “You’d break a hip that way.”
Anna snickered. “If it makes them happy, I’m happy for them. Why do they think Rob would be mad?”
“Because his dad’s been gone about ten years now. They really don’t talk about it, but I think they should. I didn’t get a vote. Anyways, I tried talking to them about it when I got up at 2am one night and they were sitting at the table drinking coffee and holding hands.”
“Maybe they were trying to get caught?” Anna asked her. “I mean, it could be something like that, right? Then she doesn’t have to have that conversation with Rob?”
“That’s some low-down, evil shit I never would have thought of… unless…”
“We were teenagers again,” they chorused, then broke up into laughter.
That got cut short as the first of many emergency vehicles went racing past in the other direction, making them pull to the side.
“Do you feel bad about not staying and helping, or whatever?” Angelica said after a moment.
“Not our circus, not our monkeys.”
“Good, just wanted to make sure,” Angelica sniffed. “I like having a girlfriend to talk to. Thank you.”
“Oh, any time sugar,” she said smiling.
“Do you think a tattoo shop would be open?” Angelica asked, looking at Anna’s sleeves.
“Angelica!” Anna said loudly, surprised.
That startled Angel who swerved. A car honked, nearly side swiped them, and then they were back in their own lane. They laughed until the tears came down their cheeks, smudging their mascara. They knew what was going on wasn’t funny, but when you realize that the end of the world doesn’t happen with a bang, it happens with a whimper, you worry that you’re near the end. Both of them thought a slow burn economic collapse would have been crazier sooner, but they were seeing it happening.
“I think I’m going to turn on the local radio station, see what the shooting was.”
“Could be something innocent,” Anna offered.
“Could be, but I doubt it.”
Twenty-Seven
“So, I want to introduce a topic that might be controversial here,” Andrea said, standing up with her crutches.
“Everybody knows Jeffrey Epstein didn’t kill himself,” Curt interrupted, which promptly earned him a middle finger.
“No, really, go on,” Leah said.
“Yesterday on the news they showed the riots and what a crap show everything has been. Today it’s showing much of the same, but it is spreading outwards. We all heard from Angel and Anna on their trips. I think it’s going to get worse, and that’s why I think we should think about the community we live in, and how we want to be seen here.”
“What do you mean?” Dante asked her.
“In all the prepper and survivalist fiction I’ve read, who are the most important people in a community? Doctors, dentists, veterinarians, mechanics…?”
“How about the people who get the food you eat, and clean things to drink? Maybe even a nice cold beer when everyone else is drinking dirty, cholera infested, piss water?”
Anna nodded at that. “So you’re saying maybe we should do this, because if the breakdown happens, the community will be invested in helping to protect us?”
“Holy shit, that’s smart.” Steven beamed at both ladies.
“I mean, we don’t want to be so crazy about things that the community is jealous, but the farmer’s market idea isn’t a bad idea. It’d show people we’re just regulars like them, and not monsters like they made us out on TV…” Andrea said, her words trailing off at the end.
“But is that all we do? For now?” Curt asked.
“I think so? I mean, if groceries are going to be hard to find, people are starting to panic, it won’t be long until a bunch of people gang up and start going farm to farm, getting what they want. We have four or five families here, depending on how you count it—” Andrea’s arm was slapped by Curt, “whatever, math. We do not have the numbers to hold off an all-on assault like Anna did if they all came at once. We would be overrun. And those USDA goons almost got in. If it had not been for Big Red and Harry getting his sleep schedule screwed up, we’d probably be at gunpoint, getting vouchers for everything they stole. I think we can get in front of this and use it to our advantage. But it has disadvantages.”
“Yeah, like buying a bug out location in the middle of nowhere isn’t any good if everybody knows where you’re at?” Steven asked.
“Or that people will know that we potentially have food.”
“We’re about to get a ton more too,” Luis said as he walked in. “The experiments with the fish pond are working wonderfully.”
“See?” Angelica said. “But if we keep them between the two fences, what’s to keep them from wandering the rest of the farm, or even having federal agents sneak through one at a time until they have a big team in place?”
“Aunt Kerry had two ideas about that,” Rob said. “First, was keep it by the driveway on either side. Hell, we could even put up another fence. It would take me a half a day to get it done on both sides with the tractor. The second thing she suggested was do it by membership. She didn’t say how, but what if we only allow people past the first gate if they’ve gone through a background check, and have somebody vouch for them for membership?”
“We can’t run background checks on that many people,” Anna said. “That’d be crazy.”
“Sorry, I mean, having somebody in the community give a thumbs up or down on each person. Not like a committee, but somebody who knows all the ins and outs, all the dirty deeds…”
“Maybe it should be a committee?” Dante said. “Less work for us, plus we don’t know many people out here besides your family, Rob and Angel.”
“What about Grandma Goldie, Sherry, LeBaron, who’s older than the manger Jesus was born in, and Kerry?” Leah asked.
“You threw LeBaron in so it wouldn’t be a girls only party, didn’t you?” Dante asked her.
“And he knows everybody, or knows of them. Same way with Goldie.” Leah finished.
“Are we decided? Do we want to wait, or do we want to vote?” Curt asked, used to being the one to organize and direct the discussions the group had so they didn’t get too far out in the weeds.
“Vote,” was murmured.
“Rob and Angel, you’re in this too,” Andrea said suddenly. “You both get a vote.”
Angelica looked shocked, but Rob nodded gratefully.
“Ok,” Curt began, “does anybody object to the plan? Having the market here between the gates, having more fencing put in, and only allowing folks in who are vetted by long time members of the community?”
“Wait, that was a lot,” Anna said.
“Ok, I just explained a plan. Does anybody vote no?”
Nobody said anything.
“Anybody voting anything other than yes?” Curt asked.
Rob smirked.
“Ok, so it’s unanimous. We’ll bring the farmer’s market here. Those commie bastards won’t dare take a shot at us here again.”
“Kill a commie for mommy,” Angelica said.
“Your mother in law wouldn’t want you to kill somebody if you didn’t have to,” Leah said, in mock shock.
“My mom doesn’t consider communists human, so they don’t count,” Rob offered.
“Ok, then it’s settled,” Curt told him. “Luis, mind if I take a peek at your greenhouse?”
&nb
sp; “Not at all,” he said laughing. “Did my package come in?”
“Yes, it’s on the picnic table in the workshop. Everwilde Seeds?”
“Si, they sell in bulk for market gardens and smaller veggie farms. Heirloom, hybrid and organic. It will help me round out what I was able to trade for. I really want to see if my misspent youth can be redeemed in a healthier way.”
“Way I hear it, your new lady friend knows all about that misspent part. Just be careful in the corn rows in the northern end of the field.”
“Andrea!” Curt said.
“I feel like you two are dancing around something. Anything I need to know about?” Rob asked Luis.
“I am friends with your mother. At our age, that’s probably all it’ll ever be,” Luis said to Rob, straight up.
“Good, she’s been lonely a long time, and since you’ve been around she’s been happy,” Rob told him. “I even caught her singing this morning, but I think it was to fuck with Aunt Kerry’s hangover.”
“I… thank you,” Luis said with a laugh. “I was told nobody could anticipate your reaction, and we didn’t want to hurt you.”
“And I kept slipping up,” Andrea said, “but oh my gosh, aren’t they so cute together?”
“As long as I don’t have to call you Dad until after the wedding, I’m fine with it,” Rob said, teasing Luis. Angelica snickered as Luis turned almost purple.
“Good, let’s get on it,” Dante said with a grin. “Would one of you ladies, or Rob, teach me to run the tractor with the auger on it?”
“You’ve… no, you haven’t yet. Just the forks.”
“Exactly. And I want you to teach me the combine when we get to the corn, and whatever you use for the soybeans.”
“Look at you, Farmer Dante!” Leah said.
“Y’all act like a bunch of horny teenagers sometimes,” Luis said, then stomped out of the impromptu meeting.
There was silence for a minute, then they laughed quietly, not wanting to hurt his feelings.
Behind The Curve-The Farm | Book 2 | The Farm Page 17
