by Reed, N. C.
So, the last thing she wanted to do was hear anything negative about his life expectancy. She might have to face that at some point, but until she did, she preferred to live in the now.
“Well, I guess we'll just have to get them all umbrellas,” she settled for saying, and Martina chuckled dryly at that.
“That might work,” she nodded, smiling. “It certainly won't hurt anything, eh?”
-
Janice Hardy had been crushed to find 'Mister Leon' sitting on the porch, lost to them forever. She had managed to hold herself together until she had summoned someone to help, but after that she had crumbled. The girl had lived a hard life and Leon had been a father figure to her that she had lacked for the entirety of that life. She did not cope well with his passing, nor his funeral, and a day after his burial she was honestly wondering what she would do now and how she would cope on her own.
That was the state Clay and Lainie found the girl in when they visited Leon's house the day following the Old Man's funeral.
“Miss Lainie, Mister Clay,” Janice managed as she stood. “Can I get you anything?”
“No, sweetie, we're fine,” Lainie assured her as Brick came into the living room.
“How are you two holding up?” Clay asked. Both had been close to his grandfather in their own unique ways. While he figured Brick would be fine, he anticipated Janice having trouble in the days and weeks ahead.
“It will take some adjustment,” Brick admitted. “Still, should we not be asking you that?” he raised an eyebrow.
“I think we're okay,” Clay replied, looking at a red-eyed Lainie, who nodded but didn't speak. “As you said, it's an adjustment. I was gone for so long, it was like I had to get to know him all over again when I got home,” Clay sighed deeply. “For all that I haven't been home that long, we had grown very close. I'll miss him. I probably always will.”
“Mister Clay,” Janice asked softly. “I... where do I need to go, now?”
“I thought you had the day off,” Clay frowned. “I told them to let Gwen, JJ and Millie handle things so you and the twins could have a day or two to-,”
“Oh, no,” Janice actually interrupted, which was so unusual that Clay was caught completely by surprise. “I... I meant where was I supposed to live now?”
“Uh, is there something wrong with here?” Clay glanced at Brick, who shook his head, looking at Janice just as Clay and Lainie were.
“Oh, no! It's fine!” Janice hastened to assure him. “I just... I mean with Mister Leon... I mean...” She finally trailed away, not knowing how to finish.
“You think you need to find a new place to live with Leon gone,” Lainie looked at the girl. “That's what you're getting at, isn't it?”
“Yes ma'am,” Janice nodded, wiping a single tear from her cheek. “I don't know where to go.”
“Janice, you don't have to go anywhere,” Clay assured her.
“But... I mean, with Mister Leon... with him... not here,” she couldn't say 'gone', “there's no reason for me to be here, is there?”
“You were never here to wait on Leon, Janice,” Clay told her. “At least that wasn't the original intention, anyway. I admit I'm glad you were here for him. It meant a lot to him and it also made me feel a lot better knowing you were here to watch out for him.”
“I was glad to do it,” Janice smiled, albeit weakly. “He... he was very kind to me.”
“He loved you, honey,” Lainie embraced the younger woman.
“You think so?” The hopeful look on Janice's face was almost heartbreaking.
“I know so,” Clay nodded firmly. “As to moving, this house is mine now,” he smiled slightly. “With the proviso in his will that the two of you live here as long as you wanted, regardless of how long that was. So as far as I'm concerned, this is your home, yours and Brick's, and it will be for as ever long you want to stay here, even if it's permanent.”
“I just... I mean I assumed...” once more Janice had to stop, overwhelmed yet again by her emotions and the turmoil she was in.
“I know,” Clay smiled. “But those words came directly from Leon's mouth, sweetie. You and Brick live here. This is your home for as long as you want it to be. Lainie and I have our place and everyone else has one as well. You may gain a new roommate at some point, but it won't be soon. So, if that's what is bothering you, I think you can lay that aside, okay?”
“I just... I just didn't know where... I didn't know where I'd be living,” Janice was almost trembling. Clay remembered that Janice had basically been homeless when she met Lainie.
“Janice,” he stepped closer to her and placed one hand gently on her shoulder. “I want you to listen to me, okay? You, are, home. This is your home and so long as it stands and you want to be here, you will be. You have a home, and a family around you that cares for you and will always watch out for you. You don't have to worry about that ever again so long as I can help it. No matter what happens, if we have a roof over our heads, you'll have one over yours. Understand?”
“You mean it?” Janice's lip was trembling.
“Absolutely, sugar,” Lainie promised, hugging her tightly. “Absolutely.”
“It's the least I can do after you were so good to the Old Man, Janice,” Clay winked at her. “Putting up with his gruff and growl is a job all its own,” he laughed softly.
“He wasn't so awful,” Janice shook her head. “He was a good man.”
“One of the best, sweetie,” Lainie nodded. “He just fought hard to hide it,” she added with a grin.
“Why?” Janice asked, puzzlement clear on her face.
“Said he had a reputation to protect,” Clay chuckled at her. “Being a hard to get along with old fart was part of that.”
“So it was,” Brick nodded in agreement. “We will watch after the place for you,” he told Clay.
“I know,” Clay assured the big man. “There will always be a place here for you, too,” he added. “Always.”
“I am grateful for it,” Brick replied gently.
“Leon set great store by you, Brick,” Clay reminded him.
“So do I,” Lainie went to Brick and hugged him as well, raising up on her toes to kiss his cheek.
“So,” Clay clapped his hands lightly. “Assuming that issue is settled, we came to see if you guys were okay and if you needed anything. Everything okay with the house?”
“Fine,” Brick promised.
“I don't know when we'll get to Leon's things,” Clay warned. “Expect it to be a few days at least. Is that a problem?”
“Of course not,” Brick shook his head. “We have shut his door and left it closed. Take whatever time you need. Guests cannot impose deadlines on the hosts,” he grinned slightly.
“You aren't guests,” Clay told him flatly. “You're family.”
CHAPTER THREE
It was a week after Leon's funeral that the younger Leon, the Deuce, hit an idea.
“Railroad rails!” he mimicked the old 'V8' commercial's famous head slap.
“What?” Millie looked up from where she was looking at a radio schematic, familiarizing herself with the inner workings of the tactical radios the team used when they were away from the farm.
“We need quality steel,” Leon told her. “There's tons of it on the railway! Those rails are made from tool grade steel in some cases! They're perfect!”
“Perfect for what?” she asked, getting to her feet.
“Anything!” Leon was excited. “There's practically nothing we can't do with them!”
“And if someone gets a train running after you've hijacked the rails?” Millie asked. “That could be a problem.”
“There are spur lines all around us,” Leon waved her concerns aside. “Paper mill, the car parts plant, the old battery factory, the grain mill,-”
“Okay, I get it,” Millie held up a hand. “There's plenty. How hard is it to get a railroad rail off the railroad bed?”
-
“Well, that is definitely
a good source of steel,” Darrell Goodrum admitted. “But tearing up a railroad is a job and then some. And there's nothing much for it but brute muscle, either.”
“That ain't the only problem,” Jake chimed in. “Some of those rails these days are as long as a flatbed rail car. They started making them as long as they could carry them to save time and money laying new tracks. If they had to make repairs they can always cut and weld in a patch along the longer rail.”
“The spurs into the places the kid called out won't have that,” Greg was shaking his head. “That battery plant closed years ago, and the paper mill has been there since before we were born. Those rails will be old ones, probably. I don't honestly know about that car plant, and it's the farthest away from here, anyway. The spur line to the old battery plant is probably three miles long all by itself. And there's two side rails there, too.”
“Paper mill has even more,” Jake was nodding. “They had multiple side rails to load trains with outgoing product and others to bring in logs or empty cars. I don't how much steel you guys think you need, but if we pull up a mile of railroad rails, well... that's a lot of steel.”
“So it is,” Darrell agreed. “And we can do about whatever we need to with it. You wanted to make tool heads and such? That material would be ideal for any of that. And to make the finer tools you wanted, too. It would let us leave the softer metals for horseshoes and such, too.”
“Well, sounds like we got us a plan, then,” Greg slapped his thigh. “Time we talk to the Boss and get his input, yeah?”
-
“That's a lot of manpower,” Clay mused. “And a hell of a lot of work,” he added.
“That is all true,” Jake nodded. “But the steel is worth the trouble, and we'll need it. If not now then later on. And someone else might get the idea between now and then. May already have, even.”
“We used to pick up railroad stakes that came loose and make picks and hatchets out of them,” Clay smiled at the memory. “Remember that? Take 'em into the Ag shop a school and grind 'em down?”
“We'll be sure a get you one,” Greg promised with a snort of amusement.
“Well, I will leave you two in charge of this, since it's your idea,” Clay told Jake and Greg.
“Actually, it was the Littler Leon that had this idea,” Greg pointed out.
“Tell me you didn't actually call him that,” Clay groaned.
“No, of course not,” Greg assured him. “It's Leon the Younger, right?”
-
“Jackass,” Leon the Deuce was still muttering under his breath.
“What's in your craw now?” Millie asked him. She was mostly teasing, as Leon was rarely in a bad mood.
“Ah, nothing,” he waved it off. “What are you doing?”
“Well, nothing at the moment,” Millie replied. “Finally finished with that training, and I don't have to work this afternoon, so I'm at loose ends. It did occur to me that no one has really shown me around this place other than the houses and a few of the defenses,” she hinted.
“Well, I suppose I could be persuaded to maybe show you around this afternoon,” Leon tried to play coy. “I mean, you know, assuming I don't have anything pressing to do,” he added. Millie moved to his side and grasped his arm, pulling it to where it was squeezed into her ample bosom.
“Just how 'pressing' do you need it to be, Ace?” she smirked at his red face.
“I think that'll do it,” he assured her. “Let’s get the golf cart.”
“Cool!”
-
“Railroad rails?” Titus Terry looked scandalized. “Are you serious? You know how heavy that shit is?”
“Well, if there are enough of us, it won't be too bad,” Gordy shrugged. “Shame we can't get the track hoe along, though. Lifting them with it would be a cinch, sure enough.”
“Maybe a come-along or a winch, running over a truck crane?” Heath Kelly suggested. “We could put it on the side of the flatbed and then swivel it around to place the rail on the truck?”
“Not a bad idea,” Gordy agreed thoughtfully. “I don't think we have anything quite like that, but we could probably make one, right?” he looked at Jake.
“Sure,” the big mechanic nodded. “Wish I'd thought of it, myself. It's a fine idea and will help tremendously. I was dreading having to do all that lifting and toting.”
“How hard can it be?” Kade asked, then winced as Titus Terry's hand slapped the back of his head.
“Shut up!” every voice in the room demanded.
“What?” Kade rubbed his head as he glared at Titus. “I'm just saying!”
-
“That was fast,” Clay noted as he stood looking at the flatbed truck that Jake had attached a crane to, complete with a battery powered winch taken from a wrecked four-wheeler they had found.
“You guys already had that arm,” Jake pointed at the crane. “Your dad said you used to load hay with it.”
“Must have been after I left,” Clay mused. “I used these,” he flexed his arms, “to load hay back in school.”
“Probably why it took so long,” Jake jeered. “Anyway, with this working, the hard part should be just getting the rails loose and ready to load.”
“How hard will that be?” Clay asked.
“We may have to use the torch to cut them loose,” Jake shrugged. “I'm hoping we can just pop the stakes loose and pull them up. That and the rail bed used to be the only thing they depended on to hold the rails in place. I ain't really looked at one, lately. But the places we're going are all old-style rails.”
“Maybe they won't be too bad.”
-
“Sam, you'll have the tower duty tomorrow,” Clay told Samantha Walters, catching her on the way to Deuce's Place to meet Gordy. “Heath hasn't been able to go on many jaunts off the farm, so with you and Kurtis trained now, I want to let him off that tower some. Think you can handle it?”
“Of course,” Sam smiled, nodding. “Not a problem. I'll be there at daybreak.”
“Thanks,” Clay smiled in return. “Probably be a long day,” he warned. “No idea how long this job will take. In fact it will probably take more than one day,” he added.
“I can do it,” Sam promised. “Besides, it will give my back a break break from the garden hoe,” she laughed.
“That's the spirit!” Clay laughed.
-
“We're going to the battery plant first, because it's closest,” Jake told the crew the next morning. “We shouldn't have any difficulty, but watch for snakes. Copperheads love that kind of rough country and this is their time of year, so be careful and watch where you step. We'll have someone on each side of the track with a .410 watching for them, but that doesn't mean you can be careless. Take heed where you step and where you put your hands.”
“We'll have an escort who will watch the area behind and they'll check the old plant itself to make sure no one is there. All we have to do is concentrate on the rails themselves. Wear your gloves, watch your fingers and toes, and wear your safety glasses. Someday we'll probably not have any safety gear left, but so long as we've got it, we're going to use it. Let's not be in a position to call anyone 'Patches' or 'Lefty', okay?”
“Notice how it's always 'Lefty', and never 'Righty'?” Zach said to no one in particular. “Why is that?”
“One in every crowd,” Jake shook his head sadly. “If there's nothing else, lets load up. Quicker we start, quicker we're done.”
Clay watched the convoy out of sight, shaking his head again at how far they were stretching themselves. Greg and Sienna were both in Jordan today, with Xavier and Heath as back-up. Now Jake was taking Roddy Thatcher, Ellen Kargay, Tandi Maseo, an extremely mouthy and reluctant Darrell Goodrum, Brick, Gordy, Zach, Titus, Kade, Kurtis Montana and Cliff Laramie on the work detail with Mitchell Nolan, Nate Caudell, Corey Raynard and Vicki Tully on security with a Hummer and one of the four-wheel drive Cougars.
That was practically every member of the security team
off the farm, leaving far too few on watch for Clay's piece of mind. One day this over extending would bite them in the ass if they weren't careful.
And that would be on him, Clay was forced to admit. He was the one who scheduled stuff like this, so it fell to him to stop it from happening. He was somewhat comforted by how many of the farm's residents were now decently trained in defense, but using them exposed them to danger, and it tore at him. Knowing that it was far better than their being left defenseless didn't help, either.
But it did mean that the farm was in far better defensive shape than it had been just two months ago. Sam was manning the tower while Gary Meecham was in the tower on the Hill, and Jody was in the cupola as usual. Virgil Wilcox, Kevin Bodee and Stacy Pryor were on call, with Clay and Jose Juarez also available if needed. Kandi Ledford was also on the farm, and while she might not have confidence in herself after what had happened in Jordan, she was still well trained and had done well on the range.
It would be enough under all but the worst circumstances. Greg's trip to Jordan was a one day affair, too, so the four of them would be back this afternoon, late, and be available for duty tomorrow. He was pretty sure the work crew would have to go out another day or even two to get enough of the rails to matter. He determined to himself that once that job was done, he was going to set a minimum standard of how many people would be off the farm at any one time in the future, and enforce that standard regardless of what the need might be.
There was nothing more pressing that protecting their home.
-
“I ought 'o smack the shit outta you,” Titus grumbled as he fought to pry the stake loose from a rail on the track bed leading to the abandoned battery plant. “How hard can it be,” he muttered under his breath.
“Well, I didn't know, alright?” Kade defended himself as he huffed and puffed alongside his friend. “I never stole a railroad before! I didn't think it'd be this hard.”
Across from the two of them, Brick House calmly pulled another stake loose, tossing it into the growing pile between the rails before moving forward. Ahead of them, Jake Sidell did the same thing.
