Our End of The Lake

- Our End of The Lake

- Midpoint

OUR END OF THE LAKE

Preppers Road March

Book 1 of the Prepper Trilogy

By

RON FOSTER

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2011 by Ron H. Foster

All rights reserved.

Smashwords Edition License Notes

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Acknowledgment

To My Special Friend Cheryl Chamlies

For All Her Inspiration and Support

1

Grid Down

Ah hell! David muttered to himself as he began trying to look around the room after the lights went out in the restaurant just minutes after sitting down and receiving his menu.

“Hey Jack?” He inquired of the shadow sitting next to him, “Have you been having brown outs in the city lately?”

“Not that I know of” Jack responded. “But Atlanta always has some kind of shortage of infrastructure capacity and common sense going on” he grumbled. Jack was going to be David’s new boss at FEMA and after he had just passed the final interview process this morning, Jack was welcoming his new Emergency Planner to the area by buying lunch for him and bringing along the areas section chief for an introduction.

Blake the area’s section chief was a grizzled old First Sergeant from the Vietnam era that had retired from the Army and was soon to retire from his second career at FEMA. Me and Blake I decided, were going to get along just fine, as it was he who had suggested this particular restaurant with a sly wink towards my direction, that this place was his hangout and part of his way he of getting to know folks in his command at the familiar environs of the bar attached to it, and “Hellooooooo! Do you like beer or whiskey as your poison of choice?” Blake asked me.

“Don’t need to ask me twice to help indulge in some adult beverages, but I best explain.” I told him, ”I have a bit of Native American in me and although I love the whiskey, it doesn’t love me.” The last statement produced a loud guffaw from the old bar reveler.

“David, you are all right! You know your limitations.” Blake did look at me a bit comically evil and said, “I might test your limits later though with some good sour mash whiskey.”

“That would be Jack and Coke for me.” I replied. But I protested to my new leader, “Hey, you’re supposed to lead me away from my downfalls, not towards them.” I say with a chuckle.

He looked serious about this for a moment and said, “I need to see you at your worst, so I know if you will restrain yourself at your worst, while still trying to do your best.”

Well, that’s one subject I am not going there on, so I tried to direct the conversation to something else that showed my experience with alcohol, without any admissions to my possibly wavering ways or occasional wilder side tendencies, that I learned the hard way to curb. He started eying my shoes and made some comment about needing a little touch up polish.

Damn, I thought, this old goomer who had been pushing troops his whole life should lighten up on the personal quizzing and inspection, he already knows every trick and excuse, but we aren’t in ‘this Man’s Army’: as I say, “no more” and his scrutiny down to a ‘boot inspection’ is not something a old seasoned trooper should have to endure. For those of you readers not familiar with the era of the last military basic training cycles of “Nam” requiring a “boot inspection”. It is a degrading and necessary adaptation to military life that is at first experienced by those uninitiated soon after the point when you sign that first bit of paper that that swears your allegiance to America and the Constitution and that resolutely puts you in the Army for the duration of your enlistment.

Everybody joins the military for their own reasons. I can summarize based on my own experience why anyone would do it now and join up for the same economic hardships we faced then. A statement by one of my former Drill sergeants regarding enlistments can be summarized as a quote. The number one understanding to relate to all reasons people enlist is ‘A bare ass, bare pockets and a bare cupboard, will put you in the military’. I did it myself and remain proud that I signed on the dotted line, because I was a dumbass first and foremost to the facts of real war, ignorant to the facts of life and also needed the ultimate way out of my then current situation, as so many others choose to do.

But, I digress, the reader really wants to know at this point what’s up with the analogy of the “marked boots” thingy I mentioned. When you’re sorry trainee ass arrived at boot camp in my day (hippie era early 70s), you get eventually herded into a warehouse to get your ‘basic issue’ in every branch of service. You get measured and rushed down a dizzying array of equipment and a line of folks throwing gear at you, that you put into one of two duffel bags. One is for field equipment; one is personal clothes under the ID of uniforms, including your civvies you walked in with. When you go out the door, if you’re a man, your head has been shaved to make everyone appear uniform and you can’t recognize anybody after that, including yourself, and now you are also carrying two 40 plus inch canvas or nylon bags approximately 65lb to 75 lb each of BS, that is your gear and goods needed for this new career to account for as well as the papers assigning it to you.

At sometime in this process of being herded about, you are told to grab one pair of your two pair of boots and put them on your feet that have been covered with your civilian shoes up to this point. Then you are told to step up on a wooden stool, face front and allow someone to take a pencil eraser they dip in white gummy paint to apply it to the top of the boots you are now wearing. I wore black boots then you had to polish, just keep in mind times are changed now. One dot per boot for two reasons, you are too dumb to remember to change your boots every other day for hygiene purposes and so the DI can get on your ass, if you forget or try to cheat. I included this bit of reminiscing for those that think about signing up for the most eye-opening experience that you will ever have, put some dots on your daily wear shoes and then try to explain them to friends without my ramble, you can’t do it unless …. Seen it, done it been there.

Let us get back up to the here and now, as some folks might say. After a moment or two of the restaurant’s elevator music being shutdown by the power outage, the normally subdued voices of the restaurants patrons began to murmur loudly and inquisitively about what to do next. The normally helpful and subdued waiters and waitresses began to lose their cool amongst what was starting to look like a laser light show of little flashlights flipping back and forth across the room, as they turned to respond to the next dufus customer loudly grousing about if the power would be back on soon, ‘I don’t think I should have to pay for this’ etc.

Blake was totally unperturbed about this and said, “Let’s go out to the porch bar until this shit settles,” as he flicked on a little photon light on his key ring to guide the way.

Acknowledging this was the best idea we had heard all day, Jack and I made haste to follow the old First Shirt through the maze of tables and freaked out staff. The staff at this point was retreating towards the establishments center bar to confer with the managers on what to do next, thus leaving the patrons in the dark to their dismay, when we swung open the door to a bright sunlight lit Tiki Bar looking affair on the back deck.

“What’s up Sarge!?” said an old NCO club manager looking type. as he was already mixing Blake’s favorite potion of a Singapore Sling.

“Powers out!” roared Blake, as he sidled up to the bar and started searching his pockets for one of those little cigars I hadn’t seen in years. “David, this is our medic and bartender friend, Bob. He will also answer to a few other names that you might hear before the night wears out.”

I grinned as these two old soldiers embraced and noticed that Jack wasn’t having any problem getting his drink without ordering it yet either. Bob extended his hand with an exaggerated gesture and said,” So you’re the latest master of disaster going to work for frick and frack,” dutifully eying Jack and Blake.

“Yeah, that would be me,” I admitted, then I tried to ease my way into a more comfortable conversation after enduring a painful pause of scrutiny, while watching the twinkle in his eye as a side glance went to Top. I have seen that look before, I recollected, amongst the old mud boot military cadre, it meant ‘what do you really think of this recruit?’ A quick nod by both my superiors, and a slap on the back by Jack, meant ‘he is ok’ and we settled down to enjoy our drinks, in that camaraderie all ex-service men share.

“You ever have been to Atlanta before?” asked Bob in my general direction, as he started to serve some more patrons pouring in the side door to take advantage of our great idea to partake of adult beverages in the light of day.

“Yes. I used to be a stockbroker up here awhile back,” I replied.

“A ‘legalized bookie,’ huh!” cried Bob with a laugh. “We got several kinds of those weasels that make their home here. Hey, Bill come on and meet David.” he exclaimed pointing a finger in my direction.

Bill was an Armani suit wearing, manicured, stuck up ass who I think breed in the gutters of the financial district of Bankhead and that always seem to be some sort of a inbreed Atlanta lounge lizard there. Bill half assed waved at me, and then said something about not starting any shit to the bartender, who just smirked happily back, secure in his own domain and place in the city’s pecking order. The bar had crisscrossed timbers for shade and several ceiling fans lazily stirred the humidity, but it did not seem to be doing anything to help beat the 95 degree Georgia heat, so I loosened my tie and got out of my suit coat.

Jack asked me if I had a long drive this morning coming in from Montgomery, Alabama. I replied, “No, the trip was not too bad, because I missed a lot of the rush hour traffic during travel times.” I reminded the group that I had a 10.00 o’clock appointment with them, so I had left out at 6.30 AM to be on the safe side and it took me about three hours to get in to town. I remarked I sure would like to see the power comeback on so I could get something to eat, because I hadn’t had the opportunity to munch anything today. Bob said I would hear the cash register cycle when it did and shoved some pretzels my way to tide me over. Meantime, I see his boss and what looks to be a bouncer waving him down from the corner and he trotted off to their summons.

I told Blake I was going to the restroom, if I could find it, and would he give me navigation directions.

“You want to borrow my light, David?” he asked while waving a ham size fist full of keys it was attached too.

“No thanks.” I said, “Got my own.” and waved my keys back at him.

“What the hell you got on that thing?” Jack exclaimed, as he was eying what evidently he thought was some kind of huge baffling mystery of accumulated key ring add-ons.

I laughed and said, I’d explain it all when I got back. But at the moment, my back teeth were floating and I was in a hurry to recycle some of the beer that I had consumed with him and his partner’s interview process.

I wandered back into the restaurant shining my light in front of me and noticed they had raised what few shades there were and that the front doors were open with quite a loud commotion of voices drifting in from outside. Lights were still out, so I didn’t think bar fight or anything other than the restaurant and customers bitching about bills. I took care of my business and was headed back out the door to rejoin my comrades, but got interested in what appeared to be a mob of people at the front door of the business just milling around. I need to go be nosy; I thought and proceeded to check out what the fuss was about. As I neared the doors I heard I heard a hubbub of voices asking ‘what would cause a car not to work?’ and ‘why are they cars stalled?’ etc., I then got a sinking feeling as I exited the doors.

‘Oh shit. Lord protect us!’ I thought, as I see disabled cars and the drivers psycho-babbling about. Frigging EMP! Now wait, it’s not nuclear caused, well as near as I can tell at the moment. Skies clear, no tell tale mushroom cloud, etc. Think man think. Ok, radiation is not a worry for the moment; maybe this is a natural event. Haven’t I been repeating the warning that NASA already put out about solar storm cycles and CME events for years? Well, Merry Christmas, your ass is stuck in the middle of the hell you predicted.

2

Spread the Word

“Daaaamn!” I was drawling out to myself in my southern fried accent, what to do, what to do, as I reentered the restaurant, ok go calm David. Hey! There’s a steak knife on that table, I need that and slipped it in my suit pants pocket. It was one of those rounded point, politically correct jobs, that although I was bitching about it not having a usable point, but no… “oat meal beats no meal’ AND! I was glad it wasn’t a worry to slide in my pocket. I had a knife. I had an edge for multiple survival tasks I needed to perform soon. As I opened the door to the bar, I thought about all the years of Risk Communications I had studied, but studies didn’t prepare me for what I had to do next and that steak knife in my pocket was a joke if I thought it was the best advice I could give on how to get through the crap hitting the fan I’d just witnessed.

Jack was grinning like a Cheshire cat when I returned and said, “Ok, lemme see that key ring!”

I said, “Jack, poke Blake and come talk to me over here, I got some SITRAP to share (situation report).”

Blake was giving Bill hell about never having served in the military and objecting to Bills BS liberal, negative attitude on FEMA`s response to Katrina, when a poke to the ribs got his attention.

“WHAT!” Blake said, as he had slightly alcohol induced steely daggers coming out his eyes in our direction.

“David requires our attention to some problem and is looking awful serious.” Jack said.

“Better be good.” Blake hissed and followed us towards the decks railing.

Before arriving at the railing, I turned and hesitantly said, “Come over here,” while lowering my voice.

“DAMMIT, Dupree!” Blake directed at me, “I don’t take interference well, so what the hell is your problem needing such urgent attention?”

I stared into the big old mans eyes and said, “’Houston, we got a problem’ is about all I can say that fits this.”

Puzzled, he looked at me and I waved them both closer to the railing instructing both to, “Have a look.”

Peachtree St., the artery to the city and the heart of the financial district, as far as the eye could see in both directions, was Kaput! Cars, trucks, service vans etc. littered the scenery as far as the eye could see. All the vehicles and occupants were in various states of disarray depending on the driving skills of the operators. People were just stopped in the streets, people were on curbs, newly attached to light poles, head on wrecks, rear ended etc. it was a Machiavellian hell. This wasn’t a power outage-party anymore; it was every Emergency Management offices’ worse nightmare!

Simultaneously both my bosses said, “Oh HELL!’ and I responded,” You got that right.”

“We got to get moving,” said Jack.

“Yeah, but where?” I asked Blake.

Lord help him he is a card, said “First back to our drinks and then talk privately about the bar tab.” Heads turned up to eye each other, solemn nods and back to the bar we went. Jack ordered a new round to refresh the drinks we swallowed in kind immediately and then we moved off from the rest of the 40 or so revelers, who had not a clue yet as to what had just happened to end the world as we had known it.

I got to give it to Blake, after serving more than 45years for his country, he wanted to stay on duty and make it back the 13 miles by foot to the closest FEMA headquarters to try to help with this situation. Jack and I glanced at one another, considered and nothing more needed to be said. There were no plans for this type of event that we could help with, and we had family and friends to help survive. We turned to Blake to try to dissuade him, but he hushed our objections with a wave of his hand.

He said, “Look, I don’t have anyone but me basically and you are the only troops I can look out for, so...let me give you 10 minutes of advice and then get your asses out of here.”

“But…,” I interjected.

And before I could carry on, he hammered one of those giant meat hooks some people call hands on me and said, “Hush, I got my duty. You, David, are low man on the totem pole, so you listen to me first. Go get Bob to give you two pitchers of water and three shots of Jack. Tell him the Jack Daniels is for me, he understands and will get the message.”

“While David goes on a mission, I will discuss something with you, Jack, privately,” he said refocusing his attention to the street out front.

Well, while I dutifully ordered up at the bar and returned to our table, I was haunted by the way Bob had looked, when I gave Blake’s ‘special order’. He was still his old self hurrahing the bar, but he was a changed man somehow. He’d gotten that ‘thousand yard stare’ those of us that seen battle get: a new determination and resolve that, well to the untested, is just plain scary. It is like dead eyes looking at you and you just know someone is about to kick your ass and they have no doubt they can do it. I turn around and glance back at Jack and Blake, and they are locked into one of those 8 inch conversations you know means business. Meantime, Bob is discussing something intensely with the bouncer named ‘Dump Truck’ and staring in my direction. Bob hands me my order and says to talk to ‘Dump’ before I leave, and then he is back in his happy bartender mode waiting on the rest of the bar, as I make my way back to the table.

3

DISPLACED PREPPER

I put the drinks and pitchers of ice water down on the table, and before I even take my seat, Blake has corralled all the shots of whiskey over to his side. “Last call trainee,” he says in my direction. “This is my whiskey. I am kicking you out of the bar.”

“Do what!!?” I start to object before ‘the Look’ silences me.

“You and Jack are going home. It’s best you play camel with that water, because it’s a hot day and you won’t see ice water again for a long, long time, if you catch my drift.”

“Where’s your shit, David?” Jack asks.

“What shit?” I reply, getting aggravated at my seniors and Blake snatching ‘my’ whiskey shot, which I was thinking I really needed about now.

Blake chimes in with, “We already figured out you are a prepper and you rode over here with Jack. You SOL son. Yeah shit out of luck, except that monkey knot looking key ring full of doodads you got. I don’t think you were dumb enough to conceal carry your pistol to the interview or into this bar, so how far away are your preps, and where are you staying?”

This is a smart man I am talking to, he is used to field soldiers having problems with life and helping them come up with a fix. Is there extra hope here? I consider why he asked before responding.

“I am about 18 miles in the opposite direction of travel, my hotel is north and I am heading south.” Oh, oh, here comes that know-it-all finger wagging telling me to pause before speaking further I thought, ‘Asshole you want me to call you Drill sergeant, too?’ I am sort of thinking to myself before he begins his communication and my education into his worldly outlook on things.

Blake said, “Look, Jack and I have talked about it and you got 4 options to consider. ‘Hell that’s news to me, I am all ears.’ First option is you can see Jack home; he has preps and will take you in. Second option is me, I am heading for the Governor’s offices and you can do what you trained to do in disaster response. Third is go off with Dumpie, he is heading south, but east of your location. And the fourth and final option is for you to go do what you got to do on your own.”

After a moments hesitating on the pros and cons of the choices, I proposed to take Dump Truck along as far as the journey would allow, but I was adamant about heading all 180 plus miles home to Montgomery.

What’s a displaced prepper to do?

4

PACK MULE INCOPORTATED

I start thinking friggin bad decision to pick the Dump as a traveling companion, he has been bitching from the moment we left the bar. Yeah, he is a 380 pound monster, but he doesn’t have the sense God gave a goat about some things. Now don’t get me wrong there are certain advantages of wandering down the street in the middle of pandemonium with your own one man division beside you. That being said he would not shut up and let me think of what I needed to be doing next. He was naming off every appliance he could think of, wondering if they would still work when the power came back on; what he should do with them if it didn’t. Which ones might hypothetically could have started a fire when they got fried? Then he started running down the list of every, half cousin and relative he had in the county, etc., and what were they doing and saying about this or that appliance no longer working.

I begin to finally like his big old country boy ass a bit better after he quieted down a bit and figured out that all his psycho babbling was his way of dealing with stress. We must have looked like a very odd pair wandering down the street and arguing like Abbott and Costello, but in the looks department we couldn’t have been any different. Dump was 25 and bald with the sleeve tattoo thing going on, and I was tall and thin with the silver gray hair carrying various parts of a three piece suit. I had been inquiring of passers by all the way down the street about who sells water and other goods in this desolate (lack of convenience stores) area of Atlanta. A lot of people took one look at Dump, saw their worst nightmare was standing before them that they hadn’t thought about yet, and realizing the position they were in now, actually changed sides of the road or didn’t answer at all and kept moving as quickly away as they could. We changed course twice to find some kind of store with bottled water, got off the main drag, and then I see a typical tiny India Indian run store and sure enough they are open! Yee ha!

I explained to the Dump I got 50 bucks cash; he said he had 17 bucks and credit cards. “Get off asking me about credit card balances, Dumpie! Nobody will take them now anyway, and I have been hearing this same bitching about 2 miles now. I got them, you got them, we have walked pass about a hundred ATMs, they aren’t going to work, not ever again or not for a long time to come! Yea I know your boss was dumb enough to cause minor riots at the restaurant and bar to charge someone on a later day by writing card numbers down and you blocked the door with your big ass and I had to wait on you, but I have been telling you for at least 3miles now this city wont recover anytime soon or it will take at least 3 months if a localized thing, or maybe never because I am not sure yet what caused the EMP.” I suspected a CME though, a coronal mass ejection sort of like a giant solar flare. If that was the case then, it wasn’t just the US that had a problem, the lights were out throughout the world and we were back to the 1800s as far as technology went.

The store was your typical office building type, about the size of newsstand with some coolers and a couple isles of snacks etc. I hadn’t told Dump truck about my leather money belt I had on with a few hundred cleverly concealed inside what looked like a normal belt. I had two packs of cigs on me and was strongly considering buying a carton when I came to my senses and said now’s the time to quit whether I want to or not. I am still buying one pack out of spite for the road though, my nerves are frazzled enough and I am going to enjoy my vice just for a little while longer.

The stores owner flinched as Dump blocked out the light coming in the door, but he soon affably regained his composure and began his mantra for the occasion. “Bad day, Bad day for everyone my friends, cash only, no power, cash only! You buying something today mister?” he inquired. The stores owner said all this with a thick accent and all in one breath about as fast as he could in a lilting sing song way.

“No problem” I replied. The Dump had already agreed to let me do most of the shopping so he started moving quick towards the water and me towards the can goods. Six cans of tuna cleaned out the shelf, $3 a piece (damn the prices) two cans of Vienna sausages ($4.50) some crackers and hard candies, and my $6.50 pack of cigs I met dump at the register and he had 12 bottles of water at a $1.75 a piece. We got out the door with about 3 bucks change. This stuff was way to awkward to be toting around in thin plastic bags I thought and told dump put his bags on the park bench out in front of the store and I would see about repositioning our load.

I was about to start cutting the sleeves off my jacket and rigging them up to make a sort of pack mule collar for my buddy to carry with my tie as a strap, when I spied what appeared to be a painter’s van at the corner of the road.

Hang on a sec “Dump Truck” I will back in a minute. I was looking at all the people standing around or hurriedly passing by to see if anyone looked like a painter as I approached the vehicle.. The catastrophe had only hit a few hours ago and the owners of the van might still be in the area. I checked the backdoors of the van and was in luck, they were unlocked. I peered inside and saw stacks of tarps. Bingo, I grabbed two of the smallest and then crawled up into the van with several fervent looks around to see if anyone was taking particular notice of my actions. I moved some buckets out of my way and saw a couple of those cheap disposable plastic painters tarps you can buy at the dollar store that are small enough to put in your back pocket and snagged them and a piece of frayed nylon rope about 10ft. long.

I popped out of the van and carried my loot back to Dump, who was looking bewildered and worried at my antics.

“What are those for David?” he inquired. “I thought you might have been coming back with a 5gallon bucket or something to tote this shit in”

“Live and learn my big friend, I am going to show you how to make a horseshoe pack out of these tarps” I replied.

This pack is simple to make and use and relatively comfortable to carry over one shoulder. Lay available square-shaped material, such as poncho, blanket, or canvas, flat on the ground. Lay items on one edge of the material. Pad the hard items. Roll the material (with the items) toward the opposite edge and tie both ends securely. Add extra ties along the length of the bundle. You can drape the pack over one shoulder with a line connecting the two ends

I folded my coat in one of the tarps and divided up our purchases between our two packs. I thought about making him carry it all, but if something happened to him or we got separated, I needed my half of what few supplies there were. We set off back on our journey looking a bit out of place with our paint spotted packs slung around us, but we didn’t care, we knew the road ahead was going to be long and the weight of some food and water no matter how we were carrying it was reassuring.

“What cha in the mood to eat Dump Truck?” I said to the puffing sweating behemoth beside me.

“What are you talking about, David?” he responded.

“We going to hit a block of restaurants in the next mile or so” I offered.

“Fat lot of good that will do us,” then he hesitated. “What do you have in mind?” he said with a conspiratorial look.

“Well, the way I see it we are 5 or 6 hours into this thing. The recognition of the SHTF is now just dawning on the majority of the Sheeple, but look around the parasites are already gathering to plot and scheme some dastardly deeds”.

“Yeah, I been noticing that last mile or two,” said Truck. “The homeless and the gang banger types are seeming to be coming out of the wood works and just waiting for nightfall or something else to happen”.

“Exactly,” I responded. “Let’s take a break and I will tell you my plan.”

5

The Last Supper or Going Dumpster Diving

“You see, Dumpster” I said.

“Hey, don’t call me that!” he snarled back, but actually came off looking like a hurt little schoolboy much to his chagrin.

“Ok, no problem, Dump. You see these restaurants up ahead are the ritzy type mostly and the patrons will be either gone or still having partying in the bars possibly.”

“Yeah, so what? How does that help us get a meal?” he said, rubbing his noggin with a dinner plate sized hand.

“Well,” I replied, “’Hard times make for hard decisions’.” .I advised. “A lot of food is going to get left on plates in the restaurants part eaten.”

“Oh, hell no!” Dump objected.

“That’s funny,” I said, “You don’t look like a picky eater.” I poked at him.

“We got some food, we don’t have to do that crap.” whined Dump.

“How far is it to just get to the edge of Atlanta from here?” I asked.

He pondered for a minute, “Maybe 20-30 miles?”

I said, “Yup, and we on the close end of this place to go south. It’s going to take us two or three days to just get to the first exit. Believe me, as unpalatable as snagging a half eaten steak that has been sitting on somebody’s plate for a few hours sounds, we need to eat while we can easily get it.”

“Steak, huh? That doesn’t sound so bad now. I can deal with that.” he replied.

“Speaking of night zombies, after we chow down we are going to jump the embankment down to the interstate. I don’t want to get caught in the downtown area when the sun goes down.”

“It already sounds like the natives are getting restless,” he replied, as gunfire echoed off in the not so far distance.

“I am not so much worried about them at the moment. You notice how much more smoky and hazy it’s gotten?”

Truck said, “Now that you mention it, yeah, it has and it’s not that same ozone smell of the transformers blowing either.”

I started scanning around said, “It’s hard to see exactly what’s going on in the sky from under these skyscrapers.” and then I stopped mid track. Hartsfield Airport was sort of on the track we were headed and was probably a burning inferno by now.

I explained to Dump that planes would have been falling out of the sky, running into each other on the tarmac etc., just like a lot of the wrecks we saw on the road we were traveling, because of the EMP. We might be heading into a hellfire and not even know it, if enough things get to burning a phenomenon called a fire wind is created and just like a forest fire, whoosh it’s on you before you know it.

The Fate’s sure were having fun messing up my dinner plans today. Ok, time to regroup and do a risk assessment. I told The Dump that according to my educated risk assessment the chances of that whole huge airport eventually burning to the ground were more likely than not and we needed to skirt it best we could. The highway 85 running to our right was our best route to get away from the congested downtown area, but it might not be the best choice either.

“Why is that?” Truck moaned, as the various complexities of our day were getting a bit much for him to wrap his head around.

“You know how many 18 wheelers come through the highways here? No telling what they are carrying.” I replied.

“You mean possible HazMat spills?” Dump asked.

“You have been listening to Jack and Blake talking.” I said with a grin.

“I do hear things you know.” he informed me.

“Well, this section of the road might be ok.” I said. “See, part of what I was supposed to be helping with up here, was figuring out where all the off ramps for the Hazmat carrying trucks were in relation to residential areas and beefing up the emergency plans. The DOT is real particular on what can be hauled through the city and has to go around it on the outside loop highways most of the time.”

“Yeah, I have seen the ‘hazardous material trucks must exit’ signs on the highway,” he said.

“And did you?” I replied at him with a smirk.

“Did I what?” he questioned.

“Exit.” I said.

“Ok, you asshole, I get it, Ha, Ha. No, I didn’t.” He begrudgingly replied.

“Let’s start heading off to the right down one of these side streets towards the highway. We can go down an exit ramp or climb down the embankment maybe, but if I am remembering right it’s mostly fence and steep as hell to get down to the pavement,” I said. “You know before we get there you and I need to talk some more,” I said while looking at him seriously.

“What, now David? I am starting to hate that look of yours. Every time you get it, I swear a black cloud starts rising up in back of you.”

“Well, buddy, you’re right. I got a lot more doom and gloom to share with you.” I paused a moment to gather my thoughts. “Dump, we’ve been real lucky so far.” I said and before I could carry on.

“Lucky? How? Getting a few cans of food and some water to wrap up in a smelly ass tarp?” he interrupted accusingly.

“No,” I said in a calm soothing voice, “That not only was it lucky we were not in one of those car wrecks we have seen today, but we didn’t have to decide whether or not to stop and help someone who was hurt in one.” I let that sink in for a moment, before continuing. “Those cars on the interstate were traveling 55-70 mph when there engines shut off, there is going to be some horrible shit to see and possibly hear once we get down to it.” I grimly told him.

“Man, we have died and gone to hell haven’t we?” Dump hung his head and stated solemnly.

“We aren’t dead yet and we got more options than a lot poor Son of Bitches do. I was just warning you that it is going to be rough, and that you might need to harden your heart a bit.” I stood and said, “Come on, let’s get started, it ain’t getting any cooler standing baking in the sun here.”

Dump started musing and said “David, do you know what a bitch is? I was going to take off today and get some work done in the garden.”

“I sympathize with you,” I told him, “I been planning for this the crap to hit the fan for years and all my prepper gear is scattered all over the place, just when I needed it most.”

“What’s ‘prepper gear’?” Dump inquired.

6

I`M A PREPPER YOURE A PREPPER TO

“Well, you are a bit young to remember Y2K I guess. Back then, they used to call folks like me survivalists. There are a lot of people now a days Google searching for definitions of a ‘Prepper’. The term "prepper" or "prepping" means a person or lifestyle that involves getting prepared for the worst while hoping for the best. A prepper is someone who is uncomfortable relying on others for the basics of survival and protection before and after a disaster.

“The terms like "preparations", "how to be prepared", or maybe "preparing for what's to come have a lot to do with the threats this troubled society faces. The majority of preppers are what folks would deem "normal" average people. They just plan ahead and prepare. That means you and I are Preppers and the emergency or disaster supplies we need are called "Preps". The types of preparations needed are Survival Kits, Food Storage, and Emergency Supplies to get you through a disaster.

“I had a bug out or get home bag stashed in my truck to help me through a disaster like this, but now I got to build me one as we go since I couldn’t retrieve mine. I am now the ultimate displaced prepper.” I tell Dump.

“Why are you calling yourself a displaced prepper?” He asks as my new devotee that’s appreciative of my sharing of some survival wisdom.

“One form of displaced prepper,” I explain, “is the one that evacuates an area and has his or her bug out gear with them, but the majority of their preps left behind, but that can take care of them selves for a while. The other is someone who has a prepper mentality and has just had all their preps lost or stolen and is as unfortunate in goods as those who have not prepared and are also struggling for survival with limited options in the same reality.

The Displaced Prepper however has something more tangible than those less fortunate that cannot be lost or stolen and that is knowledge. Preppers do not only devote themselves to buying emergency preparedness supplies and storing food, they also store knowledge and experience. I used to have a blog that examined the various ways that preppers can survive and thrive when they are displaced from their normal surroundings. I would talk and write about things like using a survival key ring for your EDC (every day carry) survival kit. I still had mine thank God in my pocket and fumbled it for additional reassurance before I went on with my discourse.

“Can I see it?” Dump said inquisitively.

“Sure, but later. Looks like we got trouble up ahead.”.

A couple of punk teenagers had a middle aged woman backing up fearfully and clutching a bottle of water up ahead. “If you won’t give me that water I take it, Bitch!” one of them was threatening.

“HEY!” I yelled, “LEAVE HER THE HELL ALONE!”

They turned and saw me and Dump picking up the pace towards them and decided it wasn’t healthy to stick around, so tried to saunter off. Dump yelled at them he was going to put a boot up their asses if they didn’t get the hell out of here NOW! And the miscreants beat feet in the opposite direction.

A now deeply relived, but still anxious, woman leaned against the brick retaining wall in front of an old wood frame huge house. The rich folks and developers had been buying and fixing up these old formally edge of the city houses for years and they were now considered nouveau chic to a new generation of ladder climbing execs.

“Are you ok?” I asked noting she was visibly shaken and sweating profusely from the Georgia heat.

“Yeah, I just need to catch my breath for a second. Those delinquents scared the hell out of me. Thank you so much for chasing them off.” she replied.

“My pleasure, Miss, damn fool kids need to show some respect.” Dump said. I side glanced over at him and raised an eyebrow, mentally chastising him for taking all the credit in rescuing this damsel in distress.

She must of caught my glance at him, as she pointedly stated, “Well, I sure do thank both of you for coming along when you did. I was about to throw that bottle of water and try to run away, but in this heat I really wanted to hang on to it.”

“I think they said it was going to get up to 96 degrees today.” I offered.

“Where are you coming from?” Dump asked.

“ I was on the interstate when everyone’s cars just died all at once and I had me a hell of a white knuckle ride until my vehicle stopped moving.” she said glancing about in the general direction we were headed.

“That’s so weird, she said, what could of caused that to happen?” she queried. “Do you think it was aliens? “She said, looking at us skeptically.

Dump put on his best professor persona, well if you could call it that and said, “No ma’am. David here says he thinks that the sun had a CME or coronal mass injection, something about a Carrington event, its all very technical.” he said with a seriously scholarly nod that looked like he got it from the scarecrow on the Wizard of Oz.

Her eyes got big, and she stuttered out, “Well, did the aliens cause that? I’ve seen on TV shows they could stop cars and electronics with some kind of weird beam. That’s why those kids could get so close to me, I didn’t see them coming, because I was looking up at the sky for a UFO or a mushroom cloud or something.”

“No.” I replied. “It’s like a solar flare. Happened before in 1859 and fried all the telegraph lines then. NASA’s been warning us for years that we were going to have a big event like this in 2012 or 2013, but these things are hard to pin point.” I explained, while looking around to see what professor Dump Truck was up to. He had moved a few steps down the street and was watching the direction that our hoodlums had run off in.

“We best move on before they round up their Posse and come back.” he said.

“Damn, I wouldn’t put it past them, good thinking Dump.” I said eyeing the area.

“What did you call him?” the woman asked, still thinking about aliens and eying my own personal mutant bodyguard.

“His street handle is Dump Truck, sort of a nickname, Call him Dumpie for short” I said as Truck ambled back over. That last name I had for my bar ape produced a beautiful smile and a giggled response.

“Well, hi and thanks, Dumpie.” she cheerfully said and extended her hand to him.

I didn’t think he could get anymore red faced than he was already but, she actually made him blush!

“Dump Truck is the bouncer or doorman for Pandora’s Wreck. I guess you might say he takes the trash out, so the nickname fits.” I said grinning.

“Oh, I get it. That’s a cool name.” She said.

“I am Melanie.” she said and extended her hand to me.

“David. Hey, where are you headed?” I asked.

“Towards Cheshire Bridge.” she said, looking hopeful at the thought of being escorted by two would be protectors.

“That’s back about 5 miles from where we came from. It’s not too bad that way at the moment.” I told her not relishing the thought of even considering going back instead of onward to home.

“Uh… David.” Dump started to remind me. I glanced around and had an idea.

“Yeah, we need to get off this street, come on with us, Melanie, if you want and we will move one street over back towards where you are heading and talk for a minute.” I said.

I really needed to find out what was happening on the interstate and if we weren’t there, when those heathens possibly came back, out of sight might be out of mind.

“I wouldn’t mind an escort out of here, sounds like a plan to me.” Melanie said.

“Let’s do a little zig-zagging over to the next couple streets and confuse our trail a bit. I am not up for extra walking, but I like to be on the safe side.”

“Good idea.” they both almost simultaneously said.

“Dump, keep on looking around for some kind of weapon.” I said.

“Been doing it, there ain’t shit around when ya need it.” he grumbled. That’s true; we had been having our eyes peeled for anything from a stick to a brick all the way down the road so far. Time to take command here and get my charges thinking war zone and cautious movement through this jungle, a quick scan of the area offered lots of opportunities.

“Look, normally I would stay in the shadows and out of the middle of the street, but all these cars broke down in the middle of the road might have things we need.” I said in my best pathfinder, military-like manner. I will the take point on the left side of the cars. Melanie, you go on the right side of them. And Dump, you watch our backs and look into storefronts occasionally.” I said while looking for agreement to my newly found leadership role.

“What exactly are we looking for? I thought you wanted us to find something heavy or sharp as a possible weapon while we evaded those punks.” Melanie asked.

“See if any of these cars have got keys in them. I want a tire iron or whatever else might be in the trunk.” I replied.

“A tire iron sure would be nice.” Dump said while looking devilishly in my direction. I shudder to think what an enraged Dump Truck with a lug nut loosener could do to a man’s coconut and we all spread out to keep stepping and prowling for possibilities. I stopped for a minute to let everyone catch up with me.

“I do not like this folks; you notice how quiet this street is? I think most of these folks knew it was a bad area to begin with and just got the hell out of dodge, as soon as they broke down. It is a bit of a ghost town in this older sector, but the run down appearance of this area tells me people are not likely to hang around on a good day.” I murmured while looking down the street at the scattering of vehicles in various positions from parked to wrecked or just stalled out in the road.

“Ha! What’s that my friends, I see something interesting come on.” and stepped off towards my goal.

“A bug mobile?” You aren’t going all Mc Gyver on us, Dave, are you?” Dump truck questioned, as I was opening the hatch on a Orkin Truck.

“I am not sure if they have what I want, but I think they got the equivalent of mace in here.” I said while rummaging around in the back of the truck.

“Yup, just as I expected” I said producing a brand new can of Wasp spray.

“What do you do with that, light it?” Dump inquired getting interested in the can.

“Nope, this bottle of bug mace works on people, too. It’s worse than pepper spray and has some components in it similar to nerve gas.”

“I am glad you’re on our side, Dave.” Melanie said speculatively.

“Here, take this, its point and spray at the face, no instructions needed if we get cornered, but hide it in your purse as a surprise.” I said, while handing her the can of industrial strength ‘hoodlum’ spray.

“It won’t permanently blind them, will it?” Melanie asked, as she was gingerly handling the can.

“It’s possible, but when push comes to shove; their intentions don’t have a conscience, its best you lose yours, too.” I said looking seriously at her.

“I guess the world really has gone to hell in a hand basket.” she resolutely replied.

“Just consider them aliens and that can of Raid is something they are allergic to kind of like slugs and salt.” I said with a grin.

“Good one, David.” Dump said, as we shared grins all around.

“Come on. Folks, lets keep moving another block over, and we stay tight for now,” I declared while still scanning cars, but focusing on just making it out of the area.

“I have wanted to get a tire iron all day, but most folks will take their keys with them to get back in the house when they abandon a vehicle.” I said musing at loud.

“Where’s your home, David?” Melanie asked.

“Montgomery, Alabama.” I said dismally.

“Shit, you’re a long ways from home. Where you headed now?” she replied looking horrified.

“Montgomery. Dumps getting off the hike in Newnan and I’m going to road march my ass there come hell or high water.” I claimed.

“You must have been in the military. I haven’t heard that term in years, except for my Daddy sharing war stories with his buddies.” Melanie replied.

“Yeah, I was. Its funny how your vocabulary changes once you join up.”

“Melanie, next block or two, it time for you to go right and us go left. I’m sorry, but we got to divide paths.” I said trying to look consolingly at her. She stopped, dead in her tracks.

“What?” she blurted.

“I… I kind of thought you were helping Me.” she tearfully addressed me.

“We are, but our paths follow different roads. I am sorry, darling, but we gotta go.” I said sheepishly. I don’t know her well enough to hug her or put an arm around her shoulder. I am always a disaster when it comes to women’s emotions and my need to care and protect when it’s not on familiar grounds, hell, even when it is.

“Ok, I understand.” she said wiping tears away. “Its, Its, just all too much and I...” Ah hell David just hug her, if she knocks the shit out of you for doing it just take it and apologize I thought and so I did. Damn, this woman is strong. I thought,. That’s why you don’t get close to drowning people as I felt the death grip on me that was supposed to be a returned hug. I am looking over her shoulder at Dump, who is looking at me as uncomfortable and confused as I am.

“I will be alright, thanks for what you have done.” Melanie said, after releasing me and we all resumed the passage down the street.

“What kind of condition is the Interstate in, Melanie?” I asked.

“It’s a mess, but not as many bad wrecks as you would think though. When the cars conked out most everyone just coasted to a halt. It was bizarre though, kind of like a slow motion carnival ride slowing down when the operator hits the switch” She said reflecting on the scene.

“Too bad we don’t have an on switch; it’s going to be getting pretty rough out here.” Dump said in reply.

“Were going to be cutting over to interstate ramp in a bit Melanie, let me tell you a few things that might help you out in this situation.”

“Hey, I need all the advice I can get, I would appreciate it.” she said turning in my direction. I got to hand it to her, she had regained her composure a lot quicker than I thought possible.

“OK, first off, when you get home put a pot under every faucet you got and run the water. Your pipes should still have water in them. I don’t know if they got around to shielding the emergency generators at the water company or not, but even if they did the generators will run out of fuel in a few days or weeks, max.” I told her as she listened intently.

“Next, don’t flush the toilet; you need the water in the back tank. Line the bowl with a garbage bag to do your business in or try finding a 5 gallon bucket with a lid”

“We back to out houses for awhile it looks like.” Dump said.

“Yeah, sanitation is going to be really hard from now on.” I replied.

A group of stragglers from the interstate started moving towards our direction. All were hot and disheveled-looking, a few were bleeding from cuts and bruises most likely from car wrecks.

“Be best to try traveling with one of these groups, Melanie, there’s safety in numbers.” I told her.

She nodded her agreement and said “You got time to give me some more tips before you go?”

“Sure, do you know about using bleach to purify water?” I inquired.

“I have heard of it, but I don’t know how much to use.” She said.

“Use 3 drops to a quart or a liter and 5 drops for a half gallon, as a general rule. You can add a couple drops more, if the water is really cloudy. Avoid using bleaches that contain perfumes, dyes and other additives.”

“Ah hell, all I got is April fresh smelling Clorox.” she cried.

“Don’t use it in your drinking water, be ok to wash with. If you find some regular bleach, mix in thoroughly and allow it to stand for at least 30 minutes before using. (60 minutes if the water is cloudy or very cold).”

“If you got any Iodine tincture 5 drops per quart, when the water is clear will do the trick.” I said.

“I got some of that” she smilingly said.

“Stuff doesn’t taste good, but if you add any kind of vitamin C to it, it neutralizes the taste, but don’t put it in until after the iodine has cleaned the water. Takes about 30 minutes to do that, the same as bleach” I explained.

“Ok, hold up a second I want to write that down, in case I forget.” Melanie said, while fumbling in her purse. I noticed she eyed the can of Wasp spray, but didn’t comment further.

While she was taking notes, I watched the stream of weary travelers making their way up from the interstate. This is good for me, I guess, less folks on the road to contend with. They will probably be trickling in for days depending on where their cars broke down and the resolve of their owners to get home. I pondered how long it was going to take me to travel 180 miles by foot. Hell, I am going to beg borrow or steal me a bicycle first chance I get.

Dump brought me back to the moment by asking “You’re not supposed to drink either one long term are you I heard, isn’t that right, Dave?

“Yeah, that’s right.” I allowed, “Boiling is the best way or you can pasteurize it, too.”

“How do you pasteurize it?” Melanie asked.

“Just leave that bottle you got in your purse, capped out in the sun for an hour or two depending on the weather. That will do it.”

“I am going to run out of charcoal pretty quick as it is, that’s a good tip, David.” Melanie responded.

“Hydrogen peroxide will work too, but you use like 1/8th of a cup to a gallon.” I advised.

“I have some of that too, but that sounds like a lot.” Melanie said looking skeptical.

“Hey, that his job. He gets paid to know things like that.” Dump said looking all indignant.

“Really, what do you do David?” asked Melanie.

Dump answered for me before I could object, “He is an emergency manager.” he said beaming that his buddy was supposed to be a pro.

“Oh, that’s wonderful, what’s FEMA’s plan to deal with this?” Melanie questioned.

Damn. Dump, I didn’t want to have this conversation.

“Well, FEMA, I am sorry to say, really doesn’t have a plan for something of this magnitude.” I replied.

“That doesn’t surprise me they didn’t seem to have much of one for Katrina either.” Dump said.

Melanie was looking all crestfallen and thoughtful.

“You mean FEMA won’t be coming to help”?

“Not anytime soon. Oh, they will get around to organizing something eventually, a lot of military trucks might still work, but as far as I can tell without hearing any news, this disaster is mostly a worldwide event. Resources are simply overwhelmed.”

I let that sink in for a bit and then continued. “You’re pretty much left to your own devices for the next couple months.” I said.

Dump looked like he might say, ‘or forever’ and I gave him a look that said to hush.

“The best things you can do right now are tribe up with friends or relatives and help each other get through this.”

“I see.., any other tips?” Melanie asked.

“Well, water is your biggest short term problem at the moment; just remember your hot water tank has water in it that you can get out from its drain pipe.” I could probably stand here all day feeding her various bits of survival knowledge, but that wasn’t going to happen, I pondered what few other tid-bits I could share before I moved on.

“People will start panicking in the weeks to come, you need to do something about your security.” I said while looking at her questionably.

“Oh, I have a pistol at my house.” Melanie responded.

“’Might be a good idea to start wearing it.” I offered.

“Going to get that bad, Dave?” Melanie said glumly.

“Afraid so, there is always a criminal element in society that waits to take advantage of situations like this.” I said ominously.

“Just stay alert for possible dangers, most people though actually come together for the common good after disasters though.” I offered.

“You guys wanted to get going, any other useful information before I tear up before our farewells.” Melanie slowly said.

“Yes, you should pack a bag with stuff like you were going camping for a weekend and keep it handy. There are going to be a lot of open fires being used for cooking and candles for lighting now, so with no fire department to contend with any accidents or arson you might have to get away with just what you can carry if the neighborhood catches fire.” I said.

We stared at each other for moment and Melanie said “ I wish you well, Dave, and thanks for everything.” she gave me a quick hug and turned to Truck and said, “Bye, Dumpie.” and gave him a quick hug, too.

“Bye, Melanie, stay safe.” Dump murmured.

“I will.” she said turning towards a group of road weary travelers and stepped out of our lives.

7

MAD DOGS AND ENGLISH MEN

“Mad dogs and Englishmen Go out in the midday sun” Noel Coward Song

Dump and I started trudging down the on ramp to the interstate and noted that the people coming up from it had slowed to a trickle. It was deathly quite, nobody talked much, I guess the heat of the sun, the shock of it all, and just the drudge of having to keep on going no matter what took away all interest in conversation.

There were vehicles as far as the eye could see in every direction. The event happened somewhere around 12.30 in the afternoon. Dumps watch had stopped but for some reason the clip on style pocket watch I had was still working, maybe because it was because it was shock resistant and antimagnetic. My said it was 6.30, I am glad the sun chose summer to have its fit, because I would still have light until about 8 o’clock or so. If this shit had of happened in winter, I would be a whole lot more uncomfortable and at risk than I was now, so I guess I should count my blessings. Walking on pavement didn’t make any cooler though even with the sun going down.

“Hey Dump. I am not as young as I used to be, we need to talk about where we are going to sleep tonight. I can’t keep on at this pace.” I said.

“Hey man I am getting beat too, what do you have in mind”? He replied.

“I figure we keep on for about an hour and then pick an underpass or crawl up under a truck or something. Hey, by the way this close to the city the pigeons sometimes build nests at underpasses.” I offered.

“I figured we could just crawl in one these cars to take a snooze when we wanted.” Dump said.

“We could, but most of these cars have electric windows so we would have too leave the doors open. It’s going to be hotter than hell no matter what, so I suggest pulling the mattresses out of the sleeper cab of one of these 18 wheelers and just picking us a spot. I am not too worried about dogs yet, so we don’t need to be that protected.” I countered.

“That’s a good idea, but what’s this about dogs?” he asked.

A lot of people travel with their pets, so expect to see them on the road, but later on as this crisis escalates and when people can’t feed them, thousands…maybe millions are going to get turned loose. Also, you see, when the riots and the death in the city is happening the dogs will learn to fed on the bodies, then in turn will acquire the taste for humans. Now you have a pack of wild dogs who consider you and your loved ones as food. They have no fear of man and will kill you to insure their own survival. Now, I'm not trying to scare you or cause unwarranted fears, but dogs are about to become a major problem in the upcoming months.

“I was talking to a buddy of mine named Buckshot about this problem once and his theory was that starving people will kill the dogs for food. I say sure, some will become food, but the average household that has guns has less then 50 rounds, although most survivalists or preppers will have much more. So, I think after the first week most people will be out of ammo. Then, the packs will rule. “I told Truck, just so he would get a feel for what’s to come.

“Damn, David you are just full of good news today aren’t you? But you’re right; I can see it now as feral dogs are already a problem in Georgia. It’s not uncommon to hear about packs of 25 or so.” he said.

“I guarantee people will let their pets go to fend for themselves when the food runs out. Make sure you are ready to face this threat. What kind of Guns you got at home Dump?” I asked.

“I had a bit of trouble with the law and lost my rights to own any.” he said disgustedly.

“Mind telling me what they got you for”? I said more for conversations sake than worry.

“No, well get ready to laugh, I stole a dump truck.”

“Ha, you’re shitting me! That’s funny as hell, so that’s where you got your handle?” I said chuckling.

“Yup, that’s where I got my name from.” he replied grinning.

“What’s going on up ahead?’ looking at bizarre sight for even a day like today off to the side of the road. A wiry little man was sitting in a lawn chair next to a road sign that had a piece of cardboard attached to it. I couldn’t make out what the sign said yet though, and he had a camp fire going off to his right. As we got closer to him, I could make out the sign ‘Water $1.00’ Do what? I said to myself shaking my head.

“Good day, Gents, care for some tea?” the figure in the lawn chair called out in an evidently British accent. Dump and I looked at each other and wandered over to the apparition. Here was this guy in plaid shorts and a Hawaiian shirt with a floppy white hat, taking a kettle off his fire. “Teas, free; I have closed up shop for the day.” He chirped.

“Are you really selling water for a $1.00?” Dump asked.

“Well, not really any more. Like I said, shop’s closed. But, I was actually renting my cups, water’s free.” the man replied.

I looked off to his right and saw he had a wicker basket like people used to carry on picnics with 4 cups, some plates and what looked like the space for the kettle he had next to his fire.

“Have a seat, if you have a mind to, and I will tell you all about it. “He said, gesturing towards a bit of embankment.

“I got to hear this story and tea would be welcome.” I said plopping down after un-slinging my pack. Dump did the same and we stared intently at the odd looking character waiting for him to begin.

“You see, I was coming back from vacation in Florida when this mess began, and like everyone else had to start walking home. Well, I grabbed my kit and got this far, when I spied that Collagen truck over there that contains 5 gallon bottles of water. Well, I think to me self, I don’t really have a home here in Atlanta and I will need me a bit more money. So, I hit on a plan to help my fellow travelers and make a bit of scratch on the side.” he said offering two cups of steaming tea to me and Dump on this hot summers day in the middle of nowhere.

“What I been doing is not stealing water mind you, I been renting my cups for $1.00 and all the water a body could drink.” he said with a wise smile and a nod in his audiences direction.

“Hey, I got overhead, I washed those cups between clients.” he replied, as Dump was looking at his cup like it had something wrong with it.

“So, I been picking me up a few quid to help on expenses once I get to Atlanta.” the little man said proudly.

“If you want creamer or sugar I got some here, that water truck must have been stocking office buildings.” he offered.

“Well, aren’t you the resourceful one.” I said admiring his ingenuity.

“You look pretty resourceful yourself, those are painters tarps aren’t they?” he replied studying our improvised carry alls.

“Yeah, we are making do until we get home; although it looks to me that the road is our home for the next few days.” I said with a sigh. “I got a lot further to go, but maybe I will get off the road here and there.” I continued thoughtfully.

“You said you didn’t really have a home in Atlanta, what did you mean?” Dump asked the Brit.

“I live in London; I only come over for a bit of holiday. I am hoping the Embassy will take me in, when I get into the city.” he said more cheerily than I think he meant.

“Wow, Dave, I thought you had it bad.” Dump said while looking at our strange host.

“He got stuck in a whole another country, because of this EMP crap.” Dump said decidedly.

“EMP!? Yes, that’s what I thought it might be. Any news if it be natural or nuclear? “The Englishman said.

“I am guessing natural based on the last time I saw a space weather report. But, who knows?” I replied.

“You know about EMP?“ Dump directing his attention to our traveler.

“I know a bit, not much mind you, but I have done some reading, my name is Stewart by the by. “ said the Brit.

“Mine’s David and this here is Dump Truck.” I said pointing in Dumpies direction.

“Glad to meet ya both. Is that Dump Truck, as in the vehicle?” Stewart asked suppressing a chuckle.

“It’s Dump Truck, as in Bar Bouncer.” I replied.

“Oh, good show! That is amusing!” proclaimed Stewart eyeing my rotund companion.

I was dying to tell the real reason he got that name, but decided to have mercy on Dump.

“So, I see you been here a bit to make a camp.” I said looking about. He had pieces of old pallet, various sticks and bits of lumber piled up for fire building. Had what looked to be a spread rolled up for his bedroll?

“If you want a chair, there is a pickup truck about 50 yards down the road that has some lawn chairs in the back.” Stewart offered.

“Maybe later, I need some shade right now; I am thinking, and as far away from this fire as I can possibly sit.” I said looking around.

“There is a flat bed over there with a tarp over some equipment. Let’s make an awning Dump.” I declared and headed on over with Dump in tow.

We got the tarp off and rigged it to the side of the van containing Stewart’s stash of water jugs and sundries.

“You boys made me a right proper kiosk, you did!” Stewart announced admiringly.

“I made me some shade, I don’t know how you can sit out in the sun so close to that fire.” I replied laughing.

“Kind of dumb isn’t it? To be honest with you, I was counting my money when you blokes came walking up and didn’t have time to hide it other than sitting upon it.” he said sheepishly, then standing up to reveal a small pile of cash and coin.

Dump started chuckling as Stewart grabbed up a couple fists full of dollars and said, “Business must have been good!”

“Aye mate, that it was.“ Stewart admitted laughingly in response.

“I was getting hot as hell over there, but times being what they are you can’t be too careful.” he jovially said and I guess just trusting us over remaining by that fire for one more minute.

“You had any problems with your clients today, Stewart?” I chimed in.

“Oh, a few bloody assholes, but most folks thought my cup rental notion was funny and paid me right and proper, rather than trying to drink out of a 5 gallon bottle. Like I said, the water is free.” he smirked.

“It’s going to be getting dark soon and I kind of like your little camp here. Would you mind if we stay overnight’ I asked.

“Make yourselves to home, gents. And, I would be appreciating the company of such handy and hardy chums.” Stewart replied dragging his chair back under the shade.

“ I guess, seeing that we are teaming up for the night, Dump and I are going to throw our packs under this van while we do a bit of foraging, and you can sort of watch out for them while you wait on a customer to come along.” I said while Dump looked at him suspiciously.

“Like I said, store’s closed for now, I want to look around a bit too, but I think they will be alright either way.” Stewart said standing up.

“Oh, I am funny about leaving my preps unguarded, I will just drag them along. Where did you say that lawn furniture was at Stewart?” I said while picking up my roll.

“It is that blue truck down there about 50 meters that way.“ he said gesturing toward a pickup.

“Ok, anything else of the interesting sort down that way?” I inquired.

“I didn’t look over everything properly and only stayed on this side of the median.” Stewart replied scanning the area.

“Well, I see a couple big rigs down there. I was telling Dump that we could drag the mattresses out of the sleepers and rest a little easier tonight.” I said motioning in their general direction.

“Capitol idea! I hadn’t thought of that one.” Stewart said.

“Well, we will meet you back at camp in a bit or see you around the area. I am going after some chairs first. Come on along Dump.” I said while slinging my pack once again over my aching shoulder.

“Hey, Stewart, while you’re up in the cab of one of those trucks, be looking for a tire thumper.” I informed him.

“What in the hell is a tire thumper?” Stewart asked regarding me quizzically

“It’s a ‘billy-club’ or a bat that truckers use to check inflation of their tires, they use it to beat on them.” I offered.

“Ill be damned, never heard of one, but a proper nightstick sounds like just the thing I might be wanting.” Stewart replied, and we all looked at each other suspiciously about spending the night with a armed stranger.

I diffused the moment by adding, “’Might be useful if you get anymore asshole customers. “and laughed.

“Yes, a Tommy knocker would be just the thing for adjusting bad attitudes.” Stewart replied with a grin relaxing a bit.

Dump and I started heading off towards the pickup with the chairs and I kept noticing the discarded brief cases, clothes and luggage dumped on the sides of the road by travelers unwilling to further carry their burdens.

“Hey Dump, you notice how much more women’s junk is strewn around than men’s stuff?’ I observed while surveying a dizzying array of bright colors and various high heeled shoes littering the highway.

“I noticed that, too. ’Looks like women packed too much and it only took a mile or so until they started dumping shit.” he replied.

“I hope most of them carried an extra pair of sensible shoes in their cars like Melanie did or they are going to be hurtin’ for certain.” I considered.

“I wonder how she is making out, I was getting to like that old girl.” Dump responded.

“Old, hell Dump, she was younger than me. Ha! I sort of thought you were attracted to her.” I jibed at him.

“I didn’t say she wasn’t attractive.” he stammered.

‘Makes you sort of wish we got her phone number or something if this shit ever gets back on track doesn’t it Dumpie’

Dump looked remorseful and murmured, “You think it ever will David?”

“Doubtful Dump, I just don’t know. It is a different world now, but civilization always comes back and forms some kind of balance after a disaster. Though there’s no tellin’ how long it’ll take.”

“Well, I hope she is alright.” Dump considered.

“I do too, my friend.” I replied.

8

AND IT’S PARTY TIME

Dump and I hauled back some folding chairs to camp and looked around for Stewart. He waved at us from the other side of the median while dragging a mattress back and stopped and reached in his belt and held up a billy club. Dump gave him thumbs up and we turned to resume our foraging.

“I claim that Peterbilt up ahead” I informed Dump

“Damn! I was going to put dibs on that but you beat me to it. Probably got better shit in it than those cheaper trucks.” He groused.

“Ah Dumpie that looks like a Mack or a Kenworth in the other lane, pickings should be just as good over there’ I responded.

“I was just kidding, I will see you in a few.” he said walking over to the other side of the eight lane highway we were traversing, eight, hell it was 16 lanes, eight on a side. Damn Atlanta has some major thorough fares and this bit we were on had lanes full of vehicles of every description.

I approached the truck and reminded myself just as a precautionary measure to beat on the side of the door in case it was occupied. Might sound dumb in this turmoil but I didn’t need to be looking at the wrong end of a 44 magnum if this guy decided he wanted to stay with his load for some reason. I should have told Dump and Stewart to take the same precaution I pondered.

No answer to my knock and the driver left it unlocked, cool. I opened the door and climbed in. I hadn’t considered until now that it’s second nature for a lot of drivers to lock their cars when they got out till now and considered myself lucky I didn’t have to try every truck on the interstate to put my bed idea to good use.

Damn, this truck is ritzy; he has got him a TV, microwave, refrigerator and all the comforts of home in this thing including a computer. Tire thumper, tire thumper, where’s the friggin tire thumper. Must of took it with him, that’s a no brainier I would have too unless I had a gun with me. Lol, knowing me, I would of carried `em both.

What kind of shit you got in that chest of drawers? I mused reaching to open .a drawer Sweet! A whole new pack of white socks, damn do I need those. What else we got, manicure kit with comb, ok that’s got my name on it, double AA batteries, yea I want those, Viagra well that’s barter material, caffeine tablets might need those, who the hell writes their name on their underwear and size 42 at that, don’t need those, maybe Dumpie might want them…, he he. Instant coffee packets! Hell yea! Damn, empty snack drawer.

Let me unbutton this mattress from the cabs bed, well you left me the sheets and I damn sure don’t need a blanket at the moment. I prefer my tarp thank you if I get stuck I the rain. “What’s this” I say as I spy an envelope, Yee hah! $500 in fifties, guess you had other things on your mind to forget this, but your loss is my gain as I grinned and begin to back out of the cab of the truck dragging the mattress and the rest of my loot in a pillow case. I was reaching back in the cab for the pillow that went with it when I faintly heard Dump hollering at me.

“David! David!” he was bellowing like an excited water buffalo. I walked around to the front of the truck and saw Dump gesturing at me from across the median.

“Come here, you ain’t going to believe this!” he was shouting with some enthusiasm.

“Ok, on my way” I yelled back and proceeded in his direction.

“What’s up” I inquired while approaching him.

“Take a gander at this” he said all beside himself with glee.

“What is it?” I kept repeating as I jumped the median barrier and hurried towards him.

“Come around here!” he cried, while moving around the front of the big rig that he had just dragged a mattress and some other goods out of.

“Ok! Ok! I am coming!” I yelled back as I rounded the front of the truck to see Dump standing there grinning and doing a magicians wah la motion towards a….

“Beer truck!” I hollered in response.

“Beer truck” Dump reaffirmed proudly, puffing out his chest.

“And you don’t have the doors open already, where’s your manners?” I joked hurrying towards it.

“Damn thing is locked.” he said to my dismay.

“Shit, Tire tool maybe?” I said raising an eyebrow.

“We haven’t had much luck acquiring one of those.” he stated.

“Hang on” I said eying the lock down chains on the back of the rig he had got his mattress from.

“We might can knock the padlock off with one of those or make it spring.” I said hopefully.

“I got just the ticket possibly.” Dump said and went back around the front of the truck and produced somebody’s country craftsmanship of a trailer hitch topping off about two foot of what appeared to be a hickory mattock handle.

“Damn that’s a nasty looking weapon, look here lemme see that.” I said reaching for the deadly looking tire thumper.

“Watch this shit and learn a new trick, Dumpie” I confirmed my intent to get into the beer truck by whacking the outside edge of the padlock.

“Man you can’t beat that thing off. “Dump said skeptically.

“Hell I can’t” I responded and gave it another whack.

“You see, Dump. I got practice at this. When someone loses a key to their locker in the Army, you got two choices to get in it. A Drill Sergeant’s key which is a well worn pair of bolt cutters or, as I have done, hit it with the back of an axe. If you hit it just right next to the top of where the locking mechanism of the bar is, it will spring open.” I explained, while renewing my efforts and causing a spark to fly.

“This damn thing is rounded so I can’t get a good lick on it, give me a second.” I said while beating on the lock unmercifully.

“Ka Ching!’ the lock busted.

“In like Flynn.” I boasted raising the door to the bin holding my goodnight medicine.

“Well, I’ll be damned!” Dump said, reaching for a hot one.

I grabbed one and we both popped the tops and made various exclamations about not liking hot beer, but it sure tasted good at the moment, while we were leaning against the side of the truck.

“Hey, we found Stewart a new business.” I said laughing.

“Yeah, Man! He can open a new bar out here; call it the Red Neck Riviera!” Dump exclaimed.

“Ha, and you could bounce and I could collect the money.” I chuckled.

“Seriously, though Bro, we got to watch the beer tonight, because we’re going to be sweating bullets and dehydrating come tomorrows walk.” I said.

“No problem, I am aware of that.” Dump said while trying to get a glimpse over the divider to the next bin.

“Hey, there are bottles over there. You reckon Stewart has a bottle opener?” he guffawed.

“If not I might sell him one.” I chuckled.

“Minus the service fees for opening the door for him, of course.” Dump said grinning.

“Hey, there should be a hand truck shoved under the back of this thing lets go get it.” I replied.

“Damn, Davie boy you don’t miss a trick do you.” Dump responded while walking towards the back of the vehicle with myself tagging along.

“Try not to, but I can’t think of any ‘hand truck’ jokes at the moment.” I said trying to get a rise out of him about his nickname.

“You’re a smart ass Dave, a funny smart ass, but a smart ass all the same.” he told me while dragging the hand truck out from under the bumper at the back of the truck.

“How much beer you want to grab?” he said while pulling a case off the stack.

“Grab one more and that ought to do us, but I am going to reach over in that other bin just to get a bottle and share some jokes with Stewart.” I quipped while crawling into the cavernous, but oven like interior of the truck.

We loaded up our mattresses, beer and whatever else goods would fit on the hand truck and proceeded back towards Stewart’s Camp with me carrying my pillow case and Dumpie playing my pack mule.

“Yo, Stewart, the guests have arrived.” I hollered up to the sight of Stewart adding some more debris to his fire. What’s up with him keeping that damn thing going as hot as it is I wondered?

“”You look like you did well!” he hollered back at the sight of me toting a bag and Dump following my charge with an over loaded hand cart.

“That we did!” I responded. “Might even have a surprise for you, too!” I suggested teasingly.

“Well, I got one for you, too!” He hollered back.

We rolled into camp and noticed Stewart had carefully lined up a few bottles of coke and some boxes of peanut butter crackers and other savory bits from a vendors truck in front of our fold up chairs.

“Well, are you not the best host in the world!” I exclaimed at his efforts.

“That’s nice.” Dump said as he parked the haul to the side.

“Is that beer I spy?” Stewart said, as he shuffled towards Dump trucks unloading efforts.

“Sounds good don’t it,” as Dump proceeded to hand him a case.

As Stewart was setting the case of beer cans down and smiles were flashing all the way around, I produced a bottle of beer out of my back pocket and held it up for his inspection.

“I got one.” He said producing a church key and having a belly laugh.

“Spoil sport.” I opined, “I have been regaling Dump with all the good jokes we could have at your expense if you didn’t.“ I said lustily smirking and cracking open my own brew with my own bottle opener.

“Now, if you have a can opener about your person, then we could talk.” Stewart countered.

“Oh, I got one all right.” I said producing my infamous key ring, as well as digging in my pocket for my knife. “But these are not for sale.” I told him explicitly.

“Kind of like me with my cups, if you missing one element it’s hard to partake.” Stewart shot back.

“Two is one and one is none. As we used to say in the military.” I interjected.

“Good saying. Makes one think about what happens if you lose something.” Dump said going into his Professor Gogglestein interpretation.

“It’s weird what we come to value or help us survive at this moment, is it not Dave?” said Stewart deliberating.

“I can tell you a trick to a opening a can when you lack a can opener, though that might be useful if you find yourself in that situation.” I offered.

“Please, do tell.“ Stewart said with some interest.

“There is a survivalist named Cody Lundin that taught me this trick, you can scrape or wear the edge off a can by sort of polishing it on the curb of the street, if you absolutely had to.” I explained and told him in further depth the technique to separate the solder joint of a can.

“Why do you keep messing with that fire Stewart? Its not buggy yet.” Dump said as the Englishman added, yet again, more fuel to the fire, that just seemed to further our discomfort.

“It will be dark soon and I do not have matches to spare to light another.” Stewart said contemplating.

“I bet Dave has got a fire trick or two to consider when you run out of matches.” with a nod to my direction. And they both turned towards me still sipping their suds.

“Well, you ought to be able to scavenge some matches if you look in likely places; but ok , I got a trick or two to share other than the obvious ways to make fire the normal way using lighters and such or being reduced to friction.” And I explained:

Balloons and Condoms

By filling a balloon or condom with water, you can transform these ordinary objects into fire creating lenses.

Fill the condom or balloon with water and tie off the end. You’ll want to make it as spherical as possible. Don’t make the inflated balloon or condom too big or it will distort the sunlight’s focal point. Squeeze the balloon to find a shape that gives you a sharp circle of light. Try squeezing the condom in the middle to form two smaller lenses.

Condoms and balloons both have a shorter focal length than an ordinary lens. Hold them 1 to 2 inches from your tinder.

Fire from Ice

Fire from ice isn’t just some dumb cliché used for high school prom themes. You can actually make fire from a piece of ice. All you need to do is form the ice into a lens shape and then use it as you would when starting a fire with any other lens. This method can be particularly handy for wintertime camping.

Get clear water. For this to work, the ice must be clear. If it’s cloudy or has other impurities, it’s not going to work. The best way to get a clear ice block is to fill up a bowl, cup, or a container made out of foil with clear lake or pond water or melted snow. Let it freeze until it forms ice. Your block should be about 2 inches thick for this to work.

Form your lens. Use your knife to shape the ice into a lens. Remember a lens shape is thicker in the middle and narrower near the edges.

Polish your lens. After you get the rough shape of a lens, finish the shaping of it by polishing it with your hands. The heat from your hands will melt the ice enough so you get a nice smooth surface.

Start a fire. Angle your ice lens towards the sun just as you would any other lens. Focus the light on your tinder nest and watch as you make a once stupid cliché come to life.

The Coke Can and Chocolate Bar

I once saw this method in a YouTube video some time ago and thought it was a pretty slick trick . All you need is a soda can, a bar of chocolate, and a sunny day.

Polish the bottom of the soda can with the chocolate. Unwrap your bar of chocolate and start rubbing it on the bottom of the soda can. The chocolate acts as a polish and will make the bottom of the can shine like a mirror. If you don’t have chocolate with you, toothpaste also works.

Make your fire. After polishing the bottom of your can, what you have is essentially a parabolic mirror. Sunlight will reflect off the bottom of the can, forming a single focal point. It’s kind of like how a mirror telescope works.

Point the bottom of the can towards the sun. You’ll have created a highly focused ray of light aimed directly at your tinder. Place the tinder about an inch from the reflecting light’s focal point. In a few seconds you should have a flame.

While I can’t think of any time that I would be in the middle of nowhere with a can of Coke and chocolate bar, this method is still pretty cool.

Batteries and Steel Wool

Like the chocolate and soda can method, it’s hard to imagine a situation where you won’t have matches, but you will have some batteries and some steel wool. But hey, you never know. And it’s quite easy and fun to try at home.

Stretch out the Steel Wool. You want it to be about 6 inches long and a ½ inch wide.

Rub the battery on the steel wool. Hold the steel wool in one hand and the battery in the other. Any battery will do, but 9 volt batteries work best. Rub the side of the battery with the “contacts” on the wool. The wool will begin to glow and burn. Gently blow on it.

Transfer the burning wool to your tinder nest. The wool’s flame will extinguish quickly, so don’t waste any time.

“You want simpler” I said sensing I was losing my audience in contemplation. “Make a small hole in any paper sheet, spit in this hole or put a clear water drop that you present to the sun rays as a magnifying glass.”

“That’s brilliant Dave, you’re a regular pyromaniac. You can make fire out of a drop of water and that coke can shit is unbelievable.” Stewart said.

Dump was beaming,”I told you he knows some weird stuff that’s useful, you just got to put up with him long enough to listen.” he said playfully towards me.

“I am going to hush for awhile. Dump you feel like playing bartender and giving us another round?” I said hopefully.

“Not a problem my, friend.” he said and reached down beside him to contribute to our getting inebriated.

“Hey, this hot beer doesn’t taste so bad.” said Stewart.

“Coming from an Englishman that somehow sounds funny.“ I wise cracked.

“We drink it hot, we drink it cold, we like our pints and not necessarily warm, that’s a myth.” he responded.

“You are opening the store tomorrow?” Dump asked Stewart with a sly grin and a reach for another beer.

“Hell, why not when I got so much free stock to profit from.” Stewart replied with mirth.

“I gotta go use your facilities Stewart, where is the John at” I asked nonchalantly,

“Over there, pick a patch of weeds” Dump suggested.

“Anybody find any toilet paper today?” I speculatively asked.

“I got some.” Stewart said rummaging in his own pillow case and handing me a roll, “Dump when you get to Dave and my` age remember the old adage ‘never trust a fart’.”

Dump responded right on time with “I trust you” and I stayed amused by this statement, as I headed to my destination on the far side of the road.

9

Fare Thee Well

“Dave, I been telling Stewart about looking out for dogs in the future” Dump said as I wandered back into camp and their gaze shifted in my direction.

“Two legged and four legged types will all be packing up soon” I said wearily.

“I am not sure which kind will first but form packs they will. Those are not firecrackers we been hearing off and on all day’ I said gesturing towards the gloom and twinkling fires off in the city.

“I thought you said regardless what the media said about people during Katrina that your college research said it was just hype and outright lies” Dump said looking intently at me.

“Your correct Dump, but that was a different disaster. Oh, most folks will get along for a couple weeks until the water and food run out, and then it starts getting every man for himself. Now, in the interim, a lot of the more, shall we say ‘criminal elements’ will try to take advantage of the situation to get what they want, be it by looting or an opportunity for revenge on whoever they think has wronged them.” I said grimly.

“I guess the street gangs are going to have a field day; if they don’t kill each other off.” Dump offered.

“Well, they will be settling their differences as usual, but the problem with them is they already have leadership and a pack they belong to already. We can hope they kill each other off some, but they will start organizing and expanding turf long before that, I am afraid. You see we are now in what is called a WROL situation, that means “without rule of law” I explained.

“You Yanks I always heard were armed to the teeth; sounds like its going to be a bloody war zone.” Stewart said disgustedly.

“It beats the blood bath that’s going to happen in your country, Stewart. Your government disarmed the populace. How are the regular folks going to defend themselves?” Dave aimed in his direction.

“Yeah, seems I heard London is about half Muslim or foreigners now, and on top of that you got your own gang problems.” Dump said pointedly.

“Then, you got your soccer thugs that like to fight and play anarchist.” I offered.

“Too right! Too Bloody well, right! There’s going to be mayhem aplenty alright. In me own homeland, the Bobbies can’t take care of gangs now, let alone the ‘mayhem’ this whatever it is that has come upon us.” Stewart said angrily.

“Gangs run like military organizations and since enlistment ranks were low, we have let too many gang bangers into the military by lowering standards and they have brought back what they learned from that training to the streets.” I said ominously while reaching for another hot beer.

“Hey, guys, I don’t have the energy for it, but if someone wants to get a Co2 fire extinguisher off one of the vehicles around here we can have cold beer” I said hopefully.

“I ain’t getting up, but I want to know how it’s done” Dump said with an eye towards Stewarts direction.

“Me neither, I am worn out, but do go on with the story David” Stewart said almost apologetically.

“Well when I was in the Field Artillery we used to take one of those red carbon dioxide fire extinguishers off one of the tracked cannons and put the beer in a duffel bag and , WHOOSH! Cold beer I said laughing.

“Cool, would a pillow case work” Dump said contemplating.

“Should, but those duffels were sort of nylon canvas material, I don’t know if it would work or not, because cotton is pretty porous” I said trying to envision what might happen or not happen.

“Well, I’m not volunteering now, at the moment mind you, but I would be willing to give her a try later.” Stewart said rubbing the stubble where his beard was soon to be.

“I am just glad enough to be quit moving at the moment.” I declared and got assenting comments all around.

“Guys, I am not to worried about anyone invading our camp tonight, because this disaster is young; but lets talk a bit about that, because I want to go to sleep soon.” I said speculatively to my bunk mates.

“I been thinking about that, I will take a watch if you want David.” he offered in my direction and glanced over at an attentive Stewart.

“Well, I don’t see a high risk of a unguarded camp, but let’s kick it a bit. I think we need as much rest as we can get, while we can, and others coming our way if we let this fire go out won’t even know we are here, if they pass in the night.” I said considering the possibilities.

“Light discipline is a must, no telling what kind of moths will come to our flame if we were all sleeping. “Dump said looking pointedly towards Stewart’s passion for building bonfires.

“Dumpie, how long you been listening to Blake and crew kicking it?” I chortled.

“Light suppression,” I said laughing out loud “is one of those terms we bandy about, when I am not supposed to be smoking a cigarette at night.” I stated while firing me one up.

Dump got a devilish grin on his face, made worse due to the flickering flames of the campfire in back of him and responded with, “They say a sniper can see you light cig at a mile at night.” Dump produced from his overheard stash of soldier lore.

‘That’s a fact Truck; I used to have to hide under a poncho to keep smoking these damn things before. Hey! Anyone seen a cigarette truck, out here anywhere?” I said producing a loud laugh out of Stewart. He held up a crumpled half pack of smokes

”I was on the look out for one and had half of mind to try to charge you for these, but seeing that we are all brethren of the coast now, like a bunch of pirates, you may have them free with my compliments.” he said passing them over to me.

“Thank you, Stewart!” I exclaimed not even bothering to make remark about the brand name and deposited them in my shirt pocket.

“That just earned you a new pair of socks. I was going to wrestle a dollar out of you for… Rental mind you, like leasing shoes at the bowling alley.” I said smiling.

”Damn! Show you two a street corner and I bet you would own it in a week.“ said Dump grinning.

“Stewart, you don’t really have anywhere to go, you want to consider joining the Dump Truck Tribe? I need a resourceful soul like you. My last statement took Dumpie unawares and he turned to Stewart and said, “Come on the more the merrier! The Truck Tribe, I like that, awful nice of you David.” he said beaming in my direction.

“How about it Stewart?” I asked.

An uncomfortable Stewart squirmed in his chair and responded after a momentary pause.

“Gents, I am honored to be asked, and kindly fellows you are to have a use for an old man, but my travels need to be towards my kith and kin, if I ever want to see the shores of my own land again.” he carefully said with what looked like to be a tear welling up in his eye in this dim light.

“Stewart, do you have much family back home?” I softly asked, recognizing he was troubled.

“ Well, me Mum and Da passed awhile back, but I have my connections and my heart back home as I guess we all have our obligations and friends needing us about now.” he replied suppressing a show of emotion among men towards tears.

“Yes, my friend, I got worries and responsibilities a plenty too, that I sort of put out of my mind till now.” I said dolefully.

“Let’s talk about some brighter things and consider our dinner for the night, what’s everybody willing to share for the pot?” I inquired digging in my improvised pillow case bag for some Campbell’s chicken noodle soup.

“Hey, I got two of those.” said Dump producing his scavenging out of a similar sack, all the while looking like a bald, beardless, tattooed Santa Claus.

“I got ZILCH in the soup department, but I foraged us up a good fry pan out of a car over there, that has some more pots and pans in it.” Stewart said producing it.

“Well, it might taste a bit nasty, but for foods sake, Dump and I got a couple of cans of Tuna to add to it, so we got something to stick to our ribs past noon tomorrow.” I suggested.

“I just as soon have the soup and Beer.” Dump countered making a face.

“I am in agreement.” Stewart said looking similar to Dumps grimace of my culinary suggestion.

“Fine by me, but your belly is going to be touching your backbone soon enough and it won’t sound so bad.” I made them recognize, but did get in agreement that it was a bad idea for this evening.

“David, you want to stay with me awhile when we get to Newnan? Now, before you object, I got plenty of relatives living mostly close and they would take you in on my say so and you could restock and regroup a bit.” he said inquiringly.

“That’s awful nice of you Dump, and I may yet take you up on that, but I gotta get home. Can we talk more on the prospect” I said while not burning any bridges.

“Sure, just want you to consider it” he said forgiving an outright refusal of hospitality and possible stupidity on my part.

“We got a long road up ahead, Dump, all options are on the table, and I am thankful for your generosity, but I got folks needing me that are on my mind.” I said wistfully.

“Understood.” is all he said.

We all contemplated the fire light in silence for a bit, and the possible or improbable need to smother this soothing fire at the moment.

“Dump, can we go country route from here and get off the main drag?” I said, considering what I needed to explain next.

“Oh yeah, I been thinking about that, we can get off at the, uh, I think next or the one after that exit to head in my direction, but it’s out of the way for you.” he said studying me.

“I have some worries what an exit is going to look like off this maze.” I declared, thinking about my next statement before I carried on. “It’s going to look like a rock concert or a flash mob as folks wander in, and overwhelm what ever resources might be there” I suggested.

Stewart considered this possibility and its ramifications for a moment. ”David, what do you think the world trade center downtown Atlanta is going to look like come next week”? He said cautiously.

“Going to be hell, Stewart, every foreigner from every country is going to try to make their way there that got stranded in the city or highway.” I let that sink in for a moment.

“Stewart, not to alarm you, but make you aware; people that are different from mainstream in society start to get hated for whatever reason, after a disaster if recovery is not quick.” I said sympathetically, but directly.

“Shit, I am no better than a Paki blighter in this town, then.” Stewart said, thinking about his colonial roots and problems caused in his own cites. He went on further, looking off in the distance, as he could envision Koreans, Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, Pakistanis, etc. all converging on one spot in a myriad of languages and confusion and being set upon by the locals, like this was somehow their fault or that they were not worthy of the same respect as humans as those that had more historic roots in the area.

“Dump, could you, I mean, would you give me your address in case I need to, what did you call it Dave, “Bug out” if it gets too bad?” Stewart said pleadingly.

“No problem, welcome to the Dumpie clan, if you need too, oops Tribe, right David?” He said extending his oversize mitt in Stewart’s direction, which was received and shook heartily.

“Let me find a bit of paper and pencil.’ Stewart said, while rummaging in his luggage.

“David, I got an old spinster cousin on the outskirts of Newnan. We should be able to make it to in a day or so, if we going the back way. “Dump said speculatively.

“A rest and a friendly face a day or two from now, might just be exactly what we need to recharge our batteries, my friend.” I said in agreement.

“Stewart, I’ll draw you map, or better yet, we find a regular road map in the morning and I will mark a route out.” Dump said turning towards the older Brit and grabbing another can of suds.

Almost simultaneously, Stewart and I said we had maps from today’s treasure hunt.

“You know that’s kind of dumb of me not to pick one up, just because I knew where I was headed.” Dump said a bit apologetically.

“Gotta think ahead. Right, Dave? Home may be where the map tells you, not your senses, I think you said.” He said eying the cans of soup sitting on the ground in front of him.

“Always have an alternate route and be ready with a detour at the worst possible moment is a plan indeed Dumpy.” I replied while digging out my key ring.

“You know how to use a P38 Truck”? I inquired producing one and handing it over for his inspection.

“Heard of them but never played with one” he replied unfolding the tiny can opener attached to the key chain.

“ Give her here , I know about such” said Stewart and half opened a can as a demonstration before passing it back to Dump to finish and practice on,

“Hell that’s about as quick as a regular one” Dump said gleefully reaching for another to start on.

“Its all in the wrist, once you master the technique there is nothing to it.” Stewart said reaching for the opened can and pouring the contents into his fry pan.

“Tell me a bit about your cousin Dump”/ I inquired.

“Well she is big as a house but not hard to look at” he began before Stewart and I started laughing at his description.

“Runs in the family” I said smirking at Dump

“See I told you he was a smartass” Dump said to Stewart handing him the other can but not taking any offense.

“ She’s had many a suitor but lives at the old family place by herself and just well, likes it that way and aged enough that men don’t come around much anymore” He said describing his relative.

“Hell of a cook though, Dave, if there’s something left to cook after the refrigerator and freezer turned off Dave, you’re in for a feast. She’s raising chickens though so I reckon we eat either way” he declared.

“Sounds like a winner to me! How far do you think her place is”? I questioned trying to discern the map in the dim light.

“I dunno, 8 or 12 miles, it’s a bitch to think about hoofing it versus driving it.” He contemplated.

“Well one day’s forced march” I offered.

“Probably, but you said something about staying out of the noon day sun and walking more at dusk like we were in the desert ‘ He countered.

“Well if we got a destination in mind we don’t have to pace ourselves that strictly “I contemplated.

“We will be there by 7 or 8 at night if we just take it light” I said hopefully.

“I am figuring about the same” Dump said rubbing his feet.

“Soups on” said Stewart digging in his picnic basket for some bowls and pouring straight out of the pan a portion for each of us.

“Don’t need to soil a spoon I will just sip it out of the bowl with my beer” Dump said.

“Even though at the moment we got lots of water to wash with, I second that” I declared.

“We going to leave at first light or as soon as I wake up Stewart. As us country boys say, I feel like I been road hard and put up wet” I said venting how tired I was but I don’t think Stewart understood my saying. The party continued on for awhile and despite my own admonishment not to over indulge we did and I woke to the sun rising with the mung head.

“Wake up call Dump, I said to my traveling partner who appeared to my bleary eyes to be a beached whale.

Stewart stirred and sat up remarking “Blimey the world ends and we still gotta go to work”

“Dump wake your big ass up buddy” I said nudging him.

“I am awake, I just can’t move yet “Dump said rising up on one elbow blinking at the sun.

“Its early as hell and getting hot already” he moaned.

“Anybody wants some coffee” I offered

“You will not be putting that foul brew in me pot” said Stewart reaching for his tea pot.

“Hey compromise buddy, I just need some hot water and I am in charge of remaking the fire” I said staggering to my feet,

“That’s right you got instant, sorry it’s just that I got my pot seasoned just right” Stewart said while regaining his own feet.

“Dump you think that cousin of yours is going to object to some night visitors” I said

“Do what”? He replied still trying to orient himself.

“She ain’t going to take a pot shot at us appearing after dark in the middle of this shit is she” I explained.

“Oh, no, she probably just thinks the powers out and hasn’t even tried her car yet, she don’t get out much.” He said moving the Van as he used it for support to get up.

“Damn you said a mouthful then Dump, I wonder how many people actually don’t know the shit hit the fan yet” said Stewart observing my fire building tepee skills.

“My mom for one” I said with a twinge.

“It will be alright buddy” said Dump patting me kindly on the back.

“Gotta get home” I responded despondently and resumed my arranging some sticks and trash together to light.

“How old is she Dave”? Stewart asked.

“85 and feisty as hell, she’s been thru hurricanes she will be ok till I get there” I responded with a nod to myself.

“My Mamma is probably out in her garden cussing about the electricity because the well pump won’t work for her to water it” Dump said with a big yawn.

Dump and I had a cup of coffee and Stewart enjoyed his tea as we all contemplated our soon separating of the ways.

“Stewart, it’s been nice, we gotta head out. Want me to wash up these cups”? I asked gesturing towards them.

“No, I got the KP today, going to miss you blokes” Stewart replied extending his hand for a shake.

”You going to do well Stewart, but don’t lose Dumpies address” I said while getting my gear together.

“ Oh I am going to do fine, you mates even made me a proper hotel if your not going to be being taking your mats along with you” Stewart chuckled.

“Mats are free, laying on them costs a dollar” Dump said hugging him around the shoulder with a smile.

He looked at us seriously for a moment and said “Fare thee well”.

“And to you, Stewart.” I replied and we set off on our journey towards our destinations with the sounds of our temporary host washing up and whistling a tune; and now and then singing a few words, the only ones I could catch though were ‘Fare thee Well, Fare the Well…’ sending us off.

“Fine fellow” Dump said breaking my thoughts of what lay ahead today.

“That he was, entertaining to say the least” I exclaimed while re-shouldering my pack to the opposite side and already sweating out a few too many beers.

“Looks like some more early starts ahead “said Dump gesturing towards a line of people off in the distance.

10

NOT NECESSARILY THE RIGHT ANSWER

The Group in front of us grew in size as we approached and I could start making out faces. Leading the pack appeared to be a Georgia Highway Patrol Officer in full regalia and every age and race following up his advance.

“Hello” I said as we approached.

“Hi” came back the suspicious response from the LEO.

“How’s it looking down the way?“ I questioned him surveying the pack of bedraggled strangers. Something wrong here I thought. The wayfarers looked more subdued and fearful than I would have expected.

“Pretty bad multi car wreck a mile or so back, it’s kind of gory so you might want to change lanes” He said sizing us up through dark sunglasses.

“How about the way you came, any trouble?” he said expectantly, surveying the road we just came down

“Not too many wrecks” I offered.

“Many people?’ he countered.

“No, it’s pretty deserted most everyone seems to have headed for the nearest exit.” I replied eying the group who seemed to be making a point of not paying too much attention to our conversation.

“Any water?’ he asked pointedly.

“Uh yea, possibly there’s a Perrier truck over in the other far lane” I said diverting him from “Stewart’s store”.

“Was it open” he asked like I was supposed to produce my driver’s license or something.

“Didn’t look in it, I don’t like the taste of it anyway” I nonchalantly said back.

“Thanks” he replied and then waved his hand like he was leading a wagon train or something and said “Let’s move out”! and crossed over the median to the other lane.

Dump was looking puzzled and asked “why did you do that?”

“I got a feeling that gung ho freak might try to say Stewart was looting or something. I am wondering if some of those people following him are prisoners or just refugees putting up with him for protection.” I said watching the band of people moving off the road.

“They might just miss Stewart entirely over in that far lane. Did you really see a Perrier Truck over there?’ Dump inquired

“Thought I did...“ I said grinning and turning to resume our trek once more.

“That looks like a good place to crossover” Dump said gesturing towards a break in the median barrier ahead.

“Yea it does. You know I found 500 bucks under the mattress of the truck I was in yesterday. You need some?” I asked.

“That was a lucky find. Not much to spend it on out here but it might be useful later on. If I need some Ill holler at you” he said while already starting to sweat profusely as the day was warming up. We trudged along occasionally making small talk for the next couple miles and then took the exit ramp to the county road Dump directed me to take.

“You know you might be able to buy a gun of some sort off my cousin, she inherited a bunch of them from her uncle and father awhile back and I don’t think she ever did much of anything with them.” he advised me.

“Damn, that would be great Dump!” I said looking down the mostly desolate two lane road we had begun traveling on.

“How far do you think we have to go now?” I asked while thinking it was time for another break.

“Maybe 5 or 6 miles as the crow flies.” he replied.

“Let’s take a break under that billboard and rest for a bit.” I said heading off the road and into the weeds.

“We’re making better time than I thought today. What’s your watch say David?” Dump asked.

“I got 2.30. So maybe we’ll get there about 5.30 or 6.” I guessed.

“How far is your place from your cousins”? I said while retrieving a bottle of water from my pack and some cheese crackers.

“About 18 miles but it’s in the opposite direction from the way you want to go.” he replied while cracking open a can of Vienna sausages.

“You want to hang around my cousin’s a day or two?” he said between mouthfuls.

“I could use a day to rest up, my feet are pretty sore from these dress shoes” I said dreading the next 5 miles.

“I will hangout with you; I don’t have to be right back for any particular reason.”

“Good maybe we’ll see another beer truck on the way.” I joked.

“I imagine my Cousin’s got some if my relatives haven’t been visiting and drank it all up.” Dump said with a sigh as he retied his horseshoe pack.

“Well, let’s get ‘er done” he said resuming our march under the broiling sun.

11

HOMECOMING

“Come on and cut across this field Dave, might save us a mile or two” he said while looking for a good place to hop the barb wire.” This acreage borders the cross roads and runs almost up to my cousin’s property.” Dump said gingerly stepping over a low spot in the rusty barbed-wire fence.

“Looks like who ever own this sold off most of their cattle or changed pastures.” I remarked while picking my way across the field.

“Yea appears so, if he sold them, I bet he regrets it now.” Dump said avoiding another cow pie in his path.

“There’s a fish pond we can visit back in here tomorrow if you want, but I think probably we’d rather just lay around the house recovering.” he said navigating our way cross country.

“I like that second option better. Any hope of scrounging up a bicycle from one of your relatives, Dump?” I said wishfully thinking.

“Might be one in my cousin’s garage, I’ll remember to ask her later.” he added.

“We will get back on the road up here; her house is only a few hundred yards away.” Dump said gesturing towards a mail box up the road.

We were following the driveway towards a big wooden house with a wrap around porch, when we heard the screen door slam and a stout pudgy women appeared and hollered “Bill, so nice to see ya!” and sort of waddled down hurriedly towards us.

Dump speed up and met her half way and they hugged one another.

“Martha, how are you doing” Dump now called Bill said all smiles and holding her out to arms length.

“Fair to middlin’. Come on to the house.” she said as she herded us towards the porch.

“Phew! Bill what you been doing you smell awful”. She said turning her nose up.

“Been walking for a couple days”, he said plopping down in a chair.

“Why would you need to do that for Bill” she declared with concern.

“Martha this is David” and she and I exchanged pleasantries as I took up residence in another chair next to Dump.

“Told you she wouldn’t have noticed” said Dump in my direction.

“Noticed what?” she said crossly eying Dump anew.

“Martha we are in deep shit, the worlds been hit with a thing called EMP and the lights wont be coming on anytime too soon” he declared and proceeded to explain for the next hour just what that meant.

“Well I wondered what knocked the power out a few days ago and I was thinking about going over to your Uncle Jakes and see how they were getting on, but you say no cars will work?” Martha questioned while shuffling for her keys to go out and prove it to herself.

“This is like a bad Sci-Fi movie David” Martha said addressing me skeptically.

“Bill said you were some kind of FEMA folk, are they going to be coming to help out during this?” she demanded to know.

“I explained, not for a long time to come.” but left her with a little hope on a possible arrival someday.

“Well I know you boys is hungry, Bill get your friend something to drink out of that cooler and ill fix up some supper.” she said bustling about.

“I had me some frozen milk jugs in the freezer that I put in there and they are not quite melted yet so the drinks will still be cold” she added.

Dump handed me a coke and resumed his seat.

“I got lots of meat in the freezer that will need cooking; you boys want to have a cook out tomorrow?” She inquired

“Sounds good to me” I offered while Dump agreed also.

“ I got a bunch of old blankets wrapping up the freezer so I might get a few more days before I need to get it out there” she considered.

“Hey Martha, you got any bicycles in your garage?” Dump asked and I turned to see the response.

“I just got my old one from when I was young, tires probably flat but there’s a pump in there” she said pointing in the direction of a barn like building.

“Mind if we have a look” said Dump rising.

“Help yourself, but you won’t be able to ride it I don’t think Bill, maybe David could. David if you get it going, you mind delivering a message for me about a mile from here?” she said looking at me.

“Be glad too” I said willing to do most anything at this point to get use of a bike.

Bill and I walked over to the shed and opened the door. Assorted tools and junk was everywhere but leaned up against one side was an ugly old purple girls bike complete with banana seat, ape hanger handle bars with streamers, a bell and a white basket in front. The tires were only half flat and after locating the pump we filled them up and wheeled the bike out of the shed.

“Your chariot awaits.” Dump said with a flourish towards the frilly machine.

“Well there’s no doubt folks will see me coming on that thing.” I said mounting it and taking it for an experimental spin around the yard.

Dump was beside himself laughing at me and Martha poked her head out to see what was so funny and stifled a giggle.

“I sure was proud of that thing, back in the day. Hard to imagine me as a girly girl, isn’t it, Bill?” she said grinning at Dump.

He dodged the question and asked, “What’re we having for dinner?” To which Martha run off a list that would put any country restaurant to shame and said it would be about an hour till we ate.

“Martha, you still got your Daddy’s gun collection around here?” he snuck into the conversation.

“Most of it is still back there. I guess you will want to borrow something, Bill, times being what they are. There in the closet in the back bedroom go have a look.” she said ducking back in the kitchen.

The closet contained several cased rifles and shotguns and several boxes which could only include pistols and we had a field day snooping around.

“Hey, I got one of those” I said handling a small .380 Sig Sauer 230 stainless pistol. “They used to be the Cadillac of concealed carry in their day.” I said dreamily handling it and checking the mechanism to see if it was clear.

“Offer her a hundred bucks for it.“ Dump said.

“That’s a four of five hundred dollar gun, Dump” I objected.

“She don’t know values, and besides, where is she going to spend it. Just make the offer.” he said settling on a .45 caliber Astra and sticking it in his waistband.

“I get to borrow remember.” He smirked and we headed back towards the kitchen.

After a momentary pause contemplating my offer, she said “Sure David I will sell it to you. I got my shotgun and 38 if I need them and there are several other guns around here just collecting dust, so it’s a deal.” she said to my amazement and Dump’s cousin knowing nod.

“Well, thank you very much” I accepted and followed Dump back to the bedroom to get some ammo for it and search around for a holster if one could be found.

The holster I ended up with was a simple affair, just a loop of leather really that slid on your belt. But with my shirttail out the little weapon just disappeared.

“I feel so much better to have a pistol again, Dump.” I said.

“Hope you won’t have to use it buddy, but I am glad for you too. Makes me fell a lot better, since I won’t be there to have your back after tomorrow” he said looking towards the kitchen.

“Yea I am going to miss you my bouncer friend. Hey what kind of message does Martha need me to deliver? I asked

“Martha, David wants to know what kind of message you want him to deliver.

“I want him to stop by Ray’s trailer and tell him he ought grab his stuff and move in with me tomorrow. I got chickens, goats and a garden plot that needs tending. Tell him.” Martha said while setting various dishes on an already overcrowded table.

Dump waved me closer into a whispered conversation, “She’s had her eye set on him for years and now is her chance to reel him in.” he sniggered.

“Come on and eat!’ Martha called from the dining room and we all settled in on a feast.

“You’re cooking with propane.’ I said remembering the big silver tanks I had seen in the back.

“Yes, just topped off, last week. I guess I don’t have all bad luck after all.” she said reloading her plate.

These folks can eat! I was getting tired just watching the two of them go at it. I didn’t do too bad myself and had seconds of most everything.

“I will go by Ray’s tomorrow morning for you.” I said while resting up out on the front porch and looking forward to a softer bed tonight.

“That will be fine, David. He has his own bicycle, by the way, and maybe you can help bring back some things in your little basket.” she said picking at me about the garish bike and producing a laugh out of Dump.

“Stranger things have happened.” Was all I could come up with, and studied my glass of warmish sweet tea.

12

RAY`S PLACE

I got on my bike in the morning after receiving directions and cycled down the road to deliver the message. Dump had to be a smart ass and start humming the music from the Wizard of Oz witch riding the bicycle in the storm, as I pushed off.

“You will get yours, Dump.” I said as I peddled away.

Riding this bike sure was easier than walking and I was at the old single wide trailer before I knew it. I was getting off the bike and hollering “Ray!” RAY! When a balding older guy in overhauls stepped out of the trailer and looked down at me.

“And who might you be and what does Martha want now?” he asked smiling and reaching out his hand.

“I am David. I take it you recognize the bike?” I answered, laughing as I dismounted.

“That I do. Is she ok?” he asked looking at the spectacle before him.

“Oh, she’s fine, she wants you to move in with her and help her with the farm.” I said to his watchful twinkling eyes.

“I figured that, took her twenty years to get me in her clutches, but I guess she has got me now. She figured out we had us a EMP event did she?” He said leaning against his porch railing.

“No, me and Dump, err, Bill told her. She was surprised to say the least.”

“I didn’t figure it out until I noticed those cars stuck in the road up at the intersection. My car wouldn’t start and I was riding my bike up to get some help, when I saw them abandoned.” He replied

“I’m sure glad you knew what it was, I get tired of explaining it.” I said moving onto the porch with him.

“I heard on the news awhile back that NASA predicted such a thing was likely awhile back.” he said turning to open his door.

“Come on in. How’s that oversized cousin of hers?” he said, while gesturing for me to sit on the couch.

“Big as ever, we’ve been walking out of Atlanta together for the past two days.” I said looking around the trailer.

“Damn, that’s a far piece without a vehicle, especially in this heat. I bet Atlanta is looking like a war zone about right now.” he said lighting a cigarette and offering me one, which I gladly accepted.

“You want something to drink? I got hot beer and bottled water.” he offered.

“I will take the beer, thanks.” I said as Ray got up two fetch two cans.

He sat down and handed me mine and I said, “It looks like you are already packed.” I said pointing at a backpack and a small suitcase.

“I was going to head to Martha’s later on today and tell her the news, pretty much figured she would want me to stay.” he said and took a big swig from his beer.

“Nasty stuff, when it’s this warm.” he said grimacing.

“It grows on ya.” I replied taking a gulp out of mine.

“I wasn’t going to carry the beer with me this trip. You want to sit around and drink a few before we head out to Martha’s?” he asked.

“Sure, Martha is planning a cookout today in order to help use up some of the meat in her freezer. I guess it won’t hurt for us to start the party a bit early.” I commented.

“Where you from, Dave?’ he said rising to go get more beer.

“Montgomery.” I replied.

“Hell, that’s over 150 miles away, you aren’t heading there are you?” he said looking at me in astonishment.

“It will take me awhile to get home, for sure, but I am heading out tomorrow in that direction no matter what. Got kin of my own to see to.” I said with some determination.

“You better find you a lawnmower or a horse or something to go all that way,” he said pointedly.

“You know where I can find something?” I asked.

“No, but I will think on it some.” he said and we went back to our conversation on EMP and what Atlanta might look like by now.

“Ray you want to sell me that backpack when we get to Martha’s?” I asked. “That is, if you don’t think you will need it.” I added seriously.

“I will go you one, better. I got an old Boy Scout pack I will give you and you can use it to carry a couple of six packs back to Martha’s with it.” He offered with a grin.

“Sounds like a fair deal to me.” I agreed. “I got a basket, too, if you think of anything else to tote.” I said chuckling about the bike I was forced to ride.

“We shall see.” he said and cracked another can open and we settled in to share outlooks on how hard the times were about to be.

“I think winter’s going to be the hardest. I don’t relish the thought of trying to get what will be needed with just an axe and my own sweat.” Ray said looking towards a long cold future.

“I agree, we will lose a lot of the population come fall, as it is. Try to save on that propane she has, as much as you can, and you won’t have to chop so much wood.” I suggested eying the faded BSA symbol on the old canvas pack Ray had given me.

“Well, Martha is a sensible country girl, but she sure does love to cook. Just might be a bit difficult restraining her from using that oven overly much this summer. ” Ray mused.

“Now that outhouses have become fashionable again, she might not be so hard to convince.” I said looking out the trailer window.

“Oh, that house has a cistern and a septic tank, I will rig something so we can keep the indoor plumbing.” he declared.

“Well, you about ready to get going?” I asked, watching as Ray loaded two six-packs into what was soon to b e my bag.

“Just need to load up and lock up and we can go.” said Ray, rising to his feet.

“I figure chainsaws will most likely work, until the gas goes bad.” I interjected eying Ray’s boat parked off to the side. “You got any Stabil gasoline additive?” I inquired.

“Sure, do. Good idea.” He said heading towards his storage shed.

“Add it to my basket.” I offered with a smile.

13

THE GREAT SMOKE OUT

Ray and I peddled up to Martha’s drive way sweating out our previously consumed adult libations. We could see Dump laboring over the barbeque pit and it looked like he had a good fire going.

“Hi, Ray! “Dump hollered across the yard. “Long times no see!” he said enthusiastically in our direction, then looking towards the house expectantly.

The screen door slowly opened and out waltzed Martha in what might have been what they call a sun dress or a circus tent. I couldn’t tell which. She evidently had taken the time to put some war paint on, however, and demurely called out a ”Hi Ray. Nice of you to drop by.” and “Thanks, Dave, now Ray and I need to talk.” and locked elbows with him guiding him towards the house, leaving a flabbergasted Dump Truck and Dave in her wake to tend to other business.

“Oh, God he is in for it now.” Dump said happily, directing me towards the grill.

“Did they used to be an item, Dump?” I asked inspecting his roaring blaze that would be reduced to good hardwood coals eventually.

“They grew up together and until she added a hundred pounds or so, used to occasionally date.” he said poking at the fire with a hoe.

“She has always had a thing for him though, and been trying to doll up since you left hours ago. What have you been doing anyway, I was starting to get worried?” he asked adjusting his new found pistol.

“Well, it’s Rays beer, but seeing how he is indisposed, I guess is ok to offer you one.” delving into my pack.

“She got out a half gallon of Jack from somewhere she has been saving for just this sort of occasion.“ Dump said, smirking about his cousin and her intended Beau as usual. “I don’t think he will mind if we drink up his beer.” he said raking the coals down more to his liking.

“That’s a damn huge fire Dump, you been taking lessons from Stewart?” I asked, opening up a beer of my own.

“Well, she has got over a side of beef in that freezer, plus some pork, she said she could can some, if I got it mostly done.” he said inquisitively towards me seeking some suggestions.

“We need to smoke some of it and make some jerky or pemmican out of it then, if you got that much.” I said pondering.

“I am up on jerky, but what’s pemmican?” Dump replied sucking the bottom out of his beer.

“It’s basically preserving meat by rendering lard or tallow.” I offered. “The pioneers got it from the Indians and the meat lasts forever. You mix clear fat with pulverized meat and berries and/or nuts and seal it up in something.” I explained.

“Well, we got about 10 lbs of frozen pecans and there are blackberries in season growing around here.” he said looking around.

“Perfect, I can make us some trail rations and have a bunch left over. You got any old pipe around here, Dump?” I said contemplating building a smoker and looking towards the jumble of goods I had seen in the garage previously.

“I saw some bits and pieces earlier. What do you need?” he said and heading off towards the shed.

“They can make Jerky in the oven for now, but since you got the makings of a smoker and that fire producing some great coals: let’s dig us a pit and find a tarp to pipe some of that smoke into.” I suggested.

“Hell, let’s move the whole freezer out here and make one out of that.” Dump suggested catching onto the idea.

“Beats digging any day.” I said following his lead and we began our construction.

Occasional raised voices drifted out from the main house as Dump and I labored over our task.

“Seems he is not in complete agreement as yet.” Dump said chuckling, while we fitted the pipe to our improvised smoker.

“Could be he don’t like the size of his corral.” I said while shuddering at what Martha might be demanding of him.

“Oh, they will sort it out, they actually love and need each other.” he said finishing up a sheet metal flange with a ball peen hammer.

“Look, the love birds are coming out to join us.” he spoke while finding something else to pretend he had his attention on.

“Bill? How’s that fire coming, and what on earth is that creation.” she declared surveying our handiwork.

“It’s a smoker.” Dump declared, as our audience took in the mangled looking chest freezer we had carried out from the back porch.

“Now, that’s slick.” said Ray, while distancing himself from his nemeses and asked, “How’s it work?” feigning interest in the contraption to avoid the dagger-like, but wistful stares coming from Martha.

We explained the process of getting cooler smoke from our fire, while Martha sipped what appeared to be most likely a Jack and coke.

“ Hell, that’s at least 3 months worth of food you guys are creating there.” he said, allowing Martha to slip up to him and reservedly taking claim to her by attempting to encircle her waist with his arm.

“Martha and I have agreed to marry.” he said dejectedly, “Since you are the only official, other than God, will you seal the marriage, David?”

I was thunderstruck, as was Dump. “I am not any kind of official Ray. I didn’t even have a job a few days ago.” I adamantly said.

“You’re what we got and I have agreed. Do a ceremony Dave and Bill, you witness.” he forlornly said.

“Are you serious?” I asked and looked imploringly into each of their eyes.

“Yes, we are Dave.” said Martha back resolutely.

“Dump, go find a Bible or something.” I said near-speechlessly, as he stared open-mouthed at both of them.

“We got to do this right.” I said searching for words, while Martha looked to be blushing or getting ready to tell me to hurry up.

Old Truck was still dumbfounded and hadn’t moved yet.

“There’s one on the nightstand.” she said pushing him in the direction of the house.

“Ya’ll are sure about this?” I inquired, as Dump went on his mission and I looked closely at them again.

“We have agreed.” Martha said pointedly, as Dump Truck trotted back with Bible in hand, mission complete.

“Cross your hands on the Bible. Do you, Ray, promise to love and cherish Martha till death do you part?”

A weak, “Yes,” came from Ray.

“And, do you, Martha, promise to love and to hold Ray till death do you part?”

To which Martha sang out, “YES, I do.”

“By the powers invested in me, by you and before our Lord, I declare you Man and Wife.” I said feeling very peculiar in this role.

“Kiss your Bride, Ray.” I finished saying and surprisingly he did and did so with gusto.

“I heard there was some Jack around here.” I said laughing. “Every marriage needs a toast.” I said in anticipation of being able to partake.

“I will go get it.” Martha said with a lot of color in her cheeks that did not belong to the weather or possible imbibing before the event.

“Back in a minute.” she said flouncing towards the house.

“Well, you old rascal, you took the big jump, didn’t you.” said Dump extending his hand towards Ray.

“She didn’t give me a lot of choices, Bill.” he said returning the handshake. “But I will be good.” he assured my concerned friend.

“Who is that?” I asked, gesturing towards a stranger moving slowly down the road.

“Looks like Philburn Stiles.” declared Ray, moving towards the man with some recognition and concern.

“That’s who it is, alright.” said Dump scrutinizing the newcomer.

“Hey Stiles, you need some help? Ray called while continuing to walk faster towards the zombie-like figure and Dump and I hurriedly tried to catch up.

“I need some water,” the old man croaked as Ray put an arm out to steady him.

“Sure Phil, let me just help you over to this shade tree. Bill, go get some water for him, please.” Ray said letting the gray faced man down gently next to an old oak.

Dump returned from getting the water and handed it to Stiles, who greedily began guzzling it down.

“Easy there, Stiles. Don’t make yourself sick.” Ray said touching the man on the shoulder.

“Ok.” Phil said, slowing his efforts and looking like a deflated bag of bones.

Martha wandered up then, looking like a concerned mother hen.

“Philburn, you look all done in, what’s done happened?” she clucked worriedly looking down at him.

“Let me catch my breath and I will tell you all about it” he wheezed out, while mopping the sweat off his forehead with a shirt sleeve.

“Bill, go get Phil a towel, if you would.” Martha said while still looking anxiously at the old man.

“I will be alright in a bit; I am just wore slam out.” Phil said, while thanking Dump for the towel and sitting up a little straighter, though he was still looking deathly pale.

“Dump, we need to tend that smoker and make sure it’s not getting too hot.” I said looking towards it.

“Martha and I can see to Philburn. You two go do what you need to do. You think you can make up to the porch?” Ray said and extending a hand to the man to give him some help up.

“Might be a bit cooler up there, at that.” Phil said, as he grunted wearily, while grabbing on to Ray’s proffered hand with both of his and pulling himself up.

Dump and I checked the fire and busied ourselves seasoning the meat to go on the grill and discussed various recipes to season the jerky to be going into the oven later on in the day.

“Dump, who is that guy? He was looking pretty peeked?” I said gesturing towards the porch.

“That’s one of the bigger local landowners and a real estate agent. He is also somewhat of a skin flint, if you know what I mean.” Dump said, while creating some kind of mystery rub to go on the lesser cuts of meat from the side of beef we were trying to contend with.

“We don’t have time to do it today, but let me tell you a trick to tenderize those pieces with. You see Chinese restaurants buy those cheaper cuts often times to make up a dish and they coat them with baking soda for about 24hours. As long as you’re sure to wash the baking soda off good before you cook it, it does a great job of tenderizing or use it on deer to remove some of that wild taste.” I explained. “Neat, I will try that some day. Let me cover this meat up and we will go hear Phil burns story.” he said while grabbing a roll of foil.

14

PHILBURN’S FOLLY

Dump and I wandered up to the expansive covered porch and sat down. I noticed Phil was starting to get a little color back in his cheeks, but still looked the worse for wear.

“Phil, do you need to take an aspirin?” I inquired.

“I got some heart pills, I take. But thanks for thinking about it.” Phil replied.

“This is David,“ Ray said to Phil, who was still barely moving.

“Pleasure, David, wish I could of met you on a better day.” he sighed.

“Me, too,” I replied looking towards Ray and Martha inquiringly.

“Phil’s been telling us how bad Newnan is getting, go ahead with your story Phil.” he said while turning to Martha.

“Martha get Bill and David a drink, we haven’t had our toast yet.” Ray said warily to his new spouse.

“Completely slipped my mind in the confusion.” she said rising and opening the screen door to go into the house.

“What are you toasting, Ray?” Phil said adjusting himself straighter in his chair.

“Martha and me just got hitched.” he said sheepishly.

“I’ll be damned! When was the wedding? I didn’t hear anything about it.” Phil responded with interest.

“About 5 minutes, before you fell out on the front lawn. I will tell you about that later, you were telling us that there was something we needed to know.” he said looking worriedly at Phil.

“You got a plague of locusts heading your way, Ray.” and he settled back to tell his story, as Martha came back and handed Dump and I our drinks.

“You don’t get one until you looking better, Phil.” she said apologetically, but firmly.

“I don’t touch the stuff usually, but I will help celebrate your occasion later. Congratulations, by the way!” he said trying to show more enthusiasm than he felt.

“Well, getting back to my story. I was sitting in Susie’s Drive in on the outskirts of town, when this shit hit. At first, we all thought it was a power outage, until the cars passing along the road out front started to just slow down and stop. There were folks breaking down everywhere and that Georgia power boy, Silas, said something about EMP to who ever was listening. And we all asked a question or two watching the shocked folks get out their cars in wonderment and start to head towards the diner.’ He stated morosely while rocking back in his chair and looking towards Martha.

“Darling, I might just need that drink now please, I will be ok.” he reassured.

“Well, if you can handle it, Ill get it.” she said still looking at him suspiciously, but rising to go mix him one.

“Well, folks kept coming and coming, until the place was filled up and people were just milling around in the parking lot. Nobody knew what to do and the owner Suzie was freaking out, as people started demanding water and the taps weren’t working.” He paused to take his drink from Martha and then resumed his story.

“ It was bedlam, I tell you, inside of there with people packing in like sardines and talking all at once, so I thought I best get out of there, before it got out of hand.” he reminisced wincingly.

“How many people, you figure Phil?” Dump asked looking worried.

“When I left that parking lot there must have been at least a 150 people and more walking towards it.” he thoughtfully considered.

“That’s what I wanted to warn you about. I been smelling that Barbeque you been making for the last two miles.” he said seriously looking around at all our faces.

“I was on the outskirts of Newnan, mind you, no telling how many people will be coming up that exit from the interstate and joining that horde of folks. You guys are off the main drag, but I can’t imagine what all those people are going to do for food and drink.” he said ominously, letting the thought of a mass of refugees descending on our cook out sink in.

Martha started looking like she was going to lose her composure and cast a frightened look towards the road before speaking.

“David, you know about mobs and such, what do we do.” she said imploringly and everyone put me on the spot staring in my direction.

Shit, I ain’t been trained for this I thought. While I tried to carefully frame an answer for my attentive hosts.

“First thing we do is load what ever long arms we got and keep them handy. Most people will leave you alone by just seeing you armed. We don’t have any idea how many folks will come this way, but if it’s small groups we help who we can, but be adamant about them having to keep moving on.” I said looking for anyone coming up either side of the road.

“What about that smoker, David? Should we put it out?” Dump said eying the outdoor kitchen we had set up.

“Too late for that, we got at least six more hours of burn time needed to finish what we started and folks won’t be so desperate yet, that they’d try to force an issue, if we look armed to the teeth.” I said decidedly.

“I can shoot, if you need me to.” Phil said dejectedly as he realized he wasn’t going to be able to just rest today.

“Let’s just get prepared for the worst, and hope for the best. Dumps, get those guns out and I will bike up the road and do a little recon to see if I can anticipate just what we might be in for.” I said rising to my feet.

“I am on it.” Dump said heading in to the house.

“What should we be doing while you are gone?” Ray said accepting, but not really trusting my judgment yet.

“Help Dump load, and make up some signs on cardboard or something to say ‘no trespassing’, ‘move on’ etc. Philburn can keep watch, if he is feeling up to it. Dump needs to watch the fire and kind of play roving guard and occasionally look for me to be coming back, I shouldn’t be long.” I said getting ready to mount that stupid looking bike.

“You can borrow mine to do that.” Ray said to my instant relief.

“It will be just fine, Martha.” I said consolingly and mounting Ray’s bicycle and heading out down the driveway.

“Be careful!” she cried to my departure.

“I must have been a danged fool to walk all that way in my condition, but I didn’t know what else to do.” Phil said to Dump who was handing him a shotgun and watching my departure.

“Sounds like you had no choice, to me.” Dump said, uncasing a lever action 30-30 and reaching towards his back pocket for a box of ammo to go with it.

“Damn, there is a friggin’ arsenal in that closet!” Ray said carrying out two rifle cases and a pistol box.

Martha interjected into the men’s conversation and admiration of the weapons with, “What kind of signs did David say to make?” she admonished, as if to say nobody should get trigger happy.

“He said something about just getting the message across that people should keep moving on by this place.” Phil offered.

“Let’s put up a big sheet with skull and crossbones on it.” Dump suggested looking wicked.

“That’s not what he meant, he said we should help small groups, but be prepared for repelling mobs.” Martha scolded.

“That would repel me…” Dump started to say, before Martha and Ray looked at him pointedly.

“I better go check that fire.” Dump said picking up a Marlin 30-30.

“You do that, and don’t forget to look for Dave coming back, in case he needs you.” Martha said, while feeling Phil’s forehead like she was doing some kind of good in this hundred degree weather.

A belligerent, but chastised, Dump Truck wandered back to his cooking efforts and resumed the chore of leveling the coals. Meantime, Ray talked to Phil about the impromptu wedding and his and Martha’s plans to team up and get through this radical change in living conditions.

“Philburn, you still got horses over at your place?” Ray asked contemplating a lead into a conversation where he might just be able to have the upper hand with this old horse trader, for a change.

“I got a couple of old retired nags, but I just got done selling off most of my stock. Wish I hadn’t, we got a use for them now don’t we.” He said with the same old dollar signs in his eyes Ray was used too from past dealings with the old miser.

“You still got any of those old tractors you used to collect?” Ray said setting the old negotiator up for a fall.

He doesn’t really collect them he just buys up old pieces of shit and gets them barely running to sell to someone as“Antique” when he can get away with it, Ray thought to himself.

“Oh, I got a couple, I been restoring, you seen that rare one I got out on the road in front of my place with the for sale sign on it?” His eyes sparkling as his nose smelled new money out of trash. “Think it can still run, now do you, after what just happened?” Phil shrewdly inquired.

“It might still work, you referring to that old Hoyt Clagwell looking thing you probably got off Mr. Haney on Green Acres?” Ray said drawing his victim in and working on driving down the price.

“Hey, that’s a crank start 1950 Massey Ferguson; they don’t make them like that anymore!” Phil objected.

“They don’t make them like that any more for a reason!” looking at his prey wolfishly and then carrying on.

“Did that old rust bucket run when you parked it to the side of the road?” Ray said mentally licking his chops.

“ Now, see here, that’s a valuable antique, I admit its condition needs some paint, but I ain’t taking less than $900 for it as is and it will crank.” Phil huffed.

“How are you going to get home Phil, you thought about that yet?” Making the old reprobate realize he had been had, hook line and sinker.

“What are you saying, Ray?” Phil said irately.

“I am saying I got a proposition for you that you can’t refuse.” and commenced to tell him the deal I had struck to get that god awful bike and that I might just be willing to ride him home on it, if I got a tractor out of the deal, and sat back smugly knowing he had the winning hand.

“Shit, you a hard trader Ray, there’s no way I can make it back the 7 miles to my place by foot after the ordeal I done been through.” He said with lighting bolts coming out of his old grey blue eyes.

“I ain’t done with you, yet.” Ray said hitching his fingers under the straps of his overalls and toying with his quarry.

“ You going to get Davies’s bike out of the deal and we ain’t traded for that yet, nor the cost of your upkeep while residing on my place, oops, our place.” casting a glance at an intrigued, but correcting Martha.

“You’re gouging me, going too far.” Philburn said, apparently outraged, while trying to direct the conversation back towards a more palatable deal for himself.

“You have been screwing every one around here for years.” Martha looked at him intently. “’Fair will be fair’, as we see it or move on.” she said reproachfully and looking pointedly towards the road.

“Ok, name your terms.” a defeated Phil said.

Ray started counting on his fingers, “For a ride home, David gets the tractor and it better run.” he said looking at the misbegotten old man.

“It does, but uses oil.” Phil offered a bit cowed.

“Two,” Ray ticked off on his fingers, remembering how many times this old codger had got him on a deal or a loan payment. “My time or my money is not free, as you have been known to say so many times, we pay for convenience or we can go to the bank, as you used to like to remind me regarding interest rates or repayment schedules.” He spoke towards a thoroughly trapped loan shark and enjoying every minute of it.

A long pause occurred, as the two eyed each other, then Philburn busted out laughing and dug for his wallet saying, “Ok, now how much for the bike.” and grinning at Martha.

Dump had wandered back by now and had heard bits and pieces of the conversation. Phil noticed him coming up in back of him and said, “Damn Ray, you didn’t need to call the bouncer, I was agreeing.” he said jovially and extending his aged hand towards Truck.

“What did I miss?’ Dump asked softly, taking the man’s hand and looking towards Martha and Ray for explanations.

“Your friend might be riding home on a tractor, if this scalawag is telling me the truth.” Ray said leaning back in his chair and sharing a moment of mutual respect with what once was a feared bill collector.

“Oh, she runs, I guarantee that, or did. I don’t really understand how the Sun can affect technology yet, but you got my word that thing can drive down the road or did before this.” He said towards Ray, who was looking bemused.

“Ok, for bike rental or sale, you need to lend me a horse, so I can come to help you put in a crop with one of those other tractors, when I get around to peddling my way down there to see about you.” Ray offered.

“You are going to do that for us? As miserable as I have been?” Phil said, doing a bit of self reflection.” Bless you!” he said reaching slowly towards Ray.

“Times have changed, we all got to paddle the same canoe now.” he said now and looking off worriedly in the direction I had traveled.

15

LAWYERS, GUNS AND MONEY

This road looks pretty clear I thought, as I pumped the pedals along towards Newnan. I wonder what’s in back of me, people are either coming towards or away from a destination, I was thinking, as I saw my first group of travelers. A man had his suit coat slung over his shoulder and was leading, what I guessed was his family of a wife and two kids, down the road. He looked up at me as I was coasting down the hill towards them.

“Got a minute?” I asked while applying the coaster brake and slowing in their direction.

“Where you coming from?” the man replied, obviously put off about my strange presence on this bicycle and condition of my modified suit.

“Just checking on neighbors.” I replied, trying to act like I belonged there. “Want to share some water?” I said producing a 2 liter from my white floral emblazoned wicker basket.

“Awful kind of you.” He replied, still trying to get a understanding of the odd spectacle before him, as his wife reached around and gathered up the kids and moved closer to him.

“Dustin Majors.” he said offering his hand and taking the bottle from me.

“David Dupree.” I said looking down the road and returning the handshake.

“You got many Folks in back of you?” I attempted cheerily, so his wife would release her charges.

“What do you want?” he said making an obvious attempt at letting me see his shoulder holster and what might have been a Glock residing in it.

“Not a thing, I was just being civil.” I somewhat snarled back warningly, thinking I could beat him to the draw, if it went there.

“Hey, we’re sorry.” said the woman releasing her kids and stepping forward with a cautionary hand on the man.

“It’s been a bad day, I am Angela and this is Steve and Julie.” she said exposing the children.

“I agree, I just thought you looked thirsty and I wanted a bit of news.” I said keeping my eyes on the man, but physically relaxing and acknowledging the wee ones.

“My bad, friend, it’s a zoo back there and I am a bit jumpy after last night.” he said, still curious as to why I was not put off by the flash of his piece.

“What happened last night?” I said relaxing and watching them pass around the bottle of water.

“Damned group of punks wanted to fuck with us in the middle of the night, while we were trying to sleep. I almost capped one!” He said flashing his pistol again.

“Dustin! Watch the language!” his wife said, nudging him and drawing the kids nearer, like that was supposed to keep them from hearing.

I attempted to get the conversation on a more positive track and said, “Glad you didn’t have to, but you run them off anyways.” I offered.

“Oh, yeah, they took off like scalded dogs, when I fired a round off in the air.” He declared proudly and the wife and kids shuddered.

“So, have you seen a lot of travelers today?” I allowed scanning the road for others.

“We decided to take the road less traveled, but I am not sure exactly where this ends up, we were going to her mom’s at Fullers cross roads, which is in this general direction.” he said, wishing I would supply him more information.

“When you get to your second set of crossroads, that’s it. Only about two more miles ahead.”

“Hey, thanks I should recognize which way at the intersection.” said Dustin.

Good, they are not even going past Martha’s I thought.

“How did you come to get stuck in the monkey suit on this fine day,” I said gesturing towards my own dress pants and shoes.

“I am a lawyer, it’s a dress code thing.” he said, as if I was going to automatically start telling Lawyer jokes, which I got to admit, I did consider.

“Well, good luck to you folks and stay safe, I got some more rounds to make.” I said and began peddling away.

“Bye, David.” they all chorused.

What the hell, they’re probably armed for bear, too, by now. I thought when I turned off the road and into the driveway to signs literally everywhere. I almost fell over laughing at one: IF YOU LOOKING FOR TROUBLE KEEP MOVING ON

16

A WONDERFUL SOLUTION

“Hey, Dumpie!” I said as I wheeled around the bush he was attempting to hide behind and casually lowering his Marlin as he recognized me, or more probably, my conveyance.

“How’s, the road look?” he said with anticipation.

“Nobody seems to be using it, thank the heavens.” I said looking around.

“You kind of overdid it on the signs, didn’t you.” I said observing a “Burma shave” line that extended in both directions.

“That was Martha.” Dump said aggravated.

“She made us make and situate every one of those, because she thought that’s what you wanted, Dave.” he declared, like I had something to do with the printing press Martha had produced.

“What’s Phil up to, he recovering?” I asked as I started up the driveway.

“He is back In Korea.” Dump considered and draining the last of a hot beer. “Ray found him an old M1 A1 rifle and he is back in the zone giving advice, although he was a paymaster, not a foot soldier.” he said for update, as to what had transpired after I left,

“Hi, looks like Martha is keeping you busy.” I observed.

“Shit, she has been a whirl of activity since you left David, had me spreading mustard on sandwiches for people I don’t even know” Phil said resentfully to Martha’s returning glare..

“Hey Dupree, I cut a deal for you.” Ray said grinning.

“You are going to ride Papa Stiles back home on your bike.” said Ray carrying on knowingly.

“Do what?’ I said trying to imagine that crazy picture.

“It’s a fair trade.” Martha offered before giving Ray a chance to explain the convoluted deal that was made previously

”I wouldn’t mind doing it a bit under those conditions “ I carefully said

Phil looked up at me and said “you going to be able to peddle me all that ways, Dave?”

“Hell, I would find a way to carry you all the way, for the loan of that tractor.” I replied grabbing one Martha’s hefty sandwiches.

“Your buddy is a tough negotiator.” Phil said smiling at a grinning Ray.

“Appears to be.” I acknowledged. “You going to be all right to travel tomorrow, Phil”? I said, concerned about his health.

“As well as I will ever be. I might slow you down some, though. I will need to take several breaks. “He replied wearily.

“No problem, we will take as many breaks as you need.” I said settling back in the chair and thinking about tomorrow’s road trip.

“Looks like you get your scout pack back, Ray. I don’t think I could wear it without overcrowding Phil on that shortened banana seat.” I contemplated.

“I got a old Boy scout pack I will give you when I get to the house. And yeah, you can have it for free before any one asks.” he said smiling at everyone.

17

YOU GOT A TICKET TO RIDE

“Dump, I am going to miss you buddy.” I said looking at my trail companion and loading some water bottles into the flowery basket.

“I am going to miss you too, now we got our own personal adventures starting again my friend. I am going to hang out here for a few days and make some plans.” He said leaning against the porch railing.

Martha came out from the kitchen and said, “I made you and Phil lunches and I got some beef jerky you need to find room for.” she said handing me two bags.

“I appreciate all the hospitality, Martha. Good luck Ray.” I said hugging Martha and shaking Ray’s hand.

“Climb on, Phil, lets get this road trip started.” I declared.

“Phil, I will be down your way in a few days to check on you and figure out what we need to do about the gardens.” Ray said.

“I will see you then, and I sure do appreciate it.” Phil replied warmly.

I said, “Hang on Phil.” and we were off with a chorus of good byes ringing in the background.

We didn’t talk much first mile or so, as Phil was trying to stay balanced and hanging on for dear life, every time I tried to share the seat with him. I noticed a yappy little dog starting to approach us and stopped the bike, so it didn’t start try to nip at our heels and hollered at it to go home, while chucking a small pebble at it.

“Phil, dogs on these country roads don’t mix with bicycles to good, hang on second I am going to get something off that car ahead.” I told him.

“Antenna?” he questioned.

“No, something stouter, a dip stick.” I said wheeling over to the vehicle.

“That will make good critter getter.” he said handling the flattened steel stick.

“Put it under the rope on my pack and you or I either one can grab it.” I said turning around some so he had access and then remounting the bike.

We rode on pretty uneventfully the next few miles and with an occasional water break, Phil was holding up well.

“You want a lunch break or you want to keep on?” I asked him over my shoulder.

“Might as well go on, we only got a few miles left.” he said sweating profusely, but not that chalky grey he was yesterday.

I thought how glad I was that we would make it without a medical emergency or God forbid the old guy dying on me. My legs were tired, but this sure does beat walking and at least there is a bit of breeze today.

We arrived at his home a lot sooner than I expected and Phil directed me into his long winding drive way. This guy sure has a bunch of land I thought as we came up to a big white antebellum looking house.

“That’s your tractor over in the corner of the field.” he said pointing a few hundred yards away. Didn’t look to bad at this distance, though it was hard to tell at this distance I thought.

“Come on in and we will rest a bit before you go play with it” he said unlocking his front door.

“I got lots of can goods, but we can see if anything is still good enough to eat in the freezer, too. I assume your going to stay for supper and maybe spend the night?” He inquired hopeful of the company.

“I would appreciate that, Phil. I don’t know these roads around here and I don’t relish the thought of driving them at night. Does that tractor have headlights?” I said wondering what I could do if it didn’t.

“It’s got them, but I don’t know if they work or not. I never tried them to be honest. Let’s go see if that thing even cranks and you can explain to me on the way, why some things might work when most things don’t.” he said while looking into a soggy freezer.

“This meat on the bottom is still a bit frozen, how about grilling us a T bone steak for dinner, Dave?”

“Great! Let’s go see about that tractor first.” I said very curious about what condition it was actually in after hearing Phil and Ray go at it about its appearance and mechanics.

Phil I set off across the field and the closer we got, I saw it didn’t really look all that bad.

“Now she uses a bit of oil, but if you keep an eye on it you shouldn’t have any problems. She is a little cantankerous to start so don’t be put off if it don’t fire up on the first few tries.” He said, climbing up into the seat and I went around front to crank it.

“Now I know you done this before, but just have a listen to me for a minute, Dave.” he said advancing the throttle a couple notches and turning on the gas.

Phil said “If the tractor is properly tuned, hand cranking is a relatively simple process. Two major things to look out for: NEVER, EVER wrap your thumb around the crank. Cup your hand and lay your thumb along side the crank handle. If, for some reason, she kicks back (backfires) and the crank doesn't disengage, you won't spend an hour looking all over the yard for your thumb. For the same reason, crank only on the UPSTROKE. Pushing down on the crank is a good way to get your elbow permanently embedded in your ear.”

“All great advice, Phil.” I replied.

The process on these things is something like this.

1. Turn on the gas

2. Advance the throttle a couple of notches

3. Double check to make sure it's in neutral

4. Set the spark advance about half way

5. Set the choke

6. Engage the crank onto the crankshaft pins and turn SLOWLY until you are at or near the bottom of the stroke and you hear the impulse on the mag click.

7. Pull up sharply to the top of the stroke and let go of the crank. 8. Repeat 6 and 7 until it starts.

Well I repeated six and seven about 5 times and then VROOOM! It started! I hopped up on the side of Phil and off we went laughing back towards the house.

“Hey Phil where do you want Martha’s bike parked?” I asked moving it out of the way.

“I ought to mount the damn thing over the fireplace for a conversation piece, but its just plain too ugly to look at.” He laughed and added, “Just leave it sit there. I will make Ray do something with it later.”

“I could have strapped it onto the front of the tractor as a hood ornament, if Ray hadn’t of already traded it to you.” I joked back.

“You want it, you can have it.” Phil said grimacing.

I thought about it for a moment and said, “No I think its time me and that bike parted ways. I sure am glad I don’t have to try to ride to Montgomery on that thing.” I said with a sigh of relief.

“You want a drink Dave? Seems we both got a lot to celebrate and be thankful for. I got a bottle of Gentleman Jack I keep for such occasions.” He said heading towards the house.

We got our drinks and headed out to the back porch of the house and I took in the sight of a huge barn and several horses in the back pasture.

“After dinner I will show you the Barn and my other tractors” he said settling into a lounge chair.

“I will finish this drink and start the fire. Where’s the grill?”

“It’s over there,” he said motioning off to the side of the courtyard. “But it’s the gas kind, so no need to worry with it for awhile.”

“You know Phil, it won’t be long until the hunters are out in force, you might want to keep them horses closer in.” I said watching them serenely wandering in the distance.

“I need to think about other security, too.” he said thoughtfully sipping his drink. ”Now that I know old tractors and some older cars with points and carbs will run, I am going to round me up some live-in farm help to help take care of things.” he said while reaching for my glass. “Let me get you another.” turning to go in the house, while I was telling him I’d forgotten to check the tractor’s head lights and headed around front.

I turned them on and they worked just fine, so I went back to my chair and Phil and I talked long into the night.

18

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

I fired up the old tractor and arranged the pack that Phil gave me and followed him out of the driveway. Phil had saddled one of his horses and was going to go check on a neighbor. We progressed as far as his turn off, and then we waved goodbye to each other, and I putt-putted on down the road towards home.

I figured I could do about 15 miles an hour and not stress out this old beast too badly. Let’s see, I calculated, that should put me at the city limits in about 10 hour’s if I got back on the interstate somewhere. Wow! That’s a hell of a difference from the weeks it would have taken me walking or even riding that stupid bike.

I think I will stay back roads, as much as I can, and pick some obscure exit to get back on the interstate. I sure didn’t relish the thought of seeing mobs of refugees wanting to get a hold of my tractor. I rode on for a while avoiding cars and trucks in the road and only occasionally seeing a homeowner who waved for my attention, but I just kept on going by as fast as the tractor would let me.

Hell, it looks like its going to rain soon; I hope it doesn’t get too bad. All I got for protection is one of those disposable plastic paint tarps and the canvas one I used for my pack earlier if I needed some shelter. I better stop and cut a hole in the plastic one for my head to fit through soon, I thought as thunder started to rumble.

I better check the oil in this thing, too, I thought. I am glad Phil supplied me with a gas can and a laundry bag full of oil bottles or this trip might’ve started out twice as long. I can just see me having to rob cars for oil or gas, well I would have to get some more gas eventually, but siphoning doesn’t take long.

I can’t get that opening song from Green Acres TV show out of my head. I chuckled to my self thinking, how surprised my mom’s going to be seeing me ride up on this thing, if it makes it. It will make it, think positive. I reminded myself.

I made a little pit stop on a deserted stretch of road and rigged me a poncho, after I put gas and oil into the tractor.

Oh hell, it’s starting to drizzle, come on rain just hold off a bit longer, I was hoping or I was going to get drenched.

The rain held off for about an hour or so and then started intermittently coming down. Well, at least it’s not storming. I allowed while trying to keep the rain out of my eyes. I hadn’t seen anywhere to get under cover, so I might as well just grin and bear it. You know this rain might help me out, if I got back on the interstate, everybody would be seeking shelter in cars and not be all in the road I figured.

I started towards the interstate and came on at an exit with very few stores. I didn’t see any signs of life around and the buildings didn’t look like they had been broken into yet.

This was always a desolate stretch of highway with few exits and mostly wooded terrain. There were relatively few cars on the road, but I saw an occasional face peering out the window watching my passing in a moderate rain. I saw one, I think prepper, taking refuge from the rain at an underpass with a military looking backpack and a bicycle heading towards Atlanta or one of its surrounding towns. Guy was pretty cool as I gunned it and came whizzing by. He held up his hand and gave me a thumbs up which I happily returned.

What do we have here?” I wondered a few miles later, while slowing the tractor and looking ahead at a RV on the road shoulder with its awning out.

An elderly couple was sitting outside under the tarp in lawn chairs and waved to me. I slowed down and stopped the tractor in front of the vehicle and we exchanged hellos.

“Mind if I get out of the rain for a bit?” I asked.

“Sure. I will get you a chair.” the man said.

“My name’s Sara, that’s my husband, John.” she said motioning to him coming out the door of the RV with another folding chair.

“I am David.” I replied John extended his hand to shake it but I said “I am pretty wet” he said he understood and to have seat.

“I like your chariot there.” John said eying my rusty heap.

“So far it’s getting me where I am going and I am grateful for it.” I replied pulling off my rain sheet. “I see you folks are making the best of it.” I said not knowing where to start.

“We might as well, Sara and I are not going anywhere, so this is now home.” he responded giving his wife’s hand a squeeze.

“Well, at least you got a nice pond over there to look at.” I said gazing out into a field.

“Yes, that’s something to be thankful for.” Sarah said looking at the fairly large body of water. “We haven’t figured out if it belongs to a farm or not yet, but will check it out in a few days.”

“Do you think it has any fish in it, Dave?” John asked.

“Most likely does, probably bream and bass.” I considered.

“Sara and I do like to fish.” John responded happily.

“Well, there you go; a ready made vacation spot.” I said trying to stay on a positive note.

“We had a guy come by on a bike yesterday that said he thought that property might have several ponds on it.” Sara said snuggling closer to John.

“That’s not uncommon around here; a lot of big landowners stock them.” I informed them.

The rain had started to let up and we continued to make small talk for a bit. I had about 70 more miles to go and was itching to get home, but felt I might need to stick around here for awhile and maybe share some useful information and a bit of food.

“I got to be moving along shortly, but I have some food with me and I would like share, if you would care to have a road side picnic with me” I offered.

“How nice.” Sarah said looking towards John for approval. “We would love to.” she said accepting my invitation.

“Well, let me get some stuff off my tractor, Montgomery can wait another hour or so.” and proceeded to get what I had intended to be sharing.

19

Stranded On The Side Of The Road

David sat back and listened to the Cicadas sing as dusk fell on the highway.

“John, you know that you might be signing your own death warrant staying out here.” I whispered now that Sarah had gone inside to put up the few cans of tuna and jerky I was leaving with my adopted couple.

John considered for a small pause and replied, “We’ve lived a good life Dave, we can meet our Maker anytime now without regrets, but don’t scare Sarah, and she is ok right now with our lot.” he said rheumy eyed

“I don’t intend to.” David said weighing his options. “This is a great place for a young man to make it, but you aren’t a young man.” I reminded him and rose to extend my hand to Sarah making her way out the door of the RV.

“Thank you, David. Nice to see a man with some manners.” Sarah said casually settling down next to John.

John appeared a bit flustered about our previous secret conversation and his wife of many years picked up on it quick.

“Did I interrupt something?” she said looking concerned in John’s direction?

“Oh not really, Dave here was telling me I needed to remember some old skills I’d forgot about food gathering is all.” He said pointedly at me.

“Johns always been a good provider, David, no worries here” she said confidently patting her hubby.

“What concerns you, David that upset him?” she said searching both our faces for emotions.

“Oh nothing, we were arguing about the finer points of fishing, as men folk do.” trying to put the ball back in his court, I said shrugging off her concerns.

“You men. Always got to be bigger or the best.” she said with some humor.

“David, he knows his way around a fishing hole and might just give you a run for your money.” She jibed while happily caressing John’s hand.

“I bet he could.” I responded jovially to Sara and saw that John settled back in his chair relaxing, while patting Sara for the compliment.

I had just drove 75 miles on a tractor after walking at least 35, by the time I happened on this loving couple. Something in me didn’t want to desert them on the side of the road in a RV during this time of the world going to hell in a hand basket because government did not want to scare anyone with impending doom news. I decided to try a new strategy, I approached John differently.

“You ever get a chance to do much trapping John?” I let him focus on while considering an appropriate way to bring up the next topic.

“Cant say that I have, Dave,” he replied quicker than I expected.

“You think there’s something to catch that way around here?” he said all ears and Sarah looked flummoxed.

“That’s a beaver dam that looks like it’s backing up that creek forming that huge pond.” I replied looking off in the distance at the mouth of it.

“I thought that was just flotsam or jetsam.” he said eying the odd contours of the pond’s dams.

“I am going to sleep in one of these cars next to you, if I have permission to stay the night on your newfound land, and show you how to catch a beaver or a muskrat in the morning, if you would like.” I said to John studying the lands features I had pointed out.

“What does a beaver taste like Dave? I hate to hurt the industrious creatures, but if it’s not cruel, me and John might try one some day.” Sarah said looking in the same direction as I and contemplating having a snare class in the morning.

“Well, they are smart as hell and taste like pork, kind of, but we don’t have any lure so I got to think of an angle.” I said still thinking of my next step.

“I think I heard in a pioneer day high school book report that the beavers tail the best eating.” said John volunteered, regaining the conversation and a look of wonder from Sara.

“I’ve only eaten one twice during hard conditions, but the tail is fatty like a steak and you sizzle the hell out of it.” I offered, dreading the chore of cleaning one in the field, if I got lucky.

“They got something called castor glands, to watch out for and collect, I think. I remember reading a Mountain man story of the fur trappers.” Sarah suggested looking at me like I was the answer to not having to eat fish for dinner for the rest of her life.

“I haven’t figured out why Beavers and cotton mouth snakes don’t affect each other, but be careful around beaver dams. You are more likely to see a snake than a beaver and every animal uses the dams as a crossroads, easier to catch a coon than a beaver on a dam.” I said drawing my audience in to the natural way of things.

“Folks eat rattlesnakes, supposed to taste like chicken.” John said thinking about those brush piles for a moment.”

“Tastes like chicken that’s been eating fish.” I said and let that sink in a minute. “I got 5 beers, and half of a half of gallon of whiskey, am I staying or what?” I tempted enthusiastically.

“We got CAMP RULES, David.” Sara said awaiting John’s reply as she continued eying me like a school teacher correcting one of her pupils.

“We can partake, but watch the cussing or confrontations.” John said while reassuring his devoted one.

“I am sorry, Dave, old habits of old campgrounds, you’ve been an angel, you and the old man have a little fun.” she said touching my leg and receiving a nod from her husband.

“It’s been the start of hard times, and I haven’t quite wrapped my head around it yet.” said Sarah looking to John.

“’A toddy for the body does a soul good’, sometimes” he said, hugging his wife of many years. ““You want one?” he questioned looking deep in her eyes as a touching moment transpired, revealing the depth of their devotion to each other.

“Sure, and I will play bartender, but you all play nice.” she admonished. “And I might even have a little one with you, before I turn in for the night.”

“We sharing the Coke Cola, John?” she queried

“Got to!” he responded as I rose to share libations with my new found friends.

20

TRAPPING SEASON

Hell, you could eat road kill and survive. I thought, as I remembered the reason for my heartburn and Sarah’s cooking last night, upon waking in the air freshener imbued car I finally crashed in last night. Now it’s 6am in the morning, gloom despair and misery on me. They got any coffee they willing to share I wondered, as I stretched the kinks of days journeying and the partying of last night out under the stars with John and his harmonica.

Oh hell, the morning after. I think me and Sarah danced a jig to Johns wailing music, if I remember rightly. Well, onwards and upwards, lemme think, oh yeah, John can weld and was going to attach a lawn service trailer to my rig today, if he was still willing. That’s one art I never learned and we had talked about what good was that welding truck next to us with acetylene and oxygen tanks attached to the sides.

“Morning David, I will have us a cup of coffee going momentarily.” he said fiddling with a camp stove.

“I sure am glad I got this Coleman multi fuel stove, especially seeing that gasoline isn’t good for much these days.”

“Be hard to run out of fuel for that out here, you won’t have to hardly use your propane at all.” I said watching him set the coffee pot upon it.

“Morning, David. We had us a real shindig last night didn’t we.” She said cheerily.

“That we did, John you still up for trying to weld a trailer hitch on my tractor after coffee?”

“Sure I will, it won’t take long and would be my pleasure.” he said arranging coffee cups on a small table.

“I might see some folks on the road that need a ride to Montgomery on down this way and I got supplies to haul around once I get there.” I said receiving a very welcome steaming mug of instant from Sarah.

“Having a trailer might be just the thing, if it doesn’t slow me down too much.” I offered.

“Sarah and I talked over your offer last night about taking us with you David, but we have decided to stay.” he said settling down in his chair.

“We think we would be better off than most folk’s right out here” he said knowingly and then carrying on. “It appears that we got water, food and shelter aplenty, so what more could we want? The cities are going to get real bad, David”. He added.

“Yeah I am dreading city life during this mess, but I don’t have any choice but to get there and bug in for now.” I said wearily.

“John, that looks like some Sassafras trees over there on the bank”. I said pointing

“The bark of the roots is used to make a pretty pleasant tasting "tea". The powdered leaves are used in Louisiana to thicken soup.” I said while rising to go over to the bushes.

“Which ones? Show me.” Sarah said excitedly and rose to join me.

“Sassafras is a tree with three different leaves. One is oval, one partly divided into three lobes, and one is mitten-shaped. The edges are smooth.” I instructed when we got next to them.

“Here, smells this.” I said as I removed a leaf and crumpled it and handed it to Sarah.

“Smells like Root Beer.” she laughed.

“You can make tea with the leaves by pouring boiling water over a handful, letting them sit covered, away from the heat, 20 minutes, then straining out the leaves. But the roots of small saplings make an even better tea. You can use the root over again. To make root beer, chill the tea, then add drop of honey for sweetness. You can also chew on sassafras twigs to freshen your breath.”

“Those mitten shaped leaves are easy to spot.” Sarah said looking around. Why it’s all over the place.” she gushed, pleased with her backyard finds.

“People used to say it helps with rheumatism, but I just like the taste.” I offered wandering back towards the RV

“Oh, I got an herbal book, I am going to go look it up.” she said energetically reaching for the trailer’s door.

“David, you have time to refresh me on snaring today, before you take off?” John inquired moving towards my tractor and surveying where the best place was to add a hitch.

“I can go over the basics while we are working on the tractor and we can put out a few sets, but then I need to get going.” I replied, while following John over to the welding truck sitting on the side of the road.

I then began to explain about traps and snares, while John got together what he needed from off the truck.

“Snaring is one of the most efficient ways to harvest wild game and put meat in the pot. It takes less energy and a trapper will out produce a hunter any day. It is much easier to trap small prey than to hunt them. You’ll have several empty traps for every success, but having several traps out means twenty four hours a day you’re several times better off than a hunter.

When setting a snare, look for signs of fur around a tree's base or signs along a fence line to indicate where an animal has passed through. Animals will return to the same place to sleep and will continue to negotiate fences at the same spot.

Go hunting after you set traps, if you have a mind to, but I am sure your time and energy is better cherished doing other important tasks concerning other important current needs. To me sometimes-just rest is crucial.”

John and I moved the tractor over to the welding truck and he was removing the hitch off the truck and getting ready to tack it on the back of the tractor as I continued.

“One tip I will tell you, John, is when you are walking animal trails, walk directly in the center of the trail. You don’t want to be packing down the side of the trail and creating a new path or directing the animal away from your snare you have set dead in the middle of the trail.” I said while admiring his handiwork.

“That ought to do her, let’s go get the junk off that trailer.” he said stepping away from his project.

“You know John, those lawn mowers probably got fried batteries, but I bet you could maybe get one running or with those welding skills of yours you could probably rig up those weed eaters to run you a cart.” I said getting interested in the mechanical possibilities.

“Wow, great idea! I could cobble something together, I am sure given time and time seems to be what I got the most of nowadays.” he said getting interested in the prospect of some transportation.

“I can see you and Sarah now, coming to visit on go-carts.” I said laughing and pushing a lawnmower off the ramp.

“Dang, no keys, I wanted to try one just to see if maybe it would work.” John said mournfully.

“You Boys want some more coffee?” Sarah called out.

“Sure, we need a break. “John answered and motioned for me to come on.

“Carry on teaching about snares and trapping, David.” he said and so I did.

“I know this is survival situation, but save a bit of your catch as fresh bait for your traps when you can, if you’re after meat eaters. Wear light cotton gloves to help keep your scent off the snares. Don’t urinate etc. in the vicinity of your traps.

Stay busy and alert checking your trap lines in mornings and evenings. This productive activity will relax your mind and get you more attune with your environment and the animals you seek to ensnare. Let me give you a little clue here to help you, which most people never think about; Man is the only animal in the forest that just blunders about blindly going to his destination. Man walks continuously with very little pausing. Every other animal moves a bit, then stops to listen and look around and take in his environment, always looking for danger or listening to other animal’s activity for signs of food.

Try it next time you are out in the woods. I don’t mean just pause and a few seconds later go back to crashing about and dragging your feet through the undergrowth in a straight line. I mean really listen and sometimes get on down to animal level and look at things from their height. You will start seeing and hearing things much more acutely and become a much more natural predator yourself.”

For the next hour or so I talked to John about snares and Sarah took notes for later use. John had some brass wire, as well as some picture hanging wire and we made up snares while we talked.

“Loop size and height should vary to match the targeted animal and also the conditions. Adjust the snare height to the approximate position of the animal's head If there is a lot of vegetation on the trail make snare a bit higher off the ground and most likely the animal will raise their head to slide their chin over the snare.

On some trails you can use sticks from the natural surroundings to narrow the trail a bit and direct the animal towards the center of the snare. You can also put a stick across the trail above the snare so that the animal will duck under it and into the center of the snare

Rabbits, muskrats, groundhogs, and other animals usually follow the same trails through meadows and forests and a good rule to follow is to make your trap's noose about 1.5 times the diameter of the head of the animal you wish to trap.” I said and paused to jot down some particulars on Sara’s notepad:

Coyote: 10-12" diameter loop, approx. 8-10" off of the ground.

Fox: 6-8" diameter loop, approx. 6-8" off of the ground

Bobcat: 8" diameter loop, approx. 8" off of the ground

Beaver: 9-10" diameter loop, approx. 2-3" off of the ground

Raccoon: 6-8" diameter loop, approx. 3-4" off of the ground

“John, you have experience hunting in the woods already, so I don’t think it’s necessary to have to go point out game trails to you. Sadly, I need to get on my way folks.” I said wishing I didn’t have to go.

John said rising “No, I got the jest of it, lets go hook up your trailer,” he said.

“I wish you could’ve stayed longer.” Sarah said, uncertain of what the future held and enjoying the company.

“I wish I could too, Sarah, but I have other responsibilities that need my attention.” I said smiling at the old woman a bit wistfully.

We hitched up the trailer and after about 8 tries I got the old rattle trap tractor fired up and idling. I decided to reload my gear back on the tractor itself, in case I had to dump the trailer to get around some obstacle or in case of some emergency I hadn’t anticipated yet, and turned to my highway castaways.

“Well, good luck John and happy hunting and fishing.” I said extending my hand to him.

“I appreciate all the tips. Now, you be careful out there, you hear.” he said gripping my hand and looking at me intently.

Sara spread her arms in a ‘come to Momma’ motion for a hug and said, “David, it’s been a real nice visit. You have a good life and we will be thinking of you.”

“I enjoyed it. Make John lots of Sassafras tea.” I said smiling and looking to where she’d laid her herbal primer that she’d been studying and learning about all the medicinal properties of her new favorite potion in Nature’s pantry.

“Oh, I will! I am going on a nature walk with my book later on today to find out what else grows around here.” she replied happily and taking John’s hand to hold.

“Well, good bye then, I’ll be off now.” I said mounting the tractor and putting it in gear. A final wave and I resumed the journey home.

21

On the Road Again

Just think in a few more hours, if this marvelous piece of junk holds up, and I will be home! I mused. Maneuvering around the stranded cars with the trailer was occasionally difficult, but mostly they were spread out enough to give easy passage.

There is a town or two like Tuskegee coming up that I’d just as soon not have to go through, even if the exits are few. I think its best to go the back way and although I would make better time on the interstate, I feel safer going the country route.

I had traveled some of these roads before and knew what to expect from summer vacation trips to Lake Martin. Humm, how would that be for a possible bug out location, if I ever needed on?, I started contemplating. Half the time, people didn’t use their lake houses and the year round residents were not many.

Fishing kind of sucked, because they constantly adjusted the lake levels according to power or water needs. Well, the State wouldn’t be tweaking on that for some time to come. I said smiling to myself, but unsure if I needed to consider the possibility of flooding because of this.

There was plenty of game and water, lots of empty houses to scavenge, it sounded like a good idea. I guess it would really depend on the neighbors, because those lake places were built so damn close together, but with 750 miles of coastline, surely I could find something suitable.

I wonder if the lake house I rented off of my friends Jenny and Lyle would be empty. Hell, they could be stuck there, but I doubted it. They lived a pretty good distance away from there and rarely went to the lake. It’s not like I could call to find out. I angrily thought, considering how the whole technologically oriented world was now all topsy-turvy.

Just then, a huge mutt came running down the driveway chasing my trailer and trying to bite at the tires.

My shouts of, “Go away and GIT” didn’t faze it a bit, but it soon tired of the game at the end of ‘his yard’ and he trotted back. Don’t forget the dog problem, David, I reminded myself. It won’t be long until strays and packs will be everywhere. It’s a shame, David considered, he really loved all animals but he needed to be thinking on how to protect himself and his loved ones from them.

I think when I get settled, I better minefield around my house with snares but that would have to wait until he saw the true condition of the city. I sure don’t want to trap a neighbor’s dog by mistake.

I started thinking about how I should’ve told John and Sarah about the possibility that dangerous feral dogs could threaten them in the future, when I saw a two car wreck up ahead blocking the road.

Damn, no getting around this, I thought, nothing to do but get turned around and find another way. If I remembered right, there was a road in back of me that headed in the Lake’s direction, but I wasn’t sure quite where it ended up.

Stupid map I had did not show all these little roads. Oh well, I guess I travel by dead reckoning for a while. If I get over lakeside, I can figure out where I am and cut back over, or maybe I could go check to see if Jenny and Lyle are up at their Lake cabin. The cabin’s way out of my way, but that sounds like the best plan. Who knows, they might need a ride to Montgomery, although they still lived about sixty miles from it.

Would they want to go? If I were them, would I? They probably only had brought enough food with them for a few days and not much else, so the idea might be attractive to them. I bet Lyle at least had a 72 hour kit with him.

He was a Fireman and contingency planning sort of man in his blood, so they had at least that to help them get by. I wonder what he has in his. Certainly not the crap I normally lug with me when I go up there I thought thinking dreamily of my own setup at home that contained a Henry .22 survival rifle and an emergency snare kit. Hell, just having those two items would influence whether I stayed or went if given the chance to evacuate out of the same situation into the unknown or known dangers of the city.

I bet Jenny has her .357 with her though, but knowing Jenny probably only has six rounds for it, I was considering when I spied a couple walking down the road.

Humm, do they look safe? Hard to tell from here, but best to be careful. I thought adjusting my .380 pistol. I had it loaded with a nasty round called a Magsafe, which basically acted like a regular bullet as it penetrated and then opened up like a shotgun releasing pellets everywhere.

I thought about the company’s literature on them. The now -famous Strasbourg Tests put MagSafe on the map. To Summarize what nearly everyone already knows, over 600 live French Alpine goats (their bodies are very much like humans) were shot under controlled conditions: no anesthetic, same shot placement form animal to animal, and with blood pressure and heart rate monitors to determine the Incapacitation Time (measure of how long it took a goat to cease functioning after the single shot was delivered).

MagSafe Ammo worked - better than anything else.

However - and this is where things get interesting - there wasn't a jacketed hollowpoint bullet in ANY caliber which dropped the goats faster than MagSafe's weakest .380 load!

MagSafe's .380 beat every .45 ACP slug, every 10mm, every 9mm (including police-only ammo), every .40 caliber - no matter who made it - Cor-Bon, Remington, hydrashok etc.

So Basically, I had turned my puny .380 into a 45! I remember you are not supposed to put them in light frame guns like Kel-Tec but that Sig could take the heaviest loads of anything with no problem

“Hello Folks!” I said slowing down and applying the brakes.

“Hi, how did you get that thing to run?” asked a sunburned man his thirties carrying a small cooler.

“Long story. Where are y’all headed?” I said looking over at the profusely sweating heavy set woman with a garbage bag full of clothes.

“We got a cabin about 15 miles from here and we were heading there for vacation when this crap hit.” she said looking anxious.

“I need to let this thing cool down.” I said killing the engine “I might be able to take you there or at least get you a lot closer.” I allowed.

“Oh, that would be a huge help. Thanks, my name is Randy and this is Sue,” he said extending a sweaty palm in my direction.

“How far have you come?” I asked while motioning and telling them to put their meager possessions in the trailer.

“About thirty miles, I guess. I don’t know, we been traveling down this road for days.” Randy declared leaning up against the trailer.

“We just don’t know what to do and some of the people living around here have just been so mean.” she said looking at me imploringly.

Randy said “ We have been run off from more than one house, when we asked for help. First couple days people seemed willing to help, but as time passed the mood seemed to change.” he said dejectedly.

“And one of them had a GUN!” Sue interjected looking horrified.

“That guy scared the hell out of me.” Randy said looking back up the road to be sure nobody else was coming.

“How far back?” I asked becoming concerned.

“Oh, that was sometime yesterday.” he said giving me instant relief.

“So you’ve been sleeping out in the open?” I asked grabbing a bottle of water off the tractor and offering it towards them, but Randy shook his head and produced one from his own cooler.

“No, we been sleeping in abandoned cars at night” she said looking worn out by the ordeal.

“Can you show me on this map where we are roughly.” I asked.

“About right here.” Randy said studying the map

“But that map doesn’t show all the crossroads and lake drives that go to our cabin.” he informed me while handing me back the map.

“Look, I will pay you if you can take us all the way.” he said fumbling for his wallet.

“Not necessary, I will take you there. But you are going to have to really holler early if I need to turn. It’s going to be hard to hear you back in that trailer.” I said indicating where he and his missus would be riding.

“That tractor is pretty small.” he said looking at the single bare metal seat I had.

“When we get closer, one of you can sit up front and give me directions.” I said still considering the map.

“That will be fine.” a greatly relived Randy said escorting Sue back and arranging them in my trailer.

“Takes me a minute.” I told them as I went through the elaborate start up procedure for the tractor.

“You ready?” I hollered back over my shoulder and with a lurch off we went.

We got about 6 miles down the road with me missing most of the pot holes and not throwing them around too bad as I swerved back and forth changing lanes to avoid the occasional cars.

Randy shouted directions occasionally to me and I started slowing as I approached a small gas station and looked it over slowly as I passed. The glass door of the front of it was busted in a one window was smashed and I speeded up and kept going down the road. Well, somebody has already looted that and I am not going to be the one accused of doing it this far out in the country where everyone probably knows each other. Randy hollered at me to pull over, so he could help navigate the twists and turns of the road back down to their lake cabin, as we crowded each other with him sort of perched on one fender, as his wife getting bounced all over the place in the trailer.

“It’s the fifth drive on the left.” he hollered over to me as we navigated the gravel road on the shore of the lake and I turned in.

“Home sweet, Home.” said Randy cheerfully, as he climbed down off the tractor and then helped his wife up from the trailers bed.

“I am not complaining, Dave, but that was a hell of a ride!” she said looking even more of a mess than she did when she got on.

I laughed and said dryly she should, ‘tell the county to fix the road’ and we walked towards the cabin.

“We got some food in here, David, but we left most of our groceries behind in the car.” Sue said forlornly.

“Yeah, stay for supper, Dave.” said putting down the ice chest and opening a rancid freezer. “PHEW! We need to get this shit out of here right now!” He said grabbing a garbage bag and empting the foul smelling contents into a bag.

“Get it outside, but I got plans for that, so don’t go chucking it in the lake or anything.” I said watching Sue looking through the kitchen cabinets.

“What plans?” she said looking up at me speculatively.

“How many hooks you got? I want to build and run a trot line I said.

“Great Idea! But I don’t think I got any line heavy enough to support it.” Randy said.

“Oh, we will find something.” I said eying the Venetian blinds.

“Oh, no you don’t, David.” Sue protested seeing the direction my thoughts were taking.

“I was just thinking things through, your blinds are safe. I would say we could consider your neighbors, who don’t appear to be at home, but I would give them several days to possibly arrive before messing with their stuff.” I said peering out the window.

“Looks like we might have this point on the lake all to ourselves.” she said joining me at the window.

“Well, that clothes line over there can stand to have one strand missing, if they do come home.” I said looking inquisitively at her.

“Oh sure, get that, they shouldn’t mind.” she said and I went to get the nylon cord. As I was walking back, Randy called out, “Dave, how about a glass of wine?” while holding up an empty glass in one hand a bottle in the other.

Bleh I thought, I do not really like wine, hot wine at that, but it does contain alcohol.

“Yes, thanks.” I said and joined him and Sue at the table.

“Want to try for a fish fry tonight?” I asked holding up the line. They looked hesitant, so I added. “I don’t mean to impose on your hospitality, but I saw a hammock over there that would suit me for the night, if you want to try some night fishing?”

Looking relived not to have a stranger overnight in her house, Sue said that arrangement would be fine.

“Grab your tackle box, Randy, and I will start rigging a Trot line.” I said while sipping the wine, while trying not to make a face.

“That stinking meat will be good for catfish, but I will put a few hooks a bit shallower in case it appeals to a bream or a bass, too.” I said while measuring off monofilament line and tying it to the clothes line. “You can sink some of that meat in a can or something to attract fish while I make this thing Randy.” I directed.

“I hate even getting around it, but ok, let me go find something. He found a old paint can with some dried pant in it, added the meat and bent the lip over and tied a line to it and proceed past us with it held at arms length to the dock and threw it in. “ Nasty stuff.” he yelled up to us while washing his hands in the lake. Then he turned and came back to the table and reached for his wine.

“I’m going to tie this to the front of your boat and paddle it out a ways and anchor it. If you got enough rope I can use the cleat on the boat to make a retrievable clothes line like they use between building in New York, so nobody has to go swimming again to retrieve the fish.” and then proceeded to outline my plan.

“So we just pull back and forth to bring the fish in huh, that’s neat.” said Sue grasping the concept.

We got the line baited and the rig set up and proceeded back to the table.

“Unless you got some light gauge wire, I need you to sacrifice one of your lamp cords.” I said to Sue.

“What are you going to make now, Dave?” she said draining the last of the bottle of wine into our glasses.

“You might as well learn this trick too or you’re going to get awfully tired of fish for supper.” and began explaining about snares, as Randy returned with a lamp cord and a pair of wire strippers.

“If we catch some fish tonight after the line soaks for awhile, when we clean them we can use the guts for a bait pile and you can set snares for a Raccoon or a possum or something.” I began before Sue interrupted me.

“But we got canned food, and I am not going to eat a possum!” she said adamantly.

“Well, suit yourself, that’s the trick anyway, if you ever need it. I suggest though you don’t wait to run out of food before you try it.” I said pointedly.

“Well, I bet these houses around here have some food in them.” she said looking about.

“Perhaps, you know about lake cabins, some people have supplies and some don’t even stock a can of beans. Be sure to boil your water and don’t trust that lake.” I said looking up at her.

“David, can you explain a bit more about that ‘Carrington Event’ thing again?” Randy asked and I proceeded for the umpteenth time to cover the basics I knew, as my audience huddled together. We checked the lines and got three good fish and Sue fried them up in cornmeal for us and we had dinner by kerosene lamp light.

Shots rang out from across the lake and somebody was yelling something, we could not make out and then it went quiet. It’s amazing how sound travels across the lake at night and we couldn’t make out where the noises had came from.

“You got anything for protection, Randy?” I got around to asking.

“I ain’t got shit.” he said miserably

“Then I would start breaking into houses tomorrow to see if you get lucky enough to find something and start carrying that fish knife you had out earlier.” I suggested.

“You know how to use a gun?” I asked

“I shot a friend’s once or twice, but no, not really.” he replied.

I spent the next half hour or so telling him the basics of how different types of guns worked, in case he got lucky enough to find one. I also advised them to always try and stick together and not get to separated when they were doing fishing or scavenging.

“How did you estimate when Sundown was earlier, Dave?” Sue said cleaning up the dishes. “I haven’t been able to figure how close that was for days after our watches stopped.” she said while moving around with a flashlight.

“Well, for whatever reason mine’s still working, but there is another way of doing it. How much time left before sundown? Hold out your hands in front of you at arms' length and, with the edge of a palm lined up at the horizon; see how many fingers you can fit between the horizon and the position of the Sun in the sky. Each finger width represents about 15 minutes.” I said sitting back and watching the moonlight shimmer on the lake.

“I got to try that tomorrow.” Randy said turning towards Sue. “We got anymore wine left?” he asked her.

“Well, one bottle but maybe we ought to save it?” She replied.

“To Hell with that, let’s drink it now. Old Murphy’s house has a full bar in it over there and I am paying that house a visit tomorrow.” he said.

Well, ok.” and she rose to go get it.

“Randy, a lot of these places have firewood stored around them, I would gather up all I could before winter, as a suggestion.” I said offering my glass for a refill of the wine that suddenly didn’t taste so bad to me.

“I better grab it before someone else does huh.” he said watching the lake.

“Well, I am heading to bed soon, might as well tell you all good bye before morning, I will be setting out pretty early to go see if my friends are up here or not.” I informed them.

“If they’re not there, you’re welcome back here, Dave.” Sue said in her most neighborly voice.

“I appreciate it, but if they’re not there, I will be heading for Montgomery next.” I replied wondering what the tomorrow would bring.

“We will get up and see you off or maybe we can have breakfast and check the trotline in the morning?” Randy said hopefully and fidgeting with his wine glass.

“I will be waking up with the sun, if you hear the tractor fire up and want to make the effort of seeing me off, fine but after the trip you all had I suspect you will want to stay in bed awhile longer.” I said contemplating a buggy night about to be spent in a hammock.

“You got any mosquito repellant?” I asked of Sue.

“Oh, come inside and be comfortable in your own bed, Dave. I am just not used to having strangers and you’re a nice guy, so you’re welcome to the spare room, if you like.” she said good-naturedly.

“I will take you up on that, sounds much better than semi roughing it, thanks.” We sat around a bit longer and she showed me to my room. We said our good nights and I sank down into the soft bed without even taking my clothes off and fell fast asleep.

I saw the sun begin peeping in between the blinds, as I woke up bleary eyed and thirsty. I tip toed past the closed door of my hosts’ bedroom and found a bottle of water in Randy’s ice chest. I almost didn’t take it; I felt I was committing the ultimate sin by doing so. Funny, how our concepts of value changes under circumstances like these. Hell, they got a whole lake and all day to boil water, it’s not like I was leaving them without something, I reassured myself and slipped out the door.

Ok, you old oil drinking machine, I said as I checked the dip stick and added my last two quarts of 40 weight oil. Damn thing is probably going to get temperamental about starting now to. Hang on, I better check my gas. I am getting pretty low. I think one of these boats around here has what I want. And I wandered over to the neighbor’s. The boat had two cans full of gas, but no oil on board. They probably had some in that shed, but I didn’t want to make a bunch of noise busting in, so I just carried the cans back and refilled the tractor. Randy came outside mid process and said good morning.

“You got any oil I can have?” I asked

“Yeah, I got a few quarts.” he said turned to go get them, as I stowed the cans on the back of the trailer.

“Borrowed some gas, huh. You get that off my boat?” he asked uncaringly.

“No, I confiscated your neighbor’s, you can tell them it was me if they show up, if you want.” I said in my best smart ass manner and started going through the procedure of starting my steel mule.

“ Ok, they can put out a APB on a guy on a tractor wearing suit pants and dress shoes,” he guffawed and then added “I will tell them your name was Oliver Wendell Douglas.” he said making aspersions to the lead in TV. series Green Acres.

“Good one.” I said grinning and extending my hand. “Good bye, Randy, tell Sue goodbye for me and thank her for the use of the bed.” I said looking towards the house.

“She is out like a light, but I will tell her.” he said shaking my hand.

“I guess we need to watch that expression now, Randy.” I said looking bemused.

“Oh, yeah. Right.” Randy said a bit worriedly.

“Stay safe.” I said while warming up the tractor.

“I will try.” he said waving as I put it in gear and began to rumble of with the trailer clattering behind me.

I glanced at his neighbor’s houses as I chugged down the access road. Nobody to home, it looked like, but who could tell with cars and lights not being visible. Ah, I thought it’s the houses with cars that are at home obviously, but empty driveways not necessarily and reminded myself to stay cautious.

I am considering losing this trailer; these narrow roads are making me think it’s sort of impractical. Those look like wild turkeys on side of the road up ahead. Yes that’s what they are; the birds started slowly moving to cover as I got closer.

You always see a lot of game on these roads coming up here. Me and my ex girlfriend Sherry counted 8 deer just in one weekend coming up here. I don’t think they will be so tame, as soon as people start hunting them for food again, instead of just for recreation.

I hear a chainsaw off in the distance, see life goes on. This situation is really bad, but not as bad as most people will think it is. We are not totally back to the 1800s yet. A lot of stuff still works by design or lucky chance; it’s just going to take a lot of getting used to.

Right now everyone is feeling the ‘cascading effect’ of an EMP event. If electrical power is knocked out and circuit boards fried, telecommunications are disrupted, energy deliveries are impeded, the financial system breaks down, and then food, water and gasoline become scarce. It is the being ready for this sort of thing and not panicking, that I have been preaching for years.

Even if people were not heeding the Sun’s warning signs NASA was monitoring, just taking an all hazards approach and preparing for something like a hurricane would help prepare them for something like this.

The government, all though it hasn’t done a lot of EMP planning, has done some and has hardened a lot of its strategic and tactical communications systems. The phone company and the government have the emergency communication system beefed up to handle this, somewhat; but I remember from my studies, even though they have special concrete bunkers housing emergency communication equipment, they made sure to leave it unplugged just in case.

I am not sure exactly what we got hit with, if I can find an undamaged AM radio, maybe I can get some news. I know we have hardened transmitters for such, but who knows if the operators could get to work that day. That’s the problem with planning for this sort of thing, too many what ifs and a government that doesn’t like to think outside of the box.

.The private sector owns and operates a large majority of our critical infrastructures and key assets, but most haven’t spent the money to prepare for anything like this, although the threat has been known for years.

I see my turn off ahead to get to Jenny’s cabin and start slowing down for it. There are not too many houses on this point and several vacant lots still available that not too many people want, so it is a short drive down the access road.

I do not see any vehicles; they probably were not even close to here. I walk up to the door, knock, and holler hello. Nothing, just silence. I am considering going down to the lake to have a wash up before I carry on, when I hear, ‘Hello!’ and see a short old man walking towards the yard.

“Hi. I see Jenny and Lyle are not at home.” I said careful to say I knew the couple, because cabin owners look out for each other, and also because he looked to be wearing an old Ruger hog leg pistol on his belt.

“Nope. Name’s Bernie.” he said relaxing and going into friendly lake neighbor mode.

“Mine’s David. I was just coming by to check on them.” I replied.

“I haven’t seen anyone for over a week, except that neighbor across the slew over there.” he said gesturing at the large brick house about 200 yards across the finger of the lake.

“Donnie is a retired weather man, he bicycled his way over here a day or so ago and explained to me what he thought had happened.” Bernie said looking towards his house.

“I bet you didn’t know anything happened for a day or two.” I said knowingly.

“I thought the power was just out, but I did notice the lack of boat traffic on the lake and wondered what was up.” Bernie said looking at my old tractor.

“You like my old heap, it’s ugly and noisy as hell, but so far it’s been a good ol’ work horse.” I said while moving towards some shade.

“I used to have one similar back on my Daddy’s farm, they are pretty dependable.” he replied and joined me in the shade.

“I see you might be expecting trouble.” I said motioning towards his holstered weapon.

“I am not sure what’s going on, I heard a lot of gunfire last night and I figured better safe than sorry. So I grabbed my old .357. I like this old single action, the sights are big enough for me to see.” He said taking it out and replacing it rather quickly.

“I have a Blackhawk too, is that the 9mm/357 combo or just .357 model?” I asked looking down at the handle sticking out of the worn holster.

“It is just .357, I couldn’t find one of the 357/9mm combo ones with extra cylinder when I was looking.” he replied.

“I was about to start making me some lunch, would you care to join me?” Bernie said looking me over.

“I don’t want to impose.” I said not wanting to be offered more fish again and trying to possibly decline the offer.

“I got flapjacks and spam.” he said as if it was the biggest delicacy in the world.

“Hey, sounds good, I appreciate it.” I replied following him back towards his cabin.

“I got coffee, too.” he chirped opening his screen door to his house.

“You just made my day!” I laughed and followed him into his kitchen.

He had a Camp Chef outdoor camp oven perched on his regular electric stove and had it hooked to a big tank of propane instead of a canister.

“I always wanted one of those.” I said admiring it.

“She works great.” he said taking a old granite ware coffee percolator off the top and getting an extra cup out of his cupboard for me.

“Real coffee?” I exclaimed in anticipation and looking big eyed.

“I don’t like instant, if you want sugar or canned creamer I got that.” looking at me questionably.

“Black is fine.” I said receiving my mug and relishing its aroma as he sat down with me at the kitchen table.

“You going to stay at Jenny’s awhile?” he said taking a sip out of his cup.

“No, I am headed to Montgomery, but I think I will drop that trailer over there.” I said looking across the table.

“I heard that thing rattling all the way down the drive. Might be a good idea if you trying to travel faster or quieter.” he remarked looking out on the lake.

We talked about my trip in from Atlanta and what conditions of the roads were in, while he puttered around the kitchen putting together a meal for us. I asked him which roads he suggested, because I did not really want to have to drive all the way through the middle of the small town Tallassee to get back on the interstate, in case someone decided they wanted to take my trusty old ride.

“Well, you can go back down the way you came in and just head due south, when you get a chance.” Bernie offered in between bites of one of the best meals I’d had in a while.

“I always get turned around up here. Which way is South from here that skirts the towns?” I complained.

“If you got a watch, I’ll teach you a neat trick.” he said nodding in affirmation and carrying on after I held mine up.

“It’s called orienting by watch: Hold the watch level, point the hour hand at the sun. South is midway between the hour hand and #12 in the smallest angle.” He said demonstrating

“That’s a useful thing to know thanks.” I said trying it out for myself.

“Hey, David, you could do me a favor since you’re headed that way. I got a friend I want you tell I am ‘doing ok’ if you would.” While watching me, but already reassured I would stop on my way.

“His name is Roland Stiles. He has a horse farm about 10 miles from the interstate and he will show his appreciation for you stopping to tell him I’m okay.” he said, meaning there could be a reward in doing it for him.

“He doesn’t happen to have kin in Newnan named Philburn Stiles does he?” I inquired.

“He sure does, you know Philburn?” he asked excitedly and gazed at me intently.

“I just met him about three days ago.” I laughed and carried on. “Boy, do I have a story for you!” I replied draining my cup and starting to gather up the dishes.

“Those dishes can wait; I want to hear about how you come to know that old skin flint uncle of Roland’s. Lets go down to the dock, where it’s cooler.” he said and pushed his chair back and lead the way.

“Well, he is not so tight fisted anymore.” I replied and commenced to tell him how I acquired the tractor and how Philburn had to ride home on the back of an ugly purple girls bicycle.

“Ha! Ha! HA! That is the funniest shit I have heard in a long time. I need a beer after that. You want one?” He said pulling a burlap bag up by a rope that was soaking in the water at the edge of his pier. “I can’t wait to hear about the look on Roland’s face when you tell him that story.” Bernie said chuckling and handing me a beer

“So that’s my tractor story.” I declared and popped the top on a semi cool can of refreshment.

“I don’t know Ray, but if I ever get to see him, I sure want to shake his hand for getting one over on ol Papa Stiles.” Bernie said still sniggering and looking towards the tractor we had been discussing.

“What do you want me to tell Roland when I see him?” I asked, turning back towards Bernie and enjoying the lake view once more.

“Tell him, if he can, to check on me come Christmas, I would be obliged, if he don’t get by before then. Come to think of it, tell him late fall might be good, I don’t have any wood cut for winter and I will probably be burning whatever I can get in order to get by.” he said reconsidering and growing silent.

“I saw a house around the bend with about half a cord stacked up. If no one’s to home I will transfer it here, if you want.” I offered, wanting to repay his kindness of food and libations.

“Which one, that old blue house with the green looking shutters you say? Those folks live in Birmingham; they hardly ever make it down. I would dang sure be obliged if you would David. I won’t be much help cause of my high blood pressure, but I will help you to get it.” He said looking very grateful.

“You just enjoy the hay ride up and back. If anyone is around to object, I want a local to explain what it is we’re doing and I would like the presence of that old hog leg of yours around, too, if I run into any trouble.” I said while sucking the bottom out of the can.

“I will go you one better than that, I will get my 20gauge and ride shotgun,” he said laughing and going for another pull on the rope to get us each another beer.

“David, I got a proposition for you.” he said looking at me determinably

“I am listening.” I said.

“Let’s go get that weatherman over there to help.” he said rising and waving at the neighbor on the opposite side of the slue, who had just appeared and was looking in our direction. “Hey!” He yelled over to the man, while waving his hands and gesturing for him to come to the edge of the water, so they could hear each other.

“I need your help moving some firewood, can you help?” he called back across the water.

“I can ride my bike over later.” the man reluctantly called back.

“We got a tractor that runs!” Bernie yelled gleefully back.

“Do what?” the perplexed man called back.

“Hang on a minute.” Bernie yelled, then to me, “David, can you fire that thing up and pull it around the house so he can see?” Bernie asked me while yelling out again, “Just a minute!” to his near, but far neighbor.

“That thing’s cantankerous, but I will get it going.” I said hurrying towards it.

“Just sit tight over there. I got something to show you.” Bernie hollered back across water as the other guy made a motion towards his gazebo and headed that way to take a seat and wait for the unknown surprise.

Bernie headed over my way to watch me sweating over cranking the old beast. He was pretty good about not offering too much advice and when it fired up he hopped on the fender beside me, just like he had done the same thing a hundred times before, and pointed towards the backyard of Jenny’s cabin. As we rounded the house I could see the man had already heard the thing and had jumped up and was beckoning for us to come on over looking like an overzealous sports fan.

“Be there soon!” Bernie tried to holler back to no avail and just waved the guy back to his house.

“Let me get my shotgun and grab the rest of the beer and we can go over there.” he said dismounting.

Bernie came back and climbed up in the trailer and situated himself, while I put the beer in an empty tool box welded to the frame on the side of the engine.

“All set.” Bernie hollered and I liked to have took the poor guy of his feet, as I released the clutch and brake and headed up the drive way.

“Sorry!” I yelled to non-hearing ears behind me and gunned it up the hill causing him to lurch again.

I thought I heard, ‘slow down’, and adjusted the throttle to a more moderate speed and looked back at Bernie holding on for dear life with his shotgun constantly falling off his small framed shoulder as we hit ruts in the road.

‘You can’t drive worth a shit!’ I think he was mouthing at me, as I slowed and pointed to a turn up ahead to the right, just nodding his head and too fearful to let go of the trailers side rails to make a hand gesture, but looking like he was having a ball. Every time I would have to hit a pothole, that trailer with no weight on it would jump in the air and the little 95 lb man would go airborne a few inches, no matter what speed I was going.

We turned in front of the weatherman’s house with a cloud of dust, even though I was going slowly, the trailer rose up one wheel as the other side lurched over a pothole, and the whole frame of the cheap trailer did a flexing jig to accommodate it. I was doing the shut down process on my rig and Bernie had already hopped out of the trailer and gave me a nasty look as he went to greet his friend, who had barely had a chance to vacate an expensive looking cast iron ornate plantation chair.

Donnie looked quite interested, but very confused about the circus sideshow that had just arrived in his front yard and turned speechlessly to his attractive, but equally dumbfounded wife who was exiting out the front door searching for the source of the racket she’d heard from inside.

I finally killed the engine to an instantaneous silence and was looking over at the group standing on the front porch with Bernie grinning, and Donnie’s wife motioning at my hair, to remove some leaves and debris I had picked up on the way exiting the narrow driveway at Jenny’s place.

“This is David.” said Bernie trying to straighten his appearance and move his bangs back over his sweating bald spot and gesturing for me to come on.

“ How come that things still running.” she said taking in my dirty blue T-shirt cut off sleeved looking affair with dress pants and worn out dress shoes. “You said nothing runs.” accursedly at her husband who was regaining his composure.

“I didn’t think anything would.” he stammered as Bernie encouraged him forward with a hand on his back to shake my hand.

“David Dupree.” I stated presenting a grimy and sweaty palm.

“I am Donnie and this is Lisa.” he said pointing at her and flinching, as I squeezed his hand in an honorable firm hand shake, noting how he started wiping his own on his shorts afterwards unconsciously. I didn’t even try to shake his wife’s hand, who was looking horrified at the prospect of taking this stinky wretch’s hand.

“Look, I made prospect to Dave to help us get wood in for the winter, if you would help us.” said Bernie latching a hold of the yuppies arm and turning him around.

“He is going to allow us to haul some wood on his trailer, if you and Lisa help.” he said pointedly and reattached his grasp to a totally confused Lisa and led her back towards the shade of the porch and the wrought iron bench beside the chairs.

“Now hear me out.” he said sitting the debutante down on the bench and taking a place next to her while Donnie and I took up individual chairs. “If David agrees to my deal, we can raid a couple of vacant houses for already chopped and seasoned firewood and be ready for winter!” he said looking around his audience for agreement.

“It’s the middle of July!” the couple started to object, before the realization of their plight started to sink in and Bernie was allowed to continue uninterrupted.

“I got 5 silver dollars and a BUCK Knife, for three hours worth of work, David. And I know which homes to hit, because Roland’s pulp wood crews service most folks around here and been buying firewood off him for years.” he said in my direction quite satisfied with his plan, but waiting for my counter negotiation.

“How much wood do you figure we can collect in three hours?” I said remembering he had lessons from the horse trading Stiles clan and not appreciating what kind of efforts my dubious helpers were willing to produce.

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe a few cords.” he countered looking obviously expectant. I started to tell him he was crazy to expect that much work out of this crew, before Lisa started babbling about stealing. Not doing that kind of work, and just wait for FEMA to fix her life etc. before Donnie said they needed a private conference and went back inside the house to confer.

“I made you a fair offer David.” an unpleased Bernie advised heading towards the tractor to grab the beer and leaving me to consider just what the hell I was getting into.

“ I can go six pieces of silver, the Buck knife, and if I got any ammo for it, that gun you got hid about as well as the hooters in a wet T shirt contest.” he said causing me to reflect and look at my waistline.

“It ain’t the money buddy.” I started to say, but then Lisa and Donnie came out the front door again looking resigned and not happy with me or my presence.

“I am willing to help, but I got to get going soon. We grab what we can in a couple hours and I’ll just accept the Buck knife.” I countered to Bernie.

“Well, I guess it’s not fair to keep you, seeing as how you got your own family to go look out for.” Bernie said resignedly.

“I suggest we start at the furthest house and work our way back.” I said standing up and getting ready to try to push the crew to quicker activity and headed for the tractor.

Except for having to drive very slowly so nobody fell off the stacked wood, the trip was uneventful. Bernie had a general idea of who would not be on the lake this time of year, and the few people we saw just look surprised or scared at our appearance of hauling wood amidst this hot summer day and chaos.

Bernie looked at me for a moment and said “David, you think you will get back up this way? You said something about maybe bugging out to the lake if it got too bad in Montgomery.”

“I am thinking it’s highly possible, would you mind me taking over Jenny’s place, if they are not here when I get back? I said while resurveying the place.

“You are always welcome Dave; there are plenty of empty houses around, if they do show up. I know I would like for you to come back, David.” he said hoping for the best.

“I might see you come the fall, possibly.” and I left it at that, while wondering if it might not be sooner.

We got the wood thrown off at both houses, with a portion at Jenny’s, for good measure and said our farewells, as I refueled and oiled up before putting the tractor in the wind towards Montgomery with what I hoped was only to be a brief stop off at Bernie’s friend Roland’s house.

22

Homeward Bound

I reconsidered dumping the trailer after finding it so useful to help Bernie out and I had my own junk I needed to figure out how to haul around when I got to Montgomery. I had most of my long-term preps in storage because of my planned move to Atlanta and I had not yet devised a plan to move them over to my Moms house once I got home.

Moving my supplies out of that storage building is going to really take some planning on my part I realized. First off, it was in a neighborhood where I did not want a lot of attention drawn to me getting boxes out of the storage shed after an event like this, because it would be obvious that my unit contained food and secondly the gate in front of it was electric.

I had planned on that gate being down from a power outage earlier and had bought some bolt cutters to go through the fence if I ever had too, but they were in my truck stuck in Atlanta. I needed to know what the conditions were in Montgomery before I pondered a plan further though, just too many “what ifs” to deal with for now.

I found the back road Bernie had directed me too and the houses were few and far between on this deserted wooded stretch heading towards the interstate. There was very little traffic stranded on it and I made good time heading for Roland’s place.

I slowed as I started seeing the white wood pasture fence leading up to the front gate and turned in. Damn, gate is tightly padlocked, figures I thought. I forgot to ask Bernie if Roland had any kind of dog, that was not good thinking on my part, I should have known better than to overlook that detail.

Well that house is pretty far away but I think I will try hollering at it before jumping a stranger’s fence and wondering up. “HEY, ROLAND! ROLAND STILES! I called while watching the house and the barn. I tried again ROLAND STILES! I yelled.

A tall man in a cowboy hat exited the Barn and peered in my direction. “Who is it? He called back

“Message from Bernie” I hollered back to him becoming tired of this yodeling contest already.

“Just a minute, I am coming” he yelled back, went back in the barn, and led out a beautiful paint horse, which mounted and rode in my direction. I noticed he was carrying a lever action rifle too. He looked like vision out of the old west as he trotted up to the gate.

“Who are you and what’s this message from Bernie?” he asked, taking in the old tractor and my odd dress.

“My name’s David, I’ve just come from the Lake and Bernie said to stop and give you a message on my way to Montgomery.” I replied looking up at the gaunt cowboy.

“You going to Montgomery on that thing?” he inquired while dismounting his horse and digging in his pocket for the key to the gate.

“Going to try to, I came from Atlanta on it so far.” I said laughing.

“Well, pull it in and come up to the house.” I will lock the gate up behind you.

I drove up the driveway to the red brick farmhouse and shut down the engine. He told me as he passed he was putting up the horse and would be back in a few minutes and to have seat on the porch.

He walked over to me, beamed a smile, and extended his hand “Name’s Roland. Is Bernie alright? He is not hurt is he?” he said looking at me directly, but not overly concerned.

“He’s doing fine, just out of power like the rest of us.” I offered.

“I thought I was losing my mind when that storm hit. I was out bush hogging and my tractor died. Then, when I come back to the house, the power was out. The next morning my truck wouldn’t start and I sort of put two and two together, but I thought it was nuclear until I heard about it on the radio.” he advised me.

“You got a working radio? So what did they say?!” I anxiously began with a thousand other questions running through my head and on the tip of my tongue.

“Well, reception is spotty as hell, but a solar storm took out the grid and the president is saying it will take months for some areas and years for others to get power back.” Roland replied nodding his head as if to say yea it is that bad.

“Not that I expect anything out of them, but did the reports say anything about FEMA trying to mount a response?” I was curious to know.

“They say FEMA is mobilizing, but it will take most cities a month or more to receive assistance.” Roland said dubiously.

“Ah, they are bull shitting the public to keep them calm.” I said agreeing to Roland’s unsaid assessment.

“I figured as much, too.” Roland said rising and telling me to come inside that I must be thirsty.

“FEMA doesn’t even have a plan for something this big, and their personnel will be spread all over the place with hardly anyway to contact them.” I said accepting a cool glass of water Roland had poured from a stoneware crock sitting on the kitchen counter.

“I ain’t expecting anything out of them, but I sure feel sorry for the folks in the cities as the grocery shelves empty.” he said doing his wise nod.

“Hell, most of our National Guard is stuck somewhere in the Middle East. I do not know how they going to keep any kind of order as things unravel.” I said as he refilled my water glass.

“So, what message do you have from Bernie?” he asked settling back in his chair.

I told him Bernie’s message and worries about getting by in the cold winter and what little I did for him, while I was there to help get him ready for it.

“That was awful nice of you, David. Bernie is a good friend of mine. You want to stay over the night and have supper with me?” he inquired leaning back in his chair and clasping his hands behind his head.

“No, I need to be moving on soon, but Bernie said we should share a few beers and let me tell you a story about Philburn.” I told him in anticipation of a little fun rest break before I got back out on the road.

“You know Philburn?” he queried, becoming all attentive.

“I sure do, that used to be one of his tractors sitting out there.” I said with some mirth.

“Oh, I gotta hear this, let’s go out to the barn for the beer.” he said rising.

“I got a surprise for you, David, this beer is ice cold.” he said turning and proudly grinning at me.

“How did you manage that?” I replied full of interest.

“I had me some marine batteries stored in the barn that weren’t hooked up when this shit hit the fan and I got them hooked up to an inverter and a small portable ice maker.” He said anxious to show off his setup. He had a solar panel charging his batteries, so that must of not got damaged either, but he said he was careful to unhook it in case the sun wasn’t done with us yet.

“Ah, a really cold beer.” I told him after taking a swig and proceeded to tell him my tractor story and Philburn’s ride home on the back of Martha’s bike.

Roland was laughing about Philburn getting the worst end of a deal and in particular about the bike.

“I know that damned bike. Martha, when she was a young girl, used to ride it in the town’s parades and Philburn always commented on how god awful ugly it was.” whooping with the hilarity of it all. “I would sure have paid good money to see you and him heading down the road on it! Ha! David and you say he got stuck with that thing in trade, too?! That is even better.” he replied handing me another beer.

“Well, I could sit around and do this all day Roland, but I need to get moving soon.” I told him as I looked out at the road.

“Well, I will give you a six pack to take with you, it won’t get hot by the time you finish it. I seen you drink.” he said kidding me good-naturedly and putting it in a plastic garbage bag.

“That sounds like fun.” I said as I envisioned rolling along and catching a buzz on the way home.

“Let me see that pea shooter you got in your waistband.” he said wanting to inspect my pistol which I then handed him.

“Sig 230, nice weapon, but a bit small of a caliber for my tastes. I got an extra .45 if you want to trade?” he said handing it back.

“No, I will keep it. I like it and I am having a hard enough time concealing it, let alone a 45.” I replied finishing my beer.

“Well, at least I can give you a better shirt, unless you going to do that Larry the cable guy thing and cut the sleeves off.” he said looking at me impishly.

“I won’t customize it.” I laughingly assured him and waited for him to come back with a shirt and started getting the tractor cranked up.

“I will ride up on the tractor with you and unlock the gate then walk back.” he said handing me a short sleeve blue denim shirt, which I swapped for my sweat soaked threadbare T-shirt.

Roland opened up the gate and waved me off as I saluted him with a beer and a smile as I headed on back down the road.

I checked my watch and it said 3.30. It is about 10 miles to the interstate and let us see about 30 minutes by car to the first Montgomery exit which be would be about 2 to 2 ½ hours on this thing, so maybe I get to my first stop around 6.30, if I was lucky.

I started reviewing my options and wondering if it was better to try coming in at night or daylight and which was the best route to take to my destinations.

I certainly don’t want to risk the bypass exit. There are hotels on both sides of it and I bet they are going to be filled with stranded people and possibly a police presence. Montgomery has a bunch of cops and I would not put it past them to organize a receiving station or something.

Humm, if I was a cop in Montgomery and I broke down on the bypass, what would I do? I pondered while dodging disabled vehicles and feeling a bit lightheaded. Most of them would know what EMP was and many would just head for home to protect their families or a few might try for the supermarkets expecting trouble, but wanting supplies.

They got a bunch of bicycle cops in the city and some kind of response might have been organized by now, but what could they really do? I do not want my tractor commandeered by some cop that thinks he needs it more than me, so I guess I had better go in the back way to be safe.

Then, which direction should I go; I was thinking and mentally mapping out bad neighborhoods or possible traffic choke points etc. as I headed further down the road.

I see up ahead a few small groups of people heading towards Montgomery who are looking back at me evidently hearing me approach. I guess I am going to play shuttle service to town now, if they want to come in from the east instead of the center.

I slowed the tractor and asked a group of 5 people if they wanted to go to Eastdale Mall and they all enthusiastically agreed and climbed onto my trailer. I picked up 3 more a little further down the road and everyone looked bone weary and dirty. I wonder how many of these people knew each other or were together before they broke down in mass and left on the road. These particular folks must have been around 50 miles out to be still wandering in to town.

I made my turn and proceeded a few more miles before one of them hollered for me to stop, and with wave they continued on, grateful for the few miles I had saved them. I looked ahead on the road and there was no way I was going to make it much further pulling this trailer.

Traffic and wrecks were littering the road and as far as I could see were disabled cars and trucks that wouldn’t be moved for a long time to come. I zipped around some parking lots and got everybody as close as I could before dropping the trailer and making a convoluted path around traffic by riding medians and ditches and even had to turn around once or twice.

I finally shortcut through a neighborhood and even went through somebody’s backyard to get back on the road that would lead me to my first stop.

I was going to see Sherry and although we did not date anymore, we were very close friends. During the four years we dated, as well as afterwards, we had amassed preparations for almost every contingency and had a pact with each other to get through times like these.

I sure hope she was safe and had been close to home when the EMP hit. She always had her 72-hour kit in her car, so unless she had gone out of town for some unforeseen reason, she should be fine. One of her sisters lived close by to her, so I bet she was with her at the house. I am glad we were able to prep some for her also over the years, as Sandra didn’t believe in putting back much more than you would in getting ready for hurricane season.

Damn, that food store must have caught hell. I thought as I looked at overturned buggies littering the parking lot and a busted front glass door. I guess the shit has already started in some places here. As I was traveling, I saw many what I supposed were neighbors out talking to each other in the streets.

I knew all about how disasters will bring people together for the common good short term, but I had little academic knowledge about how they were going to act long term with the necessities of life getting in shorter supply daily.

I could only imagine how those neighbors would be acting in the coming weeks. Most people live paycheck to paycheck and rarely even have two weeks worth of food in the house and maybe a few days worth of water if they had any at all. Water, geez, I wonder if the water would be still on. Natural Gas, I know would probably stay on for a while; I had no idea if the water company had any contingencies except for generators that may or may not be hardened.

There are no governmental rules to force them to do anything and if the company had not made an investment, we were in deep doodoo. There are no mandatory procedures or required emergency actions that require them to do anything, although they have known the threats for years.

NASA's "Solar Shield" satellite-based detection system at the Goddard Space Flight Center monitors coronal mass ejections. The U.S. grid currently relies for its defense on warnings from NASA that would alert U.S. utilities to take actions to protect their systems, but they would only have a few hours advance notice.

The stockpile of spare transformers would fall far short of replacement needs. Urban centers across the continent would be without power for many months or even years, until new transformers could be manufactured and delivered from Asia. The transformers are not made in the United States so no telling if or when we might possibly get a shipment.

I just do not know at this point, until I start sifting through some news, how bad off we are. I considered as I abruptly swerved to avoid some people that did not have sense enough to not stand in the road. Damn people, though, are going to be their own worst enemies and I bet we already have catastrophic casualties.

The hospitals probably filled the morgues over night, as back up generators started running out of fuel, unless someone had the initiative and the equipment to siphon diesel out of some trucks.

I had better watch my ass out here as most people by now have figured out they could pretty much do what they want without worry about the law. I had better be sure to let Sherry know it’s me beating on the door or I might be looking at a 12 gauge or 9mm carbine, as a welcome home.

That neighborhood she is in is a strange one; you got professionals up and down the block and a few streets over various kinds of riff raff. On Fourth of July or New Year’s, it sounds like a war zone with fools shooting off all sorts of weapons, I can only hope they are short on ammo about now.

I think when I get over to Sherry’s house; I will hide the tractor in the garage and borrow her bike to go check on my Mother.

My Mom, she has to be freaking by now. She will be worried about me in Atlanta, as well as my brother in Texas. Not so much Bob, she knows he has been prepping for years the same as me and he is the one with his bigger salary that stockpiled some of her house. She wouldn’t allow the level of stuff we wanted in the house, didn’t see the need, but she did get on the bandwagon enough to bring in about a month and a half worth of supplies and various survival tools.

I got a bunch of stuff stashed in my closet and the majority of my guns there. I have sufficient ammo too, but not all. I got to thinking once again of my treasure trove of preps over at my storage building.

I got a good assortment of essentials over at Sherry’s, I started thinking. Thank the Lord, she allowed me to stage some supplies over there that my dear old Mom would not allow me to, not seeing the expense or need, as well as her tenacious need for everything to be picture perfect in a room.

I do not have any pressing need to get to my storage building and I considered just leave it as it sits. The laws of natural selection will be taking over soon and in a month or two I will have less or greatly weakened folks to deal with.

On the other hand, though, if the State does organize some sort of response, it is going to be hard to get to with any kind of curfew in place. Damn, David I said fussing at myself, if anyone should know what they are going to do, you should, but all your degrees and licenses don’t mean shit when you know they going to fly by the seat of their pants, even if they do manage to make an effort and organize something. Martial law will be a given, because of the stupid Patriot Act, but who will enforce it? No, it is going to be dog eat dog for awhile until humanity emerges again and civilization reforms itself just like it always historically does. What that will be only time will tell I guess.

No sense dwelling on it I guess until you get your facts I mused. The main thing is water, is it on or off. I was halfway tempted to pull the tractor over and try somebody’s faucet on the side of their house the question was nagging at me so much.

I had less than 15 gallons at my Mom’s. Sherry was ok, her neighbor Helga next door had a pool and between filtration devices and all the knowledge, she accumulated off me for years there was no problem there, except for our garden in her backyard and these series of droughts we had over the years were going to be taking a toll on my efforts to permaculture.

Sherry’s backyard garden with 20 raised beds was a valuable commodity now and I had heirloom seeds in sealed cans to keep it going for some time to come. That was a funny thing about us, we always bought stuff in twos knowing that someday my job would take me away from her and we would separate as equals on the preps.

I supplied the larger portion of our food and safety insurance by using my school refund checks from studying emergency management and she allowed me to do this by paying for her house and helping me when I got low on daily living expenses. Looking back on all the arguments, we had on this odd couple arrangement we were both more than satisfied by the final outcome with a safety net or savings account we could have never produced alone.

The majority of the food had 25-30 yr shelf life and we were in our fifties so what would a can of Mountain House be worth in 20yrs if we needed it? Double, triple, quadruple the prices we paid? I already have seen the price of the stuff go up 35% since we started collecting it.

NASA said 2012 to 2014 for the Solar Storm to hit; various others prophesy for thousands of years said 2012 watch out. I saw economic collapse as a possibility or pandemic as not a possibility but a probability of happening and we decided to be as prepared as we could through part hobby, part necessity.

That reminds me, Sherry’s old somewhat anti prepper friend Betsy will be finding her way to Sherry. There was no way in the world to hide our ever-mounting pile of goods and survival equipment from her, but it eventually just became a David and Sherry thing that was no longer talked about like a friend that had eccentric hobbies.

Well, I knew this day would come, I sighed to myself. Sherry and I were going to stop our constant monthly expenditures after the shear bulk of supplies reached a year apiece, but our Prepper hearts knew we must share and therefore just kept adding on in order to be not caught short when sharing with those that had not taken our path towards preparedness.

Now this day was upon us and we had what we had to ameliorate some misery with no re-supply in sight. I remember how many times I thought, probably wrongfully on the credit card scale, do I need anything else, will my shipment get in on time, etc.

Well, if I do not have what I need now, chances are I cannot find it again. I resolutely assured myself that I had taken prior proper actions.

23

The Arrival

Ok, final turn coming up, not a whole lot I can do about my appearance, but I start fiddling with my hair and trying to get the sweat off my face anyway before I turn in her driveway and zip around her car to get it ready to go in the garage. I smell wood smoke I am thinking, as my favorite cat dog appears to great me. Sally Cat always runs to say ‘hi’ to me and sounds like she is saying ‘Davie! Davie!’ In her meow meow voice.

We call her a cat dog because she has dog like tendencies and follows me around like a pup if I am in the area.

“Hello, Sally Cat, where is mamma?” I say as the back gate opens and Sherry and I rush to great each other.

“David, you’re safe!” Sherry says hugging me and flinching at my whiskered face, as I nuzzle her back.

“Hey, Betsy. Sandra.” I say over Sherry’s back at the two faces appearing around the entrance to the gate and looking startled at my odd entrance on a tractor, but nonetheless looking pleased.

“Hi.” the two chorus and step out as I put my arm around Sherry and escort her back towards them.

“What’s for dinner and who has a beer?” I said to an immediate response of laughter and giggles

“Where did you get the tractor, Dave?” Betsy said sort of beyond herself with my strange arrival.

“That is a story unto its own, I take it we lack alcohol?” I said to my familiar tribe of friendly faces.

“Not a drop, we went through it almost day one.” Sherry said dejectedly.

“I got a half gallon of George Dickel that a man named Donnie donated to the cause in that tool box on the side of the tractor...” I barely got out before volunteers a plenty started to go retrieve it and Helga came out of her house to see what the commotion was all about.

“David, welcome home! She boisterously said.

“Good to see you! You want to join us?” I offered following Sherry and a bottle I did not want to lose sight of.

“Maybe later.” she called back and returned to her own home.

“We got water?” I said immediately reaching for the tap once inside the kitchen.

“Don’t try to drink that!” came the admonishments from the girls and horrified looks from all around.

“We got boil water warnings David,” Sherry said heading towards a 5-gallon bottle and a Harbor Freight pump set up.

“We heard it on the radio but there is an Army truck that comes by broadcasting it to” Sandra pointed out.

“That little crank EPSON is receiving then?” I directed my question towards Sherry

“See, darling, I do listen, it was in the steel file cabinet and works fine.” she said looking pleased with herself.

“I noticed the guns, you just prepared or having problems,” I said inquiringly.

“Well, you occasionally hear someone shooting one off, but I locked and loaded every one in the house as soon as I managed to get home, just like you said to do if this ever happened David.” Sherry said confident of her leadership role.

“Were you at work when it happened?” I asked Sherry

“No, Betsy and I were working on our side entrepreneurial business and got caught totally unaware.” she began before Betsy interjected her comments.

“Sherry made me lug that 2 quart canteen FULL of water all the way over here, even after I showed her the taps still worked.” She pouted

“I already told you why you had to.” Sherry began before Betsy cut her off.

“But, I had my clothes bag with me, too, and that canteen is heavy.” She said indignantly.

“Coffins are heavier.” I began but let the subject drop picking up a clue to do so from Sandra.

“This stove thingy you bought Sherry works real good.” She said motioning towards a Stove Tec rocket stove.

“Does that water pasteurizer kettle thing work good, too? Sherry got me one off the same web site also, that funnel shaped water jacket inside of it is supposed to make it very efficient.” I responded looking at what looked like a giant stainless steel two-gallon teakettle.

“I can’t imagine being without it, it seems to be heating water for something all day.” she said in her best ‘told you so’ voice.

“I can certainly see its uses.” I conceded and thought how nice it was to be back amongst this happily bickering trio.

“David, I biked over to see your Mom yesterday and she is doing fine. “ Sherry told me while placing a hand on my leg briefly and looking at me compassionately.

“Hey, I really appreciate you doing that, it means a lot to me.” I said thankfully and reached for the drink Betsy was handing me.

“I am really glad you spent the extra money and got the wood/charcoal model of that stove, Dave. We cook the big meal using charcoal and use the extra burn time to heat water to wash the dishes in sometimes, but I want to save as much charcoal as we can, and besides with the right wood in it, it makes its own charcoal.” Sherry said gesturing at the various piles of sticks and twigs everyone had collected.

“You all have been busy.” I said admiringly looking at all the efforts that had taken place in the privacy-fenced back yard.

“She has been ordering us around to do some project or another every day. This morning’s project was to take those green tarp like sheets out of those British personal protection units you bought a pile of and cover the windows so our lanterns don’t shine out as a beacon to the street thugs.” looking suspiciously on a self approving Sherry. “David, did you really buy sandbags, too? What the hell for?” she said looking at me.

“They go under the windows of this wood frame house if there is a need, but I will talk on that later. Right now I want more news and another drink, does anyone else want one?” I asked while heading towards the backdoor.

Various “I am ok” responses come back and I peeked into the living room to see the latest transformations. Not a whole lot had changed; it was in typical hurricane party configuration with extra bedding for guests and various lanterns or flashlights in handy places.

Hey, I get to use a real bathroom! I better check to make sure Sherry didn’t block the pipe with rags through the rotor rooter access in the front of the house, thinking sewage could back up in the sewage system went down before I tried it though.

No garbage bag lining the bowl, must be all right I thought. So nice to have water, any kind of access to water and indoor plumbing I considered finishing up. I walked outside and rejoined the party and for once, my audience was waiting to talk to me instead of me listening to them.

“David, they say they are going to start having food distribution points next week, you think FEMA can take care of this?” Sandra asked and everyone’s gaze turned in my direction.

“That’s not FEMA responding most likely, although it might be.” I considered. “The headquarters for the State National Guard is here in Montgomery and we have that dedicated but pitifully sized 24 man response team stationed here. They will have communications with the Governors office and the Alabama Emergency Management bunker in Clanton but since there is no plan and they got to be super short staffed, its most likely a independent effort from one of the Guard officers.” I said sipping my drink and trying to wrap my head around what really might be going on.

“What do you mean there is no Government plan? I thought you been studying how to plan for this shit for years.” Betsy said accusingly towards me.

“Hell, why do you think I prep so much? It is because I KNOW there is not a plan for something of this magnitude. At least ways nothing I have seen for civilians. They have continuity of Government plans, but those plans are for the fat cats and politicians!” I responded a bit brusquely, as it hit a nerve I had not been able to change policies in my short tenure.

I continued a bit aggressively, “While the House last year passed the "GRID Act, addressing vulnerabilities of the bulk power sector to natural threats and cyber attacks, action in the Senate is tied up by conflicting bids for jurisdiction by five different committees. So that means everyone is still talking about it and doing nothing and when they get around to it, will be slow as hell and bureaucratic B.S.” I said choking from turning up my drink up too fast.

“So where is the food they’re talking about coming from?” Sandra directed towards me with a shoot the messenger attitude.

“There are some pre staged supplies in warehouses here they use to pre position for Gulf disasters. This is a rally point for all the trucks that head out, remember Katrina? Maybe they are commandeering the local Winn Dixie and Piggly Wiggly warehouses, I do not know! Give me time to think on it,” I said sitting back and trying to fathom the unknown, while being pelted with more questions.

“Do you know where your distribution point is yet for this address?” I said putting a hush to the babbling around me. Knowing where it was, would give me some inclination as to who was orchestrating this show.

“They said for our zip code we go to Normandale tentatively and it would be confirmed next Wednesday.” Sherry said while shushing her charges and seeing my warring emotions and thoughts.

“They didn’t assign colors or refer to anyone as sectors? Think back to the exact wording, it makes a difference in my understanding of things.” I said slowly and clearly searching the contemplative faces around me.

“No, they definitely said distribution points were being assigned by zip code.” Sherry said looking at me furrowing my brow and studying the meaning of what was just revealed.

“It sounds like they are using a vaccination or drug distributing plan that maps out central points for drive up delivery of medications in case of a bioterrorism attack. It will be military trucks doing the food drops; they are the only ones that can move possibly at the moment but I am still not sure who has those public health plans in their hands.” I considered and wandered towards the house with Sally Cat following me and reminding me with an occasional meow that I usually gave her a treat when asked politely.

“How is the Kitty chow holding up?” I addressed Sherry from the stairs to the house.

“I am being careful, but all we got is that big sack of dry inside the door.” she said worriedly.

“Ok, a few nibbles I give her won’t hurt.” I replied assuring the cat I would provide her something for playing tag along. I fixed a drink and gave the cat a tiny amount of kibble, and returned to my chair.

“Sandra, you and Betsy are at a disadvantage now if they are checking residency papers. But I do not foresee that as a problem at the moment. The problem is going to be this delivery is going to be a first come first served affair.” I stated reminding myself of how many times I had served on Ice distribution lines while in the Guard in response to the aftermath of a hurricane.

“Its basically hand stuff off the truck to a line of people and whoever doesn’t get any first go round is SOL and has to wait on another truck at another time or day. People get hostile about that, let me tell you, if they are one of the unlucky ones,” I said warningly.

“This first go round, all three of you go and get there early. The house should be safe enough because most people will be going after the free distribution stuff for the first time and not studying robbing houses.” I let this sink in for a moment and then carried on.

“The longer this crap lasts the people in the other zip code not being served on that day, figure you’re not home, so break ins start happening. If stuff is in short supply or now high valued, then robberies of people coming back from distribution points start happening. They will lay in wait for you.” I said ominously, but seriously, as I had seen it before as man’s inhumanity to man started to surface after a prolonged disaster.

“It won’t be long before at least one of you needs to stay to guard the house while the other two go out to get what is available.” I said instructing the girls to the realities of things to come.

“But, we have food David; we don’t need to even get out in that danger.” Sherry said while exchanging glances of apprehension with the group.

“That is a smart consideration, but not fully thought through.” I cajoled not wanting to detract from the notion, but needing to get to a main point of our survival without scaring anyone too much.

“Look ladies, everyone in the neighborhood is going to be observing and talking about this possibility of getting some food distribution. You must be just as worried, just as frantic as they are that it will be successful, without letting on you have a margin of safety.” I said as realizations started setting in.

“You need to be just as dirty, just as tired from walking all that way to get something to eat as everyone else to be able to not stand out, or someone will start thinking something is abnormal. Watch out for your trash you pile out on the curb, lose weight with everyone else, don’t be over confident and above all else do not let on to anybody what you have been blessed with storing.” I strongly advised.

“We get it David, I have been talking to everyone, already about just that, but we got neighbors and elderly here in the community that we can’t just ignore.” She said with a bit of venom in her voice.

“I am not saying, we don’t try to help them or shoot someone raiding our gardens to feed their families.” I objected.

“I am merely stating the obvious and making you aware, that I do not need a target painted on the back of any one of us, if we hope to get through this.” I replied a bit strongly while raising my hand to obvious dissent, but indicating I had a plan.

“This block you live on, as well as my Mom’s, have to become little city states that are organized and not little neighborhood gang turfs. The structure and the organization of the communities before we had this event must be maintained and it’s necessary to reestablish that normalcy now under the old guidelines that have already been accepted.” I said while the rationality and plausibility of the concept became more understandable and a general acceptance of the idea was received amongst my listeners.

“Sherry, you were very active in your neighborhood association, you elected officers, interviewed representatives, had meetings with law enforcement etc. to address the problems facing your normalcy of life, did you not?” I directed my attention towards Sherry’s awakening that the solution to the problem was nothing new or out of hand.

“That is correct David, the infrastructure is already in place to meet and agree to solutions to problems here in this neighborhood. How do we start to work on things, and what is the first on the agenda?” she said considering her bastion of safety no longer an island in a sea of distress.

“You call a meeting!” Betsy said surprising everyone with the most obvious solution looking nonplussed.

“See, you are all members of a committee that you did not know you were even members of.” I said, looking pleased with myself, as they excitedly made plans to contact the association for further actions as I exited stage right, while picking up all the glasses to play bartender with.

“Let me interrupt your deliberations a second.” I said, as I was serving drinks to my hostesses.

“Needs of those that cannot get to the distribution point and security for those that do, should be the first order of business for this meeting you propose.” I said taking my own seat and the conversation resumed like I was not even there, unless a question arouse they could not agree on.

I basically ignored my friends chatter, while I was considering how to start up similar strategies in my Mom’s neighborhood, when Sherry broke my concentration with a question.

“David, you think that ex FBI guy should be put in charge of security?” Sherry and the rest of the females tossed in my lap.

“I never met him, but he looked ok at a distance.” I said refocusing and considering on how he did not look like the typical Hollywood shade wearing prick, which was my current opinion of that service.

Sherry was a bit put-off about me not thinking her idea was wonderful, and I admit I had never personally met the guy and she had, so my judgments might be biased, but I had more questions to ask before committing to the sensibilities of anything.

“You might want to consider an old military infantry man too, but I want to talk to Mr. FBI as a diplomacy effort towards the group or association I will be forming, that he might be collaborating with.” Pausing long enough for everyone to see that a mutual alliance amongst different neighborhoods was part of a bigger plan to normalcy in my viewpoint.

“We need to have what is called multi agency liaisons to address all the concerns any group of people with different needs and responsibilities might face.” I said, apparently complicating the matter and perplexing my would-be advocates.

‘Sorry, it’s a lot to think about, this is what I do. I don’t manage the emergency; I coordinate at a central point a means of sharing a variety of different responses and communications.

“Dang, I always thought that you were practicing not answering a question straight, or with a question.” Betsy laughed and said as she handed me another drink.

“I got to quit partaking, or you all need to quit asking so many good questions, I am afraid this day’s trip has me second guessing my judgments and I am feeling a bit fuzzy.” I said to obvious looks it was my fault for overindulging, but they had mercy on my poor soul.

“Oh, quit trying to carry the burden and relax, David, sometimes it is best to act very slowly before you over react.” Sherry reminded me.

“I know you’re tired, David. Why don’t you eat something and we won’t quiz you anymore.” Sherry said while patting me and visually telling her friends that now was not the time to dog pile on me for answers I did not know.

“I got to get my head clear.” I said rising and stretching a bit.

“I am going to get the keys to the shed and put the tractor up and walk around front for a minute to clear the cob webs out.”

Who wrote that statement that says about how I been feeling for the last few days, I believe it was Robert Frost, but all I can think of is the miles to go before I sleep.

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village, though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there's some mistake.

The only other sound's the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

Daang! David you’re getting pretty skippy, thinking of stuff like that versus staying in the here and now. Well 6 days of hard drinking and exercise plus the stress will do that to you. I better stay here tonight and see Mom in the morning. Sherry said she was alright and even if you did come 200 miles by country rail, the old lady would hell raise you for dabbling in the sprits.

I am just glad enough to be home and away from that hen party in the backyard for a moment, as much as I care about them. Dusk, the time the boogers and the haints come out, I was speculating on as I see moving shadows out of the corner of my eye.

Kids, teenagers actually are riding up on bikes at the far corner of the street congregating in a group of 6 or 7. Normally I would not think anything about the behavior, but they are looking about furtively like they up to something. We had a problem in the neighborhood prior to my appointment in Atlanta with break-ins and the cops told us at the association meeting it was suspected that juveniles were doing it as part of a gang initiation.

They see me watching them and I make sure to get more obvious about it by standing in the drive way and staring in their direction. I got all day and distance to win this contest, I think, leaning up against Sherry’s defunct car as they lose interest and move on.

Damn kids can be more vicious than adults can be and they have not learned life’s lessons yet about dire consequences, I had better add them to my list of predators to warn the girls about.

“You ok, David?” Sherry says behind me giving me a startle.

“I am ok; I was just watching and thinking.” I say in an odd moment of renewed mutual affection and hugging her.

“I am staying the night, you got space somewhere?” I ask unsure of the reply, but knowing I will have the refuge I need.

“I was going to tell you, that you should consider it, we will find you a place before the night’s over.” she offered warmly.

“We are going to make you something special for dinner I think you might like as a homecoming meal.” She said drawing my interest.

“What might that be?” I asked, filled with the joy of having some common ground to base presumptions on.

“Well, its not take out Chinese, but remember we bought that Mountain House Sweet and Sour Pork? I am going to add a can of shrimp to it as a treat and you can have double portions for making it home.” she said with a light pat, as we looked at one of the asparagus beds that wouldn’t be productive until next spring.

“That sounds absolutely wonderful!” My sprits were renewed at the prospect of Sherry tweaking all ready good food up to a culinary masterpiece and adding some special touches of spice and goodness. “I’ll go clean myself up, first.”

Refreshed, I returned to the kitchen and watched the roommates bustle around preparing a meal and could not help but think about how hard of times might be coming, as I saw lights and candles start to appear in the surrounding houses and nightfall started to settle on the city.

I thought I could wait to broach the subject of what I expected to happen next, but I considered time was of the essence and I needed some answers in order to safeguard my friends and family. I suppose I should have waited until after dinner to bring up the subject of possibly relocating, but the thoughts of how quickly I figured things could spin out of control made me anxious to speak.

“I am not trying to scare you all or raise any fears you must have already considered, but those food drops can’t last for long and there will be an end to the service that doesn’t look promising.” I said looking up solemnly and throwing a wet blanket on the party

“What are you getting at David? They already started distributing food faster than you said would happen if this type of thing occurred.” Sherry said with hands on hips and mad at me for spoiling the revelry with one of my doom and gloom proclamations.

“When what is stocked in Montgomery is gone, how will they get more? It used to be in this country we had enough wheat and other food to feed every man, woman and child in the US in the Strategic National Stockpile during the Cold war for 5 yrs. I don’t have the statistics in front of me but the figure is something like 5 days now. We dwindled and sold off our resources to other countries. Besides, that was when trucks were running.” I tried to reason

“What are you saying, David?” an obviously irate Sherry demanded to know.

“I am saying, before summer ends, we should think about bugging out!” I said in exasperation to shocked looks that looked very confused.

“Look I didn’t say we go tomorrow, I am just getting everyone to think about the possibilities.” To stunned silence before everyone began speaking at once.

‘WELL where can we go?” Sandra said above the hub bub.

“I am thinking Lake Martin. Look at this garden and we have been regularly watering.” I replied waving at the now barely visible, but earlier visible memorably drooping, drought affected plants. The only thing that seemed little affected was the asparagus plants in many beds. If we go I am taking those 3yr old roots with us I mentally added to my packing list.

‘We got time to discuss this later.” Sherry said and got back into the groove of making a delicious dinner and ending that subject for the evening.

One good thing about dehydrated food, it was quick, add hot water wait 10 minutes and eat mostly. Sherry worked with it and polished it, but it didn’t take very long and I soon had a heaping bowl of hot chow in front of me.

“This is GOOD!” I said exuberantly and Sherry commenced to explain the ingredients in her recipe, as I was starting to nod from the day’s fatigue.

“You’re sleeping in the computer room, I made you a bed.” Betsy said returning from the house.

“I appreciate that, Thank you. I don’t think I will be long for this world tonight.” I yawned

“David that Xantrec 1500 power pack of yours and those 12v lights you bought is what we use for the main lighting in the living room.” Sherry advised me.

“Is it working well? Have you hooked that fold up 120watt solar panel you were storing for me to it yet?”

“I haven’t needed to, but I am glad you are around to show me how to do it, if you are not going to need it yet?’ she said questioning slyly if I was willing to let her keep borrowing it.

“Oh sure, hang on to it for now, its just plug and play with the charging panel, but I will check you out on it tomorrow.” I replied allocating her the unit for now.

“I am going to go to sleep now. We’re going to get through this.” I said hugging Sherry good night.

24

SUNRISE

I awoke to a silent house and wondered what time it was because of the blacked out windows and feeble light from the one night light plugged in the Xantrec unit in the other room.

I dug my watch out and looked at the time, 5.30. I am not a morning person but I was anxious to get home.

I thought how often it was so easy if you wanted coffee you just cut the stove on. Well that is not happening here, Sherry had an electric range.

I went to Sherrie’s bedroom and called softly to her, “Sherry, Sherry…”

“Hey, David, what time is it?” She replied not bothering to open her eyes.

“Its early, I am taking off.” I said just wishing to say good bye.

“Hang on I will get up, let’s have coffee before you go.” she said starting to sit up.

“Ok, I will wait on you in the backyard and get the stove going.” I replied moving in that direction.

“Just use the little propane stove to heat some water, it’s a special occasion.” she said smiling and becoming fully awake. “I will get it in a minute; you don’t know where everything’s at.”

Sherry put purified water in a small kettle and got the propane canister stove going and motioned me out the back door.

“David after you went to bed last night I had a talk with Betsy and Sandra. They said ‘We go when you say’, David, but are you sure we have to go?”

“Eventually I think we will, but no rush, I just got back and I really don’t know the lay of the land here yet.” I said looking at the garden and really not knowing anything this early in the morning.

“We got to be sure we do the right thing David.” she said while greeting the cat who had wandered up.

“I know its going to be hard decision.” I said commiserating with her.

“Let’s have that coffee and enjoy the sunrise.” I said putting the worries behind us for now.

“Lets do.” and she turned to go get it.

Sherry returned with our coffees and we settled down in front of the outdoor table to wake up a bit and talk a bit.

“Anything we should be doing David, besides what I have already done?” she said studying my response.

“No, you’re doing fine, I would suggest though you distribute whatever bug out gear extras you got between Betsy and Sandra, so they got their own bags.

“We are working on that, there’s just been so much going on and to do.” she said sadly.

“You’re doing great; you know it might be a few days before I can get back over.”

“See if those little 15 mile radios you got at the house still work and bring one back with you when you come if they do.” she advised me and bringing back a memory of what I hoped was 30 bucks well spent at Wal-Mart years ago.

“The batteries are not in them, so it’s possible I can get them going.” I responded wishing for a less technical subject this morning, but understanding the very important implications of it.

“Be sure Betsy and Sandra know how to get to my Mom’s house in case they need to.” I said thinking about contingencies.

“Your house is closer to the food distribution point than mine, so that is a good idea.” she said sipping her coffee and both of us dreading the next goodbye, no matter how short.

“I need to sneak in and get your bike out of the living room.” I told her while considering anything else needing to be said before I left.

“You locked the garage well last night?” Sherry asked.

Ah hell the tractor! Maybe I ought to leave directions to crank that old booger.

“I need a piece of paper and a pen in case you need to ever crank that tractor, if I am not here.” I said rising and heading towards the house.

“Oh, I could figure it out.” Sherry began confidently.

“Believe me, you couldn’t and I don’t want you getting hurt trying. I will write it down.” I said and did. Before leaving, we shared a warm and prolonged embrace and I promised to return as soon as I could.

I mounted the bicycle and waved good bye for now to Sherry and peddled swiftly towards home. This was a girl’s bike, but at least it was a respectable looking mountain bike I mused.

The neighborhoods were pretty quite at this early hour and I didn’t see anyone about. I wheeled up in the driveway and sure enough like she had done every morning of her life the curtains were drawn to let in the morning Sun.

I glimpsed her hurrying to the door from the window and rushed to meet her.

The door opened and we didn’t even take time to say anything as we hugged one another. Home, home at last, now we see what the day will bring. I thought looking down on my happily question gushing Mom.

The End

BOOK (1) of the Prepper Trilogy

BUG OUT!

PREPPERS ON THE MOVE!

By

RON FOSTER

1

A WHALE OF A TALE

I awoke to the sound of thunder and a flash of light. Good! We need some rain. I thought and rolled over to go back to sleep. More rumbling. What the hell is that? That’s not thunder, I thought, becoming strategically awake and reaching for the Mossberg 500 shotgun in my Mom’s living room, while being totally disoriented, but going tactical from training anyway.

There is that sound again, sounds like a high school play with somebody rattling sheet metal for a thunderstorm effect. I stayed low to the floor and tried to peer out the window, but it was dark as hell outside and I couldn’t really discern the shapes I was observing.

FLASH! Damn, I am blinded! I just caught the beams of what looked like small headlights before my night adjusted eyes saw spots and nothing else but bright ass light in front of my driveway window.

I scurried towards the far wall and tried to see the door, but was having a hard time getting my eyes adjusted. There was a weird UH! UH! Grunting sound emitting from my front yard and some voices accompanying the metallic racket going on argumentatively that I couldn’t make out clearly.

“What the hell was that? I could see my Mom’s flashlight traversing the hallway and tried to whisper, “Stay back there,” as softly as I could and her still hear me.

“What is it?” she said in hushed tones from the hallway.

“I don’t know.” I responded just as quietly and edged closer to the window, while still trying to keep an eye on the door.

I managed to ease up to the window and pull a corner of the curtain back and did a rapid response look and got zapped by the lights again, but I did see something this time before regaining the cover of the wall.

“What was it?” my Mom whispered loudly from the safety of the hallway.

“I am not sure, give me a second.” I replied. I sure didn’t want to tell her I thought I saw Ben Franklin trying to unload a Manatee from a garden trailer.

What the #$% in the world is that in my drive way. I thought determined to take a longer look at the creatures doing a see saw dance, even if it killed me, and peered back out.

“Ahhh, Hell. It’s Jack and his wife!” I said, ending the suspense and my Mom’s agony over the unknown, and proceeded to stand and make my way to the door.

I saw the strangest sight I thought I would ever see, as I observed a lawn tractor with a tiny garden trailer attached to it. And that Jack had already removed a bunch of stuff from it, but his over large wife was having difficulty getting out and was looking a lot like a turtle on its back, a large turtle trying to right itself.

“Put that gun down and quit laughing, David, and come over here and help me get her loose.” Jack said still grunting and trying to pull up what I had thought was manatee, until a minute ago.

"Hey Jack, Lois.” I declared trying to stifle another chuckle and coming to assist.

“Jack? Is that you?” My elderly mom called out, not so sure that it wasn’t impossible for him to bring me a live bear tied up in a trailer to figure out what to do with.

“It’s me, Betty. Lois is just having a bit of trouble getting out.” he responded while taking out another sack to see if that helped to free her.

“What kind of Looeeze do you have in there Jack?” my mom asked, still unsure about what it was we were wrestling with, and instantly making me lose my grip and both me and Jack to start laughing uproariously

“It’s ME! LOIS, Mrs. Dupree.” Said a little pissed off, but still respectful of her elders, Lois, as we finally managed to heft her out of the tiny trailer to the thunderous sounds of the lightweight sheet metal bottom Jack had tack-welded onto the rusted out trailer bed trying to resume its former shape.

With a warning glance at me and Jack to stop sniggering, she went to console my confused mother.

Jack leaned over and whispered to me, “I couldn’t figure out any other way to carry this stuff except pile it on her in the trailer.” he said, as we gathered bags and I could hardly stand from trying to contain the mirth of it all.

“Well, come inside.” my Mom said to Lois, as Jack and I still were biting our tongues at the humor of it all and how I reacted to the scare.

“My house burned down, or is burning down.” Jack said seriously, gathering up some loose bits of stuff that had gotten dropped in the process of un-wedging his wife.

“Ah, Hell.” I responded and looked at the various and sundry bags of stuff Jack had managed to fit on the lawn tractor and stuff in the trailer on his wife.

“There is a huge forest fire burning in Clanton and its taking out a lot of neighborhoods, we are going to her folks house over in Pike county tomorrow sometime.” he said while gathering an arm load of stuff and with me dragging other bags of crap we delivered our first load in the house.

“When we get done unloading, pull around to the back next to that oak tree by my shop. I got some logging chain we can secure that lawn mower down with.” I advised Jack on our trip back to the driveway.

“You been having many problems around here with would be thieves?” Jack asked surveying the neighborhood.

“I have only been back a few days myself and haven’t heard about much. There is supposed to be a food distribution up at Normandale, if you want to try your luck.” I offered for his consideration.

Jack fired up the mower and pulled it around back, while I went to get the chain.

“I will go to the distribution tomorrow and help you, Lois can stay with your Mom, while we are gone.” he responded, while latching a heavy duty bicycle lock through the chain.

“I am not expecting any trouble; but if you want, you can have that old CZ 52 to take with you to the drop point. I will just gift it to you.” I said wanting him to have some protection and betting he didn’t already have something.

“Cool, I always like that old vest penetrator. What caliber is that thing again? “He asked.

“7.62x25 Tokarov or Russian, whatever you want to call it. Be hard to find ammo for these days, but I got a few hundred rounds that go with it.” I said while proceeding back around the house for one last inspection around the driveway.

“I remember you said to try to not shoot that thing off in the house.” he said laughing. “You said the fireball and the sound of it would blind and deafen both you and the burglar, and you be hollering WHAT! At each other when the Cops finally came.” He responded sniggering.

“That thing does have a flash to it, but you can’t beat it for penetration and speed with those light rounds. Those cheap ball rounds I got come out smoking at 1600 FPS.” I advised him.

“A 9mm averages, what about 1200 FPS?” He asked while proceeding to the side door.

“That’s about right. Watch the gun talk around the Old Lady, she doesn’t realize what I got stashed in the house at the moment. Hold up a second.” I said, pausing before we got in, and Jack turned to me knowing I had a few more private details to discuss with him.

“You can have the Chinese SKS, too. Damn it Jack, I told you to get a shotgun a long time ago and even offered you a ton of ammo for free.” I said perturbed at my Buddy, but still having a mutual arms pact with him, because of my collecting more guns than I really needed over the years.

“I know you did, what I can say. I sure do appreciate you letting me have those two.” before I cut him off.

“Your wife can’t or is it won’t shoot, right?” I said pointedly.

“She said now she is willing to learn.” he offered hopefully.

“Like where can I teach around here? I am going to show her the basics of that Mossberg tonight and hope she doesn’t have to use it while we are gone; but you know dry fire is nothing like getting the feel of something on the range.” I considered with an edge on my voice.

“I guess your Mom is a bit frail to blow that thing off. What do you have it loaded with?” He asked.

“No1 Buck, 2 ¾, it’s my round of choice for such as this, but there’s 6 shells of double ought buck on the stock. And no, I am not lending that to you over the SKS.” I said as he began to protest.

“I didn’t ask you, too.” he said accusingly.

“No, but you were thinking of a way to, and I just cut you off at the pass.” I said back to him in a gruff whisper, as the door to the house swung open and Lois and my Mom peered out to see what was taking us so long.

“David? Everything ok?” My mom queried.

“We are fine, just talking. We’re coming in now.” I replied turning towards the door and making my way inside.

“Jack is going with me to the drop point help carry supplies tomorrow and Lois is staying here with you.” I announced to my Mom to her relief or disbelief, I couldn’t tell which.

“I don’t know if this is a by the person or by a household affair, but I am pretty sure it’s going to be by person.” I advised everyone regarding the amount per individual of the supplies that a warm body was allowed to receive.

“What do you mean, David?” Mom asked.

“Well, gimme your drivers license or a bill in your name and if they are taking notes on members of household I might get more. But I expect they are not thinking long term needs assessment right now and if you are present you get something, those that are not will just have to share with those that show up. It’s as simple as that.” I responded, contemplating the many times that I had been the giver on these lines and not the receiver.

“If you showed them my license, Davie, wouldn’t they know I am too old to go myself?” Mom said still thinking that we were back in some forgone time when people were more civil and governments had some common sense.

“No, if I get a chance to pull a soldier off to the side and talk to them, maybe, but people lie about their needs all the time and what supplies that will be on the truck will be a first come first serve basis. The best way to get a double ration is to get there early when the trucks pull up and offer to help distribute the goods for the extras.” I said drawing off my Hurricane experience.

“So, you and David are going early, Jack.” Lois said addressing her husband who she didn’t like letting out of cell phone reach.

“Very early I expect. David wants to mingle with the early comers and try to get some news about the different neighborhoods, so we will probably be gone for awhile.” He said firmly, so that the objections wouldn’t be many.

I sort of felt sorry for the pair that now was put in a predicament where all rules and lifestyles were permanently changed. Jack always tolerated his wife’s keeping constant tabs on him and being forced to do extra things to please her; but now he was determined to be master of the ship and when he spoke in certain ways, she always somewhat biblically went along with him.

I remember every time Jack had to go somewhere for the day, she would indiscriminately grab a whole bunch of different can goods for him to take with him for snacks and or a meal. Wouldn’t be any rhyme or reason for the selections, I guess she figured he eats anything and was just looking out for him in her own loving way.

I would sometimes try to get in his passenger seat to ride with him, if we were not taking my vehicle on some road trip, and there was always these piles of cans of beans, corn, sardines, tomatoes you name it to move, so I could get in, I often wondered dubiously, if some of them were not left over from the last road trip.

What was even stranger about that mutual farewell habit they shared was that as soon as he got done eating or going to buy fast food, he would be checking in with her. Well, we been friends too long for me to expect otherwise and my days of chiding him about it were long over. They say you are a lucky man if you can count your friends on one hand and not have too many fingers left, and Jack and I had found out that besides each other we had lots of room on that hand.

Jack and I wandered back into the house and noticed that the ladies had put out several of those three for a price small LED lanterns that sportsmanguide.com put on special all the time. We had two main lanterns from them that had been sold under their brand name Guide Gear and they ran for weeks on 4 D cells. I have a diehard jump starter power station that I could plug my recharger in for the batteries and I had a 15 watt solar panel that I could use to recharge the power station, so I would never be without lights. I was lucky none of this equipment was affected by the EMP in the closet I had it stored in.

One of my ETON crank radios was fried, but I had one I had put in a cardboard-lined ammo can and it was fine. I had my two way radios in there with it so I had communication capability for my friend Sherry who didn’t live far from me. I was going to carry one of the two way radios with me to give to her at the food distribution point tomorrow. Sherry and I were Prepper buddies and I probably had just as many preps stored at her house as I did at my Mom’s. Dang if Mom wasn’t so picky about things, I wouldn’t have to fill a unit at a mini warehouse full of stuff I needed to get to one day, because it wasn’t allowed in the house...

Jack interrupted my musing by asking me what time I wanted leave for the distribution point tomorrow.

“There is a drop at 10.30 and I wanted to be there early possible, so I considered our walking time in and I figured we could leave at 9.00 to get there by 9.30.” I informed.

“I saw a lot of fires coming into Montgomery from Clanton, David, people were trying to fight them with garden hoses in the residential areas and from the highway the industrial complex by the river looked like it had burned down. I hope you and your mother will stay safe, but be vigilant over here.” Jack said, while nibbling on some pilot crackers I had given him.

“We been lucky so far, I have been going out and looking at the sky at night, sort of doing fire watch thing before we go to bed at night.” I responded, while turning the coffee water on.

“Hey, you still actually have natural gas for cooking?” he said, observing how easy it was for me to just hand light the burner on the stove with a match.

“Gas is a different setup, even than water, to get it to flow through pipes. It’s intermittent now for service and scares the hell out of me with these fires in the distance, but I haven’t shut it off yet.” I replied, hoping that would convince my mom to let me just shut it off for safety, but she was waiting for the utility company to make an announcement and so far nothing had been said.

“I don’t really understand what catches fire and what doesn’t from EMP.” Jack said questionably and wanting more answers.

“I don’t understand it either my friend, the only case study I ever have seen mentioning the fire risk aspects of EMP was in a Future Science article. I had it printed out for school awhile back, hang on a second and I will get it.” I said going back to my room and retrieving the article and handing it to Jack and telling him this was a nuclear event, not like the solar apocalypse we were experiencing.

“Here, read this part.” I said to Jack, pointing out the part I wanted him to study.

The Soviet Union got its surprise introduction to the severity of nuclear EMP effects over a much more heavily populated area than the Pacific Ocean. The most damaging nuclear EMP event in history (so far), much worse than the Starfish Prime test, occurred in October of 1962 over central Asia. Written documents give the time and date as 3:41 GMT/UTC on the morning of October 22, 1962. The warhead was launched from Kapustin Yar on a Soviet R-12 missile. Although the primary purpose of the test was to discover the effects of EMP on certain military systems, the large magnitude of some of the effects on the civilian infrastructure were quite unexpected.

A few hours after the sun rose in Kazakhstan on that cloudy October morning, the Soviet Union detonated a 300 kiloton thermonuclear warhead in space at an altitude of 290 kilometers (about 180 miles) over a point just west of the city of Zhezkazgan in central Kazakhstan. The test was generally known only as Test 184 (although some Soviet documents refer to it as K-3). It knocked out a major 1000-kilometer (600-mile) underground power line running from Astana (then called Aqmola), the capital city of Kazakhstan, to the city of Almaty. Several fires were reported. In the city of Karagandy, the EMP started a fire in the city's electrical power plant, which was connected to the long underground power line.

The EMP also knocked out a major 570 kilometer long overhead telephone line by inducing currents of 1500 to 3400 amperes in the line. (The line was separated into several sub-lines connected by repeater stations.) There were numerous gas-filled over voltage protectors and fuses along the telephone line. The entire over voltage protectors fired, and all of the fuses on the line were blown. The EMP damaged radios at 600 kilometers (360 miles) from the test and knocked out a radar 1000 kilometers (600 miles) from the detonation. Some military diesel generators were also damaged. The repeated damage to diesel generators from the E1 component of the pulse after the series high-altitude tests was the most surprising aspect of the damage for the Soviet scientists.

Subsequent analysis has shown that the warhead used in the 1962 Soviet test was particularly ineffective at generating EMP. If the W49 warhead used in the U.S. Starfish Prime test had been used in the Soviet tests, the EMP damage over Kazakhstan would have been far greater. (Emanuelson, 2010)

Emanuelson, J. (2010). Nuclear electromagnetic pulse. Retrieved from http://www.futurescience.com/emp.html

“It’s still pretty hard to figure things out with even that bit of information, David.” Jack said after reading the article and looking somewhat confused.

“Well, anything could have started that fire in Clanton; think about how many planes just fell out of the sky when their electronics completely failed them. At any given time there are well over 5,000 non-military airplanes over the air space of the U.S., so it must have been raining bombs for those that couldn’t glide in or crash land on the interstates or something. Even if you were lucky enough not to be in one, think about all the travelers stranded in the Atlanta Airport for example with no lights, no food, and no way to get out of town to their families, though most likely that whole airport went up in flames.” I said gloomily.

“David road a tractor back from Atlanta.” my mom interjected to reroute the conversation.

“Lawn tractor?” Jack asked skeptically. Thinking there was no way to keep the thing from overheating on the way back without a lot of careful planning.

“No an old crank start farmer’s hard row making and plowing affair. I will tell you that story later how I got that booger, Jack” I said dismissively, wanting to get to another point to consider.

“When you leave out, Jack; you probably want to maybe avoid that intersection by Baptist hospital. They are probably, or I say most likely, in a state of chaos; overflowing with panicked patients and medical personnel fighting losing battles. Their backup generators will be useless most likely, as they typically operate with some electronics to turn them on and off with a power shortage or need.” I advised Jack and in telling him this bit of info, adding a lot of miles to his pre-speculated trip by avoiding that likely bad intersection and remembering the other hospitals and clinics in the area he needed to get past.

Jack paused for a moment, and rubbed his balding pate, while mentally detouring his road trip and searching for an alternate route and replied,” I hadn’t thought of that. Can you imagine being in the middle of some kind of surgery and suddenly have the power go off without even so much as a warning beep?” he said bringing up scary thoughts for all to contemplate.

Mental Preparedness comes more readily when we allow ourselves to mentally picture scenarios and then allow our brain to strategically work on solving the anticipated problems, but this one I didn’t want to wrap my head around. Without refrigeration lots of drugs would quickly go bad. Anyone that required help breathing or anything else has already died and what could they do with the bodies? That hospital was only about a mile from me and it spelled trouble, no matter how I thought about it.

It won’t be long until people in the city are starting to die of dysentery from eating bad food, drinking bad water or having infected wounds from the car wrecks that occurred when the big switch cut off power steering and brakes while they were zipping along down the road. I need to start working on a plan to get out of here, NOW, I reminded myself.

Hells bells! How many Americans are simply living today, because they have access to all kinds of medical technology and treatments or those in hour glass mode, waiting on the sand of their lives called medication to run out? Type 2 diabetics are probably counting the hours, and going to be dying on the vine if they haven’t already expired. With death comes new diseases for the living, hurry up, find the way out David, I said to myself.

“You know Jack, you might want to hang around a day or two, I might have just thought of something interesting.” I said looking his way and smiling a bit, as something dawned on me.

“Oh yeah? What’s that?” he said looking quizzically my way.

“I am thinking, maybe some cars stored in underground parking garages would possibly work depending on that pulses proximity. I am not sure if some areas got different doses or not, but it sounds like a reasonable idea anyway.” I said thinking hopefully.

“Well, maybe. But there are not too many parking lots around like that. Downtown is the only place I can think of offhand and we don’t want to go there.” Jack said as we resumed our pondering of possibilities and problems...

“Let’s get your sleeping arrangements out of the way and we will go talk in my shop awhile.” I said standing and going towards the linen closet.

2

DISTRIBUTION DAY

Jack and I argued the finer points of getting the hell out Dodge, and how to be as far away from the masses as possible, until late in the night.

“You know, David, they started looting the local Walmart and grocery stores not too long after this shit hit; and people simply took what they needed or wanted, because nobody was around to stop them.” Jack said recalling the pandemonium.

“Well, Jack, that old communist Vladimir Lenin was often quoted as saying, ‘Where there is hunger, there is no law.’ I bet the grocery stores are already looted or have been stripped bare, as people flocked to them like locusts in the beginning of this realization of lost resources.” I said considering the possibilities of what might have occurred in other neighborhoods.

The world surely does end at a prepper’s door, when you get so little local news, even from a few miles away. What is happening is unknown without the technology we were used to having access to.

I would be very surprised if any local agencies or responders really had a clue at all what's going on, since there is no communication to speak of. No cell phones. Hardly any radio to even talk about. No phone land lines, Emergency management might have some commo on the restricted hard lines. The grid is gone; I had a sinking feeling what was next though in this circus of loss and smoke and mirrors. The second die off coming, would be due to disease and starvation.

Jack and I got up the next morning and got ready to go to the distribution point. “You going to have to just put that CZ 52 in your waist band, all I got for it is the military holster that came with it.” I told him.

“I don’t think it’s the season for open carry yet.” he replied and shoved the pistol behind his belt in his waistband and adjusted his shirt over it.

“I got a rolling backpack suitcase and a fold up little hand truck to take, so we can take to carry back whatever we get. Will most likely be a case of MRE each and those things will make it easier to carry.” I advised putting the hand truck inside the suitcase.

“I can carry that.” Jack said and collapsed the handle and slung it on as a backpack.

“I got an extra backpack with a frame around here somewhere that would probably work, but unless I took the stuff out of the boxes it would be too awkward.” I said considering all options.

Jack headed for the door and said, “This will be fine, you can figure out what you want to do different next trip.”

“You know I bet most people, probably 70%, would choose to stay in their homes for as long as the food in their pantry lasted, and are not going to walk over there today.” I said thinking about how many folks might be showing up.

“ Yeah, but you know the whole entitlement thinking bunch from around the neighborhood are not going to miss a free anything, no matter how far away it is.” Jack replied as we were walking along.

“Well, there are a lot of people who are sitting around waiting for the power to come back on; and they haven’t realized yet it’s not going to, not any time soon.” I offered.

“Within a few weeks, when people realize the power will not be coming back on, is when it’s really going to be hell out here.” I suggested looking around at some people starting to make there way I assumed towards the distribution point.

“Well you know the entitlement crowd in some of these neighborhoods is going to say they are not getting their fair share and then the rioting, looting and burning will begin, you seen it before David.” Jack said, remembering some of my disaster relief stories.

“Hard to say how many folks will show up today, most people don’t have more than a few weeks worth of food in the house, so I imagine a lot of people may be getting pretty desperate already.” I concluded and asked Jack if he wanted me to carry the pack for awhile, but he said it was light and declined my offer.

I spied somebody driving their way around the stalled cars in a vintage model T. and admired the sight with my buddy.

“Now there is a brave soul.” Jack said wondering about the safety of what appeared to be the husband and wife team riding in it.

“Money ain’t going to be worth shit pretty soon.” I mused aloud.

“What are you planning on buying and where?” Jack replied

“I want something that runs or a bicycle etc., I got some silver and some cash, if I can get someone to let go of something.” I speculated.

“Good luck on that, but knowing you, you will find some creative way of doing it.” he said, as we both began to sweat as the heat of the day started to rise.

“They will probably announce Martial law today, if they haven’t already.” I told Jack.

“I was already worried about a curfew when coming in last night, but I figured who the hell would be out to enforce it this early in the game.” Jack replied.

“No one’s going to be able to create but a very tiny amount of new food in the city and then you will probably see everyone trying to get to the country. Eventually, virtually everyone must leave the city, because there will be nothing left to eat; if they don’t burn it down first or kill each other off in turf wars. The means to produce new food here will not exist, except for the very few folks who have gardens, if they can protect them.” I said to Jack sharing my opinions.

His only response was to say, “Desperate people do desperate things.” And we just kept on walking.

Most people, I thought, would find it impossible adapting to a lifestyle without the public and private infrastructure which brought the necessities of life to the masses. If you take away electricity, clean water, flush toilets, communications, wheels, a full cupboard, a universally accepted currency, and stores full of things to buy; it’s not hard to figure out what happens next amongst so called civilized people.

“Jack, when we get back, I want to fortify the house some more. That’s if you sticking around for another day or two.” I said hoping to have his help doing a little barricading and determent.

“I will stick around for another day.” he responded.

“I don’t know why I am going to the bother. I will most likely bug out within the next two weeks, but better to be safe than sorry.” I said despondently.

“Where are you going to go?” Jack said full of interest.

“I am pretty sure; I will be going to the Lake.” I told him and wondering, if perhaps he would consider tagging along, or at least travel part way with me.

“You know the highways are not a pretty sight these days, there are bodies everywhere. Some folks couldn’t handle the heat, the stress, fear, or they were unaccustomed physical exertion of having to walk 20 or so miles to get home and it triggered heart attacks, strokes, etc and they died by the waysides.” I said painting a gruesome scene of rotting corpses and stench.

“I saw a few nasty sights on the way in. I was glad it was night and Lois couldn’t see much with all that stuff packed on top of her.” he replied, now pouring sweat as the temperature had gone up at least 15 degrees since we left the house.

“You know what our dumb asses forgot, David? To bring some water.” he said accusingly to me.

“I didn’t, but we only got two small bottles in that pack.” I said proudly, but also wishing I had brought more.

“I still can’t figure out how the National Guard units could even be mobilized; since how do they mobilize, if no one’s personal vehicles run and all communications are down.” Jack directed my way in hopes of an informed answer.

“I don’t have a clue on that one, only thing I can think of is that they were already drilling or had some advance notice to activate, from NASA maybe.” I said wondering the same thing.

“You know it won’t be long until millions more people die on the interstate trying to get out of the cities, to get with relatives or friends out in the country, thinking there is food there.” I told Jack, while reaching to share carrying the pack for awhile.

“What else you got in that thing besides a couple bottles of water, I know that little fold up hand truck doesn’t weigh that much?” Jack said scrutinizing the pack while being happy he was relived of the burden.

“72 hour kit.” I said smiling.

“We are only a 30 minute walk away, are you crazy? No, you’re a damn Prepper, never mind.” he said and, I think, picked up the walking pace just to punish me a bit for dragging the item along.

“It’s only a small one; I took the food out of it. Look, if you had been through what I have, you are never going to be without some basic survival gear again, no matter how short the trip is.” I said indignantly

“I guess.” Jack wearily said, knowing it was pointless to pursue the matter.

“Jack, watch your ass up here. It’s hot and some people will be getting all irritable and feeling froggy, unless there are several guards.” I advised as the shopping center came in sight.

“Yeah, I remember you told how after Hurricane Fredric that people started pulling guns on each other in the food stamp line, just because it started to drizzle rain.” he replied looking around to see how many people were coming down the same street we were on. There were only a few, but up ahead it looked like maybe thirty or so people had the same idea as we did to get here early.

“The crap usually starts with a shoving match or some idiots start cutting in line, and then the National Guard or the cops got to threaten to butt stroke somebody; but if not too many troops are around, it can get out of hand fast.” I said looking around at individual groups to see if I recognized any neighbors.

“Dang, they already hit the dollar store pretty good.” I said pointing out the debris strewn about and broken door glass on the shop at the far corner of the center.

“Let’s wander over to the end of the center; I want to see what it looks like on that road.” I said to jack and heading in that direction. There were only a few scattered fast food restaurants, a bank, a muffler shop and…what was that I see and peering closer in the distance.

“Hey Jack, come here and see what Santa Claus left us.” I said in a sneaky tone and pointing up the street.

“What are you looking at?” he said looking in the general direction, but not seeing what it was that had sparked my interest.

“Look on the side of that Muffler shop.” I prompted.

“You mean that trailer with the two ATVs? Will they run you think?” He whispered and getting inspired.

“I think so, probably have to push start them. Should be any simple engine should also work (Like ATV’s, riding lawnmowers, gas powered golf carts, etc.)” I said with interest in the prizes I had spotted.

“Do we come back and get them tonight?” Jack asked already contemplating a plan.

“No, I think we try to snatch them while everybody is concentrating on the government handouts and ride them back home the back way.” I said getting devious and grinning at Jack knowingly to his return of a devilish grin.

“One of us needs to wander over there and have a look around without paying too much attention to what it is we think has value. Just in case, we get observed.” I said while scanning the street and the parking lot folks that were halfway paying attention to our wandering around, but far enough away not to hear our conversation.

“Go ahead; I will wait on you here.” Jack replied.

“Ok, but look for Sherry and crew, they ought to be coming up here pretty soon and I need to give them that two way radio I brought.” I told him, while looking in the direction I expected them to arrive.

Jack replied, “Will do.” and I sort of meandered my way down the street towards what I hoped was rolling gold.

Dang, who the hell would break into a Long John Silvers Seafood fast food shop I thought, while walking by it? They had to been just looking for money, no other reason to get in one that I could think of. Got to be money, the Bingo arcade on the other side of the street was obviously broken into, too. Shit, I forgot about that Diplomat motel up on the bypass about a ¼ mile away. Anyone still staying in there is going to be showing up desperate and irrational today. Ok anyone around here I considered, while scanning left and right and seeing Jack observing me at a distance and looking around the lot at the new arrivals keeping a watch for Sherry and crew.

I casually wandered over to the closed bays on the shop and peered in. There was a truck on one lift and a car on another. That truck must have been hauling that trailer, maybe, I proposed. Let’s have a look at the trailer. Damn gates padlocked no keys in them. This little field trip is going to be noisy and obvious I got to thinking.

Ah ha! Somebody has already broken in the side door of the business. I cautiously pulled the door back and looked inside. Well there were plenty of tools around to get the padlock off and screw drivers and such to get access to the ignition wires.

Wait a minute, I bet if this truck went with that trailer, the keys to those things will be up in the cab. How the hell do I get into it, with it up in the air on the lift like that? I thought and began looking around the room once more.

‘I see said the blind man to…’ echoed in my mind, as my gaze fixed on the roll around tool rack. A bit of pushing and shoving, pulling out a few drawers and I climbed my little stairway to heaven, up to the door handle and climbed into the cab. A quick search of the glove box produced two sets of keys. Bingo!

I was all full of myself and my ingenuity, as I proceeded to climb down back on to the drawer of the tool chest, when I damn near turned it over.

Careful David! There is no hospital for fools or thieves anymore, I thought while easing back off of it. Well, it ain’t theft if its not being used, and it won’t be the last thing I need to abscond with to survive these days, so quit thinking in that vein. I admonished myself. I eased back out the door and headed back towards Jack.

As I neared Jack, he asked ‘Any Luck?’ by raising one eyebrow.

“Oh, yeah.” I responded grinning like a goat eating briars and jingling the keys before pocketing them.

“Sweet! Is that Sherry and friends coming this way?” he said turning to look at three girls trudging along and one pushing a little green plastic garden wheelbarrow?

“Yeah, that’s them.” I said moving to meet them halfway and noticing two of them had on mostly empty packs.

“Hey, David. Surprised to see you, Jack!” Sherry said as she walked up to me and embraced me.

“Damn, there are a lot of people here early.” her sister Sandra said surveying the swelling mob of people milling around.

“Well, if they are this early and this many, then real need is starting to show its ugly face.” I surmised.

Betsy had immediately unslung her pack and groused at Sherry by saying “We would have been here a lot earlier if you hadn’t spent half the morning adding unnecessary shit to these packs just to come up here.” giving her a snotty look.

Jack interjected before squabbling erupted, “It’s a prepper thing. She probably has been listening to David, who I had the same argument with this morning.” Looking unsympathetically in my direction and turning the two girl’s wrath on me.

“Hey, what if your damn house got broke into or burned down, while you were up here? Don’t give me any shit about being prepared for contingencies or we wouldn’t have jackshit for the moment.” I said quite put out at the ingrates but went on to lighten the mood. “Hey, that’s a pretty good one, Jackshit, you might have invented that one, Jack, or does it just apply to you, you damned old garden tractor driving manatee delivery man.” I said putting a burr under his saddle, but got him and the trio to grinning anyway.

“What’s this about manatees?” Betsy said, while making sure to gain some distance from the pack she had put in Sherry’s wheelbarrow, a move she hoped wouldn’t be noticed for awhile.

“He is being a Smartass again. We will tell you the story later. Let’s go get out of the sun under the walkway awning and do some plotting and scheming.” Jack said taking a hold of the wheelbarrow handle and dragging it along with Betsy’s pack and leaving Sandra to wish she had done the same trick Betsy did.

“The line will form up in the middle of the parking lot where the biggest concentrations of people are, unless the driver doesn’t like their looks when he pulls in. Security will come in first in a couple jeeps and pick the front and back of the line first.” I said before Jack spoke.

“You showing your age, David, they got Hummers these days.” he said laughing.

“You’re right, I wasn’t thinking, just getting in the zone of things. Anyway, the truck holds off or comes later. Lead security comes with ranking guy who chooses where and when. Second vehicle comes two hundred paces beyond the first, parks and decides where back of the line will eventually be, and start herding folks into some kind of semi orderly line. That’s a short distribution line. There are usually two guards in front, two in the rear, and one man from front and back roves up and down the line, trying to keep peace. When they hear or see the truck coming, it’s three guards up front to contain the rush and the driver’s assistant drops the tail gate while the driver stays in the truck ready to speed off, if necessary, until folks are calm enough to receive goods or services. A command vehicle with two officers or NCOs will swing by with one extra guard and check the rear of the line and wave for the party to start and call out on the radio, if it’s working, for any other needed supplies or security, then take off or stand by.” I said trying to evaluate how to apply SOP (Standard Operating Procedures) to this throng of people that was building up.

“You and Jack going to try to work the trucks and volunteer to hand out boxes, David?” Sherry asked contemplating that it would still be a zoo until some kind of order could be established.

“No, we were, but I got to go on a mission and most likely will not even be here when it happens.” I said to everyone’s dismay. I proceeded to tell them my plan for Jack and I to use the food drop as a diversion to cover our confiscating some of the ATV`s, but my party of three ladies started raising too many objections.

“Look, plans and awareness change, deal with it! I can almost guarantee they are going to declare martial law and hand out pre printed flyers saying CURFEW and although, I do not think they can actually enforce it, I am not going to try my luck and hang around for a case of meals, when I am working on a survival, evasion and escape plan.” I adamantly told them with a lot of anger in my voice from being exasperated by them not seeing the wisdom in my words.

“I can not leave Jack to make you feel good, because I need him to help start those vehicles. One of us has got to push, while the driver pops the clutch to start it; and I don’t even know how to drive one.” I objected forcefully and in a tone of voice that said I was not going to entertain any discussion to the matter.

“The mood of this crowd is already not too great.” Jack said trying to rein me and my intentions in, while hinting for me to reconsider leaving the girls out of my plan.

“It is still early yet in the crisis, Jack. Guns in the open will do the job of making folks act right for today, I think; to make them behave without worries. We need those vehicles, when they don’t think about it in the here and now like we do.” I said imploringly to him and having a hope he would take my same hardliner attitude into immediate action.

“Get your food, but you should leave back for home at the first sign of trouble.” Jack said to the subdued group of women worriedly weighing the advice, “Call us on the radio if you have to.” he said as a final advisory and intending to comfort, that we could play Calvary if we had to.

“We got time yet; hell, in the military it is always ‘hurry up and wait’; they might be an hour or more late, so let’s just relax a moment.” I offered adding my two cents.

“When do we leave? Is the plan to be ‘bugging’ soon?” Sherry said speaking for her dejected charges and looking at me and Jack for plan B.

“Soon, Baby, Very soon.” I managed to muster and, it wasn’t what anyone around me wanted to hear today.

“Hey, that’s my neighbor Rufus over there.” I said motioning to a large man and his wife, while waving to the couple.

“Come on, lets get you all acquainted.” I said, not giving anyone a chance to wonder about the necessity of doing it now before the conversation was finished, and stepping off in their direction. We did introductions all around and the girls were happily doing what girls do best and adopting another female into their group as I took Rufus off to the side.

“We got some things to do my friend. Can you sort of look after the ladies while we are gone?” I asked the former bricklayer and all round best neighbor I ever had.

“Sure, Sure, but what are you up to? I sort of was glad to have some friendly known faces to support me.” He said surveying everyone forming their own little groups of support or war.

“You carry any protection today?” I said in a low voice.

“Damned Woman over there was worried and made me leave my .38 at home.” He groused, while indicating his spouse thoroughly engaged with the Hen Party I’d just attached him to.

“I got a Gerber knife or my Kel tec .380 you can borrow.” I said feeling a bit queasy to give up either one before the mission I was about to undertake, but had not revealed to him yet.

Jack looked at me like I was out of my mind to be giving up a pistol and also wondering why I didn’t have two, which was my usual ilk, but remained silent.

“I want the gun, but I wouldn’t know how to fire it, never seen one of that kind before. Shake my hand and palm me the knife. Is there something going on I need to know about?” he said looking around at the motley crew of strangers we had to share space with, while casually taking the knife from me and slipping it in his pocket.

“Nothing special, anytime you have a mob you just need to be extra careful”. I replied.

“Check in with me on the radio, when you get back home Sherry.” I said, looking at Jack who was still conversing with the girls.

“I guess we wait over here for the truck to arrive and then go take care of our business, Jack. Rufus I suggest you and Sherry go mill around with that group over there, it looks like the likely beginning of the line.” I said motioning towards a group that probably been in one of these type lines for ice after a hurricane or something in the past, because everyone else was staying back in the shade to wait.

“I will see you all later then.” and Rufus and crew headed towards the bunch of people I had designated.

“I hope those things got gas in them; I didn’t bother to check, because I did not want to draw any further attention.” I confided to Jack.

“See any gas cans?” he asked as I tried to recall.

“Unless they are in back of the truck that’s up on the lift; I don’t remember seeing any off hand. I said, while speculating which way the military trucks would probably be coming in.

“We will figure it out, should be something usable over there; if not, some tubing to siphon some gas, if need be.” Jack replied.

I looked down the street and saw two 5 ton trucks and two Hummers headed in our direction and turned to Jack saying, “Show time”.

We walked back over to the muffler shop and he jumped on the trailer to check the gas and start unlashing the first ATV, while I unlocked the ramp and lowered it.

“About half a tank each.” Jack observed.

“Let’s just get them out then; I am not going to monkey around on that lift again just for can of gas.” I replied, I while unlashing the other ATV.

We got the vehicles rolled down the ramp and unloaded and I told Jack the direction we should head, if we got them running.

“Ok I will try to push you off first and then you can help me. Don’t go zooming off anywhere, because I don’t know how to drive one of these yet, and might stall it changing gears or something.” I advised and got in position to start trying to push him off.

After a few splutters and false starts the engines on both fired and we were on our way. I figured they were awful damn noisy and Jack was laughing at my first attempts to drive one; but other than that, I was grinning all the way home on my new runabout and into the backyard to stash the lucky finds.

Lois and my Mom came out the side door and looked at us in amazement.

“Well, no food today, but ATVs were on sale.” Jack said hugging his speechless wife.

“How did you get those?’ my Mom asked making me wince.

“We borrowed them from a friend.” I said trying to dodge the question.

“Which friend?” She asked looking skeptical.

“The guy who owns the ATVs. Come on, Jack, we got to get something to secure these with.” I said fumbling with the keys to the shop and letting my Mom decide for herself that she didn’t really want a straight answer this time.

We got the vehicles squared away and went into the house to get everyone started on lunch. No one really felt like cooking, as hot as it was; so we choose the self-contained, simple heater meals, so as not to heat up the kitchen or the house.

Rufus knocked on the door about an hour later and told us Sherry and friends got off Ok. The ration for the day was one case of MRE per person present. Rufus said they were towards the front of the line and got theirs quick and had nothing really extra to report. I asked if he’d noticed what the patches on the uniforms looked like, but he hadn’t really paid attention.

Sherry called in on the radio not long after Rufus had left, and basically said she was glad she had brought her little wheelbarrow and that boxes of MRE were heavy.

Reception was crackly on the radio, but we managed to have an easy enough conversation. I had no way of knowing if Mr. Sun was still up to his hijinks or if the buildings were in the way. So, to be on the safe side, I told Sherry to pull the batteries and stick the radio in ammo can or file cabinet, until tomorrow at 1 oclock, when we would do another commo check.

“Hey, Jack? Buddy you up for walk? I got a little something for us to go check on. Before I left for Atlanta, I saw that a guy had a moped out in front of his house for sale and I want to see if he still has it.” I told him while counting what cash was around the house.

“What did he want for it?” Jack asked

“You mean what did he want for it, when it worked?” I chuckled devising my plan.

“You don’t think he will catch on?” Jack asked suspiciously.

“I am going to tell him I want it for a bicycle, you can pedal those things too, you know.” I said grinning.

“Boy is he going to have the ass, if he sees you putt putting around on it.” Jack laughed.

“Come on lets go see about it, it’s about 10 blocks from here.” I said rising.

On the way over, Jack and I spied people struggling to carry boxes of MRE home in the hot Alabama sun.

“Prices of wheelbarrows just hit an all time high.” I told Jack.

“Let’s hope mopeds haven’t yet,” he quipped.

“Here’s, the place.” I said walking up a driveway.

I knocked on the door and heard a shouted “who is it?”

“I came about the Moped.” I replied and suddenly the living room curtain was pulled back and a face appeared. A rather odd looking man, who I thought favored the Hobbit Bilbo Baggins, scrutinized me for a moment before asking “What you want that broke down old thing for?” like I was out of my mind or messing with him.

“I can’t find a bicycle and figured you might sell it to me.” I said with a deadpan face, as Jack pretended to be as skeptical as the little hobgoblin looking at me through the window.

“Well, I might sell it, its kind of hard to pedal as is. What will you give me for it?” He replied thinking he could possibly see it by looking sideways out the window and then giving up.

“I don’t know. What’s a scooter without an engine worth these days?” I said to the face that moments earlier looked quite hilarious mushed up against the window.

“You really want it? No tricks right?” and did his face mushed against the window routine again, just to make sure he actually couldn’t see it from his vantage point.

“No tricks, cash money, if the price is right.” I replied trying to look sincere and not laugh, if he decided to try for another look.

“I seen it a week ago and remembered you had it, so I walked over here to maybe cut a deal.” I offered.

“You from the neighborhood then, well ok. I will be out in a minute. He said and dropped the curtain leaving Jack and I to look at each other and wonder what was next.

We heard the side door open on the carport and turned to walk that way, as this little man rounded the corner wearing shorts and of all things maroon leather cowboy boots.

“Don’t mind the boots boys; they were the easiest thing to slip on. Now set me a fair price on that moped and you can have it.” he said crossing his arms and looking up at all 6ft 2 of me.

I hate deals that start like this, whats the old saying? ‘The first one that names the price loses’ I contemplated, before engaging the old Hobbit looking character in a little horse trading.

“Well, what’s she worth to you.” I said standing off and pretending to examine it and somehow get in the conversation about how it ran up to this point.

“Well, I was wanting $900, until the other day.” he said noncommittally.

“Well that was when it was running good, how many miles you got on it?” I said and bent to look at the speedometer

“Who asks how many miles is on a bike? That’s what you want it for isn’t it?” he said thinking he was being a smartass trader

“True, true, just curious, it ain’t exactly a bike is it, so miles would show wear and tear.” I volleyed back.

“It only has 650 miles on it, if that matters anymore. You got a hundred dollars? “He asked like he wasn’t sure if I had that kind of money.

“Well, yes I do, but I like $75 better.” I drawled out.

“$90 and not a penny less.” he said firmly, as I fought myself not to go for my wallet immediately.

“Do I get the helmet, too, for that price?” eying the cheap head bucket sitting on the seat.

“If you want it.” he said and stuck his hand out to seal the deal.

“Hang on a minute; I am going to pedal that thing for a test drive first.” I objected and he obviously didn’t like the notion of me possibly keeping on going.

“Here you can hold half the money and Jack will stay here.” I offered.

“Just go ride It.” he said dismissively and I did.

I came back and counted out his cash.

“We square?” I asked extending my hand for a shake.

“We are, but damned if I know why you wanted that old helmet.” he said shaking my hand.

“I don’t know either, I guess I got caught up in the moment of trading and had to make you give me something extra.” I said laughing.

“Well, take your goods and thanks.” he said smiling and turning back to his house on those ridiculously oversized goat roper boots.

As I pushed my moped down the drive way, Jack nudged me and said “Kaching!” imitating an old cash register.

“You got that right Buddy.” I said smiling, but still being careful not to talk about my deal of the century yet.

“Hey, Son!” The Hobbit was back and waving some bit of paper.

“Something wrong?” I asked,

“No it’s your title, gotta be all legal, she’s yours now, no returns.” and he scurried back to the house, as Jack and I looked at each other smirking.

“Any other good deals around? That was fun!” Jack said, as I got on the scooter and proceeded to pedal it home.

“Let’s keep our eyes peeled.” and I pedaled off and did little loop de loops back to where he was walking and we held brief little conversations.

3

Plotting and Scheming

I managed to fire up the engine on the scooter on the way home, and after a very brief zip around the Church parking lot, before shutting it down and going back to pedaling it along.

I parked it next to the side door in the carport and Jack and I walked in the house.

“Here Mom. Put this somewhere.” I said before she could question me.

“What is it?” She asked while reading every line of the paper.

“Bill of sale and title on that Moped I bought for a hundred bucks.” I said flopping down in a chair and having some fun watching my mother find a suitably safe place for my receipt, like it was some all important document.

“I might bike over to Sherry’s today and see if any fresh vegetables are in the garden.” I said, searching for an excuse to get back over there and discuss a few things over a drink of more than instant drink mix.

“Are you sure David? Its dangerous out there, you said so yourself and you just got home.” My Mom said anxiously and a little peevishly.

“Well, it’s the only garden we got access to and I need to see about it. I also got some preps over there that I will be bringing back.” I said hinting I might have something interesting stored there.

“Why would you store something over there and not here?” She replied, like she didn’t really know, but I wasn’t taking the bait to argue.

“Jack if you want to come, you can ride her bike and I can pedal the scooter.” I said in his direction to see if he needed an excuse to escape also.

“Well, if you don’t need me, I will stay here and guard the home front.” Jack replied getting brownie points with my Mom and Lois, knowing full well he’d be napping somewhere within the hour.

“Jack, come to think of it, I need that scooter over at Sherry’s and I need you to ride the bike; so we can double up on it on the way back here.” I said spoiling his already cat like stretch to settle in for a nap.

“What? What?” he managed seeing his master plan foiled, now with physical exertion included?

“It’s not good to keep all the eggs in one basket anyway buddy, and we got some deliberations to do.” I said ruining his day and poking him to action.

“Ok, I will go, but you peddling back.” he said resolutely and giving me mental hernia thinking about biking his big ass back home.

“Be glad it’s not a rickshaw!” he said seeing the discomfort on my face.

“I am going to turn that bike into a Pedi cab one day so don’t look so smug, if I find you a new job.” I said as a weak retort.

“Let’s go look at that rain barrel setup I was working on before we leave, in case I need to bring something back from Sherry’s.” I said and headed towards the backdoor and my room/aka garden building.

We went inside my room where part of my arsenal was stashed and I thought a weapon change was in order. I found what I wanted and told Jack “Here, put this on,” and produced an Astra 9mm and slide holster that was basically just a loop of leather that would keep a gun from falling down inside a waistband or could be worn on the outside in any position.

“Stick this in your pocket.” I said producing an extra clip that held an additional 17 rounds.

“That’s a clone of a Sig made in Spain and just as well made.” I told him as he examined it.

“See, no safety. That’s the mag release and decocker.” I said, while briefly schooling him in its simple operation.

“Nice.” he said, as he checked the white dot sights.

“You might need the spray and pray capability of that thing, even though it’s accurate as hell in the neighborhoods we’re going through.” I advised him, while putting on a Kangaroo holster for a tiny Keltec 9mm and dropping my Keltec 380 in a similar slide holster at the small of my back.

“I am not the best shot anymore, since I got that cataract in my right eye and don’t have the health insurance to get it fixed. I depend more on stealth for now.” I said to his unsaid question of ‘why he was getting more fire power than me’.

“I got a Ruger 357 Blackhawk over at Sherry’s I can still walk stairs with, because it has that big blade sight and I can easily aim it with both eyes open. But that’s more of an open carry thing, and I have not yet committed to that.” I informed him.

“You always said it only takes one well aimed one, I don’t think you would feel outgunned with that.” he advised restoring my confidence in facing an untrained fool of a gang banger trying to shoot a semi auto sideways.

I added a few extra clips to my pockets and we got on our way.

“Hey, look who still hasn’t caught on yet.” as we passed the Hobbit’s house and saw him peering out the window.

“I am going to fly by his house on this thing before I bug out, maybe even do a wheelie.” I said laughing and continuing to pump the pedals on what was just for appearances sake an overweight bicycle.

“That didn’t take them long, did it?” I said motioning towards a small gas convenience store that still had some people digging through it.

“Even if they do get the grid turned back on in a year or two, what’s going to be left?” Jack said disgustedly eying a group of teens, who were not yet cocky enough to try taking our transportation.

“Jack, are you going to come with us or you going to them crazy in-laws house?” I said hoping he would choose my alternative.

“I have just been waiting for the invitation buddy, I choose to go roll dice with you.” he said smiling and turning onto Sherry’s street.

“Ah hell, that’s great man, no fun playing Apocalypse without my partner.” I said reaffirming our lifelong friendship.

The girls were sitting out on the raised front porch of Sherry’s house, I assumed to beat the heat or trying to get some gossip from the neighbors, when we wheeled up.

“Couldn’t find another Bike?” Betsy attempted to chide me, which produced a guffaw from Jack she couldn’t understand.

“Actually, I couldn’t find a BETTER bike.” I laughed back at her and we proceeded up the stairs to the porch and explained that the thing worked, but I chose not to crank it up just yet just for appearances sake.

Not to be put off, Betsy proceeded to tell everyone how she used to ride a moped on summer vacations.

“You may yet be riding one again.” I said and hushed the responses with the statement that I thought we would be bugging out in a week and half to two weeks and began presenting my case for doing so.

“If the Guard is organizing, it can only be on this local level with some input from the higher ups, if they are on the emergency landlines. That means some sealed orders for continuity of government are being opened and it will take them a bit to take the trucks to every last adress of current enlistees to press gang them back in service, for whatever plan they are going to put into effect.

What that is I don’t know or really want to consider at this moment; all I know, is that supplies for cities will get diverted toward command and control to insure the ‘those in power’ have survivability; and that will be the trigger for halting what little supplies remain from reaching mainstream America, as the elites regroup. Then the real societal breakdowns start, as if things were not bad enough already.

They are not going to fight the populace city by city, they will just pull back what ever aid is available and play the game of cut the head off the body and watch it squirm, as the brutality and ignorance of society commits societal suicide.

Mass starvation, violence and fire will take care of the rest, in this uncoupling of any government intervention, as some places survive and others meet a timely demise.

If you divided all the military trucks in every city by the number of 18 wheelers that no longer run it took to supply the city for a week, you could see the end game was already in sight; and that it was impossible to transport even starvation rations to the populace of any small to medium sized city. The bigger cities are probably toasted already. Our current food and water handouts, are most likely just a fluke, and could be cut off without warning.

As I elaborated the possible consequences and scenarios that were likely to occur, a grim determination came over the faces of my audience not to be left behind in the scheme of things; and would find our own greener pastures, that did not depend on a arbitrary fend for yourself politico agenda.

“All told, IF my storage unit is still ok, between Sherry and I, there’s a little over enough food for a year for two, add one person apiece, that’s six months for four, and so on.” I finished my diatribe with a fact no one had really thought about.

Looking across the table, I could see how everyone’s meal calculators working; I saw it dawn: the abundance they thought we had will have disappeared in a few months; unless we got back to hunting, gathering/farming, preserving for ourselves, the odds of merely surviving here were near non-existent.

“People will start robbing neighbors, pets will mysteriously disappear, when there is nothing left to be looted, and then some people will resort to cannibalism. I plan to be the hell out of here before that starts.” I said, knowing I had my audience’s complete cooperation and attention.

“Let’s plan the big bug out. Sherry, grab me what’s left of that bottle of Dickle, while we will make some plans.” I said with anticipatation of some bracing libation to smooth what we all had to swallow next.

“A displaced Person or a refugee is someone who carries everything they own on their back with out hope most times of gaining more. You have to pretend like you are getting on an airline now with limited weights as we decide what that tractor can pull, you are one of the lucky ones now, and you don’t have to carry a backpack for yourself yet.

“We got advantages over most folks as members of this new displaced prepper tribe in that we got most of what we need right here and don’t have to hunt for tools and have a margin of adaptation of food stores to transition with towards a new horizon and are not forced to compete with others for things that are no longer there.

“However, we need to establish a few tribal rules to insure everyone’s survival and safety and that starts with secrecy, if you break honor on that one we all fail so that can get you put out of the tribe.

“The gasoline has already stopped flowing and the shelves are wiped clean. How long will our neighbors remain civil, unless they fear the tribe that has assets and the protection to support it? I warn you of secrecy, because a bigger tribe will try to take our stuff. The saying is ‘loose lips sink ships’. From now on we are dependent on our own infrastructures for maintaining our way of life and giving away secrets for how we do it is taboo.

“As important to maintaining our way of life as automobiles have been, our very lives are dependent on the non existing trucking industry, if we try to stay here. Replenishment of that food supply drop today depends on a continuous flow of trucks from food processing centers to food distribution centers to warehouses and to grocery stores that are already looted and trashed. Trucks also deliver other essentials they need to just run themselves. Fuel delivered to metropolitan areas through pipelines is not accessible to the public until it is distributed by tanker trucks to gas stations, somebody hauling food can’t get gas or stop at a restaurant and eat. Am I getting through to you people yet? There will is no more fuel available. There will be no more food and water for purchase with worthless dollars or gold, for as long as it takes for civilization to right itself.

“You can absolutely count on a very prolonged period of great civil unrest, riots, theft and wide spread violence and that is why I want to flee as soon as possible to distance ourselves and have a chance.” I concluded my rant with.

“Well, won’t the government like they did today, be trying to help us?” Sandra said, not totally convinced, even after my long speech.

“I am not discounting some efforts, God bless those that try; but as for the military and police, you can expect high numbers of deserters trying to just help themselves or their families, placing an even greater strain on the limited resources of government or any kind of real law and order. No, expect very little.” I assured Sandra.

“Half of New Orleans worthless cops during Katrina were looting or disappeared to be with their families very first day.” Jack interjected, getting tired of me trying to nicely break the bonds of bugging in favor of bugging out.

“Look I don’t exactly know what has happened or will happen, nobody knows, even though some great minds and scientists have made dozens of studies and predictions and no one really agrees on much.” I said while rising to go get me a drink and let my rant sink in a bit. I went in the house and found my whiskey jug and was about to mix me a stiff one with some water when Sherry came in.

“I hid you a coke, hang on a second.” as she patted me on the shoulder and went to fetch it. “David, they are going to go, they just want answers I know you can’t give.” she said trying to calm me. I told her that I understood and peered out the kitchen window at the back garden. “We are going to bring that asparagus, garlic and whatever else you think might survive the trip when we go” I told Sherry, while still deliberating how in the world to organize this fiasco of ‘damned if you do and damned if you don’t’. I was second guessing myself again, Should we stay? I wondered. If we did stay, theres no room for Mom and me over here and we don’t have a garden spot over there. It will be just a matter of time before I would have to be defending what little bit we had and then what? No modern house is made to defend from bullets coming in, be they stray shots or directed aimed fire. Fire! That is what worried me the most. With no fire department and iffy water pressure whole blocks could burn up over one night and there are plenty of fools that like fire when they get the mob mentality. People burn things as a happy mob, over some dumb ass sports game, mad mobs burn their own freaking neighborhoods down like they did in the riots in LA. How many crazy looters could I shoot before somebody shot me? I don’t like those odds and I can’t stay up every night guarding a house against what I know will be very uneven odds. Hell the junkies, the folks on mood enhancers etc. will be running out of drugs soon enough if not already and just won’t care how they get a fix of some kind.

I read somewhere that 1/3 of this over medicated nation was on some kind of mind altering substance allegedly prescribed because they were border line mental cases. Well this shit will certainly throw them over the edge with out their crutch of choice. Plus too you got that element of society that is just going to have a field day with no threat of immediate legal repercussions. WE got to bug out come hell or high water and face the risks of the unknown over the known risks of staying I said to myself convinced I had made the right decision.

It’s not like I was thinking like some fool of a backpack prepper thinking we could somehow move to the wilderness and survive off the land long-term with just the contents of a pack. I better keep an eye out for those idiots and the Gun Preppers who only stocked ammo and weapons for this type of event when I get up around the lake. Shit they are more dangerous than the Sheeple when they get desperate are facing some grim realities.

“Sherry, we’re bugging out after the next food drop.” I said turning from the window and lowering my voice.

“I figured we were, you made a pretty convincing argument earlier. We are with you.” She said while hugging me and hiding some tears to be leaving her beloved home. We held each other for a moment and then let go and looked once again to our raised bed garden sanctuary, which was soon to be no more.

“What’s the matter Sherry?” Sandra asked as she came into the kitchen to find out what we were doing.

“David said we need to start getting ready to move out after the next food distribution.” Sherry said searching her sister’s face for any kind of show of emotion.

“Hell, I agree. Jack has been scaring the hell out of me and Betsy with thoughts of rape, killings and torture, if just a few of the known sex offenders in this city start serial killing or some shit.” She said looking relived to be going and still a bit shaken about the evils that could be occurring undetected already.

“I better go see about Jack, before he pushes too many buttons with nightmare tactics.” I said heading towards the front porch to reel him in a bit.

“We will be out in a few minutes,” Sherry said and stayed back to talk to her sister.

“Jack, be cool about telling too many war stories, it’s gloomy enough around here.” I said warningly and watching him consider and catches his self immediately and changes the subject.

“Betsy says they are having Mountain House Beef Stroganoff tonight, if we are going to be around.” He said hoping for some extra chow and feeling his still protruding, but rapidly reducing belly.

“We might, come on and help me put that moped in the shed.” I said heading down the stairs towards the front yard and the driveway.

“Jack, be careful with the gory warnings, peoples minds are fragile enough right now, without you getting them jumpier or more suspicious of everybody.” I said pushing the scooter along.

“I was just getting them more motivated to leave with us.” he said like he was offended I didn’t like his help.

“I am just saying be careful, the stress is already taking its toll and the post traumatic stress syndrome of it all doesn’t need any more encouragement.” I said unlocking the shed and allowing him to get his first glimpse at my notorious steel mule.

“Yeah, you’re right, I will be careful. That damn thing is an antique and a half, David!” he said semi admiringly.

“That thing is the Timex watch of all tractors, it takes a licking and keeps on ticking, but it eats oil like a glutton.” I said muscling the scooter over into one corner of the separate garage shed, as Jack was climbing up onto the antique tractor’s seat.

“Where can we get some more oil?” Jack said climbing back down.

“Good question, I bet that looted dollar store would have some, but I am not going around it. You got any ideas?” I said backing out of the shed and starting to close the door.

“We could drain some out of your mom’s car, if you got containers.” he offered while we walked back to the front porch.

“There is an Auto Zone on the corner, not far from here; but I don’t like taking unnecessary risks. We probably go with your idea.” I said going up the stairs to a deserted porch.

“I am thinking about going after that trailer at the muffler shops tonight Jack.” I said looking towards my partner in crime.

“What time you figure would be best?” He said obviously put off at the notion of not being back over at my Mom’s by nightfall, but seeing the wisdom of cover of darkness.

“That’s what I wanted to kick with you. I figure you got the folks that rob during daylight, because they just don’t care that are out now, the ones itching for the sun to go down; and the creepier ones that get out late night. We are in a universe of thieves and night stalkers now and I don’t want to run into anyone in a dark alley somewhere without a clue if they’re friend or foe or how many of them there might be. I am going to get another drink and you ponder on it.” I said to my abstaining friend.

I wandered back into the house and saw the girls had moved to the backyard and were engaged in deep conversation. I saw Sherry hadn’t let her guard down and nodded to myself approvingly a Maverick shotgun was in reaching distance from her. Who knows who might show up in these times, I thought, as most people by now have realized the lights were not coming back on anytime soon. With a hurricane etc. armies of utility workers would be heading in from every surrounding state; but now, hey even if they had spare parts, there were no vehicles to transport them. I took a sip from my drink and sighed and went back out front to get Jack’s take on the mission at hand.

“David, you made a good point about not wanting to be around those stores in the dead of night. Without street lights, hell you can’t see anybody going to or from them and it’s not the best idea to be broadcasting ourselves with light and sound to and fro, even if what we are after only appears to have value to us. Everyone is going to want that tractor. I say we go now and take what ever long arms you got around here with us.” He said looking for approval or a better idea.

“The only long arms we got here is a Hi Point 9mm carbine and my .22 Henry Arms survival rifle. Sherry needs to keep that 12 gauge here for protection. I say we go at dusk and get back at dark thirty and I will cut the lights if the road isn’t too bad so we can’t get followed home.’ I said considering our options.

“You talking about that cheap planet of the apes looking thing with the laser you showed me? I like that gun; I know it’s accurate as hell regardless of its price. If I shine that laser around it ought to scare the hell out of somebody.” Jack replied grinning.

“Just don’t be encouraging anyone to go back in their house and grabbing an AK or in gang banger lingo a chopper or we are toast buddy.” I said, wondering if I really wanted to entrust him with that gun now.

“No, I meant, maybe just move that red laser dot around on stop signs or reflect it on the street or something. Still it’s a good low light gun if you’re not getting out classed or need to take something out in a hurry, that doesn’t have that one shot capability. I know that the looks of that 22 is a good deterrent, but I don’t know how much good it is.” He said wincing at what I would have to back him up, if it came down to it.

“I got it loaded with Hypervelocity Stingers and 22 LR rounds that break into 3 pieces when they hit. I think folks know any bullet wound these days is deadly and will keep their heads down anyway or get the hell out of dodge or be out of the fight, if I need to cap somebody with one of those.” I said not worried about the small caliber varmint eliminator.

“That’s when you could see well and play writing your name on a target.” Jack said throwing reality in my face as nice as he could.

“I forgot to mention I am wearing that .357 hog leg, I hit pretty good with that and at a distance, too”. I said giving him my all or nothing, take the hill attitude and ‘charge the machine gun nest’ look, that nobody liked me to exhibit or think about what it meant next.

Jack got his own blood on the blade look and said “Let’s do it.”

“You got five ten round clips, three are hotter than hell loaded traveling GoldDots from Double Tap, and two mags are the hot hardball rounds that are NATO standard war rounds.” I said handing him the weapon, which he then inspected and locked and loaded the hollow points.

Jack was in the zone and I told him to lose his war face, before we went out and told the girls we wouldn’t be here for dinner and was on a trailer mission. Jack sort of objected to missing dinner, but I screwed with his head about old soldier stories of the pros and cons of eating before battle in case you got gut shot.

We nonchalantly wandered out in urban warfare gear and said we were going to the muffler shop for the trailer and were just going to take the tractor out in a bit for a bit of liberation and recovery. It didn’t work as planned, as eyes popped to see us loaded for bear and me looking like Wyatt Erp with my Ruger, but fears were calmed and I began the process of cussing and cranking the tractor and we were off.

“Get your old buffalo butt further over Jack. I can hardly drive with you hogging the seat.” I said trying to move his bulk with my skinny butt. Get up on the fender; come to think of it stay off the fender. Just hang one of those Hormel Christmas Hams you call your ass over the seat and lighten up on pulling my neck with you.” I said while trying to drive and share my seat with a walrus that resembled Ben Franklin.

“That’s better, I got left you got right sector.” I declared settling into our old habits of knowing what each other was doing at all times.

“Damn, this thing goes a lot faster than I thought, David.” Jack said as his borrowed floppy black beach hat was already trying to blow off his shiny head, as I tried to show the old beast’s top end off.

“I still feel like I am in a shooting gallery, but I got to admit, if we gonna go, what a way to go!” and moved the throttle to its final mechanical notch.

“Been a long time since we done some crazy shit, David”. Jack said with a Kool Aid pitcher smile.

“Too damn long.” I said enjoying every bit of the moment and tempted to acknowledge the few people we saw with a moon or something.

We bickered back and forth happily trying to share the old unpadded steel seat of the tractor all the way up to the muffler shop, where I backed in on the trailer for a snatch and get job, sort of like a repo man.

“I feel like I have been hit with one of those paddles with holes in it.” Jack griped, as he got down off the perforated old iron seat to hook up the trailer.

“Get that thing hitched and then give me a boost up in the truck bed inside the shop.” I said throwing the rumbling monster into neutral and watching carefully that the thing wouldn’t start rolling before I got off.

I carefully surveyed the interior of the shop through the open door before I entranced. Shit I am sure I closed that door, before I left last time, I thought as I reached in my pocket for the .380.

“Oh Shit, we got company!” I yelled to Jack, as I backed out the door and he dropped a handful of safety chains, while trying to draw the Astra and getting to the long guns sitting on the forward side of the trailer.

“No problems, No Problems! It was open. We not doing nothing!” a fearful voice called out, as Jack and I finally quit running over each other to get to our hardware.

“Well come on out then and be on your way!” I shouted back, as Jack and I remained in our defensive positions.

“You all own this place? I promise we were just looking around. You won’t shoot us will you?” Came the scared response.

“What do you think? Don’t do anything stupid and we can part peacefully.” I called back, trying to determine exactly where in the building the voice was coming from.

“We scared, we not stealing nothing mister. PROMISE ME you ain’t going to hold nothing against us.” A cracking voice called out.

“HOW MANY ARE YOU!?” I said in my best cop voice, while Jack kind of threw one hand up to dismiss any threat, but stayed on guard.

“Just us three.” and the door moved a bit.

“Well come on out, and do it slow.” I said in a normal voice, to which appeared three juveniles ranging in age from 14 to 17.

Jack stood up and uttered one word holding that ugly black rifle “GIT!” and sneaker smoke found its own way out of the area, as we grinned with relief to each other and went back to our own nefarious duties.

“Ok on three, give me a boost Jack.” I said as he cupped his hands to throw me up towards the bed of the truck and I scrambled in. Oh shit that was lucky I didn’t land on the fully rigged fishing poles, I damn sure didn’t need a hook stuck in me about right now I thought.

“I got two gas cans, a tackle box, a cooler and a tool box. Hang on a minute; let me see if this truck has keys to get in the tool box.” I said leaning over and grabbing the door latch and stepping out in to the open space between me and the floor to get inside the truck once again, NADAH and played squirrel to get back into the bed of the truck once again.

“I got 9 beers in this cooler, Jack! That’s got my name on them, but the water they in is kind of funky. Here take the tackle box.” I said trying to reach it down to him, but it was not happening.

“Hang on a minute.” I said while removing my belt and running it through the handle to lower a prize to him, and then went back to restudy the locks on the across the bed tool box.

“I heard that pop top! Drink the Damn beer later, David; let’s get the hell out of here.’ Jack said spoiling my thinking I had more time than I did.

“Ok I am coming. Shove that tool chest closer; I will land on it.” I said piling up my few trinkets and hooking my belt through a half empty and full 2 gallon duo of gas jugs to lower down, while still pondering if I should give those tool box locks a try.

“Man hurry up! That Tractor is out there running.” Jack reminded me and I lowered him the gas cans.

“Don’t get all prissy or go guard, I am coming.” and I stretched my frame to get back down to get to the tool chest.

THUNK! And a little webble wobble like a skateboarder or surfer and I dismounted the tool chest and rejoined my partner in loading our booty on the trailer and climbed up for the trip home.

Jack mounted up and off we went full steam ahead and back to fighting over the damn seat.

“I got to turn some lights on pretty soon Bud,” I said having problems making out the obstacles in our road.

“Want me to drive? I can do alright for a bit; but you are right, it’s getting difficult to see.” Jack said looking into the gloom.

“Here.” I said producing the Photon light on my key ring you can run out front and guide the way.” I said alluding to the way it was done with the horseless carriages in the past.

“You ain’t right, David.” Jack said seeing the humor in it; but still squinting and flinching, as I slowed or speeded up around a maze of disabled cars that had somehow become invisible at this hour.

I guess it didn’t help that the blindest of us all started singing “Grandma got run over by a Reindeer” as he zipped along with occasional near misses, until he throttled the tractor down to a walking pace.

“Damn you Jack, you made me forget the Beer.” I said turning towards Sherry’s house.

“Thank God for small miracles.” he began to say, before my elbow corrected him good naturedly for his opinion of my loss of free adult beverages.

“Let me call on the radio and tell Lois and your Mom, we ok and be there in the morning; unless you feel like dancing in the darkness some more.” Jack said knowing I had already relocated my glass.

“Save the battery and talk quick.” I suggested and backed the trailer in to the quandary of not hiding the tractor any more, because I couldn’t have both choices.

“Screw it, I bet nobody but you knows how to start one of those damn things anymore anyway.” he said swinging down and smiling for the ladies like a returned hero.

“Jacks back.” He quipped to small pats from the girls passing him by on the way and surround sound for me, as a zillion questions came up I couldn’t answer all at once.

“We stay the night.” I managed to get out, before Sherry started shoving me towards the house; and Jack came back out the backdoor pushing a drink towards me, and telling me to shut up with a grin. “Well mission accomplished Folks! Salute!” and took a swig from my drink and motioned with my finger in the air I had more to say.

“Tomorrow, we knock the boards off those raised beds and build benches on that trailer. Jack do me a huge favor and bring the crank back from that tractor this way. Sherry, help me figure out where all you got preps stashed and the space you require to load them.” I said, while taking the wind out of everybody’s sails much to their dismay.

“I am sorry guys; tonight we just have fun ok?” I said and the smiles and happy babbles went back to normal. Betsy was extra nice to everyone and even made the stranger in her world, Jack, feel at home by accommodating his different sense of humor and playful picking at folks he didn’t really know.

“You got enough sheets to cover that thing, when we get it out on the road, like an old Conestoga wagon going across the plains? I suggest and every one starts making suggestions at once. Sherry took center stage by saying we could cover it with two military ponchos, if it rained, but they would be much to hot by themselves, so we should just throw them over some white sheets when weather threatened.

Betsy suggested having the ponchos rolled on the sides for immediate deployment, if a storm threatened and Sandra said there was some PVC pipe at her old house not far away, which would be perfect to support the improvised awning, if we would go get it.

All in all it was a very positive and productive party that ended well.

4

Honeybees

“Jack wake up, smells like chow.” I said poking the grumpy old bear next to me.

“Huh? What? Food! I am awake.” Jack said doing a Houdini flourish with his sheet.

“Smells like bacon? Is it bacon flavored Spam?” the old bald grizzly said flexing his nose.

“We got canned bacon, but I doubt Sherry is wasting it yet.” rubbing the grit from driving the tractor out of my eyes.

“Hey, get back here! I said to my food exuberant minion.

“You are tactical now, never leave your weapon.” I said motioning towards the HiPoint carbine and trying to make sense out of a day I was not ready for yet.

“Got ya, sorry.” he said grabbing it and still hurrying twice as fast towards the backyard’s enticing smells, almost running over Sherry in the process.

“Hey sweetie,” Sherry said, while dodging the lumbering chow hound headed out to investigate the aroma’s origins.

“Made you a lumberjack breakfast; you got work to do today.” she beamed at me, knowing breakfast was the one meal that took me a lot of consideration after an all-nighter.

“That’s nice, thanks.” not really meaning it and smiling, as I heard Jack being told to get away from the cook fire by Betsy.

“I am up, what time is it?” I asked and grabbing the Henry survival rifle and leaning it in the corner.

“7:30. I knew you wanted up early.” Sherry chirped, while I mentally cussed whoever distilled what I drank last night, and took umbrage at her being so chirpily happy this early in the morning and hoping against hope she would cease her non stop banter.

“We do still have coffee right?” thinking I would have the royal ass, if the preps we’d bought got used up and not replaced over time.

“Of course.” Sherry replied, looking quite put out I had not received her warm morning greeting with more pleasantries.

“It’s outside on the stove.” Where upon Sherry turned to see what the others were up to outside.

Damn, David, you getting old. I thought, as I stretched to get rid of the kinks of a hard floor and manhandling shit around from yesterday.

I grabbed the little rifle and went bleary eyed outside and saw Jack had already finished a half of a plate.

“Morning.” I managed to cough out and avoiding watching Jack grazing on his pancakes dripping with what I assumed was Ghee. (Clarified Butter)

“Wake up and piss, the worlds on fire, you old heathen.” Jack said nudging me in my hangover state.

“You the one that taught me my bad drinking habits before you quit, you old Rummy.” I managed to snarl out dolefully.

“Yes, but no more.” the walking garbage disposal chided me and grinned at my discomfort.

I couldn’t think of anything particularly nasty to assign him to, so I just ignored him for a bit.

Sherry tried to interest me in a plate of decent food, but unpalatable for the moment.

“Where’s my framing hammer, Darlin?” I wondered, while trying to choke down a piece of the breakfast and looking towards Sherry.

“Damn, I cannot figure out how you survive!” Sherry said and went to get it, while mad about me not eating much.

I started knocking apart raised bed boxes, while I think Jack was on thirds by now, and I overheard him telling the women not to worry about me, because ‘that is what he does’, before he finally wandered out to lend a hand.

“I envision benches all the way round the trailer, but all we got to cut this wood with is a couple of different types of Bow Saw.” I told him.

“How tall you want the legs?’ He said ready to pitch in now.

“I guess about a foot or so, go get somebody to play model sitting.” I said grinning, but feeling evil with sweat running off my nose.

“Will do.” and he turned to leave.

“That one saw I got has a meat cutting blade, as a choice of three, do not use that one.” I said returning to my task of dismantling the things without tearing them up. I finished up every box within the hour and went to see what Jack was up to.

“Shit, Jack! That’s a hacksaw blade.” I said studying his work.

“It cuts finer than cross cut. I figured we were playing craftsman.” He said weighing the options of making excuses versus not knowing what the hell he was doing.

“Jack just rip cut it, we are not making a piano. Speed today is more important than fancifying the darn thing.” I said giving him an out, and so he would quit gumming up and dulling our only hacksaw on that treated pine.

“Stack all those boards flat on the floorboards; we’re going to rebuild those beds when we get to our new home.” I said to Sherry and crew, as I went to gather some more tools to customize the trailer.

“Sherry, cut down those exercise mats you got for some cushions, please. Jack lets figure out if we need to cut down these book shelves in the house or let them stand.

“We can lay the shelves down in the bed and fill them in with supplies and put those extra boards over them for hidden storage.” Sherry said.

“Good idea! We will go with that.” I replied.

“Sandra lets go get that PVC pipe you have. Sherry, I will see you in a bit.” and we took off to Sandra’s and secured about 4 sections of pipe. When I got back, it was short work to install the benches and build a canopy support for the trailer.

We laid the book case in the front of the trailer bed and had a little raised platform with a removable top as an end result.

“We will store our ammo and some of the more expensive freeze dried food like the pork chops, shrimp, and beef in that box.” I said looking over our renovated trailer with satisfaction.

“Jack lets spread a tarp over the front of this tractor, instead of putting it back in the shed. I think it will be alright, especially without the crank on it.” I said beginning to unfold a tarp.

“You know Jack; I am going to look around the shed for something to rig a sunshade over that tractor later.” I said envisioning what a commercially manufactured one looked like.

“That may be more difficult that you think, but we will figure out something.” He replied.

“Jack you see any reason to keep hanging around here until the next food drop?” I asked looking at him, but also motioning Sherry over.

“Well, besides not shocking the hell out of your Mom with a sudden move, I say we can go, just as soon as we get all your stuff together.” he said looking at Sherry, who had heard this part of the conversation.

“You don’t want to wait around and get more information about what’s going on David?” Sherry asked looking confused and near tears.

“Even if we have the first wave of aid stored in a staging area for a hurricane that those Guard are drawing from, you are only talking a few weeks of public supply. I imagine those 500 cops we got in Montgomery and all those politicians are going to holler continuity of government and snag a bunch of it for themselves, when they see no resupply coming. If the railroads had got around to hardening those train locomotives for EMP, the country would have a chance. The US has been letting the railroads deteriorate for years, so I guess someday they are going to try to get it back up to standard and get some trains running again as one of the first priorities, but who knows how long it will take.” I said leaning against the fence and letting Jack and Sherry consider; if the trains even did get back up and running, what would they be able to haul if all the modern agricultural tractors and food processing plants were fried?

“You worried about it possibly getting harder to get out of the city?? Sherry said considering what martial law might impose before it to unraveled and become a useless concept, except for those making their own city states.

“Exactly, I figure we take a couple days to position all the supplies next to our front doors inside the houses, double check our load lists and plan our trip out of the city.” I said to nods of agreement.

“Ok then, Jack and I will go back to my Mom’s and start getting ready. You get your crew getting ready over here. I will be back over day after tomorrow to dig up the asparagus and estimate how much load you got to combine with what I got left to add from my mom’s house and my storage locker.” I said wondering if the mountain of goods I envisioned would be able to be put on the trailer.

“Well, we need to take winter clothes, some cooking stuff, my paints and easel” She said looking at me and waiting for the objections of her wanting to pack the kitchen sink, as I always told her she was doing on any road trip we ever went on.

“You can bring some of your paints and art stuff, but the folding chairs and shit like that stays. We got a hell of a lot of stuff that has to go too, like all the garden tools, my hand tools, and don’t forget I got that portable solar wind generator stashed in my storage unit, too. I got that 5x10 loaded to the gills with nothing but important stuff, so I got no idea how we going to haul it all on that trailer and whether or not I will be overloading that tractor’s pulling capability for a long haul.

“I had forgotten about just how much stuff you had over in that rental unit. Hell your ammo hoard alone in those 50cal cans is going to fill up a couple shelves of that bookcase.” She said realizing that a lot of things were going to have to leave, unless they were totally essential. This upset her greatly as she thought of leaving behind all the mementos and photos we accumulate through life that are somehow precious to us.

“We will leave Helga a couple of those LDS starter kits and some canned goods. She can watch your house for you, until you get back” I said trying to give her some positive, but pretty much unrealistic hope that her items would not be lost forever.

“I won’t pack too much, David.” she said fighting back tears of anticipated loss.

“I know you won’t. Hey, you can fashion some sort of saddlebags for the moped and ATV’s for some extra carrying room.” I said giving her a pat and not wanting to carry on this particular conversation much further.

“I am going to grab a few things from my stash here and put it in my Army Alice pack to bring back home. I am going to give my Mom a surprise special treat and open one of those special cans of Freeze dried shrimp I got a deal on. You want half the can to have yourselves a little party, too?” I offered.

“Yeah, that would be great. I got an extra bottle of cocktail sauce if you want it. Damn David, we are not going to see cocktail sauces for a long time are we?” she commented.

“We can make our own; remind me to be sure to dig up that horseradish root, too, when I start working on the garden transplants.” I told her and edging towards the house before the conversation took another sad turn.

I loaded up my backpack and said farewell to everyone. I told Jack to just ride the bike by himself for awhile, but to spell me later on with carrying the pack.

“We could maybe hang the pack off the handle bars and just push the bike, David, if you wanted to.” he offered.

“Just for the hell of it let’s try double riding.” I said and got on behind Jack. We went a short ways, before I said this isn’t going to work; it was just too awkward and close on that small framed girl’s bike, especially after our marinating in the sweat from today’s labors. Flashbacks of me hauling Philburn home on a girly bike came back to me and I wondered how the old man was faring.

5

The Bug out Blues

When Jack and I got home to my mom’s house, I unloaded my goodies to a dubious crowd.

“I thought freeze dried shrimp was something you fed to your fish in an aquarium.” Lois said turning her nose up at the thought.

“These are military contract Gulf Shrimp that were caught before the oil spill; I guarantee they will taste just like fresh, after I soak them in coldwater for a bit.” I said bustling around the Kitchen.

“Well, how old are they then?” my Mom asked with a sour looking face.

“These things are Nitrogen Packed and made to last 30 yrs; it’s what is stored for members of Congress. Now, go back in the living room and get out of my kitchen, while I make you a feast.”

“Jack, in that plastic ammo can looking thing next to my bed is a Wood gas Stove, grab it and hunt some twigs up or get an axe out of my shop and make some wood chips. We are going to have a little cook out Shrimp scampi to go with these beautiful peeled deveined cooked shrimp. Check them out, they are large, almost jumbos.” I said holding out a bowel of shrimp and snatching it back after Jack grabbed himself one for a taste.

“Except for not being Iced, I can’t tell any difference in flavor.” He said trying to get back near the bowel to devour a few more.

“You wait on dinner.” I laughed and then continued, “I think there are some tomatoes still on the vines out on the patio that should be ripe now, if the birds haven’t got to them. Go pick them and work on the fire, while I get my other ingredients together.” I said while getting olive oil and garlic etc. out of the cabinets and turned towards the spice rack.

“They do look good.” My mom said who snuck up behind and must of seen Jack’s reaction to the shrimp he had tasted.

“Go ahead and grab one and give one to Lois.” I said turning around and offering the bowl.

“Sauce is in those little bowls over there.” I said as she took a tentative nibble.

“These are good.” she said surprised, but still skeptically examining the shrimp she had taken a bite out of.

“That’s amazing, I didn’t think those shriveled up things would rehydrate so well.” she said now dipping the rest of her shrimp in some cocktail sauce.

“Wait until you taste my Scampi. Now, get out of my kitchen, please ma'am.” I said, and she begrudgingly left. I hate people in my kitchen when I am cooking and everybody knows to walk a thin line, when entering my domain; and that I hate any kind of advice, no matter how well intentioned, when I am playing with the pots and pans.

“I got that wood gas stove going; I saw directions with it and had to give it a try. It’s amazing.” Jack said trying to look around my preparations and looking like a dog begging for table scraps.

“That thing is neat; I can use the same principles to run a generator or a tractor, too. Which reminds me; I got the old directions printed out from FEMA on building a gasifier for a tractor they produced for a civil defense measure, if we can’t have access to gasoline or diesel. It is pretty neat, just uses metal garbage cans and stuff you can knock together in a garage.” I said mixing a pitcher of lemonade.

“Where are the plans at? I want to see them; that sounds really interesting.” Jack said washing up a few smallish, but great tasting homegrown heirloom tomatoes and slicing them into a bowl.

“I will grab the plans after dinner. Let’s do the set the table thing, Mom will like that. Maybe it will soften the blow, when I break the news to them sometime during the meal that we will have to be leaving soon.” I said lowering my voice.

“That’s not going to be fun.” Jack said, while getting dishes out of the cupboard.

I finished preparing dinner and Mom said ‘Grace’ after we were all seated, as was her want on the rare occasion that we used the big formal dining room table, and then everybody dug in. Everyone commented my Scampi tasted better than some restaurants they had been in; and the shrimp straight out of the can was just like having a boiled shrimp cocktail to go with it.

I made my case for over an hour why we were leaving in a few days and the conversation got hot and heavy in a boy versus the girl’s vein.

We finally agreed that moving to the country, aka lake was the best option; and if need be, I promised every one I would get them back to this starting point.

THE TRIP WAS OFFICIALY ON. BUG OUT! I was the one that pushed for this, but I really had not told anyone how many hardships I saw ahead and still had little niggling thoughts about if this was the best decision.

I watched my Mom after we got the dishes cleaned; recruit Lois to methodically start gathering and boxing or bagging the pantry and long term stores with a vengeance.

Jack and I started dragging out the non edible preps from all over, that I had somehow managed to conceal from Mom.

“So that’s what was in the closet, that you never fixed the door on so you could open it more than a foot.” she said, as I had stacked stuff on my bed and along side it in huge piles.

“Where did you get THAT?” She said looking at my Smith and Wesson MP AR 15.

“That is semi auto; I think you forgot I carried a full auto one for 13 and half years for the Army and this country.” I told her; perturbed she had a hard time still conceiving I wasn’t a little boy but a veteran soldier.

“Is it legal?” She said having no experience with guns.

“Yes, it is street legal. And no, Jack and I are not going to put our eyes out playing with it.” I said becoming fully frustrated and remembering childhood admonishments.

“You might as well get used to seeing this, too.” I said pulling a semi auto Romanian AK 47 with a banana clip out from under the bed.

“Those have been here all this time?” she said her temperature rising.

“And nothing bad ever happened, and we are glad to have them now. Do you know how many weapons the Army trained me to fight in battle with?” I replied to her trying to get her to join a reality that escaped her for years or that she did not want to think about.

“I am sorry, just surprised.” she said subdued and letting her younger son take his role of looking out for an elderly mother.

“I saw how busy you and Lois have been. How is it going? Do you need our help yet to move boxes?” I said giving her back the role of a good head honcho organizer.

“Yes, Jack can come get some boxes out of our way and put them by the door and you can... Work on what you are doing?” She said before turning and ignoring any other activity she did not want to really consider or know about.

Jack returned and I knew somebody had given him the third degree, probably interrogating him about how long he had known I had been building a cache of politically incorrect firearms.

“I guess that AK is your primary, here are clips here’s ammo, and here is some web gear.” I said putting a small pile of field gear and accessories down.

“Thanks it’s nice to have some real fire power if we need it.” Jack said sorting out the gear.

6

NIGHT RIDERS

“Ok, here is the plan; I am going to bike it over to Sherry’s and dig up the asparagus and get the stuff loaded on the tractor. I have enough help loading over there, so Jack you can have the fun of draining some motor oil out of mom’s car and putting it in something.” I said getting ready to head out from my mom’s.

Jack paused a moment before he replied, “I will pull the vehicles around front about dusk and get Rufus to help me guard them and help load when you get here.

“Not that I have any problem with Rufus, but put all those long guns in the hallway closet where they will be handy to the front door, but out of sight. Just carry that short Mossberg Persuader and Lois can pretend like she knows how to use the Mossberg 500. Might as well put all the ammo in there too, except that bag of 12 gauge shells I told Rufus he could have for helping.” I told Jack mentally ticking off any other last minute details I could think of.

“Oh, I been showing Lois how to use the mossie; she can shoot it if necessary.” He said like it was a master accomplishment.

“Just be sure the damned thing is on safe.” I said not taking any encouragement from his revelation.

“I am going to try and load that lawnmower and your trailer on the back of the big trailer, until we get to the storage building; so whatever you are thinking of hauling in that little trailer, put it off to the side until we can figure it out.” I said, before Lois chimed in with “He is not loading me in, this time.” she said with a smile and a nudge that neither one of us were allowed to make any remarks.

“I think we can find better accommodations this time.” I said laughing back picking up a mostly empty rucksack.

“You wait until the last 10 minutes or so, if you can, to fire up those vehicles. I don’t trust some of those neighbors on that street in back of us not to take more interest than they should about running vehicles.” I told Jack meaning for him to be vigilant.

“I am keeping my eye on them.” Jack said looking across a couple backyards to the driveway in front of a house, where it always seemed to have 3 or 4 people hanging out together.

“I will give them a buckshot enema, if they decide to get too curious.” he said holding up the tricked out 12 gauge Persuader with a forward grip handle and a side saddle filled with 3 inch no 4 buck containing 41 pellets of 25 caliber balls.

“Hell, look the part and put on that bandolier of double ought.” I said thinking the visual deterrent might buy some time, if it looked like someone was checking the place out.

“I was going to anyway.” He replied looking smug.

“I will check in by radio, when I get to Sherry’s place in about 20 minutes.” I said pushing the bike out of the house and Mom and crew saying the normal farewells.

It’s kind of early for the gaggle of groups I saw just hanging around the front of their houses and occasionally posturing to be out, I thought.

Maybe it’s the heat or having nothing to do with no power, but they usually didn’t start congregating and doing the homie hangout thing until later in the afternoon. Hopefully, they won’t get too bored with doing nothing or plotting their night time antics, until I get the hell out of here, I mused.

I see a huge plume of smoke in the sky as I start heading up the street from Sherry. It doesn’t look like it’s too close to her, but close enough. By the size of it and as black as the smoke is, I would bet it’s a house burning to the ground. I see the local neighborhood homeless characters are busy this morning, as I observed the already looted Amoco station where you used to see one occasionally hanging out; now had all of them together standing in front of the place and drinking whatever. Hell, they are trying to claim it as their own personal turf, now that there is no one to run them off or object.

Fine, more power to you, just don’t be drunk in the road when I come by this evening, or you might get clipped by a tractor, because I am going to throttle up on the gas and play ‘full steam ahead damn the torpedoes,’ which means I will not be slowing for any chump that is not handling his own business in regard to personal safety.

Nobody on the front porch at Sherry’s, I sort of figured I would have a welcome. They knew I was coming. Oh well, I bet they are in back doing something.

I knocked on the door and Betsy answered, “Hi, David.” and then began looking up both sides of the street.

“What?” I questioned.

“Damn crazy ass people wandering around trying to bum food; we can’t even sit out front anymore.” she said allowing me in and switching back to normal conversation, but still looking perturbed.

“Sherry and Sandra are out back giving you a head start on digging up asparagus. I am sort of guarding the house, waiting for you and separating out what needs to be loaded last. David, they got both front door loads and backdoor loads stacked up, makes no sense, but I got out voted.” She fumed, thinking that she had more experience organizing clutter than anybody else because she had made it a sideline business in the past to help homeowners.

“I am thinking one door or the other would have been best, too; but I don’t know the method to their madness yet.” Nothing good could come from that, as somebody was not going to like me putting an opinion for or against anything the “group” had decided mutually. Ok wait, just wait. Here it comes. She began to try to get me to help her rearrange, before I even got settled in.

“I am glad you agree, come here and help me with this heavy box that needs to be up by the front door.” She directed me before I could even make another step past her.

“I will get to it; let me get that bike off the porch and go say hello first.” I said, successfully reducing her momentum for me to start taking sides, in what must have been a pretty good squabble and one had I luckily managed to avoid by not being here.

“Well, come look at it anyway. Sherry said it was mostly your crap anyway.” and huffed off towards the mystery box, knowing she had my attention now, because my stuff usually was towards the front door and not the back, so I could not figure out why it had to be moved from its prior position and giving me some of the same angst she was feeling.

I bent over to look in the box and realized it was the majority of my trapping supplies, as well as a half dozen of Sherry’s 110 conibear traps I had insisted she have and had bought for her.

“Sherry said that box of scrap iron and steel cables over there was special and you would want it all together and that it would be the first thing you asked about.” Betsy said looking at me like, now it had to be my fault it got moved. I was about to respond, when Sherry opened the door from the backyard and garden area and said “See, I told you he would ask about that stuff first.” Looking very full of herself and trading cat glances with Betsy.

“I just got here.” I began, before Sherry went off on a tangent explaining to Betsy that those cables were snares and specially seasoned and cleaned with baking Soda and did she remember not to touch them too much and maybe I wanted those conibears to make some kind of weird fantasy trap protection on the tractor ...and and…” until I said I was moving them to the front door and ended the bickering.

“Betsy, go help Sherry roll up that floor rug in the living room, put the coffee table in front of the book shelves on the trailer, take the ponchos off the side of the trailer and put them with you all’s 72 hour kits. I am going to use that rug to cover the tractor instead of the sheets and I am going out to help Sandra with the asparagus.” I said and was on my way, before my judgment call was questioned to death. As I opened the back door, I heard what I knew was about to start. “See I told you.” Sherry said.

“Well, he moved them up front didn’t he?” Betsy whipped back, as I found my way to where Sandra was, while closing the door and shutting out the snarls and hissing in back of me.

“Hey, Sandra, Hot work, thanks.” I said while ignoring the shovels and moving dirt away by hand to harvest the 3-6yr old roots.

“Hey David, what are they fussing about?” Sandra said, while looking like she was debating whose tag team partner she would be on, if she could escape helping me and go play with the ladies auxiliary probably getting nothing done until one has had her way in influencing the others.

“Usual shit, go play referee, if you have a mind to; I have officially escaped and am without opinions.” I said renewing my efforts to get a particularly big purple asparagus root out without damaging it.

“I think I will hide out here with you for a bit.” Sandra said, but not really meaning it and wanting to join the fray inside.

“Give them a minute and then go check on them.” I offered while getting into the rhythm of how easy the task was since I had taken off the sides of the boxes.

“Where the hell is the shotgun at?” I said to Sandra and stretching my back after leaning over working hard for about 15 minutes.

“It’s, ah, over there.” looking around and indicating it laying on it’s side next to a snoozing cat and a raised bed box about three down from us.

“I am going to have to start playing Drill Sergeant with you all about losing your weapons.” I said good-naturedly, but knowing I was going to piss her off.

“YOU’RE RIGHT! But we are NOT in the Army, David; and quit acting like we are expected to play security like a Viet Cong is always going to be sneaking up on us in the next 5 seconds.” she said and controlling her anger, went to go play with the pissing contest that was probably going on inside.

Ah, mission accomplished I thought, by helping to direct her to supervising the fellow members of our tribe and meanwhile giving me a chance to lose my supervisor of I am pulling the roots out too hard. Hell, I bought these 500 roots, I will do what I damn well please. I mused sweating my ass off and thinking about how I was going to have some fun advising when replanting them came around.

You thinking petty shit, David, get with the program and do not get sucked into what does not matter now. In a few hours, you got to play wagon master and protect these folks. Could I? I said to myself while putting any further thoughts out of my mind.

“You ready for me to carry that rug out?” I asked upon reentering the cat girl domain, which was now the trio against me and they were plotting and scheming my demise in what I had to play pack mule with.

“You are going to have to pull that tractor up to the front door after we get done with the backdoor loading David.” Betsy proceeded to tell me, before I went ape shit and told everyone to hang on for a second.

“The tractor is a bitch to start, and I don’t want it running and loudly advertising the fact we have one, as we do this for an hour or so, while we shuffle back and forth loading.” I glared at them while Sherry came to console me.

“Load order is: Weapons first and accessible, ammo next, then water, then food, finally clothes and other equipment.” I said putting my foot down, as to what was a normal load out situation, but spoiling the plans the hen party had for me.

“After the weapons, my Traps go out. Any objections?” I stated, as I leaned over and grabbed the huge box of what felt like lead to take it out first; regardless of what I’d said earlier of the plan, while my old ass arms showed strength that no one had thought of until now, as the muscles bulged in response to repetitive tasks they were used to.

“This ‘Junk’ as you call it is food; food for the rest of our lives and you WILL learn to use it!” I said storming out the door and proceeding to load onto the trailer the first box of what I considered our great equalizer to the hardships ahead.

Sherry walked up in back of me, as I set down my load that I felt was light and inadequate for the mission ahead.

‘David, you got those three HavaHart style live traps, in the Shed.” She said proffering the key to the lock.

“I am sorry, I forgot all about them, thank you Sweetie. I guess it’s ‘too much too soon’ for all of us. If something happens to me, I worry about you all, is the thing.” I said hugging her closely.

“I remember a lot of what you said and we’re going to be ok.” Sherry replied giving me a pat and breaking the embrace.

“We got to load up quick; we burning daylight, let’s just get it and go. And…I cannot ask what is in every box.” I said questionably and frowning…

“There is a plan, from back to front of the trailer, it loads backdoor first and as you are often heard to say, ‘Lets Get Her Done.’” She said turning as the rest of the crew already anticipated what was up and came out the back gate carrying supplies.

“Let’s load under the benches first, if it makes sense.” I said watching Sherry climbing on the trailer to grab boxes and feeling like a third wheel.

“Go grab the ammo cans David; they are in the computer room next to your bedroll and extra 72 hour kit.” Sherry said waiting to be blessed for that final consideration of looking out for her prepper buddy.

It took about 2 hours to load the trailer. I had to change the girl’s load thoughts, because I wanted to put that lawn mower on the trailer, if I could, because it was slower than the tractor; but all in all it turned out to be pretty efficient.

“Go give Helga her stuff,” Sherry said looking at the emptied spaces where preps had been stacked and brushing away a stray tear. Betsy had a steak knife in her hand and said she and Sandra were going to secure the rug over the trailer for a canopy before I objected seeing the course they were going to take.

‘If that rug were not so heavy, I would suggest tying rocks in the corners or grabbing fabric around them. Instead, just poke a hole and run the para cord through and tie them on stakes on the outside. It will work better than just running the line through a hole that would just get bigger.” I offered, already tired from the exertions to get us this far.

“I got you,” Sandra said to Betsy, “Just tie the line in the middle of those tent stakes looking things, so it’s got more surface area to wear against.” and looking quite satisfied as if she had thought of it all by herself.

I carried over a few cases of preps for Helga, who produced a cobalt blue bottle of wine to my amazement and said, “Thanks, let’s go have a toast.’ And she took off for Sherry’s porch, before I could do much else, except to put the small amount down in her kitchen as our thanks for looking after Sherry’s house.

Wine is not my forte, and those that imbibe thinking it’s cool to drink nasty tasting shit without catching a buzz, is beyond my understanding. If I am being good, I’d just soon not even take a glass, if it’s an oat meal beats no meal proposition to get a bit tipsy and thoughts of what vintage it is considered BS, well then you got a partner that will help you drain a bottle.

I did not see me being in luck today, however; and refrained from accepting a glass rather than wonder why I would drink such wretched vinegar, just for the sake of being polite. The ladies could have it and bless them for being more civil than me. Hmmm. I see a neighbor that is known to me slightly and I motion that I want to talk.

“David, a bottle of Vodka for a silver eagle, that’s the deal right? I never even have seen a real one of these. “My scrupulous neighbor of my friend from across the street said.

“Or 25 bucks cash green backs. You decide. Hell $30 cash or take the silver and throw in those 3 Jack Daniels miniatures you got off some airline flight. Final offer.” I said getting thirsty for some firewater.

“Silver and five greenbacks.” Came his counter-offer.

“You got any mix? I might could do you better.” I said making the dollar coin flash at him.

“I got a full liter of Mountain Dew.” of which hearing it from my fellow negotiator, I made an appropriate face.

“Okay, 6 bucks, plus the silver for the whole shooting match, is it a deal?” I asked pushing back the proffered goods.

“Deal, David.” he said and I took my bounty back to the wine drinking porch ladies.

“Anyone want some of this?” I asked holding up my small wealth to disapproving, but congenial looks.

“I want one.” Betsy said coming to assist me and almost sticking her tongue out at the rest of the wine sipping Ladies society.

“Good Deal. Train leaves in an hour folks.” and closed the door on the objecting and unrealizing biddy’s that disapproved of my actions.

“Betsy you said you can drive that Moped.” I said while mixing our drinks.

“Oh Hell, yes. I was telling Sandra I still got this little scar over here from playing with one on vacation.” She began, before I shortened the conversation and advised her she would be driving that one out tonight.

“Go get that thing cranked for practice, but don’t be calling attention by showing off.” I said passing her a drink.

“Do I consider it mine, David?” she said apprehensively and a bit eagerly.

“For now it’s yours; you can lay claim to it.” I said bumping her glass with mine and looking around the area for any missed boxes that needed loading, before sucking down some extra strong brewed-down-potato juice poured by my own hand.

“Sherry loves you, David; you two just have an odd sort of relationship.” she started to say.

“I know. It’s the way we are. Go try that bike.” I said while looking for the way to attack the problem at hand of getting this caravan headed on out and down the road.

Betsy sucked the bottom out of her glass before trying the scooter and watching me being in an uncharacteristically worried mode.

“Jack is there to help you, David. You think the roads going to be ok? No check points, or problems?” Betsy voiced unsure of why I was so deep in thought.

“You go pick two rally points, for if something goes wrong on the way up there or back. Make it quick though and send Sherry my way to compare notes with, after you try out that scooter.” and I was done thinking about what was one of many final releases tonight.

7

ROLLING! ROLLING! ROLL ON!

“Ready, set!” I hollered out to my motley crew. Sherry and Sandra were on the back of the trailer and looking like something from the movie Apocalypse Now. I don’t know what is up with the dark eye shadow, but I am not going there.

Betsy has the Moped fired up, but does not really know where we are going. I mentioned something to her about the Hobbit’s house, but I am not sure it registered. Ok, engage the gears and WE ARE GONE!

We are humming along now like no tomorrow. Hello, Homeless Amoco lot lizards. Good morning, sunshine; as the Hobbit sees Betsy driving his old moped by. Merry Xmas to you would be gang bangers, watching Sherry and Sandra holding shotguns on the back deck of the trailer. Betsy has determination on her face, but occasionally smiles at Sandra and Sherry, while riding the scooter following the trailer. Life is good! I am thinking, while avoiding the occasional stalled vehicle in the road.

We pulled in my driveway about 10 minutes later and saw Jack and Rufus were sitting on the ATVs and keeping an eye on things.

“Let’s get her loaded.” I said and we proceeded to make short work out of adding to the load by forming a line of people from my front door to the trailer and passing things down the line. It was getting dark quicker than I’d hoped, as we loaded the last of the goods on. Jack and I managed to load the Lawn tractor on the back of the big trailer and turned the small mower trailer over on top of it and secured it with some rope.

Sherry and George mounted The ATVs and Sandra, my Mom and Lois managed to find places to ride in the trailer atop blanket covered bags of clothing.

“Rufus, I appreciate all the help. You get down to your cousin’s place in Hayneville, if it doesn’t work out for you staying here.” I said while shaking his hand.

“I will do it. Meantime, I will look out for your house. Good luck to everyone!” Rufus said waving at the assembled convoy, as I mounted the tractor and proceeded down the road with Jack leading the way on his ATV.

The disabled vehicles were not too bad, until we hit the bypass; and then it took some doing and a lot of stopping and detouring to get around all the stranded vehicles.

I took the lead as we got closer to my storage unit, and swung around the back of an Arrow Rental Store to come up on the back of the fenced property and avoid the apartment complex out in front of the storage facility.

I grabbed a big pair of bolt cutters and cut a hole in the fence and that allowed me to roll part of it back on itself.

Sandra and Sherry stood guard over the vehicles and Lois and Betsy came with Jack and me to unload my shed.

First thing I pulled out was a Deer cart and I loaded it to the gills with boxes. It’s the collapsible sort and, although the manufacturer said it had a 350 lb capacity, I had my doubts about it until now. “Keep an eye on that apartment complex Jack, we making enough noise out here to wake the dead.” I advised, while going for another load as Lois and Betsy carried boxes of the lighter weight freeze dried storage food. I hated not putting my stuff in a climate controlled unit, but I could not afford the price. I had figured what the hell if it lost a few years because of the heat. I had anticipated needing it by 2012; and here I am, so my investment hadn’t lost a cent in my opinion.

“That Arrow Rentals Store looked like it has been looted pretty thoroughly. You want to look in it on the way out, in case there is something interesting in it?” Jack said taking his turn at pushing the Deer cart.

“I don’t want to go in the store proper, but I do want to check the multi bay garage for oil or gas.” I said, noticing we didn’t have much more to go.

“You finish up loading and I am going to run over there real quick.” I told Jack and started to head over there.

“Be careful.” he said much too loudly and caught himself, as I put a reminding finger to my lips.

I turned on my little photon light, when I got back to the garage area of the store and looked around the first bay. Cool, a gas can about half full next to that Bobcat loader. Now that’s interesting, it looked like they were using it to move pallets around and it had chains hanging off its bucket and touching the floor. I remembered I had seen the old fuel trucks that delivered to gas stations used to throw a chain off the truck to ground it before they filled the tanks, in order to reduce static electricity.

I wonder if that sucker will work. I said to myself and climbed in the cab of it. Keys are in it and I pumped the gas and hit the switch, VROOOM! Oh hell YES! I got about a million uses for one of these. I grabbed the gas can and a few quart bottles of oil, and put it them into the bucket along with the chains, and drove back to my amazed group with a huge grin on my face.

“Remind me to go shopping with you some more.” Jack said admiring my prize.

“I want to drive it.” Sherry said moving Jack out the way with a gleam in her eye.

“You know how to drive one of these?” I said not sure if it was a good idea or not.

“Well, not like a pro, but I have played with one before. My Dad taught me years ago.” She said imploringly.

“I will get the stuff out of the bucket and you can follow Lois on that lawn tractor, so she doesn’t get lost then. Don’t be playing with the bucket, while you are driving.” I warned.

“I will be careful.” she said and made a blue streak for the Bobcat’s cab seat.

“It appears she likes them things.” Jack said smiling, as Sherry got reacquainted with the operation of one and Sandra traded her spot on the trailer for the freed up ATV.

“Uh, let’s go. We got company coming.” I said pointing up the street at about 6 people hurriedly headed in our direction.

I am glad we’d left all the motors idling and were able to make a pretty quick get away, without any type of confrontation. Well, except for me shaking my finger at Sherry who was happily clowning with the loader.

“Neither of the ATVs had working headlights, so they were reduced to following the tractor’s trailer and riding in the bright lights of the Bobcat.

Betsy had the dubious honor of playing lead vehicle and got to get ahead a bit, in case I needed to be warned of traffic snarls that might not be navigable with a trailer in tow.

We managed to make it to the interstate with little problem and I signaled Betsy to pull over about 20 miles out, so I could feed my oil sucking Tractor.

“May as well get the full field gear on now, Jack. I am not worried about running into a National Guard unit any more.” I said and broke out our web gear.

“I got some people I want to check on further up the road, if they are still there. And we may stay the night.” I told everyone.

“It’s black as pitch out here.” Sandra said, peering off into the darkness of the deserted highway.

“Yeah, there all kinds of crap other than the cars in the road that I don’t particularly want to run over.” I replied, thinking about debris from wrecks I had been ducking and dodging, not always successfully.

“How far off the road do they live?’ Jack asked, wandering over to his wife who had been stuck in the back of the convoy creeping along at the full speed that the little lawn tractor would allow.

“Actually, the last time I saw them, they lived ON the road!” I said and proceeded to tell him a bit about John and Sarah in their RV near a beaver pond.

8

John and Sarah

I saw a campfire burning off ahead in the gloom and figured it must be John’s, as I thought I should be running up on them about right now. When the RV started to become visible, I started hollering John’s and Sarah’s names.

We parked at the RV and campfire, but the site looked deserted. That’s very odd, I thought, they would not have left a fire burning here unattended.

“David, is that you?” I heard John bellow from the ridge in back of me.

“It’s me, John. Is Sarah with you?” I called back.

“I am here,” She yelled down,

“We will be there in a minute,” John hollered back and a few minutes later both appeared on the side of the road.

“You out snipe hunting, John?” I said shaking his hand and then hugging Sarah.

“No, we saw your lights and were sort of hiding.” he responded, while hugging his wife and smiling at my road warriors.

“Let me introduce everyone and then you can tell me what you were hiding from.” I said and gave introductions all around.

“Some damn guys on motorcycles gave me and John a rough time and stole most of our food. We thought you might be them coming back.” Sarah said looking mad and upset all at the same time.

“Assholes just took what they wanted and I couldn’t do anything about it.” a dejected John said.

“They surprise you or you just didn’t have your gun handy?” I asked.

“They took that, too, even threatened me with it once or twice. I should have had it on me, but the plan was that Sarah would have it in the RV and I would interview strangers. She had gone off to the bathroom and they just rolled up on us.” he said disgustedly. “You look well armed. Wish you had of been here a couple nights ago.” he said admiring all the varieties of hardware bristling around him.

“I told you I had a few toys stashed in Montgomery I was hoping to get home to. I can’t offer you much, but I have a old Mosin Nagant 91/30 I can let you have though. Jack, get that rifle for him if you would.” I said watching Jack go grab it and the ammo pouches, oilier and other accessories that went with it.

“Wow, that thing is as big as a Kentucky Long Rifle.” John said handling and admiring the piece.

“Here is the bayonet to it. Check out how long that sucker is with it attached.” Jack said affixing the spike onto the end of it.

“Weird thing about a Mosin, they were sighted in with the bayonets on, so if you want to get real accurate you are stuck toting it around that way.” I said watching John sighting in the old war horse.

“Why did they do that?” John asked feeling the wicked looking bayonet that also doubled as a screw driver.

“Russian Army protocol for the times; a soldier was not supposed to remove the bayonet. A sheath for one is rare and I can’t offer you one.” I explained.

“This would be just the thing for those wild pigs I saw the other day.” Jack told me and then explained he couldn’t figure a way to get one. because the only snare wire he had was too light.

“You can knock one on its butt with that 7.62x54, it’s about a .308 in power, but I can also show you, if we have time, how to set a spear or arrow trap.” I counseled him, while watching Sarah and my Mom having a lively conversation.

“You all are staying the night?” John asked hopefully.

“If you don’t mind, that was the plan. You ready for another cookout on me? I said watching the older fellow relax and motion towards his Sarah.

“You’re always welcome David. Honey, David said we ought to have a cookout and he is supplying the fixings.” He told an excited Sarah.

“That’s great. And David, that beaver did NOT taste like pork!” she said making a face and causing everyone to laugh. “Not even when I tried honey basting that overgrown pond rodent.” She said sticking her tongue out and making a funny face.

“Well, you and Mom decide the menu and I will catch up with John here.” I replied while watching her and my mom conferring on the small time wealth of supplies we had available.

“David, tomorrow I got something to show you. I made a go cart out of a couple weed eater motors and some fan belts using the carriage off that lawnmower tractor we shoved off that trailer you got.” he said proudly and then explains how he used the welder off a truck and cobbled everything together.

“I see you found yourself a better trailer.” he said looking at the over packed and customized Conestoga style wagon we had created.

“We are bugging out to the lake. You still wanting to stay on here or maybe you might want to tag along?” I offered.

“Explain what’s going on and what you see in the future and we might just take you up on that.” He said while watching the girls dragging out cooking gear and getting ready to make supper.

John and I talked about an hour and had already started digesting a good meal, when John jokingly told Sarah that he had traded me his RV for a Lake cabin.

“How can that be David? What do you need this old RV for? Said a thoroughly perplexed Sarah to John’s and my laughter.

“It’s called in Military terms, ‘appropriating what’s not being used in order to help a squad survive better’, Sarah” I told her and proceeded to tell her of the several empty lake houses on the Point, where we were possibly going to relocate.

“Well, I guess it’s not really stealing, if there is a need and no one is using them. I always wanted me a Lake place.” Betsy said warming to the notion.

“Well, you got your pretty water views, just like here, but even bigger with no Beavers about.” I said kidding her, though wishing for beavers at the new digs.

“I liked watching them, but not eating them. John told me that he was going to make me a coat out of the skins, but his efforts just look like stinking cardboard to me.” She told me and pointed towards a fence line barely discernable this night that had two pelts stretched on them.

“You ever hear of Brain tanning, John? No? Well, they say that every critter has just enough brains to tan its own skin. I will teach you a couple new tricks, if you are joining my little excursion here.” I said to a merry gleam in the couple’s eyes.

“What is that word you keep using David? ‘Bugging out?’ YES, INDEED! WE MOST CERTAINLY ARE BUGGING OUT!” Sarah proclaimed all smiles and hugging John.

9

ROLAND RENDEZVOUS

I awoke to the sound of weed eaters coming full speed ahead towards my AO (Area of Operations) and thankfully had some clue as to the sounds’ origin.

I cocked one eye open and saw what I thought was one of the funniest sights I would ever see in my life. John had somehow found him a Snoopy and the Red Baron style aviator’s leather cap and had safety goggles on, while Sarah had managed to find an old steel pot GI issue helmet with similar eye protection and they were riding on what looked like bar stools on the oddest looking go cart I had ever seen. John had made it twice as wacky- looking by having the Mosin Nagant rifle’s Bayonet sticking out the front like a bee stinger, because he had the weapon shoved under both their seats.

“Don’t you get too damn close to my rear wheels riding that thing.” Jack said laughing and bending over to admire John’s creation and barely touching the protruding bayonet with his index finger and miming how sharp it was.

“We found us a little shot house up the road and borrowed some of their décor.” he said tapping on Sarah’s helmet lightly and grinning like he wanted to explode.

“A lot of the Booze was already gone David, but we got some stashed that we can bring along.” he said good-naturedly and patted me on the back.

“Can I try that thing? How did you manage to synch the motors?” I asked amazed at his marvel of engineering.

“It works like a twin screw boat, takes some getting used to.” he said and gave me a demonstration of how to steer it by revving one engine more than the other.

“That thing’s tricky; I think I will leave it to you to do the driving, Captain.” I conceded, not wanting to find out the hard way whether or not I could master it.

“Let’s go for a spin.” he said and Sarah tickled me as she offered me that old helmet.

“This thing’s amazingly fast.” I yelled at John as he maneuvered around the highway at breakneck speed.

“I call her my Weed Whacker Special.” he said cutting the throttle down on one engine and spinning us around in a tight circle with the other drive wheel’s engine.” to the hoots and calls of our appreciative audience.

We grabbed what few possessions John and Sarah wanted to take with them and loaded them up. Sarah was invited to ride in the trailer with my mom, but she preferred to ride holding onto John on his conveyance, but allowed that maybe later on she might change her mind. We figured that their recent run-in probably still had her a little rattled and she needed the comfort of closeness to her man.

“I would say I can’t decide whether to lock up my RV or not, but I don’t want to make it easy for those punk bikers, if they come back.” John said deliberating with Sarah and finally twisting the key in the lock for what was probably the last time he would have the opportunity.

We lined up in marching order and I began the heaving on the old tractor’s crank.

“I can tune that thing up, if you can find me the right tools, David.” John volunteered, while still strutting around in his fly boy cap.

“I got a pretty full set on the back of that trailer, I would appreciate it.” I replied and then jumped on my rumbling butt vibrator and did a ‘wagon’s forward’ motion that would make any spaghetti western director proud, and off we headed for Roland’s place at the pace of Lois and her motorized slow boat to China Lawn mower.

John had a bit of fun racing up beside Betsy on her Moped and pretended to race her, as we slowly progressed towards our goal. It was sticky hot today as usual, but we were making fairly descent time and producing a pretty good breeze as we wandered down the country road to our destination.

Sherry messed with Lois a bit pretending she was going to scoop her up with the Bobcat, because of the slow pace Lois moved. While Jack made a point of keeping looking back any time John got near, so as not to get poked by that stinger he had mounted in front of his glorified eggbeater.

Mom just kind of rolled along in relative comfort in her padded nest atop the trailer; but she did wave a white towel like an Indy 500 race starter, at Sarah and John, who were pretending to race us.

Even though we were playful on this leg of the journey, we were all watching closely as we passed every house, until we finally safely arrived at Roland’s gate.

“ROLAND! ROLAND STILES!” I yelled from the locked gate.

“I hear ya. Been hearing ya’ll for the last mile.” He shouted from the porch, “Be there directly.”

While we waited, I brought my posse up to speed a bit on Roland, but I wasn’t ready for this sight:

“Roland! You HAVE got over twenty horses, when did you build that thing?” I said laughing as he dogtrotted up.

“Hell, those horses are hard to catch and do not jump at the opportunity to almost hitch themselves.” he said grinning. “Meet OnStar.” and the large German Shepard woofed at his name to the delight of everyone.

“I just converted a wheelchair and some conduit and “Viola” I got me a dog cart.” he said while eyeing John’s unique contraption.

“I see I am not the only inventor around here. How do you steer that danged thing?” he asked John directly, as he unlocked the gate and noticed that there was no steering wheel on that weed whacker go cart.

“Like this,” John said and commenced to burn a donut out on the pavement, by basically locking one wheel and throttling the other side.

“Well, I will be darned. That’s neat.” Roland said, calming his jealous dog that had started barking at John’s antics.

“David, you brought your whole family?” Roland said weighing everyone’s faces for a country comparison.

“No, they are friends and associates. That is, besides my Mom.” I said and presenting her.

“We kind of tribed-up due to circumstances.” I said watching Roland’s anxious canine, who wanted to go back to work and haul him around some more, kind of like a Husky on steroids.

“You come on a good day, David. I just killed a steer and shared it out with the neighbors; so if you up for helping me burn some wood, I can provide y`all with a mighty fine feast.” Roland said and the dog did a soft howl, like he knew what was about to happen and he anticipated his fair share.

“This old snoot face has been ready to get the barbecue going all day.” Roland said patting his pet and taxi cab driver affectionately.

“You get a chance to hear anything about Bernie yet?” I asked while remounting my old dependable clunker.

“No, I haven’t. You headed his way? I will send a ¼ of beef down with you as a surprise.” he yelled back at me, while giving the command ‘HA’ to the dog.

Leave it to Roland to get the dog to listen to mule commands of ‘HA!’ or ‘Gee’ to go left or right like as if you were plowing a field.

After our convoy had entered the gate, Roland relocked it and waved everyone towards the house.

Roland extended his wonderful hospitality to everyone and the cool water inside of the old crock was appreciated by all.

“I got some sugar cure soaking into some of that meat in the smoke house, but you gotta give me at least a day for it to work its magic.” Roland said while going to his pantry and pulling out some home canned vegetables in Atlas mason jars.

“If you will have this large crew for the night, we would be honored and grateful.” I said to him, enjoying knowing somebody with so much country wisdom and the thought of having some real food and down home hospitality.

“You look like you have been getting along pretty good, Roland.” I said as we adjourned to the back patio and everyone plunked down in chairs for a well deserved rest.

“I been fine. Some of the neighbors had some problems with break-ins, but nothing major has had happened around here.” Roland said while still looking over at John’s go-cart contraption.

“It is hard to get much of any news, except just in your local area. I wonder how the Lake residents are doing.” I said, hinting at Roland to tell me what he thought was going on down there.

Roland said he hadn’t heard anything, but most likely everyone was doing without, because they only had enough supplies on hand for a vacation and there were very few stores in the area, unless you went into one of the smaller outlying towns. The people that lived year round at the lake might be doing a bit better, but they were mostly retirees and he wasn’t sure how long they would survive once their medicines and small stock of food had run out. That lake had fish in it, but fishing had never been too good or was pretty seasonal. It’s hard to say if people would attempt in desperation, to walk out the 35 miles or so, if they lived closer to one of the towns if they started starving. Breaking into surrounding houses usually wouldn’t do you much good, because everyone pretty much cleaned refrigerators out or ate up what can goods they brought from home for their vacations. The soil was good. but it was awful rocky. Roland then commented on how lucky we were to have gotten that Bobcat loader to help us out with making some big gardens. We talked about seeds for awhile and Roland said he still had enough to row crop corn and soybeans, but little else. I told Roland I had an extra can of a variety of heirloom vegetable seeds that we might be able to work out some sort of deal about, which perked him up immensely.

“Let me see what you got, David.” he said standing up and wanting me to go find them that instant.

“It will take me a bit to get to them. I got a bunch of boxes and boards over them.” I said content to keep resting, but slowly rising because Roland was not to be put off.

“I will help you with them.” Roland said already leaving the patio and heading for the trailer. We got the boxes moved and the boards off the top of the bookcase and removed one of the precious cans of seeds.

“Dang David, you got enough ammo to start a small war on that thing. I might want to trade you for some ammo, too, if you got what I need.” He said questioning whether or not I might be willing to give up part of my stash.

“I might have what you need depending on caliber, I got way too much double ought buck and could use some birdshot.” I said to get the negotiations going.

“I can probably help you there. Let’s discuss ammo later, I want to look at your seed stock here first and think on what it is we can work out.” Roland said meandering back towards the patio and leaving the pile of boxes strewn all over the place. I figured that was ok though, we had ammo issues to cover later and I could reload the trailer before nightfall.

“David, you know what is in this can?’ Roland said with a twinkle in his eye. “Civilization boy, Civilization! There is not any Seed and Feed to run down to now and these seeds here are worth more than gold!” Roland said reminding me of his Uncle Philburn’s love for all things money producing.

“Why we could start a business just off this one can; by selling off extra vegetables and start producing seeds for sale, too. I don’t know what everyone would use for money, but I’ve always been partial to bartering.” Roland said as he reverently put down the can.

“I bet John over there could figure out how to cobble something together, so we could improvise some tillers, too.” Roland said sparking the old engineer’s interest.

“I could do that.” John said, as he left Sarah and got over right next to Roland and stared at the seed can with him.

“I got a team and a wagon to go scavenge or buy or trade for the stuff you need.” Roland said looking up hopefully at John and now getting Sarah interested in what was going on.

“I am interested, but how far are you from the Lake?” John asked getting confused about how quick this deal was being put together by Roland.

“Oh, not too far, about 25 miles. But I can make you a proposition, if you want to consider building things and helping with David’s and my Seed business.” Roland said, now getting my attention, because we had not agreed on anything yet.

John hesitated a moment, then asked Roland what type of proposition he had in mind.

“I got a little cabin that sits by the pond on the back end of this property, that you could stay in. And I can offer you real food, instead of that canned crap David has to offer. No offence, David.” Roland said going back to his conversation with John.

“Is it a nice Cabin?” inquired Sarah meekly, but pointedly to Roland.

“Oh yes, built it myself two summers ago out of cypress.” Roland said, while sweetening the proposal by adding, “It’s fully furnished and is kind of pretty, if I do say so.” to which Sarah gave her silent approval for John to go back negotiating.

“That pond is full of fish, too. Easier to get ‘em, not like at that Lake.” Roland said taking another dig at my plans or setting me up for some hard negotiations I couldn’t tell yet.

“Well, you say you got a horse and wagon; we could go get those acetylene and oxygen tanks off that welding truck on the interstate.” John said mulling it over, but sounding like he’d already come to a decision.

“We could, and I know where there’s some more at.” Roland said looking all invigorated and feeling pretty sure he had an accomplice in his plan to thrive in the coming days.

“Sarah, what do you think baby?” John said turning to his beloved.

“It’s not a Lake house, but it does sound like a real good proposition to me; only Roland, if it doesn’t work out, you promise me that you will take us to David on the Lake?” She said studying the man intently.

“Of course, of course, what’s not to work out? So we have a deal then?” Roland said to John beaming a smile and stretching out his hand.

“That we do.” John said and shook Roland’s hand cinching their deal.

“Now David, lets talk about those seeds. You don’t have access to any fertilizer up there on the lake and your soil is going to play out eventually. I seen you had two more cans of seeds and I say you should donate another can to this project and we can figure out how to solve your problem and I will produce enough seeds to replace the ones you are giving me 5 times over.” Roland said knowing he had me by the shorthairs now.

“I like your trading Idea, and we could use a wagonload of cured manure when we lay in our garden beds. Let’s say that someday I establish a trading post on the lake, then that becomes my territory and you don’t sell to my competition and we might could settle on a deal?” I countered.

“Seems fair to me, John and I could throw in and give you a dealership on some of the hardware that old blacksmith is going to help me produce.” Roland said playfully nudging John.

“Sounds like that dog will hunt. We got ourselves a deal Roland!” I said pumping the savvy old Southerner’s hand.

“Now then, about that ammo; let’s do some horse trading, that I have some chance of winning at.” I said laughing and escorting Roland back to collect his second can of seeds and crack open some of the ammo cans and the haggling began.

10

BERNIE`S BUNGALOW

Roland’s bartering skills did not skin me too badly, all things considered; and I also had had one of the best meals I could remember ever having, a soft bed to blissfully retire to and even slept in a bit later than was my norm. I could hear most everyone outside on the patio probably having coffee and thought to myself how much I was going to miss that luxury one day, when the few jars we had ran out.

“Good morning all.” I said, while making my way over to the grill where the kettle was set off to the side to stay hot.

“That is your cup on the sideboard, David. I was just telling Jack here how I was going to ride over to my neighbors and borrow their son Jeb to look after my place, while I go with you to Bernie’s. I have a mind to see if I can talk that old codger into coming home with me and playing manager here for me and John’s business. We don’t really need him at the moment, but he is too old to be playing Pioneer with you up on the Lake. And the notion of thinking he is helping me might just appeal to him, especially if he knows he’ll be visiting the Lake folk off and on with our business ventures.” Roland said looking to John for approval.

“Tell him he can ride around in your snazzy dog cart. Or better yet, fix him up one of his own and you can race each other around this spread.” I said jokingly and rubbing the ears of the hyperactive German Shepard, who that was investigating what I was up to.

“I have already been talking to John about building a few more and finding us some more dogs. You know, Bernie has a green Leprechaun suit he wears for Halloween; and I think it would be perfect to dress him up in it and he could be our ‘Canine Car’ salesman.” Roland said enjoying the morning and causing me to almost burn myself with the hot coffee, as I spluttered out a mouthful by laughing at the mental picture of Bernie decked out in that get up.

Mom looked better today, the trip out of Montgomery and the continued stress was taking its toll on her; but Roland had insisted she take his bed for the evening and a good night’s sleep that seemed to have done her worlds of good judging by the spry way she was moving about this fair morning.

Sandra and Betsy were over by the corral petting the horses and Roland asked them if they wanted to go for a ride with him a few miles down the road to his neighbors. They both happily jumped on his offer, grabbing Sherry on their way past and excitedly rushing to the barn and the treat for them of horseback riding.

“It is a real paradise here.” Sarah proclaimed after spending her first night in the Pond cabin and draping herself on John’s arm.

“You are a hell of a fellow, David. Rescuing us like you did and offering so many possibilities.” John told me gratefully and patting his equally grateful wife’s hand.

“Seems like your tinkering know how is a huge asset, I should be thanking you.” I said returning the compliment and rising to refill my cup with more of the gloriously delicious coffee.

“Jack, we need to gas up the vehicles and give that tractor another oil transfusion.” I said getting ready for the final leg of our journey.

“I looked at that thing a little bit this morning and it appears you just need a seal around the oil filter, nothing major. Roland said he had some stuff around here to take care of it and I will ask him where it’s at when he and the Trio come back.” John said to me about my oil consuming machine.

“I would be so happy to not pour oil in that thing every 30 to 50 miles, you just don’t know John, and I would really appreciate anything you could do for it.” I gratefully acknowledged his offer yet again of a gifted mechanical wizard.

“Not a problem. Oh by the way, save your fired brass. Roland and I are scheming on how to make a reloading press or Lee Loaders, if we can get a formula for gunpowder down pat.” said the always industrious and skillful John.

“I know the basic formula for gunpowder, but I happen to have a Foxfire book that talks about some old time mixes for black powder rifles.” I told him and John came along with me to the trailer.

“What’s that book about?” John said reaching for my copy of the Rural Ranger, as I went to dragging out part of the meager library looking for the book I’d been talking about, and setting others off to one side.

“It’s sort of a country boys take on surviving something like this combined with what he learned in survival schools in the military.” I said while John was thumbing through it.

“So that’s where you got all that knowledge about snares and trapping.” he said looking at a page with diagrams of different types of snares for food procurement and began studying different trigger configurations depicted.

“Yes, it’s a pretty good book. In the back of it, he tells you a bunch of uses for everyday things that you would not normally think of as having other uses than what’s generally known.” I said while trying to find the chapter on gunpowder in the Foxfire book I had located and was flipping through its well worn pages.

“Wait until Roland sees this, we are going solar!” John said examining the plans for a simple window box heater he had found in the Rural Ranger Survival Guide.

“Mother Earth News had something similar in it one time awhile back. I remember reading that changing your house temperature by 10 or more degrees can be life or death, in situations like we are in now.” I said and showed him the text in the Foxfire book regarding black powder formulations.

“I really want to read both these books David; do you think you can spare them?”

“I don’t plan on making gun powder or dulcimers anytime soon, so you can hang on to the Foxfire book, but my Rural Ranger book is a bit different. I know the majority of what’s in that book now, but I am sort of the only trapper we got and I need for these other folks to learn, in case something happens to me.” I said pondering loaning out another irreplaceable asset.

“Well, I can see how you might not want to let it go, at the very least let me find some paper and copy these solar heater plans out of it.” He said while still looking through it.

“This thing ain’t edited all that great, but its brimming with how to’s and valuable knowledge. Did not know this tidbit, look here, how to fix a hole in a wood heater with salt, sort of like JB Weld.” He said holding the wealth of backwoods knowledge up for my inspection.

“Ok, you can borrow it, Roland probably can tell you a trick or two also about gathering game that’s not in there, but its pretty thorough on the basics and leaves the refinements to you.” I said handing over my precious book.

“Ah thanks David, I really appreciate it and will get Sarah to copy out some of it for me, before I get it back to you. If Roland is half the instructor you were for me, then I am going to learn a lot. Hell, Sarah and me would have been starving, if you had not took the time to teach me us some basics of how to snare game.” He said as his ever near Sarah came up and joined our discussion.

“I am better than John is about thinking like an animal and using sticks and brush to funnel them into a trap.” She bragged while hugging him.

“That’s a fact, but I think she cheats and knows which way I travel through the woods to scare the rabbits escaping me right into her snares.” He laughed and mushed her back.

“Just for future reference, a scared rabbit almost always loops back to his starting point when he runs.” I offered as a bit of Trivia.

“Is that in here?” John said holding up the book.

“Yes, there are a few handy tips like that in there; as well as some warnings about how to deal with feral dogs which you need to know about.” I said while opening an ammo can and offering him some soft point bullets for the Mosin.

“Roland might have a more modern weapon to offer you, but that is a hell of a long range deer rifle as thousands of dead German soldiers can attest to the accuracy of that rifle in the hands of a Russian sniper.” I said and warned him to dump some Windex, ammonia or just piss down it once in awhile to get rid of the corrosive powder residue some of the older ammunition I had given him would leave in the barrel.

“That’s gross David; he can’t whiz down the barrel of that gun.” Sarah said flustered and finding the patio company more appealing than mine and leaving us to head over that way.

“You having problems with your aim John? Can’t hit a gun barrel?” I mercilessly picked at the old Gent, which earned me a fake punch to the ribs from him.

“What’s up with you telling John to pee down a gun barrel? My mom whispered to me, when I returned to the patio and instantaneously making me start chuckling at her discomfort.

“It’s a man operated field expedient way of removing the acidy salt deposits left from using the old kinds of corrosive ammunition.” I told her so she didn’t think I had insulted John someway, like telling him to go piss up a rope.

“Well, you shouldn’t have said it in front of Sarah.” she said and went to go female translate for me what I had explained to her.

John must of overheard part of the conversation, because he wandered over to me while I was examining Roland’s defunct electric well pump and said, “Roland said we could go visit the barn, if we wanted to.” looking at me knowingly and had me wondering if our host had iced down some beer knowing how much I might like that.

“Good idea John, what’s that old song lyric?

“’Our troubles are many, they are as deep as a well’?” I think we ought to sneak off and talk about well pumps for a bit. “I said whole heartedly agreeing to the concept of a cold one or two.

I probably should not have brought that song up, because after beer number three, John wanted to go get his harmonica and play it, thereby giving up the jig that we were not just talking about well pumps over in the barn and causing my mom and Sarah to crash our early day beer bash.

Mom looked like she could kill me for drinking at all, let alone this early in the day; but got with the program when Sarah, who was John’s favorite groupie, had no problem joining in our fun and she could see the religiously abstaining Lois could even see the harmless fun in it.

“Damn, I leave for an hour and you all started a hootenanny and a barn dance without me.” Roland said walking in to put up his saddle and pulling his cowboy hat off to wipe his sweaty forehead even while smiling at our antics.

“Watch this here country boy show you how it’s done.” He said pulling a horses feed sack off the wall a producing a violin out of it.

Well, Charlie Daniels does not have anything on Roland Stiles, as that spry old man commenced to sawing on that fiddle and somewhat buck dancing to his own music at the same time. Jeb, who was in his twenty-something’s, probably was feeling roped, caught and branded, as he was required to dance with all the ladies from 40 to over 80. We all Blue Grassed the music around the barn, until Roland and John could not keep up any more and looked like two panting old dogs.

“Let’s carry this party to Bernie’s house; we are going to fall out before we even get going!” Roland said and gave instructions to Jeb to go hitch up his team to the old wagon at the end of the barn, much to the youngster’s delight to escape the gray haired gonzo extravaganza he’d bee forced to participate in.

“Anybody know how to drive a team?” Roland asked and looking about the open space of the barn. “I thought not, ok I am going to hitch Betsy to the back of that buckboard. No, not you darling, my horse.” he said satisfied with his joke at Betsy’s expense and grinning to beat tomorrow.

“This here band needs a guitar and a banjo to make a nice shindig at Bernie’s. I’m thinking we will stop off and grab Coltrane and Lloyd along the way.” Roland said feeling his cups.

Well, it was not too long after the weird conglomeration of what could move and would barely move vehicles had stopped at a couple of old wood frame shotgun houses, that we had the rest of our “band “put together with a 7ft tall old lanky redneck and a short pudgy old black man, who looked a lot like the old Mississippi Blues singer Lead Belly. And with the exception of Roland trying to get on his horse to do a rendition of his yodeling cowboy shit, while my mom drove the wagon; the music was lively and the beer was almost gone by the time we started towards Bernie’s driveway.

“Hold on a second: he told my Mom who had half way learned to just hold the horse’s reins and drive the wagon.

“We gotta choose us a song to enter on.” Roland slurred, but was unaffected by the alcohol when it came to his fiddle playing.

“Probably already heard us coming for miles Roland.” I started to get out before he hushed me.

“We need to think on this… Oh I got it, do Tennessee Flat Top Box by Rosanne Cash” and Coltrane started to sing while playing the guitar, as John whaled on his harmonica and Lloyd started his banjo up doing an exaggerated jig; while I think Stiles was doing something more like Rocky Top on that fiddle of his.

A totally delighted Bernie came two stepping out his door and dancing about his yard to the music, as the band played that light and short, but catchy tune.

“Mr. Billings!” “Mr. Stiles!” the two old comrades addressed each other at the end of the song.

So that was Bernie’s last name, I thought, sounds funny I don’t know why, Bernie Billings.

There would be no bill today, just some impromptu fun, as I noticed Donny from across the lake slue had appeared. I gestured to come over and we would come get him and his wife and sent Jack and Sandra over to them on the Atvs with some general directions to haul the neighbor couple back but bring back booze too.

“WE GOT BEEF?! Mounds and mounds of it, looks like!” Bernie said as Roland showed him the wealth we had brought with us.

“You and me are the only ones that know how to unhitch them horses, lets have us a chat while we do it,” Roland said, while throwing his arm around his lifelong friend and Lloyd picked at his banjo doing a solo and keeping everyone festive.

Donny and his wife were not long coming and how did I already know she could play clarinet and brought it with her?

A good time was had by all and we put a sizable dent in the proffered alcohol the lake residents offered to assist the sort of strange homecoming party.

Bernie seemed to have a lot to say to my Mom off and on during the festivities; and they even showed us all up demonstrating some swing dance moves from their yesteryears.

“David, I am listening to Roland’s advice and moving back with him, so my house is your Mom’s new house for the duration and you can use that my little rental cottage next door, as yours under the same terms. Your momma needs a place of her own to rule; David, you be kind to her you hear?” he said trying to convey some older wisdom to me.

“I am speechless, Bernie, you’re very kind.” I said before he got his old man hat back on.

“I have had a lot of water under my bridge David. You’re Chief of a new tribe, ‘shun the guns and make you a friend’ is the best advice I can give you. Don’t take other peoples stuff, just because you can; I know you won’t now, but you might get more desperate latter on. Stay a good man, my friend.” he said, while grabbing both my hands in his and giving me a firm squeeze. “There has been a considerable lot of bloodshed on these shores, since when you left last time. Don’t let yourself carry it in your pockets for life.” Bernie advised sagely.

* * *

END OF BOOK TWO OF THE PREPPER TRILOGY

THE LIGHT IN THE LAKE

1

The Survival Retreat

The rain had been coming down off and on for three days now and pretty much everyone was getting on each others nerves from being stuck inside with not much to do. The lake was a nice place to vacation but we were not on vacation, instead we were basically using four small cabins for our survival retreat and going stir crazy. We had been holed up here for a week and the first few days had gone by quickly as we settled in after bugging out to our new home.

No power, no phones and no running water. Very little reading material and food needed to be rationed and carefully allocated to insure our survival. Security grows lax in this type of weather because your thinking nobody would be out in this crap. That is bad thinking as the Army found out in the Vietnam War. Soldiers used to call rainy days like these “Charlie’s” weather because the Viet Cong liked to stage their sneak attacks in it. The rain covers noises and reduces visibility as well as causes people to seek shelter and not be so vigilant.

We had not had any security issues ourselves yet, but we had heard quite a bit of yelling and occasional gunfire echoing across the lake so I kept reminding everyone to be aware of their surroundings and my constant reminders grated on everyone’s nerves.

They were outside their comfort zone and in possible denial and just did not want to hear about it so I lightened up. They don’t really know what to do because they had no law enforcement or military training so they became defensive when they realized they did not know how to protect each other or the supplies.

Supplies without security equals failure, simple as that. Threats that could directly affect our security were the same as could occur in any natural or manmade disaster that creates social chaos and the crime that goes along with it. Lawlessness can occur and does occur, just look at the LA riots where the shop keepers who got ready to protect their own fared better than those stores that burned to the ground because the owners lacked a plan to protect what was theirs.

Lake porch decks face the scenic lake, the front of the cabins just face a short tree lined gravel road and is pretty boring to just keep looking at nothing when you have other options. But if we were threatened by anything I thought it is coming down that road. A lot of boats still work I imagine after the solar storm EMP only probably fried some batteries, but I hadn’t heard any, of course the lake had sail boats a plenty, we had one, but I couldn’t see anyone playing Lake Pirate yet.

I had better rethink that thought; I was organizing everyone in our compound to go scavenging the empty houses around us and try to figure out just how many people were still living around us. Enough time has passed since the EMP event that a lot of people would be desperate for food now and consider any unclaimed resources worthy of fighting over and probably consider us a raiding party.

The way these little roads wound about connecting to the small main road and the lakes shoreline going every which way, some one could walk up on you before you even knew it. Following the shore line was pretty much the easiest way to move about too from house to house.

We practiced some light discipline but not so much that someone didn’t know this point was occupied. We didn’t want somebody that was scavenging targeting our area thinking it was unoccupied.

Humm I thought, I think maybe I might waste a bit of ammunition and rapid fire off a mag of something just to give those in hearing distance something to think about I considered while peering back out to the lakes shore line leading to my cabin.

That type of thinking is not right David, why scare the hell out of the neighbors unnecessarily and make a wrong first impression? They are most likely good folks just trying to get by and make do just like me and my group, I mused.

I guess eventually we are going to need to establish some kind of tribal territory or resource sharing arrangements with who ever is stranded or has bugged out here in couple mile radius.

For now, I’ve got to know something about the capabilities and intentions of who ever might be left as neighbors before I stray too far from my area.

I haven’t heard any hunters in my general area so I had high hopes of being able to run a good trap line and maybe put up a couple deer stands, but not before I understood the lay of the land a bit better and did a little risk assessment.

I see Jack wandering over to my place from his cottage during a break in the weather and go to open the door for him.

“Hey, Jack come on inside. I was just thinking about coming over to get you so we could make a few plans” I said moving into my kitchen area and having a seat at the table.

“I wanted to kick a few things with you but really I just wanted to escape Lois, she has cabin fever and has had me already arrange and rearrange everything in that cabin. I left before she found some other meaningless task to do.” Jack said looking frustrated.

“Send her over to the girls cabin, they can wear each other out a bit bickering or comparing notes on what other weird tasks they decide need doing” I offered sympathizing with him. Sherry had come by my place yesterday and psycho babbled me to death talking about her opinion on everything from her friends quirks and behaviors to what she thought I ought to reorganize in my place even though I told her several times in no uncertain terms I LIKED things as they were in my own home and to quit badgering me to change them.

“She can go over if she wants, but I don’t want to hear a word for word “she said I said” reenactment of the visit when she gets back home. I swear I never understood why some women insist on doing that” he said attempting to prowl the kitchen for any tid bit of food that wasn’t carefully put away or nailed down expecting such a move on his part.

“There is some peanut butter crackers in that drawer on your left Jack, but you owe me for them” I offered my ravenous chow hound buddy.

“Ok I will replace them with something, next foraging trip.” Said Jack realizing such items were now very precious indeed and having free access to graze my goods or show up exactly at dinner time was something that could become no longer welcome.

“ I am a little bit surprised you haven’t forayed out by yourself or attempted to drag me along house hunting when ever the rains let up for an hour or two” Jack said consuming the little orange crackers in about six bites.

“I considered it; I did do a little recon with the binoculars and walked up the shore a bit on my side. I went over and told Mom what I was doing but I wasn’t in the mood to get anybody fired up to come along with me” I said eying the SKS that Jack had leaned against the wall and noticing some small rust spots.

“Damn Jack you have had all the time in the world to oil that gun! I told you how important it was to check the weapons daily especially in this damp kind of environment.” I said disgustedly and went to get some gun oil to do it myself.

“That’s one thing I wanted to ask you about, I don’t have any gun oil, is it alright to wipe them down with 3 in 1 oil? He said reaching for the rag and oil and wanting to wipe it off himself so I wouldn’t have anything extra to fuss about.

“Yes it works fine, that BreakFree lubricant I got will protect it a lot better though. But we got to use it sparingly, I forgot to get some more before the SHTF and don’t have a lot left, I think I will save it for internal parts and maybe the insides of the barrels.” I said sighing about how hard it was going to be to replace things these days. I didn’t know you had 3 in 1 oil and had taken the dip stick out of the tractor the other day to dribble a little oil on my front door hinges so they didn’t screech like a banshee every time I opened it the other day.”

“You see any signs of life when you did your recon?” Jack said while rubbing away a particularly tough rust spot.

“I think we have three vacant houses and one occupied on the other side of this slough. I had to walk a bit to even see them through the binoculars good, but one appeared to have what looked like a trickle of smoke coming from the back of it. Without studying them for a long period of time there is no telling though. I guess we either go visit them when this rain quits or ignore them or go off exploring elsewhere for now” I told Jack went to get another pair of binoculars I had found that I wanted to see if they were more powerful than what I had.

“We don’t even know what exactly is on the way over there do we? You ever drive by that way before when you used to come up here?” Jack said finishing his task and leaning the rifle back against the wall.

“It has been so long ago, I can’t quite remember. I know there is another one of these little gravel roads coming off a dirt road to access it and it opens to a bigger side of the lake on the opposite side of that point, but other than that I don’t know.” I said proceeding to try to estimate the power of the binoculars Bernie had left but were not marked for magnification. Dang these things are double what mine are. Cool, the other side of the lake is even more visible now. And who are you folks? I wonder looking at a middle-aged man and woman sitting under their deck and scanning around. It appears you got two kids as I pan the binoculars to the dock and boathouse noticing the two fishing separately.

I drop the binoculars from my eyes and try to figure out the distance walking the shoreline versus sailing across the lake. I am guessing about 5 miles but its hard as hell to estimate from this vantage point because I don’t know how far that little slough goes back on my left from the farthest house from Donnie’s that I could see. I will ask him next time we get together or one of us calls a meeting.

Donnie and his wife were ok, and useful to have around in some ways, but Donnie was from the era that money was king and just did not understand he could not get what he wanted by offering payment in the terms of old values. He is still pissed at me that I wouldn’t take cash, jewelry or anything else for a long arm.

He offered me gold and diamonds for that SKS Jack totes around because it’s scoped and has advantages over the AK for hunting and target viewing even if it only has a 4x scope.

I am not telling Jack I got a scope for that AK also until I think its ok to sight it in and do some live fire to testing of it. I bought that old POSP scope awhile back just as a cheaper cool looking add on I might want someday and that I was going to get around to trying it at the range but never had the chance to sight it in. It was probably factory sighted in ok, but who knows off hand at what range the crazy Russian Army decided was proper. I would guess a 100 meters but I wanted to study the manual on it before trying to explain to someone certain things about it might be totally different than what I was used to.

The POSP series is world famous for its quality and is current military issue for the Red Army. It is built battlefield-tough from magnesium alloy and has fully multi-coated optics. I paid about two hundred bucks for it and an illuminated 4x24 Rifle Scope w/ 400 Meter Rangefinder for the price couldn’t be beat. The illuminated reticule scopes allow you to determine kill distance as well as to track and observe game in the field. The iron sights Jack was using were good enough to aim with, but hell we were both doing the aging failing eyesight thing now and at dusk that lighted sight would make all the difference in the world to a hit or a miss when it counted.

“Jack I got something to show you but you can not use it until we are confident about its capability to put steel on target” I got up and went to where I had the sight stashed at and knowing he thought I had a bazooka or something I had not told him about, and not wanting to disappoint him, hollered back it was only a gun scope for the AK.

He was momentarily deflated but when I handed him the camo nylon cased scope his excitement rose to the occasion with all the appropriate “ooos and Ahhs “ I had come to expect from him when I present some significant deadly acquisition I had managed to save up for and procure from less than common resources.

“How many batteries does this dang thing take and how long do they last” were the first words out of his mouth he asked upon opening the Velcro sealed pouch and seeing 30 Maxwell brand watch looking batteries encapsulated in plastic on a card.

“Just two batteries, they last on the high setting about 50 hours. I have forgotten. I researched the hell out of the run time awhile back but I just don’t remember anymore. That really does not matter though unless you are leaving the scope powered up and on for some odd reason, because you got regular black crosshairs for daylight, unless you just feel the need for additional lighting because of shadows in the woods. Just remember to be sure to check that the switch is in the off position and leave that front lens cap on until you want to look at something so you do not inadvertently scratch the lens going through brush. The way it’s mounted you can still use the iron sights so no worry about not being able to aim it normally or in a hurry.” I told him and went to get my AR for comparison.

“This thing feels heavy for such a low power scope, will it screw up my aim? “ Jack said eying the scope which appeared to be built built like a Russian tank.

“No, actually, it will help you to bull’s eye, it’s got a bullet drop compensator built in to it so you don’t have to adjust or remember complex math tables or anything. the scope does it automatically for you. Ha! To be so old but so perfect, sounds like me. Hee Hee” I told him grinning and presenting my same era scope but of American design and ¼ of the size.

2

THE BORROWERS

I gathered my foraging parties together and explained to them how I thought we ought to go about our tasks.

Sherry and I were a team, Sandra and Betsy were a team and Donnie had borrowed Jack to scavenge on his side of the lake.

“First thing we do is find out if anyone is at home, we will travel the shoreline contour and you can be as noisy as you want. Call out to houses before setting foot on their yards. We will check a row of houses for occupants first and if we don’t find anybody at home we will circle back and I will gain entry into the first two houses and we divide and explore. Look for any signs that someone was recently there, if it looks like someone recently had a meal or something back out then and come get me or I will you. People might just be out fishing or doing the same thing we are and were not smart enough to put out the THIS HOUSE IS OCCUPIED signs like we did. Avoid any confrontations and if we run into anyone be friendly but secretive.” I told my group and asked if their were any questions all though we had been talking off and on about doing an all day trip versus the few short excursions we had undertaken.

Every one had empty backpacks and we could get pillow cases out of the cottages if need be to haul any extra goods. My group was anxious to be off and I reminded them to be respectful of the places we were invading and not trash it looking for things. Today’s trip was only about finding any food and gathering sundries like toilet paper, soap, shampoo etc.

I handed Betsy the extra pair of binoculars and reminded her to look around at any other cabins etc. that might be occupied and watching us and to sing out if she saw anyone.

We set off from in back of my cabin and followed the shoreline up past many empty lots until we arrived at the first house. I yelled up to the house, went around the front of the house and watched Betsy and Sandra does the same to the next building. Knocks on the door went unanswered and peering in the windows offered no results.

We leap frogged down the next few houses and had the same results. But when I got to looking around the front of the last house I noticed a fifth cottage back around the point from it. There was a car there!

I motioned for everyone to come to me and I pointed at the car and we looked at each other uneasily. A hurried discussion was undertaken by the group and it was decided that Sherry and I should approach it and Sandra and Betsy could hang back.

Sherry and I did not see anyone in the front or back and our calls didn’t receive any answers, but as I approached the front door I saw a sign on it that read GONE TO TALLASEE, FRED AND MARY and a date that I calculated to be almost the same time as when the EMP hit.

I knocked on the door anyway but only got silence as a response. A nervous Sandra and Betsy who had been watching us came over and asked if it was all clear and I told them it was and pointed to the sign.

“What do you think it means David?” said Sherry thinking about all the possibilities.

“I say they either walked out the 40 or so miles to get home or they left this to tell someone up here they had gone there and got stuck when that solar storm hit” I replied making my best guess.

“I think they left it for lake friends up here or they would have written more, they were probably going after groceries or something. A lot of these lake houses don’t have phones so that would make sense.” Sandra said thinking about the mystery.

“Well unless they had two cars, or the owner of that one is who the message was for, it’s hard to guess why it was left here” said Betsy trying to piece the car and note together.

“Well either way the possibility of them coming back here is high. A hike back from there would only take a determined person in reasonable health 4 days to do it in” I said puzzling it through.

“I say we leave this one alone but the others are fair game” Sherry said anxious to replenish or add to the supplies of toilet paper at the girls’ house.

“I agree, let’s start with the last two and work our way back to the first” I said setting off towards them.

Sandra advised me she had seen an open window on the one she and Betsy had approached and thought she could get into the house through it.

“Ok just be very careful” I said and went to case my assigned cabin for an entry point. This backdoor does not even have a deadbolt should I just kick it? No I can be a little less destructive just forcing it with my little crowbar I had brought along I thought.

I got the door jimmied open and stepped cautiously inside in case somebody was just hiding and not answering the door out of fright at the appearance of our armed group. A quick check of the house showed it unoccupied and Sherry and I started in on the kitchen cabinets.

Typical lake house, hardly anything in it, a few cans of food, some coffee, a half canister of flour and some cornmeal all welcome stuff but hardly enhanced our supplies at all. Sherry hit the toilet paper bonanza and drug out of a closet one of those huge Sams club Multi roll packs.

Out of curiosity I checked the fridge, it was totally bare. One of these days I bet if I checked the mystery signs houses refrigerator I might get some better clues on how its tenets departed.

Sherry bundled up in glad bags some half used shampoo and some soap. There was some junk fishing tackle on the screened in porch but nothing we needed. Rendezvous with Sandra and Betsy and it was on to the next house.

“You get much?” Sherry asked the pair as we met them at the open front door?

“No pretty slim Pickens. Did find a six pack of beer in the fridge though” she replied.

“What’s Betsy doing? I said watching Betsy wedging a piece of cardboard in the door frame.

Sandra laughed and said “She is leaving her own mystery sign. It says “The Borrowers visited today” and has a date on it”

I smiled and responded by saying that ought to account for all the broken locks I was going to be leaving in this section today. Sherry decided the next house we pilfered needed one too and so a new tradition was born. I guess you could say we were marking our turf in one way.

The next house Sherry and I broke into had a bit more in the pantry than most and my pack got filled with a descent assortment of canned goods.

I wish we could find us a wagon or wheelbarrow or something as we had to cut our trip short to haul our grabbed goods back to what we had started to refer to as our compound.

“I wonder how Jack is making out today. Donnie’s side of the Lake has some expensive recently built big houses on it. By not selling a rifle or shotgun to Donnie we pretty much assured ourselves the job of playing armed escort on that side of the lake and increasing our stash of goods.

Jack had taken the riding lawnmower and its trailer today and I was hoping that it was pretty likely he and Donnie would be divvying up somebody’s wine cabinet or bar full of hooch.

Just as I was imagining what a wonderful sight a trailer full of liquor would look like I heard a loud shot come from over on Donnie’s side of the lake. We listened intently for a bit and hearing nothing more, we resumed our trip home a bit more hurriedly all wondering what that shot meant.

We called on the radio back to camp and advised the compound we were on our way in and would be there in about 10 minutes and went back to lugging our assortment of goods along.

We divided everything up and I broke out a bottle of vodka and mixed everyone a drink with some lemon aide to celebrate our first formalized “Borrowing” expedition and waited for Jack to return.

“Are we doing the communal kitchen thing tonight or is each house on its own.” Sherry asked the group looking around.

“The wood is mostly all wet for campfire and Dutch oven cooking but I have plenty of dry put up for the rocket stoves. Those Stovetec things were definitely one of my better purchases.” I said looking across the lake slough at Donnie’s house.

“Why don’t we wait until Jack comes back to decide, he might have something interesting” Lois said scanning the shore to see if she saw some sign of him.

“That sounds good; I tell you in this heat it’s hard to get an appetite for anything” Mom said fanning herself with an old Life magazine she had found somewhere in Bernie’s house.

“I need to build us a proper outdoor kitchen if I can scrounge up some lumber one of these days but that job needs to wait until we knock out putting in a garden. I dread the thought of trying to get it to produce anything at the peak of summer with this drought and heat wave we are in.” I said surveying the backyards that needed to be turned from lawns to something more productive.

“What are you going to do about those Geese that come over every morning and don’t say eat them” Sherry asked.

I had been trying to figure out what to do about the dozen or so of them ever sense we got here. They swam all over the lake but had a routine down that was pretty predictable and they came up on our shore every morning about 8 and munched on any fruit that fell out of the crabapple tree, grazed on some weeds and then laid around for a bit. Sherry and I had feed them bread on our previous trips to the lake and they had no fear of humans. Sandra had asked me if we could pen them up or something and get eggs and I had told her there was no way I was fighting with a big mad goose over an egg and besides I didn’t really have the grain to spare to feed them. I had considered shooting one so they would avoid the place but everyone enjoyed watching them so much I just put off what was probably inevitable.

“I haven’t come up with a solution to them yet, at the moment I just keep count of them to see if anybody around this inlet starts hunting them. I wonder if their numbers increase when the migrations fly over in the fall. These lake resident Canadian Geese stay all summer and winter for some reason, I guess because they got used to people feeding them. Be interesting to have some live decoys to attract others” I told Sherry while turning to look at the lake to see if I could spot them making their rounds.

“How could you tell the tame ones from the wild ones?” Sandra asked.

“The tame ones will pretty much stay in their own group. I would have to watch where they go for awhile to figure out how to setup a blind to ambush the wild ones. That short barrel riot gun of mine doesn’t have the reach or the choke I need to get them when they’re flying over. Come to think of it I have never seen these lake geese fly, they just swim around the shoreline of this inlet and occasionally swim directly across it. There are a couple semi tame wood ducks around here too.” I offered and while rising to get me another drink pointing across the lake.

“Looks like Jack is back” I noted and waved across to him.

Jack waved back and Lois looked like she was about to wave her hand off her arm with excitement to see that he was safe. We watched him help Donnie unload some boxes from the trailer and reload the trailer with some other goods and then proceed to head back our way.

In about fifteen minutes Jack pulled around to the deck we were all sitting around on and we went down to see what kind of loot he had gathered on his foray today.

“ We got three trailer loads today, Donnie still owes us some stuff but check this out, he said pulling a bed spread off the back of the trailer which was half filled with food and a goodly assortment of wine and liquor. And there’s a case of beer under all of that David. You can have a six pack of it for those crackers you told me I owed you for.” he said grinning.

“Oh I like the odds of that trade, I got some more crackers” I began to say before Betsy cut me off.

“Just because Jack and Lois don’t drink don’t mean we don’t.” Betsy said pointedly in my beer hound direction.

“Got any crackers?” I said to her smirking before Sherry piped up and spoiled my fun I was about to have teasing Betsy.

“Share and share alike David, you and Jack can have your little side deals as long as it doesn’t hurt the group as a whole” Sherry said in her friendly mediator voice seeing that my playful comment had been taken seriously by Betsy.

“I was just kidding, but if you do have any crackers you should let me negotiate with Jack for you” I said grinning at Betsy in my best let bygones be bygones look.

Betsy smiled and said “And of course you will want your 10%, how much is 10% of a can of beer? Causing me to laugh.

“Lets see, 10% off the top and you and I each put in a pack of crackers, so that would be two six packs Jack owes us. 12 beers x 10% would mean you owe me 1.2 beers for doing the transaction. Me and Jack have a Non- Circumvent agreement so he won’t deal with you direct, ain’t that right Jack?” I said watching Jack play along with my bargaining.

“Yup, that’s right, we have had that agreement for years, no messing with each others customers or going around each other” he said watching Betsy try to think about my calculations and suppressing a smile.

“He is teasing you again Betsy, he is pulling some kind of weird vendor math on you” Sherry said giving me a nudge for not behaving myself.

“What the hell is vendor math?” Betsy asked looking at me like I was trying to steal her life savings by hustling a beer out of her.

“Vendor math is something I learned when I was in the bar business Betsy. Say you owned a bar and had pool tables with another vendor who split with you the revenue 50/50. I want your business so I would be willing to offer you a better deal. I would come in your bar one day and tell you if you put my pool tables in instead of the other vendors I would give you ten percent off the top and then we would split 50/50. How much is your percentage? I asked Betsy as Jack and Sherry watched her intently.

“I would probably do it, that’s a 60/40 split with me getting 60% right?” Betsy said wondering why she was being scrutinized.

“Well it sounds that way at first and most people think that, if I talked quick enough to get them to sign off for it. But actually its 55/45. Take a dollar and take 10% off it and your left with 90 cents, we split that which is 45 cents a piece, so with the dime extra you get you have 55 cents.” I explained to Betsy jovially so she could see it was an honest way of doing business but a good salesman’s way of gaining business without losing too much money discounting a product.

“Oh I get it! Hey but I would only owe you 1 beer then right?” She said, to which Jack started to laugh but stifled himself when I frowned at him.

“Yes that’s right only one beer” I replied and gave Sherry a little hug so she would not say anything different and ruin my chances of getting a whole beer for the trade.

I quickly changed the subject and asked Jack about what that shot I heard was about on the side of the lake he was on today.

“That was Donnie. We went in a house that somebody had all ready mostly looted out on the fringe of the inlet. There is another little slough over there by the way that stretches back about 10 houses counting both sides. Anyway, it looked like somebody had had a teenage party in there and there was empty beer cans and the place looked trashed for no reason like juveniles sometimes are apt to do and Donnie was walking out the backdoor to check out the tool shed to see if there were any weed eaters or other things of interest in it when he startled a big dog eating a discarded bag of Oreos. The dog looked up and growled at him and Donnie freaked and pulled his pistol and shot at it. Donnie claims he was only trying to scare it but I think he missed it from 50ft and just wont let on how bad a shot he is or how scared that big mutt made him.” Jack said semi giggling

“What were you doing besides watching Jack?” I said either going to have some fun with him or tighten up his response tactics if need be.

“Well the dog surprised me too, and that growl sounded like a werewolf but I had Donnie covered, if that dog had of even acted like he was fixing to make a go for us I would have dropped him. When that round Donnie fired hit about 8ft from that beast, that dogs back legs tried to out distance his front legs and it hauled ass out of there with its tail between its legs trying to catch up” Jack said telling the story with some hilarious hand gestures.

When we got done laughing and joking about Jacks encounter the conversation took on a more serious note.

“You see anyone or have a feel for how many teenagers probably partied in that house Jack?” I said searching for some answers as to who might be moving in our direction.

“I did not do the CSI TV show investigation on the place but the mud next to the shoreline said if they were kids they pretty good sized ones and no I don’t know all those tracker questions forming in your mind David. I just noticed they had on tennis shoes and big feet.” Jack said looking around like he was sniffing the wind to see where supper might be cooking at.

Sherry picked up on the old ham burglars look and told him we waited until he got back to decide about dinner.

“I thought you might have had a shot at a deer and we might be having venison tonight” I told Jack just to mess with him a bit.

“I am not ready to eat dog yet, but that would have been what you had if Donnie had been a better shot” Jack said looking seriously at everyone and reinforcing what I had said about the necessity of stretching our food supplies and getting over our aversions to certain meals.

Sherry made everyone laugh by telling me I could have open season on the geese before we were reduced to eating dog, but the somber realization of our plight made everyone a bit gloomier.

“You are going out with him again tomorrow Jack?” I said still weighing the information concerning the party house that had been vandalized.

“Yes, we agreed to go in the morning at 8. What’s on your mind buddy” he said searching my face for some indication of my concerns.

“I am half assed thinking we might want to lend him a long arm but we are stretched thin enough as it is” I said considering what was available and how best to utilize our small armory.

“Why don’t we take stock and figure out if we have any flexibility” Sherry offered to address our concerns and began ticking off parts of my arsenal.

“I lent my Mossberg Maverick 12 gauge to Sandra, I am content for now with that old single action full choke turkey gun 20 gauge, its pretty light to tote around and gives me distance advantage as well as being able to shoot it one handed and my Kel tec .380 is always with me in a pocket and I normally strap on my ruger 22 target pistol for snakes and such.

You always leave that camo Mossberg 500 with Louise so the home front has some bang to it.

You have your mom checked out pretty good on that Marlin 10/22.

Betsy likes that weird sling rigged Mossberg 500 persuader you taught her to clear rooms or an alleyway with.

You always got a .380 on you somewhere plus, that .357 Ruger Blackhawk hog leg single action and nowadays that Smith and Wesson AR around with full web gear sometimes.

Christ David, you have been prepping for so long you managed to have outfitted all of us and still forgot what you might have to rock the world with as you used to say,

You have that fold up Kel Tec 9mm carbine I gave you when you got your degree in Emergency Management Administration and Planning in your bug out bag. Don’t you remember you gave me your old highpoint 9mm carbine when I gave that gift to you when we were dating and upgraded it with a laser and the cheek piece magi holder with three magazines of 10 rounds each?. That’s two long arms right there.” Sherry said listing most everything before I interjected.

“Ok, Ok each one of those has a purpose but for know I guess you can lend him your HighPoint if you would Sherry. That’s a loan only, so be sure to make that point real clear to Donnie.” I said looking at Jack and Sherry.

“Ammo I got for all the 9mm feeders, but we got none to waste. Tell Donnie he can fire off three rounds to familiarize himself with it. Do it about 8.30 so we know it’s him doing the shooting and no one will get worried.” I told Jack before moving on to another subject.

“Keep your eyes peeled for any lumber, as well as any firewood on your trips. If you thought three days of being cooped up in your own house was bad, you are really going to hate it if we all have to move into one house to conserve firewood this winter.” I mentioned and everyone groaned at that possibility.

“There is a 5 bedroom over by Donnie, but I hate to even consider that a possibility, unless it’s absolutely necessary.” Jack stated to the group.

“I haven’t found me a chainsaw yet and I can not even imagine getting at least 3 cords of wood together the old way using an ax and a bow saw.” I said starting to sweat even more just by thinking of that notion.

“I picked up an old one man crosscut saw yesterday that someone had mounted on their wall, but it is probably duller than hell. Those things are supposed to be hard to sharpen aren’t they, David?” Jack said while picking up the binoculars and starting to spy around the lake.

“I have never sharpened one, except just touching up one with a file. The teeth sometimes need to be set to the proper rake, but I would probably royal screw it up, if I had to try my hand at doing that.” I said searching my memory for anything I had ever heard about how to do it.

“Doesn’t one of those Foxfire books you got tell you how to sharpen crosscut saws?” Sherry asked.

“I am not sure; I bet one of them might. Thanks for the reminder.” I said to Sherry and tried to see what Jack was studying.

“You’re looking at that family across the Lake, Jack?” I said and motioned to Betsy to hand me the other pair of binoculars.

“Yeah, the father has him one of those ‘just in case’ Mossberg 500 shotguns that he is loading. I saw him pull it out of one of those bright orange tubes just a minute ago. The older boy has a pellet rifle or a 22, I can’t tell for sure from here.” He said lowering the binoculars and continuing to look in their direction.

“It’s a pellet gun; I can see it’s a break action single shot kind.” I said handing him the stronger pair of binoculars.

“You’re right, I can see it now. I don’t see Mamma or the other kid though at the moment.” He said handing me back my binoculars.

“Lois, the girls’ house has a telescope in it. When we’re out scavenging, go over there and watch those folks every once in a while. I am wondering why they are just now getting around to getting armed as if for trouble. It may be they’re feeling threatened or simply thinking on going hunting for dinner. Either way, keep an eye on them and check on us now and then, too.” I told her.

“Will do, they probably looked over here like we are watching them and it scared the bejesus out of them, what with all the firepower everyone is toting around.” Lois said grousing about my insistence that we maintain an armed camp. Lois did not like guns; just like my Mom didn’t; but both did agree to their necessity. What she really didn’t like was when I had on full web gear and my black rifle AR if I was going out on a scout alone.

“You do look a bit over the top David.” my mother chided me.

“I am not going to argue with you about why I consider it a necessity, its what I know and how I have been trained. At least I am wearing the old style H harness and not that desert storm crap they wear nowadays with a vest full of stuff. I am surprised they don’t wear more of the old style, it’s got to be a thousand percent cooler than putting a loaded vest over a bullet resistant vest.” I said patting my web belt that hung down off the back of my chair by its suspenders.

“All I got on here is my canteen, two mag pouches and my knife.” I said, still not understanding why it always freaked Lois and my mom out.

“It just looks so military, and makes me wonder why you carry that huge bowie knife.” Lois said referring to my Cold Steel Trail Master.

“You think that is big, wait until Jack and I find the need to start wearing those Kukri machetes, those things look like short swords.” I advised her.

“What are they for anyway?” Lois inquired, while hoping it wasn’t for anything gory or scary.

“They are the perfect solution for brush clearing or chopping down small saplings.” I explained and left out any reference to something I would like to have on me if the dog pack problem got out of hand, as I expected it would eventually.

“Are we ever going over to go visit that family across the lake?” Sherry asked me, unsure if it was the proper thing to do or not in these times of uncertainty.

“I was sort of hoping we would catch each other looking at the other through binoculars and seeing if my wave and smile was returned on a friendly basis or not.” I said hoping to gauge the personalities and welcome or unwelcome responses I might be able to interpret.

“I guess that’s sort of a good idea, if we could get somewhat familiar with each other before actually meeting.” Sherry said considering my plan and continuing with, “Why don’t we go sailing for an hour or two tomorrow and see if you could get your plan working that way. It will also give us a chance to recon what’s in our area better.” Sherry said hopeful of an activity that was less stressful and not as strenuous as today’s activities.

“That sounds like a great plan; everyone notices any activity on the water. Someone can watch their reactions through the telescope, when we are not bothering to watch them. Sandra and Betsy can fish for awhile and Mom or Lois can make some bread. I got that 120 watt fold up solar panel ready to hook to those four marine batteries we brought with us; it will take me just a minute to hook that 3000 watt inverter to it and then we can plug in those two bread machines and have fresh bread in an hour.” I said excited at the moral boosting effect of the proposed day’s activities.

“I want to make the bread, but I am still a bit scared of the way you’re producing electricity. It won’t blow up or anything will it David?” My mom commented looking at me anxiously.

“No, Mom; it’s totally safe. The inverter has a fan to cool itself and all its doing is converting 12v dc to 110Ac. It’s the same as plugging in something to the outlet back home, when we had regular power. The panels have overcharge protection built into them so the batteries only get juice from the panel if they need it. It is basically a fool proof system.” I reassured her.

“Ok then, I will give it a try.” She said looking happy to be doing something so useful and mundane.

“The only thing I want you to do any different than making a batch the regular way is to not just plug both the machines in at the same time. The inverter can handle the surge power to do it, but we are running off batteries so we do it a bit different to be smarter. Bread machines do the mix thing, and then pause for letting the dough rise etc. Mixing and heating up the elements uses the most power. So when the first machine stops mixing, wait a couple minutes and then get the other one going. We will save about 50% drain on the batteries that way, by altering the load cycles.” I explained to my mom and said I would write it down. I also told the group to look for more bread maker machines when we were out scavenging and to particularly be on the lookout for the Oster brand ones I was familiar with and because they only pulled 600 watts. I could easily run four, if we were careful to cycle them. If the sunlight was available for about 6 hours a day, I figured we could make enough bread twice a week to supply our camps needs and still have enough power to run some low wattage lights.

I had a xantrex power station with us, which I had not checked out yet; but hoped it was still functional, since it was stored inside Sherry’s house on a wood floor and hadn’t been plugged into the charger when the solar flare hit. Boy, did I have a surprise for everyone if it did, or even if it didn’t. I had a portable Ice machine that would produce about 20lbs of ice a day and only needed 100 watts to run, so it might just be possible to rejoin the age of some form of refrigeration.

When things settled down a bit and day to day survival was not so important, Jack and I had a whole batch of alternative energy ideas we wanted to try out, that we had been studying the theories for years about, but had not got around to actually trying to implement in our day to day lives.

There is so much work to do around here its astounding, but its good work, back to the land stuff Jack and I had fancied for years, but jobs and time had not allowed us until now to even consider getting serious about.

One of these outbuildings can become me and Jack’s official “Skunk Works.” It’s a name we had borrowed for our proposed experimental laboratory from the original one run by Lockheed Aircraft for the CIA. The term "Skunk Works" according to Wikapedia came from Al Capp's satirical, hillbilly comic strip Li’l Abner, which was immensely popular in the 1940s and '50s. The “Skonk Works" was a dilapidated factory located on the remote outskirts of Dogpatch, in the backwoods of Kentucky. According to the strip, scores of locals were done in yearly by the toxic fumes of the concentrated "skonk oil", which was brewed and barreled daily by "Big Barnsmell" (known as the lonely "inside man" at the Skonk Works). The oil was made by grinding dead skunks and worn shoes into a smoldering still, all for some mysterious, never specified purpose.

It looked like old Jack and I were destined to be able to fulfill our dreams of becoming mad scientists in the realm of alternative energy or other dreamed up but not yet tinkered on inventions.

“Jack, just have Donnie cycle the carbine tomorrow, instead of firing it off. Those neighbors are a bit jumpy already and sense we haven’t indiscriminately fired any caps off or even taken a shot at anything, so let’s keep the good impressions of us being civil, but careful folk.” I proposed to him.

“Darn, David you are right, but I was going to tell you to let me and Donnie at least fire a full mag, its been quite a while sense I even pulled a trigger on anything and like you pointed out in the past, the reason your old farm never had break in problems was probably due to the amount of lead they could hear you putting down range on a regular basis when you practiced,” a disappointed Jack said. Jack was drawn to firework stands like a kid to a candy store. I have never seen anyone like things that go boom so much, or somebody who liked to play with fire as much as him. I offered him a consolation prize to get his mind off overriding my requests about shooting off the carbine, and asked him if he had seen any treadmills over in the rich section of town, as I referred to Donnie’s side of the lake.

“Donnie has one, and the house that was trashed by them kids does” He said looking at me quizzically and trying to figure out what they were good for.

“They make great windmill motors by removing the engine and adding some blades for generating electricity, but I bet me and you can devise something to play ring up the fish.” I said grinning and referring to the old hand crank radios we had in the military. that if hooked to a telephone wire that had a loop consisting of about 10ft of insulation stripped off wire, could be used to electrocute and stun a fish long enough to scoop them up in a net.

“Oh hell yeah! That shit would be allowed now. Too bad you don’t have any grenades David.” he said getting a devilish look in his eyes.

“Damn you old arsonist don’t go there, be content to play Ma Bell!” I said chuckling at his pleasure in the notion of having some interesting Jack oriented fun.

“Find me some loose steel or lead pipe or some big monkey wrenches too, while you are out carousing with Donnie tomorrow. Don’t forget I brought that kit that uses a marine alternator for a windmill that I bought off of eBay a while back and added to my stores.” I said contemplating building a mast for my already complete power generating windmill.

“There is an old Chris Craft boat, one of those mahogany specials from the 60s in a boat house near the party house, but it’s slung up in the air by an electric boat lift. Maybe we could probably get another alternator like yours off of it.” Jack offered speculating on our power needs.

“The hell with that, I bet we can get that old boat running. How high up is it?” I said beyond myself with excitement at his find.

“They got that thing at least 6ft up and over the water. We could cut the canvas slings, maybe if we were careful, but it’s going to do a hell of a belly flop from that height.” Jack said. “I’m sure if we put our heads together and keep our eyes peeled on our “Borrowing” forays for pulleys, rope and maybe a come-along, that we’ll figure some way to get that beauty down safely.

3

SET SAIL!

The morning is beautiful with a nice light wind blowing, just perfect for Sherry’s and my start of the day for a sailing excursion. We had our morning Coffee and I got ready to dive in the lake and swim out to the buoy where our sailing craft was moored.

This particular point of the lake was somewhat shallow, so it necessitated having to tie up the boat about 25 ft out from the dock, so she did not get buffeted by the waves of the motor boats or get grounded by drifting into too shallow of water. I hand towed the line by swimming it over to the dock and passing it up Sherry, so she could board and then swung myself up and got in the boats cockpit to get ready to make sail. This sailboat was small, only about 25 ft, but I couldn’t even think about dropping the center board, until we were at least 50 ft out in the channel, for fear of running aground.

I could have carried a long gun with me, but I did not want to bother with the task of waterproofing such a weapon I did not expect to need, especially with the home front keeping tabs on us. The cockpit of the fiberglass boat needed bailing and I planned on doing it the automated way as we were under sail by opening the little drain cock as she heeled over in the wind and just letting the water get drained out that way.

I had Cheryl bring my stainless steel Sig, and put it and her Keltec into Ziploc bags for transport and that was enough firepower for this little trip, I figured.

The whole clan saw us off and we began gently tacking out of our harbor, until it was safe enough to sink the center board and pull in the main sheet. I love to sail, no motor sounds, and the strength of the wind in the lines trying to pull them from my grip as the sail fills and adds a steady pressure that makes the boat lean over. Glorious day!

We got out on the lake about half way and I advised Sherry to get ready to come about, meaning she needed to duck the mast secondary pole that would be soon be swinging in her direction as I changed course and let out the sail almost parallel in the opposite direction we were originally headed in.

I figured I would survey Donnie’s side of the lake, then come about and shoot a diagonal, if the wind would let me, back over to my side and scope out the unknown region to the entrance to the main lake off in the distance.

“Are you having fun yet sweetie?” I needlessly asked a beaming Sherry, as I manned the tiller and cut up a bit pulling the sail in to make the small boat keel and picked up speed.

“This is fun, but you’re not going to tip us are you?” Sherry said half concerned at my navigation and half enjoying any possibility on the adventure and enjoying the moment. I had instructed her about what we needed to do, if I ever over compensated and tipped us, as well as we had our life belts on. So even though I had not sailed in years, we were having a blast running this craft through its paces when I had clear water.

“Look in back of you Sherry. You see the water getting black and maybe getting a ripple? That means you got wind or a gust coming and I am sailing by the signs so no worries, I said making the boat do a little jig with the rudder.

“Here, take the line and feel the wind, but let out the line if I tell you to,” I said offering the reins to the boat which she took hesitantly.

“You got to be strong to hold this sail David.” she said fighting the wind.

“Not really, you are forcing it too much, just feel an easy motion of give and take and work with the boa’s response. No need for a death grip, just hold that sail against the wind with what feels comfortable to you.” I told her and encouraging her get the feel of the sail and get over her anxiety of not being able to control the sail.

“That’s it, you doing great; see its no more pressure than a standard steering wheel at times, if you really pull it in, be careful now, you always got to see the edge of the boat so you don’t swamp us or make sure we both lean back the opposite way over the side of the boat with our weight and we can get this thing going as fast as we like.” I explained to her hoping she didn’t send us into the drink by getting too exuberant.

Her tinkling laughter as she played with the main sail echoed across the lake and I told her, when we started sailing back to our side of this inlet, I would let her have the tiller and lines herself and drive us, but we were on a mission and to let me resume control.

She did not want to give up those lines to her new play pretty, but she ended up doing so reluctantly, knowing we were not on vacation and that something more than a boat ride needed to be accomplished today.

“You are going to let me sail back, you said.” Sherry said, but was really assuring herself she would get another chance to experience the joy of sailing.

“Yes. You can play on the big lake; these shallows need my attention and expertise though.” I said trying to look at the shoreline and the driveways Jack and Donnie were supposed to be traveling.

“Look through those binoculars, as I come about up here and see if you see that couple. That slough doesn’t look like I would care to sail into it.” I said studying the unfathomed waters ahead of us.

“Ready to come about?” I yelled to Sherry.

“Come about!” she yelled back happy with life and the wind, and we turned towards a tack that would put us dead center on the lake across from the neighbors we were curious about.

I went about 300 yards and let the sail luff, and asked Sherry if she was ready to try the boat on her own and swapped places with her.

“Go for it girl.” I said to a very determined Ms. Sherry and except for scaring the hell out of me a few times by almost capsizing us with her need for speed, we did ok as we went past the peoples house this whole arrangement was for and started to go into the main lake.

“Ok Sherry, I see you are a contender for the next Yacht races out here, but give me back the tiller and we are going to go slow and steady, so we can recon in the shallows on the way back. I did not hardly have a chance to look going by the house, as I was too busy trying to lean over the opposite edge of the boat to keep us righted on the way over here. You going to be hell, when I teach you what the spinnaker or jib are used for, if we get to play with some different sailboats.” I told her and wiped some of the spray she had created from the lake from that wild ride off my forehead.

“Damn David, that was so neat, why didn’t we ever find time for us to do this before, you always talked about sailing and said I would love it, but I never thought it would have been this fun.” Sherry said looking sweetly at me.

“Different time, different era, we lacked the money and access to one, so it just did not happen I reckon or we had other important considerations to deal with. We got lots of time to sail another day. Now, let’s finish this mission and see if we can visit that couple today.”

“Let’s just go over there, if they don’t want to meet us, they can just wave us off.” Sherry said looking back over towards the house.

“I agree. I am tired of playing games over something as silly as going to meet a possible neighbor. If they were looking all desperate, then caution would be needed; but they don’t appear to be doing too badly on their own. They could get desperate later and want a handout and that can get awkward, if we get short on supplies. But if we don’t act like we got a lot extra, I doubt anyone is going to bother us up here. There has always been a criminal element up here that would break into places occasionally but most people that have a lake cabin are hard working family types or retirees. Civilization will sort itself out like it always does; I am just being very cautious for now, because unfortunately a lot of people will start starving and not be in their right minds. I would give someone food, if they asked; but I don’t want someone thinking about raiding us for what we got and this world has people in it that would take advantage of this situation just because that is their mentality.” I said while turning the boat towards the family’s house.

“It’s hard to know what people will do in the conditions of a long term disaster, but I agree with you that the majority of people will try to help each other if they can and that eventually the bad elements in society tend to get sorted out one way or another.” Sherry said and as we got closer we waved to the couple, who waved back and motioned for us to come over to their dock.

The couple walked down to their pier and as we coasted up Sherry threw the man our bowline.

“Well hello, we saw you having fun with that sailboat. My name is Frank and this is my wife Nancy.” Frank said and shook my hand.

“I am David and this is Sherry.” I responded and asked if I could lower my sail so we could talk a bit.

“Sure, lets go sit under the deck where its cooler.” Frank said and looking quite pleased that we had stopped by.

“How are you all making out considering the sun decided to pull the electric switch?” I asked sitting back in a chair.

“We are getting by; I guess the best we can expect.” Nancy replied and did not seem too put out about it all.

Frank asked us if we were doing ok and mentioned he had seen our group several times and asked if we have been doing a lot of hunting. I guess he was alluding to the ever present guns in our camp.

“Not too much yet, we have been scavenging some and getting moved in, we came up from Montgomery and Bernie invited us to settle in here.” I offered and thanked Nancy for the glass of warm Kool-Aid she offered me.

“How did you manage to get here from Montgomery?” Frank asked incredulously and I told him about our collection of odd transportation. We discussed how the condition of the city was and what little bit of news we had gathered. Frank said they had moved up to the lake for the summer and normally lived in Birmingham.

“How about you, you been out hunting any?” I asked him.

“I been out once, got a little spike buck. I smoked most of it in that smoker over there.” he said gesturing at a large stainless steel box.

“I know that venison will help you on your pantry quite a bit. Have you seen many other people on the lake?” I asked with anticipation.

“Not too many. Most people avoid the heat this time of year and vacation earlier or later in the season. You got maybe 8 people scattered out over on my side of the inlet, how about your side?” Frank asked gazing towards our pier.

“We have only seen two others besides our group, but we haven’t explored too far out of our area.” Sherry told him.

I asked Frank if he had had any problems in his area and told him about the trashed house Jack had found. He said he had not had any problems, but people scavenging were starting to run into each other and a few arguments had occurred over who had rights to goods, but nothing other than that.

Sherry and I chatted with them about an hour and, after thanking Frank and Nancy for the shade and refreshment, said we would come back for another visit soon before setting sail back to our side of the lake and what we considered these days as home.

4

GOBBLER GOBBLING

Jack and I spent the next morning nailing together boxes and creating raised bed gardens. That bobcat loader saved us a ton of work by scraping off the lawns and then backfilling them, even helped with moving some small boulders and stumps to form sort of a low wall around the plot, hopefully to deter the geese and any varmints until we could put up some proper fencing. Sherry laughingly said that her back had never felt better after such ‘heavy lifting’ and kept asking if there wasn’t something else her bobcat couldn’t help get done. She pouted a little, when I told her to save the gas by parking the thing and to go help the others up at the staging area we had set aside for sorting the plants we’d brought with us from Montgomery or she could go find the cans of heirloom seeds, so we could start planting and transplanting into the various beds later this afternoon.

“Jack we to need to cut some fence post size trees to finish railing that fence, it wouldn’t hurt to cut a few more than we need because I got some other projects to use them on” I said surveying our garden plots.

“Ok, but lets take a little break first” Jack said mopping the sweat off his face.

“You think Donnie knows how to swing an axe? I want to build a Turkey cabin trap and it would go much quicker with an extra set of hands.” I asked Jack while formulating a plan to get us more self sufficient.

“I doubt Donnie ever used one before seriously but yonder he comes, you can ask him yourself” Jack said pointing at Donnie riding his bicycle down our road.

“Donnie we were just talking about you. You any good at handling an ax?’ I said and watching Donnie turn suspicious.

“I used one in the Boy scouts some, what is it you have in mind? He said looking over our gardening efforts.

“If you want Turkey for dinner this week, I was going to get you to help me build a trap” I said and beginning to think about the best place to put it. I had seen turkeys on the main road after Donnie’s place and a few deer too when I was driving up to the Lake with Sherry a year ago and I thought I might as well make the hike over that way to figure out my trap line before I really needed one. I don’t like trapping in the summer, meat spoils too quick if you don’t get to a dead animal quick enough and live trapping works but it’s more difficult and can end up with a dead animal in this heat pretty easy as they fight a snare. I only had a couple of the live cage traps for possums and such and I was not going to go after that kind of varmint just yet.

“I thought you had to use turkey calls and dress all in camo to get a gobbler” Donnie said trying to figure out what I was up to.

“No I am going to build a turkey cabin. That is a little log structure about the size of a small corn crib. We don’t need to notch the poles or anything, just stack them up; the weight of the flat roof will keep it together. Its very simple just takes a bit of time to get your posts together. What you do before you start building it is dig you a trench about 10 ft or so long that gradually slopes up to the center of where you are going to have your cabin floor. Then you build your cabin around that and add your poles for your roof spaces between them and weight the roof down with rocks or logs so the turkeys trying to fly up against it can’t knock your posts off.” I explained to my fellow would be trappers.

“That sounds simple enough, but how do you get the turkey to go in it?” Donnie said looking real interested in my plan.

“Think plural, turkeys. James Audubon used one of these same traps but larger and caught 16 in one day. See what you do is sprinkle some grain like corn in the trench and the turkeys get in the trench and follow the counter up into the trap. They are too stupid to either backup in the trench if the turkey they are following gets in trouble and once inside the trap if they can see daylight, they will keep looking up at it and not go back into the trench to escape. Its very simple an effective.

“Sure, I will help you build one. I got to see that thing work. It sounds almost too easy. What are we going to do if we catch a bunch of turkeys, we don’t have any freezers?” Donnie said trying to imagine what to do with a wealth of turkey dinners.

“I got two 50lb bags of corn that I could feed them for a while as fresh meat on the hoof as the saying goes, but I have other plans for a surplus if we get real lucky. We can barter any extra turkeys for can goods or whatever across the lake.

“How are you planning to cook them if we catch some?”Jack said eying the fire pit and tripod I had rigged.

”We clean up those metal garbage cans and gather up all the charcoal we can find, unless we do the bonfire thing and have to shovel coals. Here I will explain it to you” I said and proceeded to tell them how it was done. I had done it before when we had a turkey that was defrosting in the freezer because the power was out from a hurricane and it needed cooking before it went bad. If you do this right, the turkey will be fall off the bone delicious.

Equipment:

• 1 - 20 Gallon trash can

• 1 - Dutch Oven

• 1 - Turkey Stand (the kind you use in a fryer to get the turkey to "stand up" work well - I found mine at Bass Pro)

• 30 Pounds of Charcoal

• 1 - 15-20 pound Turkey

• 1 - Roll of Aluminum foil

• 1 - Pair of thermal gloves (like you use in a fire place)

• 1 - Small shovel for ash.

Instructions:

1. Prepare the turkey - clean and season

2. Lay aluminum foil down on the ground (I make mine about twice the size of the can). It works better if you have a layer of sand on the ground (under the aluminum foil) so the rim of the trash can make an impression in the sand for a better seal.

3. Set the Dutch oven upside down on the aluminum foil (without a lid) - this is a spacer to keep the turkey away from the ground. You can also use 4 tent stakes and a round wire rack.

4. Set the turkey stand on the Dutch oven (or center of the wire rack).

5. Place the turkey on the stand.

6. Turn the trash can upside down over the turkey (try to center the turkey inside the can).

7. Put as much charcoal as you can on TOP of the trash can.

8. Put the remainder of the 30 pounds around the trash can.

9. Let cook for 1:15 - 1:30 (either will work, I usually go for the extra 15 minutes)

10. Use the ash shovel to remove the coals off the top of the can and push them back from the bottom of the can.

11. Use the gloves to pick up the trash can.

12. Use the trash can lid as the serving plate - simply push the turkey over on to it.

You're done!!!

Let me add an extra little trick that it works real well to also put a small aluminum foil boat between the Dutch oven and the side of the trash can filled with a full bottle of Liquid Smoke - it increases the humidity in side the can and it adds a smoked flavor to the turkey.

Try to get the coals so that they are touching the side of the can.

“Now that sounds like a regular Thanksgiving dinner” Jack said looking like he could taste one already, sort of like Pavlov’s dogs in anticipation rung by the mental dinner bell.

“Let’s see we can do the first Thanksgiving thing at the lake like the pilgrims did when they arrived at Plymouth Rock and if we get knee deep in turkeys here; we can see if the other side of the inlet wants to have a little party.” I told them.

“As long as we do it on their side, I think that would be fun. So knowing you David you got some kind of business arrangement attached to this little party you are dreaming up. What is it?” my old buddy Jack asked.

“Well I say we start a barter system with them after the party. This will be like a free sample and introduction to the possibilities of what we can provide. I think I will take some of that smoked beef for a little side business at the party though. I wonder if anyone has any silver for trade. I said grinning.

“What smoked beef? I got a few pieces of silver I might want to trade” Donnie said.

“Ah hell, you said the wrong thing now Donnie, don’t say a word I going to get him a taste David.” Said Jack rising to go on his mission and helping me land my new silver possibility. I like silver a lot, I am like a magpie with a shiny object it fascinates me and I need it for my collection.

“Come on to the house Donnie and we can have a drink to discuss things a bit more comfortably” I said pushing my quarry along.

“Now what kind of silver might you have? I don’t do the numismatic thing if you got something special; I am only interested in melt value so I hope you have something that you value that way” I said escorting him into my house and to the room that was referred to formerly as Murray’s bar because of the former tenet.

“What’s your choice of drinks? I got most everything, AND I have a surprise for you… I got ICE and Cold Beer.” I told him and grinning like a Cheshire cat and shaking my ice chest to make that wonderful sloshing noise most people hadn’t heard since the EMP struck and would not likely be hearing for sometime to come.

“How in the hell did you get ICE “Donnie said looking down in amazement at the pure clean frosty cubes.

“I just started making it, but that is another story. I see Jack bringing you a treat. How about a Jack Daniels and Coke? Have the same as me?” I asked him gesturing with a crystal High Ball glass.

“Yes, that would be great” He said watching me mix it and using a small pair of real silver Ice tongs to elaborately fill his glass.”

“Order up” Jack said and slid a big heaping smoked beef sandwich in front of him courtesy of my mother’s use of a bread maker and Roland’s butchering and preserving arts.

Donnie eyed the sandwich like he thought it would go poof and disappear as a mirage. He couldn’t make up his mind if he wanted that icy cold drink first or the sandwich and stood perplexed for a minute with a drink in one hand and the plate holding the sandwich in the other. He quickly put the plate down, took a deep pull off the drink and went for the sandwich and I swear he probably had a bite out of it before that whisky even hit his belly. He took two more bites in rapid succession with a dreamy look on his face and paused long enough to say it was damn good as Jack and I nodded to each other knowingly...

“That is the best sandwich bar none that I ever had. I am amazed David, you are over here creating miracles. I was already hungry enough when you started talking about your Trash Can Turkey barbecue, but that was spectacular.” Donnie said addressing his now empty plate.

“Yeah, Roland really knows his stuff when he prepares meat. That was Sugar Cured, I got some regular and something he calls his secret dry rub that is great tasting but a bit peppery for my taste buds. You ready for another drink and doing some haggling? I said leaning on the bottle a bit as I poured him a stiff one before he could answer.

“How much Beef you got? I was coming over to see if you would teach me to trap or hunt. There is a shortage of any kind of meat around here except the bits of chicken in soups or the odd corned beef hash can and I am already sick of fish” Donnie said willing to let the bartering begin.

“That is like me asking you how much silver you got, kind of starts one or both of us off at a disadvantage. Times have changed now, its how much I am willing to sell and what you want to pay. I got Family to provide for also Donnie, what form of silver are we talking about? US Coins, silver rounds. Eagles maybe?” I advised him and tried not to show my excitement. I knew it was going to be harder on Donnie because he had already partaken of the finest meal he had had in weeks and he didn’t look like he had any intent of walking away from this negotiation table without access to another.

“I got some of all of the above” He said carefully and was watchful of my reaction.

“I can set you a fair price, once we decide what is fair these days. Now hear me out, I am not going to set a high price on what is rare or not rare these days compared to silver. We are going back in time just like this EMP situation has done to us. Now something has to be said about not being able to eat gold or silver, just like they did in the mining town days but if we pick a price for locals say from the era when the Government set the price of gold at $35 an ounce and silver equaled 10 to 1 exchange rate, I would be willing to price accordingly.

“Now let me get this straight, gold was over $1500 an ounce and silver was about $50 when this shit hit and you want to re-price everything down? He said flabbergasted at my notion.

“Look Donnie you are talking Fiat dollars, backed by nothing and not worth the paper it was written on. I will buy whatever you got with the green backs I got left at your prices if you want?” I said raising my eyebrows at him, to which he shook his head negatively.

“No I didn’t think you would want to do that. A fine suit used to cost 1 ounce of gold in the 1930s at $35 an ounce, you used to be able to get a fine tailor made one for the same ounce of gold when the price was $1500 an ounce. What difference does it make if I want to trade at a lower price as long as the received value is the same?” I said to him and sat back looking at an amazed Jack and a confused Donnie.

“Well I sort of see your point but I bought the silver as an investment that appreciated in value you see so I was prepared to pay for the higher prices of goods and services for times like these. But if you are saying your Beef is worth less instead of more now for some reason, I expect we can still trade in the crazy way you suggest” Donnie said, still unclear at the method to my madness but seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

“Donnie prices are irrevalant now, how much would you give me for my house and supplies versus that mansion you live in with no supplies? How much is one of these vacant houses worth to us except for what is inside of them if we don’t need another shelter?” I stated a bit strongly and calmed myself by nursing my drink.

“I see your point, I guess, so how much for the Beef” he said trying to get the conversation back on the track that he wanted to barter for some food.

“The price is what people can afford Donnie based on the economy me and you are about to create off this first transaction. That is the price Donnie. When me and you are out of goods or silver to trade how much is a deer that I hunted worth in relation to the number of hours you would be willing to work at say gardening for half of it? 10 cents an hour in old mercury dimes is about $2.50 at $35.00 silver I think, its 3.61 ounces to a $5.00 roll of them. If I sold you a chicken for a silver dime at $2.50 that would be a cheap chicken either way, but if you only worked an hour for it and I paid you the dime to buy it, AM I BEING FAIR? If I sold you that same chicken for a dime and you could sell it across the lake for 15 cents would you consider yourself making a good profit and have a business now?” I declared to make my points sink in before carrying on.

“Jack told me you walked right by a bowl of rotting fruit and were not even looking in the garden sheds before we told you to hunt for weed eaters and such. Jack brought back that bowel of rotting fruit, got his hands dirty and used his head for more than a hat rack and took all those seeds out from them which we will use to start our orchard. I think one peach pit by my calculations with supply and demand put them at 5 cents of old 45% Silver War nickels now. Here is my point Donnie, depending on what you got and I got, we are the new bank on this lake if we try to do any trading. We can create our own economy based on our reserves, set exchange rates and unless you sitting on a million in silver over there we cant do this unless prices are very low.” I told him establishing the basis for a new venture.

“We don’t know how much or what quality of gold and silver everyone that will be trading with us has to offer. They might have different ideas on pricing.” Donnie said pondering my notion and his mortgage based realtor brain coming into play.

“That just means Donnie we do not have to buy or sell to them if they do not meet our set values. Gold is $35.00 an ounce today and silver is $3.50, agreed or I could go lower?’ I suggested and awaited his answer.

“ I agree, never thought I would be sitting on the board of a metals exchange” he said shaking my hand and gesturing if he could help himself to another drink which I told him to just help himself too.

“Now then are you buying Beef for personal use or are you buying to resell if this little Turkey day party works to open up some new markets. When they finally get this grid back up in a couple years Donnie, you wont have to look back on loss of value or have been price gouging anyone and you going to sleep better at night knowing this .” I told him and asked Jack to confer with the girls on what they thought we could spare for this business transaction food wise and not what they thought their cut out of my proceeds would be, before I even got done negotiating. He really didn’t want to stick his head in that beehive but dutifully went off to assist me knowing he would be well taken care of if I was successful.

“If we are going to be a bank as you say, how are we going to handle those people that ask for credit” Donnie said stroking the stubble on his chin. Nobody put too much importance on shaving these days and Jack always had a beard anyway so that Miami Don Johnson looking scruffy unshaved appearance was in for now.

“We issue script of some sort I guess to them, call them Bernie Bucks, or Roland Rubles the real value backing them is the vegetable seeds, beef and whatever else I could convince that team of horse traders to trade us for the value of our silver, the labor of the people and whatever else we got entrepreneur about doing for ourselves.” I said dreading the conversation I would have with them by presetting the metal exchange rates and values to be based on the lake rate of exchange.

“Donnie the price of beef on lesser cuts fresh is 15 cents, Best steaks is 22 cents, we lose some in the smoking process and have to add some cure and labor, I am up for 20 cents of hard money or I guess we ought to value green backs as something, how do we rate of exchange before the collapse say $5.00? Heres the thing, most folks still have some paper but no silver; think about the civil war and confederate money. We can not declare it totally worthless all at once, there needs to be a transitional period during our little reconstruction phase out here, and who knows what Bernie and Roland think of it, until I manage a meeting.

Jack wandered in from the hen party looking the worse for wear but carrying 3 bags of beef.

“The clan agrees to 25lbs mixed, two pounds of the high grade, 23lbs of the three different flavors, and a free pound and a loaf of bread for Donnie to carry home to his wife so he don’t catch hell for that sandwich and drinks he had negotiations over.” Jack said looking worriedly back at the door to be sure that the girls hadn’t sent an emissary after him that would not have been well received by us at this point.

“ 25lbs for a one time discount of 15 cents a lb, is one point eight ounces of small silver coin only or $3.75 in silver Donnie and I wont charge you for the 25 cents worth of drinks you been sucking down while robbing me” I told him and sealed the deal with a handshake and warned him not to get crazy with his pricing on the other side of the lake even considering the security fee and ferrying costs we had yet to build in that he could take up with Jack later.

“I hope Bernie and Roland talk some sense into you about pricing but I am astounded about how fair, no, not fair, crazy you priced this to me and I thank you for giving me a business to boot. Tell you what, I will buy a round or so for all of us and make it an even four bucks, seeing how everyone is feeling generous today.” Donnie said with a smile and a toast to my glass.

“Go get Lisa, If Donnie says its ok, and we will have us a little board meeting on being a united front on this pricing structure amongst this tribe.” I said to Jack and looked towards Donnie for agreement.

“She has been dying to meet everyone; I think that would be nice. You think my house will be ok without anyone at home?’ He said looking across the far shore.

“Stick a light in the window we can see, if it moves or gets shadowed we will descend upon it like a pack of Apaches” I said feeling my oats and enjoying the little buzz I was getting from the deal and the drinks.

“So go get her?” Jack said to Donnie half way out the door.

“She is watching over here, I will go holler at her and point you coming to get her on whatever your riding. Hey why don’t you take one of the 4 wheelers if you don’t mind? I think she might get bitchy riding in the back of that lawn tractor trailer.’ He said getting up and bringing his drink with him to follow Jack.

“Don’t be saying anything like that around Louise. She still is not too happy about that ride from Clanton.” Said an indignant Jack that required an explanation to Donnie about how he had stuffed her in the trailer and she had managed to get stuck before arriving at my moms.

“HA HA! You go take that little trailer over there and get her Jack, unless David here feels like taking the tractor out on a bobsled drive with her in the back. Its about time she learns any vehicle is a good one these days and gets the hell out of that princess house and finds out how we’re living” Donnie said waving at his wife while we were trying to avoid grinning too much and the girls of my camp looked over trying to figure out what they suspected was by the mischievous looks on our faces not a good thing for someone.

“So I hit all the pot holes and washouts on the roads, right Donnie? Said Jack smirking maliciously and ready to go play race car driver with the riding lawn mower.

“Yea go have fun, but be careful, I bet she is not done putting on makeup for this first encounter and going to make you wait on her so if you find a mud puddle on the way be sure to go through it” Donnie said sniggering at his mental picture of his debutante and the wild ride Jack had promised while doing a honey babe wave across to her.

“We can’t see Jack until he turns on our road, we got time to drink one and freshen it up to go watch the show, I bet he claims the throttle is stuck or something as he goes across that washboard road coming in at the bottom of the hill.

“ Man she is going to look like one of those bobble head dolls people put on their dashboards coming across that, I cant even stand to sit on that bicycle seat with the bumps and jarring coming off those ridges” Donnie said and then turned speculative.

“David you see she has been pampered all her life and thinks the world owes her a living, part of that’s my fault but I see you and your crew sweating in the sun working that garden and wonder if and when I can look forward to depending on her to work her best on my side. A little trip to what she calls hillbilly land should do her good. That’s her words, not mine David, if you had not helped me transition I think we would have been in a world of hurt. She thinks that males are cavemen that should be able to go out in the wilderness as she paints her toe nails and bring home the bacon, She has no idea of the planning and risks we take to fulfill that function” He said chucking down his drink and pouring another.

“Let’s go watch this side show” he said and stepped out the door with me to wander a short bit up the road to watch the fun.

“Slow down, are you crazy! Watch out for the rut! BANG! Damn it listens to me! Throttles stuck hank on! We heard from the distance and then they were upon us from our vantage point at the bottom f the hill leading to my compound.

Jack had hit that rough spot In the road several times before and knew to stand up before the teeth vibrating and every thing else hard pan made you check your inside for damage and as he stood up and we got ready for the great event. Lisa made the bad mistake of trying to lean forward to tap on his back to get his attention.

Now I have seen some of the stuff on Funniest home videos that might get close to what happened next, but this was the only thing I personally witnessed that could even compare. As she leaned forward to tap jack on the shoulder and kind of scooted to the front of the trailer he hit the bottom of that hill which caused her to damn near basically stand up and slam back down into the trailer bed, while lurching him over the steering wheel and I watched jack doing the Chinese Kow Tow thing of beating his head three times on the floor but in this case the steering wheel while she had both feet up in the air trying to grab her butt cheeks and doing the wobble head thing, until he regained control of the vehicle and steadied it out.

Now two southern boys seeing such a sight and drinking whiskey tend to not to be able to control their laughter if someone’s not obviously hurt and we were not the exception. We leaned on each other, we tried to think we ought to be concerned, we even hurried in the direction that chaos of noise created concerning the women folk as Jack finally pulled up in front of them. But when Lisa finally managed to get out of that trailer with the help of Jack and the ladies and we looked down into it and saw two little butt cheeks imprinted where the buffalo butt Lois had already imprinted it and we lost it. I had tears coming out of my eyes, and nothing my mom or anybody else could say could take the humor out of it for me.

I mean a perfect imprint of a small ass fitting inside of a big ass in a trailer bed was something this old prankster couldn’t stand not to point out to everyone and enjoy the funny moment. It looked like a photo shop or a Xerox and that the bolt to the trailer bed was in the right place made me flinch with pain and hilarity when I pointed out how it was a miracle two peoples assholes could be so well aligned.

Ok, not funny for some, painful for others, but a story I was going to repeat for awhile, especially if I had a nice glass of an adult beverage.

The women sympathized and crowded around her until her true spirit rose and Lisa started complaining about the mosquito’s heat and lack of the proper company etc. But not to the chagrin of the boys watching a new fiasco we anticipated happening...

“Jack get her a sandwich and we will go talk at my place” I said rescuing her from the ladies before her outbursts got out of hand and aggravated the girls’ worse.

“Tell her about that beef before she out does the sound of fingernails on a chalk board Donnie, and come on down to the house for another parlay” I said making some distance away from the debutante who was still trying to look the gift horse in the mouth that was presented to her by all our well meaning friendship.

“I got one extra bedroom for quite quests if you and your missus care to stay, or you and Jack can be figuring something out to get you back if that’s your mind,. I am trying to stay in happy mode and my bar is for happy people so go to bed, go to hell, or go get me a cold one Lisa” I said to Donnie and letting it be known I was tired of her tirade.

“Me in and Donnie have been trying to figure out how to count all the money in the bank and cut a deal.” I said to the scowling Lisa who was ruining my good day.

“He has ICE Lisa” Donnie said showing her my simple but meaningful treasure.

“Ah that is so wonderful” Lisa said and changed her mood almost immediately to being pleasant.

“Jack and I are going to see if we can figure out how to take an ice machine off a refrigerator and try to make up some small units like this one. I don’t know what the wattage of those things is, so it might not work with the small amount of power I am producing at the moment. Once I get my windmill up though, watch out, I should be able to run most anything that was not damaged by the EMP. I am betting I can find a generator on one of these houses that either wasn’t affected because it had a metal cover and a proper ground or I might be able to fix it. Its kind of hit or miss it seems to me what works and what doesn’t depending on many things.” I explained to my guests.

“I need to talk things over with Roland and Bernie on the beef end of our new banking business, but pretty much everything else is fair game to transact at whatever exchange rate we agree on Donnie” I told him

“We going to go Turkey trapping tomorrow David?” Donnie asked me and told his wife our plan.

“Yea lets do it early morning before it gets too hot, it will take us awhile to build what I want but day after tomorrow when we check it about noon, I imagine we should have several birds and we can decide if we can do our party or not. We might have to build another one somewhere else too. I haven’t been in the woods enough around here yet to get a good feel for how big the game population is.

Lisa told us she was going back out with the girls and tell them she was sorry for making such a scene and would be back later. Jack went with her and Donnie and I figured out some more of our bank strategy and he let on he had over $25,000 of old melt value in silver at his house.

I wonder if Roland would consider letting us get into the cattle business with him I mused.

“I only have a couple thousand in silver Donnie, but I have lots of resources and ideas to make a go of our trading ideas. By the way, you find me any come alongs or block and tackle yet?” I asked him.

“I got one come along for you, and if you and Jack can figure it out how to get it down from some rafters, I know where an old chain style engine host is. What do you need those items for anyway David?” Donnie asked while looking out towards Lisa and the girls chatting and seeming to be getting along fine now.

“I got a boat I am going after that I am pretty sure the engine will work on. I am going to make it my Barter Boat and try my hand at a bit of lake trading for as long as the gas holds out. That is the thing about EMP, even if your car or boat works etc. if the grid is down the pumps don’t work, the refinery quits producing etc. so eventually nothing moves anyway. I figure I got at least a year or so before gas starts getting too stale to use, so I am going to make the best of it before I got to deal with a world without oil.” I told Donnie so he could start planning for the same prospect.

“That thought is grim indeed David, how long do you figure it will take them to get the grid back up or fuel flowing again?” He asked looking very worried.

“That’s the thing; nobody really knows its all speculation. I would say certain parts of the grid might work in a year, but to get the whole thing back up and running… Lord knows. Then you got the transportation problems etc. to contend with. I see a bleak outlook for several years and that’s why I bugged out rather than trying to ride it out. So far the little bit of news I hear on the radio confirms I made the best choice.” I responded with a guesstimate.

“I heard on the radio Los Angeles has so many fires going it is basically burning out of control” Donnie advised me.

“I wouldn’t doubt it, I can’t even imagine being in that city the day the lights went out.” I replied and we sat in silence for awhile.

“Let me take Lisa back on your lawn mower and I will bring it back over first thing in the morning and we can go turkey hunting.” to which I said he could do that and told him he should drive slow this time and he agreed.

5

BARTER BOAT

We set out about 7 am and pretty much had our turkey cabin built and baited by noon and went after the engine hoist Donnie had located in someone’s garage.

After a few mishaps and close shaves with accidents we finally got it down and hauled it over to what I hoped was my new boat. Putting that hoist up was easier than taking it down and we finally got it rigged to try and hoist the boat up off the canvas straps that were hooked to the electric winch. It worked! We cut the old sling off and lowered the boat into the water.

“Now to see if it worked. Nice of the guy to leave the key in the ignition for me. Turned the switch and nothing. Damn! Ok let’s look to see if anything obvious is happening here. Ah, batteries disconnected, well that’s a plus in my favor, although there are a lot of scientists who say those lead acid type batteries have plates in them big enough to resist a pulse. So far my luck with vehicle batteries had been hit or miss, but I really had not paid a lot of attention to what kind of cells were in them. I better look into that more. Ok, batteries hooked up, I got gauges yes! Ah hell, no gas; they must have winterized this thing. Off with Jack back to our camp and get some fuel and we tried it again. A several coughs and sputters the engine fired and I had me a Chris Craft. I was always impressed by the mahogany decks on these things and the attention to detail all over.

“You ready Jack, Donnie?” I called to my crew and then eased the throttle forward and headed out unto the lake. This thing is sweet! I ran it by Frank’s house and waved to him and his wife and then cruised the boat back to my dock to show the new ride off to the girls.

Sherry was the first one down to the dock and scrambled in before we even got it tied up good. She climbed in the captain’s chair and was already inspecting the controls and playing with the steering wheel, before the rest of everyone made it down there to look it over.

“This boat is beautiful! Are you going to take us out for a spin?” Sherry asked me, before the inevitable question of if I was going to let her drive it.

“I told everyone that I had to take Jack back to get the lawnmower and drop Donnie off across the slough, but I would be back and give them all a short ride in a few minutes.

“Can I go with you?” Sherry pleaded and jumped out of my seat into the other front seat quick as a flash.

“Sure, you can.” I said and we went and dropped Donnie and Jack off and swung back over to pick everyone up who was waiting on my pier. I drove a big circle around the inlet and went to about center of the lake and started back.

“Can I try it?” Sherry said giving me her puppy dog look.

“Ok, but DO NOT go past half throttle.” I warned her and let her give it a whirl. We got back to our Dock without mishaps and our little speed demon girl behaved herself and didn’t over throttle by much.

When we got back, I was nosing around in the anchor locker and found the American flag that went on the little mast at the rear of the boat and went and attached it.

“Let’s go see Frank and Nancy.” Sherry said to me looking hopeful to play with the boat some more.

“Maybe tomorrow we can go after I check our turkey trap and see if we have something to talk about.” I told her to her visible disappointment.

“If you want to go on another short ride, I am going to put it in Bernie’s boat house before dark.” I offered and she said that would be nice and could we do it around sunset and I agreed.

Jack had arrived back and I waved him over and walked down to Bernie’s boathouse, so I could get his opinion on something.

“Bernie told me he used to have a green underwater light in front of this dock to attract fish at night. I have no idea how many watts it is or exactly where it is. But here is the switch for it. Can you rig us a plug for that light, so we can see if we can turn it on or not using that inverter in the Xantrex unit?” I asked him as he studied the wiring and then began tracing it back to the edge of the dock.

“Look here David you’re in luck; looks like it plugs into this outlet right here and works off a photovoltaic cell to turn on and off at dusk. The cell looks fried. Humm… no it switched off the surge protectors, so maybe it still works and is just dirty as hell. You can try just plugging in direct to that portable battery pack to see if it works, but being around water I would like to count on more than that Xantrec’s fuses. Plus you’re going to have to pull that generator in every night, in case it rains or the morning dew gets all over it. It’s really made just for indoors.” he said, “Although it does have a place to attach solar panels to recharge it.” Jack advised me and we went to roll the Xantrec unit down lakeside to test out his theory.

“I imagine he has a spotlight or some kind of pool light down there. I ain’t diving in to try to see what it is, but we need to know the wattage which I guess could be anywhere from 75W to 175 Watts depending on what the hell he has down there. How would you change a light bulb on that thing if it’s underwater? I guess we worry about that some other day, got to be a way to just haul it up to the surface I guess.” I said while following Jack pulling our little unit down to the dock on its two wheels.

We plugged it in and walked down to the end of the dock and peered in the water,

“Oh hang on I forgot to hit the switch.” Jack said and walked part way back down the dock and flicked the switch.

“Cool! Jack, check this out.” I said and pointed to a weird unearthly greenish glow in the water looking like something from a sci-fi movie was about to rise from the deep.

“Now that’s neat ,if we can see it that good now, just imagine what its going to look like tonight.” Jack said peering at the glowing orb of light.

“Let’s shut it off for now and surprise everyone with it tonight” I said walking back towards the switch.

“Want to start telling Lake Monster or alien stories before then?” Jack said grinning.

“We better not, folks ain’t to happy with our practical jokes these days and that Saran Wrap up under the toilet seat one backfired on me when my Mom went to use the bathroom instead of one the girls.” I said remembering getting my butt chewed for that little trick I played out of boredom and for a bit of entertainment.

“I would attempt something on Lois, but she is actually scared of those kinds of things like imaginary lake creatures and it wouldn’t be too cool to get her nervous about the lake now that she has just started getting used to it.” Jack said as we entertained ourselves by contemplating ways we could use our new find to get up to some mischief.

“Can you tell if that Photovoltaic cell works or not?” I asked him.

“It should be pretty easy to check out. Hey this Xantrec unit also will tell you how much load you are pulling, so we don’t have to guess when it’s going to drain the battery. Also, tell the girls’ that if it starts beeping to shut it off, that’s the low voltage warning.” Jack said before we plugged the light direct into the cell and he did a easy bit of checking by putting has hand over the little window and causing it to go light dark, turning the light in the lake on and off.

“Well, we will just let it come on and give everyone a nice surprise. We certainly need it to improve our night fishing catches.” I told him grumbling about all this water and lack of fish in it.

This lake is a is a mostly infertile, clear water reservoir with a limited abundance of sport fish and baitfish, when compared to more fertile impoundments like those on the Coosa River where we first thought about trying to go. Deep, clear water and very skittish bass in shallow water, all go together, and often calls for applying deep water tactics we just can’t do when fishing from our docks, because we can’t cast out far enough to get our bait or lures into the main channel. So we been resorting to night fishing mostly and that type of fishing can show some of those bigger bass species foraging in the shallows.

“Jack we need to find someone like Bernie who has lived on this Lake for many years to help us out a bit and point out some good fishing holes and how to navigate to them. We are not far from the mid lake region where more people get lost around there, in the mid-lake, than anywhere else on the lake. Small islands, narrow, main lake openings and many, small to large islands, adorn the mid-lake section. If you are not careful to be looking back off and on, you may not even remember which direction you came from, because it all looks the same. There are also some big feeder creeks to get lost in as well. Some creeks are so big; you will think you are still on the main lake, when navigating blindly without a compass and a good map.” I explained to him about one of our borders of the Lake that I had only been out on once during a guided fishing trip.

“Sounds like a pretty dangerous proposition to get too far out seeing that there most likely is nobody around these days to help you if you get in trouble out on the water. I wonder how many people had to swim in or paddle in when that Solar storm hit” Jack said walking back towards my house with me.

“I don’t know, I suppose a lot of boats would still work because of simple engines and a lot of them wouldn’t, it would depend on the type of electronics in them. That’s very difficult to consider what might work or not. What would be weird think about also is if you were out sailing you wouldn’t have noticed a thing until you returned to shore and noticed the power was out.” I responded and contemplated the matter with him.

“Jack I am thinking about taking some kitchen cupboards out of one of these houses and outfitting that boat so that I don’t have my barter goods all over the place. What do you think?” I said while looking at my watch and noticing it would be dusk pretty soon.

“That should be pretty easy to rig. We can probably even make them easily removable, if you want.” He said following my lead out to the area we were using for a community kitchen.

“Hi. What’s for supper?” Jack chimed as we approached a tripod that suspended a big iron Dutch oven over the glowing coals of a fire.

“We are celebrating your new boat, its Chinese takeout night. We are having Mountain House Sweet and Sour Pork and Teriyaki Chicken with steamed rice.” Sherry said grinning knowing these were two of my favorites, even without the kung fu movies we used to enjoy watching while we ate in the past.

“Yum that sounds good.” I said and grabbed me a glass of orange drink.

This was an easy meal for everyone, boil some water add the freeze dried food and we were ready. You had to be careful with this type of food though; it was pretty low in calories, so we always had biscuits or bread and also one of the drink mixes that was high in vitamins to go with it.

“Hey, I got surprise for everyone; follow me.” I said.

“We’re not quite done eating.” Lois said anticipating there might be some leftovers she could have for doing the dishes. Who ever wanted to do dishes or was assigned that day to do them, didn’t have to cook and got an extra ration, if they wanted one. Lois seemed to love kitchen cleanup duty more that most.

“This won’t take long; bring your bowl with you.” I said and wandered down to our dock that wasn’t far from Bernie’s.

“Check it out.” I said pointing towards the green light that appeared in the water.

“Wow, that looks bizarre, but it’s pretty.” Sherry said looking at it from different angles.

“We will try some night fishing later on; that light should improve our odds a bit I am thinking.” I said to the delighted women and we headed back to the fire to socialize a bit.

“I figure we can leave that light on about 4 hours and still have plenty of power in the batteries for indoor things or what ever. That light is a wattage hog, so we got to be careful until Jack and I rig up something more suitable and I can find me some more batteries.” I said and about a half hour later we tried our luck fishing. The light I think helped some probably be better later when it drew some more bugs and fish, but I didn’t hang around that long. I was tired and morning would come soon enough for me,

6

Thanksgiving at the Boat Ramp

Jack and I took a short borrowing trip in the morning to look through some houses we had previously visited and decide how hard it would be to use the kitchen cupboards to outfit the boat when we needed to.

Going into vacant houses is creepy, you keep expecting someone to jump out of a room and challenge you. It really keeps you edge and it could cause a serious accident if you were not dedicated to knowing where everyone was at every minute. It was best just to stay right next to each other, because any unexpected sound would make you jump a mile and you had to be very conscious about not putting your finger anywhere near a trigger.

We got done with our little window shopping excursion for possible supplies and headed over to Donnie’s to pick him up and go check our trap.

The area we had chosen for to build the little cabin was off a short intersecting road that branched from the main road and we had placed our trap about 75 yards into the woods. As we got closer to the site, I could hear the sweet sound of success dead ahead. Gobble! Gobble!

“We got something by the sounds of it! Jack said and picked up the pace.

“Careful about getting...” I had started to say ‘too close’, when Donnie who started to lean down to peer into the trap at just the time all the turkeys inside freaked and tried to fly up out the top of the roof with quite a ruckus and nearly scared he and Jack to death. To which after watching them both about running over each other backing up, I started laughing as the two of them regained composure upon seeing the trap had held together in spite of the birds onslaught.

“Once they get used to us standing here and talking for a minute, they will calm down.” I advised them.

“When we go to look at them keep in mind they can kick and peck but that’s only if you’re being very foolish or careless and get too close. A turkey will try to fight you or chase you though outside that pen. The Turkeys who get accustomed to suburban life have been known to apparently start to see people as other turkeys, often displaying aggressive social behavior in attempts to establish their "turkey dominance." There used to be some funny videos on YouTube of people getting chased by turkeys.” I said listening to our captured birds settling down a bit and I eased over for a look.

“We did good. I am counting 6 or 7. Looks like the party is on! “I said thumping Donnie on the back and watching Jack bob up and down at a respectful distance to look through the spaces between the poles at our captured feast.

“I figure 6, but it’s sort of hard to see with them moving around in there.” Jack said grinning at our success.

“So what do we do now?” Donnie asked skeptically eying the birds.

“We go call a meeting with Frank and find out if everyone on his side of the inlet wants to have a little shindig or not” I said dropping a pole down in the entrance to our Turkey cabin.

“What’s that for? I thought you said they wouldn’t get out.” Jack asked me.

“They won’t, but I don’t want any others to get in, this is plenty and I want to find out if anyone on the other side of the lake knows how to clean one so I can get some help. I hate plucking and preparing the damn things and if I can get out of that task I will somehow.” I advised my trapping partners and they agreed that sounded like a good idea especially if it didn’t involve me having to teach them.

We loaded back up and went back to the compound and I told Sherry about our success and asked if she was ready to go visit Frank and Nancy.

She was very happy to get out of helping the others with the laundry and had been looking forward to our return trip anyway and so Sherry and I took the motor boat over for a visit to our neighbors.

Frank and Nancy either saw or heard us coming and were wandering down to their dock.

“Nice boat David, I saw you wrestling it down off the boat lift yesterday. That belonged to Mr. Mullins who no one’s seen much around here in years. He is an older guy that lives in Atlanta, so I doubt you will be hearing him complain about your using it.” Frank said with a twinkle in his eye.

“I am sure thankful that Mr. Mullins kept it in such fine shape. It feels strange to just up and take things, but it would be just dumb not to put things to use, that people might not ever get a chance to see again.” I said and wandered up to the Deck with him.

Sherry and Nancy were already up there and having an animated talk so I guessed that Sherry had told her about my proposed party.

“Frank, Sherry says her group wants to have a Thanksgiving party with us. Doesn’t that sound like a great idea?” Nancy said beaming at her husband.

Sherry and I talked to them about an hour and we tentatively picked tomorrow for it if all the lake residents agreed to it. I told Frank how I wanted to cook the turkeys but said we only had found 3 metal trash cans and did he know where any were at. He said the boat ramp around the bend had some and a little park with tables so it would be the perfect meet up place to hold our little get together.

Frank sent his two kids off on their bicycles to ask the other residents around him if they wanted to attend and we waited for the kids to give us RSVP back from them.

“Frank, do you or anyone that might be coming to our party know how to clean a turkey?” I tentatively broached the subject.

“Well I can, I used to turkey hunt and I am pretty sure Lamar knows how. He deer and hog hunts so it’s entirely possible. How did you get so many? I haven’t heard you all doing a bunch of shooting so you must have been back on the lake a ways cheating and hunting from the boat” he said interested as any avid hunter would be.

“He trapped them” Sherry chimed in happily before catching herself and looking perplexed that she had let my little secret out and wasn’t supposed to.

“Yea, I trapped them, but it’s my little secret how I did it for now” I said not wishing to have any competition in that arena.

“This little Thanksgiving celebration is on us, but in the future I might want to barter with you on this side of the lake if your hunting skills don’t match my trapping skills, you might want to trade me some cans of food or something for the opportunity to have one of my birds when I have a surplus.” I told him.

“You find a farm or something with turkeys on it?” He asked me directly and studied me while I gave my answer.

“No these are wild; you will see them with their feathers on to confirm that when I bring them over tomorrow morning so you and Lamar was it can help to clean them. I got six of them. So anybody else that’s up to task would be welcome too. I will be head cook and I caught them so I think I shouldn’t have to do any of the plucking and cleaning. Does that sound fair?” I said and sipped some hot Kool-Aid that actually didn’t taste too bad.

“OK, I think that sounds reasonable to me. It’s not a job I much like either but seeing how much trouble you are already going too sounds like a fair deal to me. The procedure is simple but takes a bit of time. The easiest way is to skin the whole bird after gutting it. However, this is not the best way to treat a bird for cooking. For the best flavor, you need to leave the skin on. The steps for cleaning the bird and leaving the skin on is as follows:

1. Remove the head.

2. Make an incision about 4 inches long in the bird’s underside just in front of his tail.

3. Pull out the guts but reserve the crop (gizzard), the heart and the liver. The rest goes into the gut pile.

4. Heat a bucket of water to boiling. Hold the bird by its feet and plunge it into the boiling water for a few seconds. This loosens the feathers and enables you to remove them.

5. Pull off the feathers. This is the hard part and may require re-dipping the bird to loosen all the feathers.

6. Once you have the feathers off, you will still have a few small feathers left on the bird. These can be singed off by holding the bird over the burner of a gas stove, camp fire or whatever; keeping the bird moving over the flame, you only want to singe off the tiny feathers, not cook the bird.

7. Thoroughly wash the bird inside and out with fresh cold water.

8. Remove the feet and either cook the bird or freeze it for later use.

“I just soon skin them. If I was going to fry one I would leave the skin on, but baking them like I am going to do, I don’t think it makes a huge difference. They will have been dead less than an hour time I bring them over, so you can do it however you like” I said to Frank and looked out to see if the kids were returning yet or not.

“You must have netted trade secret, I won’t try to get it out of you just yet but Lucas will. He looks like Rambo when he goes hunting and even puts those birds on the roost or something. I know on camouflage paint under his camouflage veil. He is going to worry you to death trying to find out a new hunting trick be legal or illegal. Hell it’s the illegal things that work best don’t they David?’ Frank said with a smile.

“Yeah you might say that.” I allowed, but was not giving up my little turkey fort trick.

“You need to ride across the Lake and meet a man named Boudreaux, now that guy can catch most anything. He even goes out for alligators around here.” Nancy said to Sherry.

“Alligators? This lake has gators? She said in surprise.

“She meant Alligator as in Gar fish, but I wouldn’t put it past a gator to be way back in one of these sloughs somewhere in the swampy area of the lake. None around here though.” Frank said to a relived Sherry.

After about 20 minutes the Kids came wheeling back and said everyone was up for what they referred to as a picnic and for us to expect an additional nine people.

“You sure it’s 9 Josh? He asked his eldest.

“Yes Sir, the Stokes family has a guest” he said

“I wonder who that might be.” Nancy said looking at Frank.

“Don’t know guess we find out tomorrow, wonder if who ever it is can clean turkeys” Frank said and then laughed.

“You need a ride over to the Boat ramp or is it pretty close?” I asked Frank

“Oh we can walk over, but I want to bring some extra fixings for that meal if you don’t mind picking up a few things from the end of my pier as you come by would make it easier on me.” Frank replied and I said I would check the ends of piers on the way by if anyone else wanted to do the same thing as him.

“Anyone going to have a problem with open carry firearms” I said tentatively and wondering how my question would be received.

“A few people might be carrying the same way as you prefer too, just keep it toned down if you would, after all it’s a party” Frank responded and I told him we would not be coming armed for bear, just keeping them handy and attended.

Sherry and I said our good byes and boated back to our dock to inform everyone that the Thanksgiving Day picnic was officially on for tomorrow.

Everyone started talking about what to bring besides the turkeys and I told them to just throw some canned vegetables into a bag and we would carry our two Dutch ovens and some rice. That’s it, nothing fancy and definitely no Mountain House freeze dried stuff or any other long term storage food we had. The other side of the lake would probably pitch in too and we would just dump all the vegetables in one pot and call it garden medley. There was a bit of grumbling about not being able to prepare any special dishes but everyone pretty much understood the importance of just showing what could be scavenged on the Lake.

Jack and I got out a big water cooler like the ones they carry on utility trucks and I mixed up about 4 gallons of purified water with orange drink mix and a half gallon of rum to take along.

The girls made up several quarts of apple drink mix and then we settled in for the evening.

The next day Donnie and Jack escorted me back to the turkey trap and after I had dispatched them we loaded the feathered carcasses into the lawn tractors trailer and Jack drove them back to camp while Donnie and I walked back on foot.

“I can’t believe the size of the Tom you got, he must weigh at least 30lbs “Jack said congratulating me on a big old bearded gobbler we had taken.

“Yea he is a big old boy, be sure to hand him to someone called Lucas so we can give him a dose of turkey envy” I said looking forward to showing off our prizes.’

“You are going to take one or both boats David? Donnie asked as we hiked along and I stopped to point out a blackberry patch we needed to bring the girls out to show sometime.

“We will bring both, Jack and I have to figure out how we are going to alternate guarding our compound while the other is at the party. I will probably go over first do the meet and greet then get the turkeys started cooking and come back and relieve him. Sherry can sail good enough I think if she takes it slow but I might let her use the motor boat. I haven’t decided what’s best yet.

“I could help you all stand guard.” Donnie offered.

“No we got it, but thanks anyway. You need to be trying to talk up bartering and maybe mention a little something about our bank.” I replied and although that was a good reason to keep him over there. I did not want him having access to our whole camp and seeing what we had stashed around it, after all he was still new to us.

“Shush, there’s deer” I said to Donnie seeing a Buck and a few does come out of the woods and start to go across the road. A .223 round is not an ideal deer round but I was loaded with hollow points just for such occasion and I took my shot. Blam! I hit the deer just under the shoulder and he staggered and then ran about 50 yards into the woods on the other side of the road and died. We waited about 5 minutes or so and went to look for the body in case he hadn’t bleed out and was still traveling but in this case it was unnecessary.

“Good shot David! I thought to try for a Doe but I didn’t think we needed it too and I was a bit concerned about trying it with a 9mm” Donnie said looking down at a nice 6 pointer.

I am glad he didn’t shoot too, no telling where that bullet would have gone I thought. To be fair Donnie had not any range time so I was only going off of what Jack had said previously. I think I will warn the folks at the party today that we were going to have a little firing practice tomorrow so they didn’t think we were fighting a range war or something.

“Help me get his head pointing downhill and I will cut his throat and let him bleed and let the carcass cool down” I said grabbing the deer’s back legs while Donnie maneuvered the front.

“You think Jack will be back to investigate the shot” Donnie asked leaning against a tree in the shade.

“He probably will, he knows we took a shot at something and will most likely figure out we might have bagged some game” I said listening for the roar of the engine.

“I think I hear him coming, come on we will wave him down.” I said and hurried through the woods to get back to the road.

Upon seeing me and Donnie emerge from the wood line Jack looked around left and right while slowing to meet us and stopping the Lawn mower.

“You get a shot at something?” Jack said inquiringly

“Yea we got a Deer, he is off in the bushes about 50 yards from here.” I said smiling

“Way to go! I had just dumped those turkeys down by the Dock when I heard the shot and decided to see what it was about” Jack said dismounting the tractor and following us back through the brush where the deer lay.

“Even has a bit of a rack on him, you know any weird survival tricks for using the Horns David” Jack said half serious.

“No, just the usual stuff like making simple tools but we not stone age bush crafting out here” I replied smiling at my buddy.

“I can carry him up to the trailer” Donnie said starting to fireman carry the deer up to the trailer over his shoulder.

“You might want to wait a bit on that, Donnie. The carcass has not really cooled yet and all the fleas, ticks and mites will jump off him and onto you if you don’t wait a bit.” I advised.

“Oh yea, that makes sense” Donnie said

“Jack when we get back grab one of those extra poles we got and we can tie the deer’s legs together and it will be easier to tote him around.” I said and he agreed.

When we got back to camp I saw that the girls already had the boats loaded and ready to go. They had a wet sheet covering the turkeys in the bottom of the sail boat and the rest of the gear in the motor boat.

“I am taking the sailboat right David?” Sherry said matter of factly and pointed out how well she had stowed the turkeys and commented on how heavy they were.

“They didn’t help you carry them?” I said indicating the girls.

“Well Sandra did, but nobody else would touch them. They are kind of messy missing their heads an all, but I told them they could have just grabbed them by the wings or feet but they just made faces and excuses.” Sherry responded looking like she was the proud hunter of this quarry too.

“I guess we put the deer in with them, too.” I suggested eying what space was left

“Can you prop him up on the bow someway like a figure head? That would look so cool. Sherry said thinking of the great entrance she was going to make sailing in a boat load of wild game all by herself to the party.

“Yeah, I can rig him lying on his belly, but you can’t have him looking like he will butt something, because his neck will flop around too much. Jack give me a hand with this deer.” I said and wrestled it onto the boat and tied it down securely. I got to admit it did look quite impressive sprawled out with a leg on each side and its head secured to look forward by a cleat.

“Behold the mighty huntress and her sailboat.” I said displaying my creation.

“Tell Lois to give you that camo shotgun and wear your olive drab boonie hat and the picture will be complete” I said grinning at her while watching jack help my mom onto the Chris Craft.

“Hang on a minute; I want to get my hat.” Sherry said running to get it and wanting to go all out to my amusement.

“Jack you just hold down the fort here and I will be back in about 4 hours max to get you fed and takeover. I might even bring a nibble you can have on your way if everything goes to plan. I will do a commo check with you on the two way radio when we get there, but if we lack commo because of the range of those things just fire off three quick shots and we will come a running if you need us.” I said shook his hand.

“No worries, take care of Lois and save me lots of turkey” he said smiling as a frantic Sherry ran past him with her hat hanging down by its chin strap on her back and climbing into the sailboat to start getting ready to get under way.

“Sherry, now hold on a minute. I got a few things to go over with you. I have too pick up a few things off Franks dock and the others if anything’s there. You need to be just slowly tacking and zig zagging towards the boat ramp while I am doing that. I don’t want you to come into the boat ramp before I do. Now listen to me this is very important. I don’t know how deep that water is in front of that ramp. Get about 200 feet out from it and put the nose of your boat in the wind and calm the sail. Then crank that center board up at least halfway. There is no indicator to tell you when halfway is but you can sort of feel it and the way the boat handles. That centerboard is about 5 or 6ft long and will be tough to get it started at first from the locked down position, then come about and just barely sail in. Do NOT ram my Chris craft or drag bottom with that centerboard. Also remember, if you have to do another approach to the dock and turn around that the boat tips easy if you don’t have that board down to steady you.” I told her and reminded her to do exactly what I said and that I would signal her to swing out when I made my approach to the dock. “I might want to drive by it first, I won’t know until I see the gathering.”

“Ok David, I got it. I am going to raise the main sail and head out now and then when I get part way out I put the center board down and go for it right?” She said anxious to be off.

“And no playing in my wake, I told her remembering she had not had the experience of cresting the waves that boats throw out’ and not wanting her to start experimenting with the loaded sailboat for a new thrill even going slow.

She gave me a mischievous look and said ok and made sail.

I cranked my engine, and checked to be sure my passengers were ready before I slowly pulled away from the dock and watched Sherry getting the feel for a good wind and her load and starting her first tack. I put the boat about mid throttle and felt the surge of power as the front end of my boat came up and my group went speedily along towards Frank and Nancy’s.

“Donnie, grab that box and bag of charcoal when I pull alongside the pier” I said throttling down and coasting towards the dock.

“Don’t get your hands or arms between the boat and the Dock” I cautioned to my landlubber crew who were trying to help keep us from drifting into it while Donnie grabbed the supplies.

“Got it” Donnie said and motioned for me to carry on.

I put the boat in reverse and slowly cruised the front of the surrounding properties and piers which were all empty save one.

“Package pickup Donnie” I said pointing ahead two piers up.

“I see it” Donnie said and grabbed more charcoal and a big cast iron pot full of baked beans.

“See people made things” My mom said to me put out that I had prevented her from doing something similar.

“We are doing more than enough mom. You can help with those extras we brought when we get there I reassured her.

The Boat ramp was situated in the middle of what looked like a wharf with a few docks sticking out. I couldn’t really see what was above on the bluff and I pulled up to the first dock. Very soon a whole gaggle of people where wandering down happily babbling and introducing themselves as I unloaded my passengers and cargo and waved at Sherry to make her approach to the dock to the right of me.

I got her said Frank and went over to the next dock to receive her bowline when she came in. Everyone was friendly as hell but there were just too many people milling around and I didn’t catch half their names as Sherry started performing the tricky maneuvers I required of her to come into her slip.

I heard a Cajun accent next to me and felt a hand on my back as an old swamper with a craggy deep suntanned face said “That’s a fine looking pirogue you using for a meat wagon, I am Boudreaux” he said shaking hands beside me but not taking his eyes off the sailboat as Sherry cranked in the centerboard some. He pronounced his name BOOD-Row.

“Whee! Too much little lady, you can leave her down a might, you got pretty good portage here” He hollered to her about deafening me with that rebel yell of a ‘wheel’ to get her attention.

“Bring her on in” I yelled to Sherry and she straightened the boat out and made a remarkably easy landing.

“Hi Sherry! You got that thing looking like an Old Norse Viking Boat” Frank said to her as Boudreaux ambled over and made a sharp whistle at the deer and said something in what sounded like French.

"LAISSEZ LES BON TEMPS ROULER, “I think he said meaning let the good times roll and a slogan for Mardi Gras.

“Permission to come aboard, Capt.’s?” Boudreaux addressed the Sherry and hopped down in the boat’s cockpit before Sherry could break her smiley face grin and answer him.

Boudreaux tugged off the wet sheet that was keeping the turkeys cool and announced loudly to whoever was listening, “Well bless us today if this little girl ain’t got us a whole boat load of turkeys for dinner. Damnation child you shoot this big Tom Gobbler with that there scatter gun? ""AIEEE!" "WE GON PASS A GOOD TIME, YEAH, CHER," "OO, I LOVE YOU LIKE A PIG LOVES CORN," he said hugging an overwhelmed Sherry like he had known her all her life.

“You men folk get down here and help unload this skiff! David you shake your bones and come over here and have a little parlay with me and Sherry for some lagniappe if do me an honor and a favor” Boudreaux said all excited and ordering people around like he was the tool pusher on an oil rig

Let me translate for the reader here, Lagniappe - "Lan Yap" This is what New Orleans call something you get for free. For example, if you go to the butcher and he gives you a bone for your dog, it's called lagniappe. Or a baker’s dozen of donuts is 13.

“Now I got me this old hound that has probably been pining away for me for over a month now I just gotta see. I live right over there and threatened to try to paddle across this here lake yesterday to see about him but nothing around here is suitable and me drifting in the middle of the lake does no good for nobody. You let me ride with someone right now to go see about my dog and I will be beholden to you forever as well as I got me a big turkey fryer over there you can bring back” Boudreaux said in total animation while helping to unload the boat as well as grab me or Sherry once in awhile. Did I say Cajuns talk with their hands a lot? Boudreaux managed to do it even if it had a turkey or a deer pole in it.

“Settle down Boudreaux, and go jump on that motor boat. I will take you now, but I want to drain a canteen and fill it from that cooler that’s heading to the top of the ramp.” I managed to get out before Boudreaux was out of the sailboat, hollering at the man with the cooler to hold up and getting in my boat to search for the canteen. He even made the man start walking back before I got over to the boat. We filled the canteen and took off leaving everyone on the landing in amazement staring at our departure.

“You got binoculars on this thing?” Boudreaux asked as antsy as ever as we neared the center of the lake.

“Yes, hang on “I told him and opened the glove box on the boat and passed him a pair.

“Mon Ami! He still waits on his Paw Paw! You lookee there at that fine dog.” he said passing me the binoculars and pointing at a little cottage. I had about two seconds to see what he was looking at, while he drove and I looked before he snatched them back, but I saw an old hound dog full of love and devotion patiently sitting on a back porch.

“That be my Bear dog, he don’t hunt them, just what I named him” Boudreaux said jubilantly.

“I bet he been sitting out this whole month of Sundays waiting on me.

"Where y'at Bear! The old Cajun hollered across the Lake and the dog perked up and gave an exuberant howl back that reminded me of a pack of coon hunting dogs.

“You bin looking f'dat that old Paw Paw long time now HUH!” He called to the dog that was almost getting airborne with his tail wagging in a circle on the dock now. I had just cut the motor to coast on in when Boudreaux jumped off the boat and the dog jumped in the lake and they began to swim around each other in circles overjoyed at their reunion.

The back door of the cabin next to where I had parked opened up and a stocky old woman wandered out.

“Boudreaux bless the saints you made it back” she said and hurried over as Boudreaux and the dog were coming out of the water.

“That fool dog of yours has been worrying me to death” she said hugging a wet Boudreaux and not even complaining when Bear shook the water off himself onto both of them.

“Bless you my friend for bringing him home “she said to me and gave me a surprisingly strong hug for a woman of her years.

“Back and forth, back and forth, between your door and mine every hour or two looking for you. Dang fool won’t listen either when I tell him I don’t know where you are at! I got to let him in once in awhile so he can see for himself I haven’t hid you in a closet or something. An that old bastard of a hound wont eat nothing but biscuits and complains if I burn them” She said exasperated but glad the old codger was safe and pretending to take offense at the dog occasionally poking his nose into her like he was saying I told you so.

I am not sure Boudreaux heard half of what she was saying, he was busy rubbing the dog, then standing straight up like he was going to say something to her, and then back down to rubbing the dog and even rolling around on the ground with it once.

“I am Beverly” She said extending what was still a calloused hand for her years of hard work in probably a factory somewhere.

“David is my name. Looks like a match made in heaven “I said observing Boudreaux on his knees with the dog’s paws wrapped around his neck loving on each other.

“ They are a proper pair they are, that dog is 15 years old which makes him about 105 in people years and Boudreaux raised his mother and him both from pups” she said patting them both and enjoying a bond of her own with the pair.

“What was that about biscuits you were telling him?’ I asked as Boudreaux rose to join the human conversation that was going on.

“That dog knows he can’t have none of my biscuits except as a special treat or when Boudreaux thinks I am not looking and sneaks him one. He won’t eat dog food, canned beans, or fish whatever. After the first week or so when Boudreaux wasn’t back I tried him on a biscuit and now he thinks I have to bake everyday or he wont eat” She said frowning at the happy dog who now did not have a care in the world and was taking the time to snuffle around my pants leg trying to figure out what I had been up to with his master.

“I bet he wanted butter on them biscuits before he found out he wasn’t getting none” Boudreaux said hugging and giving his neighbor a peck on the cheek while still playing with his mutt.

“I always told you that you spoiled that slobbery snoot face too much, maybe he will eat his dog food like he supposed to now” Beverly said escaping the grip he had on her that required her to go up and down with him as he patted his pet.

“The hound looks good; you been worrying over him at a rocket pace it appears. You want to maybe come to Mardi Grais with me and David and take Bear for a boat ride?” Boudreaux said to which he perked his ears up reminding me of that old “Dogs bacon bacon “ commercial and ran down to the dock and hopped in my captains chair like he was going to be the driver and occasionally looking over the windshield wagging his tail trying to hurry us.

“Hells bells Boudreaux, I haven’t seen you for a month and you don’t even let me fix my hair before you got me a flutter going god knows where” Beverly said unsure what we were proposing.

“ Go get what you need Boudreaux, I will explain everything to Beverly and she can make up her mind if she is coming or not” I started to say before Beverly interjected she was coming irregardless and Boudreaux started back towards his house and the dog jumped out of the boat to join him.

“I have been hard living for the last few weeks and that old Pirate come back and say lets go to a party? I will get him for this later. David be patient 10 minutes as I just put on some lipstick and rouge” she said watching Boudreaux carrying out a turkey cooker and the dog helping by trying to keep the propane hoses from dragging the ground by carrying them like leash in his mouth ,

“Go right ahead and fix up, and I will go help him load the boat” I said and left her to her primping for the party.

“Grab that bucket of cooking oil David and I will carry the propane tanks” Boudreaux said while the dog ran back and forth between the boat and us knowing there was some kind of people food involved in this boat ride.

We grabbed the supplies out of the little storage room attached to the house and returned for the rest of what Boudreaux wanted to carry to what might be remembered as the new first Thanksgiving in my mind.

“Come on to the house David, and get your Lagnappe. I got to get me some spices for that big Tom that they better of not skinned.” And we walked back up to his home.

“That dogs not allowed to drink but he will bother you for it the old sot, go in back of my bar and you will find an unopened bottle of Wild Turkey Whiskey, that’s your bit extra, and give me a reasonable price for the boat rides and me and Beverly can settle up with you” Boudreaux said going into the kitchen and making selections while hollering out to me did I need this our that injectable spices he had.

“Grab everything you need and you get three turkeys to cook and I got three I can do my way, if they haven’t started already.” I told him and wondered if that smart dog of his would carry my whiskey down to the boat for me. I put the bottle neck in his mouth a couple times but he thought we were playing fetch or keep away and that game didn’t go far and I retrieved my bottle from under a chair.

“Boudreaux I am going to check on Beverly and meet you down at the boat.” I told him and headed next door.

Beverly answered my knock and the old girl looked totally different with a bit of makeup on.

“You’re looking pretty Beverly, you about ready?” I said wanting to hurry up and get back over to the party

“Yes, grab them jars of canned peaches and pickled okra and we can get going. A party, who would’ve thought that old lounge lizard would get home and have a party to go to before he even gets in the door good. “She said smiling and locking her backdoor.

Everybody including Bear piled in the boat and we were off.

““Boudreaux how did you get stuck on the other side of the lake?” I asked him as we were heading back to the wharf.

“Hell I drove over about 60 miles to put my boat in the shop at the marina and hang out at the bar until it got done when that damn solar storm shut everything down” he said disgustedly and Beverly advised him if he hadn’t of wanted to hang out in a bar he could of got his boat fixed closer to home to which he just ignored her.

“I have been trying every which away to even work my way back here. I tried poling an old bass boat through the shallows but that didn’t work so well and just tuckered me out. I been walking for weeks along back roads and lake roads and trying to avoid the crazies and the rowdies. They got some kinda feud going on amongst them folks in Jackson’s gap and they pointing a gun at anything that moves. I finally made it to Jeremy Stokes place and there I been sitting for 4 days healing up and trying to figure out how to get across this here lake when you come along” he said as he patted his dog while telling his tale and looking at a sympathetic Beverly.

“How much we owe you for this ferry ride David?” Beverly asked.

“Oh it’s on me, could use some gas on the return trip though if you wouldn’t mind my partner Jack siphoning some out of your car” I told them.

“Where you gonna be?” Boudreaux asked and I told him I had to go relieve Jack on guard duty in a couple hours and that it would be him that would be taking them home later on.

“Don’t seem fair you go to all the trouble of setting up that little soiree and then have to leave just when the dancing starts but I can’t say as I blame ya wanting to keep an eye on your place these days.” Boudreaux said while getting into a can of peaches.

“What Dancing?” I said to Boudreaux thinking he was using some kind of Louisiana slang.

“They didn’t tell you? No you hadn’t stepped off the boat long enough to suck the head on a crawfish. I got a mess of them by the way. I can play a little and there are a couple musicians over there and we decided we would call ourselves a band. You going to get to hear cottoneyed Joe like you never heard before. Aiee! And Beverly you going to dance with me.” He said grinning and the dog got all excited at the two of them hugging each other knowing some kind of fun was in the works.

If he gets that dog to dancing to fiddle music I am going to have to stick around for that I thought

I slowed the boat and coasted towards the pier. Frank and Sherry came down to the pier and moments later they introduced me to Jeremy Stokes who had wandered down in back of them.

“Boudreaux we saved that Tom for you, we figured you could use that cooker of yours to boil some water and loosen those feathers easier than we could because nobody has a pot big enough.” Jeremy told him

Sherry helped Beverly bring up her canning jars and I just sort of followed the procession up to the recreation area on the boat ramp where everyone seemed to be doing something. I had to laugh at the kids running around playing Indian with turkey feathers stuck in headbands made out of rags or bits of cord.

“We went ahead and started cooking those turkeys David, hope you don’t mind. We didn’t want to leave them out in this sun too long and you gave simple enough directions on how to do it so we just went for it” Frank said and I looked over at the four garbage cans they had set up with the charcoal placed just right approvingly.

Boudreaux was happily ordering everyone about to fill his kettle full of water and hook up his propane etc. While he took a giant syringe and was injecting one of the turkeys saved for him full of some concoction he said was also good for growing hair on your chest. I noticed they had a couple of those steel camp grills getting fired up too where they were going to cook some venison steaks and someone had a pit made in the ground with a fire burning down in it that I guess they were going to slow cook the roasts like you do when cooking a hog in the ground.

I saw Donnie engaged in a deep conversation with several people and he had some small stacks of silver coins in front of him that he would point to occasionally.

I guess he is trading or banking so I won’t go meet those folks just yet I thought

Seems everyone knows my name but the occasional quick introductions left a jumble of names in my head that I hadn’t associated with the faces yet. Seems most were related in some way and that southern way of giving you the lineage of the person with a couple names before getting to the persons real name just got me confused. This is Michael’s son that favors his momma side Juliet’s Cousin Trevor boy Monroe, his name is Billy or some such introduction would just leave me saying pleased to meet you and not remembering his name at all 5 minutes later.

I knew the women would remember every last detail so if I had a question about somebody I would get clarification of who’s who later.

I went over to where Boudreaux was pulling the feathers out of his turkey with a vengeance after dipping it in the boiling water. I hate the smell of feathers after that process and got on the upwind side of him.

” I hear you staying in Bernie’s place and he sort of gifted it to you all “Boudreaux said and had me help him get the kettle of water off the fire and proceeding to singe the pin feathers off the turkey which smelled worse for the dipping process.

“You know Bernie? Small world isn’t it” I said to him and proceeded to tell him how I come to know him and Roland.

“When you going up to visit them again? I got two horses up there on Roland’s place I would like to get. Well my horse and Beverly’s, we board them up on his place and go riding and stay in that pond cabin sometimes” Boudreaux said dumping the water out of his kettle and then refilling it with oil.

“Well depending on this party’s outcome, I might do it in a day or two. I got some business to discuss with them maybe” I offered.

“I heard about your lowering the prices thing, I don’t think it will work but I agree we got to establish someway to trade some hard money around here. I understand the part if you said gas was ten cents silver, that would be about $2.50 a gallon based on melt value, but I think you want to make gas 4 cents a gallon? Or at least that’s what that old shyster you got working the crowd is trying to do or explain it that way. Anyway he is offering 20 cents for 5 gallons which seems too cheap to me; course up here silver is rarer than gas, so maybe there is a point to it all.” Boudreaux said and we went to get a glass of the joy juice Jack and I had mixed up that was in the cooler next to where Donnie was still trying to explain our banking structure.

“Get Donnie to explain it in more detail to you later, I got to go through the same song and dance with Roland and Bernie if he gets everyone in agreement” I told him not wanting to try to wrap my head around how complex it was just to get started on my plan at this moment.

“Let’s go check how much time they got left on those garbage can birds. A lot of watches don’t work these days and I want to know how they’re timing them.” I told Boudreaux as I walked over to where Frank and Jeremy were standing watch on them.

“Hey Frank. Who is official time keeper on cooking those birds?” I said watching the heat waves coming off the cans.

“I guess that would be Jeremy, there an old wind up alarm clock he has over on the table there set to go off at an hour and a half. Its the only working time piece we got and we are not sure its even right, He set it by the sun at high noon one day and that’s been official time over on this end of the lake ever since. I am guessing we got about 15 minutes or so until we have our first look see.” He said and asked Jeremy to go check the time.

“Hey David we don’t have but a few old silver coins on this side of the lake. We got some old gold jewelry that the women folk may or may not give up and I haven’t had time to sit down with Donnie and figure out what the hell a Bernie buck is yet, sounds like a scam to me.” Frank said regarding me and watching Boudreaux acting like he was trying to use x-ray vision to see the baking turkeys.

“ Its not a scam, we can call the currency that our silver backs whatever you all want, that’s just a name we picked for it to kind of honor Bernie for all his help to us. Look I tell you what; here is a five dollar roll of mercury dimes. You are now the treasurer on this side of the lake for now. That represents 13 Bernie bucks that the underlying roll of silver backs or 130 hours of labor or equivalent trade goods. The going rate on Bernie Bucks is 1 hour of labor for 10 cents redeemable in silver when ever called for. No leveraging your Bernie Bucks. There has got to be enough silver on hand at all times to back them up. If you need more hours of work or trade goods, then you have to come to our bank so we can create it. The bank makes a fee on that but it will be nominal. You take those $5.00 worth of dimes and distribute them equally to the heads of the households represented here if they want some credit to buy that beef Donnie brought with him. Write their names down in a book what they owe in Bernie Bucks and trade them amongst yourselves or whatever. Donnie will tell you the details” I said while Donnie looked at the roll of coins unsure if he wanted to get involved in my scheme.

“How much is your beef?” Boudreaux asked

“ 20 cents a pound in Bernie bucks which equals two hours work or say 4 cans of tomatoes or whatever we decide they are worth” I said still trying to figure out an easier way to do this.

“So to cash in my Bernie bucks for 1 silver dime how much is it?” Boudreaux asked making me scratch my head for a minute much to his amusement

“Uh 2.6 hours I make it. Let’s see 5.00 silver equals 130 hours work, divide that by 50 coins in a roll. Yea that’s right” I told Boudreaux

“There has got to be an easier way to figure this” Frank said

“I know, I agree with you, but we are limited to the cash we can circulate around here and still make things affordable. Today lets eat and we figure it out later.” I told them totally frazzled by the conversation.

Donnie wandered over and said it was just too complicated to do things with the Bernie bucks and said we were probably just going to have to say 10cents an hour was 10 cents an hour silver and be done with it. I said I agreed but wanted to talk about it more. And was glad the alarm clock went off signaling the turkeys were done.

We pulled the cans off the birds and saw that they were cooked to perfection. Tender and juicy and about falling off the bone while giving off a wonderful aroma. The unveiling of the birds made everyone come over and stare at the sumptuous spectacle. We transferred the turkeys via garbage can lids to a sheet plastic covered concrete table and the ladies of the assembled groups organized a line that swung by the turkey table and over to the other table holding the fixings that went with it they had prepared and after a man named Samuel lead a little prayer of Thanksgiving for today and tomorrow, we all dug into the feast as Boudreaux wandered around eating off his plate and telling everyone to leave room for his Cajun fried turkey but his words feel on deaf ears as everyone wolfed down the meal that was unforeseeable until today.

“I got to go get Jack, and swap out the duty” I told Sherry

”I hate you gotta go so soon ,they say they going to play some music later and we can stay with them overnight if we want to and they would make a place for us” Sherry replied wanting to stick with the festivities for the evening.

“I don’t want you to be trying to sail that boat at night so stay over if you want. I will make Jack spell me later on and comeback for a bit, so save a dance for me, if you will. If you don’t mind, will you fix Jack a plate, while I say my farewells?” I told her and went to check on my mom.

“David, I’d just soon sleep on my side of the inlet tonight unless everyone is staying and Lois feels the same way” Mom said to me and getting weary from the heat and all the activity.

“That’s fine, Jack will be coming back to swap out with me in a few hours or you can come back home with me now if you feel like it.” I said thinking it would be best if she just came on with me.

“If Jack only stays a few hours, I just soon stay here a bit longer and get to know everybody better, these are some really nice folks David.” she said having missed talking with new people since our group departure from Montgomery.

“I am sure he will go along with that, I am sure Lois will want to settle in by then too. Well have a good time.” I told her and gave her a kiss on the cheek to make her happy.

“Boudreaux, save me some of that special turkey you are fixing, I am going after my chow hound buddy. Are you staying the evening or are you needing to get home tonight?’ I asked him trying to coordinate my shuttle service.

“Beverly and I are going to use one of the vacant houses over here for the night, I saved your buddy some crawdads he said passing me a Ziploc. Look at that dog over there, he loves kids but I don’t think he can keep up anymore.” He said pointing to the hound who had his tongue lolling out of his mouth sitting in the shade watching the youngsters who like most kids of their age had boundless energy for running around in any kind of weather.

“I will take you back in the morning and see you a bit later on this evening. You can tell me where you caught those crawfish, I am not familiar with what is creek and what is lake around here” I told him and grimaced at the amount of red pepper he had seasoned them with as I stole one of Jacks crayfish.

“You need me, I be there.” he said and held up his 30-30 to make a point.

“I appreciate that Boudreaux, all the best” I responded and headed down to the dock and cast off and headed for the compound.

Jack must have been looking my way with the binoculars because he was Johnny on the spot waiting for me on the pier by the time I got to the center of the inlet waiting on me.

“How goes it! You got everything all cooked yet?” Jack said catching my bow line.

“Yeah, everything’s done and lots of it, I got you a plate Sherry fixed for you and a bag of crawdads that a man called Boudreaux fixed especially for you if you want to tie on the feed bag before you get there.” I said passing him the chow I brought.

“ I will sit with you for a minute” he said and took a seat at the umbrella table we had out on the dock and pulled the foil off his plate and opened his bag of crawfish.’

“Go get me a fork or something, if you don’t mind, that is if you didn’t bring one already” he said starting to peel a crawdad and looking hungry.

“Oh here,” I said retrieving one of those little utility packs everyone saves from takeouts.

“Damn that’s some spicy crawdads, taste good though. What else did he season them with besides the pepper?” Jack said trying to identify the underlying flavors.

“I don’t know, he has a bunch of “File`” (sassafras) in it though, I recognize the taste, something citric but I don’t know what it might be” I replied watching him grabbing a bit of turkey with his hand next and forgoing for the fork he had asked for.

“This Turkey is good! You weren’t kidding about how tender it would be.” He said and finally opened his utensils from the package and grabbed a fork, Yum I like these beans too, what kind of meat they got in them?” he said going after the molasses heavy pile in front of him.

“Sherry chopped up some of the backstrap off that deer in them for you. I tell you what; everywhere you look over there somebody is working on cooking something. It’s a shame we don’t have any refrigeration because there is going to be leftovers a plenty even with you coming for a visit” I told him while watching him doing a magic trick by making the food disappear almost before I got done talking.

“This is the best we had in I don’t know when” Jack said ready to be off and get some more.

“Hey Lois and Mom want to come back home in a few hours, you got any problem cutting your time off short? Also I was thinking about staying the night over there” I said for him to consider being the all night security for the compound.

“Alcohol must be flowing free over there; sure I’ll stay no problem.” Jack said grinning and jumping into the boat.

“I appreciate it Jack, go have a good time and find someone named Beverly who is hanging out with that Cajun, she has some peaches that she put up that are as sweet as honey” I told him and he cranked the motor and looked like he was in a race to get to the other side of the lake.

I need to enlist Boudreaux to teach me how to navigate this lake. I know there are several small towns I can get to by water and possibly do some bartering at, but I don’t have a clue what condition I will find them in. Maybe I could just trade at different parts of the lake and not bother with getting too close to what might be dangerous territory I debated with myself.

I better start my patrol now and walk my perimeter a bit I decided and grabbed my AR and started wandering the shoreline. I was careful to keep an eye on the water so I could spot the perch and little bass moving about so I could get a feel for their behavior patterns when next I went fishing. I saw a big bass jump out in the channel and it always bugged me we couldn’t cast out that far. That light on the end of our pier now should help matters some. I probably ought to think about turning it on tonight as a boat guide but it was pretty early yet and wouldn’t even get dark until about 7.30. It’s been a good day all things considered.

It sort of restored my hopes in humanity to see everyone enjoying themselves and making future plans. I had no idea what the fate would deal us or how long it was going to be before civilization as we knew it could get rebooted and back to normal, but one thing was sure the reconstruction was on at this end of the lake. I shouldn’t even worry about trying to trade so much, regular barter would work for most things we would need in the short term, but the prepper in me said I must plan for the future still and if they did get the grid restarted I needed to try to build up some money of some sort so I could go back to the rat race of trying to survive the old way.

Roland and Bernie I guess had similar notions I imagine, it seems mans need for accumulating wealth to be more comfortable in someway never ceases. People all over the world measure wealth in different ways. Some people keep cattle or sheep etc. while others make the land produce more crops. I guess my tribe was rich in many things that others lacked and for that I was extremely grateful.

I walked back down the shoreline and looked over at Donnie’s house to see all was well there also. I really need to explore this side of the inlet more so I can figure out if all this security is totally necessary. I guess there is really no telling if or when we might ever have a problem. I never thought having neighbors like they did over on the other side of the lake had so many potential possibilities for community efforts but I still liked our little arrangement here.

I took the binoculars and scanned the inlet to see if anything was going on and except for the geese making their slow rounds swimming the shoreline it was all quite and peaceful.

I began to think back upon my trip from Atlanta and wondered what stories everyone I had encountered on the way home had and if they were safe or being able to find enough food. The old solar system sure put a whammy on the earth. Well not really the earth, if just gave mankind a big attitude adjustment.

I worried a bit that more people would be moving further and further out from the cities and might bother our little sanctuary here. No sense worrying about that now, we were here to stay and I couldn’t imagine having to pick up and go into the unknown somewhere else. I had some experience and knowledge but we were awful lucky to have the amount of supplies we had to give us this edge to transition into this new way of trying to get by.

What the hell is that noise? Someone is coming down that gravel road it sounds like and my dumb ass is out here sitting on the dock like I am on vacation. I hurried off the dock and went to the side of the girls’ house to peer around and see who it was.

Dummy, you left the radio sitting on the table on the pier I thought when I reached for it on my belt; too late now.

Horses, I hear horses, could it be? YES! It was, Roland was riding a horse and Bernie was driving the wagon with John and Sarah as well as another couple riding in it.

“HELLO! Good to see you.” I called as I rushed to greet them.

“HI David. Where’s the rest of your clan?” Bernie said climbing down from the wagon walking forward to greet me.

“Across the inlet, I will tell you all about what’s going on in a minute” As I greeted Roland, John and Sarah and got introduced to the other couple.

“David, this is Fred and Mary, they live just up the side of the slough back there” Bernie said gesturing.

“Oh the mystery sign people from the next point” I said and explained we had seen their sign and left the house unmolested to which they were most thankful.

“I explained to them you might have raided it a might, but I am glad you thought it through and didn’t mess with it. No sense starting out on the wrong foot if you can help it with new neighbors.” said Roland joining us after seeing to the horses.

“You come on a great day, we are having a party at the boat ramp” and I explained how we managed to put together our little impromptu Thanksgiving celebration and extentended an initiation.

“I better call over there on the radio and tell them to expect more guests” I said and proceeded to do so.

“Jack says he will be over in about an hour.” I said and invited everyone over to my house for a drink.

“Everything alright on the home front Roland?” I asked as we walked towards the house.

“We are doing well, Mary and Fred walked up from the interstate about two days ago and we had a nice visit before we brought them home. Maybe you can help them get resettled” he said knowing we would be happy to assist in anyway we could.

“We sure will, glad to have you for neighbors.” I declared to Mary and Fred and helped get everyone’s drink orders together.

“Hey Bernie, I need to give you the short version on a Bank me and Donnie are trying to create before you get to the party” I told him and proceeded to explain what a Bernie Buck was to the best of my capability.

“Ha, I like that, Bernie Bucks! You didn’t know you had the new Federal Reserve living with you, did you Roland.” Bernie said while Roland tried to get a better handle on what we might be proposing.

“We are sort of finding it too complicated to do it the way we originally thought but if you two horse traders could hang around a day or two I bet we can come up with a workable plan for everyone to agree on” I said and after getting their assent to give it deliberation we went back to casual conversation and explanations about what was on the menu across the inlet at the boat ramp before I left.

“Fred tells me things have started to get out of hand in Tallassee. The Sheriff there got a bit too uppity about martial law and got shot the second day after he declared it.’ Roland said giving Fred a chance to speak.

“Oh it’s horrible there, gunshots going off at all hours of the day and night and you don’t know why. The stores are all cleaned out and the few National Guard trucks that are bringing in a tiny bit of supplies always have a problem with the mobs. Me and Mary said the hell with it and packed what we could and took off one night with a wheelbarrow and what we could carry on our backs. I am glad it didn’t take us but a few days to get to Roland’s or I don’t know what might have happened.” he said patting his wife.

“I never walked so far in my life, I am not sure I could have gone much further” A still weary looking Mary said.

‘This end of the lake has been pretty quiet and you saw a little bit of what we are doing to try to get some crops in and try to get sustainable. We will bring that bobcat over and clear off some land for you in the next day or so, but we are a bit short on seeds at the moment.” I told them.

“Roland packaged us up a few different seeds but we got lots of corn and pumpkin seeds to spread around” Fred replied.

“ I traded for a bunch of pumpkin seed with a neighbor and you should have pumpkin seed from now on if you can get it grow” Roland said sipping his drink.

“Boudreaux is over at the party Roland, said he wanted to see you about getting his horses back” I told him.

“He can sure have them back but he has to help me with a beaver problem I am having first. Roland replied.

“Them Beavers are too smart for me David; I guess I just got lucky with the few I got at the pond off the interstate.” John confessed to me.

“They can be quite tricky and are super intelligent but I bet Boudreaux won’t have a problem. I am willing to rent a couple conibear 330 for the project if you care to barter Roland. I would just flat lend them to you but by giving you the use of them you are reducing my trap line potential and I love that sugar cure beef you got” I said smiling at him.

“What’s a conibear trap? It’s not an actual bear trap is it?” Sarah asked me forever a fan of the beavers.

“No it’s a humane trap that kills by body hold or neck hold. They come in all different sizes” I replied looking down at the bandage on John’s leg.

“John what did you do to your leg?” I asked

“I gouged it on a stick, I had been cutting saplings for making snares and I stupidly left a sharp stump up and backed into it. You got anything to put on it, or some herbal remedy?”

“I will give you some little packages of triple antibiotic but I prefer colloidal silver for most everything. I make it and bottle it, its going to be one of my barter items. I bet you can design me something that works a lot better than what I am using” I told him.

“We got some band aids that have silver in them over to the house but I don’t know what that colloidal silver is your talking about, is it the same?” Mary said.

“Silver has had some medicinal uses going back for centuries. In the early 1900s, people would put silver coins in milk bottles to prolong the milk's freshness. Wound dressings containing silver are increasing in importance due to the increase of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which has imposed clinical limits on the use of antibiotics. Those Band-Aid things could be several different types of silver products but the concept is the same. Colloidal Silver was in common use in America from the late 1800s until 1938. It was prescribed for a great variety of diseases and infections. There were none of today's antibiotics available then, and Colloidal Silver was used for just about everything. But Colloidal Silver was relatively expensive back then, just as today's man made antibiotics are expensive now. Colloidal silver is a suspension of microscopic particles of silver, usually in water. You can make it easily with a 9v battery” I informed my quests.

“Can you increase the voltage”? John asked

“Oh yes, most people use three 9v batteries to do it and it’s much quicker. You connect them in series to get a 27V battery.

John I am sure you already know this but for everyone else’s sake I will just touch on the difference between series and Parallel circuits.

When connecting your batteries in Series you are doubling the voltage while maintaining the same capacity rating (amp hours). Just use a jumper wire between the negative of the first battery and the positive of the second battery. Run your negative wire off of the open connector from the first battery and your positive off of the open connector on your second battery.

When connecting in Parallel you are doubling the capacity (amp hours) of the battery while maintaining the voltage of one of the individual batteries. Use a jumper wire between the positives of both batteries and another jumper wire between the negatives of both batteries. Connect your positive and negative wires to the same battery to run to your application.

“But you can just use one battery if that’s all you got. Pure silver wire 99.99 works best and be sure to use distilled water. If you want to do it quicker Connect 3 battery clips in series (positive to negative, connecting red wires to black). On the 2 unconnected wire ends, attach alligator clips

Once the wires are connected to power, watch for a whitish cloud to begin forming between them. First, bubbles will form on the wires or ingots if you have them and 5-10 minutes later, particles will be seen emitting from one ingot It is only necessary to run for an additional 10 minutes past this point to make it approximately 5ppm. To make it stronger, it may be necessary to disconnect power and pull the wires out to clean them every few minutes. Use a wet paper towel. Once they begin getting covered as soon as they are put back and connected to power, it is about as strong as it can be made with this method - 10ppm.

“I got some sterling silver earrings could you use those?” Sarah said looking very interested.

“If you had to you could, but they have a lot of impurities in them and really aren’t suitable. I tell you what; if you and I can work a little business deal I will give you two one ounce bars of 99.999 silver and you can manufacture for me. Once John figures a different way for me to get voltage like using an old charger or something, we can be making hundreds of gallons off that much silver. You pour colloid through several unbleached paper coffee filters. Pour into amber or brown bottles which have been cleaned and rinsed with distilled water. Store away from light and heat.

“I been collecting those kind of bottles for years, can I get in on this? I got a big collection of old apothecary bottles that we could use.” Mary said looking at Sarah and me.

“Sure, remind me to tell you about an Englishman I know named Stewart, he had some good ideas on renting containers. Why don’t you run over to your house and see that everything is intact. I check on it every few days and we haven’t noticed anyone but us scavenging around in this cove.” I said to Fred and Mary.

“I been dying too, Sarah you want to come along?” Mary asked her.

“Oh yes, David can you add herbals to colloidal silver?” Sarah asked while rising to accompany our new neighbors.

“Yes you can, there are few things that might not be so great to add to it but I explain that later, run along you don’t want to be too late for all that good food over at the boat ramp” I told them and went back to chatting with my other quests.

“I will take you in the wagon so you can drop off the stuff you brought with you and then unhitch the team when we get back.” Roland said rising and picking up his rifle.

“Take your time, Jack is probably trying to get one more bite in before he leaves anyway” I advised them and settled back in my chair to talk to John and Bernie.

“Bernie I got your fishing light rigged to work now, want to check it out?” I said pointing over to the xantrec unit before he asked me how I managed to power it up.

“Yea, I would like to see that, you going to run it tonight?” Bernie inquired.

“Yes, it will be our night light for whenever I get you back this evening, it makes it easier to get into the dock too” I said rolling the portable power unit down to the dock and demonstrating it.

“That is neat, you going to use that windmill to charge it?” John said looking at our partially completed project. When I get some more Marine batteries I will, I use the solar panel to charge the xantrec with. That windmill is going to be up to 1500 watts and I wouldn’t trust the charge regulator I have at the moment to not try to overcharge that unit. I said as John did a little inspection of my connections.

“I might have a suggestion or two for you later if you want, Roland will be real interested in you using a boat alternator. You could power one of these little houses with that if you were careful what you run. Are you finding any more of these types of alternators? “He inquired like I probably already had some on hand.

“Not yet, gotta find me something with an inboard engine and I haven’t seen any except the one in the boat we are using at the moment. But I will be on the hunt seriously for them now. I want to power up everyone’s house on this inlet if I could. Finding the heavy gauge wire to run them is going to be harder than finding the alternators though I think.

“I like how you are using that PVC for windmill blades; you just cut down some big pipe and shaped it a little I see. I think Roland and I might be able to come up with the wiring. We been out a bit doing our own scavenging and picked up some welding machine cable already” He said while following me back to my house.

“You got 200ft of No 2 and 135 ft of No 4 to be exact. By the way, I got a hell of a need for 12 gauge shells David to trade with”. Bernie said as manager of everyone’s little engineering and trading enterprises.

“I got some extra ammo which you are aware of, but it depends on the trade. I haven’t found any at all on my borrowing trips, not even any 22 shells. Ammunition is pretty much irreplaceable now as you know.” I told him not wanting to really give any of it up yet unless it was for some seriously good reason.

“I might just have one, that little store next to that Glass Company on the turn off road to come up here is pretty well gutted but no one bothered the glass company next door. We could use the store for a trading post and the folks that own the glass company are willing to build those solar window box heaters and ovens that were in that Rural Ranger book you lent to John for us and John has some ideas to make them more efficient. They live within walking distance to it but got all their guns and ammo stolen and we found them a couple 12 gauges they using for protection but only got 20 shells between them that came out of Roland’s stash you traded with him.” Bernie informed me as he was about to put the squeeze on me and dent my ammo cans pretty good.

I looked at John for an opinion and he said “Don’t look at me, I am still carrying that 6ft hog sticker of a Mosin Nagant you lent me, but I must say it’s accurate as hell.”

“I don’t know Bernie, you need a south facing window for those heaters to work so not everyone will be able to use them, I agree we need to figure a way to protect the resource but I hate just giving up ammo to do it.” I said weighing the values involved.

The basic idea here is that the cooler room air is drawn into the lower chamber and warmed as it passes over the black heat collector. As the air warms it rises and enters back into the room through the upper chamber.

“They got the folks to protect the trade post too, well at least guard it anyway for now, they willing to let you teach them some of that military know how you got to in order to improve their chances if they did get attacked.” He said trying to reel me in with an offer to play Drill Sergeant and create my own little response team.

“We talking about OUR trading post or a trading post Bernie?” I said knowing I didn’t have the full story yet.

‘I am willing to negotiate, the building is not ours, it belongs to some of their kin that seem to not be coming back, and they live in Birmingham. Most of the Folks that used to run it are all still around though if we help on the transportation end to get them to work if we can create something that generates some commerce.” He said looking hopeful I was bending a bit.

“That place is in a good location if you have transport, like in the days of cars, I don’t think its so great to get too if you are stuck on this lake.” I said trying to envision distances by foot or bicycle.

“Actually it is if you running a ferry boat service, there is an old historic ferry boat landing a mile away from it and it has some community that are still hanging on around it. I haven’t had a chance to show you yet but John figured out a way to mount a Briggs and Stratton rope pull engine on a shaft like one of those boats you see on the Amazon or in Asia that is strong enough to push a pontoon party barge. If you get Boudreaux to show you the way you can get to it from here in about 40 minutes by motorboat or a couple hours sail.” Bernie the forever entrepreneur with the connections and knowledge informed me with a half smirk to let me know he was going to win this hagglers Rodeo, or so he thought.

“I tell you what; I am only willing to offer two canvas bandoliers of 12 gauge shells, half slugs, half whatever Buckshot the operators choose” I said pausing for effect and watching him squirm and formulate objections.

“You know that ain’t enough! One little firefight or a couple instances of having to hunt or defend would deplete them to almost nothing to put up any kind of serious defense of our goods or themselves!” Bernie said turning red in the face and even though he was a little man considering getting in my face.

“You didn’t let me finish you old dollar skinner, there is more to the offer” I said watching him fume with himself to calm down.

“That place is in a reasonable position to defend from, but it can’t be defended with a pair of shotguns, hell I could just hold off a hundred yards and shoot at whoever was inside it with a rifle until I finally got them. You need at least one long gun and preferably something with some fire power. I got a fold up Kel-Tec 9mm carbine that is supposedly sighted in at a 100 yards from the factory with four 30rd clips and one 10 rounder they might need to at least make the odds more even. I don’t particularly like the sights on that thing for short range I think they are off but I got very limited range time with it; some people do just fine with it though right out of the box. I might consider throwing the carbine and those especially loaded Double Tap Gold Dot 124 grain hollow point bullets I put in the magazines (The mags are made for a Glock pistol by the way) and two boxes of NATO spec hardball ammo in, if, just if mind you, if you find a way this deal could get a bit sweeter.” I said fishing around for what else might be had out of this deal.

“I see your point, you the military man after all David, I never seen no fold up carbine you got it handy for me to see?” Bernie said while plotting and scheming his next approach and needing a break to figure out an angle.

“ John, reach in that pack behind the bar and pull out that lap top looking case if you would” I asked him not willing to let Bernie out from under my gaze that was pressuring him to think without me eying him for reactions.

“I found it; you all want another drink while I am back here”? John asked to a simultaneous YES from both Bernie and I.

Bernie was still trying to find some leverage in this deal for himself and I knew exactly what he would do upon opening the case which John was polite enough not to peek into. I glanced at John and nodded by head imperceptibly towards Bernie and John poured the drinks and handed Bernie the Lap top looking case I got off of Cheaperthandirt.com as well as his drink at the same time confusing Bernie further.

John went back to the bar with a wink and a nod towards me behind Bernie’s back and got mine and his libatations.

Bernie in the meantime immediately set his drink down and unzipped the case and looked at the interesting weapon and its magazines stuck in elastic mounted on the cases inside.

“Well its wicked looking” he said as he fumbled with it trying to figure out how it unfolded and worked.

“Give it here, I will show you how it works” I said reaching for it and then after taking it from him popping it open and getting it ready to fire in about 4 seconds including simulating putting a clip in and pulling back the charging handle.

“That thing looks like something out of a James Bond movie” John said appreciating the simple but effective engineering.

“I can hold this one handed against my shoulder, even loaded” Bernie said after inserting a real clip but leaving the charging handle alone for safety’s sake.

“That’s a bad mamma jamma as we say in the South Bernie. I am sure you already noticed that Kel-Tec small 9mm in that extra clip slot.” I said reeling him in and watching him look up with undisguised interest to where I was heading in my negotiations as John feigned not listening closely to our little ping pong game of tit for tat.

“What are you wanting David?” Bernie asked scrutinizing me and the guns.

“I want both of them back as soon as something else to arm our people can be traded for before they get out the door. That carbine was the only gift I ever got for graduating anything and it has a special meaning to me for that reason. I said honestly.

“Damn. I sort of wanted it for myself, but you can have it back, considering you not donating it to make a deal how much you asking for it as a loan?” Bernie said realizing I just turned over a whole bunch of tables on him he had not considered.

“Nobody can even think about running a trading post without at least one concealed sidearm and that one is one of the best there is for the purpose. Its parkerized by the way also so sweating on it won’t rust it near as bad as a regular one. I want concessions, lots and lots of concessions. You know I cut a deal once helping a Casino get funded and the only thing I wanted out of it was to have the permanent bottled water concession that sold to the customers. The Casino could have their cut of profits but I was the only one allowed to sell water there and I also finagled later for paper goods like napkins and toilet paper and such. I didn’t charge a commission for finding the money, I cut a fair deal that did not cost them anything because they were going to buy it from somebody anyway and so why not me? I got me an exclusive agreement so I had something to pass on to my heirs as a business. It would be like me doing a real estate deal and getting free rent on the news stand in a nice location for making a deal go through. I use my business acumen well to get positions of mutual need and respect; I think we have those same goals between us. I already have the seed franchise out here; this is my region for sales based on my previous donations remember? I want a piece of that ferry landing and something to do with the colloidal silver and other medicines going in the trading post” There I said it, let the chips start falling where they may.

Seeing that what I was asking for cost him basically nothing as long as we had mutual agreements on quality of goods and services Bernie was good about the details and terms of our arrangements and I got concessions on most everything I wanted and a few that I hadn’t even considered. John even used his executive privileges to put the first pontoon boat under my charge to service our area after I said we would be a force to be reckoned with if notified the ferry boat landing needed our help I could put 7 armed and well trained people on the spot within 35 minutes with me leading the charge if need be if we could figure out the notification aspects.

Thankfully Roland and crew came back before we started trying to evaluate how much our bodies were worth for science and who had the rights to them before they got back.

“What the hell or you all buying and selling now? We waited outside before you all quieted down before coming in. David I thought you were big on security, I could of infiltrated your perimeter a 100 times while you were picking on Bernie” Roland said putting me in my place and getting each others frowns turned up the right way.

Sarah come to my rescue unexpectedly and told Roland that we were not happy unless we were trying to sell ice Cream to an Eskimo or installing a freezer in the Antarctic and for Roland to check his pockets for residuals which caused us all to laugh heartily.

Sarah showed off her treasures that Mary had lent her in the form of beautiful bottles for the medicine show biz we had agreed on and Fred thanked me superfluously for not targeting their domain on a foraging expedition.

“I am glad as hell I know who the BORROWERS are, that cul-de-sac except for our place looks like I don’t know what with those signs everywhere he said laughing about our cardboard graffiti.

‘Keep a sign up my friend, you notice we all got one, it’s better than a no trespass sign these days for the well intentioned. What’s the old saying, my friends? A lock is only good to keep honest people out? Well the signs if they are ignored tells you that person has bad intentions and to respond in kind” I said and must have been looking too seriously, since the ladies winced at my war face.

“ It is time to go down to the dock and grab our shuttle craft to the party, I am going to nudge Jack to get moving on the radio if he is not already on his way.” I said telling everyone to refreshen their drinks and to enjoy such a glorious day of our first Thanksgiving celebration that would be held on this day for possibly the rest of our lives in addition to the customary one.

Jack and I had not got that shutter over the photovoltaic lens set quite right as the light come on a bit early as the sun started to set and the lake light winked on across from the ladies dock where we all awaited our ride from the easiest dock to navigate.

John the engineer spoke first as we all noticed that alien green light emitting from the depths turned on and began its circle of illumination of a bygone era.

“David that is a symbol, just like the Statue of Liberty, it has a meaning and a purpose. In a country without lights and hope it shows that American innovation and resourcefulness will always exist and guide you to the shore where there is hope and a welcome. Good Job! Buddy, lets keep that thing burning forever!” John said committed to my dreams of patriotism and humanity.

“Well said, well said” everyone murmured until getting out of our funk to see Jack rooster tailing a wake with my mom and Lois on board rounding the point and headed in our direction

7

BE AT PEACE WITH YOUR SELF

Jack slowed the boat farther than necessary and came into the dock giving his two smiling passengers time to adjust their streaming hair before meeting us on the pier.

“We got to do this again and again “A cherry Jack hollered out as Lois cast the transom line to Roland and giving us all a laugh as it smacked his cowboy hat almost knocking it off.

“ I kind of thought you would have had Boudreaux on water skis in back of that thing “ I said to Jack while hugging my my mom and helping her out.

“You know that crazy S,O.B. thought about the same thing before your mom told him it ain’t going to happen” Lois said reaching for my hand and damn near wrenching my shoulder or pulling me in the boat as I helped her to hoist herself out.

“That dog of his can dance by the way, it gets up on his legs like he thinks he is a poodle or something and sings in a howl with Roland when he does Cotton Eyed Joe” Jack said getting out of the boat and shaking hands and greeting everyone.

“You left before he had it doing the Bunny Hop with old Bear leading and Beverly getting him to do it chasing a biscuit” Rolland laughed as he slung a bag of what I assumed was beef meant for me into the boat.

“Are you talking about that crazy old hunter and gatherer from across the lake? He attached a big catfish tail to my shirt tail one night in the marina bar as a joke and threatened to kick my ass because I had a problem with his joke a long time ago,” Fred said looking worried.

“One in the same, he is harmless, but he could have kicked your butt if he had a notion to or you crossed some unknown line only known to Boudreaux he calls stepping on his feet” Bernie said laughing at a comical sight of someone standing up with a huge fish tail hanging on their ass, that was probably done to remind someone to remember money means nothing in Boudreaux’s Bayou as he had money in that bar.

“He just likes to play, he can play rough but he is a good fella” Roland said but clenched his fist as if he had a tumble with that wily character before.

“Betty, are you still ok with having me as house guest tonight?” Bernie said to my Mom even though in actual sense those were the terms he had given her his home for him to be able to lay his head down if he ever visited the lake again.

“I live in the guest bedroom, your place is untouched except my dusting. “ Mom said not putting him off but not pleased to share a house overnight with a man who was basically a stranger, even a nice stranger.

“You should have taken that room for you own, but that was awful nice you kept it for me” Bernie said trying to be the total gentleman.

“I might just stay with David, if that would be better” he offered and tried to hold her hand nicely.

“You’re always welcome Bernie. We agreed all of us considered staying in a vacant house at the party; you might want to hurrah a little so David’s place, my place, or over across the lake is fine. I will always be grateful and honor our deal on this cottage; you decide what might be best. Mom advised Bernie.

Hot damn I had not considered Bernie might be sweet on the Old Lady, I don’t think I mind, but that is just too much to think about right now, I considered.

“Stay with me and Roland tonight there is a lot to discuss or cuss about” I told him and gathered whatever was going with us as fast as I could to get underway.

“Want some music for our entrance?” I heard and looked up from securing our baggage to John and his Harmonica and Roland posing with that fiddle.

“Looks like I got me a band instead of a radio, you two know City Of New Orleans by Arlo Guthrie for something soft before you crank up good at the party?’

“We can play that’ as John fired up his harmonica and Roland softly picked up the notes and sang.

“Outstanding choice!” Mary said and I settled the boat into a quarter throttle so we could hear with our ears good but it didn’t last long as they started doing the Willie Nelson - Freight Train Boogie when we got closer to the dock and Boudreaux must of heard us coming, because low and behold his band wandered up to greet us playing the same notes as we bailed out of the boat and they stepped to a tune as they escorted us to the party with the kids playing pots and pans the best they could along the way as if we were marching in a parade.

We all laughed and applauded the band and ate a bit of good food and reminisced of what was only an hour or two ago a semblance of what we had not experienced while we were gone from the gathering. The cicadas serenaded the band that was on a break as a musical interlude to the fate of man in the silence of post EMP.

A weary old hound lay down next to me, the fireflies danced before I had a chance too. I thought to myself Life is good today, may it always be so, I am blessed.

And if you ever have to do the Preppers march and end up on some lake side retreat. Let a light be shining to greet you and feed you. From my clan to yours we wish you well, and maybe, just maybe, we will leave a light in the lake on for you. Blessed be to all and to all a goodnight.

I got an old style Coca Cola glass in the mail a long time back from the Tennessee Squires which is a Jack Daniels association I belong to that, and it said on it in beautiful black bold script a toast. Actually I got several glasses from them over the years but I will leave you with a couple sayings I picked up from reading these great promotionals.

“May you always ride an easy walking horse, sleep beneath a rain tight roof and eat high on the hog every day of the year.”

May your sons be brave and your daughter’s be marriageable and have the good sense not to argue with your wife”

I bid you ado my Prepper clan of future wanderers of wastelands; I thank you for buying my books. I hope I entertained you and taught you something worthy of thinking about. Pass it on and teach others as that is, who we are or try to be, but beyond that be good to yourself.

The Displaced Prepper

“Stay Functional”

The End of Book Three and My Little Story of The Prepper Trilogy Which Has Finished for Now.

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Table of Contents

Our End of The Lake

Midpoint