Merry's Marauders (Book #2 ~ Scenic Route to Paradise, refreshed 2016 edition)

by Andrea Aarons

  “Yes... yes,” Mac agreed. “Come here Junior and smell my shirt.” Junior came over and sniffed Mac’s collar. “What does it smell like...? Be honest, “Mac asked him. Junior said it smelled like “vodka or something.” Mac nodded. “Now, smell this,” he said retrieving Merry’s mittened hand and putting it up to the boy’s nose.

  “Hmm... It smells like wet dog,” Junior told them. Merry frowned and would have pulled her hand back but Mac had a firm hold on it and he put the gloved hand to his own nose.

  He sniffed dramatically and then said, “No. It smells good like wet wool after a day skiing in the Alps.” His eyes were smiling at Merry from above the mitten. She went red again and yanked her hand from his.

  Merry left them standing there.

  Chapter 11 Take a Vote

  A foot of snow fell as Merry slept. Sarah was asleep when Merry came in but now at almost three in the afternoon, her bed was empty. The generator was humming at the other end of the house. Merry jumped up to get a shower before it was turned off and the well pump stopped pumping water.

  Sarah came into their shared room as Merry was combing out her long wet hair. Sarah sat on her bed. She wore a green turtleneck under a darker green hoody, bluejeans and white nurses’ sneakers. Merry guessed correctly that Sarah was about 30 years old. Her skin was a milky white and smooth. Her body build was becomingly stocky, not fat but a healthy plump. Merry thought she was working hard to make the best of an undesirable situation. Sarah’s indignation at Mac and company’s brazen take-over of her workplace mellowed when she understood what the near future possibly held for her and for the one remaining patient, Tom Biggs. When the van driver failed to return, fear of the outside and the unknown caused her to view her new roommates judiciously.

  Sarah said, “There is breakfast or lunch in the kitchen. Patsy cooked today.”

  Nodding Merry told her that she was hungry. Sarah said, “It looks like you all had a party last night. Everyone is late... really late in getting up today.”

  Merry eyed Sarah from the reflection of the full length mirror on the wall next to the bathroom door. She pulled her hair up into a ponytail. “It wasn’t me but I thought you were out on the patio with the others? Where were you?” Merry asked her.

  Sarah said, “We left after dinner. You didn’t see us go? Mac and Lenny and I had to climb over the wall to get out since Lenny boarded everything up,” she said with a sniff.

  Oh, boy... Merry asked, “Why did you three go over the wall? I didn’t see you go... I don’t remember but I guess I was cleaning up the dishes or something.” Sarah got up and took a floor sweeper from the closet.

  “Oh, I thought everyone knew we were going to the emergency care clinic. Mac wanted to beef up our medical supplies,” Sarah said. She began sweeping. “It is over a mile, maybe closer to two miles from here and you know, the guys refused to walk on the sidewalk. My legs are killing me! But we got some excellent stuff. Penicillin for one and pain killers, antibiotics... a whole sack of stuff. They really didn’t need me but they thought they might, so I had to go... My leg muscles are killing me,” Sarah explained as she swept the debris into a pile. Merry fetched the dustpan and they finished together.

  Patsy had said Mac took a bottle of whiskey out into the patio so Merry asked Sarah, “What was the bottle of whiskey for?”

  “We drank it with the guys at the emergency care center. They are security guards. The place was locked up. You might ask why... Business must be thriving but the one guy said they got overrun so the manager closed it up for the time being,” Sarah said. Then she added, “If you ask me, I think the doctors bailed... they left. The whole town is coming apart at the seams so some of the doctors and probably all the smart, high paid nurses left too... Not me - not yet, anyway. Yeah, so... Mac and Lenny start pouring drinks with these two buffoons. Finally, they let us inside and Mac pulls out a wad of money - hundred dollar bills. Yeah, and the next thing I know we’re going through the supplies there, taking what we want.”

  Merry tried to picture the clinic scene in her mind and then she wondered where Mac got so much money. He probably traveled with a lot of cash although she was sure that the D’Almatans weren’t opposed to using credit cards, from what she remembered. Merry herself had taken out a couple of thousand dollars for her trip... Merry was suddenly sure Mac had found her money hidden in her VW Bug. The gun and the money were originally under the front seat.

  She and Sarah went to the kitchen. Mrs. Ortiz, Tom Biggs, Lenny and Nikki were playing cards at the kitchen table. Sarah finished telling her that they walked home in the cold, satisfied that the couple hundred dollars and a bottle of cheap whiskey were a reasonable price to pay for the invaluable medicines.

  Merry confided, “You or I should say, Mac smelled like he was baptized in the stuff. I thought the three of you polished that bottle off on your own but you left it with the emergency care guards?”

  Sarah nodded. “We had a couple of shots with them and then let them tie one on... Mac was probably planning to bring the bottle back with us but it would have been a fight getting it away from those guards. We left it. Mac said those guys might be of use if we have a real medical problem in the future... My legs! I got to sit down!”

  Sarah’s description of their medical sortie dissolved Merry’s confusion. Instead of being one of the partiers, Mac returned last night to meet the drunken remnant and to find the rest of the whiskey missing. Of course he was concerned and angry but Merry hoped he realized afterward that her action was correct too.

  Merry didn’t envy Mac’s position. In her mind, his job was likened to herding cats. Americans were not D’Almatans nor were these the run of the mill, Americans. There were the elderly, Mrs. Ortiz and Tom Biggs, a middle-aged holy roller - Patsy, seven female cons with various problems from drug addiction to kleptomania, besides the others. How did he process their actions... Her own actions, she wondered?

  Merry took her meal and went through the west hallway to the patio doors. The snow surprised her. She hadn’t realized how much had fallen. When she had come down from the roof around seven, there had been fewer than three or four inches.

  The patio and the sliding doors were probably the most vulnerable place in the house. She could see the entrance to the wheelchair ramp that led off toward the front drive. It was secured with an eight foot wall topped with wrought iron bars that attached at the roof. The gate was locked. It was not the ramp but the adobe wall itself encompassing the patio that seemed the weak link. Once over the wall the glass doors would be next.

  After last night’s party, everything was covered with a thick layer of snow making the scene appear however artificial, cleansed. The snow clouds had dumped their load before rising to pass over the mountain range to the north of Santa Fe. The sun would be out soon, she thought and by tomorrow all but the shaded areas would be snow-free. The sliding glass doors made this room cold unless the sun was shining.

  Merry had left Sarah watching the card game. Tom Biggs upon seeing Sarah sitting and watching over Mrs. Ortiz’s shoulder said, “Go fish!” But Merry knew they were playing Bridge. Saying nothing as she passed them by, Merry understood Bridge players were always looking for a fourth; she would hold out as long as possible before divulging her ability and willingness to play.

  Stacked in the corner were plastic lawn chairs. Some were outside from last night. Merry lifted one and then another. She sat on one and put her feet up on the other chair using her lap as a table for her burritos. Tina came in and when she saw Merry, she pulled a chair down to sit.

  There were very few people Merry wanted to talk to right now - besides her own mother, Toni who was in D’Almata but Tina was the exception.

  “Hey,” said Merry when Tina came in.

  Tina put her feet up on the extra chair too. “Hi. Did you just get up?” she asked Merry.

  They talked about last night, the party and night watch duty. Merry said, “I’m proud of you Tina and I think God is happy too
. He loves us of course, but God wants us to resist temptation... You know being tempted isn’t sin. Well, what I mean is, if you are tempted to lie, but don't lie, you are not a liar.”

  “Hmm, I’m not sure about that. I only know that when I realized I couldn’t walk away from the watch duty last night to go party... Pretty soon, I didn’t really want to go down and join the others,” she said with her left shoulder lifting and falling in a careless shrug.

  Temptation left, to try another day, thought Merry. Curious, Merry asked Tina about her conversion. “When did you first turn to Christ?” Tina moved into the halfway house after Thanksgiving but prior to the Christmas holidays. Before that, she was a regular attending the Monday night Bible studies at the jail.

  Tina grew up in a smallish neighborhood this side of the penitentiary which was known at one time as the South Side. The odds were against her making a success when all of her family and friends were involved in nefarious activities. She had her first child - a boy when she was 15 and her daughter when she was 17. Tina’s grandparents, the children’s great grandparents were raising them.

  Tucking behind her ears, her dark brown hair recently cut short above her shoulders, Tina said, “I went to church bunches with my grandparents when I was a child. I really loved going with them but my Mom hated me going and always caused a scene when I went. Then I stopped going excepting to funerals. I went to lots of funerals.” She was silent for a moment.

  Merry sipped her coffee and eyed her second burrito as if it was a strange species that wandered in from the desert. She wasn’t sure if she should start on it but she didn’t want to put it away for later, knowing it would be eaten by someone else.

  Merry redirected her thoughts when Tina said, “I suppose I had to learn the hard way... sort of like the kid-brother, Jesus talked about. He was eating with the pigs before he realized he needed to go back to his father’s house. Just like him, I came to myself laying on my bunk in jail, one night last year. Luz had been begging me to come to the Bible classes even when your mom was teaching, so that night I decided next time I would go. It took me a couple of weeks and then, I don’t know...”

  She looked at Merry and grinned. Glimmering, her nose ring caught the sun as it pierced the clouds and filled the room. Tina finished her story saying, “I had already made up my mind but it was like the kid-brother story; I had to get back to Father God’s house and I suppose even for the kid-brother his journey back took some time. Yeah, so some weeks later I was at the Bible study one night and bam! God let me know I needed to quit fearing and following all my homies and start fearing Him. So, here I am.” She let out a joyous laugh and Merry had to smile too.

  The lowering sun began to warm the room in earnest and soon Kelsey and Lyric and then Patsy joined them, sitting in a circle in the sunny room.

  Kelsey ate the burrito sitting on Merry’s abandoned plate, while Tina and Patsy talked about starting a new Bible study. Kelsey thought it was a good idea too which surprised the others. Their plans were interrupted when Junior came in, saying Mac wanted them in the kitchen as he was having a meeting.

  It was already dark in the kitchen and two kerosene lamps were lit. Mac watched them come in. Merry felt her face go pink when she glanced at him and she was glad for the dim lighting. Lenny was sitting up on the counter and all the women and Tom Biggs were sitting at the table. There was an empty chair at the other end of the table between Tom and Luz, so she took it.

  Mac stood next to Lenny and Junior took the seat at the head of the table. Kelsey looked about for a chair and would have stood, arms folded but Mac snapped at Junior, “You get up and give this woman a seat!” Junior jumped up and looked sheepishly over his shoulder at the tough appearing Kelsey. She shrugged and took the vacant chair.

  Merry watched Junior hop up on the counter next to Lenny and she decided the boy liked the view better from his new position.

  Mac clapped his hands and the few who were talking, turned to him. He said, “There seems to be a misunderstanding about our living accommodations of which I need to clear up. First of all, I want to welcome the newcomers.” He nodded toward Kelsey and Lyric and then toward the other end of the table, at Luz. “Some of you have heard me explain what I am doing and what we are all doing to stay ‘on top of things’ as you Americans are fond of saying. But some of you haven’t heard me or perhaps, you did not take my words to heart when I spoke at Mrs. Ortiz’s cozy house a few nights ago.” He was smiling but no one was in doubt of the seriousness of his manner. Folding his arms, Merry understood that his gesture gave the appearance of intimidation but for Mac it simply meant his brain was formulating. She had seen him do this a number of times already. “I am sorry to say that I have taken your desire to live... uh, to survive for granted. You see, I assumed that you, like me want to stay alive when your once lovely city disintegrates into social disorder of which we are already seeing,” Mac said.

  Patsy sitting on the other side of the table looked over at Merry. Merry wondered if she was thinking that Mac was the social disorder they were seeing... After all, he was the one orchestrating breaking into houses and confiscating provisions and bribing guards at the emergency care building for medical supplies.

  Mac continued, “Calling your police force or going to the hospital to see your doctors or using your money cards... I mean, your bank card at the grocers is now impossible.” Mrs. Ortiz let out a low moan. Tom Biggs murmured something about being overly dramatic and Sara Todd was looking around in disbelief.

  Ignoring these responses, Mac said, “Before, I go further, I am now telling you that if you do not want to be here as a part, a loyal part... a loyal and working part of this group you may leave. Right now you can go. We will not stop you and we will not beg you to stay... We will not!” Mac was pointing to the exit through the smaller hallway that led to the patio while he looked meaningfully at Merry especially, and then at Patsy. Biting her lip nervously, Merry wanted to catch Patsy’s eye but she dared not while Mac was glaring about the table. Had she or Patsy said that they wanted to go? No, but then what was the significance of singling them out? Merry wondered.

  “I don’t think any of you... well, maybe Tom but no one else has experienced war, warfare or severe deprivation but I have! War is not the optimum life but it is very much a part of life as birth, death and all the other enjoyable or painful or needful things we humans do.” Saying this Mac again eyed his audience but with a companionable smile. Merry was sure the women from the jail were baffled by his words - his disarming smile no; his words, yes.

  He said, “Even so, we are thrown together but we do not need to stay together. This is why I emphasize your absolute willingness to work and to remain loyal. Like a well-run family, I am your father. Lenny and Junior are your brothers and Tom, he is your grandfather.” Not Mac but the other men looked at each and grinned. “We are responsible for your well being... Yes, we are! But all of you, including the men are responsible to me for your actions. I say we are a family but we are also an army. I am your leader. If you do not like that idea... you Americans who must vote about everything, well fine, there is the exit! Go vote out there with the monsters that are running around burning and hurting innocent people.”

  Poor Mrs. Ortiz. She moaned again and Sarah was shifting about in her chair uncomfortably. Tom Biggs whispered to Merry, “Well, he has a point.”

  “Now,” said Mac and Merry knew his foundation was laid for what was coming next. “Last night...” His eyebrows came together and his face took on a sinister look when the kerosene lamp flickered wildly as he spoke. “What in Hades did you people think you were doing? Merry? Your Bible study group reminded me of a Bosnian bachelors’ party and I should know. I’ve attended quite a few! What do you have to say for yourself?” Merry was caught unawares. She had already told him she didn’t drink but now her mind was groping about for a suitable answer.

  To their credit the “Bible study group” rose up in her defense including Nikki who had n
ever attended even one of the studies at the jail. Only Patsy remained in control while everyone around the table began to speak and explain. Kelsey began banging her fist on the tabletop but no one paid her any heed. Tom was sputtering and Mrs. Ortiz’s lips were moving but the other voices drowned hers out. Merry watched as the women, Tom Biggs and even Junior were eyeing one another trying to get a consensus in Merry’s defense.

  Confused, Merry glanced toward Mac and before she could look back to Luz who was practically shouting in the chair next to her, she saw him smile and then wink. She shook her head at the mayhem and then, Connie let out a shrill whistle. Silence.

  “Thank you,” said Mac; his voice barely audible. “Now, my point is taken that all of you know Merry had absolutely nothing to do with the foolishness that went on here last night when your father was absent.” He was nodding and they were nodding too. He said, “But understand, Merry is like the mother... She went so far as to bring back wayward children to keep them safe in this our home.” He nodded again at Luz. “So, let us reason that if she has this position she must take her medicine when the children misbehave. In my country, she would be whipped and deprived of food for three days maybe more during wartime.” He added after there was a protest from Tom Biggs, “Yes, yes this is America and maybe all your democracy can take place on the other side of the wall. You see war changes everything.” He was pointing in the direction of the patio again.

  Merry noticed that Lenny had remained stone faced throughout Mac’s lecture. Apparently, he and Mac had discussed this meeting beforehand. Junior’s face fluctuated with his feelings and his sense of right and wrong along with the idea of male superiority. Merry watching him, found the young man amusing in spite of the circumstance.

  Mac said, “An army is disciplined. Even in the American army, if a leader allows insurrection... or what I mean is disorder among the troops, that officer is demoted. Sometimes the troops will sabotage their leader and then those disloyal rebels are thrown out... they cannot be trusted. We have a good group here; I can see this for myself but we will have rules that will be obeyed or you will wake up to find your bedroll has been tossed over the wall.”