Lyric was laid across the countertop; her shoes and jacket off and Tom and Mrs. Ortiz hovering about her. Patsy came over to Merry. “She bumped her head and split the skin. Tina told us it knocked her out. Lenny and Tina carried her along with some gangsters following behind.”
Merry went over to have a look. She didn’t like the sight of blood but she decided to be brave for Lyric’s sake. A frozen hamburger patty wrapped in plastic was balanced on one side at the top of Lyric’s forehead. Her eyes were closed. Now she had two bumps although the one on right side was almost healed after her fall into the arroyo the night of her jail escape.
Tom said, “I guess she ran into a metal bar. Tina said it was the crossbar of a backyard clothesline.”
Sarah treated Lyric and used the frozen patty in lieu of an ice pack to bring the swelling down.
Tina was retelling the night’s adventure. Apparently, Lenny had picked a house about a quarter of a mile north on the edge of an upscale neighborhood. He went in through a second story window. The house had appeared unoccupied the times he and Mac passed-by and tonight they found it was abandoned. Lenny let Lyric and Tina in and they put together quite a lot of things to take with them and some items to retrieve later. The three of them now loaded with goods returned to the arroyo, following the same path back to the Hacienda. All was fine until they needed to cross the main street by the Rodeo grounds. Coming out of the ditch they looked to see no movement on the darkened street but when they started across, lights from one of the abandoned vehicles came on.
The car was parked on the shoulder, near the intersection. It was either out of gas or broken down like so many others because instead of driving the two or three hundred yards to them, the car doors flew open and five guys jumped out and starting running toward them. Lenny shouted for the women to run. With headlights guiding them, they went over the sidewalk and back down into the gully on the far side of the road.
Tina said, “They were way down the street with a good distance between us, but Lenny yelled for us to toss the stuff we carried into the metal culvert. We did and then he told us to run for the house and just get inside - ‘Don’t worry about me’ he said.” She looked around and nodded at the group. Everyone but Merry had heard this already but the retelling held their attention once more.
Tina took a drink from her cup and said, “The guys were yelling up on the street and so we took off. Lenny was in the lead and we followed him. We came out of the arroyo and were crossing behind a house up the street... not running but going fast enough when Lyric over there, lets out a scream.”
In truth, Tina screamed when Lyric thumped her head against the bar, falling over in a heap. Lenny turned back to them and after calming Tina, the two of them gripped Lyric under her arms and headed home. All the while they could hear the guys closing in behind them.
Tina was looking at Merry. She said, “When we got to the trees outside, Lenny gave the signal again and again. Finally, someone flashed back from the roof. Lyric was wasted and she sat on the wet ground out there with her head between her knees. Next, Lenny tells me to get someone to help her over and he would try to distract those hoods. He said to pull the ladder up. So, I told Junior... but Lenny is still outside. Eeeh, I hope he is, okay.”
Lenny’s sister, Nikki got up and went down the patio hallway, tugging at her short curly hair as she went. Patsy went after her.
“She’s worried about her brother,” Merry said. “Let’s pray for him.”
They did pray with Mrs. Ortiz crossing herself afterward. Sarah was ready to go back to bed and she said so. But Tom said to wait a few more minutes, to discover what Mac wanted them to do. Someone needed to go back to the roof. It was then that the skylight opened again. Junior’s feet appeared and soon he was almost to the ground with Mac following.
From the patio, Nikki and Patsy were yelling.
Mac leaped from the last rungs, going business like through the kitchen toward the patio. Junior and Tom followed. Everyone would have crowded after them but Mac had turned and was coming again into the kitchen.
Consuela asked, “What? Eeeh, what’s happened?”
“Lenny’s back and all is well again,” Mac said. He sat down heavily on a chair and began untying the boots he had acquired recently.
Lenny came in and went over to Lyric. “She, okay?”
Not wanting the invalid to tumble to the floor, Merry moved over to her when the others were scrambling about. She answered, “Yes. Just a big knot on her head.”
In his socks, Mac came over to look at Lyric. He nudged her and she opened her eyes. He asked her gently, “How do you feel? Dizzy? Nauseated? How do you feel?”
“Tired... I just want to go to sleep,” she replied.
“Of course. Where’s the nurse?” Mac asked above the excited talk filling the room. Everyone wanted to tell the others what they knew about the night and how glad they were that Lenny was back unharmed. Sarah came forward and Mac began grilling her about Lyric.
Merry turned to Lenny who now had his younger sister, Nikki hanging on his neck. “Busy night?” asked Merry.
He grinned, his charming smile bursting from his unshaven face. Patsy came over and said, “Weeeh, coco! You should have seen him come up over the wall. He looked like Spiderman!”
“Parkour. It’s a wall walking maneuver,” he explained when Merry looked at him quizzically. She nodded as she heard of it before.
Patsy said, “Nikki and I were standing there talking about him and then, there he was! He just appeared and then over he came like a cat... Merry you should have seen it!”
Nikki was nodding and laughing while Lenny wore a lopsided grin. “It was nothing. This wall was easy. It’s only 8 feet high,” he said.
Mac sent everyone off to bed including Lyric after deciding she didn’t have a concussion. Lenny lingered. As Merry followed the others down the hall to bed, she left the two men in deep discussion.
Chapter 13 Mac Gets a Clue
Merry came into the kitchen from the patio sun-room. Spotting Patsy at the sink, she went to her.
“I have had it,” she told Patsy. “We need to talk.”
It was early afternoon exactly one week and a few hours since the explosive flash and the confused aftermath. Patsy looked at the women standing nearby, Mrs. Ortiz and Kelsey. Merry’s words were easily overheard but after their initial reaction they turned away.
“Well, okay. Do you want to talk here and now or...” Patsy asked. Merry shook her head.
“No, not now but soon - very soon. He can’t treat me like this! I’m telling you, Patsy...” As Merry began her tirade Patsy put her damp sudsy finger on the younger woman’s lips and shook her head. Merry nodded.
“Okay. Meet me in the laundry room in a couple of minutes.” There was no place to talk privately unless they locked themselves into one of the bathrooms or retreated to the small laundry room at the back of the house. The generator was still running and so the bathrooms were probably all occupied.
Merry went to her room to pull off the heavy sweater she was wearing. Sarah, wrapped in a robe and with a wet head of rusty red hair, was on her bed looking at a map.
“What are you doing?” Merry asked her.
Sarah said, “Old Biggs has a ranch up by the Colorado border. I was thinking we might commandeer it - as your Captain Mac is so willing to do - sometime in the future.”
Merry was still fuming about a recent encounter with Malak D’Almata so she said, “He isn’t my Captain Mac. Talk to him about it.”
Sarah said, “Yes, maybe I will.”
Merry left her. Finding Patsy coming out of the front supply closet, they headed for a tête à tête. The kitchen was now empty as they went through to the rear hallway. Mac’s door was closed but then it usually was. They went by the supply closet which was dark, as was the laundry room because the opaque skylight in the hallway was covered by Lenny, some days before. There continued to be no electricity for light use. The generator’s use wa
s minimal as it couldn’t manage the running of the entire complex for more than a few minutes.
Stopping outside the laundry room Patsy said, “All right then. What caused you to burst out like that in front of the girls? Really, life is just starting to settle down after all the trauma from last week. So, what is it?”
“Patsy, you know what it is! It’s Mac!” Merry raised her voice angrily. Patsy shushed her.
“Don’t worry, after he worked me over, Mac went over the wall with Junior,” Merry said but Patsy pulled her into the laundry room, closing the door partially to allow the natural light coming down the hall from the kitchen into the room. There were no windows. A heavy exterior back door in the laundry room was locked and barred with a piece of metal brought in from outside.
“He didn’t work you over,” Patsy corrected her. Mac was always the gentleman and although demanding he wasn’t rude or harsh with any of the women.
“Oh, yes he did and I’m only human,” Merry said with a sniffle. Patsy dealt with crying women all the time but she didn’t have patience with Merry crying too.
“Yes, now tell me what is on your mind,” Patsy said.
“Mac wants a wartime bride,” Merry began but Patsy knew this already and she prayed and worried over the situation a great deal so she merely nodded.
“It seems like every time I let my guard down, he is there with some sort of witty remark or compliment. I am trying to get on with this so-called life but I can’t when Mr. Casanova is busy trying to get my attention and... and win my heart. He is very distracting,” Merry told her.
Pasty was surprised at Merry’s words. She shushed Merry again and said, “Merry that doesn’t sound so bad. I mean he could be a no-good-low life trying to get you and all the other girls into his bed.
Instead...” Pasty was interrupted by Merry.
“Patsy, he is not an American. These men from D’Almata might as well be from another planet. They have all these strange cultural rules. He doesn’t want to be a player! He wants to make sure his gene pool isn’t snuffed out. For D’Almata, a nation that has spent most of its history at war, continuing the family name is of number one importance during war time,” she told her. Patsy stepped forward to look down the hallway but there was no one to be seen.
“I see,” Patsy replied. And then slowly she said, “In that case, why don’t we set him up with another woman? Someone more willing. How about Nikki or Sarah or both, we can let him choose.” Patsy wasn’t ignorant to the difficulty of actually “setting” Malak up but she thought a diversion was in order for Merry at the moment.
“I thought of that but I see two major obstacles,” Merry said. “First, he seems to have made up his mind that I am the one and second, Patsy this is the really bad part...” Merry said this biting her lower lip between words. “I find myself overwhelmingly attracted to him.”
Pasty was really surprised now and silent for a moment. “Weeeh coco...” she finally said. “I suppose that is really bad after all he is not a Christian. I don’t know what he is but it’s not Christian.”
“Auntie Patsy! That is just the beginning. He isn’t a believer and so I absolutely cannot be his war bride, as he describes... I’m sure he doesn’t care about that. And also, when this horrible time is over - then what? I go back to school to get my business degree and he goes to D’Almata to oversee his ranch or estate... whatever it is,” Merry said as her bottom lip was enduring a biting frenzy. “Don’t people get married for love? Well, where is the love? I said I was attracted to him but love and respect and genuine friendship are not the same as physical attraction... I’m telling you Auntie Patsy I have to stay away from him.”
Patsy went back to her first solution. “Okay... but I think you must at least respect him while friendship and love take time. For the time being, stay away and we’ll work on putting him together with one of the others. I’m sure neither Nikki nor Sarah wouldn’t mind living on a massive estate and married to the wealthy and handsome owner.”
Merry eyed Patsy and wondered if she wasn’t mocking her. “I’m not sure what you mean but money has never motivated me to do anything. Patsy, if I thought Mac loved me and wanted to spend a life with me - Of course, he would have to be a Christian or it would never work. Well, what I mean is... Love changes everything,” she said.
“You cannot make him a Christian but you can try to make him love you. If he loves you first and then chooses Christianity afterward... Eeeh, that seldom works, you know,” Patsy said in afterthought.
“Of course, I know!” Merry said. Patsy hushed her but Merry continued, “That is what I am trying to say! He has no concept of true love, eternal life or Christian marriage so I must steer clear until we get out of this place. Right now I feel like a female Salmon and he is swimming up stream with one thing on his mind. How long will it be Auntie Patsy? How long?”
“Quiet! Listen, you need to make the best of it. God is in all of this... It is quite obvious to me. God has a plan so we need to find out what that is and humbly concede to it. Maybe Mac will respond to God’s grace and call, receiving salvation. Pray. Don’t complain. Let’s see what God will do,” Patsy instructed her.
“Patsy, I didn’t show Mac my .32,” Merry confessed. Patsy thought Merry’s lip must be painful under her incessant chewing. “I thought he might try to force me into… well, marriage which I suppose is really stupid as there is no one here to marry us and I doubt we will find a pastor or JP anytime soon... Anyway, after he reminded me of the Bible story where the Benjamites steal their brides from the vineyard, I thought I would shoot him if he tried any such thing. So, I didn’t tell him about my pistol. Now, I realize I cannot shoot him. I’m a coward. I will not... I cannot.”
“Eeeh. I am glad to hear that. He doesn’t deserve to die just because his approach to life is so very different than ours,” Patsy said. “You might reason, ‘yes but his approach to life involves me’ - you, Merry and that is true. But remember so does his approach in taking action to keep us all safe, housed and fed... Remember that.”
As Patsy had Merry pray with her in the gloom of the laundry room, outside the door Mac stepped back to the supply closet where he had been just before they came through from the kitchen. He came looking for a screwdriver but he found much, much more.
Chapter 14 Plans to Evacuate
By the second week after the national crisis, limited news and rumor reported that the National Guard and the US army were restoring order to the areas hit by either natural disaster or foreign attack. The news was scanty and electricity had not been restored to more than 90% of the nation. Even the untouched areas were affected by the power outages and severed supply lines which disabled fuel and foodstuffs from getting to areas nationwide.
The massive Midwestern earthquake was followed by three enormous tsunamis washing in from the Gulf of New Mexico. Reports said that the water reached 150 miles inland at some places and even Houston, Texas was totally devastated; first by water and then by missile attack.
Survivors from the greater Albuquerque area were making their way to Santa Fe only to be met with chaos, violence and deprivation.
On the morning after a teenage girl with her baby boy were discovered sitting under the last of the Juniper trees that lined the Hacienda yard, Merry came into the kitchen to find the men and Sarah sitting at the table. There was a large wall map, partially unfurled in the middle of the group. Merry was surprised to see Tom Biggs and Sarah Todd at the same table.
Mrs. Ortiz was on the opposite side of the counter having finished arranging the meal buffet-style for everyone to eat but no one filled a plate yet. The food was getting cold, she mentioned to Merry.
“No tortillas?” asked Merry, as tortillas were high on her favorites list. Mrs. Ortiz looked toward the table and then to Merry.
“No,” she replied. “Mac said if we didn’t have something other than tortillas soon he was going to replace the cook! So Tom made biscuits and Sarah volunteered to make bread.”
Smiling, she added in a whisper, “Foreigners!” Merry filled her plate, including two biscuits and went to stand next to Sarah at the table.
Mac looked up at her and said, “That plate must be for me... I’m starved.” He put out his hand and Merry handed it over without comment.
Merry said, “You all look busy. Tom, Lenny... let me get you something too.” Mrs. Ortiz and Merry brought plates over for the others and then Merry returned with the coffee pot.
Merry got another plate and went to stand behind Tom. “You’re in my light,” Tom said. He held an unsharpened pencil. He was using it as a pointer. Merry jumped out of his way.
Mac said firmly, “Sit down next to Junior!” Merry moved to the other side of the table and sat on the edge of the group. They were discussing Tom’s ranch.
“That is where I’d be right now if those hellions hadn’t put me in this fine institution for a slight case of the flu,” Tom Biggs commented. He was referring to his Christmas visit to Santa Fe to see his daughter and sons and their families as they had gathered for the holiday. When he became very sick, they checked him into the elderly convalescent home to recover.
Tom eyed Sarah and then continued, “My manager is a good sort, he and his family too. I’m sure he has kept everything running smoothly since the turn of the year - at least that is what I was told.” Again he eyed Sarah but after a brief glance in his direction she turned to her food and continued to eat.
Tom’s pencil moved across the map to show the various routes that could be taken to arrive at the little town that was a few miles by dirt road to his own place.
Mac wiped his mouth on the olive-colored bandana he had placed in his lap after taking Merry’s plate. He said, “Lenny, if your information is correct and I cannot see why it wouldn’t be, the roads north above Espanola are impassable. South of course is Albuquerque but what about this little line through the mountains here? Once past Los Alamos, I would think the road is usable.” Mac took the pencil from Tom and moved the end along a small line bisecting the Jemez mountain range.
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