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

by Andrea Aarons

  For her part, pride, vanity and more she realized had tainted her perspective. In the past, young men capitulated to her leadership. No wonder she had never fallen for any of those guys! They were boys.

  So, Merry decided she was attracted by Mac’s strong leadership ability - like a groupie at a rock concert she supposed but his arrogance repelled her. At this thought, she intentionally dropped the window and he looked over when it banged shut.

  It was hot already. Merry set her jacket down. There wasn’t anything to see on the highway with the naked eye. The convoy could have been seen but it already passed on.

  Merry went to the front of the house. The BB gun was still there. She would practice her aim once Mac went down. Across the street the house was totalled. Yes, the garage was intact - they had made sure of that but all the windows were broken and fire had burned part of the upstairs with smoke stains running up the exterior wall to the roof.

  There was a dead, white and black dog a hundred yards up the road toward Mrs. Ortiz’s house. Merry couldn’t fathom how many animals besides humans died during these last weeks in this town alone. In the first few days, Mac and the others let several pets free that had been confined to house or yard. Merry’s thoughts shifted from household pets, to her friends in Flagstaff and then, to her cousins, and other family members back east.

  What had happened there? she wondered. The radio news was so limited and artificial, even yet.

  Her brother, Dale and his small family along with her grandparents - Toni’s parents had left Philadelphia days before the catastrophe to travel to D’Almata. Her grandparents wanted to stop in Germany and Bulgaria, or some such place on the way to the Adriatic. Both were nearing 90 years of age and so Dale, her brother was put in charge of chauffeuring them about.

  Looking back over her left shoulder towards Mac, she saw that he was gone. Squatting, Merry picked up the air rifle. She looked through the scope at the dead dog and then across the street at the two-story. The building looked deserted. Taking aim at some debris in the front yard, a can jumped when she pulled the trigger.

  “You missed.” It was Mac standing off to her right. Merry, startled, twitched under the BB gun. He hadn’t gone below! How had he known she missed?

  “I assume you were aiming for the can with the red label, correct?” he asked. Sitting down on the parapet wall, he looked down at her. Merry grinned sheepishly and nodded.

  “I thought you returned below. You see I need practice,” she said making excuse. Pushing away from the wall she set the gun aside and resettled, sitting Indian style.

  He was nodding and looking at her as if to weigh his next words. Finally, he said, “You Americans are very strange.” His accent was thicker than normal and this was a sign to Merry that he was about to launch into a topic that had been on his mind for a while.

  Merry really wanted to head off any explosive behavior on his part but as she was no mind reader, his thoughts were veiled. So she agreed with a shake of her head.

  “I am the boss but when the boss is not around then what?” he asked her. “You have no scruple to act undermining my leadership? Tell me does this behavior please your God... the Big One, you and Patsy brag about so much? Was he here watching you as you shot this little toy knowing full well, that I have asked no one to do such a thing?”

  Oh boy, he was right again. The difficulty in Merry’s contradictory behavior was that she had been taking small matters into her own hands for so long that she no longer felt guilty about it. She opened her mouth to speak but Mac said with raised voice, “Then you make a joke about needing practice!” He got up and paced five or six steps before returning to the wall. “If you wanted to practice, I was right there,” he said pointing to where he stood with the binoculars just minutes before. “You could have asked!” He turned to pace again and Merry scrambled up.

  “Yes, Mac you are right... You’ve been right a lot lately, by the way,” she said making her words clear and trying hard to not expose emotion on her face. He was correct but she still felt angry at his paternal condescension. He stopped and turned with his hands at his waist.

  “I’m sorry once again... I suppose old habits are hard to break. I have a lot of bad habits,” she extended her hands to show her bitten down fingernails. Mac looked to her hands and then questioningly to her face. She pointed to her bright red bottom lip... “Nerves, I guess but God wants me to trust Him and not chew the heck out of my lower lip or bite my nails down to the knuckle.”

  Merry’s confession diluted Mac’s indignation. His eyes and his left eyebrow went up at her words. “Strange Americans! You think by apology you can wiggle out of your punishment? Please, tell me what your God says about that?” He was smiling as he spoke and the charged atmosphere was not what it was.

  Merry’s reply was simple, “God forgives when we ask Him to forgive our sins... especially, after we have been born into His Kingdom by faith in Jesus, His Son.” She tilted her head trying to conjure up the scripture she wanted. “Okay, not in John but later in 1st John chapter one, we are told that if we confess our sins, Jesus is faithful to forgive our sins. Are there consequences? Sure... For example, I defied your word and so rightfully, you can punish me although I sincerely want your forgiveness in spite of your punishment. Forgive me?”

  “Yes, of course and that was a good explanation. I like that; makes sense,” Mac said rubbing his unshaven chin. He came and sat again but facing the outside. His legs swung free below the wall. She sat too with feet firmly on the roof and her back to the outside.

  “The military convoy,” he said taking a swift change of subject. “It has me worried. I think we may see this city cordoned off. They looked to be UN military but I’m not sure.” He looked at her. The expression revealed a heavy burden and it dawned on Merry that he wasn’t so angry about her firing off a penny BB but rather his mind was preoccupied with a possible martial law scenario or worse.

  “I need to talk to the men but it looks like our plans to leave next week - 10 days from today will have to be expedited... I’m not willing to wait until all options are gone.” She wondered why he was telling her this.

  Merry had been in denial about their removing to an isolated ranch on the Colorado border... She hoped and prayed that life would begin to return to “normal” before the departure day. At that point, they could reevaluate and perhaps, not go at all.

  “I don’t know about these things but it seems that the military might be just the medicine this town needs to return law and order. Is that so bad?” She asked him.

  “For this city I think it could be beneficial but for us, our group, no. Absolutely, no. Let me tell you. See that dog down there?” He pointed to the bloated beast lying in the road. “Whether that dog got hit by a club wielding thug running down this street or by its owner trying to defend himself from that same thug... the dog is dead anyway. Maybe the owner swung back to strike this evil attacker but the dog was in the way. Still, the creature is dead.”

  “Friendly fire?” Merry suggested after glancing back at the dog.

  “Yes, it happens but that is only the best case scenario. Much worse can and probably will happen as these months drag on.” He pulled out his sunglasses and put them on. Merry dropped hers down from the top of her head to fight against the morning glare as well. Swinging his legs back over the wall Mac stood.

  “This is Monday. Three days and we’re gone. More than three days could mean a big deal to escape the military confines.” Rubbing his chin again, he told her, “I don’t want to think of that when we can do it now at our leisure.

  “For your women, you and Patsy must get them organized; the very bare essentials to take,” he said. Then, “Mrs. Ortiz, Tom and you plan the packaging, uh... the packing for the kitchen stores. Put the others to work helping once they have their personal items sorted and packed.” He looked around the landscape. This was the dead time of the day, even when the looting was at its worst. The bad guys have to sleep too, Mac had to
ld the roof watch. Quiet prevailed with a twittering bird breaking the silence.

  Mac said, “I will get someone else up here to take this watch time. You need to get to work.” She nodded as he turned to walk away. He said over his shoulder, “And stop those bad habits!”

  Chapter 16 Three Days

  When the Hacienda occupants heard that the departure date was moved to just three days rather than the distant tentative 10 days, emotional mayhem erupted.

  Tom Biggs, Lenny and Junior met with Mac that very morning. Lenny was game, trusting Mac’s foresight but Tom and Junior were vocal about leaving on Thursday. “It’s early May and warm down here, I grant you that but the Jemez Mountains could be plugged up with snow still. Worse, we could get caught in a storm and get snowed in. It’s happened before this early in the year,” Tom warned Mac.

  “Yes, we know all that already,” Mac assented. They sat at the picnic table on the patio. Mac wanted to discuss the departure plans in private, hammering out any discord or problems amongst themselves.

  “If you are worried about being stuck a few days or an entire week in the snow up in the mountains, well so be it. You will be more comfortable stuck in the snow with these women and that tiny peanut of a man-child, than here if we’re caught in some sort of siege or if we come under friendly United Nations peacekeeping martial law,” said Mac plucking one of Junior’s biscuits from his plate.

  Lenny said, “Mac if I didn’t trust your instinct on this I would say you are paranoid... but you’ve had an accurate read on the situation since day one. I’m with you on the Thursday departure timing. I can get the truck and a smaller four-wheel drive that morning. We’ll load them up and head north... Well, some of us will.” Lenny took the remaining biscuit from Junior’s plate.

  “Hey!” protested Junior. “Oh forget it. I’ll get some more.” He turned to Mac as he stood. “What about Angel? My sister, Angel needs to go with us. My cousin, Tino said he knows where she’s staying.”

  Mac was more interested in Tino than Angel. Tino was instrumental in hooking Lenny up with the vehicle connection. He was a straightforward guy and a skilled mechanic.

  “It’s early. Go this morning and ask Tino to come talk to me. I think we can work something out for him and maybe for Angel too,” Mac replied but he held weak hope for retrieving Angel. Junior forgetting the biscuits clamored over the wall to find his cousin.

  “Thursday and you’re not going with us! Well I’ll be d...” began Tom but Mac interrupted him.

  “I have other duties and I have stayed long enough with you very fine Americans. Times are precarious and I must get back to my own country.” Mac made it sound like he planned to cross a city park on a summer’s day not the reality of finding his way across a foreign nation in crisis and then, securing passage to D’Almata. Even in the best of times, traveling from the United States to the smallish Island nation of D’Almata in the Adriatic Sea was convoluted.

  Tom and Lenny knew his plans already but Tom was especially adamant about convincing Mac to stay and go north with them. And, he said so. Mac for his part let Tom speak but finally, he turned the conversation to accelerating and finalizing their evacuation. Maps and lists were scanned and adjusted. Provisions were reworked and the time of departure was set for half hour after sundown on Thursday. If all went well, Tom predicted their arrival time at the ranch to be around sunrise Friday morning, maybe sooner.

  As the men talked, in the kitchen Mrs. Ortiz and Patsy were packing canned and dried goods into various containers that were brought back to the Hacienda over the last few weeks. Mostly, plastic containers for storage, but also cardboard boxes and over-sized suitcases were being filled. The older women were industrious and practical as their generation made them so. They sensed the heightened tension but kept their conversation light with Patsy invoking God’s protection over the little flock He had assembled.

  Merry had called the women together, including Sarah Todd and told them the news of leaving on Thursday. Sarah was disturbed the most by the change in plans. The others were ready to move out and move on. Cabin fever was beginning to take its toll especially since the weather had warmed dramatically over the last few days.

  No one was happy to hear about the restrictions on their belongings. The gals from the jail were all pack-rats. They individually accumulated quite a bit from the halfway house and then also from their plundering of the homes left unoccupied after that fateful day in March.

  Merry insisted on going over everyone’s choices - not Sarah’s. If they packed the necessities properly then there would be space to take some other things which were not so important but comforting items, nonetheless.

  Lyric had taken the watch from Merry. Sarah came into Luz’s room where Merry was helping her and said tearfully, “Lyric just opened the skylight and told us that Mac isn’t going north with us.”

  “What?” Merry said and she and Luz looked at each other wide-eyed. Sarah liked Mac and for his part, he bantered about with her but from Merry’s perspective it seemed a platonic working relationship. Merry knew Mac admired Sarah’s medical knowledge. Time had shown that Sarah did not interest Mac as the war bride he wanted and yet, they were very friendly towards each other. Now Merry wondered if Sarah wasn’t trying to get a reaction from her at this news.

  “Yes, apparently old Tom and Mac had a heated discussion about Mac’s plans to renege,” Sarah said. She carried a bundle of tiny clothes for baby Manny as she was in charge of getting his bag packed. “The final word was that we are leaving Thursday just after sundown but Mac is not going!” Sarah left to tell the others.

  Merry’s brain seemed to whirl. What were his plans? Why did they have to go to the ranch but he wasn’t going? Would he join them later? Why didn’t he mention his plans earlier when they talked on the roof?

  Luz cursed. She added, “I don’t get it? How can the crew go on without their captain?”

  Merry didn’t have an answer. When they were finished, Merry asked Luz to go into the kitchen to see if she could help there.

  Merry went into the next room. Sylvia and Tina had made their room a home. There were pictures taped to the wall and a calendar. The American flag that originally hung across the street in front of the two-story was hanging on the back of their bedroom door. By far, they had acquired more than any of the others. Stuff was piled everywhere.

  Sylvia and Tina were talking about Mac and what it might possibly mean not to have him guiding them. Merry didn’t want to think about it but the two kept drawing her into the conversation.

  Finally frustrated with their despair, Merry said, “Tina... Sylvia, you’ve received Christ and have really made a huge change - both of you. You certainly aren’t the same women you were weeks ago and even longer, months ago when I first met you in jail.” The women agreed with nods and grins. “Okay well, God foresaw this train coming down the tracks way before either of you became Christians. He had Mac come into our lives at a strategic crossroads... Know what I mean?” Merry could see that they didn’t so she restated her thoughts.

  “What I am saying is, originally another guy was supposed to come help organize my mom’s stuff; ship it overseas and then the guy was going to help get me from the Albuquerque airport to a city in eastern Europe and then to hop a train and then catch a ship and then, a horse drawn cart... And then, I don’t even know! But getting from Santa Fe to D’Almata is a real chore. I made the trip last fall but not by myself. That guy, Rifta couldn’t make it and instead, Malak shows up. God foreknew what was going to happen and how desperately we would need him. God provided Mac and God will continue to provide.” Merry said as she tossed a bag with dozens of nail polish bottles into a box.

  “Hey, my collection!” exclaimed Tina. She pulled the tiny bottles out of the box. Tina often had more than one color on her nails or even on a single fingernail. She was a nail polish diva.

  Merry explained again that once their essentials were packed, the other stuff could be added. “Besi
des Tina,” Merry added, “You look fabulous even without the nail polish. Still, those nail polish bottles don’t take up much room so once you get everything in that you really need, I’m sure there will be room for those.”

  Sylvia was busy rolling her socks into tight balls when she said, “Merry, I get what you’re saying about Mac. We should thank God He sent Mac and not worry when God allows Mac to abandon us, right?”

  Merry felt Mac was abandoning them but she said, “Come on. Mac is not abandoning us. He would have left the first day or so, if that were his intention. Ask him but I’m sure he thinks we’re ready to go it alone. Think about it. Even Tom Biggs’s ranch is a God send!” Merry’s words were truth. God had kept them safe and He was continuing to provide for them beyond their own ability. God’s method and God’s way of providing were His business not theirs. Their business was to trust Him and be grateful for His provision. “So yes, let’s trust God and not worry!”

  “You know,” Tina said as she reexamined her nail polish bottles, throwing several into the discard box, “I suppose if God would send His own Son to pay for our sins, why would He not take care of us now when it’s almost impossible for us to take care of ourselves.”

  As Merry moved to the next room, she thought about how far the jailies traveled spiritually from faith to faith. Not pride but a sense of satisfaction that these gals were really catching-on, overtook her. Salvation, God’s plan - His grace... His influence was bringing them along. Patsy’s mentoring and Bible Studies were propelling them forward as a group and individually, too. The result was contingent first and foremost on God’s indescribable gift - Jesus and then also, upon a fellow saint’s life as a reference point. Their spiritual growth was a two-pronged effort; God and man... In this case, God and a woman... Patsy Sena.

  By the time, Merry finished with the others and was working on her own packing, the household was preparing for dinner.