by N. C. Reed
“They’re here for the trade day, Ben,” Riggs said calmly. “They aren’t the enemy. You shot your mouth off, and got it mashed for the trouble. The man’s telling you the truth. They worked all morning helping look for wounded, and bringing them to the clinic. Including Howie Rickman. Probably saved his life, according to Benton.”
“What?” Kelvey looked stunned. Howie Rickman was his nephew. One of his few remaining family since the plague.
“Looks like he tried to protect Beth,” Riggs nodded. “Beth is okay, but doc says. . .well, she was. . .you need to be at the clinic, Ben, instead of over here, starting trouble with good people.” Kelvey looked stricken. He looked back to Billy.
“You saved my nephew?” he asked. Billy shook his head.
“If he was saved, was Toby that did it,” he nodded to where Toby was aiming his rifle right at Kelvey’s chest. “He did the first aid. I just did what he told me.” Kelvey let his gun drop. He looked at Toby.
“I’m right grateful to you, son,” he spoke quietly. “I. . .Howie and his girl are about all the family we got left.”
“You’re welcome,” Toby said evenly. “Was the Christian thing to do, but I’m glad we helped save some o’ your folks.”
“I’m sorry, Mister,” Kelvey told Billy. “I’m. . .I’m just a jackass, I guess,” the man looked as if he was going to break down.
“Don’t think so,” Billy shook his head. “Look more like a man love’s his family to me. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with that, in my book.” Kelvey’s eyes watered slightly.
“Thanks,” he said quietly. “Reckon I’ll go on over to the clinic.”
“I hope they’re all okay,” Billy nodded. “Good luck.”
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as Ben Kelvey walked away toward the clinic, the two men with Riggs accompanying him. Riggs sighed, and looked at Billy.
“Appreciate you not shooting him,” he said. “We really do need him.”
“Wasn’t no call to shoot him,” Billy shrugged. “We ain’t exactly crazed killers, ya know.”
“I know,” Riggs colored a bit. “Didn’t mean it that way. You could have shot him, and been justified in doing it. Fact that you didn’t means a lot. Thanks.”
“Reckon we’ll be goin’,” Billy nodded, and the others started piling back into the truck.
It was time to go home.
*****
“Reckon we can’t go nowhere ‘thout some excitement,” Jerry sighed as they pulled up into the Silvers’ yard.
“Looks that way sometimes,” Billy nodded. “Spect it’ll be a while ‘fore there’s another trade day at Franklin.”
“If ever,” Jerry agreed. “They took a hard hit. Hope they can recover.”
“So do I,” Rhonda sighed. “Just as things looked like they might be lookin’ up, too.”
“Things are looking up, dear,” Emma smiled. “We’re alive, healthy, and fed. The rest will sort itself out, sooner or later.”
“Reckon you’re right, Miss Emma,” Rhonda smiled, hugging the older woman. “See ya’ll tomorrow.”
Ten minutes later, the two of them were in their own yard, unloading.
“I’m tired,” Rhonda sighed, sitting down on the porch. “And I ain’t done nothin’, either.”
“Long trip, hard day,” Billy shrugged, sitting next to her. “Do it ever time.”
“Billy,” Rhonda sighed gently, laying her head on his shoulder, “I wish you wouldn’t take so many chances.”
“Huh? What chances?”
“Oh, Billy,” Rhonda groaned. “Like yankin’ that damn shotgun outta Kelvey’s hand like that. What if it had gone off on you?”
“Couldn’t,” Billy replied. “He had the safety on. And his finger wasn’t on the trigger, neither.” Rhonda sat up sharply.
“What?!?” she almost screeched. “You knew that?”
“Well, yeah,” Billy shifted a little, nervous. “I mean, I ain’t gonna go grabbin’ a gun what could shoot me. Not if I gotta choice, no way.”
“Argh!!!” Rhonda punched him in the arm. Hard.
“Ow!” Billy complained. “That hurt, girl!”
“I oughta do more than that!” she let loose again. “Scarin’ me that way! And then facing him down later on, when we was gettin’ ready to leave!”
“That was different,” Billy objected. “He wanted somethin’ specific then. He wanted to get even. He couldn’t get at the one’s that hurt him, so he was lookin’ for anyone else. I don’t think he’s so bad a guy, to be honest. He was just mad, and wanted some payback. You was to get hurt, I know I’d want some payback,” he added.
“Billy, you are the strangest man I have ever known,” Rhonda sighed in exasperation, laying her head against him again.
“Is that. . .I mean is that a compliment? Or should I be mad?”
“It’s a compliment,” Rhonda sighed again. “Let’s get finished and get inside. Talking to you just wears me out, sometimes.”
*****
They heard from Ralph two days later. Billy was in the field when his radio crackled, the mike keying three times. They had agreed to use the FRS radios only sparingly at home. Keying the mike three times meant that Rhonda needed him to come to the house, but it wasn’t an emergency.
“Ralph wants to come,” Rhonda said as soon as Billy walked in. “He said there’s a family near him that are interested. Husband, wife, and son, eight years old. The husband is a farrier in his spare time. Well, it’s a hobby is what he said,” she amended.
“Well, that sounds good,” Billy mused. “I can cold shoe, but I can’t make no new ones.”
“His wife was a school teacher,” Rhonda added.
“Well, that’d be useful,” Billy admitted. “We’ll likely have to make at least two trips, if we bring them on.”
“True,” Rhonda nodded. “I wonder. . . .”
“What?” Billy asked.
“Well, if we can find a big truck, like a big U-Haul, that might make it easier. We’d still be able to pull a trailer. And we’d still need to take another truck. But we could carry a lot more, too.”
“That ain’t a bad plan,” Billy nodded, thinking. “Wonder where we can get one?”
“I don’t think there were any in town,” Rhonda admitted. “But we might find something comparable. Maybe a delivery truck, or something like that.”
“Why not a big rig?” Billy asked suddenly. “You know, an eighteen wheeler? Get everything in one go, then.”
“Billy, can you drive one of those?” Rhonda asked. “I sure can’t.”
“Don’t know till I try,” Billy shrugged. “And if we get one rollin’, sure would be easier to transport cattle or hogs, if we ever get to where we can find a market.”
“It would at that,” Rhonda agreed, her mind already working on costs opposed to price. “I guess we better look for a big truck, then.”
“I guess we had.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“Well, that oughta do it, all right.”
Billy, Rhonda, and Jerry Silvers were just outside Cedar Bend, on the Main Highway that ran through town south to north. Sitting in front of them was a nearly new Freightliner tractor, with a box trailer behind it. The truck and trailer had once belonged to the Ingall Trucking Company.
Now, it sat empty, and abandoned.
“Wonder if it still runs,” Jerry mused.
“One way to find out,” Billy shrugged. He climbed into the cab, and inserted the key he’d found in the office. He had already attached a portable jump pack, one that he’d used in his shop. It was fully charged, and more than capable of lifting a dead battery back to life, even on this rig.
Letting the plugs warm for a minute, Billy hit the key. The truck turned slowly, almost reluctantly, at first. Gradually it began to spin faster, and finally caught. Sputtered. Died.
“Try it again!” Rhonda called. Billy glared at her through the window. He was gonna do that anyway.
Once more the truck engine turn
ed, faster this time, and caught again. Sputtered. Died.
Billy waited a full minute, then tried again. This time the truck kept running, although the engine was ragged. Billy allowed the big truck to idle, getting down out of the cab.
“We’ll need to let it idle a few minutes,” he told them. “Let the cleaner and the Pri-D circulate through the fuel system. Once it clears out, we should be good to go.”
“Don’t like sittin’ here, out in the open like this,” Jerry commented, looking around as if he expected an attack at any moment.
“Me either,” Billy shrugged. “Is what it is, though.”
After five minutes, Billy climbed back into the cab, and applied pressure to the throttle. The big engine raced slightly, with little sign of it’s earlier sputtering or hesitation. He gave the others a thumbs up.
“We can go, I think,” he told them. “Let’s see can we get this big ol’ truck back to the house!” Jerry and Rhonda went to the pickup, while Billy found the air brake, and released it. There couldn’t have been much air left, anyway.
He tested the air for the truck brakes, and heard the hiss of release. Good. The fuel tank was almost three quarters full. With Pri-D, that fuel would be usable. Releasing the brake, he eased the truck into second gear.
Easing carefully off the clutch, Billy put the Freightliner in motion. He wasn’t used to driving these rigs, though he had worked on a few in the past. He’d never driven one on the road. This would be a learning experience.
“Here goes nothin’,” he told himself as the truck moved up onto the road. Billy watched the mirrors carefully, remembering that he was pulling a fifty-three foot trailer. He couldn’t forget that. He’d made a hasty sign, and put it on the wheel.
Remember Trailer!!!!!
That should remind him.
He didn’t have a note to remind him to shift gears, and soon the truck was screaming. In second gear, the big Freightliner wound up quickly. Working the clutch, Billy shifted into third gear. This time he watched the tachometer, and shifted into fourth gear when the red line neared.
“I just might be able to do this,” Billy had decided, just as the trailer brakes locked up, and the smell of burning rubber and brakes assaulted his nose.
“Or not!” he added, standing on the truck brakes.
*****
“I hit the trailer brakes by accident,” Billy said, red faced, after checking things over. Jerry grinned at him, while Rhonda just hrmpphed.
“Hey, I told you I ain’t never did this before!” Billy objected. “Anyways, now that I know what I did, I can keep from doin’ it again. Let’s get movin’.”
True to his word, Billy was able to keep from doing it again. Once he had the shift timing worked out, he was able to move the truck fairly well. He worried, though, about maneuvering the big rig onto his drive. He wasn’t sure it would fit.
“I’m gonna take the rig around behind,” he called over the radio.
“Roger that,” Jerry’s voice came back. “We’ll watch the rear.”
Satisfied that the others knew where he was going, Billy made a wide turn, taking the big rig toward the Franklin place. It was even more off the path than his own, and had a large area for him to turn into, and even turn the truck around.
He was pretty sure he’d need it.
*****
“I’m pretty sure she’ll do just fine,” Billy told them, after getting a look under the cab. “Belts and hoses all seem fine. Generator is turning good. Coolant levels are good. Compressor is workin’. Ain’t nothin’ like a new truck,” he sighed. Rhonda laughed.
“Boys and their toys,” she shook her head.
“Well, least these ‘toys’ can get the job done,” Jerry chuckled. “Okay then. Guess that’s outta the way. When you aim to go? And who all’s going?”
“We can go tomorrow, you want,” Billy shrugged. “As to who, I dunno. Need to have someone from both families, I guess.”
“You two should go,” Rhonda said at once. “And take Toby. You may need the help.”
“Hate to leave you women all alone,” Jerry said at once. Billy winced, and stepped back a little.
“Excuse me?” Rhonda asked sweetly.
“I said I hate to. . . .” Jerry started to repeat.
“I heard what you said!” Rhonda flared back. “I’ll have you know I’m perfectly capable of takin’ care o’ myself, thank you very much!” Jerry looked at Billy in bewilderment, but the younger man just shook his head sadly.
“And we women, as you put it, will be just fine while the three of you men, are out gallivanting’ all over the country side in your toys, I’ll have you know!”
“I’m sorry,” Jerry held up his hands in supplication. “I didn’t mean it like that!”
“And just how did you mean it?” Rhonda shot back. “That we’re weak, and frail, and need you to look after us?” Her voice was mild. Deceptively mild.
“That. . .well, look. . . .Now see here!” Jerry spluttered. “All I was doing was voicing’ my concern!”
“I know that,” Rhonda’s voice dropped a decibel. “But we can look after ourselves for one day. The three of you will need to help load. Don’t forget, there may be another family coming. You’ll be late gettin’ in, if you don’t wind up out for two days rather than one. We’ll be fine,” she finished.
“Okay, you’ve convinced me,” Jerry nodded, feeling like he’d stuck his head in a badger hole.
“Oh, good,” Rhonda smiled that too sweet smile, and Jerry braced himself for another explosion.
“I think you made your point,” Billy said quietly, but firmly. Rhonda looked at him for a moment, then nodded.
“‘Spose I have, at that,” she agreed. Jerry was almost goggle-eyed now. How in the hell had Billy ever learned to tame that girl?
“Well, want to go tomorrow?” Billy asked. Jerry thought for a moment, an nodded.
“Might’s well. Sooner we go, sooner we’re done.”
“Figure we can leave out at daylight, or a little sooner,” Billy said, as the three climbed into the Ford. “Have to allow a few minutes for the Freightliner to warm up. After that, we’re good to go.”
“Works for me,” Jerry nodded.
*****
“Billy, promise me you’ll be careful tomorrow.”
Rhonda was lying draped over Billy in their bed, her hand tracing a pattern only she could see across his stomach. Her voice was quiet. Soft.
“I will,” Billy promised. “We ain’t goin’ to market, just goin’ to pick up some folks. And, once we get there, we’ll have others to help on the way back. No problem.”
“There’s always problems,” Rhonda sighed.
“Do you want to go?” Billy asked, knowing what was really on her mind.
“You know I do,” Rhonda slapped him on the stomach. “But we agreed. . . .”
“We agreed that someone from both families needed to go,” Billy cut her off. “Jerry don’t want Emma and Shelly to go, that’s his look out. He don’t make decisions for us. You want to go, you go. Period.”
Rhonda raised her head, looking at Billy. His face was calm, and his eyes were looking right into hers.
“You wouldn’t mind?” she asked, almost hesitantly.
“Nope,” Billy shook his head. “Not a bit. Be glad for the company.”
“What will Jerry say?” Rhonda wondered aloud.
“Don’t care,” Billy shrugged. “Can say what he wants. Free country.” Rhonda almost giggled at that.
“You don’t think it’ll cause a problem?”
“If it does, then it’s his problem,” Billy told her flatly. “I like Jerry, and I’m startin’ to like Toby. Miss Emma I’ve always liked. Shelly I can take or leave. But much as I might like Jerry, and respect his opinion, he ain’t in charge o’ this place. This here, this farm? It’s ours. Yours and mine. He don’t call the shots over here, or over us. I’m fair certain I made that clear when he and I talked about what happened in Cottonwo
od.”
“What?” Rhonda asked. Billy sighed.
“He allowed how we shouldn’t have ‘gone off’ like that without tellin’ him,” Billy replied. “I disagreed.”
“Uh, disagreed how?” Rhonda asked, with some concern.
“Just told him we had to go and look for things we needed, and things we could use to trade for other things. He offered to help, next time.”
“We’ll have to share,” Rhonda mused aloud.
“Thought o’ that,” Billy nodded. “Figure it’s a good thing, though. That way, we ain’t gotta carry’em, later on. They get their own, they’re on their own.”
“I couldn’t do that to Emma,” Rhonda protested.
“I ain’t sayin’ we can’t swap back and forth,” Billy sighed in exasperation. “Just that we ain’t got to go and get them stuff so they can trade and what not. They go with us, they help, they get a share. Simple.”
“So it is,” Rhonda smiled, lying her head on his chest again.
“You goin’ or not?” Billy asked.
“We’ll see.”
*****
“I thought we had settled this yesterday!”
Jerry wasn’t exactly mad, but he didn’t like changes at the last minute.
“We settled that someone from both families should go,” Billy explained patiently. “And they are. Truth is, I need someone in the truck with me. I ain’t drove this thing but the one time, ya know. I can’t be takin’ my eye off the road for even a second in this thing. I need another set of eyes.”
“And she wants to go,” he added, shrugging. As far as he was concerned, the discussion was over.
“And I’m supposed to just head off and leave Em and Shelly alone?” Jerry demanded.
“That’s up to you,” Billy replied calmly. “We left Miss Em alone when the rest of us went into town. Was gone all day,” he pointed out.
“That was different!” Jerry exclaimed. “We could have got back in a hurry, if there was need!”
“That’s true,” Billy nodded. “They could still go with us,” he added.