Cindy’s head popped up, her eyes wet with tears. “Really?” she asked.
“Really,” said the dark-skinned, fifty-something looking woman. “That took a lot of guts. I think you should run for the council. You’d have my vote.”
Cindy’s eyes grew wide, and she wiped the tears from her cheek. “Thank you,” she said, a smile forming at the corners of her mouth.
The woman stood with a beaming smile and began to walk away. She suddenly stopped, turned, and knelt down where she’d been. “I’m sorry,” she said, offering her hand to Cindy. “I’m Rita Lopez. Would you mind joining me for lunch?”
Cindy opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She managed a nod, and a big smile shone across her face.
“Well, let’s get in line,” Rita said, rising to her feet. “I’m hungry.”
Cindy stood, chains clattering as they rattled against the patio chair. “I’m Cindy,” she said meekly. “Cindy Huggins.”
“Nice to meet you, Cindy Huggins,” said Rita. “I love your T-shirt. Who is that on the front?”
“Marilyn Manson,” Cindy said as the two walked away.
“How nice,” Rita said. “Does she play any songs I’d know?”
Jimmy laughed to himself, watching as the two of them joined the line that had formed at the back of the house. He lit up a cigarette and sat back in his chair, feeling good about what had just happened.
“Hey, cutie,” said Julie from behind him.
“Hi,” Jimmy answered. “What’d you think of the meeting?”
Julie took Cindy’s chair and smiled. “I thought Cindy was great. Brenda and I were just talking about her. You know, I had to hold her back last night? She wanted to take on all of those bikers by herself. I’m serious. She really thinks the world of you.”
Jimmy smiled, watching Cindy and Rita at the end of the line laughing about something.
“So,” said Julie. “Would you mind taking a lady to lunch? Brenda’s in the kitchen helping Patty, and I hate to eat alone.”
Jimmy looked around and snubbed out his smoke. “I could eat,” he said. “What’s on the menu this afternoon?”
“Fresh baked ham and potato salad,” said Julie. “Come on, I’m starving.”
She stood up and took Jimmy by the hands, pulling him up from his chair. She looked directly into his eyes as if she were looking straight into his soul. Jimmy’s heart felt as if it skipped a beat. He stood and immediately Julie pressed herself against him, hugging him tightly.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
Jimmy stepped back. “Thanks for what?” he asked.
“Just for being here, that’s all.”
Jimmy didn’t know how to respond to that. He smiled and held his hand out, motioning toward the end of the line at the back of the house. Julie beamed and quickly grabbed Jimmy’s outstretched hand. She gave it a tug, keeping a firm grip on his hand as they joined the line.
Julie finally released his hand as they entered the house.
Eight
The Three Little Pigs was produced by Walt Disney and released on May 27, 1933. Many people believed that the cartoon was a euphemism for the Great Depression.
Jimmy worked in the woods, felling one pine after another. Two other men were doing the same thing a safe distance away. Chainsaws screamed at the trees. Others attacked the trees as they dropped, hacking off the limbs and stripping the pines into long poles. The largest crew then wrapped nylon straps around the poles and pulled them out to the road. From there they were dragged by Pete Donnelly’s four wheel drive Ford to where Ken was supervising construction of the wall. The first log arrived at just before two, and after a little trial and error they began to pile up faster than the men could set them into place. Mosquitoes and gnats buzzed the workers as they toiled. There was no hiding from the voracious bugs as the insect repellent never lasted long on sweating skin.
No one complained. Many of the people were meeting formally for the first time, and friendships blossomed like flowers. Before the work had started there had been three distinct groups. There were those who worked at the plant, the families that Patty had invited from their church, and the others who had tagged along as friends or relatives. The hard work brought them together as a team, and by the time Ken stopped work for the day, there was a distinct air of camaraderie.
Patty grilled chicken and brats over charcoal, and Ken filled a cooler with cold beer and soda. Jimmy emerged from the woods, his shirt soaked with sweat and his arms aching from working the saw. He gratefully took one of the beers and popped the top, feeling the cool liquid wash down his parched throat. He sat down in the shade under the big elm and held the aluminum can to his forehead. He was exhausted.
From where he sat he could see the Birkland place. There were rows of cars parked out back, numbering somewhere close to a hundred. A tent village had sprung up next door, and there were people everywhere. To Jimmy, it looked as if Sally Birkland was throwing a huge party. From past experience, Jimmy knew that this was an unfortunate turn of events.
“She’s not happy about the wall,” Ken said from over his shoulder.
“What?” Jimmy asked.
Ken hunkered down next to Jimmy and sipped at his beer. His face was smudged with dirt, and his checkered shirt was soiled. “She told me that I didn’t have the right to build a wall. That it spoiled her view of the lake. Can you believe it?”
“Crazy,” Jimmy said.
“Damn right. I told her as much. She doesn’t believe we need a wall. She thinks that this will all be over in a week or so, and then she pretty much told me that I’m going to look like an idiot when all’s said and done. I don’t know; do you think we’re going too far with this?”
“No, no I don’t. Maybe if they’d been at the rest area with us, they’d think differently.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I just needed someone to remind me.”
“Did she say anything about how things are out there?” Jimmy asked. “I counted at least twenty cars that headed into her place today. Someone has to know something.”
Ken took another swig of beer. “She did. Sally says that things are pretty bad in the cities. Everything’s closed. There’s been rioting and looting. She didn’t say where. She was just over to complain about the wall. She even brought along a few big boys to make her point.”
“What’d they say?”
“Not much, they just stood around looking stupid. I had Glen posted down by the road with his Mossberg. I told them about last night and asked them if they wanted to see the graves. They didn’t. That seemed to shut her up, at least for now. I also told her that we’re going to keep an armed man down there, twenty-four hours a day until we know it’s safe.”
Jimmy nodded. He knew they were doing the right thing. With sore muscles and aching back, he could hardly wait for morning so they could get started again. He slugged down the rest of his beer and crushed the can. The beer had revived him, and he stood up. “I’m headed down to the lake to get cleaned up. You look like you should do the same thing.”
“I would,” said Ken, who stood and stretched. “But, I’ve got a shower and I aim to use it.”
Jimmy cocked his fists back and threw an exaggerated left hook in Ken’s direction. “Enjoy it,” Jimmy said, smiling.
“I will,” said Ken, laughing. “You bet I will.”
Jimmy ate alone, arriving last in line after everyone had fixed their plates. He felt much better having waded out nearly to his chest with a bar of soap and bottle of shampoo. The water was cool, but it’d felt wonderful. He changed into fresh jeans and carefully pulled on a clean shirt. There was a little fresh blood on his bandage, but that was to be expected. He had worked hard today, and he knew the healing process would be slow.
He took a seat at the empty table on the deck at the front of the house. He picked at his food, eating slowly, admiring the humble beginnings of Ken’s wall. He wanted to be alone and had chosen this spot so he could do just that. He had seen Bil
l eating alone in the back. He didn’t know what Bill had done with himself all afternoon and discovered that he didn’t really care.
Cindy had been sitting at a table with Rita and two other girls roughly the same age as Cindy. The four of them laughed as they ate, getting along as if they were old friends. It was good to see her laugh, and Jimmy thanked God for Rita Lopez. Cindy had taken the divorce pretty hard. The fact that she’d continued to remain on the Honor Roll at school was a small miracle in itself.
Julie was sitting with Brenda and a group of young men at a picnic table at the far end of the back yard. The women sat with their backs to him, and Jimmy had fixed his plate quickly, hoping to be out of there before she noticed him. The plan seemed to have worked.
Jimmy wondered about Paula, but he had to fight to keep Julie from invading those thoughts. Every time he thought about Paula and how she was, Julie’s face would appear in his mind. In fact, he’d thought of little else as he’d worked, and it’d bothered him. He wanted to be mad at Julie but had no reason to be. She had done nothing more than be friendly to him, and the two had a long history together. She had been there when his parents had died in the accident. She had helped him pick up the pieces of his shattered life. They’d continued dating for a few years after that. But time and circumstance had allowed them to drift apart. She’d called him one day all those years ago, some two weeks after they’d last spoken. She asked him if he minded if she dated someone else. He had told her that he didn’t, and that had been that. They had just grown apart.
Jimmy wished that Paula had at least asked him to come along to her parents. That pill was getting harder to swallow by the minute. He wondered why that was. He knew that her parents didn’t care for him simply because they didn’t approve of his station in life. Still, if Paula had loved him, wouldn’t she have insisted that he come along? He’d asked her to come along to Ken’s place; he’d practically begged her to join them. Couldn’t she have done the same? She hadn’t even had the decency to pick up the telephone and call him to inform him of her decision. If he hadn’t called and harassed Carl, he wouldn’t even know where she was right now. That stung.
And, as if by magic, here was Julie. Pregnant Julie. That was another twist. Pregnant or not, she was drop-dead gorgeous and absolutely alone in the world. Jimmy shook his head. There she was again, creeping back into his thoughts. He was powerless to stop her from doing that. Looking back, he’d wondered why he’d let her go. They might be married by now, perhaps even have a family of their own. He knew that he’d loved her; the timing had just been all wrong. He’d been really messed up by the accident and remained that way for a long, long time.
Jimmy chewed his food slowly, staring down at the calm water of the lake. From Sally’s, he could hear music and the cheers of what must be a volleyball game in progress. They seemed to be having a great time in spite of everything that was happening in the outside world. The thought made him think of the old fable about the three little pigs.
He would think of that fable more often as the days passed.
Nine
Executive Order 10997: All electrical powers, fuels, and minerals will become property of the federal government.
That night Jimmy would sleep in his own tent. He’d set it up on the other side of Bill’s, staking out a nice flat spot underneath the protective limbs of an elm. He worked alone, making several trips down to the truck. Over an hour later, he was satisfied with his little home. His dome tent was tall enough to stand in, and Jimmy hung his Coleman lantern in its usual spot at the peak. He then inflated his air mattress, unrolled his sleeping bag and tossed his pillow at the head of the bed. He stowed his two duffel bags of clothes in the far corner away from the door and unfolded a small table and placed his portable CD player on top of that. He chose some Pink Floyd and played it softly while he unpacked his gear.
It was after eight when he finished, and he joined a large group at the fire pit. They sat in a circle exchanging stories, telling jokes, and roasting marshmallows over a roaring fire as the sun began to sink behind the trees. Julie dragged a chair next to his, and the two of them chatted about things of little importance until the sky was nearly dark. Jimmy was dog tired; he excused himself from the group.
He walked to his tent and turned. There was Julie, following along.
“Hey,” she said, giving Jimmy a seductive smile. “No kiss goodnight?”
Jimmy looked over her shoulder and noticed that half of the group was staring at them from out of the firelight. He shook his head and smiled. “Julie…” he said.
“Stop, okay?” she said in a voice just above a whisper. “Don’t worry about it. I understand. I’m just going to say this. I’m yours if you want me. I can wait. I still love you, Jimmy. I know it’s been a long time and that you probably don’t want to hear that. But it’s the truth. Just think about it… That’s not too much to ask, is it? Now, get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning,” Julie gave him her best smile before turning and slowly walking away.
Jimmy watched her walk back to the fire, his heart pounding inside his chest. There was something in the way she moved, and he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. He wanted to have a reason to be angry with her. It’d make things much simpler. She was following him around like a puppy dog, and everyone had noticed. Still, the two of them were alone, and Jimmy knew she must be frightened. He was, and he could only imagine how she felt. The worst part of it was that he found himself looking for her when she wasn’t around. And the more time that passed, the more comfortable he began to feel around her. He had actually thought about kissing her just then. It was almost as if the years hadn’t passed, and the two had been transported back into time. He was starting to see all of those special little qualities that had drawn him to her in the first place. She was hard not to look at, to admire, and he’d even felt a little stab of jealousy when he’d seen other men checking her out. Jimmy tried to push those thoughts aside; but it was her face, not Paula’s, that he pictured in his mind just before he fell asleep.
The next day passed quickly; work on the wall continued at a back-breaking pace. The weather was nearly a repeat of the days before. Patty served sandwiches and lemonade for lunch after Ken had given a short speech. Today’s topic had been separating burnable items from the trash. Many of the group stared longingly at the campers over at the Birkland Place. The party never seemed to stop. They filled their pleasure boats with coolers of beer and spent the day on the water. They played softball, horseshoes, bocce ball, and volleyball. Many of Ken’s people seemed most jealous of those who merely sat in the shade with a paperback. Sally’s group outnumbered their own by at least four or five times.
No more cars had rolled into Sally’s revitalized resort since yesterday afternoon. This caused much speculation about conditions on the outside. The Emergency Broadcast System was still providing as much useless information as possible. Cell phones were as dead as they had been on the first day, yet everyone seemed to keep checking their own as if they’d suddenly find a rogue signal. The phone in the house wasn’t working either; Jimmy checked it nearly every time he entered the kitchen.
And the work continued. The teams still had their moments of levity, and their progress was inspiring if nothing else. By the time Ken halted work for the day, the budding wall was nearly half completed. And while it was no work of art, it was sturdy and functional.
Jimmy’s muscles burned, and he wanted nothing more than to get cleaned up, have a bite to eat and fall into bed. Looking around he could see that most of the workers felt much the same way. He changed into his swim trunks, grabbed his towel and walked down to the lake. He waded in and scrubbed the pine sap and sweat from his aching limbs. He washed his hair and towel dried. He hadn’t seen Julie since lunch when she’d complained that she hadn’t been feeling well. Bill went about being himself. Jimmy could see that he wasn’t fitting in and that by excluding himself from the heavy work he’d also excluded himself socially.
/> Dinner that evening was spaghetti and garlic bread. Jimmy got in line and shuffled into the hot kitchen. Patty was there, looking flushed, and as tired as he felt. She dished him up a big plate and looked over his shoulder as if he’d forgotten to bring someone along. Jimmy smiled and shook his head. He was glad Julie wasn’t with him; he just wanted to eat and relax. Jimmy followed the line out through the front of the house and onto the deck. He walked down to the wall, taking a seat on the tailgate of a pickup truck and began to eat. Patty had made a good sauce, and Jimmy found that he was quite hungry. He ate his spaghetti alone and munched on the garlic toast, washing it all down with cold milk. When he finished eating he lit up a cigarette and smoked it slowly.
Jimmy wondered what was going on in the outside world. He found that he was thinking of Paula less and less, and it was really bothering him. They’d been apart for only three days, and his shock over the sudden turn of events had settled into a slow-burning anger. He was mad at the people whose greed had caused the current crisis. He was furious that the government had failed to recognize what was happening and had stood idly by without trying to stop it. He also felt helpless to do anything about it. That made him all the more angry that Paula had abandoned him.
A breeze had kicked up out of the west, and the temperature suddenly began to drop. Dark clouds were beginning to appear and thunder clapped in the distance. They were going to get a storm, and it would be upon them soon. Tired as they were, everyone began to ready their campsites for the approaching squall. Jimmy quickly gathered tools and put them in the single-stall tuck-under garage.
Ken ushered everyone into the basement. There was barely enough room as the old furnace occupied much of the space, the ancient ductwork reaching out like tentacles up to the ceiling. Outside the sky had grown dark and thunder boomed overhead. Jimmy jogged inside the garage with the last of the tools just as the first raindrops began to fall. He couldn’t believe how fast the storm had fallen upon them. He stood next to Ken whose expression was grave. The garage had filled up with the curious; they took turns at the open door looking up into the blackness.
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