by A. American
“Fuck you, Morgan,” Jamie replied as she got up to refill her cup.
Ian chanced a glance at her and said, “Come on, man. Don’t say shit like that.”
I laughed, rocking my head back as I did. “Look at your whipped ass!”
I didn’t see Jamie was returning. I only realized something was up when I noticed Ian look past me. Just as Jamie slapped me in the back of the head. “Mind your manners, asshole.”
Rubbing the back of my head, I laughed. “Yes ma’am,” I replied.
We spent another couple of hours in the breakroom drinking coffee, as none of us could stomach another doughnut. At the moment, I couldn’t face the thought of eating another one. Ian went to a corner of the room and stretched out on the floor to sleep. Jamie waited a little before finally joining. I smiled when she lay beside him and he put his arm around her. Since they were going to snooze, I pulled a chair over to the wall and rocked it onto its back legs, folded my arms over my chest and dozed off.
There is no way I would put myself in such a vulnerable position if the old man were around. But he wasn’t, and I thought I was safe. Fat chance. I woke up when the chair slid out from under me. I was on my back before I opened my eyes. When I did, I was looking up at the old man and Dalton. Sarge was looking down, shaking his head. He held a coffee cup in one hand and a doughnut in the other. Dalton stood beside him with a doughnut on each finger like a fat doughy ring.
Rubbing the back of my head as I got up, I said, “You really are an asshole.”
“You make a shitty Indian. You know that?” Sarge replied.
Still rubbing my head, I said, “What?”
“Can’t sneak up on an Indian.”
“I’m not a fucking Indian!”
Sarge laughed. “I know you’re not. Just told you.”
Mike and Ted walked in and Mike’s eyes went wide when he saw Dalton with the pastries.
“Dude! I want one!” Mike shouted.
Dalton looked at the doughnuts and licked the one on his middle finger before extending it to Mike. “You can have this one.”
Mike didn’t hesitate. He snatched it from Dalton’s finger and stuffed the whole thing in his mouth. “Try me again,” he mumbled with a full mouth.
Meanwhile, Ted had fixed himself a cup of coffee and was leaning against the counter eating one himself. When Mike looked at him, he said, “You could have just got one from the box.”
Looking past Dalton and seeing the box, Mike pushed him out of the way and rushed it. He stuffed two into his mouth and started stuffing them in his dump pouch.
“What the hell do you want?” I asked Sarge.
“Can you drive a tractor trailer?”
“Yeah. Why?”
He nodded. “Good. You’re going to drive a truck pulling a trailer. Come on, I’ll take you over to it.”
I nodded at the door into the warehouse and asked, “What about this stuff?”
The old man pointed at Ian and Jamie sleeping in the corner and replied, “They’ll get it. Come on, we need to go get this truck.”
I followed him out into the warehouse. The truck was being loaded and looked to be nearly to capacity. The trailer was also being loaded. I don’t how much of my Christmas list I was going to get, but it looked impressive enough. We went outside, and I was surprised to see a large armored vehicle with an enormous cannon sitting beside the Hummer. Doc was leaning against it, trying to keep out of the rain.
“What the hell is that?” I asked.
“That,” Mike replied from behind me, “is a Stryker M1128 Mobile Gun.” He walked past me to the machine and hugged it, laying his head on it. “And she’s all mine.”
“What the hell are we going to do with that thing?” I asked.
Mike stood up and patted it, “Blow shit up of course.”
“We’re taking this back to Eustis, so we have a way to deal with armor like we encountered last time,” Sarge added.
“Don’t let them fool you, Morgan,” Ted said. “That thing is a huge piece of shit. I hate em.”
Mike climbed up on the machine and patted the cannon. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I won’t let the bad man hurt you.”
“Look at the size of that damn cannon,” I muttered.
“Oh yeah!” Mike shouted. “This is a 105-millimeter rifled gun. And we’ve got a load of ammo for it.”
“That’s all fine and dandy,” Ted said. “Until that shitty auto-loader goes down and we have to climb out on top of it to fix it.”
“Irene will not let us down!” Mike shouted back.
“Come on, Morgan. Let’s leave these idiots so they can jerk off in private,” Sarge said as he got in the Hummer.
“How the hell are we getting that thing back?” I asked.
Sarge hit the starter and replied, “Drive it, of course.”
“Do we have enough people?”
“We’re leaving the MRAP. We need something to deal effectively with the threat of armor. This is as good as it gets.”
I looked over my shoulder at the hulking war machine as we pulled away and asked, “Can it do it? I mean, it’s not a tank.”
“No. It’s not a tank. But that gun is a tank gun. It can knock tanks out. It just can’t take return fire very well. But we ain’t seen no tanks. Just armored personnel carriers. And it can knock the dog shit outta those.”
We made our way through the base until we came to a fenced area. The gate was open, and we drove in. A tractor hooked to a large tank trailer occupied most of the area beside a metal building. “There she is,” Sarge said as he shut the truck down.
Pointing at it, I asked, “That? You want me to drive that?”
“Yeah. What’s the problem?”
I asked, “Is that thing full of fuel?” He nodded. “You want me to drive that rolling inferno all the way back to Eustis?”
“Yeah. We need the fuel. There isn’t anything out there to worry about.”
“What if some asshole takes a shot at it? I don’t want to be burned up in that thing!”
Sarge shook his head. “A rifle isn’t going to hurt it. It’d take something like an RPG, and we aren’t going to encounter any of those.”
I shook my head. “This is bullshit.”
Sarge’s face contorted. “Would you quit your bellyaching! You’re driving it. End of story. And pull your fucking skirt down. Your mangina is showing!”
He walked away shaking his head and mumbling to himself and went into the building. I stood there for a minute, thinking of all the ways this could end badly. Seeing that there was no choice in the matter, I followed him inside.
The building was brightly lit and much larger than I first thought. Various trucks and fighting vehicles were being worked on by several crews. Things must be pretty intense for them to be working around the clock. Sarge was talking to a large man whose arms stretched the sleeves of his uniform. There was something familiar about him, so I walked over.
“Hey, Faggione!” I said.
He smiled, causing the large cigar in his mouth to turn up. “Hi there, Morg. I see you’re still running with this band of merry misfits.”
“Window-licking retards,” I replied, looking at Sarge. “Glad to see you’re alright. When I saw what happened in Tampa, I was worried about you.”
He pulled a lighter from a pocket and lit the stogie, taking a long pull on it. “We’re alright,” he replied as smoke wafted out of his mouth. “We moved back here long before that mess.”
“I see you’ve found a new line on cigars.”
He held it out. Bouncing his eyebrows, he replied, “Finest Cuban leaf. Having those little bastards here isn’t all bad.”
I smiled knowingly, “Ah. War trophies?”
He smiled a
gain as he tucked it back in the corner of his mouth. “Something like that.” He pointed at Sarge and said, “Top tells me you’re going to drive my truck home.”
“Looks that way,” I replied.
“You still got my babies?” I nodded, and he asked, “You taking care of them?”
“They’re doing fine. But we could use some tires and oil filters. That kind of stuff.”
Faggione nodded and pointed with the wet chewed end of the cigar. “Already in your truck out there. Hope you weren’t planning on having any passengers.”
I looked at Sarge and asked, “I don’t know. Was I?”
The old man shook his head. “Nope. You’re riding alone. If that thing gets hit I don’t want to lose more than one person.”
“You’re a dick,” I replied.
“Don’t let him get a rise outta ya, Morg. “You’ll be fine. We’ve done a lot of recon and there isn’t anything that can ruin your day between here and Eustis. Now south of you, that’s a different story.” He smiled and looked at Sarge, “But we’ll be dealing with that shortly.” He struck the lighter again and took another puff.
“I thought you didn’t smoke those things. Just chewed on ‘em,” I said.
He took the roll of tobacco from his lips and spat a small piece that remained behind. “Usually not. But current conditions dictate I have a drag from time to time.”
I shook his hand, “It’s good to see you again, my friend.”
Reaching into his blouse pocket, he removed several cigars and handed them to me. “For your ride home. It’s against regs to smoke in the truck,” he smiled, “but you’re not exactly in the Army, now are you?”
I took the proffered Havanas and smiled. “Thanks, man. These will be a nice distraction.” He then handed me a Bic lighter. Pocketing it, I said, “This will help,” and I shook his hand again.
“Take care of my truck. I’d like to see it again someday.”
“I’ll treat it as if it were my own,” I replied.
Sarge snorted. “Tony, if you saw his truck, that wouldn’t mean shit to you.”
“Not my fault the damn thing is a bullet magnet.”
Faggione laughed. “Seems to be a lot of that these days.”
“Enough of this bunkum. We need to get ready to hit the road,” Sarge said. Then, in an exaggerated manner, he asked, “You do want to get home, don’t you?”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I said dismissively and looked at Tony. “Thanks again. Take care of yourself.”
“I’m safe as being in my momma’s arms. You guys take care of yourselves. I hear it’s pretty tough out there in the wilderness.”
Sarge turned and headed for the door. “Nothing we can’t handle. See you next time, Tony!”
I cocked my head to the side and looked at Tony. “You know, that’s funny.”
“What’s that?” He asked.
“That’s the second time today someone referred to the wilderness. Fawcett said it too.”
Tony worked the cigar to the other side of his mouth. “That’s what we call it now. Anything outside the wire is the wilderness, full of Indians, bandits, settlers and other trials. It’s like being back two hundred years. You take care of yourself out there in that wilderness.”
I followed Sarge back to the warehouse as I thought about what Tony said. The wilderness. I guess it did fit. Life was certainly a lot harder now. Maybe not as bad as trying to hack it from the wilderness, but a damn close second. The truck was heavy and slow; it would be hard to react to anything in this barge. But having thousands of gallons of diesel would be incredible, so I sucked it up. At the warehouse, the truck was sitting beside the Stryker with the trailer now reconnected. The rain had abated a bit, and everyone was standing around. I parked the truck and got out.
Sarge walked up and looked at his watch. “It’s nearly 2:30. Everyone find someplace to grab a couple hours of sleep. We’re going to leave at six. Jamie, you and Ian will be in the five-ton.” He then looked at Ted, “You take those two misfits in the Stryker. Dalton, you’re with me in the Hummer.”
Dalton nodded. “I can drive.”
“Only thing you’re driving is that Browning up there. I’m driving. And Morgan will be in the fuel truck. I’ll be at the head of the column and Ted, you’re at the rear. Any questions?” There were none, and we all broke up to find someplace for a quick nap. I went to the truck. It wasn’t particularly comfortable. But it was dry as the rain picked back up.
I lay in the truck listening to the pattering of rain. It was funny that this thing smelled like every other military rig I’d ever been in. They seemed to be issued with a particular odor. Not necessarily offensive, or pleasant. Just present in intense form. Eventually, I drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 5
Thad came into the kitchen with a laundry basket full of tomatoes and set it on the counter, announcing, “Here’s another basket.”
“We’ll get them washed. Thank you, Thad,” Kay replied.
He went out the back door onto the porch. Mel, Bobbie, Jess and Mary were there tending two kettles sitting on a large two-burner propane camp stove. The top of the picnic table was covered in steaming jars. Thad paused and listened as some of the cooling jars made the telltale tick as the lids sealed. He smiled, “That sure does look good.”
Mel lifted a large strainer from one of the rolling pots, holding it to allow water to drain. “It’s hard work. But it’ll be worth it,” she replied as she carried the scalded tomatoes over to another table where Mary sat working a manual food processor to separate skin and seed. Thad stepped over to her and wrapped his arms around her from behind. She smiled and looked up at him.
“You got a pile of seeds there. We’ll have plenty of tomatoes next year,” he said.
“We have a lot this year,” she replied as she dropped more fruit into the hopper.
“Remember, you have to let those seeds ferment. Squeeze a couple of tomatoes into the bowl. They need the fruit to mature.”
“Mary stopped turning the handle and spun around to face Thad. She stepped on her toes and kissed him on the cheek. “I know.” Then she turned him towards the door and said, “Now get. We’ve got work to do and so do you. Danny is out there waiting on you.” She pointed to the garden where Danny was busy picking.
He and Thad had put up a large canopy, one of the types you see at the beach that deploys quickly. It allowed them to work in the rain without getting soaked. It was time to harvest the garden and they weren’t about to lose anything if they could prevent it.
Thad smiled and replied, “Yes ma’am,” and headed for the door with an empty basket.
“We’re going to be eating squash ‘till we’re sick of seeing them,” Danny said.
Thad went to the next row of tomato plants and started picking. “That’s a good problem to have. Too much to eat.”
“I wonder if Morgan will get anything from his list,” Danny said as he piled more squash into a milk crate.
“He had a heck of a list,” Thad replied.
“I bet they don’t give us anything.”
“Why would you say that? They’ve helped us before.”
“I guess you’re right. I’m just setting myself up for disappointment. That way, when he comes back with some supplies, I’ll be really happy.” Danny paused and looked over at the pond where the kids were fishing. Miss Kay told them if they caught any fish she would cook them for their lunch. So, they were giving it their best. “I’m just worried about the kids.”
Thad straightened himself and looked towards the pond. “We’re doing alright, Danny. I think we’re actually doing pretty good. Compared to most folks, we’re living in the lap of luxury.”
As Thad spoke, Lee Ann walked up. She waited for him to finish and asked, “Is there anything ready
to go up to the house?”
Danny slid the now-full milk crate out to her. “Here; you can take this.”
She picked it up and said, “Kay says not to pick anymore today. She said we have all we can do today and it’s better to leave it on the plants than to pick it.”
“She’s right. We’ll get back to it when they get caught up,” Thad said as he picked up the laundry basket. Carrying it under one arm, he put his other arm around the girl. “How you doing?”
“I’m good,” she replied as they walked. She looked up into the dreary sky. “It’s just kind of depressing out.”
Thad pulled her in closer. “It’s just rain, and we need it. It’s a good thing. At least it ain’t hot!” He laughed.
Lee Ann smiled, “I guess that’s true. It is kind of nice out when you think about it like that.”
They went up onto the porch and deposited their loads on the table. Danny went out to the pond and called the kids to the house. They came running back, looking comical in their makeshift rain ponchos of cut plastic sheeting. They laughed and jostled one another as they ran. When they came up onto the porch, stomping, laughing and making a ruckus, Bobbie told them to take off their wet stuff before they went inside.
Taylor was busy cutting squash and putting it into jars. She would fill a jar and place it on the table in front of Mel. Mel would then dip a measuring cup into a pot of boiling water and pour it into the jar. Then she’d place the lid and ring on top of the jar and give it a gentle shake to remove air bubbles. Once it was sealed, she would pass it to Bobbie, who was standing in front of the canner. She had a small wind-up timer and was monitoring the cook time of the water bath canner.
It was a smooth process and efficient. As a result, there was a huge amount of vegetables being put away. The dining table, kitchen counter and nearly every other surface were covered with jars. When Danny came up onto the porch, Bobbie looked at him, “We need to find a way to store all this.”