The Event Series (Book 2): The Gospel According to Matthew, Margo & Lance

by Thomas Larson

  He also talked about his car project. He had been rebuilding a 1969 Dodge muscle car. I am not a car person, but listening to him and the excitement he seemed to have toward this car was kind of neat.

  Vespers tonight and Margo gave me a new Katana, I guess she and Cody had found it when they were scavenging. It is a nice blade. I hope it never is needed, but it will be well used if it is drawn in anger.

  (Matt) It was a nice day, weather was good, and after the usual morning stuff, farming and such, it was off for a little riding. Tanya came with me and the two of us along with Mom and Tay headed toward the east this time. We travelled about 4 hours out, and then returned. We found nothing exciting, although had to dispatch a couple of Changed.

  Tan and I took some time tonight to do some sky watching, we were particularly interested in the western sky, looking for little blips of light to see if the Hunters or aircraft might be up. We saw nothing but it was kind of nice just sitting in the dark, watching.

  July 4th

  (Margo) It was a nice day, kind of warm, but not too bad. After a light run, and breakfast, Code and I tracked down Mark. We knew he liked to blow stuff up, or so he said, so he was probably the perfect person to help us set up the fireworks display with the stuff that we had taken from the PD.

  We were setting things up on the other side of the lake by the little landing strip that we no longer use. It gave a good view to everyone in camp and could easily be seen from the area of the Fire Pit and flagpole. And although we kept what we were doing quiet, or tried to, pretty much everyone had an idea what was going on.

  Major Barkley stopped by while we were working and just made certain that we weren’t going to be starting fires. Matt showed up a little later with a little portable water pump to make sure that if we messed up and had a fire we could put it out quickly.

  While we were working on that, Nick and Grace had put together a little cook-out type of a spread for the afternoon and when we got back they had some early corn on the cob, salads, baked beans, thanks to our recent discovery, and BBQ birds, and burgers of some kind of meat. We all learned long ago not to ask, and really, not knowing was okay.

  In the afternoon it was fun, we had a little pick up whiffle ball game, kind of baseball with this light little plastic ball. The thing had holes in it and it made it tough to hit, and it was not real good at going in a straight line. Code and I played in the outfield. By the end of the game, I don’t think anyone knew the score, and really, no one cared.

  We did a Fire Pit tonight, and talked about some of our 4th of July memories. Really there were none that stood out other than the standard picnic and then the fireworks.

  No, actually, Stephen told us one about when he was in Afghanistan.

  “We were doing the usual July 4th thing, hotdogs and hamburgers, and then a fireworks display. After a few minutes the fireworks seemed to be a little too close, the Taliban tried to launch a rocket attack on us during our fireworks display. No one was hurt, and suddenly the outgoing fire was lighting up the area more than the aerial bombs.”

  What did he call it, a ‘Spectre Gunship’ was apparently in the area and lit up (fired at) the Taliban position, and that was a highpoint for the troops watching. Next thing, they were all singing the Star Spangled Banner. Wow.

  (Lance) Quiet day for me, I forgot it was the 4th of July, I guess over time we all just lose track of the date or maybe some holidays. In the old days we were bombarded with sales circulars and reminders to get hot dogs, or picnic goods for the day.

  I spent most of the morning playing with the Sat Comm. I have not heard much of late from anyone, most importantly, the Pittsburgh. I am guessing that they may still be in dive mode, but why, at this point they can do the surface thing. It is not like they need to be secret or anything.

  I did find a recorded loop message from Fort Knox, it was on a low band frequency, and it told everyone receiving that they were back in service, and that they could be reached at SAT NET 37 Alpha. Unfortunately, I have no idea what that frequency is. I will try to find out if I ever talk with the Pittsburgh again.

  The Cook Crew did a great job making a picnic, it was like I remembered as a kid, not so much when I was in high school, by then I was pretty much gone. But the food, I forget how much I loved corn on the cob. Nick had some great BBQ, ah, bird…can’t say I know what kind it was, but it was kind of greasy, so I am guessing goose. That is a kind of main stay in the meat department. I skipped the deer burgers.

  FIREWORKS…wow, just wow…..awesome, thanks Code and Margo. You guys are the best.

  (Matt) Tanya and I helped out with the cooking today, I think Nick was a little annoyed at the interference at first, but then he came to appreciate our help. I kind of wish that I had thought of it earlier, we could have run out to Fulton / Montgomery and brought Helen down for the day. But I doubt she would have come with us.

  It is just a mellow day,

  Played a little whiffle ball this afternoon, I still have that wicked curveball going, I had some of the people having fits trying to get a hit off me. Yogi Berra had nothing on me. Of course, some batters (Tanya & Mom) were given some plums to put out of the park.

  At Vespers tonight we told old tales of the 4th that has gone by. Most were upbeat and it was great to hear. Uncle Elgin used to have us all up to his place in Otis for the 4th. They, his lake association, would put on a display. It was pretty good. They had this one thing that seemed to sort of sway back and forth as the fireworks went up creating a fan of light and explosions. It was pretty good.

  He was a dick, and should have come with us. He might still be alive.

  We had our own fireworks show tonight, and it was small, but we all still did the “ooo and aaaah” thing. Tanya and I sat on the blanket, leaning against each other, city girl, country boy, there are some things that are universal to all.

  July 5th

  (Lance) Early morning, Del and I did a little run and then were working on some sword practice. I am trying to teach her a few of the techniques that Nick has taught me. We bounce back and forth between the wooden sword when we play fight, and the real katana when working on just learning the move. She has taken over my old katana.

  This new sword, I have named it ‘Wind of the East’, is great, it is a little heavier than the old one, the one that I have given to Del. But it is so well balanced.

  Later in the morning Del talked me into a trip out to the horse farm. She wants to meet the horses and to get the riding lessons started for us. I am good with that, not crazy about horses, but then over time there are a lot of things I could say that I was not crazy about, and have learned to accept and even embrace.

  When we arrived Teckla and Taylor were saddling up Magellan and Ranger. They stopped and talked with us for a bit and then we had the chance to meet a couple of the horses. Actually, Teckla had us stand in a corral and just wait while she let the rest of the horses out of the barn. It was sort of an experiment to see what they would do with new people but also to see if there was an attraction. Strawberry connected with Del right away, Strawberry I guess was, is the friendliest of the animals and seems drawn to women. I think that was the horse that Chels rode a lot.

  I stood there, and stood there, ignored. No horse wanted me. I guess I am okay with that.

  I stayed behind in the barnyard as Del, Tay and Teckla mounted up and rode off to the east. I would hang out and wait for them. It is one of the things that is interesting about the world as we know it now. Waiting, it seems like we are always waiting.

  After about a half an hour I heard something, a clop, clop, clop coming up the road. I figured it was the girls coming back from their ride. I came around the corner of the barn and there was a kind of whitish greyish horse, it was kind of small I think, compared to the other. We stared at each other. I don’t know what to do with horses.

  He, I found out it was a he when the girls got back, looked at me for a few minutes and then just walked over to me and bumped me with its
head, Almost knocked me over. After a few awkward minutes, I thought; let me get some food for it, him, so I did. He followed me into the barn yard and I gave him some grain.

  “Well, that worked, I am thinking that you are a new kid in the barnyard, so I think I get to name you.”

  Surprisingly the horse shook its head up and down.

  “Samurai, I think I should call you Samurai.”

  About now I heard the girls coming back from their ride and they were laughing about something. As they came out of the trail they stopped. Samurai actually moved closer to me, kind of hiding behind me, well as much as something that big can hide.

  “Well, what do we have here?” asked Teckla.

  “It appears that I have found a horse.” I answered, “Mom, can I keep it, huh? Can I, can I?”

  Of course, I knew that it would be kept, I was trying to be funny.

  “Yeah, but you gotta clean up after it and take it for walks,” laughed Taylor.

  I would, I felt a strange bond to this animal. I remembered Matt talking about spirit guides; I think I need to talk to him about this.

  We found him a stall in the barn and settled him in. Then Del and I started back to camp.

  At Fire Pit tonight I told them the story about Samurai and how it just showed up. I would catch up with Matt tomorrow and find out about horses.

  (Matt) Farmland, farmland, that is what today was all about, checking on the crops, picking some veggies, emptying the trap of bunnies, we had 2 today. We have not had any more problems with the traps being raided.

  At Vespers tonight Lance was very excited about his meeting the horse. Based upon what he has said it would seem that the horse found him out more than the other way around. He wants to talk with me so I am guessing he is thinking that this creature may be special to him. I think he is right.

  (Margo) Code and I did the Bo-Peep thing today, boring. Lucy came along and played sheep dog keeping the flock pretty much together.

  The weather was kind of nice, and really, that is about all I have to write. Oh, no wait, Lance, Lance found a horse. That is cool, and Samurai seems like a good name for it.

  I have another couple of days of sheep work and then I am going out to do some riding, Code is actually looking forward to spending some time with Chuckles so maybe we can all go.

  July 6th

  (Margo) Another day of Bo-Peepin’ for Code and me. I had my sketch book in hand and Lucy at my side. It was cloudy for most of the day but although there were a couple times I caught the smell of rain, it never did.

  I worked on horse pictures today; I tried to catch images of Del and Lance riding. I even did one with Lance all done up in a Ninja suit looking ready for battle.

  Normally I would not make an entry about going pee, but this one; anyway, I headed out into the woods for that purpose, just off the trail near where there is a series of rock ledges. While I was….you don’t need detail here, but I suddenly found that I was staring at a mountain lion with a woodchuck in its mouth. The real deal, about 10 yards away. It was just there, we stared at each other, I was pretty much done for if she decided to take me out. I would not be able to get to the little handgun I carried, and even if I did, it was not big enough to stop the lion.

  We stared, for what seemed a long time, then she blinked, exhaled loudly and turned walking toward the ledge and gracefully bound up the rocks.

  I ah, put myself back together and rushed back to the meadow and Code.

  “I saw it, it was awesome, I saw it!” I exclaimed.

  He looked at me, “Saw what?”

  “The Mountain Lion, it was beautiful, it was 20 feet away, it was big, and the eyes.” I was rambling on excitedly.

  “You’re okay, I mean it don’t try…..”

  “No, no, it just looked at me; it was fine with me being there. It had a woodchuck.”

  We talked a little more about it and then I was into the sketch book, I had to save this moment.

  At Fire Pit I told everyone one what had happened, there were “wows”, and “weren’t you scared” and other comments. Matt and Tanya sat quietly and just smiled. I think they knew, just like I knew. She is me.

  (Matt) I had a dream last night that I actually remembered. It was reliving the day that I found the old Indian throwing axe. I saw the Raven, and heard the noise that made me look toward it, and then the axe.

  It was pretty much the standard day, nothing exciting until Vespers. It would seem that Margo has met her guide, or maybe the other way around, a guide has found Margo. I think its a good fit. She was so excited at the fire.

  Tanya and I talked a little about Margo and the lion, and Lance with the horse. I know it sounds corny but I can’t help but feel that there is something going on with the rejoining of humans and animals, my Raven, Tanya with the turtle, something.

  (Lance) Del and I were off to see the horses this morning, we went early, and we jogged out to the stable. Master Nick packed us some lunch for the day.

  We spent most of the day riding, getting more comfortable in the saddle, and actually spent some time with sword work while riding. Samurai was perfect; he did not get rattled with the swinging blade. Strawberry was a little skittish at first, but still not bad.

  In the middle of the afternoon on our ride we found a small creek, and a nice little swimming hole, a nice place to cool down. We slipped out of our riding gear and into the water, the horses munched on the nearby grass uninterested in our splashing and activities.

  At Fire Pit tonight Margo told the tale of her encounter with the mountain lion. Wow, that was so cool.

  July 7th

  (Margo) I did the sheep herder thing today, but I didn’t bring Lucy or Code. It was probably stupid, dangerous stupid, but I was thinking that they might scare the mountain lion away, and I was hoping that I would see her. I am sure it was a ‘her’ based on my dream. I want to see the cubs, but I know that could be dangerous, look but don’t get close. She didn’t show up, I kept listening, and looking but nothing, and the sheep seemed calm all day.

  I made it up to Code tonight, I think he understood my thoughts on the lion and why I wanted to be alone out there. But I wanted to make sure that we were good, but he smelled of stinky horses. We found a little pool in the stream that runs into the lake and had a little “swim” after Vespers.

  Not much at Vespers tonight, it was a Grace and Michelle singing night, they are both quite good, although I am not a big fan of the folksy song selection.

  (Matt) I had Lance make contact with Stanwix today, it was not a scheduled call, but I just feel that there is something in the air, something happening or going to happen. I don’t know what, but it feels like there is a storm on the horizon for either them or us.

  I spoke with Ron and he said that everything up there was fine, they were getting along well and the Burlingtoners had been out doing a lot of scavenging. They think that they have laid in almost enough food for the winter between scavenging and what they are growing.

  Maybe it is just me and I am working myself into a dither over nothing. I told Tanya about it but she said that she did not feel or sense anything. For her everything was pretty much as it always was.

  I think tomorrow I will head out to see what is happening at the stables, visit with Mom.

  I’m sorry, I am distracted, trying to be in the moment, but this feeling…..

  (Lance) I visited with Master Nick this morning; I told him that I had worked to apply some of the sword techniques he had taught me to horse back. I know that it is not something that is really very useful at this point. In an attack by a human group, firearms are going to be the order of the day. But he did not discourage my efforts, really from day one he might comment or punish for lack of effort, but he also praised when the effort was there, even if it was not exactly perfect. In this case, he just smiled and said, “One never knows what the winds of war carry, better to have a raincoat than a soggy shirt.”

  Matt had me make contact with Stanwix thi
s morning early. I hooked him up and then Del and I headed out to the stables again today. We planned to take a ride with Teckla and Taylor. Chelsea and Cody were also there. So was Lucy, it seems that Lucy and the horses have found a level of comfort with each other. I think at this point the horse see the coyote as just a dog, and not a threat.

  We set off about 10 am and headed east to the railroad tracks and then headed to the south on the tracks. It was a pretty boring ride from a scenery stand point, but it was cool, with most of the tracks shaded on both sides. It is amazing what nature has done in the year and a half since the trains ran and modern civilization ended.

  We reached a little town called South Washington about 1:30. We checked the town out and it was like a little larger version of Peru, three traffic lights, a couple of gas stations and drug store (mom and pop type, no CVS). We scavenged what we could, got some drugs and medications, a few odds and ends, like a couple of guns, and not much else, the town had been ransacked before so the food was pretty much taken, or what was left would not be good to eat.

  We did find a half a dozen chickens running around, and with a fair amount of difficulty were able to herd them into some cages that we found. They might be good for eggs, or if not, I could go for some real fried chicken. We were able to strap the cages to the backs of the saddles and then we started back north.

  We talked along the way about not much of anything. But I noted that Chelsea was lagging behind a little. She had tried to get near Taylor, but it seemed there was a friction between them and Taylor kept their conversation short, and then try to catch Cody, or Teckla or Del and talk with them.

  I drifted back to try to talk with Chelsea.

  “Hey, you okay?” I asked her.

  “Huh, Oh, yeah, just thinking, and I am a little down right now.” She said.

  “You gonna be okay? Anything I can do to help?”

  “No, I think about Ethan, and what we had, and really I would like to be in that kind of relationship again, but well, the choices are pretty limited. I mean, you got Delany, and Margo has Cody, and well, it is just not a good situation, Tay is in the same boat, we are peas in a pod.” And as she spoke, she was kind of looking off into the distance.