"Just honk when you get to the gate, sir and I'll open it for you, otherwise it will...."
"Explode, yes I know." He looked at each of us in turn then looked directly at me. "Young lady you are either the smartest person I have ever met or the stupidest but I do know one thing for sure. I hope to never see you or your friends again". Pulling his hat down tightly, he turned to open the door and found Randy holding it open with a smile. Making a funny noise, he stomped out to his humvee, nearly landing on his ass on the slick bottom step.
He honked the horn, loudly and long when he arrived at the gate. Duke took his time about activating it, which we all knew was driving the general crazy. Then all the humvees waiting patiently on the road turned around and followed him back to New Virginia City. Wherever that is.
"Well, sweetcheeks, I think that went over very well, especially the lodge being wired to blow if the explosive device isn't reset every day. Now, lets check for bugs, then see if the one we put on him is working properly." Then he gave me a mouthwatering kiss, smacked me on the ass and walked away.
Everyone else hugged me and congratulated me.
Well, Lily anyway.
CHAPTER 18
It'd been two weeks since General Nimcompoop visited. Duke tuned up the six foot, remote controlled, stealth, attack, toy helicopter and dogged his company's retreat for a good five miles before we started to relax.
We listened in on their conversations for several days from the bug Randy placed on his coat before he left. Evidently, the idea that the lodge was set to explode if the detonator wasn't reset every night bothered them more than anything. They were insulted that we thought if we couldn't have the lodge no one could. I thought it was a great idea, if not in reality, it seemed to work rather well as make believe.
Leaving the New Virginia City Minute Men to Duke, I decided to go hunting with Flynne, Mason and Howard. A heard of elk had been spotted in the next valley, by Dukes new camera he'd put on top of the phone tower mountain. There were several bulls and that's what we needed. We were about tired of chicken and needed another crop of em before we ate up all our egg layers. The deer we'd killed earlier was gone.
Melody was plodding around the house looking about as miserable as anyone could when they're about to give birth. She was eating and sleeping better according to Joe, after all she had been through. The nursery was finished, the delivery room prepped and everyone had practiced up. We were just waiting for her. She followed Flynne to the door to say goodbye, which seemed to please him. She was trying to bundle him up against the bitter cold but it wasn't that cold out today so I could see him shedding some of it as soon as we were out of sight of the lodge. I was ready to kill something.
I needed to practice up with the crossbow anyway, so the first place we headed was the 'smurf' garden. There were just two more in the ravine so I shot them. I don't know where they're coming from. They weren't getting into the compound so I didn't have a problem with it. We had discussed it to death and we just can't come up with an explanation. We were going to be busy come spring hauling those things out of the creek. When I shot the first one a loud thunk surprised me until I realized they were frozen. I shuddered anyway and when I turned and saw Mason watching me I just shrugged. Some things just never got easier.
The air was cold to my nostrils when I breathed in too hard and the tips of my ears got cold fast until I pulled the cap down lower on my head. Walking with snowshoes wasn't as bad as I thought they'd be. I had to tighten the straps a couple of times before they felt right and then I could move pretty well. I wouldn't want to have to run in the things but walking worked. We could've used the snowmobiles but the less noise the better. I knew we would see more game in the valley than above in the higher parts of the mountains. Most of the bigger animals stay in the lower parts of the hills, where it's not as cold and there's more food and less snow.
We stopped once and ate a handfull of nuts and drank some water. Staying downwind, we slowly apprached a small herd of elk. With hand motions I indicated I would take the cow on the left and the others indicated which ones they would shoot. I had traded my bow for a 30.06 and as I went down on bended knee, I set up my shooting stix, a stick with a vee at the top where I could rest the barrel of the gun. They get heavy even for me if I hold them up for any length of time. We figured we were about 300 yards from them when we all fired, one bull and three cows dropped. Then we ran over and began field dressing them.
The heads were removed after they were gutted, then they were quartered, leaving the ribcage behind because of the grissle and fat on them. The lower legs were removed leaving us with most of the meat. We were in a bit of a hurry with the noise the shots made and the fresh meat, it was a toss up on whether we would get walkers or wolves. We quickly loaded the sleds and began the trip back.
It started to get colder closer to afternoon. The mountains were throwing shadows and it was measurably colder in them. The going was slower pulling the sleds up the small hills with the added weight. Mason stayed behind me most of the way, then offered to take my sled.
"Back off he-man, I can handle it." I huffed and puffed, trying to catch my breath. I don't know why it was such an issue to me but there you go. I didn't need to prove anything to Mason so I guess I was trying to prove something to myself. Whatever that was.
"Here, eat something," he said, handing me a granola bar. We found a pallet of the damned things and every time I turned around someone was trying to feed the stale things to me.
"You're a bit of a mother hen," I told him, not sure whether to be irritated or not.
"And you're grumpy when your tired and hungry." He removed a bottle of water from his pack, drank heavily, then gave it to me. We looked around us at the mountains as we rested. In the distance we heard a wolf howl and knew we needed to get home before he decided it would be easier to take that meat from us than hunt for his own. Putting my back into pulling the sled we continued on our way. It was almost dark by the time we arrived. Placing the sleds with the elk in one of the cabins to protect them from predators until we could take care of them, we trudged back the cabin, too tired to think straight. The welcome smell of ham and beans with the added inticement of homemade bread embraced us as we opened the door, and my stomach growled like an old bear.
A week later found us preparing for Christmas. The tree was nearly hidden behind the many gifts with the smaller ones stuck in the branches. The smell of pies and bread baking kept us all in a constant state of hunger. Christmas music was playing and someone was always singing or humming along. Joe and Flynne followed Melody around like puppies worried she might drop that baby on the floor.
The day before Christmas found us arguing about Christmas Eve. I was always told that Christmas started on Christmas Day. None of this Christmas Eve stuff. It seemed we were evenly divided about the issue which made it even harder to decide. After supper, we decided if some of the 'eve' people wanted to open their presents then go ahead but us die hards were waiting till Christmas day. It was decided when Melody's water broke unexpectedly while getting up from the couch.
I thought Flynne would loose his mind. Joe wasn't much better. I wondered if Melody would have to deliver this child herself when a white faced Joe took a deep breath, escorted Flynne, carrying Melody, into the clinic and closed the door softly behind Lacy and Sarah. The rest of us just pretended to watch "It's a Charlie Brown Chirstmas" with Mandy, while ignoring the moans coming from the other room. The movie ended, Mandy removed the disc and turned the tv off. I gave her a hug and kiss goodnight and sent her to her dad.
The moans continued till after midnight when they became louder, occassionly substituted by a scream. I know just from the sounds I was hearing that there was no way in hell I was ever going to have a child. Nope no way.
Soon the sounds reached a peak, and then quieted, followed suddenly by the sound of a newborns cry. Mason had finally gotten his nerves in order and sat with me while we waited. I thought he would pass out by t
he time the baby cried. The look on his face told me he was glad he'd toughed it out.
"No. Don't even think about it. It ain't happening so get that stupid look right off your face this instant or you'll never touch me again. These panties will stay on."
"Stupid look? Don't you hear that? Isn't that the sweetest sound you've ever heard?" He went to the door to listen cloer, pressing his ear to the door.
Trying to distact him I asked, "Mason, tell me when that childs birthday is."
He looked confused for a second, then he broke out in a laugh. "I'll be damned, oops, I mean danged, hanged, whatever...a Christmas baby. Hot dog, Randy, we got us a Christmas baby."
"You didn't didn't have a damn thing to do with it, so stop bragging." Randy said, strutting up to Mason and pressing his ear to the door also. They were nearly nose to nose and grinning like they'd won the lottery. However, they nearly fell on their faces when an exhausted Flynne opened the door and walked out holding a small bundle in his arms. He was grinning too and when he pulled the cover back a bit and we saw that baby, all thoughts flew from our minds. Yea, she was beauty and bald. She looked a little like Flynne.
"Congrats, dad. Now maybe you'll leave that poor girl alone."
"She's resting now, but she did a great job. I wanted to show her off while they clean Mel up and get her comfortable. I don't think I ever want to go through something like that again, though."
"Yea," I said, touching that satiny, soft newborn skin, "I can see where it could really be tough on you."
He frowned at me knowing the sarcasm was in there somewhere then gave up and smiled at the guys before going back to Melody. Soon an exhausted Lacy and Sarah stepped out and quietly shut the door. Randy and Lacy headed upstairs arm in arm, while Sarah took care of something in the kitchen. Mason took my hand and led me upstairs to my room. We quietly got into bed, where I snuggled against his back. He took my hand, kissed my palm, then clasped it tightly against his chest. Soon we were both asleep.
A loud, piercing scream startled us into falling out of bed only to jump up and start for the door. Another scream actually woke us up and just barely stopped me from flinging open the door and running downstairs, naked. It was Christmas morning and Mandy had just gotten up, discovering the many presents with her name on it. Leaning against the door, trying to catch my breath, I heard a thump and turned in time to see Mason hopping around the room with one leg in his pants and then falling on his butt. Well, this bodes well.
I ran to the bathroom and tried to close the door but he beat me to it. We smiled at each other, kissed then softly whispered "Merry Christmas" before climbing into the shower, together. Warm water and soap being handled by a loved one makes for a very nice Christmas present.
I had a friend that used to wrap all the gifts he gave with the Sunday funny pages. I thought it was a great way to recycle and after viewing all the wrapping paper strewn about the lodge, I had to agree. Of course, the funny paper has gone the way of most humans and wrapping gifts with the funnies probaby would never have caught on anyway.
Coffee was calling my name. I guess no one could open presents until everyone was present. I could have had a lot of fun with that it but didn't want to deprive Mandy, so I saundered into the great room and found a chair.
Duke was the offical gift presenter, in green tights, boots, shirt and pointed hat. I didn't know we needed one or I would've suggested Mason for the job. Very funny, Brat, I'll remember that come Valentines Day.
Stay out of my head, Meathead, there's still Easter. The way he looked at me then reminded me of the shower and I blushed, making him laugh.
I allowed Duke to pile my gifts on the floor in front of me while I quietly sipped my coffee and relaxed. When he kept piling them up I started to get concerned. Where did all these come from for Pete's sake. I started looking around the room and saw everyone was waiting for me to start opening them up. Sighing I put down my coffee and started working on them.
The gifts indicated that they had all went out of their way just for me. A beautiful western shirt made by Sarah, and a matching beaded necklace made by Lacy was followed by a gorgeous handmade jewelery box by Flynne. Randy had painted a beautiful portrait of Lacy and another of Mason dressed the way he was when we met. There was even a pet store in the background. Howard had fashioned a antique, brass, belt buckle from a 1960's, Ford Galaxie 500 XL Emblem. Where he got it is a mystery. I was in tears by the time I got the thing out of the beautiful wooden box he had 'wrapped' it in. The picture I'd admired of Mandy's was in a barnwood frame and wrapped by a child. I oood and ahhhed appropriately and hugged the stuffing out of her. Sissy presented me with a piece of barnwood she had burned "Knock before entering". It was for my bedroom door. Duke made a clock out of a computer motherboard which was so outrageous it was beautiful. I didn't know Joe made dreamcatchers, and everyone recieved one with various different feathers and beads. Melody made a group of pictures of each member which was priceless and Sam had made me a rag rug for the floor next to my bed.
It was a wonderful day. Dinner was outstanding with a giant ham gracing the table surrounded with vegetables, breads, pies, cakes and candy. Melody managed a light dinner while we tried to stay away from Davy, our Christmas baby. She slept, mostly but that didn't stop us from staring at her. Lacy took a million pictures and everyone played with the baby. It ws too good and I loved Christmas for the first time in years.
Lying next to Mason that night, I thought of all the wonderful people I had somehow managed to surround myself with. Mason opened the blinds so we could see the stars and when he returned to bed he put something on my stomach. I sat up and gently opened the tissue wrapped package. There nestled in the white tissue (I discovered the next morning in the light of day that the tissue was really toilet tissue) was a crossbow of silver, with a silver arrow on a silver necklace. It was the most beautiful piece of jewlery I'd ever seen.
"Tomorrow, I have a real surprise for you but it's not really for Christmas, just something I wanted to get you." He kissed me on the nose, then turned off the light so we could actually watch the stars. He held my hand as I slipped off to sleep and before I was lost to the night I heard, "I love you, JD."
Didn't I?
To be continued...
Walkers (Book 1): The Beginning Page 15