by A. American
“Finally!” Mike shouted, “I get to have some real fun!” He was almost giddy as he finalized the task of getting the blasting machine ready for its job.
“Just hurry up and blow this shit already,” Sarge barked. “I want to get home before dark.”
“Oh, I’m gonna blow it!” Mike shouted back over his shoulder. Then he looked around and shouted, “Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole!” Then he twisted the blasting machine and there was a thunderous, earth-shaking explosion.
The primary explosives set off all the ordinance piled under them, sending debris high into the air which then began to rain down on our heads. After the explosion, Sarge kicked Mike’s boot and shouted, “What in the hell? How much demo did you use?”
Mike looked back at the crater in the ground and replied, “Enough I’d say.”
“Too damn much, I’d say!” Sarge countered.
“It’s done,” Ted said. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
“A sad day,” Dalton lamented.
“How you figure?” Sarge asked.
Dalton nodded towards the crater and said, “Blasting all that fine Russian hardware.”
“You like those commie bastards, don’t you?” Sarge asked.
“Respect, I have respect for them.”
Sarge jerked his chin in the direction of the Colonel. “You got respect for him?”
“I do. He’s a soldier. He was doing his job. Just like we were doing our job. We just did ours a little better.”
Sarge grunted, “You still going to respect him when he’s swinging from a rope?”
“If that’s what it comes to, I’ll tie the knot.”
“You can like them all you want,” I said. “They’re an occupying force on our land. Fuck ‘em all.”
“And how many times have we been the occupiers? How many countries did we go into and kill people and take over their lands. Now, we know what it feels like,” Dalton replied.
“Enough philosophy,” Sarge grumbled. “Let’s get the hell out of here. Put the prisoners in Morgan’s Suburban and let’s head home.”
During the course of our search of the place for weapons, we found two other survivors of the airstrike. One was Cuban and the other was a Russian private. Both men were terrified and offered no resistance when found. Sarge said he was going to call Eglin and let them know we had them; they’d probably want them and would send a helicopter to get them. The men were just an annoyance to me because I had to deal with them until we got rid of them.
I led the men to the truck and opened the back door. Looking at the Colonel, I said, “You give me any trouble and I’ll shoot you in the fucking face. I don’t care if you’re ever interrogated or not. Now turn around.”
He did as instructed, and I used large heavy tie wraps to bind his hands behind his back. The other two were likewise restrained and all three were piled into the back of the truck. Perez volunteered to ride with me, to keep an eye on the prisoners. He sat in the front seat with his back to the door. Much to the chagrin of our guests, he chain-smoked all the way home. They were obviously dying for a smoke and Perez fucked with them by blowing the smoke at them as he smiled like an ass.
We made it home just as it was getting dark. I drove over to the old man’s house to drop off the prisoners. A line of vehicles crowded the road in front of his place as everyone found a spot to park. We eventually cut a section of fence down bordering the pasture across the street from his house and lined all the trucks up there. Perez led the prisoners to the garage where Ted was preparing their accommodations, such as they were. Unlike the previous guests in the garage, these men weren’t going to be hung from the rafters.
Since we didn’t know how long we’d have to hold onto these guys and there really wasn’t anything we needed to know from them, we prepared them for a long stay. Ted drilled a hole in the floor in the middle of the garage and anchored a large eyebolt. He pulled a long chain through it and secured one end around the ankle of one of the men, locking it in place with a pad lock. The other end was likewise secured to another man. The Colonel, drawing the short straw, was put in the middle of the chain. He wouldn’t have nearly as much freedom of movement as the others.
Once the men were secured, Sarge walked in with a bucket and dropped it on the floor. “Here’s yer shitter. Now, I know you’re thinking about how you’re going to get out of here. I don’t think you’ll be able to, but know if you try and we catch you, it’ll hurt. Bad and for a long time. Just hang out here until the decision is made about what to do with you and you’ll be fine. Try anything and your time will be much more uncomfortable.”
“We understand we are your prisoners,” the Russian Colonel said.
“Good,” Sarge replied. Then he looked at Mike, “Get one of those Guardsmen in here. We’ll keep around-the-clock watch on these assholes.”
Mike nodded. “No problem.”
“I guess we’ll deal with all this shit tomorrow,” I said. “I’m going home.”
“I think we’ll be alright for the night. I’m going down to Danny’s for supper myself,” Sarge replied.
There was a chorus of hungry approvals at that idea and everyone started to file out. Mike returned with one our Guardsmen who was going to take the first watch and we all headed down the road toward Danny’s. I stopped at Thad’s truck. The bed was full of Kalashnikovs and I wanted one with the grenade launcher on it. It didn’t take long to find one and I even came up with a set of web gear with loaded mags and the shingle the Russians used to carry the grenades.
Sarge stopped in the road and looked back, “What the hell are you doing?” He asked.
“Getting me a commie rifle and grenade launcher. I’ve always wanted to shoot one of these VOGs.”
He studied me for a minute, then said, “Don’t be blowing shit up around here.”
I pointed to the crowd still walking down the road and said, “You worry about them. I’ll take care of myself.” The old man snorted and turned to catch up to the group.
I found Little Bit sitting on the front porch with her squirrel. She was feeding it from a small syringe that it was eagerly accepting. Mel was sitting across from her watching. “When he’s done, you have to wipe his butt with a wet rag,” she said.
“I know,” Little Bit answered. “He eats so much! How big is his belly?”
“He’s growing,” I said with a smile.
Little Bit looked up and grinned at me. “I can’t wait for his eyes to open!”
I stepped over to inspect the limb rat. “Shouldn’t be too long now.”
“I want to be the first person he sees when he opens his eyes!”
I rubbed her head, “I think Ruckus is going to like you just fine.”
The syringe was empty and Little Bit announced he was done eating. She was wearing a kid’s size Columbia PFG shirt. It’d become her constant wardrobe since the arrival of Ruckus because the pockets were the perfect size for a little squirrel to curl up in. And that’s just what happened. She pulled the pocket open and dropped him down inside. The little critter wriggled around for a moment or two before curling up into a ball.
Little Bit stared down into the pocket and looked up with the wonder and amazement only a child can have, and said, “He likes it in my pocket,” then scrunching her shoulders, added, “he’s so cute!”
Mel got up and came over to me. “So, it’s done then?”
I nodded and wrapped my arms around her waist. “It’s done. As far as we know, there are no more military forces in the area.”
Her reaction was odd. As if I’d just told her I’d rid the yard of a pesky armadillo. “Good. Then that should be the end of that.” She stood up and asked, “Are you hungry?”
“Starving.”
“We have meatloaf and sweet potato greens.”
“That’s sounds awesome to me.”
She headed for the door. “You want to eat out here or in the house?”
It was a nice evenin
g and the mosquitos weren’t out yet. “Out here would be nice.”
She disappeared into the house and returned with a plate and a glass of tea for me. I sat on the porch as Little Bit regaled me with tales of the squirrel. I asked where the two big girls were and was told they were inside listening to music on the iPad. As I was finishing my supper, Drake and Meathead showed up and assumed the begging positions. Meathead had drool running out of his mouth and pooling on the deck beneath him. I laughed, and when I was down to the last bite, I cut it in half and gave each of them a piece. Naturally, they swallowed it without a moment of savoring. All that anticipation, and for what?
When I carried my plate into the kitchen, Lee Ann asked if she could show me something. “Sure,” I replied and followed her outside.
She walked around the shed in the backyard and pulled back a tarp to reveal Jeff’s Harley. “I want to ride this,” she said.
It caught me off guard. “Uh, I don’t know about that, kiddo.”
“I’m not a little kid anymore, dad. I carry a machine gun.” To emphasize her point, she held the H&K up.
“I know. But motorcycles are dangerous.”
“Not as dangerous as they used to be. There are no other cars on the road. It’s not like I’m going to be t-boned in an intersection.”
She had me there and I had to admit it. “You’re right about that.”
She looked at the motorcycle and ran her hand over the tank. “It’s just a waste to let it sit here and rust away.”
It was indeed a shame what was happening to the beautiful machine. “I tell you what. Tomorrow, we’ll pull it out and see if we can get it running.”
“It won’t start,” she replied glumly.
I smiled, “Already tried it, huh?”
With a half-smile, she nodded. “I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. It’s so cool and I want to take it for a ride.”
“Your mother is not going to be happy.”
Now with a full smile, she said, “You’ll just have to convince her it’s alright.”
“Oh! It’s my job? You better start coming up with your case. Convincing her is on you!” I replied with a laugh.
She reached out and gripped the throttle handle for a moment before letting it go and walking back to the house. I could see the youthful infatuation in her eyes. I remembered it from when I was young. I’d had a motorcycle too and it was the ultimate freedom when I got it. It gave me the leeway to go where I wanted, when I wanted. That initial taste of highway liberty was exhilarating, and I understood the tug of it. But selling that to her mom would be another story.
CHAPTER 5
I woke feeling refreshed. Like I’d just had the best night’s sleep in my life. Maybe it was the thought that things would be different now. That our greatest threat was at last vanquished. Or so I hoped anyway. Whatever it was, I felt great. Leaving Mel in the bed, I went to the kitchen with the intention of cooking breakfast. But there were only a couple of eggs in the fridge. No matter, the egg factory was next door.
Since the introduction of the automatic chicken feeder, we’d kept the bucket supplied with one form of leftovers or another. As a result, the coop was a little aromatic at times. But the cloud of flies it drew created plenty of feed for the birds. Between that and them being allowed to free range during the day, they stayed well fed; and as a result, the egg yield was plentiful. We could count on at least a couple dozen eggs a day; and as the flock grew, so would production.
I collected a half-dozen eggs to take home. It was normally the kids’ job to check the nesting boxes every day and bring the eggs in. They’d be around later for the rest. Wishing we had sausage, something Thad and I needed to deal with, I scrambled up a large skillet of eggs. Since we had flour, I mixed up a batch of dough and made biscuits as well. Butter was thankfully still available, and when they were done, I brushed the tops with it. A scoop of eggs stuffed inside a buttery biscuit was a pretty damn good breakfast.
Not wanting to wake anyone up, I went out to the porch and enjoyed my breakfast with a glass of tea. Something else I needed to check on, how much tea was left. It would be a sad day when it ran out. But I did have an alternative. It would just mean getting out into the woods to find it. Living in Florida, I’m fortunate to share the woods with the plant that has the highest amount of caffeine. The Seminole Indians used it for ceremonies as well as daily consumption. When the Spaniards first contacted native Florida tribes, they were introduced to it and soon became addicted to the effects of the caffeine. Luckily, I know where to find the yaupon holly.
As I finished my breakfast, the dogs came trotting back up. They looked as though they’d had a long night and didn’t even bother sniffing around to see what I had. They simply collapsed on the deck with their tongues lolling from their mouths. With my breakfast done, I went back inside. I wanted to wake everyone up, so they could have a hot breakfast. But I found Mel already up. She was fixing biscuits for the girls when I came in.
“I was just coming to wake you up,” I said.
“Why didn’t you wake me earlier? I would have made breakfast.”
I came up behind her and wrapped my arms around her. “I wanted you to sleep. And I know how to cook too.”
“Yes, you do. These biscuits are amazing. Wish we had some gravy to go with them.”
“I’m going to get with Thad on that. See what we have for hogs that are ready to butcher. We’ll get one done. We need soap as well. So, now’s as good a time as any.”
Mel carried her plate over to the table and sat down, eyeing me suspiciously. “What?” I asked.
She leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs, the top one bouncing up and down. “So, uh, you talk to Lee Ann?”
I shrugged. “Yeah.”
She leaned forward and took a bite of her biscuit. Wiping her mouth with a cloth, she asked, “What’d you talk about?”
I knew where she was going with this. She obviously knew about the motorcycle and there was no sense in pretending otherwise. “She asked about Jeff’s Harley. She said she wants to get it running so she can ride it.”
Her leg was bouncing again. “And you didn’t tell her no?”
“No, I didn’t. Whether we like it or not, our girls are growing up. We can’t treat them like kids forever.”
“But those things are so dangerous.”
I smiled. “I don’t seem to remember you complaining when you were on the back of mine.”
She scowled, “That was different.”
“You’re right, it was. It was far more dangerous when we were running around on one. There’s no traffic now. The likelihood of her being hit by another car is nonexistent. Hell, even the odds of a deer running out in front of her are almost zero.”
She wasn’t liking my line of reasoning. “I don’t care. They’re still dangerous.”
“Look, they’re good kids. Their lives have been altered so profoundly that we can’t look back on the way things used to be as a reference for right and wrong. I’m going to get the bike running and I’ll teach her how to ride it. She’ll be fine.”
“I’m just worried about her is all.” She pointed an accusatory finger at me. “If she gets hurt, it’s on you!”
“She’ll be fine. I promise.” What I meant was I hoped. Shit can go wrong in a hurry on a motorcycle. I’d just have to do my best to teach her how to safely ride it, then hope she listens and doesn’t do anything stupid.
“What are you doing today?” She asked, changing the subject.
“I’m going to get with Thad. Plus, we have to figure out where we’re going to store all that damn crap we brought back yesterday.”
“I’m taking the girls with Jess to town. We’re going to work in the gym where the wounded are. They need help and it’s the least we can do.” That surprised me. I didn’t know she was even thinking about such things. But it also made me proud to know they we’re all willing to help those that needed it.
“That’s really good. I�
��m glad to hear the girls are willing to step up to the plate like that. We recovered a bunch of medical supplies yesterday. Make sure you get with the old man and load that up for the trip to town. I’m sure they can use everything they can get their hands on.”
“Ok, that’s good. Because they’re already asking for people to bring in old sheets and towels to be cut up and made into bandages. So those will come in real handy.”
“When are you guys going up there?” I asked.
“I’m waiting on Jess. She said she’d come down when she was ready. Fred wants to go too but she’s dealing with morning sickness. It’s hit her pretty hard.”
“I think it’s great you guys are doing this. You’re not taking Little Bit, are you?”
Mel shook her head. “No. She’s too young. She’s staying here with Danny and Kay.”
“I’ll be around too.”
“I have to get the girls up, so they can eat,” Mel said and headed down the hallway.
It wasn’t long before I heard them voicing their complaints about being woke up. But it was all good natured and they all came filing out into the kitchen, looking like a sorry lot.
“Well, good morning!” I nearly shouted. “Glad you could join us!”
Taylor rubbed her face and yawned. “You’re one to talk. You’re usually the last one to wake up.”
“That’s only because I do more than all of you combined,” I replied with a smile. Lee Ann snorted in reply.
Little Bit came plodding down the hall, dragging her bear Peanut Butter behind her. She rubbed her eyes and climbed up into a chair asking, “What’s for breakfast?”
“I made biscuits and eggs this morning,” I replied.
Her face lit up and she asked, “Can I have honey with mine?”
Mel slid a plate in front of her and set the jar of honey on the table. Little Bit licked her lips as she spun the lid off. First, she dipped her finger into the jar and jabbed it into her mouth. Mel told her to use a spoon to get the honey and she laughed. Sticking a spoon into the golden goo, Little Bit drizzled it all over her biscuit and the plate and a little on the table. I watched her and couldn’t help but smile. She was covered in the sticky mess in no time.