by A. American
With a sideways look, I asked, “Do I need to ask how?”
Mario looked off in the direction of the gas canopy, “I’d say you’d approve.”
“Fair enough. You need anything, just give me a holler.”
As we shook hands, Mario replied, “Will do. And same goes for me.”
I walked over to where Mel, Lee Ann and Jess were talking. They seemed unphased by what they’d just witnessed and were chatting as if it were a normal day. “You guys ready to go home?” I asked.
Lee Ann rubbed her stomach and said, “I’m hungry.”
“Let’s head home then.”
Sarge echoed my statement when he announced, “Supper will be ready soon! Let’s get on the road to the house!”
We spent the evening at Danny’s house. Mitch and Michelle were given the spare upstairs bedroom for the night. But, as was our custom, we all hung out on the back porch where we had dinner and just enjoyed the company. Aric brought Fred down on an ATV. She said she wanted to get out of the house, needed a change of scenery. She sat with Mel, Jess and Mary. Miss Kay busied herself in the kitchen. She was baking the buns we were taking to the cookout tomorrow as well as serving food to people as they arrived.
I sat on the porch with Sarge, looking out at the pond. The kids were down there wading around in the water trying to catch minnows or tadpoles. Glancing over at Sarge, I asked, “How’s Ivan doing?”
“Bitching. He never stops bitching.” He looked over at me and with a laugh and said, “Ivan really hates you.”
“The feeling’s mutual, I assure you. I’d like to spend some quality time alone with him. Maybe bring Dalton along.”
“Don’t take it personal, Morgan. He’s just a soldier doing what he’s told. No different than our guys that were over in Iraq or Afghanistan.”
“That may be true from his perspective. But from mine, I don’t see it that way. To willingly fire artillery into a civilian area is a war crime. But beyond that, it’s just wrong.”
The old man shrugged and took his pocket knife out. As he dug under his fingernails, he said, “Again, it’s about perspective. At the time, they thought they had us licked. Ole Ivan thought that was the final nail in the coffin. So, there wouldn’t be any consequences. It’s the old, would you rob a bank if you knew you wouldn’t get caught? It’s a moral test.”
“Yeah, well he fucking failed that test.”
“His only mistake was getting caught.”
I leaned back and stretched. “How much longer are we going to have to deal with his ass? I thought Eglin wanted him.”
“They do,” Sarge replied with a nod. “But there isn’t exactly an overabundance of aircraft right now. And coming down here just to scoop up one little commie Colonel isn’t at the top of the list.”
“Miss Kay fixing them food?” I asked.
“Yeah. I have to carry it down there in a bit.”
Getting up, I said, “I’ll do it. I’d like to have a word with Ivan.”
“Now Morgan, don’t go killing the man. We need him.”
“I’m not going to kill him,” I snapped back. “I just want to talk to the man. He’s no threat to us now.”
Going inside, I asked Kay for the food for the prisoners. She gave me a large bag, telling me there were also meals for the guards. Taking the bag and a large jug of tea, I left the house and walked down to the old man’s place. It was warm, nearly hot and terribly muggy. It wasn’t a comfortable evening out for a walk.
I found Wallner in the garage with Ivan and his buddy. He was sitting in a chair next to the workbench, casually watching the two men watch him. Seeing me come through the door, his mood brightened.
“Hey, Morgan! You bring us supper?” Wallner asked.
I held the bag out and replied, “I did. You hungry?”
“Starving,” Wallner replied.
Hearing there was food, Ivan and his fellow prisoner sat up and took notice. Both of the men had a look of hunger on their faces and it was obvious they were ready to eat. I placed the bag on the bench and Wallner immediately dove into it. I looked at Ivan and asked, “These two giving you any trouble?”
“Naw,” Wallner replied. “They can’t do anything.”
I took a covered container out and lifted the lid. Steam rose out of it and I made a show of sniffing it. Looking at Ivan, I said, “Man, that smells good.” He glared back at me but said nothing. I walked over to him and held the dish out to him. As he reached for it, I held it just out of his grasp. “I have to wonder,” I said. “Would you take such good care of your prisoners?”
“We are much alike. Though you may not like to hear that. You Americans think you’re so good, so, what’s the word, wholesome. Above reproach, I think is another way to say it. But you’ve committed more crimes against the world than any other nation.”
I handed him the dish and replied, “Maybe. You Russians only kill your own as I recall.”
“By the millions,” Wallner added with a mouthful of food.
“And you have killed millions of your own as well,” Ivan replied as he scooped at the food with his fingers. We didn’t give them a fork.
I laughed. “But you’re far ahead of us in the body count. Not to mention, most of your mass murder was state sponsored.”
Ivan looked up at me, “Was your Civil War not state-sponsored mass murder?”
“I can see the argument. But when our Civil War ended, the North didn’t go out and try to erase the South.”
Ivan shrugged, “History is written by the victors. Dead men cannot argue.”
“Well, it looks like Russia won’t be writing the history of America this time either.”
“Perhaps not. But you will never achieve the level of success you’ve enjoyed for so many decades. America is now a third world country,” Ivan replied and laughed. “Even Mexico doesn’t want your people. No one does. Not that you can go anywhere. There are no ships or planes to carry you away. You are stuck here in your dead country.”
“As are you,” I reminded him. “Only, it is my country and you’re just an invader. So, I like my chances better than yours.”
“I am a prisoner of war. You Americans will recognize my rights, as you always have. No harm will come to me and in the end, I will go home, to Russia.” He pointed at me, “While you are stuck here to live the rest of your life toiling for your daily bread.”
I laughed. “You still buy into the propaganda, huh? We may have been knocked back, but we’re far from down.”
“Anyone could defeat you now. Your country is weak,” he sneered.
“Anyone, huh? Anyone but you. You got your ass handed to you and lost all your men in the process. If you did make it home, I don’t think the Russian Army would be quite so happy to see you. You failed against us. It wasn’t even a real fight. You played your hand and we played ours. You lost.”
“Yes, I lost because of your bombers. That was unexpected. If it hadn’t been for them, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now.”
“And why is that?” I asked.
He looked up at me and said, “Because you’d either be dead or in chains.”
“Well, I’m not dead and you’re the one in chains.”
Finishing his meal, Ivan looked around and asked, “How much longer will I be kept here like an animal? When will I be transferred to a more suitable location?”
I shrugged. “As much as you may think of yourself, you’re not high on the priority list. The DOD knows we have you. Hell, they might just leave you here for all I know. And if that happens, then you’re going to have to start earning your keep. No one eats for free around here.”
Ivan scoffed, “Earn my keep? What do you expect me to do? Wash dishes?”
“Whatever you’re told. And I know you’re thinking you won’t. But I promise you, we can be very persuasive.”
“We shall see, bureaucrat.”
I winked at him and said, “Count on it, Ivan. Count on it.”
�
�He doesn’t talk much to me,” Wallner said as I collected the supper dishes. “You come over and he’s a chatty Kathy.”
I looked back at Ivan sitting on the floor watching us. “That’s because he’s afraid. I know he won’t admit it, but he is. Aren’t you, Ivan?”
The man snorted and lay back on the bare floor, covering his eyes with his hands. “I fear you like a tiger does an antelope.”
“Told you,” I said to Wallner.
I carried the dishes back to Danny’s house. Everyone was winding down and Mel was ready to go home. We rounded up Little Bit and told the girls we were leaving. They were sitting with Jess and Fred talking and wanted to stay a while longer.
As we walked home, Little Bit said she wanted to feed Ruckus before going to bed. Mel said that was fine; he needed to eat. Mel fixed the formula while Little Bit ran and got the little rodent. He was still so small, and she asked when his eyes would open.
“I don’t know. Shouldn’t be too much longer. He’s starting to get fur on his tail. I bet it’s soon,” I replied.
She sat on the couch talking to him in a baby voice, then said, “I want to be the first person he sees! I want to be his mom.”
I rubbed her head, “You’ll make a good squirrel mom.”
Mel brought her the dropper and we sat on the sofa with her as she fed the little guy. He was hungry and took to the dropper eagerly, finishing it quickly. Mel refilled it two more times. By the time he was done eating, his belly looked as though he’d swallowed a ping pong ball. With a full belly, the little guy started to drift off to sleep.
“Don’t go to sleep Ruckus, I want to play with you!” Little Bit shouted.
“He’s just a baby, honey. All he does is eat and sleep,” I said. “But don’t worry. He’ll be full of play soon.”
“Yes, he will,” Mel added. “He’ll have more play in him than you’ll know what to do with.”
Little Bit had the little critter cupped in her hands and held it up to her face, “I can’t wait till you’re big enough to play with.”
“Alright,” Mel said. “Put him back in the box. Time for bed.”
Little Bit laid him into the shoebox and covered him with one of the rags we had lined it with. Gently rubbing his head, she said goodnight and ran off to get ready for bed herself. Picking up the box, I said, “I’ll put him away and then grab a shower.”
“Soon as I get her to bed, I’ll be there,” Mel replied.
CHAPTER 7
I stood on the back porch of Dave’s house looking out over a small lake. It was an odd sensation, smelling the grilling meat, seeing the kids playing in the water and hearing so many voices engaged in conversation around me. It wasn’t the sort of thing I’d experienced in quite some time, a genuine cookout. Walking over to the edge of the porch, I sat down in a well-worn rocker beside Sarge. He and Dave were in deep conversation.
“This is an impressive spread you have here,” I said.
Dave looked down towards the lake. “It’s home.”
“I can see why you folks didn’t venture out. No need to. You’ve got everything you need here.”
“We were blessed is all I can say. Family came together, and we made some good friends. We were fortunate. Much like you, from what Linus here tells me.”
“We got lucky too,” I agreed.
“Lucky hell,” Sarge snorted. “It’s been a hell of a lot of hard work to get where we are. And it ain’t over by a stretch.”
As we talked, a tall young blonde woman came out of the house. She was wearing a sheer wrap, the sort of thing you’d see at the beach. Dropping her sunglasses down over her eyes, she started to walk towards the lake. The wrap blew open to reveal the bikini she was wearing underneath.
“Now there’s something you don’t see every day,” I said in surprise.
“That’s Crystal. She’s one of my granddaughters.”
Sarge looked at Dave, “I bet that’s been hell to keep on the ranch.”
He laughed, “You have no idea. But Janet keeps a close eye on her. Crystal is her niece. Janet’s sister lives up north.” His voice changed when he added, “we don’t know what happened to her.”
“There’s a lot of that these days,” I replied.
I was watching the girl as she headed for the lake and laughed when Mikey saw her. He and Ted were down at the lake’s edge fishing and having considerable success. Mike lifted a bass from the water that had to weight four pounds. When he turned to show it to those of us on the porch, he spotted Crystal. He dropped the fish and lowered his sunglasses, doing a double-take. When he was sure he was seeing what he thought he was seeing, he held the rod out in Ted’s direction and dropped it as well. Ted rolled his eyes as Mike started towards her.
“This is going to be good,” I said.
“What’s that?” Sarge asked.
I pointed at Mike and said, “Mike just saw Crystal. This should be entertaining.”
“For the love of God,” Sarge grumbled. Leaning close to Dave, he said, “I’m really sorry, Dave. He’s a good kid, but if I had my way, I’d drown him.”
Dave just smiled and rocked in his chair. “It’s good to see young people find someone. Besides, I ain’t worried about Crystal.” He leaned back in his chair and with a broad smile, he added, “He’s got to get past Janet.”
I laughed at the image of Mike meeting Janet. “And they’re such good friends.”
“Good,” Sarge replied. “But I’m warning you now, he’ll give her a run for her money.”
“Maybe it’ll distract her,” Dave said. “She hasn’t been happy here. There’s no one around her age. I mean, there’s a couple of hands here, but I made it pretty clear to them what would happen to them if they started sniffing around.”
Sarge pointed down at the lake and said, “That one doesn’t take a hint. It takes something a little less subtle to get him to take notice…like a two-by-four.”
“Look at it this way,” I said, turning toward Sarge. “Maybe it’ll get him out of your hair some. Give him something else to focus on.”
“Focus? He couldn’t find focus on a telescope!” Sarge barked back, then pointed towards the lake. “And any focus he may have had just went out the window.”
“A young woman will do that to you,” Dave said with a smile.
“Maybe we’ll get lucky and she won’t like him. Tell his sorry ass to kick rocks.”
The two were standing together. While we couldn’t hear what was being said, it was pretty obvious that Mike was running a game on her. When she laughed and reached out and touched his arm, I laughed. “Don’t count on it from the looks of things down there.”
“Whatever you do, don’t feed him, Dave. You’ll never get rid of him,” Sarge added.
Dave smiled, “I don’t think it’s his belly he’s thinking with at the moment.”
I left Sarge and Dave to contemplate the consequences of Mikey moving in on Crystal. Which surprisingly enough, Dave wasn’t all that against the idea of. Not that I was either. For as much shit as we give Mike, he’s a solid guy and I love him like a brother.
I found my way over to the grill, following my nose and the sound of fat spitting on a fire. There was quite a crowd there. Thad and Mary were there. As well as Dalton, Cecil and Perez with a couple of the ranch hands. They were grilling meat over an enormous built-in stone grill. This wasn’t the sort of thing you bought at Home Depot. This was built onsite from some sort of stone and was six-foot square. A support system overhead allowed the entire grilling surface to be raised or lowered and it was covered in beef. There were steaks, brisket and burgers. It was more meat than I’d seen in more than a year and it looked and smelled delicious.
“Holy hell,” I said as I walked up. “That’s some grill.”
Travis was tending the meat. “Pretty nice isn’t it?”
“I don’t think I’d ever be able to come up with enough meat to fill that thing,” I replied.
“We did today,” Thad replied w
ith a big grin.
“I can see that.”
“We only burn oak in this. Sometimes hickory if we’re cooking pork,” Travis said. “But, there’s a separate smoker for that. This is just for good old grilling.”
Perez was sitting in a lawn chair at eye level with the top of the grill. Naturally, there was a cigarette hanging from his lips. I pulled a chair up beside him and sat down. “Looks like you got the best seat in the house.”
He nodded, “Just waiting. It’ll come.”
“And it’ll be glorious!” Dalton shouted.
The smell coming from the meat was enough to drive you mad. I hadn’t smelled anything like it in a long time. It wasn’t just the meat. It was the wood, the smoke, the fat burning off. It reminded me of every cookout I had ever attended, not that they were noteworthy at the time. But now, each was a very fond memory.
“If only we had some beers,” Perez lamented.
“That would make for a perfect day,” I replied.
Thad pointed at the searing meat with a long fork, “I’ll make do with this here.”
“Me too,” I replied, “I’ll suffer through it.” My comment got a laugh from them.
Travis shook his head, “It ain’t easy. But some one’s got to do it.”
A petite woman walked up with a huge platter. “Here, Travis,” she said as she slid it onto a small table beside the grill.
“Thanks, babe.” he replied. Then he introduced her. “This is my wife Erin. This is everybody.”
She smiled. “Hi, everybody.” We all took a minute to introduce ourselves and she disappeared as quickly as she had arrived.
I saw Mel and Janet talking and could see Janet glancing over in our direction. It was so noticeable that I started watching her, to see what it was she was interested in. It didn’t take long to discover though. She guided Mel in our direction and stopped in front of Perez. She looked at him anxiously and when he looked up, she flashed him a smile and asked, “Where did you find cigarettes?”
Perez took the butt from his lips and looked at it. “I have my sources. A man has to be resourceful today.”