by A. American
Cecil had a large smoker hooked to the tractor and was trying to position it under a covered walkway. Getting out of the truck, Thad walked over to help guide it into position. Doc gave Jess a kiss and told her he’d be in the gym if she needed anything and he left. Once the smoker was in position, Cecil shut the tractor down and climbed off.
“Some shade will make this more bearable,” he said.
“I agree,” Thad said. Then he pointed at Perez and Jess and added, “I brought help.”
Smiling, Cecil replied. “Good. We’re going to need it!”
He walked over to a pallet sitting in the shade of the walkway and pulled back a piece of heavy canvas. “Cause we’ve got lots of work to do!”
Perez looked around. “We need some tables.”
Pointing at a door, Cecil replied. “They’re in there. Already thought about it.”
They worked together to set up the tables, then the three of them wrestled a side of beef up onto one, then another. Cecil went back in the building and came out with a large water keg and set it on the end of the table as well. “Water, so we can clean up.”
“Good idea. I was wondering about it.” Thad said. Looking at the smoker, he added, “I’ll get a fire lit.”
Cecil looked at Perez and asked, “You ever butcher a cow before?”
Perez slapped the piece of meat and replied, “Many times. But most of the hard work’s already done. All we have to do it section it out.”
Cecil nodded. “Yep. So, let’s get to cutting.”
“What are we going to do with the bones?” Jess asked.
“I don’t know, why?” Cecil asked.
“We should crack them open and make bone broth. Kay makes it for Fred when she has morning sickness. She says it’s super good for you, something about it being easy to digest. We should make broth out of it for the wounded people inside. Some of them can’t eat solid food.”
“That’s a fine idea,” Cecil said. “I’ve got a big kettle at the house. Let me run get it and I’ll bring it back. If you want to tend it, we can be making the broth and smoking meat at the same time.”
“Sure, I’ll do it,” Jess replied.
Cecil rode the tractor back to his house and returned with a kettle an Army mess cook would appreciate. Jess went to work looking for firewood while the guys went to work cutting up the beef. But firewood isn’t very plentiful on a school campus.
“Thad, I’m going to take the truck so I can find some wood; there’s none around here.”
“Miss Jess, I’ve got wood here. You don’t need to go look for any,” Cecil replied.
“I figured that was for the smoker. Keeping a fire going to make the broth will take a lot of wood. You think you have enough?”
Cecil looked at the pile of seasoned oak he’d brought to the school. “I think we’ve got enough and if we don’t, I have plenty more at the house.”
“Are you sure?”
“I am, now take what you need.”
Jess found her a spot in the shade of a large tree to start her fire. Cecil had all the makings for one and it wasn’t long before she had a good blaze going. Realizing she needed something to set the huge kettle on, Jess left her fire to burn down a bit and went hunting for a stand of some kind.
She found what she was looking for in what had been the shop class. There were several old metal stools there. You know the kind that look like they were from WW II, painted some form of indescribable governmental color. They had a wood insert in the seat and she figured that it would just burn away and leave her a stand. Once the stool was sitting over the fire, she waited for the wood to burn away and went looking for water.
Water had been provided to the school in any container that would hold it. People would boil water at home and bring it to help with their loved ones. The school also had a firepit and large kettles they used to boil water in as well, and there never seemed to be enough. She carried two five-gallon jugs back over to the area where they were working and poured all of one and part of the other into the kettle. And there was still room for the bones!
“Cecil, where in the world did you get this thing from?” Jess asked.
“I’ve had that for years. It came off a Navy ship. Thing’s big enough to cook a person in!”
Jess wiped the hair out of her face and replied, “Two, if they’re small.”
Thad was hard at work cutting the beef. He and Perez both worked with the precision of a skilled butcher and the meat was quickly piling up. Each of them was working on a leg, removing every scrap of meat they could. Perez finished the one he was working on first and looked up at Thad with a smile of satisfaction.
“I beat you!” He announced.
Thad smiled, “Good, get started on the next one.”
“Hey, Jess!” Perez shouted. “Come get these bones!”
Jess walked over and looked at the leg bone that was still whole, connected by the ligaments. “What in the world am I supposed to do with that?”
Perez nodded to the kettle that was starting to steam. “Put it in the pot, Chica.”
“I can’t get all that in there!”
Thad reached over to where Cecil had his wood stacked and gripped an axe. He laid it on the table. “Here, break it up with this.”
Jess rolled her eyes as she grabbed the axe and slid it off the table. She looked around for a place to cut the bones up, and seeing no better alternative, she laid the large section of bone out on top of the wood pile. Holding it with one hand, she raised the axe with the other and brought it down with little force, using gravity to do the work.
The axe hit the bone and bounced off, doing nothing more than chipping it. “Damn, that’s hard.”
“Swing it like you mean it, Chica!” Perez shouted.
Jess looked at him, glaring as she blew a strand of hair out of her face. Gripping the axe tighter, she brought it up again. This time, she put everything she had into it. The head of the axe slammed into the bone, sending chips of the shattered femur into the air, but the bone separated.
Jess smiled, “I got it that time!”
“Be sure and break all those large bones,” Thad said. “You’ll want that marrow to cook out.”
Jess looked at him with a smile and said, “You do your job; I got this.”
Thad held the knife he was using up in surrender, “Okay, Okay. I was jus’ sayin’.”
Jess smiled at him and raised the axe again. “And I was jus’ sayin’,” she brought the axe down with force again, “that I got this!” The bone snapped, and she collected the large pieces and headed towards the kettle with them.
“Come on!” Mike pleaded.
“Nope,” Ted replied. “I ain’t riding bitch.”
“Whatever, you can drive!”
Ted leaned in, “The answer is no. Get it through your fucking head. If you want to go see Crystal, get in the fucking wagon.”
Mike walked around the other side of the war wagon, saying, “Whatever, man. It would just be so cool to ride up on that Harley.”
“Yeah, yeah. I think it’ll be pretty cool to just go see the girls.”
Mike sat in the passenger seat and agreed. “You’re right. Let’s go see them.”
Ted drove out of the neighborhood, waving at Wallner who was sitting on the top of the bunker with no shirt as they passed. As they came to the market, Ted wheeled into it.
“We going shopping?” Mike asked.
“Nah, just flying the flag. Making sure they know we’re around.”
The people at the market all watched as the war wagon pulled through. Seeing Mario, Ted waved, and he returned the gesture. Leaving out the other side of the market, Ted opened the wagon up and they sped down highway forty-two, leaving swirling leaves and debris in their wake.
Ted pulled up to the gate into the property and stopped. Mike hopped out and ran over to it. Looking back, he shouted, “It’s locked! How are we going to get in?”
Ted was thinking when he looked across the pas
ture. Nodding in the direction he was looking, he said, “Let’s ask him.”
Mike looked up to see a rider on a horse heading towards them. He wasn’t in a hurry, allowing the horse to walk. Mike lowered his sunglasses and looked at the rider, then back at Ted. Ted shrugged and sat back in his seat. Mike put a foot up on the gate and leaned over on it as he watched the rider slowly approach.
“He should get off and push it,” Mike complained.
“We aren’t in a hurry. Relax.”
The rider finally made it to them and stopped the horse. The horse was more interested in the long grass around the fence. The rider sat looking at the two men. Mike held his hands out in a what the fuck gesture. After a moment, the rider asked, “Can I help you?”
“Yeah, open the gate,” Mike replied.
“No one told me anyone was coming today.”
“We didn’t call ahead for a reservation,” Ted said.
Annoyed, Mike said, “Look dude, we need to talk to Dave. You know who we are. Just open the damn gate.”
The rider pulled the horse away from his pursuit of a meal and nudged him towards the gate. He tossed Mike a key and he unlocked the gate. As he was doing so, the rider said, “You know, some people here aren’t real happy about you talking to our women folk.”
Pulling the chain through the gate, Mike looked up and with a squint and asked, “Yeah? Like who, you?”
The rider held his hand out. Mike thought about tossing the key so that he couldn’t catch it but decided against it and tossed the key up to him. Ted pulled through the gate and Mike pushed it closed. As he was getting into the wagon, the rider said, “You watch yourself.”
Mike smiled and replied, “Oh, I’ll be fine there, Sport.”
The rider scowled back without replying as Ted headed for the house. When they arrived at the house, Janet and Crystal were standing out front. While Crystal was visibly excited, Janet had more of an air of suspicion. As soon as Mike was out of the wagon, Crystal ran to him and they hugged. Holding hands, they quickly disappeared around the side of the house.
Watching them as they disappeared, Janet asked, “He’s not going to get in trouble, is he?”
Ted snorted, “No promises on that. I’ve been trying for years.”
“And you, what about you?”
“Oh, me? I can go either way,” Ted replied, offering an evil grin.
The air of suspicion faded into a faint smile. “That’s good to know.”
“Who’s the guy at the gate?”
“That’s Jim, Jim Gifford. Why?”
“He wasn’t real keen about letting us in. Said people here didn’t like us messing with the women folk as he put it.”
Janet laughed and looked towards the corner of the house where Mike and Crystal disappeared. “Yeah. Jim has a thing for Crystal. Nothing is ever going to come from it; Crystal can’t stand him.”
Ted nodded, “Ah. So, if he can’t have her, no one can.”
“You recognize the attitude?”
Ted scratched his head, “I’ve, uh, yeah. I recognize it.”
“So, what are you two doing here?”
“We had some down time and decided to come by for a short visit. You know, just to hang out.”
“Well then, you want something to drink? We have lemonade.”
Ted smiled, “Lemonade would be great.”
They went into the house together. Heading towards the kitchen, they passed Dave’s office. Seeing Ted, he stood up and took off his reading glasses. “Ted,” he said as he rounded the desk. “Great to see you again.”
Ted shook his hand. “Nice to see you, Dave.”
Dave was smiling and looking back and forth between Janet and Ted. “What brings you here?”
“We were in the area.”
“That’s good. Glad you dropped in.”
“We’re going to the kitchen for some lemonade, Dad. You want some?”
“No, no. You two go ahead.” He motioned at his desk and added, “I’m busy here. Good to see you again, Ted.”
“You too, Dave.” Dave went back to his office and Janet and Ted continued on their way to the kitchen. As Janet dropped ice cubes into a couple of glasses, Ted commented, “Your dad seemed rather happy to see me.”
“Dad likes to see new faces. I think he was getting sick of looking at us every day.”
Ted smiled, “Yeah, that was the vibe I was getting too.” Then he switched the subject. “Ice, huh?”
As she poured the lemonade, Janet replied, “Thanks to some fuel we traded for recently, we can run the generator a couple of hours a day.” She held the glass out to him and replied, “So yes, ice.”
Taking the glass, Ted replied, “Thank you.”
Janet held her glass up, “You’re welcome.” And they touched glasses.
Mike and Crystal were walking towards the dock on the lake, holding hands as they went. “Who’s your buddy up at the gate?”
“That’s just Jim. He’s harmless.”
“He seemed a little irritated at seeing us.”
“He kinda has a thing for me.” She turned and looked closely at Mike. “But I don’t have a thing for him.”
Mike smiled, “That’s good.”
With a bit of a carefree attitude, Crystal replied, “Well, I hope to find a good guy someday.”
“I know how you feel. I’ve about given up on the idea of finding a good woman.”
Crystal cut him a devilish smile, “I have a feeling the last thing you want is a good woman.”
Mike walked for a minute, then looked sideways at her. “I want a woman that’s good at being a little bad.”
Crystal stepped in front of him, taking both of his hands in hers. She leaned in and said, “Funny. That’s just what I’m good at.” Then she leaned in and kissed him.
Mike smiled, put his arm around her and they continued towards the dock.
CHAPTER 9
As we rounded Alexander Island, I started to look with anticipation for mom and dad’s neighborhood. We finally came to the little cut leading to their marina and I turned the boat into it. As the dock and marina came into view, we saw a man with a rifle standing on the shore. Sarge stood up and waved at the man, who was very visibly shaken by our sudden appearance.
The man looked at us nervously as we slowly glided towards him. Sarge called out to the man as we drew nearer. We were doing our best to look nonthreatening. But it didn’t work. After another moment’s nervous hesitation, he bolted away. Running as fast as his legs would carry him.
“That’s not good,” Danny said.
“No. I imagine he’s going to get help,” Sarge added.
“Looks that way,” I replied. “Let’s just get out of the boat and wait for them. If we go wandering around, it’ll only look more suspicious. If we’re just hanging out here, we look less threatening.”
Sarge agreed and we all climbed out of the boat. We took a moment to stretch out legs and grab a drink. Sarge was filling his cup with coffee when a group of people began appearing. There was a main group, coming straight down the road towards the boat ramp and two smaller ones flanking them on either side. They were being cautious, not that I blame them.
As the group advanced, I took a couple of steps toward them. I’d decided to leave the rifle in the boat, so as to appear less threatening. I hoped the shooting didn’t start. But the old man was standing beside the Minimi, so there was that.
The group stopped at a distance of maybe thirty yards. They looked scared and all of them were armed in some fashion or another. One had an AR, the rest was a collection of shotguns, pistols, revolvers and lever and bolt-action guns. One old timer even had an M1 Garand. They looked ragged. Their clothes hung from their shrunken frames.
One of their fellows stepped forward tentatively and called out. “What do you want?”
“I’m looking for my dad, Butch! Butch Carter!” I called back.
The man turned and looked back at the crowd behind him. Then I saw a th
in man break away from the group on the right side and start walking towards the ramp. It was Dad, but it didn’t look like him. I started to walk towards him and as I did, the leader of the group in front shouted for me to stop.
“Knock that shit off!” Dad called out, “That’s my son!” And I knew it was him and started to jog towards him.
When I got to him, I wrapped him up in a hug. He was much thinner than I remember, almost frail. I could feel his ribs when I embraced him. After a long minute, we finally let go enough to look at one another. There were tears in his eyes, just like the ones in mine. Then we started to laugh. Then, we hugged again, with tears streaming down our faces.
“I didn’t think I’d ever see you again,” Dad said.
“Sorry it took so long to get here,” I replied, feeling the weight of how long it took me to make it here.
He pulled away from me. “Are you crazy? None of that matters. What matters is you’re here now. Your mom is going to be surprised to say the least.”
“Where is she?”
“She’s at home right now.”
“Let me introduce you to someone. I think you know the other guy,” I said, pointing to Danny and Sarge who were still standing by the boat.
Dad looked towards the boat and saw Danny. A broad smile spread across his face. “You brought Danny with you?”
I put my arm around him and we started towards the boat. As we walked, one of the men from the group called out, “Butch, where are you goin?”
Dad looked back, “I’m alright. You guys can go on. We’re good here.”
Danny walked up and offered his hand. Dad shook it and asked how he was. Danny held up the injured hand and replied, “Not bad, all things considered.”
“What the hell happened?”
“We’ve been through a lot.” Danny replied.
Dad looked at me. “They’re all fine. We’re all ok.”
A look of relief washed over him. “Good, good.”
“I want to introduce you to someone,” I said. When Sarge walked up, I introduced the two.
“Good to meet you, Butch. Morgan has been wanting to come here for a long time. But things have been preventing it,” Sarge replied.