The day would pass and would be followed by another, but the next day the conversation turned away from the weather and headed straight to Bailey’s. This was a huge development, and everyone had seemed to need a few days to digest the news. The breakfast table that morning was buzzing with discussion. Ken listened for a few minutes before standing up and raising his arms. “I want you all to know,” he said, calmly stating his position. “That Patty and I are extremely grateful for everything you’ve done for us, and none of you need to worry about us should you decide to go stay at Bailey’s. There will be no hard feelings, and you are all welcome back at any time. This is our home and we’re staying, and that’s final. Does everyone understand me?”
“Oh,” Bill said. “You guys gotta come along. We’ll take that place over.”
“No, we don’t,” replied Ken. “And I suggest you not try anything so foolish. You don’t know anything about those people, only what we heard from Tony. My advice is to go over there and check it out. The roads are as safe as they’re ever going to be. You could even drive there if you felt like risking it. I’m thinking it’s about ten miles from here.”
“That’s good advice,” Burt said. “Thanks, Ken, but I’ll be staying on if you don’t mind.”
“Oh, isn’t that nice?” asked Patty. “God bless you, Burt. Of course you can stay with us.”
Ken nodded and looked at Jimmy for just a second. Jimmy knew what the look was for, but he knew better than to commit without knowing how Julie felt.
“I hate to say this, but I think I agree with Bill,” Julie announced. “I think we should all move to Bailey’s. I don’t think we should split up, and if what Tony said was true, we wouldn’t have to worry about the Guard anymore.”
“She’s right,” said Doc. “I think divided we fall.”
Ken shook his head in a way that left no doubt he would stand alone if he had to. There was no way he would abandon his home. Patty’s expression told the same story, and just like that, their camp had become divided.
Ken continued to shoot Jimmy glances from his side of the breakfast table, and Jimmy found he couldn’t meet Ken’s cold blue eyes.
Lunch at the picnic table lasted two hours as the discussion bordered on open hostilities. Ken defended his right to defend what he owned, while Julie and Doc both hammered Ken and Patty with rhetorical questions. Jimmy rode on the fence as long as he could, but Ken finally called him out on it. “What do you think, Jimmy?” he had asked. “Do you take us for a couple of fools?”
“That’s not fair,” said Doc, rising to his feet and standing behind Jimmy. He put both of his hands on Jimmy’s shoulders. “Don’t put him in the middle of this. Can’t you see that he’s torn enough the way it is?”
“That’s a crock of shit, Doc,” Ken said. “All I’m asking for is his opinion.”
“He feels like I do,” said Julie. “We want everyone to leave as a group.”
The sun suddenly seemed very hot, and the air grew thick. Jimmy could remember no such conversation, and he turned to question Julie about it, but Ken cut him off. “How nice of the both of you to decide what’s best for me and Patty,” he said, sarcastically. “Tell Jimmy he doesn’t need to worry about us; we’re fine. You might also want to remind him that without our help, he’d either be dead or locked up inside a relocation camp. I suppose that goes for most of you,” he added, wistfully.
“Kenneth,” Patty reprimanded. “You can check your attitude at the door. I’m hearing entirely too much pride in that voice of yours. I don’t need to quote the Bible here, do I?”
Ken frowned, but he backed down and continued to pick at his beef stew. Jimmy wanted to rush to his defense. He had never even considered that Ken and Patty would leave their home. He was confused about why Julie had told such a whopping lie, but he didn’t think this was the right time to call her out on it. He sat in a red-faced silence, angry that each of them seemed so comfortable dragging him into the fray. Burt’s eyes told him that he understood. Doc seemed to be mulling it over.
“Jimmy thinks you’re a crazy bastard,” Bill suddenly blurted out. “He thinks you’re going to get Patty killed.”
“That’s a damn lie and you know it!” roared Jimmy.
“What else did he say?” Ken growled, taking to his feet and pointing at Jimmy.
“That he’s sick of stew. And we should all go to Bailey’s as a group.”
“Liar!” shouted Jimmy from his place at the picnic table.
“Is that so?” Ken asked as his face grew dark with the approach of an emotional storm. “What have we done to deserve this type of treatment? I told you all that you were free to go and not to drag us into it. I’m sorry you feel that way, Jimmy, you should’ve spoken up if you didn’t like the stew. I could have run to town and picked up some groceries. Maybe I could have gotten us all a nice pizza.”
“Stop it, Ken,” Jimmy said.
“I’m just getting warmed up.”
“Kenneth,” Patty said, “please.” She then gathered up her plate and rushed into the house.
“I’m sorry, dear,” Ken said, slowly standing up from the table and crossing his arms. “You ungrateful bastards,” he said. “We give you everything we have, and you kick us in the face for it? Excuse me? Look at what you’ve done, upsetting Patty like that and insulting the both of us. I want you to go and to go as soon as possible. Am I making myself clear?”
“As a bell,” snipped Julie.
“As the moon,” added Bill.
“I’m staying,” said Rita.
“Me too,” agreed Burt. “I’m with you, Ken.”
“Look,” said Cindy, showing wisdom beyond her years. “We shouldn’t be fighting about this. This is foolish, and it isn’t getting us anywhere. Ken said it’s okay if we want to go check out Bailey’s, and that’s what I’d like to do. I want to hang out with some kids my own age. Is that so difficult to understand? We shouldn’t have to feel like we’re betraying you, Mr. Dahlgren. That’s not fair, either.”
“Ken. Please, Cindy, call me Ken. You’re right, and I’m sorry for blowing up like I did. I was hurt and so was Patty. We’ll get over it. Look, we don’t want to lose any of you. Can’t you see that? We’re like a family here. You’re making us feel like the ugly girl at the dance. That’s not right.”
“I’ve been the ugly girl at the dance,” replied Cindy. “Looking back, I can see it was because I chose to go against the grain.”
“Well put,” said Doc. “Brava.”
“You mean bravo,” said Bill. Doc rolled his eyes.
“All right,” said Ken, holding his arms up in defeat. “My whole point is that none of you has any idea of what to expect when you get to Bailey’s. That fella, Tony, he might have been given some good information. He may have also been sold a bucket of crap. You just don’t know. Why don’t you go and have a look for yourselves and then make up your minds. That is the prudent course. That’s all I have to say on the subject.” He quickly picked up his plate and followed Patty into the house.
“Nice going,” muttered Burt as he picked up his half-eaten plate of stew. “How quickly things change,” he added, ominously.
“I agree,” said Rita, and she quickly followed Burt up to the house.
“Why did you guys lie like that?” Jimmy asked, waiting for the screen door to close before he spoke. “What kind of bullshit was that?”
“I’m sorry, Jimmy,” Doc said. “That was my idea. You can go ahead and hate me if you’d like. I thought you would be the deciding factor. I thought Ken might listen to reason and hoped he would listen to you.”
“But you guys put words in my mouth.”
Julie took Jimmy’s hand. “Only because we love the Dahlgrens, and we want to stick together. We don’t want to leave them here.”
“You insulted their food, Bill,” Jimmy said. “That was a cheap shot, and you made it sound like I was the one who took it.”
“I was adlibbing,” replied Bill. “I had to
say something.”
Jimmy groaned and covered his face in his hands.
“I propose that we take a vote,” said Doc. “All in favor of driving over to Bailey’s tomorrow, please signify by raising your right hand.”
Jimmy uncovered his face to see each of them had their right hand in the air and that all eyes were on him. Reluctantly, he joined them.
The following morning was warm, and the air was thick with humidity. The morning was also as silent as any they had spent at the house. Jimmy felt sick to his stomach every time he and Ken made eye contact. He found that he couldn’t even look at Patty. He would tell them the truth, but not until they returned. There had been enough division, and it was time to stop the bleeding.
They packed enough to spend a long weekend at Bailey’s should they be invited and should they decide to stay that long. Doc gave each of them silent instructions as he took control of the planning. It was he who decided they all go in one car, Bill’s Honda, and that Jimmy would ride in the cramped backseat with Julie and Cindy. Jimmy went with the flow, feeling more confused with each passing minute. Julie was especially attentive that morning, and she gave him no fewer than four long kisses when they found themselves alone. The kisses were a powerful argument to hold his tongue, which is just what Jimmy did.
There were no goodbyes as they opened the gate and walked across the gravel road to Bill’s waiting Honda. After cramming their gear into the trunk and themselves into the car, Bill fired up the little Japanese engine, and they drove away from the compound in a cloud of dust.
The feeling of rats fleeing a sinking ship began to settle into Jimmy’s gut. He could also feel the excitement of the others, and it felt almost as if they were dancing on Ken’s grave. Jimmy hated that feeling, and that was when he decided it was up to him to find as many faults as he could about Bailey’s and to point them out to the others. He would sabotage their little excursion, but carefully. This was wrong, all of it. Ken and Patty had laid it all on the line for each of them. And now, here they were, ready to abandon them for the next new thing that came along.
“Turn here,” Doc said to Bill, pointing to his left.
“I don’t think so,” replied Bill.
“He knows where he’s going, Bill,” said Julie. “He lives up here, remember?”
“I know how to get there.”
“Dad,” exclaimed Cindy. “Will you just listen to him?”
“Fine,” said Bill, and he jerked hard on the wheel on the gravel road. The Honda lurched to the left and quickly back to the right which caused the three passengers in the back to be tossed around like crash test dummies.
“Slow down!” ordered Julie, as they untangled themselves in the crowded backseat.
Bill drove at a steady speed and they bounced along the potholes in the overloaded Honda. Both windows were open, and warm humid air washed over Jimmy’s sweating face. He felt totally out of control of the situation, and he hoped that Bill wouldn’t kill them all. Suddenly Bill hit the brakes and slowed the Honda down to a crawl. “Look,” Bill said, pointing to the road ahead of them.
The carcass of a bull moose was stretched out on the road ahead of them, looking sad and defeated in the gray morning light. As they drove closer, they could see the moose had been stuck by no fewer than three arrows and savaged by carnivores. They didn’t see the unfortunate hunter until they had driven past the body of the moose.
“Holy crap,” said Bill.
The hunter had been torn to shreds. A compound bow lay not far from the savaged body.
“Oh, my God,” shrieked Cindy. “What happened?”
“The wolves got him,” Doc said. “These woods have been hunted out, and my guess is that they’re starving. I’ve never seen anything like it. Fascinating.”
“Not for the hunter,” said Julie. “That must’ve been awful.”
Bill continued to drive, and both Jimmy and Julie turned to get one last look at the grotesque spectacle. Jimmy wondered how long the man had been dead. He wondered where he had come from and if he had a family waiting for him to return with food. The thought made him sad, and he pushed it away. He had seen enough death and wondered when it would stop being so commonplace. He hoped it was soon.
Doc instructed Bill to make another left turn, followed by a quick right. They drove the last five miles in silence. The big billboard on the side of the road told them they had reached their destination. Bailey’s was just one mile ahead. Someone had taken a spray can and had painted Utopia in red paint onto the billboard. Jimmy shook his head to himself; nothing in this new world even vaguely resembled Utopia, and using the word seemed almost blasphemous. They drove on, and the road wound around through the woods. A lake bordered the road on the right. Tall white pines stood like sentries at the entrance. There was a shack there, perhaps used by school children waiting for the bus in the morning. Two men stepped out.
They recognized the first one immediately. It was Tony Clerk. He gave them a big wave and an even bigger smile. “Hi guys,” he said. “I was hoping you’d show up!”
The other man was short and stocky, and his expression was cold and uninviting.
Bill and Doc opened their doors and stepped out of the Honda, allowing Jimmy, Julie, and Cindy the room to squeeze out into the gray light. “Hi Tony,” Jimmy said, shaking the big man’s hand. “I see they’ve already put you to work.”
“I’m just filling in for Chuck for a few days,” Tony said. “He’s out hunting.”
Jimmy and Julie exchanged a glance, but they said nothing.
“Really?” asked Bill. “Because we saw a hunter all ripped apart by wolves or something. There isn’t much left of him.”
Jimmy groaned as the stocky man charged Bill. “What are you talking about?” he nearly shouted at Bill. “Where did you see this?”
“Oh, about five miles back. There was this dead moose there, and he was next to it. They really chewed him up.”
The stocky man pushed Bill back towards the Honda. “Show me!” he ordered.
Bill shrugged his shoulders and looked at Jimmy. “I suppose I could. I was hoping to get something to eat first.”
“Get in the car!”
The group watched in silence as Bill climbed behind the wheel and the short man jumped into the passenger seat. Jimmy thought he saw tears in the man’s eyes. Bill fired up the little car, and he quickly made a three-point turn before speeding back in the direction they’d come from.
“Who was that guy?” asked Julie.
“That was Myron,” said Tony, shaking his head. “Chuck is his brother. I sure as hell hope that wasn’t him you ran across. He’s all Myron has left.”
“Was he a bow hunter?” asked Doc.
Tony’s expression was enough to answer the question. He sighed and scratched his head. “I should have gone along with them,” he mumbled. “Myron’s going to need me.”
“Well, it’s too late for that,” said Doc.
A man of about Jimmy’s age was walking down to greet them, and Tony suddenly straightened. “Mars,” he said, “these are the people I was telling you about. They saw a dead bow hunter on the road.”
“Chuck?” asked the newcomer.
“Has to be,” said Tony. “One of their people took Myron out to see the body.”
“How did he die?”
“They seem to think he was attacked by wolves.”
“That’s a real bummer, man.”
Jimmy thought that was an awfully strange response to something so serious. He studied the man whom Tony had called Mars. He stood a good five inches taller than himself, and he carried at least forty pounds more muscle. He wore a red tank top over blue jeans, and with his blonde feathered hair, he looked like he had just stepped out of the seventies. He was clean shaven with glowing white teeth. The more Jimmy studied the man’s face, the less he liked it—a face that looked sculpted with piercing blue eyes over an unblemished nose and a square jaw that exuded confidence.
“I’m
sorry,” the newcomer said, “how rude of me. My name is Mars, and welcome to Utopia.”
“Hi,” said Cindy and Julie in a single voice.
“Pleased to meet you,” said Doc.
“Hey,” said Jimmy, forcing a smile onto his face.
Mars asked each of them a few questions using their correct names, which Jimmy thought was odd. Names seemed lost on him the moment after he was introduced to someone new. Mars gave them all a salesman smile, and he nodded in approval. “Groovy,” he said. “Prepare to step back into a simpler time.”
“That shouldn’t be too tough,” chuckled Jimmy. “I think it’s safe to say that we’ve all been living in the Stone Age.”
Mars seemed to think about that for a moment before he spoke. “We’re trying to make the best of it, man. So, we chose an era that reflected our values and modeled our society after that period of time. The sixties fit us like a glove. We try to live in harmony with nature, if you can dig that. It’s really beautiful.”
Desperate Times 2 Gun Control Page 2