by Eric Vall
“Maybe someday, though,” Renee said with a smile.
“Maybe someday,” I agreed with a laugh.
“Fair enough,” Renee said. “I’ll be waiting for that day. Like I said, we really need you, Tav.”
“You got it,” I said, and I tipped my cup to her.
“I think we figured out a good trade deal,” Paige said.
“You’ll have to fill me in,” I said.
“Later,” Renee said. “For now let’s just enjoy the party.”
“Alright,” I chuckled. “As long as you aren’t going to try to jip me out of a tractor.”
“Hardly,” Renee laughed, and she held out her cup to me, so I clinked mine against hers. “To you.”
“No,” I said, “to us.”
“To us,” she agreed.
“Am I part of this us?” Paige joked.
“Get in here,” Renee chuckled, and she clinked her cup to Paige’s as well before we all took a large swig.
Renee excused herself then, and Paige turned to me and grinned.
“What?” I asked, unsure of why she was smiling at me.
“Nothing,” she said. “I just like our little mountainside, too.”
“It’s pretty great,” I agreed, and I leaned over and kissed the brunette on the lips.
“Hey, Tav,” Bailey said as she and the girls came over to me.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“I was able to get that thing you wanted,” she said with a smile. “Cathy helped, of course. I’m not great with sewing.”
“What did you need sewn?” Paige asked.
“Yeah,” Tara said, and she looked around at the group. “What’s going on here?”
“You didn’t tell them what you made?” I asked Bailey.
“I’m not even entirely sure what it is,” Bailey laughed. “I just told them to follow me. I figured you’d want to do something with it.”
“Or maybe just explain what the hell is going on,” Anna said.
“I’d like to know, too,” Kimmy added.
“Let me see,” I said, and I held out my hands to Bailey.
The blonde reached into the backpack she had and pulled out a green piece of fabric that was folded in a square. She carefully handed it over to me, and I stared at it in my hands for a second.
This was the first flag I’d seen in a long time really, and it symbolized a new beginning for us. I’d asked Bailey, my creative hippie girl, to make it for me, along with some help from Cathy, our resident seamstress. I hadn’t unfolded the flag yet, but the weight of it in my hands made me smile.
“What the fuck is going on,” Tara chuckled. “Is that a green towel?”
“I don’t think so,” Paige said, and she inspected the fabric in my hands. “Open it, I think I know what it is.”
I unfolded the flag and held it out in front of me. Bailey and Cathy had done a great job, it was large enough to actually fly, and they had even included the holes for it to be clipped into a flag pole.
The whole of the flag was a dark green, but in the corner there was a light blue square, and inside the square sat thirteen white stars in an unorganized pattern. They’d done well. I couldn’t have been happier with the flag if I had plucked it from a museum myself.
“Well?” Tara asked. “What is it?”
“I know what it is,” Rolly gasped as he, Betty, and Henry walked over.
“Tell us,” Tara pushed.
“I think that’s Tav’s job,” Rolly said.
“Paige?” I asked. “Do you know what it is?”
“Um,” the brunette said, and she bit her lip. “It looks familiar. I think it’s the Green Mountain Gang?”
“Close,” I laughed.
“Did Paige just get something wrong?” Anna mock whispered to Tara.
“Alright, smartypants,” Tara said, and she gestured for Paige to come to her, “come over here with us normies. Your reign of superiority is over.”
“Hey, at least I knew it was a flag,” Paige said, and she stuck her tongue out at the platinum blonde.
“Uh, so did I,” Tara countered. “It was after he unfolded it, but still.”
“I think you better tell them what it is,” Betty said. “Before things get nasty.”
“It’s the Green Mountain Boys’ flag,” Briar, our old grumpy farmer said as he walked over to see what was going on.
“That’s right,” I agreed.
“Who are the Green Mountain Boys?” Bailey asked.
“Vermont’s militia in the 1700s,” Rolly explained. “They fought for Vermont’s independence from New York.”
“Except it wasn’t Vermont back then,” Betty added.
“They didn’t only fight for Vermont,” I said. “The Green Mountain Boys showed up for just about every war America has seen. The Green Mountain Boys is now the informal name of the Vermont National Guard.”
“Don’t we hate those guys?” Tara asked, and she narrowed her eyes at me.
“We’ve hated some of the National Guard guys in the past,” I chuckled. “That’s true. But we don’t hate what they stand for.”
“If you’re gonna fly a flag, I’d rather it be that one,” Briar said.
“Me, too,” I agreed.
“There’s a flag pole right over here,” Renee said, and she pointed over to the gate.
I followed her over to the flagpole, and everyone trailed behind to see our new flag go up. I felt a surge of adrenaline as I hooked the clips to the flag and started to pull on the wire.
Everyone was quiet as the flag was lifted to the sky. The stark green against the light blue of the sky was quite a sight, and once it reached the top I instinctively wrapped the wire around the small metal prongs and took a step back.
At that moment I was reminded of all the flag raisings and lowerings I’d been a part of in my life. There had been a lot, but I didn’t think any meant as much to me as this one. This was the flag of new beginnings, the flag of men who had been brave enough to fight when no one else had, it was a flag of honor and bravery, and one that I held in the highest esteem. And now it was ours.
“Okay, so we know the story behind it,” Bailey said. “But what does the flag mean for us? Why should we fly it?”
“It means we’re going to take America back,” I said, and I stared up at the green symbol of hope that hung above us all.
End of book 12
End Notes
Thank you for reading Without Law 12. I’ll start working on book 13 as soon as this book has 100 reviews. So please leave a nice review here.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2020 by Eric Vall