“Please, let’s quiet down and get started. As is my habit, I’ll begin with the statement that the state of our community is strong and stable. Every day we make progress; in our fields, construction and in procuring needed supplies.
“It has been brought to my attention that our three adventurers, Tempest, Demi and Annette have arranged a deal for much needed radiation detectors with a group controlling the Amazon Distribution Center in Lexington. I’m sure one of them will apprise us of the conditions related to the deal.”
Well, he made it easy for me to get a chance to speak. I stood from my chair, took a sip of coffee from his mug and said, “That’ll be me.”
Everyone at the tables turned their eyes on me. “Before I relate the terms of the deal, I have a few other things to say. One Thumb—; that’s her name, not Demi. She told me that Doctor Robbins and Jeffry are going to make her a prosthetic thumb. I would ask that they give that project high priority and deliver in a week.
I saw Doctor Robbins stand from where he sat with his wife and Maggie, Jules’s wife. I waved him down. “I have the floor, but if you were going to attempt to contradict my demand, you can shove it.”
His face and Jules’s turned red. Jules said, “Just a minute, Tempest, you can’t—.”
Annette shouted, “Jesus Christ, she has the floor. You all can shut the fuck up. Go ahead, Tempest.”
I nodded to her and said, “You heard her. There something else you all need to know. As soon as One Thumb has her thumb and as soon as I can pack, I am gone from here.”
One Thumb shouted, “’We’ are gone from here.”
Annette added, “You’ve got that right.”
I had to smile at that, a short-lived smile. I continued my tirade, because that was what I was pushing.
“I know you all want me gone, that you’d soon give me the news, politely ask me to leave, but save your breath, I don’t like it here. Let me tell you the main reason we’re leaving. I killed the men folk of more than half of the faces looking at me. To those few with hate-filled damn faces I’ll tell you if those murdering bastards were here, lined up in front of me right now I’d put another bullet in every fucking head.
On purpose, just to piss them further, in a soft pretty voice, I continued, “Now that’s said. Let me tell you about the wonderful deal we made with the great bunch up in Lexington.”
It only took a minute. Stunned silence followed us as we left the table. I did make a slight detour to refill the big mug with coffee to take with me, giving a smile that encompassed Jules and Doctor Robbins as I passed by.
The ‘Planning Committee’ might be right in their thinking about me, but in my mind, they were cowardly assholes who needed a committee to gut em up with nerve to speak. I felt good about saving them the effort.
We carried a couple of straight-backed wooden chairs from the dining area of the bunkhouse into Annette’s room. Sitting in her padded chair, she said. “Well that was so diplomatic. Thanks for the warning.”
I ignored the dripping sarcasm. “I said my say.”
Annette rolled her eyes, laughed and said, “Yeah, you said it ‘Tempest’ style.”
“It’s the only style I know.”
Annette nodded, “Well, I’m glad it came to a head. What do you think… move back to the cabins?”
“Naw; I say we pack light and move on.”
One Thumb stretched in her chair, raised her arms high, shrugged, made her shoulder joints sound with snaps and pops and said, “It’s been a long day. It’s been exciting though. Thanks for bringing up my thumb. I hope they make a good one. Are we taking the Humvee when we leave?”
I said, “You need to think loftier; up above the bones.”
Puzzled by my reply, One Thumb started to speak, but Annette burst in. “We’re flying away! Oh my god, Jesus Christ; we’re taking the plane!”
I was glad to see her excited, glad that One Thumb was with us. I was glad we were leaving the confound-compound. All in all, I was pleased with myself. For the first time in my life, I was truly free with no boundaries.
“Yeah we’re taking the plane. My cabin in the woods can wait a while longer. I want to see what we’ve done to our country, see how bad we wrecked it.”
One Thumb said, “I want to see the Grand Canyon and Yosemite National park. I’ve always wanted to go to those places.”
Annette laughed; a beautiful sound; and she said, “We’ll do a grand tour of the sights,” Then to me, “I’m sure we’ll see plenty of destruction along the way.”
“Hey, I wanna see sights too. Dog gone it Annette.”
She smiled and nodded, “I’m messing with you. Look, this has been one hell of an exciting day. I’m worn-out. Let’s get together after breakfast and make plans.”
One Thumb said, “I’ll find a map of the United States so we can plan a route, try to guess which cities took nukes so we don’t fly near them.”
Standing to go to my sleeping pad in the barn loft, I pointed to Annette’s mini-kitchen. “One last breakfast at the pavilion, but let’s let our divorce from the community… start by stocking supplies and eating our meals separate from the rest.”
One Thumb stood with me, “I’m so excited I don’t know if I can sleep.”
Annette said, “Jesus Christ, how old are you, OT?”
One Thumb smiled. “I’m twenty three. You know what… I like OT better than One Thumb. Ya’ll call me OT from now on.”
I snorted a laugh and said, “It’ll morph to Ottie before you know it.”
She repeated the word, “Ottie. I like it. Ya’ll call me Ottie from now on.”
As Annette said, we’d had a long, exciting day. I was tired and done. “Goodnight Annette. Goodnight Ottie.”
Outside, the rain was a drizzle, but the water-slicked soil and grass precluded running in the dark. Tired, I crawled under my blankets wearing my damp clothing.
************
Morning came with breaking clouds. The warm trend continued; we really hadn’t had what could be designated winter. I could count on two hands the number of cold days since the storm that killed John and Bella. Wet cold doesn’t count. You can chill in sixty-degree weather if it’s raining and cloudy and you’re soaking wet.
Leaving my sleeping loft and going out the barn doors, early June heat, humid and heavy, smote my exposed skin. Already sweat-sticky from sleeping in my clothing, it brought instant sweat to my brow. Note to myself; I stink. Bathe more often; hell, bathe right now.
I went back inside the barn to fetch a change of clothing from my bags, underwear, new Jeans and tank top. I added a bra; size ‘A cup’ for me barely out of a training bra at seventeen.
To avoid people, I forsook the baths available and went to a tree-shrouded creek that ran across the back of Jules’s property. The short stretch that widened at a bend was less than two-feet deep. The muddy bottom made it a chore to rinse my hair.
Dressing, enjoying the residual chill of the creek, the noises of nature seeped into my senses. For no reason, I began to cry. A reason came; for a while, it seemed as if I had a chance to live my dream, but everything had gone wrong. The war, the plague, complications with people destroyed my plan to build my own place with the resources Billy Westover bequeathed me.
Deep underneath those thoughts, my mind was screaming anger; anger at the humans in charge who had ruined humankind and a lot of the world; mad because I too often found myself in positions where I killed people. I knew that most of those situations were of my own making and that I had no cause to be mad, but shit, some things you can’t walk from.
I could walk from this situation; leave the ranch. What hurt was that I had deluded myself, thought I had a place here. Kick myself in my own damned ass. Was I so desperate for a ‘sense of place’ to imagine it could be near people whose mothers, fathers, husbands and wives that I’d killed?
I knew I was feeling sorry for myself, knew that in some way my small bra size, my stunted physical development and grow
th somehow triggered it.
I used a hand to swipe the tears from my cheeks, said aloud, “Sissy, sissy little crybaby feeling sorry for yourself like a poo, poo baby.” A stupid way to ‘buck up’, yeah, but it worked for me… in a way; the tears stopped, but dressed, walking from the creek, even my new-found cleanness and new clothing didn’t entirely dissipate a lingering cargo of depression.
Approaching the dining pavilion for breakfast, dreading having to deal with people, but hungry enough to endure it, I heard Ottie call, “Yoo-hoo. You-hoo Tempest, over here.”
Thought, ‘Who the heck says you-hoo’, but realized it somehow lifted my spirit, There weren’t many people at the pavilion, none of the ranch ‘principal’s’, but those there eyeballed me with odd stares, probably because of my blown temper the night before.
I ignored the stares and steered a course to where she and Annette held a table near the serving line. Sitting with them, I said to Annette, “I can’t believe you let Ottie say you-hoo and didn’t smack her.”
“I wanted to, but decided to wait until I got her alone.”
Ottie said, “What are you all talking about. You-hoo is a completely normal way to call someone.”
Annette snorted and said, “Yeah, in pre-disaster yuppie-land.”
Pissed, Ottie said, “Well I’m not the one who showed up at the Ranger Station with a suitcase of designer outdoor clothing.”
Annette smiled, “Touché, I’ll give you that.” She turned to me. “Your hair is wet, did you actually bathe this morning.”
Ottie said, “She’s pretty with her hair lying flat. It frames her face.”
To change the subject, I said, “Thank you, Ottie. Just for you I’ll find some superglue and fix it in place.” Responding to a surge of movement from other tables, I said, “They’re serving. Let’s eat and go make our plans.”
Halfway through our meal, Jules and Maggie joined the serving line. I noticed Jules glance our way several times. He spoke to Maggie and I wasn’t surprised when they left the line without food and came to our table.
“Good morning Tempest, Annette, and… you’ll forgive me; is it Ottie? Would it be all right to sit with you for a moment?”
“Sure.” I waved to the chair across from me and said, “We’re minus one.”
He held a chair for his wife, pulled an unused one from another table, and joined us.
“What’s up,” I asked.
Jules cleared his throat to speak but Maggie said, “Tempest, that was quite a speech you gave last night, but on several counts you were entirely correct. You are a very blunt person and I believe you will prefer a conversation without any pretense of subterfuge.”
Damn straight, I would. I nodded and said, “Straight talk is always best.”
“Several of us have discussed your place here. As you said last night, you are directly responsible for the deaths of loved ones of many of the women and children here.”
She paused, probably expecting an outburst from me. I simply nodded again. “Yeah, there’s no doubt of that. That’s the main reason that I know this is not the place for me.”
Jules spoke without clearing his throat. “Tempest, please don’t think that we… we and others have not defended your actions. Almost single handed you have eliminated a number of real threats to the decent survivors of this disaster. You made possible this relatively safe enclave. If it wasn’t that so many—.”
I raised my hand and interrupted him, “Please, we have clarity on why I’m leaving. My friends and I will be gone in a few days; less than a week. During this time would you please impress on Jeffry and Doctor Robbins the—.”
Maggie smiled and said, “They’ll start working on the prosthetic immediately—, actually, last night after you left, the two of them huddled to discuss it, used a number of sheets from my notebook sketching drawings. Watching them, I could tell they are excited and intrigued by the project.”
One Thumb voiced a One Thumb. “Oh goody, I can’t wait.”
Jules and Maggie’s expressions showed their consternation at Ottie’s choice of words. Annette said, “Don’t mind her; she speaks ‘Ottie’, a derivative of ‘Yuppie’.”
That put Ottie in a huff, “Well dang dong all of you.”
Jules turned the conversation in another direction. “Tempest, I want you to know that we had no intention of asking you to leave. We did intend to speak with you and voice a number of concerns—.”
Nodding, I said, “I believe you, but it didn’t hurt to bring it to a head. The problem is mine. Most people don’t think the same way I do… they aren’t logical. To me it would be logical for the women of the men I killed to appreciate the fact that while I consider them just as guilty of Murder, I didn’t kill them—, mainly because there were so many children.”
I continued. “Not only did I not kill them, I gave them permission to come here. Logic would dictate that they show me appreciation, but reality is they don’t see as straight a line as I do.”
Maggie said, “Very few people would see a line of appreciation that led from them to the killer of a loved one.”
I shook my head and said, “And that is what makes them just as guilty… and that is why I am leaving. They see me as a killer and I see them as accessories to murder. That’s a broken line and I won’t try to mend it.”
Annette said, “This conversation; this subject at least, is done. When we leave here, we will take only a few supplies—.”
Maggie smiled, “You all are welcome to whatever you need.”
“Thanks, but as I said, we’ll need very little. Barring inclement weather, we’ll leave the day after Ottie gets her thumb. We’d appreciate it if you push Jeffry and Doctor Robbins to complete the project soonest.”
Jules said, “We’ll push them.” He turned to Maggie. “Let’s get in line before it gets longer. My stomach’s growling.”
As they stood, I reminded them about the trade we’d arranged with the holders of the Amazon Distribution Center. “Have your butchers prep half a cow in regular bulk cuts and not worry about grinding hamburger. It’d be great if they did that this morning so it will have plenty of time to freeze.”
Annette, Ottie and I spent the rest of the morning making plans. Because of how busy everyone else was, we had the bunkhouse to ourselves. Rather than use Annette’s small room, we spread Ottie’s map of Mainland United States onto a table in the common room. She’d also scored a Michelin Road Atlas that had every state including the Hawaiian Islands, Alaska, Mexico and Canada.
Annette, our note-taker opened a spiral notebook and glanced at me to begin.
With a gesture to the map, I said, “What say we plan this first trip west… follow Interstate 40 all the way to California? We can check that it’s passable in land vehicles. Especially check that bridges and overpasses are still usable. We may find that cities along the way took a hit from a nuke and I don’t reckon we’d want to fly over em. Heck, Memphis may be a radioactive wasteland. If it is, we’d need to locate another bridge over the Mississippi River.”
“We’ll need to take one of the Geiger Counters,” Ottie said.”
Annette flipped through her notebook to find a subject divider. “I’ll call the first section travel plans and the next, supplies.”
Ottie added, “Put two-way radios on our list, one for each of us and a spare. Yeah, and make it two Geiger Counters. We’ll need spare batteries for all those.”
Annette scribbled as she spoke, “We’ll write everything we might need, but in the end, if the weight goes over say… er, four-hundred-pounds, we’ll need to ditch any non-essentials.”
We all continued to add items to our travel list, but Ottie mostly perused the Atlas for Natural Wonders and other sightseeing destinations along Interstate forty.”
Making plans was fun. The day passed… one of the most pleasant days of my life so far.
Morning found us in the Humvee. After a quick stop at the Public Works to deliver the old man his pot; he wasn’t
there but I left it inside the truck as we agreed if he wasn’t; we were Lexington bound with five large coolers in the cargo space filled with frozen beef. An uneventful thirty-minute drive saw us entering the parking lot of the huge complex.
We stopped just inside the gates. The hundred-yard distance from the main doors wasn’t far enough to prevent me from discerning that Big Head was among the men gathered there.
Annette tapped the horn a couple of times. Big Head raised an arm to wave us closer.
Annette glanced at me. “What do you think?”
“Go halfway and stop. They can come to us.”
She did and again honked the horn. I climbed from my seat and waved for him to come.
Big Head held up a hand with one finger extended. A couple minutes passed and then a golf-cart like vehicle came from the building. Big Head took the passenger’s seat and it came to us, stopping several feet away. He held a fancy-built AR with a scope.
He called, “We ran into a problem with our side of the deal. If we have those Geiger Counters, we can’t find em. You have no idea how big this place is or how much stuff’s in it.”
I called back, “I had a feeling you might have difficulty finding em. I’ll bring over a map.”
I closed the distance between us and handed him directions and a detailed map Vikas provided before we left. Closer to him, his head was not jowly, but smooth like a round watermelon.
He took the paper and after a quick look, said, “You’re just a smidgen of a girl, aren’t you? How’d you come by directions like these?”
I ignored his statement about my size. “We have a man with us who knows this place like the back of his hand.”
“Tell him if he decides to leave ya’ll, he’s got a place with us. Millions of items in there, but nothing in any sort of order ‘cepting maybe to a computer.”
He glanced at the paper again. “Why are there directions to two-way radios? Our deal was for the Counters.”
“We’ve got half of a cow, butchered into steaks and roasts, the ribs also, all of it frozen and put in coolers less than forty-five minutes ago. We brought another cooler holding the other slab of ribs and the organs; liver, heart and the tongue. That’s for the radios if you want to make that part of our deal.”
Tempest of Tennessee (Episode 3): Tempest of Tennessee Page 16