Chapter Twenty-Three
The four of us finally headed to Blake’s house, which was only a few miles away. Evening had arrived, and the sun would be down in just a few hours. The day was hot, but the sky was a beautiful blue. Our group was in as good of a mood as could be expected, under the circumstances. Tag and Red were giving each other shit about something as we usually did and even Mike joined in, which was unusual for him as normally he’s pretty quiet. This was the mood and attitude our group needed to stay in. It wouldn’t do any good to “cry in our beer.” That leads to depression, lack of motivation and even panic. I knew all of us would have times where we’d think and worry about absent family members and friends. We’d worry about what was coming and even regret the lives we may have to take defending ourselves. But for the most part, we needed to keep our spirits high and make the best of a hellish situation. The same way that all of us that served had to do more than once.
Even though I had a smile on my face and acted as though I was listening to the conversation, I was having one of those sober moments. I was thinking about the last two days and how they just felt so long.
I was with the people I wanted to be with and we had a tentative plan, but there was so much work to do, so much to prepare for. Our country, our way of life, was attacked and our federal government was gone. Our economy had collapsed, and now people were dying. Whether it was due to a lack of food and water, the violence that had taken over the cities and even some of the countryside or people out on the roads, trying to make it home. Very few were prepared for anything like this. Even though the suffering started a few weeks ago when the economy started its collapse and stores started running out of food, the real hell started when we were attacked.
This wasn’t a war in some far-off land, where the rich liberals, socialists, and radicals would demonstrate against whatever conflict it was. This affected everyone. The rich, poor, innocent, guilty, every race, and heritage would all suffer.
I also knew that I had to be many things; leader, husband, father, neighbor, friend, Christian, soldier and even an asshole. I knew there’d be a time coming where we have to turn people away. I knew there would also be times that I’d have to override the group's decisions on things, even when their decision may be the moral thing to do. Many would say the right thing to do, but it may be made at the wrong time, about the wrong people.
Like I told everyone, I knew we had to bring more into our group, but it had to be the right people with the right skills. That sounds logical and easy, but I knew it wouldn’t be. How do you turn away people that are suffering? If we don’t though, we all suffer.
“Dad, are you with us?” Mike asked.
“What?”
“Where ever you were, it wasn’t here with us,” he said with a chuckle, “Anyway, we’re here.”
“Sorry, I was just daydreaming.” I immediately came out of my soberness and looked around. Blake lived in a two-story house. His “man cave” was upstairs. When I didn’t see anyone outside, I looked up to that room out of habit and saw Blake looking out the window. I smiled and waved.
I then looked around for Abel, Blake’s Doberman. Abel had a way of staying out of sight. He wasn’t like a lot of dogs that when they’d hear something, they’d start barking and run around the corner. Abel was very disciplined, and he looked as though he was always observing and planning something. I decided I’d play a joke on Tag, who had an incident with an army dog in Panama. This particular dog was great at his job but sometimes took some time to decide who the good guys were. Well, Tag learned that the hard way and ever since has been very leery of larger dogs.
I started climbing out of the jeep, and when I did, my back had a sharp pain in it. I feel that pain on a regular basis, but this time, I thought I’d use it in the joke. I grabbed my lower back and groaned semi-loudly.
“Are you alright?” Red asked.
“Yeah, it’s just my back and all this stuff today is taking a toll on me.”
After a couple of moments, I kind of fell back in the seat.
“Tag, can you go and knock on the door? Blake will be the one that answers it. When he does, tell him my back just gave out, but I need to talk to him.” I said using a voice as though I was still in pain.
Tag looked at me puzzled, “I don’t know the son of a bitch. Don’t you know him, Mike?”
I looked at Mike and winked.
Mike picking up on it said, “I’ve never met Blake either, but if you want me to go, I’ll go.” and he acted as though he was struggling to get out of the back of the jeep.
“No, I’ll go. It’s easier for me to get out anyway.” He looked at me and said sarcastically, “What’s wrong Johnson? You can’t handle a little pain?” He jumped out of the jeep grumbling to himself. As he was walking away, I gave everyone the sign to watch. After Tag had walked about half way to the house, Abel appeared from around the corner and sat down with that classic Doberman look, ears straight up and staring right at Tag. Tag spotting him immediately stopped in his tracks and said, “Oh hell!”
We had a hard time not laughing out loud, but I said, “Oh, that’s Abel, he’s like a big puppy, don’t worry about him.”
“He doesn’t look like any puppy.” Tag said, with a little fear in his voice. Tag knew not to turn around and run as that’s what triggered the dog in Panama.
With it being hard to keep a normal voice, I asked, “If he was aggressive, don’t you think he’d be barking? Get going you, sissy.”
Abel then stood up and slowly walked to the steps and sat again, staring at Tag.
“See, he’s just wondering if you’re friendly. Go on.”
We could hear Tag mumbling to himself again. Tag got his nerve up and took another step, but Abel just watched him. As soon as Tag took his second step, Abel let out a very loud single bark. Tag yelled, “To hell with this!” and turned around and ran to the jeep. We all burst out laughing as he was running back. Abel had just jumped off the porch, clearing the steps and had just started to run towards Tag, when Blake stepped out the door and yelled, “Abel.” Abel immediately stopped and returned to him.
When Tag made it to the jeep, he leaped into the back-end landing onto Red and Mike.
“Oh, you’re a son of a bitch, Vince. Oh, you’re a bastard!” You could tell his heart was just pumping.
Barely being able to make out what I was saying through the laughter, “That’s a pretty good leap for an old man Tag. Now don’t have a heart attack on us.”
None of us could control our laughter, except for Tag that was saying, “You’re all bastards. You just wait, I’ll get you back!”
All of us, except Tag, got out of the jeep and started walking to the porch.
“How ya doing, Blake?” I said
Blake, seeing the laughter and what had just happened was laughing himself. “I could’ve come out earlier, but I had to watch also.”
Again, we could hear Tag start grumbling to himself as he climbed into the driver’s seat.
Abel came running up to me, and I squatted down in front of him, petting both sides of his head at the same time. I started telling Abel, “You’re a good boy Abel. Good boy.”
Blake then asked, “How ya doing Mike?” and shook his hand.
Tag yelled out, “I thought you never met him?” Mike looked at Tag with a smile and shrugged his shoulders and pointed at me.
“I thought we were buddies Mike. I used to play with you whenever you came into the barracks with your dad. Now, this is the thanks I get.”
While laughing even more, I introduced Red. After their greeting, I yelled over at Tag, “Will you get over here and meet Blake.”
“I’m not getting out of the jeep.”
“Get over here and say hello.”
Staying in the jeep, Tag yelled, “Hello Blake. I’m Tag. How ya doing?”
Blake, while laughing, said, “Hello.”
Abel was now being petted by Mike and Red and he was acting like a big puppy. Ta
g was watching it all.
I looked at Blake and kind of rocked my head towards Tag. Blake, picking up on my signal said, “You know, it may be best that you come over here with us, so he’ll know you’re one of the good guys.”
Tag sat there for a moment, watching Abel continuing to act like a puppy. We heard him mumble, “Son of a bitch” and he then climbed out of the jeep and walked over. As he was approaching, Abel stared at him. When Tag got up to us, Abel walked over to him and started sniffing his hand, so Tag froze. Then slowly he started moving his hand, allowing Abel to sniff it better. Eventually, he started petting Abel on the head. Finally, he started petting him more aggressively and saying, “Good boy.”
Soon, Blake’s wife and kids came out. His wife Laura had always been extremely friendly, and he had a son, Jacob, that was an excellent little league ballplayer, who they sent to a lot of baseball training camps, giving him every opportunity to see where baseball could take him.
They also had two daughters, Katlin, who was an excellent fastpitch softball player and Joanna, who was a sweetheart and only eight years old.
We gave him the news about the EMP and how Washington had been nuked.
“You always said something like this would happen.”
“Yeah, I did. But to see it actually happen, the way it’s happening still is hard to accept.”
I asked how they were set up for food and water. I knew they had a nice live spring on their property and that they had cattle and a small garden.
“We have a lot canned from last year. Not as much as we would like, but enough.” Laura said.
“Well, if you guys need anything, let us know. I’m a little concerned with your isolation. I mean you guys are pretty well out here by yourself. I know you guys wouldn’t want to leave your home, but you’re welcome to stay at our place. Jake is going to let us use the mobile home that he has behind his house. It won’t be anything like what you have, but at least you won’t be out here alone.”
“I can’t leave the cattle here and you know I have the weapons to defend the place.”
“We can find a way to move the cattle if that’s what’s worrying you.”
“No, I’m sure we’ll be fine.”
I reached down and grabbed one of the radios, “Well at least take this. If you guys have any problems, give us a shout, and we’ll be here ASAP.”
I filled them in on who was staying at our farm and told the story of Mia, Carmen and Brandy’s arrival. I also told them how we met Charlie and his wife and how he got us running water, using the generator.
We talked about the flatbed Ford truck that has been driving around and how those clowns were up to no good.
“Before I forget, I have a proposition for you. Do you still have that swimming pool that you said you bought from Walmart some time back?”
“Yeah, I bought that for Katlin’s birthday in two weeks. We sure won’t be using it now, though. No way to get water in it.”
“Well, would you consider selling it to me?”
He laughed, “Selling it? What are you going to pay me with? The dollar is worthless. I’ll just give it to you. We can’t use it.”
“No, I have something else in mind.” I pulled out a one-ounce silver bullion bar, “Now I know that right now it would be hard to sell this but if things settle down a bit, people are going to start bartering, and silver coins and bullion especially is going to be worth a lot in trade. I’ll give you this for the pool. It’s kind of like an investment for the future for you.”
“No, that’s worth a lot more than the pool. No telling what silver is worth right now, but I know that’s worth a hell of a lot more than the cost of the pool.”
“I want you to take it. This is also for the use of the travel trailer you loaned us.”
He continued to shake his head no and saying it was too much.
“Well, I’m not going to take it for free. I want you to take this. You really came through for us. Take it for the kid’s sake.”
When I said that, he thought for a minute and agreed, “Thank you, Vince.”
“No, thank you. That pool is going to come in handy in this heat, and we may not have running water for too long if we don’t find a lot more gasoline…. and by the way, we can always pick you guys up, and you can come up for a dip.”
We talked another 30 minutes or so and then finally, I said, “Well, we need to get back to the farm. I’m sure they have dinner ready. Are you sure you don’t want to move over with us?”
“We’ll be fine.”
We walked out to the shed and grabbed the pool. He also had case each of pool shock and chlorine tablets for treating the water. “You might as well take these,” and grabbed an air mattress and two other floating pool loungers.
Even though it was still in the box, when we put it in the back of the jeep, it took up so much room, it forced Red and Mike to ride on the hood in front of the windshield.
We said our goodbyes and headed back to the farm. On the slower ride home, we discussed the flatbed Ford truck, and we decided to start increasing security on the farm. We knew we had to start setting up a guard schedule and push for the meeting with the neighbors on our road.
When we got home, Kim and the ladies were setting out dinner for us. We had beef stew, fresh green beans, some fruit cocktail, and homemade bread waiting for us. I said a prayer, giving thanks for what we had and asked God for protection over our friends and us and asked for wisdom in our decisions.
I then noticed that all the ladies’ hair was semi-wet. They also had fresh clothes on and was wearing perfume.
“I see someone has already taken advantage of the running water,” I said with a smile.
“Yes, we did,” Kim said proudly. She then acted as though she was sniffing the air, “It smells like you guys should do the same.”
“Oh really? Aren’t you sweet? Well, come here, let me give you a hug,” and I started moving towards her. She held up a spatula like a club, “Oh no you don’t.”
“Wasn’t the shower awfully cold for you? I mean that’s straight from the well.”
“No. We took a bath. We filled the tub partially with the cold water, then I filled up the pressure cooker that we use for canning and heated it until it was boiling and poured it in the bath. It made the water quite warm.”
“Oooh! You all took a warm bath. Was that together?” I said, with a sly look on my face.
“Ha! Wouldn’t you like to know?”
Tag laughed, “I would.”
“No, it took a while, but we all had separate baths with fresh water,” Kim said, sarcastically.
“Well, I guess we could use a little cleaning up, but I personally will just use the shower. I’m not a bath kind of guy. Do you mind if we eat first though?”
We sat down to eat, and as I smelled the food, I hadn’t realized how hungry I was. It may have only been canned beef stew, but it tasted great.
After dinner, we talked about what we needed to do, and we told everyone what we talked about on the way home.
Mike spoke up, “Tomorrow, everyone that needs it, is going to have a lesson on the firearms and a quick test on loading and handling each weapon. Please, don’t assume you know how to use a weapon. We all need to know exactly where the safeties are, what to do in a jam, how to load and unload and anything else that may come up. Then we’ll follow up with a little target practice. We want to use the least amount of ammunition possible, but everyone needs to know how to hit what they’re shooting at.”
Once again, Angela complained, but Mo nixed it pretty quickly.
I mentioned how we needed to start patrolling the property and how we needed to go out and start looking for gas from abandoned vehicles.
“If we don’t, we won’t be able to run this generator for very much longer. Speaking of which, we need to get the batteries from the vehicles also. We’ll need them for the battery system, that we need to start setting up tomorrow.”
We discussed our plans for a w
hile and then I finally announced, “We have a surprise for you guys. We now have a swimming pool. The box says it’s 32 feet x 16 feet x 52 inches. I also got a couple of pool loungers to float on and a couple of other type of floatation devices.”
Almost everyone’s mouth dropped open. Lulu immediately got a huge smile on her face and loudly said, “A swimming pool? That will be fun! I love swimming.”
“I do too, Lulu.” I then continued, “I know this sounds bizarre but as hot as it’s been, I thought this would be a nice relief and a way to keep cooler. We’re all going to be busting tail in the future, so we need something like this, and with the filter system, we can also use it as an emergency water source, even though we don’t need it for that. Heck, we can even use it to take a bath,” I said jokingly.
“So that’s what you were talking about earlier,” Kim stated.
Mia got a strange look on her face, so I asked her what was wrong.
“Don’t misunderstand me as I love the idea, but it just seems odd. I mean, the world is going to heck, and we get a swimming pool.”
“I know. As I said, it’s a little bizarre, especially when you think about what’s going on around us, but we have to do whatever it takes to survive and to keep our spirits up. We have to keep everything as positive as we can. As I’ve said before, it doesn’t do a bit a good to dwell on the negatives. We just need to make the best of what we have at the time. No matter what’s going on, we need to try and keep high spirits.”
Then jokingly, I said, “Plus, that will give us guys a chance to see all of you girls in your swimming suits.” Everyone broke out laughing, and Kim hit me on the arm in fun.
“What? It’s been a while. The last time I’ve seen you, Carmen and Mia in your suits was at the beach in California.” I looked at the guys, “You guys are in for a treat.”
The guys started whistling at them and Carmen through a sofa pillow at me and Kim just shook her head and with a smile, said, “You’re bad.”
Angela almost looked offended at first, but then she even started laughing.
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