Apocalypse Coming

by William Dunaway

  When the sun started coming up, the eastern sky was beautiful with the different shades of color, mainly yellow that was caused by the sun shining through the clouds. It looked like it was going to be the perfect day for our day of R & R.

  It was about 7:30 when I saw Mo walking out of his bus. I disconnected the battery system and went out and turned on the generator because we needed to get the batteries back on the solar system as soon as we could, to recharge them.

  When he walked in, he said, “Good morning,” and walked straight to the coffee pot.

  “You do realize that you had the opportunity to sleep in today, didn’t you?”

  “7:30 is sleeping in for me. I'm so used to waking up at 5:00 a.m. to make it to the school on time because as a coach you learn quickly to get to the gym before the students do, so now it’s just habit.”

  He walked over to the sink and saw the steaks and picked one up, “Oh yes, these are great, I can do a fine job with these.”

  Just about that time, Kim came walking in.

  “Why are you up?” I inquired.

  “You know I don’t sleep well without you in bed with me. Anyway, I figured you would need help with fixing breakfast.”

  “No way! This is your day off. I told you I’d cook breakfast.”

  “What were you planning on cooking?”

  “Scrambled powdered eggs with cheese sauce, dehydrated hash browns, and Bisquick biscuits and gravy,” I responded proudly.

  “Have you ever cooked for 13 people before?”

  “No.”

  Have you ever cooked biscuits using the camp oven?”

  “No.”

  “And for the record, we’ve been out of Bisquick for over a week, so you’ll have to make them from scratch. Besides, I thought you wanted this to be a perfect day for everyone.”

  “I do.”

  “Well, if that’s the case, why don’t you let me cook breakfast.”

  Mo started laughing, but when I looked at him, he covered his mouth and continued chuckling to himself.

  I looked back at Kim saying, “Well, thank you very much…. Well, at least I can help you…. you don’t want to cook all of this by yourself.”

  Mia, Carmen, and Brandy came walking in from the living room, and Mia announced with a smile on her face, “She won’t be doing it by herself. We’re going to be helping her.”

  “Mia, I thought you were my buddy?”

  “I am. You make decent hamburgers and breakfast sandwiches and even a great roast but besides that……”

  Mo was rolling in the corner laughing.

  “Hey, this was my idea. Carmen, at least you’ll back me up, won’t you?”

  She walked over to me and gave a combination of a sad face and smile. She patted me on the face, “I trust you with my life Vince but not with my breakfast.”

  Mo lost it at this point and had to leave the room.

  I looked at Brandy, who raised her hands saying, “Don’t look at me. I’ve never eaten your cooking, but it doesn’t sound like I want to.”

  At that point, all the girls started laughing and went to work starting breakfast.

  So, I started heading outside grumbling, “Well, that’s the last time I volunteer to help you guys; that’s a fine how do you do.”

  I heard Carmen ask, “We didn’t hurt his feelings, did we?”

  “Heck no. I bet you he’s laughing at us.”

  When I heard that, I ran out the back door and spotted Mo who was still laughing.

  “Well, they cut your cooking skills down to pieces.”

  I smiled, “Yes they did, but they’re all inside cooking, and I’m out here.”

  His mouth dropped open, “You sly S.O.B. You had that planned. But how did you know it would work out like that?”

  “Well I wasn’t for sure, but I figured Kim would come out and take over cooking. I honestly do suck at cooking most things, but at the least, I thought I’d just have to assist Kim, and she’d do the main part. The girls coming in at that time was just a stroke of luck.” Mo burst out with his famous laugh.

  I heard a hammering sound down at Jake’s. Apparently, he was already outside working on some project.

  “Hey, let’s walk down to Jake’s and invite them up here for the festivities. What do you say?”

  “Let’s go.”

  I went in the house, and when I looked at the ladies, they all looked at me smiling still.

  “Ok. Well, that breakfast of YOURS better be perfect.”

  I grabbed the M-4’s and said, “Mo and I are going to walk to Jake’s to invite them up today.”

  “Ok,” Kim replied.

  “How long on breakfast?” She gave me a stern look.

  “No seriously. I thought we’d let everyone sleep in until breakfast was ready.”

  “Give us at least an hour because that many biscuits will take a while.”

  I went out, and we both shouldered our weapons and headed to Jake’s.

  Jake was thrilled with the idea of having Kansas City Strips.

  “What time do you want us?”

  I looked at Mo, “You’re doing the grilling, what time do you think?”

  “Whenever everyone wants to start, but why don’t I start grilling about 1:00 if that’s ok. I’m sure Lulu will start swimming about 11:00, so if the kids want to come down, she’ll be waiting for them.”

  “We’ll be there and don’t be surprised if the kids show up before us,” Jake said with a laugh.

  When we got back, Angela and Lulu had already joined the rest of the ladies in the kitchen and Tag, Red, and Wit were outside drinking coffee.

  “I thought you were going to cook breakfast?” Wit asked.

  Mo started laughing again and as I walked to the tool shed, I heard all of them start laughing and heard Red say, “That was smart of him.”

  I came out with our horseshoe set in one hand and the croquet set in the other.

  Wit, recognizing what they were, said, “Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

  Tag, Red, and Wit set up the horseshoes after arguing about the distance between the two spikes, and Mo and I set up the croquet set in the front yard. During this, Mike came grumbling out of his room, talking about how much noise we were making and soon Paul came out of the travel trailer.

  Just about that time, Mia came out announcing, “Breakfast.”

  You would’ve thought we were a bunch of young school kids being called for dessert as we came pouring in and pulling each other out of the way.

  Angela laughed, “It doesn’t matter how old they get, they never grow up do they?”

  “Apparently not, not when they’re all together anyway,” Kim responded with a chuckle.

  Tag, who was in the front of the line said, “Ladies,” while moving his arm in a gesture of they should go first.

  Brandy said, “Oh no, by all means, you guys go first.” So, we did.

  After breakfast, while letting our food digest a bit, Lulu looked out the front window and asked with a big smile on her face, “Is that a game set up out there?”

  “Yes, that’s called croquet. Do you all feel like a game?”

  The girls talked among themselves and then Kim answered, “Yeah, the girls against the guys, but first, we cooked breakfast, so you guys get to wash the dishes, VINCE.”

  I rolled my eyes, “OK.”

  The other guys started to get up, but I said, “I got it. I’ve got the generator on, so all I have to do is load the dishwasher.”

  As I rinsed off the dishes and loaded them, I thought about how blessed we were to have running water and the electricity to run the dishwasher; temporarily anyway. Most people are probably struggling just to find water.

  Every time we ate it pretty well loaded the dishwasher, so I started it up and walked back in, “OK, let’s go.”

  When we went outside to play, I asked, “Are you sure that you want guys against girls?”

  Kim whispered to the girls, “Come to think about it, Mike and Vince
are pretty good.”

  Brandy replied, “No, we got this. Carmen and I used to play this all the time with our parents.”

  After they had talked a while, Kim said, “Yeah. Guys against the girls.”

  “Ok, whatever you want.”

  The first game, we humiliated the girls. All of us were done before half the girls were halfway through.

  “Two out of three?” I asked, very cocky.

  Brandy yelled, “Heck yes.”

  About this time, two of Jake’s younger foster girls came up to go swimming.

  Lulu asked, “Can I go swimming mommy?”

  “Yes, but you all be careful.”

  When they got to the pool, we heard the kids yell, “Watermelon!”

  “Oops, that was supposed to be a surprise for everyone.” So, I ran over and moved them into the fridge.

  The ladies made a huddle, and we could see Carmen and Brandy instructing them on certain shots. After they had huddled for a while, Carmen asked, “Are you ready?”

  I don’t know what happened, but the ladies kicked our tails the next two games.

  As we walked to the backyard, the girls were “talking shit” so we knew we’d probably hear about this for a long time.

  A couple of us decided to pitch horseshoes, but after my 3rd throw, my shoulder told me, “NO MORE.”

  So, I jumped in the pool and played with the kids.

  Mo and Tag were having fun teaching the ladies how to pitch horseshoes, even though we all had to watch out for a wild horseshoe occasionally.

  Everyone was having a blast though.

  I went in the house with Kim and Carmen, and we made Margaritas. When we took them out, that’s when the party really got going.

  Just about that time, Jake and his wife showed up. They don’t drink for religious reasons, but I knew them well enough to know that they wouldn’t become offended if we did.

  Jake and Wit started playing horseshoes against Tag and Mike. Tag is a pretty solid player normally, but Jake mowed him down. I’ve never seen anyone throw as many ringers as he did.

  Mo had moved to the grill, and Kim and Mia made potato salad out of canned whole potatoes while I put on a big pot of corn on the cob. Kim, using the camp oven, also made cheesy garlic toast.

  After a short time and coordination through Kim and Mo, Mo announced in a terrible Butler type voice, “Dinner is now served.”

  We asked Jake to say the blessing, which he was glad to do. He said a very nice prayer thanking God for everything we had, the great day, and asked God to be with those that were less fortunate than us.

  The dinner was really, really, good. It was nice to see everyone having a good time as this was a celebration for all their hard work and the blessings we had received.

  About the time that everyone was done with the main meal, I brought out the watermelon. All the kids were ready, but only about half the adults showed interest as they said they were stuffed. That’s until I said, “I guarantee you will like these. They’re so sweet and juicy.” Finally, they all agreed to try some.

  It made Kim feel good when the praises came as she worked her garden with pride and loved making people happy with the produce she got out of it. In past years, I think she gave away more than we kept.

  A couple of hours went by when one of Jake’s younger foster girls started getting tired and cranky.

  “We don’t want to, but we better get her back to the house. When she gets started, it’s a scene.”

  So, we all said our goodbyes and I gave Jake one of the melons to take home with them. “I can’t thank you enough for inviting us. I know my family needed this.”

  “Anytime.”

  After they had left, I asked the ladies when they were going to swim.

  They started laughing, “In a few minutes” and they walked into the house.

  “Wait a minute, I think you ladies should give us a fashion show,” I announced while smiling and winking at Kim.

  Kim formed a sly smile and responded, “Well that’s funny, that’s exactly what we had in mind,” and continued walking into the house laughing.

  That was the best part about this group. We could all joke around with one another without someone taking things personally or becoming offended because they thought some comment was inappropriate. Everyone knew how to lighten up and have fun.

  We had decided we were going to embarrass the women when they came out in their bathing suits. Partly because of my earlier comments when we came up with the idea for the pool party but mainly because of the pasting they gave us during the croquet game.

  We sat out on the patio, just waiting for them to come out. After, what seemed like a long time, Kim came out first. She may be older now, but she always looked good in her swimsuit and with all the work they had been doing in the garden, she had a nice tan. The guys started whistling and saying “Woo, Woo!”

  “Are you making the old woman feel good, boy’s?”

  Tag laughed, “Remember Kim, most of us are older than you are.”

  Mia, Brandy, and Angela came out next. Angela looked surprisingly well. With the negative attitude that she displayed half the time, it was hard to keep thinking of her as attractive, but in her suit, she reminded us that she was. I had seen Mia in her suit before, and she always looked good, and the guys let her know it. It was the first I had seen Brandy but being that she looked a lot like Carmen, I figured she’d be hot, and she was. Brandy being totally embarrassed said, “This is like being in a wet t-shirt contest.”

  Finally, Carmen was about to walk out. Being the professional swimsuit model earlier in her career, the guys expected her to be in some really sexy swimsuit, but instead, she came walking out in what looked like a dress type granny swimsuit from the 1800’s. The girls busted out laughing, and a few of the guys were making comments, like, “Oh, that’s wrong. That’s just wrong.”

  Apparently, this is what they had planned all along. Carmen looked at me and stuck her tongue out and then smiled.

  All I could do was roll my eyes and saying sarcastically, “Miss Bunker Hill.”

  Carmen eventually slipped off the granny swimsuit and had a regular swimsuit underneath it, which brought back the whistles. It was one of the most conservative suits I had ever seen her wear, but you could see why she used to be a swimsuit model.

  “You guys are lucky we didn’t have any speedos.”

  “Yeah, where’s our show?” Kim asked.

  Tag and I were the oldest, so I pulled him to the side and whispered to him, and then we ran into the house.

  The ladies started asking what we were up to and the other guys just shrugged their shoulders.

  I pulled out some old colored underwear that I kept for future gun cleaning rags and we both put them on backward, stuffing the front with rolled up socks and used safety pins in the back to make the briefs very tight.

  We then walked to the door and yelled, “You guys want your eye candy now?”

  “Yes!” they yelled laughing.

  Tag and I walked out arm and arm, mocking a couple of runway models. We put on quite the show. Everyone was rolling laughing and I heard Kim say, “Oh my God.”

  The other women started whistling and wooing, and the guys couldn’t stand up straight because they were laughing so hard.

  After a minute or so, I said, “Well, I guess you girls got enough eye candy for a lifetime.”

  After Tag and I had changed back into our regular swimsuits, we all went over and jumped in the pool. We played a fun game of water volleyball using a beach ball. We had to use ropes for the net, but it worked well enough.

  After the game was over, all the girls got out of the pool and went over to sun on the patio.

  I will never understand women, they work out in the sun day after day and what do they want to do? Get more sun, instead of wanting to play in the water.

  A couple of more hours passed with everyone playing games, drinking Margarita’s, and just taking it easy.

  S
oon after that, Kim went into the house and brought two wrapped steak dinners out to Wit and Brandy, who had already changed clothes. Wit laid them in the saddlebags on his motorcycle and Brandy climbed on holding the EMT bag in her arms. “Be back in a short,” and they took off down the road.

  I sat back just watching everyone having a good time. It had been the perfect day. The weather was perfect, the pool was loved, and everyone had a blast. I was so pleased that we came up with this idea.

  I was really proud of this group and what they had accomplished in a short time. Since their arrival, I could see that the bond us guys had together had never left us and now the entire group was developing the same bond and we were starting to be a family.

  Little did I know that this day was the classic “Calm Before the Storm.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  People will oppress each other… man against man, neighbor against neighbor. The young will rise up against the old, the nobody against the honored.

  We slowly started to wrap up the pool party and Mo was cleaning up the outdoor grill. The girls had gone in to get out of their swimming suits and Lulu had worn herself out and had fallen asleep on the sofa.

  Mike and Tag were finishing one last game of horseshoes, and the rest of us was sitting watching a flock of turkey walk across the back field.

  Suddenly, we heard Wit’s motorcycle screaming down the road towards us. Wit was very proud of his bike and usually took it easy on the gravel road, but this time it looked as though he was traveling about 60 mph.

  We ran out to the driveway, and when Wit and Brandy pulled in, we could see that Brandy was in tears and Wit had almost hatred in his facial expression.

  Mike and Tag came running around the corner, and I yelled to the ladies through the window, “Something’s up!”

  Wit parked his bike, barely getting it up on the kickstand, as he jumped off, and looked at us with tears in his eyes, but Brandy stayed sitting on the bike, crying.

  “They’re dead. They were murdered.” Wit said with anger.

  Brandy having a hard time talking through her tears said, “They weren’t just murdered, they were butchered.”