by Ron Foster
“Take your time, we got lots to talk about but it can keep. I got you slotted to leave out and be on the road by 1 o’clock. You got to meet Dixon and the bus around 3:30 so that pretty much gives you all the time in the world to slide into this trip. Figure out who you taking with you if you haven’t already while your drinking your coffee.” Weatherman said.
“Oh that’s easy! I got Batman over there riding shotgun today.” David said kidding Troy about his survival belt he had already on getting ready for the trip. David actually admired his “Utility Belt Survival Kit" with all its little pouches of wonderment and survival but he liked to kid the man about his once in awhile.
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“If I ain’t mistaken, that vest of yours is full of my mini survival kits in addition to your own crap.” Troy said with a smile at David’s nickname for him.
“Touché, buddy, wouldn’t have it any other way.” David said complementing the man on his ingenious selection of space saving gear. Troy had been building his little mission specific survival kit modules for scout troops, preppers, survivalists and outdoorsmen long before the great disaster and when David had sat down with him and taken the time to evaluate Troy’s multi kit approach to solving life’s little unexpected or expected calamities, he had revaluated and repurposed a lot of his own gear to reduce bulk and functionality.
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David already had most of the items Troy had in his kits but it wasn’t as well organized or nearly as compact as the old scout masters stuff. David studied the lists of contents in each of Troy’s kits and bought additions to his from him as well as purchased some of the neat containers he used to package everything. It wasn’t long in the conversation until David additionally bought or was given as a present one of everything the man had in his portable survival shop and made up his own “Batman” belt as backup or situational adjustment to his own preparedness apparel or needs fulfillment.
“Dang you, David, I knew you were going to get sneaky and acquire you one of the best cooks in camp. I am going to get stuck eating Hirum’s cooking until you get back.” Weatherman said taking a poke at what was probably the worst Army cook that ever happened but the only person capable of cooking for masses of people that was left in camp.
“You can always cook for yourself and stay out of my chow line.” Hirum said not liking anyone bitching about his chow. Hirum’s problem was as his belly evidenced, cooking and consuming mass quantities of whatever half seasoned, over seasoned, under cooked or over cooked gigantic pots of what he was serving up that could be slopped on a plate with a soup ladle or spoon as long it was piled on and plenty.
“Just kidding with you, Hirum, but you got to admit that the last time you tried to make Troy’s “Easy, Cheesy Lasagna” it ended up being called Hirum's’ “Sleazy Greasy, never again Lasagna!” Weatherman said with a guffaw before he remembered the old military adage about never piss off the cook or the quartermaster and tried to make amends but it wasn’t working.
“I am going to remember you, Weatherman, next time I need me a KP or server and pot washer.” Hirum said reminding the man that a couple times a year the “officers” table as he called it, that the Academy or traders were privileged to sit at had their tour of duty in the community kitchen the same as everyone else on certain holidays.
“Oh Shit, I am in for it now.” Weatherman grumbled and led David away from the grousing old mess sergeant and away from the main group.
“David, you know moving metals are a need to know only matter of secrecy and security for everyone and you don’t get your instructions or the plan until its transport day.” Weatherman said eying him like there was much more to say but he didn’t know how to approach it.
“I know, I don’t mind you all keeping me in the dark, it’s safer for me and everybody else that way. Wait a minute, you ain’t sending me way off to Zimbabwe or something instead of just meeting Dixon at the crossroads, are you?” David asked, not liking the sounds of the trip already.
“Well no, you still got to go meet up with the bus the same as we agreed but you don’t get to go to Rendezvous this year.” Weatherman began before David cut him off angrily.
“What do you mean that I don’t get to go to Rendezvous? You know I been planning on going for a year and I need to be there in order to try to set up my new permanent trading post. I ain`t going outside this state, Weatherman, we already had us this discussion once before.” David said laying the law down about him traveling anywhere outside his comfort zone or getting too involved in the banking end of things.
“Now calm down, David, I ain’t asking you to travel very far out from your route to Rendezvous. Matter of fact, you can even make an appearance there but you can’t stay more than a few hours, you’re needed back here.” Weatherman tried to explain before David cut him off again.
“For what? You can handle your own damn shipments from Central bank; you don’t need me for that.” David spluttered before Weatherman put his hand on his shoulder to move him further from the general stores’ hang out group that was evidently trying to over hear what they were saying and catching on to David’s discomfort about something.
After they had walked over to a picnic table that had a small red and white cooler next to it, Weatherman told him to have a seat and if he wanted to, grab a beer out of the pre-positioned cooler.
“This news has got to be bad if you’re feeding me beer this early in the morning.” David said reaching inside of the cooler and grabbing him one.
“Very bad, I would have made it whiskey and coke but it seems that you and Boudreaux made off with everything in the general store for your party and Rendezvous supplies. Gauge will be here in a little while with one for you, though.” Weatherman said.
“I thought he went to the Trading Post with his wife, Esmeralda, last night?” David queried.
“He did, but he came knocking on my door about 2.30 this morning and added a bit of news that upset my apple cart for the day. Take you a few more sips of that beer, David, hell give me one too, we going to need it.” Weatherman said sitting down next to him and lowering his head before looking at the ground in silence.
“Spill it, man, what the hell is going on?” David said now very concerned and mostly draining his first can while impatiently waiting for the man to tell him some bad news.
“Ok, David. Be still a minute and hear me out. No interruptions until I finish, ok? This is kind of technical and I don’t want you flying off the handle or asking me a bunch of questions until I am done.” Weatherman said looking deep into his eyes.
“I am listening.” David said, calmly regarding him.
“You promise? You got to hear everything I am saying before you start judging or second guessing me.” Weatherman said.
“I said I would be quiet, get on with it, man, what the hell did you do?”” David said gruffly.
“See, I told you that you couldn’t be still! You got to hear me out first.” Weatherman pleaded.
“I am still and I will be quiet but I am losing patience.” David said looking at him sternly.
“Well I, I mean, Hell, I don’t know how else to put it but technically speaking we are broke, David!” Weatherman said ominously.
“What the F-word are you talking about?” David said, angry and confused.
“You promised!” Weatherman objected.
“I will be quiet.” David said adamantly and took a long sip on his beer.
“Three days ago the Federal Government raided the Central Traders Bank and took all the deposits. Except for what little bit of precious metal we are sitting on here, we are holding worthless paper for our debts as well as what others owe us.” Weatherman said, letting that economic collapse sink in before carrying on.
“If we get a run on our bank or too many folks want to exchange their Bernie bucks or Trader dollars for silver or gold, we are ruined. It’s the same with all traders now depe
nding on the old system and Rendezvous is going to turn into chaos as soon as an announcement is made. We are basically back to square one except for federally recognized military script and FEMA electronic credits that none of us have access to, as you know.” Weatherman declared.
“Holy Shit! How long have you known this and not told nobody?” David said accusingly.
“A couple days, but it gets worse. The militias and Traders are calling for rebellion. A civil war is in the works I think, David, and skirmishes are taking place as we speak all over the place as various groups are trying to get our metals back and punish any authority figures that can be remotely associated with it.” Weatherman said pointedly.
“Damn it, Weatherman, we should have known about this as soon as you heard about it. We might have even called Rendezvous off this year! You can’t have people trading worthless paper for hard goods and know about it!” David declared disgustedly and regarding his own banker as some kind of traitor.
“It’s completely overwhelming, David, it’s far too big for any of us to wrap our heads around right now, it’s an ending and a new beginning just like the first Revolution in this country was when we declared our independence from Britain.” Weatherman said.
“Yea, but back then you had real coins in circulation no matter whose face or country was represented. Are you telling me I got no money in the bank again because I can pull my pistol now on you and get whatever you got hid in that house of yours.” David threatened.
“You could do that and yea, I got some metal put up but you would be nothing but a thief if you did. The ledgers are as accurate as they have ever been, David, and based on this community’s debts as well as personal accounts, the only thing backing any promise is our willingness to do it all over again with nothing.” Weatherman said, beside himself as the one with the most historic knowledge of economies and currencies that all had entrusted him with to secure their livelihoods and treasure with when David had first proposed starting an economy of sorts.
“Well, I ain’t going to let them hang you, if that’s what you’re worried about. However, I am thinking about hanging you myself if you let people trade worthless paper for anything at rendezvous, a promise and commitment is not to be broken ever in such matters, as you well know. I know you are a mathematician and a brilliant historian when it comes to the crap about how money was created historically but how in the hell can I tell folks there is no hope of regaining previous wealth again these days with all we been through to get to here. Christ on a crutch boy, it will be anarchy again and we will be the devils they want to burn or ride out on a rail after being tarred and feathered.” David said thinking not only was it an economic factor but one of politics and leadership the distraught and down trodden people wanted to make examples of.
“David, we considered most of those points and came to the conclusion we honor our paper with what metal we have on hand and as for the other trade notes, we are waiting on what the central trade bank says and having a meeting of the traders at Rendezvous. Could be that they have other deposits we are not aware of.” Weatherman said.
“How much paper of theirs are you holding?” David asked.
“About $150,000, not a lot in old modern dollars but a hell of a lot in these days’ money; we got about half that or more in our own script.” Weatherman advised.
“We got enough metal to back up all ours?” David asked trying to do some mental calculations.
“That and a bit more, problem is we are depending on a good bit of the Central Banks’ script to pay off trade debts.” Weatherman stated flatly.
“Well, if the trades were made in paper then paper was the agreed upon means of exchange unless someone specifically asked for metal to be paid out. Anyone specifically wanting metal in payment?” David asked.
“Yea, Silas and Roland, of course, they want hard money or about 75 grand worth of our metal if you look at it that way.” Weatherman said dropping the bad news bombshell.
“Oh hell, that’s a very sticky mess indeed to consider. Do they know about the bank fiasco yet?” David asked worriedly not knowing the community’s bill had gotten so high.
“Not yet but I bet the government releases some news today or tomorrow. They are friends but they are going to want their money. They owe us also, about $12,000 but they deposited over $60,000 in metal last night and 15 thousand in Central Bank notes.” Weatherman declared, raising one eyebrow at the irony of it.
“Is that a normal deposit?” David asked, curious about the size of it when they didn’t owe us that much.
“For this time of the year it is, $25,000 of that metal is a 60 day loan to us. As a bank we borrow money short term all the time to accommodate anticipated demand or needs. Just because someone deposits say a gold ring they don’t necessarily get the same ring back if they want to withdraw metal. That’s where you come in on this little mission you’re going on. That riverboat we have been hearing about has four of them $10,000 cloth bags of silver coins for exchange or trade they got from somewhere. We want it all even if you got to pay premium for it. I don’t need to tell you small coinage like that is what we need and that stuff is rare in that quantity. That’s more than enough to service our needs in the community as well as set up a trade bank at Rendezvous for your post you been talking about as well as set up us a bank branch over by Silas’s Trading post. Now here is the kicker, Dixon is transporting a Central banker and two small strong boxes to Rendezvous. We don’t know what’s in them but we are guessing it’s probably silver and gold for exchanging demand notes.” Weatherman said.
“Ah, I get it, you want me to go kidnap a banker and hijack that gold shipment from Dixon. What does he say about that?” David said very interested in this upcoming adventure.
“David, you sure do have larceny in your heart sometimes. That’s not the way to look at things at all. Look at this trip as a diplomatic and trade mission. Now Dixon says the Central Bank hired him to deliver those strong boxes and that banker to Rendezvous and he is going to fulfill that contract unless he gets orders to the contrary. The only reason we even heard he had that shipment was he already exchanged his notes for metal for that deal I am handling for him with Roland. You were supposed to pick up that metal from him on the way to Rendezvous for me and carry some of our trade notes for redemption which he was aware of. He asked that banker if they could take a detour our way or do an exchange at the crossroads hoping he could pick up a little transport trade from us but he said he wasn’t authorized to open his till until he set up for business at rendezvous. We got no idea if he is meeting other bankers or shipments at the big trade meeting but I am guessing so. We think he is some kind of manager because he said something about meeting a clerk and an accountant who had the tents and camping gear with them traveling by convoy.” Weatherman stated before David questioned him further.
“Well, you’re a banker of sorts, why don’t you go negotiate with him? I mean, why me? I understand my job helping negotiate trade contracts and transporting goods but if you are trying to get him to convert all that worthless paper you are holding then those types of numbers and exchanges are your department.” David complained.
“I know that, hear me out first before objecting. Safety and security are your department also so you got a big part in this. They haven’t heard about the Fed snatching all that metal from the Central Trader’s Bank yet or the groundswell of hostilities that started up about it but I would probably be right in saying it will be on the radio today as the government says we under some kind of enhanced martial law so they can put down any rebellion. Most of the militias aren’t stupid and know they can’t fight modern tanks and planes but they might try to cause some incident to get the military on their side. Also, if the government does start some kind of enhanced restrictions on travel then the chances of long road traders or bullion carriers getting caught up in a sweep are going to make moving around anywhere very difficult if not impossible in some areas.” Weatherman warned.
“Could be but I don’t see them messing with so many people when they can just sit back and catch folks with yellow metal going or coming on the main roads afterwards. You need to get word to Dixon of that threat and talk that banker into either exchanging our paper for metal or take him and his gold into protective custody or something if he squirms too much at the idea. We got lots of options, that’s why we are having us this little discussion before you take off. Could be you got some other ideas about how to handle this little delicate situation but either way, I need you to secure that silver off the Riverboat and some way or another get some metal to back those Trade Bank notes we are sitting on until the smoke clears or they get devalued to nothing.” Weatherman said waiting for David’s response.
“Hell, those notes say payable on demand, what’s wrong with me just demanding payment for them and taking whatever they’re worth in metal whether he likes it or not? Technically speaking, I don’t see what’s so illegal about that.” David said studying his friend.
“Well, we bankers and the trade guilds decided those notes mean payable on demand at the counters of the Central Traders Bank and we can’t arbitrarily say he represents that until he says that he is open for business.” Weatherman stated before David cut him off.
“The hell we can’t, he already opened for business in a sense when he exchanged Dixon’s paper and he is bringing metal for exchange to Rendezvous, so what’s the big deal? You bankers come up with too many bullshit rules and promises instead of just using common sense. The only thing I am worried about is someone finding out we found a way to get all our money back before they had a chance to.” David fumed.
“That and the trade guilds refusing to take our banks paper in protest. It is a touchy situation and we need to handle it just right.” Weatherman said looking for some practical solutions.