Dangerous Shores: Book Three; The End of the Road

by Christine Conaway

  “What the hell…” Frank mumbled, “We can’t get in. They’ve got the entrance blocked with boats.”

  Chapter Twenty-four - The blockade

  They had taken the sails down when they passed the first channel marker and were using the motor to access the harbor. Rob, kicked the rpm’s down and they were sliding closer to the blockade. They saw a man step onto the deck of the fish boat. He was armed with a rifle but it was cradled in his arms and not pointed at them. Frank waved.

  “Turn around and leave! You are not welcome here!” The man shouted at them. He had something in his hand and raised it up and spoke into it. “You have to leave! Didn’t you hear me. We’re not taking in refugees. Turn around and go. If you try to sneak in, you will be shot!”

  “Rob, isn’t that Jake Minnaker? It sounds like him.” Margaret held her hand out for the binoculars. After making an adjustment she trained them on the man. “That’s him all right and both his boys just joined him.”

  Frank looked at Margaret with one eyebrow raised in question. “You know those guys?”

  “Sure I do. I board my drafts at their farm. Or I guess I should say I let him make use of them in exchange for their board.”

  Margaret stepped up onto the gunnel and walked to the bow. She shouted, “Hey Jake! You-old-son-of-a-gun. It’s me Maggie!”

  Frank looked at Ellen, “What the hell is a draft?”

  Ellen shrugged her shoulders and then it hit her. “Horse, our Margaret has draft horses. Or at least I think that’s what she means.”

  “It is.” Rob said. “When my Dad passed he had a matched set. He used to enter them in the state fairs in pulling contests. Mom couldn’t stand the thought of selling them so she took them out Jakes farm and let him use them. When we moved in to the town she let him keep them.”

  “We are so incredibly lucky. I can’t believe this. What are the chances of meeting someone you guys know?”

  “Eureka is a pretty small town when you thing of Frisco and Sacramento. Here everybody knows most everyone else. Our old farm is between here and Cullen so Mom and Dad knew everyone. When you have lived in a small town your whole adult life there is no such thing as privacy. It was Grandpa’s farm and then it was passed to the folks. Mom was holding on to the land for Dana.”

  “Why Rob, that is the longest conversation I have ever heard from you. I was beginning to think you didn’t like us.” Hannah said but she added a teasing sound to her words to take the sting out.

  “Sorry, I was worried about what was going to happen when we got here. If you think it’s hard being a mixed race in a big city, try being a mix of Japanese and Tongan and being married to a white girl in a small town. I couldn’t wait to get away from here.”

  “What were you worried about? That they wouldn’t let us in?” Alan asked. “Looks like your Mom is working things out with them.” He pointed to where two young men were taking the chain off of the two end boats. Another man was in a 12-foot skiff preparing to move one of the smaller boats aside.

  “Hey! They have an outboard that runs,” Alan said. “How can that be?”

  Frank listened to it and said, “It’s a two-stroke and someone obviously knew how to fix it.”

  “Rob, why were you worried about what would happen when we got here?” Ellen wanted to know in case they needed to be ready to defend themselves.

  “I’m worried that Mom will want to stay. She’s been here her whole life. I’m not sure she’ll leave her friends once she has the option.”

  “I don’t see the problem with her staying then. She’s not a prisoner. You guys can do what you feel is right.”

  “What feels right to me is going with you guys.” He looked at Dana who was petting the puppy with Olivia. “What do you think Dana? Do we go or stay?”

  Dana looked at Olivia and then her father. Her gaze settled on the bin the puppy was sleeping in and went back to Olivia. “Daddy, I have to go. I have to make sure that Holly grows up and doesn’t forget me. Olivia is my best friend. Can we go with them Daddy? Please?”

  “Please Mr. Rob? I would just die if Dana couldn’t go with us.” Her eyes grew wet as she stood there and her bottom lip quivered.

  Rob looked at Frank and then Ellen. “Do you mind? Even if Mom decides to stay we’d like to go.”

  Ellen nodded at Frank and let him answer for all of them. “Of course. I’ve spent too much time teaching you to sail to let you jump ship at the first port of call.”

  “What did I miss?” Rob, they want you to follow the skiff up to the main dock.” She put her fists firmly on her hips and faced her son. “Now tell me what I missed. You guys looked pretty serious when I walked back here.”

  Rob just blurted his thoughts out. “I was thinking you would want to stay here with your friends. It’s been worrying me the whole trip.”

  “Why Robert Augustus Nelson how could you even think I would want to stay here? Honey, I know why you want to go and I agree. These people are nothing but a bunch of red-necked hypocrites. Well most of them are, but you can’t hold that against them. We brought you here, you grew up into this amazing young man, you steal the prom queen right out from under the noses of Duke and Luke. Most of these people love you and the others they don’t much matter. We are family…unless you don’t want me to come?”

  “Okay, that’s enough of the Walton moment. We’re all going and that’s the end of it.” Ellen declared, not leaving it up to Rob to decide. “Do we have any idea what their plan is?”

  “Oh yes dear, Jake has the boys here in town. One of the other guys is going to tack them up and he’ll use the wagon to take us out to the farm and then by the house and back here. I think we should think about what we need from the farm, because whatever we don’t take I’m giving to my brother-in-law and he can share whatever he doesn’t need with the town. After we get what we can use from the farm, we should come back to the house for the night.”

  Frank threw a dock line at one of a pair of the identical twins standing side by side on the dock. “Ha!” he said under his breath, “Must be either Duke or Luke.”

  There were handshakes and greetings all around as soon as the Annie-C was secured to the dock. Frank had been right, Duke and Luke were Jakes son’s. “We’re a family of four letter words my wife Kate likes to tell new people. Welcome to Eureka. You folks plan on staying? They’re already making plans for a little potluck dinner tonight.”

  “I don’t suppose we need to lock the boat up seeing as we have nothing in it, do we?” Frank asked.

  “Nothing? Oh…well I guess there’s no need then. Someone is always on guard.”

  For some reason Frank doubted the boat wouldn’t be thoroughly gone through by the time they returned. He wished they had a way to lock it up.

  “We’re good to go, Allan and Hannah are going to stay with the pup. Someone has to feed her and I don’t want take her off the boat.” She said and winked at Frank. She stuck her hand in the crook of his arm and started up the dock behind Jake and Margaret.

  A flatbed wagon met them on the road. Bales of hay were arranged for seating. Two big brown Clydesdales were hitched to the front end. Margaret was taking turns rubbing their noses and talking to them. Once they were all on and seated with Frank sitting up beside Jake they moved off.

  Through town, Frank saw people watching from several buildings. It seems like a lot of you people made it through the sickness. There’s more people here than we’ve seen in one spot in weeks.”

  “It wasn’t like this in the beginning. When me and the boys came in all we found was bodies. It was a sad day. We couldn’t even bury them fast enough to keep the stink down. Out of a population of 27,000 give or take I’d say there’s maybe 1000 who didn’t die outright from the sickness. A band of bikes came in after that and decided they liked our town. They came riding in here on those noisy ass bikes and thought we would welcome them with open arms; offered us protection. We showed them it was time to move on, lost another 100 or so in that fi
ght.” Jake laughed as if he’d told a great joke.

  He spat a stream of something brown and slimy over the side of the wagon and continued, “They thought we were a bunch of country hicks. They forgot that in the country we’re mostly a bunch of hunters who aren’t afraid to protect what’s ours. We got one road in and one road out. Oh sure there’s some side roads that go on out to the interstate, but a man would have to be desperate to even travel those roads this time of year.” He worked something around in his mouth and with the use of his tongue pushed it into his cheek.”

  Frank thought Jake must have been desperate to talk because after his first question, Frank had shut up and listened to the old man talk.

  “Once the stragglers came in from the outer towns we number 1,103. I brought Maggie’s team in and we’re going through the town house by house. We opened up the gymnasium to store everything in. Some of the ladies are keeping records of what we bring in. We’re going to trade what we have for whatever someone brings in. There’ll be no free rides in Eureka. If you have nothing to trade then you can rack up some hours in the hayfields, the garden or chopping wood. We’ve already seen some pack up and leave, but from what Charlie is hearing on his ham radio, they won’t have it any easier where ever they go.”

  “Stop!” He was almost thrown from the wagon when Jake pulled back on the reins. “No, sorry I meant…you guys have a ham radio?”

  Jake apologized to the big horses and clucked them forward with a slap of the reins. “That we do son. Old Charlie Beck was a wise old some bitch. We razzed him for years about his sky falling theory. Turned out the he was smarter than all of us. He was ready and the rest of us had to hustle to catch up.” He shook his head and spat. “Yup, we don’t make jokes about him no more. He ain’t real friendly like, but he lets us use the radio now and again and keeps us up to date on what’s out there.”

  Frank wondered if there was any way to get a message to the Sergeant. And maybe Ellen could get word to her friends up in Washington. He thought if these people had a ham network going, maybe others might too. This Charlie couldn’t be the only one who was ready for anything. He’d looked at few of the prepper websites back when he was land based and now wished he’d paid more attention. He realized there was a plethora of information out there if a person was willing to look.

  “That’d be the place.” Jake said as he turned the big horses up a two-track driveway. From a distance the place looked abandoned until you realized the grass was so tall it hid the cattle grazing in the fields on both sides of the drive.

  “We moved most of the steers out here where they are out of sight from prying eyes. Over to the Lambert place is where we put the cows and a couple of Wilson’s prize bulls.” He obviously found humor in his own words when he laughed, and continued. “He wasn’t too happy none about breeding those old cows with no fancy pedigrees. We showed him how he was going to have to eat those tough old bulls if he didn’t put in his share.”

  Frank looked around and saw that Ellen and the girls were stretched out on the hay bales. As quiet as it was back there he figured they must be asleep. Margaret and Rob, were sitting in the bed with their backs against a bale talking between themselves. It was obvious no one had given any thought to security. Jake stopped the team a couple hundred feet from the yard and waited.

  “If you people are armed; this would be a bad time to go dragging your guns out.” He pointed to the open loft door of the barn. They’re up there scoping us out. If I was under duress, I would spit right about now. When they see me just sit here like I am and wave, they know it’s okay. They’ll call us in pretty soon.”

  He turned on the wagon seat and said, “Hey Maggie, what you think about all them beeves out there. Been a long time since there was that many out here.”

  Margaret crawled on her knees to the front of the wagon and stretched up to see in front of them. “Hey Cal…You old coot!” She yelled at a cowboy walking toward them. He looked exactly like Frank thought a cowboy should look. He looked about 70 and was slump shouldered and bow legged. He wore a ratty looking Stetson pulled low on his forehead. His skin was the color of old coffee. It was easy to tell when he recognized Margaret. His face split in two by his huge grin. Badly fitting false teeth filled his mouth from cheek to cheek. Light blue eyes sparkled upon seeing Margaret.

  “Well, if it ain’t Miss Maggie. Where you been hiding darlin?” He puckered like he was going to whistle and caught his upper teeth as they flew from his mouth. He looked at them in his hand, shrugged his shoulders and stuffed them in his front shirt pocket and snapped it closed. “Damn store bought choppers.”

  He turned and waved at the barn. “Come see who’s here! Our Maggie’s come home!”

  When Frank looked at Margaret she had tears in her eyes and a huge smile graced her face. There was no mistaking her joy upon seeing the old man. She scrambled for the side of the wagon and bailed off. If Frank hadn’t been told she was in her late fifties he would never have guessed. She ran up to the old guy and bear hugged him. “Dammit Cal! I’m so glad to see you.”

  She was laughing and talking and crying all at the same time. Cal, held her for a long time. Finally, she pulled back and used the bottom of her shirt to dry her tears. Cal pulled a red hanky from his back pocket and pushed it into her hands.

  She tried to give it back but used it when he told her, “It’s clean.”

  She and Cal walked arm in arm to the barn. Jake followed with the wagon. Rob was on his knees on the bale behind them.

  “That’s my Dad’s older brother. He’s been staying here on the farm since Mom moved into town.”

  Frank studied the layout of Margaret’s ranch. He wondered if they ought not stay there. The setup she had would be defendable with a few adjustments. It was secluded enough to draw little attention from anyone passing by.

  Rob had been must have been reading his mind when he said, “Water.”

  “What?” Frank asked and looked at Rob.

  “There is not enough water. By summer the creek is almost dry. There’s a couple wells for the stock out in the pasture and it looks good now, but the summer is a different story.” He laughed without mirth.” “You need to trust me on this. I’ve carried hundreds of gallons from the well out behind the barn to water Mom’s garden.”

  Frank looked at Rob, puzzled, “Why not move the garden to the water?”

  “Rock…there’s no dirt once you get away from the yard area. If you want to farm rocks, this is the place to be.”

  At the sound of thundering hooves, they looked around. “What the hell!” Rob said.

  Chapter Twenty-five ………. Never enough coffee

  Rob looked to the pasture on the south side of the road. Spending his youth around Cal, he knew whoever was riding a horse that hard across the rocky terrain was going to feel the lash of Cal’s tongue. A chestnut horse was crossing the field headed directly at them in a dead run. The rider was waving and hollering but no one could hear or understand him over the noise he was making with his arrival. At the fence line he slid the sweating horse to a stop and was almost ejected over the horse’s head when it planted all four feet and slid to a stop.

  Cal had turned around at the thundering hoof beats. “What the hell did I tell you about sweating those horses up like that. Do you want to break a leg in a gopher hole? Damn fool kid.” The kid was a man of around forty. He was sweating and puffing as if he’d run the entire distance on foot. “Cal, they’re up to it again. Found two more up on the other side of the bluff. Nothing left but the head and guts.”

  Cal and Maggie walked to the fence and Frank jumped down and joined them. He walked up on the conversation and while he didn’t hear the start he could fill in the blanks with what he did hear. He saw Margaret nudge Rob and nod toward the house Rob answered with a nod in return and left them.

  Cal was explaining to Maggie, “We got us a bunch of no goods who moved into the old Kelly place over in Willow Creek. I suppose that’s where the some of
the ones we turned away have gone. Gosh dang it! We can’t be letting them just kill our beeves and not do something about it. Pretty soon they’ll have them all.”

  Frank looked at Cal, “So I take it this is an ongoing problem?”

  “If ongoing means more than once, then yep. Not every day, but every couple of day we come up short. Sent the boys out this morning to bring the south herd closer so we can guard them better, but sounds like we should have done it yesterday.”

  Margaret asked, “If you go after them and one of you gets killed, is a couple slaughtered steers worth a life?”

  This was a question Frank jumped in on. He understood the mentality of taking. “If they don’t do something about it now, they’ll think they can do as they please and soon it won’t be just the cattle they’re stealing. They’ll be taking the women and young girls next and after that they’ll come for everything else they think you have.”

  Cal slapped Frank on the back in agreement, “This boy knows what I’ve been talking about.” He turned to the man on the horse, “Bury it all and get those steers down here. If the four of you can’t handle a watch by yourselves, get some more men out here to help you.”

  They turned and walked back to the wagon. Jake and one of his boys were just leaving the barn and Margaret waved him over.

  “Now, are you folks staying for a while?” Cal asked looking at Maggie. He obviously wasn’t talking to anyone but Margaret. While Cal had included them all with his “you folks,” he only looked at her.

  She put her hand on his arm, “Cal, why don’t you come into town and we’ll talk? We’re going to head back to the house and gather up some things. Come on in and I’ll fix us dinner. I’ll tell you what we’re doing.”