by Tj Reeder
I waited to see where this was going and it went right where I figured it would. Jim asked if Sandy and I could be talked into staying for a while and helping them get more secure.
I sat a moment and waited like I was thinking about it and then said well I think we could help yawl for a while. But come Spring we are heading South to our family in TX.
I said if I was going to take on the job of handling their security they had to agree to let me do so with no interference from anybody and solid cooperation from all.
I told them that when Spring came I would have this town as safe as it could be and able to feed and shelter themselves and probably a lot more folks as time passed and stragglers came along.
Jim looked around and said everybody vote…For the offer from John raise your hands. It looked like almost all of them .
He said opposed and after Mildred Lemon face put her hand up around a dozen others did too.
Jim said it passes. I said no it don’t. He looked at me and I stood and looked Mildred and her group in the eye and said. It’s going to be 100 % or not at all and if the no votes can’t or won’t change their minds they need to move on or we move on.
Several people spoke up arguing about that but I held up my hand. When it was quiet I said folks you can not be secure if your not pulling 100% together. You can’t stop every 15 minutes to have a meeting to decide if the garden rows go north and South or East and West.
What Mildred and her followers here are doing is causing a disruption to everything yawl are wanting to do. Why I don’t know.
Maybe it’s just pure being difficult or maybe they just can’t stand not being in charge themselves.
So I believe yawl need to decide if your going to have a 100 % community or one that’s going to fail. Because it will fail. You can’t be secure and productive with a committee of the whole town.
Most folks just want to have a clear agenda and a job to do and don’t want to make decisions. So elect a committee to handle 90 % of the stuff needing down. And if it’s something dealing with the security of the whole town then have a town hall meeting and tell the folks what you plan and ask for input.
But the final decisions have to be made by the committee.
I finished with saying if there was a place Sandy and I could shelter the stock and ourselves and maybe clean up a bit we would leave them to it and they could let us know if we were staying or moving on.
Jims brother in law William took us down the main drag to a place with a small house and a nice size barn and other out buildings. He said it was vacant because the owners were on vacation in Mexico when the shtf and they sure weren’t gonna make it home anytime soon.
The barn was snug and had a good stock pile of hay and a tack room but no tack. William said the owners were elderly and had sold their horse before they left and he had been care taking it for them. He said it had a well as did all the houses in town and that several generators were running so getting water wasn’t a problem.
He needed to get back to the meeting so he left and we unpacked the mules and put the tack room to good use.
There was 6 stalls so each one of our animals had it’s own place. After they were settled Molly laid down in the hay and went to sleep, poor old girl was wearing out.
The house was small but very neat and clean with well used but comfortable furniture.
It was going to do just fine but we needed to pack up all the pictures and such so it wouldn’t seem full of other peoples spirits so to speak.
About an hour later William came back and said we were wanted at the meeting hall. I carried my 870 while Sandy of course had her Ak,
If I didn’t know better I’d say she slept with it.
In the Saloon / Town Hall it did seem the whole town was there. More outside then in due to the size of the place. We went to the front of the room where Jim was standing waiting for us.
After things quieted down he said the folks had elected Him as the chairman / mayor with the deciding vote in case of a tie vote between the other four.
They were all on the same page for now concerning Sandy and I taking charge of the security of the town. I asked how the vote went and he said the usual suspects had argued hard against the whole plan.
I asked the ones who voted against the plan to move forward which they did reluctantly and of course Miz Lemon face was right in front. Looking them over it was easy to see they were the usual sheeple , heads in the sand don’t fight the rapist types.
I asked them what their plans were and of course Mildred took charge and asked what I meant so I explained it clearly. If they weren’t with the community 100% then they were out. Which caused a stir for sure.
She asked what I meant by “Out” which I was happy to explain to her.
Out meant she and her followers would be given 2 vehicles full of fuel and food for a week. And they could go wherever they thought they might find people of like ideas.
The entire room was silent for a moment then people started whispering to each other. Mildred finely got her voice and started yelling at me calling me every kind of SOB she could think of.
When she at last ran down I asked her and the entire room if they really had any idea what was going on out there in the world. That did shut her up so I told them what Sandy and I had seen happening and what we had to do just to live long enough to get here .
How I had to kill a lot of raiders just to save people I didn’t even know. And that if it was this bad here how bad was it in the bigger towns and cities? I told them how lucky they were to be way out here in the boonies where their chances of surviving were much better.
IF they all pulled together, And all meant 100% effort by 100% of the people in town. And that anybody who could not see that would have to be sent on their way.
I could see this was sinking in at last, so I asked Mildred’s supporters how long it would take for them to get their stuff together so they could start their journey. As I watched I could see Mildred’s support group melting back into the crowd.
As for Ol Mildred she stood her ground and said she would not be run out of town by some murderous SOB. At that point Sandy stepped around me and drove a fist into Mildred’s mouth knocking her on her ass.
There was a loud collective intake of air in the whole room and outside as word spread. Sandy leaned down and said Lady, you have the right to free speech and you have the right to defend your opinion.
But you do not have the right to call my man anything your foul mouth chooses to spit out. And one more SOB and I’ll just shoot you. With that the crowd let out a yell and started clapping loudly.
After getting to her feet and wobbling a bit Mildred looked around and said I’m leaving and I hope you all burn in hell!! With that Jim nodded to William who escorted her out of the room and that was the last I ever saw of her. I figured Sandy could run for King right now and win by a landslide after that sweet jab!
I asked to speak to the committee privately and laid out my thoughts on what they needed to do. All were in agreement and the next morning we would put it into play but for now a rotating guard needed to be set and that was done.
Sleeping in a bed was strange and we both tossed and turned until I went out and got the big ol bed roll and tossed it on the floor.
We slid into it and went right to sleep with me wrapped around her.
We now had a home for the winter and some good folks who were now all pulling together and come morning I’d get busy helping these folks survive and I had a lot of ideas.
And they didn’t include just security, because security was so much more then guarding the gates. It involves every aspect of life in a SHTF world.
I would spend the winter worrying about Mom and the rest of the family and friends. But that was for tomorrow, tonight was for resting with my wonderful lady sleeping in my arms.
This ends the first part of the Long Lonely Road. I will be starting the next part just as soon as this is posted to kindle.
&nb
sp; I hope you found it entertaining in some small way.
And thank you for your support and hopefully I’ll learn to really write before this story is done…………….. Or NOT
TJ
PS.. I really did go thru this three times and found corrections every time so if you find any please understand I am trying to get better at this.
Thank you
TJ
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Copyright
A Long Lonely Road (The Beginning)