The Solitary Man’s Refuge

by Ron Foster

  Having had to suffer through years of emergency management academia as well as first responder duties Donald knew in his heart that it was too much of an ingrained trait by now not to wonder and worry about what he could have done better with his planning or prepping. Best to listen to LowBuck`s prepper credo of “Prep to live, don’t live to Prep” philosophy. You can only do what your brains, pocketbook and social network will allow you to do to prepare for a calamity. Over worrying was the opposite of prepping and reduced your capabilities to deal with shortfalls or life in general. Life is good! As the You Tuber GoatHollow always signed off his shows with, “We will get through this!”. It was the idea that we did something, we took time to care about and learn from and interact with other preppers that was ultimately the most important thing. Change one life or prepare one more person was the fun and glory in it for the prepper community. We were the lucky ones, blessed in preps and knowledge during these hard times! Good people, intelligent and inquisitive people. Ones that were patriotic but designed their own destinies. Yea the movement had some wack jobs in it but 95% of folks in it had the same pioneer can do spirit that surmounted mountains and forded rivers in the great go west expansion their forbears had. Overcoming adversity was a trait born or learned in every prepper. You overcome life’s pitfalls by anticipating them and avoiding them the best you can. You try to not let history repeat itself and spend time learning lessons from the past about disasters. Positive energy is directed at what you can do to create positive progress in your preps . That negative energy needs to be channeled and controlled.

  33

  LAYOVER

  Janice and her uncle unlocked the church and motioned for everyone to come inside.

  “You all come right on in!” Her smiling uncle called out to wet travelers hurrying towards its doors. “I was telling Janice you picked a good day to come around. I am cooking goat in the ground today and we got enough to feed your bunch if you got time to hang around a few hours.

  Goat is the most popular meat in the world, according to a recent article in the New York Times. And cooking a whole goat or kid is common at celebrations in North Africa, the Middle East, India and Jamaica. Roasting goat in a pit in the ground works well because goat is lean and slow roasting in an enclosed pit keeps the meat moist. Most pit cooking involves lining the pit with moist vegetation. Clambakes use seaweed, luaus use Ti leaves, and in Mexico, where they call this way to prepare goat "barbacoa de cordero," it is common to use banana leaves. Her uncle was pretty secretive about how he did it but Donald had seen him add sassafras leaves to his cooking pit before as well as some kind of mint.

  “Oh we definitely are hanging around for that! How you been Lomax? Things going ok for you?” Donald asked shaking his hand.

  “Doing the best we can Donald, how about you? Janice said you had some kind of trouble down your way and was moving to the lake?” the old man said questionably.

  “Yea we had some wildfire do a lot of damage and a few neighbors I didn’t trust much making me nervous. Anyway, the lake seemed our best option so I am going to do a huge roll of the dice and move this little clan that way.” Donald concluded.

  “ I told Janice that since you all are all prepped and be an asset for the community you could move in down here. The church will just be temporary until we get you settled in. Some of the relative’s ain`t too keen on turning a house of God into a house of humans long-term. By the way the toilet don’t work unless you pour a bucket of water into it. Water been shut off since last week and they say it aint coming back on, no fuel and too much damage to the generators they say.” Lomax said sighing and looking over the rain soaked group trying to get a bit dried out.

  “ Catherine is that you? Well I’ll be , I haven’t seen you in a month of Sundays. How did you throw in with this herd of folks?” Lomax said brightening and hurrying over to help her with her rain jacket.

  “ Lomax you old Jabberwocky, seems like I haven’t seen you since Buddha got fat! “ Catharine said giving him a hug.

  “Hey is that saying I gained a few pounds!” Lomax said smiling and happily patting his lop of a beer belly. “Well you aint that gangly farm boy that used to try to spark every girl on this highway anymore. How is your wife Jackie these days.” Catharine said regarding his still sparkling blue eyes.

  “ Oh the missus is doing ok, you can see her later on today at suppertime. She has got all the Grandkids gathering Polk Salad and Fiddleneck ferns for today’s Barbecue. She sure will be surprised to see ya.” Lomax said watching everyone trying to figure out what to do with all those guns they were toting in the confines of the small church.

  “ Now folks you all know I ain`t no Bible thumper but them weapons ain`t going to sit well with some of the church members if they come visiting. I know they a necessary evil about right now but could you dream up some way to sort of store them out of sight so they won’t be so obvious?” Lomax said looking at the armory of personal weapons that had just got dragged into the holy place.

  “ If you are saying its safe around here and nothing to worry about we would be happy to put them up wouldn’t` we?” Catharine said heading towards the broom closet with her own Marlin 30-30 lever action rifle. Catherine remembered the layout of the church from attending a couple “Hopeview” celebrations she had attended many years past. This was a family reunion type thing held every mother’s day to celebrate and honor the women of the linage as well as get about 5 generations to help mow and tend to the family cemetery. Friends and relatives came from miles around to share in the festivities and catch up on who was doing what. Donald hated attending these things and had managed to avoid them. Too much passing approval and being interrogated by various relatives of Janice for his taste. About right now though he wished he had participated more in that tradition though. He felt out of place even though he had occasionally met many of the relatives over the years that formed a couple hundred years of “ Fraziers” occupying this county.

  “ Donald when you get settled in and put your guns up, I got a little deal I want to discuss with you that I been thinking about since you were here last.” Lomax said as Donald placed his AR 15 and shoulder pouch of mags in the closet and began undoing his pistol belt.

  “Oh shit, here it comes. That old man must be wanting to trade goats for guns or food.” Donald thought kicking himself for anticipating being asked but not having a plan for the old codger to wear him down if he had to stay over longer than the 10 minutes he had planned before carrying on to the lake.

  “Sure Lomax, what do you have in mind? “ Donald said carefully and added his 9mm to the growing pile. He still had his .380 pistol in his pocket as well as the rest of his group concealing various weapons so he was not put off by the action at all.

  “ I had in mind before Janice told me you don’t know how to ride a horse to trade you that old nag of mine and a horse trailer for that .45 and shoulder holster you got. You remember I used to tote one and wouldn’t mind acquiring another.” Lomax said getting ready to do a little dickering.

  You couldn’t really call Donald a “Gun Prepper”, but he did have more guns than he could carry and extra holsters for his pistols to fulfill a variety of situations. This was his under coat winter carry piece. A really nice Sig with night sights. He wasn’t too keen to trade it off. This is the pistol that can fire off 10,000 rounds in a day, without a single failure. It is the one that earned the trust of professionals who demanded a .45ACP that would always come through when the stakes were high. But for the right trade he might let it go, he preferred his 17 shot 9mm for everyday carry now. His 45 wasn’t a 1911 style but he remembered how much Lomax had treasured his when he fought in Korea and Vietnam. Well if Lomax had a decent trade it couldn’t go to a better home Donald figured.

  “I can ride a horse! I can RIDE a horse! Amy squealed excitedly. “Hang on a minute. I got to wrap my head around this having a horse thing. We going to be hard pressed to feed ourselves let alone a horse. Although owning a
horse might come in awful handy. What do you think Catherine?” Donald replied pondering the odd trade.

  “I used to ride when I was younger and know a thing or two about taking care of one.” Catherine began “I can take care of it! There will be plenty of grass around at that camp wont their be Donald that the horse can eat. I can use the sling blade to cut hay for the winter maybe.” Amy gushed like a little girl asking for a pony.

  “ LowBuck get my 45 out your motor home if you don’t mind. Hey what do you think of us acquiring a horse? Good idea or not?” Donald questioned.

  “ I don’t know much about them, you wanting a horse now?” LowBuck responded before Amy jumped back in the conversation.

  “Oh we need a horse! Horses are handy for all sorts of things. You will see it won’t be any trouble at all! Get the horse Donald, you won’t have to do a thing. I will take care of it. I could teach you to ride if you wanted also.” Amy chimed in excitedly trying to sway Donald’s decision with anything she could think of.

  “I guess we getting a horse.” Donald said smiling at Michael and Amy. “ Good deal! Amy said giving Donald a hug and then hugging Michael overjoyed she was sort of getting her childhood dream.

  “ I actually got three I would be willing to trade.” Lomax began

  “No one’s enough for now.” Donald fired back grinning. “ Amy go with Lomax and pick the one you want. I hope I don’t regret this.” Donald said already missing his 45 even if he didn’t carry it all the time.

  “ Oh you won’t regret it. Come on Lomax.” Amy said hurrying the man before Donald had a chance to change his mind.

  “ Hang on girl we ain`t made ourselves a deal yet! Let me see that shooting iron Buck Low , Buffalo? What was your name again?” Lomax said to LowBuck and Amy

  “ LOW BUCK” Bubba said to Lomax as Michael and Donald sniggered in the background over the

  mispronunciations and confusion.

  “ As in LowBuckPrepper it’s my handle and nickname on the internet” Bubba said looking irritated and wondering how long it was going to be before Michael started with the buffalo jokes to remind him of the encounter.

  “ Nice leather, so the gun the shoulder rig, three mags and how much ammo you offering?” Lomax said admiring the piece.

  “ Uh hum, I got maybe 500 rounds of .45 caliber and nothing else to shoot it in. Buck Low you got anything in 45 ACP?” Donald responded taking the opportunity to needle his friend a bit.

  “ Don’t be starting no crap.” LowBuck said grinning back evilly at Donald`s smirk.

  “I don’t have anything to use it in, trade it off if you want.” LowBuck advised

  “Ok, Lomax I have that and a two hip holsters for it, ones Kydex and ones nylon.” Donald offered. “ That would be a mighty good trade. I didn’t expect so much ammo. Can I see it? It isn’t all military surplus is it?” Lomax said skeptically raising an eyebrow.

  “Hell no, none of its surplus. I only got maybe 100 rounds of fresh made NATO military ball, the rest of its quality hollow points of various weights and types. I even got 50 rounds of that neat Triton stuff, that’s a bullet that breaks into 3 pieces once it enters the body. Bubba I hate to keep you running back and forth, you mind getting all the 45 Cal we got together while I horse trade with Lomax?” Donald asked

  “Sure no problem.” LowBuck said and went to sort through the ammo cans.

  “How many names that boy got?” Lomax said confused

  “I can think of a few more.” Michael said laughing

  “We call him by both Bubba and LowBuck.” Donald explained.

  “I guess.” Lomax said and sort of grunted and then offered his end of the deal. “I will trade you even for your pick of the three horses, a two horse trailer, a few bags of oats and as much hay as you can fit in that spare stall. Janice said she wanted a couple of those weaned kids I got so

  I don’t know how much room that will leave with them two small goats but

  I will load it up to the top.” Lomax offered.

  “ So Janice already had this deal planned huh?” Donald said looking over at her trying to look innocent.

  “Well she did mention you didn’t ride and might not want the trade.” Lomax offered. “ Hey Janice, don’t you want to ride a pair of goats in your car? Since your sister is staying you got room.” Donald said smiling and thinking that leaving her sister behind and taking two goat kids instead was even trade for that situation.

  “ Don’t be so mean about her and ridiculous to me Donald. I am not riding with them goats if they can fit in the trailer.” Janice said indignantly.

  “I was just playing with you, calm down Janice. Hey Lomax, you are offering a pretty fair deal but I think it would be even fairer if you threw in a couple more bags of horse feed. We don’t have the pasture land you got and the last thing I need is poorly looking horse.” Donald countered.

  “Deal!” Lomax said and extended his firm handshake to Donald to seal the transaction as gentleman of their word.

  “You coming along with us Donald or are you just going to let Amy pick the one she likes for you?” Lomax asked.

  “ I figure Catharine should be there to help her choose since she knows horse flesh some and we need her truck to pull the trailer. Michael is loadmaster and mechanic for this convoy so I guess he needs to ride with her to check out the trailer. Plus he needs to ride herd on Amy before she worries that old man to death with questions. Janice has got to get them damn goats. I doubt we could talk Cat out of the fun of watching everyone so me and the Buffalo errr LowBuck will stay here and watch the camp...” Donald almost finished before the playful punch to the shoulder Bubba gave him caused him to finish his sentence quicker than he had planned.

  “ Damn Bubba that hurt! You got to quit eating so many Wheaties.” Donald said pretending his shoulder hurt a lot more than it did and rubbing it.

  Bubba just smiled and asked Lomax could he talk to him in private a second. Lomax agreed and everyone looked perplexed what Bubba wanted to talk to Lomax about . As the pair walked away Donald looked after them.

  “I wonder what he is up to. We don’t need any more goats or horses and..” Donald was saying before Cat broke in. “Says who?” Cat said looking fierce and then melting and looking apologetic for her quick outburst Catharine looked at him knowingly until Donald’s brain light bulb finally turned on and recognized the coalition of ladies probably had figured out what was up.

  “ Oh so he wanted a horse for his wife Cat you think? Why didn’t he just say so and we could of maybe negotiated a better deal for a pair?” Donald inquired of the group.

  “ I think its sweet.” Amy said looking google eyed. “I am not sure that’s what he is doing but I hope so. I like horses” Cat said staring dreamy eyed at the hushed conversation going on between the two men over by the graveyard.

  “And you are outnumbered!” Catharine said smiling like a southern belle with her cat herd to back her up.

  “Ok! Two Horseys!” Donald said putting his hands up in mock surrender to her. The laughter and twitters from the group made Lomax and LowBuck turn and look but didn’t seem to affect their haggling none.

  “I still get first choice though! Donald traded first. He said my choice!” Amy said asserting her dominion in the choosing of an animal.

  “ Of course!” Cat assured her

  “ Damn Michael, how did we get outnumbered !” Donald said joking with his trail stomping buddy. “You aint figured out by now boy if two women agree to get one or a hundred men to do something we outnumbered?” Michael jibbed back.

  “ Yea it sort of seems that I have found myself in this position before.” Donald said smiling and winking at Janice who gave him a beaming smile back.

  “What’s he got to trade Cat? I hope he aint talking booze because these folks got moonshiners tucked away everywhere that I don’t even know about.” Donald asked.

  “Damn, then I really don’t know. They look like they already hot and heavy into negotiations though abou
t something.” Cat said looking concerned at the parlay going on.

  “I wish he had of asked us first no matter how romantic his intentions were.” Michael said trying to figure out what piece of equipment they might need might be on the block.

  “Me too, uh guys they noticing we watching.” Donald said lowering his voice so only they could hear and reminding everyone that when they went quite those two greybeards turned to watch and listen.

  “No Shit!” Lomax said loudly and reached to squeeze LowBucks shoulder as they both started to laugh uproariously and glance towards the little prepper group.

  “Sounds good so far!” Cat said hesitantly

  “Seems they reaching agreement.” Amy said hopefully “ Lomax is a smart cookie and a hard trader, maybe I better go ask some questions.” Janice said concerned and starting towards the cemetery conversation.

  “ Don’t bother them Janice, it is their deal and they doing it in private. It’s none of our business until they decide it and get around to telling it to us about it, if and when they do, I doubt they be asking us for any advice.”

  “Your right. I shouldn’t interfere, it’s just that I know Lomax is a slick old horse trader from way back and don’t mind taking advantage of someone in a deal.” Janice replied looking a bit worried.

  “ LowBuck can hold his own, don’t worry about him.” Donald advised. The two men shook hands over by the cemetery fence and walked back to LowBucks motor home to check out whatever it was Bubba was offering for the deal. After a few moments inside the motor home they exited and returned to the group.