by Gideon, D.
“Warrant says nothing about the vehicles,” the Sheriff said. “Anyone touches that car and I’ll arrest them for an illegal search and attempted assault.”
“What about this one?” The man in front of Preacher called out. “He’s not in a car, and he’s being aggressive.”
“I’m just standing here,” Preacher said.
“You’re standing there aggressively,” the man said. “Your posture is threatening.”
“You can’t arrest a man for standing still in his own driveway,” Father Bill called out. “We can all see that he’s not threatening you.”
Preacher
Preacher looked over to find Father Bill, all of Sheriff Kane’s inmates, and a small crowd of people he didn’t recognize. They must’ve been townspeople. They spread out on the road and sidewalk, one or two holding up cellphones of their own. They probably didn’t even have a charge on the battery, but if Chief Stalls thought they were recording, that would be good enough.
“It’s nice to see you, Bill,” Seth called out.
“We heard the commotion and came down to see if anyone needed help,” Bill said, crossing over and shaking Seth’s hand. Finished with that, he wrapped an arm around Dotty’s shoulders.
“So you just decided to bring half the town with you?” Frank practically snarled.
“We were having an outdoor revival on the church lawn,” Bill said, shrugging. “It was cooler outside than in. And of course, with those horns blowing, we all came as quick as we could. That much noise, there could’ve been someone hurt.”
“Chief?” The man in front of Preacher called.
“Stand down,” Frank said. “Get back inside and get back to work. I’ll handle things out here.”
“But you said to arrest-“
“I said stand down!” Frank yelled.
The man turned and jogged back to the house, his partner giving Preacher a glare and then joining him. Preacher let out a breath and nodded to the crowd on the street. Trench gave him a thumbs-up.
“Looks like it’s a good thing we came,” Bill said, his voice overly cheerful. “Seems this situation is in need of some impartial witnesses.”
“You’re busy, Frank. I’ll handle the crowd,” the Sheriff said with a wide smile.
“Screw you, Kane,” Frank said as the Sheriff passed. “You had this planned.”
“No, Chief Stalls, this was all me,” Bill said. “It’s my job to look after my congregation. Besides, isn’t it better to be out-planned, than out-gunned?”
Frank turned his back to the old preacher and spit into the grass.
“Folks, if you could stay back, out of the officers’ way, we’d appreciate it,” the Sheriff called out. “It’s best if you all move to the sidewalk, though. Wouldn’t want anyone to get arrested for blocking the road.”
“What’s going on?” Daisy asked. “Is Miss Dotty being evicted?” There was a chorus of mumbling and objections from the crowd.
“The new Police Chief and his men have warrants to search these two properties. Just the houses, not the vehicles, and they’re not permitted to remove anything from the premises,” the Sheriff said. “I’m here to make sure the warrants are executed to the letter.”
Preacher heard a car door shut and Ripley stepped up beside him. “That horn idea was quick thinking,” she said, keeping her voice low. “Thank you.”
“Welcome,” he said, and turned and leaned against Seth’s truck. He was pretty sure if he sat on the Bug, he’d dent it.
“He would have tried to arrest me.”
“Tried to,” Preacher said. “Would’ve had to come through me.”
“Yeah well, that was kinda stupid,” she said. “You can’t afford to get arrested. I can.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” Mel said, sitting down on the Bug. “Pretty college girl? She’d be out in an hour or two. But you?”
“You gotta be more careful,” Ripley said. When he frowned, she raised an eyebrow. “What do you think Grams would have done if you got arrested?”
“Been thankful it wasn’t you.”
“No,” Ripley said. “You’re not cannon fodder. It’s not like that.”
“Not what I meant,” he said. He knew Dotty didn’t think of him that way. The rest of them might, though. He was fine with that.
“You might be a monster, but you’re our monster,” Mel said. “You’re not allowed to get your ass dragged off by the bad guys.”
“Your monster?” he asked.
“Yep. Like that big blue guy from Monsters, Inc,” she said. “All scary and mean-looking to the bad guys, but a big fluff-ball to the good guys.”
Preacher rubbed his face. Him, a fluff-ball. He just didn’t have a come-back for that.
“So I guess now we just wait?” Corey asked.
“We wait, we record, we don’t give them a reason to come near us,” Lily said. “Now that we’ve got witnesses, we’re a little safer, and they probably won’t take anything, but it’s not a sure bet. Just keep quiet and still.”
The very idea of that went against everything Preacher knew. Prey kept quiet and still. He wasn’t prey. He wanted to take action. To do something, anything, to make this stop.
But he had other people to think about. People to protect. And the wolves were circling.
A crash sounded from inside the Millers’ house. Then another. As if in response, there was a noise of something falling in Dotty’s house, like someone had dumped out the silverware drawer.
“Sheriff Kane?” Lily called. “Can they do...whatever they’re doing?”
“Everyone just keep calm,” the Sheriff said. “Mr. Miller? Dorothy? If I could have you move over to the vehicles...that’s good. Thank you. You can keep recording.”
He made motions for everyone to gather around him next to Seth’s truck. Father Bill kept hold of Dotty’s hand. Seth ruffled Ripley’s hair and then kissed her on the head.
“Good job, kid,” he said. “Quick thinking.”
Ripley pointed her thumb at Preacher.
“He gets the credit. It was his idea.”
Seth reached up and clapped Preacher on the shoulder. “Thanks, man. You brought the calvary.”
The crashes and thumps kept coming from the two houses.
“Listen to me. I suspect they’ve been told to instigate a response from you,” Simon said, keeping his voice low. “So I need you all to just stand here, and not react. Got it?”
“It sounds like they’re destroying my home,” Dotty said. “This ain’t right, Sheriff.”
“It’s just material things, Dotty,” Bill said.
“But they’re our things. Things we need to get by,” Dotty said.
“And you can bill the City for anything damaged,” the Sheriff said.
“Like they’ll pay a dime,” Mel snorted.
“They might not. But what’s important is that you stay calm, and don’t give them a reason to escalate this. Understand?”
There were a lot of sighs and some mumbling. Everyone seemed to be agreeing, though.
“Okay then. It’s a plan. We just settle in, and wait. I’ll be the go-between. You got a problem, you come to me first. Bill, you go over there and keep your people happy. I’m gonna glue myself to Frank’s ass and make him as uncomfortable as possible. We’ll get through this, people. Just stay calm.”
Bill and the Sheriff moved off, and Corey stepped in to wrap his arms around Dotty’s shoulders.
“It’ll be okay, Grams,” he said.
“Ripley, honey, can you take this?” Lily asked, holding the phone out. “Feels like my arm’s gonna fall off.”
“Same here,” Marco said.
“I’ve got it, Romeo,” Mel said, taking the camera. “You just stand there and look pretty.”
Ripley took the phone from her mother, and Lily moved into Seth’s arms. There was some jostling around as they all settled in.
The crashing and thumps continued. With each noise, Dotty flinched and winced.
<
br /> “You think they’ll find the cellar doors?” Thomas asked.
Corey shrugged. “I’ve got the rug over it, and the patio table. They might move that, though.”
“Our is covered, too,” Seth said. “We’ll just have to keep our fingers crossed.”
A door thumped, and a voice called out. “Are these fricking rabbits? Are we supposed to count the rabbits?”
Dotty turned and leaned her forehead into Corey’s chest. Preacher heard sniffling.
He sighed and tried to tamp down his anger.
There had better be a reckoning for this.
Dotty
In the end, it took hours.
The officers didn’t find the cellars, but it was a near thing. While counting the rabbits on the Millers’ porch, one of them got loose. The resulting chase disturbed the rug enough that had they paid a little more attention, they’d have seen the cut in the deck plank cover Seth had made for the cellar entrance. Finding that probably would have caused them to look on Dotty’s porch for the same thing.
It was a small blessing, Dotty told herself as she looked out over her front yard, now full of blankets covered in food, spices, band-aids, toilet paper, and anything else the officers had deemed important. Even her and Marco’s shotguns were laid out for all to see.
We need room to spread it out so that we can properly inventory it, Frank had told her.
She knew better. It was spread out so that everyone passing by could see exactly what they had, and how much of it.
The Millers’ yard looked the same.
Next door, Cathy paced back and forth along the bushes at the very edge of her yard. It was as close as Simon would permit. She scowled, walked down the sidewalk to scan over what was in the Miller’s yard, and stomped back.
“That’s not all of it, Frank,” she said.
“This is all of it. We’ve pulled out every bit of food in the house,” he said.
“I’m telling you, there’s way more food than that. They’ve got it hidden somewhere.”
“No, Cathy, there’s not. Now if you’d let me-“
“Where are all the canning jars?” Cathy called to Dotty. “I’ve been in your house. I’ve seen the big cupboard in the kitchen filled with meat and stuff you’ve canned. Where is it?”
“It’s been used,” Dotty said.
“Then where are the empty jars? You don’t just throw those away,” Cathy said. “We could use those jars up at the Rec Center. The canners, too.”
Dotty tried to keep from glaring. The jars were down in the cellar, and if Cathy kept prodding, Frank and his men might look harder.
“The jars are at the church,” Bill said. “Dotty canned chicken meat for the people who didn’t have food.”
It was the truth, at least partially.
“Then we want that chicken,” Cathy said. “Frank, you need to inventory the church.”
“What’s your title?” Dotty asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Well you’re out here sticking your nose in this, and giving Frank orders. You must have been given some kind of job, some title, to justify your interest in this,”
“I don’t need a title. This community needs food, and you’re hiding it away so you don’t have to share,” Cathy said.
“Miss Cathy, Dotty gladly shared what she had with the church. You were invited to come down and participate in the dinners if you had a need-“ Bill started.
Cathy flushed deep red. “I don’t need the church’s help. I don’t need the food. But other people do, and Miss Dotty here has tons of it. She’s being selfish.”
“Selfish is demanding what someone else has,” Dotty started, but Simon cut her off.
“That’s enough,” the Sheriff said, moving to break the women’s line of sight with each other. “Miss Cathy, if you can’t stay quiet, I’m going to have to ask you to go back inside your house.”
“You can’t tell me to do anything,” Cathy said. “I’m on my own property and I’ve got freedom of speech.”
“Freedom of speech doesn’t include the ability to actively disrupt execution of a lawful warrant,” Simon said. “Would you rather spend the day down at my jail?”
“Frank are you going to let him threaten me like that?”
Frank, talking low with one of the women manning the clipboards, ignored her.
“Frank!” she yelled. When he sighed and looked her way, she pointed at Simon. “He’s threatening me!”
Frank looked over at Simon and the two shared a suffering look. He rolled his eyes and looked back to the clipboard. “Go inside, Cathy. You saw what you came to see.”
“Cindy told me to make sure you got a full inventory!”
“And I’ve done that. Now please-“
“You haven’t! She’s got more food! How do you think she’s feeding all of these people with that piddly bit of food?”
Frank made a growling noise and stomped over to Cathy. Dotty couldn’t hear what was being said, but by his gestures and the stiff-armed way he pointed to Cathy’s front door, it looked like Miss Nosy was getting taken out to the woodshed.
“Cindy’s going to hear about this!” Cathy snapped, stepping back.
“I’m sure the entire town’s going to hear about it,” Frank said, turning and coming back. Cathy stomped away and went through her door with a resounding slam.
“I don’t know how you do it, Frank. I gotta give you credit,” Simon said.
“Trust me, if she didn’t have herself shoved so far up Cindy’s ass that she can’t see daylight, I’d have arrested her myself,” Frank said.
“Might still be worth it...get some peace and quiet for a few days,” Simon said. “‘Cept, where would you put her? This new Chief of Police position doesn’t come with access to the Sheriff department’s jail.”
Frank shook his head and waved a hand. “Don’t need it. We’re using one of the office bathrooms at the Rec Center. Couple of cots from the Guard, there’s toilets with bags in ‘em...it’s good enough.”
“That’s all they need,” Simon agreed. “You been arresting people?”
“Nah,” Frank said. “Just some troublemakers in the shelter. Stick ‘em in there for a few hours and they straighten up.”
“You remember that one guy, that drunk from Ocean City? Shit on his bed and tried to sleep on the toilet?” Simon said.
“Yeah, that guy was something else,” Frank said, grinning. Then his brows knitted together and he scowled. “But that was back before you fired me. What is this, Simon? Old memories day? What are you playing?”
Simon held his hands up. “Just trying to lighten the mood, that’s all. It’s been a stressful day for everyone.”
“Well go lighten it somewhere else,” Frank said. “You and me, we’re not buddies. We’re not even co-workers anymore. So I’d appreciate it if you just stayed in your lane and let me do my job.”
A skinny woman with light brown skin and her curly hair pulled back into a bun came around the front of the driveway, holding a clipboard. “Chief Stalls?” she called.
Dotty blinked. She hadn’t noticed when all this started, but this was Stella. She went to Father Bill’s church and sang in the choir. She and Dotty had worked together on a lot of outreach projects.
Simon was still standing with his hands up, frowning. Frank was staring him down. Simon dropped his hands, shook his head, and walked out towards the street.
“Chief Stalls?” Stella called again. “I’m finished with the inventory and need you to come and take a look.”
Frank sighed and tilted his head back. He took a deep breath, let it out, and turned to her. “I’ll be over there when I’m finished here,” he said. “Just give me a few minutes.”
“But sir, there’s a lot of firearms over here. Should I leave them laying out, or…?”
“Is there someone guarding them?”
“Yes-“
“Then leave them until I get finished here.” He didn’t even bother to lo
ok over his shoulder.
Stella huffed and rolled her eyes. She leaned back against Thomas’ truck and wiped her arm across her forehead.
Watching Frank out of the corner of her eye, Dotty walked up the driveway. Stella’s eyes were closed, but when Dotty got close she opened them and paled.
“Miss Dotty,” she said.
“Miss Stella,” Dotty echoed. “What a shock, seeing you here.” Dotty gestured to the clipboard. “Doing...this.”
“I didn’t want to,” Stella said, her words quick. “Really, I didn’t. I don’t agree with this at all.”
“But here you are,” Dotty said, “going through my things for strangers.”
“Not your things,” Stella said. “I made them promise me I wouldn’t be going through your things.”
“So it’s all right, as long as you’re not pulling my things out onto the grass for everyone to see? How is that Christian of you?”
“You don’t understand,” Stella said. “I have to do this. I have to be here. I’ve got no choice.”
“There’s always a choice,” Dotty said. “I’m so disappointed in the one you’ve made.”
“I didn’t—look, they made us a deal. If we volunteer as officers-“
“Stella!” Frank barked, and both of the women jumped.
“Yes sir?” Stella asked.
“Go wait with your inventory,” Frank said, pointing.
“Yes, sir,” Stella said. She turned and hurried off without even giving Dotty another glance.
Dotty leaned back against the truck and crossed her arms. Frank watched her for a minute, maybe waiting for her to say something, but she stayed silent. Finally, he turned back to his work.
Well wasn’t that something? Dotty thought. She had no choice?
And apparently Frank didn’t want her to know about whatever was going on.
She watched Bill until she was able to get his attention, and motioned her head for him to come over. He immediately started her way.
We’ll just see about what you do and don’t want me to know, Chief Stalls.
Bill leaned on the truck next to her and bumped her shoulder with his. “I was wondering if you’d seen Stella. Are you okay?”