"Since toilet paper takes a lot of space, let's not get carried away with that today. Get just enough for a few days. Think about everything else. You said you can carry things on top of your SUV."
"Yeah. I brought some tarps to cover it."
"By the way, let's take the long way back through as much of Virginia as possible. Pistols are easier to purchase in Virginia. Plus, we can hit hard some stores we'll never see again. We don't want anybody near where we live to notice we're stocking up. Cho and Masako, you ride with Fred and me. You too, Harry. The rest with George."
At the next town, George went to three used car lots and found a large van. It only had one seat for a passenger and the rest was open. John and Cho agreed to drive the van. From there, the countryside was generally flat, farm country. The roads were straight and only sparsely traveled. John and Cho had plenty of time to think, driving to the next large town.
"John, I not believe we make it this far. You know? Back in Ruhan, I think we die soon. One day, maybe one week, tops. Every day I surprise we still alive. Still everyday. We lucky. Except for Mama. I still sad for her. You do good work, keep us alive. Cho happy with John. John happy with Cho? Want to trade for Masako? She very pretty."
"John is extremely and totally happy with Cho. Cho is pretty and also tough. I have no desire or need to change. OK?"
"Super OK," she said hugging him.
The van swerved into the other lane.
"Hey watch that, I could lose control of the van. It's not easy to drive this big thing."
"John never lose control."
"Not often. I'll admit that I wasn't sure myself that we'd make it. We had a few close calls. But it's all working out according to plan. We've already been through a lot. But it's not over. The worst is yet to come. Think about all the stuff we'll need for even six months. We have eleven people. That's a lot of food. It's a lot of toilet paper."
"You say Arabs not need toilet paper. Use sand."
"It's a lot of sand, too. But they had lots of sand. No problem for them."
"Little rough, maybe."
John half-laughed and glanced at Cho. "What do you think about George?"
"He OK. You worry about him? I think you worry about everything. Stop worry. George fine man. Fred fine man. I think Fred like Masako. Good thing John happy with Cho. Fred be upset if no Masako."
"Ha. You noticed that, did you? That was part of the plan. Did you think I was building a harem?"
"Not build harem, maybe try build harem. Another Cho rule. No three-way with Masako."
"That was never the plan. Masako and Fred was always the plan."
"Ah. John make good plan. What about George. You find him girl?"
"No. I was hoping he'd find or bring his own. He has his own brand of charm, if you know what I mean. Finding him a girl could be a challenge."
"No problem. You come to right place. Cho expert. Cho fix. Take week. Two tops."
Over the next ten hours, they stopped at three large grocery stores, three Wal-Marts, two gun shops and three liquor stores. Each time, they split into four groups and all bought a variety of toilet paper, canned goods, crackers, wine, beer, whisky, bottled water, flour, sugar, rice, beans and other staples.
They repeated the list at Wal-Marts except each time they grabbed a dozen boxes of shotgun shells and as many bullets as they could find. John also bought two hunting bows and four dozen arrows. At gun and pawn shops in Virginia, they each purchased a spare pistol. Elspeth bought three forty-fives, two automatics with spare magazines and a revolver. All with cash. The owners were not upset that some of his customers weren't citizens as long as John was signing the papers.
In North Carolina, it was necessary to have a permit from the Sheriff to buy a handgun. The permit would take five days, so they each bought a rifle and a shotgun that John paid for. Pierre, like a kid in a candy store, had no problem finding half a dozen rifles, mostly small caliber with large cartridges. He especially enjoyed charging them all to John's credit card.
In one sporting goods store, Marceau found four throwing knives and was looking at critter traps. "Do you have any small animals living on your property, John?"
"Rabbits, woodchucks, squirrels, turkey, and of course, deer, but they're not small. I've seen a few fat raccoons. Anybody know what those things taste like?"
"Depends," said George, "on how they're fixed and what the animal's been feedin' on. If they've been eatin' nuts, the meat can be sweet. I've had some woodchuck that tasted almost like beef. I've had others that tasted like chicken, but kinda gamey. Squirrel just tastes like squirrel."
"I will make you all a great dinner of each. You can tell me which you like best."
"Marceau, it takes a heap of squirrels to make a dinner for this many people," said George. "Squirrel gravy ain't bad. I'm a good shot, but the kill zone on a squirrel is the size of a quarter. Maybe Pierre can go huntin' with us."
"Of course. I think I am going to like it here. I am used to shooting at targets, some moving. I do not often have the chance to go hunting and shoot at live targets. I think it will be fun."
"That reminds me," said Fred. "If this is going to last a long time, we'll need to buy some seeds. Raise our own vegetables. We need to make sure we have heirloom varieties and not hybrids. The seeds made by hybrids don't produce the same variety, but heirloom varieties breed true."
"Fresh vegetables," said Marceau. "I love it. We will eat like kings."
"Have you ever raised your own, little lady."
"But of course, George. I had a big garden behind Papa's hotel. I will be the gardener, with some help of course. And the chef."
"As chef," said John, "You should make sure we have all the pots, pans, condiments, spices and any other cooking supplies we'll need. And plenty of spares. After the panic, spices will be difficult to find -- forever. Most spices come from outside the country."
"Have no fear, Jean. Many foods can be used as spices. Broccoli and tomatoes. Onions and garlic grow everywhere. We will need a cow for butter and cream. French cooking requires butter, cream and wine."
"We should stop at a pharmacy," said Pierre. "I must stock up on medical supplies, if you are expecting me to work. For one year I was at the French Embassy in Washington. I should have no problem writing prescriptions."
"OK," said John. "We'll also stop at a few pet stores. Tropical fish antibiotics are cheaper than human antibiotics and just as good. Some say better as some types of tropical fish are extremely sensitive. We need to make some more lists. Lists of who does what in addition to what we have to buy."
After they paid for their purchases at the sporting goods store and they were putting things into the van, George said, ""If we're gonna raise our own food, good buddy, we're gonna need a tractor. A little plot in the backyard ain't gonna cut it. I'm not interested in turning over acres of land with a spade and a fork. Been there, done that, don't like it."
"If I'm even close to right, dozens of tractors will become available over the next month or two. We just have to make sure we have enough fuel."
John pulled a pen and a small notebook from his pocket and began writing.
"Not interested in modern technology, are you, John? I thought you was high tech. No fancy gadget that you talk into and it spits out a alphabetical list? Maybe even orders everything for you on the internet and the stuff shows up on a big brown truck in the driveway the next day?"
"I am a believer in high tech, George, but what happens when one of those electronic marvels goes bad? We won't be able to buy another and everything on it will be lost. In a year or two, batteries will be history."
"You don't give me enough credit, pardner. I can make a battery from a potato and some pieces of metal," said George.
"You will need five potatoes to make your phone work. You going to wear them on a necklace around your neck? If you're hungry, you'll have to decide between the list and dinner."
"When that day comes, I'll switch. I think potato batterie
s are poisonous, anyway."
"You run up big bill on your credit card, John," said Cho.
"Yep. Before they figure out they can't have their money, it will be too late. In a few months, all debts will be cancelled. I'll keep using one card until it's about half full, then I'll start on the next."
"How many you have?"
"Enough. Especially if the panic hits within the next month or two. I stocked up a few years ago, using my father's address. So, that shouldn't be a problem."
Turning to get in the van, John said, "It's late. Shopping has taken more time than I expected. I'm not sure what condition the house will be in. How about we hold up at that motel across the road and start again tomorrow morning. We have a little more space left in the van. We can finish filling it tomorrow and get home in time to do some repairs if we need to."
They had dinner at the restaurant next to the hotel, then returned to the hotel. John tossed and turned all night, waking every twenty minutes and writing a note in his pad. The next morning, they had breakfast and started shopping again. The last store they visited was close to Johns homestead and was a grocery store. Loading the van was difficult because all the plastic bags were piled on top of each other and kept falling out. John decided he would have to remove everything not in boxes and restack it all. Charles, Pierre, Fred and George went back to the store to get some boxes so that things could be stacked higher rather than just having all the plastic bags thrown in on top of each other.
The others went back to the SUVs to rest as John and Cho stood by the giant pile of groceries. In the next aisle, a man in a pickup parked and headed toward the store entrance. He looked over at the two and the stack of groceries, then turned and walked over.
"That's a lot of groceries, Mister. I haven't seen you before. You new here?"
"Yep," said John. "Stocking up."
He looked at Cho and then back to John. "Your friend Chinese?"
"Nope."
"You know the problems they are having in China now, don't ya?"
"I saw something on the news."
"They have a virus. Killing everyone. We wouldn't want it to come here."
"Nope, sure wouldn't."
"You sure your girlfriend ain't Chinese?"
"Absolutely, Singapore."
"That's in China, ain't it. Near that Ruhan place, I think."
"Singapore's an island nation on the equator a thousand miles from the closest part of China. Want to see her passport?" Seeing the others leaving the store and returning with boxes, he said, "I don't want to keep you from your shopping. We need to be moving on, ourselves. Nice to meet you."
"I'll go when and where I feel like it. Ain't no virus-infected Chink-lover gonna tell me what to do."
John began scratching his left arm with his right and then reached around his back pretending to scratch. His back was toward the store and his hand was on his three twenty-seven when Fred, George, Pierre and Charles arrived.
Watching John, George quickly figured out what was going on. "We got the boxes, good buddy. We can reload and be on our way. Excuse me, sir," George said, grabbing the man's arm and twisting it around behind him while using the other men as cover to keep anyone or any security cameras from seeing.
"Hey, you can't do this. I'm a private citizen. I'll call the police. This is kidnapping."
Pierre pulled a small box from his shirt pocket and took out a syringe. He removed a small bottle and filled the syringe.
"What is that? What the hell do you think you're doing? You gonna kill me? I didn't do nothin'. I didn't mean nothing by that Chink lover remark. Really."
"We only do what is necessary, my friend. We will not kill you."
Fred put his hand over the man's mouth while Pierre made the injection.
"You will feel excellent for an hour, monsieur, but you should stay away from any police."
"Which car did he have?" said Fred.
"The black pickup over there," John said, pointing to the next aisle.
George put his arm around the man as if helping him to walk and Fred grabbed the man's free arm and they took him back to his truck and put him into the bed.
When they returned to the van, most of the materials had been boxed and reloaded.
"A sign of things to come, boss?"
"Yep. A sign of the times," said John. "Let's ride, cowboys. Next stop is the end of the line."
Chapter 17 - Home
"This home, John? Look strange. Look like small city," said Cho, looking across the meadow from a spot on the side of the highway.
The others parked the SUVs and crowded around.
"So, this is home for the next hundred or so years. Looks quaint. My cabin needs some paint work."
"Put it on the list, George, but make it a drab color, like it's rundown. Don't want it to stand out too much. No yellows or reds."
"We could paint it to look like the paint was peeling off, like nobody'd been there for years if you want."
"Sure, the more rundown it looks, the better." John paused, surveying the property. "Brings back a lot of memories. Mostly good ones. I enjoyed living here. Peaceful and quiet. Weather was temperate. Not too cold. Not too hot."
"Downright pleasant, I'd say. Reminds me a little of Texas."
"It was a tourist hotel, believe it or not. The big building on top of the rise was the lodge and had the office, reception area, dining room and kitchen on the main floor." He waved a hand toward the lodge. "We lived upstairs, until the divorce, and used the basement for food storage. My father died last year and nobody has lived there since. It does need some work."
John remembered how his life changed when his parents divorced. The divorce itself was bad for a few weeks. Lots of screaming and yelling and crying. Both of his parents did all three. John mostly cried. At the time, he felt great pain, thinking he had precipitated it all. For a few months, he went through hell. But in the end, he found out that his mother just wasn't suited to that lifestyle. It wasn't his fault or his father's.
He went from an easy simple life which he enjoyed to a hectic and complicated life of spying, which he also enjoyed. It was the part in between that was bad. Maybe that was why he threw himself into spying so much. To cover the pain, Since that time, whenever he heard of anybody divorcing, he want far out of his way to try to comfort everyone involved. He thought he had saved at least three marriages while in China.
"Why little houses?"
Cho's voice brought him out of his reminiscing. "The little houses away from the lodge are called cabins and we rented them to tourists during the summer and fall. Each cabin has a living room, two bedrooms and a bath with running water. Each living room has a fireplace, a small microwave and a small fridge. Like some hotel rooms. And a basement."
"So we each get a cabin. Is that it?" said Elspeth. "I suppose Tom and I can share, I'll use the spare bedroom and basement for whisky."
"My grandfather had a still in the basement," said John. "But, I don't recommend it. Fire hazard. Anyway, with a dozen cabins rented all summer and part of the fall, we made enough money to make it through the rest of the year." John's mind wandered, thinking of how his father and mother were so totally different. "My father loved the old place and my mother hated it. She felt like a servant for a dozen people, every one constantly giving her orders. They argued a lot. She wanted to live an exciting life. She wanted to travel and go to interesting places. She was responsible for my life turning out the way it did."
"That good, yes?"
"Maybe. The place brings back memories. My father liked it here and was happy planing stuck doors and oiling squeaky hinges. He would have been happy if he never had to leave the property. My mother met my stepfather one summer when he rented a cabin and he promised to take her around the world. The marriage was all over quickly. But, in fairness, my stepfather made good on his promises. She was happy and we led an exciting life. Now, I'm wishing for a peaceful, boring life and I'm back at my father's house. Talk about life going
full circle. I'm wishing I never have to leave this place, too. I've become my father."
"All this sentimentality is going to make me cry," Masako said.
"In that case, down to business. As Elspeth says, each couple can have one cabin and George and Fred can each have one. And Harry and Charles. The others we can use for storage. They do have basements. They were used for storage, too, but people rarely used them for anything other than luggage."
"Much space for garden."
"Yes, and the lodge is on the highest ground with cleared fields on all sides. It is defensible. We might think about a wall and a bigger fence. Two hundred acres with one hundred fifty in forest. Most of the forest is on the other side of the lodge. The lodge and all the cabins have wood-burning fireplaces. At least when winter comes, we won't freeze, if we chop some wood and season it before winter. I spent a lot of my spare time chopping wood. We'll need to buy some equipment to make it easier. A water well is located behind the lodge and water is piped to all the buildings. If the well fails, a couple springs are in the back. The building off to the left is a barn, also used as a garage and workshop. I called ahead to have the electricity turned on and the propane tank filled. My father's lawyer took care of it."
"Let's take a look around, then," Fred said.
Shortly, living arrangements were sorted out. John and Cho took the large bedroom in the main house with Masako in the small bedroom. The third bedroom was kept for storage of spare weapons and other materials that required better security. Most of the canned goods were stored in the basement with dry goods stored in the kitchen or the extra bedroom.
Tom and Elspeth took the first cabin with Marceau and Pierre in the second. The next was Harry, with Fred, George and Charles in the last three. These would be the first lines of defense if anyone were to approach. The cabins in between would be used for storage. John thought it best to have storage in a more protected position in the middle with guards on both sides. That way, if there were a break-in, it would be more likely that someone would detect it. A sophisticated alarm system would have to wait until later.
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