by Jay Morris
“How is Elaine?”
Old Man Tucker looked back at my sister and then back to Mrs. Driscol.
“She’s in shock; she wasn’t doing that well before and now this.”
He let his voice trail away not finishing and shaking his head.
“What about Lee?” Mrs. Driscol asked.
Old Man Tucker paused for a moment then said
“He’s dead.”
Mrs. Driscol looked shocked
“HOW? Did they get him out of the car?”
Old Man Tucker knelt next to Mrs. Driscol.
“I think they got a hold of his gun, pulled his arm out of the window. It looks like they practically ate their way through to the bone, they severed several arteries and there just wasn’t anything I could do.”
Mrs. Driscol whimpered a little, choking back her tears. Old Man Tucker said quietly
“I’m sorry for your loss Mrs. Driscol, I truly am. He seemed a pretty good man”
Mrs. Driscol nodded and Old Man Tucker stood up walked towards me.
“How about you John?” he asked.
It startled me because no one called me John, always Johnny or Junior. I thought I was fine, but when I tried to answer him my voice cracked and I thought I might cry,
“I..never..shot”
My words just stumbling their way out of a mouth. Old Man Tucker knelt in front of me and put both of his gnarled hands on my shoulders.
“It’s okay John, you did fine.” He said quietly.
“You did what you had to do, those weren’t people anymore. They are just, well, crazies.”
He stood up slowly
“I don’t think I have ever known two tougher men than you and Billy.”
He nodded towards my friend who was patrolling, searching for any enemies. I tried to smile and I guess I managed a weak one.
“Thanks Ol... um Mr. Tucker.” He smiled.
“You are welcome and you can just call me Tucker okay?”
He started to walk back towards Mom and then he added in a barely audible whisper
“Besides, I’m not THAT old.”
I started to patrol my end of things, keeping an eye on the tree lines and the highway up ahead too. I made eye contact with Billy a couple of times and he waved a shy smile at me. He was upset; I always knew when he was upset. Old Man Tucker was wiping the inside of the SUV out using a towel and what looked like an old shirt. Mom kept talking to Elaine, eventually Mrs. Driscol rose and walked over to try and help Mom. After Mom had cleaned Elaine’s hands, Lucy offered to let Elaine hold Ronald Bear, pushing it into her grasp. Elaine did take Ronald Bear but she just let it hang at her side. Eventually Old Man Tucker started working on the back seat and he had to get two new towels from the back. After a few minutes he took Mom by the hand and led her down the street in my direction.
“Mrs. Williams, it looks like one of them had shoved its head into the back seat, trying to bite Elaine. I think Elaine put the rifle under its chin and blew its head right off. There is a hole in the roof, I think it must have just exploded; I think that is why there is so much blood and why she is in shock.”
After a bit Old Man Tucker gathered us all around Elaine who was still not responding.
“Listen, I don’t think we should stay here, Mrs. Williams, if you drive the other SUV again, I’ll drive this one”
He pointed to the blood stained vehicle.
“What about Lee?” Mom asked.
He thought about it for a minute then said
“I’ll wrap him up and drag him into the forest, that’s the best we can do for him now.”
Lucy spoke up “Mr. Caulfield was a good guy, right Mr. Tucker?”
He nodded, “Yes, Lucy I think he was.”
She seemed in one of her determined moods
“Then we should all say a prayer.”
I swear if she had crossed her arms and tapped her foot I would have thought it was Mom, who in fact, agreed with Lucy. So we all held hands in a circle, Mom holding one of Elaine’s hands and Lucy the other. There was a moment of silence then Mrs. Driscol quietly spoke,
“Dear God, we are here to say goodbye to some of yours. Lee Caulfield and his wife Marjorie were good, kind people who never hurt anyone. We ask that you let them rest together and with you for all time.”
Everyone said “Amen” and we started to split up. Everyone headed back, going to what I was calling Mom’s car, except for Old Man Tucker who slid in to drive the blue one. As we all got in and started buckling up, Old Man Tucker slowly drove by us, leading the way when I heard Elaine say something in a voice so quiet I was unsure I had even heard it, more breath than word, “Amen.”
We drove for another hour, twice we had to drive off the highway a bit just to get around pile ups but we didn’t have any problems. Twice we saw groups of crazies hiding in the woods but we were going so fast they didn’t even try to chase us. Old Man Tucker took an exit that was just marked 148. We followed him for about 5 miles and we turned off onto a gravel road. We drove slowly and eventually I saw a sign that read “Smith’s Fishing and Camp Ground.” Another sign just below it said “closed until Sept 1.” Old Man Tucker stopped and leaving the SUV running he got out and walked up to a big steel pipe that was attached at both ends to big railroad ties set into the ground. He took out one of his Colt’s and fired once, then again and he reached down and picked up the useless lock. He opened the gate and then walked back to our car, Mom rolled down the window and waited.
“What are we doing Mr. Tucker?” Mom asked.
He said “I used to bring my kids here years ago, go on through here, and when you go past the second pond you will see a left on the gravel road, follow it all the way to the end. There is a camp ground there; I think it will be safe. Oh, and call me Tucker.” he added.
He stepped back and Mom pulled around the blue car and slowly drove up the gravel road. I watched out the back and saw him pull through then get out and put the gate back down. It looked like he put the lock back on, probably just to fool anyone who came by. He was getting back into the SUV when he disappeared as the road curved around a stand of trees.
The sun was getting low in the sky and the dark forest was growing quite ominous. Mom turned onto the gravel road just past the second fishing pond and we followed it up to the end. There was a circular turn around with three insets for campers or tents. Each was numbered and had a cinderblock barbeque grill. There was a well in the middle of the turnaround; there was one of those old fashioned pump handles on it and a faucet that was big enough to hang a bucket on. A sign said that the water was safe washing or cooking but should be boiled before drinking. We pulled into the center lot and it wasn’t but another minute when Old Man Tucker pulled in beside us.
We got out of the cars and I could tell we all were worn. Lucy ran over to Old Man Tucker and started jabbering away at him. Mom and Mrs. Driscol were talking and Billy and I went off to one side for a planning session. Poor Elaine just sat in the car, not moving, it made my heart break to see her like that but I just didn’t know what to do. After a few minutes Old Man Tucker who was holding Lucy’s hand walked over to me and Billy and asked us if we would go and gather some sticks for the fire. We said sure and he gave us the obligatory
“Watch out for each other and be careful.”
He and Lucy went over to Mom and Mrs. Driscol and the four of them started talking. We both had an arm full of medium and small sized sticks, our rifles slung on our backs when Billy stopped and said “Johnny, did you think it would be like this? Killing I mean?”
I stopped for a second and thought about it,
“I don’t know Billy, I thought it would be like on TV but it just isn’t.”
He turned and looked at me, and then he looked away because he had tears in his eyes
“I did it Johnny, I shot them, they were crazies I know, but I shot them. Some of them were so close I could smell their breath, Johnny, I...”
He stopped in mid-sentenc
e unable to continue and then I remembered something and I passed it on to Billy;
“Old Man Tucker said you and me were two of the toughest men he had ever known.”
Billy looked at me and said “I don’t feel very tough”
Sniffing back his running nose.
“Maybe that’s what makes us men”.
He asked me what I meant by that. I cleared my throat and tried to explain,
“I mean, maybe doing what we did even though we were both scared to death, maybe that’s what makes us men instead of just little kids.”
Billy thought about and smiled his crooked smile at me and whispered,
“Yeah, I think you are right.”
We gathered up as much firewood as we could carry and headed back to the campsite.
Old Man Tucker and Lucy were setting up our family tent; it was a pretty cool one with three rooms, one in the middle and one more off to each side that had their own zipper doors. Mrs. Driscol was setting out some cans of food but it was already too dark for me to see what she was making. I noticed that her rifle was leaning against a box of supplies not far from her. Mom was over by her car, talking to Elaine, gently pulling on her hands to get her to get out of the car. Billy leaned over to me as we started stacking the sticks in the pit.
“Do you think she will be okay?” he asked.
“I hope so” was all I could say.
About that time Lucy came skipping up to us singing softly,
“Mr. T. Mr. T. Mr. T. T. T. he gave the matches to ME. ME. ME.”
I rolled my eyes but Billy laughed and said
“Well, MISS Lucy, would you like to light the fire?”
He knelt down and pointed to a small bundle of dry grass that he had twisted together, neatly balanced like a teepee all around that were some small sticks and then bigger ones and bigger ones. Lucy clapped her hands and said “yeah!” she hopped twice and stood right next to Billy, he told her to take out one match and close the box, then to kneel down very close to the dry grass and then to drag the match across the side of the box. ‘Scratch, fizzle, scratch, fizzle’ went the first two matches but Billy said that he knew she could do it and on the third one it burst into flame and she put it in the grass and jumped back as if it were going to explode, clapping her hands in delight. ‘Kids’ I thought to myself, ‘just wait till she’s 12 like me.’ The fire started slowly but it grew steadily, when it started to collapse onto the red hot coals it was time for the bigger sticks. Pretty soon it was really a nice fire and while it lit up our faces with a golden light the sides of the pit kept it from lighting much of the ground. Mrs. Driscol was opening cans and dumping them into a big pot that she set inside the pit near the fire. About that time Old Man Tucker re-appeared holding a bunch of long, thin, sticks that he had cut from a tree not far away.
“Here you go Mrs. Driscol” he said handing them to her, she smiled and examined the sharp points he had made on the ends.
“Perfect!” she said “and call me Amy.”
Old Man Tucker looked uncomfortable and said
“Sure thing Mrs. Driscol.”
I had to stop myself from laughing, I was beginning to really like him but I had a feeling that he was not the kind of person that took kidding well.
That was when Mom led Elaine over to the fire, Mrs. Driscol opened a cooler and took out a couple of packages then shutting the lid said
“Here Elaine, sit here” and she patted the cooler.
She didn’t respond but Mom led her over and got her to sit down. Mrs. Driscol said,
“Well, for dinner we are having that old camping standard beans and weenies!”
Lucy looked as if she would about to have a heart attack. If there was anything she loved more than Ronald Bear it was either mac-n-cheese or beans-n-weenies. I smiled remembering that Daddy always said she only liked food with the word “-n-” in them. Remembering that almost made me cry and I wondered where he was right then. If he was safe or if he was one of those crazies or if he was dead; I shook myself not wanting to think about that right then. She opened the hot dogs and cut them up dropping them right into the pot with the pork and beans. Billy asked “then what are the sticks for?” Mrs. Driscol laughed and held up a bag of giant marshmallows. Suddenly I was considering Mrs. Driscol’s cooking rank of #2, perhaps I should re-evaluate her I thought.
I looked over at Mom, she was holding Elaine’s hand and whispering softly to her. I looked for Old Man Tucker, he was just out of the radius of light, that big Russian rifle slung over his shoulder, he was watching down the hill, watching the road, watching the forest. I prayed that he wouldn’t see anything, I had enough of shooting for now, enough of shooting people, and enough of watching them die. After a few minutes Mrs. Driscol started serving up dinner on thick paper plates; she took one to Old Man Tucker who ate his standing up and two plates over to Mom and Elaine. She started to take one to Lucy, be she insisted that Ronald Bear needed some as well so Mrs. Driscol obliged but told her to make sure that both plates came back empty.
“Don’t worry Mrs. Driscol, they will.” Lucy answered a very wide grin on her face.
After we ate Old Man Tucker asked me and Billy if we would keep watch, he wanted to
“Stretch out and rest his eyes for a bit.”
He thanked us profusely and walked over near the fire where he had rolled out a blanket or something and in about 10 minutes he was snoring. Billy and I took our assignment seriously we walked back and forth so that we were both scanning the same areas alternately. Mrs. Driscol spent time with Lucy and Mom kept trying to get Elaine to speak, eat, something, or well, anything at all. After a bit Lucy seemed to be fading fast; so Mom and Mrs. Driscol led Elaine into the tent followed by Lucy. It suddenly got very spooky, nothing but the softly crackling fire and its strange lights dancing in the trees around us. Around 10 or so, Old Man Tucker shook himself awake and with a shuddering groan rolled over and forced himself to his feet. He looked around for a moment then said to Billy,
“About time they went to bed, I was getting tired just listening to them.”
Billy put his rifle over his shoulder and with that sly grin of his waved me over saying
“C’mon Johnny, let’s get some rest since Tucker has rested his eyes a little.”
I slung mine too and as we walked to the tent Old Man Tucker said,
“I wasn’t sleeping you know, I just had to rest a bit is all.”
He sounded mean and grumpy but I was beginning to believe that it was all a big act. I didn’t know what the truth was about him but I figured it would all come out in time.
Billy and I shared one room with Mrs. Driscol, Mom and the girls had the other. I never did like sleeping on the ground but after the day we had I don’t think I had ever felt a softer bed. I don’t know when I fell asleep or when I woke but it had to be early in the morning, 3 or 4 I guess, I heard the zipper open on the other room and peeking out I saw Elaine, she was quietly leaving the tent. I kept an eye on her just in case. I was just about to get up and drag her back when I heard Old Man Tucker’s voice,
“Well, look who got up to keep me company.”
Elaine didn’t respond but I decided that since no one else was having any luck, Old Man Tucker might as well take a shot, so I just rolled onto my stomach and listened.
I could see their outlines from the light of the fire, Old Man Tucker was standing, the long Russian rifle slung over his shoulder and Elaine stood next to him for a minute then sat on the cooler. Old Man Tucker didn’t say anything after that, he just waited. I don’t know how long he waited but eventually Elaine said something, if it hadn’t been so quiet I doubt I could have heard her but given how hard I was straining my ears I guess it worked out because I did hear her. Elaine said
“How?”
Old Man Tucker didn’t look at her he just kept watching the slope leading up to our encampment.
“How what Elaine?” he asked.
Again there was a long delay and �
�get on with it!’ was going through my mind when at last she answered.
“How can you be brave?”
I thought he would laugh, that seemed to be his modus operandi but he didn’t, instead he said
“Oh, well, I’m not. I am scared as any of you, probably more.”
She didn’t say anything for a second more then said
“The crazy was trying to get me; it rammed its head into the car and…”
Her voice trailed off for a minute, unable to finish her sentence.
“And then I saw you, you were running towards us, running towards the crazies.”
Old Man Tucker didn’t answer at all so Elaine continued
“Why did you do that Mr. Tucker? Why?”
Elaine was crying and it was all I could do to not cry too. Old Man Tucker sighed deeply and then he walked over and knelt in dirt next to where Elaine was sitting.
“Elaine” he said, “before this, before all of this shit.”
He swallowed hard before continuing
“I was dead. Nothing mattered to me. I spent my entire life loving one woman, I loved her more than life itself, and I know it was a sin, but I loved her more than I loved God.”
Now it was Elaine’s turn to remain silent.
“I tried to love her best I could, but whatever I did seemed to be wrong. The one person I loved more than anything, I drove her crazy, I hurt her feelings, and we fought over everything, over anything. She was beautiful, smart, and talented. I adored her and she couldn’t be happy with me. We stayed together until the kids became adults and then she left me. I spent five years in the bottle after that. She got married again to a professional musician and last I heard she was living the life she always wanted in Boston. But I honestly don’t want to know, it hurts too much.”
He reached into a pack and took out bottled water; opening it he drank and slowly let his breath out. I suddenly felt guilty like I was listening in on a confession.
“I was waiting to die. I hoped for it, prayed for it, I just wanted it to be over.”
He was silent then, not even a cricket disturbed them. Just the light of the fire shared their secrets.
“And then this.” Elaine said her voice having more than a little bit of madness in it. She nearly laughed at the circumstance. Old Man Turner turned and looked at her for the first time.