by Tj Reeder
Not surprising me for a second, Jody said, what do you think of inviting them to build here and plan to move here as soon as they want? I already liked the idea and said so and that I knew I spoke for Jade as well.
He nodded at that and said well we are having this talk because your wife came to me with the idea but wanted me to bring it up, I raised a brow at that one and he laughed and said “what would you have done had Jade said she wanted this? I said well I’d do it,” and if she wanted that big diamond now after the fact? “I said well hell I’d get it, what’s this all about,” he looked at me and said she’s got your number buddy, she said I should ask you because if she did it you’d say yes because she asked for it, I nodded and said well she’s right ! So then he asked, “You’re all for inviting them in and not because Jade wants it?” Of course I replied, I only regret I didn’t mention it first.
On the way back Jody laid out his idea on it and I agreed to it, when we arrived I was met by a pissed off 5 foot time bomb on a short fuse, first she read me the riot act in her native tongue and when I started laughing switched to English, have you ever heard a person speaking proper English call you a Bosstad? Well it comes out really funny, but never laugh at them, now I had a 100 pounds of jungle cat all over me, who it turned out was crying real tears, so I sat down and held her close and asked what brought this on, she said the honeymoon was over, I was sneaking out of the house at the crack of dawn with her worthless father ( who was leaning on the door with a bemused smile on his mug) which got her going in that native tongue again which got Jody to laughing out loud and now she was really pissed off, I had to hold her back from assaulting him, all in all it was funny, but her poor little heart was breaking or so she said…my thought was “ Sam ol buddy, your being played by a master” so as soon as I said ok baby next time I have to leave early I’ll wake you up and kiss you good goodbye ok? And just like that the tear clouds went away, the smile came out and all was well...uh huh…Stradivarius would have loved this performance, but damn she was cute while she was doing it, so all forgiven we headed into breakfast, Bob and Sally came up and we all sat and ate.
After the meal, and the dish’s were cleared away, Jody sat back, paused as he does while gathering his thoughts and then laid out just what we were doing here and how it came to be, how he and I had become partners in the ranch and our plans for now and the future, what we thought was going to happen, and what we thought we could do to stop it at least in this area.
He then told them that the three of us had talked it over and wanted to invite them to join us at the ranch, the how’s and what’s and how much could be worked out after they decided they were interested, he also asked them if their business could be moved to this area and still be as successful as it was now?
Bob and Sally looked a bit stunned and I smiled because I knew that look having had it myself, they looked at each other and Bob asked Sally what she thought, she looked at Jade who gave a small nod and smile, Sally said I’m all for it, if we can work it out and can afford it, as for moving the business here? I really don’t see why not, in fact a lot of our lumber comes from this area, shipping costs might go down a lot, and we can still go anyplace to set them up, so yea I’m for it !!
Bob sat a moment and said ok, if we can iron out the money part I’ll look at moving here, in fact I believe we could sell the business as it is to the employees and restart here if needed for the income.
So it was decided right then and there and sealed with hand shakes until the papers could be drawn up, we spent the rest of the day really filling them in on our projects and goals for the ranch, Bob was very enthused about the shooting range and gun shop part of the set up, Sally asked a question that set us all back on our heels, What? She asked are you going to do for a school for the kids that live here. Of course she meant when, not if the SHTF and we had never even thought of that, Sally it turned out had a teaching degree that she had tried to use for a few years but just got fed up with the stuff they were teaching and for the things they should have been but weren’t so she quit and joined Bob in their business, but she missed the kids and the work. Seemed to me we had a new schoolmarm, now all we needed was a school house and some kids!!
Bob said if his employees bought the business they would have enough with their savings to retire and really be a part of the ranch, and Bob wanted to be a part of the gun business and maybe run the range part of it.
We took him to meet John and we all headed to the café , after getting our coffee and pie, Ellie brought out 2 more pieces and coffee and slid two more chairs over, Bob asked if we were expecting somebody else, Jody just smiled and I just shook my head, 2 minutes later the door flew open and to loud applause from the other folks in the café, in shot Jade and Sally who crowded in next to us , Jade looked over every piece of pie on the table then took the one her dad was eating and pushed him the one in front of her, Jody said “Damn it girl! I got rid of you so I could have the cherry pie and ice cream while your husband dealt with your spoiled ways!!” her mouth was full so she just smiled around the pie, Sally was happy with the one at her place, John had started eating his pie as fast as he could, while Bob sat watching all this with a look of confusion on his face, when Jade looked up and around, John leaned back and smiled and pushed his empty plate away, Bob not being too slow saw it coming and grabbed his pie off the table, I just pushed the few bites I had left over to her before she hurt somebody.
This was becoming the soap opera of East Texas, I swear folks were driving in from all over to watch this…I guess I should be embarrassed but I wasn’t and just smiled, damn I loved this girl…
She was for sure becoming the Darling of Dog Trot; I expect she could be mayor if she wanted to.
With the days entertainment over the locals headed back to whatever they had to do, Miss Ellie came out to join is and Jade and Sally moved over to join her at another table. Jade taking my coffee with her…so I got up and got the pot and poured for us all, Jade smiling and holding up my former cup…
These mid morning visits to the cafe were becoming a habit and our place to talk about things and could include Ellie, the door blew open and the two black giants pushing and shoving rolled into the place with Ellie shaking a big spoon at them and reminding them of their manners, she looked so funny standing there shaking that spoon at two BIG men who towered over her by almost 2 feet and out weighed her by more then 200 pounds each.
We had forgotten to warn Bob and Sally about the Jonas Brothers, so now we did the introductions, both men removed their hats when shaking Sally’s hand which was lost in their paws, but both smiled big smiles while being gentle…
They pulled the next table closer and sat down; I was waiting for the look from the Grants when Ellie came back with the 2 plates with half a pie each, both dug in with an arm wrapped around the pie while keeping an eye on Jade who was looking over there… Awww life on the funny farm… While the brothers ate Jody and I filled them in on what was going on with Bob and Sally, both men smiled at them and said welcome to the Republic!
That was a new one on me and Jody said that when the SHTF we were going to declare the county a Republic, independent of State and Federal Governments,
I had to raise my eye brows at this, It seems that while we were in Dallas Jody and John had met up with the Brothers Jonas in Miss Ellie’s and were talking about what happens if the Government were to declare Martial Law,
Jody said in “His” opinion that if Martial Law set aside the Constitution and the Bill of Rights for the people then it did the same for the Government, and that being the case we the people were on our on . So then along comes some Gov. flunky who might decide that the ranch needs to belong to the Government to over see what it produced, and before that happened Jody’s thoughts were to declare the county a Republic and reinstitute our own Constitution and Bill of Rights, declaring ourselves to be a free people living in a free land governed by the rule of law as set forth by our republic.
We
ll it seems that it started out as a BS thing over burgers and a beer but as they talked it seemed to make a lot of sense.
Free People deciding for themselves what form of government worked best for them, at first I wondered how many beers was consumed during dinner but Miss Ellie was there and agreed with the guys, she said in her years she saw this nation go from the very best to much less then It was, and getting worse daily.
I figured that if things went to pot we were on our own anyway so we could call ourselves whatever we wanted, seemed fair to me. But I wondered how we would defend the new Republic and said so, well these boys had used the week we were gone and had really taken a closer look not only the ranch but the whole county!
Jody said when we were done with dinner this evening we would sit down and he would go over it with us and the Grants.
As planned, after dinner all of us relaxed on the porch along with John who had come to dinner also. After coffee was poured we settled in and Jody started talking about the Free Republic idea, for starters I couldn’t see how it would work unless there had been a complete break down of the entire country, and while we all felt it was coming I wanted to know what the present County Government would be doing while we set up our on Government.
Jody said that first we all had to understand that not if , but when the SHTF the entire country would be pulled into a black hole with only tiny groups of holdouts working to preserve the tools and knowledge to rebuild over many years, maybe as much as a hundred years would pass before a telephone would ring or a street light burn in the night, but with groups like ours that time frame would be moved up to maybe not more then 10 years, at least in our area, and from there it would spread as people worked together to get the job done, BUT ! Before all that could happen there was going to be a time of lawlessness and much bloodshed across the land.
Jody figured that most big city’s would burn down completely within a month as riots and faction fighting took place, looters would waste 100 times more then they used, the Police and National Guard would be helpless and sooner then later would just say screw this and load up all the guns and ammo they could get into their patrol cars and head home to their own families and who could blame them?
Within the city’s, all out race war would break out, all races would be involved, because regardless of what Washington and the talking heads and PC said, the old hates and fears were only out of sight, not gone away. It would only take a white cop shooting a black criminal and that would start it, or a black cop shooting a Latino, regardless of whom or why that would be the start and once it was going it would not end until the cities were destroyed, burned to the ground , The dead would remain unburied, rats and pets gone wild would eat the dead and spread whatever diseases started growing, that would spread, as the hundreds of thousand fleeing the violence and death spread like the fighting, as these army’s of Refugee / warlords / Self made kings for a day rolled South because it was the only way to go really as the main bridges across the bigger rivers would be clogged with wrecks and other armed factions determined to keep these hoards out of their area where they were barely hanging on . So with the way west blocked for the most part then South it was, and like a plague of locusts they would strip the land bare in their rush to safety ahead of the death hot on their heels.
Jody painted a picture that I believed none of us had thought of but once the lid was open and Pandora was out of her box it seemed so logical, and I found it hard to believe I had missed it. John looked a bit stunned too as did Bob and Sally.
Funny thing was, Jade didn’t look surprised at all, but then I remembered what all she had seen as a child in her village. That would give anybody a heads up to the future if ever one was needed!
But I asked again how we could assume that the present County Government would just hand us the key to the city so to speak? He said the answer was really simple, We were going to be the biggest target in the eyes of the Gov, IF, we let it get out just what we were doing and why, so if we kept our heads down and let the worst of the trouble burn it’s self out, then we would be in the best position to help rebuild, but only if we didn’t allow ourselves to be rolled over and the ranch wiped out.
He told us that one thing that Song was doing was compiling just about everything there was to know on CD’s and other forms of data storage, He said that if there was time and no problems with Songs superiors then we would have compiled most of man kinds knowledge into one place along with the equipment to gather and use it to rebuild.
I sat thinking about the enormity of that task and it blew me away, I asked how in the world he could do that, the answer was a smile on Jody’s face and the often repeated “If I tell you…etc…”
So Song was using the computers wherever he worked to download all mans works and accomplishments for the last few hundred years, any further back and we wouldn’t need any of it as we would be throwing rocks and making bows and arrows which we didn’t need a computer to figure out.
So our biggest problem was to hold this place against all comers, bad guys or Government people wanting what we had for whatever the feel good thing of the moment was.
I did find it hard to picture having to fight the Government over some cans of beans, but as Jody said, this problem had nothing to do with the government trying to help everybody they could, it was about control, about breaking the will of the American people to the point they would just give it all up and become grateful to the GOV. for today’s handout.
Cradle to grave nanny state, it was the desire of the few to have all control, all power over the masses, for whatever reason there could be, it boiled down to simply that some wanted to rule everybody but first the people had to be put on their knees and begging for the Government to take over and to hell with freedom.
And right here in this small little corner of Texas were a few who weren’t going to kneel, weren’t going to surrender freedom for a slice of bread, who would not trade their daughters for a bowl of watery soup, and that’s what they wanted, when you have billions upon billions of whatever you want to call dollars, what more can you buy? Where can you go that you’ve not been?
Power, Control, the very reason Government and Religion were created. Not belief in a creator, but the organized mayhem of modern Religion, where one has to have another person to intercede with God on your behalf, when the very Bible they preach out of says they and only they can call out and ask God for forgiveness, no other can do it for you…unless you accept the idea that this person has the power to intercede for you and you must allow him to do your talking for you. This is Control, this is allowing a mortal to have Power over you and Government is no different, some want all Control, all Power, over your very life and if you allow it you’re very Soul.
Jody stopped talking and it was very quiet for a moment until Sally spoke up and asked “Are you against church’s Jody? Against the teachings of the Bible? Jody smiled and said of course not. I just believe that I have the ability to read whichever Holy Book I choose to read, to believe in the Creator in the manner I choose to believe , without a Church or Government telling me How and When to believe.
I don’t need another man to tell me if I’m doing wrong, nor to tell me that I must listen to him explain to me what he believes is what the creator says, thinks, wants.
He added, I believe I am responsible for my own problems, my own sins and it’s up to me to do what I feel I must to make amends with the creator. With that he said ok, enough on religion, if anybody wants to build a church here on the ranch for themselves and others who feel the need to worship in such a place, then by all means lets build a church, and I may even attend once in a while, but be forewarned if I think the person “Spreading the word” is wrong I will say so and we can debate it right then and there until one or both of us is clear on what is being said! I burst out laughing and said let me know when your going to be in church and I will be there cause I love a good debate! And that settled the religion discussion.
So
what we were doing was building a place of refuge for as many people as we could, and hopefully people with lots of talents and abilities to start the long march back to the kind of Country we wanted to build, one as our forefathers wanted, one where free men could live in peace but have the means and willingness to fight and if need be, die for that peace.
Sally and Bob were both anxious to return to Dallas to start working on a deal to sell their business, hopefully to some of the employees and get moved to the ranch, before they left we all walked the main area and looked for a nice place for their house, and we found it under some huge Oaks with huge spreading limbs to provide shade …and the need for a new roof if they fell, the Grants laughed at my comment and said it would be worth it to have a home in that spot.
Their plan was to build it like the mall was being built, a heavy duty basement, with heavy thick walls of concrete above ground, narrow windows and earth beamed up as high as the windows, with native stone laid on the exposed walls and a metal roof with water containment guttering into a huge holding tank under the basement floor, Bob said he had worked on a home that had that and he knew how the system worked to divert the first water after a rain to wash the dirty roof as much as possible and then use filters to clean the water for use when needed.