by Ron Foster
“I don’t mind giving you some cash and gas but I am not willing to trade any our food stores we got left just yet unless you think it’s absolutely necessary.” Charlie said looking towards Feng who looked like she was dying to get into this conversation but was being quiet for now.
“Well I don’t mind trading some of my own food for some security although I am of the same mind as you are regarding its value. Hell, what is the value of anything these days? It is hard for me to even consider or estimate the prices of anything or for that matter what even might be able to be found to trade for.” Farley said trying to envision about how to even go about soliciting a gun sale or making offers towards one.
“Here comes the boys back.” Miss Feng said pointing towards the road.
“I tell you what, Charlie, you give me $500 in cash and I will see what
I can do about finding you some kind of better weapon or weapons. I doubt anybody will be trying to trade off anything fancy but you never can tell. I am thinking that old .22 rifles, maybe a .38 pistol or an old shotgun or something will be what’s available or possibly being offered for barter if food has become more important than protection in desperate times. Any type of firearm that is serviceable will beat that bow of yours so we aren’t going to be too picky. Normally you’re talking a hundred, two hundred dollars for such items but now? There is no telling. We got to weight the trade in our favor some kind of way with the value of your items. Do you have any other gas cans besides those boat gas cans?” Farley asked.
“I got some 5 gallon ones for the generators, I guess I could spare maybe 2 of those. Why don’t you want to just utilize the boat cans?” Charlie asked as Feng and Becky were having some kind of conversation with the boys that seemed to want to include them but was being held off for the moment.
“Oh, those are ok, they are just a pain in the ass to pour into a gas tank and although I don’t think folks would mind much how they were getting their gas, it still brings to mind where we might have acquired them from. Gimme one of the 5 gallons and two of the boat cans to take along with me and I will see what I can do. That bait shop might be closed or they could say that they got nothing at all to trade for so it might not even matter what we got to offer. That place isn’t exactly a trading post and they have already told me in no uncertain terms that they weren’t offering any food for any price. Still and all that’s how trade gets started, somebody needs something and someone else brings something around for trade and word gets out. Then for some reason things magically begin appearing and trade starts for the same reason.” Farley declared before asking the women and the boys did they need them for something because they were looking awfully insistent about getting a pause in the conversation in which to speak.
“The boys say they saw strange men in a boat!” Miss Feng said with her hand on Fong’s shoulder pushing him forward slightly to tell the men what he had seen when they went to fetch water.
“They wasn’t doing much, just fishing along the shoreline.” Fong began.
“They had them a bass boat and were fishing with the trolling motor. We watched them for a bit and asked them if they were they catching anything when they got close enough.” Jeremy chimed in.
“They told us they were not having much luck catching anything and asked how we were doing.” Fong said excitedly recalling the event.
“What did you tell them?” Farley asked concerned his mind whirling with possibilities of if this casual conversation indicated any kind of dangers they all needed to anticipate.
“Oh, we told them that we were just fine but had to hurry back to our parents with the water we had collected.” Fong said smiling.
“Tell him what you said to them, Jeremy.” Becky interjected.
“I asked them if they were in the military and when they said no I asked them if they hadn’t seen all the signs that said no trespassing.” Jeremy said with a grin.
“I told them they better find themselves a different place to fish then because the military police would give them a ticket if they were spotted!” Fong said proud of that bit of subterfuge he had undertaken.
“What did they say to that?” Charlie asked as Farley looked at everybody also highly interested in the outcome.
“They just said they thought the place was closed and that it would be all right for them to fish around here. I told them no, it was for military personnel and their dependants only and we had to get back because our folks were waiting on us.” Fong said.
“They asked if there was somebody in charge they could talk to about getting some food and I told them I didn’t know anything about that and they could talk to the guard at the gate if he didn’t try to arrest them. I might have messed up by saying that, Farley, but I couldn’t think of nothing else at the time.” Jeremy said looking at everyone for acceptance or rejection as to what he had told the fishermen to try to scare them off.
Farley and Charlie looked at each other for a moment with some concern until both praised the boys and said that they had done well but it was likely that those two men might just try coming to the gate, regardless, in hopes of getting a handout or some information and that worried them immensely.
Becky comforted Jeremy that what he had said couldn’t be helped now and in the heat of the moment it was a very smart thing to have come up with to say, but that didn’t console him much or keep Fong from messing with him some about it.
“Damn, Charlie, now we got us some new problems to take care of before I leave possibly. You got any old uniforms around?” Farley asked.
“No, not really anything serviceable, I got just the dress blues I had planned on being buried in. What exactly do you have in mind, Farley?” Charley asked quizzically.
“You probably already guessed what I am thinking of but you’re going to be playing a gate guard for a little while we are gone.” Farley began to explain before Feng started chattering away in protest in that sing song hard to sometimes understand Asiatic voice of hers.
“You get that man killed you no good, Farley. He no military police, he don’t even have gun.” Feng screeched at him and began tugging on Charlie’s sleeve like it was a pump handle.
“Now just calm yourself down for a minute, Miss Feng! He has got something better than a gun going in his favor if you will just settle down and listen to me for a minute. He will be safe. What he has going in his favor is a commanding military presence and demeanor as well as his years of acting with authority according to that armful of stripes he has got. I bet we can continue to bullshit the hell out of anyone that might be coming by today until we can figure out something better if we just take us a few minutes to concentrate and to come up with a plan.” Farley said as Charlie looked at him skeptically with an “are you out of your mind yet?” look.
“I am listening to you, Farley, but I do not like any of it so far. Suppose I am standing in that gate house and somebody comes by and wants to nose about. I don’t look like an M.P. and anybody with any military experience or common sense will know no one of my rank would be standing duty and besides I don’t have a weapon.” Charlie objected.
“Well, give me a minute or two I am working on the details of it. The main thing to do in my mind is to keep anyone approaching that gate from getting close enough to see anything is amiss. Now the way we will do that is that you can be exiting the gate as someone is approaching and you confront them before they get there in your official truck and be in full uniform.” Farley advised starting to put a plan together.
“That might just work buddy, might not be such a bad idea after all. I could get out of my truck with a scowl and approach them with a clipboard or something in my hand but I would have to know exactly when they were approaching the gate to pull it off.” Charlie said contemplating.
“Now that is a problem, humm how do we go about doing that? Hey, you don’t have any of those wooden barricades they use to say that a road is closed or that men are working or something do you? You know the kind with the fla
shing yellow lights on them?” Farley asked as Charlie tried to think about where some might be.
“Yea, we got some of those I think, but they would be in that maintenance shed I don’t have a key to.” Charlie advised before Jeremy chimed in that Farley could probably get into it with his axe of his like he had done with the front gate.
“Scrap that idea for now Jeremy we will have a look at it later. Charlie, we don’t have time for all that before I need to get going. You got any of those fake rubber training guns or a maybe a display one around here somewhere?” Farley asked thinking they might have some R.O.T.C or Civil Air Patrol training aids somewhere about.
“No, nothing like that around here comes to mind.” Charlie said thinking about it for a moment.
“Ok then, we will try to go about doing it a different way. Follow my lead here for a minute. I think you need to park your truck on the exit side of the front gate facing out. When you see someone coming then you drive towards them with the lights flashing and confront them before they can get close enough to the gate see anything. Kind of like you were leaving anyway or just playing sergeant of the guard and saw them. I know it only has caution lights on it but that’s all we got. I am going to leave that black .22 survival rifle of mine here and from a distance it looks like a military weapon to untrained eyes. Can Feng or Fong shoot?” Farley asked.
“No, they can’t shoot. I might be able to hit something with it if I had time to get familiar with it but it doesn’t look nothing like an M-16 up close and even the dumbest hillbilly around here would know something was wrong with me carrying that puny rifle on a military post.” Charlie objected and looked at Farley like he was positive now he was going crazy or something.
“I ain`t telling you, Charlie, to be carrying it with you to greet anyone or for that matter be thinking about threatening anyone with it. What I was getting at was Feng or Fong playing guard inside the shack and waving you through the gate leaving the resort. One of them could be carrying it and all anyone from a distance would see was a glimpse of it. The shooting it part was just for back up if you needed it to make a point or cover your escape.” Farley said gaining ground and interest in his plans.
“I don’t have any clothes that would fit either one of them that looks like a guard’s uniform.” Charlie said thinking.
“I have some military issue camouflage shirts. Just roll the sleeves up and fold the waist around the back.” Farley said.
“Well it could be that might just work if someone was far enough away, but that seems like a lot to go through. Tell you what, just lend us a shirt and Fong or Feng can just reach out the door of the guard shack and wave me on. Anybody close enough to be looking will see just the arm, the rifle and the camo and that should be enough to make them think the post is secure and guarded.” Charlie said thinking it through.
“Sounds like a plan, Charlie, that will work. You know what? While you all are waiting you ought to cut some head silhouettes out of some of those pictures of officers you got hanging around here. We can stick them in the windows of the gate keeper cabin and somebody might take them for real people when no one’s staying up here after I weld that gate shut when I get back.” Farley said adding an idea that was more busy work than anything else but was still maybe a decent decoy of sorts.
“Good, that’s what we will do then and you hurry your butt back here in one piece, ok?” Charlie said.
“You got it.” Farley said and they all set out to get ready for his departure.
4
Barnett’s Bait Store
“I doubt that anyone will even bother to come by this campground but I am sure that you will handle it just fine if they do.” Farley said and Becky, Jeremy and he left as Charlie closed and secured the gate in back of them.
“Well, we are back on this danged road again, same protocols you all, keep your eyes open and remember if we get in trouble for any reason keep your head down.” Farley said as he sped up after reaching the main road.
“I wish that we were already moved over here and you welded that gate shut already, it felt good to be staying there even if it was a strange place, kind of homey in an odd sort of way. What do you really think the chances are of those fishermen coming over for a visit, Farley?” Becky asked already wishing this trip was over.
“I would say that there is about a 50/50 chance of that happening. I doubt they would come today, but you never know, do you? They will probably have to think about it amongst themselves for a day or two before they decide whether or not it’s worth it to try it. The radio is saying that all military installations and bases are on high alert and that no civilians should approach or trespass near them under threat of arrest, detention or be shot as a possible enemy terrorist. There might be bigger problems going on that they are not talking about. I wondered how long it would take for them to start using the terrorist word and applying it to civilians. Evidently several bases have had problems with people trying to trespass to get on them or could be some gangs or desperate people have performed some kind of direct assault against the facilities. The radio announcer I listened to reading the government warnings was kind of vague about whom it was exactly that has been attacking service members or facilities but evidently there have been a number of shootings occurring nationwide.” Farley explained from listening to the radio broadcast last night that he had not mentioned yet.
“Oh great, I could of gone all day without hearing that, Farley. Now we are going to be considered terrorists for trying to live on that military resort.” Becky said angrily.
“That’s doubtful Becky; don’t worry yourself, that resort is not a regular military post or base. Also, you need to remember that we actually have us permission and a somewhat official invite to stay there but I would still advise all of us to avoid any military folks we might see from now on or in the future.” Farley said turning towards the Marina.
“We aren’t stopping at the Marina are we, Farley?” Becky said more as a statement then voicing an actual question.
“Nope, I told you already, I am going straight to your old home and straight back to your new one. We will look at the bait shop on the way and if it looks clear of problems then we will stop on the way back and see if I can do any trading.” Farley said.
They carefully drove by the vacant Marina and by the looted and ransacked convenience store and then turned and made their way towards the bait store several miles up the road.
“I could apologize to that Mr. Barnett fellow if you want me to Farley; it sounds like he has already said he was sorry to me in kind of a third party way by telling you.” Becky offered.
“Just play it by ear darlin’, we will pretend that nothing much happened and leave it at that. I am guessing he will probably do the same.” Farley decided.
“You got much stuff you got to pack up, Becky?” Farley asked studying the road and the occasional houses they passed, curious if he could spot anyone and evaluate the situation better.
“No, we don’t have very much that has to go.” Becky said before Jeremy chimed in he thought it was lot of stuff to load up before his mom hushed him.
“Well I do have some lawn chairs and other vacation type comfort stuff besides our clothes but it’s not very much actually.” Becky reiterated.
“Well, I ain`t trying to rush you by any means but let’s just get it and go. I got lots of room in the van now and I am not going to be very concerned with perfectly packing it all pretty and orderly so just remember I warned you. I want to get back by that bait store and get that over with as quick as I can so we can get back to the campground and weld that gate shut and enjoy Miss Fengs’ feast.” Farley said.
“Oh, I will hurry, I am just as anxious as you are to get back myself. Well, the bait store is still open, looks like they got themselves at least one customer today.” Becky said indicating the extra car in the parking lot up ahead.
“Yea I see that, interesting. Hey, I am going to stop here for a minute and run in and ask
Barnett a stupid question or directions or something so I can see who that is that’s parked over there. They might have what I want if those folks in the bait store don’t have what I want or offered gun wise. Let me see if they are friendly or not and if they are willing to even talk about the subject. You all hang out in the van or parking lot for a bit if you don’t mind and I will be in a hurry to get back to you.” Farley said eyeing the place.
Farley reached up on his dash and grabbed a baseball cap with a Cat Diesel logo embroidered on the front, slicked his hair back behind his ears and hid its length under his hat a little bit and got out and entered the establishment.
“Hi there, Mr. Barnett, hello Frazier! I had to come back down for a few things.” Farley said cheerfully as they looked up and returned his greeting.
“Hello friend, good to see you again. Something in particular you need today?” Barnett said forgetting Farley’s name but recognizing him from his previous visit.
“You come back for some more worms?” Frazier asked.
“No, I think that I got enough of them squiggly’s for now, thanks. You mind if I just browse around for a bit?” Farley asked while casually observing a middle aged man and a lady eying what was left of the beer.