He must have seen I was serious as he backed down and ended up apologizing to both of us. He tried to make the excuse that he was just so disappointed not to be able to harvest the seed. When I asked him if he always acted that way when he got disappointed about seed, he realized what a stupid comment it was.
He was used to intimidating people and getting his way. When he found out that wouldn’t work with me, he didn’t know how to handle it. He had lost my respect when he broke his word previously and to me, if a man won’t keep his word, then he isn’t much of a man or person.
We haven’t really seen each other since.
Later, when this land came up for sale to our west, it was prime land that everyone wanted including me, even though I doubt I seriously would’ve pursued it. Rumor has it that Sam knew the owner and he ended up getting the land by literally going to the owner's deathbed and offering a well below market price. But with the mental state that the owner was in, he accepted it. After the man had died, his wife honored the price not knowing any better. So basically he ripped off a new widow.
Then later, using his political pull, he got the county to clean up part of the land on the taxpayer's dollar. No one can figure out how he pulled this off.
Everyone knew he was an alcoholic and I think many of his business deal’s were done during happy hour. I don’t begrudge the man for that, but all I knew was I didn’t trust him.
Paul came back over the radio and asked what I wanted to do.
“Ok, we’ll go check it out. Just keep an eye on them.”
Mike, myself, Mo, Tag, and Wit worked our way to the location Paul and Mia were watching. We split up and encircled the three men herding the cattle and I yelled at them to freeze in place. All three froze, and you could tell they weren’t sure where we were. The tallest man took off his sunglasses, and I recognized him as Sam.
“Sam, this is Johnson. We….” One of the men seeing me immediately started to grab his rifle that he had slung. From behind him, Mike yelled out, “Don’t even think about it.” The man froze in place.
“Sorry Sam, we thought someone was trying to steal your cattle,” I said while walking towards him. I gave everyone the signal to stand.
Sam was a bit shaken but said, “Johnson, you scared the hell out of me. We’re just trying to herd all the cattle closer to Bob’s house.”
Bob was his son whom I’d never met. I knew when Sam bought the place that he had built a new home on the other side of the property, but I didn’t know who the home was for as I knew it was too small for Sam to be living in.
We made all the introductions and helped them move the cattle to the field closest to Bob’s house. Bob had about 50 head of cattle on the property, but they had been spread out over several fields.
Sam didn’t look good at all. It wasn’t as though he was going hungry; it was something else. Then it hit me. He had the shakes, he was nervous, and you could tell he was on edge. It may have been caused by everything that was going on, but that didn’t seem like the Sam I had learned to dislike. It had to be that it had been a while since he had a drink.
He asked us if we wanted to come up to the house and talk about everything, so I thought it’d be a good opportunity to find out.
“Yeah, we’d be glad to. I could use a drink.”
He stopped in his tracks for a moment and then stuttered the words, “I’m out.”
“Come on, let's go to my house. I have some.”
Bob headed back to his house as he had watched his dad through the years turn into an alcoholic, and he had decided he wasn’t going to drink anymore. He didn’t want to turn out like his father.
When we got to the house, you could tell that Sam was amazed at the setup we had and the number of people we had at the house, but you could tell he was more interested in getting a drink.
I had him take a seat at the dining table, “What’s your pleasure?”
“Whiskey if you have it but whatever you got.”
I went back into our storage area and pulled out a bottle of McCormick Whiskey. I had bought several bottles of different types of cheaper liquor as I figured if things ever went to hell, it may just come in handy for trading. I knew that ammo would be very valuable in a Red Dawn scenario, but I also figured people would want the vices in life. I would’ve bought several cartons of cigarettes, but I knew that would be too much of a temptation to Kim and I. We had just quit smoking about six months earlier and if I knew there were cigarettes on the shelf, being a non-smoker wouldn’t be a reality for us very long. I have talked to so many people that hadn’t smoked in 10 years, but they say they still had strong urges for a cigarette. It was all in the head, but non-smokers will never understand how good that first cigarette is in the morning or after a big dinner. A cigarette and a hot cup of coffee were made to go together.
I grabbed two glasses and filled his half way. As I was pouring, I could see him licking his lips as though he was on a desert island and this was going to be his first water after a couple of days. When I got done pouring it, I poured a very small glass for myself. I didn’t like whiskey and to be honest, I wasn’t much of a drinker. Don’t get me wrong, when Kim would talk me into going out dancing, or we were at some family function, I would drink and get pretty well looped, but it wasn’t really my thing and that would only happen about once a year. I also had to be careful since I take daily pain pills. If I drank too much, I’d be swinging from the rafters.
He held his glass up as though he was toasting me and I took a sip. “Blaaah!” I thought to myself but smiled as though I enjoyed it.
He drank his down like it was a glass of water and he closed his eyes as though he was in heaven. I smiled and poured him another one but this time I put the lid back on the bottle. He almost got a look of panic on his face but started sipping the whiskey instead of gulping it this time.
We started talking about everything, and I told him what we knew. He explained how this was the first time he’d been to his son’s house as he didn’t have any transportation until one of his farmhands got an old ATV going that was out in their barn.
He lived about 10 miles to the south. I’ve never seen his place, but I hear it is quite the spread. I had to give him credit for making a lot of money in his lifetime. I’m sure it wasn’t always earned honorably, but he did make his fortune. Of course, now, that meant nothing. He had a very nice farm, but his biggest asset was his cattle.
I brought up how we organized and how we wanted to unite everyone within the two-mile block area, mainly for security. He thought it was a good idea and I told him, if his son volunteered to help man the roadblocks and patrol the area, we’d include his property during our patrols and help watch over his cattle.
He knew I was leading up to something, “That sounds good. I assure you that Bob will do his part. What’s it going to cost me?”
I have to admit, even in his current state, he was on top of business. I looked at him for a moment and replied, “Well, it’s not going to cost you anything as long as your son participates in guard duty and patrolling at times. As long as he’s in our community, that’s all we want. But I do have a business proposition for you also.”
He smiled, “I thought so. What is it?”
I told him how many we had and how we also helped feed some of the neighbors and even mentioned our weekly dinner that we had. I expressed my concern with the deer population and told him what I’d like to do is trade him for a few head of cattle. He asked right away how many and I told him I’d like to get at least five; two heifers that were carrying calves and three steers to butcher, plus about ten 1500 pound round bales of hay.
He immediately knew he had the upper hand and of course, he started playing hardball from the start. He asked what we had, and I asked him what he needed.
“Well, I need some guns and ammunition. I have my own, but I don’t have enough for our workers.” He looked around the room and could see we had several along the wall, “ I take it that some of these
are from your conflict up the street?”
I was surprised he knew about it living so far away, but then I realized his son had to have heard it. Come to think about it; I’m sure people heard it for miles.
“Yeah, that was unfortunate, but we did get their weapons. The ones that were killed anyway.”
“Did you get that son of a bitch, Lebowski?”
“Wow, you’re well informed. Yeah, we finally got him. He and his kids won’t be bothering anyone else, that’s for sure.” I said humbly.
“Good, those bastards hurt a lot of people around here. They were even in my area once or twice. Did you get their truck?”
“Yeah, we did, but we gave it to Blake Maddox. He was reluctant because it had such a bad reputation in the area and he was scared that someone would start taking shots at him when he drove it but Jake down the street welded on a muffler that we found, and then he and Red spray painted it, to at least change the color. Hopefully, people will think about it before they relate to the Lebowski boys.”
“Damn, that would’ve been the first thing I wanted.”
“Hey, if he didn’t live so far down, we could probably work something out but as isolated as he is, he needs it.” I realized that would’ve been the perfect thing to offer. I probably could’ve made an even swap.
“I see you have a generator going, do you have any more you would let go of?”
I had one extra gasoline generator, besides the one that the EMP affected, but I really didn’t want to get rid of it. I poured him another glass of whiskey, and I even took another sip.
“How many guns do you want?”
He smiled while seeing me pour a generous glass of whiskey, “Well, I need four rifles, a shotgun, and ammunition for all of them. Now, that’s not all, but that’s a good start to make me interested. Your spare generator, the guns, and five boxes of ammo for each gun.”
“No that’s too much ammo. That could clean us out depending on the caliber.”
“Well, that’s my price.”
I stared at him, “Hold on,” and I filled up his glass.
I went in to talk to Mike and Mo that I knew were listening from the living room.
Mike immediately spoke up and whispered, “I don’t care about the guns, but we can’t afford to get rid of that much ammo. With the guns we would give them, we don’t have that much in those calibers.”
“He’s shrewd; I’ll give him that,” Mo stated.
“I’m more concerned with giving him the gas generator. We don’t need it now but who knows in the future. I’ll cut back the ammo offer, don’t worry about that.”
It was amazing how in the past the cattle would be worth so much more than the guns, ammo, and generator and to most would be worth a lot more today with so many starving. But nowadays, everything is based off bartering. Trading what you have extra of, for what other people really need. Nowadays, a generator that would normally cost $400 is now invaluable.
Then an idea hit me. I smiled, and Mo smiled back. He knew I had an idea. I asked Mike what caliber of guns we had the most reloads for. He said that we had several boxes of 30.30 reloads and we had the material to load more. I winked at them and walked back in with Sam.
“Ok Sam, here’s our offer. Reluctantly, I’ll give you the generator, four 30.30 lever action rifles, ONE box of ammo for each which will be reloads, a 12-gauge shotgun with a box of shells which can be in assorted shot sizes or whatever shot you prefer. But, we want 12 round bales, two bred heifers, which we can breed with your bull once they have their calves and four steers.”
He immediately started shaking his head no.
“Wait a minute; I’m not done. I’ll also throw in two-fifths of whiskey.”
His eyes lit up at the sound of the whiskey. I knew I had him.
Mo whispered to Mike, “Your dad is pretty shrewd himself.” Mike laughed.
He stared at me for a moment, “Do you have any wine? My wife likes wine.”
“Will you guys help move the cattle?”
“If we can do it today.”
I smiled, “Ok if you help move the cattle today, and I don’t want old heifers by the way; preferably about four or five years old. I’ll give you a bottle of wine of whatever we have, and you can even have the rest of this bottle of whiskey.”
He looked down at it, and there was about ¼ of the bottle left, and he said, “Done!” and stuck out his hand to shake.
Mike, Mo, and I drove Sam back to his son’s house in the jeep and he was sipping on the bottle all the way back. I thought to myself, “At this rate, he would be through the two bottles in two days.” It was sad in a way how someone could get so hooked. He had enough out of the bottle that I originally opened that if I tried drinking that much, I’d be passed out but you couldn’t even tell he had drank that much, except for the smell of the whiskey.
Even with our ages, I wouldn’t hesitate to go into any combat operation with any of the guys and with Mike as everyone still had the knowledge. But as cattle drivers, we sucked. The cattle were fine at first until they noticed they were getting away from the rest of the herd. Sam did more laughing than he helped but with Bob’s help and chasing them several times back away from the herd, we finally got them through a gate and on the way to our place. Mike suggested we take the horses, but Sam said no, that we didn’t need them. I think he just wanted some entertainment and we definitely got our exercise.
When we arrived with the cattle, the horses didn’t like the idea. This was their range, and they let the cattle know it, but soon they settled down after they chased them two or three times.
I told Sam that I was going to try and get Jake and the two of us would be up the next day with our tractors to get the hay. He agreed.
I had Mike put the trailer on the jeep, and then we loaded the rifles, ammo, generator and of course the three bottles of liquor. I had Mike and Paul drive Sam back to his son’s house, and after loading the ATV onto the trailer, they took Sam to his farm. Sam assured me that he’d take them a back way and they wouldn’t run into any problems.
Everyone watched the cattle for a while and to be honest, the idea of beef instead of venison sounded like and would taste like heaven. Of course, the girls wanted to make pets out of them, and the ladies were talking about how terrible it was that some of them were about to be butchered.
In answer to them, I proclaimed, “Well, we can just raise them for pets. Of course, that will mean all game meat from now on.” They, of course, had a different opinion then.
“No, you guys do what you have to do, and we’ll cook it,” Kim commented.
“I thought so.”
I walked down to Jake’s and told him about the cattle, and he was thrilled.
“Beef,…. that will work.” He said with a huge smile. He agreed to help me get the hay the next day and also agreed to let me borrow his hoist for when we started butchering. Deer were easy, but cattle, it had been years since I processed a steer.
When I got back, Santiago and Tag called me over to their project. Except for the makeshift door, the living quarters they’d been working on, or one side of it anyway, was completed. I was amazed. It looked like a room in a home, except there was no furniture. The floor was solid, the walls seemed sturdy, and it was actually a lot bigger than our bedroom. I couldn’t praise them enough, and you could see the pride in their faces, especially due to the material that they had to work with.
“We’ll have the other side done within a week,” Santiago stated.
Tag said, “We need to find some real doors for it, though. These will work, but if we find any real doors, we need to grab them. Any size will do; we’ll make them work.”
Mike and Paul returned about an hour later stating that they couldn’t believe the layout he had. I told them I didn’t know how many acres he owned but I knew he worked a couple thousand acres.
“How can someone with that much money not have anything that would help him during rough times, except for the land and cattl
e of course?” Paul asked.
“Because most people don’t think anything bad could ever happen. They think it only happens to the other guy or another country. Millions had died because of that attitude. They have the mindset that if something happens, they can just go out and buy what they want at the time. So many have died or are suffering because they just wouldn’t think about; what if.”
Both Mike and Paul shook their heads but then had to admit that they knew they’d always come here, but if it were just them, they wouldn’t have stored up any food at home. Mike freely admitted that he ate fast food more than he ate at home and of course, Paul was in a completely different circumstance. Still today, he thinks how he was so lucky or so blessed that he wasn’t killed in the prison when the plane crashed into it.
That night at dinner everyone was in a great mood. It had been a pretty good couple of days.
After dinner, I walked up to Mia, “Are you still happy?”
“Yes, I am.”
“I bet I can make you a bit happier.”
She looked at me with a suspicious look, “How?”
“I know we talked about this before, but things got sidetracked. Are you ready to fly again?”
She got a huge smile on her face and gave me a hug and yelled, “Yes! When?”
I understood Mia’s enthusiasm. I think you have to be a pilot to understand it. I know when I was going to flight school but before I received my instrument rating, my ex, who I was dating at the time and my roommates didn’t like waking me up on cloudy days, as I’d be in a terrible mood for a while as I knew I wasn’t going to get to fly.
“Well, I need to double check the runway we made and make sure there isn’t any growth that grew back at the end of the runway. We’ll also need to wait for a west wind or at least southwest because it’s going to be tough enough making a short field takeoff, off of a rough dirt strip. I don’t want to add a crosswind takeoff to it.”
Into the Apocalypse Page 15