by Ron Foster
“Throw it out in open and tell them we leave.” Yoshi offered hopefully.
“Look I ain’t going to tell you again, I ain’t giving up this duck and that’s that. You any good with that rocket launcher of a pistol you got?” Walt said eying the large bulky pistol that seemed way to big for the man’s hands or someone of his stature to fire effectively.
“I ok with it, how about you and that cowboy rifle?” Yoshi said with a grin.
“You are either bound and determined to piss me off or you got it in for cowboys.” Walt said dryly.
“I watch lot of westerns and they always carry them lever crank guns.” Yoshi said not put off a bit about the stranger’s ire it seemed.
“You’re a persnickety son of a bitch, aren’t you? It’s called a lever action. Watch out we got us some movement!” Walt said seeing Mr. Boonie hat easing out of the wood line and began drawing a bead on the side of his head.
“Hey, stranger, you move on then we will move on!” The man called out.
“They going to let you keep duck.” Yoshi said starting to move out from behind the dumpster.
“Get back in here fool! Could be a trap, oh shit they saw you.” Walt said as another man came out of the woods and said something to boonie hat wearer.
“Look my man got a little anxious about you and that duck dinner. We mean you no harm and we are leaving out now! Just go on about your business!” The man said and made a hand gesture to the man next to him and evidently some unseen ones in back of him to go back into the woods.
“We go now yes?” Yoshi said.
“Not quite yet, I still don’t trust them.” Walt replied now looking around in different directions to make sure someone wasn’t sneaking up on them.
“I think they go.” Yoshi said ready to get out their stinky hiding place as soon as possible.
“Better safe than sorry. What brings you around here?” Walt asked taking a moment to study him better.
“I live here, well sort of. I used to know owners and they give me key before leaving.” Yoshi responded.
“Anybody else live here? “Walt said scrutinizing the dilapidated abandoned red motel for signs of life.
“No just me, you might say that’s my duck that you shot today. I been trying to get him with a fishing pole for months.” Yoshi confided.
“Ha! I bet that was a sight to see. I guess you knew what would happen if you shot him with that .357.” Walt said chuckling at the mental picture of Yoshi being left with nothing but a pile of feathers if he had.
“Yea, pistol no good for duck gun. You give me ride maybe, stranger?” Yoshi inquired bright eyed and hopeful.
“Where to? Your car short on gas?” Walt asked regarding him closely.
“Don’t have no car, no good men rob Yoshi, steal car from him months ago.” Yoshi said and went on to tell him the story about how some looters had surprised him at his restaurant up the road and took his car and all the food they could load in it and left him stranded. He had walked up here to get some help just as the owners were about to leave and had been trying to live here ever since.
“Wow, they really did leave you in a fix! What have you been eating all this time?” Walt asked incredulously.
“Mostly fish and rice, that pond had some fish in it but not many and they were smart fish. The robbers didn’t get all my food. I had a few bags of rice stored in the utility closet that got overlooked and had this gun in my office so at least I got left with something.” Yoshi bemoaned.
“Daaaaamnnn! You have had it rough, my friend. Where do you want to go? I guess it ain’t safe around here for you either anymore with them wood rats skulking about.” Walt said still watching the pond and trees.
“I trying to figure that out, maybe Yoshi leave for awhile and come back they be gone.” Yoshi said with that odd accented English of his.
“Well, my vans parked up the road close by and I only live about 15 minutes from here. Why don’t me and you have us a duck dinner and decide what we should do with you.” Walt said extending his hand for a shake that was happily but cautiously received.
“That sound great cowboy, urr, Walt. You think safe now? I have small bag of rice and other things I need to get. Won’t take a minute, I hurry chop, chop.” Yoshi said and stepped out of their hiding place carefully with Walt holding his rifle at the ready still looking for possible trouble.
The pair scurried over to the hotel and Yoshi unlocked one of the rooms door and they went inside hurriedly.
“I have bed roll all ready for day like this. You know what even worse about being stuck here? All I have for extra clothes is Japanese waiter uniforms!” Yoshi said chuckling opening a closet that had several sets hanging up inside.
“Man, talk about someone having a bad day!” Walt said eying the tuxedo looking formal attire that Yoshi explained was all the clothes he had managed to find in his restaurant when he got stranded here.
“I don’t have any pants to fit you but I may have a few shirts so you don’t have to wear white all the time. Come on, this is taking way too long and I want to be off before them boys think it’s maybe safe to approach this place soon.” Walt said hurrying him along to gather up his stuff.
“About duck, you know how to cook good?” Yoshi asked as they exited the room.
“Not as good as you could probably cook it, you want to do the honors and fix it?” Walt asked thinking that he might be getting some exotic cuisine served to him out of this deal.
“Me, no! I own restaurant, I no cook in them!” Yoshi said laughing and ending Walt’s dreams of a beautifully prepared succulent crisp skinned duck with oriental seasonings.
“Dang Yoshi, you going to make me cook it and clean it, I guess.” Walt said complaining it was bad enough he had to hunt it and defend it.
“I help you pluck duck but I never even cut up chicken in American size pieces before.” Yoshi said apologetically.
“You just a lost helpless poor puppy dog of a soul aren’t you, Yoshi. Hey, be less obvious and stay out of the road and try to walk close to the woods, we ain’t out of danger yet in my opinion.” Walt advised as they proceeded to walk towards his van.
“Damn boy you are indeed a sorry sight, you don’t even have a holster for that monster silver gun of yours either, I guess. “ Walt said eying him and trying to figure out exactly what he had done to get that white dress shirt of his that odd green color.
“No holster and it too big and heavy to put in belt.” Yoshi said sweating trying to keep up with the long legged stranger.
“Yoshi, what did you do to change the color of that shirt?” Walt asked slowing down a little to allow the smaller man a chance to catch up with him.
“Oh, you like my artwork? That green colored pencil I find, take me forever to color it in over a couple days.” Yoshi said with a grin.
“I would of rubbed it in the grass or something.” Walt commented getting a mental picture of the man studiously trying to color it in one line at a time sitting in his hotel room.
“Tried that, was way too itchy. That your van?” Yoshi said looking ahead.
“Yea that’s it and because this is a rare day and we have had such a close call to getting shot I am going to waste some gas and turn on the air conditioner.” Walt said dripping sweat himself.
“Ah Air-conditioning! Too long now I have dreamed of such a wonderful thing again. Come on long legs I ready for some!” Yoshi said and picked up the pace. .
2
Safe And Sound
Yoshi and Walt basked in the coolness of the air blowing full speed once the van cooled down and rode towards Walt’s homestead.
“Yoshi, we got us a problem here when we get home. We got us hungry neighbors and only one duck that I don’t have a mind at all to share with anyone but you.” Walt said pondering the problem of keeping that delectable morsel a secret.
“Will they try to make you share?” Yoshi said concerned some famished strangers wouldn’t appreciate his extra mouth to feed either.
“I say nothing about duck but they smell it cooking.” Yoshi said pointedly.
“Maybe not, I have a solar cooker.” Walt said with a grin.
“Sun cooker? I hear of these things but never try.” Yoshi said as they turned on the rural county road leading to Walt’s house.
“Well, it will take the rest of the afternoon at low heat to cook it through but it will be worth it. I am starving right now but I guess we can use the time to talk about the fix you’re in and figure out what else we are going to have for dinner. Man, I am ready for a feast! Did you remember to grab that big bottle of soy sauce you had on the desk? I still got some honey and mixed with some of that sauce it is about the closest thing I can do to make something like that oriental duck I wanted you to cook.” Walt said.
“Yes I bring, you have garden? I can make rice stuffing? I say I no cook like chef, not that I couldn’t cook.” Yoshi advised being rather handy in a kitchen but not like Walt had been thinking.
“I never had rice stuffing before, sounds good, yes I have one, what do you need, onion?” Walt asked.
“Yes I show you. Wish I had Sake but bar empty.” Yoshi said.
“You never went back to your restaurant after you left?” Walt asked.
“Oh yea they not get everything, I use hotel riding lawnmower to get some things but not much left. Oh! I have fortune cookies for dessert in bed roll!” Yoshi said excitedly.
“Ha! I can’t wait to read our fortunes!” Walt said with a grin at the irony of finding Yoshi.
“Hey, when we get to the house try to keep that cannon of yours put up. Folks ain’t used to strangers wandering around carrying giant pistols if you know what I mean.” Walt advised.
“I be careful and not wave around. How many people live near you?” Yoshi asked.
“Well, Thomas and his family are the only ones you might see. There are five of them in the family. The other neighbors we don’t really associate with very often and I am unsure how many are still left. Maybe eight or ten more live or used to live on my road. Starvation, disease, hunting accidents, etc. might have thinned them out pretty good by now. No telling really. They leave me alone, I leave them alone best we can. Thomas and I live on the dead end of the road and have us a mutual defense pact about strangers and neighbors coming around.” Walt advised.
“My house is in Vernon about 30 miles from my restaurant. It in small gated residential area, nothing there for me now. I doubt people living there could survive this long with no food or gas.” Yoshi said with a sigh. It might as well be a hundred miles and not having any transportation made it highly likely he couldn’t even ever return there just to get some clothes that would fit him, he figured.
“So no family then?” Walt asked curiously.
“No, wife die three year ago and we not have many friends. Her English wasn’t good so hard to make friend and we stay to ourselves, speak Japanese. Have distant relatives in Panama City own big Japanese steak house but too far to go and not know how they do these days.” Yoshi said explaining that his house was 38 miles in one direction to the beach and 35 miles in opposite direction for him to drive to work over this way from.
“Yoshi, we pretty much just exist best we can by ourselves here one day to the next and try to stay close to home and keep our heads down and try to avoid trouble. We are off the main road far enough to not get any interest from roving bands of food raiders, ain’t nothing around here for them to steal anyway and not much else to interest them much risking a dead-end road. You will notice on the way home that it’s just pretty much scattered old farm houses on a few acres and if you’re lucky someone might have a backyard garden maybe. I don’t know how long any of them folks still living around here can hold out. Not many could have held out at the first very long anyway, even if they had seeds for a garden. Nobody has chickens or goats or anything anymore that I know of. Deer are about all hunted out around here, there are not too many squirrels left in the woods either unless you range far afield in your hunting and foraging, least ways ones you will see. They are gun and people shy as hell now. Me and Thomas hunt rabbits mostly on the side of the interstate which is about a 20 minute walk through the woods from my place. Well part woods, part clear cut wasteland looking. Not a lot of woods are left down that way on this side of the road anymore, pine beetles got to a lot of them a year or two ago and who ever owned those bigger pieces of acreage clear cut them to the ground awhile back. Scrub oaks, piles of partly burnt wood and branches that look like a red dirt burnt moonscape. Damn Yoshi, in my rush to leave I forgot to ask you if there is any toilet paper in that hotel I could have!” Walt said.
“There some, not a whole lot paper. The owners didn’t spend lot of money or they just bought TP in bulk when they needed to, I guess. I have key to storage room if want to go back and get some.” Yoshi said uncertain if that was even worth considering at this point with the army men around.
“We can talk about the possibility of that more later, won’t be long until we will be at my house in a few minutes.” Walt said and went back to watching the houses on the side of the road for signs of life.
“What caliber your rifle, Walt?” Yoshi asked eying the blued barrel poking up between the seats between them.
“Twenty two.” Walt responded giving it’s beautiful wood stock a pat.
“I thought so, but it don’t sound right. Not loud enough; You using special ammo?” Yoshi asked commenting on how quiet it was when fired.
“No special ammo; I had it loaded with shorts. It holds 16 shorts or 12 long rifles.
“I never hear of short. How is bullet shorter than .22?” Yoshi inquired.
Walt fished around in the front pocket of the bib on his overalls and handed Yoshi some .22 cartridges.
“Check it out, Yoshi, the bullets are not shorter, the brass case is. I don’t have any longs to show you but they fit somewhere in the middle of a short and a long rifle bullet in cartridge length. When I was kid we used to get the shorts for only 50 cents a box and the longs used to cost around a dollar. That’s one reason they were so popular with us kids, that and we knew trappers liked them because they didn’t spoil the pelts or meat as bad as a more powerful round. Twenty two short is plenty of power for coons, possums etc. and a big advantage that I find in these grid down times is that they are a lot quieter than a long rifle round. They don’t do that sonic crack like a high velocity long rifle. They make about as much sound when fired as a pellet gun or bb rifle going off. I kind of like to not advertise my presence too much if I can help it, if you know what I mean.” Walt said loving the variety of .22 bullets his carbine could chamber and fire flawlessly unlike most automatic hunting rifles.
“Walt, you crazy man! You telling Yoshi you were shooting itty bitty small-time bullets at dangerous army redneck men! You need big man’s gun for big danger!” Yoshi complained while holding up that big Cadillac sized chrome or nickel plated .357 Magnum pistol of his.
Walt laughed at his statement of needing a big man’s gun like his and informed Yoshi they could debate that later, meantime his driveway was coming up and they were home.
Thomas was sitting on his picnic table when he came in the driveway and the man rose slowly to greet him. Walt smirked to himself, Thomas’s country boy ass wasn’t going to understand one little bit at first who or what Yoshi was and that fully loaded big shiny boat anchor of a pistol he always had in his hand was sure to give him fits about his safety and sanity.
Thomas was indeed very surprised and perplexed to see Walt had himself a passenger with him and he was even more confused to see that the man was Asian and carrying a giant pistol with enough highly polished chrome on it to cover a car bumper. Walt enjoyed his friends’ nervousnes
s and confusion momentarily as Thomas was studiously looking at him for any subtle body language clues and then going back to visually sizing up the little man with the big gun before Walt got around to giving his greetings and introducing his new friend.
“Hey, Thomas! Everything going all right around here?” Walt asked like it was an everyday occurrence to bring a stranger back home to his house with him.
“Yea, it has been all quiet around here today. I was hoping I would get myself a chance at shooting a squirrel or a dove or something with that pellet gun you lent me while I was waiting on you to get home but I should have known better. You have pretty much eliminated the edible game around your house here. I guess the times of you having bird seed out to cheat a bit and attract the birds and critters is long gone.” Thomas said uncomfortably scrutinizing Yoshi who wasn’t doing anything more than standing next to Walt with his pistol pointing at the ground, curiously eying him back while waiting on an introduction.
“Who is your buddy, Walt?” Thomas asked friendly enough.
“This is Yoshi, he is sort of a refugee leftover from a misunderstanding I had earlier today.” Walt advised.
“Me no refugee, I live in America 30 years!” Yoshi protested vehemently as being referred to as such.
“Calm down buddy, I didn’t mean anything by that refugee word. Thomas, Yoshi used to own the Chinese/Japanese restaurant up by that old hotel I was going to try to go fish at today.” Walt said taking off his hat and putting it on the wooden table so he could slick back his sweaty hair.
“I own that place over 10 years now!” Yoshi offered before shaking Thomas’s hand in greeting.
“I have eaten in there! Good place, good food, so what kind of trouble did you two manage to get yourselves into today?” Thomas said visibly relaxing but still studying Yoshi and that big oversized gun suspiciously while waiting on the rest of the story.
“I am not quite sure exactly what or who it was that we found ourselves up against earlier. I am guessing they might have been an organized prepper group or maybe even militia by the way they were all similarly military camo clad dressed. I took a shot at some wild game for the pot not knowing that that they were all hid out in the woods and I guess they might have figured I was shooting at them and returned fire in my direction. Scared me no end I can tell you that and me and Yoshi still ain’t over that fright! Long story short, their leader pretty quickly hollered for his guys to check fire while I was hauling ass for better cover and that was when Yoshi and me found ourselves unexpectedly trying to hide in the same space.” Walt said chuckling and grinning while describing the stinking tight confines of the cinder block dumpster enclosure.