by N. C. Reed
“Got it Uncle Clay,” Gordy nodded and ran to start waving vehicles in.
“Clayton,” Gordon's voice was very controlled. “Where did you get the money this place had to have cost?”
“He got it from me, Gordon,” Leon's voice broke in. The two turned to see Leon getting off the twin's golf cart. “You two need to be helping Gordy direct traffic, don't you?” Leon told the twins, who nodded reluctantly and went to do as directed.
“He got it from you?” Gordon said once his grandchildren were out of hearing range.
“No,” Clay shook his head, looking at his grandfather. “I'm not going to lie, Old Man,” he said softly. “Not to my folks. We don't have to tell the rest, I guess, but I didn't lie to you when you asked, and I'm not going to lie to him.” Clay turned back to his father.
“The warlord who ordered the village attacked had a large stash of gold,” Clay told him simply. “He had stolen it over the years I suppose, or maybe he mined it, I don't know. I don't care,” he admitted. “I tracked him down, and my men and I killed him and every one of his followers we could find, and we took his gold.”
Gordon said nothing.
“We split it thirteen ways,” he went on. “A share for each of us, and a share for the village he had attacked. It still left me more than enough to do this,” he waved to the farm and the improvements.
“So, I leased this place from you?” Gordon said. “All that money-”
“You spent it today,” Clay nodded. “Never really left your farm. And I had to do it that way to hide what I was doing. At the time I did all this,” he waved to the farm around them, “I hadn't told anyone what I was doing. I still thought I was facing a nuclear war. Until the twins saw what happened last night I still wasn't sure we weren't. I'm not positive now, since panicky governments do stupid things. But whatever it is, we're ready for it, I think,” he finished as his phone buzzed in his pocket. He took it out, read a message that appeared there and typed a hasty response before returning it to his pocket.
“I don't know what to say,” Gordon admitted. “I really don't.”
“Then don't say nothing and get that truck inside so it can be unloaded,” Leon almost spat. “We ain't got time to be going over things like this right now. Be a plenty of time for that when we ain't got nothing else we can do but sit here.”
Gordon nodded absently and climbed back into the heavy truck, moving it forward as the twins directed Gordy to another building.”
“You should have let me take the blame, boy,” Leon said, though without heat.
“No,” Clay shook his head again. “No, I'm not going to lie to my father, Leon. I didn't lie to you,” he repeated.
“I'm not criticizing,” Leon assured him. “Your father is a bit more conscientious than you and me, though.”
“He 'll have to deal with it,” Clay shrugged. “There's no going back now. And it will only get worse. If he thinks I'd lie to him, that will just make things harder.”
“Have any trouble in Nashville?” Leon asked.
“A bit,” Clay nodded.
“How big of a bit?” Leon raised an eyebrow.
“Had to kill a dirty cop,” Clay shrugged. “Tried to shake us down in a parking lot for money laundering.”
“A cop?” Leon tried not to goggle.
“Left him in a garbage can,” Clay nodded. “No camera, no witnesses. Stripped his ID and dumped it at a rest area on the interstate with the tag that was on the truck. Only other way to track us is the rental truck, but there's nothing I can do about that.”
“Good grief,” Leon shook his head. “Trouble just follows you son,” his voice was sympathetic.
“Better me than the others,” Clay was philosophical. “I gotta move this truck,” he said, pointing to where his nephew was waving.
“Who had that idea, anyway?” Leon asked.
“Dad.”
“No kidding,” Leon murmured as Clay walked to his truck. “How about that?”
With the last of the vehicles stowed, it was time to face an unpleasant fact.
“We have to unload the trucks tonight,” Gordon reported sadly. “They need to be turned in tomorrow.”
“No problem,” Clay nodded. “We can get it. You should take Pa and head on over to the house,” he told his father. “Mom may have thought of things she needs to do. Try and figure the best way for us to deal with that. We are way short on time, here.”
“Yeah,” Gordon rubbed his face. “I am tired. Definitely too old for this,” he shook his head.
“We 'll get it,” Clay promised. “Brick already said he'd help, and me and Gordy can cover a lot of ground. Ronny and Robert can throw in too.”
“We can help!” Leon and Leanne said in unison, already doing just that.
“We can too,” Lainie and Janice walked up from having parked Gordon's truck inside one of the new buildings.
“All right,” Gordon nodded. “Pa, lets you and me head over to the house then and try to figure tomorrow.”
“Yeah, okay,” Leon was surprisingly non-argumentative. He climbed on the golf cart as Gordon slid behind the wheel. “I'll send Ronny back,” Gordon promised as he headed off.
“Quicker we start, sooner we're done,” Clay sighed as he trudged up the ramp of the larger truck.
-
It was a tired group of people who made their way into Gordon and Angela Sanders' home at half-past nine in the evening. Tired, dirty, and hungry. Fortunately Angela had anticipated that and had sandwiches waiting for everyone along with tea and lemonade. Patricia was there as well, having spent an hour-and-a-half unloading her own plunder. As the group settled around the dining table, Brick asked where he would be staying.
“With me,” Leon told him. “I live just up the hill. Got two spare bedrooms. Three really, but I use one for storing odds and ends at the moment. Still, there's plenty of room for both of you,” he indicated Janice. “Got two bathrooms too, and plenty of hot water if you want a shower.”
“Sounds good,” the big man nodded. “Janice, why don't we head on over there with our supper and leave them to talk,” he said, taking his plate.
“I'll walk you over,” Lainie said, rising with them. “I 'll be back in a few minutes,” she promised Clay with a quick peck on the cheek.
“Good night!” Janice smiled as she followed Brick outside.
“Why are we using the Troy place to store the stuff we got today?” Alicia asked. “I thought we only leased the land?”
“We leased it from me,” Clay said quietly. It took a minute for that to sink in.
“Say what now?” Robert asked for all of them.
“I bought the place,” Clay said, looking around the table. “When I got home I saw it was for sale, so I went through an attorney in Nashville and I bought it.”
No one spoke for a minute as that sank in.
“If you bought the Troy farm, why did you build that place up there?” Alicia semi-demanded, pointing more or less out the window toward his cabin.
“Because that's where I wanted to live,” he told her. His cell phone buzzed just then and he looked at it. He typed out a quick message and then placed it in his shirt pocket.
“I don't understand,” Robert went next. “How could you possibly afford to buy that place? Dad and I talked about trying to get it when Harold retired, but it would have meant going deep into debt. We didn't think we could do it without risking our own land as collateral. Where would you come up with that kind of credit after being gone for so long?”
“I didn't use credit,” Clay told him. “I paid cash.”
“I gotta call bullshit on that one, Clay,” Ronny spoke up, something he had not intended to do. “Cash? The going price for that place was something like three million dollars!”
“Two million, nine hundred seventy-eight thousand and change,” Clay nodded. “I got a pretty decent price for paying cash.”
“Where would you get that kind of money?” Alicia snorted.
“So you. . .what? Stole it?” Robert asked warily.
“No one else was using it,” he shook his head, technically telling the truth. “It didn't have an owner. I knew this was coming and that I needed it, so yes, I took it. There was no one to miss it and never will be. It's not like I broke into a house and robbed someone.” Okay that was stretching it, but it hadn't been a house, exactly.
“Well I just don't know what to say,” Alicia looked scandalized and scornful at the same time.
“Well there's a first for ya,” Leon cackled, making everyone else around the table laugh and Alicia turn as red as a lobster.
“Listen at you bunch,” Leon scolded. “Didn't a one of you ask where the money came from to buy all that shit you bought today, did you?” he demanded. “Didn't a one of you question how you was fortunate enough to have some advance warning of this disaster, or how lucky you are to have such fine young 'uns that can work problems like that,” he pointed to the twins, “or that can be trusted to help out with a task like today,” he pointed to Gordy and Abigail.
“But you got the nerve to sit here and be all judgmental now that you're sitting pretty for a calamity? I honestly worry about the future of this family with a generation of whiny ass cry babies coming along that will one day run this outfit.”
“Your brother,” he looked at Alicia, “ruined his life to get back here to you. He did that to prepare this place for what was coming so that you ungrateful bastards wouldn't suffer from it. In return for that he gets a third degree from the likes of you, who ain't never had to make such a decision in your entire life, nor give up near as much as he did for this family.” The Old Man stood, trembling a bit with both fatigue and anger.
“You need the taste slapped clean out of your mouth, but I'm too damn tired to do it,” he told Alicia. “Boy, help me home,” he ordered Clay. “I've listened to her mouth all I can stand for one night.”
Sighing, Clay got to his feet and assisted his grandfather out the door and toward his own home, taking one long last look at his untouched sandwich.
“Night Dad,” Gordon called.
“Yeah, yeah,” Leon threw back over his shoulder with a wave.
“Of all the nerve,” Alicia finally found her voice.
“Pot and kettle, Alicia,” Angela told her flatly. “Things may be about to change in a very big way, Alicia. If they do, then we have to change with them. I don't know that you can.”
-
“You know that wasn't necessary,” Clay said, once he and Leon were outside and on their way to his place.
“Was for me,” Leon told him flatly. “I've wanted to tear into her for a while and this just gave me a good reason to do it. I'm so sick of her spoiled ass bullshit I could cuss.”
“You did cuss,” Clay pointed out.
“Stop interrupting me, boy,” Leon snorted. “Robert is a bit better most times, but sitting there acting high and mighty about where that money might have come from. If he's got a problem with it, the time to bring it up would have been before he spent it.”
Clay didn't have an argument for that so stayed silent.
“And you have got to stop being so damn truthful,” Leon told him. “Learn to lie a little, boy. Sometimes you have to lie to get things done.”
“I lie all the time,” Clay snorted.
“You suck at it, though,” Leon pointed out. “Get better at it. And if you ever slap the shit out of your sister, try to get it on video,” he added with a nasty grin. “I'd really like to see that.”
“I will do my best,” Clay promised with a laugh. Lainie was coming out as they got to the steps.
“What's up?” she asked.
“Leon threw a fit and then wanted to come home,” Clay told her.
“I did not throw a fit, you miserable, lying little shit,” the cantankerous old man shot back. “Start telling the truth!”
“You just told me to start lying!” Clay objected.
“Not about me, idiot!”
Clay and Lainie got Leon in the house where he brushed them both away.
“I can manage from here,” he assured them. “I'm just tired of dealing with that,” he waved a hand toward Gordon's. “You two take care of each other and don't turn out like the rest,” he told them suddenly. “Be better than that.”
“We 'll try,” Clay took Lainie's hand and she squeezed.
“You ain't got a lick of sense if you go back down there tonight,” Leon told them as he headed for his bedroom. “But that's your business. Good night, both of you.”
“Night,” they both called together.
“We've got some sandwich makings in the fridge,” Lainie shrugged.
“I can work with that,” Clay assured her. “What say we skip.”
“Skipping sounds good to me.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
-
Clay was awake before dawn and Lainie right behind him. They showered and dressed and were on their way to the barns by daylight. Taking the ATV over, the two of them started sorting through the things that had been hastily unloaded the night before.
As they worked Lainie noticed Clay occasionally tapping on his phone, she assumed sending texts. Probably to someone in the family she assumed as well, and didn't think more about it. She had sent a message to Brick's phone telling him where they were.
About two hours after they had gotten there, Gordon showed up with Angela and Gordy and the twins pulled up on their golf cart a few minutes later followed by Robert in his truck.
“Rest went to work,” Gordon told them. “Kids really ought to be in school, but. . .if this thing happens, I expect school will soon be out.”
“Sorry Gordy,” Clay told his nephew.
“It's okay,” the teen shrugged. “It was just a way to get a degree anyway. One day it might have helped me with the farm if I needed an investment loan or something. I love football, Uncle Clay, but it ain't my life by any means. This farm is.”
“You're a good young man, Gordy,” Clay smiled. “I'm proud to know you.”
The sound of two throats clearing dramatically kept the mood light as everyone turned to see the twins looking heartily offended.
“What about us?” they asked in unison.
“Y'all are okay,” Clay shrugged nonchalantly, eliciting laughter from the others and red faces from the two teens.
“I'm kidding,” he told the two. “Good grief, haven't we bragged on you two enough? Wasn't for you two we'd be in a huge mess instead of just a mess. You have both been worth your weight in FedEx deliveries,” he raised an eyebrow, a pointed reminder of their trailer full of rewards. Both had the grace to look at least slightly abashed.
“I have to make a shopping trip,” Angela announced. “I need to go either to Columbia or Murfreesboro. There are a great many things I need to get and I may not have another chance.”
“We have to take these trucks into Peabody and turn them in,” Gordon added. “And like it or not there is some plain old farm work got to be done today as well.”
“Me and you can drive the trucks in, Lainie can follow in your truck and Robert can bring mine with the trailer. Lainie and I will take Mom from there on to wherever she needs to go and you and Robert will be free to head on back,” Clay suggested. “That sound okay?”
“Good a plan as any,” Gordon nodded. “Any objections to that?”
“Can we go?” the twins asked.
“I don't see why not,” Clay shrugged. “Just stay out of sight while we're in town, and then if anyone sees us in Columbia we can say you had a doctor's visit or something, I guess. You want to go?” he asked Gordy.
“Love to, but I better hang out here and do some work,” Gordy sighed. “I can help get stuff done here. But if you make another trip, I'd like to go,” he added.
“Fair enough.”
-
“How did y'all come to have two
trucks out of Nashville?” Lester Pearson asked, almost as if his feelings were hurt that they hadn't rented from him.
“Didn't intend to,” Gordon admitted. “But we expected everything we ordered to fit either in a trailer or a truck bed, and it didn't,” he shrugged. “I wish we had known. Probably would have been cheaper to get a round trip rental from you.”
“Probably,” Pearson looked at least some appeased that he hadn't simply been passed over. “Well, they look all right, and you paid the fuel fee, so they're good. And to tell the truth, getting trucks in like this once in a while helps me anyway in the long run,” he admitted. “Y'all have a good day!”
“You too,” Gordon smiled. “And you bunch be careful. No telling what might happen today.”
“Too true,” Clay sighed, thinking about the day before. “Too true.”
-
“So, what are you planning to pick up, Mom?” Clay asked as they started out.
“I have a list,” Angela replied. “But canning supplies are a must. Cooking spices too. Needles, thread and cloth for sewing of course. Candles and maybe some wax. And we have got to have heirloom seeds for the garden, and some wheat if we want any bread once the flour runs out. I also need to find a spare grain mill. Did any of you think to get lanterns?”
“Ronny and Ally got some at Sportsman's,” Clay nodded. “I was going to look for rechargeable batteries of all sizes. Good ones that will last a while.”
“Good idea,” his mother agreed. “But if we can get fuel then we can use the Coleman's lanterns. At least until the fuel is gone,” she added.
“We can use unleaded gas in the lanterns, or in camp stoves,” Deuce said without looking up from his tablet. “Need to have extra generators and wicks since they might clog up quicker or burn out, but it works just fine. And is a lot cheaper than the name brand stuff.”
“I didn't know that,” Angela mused. “Will that work in the kerosene cook stove we have in the barn?” she asked.