Chapter One
Amy, Robbie, and Tracy stood at the front door of Amy’s house. Amy’s hands were shaking as she put the key into the door and opened the lock. The door creaked open and they went inside. Perry’s toenails clicked on the hardwood floors in the quiet of the deserted house.
Robbie looked around and said, “This is a nice house, Amy. It needs a little TLC, but it’s really a great place.”
Amy nodded. She was feeling oppressed and sucked back into her past. She said, “It’s so dark in the entryway. Let’s go in the sun room.”
Their footsteps echoed from all the barren hard surfaces in the house and they made their way to a sun room. The sunlight filtered through late November clouds and cast a soft blue-ish white light through picture windows.
The back lawn was overgrown, and young locust trees had already grown tall and stout. Tracy said, “Oh wow! The river view is really nice, does it ever flood?”
Amy said, “No. I don’t think so. It’s always about the same.”
Tracy asked, “Do river boats go by?”
Amy chuckled, “You mean like old timey paddle wheel boats?”
Tracy nodded and said, “Yeah, exactly!”
Amy invited her, “Watch for a while, you’ll see some boats, probably no paddle wheelers, though.” She hugged Tracy and Robbie and said, “I’m so glad you’re here with me. This place weighs on my heart.”
Tracy said, “I’m glad we’re here, too. Do you want to go get those papers, I’ll help you.”
Robbie said, “I’ll go check around the building and see if anything needs attention.”
Amy and Tracy clumped up the staircase to the second floor then went up into the attic, which was an entire third story to the home. The attic was full of boxes and racks of clothes. Amy laughed. She said, “Tracy, I haven’t told you much about my life before I came to the farm. I’ve been too embarrassed to. This stuff is here, only because I forgot it existed. Otherwise, I would have sold it and bought heroin.”
Tracy had a vague idea what Amy was talking about, that heroin was drugs and that drugs are bad. She wanted to know more, “Why would you do that?”
Amy shrugged. She said, “I did it because I had nothing else to do, and some friends that were into it, then I got physically addicted to it. It’s really that dumb and simple.” Her face brightened. “It actually feels good to admit it to you. I’m not ashamed, because I’m not that girl anymore. Now, let’s check this stuff out!”
Tracy and Amy started sorting things into piles: Stuff to donate, Stuff to sell, Stuff to keep. The family photo albums, going back a few generations, notebooks, journals and a few knick-knacks ended up in the stuff to keep pile. All the clothes went in the donate pile, except a pea coat that Amy gave to Tracy. Everything else went in the stuff to sell pile.
They were done in a couple of hours. Tracy looked at the result of their work and said, “Man, that’s a lot of stuff.”
Amy agreed. “I guess we’ve been here since the 1930’s. That’s close to a hundred years already! But, I’m the last of the Wilsons. Someone else can have this place, now.”
They heard Robbie and Perry coming up the steps. Robbie said, “Wow! You guys were busy.”
Robbie and Amy devised a plan for getting the stuff sold and for selling the house. By the time it was getting dark, the stuff to be sold was gone to various dealers, and the stuff to be donated was gone. They loaded up the photo albums and the notebooks and journals in the M1008 and drove down the road to Ripley. Robbie said, “Matt really liked the pie in this place.”
They sat at a booth. Amy said, “I’ll treat!” She was very happy to be leaving her old home and heading back to her new one. They had a classic diner meal, burgers and fries. Amy asked, “So how much do you think I’ll be able to get for the house?”
Robbie shrugged and said, “This is a good chance to learn quite a bit about this particular game. So, depending on what you want to do, get the cash fast, or wait and be patient and get the most money you can. And that, in turn depends on what you want to do with the money.”
She chewed and had a thoughtful look on her face. She finally said, “Well… What I’ve seen, you guys have all you need on the Farm, and since I’ve been there, I didn’t actually need any money.”
Robbie rubbed his beard, “On top of that, you actually have done a tremendous amount of work. Think about all the firewood and lumber we did already.”
Amy was practically bursting with happy pride. “Gosh. Yeah.” She looked at them both. “It really is completely amazing to me.”
Robbie said, “You’ll be able to do a whole lot more, too.” He bumped his fist gently on the table and he looked off into the middle distance so Tracy and Amy could practically hear the cogs and wheels of his mind working. Tracy elbowed Amy in the side and chuckled.
Tracy said, “Here it comes.”
Robbie laughed, “You are spoiling the drama!”
Tracy stuck her tongue out at him. Amy just watched and waited for him to talk.
Robbie put his hands on the table and said, “Amy, you’re part of the family, now and really important to me and Tracy. You have a quick mind and pick new things up easily. I want to introduce you to more of our world. I think you belong with us.”
Amy was touched. She said, “Thanks, it’s really tough to express how much that means to me.”
Tracy gave her a hug. Then Tracy’s eyes opened wide. She pointed a french fry at Robbie and asked conspiratorially, “Uncle Robbie, I watched The Godfather a few weeks ago, and I loved those movies. Are we like the Corleones?”
Robbie burst out laughing. He patted the table. “Well, in some ways yes, but maybe more like their mirror image or something. We basically do all the opposite things they do. Instead of being focused on just dumb honor, we’re more about knowing. I admit, in some important ways, we’re really similar.”
Amy was intrigued. “I remember that movie. So how are you, I mean, ‘we’ similar?”
Robbie sighed, “It’s hard to generalize. Well, in some ways we’re outside the law. Our network includes some people who would be called criminals by mainstream folks.”
Amy asked, “Like what?”
Robbie said, “Well, hackers, specific kinds of thieves, smugglers, and I hate to say this to you, since it might be a sensitive subject, some drug producers.”
Amy scrunched up her nose, “Drugs… like what kind?”
Robbie said, “One guy grows weed. It’s actually, really, mostly for medicinal purposes. Psychedelics, too. That guy was an associate of Matt for his out-there research.” Robbie shrugged. “But, they are good, trustworthy people.”
Tracy was stunned. “I did not know any of this.”
Robbie said, “You actually met these people, sorry we keep you out of the loop when you’re too young. It’s not intentional.”
Amy said, “Is this all secret?”
He wavered his hand back and forth. “In a sense. Well, the main thing is all these people in our network are friends, share common goals and ideas. Plus the idea of a ‘secret’, like omerta in the Godfather carries a lot of implied baggage--like threats of violence to maintain it. So, it’s a secret in the sense that these people all know their goals are generally at odds with quote ‘society’, and they treat our shared information accordingly. You two are both sort of learning the ropes, Tracy, you’re still a youngin’ absorbing life experience, and Amy you’re fresh in your own way, right?”
Amy nodded, “Yeah. Totally. So interesting…”
Robbie inquired, “What is?”
Amy took a moment to formulate a thought. “I am like a little boat floating along on big currents. Before, I just ended up taking drugs and being a total load surrounded by leeches. Now, I got pulled into a nice clean sunny stream where the people do constructive things and are kind and thoughtful.”
Robbie eyed her and said, “And now you feel an urge to set your own course?”
She nodded. “I think s
o. I mean, my situation now is so much better, but in some ways it’s still similar.”
Robbie agreed, “Yeah, well, how does this sound, what if we make an orbit of some of the people in the network, or maybe if you want to go off by yourself, you could do it, see different things people are doing and that will give you a broader point of view?”
Amy nodded emphatically. “That sounds awesome!”
Robbie asked Tracy, “When do you want to go back to Tweedy? Man it’s such a shame you can’t drive. I wonder if we can just forge a new birth certificate and get you a license early…”
Tracy put a hand over her mouth in mock shock. “Oh my!”
Amy laughed, “She looks way too young, Robbie. She’d never get away with it for long.”
Tracy thought a moment and said, “Well, I got a text from Bethany. She wants to come over to the farm. I think I could get back to Tweedy, let’s see,” she counted on her fingers. “I guess in ten days.”
The waitress brought their check and Robbie thanked her for the food and complimented the restaurant. He whispered to Amy, “Tip big! We always tip big!”
She looked at the bill and did some mental math and dropped a couple extra twenties on top. “That feels good!” She said and hugged herself.
The Chardon Chronicles: Season Two --- The Winter Page 27