An Unexpected Life

sssarawolf · May 13, 2009

Now remember there are still some mistakes grammar wise in this.

An Unexpected Life
Copyright 2008
All Rights reserved

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my husband for his never ending encouragement on my behalf.

Cast of Characters
All characters are fictitious
Characters in the mountains and in the stockade
Chrissie Boyd (ex Jordan)
Nicolas Jordan Chrissie’s ex husband
Nicolas’s new wife Vicky
Frank Jackson
Robert Duncan senior
Robert and Pat Duncan Jr. son Tab
Henry and May Duncan, daughters Lonny and Lucy
Deke and Louise (Duncan) Smith, son Colt daughter Mini
Judge Douglas and Mary Owen
Tell Flyer
Jake Carmichael
Tye O’Connell
Bear Larson
Bob and Florence Strong
Steven and Moretta Campbell, son Gary
Mort Bloom
Abe and Daisy Bloom
Randy Crumb, son Kirk T. and daughter Booby
Plus a cast of characters
China
General Lee Cheng
Doctor Siyu Wei
Assistant scientist Rou Cuifen
Nuying Cuifen
Lt Tao
Secretary Kim Joug
Courtesan Lyn Lifen
Butler Yang
Courtesan Ai Fang
Butler Ping
The Slayers Slaves
Uncle Acker Kate
Careless Nance
Blue Alice
Vin Misty
John Avis
Greg Candy
Opal Edith
Yancy Sealy
Doug Sissy
Mat April
Storm Ruby
Lou Lou
Nit

Prologue
As the weather warmed in April with the natural forces of warm spring winds meeting cold winds it made the severity of the storms ten times worse as they put the storm maker machinery to use. Storms that should have dissipated even after the equipment was shut down didn’t. They continued to rage for days on end were made into super storms. Until than the only country that was suffering was the United States but the storm that was made to destroy Los Angles California and the surrounding area was pushed out to sea by the Santa Ana winds. The storm intensified as it hit the Pacific Ocean turning into a monstrous typhoon. It swept over the lower islands of Japan without skipping a beat and headed for China. All the news was abuzz with the thousands that had died in Japan some never to be found as they were swept off to sea.
* * *
Chris and Frank were talking quietly in the kitchen; their visiting done they were nervous about heading back out. Now that they knew they were most likely watched coming into town and here to the stockade it didn’t sit well. The family had also been talking while Chris and Frank took the grand tour of the stockade. It was the judges turn to speak up and he never pulled any punches, straight and direct that was the judge. “Stop beating around the bush, plain simple fact is you already know we’re going to give the kids an escort past the town limits. Now let’s get the volunteers and get on with it; I’m hungry let’s get this decision made so I can eat.”
* * *
One of the man beasts reached Frank and slashed out with his bear clawed hand putting several nasty gashes across Franks left arm. Frank gasped with the pain and dropped his Uzi and pulled out his right pistol and the wild man slashed Franks across his chest. Frank put the pistol up and shot the beast right in the forehead; sending the beast sprawling backwards.

Index
Title page Page 1
Copyright Page 2
Dedication Page 3
Characters Page 4
Prologue Page 6
Chapter 1 Page 10
Chapter 2 Page 21
Chapter 3 Page 35
Chapter 4 Page 41
Chapter 5 Page 50
Chapter 6 Page 59
Chapter 7 Page 71
Chapter 8 Page 76
Chapter 9 Page 85
Chapter 10 Page 91
Chapter 11 Page 98
Chapter 12 Page 107
Chapter 13 Page 115
Chapter 14 Page 123
Chapter 15 Page 135
Chapter 16 Page 139
Chapter 17 Page 150
Chapter 18 Page 156
Chapter 19 Page 163
Chapter 20 Page 172
Chapter 21 Page 181
Chapter 22 Page 186
Chapter 23 Page 195
Chapter 24 Page 201
Chapter 25 Page 206
Chapter 26 Page 214
Chapter 27 Page 224
Chapter 28 Page 234
Chapter 29 Page 241
Chapter 30 Page 247
Chapter 31 Page 255
Authors Biography Page 266

Chapter 1
Is it worth it

The wind was blowing hard tonight, storm clouds were on the horizon, and the tall pine trees around the house were swaying in the wind. Chrissie had just come in the house from gathering the day’s eggs and making sure the chickens had enough water. Winter was ever closer, another winter alone, her second. Her eyes grew sad for a moment and then she shook herself out of it. “It’s the first of October already. It’s hard to believe the summer went so fast.”

Up here in the foothills fall had come quickly, her garden was harvested and she still had a few things left too can. Chrissie had a habit of talking to herself out loud these days; it was her and her animals since Nicolas left. That thought always made her frown, he had seemed happy at first, he had been the one who moved her out here after nine months of marriage.
He said he wanted to get back to the land and they would learn together. Neither one of them had much experience with outdoor living, gardening, or animals besides cats and dogs. Chrissie went to the library for months and checked out books on how to do this and that and homesteading. She picked up used books on fencing, building out buildings, building fires, and wood stoves and which ones were the best for what they needed.

So they found a small 2 story four-bedroom home on 15 acres with a garage, a small shed, a very large partitioned shed that had been used as a barn and two good-sized ponds. The barn/shed really was a good sized building, 30 by 40, one area was used for the chickens it was 8 by 6 inside and just right for a dozen chickens or so. There were six nest boxes already inside on a stand. The rest of the barn was partitioned off with a large section beside the chicken room with a set of double doors, and the back was sectioned into three areas. They had fenced off the back area for the goats so they had a very large place to roam; they hauled in logs for the goats to climb. The well tested out just fine and the septic had been put in five years ago and had just been pumped recently to get it ready for sale, plus it had 2 500-gallon propane tanks they would rent in turn from the propane company as the people did before them.

They were so excited the first month they were in the place; they bought chicks and three goats, Nubian’s, two does already milking and one male all unrelated for next breeding season. It took a few tries to get it right on the milking part but soon Chrissie was adept at it. The first spring the does added three more, a twin birth and a single, all females. This last spring all the does had kids even the young ones, two of the does having twins, both of them female. Two a single each two males and last Tipsy who had triplets, with two of them being male and one female. See Tipsy was part Fainting goat and so when she got startled she would fall over and go ridged. She was one of the original doe’s; the other was full blood Nubian. Pretty soon the Fainting goat part should be bred out of the next generations. But it sure was cute to watch her; Chrissie wondered how dominant the fainting goat part was.

As she started her dinner Chrissie’s thoughts went back to their first year here. The first year had seemed to go just fine; they were both learning and didn’t have too many disasters. Then one evening after work he announced to her that he had been given a promotion, they had celebrated with a dinner in town and a movie. Then as the weeks went by he was away from home more and more, trips he said. Soon he said he had to take a small apartment in town and would come home on weekends. She tried to not let him see her disappointment. He said it wouldn’t be for long. Yeah right! He said he would find one and didn’t need her help, there was no reason for her to come into town with gas prices so high and her old pickup truck ate up the gas, he would manage. She should have suspected something was up then; she was hurt but didn’t really want to know. Then he started to call, I can’t get home this weekend I have to work over time. Then a few weeks later another weekend, then two weekends in a row and so on.

June had come and she had been just starting to hoe the new plants coming up in the garden, tears running down her cheeks, she knew there was a problem. When Nick did come home he was distant. The hugs were gone and when he climbed into bed beside her at night he rolled over immediately and said goodnight. When he came home the next time she would confront him. She was hurting too much and lonely, how she missed the old loving Nick. But he hadn’t come home; he called her on a Friday night and said he wouldn’t be home now or ever. His job called for him to be close to the boss and go where he was needed. He had grown out of love with her and he had a new high-class woman who would look good at his side and that she Chrissie had turned frumpy on him and didn’t fit with him or his lifestyle anymore. Chrissie was gagging and crying by this time and to hurt to hardly say a word. She knew there had to be someone else in his life but not that he had stopped loving her completely. To not even give her a chance to change his mind, darn it after all he’s the one that wanted to homestead. She could have been just as high-class as the next woman if he had let her be. Before she knew it he had hung up. She tried calling him back to beg him to give her a chance, they would sell the place and she would move back to town with him, but what she got was, this number is no longer in service.
She had sat down hard on the floor, crying uncontrollably, not even aware of the food burning on the stove. She didn’t know how long she sat there until she finally realized the house was filled with black smoke and smoke alarms were blaring. She slowly got up off the floor and went to the kitchen and turned off the burners to the propane stove. She had been lucky she had not burned down the house. Then she thought, well who cares if I had, my life is over, “now what do I do without my Nick?” But instead she went and opened the doors and windows and set up a fan to blow out the back door, and crawled into bed. The house would get very cool tonight.

The next morning when the sun came up she didn’t what to get out of bed, what for? Her life was shattered, what was all this going to be for now? A place to grow together, maybe kids soon, now all that was gone. She turned her head into her pillow and cried for a while longer. She woke again later and knew she had to get up, she could hear the dog barking and the goats would have to be milked and the geese and chickens let out for the day. She pulled herself out of bed and dressed, boy did she hurt all over. The Springer spaniel Spud was wagging its tail like crazy happy to see his master and his food.

“You would have thought I had been in a car accident,” she said to herself.
Gads its eight O’clock, the goats have never been milked this late.”

She hurried through the rest of the morning trying to make up for getting up so late. Every once in awhile the whole situation would come back to mind like a ton of bricks and she would stop in her tracks. Something would happen and she would say, “I will have to tell Nick about that when he gets home and then his phone call would come to mind and she would burst out crying all over again. She had never been through such a long day in all the time she had lived up here, by seven PM she was crawling back into bed. She was worn out through and through.

Nick must have gotten a guilty conscience because he called after a month and said money was in the bank account and that he had taken his name off the bank account. And she could do with the homestead as she wished, he didn’t want anything else to do with it, he had signed the papers and it was hers no strings attached. She wondered where all that money had come from to do all that. She had always had to scrimp and save, and do without. She shopped at Goodwill for her clothes; he needed the good ones for work, not her. Chrissie checked the bank account the next time she went in for feed, she was shocked, there sat $10,000.00 in the bank account. She thought, what did he do rob a bank? Then, “heck the job must have been even better then he ever let on and he never let me know I didn’t have to scrimp like I was.” She remembered how he was always saying they needed to cut back so they could afford some of the things the farm needed. “The JERK,” now she was starting to get mad.

“I didn’t have to look like a poor farm girl after all and he could have let me know that. How long had this thing been going on?”

She came to the conclusion it had to have started almost from the beginning of the promotion. After that night they had gone out in celebration he never took her out again, like he was ashamed of her. She hadn’t heard a word from him after that last phone call until one day a car pulled up into the driveway and a suited man got out and she watched him walk to the house. It turned out he was a lawyer with divorce papers, she got the house, land and some more money and Nick got to walk away. She was so hot about it she almost didn’t sign the papers. Then she had a second thought and said good riddance to bad rubbage and signed them. Later as she lay in bed crying, she thought she should have fought for at least his helping with future needs. Her temper had gotten the best of her.

That had been 16 months ago, she didn’t know how she managed to get through each day but she had. Day after day, one breath at a time, she had animals that depended on her and other chores to do. She thought several times about selling the place, after all she was making the rest of the farm payments out of the money Nick had put in the bank account. She knew if he hadn’t there would have been no way in Hades she could have kept this place. Chrissie kept saying maybe in a couple of months I’ll do it, then something would happen she loved to see and she just couldn’t bring herself to sell it. She was making the house payments and spending as little as possible to help not lose too much interest and gain some if possible. She really needed a way to earn some money because with the rate of inflation and care the farm needed the money wouldn’t last indefinitely.

Lately things in the world weren’t looking so good either, that was another reason she kept putting off selling the little farm. She didn’t like the talk on oil shortages that went with this peak oil business. Then there were extreme climate changes and pole shifts. Chrissie spent more and more time in the evenings on the internet looking into all the different problems and decided it would be just a bit prudent to be prepared for some of these happenings. The mention of war was a big one in the news as well. She might as well have all her bases covered.

So once a week for the next several months she went to town and with in trepidation spent more of her money on foods that would last along with canning jars, lids, extra rings, a pressure canner, canner steamer, and a water bath canner. She ordered heritage seeds, a few more fruit trees and how to books on organic gardening. She carefully went through places like Goodwill and the second hand stores for other books. She found books on small acreage farming, and eventfully on all kinds of books on raising animals, building brick fireplaces and wall ovens, How To Build A Log Cabin and Furniture. She snatched the HP books off the shelves on Sour Dough making, to Beans and Yogurt making, recognizing wild fruits and herbs, along with soap making, and kid’s books, she thought well you just never know.
The internet helped with things to. She down loaded the information and then thought that won’t help if for some reason I have no electricity, so she began to print it all out and make the different information into books. She decided she wasn’t going to rely on a generator and having to store gas or have extra propane for it. That would run out and solar would eventually wear out and there wouldn’t be a way to replace them, at least for her. So if things were going to go to heck and gone she was going to learn now how to do without them, before she had to the hard way.

She continually kept her eyes peeled for oil lanterns, at least she would get some kerosene in a barrel or two and that would help ease her to just candles. That would be one of her luxuries. The second hand stores were a treasure trove at times if you looked close. Craft supplies, long johns, gloves, jeans, boots, wool socks, sweaters, flannel shirts, men’s and women’s, winter coats, sheets, blankets, old sleeping bags, camping equipment, and etc. Bread pans, cast iron cookware, containers that would seal, and then a big find, a hand grain grinder with stone and metal gears. So she could grind anything from grains to all kinds to nuts. This all helped her bottom line not having to buy new. She began to build shelving in her basement and finally worked out the best way to do for one person, but also adding extra just in case.

Chrissie happened upon twenty 55 gallon barrels for five dollars apiece from the old Coca Cola plant that had been containers for syrup. After cleaning those out a couple of them became kerosene containers. She started with buying 10 gallons at a time and dumping it into the barrels; also making sure she bought some extender for it. Then two more she filled with water and a half cup of bleach after taking them to the basement. Just in case she had to spend time in the basement for some reason, and a plastic barrel pump she bought off the internet.

Then she hit upon what she thought was a great ideal for building up her stock of farm animals, she put an ad in the paper that she would take unwanted farm animals, along with another add, one that stated she would like donations of feed, hay and bedding if anyone could spare it for abused animals. It didn’t take but a week and the Humane Society called her and asked if she would take three badly treated sheep. Chrissie didn’t what to seem like a nut so she calmed herself down and calmly said, “Sure I would be glad to no problem.”

They were to bring them the next day, so she went out and fixed up one of the back rooms in her so-called barn for them. They could run in the fenced off area her goats did until she could fence it off, they had plenty of room to share for now and the grass was still pretty good and the pond never went dry. As she lay in bed that night she couldn’t help but laugh at herself. Who would have thought, she would be so excited about getting three poor miserably treated sheep to bring back to health and be looking forward to it.
The next day the Humane Society turned up at 11:30 AM with the worst looking creatures Chrissie had ever seen, patches of wool were gone and they were full of sores, she became a bit fearful they would pass something on to her goat’s, maybe this hadn’t been such a great idea after all. The lady that had the animal’s papers for her to sign saw the look on Chrissie’s face when she saw the sheep as the trailer was opened, and became concerned she wasn’t going to be able to get rid of them after all. The woman introduced herself as Maggie Smith. “Mrs. Boyd, they are okay they have been treated and they don’t have anything contagious, just lack of vitamins and good care and feed.”

Being called Mrs. snapped her back to reality. But she didn’t correct the mistake either; the woman would have no way of knowing she was no longer married and not a Mrs.

“Sorry to have made it appear I may not take them; their condition just shocked me a bit. The poor things, I can’t imagine letting animals get in this condition, and thank you I was thinking they had some kind of disease that they could pass on to my existing animals.”

Maggie smiled and asked where she wanted them, Maggie’s assistant helped get the sheep to their new home. They also had six bags of feed to give her as a start in improving the sheep’s health that had special vitamins and minerals for the malnourished sheep. It didn’t take long and Chrissie was alone again and standing in the now sheep quarters looking over her new creatures. They were friendly enough and didn’t seem hungry for now. She made sure they had feed in the feed troughs and the water trough was full in case they didn’t go out to the pond right away. She gave each of them a rubbing where there weren’t any sores and on their noses, so they would get her scent.

Chrissie then went onto her other chores for the afternoon. She had also sat aside time to learn new skills, sewing, soap making, quilting, leather work and tanning, knitting and from E-bay a spinning wheel. The Internet came in handy for buying second hand spinning books and about wool. She had bought some wool to practice on and to learn to spin on a drop spindle she had made. She was practicing her carpentering skills by cutting the wood with handsaws and found that was a lot harder then it looked. The hardware store had also become one of her favorite places. Nails, screws, bolts, nuts, hand tools, fencing, fence puller, barbed wire stretcher, chains, a couple come-a-longs, ropes of all sizes, economy 2x 4’s, along with plywood, 2x10’s, and all kinds of assorted things she would or may need. She also made it a habit to go to the local Ziggy’s Lumber and hardware store to look at their free pile. Her pile of pallets was growing, and she had to start a new pile. She was planning on building another animal shed with the pallets.
Now she was proud of her Goodwill clothes, she wasn’t buying them just because she thought she had to but because she wanted to, she wasn’t the most stylish in the world but she would call her look woodsy. She walked around with leather gloves in her back pocket and wasn’t a bit ashamed of the fact. She noticed a few men noticing her also, she knew she wasn’t a real beauty, but this gave her a confidence she had lost some how. What they noticed was a nice looking woman who was now comfortable with whom she was, with confidence in her stride and a smile on her face. She wasn’t a walking weed or overly heavy, she ate what she wanted and had muscles she hadn’t had before and was beginning to notice she could do things she would have never have dreamed she could do a year and a half ago.

She had added during the month one old horse, two llamas, four more sheep, a three legged German Sheppard she named Betty and five tons of years end cuttings of hay someone decided to be generous enough to donate, but that came in very huge round bales and were now under tarps. Several tons of straw for bedding, then a few people donated a bag of corn here and a bag of barley there and soon that had added up to several hundred pounds. Horse feed, goat, a couple of sheep mineral half barrels, dog and cat food and many odds and ends. People had been very generous; she could hardly believe it all as it came in. Almost everyday someone called with something to drop by. Even when it was something live. The barn now had eight barn cats, and down in the lower pond seven runner ducks and three Peking’s now swam. She had managed to put up lean-tos and small outbuildings for the poultry onto the barn where they could get inside for winter. It had been a challenge but she got it done.

End chapter 1
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sssarawolf · May 15, 2009

An Unexpected Life Chapter 2

Chapter 2
Chin up

One day in the last week of October she found she could now buy the 4,000 pounds of red and white wheat for herself and her animals. She had come upon some 250-gallon plastic tanks for the taking and took them all, 17 of them; they would become grain bins and maybe a water container or two, lots better then the trashcans she had been using. She had hooked up her utility trailer and took several trips to get them home. She would push one off the trailer pull over a little further and push another one off not far from the barn and so on until she had them all in a line. That was enough extra work for one day; tomorrow she was going to town.

So today she was dressed in a pair of nice jeans, a teal T-shirt with a brown-brushed suede long sleeve shirt over that and a cowboy hat on her head. Her hair had grown long; her chestnut tresses hung down to the middle of her back and had a slight wave to it. She just hadn’t been paying any attention to her hair with all the work. She would just tie it back and go on. She looked into her mirror, and thought not to bad if I say so myself. A 5 foot 4 inch 135 pound cowgirl stood looking back at her, with a slightly tanned face and she liked what she had become. To herself she looked healthy and strong. She grabbed the leather-fringed purse she had made herself and locked up the house and off to town she went, trailer in tow. The German shepherd Betty and Spud would be in charge.

It was 9 Am and she had plenty of time before she had to be home for evening chores, she had made sure she had gotten all the morning chores out of the way early. She was going to go to the normal second hand shops after visiting the bank. It was a 45-minute drive to town for her and as she drove she thought of how much she loved Montana. She had moved here with her parents from Indiana when she was 12 years old and thought they had brought her to the end of the earth. Now she couldn’t think of living anywhere else, and what was even stranger was the idea of living in town, now it gave her the willies.

She made her normal stops to see what the second hand stores had. Rejoicing in her finds, a backpacking tent, camp cot, a large bag of yarn, she was dancing inside when she saw the Goodwill lady setting something wonderful down on the shelf and made a beeline straight for it. She swooped up the four legged cast iron Dutch oven still with a lid, must have been a 12 incher and a few minutes later two ten pound slabs of wax. The Dutch oven was the most expensive at 12.99 and it still was a great deal. Then she would treat herself to a nice lunch before going to the grocery store and the Grain Growers on her way out of town.

Chrissie rarely ate out on her shopping trips her normal was to bring a cooler along with drinks and sandwich makings. But today she decided a treat was in order and the cooler would be used to bring home the frozen foods as there was plenty of room in it. So she stopped at a small sandwich Bistro, Tony’s that was halfway to the grocery store and went on in. The hostess took her to the back of the restaurant to a small table. Chrissie didn’t mind she loved watching people and she could see most of the other costumers just fine from here. It was 11:50 and most weren’t even here yet for their normal lunch hour. She ordered a Reuben and chips with a diet 7-up and watched as the customers filtered in. She had just taken a bite of her sandwich when in walked Nick with a bone thin blond beside him. Chrissie choked and people near her turned their heads towards her, she managed to take a drink and get the bite down without too much more trouble. She didn’t even think he was around here anymore. She felt like her heart darkened, funny she didn’t think seeing him now would affect her like this. The hostess began to lead them to a table and the blond bimbo stopped and Chrissie could hear her whine all the way to the back of the restaurant. The blond saw where they were heading and balked.

“That table is not good enough,” she pointed to one near the window, “that one over there, I want that one,” her voice was high and nasal.

“All right miss, you can have that table.” The hostess told her.

“And for your information, it’s Mrs., not Miss young lady, so you will call me madam.”

The hostess nodded her head and went on her way a little faster then she had with the other customers after setting down menus.

The blond whined about the Bistro, the food on the menu everything and anything. Everyone in the place heard her and some customers began asking for their checks and leaving as soon as they could. Chrissie had lost her appetite, and signaled the waitress to bring her a box for the rest of her meal. As she was packing the rest of her sandwich into the box and picking up the bill, she stopped. What in the world am I doing? This is stupid and has been over for 17 months. I’m a new woman, no longer the timed little Chrissie. She stood up straight slipped her cowboy hat back on and strode up to the cash register. She thanked the hostess and as she walked by Nick’s table, she acted like she just happened to see him. “Oh Nick, so good to see you.”

Nick looked up and a shocked expression came to his face.

“Chrissie, is that you?”

“No one but me Nick, and turning she said, and this must be the new little Mrs.”

He turned red and fumbled around, “ah um yes this is my wife Vicky, Vicky this is my um ex wife Chrissie.”

Vicky looked Chrissie up and down like she was some kind of dirty rodent.
“Well I’ll be if it isn’t the frump, you told me so much about Nicky and its Victoria to all other people.”

Chrissie saw Nick cringe. So, she thought to herself, you thought you got rid of the coal and got a diamond but ended up with a lemon. A smile came to Chrissie’s face and it lit up, Nick was looking at her and was astonished at the way Chrissie looked. Chrissie then looked over at the lemon. “We can’t all be perfect now can we, and I can truthfully say it was a pleasure to meet you Vicky, she gave a nod to Nick.” Calling the bimbo Vicky on purpose.

Then Chrissie smiled brightly and went on her way out the door. She breathed a deep breath, yes that was good, now on to the grocery store. Her truck was parked close to the front of the Cafe and Nick watched her get in it. Nick was trying to not make it obvious he was watching his ex wife. He was amazed, it just didn’t seem like the Chrissie he knew, she was simply shining and looking really fit. Or maybe he just didn’t know what he had when it was his; the grass is always greener type of thing. When he first met and started to date Vicky she wasn’t like this either, she was sweet and caring, not this wasp that had presented it’s self a year ago. Well he made his bed and it was a great job and to all the right people Vicky played the part he needed her to. Yes keep saying that to yourself Nick, but he glanced at Chrissie and her old truck as she pulled out and onto the street.
Vicky noticed Nick glance towards the fat cow’s truck. Well he will get his for that one.

“Well that was interesting Nicky, she sure could do with losing some weight, fat as the picture you showed me a couple years ago, and those clothes, oh my they would never do in our circle. If we hadn’t come here this would have never happened. I never what to come to this part of town again Nicky; it’s just too common for you now and especially for me.” Nick didn’t think Chrissie needed to lose even one pound she had looked wonderful. But instead he said. “You’re right Vicky dear, we won’t come here again,” and he didn’t say another word about Chrissie but changed the subject to get Vicky’s mind off of his ex wife.

Chrissie was only a few minutes from the grocery store and her heart had lightened and she was feeling much better by the time she drove into the store’s parking lot. The shopping went quickly as she always made up a list of what she needed and then what she wanted to add to her stores of canned goods and etc. She was walking out of the store with her cart when she heard her named called.

“Ms. Boyd, ah Chrissie,” she turned to the right and saw it was Frank Jackson from the local feed store. He was parked on the opposite side of the parking lot and was walking her way. Frank was 29 years old, kind of nice looking with dark brown hair cut short, brown eyes, rugged looking she thought would be more his type, he was 6 foot 2 inches and it looked around 210 lbs and looked pretty dang good.

Chrissie moved over out of the way of the door of the store, as Frank got closer. “Hey Frank, how are you doing?”

“Oh just fine, it’s my day off today through Sunday and I decided to do a bit of shopping before the weekend hits. It’s good to see you; I haven’t seen you come by the feed store for a couple of weeks, unless you have on my day off.”

“I guess I did hit the feed store week before last on a Friday, so that’s why I didn’t see you. It was your day off. Well it was good to see you Frank I need to get going I still have to stop at the grain growers. I want to get home before dark; it was good seeing you, take care.”

“You to Chrissie, you have a safe trip home, see ya.”

“Bye Frank.”

Frank Jackson couldn’t think of anything else to say even though he really wanted to. The other people at the feed store knew Frank had a crush on Chrissie, others could see it on his face and in his eyes when he would notice Chrissie had come into the store. The only one that didn’t seem to notice was Chrissie. Frank had known Chrissie since she and her ex husband Nick had been coming here and then when Chrissie only came in by herself after a few months. She had started to sign her checks Chrissie Boyd last year instead of Chrissie Jordan and Frank took a look and saw that Nicks name wasn’t on the checks at all. He thought Nick was an idiot to let a woman like Chrissie get away, and since she was still here and Nick wasn’t, Frank assumed it was Nick that did the leaving.

Meanwhile as Frank had turned to walk into the store Chrissie had stopped part way to her truck. She was busy talking to herself, “should I or shouldn’t I ask him up for lunch tomorrow. Well why the heck not, he’s single and so am I.” She was nearing her truck and trailer and quickly pushed the cart over to the side of her truck and took back off for the store walking quickly. He was almost into the store.

“Frank wait a minute,” she called.

Frank heard her and turned toward the outside again as the doors had opened and he was partway inside already. He stepped back out and nearly collided with an elderly women coming in behind him.

“Excuse me madam,” he said and tipped his hat at her. She just nodded at him and continued on inside the store as he went around her. Chrissie was by the door by now and he stepped over beside her.

“Sorry about that Frank, but I was wondering would you like to come out to my place tomorrow for lunch and show you around my place. I know this is short notice.”

Frank was at a loss for words at first and then came out of it.

“I would love to come out for lunch and to see your place just write me out the directions.”

“That’s just great Frank; okay let me get a paper and a pen from my purse.”
Chrissie wrote out the directions to the farm for Frank and went on her way. She turned around when she got to the truck and saw Frank was still standing in front of the store watching her and he had a smile on his face.
She headed onto the main road and back into the downtown area; she happened to spy the old town Gunsmith and Consignment shop and on an impulse pulled into the parking space a few feet from the front of the building making sure her trailer was out of the way. The building looked like it had stood here since the late 1800’s with out to much revamping and as she walked closer to the doorway she saw etched in the bricks beside the door 1884. She opened the door and the place smelled old and musty like, so apparently they hadn’t done much in here either through the years.

An older man popped up from behind the long counter on the left, counters ran down both sides of the narrow store, shelves ran from floor to ceiling behind the counters. The man had white hair around the edges of a bald head and was very thin, with a long nose, a big smile on his face, and bright cheery eyes.

“What can I do to help you little lady?”

His smile was contagious, so Chrissie was smiling back when she said, “I was thinking of something small in a hand gun but has some stopping power, is there anything like that and maybe a 22 for varmints.”
“I’m sure I can come up with something for you.”

He then began to look over in the counter display cases going down the 15-foot long counter almost to the end. Chrissie watched, as his face seemed to be in deep thought as he looked over his handguns.

“Ah yes here we are, come here Miss; I think I have just the thing for you. By the way I’m Robert Duncan Miss, I’ve been here for 60 years and the shop was my fathers before me.”

“My name is Chrissie Boyd Mr. Duncan; it’s nice to meet you.”

“Oh please just call me Robert, no standing on formality here, do you mind if I call you Chris?”

“Chrissie’s smile grew wider, “please do Robert; that would be great.”

Chrissie didn’t know why she felt so immediately endeared to this older gentleman, maybe that was it, old world gentleman, something that seemed to be missing anymore from society. Manners seemed to almost be a thing of the past.

“Well come here Chris I have something here I think you might be interested in.”

Chrissie walked over and looked down in to the display case, Robert was just pulling out a small strange looking handgun. Robert handed it over to Chrissie who turned it over in her hands to get an idea of the weight. It wasn’t very heavy and didn’t look like what she thought most pistols looked like, at least from what her father had when she was growing up.

“What kind is it Robert I have never seen one like this before and what caliber is it? It looks to small to have much stopping power.”

“That’s a Custom Ruger MKII 22/45 it’s only about six pounds, this is the least expensive of these models and its second hand so you won’t have to pay that new price. It converts from a 22 to a 45 and has the conversion kit with it. This one is stainless but they come in blue to. This one comes with the 6.25-barrel and features a built in muzzle brake. It has full instructions for the conversion but don’t worry about that I will show you how to do that. What do you think?”

Chrissie looked up from the pistol to Robert, “first what’s the price tag, and then if I can fit this in my budget, is there any way I can shoot it to try it out both as the 22 and converted to the 45?”

Robert didn’t have to get the price tag which at this moment was upside down, he knew the price on just about everything in here, except for maybe the items he had taken in for the last few days and were still sitting in the stock room. It took him much longer these days to get things done then it used to. He looked up at Chrissie, he thought he had maybe gone to long without answering but it had only been a few seconds. “The price on that nice little gun is $595.00; it’s only 3 years old from the information that came with it.”

Chrissie frowned at the price, “how much would this cost me new Robert?”

“New it’s normally around $800.00 then the cost of the conversion kit is $420.00.”

Chrissie gasped, “Oh my goodness that is pricey. But this is quite a deal if that’s the normal price for this gun and accessories.”

Robert leaned over onto the counter and was giving it a little thought, his hand going to his chin and rubbing across his day’s growth of white whiskers. “Lets go down into my firing range Chris, we’ll let you shoot it both ways and that way you can see if you like it or not. I’ll tell you what; you live in the area don’t you?”

“Yes I live in the area; I have a little farm about 40 minutes from town.”
Robert was rubbing his hands together and smiling again.

“Tell you what Chrissie if you like that little gun you can pay me in thirds how’s that, is it a deal?”

“Are you kidding Robert you would trust me even though you just met me? I can hardly believe it.”

“Well to tell you the truth Chris you remind me of my daughter and one of my grand daughters but besides that I know that I can trust you, don’t ask me why but I do. Now let me lock up the shop and put the Gone on break sign up and we will get to the firing range downstairs.”

Chrissie couldn’t believe the downstairs, at the bottom of the stairway there was an entryway with a long 30-foot hallway, she could see it went into a storage area with boxes and shelves. To her left a few feet past the stairs in the entryway was a rusty metal door that looked like it was never opened, but that’s the one Robert headed for. Robert unlatched and raised a bar and opened the old door. He reached inside to the right and turned a very old knob and the lights came on revealing a very modern large firing range. It must have been 100 feet long; Chrissie was just amazed there was no way anyone would know this was down here. It only took a few minutes of shooting and Robert showing her how to do the conversion from 22 to the 45 to know she wanted the pistol.

Robert was standing back and to her right, she turned around and looked Robert in the eyes after shooting a few rounds in the 45 conversion, “I’ll take it Robert there’s no need to continue, it’s a great gun.”

Robert still had that gleam in his eyes and a grin on his face. He just couldn’t get over it he now knew just exactly who Chris looked like. Chrissie’s coloring was darker that’s what had thrown him off.

“I knew you would, I just knew it, by the way Chris what’s your middle name, just humor an old man would you?”

Chrissie thought about it a second and thought oh well, what would it hurt anyway? “My middle name is Locket, Robert. I was supposedly named after my grandmother on my mother’s side her middle name was Locket, Grandmother didn’t like her first name so instead she changed it a bit and made my name Chrissie instead of Christina.”

“Thank you Chris for obliging me.”

Chrissie handed the pistol to Robert and sat it back in its box; she didn’t see the tear that ran down his face. While he was doing that Chrissie took a little more time to look around the range. There were trophies on shelves at the front along with a long horn sheep, elk, and mule deer heads mounted on the wall over the trophies. Then down the right side of the room ten feet from the front was an old wooden door with the brown paint peeling from it and rusty hinges. Robert looked up when he was finished and saw her looking around and didn’t rush her. He noticed she was very observant.

“I shouldn’t do this, but I want to show you something come with me, and off he went to the old brown door with Chrissie following behind him. He opened the old door and it cracked and squealed like it hadn’t been opened in years. Inside was a storeroom around 10 by 10, it had some shelving with old boxes, gun parts, cans of gun oil, solvents, and so on. There were cobwebs hanging from the ceiling to the top shelves with a few dangling from the ceiling it’s self.

“It looks like you haven’t been in here in ages Robert.”

Robert just continued to smile and walked over to a shelving unit on his right, he put his hand up under a shelf that was waist high and she heard something click. Then he moved his hand a few feet down and she heard another click. The shelving unit began to swing out; Robert went in beside the shelf and went behind it as it still was swinging out and into a small 8 by 10 room. This room was a lot cleaner then the previous one and had a bunk bed, a small compost toilet, sink, hot plate, and shelves with boxes lined up and stacked from floor to ceiling. There was a vent that Chrissie could see at the very top of the wall on the left.

“How do you like my shelter Chris? I have been watching the news and decided to restock it, my dad built this in the 50’s, my mom didn’t think much of it and hoped we would never have to use it and she got her wish. Well what do you think?”

“Wow Robert I don’t know what to say, but I have to agree with your mom and hope you never have to use this it’s pretty small for a long haul. But then its better then not having a place of safety. I’ll give you that.” She could still see that gleam in his eyes and she could see he was chuckling to himself.

“Okay Robert what is it, your grinning like the Cheshire cat?”

Robert walked over and on the left side of a shelf pushed something on its side and bent over and reached his hand under the bottom shelf and she heard another click. Well the sly dog, this room is just a stooge put here to fool someone who got in here into thinking this was the shelter room. The shelf door swung open and Robert went in waving at her to follow. By the time she got over to the door he had the lights on inside.

To Chrissie’s amazement; and she didn’t think he could amaze her any more then he had with a 16 by 30 room, with five doorways running off from it. The room had a nice stove, refrigerator, shelving, a double sink, counters; a table and chairs, folding chairs were along a wall, with all kinds of hand operated kitchen equipment. The shelves were loaded with goods of all kinds and descriptions.

“Pick you chin up off the floor Chris and tell me now what you think of my little shelter?”

She really couldn’t understand why he was showing h all this as they had just met.

“I couldn’t believe the range was down here, let alone this. How in the world did you do this and how many people know about it? Will you be safe from others trying to get in here when and if something does happens? This is just simply amazing and why would you show this to me, someone you only just met? I don’t understand.”

“It was while you were shooting Chris, that’s when I realized why you looked so familiar to me.”

Robert reached into his right back pocket and slipped his well-worn leather wallet out of his pocket. He opened it and walked over a little closer so he could show Chrissie a picture. The picture was old and yellowed; in it was a family with two teenage children and a girl that looked like she was in her twenties. The older man looked somewhat like Robert and the women looked very familiar. But then she looked at the kids and the older of them.
“The older girl who is she, she is almost my spitting image? I can’t believe this, who are you?” Chrissie began to shake and Robert steered her over to a chair.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have sprung this on you like this? I don’t mean to upset you Chris. That young woman you look like is my older sister Christina, Christina Locket Duncan was her full name. She ran away with a young man she had fallen in love with that both father and mother disapproved of and we never heard from her again. It broke their hearts, they were really never the same people after that, and it seemed to take the sparkle right out of their eyes. They tried hard not to show it for our sakes but we, that’s your aunt Beth and I well we could see it. It’s kind of like she has come home after all.”

He bent down and went to his knees in front of Chrissie, tears streaming down his face. She bent forward and took him into her arms and they both cried into each other’s shoulders not caring about the time. Then he went on to tell her as they held each other that she looked like some of the other women in the family also.

End Chapter 2

sssarawolf · May 17, 2009

An Unexpected Life Chapter 3

Chapter 3
Information and gifts

Robert finally started to sniffle a bit and then started to laugh and reached his right hand into his back pocket and brought out his handkerchief, which got Chrissie to smiling. She took her arms from around him and he began to get up.

“Sorry about that Chrissie I don’t usually let my feelings get the best of me, guess I’m getting old and sentimental. Plus it’s not good for an old man like me to be down on his knees to long. I feel so blessed that we found each other, how such a thing could be just chance I sure don’t know? For you to walk into my shop instead of one of the other two in town is just shear unusual if you ask me.”

Chrissie was looking around to see where she had set her purse so she could get some Kleenex.

“My purse do you see my purse Uncle Robert?”

“Yes its right behind you on the table.”

He had a big grin on his face because he noticed she had called him Uncle Robert even if it should have been Great Uncle Robert. Chrissie wiped her eyes and blew her nose and smiled up at Robert. To know she wasn’t alone anymore seemed to lift a great weight off her shoulders. An Uncle she had an uncle and that meant she also had cousins. Robert spoke up again, “Chris what happened to your parents and your grandparents?”

She went on to tell him how she had gotten to meet her grandmother once before she passed away and how her parents had passed on years ago leaving her an orphan. While she was at it she went ahead and told him of her ex-husband and the mess she was not long ago. Roberts frown deepened when he heard about Nick and what he had done to Chrissie.
“But I am fine now Uncle Robert, that’s all water under the bridge. It took me a while but I now look forward to each day.” She then changed the subject. “Uncle Robert how many children did you have? Here I thought I was a complete orphan with no living family at all and now I have you and your family.”

“Lizzie and I had three children two boys and a girl, Robert Jr., Henry and Louise. And they all live in the area so you will be able to meet them all. I lost my sweet Lizzie five years ago to cancer.”

“Oh Robert I am so sorry to hear you lost your wife.”

“It’s okay Chris I miss her but I have come to terms with it, being able to see the kids and grandkids once in a while helps with some of the loneliness.”

Chrissie was confused about something and he could see it in her eyes.

“I see you have a question Chris; out with it what do you want to ask?”

Chris looked up into Roberts face trying to decide how to ask her question.

“Uncle Robert I didn’t see anyone else in the store, you said this place was your fathers before you, ah grandfathers.” Boy did that sound strange to her. “Is it that one of your sons or your daughter is just off today because I would assume you are going to pass your gun shop down to one of my cousins?”

Robert hung his head for a few seconds, boy Chrissie hoped she hadn’t hurt his feelings or dragged up something bad.

“I hope I didn’t offend you Robert?”

“No it’s not that Chris, this is something else I have already come to grips with; none of my children wanted to learn the business. They all went their own ways in life; in fact I am not going to be open much longer. I am going to sell the place next year and retire. I have been going to retire for the last three years and just kept putting it off. I thought I would just be lost without the old place. But I have everything in the works now to go ahead and sell and maybe just fix guns out of my shop at home and have done with it. I won’t be hurting any, the business has been good to me and I can’t say my expenses have been a whole lot these last few years.”

“I’m sorry to hear the business won’t stay in the family for another generation Uncle Robert. But it looks like you did well and I hope I didn’t put my foot in my mouth. After all we just met.”

“Chris I had been praying for years that some how some way I would find my sisters family before I left this life. I feel just as close to you as I do to my children how couldn’t I, even though we have just met. I loved my sister dearly and now that love is transferred to you.”

“Thank you Uncle Robert, thank you.”

Tears continued to run down her face as she reached up to wipe them away.

“Now Chris lets head back to the firing range and pick up that new pistol of yours along with a cleaning kit and anything else you may need for it.”

“Okay and I will write a check for the first payment, sorry I can’t pay it all at one time, I have been trying to pace myself to see what I have and can spend.”

They continued their walk back to the range and Robert relocked all his secret latches behind them.

“About that Chris, there will be no reason to write me a check for anything. The pistol is a gift and I have a few more to add to that one. My kids may want a few more things but they mostly have what they want. This shop is also partly my sister’s inheritance, so that means it’s yours to. Beth my other sister had no children and passed away several years ago. You might as well start now with a few coudos from the place. Plus tell me what a few of your hopes and dreams are?”

“Oh Robert I don’t know if I can do that, I haven’t been around to help with the shop in any way. Won’t your kids just think I’m an interloper?”

“Don’t you worry about it, that’s between my kids and me. If they really cared about the business they would have been here helping and ready to take over from me. I would have retired years ago if even one of them had been interested. No all their joys are into getting the next toy and the biggest house. So again don’t you worry about it. Now while we’re picking out a few things I want you to have, you can tell me about your place.”

So Chrissie went on to tell Robert all about her little farm and her odd collection of animals and her dreams for her place. She explained how she had come to her decisions about the farm and how after her divorce the way she was managing to feed her animals. Plus, how she had come up with the idea to get some of her animals in the first place.

“Hate to say it but your ex-husband was an idiot with a capital I.”
Robert I agree with you whole heartedly,” and she laughed as she said it.

She realized she was completely over Nick and boy did it feel good. On ward girl, she thought to herself.

Robert led her back to the range where they picked up her new pistol, she still felt funny about it being given to her. But she didn’t continue to object because she knew if she did she would hurt Robert’s feelings if she kept it up. Robert had her pull her truck around back to make it easier to give her a few things. She hadn’t been to the feed store yet and her groceries were on the seat and in a few in the bed of the truck along with her Goodwill treasures. So the trailer was still empty. It wasn’t a very big trailer 6 by 8 but it did have sides on it with narrow slates.

“How about I put a layer of boxes on the bed of the truck and on the trailer, that way the things I want to give you right now won’t take up much space and no one will be able to see what you have?”

Robert then headed for the back stock room with Chris trailing after; there was no way she was going to let him load boxes by himself. Thirty minutes later they were finished and Robert was sitting on a stool. The front bell attached at the top of the door hadn’t rang even once with a customer. The one time Robert was glad of that. He hadn’t told her want was in the boxes and knew she would be very surprised when she opened them. He also had a few more things for her but they would wait until later; except for what he had downstairs the rest were stored at his house.

“I need to be on my way Uncle Robert.”

She had looked at her watch and noticed most of the afternoon had slipped away and she needed to get to the feed store.

“The feed store won’t stay open just for me and my animals will need milked and fed. I don’t know what to say really; to find I still have family has been wonderful. You will have to come out to my place and have dinner and look around, I think you will like what I am trying to do. Besides I don’t get much company.”

She wrote out directions for the next coming Sunday and Robert told her he would be there with bells on. She leaned over and gave Robert a peck on the cheek and told him she would see him in a few days and off she went. She left him with a smile on his face, and plans in his head. She made the feed store in time and home to milk just past her normal time. No one had said a word about the cardboard boxes in her truck and trailer. The animals were very glad to see her and were all ready for the nights feeding especially her dogs and cats. The grass was still good in the pastures so the grazers were fine, that wouldn’t be the case after the snows hit. She unloaded the grain into the barrels in the barn and then the boxes to her basement she was to pooped to look in them now. She would save that for another day, but she was curious as to there contents, if only she wasn’t so dang tired, but her day wasn’t over yet. Chrissie made a New York chocolate cheese cake before bed and set it off on the counter to cool then headed for the shower and bed.

End chapter 3

sssarawolf · May 23, 2009

An Unexpected Life chapter 4

Chapter 4
Frank comes a visiting

She awoke the next morning well and happy, she looked forward to Frank coming out today. She quickly showered and made sure she took some meat out of the freezer before heading out to milk and do her chores. A couple of hours later the small beef roast was ready to pop in the oven with carrots and potatoes, and then drizzled chocolate on the cake. She spruced up the house here and there and found she couldn’t sit still and continued to fuss over her home until she heard a vehicle pull up outside and her dogs barking. Chrissie headed out of the front door and stepped out onto her covered front porch. Frank was just stepping out of his car a small older Chevy Sprint.

“Hey Frank good to see you, I’m so glad you could come.”

That’s one thing Frank had noticed yesterday she seemed to have so much confidence and she just beamed today.

“I wouldn’t have missed coming Chrissie and an invitation to a good meal is very hard to turn down.”

She was watching him as he shut his car door and he walked over to her.

“I see it now Frank all you came for was a home cooked meal,” she said with a grin.

He didn’t know what to say then and she could see it in his face and she started to laugh. That in turn made him laugh.

“Okay I can take a joke, now do we have a look see at your place or eat first?”

“Well that depends on how hungry you are Frank, you’re the company, you tell me.”

Frank thought for a few seconds and decided he was pretty darn hungry. “How about we eat first and then I can walk it off getting a tour of your place. Does that sound okay to you?”

“That sounds fine Frank I’m kinda hungry myself, we can eat, take a tour and then come back to the house for dessert.”

She was talking as she led the way up onto the porch and through the front door. She was very hungry herself in fact as she had skipped lunch. She been so excited about cooking a dinner for someone and getting all her chores done before he got there she had forgotten to eat. She had made a nice beef pot roast with onions, carrots and potatoes thrown in. For dessert she made the chocolate cheese cake, she sure hoped he liked her cooking. The cheese cake was made with the mild homemade ricotta cheese she had made from the left over whey two days ago when she made the mozzarella cheese. She had been making a few different kinds of cheeses for about 2 months now, goat cheese that is. She was looking forward to the mini cow calving in the spring, she had been Chrissie’s last animal from the animal shelter via the police. They had picked the poor little cow up pretty much starved in the back yard of an older lady that had passed away, and hadn’t been found until 2 weeks later. Chrissie had named the little mini jersey Dot. She could hardly wait to show her menagerie off.

As they walked through the living room Frank could smell the food, and he could hardly believe it, he smelled home baked bread. She led him to her small dining room that was in-between the living room and kitchen. It had a column on each side of the entry way in between the dining room and living on the left and the right of the six foot entry. Frank saw as they went through that there was a square wood stove for heating in the left corner of the living room that would heat the other rooms on the first floor. Then he saw the table, it wasn’t what you would call real frilly feminine but was very nice. The table cloth seemed to be a quilt of some kind; he wasn’t up on those kinds of things.

“Sure smells good Chris.”

“I hope you like the taste as well as you do the smell, you go ahead and sit down there in that chair, she pointed to the chair at the head of the table, and I will bring the food to the table, just give me a few minutes.”

He sat and watched her continue on into the kitchen. Where he was sitting he could look right into the kitchen, she did disappear around the corner of the counter and he could hear the oven door being opened and closed. The oven door hinges squeaked a bit. He could see the refrigerator on the left side of the kitchen and the first few inches of a wood cook stove. Wow he hadn’t seen one of those in ages, the last one he had seen was sitting in his grand parents large shed aka garage. He looked down at the table; things like jelly and butter were already on the table. She had preset most of the things needed for the meal before he got there. He gave a quick look around the dining room to his right a few feet away was a large bay window with light yellow and white curtains that were open and a large pot of greens leaved plants. No flowers in it that seemed odd, women always liked flowers he thought. The floor under the table was hard wood and the pictures on the walls were landscapes.

He could hear different noises as she worked in the kitchen and soon she was coming in with a big platter of food. It was the kind of platter he was used to seeing at Thanksgiving at his parents when he was young. As she set it down on the table and went back to the kitchen he could see it was a roast and around was piled baked onions, carrots and potatoes. He felt like he was drooling, he wiped off his mouth with his right hand just in case. The next thing she brought in was a basket full of rolls covered with a towel.

“What would you like to drink Frank? I have goats milk, herb teas, lemonade and water, sorry I’m not a coffee drinker I never could get used to the taste.”

“Lemonade would be fine.”

“Okay I will be right back.”

She headed straight for the refrigerator and took out a clear glass pitcher with the lemonade in it. She carried it in and poured them each a glass full and then sat down in the chair opposite him at the other side of the rectangular table. She looked him straight in the eyes and asked.

“Do you mind if we say a Blessing on our meal?

“Oh not at all Chris go ahead.”

She was smiling now, she thought she could trip him up by asking him to say the Blessing, but she wouldn’t do that to him at least not yet. After she said the Blessing she said, “go ahead and serve yourself Frank and take as much as you want I made a big roast. I didn’t know what kind of appetite you had and didn’t want to have you leave the table hungry.” Frank picked up the large knife and prepared to cut into the roast beef, cut wasn’t the word there was no need for the knife the roast was so tender he could just push off chucks. He put a couple chucks of meat on his plate along with two halves of potato, some carrots and a couple of the small baked onions. Then Chrissie went ahead and got her food and picked up the ketchup bottle that was her favorite condiment with beef roast. Frank then seemed to feel free to do the same; he should have known if it was on the table she wouldn’t have felt insulted if he used it on his meat. This was the best meal he had eaten in ages, being a bachelor and either eating out or doing his own cooking didn’t put a candle to how this tasted.

As they ate Chrissie asked a few questions and he did the same. She found out his parents were retired and living in Florida and that he had been raised right down in the valley. He had one brother and two sisters but none of them lived in the area. His brother was in Texas with his wife and two kids and both his sisters lived in California with their families. He found out she was an orphan and just what had caused the separation and divorce with Nick and then finding her long lost Great Uncle down in town. That really shocked him as he had bought his guns and ammunition from Robert Duncan all his adult life.

“Really Chris and you just found this out this week?

“Yes just a couple days ago and here I thought I had no family at all left.”

Tears wee running down her cheeks and Frank didn’t know if he had up set her or not.

“Sorry Frank just a touchy subject with me right now I guess, anyway why don’t we go out and start your tour of the place, it’s not much but it’s mine. Let me throw this food into a container and I will be right with you.”

Yeah that’s a good idea if I keep eating you will have to roll me out of here.”

They departed the house after she put the meat and vegetables away; the rest of the stuff on the table would wait. It would be an hour or so yet before it was time to milk the goats again and do the evening feeding so she had plenty of time to show Frank around.

Frank was amazed at her animals and the amount of things she said she had gotten accomplished in the last couple of years. He could see new cross fencing and newly painted outbuildings and what looked like several large stacks of pallets, bricks, concrete block, more fencing material, t-posts, and lumber stacked not far from her barn. One building was in the process of being built; more of a lean to type but it looked like she had framed it to be closed. “What’s this one going to be,” he was walking over to it, it was about 100 feet from where they were and he wanted to get a better look at it.

“That’s going to be Dots shelter and her off spring when it comes. I made it bigger in case I end up with any more cattle or cows. I will also but up a three-sided lean-to out in the middle of the field for shelter.”

The shelter she had pretty well done was a good 20 by 10.

“I have been working on this one pretty hard since winter is so close. I don’t want Dot to have to be out in the snow and wind; I don’t think she will be strong enough to make it through any kind of winter. But the winters are not mild up here so she has to be inside as much as possible”

Frank looked up and saw the little cow grazing out in the field; he had never seen a miniature cow before. Chrissie went over to the fence and called it; and it looked up but went back to grazing. “I know how to get her over here.”

Chrissie ran over to the barn for a cup full of grain she put in a bucket. She came back over to the fence and rattled the bucket and called the cow Dot at the same time. Trying to get the cow used to her name. The rattling bucket got the cows attention; she started to trot right over to where Chrissie put the bucket down on the cow’s side of the fence. Dot finished the grain in no time and started to nudge the bucket looking for more. Chrissie reached over and picked the bucket up so she could take it back to the barn. The tour had been all most an hour already. She decided it was time to go back to the house for dessert.

“Why don’t we go get our dessert Frank I’m ready for it how about you?”
“Sure I’m ready for dessert to lead the way Chris.”

Chrissie dropped the bucket back off at the barn and they went in and had their dessert. Frank ate two large pieces of chocolate cheese cake. He had never tasted anything quite like it.

“You made this Chris? It doesn’t really taste like cream cheese what is it?
“That’s homemade ricotta cheese that I made the other day from the left over whey when I made cheese. Glad you like it.”

“You make your own cheese to; you really have been learning a lot of new things. I didn’t know anyone still did things like that.”

“Well I’m trying to learn to be more self-sufficient and learn things that can be helpful no matter what happens in the world. I don’t see things in the world as going well and I think I need to prepare for it”

She knew she was putting herself out there with this but she needed to know just what kind of man Frank was. This would either have him running like a scared rabbit or show what kind of sense he had. Frank held her eyes with his.

“I think what you’re doing is just spectacular Chrissie, and to learn new things on top of all that’s happened to you and the work here has my head spinning. Taking on new animals, building sheds and out buildings by yourself is amazing. I have to admit I didn’t think I could do something like this by myself I thought it was impossible but you sure have changed my mind. Also you telling me these things when you didn’t have to was a big step. It’s not like we have known each other very long and I won’t spread it around so you don’t have to ask me to keep quiet about it. Because if that’s how you think I know you must have food storage and other preparation items for times of scarcity, that only makes sense. I have a few things myself, not as much as I would like but I can’t fit much into my apartment and the little storage shed I have.”

“So you don’t think I am crazy Frank, that’s a relief I thought most people would think I had gone off the deep end.”

Frank was smiling at her and then took both her hands into his, leaned over and gave her kiss, their arms and hands going around each other’s backs. They parted after a few seconds and Chrissie looked up into his eyes.
Frank stammered at first and his face turned a nice shade of red.

“Ahhh sorry Chrissie I didn’t plan on doing that I hope I wasn’t to forward. I would hate to spoil things between us at this point?”

“No Frank it’s alright, I thought it was very nice and you haven’t spoiled anything. Okay now let’s change the subject and finish the tour.”

They went back outside hand in hand to her enlarged chicken coop and then she took him off into one of the fields behind the barn that had the biggest pond. She told him about how she planned to fix the old wind mill and other dreams for her place. Soon enough it was getting dark and time for Frank to go home. They walked over to his car, and Frank turned around to face Chrissie. Chrissie stepped forward and gave him a hug; stepping back she saw there was a smile on his face.

“Thank you for coming up Frank I hope you enjoyed you meal and the company.”

“I sure did Chrissie that was the best meal I have had in a long time. And as for your company it was wonderful. Do you mind if I call you Chris?”

“That’s fine with me Frank I don’t mind at all.”

Frank wanted to give her another kiss but instead he said his goodbyes got in his car and waved out the window as he pulled out of the drive way and gave a honk on his horn. Chrissie stood there smiling for awhile then shook her head and went into the house to change for chores.

End chapter 4

sssarawolf · May 27, 2009

An Unexpected Life chapter 5

Chapter 5
Robert’s joy

Robert was very pleased with himself; he even did a little jig just before he unlocked the door to his work shop. He was still just a little in shock with having his sister’s granddaughter come into his shop and finding out just who she was. Then to find on top all of it off she was someone who appreciated hard work and preparing for come what may in the world, was an added bonus. He looked around his shop there was a place for everything and everything in its place. He was a very organized man and unknown to his children there was a secret basement underneath his work shop. His wife had helped him put up shelves and lug stuff down into it, how he missed her. He had always figured he would be the first to go, well before her, but life brings its own surprises. He was going to go up for dinner to Chrissie’s in a few days and wanted to bring a few things with him he thought Chrissie would need in the future. He walked back to his shelving he kept the solvents on reached to the right of the shelving unit and slightly behind and flipped a small lever. He then pulled the shelving forward and there was a six foot space behind it, another lever and he could slide a trap door open with a nice set of stairs leading down to his basement storage rooms. He made sure he built the stairs so they weren’t very steep, he didn’t want his wife or himself taking a fall as they got older. He flipped the light switch as he started down the steps out of habit and went straight to the back of the first room.

This was his special library, he kept a few in his living room book case yes but these down here were his oldest and most special. He had books on all subjects along with all his gun smith books. Making black powder guns, Kentucky long rifle, pistols even a book on making the six barrel pistol from early guns history. The making of bows, arrows, tepees, glue from hooves, brain tanning, building traps and snares, lean-to’s, moccasins, spinning, weaving, growing flax, care of animals, gardening, pruning, herbs and medicinal herbs, finding wild plants to use and eat. The whole set of Foxfire books along with the few Foxfire magazines that had been put out. Back to basics, Home remedies, Root Cellaring, Cooking on a wood stove, Seed sowing and saving, making farm implements, Fix it yourself, Building a small forge, Black smiting, Building a log cabin and furniture, The family milk cow, Carla Emery’s Encyclopedia of country living, one of the first one’s and a new revised and added to addition, Colonial cook books, canning persevering, preserving meats the old way, to name just a few. Almost all of the books he had two or three of each. He began by taking a tote out of the next room where they were stacked and went through his book shelves taking one of everything and putting them in a tote and before he knew it he had three totes full.

He carried them upstairs and had to take a break, these totes with books didn’t seem this heavy before. Gee whiz getting old is the pits. Robert’s children had the opportunity to learn from him and he tried to pass along knowledge and information. On birthdays he gave camping equipment, how to books and many times he saw the look on their faces when they thought he wasn’t looking as they looked at their spouses or the grand kids their parents. They had a token of what they should have if the world went tail up but he knew buried in their brains was his and his wife’s teachings and they knew how to shoot. If things went to crap they would either survive or not but he hoped it was the, would survive part. Robert just didn’t think things were going to hold together in the country, he knew the bubble was going to burst and it was when not if. Okay on to the storage room, enough lully gagging around. Ten minutes later and three trips with several 5-gallon canisters and he was taking another break and that was with using his dolly. It took him all of the evening and the next to get what he wanted to give to Chrissie upstairs to the main shop. The shop was full he only had an isle to walk down, he made sure he found the totes with tools, parts solvents and thanks to his lovely wife totes full of sewing needs, first aid and medical supplies that had things in them with a woman’s needs in mind also. On the evenings of Friday and Saturday he loaded it all unto his trailer and into the bed of his pickup, he didn’t have to worry about covering anything as the trailer was all enclosed and the pickup had its shell on. He went to sleep that night all tuckered out but with a smile on his face.

Chrissie was pretty tired out herself, she had taken delivery of a one week old black and white Royal yak heifer on Thursday and keeping it bottle fed on calf replacement was something that took getting used to. She had to be up a couple times during the night, she had been lucky in they brought her the bottles so she didn’t have to run down to the farm store. The mother had died the day before and the calf had been given to the Animal society and they transferred the calf to Chrissie. They gave the calf replacement and all equipment to Chrissie. The yak calf really didn’t like the calf replacement and would only drink about half, so Chrissie switched to goats milk just to see how it liked it and the calf sucked it right down with no problem. So on Saturday it was doing much better with the switch; but bawled when she left it in the barn stall all alone. After the last feeding at 4 am early Sunday morning she brought the little heifer over to the goat side and it laid down among the goats. Well I’ll be darn who’d have thought. Chrissie went back to bed and got up an hour later then usual that morning. So after chores and a shower she took the meat and got it ready; good thing she had taken the meat out of the freezer the night before. She coated it with corn flour and threw it in the oven to cook. It was a nice venison roast with bacon covering it along with carrots and potatoes and turned the heat down so it would cook nice and slow and be tender. She went ahead and made a chocolate hot water cake for desert and frosted it with chocolate icing. She hadn’t gotten her chores done in time to go to Church so she read her scriptures and had her prayers.

The morning feeding had gone well with the baby yak and the goats didn’t seem to mind it being around. Chrissie was going to have to give it a name the little yak already knew who fed her and ran up to Chrissie as Chrissie stepped into the goat yard. The baby butted and bumped the bottle; all right the name came to her Buttercup. “How ya doing Buttercup, hungry little thing aren’t you. She still needed to look up on the internet on the care of yaks but so far she hadn’t had the time.

She managed to get the late afternoon chores finished just as Robert drove up into her driveway. Here she thought he was just bringing himself to a home cooked dinner and here he was driving in an older Ford pickup with a trailer attached. She was standing there in her grubby farm clothes when he parked not far from her and stepped down out of the truck. “Hello Robert looks like you brought the store.”

“Hello Chris well I brought a few things yes,” he said with a grain on his face.

“A few things!” Chrissie happened to look down at herself. Oh gosh Uncle Robert sorry I haven’t had time to change I just finished the chores, come on in while I run upstairs and change my clothes.”

“No problem my girl lead the way.”

After Chrissie led the way into the house she told him to make himself comfortable and she ran upstairs to wash up and change, she felt bad for not being ready and having to leave him to his own company. While Chrissie was busy upstairs Robert looked around the down stairs rooms. He was also tantalized by the wonderful smells coming from the kitchen. He did notice the dining room table was already set and ready for dinner. He wandered through the kitchen and found two doors and opened a door on the back right kitchen wall and thought, wow what a well stocked pantry. It looked like it had been a large closet and supply room but Chris had turned it into a pantry. He stepped back out and went to the other door, this one opened up unto a 10 foot by 14 foot back porch. The whole front had large windows with shelving under that held empty pots and large rectangular plant holders. Hanging above the shelves were all kinds of drying bundles of herbs hanging upside down. There was a nice size table on the opposite side of the porch and what looked like a few in process projects. Beside that was another large shelving unit full of baskets and boxes and there was also a double sink.

He turned back into the kitchen and made his way back to the living room and took a seat on the sofa, picking up a magazine called Mother Earth News. He thumbed through it and thought it was a pretty good magazine, more information in it then just farming. He had just started to read an article on Keeping Bees when Chris came downstairs. She had changed into clean jeans with a brown t shirt and a green and brown flannel shirt over that. He had noticed it wasn’t what you would call over warm in her house, but he found it comfortable maybe that’s why he hadn’t had to slip off his long sleeve shirt.

As Chrissie neared the bottom of the stairs she said. “Sorry to take so long Robert, but if you found something to read why don’t you go ahead and read it since it will take me a few more minutes to get the food on the table.”
“Okay don’t mind if I do, but you sure you don’t want some help, I’m pretty handy in the kitchen?”

“No help necessary I don’t want you to have to work for your supper just read away, it won’t take me long.”

With that she headed off to the kitchen, Robert was so engrossed in the magazine article and what seemed like just a few minutes later Chrissie was standing in front of the dining room telling him it was all ready. It didn’t take very long for them both to finish their meals and Chrissie got up and brought them both out a piece of cake. “If I eat like this to many times Chris you would have to roll me out of this room?”

Chrissie didn’t think he ate very much at all and to her he was pretty thin as it was. “Well I think you could use a few more pounds on you Robert and I doubt you’re the kind that gains very much weight ever.”

He chuckled, “you found me out Chris, that very thing used to drive my wife up a wall, and no matter how much I ate I didn’t gain any weight. She said all she had to do is look at food and she gained five pounds.” They both had a good laugh and Chrissie got up and started to take the food dishes to the kitchen. Robert joined her this time and helped clear the table and in no time the dishes were in the sink and the food put away.

Chris looked into Robert’s eyes. “Now I am dying to know what you brought in the trailer and truck, you can’t leave me wondering any longer.”
“You can’t can you,” he laughed, “well all right lets go outside.”

It was starting t get dark when they went outside, as they went down the steps he explained the trailer was staying, as far as he was concerned it was now hers. He slipped the paper work for it out of his back pocket and handed them to her. Chrissie saw as she opened the papers that the trailer was already made out to her. Sold to her for the sum of $1.00, all she had to do is sign on the dotted line.

“Uncle Robert you sure you can do this I mean this is so expensive an enclosed trailer along with everything you gave me the other day and what you have for me now?”

Tears were glistening in Chrissie’s eyes threatening to spill over.

“Yep I can do this I have another trailer just like this one, this one was just an extra I had hanging around. Now it can hang around your place instead of mine. Lets get this opened up and get things taken in before it gets to dark on us; what do you say?”

Chrissie was smiling and nodded her head and they headed for the back of the trailer. Chrissie gasped as Robert opened it up and she saw it was packed to the gills. He had packed it so organized there wasn’t a spare spot in the whole trailer. Robert reached up and took a top plastic container and handed it to Chrissie, Chrissie then hauled it up the stairs and into the house depositing it in the living room. On her way out she passed Robert on the front porch. She hoped Robert was not overdoing it; she sped up and tried to make sure that she hauled more containers then he did. Chrissie called a five minute break when they were half finished because she could tell that Robert was tiring. Twenty minutes later the trailer was empty and there were stacks of containers and boxes all over her living room. She went into the kitchen, and poured Robert a nice big glass of lemonade. It took Robert a few minutes to recuperate but soon was rested and telling Chrissie they best get this stuff off the back of the truck; it was about time he headed for home.

“We should have just unloaded the back of the truck first and I could’ve done the trailer tomorrow. But first let me open a couple of these to see what kind of treasure you have brought me.”

“Okay Chrissie just a couple and no Chris I couldn’t have you doing the trailer by yourself you do enough of that and I really enjoy helping, now let’s get with it so we can get it done and I can get my butt home; I don’t want to turn into a pumpkin you know,” he said with a smile. They went out and he backed the trailer up beside the right side of the house and unhooked it and pulled back to the front. It was full dark by the time they finished unloading the truck but Chris had made sure they took a few breaks so that they didn’t tire Robert out too much.

“I know one thing Chris I will sleep well tonight, now I best get going and thank you for that marvelous dinner; that is the best I have had for quite some time.” Robert stepped over and gave Chris a kiss on the cheek and she gave him a big hug and they said their good nights. As Robert pulled away from the house he honked his horn and Chris saw in the moonlight his hand out the window waving goodbye. As Chris turned she thought what in the world am I going to do with that man he has been kind to a fault. She went around the farm making sure all the animals were bedded down for the night and fed the young yak her evening bottle. Chrissie was so tired she didn’t even do the dinner dishes but showered and went to bed. Her two dogs were curled up on their rugs on the front porch with one ear always listening for predators.

End chapter 5

sssarawolf · May 28, 2009

An Unexpected Life chapter 6

Chapter 6
Newly acquired and creeps

During the night a storm came upon the small farm and Chris tossed and turned as lightning flashed across the sky and flashed brightly through her windows disturbing her sleep, something about the storm was very different and when morning came she felt sluggish and tired. She had not set the clock for two am to feed the yak and hoped she was all right. Chris quickly dressed and went about her morning chores getting the yak’s bottle ready first and heading out for the goat barn. She heard lots of noise from the goats and the little girl yak grunting and snorting, the little black and white creature came running at her as soon as Chris came around the corner of the barn.

“Sorry Buttercup I know you must be awful hungry.” She scratched the little yak behind its ears as it nursed on the bottle draining it quickly. Chris then got going with the milking of her goats and all the other chores and feeding of the morning. She was really hungry herself by the time she got back to the house for her own breakfast. After breakfast she began hauling the boxes and containers down into the basement; she figured it was going to take her quite a few nights to go through all of them and figure out where everything would be stored. She felt like a kid in a candy store there were so many wonderful things. She had never dreamed that she would actually have some of these things so soon; she figured it would be a few years accumulating what Robert had brought her in one evening. After two hours of hauling boxes and containers it was time for a break and a shower. She had just gotten herself dried when the phone rang; she quickly threw on a bathrobe and ran down to the living room to answer the phone.

It was the animal shelter and they wanted to know if she could take a mule, and if they could bring it right over? She told them sure bring it on over and I will be ready, now one of my things to do will be to look up how to take care of mules tonight on the Internet. “I'm going to look like I am running a zoo soon,” talking out loud and smiling to herself.

She ran upstairs and dressed quickly realizing she would have to get the last stall ready in the barn for the mule, she sure hoped it got along with other animals. By the time she filled the floor of the stall with straw and made sure the water trough had water and some grain in the divided trough it was time to feed Buttercup again. She had just finished up with Buttercup when she heard the dogs barking and a few seconds later a vehicle pulled up next to the barn.

It was indeed the people from the animal shelter; a young man was stepping out of the pickup and waved at Chrissie as she came around the corner of the barn. She met him at the back of the animal trailer as he was unlatching the gate of the trailer. He first swung the upper door open and the mule turned and put her head out of the door; she was wearing a halter which you could snap a lead on. The mule seemed pretty calm to Chris. “She acts pretty tame do you know much about her?”

“All I know is a family was moving out of state and she was their pet so yes she should be pretty tame I would think; where do you want her?”

“I have a stall ready for her; here let me have the lead and you can be on your way.”

“There is some feed and some other things for her in the back of the truck do you want me to bring them into the barn?”

Chrissie stopped and saw the young man begin to lift some feed bags out of the back of the pickup truck. No just set them by the side of the door here and I will take them where they need to be stored.” He gave her a weird feeling; one she didn’t like.

“It's okay I will gladly take them where you need them to be I don’t mind.”

“Well then you see that shed to the left of the barn go ahead and stack them just inside the door and I will be right with you.” The mule in the meantime just stood by Chrissie’s side; looking back and forth as each of the people was speaking. When Chris continued on into the barn the mule willingly walked beside her with Chris holding onto the halter. Chris settled her in and the mule went straight for the water and Chris locked the stall gate and went to help unload the pickup. The young man was just lifting a box out of the back of the truck when Chris got there to help.

“Too late he said, I am all done and by the way call me Bill, I am the new delivery guy for the shelter so if they need any more animals brought out here I will most likely be the one delivering them.”

Chris stepped over and shook his hand and thanked him for bringing the mule out. Meanwhile he was still holding the box and couldn’t get over what a beauty this woman was; he was doing the best he could to delay having to leave. I’ll put this box on your front porch for you it has a book on mules and some other things that go with her.”

Chris said, “all right that’s great about the book, now I won’t have to look up the information on the Internet. Chris felt strange leading the way to the front porch of the house with this young man following behind her with a box. Bill didn’t mind at all she was just as beautiful walking away as she was walking towards him.

He sat the box down on a padded wooden chair on the front porch, “I guess I best be on my way or the others at the shelter will think I got lost.”

“Thank you Bill I appreciate the help I will be seeing you.” Chris felt a little strange she had found him staring at her almost the whole time she was in his sight after he had stepped out of the pickup truck. She didn’t know if she liked it or not he was okay looking but there was something odd about him that she just couldn’t put her finger on. “Aw well I best get to the rest of my chores.” Talking out loud these days was a normal for her.

As she went about the rest of the days chores all the animals seemed to be acting a little different and there was a strange smell in the air that must have been left over from the storm last night. It was almost as if the air was somehow fresher and cleaner or some how charged, even cleaner than a storm usually left the air. As she got on with her day she didn’t think any more of it, there was the mule to be checked on and the chicken coop cleaned which meant for a busier day than usual. She also wanted to get everything ready for her butchering this coming weekend. She hadn’t purchased many x-rock meat birds but about a dozen would be enough for her and one of her three turkeys. She was keeping a male and female turkey to see if she could hatch some of their eggs next spring, the same for her two buff geese. This was going to be a very busy farm this coming spring and she smiled to herself with anticipation. She was hoping to be able to sell some of the turkey babies and young chicks and goslings next spring a long with some sheep and young goats if at all possible to supplement her meager bank account. If she couldn’t get going with some money being made from the farm she was going to have to find a job. She wasn’t looking forward to that prospect because the farm was a lot of work as it was and she knew she would have to give up some of her animals if she had to go work off the farm.

As she headed up her front porch steps to go in and grab a bite for lunch she heard her phone ringing and hurried inside.

“Oh hello Frank, yes I’m doing just fine I was just coming in for some lunch.

“I was wondering if you were coming into town in a day are two Chris?”

“No I hadn’t planned on coming in for a few days yet I don’t come in until I am lower on my supplies; the price of gas has cut down my running to town quite a bit.”

“Well then I will just have to come up there; is tomorrow at noon all right? Another thing don’t make lunch I am bringing lunch to you.”

“That is just fine Frank I’ll see you at lunchtime tomorrow than, take care.”

“By Chris see you tomorrow.”

“Goodbye Frank.”

That brought a smile to Chris’s face as she hung up the phone and headed for the kitchen. Wow someone bringing lunch to her that was so thoughtful. After she had made herself a quick sandwich and got a drink the afternoon projects and chores seemed to go by faster than usual. Before she knew it; it was time to do the evening milking and feeding and it was time for her to make herself some supper. All she did is warm herself up some leftovers and her and the dogs had a quiet dinner together. After she finished washing the dishes and set some more milk up with rennet to make cheese it was time to go give Buttercup her last feeding for the night.

She got a very restful night’s sleep and was up even earlier than usual the following morning. It was a crisp cool morning with the frost still on the grass and the last of the fall flowers. Seeing the frost on the ferns in the flower garden in front of the house always reminded her of her mother. She had been told that her grandmother had looked out of the window after the birth of her baby girl; on a cold clear November morning and saw the frost on the ferns and so named her baby girl Icie Fern. It seemed to be fitting as she had been told her great great grandmother was Cherokee. She laughed at herself, “Well duh Chris just ask Uncle Robert about the family.”
She giggled at herself and went about her morning getting dressed and going out for early chores before getting herself some breakfast. She made sure she stopped working about 11:00 AM to go in and get cleaned up and change out of her grubby clothes. She didn’t want Frank to turn up and have her all dirty and grubby looking at least not yet. It was a good thing she had gone in when she did because Frank pulled into the driveway at 11:45. She heard her dogs barking and knew it had to be Frank; they always barked when someone pulled into the top of the driveway they were better than the doorbell anytime. She made herself stand in the living room and count to ten slowly; she didn’t want him to think that she was that eager for his company. She heard his footsteps coming across the porch and saw his shadow at the window of the door as he knocked. She took a deep breath walked across the living room and opened the door. He smiled at her as she opened the door and said, “good afternoon Chris behold Greeks bearing gifts.”
She smiled in return and told him to come in. She saw he had shifted both bags he was carrying to one side; one in his left hand and one under his left arm. “Go ahead and take those to the kitchen Frank, she closed the door and followed Frank to the kitchen. He sat them on the counter and began taking out plastic containers and what looked like small boxes. The smell coming from them reminded her that she was indeed very hungry and boy did it smell good. “Frank that smells delicious, this was so thoughtful of you.”
“I am glad you like the smell Chris but I think you will like the food even more even though I don’t think it can compare with your cooking.”

Chris was getting two plates out of the cupboard and silverware out of the drawer. Frank asked where the glasses were and took two down out of the cupboard after Chris pointed towards it. He poured them two glasses of water and took them to the small kitchen table. Both he and Chris began opening the containers and boxes of food, Chris saw they had barbecued spareribs, mashed potatoes, brown gravy, green beans, corn on the cob, coleslaw and last but not least strawberry pie. He had even brought whipped cream not the fake stuff but real whipped cream for the pie. “My goodness Frank you’re going to have to roll us out of the kitchen when we're finished. That brought a smile to his face it seemed to him like he was smiling a lot more these days.

“I don’t know about you Chris but I’m hungry I had to smell this all the way up here and I just seemed to get hungrier and hungrier.”

When they both decided they were full; half of the food was still sitting on the counter. “It looks like you will be taking some food back home with you Frank.”

“Oh no this is all yours at least now you won’t have to cook for a couple of days, I knew this would be too much for just one lunch even for the both of us, how is that for planning ahead?”

“Thank you Frank but are you sure you won’t take some home with you?”
“Nope that’s fine Chris I have plenty of my own leftovers at home, now if I can get myself up out of this chair I’ll help you clean up.”

With the two of them they had the kitchen cleaned up and the food into the refrigerator no time. “Okay Chris what’s next I am ready to help with any projects you have going?’

Frank could see the surprised look on Chris’s face.

“Well what did you think I was going to do? Stand around and watch you work?”

At first Chris was at a loss for words then a smile grew on her face and she knew just what to do and how to have Frank help her this afternoon.

“All right Frank if your game I know just what we can do for the afternoon project, follow me.”

She turned and led the way out of the house with Frank following. She stopped not far from the barn where she had many old pallets and stacks of wood. Frank found out that he had his work cut out for him. They started hauling pellets about 50 feet from the barn where Chris had already poured a foundation for a new very large animal shed. By the time it was time to do the afternoon feeding of Buttercup they had the shed all framed in and by 5:00 PM one row of pallets fitted and nailed in place along the back of the new shed. He helped with the evening chores and they went in to eat. Frank carried the two enclosed plastic containers of fresh goat’s milk over to the kitchen counter.

“It looks like you’re going to be eating some of these leftovers after all Frank that’s if you don’t mind eating the same thing tonight that we had for lunch?”
“Man Chris I’m so hungry I don’t care what we have to eat I could eat a horse and chase the driver.”

“Let’s wash up first Frank come on I have the small sink on the back porch that I use for quick cleanups, double as my milk and cheese room, do my plantings and some of my hobbies.” Frank saw the small refrigerator on the back porch and slipped the two gallon containers of fresh milk into it
It didn’t take long to warm up the food and finish their quick dinner. As Chris ate her dinner and watched Frank she mused, this must be what it’s like to have a companion that enjoys working with you. And Frank was thinking; I just love having someone to work with and watching Chris work is a double bonus.

They finished their meal with a glass of warm raspberry leaf tea feeling rested and did a little small talk and headed back outside. Just before they stepped out of the front door Chris opened a medium cupboard to the left of the front door and scooped out some dog food for each of the dogs. Before it was time for Frank to leave they had nailed up two more rows of pallets.
Dusk was upon them when Chris looked at her watch and said we had better go feed Buttercup one of my new additions; I will be right back with her bottle and off she went towards the house. He waited for her and then he went with Chris to feed Buttercup. As Chris stood feeding Buttercup and scratching her behind the ears Frank was trying to decide what Buttercup was.

“You have me Chris just what kind of animal is Buttercup?”

“Buttercup is a yak I have only had her about a week now and she isn’t my only addition I received the newest one yesterday. Buttercup is done eating so let’s go have a look at my new animal.”

Frank had noticed the majority of the animals that Chris ended up with were female. He didn’t know how that was going to work out in the end.
They walked into the barn and Chris lit a hurricane lantern she had hanging on a nail just inside the left hand side of the door. Frank could see the part of barn the belonged to the goats and he knew the other side was the sheep’s area.. He also knew the left corner of this small barn was the chicken coop. This area was a third of this side of the barn and worked well for a stall. As they walked over to the animal Frank could see a donkey in the corner. As Chris held up the lantern Frank could see that the animal looked well cared for. It put its head over the top board as if awaiting a good petting which is what it was used to. The animal had already gotten a good smell of Chris and knew Chris was a friend but when Frank held up his hand to give the donkey a scratch it backed off. Chris told him to hold his hand up by the board and let the animal smell him just like you would a dog. The donkey stepped back towards Frank and smelled his hand and down the arm of his shirt. And then the animal allowed Frank to give her a scratch on her forehead and behind her ears.

“She makes friends easy it seems,” Chris was grinning at Frank.

“What’s the donkey’s name Chris?”

“Would you believe they named her Rhoda of all things? Wait you said donkey. I thought it was a mule, even the Animal Shelter people told me it was a mule. I thought it looked like a pretty small mule but I am no expert. Well the jokes been on all of us, she said with a laugh. I really should have known better because she is pregnant from the looks of her and mules are sterile.”

“Yes that’s pretty good Chris,” he was laughing also. Frank turned and was looking outside and noticed how dark it had gotten since they had been in the barn. “Well Chris I’ve really enjoyed myself today, but it looks like I best be going I have to get up early for work tomorrow. I hope we can do this again soon.”

As the two of them turned and walked out of the barn Chris slipped her hand into his and still carrying the lantern walked him to his small car. As they stood by his car Chris looked up into his eyes she felt like she could get lost in those beautiful brown eyes. He bent down and gave her a light kiss on the lips; his fingers of his right hand under her chin.

“Chris I have this Saturday off would you mind if I came up and we would do this again?”

“You sure you wouldn’t mind a coming up here and working on another of my projects?”

“No I sure wouldn’t Chris and besides we need to finish this shed we have started before winter gets here and anything else that you need done. Besides work like this actually relaxes me, just call me a little strange but I have always been like this and so was my father.”

“Then I will be expecting you bright and early Saturday morning and Frank you asked for it; there is plenty to be done around here and I feel like I am always behind and winter will be a here before I know it.”

“Saturday it is then,” he gave her another quick kiss turned and got into his car. On his way out of the driveway he honked his horn and waved out of the window. She had to laugh at that one for that; for she realized it had been the same thing her uncle Robert had done as he left. Both of the dogs were sitting behind her and she gave each of them a little attention before she went into the house. Just as the dogs were settling down on their rugs they both sat up quickly and sniffed at the air. They smelled something strange in the air but just as quickly as it had come it was gone and they settled back down and went to sleep.

One of the projects Frank ended up helping with was getting the old windmill going on the place to pump water into the large water tank, some of the piping was still in place and would still feed water to the barn. Chrissie rented a trencher and Frank helped to trench to the other areas of the farm she would need water. They laid black poly pipe and the water on demand fixtures along with a couple old fashion hand pumps she had picked up at a farm auction. She also bought two brand new sink hand pumps for the house; for the kitchen and the back porch. Then sheds were built around the outside hand pumps and the buildings insulated. They were big enough that parts and other things could be stored in them also.

In winter the buckets of water used to prime them would have to be kept on the back porch because they would most likely still freeze in the pump sheds. That’s what most modern people didn’t know you just cant walk up to an old hand pump and start pumping and expect to get water. Pumps have to be primed with some water first. That means pour water in the wider pipe on your pump for the gasket to get wet and to get suction. Always make sure you remember to put water in your bucket before you stop pumping again.

End chapter 6

sssarawolf · Jun 1, 2009

An Unexpected Life Chapter 7

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Chapter 7
Surprise lurking in the night

The next night around midnight another storm blew in; the thunder boomed across the mountains and lightening again flashed through the sky. Chris woke with a start as a loud boom rattled the windows. She had checked the weather report before going to bed and this storm had not been predicted. All of a sudden the dogs began howling: Chris quickly slipped on her sweat pants and sweatshirt and flipped on the light in her bedroom or at least she tried to flip on the light. “Oh gads what a time for the electricity to be out,” and she went back to her night stand and picked up her flashlight: at least it worked. She loved these big mag-light flash lights and these new ones with the LED lights lasted even longer. Chris flashed the light over at the clock it had stopped at 2:40. She made her way down the stairs and picked up her head lamp that she had sitting on top of the dog food cabinet and slipped it onto her head and turned it on. She sat the flash light onto the cabinet and picked up her 22 rifle she had sitting in the corner between the door and the sewing room all ready for just this sort of occasion. The dogs were continuing to howl, she flipped off the safety on her gun and opened the door. As her head lamp light shone on the dogs she could see the dogs were setting side by side on one rug with their heads in the air howling away. She reached up and turned off her light; she had realized it wasn’t smart to show right where she was and it kept her from seeing in the dark as good as she may need to. The smell of ozone was in the air and she figured it was all the lightening. At each flash she looked around to try and see if she could spot what the dogs were so troubled about. She was still barefoot so she slipped her feet into her black rubber muck boots that were sitting on the porch beside the front door.

It was then the dogs took off and she heard the cat call; a very large lion yelled from around the house and the dogs ran behind the house barking like crazy. She knew she was going to need more then her 22 at that moment and ran back into the house dirty muck boots and all. She was scared and her stomach started to tie itself into knots as she took down the key to her gun cabinet. Breathe deep Chris, breathe deep getting all scared and upset won’t save your animals. She quickly unlocked the cabinet and reached in for the 30.06: the full clip was sitting at the bottom of the cabinet and she rammed it home. Now I’ll see if all that practice paid off. And she took back off out of the house running toward the sound of the barking dogs.
The flashing of the lightening helped to see along the way around the house and into the back or she would have run straight into what looked like a black hole that quickly closed, she thought she must have been seeing things. Maybe she should leave her head lamp on after all The dogs were still in a frenzy barking and jumping and the cat was screaming; in another flash of lightening she saw the big cat was a mountain lion, the biggest she had ever seen and it was on the shed roof she had just put up. Between sounds of the thunder she could hear the goats and sheep bleating. Another flash and a loud boom she looked over and saw the lightening flash down into the nearby forest, now all she could see was the bolt of lightening imprinted on her retinas. Stupid Chris stupid, now what am I going to do?

The large cat screamed again, Chrissie closed her eyes as often as she could and not let the parts of the cat out of her sight she could see as the lighting continued to light up the skies and the area around them. She began to feel drops of cold rain as the storm moved over above her. The dogs thankfully were keeping the cat busy as they ran around and around the shed and it watched and screamed; the screams giving her chills. Finally after a few more seconds she could see good enough to make out the whole giant lion. She knew she might not have long and she was right; her vision hadn’t quite cleared to where she wanted it to be when she saw the lion perched on the left corner snarling at her and she felt it was ready to spring.

The rain was now blowing sideways and the wind began to buffet her as she raised her gun and took a bead on the lion, her fingers had begun to grow cold. It had hunched down and was staring straight at her; it was beautiful but she knew it was also very deadly. It was just rising as she took her shot hitting it just off center to the right in the upper chest. The lion landed with a thud still in the middle of a scream and then was silent. Chrissie found she was holding her breath and started to take big gasps; the cat was lying a mere five feet from her. Her legs started to shake and a few seconds later she found herself sitting on the ground still staring at the great lion. That’s when she realized the ground was very wet and she was getting very cold and it was still pouring. The dogs were yipping and snapping at the lion’s carcass.

“Betty, Spud; come here. Stop barking, stop, good girl and good boy.” She told them and hugged both of the wet dogs and turned on her had lamp.

Both of the dogs ceased their barking and tried to climb into her lap. “Alright guys alright every thing is just fine now.” She continued to pet them both and calm them for a few more minutes and then decided she best get herself up off this wet ground and get inside to get dry and warm. She got to her feet and began to shiver, the dogs bumping against her legs as she tried to walk back to the house. “All right enough, go to the house go.” She pointed and told them one more time to go to the house and they both ran for the house. The lion would just have to stay where it was for the night she had to get in the house to get warm. She didn’t realize she was in shock and that it just wasn’t the cold rain and her soaked clothes. She hated to not get a picture of it or gut it out but she just couldn’t. She didn’t even realize that she still had her rifle slung over her right shoulder. She hadn’t even thought about the rifle until she swung it down as she stepped into the house the door still wide open.

The dogs had already taken up their stations on the front porch on their blankets. She closed the door and headed upstairs to strip and get into the shower. She was so cold that she turned the water on and just climbed in clothes and all, as she warmed up she stripped, rung out each item of clothing and threw them over the shower curtain. After her shower she felt better and her mind was clearer, she decided she had better go down stairs and wipe off her rifle and get a cup of chamomile tea before heading back to bed. She took her wet things off the rod and threw them into the hamper by the bathroom door and headed downstairs towel in hand. She quickly wiped off her rifle and took it back to the gun case and slipped in into its slot. A few minutes later as she was sitting at the kitchen table drinking her tea she felt like she was going to fall sleep right there at the table. She decided she had best get back to bed before that happened. As she was going up her stair case with her flash light shining ahead of her she noticed the light coming from her bedroom. She flicked off the flash light and continued on to her bedroom. She looked back at her clock as she took of her robe. It read 3:15, the battery had held the time and it seemed incredible so little time had elapsed; this night was just plain strange.

End chapter 7

sssarawolf · Jun 2, 2009

An Unexpected Life chapter 8

Chapter 8
Fish & Game

Sunlight streamed into Chrissie’s room and she opened her eyes to a very bright new day. She felt like she had been hit by a truck and he backed up over her again to see what he ran over. She groaned as she threw the blankets down and moved to sit up. Chris looked at her night stand she was late getting up it was 7:30. What day is this I can’t seem to remember? She stumbled into the bath room and took a quick hot shower to help her wake up and hopefully sooth some of her aching muscles. After she stepped out of the shower she was awake enough to figure out she had best call Fish and Game and have them come over and take a good look at that lion lying in her back yard. She called them and they said they would send someone up right away, so she dressed quickly in her old jeans with a t shirt and flannel and ran out to do her morning care and feeding of her stock. She walked past the lion again as she went back to the house; she had only taken a quick look on her way to the barn to do her chores. Now she had time to stop and really have a good look, the dogs were sniffing and growling at it, she had, had to warn them off this morning and each time she spotted them headed back to the carcass. One of the things she wanted to do is measure the cat for herself before anyone turned up and get some pictures. She went back into the house for her small digital camera and a measuring tape. She sat the dogs next to the lion so there would be a better feel for the cat’s size. All of a sudden the dogs looked up and barked as a green pickup was pulling up to the house so she headed over. “Come Betty and Spud you have smelled that thing enough.”

A man dressed in brown unzipped jacket, with brown shirt and pants that looked about 50 years old with gray hair at the temples was just getting out of his pickup. She saw the Fish and game emblem on the side of the pickup as she came closer. Chris looked down at the dogs and told them to sit. And then held out her hand and started to introduce her self. “Hello I’m Chrissie Boyd thank you for coming.”

The man shook her hand and said, “Hi I’m Mr. John McBride Fish and Game, you called about a mountain lion. This could be serious; we frown on people shooting them.”

That took Chrissie a back; he sure wasn’t being very friendly. “Well Mr. McBride it was either shoot this lion in the middle of the night or die and I can tell you I would rather be here now talking to you. Also I didn’t have to call this in but I did. I thought this was a very large and unusual lion.”
“Well Ms. Boyd show me where it is and I will be the judge of how big and how unusual it is. He was thinking; yeah sure I bet a large Cougar indeed just another irate woman with a big imagination. As they walked around the house with the dogs at their heels, which he didn’t like either; he spotted the lion and inhaled sharply. She wasn’t just being hysterical after all; the lion was the largest he had ever seen. “My goodness you were right this lion must be at least 260 pounds if he’s an ounce. It has to be the grand daddy of all Cougars; I’d also say he was 81/2 to 9 feet long nose to tail. Do you have a measuring tape?” The ranger seemed real excited. “Yes I have a tape I will be right back.” Chrissie didn’t have a good feeling about this now so she was going to pretend she didn’t have a tape on her, she walked over to her tool shed which was to her right not far from the shed which the lion was perched on last night. She returned quickly with the measuring tape taking it out of her pocket and he had her hold the end while he took the tape. She also needed to ask him a question about the lion.

“I thought this was a mountain lion you are saying it’s a cougar?”

He was really intent on the measuring tape. “Huh yeah it’s both they’re the same thing. Some call them one thing; some the other but there is no difference. The biggest one I have seen has been about 175 pounds and was 71/2 feet in length, this guy is really something special. He must have been hidden in the mountains for a very long time. I don’t see the sign of a tag on him anywhere. I wonder what made him come down here.” He whistled; the cat was indeed a long one 9 feet 3 inches. “9 feet 3 inches I can hardly believe it I have to call this in right now.” He took off on a run for his truck, he had just dropped the main part of the tape measure and you would have thought Chrissie didn’t even exist. She just watched him take off and started to shake her head at him.

A few minutes later he was back with a big grin on his face. “My boss is on his way up, he didn’t believe me.” Chrissie didn’t know this was going to turn into a side show. “Well Mr. McBride I have things to do and I need to feed my dogs and myself. I also need to know if there is a possibility I am in trouble like you were saying?” “No, no everything is just fine, you’re not in trouble and I want to thank you for calling us.”

Chrissie thought, that’s what you should have done in the first place, is thank me for calling. But instead she said; “Mr. McBride would you care for a cup of tea and a homemade cinnamon roll. I really need some breakfast.” Her stomach was really growling by this time and she knew the poor dogs were hungry. He perked up at the mention of the homemade cinnamon rolls. “If I wouldn’t be intruding I would love a cinnamon roll and ah some tea; thank you.” Chrissie laughed a little and said “well if you don’t want tea I have milk or juice how’s that?” That would be fine Ms. Boyd, I appreciate it, I got a call right away to come up to your place and didn’t have a change to get something to eat. I usually stop for something on my way into work. I am afraid I was taking it out on you for interrupting my schedule and I apologize.” “I accept Mr. McBride now come on to the house and we will get something to eat while were waiting for your boss.” “Please call me John.” “All right John that’s if you will call me Chrissie or Chris.”

When they got to the house the first thing she did is reach into the cabinet and dish up the dog’s food. “You can go on into the kitchen I will be right there,” and she pointed toward the kitchen and he headed towards it. The dogs each got half of the container in their bowls on the front porch and they were very happy to see it. The dogs went right for their bowls and Chris put the food container back and then headed for the kitchen. She found John not in the kitchen but looking at her projects out on the back porch. She went ahead and put two large cups of water in the microwave just in case he decided he wanted one to. As soon as it dinged she slipped a tea ball each of raspberry tea leaves into the cups. She had picked the leaves herself last fall and dried them along with some raspberries to give her teas more of the raspberry flavor. Just as she was getting the rolls out of the bread box John walked back into the kitchen.

“That’s some set up you have out there, not many young people are willing to learn the old fashioned way of doing things anymore.”

“Oh really well I love learning new things, even if they are old. Our rolls and tea are ready. Come on over to the table.” She picked up the cups and went back for the rolls and put them on the table. He was sitting down as she put the cups down and he picked up his cup and smelled the aroma of the steam as it steamed up out of the cup.

“It smells pretty good I don’t usually go in for tea. I am more of a coffee man, he then took a sip. Not bad, not bad at all, although I will also take a glass of juice if you don’t mind.

“Not at all John, I have apple juice and orange juice.” She sat her spoon down on her napkin as she had been stirring a bit of honey into her tea.
“I’ll take apple if that’s okay?”

“Yes no problem.” Chris rose from her chair and went across the kitchen to the cupboard a few feet away and took out a small 8 ounce glass. She was back in no time with his juice. But she did take note that his tea was half gone and also his cinnamon roll. She sat and began to eat her own breakfast, although normally she would have had a couple of eggs with her roll. He didn’t speak again until he was finished with his roll and both the tea and the juice. Her rolls weren’t little things either; they were a good 6 inches across and 2 inches thick.

“Thank you Chris that was very good, I haven’t had a homemade cinnamon roll in years. I had forgotten how good they were.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

The dogs began to bark outside. “That must be the people you called they made record time, the dogs always bark when someone turns down the driveway.” They headed back outside, Chris left the dirty dishes with just a glance, the plates and cups wouldn’t run away. The new green Chevy Cavalier with John’s boss in it and another man was just pulling up in front of the house as John and Chris stepped outside onto the porch.

“Come Betty and Spud come up here.” You could tell the dogs didn’t want to but they obeyed anyway. She made them lay down on their blankets and told then to stay. The men didn’t get out of the car until the dogs were lying down. They watched from the front seat as Chris had the dogs come to the porch, and then opened their doors when they figured they were safe. John walked down off the porch to greet his boss and the boss’s assistant.

“So glad you could come up Fred and you to Steve.” John also gave Steve a nod, John wasn’t telling the truth but they would never know that from his lips. As far as everyone at the office thought, Steve was the biggest brown noser they had ever seen. John’s boss was as far as Chris could see must be at least 10 to 15 years younger then John and the assistant younger then the boss. “Fred and Steve this is Chrissie Boyd the woman that called in the large cougar.”

Fred had mousy brown hair; cut just above the collar and neat at the sides standing around 6 foot and a good 40 pounds over weight. Fred was not what you would say good looking but he had an air of confidence about him. He was wearing the same type of brown uniform as John and so was Steve. The younger man Steve came around to the boss’s side of the car where John and Chris were now standing. Steve was blond with hair that was several inches long and kept falling into his face and parted in the middle, he kept trying to put it behind his ears. Steve was very thin and was in the area of 5 foot 8 inches. He reminded Chris of a rodent.

“Good to meet you Ms. Boyd, thank you for calling even if it doesn’t turn out to be much.” Fred told her.

Steve spoke in a whinny nasal voice. “Well John show us to this so called huge lion Fred has a full agenda today.” Steve didn’t even acknowledge Chris, that didn’t get past John either. John also didn’t like the slight that he had called Fred up here for nothing; he knew what Chris felt like now when he didn’t believe her earlier. Chrissie wasn’t very happy about all this, she was beginning to wish she had just gutted, skinned it and cured the meat. She was thinking what a beautiful throw the cats hide would have made. Chris turned and made sure she was going to lead the way. “It’s this way gentlemen; the carcass is in the backyard.”

Chrissie was already turned and was walking towards the corner of her house towards her backyard. The men fell in line behind her, John, Fred and then Steve. They all stood around the lion, Fred and Steve with their mouths hanging open. Fred looked up at John, “That’s the biggest cougar I have ever seen, you were certainly right this time John this is wonderful. This baby will go into the record books with our names right next to it, quick we need the camera; you Steve run fetch the camera immediately. Then after some pictures we will load this up and take it in; we don’t want it to spoil before we get it weighed and measured. I think we will have this taken to a taxidermist to. Oh boy this is great.”

Chrissie was rolling her eyes by now, she never saw such a grown man get so excited about a huge cat. Fred was almost jumping up and down; he was stopping to prance on his toes and then moving quickly here and there around the lion on his side. And then he repeated the process all over again. “Where in the world is that Steve he should have been back by now?”
Back at the car Steve was looking high and low for the camera and beginning to sweat. Fred had made sure to tell him to get the camera and bring it along just in case there was something to this big lion story John had called in. Gads where is it, oh no, Steve had just realized where the camera was, it’s still sitting on my desk, think Steve think, my cell phone it has a camera. There is no way around it I will have to tell Fred I accidentally left the camera at the office, dang it Steve that was so stupid, well I best go tell him the sooner the better. This is no way to move forward at work.

As Steve was walking back towards them, Fred could see Steve didn’t have the camera. Fred was turning a nice shade of red. “Where’s the camera Steve?” “Sorry Fred I accidentally left it on my desk. But we can use my camera phone; is that all right?” Steve slipped his cell phone out of his pocket and flipped it open. “Ah Fred.” “Well what is it now Steve?” Fred was becoming very exasperated to say the least.

“My battery is dead on my phone, I guess the cord wasn’t hooked in all the way and it didn’t charge last night.” Fred turned to John, “John do you happen to have a camera or a camera phone?” John said “my cell doesn’t have a camera but I do have a digital camera in the truck I use when I find poached animals for evidence, I’ll go get it.”

John was back in no time and started to take pictures of the cougar from all angles. Then Fred had him go get the pickup. John drove around and they loaded the cougar into the back. Steve looked like he was picking up something nasty from the look on his face. Chris was sure happy to be seeing these men leave; this had taken up enough of her day. Fred kept giving Steve dirty looks; Chris didn’t think he would be Fred’s assistant to much longer. As Fred and Steve left for their car not even saying a thank you or so long and John was getting into the pickup, John stopped leaving the truck door open and went back over to Chris. “Chris thank you for breakfast this morning and again for calling this in. If I can ever do anything for you poacher or wild animal wise let me know.” With that he slipped a card out of his shirt pocket and handed it to Chris. “Bye Chris take care.” With that he went back to his pickup and started it up and backed up, turned around and left.

“Spud Betty come,” Chris yelled. Both dogs came bounding to her. They had minded and stayed on the porch the whole time. “Come on lets go do more chores and get that cheese made after we feed that yak again.”

End chapter 8

sssarawolf · Jun 4, 2009

An Unexpected Life chapter 9

Chapter 9
The king’s chair

China:

High in the mountains a limousine winds it way to a top secret base. Inside is the leading Five Star General of China and he is smiling to himself as he rubs his hands together and thinks of the new technology that was all ready being put into use against their enemies. For him to have been picked eight years ago to lead this great scheme was the height of his career, to lead their country to victory would mean a very cushy retirement for him in ten years. Everything was so hush, hush that there was no quitting or being transferred out of this unit, as soon as they got home sick enough to want t leave, they left alright. But not as the personal around them thought. They didn’t go home, oh they packed and said goodbye to their friends the whole shebang, but as soon as the transportation they were in was a mile from the installation they were made to get out and walked to another part of the Great Wall and promptly shot. That’s why there was only one or two transferred at a time, they couldn’t take chances of the guards being over powered and some one getting any kind of word out of this base. Even in this great country information could be bought. He shook his head it was time to stop day dreaming the car was nearly to his command. He looked out over the vast distances; one could see for miles this high up. His command was at the highest part of the Great Wall; well it was actually under it.

The car stopped at the gate but it wasn’t but for a few seconds, General Lee Cheng’s car was waved through as quickly as possible. No one wanted to be accused of holding the General up, his temper was well known all over the base. As it was it was almost too long; he had just started to drum his fingers on the right arm rest when the car began to move. He calmed down they hadn’t been stopped long enough to bother him that much, as the wall before him slid open. To those that didn’t know it looked just like the rest of the Great Wall. The car pulled in and the floor began to descend, smoothly and at a medium speed. Above them the fake wall slid back into position, trees on each side of the road obscured the area so even if someone looked while the wall was open they wouldn’t have seen if the wall open or not. He was due to meet with the head scientist in two and one half hours to hear his report on yesterdays run on the new machinery. That gave him enough time to have his new woman see to his needs, bath, change and eat his dinner.

He didn’t expect any problems; the last few runs this week had gone well. It was everything they had hoped and dreamed this would set America on its ear; they would never know what hit them and not know where it came from. They would think it was some unusual natural phenomenon. And Russia will rue the day they thought China was their partner and could tell them what to do. They knew Russia was just trying to use them to further their own agenda. Then they would back stab China like they had everyone else. Well that wasn’t going to happen if he General Lee Cheng had anything to do with it. He had pushed for this new discovery years ago when he first heard Hilo Bing’s explanation at a scientist’s retreat he had attended. They had been looking for new innovations and this was very promising. So billions of yen and many lives later it had been built and worked. It was built on the same thought as the particle collider with a twist. It opened a matter window and shifted it, the magnetism made for horrible storms and they were getting better and better at aiming it. For now it was being used in out of the way places in America just to gain experience, soon they would focus it on a large city, maybe even Washington D.C.

He hoped he would soon have enough successful missions with this to get the go ahead for something bigger. His car hit the bottom of the elevator and continued down the long man made cavern. He looked off at the other entrances that split off from this main one both on the left and on the right and one half mile later his car came to a stop. He didn’t even attempt to move until his chauffeur was out of the car and opening the door for him. Someone in his position didn’t do lowly things like opening his own doors no matter the situation. He felt very expansive today he had been given a job well done and a pat on the back by the Prime Minister himself. As he departed the car he gave a nod to his chuffer, something he had only done once before and that was when he had first been given this assignment. The driver was supposed to know that this nod was his reward for a job well done.

A guard detail stood at the door to his apartment, a guard on each side 24 hours a day. One of the guards stepped forward and opened the Generals door. One could not open the door either to soon or two late as the General didn’t open his own doors and would have walked into it if the designated man hadn’t, a sure death sentence for them both. A very low bell sounded at the opening of the door in the butler’s room, he hurriedly slipped on his jacket and quickly made his way to the front of the apartments rooms. The General could not be kept waiting.

General Cheng was just stepping into his bedroom as the butler stepped in behind him, the General put his arms down to his sides and the butler slipped the dark green jacket down off the Generals shoulders and arms. Yang set the jacket on the man’s butler chair that held jackets and shirts for the time being and helped the General undress. In no time the General was attired in his very traditional dark blue silk robe. The General loved the large black dragons with bright red eyes that adorned it. The General made his way out to his sitting room and Yang pushed the recessed button by the bedroom door that notified Miss Lifen that the General was ready for her to wait on him. All that was left for Yang to do was to announce dinner and turn down the General’s bed. Miss Lifen would see to the General for the remainder of the Generals needs. The chef had a serving maid so he was off the hook to be around the General unless the General didn’t like the meal, then watch out.
By 9:00 PM Yang was back in his tiny room and breathed a sigh of relief, so far he had outlasted the other three butlers, or should he say out lived. The chef had informed him of what had happened to the last butlers. All three had been murdered by the general himself for being late seeing to the Generals schedule. Oh what a fool he had been, when he was first hired for this assignment he thought he had fallen into easy times at last. He thought it would mean a well paying job and security for himself and his small family. He was sitting on his cot feeling very lonely and he glanced over to his dresser where his family photo sat and tears streamed down his cheeks. Little three year old Orange Blossom and six year old Yang Junior stood to each side of their lovely mother. And there he was standing behind them, with that stupid grin on his face. He had just received word of being selected for this job and they had a bit of an advance on his pay and went to get a family photo. I bet they have grown so much. That would be two years ago next week and he hadn’t been able to send any of his letters, no mail was allowed in or out of this fortress. The first day here he had been informed of the no letter policy, no calls either, his cell phone sat dead bedside the 5 by 8 picture. What must they think when he never wrote? He still held hopes he could escape this place alive. Unknown to Yang was that his wife was writing and someone was writing back in his place from an address that had been sent to her after he had been gone a week. No one was to know of any of the personals where abouts that worked or was stationed here. As he readied for bed and climbed in he cried himself to sleep as he had done for numerous nights.

Miss Lifen had the General settled in bed after his massage and he was snoring softly; she turned out the light as she left the room. She had been lucky tonight the General had been tired from his trip and she had gotten off easy. As she passed Yang’s room she could hear him crying, she had better warn him he could be heard from the hall way. If the General had been the one walking this hallway and had heard him it would mean a beating the first time and a shot to the head the second time. Yang had survived all this time now was not the time to let his guard down. Lyn Lifen had been here seven months now and the chef was a good talker. The other four girls had just disappeared the chef had said and Lyn was afraid the rumors were true, no one left here alive. She repeated nothing she never gave anyone a chance to get anything on her. Lyn obeyed her master as quickly as humanly possible never giving him an excuse to beat her longer then to arouse himself. Then she poured sweet nothings into his ears and knew when to shut up. She never spoke unless spoken to and tried to move in advance of his every whim. He had even told her she was unlike any of his other women; so maybe just maybe she could keep herself alive long enough to outlive this experiment he was in charge of.

As she entered her tiny room she looked in her full length mirror, she guessed it was here because some one knew women needed to access the full outcome of their dress. She pulled the hair sticks that held her long waist length black hair up; she had wound it up and had stuck the sticks back in her hair to give the General his massage. Her pink silk dress showed off her pale skin and almond eyes and it had slits up both sides of her dress almost to her waist. If it hadn’t had slits she wouldn’t have been able to give him his massage with out removing her dress. Which she would have done if he had so ordered but inside she was glad; she always dreaded his first night back but maybe finally he was getting older and worn down enough to be tired out easier, she sure hoped so. She walked to the left to her cubby sized bathroom and turned the water on to the tub, it was time to get the smell of that man off of her and have a few hours of rest. She would need to be back up at 4:00 AM to dress, put on her makeup and be ready to wake the General at 5:00 AM sharp, not one minute after or before.

End chapter 9

Beware the Slayers come.

sssarawolf · Jun 5, 2009

An Unexpected Life chapter 10

Chapter 10
Peons go quickly

Everyone was nervous General Cheng was there watching their every move, Doctor Wei kept his face neutral but thought; he watches us like a giant vulture. He always made them nervous when he stood watching through the large glass windows that separated him from the experiment. Doctor Wei knew he would have to report to the General in a few hours since the General had been gone for two days giving his own report. He never looked forward to his time standing before the great desk, sitting was never allowed. The only time there was a chair in front of the Generals desk was when Cheng had a visitor from the Capital or one of his victims was in it. General Cheng went back to his office after seeing to it the lazy scientists were hard at work. If his presence didn’t work he knew just what would. Maybe he would go ahead and use the incentive; after all things like that always got his blood moving. He would have to think about it after all his paper work was finished with for the day he always had a lot of papers to sign after being away.

The feverish light that had been in his eyes faded as he thought of paperwork, after a few hours at his desk he was more than ready for a little diversion. An evil grin came across his face; an idea began to form. He hit the intercom button on his desk. His Secretary answered, “yes sir what can I do for you sir?”

“Get me lieutenant Tao immediately I have a job for him.” Yes sir, immediately sir.”

Kim Jong the Secretary turned to her assistant, “ go find lieutenant Tao right now and make sure he is here within eight minutes the general does not like to be kept waiting any longer than that.”

The young corporal bowed and snapped his heels together and rushed out of the door; he knew his time was short; the young man knew what the punishment was for tardiness. He did not want to become one of the generals amusements, the thought sent shivers down his spine. Things were always so much easier when the general was not here. The first thing to do was to announce over the base intercom for lieutenant Tao; the only other place Tao could be would be at the shooting range. “Lieutenant Tao is wanted at the general’s office.”

The corporal sure hoped the lieutenant was not over there it took ten minutes just to get back to the main part of the base. Even though the shooting range was underground like the rest of the base it was on the far side. Every 30 seconds the young corporal would call for lieutenant Tao five minutes had now passed. Sweat began to bead on the young man’s forehead his collar felt tighter and tighter, then with barely one minute left lieutenant Tao rushed up to him in one of the bases carts immediately got off and went straight into the secretary’s door, she unannounced him and he went on into the generals office. The corporal had been here barely a month and had taken over when corporal Tai had lost her job as assistant. Miss Kim Jong the Secretary had filled him in on just what his duties were wither the general was here are not; but especially the time frames the general expected and that they must be adhered to the dot. He went back to his spot beside the right side of the door where he would stand chin up shoulders back feet together until he was needed again or until his duty hours were over.

Lieutenant Tao stood before the generals desk ramrod straight never making a sound; he knew the general knew he was there. After a few minutes the general looked up, “lieutenant Tao how good to see you I have an assignment for you.” The young lieutenant just stood there he knew there was no reason for him to speak just to listen. The general must be getting into one of his moods, thought Tao. So glad it’s not me he is focused on.

“Lieutenant Tao would you be so kind as to bring assistant scientist Rou Cuifen’s sister to the observatory window in the lab.”

“Yes sir I will immediately sir,” Tao then bowed, clicked his heels together turned and left the office. The personal had learned early when the General was put in charge you never said more then the bare minimum to the general. Poor girl I wish I didn’t have to do this, this is the third time she has been brought to the observatory, and the worst of it is her sister Rou has been working her tail off just so this wouldn’t happen again. He had no choice it was get her or face a firing squad for not obeying.

As he opened the door to Nuying Cuifen’s room, she saw who it was and tears sprang to her eyes. “The General wants you Nuying.” Nuying was very thin; she had barely recovered from her last meeting with the General a month ago. Tao took her by the arm and hauled her down the hallway to the elevator. Nuying stood shaking; Tao had released her arm for the time being after all there was no place for her to go in here. Neither one spoke a word the only sound was a few sobs coming from Nuying. As the elevator stopped Nuying wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her shirt, tried her best to stop her weeping and began taking deep breaths.

As the door opened Tao again took her by her right arm and led her to the observatory. General Cheng was already there sitting in his lazy boy chair and the joy was shining in his beady black eyes. Cheng pointed at the chair in front of him, the ones with locking wrist cuffs on the chair arms and locking cuffs at the ankles. Lieutenant Tao placed Nuying in the chair and fastened her wrists and ankles down, usually he was allowed to leave now and let the rest of this unpleasantness be taken care of by one of the general’s thugs or the general himself. Since a thug wasn’t in site the general was going to see to her personally.

“Lieutenant Tao please stand beside the door facing the scientists and tell me what Miss Cuifen’s reaction is when she sees her sister in here with us.”
Tao knew this wasn’t necessary the scientists worked just fine with out this kind of incentive. The government was paying them top dollar for their work. Tao wondered what was going to happen when the higher ups found out about Cheng and his butchery and so called incentives. Will I even be alive when that day comes I wonder? He stood watching the scientists work; waiting for Rou Cuifen to either notice or be told what was going on behind her in the observatory. It was taking far too long and the general was growing inpatient. The scientists seemed to have one tracked minds at the moment and were not paying attention to anything else but there work.
Tao turned his head with a snap as he heard a loud slap and a whimper. They still haven’t noticed, thought General Cheng, this should do it. He reached over and picked up her right index finger and snapped it sideways, Nuying let out a shrill scream. There was no way for her to be brave now. The scientists gasped and all turned their heads towards the observatory at the sound of the scream on the loud speaker. Rou’s eyes widened and she cried out when she saw her little sister in General Cheng’s clutches again. “She ran forward and banged on the door, “please stop General Cheng, I’m working hard, please don’t hurt Nuying anymore please. I don’t take breaks during the day, I eat while I am working and stay here until I can’t stay awake any longer. Please General Cheng let her go.” Rou slid crying down to her knees in front of the door still pleading for her sister to be released. The head of the project Dr. Siyu Wei pushed the intercom button along the wall for the observatory. “I protest General Cheng, Rou has not slacked in the least all this month why I are you doing this?”

General Cheng looked up and into the eyes of the good doctor and smiled, “would you rather I bring your son or your daughter in here? Dr. Wei backpedaled, “No General no please forgive me for questioning you I forgot my place.” Doctor Wei then bowed and went back to work on the collider. The poor young girl meanwhile was crying pitilessly and to make things a little more interesting the general reached over and snapped her little finger on the same hand. All of a sudden the general started to pout this just wasn’t as much fun as it used to be. He would have to find something else to occupy himself in the boring hours of the afternoon. The general stormed out of the room never looking back once. Rou barely got out of the way in time or he would have stumbled right over her when he opened the door, and that it would have been a bigger disaster. Lieutenant Tao unfastened the girl’s ankles and wrists and helped her to stand. He led her out of the observatory and handed her off to her sister. “Go ahead and take her to the clinic Miss Cuifen, I think maybe your sister is safe for now. The general seems to have gotten bored.” Rou gently took her sister by her good hand and led her off to the clinic. The general had succeeded in interrupting the test at a critical point and the calibration was now off by .002 percent.
No one knew that little by little the general was losing his mentality; he was becoming more and more unstable by the month. Along with becoming so unstable his ideas of grandeur were growing with it, as some people who have gone crazy come to think they are Napoleon or Julius Caesar he began more and more to think of himself as the great Emperor of China the Son of Heaven Yung-lo of the Ming dynasty. Enough of the general was there yet to know of this great work that would lift China above all other countries. But in times like today he couldn’t keep his mind on the project but actually interfered with it.

By 8:00 PM he was himself again with a good meal under his belt and a beating for his concubine. Dressed in full uniform he made his way back to the project in time for the evenings scheduled test and again sat in his easy chair to watch another successful experiment. Rou was back at her work station; of course the general never knew that she hadn’t been. All seemed to be going smoothly with the scientists all running around checking their dials watching the computer screens waiting for the main computer to state all the machinery was ready for the test. The general could hear the pitch on the machinery going higher and he wished that he could see the results of their experiments on the other side of the world. This would be; the biggest storm they had ever created and he would love to see the looks on the imperial fascist’s faces when the storm opened up on them. He wouldn’t be able to see that close but the satellite system they had circling the earth would be positioned right where he wanted it to be and at least he could watch the beginnings of the storm and the effects after the clouds receded. “I am growing impatient Dr. Wei let’s get this show on the road and push the button already.”

Doctor Wei stole a quick glance at the general and bowed his head towards him, pompous son of a hog; were the less then polite musings in the doctor’s mind. As the dial reached the red zone doctor Wei pushed the button that would initialize the storm mechanism. Here we go. Even the doctor did not feel the slightest amount of guilt for what he was unleashing over the skies of America; after all the Americans had been stealing from China for decades, he had grown up reading and hearing the history of their debauchery and their envy over China’s greatness. And he understood the Americans were doing all they could to ready themselves for an attack against China. But China would beat them to it and take the Americans down without any loss of any Chinese life or the destruction to her cities. China would again be a dominate force in the world.

End chapter 10

Are the Slayers watching you?

sssarawolf · Jun 8, 2009

an Unexpected Life chapter 11

Please don't forget to leave a comment in the comment section.

Chapter 11
Tear up the land

It was Saturday and Chrissie had just finished feeding all her animals and was putting Rhoda the donkey’s new red halter on her. Chrissie and Rhoda were in the pasture with Dot the cow and the animal’s got along just fine. In fact Rhoda decided to stick to Dot like glue. Chris made sure there was plenty of straw for bedding and hay for food in the lean-to not very far from the fence; so the two animals could take shelter there during bad weather. She didn’t have to worry about water either because there was a small pond that was spring fed not far from the lean-to.

The sky was partly cloudy and the temperature was around 40 degrees yet this morning. A slight breeze wafted through the air making it feel just a little colder then it was. Chris was giving Rhoda a good rub behind her ears when she was finished with the halter when a loud clap of thunder and lighting blasted out from the sky out of nowhere. The slight wind turned into 50 mile per hour winds in an instant pushing Chris up against the donkey. . The donkey shied but calmed down right away as Chris pet and soothed her. The wind continuing to blow hard and Chris led the donkey to the lean-to and Dot followed them over. The sky was growing ever darker with thunder and massive lightening streaking across the sky. “Wow where in the world did this storm come from; I checked the weather report and this was not in the forecast. I best make sure all our hatches are battened down, you girls stay in here.” With that Chris gave them both a pat and took off for the barn to close the doors and make sure everything and any thing that was loose that could fly around was put away in the barn or one of the sheds. Then headed for the clothes line and just as she got the last of the clothes off the line in the back yard the driving rain started to fall.

Chris went in by the back door with the clothes basket and set it down. She let the dogs in with her; they spent really bad weather and winter on the back porch out of the cold. She hung her coat and hat on the hooks by the kitchen door and went into her kitchen. The heat felt good the strong winds made it seem so much colder outside. The rain was more sleet now then just rain and she could hear it beating against her windows. The dogs had trotted into the kitchen behind her and she shooed them back onto the back porch; where they laid down on the two rugs she had for them in there. They had eaten earlier so she wouldn’t have to worry about them needing food until supper time. Chrissie went into her living room and threw some more wood into her wood stove which wasn’t far from her favorite chair. The wind was really howling and she was becoming worried and just a little scared. This was even worse then the storm a few nights ago when she had killed that huge cougar.

Chrissie had just assumed that the storm a few nights ago was over a wide range and not just over her area; a storm that was in fact only three miles wide and around the same in length. She could have never dreamed it was a storm that was man made and pin pointed to the mountains around her. But this storm was indeed different it was huge and was intensifying. Mile after mile of lightening strikes trees, houses, homes; power poles and business’s in town were being hit repeatedly.

The winds were getting stronger by the minute and Chrissie was looking out of her living room side window towards the barn side and watched as her stack of wood flew off towards the pasture fence. She screamed as a tree branch flew at her and hit just below the window. She put her right hand to her chest and felt like her heart was going to beat right out of her chest. She had never seen a storm this bad in all her life and it was getting worse and worse as she watched. Chrissie looked off towards the forest to the east and could see the trees bending in the wind and she wondered how they could bend so far with out breaking. She didn’t have long to wonder as she began to hear the horrible noise of trees breaking, toppling and crashing to the ground. She ran to the other side of the house and into her sewing room and there a tree was lying with the tree top close to the house about 10 feet away. She stood there amazed and heard the dogs begin to whine from the back porch.

Loudly she called, “Betty Spud; come here.” She could hear the sounds of the dogs toe nails running across the kitchen and dining room floors and into the living room. They ran up to her and she kneeled down to pet and reassure them. She didn’t usually let them into the living room but she would make an exception today. The day was growing darker with the storm and you would have thought it was dusk instead of late morning. She didn’t really know what to do since there was really nothing she could do about the storm. It didn’t make sense to stay here knelling on the floor when she had things she could get done. But she wanted the dogs with her if just for company’s sake. “All right you two lets go get a nice soup going. What do you say?” She got busy and pulled a quart of canned beef out of her pantry along with vegetables and added water to her six quart pot and went ahead and put it on the upper tier of her wood stove in the living room to cook. She added some lentils and barley to give it more body along with some garlic and onions. With just stirring it now and then it would be all ready t eat for supper time. No sense in getting her kitchen wood cook stove going just to make soup. A loud clap of thunder shook the house and she jumped as she was stirring her soup. “Gee I sure will be glad when this storm leaves.”
Down in town it was shear chaos as sirens sounded all through town by both the fire departments and the police; this time it was getting the brunt of the storm. Fires started by the lightening were all across town and there was no way the fire stations could keep up with even a quarter of them. If you could see any distance at all you would also see ranches and out lying homes were also being struck or forests burning around them. Luckily most people in the out lying areas had root cellars or storm shelters; the people in town weren’t so fortunate. People were running into the streets after finding out there was no way to stay in their basements, the fire would just burn through the floor and send the burning timbers of their homes into the basement.

People were dying trying to stay out of the tearing wind to no avail. Too much debris was flying through the air and the lightening would strike the wet ground and kill or injure those close by. The cries of injured and deathly afraid were every where.

Robert was already in his gun store when the storm broke out; he was watching out the large front window until he saw a piece of lumber headed right for him. Duck man duck, raced through his mind as he went to the left and unto the floor. “I’m getting to old for this crap.” He said to himself as he picked himself up off the floor and made a bee line for his basement and the shelter. He thought of his kids but they were all grown and would have to see to their own families there was no way he could make it across town in this storm. Out loud he prayed; “dear Lord please watch over my children and loved ones, put you’re shielding hands over them, in the name of our Lord Amen.”

In the matter of minutes he was in the main part of the shelter that was several feet below the shop grounds and the street. Robert watched as the light flickered and his generator kicked on. He turned on the camera system to the shop and the surrounding street and grimaced at the scene on his monitor. An hour later the storm seemed to let up and just as quickly as it came it had vanished; the clouds dissipating as the winds blew them east. The storm had felt like it had gone on for hours but he looked at his watch and it was only 1 pm. There was no sense in going up there yet and unto the streets he would only be in the way; as much as he wanted to. He took his cell phone out of his pocket and opened it and tried to call both his son’s and daughters homes, all he got; “all circuits are busy.” “So much for that.” He went ahead and fixed himself some lunch and kept an eye on the monitor. Finally he decided he best go up and see just what kind of damage the store had suffered with his own eyes.

Robert made his way through his basement from the shelter and up the stairs to the back room of his store. As he walked to the front of the store he could see more debris had come through the window, and the lower display case on that side was smashed as well. The display case had been smashed by a broken off piece of 2x4 around 5 feet long. Various other pieces of boards, glass and even sheet metal adored the front of his shop. What a mess but it could have been worse from the looks of the other buildings down the street from me. Well I had better get to work and get the bigger pieces thrown out and get this gaping hole boarded up.

He went to the back of his store and pulled out his 8 foot step ladder and hauled it through the store and set t up and then got his hammer and 12 penny nails. Now for the hardest part the plywood. He had three sheets of it leaning up way in the back by the back door so it would be out of the way. He had help bringing it in but wouldn’t now so he pulled it to the front the store one sheet at a time and out the door, he maneuvered them side by side and standing the long way so the bottom would be on the side walk and the tops just high enough to nail above his broken window.

He was exhausted by the time he was finished but the store was now safe from looting right through the broken window. Robert stood out on the debris littered side walk looking at the fires and destroyed buildings, what mess; I sure hope the kids are all right and it’s time to see if I can go see for myself. He made sure his shop was locked up tight and got into his truck and headed off. There wasn’t much in the alley the shops had stopped must of the flying debris from reaching it but when he got to 24th Street that was another story. The going was slow and he had to take a lot of back roads and even then he had to move quite a bit of tree limbs and pieces of home s out of the way with the winch on his truck. The 15 minutes trip to his son Robert Jr.’s house took him over four hours. The other two children and their families lived farther out of town. He hoped they had missed out on all this excitement. His own place hadn’t even crossed his mind; his children’s lives seemed much more important at the moment. Robert drove up to the front of the house seeing both Henry and Louise’s 4x4 trucks sitting there, one in the drive way and one right smack in the yard with chains hooked to it and backing up pulling a tree out of the right side of the two story house.

Robert said a silent prayer of thanks and took a deep breath of relief. He could see several members of the family standing watching the spectacle. Henry turned as his dad walked up beside him, “hey dad you all right?”

“Yes son I am fine as a frog’s hair and how about everyone else? And how did your house fair and Louise’s?

“Oh a few scratches, scrapes and bruises but that’s it thank goodness. We had a few broken windows and lost a bit of the roof and Louise said they just had lots of branches and lawn furniture flying around being at the edge of the storm.”

The tree was out of the house and being pulled to about ten feet away so they could start cutting it up. Deke, Louise’s husband was stepping out of his truck and went to unhook the chains. Then backed his truck out of the yard and joined in seeing about the house. An hour later the damaged part was covered with huge tarps and protected at least from any rain that might come in. Everyone chipped in and started cleaning up inside as best they could before dark set in. Pat, Robert Jr.’s wife served up sandwiches and chips on the picnic tables out back. They were all very hungry; no one had eaten since breakfast but Robert.

Deke sat down next to Robert, “so Robert how did your place fair through this storm?”

“Well ya know Deke I have absolutely no Idea, after I got out of the shop I came straight here and then I was gonna head out to Henrys and then your place. But since everyone was working here I didn’t get any further. I guess I should head that way and see what I’ll find.”

Robert Jr. over heard his dad and decided his dad best stay at their place for the night. “Ah dad I don’t think that’s a very good idea, if it took you as long as you say to get here who knows how long it will take you to get across town to your place. There’s a cot with your name on it in the basement and don’t try to get out of it. And that’s the end of it dad, got it.” Robert held up his hands and laughed, “I got it son, I heard and I obey,” laughing even more. Robert still hadn’t even had a chance to tell them all about Chrissie so he thought; I have them all together so there’s no time like the present. It didn’t take long and 30 minutes later they all sat around him with unbelief written on their faces.

Robert; the lawyer of course being the lawyer in the family was the first to add his two cents.

“Dad I can’t believe you would be so gullible, I mean she just happens to walk into your store; come on dad.”

“Look Robert I don’t want to hear any of your sass about this; she is who I say she is there is no mistake about that. I have been to her place and seen pictures of my sister sitting on her side table with my sister’s family, so there is no doubt at all in my mind on this subject. Another thing I have already decided she will get part of the money from the sale of the shop when I sell it to. My gosh you people should see your faces; it was my fathers shop and its part of her inheritance to not just yours. It’s not like even one of you has been interested in the gun shop; you benefited from it growing up and the business put you through school and I’ll be darned if she doesn’t get some benefit from it also. My sister was pat owner in the shop so that’s that.” Now I want to find that cot you said had my name on it.” He got up and walked toward the house

The adult children just turned and looked at each other and then Robert Jr. and Pat got up and told their son Tab to come help and went too the house too set up cots while the rest of the family started to clear the tables and take the things to the undamaged kitchen. Everyone spent the night either on a cot or in a sleeping bag and went on home in the morning. Before Robert left Henry told his dad he would drop over later and help with anything he could at the old home place. And he told his brother Robert Jr. that he had too much to worry about to go by dads and told him he and Deke would be back to help.

Robert just went ahead and took all back roads around town so all he had to worry about on the roads was mainly trees and branches. Doing that it only took a couple of hours to get to his house which was on the very outskirts of town. He pulled up and ran over tons of branches in his driveway but the place didn’t look to worse for wear. He got out and walked around the house and did find the windows broken to his bedroom, kitchen and the window in the back door. The shops side window was busted but that was all. Now that wouldn’t take him to long to clean up and he sure was happy to be home. He found the rolls of heavy plastic in the storage room off of the garage and went to work. Henry and Deke drove up just as he got the plastic up on his bedroom window. Robert was tired it had taken him a while just to clean out the wind blown branches and leaves before he started. With their help all the windows were covered in no time and they were on their way again. Robert stopped to look up towards the mountains where Chrissie lived praying that she to was unhurt before he went inside to rest.

End chapter 11

sssarawolf · Jun 10, 2009

An Unexpected Life chapter 12

Chapter 12
Clean up and pain

The clouds were quickly dissipating and the afternoon was now bright and sunny; Chrissie had fallen asleep on the couch with the dogs lying down on the floor beside her. They all had taken comfort by each others closeness as the storm had raged on. She awoke and could hardly believe she had fallen asleep with all that had been going on outside. Now it was time to go outside and make sure all of the animals were all right.

As she stepped out and looked around she could see her farm was a complete mess. While the buildings were all still standing her piles of lumber and other building materials were everywhere; not to mention branches and even trees down all over. She headed for the goat and sheep barn to check on her little ones and the little yak who thought it was a goat. She found one of her male goats dead; pined up against the fence with branches going right through the poor thing. If she had known this storm was coming up she would have made sure they were all closed up inside their part of the barn. The llamas must have gone into their covered three walled stalls and the chickens had gone into the coop so they were fine. As she walked over to her back pasture she could see Rhoda the donkey and Dot the cow, they seemed to be fine but she went over to get a closer look to make sure. She saw as she got closer that they had a few scratches but as she looked them over that was all that was wrong with them. She went ahead and did the evening feeding even if it was a little early yet and took the time to brush and pet every animal that enjoyed that kind of attention. Then while there was still some light she started the pickup truck and started to throw lumber in it from around the farm it was to expensive to waste. This time she began a stack it on the less windy side of the largest shed out of the prevailing wind. She worked until it was to dark to see and headed in for some supper.

After supper she tried to call Uncle Robert but the phones lines were down or something because she couldn’t get through. She prayed he and her new found cousins she was yet to meet had made it through the storm with out to much harm. Frank pulled in the next morning to check on her and was relived to find her well if not tired out from all the clean up. He helped butcher the goat, package it up for the freezer and cut up the large tree that had come down so close to her house along with a few other things around the place. It was another four days before she got through to Uncle Robert. In fact she hadn’t known that the phone was working until it rang and scared the life out of her; it was an advertisement of vacation property of all things. She called Uncle Robert immediately and he filled her in on him, the shop, his family and town. She had a hard time believing the wide spread destruction down in the valley and asked what the other storms had done a week or so back. “There wasn’t any storm a week ago Chris at least it missed us down here.” She filled him in on how fast they had been appearing and there wasn’t a thing on the weather stations about them.

As Chris sat and watched the evening news she learned that experts were coming to look at the destruction and try to figure out how and why the National Weather service had missed seeing this storm come in. Well no duh they missed seeing it coming and a couple more on top of that.
While the so called experts in the weather community were discussing how this storm didn’t show up on the radar until it hit another storm was appearing; but this time it was Washington D.C.
* * *
General Lee Cheng had reported to the Prime Minister on how wonderful the storm maker had worked and had been given the go ahead on operation Tiger Kill. He sat smiling with glee as he gave the order to turn the machinery on and set the coordinates for the next strike. What was even more fun for him was the next collider storm maker machinery was nearly finished. Tonight would be a good night and he was very inpatient to hear the international news the next morning. He had Doctor Wei turn up the storm to its strongest.
* * *
The weather around D.C. was already bad; a strong thunder storm had come in that morning and now was growing fiercer by the minute. It had been predicted to head out to sea by mid morning but it now showed no sign of leaving. The winds picked up and were getting stronger and stronger; lightening flashed across the sky, most thought oh a fall storm. But they had listened to the weather report and it wasn’t supposed to get much worse before it blew out to sea. But that wasn’t what was happening. The winds were now up to 70 miles per hour and the lightening was hitting the ground every few minutes.

Missy O’Kelly had the dark flashing Italian eyes of her mother and red hair of her Irish father with her hair cut to her shoulders. She was of medium height and 23 years old and was headed into work with the millions of others that worked in the D.C. area. She had to walk five blocks from the parking garage to the bank where she worked. Missy jumped as a bolt of lightening hit a few blocks away with a deafening boom. Several young women screamed around her and that scared her almost as bad as the boom caused by the lightening strike. She hadn’t walked another half a block when the parking garage behind her was struck three times just seconds apart and this time there were explosions as gas tanks exploded on cars. She and the people around her started to run and many quickly darted into doorways of the surrounding stores. They couldn’t get any further as it was still 8 AM and the stores weren’t open yet to the public. The only thing open even close was the McDonald's down on the corner two blocks away. Missy couldn’t even run by this time; the wind was so strong now that she was leaning into it and felt like she was in a bad nightmare. One of the dreams where you’re running as hard as you can and feel like and know you are in slow motion.
Before Missy had gone another half a block the lightening was so bad buildings were being struck all around her and debris was falling; she could hardly see from all the flashes that were being burning into her retinas. She saw another flash across the street and the sidewalk burst and people dropped and before she could take another step she felt a shock ride up her legs and then nothing. Missy was among the over 3,000 D.C. residents that died that day from lightening strikes. No one had been warned to stay off the streets since there was no way they could have known where this storm had come from. This storm had become so severe it spawned no less then seven tornado's. Washington D.C. looked like a war zone by 11 AM and the wounded numbered in the thousands and so did the dead and dying. By 11:30 AM the storm was finally moving out to sea and was a mild rain storm.
* * *
Chrissie was finished with her morning chores and was eating her breakfast as she watched the morning news. She sat in amazement watching the telecast of the devastation of Washington D.C. from the day before and on going rescues of trapped people in downed buildings from tornadoes and lightening strikes.

Down in town the weather experts were on the first plane out and on their way to D.C.; this town was small apples compared to the capital of the country. The governor of Montana finally declared the area a disaster zone a week later. And not until then did help start to come in; people were surprised they had been left on their own for so long. The local Red Cross had been over whelmed on the first day. This left the Churches do pull people together and to make sure people had food and water. That had been a narrow thing as way to many people figured that FEMA would pull in and take care of them, if it hadn’t been for the many people that had prepared with supplies for more then themselves and donated said supplies of food many would have gone hungry. There were a few who said never again would they shop day to day but would make sure they had groceries in their cupboards along with some storage and some way to purify water. Then of course you had the ones that after they were fed again and knew where their next meal was coming from; never thought a thing about it. You see they thought there would always be someone to take care of them after all when things got tough. So in the time left to gather as many supplies as they could to weather what was coming; they did nothing.

Robert had his windows for his home ordered and replaced much sooner then the shop. It took a month for Robert’s large window to be replaced at the shop and another for the town to look more or less like it’s self again. Robert Jr. had his roof fixed and the living room back in order with working after his office job and his brother and brother in law coming over to help in that month. Frank came up on his days off and helped Chrissie with getting the farm cleaned and straightened back up. He suggested she build a lean-to off the barn out of the prevailing winds to store her lumber, sheet metal and other farm supplies which also kept it all out of the weather for the coming winter.

Chrissie kept close contact with her Uncle Robert to make sure he was doing okay and not overworking himself. He surprised her on a Saturday in early December with another trailer load of things but mostly LTS supplies (long time storage) of powdered milk, wheat, oats, barley, rice, sugar, beans of all kinds pinto, red, navy, and black, and dried peanut butter. He knew she had milk but he thought a redundancy never hurt. The back of the pick up had shortening, oils, baking soda and power and went on from there. He stepped out of his truck with the widest grin on his face and she felt like scolding him but just couldn’t he looked so happy. “Now Uncle Robert I hope you got help this time and you already brought me some LTS items.”

“I sure did have help Chris girl I called your Frank and he came over and helped me load this up, so how’s that for a smart uncle? And yes I did but I felt prompted to bring more and I wont take no for an answer.”

Chrissie laughed and gave him a hug and noticed he had a book or something under his left arm. “What do you have there Uncle Robert?”

“Oh; just a little something I put together for you and thought you would enjoy having. Let’s go look at this while we wait for Frank he should be here anytime. I thought it would be smart to have more help unload this haul for you besides just the two of us.”

“You’re right Uncle Robert you are smart; but I knew that all along.”
They went in and Chrissie discovered it was a photo album. I took all the extra pictures we had and some I knew you would love of my sister your grandmother as she was growing up. Also some pictures of my parents your great grandparents and great great grandparents. I had plenty so my children won’t be left out in the amount they will have of them. Chrissie was over whelmed with his generosity and as she looked at the pictures had a hard time seeing them as the tears rolled down her cheeks, she had to keep wiping them with tissue. As they were on the second to last page she heard the dogs begin to bark and knew Frank must be pulling in. With Franks help they had the truck and trailer unloaded in no time at all (Frank and Chrissie doing most of the work). And then as Robert sat and had a nice glass of juice Chrissie and Frank took the supplies down to her basement. Now she was back where she started; trying to find where to put all the new containers and boxes.

Chris fed them warm roast beef sandwiches and home fries and they all sat and talked about the storm that not only had hit their area but the one that decimated Washington D.C. and how that had affected the economy. The DOW had lost 2000 points and didn’t seem like it was going to come up any time soon, in fact each day the news told more and more of many Government officials that had been killed or badly injured when the tornado's hit and the Senate and house on been in session. That had been kept very hush; hush for weeks but there was no way that could be hidden forever from the country. This was going to be a very solemn Christmas.

End chapter 12

Are they here?

sssarawolf · Jun 15, 2009

An Unexpected Life chapter 13

I would like a few comments if possible.

Chapter 13
Death stalks

It was now the United State’s January and the second storm collider was going to be on line at the end of the month; after all if one did this well then just think what two of them would do. General Cheng could hardly wait it was just all too exciting. He had to stay at the base and keep these slackers going and that had been kind of enjoyable to. He had found a few new ways to make his scientists work faster; in his own mind anyway.

Actually what he did in fact do is slow them down; they were so miserable and afraid for their family members that had been brought in by the General in the last two months they could hardly concentrate. Each one of the scientists had at least one member of his or her family tortured, one a week until no one’s family had been left out.

General Cheng had even gotten himself a new playmate her name was Ai (means loving) Fang; he had finally grown bored with Lyn Lifen, she continued to have some use though. He had some fun with her and she was missing both her little fingers now but the troops wouldn’t mind. That’s not something they would care about after all. Soon it would be time to have the old butler train a new one; for the old one Yang was just getting to morose these days and just didn’t snap to like the General thought he should. If Yang despaired that much of being here he would just have to have him released; the General was trying to decide wither he wanted to have an example made of Yang or just let him out of his misery quickly. Decisions, decisions they were hard but some one had to do it. General Cheng felt all powerful like a God having the power of life and death over his people at his finger tips. Life just kept getting better and better.
* * *
Robert’s sons and daughter along with their families had kept a minimum of food storage items on hand along with water filters to keep their dad happy; three months worth with some of them having a little more or less. But since the storm they had talked and decided their dad had been right all along and they wouldn’t be able to depend on others to see them through an even worse emergency. All the families went together and ordered a years supply of long term foods for each family from one of the well known companies; that way they could get a discount. Then they began shopping and collecting paper and feminine products along with vitamins, soaps, bleach and anything else they could think of that would be in short supply if the trucks would quit running. They should have known that through the years their father and their mother had collected enough to cover them. They knew their kids had listened but not well, being to busy once they grew up and went on with their own lives and families.

Robert and Lizzie hadn’t wanted their grandchildren to suffer for their parent’s stupidity of thinking the world would always keep going at its present rate. They had seen the writing on the wall long ago as they watched their rights being taken away little by little and saw the disasters coming ever faster; that most people were not prepared for. The fore thought for the majority of Americans to be self sufficient seemed to be long gone. Many of the older ones that remembered the great depression of the 1930’s always kept food on hand and were known as pack rats. Some of their children remembered the stories they had been told and adhered to that knowledge that nothing was a sure thing especially jobs, health and even the economy. That is where Robert got his knowledge; from his father and mother and had remembered and learned from their experiences. He had also seen that his country and people were not learning from history and if you don’t learn the lessons of history you are doomed to repeat them.
* * *
General Cheng was well pleased he knew he would get a big reward maybe even his nation’s greatest hero award and he would go down in history. Tonight both of the storm mechanisms would be going and he needed to be able to pass the time and this would be just the thing. His old Butler Yang was tied to the chair in front of him and he needed this to take longer if he did too much at one time Yang would expire too quickly and he couldn’t have that. Well no fear if that happened he would just have to find another victim; after all there were plenty of those around. By the time he was finished with Yang and his new concubine had cleaned him up he was famished; towards the end he had become quite bored with Yang, he would have to find something else this just wasn’t as exciting as it used to be. As he pushed himself back from the table he noticed it was 6:00 PM and time to go to the laboratory. “Ah yes good it’s time.”

His scientists were already gathered waiting for his approval and nod they would not dare start without him. Each and every one of the scientists was very nervous; they were sure all the bugs had been worked out of the systems. The second storm collider should work exactly as the first; they had copied it exactly after it had been perfected. Doctor Wei watched as the general sauntered in the smug look on his face of someone who thinks their a god; but here I guess he is, how long will we have to suffer under this demigod? The general had his chair brought to the front of his office close to the glass; he sat down slowly and looked over the people under his control. He looked straight into Doctor Wei’s eyes and nodded. The Doctor bowed low to the general and then began giving instructions to his assistant. They both stood in front of the two separate control consoles; Doctor Wei said, “Now” and they both pushed the buttons at the same time.
General Cheng watched everything very closely and then turned his head to the large screen he had his men set up just so he could watch as the satellite came over the new target and he could watch just how well his storm systems did his bidding. All the scientists cared about was that his attention was off of them and as long as a storm maker worked as it should his attention would stay off of them. At least for tonight and the next few days the general would be happy as a clam but his good mood usually wore off by the fourth or fifth day.

On the screen you could see the clouds building over New York City and now with the second storm maker going it would involve all the surrounding suburbs and small towns within 100 miles. Now flashes of lightning could be seen on the screen via the satellite but little else. The general raised his hand and had his lackey turn on CNN so he could get the blow by blow news of the storm on the ground. More and more he thought of his own soldiers as his slaves and surfs and himself as their master. Soon Doctor Wei noticed the general leaving and the doctor breathed a sigh of relief. The general had decided to go to his quarters and watch the news about his storm in the comfort of his bed; anyway it was time for his nightcap and snack.

His new girl Miss Ai Fang had bribed one of the General’s guards to always let her know when the general was coming back to his quarters. Ai wasn’t going to make the same mistake as the last girl and not be ready for the general and his demands when he stepped into his quarters she liked the privileges and did not want to end up as poor Lyn and be passed around the barracks. Ai didn’t understand that it had nothing to do with how the general was waited on. Ai was smaller then Lyn by two inches she stood four foot nine in her stocking feet. With her black hair cut squared off at the bottom just below her ears. She had green eyes which was the reason the general had picked her; her green eyes made her seem more exotic. She was sorry to see the old Butler Yang leave because he had been filling her in on so many of the Generals eccentricities. But he would be happier now that he was going back to his family. He hadn’t even said goodbye to her, she had woke from her nap to be informed by the new butler Ping that Yang had left.
Ping was on the homely side with dark brown eyes and a very short hair cut, more of a military cut. He was rather a snob and never spoke more then a few words to her when he absolutely had to and not a word more. The only trouble she could find with this new job was going to be the loneliness. When General Cheng entered his apartment she was already standing by tea table; “what do you desire sir?”

The General was still surprised with her for every time he entered the apartment there she stood. “Ai we will have some orange tea with just a drop of brandy and some of those short bread tart’s brought to me please. And make sure it is brought into the bedroom; now come attend me.”
Ai stepped over to the nearest intercom and notified the chef of the general’s desires. Good thing the chef had an assistant because somebody had to be on call 24 hours a day. One never knew when the General would wake up and want something and you did not want to take that chance that he would and no one would be in the kitchen. The General was all settled into the bed with the television on watching the American CNN news station when his tea and snack were delivered to the door. “Come Ai come sit in this chair next to the bed and watch with me this is very delightful.”

The CNN Reporter was standing in the blasting wind and rain sometimes you could barely hear him the thunder boomed and the lightning flashed around him. He looked like he was getting pretty apprehensive about being out in the middle of the street. Debris flew everywhere around him and he was beginning to have a hard time standing as he was leading into the wind further and further. “This is amazing New York has never seen a storm like this and so far no less then five tornadoes have been reported in the extended area. Many of them have set down wiping out miles of homes in the suburbs and the governor has already declared this a disaster area.”
At that moment a gust of wind took him right off his feet along with the cameraman; you could see as the camera fell to the street that the reporter was injured and in front of the camera and sideways you could see the front of a building come down bricks scattering and people lying beneath them. The Chinese general sat there in his bed giggling and clapping his hands. Miss Ai was shocked at the scene before her on the television. She knew they were the enemy the Americans but she still felt sorry for them her parents had been killed in the great quake a year ago and she hated to see anybody suffer. The news reporter took over on the CNN network this time at the studio. “Ladies and gentlemen sorry to say we are having network difficulties and we seem to have lost our network feed from James Mayer we now take you to Betty Landis at the New York Stock Exchange.”

“Hello everyone this is Betty Landis reporting from inside the New York Stock Exchange; so far the Dow has lost another 1000 points and they are about to suspend trading for the day. As we know we have lost 3500 points since a storm devastated Washington D.C. and this storm coming in so quickly on the heels of that storm has sent the Dow spiraling down. For a nation that was already in trouble and in a recession this is devastating news. People are now talking that we have slid straight into the second great depression; not one top economic expert agrees on how long this will last. Some are saying as little as one year and others think three to five years at least. Nothing like the length of the depression of thirties.”

Betty turned quickly as she heard a loud noise; something had blasted through the large window behind her. People started to scream as the wall gave way around the window. “The wind and the noise was horrific and Betty was yelling as loud as she could. “Ladies and gentlemen this is amazing I am looking out where the window used to be and I can see glass, bricks and block everywhere cars are smashed and there are people injured everywhere. The wind and rain coming through the broken wall is taking my breath away and.”

Not another word was heard from Betty as a car was seen being carried through the window by the swirling wind and right into the reporter and cameraman and the television screens went black. An F-5 tornado had just taken out the New York Stock Exchange and most of Wall Street leaving a pile of rubble.

Miss Ai Fang sat stunned and unmoving in the chair while the general continued to laugh and clap and exclaim. “This is wonderful, this couldn’t get any better, this is the best entertainment I’ve had for a long time; come here Miss Fang now I am truly excited and is time for bed.”

End chapter 13

sssarawolf · Jun 16, 2009

An Unexpected Life chapter 14

Chapter 14
Meeting the relatives

Chrissie, Frank, Uncle Robert and the members of the rest of Robert’s family also were sitting in front of their respective televisions watching New York City and the surrounding area be torn to pieces. All of then were shocked and in grief over what they saw coming to pass in front of their eyes. Then the televisions went black. It lasted only a few minutes before the affiliate in Chicago came on. Now in front of the world’s television audience an equally shocked television reporter. He began to speak; stuttered stopped and began again, “Ladies and gentlemen of our viewing audience I am Mike Johnson with CNN in Chicago we will again bring you news from New York City as soon as they are able to begin broadcasting. The National Guard and various arms of the military have been summoned to the state of New York by the governor Larry Taft. He has already asked the President of United States for aid during this unfortunate disaster. And now I turn you over two Fred Larson with our sports report.”

Chrissie didn’t usually watch television at this time of the day but with all that had been happening she had been leaving it on to listen; when she heard about the storm and she was certainly watching this. She sat up with a start, “Sports report are they nuts were in the middle of New York City being torn to shreds and they go to a sports report? It didn’t matter to Chrissie that she was yelling at the television; millions of others across United States were doing the same exact thing. Sporting events hardly mattered at a time like this at least in the middle of what was raging on the East Coast of their country.

By the time reporters could get into the ravaged areas of New York City it looked like any other war ravaged area. Even in the suburbs and the small towns that surrounded the city there were very few homes or businesses still standing. A few people that were uninjured spent their time picking through the rubble looking for loved ones or the few precious things that they still might find to keep body and soul together. Even the reporters had a hard time keeping their facial expressions even and neutral for the television audience for there was cries of agony and cries for help all around them.

The reporters described to the viewing audience as the cameras scanned and every one could see with grief and horror as people were being dug out of the wreckage. Unknown to the reporters and the cameraman their audience was becoming very disgusted for they thought; there stands able bodied men and women talking into cameras while the people around them desperately needed their help. Many felt this wasn’t a good time to be standing around talking and showing others what was going on but they needed to roll up their sleeves and help.

Chrissie reached for the phone as it rang; it was Frank. “Have you been watching the news Chris?”

“Yes Frank I have and isn’t it just unbelievable first our town then Washington DC and now New York. It just doesn’t seem like it should be possible for these storms to be so severe and hit so close together. What are people going to do? I don’t think many know how to cope in a depression and to have this devastation on top of it is just mind boggling.”

“I know what you're saying Chrissie I just can't seem to put my mind around it all; it has all just happened to quickly. And to make matters worse I have been listening to my short wave radio and hundreds of people have begun committing suicide; some of them taking their families with them.”

“Oh no Frank that’s just horrible I just don’t know what to say I just feel like I’m in shock. We knew something may happen but not this way not like this. I thought our society coming apart would start with a large terrorist attack, the bird flu or war.” I didn’t think people would start committing suicide and killing one another until we were well into this depression.”

“ I'm sorry to give you more bad news Chrissie but I thought you’d like to know before rumors started or the powers the be just plain decided to cover it up and not let people know some of what’s going on.”

“No it's alright Frank thank you for telling me it’s not good news but its things like this everyone should know. It doesn’t do anyone any good to have your head stuck in the sand.”

At that moment the dogs began barking outside and Chris walked over to the window and saw someone was coming down her driveway. “It looks like someone's coming Frank thank you for calling I’ll talk to you later by.”

“Goodbye Chris; take care.”

They both hung up and Chris continued to watch out the window to see if she could tell who it what was coming down her driveway. As the old blue pinto pulled up in front of the porch Chrissie could see it was that Bill that had delivered the donkey. The animal shelter hadn’t called her so he wouldn’t be here about an animal; anyway it looked like he was in his own car. Her intuition told her to be careful. The dogs continued to sniff around the car and bark. Bill just sat in his car watching the dogs looking like he was trying to get up the nerve to get out. A few more minutes of that and Christie walked out onto the porch and called the dogs to her. “Come Betty and Spud; now you two go lie down, lay down I say.”

As Chrissie had the dogs lay down on the porch Bill decided he could now get out of his car. “Hello Mrs. Boyd ah Chrissie I decided to come up and check on you; with all the trouble everywhere I figured you just might like some company.” He was saying these things as he walked toward the steps of the porch. Chrissie thought this was awfully presumption of him what gave him the idea that it was all right for him to come up here and that she didn’t have anybody. To bad Frank wasn’t up here right now; that sure would have surprised this young upstart. For one thing Chrissie didn’t like the leer on his face. She didn’t think he even realized he was leering; at least it looked like a leer to her. Chrissie walked down the stairs for some reason she did not want to have this man in her home. “Well as you can see Bill everything’s fine here it was nice of you though; but I’m just fine. You know you should have called first I’m usually pretty busy up here; again thank you. Now I have to get my evening milking and chores done I’m sorry you make the trip for nothing.

“Well I kinda thought seeing as I drove all the way up here and you’re all alone and in need of company that you could at least offer me some supper is that too much to ask?”

Chrissie could hardly believe what she was hearing; he not only came up without calling but inviting himself to dinner. “Sorry Bill but I think you’ve gotten the wrong idea and you are being just a little rude I would say; after all we have only met once.”

Chrissie was still talking as she backed up a bit and sidestepped which put her about five feet from Bill. Needless to say she was getting very uncomfortable with this situation. “Ah come on Chrissie I thought we got along just fine when I was here before and I thought we could have a little fun together. What do you say?”

“I say no Bill I don’t think so; I have somebody in my life and again I did not invite you up here so I think it’s time you left.”

Bill stepped towards her. “Come on Chris who’s going to know; just you and me?” Now Chris wasn’t just uncomfortable she was down right scared; she looked up at her dogs on the porch. “Spud Betty come here.” The dogs came running down off the porch always excited when Chris called for them. The dogs were now prancing around Chrissie. “Now Bill do I get the dogs involved in this or are you just going to get into your car and leave?” This will teach me to not strap on my pistol when someone comes in I don’t know.
Bill looked down at the dogs; they were roaming around his legs also because he was standing only three feet from Chris; they seemed awfully friendly not the guard dog types at all. “I think you're bluffing Chris.”

Bill reached over and grabbed Chris’s left forearm and started to drag her towards him hurting her arm. Chris lifted her right arm hand forward and stiff armed him catching him in the nose with the palm of her hand hard. The dogs suddenly felt Chris’s agitation they both turned and began to growl at Bill. Spud wasn’t much of what you would call a guard dog but Betty was even if she did only have three legs. While Bill was busy trying to see if his nose was broken and bleeding down his shirt Chris was setting the dogs on him. Bill was backpedaling to his car as fast as he could nearly tripping over his own feet; he couldn’t get in the car fast enough. After he was safely in his car he rolled the window part way down. “I'm going to call the police and tell them you have mad dogs that attacked me; I’ll get you that will teach you.”

“Get out of here Bill and get out now and don’t ever come back.” Bill sped off and instead of going to do her chores right away she ran up to the house. She then realized the dogs were running after the car and she called them back to the house and gave them each a dog treat. “Sit Betty; sit spud and stay.” The dogs stayed and Chris went into the house and straight to the telephone. The first thing she did was to call the animal shelter and tell the manager just what Bill had just done and get his full name; of course the manager was shocked and thanked Chris for calling with the complaint. Next she called the local police department and filed a complaint against Bill Folgers; they told her to come in the following day and sign the complaint. She hadn’t really wanted to go to town yet this week but it looked like she would have to, she told them she would be in, in the morning. Then out the door she went to get to her evening chores done, nothing like getting a late start. And on top of it her left arm hurt.

The next day after Chris had finished her morning chores she took off for town. While she was at the police department filing and signing the complaint she also signed up for a concealed carry permit; I should have done this before. The police had her take her arm out of her sleeve so they could take a picture of the bruises that had already appeared on her left arm.
As she drove through the town she could see it was pretty well cleaned up now but it just didn’t look the same; some of the businesses were missing and some were still boarded over never to open again. She was still amazed at the number of homes that had just been wiped off the map; a few people had decided to rebuild others got their insurance money and just moved away. Not wanting to be reminded of the loss of their family members. Her second stop was Robert’s gun shop, she saw his large storefront window had been replaced and looked like its normal self again except for the For Sale sign. As she went in the bell on the door rang and she saw her Uncle Robert working on something at the right counter. He looked up and saw it was her and a big smile crossed his face. “Good to see you Chris I didn’t think you were going to be coming into town for a few days what’s up?”

So Chris filled in him in on what happened to her at her home the day before and why she had come into town. Robert was fit to be a tied by the time she finished telling him about her encounter with Bill Folgers. “So now you know why I'm here and by the way while I as at the police department I went ahead and applied for a permit for concealed carry.”

“It's a good thing I’m an old codger anymore or that young man would’ve got a good whooping from me. Hard to believe he had the nerve to come up there and try to pull that with you but I sure am glad you’re all right.”

“Yes I'm okay I have a few bruises on my arm but that will heal and it’s going to take a lot longer for his nose to do so I think I broke it.”

“Serves him right the young whippersnapper to bad the dogs didn’t get a hold of him to.” Chris was grinning at him by now and chuckling. “To bad you weren’t there Uncle Robert he wouldn’t have even attempted to pull anything. By the way I noticed the for sale sign.”

“Ah yes that; I figured it was about time and I asked the boys again and none of them want to take over the business so I figured I’d go ahead and sell it if I can. The money from the place will be an inheritance for everybody but I really doubt that I get any offers on it with the country and economy the way it is. You know Chris I thought about just asking you if you wanted it since my children don’t but I don’t think it would be staying open much longer any way no one’s going to be able to afford to buy much of anything in the days ahead.”

“I think you're right on Uncle Robert and what do I know about selling guns? The thought was nice but I wouldn’t have been able to.”

“Now tell me Chris what brings you in visiting me today?” “Oh I just wanted to stop in and see how you were doing since I was in town and if there was anything I could do for you while I was here, so is there?”

“Let me think; yes I do I have some boxes I would like you to take off my hands; that way I don’t have to haul them to my house.”

“Uncle Robert you've given me so much what am I going to do with you?” “I have to get rid of much of this stock Chris and I have a whole lot of extra on hand. I’ve already doled out as much as my kids and grand kids can store. You can take some of it in your truck today and I’ll bring the rest of it up with my pickup and trailer this weekend if that’s all right with you? There might be a few odds and ends after that I’ll bring up. But come this Monday everything is going on sale in the store; I figured I might get some sales with people shopping for Christmas gifts and everybody likes a good sale. You go ahead and bring your truck around to the back and I’ll give my grandson Tab a call, school’s out until after the holidays while their repairing the high school.”

Tab picked up the phone on the third ring and Robert asked him if he would come over to help load some boxes and Tab said he’d be over in a few minutes; “no problem grandpa.”

It took Tab about ten minutes to get to the gun shop and Robert introduced Tab and Christie and the boxes were loaded in no time at all. As they both stood at the back of the gun shop and watched Chrissie pull away Tab was amazed by how much Chrissie looked like his Aunt Louise and Cousin Lucy.

“You’re right grandpa she’s family all right no doubt about that she looks a lot like Aunt Louise and what I found funny is there laughs are even alike. I can hardly wait for them to meet; have you asked Chrissie to Christmas dinner yet?”

“Shoot Tab your right I completely forgot to ask her to Christmas dinner; I’ll call her tonight since Christmas is only two weeks away. Another thing I knew she looked like Lucy but now that you mention it she and Louise could be sisters one dark one light, maybe I best get my eyes checked to not have seen it immediately.” Tab helped his grandpa with few more things in the shop and then headed home.”

Later that evening when Chrissie finished with her evening chores and dinner she finally got a chance to sit back down and see what else was happening with New York. A lot of people must have called the studios because now there weren’t any reporters standing in front of the cameras; just a cameraman panning people going through the rubble. She noticed a lot of times that the camera seemed to lock on certain people; the cameras seem to focus on people she knew to be reporters for the television stations working with everyone else. Before she turned in for the night her Uncle Robert had called her and invited her to Christmas dinner at Robert junior’s house. He also told her to go ahead and invite Frank; they would be glad to have him. She accepted and made sure she got Robert Junior’s address and the time they were supposed to be there. Then Robert made sure he called Robert Junior’s house and told them that he had invited Chrissie and her friend Frank for dinner on Christmas. Robert Junior couldn’t say anything because it was a tradition in their family for any family member to be able to invite anyone they wanted to Christmas dinner. Of course he knew Robert Junior still felt that Chrissie was some kind of con artist, he just chuckled Robert Junior would soon find out for himself.

That night Chris was asleep within a few minutes of her head hitting her pillow it had been a full day with chores, going to town, unloading the boxes from the truck which were still sitting in the living room, making herself some dinner and being able to relax for a few minutes. She didn’t even do the evening dishes just put the food away and went and sat down.

Christmas morning found her very nervous but she had baked Christmas cookies the day before and homemade crescent rolls to take; she hoped they would be good enough. She had completely forgotten to ask Uncle Robert what they would like her to bring. Dinner was to be at 12:00 she had just loaded the cookies and rolls into the truck; locked her front door and headed into town to pick up Frank. They had agreed that she would pick him up at his apartment and then go on over to the dinner. When she picked up Frank he took one look at her and could tell something was wrong. He hadn’t had a chance to come up and help her with anything or even have dinner together since they were so busy at work. They had talked on the phone two or three times a week but that was it. Frank did not know about the Bill incident she figured there wasn’t any reason to worry him since there was nothing he could do about it anyway. It would turn out that Frank was the only one that didn’t know because Uncle Robert had told his grandson Tab and Tab made sure everybody else knew.

“What’s wrong Chris you seem awfully nervous?” “Yes Frank I sure am, very nervous I haven’t met any of my cousins and my stomach is tying up in knots.” “All right before we go just sit there and take deep breaths and tell your self this is my family and there’s no reason to be nervous now do it.”

Chris closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths and began to relax. She then started her truck and off they went. It turned out that Frank didn’t live all that far from her cousin Robert Junior’s house, in a few minutes they were turning into the driveway and Chris parked behind Uncle Robert’s truck. Chris looked at Frank as they got out and she picked up the cookies and handed him the rolls and said. “Here goes.”

Uncle Robert glanced out of the window and saw Chris and Frank headed for the house. He could have headed for the door but he didn’t; he would let her knock and someone else answer the door. One of the granddaughters Lucy ran for the door when someone knocked, one of the daughter’s of Henry and May. “Oh wow you must be our cousin Chris, come in, I’m Lucy by the way. Boy oh boy does she ever look like Aunt Louise and me. Chrissie didn’t even get a chance to get a word in edge wise. To Chris and Frank she said, “Come in we’re very happy you could make it, grandpa said he invited you and your boyfriend.”

Chris turned a bit red because she didn’t know what Frank thought of that statement. Frank just kind of grinned and thought that sounded good. He didn’t mind being considered Chris’s boyfriend. He was gonna have to talk to her about that one and he sure hoped she didn’t mind; because he really liked the idea.

Chris was beginning to feel little uncomfortable just kind of standing in front of the door; when Uncle Robert came into the room from the kitchen.

“Wonderful Chris and Frank I’m so glad you could make it to dinner. Now let’s get you introduced to everybody, you come along to Frank don’t be shy.” Robert took her by the hand and pulled her a long to the other side of the living room. Robert was a little ticked at his adult children that weren’t helping with dinner at the moment either; they were all standing over by the fireplace acting like snobs. Not one of them had even turned to look at Chris and Frank but pointedly continued to talk between themselves. Even if Chris and Frank had been complete strangers to everybody they shouldn’t have been that rude to them. And he would definitely take this up with his children later.

“Family I want all of you to meet your cousin Chrissie Boyd and her friend Frank Jackson.” That’s when everybody decided to look at Chris and they got the surprise of their lives. For Tab hadn’t even told his parents how much Chris looked like Aunt Louise he had just kept it to himself. He had wanted to see the looks on their faces when they saw her but he didn’t happen to be in the house at the time, he had been out getting wood for the fireplace rack. Robert Junior, Henry, Louise and Deke just stood there was their mouths open. Then Robert Junior finely spoke up, “I’m sorry Chris we were being rude and shouldn’t have been. But now I see that you are family I should have taken my father’s word for it anyway even if you hadn’t looked like the other women of the family.” That’s when Chris glanced at Louise, and found Louise staring back at her. Robert junior was laughing and declared, “Now I know why Tab’s been acting like the cat that ate the canary.” Needless to say all went well that day and Chris hadn’t had such a special Christmas for a very long time.

End chapter 14

sssarawolf · Jun 18, 2009

An Unexpected Life chapter 15

Chapter 15
Full blown Depression

With both Washington DC and a large area of the state of New York destroyed the Depression deepened more than anyone could ever think possible. Petty things that people had thought important for years now sat on the wayside of their lives, expensive cars, 4-wheelers, boats, large homes, jewelry, prestige and so called corporate success. The pawn shops were full of electronic gadgets; flat screen television sets, computers, computer games and all the latest video games and equipment. The pawn shops could take no more in; many had begun closing their doors because they could not resell anything that they had been buying from costumers. At first people were coming and buying all the reduced priced toys then this trickled down to nearly no one. Some of the owners of the pawn shops discovered before it was too late that they were paying out more money than they were bringing in, and stopped before they too were broke. Now the main thing people sought after wasn’t the latest toy but where their next meal was coming from. To top things off the winter was a cold one, not the biggest of snow years but very cold.

The storms hadn’t stopped either; every few days a massive storm would hit one of the cities of the United States and the surrounding area. The loss of life went from hundreds of thousands to millions as the weeks wore on. The civility of civilization began to vanish; the police, National Guard and military were overwhelmed not to mention the many that left to see to their own families. Semis were hijacked and looted and if the truck didn’t contain food they took it out on the driver. Before long gun battles erupted around trucks bound for grocery stores and not long after the trucks had two men riding shotgun; one in the cab with the driver and one in the back of the trucks. So to top off no food getting trucked in deliveries of propane and fuel oil came to a complete halt. If you didn’t have an alternate source of heat in the cold regions of the country you didn’t last long. At first the Red Cross took over schools and Church’s tried to feed and keep as many warm as possible but they soon to ran out of both food and fuel. Even all this didn’t keep the scum from continuing to rob and kill for what they wanted.
Grocery stores and food warehouses that were still standing had armed guards. Refugees began inundating medium and small towns, farms and ranches were raided by gangs of hungry people who just months before were high and middle class families. They now joined the world of the poor and starving. People that should’ve been able to survive; now were killed trying to protect their animals and farm produce that they knew were needed for the future for themselves and others. Someone still had to be farmers and ranchers even if it was just to supply local areas with food and meat, but too many didn’t even think of that as they killed and ate in the here and now and hadn’t thought of next week let along next year. Since trucking was essentially destroyed across the country and trains no longer ran through small towns; the former train tracks had been pulled up to make way for bike and walking paths. People were back to relying on local farmers’ markets more than ever. That’s if they were able to get produce to them. And the populace wasn’t afraid to try and get to one by walking or bicycle. People were now armed where ever they went. Those that had refused to buy a gun when they could have now were the biggest victims. They were soon huddled in their homes afraid to come out, dead or enslaved depending on what or who was in control in their area.

In February the banks closed their doors and the mail service stopped running. Frank moved up to Chris’s farm and took over one of the bedrooms upstairs. His apartment complex had been raided by a band of hungry men and women; the people in the complex fought them off and barely won but the cost in life was dear. There were no longer enough people left to defend the apartment complex. He and Chrissie’s with her truck and trailer moved him up lock stock and barrel. The farm store closed so he no longer had a job so that wasn’t a problem; but he had hopes that the farm store along with other businesses would someday open again. That was also the month the electrical grid went down for good. The storms were hitting cities out west and the western grid was destroyed last.

Uncle Robert tried to get his children to all move over to his place but no one would until both Robert Junior’s and Henry’s places were attacked. If it hadn’t been for their basements none of them would have survived. Their homes looked like Swiss cheese from all the bullet holes. They also talked their sister Louise and her family into moving back to their fathers especially after she saw the carnage and the bodies that littered the yards. And she and Deke realized if a group of hungry scum hit them they would not make it. Robert had been worried about all of them and himself; Chris had tried to talk him into moving up to her place but he said he had just too much to move and needed to be where he was for his children. It was a good thing Roberts home was large with five bedrooms upstairs but then his den was also turned into a bedroom and three extra rooms down stairs in the basement that could be made into bedrooms. There were also the bedrooms down in the shelter. Robert Junior, Henry and Louise were finally shown the shelter under the shop and the rooms were still bare bones. They were far from that now; all of the rooms had all the comforts of home, they filled them with all the comforts of home in no time. Also they didn’t know that their father and mother had expanded the shelter to three times its original size with many new editions, he didn’t show them. A man has to have some secrets. But he knew he needed to not let the secret stay one for long; after all they may need to use everything if something happened to him.
In the last days of phone service Uncle Robert had phoned to see how Chris was doing and told her everyone else in the family was moving to his place after telling her of the gun battles. He also wanted to know if she wanted to move down to the valley with them.

Everyone used what gasoline and diesel they had left sparingly. They had seen firsthand what was happening at the gas stations when people brought in hand pumps to try and pump gas and diesel out. The majority of gas stations that still existed and hadn’t been burned to the ground during gun battles had been set up like the old water stations in the eighteen hundreds. When a water hole was taken over by lowlifes and you had to pay dearly for every drop but now it was fuel. And now as then most of the time both sides paid with their lives.

End chapter 15

sssarawolf · Jun 22, 2009

An Unexpected Life chapter 16

Lol 45nut. Pipe to the septic was clogged we had to dig that up this weekend. Plus son and 2 kids came Sat. night when we were just filling things back in and they are putting the kitchen wall back together and get to be the gofer.

Chapter 16
Trouble visiting

In March Frank finally proposed to Chris and after she said yes she asked him what had taken him so long. Early in the morning on the last day of March they used some of their gas and being well armed took a trip down to the valley to Uncle Roberts. They didn’t know if the family knew of a priest or judge that was still around that could marry them but they were darn well going to try to do it right.

They went well armed and took along trade goods in case that would be a possibility and of course plenty of cheese for the family. They hated to leave the farm unattended but saw no other choice this was important to them. They made it down to the valley with out incident by nine AM but were very nervous as they saw all the burnt out homes when they got down to the valley. They were amazed at the destruction and now worried; Frank had a death grip on the stirring wheel and both he and Chris kept a constant watch for any sign of trouble. By the time they got to Uncle Roberts Franks fingers were so stiff he could hardly straighten them. “Oh man Chris I didn’t think we would ever get here.” he said as they pulled up past cousin Henry; who had stepped out from behind a bush at the beginning of the driveway when he saw who was pulling in. They weren’t messing around Chris saw; Henry had what she thought of as a Tommy gun in his hands and a holstered pistol on his right hip. Well when your dads a gun store owner and his father before him you might have a few goodies put away.

Frank was working his hands open and closed to get movement back in them; in the rear view mirror he saw Henry put a whistle to his lips and give two shorts blasts. Then he went back to his post as family members that weren’t on duty came out to see Chris and Frank. Chris and Frank were exiting the truck when she was grabbed and encased in a bear hug by her great Uncle Robert. “It’s wonderful to see you Chris what brings you two to our place?”

He was hugging her so hard she could barely talk and started to laugh. “Let loose a little Uncle Robert and maybe I can talk,” she said laughingly. “Oh sorry girl; okay if I have to.”

“And if you have to know we came down to get married, but we were going to tell you anyway and see if you knew where we could find a priest or a judge or anyone that could do the job. And we have some things for you in the back of the truck.”

“Well you came to the right place Chris; do you see that house over there?” He was pointing right and at a house about one mile down the road. “That’s Judge Owens’s place and they are still there. We have been helping keep an eye on him and his wife they are getting up there in years. (Judge Douglas Owen 80 years old and his wife Mary 78 years old.) But he is a feisty old buzzard and we haven’t been able to convince him to move over here.”
When the kids heard the words; things for them in the back of the truck that’s all it took and they were busy taking the tarp off of it. Their grandfather hadn’t even stopped talking yet when everyone started to exclaim over what they found n the truck. Lonny and Lucy Henry and May’s girl were holding a box full of different kinds of cheese’s and Colt Louise’s and Deke’s boy had nabbed a large smoked ham and saw another. Tab opened a box and found it full of bacon, sausage and cold cuts. And exclaimed, “Oh wow did you guys make all this?”

Frank told them, “keep looking and you will find even more goodies, and yes we made it.”

Uncle Robert looked at Chris, “I didn’t think you had any hogs Chris?”
“Well we didn’t but we ended up with six hogs a month or so ago, and now you have some of the products of our good fortune.” “You will have to tell us about that one,” Pat Robert’s wife told them as she came and took a hold of Chris and began to whisk her into the house. “But for now lets have Frank oversee what you two brought and get to planning this wedding.”

Needless to say Pat was taking charge and started to give orders. “Dad you and Robert go over and see the Judge and ask him to do the honors of marring our cousin today at 2:00 PM sharp so these two can get home before dark. Louise, May and girls lets get the cooking started; we have a lot to do and the daylight is burning.” The men backed off and Robert and Robert Jr. headed down to the Judges house on the double; they didn’t want to get in the women’s way. Later when they got back from the Judges they had Frank fill them in on how they got the hogs.

Later Frank was in the back yard with the rest of the guys he had been shoved out of the house a few minutes before. The guards had changed shifts and everyone was enjoying some ice tea. The valley temperatures was 20 degrees warmer then where they lived in the mountains and still had about a foot of snow; Frank was enjoying this warmer weather.

He was sitting on a lawn chair and everyone wanted to hear the story even if it wasn’t exciting it was something different. “Here goes; there was still two foot of snow on the ground yet and drifts and higher places around the farm where we had shoveled it up for walk ways and Chris and I had just finished our chores when a truck with an animal trailer comes roaring through the snow down the driveway. As you know we go no where without being armed these days and doing chores is no exception and a good thing it was. Behind the truck was a jeep and the people in the two vehicles were trading shots. Now the truck with the trailer came all the way around the house between the house and barn and came to a quick stop and the three men started piling out of the truck with one being wounded but it didn’t look very bad. The jeep stopped at the right corner of the house and they continued to shoot and Chris and I were in the barn. Well we had no idea who were the bad guys and who were the good guys and we were just trying to stay out of the way and not get shot ourselves. But we couldn’t let this go on because we didn’t need any of the farm animals to get hurt. We also didn’t want to let them know there was just the two of us at the farm. But what we were sure of is that there were hogs in the trailer they were squealing loudly.

So I get the bright idea to yell out and tell both groups their on our place and we won’t put up with this crap. One of the men in the jeep hears this of course and proceeds to now shoot at the barn where he heard my voice come from. Well that convinced us of who was what and who we should help. And luckily I had gotten down on the ground after yelling out or I wouldn’t be here today. So then I move and yell out that if they don’t quit and get off our place the people stationed around the farm would take them out. Well that stopped the jeep people for a few minutes but I guess they were just going to wait to see who was going to fire and from where to take us out in kind. Mean while Chris had gotten herself over to the well house with the snow as cover it was an easy thing to do and in a low voice she said, “Yo cousin Fred do you want me to take one out right now?” Frank was doing the imitations of all this in voices.

Then she scoots away and takes up another place by the shed while I go out the back of the barn and over to the new sheep shed. It was my turn, “Well no cousin Jake pa says you just hold your horses, he taught you better now you listen.”

Chris’s turn, “Hey Cousin Lou I got me a bead on one of these critters by the jeep can I have his purdy clothes if I shoot now?” Back to me, “Why don’t you boys listen youins have been done told I taught you better, I think I sounded like Walter Brenan.” And then off I go to another position, but this time she uses her own voice only more whinny. “But pa if cousin Pete gets to keep that there mans purdy clothes can I do the same with one of the others; you know I can shoot the eye out of a bird and wont get no blood on those clothes much at all.” And off we go again to change positions.
Now these guys were looking back and forth at each other like they must have found themselves in deep redneck country and pile into their jeep and take off like we had set fire to their tails. The men in the pickup truck did shoot at them as they left and so did Chris and I to help then not want to come back.

Then Chris did the normal, “hello at the truck were coming out put your guns down.” So they level them down at the ground and Chris steps out from behind the garage and I step out from the left side of the barn and I ask what’s going on and do you want us to see to their wounded man?” Now the three men kept looking around like they were expecting more people to step out but no one does. I say, “Okay I will ask again,” and my gun is still in my hand, “tell us what’s going on?”

One man speaks up the oldest of the group. “Sorry but we don’t like guns pointed at us we need the rest of your people to step out.” And they still had their guns leveled down but like they were going to start shooting again.
So I look at Chris, “Cousin Chris what do you think?” Her reply is, “Pa and the other cousin’s will stay right where they are we don’t need people to know all our strength and it’s not like we know you mister. You’re the ones that are trespassing on our property after all we aren’t gonna shoot you for noting if that’s what you are a feared of.”

So the older guy holsters his pistol and the younger ones do to, the older did the talking. “We’re sorry for pulling in onto your place but we saw this path and thought it was an old road and we could get away from those hijackers on. And we’re sorry it caused you so much trouble we were just trying to get these hogs down to the valley to maybe trade. We don’t have the feed left for them to last through the spring and we have butchered all we could and held back a sow and a male for next year. And my son was just clipped in the arm he’ll be fine until we get him home.” They had wrapped his arm with a handkerchief. Both of the young men looked to be in their twenties and resembled their father, semi large men with dark short hair. Mean while the hogs are still squealing like crazy.

I told them that was up to them on wither they wanted the young man looked at or not and asked how many hogs in the trailer and he says six. I told him I didn’t think going down to the valley with those would be a good idea he may never make it home again that there was more of a war going on down there. And boy did the three of them look forlorn. I told him, “Now I tell you what, what kind of trade were you thinking of making for those hogs and could we see them.” So we all go around the back of the trailer and he opens the top gate and found two of the hogs were wounded. Boy did his face fall when he saw that.

“Again what kind of trade were you figuring on mister; by the way I’m Frank and you already know she is Chris.”

He started to rub his chin because he knew he couldn’t get what he would have if none of them had been hurt. “My name is Kurt and these are my boys Mace and Mike;” and we shook hands. I was hoping to find some garden seeds, wheat seed for planting in a couple weeks, kerosene for our lamps, the Mrs. wants some yeast, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and some spices, oil or shortening things like that.”

Chris gave the come here jerk of her head at me and we went over to the shed to talk. We talked about it and decided we would do a trade with them and maybe this would be a good thing for the future for us. Bur we still didn’t want them to know there was just the two of us on the farm. So we decided to keep pretending and when we went back to them I told them we have to go to the house and discuss this with ma and pa; I told them to stay put and we would be back in a few moments.

It was still cold outside so they got back in their truck to warm up while we went to the house. So we went in and stood by the wood stove to warm up a little ourselves and tried to figure out how we could do this. After warming up for a few minutes and talking we headed down to the basement. Now we didn’t want to part with any of our five gallon plastic containers or other good storage containers. So Chris decided to dump 200lbs. of all purpose flour into a clean garbage can we first lined with newspapers. Chris doesn’t throw a whole lot of things away so pounds of sugar went into three-50lb. empty feed bags so there was plenty of space to tie the bags shut. While I hauled the flour and sugar upstairs and into the kitchen Chris got down and put together a couple of cardboard boxes and started filling them with large one and two pound containers of different spices, powder baking soda, a 25lb. bag of cornmeal and to give them a surprise a 5lb. bag of cocoa plus a 5lb. bottle of vegetable oil. We wondered if maybe there were some little kids two so we threw in the some bags of chocolate chips and hard candies. After we got everything upstairs and taken onto the back porch Chris grabbed 2-3 pound packages of yeast from the freezer; and 10-lbs. of homemade mozzarella cheese. I thought maybe giving them that much yeast would short us, but Chris said no we have plenty but if we run out of this kind of yeast I have sourdough yeast in the refrigerator. So what do I know?

After we got back to their truck I told them; “we was to go ahead and offer you a trade for the hogs; we have some of those things you asked for to spare but it’s a good thing you came a long now cause another few months and we wouldn’t have. Is it a trade Kurt or not?” Kurt looked over at his sons and they both nodded; the one that was wounded looked a little on the peaked side. I think all he wanted to do was go home by this time. “All right then it is a deal where do you want us to offload these hogs? And you know the two wounded ones are going to have to be put out of their misery pretty soon?”

“Yes we pretty well figured that one out; now you go ahead and back the truck up to that barn door over there. Wait a minute I have to signal every everyone so they know the trucks moving and everything’s OK.” So I hold my right hand up in the air and turn two different directions like they’re actually people out there waiting for signals. It took awhile to get the hogs unloaded especially the wounded ones.

While we were unloading the pigs Chris had brought the supplies out onto the back side walk she even pulled the trash can of flour out the back door and down the stairs. So after they pulled the truck over to the back of the house Kurt and one of his boys loaded the stuff up into the back of their pickup. They went ahead and looked in all the boxes and the trash can and that’s when I saw another bag; Chris had gone down and got them some brown sugar. By the time the men were finished big old tough looking Kurt had tears in his eyes. He told us this was more than he thought he was going to get and is wife, daughter in laws and grand kids would be in seventh heaven when they got home and saw the staples and the treats we gave them. Chris told them what we’d really like back was the big trash can and that they could just drop it by sometime when they were finished with it. He told them to come by next time they wanted to trade and that we always had things like cheese to trade. Kurt kind of looked a little guilty and said he just couldn’t leave unless he helped us kill those two hurt hogs and help hang them at least. So we got to it and even after they helped do that for the next two days Chris and I butchered hogs; it sure was a good thing if it was still cold. So that’s it men that’s the hog story. And we pray it wasn’t a mistake not to have taken those men out in the jeep and that it won’t come back to haunt us in the future.

Chris’s Great Uncle Robert just sat there shaking his head in amazement.

“That’s one of the funniest and saddest stories I’ve heard since this mess started.” All the other guys concurred and couldn’t wait to tell it to the rest of the family.

Inside the house Chris had given her version of the story and the ladies of the family had been laughing just as hard as the men as they baked up a storm. Robert Junior’s wife Pat came out and whispered something into Uncle Robert’s ear and he got up and left with her. “Be back in a little while guys.”
After a while Chris saw Robert go back out the back door and Pat was coming down the hallway holding a white wedding dress. “Stand up Chris lets see what kind of alterations we are going to have to make to moms dress.” “Oh I couldn't Pat.” “And why can't you, I wore this to dress and we’re about the same size so it shouldn’t take much; now come on back to the sewing room.” Chris was in a little bit of shock she hadn’t had anyone fuss over her since she was a girl and she was crying as she followed Pat down the hallway.

At noon they all pitched in and made everybody a sandwich but that’s it because they didn’t want anybody filling up since the wedding would be at two. That would just have to hold them for now.

At 1:00 the judge and his wife came down to the house and of course the judge had papers in hand so it would all be legal. The judge had once been six foot tall but was now kind of stooped and very thin and was dressed in his black suit and his wife Mary was very short and plump and her white hair was piled on her head in a large bun. Mary’s eyes sparkled, “Thank you so much for inviting us I needed to get out of that house.” That brought a smile to everyone’s face for she had a wonderful personality.

The wedding went wonderfully with one of the hams, fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, home canned vegetables, some of Chris and Frank’s homemade summer sausage, cheese and to top it off a two layer chocolate cake.

By 3:30 they were waving goodbye to Mr. And Mrs. Owens as Deke and Tab escorted them home. Chris and Frank changed, packed up and were ready to go.” All the ladies had been crying and hated to see Chris and Frank leave but they had to get home

It was just getting dark as they made it home and they pulled into the driveway; they did so slowly and of course the dogs began to bark. They looked around and everything seemed to be all right as they disembarked from the truck. The dogs were very happy to see them. They changed into their farm clothes and picked up their caps that had the small LED lights clipped onto them and got to the chores. Chores didn’t even wait for honeymoons.

End chapter 16

Do you see them?

sssarawolf · Jun 24, 2009

An Unexpected Life chapter 17

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Chapter 17
Screw up

As the weather warmed in April with the natural forces of warm spring winds meeting cold winds it made the severity of the storms ten times worse as they put the storm maker machinery to use. Storms that should have dissipated even after the equipment was shut down didn’t. They continued to rage for days on end made into super storms. Until then the only country that was suffering was the United States but the storm that was made to destroy Los Angeles California and the surrounding area was pushed out to sea by the Santa Ana winds. The storm intensified as it hit the Pacific Ocean turning into a monstrous typhoon. It swept over the lower islands of Japan without skipping a beat and headed for China. All the news was abuzz with the thousands that had died in Japan some never to be found as they were swept off to sea.

General Cheng was getting a little uncomfortable as he sat in his bed in front of his television. His storm was doing something he never counted on it doing; coming to wards China. This just couldn’t be happening; if it kept heading towards them it would destroy all his plans.

The general stayed in front of his television all the next day even taking his meals in his room; needless to say this was a relief to everybody else at the base the less they were seen by the general the better. The weather channel every hour on the hour kept people advised of the whereabouts of the super typhoon.

With the storm a mere hour from hitting the coast of China General Cheng got the phone call he was dreading; it was the Prime Minister’s Secretary, Miss Fang handed him the phone; “General Cheng speaking.” “The Prime Minister requests your presence day after tomorrow at 9:00 AM do not be late.” That was it short and sweet well now he would have to figure out what to do. I have time to get away; maybe I should run while the running is good if I don’t it will be my head. The general quickly got out of bed, “Miss Fang help me dress immediately I have somewhere I have to be.”

When it hit South Korea you wouldn’t even have know it had hit land at all it never slowed. The storm was so huge most of an already disaster ridden North Korea was damaged beyond repair.

Miss Fang thought that maybe the phone call was orders for him to go and that maybe his help was needed because of the typhoon. She had a little of it right anyway; it was about the typhoon.

The general was so nervous instead of having his Butler Ping order his car brought up he actually picked up the phone and ordered his car himself. Normally he would’ve had Miss Fang go to the intercom and buzz Ping in his room to have him come and order the car brought up. Miss. Fang just stood there with her mouth hanging open. The general turned. “Miss Fang please help finish dressing me I am in a hurry. And when I am dressed pack me a suitcase for say a three day stay and don’t forget an extra pair of dress uniform shoes and I want three sets of my civilian clothes and shoes included.” The general then went to a wall of his bedroom and moved the picture and opened the safe. “Miss Fang bring me the brown satchel on the floor on the left side of my closet.” She did as she was told because she knew she had already made one mistake by not being quick enough to help him dress. She watched the general as he quickly pulled cash, jewelry and a small case out of his safe.

The general left the bedroom and headed for the door of his apartment Miss Fang ran to get ahead of him to open the door. As she opened the door he saw his car was already sitting there waiting for him and he turned to the guard on the right side of the door. “Go get my suitcase which is waiting on my bed and be quick about it.” The young soldier did as he was told he knew what could happen to him if he didn’t. His driver opened the back door for him as the general slipped into the car. While he was waiting for his suitcase was being put into the trunk. The general was trying to be as nonchalant and calm as he usually was but he wasn’t succeeding very well; his men could tell that there was something wrong. No one stopped him as he departed the base and he let out a sigh. He had been afraid some one would come for him and put him under arrest on his own base.

At this moment the super storm was hitting the tiny islands and coast of China wiping the islands clean and flattening and destroying the coastal cities. The storm had turned slightly south and as the typhoon hit it began spawning tornados none of them below an F3. The death toll was climbing by the hundreds of thousands within minutes of it hitting shore. Shanghai, Ningbo and with in minutes Nanjing ceased to exist. Beijing was at the edge of the storm and the Prime Minister was not amused. Tornados were hitting his province and he didn’t like being in his storm/bomb shelter. How he could tell the difference between the upstairs and his shelter was he had to take his elevator down fifteen floors. If you didn’t know you were under ground there would be no way to tell it by the grandeur and huge rooms with curtains on the walls pretending to be windows. The Prime Minister might as well be an Emperor he was as good as one, he had the power of life and death at a moments whim.

It was 20 miles to the Military airport and the general had a hard time sitting still; this nervousness was a new feeling for him. He sat one way then turned and sat another; crossed his legs uncrossed them then crossed the other leg. His chauffeur was watching the General in the rear view mirror; General Cheng was making him nervous just watching him. Whatever the problem was it must be a dozy the chauffeur had been driving for the general for the last five years and had lasted the longest of all the people around the general. The way the general was acting you’d think he was about to face a firing squad.

Cheng looked out the shaded side window to see the sign of the Airport to go by; if all went well in a few minutes he would be in the air and on his way out of China. Twenty minutes later his private Air Force jet was taxiing down the runway about to take off and he again was breathing a sigh of relief, home free, he thought. In a few hours he would be out of Chinese airspace and the prime minister’s clutches.

Twelve hours later as the storm finely dissipated the deaths were in the millions and the general believed himself safe and sound in Ho Chi Minh City and was about to get a flight for Indonesia. He had sent his private jet back to China with orders to return to base after refueling and dropping him off. He wanted no one to know of his next destination and the one after that; he would change many flights and destinations for the next two days to lose himself and hopefully never to be found. From now on the general would be a haunted man always looking over his shoulder; never knowing when the bullet would come. The prime Minister had a long reach.

To say the prime minister of China was mad when General Cheng did not show up for their appointment at 9 am was putting it mildly. “I want General Cheng in front of me as soon as possible; he is to be found immediately.” Only the devastation and the storm that was finally winding down kept much of anything from going into the air or people traveling there was no way to find the general. Hours later the Prime Minister sent a squad of men in helicopters along with a replacement for General Cheng to the mountain base not only to see why the general had not come to his firing squad for that is what it would have been. The Prime Minister knew that somehow this was General Cheng’s fault after all he was in charge of this experiment. They wanted to destroy America and bring it to its knees not China.

The newly appointed five star general Tung had been briefed of the ongoing experiment inside the mountain base and as they traveled there he read over all the paperwork that he had been provided. At first it was hard to read because of the total devastation he fly over outside the windows of the helicopter; but soon they were over clear desert country and he began to take his reading seriously. He would take his new duties seriously also; the first order of business would be to put General Cheng up against a wall and have him shot. The next order of business would be to interview the scientists working on the project and then the other officers at the base. He would get to the bottom of the trouble as soon as possible and then send a man back to the prime minister’s headquarters to report; all phone lines were down so this was the only way.

He found the trouble almost immediately as he was interviewing Doctor Siyu Wei; a second storm generator had been built when only one had been authorized. What in the world had general Cheng been thinking? China was devastated with massive storms with tornado's and floods and literally millions were killed. China the great dragon would not rise again for many decades to come.

End chapter 17

sssarawolf · Jun 28, 2009

An Unexpected Life chapter 18

I was hoping more liked this, but maybe it started out to slow.

Chapter 18
Refuges & stockades

The summer had been very interesting for Chrissie and Frank; not only had they acquired a Scottish Highland bull and heifer; short and having very long hair but three horses and a flock of Chinese geese. The other animals and birds on the farm had their babies and the place was busy indeed. They had been attacked once but they never found where they had come from. It could have been some of the people from the jeep that got away but they didn’t know for sure, dead men tell no tales. They did pick up some new weapons no sense in burying those; it never hurt to have extra even if they did have an ample supply of guns and ammo thanks to great uncle Robert. After that attack they put up a substantial gate and stronger fencing running 50 feet on each side of the gate to keep people from just driving in. They didn’t have the means to make the place a fortress. They also acquired another couple to live and help out on the farm the couple was in their 40’s; Bob and Florence Strong and they knew a little about farming. Bob called himself a Jack of all trades and master of none. They showed up in July pulling a bike trailer.

Chrissie and Frank were about finished with the gate when they spied the couple pulling their small trailer and looking very thin and forlorn. They had gotten off the main road thinking this small dirt road would be safer from highway robbers. That had become a major occupation these days for unsavory types. It never seems to take long to regress does it.

The couple had learned the hard way staying on main roads had lost them their bikes. The main people that had gasoline these days to use in their vehicles without thought was the criminal element. Everyone else was using mopeds, walking, riding bicycles, horses or something similar to a horse. The preppers those that prepared ahead had the ability to store fuel of their own used there’s sparingly to. Bob and Florence had escaped with their trailer while three highway robbers were arguing over their two bicycles. They figured the thieves must have thought the couple and what they had; wasn’t worth chasing them over, or maybe it had something to do with the two distant gunshots they had heard. So that’s how they found themselves on this small dirt road and found a young couple working on a gate.

Frank had his gun out as soon as he saw them but something about the couple made him less apt to shoot first and ask questions later. But he still had it out even if it wasn’t pointed towards them and Chrissie had her hand on the butt of her pistol. Even if they did look pretty ragged there was no sense on taking chances. It turned out Bob and Florence had lived in the suburbs outside of a large town 75 miles away. Their 22 year old son Thomas was away at college; he had decided to take a scholarship at UCLA. They had hoped he would be able to make it home but one night the riots had reached their home and they quickly packed their small bike trailer stashed a note out under their message rock by the house got on their bikes and left. Hiding a short distance away they saw their home go up in flames as well as most of the block. Their note read; Thomas if you find this we are on our bikes and headed east we love you and wish you all the Lord’s blessings. They never knew if they would see him again in this life; but they knew he had a level head on him and if anyone could make it he could. They had never arranged a meeting place in case of emergencies. Who would have thought any thing like this could actually happen to them?

After talking to the couple Frank and Chris invited the couple back to the house for lunch and to rest up and in September they were still there. Now Chris and Frank didn’t know what they would do with out them.

Chrissie and Frank hadn’t been able to make it back down to the valley to visit the family since the wedding and were planning a trip down in October before winter hit. This time they wouldn’t have to leave the farm unattended; Bob and Florence had already told them they would be staying home. They had enough travel to last them a very long time and as far they were concerned they were embedded like ticks. One of the bedrooms upstairs was all theirs until they could build their own cabin.

The first week of October was here and Frank had helped pack the truck and he was antsy and wanted to be on the road. The sooner they got down and to Uncle Roberts place the better. Chris was climbing into the truck, “well gee whiz Frank you ready to go or not?” At least she said it with a smile. They waved goodbye to Bob and Florence and were on their way and it was only 7 AM. They were fully armed as usual but more so with traveling. Chris had her M1A leaning against her left leg and four full clips with extra ammo on the seat and on the floor. Half of it was Frank’s he had the same type rifle leaning on the seat between them. Chris also had on her two gun holster and glock 19’s; she had found them going through some of the stuff Robert had given her when she was looking for some pistols to give Bob and Florence. Those weren’t the only weapons with them; they didn’t take what Bob told them lightly, they knew it must be more dangerous then ever out there. The nearest home to them they would pass was five miles down the road on the way to the state highway to go down to the valley. As they passed they both noticed smoke coming from the chimney. “I feel a bit guilty Frank?”

“Whys that Chris?”

“We should have made an effort before this to come over and see how they are and if we could be a help to each other, we aren’t that far apart. We could help them in an attack and they could help us.”

“Okay when we come home we will make an effort to visit them and see how things are with them. I just want to make sure they’re not the type that doesn’t just take.”

“I think if they were Frank we would have seen them before now; you would think they would have borrowed us to death if they had been.”

A few minutes later as they made the turn onto the state highway and a shot rang out and both Chris and Frank heard the twang as it hit the back of the truck. “Well Chris I guess we were just lucky the last time we went to town. Guess we’re going to have some excitement this time.”

They still hadn’t seen where the shooter could be and they didn’t want to stop and find out; stopping would have been worse unless they really had to. Frank just stepped on the gas and got them down the road as fast as he could. One more shot was heard but it must have missed them; thank goodness. They stayed on edge all the way down the mountain; ready for anything. They were both nervous wrecks as they drove into the valley and the way things looked didn’t help any. It looked like a full blown war had happened down here. “Oh Frank look at this place it’s awful. I pray the family is all right.”

Frank was looking around and he didn’t like what he was seeing. Hardly a house was left untouched by fire, burnt out cars and trucks and what looked like remains of bodies that animals had gotten to. From what he could tell this had to have happened sometime in the summer the smells were gone from the dead. They knew because they had rolled down their windows it was so much warmer down here and they weren’t used to it. The condition of the homes didn’t improve even though they took the long way around to the Duncan homestead. “I’m a little afraid Frank I never dreamed it could get worse down here then it was the last time we were down.”

Needless to say they didn’t take their time they wanted to get to uncle Roberts as quick as possible. There was no worrying about speed limits anymore; there were no police to patrol. Frank had the petal to the metal and was screeching around corners hoping that wasn’t another thing that could bring unwanted attention there way. The Duncan’s neighbor hood looked quite a bit different now as they pulled onto the street. Chrissie gasped and looked down the road and the Judges home was gone; as they rode past they could see it was burnt to the ground. Her eyes went right for her great uncles place and it was still there but it looked completely different but it was there. Now hopefully it was still in the hands of the family. They saw field’s barns and other out buildings around the outside of the enclosure before them. Now Frank did slow down and neither of them spoke as they made their way up to the 20 foot tall iron gate right at the road where the driveway used to begin; the gate was attached to huge up right logs pointed on the top. It was just like looking at an old west fort or something from the 1700 and 1800’s to keep out the hostile Indians or Redcoats and this one was huge. They could see men and women walking along the top just shoulders and heads with rifles so they must have a walk way. Frank stopped the truck and a slot opened in the gate and a set of eyes looked them over and they heard. “Tab help me open the gate its Chrissie and Frank.”

Chris’s heart went back down where it belonged. As the gate opened she could see it was her cousins Robert and Tab. Frank pulled the truck through the gate and it was closed immediately behind them. They were both amazed at the change in the place not to mention the amount of people inside the enclosure. The place was like an ant hive with people doing all kinds of tasks. They could see where homes and other buildings had been built right up next to the fort wall inside with the wall of the fort being the back wall of the buildings. “I wonder what’s going on Frank this is, well I don’t know what to say it is.”

As they came to stop all kinds of people were stopping what they were doing and staring at them. Word must have gotten around quick because as Chris turned towards Uncle Roberts house she saw him making his way over to them, neither one of them had budged to get out of the truck. They both saw he was limping and was using a cane. They decided to get out of the truck and try to meet him part way. They hurried over to Robert and he came to a stop as Chrissie ran up to him and threw her arms around him, she stepped back. “Oh Uncle Robert you’re hurt. What happened and where did all these people come from, what happened to the Judge and his wife and how did you all manage to build such a place and what happened here?”
“Whoa girl slow down; you two come on into the house and we will explain it all to you, but first is there any thing in the truck that’s needs to be kept cold?”

“Oh not really Uncle Robert it should be fine for now.”

Frank stepped up and shook Roberts hand and said; “why don’t we get you inside and off that leg of yours and you can tell us what this is all about; I can’t wait to hear this.”

As they were ushered into the house both Chrissie and Frank could see the Judge sitting at the kitchen table. “Well, well look what the cat dragged in it sure is good to see you kids we have been wondering how you were up there in the mountains.” He got up to come over and shake hands and was surprised with a bug hug from Chris, but told Frank. A hand shake will be just fine from you son, if you don’t mind.” Which got a big chuckle from those in the kitchen. Pat and May ran over to give Chris a hug and welcome them both.

May told them to come and sit down at the table and tell them how they were and how the summer went while she got them some tea. So Chris and Frank told them all about the attack on the farm and about Bob and Florence joining them. “We’re sure happy to see the Judge here alive after seeing his house burned to the ground. But most of all Chris and I want to know what happened here and why Uncle Robert is limping, why all those people out there and this fortress.

So they made sure every one had plenty of tea and Robert started to tell them how their summer of war went.

End chapter 18

There behind the tree, what is it?

sssarawolf · Jun 29, 2009

An Unexpected Life chapter 19

Thank you so much for the comments.

Chapter 19
The valley war

"Let’s see; May started pretty peaceful but as the days wore on the gangs were fighting each other worse and worse and surging out here further into the outskirts of town and into the country. Then we heard gang leaders were being killed and then that gang absorbed into a larger gang and as that gang got bigger the raids got worse and worse and soon we had two very large gangs. Most of the people in those gangs had at one time just been normal every day folk that had gotten hungry and decided to do anything to feed themselves and their families.

One of the problems was both of the gangs wanted it all; control over the whole town and beyond. So by the end of May there were territory wars. We stared thinking of an old fashion stockade and how we could build one or anything to help keep out the scum and keep us from being taken over and killed or worse. We saw the smoke as the homes burned from miles around, they were raiding, fighting, killing, taking whatever wasn’t nailed down to eat along with people to either join them or become slaves. The two gangs were clashing constantly and the rest of us were caught in the middle. There were people fleeing their neighborhoods daily trying to stay out of the grasp of either gang. We started taking people in and as we did that we had more people to help build the stockade and to help defend us all. Along with that we stated to build barns and out builds to bring in animals where we could buy them or find them on deserted ranches and farms. A lot of cases where the families had been killed and whom ever did the killing shot an animal or two to eat then and left the others.

As the stockade went up and work crews were out cutting the trees we were attacked many times out in the forest and here. That’s where I got this bum leg; after the main crew went out one of the gangs thought there weren’t enough of us here to hold them off. That’s also when the Judges place was hit. The scum bags the Scorpions didn’t know about our supply of weapons and we took a lot of them out. We were able to rescue the Judge and his wife and drove the scum off. This time the Judge decided to join us and we got his things and high tailed it back home. The next day we saw his place burning; it made us sick but we couldn’t do anything about it.

It seems like they are just as intent on destroying everything with out regard to the future and what will be needed. At least the lumber from the homes could have been used to build other things. We were able to take the closest homes apart and use them to build what you have seen here along with us doing a bit of raiding of the lumber yards and farm stores. We know the barns outside the stockade are vulnerable but we just can’t build the stockade to enclose them yet. It all takes time and our building projects bring snipers down on us. But that’s getting harder for them to do to as we have taken out every bush and tree for 100’s of yards around the place; but that doesn’t help with long range rifles. We think now there is only one large gang and that it must have absorbed the remnants of the one we shot up. Some one must have been asleep I’m surprised you weren’t shot at getting here.”

Frank spoke up; “the only time we were shot at is when we turned off onto the state highway; we have a few new dings in the truck now because of it. How often does this gang attack the stockade anyway?”

“Ah at least once a week wouldn’t you say Judge.”

“Yep Robert they are like clock work the pecker heads don’t seem all that smart to try a surprise attack and that’s something going for our side; them not being not real smart. The leader must be more brawn then brains or crazy as a loon. Now why don’t you have some one younger take these two out and show them around?”

“Good idea old friend, good idea; let make sure it’s some one you two know.”

Lonny was just coming up out of the basement with some vegetables and got volunteered to be their guide. She’s the one that looked like her mom’s side f the family and not like her sister Lucy who took after the Duncan’s.

She had become quite the young woman over the summer she was now 17. “It’s so good you two could make it down here and I want to introduce you to everyone we can but especially my boy friend.”

When they got outside they could see their truck still hadn’t been touched. Chrissie thought maybe they ought to unload it. “Ah Lonny I think before the tour we need to get the truck unloaded. But I don’t know if you will need what we brought anymore. I see you have cows, and goats now to; so you can make your own cheese and milk products.”

“Well its like this cousin Chris, we have the milk because of the cows and goats but so far the milk is being all drank up so this cheese is greatly appreciated. We have books on cheese making for when we have an abundance; so we’re hoping in a year or two when we have more animals we can start making our own cheese.”

Frank in the mean time was looking all around he could swear the place was some how familiar and was amazed when he spotted a blacksmiths shop. That’s one place he wanted to see while they were here. A man walked out of the small shed that had a porch roof next to the blacksmith holding some horse bridles and hung them up on some hooks. “Hey Lonny that wouldn’t be a saddle maker and leather worker would it?”

Lonny turned from talking with Chris to look where Frank was pointing. “Oh yes that Mr. Jake Carmichael he joined us two months ago. He and Mr. Tye O’Connell were re-enactors of the Civil War like dad and uncle Deke and they have been a wonderful addition, since it feels like we’re back in the 1800’s in so many ways. They have been a great help in teaching us the old ways in doing so many things. And that includes Mr. Carmichael’s wife Lynn; talk about a gold mine of information. She has been teaching camp fire and fire place cooking in cast iron and so far just about every one has learned even me.” So Lonny took them around and the tour continued for the next hour. They even got to meet her fiancé Tell Flyer.
* * *
Bob was out milking Dot when the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. His sixth sense told him he was being watched. So as he milked in the out door milking stall he slowly scanned one side then the other from where he was. He couldn’t see all that much as the stall was on the left of the shed beside the barn. He finished up as quickly as he dared and put some bag balm on her teats and let her go. He opened the gate and released her to be with her calf Tiny Tina; all the while as nonchalantly as he could trying to watch for odd movement around him or for something or some thing out of place. Then as he turned the corner to go into the back porch to strain the milk he saw something. Something slid behind a large pine tree to the right of him in the tree line. It looked to tall to be as furry as it seemed. A bear maybe he thought. He ducked into the back porch calling for his wife. He was trying to stay calm but his heart seemed to be beating so loud he could hear it. He had never faced a bear before and he sure didn’t want it to get any of the animals; they were just too important to the family’s survival. He tried to not get too excited as he called for Florence so she wouldn’t get to worried.

She met him as he stepped into the kitchen and she asked; “what’s up Bob is something wrong? Do you need help straining the milk? You seem kind of upset.”

“I just got a little fright I thought I saw a bear at least it looked like it must be a bear. I think I ought to get the 30/06 and make the rounds around the place and have you come outside armed for backup just in case.” He could see the worried look come to her face and tried to play it down.

“Listen this is just for in case okay; bears usually scare off.” What he thought of all of a sudden was; why hadn’t the dogs caught scent of it, well maybe it was upwind that must explain it.
* * *
In the woods Vin saw the man come outside carrying a rifle and a woman behind him also armed; some how the man must of seen someone or felt his being watched. It had too have been Careless he was the least experienced at this. They thought that Careless had been trained good enough but it seems he still wasn’t good enough to come on these hunts. Uncle Acker would not be pleased. The male prey headed for the buildings and the woman went around to the front of the house. This time they were only here to watch and see how many prey lived here. Now they would have to wait for another night to have some fun; the prey would be antsy and on guard tonight. He went silently through the woods collecting both Careless and Opal. As they headed to their horses he slipped off the furry wig and gloves; the make up would stay on until bedtime; it made him feel mean.
* * *
Bob made the rounds and then went 50 yards out into the trees and that’s when he found the clawed foot prints in the wet ground just in a couple of bare spots where the little bit of snow they had gotten had melted. Now he really got the creeps the prints were huge and seemed to have large claws, but no way was it shaped like a bear paw. Who ever it was or how many they were; were now gone. He went out further and this time more boot prints. Ah yeah so someone was wearing something on their feet to make them seem like an animal that had to be it; but why?

He walked back towards the farm his stomach in a knot of fear he hoped they hadn’t seen his wife was there by herself and sneaked up on her. He could hardly wait for Chris and Frank to get back home. That’s all they needed now; some wacked out nuts running around in animal getups like they were Bigfoot or werewolves or something. Nothing good could come of this he was sure of it.
* * *
Chris and Frank were talking quietly in the kitchen; their visiting done they were nervous about heading back out. Now that they knew they were most likely watched coming into town and here to the stockade it didn’t sit well. The family had also been talking while Chris and Frank took the grand tour of the stockade. It was the judges turn to speak up and he never pulled any punches, straight and direct that was the judge. “Stop beating around the bush, plain simple fact is you already know we’re going to give the kids an escort past the town limits. Now let’s get the volunteers and get on with it; I’m hungry lets get this decision made so I can eat.”

Everyone left the living room smiling, the judge who was thin as a rail could eat like a lumber jack. His wife Mary just shook her head at her husband she knew how he loved to eat. He looked over at her and told her, “Well what are you trying to do starve me to death?” She just grinned and made her way to the kitchen to make him a plate of food.

Uncle Robert and his cane limped out towards Chris and Frank; the word had already gone out for volunteers to see the young grand niece and husband to safety. One of the young assigned runners had seen to that. “I see you kids are about ready to head out, are you sure I can’t convince you to stay until tomorrow morning?”

“Sorry Uncle Robert but Frank and I think we should get back up the mountain we don’t want to be gone to long there’s just the four of us up there to protect the place. Frank and I were wondering if you would talk it over with your people here and see if any would like to move up to our mountain this spring to join us?”

Robert rubbed his chin with his right hand feeling the week’s stubble and thinking. “I will put that across to the families at out next council meeting Saturday night how’s that? I really was going to ask you all to move down here into the stockade where there is protection in numbers. But I can see by the looks on your faces that is a dead subject before it even begins. Okay so be it I will ask because you sure do need more people up there. They all turned to see four vehicles drive up; three from sheds and one from the new barn. They were the strangest things Frank had ever seen, wait now that he thought about it, he had seen something like them but these were heavier armored. Talk about shades of Mad Max. Robert looked over at Frank and didn’t think Frank could have any bigger a smile without breaking his face.

“Like what you see; huh Frank?”

“Wow you bet these are your dream cars?”

The new vehicles pulled up around Frank, Chris and Robert, others were gathering around to look at the new armored cars. Chores were out the window for now. Each vehicle had a driver and rider riding shotgun. They were neither car nor truck but something in-between. The men got out to talk to Frank and Chris and discuss the best direction to the town limits since it wasn’t a good idea to go the same way they had come. One of the drivers was Chris’s cousin Henry and Deke the cousin in law. The others were men and young men neither of them knew.

Frank was delighted, “Don’t tell me you’re making your own fuel to aren’t you?”

Robert had his cat that ate the canary grin on, “you bet we are boy.”
Frank was driving and the Mad Max vehicles were all around them the new armored cars had taken a few hits from someone shooting and were none the worse for wear. Another four miles and they would be headed up out of the valley and should make it home by 6:00 PM. The wave off was given and the armored cars made their turn to head home.

They took a few more hits and a couple of Molotov cocktails were thrown at them and singed a car but else they made it back to the stockade with every one in one piece.

Being dusk as they made their way up the mountain and home most everyone would be in for the night except for guards people kept. People didn’t travel at night any more unless they were desperate or people out for a night raid. They both breathed a sigh of relief as the pulled past the gate into the driveway and heard the dogs bark. Everything looked fine. Bob who was standing by the left corner of the house also breathed easier as he saw Frank and Chris were home. Now to try to explain to them what he had found that today. He stepped out and walked toward the garage as they parked and came out the side door.

End chapter 19

I'm afraid!

sssarawolf · Jul 1, 2009

An Unexpected Life chapter 20

Wat until its dark to read this one. Read it with just enough light that its dark all around you.

Chapter 20
The Slayers

Beast like men silently crept down the low hills from tree to tree leaving long deep claw marks in the trees bark as the went down to the house in the little valley. The house was dark and the growling began in the tree line, it was low at first as they surrounded the house they had chosen to raid and use the people as prey. Their blood lust ran high and excitement made them egger to taste the blood of their prey. Drool ran down their fangs and chins; very soon to be replaced with the copper taste of blood. The signal was given and the head man tried the front door, it was locked against quick entry. The others in the pack fanned out around the house to the windows and to the back door. At the next signal the growling became howling; the couple inside the house jumped with fright immediately sitting up in their beds and got out to pull clothes on as fast as possible.

The husband knew his gun was at his bedroom door ready to be grabbed as he went down the stairs and this is just what he did. Something was crashing through his front door and the windows in the living room. He heard a crash towards the back of the house and now knew someone had come through his back door. He heard growling and howling and thought how could this be men but what else could they be? He was shaking; he had never come across anything like this in his life to prepare him for the sight of the beast men in the moonlight that now streamed through the broken windows. The clouds swept across the moon again and he was back to a darker room. But he knew what he had seen, it was the legend. He turned to holler at his wife to close and block the bedroom door but only got out the beginnings of the first word. The furred face was in his and he could smell its foul breath as the figure bent towards the farmer’s neck. Long fangs and bear claws sank deep into his neck and he could feel his hot blood begin to run down his chest and a great pain as a piece of his neck was ripped out then he lost consciousness. Not one person was spared in the family; neither the wife nor the three children; the woman and the children were too old.
* * *
Not more then 15 miles away from the farm that was now the home of Frank and Chrissie Jackson and Bob and Florence Strong a small enclave survived in the more rugged part of the mountains. These people had lived here without intermingling with the other ranchers and farmers for decades, they kept to themselves. They had gone to the towns and cities once in awhile by night to steal, shop for essentials they couldn’t steal and where a child would disappear from time to time, no one being the wiser of what had happened to them. They lived at the edge of society seen but not seen.

The boy children were trained to be beasts of prey with no love for anyone. Only loyalty to the pack and the ones that weren’t blood family were considered of less worth, but had been taken young enough that this was the only family they ever knew or remembered. The Slayers had been waiting and training for decades biding their time when the civilized world would fall apart and it would be their turn to run and rule.

The young 17 year old Careless lay groaning on the floor of the big cabin, his siblings, cousins and slaves looking down at him with no sympathy on their cruel faces. The women, girls, wives and slaves huddled over in a corner the best they could to stay out of the way of what was going on. They didn’t want any attention drawn to them in the least. Hands were kept over the mouths of the youngest ones so they wouldn’t be heard whimpering just in case a noise would escape. Uncle Acker was in a rage and leaning over Careless and yelling, “Dang idget, you said you were ready to at least scout, you let yourself be seen; I should have known better you were always slow in the head. We have trained for years for this and here the world just lays it’s self at our feet and you’re still not ready.”

Careless started to get up and Uncle Acker back handed him again. “Stay down idget, stay down till I say you can get up you hear me boy?” Careless cringed and nodded; yes he understood. Guess I’m lucky the last person that goofed up Uncle Acker killed as an example; maybe cause I’m a relative and Butch wasn’t. But he did stay on the floor even after all the men had gone to sit at the heavy ten foot homemade wooden table to eat. He was hungry but not enough to get up and go against Uncle Acker’s word, he wasn’t that stupid. Careless had been the son of a slave woman but that still made him blood family. Uncle Acker had killed Careless’s father for rule of the Slayers after they had gotten into an argument eight years back. His mother had been buried bound and gagged lying on the corpse of his father, still alive when the dirt was shoveled onto her. Careless never let on that this seemed cruel for him to lose both father and mother at the same time. That’s when his name was changed by Uncle Acker; it was changed from Roy to Careless. He looked over at and watched the women as they busied themselves at the two wood stoves, like scared rabbits.

The women were slaves and they scampered quickly to get the food on the table; the men did not like to be kept waiting. Many a woman and girl had been beaten nearly to death over such a thing. At least the beating of Careless hadn’t been so long that the food had burned. When ever a punishment was doled out everyone was to watch and learn but if the food burned it still would have been their faults and that would have meant more beatings.

Sealy looked over at Careless still lying on the floor as he had been told. She was 14 years old but she didn’t really know that for sure; that was just a guess; she had green eyes and long snarled greasy light brown hair and was very thin, being thin was not unusual for the women here. Sealy had been told as she grew up that she was a foundling. But sometimes in her dreams she heard and saw a soft spoken woman with hair the color of hers and in the dreams she called the woman mommy.

Sealy kind of had a soft spot for Careless; he wasn’t as cruel as the other men of the pack. She knew no other life but this one in the mountains, she had no idea there had been such a thing as hot running water, electricity or even towns for that matter. They did have one kitchen sink pump and a near by creek that was a very good convenience.

Her clothes had been handed down and mended many a time and were pretty thread bare. She hoped to be able to get some of the new clothes the men had brought home a few days ago after a raid. But so far none of the women had been allowed to even see what kind of clothes they were. Careless had been the one to tell her about them, and that there was women’s clothes in the haul as well as children’s and men’s. She sure hoped she would get some of them that would make this winter a warmer one.
Little by little since the new Depression started and the lights went out the Slayers had been moving against small homes and ranches in the area; further out at first. Of course Sealy had no idea what was happening in the world; only that the men were now hunting and raiding closer to home. She was trying to figure out the new words they were saying like electricity, depression new dark ages and so on.

For years they only did their slaying far away from home and that got a rumor started of killer Sasquatch in the mountains. But now they and the places they had been raiding had no gasoline for the trucks and cars so they were forced to slay in their own area in the distance their horses could take them. The horses also had been stolen from the ranches, hobby and gentlemen horse men and farmers. So instead of the men being gone two or three days they were only gone over night or maybe just for a few hours. One man was always left home to watch and guard them.

The last time the men came home from their raid they were bloodier then they had been for a long time. When Sealy saw them they gave her chills and she had seen them come home bloody before. But this time it had been the worst she had ever seen and the blood was fresher. The men still had their slayer masks on and teeth in and the blood that had run down their chins, necks and chests was fresh and wet. The claws and fur were horrible to clean.

It took hours just to get all the men’s clothes and furs clean to their satisfaction. Avis had been beaten badly by her main man Opal because he wasn’t happy with the job she had done with his clothes, she was beaten so badly Sealy didn’t know if Avis would live. The sad thing was while Avis was healing Opal had taken Sissy to his bed and Avis was no longer his main wife, she had been delegated back to any ones slave. There wasn’t much difference between wife and slave they were pretty interchangeable. Sissy was only a little younger then Sealy herself, but Sissy was much prettier then Sealy. Sealy didn’t mind being on the homely side it kept more of the men away from her, well except for when they were drunk on shine.
Sealy did as much as she could to make herself seem even uglier then she was. She rubbed dirt and grease on her face and in her hair and in summer even when she could bathe in the creek she didn’t. She also had a little more freedom in the summer time. She could go help wash clothes, work on hides, pick berries, dig roots, and collect pine needles and other herbs for tea for winter and ailments. The cold weather brought being cooped up in the house more with the Slayers and their bad tempers. Is this what the whole world is like; the Slayers and the prey? Aren’t there any people that just live and take care of each other? Ran through Sealy’s mind.

Luckily Sealy was standing beside the stove and not at the table as she day dreamed. Kate elbowed Sealy in the left side and when Sealy looked up all of a sudden Kate nodded her head toward the table and handed her a cast iron Dutch oven by a cloth on the handle. Gads that was close and I know better, mind on what you’re doing Sealy girl, keep you’re mind on what you’re doing.

Careless did make it a little harder trying to remember to go around or step over him. The master cabin wasn’t that big in the kitchen area. The women had to be pretty careful, little 9 year old Lou Lou had already tripped over him with the pitcher of water. That just earned her a slap, the pitcher was metal and the water was replaceable. Lou Lou was very careful now and the red hand print plain on her face. Sealy was sure it would be a very big bruise in a couple of days. Uncle Acker didn’t hold back just because she was a girl child. He would say in his gruff voice, “Being a child is no excuse.”

Sealy supposed his gravely voice was from being a slayer and growling so much being as he was the oldest of them now. Old Morgan had been, and did have a gravelly voice also. He had been Uncle Ackers cousin and he had crawled into the woods last winter and died after being shot on a raid. That was how it was if you got a wound that was a death or crippling wound; it was the way of the Slayers to go off and die so you weren’t a burden to the rest of the pack.

Sealy saw the men were done eating and were getting up from the table. The girls and women immediately started to clear the table; they weren’t allowed to eat at the same table a man had sat at. They would eat what was left by either sitting on the floor or standing. There were 13 girls and women. Kate the oldest at 30, Nance 29, Alice 25, Misty 25, Avis 22, Candy 20, Edith 20, April 17, Ruby 16, Sealy 14, Sissy 13, Lou Lou 9 and Nit 7 years old.

Kate was expecting a baby again, she was Uncle Ackers woman but she was nice, cause the women had to stick together on some things to survive. Not that she let any of them get away with much but she was a real mother hen. Kate knew she had a lot to teach every one as she only had 10 to 15 years left of usefulness to the Slayers.

The men were: Uncle Acker 45, Blue 34 cousin, Opal 32 foundling, Vin 30 foundling, Yancy 29 cousin, John 27 nephew, Greg 20 son, Careless 17 nephew, Doug 15 nephew, Mat 12 foundling and the baby Billy 2 years old. Billy was Acker’s and Kate’s. Acker and Kate’s 6 year old Davis had passed away just this summer after breaking his leg falling from a tree, infection had set in and that was that. Through the last five years they had lost four of the other grown men for one reason or another and that included Cousin Morgan. Being a slayer was rough on men. Sealy had over heard the men talking about needing to find a couple of three to five year old boy’s to add to the family soon. They needed to continue to train new blood.

Sealy had also heard the talk of the next raid tonight as she dished out the stew. It would be just an old codger not far from the highway this one would be quick and then they would take the big farm in two nights. The big farm was the one Careless had been seen at and it was 15 miles from the enclave with only a man and women that lived there. But they had lots of animals to eat to tide the pack over for the winter. After all farming was for prey and animals were only good to eat not keep and take care of. Blue had spotted the smoke from their fire last week when he and Greg were scouting on that side of the mountain. The man and woman were just fodder being older and there didn’t seem to be any kids around. But since Careless had been spotted they would wait to attack for another two nights and give the prey time to calm down and think maybe he hadn’t really seen anything after all. Probably just an animal, prey was stupid that way. As stupid as the old man they would raid and to top it off it didn’t look like he had much.

Sealy liked this part of the evening it was the easiest time of the day for the women. They could clean the dishes and floors where the men had thrown the bones for the dogs and spend the next hour or so mending clothes by lamp light before they were hauled off to their man’s rooms or cabin. Sealy would be left alone tonight the men weren’t drinking so she could just curl up in a corner and go to sleep with Lou Lou and any of the women who weren’t picked tonight. At least until it was time to leave for their raid things would be quiet.

There was warmth in more bodies as the evenings turned colder and the fires in the stoves were banked for the night. But they would be back up before light to get the stoves going full out to make the men their morning meal and begin the day. Finally the dogs were all put outside for the night to guard with one of the men on a four hour shift and everyone left for their rooms. And there laid Careless still in the middle of the floor; there was nothing for him to do but try to get some sleep.

Sealy was glad another day was over as she made room by the other women and pulled her one blanket over herself; she was tired. It only took a few minutes for her to fall asleep and the woman with the soft brown hair and kind eyes enter her dreams. She and the others would sleep until the assigned seven Slayers made their way back home from their kill and that should be morning or close to it.

End chapter 20

sssarawolf · Jul 5, 2009

An Unexpected Life chater 21

Chapter 21
Are we prepared enough?

After Frank and Chris gave their hellos to the dogs and got into the house and said hello to Bob and Florence they saw the upset looks. Bob was still scared enough that he went on to explain to them just exactly what he had seen and found that late afternoon before they hardly even had their jackets off. So within a few minutes of being home they went from happy to have made it home to be shocked at the news they found there.

“I don’t know what else to tell you but that this really freaked me out.

The clawed foot prints and the boot prints in the wet ground were fresh and the parts of them that were in the grass were still springing back. And I have to tell you I think for awhile we need to take shifts at guard duty.”

Frank and Chris looked at each other and then at Bob and Florence who were sitting opposite from them at the kitchen table. This wasn’t the home coming they were expecting. “You’re right Bob with the four of us we should be able to have short shifts during the night and I know Chris and I believe everything you have said and believe you saw. This won’t be easy but I think we have to put all the animals inside the pens, sheds and barns. And I mean right now and chance that this was the first time they were scouting us. If they are now they will think we do this every night.” Frank seemed to think for a moment and everyone started to get up to get their coats and strap on their guns as he sat there.

“Wait I have an idea; when they scouted this afternoon there was just the two of you here, and if they are out there again I want them to not know there are four of us just in case they weren’t here when we came home. Now you two have had to hold down the fort while we were gone so why don’t Chris and I go out and lock up the stock; we will have hats on to help shadow our faces in the lamp light. The less these people know about us the better.” They all agreed this was a good idea and Bob and Florence stayed in the kitchen while Chris and Frank put the animals away. They also had to remember to keep the curtain closed.

That night they all went down to the basement to unload some of those boxes and containers Chrissie’s great Uncle Robert had given to her, it was time to unload the guns and ammunition. The men whistled as each box was opened; they had a real arsenal. Some of the rifles were like new and had been built around the roaring 20’s. “Ah man I always liked Elliot Ness and the untouchables.” Bob was in love, as he set the round of ammo into the Tommy gun.

Chris’s eyes lit up, “Frank didn’t Cousin Henry have one of those the first time we went down to the valley?” He sure did Chris, I think Uncle Robert and his dad have been putting things away for the family for a very very long time.” With that Frank was putting together his very own Tommy gun. Each person would get one along with a M1A and a UZI with holster. They hauled up more pistols, machine guns, ammunition and bullet proof vests but there were only two of those. The men decided the vests would go to the women. Frank put some things in two large duffels and took them out to the barn and returned and took out MRE’s and water. Then he headed back to the basement and made a container of guns, ammo, MRE’s, night vision glasses and bottled water for each shed. They were making up the same things for each room in the house. Thank you Uncle Robert, it paid to have a gun nut for a great Uncle.

They didn’t know if they were being watched or not but all the precautions they could take were a good thing no matter what. Even with taking turns at guard duty no one got a very good nights sleep. The next day they took turns doing chores so there was always a man and a woman seen doing chores. They made sure they were wearing the same type of clothes. They always had an eye on the surrounding trees.

The scouts did come back to spy that next day just to check and make sure everything was the same; last nights raid hadn’t been much the old man didn’t even get a shot off when Uncle Acker ripped the mans throat out. The old man had been sound asleep and never even knew they had gotten into his house. Now here they had all gotten so excited about the new kill and only Uncle Acker had been satisfied. All he had was some rice, beans and meat, which wouldn’t last the Slayers long. Blue and Vin spent four hours in the tree line watching the farm and the couple go about their chores that afternoon.

The two in the house stayed back beside the windows and peeked out of the edges behind the curtains. It was Chrissie and Franks turn in the house and Chris was in the kitchen by the side window. She thought she saw movement in the tree line to the left of the shed by the barn. Frank was in the living room when he thought he heard Chris call his name. “Frank come here quick.”

Frank moved quickly to the kitchen and stayed away from the window as he came up beside Chris. “Frank I saw something I know I did. Look past the barn and shed into the tree line at the largest ponderosa and don’t take your eyes off of it.”

They continued watching that tree and as Vin turned around to walk off straight from the tree he stumbled over a root under the snow and his hand flung out and Chris and Frank both saw the furred hand. So much for stealth by Vin. It wasn’t much but it was enough to know they were indeed being watched. When Bob and Florence finished their part of the chores and came in Frank filled then in on what he and Chris had seen.

“We don’t know how long they watched today but you sure were right Bob and we have no idea when they will attack. But that has to be the reason they’re spying on us, trying to figure out our routine. I have another idea we need to bar the doors with something to help keep them from just breaking in where they want to and I don’t know what to do about the windows but I will keep thinking and you all need to. Rebar, that’s it rebar for the door and I don’t know if they have had a good look at our windows but we want to be able to slow them down as much as possible. I will go out and bring that four foot rebar in we were going to use for the root cellar. We can screw then down on each door with brackets. Only problem is we do want them to attack and be able to bottle neck them.”

Chris, Bob and Florence looked at him like he was off his rocker.

“What, cant you see we don’t want them being able to come back for another try at us. We need to take care of them the first time if at all possible, we can’t live always wondering when they are going to hit next.”

The other three looked down knowing he was right but thinking this was just horrible and very frightening. Frank ran outside and started to bring in rebar, brackets from the shed, a box of nails and boards; trying to act like he was working on a project, all calm and cool. Well they were working on a project all right; one they hoped would save their lives. All they could figure out was to leave the back porch door with out rebar and one of the windows in there to. By the time they were finished that evening the front door and the windows either had rebar going across them or 2x4’s, rebar for the doors and 2x4’s for the windows. As they worked they all sent up prayers for their survival; against this unknown foe. Then they brought the dogs inside which they hadn’t done the night before but didn’t want the dogs dead. They realized if it was them sneaking up on a house the first thing one would do is kill the dogs. All of them decided to bring up sleeping bags and sleep in the living room; no one wanted to get undressed and be in their beds when the attack happened. Shoes were the only thing taken off; t-shirts, jeans and socks were left on.

They decided only one guard would do on a three hour watch; they would be stationed in the kitchen in a dark corner by the cupboards since they were all in the living room and it wasn’t that far across the dining room from the living room. They were all exhausted from the work, stress and poor nights sleep the night before all they could do is pray the attack wouldn’t be tonight.

End chapter 21

sssarawolf · Jul 8, 2009

An Unexpected Life chapter 22

Chapter 22
The wind blows no good

The night passed quietly to the relief of all on the Jackson farm and they even felt more rested. Chris and Frank went out and did the morning chores and kept their eyes peeled on their surroundings; hats helped to conceal their features and where they were looking. They were also blessed that Bob and Florence were about the same sizes as it was there wasn’t enough difference for anyone to tell while they were wearing coats and hats. No one said the stress was any better even with a better nights sleep and they felt like they were armed to the teeth just to do chores. Their normal lone pistol each changed out for double holsters and pistols plus a holstered Uzi under their coats. Every odd sound had them jumping practically out of their skins.

The stock was let out for the day and you could tell they weren’t used to being closed up. The goats ran and jumped and Buttercup the yak tried to imitate the goats. This at least gave them both a laugh at a bad time. The sheep along with the donkey ran around their pastures and so did Tiny Tina the calf; Dot just didn’t seem to care as long as she had food. And of course chicken are just chickens; sharks with feathers that do nothing but eat. The rest of the animals just went out to pasture and as soon as a good amount of snow came they would all be eating hay and feed anyway.

As the day wore on Frank got more and more restless and fear was tearing a knot in his stomach, not just fear for himself but for Chrissie; he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to protect her. How many days and nights were they going to have to endure this waiting? He knew it had to be soon that they would want to get there attack done well before the mountain snows moved in and stayed; making moving around more difficult and that should begin any day. He wasn’t the only one that was stressed out and apprehensive about this of course.

As the afternoon wore on dark clouds began gathering in the sky and the wind picked up and by milking time it was blowing a good 25 mph. At least this seemed like a normal fall storm not one of those devastating barn burners that had hit in the spring and summer.

Bob and Florence came in with the milk and eggs for the afternoon and putting the animals in for the night again and saying it was getting darn right chilly out there. Gads that the wind was cutting right through them. Bob looked at the others and stated. “I hate to say this but I have an idea who ever was watching us that they will pick tonight to come; it just makes sense. They would have the clouds to hide the moon light and the wind to help mask their coming and any noise they might make. I think it’s time to get a quick bite of that stew Chris made and double sure were ready for them. If I were them I would come say 10 11 O’clock when were tired and about or are asleep, they have to know farm people go to bed earlier then most. And especially these days with no television and other things to keep us up after a hard days work.”

The waiting was hard and they were nervous and wired tight; even games of checkers and cards were hard to play with listening for strange noises in the wind. They listened just in case and the attack came now. The dogs laid by the wood stove relaxed and asleep. From time to time Chris glanced over to them because if anyone heard a strange noise it would be the dogs. Around 9 PM they decided it was time to blow out the lamps and let two of them rest while two watched and listened. Chris and Frank were having a hard time keeping still in the kitchen; Frank was sitting in the corner by the kitchen door/dining room and Chris was sitting in the corner of the kitchen cabinets. They whispered back and forth not wanting to keep Bob and Florence awake that’s if they were managing to get any sleep at all.
* * *
The horses by this time were used to the smell of the men and the fur, the Slayers had started down the mountain two hours ago figuring by the time they got to the preys land that the prey should be all comfy and most likely asleep. Attacking when people were sleeping brought more confusion and fright and the Slayers delighted in the fear; the more the better. They especially needed it tonight with the flow of adrenalin that coursed through their systems. All but Uncle Acker had taken their pent up frustration out on the slaves two days ago but even that wasn’t satisfying it just wasn’t the same as satisfying the blood lust they craved.

A little more then half way down the mountain they stopped and put on their bear clawed hand gear, fangs and furred head gear. If by some chance they were seen they wanted to make sure the legends stayed the same and people wouldn’t be out looking for men. They never thought about being on the horses and normal thinking people wondering why if they were really Sasquatch of some kind why would they be on a horse.

The wind blows through the tree tops and the branches creak and clack against each other as the seven men slither down the mountain side towards the land and through the trees toward the house. The Slayers are adept and well trained but what they haven’t realized is they are trained for modern men and times against unprepared prey; yes once in awhile some one had gotten off a lucky shot and a Slayer died but that was the chance of excitement, they lived for the hunt.

The house is dark and the animals are quiet not a sound can be heard but the swift wind moving the branches of the trees. Uncle Acker gave the signal to surround the house and they make their way around it making low growling sounds as they do. The stupid prey must bring their dogs in for the night instead of leaving them out to guard and warn. The dogs would have warned them but not for but for a bark or two and then they would have been silenced. The men were not afraid of dog attacks they would just slit the animal’s throats; what’s a bite or two from a dog to a Slayer. The wait signal goes around and Acker tries the front door, sometimes these stupid prey leave their doors unlocked especially the ones who live far in the country; thinking there was no one who would break in this far out away from other men. Acker slowly turned the door knob and found it locked indeed.
* * *
Both of the dog’s heads went up and they started to emit growls, Bob heard it almost immediately and he shook Florence who was lying beside him in her sleeping bag. She jerked awake and could hear the dogs growling and whispered, “Oh my Lord Bob, May the Lord watch over and protect us.”

“I pray so to Florence. Frank, Chrissie; he whispered towards the kitchen the dogs hear something.”

Frank by the kitchen door whispered back; “Bob quiet the dogs before they let the attackers know they hear um.”

Chrissie in the kitchen was silently praying and scared out of her wits gripping her Uzi so tight her fingers hurt. Rifles and pistols were within reach if she needed them. The house looked like an arsenal with rifles sitting beside cabinets, book cases, windows, doors and by doorways.

She jumped as Frank came up beside her and found her hands in the dark around her gun. “Chris you have to listen to me, take a deep breath and loosen you hands and wiggle your fingers. You have to loosen up and get your mind on what we have to do. I know it’s hard but you have to. He could hear her and just barely make her out in the dark kitchen. She was trying to take deep breaths and was succeeding. “I love you Frank and what ever happens I am glad I married you.”

“Same here Chris I love you to and I wouldn’t have missed being here with you for anything in the world. Now we have to buck up and get mad but not to mad. We have people attacking and invading our home and trying to take everything we have worked so hard for and don’t forget to kill us and the people we have come to care for. We can’t let that happen we have to be the avengers tonight, ruthless and deadly ready to kill at a seconds notice; can you do that; can I count on you to be at my back? If not I will send you down to the basement now to go into the hidden room we made down there.”

Chris’s stubborn streak came out and her chin went up, “Don’t worry Frank I’ll be at your back; Hades or high water I’m with you; you got that babe?”
“I have it Chris.” He then bent over towards her and gave her what he thought just might be their last kiss. “Now let’s get up and be ready, I hate to have the main fighting going on in the kitchen but if we can keep it in here I would be thrilled.”

Bob was in the living room calming Florence and they were headed through the dining room and into the kitchen as Frank said his last words to Chris, Bobs arm still around Florence’s shoulders. “We heard that Frank you and us both bud, okay everyone lets slip our night vision glasses down.” Bob told them.

That’s when they heard growling from outside and someone bang hard against the front door and glass break in the windows in the living room and in the kitchen. That’s when the growling turned to howling and it was not coming from the dogs in the living room but from outside of the house. That did get the dogs started into barking madly. “All right everyone now they think the dogs have probably woken Bob and Florence up and their trying to scare them half to death with all the growling and now howling so they have a hard time thinking and realizing what’s really going on.”

Frank was trying to think like them as best he could as he talked to the others. “The bad guys will think the couple they have scouted is some where in a bedroom trying to get some clothes on and find a gun. Bob; quick close the kitchen door we don’t need the dogs coming in here and getting in the way. Now we need to get a few feet away from each other in darker areas so they can’t see us well, they will be used to night light as they come in and it will be darker in here for them and that is one of the advantages we have. That and they don’t know there are four of us and we’re prepared for them.”
* * *
The Slayers were becoming frustrated as they broke the glass in the windows and tried to climb through; they found there were boards over the windows enough to keep them out, that’s why they had taken to howling sooner then usual they were getting madder and madder. Acker screamed out they will pay even more for this as he tried to bust the front door in. Then they found the back porch door and tried to bust it in, and the door frame busted and the door went open with a thud. Opal put up a screaming howl and everyone ran around to the back of the house. They fought each other to get through the back door and found they were on a porch and they were continuing to scream, howl and growl their madness. They were like a pack of wild animals possessed with blood lust. The Slayers came to the real back door and Uncle Acker slugged and elbowed everyone else away so he could be the first to enter and get to the prey.
* * *
Everyone in the kitchen heard the squeak of the door knob from the porch as it was turned and could hear the horrible noises the attackers were making. It was a very good thing no one in the house had a bad heart or the growling and howling would have given them a heart attack right then and there. And then the attackers were in. The first one stumbled over the row of nailed together 2x4’s just past where the door opened and fell on the floor with what sounded like other men falling on top of him. They could see them just fine with the night vision glasses and Frank was the first to fire and then Chris, Bob and Florence joined in. Men continued to pour in through the doorway; at least they were the shape of men. They were so mad and insane they were actually making their way across the kitchen even when riddled with several bullets.

One of the man beasts reached Frank and slashed out with his bear clawed hand putting several nasty gashes across Franks left arm. Frank gasped with the pain and dropped his Uzi and pulled out his right pistol and the wild man slashed Franks across his chest. Frank put the pistol up and shot the beast right in the forehead; sending the beast sprawling backwards.

Bob was having his own trouble at this time as the night vision glasses had been knocked off of his face. This beast or man or whatever he was trying to get to Bob’s throat, Bob had seen the two inch fangs hanging from the man’s mouth as he neared him before his glasses had been knocked off. Bob hit the thing in the stomach with his gun barrel and pulling the trigger and continued to fire till the weakening beast fell to its knees. Bob’s adrenalin was running so high he didn’t even know how cut up he was by both claws and fangs.

Chrissie was crying and screaming and shooting all at the same time, the sight of the beast men sent chills down her spine and then she saw Frank being attacked and got just plain cold mad. As another beast came running and throwing himself across the kitchen she fired at him but unknown to her she only glazed his head and knocked him out cold. The next one also throw himself though the door and over the other pack members and slid across the floor right into Chris knocking her to the floor; she wrestled with him getting scratched many times and trying to hold him back as he went for her throat. She heard shots and the beast man went limp and collapsed falling off to the right side of her. The noise from all the close in shooting made her feel like she was going deaf.

Florence was behind and to the right side of Bob and doing her best to shoot these creatures but she had become really scared when Bob was attacked and had more or less froze with fright. Nothing in her life had prepared her for such things and it was becoming more then she could take, and then it was over, the last shot had been fired and the room smelled of fear, blood and gun smoke.

The others heard from Frank, “well heck we didn’t even use the Tommy guns.” And then he passed out.

End chapter 22

sssarawolf · Jul 9, 2009

An Unexpected Life chapter 23

Chapter 23
Hope of recovery

Bob collapsed onto his rear fighting light headedness and Florence was still just standing there looking through her night vision glasses at the dead beast men on the floor; she was breathing in great gasps. Bob was trying to get Florence’s attention, “Flo, Flo girl I think I need help. Flo where are you.” He felt his mind going black and slid sideways onto the floor.

Chris heard the noise of Frank hitting the floor and looked down as Frank now lay there and heard Bob call for Florence a few seconds later and then he fell. She quickly turned and opened the top cabinet door behind her as her back was at the counter and she knew right where she was. She took a LED flash light out of the cupboard and told Florence to take off her night vision glasses as she was turning on the flash light on. Chris flipped her glasses off and turned on the flash light. The flash was blinding to Florence as the flash light came on and she blinked and threw off her night vision glasses and realized Bob was on the floor in a pool of blood growing ever wider around his neck and head.

She screamed and threw herself down on the floor and started to shake him, “Bob sweet heart wake up Bob.” Not far from Bob and Florence Chrissie was taking a look at Frank, she felt his pulse and found it weak but steady. She quickly got up and lit a Coleman lantern that was on the back of the counter and pulled a first aid kit out of a bottom cabinet so she could see to Frank and where he was wounded and put a stop to the bleeding. Then she threw the flashlight over to Florence. She looked over and saw Florence leaning over Bob. “Florence how is Bob, where are his wounds? Pick up the flashlight and look him over.

Florence looked up and over at Chris. “What, what did you say?”

“Goodness Florence get your head together and check his pulse and his wounds; you don’t want him to die on you do you?” At the same time Chris put the lantern on the floor next to her and went into bandaging Frank up and try to staunch the bleeding. It wasn’t easy he had massive deep claw marks down the left side of his chest and his left arm had been mauled pretty good. Chris remembered something she had read on the internet and quickly went to the cabinet she kept some instant mashed potatoes in. Opening the glass jar she poured some on his wounds and the bleeding began to slow; she knew it was just a stop gap problem solver for now; the wounds would have to be cleaned out good later. “Florence how’s Bob, how bad is he bleeding? She didn’t look over at the time she just started to talk to the other woman. “I have something that will stop the bleeding she hurried over to find Florence just sitting there beside Bob crying.

“For crying out loud Florence you’re not being much help to Bob acting like that.” Florence looked up at Chris with her bloody tear stained face. “I can’t find a pulse Chris Bob’s dead.” And cried all the harder. As during all the fight and even now the dogs continued to bark at the kitchen door.

Chris bent down to check Bob for herself, yep no pulse. Florence we have to start CPR, why didn’t you start it on him as soon as you found no pulse.” All Florence could do is wail. Chris reached over and gave Florence a good slap across her left cheek. As Chris began CPR she scolded Florence. Chris was now busy giving Bob CPR she had him laid out flat and his head back giving him breaths, when she pushed on his chest she told Florence she would have to take over in a few more breaths. The slap had done its job and Florence was calming down. They were back to Chris giving the CPR when Bob took a breath on his own. “Quick Florence get his shirt off and let’s get these instant potatoes on the wounds and get him bandaged up. Chrissie was finally able to open the kitchen door and quiet the dogs.

They were almost finished with Bob when they both heard a groan from over under the beast man pile. Chrissie quickly pulled her pistol back out making sure it was reloaded; and went over to where she thought they were all dead whatever they were while Florence finished with Bob. There was the groan again and Chris had to roll one of them off the groaning one. Before it could come to all the way Chris steeped into the back porch and took down the nylon dogs leashes that hung by the door. That’s all she could think of for the moment to tie him up with. “Florence I need your help to roll this thing over so I can tie its hands behind its back.” She looked at Florence over in the lamp light and saw Florence shaking her head in the negative with fright plainly written on her face.

“Get over here now Florence I need your help to roll this thing over; I can’t hardly do this without you this things is too big. Now; Florence before it wakes up all the way.”

That got Florence moving and soon they had him rolled onto his stomach and Chris used the leashes to tie his hands in back and hooked to the other leash and tied to his legs with his knees bent. To bad I don’t have another one to put around his neck and hog-tie this thing, though Chris.

Chris bent down and shining the flash light on the head of the creature reached down and pulled off the part mask part wig and saw he had a bloody crease across his forehead. “Look Florence this is a man they must all be men; they are just all dressed up like some kind of monsters.” Chris then looked at the fangs. “Those fangs can’t be real either nor the claws on their hands.” She pushed up the top lip on the man and saw the fangs were like false teeth they could insert on top of their own teeth. And the furred clawed hands above the leash were kind of like gloves. She took them off of him and then pulled out the fangs not caring if she hurt him or not; all he did is groan some more. She then made sure the other six monster men were dead she didn’t want any bad surprises; they were.

Frank woke up in the afternoon sunlight was steaming through a kitchen window; he looked around and found he was still in the kitchen with a pillow under his head and he was rolled into a sleeping bag with several blankets on top of him. He saw Bob was a few feet to the left of him and wrapped up much like he was. He thought well nature is calling and with that he tried to find a way to get the sleeping bag and blankets off. Bad move he thought as the wrenching pain from his chest and arm hit him; an involuntary groan crossing his lips. Chrissie’s face appeared above his. “Hey there hero what are you trying to do?” He saw she had several scratches on her face and neck but else looked wonderful.

“Well honey I was going to try and get up and make my way to the bathroom but it seems that is a lot harder then I thought it would be. I hate to say it but it looks like I need help getting up. Chris turned and yelled for Florence to come and help. When they got back he thought they were headed back to his kitchen floor bed but they weren’t. They took him to the small sewing room which was all ready with an unzipped sleeping bag to flip over him and extra blankets beside it. He saw there was another bed waiting for Bob. He wanted to know how Bob was.

Florence went back to be with Bob and Chris filled Frank in on Bobs condition. “We don’t know if he is going to make it Frank it has been touch and go; his heart has stopped twice. But he has been pretty good for the last few hours. As soon as Bob is able to get up on his own we will bring him in here. And before you hear him yelling we have one of those men that attacked us last night; he is all trussed up and on the back porch.”

Chris and Florence had indeed dragged the guy onto the back porch and onto plastic sheeting. There was no way they were going to let that wild man up to even go to the bathroom, no way no how. He had all ready wore himself out once screaming and yelling for them to let him go, he said he was going to rip their throats out when he got loose. Now how in the world did he think that would convince them to let him go? Chris felt like asking him if he was some kind of idiot for goodness sake.

Bob didn’t come to until the next day and Florence finally got some apple juice into him and later some beef broth. By night fall he was doing much better. On Monday he joined Frank in the sewing room. Both their wounds had been cleaned stitched and dressed while they were passed out and they were healing up nicely.

Chris and Florence went together to the back porch so neither had to be alone with the monster man and were hand feeding him drinks and some food, they didn’t want him to die on them they wanted him to be around for Frank and Bob to talk to. They needed to know how many more of them there were and if they would be attacked again. But he was beginning to smell rather ripe, with the smell of blood, urine and feces.

The women had pulled the dead men out of the house that next day and Chris remembered to take pictures of them in the house and of them in the sunlight outside. Frank also came to find that Chris had gone in search of how the men had gotten there. About 1/4 mile from the house she found the horses all tied up and having eaten the grass away from where they were tied; she knew they were hungry and very thirsty. They were now in the bigger area of the barn. Today she would let them out to pasture.

Frank knew they had to find the bad guys camp or home; he didn’t want them coming to them and surprising them in another attack, not again. They were all in the sewing room and Frank was now sitting up in a chair eating and Bob was propped up being spoon fed by his wife; when he decided he would broach the subject.

“Listen everyone we need to find some help; we really need to find out where these people came from and if we’re going to be attacked by the rest of them if there is more. Now what do the rest of you think we should do and do you agree with me.”

The other three concurred with him and Chris said she would go out that afternoon and see if any of the closer neighbors would help. So getting one of the new horses, a rifle and making sure her pistol belt was full of ammunition, a day pack of food, a canteen of water and off she went. Frank hated to see her going alone but they didn’t have a choice.

End chapter 23

sssarawolf · Jul 11, 2009

An Unexpected Life chapter 24

Chapter 24
Meet and greet

The first home which had people living there not long ago was now empty and it looked like they had left in one big hurry. She didn’t know the people living there had heard all kinds of shooting coming from Chris and Frank’s farm and had packed up as fast as they could and left for the valley. The wind had been blowing towards them that night.

So trying to be very cautious and aware of her surroundings she went on to the next home another three miles down their road. She could see lamp light in the windows and smoke coming from the chimney. No one seemed to be around and she didn’t want to get shot so she stopped at the front gate which was like 30 feet from the front door and yelled. “HELLO AT THE HOUSE.” She had to yell twice before someone opened the front door. It must have been the man of the house and he had a 22 pointed at her. “Who are you and what do you want?”

“I am Chrissie Jackson from down the road we were attacked the other night and I wanted to know if you had seen anyone going past here?”

“Come closer so we can talk better.” He lowered his rifle and Chris stepped up on the porch. I’m Steven Campbell and to answer your question; no we haven’t seen anything but we did hear old man Tilley who lived close to the highway was found murdered in a real grisly manner and his house ransacked. Does this sound like the same scum?”

“Yes in fact it does sound the same; these men that attacked us came dressed up in furs and had long fangs and claws and nearly killed our men.”

They were interrupted apparently by his wife. She peeked out the door and saw it was a woman and told them to come in; “where are your manners Steven? I want to know what’s going on after all to. By the way I’m Moretta and turning she introduced her teen aged son Gary.

Chris ended up going back over her story from the beginning to the amazement of the family. “So that’s it in a nutshell and what Frank thinks should be done before they come to attack us again or someone else like maybe you. And don’t forget we have one of them.”

Moretta looked afraid, the boy looked excited and Steven looked down right mad. Steven was the first to speak, “your husband is right this scum needs to be taken care of before they do the same to us or another neighbor and the way it looks they would have gotten to us eventually. It sounds like they were starting to do a hit and miss routine so some of us didn’t know what was going on. But you can bet your bottom dollar they would have finally gotten to us to.”

Moretta was getting paler by the moment. “What are we going to do Steven should we pack up and leave? We could be killed in our beds tonight.” By this time she was shaking with fear.

“No Moretta we can’t leave after all where would we go?” “Down to the valley Steven that’s where, I always thought we should head down there anyway where there are more people and it’s safer.”

Chris hated to be the bearer of more bad news but she had to tell them what was going on in the valley. Moretta looked pretty dejected when Chris finished her tail of the warring gang and what her great Uncle and his people were doing and having to put up with. But then her face brightened. “Oh so we can go to the valley after all Steven we can go live at the Stockade.”
Steven looked sadly at his wife, “Moretta you know how much I love you and the Gary but the only way we have to get down there and to the stockade is to walk or borrow more horses from some one, since we only have one.
(Chris hadn’t told them of finding the raiders horses.) And then what; get into the valley and get captured and made into slaves or worse. No I think we have our best chance at survival through all this right here on our own land.”

Turning to Chris, “I have to apologize to you and those at your farm we should have got together earlier so we could have been more of a help to one another. That’s the end of this loner stuff I can tell you that.”

Chris told them, “I to want to say for me and my family we’re sorry also we should have tried to meet you and more of the other neighbor’s months ago. We thought of it once and talked about it but then we continued to put it off and look where that has led us. Nearly dead that’s where with no mutual aid. Another thing if you want to come to our place for now until this is all over you are welcome and don’t worry we have plenty of food.”

“But Steven what can we do against people like this; there is no where for us to hide even if we go to their place.” Moretta was crying by now and had a hard time getting that out. He walked over and put his arm around her and drew her to him. “We’re not going to hide my dear we are going to take this war to them, now I want you get some things together for you and you to Gary; get the things you will all need for a few days and head down the road to Chris and Franks place. You can help her friend care for the two men and the boy can stand guard. While I go with Chrissie’s to Mort Bloom’s place and anyone else I think will help with this problem.”

“Oh Steven Gary can’t stand guard; he is well just a boy, doing that will put him in danger.” Steven was trying not to lose patients with his wife.

“Moretta, Gary is fifteen years old his boyhood is finished. And he is in just as much danger now as the rest of us; I taught him to shoot and his help is needed now and in the future. He is in a different world now; we all are and no amount of hoping, wishing and dreaming is going to bring the other one back.” Now let’s get on with this; times a wasting, Gary go pack your things and get your Glock 17’s and ammo I bought you and take the wagon to haul things in. Moretta you take my 22 here with you and stick the four boxes of ammunition in the wagon; I’ll pick up some more for my gun and some clothes when I head over there later. Chris; give me time to get my 30.06, a canteen and saddle up our horse and I will be right with you.”

Chris went out to check on her horse and pet it while it nibbled at the grass. She was relived this had gone so well and prayed it went just as well talking to the other neighbors.

As they rode past old man Tilley’s place she stopped to take a look; she wanted to see for herself just what these beasts had done. Dried blood was all over the living room where the old man slept and the place was torn apart, this was the first time Steven had seen the place also and it made him sick to think of what the old man must have gone through; even if he was a grouchy old man. Nobody deserved to die like this; carved up by these animals. Six hours later they were headed back down the road to her farm. They had stopped at Steven’s so he could get what he wanted. Chris was exhausted from the stress of meeting, greeting and telling what had happened to them over and over again. But it got the job done and people were coming and getting the message out to run these animals to ground.

End chapter 24

sssarawolf · Jul 12, 2009

An Unexpected Life chapter 25

Chapter 25
The lost are found

The men, boys and a few women rode in two and three at a time, the young men and women were now going to be considered adults; they were going to be doing an adults job. Many that had come that evening had pitched into the digging detail back in the woods, it would be a mass grave for the animals that attacked this farm and they figured had also killed old man Tilley. Those that came that night got a good look at the beast disguised men to help them know what they were up against. The rest that came later saw the pictures on Chris’s digital camera; she still had some battery power. The families and men that lived further into the mountains had gotten word on what was going on, word had been spread from ranch to ranch, and home to home. They knew none of them would be safe if this wasn’t taken care of here and now.

Some had enough people at their homes to have a few come to this party and still have guards at home to take care of the people at home and take care of their stock. Some of the families that were left behind gathered in a central ranch if they didn’t have enough to stay home. So the only extra family members at Chris and Franks staying inside the house besides Bob and Florence were the Campbell’s. A large camp was set up not far from the house just inside the tree line. Kurt with just one son Mace came; they knew them from the battle of the Hogs as it came to be known, they were the Oak family.

That evening they took Blue Slayer as he called himself out to the yard tied him to a chair and poured water and soap over him to help him smell better. Chris had taken Blue’s head gear bear clawed hands and fangs and laid them on the front porch table for all to examine and see. Frank and Bob were helped outside wrapped in blankets to sit and watch the interrogation.

Coleman lanterns were sat around for light. Steven Campbell took the lead in asking the questions. Blue would not answer anything about his people, how many were left or where they lived.

Chris and Florence were standing behind their husbands to watch over them. Steven walked back to sit next to Frank and Bob, “Well I guess its going to be the hard way he isn’t going to just give up any information. It’s time to send for the experts.”

“Steven; that would be my brother and I.” Mort Bloom and his twin brother Abe had been interrogators during the Vietnam War and were indeed experts. “This isn’t going to be pretty; any one with a weak stomach or libel to have nightmares on what has to be done here just best go inside until we’re done.

Chris stayed outside with Frank and Bob but Florence went inside; Chris promised to watch over Bob. Mort and Abe were very good at their job; both had thought after coming home and being discharged from the service that would be the end of their interrogation careers and they would never have t do this kind of thing again. Yep; as the old saying goes; never say never. Before the brothers were finished a few of the adults joined the young ones who needed to get away from the interrogation scene in a hurry. They came back very white faced but they did come back, they all wanted to see this through.

By the time they were finished they had who was left at the Slayer home and a map of where it was. It was good news that so few men were left at the Slayers; basically three teenagers were watching the home front and the rest were considered throw a ways; women. The only real important one was the dead leader’s woman who was pregnant. There were no Slayer women even if born to the pack they were worth nothing. Even though there were so few of the animals left they didn’t want these young men growing to adult hood and starting the Slayer pack all over again; they had to be wiped out one way or the other.

But the Posse also didn’t want to take it for granted that they could just walk in without a fight. From what they had learned from the Slayer the boys had been trained to be killer beast men from the time they were four and five years old and to keep the pack going they had even kidnapped children from different towns boys and girls. Blue had become very talkative before the end. They put Blue out of his misery and asked for volunteers for a burial detail. They discussed the plan for the attack on the Slayer home and headed for bed; morning would come all too quickly.

Both Frank and Bob wanted to be up in the morning to be with those who were going to the Slayers. They were both very bummed out that they were unable to go along, as it was Chrissie was going; Frank didn’t care one bit for that. But if he thought he could have talked her out of it he would have. She told him someone had to represent their farm and it looked like she was the best one for the job at this time. She hated him grumbling under his breath, something about stubborn woman. But he did make sure she was wearing her bullet proof vest, it had saved her life once already when she fighting off the slayer.

Chris was so happy for the old fashion sink pump in her kitchen as she pumped some water into a pot to warm for some hot herb tea, Frank, Bob and Florence had gotten up in the wee hours of the morning to see her and the others off. Chris was nervous and they held a morning prayer for her safe return, she said her goodbyes and gave Frank a goodbye kiss, grabbed her day back, water, and guns and headed out to saddle up her horse. They had loaned a horse to the boy Gary Campbell but everyone else had their own.

Frank was up to helping Florence with some of the chores after Chris left but Moretta Campbell insisted on helping also. She had fallen for Dot the cow and Tiny Tina the calf and had to be the one to milk the cow and bottle feed the calf.

The first part of the ride to the Slayer enclave wasn’t to bad; people talked and got to know each other better that had only seen one another in passing in the months and years previous. Then as they neared their objective everyone got pretty darn quiet. Just to make sure nothing would be heard from the horses they dismounted a good mile away from the place. The brothers made sure everyone knew their part and made assignments for the surrounding of the packs enclave.

Chrissie stayed paired up with Steven Campbell, well they would be about 50 feet apart coming in low and slow. Chris had just begun to make out the appearance of people living in the area with debris and started to come upon animal bones and the stench of rotting meat.
* * *
He knew he might be a little slow but Careless knew something was wrong; he was the oldest Slayer left home at home and knew his duty. The other men of the pack should have been home the night of the raid or at least sometime the next day. Another full day had passed and still they didn’t return. He set Doug and Mat to guard duty with himself taking turns with them every six hours so one of them could take a break and get some sleep. This was bad; the other men had only been gone this long in the days when they had cars and trucks and headed out to a town. Careless and the other two young men were beginning to be very irritable. The women and girls cringed when one of the young men even came near.

Careless had just finished his shift and was heading inside to get a bite to eat before catching some sleep. As he stepped up to the door and was about to go in when Blackie the pit bull started a low growl, then Fire the red healer started to growl. Careless’s eyes narrowed as he carefully looked through the trees around the main cabin and smelled the air. He had been taught to be alert for any different order in the wind. Mat and Doug would have gone to the trees as soon as they heard the dogs growl so there was no sense in looking for them; they knew what to do. He stepped inside to talk to Kate. “You keep everyone inside; you hear me Kate, it looks like we may have intruders. I don’t want one of you stepping outside.”

“I will don’t worry,” was her answer. She would obey she didn’t dare not to; she knew what could happen to her, especially when Acker returned.

Tom Payer heard a noise but didn’t know what the noise was or where it was coming from. But he found out quickly when he saw a shadow drop out of a tree and onto his back. It was all claws and teeth tearing into his neck, head and chest. He reached up with both hands and grabbed it around the neck and pulled the thing over his head and flung it to the ground and it jumped back up and went right back after him. He could tell under that furred disguise it was a mere boy, a very thin boy at that. He couldn’t be more them 12-13 years old at the most but he was all arms and legs and beginning to make pretty good gashes in Tom’s neck and chest. “Boy quit this or I am going to be forced to end it.”

Tom didn’t want to kill the boy if he could help it and out of the corner of his eye he could see Bret Franklyn headed his way through the trees on the run to help. Tom held the boy out at arms length by the kids arms with his hands on each upper arm and the boy struggled to bite at Toms arms and scratch at Tom’s forearms. That’s when Tom took his right arm reared it back and punched the boy out. Bret reached him just at that moment and began to treat Tom’s gashes and tears. Bret tied the beast boy up good so he wouldn’t be able to attack anyone if and when he woke up after he saw to Tom.

Knowing what they were walking into most of them had first aid kits in their fanny pack type kits. No one cared about what they looked like wearing them, first aid supplies did matter. Bret had made Tom sit down on a log and watch the tied up boy while Bret went on toward the cabins. Tom looked down at the boy and wondered if they would be able to tame him or someone would have to end up having to kill him so he didn’t kill others. This pack of Slayers they didn’t need groups like this around that was for sure.

Bobby Lyn Crumb was 17 years old, five foot four inches and 125 pounds of TNT with black short cropped hair these days to make it easy to wash and bright sky blue eyes. She had joined the Posse with her older brother Kirk T. (his mother really like Captain Kirk from Star Trek) and their father Randy. She had been hunting with her brother and father since she was eight years old and knew how to be quiet going through the woods.

She heard a man yell from her far right and knew someone must have found a Slayer or the Slayer found him. Chills went down her spine as she looked over to where her brother was to the right of her and her father to her left. Every once in a while when she glanced one way or the other she could see a flash of one of them through the trees. Just as she stepped she heard a crunch, usually she was very careful where she stepped especially today but had taken her eye off the ground to look to her right at where her brother should be.

She looked down and gasped for there she stood in the middle of a bunch of scattered human bones with a skull inches from her left foot. There were bits of cloth here and there and the bones had been gnawed on by animals. She could see tooth marks on them and she could tell they weren’t all there. She took a deep breath and then another; this was no time for hysterics; she needed to be quiet and not distract anyone from a true problem; like getting attacked by one of these beast men. She quickly made her way through them but made sure she could recognize the spot when this was done with. Then she continued on and hurried to play catch up to her brother and father towards their destination.

Doug the 15 year old Slayer watched silently from the tree he had picked; he saw a tall man headed in his direction and he smiled to himself; this would be his first kill. Just as the man began to walk under him he dropped. Right down on Steven Campbell and they both went to the ground as Doug sank his two inch fangs into Steven’s right shoulder. Steven screamed and thrashed trying to get this beast off of him. But Doug had his claws sank deeply into Stevens arms and was trying to rip upwards when Chrissie ended it with a bullet in the boys head. As soon as she heard the scream from Steven she bolted for him. She knew from Blues interrogation it was one of the teenagers but it couldn’t be helped if she didn’t act fast Steven would be in dire straits. As it was he had a few holes in him that Chris quickly poured alcohol on and bandaged up. They both started back towards the cabins after she finished. Chrissie tried to get him to stay put where he was but he wouldn’t do it. He told her, “a few holes aren’t gong to stop me.”

End chapter 25

sssarawolf · Jul 14, 2009

An Unexpected Life chapter 26

Chapter 26
Stalking them back

Careless wasn’t far from the main cabin when he heard a shot. He was now in the outhouse not 70 feet from the cabin which made it central to all of the other cabins. He was sweating in the coolness because he knew what that shot must mean; one of the boys was dead; had to be. What am I going to do? The women are of no help and there might be only one of the boys left. I have to decide; I can’t stay in the john until whoever they are get here. I should do as I was trained; to attack always attack and with that he shuddered. Maybe Uncle Acker was right after all and I’m an idiot and was never cut out to be a Slayer. Maybe I can just stay in here and they won’t find me and will just go away and then I will leave and never return.

So he just stayed in the outhouse waiting and sweating and wishing for this to be over with. The Slayer training couldn’t make up for the beatings and berating he had endured from Uncle Acker the last few years all of it had only instilled fear into Careless as he grew; not strength and courage to be the master of death to the prey around him.

The Slayer women and girls heard the shot and cowered all the tighter in their sleeping corner, no one had encountered this before. The Slayer men had all ways been the attackers; no one had ever dared invade their home. Their world was upside down and they didn’t know what action to take; this was just to bewildering.
* * *
Almost all of the members of the Posse came in slowly and carefully; Tom was the only member not among them at this time. Windows were peered in and then doors opened until they came to the largest cabin. Mort crept up and came up from the bottom of a side window but seeing it must be a bedroom and seeing no one went on to another window. Gary Campbell was coming around from the other side of the cabin and some of the others were split up on each side of the front and back doors. They had assigned four people to four corners in the woods to guard the backs of the people that had gone into the Slayer homes. Mort came to the window looking into the dining room and kitchen first and was looking in when Gary joined him at the window.

What they saw was quite a few women and girls huddled into a corner in-between a wood stove and a fire place. Most of them looked like they were scared half to death; faces turned into each others bodies as if they were hiding from a sure death that would soon come for them.

No men were seen any where around the cabins but no one knew how these women would react and if they could take Blue Slayers word that the women were only slaves and were incapable of warriors work. Because if there was one thing all these men of the outside world knew it was the Slayers were dead wrong on that point about women. They had women in the Posse that could prove that point very wrong; like Bobby Lyn Crumb to name one; she could shoot the eye out of a squirrel even on a bad day.

Mort stood up and so Gary knew it must be all right to do the same. Mort gave some signals but no one spoke as yet. He had twelve people surround the cabin to be ready for anything that may happen. Then he called his brother over to have someone with him with more experience go into the cabin with him.

Mort looked at his brother as they stood in front of the door. “Here goes nothing Abe; be ready.” “Lets get on with it Mort.” And Mort turned the latch down on the door and flung it open; the door banged hard against the wall. The women jumped with the sound and the little ones let out little yelps before their mouths were covered with larger hands.

Not one woman looked up to see who these men were, but a couple of the girls were trying to peek with out seeming to. They didn’t want to be beat or killed out right by these new men for being uppity, which would be their right as men. Kate tried peeking through her eyelashes and wondered who would be claimed and who would be killed among them. She figured in the shape she was in she would be killed soon, no man wanted another’s spawn and they had to be able to see she was clearly very pregnant. And they would see she was a little on the old side besides.

Mort looked at them and then back at Abe and Abe was doing the same thing. What they saw pulled at even their tough hard heart strings. Mort decided they couldn’t stand here staring forever. “Who can speak for you and the rest of the women? We are here to help you and take you out of here.”

Not one woman spoke and if anything they tried to get closer to one another. Mort thought maybe the pregnant older one would speak up but the Slayer they interrogated was right these poor women were like slaves from a bygone age. Everyone that stood outside keeping watch was getting pretty restless the only thing they had heard from inside the cabin was the murmur of Mort and Abe’s voices. “Mort we best send for a couple of women they may be able to get through to these women, I don’t think they are going to be in any danger from these poor souls.”

Abe stuck his head out the cabin door. Chris and Paige were standing guard in front. Paige had come with her husband John Doyle both were in their mid 20’s; she came even though he had said she shouldn’t. Yeah right, no way she was going to be left out of this and be stuck sitting back at Chris’s farm wondering if her man was going to come back alive. “Chris and Paige come here we need your help in here.”

Chris and Paige stepped into the cabin to the smell of to many unwashed bodies in a small area. They crinkled their noses but didn’t want to be seen as being unfriendly and overly worried about the odor. All Chris could think as she stepped in and looked at the poor ragged, wretched, smelly women and girls was; oh my gosh and was glad she had killed those men. She could see a little boy against the very pregnant women at the edge of the women bundle and she looked to be the oldest.

Paige was just plain dumb struck, she thought she was prepared for this kind of thing but found she wasn’t after all. Tears started to flow down Paige’s cheeks as she took in the awful state of these women and little girls.

It didn’t look like Paige was going to speak up right away so Chris decided she best. She stepped over to Mort and handed him her rifle and took Page’s hand and when Paige looked over at her Chris nodded for her to do the same with her rifle, so Paige handed hers off to Abe.

This hadn’t been lost on some of the women even if it looked like they weren’t watching the people who had invaded their home. Kate’s thoughts were; women with guns of their own, what kind of people could this be? It boggled the mind.

Both women had their holster and pistols on; they wouldn’t give those up and Chris still had Paige’s hand as they stepped forward and to within three feet of the group of women huddled on the floor.

“Hello I am Chris Jackson and this is Paige Doyle we’re from farms and ranches in the area. We’re here to stop your men the Slayers and we think we have done that and we’re also here to help you.”

At that moment outside Bobby heard a scuff sound a few feet away from where she was patrolling around the cabins. She figured it could only be coming from one place. And she bet no one had taken a look inside it, the outhouse. After all you didn’t have to step in it to smell it, it was pretty rank. Why me; first a skeleton and now an outhouse.

She quietly walked up to the outhouse and stood against the side of it. Albert Cook turned to look when Bobby went over to the john. Bobby saw she had been noticed by Albert; so she put her right index finger to her lips and nodded towards the outhouse. He nodded back at her and started around to the back of it. So Bobby waited until Albert was in place on the other side of the outhouse. She tried looking in a crack but there were too many shadows inside to really see anything; but she knew she had heard something.

Inside Careless knew he had made a mistake by tying to move, he saw through one of the cracks in the john someone had turned and looked at the outhouse when he had bumped the wall. No way was he going to be able to just sit this out after all and wait for them to go away. Now the decision; does he act like the Slayer he was supposed to be or the idget, dummy, coward, living mistake he had been told he was for years on end. He felt like the coward at this moment knowing there were strangers outside. I guess I should ask myself do I want to live or join my people in death. That’s what I need to decide right now live or die?

He didn’t have long to try to decide because Bobby grabbed the handle on the door and quickly opened the door and stuck her rifle barrel in. Albert jumped beside Bobby and kept his rifle aimed at the opening. What they saw was a fearful, scrawny, dirty young man of about 5 foot 8 inches and there was no way to tell what color of hair he had until all that grime was washed out of it. They saw hanging out of his pockets the furred bear clawed gloves and head gear. Bobby assumed the fangs must be in a pocket also. And of course she took charge of the situation.

“All right there fella come out of there slowly.” She never took her rifle off of him, but this poor bedraggled creature didn’t look very formidable. “Come on out; I don’t want to keep repeating myself.”

Actually Careless would have come out if he hadn’t been so shocked to find the one that was ordering him around was a woman. He had learned to jump when a man told him what to do but this was just plain out of his realm of understanding. He finally stepped out and was roughly turned around by the man and his hands tied behind his back. He was then shoved towards the cabin. They got within 20 feet of the cabin and he was told to sit down on the ground and don’t move by the woman. Bobby was kinda getting the creeps from this guy he kept looking up at her like she had horns or something.

Abe went over to the door to see what was going on, he didn’t want a surprise attack going on with him and Mort trapped in the cabin. But what he did see did surprise him. Bobby and Albert had a dirty young man just beginning to sit on the ground with his hands tied behind his back. Well whatever had gone on it was over with now so he turned around to see what would come of the Posse’s women talking to the Slayer women. Chris and Paige were looking his way, but he said, “don’t worry it’s handled go on.”

Both women were a little nervous; they knew how vicious the Slayer men were and didn’t really know what to expect from these women. Paige had been fully informed as well as everyone else just what the Slayers were like.
By this time Chris was thinking to her self; stop being such a ninny Chris sit down and talk to the older one. Chris slipped the cap from her head and let her hair down from it’s pony tail just incase they didn’t believe she was a woman. And then she kneeled down on the floor by the pregnant woman and the little boy. This made the woman hold the little boy all the tighter.
Chris started again; “Can you tell us what your name is; you and your little boy? We are here to help you not to hurt you; do you understand?”
The woman gave the tiniest nod of her head, and then in a very quiet whisper; “my; my name is Kate and my sons name is Storm.”

“Its very nice to meet you Kate we’re here to take you and the others out of here; no ones going to hurt any of you.”

In Kate’s whisper again, “you mean we’re not going to be claimed by your men or killed?” Paige who was kneeling beside Chris chimed in. “Oh Kate no ones going to hurt any of you at all, we’re going to take you out of here and find you nice homes where you will be free to come and go as you like and not be afraid anymore. There haven’t been slaves for a long time in our country and with all the bad that’s happened in the last year people are again making others into slaves. But there really bad people good people don’t live like this or treat others like you and these other women and girls like you have been treated. Please let us help you.”

Chris was smiling as she listened; Paige was on a roll. Then they both waited while Kate looked around at the other women and girls and then back at Chris and Paige. “Will we be able to carry a gun if we want?”

Chris looked over at the men and back. “Well Kate maybe not at first; you will have to be trained first, just like everyone else that learns.”

By then Chris and Paige noticed the other women were paying pretty close attention and didn’t have their faces hid anymore. So did Mort and Abe, good Chris and Paige were doing the trick; they wanted to be getting back home. They knew Tom Payer was wounded and so was Steven Campbell; though not as badly as Tom. Mort stepped towards the women and saw them all cringe. “Ah sorry ladies but if we have found every one here we need to be getting back to the Jackson farm before our women folk start to worry themselves sick. And that also goes for your husband Chris.”

At the mention of Chris’s husband left at home Kate’s eyes got really huge. “You mean you came out here with out your man and he let you.”

Chris laughed a little at that. “Let me, he couldn’t stop me. I told him I was coming to help since he was injured and that was that, he knew I was right.”
“Chris and Paige do I have permission to talk to my sisters?”

“Yes of course you do Kate, go right ahead, Paige and I will just leave you alone for a few minutes to talk among yourselves.” Chris and Paige got up and went over to stand by Mort and Abe and watched the women whisper among them selves. The women still wouldn’t look up at Mort and Abe but Kate managed to kind of look at Chris and Paige and motioned them over.
“We want to know if there are any of our men still alive?”

Chris told her she would be right back and would ask who they found and how many were alive yet. She figured Mort and Abe would know. “They want to know if any of the Slayer men are still alive.”

Mort told her, “Yes; tell her two, one boy about 12 or 13 years old and a young man that was found in the outhouse.”

Chris returned to tell them about the young men that were still alive. “There are two Kate a very young one and one they found here by the cabins. Does that make a difference on what you will do?”

She looked up at Chris and still whispering. “Your prey so can they order you away and us to stay?”

That one both Chris and Paige answered together. “No way, they are the captives now and can’t tell anyone what to do, us or you.”

That brought a ghost of a smile to Kate’s face; she realized it and her right hand went to her face like she had amazed herself.

Chris continued to talk to mainly Kate. “Is there anything any of you want to take with you, we can carry it for you, I’m afraid most of you will be walking back to where our horses are.”

The look on Kate’s face about broke Chris’s heart.

Kate looked over the thread bare clothes they were all wearing and then back at Chris. “Would it be possible to let us get some clothes out of the shed, there are some stored in there from raids and we haven’t been allowed any of them yet.”

“I don’t see why not Kate and it will be way to cool for you to be outside long in what you are all wearing. Paige would you go talk to Mort and Abe and tell them what the women want to do?”

Paige did and Mort and Abe backed further off as the Slayer slaves made their way out of the cabin so hunched together that Mort didn’t know how they didn’t trip over one another. No one moved while the women passed by and when they saw Careless sitting on the ground tied up they just averted their eyes and continued to walk for a medium sized ramshackle shed at the edge of the cabin clearing.

With the women all changed and into warm clothing, shoes and coats they found the Slayers still had four horses on the place and used those to put Kate and her little boy on plus a couple of the youngest girls on another. They saved one for Steven and one for Tom and slung the young beast boy whose name they found out was Mat over Tom’s horse on his belly in front of tom. A dejected Careless they just pushed along. It didn’t take them long to get back to their own horses and head for home riding double.

Bobby finally got to tell the others of the skeleton she stepped into and most just shuddered. They agreed if they ever went back she would show them where it was. Many of them wondered how many more were lying around that place.

End chapter 26

sssarawolf · Jul 16, 2009

An Unexpected Life chapter 27

Chapter 27
Homes and beginnings

Chris was very glad to be entering the gate to the farm; it had been one long stressful day on top of many. There were a few more people here then when the Posse left this morning. They didn’t even get half way down the driveway when they were joined by the spouses and family’s of the Posse members; Frank and Florence included. Chris found out poor Bob had a fever and was sleeping. Frank had found some antibiotic in a box in the basement for Bob and they hoped that would do the job.

Later as the years wore on herbs would just have to do the job again. But as that thought went through Chris’s mind she knew they again would lose many people to infections and illness’s. Looks like she ought to bone up on some of those books she bought the last couple of years.

The Slayer women were getting more uncomfortable with the amount of people around them. This whole day had been one of new experiences.

The people that were camping at the farm waiting for the Posse to return and newer arrivals were beginning to make a few disparaging remarks about the women in full ear shot of all the riders. The women and girls were back to hiding their faces; this time in the backs of the riders they were behind. Kate and the two girls on their own horses didn’t know what to do. Chris could see the fright written all over their faces.

“Hangum all; why did you bring this filth back here, we should get rid of them it would be more merciful, etc, etc.

Then when the two Slayer boys were spotted it was even worse. Things started to get pretty ugly really fast. Several shots were fired into the air simultaneously. People gasped and shut up real fast. Chris looked around, she, Frank, Mort, Abe and a couple of others had all thought the same thing and had fired shots into the air to stop this stupidity. Mort looked at Chris and Frank, “It’s your place kids you say what you have to say and if the rest of us feel we have to add more we will.”

“Now listen up people this is our home and Chris and I have made you all fully welcome at this trying time to get to the bottom of this killers nest. But if my wife and the rest of the Posse felt a need to bring these people back and that includes two of the young men; they must have had their reasons. You and I were not there, we haven’t even gotten to hear the story of how things went yet. Can’t you even see the Posse has wounded among them that need to be cared for? So I suggest you cool it or leave this farm now. Look at these women and girls. These could have ended up being your women and girls, kidnapped and made into slaves through no fault of their own. Now have a little compassion and back the heck up and let them through. Okay Mort or any one else on the Posse; do you have anything you would care to add.”

The Posse members all grinned as Mort said; “Nope Frank you have done just fine, I couldn’t have done any better, but I would have been a mite more colorful with my language.

Chris had just about enough of all of this. “All right everyone as Frank said everyone back off. We have work to do, Moretta your in charge of getting your husband Steven to the kitchen and I want a couple of you others to get Tom there immediately if not sooner. Their care has been delayed long enough. Paige you bring the ladies along I want them in the house with us. Mort and Abe would you kindly fill these kind generous people in on our little trip to the Slayers holdout and find a place to stick those wild boys and place guards on them.”

With that Chris turned and said; “now let’s get to it everyone.” And slide off of her horse and started for her house.

Mort watched Chris walk towards her house, ye gads now this is a real woman; to bad I’m not 30 years younger he would give Frank a run for his money for that woman; he looked towards heaven, sorry Marge but she is so much like you were.

Chris made short work of getting the wounded seen to and some antibiotic doled out to them. Then made sure all the women and girls had nice hot baths even if it was in three old metal wash tubs in the living room. And bedded them down in the small bed/sewing room and living room in sleeping bags, blankets and anything other kind of bedding they could find. Chris filled Frank and the Strong’s in about all that happened that day with the Slayers in the kitchen over a nice cup of tea, before she became too tired to talk.

When Chris came down early in the morning to go out to the outhouse she found the women all huddled in the small room lying against and on each other. Most were awake and had no idea what was going to happen to them. Florence walked up behind Chris and looked into the room saying; “well what did we expect with a life time of sleeping like that.”

Breakfast was interesting to say the least. Frank decided he would go start on chores just to get out of the kitchen. He was joined on the way to the barn by some of the other’s camping out and chores were done in no time. Everyone loved Dot and Tiny Tina and the Highland cattle. Another attraction was Buttercup the yak, she was really shy at first but since she thought she was a goat anyway and goats liked the people and attention she hung around and let the people brush her.

They were all surprised to see such a wide variety of animals on the Jackson farm. It was like going to the zoo with out fighting the crowds.

After chores and breakfast Chris and Frank decided a council of neighbors had to be called; they needed to have it out about the released captive women and what to do about the boys.

Word was spread and at 10:00 AM everyone was assembled in the front yard, well except for the people guarding the beast boys. The Slayer women and girls stayed inside while Chris, Frank, Florence and even Bob sat on the front porch waiting for things to quiet down. Then as they didn’t Chris got inpatient and said “that’s it, we’re going to start I don’t want to wait any longer.”

“You start it Frank,” said Chris

Frank stood up to address the neighbors. “Mort and Abe would you please come up here, as far as we’re concerned you’re the head of this Posse detail and are needed to help make decisions on this matter.”

Mort looked at his brother and grinned. “Well I say if they want us old coots to help why not go along with it.” “You so right Mort lets go.” Then Abe took Mort’s arm and they walked arm in arm up the steps and onto the porch.

Chris was thinking I bet those two were the class clowns in school.

She looked up at Frank as he began to talk about the problems they seemed to be facing.

“We called this meeting because we need to come to a decision about a few things. One how we’re going to integrate these women and girls back into what is now our society; such as it is. Now we can divide them among us up here in the mountains or take them down to the valley and have Chris’s Uncle Robert find them homes among them. You all know the circumstances these poor souls were found in and how they have been living. They were there by no fault of there own but kidnapped and turned into slaves for those depraved men. So do we keep them up here among us? Split them between here and the valley or just take them down to the valley? Spend a few minutes talking among your selves.”

Mort was sitting there thinking to, he had kind of liked the looks of Kate and how she seemed to really watch over the other women. He didn’t need a wife or anything not at his age. But someone to help cook; now that was different, and he knew his daughter in law needed help around the place. Mort stood up to talk he had made up his mind and he didn’t care if anyone else had or not.

“I don’t know about the rest of you but I saw first hand what horrible conditions these ladies were found in. They aren’t mad dogs and nothing is going to rub off on you. They need care, love and understanding. I don’t think there will be any way to find their real families; not now, maybe if they had been found before the world went to heck in a hand basket with computer systems and missing person files. But for sure no way now. I would like to take in the one called Kate and her little boy as helper and maybe do a little house keeping if she will. Goodness knows we haven’t had a decent meal at home since my Marge passed on.” He was glad his daughter in law wasn’t here he wouldn’t have wanted to hurt her feelings but she was an awful cook. “So that’s what I have decided to do now that rest is up to you folks.” And he sat back down beside his brother.

People just sat and stared up at him speechless for a few minutes and then started to talk again. All in all there were four of the neighbors that decided to adopt a girl. Chris and Frank thought they would adopt one and Bob and Florence would take one also. That left the oldest girls to decide about. Now they were old enough to live on there own but no one thought they were capable of doing that. So they thought the best bet would be to take them down to the stockade where they could be taught how to live in the world of people.

That over with it was time to do something about the boys. Frank looked around at the others on the porch and they appointed him to continue he was doing such a great job.

“Okay now it’s on to number two. We have to figure out what to do with the two boys. And no saying; just shoot them; all right.” That quieted a couple of big mouths right away.

“Now the young one Mat is pretty wild and very indoctrinated into the Slayers belief system. So he is going to be the hardest; which seems odd but that’s the way it is. We also don’t think he should live around any of the former captive women so that will make things harder. But remember the other one Careless said that Mat was one of what they call foundlings. Which means he was kidnapped and not a Slayer by birth. Is there anyone here that could take him on? Think about it before you answer. Now Careless is a Slayer by birth but was so abused he never went on a raid and is very unsure of himself. He doesn’t want to be a Slayer and said he was going to run away after we left if he hadn’t been found. But he has no idea of how to start a new life; he has nothing to base a new way of life on and how to live out in the world among the rest of us. So in a way the girls and the boys are in some what of the same boat. So again lets think about it and please feel free to throw out any idea you can think of.”

This one was taking a whole lot longer, someone would start to talk and then stop. Finally Steven Campbell stiffly stood up, “Moretta, Gary and I talked it over and we will take Careless and teach him to live among regular human beings. I know it will take a while to trust him so he will have to put up with being locked in a room at night but that’s the only way we will feel safe.”

And then he sat down and a few people reached over and patted the family on their backs; but there didn’t seem to be any takers for Mat.

“Well gall darn it we’ll take Mat.” Everyone looked at Abe. His wife who was near the porch gasped and came up on the porch to talk to Abe. They drew a little off but everyone could still hear the heated argument. Daisy was frowning but after a bit looked at the others and nodded her head yes.

Frank smiled as he stepped over and shock Abe’s hand. “Okay everyone it’s been very good to finally get to know so many of you and know we can come together in times like this. We may need each other again in these trying times and I for one am glad to know there will be someone close by to help or for us to be able to help you.

Remember now these kids have not had any kind of education they will have to be taught to read and write and even maybe some of the things we think as normal everyday life chores. I think we should try to have a gathering n the spring; say the second week of May; who’s up for that? In all 98 percent raised their hands. Wonderful; now let’s call this meeting adjured and Chris and Florence will go in and talk to the ladies.”

The captive women and girls were afraid; they had never been apart from one another. Then it was explained further that they would see each other from time to time and this was going to mean real homes for them and learning a new way of life.

Nit seven years old was taken in by Paige and John Doyle who hadn’t any children as yet. Lou Lou 9 years old to Tom and Becka Payer she would be the older child to there 4 and 6 year olds. Sissy 13 years old went to the Crumb family as a little sister. Sealy 14 years old to Bret and Cassie Franklyn their youngest was now 17. Ruby at 16 years old to Bob and Florence Strong and 17 year old April to Frank and Chrissie. So Ruby and April would be learning a new life together.

Careless and Mat were told they were being adopted by families in the area and all Mat did was get angry and start in howling.

Steven introduced himself to Careless. Steven went and had them release Careless to him and took him to his tent. It was one of those large walled tents with a shepherds stove in it to keep them warm. They stepped inside and Careless who had only been off the pack enclave a few times had never seen anything like it. Moretta and Gary weren’t there at the time but out helping with chores. “Careless are we going to have trouble with you, will we have to be afraid you will attack us in the night and kill us? I really need to know if I need to keep you away from my family.”

Careless felt pulled in two different directions he was supposed to be a Slayer and yet he was never treated as one really after his father was killed. He had seen these people working together and this is more of the kind of life he had wanted but didn’t think existed. No one was beating on anyone that he could see and the way the women worked along side the men and sometimes even taking things over just astounded him. The one that had captured him; the one named Bobby astounded him. But maybe if I don’t agree with this man Steven I would get a beating, after all how else do you make people listen and punish them when they make trouble.

“I won’t cause any trouble Steven or attack anyone of you and I hope I can learn a new way to live. I see from you and these other people that people don’t just raid and kill each other for what they want. You can tie me up at night if you feel you need to. And from what I see you people don’t have some of you that are predator and those that are prey.”

“No Careless not among our own up here we don’t, now that the Slayers have been taken out. But there are always some evil hearted people that want to take what others have worked hard for. There are some down in the valley a few miles off. They call themselves a gang named the Scorpions and the good people that live down there are working hard to feed and take care of one another. So if you accept our life you will be the Scorpions enemy also. What they call a sucker, someone who works for what they have so they can take it. Now would it be all right if we call you something else besides Careless, is that your real name?”

“My real name was Roy before my father was killed for the rule of the pack; then Uncle Acker renamed me Careless. I was around eight years old I think.”

“Well Roy why don’t we go for something else, a name that won’t remind you of the pack?

Careless stood there thinking a few seconds, and then smiled. “Sure why not; what will it be so I can start getting used to it?”

Now it was Steven’s turn to think. He had it; a Bible name would do just fine. How about Aaron would that do for you?”

Careless mulled it over; Aaron, Aaron I guess that will be okay. “Aaron’s all right with me.”

“Then Aaron it will be, but I am sorry to tell you I will most likely tie you up at night Aaron at least for awhile. I don’t know if my wife would feel safe if you weren’t.”

Roy/Careless/Aaron looked confused. “What does your wife being afraid have to do with anything? You just order her to be quiet.”

Gads thought Steven, has this boy got a lot to learn. That doesn’t work with us Aaron; we respect each other and care for one another. Civilized people don’t act that way with each other, it may take a while but you will eventually learn.”

So that night Aaron slept in his own small pup tent that Frank loaned them and a nice warm sleeping bag. They had him go to the outhouse and then tied him up and zipped him up in the sleeping bag.

The next morning everyone started to pull out and go home. The families watched as Abe left with Mat who was tied to a horse; but this time sitting up and tied to the pummel on the saddle.

End chapter 27

sssarawolf · Jul 19, 2009

An Unexpected Life chapter 28

Chapter 28
Tears and bullets

In two weeks time they we ready to take the young women down to the stockade. It had been explained to them where they were going and that it was family and they would find good homes in the valley. So Nance, Alice, Misty, Avis, Candy and Edith were ready to go. But this time it was Frank and Bob who were all healed up and were going to take them down. There were tears all around as they loaded up into the truck, one could have fit in between Frank and Bob in the cab of the truck but no one wanted to. They still had left over fears and this was certainly something really new. The pack had trucks back months ago but women were never allowed in them. Plus Ruby and April would be saying goodbye to the only family they remembered having.

Frank and Bob could hardly wait to leave with all the crying and hugging going on among the women and that included their women in the middle of it. After another ten minutes Frank decided that was it. “I know this is hard but we need to get going. I don’t want to be leaving the valley to come home in the dark with that gang active down in the valley so please let’s load up and get going. And we want to make sure they can take you women in and get you settled in. Frank saw the look of fear come across several faces at what he said.

“Don’t take me wrong please I just mean we need to get going the sooner the better so we can get there and get you settled.”

They got all of the ladies situated in the back of the pickup all wrapped up in blankets with their bags among them. Each lady had been given a bag or pack with extra clothes and Frank and Chris decided each would receive a pistol of some kind with some ammunition. That way they didn’t have to depend on a gun to be found for them when they lived in the valley they also got beginning lessons on how to handle it and a little practice in the last two weeks. Even though they were pretty sure this wouldn’t be a problem for great Uncle Robert. The ladies wanted to be able to help defend themselves and be of a use to the people they were going to.

The final waves were being waved as the truck left the driveway and gate and turned out onto the road. They would be meeting Steven and Mort at Steven’s house; they were going down to meet the people at the stockade to try to set up trade next year. They were hooking on a small trailer that Mort and Steven would be riding in for the trip down.

The trip down this time was quiet; no one took a pot shot at them. They didn’t know it but it had been old man Tilley who had shot at them before. He was just being ornery.

Frank stopped the truck as they came to the half way point down the grade and they got out and looked over the valley. All seemed pretty quiet. It was getting pretty cold and there was a skiff of snow on the ground. They had hoped the gang didn’t like to be out in the cold. So down they went the rest of the way. They didn’t want to doddle once they were in the valley and Frank drove as fast as he thought possible and safe. He knew he must be scaring the ladies and wondered how Steven and Mort were making out in the trailer. But it couldn’t be helped he wanted to get to the stockade just as fast as he could. Even Bob was holding on and making strange noises on the other side of the truck.

They were pulling up to the stockades double doors and Frank could see the family had made some improvements. There was now what looked like steel plates all around the bottom of the stockade eight feet in height and he could see where they had started to add on top of that so eventually the whole outside would be covered with steel. “Woweee” was Bobs comment.

Frank saw the slot open and close in the right side of the gate and they waited for a few minutes before the gate began to open. Two armed men Frank didn’t know stood beside the gate but there stood Robert Jr. beside the one on the left.

Frank rolled through the gate and Robert Jr. walked along and up to the truck as Frank parked; Robert Jr. was looking at the ladies and trailer hitched to the truck with two men looking out. Frank stepped out of his truck and was shaking Robert Jr.’s hand. “Well hello Frank it’s good to see you; we sure weren’t expecting to see you until spring. What brings you down so soon?”

“Good to see you to Robert; we have a little business to discuss and some ladies to leave in your care.” Bob had gotten out and come around the truck as well as Mort and Steven from the trailer and joined them. The ladies didn’t budge from the back of the truck but were in awe as they took in the stockade and all the people. Plus they were still in shock from the trip down and the rip roaring ride once they got down in the valley.

A few more family members were joining them and some curious children along with a few curious adults. Frank began to introduce everyone starting with Bob. By that time Uncle Robert was out of the house and walking up to group. Uncle Robert had a slight limp now and he would keep it for the reminder of his days.

He walked up and gave Frank a big hug and said, “Okay start over with the introductions.” So Frank did and he then brought Uncle Robert with the others following over to the back of the pickup to introduce the ladies. The ladies were introduced and helped to get out of the bed of the truck. They huddled together as close as they could to one another. This was all so strange to them. They were better then when they were first found but this was way different then the farm they were starting to get used to. Frank saw this and asked if they could take the ladies in the house so he could explain where to everyone where they came from and why they had come to the valley. So as they all headed into Uncle Roberts house and the ladies of the house took the new women to the living room to sit n front of the nice warm wood stove, and got them some nice hot tea and cookies.

Frank let Mort and Steven talk over the business they wanted to do with the stockade and then explained how they had come to bring six scared young women down to the stockade. Henry’s daughter Lucy and Robert Jr.’s wife Pat stayed to hear about the young women. While the judge’s wife Mary took over the entertaining of the young ladies.

The more Pat and Lucy heard the madder they got and grieved for the life those women were forced to endure. Everyone in the room was shocked at the thought that Chris, Frank and the Strong’s were nearly killed by the Slayers. And the very thought there had actually been a murderous people like that living not far from the farm was really creepy. The valley people thought the gang was bad enough, but to find a whole group of men was being raised to think everyone else was their prey was down right bone chilling. And to top it off to be dressing up like some kind of beast and ripping people’s throats out was just so hard to imagine in this day and age.

They had been living like that under the radar even before the world crashed.

Uncle Robert called for four messengers and turned to his grand daughter Lucy. “Lucy dear I want you to tell the messengers what you have heard. And then I want all four of you to spread this story and who these poor young women are and that they need good loving homes. Now be off with you; this needs done now so Frank and these other men don’t have to hang around for the gang attack this afternoon.”

Lucy took the messengers outside the kitchen door and relayed the story of the Slayers and just who the six women were and that they needed homes that would teach them to read, write and live among other people. All four of them then scattered and the people they told would tell others and the news would be spread around the stockade in no time at all.

An hour later the people of the stockade were discussing to whose homes the ladies would be going when the Scorpions began their attack on the stockade.

Cousin Henry looked at the visitors. “Sorry to say you are stuck here for awhile. We thought we could get you out and on your way before they attacked; this is a change from their normal. But knowing them they think this is a big surprise attack. This will go on for hours and you won’t be able to go home until tomorrow, sorry but it can’t be helped. Maybe you would like to join us at the walls gentlemen?”

Most of the people got up and went outside where rifles were being handed out or people were joining them with their weapons already in hand with ammo belts strung around their shoulders and waists.

After Frank got up on the wall he noticed it wasn’t square but angled so it was easy to see the next odd steel enforced strangely shaped corners of the stockade. Wow I remember where I saw a layout of this before. It was when he was a teenager and his family went on vacation and visited battle fields and Forts in the east. This stockade was patterned after an old Revolutionary war fort he was sure it was Fort Frederick in Maryland.
Fort Frederick was used also as a prison for Hessian (German soldiers) and British soldiers in the American Revolution. Then during the Civil War Union troops were stationed there to guard the C & O canal.

Henry who was standing beside Frank up on the wall and noticed Frank looking around at the stockade with this strange look on his face as he studied their fort. “What’s wrong Frank; you see something I don’t or what.”

“It’s your stockade Henry, it’s patterned after a Revolutionary War fort called Fort Frederick isn’t it? I couldn’t see that from just looking around down inside but I can from up here.”

Henry was chuckling by now even as he kept an eye on the on coming attackers; it was so easy to spot them from the top of the wall. “You and Chris weren’t around long enough to know my brother in law Deke and I are Revolutionary War re en-actors. We also do Mountain Man rendezvous when we can, or rather did; I can say now. But how did you know this was patterned after Fort Frederick?”

“My family went on a tour of the Forts and battle fields when I was a kid and this one really made an impression on me to tell the truth. I couldn’t get over how perfect it was for protection and how hard it was for the enemy to be seen and not be able to get at the people inside.”

At that moment the gang began to shoot but the only way to hit someone in the fort was if they were standing on the one foot high step that ran all the way around the top of the fort along the walk way; or if you were really tall.

Frank could see out of the gun portals that were quite good being four inches tall by eighteen inches long. The battle was on again. They didn’t get to talk again for a while as things became quite heated. The gang must have found some more ammunition; hopefully they didn’t find a National Guard station or something. That would mean a lot more trouble for the people of the stockade.

End chapter 28

sssarawolf · Jul 22, 2009

Chapter 29
Rally time

The Scorpions seemed to have thought this attack out a bit better; either that or some one else had planned this one. The gang still had fuel to run cars and trucks and so they did. But you would have thought they would have at least thought to reinforce them with better armor of some kind. At least that was to the stockades advantage. And Robert being a gun shop owner had some goodies they had finally decided to bring out; they were getting darn right tired of these wood peckers. It was hard for the gang to hide close to the stockade; between the gang and then Robert deciding to get rid of anything in shooting range that stood, house, garages, sheds, trees, bushes you name it.

Frank happened to see an odd contraption sitting right at the corner where he was and on the wall it’s self. He was really wondering what it was when he found out. Two men were bringing up a canvas object that looked pretty heavy. They laid it down and took off the canvas; it was a 50 caliber Browning machine gun. Both the men were grinning and he didn’t blame them. He watched them set it up attaching it to the odd set up on the corner.

Frank found out there was a machine gun on each corner of the stockade and they were now at this very moment making Swiss cheese out of the gang’s vehicles. Frank backed off a ways; that thing sure was loud. The noise was bad enough with the regular rifles, special rifles and the few hand grenades being thrown and going off. He felt like he was in the middle of the battle of the Alamo. He stepped up on the step to look over the wall and it happened to be right at the wrong time as a bullet grazed his right ear. “Wowouch” he yelled and grabbed his ear. His hand came away all bloody. “Dang it all anyway.”

Tell Flyer, Lonny’s new husband was going past when he saw Frank was hit. He grabbed Frank and took a look at him. “It doesn’t look to bad Frank you lost a piece of your ear but you best get down to the hospital and get that treated and bandaged up. And don’t give me that; it’s just a nick thing, we can’t take chances any more with any kind of wound, now get.”

Frank felt a little funny taking orders from someone so much younger then he was but the kid was right. Chris was just talking about this very thing a few weeks ago. So down he went and it wasn’t hard to find the make shift hospital; there was a line of people like him with light wounds going that way. At least he hoped they were all light wounds; but knew if a bullet had some ones number on it that was that.

To Franks surprise the six ladies they had brought down were busy helping in the hospital. From their experiences with the Slayers they knew how to treat wounds. It was worth getting nicked to see how well they worked and ran here and there helping; they were like whole different women. Nance saw him holding his ear and came over and guided him to a table and had him sit in one of the chairs. He wasn’t the only one there getting treated.

She took his hand away from his head. “Oh it doesn’t look to bad Frank I will have you fixed up in no time.”

Frank talked to her as she treated him. “Nance, frankly I’m surprised you and the other ladies are here, I thought you would be too afraid with all the shooting and all, I’m sorry to say that.”

“That’s all right Frank and yes we were afraid. But when the women of the house started to talk of helping the wounded and acted like it was a normal thing for them to do; the six of us talked and decided if this was going to be our home we needed to step in and be of some help. We may have a lot to learn but wounds we do know. And Pat showed us right away with the first casualties how to use disinfectant and things like that. So now you’re good to go.” With that she stepped away and went on to the next person who was a young lady with a bullet graze across her left cheek.

An hour before dark all the shooting stopped. Guards were left up top and people started to come down off the wall and went to have some dinner. Frank met up with Bob, Mort and Steven at a table ladened with food. In fact several tables were just loaded with all kinds of food. They didn’t look any worse for wear but they saw he did.

“Just a nick guys no big deal, but Chris will most likely have my hide when we get home. Its bad enough we’re not going to get home tonight but when she sees this I won’t live it down for a while. You know I’m right Bob those women are going to be worried sick. We all thought the lot of us would be home tonight. And you can’t say your wife will be any different Steven. And on top of it if we get a snow storm up there while we’re gone we may be walking part of the way home and I for one don’t relish that idea. Any more then he relished getting home to an upset wife.”

They were assigned places to sleep in the men’s barracks and weren’t needed to guard as there were plenty of people that all ready had been assigned that chore. Before they knew it, it was morning and everyone was climbing out of bed except for a few men that had guard duty during the night. Frank could see how having more people up at the farm would make things so much easier. If they couldn’t get any volunteers to move up he may talk to Chris about all of them moving down here. They may just have to face facts and there was safety in numbers.

They weren’t even finished with breakfast when the shooting began again. Deke was sitting with them and looked up and was telling them this was very unusual. “The gang must be getting desperate they never attack two days in a row. It has been one day a week for months now.” He wiped his bearded face with his handkerchief and got up to go see what was going on in a hurry. Seems everyone at the table was getting up so the men from up the mountain did the same.

Frank and the others climbed up the steps to the walk way on the wall and saw that yes again the gang was attacking. There were far less vehicles this time and they were wiped out in no time. It was going to take days to get the mess cleaned up out there and the vehicles moved.

Messengers were spreading the word of a meeting in the central yard in one hour for everyone that was free of important chores or guard duty.

Frank thought that maybe this would be the time to get out and on their way back to the mountains. So he headed to Uncle Roberts house to say so. He steeped into the kitchen to lots of hustle and bustle. He could see day packs being packed, lots of them. “Pat could you tell me where Uncle Robert is I need to tell him we are going to try and get going back home while things are clear.”

“She worked as she talked to him packing away. “Dads outside in the central yard Frank getting ready to tell everyone what the council has decided to do. So if you want to talk to him you’re going to have to go over there and find him. Now scat we have a lot to do here.” He backed out and went in search of Uncle Robert.

It took him a little while but he finally spotted Robert in a knot of men and women. The hour was almost up and the meeting was going to start soon, so he tried to get to Robert and tell him, he and the other men needed to get going home. Just before the meeting started he made it to Robert.

“Uncle Robert; Bob, me and the other guys need to be getting ourselves headed for home. Things seemed to have calmed down now so we should be able to make a run for it.”

“I’m sorry Frank but I don’t think that’s a good idea at the moment, just wait a few minutes and you will learn why during the meeting okay?”

Frank was disappointed but agreed to wait. He found Bob, Mort and Steven and told them what Uncle Robert had told him so they all just waited, it wouldn’t be much longer now anyway. As many people as could were now standing around in the main central yard which was next to Uncle Robert’s large building out back of his house. They had a large wooden homemade table at the front and it looked like Uncle Robert was in charge; imagine that. Sitting at the table also was the Judge, Robert Jr., Jake Carmichael, and a woman Frank hadn’t been introduced to as yet.

Uncle Robert stood, “folks lets come to order. The council along with your representatives have talked about what you the citizens of the stockade have decided. So the main thing now is to ask for volunteers for this little adventure. I wanted to do this months ago; but that’s water under the bridge.

Now as we see it the Scorpions will be partying soon as normal so we will make this a night maneuver. We have been doing recognizance and their normal is by two or three AM they will be plastered or drugged out of their skulls. That’s when we will strike; now will the captains come up here and tell me who of the volunteers will not be the best to go. Sorry folks I know most of you are tried of being pecked at by this scum all the time and all want to go but we need only the best shots and surest of you. My daughter in law Pat will take your names as you come up so we have a list of who is going. She will strike out any ones name off the list that the captains say no go. Your captains will then meet with you and give you your assignments. Take care all and may God bless.”

People started to go up to the table and it was a good thing it was still as early as it was because this was going to take a while. It looked like three quarters of the people 16 to 60 were trying to volunteer. And there were a few Frank could have sworn were around 80 yeas old in the line.
Frank looked at Bob and then they looked at Mort and Steven. “Well guys what do you want to do? You want to tell them we’re going home or that we are going to be a help to them like they have been to us? Besides we’re all ready late getting home what more could our wives do to us?” Frank was very serious about it. Mort smiled at them and said; well I for one don’t have that problem; lets rock and roll men.” With that all four got up and joined the line.

End chapter 29

sssarawolf · Jul 26, 2009

An Unexpected Life chapter 30

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Chapter 30
Pay the piper

In all 146 people were selected to go on the mission to rid the area of the Scorpions. Only the most capable and the best shots would go into the lair.

Eight of the sharp shooters would stay on the outskirts to watch for escapees and do the job of snipers. No Scorpion gang members were to escape to either seek revenge or restart the gang, no way no how.

Each captain was in charge of 25 people; one group of course only having 21. Frank and Steven were in Tye O’Connell’s squad and Mort ended up one of the snipers and Steven in cousin Henrys group. Dark clothes were handed out to wear if a person didn’t have any. This would be a walk to mission; the gangs lair was eight miles away. If they were successful they would drive and ride home in the captured vehicles. Bear Larson was head of the crew of scouts that went ahead to take out any guards; he had been a Marine in special ops. There was nothing special to note about him, five foot ten inches with light brown hair with a touch of grey and 185 pounds. But he was a stickler for doing a job right and he had trained this group well. His people had been scouting for days and knew just where the guards always held up. Let’s just say the gangs guards were more then laid back. No one had tried to take them in months now, their enemies were done for; well except for the people in the stockade and they never attacked. That was their thinking so what was the need to be vigilant.

By 12:20 AM the gang’s guards that had come on duty at midnight had no more worries and would not bother anyone again in this life. Bears scouts slipped in and out; did their jobs and were back on their way to the main lair in mere minutes.

Everything was timed for the main attack at 2:00 PM. Bear had named the mission operation Pay The Piper. And the Scorpions were going to pay big time for all the killing and pillaging they had done.
* * *
Bull who was formally Russ Worthier car salesman; he was six foot two inches, 240 pounds and lifted a few weights now and then and he was in seventh heaven. He was so happy these days; his Kingdom was almost complete. He had taken out every other gang or wannabe’s since the world crashed and he found himself without work, home or food to eat. Living like this had come easy to him as he had been a bully all his life. He had kept that hidden pretty well at work; he was a real smooth talker. But when he found his job gone, his apartment burned to the ground and gangs running loose looting and stealing from anyone that happened to have anything they thought worth while he had hit upon an idea. He had grabbed a slimy gang kid and forced him at knife point to take him to the gangs pad. There he had fought the leader to the death for leadership of the gang. Then he had organized the gang to slowly but surely take over the other gangs. The leaders and members of the other gangs had been given an ultimatum; join or die. They could die, become members or slaves. Most of the captured citizens didn’t get an option; if the gang let you fight for a place among the gang it was for fun. If they didn’t think you would even make a good slave you died during one of the gang’s gauntlet games. The old were killed immediately; they were no fun they couldn’t run fast enough. Children if they were under ten yrs old were just left on the streets, over ten they were made into slaves. But the good looking girls and women only had one option; and that was as a slave.

The slave quarters were filthy and the women were allowed only a minimum of clothing. They were also kept hungry, very hungry, if one died no big deal; there were more to find anytime.

A new fourteen year old girl with long black hair and bright blue eyes was being led to Bulls headquarters; no one here knew that Bear watched from the corner of a building. His scouts stationed were all around and were waiting to take out the guards here in the building and for the 2 AM attack time. Bear didn’t know she was a new slave and he didn’t care. All he knew is he was seeing a child being led away from the building he was at with a rope around her neck and she was only in her undies. This just made his blood boil; she was almost the same age as his daughter and he was afraid of the reason she was being led away.

Bear gave the signal to take the building; they were 100 % sure from scouting the place that this was the main slave holding for the women; there were male slaves else where but this was where the majority of the women were kept. And he was going to follow the gang member with the little girl. If she was being led to what he thought she was being led to; it was going to happen over his dead body. There was still 30 minutes to 2 AM; too much time. Dang it anyway way to much time; but I can’t give things away for just one, but can I live with myself if I let something happen to her that’s the question?”

Bear gave the signal for his third to do her duty and watch his back. Carla would be behind him in the shadows; if he needed help he couldn’t handle alone she would back him up. She was one tough lady, she recovered from a stab wound defending her children from this very gang late last summer. She managed to get herself and her two children to the stockade and was taken in. Carla had given better then she got during her fight with them with one man dead and the other missing an eye. Her husband had been a salesman for an insurance company and had never returned home one day. Carla was a normal wife and mother until that day and she had never been the same again.

Bear continued to follow at a distance and in the shadows. The Scorpion wasn’t traveling any to fast with the girl thank goodness, the more the scumbag dawdled the better. Right now he was passing a bottle of booze around with two other men; he could see the young girl with her arms crossed in front of her and she was shivering.

A young gang member came around the corner and into the door way where Bear happened to be standing. But the guy was stoned and didn’t even know it wasn’t another gang member in the doorway with him right away. As the stoned man realized this man wasn’t wearing the colors it was already to late; a knife was sliding across his throat and he was being lowed to the step of the doorway. Bear arranged him to look as though he was sleeping there. It was to dark to see the blood stains.

The scumbag with the girl started back on his way again and Bear stealthy made his way in the same direction. They were headed for an apartment building at the corner of the street. The gang members were thicker here as they talked, drank, did drugs and to Bears chagrin tortured slaves for play time. They were to drunk or stoned to even go inside out of the cooling night. Barrels sat here and there with fires in them to give a little heat and some light. So at least that helped the slaves some as long as they weren’t the ones being tortured; but standing by watching and waiting for orders.

Time had to be ticking down but he dared not push the switch on his watch to light the face of his watch to see the time. He watched as the man pulled the girl into the doorway of the building and was going through it himself mere seconds later. There was a torch stuck in an old cigarette stand with sand it; the stairs went up on the right and he could barely make out where the elevators must have been over to the left. He could hear their steps on the stairs as they went up. He didn’t want to be too far behind so he would know just what door they went in to. Bear was sure the scumbag would never know who was coming up the stairs behind him; the man would think it was just another member of the gang. So with out delay he sprinted up the stairs staying just back far enough so it wouldn’t be known he wasn’t a Scorpion. He didn’t hear Carla behind him but that was normal you didn’t hear her until she was right on top of you.

They stopped and the man knocked on a door; it was opened and the girl was shoved into the room and the door was slammed in the face of the deliverer; who promptly stuck his tongue out at the door. He didn’t come back towards Bear but went down the hall and into another apartment.

So Bear proceeded to walk over to the door the little girl had disappeared through. He jumped a touch when right beside him Carla whispered. “What are you going to do Bear?” He whispered back, “great guns Carla what are you trying to do give me a heart attack?” She just did her cat eating grin and continued to look at him.

“All right I am trying to do the best I can to wait until the attack starts but I don’t want anything to happen to this little girl.” They heard a slap and a cry and Bear then lit up his watch; five minutes to go. “Well Carla it can’t be helped we’re going to be a few minutes early starting our party, how about it?” They heard a scream this time.

“Go ahead Bear, I’m with you.” With that Bear knocked very hard on the door and didn’t stop and soon he was pounding. They heard a man from inside the room yelling, “go away.” Bear continued to pound on the door. “If whoever you are aren’t gone by the time I open that door I am going to kill you with my bare hands.”

Both Bear and Carla had their bowie knives out and ready when the door was jerked open and a bull of a man got a very surprised look on his face as two 12 inch blades ripped up into his chest and into his heart. Bear and Carla stepped over him and pulled him back so they could close the door. So much for him.

Over on the floor several feet from the door the little girl huddled in a ball. Bear held back because he knew a man would just scare her. So Carla went to the bedroom and ripped a blanket off the bed and went over to the girl and bent down to cover and talk to her.

That’s when all Hades broke loose outside. Bear smiled as Carla helped the girl up off the floor; she was a bit battered but alive and whole. “Well Carla I thought this party would never get started; it’s about time.”

They heard people running down the hallway and then a knock on the door. “Bull, Bull do you hear me we’re being attacked. Come on dude you can come back and do her later, come on. The guy didn’t continue but ran off before he heard an answer.

Carla was still talking to the girl. “What’s your name honey?” “My name is Mari Taylor; and thank you for rescuing me; they killed my mom and dad and I don’t know what happened to my little brother.” “Mari I’m Carla and this is my boss Bear; it’s all right Mari if your brother is here we’ll find him or we will take you to where you last saw him. But right now we’re going to have to leave you here while we go help destroy these scumbags.” Mari looked up at Carla clearly frightened.

“We have to go Mari, but you lock this door behind us and I will come and get you when this is all over alright?” Mari nodded yes and with the blanket held tightly around her locked the apartment door immediately after Carla and Bear walked out of it.

The fighting was fierce as Carla and Bear came out of the building behind some gang members and gave them a big surprise. The battle was hot and frantic especially for the Scorpion gang. Four hours later the slaves were released and being treated and fed from the gangs blunder. Mari’s eleven year old brother was found in the men's slave quarters with severe burns on his left arm but the nurse that was part of the mission said with treatment he would be fine and he and his sister were reunited.

The orphaned children were taken back to the stockade for the time being until people at the stockade could adopt them or the people here could after they improved in strength and health. The former slaves would take over the gangs housing and supplies. Later when they were better they would farm the land around them turning many yards into gardens and trading with the stockade.

Steven had been shot in his right forearm a through and through and he thought he would must likely never hear the end of it from his wife as they drove home the next day. At least he got to rid in the truck and Bob rode in the trailer with Mort. Also in the trailer with Mort and Bob were Mari and William Taylor. They wanted to be as far away from the city as they could get. They had lived a short distance from town on a small farmette (less then ten acres). That’s where the gang had found them; slaughtered their parents and killed all their pet’s animals for fun. Frank had taken a liking to the two children immediately and he was sure Chrissie would. Talk abut an instant family; first an older teen and now these two.

While the men were gone Chrissie and Florence made a nice big display of the Slayer fangs and bear claw gloves from the deceased Slayers, they pulled out some of the claws to put around the edges to make it decorative and dangerous looking. Mari and William were just mesmerized by it when they saw it and heard of the fight with the Slayers. The former Slayer girls avoided looking at it after the first glance; they had seen and cleaned those things way too often. Chrissie knew it upset them some but she said she didn’t want any of them or anyone else to forget how these girls and women had lived and for everyone else to know what could be out there and to always be prepared.

End chapter 30

sssarawolf · Jul 28, 2009

An Unexpected Life Chapter 31

Chapter 31
New lives with old rules

To say the women were upset was an understatement. Of course they understood the reason for the delay with the gang attack. But then to join in on the mission to the Scorpions headquarters was something else again. That took some thinking about with their men putting themselves at great risk and all. But the women got together and talked about how many joined in up here to go take the Slayers out and the gang down in the valley was putting many families at risk of death and slavery so they decided their men did good. And that they themselves would have done the same if they had been down in the valley.

Chrissie was delighted with their new children and William was given the sewing-gun-bedroom downstairs. She fussed over his burned arm and made sure it was healing right. Mari joined the other girls in their upstairs bedroom. She and William slept on mats and a sleeping bag for a few days until the family built them old fashion rope beds.

Mari had the other girls giggling in no time and helping them join the crashed 21st century with a child’s view. At first April and Ruby were silent around William but found out as the months rolled on into spring that he couldn’t order them around and they needn’t be afraid of him either. The same for their new dads and they found out what a real family was all about. They still awoke with nightmares of again living with the Slayers from time to time. But even those slowly began to fade.

All the kids willingly joined in getting to know all the different animals on the farm and the animals getting to know them. Even Buttercup the yak who was very leery of all the extra people didn’t seem to have too much of a problem getting used to the kids. She loved to have them brush her as her wool began to loosen and fall out in the spring; and she was very itchy as the weather warmed up.

One of the things they had built and were so very glad they had that was in use heavily these days was the smoke house. The smoke house meant bacon, hams and other smoked meats as a way to preserve it instead of having to can so much and that included fish. Everyone could hardly wait for the time the garden was to be put in, fresh salads and vegetables sounded very good after the long winter. The seedlings having been started in March were sitting all over the sunny back porch.

One thing they still had to do was keep a revolving guard at the farm; they so prayed that some of the valley folk would decide to join the farm. Even with the teenagers joining in as they were better trained still meant little relief.

Time flew and the farm family was very excited as in two weeks the others around the area would be joining the farm for the May rendezvous. They were amazed the time had gone so quickly. The family had been preparing for it little by little as the snow melted off and they had built campsites at the edge of the forest along with four new outhouses well away from any risk of contaminating their well or other water supplies.

Chris insisted that they also needed to build five large picnic shelters in case of bad weather. That way if they were needed they could be camped under if it rained. And later on they would be nice for families to use to get out of the sun for summer camp outs and working on projects. The woods to the left of the farm began to look like a regular campground.

An eight by six building was put up by the windmill pump and made into a shower house. It would provide a cold shower but that was better then nothing. They would figure out that summer about getting and painting plastic barrels black to sit higher on stands outside in the sun; then having some of the water pumped to the barrels and then plumbed to the showers and a sink for warm water.

Foods were prepared, cheeses had been made, leather tanned, soaps, and bath products and salves made for trade and gifts. The garden was in and the first plants coming up when the new tradition of the spring rendezvous commenced.

The Steven Campbell family was the first to arrive as they only lived a short distance away compared to everyone else. You wouldn’t have known Aaron who was the former Slayer Careless wasn’t their blood son. He was treated no differently then their son Gary and those two acted like full blood brothers; alternating play fighting and wrestling and having a good old time together.

The Mort and Abe Bloom families came together the next morning and as the day wore on and into the next day the other families arrived.

Kate who had been taken in by Mort had blossomed into a different woman entirely. She even bossed the men around when they were setting up their campsite. She and Mort’s youngest son Keith were engaged and little Storm her son ran around calling Keith daddy and Mort grandpapa. The baby girl she had was at ease in either grandpa Mort’s or the soon to be dad Keith’s arms, Kate had named her Hope. Mort’s oldest boy and daughter in law were back at the ranch along with four ranch hands keeping an eye on things. They would get to come to the fall harvest festival and the others would stay home. Two ranch hands and their wives were also here for the spring rendezvous along with their children.

One of the things everyone noticed was that Mat the Slayer boy was not among them as Abe’s family set up camp. They also had to leave people at their ranch to take care of things and keep rustlers away. Everyone had to do that they had more then just a house to protect.

Even before Abe’s family had finished setting up their camp people were asking if Mat was left at home and how he adjusting. Abe and Daisy both stopped working and nodded at the other family members to continue working.

Daisy told Abe to go ahead and tell the tale. “Well it’s a short and sad story. Needless to say the first weeks were hard and we had to keep him locked up and the door bolted and the window pretty well boarded over from the outside; just leaving enough spaces for light during the day. Two people always had to take him his meals and get the slop bucket we had to provide him with. We didn’t like it but we couldn’t find another way.

We continued to talk to him through out the day from time to time as chores permitted and try to convince him he had been stolen from his real family when he was a small boy. And that the world didn’t live like the Slayers did.

That most regular people tried to help one another and the Slayers and those that raided and took what they wanted were what we called criminals; that when caught used to put in jails and prisons to keep them from harming other people. Finally in February he seemed to be doing pretty good and he was coming to the table for meals and being escorted out to the outhouse as needed. We didn’t know it but some how he had palmed a butter knife from the table and when he was escorted to the john he plunged that knife into our son Ralph’s left shoulder; he wasn’t the only one who had gotten lax around the boy. Ralph managed to yell and grab a hold of the boy and they ended up fighting over Ralph’s pistol. The pistol went off in-between them wounding Mat. We tried to save him but he had no will to live and died a week later. So that’s it folks short and not so sweet.” Frank thanked Abe for telling them and everyone tried to shake the sadness off as there was absolutely nothing they could have done short of just killing the boy right off instead of trying to help him.

They all went back to preparing for the rendezvous and watching the adopted girls in the different families help set up their family’s campsites. Some were quieter then others as a few had a harder time adjusting to this new life of theirs. All the girls were very happy to see one another and see they were all doing well in their new families. Nance who had been with the Slayers since she was four years old sported a new pair of leather pants and a fringed jacket. She had learned well and her new husband Kirk T Crumb was very proud of his bride. They were neighbors and Kirk had found time to court her during the winter.

The evening campfire was very relaxing after having an old fashioned barbeque over the fire earlier. Supplies had been brought by the families to supply side dishes along with the meat they brought. People had been busy all winter and spring canning meat, making jerky by their wood stoves and fire places and building smoke houses. One couldn’t just do these things at one time of the year anymore. For it was now the old way and only way to keep your family fed. Everyone really liked the smoked hams and other smoked meats the Jackson farm supplied in the week they were there and were determined to be able to bring some of those to the fall gathering from their own places.

Also there was trade for extras of what you had for things you didn’t have; that was a big deal at the rendezvous. Frank and Chris were able to trade away five piglets and people would share a male they had for breeding. The Jackson farm got another a male donkey in one of their trades as the family had more then enough. Rhoda would now have a mate. The baby turkeys were a big hit to, now everyone wanted some for breeding for their farms and ranches. Even the Campbell’s took home eight young chickens and a rooster. They would need help to build up their place into a small farm to keep being self sustainable in the future but everyone was willing to help each other.

A trade was made to use the breeding of their horses with Steven’s stallion and the other people in the area and any of their animals like the pigs with someone who had one to help build herds of different relationships.
Bob was a great record keeper and so he was voted the official animal tracker for the ranches and farms. Everyone checked in with him for the bloodlines every fall and spring.

Chrissie taught Florence, Ruby, April and Mari all about working with wool and spinning it into yarn and to top it off she made sure all the men of the family knew how to also. Everyone was required to learn to knit, after all if the tough Viking men knitted why not the current men. She found directions in one of her books on building a simple loom so now they were sporting home made wool clothing. Many families were going to be sending family members off and on through the summer for lessons. Then they would in turn teach the other people at home.

As the last two days of the gathering came upon them low and behold they were joined by seven families from the stockade. A man hailed the gate guards and explained who he was and that some of the stockade families were taking up Frank and Chrissie’s offer on coming up into the mountains to settle on and around the farm. One of the guards ran back to the house to give the news and everyone was well armed in case this was a trick. The man took a pink (yes pink) handkerchief from his pocket and waved it. Another member of his party was in a tree a half mile down the road and he relayed the pink hanky wave to the trucks. Pink was for come on in and yellow was for; get away. Everyone on the farm was very excited as they lined the driveway and watched the trucks and trailers pull in. There were four semis and two dump trucks all pulling very large animal trailers. The man that came up to the guards was black smith Tye O’Connell and he was standing on the step of the first semi truck and holding unto the mirror.
When they came to a stop he jumped down was and patted on the back as he went to the back of the semi and opened the doors; for his family and the families of the other men driving and riding shot gun on the trucks were riding in the back.

Frank and Chris were pushed to the front of the crowd as it was their home. As Frank and Tye shook hands Frank talked to Tye. “Welcome Tye; but we’re sure surprised to see you; aren’t you needed at the stockade.”

“Oh don’t you folks worry I had three apprentices at all times and they will in turn train people that want to be black smiths. Everyone that could do that was training apprentices and I see you have a gathering going on here and we’re just in time to enjoy some of it.”

Frank had the trucks pull in beside each other instead of being behind each other strung out to the gate. Make them easier to defend if necessary and that was a fact of life now always thinking in terms of how we can protect what’s ours.

The families were all being helped down from the truck while the others trucks were being moved.

The seven families were; starting with Tye and Lacy O’Connell; their three sons and one daughter; ages ten to seventeen years old. Jake and Debbie Jones they were expecting their first child. Norman and Christine Criss with grown children Les and Phoebe and their four boys and one daughter ages two to twelve years old. Next was Norman and Phoebe’s daughter Esme and husband Jerry with two girls and one boy one year old to eight years old. Then the family of Ken and Pearl Denny with two girls ages twelve and fourteen. There was Paul and Diana Price with Five children, three boys and two girls six to 20 years old. And to Chrissie’s surprise one of her cousins; Henry and his wife May.

They all had varying talents that would be a great help to the farm starting with Tye the black smith, Jake had been trained as a saddler, Norman a plumber and construction to Paul who had been a real and true farmer and so forth. And of course cousin Henry who was an 17th and 18th century re-enactor and knew many old fashion ways of doing oh so many things.

They had them put the large animals in the largest pasture for the time being; there were horses and a few cattle and two Holstein milk cows. They went in with Dot, Tiny Tina, the Scottish cattle, Scrappy and Rhoda the donkeys. There were only five goats so they went in wit the other goats and Buttercup. They set the geese and ducks out by the pond; they wouldn’t go anywhere they shouldn’t there was field fencing all around it with lots of pasture.

Huge tents were set up next to the visiting neighbors for the time being and the women got to getting things together for supper and the men went back to the half a beef they had turning on the spit. It had gotten a little dark on one side but it was fine. Water was splashed on the fire from time to time to keep it from getting to hot and burning the meat.

The curious came to find out the semis were loaded down with not only house hold items and supplies but weapons and building supplies for new comers new homes. The tents would do for the summer but by the time the weather turned cold they wanted to be in solid homes. They wouldn’t be big cabins but they would do until the following summer when they could be added on to if needed. No one thought or cared about several children being in the same bedroom any more. As long as they were safe and warm that’s what counted.

The old neighbors were so glad to hear that a black smith and a leather expert had joined their ranks now even their children could be taught something else that would be of a great use to their futures and their children after them.

The last night of the gathering Chrissie stood up at the campfire to announce that she and Frank would again add to their family at the beginning of the next year. She turned to her adopted children and told them they were going to have a baby brother or sister. Chris and Frank played no favorites with any of their children as the years passed; those still to be adopted or those natural born.

So that’s how the first rendezvous went and everyone went home happy with new animals for their places.

As the seasons passed up at the Jackson Hold they and their neighbors were hit from time to time with bandits; until the posse was sent out and the problem was taken care of before the thievery got way out of hand. It didn’t matter who was attacked they were helped because many of the neighbors were becoming blood family as well as friends.

Down in the valley the Duncan Stockade traded with the Farmers Fort by the collage and both had to combine to fight off a rather large group of ex cons and gang members two years later that had joined up. That summer Frank, Chris and his son Henry were to learn that Robert senior was killed during that fight; he had insisted on being up on the wall to help. Many came down for the funeral and around the whole area and a grand funeral it was.

Robert Jr. became the new head of the stockade even though he insisted on votes being cast. He didn’t think this was something that should just be handed down father to son. There were too many people involved for them to be seen as selfish and a family who wanted to keep the leadership all to themselves.

Judge Douglas and his wife both passed away the next winter, he first and she following one month later. They had been to close in life to be to far apart in death.

And as per Robert seniors instructions the basic Constitution of the United States was upheld and taught to the following generations. The United States was starting over in their area, they didn’t know what others were doing many hundreds of miles distant but they knew what they wanted for the future here.

The United States had a new beginning.

End chapter 31
The end

sssarawolf · Sep 28, 2021

Anyone want to read or reread this?

Mr Bill · Sep 28, 2021

Yes Ma'am

Shooter · Sep 29, 2021

Thanks, took 2 days to read this again. great story

Griz3752 · Oct 1, 2021

A Good One, again

Thank you

kyrsyan · Oct 1, 2021

Love this. Thank you.

Raymond · Oct 3, 2021

JUST AS GOOD OF A READ AS THE FIRST TIME. THANKS

sssarawolf · Feb 5, 2023

For the new folk. Yes, this was a rough draft and there are many mistakes.

feralferret · Feb 6, 2023

Another fine story. Thank you!

Siskiyoumom · Feb 15, 2023

Reread for the tenth time. Always learn something new. Thank you! My mind skips over any mistakes.

An Unexpected Life

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