Chapter 9
Bob and Jennifer watched as Emma gathered her fishing lines and they started making their way down from near the top of a hill that had let them see the surrounding area and protect the group from wild animals or possible human threats. Jennifer had been guarding Emma and the camp with a rifle while Bob sat beside her scanning the area for threats with binoculars. They hadn't seen anyone or any dogs.
Susan began to gather wood for a fire as they saw Emma walking over to the camp carrying a heavy bucket with three fish tails on the side of the bucket. They would eat well this morning. Emma had spent all of her time fishing since they had arrived. The six of them had rode for almost fifteen miles before reaching the planned stop to camp for the afternoon and night by the river.
The experiences with the Red Shirts during the past few days and previous week had made the group tense and hyper vigilant and this had made for a slow and careful journey. Every mile became the equivalent of two or three with the extra effort for vigilance as well as the extra weight they carried on their backs and towed behind their bicycles.
Jennifer, Susan and Emma had been riding and watching for wild animals and people, circling a slow riding Bob and Lisa as they had been riding along country roads since early morning. Dave continuously rode ahead and back to map a safe passage during each leg of the journey. Bob and Lisa pedaled their bikes pulling heavy bike trailers that Lisa had traded for seeds at the river the previous day. The trailers contained water jugs, food, guns and more seeds for trade. Remaining supplies were carried in ready packs everyone wore on their backs.
None of them were prepared for what they had seen the villagers do to the Red Shirt the previous day and past morning and they hadn't yet had time to talk about it during the busy and difficult journey. They found out the day before they left that dogs had gotten one of the villagers children during the night when the Red Shirts had robbed the villagers of their guns. The villagers had decided they wanted an eye for an eye after a vote. Everyone was given a penny or a small rock to vote with and the jar that contained the pennies had filled up quickly. They left the river area immediately after the vote, but they had to see if the villagers would carry it through.
They had watched the villagers tie the Red Shirt up outside the protected perimeter of the village area from a rooftop far from the river through binoculars. The dogs had left him alone during that night. The morning they left they had seen him sitting against the sign post, still tied up and waiting to be eaten alive by dogs.
Lisa finished setting up the tents and they could all soon sit together and eat their first meal away from the shelter before the sun went down. They had swam in the river, washed clothes and relaxed in the sun after stopping in the mid afternoon. They were all happy to be outside and out of the shelter and in the sun. All were in bathing suits and shorts except Emma who wore jeans and a T shirt and had wanted some time alone by the river while they washed their clothes, went swimming and let their clothes dry on the grassy river bank. Dave took his bicycle to have a look at the next leg of the ride and to look at Mill Creek.
None of them breached the subject of the Red Shirts while they enjoyed their safe and peaceful afternoon in the sun outside in the fresh air.
Emma made her way over to join the others by the fire, carrying her heavy bucket of fish. She sat down and started cleaning them as they waited for Dave to return. She didn't have much to say when they had sat down.
Susan put a pan on a grill that covered the fire while Emma passed her pieces of fish for the pan as she cleaned them. They would all soon be dining on fresh fish, nuts and precooked rice that they had packed from the shelter. They all stayed silent as they watched Susan prepare their meal. Dave arrived back shortly after and on time for a hot meal. He unpacked his fold up chair from his ready bag to sit by the fire as Susan began to pass out plates. He said he had a route that was was safe and easy and that no one saw him, they wouldn't likely get any surprise visits while they camped, and that he was looking forward to getting there the next day. He said that the people seemed to be peaceful and happy as far as he could tell from watching them through the binoculars.
They started talking about the Red Shirts and Dave remarked "Democracy is when two wolves and a sheep decide what's for dinner or when a group of villagers vote to see one bad Red Shirt eaten alive by dogs.". Susan said that she was glad they had left before that played out and they all agreed. Bob added "You cannot save people from themselves.". Emma stayed quiet as she ate, listening to the others talk about the village by the river. "The River village is now a democracy and we're not going back for a while.", Dave remarked.
Lisa said didn't want to be dependent on the village for trade in the future and didn't want to live among a group of people who had such sadistic desires for revenge. After they talked about what they had seen at the village none of them had anything good to say about going back.
Emma, wanting to change the conversation began to tell them about the plants and wildlife and what was edible in the area. They went to their tents shortly before dusk and would take turns throughout the night watching the camp by the fire as the others slept. Susan took the first shift and told Emma she could sleep through the night because she had gotten them them dinner. She said that a good nights sleep may help her process what she had seen that morning and previous day.
Nothing interrupted their sleep that night except for the awakenings for watch changes during the night. They had not encountered any danger on their journey and the need for hyper vigilance had almost completely worn off. They were relaxed and slept well.
Bob and Jennifer relaxed on a hillside as the sun rose the next morning, they had already been taking their turn watching the camp for a few hours and wouldn't be going back to bed. The campers remained sleeping after the sun had been up for a while when they all heard what sounded like someone banging on a cooking pot.
Bob looked over the hill to see a man approaching the hilltop with a rifle strapped on his back, banging on a pot with a big metal spoon. He looked like he was coming back from a drum circle or a freak convention, long straggly hair, a smoke hanging from his lips wearing a tie dye shirt and suspenders to hold his pants up. His leather hat was almost in shreds.
He immediately saw Jennifer and Bob as he reached the hilltop. He waved and smiled and walked toward them. Jennifer and Bob did not pick up their guns and the man made no move to get his rifle from his back. Dave, Susan and Lisa came out of their tents to see the man as he approached Jennifer and Bob.
He said "Hello, I'm Paul Smith from Mill Creek." Bob introduced himself and Jennifer. Jennifer asked him if he knew the Roderick's, the actuary that hosted the meeting she was at when the power went out. He said he did and that he would be happy to come back and to lead them into the neighborhood to a bazaar near where he lived when he was finished what he was doing.
Bob asked him if he could join him and save him the trouble of coming back and walked along with him away from the camp as he started banging on his pot again.
Emma got out of her tent as Jennifer started walking down the hill and sat down by the fire with the others. Bob yelled over to them that he would come back and get them in a while as he walked away with Smith. The others remained at the camp and started to pack up the things they were not using while Emma gathered her fishing supplies and bucket to go to the river and catch breakfast.
Bob walked with the man for about a mile before he could hear other people banging on pots in the distance. In a field before them they watched a giant deer trot away from the noise and toward the houses.
The banging pots got louder as the semi circle of banging pots got smaller and the deer began to trot faster and faster toward the houses. It decided to break into a run and ran towards one of the streets in the neighborhoods at the forest edge, jumped over a dead end fence and past a Dead End sign and onto the street. After the deer had ran down a street past a few houses, a rifle shot cracked through the air and it took a few
more steps and fell over. Everyone started running into town, banging their pots louder in the excitement that filled the air. Bob ran with them. They hung the deer from its rear legs on a tree with a hand winch and began to skin, butcher and hang large pieces of meat in a nearby garage.
Bob watched and asked them if anyone knew Roderick and where he could be found and one of the people pointed to his house. Bob started to walk over and saw a man exiting the house and walked over to him "Roderick?" he answered inquisitively "Yes?..its John by the way. What can I do for you?" Bob explained that he was with Jennifer, one of the actuaries he knew from their meeting the day the power went out. He explained that he and five others wanted to stop in town for a day before they continued on their way to Bellingham.
John was glad to hear that Jennifer was OK and was looking forward to seeing her again, along with her friends. He showed Bob an empty house they could stay at indefinitely and asked if Jennifer had any more seeds to trade. He mentioned that they had a bazaar that afternoon.
He said that those that didn't have anything to trade could get it by fetching water or firewood and bringing it into the neighborhood for trade. One trip could feed them well, another trip could have them drinking enough cider later in the evening to enjoy a good party and some music. John showed Bob a house they could stay at before he left, happily reminding him that everyone was welcome, especially anyone with seeds for trade. "Be sure and come back here in time to enjoy the afternoon" he said as Bob left to get the others.
Bob arrived back at the camp to find a plate of food waiting for him and the others sitting around by the fire. The tents had been packed up, all the getaway bags were packed and they were ready to go. Bob sat down as Lisa scraped his meal off his plate and back into a pan to warm it over the fire. He looked over at Emma and she smiled. He didn't ask what the meat was but could guess and didn't want to hear it said out loud.
Lisa filled his plate and handed it to him as the others remained quiet. He described the neighborhood where Roderick lived and what he had seen as he ate. Emma looked at him, smiling again and asked him how it was. He said that it was edible but he would have preferred fish. Emma said "I only caught two fish this morning and we already ate those.". The rest of them looked at him and smiled. Bob said "It had to be someone to try it first.".
Bob didn't think they would need to hide any of their camping gear or supplies and that the town seemed friendly and had a house for them. Jennifer agreed and they packed up and headed toward Mill Creek on their bicycles, supplies in tow.
They saw other people usually walking in, sometimes riding. Two bikes with two by four wood studs mounted across the handle bars carrying jugs of water on hooks were being carefully ridden behind them. They all rode along a dirt road behind Dave for ten minutes before reaching the paved roads of the small town. Jennifer showed them the rest of the way.
Most houses were empty. They saw two men digging up the grass on their large corner lots across from one another and stopped to talk with them. They explained that they were preparing the ground for growing some vegetables before the close of growing season and were hoping to get some more seeds. Lisa told him that she had seeds for all the common vegetables and the farmer said that he could take seeds, grow them and give her back half of the crop.
Lisa asked them if they had anything she might want for a long bike ride and one of them said that he had tools for bikes for trade. Lisa traded them a handful of seeds for a wrench that fit their bicycles. "An excellent trade." Jennifer remarked and the farmer smiled. The farmer told them he would grow anyone's seeds and that they could take their seeds to the bazaar and trade. He would be there shortly to tell the others what he could do for them, adding value to the seeds. Emma was interested in watching Lisa make trades and followed her and Jennifer around throughout the day. Emma started making observations like "Commerce is a lot like warfare" that separated her from her general age group when things didn't go their way in some negotiations at some tables as they made their way to Roderick's.
They continued on their way to Roderick's to find more people setting up tables or that had tables set up and seeing a few bicycles laying in the grass in one of the yards. Most of the people were walking to get around, they had only a few bicycles. Tables were set up and driveways were lined up with with bottles of water, firewood, new shoes and boots, clothes, tarps, fishing supplies, some guitars and other things people wanted or needed in their powerless new society.
Jugs of water were becoming the most universal form of currency and could be seen sitting on all the driveways. Lisa's seeds brought them a better and more portable currency and with it a greater hope for the future. Lisa and Dave both needed new footwear and traded a handful of seeds for two sets of new hiking boots right out of the box. Emma traded some seeds for a hand pumped pellet rifle and one hundred pellets. She asked around about fishing hooks and got a plastic container of twelve fishing hooks and three hundred feet of twine for another cup full of seeds.
Lisa, Jennifer and Emma began to look around through the market for a variety of useful things and tools that they could trade in the future in case the next place they stopped at had plenty of seeds. Dave and Bob went over to talk with Roderick and a few of the other men while Susan walked over to talk with a couple sitting on a porch watching the bazaar from a distance.
People were coming and going all afternoon, music filled the air as a violinist played various folk songs. Lisa put a handful of seeds into their guitar case. Jennifer commented that entertainers would do well in the developing economy for the first while, but maybe only until their songs grew old, unless they somehow learned to keep time better and improve their singing voices.
After a few hours Susan gathered them up to go and eat at a house she knew where meat was being cooked and meals were being prepared. The house had a sign out front hooked to a nail in a tree "The Anarchist Is Open" and had cafeteria style meals of beef from a nearby farm, potatoes and carrots for a price of thirty seeds of any vegetable, four jugs of water, a pair of vice grips, a hammer or an ax. The multiple prices for the one meal were listed on a wood board menu and neatly written in pencil.
People got plates and started sitting at tables outside in the fresh air, eating and drinking apple juice and cider in a large backyard as the bazaar began to close down and people moved their wares and tables back into garages. Most of the people left the small part of the town after eating to get back home before the sun went down.
Bob, Jennifer, and the others went in and sat at a long table and were soon joined by John Roderick and some of the group of people that Jennifer knew from her workplace when the power went out. Jennifer stood up and introduced everyone. They ate and talked about the deals they made and the things they got during the day. They made jokes about the politicians, regulators and attorneys they would never have to see or hear from again.
They moved the tables and built a fire and the people that were at the tables sat around the fire in the yard to continue drinking cider as the sun started going down.
People from all over exchanged stories about where they were and what they were doing before the power went out. They were all interested to hear about what Dave said had happened at the river with the Red Shirts. They had heard stories from two other younger guys that had left the river on bicycles and been through a day earlier. One was a first aid responder and they wanted him to stay around but he didn't. Both of them were wearing red colored shirts and had gone to get water, making several trips, to earn their meals and buy some traveling supplies, a tent, and some clothing before they left, riding expensive new bicycles.
All of them talked about their experiences during the first few days after the power went out. They talked about seeds and things they could maybe find in bigger cities to trade. Some talked about going into the city and collecting clothes and bicycles from the empty houses and bringing them up to the bazaar. They believed everyone that didn't get out of the city would already be dead.
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br /> Lisa said that they would need seeds at the rivers edge and said they had a lot of bicycles and that she could go on another trip and trade some more seeds for more bikes and bring them up. She did not want to maintain a permanent trade relationship with them because of what she saw the day they left. She said she believed evil to be somehow contagious and didn't want to be caught up in anything like that while making honest trade. She was afraid of being robbed, or maybe tied to a post waiting to be eaten by dogs. "Its easy to piss someone off by making good trade, especially a bunch of commies.", she said and then added "They all want something for nothing.".
As the day grew into a fire lit night, people started drinking more of the cider and less of the apple juice. The people selling the cider had almost a half bucket full of mostly Lisa's seeds and an above ground pool almost filled from jugs of fresh water used to pay for the food and cider. Many of them would be back early the next day to buy back their water with something more valuable to nurse hangovers, knocking on the back door if "The Anarchist Is Closed" sign was nailed to the tree out front.
Emma excused herself from the table and walked around the yard looking for people her own age to meet while Susan watched her. She went up to the serving area and got herself a tall glass of cider and continued walking around. She was a bit shy and a bit of an outsider and seemed to be able to approach people her own age and start talking to them easily after her first glass of cider. She had remained glued to Lisa for most of the day, but now wanted company her own age. She went over and talked with a group of kids sitting on steps away from the adults.
Lisa looked over at Susan and said "You should be the one to keep an eye on her" and looked over at Emma. Susan agreed and went over to talk with Emma and soon returned and told Lisa that Emma insisted on learning about cider the hard way and that she would watch her from a distance. She told Emma to remain within sight of them, as the rest of them stayed within sight of each other. She had taken her gun telling her that guns and booze don't mix.
They laughed about poor Emma getting her first hangover and having to ride with them all day the next day. She needed to be cut down to size every once in a while and she also needed time to be a kid with other kids. She also needed to forget what she had seen over the past few days, if only for a short time.
Different people that could play musical instruments got up and played mostly sixties folk songs and some rock from the seventies and eighties after everyone finished eating and gathered their chairs around a fire. There was a piano inside the house and the sound of a piano being played spilled into the yard through open sliding glass doors. Songs of Elton John and Billy Joel soon took the place of the violin and guitar. Poorly practiced cider lubricated singing voices from the group added to the sound of the well played piano. Theresa Johnson, who got an applause as soon as she started walking toward the piano, played a rendition of Carly Simon's "You're So Vain.".
Theresa and her husband, Kevin, owned the house the next door to the The Anarchist and he went over to his backyard and got lots more firewood, threw it over the fence and began to throw it on the fire as she finished playing and the group had stopped clapping and shouting for more. Someone else had gotten up to give their shot at the piano as Theresa sat down.
The flames of the fire grew higher and higher as Kevin Johnson added more and more wood. Some of the still sober people had started expressing concern about fire as they moved their chairs further away from the searing heat. People agreed but few were willing to do anything about it. The piano stopped playing and singing voices went silent. A couple of the men left while another one in the yard stood up and started to try and reason with Johnson about the danger of fire. One member of the crowd whispered "I'm glad we only have one Kevin Johnson in the area" to Dave and Lisa.
Johnson swore back at them and told them they were not his government and couldn't tell him what to do and that they could leave if they didn't like it. One of the men replied laughing "Government is like a fire, it can burn but you have to be careful about letting it get too big to be controlled."* trying to humor Johnson a bit. The group of people laughed and everyone went quiet again. Johnson didn't find it funny and remained stoic. *Lincoln
People began to turn around as the two men that had left earlier had returned, carrying guns at their sides. Dave told the others to keep their guns down and out of sight. They checked their weapons in knowing agreement. Emma and her new friends watched from a distance.
One of the two men started telling Johnson that they would not allow him to continue building the fire that could see their houses burn down as they pointed their rifles at him. He could start an uncontrollable fire that could burn down the whole town and put all of them out into the bush.
The owner of The Anarchist restaurant finally asked Johnson to leave his yard. Johnson left after buying a jug of cider and started building a fire in his own yard with a few of his loud and boisterous friends. His fire soon grew to the point of being dangerous and people began to discuss a new course of action.
Roderick suggested that if they stand together and tell them they could be run out of the neighborhood if the big fires continued they could get him to stop. It worked. Johnson let his fire die out and then said "This isn't over." before going into his house for the night. Johnson was well known and it was said that the fire inside him could be burning a while and possibly carry on through the next day or even weeks. Theresa left, apologizing to everyone and went home.
The evening had wound down and the music hadn't played for a while since the interruption. People had gone silent and most started getting up and going to their houses in the moonlit night. Emma wandered over to them and Bob showed her where she could sleep inside the house they had. Lisa remarked that watching Emma walk after she had a few glasses of cider was like watching a monkey try to swim across a pool, but in slow motion. Susan got up to help her walk over to the house.
Roderick stayed around with Jennifer and the rest. Roderick said he didn't really know what would happen with their neighborhood in the future and that he wasn't as much as an anarchist as some. He expressed a desire to stay living there and hoped that the bazaars would bring in more travelers with useful things for trade. He was too old to go on a long trek to find somewhere else to live and many of the people that surrounded him had been his friends for a long time.
After a half hour of talking with Roderick, Lisa looked up at the moon and remarked that it would soon be clouded over and be too dark to find their way back to their houses. They got some water to put out the fire and to pour on the smoldering ashes next door before going to bed.
Heavy rain woke them up the following morning. Bob went outside to unlock the bikes and pull them inside the garage and gather some dry food they had packed. The small amount of light that was available through a kitchen window allowed them to gather for breakfast and eat. Emma went back to sleep shortly after she had walked into the kitchen and was given glasses of water by Susan along with an explanation of what a hangover was and what it had done to her body.
Susan mentioned that she didn't want to be a bearer of some bad news but she had to and there was an older couple down the road that she wanted some of them to go down with her and meet. She explained that the couple owned a farm and that the farm had been taken over by a group of young men. She said she thought that Bob and Jennifer should hear their story, since they were probably going to stay in the town.
They all agreed to go over and left shortly after leaving Jennifer some time to nurse her own minor hangover and to be there for Emma in case she was sick. That kind of mess wasn't easily cleaned up without power and had to be prevented. They left in the pouring rain, getting soaked without raincoats as they ran up to the house two blocks up the road.
The woman was happy to see Susan again and welcomed the four of them into her home. They took their shoes off and complimented her on her clean floors and well kept home as they were led down some stairs by candle light to a wood burnin
g stove that sat beside some sliding glass doors that allowed daylight into the room.
Her husband was stoking the fire in the stove and stood up and introduced himself as Mike Jacobs and Susan introduced the others. Mike's wife went back up stairs and came back down the stairs carrying a tea pot, cups, cookies, sugar and whitener on a tray a few minutes later. Mike introduced his wife as Alice as they gathered some chairs to sit around by the window and Alice put the tea pot on top of the wood stove to boil. They were grateful and appreciative for being served real English tea and cookies. Clearly the couple had something they regarded as important to tell them.
The conversation began with small talk about the bazaar and Mike started talking about soap, which he had a book about how to make and was soon going to be working on. Susan said that the four of them decided to see the country and find some trade routes and would be traveling for the next month or two before returning through this way to their homes in the city. She said that Bob and his wife Jennifer, who was back at the house, were probably going to stay in Mill Creek while the rest of them continued on.
They talked about the power outage and the fact that none of them had seen or heard any evidence of any machine working. Nothing that required electricity worked. Mike had been an electronics technician in an earlier life and was well experienced at fixing radio's and TV's and could not get anything to work with batteries or by replacing parts. Mike believed that electricity no longer existed.
Mike started to change the conversation and said "I know this town we have developed seems very nice. Everyone has a good time at the bazaars and an economy seems to be developing that could give the village long term viability.". Lisa tuned in on him and said "Susan told us a bit about what happened to you and we are interested to hear more.". She looked at Mike and Alice and the rest remained silent.
Alice started explaining that after the power went out they were alone at their farm two miles up the road and that both of their sons, who were expected back later that day never returned. They were alone for a few days and decided to ride into the town on their bikes and had met some people and stayed for the day. They were looking for help running the farm and could find no one. They returned that night to see a candle burning in the window of their house and four bicycles laying on their driveway. She said that Mike went to the house and knocked on the front door and waited, while she waited, hiding in bushes with a rifle and a clear shot through the front door.
Mike said that they had let him in and acknowledged that it was his farm but also said that he needed help running it and they had said that they knew how to operate a beef farm and that they had a large group of people to feed. They also explained they thought the farm was abandoned when they arrived. Mike agreed to help them and let them manage his cattle and take the odd one down to people by the river in the city twenty miles away. They were very gracious, respectful and helpful toward the older couple.
He said one of them had a degree in agriculture and they were organized and worked hard and he had talked about farming with them them for hours. Alice had cooked them meals and they had worked very hard every day sun up to sun down to keep the cattle fed and watered. They had no horses to herd the cattle down to the water source and the water pump no longer worked so water had to be carried to the cattle.
Every few days they would leave with one or two cattle, leading them down the road toward the river and arrive back after a day or two, leaving lots of water and little for Mike to do while they were gone. Mike said that they had far too many cattle to look after on their own and didn't mind these guys trimming down the size of their herd and at the same time helping them out.
The couple had started spending more and more time in the neighborhood, eating and drinking at The Anarchist after Roderick and the others told them that the house they stayed at was unoccupied and that they could move in permanently. They ate their beef for free at The Anarchist. A few days ago they had gone back to their farm and were told that they should live in the town with the others and that the guys would give them a side of beef every week or so to trade with in the town to help them.
One of the guys in the house had said "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.". The guy that had said that was friendly but had a forty-five in his hand and the couple were allowed in to collect their personal belongings, dishes, tools and books. Two of the guys helped get the things they wanted to move into their new house.
He added that it was his beef that everyone was eating in the yard and that he had been paid well for it. The problem was that there was no guarantee of future payment on future beef, the farm could be left to ruin once these guys had finished with it and the actual owner of the farm would be eventually forgotten. All of the cattle could be butchered and these guys could just leave, taking all their guns, tools and supplies with them.
He said that he had tried talking to his neighbors about it all but didn't know them well. They were unsympathetic, he said that he thought this was because they didn't think that he could even run the farm with only him and his wife. He added that the guys that were running the farm were well liked and respected in town.
Alice went on to explain that it was their farm and if that was to be forgotten or ignored then no one had property rights. She suggested that the hamlet folks didn't concern themselves with property rights because there was plenty of what they considered to be property, houses on medium sized lots on a comfortable street in a city. She expressed concern about living in their little town for the long term when anyone could move in and take property from someone else simply because they could manage it more efficiently. "Not a good outlook for retirees.".
Dave started asking them more about these guys and what they looked like. Mike said that when they left or returned from the river village all of them wore red shirts and black caps like it was some kind of uniform.
Dave told them about the people he called Red Shirts at the village and what the ones that lived down by the river could be like. He explained that most of the Red Shirts were innocent of any wrong doing, well meaning, and had been co-opted for something of which they were unaware in the end. He suggested that it was likely these four were not involved in taking every ones guns and bikes and were likely chosen by the Red Shirt leaders to run the farm because they were the only ones that knew how. He said that the Red Shirts seemed to run things from the top down and on a need-to-know basis. There was no reason for these guys to know what the plans of the Red Shirts for the people at the river in the city would ultimately be.
Dave explained that the Red Shirts had lost their power base down at the river and that the couple could do well if they found some help and traded their cattle instead of maybe having their herd destroyed by a couple of carpet baggers. Bob asked them if they knew that the Red Shirts were still at the farm and said that it could be days before the Red Shirts at the farm realized what had happened at the river and may just leave on their own. Mike said that he assumed they would be there but had no way of knowing.
Dave said "I wonder if Roderick and the others know that the people that had taken the farm were with the same group of Red Shirts I told him about earlier.". He added "We should go and talk to Roderick and the others.". They left shortly afterward.
They walked into the house to find Jennifer sitting at the front window in the sun looking through some old newspapers and she started talking about their old life and wondered if she would ever taste ice cream, see her parents or sister or ever drive a car again. Emma was quietly sitting on the couch with a glass of water. They had been up and talking for a while.
The rest of them were all soaked again from running through the rain back to the house after drying in the warmth of the wood stove while they were talking with Alice and Mike. They changed into dry clothes and sat down with Jennifer and Emma in the large plush living room.
Bob told Jennifer about what they had heard over at the older couples home and Jennifer wanted to help the older
couple, it would help them to make friends if they were going to stay but wanted to go over and see Roderick and hear what he had to say about it first. Emma spoke up and said that the farm was the older couples property and that those Red Shirts had no business being there and that the two should help them to protect their property rights. Bob agreed with her in principle but said they should go see what Roderick had to say. Dave added "If we risk our lives to save every lost puppy we will soon be dead and not make it to your house Emma. This isn't our battle and it may just work itself out without us doing anything. You have already seen what can happen.".
Jennifer reminded them that they all had a steak in the outcome, since she and Bob had pretty much decided they wanted to stay at the house and live in Mill Creek for a while. She said that Lisa could use this place for part of a trade route and store things in the garage and basement if things didn't get crazy or overrun with Red Shirts.
Bob suggested that Roderick was probably awake and that they should go over and see him now while everything was fresh in their minds. They decided that he had drank his share of cider the previous night and may not have any water. They got a couple of water jugs and decided to go knock on Roderick's door.
Roderick was glad to see them and welcomed them inside. The six of them followed Roderick down the stairs and into his large basement. He had a few people in the house, ones that had stayed too late at The Anarchist and didn't want to stumble home in the darkness. They were all sitting around in a candle lit basement partially lit by the sun coming in through large windows. He had about ten people inside already and they were just sitting around drinking water and talking. Roderick kept a supply of water and liked to entertain.
Roderick led the six over to a long unoccupied table near sliding glass doors and got some cups and put them on the table before he sat down. He asked them what their plans were as he poured water for everyone. Jennifer told him that she and Bob would likely be staying at the house while Lisa, Dave, Emma and Susan would continue on. Lisa told him that they were going to establish a trade route between the city and the smaller towns along the main highway as far up as maybe Bellingham. She told him that they could have mail that could be carried by a traveling caravan and people could find some of their lost loved ones.
Jennifer brought up the subject of Alice and Mike. She explained to Roderick that Alice and Mike had told them the farm was actually theirs and not the Red Shirts. Roderick started talking as people from the basement turned their chairs around to listen to what was going on.
Roderick said "Their property right to that farm can be rightfully contested." Emma spoke up and asked him how. He looked over at Emma and said "There is a great philosopher on property rights by the name of John Locke. His idea on property rights was that you could keep your property as long as you could use it. If you were not going to use it there was no reason why someone else should not.".
He went on to explain to Emma and the rest that Alice and Mike had no way of maintaining the farm, or even feeding the cattle by themselves. They would have lost the farm anyways and it probably would have slowly decayed into ruin before that had happened.
The Red Shirts that had come along kept it running efficiently and it comforted the town knowing there was a reliable beef supply that could carry them through the winter. He added that Mike and Alice would be better off with a reliable beef supply and surrounded by people they knew than they would be trying to run that farm alone. "That farm would fall apart in days and we would have a herd of cattle out there somewhere, maybe running through our yards one day." he added.
He began to go on and an agitated Emma spoke up "You can't just let those Red Shirts take that farm for free! If you do that no one will ever build anything great around here!". Roderick turned to her and said "All of these people in this room agree with me young lady. Its none of your business and you will soon be on your way." The room went silent and they heard a gun shot that sounded close. One of them said "Oh shit, what's he up to now?" Everyone in the room knew who that referred to. Roderick got up, grabbed his rifle and was followed by a few of the men in his basement. Dave and Bob followed them up the stairs and Roderick said "Stay here, there is a history.".
Bob and Dave went to the living room window and watched four men run outside and across the lawn to The Anarchist, past "The Anarchist Is Closed" sign and into the yard where they had the music the night before.
Susan came up the stairs followed by a few of the others and went into the living room to watch what was going on through the window with Bob and Dave. Lisa, Jennifer and Emma stayed downstairs talking with an older man who had the biggest trading tables.
One of the women in group looking at The Anarchist through the window with them spoke up and said "Yeah, there is a bit of a history there, Kevin Johnson has that young daughter as you may know. You may not have seen her, but the history involves her. Johnson is a good guy, and he has been in the neighborhood since his first kid was born. Anyway, the night the power went out Johnson comes walking home around eight and finds his wife and young son and younger daughter home. His older daughter had not come home. So he goes out looking for her and finds her up the street having a beer with one of the neighbors in his backyard. His daughter is sixteen years old. He said he was lucky that he even found her, having heard her laughing through the tall wooden fence that surrounded the very private backyard she was sitting in as he walked by.".
She paused while everyone remained quiet and looking out the window waiting for her to continue.
"So he went off about it a few days later at the yard that is now known as The Anarchist with the neighbor up the road. The owners of The Anarchist kicked them both off the property and had said that he didn't give a shit about what happened to his daughter because she was fine and was sick of hearing about it.". She stopped to think for a moment as everyone stayed silent looking out the window and went on "I don't think anything actually happened, but maybe it could have, had he not found her. No one really knows the guy and he hasn't come around here since, probably because he is afraid of Johnson.".
They watched Theresa and the two kids come out onto their front porch and a couple of the women left Roderick's to go over to talk with them.
The woman looking through the window went on as they watched. "Anyways, Johnson is a bit of an asshole, especially when hung over, and sometimes thinks waving his member in the air is somehow a substitute for rational argument. So this tension has been building for a while. His was a recovering alcoholic when his oldest son died in a car accident a few years back. He got back on the sauce but he won't let his kids go anywhere near it. He would probably feel justified in strangling that guy if all he thought he was doing is giving her a drink. That would be enough to set him off, never mind the other thing that everyone, especially Johnson himself, may be thinking.".
They watched Roderick leave The Anarchist, followed by the others, one of them carrying Johnson's shotgun in addition to his own and then go over to Johnson's wife and talk with her for a few minutes, she went inside and came out with two rifles and handed them to Roderick.
Roderick came back to his house with the two rifles in his hand in addition to his own strapped behind his back. He told the group that Johnson was in the yard demanding that his neighbor come out and talk with him. They had recovered the shotgun from him and got his wife to agree to give up their guns. "I don't know how this is going to develop, we can't let the guy have a gun and continue living in the neighborhood, constantly stirring up shit. I don't really know whats wrong with him.". He went on "The guy isn't an idiot, he managed a construction company and had four of five trucks and he's the only one around here that knows how to fix a toilet, our last vestige of powered civilization.".
One of the group looked at Bob and Dave and smiled "We hope to make our working toilets a tourist attraction one day.".
"I wish you had of mentioned that the toilets worked earlier.". Susan said.
Roderick went on to say
that they should have just let Johnson beat the shit out of that neighbor that night and this would have all been over. The owner of The Anarchist had been trying to reason with Johnson and suggested that the guy really didn't know how old his daughter was and was probably looking for some innocent company. His family hadn't got home yet. But Johnson says they could have been sitting out front of his house drinking a pop rather than hidden in the fenced in back yard having a beer, so he had a point that no one could argue with.
One of the others said that a bloody nose maybe would have fixed the whole thing. That guy couldn't have complained after feeding Johnson's gorgeous young daughter, wearing a pair of hot pants and a tank top, alcohol in his private backyard. Johnson probably would have just dragged his daughter home after that and it would have been the end. One of the others said that one punch from Johnson could have given that guy a lot more than a bloody nose.
Roderick continued "There is just no way of resolving this, I mean this other guy could be a serial rapist and have a record a mile long. Its not like anyone could check his background or talk to his friends. He didn't really have any friends around here and his neighbors up the road just thought he was a workaholic who kept quiet and to himself on weekends. His wife didn't return after the power went out and no one had spoken with her before the outage. Johnson told me that he looked to be around forty.".
All four of them were a little tired and didn't want to get involved in the dispute any further so they started making their way to the door to go back to their house. They told Roderick and the others they would be leaving early the next morning and were glad to have met them, and that Jennifer and Bob would be staying, they said their goodbyes and left promising to stop in on the way back.
They arrived that the house that was now theirs and sat around their living room talking about the town for a while longer while watching the rain and drinking apple juice and water in relative peace.
Bob and Jennifer announced to the others that they decided to stay and that Lisa could use their basement to store wares for trade if she wanted. They talked about the ride to Emma's to make sure they were prepared one more time.
Bob explained that they would give a pile of seeds to that farmer who was tearing up the yards and that Jennifer was going to start a paper, take a census and tell them how long their shoes, clothes and bikes were to going to last them, how much food they would harvest, as well as other things to help them identify trends and set priorities using her actuarial skills. She would sell the paper to merchants who could display it at their tables and everyone could read it. There were no printing presses.
Bob planned to see if they could get the electricity working, or at least something electrical working.
Lisa said that she would be back soon with news and wares from where they were going. They both wanted Dave and Lisa to come back soon to visit for a while and so they could check on the shelters, safely in numbers and with Dave.