D. W. Siburcrist
Echoes from the Past
If you've read my novel clips and want more or want them in order, let me know in the blog.
This is the first, unedited, chapter that introduces the Grayson family.
Reliance, Missouri
April 1st
Daniel Grayson’s wife yelled for the third time for him to get up. Like any morning at 5:45 a.m., Daniel was groggy and still tired. No matter how much sleep he got, he still had a difficult time getting up in the morning. Today was not just any day though. Today was his ten year old son’s birthday. Daniel thought for sure that Lance would be the one waking his dad up for presents. However, it seems that like father like son, Lance had to be forced to get up every morning also. As usual, Mary and Samuel, Daniel’s wife and eight year old son, were already up and eating breakfast.
“Lance, get up!”, Daniel yelled up the stairs. Several minutes later Lance magically appeared in the kitchen for some breakfast. Lance, very grumpily asked where his presents were and Mary quirked some remark about him not getting any presents if he didn’t eat first. Mary was a no-nonsense type of woman. If there were laws in the Grayson house, Mary was the sheriff. Daniel was happy being the deputy. He shared a special male-bond with the boys and Mary felt at times that she was a single mother of three.
“Come on! I’ll eat after I open one present.” Lance was always trying to talk his way out of things. He was smart, but usually not smart enough to win his mom over.
“You’ll eat first and then you’ll open one of your gifts. The rest will wait ‘till after school.” Lance sat down and started to eat. He hit his little brother under the table and Samuel was startled. Lance and Samuel were close, but still had the brotherly rivalry within the house. The willingness of Samuel to please mom and dad gave Lance migrains, that had Samuel’s face on it and Lance’s straight A’s in school drove Samuel to the brink of giving-up. School came easy for Lance. Samuel made the honor role also, but he had to work his butt off to get his good grades. Daniel and Mary always told Samuel that they would rather have a hard worker than a Straight A student, of course not in front of Lance.
“Ouch!” Samuel’s eggs fell out of his mouth as he yelled in pain and annoyance at his big brother.
Daniel scolded Lance for picking on his little brother like he always did. Daniel was always reminding Lance about how one day he would come to rely on Samuel and appreciate having a brother. Daniel was always annoyed by Lance’s pattern of taking his aggression out on his little brother. He hopes that one day Lance will see how important Samuel is to him, or that Samuel will just kick his butt. The phone rang and Samuel raced to the phone, as he always did.
“It’s for you mom and dad!” The principal told Daniel that school was cancelled and that someone would be in touch to let them know about the rest of the week. When Daniel asked why the Principal Smith told him to watch the news. Hopefully things aren’t all that bad, but with the emotions of everyone running kind of high right now, it would be best to just cancel school for precautionary measures.
“Who was that?”, Mary asked as she sat and stared at the odd conversation.
“Principal Smith. He said that school was cancelled.” Daniel, just like the boys, was usually happy when school was cancelled. That meant that he and the boys could go do something fun. This time he didn’t feel the normal pleasure he usually felt.
“Alright! This is going to be the best birthday ever!”, exclaimed Lance. For the first time this morning Lance actually had some life to him.
“Why?” Mary was always one to have to keep busy. If she wasn’t working, she was thinking about what she should be working on. If she couldn’t find something to do, she would assign jobs to everyone else in the house.
“Turn on the TV. He said to watch the news.” The news woman was looking rather grief stricken, as she was talking via-satellite across the street from a burning building.
“It is still unclear as to why the plant was blown up, but I am hearing that there have been several similar instances across the nation. What we do know is that this is not an accident. It looks to be an act of some kind of attack on oil refineries. The plant, in Wood River, Illinois is just one of several oil refineries to be terrorized this morning. There must be almost two-hundred oil refineries in the United States and we are hearing that the same thing is happening all over the country. Not only are the refineries being attacked, but the drilling sites and storage facilities, as well. I’ve also just been informed that several BaseStationCenters and MobileServicingSwitchingCenters have been attacked as well. These are the stations that give cell phones their ability to communicate with each other. Not sure what that means, but we’ll give an update when we get more information.”
“What the hell is going on?” Daniel had a sick feeling in his stomach.
“It’s probably some crazy environmental group. They’ve finally had enough of the gas and pollution.”
“I don’t know, but I’m going in town to see if anyone else has heard anything.”
“What about my birthday?” Lance had a hurt look on his face.
“I’ll be back in a couple of hours. Don’t worry, I’ll pick up some groceries while I’m out and we’ll have a cook-out and maybe even fish in the pond.” As Daniel kissed his wife on the cheek, he told her to have Lance open his gifts and try to enjoy her day off of work. Daniel and Mary were both teachers. Daniel was an elementary teacher and Mary was a middle school English teacher. They both enjoyed working in the same field and having the summers to spend with the kids.
As Daniel was driving into town, he lived 8 miles from the nearest town, he was glad he just had the fuel refilled last week for his tractor, and other farming equipment. He had a small compact tractor that did everything he needed it to do. It dug holes, plowed, mowed, etc. He and his family lived on 50 acres of good land with two stocked ponds, a barn, some outer buildings, a few cattle, chickens, and other things to keep them busy at all times of the year. Most of the land around them is wooded and has lots of wildlife. They grow some of their own food and use the cattle and chickens for their meat and eggs throughout the year. He and his wife fell in love with the place when they saw it for sale online; an old historic home with 5 -6 bedrooms, 3 baths, 3 fireplaces, full basement, and a separate garage.(with an apartment above it) His property was all surrounded by fence. It was a dream come true; since the economy was already struggling, they got a good deal. Since they were teachers, they could live in a place that was so remote from the rest of the country. A small town, small school, and good people are what they were looking for and they just seem to luck out with finding this place. The first couple of years they spent planting trees, getting livestock, working their small field, and fixing up the house. They had a small orchard that Mary was very fond of walking through, when the weather was nice. She often brought up how “nice” the smell was during blooming season. It was now a place they could live happily in for the rest of their lives.
As he reached town, he noticed a long line at the gas station. Even a town as small as Reliance, has succumbed to the worst of fears. Daniel thought about getting gas, but was not eager to sit and wait for an hour just to fill up his truck. The line only had ten vehicles, but ten was a large number in this little town. The radio had been giving the same news the whole way into town. The oil drilling fields, oil refineries, storage facilities, and anything having to do with oil had been attacked.
“What the hell is going on?” Daniel was starting to get worried. Without any oil, the gas prices will go through the roof. If he was going to have to conserve gas he better just drive to the store and get some food for stock. Better yet, Wal-Mart!
The store was relatively empty. Everyone was either at the gas station or the diner talking and gossiping. The men at the diner gossiped like they were on The View.
The manager, Tim Delaney, came up to Daniel. “What have you heard?” The urgency in his voice had unnerved Daniel. Tim was usually a mild-mannered quiet man. He was always one of the first to help out in a time of need and his family was friends with his family. They didn’t hang out much, but still had a strong friendship.
“Just what was on the news. What’s going on Tim?”
“I just got off of the phone with corporate. They have put a stop to all of shipping.”
“For how long?”
“They either didn’t know or wouldn’t say!” The owl-like eyes and the way he kept running his hands through his sparse hair gave Tim’s nervousness away. If he didn’t look so afraid, Daniel was sure that Tim would have told him some kind of secret.
“Calm down Tim. You’re starting to make me nervous.”
“We get shipments twice a week. Within a week our supplies will be low.”
“I’m sure that you’ll get your shipments. After all…it’s places like Wal-Mart that keep this country running. Everyone shops here. I wouldn’t get too worked up over it. We’ll find out what’s going on and then things will get back to normal in probably a day or two.”
“I don’t think so Daniel. I was told to buy as many groceries as I could and have everyone go home for the day. I suggest you do the same. The head honchos up at corporate hate to shut doors. If the stores are not open, they are not making any money. It’s not like them to close doors.”
“I came here to do some shopping anyway, so I’ll get what we need and go see what I hear at the diner.” Daniel felt very uneasy after his conversation with Tim. Tim was sweating so much that his shirt was starting to soil. Daniel called home and told Mary to call his parents and ask if they needed anything at the store. He didn’t see the point in them having to drive all the way in town if he was already there. Daniel’s mom called and asked if he had anything. She and his dad had been watching the news all morning and were worried. Patty wore worry like new clothes, but Daniel could sense the forlorn sound in his mother’s voice.
“Is everything ok? The news on the TV. is getting worse. Your dad and I are over at your house right now.”
“Tim Delaney just told me that he is closing Wal-Mart for the day. If Wal-Mart closes, then things must be kind of bad. I’m going to pick some things from here then head home.”
“OK, bye .”
“Bye.” Daniel had a strange feeling. He always thought of the worst case situations, but this time it really felt weird. To attack so many places all at once was a little extreme. It seems that someone wanted to send a strong message. It must have been hundreds of places all at once. Daniel remembered what it felt like when the Twin Towers were attacked. He remembered they called off work for that day and then continued on and the country felt violated and attacked Iraq. A long time ago, but he felt much the same as he did then. This time many more places were attacked and no information was being flooded onto the airwaves.
As Daniel finished loading the cart with non-perishables, he kept thinking about things getting worse. He headed his cart to the sporting goods section and started looking around. He didn’t want to look like a weirdo, but he also wanted to be prepared. He figured all of the wackos out there would be saying it was the end of the world. Daniel and the family go camping a lot, so he has a habit of browsing the sporting goods section for things he could use. His wife gets annoyed, because their garage is filled with camping gear they usually don’t use anyway. He decided to get things that he would use normally. He decided on getting some more ammo for his hunting rifles, a few accessories for his bows, a couple lanterns, and some candles. These are things he could use later on, if he doesn’t have any use for them any time soon. He paid for his groceries and headed for home. Mary was going to be upset. Three hundred and ninety-four dollars for groceries was more than he had ever spent at once on groceries. She wasn’t going to be happy. After all, they had their own meat, eggs, and most of their vegetables. He would just tell her that some of the food was for his parents.
Allen and Pamela Grayson were Daniel’s parents. They moved onto the property about two years ago. They had a small manufactured home put on the property over by the north fishing pond. They wanted to be closer to Daniel and the family and enjoy their retirement. It was close to their other son, Philip, who lived in Mississippi. Being in the very southern part of Missouri, Philip was only about a five hour drive. The rest of the family lives in Indiana, but that was only about a day’s drive. Pamela and Allen Grayson had nine grandchildren. Enough to keep them busy. They used their RV on a regular basis. Every year the whole family met at Daniels house and all the children camped out in tents out by the ponds. It was like a big camping trip. The men would go hunting and the kids would go fishing. It was a life that Pamela and Allen very much enjoyed. Allen’s hard work in the trucking business left him little time for his family. Now, he could spend as much time with the family as he wished. He enjoyed his retirement and Pamela actually enjoyed having him around.
As Daniel pulled up the long drive, he noticed his father was out at the pond with the two boys. Mary and his mom were sitting outside in the sun. It was unseasonably warm for April 1st. Both Pamela and Mary were on their phones.
Feel free to blog your thoughts about the chapter. Be honest.....I can take it....maybe.
This is the first, unedited, chapter that introduces the Grayson family.
Reliance, Missouri
April 1st
Daniel Grayson’s wife yelled for the third time for him to get up. Like any morning at 5:45 a.m., Daniel was groggy and still tired. No matter how much sleep he got, he still had a difficult time getting up in the morning. Today was not just any day though. Today was his ten year old son’s birthday. Daniel thought for sure that Lance would be the one waking his dad up for presents. However, it seems that like father like son, Lance had to be forced to get up every morning also. As usual, Mary and Samuel, Daniel’s wife and eight year old son, were already up and eating breakfast.
“Lance, get up!”, Daniel yelled up the stairs. Several minutes later Lance magically appeared in the kitchen for some breakfast. Lance, very grumpily asked where his presents were and Mary quirked some remark about him not getting any presents if he didn’t eat first. Mary was a no-nonsense type of woman. If there were laws in the Grayson house, Mary was the sheriff. Daniel was happy being the deputy. He shared a special male-bond with the boys and Mary felt at times that she was a single mother of three.
“Come on! I’ll eat after I open one present.” Lance was always trying to talk his way out of things. He was smart, but usually not smart enough to win his mom over.
“You’ll eat first and then you’ll open one of your gifts. The rest will wait ‘till after school.” Lance sat down and started to eat. He hit his little brother under the table and Samuel was startled. Lance and Samuel were close, but still had the brotherly rivalry within the house. The willingness of Samuel to please mom and dad gave Lance migrains, that had Samuel’s face on it and Lance’s straight A’s in school drove Samuel to the brink of giving-up. School came easy for Lance. Samuel made the honor role also, but he had to work his butt off to get his good grades. Daniel and Mary always told Samuel that they would rather have a hard worker than a Straight A student, of course not in front of Lance.
“Ouch!” Samuel’s eggs fell out of his mouth as he yelled in pain and annoyance at his big brother.
Daniel scolded Lance for picking on his little brother like he always did. Daniel was always reminding Lance about how one day he would come to rely on Samuel and appreciate having a brother. Daniel was always annoyed by Lance’s pattern of taking his aggression out on his little brother. He hopes that one day Lance will see how important Samuel is to him, or that Samuel will just kick his butt. The phone rang and Samuel raced to the phone, as he always did.
“It’s for you mom and dad!” The principal told Daniel that school was cancelled and that someone would be in touch to let them know about the rest of the week. When Daniel asked why the Principal Smith told him to watch the news. Hopefully things aren’t all that bad, but with the emotions of everyone running kind of high right now, it would be best to just cancel school for precautionary measures.
“Who was that?”, Mary asked as she sat and stared at the odd conversation.
“Principal Smith. He said that school was cancelled.” Daniel, just like the boys, was usually happy when school was cancelled. That meant that he and the boys could go do something fun. This time he didn’t feel the normal pleasure he usually felt.
“Alright! This is going to be the best birthday ever!”, exclaimed Lance. For the first time this morning Lance actually had some life to him.
“Why?” Mary was always one to have to keep busy. If she wasn’t working, she was thinking about what she should be working on. If she couldn’t find something to do, she would assign jobs to everyone else in the house.
“Turn on the TV. He said to watch the news.” The news woman was looking rather grief stricken, as she was talking via-satellite across the street from a burning building.
“It is still unclear as to why the plant was blown up, but I am hearing that there have been several similar instances across the nation. What we do know is that this is not an accident. It looks to be an act of some kind of attack on oil refineries. The plant, in Wood River, Illinois is just one of several oil refineries to be terrorized this morning. There must be almost two-hundred oil refineries in the United States and we are hearing that the same thing is happening all over the country. Not only are the refineries being attacked, but the drilling sites and storage facilities, as well. I’ve also just been informed that several BaseStationCenters and MobileServicingSwitchingCenters have been attacked as well. These are the stations that give cell phones their ability to communicate with each other. Not sure what that means, but we’ll give an update when we get more information.”
“What the hell is going on?” Daniel had a sick feeling in his stomach.
“It’s probably some crazy environmental group. They’ve finally had enough of the gas and pollution.”
“I don’t know, but I’m going in town to see if anyone else has heard anything.”
“What about my birthday?” Lance had a hurt look on his face.
“I’ll be back in a couple of hours. Don’t worry, I’ll pick up some groceries while I’m out and we’ll have a cook-out and maybe even fish in the pond.” As Daniel kissed his wife on the cheek, he told her to have Lance open his gifts and try to enjoy her day off of work. Daniel and Mary were both teachers. Daniel was an elementary teacher and Mary was a middle school English teacher. They both enjoyed working in the same field and having the summers to spend with the kids.
As Daniel was driving into town, he lived 8 miles from the nearest town, he was glad he just had the fuel refilled last week for his tractor, and other farming equipment. He had a small compact tractor that did everything he needed it to do. It dug holes, plowed, mowed, etc. He and his family lived on 50 acres of good land with two stocked ponds, a barn, some outer buildings, a few cattle, chickens, and other things to keep them busy at all times of the year. Most of the land around them is wooded and has lots of wildlife. They grow some of their own food and use the cattle and chickens for their meat and eggs throughout the year. He and his wife fell in love with the place when they saw it for sale online; an old historic home with 5 -6 bedrooms, 3 baths, 3 fireplaces, full basement, and a separate garage.(with an apartment above it) His property was all surrounded by fence. It was a dream come true; since the economy was already struggling, they got a good deal. Since they were teachers, they could live in a place that was so remote from the rest of the country. A small town, small school, and good people are what they were looking for and they just seem to luck out with finding this place. The first couple of years they spent planting trees, getting livestock, working their small field, and fixing up the house. They had a small orchard that Mary was very fond of walking through, when the weather was nice. She often brought up how “nice” the smell was during blooming season. It was now a place they could live happily in for the rest of their lives.
As he reached town, he noticed a long line at the gas station. Even a town as small as Reliance, has succumbed to the worst of fears. Daniel thought about getting gas, but was not eager to sit and wait for an hour just to fill up his truck. The line only had ten vehicles, but ten was a large number in this little town. The radio had been giving the same news the whole way into town. The oil drilling fields, oil refineries, storage facilities, and anything having to do with oil had been attacked.
“What the hell is going on?” Daniel was starting to get worried. Without any oil, the gas prices will go through the roof. If he was going to have to conserve gas he better just drive to the store and get some food for stock. Better yet, Wal-Mart!
The store was relatively empty. Everyone was either at the gas station or the diner talking and gossiping. The men at the diner gossiped like they were on The View.
The manager, Tim Delaney, came up to Daniel. “What have you heard?” The urgency in his voice had unnerved Daniel. Tim was usually a mild-mannered quiet man. He was always one of the first to help out in a time of need and his family was friends with his family. They didn’t hang out much, but still had a strong friendship.
“Just what was on the news. What’s going on Tim?”
“I just got off of the phone with corporate. They have put a stop to all of shipping.”
“For how long?”
“They either didn’t know or wouldn’t say!” The owl-like eyes and the way he kept running his hands through his sparse hair gave Tim’s nervousness away. If he didn’t look so afraid, Daniel was sure that Tim would have told him some kind of secret.
“Calm down Tim. You’re starting to make me nervous.”
“We get shipments twice a week. Within a week our supplies will be low.”
“I’m sure that you’ll get your shipments. After all…it’s places like Wal-Mart that keep this country running. Everyone shops here. I wouldn’t get too worked up over it. We’ll find out what’s going on and then things will get back to normal in probably a day or two.”
“I don’t think so Daniel. I was told to buy as many groceries as I could and have everyone go home for the day. I suggest you do the same. The head honchos up at corporate hate to shut doors. If the stores are not open, they are not making any money. It’s not like them to close doors.”
“I came here to do some shopping anyway, so I’ll get what we need and go see what I hear at the diner.” Daniel felt very uneasy after his conversation with Tim. Tim was sweating so much that his shirt was starting to soil. Daniel called home and told Mary to call his parents and ask if they needed anything at the store. He didn’t see the point in them having to drive all the way in town if he was already there. Daniel’s mom called and asked if he had anything. She and his dad had been watching the news all morning and were worried. Patty wore worry like new clothes, but Daniel could sense the forlorn sound in his mother’s voice.
“Is everything ok? The news on the TV. is getting worse. Your dad and I are over at your house right now.”
“Tim Delaney just told me that he is closing Wal-Mart for the day. If Wal-Mart closes, then things must be kind of bad. I’m going to pick some things from here then head home.”
“OK, bye .”
“Bye.” Daniel had a strange feeling. He always thought of the worst case situations, but this time it really felt weird. To attack so many places all at once was a little extreme. It seems that someone wanted to send a strong message. It must have been hundreds of places all at once. Daniel remembered what it felt like when the Twin Towers were attacked. He remembered they called off work for that day and then continued on and the country felt violated and attacked Iraq. A long time ago, but he felt much the same as he did then. This time many more places were attacked and no information was being flooded onto the airwaves.
As Daniel finished loading the cart with non-perishables, he kept thinking about things getting worse. He headed his cart to the sporting goods section and started looking around. He didn’t want to look like a weirdo, but he also wanted to be prepared. He figured all of the wackos out there would be saying it was the end of the world. Daniel and the family go camping a lot, so he has a habit of browsing the sporting goods section for things he could use. His wife gets annoyed, because their garage is filled with camping gear they usually don’t use anyway. He decided to get things that he would use normally. He decided on getting some more ammo for his hunting rifles, a few accessories for his bows, a couple lanterns, and some candles. These are things he could use later on, if he doesn’t have any use for them any time soon. He paid for his groceries and headed for home. Mary was going to be upset. Three hundred and ninety-four dollars for groceries was more than he had ever spent at once on groceries. She wasn’t going to be happy. After all, they had their own meat, eggs, and most of their vegetables. He would just tell her that some of the food was for his parents.
Allen and Pamela Grayson were Daniel’s parents. They moved onto the property about two years ago. They had a small manufactured home put on the property over by the north fishing pond. They wanted to be closer to Daniel and the family and enjoy their retirement. It was close to their other son, Philip, who lived in Mississippi. Being in the very southern part of Missouri, Philip was only about a five hour drive. The rest of the family lives in Indiana, but that was only about a day’s drive. Pamela and Allen Grayson had nine grandchildren. Enough to keep them busy. They used their RV on a regular basis. Every year the whole family met at Daniels house and all the children camped out in tents out by the ponds. It was like a big camping trip. The men would go hunting and the kids would go fishing. It was a life that Pamela and Allen very much enjoyed. Allen’s hard work in the trucking business left him little time for his family. Now, he could spend as much time with the family as he wished. He enjoyed his retirement and Pamela actually enjoyed having him around.
As Daniel pulled up the long drive, he noticed his father was out at the pond with the two boys. Mary and his mom were sitting outside in the sun. It was unseasonably warm for April 1st. Both Pamela and Mary were on their phones.
Feel free to blog your thoughts about the chapter. Be honest.....I can take it....maybe.
A chapter later on that describes how the president is trying to maintain control.
Karma, Texas
April 24th
President Sherman sits in disbelief. The dumbfounded look on his face said it all. How could he lose control over his country in just a few weeks? Half of his troops were stuck over in the Middle East. Last he heard they were under heavy attack and taking heavy casualties. The troops he has here are more and more looking out for themselves rather than take orders from a President they no longer see or hear from very often. The local National Guards are busy with helping maintain order with the martial law, but from what he could tell, they were making their own rules. “I just need some consistency! I need broad based control that follows and projects the rules! Johnson, get in here. I want a plan on how to recapture control over this godforsaken country! I want it by tomorrow! Assemble my cabinet for a meeting tomorrow at twelve hundred.”
“I’ll see who’s here.”
“What do you mean, “You’ll see who’s here”? If they’re not here, get them here! The country is falling apart. Is it too much to ask for my cabinet to give to their country in a time of need?!” Johnson wiped his sweaty palms on his pants and left the room. It was going to be difficult to find most of them. One morning they were just gone, with the rest of their families. Probably thought they could fare better at one of their private homes in the country. President Sherman had some radical ideas and if the cabinet didn’t like his ideas, then they could just resign. If people weren’t going to cooperate, then they would be removed. It was time to remind this country that they still had a President and the President is still in charge. If it took force, then force was exactly what they were going to get.
The President overlooked the activity out of his office window and observed the progress. Since moving to the ranch, they had been busy putting up storage facilities, building latrines, putting up tents for sleeping quarters, etc. With all of the confiscations the military took up on their way here, the President’s ranch was looking fairly decent. He had seventy-five troops and the ammunitions were well-stocked. The refuge-style camp that laid across the field to the west reminded the President of something you might see in South America. All of soldiers slept in tents with two to a tent. Most of the soldiers were used to just taking orders and doing what they were told. The absurdity of the situation hadn’t changed their behaviors.
April 24th
President Sherman sits in disbelief. The dumbfounded look on his face said it all. How could he lose control over his country in just a few weeks? Half of his troops were stuck over in the Middle East. Last he heard they were under heavy attack and taking heavy casualties. The troops he has here are more and more looking out for themselves rather than take orders from a President they no longer see or hear from very often. The local National Guards are busy with helping maintain order with the martial law, but from what he could tell, they were making their own rules. “I just need some consistency! I need broad based control that follows and projects the rules! Johnson, get in here. I want a plan on how to recapture control over this godforsaken country! I want it by tomorrow! Assemble my cabinet for a meeting tomorrow at twelve hundred.”
“I’ll see who’s here.”
“What do you mean, “You’ll see who’s here”? If they’re not here, get them here! The country is falling apart. Is it too much to ask for my cabinet to give to their country in a time of need?!” Johnson wiped his sweaty palms on his pants and left the room. It was going to be difficult to find most of them. One morning they were just gone, with the rest of their families. Probably thought they could fare better at one of their private homes in the country. President Sherman had some radical ideas and if the cabinet didn’t like his ideas, then they could just resign. If people weren’t going to cooperate, then they would be removed. It was time to remind this country that they still had a President and the President is still in charge. If it took force, then force was exactly what they were going to get.
The President overlooked the activity out of his office window and observed the progress. Since moving to the ranch, they had been busy putting up storage facilities, building latrines, putting up tents for sleeping quarters, etc. With all of the confiscations the military took up on their way here, the President’s ranch was looking fairly decent. He had seventy-five troops and the ammunitions were well-stocked. The refuge-style camp that laid across the field to the west reminded the President of something you might see in South America. All of soldiers slept in tents with two to a tent. Most of the soldiers were used to just taking orders and doing what they were told. The absurdity of the situation hadn’t changed their behaviors.
This is a chapter that shows the growing detachment of the mayor and the sheriff's relationship. ("growing detachment" ...what an oxymoron.
Sheriff’s Office
“You stupid son of a bitches! I told you twelve people wouldn’t be enough. When you have to do a job, you go in with more than you need, not less!” The mayor was livid. Coach squinted from the saliva hitting his face. The mayor backed up and the sheriff felt the pierce of his glaring eyeballs. The sheriff took off his hat and threw it in the corner. He didn’t like looking incompetent.
“They were ready for us. I didn’t expect Daniel Grayson to be as prepared as he is.” His hatred was toward Daniel was growing and spreading through every cell in his body.
“Maybe I should have had Daniel the town’s sheriff. At least he would have been prepared.”
“Now you listen here Mr. Mayor. Without me, you’re nothing. Without me, you wouldn’t have the people getting things done. While you’re sitting behind your desk, in your air-conditioned office, I’m out gathering people and supplies. I’m the one who’s planning and I’m the one taking care of business. You just remember who needs who.” Everyone in the room had the appearance of school boys standing in the uncomfortable room of the principal’s office; they all stood in disbelief. Nobody had ever talked to the mayor that way. Sheriff Thompson paused and took a step back. He knew he had said too much, but couldn’t bite his tongue. He still needed the mayor on his side. “No disrespect, Mayor, but I’m a little stressed right now, so I might have said things that were a little out of line.” They both made eye-contact and waited for each other to break the stare-off. Finally, the mayor looked at the other men.
“So what’s next? Do you have any idea as to what you’re going to do about the situation?” The mayor tried to resume lead role in the room, but was finding it a little difficult, seeing as he was the one asking the sheriff what the plan was going to be.
“The Grayson’s have taken the situation to another level. Daniel’s brothers are going to be a problem, especially that Bobby. We’ll have to go in and go in to kill. There’s no way around it. Teach them a lesson.”
“Now Sheriff, we can’t go in a just murder people. It will look bad for all of us. We need to figure out a way to get them to compromise.” The mayor looked panicked, but he didn’t have any other ideas.
“Look bad to who?, The sheriff gave the mayor a quizzical look. They shot two of my deputies. We’ll tell the town that we went out there to negotiate and we were fired upon. It doesn’t take much to convince a bunch of scared people.”
The mayor focused on a picture of the town, from twenty years ago, on the wall and then, like a tired old man, said, “I suppose so; just don’t do anything without letting me know first.” The mayor’s eyes approached each of the men, as if he were a drill inspector, and gave a sigh before exiting the small office.
This chapter is approaching the last part of the book.
Reliance, Missouri
As the man walked into his office, the Governor could tell there was something wrong. The man’s courage was found and he blurted out, with spit running down his chin. “There’s a problem at the store.” The two men locked eyes, but the Governor won the staring contest with the man putting his head down toward the floor. “Someone has looted the store.”
“What!” The sudden outburst of energy spewing from the Governor Thompson almost knocked the man down. From a seated position, the governor leapt up and was within an inch of the man’s face. “What do you mean…looted?”
The man stuttered and finally spoke. “Sheriff Williams told me to come and get you. I…I…don’t know anymore.” The governor pushed by and headed out the door. This is all he needed on a hot day like this. This August humidity was making him irritable, but if someone got into the store, he’ll be more than irritable; someone will pay. The governor jumped up on wagon and waited for the man to get the horses going. The wagon, a replica once used at the county fair, was being pulled by two horses. It used to sit in front of the county building, but was now the governor’s personal transportation. The governor thought to himself and smacked his fist in his opposite hand. If anything spoils my plans with the president… Governor Thompson had sent some men to the store to make a checklist of the supplies they had. He wanted to ration everything and make sure he had steady shipments to Fort Parker.
“Damn…it’s hot. Can’t you go any faster?” The governor was in a sour mood. He couldn’t wait until they were finished with the top to his wagon. As they pulled into the parking lot, Sheriff Williams came and met the wagon at the front entrance. “Well…?”
“You’re not going to like this.” The sheriff wanted to prepare the governor for the bad news. “Someone or some people took a whole bunch of things.”
“What kind of things?” Thompson was trying to be patient. “Let’s go in; the heat is smothering me out here.”
“I’m having the men go through every isle and check to see what is empty. I’ve made a list of what we have, so far.” Sheriff Williams put the list up toward the governor. The list was almost ripped in half, from the governor savagely raking it out of the sheriff’s hand. Sheriff William’s own nervousness was only outdone by the governor’s agitation.
In disbelief, the Governor listed, “Clothes, hunting bows, camping gear, tools, food, lighters, matches…” The governor faded out for a second, in what can only be described as calmness, then erupted. “What the hell is going on here? I made it clear that anyone entering the store would be severely punished! Didn’t we have guards? Where were they? Where are they? I want some answers! These items are things we needed!” The splat of the paper on the floor did the governor’s hard thrust downward little justice. “Hunting bows?! Why the hell were there hunting bows in the store? I wanted all weapons stored in sheriff’s office!” For God’s sake, you know how valuable bows will be when the bullets run out!” Two men were running up, from the back of the store.
“We found where they got in!” The two men kept eye contact with the sheriff; he didn’t look as pissed as the governor.
The two men led the governor and sheriff to the back of the store. As they entered the service garage, the governor swore out loud. “Dammit! I told somebody to board up these windows and doors weeks ago.” Everyone was quiet for a moment; unsure of what to say.
One of the men spoke. “Looks like they came in from this section of the door; you can see where they tried to put the window back , but it came loose.”
Sheriff Williams wasn’t sure of what to say, but felt he needed to say something. “I don’t think anyone in town would have the balls to break in here. We keep a pretty tight rein on them.” The two men stood there and tried to look like they were waiting for something, but looked as if they were dumbstruck. “Get started on boarding these windows up!” The governor turned to follow the governor out of the garage and into the store. “Who do you think…” The sheriff was cut off by the governor.
“Who do you think?” Governor Thompson walked as if he was on a mission. “Who would have the guts to break in here?” The governor waited, but got no reply. He made eye contact with the sheriff and dared him not to answer.
“Th…the Graysons?” He got it out, but portrayed himself as a lackey, instead of a stern sheriff; something he told himself he wouldn’t do. It made him look bad.
“It has to be one of those brothers. I doubt Daniel would break in here, but I wouldn’t put anything past those brothers of his; especially that Bobby.” The governor stopped; something caught his eye, rather the lack of something caught his eye. “What was here?” The sheriff looked down and read the little tag on the shelf, but couldn’t tell what it was. One of the men came up and spoke.
“It was a display of nails and screws.” The sheriff turned and gave the man a thorough lashing with his glare. The man stepped back and mentioned that he would go see about getting the windows boarded up.
“Nails and screws.” Governor Thompson spoke to himself.
The sheriff barely caught the words. “Excuse me?”
“Nails and screws. You see…this is the type of thing I’m talking about. Nails and screws don’t seem all that important, but what if you want to build something; pretty damn important, huh?” The sheriff nodded in agreement. “It’s all of these seemingly insignificant things, like nails and screws, which are going to solidify our survival in the end.” The governor headed for the front entrance; leaving the sheriff behind. “Nails and screws! Don’t ever forget that, Sheriff Williams. Nails and screws!”
