Jeepcats27
Senior Member
thank you for the new chapters, Glad Mina kicked out Cliffy! A ray of sunshine in a dark time!
Story Broken Yet Rising
- Thread starter Kathy in FL
- Start date
sssarawolf
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Sweet, Thank you so much.
Chapter 57
The remainder of February and into early March has been like walking on eggshells. Things haven’t really gone back to what I would call normal, not even the “new normal” we had been living because of the war.
Everyone’s nerves are stretched thin. The occasional fight breaks out, but despite that most people try to use some self-control. Most people. There are some that are rather taking advantage of the situation by letting their emoting get out of hand. But I know they are capable of keeping some control because local law enforcement has been given the authority to “send them off to work camps” should they go beyond a certain point more than three times. And law enforcement is taking that “three strikes and you are outta here” very seriously. There are even work camps for unaccompanied and/or incorrigible minors and those places sound stricter than the adult facilities for that sort of thing.
The riot scared everyone, apparently even those that had been predicting something bad was going to happen for years. There have also been lots of new rules to deal with. The law firm’s doors always stay locked, and a security camera has been installed so I can see who all is out there before I let anyone in. And everyone must have an appointment, they can’t just “drop in” and expect to be seen. If they need to drop off documents, they can run it through the mail slot or upload it to the new website that Dayton Barnes had designed to go along with bringing the office to the current century. I keep everything picked up as soon as it comes in because other things could be run through that slot as well. I just barely stopped a fire from getting through the carpet and padding to the wood floor beneath it. That’s when the camera was installed because no one claimed to have had seen who had put the lit cigarette through the slot.
In Lake City a fire got out of control in one of the rioting neighborhoods … and it was allowed to burn and took three entire blocks of houses. It was only stopped when it started to threaten several industrial buildings. There are several stories of why this happened. What those stories are depends on what cultural group you stand with. It wasn’t what you would call an innocent area of town, but I’m sure some innocent people were harmed. Maybe community pressure will work now that the crapheads have been thinned out.
Many other offices were operating the same way as the law firm, assuming the offices were even kept open. People were working from home, at least those that could. The curfew was tightened even more than it had been. Not only did businesses have to close before dusk, but everyone had to be off the street before dusk, which meant businesses had to close even earlier. And by off the street, they weren’t just talking about driving. You had to be inside, lights out, and black out curtains in place. And no one could be on the road before sunrise which meant many businesses couldn’t open as early as they had in the past.
At stores only so many people were allowed in at any given time. I heard it was similar to what had been mandated during the 20’s during the covid pandemic. Some places closed because they couldn’t survive doing business that way … the Dixie Café was one of them. At the time it wasn’t a permanent closure as everyone hoped things would go back to normal sooner rather than later. Except it hasn’t.
Those that didn’t want to close might go down to being open fewer days of the week. The farm co-op was one of those. So was the only local competitor to Lowe’s in town. Many jobs that required a repair person now had to be paid up front, or at least a partial payment up front and all jobs had to be paid in full upon completion. That was assuming you could arrange for an appointment. Evictions and foreclosures took a jump towards the end of the month and the beginning of March.
There were other changes in the air as well. Taylor Barnes and his family left Jacksonville. Mr. Dayton, as I came to call him because there were too many Barnes men to keep separate, only opened his Jacksonville office via virtual meetings, and those only happened on two days a week. Jacksonville became an even bigger Navy town than it had been before and despite its size, it was run that way.
Mr. Taylor and his family moved in with Mrs. Padfield and Mr. Musgrove and Daniel moved in with me and then Mrs. Padfield moved in with Mr. Barnes to take care of him. His health problems were out in the open because about a week after the riot, he had a heart attack and emergency surgery to remove what remained of the tumor from his lung because it caused a blood infection. I’m not sure of all the how that it did what it did, but that’s how it was explained to me.
Mr. Dayton is keeping his offices in Tallahassee open but is doing most of his work virtually or by email/upload. I’m getting pulled in way too many directions on only three days a week. One day is almost entirely spent on Mr. Dayton alone. Another is spent on Mr. Taylor. I eek out time for Derek who not only must cover his cases but now must cover Mr. Barnes’ cases as well.
And I know I just sort of slid in there that Derek and Daniel are now living at the Homeplace, but it was the best solution all of us could come up with. Mr. Taylor needed to get his family out of Jacksonville. Their home had been damaged in the riots there. The kids’ schools were closed because they were being used to house immigrants so they could be processed as well as a good-sized homeless population that had migrated South to avoid the unusually harsh weather in their normal winter living spaces. His wife’s job as a para-aide in the school system had been cancelled indefinitely.
Derek and Daniel living in his friend’s garage was no longer an option. All the RV and trailer parks in this area are booked solid. Boondocking is no longer allowed in many locations due to its transient nature and difficulty in monitoring. There were no places for rent that were appropriate for a kid Daniel’s age.
I fixed things by going to Mrs. Padfield and saying that I couldn’t have Daniel living some place I wouldn’t let the twins go. That’s what I said but I think she knew that I really meant both Daniel and Derek.
“Is this about my brother’s fantasies?”
“No ma’am. As much as I like and respect Mr. Barnes … there’s just some things that he couldn’t make me do, or even guilt me into doing.”
“Hmm.”
“Ma’am, this is … this is more about what I’ve had to deal with over the last couple of years.”
“People are going to talk.”
“If people didn’t talk the sky would fall.”
She gave a cynical and humorless chuckle. “Very few truer words have ever been spoken. But we still need to come up with something … palatable. At least for those at church who could create … problems.”
“Then we tell them this is about family.”
She look at me blankly for a moment then gave a bit of a Machiavellian grin. “That just may work. You two give me a few days and let’s see how that plays out on Sunday.”
“Well I don’t mind but I’m going to need to work Derek around. I haven’t sprung this on him yet and while he mentions Mr. Barne’s stubbornness on occasion …”
She chuckled then outright laughed. “Oh. My dear. Yes. Yes, I think you’ll do quite well. I’ll start with The Girls. I’ll even say we’re not quite sure if Derek will fall in line with our plan. Silly men and their pride and all that.” Then she giggled. “I am so very, very glad you’re here Mina.”
“I am too Mrs. Padfield. I am too.”
sssarawolf
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Very nice find this morning.
Jeepcats27
Senior Member
Nice Chapter to wake up to! Thank you!
Chapter 58
“Dayton thinks I’ve done it for the Firm. Taylor thinks I’ve done it for Aunt Maggie and his family. People at church … God alone knows what they all think but most seem to believe I’m making the sacrifice for Daniel. Uncle James? He thinks he’s managed it all on his own with none of us the wiser.”
“And?”
“And?! They act like it is all fine and dandy.”
“Well good, though to be honest I really don’t care what they think. The caballeros are happy and I don’t know about Daniel, but I know the twins aren’t nearly so frightened now that the two of you have thrown in with us. It fits their idea of family better than anything we’ve had since … since Mitchell didn’t come home.”
He stopped for a moment then said, “Oh. Like a brother.”
I stopped and just looked at him deciding how to respond to his response. Finally I explained, “That’s how they think of it. A big brother, more in line with how Daniel thinks of you even though he calls you uncle. That doesn’t mean that I think of you like a brother. But that said, it doesn’t mean I’m ready to think about you … not like a brother.”
“Oh,” he responded in a different tone. “I can live with that.” He sighed. “I’m still out of my mind to be going along with it but at least … at least I can live with that.” Then he picked up the clipboard he’d been making inventory notes on and grinned. “Besides, you have a bat named Lucille.”
A nuclear eye roll was his reward. “I have a bat that thinks its name is Lucille. And you can get the nightstand drawers this time. I’m tired of running into stuff. I’m out of eye bleach.” I turned up my nose and headed to the garage to try and figure out how to get all the Christmas decorations out there into the enclosed trailer so we could take it to the town’s storage shed. The lights would eventually be donated to the high school. Why does the high school need Christmas lights in March? Because classes are being offered on how to convert some lights and electronics to solar power. It is a grant from the State, and it is hoped that in addition to power and fuel conservation, it will teach manufacturing and recycling skills that can be used after the war is over.
I had the caballeros gathering the household cleaners and setting them on the porch. They didn’t like wearing plastic gloves, paper masks, and goggles but I told them to treat it like a science experiment and their attitude improved. I would decide which ones could be combined and kept, or which ones needed to be put into separate containers. Sometimes we ran into some that couldn’t be recycled or whatever and they had to be taken to the landfill and turned in for disposal there.
Chapter 59
And another part of the new-new normal is that Derek and I both open carry at all times. Well, I have to open carry. Derek conceal carries in addition to open carries. When I had to explain to him why I couldn’t CC, he got the same look on his face he does every time my age comes up. I wish he would get over it. Or maybe not. When the age thing is no longer an issue, things will change and I’m not sure I am ready for that yet.
I admit it made me feel weird to openly walk around with a gun on my hip at first, until both Derek and Mrs. Shepherd (that’s the lady that is married to the owner of Sheepdog Tactical) told me to change my thinking. If I had trouble thinking of it as personal protection, think of it as I am protecting the kids. I will admit that did change my thinking and is in line with why I have been doing most things since losing our parents. Only now Daniel has been added to that. And so has Derek whether he realizes it or not. The Derek he is when we are at home or working at the foreclosures is different from the Derek he becomes when we have clients in the Law Office or when we are at church. I’m concerned for the “nice” or “professional” Derek. I know he can “shift” between the two, but I worry that it might take him that all important second or two of what Mrs. Shepherd calls “situational awareness” and a second or two may be all it takes for something bad to happen. Been there done that, and do not want another t-shirt to prove it.
I’ve gotten less inhibited about taking stuff from the abandoned property at the foreclosure clean outs. If it is gardening supplies, or a gardening tool I don’t already have five of, then it immediately goes in the back of the minivan. The rest is donated to the town’s community garden. Most any kind of food is also fair game, though there isn’t much of that these days. Depending what it is, I’ve been using it to make bread, dump soups or stews, or some kind of dump cake to feed any clients that come in. If we don’t have any clients on a day that I am working, then I use it to feed those in the office. This now includes Junior and his little half-sister Rosie. Yeah, that’s a story right there.
Unknown to most everyone in the world except Junior, a man that Junior’s mom met on the cruise to Alaska had been courting her long distance. And yes I know, that has disaster written all over it, but for once there’s a real live happily ever after. He was a widower and had been on the cruise with his sister-in-law’s family, including with his daughter. I actually remember the little girl a bit as she is two years younger than the caballeros but in the same “club” on the ship. It was his sister-in-law that introduced him to Junior’s mom. And it worked pretty nifty long distance and everyone seemed okay for it to be that way. So, things were just trucking along when the riots happened. Sister-in-law needs the house he’d been living in (it was his wife’s inherited property originally) because her adult children are coming home to roost, and it wouldn’t work in the condo where she and her husband were living. Geez there is so much TMI in a small town which is how I know all this. OMG.
Anyway, Maynard - that’s the man’s name though most people call him Manny - asks Junior’s mom if she minds if he moves closer so he could, and I quote, court her properly and respectfully. Junior hears the conversation and says why don’t they just go ahead and get married and stop embarrassing him to death. And … yeah … they do. Junior’s mom loves Junior beyond all good sense, but she’d always dreamed of what it might have been like to have a daughter. Maynard’s first wife - like I said TMI - wasn’t a particularly good wife, or mother for that matter, and now Rosie thinks Junior’s mother is an angel put on earth just for her father and her and - gak - Junior isn’t much further down that food chain.
And the reason why Junior is back to being underfoot all the time and helping to take care of his new little sister is because he discovered that college wasn’t for him, and he wasn’t going to put up with it just to play college football - not that he could because he crapped out his ankle and now has to wear a brace on it full time. Which also means he couldn’t do his second choice which was join the military. Junior is terminally depressed until he realized his stepdad and him had something more in common than just his mom … cars. Specifically, car engines. Junior is officially apprenticing with Maynard who has opened his own garage that is around the corner from where they all live. They do more than cars. About any kind of engine is their forte. About the only problem is that Junior’s mom works as the day manager at the Sav-a-Lot so they don’t know what to do with Rosie after school. Guess what? Yep. She get’s off the bus with Daniel and comes here. And she fits right in because her favorite toys are K’nex, erector sets, and the stuff in the toolbox her father put together for her to keep her out of his.
I tell you walking into the “school room” is like walking into Dr. Frankenstein’s laboratory for robotics on some days. But it isn’t horrible and sometimes Mr. Barnes or Mrs. Padfield goes in there and sits with them. Mr. Barnes is “Story Man” and reads to them stories of the area out of a book that his grandfather wrote, or Mrs. Padfield will tell stories about the pioneering Musgrove families with show-and-tell objects that set the stage. Those three probably know more town history than the mayor does. Taylor’s wife has taken to dropping by as well. Seems she misses the kids she was an aide to in Jacksonville. I’ve got an idea to take care of that, but it will take Mrs. Padfield mentioning it to one of the “Girls.”
I’m sorry to admit I’m not particularly fond of Taylor’s wife. She’s a little interfering and socially progressive which she better watch if she hopes to get Taylor into local politics. Interfering is kinda forgivable in small doses but socially progressive might bring out the tar-and-feathers crowd if she isn’t careful. She needs to work with little kids because Derek said I’m not the only adult she can irritate (hint, hint he’s one of the other ones). She’s nice, I just don’t take to being spoken to like I should still be in grade school.
sssarawolf
Has No Life - Lives on TB
The chapters made for a nice break, thanks.
Catshooter
Contributing Member
Kathy,
I would really like to see those floor plans, but large enough to read them. I can expand them but they aren't clear enough to read.
Thanks.
I would really like to see those floor plans, but large enough to read them. I can expand them but they aren't clear enough to read.
Thanks.
Go to the footnote on that page. It takes you directly to the floor plan of the house with additional interior pictures. In case you can't get the footnote to work it is at this link:
Southern Style House Plan - 6 Beds 6.5 Baths 9360 Sq/Ft Plan #20-2173
This southern design floor plan is 9360 sq ft and has 6 bedrooms and 6.5 bathrooms.
www.houseplans.com
ETA: I've taken some license. The shutters are the ones in the chapter above that have the "arrow slit" in them. The hidden storage designs are things that I've found online that we're thinking of incorporating at our primary BOL.
ETA2: Just remember it doesn't look that nice for Mina. The house has been her family's dumping ground since her father's great uncle went grief crazy. At this point in the story she has the house relatively cleaned out and most of the stuff she hasn't burned, tossed, or sold is out in the metal barn waiting on her to figure out what to do with it. The third floor attic is lined with tables where she is trying to find all of the matching sets of stuff to decide whether to keep or sale. Other points are coming up in the story, but you'll have to wait. LOL
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Chapter 60
Ha! Taylor’s wife now works in the daycare center that City Hall has set up for their employees. She’s already a mover and shaker with that crowd but she’s also corralled because her immediate supervisor is a daughter-in-law of one of The Girls. Yep. A woman whose personality is stronger than hers. That isn’t the sound of hypocrisy dripping from my own strong personality, that is relief. At least she is out o’ my hair and she no longer tells me how I am ruining the twins socially because they aren’t in school with their peer group. That socializing vs. socialization argument always gave my parents heartburn and I am no different.
Anywho, back to what we do with the junk … sorry, the “abandoned property” … from the foreclosures. Small engines and the like I get Junior to pick up to use for spare parts for Maynard’s shop. We get away with that because “it lowers the cost of repairs in the community.” It also fits in with the new recycling mandates. I take food and gardening supplies like I explained. Sometimes I take paint if it isn’t gross or some gawdawful color. Same for wood stain.
Household repair stuff also goes into the do-I-keep-it-or-donate-it pile. Depends on what it is and if it is still useable. If it is wall putty that is rock hard, it gets tossed in the trailer we take to the dump. We try and have as little of that as possible but some people hold onto the most senseless stuff worse than Martin Musgrove did.
Dishes and other kinds of housewares we donate to area churches and emergency shelter agencies, some of them in other counties because they have bigger agencies and more people that they are serving compared to our poor, little county that stays poor and little on purpose, at least as far as outsiders are aware. Antiques? That’s a tough one. Sometimes I’ll keep something and sometimes guilt makes me turn it over to Mrs. Padfield who puts it in a antique shop under a secret vendor numbe. If it sales, the firm gets to recoop some of the expenses that aren’t covered by the foreclosure contracts.
Blankets, towels, and other linens go to homeless shelters. Clothes go to local church “closets” or shelters. We don’t play favorites of who gets what and we try not to overburden anyone of them with too much which might make them a target. However, if there is a real need and we know about it, we do try and direct the need in the correct direction as it were. Baby and kids clothes we try and split evenly. And we try not to give all the size 0 to one place and all of the size XXXL women’s blouses to another. It is a bit of a pain to divvy things up fairly and evenly, but Derek and I try … so long as we don’t get a lot of lip from anyone on the receiving end. Pull that crap and I’ve been known to suddenly forget the directions to your donation drop box.
One thing our church is doing is that they have a clothing “store” that serves the foster care system. Kids earn “credits” for good grades and things like that and then can go on an assigned day of the month and exchange their credits for things they need or want. There’s even a collection of prom and homecoming dresses. There’s a similarly run program starting up at the county’s high school that may take over that program at the church since in all honesty it is a lot of work for the volunteers. The new program will be “kids helping kids” which should help teach morals and life lessons like needs vs. wants. The home ec and graphics arts clubs will be donating community service hours for cleaning and repairing the clothes and shoes before they are put on the floor for “purchase.”
The news is full of stories of community-wide projects like that taking shape. I’m glad. Those stories are needed to offset the trouble that the news reports. Some examples of this are that the government is starting to control the “embedded” journalists that are reporting on the war. Female soldiers are often targets of the enemy and some beyond crappy things happen to them, assuming they don’t simply disappear and get reported as MIA. Both male and female soldiers now must get five-year contraceptive shots (or a “reversible” which are popular and come with a bonu$) before being allowed to graduate from Basic. If they’ve enlisted and refuse, they can be summarily remanded to the brig (or whatever military jail is called). If you are drafted and/or enlist and are caught intentionally failing Basic, you are remanded to a training program or labor program where you will serve out your enlistment. The consequence of getting preggers while in Basic or active duty is doggone stiff including losing your kid until you have served your extended sentence, and the father has automatic pay deductions to do his financial part to take care of the kid. Doesn’t matter if half the offending duo is civilian, consequences are the same. Indigency doesn’t count, either party can be placed in a labor program to pay their way. The same thing happens if you are found unfit for duty without trying. Not a lot of that is happening now that they’ve run through the prison population that were allowed to enlist in place of serving out the remainder of their time in jail. It still happens, but the regular paycheck and benefits for military families means people rarely do it on purpose.
I know I’m grateful for the twins’ bennies. They needed new glasses. Their health insurance covered it minus a co-pay. They needed new orthopedic shoes. Their health insurance covered it, minus a co-pay. They needed a yearly physical. Their health insurance covered it in full. Their pediatrician wanted them to start taking special vitamins because of their size. She said that they were both heading into puberty and their bodies needed to be ready for it. She was also concerned with their digestion as they’d had trouble when they were born, and for a while afterwards. She has them on Floraster for Kids to deal with potential bad bacteria in their gut inhibiting their absorption of nutrients. I’m giving them to Daniel as well. Thankfully their health insurance covers it in full.
I knew all this stuff but for Derek it was an education. He can address almost any emergency-ouch that arises, but prevention is a little different. Babies that are born prematurely can outgrow the immediate effects and then have stuff come back around later in life if they don’t take care of themselves. Part of this can be caused by organs not developing optimally as they grow. Other increased risks are cardiovascular, metabolic, and kidney diseases. Then there are the pulmonary issues like asthma and increased risks from influenza and pneumonia. For now, the pediatrician is willing to help Daniel as a member of the caballeros. She rationalizes it by saying that by protecting Daniel’s health she is also protecting the twins. I don’t disagree with her, but I don’t want Daniel to get the idea that it is the only reason why we are doing it. He has enough self-esteem problems; I don’t want something completely untrue adding to them.
Chapter 61
When Junior overheard me reminding the caballeros to take their vitamins one morning, he asked me about it and then took it to his mom and stepdad and Rosie gets “the treatment” as well.
“Yeah, yeah. I was a knothead,” Junior told me with a laugh the one time it came up. “But …” He looked over at Rosie and scratched his head. “That thing you and Derek say. They make you a better person. It’s that.” I’m thinking that Junior really likes being a big brother, instead of the unwanted younger half-brother, and maybe that was something missing from his life. His mom did better than average as a single mom, but Junior seems to be doing a lot better with Maynard and Rosie now part of his immediate family.
I think I’m doing better with Derek and Daniel in my life. I would have lived for the twins for as long as it took and beyond, but Daniel just “fits” with the twins and Derek gives me someone to talk to that I can trust and respect. He doesn’t replace Mitchell and Dad … but he does fill a hole that was there. A hole I am grateful that is no longer gaping and painful.
“So I am a brother figure to you.”
I flapped the dishtowel at him that I had been folding after cleaning up from my latest farmers’ market finds. “We’ve had this discussion a couple of times. You aren’t, I’m just not ready for anything else either. You make things better … easier … being here, but they could get complicated real fast if I’m not careful and … I’m not ready for complicated, or to explain it to the twins. You ready to explain that kind of stuff to Daniel?”
He opened his mouth for an automatic response of some kind, but nothing came out. He closed his mouth slowly, gave it a thought, then said, “Maybe not right this second, but I can see it being okay at some point. And maybe not too far from now. What about you? How not-ready are you?”
“The problem is that I am the girl part of the equation that I can see. And the girl part thinks, ‘Oh yeah baby, I’m ready, bring it on.’ Especially when you were in that suit that Mr. Dayton brought you to wear to that hearing in Jacksonville on his behalf. But I’m more than just ‘a girl.’ I’m me with all my responsibilities and trying to get that part and the girl part working together gives me the green Willie’s.”
“The what?” He laughed.
“Like when you ride the tilt-a-whirl one too many times. And when I overthink it, it feels like I’ve ridden the tilt-a-whirl a few too many times. I wish I had a timeline, it might settle the green Willie’s down, but I don’t. Sorry.”
I turned away but he grabbed my arm and stopped me. “Don’t be sorry. This is me being a guy, because you’re a girl … the girl … and it makes me want to push. Or at least need reassurance. But let’s leave the tilt-a-whirls out of it. That’s one ride I don’t want to take.”
It made me laugh. Derek may look like a hot-hot-hot pirate in a suit, but that’s the last thing he is. No Bluebeard for me. And yeah, maybe one day. Maybe sooner rather than later. And “maybe” may be just a rationalizer that I don’t need. But not right now. There’s too much going on in the world, and even in my small corner of it.
Jeepcats27
Senior Member
thank you for the chapters tonight!
sssarawolf
Has No Life - Lives on TB
I am really enjoying all the chapters.
Catshooter
Contributing Member
Thank you Kathy, that is what I was looking for.
feralferret
Veteran Member
Kathy, thanks!
Chapter 62
One of the complications is that the farmers’ markets are really thin right now. Stuff is expensive and what isn’t being purchased almost immediately by food production companies, is under contract to the government so they can feed the military and rebuild the commodity stores that they use to pacify the citizenry under extreme pressure by the worsening economy. The government is talking about price fixing and that is really giving growers and producers heartburn.
There are commercials on the TV and radio about taking some of the pressure off by growing food in containers on the back porch. Bulletins get handed out at school. Schools are creating gardens to grow stuff for their cafeterias and if kids participate in the garden, then they become part of the free-lunch or free-breakfast program, only not because they are on the sliding scale. Students that are on those programs for financial reasons are required to participate, and so are their parent or guardian. People are shocked that nothing is truly free like they used to think it was.
February and March have been not horrible by northern standards, but it has been pretty lean by Florida standards. Last year at this time I was getting a lot more at the markets than what is now available. And even what is available is harder to find and falls under The Limits. I wasn’t doing bad when it was just the twins and I, but adding Daniel and Derek has pinched and makes me wish I had done more preserving when I had the chance. Not that Derek doesn’t pitch in at the grocery store, but he can’t always get away and do the shopping with me, which means I can’t split the effort and double our take home amount. There’s noise that ration cards are going to be the next thing which is going to make it nearly impossible to game the system of the limits.
Since I wasn’t picky I got a wide range of things, just not a whole lot of any one thing: asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, peas, strawberries, English peas, myers lemon, red grapefruit, white grapefruit, key limes, pineapple oranges, honeybell tangelos, temple oranges, Valencia oranges, bell peppers, carambolas (aka starfruit), guava, loquats, lettuce, mushrooms, papayas, peanuts, squash, strawberries, sweet corn, garlic, onions. In March I added more of the same except most of the orange and grapefruit varieties had disappeared.
Another part of my strategy is what my grandmother used to talk about doing when my mother was young and times were lean. I’ve been buying a lot of dry beans whenever I can find them; pinto beans, black beans, great northern beans, Lima beans, 16 Bean Soup Mix, kidney beans, navy beans, black eyed peas, cranberry beans (that was a new one on me and was on sale because no one else seemed to know what they were either), lentils (all of the colors even the funky red ones), split peas in yellow and green. Regardless of the limit, I always got the biggest bag they had. Same for rice, flour, sugar, cornmeal, yeast, and all the other staple items. I bought the bags of ends off bacon and hams to use to flavor the beans with. I was also glad that I had been buying all the bouillon that I could all along; beef, chicken, ham, vegetable, in cubes, in packets, in bottles of crystals. I even saved the flavoring packets out of ramen noodles when I didn’t need it right away.
Derek’s big contribution is that he contributed two cows. Not the kind I have to feed and take care of, but the kind that goes in the freezer. I’m canning and freeze drying things as quickly as possible - I have a canner going nearly every night - but I’ve also left some steaks in the freezer and pray nothing goes wrong with the power. The reason why Derek was able to afford the cows was because the seller needed to lower his inventory as feed is getting outrageous, or so he said. And most people can’t keep a freezer up and running because of the brown outs. Life is so ever loving complicated but there is the occasional benefit.
When I get home from the grocer with the beans, I put half in dry storage with bay leaves to keep the weevils out, and the other half I cook, then use some for dinner and put the remainder in the freeze dryer. I apologized to Derek.
“I’m sorry. I know you are used to eating burgers and chicken sandwiches a lot of the time, but meat is getting really expensive and rationed out the whazoo, so I want those frozen cows to last as long as possible.”
He was in a good mood. He’d closed a case without having to take it to court and cost the client a lot of money. It was a family squabble and by the end of mediation they were remembering how close they were as kids and how it was a shame that blah, blah, blah. It’s not that I don’t care but it brings up stuff I’d rather not think about.
Derek must have read my mind. “Stop worrying about it. The other and the meat. However you pull it off, we are getting more than Taylor is. His wife only allows it one meal a week and money isn’t the issue. She’s really pushing the government line of meatless meals to support the troops and protect the environment.”
I tried to not let my opinion of Taylor’s wife show. “That’s all fine and dandy as long as she is still making sure that everyone is getting all of their nutritional needs.”
He snorted. “I doubt it. Taylor is picky and he doesn’t trust vitamins or supplements. He almost had a coronary at the very idea of even trying the Tuna & Bean sandwiches[1] you made the kids and me yesterday. He don’t like beans. He claims they give him gas and he refuses to take Beano. He won’t eat leftovers either for that matter.”
“Then what are they eating?”
“Lots of instant mashed potatoes with canned gravy, carrots, green peas, and corn. They’ll get Mac ‘n cheese that has the squeeze cheese instead of powder if she can find it on sale and it isn’t a store brand.”
Okay, people are weird and that’s all I’m saying.
What I also did in February was to start to plant the garden that I have been planning. Dad was fond of saying measure twice, cut once. He used this like a homily. It means do your planning upfront, double check it, and you will make a lot fewer mistakes in the doing. I can’t even hint at him being wrong about that, and I’m glad I’m practicing it as well.
I planted beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, Chinese cabbage, collard greens, cucumbers, endive, kale, lettuce, romaine, kohlrabi, mustard greens, green onions, English peas, peppers, potatoes, radish, tomatoes, turnips in February; and in March I planted bush beans, pole beans, lima beans, cantaloupes, carrots, collard greens, sweet corn, cucumbers, eggplant, endive, lettuce, romaine, kohlrabi, mustard greens, okra, green onions, English peas, black eyed peas, peppers, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, radish, summer squash, winter squash, tomatoes, turnips, watermelon.
It has been a long time since I’ve done this kind of gardening but Mom and Memaw never complained when Mitch and I did work for them. Kinda gives me a satisfaction in something I’ve felt was missing. Maybe. We’ll see. I just hope to high heavens that I’m not wasting time or money doing this.
[1] Tuscan Tuna-and-Bean Sandwiches
Chapter 63
Gotta say that April has been kinda over the top crazy. Not all of it necessarily of the good kind. Started out having to expand the garden to get planted what I needed to: cantaloupe, bush beans, pole beans, lima beans, sweet corn, cucumbers, eggplant, mustard greens, okra, black eyed peas, peppers, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, summer squash, several different varieties of tomatoes, turnips, several varieties of watermelon. I don’t suppose that is a particularly bad thing in and of itself, I was just busy and things seemed to go downhill from there.
Fuel is getting expensive rationed. We can only go on “our” day of the week … on Monday and “M” for Musgrove. So far they aren’t limiting the amount you can buy so every Monday at daybreak Derek and I take our cars and several gas cans each and fill them up to the top. Then we drive back home and dump all the cans into the fuel storage containers, and syphon three-quarters out of the cars and do the same thing with it. On Monday afternoon at lunch, we take our cars and do the same thing at a different gas station. This time we leave our tanks full and pour the cans only into storage. For the rest of the week we use the minivan to drive to and from work in, except on the weekends when it depends whether we are having to work a foreclosure or if he is working in the office and I’m running around doing the shopping. Sometimes we do one, or both, together. For some weird reason Derek gets a kick out of it when we can work things out that way. I don’t mind the muscle but I wonder what he gets out of it. Maybe it is distraction from everything going on.
Mr. Barnes had … I hate to even say it … but he has had some mini strokes. He had some kind of systemic blood infection. And that came from an infection he got from the treatment he was on after the tumor surgery and heart attack. He’s been eating crap for years and the fat and carbs had coated the inside of his arteries with plaque and somehow the infection had joggled little pieces of it loose. I can’t tell beyond the changes in him from the heart attack. Derek says he can tell that his uncle’s memory isn’t what it used to be. He’s kinda young to be experiencing that stuff … only about the age Uncle would have been had he outlived his autoimmune disease. More than sad, but Mrs. Padfield said that with therapy his brain can rewire itself and if he is otherwise healthy, he can go back to work. Just not right now. (Derek is taking over his local clients and Taylor continues to deal with the stuff from Jacksonville and whatever else Dayton gives him to do.)
The bigger problem is getting that therapy, and getting the antibiotics he needs to fight the infection. For now, his cancer treatment team is relying on the infectious disease team to get the medication he needs. He’s able to take it at home but only because he has an LPN that is now living in and helping Mrs. Padfield take care of him, otherwise there was a strong possibility that he was going to have to go live in a skilled nursing facility. My understanding, after Mrs. Padfield needed someone “in the family” to vent to, is that Mr. Barnes pitched a royal fit and said he was going to refuse any and all future treatments if they tried to do that to him. She got him calmed down and let him help her come up with a compromise even though she kinda guided him to seeing things her way by making it seem like maybe it was his idea to start with.
She has a nephew from her first marriage, that also happens to be a nephew to Mr. Barnes. He isn’t able to pass the military physical as he has really, really bad eczema and a couple of other autoimmune issues. (Shades of Uncle but that’s not my problem to worry about.) He’s got about half of his RN degree but had to take a break from school to address the eczema, and due to his medical bills has had to pust off finishing that degree. He does however have his LPN degree (AS), after starting out as a CNA. He has also kept up with several emergency medical certifications like wilderness first aider, which is how Charles and Derek know each other. Plus, they were in Scouts together as boys. Even though they are both nephews, they aren’t cousins. The family tree is complicated.
That covers Mr. Barnes and his situation, which is ongoing. Now comes lots of other crap.
First off, the use of gold, silver, copper, or any other precious metals is now illegal for bartering and currency. You must have a special permit to use it for industry of some type - like Maynard does, or the dentists for braces and fillings and things like that. You can no longer buy or sell gold legally if you are doing so as a single item. Jewelry is even problematic as jewelers must have permits as well so anyone selling high quality jewelry get goosed by the government on a regular basis. Pawn Shops must get all kinds of ID from you for most anything these days, but they treat jewelry about like they do guns.
Additionally, if you try and get gold from foreign sources, the presidential war powers allow you to be arrested until it can be determined if you are committing treason or are an enemy combatant or anything along that order. If you are caught buying, selling, or bartering precious metals the same thing will happen and your assets are going to be frozen until after your trial. They are offering a bounty on people breaking this law, so people get ratted out pretty regular if you believe the news. They are also using forms of entrapment to catch people doing this. There is a significant amount of screaming and hysteria over this but since Congress officially declared war, not much hope of it making it to the Supreme Court to stop it.
People were given one week to turn their physical precious metals into the government. Each day they waited, the return on their exchange went down. Foreign entities or people that held physical gold in the US had only three days to come get their precious metals or it would be confiscated under the war powers. Those that were storing such things in the US had to face two issues. First, just getting a pass from their location to travel to the US wasn’t always easy or possible. Second, many other countries have been demanding their citizens return all precious metals to their homeland, and if not that many places like France have a 95% tax rate on it if you have a certain personal value over some amount.
The US government made clear that it isn’t illegal to hold precious metals, but they were serious about them only being collectibles and not a form of currency or barter. ETFs of precious metals could be rolled over into a different investment but, just like with the government exchange, the longer you waited, the less the ETF was worth. ETFs inside people’s retirement and/or investment accounts were exchanged without their say-so at the order of the government. Many pawn shops have closed because of the hassle and oversight, but there used to be one or two reliables still open. However, now most of the ones around here have shuttered their doors and closed shop until further notice. Same with many coin collecting vendors. There were rumors that this was already happening at flea markets and the like; this only proved the rumors were true.
Jeepcats27
Senior Member
Thank you for the new chapters! It is scary sometimes how close to real life you get!
larry_minn
Contributing Member
If you contact one of the people that replied under 14. You could have them insert this above their comment. *or I am sure most would gladly remove their comment to help you keep the flow of story. Heck i will look but I doubt I have one. If I do..
I don’t but there are 3 possible folks you could ask.
Chapter 64
Additional rules said you cannot deposit PMs in your bank accounts, they had to go through the government exchange first. You cannot store them in bank vaults or similar type security vaults either. The government now checks all security deposit box contents to check for contraband. If the owners did not leave proof that they were citizens and/or with a valid social security number then the contents is taken into possession of whatever government department the investigation falls under. Yeah, I know, holding PMs isn’t supposed to be illegal but apparently the government doesn’t trust its citizens. Many banks simply stopped offering the service. That’s what happened to Derek. Derek had to empty his box and I showed him one of the wall safes for him to use as his own and gave him the combination and key for it.
“Na, na, na … don’t tell me the combination!” I said with my hands over my ears when he tried.
“Mina … some of this belongs to Daniel. If something happens to me …”
I nearly kicked him, “I don’t want to hear that either. Nothing is happening to you. Period.”
He took my hand. “Mina …”
“Nope. I know what you are going to say. No one knows what tomorrow brings. Well, I’ve been through that too many times. So nope and nope. Got it?”
He let it go. I know I sounded childish but after the news of Mr. Barnes, I just wasn’t feeling up to being mature on the subject. I was already more mature than most people my age had to be. Except for maybe the young soldiers on the battlefield. But to be honest there have been days I felt like I was living my own personal war.
We’d already been forced to divest of the PM ETFs inside the Estate because of some tax law or other. If we hadn’t the estate’s value would have gone over some line and the death/estate taxes would have been astronomical. Mitchell had been doing all that way back before he went to Basic, and I was too young and dumb and numb at the time to be part of that decision making process. The “collectible” coins we have that Dad gave us every year for our birthdays are hidden in the safe, in the bedroom closet wall. I never explained all that to the twins, so I don’t have to worry about them blabbing anything accidentally. Derek admitted to having some of those “collectible coins” from his mother and grandfather on that side, so he understood. He also understood that there are some things I don’t talk about to prevent the twins from having to lie or get stressed out. It is the same rationale that he uses when it comes to some stuff with Daniel.
The garden kept me hopping when I wasn’t at the office. I wound up having to put up deer fencing around the entire expanded garden plot to keep garden-eating monsters out that were wasting all of my work now that they’d discovered what they thought was a buffet. I only got it because it was at one of the foreclosures because anything metal or aluminum is in short supply and expensive as all get out. Mr. Dunst helped with that in exchange for being allowed to move his travel trailer onto an old cabin site in the middle of the pine trees. Dad’s parents tore it down but only capped the well and septic. I told Mr. Dunst he could reopen them so long as it was just going to be him and his grandson that is intellectually challenged and that it didn’t become a health dept issue. He was embarrassingly grateful.
“Mr. Dunst, I know loyalty when I see it. Dad always had good things to say of you. And you could have run me over when I first moved up here but instead you helped and guided me more than I had any right to expect. And Tory is a good guy. He won’t cause trouble. So why shouldn’t I do something when I can?”
I know Dad would have done the same thing. I am not on as good a footing with the farm that rents the pasture and grazing land but Derek is and with him living here, they haven’t been as disapproving. Which is really bizarre if you think about it. Derek and I are living together. Nothing is happening of course, but people could assume, and some do. Yet people think its better that he lives at the Homeplace like it is some kind of sacrifice on his part. I suppose I could act butthurt but it is a waste of time. I could care less about what people think now that I have full custody of the twins. The only reason I even brought it up is because Derek does care.
Chapter 65
Towards the end of April I was just getting burnt out. So many things were getting worse, and if not worse, certainly more challenging. For instance, take the “confrontation” I was in around Tax Day. It was our fifth foreclosure of the month already and this time it was the daughter of a local and not just one of the recent-moves … and recent in this area of the state can mean anything less than fifteen years. The only reason I’m not treated the same way is because I’m a Musgrove and my parents and grandparents were known to the community. There’s even an old lady at church that calls me “one of Ol’ Martin’s family”. She remembers him, and she was a little girl then either.
Back to the “confrontation”. Deputy Duff was more than a little cheesed off with the woman sitting in the back of his cruiser in handcuffs still kicking up a fuss, though it looked like she was about to switch to crying to see if that moved things more her way. She’d belted him a good one too. His lip was swollen, and chin scratched where she’d taken a swing at him with her long and shellackeds. The chin scratch was because of the butterfly that had been glued to the ends of each of her nails that were as false as her double D’s. I was trying to explain that she’d come up and just power pushed me off the porch from behind when the neighbor across the road (his wife had been eyeing us all morning) interrupted my story to say, “I’ve known Cindy Rae her entire life. I cannot believe how she’s been acting. Her Daddy tried to tell her that three million she won in the lotto would not last long if she kept spending it the way she did, and on what she did, but would she listen? Hardly. That husband of hers finally getting fed up and taking his half of what was left and moving to Kentucky just tipped her over the edge I suppose. You really want to know what all she’s been up to you need to talk to her Momma and Daddy. Nicest people you’d ever want to meet. They had to evict her themselves a couple of days ago. If I’m lying, I’m dying. Ask the preacher. He did that mediation thing with the family but it didn’t stick. To think of her poor parents’ heartbreak.”
“Sir!” Duff said, finally forcing a word in edgewise. “We’ll let the DA and lawyers hash that out. I can only deal with this current situation. And since it looks like rain, I won’t take your time up.”
“Oh Lord, look at them clouds. I’m sorry Son, I can’t stop an ‘hep ya though it’s obvious you need it. I have to move some bales around. But you can put my name on that report if someone needs clarification. I’d be happy to talk to that DA you mentioned when I’m not so busy.”
“Yes Sir. I will Sir.”
After the man was far enough not to hear anything, Duff muttered, “Good gawd almighty, people are losing their minds. You need an ambulance, Mina?”
“You need one for your busted lip?” I asked so that he’d understand I found the question insulting. Yes, I was dented but I wasn’t mangled enough for hospitalization.
He snorted then asked, “Can you get Derek settled down? I need to call this in … again. We’ve already had one run in with the woman today at the bank.”
“Why do I always get the jobs nobody else wants?” I said being a smart aleck.
“Lucky that way I guess,” Duff said back with his own bit of smart aleckiness.
Duff and I understand each other. He was the Process Server for the entire county after the County Sheriff lost their similar position and haven’t filled it. It used to be a rare responsibility. Now Duff is serving papers as much as he is investigating crimes, maybe more.
It took more than a few minutes to calm Derek down, but I nearly kicked him when he started turning me this way and that. “Are you going to inspect my teeth next?” I snaped.
“I should inspect your head! Why did you just stand there and let her push you off the porch?!”
“For your information I did not let her push me off. I didn’t even see who it was until I was on the ground and looking back where I’d been. I thought one of the kids was running on the porch.”
“You thought … ?!”
“If you don’t stop breathing like you are going to have a cardiac arrest, I am going to take you to the Walk In. Your face is starting to turn a funny color too. Now settle down before you make the kids laugh. You look like you are doing the hamster dance the way you are stomping around.”
He looked like he was balling up to be righteously PO’d when he just deflated. “Don’t teach them that mouth. I’m barely holding my own against one of you.”
“Okay, deal. Don’t teach them to do the hamster dance.”
“I was not doing the hamster dance.”
From the unbroken section of porch railing Daniel said, “You kinda were Uncle Derek. You looked like this.” He proceeded to mimic his uncle in high dudgeon.
“I did not look like that. Did I?”
Nat, trying hard not to giggle said, “You kinda did.”
Knox said, “Oh that’s nuthin’. Dad could make a lot more noise when he thought someone was threatening the family. He could make the leaves on the trees shake and fall off so Derek ain’t so bad.” Before I could say ain’t isn’t a word he added, “Now come on. Let’s finish moving the cleaning supplies and that other junk. These masks and goggles are getting hot, and my hands are sweating inside these gloves. I don’t want powdered prune fingers again on top of a crazy lady busting the window out of Deputy Duff’s police car. I hear a MOC calling my name and that doesn’t happen until we can get home.” The other two caballeros agreed wholeheartedly.
About that time there was a crash and Duff started using language I didn’t even know he knew.
# # # # # # # # # #
Chapter 66
In obvious frustration Derek said, “That’s not a self-defense class.”
“Sure it was. I learned to shoot didn’t I? And hit what I was aiming at. I’m pretty good at it now that I’ve got all the practice Mrs. Shepherd insisted on.”
“That’s not the kind of self-defense I’m talking about Mina,” Derek said using a tone of extreme patience. The kind Mitchell used when he was bound and determined that I was going to do something his way. Like I could be the mountain, but he was the stream that eventually created the Grand Canyon.
“I am not boxing material,” I told him. “I’ve been in two, count them two, physical fights and neither one of them really count because I got my butt handed to me both times.” Before he could ask, “The Frell sisters and this one.”
“Are you trying to give me a migraine on purpose?” he asked, aggrieved.
“Not especially.” I stopped messing since he refused to be put off and said, “I don’t want to fight. Obviously, I’m not good at it.”
“I don’t want you to fight either. The very idea gives me chills and acid reflux from hell. But I also don’t want to see you as … as vulnerable … as you are. I can’t be around all the time. And even if I am … look at what happened today!”
“Oh you are not trying to take the blame because the Double D Divorce’ lost her lotto winnings… and apparently her morals right along with it. Derek, today was in no way your fault.” I was trying to be reasonable but he wasn’t cooperating.
“She came up on my blind side,” he said playing the wretched guilt man card. “I should have …”
I had to stop him. I couldn’t stand it. Worse than being guilted for something I actually did. “Oh for Pete Sake. Fine. I refuse to believe today was your fault. But fine. I’ll ask Mrs. Shepherd. She’ll likely know of one that will meet your qualifications.”
Taking another approach Derek explained, “Mina … I really don’t want you to get into fights. But … if it happens, I want you to know how to defend yourself. The world is turning into even more of a crap fest than it already was. You know how life can come at you from left field. And I hate to mention it …”
“I know. The caballeros. Is that why you were acting so crazy and dancing around like …”
He squawked. “I was not doing the hamster dance!”
“Uh … you kinda were.”
# # # # # # # # # #
Needless to say, by the end of the week I was signed up for a women’s self-defense class Mrs. Shepherd’s cousin taught, the one that is a State Trooper. The only good thing was proving to Junior that I was too taking such a class by flipping him into a mud puddle.
Of course Rosie kinda put a cherry on it by showing up and saying, “Please don’t hurt my brother. He said he’d teach me to ride his old ten speed. He won’t be able to if you break him. And Momma won’t have anyone to take the recycling off ‘cause I can’t drive just yet.”
Then Junior climbs up out of the puddle like he does it every day and jams his muddy hat on and says, “Ain’t no place you need to go that I can’t take you. You ain’t riding with no boy until you are 42 and that’s my final offer.”
Oh brother.
# # # # # # # # # #
Chapter 67
April was just a pile on from beginning to end. One thing right after another. Rationing was getting tighter and there were shortages all over. The converter went out on the solar and getting a replacement nearly gave me a coronary because I hadn’t budgeted for that kind of repair making me have to rearrange all the budgetary bookkeeping I’d just finished doing the month before. Twelve foreclosures, a bunch from a trailer park and all the paperwork and etc. that went along with them. Groceries were going sky-high when you could find what you wanted. I had a flat tire coming home from the one good farmer’s market I found which was another ding to the budget. A bully broke Daniel’s finger at school and I don’t know which of us was going to stomp the little snot first … only it turned out to be Knox by a nose when he ratted the bully out that he’d brought pictures to school from his brother’s phone that the brother’s girlfriend had given him, and you can just imagine what those looked like. Boys had been paying him to see them.
“Not me!” Knox yelped. “Who wants to see some gross girl’s oversized privates when she’s already been showing them around the high school and middle school too!?”
“And how exactly do you know this?” I asked him, daring him to lie.
“‘Cause the girls at church call her words you’ve promised to give me a swirly in a dirty toilet if I ever use. Don’t believe me, then ask Nat.” Good Lord as Mrs. Padfield is prone to say when she is in a certain mood.
And then when I found stink bugs in the garden, I’d had all I could take.
Derek had come home early on my one day off that week because Taylor had shut the office down after the last client. Shocked I was. Of course, I wasn’t there to fotch and carry or bring in any special dessert so it probably made sense to him. So anyway, I’m outside snorting and snarling and generally acting like a Musgrove and telling God that stink bugs on top of everything else was just not fair. I mean I was carrying on a real conversation and was pretty much not caring who was listening.
“Now who is doing the hamster dance?” Derek asked with a grin.
I turned on him and said, “You better hope I don’t turn it into an Elephant Stomp and you be a target.”
“Oh. That kind a day is it?”
“You mean besides the fact that it’s official and Daniel must not react well to pain meds because he has run into a door frame about six times just trying to move from Point A to Point B and I’ve had to tape his glasses twice because I can’t find the tiny screwdriver to tighten the legs again?”
“Er …”
“Stink bugs! There’s stink bugs in my garden! Where the heck have those little demons from the River Styx come from?! I’ve been doing everything Mom did and she never had stink bugs in her garden!”
“Take it easy. We’ll get some spray.”
“I’ve already got spray. And used it. And picked off the ones I’ve found and put them in a jar to send to the gas chamber. I’ve judged them guilty and they are going to pay!”
He muttered, “Assuming they don’t die of fright at your expression first.”
“Excuse me?!!”
“Uh … I’ve got tickets to the Georgia State Fair from a client. Wanna go? We’ll take the kids and make a day of it.”