Story Catcher Cove

ncsfsgm

Contributing Member
Chapter 25


Bob Dennison watched as the Cat K2 dozer shaved and tamped the berm while a loader dumped fresh buckets of soil where the dozer operator wanted them. They were making 6’ berms down the sides of each range. The intermittent rains made the soil moist enough that the driver was able to pack the soil firmly. With safety procedures in place and followed, they shouldn’t have anyone shooting over the berms. He turned as Winnie spoke to him.

“The garden club and the nursery are donating Asiatic jasmine for the berms.” Winnie said.

“That’s a lot of plants,” Bob said.

“Actually, the nursery will be hydroseeding the seeds. The plants are drought resistant, and deer don’t like them,” Winnie said.

“That’s good. I certainly wouldn’t want the shooters to have to run the grazing deer off the range before firing. I’m getting hungry, let’s go grab some lunch,” Bob said.

“Sure. Crabb & Company have a BBQ plate on special today,” Winnie replied.

“Sounds good,” Bob said.


“Come on Sweetie. Let’s go out to lunch,” Jim said.

Katie jumped up from her desk and grabbed her jacket.

“Where are we going?” Katie asked.

"Crabb’s has a BBQ plate special I want to try out,” Jim replied.

“I want to get some of those gator bites and fried catfish!” Katie said.

“Whatever you want, Honey.”

The parking lot was plenty full when they got there, and the seating left consisted of a picnic style table. They took a seat, ordered the iced tea, and looked at the menu. Jim ended up ordering the special and Katie ordered the fried catfish plate and a side of gator bites for two to share with her Uncle Jim. The waitress brought out their tea and the basket of gator bites when a couple came in and asked if they could share the table. Jim said, “Sure” and noticed the man was dressed in a forest service uniform. He glanced down at the pistol he carried on his left hip and commented, “I notice a slight burr on your pistol. If you’d like to get it taken out, I could do it for you.”

“Yeah, last week, I was down at the marina and one of the boaters lost control of his sailboat mast in a wind gust and it caught me. I dove to the side, but the mast came down on my hip.”

“You were lucky. Have you fired the weapon since then?”

“No, I haven’t. I’ve been waiting until the range complex is finished so I could use it when it opens.”

“Range complex?” Jim asked.

“Yes, we’re opening a range in the Wappapello State Forest. They are finishing up the work in a week or two. Are you a gunsmith?”

“Something like that. I’ve got all the FFL tickets to build, sell and maintain guns, and design parts for guns.” Jim said, handing Bob a business card.

“You know, if you were to make yourself available, especially on the weekends, when the range is open, you could probably pick up some easy beer money from the shooters with gun problems.” Bob said.

Jim chuckled. “Money isn’t something I am short of, but I could probably come and help out with problems they run into,” Jim said.

“I’m sure they would appreciate it," Bob said.

“Just where is this range located?” Jim asked.

Bob looked in his phone notes and wrote down the GPS coordinates of the range entrance road.

“I hope this helps, if not here’s my phone number. I’ll call you and see when you can check my pistol out,” Bob said.

“You can bring it over any time. I have nothing but time on my hands these days,” Jim said.

They finished up their lunch, and Katie and Jim had a bowl of banana pudding for dessert. Winnie and Bob left, and Jim and Katie sat and enjoyed the pudding. Jim received the bill and was getting up to pay it when Katie squealed “SHAYLYNN!” and went running toward a woman walking toward their table from the back of the restaurant.

The woman grinned as Katie grabbed and hugged her, the woman hugging her back. Jim looked at the pair, puzzled.
“Uncle Jim! Don’t you know who this is?!” Katie said breathlessly.

“No, I don’t believe I do,” Jim replied.

“This is Shaylynn Debois, actress and singer!” Katie said with a hint of exasperation.

“Ma’am, I apologize. My niece can get quite excited at times,” Jim explained.

Shaylynn smiled. “No apology necessary. I’m surprised anyone recognized me here.” Holding out her hand she said, “Hi, I’m Shaylynn Debois, recent transplant and Wappapello Lake resident.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Shaylynn,” Jim said, shaking her hand.

People in the restaurant began stirring and Jim blushed.

“I’ll go pay our bill and get out of here. I think we’ve caused a bit of a stir,” Jim said.

“Yeah, me too,” Shaylynn said.

They paid for their meals and walked outside.

“I apologize for not recognizing a celebrity as yourself, but my niece’s genre in music and mine don’t always match up.”

“That’s okay, I’ve enjoyed my anonymity but occasionally someone recognizes me.”

“Do you live on the lake?” Jim asked.

“No, I have a place near the dam. When I want to get out, I take my kayak over to Eagle Point to launch."

“We don’t live on the lake either, but we have a beautiful creek and a mill pond.” Katie said.

“A mill pond?” Shaylynn, her eyebrows raising questionably.

“Yes, I use it to generate electricity.” Jim replied.

“Oh? Interesting.” Shaylynn said.

“Do you want to come and see it?” Katie asked, excitedly.

“Katie, I’m sure Miss Debois has more interesting things to do.”

“No, I’m serious, I find it interesting,” Shaylynn said. “Could I get your address? I’ll call before I come.”

Katie jumped into the truck, wrote the address down on a piece of paper, jumped out and handed it to Shaylynn. “Please come to see us. I’d like to talk to you about your movie 'Princess Dove',” Katie said.

Shaylynn giggled. “Well! You really are a fan!”

She looked at Jim and asked, “Would Saturday be all right? I take the weekends off from writing.”

“You don’t really have to if you don’t want to,” Jim said.

“Oh, no! I’m looking forward to it. It is refreshing to have such a young fan,” Shaylynn said.

Katie walked with Shaylynn to her Jeep and watched as she drove out of the parking lot.

Jim got in the truck followed quickly by Katie.

“Isn’t she beautiful?!" Katie squealed.

“She’s all right for a girl from Wappapello,” Jim replied.

“Oh, Uncle Jim! You wait! I’ve got her movie on DVD that we can watch tonight.”

“She was in only one movie?” Jim asked.

“Yes. I read in People’s Magazine online that she didn’t agree to some of the things the producers wanted her to do and left California and just disappeared. Did you know she is a real Native American? Or it’s maybe First Nation because she’s from some tribe in Canada.”

Jim drove along listening to Katie drone along, grinning at her excitement.

On the way home, Jim got a call from Bob Dennison asking if he could drop his pistol off that afternoon. Jim told him sure, he was on his way home then. Ten minutes later Jim pulled into the garage. Katie went inside the house and Jim headed to his shop. A few minutes later, Bob parked in the parking area and Jim stepped out of the building. Jim shook Bob’s hand and invited him in. Jim asked Bob for the revolver and was pleased to see Bob clear the weapon and hand it to Jim with the gate and cylinder open. Jim took a receipt book out of a drawer and wrote down the serial number, dated the receipt, and put the time on it, then handed the receipt to Bob and kept the carbon copy. Jim then quickly disassembled the piston and removed the hammer. He inspected damage done to the hammer and checked to make sure it wasn’t bent, then took the hammer over to a garnet grinder and after putting a pair of magnified flip-up safety glasses, began polishing the burr off the hammer. After doing some work with a small file and finishing it off with some fine polishing, he wiped the hammer down with a silicone cloth and reassembled the revolver. Jim got six rounds of .38 Special out of a new box of ammo and handed them to Bob.

“Load it and come over to the shooting barrel,” Jim said.

Bob walked over to the barrel, loaded the revolver, and pointed the into the sand filled barrel.

“Thumb the hammer back each round and see if you can feel any irregularities.” Jim instructed Bob, handing Bob a set of electronic earmuffs.

Bob fired all six shells, thumbing the hammer back each time.

“Nope, can’t even feel where that nick was,” Bob said, shucking the shells into a brass box and reloading with his .357 duty ammo. They walked back over to the chest-high desk and Jim asked for Bob’s receipt back. Jim annotated the date/time the job was completed on Bob’s receipt and his carbon copy.

“What’s the deal with the date/time on the receipts?” Bob asked.

“It’s to cover my own ass,” Jim explained. “The receipts have to match the video recording being taken right now. This place is under video surveillance 24/7. You wouldn’t believe the B.S. ATF pulls when they are trying to go after you.”

“I can understand that” Bob said. “Well, how much do I owe you?”

“Nothing, it was a pleasure, but don’t let it get out I do things for free. I was thinking of setting up a repair trailer and taking it out to your range to fix any problems people have with their guns.”

“Load up on sights,” Bob said. “You’ll probably find almost every complaint will be about needing new sights.”

Jim grinned. “I’ll do that.”

When Bob left, Jim went inside and searched the internet for nearby dealers in cargo trailers. He’d like to have one like a concession trailer and put his own cabinets and workbenches in. He could go ahead and order the equipment and tools he would need and buy the cabinets later to fit or have a cabinet maker build them. An RV air conditioner would be needed and a tongue-mounted generator.
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The three-man team began tailing the target as he left Melbourne Orlando International Airport. The man apparently wasn’t very concerned about security. He didn’t attempt to do any security checks of his car that was left in long-term parking between trips, so they basically knew where he was headed but he did stop at a liquor store on the way to his house on the Indian River. So far, there have been no surprises. This was the third time in the last two months he had flown in to spend four days in the sun.
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ncsfsgm

Contributing Member
Chapter 26

Jim found Poplar Bluff Trailer online and went down to visit them. He was going to treat Katie to some shopping as a reward for passing her grade equivalency test. The dealer didn’t have quite what Jim was looking for, but he showed him a manufacturer’s website where they could order one custom built. Jim looked through the models they could build and picked out an 8.5x18 foot model. It had everything he was looking for including AC and heating, generator platform and stabilizer jacks. He went ahead and ordered it with a promised completion date of three weeks.

Katie wanted an iPad, so they went to the phone store and bought her that, an iTunes card and a Dell Laptop computer. It was all she had wanted so they headed back home. On the way, Katie unpacked the iPad, plugged it in to charge and using Jim’s hotspot, went online and found Shaylynn’s songs. She played them for Jim and sang along as they drove. Jim had to admit she had a wonderful voice, and she sang songs that were more or less ballads instead of the crap that now most played. Katie even Face Timed with Shaylynn before they got home. Katie asked Shaylynn to come over before noon on Saturday because she had a lot to show her. Shaylynn laughed and promised she would be there before 11:00 AM.

When they got back home Jim got out some graph paper and scaled the trailer interior out to decide where he wanted cabinets placed. He had the business card of a custom cabinet maker up near the VFW who said he could build whatever he wanted. When he had the layout he wanted, Jim began ordering grinders, tools, and other equipment he could fit in there comfortably and still have workspace. Rifle and pistol vises were a must, plus a magnified, clamp-on work light or two. He wouldn’t have a lot of power requirements, but he might have to upgrade the inverter and batteries in the trailer. Getting his head back in it, Jim ordered various sights and gun accessories from Midway USA. Once he saw what guns were being used in the area, he could stock up on parts that were the most common. Extractors and springs broke the most, so he ordered a couple of spring kits from Numrich, along with firing pin and extractor blanks. Added to his orders were Hoppe’s Universal field cleaning kits, solvents, oils and patches.

Shaylynn arrived at Asher Creek at 10:45 Saturday morning. Katie ran outside to greet her as Jim waited on the deck. Katie led Shaylynn onto the deck as Jim rose to greet her, offering coffee or tea. She selected coffee and Jim poured her a cup and moved the sugar bowl and the milk pitcher toward her. She drank her coffee black as Katie excitedly told her about the things she was going to show her. Then Katie disappeared into the house, saying she was going to make a cup of hot chocolate.

“So, you are writing now?” Jim asked Shaylynn.

“Trying, it’s something new I picked up after my sojurn into the film industry.” Shaylynn replied.

“Katie said you disappeared after that one movie.” Jim said.

“Well, yes. Producers and Directors expected me to exchange sexual favors for key parts in movies and I wasn’t going to do that.” Shaylynn said.

“I’m sorry you were put in that position,” Jim said. “Katie insisted I watch your movie and I was impressed with your acting abilities.”

“Thank you,” Shaylynn said. “It was with sadness I left my short acting career. I had nothing to look forward to in Canada, so a friend mentioned about Wappapello and that I could become anonymous here. I checked it out, liked the area, and settled.”

“And here you were outed by a 12-year-old girl,” Jim said, grinning.

“Yes, that is so, but she is a darling.”

“That she is,” Jim agreed.

"So, how did she come to be living with you?” Shaylynn asked.

“Her parents were killed in a bridge collapse in Connecticut a few years ago,” Jim replied.

“Oh, my goodness! The poor thing!" Shaylynn exclaimed.

“She recovered well. I just try and give her all the love I can,” Jim said.

“She is fortunate you were there for her,” Shaylynn said.

Katie came out with her mug of chocolate and sat next to Shaylynn.

“Uncle Jim, can I take Shaylynn down to the pond in the side-by-side?”

“Well, I need to go down to check a couple of things. Why don’t you ride your bike down and Shaylynn can ride with me?” Jim asked.

“Okay!” Katie said. "I’ll get you a helmet Shaylynn that you can pull your ponytail through!” Katie said, jumping up from the table.

Shaylynn chuckled. “She’s a real ball of energy, isn’t she?”

Jim grinned. “She is at that. Come on let’s go to the garage.”

Katie met them in the garage where she handed Shaylynn a helmet. She helped Shaylynn put it on, pulling her ponytail through a hole in the back. Shaylynn, in turn, helped Katie pull her ponytail through on her helmet. Katie checked her bike then got on, pulling out, and waiting for the two to follow her. Jim and Shaylynn buckled in and followed Katie down to the mill pond.

Katie led Shaylynn down along the pond to a bench by the penstock, where they were listening to the water race down between Katie’s jabbering.

“This must be beautiful in the summer!” Shaylynn said.

“What made you decide to produce your own power?” Shaylynn asked Jim.

“Because the electrical CO-OP wanted to charge me more for running power into here than it cost to have my system put in. I have solar as backup, but the main power comes from the hydro generator.” Jim replied.

“I’m thinking of putting a gazebo here to have cookouts and such, maybe a hammock or two. It is really restful here with a breeze blowing in the warmer months with the sound of the water lulling you to sleep.” Jim said.

“I can only imagine!” Shaylynn said dreamily.

Jim and Katie switched vehicles and Katie took Shaylynn around to her favorite parts of the property. They finally returned to the house, and while Katie was showing Shaylynn her room, Jim made Hot Chocolate for them all (with Bailey’s Irish cream liquor for Shaylynn and Jim and Irish cream flavored coffee creamer for Katie). Jim brought the tray of drinks into the great room and sat it on the coffee table and waited for the females there. He heard Katie’s familiar footsteps (that awkward gate of a pre-teenager) and they entered the room.

“You have a beautiful home!” Shaylynn exclaimed.

“Thank you. Katie helped add things to make it a little homier.” Jim said.

“Well, you both did a wonderful job!”

“Kati says you are of Native American heritage.” Jim commented.

“Yes, I am Chipewyan.” Shaylynn said.

“Chippawa?”

“No, Chipewyan. Different tribe. Chipewyan are a Northern Athabascan group of Dene.”

“What’s ‘Dene’?” Katie asked.

“Dene is the common Athabaskan word for ‘people’.”

“There are two main groups of First Nation tribes in northern Canada all the way to Alaska, the Dene and Inuit. For the most part they get along well, except for some hunting land disputes.” Shaylynn said. “The Chippewa, also known as Ojibwe, Ojibwa, or Saulteaux live in in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. They are the second-largest First Nations population in Canada. I’m originally from Deni´nu Ku´e´ ("moose island place"), a hamlet in the South Slave Region of the Northwest Territories. The community is situated at the mouth of the Slave River, on the shores of Great Slave Lake."

“Shaylynn, we’re having Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato sandwiches on sourdough bread for lunch, is that okay?” Katie asked.

“That sounds wonderful, Katie!”

“I’ll go start the bacon, Uncle Jim.”

“Okay, thanks Honey.” Jim replied.

“Well, you know the reason for my expatriate status, now what is yours? Katie mentioned you two came from Connecticut.” Shaylynn said.

“Yes. I was a design engineer at an arms manufacturer there. I just got tired of the congestion, Home Owner’s Associations, deceit of if some of the people, and wanted to just get away. I told a couple of good realtors what I was looking for and they found me this property.” Jim said.

“So, you are happy here?” Shaylynn said. “I feel there is more to the story.”

“Well, I wanted a safe place for Katie. Things are getting worse in the country and our government isn’t doing anything to help. If we were to get into a big war, the government has plans to save itself, but hasn’t a plan for the common people, that means anyone who doesn’t have a connection to the government or major political party will have to fend for themselves until the government can get their act together. I’ve tried to come up with something that keeps Katie safe and happy. I haven’t told her exactly what I am doing. I don’t want her to worry. She’s too young to understand right now. And yes Katie is happy too, especially now since you also live in the area.”

“She is such a sweetheart. But she seems like a smart girl too,” Shaylynn said.

They went into the kitchen. Jim got out the lettuce and tomatoes out of the fridge. He began slicing the tomatoes while Shaylynn tore the leaves off the head of iceberg lettuce.

Katie finished the bacon, and got the bread slicing guide out of the pantry, and sliced bread to toast. When everything was ready, each built their own sandwich and sat down with a glass of semi-sweet, iced tea and a handful of potato chips to go with the sandwich.

“OH MY GOODNESS! Did you get this bread at Food Rite?” Shaylynn asked.

Katie grinned. “We baked it Wednesday.”

“You two baked it?!”

“Yes ma’am. I mixed it and Uncle Jim kneaded it.” Katie replied. “We make four loaves a week.”

“It is so good!” Shaylynn said.

“We’re not shy around bread,” Jim said. “Sourdough keeps a lot longer than store-bought bread.”

“What we have left we give to the birds,” Katie said.

“You’ll have to give me the recipe and a bit of your starter so I can build my own.” Shaylynn said.

“If you could come back next Wednesday, I could show you,” Katie said.

Jim chuckled and shook his head. He had a suspicion of what Katie was doing, and strangely, he wasn’t opposed to it, for now.

“I’d like that,” Shaylynn replied.

“Good! We start making the dough at 09:00,” Katie said.

“Have you been back to your old home since you left California?” Jim asked.

“Yes, I headed for there in my motor home and stayed there for a couple of months, but I found I had little in common anymore and decided to head elsewhere and write music. I’ve been here for six months now.”

Katie had disappeared, and Jim excused himself to go check on her. He found her laying on her bed, haven having fallen asleep listening to music on her iPad. Jim opened a bottle of Chardonnay and took it and a couple of wine glasses out to the great room.


Archer tossed the two camouflage tarps on the pile of gear for his last cache site in the Mark Twain National Forest across the lake he would be emplacing tonight. The ten caches he’d emplaced would keep him going a long time, if needed.
 

ncsfsgm

Contributing Member
Chapter 27


Jim and Shaylynn drank a glass of wine and then Jim showed her the shop.

“Oh, I have a pistol, a Walther PPS.” Shaylynn said.

“9mm or .40 caliber?” Jim asked.

“9-millimeter,” Shaylynn replied.

“Well, if you ever have any problems, bring it to me and I’ll fix it for you.” Jim said.

“I like it. When I took the class, I was very accurate with it, but the trigger pull is like 6 pounds, I think they said.” Shaylynn said.

“I can make it easier to pull if you want. Wait a minute,” Jim said, pulling a device out of a drawer that looked like the lower of a pistol. Jim turned a dial to put 5 pounds of pressure on the trigger and handed it to Shaylynn. “Try this. We can find out the trigger pull you’re most comfortable with.”

Shaylynn pulled the trigger. “That’s a little better,” she said.

“Jim dialed it to 4 pounds and had her pull the trigger again. “That’s even better,” she said.

Again, Jim turned the dial and reduced the trigger pull to 3 pounds. She pulled the trigger and said, “That’s perfect!”

“Do you have your pistol with you?” Jim asked.

Shaylynn nodded. “Yes, it’s in my car.”

“If you go get it, I can fix it in a few minutes.” Jim said.

Shaylynn went to get her pistol and already unloaded and had the slide locked back. Jim checked it for himself then disassembled the pistol and took out a couple of parts. Shaylynn watched as Jim polished the parts on the polishing wheel and wiped them down with a silicone cloth. Reassembling the pistol, Jim used the trigger pull gauge, he checked the weight, and it came out to 5 pounds. Jim disassembled the pistol again, checked the parts with a micrometer and polished the parts a little more. After assembly and checking, the weight came to 3.15 pounds. Jim took the magazine from Shaylynn, unloaded her carry ammo, and loaded three rounds of ball he had in the cabinet into the 7-round magazine. He walked her over to the sand barrel and had her slowly fire the three rounds into the barrel.

“That is much better!” Shaylynn exclaimed. “Do you know if there is a range nearby?”

“In another week, a range is opening up in the Wappapello state park north of here,” Jim replied.

“I’ll have to get up there and start practicing again,” Shaylynn said.

Katie had awakened and came out looking for them, munching on a Cashew energy bar.

“Are you hungry?” Jim asked Katie.

“A little,” Katie replied.

“I’ll go start the grill for burgers if you can start putting everything else together,” Jim said.

“Deal!” Katie said.

When they got back in the house, Shaylynn retrieved her wine glass, added a little wine to it and followed Katie into the kitchen. Jim went out and started the grill. When he went to the kitchen, Katie had Shaylynn peeling potatoes as Katie was forming patties from a 2-pound pack of ground beef.

“Katie conned you into peeling potatoes!” Jim said, grinning to Shaylynn. “She hates peeling potatoes. We could have had chips.”

Shaylynn grinned. “Oh, fries are much better than processed chips.”

“I don’t want you to think I tried to take advantage of you Shaylynn. I just didn’t want Uncle Jim to eat potato chips again today and start getting fat.”

Shaylynn grinned and looked at Jim, giving him the once-over. “Oh, I don’t think he looks even close to getting fat.”

“You’ve never seen him sit and eat a whole bag of Salt and Vinegar chips while reading.” Katie said.

“Aw, I don’t do that often." Jim said shyly.

“Just making sure,” Katie said.

Jim got the fry-daddy out and added oil. Katie stirred kosher salt into a bowl of water, added the cut fries and ice, setting the large bowl aside. Jim got his wine glass and bottle and brought it to the kitchen and checked his watch. “We’ve got about ten more minutes before the coals are ready.”

“Katie, I’m surprised you don’t have a dog out here in the country,” Shaylynn said.

Katie’s eyes twinkled. “I was going to ask Uncle Jim, but he has given me so much lately I didn’t want to ask just yet.”

Shaylynn grinned at Jim who just shrugged. “Maybe for her birthday,” Jim said.


Dan was weeding the garden and transplanting some plants from the greenhouse.

His tomato vines had small green tomatoes on them, and the onions and garlic were doing well. The lettuce in the greenhouse was doing exceptionally well. It wouldn’t be long before he would be getting all his salad ingredients out of his garden rather than buying part of them at Food Rite. Dan began preparing his tea drip bottles for the tomatoes. The bottles were just 2-liter soda bottles with some spikes that screwed into the top. The “Tea” was compost tea made from leaching water through compost. The spikes were pushed into the ground next to the tomato plant and the tea drained slowly down through the spike, taking the nutrients to the roots of the plant. He did this once or twice a week. Bees were flitting through the garden, pollinating the plants. He checked the soil moisture in the corn rows and decided they need to be watered. Rolling out the drip hoses, he laid them out and connected the hose from the IBC to the drip hose. He had added several gallons of compost tea to the IBC earlier. The corn was tasseling and could use the extra nutrients. While checking the drip hose, Joe Covington, a local apiarist, came by to check the hive. Dan leased a hive from Joe to pollinate his garden.

“Morning, Dan”

“Morning Joe, how’s it going?”

“Fair to middlin’,” Joe replied. “Do you want to order honey again this year?”

“Yes, I’d like to order a 2-gallon bucket of raw and a 2-gallon bucket of raw with the comb,” Dan said.

Joe grinned. "Got ya a sweet tooth since last year, hunh?”

“To tell you the truth Joe, until last year when I took my first taste of your raw honey, I’d forgotten just how good it was. The stuff you get in the grocery store is nothing as good as raw honey.”

Joe nodded and wrote his order down in his notebook then began inspecting the hive.

“Yeah, the things they make you do to market it just takes the true flavor right out of it,” Joe said. “I’ve been selling most of my honey at the farmer’s markets.”

Dan continued emplacing the tea feeders on the tomato plants, then walked Joe back to his truck.

Dan was filling the chicken feeders and waterers when around 11:30, Holly drove up in her Willys, her red hair in a ponytail and a big paper bag in her hand.

“I hope you have some iced tea made ‘cause I’ve got Chunky Boyz pulled pork sandwiches with slaw, like you like them, and fries.”

“Well, I was going to warm up the pinto beans I cooked yesterday, but I like your idea better,” Dan said, grinning.

They went inside and Holly laid out the food on the kitchen island. Getting out two mini ramekins, she filled the two with catsup and took the tops off the sauce containers provided with the meals.

“So, what brings this on?” Dan asked Holly.

“I was hungry, I didn’t want to eat alone, and I was right there at Chunky Boyz, so I pulled in.” Holly said smiling mischievously.

“Uh hmm,” Dan said, dipping a fry into the ramekin.

They ate silently for a while then Dan took a drink of tea and cleared his throat.

“What are you doing tomorrow?” Dan asked Holly.

“I was thinking of getting my hair cut. Why?”

“I was wondering if you wanted to ride with me to Poplar Bluff to pick out a ring,” Dan replied.

“What time do you want to leave?” Holly asked, breathlessly.

“Come over early and we can have breakfast before we go.” Dan said.

“Or I could stay here tonight, and I could make you breakfast in the morning.” Holly said, grinning.

“As you wish,” Dan replied, dipping another fry in catsup.

“This ketchup tastes different.” Holly said.

“That’s because what you are eating is catsup. Slightly different ingredients and less sugar. I’ll bet you have a bottle of that Yankee commie Heinz ketchup in your fridge. Look at my bottle, I use Del Monte catsup.”

“I thought they were all the same,” Holly said.

“Well, some people interchange the names, but the ingredients are different for each, similar, but different.” Dan replied.


Andy smiled as he stirred the crumbled country ham into the bowl of pasta salad. This was one of his favorite outside meals; pasta salad with a smoked ham, lettuce, and tomato sandwich on farmers bread with Miracle Whip (NOT MAYONNAISE!), and an ice-cold beer.


Katie asked Jim if they could order a Sourdough Starter Crock she found on Amazon. She wanted to give it to Shaylynn as a present. He pulled up the Amazon app on his phone, logged in and had Katie pick out the crock she wanted. Jim selected “Buy now” and because he had Prime, the crock would be there on Tuesday, just in time for their bread baking class.

When the crock arrived, Katie washed and dried it thoroughly and set it aside. She’d wait until Shaylynn was there before putting the starter in so she could show her how to get her batch of starter going. It wasn’t a big thing to Jim, but Katie was thrilled to be able to share experiences with Shaylynn.

Shaylynn had prepared herself for her baking class. She read up on starting cultures and maintaining the starter. She collected many interesting sourdough bread recipes and was looking forward to working with Jim and Katie. Plus, the bread they made was delicious!

“Uncle Jim, do you like Shaylynn?” Katie asked.

“Yes, she is a nice person.” Jim replied, filling the flour container.

“NO! I mean do you like, LIKE her?” Katie asked.

“Katie, you’ve been around me enough, I take seriously any emotional connections. I only go out with a woman if there is a mutual attraction.” Jim replied.
.
Katie squirmed around a bit. “She’s beautiful and you are handsome. I have seen her give you looks when you were not watching, and I have seen you look at her when you think she is not looking. So, what’s the problem?”

“Well, looks are nice, but it takes more than that to build a relationship.” Jim explained.

Thoughtfully, Katie walked to her room.


Shaylynn arrived bright and shiny at 08:55. As soon as Katie heard the gravel crunching, she ran out of the house. Jim had set two large stainless-steel bowls on the island and set two extra cast iron bread pans with lids with the others. The girls came in, laughing and talking. This was going to be Katie’s show, so he let her take charge. She began talking about how to make a starter from scratch, how to feed it, and that you could quicken the process by using starter from another batch. They were going to make their dough first, then Katie had their recipe with instructions printed on note cards that would make two loaves of bread for Shaylynn. Katie instructed Jim on how to weigh and mix the ingredients and just as Jim began to mix everything together, Katie shouted, “WAIT! Uncle Jim, you forgot the ‘Special Ingredient’.”

Katie reached over the mixing bowl and said, “POOF!” And made a starburst gesture with her hand.

“Shaylynn, you have to add Love to every batch.” Katie said. “That’s what makes the bread taste especially good.”

Shaylynn chuckled and said, “I’ll remember that!”

Jim mixed the dry ingredients first with a fork, then switched to just using his fingers. They measured out the water and added it. After mixing thoroughly, Jim let the mixture sit covered for an hour to allow the flour to absorb the water. While waiting, Jim peeled a bag of oranges and Katie ran them through the juicer to make fresh orange juice. When the mixture had autolyzed for an hour, Jim added the sourdough starter and sea salt and worked it into the dough. Instead of kneading the dough, Jim stretched and folded the dough over itself, over and over again. “Covering the bowl with a damp linen towel, Jim placed the bowl on the counter where he knew it would stay around 70 degrees for three hours or when the dough formed bubbles.

“We’ll let the dough rise for three hours or until about six. The longer it rises, the better the flavor will be.,” Katie explained.

Then it was Shaylynn’s turn to do her dough. She stepped up and followed the written and Katie’s spoken instructions and things went much quicker. Once she had her dough rising, she asked, “So, what do you do while we wait?” Shaylynn said.

“Well, for one, I’m going to start cleaning up and by the time I’m finished, I could take the two prettiest ladies on Asher Creek to lunch,” Jim said.

Katie and Shaylynn quickly jumped in and helped Jim clean up the kitchen.

Jim took them to Crabb & Company. They all ordered iced tea and Jim ordered their “Brush Pile” appetizer; a pile of fries smothered with chipotle BBQ sauce and topped with sautéed smoked brisket, onions and bell peppers, then covered with cheese. They slowly ate the appetizer and when the waitress came back, Shaylynn ordered a Pulled Pork Salad, while Katie ordered the Country fried boneless chop, smothered in gravy, with corn on the cob and red potatoes. Jim ordered the Shrimp and Crab Etouffee, with corn on the cob and coleslaw.
 

ncsfsgm

Contributing Member
Chapter 28

Shaylynn was back out at Asher Creek early, having been invited to breakfast with the Collingwood's. After breakfast, the bread dough was taken out of the refrigerators and Jim floured the kitchen island work surface. Katie was in a constant narrative in her role of instructor. Jim gently scraped his bowl out on the surface and patted flour on it and let it sit for 30 minutes, allowing the dough to form a skin that would bake into a good crust. Finally, he cut the dough into four equal parts with a dough scraper and formed each part into a loaf. After lining the cast iron loaf pans with parchment paper, he set the loaves into the pans and stepped aside. Jim handed Katie a single edged razor blade and Katie cut a cross into the top of each loaf.

“I do this for each loaf, in remembrance of Mom and Dad,” Katie explained to Shaylynn.

Shaylynn looked at Jim, her eyes starting to water. Jim placed the lids on the pans and put them in the pre-heated oven, to begin baking.

Then it was Shaylynn’s turn to do her loaves. She was a fast learner and mirrored everything Jim had done. Shaylynn picked up the razor blade and carefully cut designs into the tops of her loaves. When the loaves were ready, they were placed into the second oven. Soon the kitchen was filled with the aroma of baking break. Everyone’s mouths were watering, so they took their orange juice out on the deck to enjoy the morning. Katie kept the kitchen timers with her. Jim had an unopened half-bottle of champagne so he opened it and he and Shaylynn had Mimosas.

Shaylynn and Jim had been lost in thought and conversation when Katie announced that it was time to take the lids off. Shaylynn’s bread still had 15 minutes. They went back inside and Jim pulled the loaf pans out of the oven and took the lids off so the bread could develop a golden crust. A few minutes later they, or rather Shaylynn, took the lids off of her two loaves.

Katie got the butter, bread plates, butter knives, and bread cutting guide out and sat them on the island. As soon as the first loaf came out, Jim took it out of the pan and juggled the hot loaf into the guide for Katie to cut. Katie cut the choice heel off, buttered it and slid the plate over to Shaylynn. “This is the best part,” Katie said, grinning.

Shaylynn gingerly took a bite and agreed it was delicious. A few minutes later, Shaylynn took her loaves out and cut a heel for Katie and gave it to her. They placed the bread on cooling racks and relaxed.

“What was that you cut into your bread?” Katie asked Shaylynn.

“They are symbols of my people,” Shaylynn replied. They are for blessing the land, the heavenly being, and the Dene.

“Is that what your necklace does too?” Katie asked.

Shaylynn reached up pulled the chain around her neck out of her blouse. “This pendent was given to me the first time I left the Dene by the Shaman of the village. It is supposed to protect me and make me wise of the outside world,” Shaylynn said.

“Well, it looks like it worked quite well,” Jim said.

“What kind of stone is it?” Katie asked, fingering the flat stone inlaid in the silver pendant.

I had a gemologist check it out and she said it was an Epidote. Strangely, Missouri and Alaska are two places in North America where it is found. I suppose some Inuit traded it to one of my people at some time in the past,” Shaylynn said.

“I don’t think so,” Katie said, still studying the pendant. “I think it is from Missouri.”

“Why do you say that Katie?” Jim asked.

“Because it brought us all together,” Katie replied.

When the bread had cooled, Jim got out a box of bread bags and bagged the bread.


Jeremy drove up to the gate leading the trucks hauling the two 20-foot cargo containers. He buzzed the gate and Andy let him in. Jeremy directed the trucks to back up to the warehouse and Andy opened up the big door. The building was tall enough that the tilt-bed trucks could easily offload the containers. Once the trucks left, Jeremy explained what was in each container and their use. Andy understood and they sat for a while and drank iced tea and caught up. It wasn’t long before Asher drove up to the dock in his boat.

“Where’s your fish?” Andy asked, grinning.

“Catch and release today, though, if I found a bait of bluegill, I would have kept them.”

“So, how has the fishing been, Asher?”

“It’s good, when I can go. I’ve found it has been better in the early mornings. How are things going with you?”

“Busy as ever, the Marxists and crooks aren’t letting up and neither are we.”

"Is there ever going to be an end?” Andy asked.

Jeremy shook his head and took a drink of tea.

“We have an incompetent government that cannot provide law and order, will not provide for the common defense, meddles in ways that wreck the economy and ruins peoples’ lives, occupies itself ordering you around, banning incandescent light bulbs, trying to ban gas stoves, issuing all manner of micro regulations over your life. This is standard operating procedure with narcissistic incompetents; they can’t solve any problems, but in their unearned self-regard can only blame and bully others in order to maintain their delusion of superiority. It’s nothing but a raw struggle for power, frantically pursued by incompetent lowlife thugs. They will not stop until they are stopped. But we are working on it,” Jeremy said.

"Well, if there is anything I can do, just yell,” Asher said.

“I’m depending on you guys keeping things stable in this area,” Jeremy said.

“Seems there are a few politicians biting the dust lately,” Andy said.

The lives we take are not taken indiscriminately. Unlike the government, we don’t tolerate collateral damage. They aren’t even the worst of the worst, but they are near the top. We will thin them out as we go. We will thin out the shrieking atheists and woke incompetents from the halls of government entirely and set things right. An existential conflict is at hand in this country and in the world. The left has decided it will lie, cheat, and steal to establish the authoritarian oligarchy it wants. For our own sake and that of our children and grandchildren, we must not, and will not submit.

“Well, I’m hoping things turn out for the best.” Archer said.

“Hope is not a plan. If an enemy is trying to kill you, hoping for the best will only get you overrun or killed.” Jeremy said. “After the obese 74-year-old man who had made threats against the (P)resident and was shot 37 times in a pre-dawn raid by the FBI, the warning flags were already there. The FBI refused to say whether or not he was armed, refused to release any video footage, and refused to explain why a pre-dawn SWAT-style raid was necessary for a man who needed a cane to get around at all. It looked more like an execution than an arrest at that stage of things. Before the vans that brought in the federal SWAT team had dispersed back to their staging area, two drones, each carrying an M18 Claymore mine, landed on the roofs of the vans while enroute away from the scene of the crime and exploded. We must be prepared for ever-increasingly frequent and violent depredations by a federal occupying force that has concluded that we will not submit voluntarily so they must use force and coercion to bring the dissenters to heel.”

“It could get really nasty,” Dan said.

“You can’t let the fear of death and the unknown be a part of every decision that you make", Jeremy said. “Not fearing death or failure gives you a lot of options. Have you ever made a good decision while in a state of panic? They exist but are rare and more pure blind luck than anything else. If that is your general modus operandi, you will sink soon enough.”

“Could this be done in an easier way?” Andy asked.

“The easiest way would be a neutron bomb over the capitol building during the State of the Union Address, but time is running out,” Jeremy said. “Gentlemen, As Billy Joel might say, we didn’t start the fire.”

Jeremy stayed a while and then both he and Asher left. Andy sat and thought a while longer before getting up and going to the freezer and taking out a package of Bird’s Eye spinach to thaw. He got out a bag of red potatoes and weighed out 2 pounds and began cutting them into wedges. He filled a large measuring cup with tap water and stirred in kosher salt, poured it over the potatoes, and covered them with water, adding ice to chill the potatoes. He left them sitting on the counter and got out his shallow enameled Dutch oven and a two pound pack of ground beef and broke the beef up into pieces in a large stainless-steel mixing bowl. Chopping up onion and bell pepper, he then used his hands to mix the pepper and onions into the meat; then mixed in garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, four ounces of tomato paste, and an egg. He left the meat in the bowl and covered it. Getting out a stainless-steel pot, Andy mixed more tomato paste, brown sugar, water, vinegar, black pepper, a dash of sea salt, and butter to the sauce and stirred over low heat until the butter melted. Andy formed the meat into a loaf in the Dutch oven, then poured the sauce over the meat loaf and placed the lid on. He put the Dutch oven in the oven to cook at 350 degrees and set the kitchen timer. Getting a Yellowjacket out of the fridge, Andy went out on the shady patio with his beer and timer and lay in the hammock, sipping on his beer, enjoying the slight breeze of the afternoon. He was jolted out of his nap by the timer alarm and quickly got out of the hammock. Taking the empty can and timer into the house, he slid the rack out of the stove and removed the lid from the Dutch oven. Taking a large spoon, he ladled the sauce over the meatloaf and slid the rack back into the oven, for another five minutes. Four more times he repeated basting the meatloaf before he removed the pot and sat it on the stovetop and placed the lid back on. Andy drained the potatoes and patted them with paper towels. Melting butter, he tossed the potatoes in a bowl with the butter and bacon crumbles, then spread them out on a baking sheet and sprinkled them with Parmesan cheese. He placed the potatoes in the oven to roast while putting the spinach in a pot and heated it with butter.

Crystal walked in from the patio and was instantly washed with delicious smells.

“Hello?”

“In the kitchen, Crystal,” Andy responded.

“What ARE you cooking?” Crystal asked.

“Saucy Meatloaf, roasted potatoes and spinach.” Andy replied.

“Are you going to share?” Crystal asked meekly.

“Well, I only cooked two pounds of meat and two pounds of potatoes, but I guess I could share with a pretty woman.” Andy replied.

Crystal grinned and kissed Andy on the cheek. “You’re a sweety. Is there anything you won’t do for me?”

“I won’t grow a beard for you,” Andy said, grinning.

“Well, since I’m not a pogonophile, I’ll let that be,” Crystal said, kissing Andy on the cheek again.
 

ncsfsgm

Contributing Member
Chapter 29


The noise of the seaplane changed as it banked around and set up for a landing in the mouth of Lost Creek. Andy didn’t notice it at first until the sound of the plane’s engine grew louder as it neared the dock. Jeremy and the pilot got out of the seaplane and Jeremy took a large, and apparently heavy case out of the plane. Andy trotted down to help him.

“What the hell is in here? A Ma Deuce?” Andy asked.

“Not quite,” Jeremy said, grinning.

Andy carried the case up to the patio and set it on the picnic table. Jeremy flipped the latches on the case and opened the hinged lid up. In the case laid a rifle Andy had never seen before.

”What is this?” Andy asked.

“This is a Chinese QBU-10 anti-materiel rifle. Captured from pirates in the South China Sea.” Jeremy replied. “With your abilities, I thought it might come in handy some time.”

“I hope not, but thanks for thinking of me.” Andy said, grinning. “What’s it chambered for?”

“12.7x108mm,” Jeremy said. “I have 2000 rounds of match ball, AP, and APHE in the plane for you to play with.”

The scope had a laser rangefinder, and a night scope was included.

“How did you get hold of this?” Andy asked.

“Don’t ask, don’t tell. The PLA has been outfitting the pirates to keep things stirred up in the Spratly Islands and our Navy has had people down there taking them out,” Jeremy explained.

"Are the Chinese about to invade Lake Wappapello?” Andy asked.

Jeremy chuckled. “No, just hang onto it in case things get crazy.”
They unloaded the ammo and put it in the UTV and at the last second, Jeremy handed Andy an envelope. Andy looked at Jeremy and then opened the envelope and unfolded the papers inside.

DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE

Andy folded the paperwork up and placed it back into the envelope. “Thanks.”

“From what I understand, there is a new range complex opening up around here with some 1000-yard lanes. You may want to check it out,” Jeremy suggested.


Jim walked into the house and Katie was talking to someone on the phone.

“Oh, here’s Uncle Jim, just a sec….Uncle Jim, it’s Shaylynn,” Katie said, handing the handset to Jim.

“Hello?”

“Jim, I want to get a different vehicle, something a little more rugged that can take the unpaved roads around here a little better. Could you and Katie ride with me Friday to Cape Girardeau to look for something?”

“I guess so. What time do you want to leave?” Jim asked.

“After breakfast would be fine,” Shaylynn said.

“Well, since our times for breakfast may be different, why don’t you come over and have breakfast with us, say 07:00, and we can leave from here,” Jim said.

“I’ll see you then. Thanks,” Shaylynn said.

"Hey kiddo, you need to double up on your schoolwork. Shaylynn wants us to ride to Cape Girardeau with her Friday morning to look for a new car for her,” Jim said.

“NEAT!” Katie said and went to her room to get ahead of her work.


Dan and Holly had gotten up early, made breakfast, cleaning as they went, and cleaned the kitchen before they left at 09:00. Dan knew right where he wanted to go… Moritz-Reusch Jewelry. The attendants were top notch and catered to Holly like she was a queen. It didn’t take her very long to decide what she wanted. She wanted a nice ring, but nothing too showy. Once she picked out the ring she liked, Holly cried when in the private viewing room, Dan dropped to his knee and asked her to marry him. She accepted, of course. The saleslady was slipped Dan’s card and she left them alone to have some private time while she did the paperwork. Holly used five or six tissues before calming back down. Their next stop was at Cabela’s. No man goes to St. Louis and bypasses Cabela’s. Dan even bought her a pair of cropped jeans with a top she liked. They stayed around for lunch at a Salt + Smoke for some St Louis-style BBQ before heading back to Wappapello.


Bob Dennison rode around in the range cart inspecting the newly completed range. Bob was pleased with what he saw. Eric Hanson, the range manager that had been hired, had made sure everything was top notch. Bob even used the restroom, and everything was clean, even after being used constantly during the last stages of range construction. The concessionaire was stocking up and Bob bought a bottle of cold water from her. Flyers had been placed all over the county and the seven adjoining counties for the Saturday Grand Opening and invited everyone out. Care had been taken to make sure there was plenty of parking areas and the driving areas were well graveled with limestone gravel to keep the dust down. Yes, Bob was pleased with what he saw. He had contacted several of the state’s gun clubs to make sure they were aware of the opening and invited them to set up membership stations near the concession building. Eric already had an area set aside and marked for that.


Shaylynn had breakfast with Jim and Katie before their jaunt to Cape Girardeau. Katie and Jim had already partially cleaned the kitchen so when they finished eating, all they had to do was rinse the dishes and start running them in the dish washer. A quick wipe-down and they were on the road by 08:30, Katie was thrilled to be spending more time with Shaylynn. Katie had brought along her iPod and had Jim run it through the stereo on his truck. Of course, it was a lineup of Shaylynn’s songs. She begged Shaylynn to sing along with her. Between songs, Jim broke in and asked Shaylynn, “Is there a special reason you wanted to look in Cape Girardeau?”

“I saw a listing in a classic car site on the internet. I liked the look of the vehicle, and it made me feel good about it.” Shaylynn replied.

“Looking cute isn’t exactly the criteria I would be using for a rugged vehicle,” Jim said.

“Is a Land Rover ‘cute’?” Shaylynn asked, frowning.

“What year is it?” Jim asked.

“It’s a restored 1990 Land Rover Defender 110 hardtop with a V8 engine. The vehicle had 178,600 original miles on it,” Shaylynn replied.

“Cute!” Jim said.

Shaylynn punched Jim in the shoulder.

“Okay, if restored right, it could be a good vehicle,” Jim admitted.

Shaylynn programmed in the address where the vehicle was, and Jim continued on their way. The address was actually between Cape Girardeau and Scott City but there wasn’t that much difference in trip time. Jim merged into I-55 and right across from the airport, a Harley-Davidson dealer was apparently having a sale. It had almost a carnival atmosphere to the area.

“Uncle Jim! Can we stop there on the way back?” Katie asked.

“I guess so. Let’s look at this ‘cute’ vehicle first,” Jim said.

Shaylynn punched him in the shoulder again.

They got to the address in just a few minutes and pulled up to a nice two-story house with a handsome three car garage. A man came out to greet them and walked them over to the garage. When he opened one of the garage doors and drove the Land Rover out, Jim was pleased with what he saw, and Shaylynn was almost hopping on her toes. The man pulled a binder out of the backseat and opened it for them to see what all had been restored. Jim saw they had completely torn the body down and sand blasted, checked the frame with a frame alignment jig, had a zirconium sealer wash to prevent future rusting followed by a phosphate wash to prepare the frame for powder coating, and powder coated. The axles had been disassembled, checked, washed, and regreased. All the original suspension was removed. New Terrafirma All Terrain springs, spring retention clamps, shocks, shock struts and control/link arms were installed. All bushings are replaced with a polyurethane version. The suspension now sat 2” higher than stock to allow room for the slightly oversized tires.

Jim and Shaylynn browsed through the binder, Shaylynn asking the occasional question on things she didn’t understand. Jim was convinced they had done a professional job on the Rover.

When the man quoted $79,800 for the Rover, Shaylynn countered $75,000 cash, right now. The man looked at her quizzically. “You have it with you?” He asked.

“Try me,” Shaylynn replied, smiling.

“Okay, I’ll accept $75,000 if you have the cash,” The man replied. Shaylynn reached into her big purse, you know the kind…she could carry everything up to and maybe even a concrete truck in. Anyway, she took out seven straps of $100 dollar bills and one of $50 dollar bills and handed them to the man.

“Damn!” The man said.

“Fresh from the bank,” Shaylynn said.

The man went inside and printed a Bill of Sale, signed the Title, and handed over two sets of keys. Shaylynn shook the man’s hand and got into her Land Rover.

“Let’s stop by the Harley dealer!” She yelled at Jim.

Jim backed out and headed to I-55 with Shaylynn following. When he got to the Harley-Davidson dealer, he pulled in and found two parking spaces next to each other and pulled in. Shaylynn parked and Katie skipped over to her and took her hand.

“How does it drive?” Jim asked.

“Wonderful!” Shaylynn replied.

Jim had never been in a Harley dealer this big. There were rows and rows of bikes parked inside. The bikes the dealer was pushing that day were parked outside, most were used. They walked down the rows, just looking, when Jim hesitated at the trikes. Jim was looking over a used cherry-red metalflake 2019 Tri Glide that sparkled in the showroom.

“I always wanted a Harley trike,” Jim said, rubbing his hand over the seat.

“Why didn’t you get one?” Shaylynn asked.

“Obviously, you haven’t driven in Connecticut,” Jim said grinning.

“Well, you don’t live in Connecticut anymore, what’s stopping you now?” Shaylynn asked. “I tell you what, you buy a trike and I’ll get something, and we all can go riding together.”

“YES!” Katie squealed.

“It’s a deal,” Jim said, waving to get the attention of a floor salesman.

He told the salesman he wanted to buy the red trike and that Shaylynn wanted a bike too. The salesman asked what she was looking for and she told him she didn’t care as long as it was the same color as Jim’s trike. Dollar signs popped up in the salesman’s eyes when he told her he had a used Tri Glide Ultra of the same color and took them over to look at it. It looked almost like Jim’s. It was just one model grade lower than Jim’s. She told the salesman she would like to test drive it first. She didn’t ride far, just to the John Deere place down Old Highway 61 and came back, grinning.

“I wasn’t sure I could remember how to shift. The seat is so comfortable, much better than my old sportsman.” Shaylynn said.

Jim took his trike on a test drive and came back grinning.

Both Jim and Shaylynn paid with credit cards and arranged for pickup on Monday. They were going to the range the next day.
 

ncsfsgm

Contributing Member
Chapter 30
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“Gary, it’s good to have you back on the show even if we are taping at 05:00 on a Monday morning. I’ve been trying to slot you for months, but the powers that be always seemed to want to schedule the dud-of-the month politician with a totally uninteresting dialog. So, tell me, what is going on behind the curtains in D.C.”

“Harry, for years there have been rumors of certain people in Washington involved in obviously illegal shenanigans, from human trafficking to insider trading to drug use to pedophilia. Lately, it is apparent these rumors weren’t just conspiracy theories, as the politicians liked to call them and brush the accusations aside, but actual facts. The information about the down and dirty along the Potomac is virtually falling from the sky left and right so fast it is going to take some time to filter through it. Also, a group of psychopomps have started to avenge the good people of the United States. Although this group is extralegal, in the eyes of the laws passed down by possibly these same types of politicians that are having orgies with minors, the government has yet to get an inkling of who they are up against. Just this week, their normal Potemkin sessions of Congress were suspended and Congress went into closed session to discuss their own safety and futures, which was not surprising. Now, this is not surprising because our elected representatives have only been in session for their own self-aggrandizement and not doing what they were voted in to do, represent ALL the people and not just the elites that run in their circles. Our politicians have forgotten that OUR tax dollars pay THEIR salaries and they work for US.”

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Asher Creek gang headed back to Scott City and picked up their Harleys on Monday. They strapped down the bikes on the trailer with a little creative placing, had lunch and returned. Of course, Katie just had to take a ride when they got back. She had her own helmet Jim bought her at the Harley dealer and a local guy had airbrushed her name on it. Shaylynn also had her helmet airbrushed along with Katie and then kidded Jim about their helmets being prettier than Jim’s “Old fogy” brain bucket. Although Missouri motorcyclists ages 26 and older can ride without a helmet, if they have both medical insurance and proof of financial responsibility Jim and Shaylynn would wear helmets, leading by example.

They started their ride with Katie riding behind Jim and he led the ride back to the range they had been on Saturday. When they got there, they got off and Katie and Shaylynn went to the ladies’ restroom. Jim could see what he was to expect on future rides. He’d have to plan on pit stops along the way and make sure he had toilet paper in the cargo box on the bike. On the way back home, Katie rode with Shaylynn and they were chattering like magpies over their headsets. Jim rode along listening to Slow Rider by the Wet Bandits and Steely Dan's Gaucho album on his stereo.

Saturday was a lot of fun. Shaylynn was over for breakfast and the three set off for the range at 08:00. Jim gave Katie and Shaylynn their own pair of electronic ear buds for shooters, put his small tool kit in the carrier on his bike and they rode their bikes to the range. They signed up for a pistol range and got one fairly quickly. Shaylynn fired a few rounds. then Jim adjusted her front and rear sights until she was on the mark. She and Jim let Katie fire a few rounds after Jim got permission from the Range Safety Officer. After they had used up their time, Jim talked to the Range Manager and complimented him on the operations.

“Bob said you were thinking of bringing a trailer for gunsmithing out,” Eric commented.

“Yes, I got the trailer and am having cabinets built inside. I should have it back soon. I’ll be able to do most things except for machining of parts,” Jim replied.

“Do you need an electrical hookup?”

“No, I have a solar setup and a generator if I need any more power,” Jim replied. “I’ll stock accessories as soon as I see what people would buy more of,” Jim said.

“I think you could make quite a few sales on those electronic ear buds you use,” Eric said. “Women don’t care to get their hair messed up with muffs.”

Jim chuckled and Shaylynn poked him in the ribs.

Katie wanted a drink so Shaylynn took her over to the concessionaire to buy them a lemonade. "Uncle Jim likes you,” Katie told Shaylynn.

“Well, I like him too. He’s a good friend.” Shaylynn said.

“But do you like, LIKE him?” Katie said.

“Well, it would be nice, but I don’t think he would feel the same.” Shaylynn admitted.

“Oh, I don’t know, I’ve seen him watching you, and I’ve seen you watching him, and not like he was just a ‘friend',” Katie said.

Shaylynn blushed. “Well, only time will tell,” Shaylynn muttered. “Come on, let’s take him some lemonade.”

At 12:00 noon the ranges were cleared, and the range flag came down for everyone to take a break and eat lunch. One enterprising individual had set up a nice BBQ trailer to cook and serve pulled pork sandwiches. He had been cooking shoulders all morning, so the aromas were a constant reminder to the range guests that there was food available. Even those that had brought food with them were forced to forego their own food to get a taste of the BBQ. The owner took care of the cooking of the meat and three teenage girls, who Jim discovered later were his daughters, made, wrapped, and served the food. Also available were French fries cooked in a deep fryer located in the cooking area outside. Drinks were obtained at the permanent concessionaire building. Bob walked over to Jim and chuckled.

“Jesse is going to make some serious cash here today. You need to get your trailer in here. I’ve seen a few people with maintenance problems here today.”

Jim nodded, "yeah I know. I just need to find a hook.”

“A hook?” Bob asked.

“Yeah, Jesse got here early with food already prepared, but began smoking more meat so the smells would either draw the customers in or imprint the smells in their minds. When the lunch break was called, what do you think was on their minds?”

“Oh yeah, I see. Well, spray some gun oil around or something,” Bob said, grinning.

“Funny. I’ve got cleaning kits, cleaning supplies, hearing protection, and some spare parts stocked that I’ll have for sale. I’m thinking about having some signs made up about the value of having a clean weapon and a few company advertisements on sights, triggers, and such. I’ll be out next Saturday for sure.”

“Sounds good,” Bob said.

Jim had ordered and received cases of Hoppes Lead-B-Gone Skin Cleaning Wipes, gun bore cleaner, patches for the most common gun calibers, field cleaning kits, cleaning solvents, and oils. Jim had many styles of shooting hats available on racks to display, lightweight hoodies and jackets that packed into their own pockets, Soft Shell Vests for Ladies (Katie’s idea), all emblazoned with “Archer Creek Gunsmithing”.

Both Katie and Shaylynn offered to be Jim’s “models” and wear vest and hats with his logo on them to hand out printed colored, glossy flyers to advertise his services. Jim had even ordered Recyclable Reinforced Handle Plastic Bags, Collapsible Koozies, Sunglasses, lip balm, Key Lights with Carabiner for giveaways, all with imprinted logos. Jim would have a 10' Event Tent with the Asher Creek logo printed on it, and two folding tables with logo imprinted tablecloths to display the “freebies”. Jims’ accountant keyed him on what he could pay for out of an advertising budget. Shaylynn and Katie also set up a drawing for The North Face Midweight Soft Shell jackets for men and women. They would get the name “Asher Creek Gunsmithing” out into the world for sure.

When Jim got his trailer back on Monday, Katie called for Shaylynn’s help, and they helped Jim stock and label the drawers where the products for sale went while Jim mounted the vices and stored his tools away. The tables, tent, and advertising products went into another cargo trailer that Shaylynn would pull. Southeast Signs and Graphics had made logo half-wraps for both of the trailers.

“Come on Ladies, I’ll treat you to dinner in appreciation of your help,” Jim said, when they were finished.

Katie looked at Shaylynn and grinned. “See, I told you so!”


Andy helped the man and his son stack the firewood in the shed. He had paid for the man’s commercial permit to harvest the wood in the Mark Twain National Forest, then paid for what had been gathered by the cord. He got the wood already split, and except for a few green trees the forest service had marked for removal, all of it was seasoned. The unseasoned wood was put at one end of the shed for seasoning. He had asked for four cords but ended up getting six, two of which were unseasoned. Andy bought all six anyway. When they had unloaded and stacked the wood, Andy paid the man and got a glass of tea. The temperatures were still in the mid-60s, but the sun was setting and it would start getting cooler soon. But the activity had raised a little sweat on his brow. The tea and the slight breeze on the patio were refreshing. He sat there staring across the water when Crystal drove up. She sauntered over to the patio and Andy asked her if she wanted some tea. She said, “Yes,” so Andy started to get up, but Crystal told him to keep his seat, that she could get it.

Crystal came back out and sat next to Andy. Andy took a drink of his tea and cleared his throat.

“I got my divorce papers yesterday and I wanted to talk to you about it. I think you are, at least, fond of me and I’ve grown a great fondness for you too. And that’s the problem. I don’t want you to be my easy rebound from a broken marriage. I respect you too much and it wouldn’t be fair to you. If you want a relationship with me, we need to get to know each other better. I can’t say just yet that I love you. The love word is too easily used these days, and it gets thrown around like a ball. It seems everybody uses it. But when I say it, it means something to me. You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known. You have a great heart and wonderful personality to go along with that beauty and most importantly, I think I can trust you. You are someone I want in my life.

Crystal leaned over and softly kissed Andy’s lips.

For the first time in as long as he could remember, Andy was in complete ecstasy.

Crystal laid her hand along Andy’s right cheek. “You said some beautiful things to me this evening, Andy. This is a day I’ll never forget for the rest of my life. I’m so happy right now.”

“Me, too,” Andy agreed. “My face is sore from smiling so much!”

The gibbous three-quarter moon was just becoming visible beneath the eaves of the patio cover. It smiled at the couple, on its way to chase the sun.
 

ncsfsgm

Contributing Member
Chapter 31

A wise old Noncom once told me, “Your future lies in what you have, not what you don't have,” Andy said. “I had a whole new life to build, and I couldn’t live it in the past. Lately, I’ve begun to realize the truth has always been right here in front of me. I've just been obsessed too much about the past to see it. So, I stopped grieving my lost love and began to deal with the new facts. I had more money than I could spend and a lot of time on my hands. This country is crumbling round our ears, and I just need to dig my heels in and help rebuild it after the politicians and Marxist have destroyed it.”

“You sound pretty pessimistic,” Crystal said, frowning.

“I like to think of it as being realistic. I don’t need chicken poop rubbed on my top lip to convince me to recognize it’s chicken poop. Things are going to get worse before they get any better, but life is cyclic, things will get better, and I look forward to sharing at least some of the time with you.”

“What do you mean ‘at least some of it?' Andy, I’m going to be around until you decide you don’t want me around anymore!”

Andy drew Crystal over into his lap and pulled her tight against him.


Dan picked through the wood pile, selected pieces of maple, and loaded them in the wheelbarrow to take to the smoker. Dan had gone through his chest freezer and found about 12 pounds of venison he needed to use up, so he was going to make smoked venison bratwurst. He had ground the venison up with a fatty pork butt, spices and onion the night before. He still had to stuff the casings, and Holly was coming over to help. He needed her to tie the sausages off as he formed each one, keeping to six links per strand. He would smoke the sausage links for three hours with maple wood at around 275 degrees. Afterwards, the link strands would be frozen for later boiling, grilling, or frying. One third of the meat would be saved back and mixed with sage, garlic powder, onion powder, fennel, brown sugar, red pepper flakes, black pepper and a bit of all spice to make cased breakfast sausage. Holly had tried the breakfast sausage once and was disappointed there wasn’t any more in the freezer. She liked it much better than just pork sausage. Dan took the wood to the smoker, spread a tarp on the ground under his work area, and using his Sawzall, cut medallions of maple to soak in a bucket of water for the smoke. Holly arrived and they went inside to prepare for the stuffing of the sausage. They stuffed the sausage then hung them in the cold smokehouse overnight to let them dry out a bit. In the morning, Dan would prepare the smoker while the links soaked in Cabernet Sauvignon for one hour. The wine would cause the sausages to develop small wrinkles and give them a great flavor.

Dan hung the links in the smokehouse and left them alone until the next morning. The first thing he did the next morning after he got dressed was go check the sausages. He decided to give them another three hours and went to make breakfast. He was cooking pancakes and bacon when Holly arrived. She carried in a basket with a quart of her mother’s sauerkraut nestled inside.

“If you get me four brats, I can make lunch for us.” Holly said.

Dan went and got her four of the bratwursts and went back to start the smoker while she cut the sausages into 1-inch chunks, placed them into an enameled cast iron casserole pan, covered them with sauerkraut and shredded Havarti cheese.

Once the smoker was producing plenty of smoke, Dan hung the strands of links into the smoker and started a fire in the fire pit. Soon, Holly showed up with mugs of hot buttered rum and sat beside him.

“Casserole is ready,” Holly said. “All I have to do is put it in the oven for 30-minutes.”

“Good! You do good work for a new fiancée,” Dan said.

Holly grinned. “I have a lot more talents to show you.”

Dan groaned inwardly and threw a few more maple medallions on the fire.


Asher finished baiting the crappie rig and dropped it on the brush pile sunken into the lake. Every New Years, members of a local wildlife club gathered Christmas trees, bound and weighted the bundles, then sunk them into different areas of the lake and into the St. Francis River under the directions of a fish and game officer. The brush bundles provided excellent cover for the fish. Asher had caught 25 crappie already, but was having to throw more and more back in because they were too big. He could have only 15 fish over 9 inches. He would go ahead and use up all his minnows anyway and go with the 25 fish he’d caught already if need be. They were too much fun to catch.


"Let’s have a cookout Saturday,” Holly said.

“Sounds good to me. What do you want me to cook?”

“Burgers, dogs, and fries, perhaps a few of those brats you made,” Holly replied.

“Okay, I’ll make a grocery list of what we’ll need,” Dan said.

“Don’t worry about that. Crystal, Siobhan, and I will handle the sides and dessert. Also if we need more condiments, we’ll pick up those too. We'll do the fries in the Fry Daddy,” Holly said.

"Pick up some beer too,” Dan said, raising the footrest on his recliner and shutting his eyes. He could hear Holly in the background, calling the other two women making plans for the cookout. He wasn’t being insensitive, he’d let her do what she wanted, for now. The October 20th wedding plans were fixed, his only portion was to plan the honeymoon. Dan made sure that Crystal and Siobhan could overhear the guys talking about Reno, and Holly had been much more cheerful around him. He had actually been talking about Reno, Texas, on Eagle Mountain Lake, but that wasn’t where he was taking her. Jeremy was sending a plane to fly them to Miami and another seaplane to fly them to Nassau, to The Cove at Atlantis in the Bahamas. He did hint to Holly she should get some sexy swimsuits. When she asked if the lake wouldn’t bee too cold to swim, he countered the hotel had warm pools. He then knew the women were swapping information. He would tell Holly the day before the wedding where they were going so she wouldn’t pack winter clothing and her mukluks.


Holly was driving the side-by-side on the trail through the forest and stopped when told to by Dan. He’d get out and mark a tree with marking tape and they’d move on. Dan was selecting trees to be cut down for firewood. When she reached the Point, he had her go back to the farmhouse. There he hooked the trailer to the tractor and the wood splitter to the trailer. Getting his chainsaw, fuel can, bar oil, and axe, he added them to the bed of the trailer. Holly came back out of the house with a gallon thermos jug of water and placed it in the trailer and followed Dan back to the first marked tree in the side-by-side. As it was getting toward sundown, Dan had cut down and split four trees. As the wood was split on the splitter, Holly would stack it in the trailer. Wearily, they loaded their equipment, all except for the splitter, and started back to the house. The splitter was left covered with a tarp. Dan parked the trailer and Holly went into the house to check on supper. She had left a slow cooker of pot roast cooking throughout the afternoon.

Jim was in his shop working on a 30-30 for Gil Harris when his phone rang.

“Jim, it’s Shaylynn. I just found the cutest dog for Katie!”

“What is it?” Jim asked.

“An Australian Terrier. She’s already housebroke, Spaded and just had a bath. She is the cutest thing!”

“Well, okay. I’ll have to run down to Poplar Bluff and get a bed and stuff for it.” Jim said.

“No, I’m in Poplar Bluff now. I can run by PetSmart and pick everything for her,” Shaylynn said.

”Well okay then, thanks,” Jim replied.

“I’ll see you two around 6:00 this evening,” Shaylynn said.

“Okay, see you then,” Jim replied. He didn’t say anything to Katie and would let it be surprise for her.

Jim stopped what he was doing and went to the house. He had placed packages of frozen shrimp, mussels, and chicken thighs thawing in the fridge to make Spanish paella for this evening’s meal, so he started on the prep. Katie came in and began chopping vegetables while Jim looked for his paella pan. They had made this many times when they lived in Connecticut using the fresher seafoods available there. The one ingredient he would be missing was calamari and he didn’t have any substitute available. Jim added olive oil to the pan over medium heat. Then onion, bell peppers, and garlic that were sautéed until the onion was translucent. The chopped tomato, bay leaf, paprika, saffron, salt and pepper were added and left to cook for 5 minutes. He added white wine and let it cook for another ten minutes. When it was time, Jim added the thighs and saffron rice, then chicken broth, giving the pan a shake to settle the rice. Jim let this cook for another 15 minutes, uncovered, then began nestling the shrimp and mussels into the rice, then sprinkled thawed peas over the top. He let this cooked for another 5 minutes then turned the heat off and before placing the lid on the pan to rest, Katie sprinkled chopped parsley and placed thin slices lemon wedges on top of the paella. The paella needed to rest a while and it was just as well; Shaylynn had arrived.

A surprised Katie met a puppy-carrying Shaylynn coming up the steps. Katie squealed and petted the dog. Katie let out another squeal when Shaylynn told her she might as well take the puppy, that she now belonged to Katie. Jim was smiling when he held the door open for the girls to come in.

“There are supplies in the back, could you bring them in?” Shaylynn asked.

Jim hauled in three bags of freeze-dried dog food, a bed, and a PetSmart bag of bowls, toys, and grooming products. Katie was walking the puppy, whom she called Molly, around the house, letting her get used to the surroundings. Jim left them and went to make himself and Shaylynn a drink. Shaylynn followed Jim, leaving Katie and Milly playing.

“Where did you find the dog?” Jim asked.

“There’s a lady outside of Poplar Bluff that bred and trained them. She had a bad auto accident and isn’t able to care for them right now. She agreed to sell the remaining puppies,” Shaylynn explained.

“That dog food, it looks expensive,” Jim commented.

“And that’s because it is. It is a healthy diet that was developed by a veterinarian. It’s nothing but beef meat, organs, and vegetables. I figured three bags would give you enough time to make your own; you have a freeze dryer.”

“I guess, if I can figure out the ingredients.” Jim replied.

“I also bought a good book on pet nutrition that should help. Looking through it, I think Katie could freeze dry the ingredients herself.” Shaylynn replied.

They took their drinks back into the great room and watched Katie and Molly for a few minutes. Then Katie picked the dog bed up and called for Molly to come with her, that she would show her where she would sleep. Katie took the puppy to her room, placed the dog bed in a corner of the room near her bed, snapped her fingers and pointed to the bed. Molly walked slowly over to the bed and laid down. To Jim’s knowledge, it was the last time Molly slept at night anywhere but Katie’s bed.
 

ncsfsgm

Contributing Member
Chapter 32

Jim was making breakfast when Katie and Molly got up. Katie, still in her pajamas followed a scurrying Molly to the back door and opened it for her. Molly scooted through the door as soon as she could and ran outside to find a place to pee and poop. Jim chuckled. “She really had to go.”

“She woke me up licking me face and pawing my arm!” Katie said.

“Well, it might be better if you let her go outside before you go to bed at night,” Jim said.

“Yeah, that might be best,” Katie agreed.

“After breakfast, there is a pooper scooper on the deck to clean up after her,” Jim said.

“Aw-w-w-w.” Katie whined.

“Don’t Aw-w-w me. You wanted a puppy, now you have to take care of her.” Jim said. “I’ll go out with you. I need to dig a sump for you to dump the poop in. Go ahead and get dressed. Molly is going to want to be fed too.”

Katie waited for Molly to finish her business and let her back in. Molly, claws slipping on the hardwood floor, skidded, and scampered behind Katie as she followed her best friend to her bedroom.

Jim dished the oatmeal with blueberries into a bowl and placed it at Katie’s place, then pulled the toast out of the oven and buttered it. Katie returned to the kitchen and put fresh water into Molly’s water bowl and put a scoop of food in her food bowl before sitting down. Molly made it squeak, then dropped the toy chicken she was carrying and began eating.

Katie giggled. “She likes that chicken.”

Jim put a spoonful of oatmeal in his mouth, followed by a bite of toast. “Okay, something you need to add to your schedule. You need to give Molly 30 minutes of exercise outside before you start your studies, and you WILL continue to do your studies every day.”

“What if she has to pee or poop?” Katie asked.

“Well of course you’ll have to get up and let her out, and you can go with her to make sure an Eagle or Osprey doesn’t scoop her up.” Jim replied.

Katie’s eyes lit up with fear.

They finished their breakfast and Jim cleaned up the kitchen while Katie began her studies.

Andy and Archer began fishing the brush piles around the mouth of Lost Creek and planned on fishing the brush piles that had been emplaced along the west side of the peninsula to the north. The winds were calm, and the air was a chilly 45 degrees, but the crappie were sucking down the minnows.

“We’re going to have a lot of fish to clean,” Archer said.

Andy grinned. “I got an electric scaler off of Amazon. We’ll have these cleaned in no time.”

“By that time, I’ll be shivering like a dog passing peach pits,” Archer complained.

Andy chuckled. “You ain’t in South America anymore, Amigo!”

“You’re telling me!” Archer replied.

They quit fishing a couple of hours later as the wind picked up. When they got back to the dock, they scooped the fish out of the wet well into an old cooler and took them up to the fish cleaning station. Andy went up to the house to get his fish scaler and saw Crystal was there.

“Can you make a pot of coffee?” Andy asked her. “Asher is going to need some Irish Coffee when we get done cleaning the fish.”

“Did you catch many?” Crystal asked.

“Enough for four!” Andy said, winking at Crystal.

“I’ll call Siobhan to help me fix some things to go with the fish,” Crystal said, smiling.

With Andy descaling the fish and Asher gutting and cutting the heads off the fish, it didn’t take long to get the 25 fish cleaned. Crystal had two Irish Coffees ready when they came in the door, took the pan of fish from Andy, and began rinsing the fish off.

The men sighed as they took sips of the warm drink. Crystal had even added a dollop of whipped cream, really Cool Whip, to each cup. Asher finally took off his coat before starting on his third cup. Siobhan arrived with a couple of plastic grocery sacks in her hand.

“I cheated. I stopped by Mattie’s and picked up a tub of Cole slaw,” Siobhan said.

She took a 5-pound bag of potatoes out of the other bag and Crystal was ready with a cutting board, potato peeler, and a knife. They peeled and sliced potatoes and put on oil to heat up.

Andy peeled off his sweater and began drying off the fish with paper towels and getting out the fish breader and the breader box.

The women had peeled the potatoes and made golden steak fries to eat with the slaw and fish. Picking a fish bone from between his lips, Andy leaned back in his chair and said, “That was a mighty fine meal.”

“And there were enough left over to have another one.” Archer commented.

“We can make fish tacos next time,” Siobhan said.

“Yeah, those are pretty good too, with hot sauce,” Andy replied.

Molly was training Katie well. Sometimes it was just a certain look between the two, but Katie soon learned when Molly needed to use the bathroom. Molly would go out and Katie would wait on the steps with a hand towel o wipe off Molly’s feet before she let hergo back inside. Molly would run up to the sitting Katie and lift a paw for Katie to wipe off. Jim would chuckle as he watched the two interact. Molly would even jump up on the seat in front of her when she rode the trail bike. You wouldn’t see one without the other around the place.
Jim finished installing the HiViz LitePipe sites on Carl Sims’ Marlin 336 and wiped the gun down with a silicon cloth. The sights would help, but Carl needed a new eyeglass prescription more than he needed new sights. Jim would talk to Carla Johnson, a new Optometrist that had set up business over near the Food-Rite. She could gather some customers at the range he thought. Maybe have a kit with different lens strengths to show the people they needed to come in for an examination.

Katie was keeping an eye on the Lasagna they were having for supper. She was just putting the garlic bread in the oven to toast as Jim walked into the kitchen.

“Smells good!” Jim said.

“I know, it’s making my stomach growl,” Katie replied.

Molly must have thought so too. She sat near Katie’s feet, not quite jumping up, but her hips were moving like hoochie-coochie dancer. Katie giggled and got her a treat out of Molly’s treat jar.

The timer went off and Katie’s phone rang at the same time. Jim checked the lasagna them pulled it out of the oven to rest. Katie continued talking lowly on the phone. Jim got out plates to set the table when Katie said, “Get one more plate, I invited Shaylynn to eat with us.”

“Thanks for the warning,” Jim said.

“It was a spur-of-the-moment invite. She wanted to know how Molly was doing. I invited her so she could see for herself,” Molly replied.

Jim went into the pantry and retrieved a bottle of St. Michael’s Merlot and opened it. Katie got out two wine glasses and a glass for the milk she would have with her Lasagna. Jim was taking out the toasted garlic bread as Shaylynn arrived.

“Break any traffic laws on your way here?” Jim asked, looking at his watch.

Shaylynn giggled and answered, “Not too many.”

Molly, seeing who it was, yipped and went over to dance around Shaylynn.

Jim began cutting squares of lasagna out of the pan and placing them on each plate, along with a slice of toast.
All enjoyed supper, and all pitched in when it came time to clean up. Feeling lethargic, they retired to the great room and watched a show on the History Channel. It was followed up by a documentary on people fighting for gay and transexual rights. When Shaylynn asked what Jim thought about that, Jim figured this was where the fight was going to start.

“People have a First Amendment right, of course, to call themselves “ze/zir,” “they/them,” or any other nonsense that they fancy. But I, too, have a First Amendment right to tell the truth: left-wing “neo-pronouns” are ideological constructions that deny human nature and are designed to manipulate otherwise well-meaning people into affirming a cult-like belief system.

If the state can force you to lie about basic reality—man and woman—then it can force you to lie about anything.

Personally, I believe those fake people are a detriment to society, no, they are a detriment to civilization and should be shot where they stand for being traitors to the human race.” Jim said.

It was quiet for a couple of minutes until Shaylynn said, “I think you are right. They have been gradually pushing this stuff down our throats day by day. All it has done is divide the world.”

Jim sighed in relief. He was learning more about Shaylynn every day.

Shaylynn decided she needed to get home and was getting up.

“Are you sure?” Jim asked. “The guest bedroom is empty and I‘ve changed the sheets since the homeless guy stayed here.”

“Shaylynn giggled. Are you sure you don’t mind? I might have had a little too much wine.”

“Absolutely! Just let me get Katie to bed.”

Jim picked Katie up and cradled her in his arms. Molly jumped up out of her slumber and followed Jim to Katie’s bedroom. Shaylynn helped get Katie undressed and under the sheets. Molly jumped up on the bed, snuggled up against Katie, sighed and went to sleep. Jim cut off the lamp and he and Shaylynn quietly left the room.

“I have a bag in my vehicle,” Shaylynn said.

“Give me your keys and I’ll get it,” Jim said.

“When Jim got back, Shaylynn was already in the shower. Jim quietly put the bag inside the door of the bathroom and closed the door.

Jim was up early the next morning making coffee when Shaylynn entered the kitchen wearing running shorts, a T-shirt and barefooted.

“Good morning,” Shaylynn said, taking a seat at the island.

“Good morning. How did you sleep?” Jim asked.

“I slept like a baby. Probably due to the wine,” Shaylynn replied.

“That’s why I offered you the guest room. Thankfully, I didn’t have to fight you about it,” Jim said.

“Thank you for that,” Shaylynn replied.

Molly came trotting into the kitchen and stopped at her food bowl and whined.

“Don’t look at me!” Jim said to the dog. “You know Katie feeds you. If you’re hungry, go get Katie,” Jim said, pointing toward Katie’s bedroom.

Molly took off quickly, Claws skidding on the floor. A couple of minutes later, Katie came giggling into the kitchen with Molly on her coat tails.

“Let her out first,” Jim said.

Katie grabbed Molly’s foot towel and let her out the deck door.
 

ncsfsgm

Contributing Member
Chapter 33

As Shaylynn was leaving Poplar Bluff, her bladder began talking to her. She pulled into convenience store, used the facilities and was walking back to her Land Rover when she noticed an antique shop next door. She pulled the Land Rover over to the parking area for the shop and went inside. By the price of everything, the owner was proud if what they had.

Then Shaylynn saw the wooden bowl hanging on the wall and grinned. It was perfect! Jim had told her he was going to try to find someone who made wooden bowls to make him a big dough bowl to make biscuits in. He’d remembered his grandmother had one when he was small, and it brought the feeling home every time he saw her using it. Making biscuit dough in a stainless-steel bowl just didn’t bring the same feeling. Shaylynn didn’t shy away from the price and bought it. When she told the lady what she wanted the bowl for, the lady reached under the counter and brought a small can with a green label on it and sat it in front of Shaylynn.

“This is finish for the bowl. It is a mixture of linseed oil and beeswax. Give it a coat before you use the bowl, let it dry and wipe it off. Reapply when needed and that bowl will last another 100 years.”

The lady didn’t charge her for the finish and didn’t even charge her the tagged price for the bowl.

“Those are tourist prices, and I can tell you ain’t a tourist.” The lady said.

Shaylynn went straight to Jim and Katie’s and gave it to Jim. He was delighted with the gift and immediately wiped the bowl down and applied the bowl finish.

“I’ll have to invite you over for a biscuit and gravy breakfast!” Jim said.

“Just tell me when,” Shaylynn replied.

Katie came rushing into the house after finishing her ride with Molly. Molly was dancing around Shaylynn, wanting to be picked up. Shaylynn picked her up and was rewarded with a half-dozen sloppy kisses. Shaylynn giggled and gave Molly a treat from the jar.

“Staying for dinner?” Jim asked. “We’re having spaghetti and meatballs.”

“Sounds delicious!” Shaylynn replied.

Andy shook off his Gortex rain jacket before he hung it up in the mudroom. Taking off the pants ants and then his boots, he was just beginning to shake the chill off. It had been drizzling for three days. A byproduct of the cold wave that had swept down from the north. The low 40s temperatures didn’t bring snow, but it was still miserable. He went on inside and added wood to the woodstove and warmed his hands over the stove. Going into the kitchen, Andy made a mug of Biley’s laced hot chocolate and looked over the inventory sheets from the delivery he’d just put into the warehouse. “More disaster relief supplies”, he muttered as he read through the sheets.

He was making another mug of chocolate when Crystal arrived. He quickly made her a mug of the high-test chocolate and handed it to her.

“This is heavenly!” Crystal said after she took a sip. “It is nasty out there!”

“Yes it is. But it beats what the northern states are going through.”

“That is true.”

This chocolate hits the spot,” Andy replied.

The gate alarm sounded, and Andy looked at the video monitor. It was UPS. Andy opened the gate, took his pistol, and put it in the small of his back, grabbed his coat and hat and went outside. It was the things he had ordered from the place in Idaho. As the driver began setting things outside, Andy had Crystal checking off the things from a list as he took them inside and stacked them by the basement door. When the driver left, Andy looked at what crystal had checked off. He had received 2 Superpails of pinto beans, a SuperPail of rolled oats, a case of powdered apple drink, a case of baking powder, a case of Beef Bouillon, a case of chicken bouillon. a case of butter powder, a case of buttermilk powder, a case of hot cocoa mix in #10 cans, Instant Milk (non-fat) in #10 cans, and a case of popcorn in 10 cans. He was missing 30 pounds if raisins, but they were coming from another company anyway. He had stocked up on shelled pecans back in the fall at the farmers market and he just about had everything to make his hybrid oatmeal raisin cookies. But right now, he had a hankering for a lemon sour cream pound cake like his Mama used to make.

“Come on and go with me to Food-Rite. I need to pick up some things,” Andy said to Crystal.

Andy purchased a gallon of milk, a little bottle of lemon extract, two lemons, a box of confectioners' sugar, two dozen eggs, a can of baking spray, and a 2-pack of disposable aluminum bundt pans from the baking section. When they got back home, Andy began to mix the ingredients together with the mixer.

“What are you making?” Crystal asked.

“A lemon pound cake!” Andy said, grinning.

“Why didn’t you just get one of the box mixes at the store?” Crystal asked.

“Not the same as homemade,” Andy replied, adding six eggs to the batter.

Crystal sprayed one of the pans with baking spray and had it ready for Andy to fill with the batter. While the cake was cooking, Andy mixed together a simple icing with the confectioner’s sugar, sour cream powder and water.

Dan gave one more turn of the Whirly-Pop crank and dumped the popcorn into a big bowl. Carrying the popcorn into the great room, he set the bowl on the couch between him and Holly and pressed the button on the remote to continue the movie. Holly took a popped kernel out of the bowl and bounced it off Dan’s temple, picked up the bowl and scooted nearer Dan, placing the bowl in her lap.

“Now you can have both me AND the popcorn,” Holly said.

“I was going to have you both anyway,” Dan grinned.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The grocery distribution truck took the off-ramp to make the next delivery. The roadblock moved into place and the men spread out behind the vehicles. The delivery truck came around the curve and slowed. The windshield darkened, the ambushers couldn’t see the driver, but the truck continued forward and as it neared the roadblock, sped up, the remotely controlled servo steering the truck directly to the center of the roadblock. The ambushers, caught by surprise, just stared as the truck raced toward them, as the men started to jump away from the roadblock, 750 pounds of ammonium nitrate mixed with fuel oil and interspaced with drums of magnesium powder was ignited in the back of the truck, enveloping the area around the roadblock with flames and shredded debris for a radius of 300 meters, setting small brush fires. When the volunteer fire department arrived, there was little they could do as the fuel tanks of the roadblock vehicles exploded. In the aftermath, Sheriff’s Deputies accounted for at least 15 bodies and some random pieces and parts.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Phil McAdams slowly moved around the pontoon boat, supported by a cane, inspecting, and tightening the boat cover straps. Archer had seen the boat parked there with the For Sale sign but had never seen anyone there, it sat in front of a long low building of unknown origin, painted an ugly brown alongside the highway that Archer had been by many times but only glanced at the pontoon boat. Now, Siobhan was showing interest in pontoon boats. She liked his Boston Whaler well enough, but she liked to just cruise the lake slowly in the summer. The whaler wasn’t her idea of a cruiser. Archer pulled over into an adjacent lot that held a few boats also and walked over to the man.

“This your boat?” Archer asked.

“Yeah. My wife loves…loved to just ride around the lake on a warm day and watch the boats and the birds. I’ve had it out of the water for a couple of years and it’s time someone else got enjoyment out of it. The man helped Archer remove the cover and Archer gave it a good once-over and asked him what the price was. Archer was surprised and his face showed it when the man responded.

“I know, it is cheap, but it is in great shape and trying to make money on it wouldn’t feel right, like blood money. Ya know what I mean? I’d rather keep the memories of Annie enjoying her days on it.”

“What did you do before you retired?” Archer asked him. “By the way, my name is Archer Harmon.”
“The old man extended his hand and said, “Phil McAdams. I was career Army. Started by career up at “Fort Lost in the Woods” and did my last days on duty as the post Sergeant Major. Annie and I used to come down here to the lake as much as we could, and I built our retirement home right over there.” Phil said, pointing to a house next to and set back from the brown building. Annie got tired of me moping around and not doing much of anything and I opened up a BBQ restaurant in this here building.”

“I’d be proud to own this boat, Phil. Do you want cash or check?” Archer asked.

“Check is fine. If you give me a day, I have some school-age and girls I have do odd-jobs for me and I can have them shine it up for you.” Phil said.

“You don’t have to do that.” Archer said.

“Oh, it would make me feel good and keeps the boys and girls out of mischief and gives ‘em some pocket money. Not many burger flipping jobs around.”

“Well, that’s good of you,” Archer said. “I can pick it up whenever it’s ready.”

“They shook hands again and Archer wrote him a check for the boat. They walked over to Phil’s house to print out a bill of sale and Phil pulled the title out of s filing cabinet. When Archer drove away, he almost felt guilty taking away the man’s memories. It was sad the man was living his last days alone. At least he kept a little busy selling boats.
 

ncsfsgm

Contributing Member
Chapter 34

Andy and Crystal had come for a delicious dinner Siobhan and Archer had put together (mostly Siobhan, if the truth be told.) Siobhan was bubbling about the pontoon boat Archer was getting.

“I remember old Phil. Crystal said. He had the best BBQ around. It was always cooked to perfection and not an ounce of it was dry. I sure hate he had to close the place down.

“I worked there as a waitress in the summer.” Siobhan said.

“He HAD to close the restaurant down?” Archer asked.

“Yes, his wife Annie was dying of cancer and Phil shut everything down when the doctors told him he should put her in Hospice. He did hire a hospice nurse, if I recall correctly, but he was by Annie’s side until her last breath. It was as if someone pulled the valve out of his air stem. He withdrew from life and stayed mostly at home. He had the space there and agreed for people to park there to sell their boats there. He finally hired some kids to wash the boats and make them look better. He still owns the marina and leases out management to Howard Dawkins, and Howard ain’t poor by a long shot. Jesus, that land there must be worth millions. You’ve got the old restaurant, Phil’s house, and the store building that they don’t see much for anymore. I’ll bet it was a cash cow back when it sold food and stuff for everyone going out boating for the day. Those were good days gone by.

“Why do they have to be gone?” Archer asked.

“What? Are you going to try to buy Phil out?” Crystal asked.

“No, but what about bringing things back somewhat like they were.” Archer said. “It would bring some more jobs back, give Phil a purpose in life and draw back old customers. I’m going to do some thinking on this.”
And Archer did do some thinking about it, relying on Crystal’s business acumen and Siobhan’s memories.

Jim unpacked the parts and more clothing articles and stored them in the trailer. The puffy vests had become quite popular since the weather had turned cooler. You would see people wearing them all over the Wappapello area. They were getting visitors from farther away every Saturday. Several range users were sporting accessories for their guns that they swore made them shoot better. There were always people lined up at his trailer each Saturday. Shaylynn even talked him into hiring a big chested high school girl to help them in the tent to model their t-shirts and other clothing, but Shaylynn made sure she kept Gloria a respectable distance from Jim. She was a sight to behold but Jim was more interested in Shaylynn; she spent every spare moment she could out at Asher Creek. Katie was consciously pushing Jim and Shaylynn together, frequently wishing out loud that Shaylynn didn’t have to go home. Shaylynn would always smile at Jim. Not that Jim disagreed, but he needed more “alone” time with Shaylynn to figure things out.

Thursday night, Dan and Holly decided to host a dinner and invite Andy, Crystal, Archer, and Siobhan, a couple’s night. The men grouped together with Dan while he cooks the filets while the women worked in the kitchen between sips of their wine preparing the sides for the dinner.

“So. What’s this about Archer opening Annie’s again?” Holly asked Siobhan.

“It’s just an idea he’s tossing around in his mind,” Siobhan said. “ He figures if he can get a few people to cooperate, it could be an ongoing enterprise. It would give people jobs and pull old Phil out of a rut.”
“He’s going to put Phil to work! The man must be at least 75 years old!” Crystal said.

“Oh, Arch is only going to use Phil as the official BBQ inspector. He’ll hire others to cook with Phil supervising the quality of the finished product. It will keep him active, but not so much t tire him out.” Siobhan replied. “Oh, and he is going to ask you, Crystal, to be the manager.”

“Well, I’ll do what I can to help.” Crystal said. “I’d like to see the place like the old Annie’s.”

“Well, the first thing they need to do is paint over that God-awful turd-brown paint Phil painted the place after Annie died.” Holly said.

“That is my thinking too,” Siobhan said.

“How much work is it going to take to get the old place back up to snuff?” Crystal asked.

“I don’t really know,” Siobhan said. “Rumor has it, Phil just closed the doors and painted the building. The original equipment, dishes, and everything are still there. It would take a lot of cleaning, but it shouldn’t take long. The painting of the building, with the original “Annie’s sign should be done first, advertising the reopening.”

The dinner was great and plenty of spirits were consumed. The conversation finally came around to Archer’s idea on the restaurant and the women became vocal about what should be done. Siobhan watched Archer as he took in the ideas that were being brought forward. Everyone volunteered their labor to help Archer and it finally pushed him closer to talking to Phil.

Two days later Archer stopped in to talk to Phil. Phil’s eyes lit up when he heard Archer’s proposal.
“I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time to honor Annie, but I don’t have the stamina to work like I used to,” Phil said.

“All I want you to do is make sure the meat is cooked like people remembered. We’ll paint the building in the original colors and make the signage like it used to be. I’d like to dress it up with old photos from when you and Annie ran the restaurant."

“Oh, I’ve got books of photos from that time!” Phil said. “I tell you what, I’ll lease you the restaurant building and the building across the road for $250 a month.”

“You’re not making much off of it.” Archer said.

“It’s enough to pay the taxes. Anyway, I’ve got more money that I’ll spend in my lifetime, I don’t need to be giving the government more taxes,” Phil said.

They shook hands and Archer wrote a check out for the rent for the two buildings and Phil handed Archer a ring of keys.

Crystal put together a cleaning team and went to work on the inside of the restaurant. Siobhan began matching paint for the outside of the building using old color photos from when she had worked there. Soon, a painting team came in and sprayed the brown paint with primer. A green metal roof replaced the aged asphalt shingle roof. The building was painted a cream color with green trim matching the roof. The original flower boxes under the windows were rebuilt and planted with flowers like Annie used to have. Hanging pots with orange and yellow marigolds would hang from hooks on the outside of the building. A sign painter came in and duplicated the original “Annie’s BBQ” sign over the front od he restaurant above the door. Phil was around every day with his cane and wearing his 2nd Marine Division hat.

One of the things Phil requested Archer to do was put up a flagpole for a little patch in front to honor veterans from the area. Archer ordered a twenty-five-foot bronze alloy pole with top and pole mounted lights and a solar powered halyard winch. The VFW donated a flag and two bronze plaques; one commemorating those from the Wappapello who gave their lives in the service of their country and one for all Wayne Country veterans.
Andy, Archer Dan, and Jim and a few of the nimbler members of the VFW were at Annie’s building forms and pouring concrete for the plaque bases when a reporter from the Daily American Republic newspaper and WSILTV out of Poplar Bluff came out to do interviews. All work, except for te finishing of the concrete and setting the plaques stopped as the men and women listened to the questions and Phil’s answers. One of the questions asked perked everyone’s ears up. The female TV reporter asked about the flagpole and if it was some sort of "far right-wing" gesture. Phil braced himself on his cane and stood a little straighter.

“Ma’am, many people from this area, county, state, and country died under service to the flag that will fly here. Names don’t change that one bit. When I hear “Far right wing”, the phrase goes in one ear and out the other because it is nothing but a dog whistle the Marxists use for people who don’t agree with their communistic principles and ideas.”

When Phil finished his diatribe, the men around the worksite verbally agreed with him. Archer wondered how much of Phil’s little speech would be cut from the film. Oh, much of it was cut, but the newspaper reporter recorded and printed every word. Archer decided to send the reporter a coupon for a free meal. Which brought on another thought. Shaylynn was helping him with marketing and advertising, and she was the one who mentioned coupons to help draw in initial customers, and as rewards from time to time.

The crowning day came when the sign painter, or perhaps the word “artist” should be used, finished the sign painting. Above the name “Annie’s” was a portrait within a circle, kinda like Aunt Jemima. Phil stood there looking at it when it was unveiled, and tears welled up in his eyes. Archer would end up giving the artist a big bonus for that. The depiction of Annie was like a big photo when he compared the photo the artist had used from Phil’s scrapbook.

Siobhan had gone through Phil’s scrapbook and selected photos to be enlarged and framed to decorate the restaurant. Katie was taking care of the hanging flower pots, making sure they were kept watered. The nursery made sure to give them pots that the flowers were just budding so they would be blooming on opening day. On their walk-through on the Thursday before the Grand Opening on Saturday, Archer and Crystal made sure everything was ready. The freezers and refrigerators were full, Silverware was wrapped and ready in their baskets and plenty of wood was on hand to start the fires the next day for cooking the meat. Workers were coming in the next day to make Cole slaw, make desserts, and prepare the other sides for Saturday and to make gallons of iced tea. Crystal’s mother took charge of making the banana pudding, teaching the kitchen workers how to do it properly. None of that instant vanilla pudding with cookies in it. The customers deserved real home-style pudding.

Phil worked with the leasor of the marina and got the boats moved from in front of the old store next to the restaurant to provide parking. It looked like they would need it on Saturday.
 

ncsfsgm

Contributing Member
Chapter 35

Phil and his intern cook, Gary Busby, were at the restaurant early to start the fires in the pits. Phil found Gary eager to learn everything he could and made himself notes. They were both wearing gray-blue coveralls with the Annie’s logo on the left breast and readily identifiable to everyone. They started 20 Boston butts and 40 racks of ribs to begin with and Phil showed Gary how to make the sauces. The rubs they had done the day before. Phil made sure Crystal had copies of his “secret” recipes. When the festivities opened at 1:00 PM, a preacher was on hand to give the benediction and the VFW was on hand for the dedication of the plaques. Food critics for the surrounding papers were on hand having been given coupons for sampler plates. The people were lined up to the back of the parking areas, but they had seating for 200 guests with the patio seating. All afternoon people came in to eat, and several takeout orders for people going out boating were sold. By sundown, they had sold almost 1000 orders but still had some food left which people were willing to buy for take-home. Some of the food was set aside for the county meals-on-wheels nutrition program to make frozen dinners to give to shut-ins. Archer held a brief meeting after everything was cleaned up to discuss things that would make operations smoother. Several good suggestions were made, and Crystal announced a suggestion box would be placed in the break area in case something came up during the days ahead. All the crew members were feeling good about what they had accomplished and were looking forward to the next day. Crystal and Archer discussed an employee bonus that would be added to next week’s paycheck.

Jim smiled as he watched Katie pick Mollie up and place her into the old milk crate on the back of the bike. Katie would rather ride the bike than drive the UTV down to get the mail, so Jim had to add the basket for Molly, otherwise Molly would run herself to death trying to stay up with Katie. It still made Jim uneasy, and he made sure he had a radio on when she went down. She was a very safe and conscientious rider, but he was more concerned about someone snatching her while she was getting the mail. Human trafficking had become a very real thing here in the United States, now being turned into a third world country by the Democrats. He was going to get her into shooting a pistol more often and have her carry a pistol when she went down. Friday they were going to St. Louis to a gun store that let you try out a pistol before you bought it. He could add an EXOS-523 compensator and a threaded barrel later if necessary. He could also make her a custom fit shoulder or chest holster for her. He had a vacuum machine and plenty of Kydex sheets that were still in the crate he hadn’t unpacked yet. Katie had shot several of his pistols, but they were bulky in her hands. He needed to find one she could grip comfortably.

Andy turned over, opened one eye, and squinted at the bird singing its ass off on the limb next to the window. “That tree comes down today!” Andy thought. He rolled onto his back and glanced at his watch, threw the sheet and quilt off of him, and got up. He needed coffee. Sliding his pants and shoes on, he headed for the kitchen. Filling the coffee pot full of water and measuring the coffee grounds in, he plugged the pot in, then went to the pantry and got an individually wrapped Cheese Danish out of the box. He laid it on the counter next to the coffee pot.

When the coffee began perking, Andy tossed the bun into the microwave for twenty seconds, then took the swollen package out and slit the plastic wrapper open. Breaking a piece off, Andy took a gentile bite of the bun. The cream cheese was still as hot as napalm. After pouring a mug of coffee, he turned the radio on, took the bun and his mug of coffee to the table, and sat down. The news was nothing but more political bullshit and Andy changed to the local NOAA weather channel to see what was expected. Finishing the Cheese Danish, he drank the rest of the coffee from the mug, rinsed it out, and left it in the sink. He washed his sticky fingers, dried them on a dish towel, and went out to the garage to get his chainsaw. Going over to the offending dogwood tree near his bedroom window, he saw that he could remove the bird’s perch without cutting the whole tree down, so that’s what he did. He took the branch over to the wood pile and cut the branch into smaller pieces. Returning the chainsaw to the garage, Andy went back into the house to shower.

Jim called Shaylynn and asked her if she would like to ride with him and Katie to St. Louis the next day, that they would need to leave early, that it was a two-and-a-half-hour drive, and he might need the whole day to get everything done. Shaylynn asked if she could use his guest bedroom that night and he agreed. She said she would be over in an hour.

Katie was jumping with excitement when he told her of his plans, and even more so when he told her Shaylynn was going with them and staying the night because they were leaving so early.

“Is she using the guest bedrooms?” Katie asked.

“Of course! Where do you think she would sleep?!” Jim replied.

“Well, it’s just that you and Shaylynn seem to like each other, and I thought you two might wan…”

“That’s enough of that! Where in the world do you get those thoughts?” Jim replied. But it did give him some exciting thoughts.

Jim went to his backup emergency food plan and took out a Stouffer's lasagna out of the freezer and put it in the oven. Katie made some garlic butter to spread on toast, then they picked up around the house and waited for Shaylynn to get there.

Katie ran out of the house when she heard Shaylynn arrive, Molly right on her heels. Jim grinned and opened a bottle of Merlot and poured a couple of glasses. Katie and Molly came back in, followed by Shaylynn bringing in an overnight bag. Katie took Shaylynn’s bag and Jim handed Shaylynn a glass of wine.

“We’ve resorted to emergency processed foods for the evening,” Jim said. “We’re having Stouffer’s frozen lasagna.”

‘I love Stouffer’s lasagna!” Shaylynn said, grinning and taking a sip of wine.

Although everyone had seconds, there was still a third of a pan still left over. Katie put it into a container for eating later, while Jim and Shaylynn rinsed and placed the dishes into the dishwasher. Katie filled Jim and Shaylynn’s wine glasses and said she was going to her room to study since they were going to be gone the next day.

Shaylynn and Jim retired to the great room and Jim played some music from the 60’s.

“What’s the trip to St. Louis tomorrow for?” Shaylynn asked.

Jim told her of his concerns and Shaylynn said, “Cool! There is too much of that going around. I might get a new pistol also.”

Both Shaylynn and Jim were yawning when Jim took their wine glasses into the kitchen rinsed them out an placed them in the dishwasher. He headed to his bedroom after starting the machine and met Shaylynn coming out of the guestroom.

“Where did Katie put my bag?” Shaylynn asked.

“I thought she took it to the guest room.” Jim replied.

Jim opened the door to his room and there sat the bag next to the bed. “Here it is! That girl is getting pushy.”
“Well, I’m not adverse to the idea,” Shaylynn said, grinning and closing the door behind her.

They left early the next morning and stopped for breakfast in Desloge at Christine’s Café. They had a leisurely breakfast since they were only 60 miles from the gun store and the indoor range didn’t open up until 09:00. During the rest of the trip, Jim explained to Katie what she should be looking for when selecting a pistol. Katie was three months shy of being 13 and was almost as tall as Shaylynn, and her and Shaylynn’s hands were about the same size. She should be able to manage several medium sized semi-auto pistols.

Katie’s eyes were broad with excitement as they moved down the display cases filled with pistols. She selected the first one and it didn’t feel right, they tried four more guns that she turned down also and then she saw the CZ P-01.

“That one!” Katie said. “Let me try that one.”

The salesman took the gun out and handed it to Katie who gripped it in her left hand, then switched it to her right.

“This one feels good,” Katie said.

“We’ve had several people come in and say the same thing,” The salesman said. “We have one you can take to the range in back if you want.”

“Katie, do you want to try it out?” Jim asked.

“Yes, please!”

The salesman walked them back to the range check-in desk and issued them glasses, hearing protection and a target. Jim got a box of FMJ 9mm ammo and the three went into the shooting area. Shaylynn stood back and let Jim work with Katie. Jim loaded two magazines and went over the location of the safety and mag release. Hanging a target, Jim ran it out five meters and backed away from the shelf as Katie picked up the magazine and loaded. Racking the slide back, she loaded a round into the chamber. Taking a solid two-handed shooting stance, she drilled the X-ring. Katie fired once again, overlapping the previous hole. Then she safed the weapon and asked Jim if he would move the target farther out. Jim ran the target out to seven meters, and she began to fire her failure to stop drill until the slide locked back.

“I like this one!” Katie said. “It fits my hand just right. Can we get another target? I want to fire right-handed.”
Jim went out and bought two more B27 Style Silhouette targets, hung one and ran it out to the seven-meter line. Katie loaded the second magazine into the pistol as Jim stepped away. She fired the failure to stop drill again, this time with her right hand and was very accurate. When the slide locked back, Shaylynn asked if she could try it. ShayLynn loaded a magazine while Jim hung the last target up. When Jim moved back, Shaylynn inserted the magazine and chambered round. Taking up a weaver stance, she also fired failure to stop until the slide locked back.

“I like this pistol too,” Shaylynn said, smiling at Katie.

Katie grabbed a broom and began sweeping up brass while Jim and Shaylynn picked up stray cases. After turning in the pistol, Jim pocketed the extra rounds, and they went to the salesman. Jim asked if they had a threaded barrel for the P-01. The salesman check and they had a stainless-steel barrel with 1/2 x 28 threads. The salesman swapped the barrels out and got the paperwork together. It made his day when Shaylynn said she wanted to purchase a CZ also. Jim told her he would buy both guns since he had an FFL, and she could pay him. Because of his FFL, Jim got a good discount. He got another threaded barrel in case Shaylynn wanted a compensator installed.
 

ncsfsgm

Contributing Member
Chapter 36

When they returned to Asher Creek, they checked the trailer and made sure they had plenty of products for the range the next day. While Katie and Shaylynn were loading more products, Jim exchanged the barrels and installed the compensators on their pistols. With some pre-made straps, Jim molded holsters for the two pistols and with straps he had already fabricated, put together a chest holster for Katie and had her try it on. Jim told her to holster and walk around for a bit and see if it was comfortable. Katie got Molly and they went for a walk. Thirty minutes later, they came back and Katie asked Shaylynn is she could talk to her. A couple of minutes later, the came back in from off the porch and Shaylynn grinned at Jim.

“Jim, the chest holster rubs her nipples too much and makes them sore,” Shaylynn whispered.

Jim blushed. Katie was growing up. He called Katie back in and reconfigured the rig to a shoulder holster and told Katie to try it. Blushing, Katie put on the rig and Jim adjusted the straps and snapped the holster to her belt loop. Katie walked around and disappeared for a while. When she came back, she stated that the shoulder holster was much more comfortable. Jim asked her if she wanted a right or a left-hand draw and set it up they way she wanted. He added two magazine carriers to the opposite side from the holster and adjustment straps to tighten the rig at belt level. Shaylynn asked Jim if he could put together a rig for her and of course, Jim did. He had Katie take her rig off, then let out the straps and walked the two females through on how to adjust the rig.

“I have some pants that don’t have belt loops.” Katie said. “How do I tie down the rig then?”

John went over to a cabinet and took out two 1.75 inch plain leather pistol belts with ratcheting buckles and handed them to the girls.

“This belt is really stiff!” Katie said.

“They have a metal core, so they don’t sag,” Jim explained. “Go ahead and use that belt instead of the belt in your pants.”

The two females put the belts on and helped each other adjust the rigs.

“This is really comfortable!” Shaylynn said. But it feels a little lopsided.

Jim got up and got two boxes of 9mm ammo out of a drawer and loaded the six magazines on the table. He handed the loaded magazines to the two females.

“Load one magazine into the pistol, but don’t chamber a round. Put the other two magazines into their carriers.” Jim explained.

With a few minor strap adjustments, both girls admitted the shoulder rigs felt good. Jim told the two that the next day they would practice drawing their pistols and firing.

The next morning, they were at the range entrance before the gates were unlocked by the Range Safety Officer. Jim told them they had time to fire their three magazines and that was it for the day. The girls got positions next to each other and Jim had them dry fire a few times, pulling the pistol out of the holster, thumbing the safety off, firing, then thumbing the safety back on, then re-holstering. They fired their three magazines, Jim thought more accurately than they had on the indoor range. When they were finished, Jim brought more ammo and had them reload their mags. They went to open up the trailer and set up the tent. Katie and Shaylynn modeled two new “Asher Creek Gunsmithing” design hoodies and wore their shoulder holsters.

Jim wore his Glock 21 in a Kenai-style chest holster throughout the day. People were noticing that he worked hands-free and still had his pistol readily available. A couple of men had asked about the holster, one commenting that he liked to fish the streams in the springtime and unfortunately it was around the time water moccasins and rattlesnakes began stirring. He currently carries a Ruger .357 magnum GP100 in a belt holster with shotshells. He used a belt holster but sometimes fishing gear got in his way. Jim recommended a couple of companies that made Kenai holsters and they were a little less expensive than what he could build, but Jim could custom fit the holster to the person. Shaylynn and Katie sent over a couple of women who were interested in shoulder holsters. At the end of the day, Jim was going to have to get more business cards printed and had orders for chest and shoulder holsters.

When they got back home, Shaylynn made a recommendation to Jim that would enhance the women’s acceptance to the shoulder rig. She and Katie noticed when they were working around the tent, sometimes the holster and mag carrier would flop around a little. She recommended adding an adjustable strap that would run beneath a woman’s breasts to hold the carriers and the holster close to the sides of the body. She called it a “Tit Strap” but Jim corrected her and recommended they call it a “Breast Strap”.

The next day, after their monthly run to Sam’s Club in Cape Girardeau, Shaylynn and Katie began helping Jim build the rigs. Katie used a pair of cordless electric scissors to cut the suede to epoxy to the back of the Kydex holster to keep it from sliding around while Shaylynn cut the holsters from formed Kydex sheets. Jim had pistol forms for just about every modern pistol. The order he hadn’t have a form for was a Colt .22LR Frontier Scout Buntline The fisherman had inherited the pistol from his father many years before. It was a nice pistol that originally cost around $50.00 but would bring between $450.00 to $500 on the market today. Colt had discontinued the model back in ’86. The problem was, that was a lot of barrel to draw out to shoot a snake. Just for practice, Jim was going to make a form for the buntline, just to have it on hand, but also make a holster for a Colt Single Action Frontier Scout Single Action with a 4.5-inch barrel Jim had that was still in the box and it came with a cylinder for .22 WMR also. Jim could even throw in a box of .22 WMR shotshells also into the deal. He’d let the man try both guns in holsters and let him decide. The man should really put the collector Buntline into a display case.


Archer was pleased with Crystal’s management of the restaurant. She had come up with some great ideas for streamlining operations and Phil was even amazed at the things she was doing and praised her. In Phil’s opinion, Gary was going to be a top-notch BBQ cook and Phil hadn’t had to tell him anything twice. The restaurant was running better than it ever had and it gave him a sense of pride. Every evening Phil could be found back in the restaurant helping Gary with prepping the meat and there early the next morning to get the fires going and putting the meat on.

The weekly meat order was delivered and quickly stored in the cooler. For the first month Crystal was ordering their estimated usage plus 10% until they were confident they were ordering the right amounts. The food distributor offered prepared hushpuppy mix, but they stuck to Phil and Annie’s original recipe. They stuck with Crystal’s mother’s banana pudding recipe and Annie’s original Chocolate Cake recipe. Crystal was developing some low or sugar free desserts for the more health conscious.

Dan had just put the coffee on, and he was getting ready to add wood to the stove when the house shook, the floor heaving, nails groaning in the floorboards and shaking like a brass sorter. The shaking lasted for about twenty seconds then stopped. There was no noise except for the groaning of the house.


For the first time since 1812, there was an earthquake greater than 6.9 on the New Madrid fault. There were follow-on tremors during the day that caused seismotectonic effects on both sides of the Mississippi River. On the west side, the land was lifted by four feet. On the east side, the norm was subsidence of the land. Reelfoot Lake was now extended north for 100 miles, widening the Mississippi to 25 miles in that area. The sudden drop of the river swamped many of the barges on the river along that stretch. Many towns on the east side of the Mississippi were now standing in water.
______________________________________________________________________

Wappapello Lake actually sloshed over the dam. Dan called Archer, Andy, Jim, and Holly to make sure they were all right then did an inspection of the house and property. Not finding any structural damage, Dan jumped into his truck and went to Holly’s place. The apartment building was showing structural damage so Dan helped Holly pack up as many bags as she had and moved her back to his house.

The Governors of the states of Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Illinois declared states of emergency and activated the National Guard, however, many of the units had people already deployed to the northwest for disaster relief. Governors however, prioritized getting all their bridges inspected as quickly as possible, especially those over the Mississippi River.

Although there were hundreds of deaths, scientists said it could have been worse. If the earthquake had been of a greater magnitude, due to the pattern of subsidence, the Great Lakes could have been emptying into the Mississippi River.

Church and Veteran’s organizations were sponsoring clothing and food drives. Truckloads of merchandise headed north to distribution centers to help those affected by the quake get on their feet. The next project organized was a toy drive for the children.

Dan analyzed the news reports to see if his preps were in line with an unsuspected crisis. He added a few more items to his list he was constantly updating and made a few orders that night. The new Madrid quake caught everyone by surprise and further awakened a few minds around Wappapello Lake.
 

ncsfsgm

Contributing Member
Chapter 37
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“A communiqué from an organization called the “Sons of Liberty” was released concurrently to several News organizations in New York this morning shortly after the body of Special Agent in Charge Edmond Simmons was found in the Douglas Patterson Park near Joint Base Andrews. Simmons was purported to be in charge of a special unit of the FBI that provokes and entices citizens to take extralegal actions against the government. The FBI commonly uses this entrapment method. Through the communiqué, the Sons of Liberty were taking responsibility for what they called the execution of SAIC Simmons and said they promised to go up and down the chain of command until all the guilty had paid for their crimes against the citizens of this country.”
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dan listened to the news and raised his eyebrows.

“Probably about time. The government agencies are more traitors of the Constitution than many of the people they set up. "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter,"( first quoted by Gerald Seymour in his 1975 book ‘Harry's Game’).” Dan said to himself. The three letter agencies had become so corrupt he wasn’t surprised someone was striking back. Dan believed they should include the establishment politicians also and have a three-term limit on all politicians. It was amazing how rich you can get as a politician in Washington, D.C. with the cost of living as high as it was. Of course, some of the politicians were rich before they arrived but it was surprising how many became instant investment prognosticators and should have been working on Wall Street.

There had been an influx of strangers into the area after the quake, but residents were well aware they could get vultures swirling in as if after a carcass and groups were watching the roads coming into Wappapello. Warnings had gone out from the Sheriff’s Department so anytime someone suspicious showed up in the area, people were quick to notify the authorities and were prepared to hold the suspects under gunpoint if need be. There were some suspected to be looters, but the biggest problem was those preparing to scam the residents for repairs to be done. They were given harsh warnings and sent on their way and reported to the state police to be added to a BOLO list that was being built by the Attorney General’s office. Not a lot of damage was done in the area. Most of it was preexisting weaknesses to the structures and the tremors just worsened them.

Holly decided she wanted a small wedding, so the women got busy planning a small one at the church to be held a couple of days before Thanksgiving. Invitations went out and in lieu of wedding gifts, they asked donations go to earthquake victims. Holly wanted to go to Florida on their two-week honeymoon, tour the springs and try snorkeling. She wanted them to take the UXV-MAX and began doing small chores, like laundry in the UXV, to get used to using what would be their temporary home. She was even going to try to prepare a meal on the two-burner cooktop. Dan tried to dissuade her because he didn’t want her to have to work so hard while they were supposed to be having fun. The could always go out to eat while on their honeymoon. Still, he began stocking it up for the trip and showed her some of the intricacies of the RV.

Dan changed the oil, vacuumed, and washed the Kurierwagen then loaded it in the trailer along with the Rokon. While they were in Florida, Dan wanted to visit the Rokon dealer in Fort Lauderdale and perhaps pick up a street-ready bike for Holly. There was room for another one in the trailer. After that, it was wherever she wanted to go. Holly looked at him like he was crazy, but he had her pack an INCH bag and his and hers were packed in the trailer. These days, one doesn’t know what the future will hold.

All the women said the wedding was beautiful. Dan and Holly went home and changed into travel clothes and drove the RV to the reception at Annie’s. They would leave directly from there and spend the night at a campsite near Kentucky Dam before crossing the river. Once they got into Kentucky, it would be interstate highways all the way to Florida.

Crystal was busy during the reception, directing restaurant activities, but she made time to be with Andy throughout the reception. As Holly had wished, there was a pile of envelopes holding donations for quake relief and a large jar set up in the restaurant for the same.

Dan paid Crystal for the reception and had her make out envelopes for all her workers bonuses, for which he provided to her in cash.

After the cake was served, Crystal filled their only wedding gift, a 62-quart portable electric cooler given to them by Phil, with the top layer of the wedding cake, finger foods from the reception, plus two splits of champagne. She flash-froze another layer of the cake to give to Holly when they came back. Dan and Andy had to repack the trailer a little to make room for the cooler near the 12-volt outlet, but it didn’t take a lot of work.

Jeremy flew in for the wedding and reception and during a lull in the activities, handed Dan an intelligence report of hotspots for criminal activity along their route. Dan put it on the dash of the RV to review that evening. Dan did the champagne toasts but mostly stuck to coffee and iced tea. At 1600, after long bathroom breaks, Holly and Dan prepared to leave. As they started to pull out of the parking lot of Annie’s, Dan pushed the button on the remote transmitter and the strings of cans dragging behind the trailer dropped off into the parking lot as the crowd laughed.

Andy and Dan had devised the system, knowing what people would probably do. The “Just Married” painted on the sides of the RV and trailer could be washed off at a truck wash.

That evening, after setting up in the RV park, they snacked on sandwiches and drank a split of champagne from the plastic flutes Crystal had provided. They slept later the next morning than they had intended.
By the time they reached Altoona, Georgia, Dan, and Holly had tired of sandwiches and wedding cake, so stopped at a Cracker Barrel for an early dinner.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Politicians of all stripes had perfected the manipulation and meaning of words to win their arguments. Desires have been turned into rights, balanced budgets were when you didn’t spend more than you could borrow, tell a lie enough and in the People’s eyes, it becomes the truth. When the victim of Hamas is a Jew, then the perpetrator is a "militant." Yet when the victim is a non-Jew, the Muslim extremist is called for what he really is: a terrorist. Language was turned into a weapon of mass persuasion. Fact Check sites were abundant on the internet but when the left-leaning Washington Post says a left-wing politician lied, then it caught attention. One independent individual with plenty of political savvy, began printing the lies and exposed them in detail, even chastising the mainstream media for their lack of exposure of the same facts. He would expose one main falsehood per week but would also add a dozen “honorable mentions” at the end of the article. A lot of politicians were angry they were being exposed and were trying to get the site shut down in their attempts to curtail First Amendment Rights under the Constitution. Jeremy would use these attempts to troll for new targets.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Well, what do you think?” Crystal asked.

“Crystal, it’s up to you. If you think you and your crew can handle it, then go for it. I’ll fund the stockage...”
“…and I’ll have to hire four more waitresses.” Crystal said.

“Okay, that too.” Archer said.

“Come Spring, when the fishing picks up, fishermen will be to the marina early and we’ll draw them in like flies. Their wives will appreciate not having to fix them breakfast before they head out for a day of fishing, plus they’ll want to get some BBQ before they head home. We’ll sell a lot of take-out family meals to appease the wives.” Crystal said.

“Okay, I’ll add $10,000 to the account so you can start stocking and training personnel.” Archer said.
Phil came in from the marina for the midday check. He’d come in in the mornings and help Gary get the fires going and get the meat on. Then he would go fishing for Warmouth the rest of the morning, then would come back to see if Gary was having any problems.

On the way to Ft. Lauderdale, Dan stopped at Blue Spring State Park for Holly’s first spring. They rented snorkeling gear and swam for much of the day. Holly was amazed at the clear springs and the fish swimming around. However, she was disappointed there were no manatees, and they wouldn’t be allowed to swim anyway when the manatees were in the area. They were completely exhausted that evening from all the activities and went to bed early. The next morning, they continued their trip to Ft. Lauderdale to visit the Rokon dealer.

Holly picked out a red Trail Blazer and Dan added the racks and other accessories she would need. The bike was already street legal, but it would take a couple of hours to prepare the bike with the accessories Dan had picked out, so Holly wanted to go shopping for some decent snorkeling gear. What they had rented at Blue Springs had been cheap and ill-fitting, so Dan took her to a diving shop.

Once they had the Rokon and the one-wheel trailer loaded, they headed back north on I-95 . Most of the Nicer springs were in the north central part of Florida so Holly got on her iPad and reserved an RV space at Ginnie Springs (first). She selected from the five best springs. They got there late in the afternoon, had a burger at their concession stand and set the RV up in their slot. The next morning, they went paddle boarding first and saved snorkeling for the afternoon. The place was like a tropical paradise next to the Santa Fe River. The springs were crystal clear and the water a constant 72 degrees. They took a break at lunch to eat and rest then tried out their new snorkeling gear. In her bikini, Holly garnered a lot of admiring looks from both men and women, which made Dan proud. She did have an amazing figure. In the evening, they walked until dusk and enjoyed the last of the sun for the day.
 

ncsfsgm

Contributing Member
Chapter 38

As Andy chopped wood, he thought about the wedding. He wished the best for Dan and Holly and that nothing ever came between them. He had almost stepped into the harness once, in that case it would have been a trap. The hurt from something like that doesn’t go away, but some things only get not so much better but less bad over time. That was probably the reason he was almost willing to go for a full relationship with Crystal. They didn’t always agree on everything, but it made the relationship he had with her more interesting. Maybe, just maybe….

Dan put the kettle of water on for coffee and their breakfast. Neither he nor Holly felt like going out to eat. When the kettle began whistling, he placed a K-cup in the coffee maker, poured the water in the reservoir, inserted the plunger, and made Holly a cup of coffee. Adding two spoons of Coffee Mate, and one teaspoon of sugar, he stirred it and took the mug out to Holly’s chair under the awning.

Throwing four slices of bread into the toaster oven, he made toast and measured the rest of the hot water into the bag of Mountain House breakfast skillet. He set the timer, got out the bamboo tray and placed two paper plates on it. When the toast was done, he buttered the toast and spread muscadine jelly on the slices. He gave the meal bag a stir and set the timer for 9 minutes. Boiling more water, Dan made himself a mug of coffee, plated the breakfast skillet, added eating utensils, and carried the tray out to the awning, setting it on the side table. A light breeze was stirring as they ate their breakfast.

“Would you like to live around here?” Holly asked Dan.

“In two words, HELL NO!” Dan replied.

“Why?” Holly asked.

“Well, in this area, without extensive testing, you don’t know what’s under the ground. The springs, like here, are caused by sinkholes. You could build your dream house and all of a sudden watch it as it sinks underground. The bedrock here is limestone, but the springs erode the rock and cause it to collapse. We have limestone in Missouri too, but it hasn’t eroded like the bedrock here. If you look at a map of this part of Florida, you will see hundreds of lakes in this part of the state, the majority of them formed in sinkholes.

“That’s a shame,” Holly said, “The weather is so beautiful here.”

“You would think so until one of those Cat three hurricanes swept through.” Dan replied. “The grass isn’t always greener. There are take-aways in everything.”

Jim scoped the firing pin, but it was within specs. Loading a round, he went over to the barrel, pointed into the barrel, and pulled the trigger. The rifle fired. It was as he figured. The firing pin had been gummed up with dirt and old oil. After two hours in an ultrasonic bath of brake cleaner and a few swipes with a stainless-steel brush, it was clean and shiny again. Some people just couldn’t get it in their heads to clean their weapons occasionally. It would save them some money at the gunsmith. Jim completely disassembled the gun and placed everything but the wood into the Lyman ultrasonic cleaner and set the timer. This should give Mr. Collins a few more years’ use without cleaning it if he continued to quit caring for the old rifle.

Shaking his head, Jim cleaned his hands to go back to the house. Shaylynn had come over earlier and was helping Katie with her schoolwork and was tending a pork roast in the oven. Both females were finishing up preparations for supper. A fresh pie was sitting on the counter cooling, peach, it smelled like.

“LADIES, I’M HOME!” Jim yelled as he closed the door.

Katie peeked out of the kitchen. “Uncle Jim. You’re supposed to say “Honey, I’m home!”

“Quit watching re-runs on TV,” Jim said, chuckling.

Jim walked into the kitchen and kissed Shaylynn on the cheek as she was taking plates out of the cabinet. “Thank you for finishing supper,” Jim said.

“I enjoy cooking for my two favorite people.” Shaylynn said, smiling.

“Kiss her good Uncle Jim! She baked a peach pie!” Katie said.

“If I must,” Jim said, pulling Shaylynn into his arms and smothering her with a kiss.

“My! I have to do more cooking around here!” Shaylynn said after she caught her breath.

Katie set the table and Jim filled glasses with ice and tea. Katie gave a short blessing, and they ate their supper, finishing it off with the peach pie and vanilla ice cream.

“Ladies, that was a delicious meal!” Jim said, leaning back in his chair and taking a sip of the coffee he had with his pie.

Holly decided she’d had enough of the springs and asked if they could cut their time short in Florida and spend a couple of days in Nashville on their way back. That was fine with Dan, and they prepared the RV to head back. Holly began to search for RV campsites around Nashville and was going to call for reservations. She selected a park between Nashville and Clarksville which was conveniently located on the interstate they would take home, plus, they supplied shuttle service into Nashville in case they wanted to go barhopping one night.

It was a nine-and-a-half-hour drive from Orange City to Nashville, so Dan pulled over in Chattanooga, and Holly drove the rest of the way with Dan napping.

Thank goodness the RV site was a pull-through, so Holly had no problem parking the rig. They were both tired so went to bed and slept until 0900 that morning.

After getting up and showering, Dan took the VW out of the trailer, and they went looking for a country breakfast. Due to the area, that wasn’t very hard. Almost overeating, they pushed away from the table and headed to Nashville for a day of sightseeing.

They did the General Jackson Showboat Lunch Cruise and finished up the afternoon at the Country Music Hall of Fame. Holly bought souvenirs, mostly things like T-shirts and novelty items, and of course, a cowboy hat.

Phil laid the stringer of fish on the pier and carefully stepped out of the boat. Leaving the rods in their holders, he bent over to pick up the stringer and a sudden sharp pain shot across his chest. Gasping and clutching at his chest, Phil lost his balance and fell face first onto the wooden floor and lay still.

The coroner said he had died instantly.

Dan got the text the next morning from Crystal informing him of Phil’s passing. Holly read the text and her heart sunk.

“Phil was one of those people who you thought would be around forever, or at least you wish he would be. Dan, can we go home now?”

“If that’s what you want. Let me get the awning up and the chairs and table stowed,” Dan said.

The 206 miles back to Wappapello were long miles, but they made it back by noon.

Phil’s estate lawyer had everything under control. Between him and the VFW, the funeral was unlike any people had seen in a long time. Sheriff’s Deputies were out in mass to handle traffic control and ROTC members of the local high school handled parking, prepared for and in some cases supplying valet parking for some of the elder funeral attendees. It was the biggest funeral in the Wappapello area history. Phil had even paid for his own wake at Annie’s.

Gary was practically inconsolable. Phil was the grandfather he never knew and his guide, but Gary continued to do his job; starting the fires, cooking the meat and the other small things Phil had educated him on.

The wake began as a morose crowd gathered at Annie’s after the funeral and the normal excitement was absent. Finally, Crystal got everyone’s attention and made a little speech.

“I know all of you, along with the staff of Annie’s, are saddened by Phil’s passing. But this isn’t what Phil would have wanted. Phil agreed to let Archer Harmon reopen the restaurant because he wanted to see the place as it was in the heyday of when he and Annie ran it. He got his wish. Now, he is in a better place, holding Annie’s hand and we should not be grieving, but celebrating what they had built. So, no more tears, no more sad looks. Let us celebrate all the good times Phil and Annie gave to us. I want them to look down and see the smiling faces of the people who appreciate the things they gave this community.”

Crystal went back to the kitchen, grabbed a paper towel, and dried her eyes. Soon, the talking got louder in the restaurant, possibly due to the half-hidden jars that were being passed around, but the wake turned into a celebration of life.

Andy was standing with some members of the VFW when the jar in the brown paper bag was passed to him. He took a swallow and swore the wax in his ears liquified. Passing the jar on to the next guy, he finally got his breath and looked at the guys looking at his reaction.

“Good stuff, hunh?” Gene Williams asked Andy.

“Yeah, it is a little like some of the piscos I’ve had down in Peru, but they were distilled from grape hulls. What was that distilled from?” Andy asked.

“Corn, pure corn. It’s the water and the aging that makes a difference,” Gene replied.

At 1700, the VFW firing squad lined up as members lowered the Flag in front of the restaurant while a bugler from the high school band played taps, and the firing squad fired a salute. People either left to go home or returned inside, few with dry eyes.

Mr. Halbertson sat down next to Archer and cleared his throat.

“It will be a couple of weeks before clearing the estate and the reading of the will, but I can tell you now Phil left the restaurant, the house, and marina to you. He thought you’d take care of everything like it should be. He thought the world of you.”

“Well, that wasn’t expected. We all loved Phil like family,” Archer said.

“Phil knew that and cherished everything you all had done.” Mr. Halbertson said.

As the last attendees were leaving, the restaurant staff was cleaning up for the next day’s business. Crystal caught Archer as he was leaving and asked to speak to him.

“Arch, I’ve been thinking on this for a while because of some of the comments from the customers. I would like to add more items to the lunch and dinner menus. Everyone loves BBQ but I think we could get more customers if we added country entrees like fried liver, chicken fried steak, fried chicken, chicken and dumplings…things like that.” Crystal said. “I have a lot of Annie’s recipes Phil gave me.”

“Well, it does drift away from a BBQ restaurant, but we could try it. Maybe consider changing the name of the restaurant to something like “Annie’s Home Kitchen and BBQ.”

Crystal grinned. “I’ll give it a week’s run and see what the comments are.”
 

ncsfsgm

Contributing Member
Chapter 39

Andy stood on the dock and watched as the pilot of the Viking Twin Otter on floats lined up and set the plane down flawlessly onto the smooth lake. Day was sunny, but cold…one of those days when Father Winter wanted to show you he was still around. The plane coasted up to the dock and tied the plane off on the dock stanchions and Jeremy and the pilot, Andy Mills, got out.

“We’re going to need your pickup and trailer to move this load,” Jeremy said.

Andy went to get the pickup truck and trailer and a set of hand trucks. Backing the truck and trailer down to the top of the ramp, he rolled the trucks down onto the dock and got the first load.

“What do you have here?” Andy asked.

“1800 pounds of civilian ammo, and 50 sets of Level IV body armor,” Jeremy replied.

“What caliber?”

“You name it. You may want to sort it out later by caliber but for right now let’s just get it stored.” Jeremy replied.

It took them around 30 minutes to unload the plane and to move the ammo into the warehouse. Without really thinking, they unloaded the trailer and stacked the ammo on empty pallets by caliber. There were a lot of hunting calibers but also a lot of pistol calibers.

“Andy, have you been monitoring the news?” Jeremy asked as they locked the warehouse door.

“About the earthquakes?”

“No, about the terrorist cells, however the quakes are a concern also.”

You mean the attacks on the gas plants? I’ve caught some of it. The plants were attacked by terrorists?” Andy asked.

“Yeah, and we expect they’re not finished,” Jeremy said. “My guess is they’ll go after the grid, but there are a lot of infrastructure targets.”

“How would they go about doing that?” Andy asked.

“Oh, they could begin by taking out transformers in areas that cross-connect with other grids.” Jeremy said.

“It would be easy,” Andy said. "I remember from the Anti-Material classes at sniper school you can take down a lot of an area’s power just by punching a hole in a transformer. If you took out several connecting substations, you could put an area out of commission for a long time.”

“Yeah, those transformers usually last a long time so the power companies don’t keep a lot of spares because of costs,” Jeremy said. “And the damn things are mostly made in Europe or China. With the switching systems, you take out enough transformers, you can start a chain reaction and take all the grid down through overloads”

“Bad juju.” Andy said, wincing.

“Yeah, for sure.” Jeremy said. “DHS is looking and keeping watch, and unbeknownst to them, so are we. It’s going to be a tough job with all the illegals that have gotten away at the border, and all the immigration laws that are being ignored.”

“Well, we’ve got to do another drop in Beardstown. If the situation gets to where the ammo is needed, hand it out.”

“Roger that!” Andy said.

Andy watched as the plane took of and went to unhitch the trailer.


Jim put the last rivet in, slipped a pistol mold into the holster, and took the shoulder rig into the house to have Katie try it on. Katie was pretty close to the size of the woman who had ordered the rig and would be an acceptable model. Katie was growing like a weed. Jim thought she must be growing an inch a month. She’d asked Shaylynn to go with her shopping soon because she was growing out of her clothes. Jim was going to take them Friday to St. Louis. Jim called to her as he walked into the house, and she came out of her bedroom.

“What are you doing?” Jim asked.

“Working ahead on my schoolwork. We’re going shopping Friday, remember?” Katie replied.

“Yes, I remember. Can you try on this rig for Mrs. Johnsons and see how it fits?”

Katie let the adjustment straps out and fitted the rig. Just as she was making the final adjustments, Shaylynn walked in.

“This should work but I’ve got bigger puppies than her.”

“You’ve got bigger puppies than who?!” Shaylynn asked.

“Mrs. Johnson.” Katie explained. “This rig is for her.”

“Oh, I see.” Shaylynn replied.

“Shaylynn, are you still going to St. Louis with us Friday?”

“Sure, if that’s okay,” Shaylynn said.

“Of course, it’s okay. Uncle Jim is worthless at picking out bras,” Katie said, grinning.

Shaylynn burst out giggling. Jim just said “Hurmph” and scowled.

“We’ll find you some nice things,” Shaylynn said.

Friday morning, they all arose early, Shaylynn staying in the guest room and had breakfast before reaching St. Louis. Katie and Shaylynn Jabbering over pancakes about the stores they wanted to go to. Jim kept his comments few. He was just going to be the chauffeur. He’d let Shaylynn search for the addresses on the GPS. Both females were searching their phones for the malls and stores they wanted to go to. After three cups of coffee and a bathroom visit later, Jim got up with the shopping committee hot on his heels. Shaylynn put the address for the first store into the GPS and Jim pulled onto the interstate and followed the directions, which was pretty much what he did the rest of the day. He didn’t follow them into the stores, he found more interesting things to do, like trim his fingernails or sit in the massage chairs in the malls reading stories on his phone. They had lunch at one of those boutique restaurants in a mall and Katie still had more stores she wanted to go to that afternoon. By 1600, Jim was beginning to wonder if they had enough room to carry all the bags the girls had accumulated, but they managed. Finally, they headed home, but stopped on the way to have an early dinner. The girls were worn from shopping out but found the strength to put on a fashion show for Jim, who found the appropriate words of praise. Finally, their energy ran out and Katie put many of her new clothes in the washer to wash the sizing out while Shaylynn relaxed with a glass of wine and finished watching a Jack Reacher movie with Jim. She lasted about thirty minutes before her head started to bob like an oil well jack pump and Katie talked her into staying in the guest room again. They both took off to the back of the house to bed and Jim soon followed.

Everyone was refreshed the next morning for range day. All the wore matching cargo pants, Shaylynn and Katie had bought theirs the day before,, matching the washed cotton pants that Jim usually work. It was going to be warm enough the girls wore logoed hunter green hoodies to match Jim’s Sherpa Lined Waffle Henley Shirt. Katie wanted to take a picture of them before they left, that they looked like a “family.”

They were at the Range early enough to get a couple of lanes to practice and had a few observers. There were a few people who liked to just come out and watch, which the Safety Officer and his assistants encouraged because it brought in more people to participate. There was free ear protection for anyone who wanted to watch from a safe area. They had been discussing setting up an area with spotting scopes for observers also.

Jim, Katie and Shaylynn were able to get off one magazine each before female customers whose shoulder rigs were ready showed up. Jim let Katie and Shaylynn help the ladies fit their rigs and went to open his trailer up for business. An hour later he had sold and installed a set of Eagle Grips and a set of XS Big Dot pistol sights. The girls seemed to be selling a lot of ball caps logoed Beeswax Lip Moisturizer. THe girls had picked through the promotional items catalog and had Jim order a few extra things like lip balm, a combo lip balm and sunscreen connected with little caribiner, more ball caps, tissue packs, and travel rain ponchos. They still hadn’t spent their quarterly advertising budget and the shop’s name was spread all over the county. The clothing items were sold but much of the things like tissues , lip balm and sunscreen were given away. Katie and Shaylynn took turns walking through the area and would give away things people looked like they could use, like tissues to a mother with a kid with a runny nose. The girls sold sets of electronic ear defenders but also kept a dispenser of free disposable ear plugs, and corded ear plugs available.

A couple of 3-gun competition ranges had been added to the complex, so those were bringing in more visitors and shooters from farther away. Bob Dennison was more than pleased on how well with how well the complex was doing. They were clearing enough money to pay extra safety officers, and bring in named judges for the competitions, and hire babysitters for the daycare center they had put in. The vendor for the concession stand wasn’t working out so their lease probably wouldn’t be renewed. The last he had heard, Crystal Dutton had high bid so far, so she might have the lease starting next month.

Ben was about to take a drink of water from the bottle he was holding when the shaking started and the warning horn went off, signaling the closing of all ranges. After the shaking stopped, the Safety Officers told all shooters to safety all their firearms and unload, that there would be a 30-minute break. This was part of the S.O.P. since the last earthquake they’d experienced. If there wasn’t another tremor within the next thirty minutes, they would continue with operations.

Some people began leaving to check on their homes but most of the people stayed in place and bought more drinks and food.

The 3.6m tremor did little to no damage in the Wappapello area but down in Fisk, the elementary school lost a wall and the bridge over the St. Francis River was closed due to weakened supports from liquification.
 

ncsfsgm

Contributing Member
Chapter 40

Jim selected the program, made sure all the power switches were on and started the CNC, or Computer Numerical Control machine to cut out the stock liner for the Baretta BM62. Ross Chambers brought in. It was a very rare weapon that had been owned by his grandfather. Unfortunately, it had been severely damaged in the wreck that had killed his grandfather. The stock had been shattered and the inserted magazine had been bent over and damaged the stock liner beyond repair. He had replaced the wooden stock, modified from a Garand stock, but the ATF looked hard at anyone importing parts for a weapon which was almost identical to a foreign selective fire weapon and ATF was always seeking headlines. The BM62 was the civilian equivalent of the BM59. It didn’t have the grenade launcher, no tri-compensator, and extremely rare to have gas cylinder with bipod capability. Ross’ grandfather had used it to hunt black bear. After milling, he would have to bend lips on the liner and parkerized it, but that wouldn’t take that much.

The weather was warming up and Andy was spending as much time as he could fishing for crappie. He kept a few but gave the rest to Crystal to have lunch specials at Annie’s. She would offer fish, pork loin sandwich, liver and onions, fried chicken, and chicken and dumpling specials during the week. They had increased the lunch clientele twofold. Every member of the crew was doing everything they could to improve the restaurant every day. No one was idle. Crystal was planning a pay increase.

Wappapello continued to receive minor aftershock tremors, usually in the magnitude of 2,0 to 3.0. Most everyone had gotten used to them, but advisories went out to make sure gas connections were routinely inspected.

Since the quakes started, Dan decided to put together emergency supply kits for his and Holly’s vehicles. He got sturdy Tuff Boxes and filled them with a hard hat, an ax, a shovel, a broom with a two-piece handle, a rope for rescue, Rocky Puncture Resistant Boots with side zip, three pairs of work gloves, extra work socks, a fire extinguisher (multipurpose, dry chemical type), a large first aid kit, and a multi-pocket tactical vest with a loud whistle and pockets for a canteen, radio, flashlight, Leatherman. and other pockets he and Holly would fill with whatever. He was sure Holly would fill one of the pockets in her vest with Werther’s butterscotch hard candies. On the floorboards of the back seat of their vehicles would be a three-gallon water jug and six MREs.


The magnitudes of the tremors were diminishing but there was no guarantee a big one wouldn’t hit. When Archer and Andy found out what Dan had done, they put together vehicle kits also. They ordered the boots from the same place Dan did. Archer and Andy also put together kits for Siobhan and Crystal. For radios, they all agreed on Garmin Rino 755Ts that had GMRS capabilities since they would probably be working in adjacent areas.

Jim had a small pistol range built with a backstop berm built in the field next to the house for Katie to practice on. She was on the girl’s pistol team sponsored by Annie’s. Jim had her practice drawing from shoulder, IWB and hip holsters and was just as proficient as her left hand as she was with her right. Jim found where he could by the old-style strike anywhere kitchen matches and set up a post to stick matches in so she could practice lighting matches. It was a lot harder with a 9mm pistol than it was with a .22 rifle. Katie was at the stage where she would go on a bike ride with Mollie running beside her, come back, and practice striking matches. She was becoming quite proficient at seven meters.

The next day Shaylynn was coming over to spend the day so Jim could run some errands and Jim nervously drove to Cape Girardeau to lay down $4,000 for a halo-style engagement rink. Like Katie had said, “Gotta risk it for the biscuit.”, but she was sure Shaylynn would say, “Yes”.

Jim didn’t really pay that much for the ring. The jewelry store owner was trying to sell out and head back to New York. She said if she wanted earthquakes, she’d go to California. Jim secured the ring box in an inside jacket pocket and spent the rest of the time he’d allocated himself to cruising several gun stores, picking up reloading supplies and various gun parts. He picked up several hundred 9mm FMJ 115 grain bullets. He liked to keep several boxes of practice reloads available in the trailer for the Wappapello range. The range had begun to run IPSA matches and he wanted Katie and Shaylynn to enter as many as possible and work their way up to 3-gun matches if they wanted.


The plane landed on a specific part of the lake and as the plane slowed to taxi, the right door opened and the gun sock encased barrel and receiver slipped out and dropped, to sink into the silt of one of the deepest parts of the lake. The plane continued on to Andy’s dock.

Jeremy taxied the plane up to the dock and Andy tied it off.

Behind Jeremy, another man got out of the plane and walked over to them.

“Andy, meet Shane Benson. He from up in Minnesota, down here for a visit.”

“Please to meet you Shane,” Andy said, shaking Shane’s hand.
“No deliveries today.” Jermy said, “We just need to pick some things up.”

The three men walked to the warehouse and began unstacking some pelican cases in the back, checking ID tags on each case.

“Here we go,” Shane said, unsnapping the latches on a case. Inside was a Blaser R93 LRS2 .300 Winchester Magnum rifle. Closing the case back up, Jeremy led Shane over to where ammo was stacked and they picked out a case of marked 300 WINMAG ammo and placed everything on a handcart and wheeled it out of the warehouse.

“That all you need?” Andy asked.

“That’s it,” Jeremy replied.

Andy locked the warehouse back up, set the alarm, and walked them back to the plane and watched as they loaded the two cases inside. He released the plane and shoved it away from the dock as Jeremy started the engine and watched the plane as they set up and took off.

Andy went back to the wood pile and continued splitting kindling.


Dan opened the case and began filling the can rack. He had to open another case to finish filling the rack and saved the last can back. Taking down two cans of dehydrated cheese and a can of butter, Dan took them back upstairs, put water on to boil and opened the cans. He was making macaroni and cheese with ham chunks for dinner. Checking his watch, he saw he could have it finished by the time Holly got back.


Andy woke up the next morning to the smell of bacon. After doing his business in the master bathroom, he threw on some casual clothes. He went downstairs to see Crystal in the kitchen dressed only in one of his long-sleeved shirts.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," she smiled as she handed him a cup of coffee. "Breakfast is about finished."

"You're going to spoil me, you know that?" Andy asked before giving her a kiss.

"Isn't that the idea?" she responded. Andy smiled at that. She returned and brought two plates with eggs, bacon, and toast. She handed him one and set the other down in front of her.

"This is delicious," Andy said after taking a bite of the eggs.

"Thank you," Crystal said. "Kinda hard to screw up an egg, though."

"Maybe," I said. "Or maybe it's the fact that you cooked it when you didn't have to."

“Oh yes I did!” Crystal said. “After last night we both needed to rebuild our energy!”

Andy’s ears reddened as he took a sip of coffee.


Jim dropped the last baffle in, followed by the spring and screwed the end cap on. Getting out the Glock 19, he screwed the suppressor on, he turned on the decibel meter in its rack next to the sand filled drum and loaded a magazine. Firing three shots, slowly, he checked the decibels and was satisfied. Unscrewing the suppressor, he wrapped the suppressor in paper, taped it up, and placed it in the box with the others. He needed to cut more housing blanks and went over to the bandsaw and got another tube off the rack, set the length measurement, and lowered the saw, allowing it to cut through the tube using its own weight. He filled the oil cup and watched the cutting for a second. He needed six .308 suppressors and six .338 Lapua magnum suppressors. Going to a shelf, he began laying out the parts he would need and went to reset the bandsaw for the next tube. While the next tube was being cut, he threaded the first tube and caps. Once he had all the blanks cut, Jim peeled off the latex gloves and threw them in the trash. It was getting close to supper time.


The two men got out of the truck, locked the doors and went around to the rear to check the seal. Going into the truck stop, they grabbed a booth. They ordered coffee when the waitress brought them menus and glasses of water. Un-noticed, the waitress slipped a tiny pill into each mug before filling them. Settling on the Swiss steak with mashed potatoes and green beans, the two men discussed the delivery while waiting on their meal. They had another 300 miles to travel, and it would be a pain in the ass to go through all the security measures once they arrived. They really hated deliveries like this. When they finished their dinner, they returned to the truck,, checked the seal on the cargo doors, and got into the truck. They were both overcome with fatigue and 15 minutes later, two men walked up to the truck and moved the drivers into the sleeper bunks. No one paid any particular attention as the truck rolled out of the parking lot and got onto the interstate.
 

ncsfsgm

Contributing Member
Chapter 41


Dan laid his and Holly’s emergency vests and checked the size of the pockets then went through his boxes of “nice to have” things he had accumulated over the years and dug out a couple of emergency thermal blankets, and shoved one down flat into the pocket. He estimated he could fit five in the pocket, so he ordered ten from Amazon. He also had a couple of Mylar lined ponchos, so he added one to each vest. In another pocket he added an LED head flashlight with a battery storage box with four spare batteries for the light. Four red chemlights were added to another pocket He left the other pockets empty for now until he studied it a little more and stored the vests in the Tuff Boxes and put them in the vehicles. He would get Holly aside later and go over everything.


The latest tremor’s epicenter was located southeast of Charleston, Missouri. An observer said the waters of the lake were almost whipped to a foam by the still standing trees above water and the river and lake banks were collapsing . There was no consensus on why they had earthquakes in that area. There were no continental plates meeting there. Some said they were caused by the east-west compression of the North American Plate, some said a thin mantle in the area, but the one that made most sense to Mike was crustal rebound. As the climate warmed about 12,000 years ago, the Laurentide Ice Sheet retreated, the pressure upon the crust abated, and the crust began to rebound. The crust where the ice sheet once was and for hundreds of miles away had been slowly rebounding ever since. It was just another thing you had to contend with that nature threw at you, sometimes often.

The downside, some say the upside, of the quake was the lengthening and widening of what is now known as Lake Cairo. To the consternation of the governor of Illinois, Cairo was being relocated and rebuilt four kilometers along I-57 southwest of its last location, and renamed New Cairo, because Missouri already had a town named Cairo. A demolition company came in to destroy the structures still protruding above and just under the water because of their danger to navigation.

There was a general consensus (at least among the women) that they weren’t canning enough sweet corn, so John agreed to plant a field on his land. The corn was good, but they just were not coming out even by the next harvest. Everyone liked corn whether frozen on the cob, cold packed, or creamed. So, they tilled a field to plant six long rows and space to grow lima beans and okra. The field got nicknamed the “Succotash field”, because that was what the field was supplying some of the ingredients for, except for onions, garlic, bell peppers and tomatoes. Those were grown in the greenhouses.

The Succotash was so well liked at the church dinners, and they had been asked so many times for the recipe, Angel had printed the recipe out on 5x8 cards and handed them out when asked. When a pinch of Hickory smoke powder was added, you could almost envision a pot of succotash cooking over an open fire.

Once the field was plowed and manure spread, Paul and Eduardo did a timber cruise and selected trees to gird for next winter. Any misshaped trees were girded and some that were browning last summer had been marked for girding. They found no instances of bark beetle nor walnut beetles in the grove of black walnut trees. The forest up to the Ozark St. Francis National Forest was pretty clean but once they got to the boundary, they could see diseased and damaged trees within the national forest area. Paul would have to consult with the local forest ranger to get permission to harvest the wood with a permit.


Andy walked into Annie’s to get some lunch and took a seat in a booth. The waitress took his order and Andy began browsing through his phone while waiting. Archer came in, saw Andy and went and sat down with him and ordered a cup of coffee.

“It’s about time you came out of hibernation.” Archer said, grinning.

“What?! I’ve been out plenty of times,” Andy said.

Archer studied Andy as Andy watched Crystal scurried around at on task or another.

“Why haven’t you two tied the knot yet?”
“I don’t need the drama. Statistically, the odds aren’t good enough.” Andy said. “Look, 50 percent of all marriages end up in divorce. In a divorce, the odds are of the wife getting everything, while the ex-husband gets the shaft. He loses his kids, their home and has to pay child support until the kids are 18. Not to mention the mortgage of the house he doesn't live in. The wife often has cheated and gets to bring her boyfriend or boyfriends in the house where the kids live. The minute a man has a child with a woman, his life is in her hands. And no matter what she does, the legal system is on her side. To me, the odds are against the husband getting an even break. I know enough about the legal system to know that fairness and justice often don't enter into final decisions. It would be cheaper to kill the cheating slut. Carefully planned, people can disappear easily.”

“That’s a hard and terribly sad mindset,” Archer said.

Andy shrugged. “It is what it is. I could come around. I am fond of her, you know.”

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Citizens were beginning to realize activist judges were playing havoc with the judicial system. The ONLY activist judges that should be on the bench were constitutional activists. As it was, judges could make a bad call, and the man-on-the-street could go into debt for thousands of dollars taking the case to the appeals court. By the time the appeals court could overrule, you might get a fair ruling, but be as poor as a church mouse, Only to have a similar case come up, ruining someone else. Something needed to be done. The politicians didn’t have the guts to impeach the judges.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Jim added two clicks of elevation and one to windage and the boresighting was done. He would work with Harley the next day to get the rifle fully zeroed. Harley had picked out the Leupold VX-3i scope to mount on his Marlin 336. He should be able to zero the rifle at 200 yards with no problem. Going over the supplies he was taking to the range the next day, Jim restocked some things and added some new items that had come in that week. He opened a new box of sponge ear plugs into the dispenser he’d hang on the outside of the trailer the next day. Katie and Shaylynn were folding clothing to be displayed in their tent and placing them in boxes. Shaylynn stocked the cashbox with change and added a new receipt booklet. Katie opened a box of Women's Canvas Safari Hats to add to their display.


Bob Dennison stood and watched the firers the next morning and was pleased. They always had a lot of people come out on Saturdays to just to shoot for fun or competition. He was surprised at the number of elderly ladies that had taken up shooting for pleasure. Instead of card parties they now were holding shooting parties and discussing the merits of one pistol or another. Bob had to give Jim Collingwood credit for getting a lot of people into shooting. His expertise in guns had made more people relax and he would fit them with a gun that they could easily handle. He had even gotten the local optometrist to carry shooting glasses with prescription inserts for their individual’s shooting glasses. Saturdays at the range had become almost like reunions for friends to enjoy the day. The 3-gun ranges were almost completed and then they should see an uptick of attendance if for nothing more than observing the expertise of the shooters. IPSA matches started at 2:00 PM and there were always observers for those. Also, they were marking off areas on a new part of the range complex for Cowboy Action and Single Action shooting matches people had been asking for. He asked the Range Master to train more judges and safety officers. There was enough money coming in to pay them all their salaries.

Bob went over to the concession stand to talk to Crystal about possibly getting a concession trailer to handle the Cowboy action areas on the complex so the spectators and participants wouldn’t have to walk all the way back to the concession building.

When Crystal told Archer what Bob had requested, he went to Little Rock and was having a custom concession trailer built to Crystal’s specifications, arranged for an advertising skin for the trailer with “Annie’s on the Road.” They discussed possibly extending to catering for special events. The future was opening up.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The leadership of the FBI had gone completely political to the left side, from apolitical to the STASI of America. They were now targeting ordinary citizens who voiced their displeasure over the political corruption instead of focusing on the child-smuggling sex rings and child-smuggling labor rings. Organized crime was infesting the cities with mass shoplifting incidents that are out of control. The Chicoms had yet to have most of their illegal police stations shut down, and Chinese and other foreign spies are being caught left and right, suggesting there's a lot of this stuff going on, what with nobody having to pass a background check anymore before getting into the military and the rest of the government. There is Antifa and its violent activities. There is political corruption up the wazoo in Congress and in the federal workforce with inside trading alone. And don’t forget the fentanyl rings that are taking hundreds of thousands of lives, as well as making social media sites censor and a federal building in San Francisco housing the FBI office declared a no-go zone. The target list was building.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

College students were caught up in the whole group-think of entitlement and with an ineffectual education in history and civics were just too young, too naïve, and self-centered to think of the consequences of their actions. The drain was swirling.
 

ncsfsgm

Contributing Member
Chapter 42


Jim finally found the right time to ask Shaylynn to marry him, she accepted the offer and they decided on an early summer wedding. Shaylynn didn’t want a big wedding and certainly didn’t want any publicity, which suited Jim just fine.

During range Saturdays, Jim had been noting the different weapons people were shooting and began purchasing and storing spare parts. The older weapons he usually obtained parts that would wear out in time, like springs, extractors, and firing pins. There were a lot of AR15s, so he began ordering parts for the upper and lower groups along with common sense accessories. Jim didn’t stock flashy or gimmicky accessories but those that might help the firer put lead on target. He had every type of sight on the market up to and including thermal sights, and had even started keeping a couple of night vision sights on hand. His constant best seller lately had been gun cleaning supplies. Most of the shooters began using CLP® Cleaner, Lubricant & Preservative so he kept cases of it on hand in various sized containers. Jim had at various times given weapons cleaning classes, and he had seen better maintained guns at the ranges.

Slowly, but surely, between Andy and Jim, they were able to transfer updated weapons and ammo to local militia cells and get them trained. Patriot Security Task Force, Region VI, wasn’t anti-American but they'd been forced into preparatory action by ineffectual executive, justice, and legislative systems that couldn't, or wouldn’t, protect them. Jeremy was getting them equipped with tactical gear and whatever equipment they were ready for. Jeremy was now stockpiling AT4s, SPG9s, and FGM-148 antitank missiles for distribution. Since they had no place to safely practice with them, Jeremy was searching for simulators for the militia members to get practice in.

Most of the time, the Wappapello area residents were just trying to get by day-by-day. Everyone was putting in their own gardens or growing vegetables in containers, at a minimum.. They made sure their neighbors had enough to sustain their families and cemented the community’s relationships.

Jeremy got word from higher that a big press was coming and to prepare for collateral activities.

This was summing up to be a second Civil War.

The first action that took place was just after the exposé about who was actually running Washington. The reporter was blackballed and no publication would hire her. She move to the internet to publish her continuing series and more and more ISPs blocked her stories as disinformation. She finally got a site that eagerly hosted her and had a mirrored site in the dark web. Her revelations were being fed by insiders in Washington that felt uneasy about how things were done in government. Security firms were having a hard time protecting their customers from harm, if they were knee deep in the Establishment. Meetings were being disrupted because of changes in travel schedules that, for some, were being disrupted with anti-tank weapons being used on their conveyances. No one was safe from the just retribution inflicted on them. Even the President and Vice President weren’t immune to false radar locks on their helicopters when traveling. At least a half-dozen times the helicopters were forced to take evasive action when flying in and out of Washington. Not only were the political elite were being targeted, but in Philadelphia, a meeting of pharmaceutical giants was disrupted when a drone flew into the 17th floor conference room window and exploded, giving access to a second drone that flew threw and released tear gas and a dense purple smoke that deeply stained everything it touched, especially skin. Several resignations were tendered after that action. Many industrial/government collaborators refused to meet any more, expecting to be outed and destroyed also. There were so many resignations in Congress, that true lovers of the Constitution were gradually taking power and were able to begin several investigations and were hinting of impeachments. Care was taken they were given protection by the Patriot Movement to blaze the trail for them. Any hint of retribution was quickly squashed by means that made the Establishment back off if they valued their lives and in most cases, the wealth they had gained while in office or government positions.

On the other side of the country, the cartels and coyotes were becoming leery of crossing the border during their human trafficking and drug operations, sometimes not getting withing sight of the border and the snipers that were waiting for them. It was a given fact that if they stepped foot on American soil, they wouldn’t leave alive, and doubts of their compatriots even bothering to bring the bodies back. There was no guarantee that if you crossed the border you would come back. , Even scouts who were sent out to recon for snipers weren’t making it back. The policy of immediate death for those who dealt in drugs, no matter how small the distributor, was sweeping the nation. Despite the pleas of those who cried out against the policy. Many of the influential (read rich) were finding family members being admitted to special clinics when the drug supplies began drying up.

Holly started the propane stove, got her cast iron griddle hot, added a little bacon grease to the surface, and while it was getting hot, she mixed the batter, and added the right amount of water to the egg mix, and let it sit to rehydrate. When the griddle was smoking hot, she added a small ladle full of pancake batter on one side of the griddle,

then did it again on the other. The griddle was just big enough to make 2 pancakes at a time, which was okay for them, they didn’t eat that many anyway. In a small Teflon pan, she heated some butter and added the egg mixture and seasoned it well. As the eggs started to set and cook, she scrambled the mixture. Minutes later, breakfast was ready. Dan came in and set the table, and they had pancakes with real maple syrup and scrambled eggs for breakfast, and a pot of coffee they had staying hot on the stove.

“I was planning on stroganoff tonight. Is that okay?” Holly asked Dan.

“It’s fine with me. I need to go down to Poplar Bluff today. Do you want to ride with me?” Dan asked.

“Yes, I’d like to go to Walmart, okay?” Holly asked.

“Sure, anywhere you want to go.” Dan replied.

As they headed down Missouri “T” Holly asked, “What is going to happen when things blow up?”

Dan glanced over at Holly. “Well, there will be no law enforcement or fire departments to call for help, and I doubt there’s even enough competent military in much shape to help. We’re on our own, and if we can’t defend ourselves, we die. It’s not going to take much to push this country over the cliff into a cesspool that will be hard to swim out of.”

“Gee, nice to see you’re such an optimist.” Holly said.

“You asked, I was just being realistic.” A stone-faced Dan said. “I know what can happen when normal society’s restraints break down.”


Andy watched as the HU-16C circled the lake and set up to land. Jeremy sat in the #2 seat and helped get the plane ready to land. He’d bought the restored Coast Guard rescue plane and spent a lot of money upgrading the avionics to prepare it for use. They needed something a little larger for cargo operations and the Albatross was perfect for what they needed. All they needed was a large lake to land it on to stay away from the airports. Jeremy and the pilot carefully maneuvered the 63 foot aircraft and aligned it to the dock.


Dan got his cases of filters and oil and was at the service of Holly for the rest of the day. She had persuaded him to take the box trailer with them and she was determined to fill it up. She had her agenda and he silently let her follow it. Cases of feminine hygiene products, canned meats, other hygiene and paper products soon filled the trailer.

“What’s on your mind?” Dan asked Holly.

“I’m taking in account some things I’ve been reading in your “Save” folder on the computer. You need to come up with more ideas on storage space. Shipping will shut down completely if things are going to get as bad as you seem to think. I see the danger in what can happen, and I want to help make things as easy as I can for our family’s future. I want to have children and want to prepare as good of a future as we can.” Holly said. “If things don’t get so bad, at least we won’t have to shop very much when it all blows over.”

“Is that the reason for all the baby products?” Dan asked. “Are you planning to get pregnant?”

Holly smiled. “Not yet, but there can be slip-ups while we practice.”

During the trip home, Dan was thinking. He could get shipping containers, but they weren’t strong enough to be buried. He would have to reinforce the sides and tops to do that. Perhaps place the containers in groups of four, place concrete blocks to reinforce the sides, and use 4” I-beams on top and covering it with sheet metal before burying them.

Asher inspected the refrigerated rooms he had added to the restaurants. They now had enough space to hold supplies to maintain the restaurant for 30 days if they didn’t get any deliveries. Crystal was now ordering supplies to fill them. Asher went back to the office where Crystal was working and asked her if there was anything he could do.

“No, I’m good. I just finished talking to Benny about getting 500 pounds of pulled pork for Brunswick stew and have got everything else on order. We’ll be set by the end of the week.” Crystal replied.

“Good. Let me know of any problems.” Asher said. Asher left the restaurant and headed to Jim’s to pick up his pistol. Jim was going over the pistol to try and figure out why Asher was getting frequent stovepipes.

The driveway alarm sounded, and Jim peeked out, then opened the shop door.

“Hey Ash! Come on in.”

“Did you figure out what was going on with my pistol?” Asher asked.

“Yep, primarily with the magazines. I’ve got you three more still in the packages, but I disassembled the gun and went over everything, even replacing the extractor spring and polishing the ramp.” Jim said. “I shot three mags through it and no stovepipes. I recommend firing +P ammo when you carry, and you shouldn’t have any problems.”

“Thanks Jim”, Asher said, paying the invoice.

Jim reached into a drawer and took out two boxes of reloads. “Here are some of my hot loads that will work for you. I loaded the as +P with HST bullets.” I’m going to start selling them at the range as “Custom Self-Defense Rounds.”

“Thanks Jim. I appreciate your help,” Asher said.

“Anytime.” Jim replied.

“Oh, by the way, what do you recommend me getting Crystal to keep at the cash register for crime deterrent?” Asher asked.

“If she could handle it, a Taurus Judge Public Defender with a 2.5 inch barrel.” Jim grinned. “I can have one out at the range Saturday if you want to let her test it out.”
“Do that. I’ll have her there,” Asher replied.
 

ncsfsgm

Contributing Member
Chapter 43


Andy sat and ate his apple pie and watched the other customers. There was one that especially irked Andy. He was putting the moves on Crystal. He desperately wanted to gut the man like a fish right then. However, Crystal did to seem to be avoiding his advances with the skills of a wily woman. Crystal had been very attentive to him as of late and he was thinking he needed to step up his game. With Holly and Crystal’s mother’s help, he was able to get Crystal’s ring size and made a trip to Jayson Jewelers In Cape Girardeau. The next morning, Crystal showed up at the restaurant wearing a 2-caret rock.


Crystal did try out the Taurus Judge and in the following days, other people who worked the cash register went to the range and fired the gun also. When everyone was confident using the pistol, it was kept in a special nook under the counter within hand’s reach. Crystal at times even carried a Walther PPS M2 LE at the center of her back, depending on how she was feeling. At certain times of the month the gun irritated her.

The next month brought about an occasion for Crystal to have to use the Tauras. Right after their 0600-0900 breakfast run Crystal was thinning out the register drawer of some of the big bills when a young man, somewhere in his 20s, walked in as said, “Okay, let me have it.” drawing a pistol out of his belt. Upon hearing the click of the hammer being pulled back as Crystal drew the pistol from under the counter, the man’s faced morphed from one of irritation and gruffness to one similar to the one in the painting “The Scream” by Edvard Munch. The #6 shot from the .410 shell smashed into the young man’s sternum, Driving the staggering man against the wall next to the entrance door, and was quickly followed by a 350 grain .45 Colt JHP round. Shelley, one of the waitresses shakenly called 911 while Crystal called Andy and then Asher.

A Deputy Sheriff was soon there followed by a State Patrol officer and two more deputies. Asher had been on the way to the restaurant, so he was there 30 seconds before Andy. Asher pulled up the security video and watched what had transpired through the lenses of three different cameras. Andy walked Crystal down to the marina and back.

Once the crime scene investigators were finished, initial interviews from a supportive clientele conducted, and the body removed, and evidence gathered, law enforcement left and Asher told Crystal to close the restaurant for the rest of the day. The rest was up to the DA and a Grand Jury. Andy and Asher cleaned up the blood off the wall and the floor. Crystal came in behind them and sprayed and wiped with disinfectant until Asher made her stop. Andy took Crystal home and cuddled with her the rest of the night.

Andy returned to the restaurant the next morning with Crystal. Asher had gotten there first but he and Andy sat and drank coffee and Crystal and the crew got ready for the day. A reporter from the Daily American Republic stopped by to interview Crystal and Asher. Later in the morning a news crew from FOX 2 news out of St. Louis came for interviews. The liberal interviewer was shut down when she asked a man what he thought about Crystal taken the steps to be judge, jury, and executioner.

“Well ma’am,” the customer replied. “That’s bordering on the hypothetical. Can you tell us what would have happened to the customers in here if he had fired the gun while waving it around? Can you tell your viewers how many people would have been killed or wounded? No you can’t! Just like we can’t tell you how many lives Crystal saved. But we appreciate what she did and will stick by her side on this.”
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
FDNY races to rescue New Yorkers trapped in dark ELEVATORS as sections of the Big Apple and New Jersey were plunged into chaos by a sudden mass power outage sparked by an 'explosion' at a Con Edison plant.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Jim stopped by the restaurant later that morning and gave Crystal a box of .410 shells with #6 steel shot. “I didn’t want anyone raise the specter of lead shot around food.”

Crystal laughed and replaced the three shotshells in the pistol.

Jim Collingwood had almost more customers than he could handle, a few of them a couple of counties away. Many brought their guns in for the first time and all they needed was a good cleaning. Katie began helping her uncle and soon mastered disassembly and assembly of many different guns. The first thing Jim would do was disassemble and clean the guns that had sat in closets for years before running them through their function checks. Katie took over the cleaning the guns, dissembling them and running the parts through the ultrasonic cleaner. When she had finished cleaning and oiling the guns, Jim would put them through their paces. Jim was amazed at the number of Hammer shotguns that were brought to him. And even though they were functional, he would only use lower powered loads in them. Without an x-ray, he couldn’t be sure the chambers and barrels were strong enough to handle modern loads. Later, Jim was able to find a handheld x-ray gun that would allow him to x-ray the guns. He talked a few out of the owners into trading up to more modern versions of home defense shotguns, citing the danger of family members using the wrong shells and either injuring or killing the user. This sometimes led to Jim also providing a PTR-91 (U.S. made copy of the H&K G-3 combat rifle) that Andy provided him with and ammo, which brought more people on the range on Saturdays to try out their guns. Some of the PTR users also bought good scopes and QD mounts from Jim to use for deer hunting. If anyone showed up at the range with their PTR, Andy helped them zero it or gave them shooting tips.

Jim began seeing a few M1917 Enfields and M1903 Springfields all in 30.06 being pulled out of attics so he began ordering bulk quantities of 30.06 ammo and asked Andy to see what he could come up with, which Andy passed on to Jeremy. Jim doubted there was a home in the Wappapello area that didn’t have some sort of gun.

Wayne County, Missouri, named after General “Mad Anthony” Wayne, could be the most heavily armed county within the state.

Shaylynn was back and forth to meetings in Greenville, coordinating the county effort for National Wreaths Across America Day on December 16th. Cemeteries and veterans buried in those cemeteries were identified so they could get a count of how many wreaths would be needed. Volunteer truckers were identified who would deliver the wreaths to the volunteers that would be staged at the cemeteries. A county-wide effort was in progress for people to sponsor wreaths for the veterans who gave their lives. Annie’s Restaurant was sponsoring 250 wreaths, Jim sponsored 50 wreaths, and Shaylynn and Katie were taking sponsorships from people at the range on Saturdays.

Criminals were keeping clear of many areas of Wayne County. Like many animals that shy away from shiny things, Wappapello had become shiny due to the coverage by news organizations about the will of the people to stand up against criminals. This brought in more visitors who wanted to rest at the lake in peace. In other counties in the state, home invasions became frequent. Wayne County had the highest number of CCW permit holders, per capita, in the state.

These statistics also caused Islamo-fascists to stay away from that part of southeast Missouri. Although they were not reluctant to become martyrs for Allah, they didn’t feel it was glorious to be shot down by pig farmers, even if in their martyrdom they would be awarded with the metaphorical 72 virgins. One national news story showed the pig-lovers coating their bullets with pig fat. The FBI had caught several terrorists around the larger cities at first but because of heightened security. Fortunately, also some illegal migrants with criminal backgrounds were caught and deported due to people informing the police about suspicious people. To a lot of people, middle-eastern people look just like Latinos. Nevertheless, the terrorists were spreading out more into the more rural areas. A lot of Citizen’s Security Committees were formed to guard their places of worship.


Holly pulled the Kurierwagen into the yard and parked it under the car shelter. They were going to have BLTs that night and she had run to the Food-Rite to get lettuce. Dan was cleaning planting beds in the greenhouse, preparing them for planting fall crops. Holly put the lettuce in the refrigerator, got a harvest basket and went out to the plum trees. The plums were ripening and she wanted to make jelly and dry some. She ended up picking three baskets full, about half of a bushel, before she quit, and there was still more to be picked. Esther, Holly’s mother, wanted to can some plum jelly also, so she would get the bulk of them. Dan was still hard at work so she began cutting the plums up and removing the seeds. The seeds were saved and dried, to be planted later this fall. She and Dan would plant them along the driveway out to the main road. If they sprouted, Dan would cut the trees, to be used for firewood, away from around the seedlings to allow more sunlight to them. In a few years they could sell the plums at the farmer’s market. They probably would have enough to sell this year, especially if they were dried. Dried plums were popular around Thanksgiving for making sauces and pies. Holly would also can pints of plum sauce. It was delicious with duck and crispy pork loin or for marinating roasting chicken.

Dan came in from the greenhouse, scooped up the bean can full of seeds and took them out to the wellhouse. He spread the seeds out on top of the barely slanted roof to dry. Holly took the pot of plum slices, mashed them up with a potato masher, added a little water and put the pot on the stove to boil.

“What are you planning to plant?” Holly asked when Dan came back in.

“Brussels sprouts, white onions and some mustard.” Dan replied.

“Can you watch the pot? I want to run these extra plums over to Momma.”

“Sure, no problem.” Dan replied.

Dan carried the basket out to the VW and placed it in the back seat, securing it with the seat belt.

He went back inside, saw steam seeping around the pot lid and turned the heat down to medium-low. Every few minutes Dan gave the plums a stir to make sure they weren’t scorching and by the time Holly got back they were done. Holly sat the pot to the side to cool and got out the food mill. Dan turned the handle on the mill while Holly ladled the fruit into the mill. When he placed the last of the plums into the mill, she got out another pot and cheesecloth and Dan poured the pot that caught the fruit juice from the mill, straining the juice. That was Dan’s extent of knowledge of making jelly. Holly tasted the juice and added pectin and sugar, placing the pot back on the burner to boil and kept stirring. Holly told Dan to get the canner ready so he put water into it and turned on the heat beneath the pot.

“Place a thermometer in the water and bring it to 180 degrees and get the jelly jars out of the pantry and heat them up in the water.” Holly directed.

When they had finished, they had 12 pints of plum jelly sitting on the counter to cool. Using a grease pencil, Holly marked the lids with the date.

“How much jelly are you going to put up?” Dan asked.

“Probably around 20 to 30 pints. Of course, most of it I’ll give away.” Holly replied, sitting down at the computer. She printed up a sheet of jar labels and affixed them to the jars.

“These need to sit and cool to room temperature tonight. I’ll place these in the basement tomorrow.” Holly said.

“I think the apples will be ready to pick next week. I’ll make some apple jelly and sauce, but most of them we need to dry.” Holly said.
 

ncsfsgm

Contributing Member
Chapter 44

Muscadines were in season and instead of going out and picking up redbugs and ticks, Dan bought a bushel of them from the farm market. He and Holly juiced and made Jelly out of it all, with the neighbors getting a couple of pints each. Crystal traded them a couple of free meals for enough jelly to offer to the breakfast crowd which became a big hit. Jim had found muscadine vines out by his garden plot along the tree line and had staked and wired the vines up. Under the guidance of the extension agent, he had pruned and fertilized the vines and now they had a bumper crop. Shaylynn, after talking with Holly, went and bought canning supplies and added a few utensils to the kitchen, namely a food mill to separate the pulp from the juice. Holly helped them out and they managed to can 48 pints of jelly. These were added to their food stores and for possible future barter items.


Seamus O'Donoghue folded the paper and laid it on the coffee table.

“Masie, I think it’s time to pull the trigger. The politicians are ruining this country, and it is all going to collapse around their ears. I want to be out of here within 90 days. Everything is ready for sale, and we should get started on our new home while we can. Crime has risen, taxes are off the chart and illegal immigration his killing the City.”

Masie laid down her crossword puzzle and looked at her husband. She didn’t know if he had ever been tested, but she thought he was a genus. In his 30s, he had ridden the tech market and made his first billion dollars. He drew back from the stock market, and they played for a while with other investments. Loving the finger lakes region, they purchased a vineyard, selling the grapes to the winery next door each year. Cayuga Lake, known for its lake, rainbow, and brown trout, pike, pickerel, lake salmon, and panfish was a fisherman’s paradise, and Seamus had turned into an avid fisherman. After their first summer of living in the vineyard by the lake, Seamus decided to expand and build something to serve the fishermen who streamed into the area year-round. He bought acreage near an established quaint hotel and by the time the plans were drawn up, he had what amounted to a mini-Cabela’s, complete with diner, and convenience store. You could buy just about everything you needed to get you through a few days of fishing. Seamus hired personnel to work in shifts, the place was so busy. He also hired Emma, Masie’s sister’s daughter, to manage everything. She was a no-holds-barred business manager who in turn hired security personnel who handled losses and a couple of attempted robberies. They had made a profit every year from the first day they opened. He had been offered five times what he had invested in it and the vineyard would sell quickly also.

But, with the political turmoil, and the rising crime statistics, Seamus and Masie were aware good things don’t last forever. He wanted to basically retire when he was 50 and Masie wanted to settle in warmer climes. So, they began taking a couple of weeks twice a year and traveling, visiting different locations where they could set up a similar operation.

They had stumbled upon Wappapello Lake while visiting Branson, Missouri. Branson was a little too commercialized for them though and already had a Bass Pro Shop. The aviation company they had hired flew them up to Wappapello. They were curious and ended up going back to Branson, renting an RV and went to stay at Wappapello for a week. The more they looked around, the better they liked the location. They went to Annie’s one day and ended up talking to Asher. Seamus and Asher exchanged business cards and that evening Asher ran a background check on Seamus. Asher was impressed. The next time Masie and Seamus came into the restaurant, Asher and Seamus continued their conversation and Seamus divulged what they were doing there and some of their dreams.

Seamus, with a team of lawyers, went in with a solid business plan. They sold their vineyard and the Cayuga Lake complex and kept Emma on to manage the new property. Any other employees who wanted to relocate were helped with moving expenses. A general contractor was hired for the building and cabins began going up for the employees. Asher helped Seamus get the 24-acre piece of property next to Annie’s to build on. The property had been on the market for a while, but the seller would not sub-divide. Asher only needed an acre or two so with Asher greasing the skids, Seamus bought the property and sold Asher the property he needed. One of the things that really won Seamus and Masie over was the lack of crime. They talked to several of the community inhabitants, and they said they felt safer there than in any big city with thousand-man police forces. Crystal laughed it off and told them Wayne County had become the patron sight of shooting stuff, including criminals.

The day came when the foundation and floor were poured for the trading post. The concrete plant built a batch plant on sight to keep a constant pour. The log timbers for the 125,000 square feet store were being milled and assembled in Canada and would arrive in six weeks. Seamus and Masie bought land out on Moore’s Point and were having a modest house built there.

Emma’s sister, Sarah. Was brought in as the PR Manager. Seamus wanted to have a grand opening that would draw in people all the way from Branson. She had been working for a well-known PR Agency in New York City and moved to Wappapello.

Seamus knew he might not see a dime of profit from his endeavor, but he didn’t have any children and he gave millions to charity each year. He figured he could give back to the community there in Wayne County and secure a favorable customer base. It was all play money to him and if anyone was going to benefit he didn’t want his money going to wall street tycoons and monied entrepreneurs. He didn’t take out any loans on the building of the infrastructure but arranged with the bank for short-term loans for keeping the stockage.


Asher introduced Seamus and Jim because Seamus would also be selling guns. Seamus, not having had a gunsmithing section in the Cayuga Lake Trading Post, was interested in getting the ins and outs of setting up gunsmithing services in his store. Jim agreed to track down suitable employees at the several trade schools in the state to handle basic gunsmithing work until they found someone qualified to take over the managerial duties from Jim.

Seamus became familiar with fishing in the south for recommendations for equipment. One thing they didn’t have in Missouri was ice fishing, so that method went out the window. Winter fishing on Lake Wappapello was similar to fall fishing on the finger lakes, except the species were different. Wappapello had white bass, crappie, and bluegill, as well as largemouth bass and catfish year-round. It depended on how you fished for them as to whether you caught anything. Seamus took a couple of trips down to Bass Pro in Branson to see what they stocked before he settled on an inventory of what he wanted to stock.

As the Trading Post went up, inventory was being ordered and stored in leased trailers in the parking area of the store. The building wouldn’t take that long, being of composite construction of log timbers for the front 1/3 of the store and steel construction for the rest. They should be able to open around the target date of Labor Day.


Jim and Shaylynn pulled their trucks into position and began setting up at the Range. As Katie unfolded and set up tables, Shaylynn began unpacking boxes and laying out merchandise. Both trailers began getting customers and they didn’t get a break until lunch. Seamus and Masie stopped by to visit. They had bought premier range memberships and Masie looked over Shaylynn’s selection of concealed carry handbags. Seamus looked over Jim’s selection of range and gun accessories.

“What do you sell the most of Jim?” Seamus asked.

“Well, initially, it was sights. After people began bringing out old guns to get them checked out and they found that most of their problems were their guns cleanliness, they began buying cleaning equipment.” Jim said.

“So, what do you think I should stock in the Trading Post?” Seamus asked.

“Ammo, bore cleaners, oils, specialty tools for cleaning, tool kits, field cleaning kits, and set up a rack of the latest gun magazines. Some of the people are getting into reloading also. With the Trading Post opening I’m going to taper down on reloading for people except for some of the rare specialty ammo people get for their relics.” Jim replied.

“That makes sense. I’ll carry some of that stuff for local hunters but mostly I’ll target the fishermen.” Seamus said.

“Well, stay away from the novelty things that a lot of places hang out for the tourists. If you ride the tide between the novelty stores and the marinas, you should do just fine.” Jim explained.

Seamus had been amazed at the number of people who were supplementing their electricity needs with wind, solar and hydro power. He had also used thin-film photovoltaic tiles for roofing, it would not fully supplant the commercial power he would need for operations. It was a shame the lake had been built for flood control purposes and not hydroelectric, but there was plenty of hydroelectric power in Missouri and historically, the area was seldom without power for very long. Seamus did invest in battery technology and had a backup bank that would last them on full power for three days.

Asher held off on expanding the restaurant until most of the Trading Post was completed. There was just too much construction traffic going on. There are not only construction vehicles coming and going, but also gawkers and bloggers taking pictures of the construction of the largest building built in the county in anyone’s memory.
 

ncsfsgm

Contributing Member
Chapter 45

After many talks with Asher and quite a few of the customers in Annie’s, Seamus had more of the property cleared and prepared for a 1-acre wide by 4-acre deep area for a flea market/barter mart where people would be able to drive stakes in the ground to support their tents. The flea market had been held in the parking lot of the marina but they couldn’t drive the stakes down without damaging the pavement. Seamus was having the area graveled and compacted. Market stall areas were marked out and numbered and people could come in and register for them at the trading post.

The Wappapello Trading Post opened on December 2nd and already had a Christmas sale going. A large PR campaign had been launched and people flocked in from miles around. Music was provided by local bands and burgers, dogs, and drinks were catered by Annie’s. Almost 1800 people signed up for store cards which gave them discounts on future purchases. Another 200 people signed up for Wappapello 1-year Range memberships.

With the citizens in the county taking care of each other, they all fared well. Crime was down in the state, but the overall economy of the nation was still sick. It would remain so throughout the next year until the next presidential election when a less liberal candidate was elected and more conservative people were elected to Congress, all with the common platform of enacting term limits to elected government office positions.

It took several years to undo the economic mess the politicians and liberals had done to the country but finally the United States again became an economic powerhouse it once was. Threats to the country were eliminated quickly and the end to large-scale terrorism was soon seen as a visible light at the end of the tunnel.

THE END
 
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