Odd Billy Todd (29 page)

“Is this gonna be a problem?” Jerry asked warily, as his horse stamped nervously.

“Nope,” Ralph shook his head. “Reb, friends!” he ordered, pointing. The dog relaxed slightly, and walked slowly to his master’s side.

“Annie’s are great dogs, but they’re protective as all get out,” Ralph said, as they started for the road. “Reb likes to check things out for himself, but I did train him to recognize friend when I said it. He’ll still want to keep an eye on you, til he knows you better, but he won’t bother you now.”

“Billy’s got Rommel doin’ that.”

“Yeah, I figured,” Ralph nodded. “He must o’ worked long and hard with that dog, get him trained that well so fast. And with him already grown when he picked him up.”

“Billy’s a caution,” Jerry agreed. “The Smith family used to live up here,” he pointed to a nice brick home on the right. They were about three hundred yards down the road.

“Older couple, passed on last year. Kids had it for sale when the plague hit. It’s been empty for a while now.”

“Looks like it,” George nodded. The house wasn’t in bad condition, but it was clearly unkept.

“Yeah, shame they didn’t keep it up no better,” Jerry nodded. “They hired my boy to keep it mowed for a while, but then stopped when the place didn’t sell right away. Reckon they let the real estate agent deal with it.”

They rode into the yard, not bothering to dismount. Reb took the time to urinate everywhere he could, while the men looked things over.

“This would probably be a good candidate to fix up for a new family,” George announced finally. “It’ll need some work, but not too much. Imagine a good cleanin’, maybe some bug spray and mouse traps for a little while, she’d be good to go.”

“Probably,” Ralph nodded. “Close by, too.”

“Yeah, nearest house to you for about a mile,” Jerry nodded. “Wanted you to see this one first, since we’ll like as not turn around. Ain’t another house on this road for about two miles or so.”

“Where does this road come out at?” Ralph asked.

“Well, it don’t, really,” Jerry scratched his neck. “Kinda dead ends at the Clifton place. Big outfit, back in the day. Kinda fell off as the young’uns moved on, and Mister Clifton got on up in years. I ain’t even been up there since all this started,” he admitted a bit shame faced. “Not very neighborly I guess,” he shrugged.

“We can check it out later,” George shrugged. “Ralph and I will ride up with you sometime, you want to go.”

“I’m almost afraid to,” Jerry admitted. “But, can’t hurt. You wanna go on up there today, then?”

“Nah,” Ralph shook his head. “Too far, for just a look see. We’d rather get the lay o’ the land around here, if that’s okay.”

“Sure,” Jerry nodded, reigning his horse around. “Makes more sense, anyway. Let’s head back down.”

The three men rode slowly, discussing different subjects as they went. Ralph was confident that Reb would alert them to any danger.

Twenty minutes later, they were sitting in front of a large two story white frame house, with a horse barn sitting in the distance behind.

“Nice,” George whistled.

“Barn’s a loss,” Jerry shook his head. “Had three cows and six horses boarded inside. Ain’t nice at all.”

“Aw, maaan!” Ralph exclaimed in sympathy.

“Yeah, it was rough,” Jerry nodded. “Probably still is. And the house like as not ain’t no better. We took a peek inside the front windows, and the rear door. There’s a body lying on the dining room floor. Looks to have been there a while.”

“Be hard to clean up, I guess,” George said sadly.

“Need formaldehyde I’d say, at least,” Ralph agreed.

“If it could be cleaned up, and the odor got rid of, the house ain’t very old,” Jerry allowed. “And it’s a nice place. Hate to lose that barn, but I just don’t see no help for that. Probably needs to be burned.”

“I imagine,” Ralph nodded. “Place got a well?”

“Two of’em,” Jerry nodded. “If I remember right, there’s solar pumps on’em too. House is electric, so if you could find some solar panels, wouldn’t be too hard to set it up. But, like I say, there’s at least one body inside.”

“Yeah,” George nodded. “That’s a shame. But we ain’t really needin’ to move ourselves. House is comfortable.”

“Sure is,” Ralph agreed. “And there’s safety in numbers, too.”

The three moved on, looking at place after place. Jerry pointed out local features they could use as land marks, showed them reliable water sources, and explained the pros and cons of each house they came to. After three hours, the men were ready to head back.

“My ass is asleep,” George joked.

“Wish mine was,” Ralph frowned, shifting in his saddle.

“Takes a few days to get used to this as a full time thing,” Jerry nodded. “We done seen a good bit o’ what I wanted to show you anyway. There’s a few other places, but we can get to them later.”

“Well, there’s a lot that’s been lost, or will be,” George allowed as they ambled toward home. “But overall, this is a great area. Land looks good. I see there’s a lot of unharvested crops in the fields. That’s a shame, too.”

“We took as much corn as we could,” Jerry nodded. “Put it up for the hogs, and the cattle, too, if needs be. Thing is, fuel’s gonna become a problem sooner or later. Just don’t see no way around that.”

“Need bio-diesel,” Ralph suggested.

“Well, I thought on that,” Jerry agreed. “Thing is, I ain’t gotta clue how to make it. I mean I know roughly how it’s done, just from readin’. But never did it. And ain’t got the equipment for it neither.”

“We may can salvage what we need,” George mused. “It’s not that uncommon anymore. Need a few chemicals, too, but they can be found. We’ll just have to take a look around, that’s all.”

“Well, I’m all for it, happens we can do it,” Jerry agreed. “If we can make some, and keep the tractors and combines running, then we can produce a lot more food than we can eat. And that means we can sell or trade the balance away.”

“Absolutely,” George nodded firmly. “We’ll grab a phone book tonight, look through the yellow pages, and see what we come up with.”

“Good deal.”

The discussion fell away then to more talk on division of labor, responsibility, and other mundane items. While they were ‘mundane’, they were also important. Despite their far reaching goals, the three of them didn’t over look the fact that there were more immediate goals to consider.

Like surviving what was almost sure to be a hard winter.

George and Ralph would have to harvest a good deal of wood. Jerry assured them they wouldn’t have to do it alone, but even so, he, Toby, and Billy had work of their own to do. The other two men would have to do the majority of their own wood cutting. Neither minded, but they were also aware of the time constraints. The nights were already getting cold, and that cold would creep into the day time more and more with each passing day.

“Reckon we’ll start cuttin’ wood tomorrow,” Ralph said, as the three of them arrived back at the house.

“May be we can help, but not tomorrow,” Jerry told them. “Got too much to see to, after so long doin’ other things,” he chuckled.

“We’ll make out,” George assured him. “Help’s always nice to have, but we can make a start without it. And you guys have done a whole bunch for us already,” he added sincerely.

“Well, I’ll give you fellas a chance to rest your backsides, then,” Jerry laughed. “Time I was gettin’ home. See you fellas later.” With goodbyes said, Jerry headed over the hill.

“We got awful lucky, you know,” George said, as he and Ralph stripped off their saddles, and cared for their horses.

“Sure did,” Ralph agreed. “Seems like a miracle, at times. I knew we were in a tight spot, but. . .I had no idea how tight.”

“Me neither,” George admitted. “And I thought I’d scoped things out pretty fair, too.”

“Well, this is a good place,” Ralph said firmly. “Good people around us, and plenty to provide for us. I don’t aim to let nobody scare us off, anymore.”

“Me either,” George nodded. “Me either.”

*****

Jerry rode into the yard at Billy’s to find his daughter working diligently to clean and reassemble her new guns.

“Hi, daddy!” she smiled, waving with an oil covered hand.

“Shelly, you look like you’ve been hard at it,” he smiled, dismounting.

“I have!” she enthused. “And I did pretty good, too! Didn’t I Rhonda?”

“She sure did,” Rhonda smiled broadly. “I think she’s squared away fine.”

“Well, I’m right proud of you, girl, I surely am,” Jerry told her sincerely. “Never been more proud, way you’ve come around last few weeks.”

“Thank you, daddy,” Shelly blushed a little at the praise.

“Billy, how you gettin’ on?” Jerry asked, seeing Billy and Toby talking quietly.

“Found some sign at the range,” Billy told him flatly. “Someone cranked off at least one mag from an AR, or maybe a Mini-14.”

“What?”

“Found their brass, and they left the target up,” Billy explained. “Ain’t recent, but it’s since our last visit. Ain’t much sign. I’m almost sure whoever it was was afoot. Can’t be sure, o’ course, but that’s how it looked.”

“Well,” Jerry scratched his head. “That could be good or bad. Reckon someone around here besides us has made it?”

“Could be,” Billy shrugged. “Or could be someone on the road, found that rifle in a house, and wanted to make sure it worked for they took the trouble to pack it along.”

“I’m inclined to think it’s somebody ‘round here, though,” Billy went on. “That gravel pit’s kinda off the beaten path. Unless somebody just lucked up on it, they’d near ‘bout have to know where it was to find it.”

“That’s true,” Jerry nodded. “Guess we’ll need to be extra careful, next little while.” Billy nodded.

“What’d you think about those two friends of George’s?”

“Don’t know’em, can’t think much about’em,” Billy shrugged. “Be nice to have a couple more grown men around, especially if they know how to handle themselves.” He looked at Jerry intently.

“We seen a couple days ago how bad things may get. It’s comin’ winter time, and folks that ain’t prepared is gonna be scared. Scared people do dumb things. We got it pretty good, here. Anyone finds or figures that out, we’re gonna have company callin’. Worries me, some, what might happen.”

“Yeah, me too,” Jerry sighed. “I. . .I don’t know, sometimes, Billy,” he admitted after a pause. “I’m pretty sure we won’t regret askin’ George and Ralph to come here. But others? I just don’t know.”

“Well, we can always go meet’em, like we did George,” Billy shrugged. “Don’t see no other way to find out if we think we can trust them, or anyone else, for that matter. Thing is,” he added, gesturing skyward, “I don’t fancy being’ out and about in hard winter, can it be helped. That means, we got to go soon, or wait for spring.”

“Some folks we’d like to maybe have might not make spring,” he finished with another shrug, this one more questioning.

“Hadn’t thought about it like that,” Jerry admitted. “I guess I figured everyone would make plans for the winter.”

“Remember what Ralph said about Franklin,” Billy cautioned. “Ever body acting’ like the canned and dried stuff in the groceries would last’em a good long while. They’ll be people out on their own, like us, that’ll be fine, if they take precautions. Places like Franklin are what bother me. Lot o' people there. Cold, hungry, angry people. Decide that us country folks got a plenty, and they only want their ‘fair share’.”

“Fair share is it?” Jerry snorted, angry. “Funny, I didn’t see them out here workin’ to get the food in.”

“Won’t matter none to them,” Billy shook his head. “All they gonna see is that we got what they need, and it’s only ‘right’ that we give it to’em.”

“That ain’t happenin’,” Jerry said forcefully.

“I agree,” Billy assured him. “And that means we’ll have to fight, sooner or later, to keep what’s ours. Better be ready for it, all I’m sayin’.”

The three of them stood there, soaking in that last statement. They’d already fought more than they’d expected. There was sure to be more to come.

Shrugging it off, they decided to join the girls. Soon there was talk of supper, and Toby saddled his horse to go and get his mother. They’d make a good meal tonight at Billy and Rhonda’s, and celebrate the good things.

That was all they could do for the moment.

*****

After the Silvers had gone, Billy sat up late. Rhonda had already taken a bath and gone to bed, warning Billy not to be up too late. He promised he wouldn’t if he could help it.

But he couldn’t help it.

Finding that the ‘range’ had been used bothered him. Not in an ‘I’m scared’ kinda way, but in a ‘who was it’ kind of way. He wanted to know who it was, and where they had gone.

The more he chewed on it, the more certain he was that it had to be someone local. There just wasn’t much chance that a casual passer by would find that gravel pit. It was in back of beyond.

Unless, he decided, someone was deliberately following rural roads, and keeping off any main roads. Staying out of sight, moving from place to place, just scavenging what he or she could to get by, and then moving on again.