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Post by feralferret on Oct 20, 2023 21:14:23 GMT -6
Loving this story PB, thanks for the chapter. Same here.
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Post by pbbrown0 on Oct 23, 2023 20:16:33 GMT -6
Post #51 The Strength of Patience
Pete pulled to a stop in the parking lot of the Brotherhood Meeting Hall. There was only one other vehicle, a pickup, outside the Hall. Pete and Carl recognized it as belonging to Brother George Rogers, who took care of most of the sound and video equipment at the Hall. He had also worked with them previously to gain some range on the radios to keep in contact with some of the more isolated congregation members. Pete, Carl, and Colleen went together into the Hall to find George. “Hello Brother George?” Pete called out. George came around a corner and called out “Brother Pete, Carl, How are you? I'm sorry, Miss … Help me remember your name.” “Hello. My name is Colleen. I don't think we were actually introduced, Mister, er, Brother Rogers.” Colleen smiled warmly. “George we are here for two reasons.” Pete explained. “We want to talk to some of the elders about the need for using radios to help make contact with everyone in the next emergency, and we want to talk to them about Carl and Colleen wanting to be baptized.” “Well then,” George said enthusiastically, “I'm really happy to hear that about the two of you.” He had a big smile on his face looking to Colleen and Carl. “And, Pete, I am also glad to hear your pressing forward to talk with the elders about the radios. I personally think it would be good to hurry that process up, but it's not my decision, you know. Let me call Brother Kelsey. He'll be able to tell us who would be best to talk with about both these subjects.” “George, before you call,” Pete interrupted, “Brother Gambrell has been studying with both of them and wants the elders to know he believes they are both ready to go forward with this right away.” George looked surprised at that information. He pulled out his phone and selected a number to call. “Brother Kelsey, this is George. How are you?” “I'm doing well. Thank you. I am at the Meeting Hall and Brother Pete Smith dropped in. He is wanting to talk with some of the elders on a couple of subjects that are important to us. The first is that he is here with a young man and a young lady, Carl and Colleen who are wanting to be baptized. ” “Yes, sir. I agree. That is a very important and happy subject. We thought you would know how to line up those meetings to talk with them.” “Yes, there is something else. He said that Brother Gambrell has been studying with them and believes we should move forward with this right away.” “Yes, sir those are the words he used. He is also wanting to talk with the elders about the radio thing and helping to make contact with isolated Brothers and Sisters in the next emergency.” “ Yes, sir. That is how he worded it.” There was a longer pause now as George listened to Brother Kelsey for a couple of minutes. “Yes, sir. He came here with the two of them. You know of course that they have to drive thirty miles to get here and that much again just to get home.” “Yes, sir I thought you remembered that, and I knew that would matter to you when you are making those arrangements.” “Oh, Sure, We have talked together a number of times. We have worked together in the preaching work too.” “Oh, really?” Again there was a longer pause as Brother Kelsey spoke. “Yes I can do that. I would be glad to contact him. It will take him a little while to get here. He is always busy, of course, but I am thinking with both of these, uh, topics needing attention, that he will think it is important enough for him to make some adjustments in his schedule. Brother Kelsey, I just want you to know that your efforts and the service you provide to our congregation are very appreciated.” “Thank you, sir. That means a lot to me. I will tell them.” George hung up and turned to the other three. “Pete, you know all of us in the brotherhood are just regular people. We all have our quirks and flaws, but we love each other enough to look past those flaws in each other, even when they might cause us some frustrations. Brother Gambrell has caused some frustrations for some in this congregation at times, but he is deeply respected among us. Brother Kelsey is asking for you to stay here and wait for him to gather the elders to come and talk with these two young people and then to talk with you about your other concern. He wants me to get in touch with Andrew Larkin to try and get him here to join the conversation before you are all through. Make yourselves comfortable and please wait a bit. I need to make a phone call to Brother Andrew and help him understand Brother Kelsey's concerns. If you will excuse me.” George turned and walked away leaving them standing there in the foyer of the Meeting Hall. “Grandpa, what's going on, and who is Brother Larkin?” Carl was both concerned and curious. Pete began to explain. “Brother Larkin has the responsibility right now as the Circuit Overseer. There are a number of congregations, about ten or twelve congregations; assigned to him. The Brotherhood recognizes the need for us to stay organized and to be coordinated in the work we are doing. The circuit overseer is responsible for seeing that this group of congregations stay organized and properly focused. He sometimes is called on to help when the elders in the local congregation are uncertain about a decision that needs to be made or action that needs to be taken. His job is not to tell them what to do, but to offer guidance in following the right decision making process when an issue arises.” “So is there a problem about Colleen and I being baptized, or is this about the use of radios?” Pete smiled. “I don't think it is about you and Colleen. It is a bit uncommon for persons to decide to commit to being baptized as quickly as you two have after starting to study with a Brother. But, as George pointed out, Brother Gambrell is well respected and his confidence in you will reassure any who may be concerned about you making an uninformed and impulsive decision. I suspect it is more related some uncertainties about using the radios to contact each other in an emergency. That may seem to be an unfamiliar approach to some, and many people are cautious about adopting new methods. Relax and be patient. It's all going to work out.” “Speaking of relaxing, My dad seemed pretty eager to get all of us, including Carl and me, to the lawyer to sign some papers. Is this going to delay that? And why do Carl and I need to sign a bunch of papers?” Pete grinned. “Dear Colleen, like I said, let yourself relax and be patient. The Creator has wonderful things in store for you because of the decisions you are making about what is really important in your life. Trust in that and enjoy the assurances He offers you when you choose His way rather than the opposer's way. The signing of the papers will not take that long. It's only about 10:00 o'clock. We should be through here by noon. I don't have to stick around long after they finish talking with you and Carl. I just need to offer my perspective to them, then they can go through whatever process they need to for considering my input. Their decision is their decision. I'm not planning to be thoughtless in getting to that young attorney, but if we are a few minutes late he will wait for us, because he gets paid when the paperwork is completed.” It took about 15 minutes for the elders to gather. There were only five of them, including Brother Kelsey, since it was a small congregation. Pete conveyed his and Joann's endorsement of Carl and Colleen as being ready for baptism. Then he told them all that these two had been studying with Brother Gambrell and he wanted Pete to tell them that he recommended they approve both Carl and Colleen for baptism and that he urged them to proceed as soon as possible. Some of the elders were surprised at that, but Brother John Ross was apparently taken aback. “If Brother Isaac is in such a rush, why did he not come here himself to discuss it with us rather than just sending a messenger?” Brother John asked rhetorically. Pete very calmly replied, “He was very confident in his recommendation, Brother Ross. With his age and inability to drive, he probably did not want to trouble with asking that you come to him and bring him here and back again. I'm sure you would have been more than happy to go and get him if he had asked, though. You still know how to get to his place, don't you?” Brother Ross looked flustered for a moment before turning to a conference room and saying over his shoulder, “We need to get this going, don't we, Brother Kelsey.” Brother Kelsey smiled at Carl and Colleen and invited them to come in together to talk with the elders. Pete waited outside the conference room. Brother George had joined him in the foyer and motioned for Pete to step outside with him. Once outside he spoke quietly to Pete with a knowing smile on his face. “I had a nice talk with Brother Larkin,” George began. “He is a fine Brother. He was very interested about Isaac's endorsement of them. Did you know Brother Larkin was pioneering in various countries in Africa for fifteen years before coming back to the states. He is on his way here, now. He really wants to meet your grandchildren before the elders finish with them. He also wants to hear what you have to say about the radios for coming emergencies.” Pete was a bit surprised, but reading between the lines he was not that surprised. He and George continued to talk about what George knew of the congregation members that were in not so easy to reach places. A number of them were older and were unable to get to the congregation meetings as regularly as they once had. Those were also much less familiar with new technology, like the internet. Back when the epidemic had started and many state and local governments had placed restrictions on groups of people meeting together, the elders had been informed by the national organization on ways to stream their meetings over the internet. They adopted those instructions very quickly, but out here in this sparsely populated area with many elderly people there were some that simply did not have internet connections. Likewise getting contact information about how to check on them in an emergency or after a disaster was not as easy as in a large city. A number of the people in this rural area picked their mail up at the post office. They did not even have physical postal addresses with street and lot number like in the cities and towns. While the physical location was very close for Brother Isaac and the whole Smith/Cooper clan the physical addresses would not give much usable information for finding them Issac's address was “Bear Mountain, Bear Creek” while the Smith/Cooper address was “Black Bear Mountain, Sweetgum” They were in separate counties, and separate postal zones and it was far closer and faster to walk between them than to drive on public roads. However any kind of computer database look up would present them as being in different worlds. The elders had been talking with Carl and Colleen for almost an hour, which Pete knew was not that unusual. What was unusual was that they were talking with both Colleen and Carl at the same time rather than separately on this subject. Pete noticed a small SUV pulling into the parking lot and parking near the door to the meeting Hall. Brother Larkin stepped out and waved to George as he headed inside. Pete and George had followed Brother Larkin inside as far as the foyer and waited. About fifteen minutes later everyone came out of the conference room. Brother Larkin was engaging Carl and Colleen in a conversation while the elders were standing around listening. Andrew spotted George and Pete and waved them over. “You must be Brother Peter Smith.” Andrew reached out to shake Pete's hand. “You have a pair of fine grand children, Brother Pete.” Pete grinned. “Yes I do, though technically only one is my grand child, I like to claim them both.” He hugged Colleen around her shoulders. “Well don't hold too much stock in that technicality. I expect that will be changing before too very long.” Andrew was beaming a smile to Pete. “Carl, Colleen, if you would excuse us for just a little while, some of us need to talk about a different topic for a few minutes.” Andrew herded the elders back in the conference room along with both Pete and George. He got everyone seated but there were not enough chairs so Andrew leaned against a corner of the wall. He gestured to Brother John Ross to proceed. John was looking back over his shoulder nervously at Andrew and cleared his throat. “Hrrm. Brother Smith, I hear you have a suggestion or a concern you are asking us to look into. What exactly is your concern?” Pete looked around to the group of men. “You all know even better than I do the kind of emphasis our Brotherhood places on giving attention to the safety and welfare of our brothers and sisters. That is an obvious and essential expression of our love for each other, We have had two, no technically we have had three small earthquakes in this area in the past three or four weeks. Fortunately no one in our congregation was hurt, and I have not heard of anyone whose house was damaged. The worst I have heard about was Brother and sister Bennett having lost their telephone service. With the times we are moving into I think that we need to be particularly watchful for more problems and dangers that might affect the safety of our spiritual family. My son and his best friend were stuck in the capital about a week ago and there were phone outages there. That lasted for a number of hours. My point is, I think we should be prepared to go beyond the traditional 'call everyone on the phone' to check on our brothers and sisters in this local area. What if we have a situation where the phones are out. We need a plan for how to get in touch with our congregation to make sure that everyone is safe. I think that we can do that effectively with a number of simple radios and some established plans.” Brother Ross pursed his lips then spoke. “Brother Smith I understand your concerns, but are you perhaps over reacting. One couple here did not have phone service, and we do not even know that was caused by the very minor earthquake. Those phone outages at the capital were not caused by the earthquake. They were caused by the circuits being overloaded with panicking people and busy bodies wanting to call everyone about the excitement.” Pete looked calmly at John and replied, “What caused the phone outages are not the point. There was a serious disaster and people could not contact their families, including their spiritual families. We do not know that those outages were caused by busybodies, any more than we know that they were not caused by temporary damage to the infrastructure, The same sources of information that reported the outages were not due to damage also reported that there were no deaths caused by the earthquake even though my son and his friend tried to help a man who was killed there when his car ran off the end of a bridge which was collapsed by that earthquake. It is getting harder to obtain reliable information as this system under the Father of Lies gets closer to its destruction.” The room was silent while they all processed the insight Pete had gently provided to them. “But Brother Smith, those problems are far from here. The effects here have been minimal.” John Ross was replying plaintively. “Of course they were small here. The first one was centered over a hundred miles away and the second was over three hundred and fifty miles away. What do you think it will be like if the next one finds a center much closer? Who says it will be an earthquake. What if there is a flood, or considering the weather we've been having, what if we have a forest fire and need to warn our brothers and sisters. What if it is not a natural disaster that we are dealing with?” Brother Andrew stepped in here. “Brother Smith is right about that. I have been in places where fighting and civil unrest suddenly swept through a region and the brothers and sisters had to be warned. I have also been in places like Lesotho where almost no one had cell phones or internet. Fewer had cars to travel in the mountains to reach their brothers in need. The brothers and sisters there had to work out contingencies for warning each other and checking on each other out of love for their brothers and sisters. Are those without the latest or most expensive technology less deserving of our care and concern?” Brother Kelsey spoke up. “So, Brother Smith, what do you propose?” It's really quite simple each family needs a hand held radio of a compatible type. I have already given a base station to Brother George to operate from here at the meeting hall. If we need to warn the congregation of a pending danger, the warning can be broadcast from here so everyone can hear it. If a disaster situation occurs, everyone could also be reached by their group leader, if you plan the groups based on proximity. Any special cases where the family is more distant or more isolated, like ours, special arrangements can be made in advance for making contact with them. Any family can purchase their own unit or if they have limited funds I am certain there are brothers and sisters who care enough to help purchase a radio units for everyone to have one. Believe me these are far easier to operate than cell phones, so everyone in the congregation can learn to use them with only a little help.” There seemed to be a firm consensus in favor of Pete's recommendation from everyone present, so Pete excused himself, but Brother Andrew followed him out of the conference room. He spoke quietly to Pete with Carl and Colleen close at hand in the foyer. “I know you have to travel a bit to get here and back home. The elders still have to confirm their consensus about your baptism, but there won't be an issue there. You two need to be ready with clothes you can wear for your baptism in addition to dry clothes you can change into afterwards. I plan to be here Sunday for it and there is a nice natural pool in Bear Creek near the edge of town that we will use. Do you think you can arrange for getting Brother Gambrell here too? If not let me know and I will be sure some one gets him here.” Colleen spoke up. “You don't have to be concerned about that, Brother Larkin. Carl and I will make certain that he is here for this.” “Good !” Brother Larkin replied them stopped himself. “Wait isn't that a terribly long drive for you to get to his place from yours and then to the meeting hall?” Brother Larkin looked very concerned. Carl laughed. “Yes, Brother Larkin. It takes quite a long time to drive it if you follow the county roads. We prefer to just drive through the forest. That cuts the total drive time at least in half.” Brother Andrew looked at Pete, then turned a little to face more toward Carl and Colleen. “I was very impressed with the answers you two gave to some of those questions which were not exactly straight from the book. It is a complicated and weighty task for an elder to judge appropriately what is in a persons heart, rather than treating that process like it is a test to see if you can answer the questions on a standardized test. I hope you understand that. We all grow at difference rates in different areas. We each have a unique mix of qualities about us.” “I also appreciate,” Andrew continued, “How your Grandpa handled the questions that were asked of him by some who were not as attuned to the changing environment we find ourselves in today. So many today are taking advantage of certain new technologies, which has many advantages, unless we assume too much about all our brothers and sisters. I spent a number of years in other parts of the world where cell phones and internet are something only a few have access to. I take it you do not use those, yourselves?” “We use to,” Colleen explained, “but we made some personal choices recently that for us the minuses outweighed the pluses for both of those.” “Yes, there are others in this area with similar views.” Brother Andrew got a distant look in his eye. “When I was first reassigned here, I wondered why, because the culture is so different. I am beginning to see how my experiences helping brothers and sisters in sparsely populated mountainous areas will be very helpful in understanding those who live in these areas here. I'm afraid I need to get back to the meeting. I am looking forward to seeing you again this Sunday.” Carl started to shake Andrew's hand, but found himself locked in a firm hug from Brother Andrew. He also gave Colleen and Pete a hug before returning to the conference room. As the three were walking out to the truck, Colleen mused, “Brother Larkin is not at all what I expected. He is very warm rather than having an aloof superiority about him. He seems to have a loving of patience and a wealth of common sense, too.” They climbed onto the truck and drove back to the Haven, anticipating another long drive to Clear Creek and some boring paperwork. All three of them were contemplating the things they were experiencing and learning about those around them and wondering what would come next.
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Post by feralferret on Oct 23, 2023 21:09:26 GMT -6
Another excellent chapter! thank you.
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Post by pbbrown0 on Oct 26, 2023 11:38:50 GMT -6
It's hard to believe, even though I am doing the writing, that in the story it is only late July. Pete's family has only been on the mountain for 2 weeks. It feels like it is taking them a long time to get things done, but a lot has happened in those two weeks. Just a little information to help my readers keep their perspective.
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Post by pbbrown0 on Oct 26, 2023 11:41:32 GMT -6
Post #52 All In: For Real
When Peter, Carl and Colleen got back got back to their Haven, the clan quickly divided themselves into groups for the vehicles they would be taking to Clear Creek. They were able to get all nine of them into two trucks. Carl and Colleen were surprised that Gerry was coming with them, but they did not say anything about that until the first truck left. The groups had been divided with Colleen and Carl coming in the second truck, with Carl's Mom and Dad. All the others left in the first truck with Colleen's parents. “It looks like the plans changed a bit while we were in Bear Creek. Can you fill us in on the plans as they stand now?” Colleen was her usual energetic self with no hint of concern other than simple curiosity about the changes. Jenny turned in her front passenger seat and looked back toward Carl and Colleen. “Yes there were some changes. Your Dad,” she said nodding toward Colleen, “wanted Gerry to ride with him so he could explain more about the paperwork and why we all need to be there for signing the documents.” Colleen's face suddenly developed a serious set of wrinkles. “Is it asking to much for someone to explain that to me. I haven't been eaves dropping enough to know what that is all about, but I'm being told I need to go there along with everyone else because I need to sign the documents, too. What exactly am I signing?” her last commentha a little inflection indicatingthat Colleen was missing some serious pieces of this puzzle. “Oh My!” Jenny was obviously stunned at what Colleen was saying. Carl on the other hand had been in some conversations with his Dad and Colleen's Dad; enough to know that the land was actually owned by a trust or divided among more than one trust. To him a trust sounded kind of like a corporation that owned the assets for their families, and that these trusts could make it hard for outsiders to know much about what persons owned the land. But beyond that their explanations had been a bit vague around him. He truthfully wanted the same answers that Colleen wanted. Jenny thought for a minute and looked to Rob who was starring at the road as he drove. “Let me see if I can explain this without it getting too confusing. All the land that we bought is owned by a couple of trusts, which is a special kind of corporation. In most partnerships or corporations, each of the partners, the officers, the members of the board of directors, the share holders in the company own only a portion or slice of the pie that makes up that company's assets. As a practical matter the ones spending the money or performing transactions for that company have a specific and limited amount of the money that they can decide how to spend. The board of directors has to approve what that amount is, and must take an official vote before any amount over that specified spending ceiling is passed. Do you follow this so far?” Carl and Colleen both indicated they understood these principles. “Okay,” said Jenny, “Here is where it gets very different for us and these trusts. We have put some special rules in place that make it, in a practical sense, more like each of us as a trustee can act like we each own or have control over all of the assets, and we are not required to ask permission from the other trustees to buy or sell any of our Trust's assets. Anyone named as a trustee is fully trusted by all the other partners so that they can do things like buying things with the money that belongs to the trust, or agreeing to a price for a purchase without having to get all the partners to take a vote on it first. You remember the other day when we split up and each group took some money with them to make deals. We trusted each other to use good judgment and act wisely for the benefit of all the other partners. Of course we talked and discussed things in advance because we all need to have input into the process and the strategies. But, as far as the rest of the world was concerned, I showed up with our money and had a document saying that I am authorized to act independently on behalf of the trust. I could sign a contract for the purchase or sale of anything on behalf of the trust.” Jenny took a deep breath. “Rob, I may not be explaining this like a lawyer would or explaining all the ins and outs, but please tell me if I am saying anything that isn't true.” Rob kept driving but replied, “So far, everything you are saying is correct.” “Okay. That's good.” said Jenny as she continued. “Rob and I both signed papers that lay out these rules for our trust that say we agreed to be trustees and follow the rules for our Trust. Even though the trust is meant to benefit our whole family, the rules allow us to legally act like each of us is the sole owner of all the assets. Bruce and Linda have done the same thing with their family's trust.” Colleen looked like she was still wrapping her head around it but the light in her brain was starting to turn on. “I get it. It's like Mom and Dad trust each other completely, and it's not a concern of anybody else what they decide about the family money. It's not his money and her money. All of it is their money.” “Yes.” Jenny exclaimed. “That is it, exactly! Am I right, Rob?” Rob shook his head and laughed. “We have spent so much time and effort trying to explain and understand all the ins and outs of these legal arrangements, and here comes Colleen, and she puts it all in a nice, neat, compact nutshell.” Jenny looked at Rob thinking about the rest of the story that Colleen and Carl were waiting to hear. “Colleen, your Dad and Mom started the idea about our families being in this together. It came from you insisting the you and Carl were going to effectively make our families one family. Then Gerry came along and was reiterating that he was 'all in' and he was putting his farm at risk to help us. The whole notion just took on a life of its own and grew. We found out this morning just how much risk Gerry was taking with his farm in order to help us. The long and the short of it is that we have decided to have all of us sign on as trustees of each of our trusts. So we really are 'all in'; equal partners in owning his land and ours and all that goes with it.” Carl really woke up with that revelation. “So, when we get through with this paperwork today, he will be a co-owner of our family's land, and in turn we will be a co-owners of all his land?” “And don't forget all his cattle, too,” added Rob. “And that 'we' will include both you and Colleen.” finished up Jenny. The rest of the trip to Clear Creek was filled with Carl and Colleen trying to wrap their heads around what they had been told. Ironically, even after the time Bruce had spent explaining the plan to Gerry before they left, Gerry was having a harder time wrapping his head around the particulars of the plan that Bruce was still trying to explain to him. By the time they reached the attorney's office Gerry was understanding but not sure he was fully believing the plan was actually going to happen. Bruce made some introductions of the family members plus Gerry to Henry Jenkins, then he took a deep breath and explained that more paperwork was going to be needed. He also told the attorney that of course they were prepared to pay for the extra work, but needed to know how long it would take to get it ready for signing. Henry asked a few more questions while taking notes then he flipped through the papers he had already prepared. He looked around the room carefully and asked. “Do all of you here really believe you understand what you are planning to do? And knowing that do you still think you want to go ahead with this arrangement?” Every responded yes and some nodded their heads as well. “Is there anyone here uncertain about going forward or have any questions they want clarified?” The attorney asked. No one responded. “Well to cite a couple of well worn adages, 'Crazy is as crazy does.' and 'Birds of a feather flock together.'. Thanks to my preference for exploiting modern technology whenever reasonable, I can have these papers ready in about an hour and a half. He turned and stepped through a door in the corner of his office. Gerry cleared his throat and started addressing the whole group. “I really appreciated this. I... I don't know what to say except that we've all got a lot to do if we are going to protect our assets. I know our cattle and what they need. I am pretty sure I know a lot more about fencing that any of the rest of you. I think we need to get the rest of that fencing equipment and the materials to the mountain as soon as possible. I also believe that even with all of us working together we still need to hire about eight or ten people for a full week, starting Monday, to get the minimal fencing put in at the base of the mountain. We need access to the stream, but only to pump water out of it into watering troughs. We don't want the cattle wading into it or dumping their waste in it. We have to preserve that resource.” Bruce was showing some anxiety about what Gerry said. “I can see the urgency in what you are suggesting, Gerry, but where are we going to find that many workers at the drop of a hat. Also I'm concerned about getting that many temporary workers that won't be casually mentioning where they worked and what they worked on with other people who may be looking for work too.” “So we just don't tell them what they are working on or where they are working,” Carl put in. Rob was looking confused. “How can we keep that information from them? Sure we can pick them up and not tell them where we are taking them, but once they get there they will know what they worked on and how some of them will remember how they got there.” Carl sighed. “I know this will be strange and it may even raise some eyebrows, but when we are recruiting them all we tell them at first is what the pay rate is, and that it will be building fences. Then we tell them that we will take them to and from the work site and we'll pay them at the end of each day. That will be attractive to them. Then we will tell them that because of security issues they will not be able to see where they are going. All we have to do is to put heavy paper or something like thin insulation board over the side and back windows of the truck and a divider of the same stuff behind the front seats of the truck. If the window coverings and such are light weight like that they will be less intimidating and easier to accept. Sure they will know they are working on fencing, but there are no buildings they can see once they get to the work site to provide them any reference points. All they will be able to see is a forest with a stream running nearby. The two trailers are too far from where the fencing will be for them to see those through the trees.” “We'll have to feed them well.” Jenny said simply. Bruce again looked puzzled. “What?” Linda explained to him. “There are no hamburger joints near our place and you don't exactly want to notify a lunch wagon vendor to come out there, do you. Besides a hungry worker is thinking of their stomach rather than their work. You do want them to get some work done, don't you sweetie?” “Okay, that makes sense now.” Bruce conceded. “Where are we going to find the workers though?” asked Rob. Joann jumped in here. “I'd go to where we got the fencing. There are bound to be people hanging around there asking about work where people are buying fencing materials.” “That's true,” Gerry paused thoughtfully, but Hollerton is much closer, and we are going to have to drive back and forth each day. There are bound to be guys looking for work at a large supplier of timber working gear too. They may have skills other than fencing, but with good supervision the techniques for installing fencing are not hard to teach. You might consider that.” Jenny added in “That would make it easier for us to arrange for contact with Patty, too.” Carl added in,“It would be nice if her Dad would reconsider his position, too. Seeing us picking up workers there might prompt him to think a little more about that.” Rob shifted the subject a little. “Gerry, do we need to stop and help with the cattle tonight? I don't know if you will want to stay there or come back to the mountain and avoid the delay of us picking you up again in the morning?” “Actually what I was thinking,” Gerry was still contemplating, “Was that some of you might want to spend the night at my place. We need to get back to Cambridge to pick up a trailer and the rest of the fencing. It is a lot shorter drive from Rockston and certainly shorter than Black Bear to Rockston, back to Black Bear, and then to Cambridge would be.” Carl pursed his lips thoughtfully. “The problem there is we only brought two trucks and your base station cannot reach one of the truck radios all the way back to Black Bear.” Henry was coming back into the main office area as they were talking and he caught the last part of Carl's comment. “Are you talking about a problem with your radio range?” Carl turned around. “Yes sir. We've had a few problems with that when we are splitting up to go to different locations in the state. The trucks have a lot longer range than a hand held but not as long as a base station with an antenna up in the trees. You never know when an emergency will come up and one of your group may need help.” “Please, Carl is it? Just call me Hank; not 'sir'. Hold on a second.” Henry walked over to a locked steel file cabinet and unlocked it. He reached way back behind a drawer full of legal files and pulled out a sheet metal lock box. He used another key to open the box. Inside the box were two cylinders with wire harnesses sticking out of both ends of each of the two cylinders. He closed the lock box without locking it and placed inside the back of the file cabinet where it had been. Try these. Put one in between the radio and the antenna lead of the truck radio and the other on a base base radio or another truck radio where you want to stretch your range. Technically they are legal, they just were not invented by the darlings of the Federal Communications bureaucracy. Try not to get caught with them or they might get confiscated as suspicious unapproved communications devices.” Carl looked at them for a moment. “How much do they add to the range?” Hank replied, “It varies. You know how radio range is affected by a whole array of factors, including the antennas on your trucks. I suggest you do something about those truck antennas. As a quick work around, but these little puppies might add 25 to 55% to the range if these two are in the antenna line on both radios that are talking to each other. It may not be enough, but you can try them.” “How do they work, to boost the range, I mean.” Gerry asked. “That information is protected by Attorney Client Privilege.” Hank winked. “I still recommend that you get better antennas. Now does anybody have a bunch of pens?” It took a while for everyone to get all their signatures down. Hank had added Gerry's name to the Hallelujah Family Trust documents, which were all new.. Then for Gerry's property Hank had simply made a copy of the Hallelujah Family Trust documents on his computer and changed the name to the All In Family Trust before saving it under that new name. The other family trusts required amendment documents to add the new trustees to them and all Hank had to do was add Gerry's name to each of those amendments before saving them and printing them. Just to make sure they we all being signed in the right places by the right persons, Hank was directing each signature one at a time on one document at a time. Bruce and Rob talked for a few minutes with Hank about his news sources and networking with other radio operators. Hank was very reluctant to share too much information, but he did agree to pass the word to C.J. that Gerry had fully joined operations with The Smith and Cooper clan. He would also suggest the C.J. try to keep them in the loop regarding news that mattered when he was able to link up with Gerry. Hank would also mention to C.J. that linking with Gerry might be hit or miss for a while since Gerry was effectively shifting his location for a while. They decide to install the inline antenna device on Rob's truck and wait until they got to Gerry's place in Rockston to put the other device on Gerry's base station. Since Bruce and Linda were wanting to eventually raise more cattle than the others, they had decided to spend the night at Gerry's place. Rob said he could reconfigure the center console on his truck to make an extra seat in front so that Pete and Joann could ride with the rest of the clan back to Black Bear tonight. That would also work out better for picking up the fencing in Cambridge tomorrow morning since Linda was the one who had signed the sales order and receipt there.
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Post by feralferret on Oct 27, 2023 2:20:10 GMT -6
Thank you, pbbrown0.
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Post by sniper69 on Oct 27, 2023 5:04:44 GMT -6
pbbrown0 - thank you for another excellent chapter! Appreciating your story.
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Post by pbbrown0 on Nov 4, 2023 11:54:42 GMT -6
Post #53 All Broken
They had tested the reception of the radio in Rob's truck before leaving. They also continued their practice of not traveling too close together, caravan style, so that any observers would not be able to readily identify them as traveling together. Bruce left first taking Linda and Gerry with him. Pete took that opportunity to talk a little longer with Hank about the antenna options that were readily available and where they might be found. He also chatted for a few minutes about what Hank knew of things happening in the world outside of their mountain. He was beginning to think of the whole mountain as theirs now, but he carefully avoided mentioning to Hank that he and Joann were now trustees of yet another trust which also held property on that mountain. He also learned from Hank some more troubling information about both Memphis and St. Louis that was being left 'unmentioned' in the regular newscasts. The plan was for Bruce and his passengers to go to Gerry's farm near Rockston and alter the antenna on his base station there. They would then test the quality of the transmission with the radio in Rob's truck which already had the altered antenna line working. If everything was good, Rob and his gang would be able to turn off and angle more directly back to the Black Bear Mountain rather than driving the extra miles of going to Rockston first. By the time Bruce and his group got to Rockston it was getting late in the afternoon. He and Gerry were able to quickly insert the new “booster” device into the antenna line and call up the gang in Rob's truck. The signal was loud and strong, but before Rob broke off and headed toward Black Bear, Pete insisted on one more check. What Pete was requesting did not seem to make sense to the others in Rob's truck. So Pete asked Jenny to pass the mic to him. He took the mic and keyed it. “This is Bur Oak calling Honey Bear. Bur Oak calling Honey Bear. Come in please, Honey Bear. Over.” It took a few minutes for the reply to come back. “This is Honey Bear. Go ahead Bur Oak.” Linda answered although she was surprised at the call out being for her. When Pete went ahead the three at the farm realized at least partially, why he called out to her. Pete continued, “Honey bear, I need a radio check with your other mobile on channel 'X'. Do you copy?” Again there was a delay but not a long one. “Copy that, Bur Oak. Check pending. Over.” Bruce and Linda were, sort of understanding the request. Gerry, seeing their confused faces, clarified that Pete wanted to check the signal link from the radio in Bruce's truck to the radio in Rob's truck, but he wanted to switch to a different channel to do the check. The rest of their confusion, like why he was changing who he was calling, Gerry explained, was to make it harder for anyone recording or monitoring radio traffic to connect the dots between Gerry's base station and Bruce's truck Radio. Gerry wasn't sure why Pete wanted to test that link, but that was clearly, to Gerry at least, what Pete was asking for. It took a few minutes for Bruce and Linda to get back out to their truck and turn on the radio. They switched to the next alternate channel according to their security schema. Linda took the mic and pressed the key. “Hey there, you thick old tree, this She Bear is looking for a beehive. Have I found you?” the voice she had used was a dripping sweet southern drawl. Bruce paused a second, then rolled his eyes and chuckled before he leaned over and kissed her on the head, while she still held the mike poised to key it again. A few moments passed and she repeated the call. Still there was no answer. She tried again and again until Gerry came running out of the house. “It's not working,” Gerry said, “Are you on the right channel?” Bruce showed him the channel, and Gerry spun around to run back to the house. A minute later he came walking outside again. He had a concerned look on his face. “We have a problem. They are coming here to talk about what to do. It is going to be a few more minutes before they get here, but we need to get back to my radio that is still able to talk with them. I don't understand what is wrong, but I also have some chores to get done, preferably before dark.” Gerry was obviously frustrated and also concerned at the same time. The building stress was showing. Bruce tried to help him and said, “Don't worry, Gerry. As soon as they get here there will be more of us to help you. We don't need everyone standing around trying to figure out a technical glitch. More than two or three on this kind of tech problem would just be a distraction. Too many cooks spoil the soup, you know. The rest of us may not be up to speed yet, but we all want to help you. Remember, you are not alone on this operation. We are all in it together.” Gerry seemed to be relaxing as they walked back inside together. He hit the remote when Colleen used the call box at the gate. When the truck full of partners arrived at the house, Bruce took the lead. “Gerry has a lot of work that needs to be taken care of for our cattle before it gets dark. A few of us need to look into this radio problem and come up with a solution or a work around, while the rest of us help Gerry take care of the livestock. We also need to take into consideration our plans for tomorrow, which is Saturday. Gerry said we need to go to Hollerton to find some workers to start Monday. I think we should plan on someone going there tomorrow morning to do some recruiting so that we can pick up a crew ready to work early Monday morning. We have some fencing supplies at the mountain already, so that might be enough for the workers to get started. That would allow us to wait until Monday before a couple of us go to pick up more from the supplier in Cambridge on Monday. Just remember we have to factor in our leapfrog method of staying in touch, and that we have this problem with our radios to sort out or to plan around. Who feels more comfortable working on the radio problem and the scheduling plans? If you do, you can stay here. Everyone else needs to follow Gerry and start learning how to take care of our livestock.” Pete immediately put himself on the radio problem team, since his suspicion about the nature of the antenna lead insertion had proved to be on the right track. Gerry for only an instant wanted to be included in the planning for tomorrow, and thought he might help in puzzling out the radio problem, but he knew he had to direct the chores for tending to the cattle. Linda, also wanted input to the planning process, but knew she would be useless in trying to understand the radio problem. And so it went throughout the group, each one choosing between their impulses and their rational assessment of their own strengths and weaknesses for this particular situation. Carl and Rob were the only ones who decided to stay with Pete, while the rest of them followed Gerry. The others were not even out the door, when Rob was already questioning his Dad to find out why Pete had insisted on the test. He was glad they discovered that, but needed to understand something of the nature of the problem. Pete in turn explained his thinking. “While we were driving here, I was thinking about what Hank said about not being allowed to tell us how it worked, the fact that there were a pair of devices that he was keeping in a safe hiding place, and that you had to have one of the devices at both ends of the link up. I have seen devices for extending the effective range of a radio by effectively lengthening the antenna, to match up with the wavelength of the radio signal. That helps the antenna efficiency, thus giving a longer practical range. If you remember that is what he was recommending that we do in spite of this pair of devices. What puzzled me was that he was so protective of these devices, which means they are much more sophisticated in their design than a wavelength match up. To me that suggested something akin to a computer like device with software wizardry rather than a physically refined antenna conductor enhancement.” My guess is that they are some kind of encryption-digitizing-decoding device that merely lets the signal pass through unless it finds it's mate out there in the radio wave world. If it finds a mate, then it goes into a different mode modifying the signal in a way that is more efficient. But that modified signal requires a device of the same type that can properly decode this modified signal for the radio receiving the signal. The receiving radio has to convert the signal into an analog voice sound on the radio's speaker. If the signal comes to the radio unit in a format the radio is not designed to convert, then all you get is static. We can experiment some, but I expect that if any two radios both have this device attached within range of each other, the device kicks in to encode/decode mode and no longer lets a signal in or out of the radio unless it is using that special language. Those two devices will understand the language, but any other radios in the area will be speaking a different language. Rob picked up on the concepts and had this to say. “Let's assume you are right, for the moment. That gives us two options for tomorrow. We can leave things as they are and try to figure out how to work out our travels for tonight and tomorrow, or we can take both devices out and try to figure out our travel plans for tonight and tomorrow.” Carl stepped in at that point. “While I agree with what you just said, I think at this point it makes more sense to jump to that second option. If we try to make it home with the devices still in place, there is a chance that we will have to turn back and spend the night here. I think that rather than experiment and take chances right now, it makes more sense to plan based on known quantities and factors. We can save the experiments for a time when we have less time pressures and more reasonable options for dealing with the results.” “Okay,” Pete replied, “I like the way you are thinking. So, if we plan on spending the night here our options are somewhat more limited, but also more certain. We still have the limitation of starting with only two trucks. We definitely need more mobile radios to get much done tomorrow, but our communication links with each other must be treated as critical.” “I agree, Dad.” Rob responded. “We also need to assure we are keeping our priorities straight. Cambridge and Hollerton are in opposite directions. The way I see it, we must get over to Hollerton and recruit the workers for next week. If we all go together the radio range is not an issue. It would only be an issue if some of us go and others do not. Recruiting can be a time intensive job, unless we are indiscriminate about who we get. I don't see that as a good tactic for us. I say we all go together to Hollerton in the morning. Jenny can work with Joann or someone else to make contact with that girl,” Rob had to pause to remember her name, “...Patty. Maybe Joann can meet with her for lunch. While that is going on, the rest of us can be out and around trying to recruit workers and screening them for their willingness to cooperate. Once we have enough we need to find some supplies to rig the trucks come Monday for transporting them with the blinders on. We have four trucks, but one of them is a squeeze to get three people in. If we use the three larger trucks we could put three workers in the back of each one and carry nine workers. That would allow two of us in the front of each truck. Three of us could stay at the mountain. The three trucks could be staggered apart and rotate past each other picking up and coming back with everyone staying linked to the base on the way to and from Hollerton. Do you think that would work?” “That would work just fine, Dad.” answered Carl. “How much should we offer to pay them?” Pete replied, “We have to take in to consideration that they will be traveling about three hours each day in addition to to the actual hours spent laboring. With eight hours of labor plus three more for travel we are asking for eleven hours a day or fifty-five hours for the week.” “Yes,” responded Carl, “But, as Mom said, we will be providing them their lunch. We might need to provide them a meal to eat either driving to the work site or going home depending on what time we pick them up. It might be a good idea to feed them on the way to work if they are going to be working hard, which we hope they are. If they have been out of work trying to pick up jobs that might be important to them as well as to us.” “You are right, son. I hadn't thought about that.” Rob admitted. “One thing I did think about is paying them by the day rather than by the hour. We don't need to complicate this by looking at how much to pay for work versus how much to pay for travel.” “Not that I'm trying to discount what we pay them, but for some it might be an added attraction that they don't have to pay for transportation, or provide their own transportation to the job site.” Carl added. “I've seen all kinds of ways to handle that issue being used for some construction sites.” “That's another good point, Carl.” Pete responded. “How about this. We offer them $130 per day plus two meals and transportation to and from the work site, for five full eight hour days of work. And we promise them five days of work at that rate. What do you think?” “Sounds reasonable to me,” said Rob. “I don't think that is a good idea.” said Carl quietly. Pete and Rob both looked concerned. “What are you thinking son?” asked Rob. “You've seen a lot more short term labor jobs being managed lately than we have.” Carl nodded slightly to his Dad, then said, “One of the things that I saw, over and over was that some of the workers who hired on never finished the job they were hired for. I remember one time we told the group that we needed them for at least a week and after that we might have more. Only half of that original group were still showing up to work on the fourth day. A couple of those that quit early never even came back to get their checks for the time that they did work. The crew foremen and project managers had enough experience to plan for that, but we don't have the luxury of not finishing on time. We might need to hire more and be willing to pay all of them what we promised, even if they all stay on the the job for the full week, or we need to put some incentive in this for them to finish the job. Just as a suggestion to consider, we could offer them $120 per day with a $50 bonus if they finish the last day.” Rob thought a minute. Then proposed an another option. “I appreciate that insight Carl. Even with the incentive, I am concerned that there might be a few that just won't stay with it for a whole week. Some will simple take the pay for a day or two and decide that is enough money or too much job for them. But we can't put blinders in the front seats and just hire more workers. So, here is what I would propose. Tell the recruits what you suggested, so they all have that incentive from the start. Then if some drop out in the first couple of days, talk to those who stayed and offer to let them keep working on Saturday and perhaps the following Monday, depending on how many drop out, to make up the work that the others failed to stay for. We could even offer to divide the bonuses that the dropouts walked away from among those who agree to stay and finish the job.” “I really like that idea, Rob.” Pete was nodding his head. “I think that will work!” Carl agreed. “Dad, I don't know where we are with our pool of cash. Are we going to be okay with this extra cost?” “I think so Carl. We probably need to have an accounting discussion soon to make sure we are not missing anything. Then too, with all of us being 'all in' now, we all need to be aware of where we stand with that asset.” Pete, Rob, and Carl were confident with their plan now, so they removed the antenna devices from both antenna leads. Then they tested the links between those two radios and the others available to them now. As a final step the switched to the handheld hailing channel they had agreed on and called the others. “This is Squirrel's Heaven calling Night Owl. Come in. Over.” A minute later Jenny responded on her hand held. “Night Owl is in the Barn. Over.” Pete, Rob, and Carl made their way to the barn and found the others carrying buckets of feed from the barn to the feed stations. These stations weren't exactly troughs, but when the cows stepped on a small plate close to some wooden bins a door or lid would be lifted to give access to a shallow bin of cattle feed. These stations had a hopper containing a supply of grain that used gravity to refill the bins as the feed was removed from the bin by the cows eating it. Gerry was managing how much feed was in the hoppers to limit the amount of feed that was provided everyday. The remainder of the cattle's diet was provided by their grazing and foraging. Getting the right balance was as much an art as it was a science. Gerry had given them directions for how much to load in the hoppers while he checked on the water stations. Previously they has inspected the herd to count them and check them closely for their apparent health and signs that they were or were not getting enough nutrition during the day from grazing and foraging. Gerry had taken the whole group through part of the herd teaching them what he was looking for and what he was finding. Then he had them scatter out and look for themselves before coming back to report what they were finding. Then he had walked with them through one of the fields showing them how to examine it for the quality of the forage and grazing vegetation available. Finally he showed them how to look for signs of the field being over grazed. Then he had them spread out and examine the next field in his rotation. Gerry had his farm divided into multiple fields, and he rotated the cattle through these different sections so they could graze in relatively fresh fields that had recovered from the previous period of being grazed. In previous years he had been able to follow a pattern of skipping over some fields, which would have been in line for a period of grazing, so he could cut hay to store for winter from them. In the following rotations he would let the cattle graze those hay fields after allowing them time to recover from the hay cutting. This summer he was not able to do this as often because the recovery times had been much slower without the usual rains. As he expected they had to help him move the herd into a different field already because the one they were in at the moment was already grazed to its limit. He needed to utilize the feeders more this evening so the cattle would be less hungry when they moved to the next field. He had taken Bruce with him to show him how his watering system was set up while the others were finishing the work of filling the feeding hoppers. That is when he got an unexpected surprise. The water level in his system reservoir was lower than it was supposed to be. He was using an electric well pump with a sensor inside his water storage tank to turn the pump off when the reservoir was near full. When the water level dropped below 85% full the pump circuit would reconnect and the pump would start up again to refill until it got to about 95% full. He was looking at the gauge where he had all the controls set up and it was showing only 78% full. It had been at 90% full when he had left earlier that morning. The cattle had used up about 12 % of the reservoir's capacity during the day today, but the pump circuit had not reconnected. He checked the switches on the control panel he had built and they were all in the correct “On” positions, but the indicator light for the pump circuit was not on. He went to the breaker box and unlocked it. He reset the breaker for the circuit the pump was on and then went back to the control panel. Still no light. He opened up the back of the control panel and look at the connections but found nothing wrong. He went back to the breaker box with Bruce following but not talking. Bruce watched him turn the circuit breaker off and returned to the control panel where he turned off the switch labeled 'Well Pump'. Bruce followed him , but not too closely, around to the back of the control panel. Gerry pulled a multi-tool out of a small pouch on his belt and began unscrewing the the nuts on several wire terminals. Bruce asked, “If you don't mind my asking, what are you doing now?” Gerry kept working and answered as he worked. “I'm disconnecting the float valve circuit from the well pump circuit. I'll connect the well pump straight into the power circuit and use the manual switch that I just threw on the board to turn the pump on and off. Something must be wrong with the float or the switches it trips. This way I'll just have to do this manually until I can trouble shoot the float switches.” He finished quickly with the connections and went back to the breaker box. He set the breaker on then went back to his control panel. “Here we go.” he said as he tripped the switch. Nothing happened. He flipped the switch back and forth, then went to the breaker box and did the same with the labeled breaker. They returned to the control board and the pump circuit light was still off. Gerry checked the back of the open panel again and stared at the wiring. Gerry's face was tense and he stomped his boot heel into the ground. About that time Colleen called her Dad on their handheld and told them to head back to the house. Gerry heard the call and said to Bruce. “We might as well head over there. We can't fix this right now, and we are going to have to talk with them about this anyway.” When they walked into Gerry's house it was obvious he was not I a good mood. “So, did you get the radios fixed?” Gerry asked in a voice that did not sound exactly positive. “Not exactly.” Pete started. Gerry jumped in before Pete could explain. “Great, what else has gone wrong?” He was clearly irritated. Joann responded gently. “Your attitude has gone down the wrong path, for one thing Gerry. Take a deep breath and tell us what's eating at you, Gerry. Take your time and tell us so we can see if we can help.” Gerry looked at her with a scowl, but the scowl faded as he saw her concerned and patient face. “I'm just getting overloaded, I guess. I'm not trying to be a Grinch, but it seems like everything is breaking, but that's not really true. You guys are here and 'all in' with me and that is a big relief, but part of me feels like a failure for needing your help. I've put so much work into this place almost since I left High School. Suddenly I can't make it fixing things myself and without you I'd be loosing it soon; I mean loosing the farm as well as loosing my … composure. Then we came back to take care of it and our communications are broken so we have to change our plans for tomorrow. Then then my water pump quit so we have to change our plans for tomorrow, yet again. And we don't even know what is wrong with either of those devices.” Pete spoke up though also in a more comforting manner. “Gerry, I didn't finish explaining. We know what the problem is and we know how to work around it. We have already worked out the problems for tomorrow, and I'm guessing we can do the same for your pump problem. What seems to be happening with your pump?” “That's just it. I do not know what is wrong and it is likely to take a while to fix it, because we don't know what is wrong with it, except that it isn't working. I've got to have it to provide water for the reservoir that feeds both the house plumbing and the water for the cattle. We can't put that off until later so we will have to change all our plans for tomorrow and maybe Sunday too.” “Slow down a minute and give us more information.” Rob followed the lead of Joann and his Dad. Bruce said, “Let me start. Gerry has a system rigged to pump water out of his well until the reservoir is almost full and then automatically shut off. It also comes back on automatically if the level in the reservoir drops significantly from use. Tonight it had not come on to refill like it should, so Gerry bypassed the part that turns it on and off automatically, and it still did not come on to fill the tank.” “It sounds like,” Rob interjected, “That we need to replace the well pump. How expensive is that?” “It's not that expensive,” replied Gerry, “If that is the problem.” “What do you mean?” asked Rob. “There is also a shut-off switch built into the pump that will shut it off if there is no water to pump. It is a safety check feature so you don't burn the pump motor up pumping nothing but air through it. It also reduces the chance of overheating the electric circuit if the pump were to get hot and keep running. With this drought it is possible that the water level in the well has dropped. It may take a lot of trouble to determine where the real problem is. If it is the level in the well, we can't fix that with buying a new well.” Gerry was again rather sullen. “Gerry, stop.” Colleen was firm but not harsh. She moved over to him and got in his face. Actually she was more under his face so he wasn't really intimidated, but he was surprised enough to pay attention. “I need you to listen. You have gotten your tires in a rut and if you don't steer out of it you are just going to make the rut deeper. Pretty soon you will find yourself slipping into that same rut again and again until you can't steer yourself anymore. Now look me in the eye and tell me something good that happened today, but before you do tell yourself that the the next time you start thinking about something that went bad today you will reach up and thump yourself on the ear. Okay, now tell me something good that happened today.” “You got me to think about what I was doing with my attitude.” Gerry responded. “Okay that was an easy one,” said Colleen. “Now tell me two more things that happened that were good and that you are grateful for.” Gerry thought minute. “You all came here to help me catch up on my chores for today.” He thought a minute and suddenly reached up and thumped his earlobe. A few seconds later he said. “Carl's Dad and your Dad decided to join me and let me join them in making this farm work, and then they explained what 'all in' really meant, and then they made it all legal, and how could I have...” He stopped and thumped himself again. “I really do need to stop letting my mind slip into those negative ruts, don't I. I still haven't adjusted to the fact that I'm not doing all this totally without any back up. Somebody tell me what the plan is for tomorrow.” “Okay.” chimed in Rob. “First we are all crashing here tonight. That is the best step with only two trucks here. Tomorrow, we all go over to Hollerton and recruit workers to help put up fences. We already have a plan for recruiting them. While there, Joann will make contact with Patty and work out a time and place for talking with her more about her questions. While in Hollerton someone can take time out from the recruiting to find materials for putting blinders in the rear of our three larger trucks. I know that will probably be some of the ladies, but I want people to see the ladies with us during some of the time spent recruiting. I want the workers to see that this is a family thing and not some scheme to kidnap them and haul them off to who knows where.” Rob paused and eye checked with Bruce before going on. “We decided on several enticements for the workers who agree to go 'blind' to the work site and back. We already mentioned that we will pay at the end of each day. We also decided that with the travel time to and from the sight, we need to offer them both breakfast and lunch at no cost to them. So we need to make sure we have what we need to take care of that for all next week. That also means extra work for all of us. We were thinking that we need to take time out Monday to pick up the rest of the fencing, but now I'm thinking that we need to get a new pump for Gerry in Hollerton while the recruiting is going on. Then we need to leapfrog back here so Gerry get it installed. On Monday we will have to leapfrog back here to pick up Gerry and then to Hollerton to pick up the work crew. From there we all go home to work on the fencing. At some point we need to leapfrog a team up to Cambridge to get the rest of the fencing, and then back to home in time to take the workers home in the evening. That may take several people out in order to stretch our radio links to Cambridge and back so that will need to be done with only the driver in each truck. We may need to postpone the extra fencing load or loads until the pump is fixed. We'll see how that goes and what Gerry has to say if it takes longer than expected.” Gerry interrupted here. “That sounds like a good plan from my point of view. I am pretty sure I can get a pump in Hollerton. I ought to have it replaced here before Monday morning.” “That would be great,” Bruce stepped in. “But if you don't get it finished, we can talk about priorities and options when you find out where things are. Remember we can still reach each other with the base radios, and we all plan to be here early Monday so we will work it out no matter how it goes. There was another issue with the workers that Carl brought up. His experience with temporary workers on construction sites was that some workers were very tenacious, but some turn out to be more temporary than we plan for. We decided to offer a small bonus if they stay on the full week. If any drop out early, those who stay will get to pick up the hours that the drop outs left behind as well as sharing the bonus they left behind if they stay to the end.” Gerry spoke up again. “Please don't think this is another negative expectation. It is just considering contingencies. What should we do about security. We know nothing of the men that are going to agree to work for us. We are promising them a lot of cash when you add it all up. What if one of them gets it in his head rob us?” Pete spoke soothingly. “Gerry, why don't you sit down a minute and try to relax. What we need to do about that is to have a talk with all the workers together before we head out to the mountain. We will tell them that for security reasons we will only have enough cash at the work site each day for that days payroll. We will tell them that if anyone is foolish enough to try and rob us for one days payroll they need to remember that they will be robbing all of their coworkers of the pay they worked hard to earn that day. That means the thief will be trying to escape from a mob of very angry people, including all of our family, who have been robbed of their own hard work. That thief would also be lost many miles from any landmarks they know in the middle of a forest occupied by bears, cougars, coyotes, bobcats, and even a few wolverines in addition to that angry mob of people who are determined to catch them. That should help dampen any thoughts they have of doing something foolish, don't you think?” Gerry who was by now sitting in his favorite chair nodded his head. Joann started across the main room to the kitchen. “Come on folks.” she said. “We need to put together something to eat and get to bed. We need an early start tomorrow and it's going to be a long day.” Fortunately, Gerry had an open kitchen, even though it wasn't huge, because there were suddenly nine people trying to help fix a meal together. Gerry was able to do little more than answer questions about where he kept various kitchen items and what kind of food he had on hand. They had the meal prepared, eaten, and cleared away in well under an hour. Then the same process style was followed in finding and settling into sleeping arrangements. They were surprised that Gerry had four bedrooms in the house he had built for himself. That still meant that Colleen slept on the sofa in the great room and Carl slept on the floor. No one would accept Gerry's offer to sleep on the floor himself so someone else could sleep on his bed. Carl pointed out that both he and Colleen were accustomed to sleeping under the trees on sleeping bags, and that his grandparents slept in a tent on nothing thicker than a sleeping bag. Gerry watched as each couple made their way to different rooms before he slipped into his own room to get some rest.
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Post by feralferret on Nov 5, 2023 2:18:49 GMT -6
Thank you, pbbrown0.
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Post by sniper69 on Nov 5, 2023 4:14:35 GMT -6
Thank you for the latest chapter. I wonder what they'll find when looking for workers.
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Post by pbbrown0 on Nov 7, 2023 12:19:00 GMT -6
Post #54 Real Trust Is Not A Document
Joann was up the next morning, well before sunrise. The first thing she did, after her morning prayer, was to start a pot of coffee. Then she started a second pot knowing how many people would be needing to wake up. She had just placed the second pot on the stove when Gerry stepped into the kitchen. “Good morning, Mama Bear,” he said with a crooked grin. “Good morning to you, Wrangler. Coffee will be ready in a few. Do you mind if I make some biscuits?” she asked. “Please,” he groaned. “No jokes before I have my coffee.” He feigned that he was holding his forehead up with both hands, then he smiled and said, “I'll get the makings out, then I'll watch carefully to make sure you do them right,” he continued with his crooked grin. The two of them got busy preparing a full breakfast for everyone. Joann was still impressed that Gerry's kitchen was so well stocked, especially since he was a man living alone. She thought too about how many bedrooms he had built into his house, and began to see him in a different light. This house was made for a large family and the pantry was ready for them already. Soon the rest of the clan began trickling into the large kitchen as the aroma of fresh coffee spread through the house. They were all loaded up and ready to drive southwest to Black Bear Mountain just as the sun broke above the horizon. They rolled into Hollerton, with all four trucks just before eight o'clock. Pete and Joann pulled into the parking lot of Jim Decker's store while the others found other stores to park near. Pete was planning to watch for Patty to show up so he could point her out to Joann. He figured her father would not recognize him if he stayed inside his truck until after going inside to supervise the store operations. Gerry had gone to a regular farm supply store to see what kind of well pumps they might have in stock. Carl and Colleen were with Gerry. Bruce and Linda went to a home improvement store near the intersection of two state highways. Rob and Jenny found a somewhat smaller version of a big box store with a gas station nearby. They wanted to find some supplies for creating blinders inside the trucks for the next week. They also knew they would need more groceries to feed the additional workers. They weren't satisfied with what they found as possible blinders, but the food selection was adequate. As they looked over the grocery section of the store, Rob began to think they might need to get a generator and a simple refrigerator or chest freezer to keep food in until they could get a better set up for handling their food needs. Eacjh of the small teams were planning on dropping a word here and there about needing some workers for a week. Each of them had their hand-held radios with them. Pete spotted Patty getting out of her truck on the fringe of the parking lot and pointed her out to Joann. Joann jumped out and tried to catch up with her before she got to the building. “Patty? Patty Decker?” Joann called out. Patty slowed and then turned looking for who had called to her. She spotted Joann, whom she had never seen, because Joann was waving her hand over her head, so she waited for Joann to catch up. Joann closed the distance between them. “I'm sorry. We haven't been introduced, but Jenny Smith promised you that she would get us together.” Patty looked confused, so Joann continued. “Jenny wasn't sure, after she left the meeting with your father so abruptly if it would cause a problem for her to come looking for you. She had promised to get her new mother-in-law to come talk to you about some of your questions. I'm the mother-in-law she was talking about. I'm Joann Smith.” She reached out to shake Patty's hand. Suddenly Patty's eyes lit up. “You're Pete's wife? Where is he? Is Jenny in town? What are you doing here in town, anyway?” Patty was excited and running over herself with rapid fire questions and looking around the parking lot. Joann stood patiently while Patty's tongue was spinning. “Patty, Pete is just over here in our little truck. We wanted to make contact with you without making a scene where you work. Our first reason for coming here was to get back in touch with you like we promised. Jenny and the rest of the family are running errands around town. If we can work out a place to meet with you, Jenny and I would love to talk with you. The other reason we are here is that we need to find some temporary workers for a week. We decided one of our projects is urgent and needed a kick start.” Patty again was very interested. “What kind of work? We have lots of guys we know who are looking for any work they can find. The economy is never booming around here but right now, well there are some folks who could really use a job, even if it is temporary.” Joann paused before speaking. “First, things first. Patty, is there a place we could meet with you for half hour, or more if you want? You had some questions that we wanted to help you consider.” “Oh, yeah. We close early on Saturdays. I'll be getting off at 12:30. We could go to the diner over on Sassafras Street. They'll still be open and the Saturday crowd will have dwindled by then. Now about those workers. I really would like to help both you and them. What are you needing to do?” Joann waved to Pete, for him to come over. He got out of their truck and walked over. Patty smiled at him, then suddenly gave him a quick hug. She also turned and gave Joann a hug, too. “Thank you for coming back. I was afraid you would be too angry to come back after... Anyway.” She stopped to compose herself. “Joann said that you are needing some temporary workers. We know a lot of people who would really, really like any work they can get right now. Tell me what you need and I will get them lined up for you.” Pete thought a minute. “The work is simply putting up some fencing, but the conditions are not that simple. First we need them to trust us and we need to be able to trust them.” Again Patty looked confused. “I'm listening. Keep going and explain what you have in mind.” “For starters we want nine good people to work full days building fence for five days. We will pay the workers cash at the end of each day. We know that is important for a lot of people when they are looking for work.” Pete was watching Patty and saw her relax and sigh when he said that. He went on. “Our place is a bit of a drive from here so we are providing transportation to and from the work site.” Her eyes brightened at that news. “Because of the travel time added onto the work day and it being remote we are going to feed them breakfast on the way, and lunch at mid-day.” Her eyes narrowed. “Workers work better when they have good meals, so we are going to feed them exactly what we eat.” She was still listening. “With this being hard work and these being temporary workers, we are going to pay each of them a hundred twenty dollars a day plus a fifty dollar bonus at the end if they stay with us for the full five days.” Now Patty was excited. “This is terrific. You have no idea how much this will be appreciated!” Pete held up his hand to slow her down. “I told you there was a trust concern.” Patty was attentive to the change in Pete's demeanor. “The site as I indicated is remote and it will take well over an hour to drive each direction. It is also our home, and we do not want that location advertised. We need the workers to agree to travel there and back with us, blind.” Patty's eyes got big. “We don't want them blindfolded or afraid of being trapped and taken off somewhere. We have decided to cover the back windows of our crew cab trucks and put a lightweight divider, like foam board, between the front seats and the back seats so they cannot see where we are going. In an emergency these can easily be ripped off, but they need to trust us enough to allow this level of security about the location we take them to and from each day.” Patty thought for a minute. “Meet me around back at the receiving dock at 12:30. I assure you that you will have the kind of workers you need. You can talk to them then and answer their questions. If any drop out after the Q & A, I will replace them. Don't worry. Then I want to meet the rest of your family... I need to get inside to help open the store now. I'll see you at 12:30.” she spun and hurried toward the side door of the store. Joann looked at Pete. “Do you think we can trust what she said?” “Yep.” “Me too.” As they walked back to their little truck, Pete unclipped the hand held from his belt and keyed the mic. The clan agreed to meet at the home improvement store where Bruce and Linda had gone. When they gathered on the parking lot Pete and Joann talked to them about their conversation with Patty. They all agreed to trust Patty on her promise. They were all relieved at that, especially Gerry who realized he would be getting back to his farm several hours earlier than he had expected. He had gotten a pump already at the farm store which opened earlier than some of the larger stores. They also agreed on the idea of getting a generator and a larger refrigerator than the tiny ones in the two trailers for holding food. Pete suggested they would do better finding both of those items at the home improvement store. He also suggested using thin foam insulation board with duct tape for putting blinders on the back part of the truck cabs to transport the workers. They looked at the time and realized they had a lot of time before meeting with the workers, but it did not make sense to grab groceries they planned to refrigerate and then wait around for time to meet them. Carl suggested that they leap frog just enough to get Gerry back to his farm and perhaps one or two could stay there to help him. With the base station there and all four trucks scattered back along the road they could relay emergency messages all the way from Rockston to Hollerton. Only one of the trucks would have to stay to meet the workers and then load up with groceries, generator, and such before spooling themselves back toward Rockston. Gerry didn't like that idea. He was pleased enough that they could leave to go back to Rockston by early afternoon. He preferred spending the time relaxing a bit looking around at the stores in Hollerton which had a better selection of products than the very small stores he was use to in Rockston. Rob also pointed out that he wanted the potential workers to see that they were a family rather than some guys running a business for profit. They decided to shop for the right generator and refrigerator, plus the foam board and tape, at the home improvement store. Then they could get a grocery order together to be picked up after their meeting with the workers and after Joann and Jenny met with Patty for a little while. Then they could all head back to the east to drop Gerry off in Rockston before turning south to Black Bear Mountain. Gerry insisted he could handle everything by himself at the farm having Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday to deal with it. The rest of the morning was unrushed and relaxed though there were some moments when one or another in their group experienced a twinge of anxiety about trusting Patty completely with the task of finding and selecting the right workers they needed. They got the supplies from the home improvement store purchased and loaded and strapped down into Bruce and Linda's truck, Just before heading over to Jim Decker's Lumber Jack Supplies. When they pulled around in back in all four trucks there were two groups of people slightly separated. A larger group of nine was lined up at one edge of the turning yard. Another group of only three plus Patty was standing about twenty feet to the side of the larger group and Patty was talking to them. The whole Smith-Cooper-Kerry clan climbed out of their trucks at the same time and walked over to toward the group with Patty. When Patty saw them coming her way she motioned to the smaller group to stay put and separated from them to come meet the clan. Joann started to speak, but Patty stepped over and gave Jenny a hug. “Thank you, Jenny. I am sorry for how things went with my Dad last week, but it means a lot to me that you kept your word to me in spite of that trouble.” Patty turned to Pete. “I told you and Joann that I wanted to meet the rest of your family, but I wasn't expecting this many. Okay, one at a time.” Pete went through each person introducing them to Patty. As he did Patty would ask questions so she understood the relationships. That process piqued her interest when she got to the Coopers and their relationships with the Smiths. Finally Pete introduced Gerry Kerry, and Patty seemed a little confused at first, then a bit contemplative as she unraveled the description of his relationship with the two other families. It seemed she needed to think on that a while realizing he was not related to them by family ties or long term friendship, yet there was a real commitment among them. Then Patty turned their attention to the potential workers. “This group over here were the first nine that I screened and they fit the bill for what you told me. The other three would do well for you but you said you only could take nine. The other three were just a little later getting to me this morning to ask about work. They saw me talking to some of the first group and asked if they could come to see you in case any of the others were rejected or backed out. So there you are nine plus alternates. It is up to you and them to decide. I...” Patty paused. “I want you to know this means a lot to them and to me. The economy around here is not what it is being made out to be in a lot of other places. These people who are here all have families that are scraping by, just barely.” Pete looked at the others. “Well, I guess we should get this started.” The clan all walked together over to the larger group. Patty meanwhile took up a position with the smaller group. Rob took the lead telling them the kind of work they would be doing. Then he talked to them about the desire to maintain security. Here he diverged from the previous script a bit to avoid raising their suspicions. “As you can see today there are more people wanting work than can find it. We have limited funds and we can't fix the problem of jobs for the whole world. We can't take on the extra burden of dealing with desperate people finding out where we live, and them seeking us out to constantly hound us to give them work that we cannot afford to pay for. We can see what is happening just like you can. We have to be careful how we deal with the troubles so we don't get caught in the traps of … evil that is in this world. So one of the odd things we are doing is to put blinders on you while traveling to and from the work site, if you agree to work for us.” Rob turned to Jenny and she brought over a piece of foam board. Rob continued. “This is foam board. You all have seen it. It is not strong at all, but it is easy to cut into shapes, and you can't easily see through it. You see our trucks over there. That's our families regular transportation. We plan to cut pieces of this and tape them on the inside of the windows in the crew part of the cab. We'll also put a sheet of it across the backs of the front seats so you can't watch out the front windshield and see where we are going. In an emergency it will not pose any obstacle to you to get out of the truck in an instant. You have to agree to this for our safety. In return for that and your honest work we will pay you each $120 per day in cash at the end of each day. We will pick you up here at 6 am. And bring you back here at 6 pm. About an hour and a half of that time on each end you will be just riding to and from the work. In the morning we will have breakfast for you to eat on the way to work. At lunch time we will all take a break and eat lunch together; you and our family.” He waved his hand at the clan. “The work will be building simple fences in a forested area. That is all it is. We will have the tools and the fencing materials, as well as the plans for where the fences go.” Pete paused momentarily. “There is on more thing. Please do not take offense at this. We do not know any of you. However, it has been our work experience in other locations that in any group of temporary workers that some may not complete the time for which they were hired. If that happens with any of you, it means we will not get finished with this job in time and that may cause unpleasant results for us. So we are offering a fifty dollar bonus at the end of the five days to all who stick with it to the end of the week. If we have more than one who drops out early, we will offer the extra pay and the bonus that those dropouts forfeited to those who stayed and who are willing to finish the work after Friday.” Now Bruce stepped forward. “Are there any questions?” One of the group of nine raised his hand. “Yes, sir. What is your question?” The man looked around at the others. “What happens if we work better than you expected and finish the job before the end of the day on Friday, or maybe even on Thursday?” Bruce was not expecting that one, so he thought a minute. “We do not want to take an unfair advantage of you, and I would hope the same is true of y'all toward us. We decided to pay you for the work, not for the hours. So if you finish early, all who stayed to the finish will be paid for five full days plus the bonus, but your work will be supervised to assure it is quality work.” Another worker raised his hand. “Yes?” Bruce pointed to the one who raised his hand. “This may seem odd to you, But there ain't nobody here that is going to take a job and not finish it, but... I got kin folk here that are needing work too. We don't like taking charity even from our own kin if we can help it. If you hire me and I work three days, then I offer to let him take my place for the last two days, can he git that bonus for the two of us finishing the week in a split?” Pete and Joan had been watching everyone, trying to read their expressions. They had both noticed a lot of strain on Patty's face. With this latest question that strain seemed to suddenly be amplified. Some of the men in the larger group were unaffected, but more than one looked like they were identifying with the question. Joann caught Patty's eye and subtly flicked her head for Patty to come over closer. Meanwhile Pete stepped over to Bruce and whispered that they needed to confer. The Clan drew back from the workers so they could talk and they took Patty with them. Joann spoke to Patty in a quiet calm tone. “Patricia, we have not had a chance to really talk yet. Even the time you spent with Jenny you had to be 'on your game' in the role as an employee of the store. Just so we are clear; who are you really working for right now?” Patty was looking straight at Joann holding her gaze. “Joann I have had to be on my game since the epidemic game plan first went into effect. Our state did not adopt anyone's mandate about who could work and who could not, but our local government did not let that stop them, and that included the Sheriff. Daddy's business was hurt because the sheriff's department was determined to enforce quarantine measures starting at the county borders. Before the epidemic, ninety percent of our business was from people coming here from outside the county. Sheriff Clark didn't want the 'epidemic to kill us off here in his county' so people were being stopped just inside our county lines and told to go back home until the virus was gone. That caused some friction here when people realized he was doing that, but he also had a whole lot of support from folks who were afraid of the contagion sweeping through our county. I'm just trying to help some folks whose families were devastated financially while everyone else manage to survive with less short and intermediate term impact. I'm not on the clock for anyone except me, right now. If you are worried about any of these men dropping out, you can forget that all together. They all have families to feed and they can't afford to quit. If you are worried about getting through by some deadline, hire all of them and get it done sooner. Change the pay rate if you have to. They aren't worried about getting rich off of you. They are just worried about having food for their families right now.” Bruce spoke up at this point. “Patty, we can only carry nine workers in our trucks and still keep our security.” Patty looked at Bruce. “I'll drive some in my truck. You can do your blinders thing in it ,too. I'll even pay for my own gas.” Linda cut in. “What about your job here? That drive time will seriously cut into your work day if you are going back and forth, not to mention all the gas it will take making that trip four times a day.” “Don't worry about, me. I'm working for my Daddy, remember. Besides I need a break and I haven't ever taken any vacation time.” Patty half smirked. “That still leaves a breach in our security, Patty. You can't drive blind folded.” Bruce retorted, Patty dropped her head. “I don't need to drive back and and forth. I'll let one of you drive my truck. I'll ride shotgun, blindfolded if that's what it takes. Like I said, I need a break. I'll even help out while I'm there, without pay.” “We have a lot of work to do and there is no guarantee that the pump was the problem. " Gerry spoke quietly, "If it isn't the pump that is the problem we'll need to be finished sooner rather than later.” Now Patty was looking confused. “I also know that we have to get at least the first house built really soon. She may not be 'all in' but my vote is that we do this.” The rest of the clan looked around at each other processing all that had been said. Pete also spoke up quietly. “I don't have a lot saved up, but Gerry is right about getting certain things done quickly. I'll throw in some extra cash, and some extra trust in our Creator, to help us so we can get that house built as fast as we can.”. Everyone was looking around at the others, and they all eventually nodded in agreement. Pete led the way back to the workers and waved the small cluster of alternates over closer. “People, we seem to have miss-judged who we would find to help us. We have reconsidered our plan and decided we'll need all of you to help, and if you prove yourselves trustworthy, like we expect, we may even be able to use you a bit longer than we had planned for. We just need you to understand that we don't have unlimited funds, so this is not a long term gig for you. When it is done, then it really is done. Also we need you to promise you won't go running your jaws about getting this job to others. Jealousy can turn into a green eyed monster real quick, and I'm sure you don't want anything to ruin this opportunity for all of you here. Don't break trust with us and we won't break trust with you. If word gets out and we start getting hit on about being fair to others, then we can cut this off in a heart beat. Does anyone have a problem with that?” One of the workers, a very large worker, spoke up to say, “Mister, we all understand that trust is something shared. If anyone here were to break this trust it would hurt you, but it would also hurt everyone of us here. Thank you for trusting us. You can count on us. That's for da...darn sure.” “Alright then. Six o'clock, Monday morning. We'll see you right here.” Surprisingly, instead of everyone dispersing all twelve of the men walked forward and shook the hands of each member of the clan, thanking them for the job arrangements. Joann then turned to Patty. "Young lady, we need to get some lunch, and I believe you had some questions you wanted to discuss."
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Post by feralferret on Nov 7, 2023 19:40:26 GMT -6
Another wonderful chapter. Thank you.
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Post by pbbrown0 on Nov 9, 2023 20:01:29 GMT -6
Post #55 Finding The Right Path
The troop of ten were filing into the Diner as a line was starting to form of patrons paying their bill at the cashier on the way out. A lot of heads were turning, but no one was making comments. A waitress approached and asked with a large measure of uncertainty, “Are all y'all together? We can't get enough tables together to seat this many together, but we can try to seat y'all near each other if you want” Patty started to speak, but Joann stepped slightly ahead of her. “We would like a table for three and then you can seat the others anywhere as long as they are not too close to us.” The waitress looked a bit stunned and then confused. “So you three don't know them? I thought I saw you talking as you came in. My mistake. “Oh we know each other. We just don't want to sit with them right now.” Joan replied with a serene calmness. The waitress looked at the three women in front of her, then the five men and two women standing back a little. “Oh, I see,” she smirked and started to turn. Joann could not reside the temptation to play her a little. “Darlin', I seriously doubt that you see what is happening here, and don't you even think of spreading any groundless gossip about this. That would be a mistake you would be better off not making, sweet girl.” Joann said that with a very affected southern drawl followed by a feigned innocent smile only a true southern lady could display. The waitress turned for a moment and saw that look then ducked her head and apologized for sticking her nose where it didn't belong. Joann patted her gently on the shoulder. “That's alright sweet thing. The temptation is strong, but you must learn to fight it. Learning that will save you a lot of grief later on.” After they were seated Patty asked Joann. “How did you do that? You read her like a book and had never met her before.” Joann replied like someone who was tired, but she knew what she was doing. “Patty, I was a school teacher for a while, and I had to learn to read between the lines with my students. Even before that I have always paid attention to the subtle things people communicate without words. I could see which gears in her transmission were engaged and which ones were not. I just thought it might be a teachable moment for her.” Patty looked at Joann and Jenny, and then across the diner where the others were seated. “This feels awkward. I feel like I'm over here cutting the rest of your family off from our conversation, like I have secrets I don't want them to know about or something.” “Patty,” Jenny cut in. “It was our idea, actually Pete's idea to start out like this. Everyone has private thoughts that they guard from others, except in some special cases when they might them withsomeone they are very closely bonded to. You have some questions that sounded like they were very personal to you, that you didn't even share with your father. But you wanted to talk with someone about them. So we are here, just Joann and I, to let you talk without fear of any judgment or of your words being repeated to any one else. We will help you if we can, and if we can't we will be good listeners. I promise.” Patty was quiet as she looked back and forth from Jenny to Joann, then she almost glanced over her shoulder again but stopped herself. “Okay. I've been so busy, I really haven't been able to organize my questions or thoughts about this, but here goes. There is so much … stuff going on that is just not good. It just seems to be building up like an inverted pyramid, and I really don't feel good at all about where I see things going. But there is so much seemingly disconnected stuff, yet it looks to me like the effects to come are inevitably going to connect in a really bad way. I've always thought I was a pretty optimistic, positive thinker. I thought I could look at the world around me realistically and positively and figure out how to deal with whatever happens. My system for doing that isn't working so well anymore and my outlook is getting really cynical. I don't like that. I found myself going back to what my Mommy, I'm sorry, my mother seemed to think, that is that the best answers to the important things are in the Bible.” Patty paused and took a deep breath. “I only know a tiny bit of stuff from the Bible that my Mom taught me as a little girl, and what I am seeing now wasn't covered in what I learned as a little girl. I don't know how the Bible is going to help with what I see coming, but I don't know if anything else is really going to help with that, either. I'm sorry. I appreciate your caring enough to check back with me, but I don't guess there is anything you can do to help. I do appreciate your caring enough to … I already said that. Didn't I?” Joann could see the strain on Patty's face. She reached over and put her hand on top of Patty's. “Patricia, I want you to listen to me,” she said in a gentle but firm voice. “I believe the Bible can help you better understand much of what is going on today, and you are right that you only know a tiny bit of all there is in that book. It is full of warnings, but it is also full of promises that give hope. It is full of stories about people who faced impossible discouragement, and about people who found where real strength and courage comes from. I can't teach you everything that is in that book in just an hour, but if you are coming to our place next week like you said I can help you start to find trustworthy hope in what the Bible has to say to us. The Bible tells us about what is happening right now, and about things that are about to happen. More than that, it gives us reasons to hope for something wonderful and beautiful that will soon make us forget all the bad stuff that will no longer be a problem here on the earth.” Joan continued. “I'm not going to teach you lessons about what the Bible says and what the Bible 'really means'. I'm just going to help you as you discover that for yourself. What ever you find there, you won't be alone. Do you think you might want to do that?” Joann stopped and waited patiently. Patty looked at Joann and then at Jenny. “Is that what you believe too, Jenny?” “Patty I am going to be straight with you.” Jenny was more relaxed with her in this setting than she had been a few days ago in the store. “I am beginning to see what Joann is talking about. Honestly I want to do this with you for some of the same reasons you mentioned. A few months ago I was in a similar place to what you just described, and then I started seeing even more troubling things happening, but there was a difference. Through my husband's Dad, Pete, I started seeing that those troubling things had been foreseen a very, very long time ago. And it wasn't just that he said it had been foreseen. He actually showed us where it was written in the Bible. Then my son, Carl, well for him it came together as a logical … I don't know, for him it became like a logical epiphany or something that the most reasonable conclusion, no matter how you argue it, is that the Bible is the most reasonable and reliable source to go to for understanding the real truth. He really believes that, and little by little I am beginning to see evidence to back that up. Joann, Pete, and now Carl and Colleen are already convinced, and I think the rest of us are beginning to see that too. Besides my concern for you and what I heard from you the other day, I also want to study with you, because I want to learn more for myself about what Joann and Pete and Carl are telling us.” Patty was thinking quietly for a minute. “So, are you telling me you all came here, to set up a religious commune? I'm not meaning that the way it sounds. Let me reel that back in. I'm just trying to fit the pieces together and that popped out before I could process it. Look, I know that you are all new to the forest environment. You are smart and you learn fast but your knowlege of the forest is all new knowledge to you. None of you are from around here originally, except that Gerry fellow. He's a native, but the rest of you aren't. I'm not sure about Joann, but the rest of you, except Gerry, are probably city folks that fled from the city life all of a sudden because you are all here and don't even have a house built yet. Now you suddenly want a bunch of fencing done in a secret part of the forest, before you even have a house to live in. You've got some money, obviously, but you deal only in cash, actual cash, and those two don't usually go together. There are too many incongruities or anomalies here, and I haven't even named all of them yet.” She paused again. “There's a part of my brain that is questioning and raising caution flags about all of these different disconnects, but at the same time there is a peaceful, strong part that is telling me to trust this and go with it... I'm going to go with the quiet strength rather than the anxious chaos.” At the other end of the diner there were two tables close together with Gerry, Carl and Colleen at one and Pete, Rob, Bruce, and Linda at the other. Colleen was talking to Gerry trying to explain her concerns about him dealing with the pump repair alone. “Gerry, it has nothing to do with your being competent to fix the pump. We all know you put that entire cattle farm operation together by your self piece by piece in a place no one else thought was possible. We get that, and we all admire you for it. But, that is not what I'm concerned about. I'm concerned about two things. One is that you are taking an unnecessary risk trying to work by yourself. Sure you have had no choice in that for the last ten years, and nothing really bad has happened. But like Solomon said, time and unexpected events can overtake any of us. You need to stop thinking like you are all alone in this world, and like it doesn't matter if something bad happens to you. It matters to us; all of us. Remember we are 'all in' with you. The second thing is that if you discover it is more than simply the pump that failed, you are going to need someone with you to make sure you remember to thump your ear with adequate vigor, because I can guarantee thet you will forget to do that if you are by yourself.” Colleen was struggling hard to keep a straight face after delivering that last comment. Meanwhile at the other table the older adults were discussing the change of plans regarding Patty. “I'll admit,” replied Bruce, “that none of that recruiting process went the way we had planned.” “But it did turn out okay, don't you agree? It turned out that we stayed with the principles we had discussed. It was just some of the details that we adjusted.” Rob seemed to be defending the changes that everyone had already agreed to make. Linda, being her usual self was savoring the irony of things turning out okay in spite of their planning. “I have no problem with how it turned out." She appeared almost amused. "As a matter of fact I think it turned out better than if we really had discussed the principles before hand like Rob thinks we did. Seriously, Rob, think about it. The the fact that we found more than enough workers who we feel like we can trust was more like a gift to us rather than the result of our carefully planningfor how to assure the results we wanted. When we are honest about it, it was compassion, not good planning, that helped us see that we really needed to pony up for more workers longer to get a shelter for all of us in place before the weather changes radically.” “Hmph.” Pete let out a short chuckle. “It's almost like someone smarter than we are was looking out for us and nudging things to a better path, doesn't it?” He was not trying very hard to hide his grin. Linda looked at Pete, then over to Jenny, Joann and Patty. “Yeah, it almost does. Who would have thought...?” She spoke in a voice like her mind was far away at the moment. When lunch was done, Patty took her leave and promised to see everyone just before 6 o'clock on Monday morning. The crew went together over to the big box store to pick up the groceries. They had decided to get a large but simple refrigerator along with a chest freezer at the home improvement store earlier in the day. It took some talking to get the staff there to show them a simple refrigerator with out an ice maker, multiple doors and drawers within doors and drawers, or especially without a dispenser with electronic display on the outside. What they got was one which was still crated back in the storage area and not on display. It had apparently been there for some time, unsold. Before it was loaded in the back of the truck they had completely removed all of the packaging it had been packed into for shipping. They had done the same for the chest freezer. When they picked up their grocery order they put all the refrigerated or frozen groceries inside their new appliances. Then they drove to a gas station and filled the tank on their new generator along with the tanks on their trucks. With everything strapped down, it was a simple thing to start up the generator and plug in the refrigerator and chest freezer to start cooling them down for the ride home. Instead of heading to the mountain, however, they all headed to Gerry's farm. While eating lunch, Colleen and Carl had convinced Gerry that even apart from concerns for his safety, they could not keep in touch with him by radio, as everyone had agreed to do, if he was working on the well pump while they needed someone operating his base station radio while the rest of the clan traveled back to the mountain. It was finally decided that they would all stay another night at the farm, then get an early start on Sunday morning to head for the meeting at the Congregation Meeting Hall in Bear Creek. One of the trucks could divert, and still keep in contact with the others, to pick up Brother Issac to get him to the meeting as well. They all got to Gerry's farm about 4 o'clock that afternoon and that left five hours of daylight to work since it was still mid summer. The first thing Gerry did, with help from Rob and Bruce, was to pull the old pump out of the well by the cable suspending it. Once they got it out they carried it over to a deep galvanized watering trough at the edge of one of the grazing paddocks. There was a long enough hose from the pump to the reservoir, that they did not have to disconnect that, yet. The did have to disconnect the wires running to the electric control panel from the pump and reroute them over to the trough location. Once the wires were reconnected, he eased the pump with all the hoses and wiring attached down into the trough and went back to his control panel. Then he turned the pump switch on and went back to the trough. There he could see clearly that the pump was humming along pumping water out of the trough and through the hose running back to the main reservoir. He turned and ran back to the control panel and turned it off. Bruce and Rob had been with him through all of this while the others had been checking on the cattle. Gerry had his head down looking at the control panel and not speaking for a couple of minutes. He looked up finally and looked to Rob and Bruce. “The well has dropped. That's where the problem is. This drought has killed my well. We have to move the cattle. All of them. We'll have to hurry. We aren't ready for this.” Rob could see the panic rising in Gerry's eyes. “Hold on, Gerry. Let's think this through. When you pulled that pump out of the well it was soaking wet. That didn't look like a dry well to me.” Bruce thought a second and then added, “You turned off the pump completely last night didn't you, Gerry? I saw you do that, and you had to come back here to turn it on again to test it.” Gerry looked hard at Bruce and then his expression relaxed just a little. “That's right. It's been off for twenty hours now, except when I tested it for a few seconds just now.” “Okay,” said Rob. “So let's think through this. The pump had shut off because the water level had dropped too low. But it started up immediately when you had it in the trough. The pump manufacturer's engineers probably had experience with many pump models and feed back from a lot of customers in designing that safety feature. If the design simply cut off the moment the water got too low and cut back on immediately if the water level rose just enough to suck a little more out of a well, or where ever water was being pumped from, they could quickly wear out a pump with it starting and stopping every few seconds in a situation where there was barely enough water to be pumped out. There has to be a mechanism for the pump to delay starting up again once the water level drops and shuts it off or the level of water has to be high enough for it to pump a reasonable time before shutting off again. Does that make sense?” Bruce and Gerry both agreed. Now Gerry started to light up. “So yesterday evening it had shut off because the water level had dropped too low. It wouldn't come back on when I was messing with the circuits because the water had not risen back enough in that time frame for it to start up again. I left it off not knowing exactly what the problem was. Twenty hours later the water seepage into the well had time to refill the well since none was being pumped out. If we put the pump back in the well now and turn it back on, it may pump more water into the reservoir!” “That makes sense.” Bruce agreed. “But you need to put the reservoir float valve shut off back into the circuit before you turn it back on, or you may over fill the reservoir and waste some well water.” “You're right, Bruce. I was forgetting about that. Help me get this pump back over to the well, but we will wait until I get the circuits back together before we lower it into the well.” The three men managed to reverse their changes to all the pump connections and double checked everything before lowering the pump rig back into the throat of the well. Before turning the pump on, Gerry checked and saw the the reservoir water level had fallen to 65% full from 78% full the previous evening. Bruce and Rob both noticed Gerry's tension rise while he was checking the gauge. Gerry took a deep breath and turned the switch on the control panel. With the pump far down the throat of the well, they could not hear any sound from it, but the light on the control panel for the pump circuit turned on. They all three were watching for several minutes that seemed like an hour when they saw the water level gauge change from 65% to 66%. Gerry jumped and hooted at the change. They all patted each other on their back and were clearly excited. Rob, however, reminded them that they would need to check back periodically to monitor the progress. “Bruce,” Gerry said in a somber voice. “I need to find your daughter and thank her. If you two hadn't been here and I had been all alone when I tested that pump, I might have lost it back there. That is exactly what she was warning me about, but I didn't want to listen to her. Let's go see how the cattle wranglers are managing.” The rest of the clan were busy filling feed bin hoppers when Gerry, Bruce, and Rob found them. They reported to Gerry that the cattle were all doing about the same, but they were concerned about maybe needing to move them to another paddock. They also questioned which paddock because they were uncertain about how well it had recovered from its previous turn in the grazing/foraging rotation. The automated watering system was still working fine in keeping the watering troughs filled. Gerry's first response was to step over to Colleen. He ducked his head partially out of humility, but also because he was almost a foot taller than her and didn't want to seem like he was staring right over her head. “Colleen I owe you an apology. You were right and I was wrong. My vanity got in the way of me listening to your good sense, I suppose your good heart as well. You were concerned about what might happen if I ran into something unexpected and I was here alone. You were spot on the bullseye with that. I almost lost it about an hour ago when I discovered the source of the problem with the well pump. Fortunately, because of your and Carl's persistence, your Dad and Carl's Dad were with me and together, that's right, together we also managed to deal with the problem in a sensible manner. I just want you and everyone else to know that I am going to try and listen more attentively to your advice from now on.” “Now about the next paddock,” Gerry continued, “If y'all can help me we can open it up and close off the current field after we let them in here for their evening feeding. We'll have to count heads and make sure they are all accounted for and out of the current paddock. As for it not being fully recovered, we'll have to move them again ahead of schedule. That will be the pattern until we get them all moved over to the mountain. Bruce, How about you explaining to them what we are doing about the well water?” Bruce was caught a bit off balance but recovered quickly. “The problem is not in the pump. It is most likely the drought. The water level in the well got too low and the pump did not have enough water to pump, so it shut itself off. Gerry, not knowing that, tried to trouble shoot the pump and ended up shutting it off until we could get back to it. Between last night and this afternoon, with no water being pumped out, the well refilled at least somewhat, with ground water. So, we have to wait and see how much water is in the well now, but it looks like the water supply is reduced but not cut off. That also probably means it is imperative that we get the cattle moved soon, unless it rains so we can keep them watered. There is another option, I thought of, but haven't discussed with anyone, but we'll just hold that one in reserve.” Pete spoke up now, “So it still looks like our plan to spend the night here and leave early in the morning to get to the Meeting Hall is still good? Gerry, you are welcome to come with us. That's up to you.” “Thank you, Pete. Let me think about that and see how things go with the pump and the well this evening. I appreciate the offer to include me.” Later that evening, after supper Gerry and Bruce went together to check on the water in the reservoir. The reservoir gauge was showing 85% full and the pump was off. Bruce put his hand on Gerry's shoulder. “Gerry now we have some numbers, and we can roughly calculate how fast the well is refilling. We can't guarantee it will keep at steady rate, but we just recaptured an extra day, plus some, of our cattle's water needs. Even if there is no more water pumped in we have enough in your reservoir right now to last about a week. We can check again Monday and see better what we are facing. Like I mentioned to the others, I have another trick in my hip pocket if we need it, so don't start worrying about it. We will deal with whatever comes, together.” The cattle had already been herded into the new paddock and shooed back into the pasture away from the feeding bins. The gate from the new paddock to the feed bins had been closed. The water supply to the troughs in the previous paddock had been shut off and was now open only to the troughs in the new pasture area. Everything was in order and under control for the night. Everyone was bedding down in Gerry's house just as they had the previous night, except there was a sense of satisfaction and calm that had not been there twenty-four hours before.
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Post by feralferret on Nov 9, 2023 20:25:39 GMT -6
Pbbrown0, thank you for another wonderful chapter!
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Post by pbbrown0 on Nov 14, 2023 22:22:14 GMT -6
Post #56 Unexpected Blessings
The next morning started early with the plans being to get to the camp site on Black Bear Mountain. Then they needed to get cleaned up for Sunday Meeting. Someone needed to go get Brother Isaac and then everyone would loop around from the east end of the mountain to the town of Bear Creek on the west end in time for the meeting at the congregation's Meeting Hall. Gerry had decided early that morning to join the rest of the clan and visit their meeting, after he had seen how much the water level in his reservoir had recovered. When they briefly stopped at their camp, Pete and Joann reminded Carl and Colleen to pack a change of clothes for their baptism. Then the two of them headed through the woods to pick up Isaac before circling back to the thirty mile loop of the county road from the east end to the west end of the mountain. No one seemed to have a name for the cluster of smaller hills they were encircling to the north of their own Black Bear Mountain. Nor were they aware of who or what occupied that area. Bruce only remembered, from looking at topographical maps and such, that there were few property lines shown, no roads, no buildings or house structures, and no streams. All he had seen on those maps were occasional waves and swirls of contour lines and on satellite maps there was forest there. He had neglected to ask questions about the property owners, because the large size of the property segments seemed far too large to consider buying with their limited funds. When the clan, plus Isaac, pulled onto the Meeting Hall parking lot all together in their four large trucks, once again it seemed a fairly big deal and drew some attention. Again, a number of the Brothers and Sisters were delighted to see Issac and were eager to help him navigate his way inside. They were also making a big deal about the rest of the clan showing up again and especially that they brought yet another visitor, Gerry, with them. Brother Larkin, the Circuit Overseer, being there along with this fairly new group of families and yet another new visitor all combined to raise the energy level among the regulars in the small congregation. A few of them, mostly the elders and their wives, were also aware that plans had been made, but not announced, for a baptism following the normal meeting time and for everyone to return to the meeting hall for lunch together after the baptism. Some among the congregation were surprised that Brother Larkin was not delivering the talk this morning, since he always before had taken that responsibility. It was explained to the few that asked, that this visit was outside his normal schedule for visiting them and he was just a “visitor” to the congregation this time. Brother Franks was delivering the short talk this morning about being patient with the Creator and trusting Him to do the right thing at the right time. He showed examples from the Bible that sometimes the timing of the special help he provided to his people was not immediate when someone first asked for His intervention in a troublesome situation. He also demonstrated that the help delivered was not always in the form expected by those pleading for help. Sometimes it came in a form far better than had been requested. He had clearly spent a good deal of time preparing the talk and finding principles and examples in the Bible that gave guidance about this issue. After the talk by Brother Franks, the time remaining was taken up by a Bible study led by another of the elders. During this Bible study time everyone was invited to participate in commenting on the lesson outline they had been given well in advance. At the conclusion of the meeting, Brother Larkin made the announcement about Carl and Colleen's baptism. The congregation was going to adjourn their meeting and those who wanted to were encouraged to re-gather down at the place in Bear Creek where a slightly deeper pool had formed. This was the place this congregation had used for many years to perform baptism ceremonies. Before they adjourned Brother Larkin asked Carl and Colleen to stand. He asked them to answer a few questions in front of the congregation about their understanding of what their baptism meant and about the personal commitment they were making and demonstrating by choosing to be publicly baptized. The congregation was then dismissed and everyone made their way to the parking lot to get in their cars and trucks to head for the creek. The ceremony at the creek was simple and brief. Gerry was impressed, having never seen a ceremony like this out in nature. Of course the image he had in his mind was of the christening of a baby like he had seen depicted as part of the story lines in a few movies made in Hollywood. Afterwards at the Meeting Hall Gerry spoke to Carl and said that he would like to talk more with him about that ceremony when there weren't so many folks crowding around. Once the clan got back to their campsite Pete mentioned that Isaac had asked for Carl and Colleen to come with Pete and Joann to visit him at his home this afternoon. He wanted to speak with them privately about the changes they should be prepared for as a result of this step they had chosen to make. Isaac had not come back with them to their camp. He had chosen to spend a little more time with his old friend, Mark James, who had promised to recruit some help for returning Isaac to his home. After everyone else had settled down for a relaxed afternoon, Pete, Joann, Carl, and Colleen borrowed a truck to go visit Isaac. A few minutes later the four of them recognized George Roger's truck as they pulled up to Isaac's lodge. That was no surprise as George was always willing to help whenever anyone needed a little assistance. However when they got inside they discovered that Isaac's old friend, Brother James had come along for the difficult ride, as had The Circuit Overseer, Brother Larkin. All eight of them, the two Sisters which now included Colleen and the six Brothers which now included Carl, sat down together in Isaac's great room and began talking while they sipped on Isaac's home grown tea. “I hope you don't mind my crashing your party.” Brother Larkin nodded toward Carl and Colleen. “I know you weren't expecting me, but I had never been here before. Brother James and Brother Gambrell thought I should be aware of what they had going on here, and wanted to talk with me about it. Of course without Brother Rogers, we never would have made it out here. I am sure you know how rough that ride was, don't you?” Carl grinned. “Not to blame Brother Rogers, but you should consider your ride out a kind of initiation ritual meant to impress you with how remote this lodge is. If you will wait until we are ready to leave, I'll show you a longer, but much, much easier way to get here.” “Now that is something I could appreciate.” Brother Larkin said with mock emphasis. “Actually I am very impressed with what Isaac has here and his determination. I've learned a little about the back ground and intention for it while we were waiting for you to arrive. I need to say to all of you that this is not something officially sanctioned by the Brotherhood organization. I'm not sure anyone outside this room in the brotherhood even knows of its existence. However, the purpose for it is quite understandable and in line with the basic beliefs we share. We, that is those taking the lead within the Brotherhood organization, are not troubled by measures taken by those among our number to prepare for what is coming as long as their efforts do not conflict with our principles or harm the reputation of the Brotherhood.” Isaac nodded and grinned a little. “I was pretty sure that would be your position on this, Brother Andrew. That is why I thought it would be good for you to know about what we are doing here. I will trust that you will be discrete in choosing what to say and what not to say to others about this. Speaking of what WE are doing here, that is why I asked all of you here today. Brother Rogers, since we are also trusting your discretion about this, would you help an infirm old man by getting that maroon folio off that shelf over there and bringing it to my table?” He was pointing at a zippered binder on one of the book shelves as he made his request. “I think that all of you now understand a little about this property and how it is held or owned by a trust, called the Hallelujah Trust.” Isaac continued. “My father set that up and passed the management of it over to my wife and I, years ago. As you know, my wife died and I am getting very old, so I recently added Brother Peter Smith as a co-trustee, both as a contingency if I die any time soon, and also because the closer we get to the end of this world as we know it, my body seems to be accelerating in its loss of strength and stamina. I want you all to understand what I am doing about that. Today I want to add Pete's wife, Joann, as a trustee to bolster that contingency. However I know they have a lot on their plate already in trying to build another hose of their own, for similar reasons, not too far from here. With that in mind, and because I am honestly too old to do this at all, with or without assistance any more, I have decide to add our new young brother and sister as trustees and designate them as the full time caretakers of this facility.” Carl and Colleen were stunned and in shock. “Brother Isaac, How can you do that? This is a big responsibility and it's your life's work.” Carl was incredulous. “Yes, Carl, and that is exactly why I need two trustworthy young people with energy, strength, and commitment to carry on my life's work. I know scores of people that I wouldn't trust it to, but you two I trust.” “But, Brother Isaac, Colleen and I would need to... How soon are you wanting...it would be inappropriate for the two of us to move in full time as the caretakers. We aren't married yet.” Carl was stumbling over his words a bit. “You are absolutely right about that, Carl.” Isaac said sternly. “That is a situation that we must not allow here.” Then he turned to Colleen. “Sister Cooper, please understand, how desperate I am for some relief in this long held responsibility. If you two are the official caretakers and trustees, in essence this will be your home and you will be compensated for your efforts here to the extent you need to be out of the funds of the trust. As far as anyone on the outside is concerned you two will own the land and the lodge to do with as you see fit. Carl's grandparents will own it too, in a sense, but truthfully they will be your back up unless you decide you need someone else. They will have their hands full with building their own house. I really need you two to step up and take over for me immediately. Do you think you can talk some sense into that young man and get him to step up and be your husband right away? Please?” He winked at Colleen who was grinning from ear to ear while he was talking. She had realized Isaac's intentions before Carl had. Colleen reached over and hugged Isaac around the neck. She whispered in his ear as she hugged him, “Thank you, thank you, thank you, Isaac. You're the best big brother I have ever had.” She turned and walked over to Carl. “You heard him Carl. No more excuses on your check list, now. It's time now to do what you have been saying you intend to do. You stay here with these Brothers and listen to them about your responsibilities as a caretaker and a husband. Y'all can decide who is going to conduct the ceremony. It doesn't matter to me. Joann and I have to head back to the camp and round up the wedding party. We won't be long. I love you and I'll be back as fast as I can.” She reached up to kiss him on the cheek and then waved for Joann to follow her. She was out the door in a flash, with Joann scrambling to catch up. When they could be heard driving away, Isaac turned to Carl with a smirk on his face. “That young lady is a precious treasure, young man. Don't you ever forget that for even half a minute. Fortunately I had the foresight to arrange for a marriage license earlier in the week. I had a feeling she would not want to wait until Monday. I pity her parents if they try to delay this for something unnecessary like needing to get her a wedding dress or some other such formality.” He was shaking his head. “Carl you spoke like you understand how important this is to me. I trust you and your new bride will remember that. This lodge is now going to be your home and your place of work. Hopefully you will be able to raise a family here, too. It is also going to be the base for your work of learning, teaching, preaching, preparing, and serving. After the ceremony we will get all the papers signed and you two can start your new responsibilities. Any questions?” Carl looked very concerned. “Uhm.” “Oh yes, all the documents are in that portfolio Brother Rogers pulled out. It also contains this years ledger of expenses and balance sheet. There hasn't been any revenue in the last few years. I took all the monetary assets out of the banks the week before they announced all the epidemic shut downs and such a few years ago. Ah, yes. I am going home with Brother James tonight to visit with him a while. This will be your home now. You two will be deciding who you want to invite here as guests and when. I'll be happy to continue our Bible studies together however you want to arrange for that, for as long as I am able. I would be honored, if you like, to perform the ceremony. I still have a valid registration with the state to perform weddings. If you prefer, you'll have to ask one these other Brothers about their records with the state.” “This is really happening, isn't it. This is for real.” Carl was starting to come back to the real situation and out of his state of shock. “Carl,” Brother Larkin spoke in a low tone. “This is for real, but the real happenings are yet to come. It is important that you remain focused and committed or the real happenings that are on the horizon will roll over you like a steam roller driven by a run away train. Are you hearing me?” “Yes.” Carl replied. “I know that much, even if I don't yet know all the details.” Carl was surprised to hear Brother Rogers jump in here. “The important part is to know why it is coming and to keep a focus on where, or should I say Who, your help is coming from.” Carl nodded to Brother Rogers and then turned to Isaac. “Thank you, Brother Isaac. I needed this kick right now. Thank you all for being here. We need to get some things ready for a celebration. Can y'all help with that?” Joann drove back to the camp. She insisted that Colleen had no business driving through the woods in her state of excitement, and Colleen was not ready to argue with that. When they pulled into the camp, sure enough Colleen's feet hit the ground before Joann had finished stopping. Rather than skipping, Colleen was running over to her parents. “Mom,” she said with intensity, “Carl and I are getting married.” Linda in her usual style said, “Oh, I know that, sweet girl. So you two decided to set a date? When is it going to be?” Colleen quickly saw and opportunity. She got a serious look on her face. “That depends, Mommy. We can do it thirty minutes from now. But if you don't get into gear and get this crew over to Brother Isaac's lodge really quick, we may not wait for y'all and just go ahead without you ten minutes from now.” She delivered this with a very straight face. Linda stood there staring without comprehension until Bruce interrupted. “Snap out of it Linda. I'm not letting you miss this. Get in the truck. I'll round up the troops. He stepped over and gave his daughter a hug. Then he spun and made an announcement. “Everyone, stop what you are doing. My daughter is getting married in thirty minutes at Isaac Gambrell's house. You are all invited, and I will be insulted if you decline the invitation. Everyone get ready and get your trucks lined up behind mine. This caravan leaves in fifteen minutes.” Everyone started scurrying, or at least acted like they were trying to think of what all needed to be done. Fortunately they had all been dressed already in their Sunday-Go-To-Meeting clothes and did not need to find a change of clothes. The women were talking almost frantically for a moment about what they needed to do to 'get things ready' until they realized there was no time to do that kind of preparation. They suddenly stopped and turned to look toward Colleen. Colleen was just beaming and on the verge of laughing out loud. It seemed to them, at first that she was perfectly happy and amused to see everyone else in a tizzy over getting things ready for her wedding without them seeing a need to draw her into the frenzy of planning. The truth was that she had been ready for weeks, and now she was about to burst, knowing it was finally going to happen, today. Finally the womenfolk all came to their senses and rushed over to hug her and congratulate her. Of course there were a lot of wet eyes among those four women, and the emotions surrounding her and pouring out over her at that moment were palpable enough and strong enough to disturb the weather patterns across the entire state. The men of course were busy chatting about peripheral consideration to make it easier to keep the lid pressed down on their joy. It did not take but a handful of minutes in truth for everyone to be loaded in their trucks a starting their engines. Bruce and Linda led the way with Bruce driving, and Linda holding her daughter tightly in the back seat. Linda's happy tears just would not stop flowing. All of the trucks were making the trip through the woods together this time. The thought of fuel efficiency occurred only to Gerry, but he dismissed that thought quickly telling himself 'there is a time and place for everything', and right now he was going to support these folks in their celebrating regardless of the practicalities or lack of them. The clan piled out of the four trucks at Isaac's Lodge and made their way inside. Again there were several surprised faces when they realized how many Brothers were waiting there with Carl. Introductions were made all around just in case any one had missed one of those connections at the Meeting Hall earlier. Then Isaac took over. Isaac had some of the men retrieve chairs from the various rooms adjacent to the great room and asked them to arrange all of them but three facing away from the kitchen and toward the front door. He had two chairs placed near the front of the great room facing the door and one in front of the door facing toward the rest of the chairs. He stood by that chair holding him self up with his hand on the back of that chair. Then he had Carl and Colleen sit in the two chairs just in front of him. There was little space between them and they took each other's hand. Isaac noticed, and he smiled and nodded to them. “Brothers and Sisters, friends and families,” Isaac began. “We are are gathered here because Carl and Colleen, whom we all know and love, have decided to bond themselves in marriage and commit themselves to each other for all of their life. Marriage is a solemn, yet joyous, ancient institution. This ceremony today is not going to be filled with ritual and flamboyance, but it is nonetheless extremely important to all of us here. Normally I would have stood for my part in this, but my age has placed limitations on me that cannot be dismissed easily. So I will be sitting through most of this time here with you.” Isaac took his seat and began speaking with Carl and Colleen. What he said might have been viewed as a talk or discourse. It had all the elements of a well organized and serious Bible lesson about marriage, the responsibilities of a husband, and the responsibilities of a wife. He spoke of the importance of following the guidelines from the Bible to make a marriage strong and joyful, and he actually enumerated what the Bible had to say about that, citing the passages in the Bible that addressed those. He did all of this without notes and without having to refer to a Bible to read the words that were written in it. This 'talk', however, sounded to everyone there more like a loving conversation with two dear friends sitting there with him, than it sounded like a formal talk or a study lesson from the Bible. When Isaac finished his serious chat with Carl and Colleen he stood and indicated that they should stand with him. He then stepped them through their wedding vows. When they finished that, he looked to the friends and family gathered there. “You have heard their vows and their commitment. I challenge each of you here to acknowledge their marriage vows to each other. I further challenge, those of you who are willing, to stand and pledge your commitment to supporting and encouraging them in this marriage they have chosen to create.” Everyone present rose in affirmation of that pledge (and no one in the room was able to find any more dry tissues in their pockets or purses, either.) Isaac now leaned over and in a stage whisper said. “Carl, Colleen you are now officially husband and wife. May God's blessings on you never cease.” Carl leaned over and placing his hands gently on Colleen's cheeks kissed her. Then he wrapped his arms around her, and lifted her up until her feet were off the floor. Then he turned slowing round and round hugging her and repeating softly in her ear, “I love you, Colleen, I love you. I love you, Colleen, I love you.” There wasn't any organ or piano music or any recordings playing, but there was not a single person that missed it. There was no wedding cake with super-sweet icing and decorations, but there were countless sweet thoughts and loving words shared. Everyone was giving hugs to the couple and in some instances to each other until Brother James spoke up to get everyone's attention. “I do not want to stop or put a damper on the joy in this room, but Isaac and the young husband and wife need to get their signatures on some legal documents before that is forgotten. It won't take but a minute and they will be right back.” Brother Rogers had already set up a small table in one of the side rooms along with a couple of chairs. He also had the Trust Portfolio and the Marriage License that Isaac had obtained and partially prepared in advance. They helped Isaac move to the other room, then Carl and Colleen followed. Several of the members of the clan were puzzled when Brother James in his wheel chair, Brother Larkin, and Brother Rogers also slipped into the room before the door was closed. A few minutes later Carl and Colleen emerged and joined the rest of the group. No one but Gerry noticed the Joann slipped into that same room for a minute before she and the four Brothers that had remained in that side room all came back out together. There were still a lot of happy thoughts and good wishes being passed around, along with more hugs and pats on backs. Bruce got Linda off to the side for a moment to talk privately. “Linda, maybe you ought to talk to our daughter about this. I don't know how we need to handle this longer term, but at least for tonight, do you think we could let the newlyweds have some privacy in our trailer? I'm sure I can get Rob to let us use the second bed in their trailer.” Linda suddenly looked like a deer caught in the headlights. “Oh, my! This has happened so fast, I hadn't even thought about that yet. Yes, I need to talk to Colleen. See if you can get the guys to help you ease Carl away from her for a little bit.” Soon the men and women in the room started separating. The nine men were still clustered in the great room. Linda had mentioned to the ladies that they need to talk a little about supper tonight and breakfast the next morning, so they were migrating to the kitchen to talk. Joann and Jenny had started toward the kitchen, but Linda had pulled Colleen aside. “Sweet girl,” Linda started very quietly. “I don't want to embarrass you, but we thought you and your new husband might appreciate some privacy tonight. So your father and I are going to shift to the second bed in the Smith's trailer. That way you two can have our trailer all to yourselves, at least for a while. I don't know what we can arrange beyond to night, but until we get a house built we will work with you two to make this situation as comfortable as possible.” Colleen resisted the temptation to tease her mother, at least not too much. “That's really sweet of you and Dad to think of us like that. Thank you, Mom, but Carl and I have this already worked out.” Her mother looked like she was not processing what Colleen had just said. Colleen so wanted to play this out further but she was too euphoric to keep up the act. “Carl and I are going to live here in this lodge. You remember all the papers y'all had Carl and I sign about the family trusts? Well as soon as we signed the marriage license, Isaac had us sign papers making Carl and I both caretakers and trustees of the Hallelujah Trust that owns this lodge and this whole end of the mountain, too. That's why we were able to get married so quickly. We didn't have to wait any longer for Carl's plan of having a place of our own and a way to support our new family before we could get married. This covers it so there were no more hurdles in the way, well no more that we thought we couldn't handle yet. But, thank you. That was a very caring thought you and Dad had for us.” Yet again, Linda's eyes were filled with happy tears as she hugged her daughter. The continued into the kitchen to let the ladies know and come up with plans for supper and getting breakfast ready for the incoming crew the next morning. Meanwhile the men were working on plans as well. Rob was bringing up some practical issues. “This is a really happy occasion, but we did not have any time to plan around it. We need to get ready for tomorrow and there are a lot of loose ends to clean up. We have to get ready for the workers tomorrow, which means we have to prepare breakfast for all of them before we leave early to go pick them up at 6 a.m. Carl, did I hear right that you promised to show the guests from Bear Creek an easier way back? That is going to take some time. Isn't it? This wedding came up suddenly this afternoon. Is it prying too much to ask if you and your bride have made any uhm, plans for your honeymoon that we need to know about?” Carl was careful in how he responded. “Dad, all we have to do is show them the way out of our end of the mountain. Brother Rogers and Brother James are very familiar with the roads in this area, they were just unaware of where we were located relative to Brother Isaac's lodge. As for our honeymoon, Brother Isaac made some special arrangements for Colleen and me. If the rest of you can handle getting breakfast ready without us this one time, we will be there to help with the crews by the time you get back.” “Wait, did you say Isaac made arrangements for your honeymoon?” Bruce was not comprehending what he heard. Carl got very serious for a moment. “You know, it's hard to grasp it sometimes, considering all the things you hear from philosophers and theologians about the creator of the universe and how vast the universe is. How could he give attention to two tiny individuals in this vast expanse of creation? Grandpa and Brother Isaac both have said the Creator really wants us to be happy, if we will just commit to Him and trust Him. We never dreamed making that decision would give us such a blessing like this so quick and totally unexpected.” “Please don't take this the wrong way, Carl.” Gerry was totally lost with what Carl was saying. “Can you explain in more down to earth terms, what you are talking about?” “Oh, sorry.” Carl Shook his head gently like he was clearing his mind. He glanced over toward the Brothers who had eased back a little from the conversation about plans for tonight and tomorrow. “I was just pondering a bit. This has been a day that is still making my head spin. You all knew how Colleen and I feel about each other, but you can understand why we couldn't really get married until we could afford a house for ourselves or build one, and we needed to assure that we the means to support ourselves without having to depend on our parents for basic necessities like food.” Carl paused a moment. “Totally apart from that Colleen and I decided, just like Grandpa and Joann, to make a commitment in the way we live to following the Creator's guidance in the Bible, wherever that took us. So, today we both got baptized, and suddenly all those obstacle standing in the way of our getting married were removed. We now have a house and the means to support ourselves.” Before Carl could continue, Bruce was interrupting. “Hold on. Hold on. Carl what are you talking about?” “Papa Cooper, please be patient and I will explain.” Carl was very patient and respectful in how he said that. “Isaac is getting very old and no longer feels like he can maintain the lodge and land belonging to the Hallelujah Trust. He decided to appoint Colleen and I as trustees and permanent caretakers of that trust and its properties. But, to do that we had to be members of the Brotherhood, and therefore we had to be married so we could live here together taking care of the lodge and the land. We just found this out today after we got back from our baptism. That's why Colleen and I did not need to wait even one day longer to get married. Isaac is going back with Brother James today and may stay in town for a while. He may come back here later to visit for a while or maybe longer depending on how things work out for him. This is our new home. We are still going to help the family as much as before, but Colleen and I live here, now. By the way, if the weather changes too much, with Fall coming and all, before we get Grandpa and Joann's house finished, there is room enough for all of us to shelter here in our new home until it is finished. Now do you see what I meant about unexpected blessings?”
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Post by feralferret on Nov 15, 2023 1:49:25 GMT -6
Thank you for an outstanding chapter, pbbrown0!
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Post by gipsy on Nov 15, 2023 10:11:18 GMT -6
Fun time
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Post by pbbrown0 on Nov 21, 2023 17:48:32 GMT -6
Post #57 Fencing In The Trees?
For some people it might have been a challenge preparing a hearty yet easy to manage breakfast for nearly twenty people who would be eating it while riding for over an hour in pickups on their way to work. Because most of the clan were from Texas, they were in agreement that the best choice for this challenge was several dozen breakfast burritos. They had bought all the supplies before they realized that Carl and Colleen would not be with them on their first trip to pick up the workers in Hollerton. They also had planned for everyone to be picked up in the trucks all at once so there was no need to stagger their vehicles along the route to keep a radio link to their home base radio. They had even bought insulated “coolers” to carry the fresh burritos and keep them hot until the workers got them. However, with the changed circumstances, they were rethinking their plans. All of them but the two newlyweds were talking through the plans for staggering departures and arrivals, while they were making sure everything was arranged to cook and assemble five dozen medium sized burritos very quickly before dawn. They realized that even with adding Patty's truck to the network, once they got to Hollerton, and taking Pete's truck they would still have inordinate delays in getting everyone picked up and returned to the mountain while maintaining radio contact all the way. In order to keep the burritos warm through this whole operation they put some folded towels inside the bottoms of the coolers, then they poured boiling water into the towels. Next they places some slabs of wood they had cut from fire wood on top of the wet towels. Finally they put the wrapped burritos on top of the wood slabs and closed the lids on the “coolers”. Gerry figured out a way for one person to take Pete's truck to his farm and use the base unit there, since it was closer to Hollerton and could also reach all the way to Black Bear Mountain. The biggest problem still remained getting so many people and therefore so many radio units from point A to point C and back to point A again without any of the vehicles breaking the chain. If they added in Gerry's base unit that meant one of their group would have to stay at the mountain and another would have to go to Gerry's farm and stay there while the crew members were being loaded and carried back. Also, once they picked up Patty in her truck there would be only one person from the clan in three of the trucks, each carrying a crew of three workers. One would have a blindfolded Patty in the front seat with a driver from the clan. Two trucks would have a driver from the clan with no front seat passenger. They would just have to live with that. It was decided that Pete would be the one to drive Patty's truck. Jenny, Joann, and Linda would “Man” the base stations at the Mountain and at Gerry's farm. So Bruce, Gerry, and Rob would each drive their own trucks. Joann led the way out to the county road driving Pete's truck toward Gerry's farm. Rob and Pete were next out about twenty-five minutes later in Rob's truck. And so they went stretching out their diaphanous connections along the narrow ribbons of asphalt that meandered through the forest. Jenny and Linda would periodically make a very brief radio check to assure, rather than trust, that the radio signals to be rock solid. Bruce left after Rob and Pete, and finally Gerry set out on the same identical path as the other men had taken. The morning sky was starting to show a pre-dawn light just as Joann was pulling up to Gerry's gate. He had sent the small plastic fob with her to open his gate. Joann mused about how much longer its battery would last and when they ought to buy another one so they would have a spare when the thin wafer battery began to fail. She got the gate closed again and continued on to his house. She got inside and fired up his base radio. Then she performed a radio check with the mountain base unit, followed by radio checks with the other travelers. Bruce had been the last to get labeled with a radio handle. Gerry , having stuck Linda with the label Honey Bear finally decided to call Bruce by the handle Bull Bear. He figured no one else was likely to randomly pick that name for a radio handle. He also mused about ways that handle could be played into varied references within their radio security measures. Rob and Pete arrived first in Hollerton and they met the whole crew of waiting workers including Patty. They quickly explained the change in procedures for this one morning due to a wedding. They also explained that there was a thermal “cooler” case in each truck with hot breakfast to be eaten on the way to the job site. While Rob was explaining this Pete and been busy getting a radio hooked up inside Patty's truck and connecting it to the antenna. He had asked Patty to join him for this and explained to her what Rob was telling the rest of the crew. He also mentioned that they needed to find some better antenna gear for the trucks so they had a longer reach with the radios. He told her it had been decided that he would drive her truck and to make the blindfold situation more comfortable he was going to let her tie a bandanna around her forehead. Letting the bandanna drape down in front of her face would keep her from seeing too much but not be as constricting as binding something across her eyes. Meanwhile, Rob was explaining to the workers the procedures about staggering the trucks to maintain a communication link for safety considerations in the event of a problem. He added that when a truck arrived, they would have to wait a while until the next truck arrived so none of them would be left standing and merely hoping the next truck with someone from his family would show up to take them to the work site. He said that might take a little longer, but they would all still be paid for a full day's work, in spite of the transportation issues. Rob continued by explaining that this family wanted to reassure them with this change of procedure that they could still trust that everything was going to be handled with them in a respectful and honest manner. One of the men in the group of workers stepped forward to speak. “Mister Smith, we agreed to what you said at the beginning. You'll be fair to us and we'll be fair to you. We understand the idea of playing it safe and staying in contact. We've done dangerous work in remote locations before. There is no need for part of the crew to stand idle waiting for another truck, just to prove we can trust you. We appreciate the thought, but if we can't trust you this whole process won't work for you or us. You're paying all of us for a full day of work, so we want to give you a full day if you'll let us.” Rob was feeling better about this day already, considering the worker's attitude. He told Pete and Patty what they had said and then called for the first six to come get in his truck and Patty's truck. He then got on the radio and informed Bruce that they would not be adding that extra pause at the pick up site. He used the term “pick up site” to avoided specifying Hollerton. Pete started off first with Patty in the front passenger seat and three crew members in the back. Rob waited only about fifteen minutes before leaving at a leisurely pace. Bruce and Gerry had slowed to allow Pete, driving Patty's truck, time to get closer to the base unit at Gerry's farm before Gerry in his truck got out of range from Joann who was operating the radio at the farm. Gerry eventually stopped and called out, “I am halting”, three times in a row when he noticed the signal getting weak between him and the base station. Pete, carrying Patty and three others, kept coming and so did Rob. Bruce slowed a lot to stay in contact with Gerry. When Pete got close enough to Gerry to make contact directly with Gerry, Bruce hurried forward toward the waiting crew in Hollerton. Rob slowed after passing Bruce. He would have to make sure he always maintained contact with both Bruce and Pete. Once Pete was almost to where Gerry was stopped he made contact with Joann and notified the whole chain of that hook up. That was the signal for Gerry to proceed toward Hollerton. They continued this pattern until the whole troop was heading back toward Rockston. At that point Gerry and Bruce sped up a bit to narrow the gap. Once they all passed Rockston and Gerry had made contact with Jenny at the mountain, Joann closed up Gerry's house in Rockston and headed home. By that time Pete and Patty had already arrived at the mountain, and Rob was turning off the county road to make the short drive through the forest to their campsite. As promised, Carl and Colleen were at the campsite ready to help and to greet the work crews before Pete had arrived. Linda and Jenny had talked with them briefly, but were planning to stay with the base radio unit to keep in touch with the radio checks and to monitor the progress of the caravan until the last truck arrived. Pete took charge immediately of the his crew's work when he arrived. He directed them in getting the fencing supplies, tools, and gear into place for the work of the day. Carl jumped in with the crew to help move things while Colleen joined the conversation of Jenny, Joann and Patty as they discussed what they needed to do to support the work effort once the whole crew was in place. They decided they needed to make sure everyone had water available all the time and that they could make sure they were provided a continuing supply of the lighter weight supplies like the clips for attaching the fencing to the posts. With the number of workers they had this was going to move a little faster than they had first planned. They could also help with the work of running lines, measuring, and marking where to place posts along the planned lines for the fencing. They could also move ahead to mark where to place the periodic heavy bracing and corner post bracing structures. They would break away from that kind of help to prepare lunch for everyone. They figured that if they worked efficiently they would be able to let Joann and Jenny have time to begin answering some of Patty's questions from the Bible during the afternoon. As each new truck arrived with a crew of three more workers, the newcomers were hustling to join in and find the pattern they were following so they would not be left out of the process. Gerry arrived with his truck and the last three crew members just less than an hour behind the first truck. By that time there was one corner structure in place and a growing line of fence posts stretching out in two directions from that corner. With Gerry's arrival and his previous experiences becoming evident, the new comers were directed to start new corner structures at appropriate places. During the first break time there was a discussion about how to handle going to Cambridge to pick up a trailer and the rest of the fencing supplies. Cambridge was farther than Hollerton and they would need to play leapfrog again with the trucks. Gerry had already recommended to the group that they acquire a goose-neck cattle trailer in a weight range that Bruce's truck could handle. Gerry had a small cattle trailer but it would take multiple trips back and forth to Cambridge and that was not a good solution for several reasons. Gerry also wanted to stay with the fencing crews to supervise them since he had more experience in that area than the others. Bruce agreed that he should be the one to drive his truck with the large trailer they would be towing to carry the fencing. They agreed that it would be best to use all five trucks to assure the constant radio link for this longer trip. Not all of the trucks would have to drive all the way there and back, since they extra vehicles were only needed to stretch the radio range link up. This did change the plans the ladies had made for the afternoon. They decided Bruce would take the whole route out and back. Colleen would take Pete's truck with its better gas efficiency the next longest course out and back. Linda would take the next somewhat shorter trip in Gerry's truck. Jenny could then take Rob's truck for a shorter leg out and back and Joann could take Patty with her in Patty's truck for a very short leg and back. Carl could cover the base radio for a short time while Joann was driving, and Joann would cover the base radio when she wasn't driving. This would allow Joann more time with Patty. Fortunately, they would not have to repeat this stretch-it-out-then-real-it-back-in process every day. Tomorrow would be far more efficient. Through the remainder of the morning the ladies measured and marked out a bit more of the fencing features and then prepared lunch. When everyone had finished eating, the men returned to building fences and the ladies cleaned up. When that was done they notified Bruce, who took his leave from the fencing crews to go retrieve more equipment and materials. Joann then decided to take a stroll with Patty and Jenny while Linda kept in contact with Bruce by radio. A short time later Linda dispatched Colleen. Joann, Patty, and Jenny had returned from their stroll through the woods before time for Linda to head out. They had spent most of their time up until then just getting to know each other better and also letting Patty learn a little more about the family. They also told Patty just a bit about why they ended up here. That became a spring board for Patty's questions as they sat down at the table to monitor the radio. “So let me get this straight.” Patty was focusing. “All of you were starting to question a lot of your long term assumptions because of what you had been seeing. Pete had already made up his mind about some things and headed up here to start his life over, even before he was sure what that life would look like. He got into some heavy Bible study and just happened to meet Joann, so of course they got married and then ran off to hide in the woods. Just about that same time Bruce got a hold of some scary industrial intel that waspredicting something that would become a game changer, but when Pete heard about that his response was “Well, duh. That was predicted nearly twenty centuries ago.' Bruce said 'No way!' Pete replied 'Don't take my word for it. Read it for yourself.' He did and y'all said 'We got to get in the game; the right game and right now.' So here you all are hiring a bunch of lumberjacks to install a mess of fences in the middle of the forest, but you are determined to not even let the hired workers know where they are working? Make perfect sense to me.” Joann and Jenny couldn't help but laugh out loud. Joann looked to Jenny and shook her head while laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes. “Jenny, I can see now I am going to need to be very careful in answering her questions from now on. If I leave out anything she didn't know to ask there is no telling how creative she is going to get in connecting the dots she has so far.” She turned to Patty. “Dear girl, I know you must have a lot of questions. How about we back up a bit and not get too far ahead of ourselves. Instead of me just answering your questions in an abbreviated manner, how about this. You ask a question, then we can talk about why you want an answer to that question. Then we can see if we can find together what the answer is to the question you really have. Does that make sense?” Patty pondered for a minute. She looked seriously at Jenny and Joann. “Yeah that makes sense, except...It's just that I have so many questions, and why are you two so interested in me finding answers to all these crazy questions?” Joann and Jenny both waited, and waited. “Okay, I see you are unsure about my question. My questions. I guess that makes sense. You probably sense that just because you give me an answer for one of my questions, doesn't mean I'm going to simply accept your answer and move on.” Joann looked at Patty and responded. “Patricia, I told you before that I an not going to hand you the answers to your real questions. Your questions about our family were a different matter. Those were just curiosities. When we get to your real questions, I will try to help you find answers to them rather than tell you what answers I think you should find. Now do you want to address your curiosities first, or do you want to look into your serious questions?” Patty scrunched up her face for a moment and then squeezed out, “Both? I'm sorry, but I'm not really sorry. I was picking at your family's story a minute ago because it's just a little incredible. I know there is more to it than you are telling, but it's like I somehow think it is important for me to understand it. Take my question about why are you two so interested in my finding answers to my questions. That just doesn't seem normal. So the story behind it will help me understand you and … You see what I mean.” Joann looked at Jenny and chuckled. She looked back at Patty and said, “Okay Patty for now let's just say we like you enough to want to get to know you. The problem is we can't pursue all of your questions at once. As much fun as that might be, we have a lot of other things on our plate right now. Let's play a game. Remember the old stories about the genie in the lamp who grants a person only three wishes? Well this is similar but a little different. You can ask three questions. Then we get to decide which question to help you with first. But once we deal with that question, you get to propose another question so we still have three questions to choose from. Or, you can discard one of the previous questions and add two new ones. You can also go with three totally new questions. But, we always get to choose which one to pursue with you.” Patty pondered that for a minute and then smiled. “You're on. I like games. I may have to think about the first three. I don't want to end up as the punchline in a Genie Joke.” She got a serious look on her face for a minute then relaxed. “Okay. I'm going to start with your family.” she looked all around and saw only Joann and Pete's tent plus the open shed for the kitchen they were using. “Please understand I am not trying to be a Peeping Tom. I'm just am trying to learn more about your living arrangements. Y'all had to change plans radically this morning because Carl and Colleen apparently got married yesterday on the spur of the moment. I'm sure you were respectful of their need for privacy, but you said you don't have any homes built yet and I only see one tent right next to the kitchen. So, Number One: How did y'all accommodate their need for privacy on their first honeymoon night last night?” She smirked thinking that answer would tell her a lot that might be difficult to find out without a whole series of other questions. She knew the whole clan wasn't sharing one small tent. SHe was sure ther must be a significant detail she was missing that she needed to understand the puzzle. She paused and then continued. “He's not part of your natural family and it appears to me y'all hadn't even met him until after you landed up here, but I sense a much stronger connection than just 'We trust him enough to work with him.' So, Number Two: Just how deep does that connection between your families and Gerry go? Finally, Carl and Colleen didn't suddenly decide 'Hey, wouldn't it be cool if we got married? Let's do it today and see how that goes, even though it will play havoc with everyone's plans for tomorrow.' So, Number Three: What happened that made them suddenly decide to get married specifically yesterday?” Again Patty was certain there were major gaps in her understanding of this family. Joann and Jenny now had some thinking to do about what and how to answer. Joann responded. “Hold that thought. I have to do a radio check.” She picked up the mic and pressed the key. “Wild Cat needs a radio check from Bull Bear on Channel X Wild Cat needs a radio check from Bull Bear on Channel X. Over.” then she reached over to the radio and changed the channel before listening. Soon she heard a clear reply. “This is Market Icon logging in. This is Market Icon logging in. over.” Joann did not say a thing, but clicked the mic key several times in a distinct pattern. She waited just a couple of seconds before she heard, “10-4” and nothing more. Then she switched her channel back to where it had been before and keyed the mic again before hailing, “Honey Bear, Honey Bear, Are you there? Channel Y. Channel Y.” again she switched back to the previous channel used for the Market Icon and listened. In a moment they heard, “I told you not to bother me right now. I just heard about a handsome beast and I have to track him down.” Again, Joann sent a series of clicks and then listened until she heard Linda call out “Giddy yup.“ Joann reset the channel and turned to Jenny. “You need to get ready to leave soon. Looks like I'm going to have to deal with the Riddler by myself on this one.” She winked at Jenny who stood and took her leave. She looked back to Patty who seemed fascinated with the radio interchange. Joann was amused as she could almost see more questions rising up in Patty's head. Joann was also aware that Patty had not made her way inside the clan, yet. So Joann was carefully considering her answer options. “Patricia,”Joann began. “We, that is Jenny and I, told you that we like you and want to get to know you better, but for reasons we haven't discussed we need to be cautious about how much we reveal to you, until we know you better. I am going to ask that you keep the information about our family in confidence. So I'm going to start with question number two. You are right about when we had our first contact with Gerry. It started out kind of an accidental encounter when he was offering to help us out with a problem we were facing. Our relationship with him just grew stronger with him in spite of our trying to keep our family situation hidden and private. It seemed like he kept on going beyond what we considered normal in his efforts to help us. Long story short, we finally figured out just how deeply he had gotten himself into helping us, and risking his own livelihood by doing so, without us committing to him as much he was committing to us. As it stands right now he and we are equal partners in all he owns and all we own. In addition to the practicalities of how we are operating there is a stack of paperwork that makes that legally true as well. In his words, he is all in with us and we are all in with him. I think I... we, can trust you with that information. Besides, with your perceptiveness and what you are going to see while working with us this week you will probably pretty well figure most of that out on your own anyway. I think you sense there is more to it than that, and you are right. There seems to be a bond between him and the rest of us that is hard to quantify. The emotional bond is growing to the point that he is quickly becoming more like a family member than just a business partner to us.” Patty just sat there quietly thinking about what she had just been told, and how that meshed with what she had observed. The pieces seemed real and true enough, even though she couldn't quite fathom how that could happen within the timetables she had surmised from the other things she had heard. This family did not seem to be the kind of folks who operated on random impulses, yet there were some very big life changing decisions they seemed to have been making in very shortened time frames. What was that about? That was what she needed to find out, but how should she pose the question about it? Patty got a serious look on her face and looked directly to Joann. “I guess it's time for me to come up with a new third question. I think your game about these questions is more than just a fun format. I think there was wisdom in making me think before I popped out with another question, and another question, and so on. I hope you will respect what I am saying, that I think this next question is getting closer to what I really want to know. You, your family, your cluster of families, what ever you call it, seems to recently have become driven to making radical changes in your lives that appear out of character for you. My question is …” She paused trying to formulate the question in her mind. “What is the real reason all of you are in such all fired rush to turn your lives inside out?” Joann looked at Patty with a glint in her eye and only a hint of a smile on her face. “Yes, Patricia. I believe that is what you really want to know. And that is the question you need to find an answer for if any of the other answers you are asking for are going to make sense. So here is the challenge, once again. I am not going to tell you the answer, because you would still be questioning it after I gave it to you. What I will do is help you find it for yourself. Are you willing to work with me to find that answer, or is this just a passing curiosity for you?” Patty was taken aback by the way Joann posed that question. “Of course I want know the answer. If I have to work to find it, maybe that means its worth more than a sound byte on the evening news. What do I have to do?” “The first step,” said Joann, “is to wait right here for just a minute.” Joann turned and went into her tent. She came out holding a book and a note pad and handed them to Patty. Patty looked at them and asked, “What are these?” Joann looked at her and dead panned, “The thin one is a note pad for taking notes. The thick one is a book called the Bible. It is meant for reading and guiding you in what is good and what is bad, setting things straight about what is truth and what is deception, correcting your path when you go the wrong way, and helping you to understand who the Creator really is and what He has decided is going to be. You may not agree with me yet, but I believe all the answers you are looking for are in there waiting for you to discover them. We don't have much time left before we have to get in your truck. We'll be in the truck together for a while and also parked for a while waiting to come back here. We can begin talking about your new question in just a few minutes. Let's do one more radio check. I tell you what, Patty. Why don't you go get Carl to come cover the radio while I do the radio check. Then we can head out together.” The men were working hard on the fence project and making faster progress than the clan had anticipated. Most of them barely noticed when Patty came out to them, until Carl disconnected from his crew and followed Patty back out of sight. Rob and Pete called for a break. They did not follow Patty but started offering cold water out of a large cooler to the crew. Some of the crew sat down and some just stood around relaxing for a minute. One of the crew, a large man that Rob recognized as the man who earlier had made the comment about treating each other fairly, stepped over to Rob and Pete. “Mister Pete, Mister Rob, It may be none of my business, and if I'm sticking my nose where it don't belong just say so, and I'll back away, but is something wrong? I mean is there some kind of problem?” Pete and Rob looked at each other questioningly. Pete looked back to the man and said, “I don't know of one, but what makes you ask?” The big fellow took off his hat and wiped his forehead with his sleeve. “Well, this morning the ladies were all around passing out water and even fence clips. Then they disappeared and it became clear they had to shift to making lunch for everyone. But they never came back, and they sent someone to fetch Bruce. I apologize for not remembering the name of the lady they sent. Then just now they sent Patty to fetch Carl. I just wondered if there was a problem the ladies were having or needing help elsewhere. If you two need to go help them, I can keep an eye on the crew here and keep them working. I promise you they won't be slacking off none.” Pete replied, “I'm sorry, could you tell me your name again?” “My name is Andy. Andy McKeever.” “Well, Andy, no, there is not a problem. It is just that we have a lot more fencing supplies we have already purchased, but we haven't been able to get them all here, yet. You remember this morning how we were juggling vehicles to keep everyone in radio contact for safety? That's what they are dealing with again to go pick up more fencing materials and get back without losing radio contact. That is all that is going on. We appreciate your offer to help out, but there is nothing to worry about.” “That's good, Mister Pete. Sorry to bother you, but it just seems like so much trouble is going on in the world, it just don't pay to roll on like there is nothing wrong until you make sure that's really the case.” Andy turned and returned to the other workers. They kept working on the fences for three more hours, except for one more ten minute break. Then Bruce and Carl came back. While Joann and Patty were in the truck Joann began asking Patty what she remembered about the Bible stories her mother had read to her or told to her and what lessons she remembered from those stories. She recommended that Patty make notes about those stories and find where they were located in the bible. Then she suggested making a separate list of the lessons she remembered in those stories. Of course Patty joked about making notes while riding in the truck and how she might not be able to read her own notes with the way the truck ride affected her penmanship. Then she joked about how she probably would not noticing her poor penmanship that much with the mask covering her eyes. Joann eventually got into position to maintain the radio link while waiting for Bruce to get a trailer and get it loaded. She pulled over and parked on a gravel pull out beside the country road through the forest. She was careful to make sure there were no road signs or landmarks within sight. Then Joann told Patty, “Okay smarty, take off your excuse and start your home work.” She was turned half sideways in the truck cab seat now that she was parked and was grinning at Patty. Patty slipped her bandanna off and looked around. Everywhere she looked, all she could see was multidimensional walls of trees with an asphalt strip winding its way through the deep forest. She sat there for a few minutes just soaking in the view. “Joann,” she said, I've been surrounded by forest all my life. Somehow I have never taken the time to just be still and take in the amazing wonder of it. I thought I knew a lot about it, and I know more than most people about a lot of the pieces and components of it, but just look at it. It's just beautiful and amazing, isn't it? Joann took a few moments and then replied, “Yes, Patty, it is. I studied biology in the university for years. But when I stop to look at the whole picture it is even more amazing than the wonder I find in all the facinating and awesome details. I feel the same way about the Bible. There are amazing details and lessons in it, but when I learned enough about those to see the fuller picture it became even more amazing. So you need to get started learning more about those pieces if you are going to realize how truly amazing and beautiful the whole picture can be.”
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Post by feralferret on Nov 21, 2023 18:37:44 GMT -6
Thank you, pbbrown0.
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Post by sniper69 on Nov 21, 2023 18:43:31 GMT -6
pbbrown0 - thank you, sir, for another excellent chapter to this fine story.
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Post by pbbrown0 on Nov 27, 2023 19:39:13 GMT -6
Post #58 Trouble Brewing
Bruce had discussed with the clan about getting the right kind of trailer for hauling the rest of the fencing rather than making multiple trips. With the need to move all of Gerry's cattle to Black Bear Mountain very soon they were going to need a good cattle trailer. They could not manage a giant one because Bruce's truck had a gross vehicle weight limit. The travel trailer he had bought was designed , like many on the market, to provide living space and nice features with reduced weight so the buyer did not have to buy a super truck in order to haul it. So Bruce had found a truck that would match up well in combination with a trailer that he and Linda thought would meet their needs and wants at that time. The problem was they were venturing into totally new territory to both of them. When you start looking at trailers to carry large numbers of cattle the weight considerations change very quickly. Even a twenty-four foot cattle trailer loaded properly with cattle could exceed the weight of a sizable travel trailer. Bruce's first stop was not at the wholesaler of fencing and construction materials. His first stop was at a major trailer retailer. Even with his previous experiences with travel trailer dealers in a large metropolitan area back in Texas, Bruce was impressed with the size of the inventory at this dealer. He pulled up and got out of his truck. He hadn't gone ten feet when a man came out of the office, obviously coming to greet him. Bruce had been through this so many times, he knew there were only a very few possibilities. Most likely it was going to be someone working on commission who was eager to reach a bonus point in his sales before the month was over. By his rushing out of the office before Bruce even got to where he could scan the rows of trailers, this was likely a man whose sales technique was built on guiding the customer toward those models on which he got the best point package. “Afternoon, sir.” the salesman spoke with enthusiasm and energy as he reached out to shake Bruce's hand. “My name is Steven Hacker. How can I be of assistance to you today?” Bruce looked at Steven and then slowly scanned the rows and rows of trailers. He was deliberately taking his time and trying to slow the tempo. He wanted to deal with someone who had a better bridle on his energy. “Steven?” Bruce was speaking in an exaggerated s_l_o_w Texas drawl. “I'm looking for a no-nonsense, particular type of trailer that is perfectly suited for some projects I have in mind. I am going to pay cash if I find what I'm looking for, and I'm going to walk away if I don't find what I want here. If I do find what I need, then I also expect I can get a good deal on it since the paperwork and delays created by loan arrangements and such aren't going to be factored in. Are you gittin' my drift?” Steven took a slow deep breath. “Yes, sir. I believe I am.” You could almost hear the mental brakes squealing and the transmission screaming at the sudden down shift inside his brain. “Why don't you talk to me so I can understand exactly what you are looking for.” “You see my rig there?” Bruce hooked his thumb over his shoulder without turning. “I need something that I can move cattle in from one field to another and back again in the hill country over to the west of here. I don't need fancy features to facilitate made up scenarios. I just need a simple ramp so they can step in without getting tripped. I'll need to move enough cattle that it will take multiple trips each time I move them, so a small trailer is not what I need. I need to be able to get them in, and haul them efficiently, and get them out. I may haul other materials when I'm not hauling cattle, but if it will hold the weight of the cattle, that shouldn't be a problem, should it?” Steven looked at Bruce's truck and got a tense frown on his face. “Mister... I'm sorry I did not catch your name.” “You can call me Bruce.” “Bruce, I'll be straight with you. I'm the assistant manager here so I'm not technically commissioned for sales I make, but profit sharing is a significant factor in my compensation. The owner negotiated a contract with our primary supplier that looked very profitable until things got all wonky a few years ago. The problem is the supplier is now providing us with a balance of products to sell that does not fit the demand balance in our market area. We have sold out of all our trailer stock that fits what you want. I could try to sell you a trailer that is smaller than what you probably want, but you would never accept that option. Or I could sell you something bigger than what you can handle. That means you would be towing a trailer that was less than full in order for your rig to properly handle it. That larger trailer would also cost more than you should be paying for a trailer of the right size for your rig. Believe me, I would really like to sell you a trailer, but I'm not willing to risk that. If you run with a trailer that is too large you will be constantly tempted to fill it past your weight capacity. You will keep seeing the wasted space and thinking how you could save on fuel with fewer trips. So you will start adding just a few more cattle for a trip, then a few more, because you made a trip okay with the larger loads. Then one day, after accepting the larger load as your new normal, you will hit a situation trying to stop or trying to get up a hill too fast, and your overloaded rig will fail. Hopefully you will survive that failure, but the cost of the damage to your rig and it's cargo could be devastating.” Bruce eyed Steven carefully. “Sounds to me like you have a decent grasp of your products and how they are used by your customers after they leave here. I appreciate that, but why don't we go to your office and run some numbers.” Steven looked confused. “I thought you said you were not interested in a loan arrangement.” “I'm not,” replied Bruce. “I'm talking about weights, productivity, operational parameters, product specs, those kinds of numbers.” Steven looked skeptical but agreed to go inside. He offered Bruce a seat across from him at his desk. “Okay, Bruce, what is on your mind?” Bruce put on his poker face. “This is all hypothetical. This is just you and me playing with numbers. Nothing we say for the next few minutes is repeatable or tied to me for discussing with anyone else. Are you good with that?” Steve studied Bruce for a minute then replied, “Completely confidential, IF the unlikely happened and I ever remembered anything about it.” Steve gave just a hint of a smile. Bruce nodded. “When you 'guesstimated' my trailer needs earlier, you obviously knew the rough capacity of my truck as well as the trailers you have to sell.” Steve nodded back. “Your model was fairly steady in its towing capacity, and not so impressive from about 2004 through 2014. Fortunately about 2015 they started working to improve the towing capacity. Of course, the consumer had to pay through the nose for that improvement, but I don't have to tell you that, do I? As for trailers, they are worthless without a truck that can pull them so they were designed to match up with capacity of the trucks on the market or on the road. At least that was the way they use to design them. In the last few years someone somewhere started pushing the designs, or at least the prevailing designs from a different perspective. The capacities of the smaller model trailers have been getting smaller lagging behind the capacity of the lighter or standard model trucks. At the same time the trailer models that use to be targeted for the second tier trucks were being phased out so large that only those who could afford a third tier truck or better yet a truck targeted at the professional hauler had the capacity to utilize these newer trailers. I'm sorry. I got off on a tangent of frustration there.” “Not to worry,” Bruce said even though the information was pushing some of his buttons and opening up his thinking. “We are talking hypothetically here. Back to your calculations; how were you calculating loads to meet or exceed capacities?” “That's easy,” replied Steven. “Most cattle around here whether beef or dairy run about 1200 to 1300 pounds. Add the weight of the trailer to the weight of the number of cattle it will hold.” “So, hypothetically if I were hauling cattle that weigh only two thirds of the average weight around here, could I fill up a trailer and still keep it under my weight limit?” Bruce was still keeping a poker face. Steven squinted a little and thought for a while. “Hypothetically, you would have to account for the smaller cattle being not so long or so wide so you might be squeezing a few more of these hypothetically smaller cattle into the trailer, but still … yes, you could do that.” Bruce smiled slightly. “So, hypothetically what kind of deal could you make with someone willing to pay cash for one of those cattle trailers in your inventory which you don't have enough customers in your market area for whom it would be appropriate?” Fifteen minutes later Bruce was towing a thirty foot cattle trailer out of the lot. Steve had all the paper work filled out and he had promised to get it delivered to the county tax office so the trailer could be registered and the taxes paid. Bruce had signed as a trustee of the trust set up for Gerry's properties and used Gerry's address as the place for the Steve to send the license plate and registration certificate when he received them from the state revenue office. Bruce figured that using Gerry's address in Rockston should not raise any data base flags as Gerry had been making purchases related to cattle raising and paying cash for them for several years already. He appreciated the flash of honesty from the assistant manager earlier in their conversation, so before he left he made a recommendation to Steven. “Hypothetically, if an employee noticed his manager had received a large influx of cash from sales, it might be wise for that employee to request his compensation be in cash rather than letting the bank convert all his usable assets into virtual money. I'm told that virtual money is no more than a collection of electronic pulses bouncing around for who knows how long or where before it disappears in a planned or unplanned glitch in the circuitry.” Bruce made a radio check with Colleen who passed it on down the line to Carl back on the mountain. Then he made a beeline over to the fencing supplier. He found the yard foreman and showed him the papers for the purchases that Linda had paid for on her last visit there. The yard foreman checked his records and then came back to Bruce and looked over his rig. Then he looked through the windows of Bruce's truck. He got a concerned look on his face. “This is a really big order,” he said. “When is the rest of your crew going to get here?” Bruce again was holding his poker face. “When my wife paid for this order last week, your staff loaded up the truck for her. Nothing was said to her about your discontinuing that service.” The yard foreman looked around the yard and Bruce did to. That was when Bruce noticed the only people he could see were the yard foreman and himself. The yard foreman was a decade or more older than Bruce and he had a very grim look on his face. Bruce hit the lock button on his key fob and gently put a hand on the yard foreman's shoulder, “Let's you and me go have a little chat with the general manager.” The yard foreman paused a minute and made a call to the service desk. Then he made a call to the general manager's office. It was almost ten minutes later when a floor clerk made his way to the foreman's stand by the yard gate. He gave the clerk some rudimentary instructions, then he led Bruce inside. When they got to the GM's office the administrator at the desk in front of his inner office asked them to have a seat until he got off of a phone call. About five minutes later, the GM opened his door and came out to greet them, though he did not seem too enthused about that duty. “Hello, I am Ralph Reed, General Manager of our operation here. Roy...” Ralph nodded to the Yard Foreman, “tells me you bought a large order of fencing last week and paid cash for it. Is that correct?” Roy handed Ralph a copy of the bill of sale and the yard tickets for what had been removed and was still on the premises. Bruce meanwhile had shaken Ralph's hand and spoke up. “Actually it was my wife who made the purchase while I was tending to other business. At the time she only had a pick-up truck and could not take the whole load. I came back today with a trailer so I could take delivery of the rest of the order. However, Roy seems to be short of staff to help me in getting it loaded.” Ralph was looking directly at Bruce for several seconds. “So you sent your wife here with a purchase order and she paid for the whole order in cash? Is that your normal way of handling large orders or were there special circumstances that prompted that kind of transaction?” Now Bruce was looking around at the office. It was not fancy at all. It looked like a very simple and functional office with only a handful of touches like photos of this local store and a plaque with names and surrounding photos of past employees of the year. Bruce noticed that the admin assistant was trying to stay focused on her computer screen, but the speed of her keystrokes had slowed down in the last few seconds. “Mister Reed, I don't want to take up too much of your time, but do you mind if we sit down and chat for a minute or two?” Ralph made a grand welcoming gesture toward his door. “Not at all. Come on in. You don't mind if Roy joins us, do you?” Bruce replied, “No, of course not. He may be able to verify some details of a question arises.” The three of them entered the inner office. Ralph sat down behind a modest desk, while Bruce and Roy took the two chairs opposite Ralph. As Bruce was taking his seat he scooted the chair and turned it just a bit so he could see Roy's face as well as Ralph's. Bruce started the conversation. “What actually happened was that my wife and I were running separate errands with some extended family members. We do not deal with purchase orders and cash purchases are our normal way of doing business. She came here and discussed what we needed with other members of our family and made the purchase.” Ralph appeared to be contemplating that answer. “So you sent her here with predetermined amount of cash to negotiate how much she could buy with it?” Bruce just stared at Ralph without speaking for a long time. Finally Ralph spoke up. “I am sorry, Mister Cooper,” He had quickly glanced at the paperwork before calling Bruce's last name. “I don't mean to be prying into your operating procedures. It is just that this was an unusual purchase. We have had a number of larger purchases from large farming operations, but never one this size in cash. It, uh, caused a bit of a stir.” Now Ralph was playing the waiting game. “Mister Reed, I am not sure what that has to do with there not being enough staff to load the rest of my order that I have already paid for. I'm sure you understand work schedules and frankly the delay this is causing is going to impact my work schedule and that of my employees. Time is money.” Ralph nodded his head with a serious look. “Roy, you already know that we want to keep this conversation confidential. Because of your loyalty to our company we have told you more than most of our employees and I suppose that you deserve to know the rest of the story. Mister Cooper, There are strange things going on in our economy. I suspect you already recognize some of that having already converted to a cash based operation. Can I trust you to maintain confidentiality regarding our discussion going forward?” Bruce thought a minute. “Okay, as long as you are not trying to entrap me into some kind of illegal scam. Also, I can assure you it will not go beyond the trusted members of my family. I will not hide the truth from them, but we are very, very aware of the need to keep certain information close to the vest.” Ralph stood up and led the other two out into the supply yard. “I wanted you out here for two reasons. One is to help you see the extent of the problem for us and the other, well, I think Ill just let you figure that out for yourselves. The owner of this company started it because he saw an opportunity coming with the shift that was happening in agriculture across the state. There was a major focus on super mono-culture planting and harvesting. The problem that was developing for smaller farmers was a classic one of them trying to compete with mega farms run by large corporations. They were loosing and the trend was accelerating for small farmers. Long story shortened, some of them were discovering they could graze cattle on these big grain fields, post harvesting. Then they got into the problem of all the chemicals they had used to boost their crop production, copying the methods of the big companies, were messing up the cattle. So they started grabbing small land parcels that were too small, too wooded, too hilly, or too anything else to raise a few cattle on. That way they could supplement their income and still survive with razor thin margins on the crops they raised on the majority of their land. There was the opportunity. Suddenly the market for cheap easy to install fencing was poised to take off. That's how we began this operation.” “Fast forward to this year.” Ralph took a deep breath. “The whole economy has been put through a blender in the last few years. And this is an opinion shared by me and my boss, that we will deny if you tell anyone. Too much of what happened to the economics was not just the way the glass shattered accidentally. There were scoring marks all over the place to guide which way the breaks ran as that glass shattered. Suddenly the price of steel has skyrocketed and the quality of steel available has gone to shinola in a great big hurry. I can go into all kinds of tales about what we tracked down about why this happened, but it doesn't really matter any more. The small farmers can't afford to buy enough fencing to do them any good, even if it wasn't going to rust through in two or three years. Don't get me wrong, the stuff we sold to you is old stock. We saw right away what had happened to what we were getting from our suppliers and sent the first batch back, Then we refused to buy any more unless we had it tested and certified in a private lab.” Bruce was getting impatient. “Yeah, that is bad news, but what does that have to do with loading my purchase? I need to get on the road with it.” Ralph looked a Bruce. “You are looking at a dead operation. Our market came to a dead stop with this drought. We used the cash from the sale to you to pay the last wages to most of our employees. We had to let them go, because we can't keep paying them. We have plenty of inventory but we can't sell it. We are liquidating on a cash and carry basis. It's a you pay cash and you carry it out deal. Roy and I will help you because we did not tell you before that we could not help you with it after your wife left, but it's going to take some time to get your whole order loaded.” Bruce looked at Ralph, then his eyes swept the the supply yard. His mind started thinking like the manager he use to be, considering strategies for managing the liquidation process, then he closed his eyes and shook his head. While his eyes were still closed he was wondering “How can I salvage this? What should I do now?” He opened his eyes and looked at Ralph like one of his old subordinates that was overwhelmed by a crises. “Here is what you are going to do, Ralph. You get in gear and go tell your assistant that she needs to call all the yard crew and floor crew you use to have. Ask them to come back just this once to help with a loading job. Tell them they can get some short time work right now for fifteen dollars an hour in cash, but only this afternoon. Then you are going to hustle back here and follow Roy's instructions like he is your boss for today. Roy, you are still the yard boss, so whoever shows up, you put them to work loading my trailer and do it right. Keep the load balanced and don't overload it. I have to make a call, then I will be back to help, but you will still be in charge of the loading process. Oh, one more thing. Note the time when each person shows up to help. You got this, Roy?” Roy nodded his head and checked his watch. Then he started studying the order list. Bruce made a call to Colleen about the delay for her to pass on to the rest of the clan. Bruce was frustrated and worried about the delays. He was also thinking about how this would disrupt their timing for this evening and how it meant the workers might be getting home later than planned to their families. He caught himself pausing to ask the creator for a little help with all that was going on, and his concerns about all that still might go wrong, before this day was over. He took a deep breath and headed back to where Roy was planning. As he walked he began to feel a calm confidence that “this was going to work out.” Five minutes after he left for his office, Ralph was back in the yard asking Roy what was needed first. Roy marked the time on his sheet and then marked the time for Bruce who was also stepping up to meet them. Five minutes later the first pickup pulled into the parking lot just outside the supply yard gate. Before the occupant got through the gate two more vehicles were entering the parking lot from the road. All together 16 people showed up including Ralph and Roy. The materials were all loaded within an hour of Ralph, Bruce, and Roy starting. Bruce handed Ralph three hundred dollars and said in front of everyone. “I just bought three hundred dollars of additional fencing material at your deeply discounted liquidation pricing. Now pay your workers what they were promised. Count them all as having arrived at the same time. It was clear that they all came just as soon as they got the message. I'll be back for the rest of my purchases as soon as I can arrange it.” Bruce then got in his truck and pulled away. When he got on the road, Bruce checked his watch. He was only about a half hour behind what he had previously planned for leaving Cambridge. He thought surely it had been delayed much more than that, but the digital clock on his dashboard had the same time as his watch. He called Colleen and updated her on the time delay in his departure, and she passed the word back toward Black Bear Mountain. He was tempted, just as Steven Hacker had warned him, to push his speed a little here and there to make up the time. Instead he found himself relaxing and telling himself, “It's only thirty minutes. It could have been much worse. Just be grateful it is only thirty minutes. Normal traffic coming home from work back in north Texas could sometimes be delayed that much or more from a jam up where you never even saw what had caused it. This is going to work out.” As he moved along the return route to Black Bear, the stretched out radio network began collapsing back ahead of him. It was four forty-five when he pulled up near the work site with the loaded up cattle trailer. He and Carl worked together to get the trailer unhitched and the truck turned around. It was time to load up the workers. Jenny had gone to get the cash for the payroll and handed it over to Rob as he and Gerry were calling the work to a halt. Rob counted it out and handed it to each of the workers while Bruce began moving them over to the trucks to head back to Hollerton. He reminded them they would all be traveling in a convoy and arriving home at virtually the same time this evening, even though it would be about thirty minutes later than originally planned. The clan had also decide to crowd all the clan into the front seats of the trucks so they would not need to take Pete's truck over and back with it not being able to carry any of the workers home anyway. It was six-thirty when they pulled up to the parking lot in Hollerton. They realized it would be eight before they could be back on Black Bear Mountain. They decided to see if they could grab a bite at the diner on Sassafras Street. Patty overheard their discussion and asked if she could join them. They all paraded into the small diner, once again unintentionally making quite a scene. This time however they all asked to be seated in the same area. They were just getting settled when Patty spotted her father and his best friend step through the door into the diner.
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Post by CountryGuy on Nov 27, 2023 20:22:44 GMT -6
uh oh... wonder what her Dad's gonna have to say...
Another great chapter!
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Post by feralferret on Nov 27, 2023 22:25:51 GMT -6
Another wonderful chapter. Thanks!
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Post by pbbrown0 on Dec 1, 2023 18:06:32 GMT -6
Post #59 What's Next
Patty suddenly got up and asked Colleen and Carl to switch seats with Linda and Bruce. She also asked if she could switch seats, with Gerry. There were some surprised looks, but her tone of voice was enough to prompt them to switch around without complaint. Now Patty and the three who had come to her father's store just under a week ago had their backs to the rest of the diner. Bruce, Linda, and Gerry were noticing the body language of Patty and scanned the dining area to see what or who she was hiding from. Two waitresses approached and introduced themselves. They explained that with this being a large group sitting together the two waitresses decided to share the responsibility of serving them and would split any gratuity later on.
While the waitresses were taking orders Bruce, Linda, and Gerry noticed that a third waitress taking the orders from the only other customers in the diner, two men sitting in a booth near the register by the front door of the diner. They had apparently entered the diner just a few moments after the clan had. The clan, plus Patty, were sitting at four small tables that had been pulled together two by two for the ten of them with just enough room for someone to squeeze through the gap in the middle of the arrangement. There were several conversations going at once among the clan since they were not wanting to speak too loudly as would be required to be heard across the tables from end to end. Patty was mostly listening attentively and not joining the conversation unless someone directly addressed her.
Bruce was trying to fill the group in on what had happened and what he had heard on his venture to the big town of Cambridge. There was concern that the large trailer dealer was in financial trouble and that the larger fencing equipment retailer was essentially having to shut down. Gerry noticed that Patty, directly across from him, seemed particularly stressed by that news. Some in their group were talking about the progress that had been made and what was coming next. Gerry passed the request around that the group swing by his place to check on the cattle before they all headed back to their home. He caught himself a couple of times stopping to word his request carefully, remembering that Patty was just across the small table from him and was not in their group. Patty was trying to listen to others and still not be eaves dropping, but that was hard because Gerry's verbal pauses were noticeable. It also caught her attention when Gerry slipped up and used the word “cattle”. She had seen the large cattle trailer that Bruce brought back rather than a more generic utility trailer. She also had paid attention to the type of fencing and fence gates that were being installed. Some of the particulars of that fencing were puzzling though. It was neither the typical fencing for goats nor for large cattle, so she hadn't been certain about her assessment until Gerry slipped with the word “cattle”.
At one point Patty tried to relieve some of the discomfort she was feeling and Gerry's obvious efforts to be obtuse. “Gerry, Jenny, all of you.” She spoke softly so as to be heard only by those next to her. “I apologize for inserting myself into the middle of the group this evening. I just wasn't thinking about y'all making plans together and having to be so careful about what you say with me being present. I was being selfish. I just enjoy being with you. Believe me, I fully understand the need to be careful what you say around others after the past couple of years. There are so many people who are uncertain about what is going to happen next that might affect their ability to even provide the necessities for their own families. If it helps any, I promise you that anything I learn about your group and what you are doing will not be repeated to anyone.” She ducked her head even more and said almost under her breath, “Not even my father.”
There was a dip in the sound level of the conversations as those around Patty had gotten quiet to hear her speaking so softly. Just then the two servers showed up with plates full of food and started distributing them to the clan. The conversation picked up again with the food there adding the sensory stimulation to their brains.
Gerry paused to tuck some food into his cheek before quietly addressing Patty. “Patty is your father one of those two men who came in after us? You don't have to answer if you don't want to.” Gerry waited as he chewed his food and avoided looking directly at Patty.
Patty froze for a minute before answering softly, “Yes. He is with his best friend. Daddy doesn't know I'm still in town. I told him I needed to get away for a few days to clear my head. He probably assumed I went to visit a college friend or something. I don't want to draw attention to my still being here, especially having dinner with Jenny, Carl, and Pete. We had a … an intense conversation about the customers who walked out on a deal and why they did that.” Her eyes cut over to Jenny and then back.
“He doesn't know about you helping us find workers.” Gerry was making more of an observation than asking a question. Gerry was quiet as he was rolling things over in his head. “Patty, I don't know you, and you don't know me. You do seem to be a nice person. I'm sorry you are having trouble with your father right now. I do not know enough about you and your father to give you advice about what to do. Even if I did what you do is your business, not mine. I want to share something with you as a friend, that you of course do not know well yet. You can take what I say and decide it is not relevant, then set it aside. Or you can decide to consider it to see if there is anything in it that might help you.”
Patty was still avoiding eye contact with Gerry, but he went on. “My mom died when I was young, and my Pa never got over it. He and I were mostly disconnected except for living in the same house. I took care of myself mostly, and took care of him some. Two things I regret when I look back on that. I did not try to reconnect with him after Ma died, and there were times when I was not honest with him about what I was doing when I was taking care of my own stuff. I hope things get better between you and your Daddy.”
The information about the fencing supplier's financial woes and the change in the quality and cost of the fencing was working its way down the tables to Pete. He shook his head slowly back and forth. He remembered having been warned about some of that earlier in the summer, but it had slipped his mind with all the things that had been happening. Then he remembered Patty's explanation of the number of workers looking for jobs here in Rockston and the trouble her father had faced when the epidemic hit. He finished his plate and passed the word that they needed to get on the road to Gerry's place. He was feeling that urgency again.
Patty had heard most of the information being passed around the table, and when Pete mentioned again heading to Gerry's place. She stood up and told the group she would be waiting for them with their crew in the morning. They were all getting up and heading toward the cash register to pay the bill. Patty was in the middle of them until they got to her Dad and his friend.
Jim Decker was facing the front door when Patty startled him by sitting right down beside him and giving him a hug. Jim was so startled he paid no attention to the sudden crowd at the register. He looked at his daughter with his mouth hanging open. “What are you doing here Patty-Cake? I thought you were getting away to clear your head.”
She grinned at her Dad. “Well I did, and I still am, but you know how it is with inventory. As soon as you clear the old stuff out the space gets filled with new stuff. How did things go today?”
Jim faltered a moment. “It was okay. Not room for much of that new stuff, though.” He was smiling, but Patty saw through the smile to the meaning of his words. “How was your day?”
Patty had a satisfied look on her face. She quietly told him, “It was good, Daddy. Really good. Among other things I got to watch a dozen of those men we had to let go get in a full day of work. Even better was the fact that they got paid today in cash that they could take home to feed their families. And there is more work is waiting for them tomorrow, too.”
Jim was both stunned and excited. “Oh, that's good. You know I have been worried about them. Who did Sheriff Jamison find that would help them?”
Patty tightened her lips and very subtlety shook her head side to side. She also looked at her Dad's friend, Frank Rogers, and scrunched her eyebrows with another shake of her head. By this time the clan were all going out through the door of the diner. “Daddy, I told you I needed to clear my head. I'm sorry about our disagreement last week. I got a little too heated, and I want to apologize for that. We can disagree on some things without it becoming a barrier between us. You are still my Daddy and I love you, even if we don't see eye to eye on everything. I won't be in to work at the store this week, but it's not because of being mad about our disagreement.”
Jim looked at his daughter and tipped his head to the side. “Is this part of the story about the work for our people?” He spoke very quietly.
Patty tightened her lips and gestured toward the door with her head. Then she stood up with her Dad and Frank to pay their bills at the register. Once they got outside and away from the building, she relaxed a little. “Daddy, I don't trust the discretion of the people working in the diner. I don't think they are malicious. It's just that they seem to be missing that filter between their ears and their mouths.”
Frank chuckled quietly, but Jim was eager for more information. “So, tell me about this work. What kind of work did they find? Who are they working for?”
Patty hesitated a minute and Jim got a concerned look on his face. “Patty, you know where I stand. You can trust me. You know the history about me and Sheriff Jamison. I think he is totally over the line along with his brother Jessie. The Sheriff and County Judge being brothers was just begging for trouble, and we sure have it, now. They're trying to enforce a county income tax claiming the state constitution does not specifically prohibit it while it does allow the county to levy taxes is just too much to swallow. I'm not about to report our people for earning their wages on the assumption that they are trying to break some cockamamie county income tax ordinance!” Jim was getting progressively hotter as he was talking about the county politics.
“I don't think that tax is going to be a problem, Daddy.” Patty was trying to talk in a soothing voice. “Of course, I never thought there would be any trouble like a county income tax either. Anyway, I think the work site is outside the county and they are getting paid at the work site, so I don't think they can enforce the tax outside the county.”
Now Frank spoke up. “I thought you said you saw them get paid in cash. But now you are saying they got paid at the worksite which you THINK was outside the county. What's going on, darlin' girl?”
Patty was biting her lower lip before she spoke again. “You two of all people know how bad the trouble is getting around here, and it is not just in our county. People are having to be more and more careful about who they open up to. When they took us to the worksite it took over an hour to get there and they had the windows covered so we would not know where they were taking us. They told us they needed to protect their family from snooping people and had us agree to not tell anyone where it was. They put blinders on the windows, so we could not be pressured to tell even to those we think we can trust.”
“I don't like secrets between us, Patty-Cake, and I really don't like anyone around here wanting to force you to keep secrets from me. Who set this up blindfolded work thing on their property outside the county. I need to have a talk with them.” Jim was now getting agitated.
“Daddy, it was not like that. They aren't from around here and they weren't trying to put a wedge between us and our families. They made it so we didn't know where we were taken, just so we wouldn't have to choose not to tell our families. They explained it all to us beforehand and we got to choose whether we still wanted to go or not.”
“So you let strangers put you in a car blindfolded to carry you off to who knows where? I thought I taught you better than that, Patty-Cake. Who are these people? Why in the world would you trust them?”
“Daddy, they are good people. They bent over backwards to make sure the arrangements were fair. They even arranged it so that if there was any problem we could rip off the blinders and get out. When they found out there were more people wanting to work than they thought they needed, they got their heads together and took on more workers to pay and out of their own pockets. These people are even the ones who convinced me to come back and straighten things out with you because family is important to them. They care about the people working for them!” Patty was not getting agitated, but the more she said, the more passionate she got about what she was saying.
“Okay, Patty-Cake. I can see you really trust them. I was just worried about you. It's hard to know who you can trust anymore. So you say our people are going to get a second day of work? That's great. Lord knows they need it. Things are tight and getting tighter around here. I just hope they can find more work around here soon. If something doesn't change soon, I may have to shut the store down completely.” Jim had calmed down so much he was starting to sound discouraged rather than merely calm.
“Daddy, I told you these are good people. They are just a family trying to make it themselves, but when they decided to take on more workers than they had planned,” Patty paused before going further, “I heard them talking and they may keep the men working past this week to help them with more work they need to do.”
“Oh, Lord. That would be a Godsend for those families. I, for one, would like to thank them. I wish I could do something to encourage them. I'd even help them if I could, but like I said, I'm about to have to shut down the whole store. Who are these people? Do you think you could make contact with them and arrange for me to meet them?” Jim's whole demeanor had changed listening to Patty talk about what the clan was doing for others and their influencing her to reconcile with him.
Patty considered her next words carefully, not wanting to betray any confidences, and also not wanting to create another issue. “Daddy, I told you I was clearing my head, and that clearing out was making room for better things to fill it. I am planning to go with them again tomorrow at least, if not longer. I want to help them too, and I am going to learn more about them, not for reporting to you, but for me personally. I am starting to think it might be good to learn some things from them that would be good for filling in those spaces I am clearing out inside my head. I'll tell them what you said and find out if they feel safe talking with you. In the mean time, I'd like to ask you and Frank to keep this to yourselves. Out of respect for them and the help they are giving to our friends, please don't try to dig up anymore information about them or tell anyone what you know so far. Will you promise me that?”
Frank replied firmly, “Darlin' girl, that makes perfect sense to me. I can't blame them for being careful, and it seems pretty clear their intentions are decent. Don't you agree, Jim.”
Jim nodded. “This is important to you, Patty. I promise to be patient and let you carry this without interference.”
Patty let out a big sigh. “Thank you, Daddy. Thank you Jim. I need to turn in. I have to get an early start tomorrow and it will be a long day. Good night Daddy. Good night Frank.” She gave them both a hug and headed to her apartment over her Daddy's garage. Jim and Frank watched her walk away.
Frank spoke to his long time buddy. “Your daughter is turning into a fine young lady, my friend. I just hope she stays safe. She didn't say it, but I'm betting she had more than a little bit of influence on getting your people hooked up with that family needing workers, whoever they are.”
“You're right on all points, Frank. It's a really good thing what worked out for our people. Her having a part in that just fits with who she is. I'm proud of her and I hope this works out well for her. Too many things are going bad for too many people right now. I need some rest before tomorrow, too. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.”
- - - - - -
The clan made a quick stop at Gerry's farm to check on the cattle, and all was well. The water level was down but Gerry was able to run the pump a few minutes to add a little to his reservoir. He found himself wishing they had enough food supplies to spend the night there and fix breakfast to take back to Hollerton in the morning. That would allow more time to run the pump and to tend the cattle. He decided he would have to think of a way to make that possible soon, but he was committed to the clan and their plans. It was dark before they all got back to the mountain. Carl and Colleen went on to their new lodge, while everyone else bedded down in their usual places. Bruce and Linda offered their extra bed in the trailer to Gerry, who gratefully accepted their offer.
Well before sun-up everyone had gathered at the kitchen shed and were working diligently to get another breakfast together for themselves and the work crew. There was some discussion about how much separation they needed between vehicles this morning. Bruce was pointing out that the four trucks had taken the same route to Hollerton and three trucks had returned to Rockston and then to the mountain running with almost no separation the night before. He reminded them that it was risky enough for them all to arrive in the town of Hollerton and depart again as a caravan day after day. If they continued this pattern each trip they made increased the chances of it being noticed by anyone with their eyes open.
Gerry commented that with the sparse population there just weren't that many routes available between the mountain and Rockston. He also took this opportunity to share what he had been thinking about himself and perhaps others spending the night at his place and fixing breakfast, or at least some of it, for the crew from there. Carl pointed out that He could take a truck from the lodge westward through Bear creek and then on to Rockston. The trip from the Lodge was more tedious and slower until getting to Bear Creek, but the route from Bear Creek to Rockston was slightly shorter so the total time required was almost the same.
Gerry was uncertain about the reach of the antennas in each truck and did not want them to get too separated on the varied routes. Pete remembered seeing a section at the Lumber Jack Supply Store with two way radios for lumber camps and trucks that might have better antennas for their trucks.
Linda jumped in here. “The way we stretched and compressed our network yesterday could be used today. As we are traveling we can vary our speeds over most of the route to stretch our caravan out then bring it back together like an accordion so we are only close together at the start and the finish. That would help for a while at least.”
Jenny picked up the various schemes and tweaked them. “Could we trust Patty with some money to stay there to buy some better antennas at her Dad's store. Then we could pick them up tonight and test them tonight and tomorrow. That way we could split up our departure routes and return routes by tomorrow.”
There was a general agreement about the collection of plans, so at 4:30 a.m. they started out on another day of work and worker transport. Three trucks arrived on the back lot of Jim Decker's supply store within five minutes of each other. The group had realized on the way that even with only a ten minute spread from the first truck to the third truck there would be four to five miles separating each truck on the winding forest roads. In Hollerton when they spoke to Patty about staying behind, she appeared determined to not be left behind. She made a call to her Dad who was still at home and just then trying to start a pot of coffee brewing. Five minutes later she was carrying a bundle of whip antennas with truck mounts out of the loading dock door of the store. She dropped them all in the bed of her truck and hollered, “Let's go!” as she climbed into the front passenger door of her truck. By eight o'clock everyone was working to unload the fencing materials that were in the the cattle trailer Bruce had acquired the afternoon before.
They had sorted the various materials in slightly separated areas by type of material so it would be easy to retrieve whatever needed. There was also a collection of fencing tools, including a gas powered auger for working the gate posts, corner braces, and mid-run braces. With everyone working together they were becoming more adept in their coordination and the work was progressing smoothly. They all took a break just before 10 a.m. and many of them were pleased with the progress.
Gene Lassiter, one of the larger men in the crew came and sat down near Gerry and Rob during the break. “This is a smart plan you have,” he spoke quietly. “Don't worry, I promise not to speak of this anywhere outside of our work on site. I just admire your thinking through the troubles ahead.” Rob and Gerry were not responding. “Raising the beasts in a typical pasture makes them too easy to find. Rustlers would never think to look in the forest. The shade of the trees during the summer will keep them from overheating and during the winter the trees will break up the cold wind. Fresh running water too, yet small enough to barely be visible in satellite scans. The cattle will work the shaded areas during the day and only venture into the meadow after the shadows get long. Really hard to spot in satellite photos. After a good snow they will forage under the trees where the snow is not so deep rather than pawing into the deeper snow in the meadows for dead grass. A suggestion. In the meadow, especially, don't make the fences too straight. Straight lines jump out to the geeks they have studying satellite photos. Think spy in the sky and avoid regular or repeating patterns.” Gene quietly unfolded his large frame, stood up, and moseyed over to some of the other workers where he sat silently sipping his water.
Without the scramble of stretching the network up and down the roads today the women were able to work more together keeping the fencing teams supplied and refreshed. After lunch they even worked to get the new antennas installed on all five trucks. Of course they were busy talking about other subjects as they worked. By the very end of the work day they had food supplies packed in coolers with freezer packs to take to Gerry's place and to Carl and Colleen's place. Even though they were careful to not be too specific about those other locations, Patty could not miss the fact that Gerry did have a place of his own, not too close but not very far away, and that Colleen and Carl also had their own place very nearby. Patty was not ready to inquire any more about that. She did however pass along to Jenny and Joann what her father had said about meeting them and helping.
“You haven't told him who we are yet?” Joann asked.
“No.” admitted Patty. “I got into a pretty good argument with Daddy about y'all after Jenny and her crew walked out so abruptly. I took Gerry's advice and tried to mend some things last night. I'm still not sure how he will react when, or if he finds out you are the ones helping his former employees. I know it means a lot to him that they are getting some help. Things have been really stressful for the last few years and its not getting much better for a lot of people. Daddy tried to keep them on as long as he could, even though the store was loosing money. I'm getting more and more concerned all the time about how things are going to work out ... I don't mean just for him and the store. I mean for – everyone.”
“I'm not making this decision by myself, Patty.” Jenny was sounding serious in her response. “Let me talk with the others, and we will let you know.”
At the end of the day the food coolers were loaded in the three larger trucks belonging to the clan. The plan was to try to stretch the accordion just like they had this morning, only they were going to check how far up the line of their rolling network the new antennas would reach. If they could get a good read of the new range, they could better plan for alternate routes. This time Joan was driving Patty's truck at the head of the line. The idea was that once the second truck arrived, she could take her truck and go home while the rest of them caught up and then reversed directions for the accordion. The problem with that plan was that while Joann and Patty were waiting they got to talking and when the second truck came with Gerry and Pete in it, Patty was still talking, and talking.
Finally Joann told Patty they would have to continue tomorrow. That's when Patty confessed that she honestly wanted to go back with them, but she understood that was not what they had planned for. She apologized for delaying them and headed for her garage apartment. When the truck with Gerry, Pete and Joann got back on the road, they checked in with the others. A question was raised about the delay, and Joann deferred that conversation for another time.
They had learned that the new antennas had significantly extended their range with the truck units. So they were going ahead with the plan to leave in the morning from three different locations. Pete and Joann were spending the night at Gerry's place so he would need to prepare part of the breakfast by himself. Colleen and Carl were going to be at the lodge and the other four would be at the east end of the mountain.
During the drive back Pete, Joann, and Gerry began talking about Patty and her reluctance to let them leave. Gerry was very sympathetic having spent the last few weeks with the Smith-Cooper family and comparing that to his time living by himself, except for a bunch of cows, out in the middle of nowhere for the last several years. Joann also brought up the subject of Patty's conversation with her father after Gerry's advice to her.
Gerry protested. “Wait a minute. I was very clear last night that I was not offering advice to her. That's not my place and I don't know enough about their relationship to be able to do that. I was merely sharing something about my personal experience.”
Pete replied. “Yes, Gerry, we heard how you were only sharing what a big mistake it was to do what she had just confessed to doing with her father, because the mistakes you made of the same nature still haunt you today.” Pete held that for a moment before he and Joann both started snickering.
“Don't worry, Gerry.” Joann was soothing. “She was not offended. She saw the truth in what you were saying and did something about it before we could even leave the diner. The rest of that story is something we do need to discuss, however. She apparently talked with her father about how much we are helping those workers who use to work for her father. It seems that their welfare was really weighing on him and he is very grateful for what we are doing. Of course from our perspective they are helping to get us out of a couple of jams right now. Anyway he wants to meet us and see if there is anything he can do to help. The only concern is that Patty and her father got into a heated argument about us after Jenny jumped up and walked out on him. Patty doesn't know how he is going to react if he learns that these new unknown benefactors for his people turn out to be the enemy.”
“I think Patty is the one who is over reacting.” Gerry responded “Why would he think we are the enemy? All we, all Jenny did was pick up his written offer, thank him, and leave with her team. She didn't insult him, berate him, or imply anything negative. I think Patty is too afraid of her father and his reactions. He clearly has some loyalty and caring for his former employees. He had to make a decision about his business that was hard to make, and now he seems relieved that help is coming from an unknown quarter.”
“This is coming from someone who protested that he did not know either of them enough to understand their particular situation?” Joann queried.
Gerry wanted to roll his eyes, but he figured that might be a bad idea for at least the next fifty miles. “Speaking of understanding, I don't want to pry into your studying with Patty, but is there a chance I could talk with either of you once in a while about some questions I have?”
Pete glanced at Joann. “Are you saying you are interested in doing some Bible study, Gerry?”
“Wow. That sounds so heavy when you say it like that. I don't want to dig into all the prophesies and what they mean and all of that. I'm not saying I don't care about them; it's just that I figure I'll find out more about them as they actually come about. I just...well, it's like your grandson, Carl, was talking about. If you want to know the truth about living and what is going to really work, what better place to go than to the one who designed and created all of us. I don't want to be stumbling and tripping going down the wrong path if there is a place where I can find a better map. Does that make sense to y'all?”
“Yes, Gerry, it makes perfect sense to us.”
- - - - -
Rob and Jenny were dropping off their crew, and Colleen was in the front seat with them. Colleen asked a favor. “Jenny, I know we had to arrange our seating this way to get us all into the four trucks, but can we wait for my parents and Carl to get here then switch around before going back. I wasn't trying to eavesdrop but I did overhear Patty talking about her father's request. I'm not sure my Mom was where she could hear it. I thought you could talk with Rob about it, and I could talk with Carl and my parents. We will be split up again in the morning getting ready and won't be able to talk about it easily then.”
“Oh, you're right Colleen.” Jenny gasped. “I had it stuck in my mind that we would all be together getting breakfast ready in the morning. I was thinking that would be a time we could all talk together. I tell you what. Why don't you and Carl take our truck back to Isaac's... I mean your lodge. We can ride back with Bruce and Linda. You can talk with Carl and I can fill everyone else in. I'm guessing Joann has talked with Pete and Gerry about it. We need to confirm that in our next radio check.”
“You know that means you and Rob will be riding in the back seat with the blinders, don't you?” Colleen thought it might be good to remind Jenny of what was going on right now. She was not sure why Jenny seemed like her mind was not quite fully engaged. There had to be something on her mind that was distracting her.
“Don't worry, Colleen. Rob and I can handle a lot of things as long as we're together.”
Jenny decided that with the second minor change in their driving schedule it would be best to do a radio check a little sooner than planned. She managed to communicate the plan without making it too obvious to an outsider. She talked about taking a moment to shuffle the cards more deliberately so each pair got dealt to the proper receptacle. She also indicated that they needed to consider the new ante offered by the local casino operator. There were some pauses as the occupants of the various trucks decoded those messages and sent back their confirmations that the message was received. Bruce, Linda, and Jeff heard that last message, as well as Joann's reply, but indicated the message was garbled. Jenny then replied to them that they should not be paying attention to messages between unknown radio operators that are outside of their known effective range.
Bruce pulled up about ten minutes later and Carl jumped out. Jenny and Rob also jumped out of their truck and headed toward Bruce and Linda's truck. Carl climbed into his Dad's truck like Colleen was signaling for him to do. The three workers in the back of Bruce's truck climbed out and began to disperse after assurances they would be back first thing in the morning. Carl carefully swung his truck around so his drivers door was beside Bruce, before lowering his window. “Are we all good?” he asked, and Bruce gave him a thumbs up sign. Carl pulled out of the parking lot and headed for Bear Creek. He wanted to get to the lodge before dark. It would be challenging enough to make his way along that rough road up the west end of the mountain with the lengthening shadows in the forest. He and Colleen, like Joann and Pete, also wanted to check on their chickens before they ate and got ready for bed.
Once they were on the road, both Colleen and Jenny laid out the question of Jim Decker wanting to meet them and help if he could. Colleen and Carl both were all for it, thinking there was little to loose, beyond an opportunity that had not gained any substance yet, if it went badly. Their parents in the other truck were more cautious in their assessments. Bruce voiced the possibility of Jim trying to alert someone about suspicious or secretive activities going on, if he took offense about how Jenny had exited and about his daughter joining forces with the clan following that incident. They talked about that for a while and decided that his apparent relief over the help his former employees were getting plus the past trouble with the sheriff greatly reduced the likelihood of that happening.
Then they discussed the possibility of Jim just being angry about his daughter getting involved with the clan, and it causing trouble between Patty and her Dad. Rob pointed out that Patty was clearly willing to take that risk, and if her Dad acted out too much he would reap the rewards of his own choices, namely risking the alienation of his own daughter. This is where Jenny's real concerns surfaced.
“I would hate to be the cause of a rift between Patty and her father. I'm worried that I made a mistake in how I handled that discount offer from him. I have no way of knowing for sure what was behind him placing the discount where he did. I just assumed he was being greedy in offering a token discount.” Linda and Bruce could not see Jenny holding her head in her hands behind the foam board partition, but it was clear from her voice that she was regretting her response to that offer.
Linda twisted in her seat to project her voice through the partition. “Jenny, you need to stop listening to that accusing voice in your head. Accusations are almost always lopsided, and therefore wrong. Yeah, yeah, I know we need to examine our own actions and responsibilities. We can't give ourselves license to do whatever feels good at the moment and automatically call it good, but we also have to be balanced in our critique of our own actions. None of us are perfect. Okay, so you were affected by some degree of greed because you wanted the best deal you could get. Duh! So was he! You wanted a good deal, but you weren't looking for a seventy-five percent discount! Why? Because you knew that would not be fair to him. But how were you to know what would be a fair price to him? You couldn't know until he made it clear in the negotiating process that an “X” percent discount was more than he could give. That is why we negotiate instead of rolling over to be walked on by greedy salesmen. That's why we shop different merchants for better prices. Are some people going to abuse that process? Of course they are, but you were not intending to do that. That is why you got up with his offer and walked out. You didn't want to get into a brow beating contest of misleading and deception. You were giving him a chance to reconsider before coming back to him. I know you, Jenny. All this self doubt after that incident is evidence that you want to do the right things, but you have heard too much garbage that makes you feel guilty, even when you are trying to protect what has been entrusted to you from being commandeered by others who are overly greedy!” Linda's voice suddenly softened. “Jenny, there are plenty of people who should feel guilty about their greediness, but in this case it shouldn't apply to you.”
The truck inside was silent except for the sound of the tires on the road for what seemed like several minutes. Then Bruce spoke up. “Linda, If I didn't need my hands on the steering wheel right now I would be applauding you as hard as my hands could manage. That was awesome! Well said, Linda Cooper. Well said!”
Rob joined in. “Jenny, My good buddy and your best friend up front are right about this. If Jim Decker does the right thing this will turn out well, for him. If he makes bad choices it will bite him where it really hurts. As for Patty, you saw some things in her very early on that you liked and wanted to support. We are with you in that. Jim may mess this up and hurt her, or he may make her very proud, but either way we will still support her. She is trying to mend things with him, so we need to go ahead and let her set this up.”
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Post by sniper69 on Dec 1, 2023 19:07:00 GMT -6
pbbrown0 - - thanks for another excellent chapter.
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