|
Post by feralferret on Feb 1, 2024 22:17:45 GMT -6
"On the third day she found a return note from Sean saying……"
Inquiring minds want to know.
Eyeseetwo, thank you.
|
|
|
Post by eyeseetwo on Feb 1, 2024 22:18:48 GMT -6
Hey there PC, have you seen Kermit? We are doing well. I will be here to unlock the gate in three days. We would like to invite you to stay the night and we chat a bit. Bring Thelma and Kermit. ✌️ Peace Sean and Libby
“Okay, I had a bit more to do before our visit.” thought Patty.
The daily jaunt to the gate was building up both Thelma and Patty’s stamina. Using the long lead, wearing her 1911 in a chest holder, small bug out pack, sturdy boots, straw hat, Bear spray on her hip and walking staff and subdued clothing she blended into the landscape.
The daily excursion took three hours round trip walking. They did the walk very early in the morning due to it now being early summer. And the afternoon temperatures far to hot for her and Thelma.
The first day she set up piles for Sean and Libby to sort through. The second day she finished gleaning the orchard and garden for the couple and set the bounty aside under the trees along with gardening equipment, rolled up fencing, horse tack, the horse drawn hay wagon, plow, seed drill, farrier and black smith tools. On the morning of the third day she placed the conflagration supplies for when she left or for Sean to set off.
On the third day she and Thelma hiked to the gate getting there just as the sun was rising.
An hour later Libby walked up and greeted Patty. Libby unlocked the gate and after she let Patty and Thelma through she relocked the gate. She guided them under the huge branches of a mountain Laurel tree.
“Gosh it is so good to see you upright and breathing! Where is Tom and Kermit?” Libby said.
“Both are gone on to their reward” replied Patty.
Libby seemed to melt into herself and she shed quiet plentiful tears. She stepped forward and enveloped Patty in her arms. Patty shook in her grief crying heart wrenching sobs. Thelma crowded into the women and whine pitifully.
After about thirty minutes they stopped crying and hugging and both said at the same time”Well that’s that.” They cracked up laughing and arm in arm hiked up the mountain to the hidden away homestead of Libby, Sean and their five children. The rest of the day was spent sharing the events of the past year, planning out the next fives days tgey guesstimated it would take for Libby and Sean to glean from Kermit’s homestead.
Sean and Libby agreed to get as much of the materials, tools and supplies as they could before the place was burned. They also needed time to brush and clear a solid perimeter around the homestead to direct the resulting wild land fire from their mountain towards the 299.
Sean made contact via the short wave radio to Patty’s next rest stop. It was an old widow woman named Sue whose dear husband Reggie was a battle buddy of Kermit. She had a large parcel out near the town of Chester.
Sean confirmed the back roads route for Patty. And over the next four days they got Patty, her Dodge and the trailer moved to Sean and Libby’s place. Thelma was in heaven playing with the youngest three children Miriam, Josiah and Esther. She basked in the hugs and extra scraps dropped to her during meals by the three musketeers. The two oldest children Johnny and Julie were gone serving their mandatory citizen corp duty in Sacramento.
The citizen corp was unpaid and the two teens barely had enough to eat. They were nearing the end of their eighteen month servitude. And were expected home the following week. Next up for the two was the mandatory three year military draft.
The teens were treated horribly in the citizen corp because they had been homeschooled and were from a family of the wrong faith. The only protection they had was from a couple of officers who had been from the local area. They knew the teens from the Trinity county Future Farmers of America before that organization had been banned.
The two officers had been sneaking food rations and used gear to the teens. At first glance the boots, socks, clothing and small day packs looked like pieces of trash. But the gear was made to look dirty and frayed. But was actually very sturdy. Julie’s hair was cut butch style and she “presented” as trans and took the moniker Jewelsy. Johnny presented as having autism, mumbled and bumbled along. Most officers in the citizen had the opinion that the two were backwards disadvantaged buffoons.
Because Jewelsy was seen as a female to male trans she was able to room with her brother in the misfits barracks. That saved them from being human trafficked. Their baggy clothing hid their very thin well toned muscular bodies. In the misfits barracks they figured out all of the seventy five souls there were very much like them. And none of them planned on reporting to boot camp.
|
|
|
Post by feralferret on Feb 1, 2024 22:31:03 GMT -6
Thanks, eyeseetwo.
|
|
|
Post by eyeseetwo on Feb 1, 2024 22:45:06 GMT -6
Sean and Libby asked Patty if she could make room for Johnny and Julie to catch a ride to John Day Oregon.
There was an Underground Railroad contact there which assisted folks in getting to the redoubt free states and provinces.
The plan was to claim that both Johnny and Jewelsy died from Virus X on the trip to Trinity county and cremated on the authority of the local coroner.
Sean and Libby planned to relocate and rejoin their eldest children at some point.
Sean was a contracted sheep herder with the state. Due to the location of their homestead they were allowed the right to grow food, forage grasses, sustainably harvest dead wood and grow marijuana to pay their property taxes, road and water fees and each year they ended up further in debt.
His plan was to make monthly long haul journeys to their new home to move the mountain of homestead tools lock stock and barrel.
At best guess terms it would take six trips to get everything moved. The fifth trip would have Libby and the three young ones hidden amongst the sheep being taken to their new owners up in John Day.
The three adults finally were finished with stripping the Hermit’s homestead.
The only thing left was the old cabin. They closed off the tunnel and each doorway in it with rocks and mortar after placing a cache of useful supplies in the rooms. And the graves on the bluff remained but stones marking the graves were covered and hidden from casual observation.
Trees were dropped from the front gate to the property line. The orchards cut down, the gardens plowed under.The out buildings torn down and moved or stacked into burn piles. The propane tanks remained hidden.
Sean’s large storage barn was filled to the brim. He had in the works trading or giving away materials, supplies and equipment he did not plan on taking north.
The place looked much like it did when great grandad Kermit arrived in 1899.
The next week Johnny and Julie arrived battered, broken and in need of healing.
|
|
|
Post by eyeseetwo on Feb 1, 2024 23:41:58 GMT -6
It took two weeks for the teens to heal up enough to travel with Patty and Thelma.
They refused to tell their parents what happened on the journey from Sacramento to home.
By now it was late autumn and time for them to join Patty on the journey to Chester. They knew they would have to over winter at the widow woman’s place.
Pete had made four successful trips north moving much of the equipment and sheep to the way point north of Spokane. Their final destination was somewhere in Alberta.
The week that Patty and the teens were set to leave tragedy struck. Libby and the three littles took sick with Virus X after the annual visit by the state homeschool auditor.
Sean was gone on a run north, the teens, Patty and Thelma had been on a short three day camp out in the Trinity Alps.
Patty knew something bad had happened as soon as they made it into the yard of the farmhouse.
The stench coming from the open door of the farmhouse was over powering. The teens went into a rage and were cursing the USS and the virus.
The three set up camp in the yard to await the return of Sean.
He arrived two days later.
By then the teens and Patty had moved the bodies to the spring house and Johnny and Julie built two coffins for the mortal shells of their mom and siblings. Patty helped them dig one large grave.
They opened up the farmhouse and burned the contaminated beddings, furniture and cloth items. They packed up the weee bit of household goods and began dismantling the farm.
They made huge burn piles and reworked their bug out bags and get ready to get to John Day.
At sundown Sean came tearing into the farm yard. He yelled Zoo Time.
And frantically ran into the farm house. Zoo Time was the family warning ⚠️ of incoming danger.
Sean skidded into the now barren empty kitchen and saw only his son, daughter Patty and Thelma.
He yelled “Wheres mom and the kids!” Jonny said in a quiet voice trembling with immense grief, tears spilling down his face “Da, they died of what we think is Virus X!” Johnny and Julie ran into their Da’s arms and all three sobbed their grief.
After a long bit of time the three calmed and Pete said in a serious quiet tone of voice, “Patty where are they?” She replied, “In the spring house.” Johnny said, “Da, we built coffins and dug the grave.” “Good, good thank you. Let us lay them to rest now, O.K?”
Julie’s said, “Let us git er done.” Patty had sewn shrouds around their still bodies. The now much smaller family and Patty went to the spring house and carried the bodies to the grave site and the two coffins waiting by the gapping hole. Libby and her youngest were placed in one coffin, the other two children were placed in the other coffin. The coffins were lowered into the grave, covered and Pete and Patty prayed over the grave. There would be no marker, but Johnny did note the GPS coordinates and vowed to himself one day he would return to mark the graves.
As the group walked back up to the house Sean shared why he gave the Zoo Time warning.
It seems that the free states of eastern Oregon and Washington have decided to join Idaho, Utah. Montana, Wyoming, North and South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa in strict border crossings to prevent undesirable folks front entering.
There was a short grace period for travel into the states.
But the bordering USS states were coming down hard on travel to access border checkpoints.
California, Western Oregon and Washington, Nevada, Colorado, Minnesota, Oklahoma and Illinois were arresting folks trying to cross over.
Sean outlined his plan. He wanted the teens to go with Patty. He would stay behind one week and burn both his place the Hermit’s.
Because he had travel document he would drive one last innocuous load to Spokane. There he would switch up vehicles and identification and over winter ❄️ north of Spokane.
The plan was to reunite with the teens up in Alberta next spring. He encouraged everyone to go to bed early and leave at O’Dark thirty the next morning.
Johnny, Julie and their dad bedded down by one another holding tight snuggling as they cried and prayer. Patty and Thelma snuggled as well.
Early the next morn they all woke up at about the same time. Patty said, “I had some mighty awesome dreams last night. Very trippy. I know we all are grieving but I want to say we have the blessed assurance hope to be reunited with our beloveds. I think we need to get going without eating or making any 💡 what do you all think?”
The other three looked at her astonished. Each one of them had similar dreams and nudging to get moving. The only one of their group who was not ready to get up and moving was Thelma. Patty got her up, got the little bit she needed packed and loaded, the teens quickly packed and loaded their gear into Dodge.
The group gathered together in the dark and prayed for a hedge protection for their travels, for wisdom, for being led which way to travel and to be a help for others as led by God.
After a hearty Amen, the group broke apart after numerous hugs and fist bumps and yes, all had tears flowing.
The teens Thelma and Patty loaded up. And drove off into the dark.
Sean. drove down to the Hermit’s and set the timers fir the fire bombs, drove back to his place, set the timers, loaded up one last bag and began his journey north.
About a half hour later he saw a nice bright fire raging in his rear view mirror.
|
|
|
Post by feralferret on Feb 1, 2024 23:48:50 GMT -6
Thank you for the multiple chapters.
|
|
|
Post by kiwibutterfly on Feb 2, 2024 0:05:02 GMT -6
Thanks, I am enjoying this story....
|
|
|
Post by gipsy on Feb 2, 2024 7:54:22 GMT -6
Fine tale. Thanks
|
|
|
Post by jwh123 on Feb 2, 2024 12:34:39 GMT -6
Thanks for the story. At first, a few chapters back, I had to search who Sean was and how the message in the can was arranged. Then in this recent chapter I saw the name Pete, and had to search who Pete was. It looks like the Sean changed to Pete for this most recent chapter?
|
|
|
Post by eyeseetwo on Feb 2, 2024 19:33:19 GMT -6
Yeppers I somehow used Pete instead of Sean. I went and edited the story to replace Pete with Sean. Sorry for the mix up.
|
|
|
Post by ydderf on Feb 3, 2024 5:07:49 GMT -6
thanks
|
|