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Post by mnn2300 on Jul 20, 2017 17:45:15 GMT -6
Chapter 8
Betty took charge of the children and had them help her clean up; she had Bella rinse the dishes off while Ben and Lakeisha cleared the table, then she sent them to get all the suitcases out of the squad car where they were put after the ambush, then she and the children went upstairs to get the bedrooms ready. Once the house was ready for the evening she sent the kids back out to play while she finished up in the kitchen, she’d wait to plan that evenings meal until the two men were back.
- - -
Quinn and Jeff took the Suburban into town, following the directions Betty gave them, they were only about 15 minutes away from a small town, they stopped off at the hardware store first, which of course was locked. Quinn dug around in the back of the SUV and got the tire iron out, he was able to get it in-between the double doors and pry them open. It was afternoon and there was enough light coming in the front display windows to see with. Their list for the Hardware store was pretty easy: 1 or 2 generators (the largest possible), as many heavy duty extension cords as they could get, a couple of coolers to carry back any frozen items from the store, flashlights and batteries, and a couple of box fans.
They also picked up a couple of heavy duty pry bars and 8 cans for gasoline. Quinn had previously grabbed a couple of siphon hoses for each vehicle so at their next stop, the gas station, they filled all 8 gas cans and the suburban also. They left the cans of gas at the gas station so they wouldn’t be sitting in the back of the SUV while they were in shopping.
At the grocery store Quinn tried out his new pry bar and was able to open the doors with no problem, they walked to the back to check the freezer and refrigerated items, the refrigerated section, as Betty thought was out of date and starting to smell. She told them to grab 10 – 12 cartons of eggs and a bunch of varieties of brick cheese, then they checked the freezer, most of the stuff in closed cases was still mainly frozen, apparently the store had a spare generator that kept things running for a while after the power went out. Another couple days and it all would have been lost, but they found frozen chubs of hamburger and sausage, they filled 3 of the big coolers that they had grabbed from the hardware store with those and then moved down to the frozen chicken and picked up a number of 3 and 4 pound bags of that and filled 2 more big coolers. Lastly they found a couple hams and some frozen hot dogs and butter and filled the last cooler with that. They pushed the carts with the coolers inside up to the front of the store and grabbed a couple more carts each and a bunch of boxes they found in the front of the store. Betty had asked for: flour, yeast, sugar, chocolate chips, peanut butter, jelly, spaghetti, macaroni, egg noodles, and lasagna noodles, jars of spaghetti sauce, rice, and dried beans, a couple jugs of cooking oil, and as much fresh fruit and produce as was still good that they could carry, and then whatever else caught their eyes, which turned into chips, candy and soda and beer. They were lucky that the Suburban was such a large vehicle, they had filled it so full that they didn’t have enough room for the gas cans they had left at the gas station , as it was Quinn held a couple boxes on his lap as Jeff drove. Quinn said he’d come back for the gas later.
Back at the house they unloaded the items and brought all the groceries into the kitchen. “That’s amazing!” Betty exclaimed seeing all they grabbed. She started planning out some meals as she put the stuff away.
“You want to help me with the generators?” Quinn asked Jeff. “Sure” Jeff replied. “I’d like to put the generators on the far side of the garage to cut down on the noise, then we’ll use the extension cords to get the power where we want it, I saw an extension ladder in the garage earlier, why don’t you grab that and we’ll run an extension cord into every bedroom on the 2nd floor cut a small hole in the screen and push 4 or 5 feet of the extension cord through, then take that roll of duct tape with you and put it over the hole you made to keep the bugs out, we’ll put a power strip in the end and plug in a fan and a light in each bedroom. About 45 minutes later they were all through, they made sure that if there were any connections outside they were wrapped in plastic, taped up and off the ground in case it rained.
“OK, so we just need the gas, I’ll take the squad car in and fill that up while I pick up the gas cans” Quinn told Jeff. “Do you want me to come with you?” Jeff asked. “No, you can stay here, I should only be gone about half an hour.
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Post by 9idrr on Jul 20, 2017 17:48:56 GMT -6
Confession time: I went back and reread the first part of Quinn's story. I like it again from Jeff and Becca's viewpoint. Thats OK, I did too. We still don't know how li'l Ben sees it. Feel free to give us that view. I'll take whatever we can get from this story.
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Post by pbbrown0 on Jul 20, 2017 18:24:03 GMT -6
Great story. I have a bad feeling about Quinn going back alone, however.
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Post by 9idrr on Jul 20, 2017 21:42:46 GMT -6
Great story. I have a bad feeling about Quinn going back alone, however. Oh, great, there ya go givin' him ideas. Now he'll weave this into the story and take it in another direction. How'm I supposed to guess he's goin'? Sheesh!
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Post by mnn2300 on Aug 6, 2017 12:24:15 GMT -6
Sorry guys, its been a really bad few weeks here, 2 deaths in the family within 3 weeks of each other and neither were expected. Hopefully I can get the rest of the story posted before anything else happens.
Chapter 9
After dinner, beds were assigned. Betty’s home was a 4 bedroom, even though she was much better than she was that morning Becca was still suffering the effects of her concussion, she was given a bedroom of her own, the 2 girls were given a room with 2 twin beds, and Ben would get to camp out on the floor of the room that Jeff and Quinn were to share. Quinn said he would feel better on the couch downstairs that way he could keep guard. Ben hearing this wanted to keep guard too, but Quinn told him it would be better for him to keep guard from upstairs. Betty of course had her own room. The clouds had been gathering since around dinner time and about 2 hours after sunset they let loose with a pretty good thunderstorm.
After Ben was asleep Jeff lightly knocked on Becca’s door. “Come in” He head Becca say through the door. “How are you doing?” Jeff asked her. “Better than I was, but still a bit fuzzy.” Rebecca told him, she was propped up in bed and wearing some kind of long t-shirt, blankets down around her waist as even with the rain the room was a bit warm. The lightning and thunder was getting closer. “Thank you for everything you did for me today, and through all of this crazy E2 stuff.” Rebecca told him. “I’d do anything for you, Rebecca.” Jeff told her “I know you would, Jeff.” She said leaning forward to kiss him. He returned her kiss, tentatively at first, then more confidently. “I love you Rebecca.” He said when they finally broke their kiss. “I love you too Jeff, I have for a while. I respect your stance on sex outside of marriage but where do we go from here?” she asked him. “I don’t know, I expected to finish my mission, go to BYU and get my degree and get married in the Temple to a Mormon girl. I never expected the world to end, and fall in love where there is no one to marry us.” He replied. “Do you want to marry me Jeff? What about finding a nice Mormon girl to settle down with?” she asked him. “I couldn’t imagine anyone but you Rebecca, I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you.” They kissed again, more passionately this time. “We’ll find someone to marry us, if not before then, there has to be a Bishop or someone else alive in Salt Lake who has the authority to do it.” Jeff told her. “If we don’t find anyone I’d be fine exchanging promises with you, with God as our witness.” She told him. “It may come to that, but if that’s the case let’s give it until we reach California.” He told her. “OK.” She said. “I’ll let you go to sleep now.” He told her. “Good night Jeff, I love you.” She told him. “ I love you too.” He said, opening the door and going back to his room
At breakfast the next morning Quinn announced that he was leaving. “I understand you’re going to stay here for a while until Rebecca is ok to travel, but I really need to get going, so after breakfast…….” He trailed off. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay for a while longer, get some home cooking?” Betty asked. “As much as home cooking sounds good, I really need to check on my grandparents and the farm. Even if they didn’t make it they have crops in and animals to tend. If I leave right after Breakfast, I should make it before sunset assuming the roads are clear.”
“Sure we can’t talk you into coming out to California with us?” Rebecca asked Quinn. “No, its time for me to get going home, you be safe though, if you see anything strange you drive out of your way to avoid it, you hear?” Quinn told Jeff and Rebecca. “Yeah, we learned our lesson on that one.” Becca said holding her head. “If you don’t find what you’re looking for we’ll be here for a week or two until Becca is ready to travel, you can always come on back and go with us.” Jeff said. “Look if California doesn’t work for you, I’ll be in Jackson, Minnesota, just come to town and I’ll find you within a few days.” He told them. “Yeah, even if the worst happened my parents place is still a pretty good setup, we’ll be in Tacoma Valley, California, its near to Sonoma if you need us.” Jeff said holding out his hand.
Quinn shook it, then hugged both Rebecca and Betty, followed by the two little girls, he bent over and shook hand with Ben whose eyes were starting to show signs of crying. “Buck up little soldier, we all have our assignments, you need to take care of these guys.” Quinn said pointing at the rest of them. “Yes Sir” Ben said saluting, then threw his arms around Quinn, tears running down his cheeks. Quinn’s eyes started getting cloudy too, after a minute he broke the hug, got into the squad car and started it turned and waved to the others and drove away. They stood watching his car move into the distance until it was out of sight. “I hope he finds what he is looking for. Come on kids, we have to clean up the breakfast dishes.” Betty told the kids “Then you can go out and play.” “I can help you Betty, I really am feeling better today.” Rebecca told her. “Nope, you are going to do nothing in the way of work for at least 2 more days, maybe longer, I’ll check your vitals and responses in a bit. You may talk, or do some light reading, or play some board games or cards, or if you can talk Jeff into hooking up an extension cord to the TV you can watch some DVD’s.”
Betty and the kids went into the house, Jeff and Rebecca went to the front porch to the porch swing. “Jeff, I’ve been through most of the missionary lessons at one point or another, but I’d like to go through them again with you, if you don’t mind.” Rebecca told him. “I’d love to, let me get a couple things out of my backpack.” He told her.
The next few days they fell into a routine, by the 7th day of their stay Betty declared Rebecca able to travel, Betty had talked it over with the two and decided she would travel with them to California. She had a few things she wanted to take with her. They were debating how much to bring with them, whether they just take the Suburban or get a second vehicle, or maybe switch to a van or a small bus, while the Suburban had third row seating, it would take away from cargo space. After looking at what they wanted to take: a week’s worth of food and water, a small amount of clothes for each of them, they decided they needed a bigger vehicle, but they did not want to get something too big, they still needed maneuverability and speed in case they had any problems, which let out the bus or even a motor home option. “How about something like one of the extended passenger vans?” Betty asked. “That actually sounds like a good idea, any ideas where we could get one?” Jeff asked. “Probably one of the dealerships in Topeka would have one.” she replied. “Topeka? How far is that?” Rebecca asked. “About a half hour from here, I can give you directions.” Betty said, going to a book case and getting a map book. “Do you just want to come with me and show me?” Jeff asked her. “Running around trying to find a car is not my cup of tea, even without any pushy salesmen around. I can tell you how to get to dealership row in Topeka and you and Rebecca can go and I’ll stay with the kids.” She told him.
An hour later Jeff and Rebecca were pulling up to the first dealership in the area Betty had directed them to, they drove the lot and didn’t see any large passenger vans. The next dealership they found one, an extended passenger van with 4 rows of seating.
“This looks like it’ll do.” Jeff said, looking inside the van. “Where do we get the keys?” Rebecca asked. “Probably in an office inside the dealership.” Jeff said, grabbing the pry bar out of the back seat of the Suburban.
It took them about thirty minutes to locate where the keys were kept and then since the keys just had electronic tags on them rather than writing they had to bring them all out and try them one by one.
“I keep feeling we’re being watched.” Rebecca told Jeff. “Yeah, I had that same feeling.” Jeff said starting up the new van, both were carrying handguns. “Keep an eye out while I put gas in it from the can we brought.”
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Post by 9idrr on Aug 6, 2017 13:56:10 GMT -6
Man, I'm sorry to hear about the sad events. You know we've been waitin' for this to continue this long, so take whatever you need to care for family and friends. We'll always be here. Thanks for the good chapter.
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Post by freebirde on Aug 6, 2017 14:36:16 GMT -6
Since those van are used a lot by churches and small bands, the odds are it will have a tow package installed. No unsaintly language from Jeff when he hits his shin on the trailer ball. I hope they remember to at least get the owner's manual, if not a full service kit, filters, oil, belts, hoses, and such. If they are not going to add the watcher to their group, they should pick up supplies on their way home.
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Post by mnn2300 on Aug 9, 2017 19:29:50 GMT -6
Chapter 10
An hour later they were back at Betty’s house, they had watched carefully all the way out of Topeka, never quite shaking the feeling they had been watched while they were getting the van, but there had been no sign of anyone following them.
They decided they would pack that night and leave first thing in the morning, they froze a number of plastic containers full of water to use in the coolers.
They were going up to Interstate 80 and take that all the way if they could, it would be about 1800 miles, the new van did not have a DVD player in the back like the SUV had, so they would have to bring some stuff to keep the kids busy. With no cars on the road the license plate game wouldn’t work, but they could still do the alphabet game and the animal’s game too. They also brought along some kids card games that Betty have found packed away in the attic shortly after they had arrived. Plus they could sing songs and tell stories – the kind of things parents did before the days of electronics while taking kids on long car rides.
They packed the night before, leaving only the items for the cooler and what they were wearing unpacked. Betty was up early and made a hearty breakfast for everyone.
Traveling up Interstate 29 to Interstate 80 they passed through a number of cities, but once they hit Interstate 80 into Nebraska and then Wyoming it was pretty desolate, Nebraska was mainly farm country and then they got to Wyoming and the mountains and it was still desolate but at least it was no longer flat like Nebraska was.
The Interstate was pretty much obstacle free and the first day they made it to Cheyenne Wyoming. After about 9 hours in the van the kids were anxious to get out. They spotted a Holiday Inn just as they passed the exit for it but with no one on the roads they slowed to a stop and then backed up to the exit ramp. Bella, the youngest girl yelled out “McDonalds!” pointing to the fast food restaurant she spotted. “They’re closed silly, everything is closed.” Ben said. “I want McDonalds!” Bella whined.
“Sorry, honey, Ben is right, McDonald's is closed.” Betty told the young girl. Rebecca, whose was driving at the moment pulled up to the lobby of the Holiday Inn and she and Jeff got out.
“Let us check it out first.” Jeff told Betty and the kids. Both were carrying weapons. A few minutes later they came out. “Looks O.K.” Rebecca said opening the door and letting the kids out and Betty out. Jeff held the door open as he kids rushed into the lobby, they let them run around the lobby and up and down the halls for a while to get rid of their excess energy while the adults looked around. The power of course was off, but they discovered the gas was still on for the cooking equipment in the attached restaurant/bar.
They fixed their evening meal and settled in for the night. The next day they left for Salt Lake City. Jeff was driving, having an Uncle that lived there he was somewhat familiar with the city. Driving into Salt Lake City he was struck by how desolate it was. The highways, normally filled with the afternoon rush hour traffic were eerily deserted. He drove to his Uncles house and found the doors unlocked but no one home. It was a big two story home build around the 1940's, large back yard with a Jungle Gym set that they kids found right away. Rebecca went with Jeff into the house, leaving Betty and the kids in the van. After a few minutes of knocking on the door and then finding it open, walking in and shouting for anyone, they knew there was no one living there at least, they checked all the rooms and the basement but luckily found no dead bodies either. Jeff did notice that a number of pictures usually hanging on the hallway walls were missing and also the closets were kind of bare, like someone had packed up and left, checking the garage there was no car in it either. Hopefully that meant his Uncle and family had left town. It was a big two story home build around the 1940's, large back yard with a Jungle Gym set that they kids found right away after being let out of the van.
The house, though the electricity was out, had good cross ventilation and would make a good place to spend the night. Water would be the only problem and Jeff had a solution for that. Having spent some time here with his cousins he knew that Canyon Park was just a mile or so away and it had a well with a hand pump for all the hikers to use. He had seen a number of 5 gallon pails and lids when he had checked the garage so he and Rebecca drove up to the park and filled a number of them and brought them back to the house.
* * *
Having left Salt Lake City the previous day they were now in the mountain passes between Nevada and California. The Interstate twisted and climbed through the mountains, occasionally passing the edges of valleys, some with homes in them, but normally they were climbing or descending as they twisted through the mountain passes.
Getting off of I 80 onto California Highway 12 after a couple miles they hit a part of the road that was under construction, with the right lane of the divided highway going west was torn up, the left lane was the only one open. Jeff slowed down, about two miles into the construction zone there were a couple of road graders parked on the left shoulder of the road.
“I don’t like this.” Rebecca said pulling out both handguns from the glove compartment and putting one in the chamber in both. “I don’t either, but I’d have to back up about 3 miles and then find another road in” Jeff said, “Keep a lookout – Kids, get on the floor now.” When they were even with the rear of the first road grader a man with a rifle stepped out, he did not look like a California Highway Department worker. The guy held one hand up in a Stop gesture with his rifle in the other. “Stop and get out of the van” he shouted.
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Post by 9idrr on Aug 9, 2017 20:31:11 GMT -6
Thanks for posting more at a stressful time. I'd never expected that you'd have a diverging story line like this.
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Post by mnn2300 on Aug 11, 2017 17:42:56 GMT -6
Chapter 11"This is just what Quinn warned us about." Becca said, then shouted "Go! Go!" Jeff floored the van, the guy didn’t get out of the way in time and there was a thud as he hit the front bumper and another as the van rolled over him. They heard shots from the side as Jeff got the van past the road graders. Someone had torn up part of the road ahead, apparently to help stop travelers and the van bottomed out but had enough momentum to continue on, however from the engine noise it was obvious there was now a hole in the muffler. Jeff got the van up to 70 miles per hour and was out of the construction zone in less than a mile, but it was 10 miles and a turn off onto the next highway home before he slowed down a bit. About 10 miles further and they started hearing a metallic scrapping noise, Jeff stopped and got out, the front bumper was dragging, he was able to by kicking and pulling, get it off and tossed it off the side of the road while Becca covered him with the 9mm. They had another mostly uneventful 100 miles to Jeff's home after that. Finally after all their time on the road, and all their adventures, Jeff pulled off the highway and into the driveway of his parent’s farm. The van, new though it was just a short time ago, looked like it was a few years old, with the front bumper and the exhaust system gone and it certainly would not pass a safety inspection, it was loud and it drove kind of crooked, but it still got them where they needed to go. While it had been quite chilly as they were going over the mountains, now in the valley it was much warmer and the wind wasn’t near as bad. There was a tractor in the field, but no sign of anyone on or near it, the dirt road leading in had been in rough shape and it had marked the end of the exhaust system for the van. It was loud enough that anyone would have heard them coming, yet there were no signs of life from the farm other than a few chickens wandering around. The closer they got to the house without seeing any signs of life the more of a sinking feeling Jeff had. Rebecca placed her hand on his. “I thought I saw something move in one of the upstairs windows.” She told him. Jeff rolled the window down and was ready to call for his Mom and Dad when he noticed, parked on the side of the house, three motorcycles. “Jeff?” Betty said. Before he could ask her what she wanted there was a shotgun pointed directly at his head through the open window. “Keep your hands on the wheel and don’t move.” a gruff but feminine voice told him. From the other side of the car he heard. “Jeff? Jeff is that you?” it was his father’s voice. “Dad?” Jeff yelled. “Sister Jones! Lower your shotgun!” Jeff’s Dad John, told the woman. “It’s my son!” “Sorry.” The woman said, by then Jeff and his dad were hugging. “Son, we didn’t know if we had lost you.” John told his son. Just then Jeff’s mom and sister came running out of the house, Jeff saw his Uncle, whom he had tried to find in Salt Lake City, come out of a shed, one arm in a sling but also carrying a shotgun, now lowered. It was a family reunion madhouse for a few minutes. Introductions were made all around. The only person missing was Jeff’s sisters husband Tom. “Where’s Tom at?” it got quiet for a minute. “Tom was our only causality, he made it through the flu outbreak, but we had trouble with some bikers a few weeks back, which is why you got the reception you did. Your Uncle got shot in the arm, the rest of us got a few scratches.” John Thomas told his son. Jeff noticed the bandage on his father’s arm and another on his sister’s face. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here.” “Son we’re just glad you’re alive, we’ve been praying every day for you.” A few minutes later the kids were playing with Jeff’s sisters 2 children on a swing set and the adults had moved to a fire pit in the side yard. Just a bunch of lawn chairs and Adirondack chairs around a circular bricked in fire pit. Jeff and Rebecca took turns telling their story including their intentions to get married. Jeff’s Uncle, Jonas told his story about his family dying from E2 and Salt Lake City getting worse and worse, how Lucinda Jones and her young son who had been neighbors came with him to the farm here after her husband succumbed to E2 and she was left on her own. “So, getting married huh?” Jeff’s Sister JoAnne asked Rebecca. Rebecca said “Yes” “We would have been married by now if Uncle Jonas had still been in Salt Lake, we looked for him.” Jeff said, holding Rebecca’s hand. “Well, I have the Authority as a Bishop, but not the approval of the State of California.” Jonas told the couple. “The State of Utah, yes, California, no” “I don’t think the State has anything to do with it anymore and I doubt the Lord see’s the lines on the map when he looks down on his creation.” Jeff said. “I have my wedding dress in the closet, we could alter it a bit, if you want.” Jeff Mom told Rebecca. “I’d like that.” Rebecca said. The women went into the house to make plans. “Well son, the women will get everything planned and we’ll just have to show up.” Jonas told his nephew. The next day Rebecca and Jeff were married in a small ceremony presided over by Jeff’s Uncle Jonas and witnessed by the entire family. Bedrooms were shuffled once again as the family grew. Time went on and they eventually met up with other survivors in the area, their community grew and prospered. Finis This has been a long time coming. I originally started this story almost 4 years ago as part of my Vanished series, however after getting the first chapter written then trying to plot out the rest of my story I saw that the characters would work better for my Plague series ‘Get Busy Living’, so a rewrite of the first chapter was done and the story sat there for a long time while I worked on other stories. I had finished the first 4 stories in this series and also my ‘Vanished’ story and still this story sat while I worked on other stories, I’d add a chapter as I was inspired and in fact had written them into Quinn’s story as I had originally intended. The question was how much religion should I put into it? I felt it added to the story and having 2 people who at first glance were very diverse presented what I felt was a good opportunity for a story. I certainly didn’t want to preach and my goal in writing this was not to convert anyone, but I did want to present a story that was different than most and knowing if there was really a worldwide flu pandemic it would leave a cross section of people alive and since this was a cross section I knew a bit about it seemed like a natural to me, but yet it was a real struggle to write. I hope you enjoyed the story, my ‘Get Busy Living’ series is (for now at least) finished, there are links in the first post to the other stories in the series if you have not already read them. I still do at some point want to put it in Amazon Kindle format, and thus will need to remove it from this board at that time (but that won’t happen for a while at least). Look for more of my stories going up in the hopefully not too distant future, I have a number of them already started but I always have a hard time finishing them and I learned to have them mostly finished before starting to post. Anyway, like in the James Bond movies after the credits finish rolling, I will just say; ‘mnn2300’s stories will return’
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Post by 9idrr on Aug 11, 2017 19:12:55 GMT -6
Thanks very much. I'd been hoping you'd get back to this one and you've done a bang up job of bringing all the strands together. I've enjoyed this, and if this is how it ends, so be it. If, however, you want to move any of the folks in the story along in another direction, I'd be happy to read whatever you write.
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Post by freebirde on Aug 11, 2017 19:20:13 GMT -6
Of course there was the feeling of being watched in Toledo that will need a story.
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Post by kaijafon on Aug 11, 2017 20:33:39 GMT -6
Thank you for your story!
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Post by pbbrown0 on Aug 11, 2017 23:37:59 GMT -6
Thank you. Really enjoyed this one, especially the first part where the setting was in some old stomping grounds of mine.
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Post by gipsy on Aug 12, 2017 7:08:26 GMT -6
Thanks for this fine story
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Post by mnn2300 on Aug 12, 2017 8:41:56 GMT -6
Thank you. Really enjoyed this one, especially the first part where the setting was in some old stomping grounds of mine. Yeah, its my current stomping grounds.
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