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Post by 9idrr on Aug 18, 2020 21:56:23 GMT -6
Some of those dog fighters didn't get near enough what they should've.
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Post by willc453 on Aug 18, 2020 22:07:13 GMT -6
Remember, the boys are EXPEREINCED DM's and the girls did say no TANKS. NOTHING was said by them about buying a used atomic powered submarine for example. And got 3 pages on chapter 51 which I hope to post in a few more days. As to the dog fighting enthusiasts, the boys figured some serious jail time will not only dampen anyone elses interest in doing the same. Along with the newspapers/news tv/internet media telling everyone that the Metronomes were involved. And those 12 that had brought those dogs to fight, died gruesome deaths. And best part about the "Metronomes" doing all this, is they CAN'T BE SUED! I mean, does anyone REALLY want to mess with aliens who can travel thru different dimensions....along with having boney, skeleton arms and hands?
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Post by texican on Aug 21, 2020 16:15:31 GMT -6
WillC,
You have such a devious mind that we all howl for moar.
You keep us coming back for moar.
Thank you....
Texican....
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Post by willc453 on Aug 21, 2020 18:18:57 GMT -6
Give me a few days, another chapter's coming.
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Post by willc453 on Aug 23, 2020 4:41:23 GMT -6
The Affected: The Shadow Chapter 51 Asked if he'd seen that tank LOOKING kind of thing, you know, the one with the eight BIG semi-truck tires? He hadn't, so after checking in with Kathleen, we went to my room, the one in the basement. Made sure the door was locked, then we got on my computer and after a few minutes we found that same page we'd been looking at earlier. Neither of us had ever heard of or seen a tank with wheels before, so we were pretty ignorant. What we were looking at wasn't a tank after all....instead it was called an APC, which stands for Armored Personnel Carrier, with some of them carrying a really BIG gun on top of it. THOSE things were neat....and NOT a tank, so what the girls told us what we COULDN'T buy, WASN'T in the tank category! We did more research and found that not only some Russians had bought 'em, but made them more comfortable inside and not only that, they were DESIGNED to drive in water?! Oh boy, oh boy.......were we hooked. It was at this time Kathleen is knocking at the door, saying Tammy had been trying to reach Aaron and that her folks were coming over for supper, so I had to make sure the place was cleaned up for company. We just looked at each other, with Aaron saying he'd be home jiffy quick and was home jiffy quick after another brief conversation between us via the light. The next few days we were both doing research about these APC things and of course, how to buy two of 'em. Using our computers, we checked out who had 'em for sale, how much, while also checking out Youtube videos on those the Russians had converted so they were more family friendly so to speak. Now getting them from Russia to here would be no problem, but we would need a bill of sale.....we also didn't know how to insure and register such vehicles in Texas because we wanted them to be road worthy. So we went to see Ted and Bob because after all, they were Texans, older than us and no doubt knew how to do this sort of thing. So there we were, the four of us sitting on my front porch, watching the kids play in the dirt or just chasing each other or the dogs like a bunch of wild Indians while our Dads drank their German beers and us, our ice teas. After a bit, Aaron looks at me which meant I had to bring the subject up because we were at my place. I said, we were wondering just what we'd need to do if we bought some stuff from another country. You know, military stuff. When I said that, both of them looked at me and Aaron, saying don't even THINK of dragging us into helping you buy those tanks. The girls already told you no and not only that, they called OUR wives about this and they told us flat out we were NOT to help you in this endeavor of yours. But Aaron said, we're not looking at buying tanks and that's when Bob said what.......you're going to buy an atomic submarine or something? I said wow, you can actually BUY an atomic powered submarine??!! Ted told Bob to keep his d*mn mouth shut....these boys don't need any additional crazy ideas. And imagine how those four would react if they did buy one and they found out that YOU were the one who had given them that idea? Bob didn't look too happy at the possible girls reactions, meaning ours and theirs. Aaron was the one who explained what we wanted to buy, convert 'em a little bit and why. While this was going on, I pulled out my lap top and showed them photos of what he was talking about. They shook their heads, saying we were a couple of barrack lawyers, a term we hadn't heard before, so they explained. That's when Ted said this might be a good thing, because remember how Richard Walter Jenkins and his buddy Aaron Chwatt were always showing off their two army trucks in the towns fourth of July parade? This would beat them all to h*ll and gone reputation wise. Bob agreed, with the two of them saying once we had bill of sale on these things, they'd get someone in their lawyers office to get them registered and insured. This way all we'd have to do was go into town for that paperwork.....and NO chance of the girls seeing any paperwork from them in the mail and asking unwanted questions. But we were wondering how we could hide them while also working on them when we could without the girls or their moms becoming suspicious. We found a guy who had almost FOUR DOZEN of the ones that had just hatches, while the others had those cannon firing or machine gun turret things. Man, we weren't thinking to tell the truth, but Ted and Bob brought us back to reality. How about some of them wouldn't even start?! Tires were bad as in starting to crack and rot because they'd been stored outside for a number of years. Two of them had bad transmissions and of course, we never though about repair manuals in case something did break. We both agreed that we were glad they were with us, but for a different reason.....if two APC's were good, why FORTY-EIGHT would even be better! But they had thought of all of this as we were oohing and awing at all of 'em. Yeah, we were still green as grass when it came to buying a vehicle. We were in Russia for a couple of hours looking everything over and we KNEW we had to get home, otherwise all four of our ladies just might become suspicious. Couldn't believe it....we got TWO of these BTR's, basically NEW tires, almost new batteries AND two sets of maintenance manuals for all of EIGHTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS?! And the sellers word was good as everything we asked for was done right. We gave him five thousand down, with the rest to be paid the following day. The four of us returned the next day and everything was great, with the four of us even learning how to drive them on that guys property for a little bit. He had the titles showing we were now the owners of these magnificent machines, at which time we told him we had made arrangements for transporting them back to the U.S. the previous day. That night (Russian time), we took possession of them via the nothingness. One problem was the repair manuals were in Russian, something none of us could read or even speak in. Bob found a university in Texas that had some Russian exchange students, so we hired two of them, paying them four hundred dollars even though they only quoted us one hundred dollars each. We remembered how it was back in college. But this also included coming out with manuals just like they'd been printed in English AND we got the manuals copied on CD's. Then there were the tools needed....everything was in metric, while we were familiar with SAE. Then we found out the electrical system is different between the U.S. vs those in Russia, so we had to change that. It was one thing after another, however, we paid the ranch hands for their time working on them when they weren't working on the ranches and believe me, we paid them well with one caveat: they were NOT to talk to anyone other than the couple of the other ranch hands that sometimes would also be working on our vehicles at the same time. This ESPECIALLY meant NO women folk. When Aaron told them this, they IMMEDIATELY understood, remembering what happened with our port a potty go cart adventure. The one thing they never figured out was how we moved our BMT's from one barn to another without anyone seeing or hearing us doing so. We just said this is why we were such good bounty hunters. Oh yeah....using the nothingness, it was no problem to move it from one barn to another. And since we paid the ranchhands double their daily pay, they were quite happy to work on our vehicles, especially since we paid in cash once a week. And by switching barns, none of the girls or their moms got suspicious, even when they knew Ted and Bob would come over from time to time to help us out. We learned a lot from those guys. As you might have figured with us, one thing lead to another, but at least we didn't have much work involved on that new idea/enthusiasm of ours. And man, we slaved on the last part just so they'd be ready for that years fourth of July parade. However.....we need to test drive them, you know, to make sure they ran perfectly. Which shows God does love married men with all their trials and tribulations of being married. The girls and their Moms decided to take off for two days for Houston?! They even got some of the ranchhand wives to look after our kids because they figured who knew if we'd “go bounty hunting” as they put it and having to arrange for babysitters and being gone for hours might be kind of hard to explain. And the kids would go back and forth between Ted and Bobs places. So we called Ted, Bob and those ranchhands that had helped us, with all of us meeting them inside Bobs barn because the kids were at my place. When the main barn doors were opened, they were all really shocked when they saw the BMT's because we'd painted them in bright orange just like the General Lee car had been painted in that old tv series, Dukes of Hazzards. Of course, we had added air horns, but also a cavalry charge tune to play, along with a regular city type horn. On the front of the BMT, we painted a large Confederate flag and on the top and rear of it, we had the U.S. and Texas state flag on flexible poles. We also added five big headlights on top in case we really wanted to see while driving at night. I mean, we wanted to be prepared for any contingency. Ted rode with me, while Bob went with Aaron on our first run in them with the other ranchhands also going with us, being split between our vehicles. And off we went, avoiding even coming close to my place just in case you know. We made sure everyone got at least ten minutes of driving and boy, we sure covered a lot of territory including driving in one of the creeks that ran between their two ranches. We all thought of going into town for a quick bite to eat, but of course with women being in town..... We figured better not to take ANY chances and besides we wanted to know how they felt on the road, so we headed for the local airport to drive on its asphalt areas. We found that max speed was basically 40mph which while all not that great, it was never really designed for on road use. We started heading for home, but this time it was not only the wailing of a siren, but SIRENS going off behind us! It was two county deputy sheriffs in their cars, which was shortly followed by a state trooper! Well, it was Gene in the state trooper car, with him and the two county deputy sheriffs just shaking their heads when fourteen of us got out of the two BMT's. Our paperwork was all in order of course and we did have plates on them. They'd been registered as recreational vehicles which did save us some money insurance and state vehicle tax wise. I know, I know....here we are with millions sitting on pallets in the nothingness and the light, but we're still kind of penny pincers. As to our D&D business with its modules, figures, etc., yes we make a living out of that, so every year we file income taxes on it. We remembered quite well how broke we had been while going to college. Well, on that day for the fourth of July parade we threw Ted and Bob a big surprise. Now they thought we'd be picking them and their wives up at their places, but we told them there had been a change of plans and they needed to go to our places, meaning the barns of course. I wasn't there, but Bob's reaction was the same as Ted's....total disbelief as we had bought them two Humvee's. Actually we'd bought FOUR of them, and with some of the ranchhands having worked on them when they were in the military, they fixed what few minor problems they had. Here's a photo of the kind we bought. We bought the four door version which also has a kind of truck bed behind the rear doors. The seats got chucked and ones used on semi-trucks were installed because they have an air ride system for them, making driving a lot easier and more comfortable along with seat belts. Of course, they had winches installed on them, along with U.S. and Texas state flags on poles on each side of the front of the vehicles. We left them painted in their original Army paint job. They knew nothing about us buying them as we contacted their lawyers office directly so they'd have no reason to call them about this and those that worked on them didn't say a word when we told them who they were for. As for Kathleen, Tammy and the kids, they all came running out when we pulled up to the front of our places, hitting the air horn to play the cavalry charge. She looked at me, I looked right back at her, saying this is NOT a tank.....followed by asking the kids if they wanted a ride into town with me. They about knocked Kathleen over in their haste. So while Kathleen was standing there dumbfounded, I said you have three choices: ride with us, take the Suburban, OR see and drive what's in the barn. I had to show her how to start the Humvee because it doesn't have an ignition switch. The boys went with me and Aaron, while the girls went with their mothers with the two of us meeting at Teds where he and Bob are showing off their Humvee's. Oh yeah, as to the parade, we got a lot of applause, especially with Aaron and I in our BTR's with the colorful paint jobs. Afterwards, BIG barbeque (Texas style naturally) with both ranches combing it. Must of been a good couple of hundred people there and at least six cows, along with four hogs being cooked over open spits. Thing is, Ted and Bob's wives now wanted a Humvee and while it took a couple of weeks, they got their own to drive. Modified just like Ted and Bob's naturally. Now we really liked our motorhomes, but there were a lot of places one couldn't take it.....like a really sandy beach or deep water for example. So we bought two big Army trucks that had a box on the back of it. Aaron and I came up with plans on how we wanted them modified like having solar panels on the roof, a separate generator, etc. For what we wanted, we found a place in Texas that would do this for us....at a price. Yeah, the girls were once again dumbfounded when we pulled up to the front of our places and hitting the air horn to play the cavalry charge notes. And man, did they love driving those things on sandy beaches or in water that was a couple of feet deep with me and the kids following her in her Humvee. Remember how Aaron and I were brought up as kids? Kathleen's calling out to the kids to find out what they were up to. No answer. She was going to check on 'em but told her let me do it, with me using the nothingness. Well, they some how got some of my water based figure paints and were talking about painting one or more of the dogs in one of the boys bedrooms?! Then it was let's also do something REALLY different....let's also do some painting on the bedroom walls?! Kathleen was NOT a happy camper considering the amount of work we'd done painting everything once our place was built and was going to go upstairs to “deal with those hellions of yours” until I said wait. That's when I went to the stairs leading upstairs and called all the kids downstairs and into the kitchen, making them sit at the kitchen table. I tell the kids that you may not know this, but when a woman becomes a Mommy, her Mommy radar starts working. I said I can see you don't understand what I'm saying, but Mommy's get to KNOWING not only where you're at, but what you're up to.....why some are so good that they can READ YOUR MIND! Scared looks from ALL of them. I then said, the other thing is when you lie, that lie sticks to your tongue and the best way to tell if someone's lying, all that possible liar has to do is stick out their tongue which would prove they were lying because their tongue became a different color. That's when Kathleen started telling them not only where they were in the bedroom, but what they were talking about and were going to do. Boy, talk about scared and true believers after that. You want to know how to put a good one over kids? When God Himself helps you out. It had been raining, so the kids and dogs were inside, running around chasing or being chased and I could see this racket was starting to get on Kathleen's nerves. So I gathered the kids and dogs together and told them that running around inside the house like they were, it would attract lighting and if lightning struck the house, why it might even catch the house on fire. I could see the doubt in their eyes about this one, but right after I said it, KABOOM! A bolt of lightning split the sky and it was enough where we could see the light from the lightning lighting up the sky outside the house. They suddenly became TRUE believers and for the rest of the day, played QUIETLY. As for the dogs, they did their best to hide under something. Got a pretty good smooch and hug for that one. So there you have it....our story which occurred just a little over eight years ago. Aaron and I are not only surprised by the number of people who have taken the time to read our story, but what we've gone thru since that day we went to watch my grandmothers dogs. Just two guys doing what was right for family to begin with. I mean, without us going to help her, we'd of never been changed. Which meant we'd of never eventually met our girls who became our wives and gave us so many kids. And we still shudder at the thought of what life would have been if we had married Annabelle and Ginger along with being forced to become professional musicians at their insistence. No doubt in our mind that if we had, Hector wouldn't of gotten ANY of our music, those girls being what they were. All we wanted to do was make modules for Wizards of The Gold Coast even though our families thought it was a crazy idea. Thanks to our girls, we now publish our own modules along with resin printed and tin casted figures thanks to Carols effort also. Then there were the women in central and south American countries we helped start their own business. Their husbands and boyfriends provided security and all those people are better off than they had been before. What made us feel really good about it was those kids were not only getting an education but a skill till they reached adulthood. There were more than one who wanted a higher education, some in their own country, others here in the U.S. We set thing up so they not only got those diploma's, but also some spending money each month because we remembered how we'd struggled to get thru school until we started bounty hunting evil and wicked people. And NONE of them have forgotten their roots when they started working full time, always sending money back home. And yes, many have become U.S. citizens along with bringing some of their families LEGALLY into the U.S. Oh....Aaron said that I should mention what happened to Annabelle and Ginger after everyone graduated from college. Seems because they got their degrees in college, they met the conditions of their inheritances set by their great, great grandparents who'd made a lot of money before there was any income tax. We found this kind of hard to believe, but it's true. Imagine....making money and NO income tax?! Why can't that be done today? Of course, both of us show us making money from our modules and figures for example, but NOT that other money. No way, Jose. They both ended up marrying two guys who wanted to invest in the stock market, so the girls ponied up the money......with the guys losing most of it over a period of two years. How can ANYONE lose almost nine million dollars out of a ten million dollar inheritance, but some how they did. Their husbands now work at some car dealership, while the girls ended up having two kids each. And man, do they look terrible being overweight, etc., along with their kids also being overweight. We wouldn't of known about this, but the girls......well, they were HOPING something bad like this would happen to them after the way those two had treated us and had kept checking up on them. I was looking a little sad when I was told all of this and she asked me why. Told her that no doubt those two had their own dreams and look at them now.....nothing seems to have gone the way they thought it should in life. She plopped into my lap, gave a hug and a smooch, followed by that was another reason they'd married us.....being so unpretentious and kind most of the time. When I looked at her, she said the other times is when you two are a really nasty and devious pair of DM's.....along with doing sneaky boy stuff. Found out that some of the ranchhands used to play D&D back in the day, along with some who still played. We have a monthly get together and while they were shocked at how thorough we were, they all quickly became better and more cautious players with the girls giving them tips on how sneaky, devious and merciless we'd been in their games. As it is, we started letting the older kids some times watch our games, but they quickly understood that they were NOT to interrupt us while we were playing. We'd take a break about every forty-five minutes as some of the ranchhands wanted to smoke, something the girls don't allow in the house. Not that we ever got into that habit or chewing as some do. And the kids are asking a lot of questions and have asked us about our figures as they're interested in learning how to paint them. Since the kids seemed to be wanting to learn how to play the game, Aaron and I came up with some very easy dungeons for them to play, which may end up with us publishing modules for younger kids. While the boys seem to play aggressive characters, it's our daughters seem to be merciless, blood thirsty heathens when it comes to hacking and slashing. And yes, we've made them all cry more than once when their characters got killed, but their mothers told them there was always consequences for their actions, including having to clean city sewers when they'd break some city law or were broke. As for the kids, the four of us started reading to them starting when they were about two years old and they have quite a selection of books that each of them own. As for bed time stories, the four of us do this and the kids know when we're done, it was time for bed and sleep. When they didn't, NO bed time story for them the next night or two. We'd (us and our wives) would take turns reading to them, with all the kids in one bedroom which got changed each night. Then one night I tried coming up with a story because the kids couldn't decide what book they wanted read to them. So I made up one, it being about Big Brother Brian Rabbit and him finding Little Brother Ivan Rabbit who was being picked on by another rabbit who was a bully. Kathleen's voice is very smoothing while reading and before long, we'd see nodding heads and plop....as they fell over into a deep sleep. Me, on the other hand, startled them more than once with roars and snarls with Kathleen giving me THAT LOOK. Remember Peewee, our school chum who used to write down the adventurers everyone had after our games were over? Netflix did pick up the option of making some of his books into a series, ala Game Of Thrones. However, having seen what was and wasn't done in that series and how they butchered the last season, he has COMPLETE script control, so there won't be any cutting corners story wise. I naturally called Hector and Hacker about the series, with Hector complaining how he probably wouldn't be watching any of them due to his band being on the road like they were. I mentioned this to Hacker and about a week later, has me and Aaron come over to his place where he gives us two dvd players? He saw the looks on our faces, then tells us with these dvd players, we can record ANY video from the internet, including channels like Netflix! We could also download those cd's onto our computers, then make a copy from them onto another cd blank, this way Hector got a copy of each episode via Uncle Poppa (Hectors Dad) as Hector was always running around the country, with more than a few concerts now being done in Europe. Best part about the series was NONE of the characters names, actions and attitudes were changed. He even called both of us to thank us when he started getting them. Thing is, that series became more or less family night for us. The girls didn't understand why we were so excited about this series being made, so we got them Peewee's first book and after that, they started buying the others. But we never mentioned how we knew Peewee. After watching the first episode, they said it was amazing how REALISTIC everything seemed, but we didn't say a word. They looked at each other, then us and saw our slight smiles. Upon which they said you know some-thing, don't you? Did you write these stories and both of us said nope, we didn't write those stories, but the girls....well, they were more used to us saying nothing when actually we were speaking volumes. Told us that they KNEW we wanted to tell them about Peewee and this series because if we didn't, we'd (meaning us) explode. That's when Aaron says, we're not cheap, but we can be had. Girls asks us what we want and I said our bill is pretty high....like smooches. Girls didn't hesitate in sitting in our laps and after some wiggling around on their parts, they started working on us. We finally came up for air and gasping like we couldn't breathe, saying okay, okay, we'll talk. And we did. Girls were shocked to find out the series was based on the modules we done starting back in junior high school and all the characters in the series were based on those played by Hector, Hacker and others. Now Peewee has eight books published, but with Aaron and I checking our paperwork from that time, he had enough material to do at least sixty-five more books. Well, there you have it and like any good book you've read, you finally come to The End.
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Post by texican on Aug 23, 2020 19:40:27 GMT -6
WillC,
Thanks for the time you have spent to bring The Shadow to the Moar Hounds and for the years of reading pleasure.
Texican....
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Post by willc453 on Aug 23, 2020 21:02:56 GMT -6
Thanks right back to you and everyone else who like my stories. I've got a couple of 1/35 scale BTR's and while I was writing this story up, came up with another zombie/apocalypse diorama idea. As to the boys and their BTR's, I downloaded some privately owned BTR's via Youtube that are in Russia showing some of the modifications the owners made. Also showing the owners taking their kids for a spin in the boonies. Anyway, a few years ago I saw someone do the same thing, but this time it takes place in the future where it's painted a dark blue and used/marked as a taxi?! Gotta be a rough neighborhood. So one of my kits will be painted orange, etc. and calling it Zombie/Apocalypse survival: Russian style. And yes, have picked up a few Russian, English and Japanese vehicles because zombies don't recognize international borders.
And surprised how many countries are selling their old military stuff. England has a bunch of stuff from time to time and Italy has about 2-3 dozen M-113's. Also think they have a bunch of F-104's. Sweden/Norway at one time had a couple of dozen F-86D's rotting away. Turkey has some F-102's, the same plane that Dad worked on back in the late 50's and I think they've also got some F & RF-4's stashed somewhere. So the stuff is out there and cheap enough, but then there's shipping and getting them into the country.
Anyone ever hits Stead, Nevada's airport, there's a company that has several dozen MiG-15's, 17's & 21's....both single and 2 seaters. Happened to hit their hanger one time when they were going thru a 2 seater to get it flight worthy and pass FAA inspection. They gave me the okay to take ALL the photos I wanted. Think I shot 10 rolls of 36 exposures each. If I could stick my camera somewhere, I did. Got a lot of the data info like do not walk, etc., with all of it in Russian. Wasn't till a few years ago that 2 companies came out with decals with this information....and I have it about 15 years ago.
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Post by jwh123 on Aug 24, 2020 5:53:46 GMT -6
Thanks as always for sharing your time and talent with us!
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Post by willc453 on Aug 16, 2022 15:14:41 GMT -6
The Affected: The Shadow Chapter 52
Remember in our last entry, every book has the part where it says The End? But some-times another book or in this case, another chapter needs to be written and continuing it. That's what's happened in this case. Remember The Family and the Remembrance? That's the day The Family heads for Oklahoma to honor The White Doctor. To be honest, Aaron and I thought we were thru telling our story, but when things happen...... Well, that time came but this time I was bringing Aaron and his family, something that VERY RARELY happens at our gatherings. As I think it's happened only a couple of times (twice?) since the gatherings began. Aaron knew about it, because I told him what it was like the one time we'd gone while I was a very young kid. We got our in laws and their ranch hands to watch our places, feed the livestock, etc., so that base was covered. Then making sure the motorhomes were ready for the trip and thing is, both of us wanted to take our BMP's, but the girls said NO! They were going to drive their former military Humvee's, taking the girls while I, Aaron and our boys were regulated to the motorhomes. Sometimes husbands get no respect. Now it's not far at all driving time wise from Texas to Oklahoma, with us arriving a day early because we wanted to find a good spot and of course check in with others who had the same idea. And yes, we got looks when I introduced Aaron as my brother and his family, but nobody gave us any kind of hassle because of this. Think a good part of this was the way our kids were interacting not only with each other, but the few kids that were already there. Of course, the girls promised a slow and torturous death if the boys did misbehave and it didn't matter which mother told them this. Death is certain when your mother uses that tone of voice. Now we weren't only ones there, but dad, mom and my brothers and sisters were there too, in several motorhomes. The four of us had talked it over and bought 2 used ones, with the girls fathers having their mechanics look them over, with us also learning and getting our hands dirty in fixing things. We wanted NO kind of mechanical problems to occur and while they were used, they were in tip top condition in every way. Our dads complained how they were a waste of money, while our moms cried. Funny thing was both of our dads would take off more than once to go fishing over the weekend, with no more dealing with tents, etc. Later on, our moms told our girls how our dads fussed over the motorhomes making everything was not only in good, operating condition, but kept spotlessly clean. This was something they didn't do that often in their own homes, that is, doing housekeeping.
Lots of storytelling between the families, catching up on who's been doing what and making sure everyone's kids knew the families beginning with the ending of the Civil War, The White Doctor and how they ended up here. Now the thing is, when this story is told, nobody tells it by themselves. Somebody would say something for a minute or so, stop, with someone else picking up the story. As to the money The Family had, both of us made a donation to it because things happen to people thru no fault of their own. And yes, the borrowers have always paid the money borrowed with some interest on it, which isn't that much. But pennies add up to dollars and when it's invested properly...... Now it was on the last day of The Families get together, with me and Aaron sitting in our chairs outside of my motorhome and drinking coffee when a guy said something that couldn't be....that's IMPOSSIBLE, then points to the hill. Yes, the SAME hill where The White Doctor had appeared basically a hundred years ago. He got a pair of binoculars from somebody and went to look thru them. Then it was Jesus Christ, it's a f*cking DRAGON with a HUGE dog by it and some guy is waving a hat?! Yeah, THAT got everyone's attention and ALL the guys that were up that early, took off for their cars and trucks, with Aaron and me jumping into the back of somebody's pickup truck bed. We're bouncing around like crazy, but when we got to the hill top, no one was there and everyone was a bit ticked, thinking this guy had been yanking our chains. It would be like telling your kids when they were very young that Santa and the Easter bunny didn't exist. You just do NOT do that sort of thing as we felt the same way about The White Doctor. This guy is telling everyone he saw what he saw and we're looking for horse prints in the dirt because that's what happened last time. Then a couple of guys started checking out the other side of the hill and two things happened.....they both fell, with someone saying they had to look out for gopher holes around here, but when another guy said look, it's a leather pouch and picks it up for everyone to see.
Yes, we were ALL thinking the same thing, but that would be impossible, wouldn't it? Thing is, while there were gold coins inside the pouch, there were actually TWO pouches, with one being inside the other. Now the one pouch had several dozen American gold coins, dating back to the early and mid 1800's, but the other bags contents were... strange. There was Oriental writing written in thread on the pouch and what had to be Asiatic gold coins from whenever. And while they were round, there was a square hole in some of them, while others were whole. Of course, the coins and pouches are being passed around by those that were there, but when Aaron examined the pouch with the Oriental writing stitched in it, he said Jesus Christ.....and passes out?! Then one of the guys who'd fallen because of the “gopher holes”, cried out that they hadn't fallen because of a gopher hole. Something BIG and HUGE had been there, with others going to take a look the area. How about FOUR HUGE footprints of something that had to be unnatural? Somebody said it had to be somebody's idea of a prank.....you know, digging dinosaur footprints like they did. Thing is, we couldn't figure out who'd do such a thing, when or why. Thing is, one of guys took off for town to get some plaster of Paris, with the intent of returning to make castings of the footprints, while I held onto Aaron in the back of the truck as we headed back to camp. Got help getting him into one of the camp chairs, then got a wet towel which I applied to his face.
After a bit, he came to and glad to say Tammy and the kids were busy with Katherine and our kids who were busy playing with the other kids during our gathering. He asks to see the 2nd pouch and when it's passed to him, he's looking at the writing which is in silver and he's says Jesus.....what she said WAS TRUE and none of us understood what he was talking about. Everyone (including me) wanted to know what caused him to pass out and after I got him some watered down tea, he started talking. He says the stitching on the second bag is Korean and it means dragon rider and because of him, it's why my family even exists, including me. It started during the Korean war, with the Americans and South Koreans being overwhelmed not only by the North Koreans, but the THOUSANDS of Chinese “volunteers”. It was basically a complete route by them against the South Koreans and the Americans, with civilians looking for sanctuary whereever they could find it. Which meant going south quick as possible as everyone figured distance was a good thing between 4 warring armies. Great grandmother was trying to get her five children to safety as her husband had been killed by the North Koreans because he was a teacher who was “teaching counter revolutionary propaganda”. She was then raped. Repeatedly. After that, she started walking south with her children, one of which was our grandmother, with them slowly starving, eating weeds or whatever they could find. Three of my grandparents that I never met or got to meet, died on that journey and still lie in some grave, somewhere. For years, our family tried finding them so they'd be interned per our religious beliefs, but we never found them. He then started crying and all I could do was put my arm around my brothers shoulders. Someone got some papertowels from the motorhome, which he used to wipe his eyes and after getting more tea to drink, he continued.
Great grandmother was hurting from not only be raped multiple times, but when you add lack of medical care and proper food...... Then the day came when she saw a large group of North Koreans and Chinese, but they'd also seen her and the children, with the chase beginning. She found an empty cave and was prepared to do her best with only some rocks in their defense. Great grandmother says there must have been of been 30, maybe more of those soldiers chasing them, but she was ready to kill and die protecting her children. The she saw it.....as if in one moment there were just clouds in the sky and next......there it was, flying thru the air.... a jade or as Westerners would call it, a green dragon. Jade is considered by most Asians as a sign and bringer of good luck and why she believed deliverance, if you will, had come. The jade dragon did more than help her and my remaining grandparents, because when it flew over those soldiers, a fog of some kind came from its mouth, with the soldiers falling to the ground. Then she saw HIM.....it was a white man with a blue hat on his head, with him going thru the soldiers possessions, putting some to one side, other things to another. When he got done, his arms are full of food and cooking utensils which he not only placed on the ground in front of her, removed his blue hat and bowed to her, telling her those soldiers would no longer need it. Then he goes back to one of the piles, bringing her blankets and other things to use on their journey south. The story goes that the man had two crossed swords sewn on the front of his blue hat and when he removed his hat, LONG fine blonde hair came tumbling out. You need to remember that back then, NO white man wore long hair like him. He tells her in PERFECT Korean that they needed to start cooking the rice and other vegetables and with that, started gathering wood for their fire.
While she was busy starting to cook everything, he examined our two remaining grandparents and from a pouch, gave them something. Something they did NOT want to take, but did when he came out with a small bottle of honey and a spoon. He sees her watching him and he tells her that sometimes a little bit of sugar makes the medicine go down. And if you're wondering, that's a tradition we continue today and it doesn't matter whether you're an adult or child. This was something even I didn't know. Yeah, my brother would come up with surprises like this from time to time. So while the food is cooking, in which he's added bits of roots and leaves, he asks for her story. When she was done, from a pouch (of which he had several), tells her to take several pills he was offering as it would help her health wise, along with not getting pregnant from being raped. This was when she asked him if he was mabeop sayongia, with him laughing then saying she could say that. That's when the two of us looked at each other, saying was the other thinking the same thing? And we nodded, though in a way, we felt it was impossible. Remember when we talked to Agent Peabody of the FBI and how she talked of that silver mine owner who would disappear down one alley, only to reappear from another, but in a different set of clothes? Yeah.....we were getting the willies because first off, The White Doctor helps my family get to Oklahoma, then someone's helping Peabody's family get to California and now, someone's involved with Aaron's family? This was when Aaron tells me to tell everyone what happened when we went with the girls and their Dads to their ranch in Texas. So I did and how they got started. Stunned silence, with more than one person there saying this was impossible, but Aaron looked at him saying if so, your story of how The Family got its start is to. Isn't it? A lot of people didn't like this, but others shushed them into silence.
While the 3 of them get busy eating, he brings back packs which was filled with more food and other things, which he starts filling with the other uneaten food he'd already brought, with grandfather and great grandmother each getting a pack, along with him also having the largest one. After they'd eaten, they were tired, with the white man pulling out a flute, something she hadn't seen him carrying as this was the long type of flute and once he started playing, they fell asleep. She got several shocks when she woke as the white man told her that they'd been sleeping all day, with them now into a new day. She wanted to see if the jade dragon was still there but it was not, along with no soldier bodies to be seen. The magician as she called him, as we all do, had started a fire and was fixing breakfast for them which was rice and rabbit meat, though she had no idea where they came from. But then, with everyone else fleeing like they had been, the countryside was bare of game, along with the North Koreans and Chinese eating everyone's cows and other farm animals. But their bellies didn't care and it was at this time the magician not only didn't sit on the floor like other whites did but using his chop sticks with ease. He was squatting just like them and believe me, this ISN'T easy. I tried a few times when Aaron would do it but after a few minutes, the muscles in my legs and thighs were about screaming in being in such an uncomfortable position, then he'd tease me about being such a sissie. Yeah, at times like that I wanted to pound my brother. Once again, grandfather and grandmother got those roots and other things to eat which were mixed in water, followed by each getting a spoonful of homey.
The trip going south with all the fighting going on around them was going to take at least a week and more than once, the White Man would urge them off the road and hide. And each time, she'd see the North Koreans and/or Chinese troops walking, trucks or even tanks going by. She wanted to know how he knew this, but also to be asking questions from a mabeop sayongia, could be very dangerous. All she knew about him was that he and the jade dragon was helping them and for that, she was grateful. It was like he could read minds, because he told her his friend was there with them, at which point she's looking around, but sees nothing. He points to the top of the hill behind them and says something that sounded quite guttural and NON human. Suddenly there it was and while it's making a noise of some kind, to her, it was like the jade dragon was laughing from the way it was shaking its head up and down, then it disappears. This was when great grandmother got the courage how they had met and for a bit, she thought he was not going to answer and had overstepped her bounds. Tells her that at one time, there were many dragons of different sizes and colors, but they were a plague on........different people, who found ways to kill them and this was what was happening when he arrived there. He met with many other dragons and after some.......negotiations, he was able to have a truce declared between them and the people. So the people help the various dragons in feeding and caring for them and their young, while the dragons do the same for the people. As to Betty, some.....people were looking for her nest and had destroyed one of her 2 eggs when I came upon them. From his expression when he said this, great grandmother had the feeling those people did not survive the encounter with this mabeop sayongia. Betty was NOT happy in finding him there and of course, one of her eggs had been broken, but he was able to get her to understand he had nothing to do with the death of her baby and showed her where it was buried. Said he spent some years with her in trying to learn her language which has had her laughing at him because of this. He'd been told more than once by her how could my mother let such a ignorant youngling like him out into the world all by himself. He said no matter what a mother looks like or its form, they're all the same, at which time he smiled.
Then came the day they parted, with him giving her a small bag of gold coins, which she recognized as being Chinese, Korean and later on, American in origin. This was to help her and her children until this war, like others, would end. Aaron then says that's my story, believe it or not, but if it's okay, I'd like to keep one of the coins with the square in it, with the rest being donated to the Rainy Day Fund....and of course, its purse. For the first time in The Family's history, Remembrance was extended by a day. What neither of us knew was that Kathleen and Tammy had been in the back of the crowd hearing Aaron tell his tale. Of course, they believed him but also wondered how all four stories could be connected, because Aaron had said to everyone how they might feel that they weren't connected because we're talking a LONG separation of time and of course, countries. Thing is, I somehow KNEW my brother wasn't telling everyone something in his tale. Later that night after the kids had been put to bed and the girls were busy, we had our own private talk. Seems when the mabeop sayongia left his great grandmother and grandparents, he told her that one day, an offspring would become a kind, generous, but powerful mabeop sayongia in his own right. But he'd also meet his brother, though not of his blood, who'd also in time, be the same kind of mabeop sayongia in his own right?! This was followed by Aaron saying when he saw me running towards J.T., he somehow felt I was the brother he was to meet, though it made no sense how they would EVER become mabeop sayongia. But after we got changed..... All I could say was yeah....this is beyond the The X Files, Twilight Zone or Outer Limits kind of thing. Since I had brought Aaron, the next day we're standing before a microphone with a PA system. I started off telling The Family's tale, followed by the girls, then it was Aarons turn. After he got done, there was a lot of talk by everyone in the crowd, with people coming up to the microphone and giving their opinion, which took almost nine hours, not that anyone was now in a rush to leave, especially when it was decided that The Family must take a vote on such a matter. The voting equipment was quickly brought out which was RARELY used and consisted of black & white marbles, along with 2 deep pots whose lids had a hole cut in the center of them. Real simple, with people given 2 marbles and whatever pot had the most marbles, that's the way the vote went. White was a yea vote in remembrance of The White Doctor. Aaron was welcomed into The Family, getting 96% of the vote and what also helped, I think, was the elders showing everyone where they placed their white balls. So now Aaron and his family were accepted, with Aaron telling everyone he'd let his folks and family back home know. And no, Katherine and Tammy's were not accepted as everyone felt their families just happened to be at the right place and time when The White Doctor came thru that town. Aaron got his gold coin with the square hole in the middle of it, while the rest of the coins and pouches were never spent, but put on display, with Aaron giving his spiel again, with a display made for everything and a printout of why they were there. We spent an additional 3 days there, just talking with people about what had occurred. As to what now everyone considers to be dragon footprints, plaster of Paris castings were made, put on display, with many people coming to look at those footprints. Before we left, a chain link fence was put around it and a hollow shell of a building was built over that area to preserve those footprints from the weather.
We understood how The White Doctor got everyone to Oklahoma after the Civil War, but to appear in Korea during that country's war? And just WHERE had The White Doctor met the jade dragon? Did this mean there were STILL dragons somewhere, but hiding on our world? Sometimes you can go crazy when you have questions like this, but NO answers. As to his grandfather, he was killed when he stepped on an undiscovered land mine while working the plot of land that great grandmother had bought, using some of those gold coins that the mabeop sayongia had given her. After everything was done and over with that night, the girls grilled us, asking if we believed it was the same man. We both said there's a lot of strange things going on the world right now, with so many people being changed. I mean, look at those guys with the names of Superman, the Flash and that one guy who seems to act/be like Thor. Who's to say this couldn't be the same man, but to have ONE man becoming part of our lives....... And who's not to say some people haven't mutated who knows how long ago? One thing we did agree on was that NOBODY thought of taking a photo of this man on that hill. We were just so excited, no one thought of it, even to using their phones. We were ALL that anxious to meet him. If you're wondering, the girls parents got told and their jaws dropped, but they could tell we were telling the truth. They still don't know what to make of it all. Then not much later, we showed up at Aarons parents house, but this time he had ALL of his brothers and sisters there. When he got done talking, he pulled the silver chain from around his neck, presenting that gold coin to his mother, who started crying in finally knowing that what her grandmother had told her, was the truth and not the delusion of an old woman. That coin is in its own display case in their home and when she dies, each of her kids will keep it for one year, starting with the eldest.
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Post by papaof2 on Aug 17, 2022 16:59:15 GMT -6
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ahsga
New Member
Posts: 32
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Post by ahsga on Aug 18, 2022 20:31:11 GMT -6
Thank you for the great story.
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Post by willc453 on Aug 20, 2022 19:20:57 GMT -6
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Post by feralferret on Sept 5, 2022 5:40:36 GMT -6
willc453,
Thank you for a wonderfully entertaining tale. I have enjoyed several of you Affected stories and look forward to reading others.
As a side note, I am an Amarillo native. The Big Texan Steak Ranch, or as you call it Amarillo Slim's Steak Ranch (home of the free 72 oz steak dinner if eaten within one hour) is a place with which I am quite familiar. I worked there as a dishwasher while in high school (1972). At that time, all of the food scraps from the dishes were scraped into 55 gallon drums before washing. A local hog farmer then picked these up every couple of days, exchanging empty barrels for the full ones. I enjoyed you working this establishment into several of your stories, especially in Thor.
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Post by willc453 on Sept 5, 2022 13:10:20 GMT -6
Drove truck for 15 years and went thru every state except Minnesota and Maine. Passed that steak place more than once, though never had the time to give their steaks a try and of course. there was always the problem of trying to park 70' of truck and trailer. As to that Hooters in Texas, yeah, I hit that place when- ever I could as there's a big shopping center/mall basically next to it. Hooters? California, Oregon, Utah, Florida, Ilinois, Nevada and Colorado. In The Layover, I mention how Andy eats there when he can and some of the streets I mention are there. The 2 truck stops in Riverside, Calif. where Thor refuels? Yep, they exist there, along with the Hooters which is across the freeway from them, along with that Walmart across from it. As for Texas steaks, they're yummy, yummy in my tummy. did 2 months at Goodfellow AFB, Texas to learn computer operations and some other stuff. When we graduated, we went to a steak house, where different cooked steaks were brought out on platters. Once WALKED to the nearby town....yeah, I was THAT bored. It was on a Sunday and the sidewalks were rolled up by the time I got there around 14:00. Hit the local airport (bored again), where I saw my first P-39 or P-63 which was flown by a member of CAF. Back then, it stood for Confederate Air Force but due to wokeness, it's now known as Commemorative Air Force. I had the uh oh bright idea of collecting mementos of my truck traveling, with me buying a coffee cup from each state I passed thru. On my 2nd return home, found that I had 32 coffee cups?! That's when I took my camera and tripod with me and started taking photos of different things, including me standing in front each states welcome to sign. More than one driver would be passing me by and upon seeing me, they'd hit their airhorn. Got something like 2,000 photos to go along with my memories of being on the road. Homestead, Florida? We were stationed at that base, with Dad/Mom buying a house at a place called Pleasure Village and we went to Bayfront Park more than once. This was after coming back from Bitburg AFB, Germany. This was 60-63, then we moved to Calif. Sun Valley is where I've been living for about 30 years, but Tonopah, Vegas and Gold Ranch are places I've been to more than once, along with Cabela's which is on the FAR west side of Reno. And have done a lot of fishing on the Nev. side of the Truckee River, along with seeing Mustangs doing their thing on the east side of it, way outside of Sparks.
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Post by feralferret on Sept 5, 2022 15:55:35 GMT -6
You didn't miss much. Their steaks weren't as good as several other less expensive restaurants. It was all about the hype. They served rattlesnake also, but I had no interest in trying it.
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Post by willc453 on Sept 5, 2022 16:31:03 GMT -6
Was stationed in Panama for 18 months and when payday came around, hello downtown with all those beautiful ladies. Where were a lot of street vendors cooking food on their hibachi's, 5 for a dollar on a bamboo skewer. Man, they tasted great....which not only included beef, but monkey and iguana. Once again, yummy yummy in my tummy. I'd either get a ride on what we called a cheeta bus for a quarter or if I had the money (which was rare), take a cab back to the barracks. My roommate got drunk twice, the first time falling asleep on the grass outside the barracks, with no one bothering him until he woke up and got inside. Second time, he didn't show up for work and people got in a panic because we thought something had happened to him. The base was going to be closed, so as the barracks got emptied, the beds, etc. were piled up in the large, common room. He had crawled in among all the mattresses to sleep it off. We were so glad to find him, he never got wrote up.
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Post by feralferret on Sept 8, 2022 23:24:58 GMT -6
My former next door neighbor's mother was from panama. His father met and married her while stationed there.
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