“I wrestled her to get those panties on,” Betty grunted from the back.
“It doesn’t do any good,” Vicki sang out. “Momma said she would grow out of it.”
As soon as Vicki said ‘Momma’, Arthur heard a change in her tone and looked over. “Hey,” he said and tapped the center of Vicki’s chest. “As long as you’re alive, she’s right there with you, along with everyone you knew and know right now. We can only be sad now for short periods of time because each one of us is counting on the other very much.”
“Do you get sad about Miss Wendy?” Vicki asked and Arthur swallowed a lump in his throat.
“Very much and I think about her every day,” Arthur answered. “But I know she wants me to work hard and to be happy for this new family.”
Looking over timidly, Vicki mumbled. “I feel bad sometimes when I’m happy.”
“Baby girl, nobody would want you to feel bad about feeling happy. Especially after what’s happened. We were once all separate but now, all of us are family. Not many in the world can say that now, so enjoy it,” Arthur told her.
Looking ahead, Vicki nodded. “And you’re the daddy who cusses and is super cool.”
“Can I call you Poppa?” Jodi asked, climbing between the front seats.
Leaning over, Arthur kissed her on the cheek. “If you want to,” Arthur said.
By the time they were finished in the hydroponic greenhouse, the greenhouse buried in the side of the hill, everyone was calling Arthur, Poppa.
All the kids were at the gun range on the other side of the knoll the greenhouse was buried in. Arthur had two 10/22s and two ARs with ten inch barrels for those who didn’t have one to practice with. Each rifle had a suppressor. Jim was shooting the AR that Arthur had put together for him and was very proud.
Unlike Shawn and Andrea, everyone else was on probation with their guns. That meant they could carry them, but couldn’t carry them with a round in the chamber. And Arthur always checked. Not only to see if a round was chambered, but if the weapon was on safe. To be honest, everyone was terrified if they were caught with a weapon off safe, so they checked constantly.
Watching the kids shooting, Andrea came over and stood beside Shawn and Arthur. “I never would’ve believed I would agree with giving a six-year-old an AR,” Andrea said.
“He’s almost seven,” Shawn chuckled.
“End of this month, he’ll be seven,” Arthur said, watching Shelia change magazines on her AR.
“I know,” Andrea huffed, rolling her eyes. “I was just saying I can’t believe I agreed to it, not that I had a say.”
Stepping over to Shelia, Arthur showed her how to change magazines by rocking the rifle to throw out the empty magazine. Walking back to Shawn and Andrea, Arthur nodded as Shelia did it. “I need all of you armed as fast as possible,” Arthur said, never taking his eyes off the firing line.
“Yeah, it’s dangerous out there,” Shawn mumbled.
“We are way back in the woods,” Andrea pointed out.
Shaking his head, Arthur headed back to the line to work with Tony. “I assure you, trouble will find us here and we will fight for our lives in this valley,” Arthur said over his shoulder. The certainty in Arthur’s voice startled them.
Both Shawn and Andrea jumped and fought not to look around. They knew the areas around the house and barn were monitored, but most of the cameras were set up for predators going after the farm animals. Not predators coming for them. Even the monitoring software that the cameras ran through was set up for animals. Until this morning, the only raccoon anyone had seen was on TV. And most of those were animated.
Arthur had it on his to do list and wasn’t worried about it yet.
When Arthur came back, he stood between them. “You two will help enforce the probation by checking safeties and making sure a round isn’t chambered,” Arthur told both and both looked at him. Arthur’s eyes roamed back and forth over the kids, watching their every move.
“How old were you when your dad taught you guns?” Andrea asked and Shawn groaned silently.
“Don’t know who my dad is. My mom was a crack-smoking whore,” Arthur said nonchalantly. “I shot my first gun at sixteen. In case you’re wondering, I stole it from a federal building in Nashville. Still have it, but I keep it buried in a metal box. I’m sure you understand why. But, I’m thinking it will be safe for me to dig it up now.”
Andrea’s mouth fell open in shock as Shawn wanted to bow down and worship Arthur like a god. “Are you kidding?” Andrea gasped.
“Nope,” Arthur chuckled. “Hope you don’t think that’s the only one I stole from the feds.”
“You are so awesome,” Shawn droned.
“Can I ask, when was the last time you stole?”
“Two days after my eighteenth birthday, October 23rd,” Arthur answered. “Broke into an army depot in Kentucky and stole two M-16s with 203 grenade launchers. They’re buried with the others. Before you ask, Wendy hadn’t met me yet but I knew her. I knew if my luck ran out, I was an adult and I would be sent away for a long time, so I stopped. But I still kept up on the know-how.”
“Poppa,” Shawn said, making Arthur smile. “How many foster homes did you live in?”
“Sixteen,” Arthur answered and then finally, Arthur glanced away from the firing line to Shawn. “Shawn, Wendy didn’t take my last name when we married, I took hers. My birth name is Arthur Johnson, not Steele. I
