Roughly half of the adults present raised their hands. There was small chatter amongst the others before Steve spoke up.
“How do we know it even works?”
“It did last time I saw it,” said Carl. “The Mayor and my dad used to race around the woods on them, but the last time was a few years back.”
More chatter ensued.
“Does it shoot?” Steve asked.
“I think so,” I said. “But it’s something we need to find out for sure.”
“I want to see it in action,” Joy replied, standing up. She was a part of the first group in support of it, but I saw where she was headed.
“Yes, me too! Let’s see it,” echoed most of the rest.
“Okay, assuming it’s what we hope it is and we can safely transport it across the mountains, I vote we offer 10% of our weapons, with ammo for each, in exchange for a fully functional machine, fueled and armed.”
“That doesn’t sound like much,” said Steve, adding it up in his head. “What’s the cost on that thing—dollar-wise, I mean?”
“Zero now,” I replied, but about $100,000 a month ago, according to the Mayor. You can take that with a grain of salt.”
“So, ten percent gets roughly a 50% value—dollars to dollars, I mean.”
“Sure, that sounds about right,” I agreed, “but a town like this probably doesn’t need two, and I doubt there’s a seller’s market for these things now. There are still a lot of ifs, so I’ll give everyone a few minutes to discuss before we decide on the next step.”
Minutes later, most were on board to at least see what it could do without committing to an offer.
“Let me talk to him,” offered Carl. “I’ll be back.”
* * * *
“Good news,” he said, returning after a few minutes. “He’s going to give us a preview. He wants us to all drive across the barricade to the inside first. He said he could have his mechanic demonstrate for any three. Any takers?” I wanted to go but was willing to give someone else the opportunity of a lifetime. “No, takers?” asked Carl. “Going once…going twice...”
“I’ll go,” said Joy, squeezing my hand.
“Second that,” I called out.
“Me too,” said Jake—unless you want to?” he asked his wife. “No?”
“Okay,” said Carl. “Then you three follow me.”
I felt like a kid getting his first boat ride—or maybe bumper cars was more like it.
“My mechanic will take you for a ride, and only if you like it will we talk,” said the Mayor. “Sound fair?”
“Yes, sir, Mr. Mayor,” I said for all of us. “But, you’re not coming along?"
“As I said, the past few weeks have caught up to my midsection; I’m not sure I could get in or out of one. We won’t get ahead of ourselves, so my guy will just show you the basics of operation for now.”
* * * *
“What year is this?” I asked, as we walked up to the front side.
“1940—look here,” the mechanic said. “Every one of these has a code. The first two numbers are the year made, the next two the month, followed by the date, and finally which number produced out of the factory.”
“Is that last number per week, month, or ever?” I asked.
“I’m not sure about that. It’s a good question, though.”
Inside wasn’t what I was expecting, feeling more like a cramped submarine hull than the H1 Hummer feel I had imagined.
“Is this cool or what?” said Jake, once inside. “I bet this thing burns a lot of fuel.”
“Sure does,” said the mechanic, sliding inside. “Five hundred horsepower and goes maybe 200 kilometers on a tank. But it’s a game-changer, even when you don’t use the big gun—if you get in a bad scrape, that is. You folks planning on one of those?”
“Yes, unfortunately we are,” I said, not caring to sugarcoat or avoid the question. It was the truth, and not talking about it didn’t change anything.
“Well, unless you’re an army, one is all you need; that’s why I’m keeping one here, either way,” said the Mayor, climbing back down a ladder put on the side of Bert.
“For that reason alone,” he said, pointing to the men outside the security barrier that we couldn’t see. “That man and his goons run Carl’s…well, his old town now, I guess. And I’m sure they have questions about his son gone missing. Maybe even found him by now, floating in the river.”
The men were not politely told to hold on until the Mayor was ready to speak to them.
“So, you all aren’t that friendly, I hear,” I said, gauging myself.
“I’m okay with most towns north of us, and even west, but those on the south never had anything good come out of them except for Carl’s family. His beautiful wife used to be a resident right here, went to our high school. Her mother still has those same good looks to this very day, if you can believe that. And his dad, of course, who taught me truly how to fish. Her momma, working breakfast at the diner, makes a man want to get up early and get his fill, and I do. Anyway, you all get going before I have a mortar round put into that state trooper’s front grill—the one who just showed up over there.”
“Fine by me,” I said, with Joy and Jake remaining uncharacteristically quiet.
* * * *
Working our way down from the top of the turret, we got seated and ready for instructions. The ride was bumpy and the tracks mechanical, but it was honestly one of the best experiences I had ever had. Our boys were going to give us grief for going without them, that was a fact. We were taken on a dirt road in the woods and through a shallow stream before ending up back at the inside barrier.
Heading back to the barricade, the Mayor could be seen arguing with the trooper and
