“Calleigh’s a good kid,” interjected Janice. “He’ll be in good hands until you get back.”
“Young love, sweet young love,” called out Mel in a song he apparently just made up on the fly.
“Can we at least get a steady pitch?” asked David, laughing along with Janice and James.
“I only guarantee catchy lyrics,” replied Mel, “and that is all.”
“Okay, gentlemen. It’s business time,” announced James. “How did it go with the ladies and the rest of the group?” he asked, looking at David and Mel.
“As good as can be expected,” they both said, talking over each other.
“You go first,” David told Mel, having already heard most of his story on the ride down and swearing his son, Mark, to secrecy about anything he overheard.
“Well, my Tammy, she’s a New Yorker, a city girl through and through. She loves it up on the mountain like most city women I know of love a lake house. Great for a weekend and maybe even occasionally a few days longer, but not somewhere to live full time—given a choice, of course—and it’s not even winter yet!”
“We’re looking at the same on my end with Tina,” said David. “She’s a city girl as well and doesn’t see the mountain the same as I do, but that’s all right. On the other hand, my mom would rather sleep in a tent on the hard ground than move into the city. However, she does understand where things are headed, and as you heard yesterday from her, ‘It’s all about the future generations.’ So, she is onboard 110 percent with whatever we decide. And don’t even get me started about Mark!”
They all had a quick laugh at the remark before getting down to business.
“Lastly,” continued David, “the group as a whole is onboard in a nearly unanimous decision. I used to worry about a day like this coming…couldn’t get it out of my mind some nights and didn’t sleep a wink before they came.”
“Before who?” asked Janice.
“Before my old friend, Lance, and his crew came through. They left their homes and everything they knew—not to move 30 miles away but 800 miles, and not knowing if they would ever even make it! It’s like they used to do when settling the Old West. Families would head out in large groups, and some would splinter off when they found what they were looking for, like my Tina did. The rest of them kept moving, hoping that each day wouldn’t be their last.”
David continued: “We’re being asked to play a major part in our country’s new history, for better or worse, just like our forefathers arriving here from England two hundred and forty years ago. We are rebuilding our country—not from scratch, though. We still have buildings, houses, roads, some vehicles, and we all remember what it used to look like. For that reason, our job is easier than those coming before us. However, this time, instead of fighting the Indians, we are the ones to be tamed and contained. Maybe I commute the 40 miles to town each way or settle closer. I don’t know yet, but my family will live free, or I will die trying. The rest of it doesn’t matter all that much.”
“I couldn’t have said it better if I tried,” said James, getting nods out of the rest of them. “Now, to the gritty business of the Sheriff and the Judge. You know what they would do with us if the tables were turned, right?”
“Yeah, I know,” said Jason, with David nodding in agreement.
“They would have us strung up or shot,” James continued, “and if we’re not careful, they still could. It’s good to have the Army as a backup, but my experience with Government is that things run slow—and sometimes too late is really too late. On the other hand, without the deputies and townsfolk, they are just two people. Judge Lowry is apparently as passive as we always thought he was—the big man with a gavel but not so much, once on the other side of the bench. As for the new Sheriff, she’s a certified killer, but aren’t we all now?”
“Just so we’re on the same page,” said David. “And I’m only asking because I don’t know anything about the town. My question is, in a pinch, who are the deputies and townsfolk going to back and be loyal to?”
“James!” said Jason, without hesitation. “They will back James all day long, I’m sure of it.”
“And you?” David asked, looking at James.
“Yeah, I think he’s right—and we’re about to find out, I guess. The questions now are what and how?”
“I vote that we remove them from their posts and send them on their way,” said David. “I’ve heard rumors of this whole hanging business, and it isn’t something I’m interested in being a part of.”
“Me neither,” replied James, “and one of my conditions for the Colonel, if I am to be Sheriff, is a pick-up program. We catch the bad guys, and they pick them up and do whatever they do after that… I’m guessing, though, that they will not be going peacefully. And as we have already seen, the Judge did leave once, only to return a week later.”
“That’s true,” agreed Jason. “You know, when we were straight with the Judge and Sheriff Johnson, like when you told them about the still, it turned out okay.”
“Yes, that’s true,” replied James, “but now we are not talking about something to be swept under the rug. This is their very livelihoods and positions of power that they—or at least she—would kill to keep.”
“If Mike—the guy you met up at my place before—were here, I would suggest a full-on kidnapping,” said David. “But since he’s gone, my vote is a meeting to see where their heads are.”
“Okay, I see where you’re headed,” said James, with Jason
