The Days After (Big River) Page 4

  One of the men said, “We got a bit, how much would you be wanting?”

  Clay pointed back to the two gas cans, “About ten gallons or so. What's the price?”

  The man chuckled, “We ain't taking any paper money, no good, might take some coin. What else you got?”

  Louis said, “You have any diesel fuel?”

  The other man looked them over, “That's not a diesel motor, what would you be wantin' diesel for?”

  “Well, we have a little bigger boat down river. We just wondered if you had diesel and if we came up stream, would we be able to get fuel and how much it would cost,” said Clay.

  “We got diesel, but it won't be cheap,” the man spit tobacco on the dock.

  Clay reached back and pulled the bottle of bourbon from under the blanket, “Will this buy the gasoline right now?”

  The man took the bottle, looked to see that the seal was unbroken and said, “One can full.”

  “Hey, man, that's good whiskey,” exclaimed Louis.

  The man just shrugged and spit again.

  “Okay,” said Clay. “What about...say three hundred gallons of diesel? What's your price?”

  The man said, “She—t! That's a big boat.”

  Clay didn't say anything this time, just looked at the man.

  The second man spoke, “Tell ya what. You bring us about four more bottles of this hooch and a carton of cigarettes and we'll fuel you up.”

  Louis handed one of the gas cans up and they filled it. The dinghy moved away and up the shoreline. After the dock was out of sight and earshot, he said, “That was a bunch of bull, wasn't it?”

  “Yeah,” said Clay, “but, they did have the fuel there. We will give it a try, bring what they asked for. If there is trouble, we may have to just take it.”

  The dragged the small boat up between a thick stand of trees on the shore and walked back towards the town, Louis carried his shotgun. Clay's AR was on a strap around his shoulder. The river ran right through the picturesque town of Natchez, a long and interesting bridge spanned the wide flow. There was already a faint unpleasant smell on the air and trash floated around the mostly deserted streets, tumbling in the wind. Clay grabbed up a bag that billowed by him, Walmart. There must be one of the many purpose stores in town somewhere. They saw maybe a half dozen people, who stayed well away from them. They walked and stayed aware of everything around them. Lots of broken windows, things strewn about in the streets. At the end of an old downtown street, in the door of a liquor store, a man stood with a rifle at his side. His look defied them to come in; they walked on.

  The ever popular big Wally World, had the appearance of a war zone. The entrances gaped wide open and very few items, unless they had smashed to the floor, were left. A figure dashed across the end of an aisle and Louis put his hand on his pistol. Then a dog, at least he hoped it was a dog and not a huge rat, scurried behind a pile of cereal boxes that had collapsed to the ground. A few extremely smelly packages of meat dotted the fresh meat area. Clay had grabbed some plastic bags and they looked for anything not ruined and edible. Here and there, if you looked underneath and behind, a very few cans and boxes remained. They threw what they found, packages of rice and pasta, canned goods in the bags. One lonely bottle of wine had rolled beneath the edge of a counter and two bottles of beer had survived a broken carton. Clay stepped over a pile of colorful clothes in the kids department and thought of Allie, he stuffed a couple of bright tops in a bag. Of course, not a single piece of ammo was left in the sporting goods.

  In the pharmacy, some scattered otc items sat on the shelves, the prescription pharmacy area was wrecked and stripped. They took some children medicines and some hydrogen peroxide. This made Clay think of bleach. He did have a water filter on board, still never knew when they would need to purify some river water. They found a couple of gallons in the laundry section. As they exited, Louis spotted a propane bottle and grabbed it. They made their way back the direction they had come. They had just about reached the liquor store when two young men stepped out from behind a dead vehicle and raised pistols at them. “Hey, dudes, let's see what cha' got.”

  Clay looked over at the doorway of the liquor store for the man with the gun. The only thing he could see was a foot stuck out in the doorway, the man was down. Since these two reeked of booze, they were likely the culprits. Louis had the propane bottle in one hand and the shotgun in the other. He slung the metal canister and knocked the legs from one of the attackers. The man fell and scrambled backwards. The other man fired his pistol and the bullet grazed Louis's arm. Clay fired and the man dropped to the ground. He hunted all his life and was in the National Guard for one tour, he was a very sure shot. His 9MM didn't have a big recoil and since he usually got little practice with the weapon, it was easy to handle. The gun was deadly enough, at the right distance and with good aim. He was not comfortable with the fact that he possibly killed the man, but he considered it self defense and it was very likely that the two murdered the man in the doorway of the liquor store. The man that had been backing up, got to his feet and ran.

  “Okay?” he asked Louis.

  “Just a nick, I think,” he looked down at his upper arm.

  They walked to the door of the liquor store. The owner had been shot in the head and sprawled on the floor. The whole place smelled of liquor, lots of bottles just raked off the shelves. Sickened, they loaded up some canvas bags with bottles, no time for ethics. Behind the counter, were cartons of cigarettes, they would be gone before the day was over. Clay took as much as could carry from his friend and retrieved the propane bottle. As they made their way out of town, Louis heard church bells tolling in the distance. He thought, Lord, help us all.

  They crossed the wide river, went down the opposite side they had come up on. In just minutes, they were at the paddle wheeler. Penny and Angel waited for them at the aft ladder. The supplies were relayed up. Blood trickled down Louis's arm and Clay's shirt was spattered. The women hustled them inside to check them out.

  Clay said to the children, “If you look in those bags, you might find something you like.”

  The adults moved away from them to talk. Just a graze, fortunately on Louis's arm, they dressed it and heard the story. Penny said, “Oh Lordy, do you think we can get that fuel?”

  Clay jerked his bloody shirt over his head, Angel took it away and he went to get another from his closet. He walked back behind the bar where the others sat, “Oh, don't you worry. We are going to get the fuel,” he said with an angry scowl on his face.

  Angel was distracted from her notice of his lean torso, as Allie twirled by, in a blouse that fit her like a dress, “Look, Mommy. Isn't it pretty?”

  Everyone laughed and Penny said, “Don't worry, sugar pie, I can make that fit.” The little girl danced around, oblivious to the fact that the top was two sizes too big for her.

  Jacob pulled a sling shot from one of the bags, he pulled back on the stiff rubber and it popped from his hand, “Cool, Pop...can you teach me how to shoot this?”

  “You bet, son,” he said. “Did you ladies have any problems today?”

  Angel answered, “No, pretty quiet. One big barge went by and one pleasure boat. A couple of guys and a girl were on board. They really gave us the once over, drove by slow. They moved on and haven't been back.”

  “You know how the kids like to sit on the side and watch,” said Penny. “We told Jacob to whistle if he saw anything coming our way.”

  “Penny and I planned what we would do, if we had to come looking for you men,” said Angel.

  A hum-mph escaped Clay, he said, “And how would you do that...swim?”

  Angeline completely ignored his derision and said, “We would have started the engine, backed the Annie Belle up for a distance and then moved up river around the island.”

  “Yes, that was the plan,” said Penny and nodded in total seriousness.

  Louis looked at Clay, and then broke up with laughter. Clay was not amused and said, “Tha
t is the scariest thing I've ever heard.” Louis laughed harder.

  They unloaded the supplies, including the bottles of booze and the cigarettes they hoped would be payment for fuel to continue up river. The day had re-affirmed for Clay and Louis, the situation was disastrous and there would be hard and dangerous times ahead.

  Chapter Three

  Rolling on the River

  The anchors up and the paddles churning, the Annie Belle moved in reverse with the captain at the controls. Then the big wheel stopped and turned in the opposite direction, moved the boat forward and Clay expertly maneuvered around the small island. They distance was quickly covered and they reached the fuel station. Louis stood on the walkway and watched for the long pier and tanks mounted on tall legs. The children sat on the bunk in the captains quarters. In this compact room, there was only one round porthole above the bunk, they had been told to stay until one of the adults came for them. They both stood on the bunk and pushed at each other, tried to see out through the circle. Finally, two little heads shared the window and they peered out at the river stretching in front of them.

  Penny and Angeline knelt at separate windows in the cabin. Penny with the big shotgun at her side and Angel with the AR rifle. Louis had told them, “If we give the signal, you fire. Don't you fire anywhere near the fuel tanks, understand?” They both nodded vigorously.

  Just to be double sure, Clay said, “Yeah, you fire at the water, at the trees... do-not-fire-under-any-circumstances at those tanks.”

  Penny put her hands on her hips, “We-got-it, Captain.”

  The fuel station came into view, Louis whistled and Clay spied it at the same time. The two armed men stood on the end of the pier. Louis picked up the bag at his feet that held five bottles of whiskey and a carton of cigarettes. He held up the bag and one bottle in his opposite bandaged arm, shouted out, “Hey, we got your whiskey and cigarettes. We came for fuel.” The captain slowed the boat and as they neared the dock, one of the men leveled his rifle at them, the other reached out for the bag.

  He looked in the bag, spat in the water and said, “Well-l, we ain't really got...what was it you said...300 gallons?” Of course, he already had taken possession of the bag.

  Clay stepped out from the control hut on the upper level, he had checked out the size of the tanks when they visited the day before. He shouted down, “Yeah, I think you do. We made a deal, we will take our fuel now.” The man snatched up the bag and backed down the pier, both men had their rifles aimed at Louis. Louis motioned behind his back, a volley of shots rang out from the cabin windows, hit the water, whizzed into the trees along the shoreline, one shot hit the side of the pier. He drew his sidearm and Clay leveled his at both men. “Put your guns on the ground. We will either take our payment and our fuel or you can keep the booze and we will take our fuel. It's your choice.”

  After a moment, the men kept a hold on the bag, laid down their guns and backed up. Louis pointed his pistol at one of the men, “You! Come bring me the hose and open that tank valve.” The man pulled up his drooping pants, moved to follow the instructions.

  When the gauge on the paddle wheeler read close to 300 gallons, the man yelled from the shore, “Okay, that's your 300 gallons.”

  Louis turned his pistol back to the man, “My gauge says 250.”

  The man cursed, “I said that's yer 300!”

  “Sorry, I can't hear you,” said Louis as the fuel continued to flow. It was at about 350 gallons when the man slammed it off. Louis threw the nozzle over the side and it dropped into the muddy water. “Nice doing business with you gentlemen,” he yelled, Clay already had the paddle wheeler in motion again. The men grabbed up their rifles and ran to the end of the dock. They fired wildly at the boat. Shots from the cabin windows rang out again and the boat slowly moved away.

  Louis went into the cabin, “You can relax now, ladies. We are away. You did good.” He looked back and forth between them, “Except, that one shot was awfully damn close to the tanks.” Neither woman said anything.

  Angel leaned up against the wall and exhaled, put her head down on her jean clad knees. Penny went to let the kids loose, told them to stay inside the cabin for a while. Up in the control booth, the two old friends congratulated each other on a successful fuel acquisition. This was going to continue to be a big challenge and they both knew it. With the little extra that they managed and what small amount they already had, they could travel about 400 miles up river. Hopefully, every gallon they needed to get to Dan's farm would not mean a battle fought.

  After the skirmish at the fuel station, the paddle wheeler continued up river. Clay knew that the historic city of Vicksburg, Mississippi lay up ahead on a high bluff above the river. He already decided that the best plan would be to avoid cities of any size, if it was possible. Vicksburg was not a whole lot bigger than Natchez, but it was a popular tourist destination. Of significant historical Civil War importance, the siege of Vicksburg had lasted forty seven days. Only one day after General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Gettysburg, Pemberton surrendered Vicksburg. It was said to be a turning point in the war. This was a city populated enough, whether with residents or visitors, that the captain wanted to get past it before they ended their day.

  As the Annie Belle glided past the town, the smoke and disorder on the shore was an eerie reflection of how it must have appeared from the river in 1863, nearly one hundred and seventy years earlier. Vicksburg was a city under siege. The day had been cloudy and drizzly, by the time they were losing the daylight, the travelers moved well past the historic town and anchored down before the appearance of the next city on the river.

  Angel was a decent cook, but Penny was a great cook. She could pick things from the long supply shelves and put together a tasty meal. Angel was impressed and happy to learn some of her cooking skills. They all sat down to a meal of a rice concoction that included canned shrimp and chicken and tasted delicious. It was a pretty spicy dish, so macaroni and cheese made the children perfectly happy.

  Clay said, “This is some good stuff, ladies.” He looked over to Louis, “Looks like we better do a little fishing, friend. What do you think?”

  “Yeah, you're right. That would be a good job for the kids to learn to do. Actually, Jacob is a pretty good fisherman, although not the most patient.” He looked over to Allie, “Hey, baby girl, how would you like to learn to fish?” With her plump cheeks full of mac and cheese, she nodded yes.

  They all discussed the events of the day, the meal cleared away, the children were prepared for their bedtime, that would come a little later. The crew and captain studied the maps and looked at the route the river would take them the next day, the section of water where Arkansas bordered on the western banks lay up ahead.

  Clay said, “You know, we have fuel that is going to take us a good distance up river. Certainly, not all the way to Dan's. I have been thinking how many abandoned vessels we have passed, some of those must have diesel still in the fuel tanks. We need to start checking them out. I have an emergency gas tank on wheels, it holds about twenty five gallons of fuel. I even have a hand pump siphon hose.”

  “Maybe we would find some extra tanks on the abandoned boats,” said Louis, “sounds like a good idea to me. It might be enough on hand to get us to a fuel source, in a pinch. The difficulty that I see, is getting the tank and us in the dinghy. We could probably use that old gangplank that only you and I have used at times, to get the tank from the deck, down to the dinghy.”

  Clay said, “We will have to give it some thought. Of course, we have plenty of life jackets if one of us had to swim and there is that big tube that you brought. I have to admit, as much as I love this old river, I am not a big fan of swimming in it. Maybe we can come up with a solution.” The tall narrow windows showed darkness now, only the lantern on their table and one on the bar where the children sat, illuminated the cabin.

  “Looks like time to start the watch. Angel, are you ready?” The two checked their weapons and moved out to the w
alkways. Above them, a moonless night with smoky clouds floating across a black background. It was about halfway into the first watch, the two guards passed a time or two, but one would usually go up the stairs and walk the top level and the other circle the cabin, changing positions just to stay alert and break the monotony. Clay looked out at something he thought he saw floating in the water, he came around the aft corner of the cabin and smushed right into Angel. Once again, he nearly knocked her down, he grabbed her shoulders and stopped her fall, “Dang it, woman. Are you trying to crack my head again?”

  She jerked her shoulders away and was going to give him a sharp reply, but she was close enough to see that he actually smiled. She looked back at him and said, “Well, some people really need a good head cracking, I have found,” she returned his smile. They stood for just a moment in very close proximity to each other.

  Something smelled so softly sweet. He sniffed the still night air a bit and thought, probably something blooming along the river side. “Well, see ya ah-round,” he chuckled and moved past her. She peeked back around the corner and watched his lean form disappear into the black. Later, after her watch was ended, she lay on her bed awake and thought that the captain was certainly an interesting man. Of course, he wasn't her type...whatever that was, she hadn't had a lot of time for romance the last few years...but he was somewhat interesting.

  The next couple of days offered no major troubles for the river travelers, but it did prove what Clay had already been sure of. It would be rare for them to cover eighty miles in one day, they would do good to cover fifty or sixty miles a day. It was not as if they had a free and clear path up the river to their destination. They came upon one heavily congested area, where many dead and abandoned river vessels had slowly one by one stacked up, forming a huge barrier against navigation. It had taken them several hours to just push and pull and maneuver around the obstacles to get clear. They at least had some moonlight that evening, so they had pushed on as far as they could see at all, to get further upriver.