The Days After (Big River) Read online

  As the small boat neared the pier, one of the men shouted, “Put your hands in the air where we can see them.” Louis had to keep one hand on the motor handle to guide them up to the pier. Clay's hands and the driver's one went up above their heads. Clay said, “We are just going up river, thought maybe you would have some fuel or supplies. I am Clay and this is Louis.”

  The man took the end of a rope and tied the dinghy to the end of the pier. He looked over them and their boat closely. “How could you be goin' up river? You don't have any supplies, not even a fishing pole.” The man pushed his western hat back on his head a bit, the other man did not lower his rifle.

  “Fact is, we have a bigger boat down river. We are interested in diesel fuel,” said Clay “We came up from N'orleans.”

  The man said, “C'mon up on the dock...leave your guns for now. Let's talk a bit.”

  Louis and Clay were always cautious, they both had a small pistol in their waist bands underneath their shirts. They climbed up on the dock and offered their hands to the men. “This here is Jim and I am Nathan. Pleased to meet you,” they all shook hands. “Pretty bad in N'orleans, I suppose,” said Nathan.

  “It's real bad and not going to get any better, I am betting,” said Louis.

  “Yeah, that's what we figured,” said Jim. “How big a boat you guys running?”

  Clay said, “It's big, a paddle wheeler, I had a day tour operation.”

  “You be needing a lot of diesel then, is that right?” said Nathan. He rubbed his jaw for a minute, took notice of the bulge of a gun under Clay's shirt, “You seem like okay fellas, we can work with you on some fuel.”

  The captain took a chance, trusted a gut feeling that the men were trustworthy. “We have Louis's family and a woman who worked for me and her child. We already ran into some trouble since leaving N'orleans. As a matter of fact, it wasn't that far back down river that we were ambushed. Would you guys know anything about some bad folks in the area?” Clay hoped these were not more of the bad guys.

  The two men exchanged looks, Nathan said, “Dang it! We knew there were some bad seed not so far away. We kicked three no goods out of town, a few days ago.”

  Clay told them the story of their encounter, that they might have killed one of the attackers and killed or injured another. “Good riddance,” said Jim. “Them bad guys are like magnets for other bad folks. We are not going to put up with that in this town.”

  Both men just leaned on their rifles now, “Listen, this is plenty deep water out at the end of the pier. Why don't you bring your paddle wheeler on up river and anchor. You and your families can get off the river for a while and come into town.”

  They all shook hands again and they thanked the men for their invitation. It would be good to get off of the boat for a rest, the women and children would certainly be happy for the break. By the middle of the afternoon, the Annie Belle cruised around the big bend in the river and anchored down at the small community. The big horn blew. A few women and children had joined Nathan and Jim, they gave the voyagers a warm welcome. As they walked away from the big boat, Clay stopped and looked back with concern.

  Nathan said, “Don't worry son, we'll leave a couple of guards down here and then you can come back before dark and keep her secure. She's not as big as I thought she would be, we've seen some real monsters going down this river. She is a beauty, though, you must be proud of her.”

  “Thanks, you are a good man,” said Clay. “The boat has been my living and my home. It has to get us a lot further up river.”

  Jim overheard, “How far up river do you plan to go?” he asked.

  He explained about his brother's farm and where they intended to reach. The small group emerged through a stand of trees into an old downtown area, that seemed to be bustling with people. Lots of them, sex or age irrelevant, wore the western hats and boots like Nathan and Jim. Allie and Jacob looked on with fascination. Penny and Angel kept hold of their hands, even though some of the children said, “Come play...” pointing to some swings and see saws and a big bright piece of climbing equipment in the center park. The careful mothers were not quite ready to trust yet, said maybe a little later. Allie's small lip pouted. They all were led to some long picnic tables where numerous dishes of food were scattered and invited to eat.

  By the time the late lunch was finished and they had visited with the town's people, the children were allowed to play nearby. All around the small downtown square, many shops had open doors and seem to be doing business. The mayor, who it turned out was Nathan's brother, explained why things in the town appeared to be so close to normal.

  The story was that several years before, the majority of the citizens of the town agreed on a disaster preparedness plan. They stockpiled food and supplies, kept a community garden growing, in general studied and made long term preparations to implement in case of a catastrophe. One of the threats that had been predicted years before was the danger of a huge ground fault that ran down through Arkansas, not so far from them. Scientists proposed that an earthquake could occur along the New Madrid fault line, which actually extended 150 miles, a good portion of it in Arkansas. Of course, the big river was both a threat and a blessing and always unpredictable.

  When the happening occurred a week or so earlier, they put their plan into action. Hundreds of the citizens evacuated. There was actually a newer section of the city about five miles away, much more populated. The old part of town was quaint, vintage and the people that lived in the area were what might be called country folk. As already mentioned, some folks quickly were exiled from the town. They knew what they had to do to survive and anyone who stayed was expected to be part of the work to accomplish that. Bad conduct and non participation in the survival of the community would not be tolerated, the security was strictly enforced. There had never been a lack of guns among the citizenry.

  The shops and small businesses that circled the park, had goods that would be bartered and traded until the stock was depleted. After that, some of the shops would continue to offer the items that were made, crafted or grown by the residents and any supplies that could be acquired. All of this was part of a self sufficiency program and a plan to survive a long term disaster.

  It was utterly impressive. As the story of the town was told, Clay thought, maybe these are some of the good people and just maybe they will be able to survive and restore. He and Louis followed along the brick paved sidewalks, as Penny, Angel and the kids went in and out of the open doors of the shops. Angel found some blouses and Penny some scarves, when it became obvious that money was useless and they had nothing to trade. Nathan had joined them, his wife was the “hostess” in one of the stores.

  Clay said, “Nathan, you have many things that we could use. We, of course, need that fuel. I am embarrassed to say that I don't think we have a thing that you would need, to barter.”

  The man just gave a hearty laugh, “Oh, don't fret 'bout that. There are always plenty of chores that need doing around here. You can stay on for a couple of days, help out around town and we will work out a deal for whatever you need.” He slapped Louis on the back and made him stumble, “Okay then, glad to have you folks. Ya'll go ahead and do some shopping the rest of the day. They'll just write down what you find. Come to the park in the morning, we will see what needs doin.”

  Louis was a bit nervous about this open ended deal, but they all agreed, they would stay. Work in the town during the day, sleep on the Annie Belle at night and keep her secure and earn some needed supplies.

  Chapter Four

  Small Town to Big City

  Following the agreement, the women went back into the shops. Angel selected the two blouses, she was pretty tired of the only two she now possessed. Penny had altered the pastel splashed tops for Allie, but she definitely needed some more panties, her mother found a package of five in the little girl's size. Penny brought her family several changes, she did select a couple of scarves and one of the blouses. The blouses were handmade and Penny
couldn't resist, she was a skilled seamstress herself and appreciated the quality of the work. Even though the men, including Jacob usually only wore t-shirts, they picked out a nice simple chambray shirt each and Jacob got a pair of denim overalls.

  Shelves filled with jars of home preserved vegetables and fruits lined one store. They added about a dozen of these to their tab. The children found some board games and a new deck of cards, some writing pads and crayons. Jacob found a big bag of marbles that he thought might be good ammunition, in a pinch, for his sling shot. Allie had never been much of doll girl, but when she spotted a lanky and boldly colored sock monkey, she was in love. Of course, they would take all the fuel that the town had to spare and their tanks would hold.

  Penny pulled a jar of what appeared to be a corn relish from the shelf and placed it in a box, she said to Angel, “We better make this an end, girl. We will be working forever to pay for all of our goodies.”

  Angel said, “You are right. I sure am glad to have something other than these two blue blouses to wear though,” she plucked at the blouse that was faded from many washes.

  Right as dusk, the small party thanked the guards that watched the boat for them, and took all their supplies onto the boat. It had been a nice day and the people of the town appeared to be decent. Before Louis and Penny began the first watch, he said to Clay, “Seems a bit too good to be true, old friend. We will see, when the work that is required for payment is lined out, huh?”

  It was their third day on shore, when Clay thought, Might be a good idea to get a firm deal made, as to how much work to earn the supplies and fuel. Not that the citizens were not good people or had tried to overwork them. As Louis had mentioned, it was a rather open ended arrangement and he got the feeling that the town would be perfectly happy to have them stay and participate in the work of survival. He couldn't say that it was a bad place.

  Penny had been thrilled to find a quilt in the process of being made and she had worked for the last two days with two of the other ladies from town on that project. She also had helped with some of meal preparations and shared her recipes. Angel worked in the community garden, helped out in some of the shops, and shared in some of the washing and cleaning duties. Clay and Louis worked on a couple of old pick-up trucks that the town owned, doing some maintenance and minor repairs. The men also joined Nathan, Jim and several other men and did a security check of about two miles around the community, checking for intruders into the perimeter that the town had established. The children were not opposed to small chores and trailed around behind the women, they pulled weeds in the garden, dusted shelves, picked up trash and played a lot in the park.

  One evening, Clay had finally got a static filled contact on the radio with his brother Dan. “Dan...Dan, is that you?”

  Some crackling came across and a pause, then, “Thank God!...you there, Clay? Are you okay brother?”

  “We are fine, Dan----Louis and his family, a woman that had just came to work for me and her little girl. We are trying to make it up river,” said Clay.

  It was silent for a while longer, he thought he had lost contact but then, “Where are you? Was it bad in the city?”

  “You were right all this time, Dan. Something bad has happened and things were rough in Orleans. We're still about seventy five miles or so south of Memphis. Moving along okay, we're anchored and working for some fuel right now,” said Clay.

  The radio cleared up for a few moments, “You just keep coming...you hear me?...don't give up. We will be good here. Stay safe and God Speed, little brother.” Then there was silence and the connection was gone.

  The next morning, Clay leaned over, checked the tire pressure in one of the truck tires. He spoke to Nathan who stood at a work bench nearby, “Nathan, I think it is about time for us to be on our way. I was able to reach my brother last night, he is waiting for us.”

  Nathan turned, a wrench in his hand, “I was really hoping that you folks might want to stay on here.”

  “You are good people, I'm not saying that it isn't tempting. I need to be with my brother, he is the only family that I really have. I have to travel on. We need to talk about what we still owe you and make our plans to leave,” said Clay as he stood.

  The man wiped his hands on a shop towel and then smiled at Clay, “Truth is, you are well paid up, son. You have been good help, you've all worked hard. We was just enjoying your company.” He shrugged his shoulders, “Let's check on that fuel this afternoon, and we will help ya'll get on your way tomorrow.”

  “Thanks, I appreciate it.” He felt relieved, not really sure why he had been apprehensive. He was sure that these were good decent people and they were smart about their own survival. He had experienced a twinge of doubt, a time or two. The people of the small community, probably more than a hundred, followed Nathan and his brother the mayor, a little too blindly. Clay believed that everything the people were doing for their survival and defense was necessary and right. He did know though, sometimes power was corruptible, sometimes leaders became arrogant, over confident in their own rightness. Someone had to lead and he sure hoped that abuse of power would never be the case in this town. Still, it crossed his mind, hadn't the citizens of Salem been good people, believed in their rightness when they were burning witches? Chilling thought.

  The clear morning kept the small group of people on the pier visible for a long time, as the paddle wheeler moved up river. The generous citizens of the town, waved their cowboy hats and yelled, “Bye...goodbye.” Allie stood at the back of the boat, hugged her soft sock monkey and Jacob stood beside her, both children waved their hands until they could no longer see the figures on the pier.

  Clay and Louis were glad to be back on the move, although within four days, Memphis, Tennessee would await them. That town, just like New Orleans was a wild place in normal times, there was no way to predict the threat of it in these days. Penny and Angel had enjoyed the time off the boat, the company of other women. Glad to be back on the Annie Belle, both women liked the return of their routine. The boat, in a short time, had become their home, they felt a comfort from being on board.

  ***

  On the second night out from the Arkansas town, they anchored down before the next bend in the river which would take them on to Memphis. It was well before the night watches, the women bustled around and prepared supper. The men came and sat on the stools at the bar.

  Clay said, “You two carry on with supper but we do need you to listen closely. Louis and I have talked and studied the map. You know that Memphis is up ahead.”

  “It's a big city, the river goes right through it and we are pretty nervous about getting safely past it,” said Louis.

  Penny turned and pointed the spoon in her hand at him, “Well, we don't have any choice other than going through, do we?” she asked. Angel opened a jar of vegetables and dumped them into a pan on the burner that glowed with a low flame.

  “No...no, we don't have any choice,” said Clay. “And the thing is, the map shows that it won't be the last large city we have to go near or around. St. Louis is up ahead, and it is probably the biggest of all the towns on our river route. We think that it's important that we come up with some strategies to get us through the cities as safely as we can.”

  Louis said, “Of course, there are only four of us. We do have plenty of guns and ammo and you girls have shown that you are willing to use them. The boat is big, it is not very loud though, moves pretty smoothly down the center of the river.” He stood up and went across the cabin to the storage area.

  Clay continued, “First thing we would need to do is to enter the city waterways very early, as close to daybreak as we can. Bad guys tend to party and carouse at night and sleep late in the morning. There will be fewer n'er-do-wells out in the early hours. And we will roll steady, not stop until we are well clear of the city.”

  “What?...did you say near doowells?” said Angel.

  Clay laughed, “No, it's something my father used to say. N'er do
well...means a person not up to any good.”

  “Oh-h,” smiled Angel.

  Louis returned with a big grin on his face and a large round metal object in his hand. It was an old metal trash can lid that he held by the handle. Bolted to it was a round flat lid from a metal barrel, like the hundreds of oil barrels around the waterfront. He held it up like a shield and that was exactly what it was meant to be.

  “What in blue blazes is that?” said Penny.

  He laughed and said, “Throw the spoon at me...go ahead, throw it.”

  She sent the wooden spoon flying towards him, he raised the shield and the spoon clanged to the floor. “See?” he said.

  Jacob was watching and said, “Neat Pop! Can I see it?” He took it and hopped around in front of Allie, who playfully tossed a crayon for him to fend off.

  “Back in the town, they had stacks of them, part of their defensive tools. We bargained for four of them,” said Clay. “They wouldn't stop a bullet, but they would be some protection.”

  Louis said, “Of course, we'll be darn sure the doors on the engine compartment are closed this time.”

  “So, we will move early and quiet, have our guns ready and our uh-h whatever those things are. That's the plan?”

  Clay and Louis looked at each other and nodded. Penny and Angel exchanged an exasperated look and Angel said, “Oh, my god. We are in trouble.” The anxiety that she had become so familiar with crept up her spine.

  The good natured man slapped the bar, “We will be fine, we are a good crew. How's that supper coming? Penny and I have first watch.” He looked over at his son as he played with the home made shield. He wanted them to believe his words...he wanted to believe the words himself.