The Independents (28 page)

Bishop just grinned and shook his head.
Only Terri
.

Bishop backed
away from the table and double-checked on the kids
.
Sam was now
feeding the lamb
. David’s attention was focused on two girls about his age. He seemed to be holding his own
,
and were it not for the rifle strapped across David’s back, it would have looked lik
e a couple of teens exploring
a petting zoo.

Terri was wheeling and dealing like crazy. There hadn’t been any hard liquor in
Meraton
in months. Pete had almost
run
out of beer when he first attempted to make his own brew. The third batch had been almost drinkable
. When Pete sampled his fifth brew, he decided the taste wasn’t bad at all, and he woke with only the slightest headache the next morning.
But he needed a more efficient way to produce his liquid treasure.
That
led
to the still and the bathtub gin.
Terri’s timing had been just perfect with the machine gun. Pete
had been planning an announcement
to the community that their thirst was no longer in danger of being out of control. He had wanted Terri’s weapon badly en
ough to let her stea
l his thunder.

Terri grasped
a bottle in one
hand, which
she was using to fill small plastic bottle caps with samples. The men standing around the table were all trying to get her attention at
once. In her other
hand, she held
a
sheet of pape
r listing everything she needed at the ranch
. Bishop hoped toothpaste was on the
shopping
list.
His wife’s behavior was similar to a
ca
rnival hawker, a lot like a bar
tender
,
and a little like an auctioneer.
Every now and then, she evidently said something funny because all the men would break out laughing. One thing was clear. Several of the fine gentlemen gathered around her table had had more than one or two samples.
I would give anything to see what
’s
on that list she’s holding, but I would probably start a riot if I interrupted.

Bishop
wandered to a spot
several feet behind Terri’s table where he could watch both his wife and
the Colonel’s
grandkids. They had now gotten bor
e
d with the lamb and had moved on to a table full of comic books and magazines.
David had the two girls in tow
,
and everyone seemed to be getting along fine.
He glanced back at Terri and froze. One of the men standing beside her table had evidently had far too many samples and was grabbing his wife’s ass. Bishop tensed and started to take a step forward when Terri removed the offe
nding hand and wagged her finger
in the man’s face, clearly issuing a warning. Bishop relaxed just slightly
, but the move had gotten his attention
. It wasn’t but about a minute later that the hand returned. Again, Bishop was about to charge like a b
ull, when Terri
moved the hand and this time issued a sterner warning. The o
ffending gent, probably a ranch
hand in his early thirties
,
just smiled and nodded. It took the cowboy another two minutes or so to work up his courage to reach for Terri’s ass a third time. Bishop
didn’t even get a chance to move
before Terri
’s
pistol
magically appeared
in the man’
s face. Everyone became suddenly very quiet
,
and n
o one moved a muscle. The offender
raised his hands in the traditional “don’t shoot” position
,
and his eyes were crossing trying to watch the barrel of Terri’s pistol, which was touching his nose.

“I warned you twice
,
friend,” Te
rri said in a very serious tone.
“I’m not going to tell you a third time. You ever touch me again
,
and I
’ll
split that face of yours wide open. Do you understand?”

The cowboy had trouble finding words,
“Ye..ye…yes.”

Terri’s voice was cold as ice
,
and Bishop noted her hand wasn’t shaking
.
“Now, I know you’re going to walk off and think about this for a little while. Your male ego is going to get the better of you
,
and you’re going to want to come back and teach me a lesson. So maybe I should go ahead and
end this
right now
-
save me the trouble later.”

Terri clicked off the safety
,
and Bi
shop started moving forward, scarcely
believing he was going to try and save the guy’s life who had just been feeling up his wife. It was Pete’s voice that broke the silence, “Terri…Terri…don’
t do it. Take a deep breath
and just calm down. He’s had too much to drink Terri,
it’s not worth it.
”

Pete
was walking slowly toward Terri and the frightened man. He reached carefully
and put his hand on Terri’s arm.

Terri never took her eyes
off the
cowboy.

Pete said, “Terri, it’s okay. Let him go. It’s not worth this.”

Bishop wa
s surprised by Terri’s response.
“Pete, you know he’s a dead man anyway.
When Bishop finds out about this, he
’ll
take that big knife
of his
and skin
this
scum
alive
.
I’d be doing him a favor putting him down
now before Bishop gets a hold of him
.”

The cowboy’s eyes got even bigger, “Did she say
‘
Bu
…
Bu
…
Bishop?
’
”

Pe
te looked at the man and nodded.
“Yes, you
dumbass
, she said
‘
Bishop.
’
You should check whose wife you’re messing with first. I don’t know where Bishop is, but I would suggest you get the hell out of town before he shows up. We
’re
tired of digging graves around here.”

The cowboy nodded as much as Terri’s pistol would allow. Terri pulled the w
eapon back
,
and the man turned
and
left immediately. Bishop decided to follow him for a bit, just to make sure he wasn’t going to change his mind. The man mo
unted a good-
looking stallion and headed east out of town. He never looked back.

By the time Bishop returned, Pete had taken over the table
,
and Terri was nowhere
to be seen. Bishop found the teenagers
, and Dav
id informed him that two men
wanted to talk abou
t the rifle he
was carrying. David had told them Bishop would be around soon.

Terri casually strolled over
,
like nothing had happened. “Hey guy
s, are you enjoying the market?”

B
ishop looked at her and grinned.
“That was quite a show you just put on back there
,
kid
d
o. I actually thought you were going to shoot that guy. Nice.”

Terri was matter-of-fact.
“I thought it was better that I handle it. I knew you were standing behind me, and if you had gotten involved, it wouldn’t have ended well. No big deal. Pete’s giving me a break, but I don’t want him trading away all my supply. I need to get back
over there before the crowd thins out to
o
much.”

“Terri, you know if you guys keep making me out to be Mr
. Super Badass, one of these
ol’ boys
is going to eventually challenge me. You realize that
,
don’t you? I wish you guys would stop.”

“Okay
, Bishop. N
ext time I
’ll
just shoot the guy so you don’t have to get involved.” Terri spun around and headed back to her table, leaving Bishop with his mouth open
and
no words coming out.

When Bishop recovered, he
found
Betty
standing beside him.
“Bishop, the doctor said you should go see him as soon as possible. He’s in your
friend’s room. I’ll watch the kid
d
os.”

Bishop thanked her and hurried to
the Colonel
’s side
.

When Bishop rapped lightly on the
hotel room door, Doc Hopkins
motioned him out
side. As the two men crossed
the covered porch, t
he physician’s tone was serious.
“Bishop, I can’t do anything for him, and his fever is getting worse. Infection is going to win, even with the strongest of my antibiotics. The only chance is to remove that foreign object from his body
. As I said,
I can’t do that with the equipment we have here.
I
’ll
most certainly kill him during the operation.
”

Bishop could see the man was ti
red and frustrated. The two slowly ambled
through the gardens, each lost in his own thoughts.

The doctor looked at the ground and moved hi
s head slowly from side to side.
“It’s a s
hame, just a crying shame. If this had happened just a few months ago…. I
gues
s I’m going to see a lot of this
from now on. The children will
be the worst
,
I suppose
.”

Bishop kept thinking about Terri. While she seemed healthy,
there was no way to know for sure
.
You’re being selfish, think about
Meraton
and what they are building here. Think about
the Colonel
and how important his mission is.

Bishop put his hand on the doctor’s shoulder
.
“What do you need?
I heard you mention
equipment
that would help.
Is it too late to save
the Colonel
?”

The doctor snorted.
“Oh my god
, Bishop! W
hat I wouldn’t give for a simple x-ray machine and a basic operating room kit. I need something to look inside the body. I need to be able to transfer blood and monitor heart rates, blood
pressure,
and other vitals.”

Bishop was at a loss wh
en it came to medical equipment.
“Isn’t an x-ray machine huge? Doesn’t that equipment take up an entire room?”

“They
’ve
made portable models
the last few years
,
Bishop. What I wouldn’t give to get my hands on one. Someone donated a small generator for us to use here at the clinic, but I haven’t even turned it on yet because we don’t have any equipment that requires it.”

The two men walked into the hotel lobby and found a half pot of coffee
that
was still
warm. Bishop wanted to get back to the market and check on how Terri and the kids were getting along. He thanked the doctor again for his efforts and walked out onto Main Street.

As Bishop headed
toward Pete’s, he could feel the desperation building inside.
Seeing David with his two young admirers
earlier had only fueled the fire in Bishop’s
mind.
Meraton
, its market
,
and the community as a whole had to survive. It was more than just a symbol
of hope for Terri and him. I
t was important for the future of his child, or children.
Bishop often wondered
how his son or daughter would find friends and perhaps a love of their life. He had
thought about
what his child’s life would be like so many times. Who would teach them to read and write? The answer was always
Meraton
. He had even considered moving here at some point in the future.

Now that he knew more about the current state of the outside world,
Meraton
became even more important. Its isolation and general population were probably a rare combination. While he had no way of knowing if there were hundreds, or even thousands of such communities scattered around the
country, his heart told him this
town was probably one of but a handful of places that was actually moving forward, not falling deeper into the abyss.

Even if there were hundreds of places like
Meraton
, what would help
the town
survive – no, even thrive? What
had
made the difference for the towns of the old west?
How come some of the early settlements thrived while others became ghost towns? What allowed some communities to withstand the
test of time? The country as a whole could easily end up in a civil war in the next few weeks. Bishop believed that
scenario
was more likely to be the outcome than any sort of reconciliation or compromise between the two sides.
If war broke out
in the metropolitan areas
,
the survival of smaller villages like Meraton would become critical for normalcy to be restored.

As he walked down Main Street
’
s sidewalk lost in thought, Bishop didn’t notice that the market was winding down for the day. People had to travel back to their homes and ranches, some several hours horseback ride away.
He saw Terri closing up shop
,
and her body language and expression indicated she was a happy girl. He had to smile as he watched his wife go about packing everything up. She was not only a beautiful woman, she moved with a sense of grace and confidence that made him proud. He had fallen in love with
her the first time they had met
and never looked back.

While she was about
four
months pregnant, their diet and workload had caused them both to lose weight. Terri was wearing a pair of blue jeans that had fit her before their bug-out from Houston and she seemed to be comfortable in them. Her normally flat abdomen was just beginning to show a bulge
,
and it would require a careful observer to realize she was with child. Bishop knew all of that would change soon.
While he hadn’t said anything, he had been eating a little less than normal in order to let her get all she wanted. She was eating for two after all
,
and he was always worried about their food supply.
His
face was a little thinner, and he
had had to adjust his load vest and other equipment. While they were
nowhere near
suffering from
malnutrition, they didn’t
exactly
have
pepperoni pizza or rocky road ice cream in the kitchen freezer anymore either. Bishop had been hunting more often and trying to store more food for his growing family. 

West Texas
jackrabbits
were their primary meat. The plentiful critters were easy to snare
,
and Bishop was still paranoid about shooting any game because the sound carried for miles. Rabbit meat was fat free.
When Bishop had discovered a full-grown long
horn heifer wandering through a nearby valley
, they enjoyed a tasty feast.
The animal was exhausted and carried no brand. They had eaten beef for almost two weeks.

Thinking about food brought his
mind back to that word “finite.”
It was basic items that worried Bishop
the most. Salt, for example had be
en a big concern. While the couple
left Houston with enough to spice meals, they were completely unprepared for the amount of salt that was required for homesteading.
Drying meat, baking and many other household activities required salt.
They had a sin
gle one-
pound
container
at the camper, purchased long ago to refill the table shakers. Bishop
happened to come across
a five-
pound salt block while hunting one day. It had been set out for cattle to
meet
their daily needs. It
was pure luck he had wandered across
the
badly needed mineral
;
and in just a few short weeks, they had used almost half of it.

“Finite.” He was beginning to hate that word.
It seemed like ev
ery day some routine activity would
drive that
word back into his thoughts. Anything touched, used, worn
,
or eaten seemed to be f
inite. While the first deer he
brought down
was buried with so many of its body parts that it fertilized the ground, burying the last carcass barely required a trowel to dig the hole. At first, the fledgling homesteaders
had taken the prime cuts of meat and buried the rest of the animal, including the hid
e
. It was a few days late
r that Bishop
caught the side of his boot on a sharp outcropping and tore the leather. The incident reminded him that he would no longer be able to run to the store and buy a new pair of boots. The ones he had were going to have
to last a lifetime, or he would
have to make his own moccasins. Every single animal harvested for food since
had
resulted in a hid
e
being dried and cured in the sun.
Even that process had been frustrating. There were so many basic things Bishop wished he had paid attention to before the collapse. He had not scraped the first hid
e
well enough, and it had wrinkled and smelled to high heaven as it cured.
The resulting hide was
worthless and buried in the garden plot. He had gotten better at
the process
by
trial and error.  He knew there were
a
finite
number of errors they could make.

Terri looked up and smiled as Bishop approached. They hugged each other and enjoyed the moment. She couldn’t wait to show Bishop all of the items she had bartered for. Her most prized possession was three sets of children’s shoes, mostly in good condition. At first, Bishop was a little taken aback, but as he thought about it, he realized their child was going to need shoes just like they did.
There were certain times of the year where even the most calloused soles couldn’t walk on the desert floor. Her second most prized possession
was a stack of old dish towels. Some were heavily embellished with Christmas décor while others were clearly intended as a house
warming gift. When Bishop gave Terri a questioning look about the stack of towels, she said one word – “
Diapers
.” Bishop was somewhat embarrassed that he hadn’t thought about that aspect of having a baby around and realized Terri’s motherly
instincts were way ahead of his
.

Terri started to show him the rest of her prizes when
Pete joined them.
“Hey
, Bishop,
there you are. We
’re
having a town meeting inside the bar. I sure would appreciate it if you
’d
join us. We would li
ke to have input from Terri and you
.”

Ter
ri immediately answered for him.
“We
’d
love to join in Pete, thanks for inviting us.” Terri closed up her bags of goodies and looked at Bishop
.
“I’ll show you the rest
later.
I go
t several things we needed
.”

As Bishop and Terri entered the bar, several of the townsfolk had already gathered
. Many
were
sitting around the bar
, while others scattered among the available tables,
drinking water or whatever else they had. Bishop found a table
toward the back and the two
sat while more people continued to wander in.

After about five minutes, Pete looked around and then asked for everyone’s attention. He had a small stack of papers in his hand
.
“Okay everyone, thanks for joining us today. I have several notes here from all of you
,
and we
’ll
go through each and every one of them today. First up, is a note from George and Cindy Beltron. They want to discuss the topic of school and educating the children.
”

Bishop sat fascinated as the day wore on. The town meeting covered everything f
rom
sc
hooling the young ones to
maintain
ing
the cemetery. The town had a small elementary school before the collapse, with the middle and primar
y school located
an ho
ur and a half away in Alpha. A couple
of the school’s teachers were still in town
, and
the local people
who
had smaller children
wanted to see what would be involved reopening the school
. The discussion was eventual
ly tabled because the
teachers were struggling to put food on the table and keep their household
s
going. Wi
thout pay, there was no way the town could reopen the school. Three people volunteered to deliver ideas on compensating
the teachers at the next meeting.