The Switch (11 page)

The first day on the lake was
a typical Alabama September day. The sun was bright and the temperature in the
morning was in the low seventies.                 

John paddled the canoe slowly
out of his cove and made short casts to the bushes along the bank. He was
throwing a small top water plug that spit water as he popped it along the
water’s surface just inches away from the branches of the now flooded bushes. On
his fifth cast there was a swirl around his plug and it disappeared under the
water. He jerked up on the spinning rod setting the hook into the fish and it
immediately leaped from the water flipping over and spitting the plug loose.      

“You have lost your touch
Appleseed,” he said aloud. He was grinning as he cast again to the same spot.

The fish hit again and he set
the hook, hard this time. He fought the fish to the side of the canoe where he
lifted it from the water by its lower lip. He guessed the fish was about
sixteen inches long and maybe two pounds. He put it on a stringer and lowered
it into the water.

He fished around the point
and caught five more bass within the hour. All were smaller than the first
fish, but they would make a good meal. As he paddled back into his cove he was
able to see that neither of the vacation homes on both points to his cove were occupied.

The home on the north point
of the cove was owned by an elderly couple from Birmingham, Peter and Jean.
They were in their eighties and John was sure they would prefer to be on the
lake than in the city, but he was also sure they would not be able to get to
their lake home from Birmingham. He wondered if they would object to Lynn and
Cameron living there.

That lot was about five
acres. It was covered with large pine trees and was covered by a blanket of
pine needles and was one of the prettiest lot on the lake. The house was older
and small, but was just the right size for Lynn’s small family of two.

The house on the south point
of the cove was big. The man who owned it was also elderly and was very
wealthy. His children and grandchildren used it as a playground on holiday weekends
during the summer months.

John had nicknames for
certain members of the family. He called one of the sons, Jethro because the
guy was rich and acted dumb, similar to Jethro Bodine of the “Beverly Hillbillies”
television show. He gave the nickname of Spivey to one of the other adult sons.
This was because of the similarities of the Spivey character in John’s favorite
movie, Dances with Wolves. The lake was normally very quiet and peaceful, just
as John Dunbar’s army fort was in the movie. But when the family arrived, he
related that man’s family to the Soldiers arriving at the fort disturbing the
tranquility, just as Spivey disturbed Dunbar’s peace at the fort. When the
family arrived, out came the noisy jet skis, ski boat and beer, and Spivey, a
loud mouth arrogant jerk.

“Well, there won’t be any
mechanical noise from that bunch now,” he said aloud. He wondered what Spivey
might say if they came to the lake to find David, Renee and kids living in
their lake house.

When he got back to the house
he found the entire family along with Bill Rockford sitting on the upper deck.
They were discussing the future, making a list of things they might need, and
things they wanted. Bill was leading the conversation. He suggested they write
a list of things they have that they would consider the most valuable. He
explained the term valuable, not as in cash value, but in survival value.

While the children were in
the lake swimming, Renee made notes as the adults took turns saying what they
knew they had. The list contained the weapons, lanterns, camp stove, gasoline
still in the vehicles and boats, camping cook stoves, propane tanks and propane,
propane heaters, blankets, winter clothing, fillet knives, ammunition, boat
oars and paddles, life jackets, bows, arrows, fishing line, fishing rods and
lures, and so on.

They then made a list of
things they thought they might need or want. That list contained a hand water
pump, panes of glass to make a solar water heater, lumber, nails, a cross buck
saw for firewood, hand tools such as a brace and bit drill, chisels, more
plates, toilet paper, ammo, and almost everything they had taken for granted a
few short weeks ago.

John already had many of the
hand tools but he did not tell them because he was not sure if he wanted Rockford
to know. He liked Rockford, but he did not really know if the man could be
trusted.

Rockford asked, “Is there any
place nearby that we might be able to find any of these things we need?”

John answered, “There is a
hardware store and lumberyard about two miles up the road. The owner of that
store lives next to the store. We can try there for the tools and building
supplies. A ride to Jasper might be required to obtain other items. I can only
guess whether the stores in Jasper will be open. There was a Wal-Mart store and
a sporting goods store there. It is about twenty miles if we want to go there
and find out.”

Rockford spit a mouthful of
tobacco juice over the porch railing, “We can take the wagon and horses if you
want to go.”

John noticed that when he
said that, he was watching John from the corner of his eyes as if looking for
John’s reaction while directing most of his remarks to the women. John sensed
that Rockford was being too friendly and seemed to be enjoying his
conversations with Lynn and Renee more than he should. He was also suspicious
of why Rockford offered to use the horse when just yesterday he said he wanted
to give his horses a few days rest before returning to north Alabama.  In any
case, John was happy to accept Rockford’s offer of the wagon ride to Jasper.

He looked at Rockford, “I
think we should go to Jasper tomorrow.”

Sue interrupted, “If you are
going to Jasper, I’m going too. There is no way you are going shopping without
me.”

The conversation then turned
into a discussion of what was the most important items.

It was difficult to say what
was the most important need? Is a bottle of aspirin more important than a hand
pump to get water from the lake? Is a box of sugar more important than a sack
of tomato seeds? John assured them that they had enough money, even if credit
cards would not be accepted, to buy everything they could carry.

After the long conversation
John and Sue took a walk along the edge of the lake enjoying the near total
lack of mechanical sounds. In the past the lake was generally peaceful,
especially from September through May, except when the loud neighbors arrived.
Beginning around Memorial Day the jet skis and pleasure boaters arrived and the
lake was usually a busy place. But now, it was peaceful and quiet, and it
looked like it was going to stay that way.

Early the next morning Sue,
John and Rockford headed the horses and wagon south towards Jasper.

As the horses clopped along
the asphalt roadway, Rockford asked John, “Do you think you will be able to
find a horse?”

“I think a horse will be the
toughest thing to buy. I don’t believe there are many horses around these
counties.”

Rockford spit over the side
of the wagon, “What would you be willing to pay for a horse and wagon.” John could
tell by the tone of Rockford’s voice that he was not just making conversation. Rockford
had something on his mind.   

He turned to Rockford, “What
do you have in mind?”

“Well, I might be willing to
let you have one of the horses and the wagon.”

“Is it yours to sell?”

“I can do whatever I want to.
I have the horse and wagon here; it is mine to do as I please.”

John hesitated for a couple
of seconds before responding. He looked directly into Rockford’s eyes, “Do you
own this horse and wagon?”

“They belong to my brother
who is an invalid; he does not care what I do with them.”

“If I buy the horse and wagon
how will you get back to north Alabama?

“I might ride the other
horse, but I’m not sure I want to go back. I was thinking I might just stay
here on the lake. From what I see here, a person could live pretty well here.”

“Tell me what you have in
mind.”

Rockford spit again. “Well, I
was thinking I could find an empty house here on the lake, there are boats
everywhere. I would just move in and take over one of the empty places. I would
be willing to give you a horse and wagon if you would do a few things for me.”

“What few things?”

“I want one of your .22
rifles, your promise that I could use the wagon anytime I want, that you will
get me some food from time to time if I can’t get it for myself, and I want
some cash.”    

“How much cash?”

“What can you afford to give
me?”

“I don’t know Rockford. That
depends on what I spend today. Give me any idea of how much you want so I will
know what I will spend today if the stores are open.”

“Well, I know you want the
horse real bad. How about giving me a $1000?”

John sat silent for a few
seconds before responding.  “I can tell you right now that we can’t afford to
give up that much cash. I will give you $500 cash today, my scoped Glenfield
.22, and I agree with your using the horse and wagon whenever you need it as
long as it is a local trip, and I will get you fish and meat as best I can. But
I will want a written receipt from you for the trade. I don’t want anyone from your
group up north coming here and accusing me of stealing it. I gave my word, and
I intend to honor it.”

Rockford reached into his
mouth with one of his fingers and pulled out the wad of tobacco he had been
sucking on and threw it into the weeds on the side of the road.

“Yes, consider it a done
deal, book it!”

Chapter 17

The ride to Jasper was a long
one. They used to drive it in about twenty five minutes. This time it took them
over half a day. The first stop was at Wal-Mart. Rockford stopped the wagon in
the center of the lot well away from a small group of maybe twenty people
gathered at the main entrance.

Sue looked at John, “It looks
like they are selling stuff from the front door.”

Bill suggested that they go
check out the situation and he stay with the horses.

They stood at the rear of the
crowd and watched.

John asked the woman standing
in the crowd to his right, “What is going on?”

The woman kept her eyes on
the entrance and said, “They are selling what they have remaining. You have to
wait your turn and one of their employees goes in with you. They want you to
have a list before you go in so you don’t want to wander all over the place and
take forever.”

A man in bib overalls
standing beside her added, “You have to pay cash and you are limited to only ten
items. I think they are out of a lot of stuff.”

“Do you have any idea what
they have left?”

“All of the food is gone, all
of it. But I think they still have a lot of other stuff.

Sue said, “I am surprised
they have anything left after all this time with no trucks.”

The woman said, “The store
has been closed until yesterday. I don’t know why they opened it back up. Most
people probably don’t know it is open. We live across the street and have been
watching or we would not have known.”

While they waited their turn
in line they both made a separate list of the ten items. A young tired looking
girl wearing the blue Walmart smock took Sue’s list and read it.

“I think we have all of this.
You have to pay cash. Follow me.”

A couple of minutes later an
elderly man took John’s list and read it. He said the same thing, “I think we
have all of this, you have to pay cash. You got cash?”

John told him he had the cash
and the man motioned with his thumb for John to follow him inside.

The girl pushed a cart and
led Sue to the back corner of the store where Sue picked out the largest box of
matches on the shelf. They moved onto the housewares where she picked up a
package of a dozen candles. In sporting goods she put a can of Coleman fuel into
the cart. They then went to the clothing department where she selected the
largest package of women’s outdoor athletic socks, a package of children’s
athletic socks, and four sweatshirts, two for adults and two for kids. The last
items was a package of twenty four rolls of toilet paper.

She was at the front door
paying for her items when John arrived followed by the man pushing his cart.
She looked at his cart. She saw another can of Coleman fuel, a package of two
camping lighters, another package of candles just like the ones she was buying,
more toilet paper, a large roll of fishing line, a box of .22 ammunition,
package of men’s athletic socks, package of boy’s athletic socks, and four more
sweatshirts, two for men, two for boys.

After paying for the items
they pushed the carts to the wagon. John handed Rockford five hundred dollars.

“Here is half of the money
for the horse and wagon.” He explained the store procedure to Rockford so he
could get in line and get things he wanted.

Their next stop was at the
local sporting goods store. The doors were locked and the store was dark. John
looked through the front glass and saw that most of the merchandise was already
gone but he could not see to the rear of the store where the guns and ammo were
kept. There was no need to knock on the door; there was no one there.  

Next they went to both of the
local grocery stores. Both were closed, dark and empty. All food was gone.

They stopped at the drug
store and Sue got out of the wagon. She checked the door and looked inside.

“The door is locked but the
shelves are still full. It must have been closed as soon as the power failed
and never opened again.”

John jumped down from the
wagon. “Wait here, let me check the back door.”

Sue knew what he was
thinking. She knew he was an honest person, but in the case of survival, he
would perform a burglary if he believed someone’s life depended on getting
critical medication. He was always planning ahead. She half expected to see him
next through the front glass inside the store. But that did not happen. He
returned after only a couple of minutes and got back into the wagon without
saying anything about the back door.

Rockford held the horses
reins and looked at Sue and then at John. “Where to next?”

John waited a long minute for
Sue to respond, but when she did not he said, “It is going to be dark by the
time we get home. I don’t think we are going to find anyplace else open. Let’s
head home.”

As they left the small town
of Jasper, they did not take the same route back through the town. They
traveled the main street west and inspected the condition of the town and other
stores. They turned northwest on a secondary road and rode past more small
businesses. All were closed and they did not see many people out and moving.

Sue was sitting between
Rockford and John on the bench seat and twisted at the waist and looked at the
bags of merchandise behind them.

“It is hard to believe the
world has changed so much in only a few weeks.”

John looked at the bags, “It
is going to get a lot worse before it gets any better. We will learn how to get
things done. We will have plenty of fish to eat and a fair amount of meat. But
living with no air conditioning during the summers is going to be bad. A lot of
people in the north will die this winter.”

They rode home through the
late afternoon and into the evening. During the last couple of miles before
getting home it was dark they could not see the horses only a few feet in front
of them.

John looked up at the sky and
the thousands of stars.

“I don’t think I have ever
seen them so clearly.”