The Switch (12 page)

The next several days John
and David used the jon-boat and oared their way for about one-mile both north
and south of their cove looking at every vacant house for possible use by
David’s family. 

They cautiously approached the
houses by first staying on the boat docks and calling out a few loud hellos to
see if anyone was around. When there was no answer, they walked the perimeter
of the house and looked inside the windows and any out buildings. They paid
attention for anything which might be of future use, particularly hand pumps, plumbing
parts, and panes of glass. They wanted to build a solar water heater on the
roof of his house and glass would be needed.  

At one house less than a half
mile north they found a stack of treated lumber consisting of two by fours,
four by fours and two by sixes.

John checked the lumber
thoroughly and told David, “We need to come back for this tomorrow. We will tow
the canoe on a rope and use it to carry the lumber. We might have to make a few
trips but it is exactly what we need.”

They continued up the lake
and checked every house within the two miles finding only one house occupied.
The couple living there was outside working on a garden and seemed very
cautious of John and David when they pulled up to their dock.

John introduced himself and
David and the man said his name was Gore. He did not give his or his wife’s
first name. John guessed their age to be about sixty.  

“We came from Mississippi. We’ve
had the place for over twenty years but rarely use it. We walked here a hundred
miles from Tupelo. We figured it was safer here than in the city.”

John told a short version of
his trip from Chicago through St Louis and told them where his house was
located and offered help if they needed it. They had a friendly conversation that
lasted about twenty minutes but the Gore’s seem cautious.

When they shook hands and
departed, John noticed Gore watching them closely as if he was expecting to be
attacked.

As David pushed the jon-boat away
from their dock he asked, “Do you think something is wrong with them? He seems to
be hiding something.”

“I agree, maybe they don’t really
own the house. Maybe they had just moved into the vacant house.”

After a few minutes of
thought David looked back at John, I think I know what might be wrong with them.
I’d bet they are related to former Vice President Al Gore and are ashamed.”

“I’d be ashamed to admit I
was related to Al Gore too.”

John pulled a diving plug behind
the boat on the way back and thought about how nice and peaceful the lake was
with no power boats or jet skis. There was no wind and the lake was as calm as
glass. There was only the noise of the oars pushing the water. What a beautiful
day to be on the lake.

By the time they turned into
their cove, John had four small bass and one of about four pounds on the
stringer. He filleted each of these fish while in the boat just before they
pulled up to the dock. The fish would be the evening’s dinner.

The next morning they returned
to the house where they had found the lumber four times to get it all. They used
the lumber and worked hard for several days building a solid elevated platform.

During one of their breaks in
their work, John said, “We need to find a couple of the plastic fifty-gallon
drums and some glass if we are going to get hot water.”

“I saw three big barrels in a
shed behind one of the houses we looked at yesterday.”

That is a start, “I have
plenty of PVC pipe and glue, but what about glass? Have you seen any glass?”

“No, but there are windows in
all of the houses. Maybe we could take out a couple of windows and use that
glass.”

John smiled, “I may have a
better idea. There was a house across the lake that we never looked at because
it was under construction. We need to check it. There may be windows there not
yet installed and probably some more lumber. There is no way anyone will be
back to finish the house. They will never miss it, at least not until
everything gets back to normal.”

“That is a big if,” commented
David.

John ignored his wisecrack,
“The biggest problem we will have will be getting the water up to the barrels.
I guess we will be carrying it by hand up from the lake if we can’t figure out
a way to pump it up the hill.”

“We’re going to need a few
good buckets too.”

Chapter 19      

Steve’s leg was almost totally
healed and he had made his decision. He had stayed at Linda’s house for too
long and he needed to head west.  During his stay she had gotten him to a
doctor for proper treatment and had nursed him through a serious fever from the
infection. The last few days Steve had been able to get around well enough that
he traveled locally and obtained as many provisions as he could.

He was able to find enough
canned food to replenish some of Linda’s supply and enough for a reasonable
supply for the first few days of his trip.

She handed him her set of
keys to the Sears store. “Help yourself to whatever you need. I don’t want to go
back to the store.

He took the keys, “Thanks, do
you want to go with me?”

“It was nice having you here
but there is no way I am leaving town. There is nothing in the direction you’re
headed for me.”

He walked back to the store to
gather the things he needed, just as John had done.  He was concerned about the
coming winter and the weather conditions he expected to find during his long trip.
He knew he would be seeing snow before he made it home and was unsure if he
might have to spend the winter on the road. If the weather prevented him from
continuing he planned to find an empty house with a fireplace to spend the
winter. 

He was cautious as he
approached the store. All windows and doors were still in place and it appeared
to be secure. There was no one in sight as he put the key into the rear door
and went inside. He quickly gathered what he needed making sure to get as much
warm weather clothing as he could carry.

He pushed a loaded bike out
of the store and on the road in less than an hour. The bike was fully loaded as
he made his first push on the pedals.

He rode all day and did not
stop until after dark. He slept under an overpass and was up at daylight riding
west. Each of the next six days were basically a repeat of the first. He rode
past hundreds of abandoned cars and trucks, many with windows broken out. He
saw a few other people traveling most of whom were walking.

Many of the people had a
rifle slung over their shoulder or a pistol on their hip. He stayed clear of
everyone, especially those with the guns.

He enjoyed his ride in
eastern Iowa because the roads were relatively flat and void of people. It was
somewhere on the western border of Iowa when he first encountered trouble. He
was setting up his tent for the night along the side of the highway when he saw
a man walking east along the other side of the highway. The man was carrying a
large backpack and a walking stick or cane. When the man was directly across
the highway he made a left turn and walked straight towards Steve’s camp. Steve
was sitting on the ground in front of his tent watching the man. The man said
nothing as he dropped his backpack on the ground beside Steve and crawled into
Steve’s tent.

Without saying a word, Steve
reached through the door of the tent and grabbed the man’s right ankle and dragged
him from the tent. The man looked at Steve but again said nothing.

The man stood up and Steve
stepped back a half step preparing for a fight but the man picked up his
backpack and walked away east along the highway.

Steve shook his head and
whispered under his breath, “What in the hell is going on?” When the man was
about fifty yards away, Steve hollered, “Have a nice trip,”

The man looked back at Steve
and waved good-by!

He rode hard every day and
made excellent progress. The weather had been nice and there had been no signs
of snow. He was near Yellowstone when he saw the first flakes but he did not
let the light snow slow him down. The wound on his leg had healed and he wanted
to make it home to Portland as soon as possible. The snow only made him pedal
harder and faster. He rode on and on, daylight to dark, day after day.

He coasted into his driveway
on what he thought was the twenty eighth of October. His house looked vacant as
he walked up his sidewalk to the front door. He tried to turn the doorknob but it
was locked. He put his head against the door glass and tried to see inside.
Everything looked normal but dark.

He walked to the rear of the
house and tried the rear door but it was also locked. He drew back his fist and
punched his fist through the window glass. He reached inside, unlocked the door,
and walked into the kitchen. Out of habit he flipped the wall switch for the
lights then cussed himself for being so stupid.

He moved from room to room
and concluded the house had been vacant for long time. There was a layer of
dust on everything and most of his family’s clothing was missing from the
closets along with the suitcases. It was easy to see that his wife and two sons
had left. He was overwhelmed with sadness and depression.

He pulled out a chair from
the kitchen table and sat down trying to think about what he should do. As he stared
at the table top he noticed an envelope leaning against the salt shaker. His
hands were shaking as he opened the envelope and found a letter. The letter
read:

           
Oct 15

            Dear Steve

           
I have no idea
where you are or what you are doing. We have heard terrible stories about what
is happening around the country and the world. We know that hundreds of
airplanes have fallen from the sky. I know that your flight schedule was for
the day all of this started, and as best as I can tell, you were probably in
the sky when this happened.

            I have
explained, as best I can, to your sons that you may never come home. They are
handling this better than me.

            Today, we are
leaving with a group of other families who are headed to Seattle. I plan to
travel with them until we reach my parent’s home. I will stay there with the
boys provided my parents are there and are ok. If they are not there I don’t
know what I will do. I guess I will return here and wait to see if you ever
join us. The group traveling north consist of the Smart family, the Dunn family
and the Carpenter family. They are all headed for Seattle or further north.

            I don’t know
if you will ever read this letter or if we will ever see each other again. This
letter is my only hope of communication.

            If you are
alive and have made it home to read this letter, please come to my parents and
join us.

            Be sure to
leave me a note here on this table if you leave here looking for us. Let me
know your plans in case we miss each other. I understand our group will be walking
the interstate highway if it proves to be safe. We have heard stories about
robberies and murders along the roads, so we are not completely sure of our
route.

            I will be
using orange surveyor’s tape to mark our route. I will tie the tape to fence posts
or signs along the route so you will know you are on the right trail. I will
tie the tape with four knots, one  for each of our family.

            We all hope
you did not get on a plane. We hope to see you soon.

            Love

            Sharon, Gary
and Shane

Steve was instantly filled
with energy and excitement. He began to make plans to head for her parent’s
home in Seattle.

Chapter 20

By mid-November both of the
girls’ families had moved into their choice of nearby vacant houses. Both
houses were on the same side of the lake and both within walking distance of their
father’s.

David and John continued to
explore vacant houses and had gathered most of what they needed to build small
solar water heaters on the roofs of each of the homes.

One afternoon as John was
working on the solar heater on Lynn’s roof, he noticed footprints in the dirt
outside of one of the bedroom windows. He did not think much about it at first,
but as he sat on the roof, gluing sections of pipe together for the water, his
mind wandered back to the footprints. He climbed back down the ladder and took
a closer look at the prints. He smoothed the dirt beside one of the prints and
placed his foot carefully on the ground to make his own footprint. He moved his
foot and compared the two prints. He wore a size ten, and the unknown print was
about an inch smaller than his. He estimated the size to be about an eight.

David had been helping with
the work on Lynn’s roof for several days, but John did not believe David wore
that small of a shoe. He walked around the outside of the house and looked at
the ground under each window. He found the same footprints under the other
windows. The ground under the bathroom window was packed down with the
footprints.

He went back up onto the roof
to continue his plumbing work but footprints occupied his thoughts. As he glued
and set the pipes he became convinced that the prints had to be made by someone
peeking into Lynn’s windows. 

His first reaction was to
alert her about his suspicions, but the more he thought through the situation,
the more he believed he should keep it to himself for the present.

Over the years of his career dealing
with bad people he had learned that there were two things about people that
could never be prejudged. No matter how well you thought you knew someone, you
could never be sure what they might do in situations involving money or sex.
Time after time he had seen people make very stupid decisions; decisions that
had serious consequences on their lives. In every case the decision involved either
money or sex. The dumbest decisions always involved sex.

When he arrived home later in
the day he put his tools away and then went to the front of his house and
examined the ground outside his bathroom window. Sure enough, he found the same
small footprints.

That evening he and Sue took
their normal fishing trip. He oared the boat along the bank in the direction of
Renee and David’s. From the lake in front of their house he could see Renee,
David, and Lynn sitting on the front porch and the grand kids playing in the
yard.

He turned the boat towards
the shore to join them.

He tied the boat to the dock
and they both climbed out. The grandkids ran over and gave them each a hug.
They jumped onto his back and wrestled him to the ground. They rolled on the
ground in a mock fight until he admitted defeat and screamed “uncle” as Cameron
bent John’s left arm behind his back. The kids jumped up and gave each other
high fives and shouted victory.

When they released him he
jumped up and ran. The kids had won the battle and allowed PaPa to run away in
shame.

He made it a point to run to
the rear of the house and to hide from the kids near the bathroom window. He
stood against the house acting as if he was hiding and he looked at the ground.
He saw the same small footprints. He walked to the bedroom window and looked at
the ground. The prints were there too. Whoever the pervert was, he was looking
into the windows of all three houses.

He was still hiding when the
grand kids came screaming around the corner. he jumped out and grabbed them. 
He held all three to the ground by spreading his arms and legs over them like a
giant spider. He made noises like he was eating them until they screamed uncle.
He jumped up with his fists in the air and did the well-known Rocky victory
dance.

He danced for a few seconds
and then helped them up from the ground.

“I am still king of the hill.
I am old but I am still tough.”

They giggled and laughed and
followed him to the porch with their parents.

While he was sitting on the front
porch leaning against the corner post, he looked at Cameron’s shoes. They were
beginning to show signs of wear and tear that a twelve-year-old boy can apply
to tennis shoes.

“It looks like you are about
due for some new shoes. What size do you wear?”

The boy looked dwon at his
feet, “I don’t know.”

Lynn answered the question,
“He has been wearing a size eight, but he might need a nine for his next pair.”

John bent down and felt the
toes of the shoes.

“Yea, they are a little
tight. Lift your foot so I can see the bottom of the shoe.” He acted as if he
was looking at the condition of the shoe but he really wanted to see the
pattern on the bottom of the shoe. The prints had been made with a shoe that
had diagonal wavy lines across the bottom. Cameron’s shoes had small cleats,
not the lines of the prints.

He then examined his own
shoes, acting as if he was checking for the condition. He then looked at the
shoes on everyone on the porch. Again he acted as if he was interested in the
conditions of their shoes. When he looked at David’s, he asked him what size he
wore. David said his size was twelve. Although he was not interested in the
girls’ shoes, all spoke up with their shoe sizes.

The pervert was not a member
of his family.

He went to bed that evening
thinking about what he needed to do about the situation. He patiently, and with
detail to actual facts, worked out a plan with several options. He got out of
bed and went to the living room and lit a candle. Using the dim light he began
writing every detail he needed to consider.  When he finished he had
thirty-three things that needed to be done. He then reviewed the list and
marked the order of priority.

The first thing on his list
was to get David’s assistance. He would need help to set up the traps,
physically apprehending the pervert, making decisions what to do to the person
when caught, and he wanted a witness to the window peeping.

When he finished the plan he
did not go back to bed. Instead he went out into the cool morning air and
loaded his bow into his canoe. He paddled across the lake and climbed into one
of his many tree stands.

He tied himself tightly to
the tree with his safety belt, so tightly that he would not be able to shoot
his bow. He did not really come there to kill a deer; he wanted to get some
sleep.  Many years of bow hunting had taught him that the peaceful morning
woods was an easy place for him to relax and fall asleep. He was asleep in a
matter of minutes after closing his eyes.

He slept until the sun warmed
the side of his face. He untied himself from the tree, climbed down, and pushed
the canoe off the shore. The cool morning air felt refreshing as he paddled
quietly across the lake. As he neared shore he saw David at his woodpile
splitting logs. David stopped working and walked his direction.

He saw the bow, “Are we going
to have venison for dinner?”

“Not today, maybe tomorrow”.
He took a long slow breath, looked up at the blue sky, “I need your help with a
problem.”

“Tell me about it.”

He told David about the footprints
outside the windows.

David knew his father-in-law
well. He asked, “What’s the plan?”

John handed him his paper
listing the plan. David looked at it and grinned. “How did I know you would
have every detail planned out? When do we start?”

“Today, first you need to
take a look at the prints so you will remember the shoe pattern. Then we need
to smooth out the dirt under the windows so only new prints will show. We need
to establish some type of time or day pattern when he is peeking in the windows.
If we can pattern him, it will be a lot easier to catch him.”

He looked up at the sky
again, “We should not tell the girls what is going on. If they find out someone
is watching them, it will be impossible for them to act normal. If this creep
sees anything out of the ordinary, he will be scared off. I want to catch his
ass, not run him off.”

“I’ll check the prints as
soon as I am done with the chopping. I will take some of the wood to Lynn’s and
check the prints there and then smooth the dirt.”

“Good, I already took care of
mine this morning. We need to check the dirt as often as possible without being
obvious. I have thought a lot about this and I figure it is probably happening
just after dark. He could not see unless the candles are still burning. He must
be doing it when the girls are getting into or out of the shower.

David agreed and asked John
if he thought he knew who it might be.

Well, I figure it has to be Rockford
or Gore. If it is Rockford, he could be dangerous. We both know he always
carries a pistol, and he is smart and sneaky.  We don’t know anything about
Gore. Hell, we don’t even know his first name, or if his name is even really
Gore. In either case, we need to be very careful, and be prepared for a fight
when we catch him.”

“What will we do when we
catch him?”

John was quiet a few seconds,
“I’m not sure, what do you think?”

“I guess we can do whatever
we want. There’s no police or judges around to make those decisions. I guess we
could beat the shit out of him or cut his pecker off.”

John did not laugh. “We need
to think about that part of the plan. We need to make decisions prior to
catching him so we will have everything ready for whatever we do.”

“John, do you think we will
actually have to catch him?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, considering he may
have a gun, it will be super dangerous to try to catch him in the dark. Hell,
he could even hurt one of the kids if a shot is fired. Maybe we could just
witness his peeking to be sure who it is, and then catch him off guard the next
day or even the next week when it would be safer.”

“That’s a good idea, you are
onto something there.  If it is Rockford, we could get him out in the boat or
into the woods and handle him in complete secrecy.  If it is Gore, it will take
some more thought since he has a wife. If we knew their shoe sizes we could be
pretty sure which one it is.”

“Why don’t we sneak over to
the Gore’s some evening and see if there are prints under their bedroom window.
If there are any prints there, we will know it is Rockford. We won’t have to
check his shoes.”

“Damn David, that is another
great idea. If we could be sure it is Rockford. All we would need to do is watch
his house and see him sneak out at dark. We won’t have to watch all three
houses. Let’s put some thought into what we will do once we are sure who it is.
We can talk more about this after we see more prints show up. One thing I would
like you to think about is that we should not take any action on the first
time. I want to see  him peeking in at least two or three times before we make
our move.”

David nodded in agreement and
went back to splitting his logs as John paddled around the point and into his
cove.