Patriot Smith, page 30
part #1 of Patriots Series
It was a lot of information, so he tried to memorize it all.
“Good then. You’re with Jan and Frank?”
“Yep. Things are… kind of sad, really. Collin, their oldest kid, he was there at the shooting. One of the kids that did it was a friend of his. Like, close enough that he stayed the night for two weeks last summer. Carley, she’s fourteen… I think she might have actually been sleeping with the guy. At least doing something that was close enough that she’s nearly suicidal now. It’s… I get why they wanted us to come. How are things there?”
She was clearly changing the topic.
“You know, we were at the farmer’s market when the curfew was announced. We did up a little show for that. About the new rules… Just to help people get along. There was a fight at the market, right before that. Hal mainly handled that for us. We have a deal worked out with the police, so that we can set up for a few hours twice a week. Hopefully that’s enough. Most of what we have is up right now. From the studio? Except for Patriot Smith. That’s just going to take longer.”
There was a pause then a soft chuckle.
“Good. You did a new thing? Without me? I’d be hurt but it kind of sounds fair, what with half of us running off like we did. Sorry about that. We’re needed here, I think. We’ll probably stay a week or so, then try to head back. The cash is holding out, so far. We sold some of the jam already, at highly inflated prices. Mainly to the police while we were waiting to escape the truck stop. If we go anywhere else, remind me to bring more jam? I think half the reason Mel wasn’t locked up was due to that. We didn’t even have to bribe them with it. It just made us seem wholesome and lovable, even if we were on the road.”
It was probably a good point. Not that he could send them anything that day.
“It’s good to hear from you. Everyone here is a bit worried, having you all gone.” There was a voice from the phone then. It sounded like someone had come up behind Chloe on the other side.
It was Janice and she didn’t sound that happy at all. Then, that was why she had people in, to help her cope with things. Not that it really would but that was the plan.
“Who are you talking to?”
Chloe clearly covered the mouthpiece of her cell phone.
“Sebastian. He sends his love. To everyone. We have some new things up on line, including one that I don’t know anything about. We can watch that in a bit?”
“Sounds nice. Let me get everyone.”
There was no attempt made to talk to him personally. Then, he just wasn’t that close to the other woman. They’d lived together for a while. Though over the last few years about twenty people had come and gone. About half of them were solid acquaintances, with five being close enough friends that they’d be obligated to chat with him on the phone.
Jan was kind of evil seeming, in a strange way. Not just for the way she treated her husband but that part didn’t help. Frank was so weak in a lot of ways that he was annoying. At least to Sebastian. Part of it was that they were both so liberal that they missed the bits where they still had to try to be good people at the same time. Even Rene, the ex-Antifa member did better that way than the college professors did.
Chloe spoke again.
“There. Jan wants you to know that everyone is sad that the rest of you couldn’t come as well. It’s for the best. They have food here but were going to be living off of government rations boxes for the time being. We went earlier today and collected ours from the depot. Which means that I’ll be getting to put my new cooking skills that way to work!”
She paused then, someone else talking to her. This time a man. It was probably Frank but he sounded harsh. Harder than Sebastian recalled him being. The words weren’t understandable, being muffled. The tone was unpleasant. Sharp and commanding.
“Oh? Okay, I need to go now. It was good talking to you, Sebastian. I love you.” Her voice went a bit louder on the last words. They weren’t forced. Just projected a bit.
That was a very weird thing for her to say. That she loved him.
“I love you, too. Call again soon, if you get a chance? We need to keep in touch, honey. I miss you already.” It was true enough, if not the relationship they had.
“I know, Sweetheart. You miss me if I go away. It’s adorable. We’ll come back soon. I’ll call in… Call it a day or two?”
Then, suddenly, she hung up. An abrupt thing that was nearly rude.
It was more than a little bit odd.
Chapter nineteen
Still not having a lot to do, Sebastian decided to work on some new recipes and scripts for Sebastian and Chloe. Mainly things that he could put together on his own, in case Chloe was stuck out of town longer than it seemed like she should be.
There was enough in the boxes to make many different styles of dishes but he focused on some things that might not be considered normal. Like chili-mac, since it was filling and could be made with the ingredients at hand in the ration boxes. There were about a dozen or so other things, including side dishes, that would work pretty well, he decided.
After that, well, then adding in some things that people might be able to get on their own would be the next step. Even some fresh greens, since people should be able to grow some of those in window boxes. It would be hard to do in the winter but spring would come, eventually. Hopefully the troubles would be over by then. Not that he really expected that to happen.
That was how he spent most of his day, going over things to make into a show that no one would likely be watching at all. Even if it was decent, to his own estimation. At least as good as what they had on the Food Network, most of the time. True, with his face all over it. Chloe helped to spiffy things up that way. To that end he worked up a small role for Karen, so she could pretty the thing up. Just passing him ingredients and things like that, at different times. Having an extra body there, even in the background, would make it look like they were a bigger operation than they really were.
Most people wouldn’t care about that part. Not in a cooking program. It made a psychological difference though. It was the kind of thing that he’d have noticed, if he were watching someone else’s work. When it was time for dinner, he clapped his hands a bit.
“Paul? I have the new script for Got Your Back. Karen will be needed for it, part of the time. No spoken lines for her, so nothing to memorize. We’ll be eating the product for dinner, and I’m adding some onion to it, even if that isn’t always in the kits. They get some potatoes and things like that though. Onions were on the list of what they might get, sometimes.” Sebastian tried to pretend that Paul hadn’t spent most of the day working already, even if it wasn’t true.
That was mainly on music, as well, meaning that the man had been redoing what he’d recorded for it before, for some reason. Hopefully it wasn’t anything too bad. Then, they all sort of knew that Patriot Smith wasn’t really going to work. He liked it but the real reason for that was about the rah-rah patriotism in it. Not that it wasn’t complex about it at all. In the end, anyone sane would get that it was about the good guys winning the war they were all in at the moment, in real life. Rene had assured him that the bad guys would probably see it differently, as if they were making fun of the good people, by being too over the top about being proud Americans.
Instead of hitting him with a solid left cross, a thing that Sebastian would have had to let go, pushing the man like he was, Paul actually smiled at him.
“Good. My brain is numb from working on PS all day. Not that it isn’t coming together. I should have it ready tomorrow or the next day. We’ll want to screen it first, of course. It’s different. I hope that you like what I’m doing with it. I don’t know if it’s what you intended for the project.”
Sebastian was able to smile at the words then, at least.
“Given that I secretly intended for it to have a fifty-million-dollar budget, some big named stars and a crew of two hundred to make? I’m pretty sure that it won’t come out that way at all. If we’re lucky, it won’t suck. I’ll be pretty happy with that, if we can get it.”
The other man shrugged then.
“It’s not that bad. I can swear to that. If it will play in the heartland, I don’t know. It’s a bit edgy, thanks to the framing on the camera work. Fast paced, which is why I had to redo the music like I did. I was kind of thinking it was going to be slower and more conversational, since there were no fight scenes. It’s… kind of hard core seeming, actually. Like it’s really happening. You’ll see.”
Then the man moved to set things up, taking a script copy, since they finally had one for the show. That meant they had Sara, Hal and Paul on camera, with Paul directing as he did that as well. On the good side, they all mainly knew what to do for that particular program. Karen worked sound for them, since he was on the food portion of events.
At the end there was a bit on presentation, even.
“The ration kits are short on garnishes but we can use everything in them. A bit of onion greens on the side of the dish can really dress things up. Even lettuce can be shredded and arranged to make things look a bit nicer. Keep that in mind, since kids can get picky and we can’t really afford that right now. The thing to keep in mind here is that a bit of extra effort can really turn what’s in the kits into something that people will want to eat, instead of just being all they have.”
He worked over three different things to put on the side of the bowls of chili-mac. Including an arrangement made from canned carrot disks. That took some halfway clever knife work but it wasn’t too hard for people at home to do, he didn’t think.
Once things were put away, he actually recalled that other people might want to know that Chloe had called. Sebastian felt foolish for not having mentioned it earlier. It was tempting to hide that part of things. He didn’t, since everyone else there needed to know that he was a moron, if he really was. They were too tied together to hide that kind of vital fact from them.
“We got a phone call earlier. From Chloe? They had a little trouble on the road. Rene has a shiner, I guess. Mel nearly got arrested for beating up a man with a gun.” He stopped then and ate a bite of the cheese noodles and canned chili. It was decent, actually. Not perfect, since it needed some sour cream but he’d live. “I mean, the guy had a gun. Gas jacking, with two buddies. Mel managed to sneak up behind the gunman, with a pipe. Put him in the hospital.” He nearly sounded proud, he realized.
Then, he kind of was. So far when the criminals had come for his people, their side had won, each time.
Sara visibly relaxed, which made Sebastian feel like a jerk, having taken that long to tell them about the call.
“They’re someplace safe for now though?”
Nodding, he ate a bit more but quickly. He didn’t want to be even more of a jerk than he already was. Still, he was starving, for some reason. The spicy food was really good, as well.
“At Jan and Franks. I guess their kids knew one of the killers, personally. Like the younger girl, the fourteen-year-old? She might have been dating the guy or something. The older boy was close to him too. Then… It ended funny.”
He didn’t say how but it wasn’t going to be left alone. Paul actually glared at him a bit, until he spoke again.
“Chloe said she loved me. Not teasing either. Then, when I said it back and called her honey, she called me sweetheart. It was… Like someone was listening and she was coming up with a reason why she’d need to be keeping in touch with me.” He felt stupid, since it made him sound clueless about life.
That the woman might actually have simply been playing, or even telling him that he was loved and missed might have been the real reason for the words. Instead of calling him on that part though, Karen furrowed her brow.
“Really? That is odd then. I mean, clearly she likes you best but she isn’t going to slip up that way, or tease you over the phone. She might do it if she were here, so that she could back it up with some action. This… sounds off. Was anyone there with her?”
Everyone was looking at him, as if he’d have some kind of clue about what was going on that way.
“Janice was in the room. I heard her ask who Chloe was talking to. Then there was a man talking. I couldn’t make out what was being said but she hung up suddenly. She didn’t say that stuff until after he spoke. The tone wasn’t really friendly, either. She’s supposed to call back in a day or two.”
No one went on about the strange call but Sara smiled more after that. Hearing that everyone was all right seemed to be doing the trick for her.
She looked around the table then, and grinned.
“Okay, so, we can have an orgy then, as long as everyone else is safe?” Now she sounded mischievous, as if she was really willing to do that kind of thing.
Interestingly, no one screamed no and started to run away. They were all mainly single after all, so it was probably fair game, if they wanted to do that kind of thing.
Sebastian smiled back at her and winked.
“The only orgy I’m getting tonight is an orgy of baking. We need to be ready to go as early as possible. Everyone is going again?” The farmer’s market wasn’t their main job but no one tried to get out of doing the work. They were making enough money doing it even a few times a week to make it worthwhile. More than that, they were supposed to show up to act as guards for everyone else.
Since the police might, or might not be able to show up, that part was important.
Sara shook her head anyway.
“Okay, I can help with that then. Baking. At least as far as wrapping things up for it. What’s everyone else getting up to? That orgy, I suppose?” For some reason she kind of glared at Karen, as if the woman were going to entertain the rest of the men while she was stuck working.
Which probably meant that Sebastian had sex on the brain, for some reason. Not that Sara was totally innocent, talking the idea up like she was.
Paul shook his head a bit, as if to get them to not talk about the whole thing. Probably thanks to Sebastian seeming like a prude to the rest of them, not making any moves on anyone at all. If so… Well, that was actually kind of polite of the man. After all, he really didn’t do things like that, and there was a reason for it, even if no one else was going to know that part of things. They hadn’t asked and he hadn’t gone out of his way to tell them all. Only Chloe.
When he spoke, Paul’s voice was a bit-tired sounding.
“I need to get back to my editing. I can’t love working sixteen-hour days. Though it really does get the work done, doesn’t it? I should have Patriot Smith ready sometime tomorrow, at this rate. After that? Well, then I think we can shoot a lot more Got Your Back. It would be better to have Chloe back for it but this should work too. We can edit those up, as soon as we have them. I have four more in raw footage that I can work on right now.”
There was a shrug from across the table, with Hal looking at first Sara, then Karen.
“I vote for the orgy idea? If not, then I can work on some scripting for things. That and check the views we’re getting on the stuff we just put up. I don’t know if anything will really resonate but hope springs eternal!”
That decided, they all left to get their self-appointed tasks done for the evening. That meant starting enough dough for twenty loaves even if they we’re going to have to bake it six pans at a time. He had eight bread pans but not enough room for all of them in the oven at one time. Not if things were going to turn out evenly. As it was he had to rotate everything halfway through. That took twenty-five minutes per batch of six but he was able to get two batches of soft baked, chewy, cookies done first. Karen came in as they were cooling, and sat at the table next to Sara, to keep out of his way.
Not that he was dancing around the kitchen full speed or anything. There was a lot of waiting, doing the kind of baking he was at the moment. Even portioning the bread into the greased pans to rise, with the rest of the dough being kept near the far wall, so that it wouldn’t be too warm didn’t take more than a few minutes. It took longer for the oven temperature to get down to three-fifty than it did for him to be ready for the next set of things to go into the oven.
Not that he didn’t have to wait for the bread to rise a bit first anyway. It worked out. The cookies were just cool enough to package up in wax paper by the time the bread was going in. He had several timers, small digital things, on the counter, each with a different time set up on it.
Karen, almost absently, picked up a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie and started to eat it. She was two bites in before her eyes went wide.
“Um, taste testing? These are really good. Um… Here, try a bite, Sara. That way it won’t just be me getting in trouble.” She broke the cookie in half, to share it at least. The other girl took it, too, and closed her eyes.
Chewing almost like it was a sensual experience.
When she opened them again, she took a slightly shuddering breath.
“Those are so delicious. I know what you can get me for my birthday now, Sebastian. A dozen of these.” She took a second bite, replaying what she’d done the first time.
It was cute, if a bit overdone for some cookies. They were a pretty standard recipe, after all.
Then, as if it made any sense, Karen pointed at the oatmeal spice cookies.
“We need to test those as well. Just to make sure they aren’t poisoned or low quality. Yup. It’s all about serving the customer. Honest.” She grinned but didn’t reach for one of the things.
Not until Sebastian waved at it.
“Go ahead. I want real reports, not just cookie theft.” They looked all right but he hadn’t let himself try any of them, fearing that he might just eat too many, if left to his own devices. They really did need to be tested, if they were going to sell them.
