Patriot Smith, page 36
part #1 of Patriots Series
“Because we aren’t a minority. Also, like you said, we all know how this ends, so will start fighting, and probably not take a lot of prisoners once we have to. If we don’t, then we all end up dead in the ovens. It was a mistake, pushing us all into this. They should have picked a smaller group to vilify. Eventually even the talking heads on television are going to understand that they’re mainly white too. I think some of them might be starting to get it already.”
Sebastian ate some more, and nodded slowly as he did it. That was enough to have all eyes on him before he spoke.
“In short, the terrorists have poked the bear for far too long and very soon he’s going to wake up and make them stop. Except that there’s no way for anyone to know who’s really on the bad guys side. That means anyone with the wrong hair color, or the wrong bumper sticker, is probably going to be fair game. A lot of innocent people are about to die, if we can’t figure out a way to wake people up.”
The problem there was that they’d already had years to figure it all out. A lot of people weren’t going to get what was needed in time.
Maybe not even enough of them to make a difference.
Chapter twenty-three
The farmer’s market didn’t really look good or all that festive that morning. They only had five tables set up, with some decorations on each. Even the new person, who had shown up with hand carved wooden bowls to sell. Those didn’t really move too fast, compared to the other things but people showed up and the man, who looking to be about thirty or so, that had the new stuff got a few sales for his work.
The pumpkin carving went over pretty well, and it was pretty clear that Sebastian’s work was in demand that way. Most of the day for him was spent doing that. Hurrying, making up one jack-o-lantern every ten minutes or so.
Nearly half of what Sebastian and the others had made moved in the first half hour, when Officer Johansson’s police friend came to pack up his personal car with half the bags of candy, more than had been last listed off on the phone and nearly that in decorated cupcakes and brownies.
Those didn’t last till eleven.
The costume that Sebastian was in wasn’t advanced, being a scarecrow, since he could do that up with a burlap sack, some overalls and a bit of makeup. The bag over his head had his face exposed, since wearing a mask in public was illegal. The makeup on the rest of it was textured carefully, to mimic cloth, however. That hadn’t been done perfectly, since he’d only had about half an hour to get ready for the day, even after getting up early.
Almost everyone was in some kind of costume, or another. The other candy ladies were done up as clowns and Rick had decided to put his bloody clothing and beaten face to good use as an accident victim. Chloe had gone the other way and covered her face like a Geisha, in perfect porcelain white face paint, complete with a kimono. Even with that, she spent almost all morning standing with Rene and Mel. They hadn’t bothered to dress up but most were taking the old bruising and piercings on the thin woman as being fake, for some reason.
The police didn’t come to question any of them over the marks at least.
No, they just paid him nearly nine hundred dollars for junk food and took off with it. Then the public came, packing the area, giving it a far livelier feeling than it had in the last weeks. Really, more so than it ever had before. In the prior years the place would have been lucky to have ten people in it at one time, including the vendors. Now they had fifteen times that, all standing in line, willing to purchase anything they could afford.
Even with the little bartering sign out, no one came with anything except cash and in one case, some small silver coins. Sebastian took those without blinking. The man handing them off seemed shocked by that but didn’t complain about exchange rates. Silver was at nearly thirty dollars an ounce but the man was getting a lot of food for it.
Rene tried to actually be helpful but was hampered by Chloe, who kept following her everywhere. Dragging Mel along by the hand at the same time. Like she was worried they’d get lost in the crowd if not guarded constantly.
Paul hadn’t come, choosing to stay and work on editing projects, and Vina, Marcus and Sara had stayed back with him, planning to do some kind of work. That or possibly just resting. It was hard to keep track of eight people in the press of moving bodies though but it only lasted about four hours. In the end they had a box of decorated brownies left over, along with a dozen of the cool looking cupcakes. It had been a lot of hard work but people seemed to be impressed with the effort. They were just going for twelve dollars a box, because he’d had to put that much work into them.
It was a bit pricy, compared to some of the other things there.
They also had caramel apples left. Almost half of them. The things just weren’t that popular. Not compared to the other junk food. Mainly due to there being healthy fruit in the middle of all the caramel goodness. Ruining it with its fiber and healthy attributes.
Most of the jam had gone and people actually seemed sad that he hadn’t gotten any bread done. Several of them put in orders for it, if he could have it ready on Saturday. Really, he’d meant to get that done but had simply forgotten, with the excitement of the others coming back like they had.
So many people had shown up that they had to spend half an hour cleaning the lot they were allowed to use, before they could leave. No one from the city was going to get to it and while the day had been crisp and clear the whole time, with a nice blue sky above, it would probably rain on any bits of trash or paper left over before they got back to do anything about it.
Working now, even if some of them were stiff or in decorative costumes just made sense. Johansson and her partner, Greenwood, both walked up to him before they left, seeming well enough pleased with how it had all gone.
The woman even slapped him on the arm. Not hard but in a friendly fashion. Like they were pals now. Maybe they even were. After all, they’d talked with each other on the phone more than he had with any single other person in the last six months. That might just count.
“This worked out really well. Are you doing something for Christmas? A bizarre, early in the month, maybe?” She looked around the place, which was still being picked up by the rest of his friends. Not that they weren’t nearly done. They’d gotten trash bags from somewhere and there was an official brown can that someone had been keeping empty, near the back of the place. Behind where the other candy people had set up that day.
Sebastian had to stop for a moment, and do some mental math. The flour was still holding out and they might well be able to get more soon, if he was vigilant and willing to call some places up to check on it. Maybe more sugar as well. Given that, if it was possible, he could probably come up with some baked goods and more people would be willing to show up to sell odds and ends about then.
Right now, food was the big seller but people would want presents if they could get them. Small treats as well. Seasonal candies and that kind of thing.
“We’ll get a sign up for that. Maybe starting in late November? Once it snows we aren’t really leaving. Not up where we live. Unless the snow plows are going to be out?” He doubted that part of things but Greenwood cleared his throat a bit.
“That’s the plan. We have to keep the roads open for emergency services. We can get the fuel, so that works pretty well. I hear that they have the major roads opened again, for trucks. Passenger vehicles are being stopped in places. You get that one.” The man said the words like they were a simple truth.
Which was the case but there was no reason for him to have assumed that it was real. That Sebastian would be up on the terror situation as closely as he was.
The older man’s radio went off and he walked away, talking into the mic on his chest. It didn’t sound panicked or important. Johansson leaned into him then.
“You know, you look a lot like the guy from We Got Your Back. That martial law series as well. We all had orders to watch it down at the station. That came directly from DHS, so was kind of national. It played on television. Did you get to see it?”
The woman wasn’t dumb, so was probably just uncertain that the man from the screen could be living in a small town like Newton. That or she wanted to needle him a bit for being in something that bad. Her face and tone didn’t seem like that at all, she just seemed friendly. Like she was making conversation. Possibly even flirting a bit. With a man dressed like a scarecrow. True, a decently well put together straw man but still… It was a bit different for a police officer to be doing things like that. At least toward him.
“You know, I actually missed that one? I was making all of the stuff for this, at the time. We should have the new Sebastian and Chloe going up next Wednesday. Two episodes? Everything else, Patriot Smith, Neighborly, and Hal’s Variety Show will be about an extra week. Everyone was off visiting for a few days and managed to get beat up. The bruises need time to heal.” That or they needed to make them look a bit worse and write in a fight scene to explain it all.
There was a strange stare then from the woman in front of him. She didn’t have any makeup on her face but seemed decently well put together anyway. She had pretty blue eyes, he noticed.
“Wait… So you are the guy from the shows? Agent Ruiz from Patriot Smith, too?” She seemed shocked by that for some reason. Almost in awe.
“Yep. Chloe is the one dressed up like a geisha. We have a little over half the team here. Sara and Karen were in the Martial Law thing. Really, if you and Greenwood want in on that kind of thing we always need extras. Even if you can’t act, just having people standing around can really help flesh things out. I can call you, if we have a part open up? You won’t get paid for it.” That was just the truth. The rest of them had a bit of cash coming in about once a month but that basically paid for cell phones and toothpaste.
It wasn’t a lot, or hadn’t been. So far, a vast flood of money hadn’t exactly been coming at them either, that he knew of. Hal was handling most of that kind of thing. Really, it was all down to the fact that it was hard to make anything online at the moment. Things were just too tightened down and it was crippling the economy.
The woman stood up straight then and smiled at him.
“That could be fun. Give me a call if you need me for anything. Or if you just want to. You can never have too many friends.”
The words got him to smile. After all, it was clearly an invitation to make the first move. She was nice enough and looked good. Getting involved with a police officer long term might not be the best plan in life, since he’d probably worry about her too much but that didn’t mean a date or two would hurt anything. The trick there was that he didn’t work and live with her. It made a difference.
“I’ll do that. Soon, hopefully.” He locked eyes with her, his face smoldering a bit, instead of grinning like a moron. If you wanted a woman’s attention you had to let them know that you were taking them seriously. Smiling too much was what people did when they wanted to sell you things. To use you. So he went with something that probably promised sex, instead. She looked away but then back soon enough for it to count as being interested in him.
Which hopefully meant she wasn’t married or seeing someone else. Finding out that bit of information was probably a good thing to do before getting together with her, really. She wasn’t old but was on the far side of thirty, he thought. Close enough in age for him to date without feeling bad about it. Also, old enough to have a husband and three kids without it having been that hard for her to make happen.
She left then, which was their signal to get going as well. They made a trip to the grocery store first, and managed to actually get a hundred and fifty pounds of flour, along with three industrial sized bags of sugar. More flavorings and the last of the food coloring as well. That and some canned peaches. They were food and while they had lots of fruit left, getting more of anything was a good plan. The cost of all of it was going up. He had to doubt it was going to be cheaper in the spring, unless things really changed rapidly.
Three of them had gone in, which clearly made the clerks on duty, both of them feel uneasy. One of them picked up a short baseball bat from under the counter when they’d entered. The other watched them like they might just try to run out with the heavily loaded carts they had. It was probably due to being in makeup like they were.
He had Rene and Chloe with him. The blonde had tried to get Melissa to go in as well but that hadn’t worked. The other woman was clearly not having fun that day and even the offer to look for wine inside hadn’t gotten her to act any happier. She’d just stayed in the SUV, moping. Her call had been correct though, since the store really didn’t have anything with alcohol in it at all. Not even mouthwash.
The rest of them had gotten out, with sticks and pipes, to act as guards. Sebastian had one of those as well, having just carried it in with him.
When he smiled and got his bank card out, the two men that were clerking that day both relaxed a lot. They didn’t chat about anything, just taking the payment and waving as they moved out into the parking lot. This time no one was waiting for them. There was also no one else doing their daily shopping. It had only been them in the whole place.
When they got back, having to stop at each of the three gates to unlock and let both vehicles through, then securing them again, everyone helped take things inside. Even Mel did, though she seemed a bit disgruntled by it. Enough so that Doug walked over to her in the kitchen and patted her on the arm. It made her soft black sweater move a bit.
“I was going to try and get the first of the apple cider in tonight? You can help me with that, if you want? The rest won’t be ready for a few more days to about a week.”
She nodded, seeming subdued still.
“That could be fun. Sorry, I’ve been feeling a bit sick for the last few days.” Her voice was pitched to carry, without being overdone by too much. “We should work out some kind of project. I haven’t really been doing much. I need to make sure that I pull my weight around here.”
The words were strange and possibly phony sounding. Sebastian knew that the last judgment might just be him being a jerk. The woman wasn’t his favorite, so it was easy to imply malice in what she was doing. What it might not be was fair. Especially if she was willing to start trying to actually do her part. That she might not be able to really do that was part of the equation but that was a lot of people in life.
So he nodded at her, not touching her at all, since he still didn’t want to be falsely accused of rape.
“That’s a good idea. You can help out in the green house? I think we need to go over the harvest there. I’ve been putting that off for a bit. We have some fresh tomatoes ready again. Some new peppers as well and some salad greens. The kale looks good to me, anyway. I managed to keep busy enough not to get to that. We can go do that later? After we put all of this stuff away.” It was probably more than what she wanted to do and not related to getting her drink on but there was a sullen nod then.
Followed by a forced smile.
“Sure? That doesn’t sound too hard anyway. You’re going to show me what to do?”
“Yep. With two of us it should take all of ten minutes. Most of that will be playing with the fire and the sprinklers to make sure that the timer is set right. I think Karen has been doing that most days, since she has her own project going. Doug and I have been keeping the space warm. It smells like a brewery in there.” He grinned then, since he really was trying to sell this woman on something. The value of hard work and actually being useful in life.
It didn’t make a big enough impact to get her to help him put the flour and sugar in bins. They were short on space, so some of them had to be left out on the shelves. The mouse traps would need to be put out, if they didn’t want to be overrun. He had a large amount of those, since it was a problem there, or could be, if they weren’t careful. Rather than waiting to see rodents, he just got the clear plastic box out and used some peanut butter as bait in ten different traps. Those were put all over the place, including the corner of the living room.
It might not be enough but he could always add more, later.
When he waved at Doug and Mel to follow him out to the greenhouse, they got a freshly scrubbed looking Chloe along as well. With a rather subdued seeming Rene trailing behind her. It was starting to get odd. If the women had been chatting and whispering like friends, or even talking about guys or a new project, it might make sense. Instead there was a real sense of Chloe just being clingy. With the wrong people, as well.
As if she felt responsible for having gotten them into trouble, so was staying with them constantly for protection, now. Except that they were home and while Mel might need to be watched, if she was acting up, Rene was more or less fine that way.
Leading them, Sebastian decided to see about who was making what choices about where the little club that had formed was going. Mel had been willing enough to be alone with him and Doug, after all. That didn’t seem like a person afraid of all men suddenly. Thinking about it, he realized that it could be Chloe’s problem. She’d clearly been beaten pretty hard. The other two less so. At least if the story was correct, the bruise on the thin young woman’s face was from when they were being attacked at a gas station. The state of that, compared to the other’s wounds seemed to fit, being a few days older at least.
Even Doug kept looking at the other three with them as if the whole thing felt strange to him. It was a nice day out, so even in the fall it was about eighty inside the plastic greenhouse space. Normally Sebastian didn’t love the heat but it felt nice, given that it was cold outside. Not freezing, being about fifty-five Fahrenheit but even with the strong scent of alcohol it was pleasant in the plant building. Things were growing well still, which Sebastian had hoped would happen but hadn’t been certain of.
“The water is over here, Mel. Basically, we just need to check the hose and then the soil to make certain it’s all equally damp. Not drenched, since that can lead to root rot. Just… Like this, see?” He moved, letting her move in next to him, touching the dirt in one of the pots.
