Chapter 32 -- GBODVGTXFXKQCJL
Ted Sandefeur was unloading the last box of supplies when he heard the vehicle
approaching. Looking up he saw that it was one of the late-model, but not
especially new, four-wheel-drive pickups favored by the people in the neighboring
settlement. He carried the box inside and set it on the kitchen table, gave
Martha a quick kiss.
"Be right back," he said, going back to the front door. He preferred to greet
the visitor out by the road, being cautious about strangers in or even
too near the house. The truck had just stopped, and as he approached he saw
that Grant Page was driving. Bill Clayton was on the passenger side.
"How ya doin', Ted?" Grant said. He spoke like the natives, although not quite
the accent of Ted and most of his neighbors. Well, not everyone spoke the
same these days anyway, he thought. People in town sounded a little
different.
"Pretty good," Ted replied. "How about yourselves?"
"Good as can be, I guess," Grant replied. "Mind if we get out and visit a bit?
This truck's a little high off the ground."
"Sure, come on," said Ted, backing away from the door. The two men dismounted
and Bill came around to their side.
"Everybody make it through the winter all right?" Grant asked.
"Yeah, we did all right," Ted said. "You all do all right?"
"Yeah. We got the essential work done before the weather turned bad and had plenty
of supplies. We just holed up inside through the worst of it."
"That's what we do," Ted said. "Long as you're prepared there's not much to
worry about. The second winter we had was a bad one. Lucky it was the second,
we weren't ready for something like that the first year. This last one was
kind of bad, but nothing like, what was it six or seven years ago."
"I remember that one," said Grant. "We were still in Taylorville, electricity
was off for almost a week in most of town. One of the things that got us
thinking about setting up something more independent. The power grid is so
fragile, they have a bad time in one state the people two or three states over
get their power sent to fix their problem."
"Yeah," Ted said. "Martha's sister down in Texas said they had that one year.
Sent their power to California or Colorado or somewhere. We came out here hoping to get
away from all what's going on out there, and we're pretty happy with our choice."
"We were hoping that too," Bill said. "But it's not looking too good. That's
what we came over to talk about. Some of us have met a few of your people,
but we haven't mixed much. We were looking to maybe have a little more contact,
be better able to help each other out if necessary. We don't know much about
how your community works, or you about ours. You have some sort of leadership,
council, or something?"
"We have a council of elders," Ted replied. "We're a church, although some of us
are more, well you know, than others. But yeah, the council takes care of
business, I guess. We're all in agreement about following our leaders, so we
don't usually have any trouble."
"I see," said Grant. "We're not a church, but I guess you could say we're all
in agreement, and elect a committee to manage things. Bill and I are two of
the members. We'd like to have some kind of regular communications with you,
if your people don't object. Let each other know what's going on, share
information, things like that."
"It'd probably be good idea to see the council," Ted said. "If you want I can
take you up and meet one or two if they're around. Let's get in your truck
and I'll show you where."
They got in and Ted directed to them to the church, near the center of the area.
Several houses stood nearby, looking much like Ted's house of recycled
materials. None of the houses had garages, a few had carports,
mostly posts with a roof. It did not appear to be a prosperous community.
"Brother Pierce is home," Ted said. "Where that blue car is. You can just park
behind it and I'll introduce you."
Ted led them up on the porch to the door. An older man, Grant guessed in his
seventies, greeted them and invited them in. After they were seated on an old
couch, with Brother Pierce and Ted in two equally old recliners, he introduced
himself.
"I'm Luther Pierce," he said, "and it looks like you already know Ted. He told
us he'd met a couple of you. What can I do for you?"
"We came over to visit and introduce ourselves. We should have earlier, but I
guess we were a little busy last year. We came over to see if you would be
interested in having some kind of regular communications, perhaps have some of
our people get together occasionally so we know our neighbors. Ted has told
us you are a church - we aren't, or even all of the same faith, but we respect
all of you fellow men."
"Yes," said Luther. "We are a church. If you're worried about having a
madman with a cult next door we're not. We've come here to be together with people of
the same faith and to avoid the corruption of the outside. We certainly
wouldn't have any objection to socializing with your people. I'm sure you
wouldn't entertain any kind of offensive behavior, and our people are
sufficiently secure in their faith. Did you have anything in particular in
mind?"
"Well, between the two communities there are quite a few of us," said Grant. "What are there,
two, three hundred of you?"
"Right around three hundred," Luther replied.
"We're about two hundred and thirty," Grant said. "I don't know if organizing
a big party for all of us would be practical. We might start by having your,
what did Ted say, council of elders meet with our governing committee and get
to know each other."
"Yes, we have a council," Luther said, "what some churches call deacons or
elders, that leads our community."
"There are only five on our governing committee," said Grant. "So it wouldn't
be a crowd."
"There are six other elders," said Luther. "I'm the tiebreaker. Not a good place to
be sometimes, but we manage. Perhaps we should get
together soon. We have a meeting after Sunday evening service, that's day
after tomorrow. I'll see when we can meet. Do you have a preference?"
"We're pretty flexible these days," replied Grant, "so any time you choose will be good."
"Very well, then," Luther said. "It was good meeting you gentlemen, and I look
forward to seeing you again."
"Can we give you a number to call?" asked Grant, wondering if he should presume
they used phones.
"Certainly," replied Luther. Grant handed him a business card with only his name
and a phone number. Bill handed him one of his as well.
After they left Luther looked at the cards. The mostly blank card was a light
shade of grey, with a symbol in the center. It was a spoked wheel, something
like a wagon wheel, with another circle around it. It didn't look like
anything he had ever seen, but he didn't deem it relevant. There was plenty
of time to learn about them, and they did not seem in any way sinister or
threatening.
They dropped Ted off at his house and drove back to their enclave. When they
arrived it was near time for lunch, so they agreed to meet later at the
community center, a large multipurpose building near the center of the
settlement and used for various purposes, including business meetings.
"All right, guys," Arthur said. "Don't keep us in suspense. You made it back
alive, so they must not be dangerous."
"They don't seem to be," Grant replied. "As we suspected, it seems to be a
religious based group, in fact the leader described them as a church. But we
didn't see any overt signs of craziness. I guess the guy we met is the pastor,
maybe. Ted called him Brother Pierce. He assured us up front that they're
not a cult, just people wanting to be left alone."
Bill grinned. "He also assured us that he's not a madman," he said.
"That's reassuring," said Douglas.
"I believe that's probably the case," Grant said. "Isolated religious
communes get a lot of bad press, mostly made up by government agitators and
fed to their media outlets. Crazy religious cults are about as numerous as
white supremacist organizations. And most of them keep their crazy to
themselves and don't bother anyone else. In any case we'll learn more when we
meet them. Bill and I gave him our numbers, he's supposed to get back with us
next week."
"I wonder how well apprised they are, as to the overall situation," said Arthur.
"Religious groups, especially such as this, are generally inclined to be
pretty well up on current events," Arthur said. "Of course, how they react is
another matter. Most do more praying and maybe some proselytizing. Some
become preppers, and if they get noticed they're accused of being potential
insurrectionists. And that can lead to problems, especially when the government needs
scapegoats."
"Yeah," Douglas said. "There's more and more surveillance on people buying
weapons, large quantities of food, and other supplies. Even purchases of
generators are being tracked, and fuel purchases. When we had the fuel topped
off when we got the tanks in, both the diesel and propane suppliers - their
truck drivers - told us they were having to fill out detailed reports - when,
where, how much - and it wasn't for their company. It was for the government."
"That would seem to portend a pretty dire situation," said Arthur. "I suspect
energy supplies are going to be squeezed a lot more. With the cities, even
small towns, they can just cut off the electricity. They'll be keeping an eye
on independent communities like ours."
"A reminder to get the wood heat provisioning up to speed quickly," Grant said.
"We've got enough trees to hold us forever. We just need to get the remaining
heaters online and some more wood storage built."
"I suppose probing questions about preparations should wait a while," said
Arthur, "unless they bring it up."
"Yeah," said Bill, "since we're not sure about their attitude, or if they even care.
They might not."
"That would seem to be the best policy," Arthur said. "If they're indifferent to
their fate - and some of these groups are, believing everything is preordained -
we'll have to let it go. We can try to protect them, help them out with
supplies, but if they're resigned to events that's their right."
"In that case," said Arthur, "the best strategy is to adjourn and have a beer or
two. And see how the builders are coming on those sheds."
The builder didn't know what the large open-sided sheds were for, and they
could have been for anything for all he knew. Their eventual fate was to
be filled with cords of wood. He had a reputation for minding his own business
and intended to keep it.