Dark Coup (35 page)

He pointed out the brake lever in the middle of the split bench seat where the driver would sit.  “That,” he said, “is connected to all four emergency brakes, and unless you’re in the middle of a stampede, it
will
stop the wagon.”

“Again,” Travis continued once everyone was looking at him and not the wagon, “horses aren’t stupid.  When they feel the resistance of the brakes, they’ll slow down or stop.  The one possible exception is in the winter.  If you’re on ice or thick snow, the horses may be able to pull you along even with the wheels locked.  At that point, you’re in a sled and not a wagon.  The horses most likely won’t run off a cliff…again, not stupid, but they may do something unexpected or try to turn too tight and tip the wagon.  There’s not much to be done at that point but either hold on and pray, or jump off…and pray.”

“Now,” Travis went on to the next part of his lecture.

…

“Are you sure you’re ok with this,” Chuck asked Sheri for the fiftieth time since they’d made their decision.  “I’m not married to the idea, I’m married to you and I can always teach somebody else to run it.”

“Who are you trying to convince,” Sheri asked, “me or you?  Honestly I’m getting bored here.  It’s not that there isn’t enough work to do, but…I haven’t been challenged since the Framework and this would at least let me contribute again.  I don’t mind hard work, but I think I’ve had enough of
dull
for a while.”

“Well, I can almost guarantee it won’t be dull,” Chuck said, “at least for the first while.”

“Any idea how many people would come with us,” Sheri asked.

“Not really,” Chuck said.  “We haven’t really discussed it outside of the few times Joel and I have gotten together with Mallory and her staff.   I think Joel is afraid of getting people’s hopes up.”

“If anyone can do it,” Sheri said, “I’m sure you can.”

“I wish I had your confidence,” Chuck said, “but we won’t know until we try.”

…

The festival was scheduled to start at eleven, to give everyone enough time to get to Redemption after finishing up any early-morning work.  Lunch would start around noon, and there would be activities and games, and even face-painting for the little kids.

The wagons–with Kyle and Eric’s leading the way–along with a good portion of the residents of the ranch, were the first to arrive and, true to his word, Eric surprised Joel.

“I’m not entirely sure what to say,” Joel said.  “How long have these been in the works?”

“A little over a month,” Eric said.  “We found and fixed a broken windmill and put it up at the ranch in trade.  When Travis is done we’ll have seventeen wagons and thirty-four horses.”

Joel whistled.  “Remind me never to trade with you,” he said with a grin.

“It was mutually beneficial, and I’m also working on a solar project for the ranch,” Eric said.  “Panels are the first thing on my list to find once we have enough wagons to be mobile.  I’ll bore you with the details later, though.”

Kyle had pulled up with one of the other wagons, with Amanda on the seat next to him and William in the back with some of the other kids.

“Any chance we could find a place to park these,” Kyle asked.

Joel gave them directions to the temporary paddock they’d erected for the horses being ridden in from the ranch.  “There should be room off to the side to park the wagons,” he said.

As they were negotiating turning, Amanda saw a group of trucks approaching.  “Looks like Earl just showed up,” she said, and Joel excused himself to go greet the next group.

…

Joel had assembled the main leaders of the groups they’d invited to the festival for what he hoped would be a productive meeting of the minds.  They were gathered outside, in front of the old Post Office, using a mixed bag of chairs and a few tables that had been brought to the town common by the residents.

“I don’t want to spend all day on this,” Joel said, “and I’m not really even expecting to get to a lot of the details sorted out today.  I
would
like to go over some proposals and hear what everyone has to say about being involved, though.”

At nods from everyone, Joel began going over the revised list of priorities and suggestions for specialized towns.

“Joel,” Chuck said once the floor was opened up to discussion.  “I know it wasn’t on the list, because you didn’t have an answer from me yet, but Sheri and I would like to go ahead and take on the power plant.”

Nobody said anything for several seconds, and it was Earl who broke the silence.  “Do you mean you’re going to try to bring one of the power plants back online,” he asked.

Chuck nodded.  “The operative word being
try
,” he said.  “It’ll be at least a couple of months before we know for sure if it’s even feasible, but if it is, we could have limited power back online no later than this time next year.”

“We can make an announcement later today,” Joel said, “so people can start thinking about where they might want to move and who they’d be going with.”

“Sounds good,” Chuck said and sat back down.

“Well,” Eric said, “I don’t think we can compete with that, but we’ve got an announcement too.  The wagons and horses are the first step, but ultimately we’re going to be, well, nomads.  Amanda came up with the idea to be like Gypsies.  We’re going to be mobile.  We’ve got a few things up our sleeves to trade with, on top of being a traveling school.  It’s going to be a couple more months before we have all of the wagons we need, so we probably won’t start moving until next spring, but that’s our plan.”

The meeting continued with discussions of how an industrial town might work and whether or not anyone was willing to start it up.  After the discussion turned to skilled trades, Earl agreed to get a better idea of what his people had done before the power went out and what trades they might be able to contribute.

The farmers agreed that with only a little additional work, the production of just about every farm should be able to increase a fair amount.  There really wasn’t any reason they couldn’t be generating a pretty fair surplus by this time next year.

…

Eric made his way over to Chuck once the meeting broke up.

“Got a minute,” Eric asked.

“Sure,” Chuck said.  “What’s up?”

“We need to talk about the coal at the power plant,” Eric said.  “Specifically, I’ve kind of promised Travis that I could get him more once what I’ve already delivered is gone.”

Chuck let out the breath he’d been holding from the point Eric had said ‘coal’ and visibly relaxed.  “You have no idea how glad I am to hear you say that,” he said.  “How much did you…bring back for Travis?”  He’d almost said ‘take’, but realized at the last second how that might come across.

It wasn’t his coal, yet; it was simply railroad car after railroad car and a couple of
really
big piles.  Chuck had realized that a noticeable amount had disappeared between visits and he’d been worried about securing the plant from raids ever since.

“A couple of pickup trucks full,” Eric said.

“That would make sense,” Chuck said.  “I’m so glad it wasn’t some random group that I was going to have to guard against.”

Chuck shook his head and focused on Eric.  “It’s found goods,” he said.  “I can’t in good conscience say no, you can’t have any more coal.  Up until now, it was everybody’s, and really, it needs to stay that way.  Obviously the plant will need to use a lot of it, but we had already talked about ways to use it in town.  I don’t know if I really have the right to ask, but could you just let me know when you need to pick up a bunch?”

“Absolutely,” Eric said, relieved that this hadn’t turned into a pissing match.  “And the only thing Travis is using the coal for right now is the forge, and he’s said he’s going to continue supplementing it with charcoal.”

“At that rate,” Chuck said, “we may have found another source of coal before he needs more.”

…

Mallory had been dreading this moment ever since Joel had called her out for even
asking
if Kyle and Eric would be included today.  She knew she’d been wrong at the time, and she knew she needed to bury the hatchet with Kyle, she just hoped it didn’t get buried in one of their backs.

“Kyle,” Mallory said as she walked up to him and Amanda.  “Can I…talk to you for a minute?”

“Sure,” Kyle said with a slight shrug.

“Alone,” Mallory asked.

“Major,” Kyle said, deciding to keep things formal on his part, “anything you need to say to me you can say in front of Amanda.”

Mallory took a breath and pursed her lips and decided to push it just a little bit.  “I don’t doubt that,” she said, “but I’m still asking to just talk to you.”

It hit Kyle at that point that Ben was nowhere to be seen.  Amanda realized the same thing at about the same time and squeezed Kyle’s hand.  “It’s ok,” she said with another squeeze, “I’ll go get us something to drink.”

“I’m really not trying to be difficult,” Mallory said.

“I know,” Kyle agreed, “and I didn’t mean to be either.  I’m sorry.”

“Whoa,”
Mallory thought. 
“He’s really changed.  You really screwed that one up, didn’t you girl?”

“No, Kyle,” Mallory said, “
I’m
sorry.”

Kyle started to protest, but stopped when he realized Mallory wasn’t finished–he knew from years of experience that she
would
finish, whether he liked it or not.  In this instance, it wasn’t that hard to hold his tongue.

“I was wrong,” Mallory said.  “I was bitter and angry, and frustrated at you and Eric, but that doesn’t excuse how I acted or reacted.  I’m sorry.  You didn’t deserve to be treated that way, and although you don’t need my permission or validation, you were
well
within your rights to put me back in my place.”

Kyle thought he could see Mallory’s eyes glisten a little as she took a breath.  “I know you’ve moved on,” she said.  “The Army will miss you; I know I already do.  I’m sorry I hurt you, in more ways than I realized at the time.  I hope you can eventually forgive me because I hope we can be friends again, Kyle, I really do.”

The silence stretched out for several seconds before Kyle said anything.  “I can’t let you take all the blame,” he said.  “I’m a big boy, and I let my temper get the better of me.  I shouldn’t have let that happen and, with anyone else, I don’t think I would have.  It was partially my fault for never saying anything, although how that would have done anything but make matters worse I don’t know.”

“It was for the best,” Kyle said, and then frowned a little.  “I’ll forgive you if you can forgive me; for being stupid and for how I acted.”

“Done,” Mallory said, and held out her hand.”

Kyle ignored the hand and stepped forward to give Mallory a hug.

She was surprised, and almost resisted, but realized that it was just a friendly hug and returned it.

“Thank you,” she said.  “And now, if you’ll excuse me, I think there’s someone who would like to join you again.”

Amanda came back and handed him a cup of apple juice.  “That certainly seems to have gone well,” she said.

“Yeah,” Kyle said and wiped a tear that he hadn’t realized was there until just now.  “I’m glad it’s over, though.”

Kyle put his arm around Amanda’s waist and pulled her close.  “I love you,” he said, and gave her a kiss.

“And I love you, too,” she said and returned the kiss with interest.

…

Chapter Thirty-Five

The bulk of the festival was being held in the ‘downtown’ area of Redemption.  Traffic wasn’t an issue, and the streets were wider here, with a small park running in-between the roads.

“Well, Mr. Mayor,” Rachael said, as she put her arms around Joel from behind and put her chin on his shoulder.  “It looks to me like you didn’t really have anything to worry about.”

Aurora was napping, and there seemed to be no shortage of tween-age girls just chomping at the bit to look after her.

Joel nodded and hugged her arms.  “The meeting even went well,” he said.  “Assuming anything actually comes of it, things could really take off and start getting back to…normal?”

“I don’t think normal is in the cards for us,” Rachael said.  “Or at least, this
is
the new normal.”

“It’s not too late to change your mind,” Joel said to Chuck as he and Sheri walked up.

“Nope,” Chuck said with a grin.  “This will be a welcome change.  I know I said I was up for a vacation when this all began, but it’ll be good to get back to what I really know.”

Joel nodded.  “How about you,” he asked Sheri.

“Pretty much the same,” Sheri said.  “I know we’re all contributing and making a difference, but this is really going to help out a lot and hopefully help us get back some of the things we lost.”

“Hey,” Rachael said to Sheri, as she disengaged herself from Joel.  “Let’s go see what’s for dessert after that lunch, huh?”

Sheri’s weak smile was more of a grimace, but she nodded and they headed towards the cluster of tents where the baked goods were set up.

“We’re two lucky guys,” Chuck said.

“Don’t I know it,” Joel replied.  “I don’t know how she puts up with me but I
know
I couldn’t have done this without her.”

Chuck just nodded.

…

“I heard somebody mention that they still needed judges for the pie contest,” Rachael said.

Sheri closed her eyes and shook her head.  “Not today,” she said.  “Just the thought of pie…”  She stopped talking and clenched her jaws.

“You okay,” Rachael asked.

“Just been queasy off and on for the last couple of days,” Sheri said.  “Nothing sounds good at all, and even some smells set me off.”

Rachael hid a small smile.  “Have you been to see Ty or Dan,” she asked.

“Not yet,” Sheri said.  “I don’t think it’s anything serious, just kind of run down and pukey.”

“I’m willing to bet it’s a little more serious than you realize,” Rachael said.

Sheri gave her a worried glance.

…

“Will J.B. get as big as
those
horses,” Jessie asked Travis when she saw the pair of draft horses he’d brought along.