Wilson Harp - EMP

If Anne hadn’t been there to confirm the story, I suspected Ted might have been arrested.

Of course, there was no jail in Kenton. There was no police force either. The country sheriff handled all of our law enforcement issues and they were based in Wilcox. Our good deputy was the only sort of law man around.

And now he was up at the party camp.

“Do you know if he will be in today?” I asked.

“He has been crawling in here around noon or so. I didn’t come down from my place yesterday, so I don’t know if he was here. I haven’t seen him yet this morning.”

“Okay,” I said. “I don’t want to make a mess in the library. Could you get me a sheet of paper and a pen? I need to file a report with him.”

“Sure,” Ted said. He climbed the stairs and went in the library.

I leaned back on the bike rack and rolled my neck.

“Hey, David.”

Deputy McDaniels turned the corner of the Library and started toward the steps.

“Hey Gary,” I said.

He reeked of booze and pot. His uniform was unwashed and it looked like he had slept in it for weeks. He likely had. Mayor Mueller said when he was at the deputy’s place, he noticed there were three other uniforms hung neatly in the closet. I noticed he wore his service belt, but his handgun was not in his holster.

The deputy started to amble past me.

“Gary,” I said. “I need to report something.”

He swayed some as he looked back at me. His eyes weren’t focused and his posture indicated some unease with his balance. Hung-over or already stoned I assumed.

“What you got for me, Hartman?” he asked.

“We’ve had a problem with someone getting into our garage and our shed. In fact, a few folks down that way have had problems.”

“You see anyone?”

“Yesterday morning, saw someone try to get into the Johnson’s shed. When I shouted, he took off.”

“Know who it was?” McDaniels asked. A small smile had crept onto his face.

“No, didn’t get a good look.”

“You don’t know who it is, but you want me to do something about it. Is that what you want?”

“No, I just wanted to report it.”

“Of course. I’ll just get right on that. Someone breaking into your stupid garage. Yeah, that’s what I’ll concern myself with,” he said. The sneer on his face and the anger in his voice caused me to step back.

“Here’s the paper and pen, David,” Ted said as he came out the door of the library. “Do you still need them?” He asked as he joined McDaniels and me at the bottom of the steps.

“No, I don’t think so, Ted,” I said. “I have already given the message to Gary.”

“If you’re looking for who might be breaking into places, you might want to check with Ted here, or his friend Kenny. Wouldn’t surprise me at all,” McDaniels said. “They know where everyone lives. They know what everyone has. And they still keep their own people away from town like we are infected with something.”

“Deputy,” Ted said. “Why don’t you go in and see the mayor. He might have something to tell you.”

“What would he have to tell me?” McDaniels asked.

“Just tell him Ted said he had a message. It’s the proposal the council had a couple of days ago.”

“One day, Riggins, me and you are going to have some words. And I don’t think you’re going to like what I have to say.”

“One day I’m sure that will happen, Gary. But it won’t be today. I have too much work to do today.”

Deputy McDaniels spit on the ground and stalked up the steps to the library. Ted didn’t take his eyes off of the law man until the front door of the building slammed shut.

“You should probably get going, David,” said Ted. “Gary is going to be furious when he comes out in a bit. He will likely be looking for someone to blame it on. I’m going to make myself scarce as well.”

“What is the message?”

“Up until now, McDaniels hasn’t found himself on any work schedules because he is our law man. But he hasn’t been living up to that duty, so the council voted to have his exception revoked.”

“You think he might become violent?” I asked.

“Maybe, but at least he left his sidearm up at Lester’s. That was probably Lester’s doing. I’ll have to thank him for that the next time I see him.”

“You see him a lot?”

“Every couple of days.”

“Why?”

“Lester has come around a bit. I think he is realizing that death is not just lurking around the corner. As bad as this all is, I think he believed it would be much worse.”

“How much worse?”

“Wilcox. The burning and looting that Farrin saw there. Kenton has held it together and we are starting to really gel as a community. I admit, there were a few days when I thought about heading west with Kenny, Sophia, her kids, and the others up at my place. Maybe we could find an Amish or Mennonite community to settle in with.”

“I never thought about the Amish. They are probably doing pretty well.”

Ted shrugged. “I’m sure it’s affected them in some manner, but their day to day living has likely been close to the same as before.”

“How are the people at your place doing?”

“Pretty good. Sophia has some strawberries coming in and the kids sure love that. I don’t tell many people all we have up there, because… you know.”

I knew. Too many people would see that as unfair somehow. They wouldn’t care about the fact Sophia, Ted and the others had been growing their own food up there for years. They wouldn’t care with Ted and Kenny doing so much work in town, those who stayed up there would have extra work to do. Many people would just want some for themselves. And that would be trouble.

“There are some blackberry bushes and I think some huckleberry bushes toward the creek,” I said. “There should be enough to make a couple of big batches of jam when they get ripe.”

“And the peaches. Gruenfeld’s orchard is only about ten miles south. As long as the orchard is still intact,” Ted said.

“Will Max just let people take his fruit?”

“He and Betty have been living in the west camp since the start. Anne said he is happy to share his peaches. Otherwise, they would just rot. Besides, Kenton took him in. He’s grateful for that.”

I looked up at the sun and realized it was close to noon. “I better get going, Ted. Missus Marsh will be needing another bucket of beets soon.”

“You better not disappoint her. I heard the beans should start coming in a few days from now,” Ted said.

“Another item to add to the menu,” I said. “And three deer being butchered, so meat will be more plentiful soon.”

“Does Buck think he can keep a steady supply of venison?”

“I haven’t talked to him,” I said. “I don’t really know him.”

Ted nodded. “That’s fine, I’ll see if I can talk to Clint.”

I headed back to the beet field as I considered what had happened. I had always assumed we would need the police and the police would enforce the laws that kept us safe.

But did we need them? It was clear our only law officer was not going to do what was expected. So did we need him?

And if we didn’t, what was keeping us from devolving into animals…. burning and looting our town? The answer I came to was Lester. I realized Lester, of all people, would be the head of one of those groups that took what they wanted and didn’t care if others were hurt. But his group wasn’t doing it either. Lester and his group had hope. Hope that they could not only survive, but that they could continue living. And that is what Ted had given Kenton as well.

He had convinced us, in the first hours of our first day, of our new reality; that we could survive no matter how bad it got. He convinced us he had a plan to get us past the issues with water and food. When people started breaking, instead of going wild and thinking they had nothing to lose, they looked to the leadership Ted had established.