Nathan Jones - First Winter

Matt’s bewilderment was quickly giving way to outrage, not to mention genuine worry. The town couldn’t handle hundreds more refugees. “Absolutely not. Unless the military is willing to give us supplies for those you’re asking us to take in. The people we invited from the camp are already going to be eating into everyone else’s rations, since we weren’t given anything for them. Call it cherrypicking or whatever else you want, but it’s still a costly enough tradeoff for the town.”

The major opened his mouth to argue further, but Matt doggedly kept going. “Besides, we already agreed to take in 28 wounded and crippled veterans. Also without their own supplies. Were you aware of that?”

“I was,” Rogers said reluctantly. “It doesn’t matter. We have women and children that need to be cared for. Taking in a bunch of experienced soldiers and qualified professionals is unacceptable.”

Matt felt like scum for refusing aid to women and children. He knew that was the man’s goal, to shame him into doing something that would be bad for Aspen Hill. Bad for the people who trusted him to speak for them. The town had its own women and children to care for, its own widows and orphans. Besides, if Rogers was coordinator for the refugee camp then taking care of them was his responsibility, not Aspen Hill’s.

That realization helped replace his guilt with outrage. “A lot of the people we took in have families!” he snapped. “We already have taken in more mouths to feed than people who have specific skills to offer the town, as part of our deal with them. We’ve been more than generous.”

For a few moments the officer simply breathed in and out, controlling his anger. “I’m appealing to Aspen Hill’s better nature here, Mayor Larson. If you won’t do it out of decency we might have to find other motivations for you.”

Matt’s blood chilled. “Is that a threat?”

“If you want to consider it that.” Rogers turned and started for his vehicle. “Seriously consider it. I want the right answer when I come back. We all need to sacrifice for the good of the nation.”

“Major Rogers!” Matt called after the man. Rogers paused. “I always thought that someone who asks others to make sacrifices for the greater good that they themselves aren’t willing to make is pretty despicable. But even more despicable is someone who forces other people to make those sacrifices.”

The major flinched as if slapped, then his jaw tightened. “I’ll give you a week, Mayor. As I understand it you’ve poached 22 people from my camp. Taking in 220 more shouldn’t be too great a strain on your town.”

Matt couldn’t believe the man could blithely say that. 220 more mouths to feed could end up being twice that many who didn’t survive the winter because of insufficient food if they tried to stretch what they had. Besides, that number didn’t include the families of those they’d already taken in. “Don’t waste your time, Major. The answer will be the same when you come back.”

“It better not be.” Rogers gave the assembled leaders and townspeople a warning look. “I would think carefully about this, before you let this man steer you into trouble you’re not prepared to deal with.”

His words were met with frosty silence, which didn’t seem to bother the major as he settled down in the backseat of the jeep and his escort hopped in and started the vehicle, tearing them off up the road in the direction of their camp.

A man who truly believed in the rightness of what he was doing. Another Ferris in the making, as far as Matt was concerned. And like everything else the man was wrong about, he had no idea what Aspen Hill’s people were prepared to deal with.

“Well first off,” Catherine said firmly, “one of the biggest mistakes we made with Ferris was assuming everything he did was sanctioned. We never contacted his superiors in Price to confirm his decisions, or protest them for that matter.”

Chauncey nodded. “I’ll get on the radio asking around to try to see just how many of his threats Rogers is capable of carrying out, as well as if it’s even any of his business how the rations are distributed and where refugees are sent outside his camp.”

“That’s a good start,” Matt said. The town’s leaders had adjourned to the town hall tent to discuss the problem of the major and his ultimatum. “But it doesn’t answer the question of what we do when he comes back.”

An uncomfortable silence settled. “220 people would be crippling for us, but not impossible,” Lucas said. “It might be better to absorb the hit if it will prevent problems with the military. They have more force to bring to bear than we do.”

That was the understatement of the century.

“Half our people are already looking at starvation before winter’s through,” Catherine snapped. “Do you want to bring in hundreds more when it’s your wife or daughter who might be starving to accommodate a bunch of useless eaters?”

Ben bristled. “That’s a bit harsh, don’t you think?”

“No, I don’t,” the former mayor responded. “Because you know Rogers will fob his biggest problems off on us. Young children, women who have no skills and are likely troublemakers to boot.” She glanced around and caught the uncomfortable looks. “And don’t pretend I’m wrong, just because it’s awful to think of the plight of widows and orphans. We’ve got our own to deal with.”

Matt held up his hands to calm the chaos that was about to break out. “I guess it all depends on what Rogers can do to us,” he said reasonably. “In the meantime we should prepare for the worst. Thoughts?”

Trev nodded. “I’ll put the defenders on high alert. Rogers might not expect us to be able to mobilize a full quarter of our people as a reasonably competent fighting force if the need arises. If he’s acting on his own we might be able to handle whatever soldiers he’s got under his command, if it comes to it.”

“And we should redouble our efforts gathering food, just in case,” Ben added. “It might be we can work our way out of this problem through sheer elbow grease and ingenuity.”

Matt wasn’t sure about that. As far as he knew everyone in town was already scrambling nonstop to gather every scrap of food in the area and preserve it for the coming winter. They couldn’t do more than their best, which most were already doing. He glanced over at the nook where they kept the radio gear. “Chauncey?”

The retired teacher shook his head. “It’s not looking good. We’re in Rogers’s area, and the refugee camp coordinators have a tremendous amount of authority with very little oversight. Too much of the military’s attention is focused on the continuing war with the Gold Bloc back east.”

To be honest Matt hadn’t been expecting good news on that front. For as much good as they’d done the military wasn’t perfect, and at the moment their word was law. There wasn’t any civilian authority to keep them in check, and it was only their sense of patriotism and decency that held them back from whatever they wanted to do. Unfortunately it looked as if Aspen Hill’s current problem came from a man who believed he was acting in the finest tradition of both.

“Again,” he said heavily. “What do we do when he comes back?”

“Take them in,” Scott said immediately. “I’d rather take the hit, no matter how bad it is, than risk armed conflict that might get just as many people killed.”

Catherine gave her husband an impatient look. “We need to turn them away. I’m not willing to lose even one of ours to starvation because of some bureaucrat’s power trip.”

Trev wasn’t helpful. “Whatever we decide, the defenders will be up for it,” he promised.