Home Coming (The Survivalist Book 10) A. American (read after .txt) 📖

“We aren’t in a hurry. Relax.”

The rider finally made it to them and stopped the horse. The horse was more interested in the long grass around the fence. The rider sat looking at the two men. Mike held his hands out in a what the fuck gesture. After a moment, the rider asked, “Can I help you?”

“Yeah, open the gate,” Mike replied.

“No one told me anyone was coming today.”

“We didn’t call ahead for a reservation,” Ted said.

Annoyed, Mike said, “Look dude, we need to talk to Dave. You know who we are. Just open the damn gate.”

The rider pulled the horse away from his pursuit of a meal and nudged him towards the gate. He tossed Mike a key and he unlocked the gate. As he was doing so, the rider said, “You know, some people here aren’t real happy about you talking to our women folk.”

Pulling the chain through the gate, Mike looked up and with a squint and asked, “Yeah? Like who, you?”

The rider held his hand out. Mike thought about tossing the key so that he couldn’t catch it but decided against it and tossed the key up to him. Ted pulled through the gate and Mike pushed it closed. As he was getting into the wagon, the rider said, “You watch yourself.”

Mike smiled and replied, “Oh, I’ll be fine there, Sport.”

The rider scowled back without replying as Ted headed for the house. When they arrived at the house, Janet and Crystal were standing out front. While Crystal was visibly excited, Janet had more of an air of suspicion. As soon as Mike was out of the wagon, Crystal ran to him and they hugged. Holding hands, they quickly disappeared around the side of the house.

Watching them as they disappeared, Janet asked, “He’s not going to get in trouble, is he?”

Ted snorted, “No promises on that. I’ve been trying for years.”

“And you, what about you?”

“Oh, me? I can go either way,” Ted replied, offering an evil grin.

The air of suspicion faded into a faint smile. “That’s good to know.”

“Who’s the guy at the gate?”

“That’s Jim, Jim Gifford. Why?”

“He wasn’t real keen about letting us in. Said people here didn’t like us messing with the women folk as he put it.”

Janet laughed and looked towards the corner of the house where Mike and Crystal disappeared. “Yeah. Jim has a thing for Crystal. Nothing is ever going to come from it; Crystal can’t stand him.”

Ted nodded, “Ah. So, if he can’t have her, no one can.”

“You recognize the attitude?”

Ted scratched his head, “I’ve, uh, yeah. I recognize it.”

“So, what are you two doing here?”

“We had some down time and decided to come by for a short visit. You know, just to hang out.”

“Well then, you want something to drink? We have lemonade.”

Ted smiled, “Lemonade would be great.”

They went into the house together. Heading towards the kitchen, they passed Dave’s office. Seeing Ted, he stood up and took off his reading glasses. “Ted,” he said as he rounded the desk. “Great to see you again.”

Ted shook his hand. “Nice to see you, Dave.”

Dave was smiling and looking back and forth between Janet and Ted. “What brings you here?”

“We were in the area.”

“That’s good. Glad you dropped in.”

“We’re going to the kitchen for some lemonade, Dad. You want some?”

“No, no. You two go ahead.” He motioned at his desk and added, “I’m busy here. Good to see you again, Ted.”

“You too, Dave.” Dave went back to his office and Janet and Ted continued on their way to the kitchen. As Janet dropped ice cubes into a couple of glasses, Ted commented, “Your dad seemed rather happy to see me.”

“Dad likes to see new faces. I think he was getting sick of looking at us every day.”

Ted smiled, “Yeah, that was the vibe I was getting too.” Then he switched the subject. “Ice, huh?”

As she poured the lemonade, Janet replied, “Thanks to some fuel we traded for recently, we can run the generator a couple of hours a day.” She held the glass out to him and replied, “So yes, ice.”

Taking the glass, Ted replied, “Thank you.”

Janet held her glass up, “You’re welcome.” And they touched glasses.

Mike and Crystal were walking towards the dock on the lake, holding hands as they went. “Who’s your buddy up at the gate?”

“That’s just Jim. He’s harmless.”

“He seemed a little irritated at seeing us.”

“He kinda has a thing for me.” She turned and looked closely at Mike. “But I don’t have a thing for him.”

Mike smiled, “That’s good.”

With a bit of a carefree attitude, Crystal replied, “Well, I hope to find a good guy someday.”

“I know how you feel. I’ve about given up on the idea of finding a good woman.”

Crystal cut him a devilish smile, “I have a feeling the last thing you want is a good woman.”

Mike walked for a minute, then looked sideways at her. “I want a woman that’s good at being a little bad.”

Crystal stepped in front of him, taking both of his hands in hers. She leaned in and said, “Funny. That’s just what I’m good at.” Then she leaned in and kissed him.

Mike smiled, put his arm around her and they continued towards the dock.

CHAPTER 9

As we rounded Alexander Island, I started to look with anticipation for mom and dad’s neighborhood. We finally came to the little cut leading to their marina and I turned the boat into it. As the dock and marina came into view, we saw a man with a rifle standing on the shore. Sarge stood up and waved at the man, who was very visibly shaken by our sudden appearance.

The man looked at us nervously as we slowly glided towards him. Sarge called out to the man as we drew nearer. We were doing our best to look nonthreatening. But it didn’t work. After another moment’s nervous hesitation, he bolted away. Running as fast as his legs would carry him.

“That’s not good,” Danny