It was 2052 high haven, p.1
It Was 2052, High Haven, page 1
It Was 2052
HIGH HAVEN
J. Richardson
COPYWRIGHT
All Rights Reserved
Copyright © 2015 by J. Richardson
The author holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
A Stranger
CHAPTER TWO
Comings and Goings
CHAPTER THREE
Far Trails
CHAPTER FOUR
Cities
CHAPTER FIVE
The Hills Have Eyes
CHAPTER SIX
Secrets
CHAPTER SEVEN
Homing
CHAPTER EIGHT
The Year After
CHAPTER ONE
A Stranger
The thick brown and black patterned snake slid through the grass like tubular lava, undulated over the tip of her booted foot. Cissy watched it, interested but not worried. No vicious wide flat head, no alarming rattles at the end of it's long form, just an old Bull Snake. Like her, it sought the warmth of the early Spring sun. She had no inclination to take the pistol from her waist and blow the reptile apart.
Last Spring was a different story. One of the sneaky creatures twisted up the pole that lifted the Blue Bird house her father made to it's preferable height. The picky torquoise tinted birds choose a nest location that is out in the open and four to five feet off the ground to protect their family from predators. Snakes have their own methods. The slimy predator was after the tender fledglings and the babes were raising all hell with their high pitched chirps. The parent birds swooped and pecked at the snake as it's head pushed into the opening, with little affect. That snake definitely had to die. She whacked and beat at the snake with an iron fire poker to no avail. Finally, the attacker seemed to be weary of being hacked at and dropped from the opening.
She laughed at the memory that replayed, the snake dropped, made her do a little dance. Two shots from her gun turned the snake into triplets. Surprise, the panicked babes, not near ready to fly yet, started bailing out of the nest. All squatted down, butt low, she pursued the hopping little fluffs of feathers through the grass. As soon as she captured one and poked it in the opening, it popped back out. It took her father's help to get the birds back in the nest and calmed.
His amusement had echoed across the meadow, “Girl...what're you up to...baby bird stew for supper?” She shot him a frustrated look. Suitably stifled, he joined the rescue. As each fledgling was returned to safety she held her hand over the hole. In the darkness and company of siblings the birds quieted. Later in the day, the parents returned, bugs in mouth and resumed the care and feeding of their offspring. The pole now had a high necklace of barb wire to discourage such stealthy intruders.
Cissy shifted around a bit on the hard flat rock, she pulled up one leg and hugged it to her. It was first Spring and even though some sprigs of green dotted the waves of wild grasses and the sun hung in the clear sky, a couple of layers of shirts and her jeans were a comfortable necessity. Boots were the everyday footwear all year long. All kinds of things; stingers or pricklers or biters, both plant and animal inhabited the thick grass and rocky ground.
With the usual muffled groan the back door of the faded brown house announced it's opening. Their hands clasped, as was often the case, her mother and father covered the few steps to where she sat. “Going up the hill to Cody's. You coming?” Odd, she hadn't noticed before that her dad's hair was more gray than the sun bleached brown she was so familiar with. She never remembered him letting it grow long, at least not if he could help it and he never favored a beard. Her mother's hair was still dark brown and curly with a very few stray pale strands, nearly always tamed with a wide band. Some memories, no pleasant ones, of before they were her parents, still lived in her head. She didn't allow her thoughts to go there often, her real and happy life began with Jeff and Emily and her brother Kevin, the blood son of Jeff.
Her adoptive father was her hero. The job of rescue seemed to be his natural occupation. Not just baby birds—he had rescued Emily from a bad situation and eventually made her his wife. Cissy was about twelve when he saved her from the government camp down in Texas. Orphaned and weak, her death in that diseased and dangerous place was a certainty, until Jeff, Emily and Kevin came along.
“Think I'll sit here a while longer. Be up a little later,” she smiled at them. “What about Kev, is he already up there?”
Her parents exchanged a look and her mother said, “I don't think he came home last night. He seems to be spending a lot of time over at the Bailey's.”
“Well, he's been helping them with the repairs on that old barn,” said her father.
This time, she and her mother exchanged an eyebrows raised look. “Right, I'm sure it's the work, doubt it has anything to do with Suzanne Bailey,” she said.
The Magpies in the cedars nearby took to the air and added their shrill caw-caws to the laughter. Her father gave her shoulder a pat, “See you later, Girl.”
Cissy watched them walk away up the hill to another faded house, it's dark green paint long melted to milky teal. Just like the house across the dirt road from it and her own home, all neat and kept up and surrounded with the tools and necessities of survival. Since her family had arrived here, about twenty years ago, the inhabitants of these three houses were as family. Separated by only hundreds of feet, to this day they prepared and shared at least one of the daily meals together.
She turned and scanned the distant mountain range, the peaks still wore the heavy white cloak of winter snows. It would be at least a couple of months ahead before they shed their frosty blanket. Of course, she wasn't a girl at all, turned 33 two months ago. Her father still called her “his girl” and that affectionate name continued to give her great comfort. She was single, like her brother Kevin, who was about her same age. In another time, in another world, that might've been unusual. “I wonder...” she said to the air, will Suzanne Bailey soon change that for Kev.
Large dark blue eyes followed the meadows that rolled right up to the mountain's roughshod feet and surrounded her small area of the world. Horses grazed in the field, her extended family shared and cared for the dozen or so paints and chestnuts and bays. Always close and integrated with the horses, the squatty donkeys acted as guards. They would stand their ground against hungry coyotes, their loud braying and kicking would send the horses running in panic. Once, she watched the distant drama play out as one of the slower running donkeys was taken down. The laws of nature weren't always pretty.
She squinted against the arching sun, the old dirt road twisted and curved nearby. It had been relegated to just a trail by horses and wagons, occasional tractors or old trucks, kept alive by those who retained the knowledge of such things. The natural ground cover crowded in, narrowed it's once double width, poked up through the central high ground. The road twisted and dipped all the many miles around several hundred acres of foothills and meadows. Historically not heavily populated, now approximately forty residents remained scattered across the old community, not counting the fourteen living on her “family” hill.
Her blonde hair was kept just long enough to pull up in a ponytail. It was close to the color of the golden winter grasses and rarely was down and loose. One swirled strand crept out of the confining band and tickled her neck, she tucked it back up and slid to the ground. A life of work at survival, at self sufficiency kept her body strong and lean. Fairly tall for a woman, she stretched an inch or so above her brother. Kevin was more of a sturdy, stocky build.
A glimpse of movement caught her eye and she curved her hand across her brow to make a shade. The figure, if it was one, disappeared into the low road valley. Probably Kev—about time he dragged his old ass home. Her brother was close to her best friend, they had a comfortable bond of trust. The pair also had a typical brother-sister adversarial relationship. Thoughts raced through her mind about how she could give him a difficult time concerning the charming Suzanne. She moved forward a few steps, anxious to see him.
Up from the low stretch and around the wide sharp bend the figure approached. “That's not Kevin...”, a whisper. What she at first sight thought was a small pony trotting beside the figure was a large dog; a muscular, long legged, brindle spotted dog with pointed ears. When her pistol came up, one deep bark blared across the distance between the pair and her, felt like a physical thump on her chest. One finger and one sound from the man beside the dog made it freeze in silence.
“Don't come any further. What do you want?” Cissy's voice carried across the separation. She knew every person in this community. This was a stranger, there was a firm rule, strangers were always to be handled with caution and not trusted.
“Stay Peaches,” the man said to the dog and eased forward about two steps.
Cissy took one step back, her hand with the gun extended steady.
“My name is Taylor. I promise I mean no harm. We've been walking for over three days. If we could rest here a while? Please, I just need to get my bearings, stop moving for a bit.”
She took in the man that stood a few feet away from her. He appeared not as old as her father, yet not as young as herself. She judged him to be a little over six feet tall and the lanky dog's head rose to right above his waist. He wore faded tan overalls, a heavy blanket type
“Rifle! On the ground,” she ordered.
The man carefully lifted the rifle and placed it on the rock cluttered soil, stepped back from it.
“See that house up there?” she nodded towards Cody's green cabin, “Walk—go on, move.”
The man's voice was deep, firm even tinged with weariness, “Peaches, come.” As he moved up toward the house, the lumbering dog at his heels, she shouldered his rifle and followed.
The stranger was soon ushered inside the small cabin and sat down at a long handmade table. The dog stretched out on the porch. There were always dogs around the family houses, one by one, big and small they assembled to check out what seemed to be a gentle giant. “Thanks,” he said to the woman who sat a cup of warm milk with just a dab of vanilla and cocoa for flavor in front of him. He had removed the hat and heavy coat, the backpack slumped at his feet. The small sunglasses went into his flannel shirt pocket.
Cissy put away her pistol and stuffed her hands down in her pockets to hide the shake she had managed to conceal until she herded the man to the cabin. Good, she could see his eyes now. An unusual light golden brown, she didn't recall ever seeing eyes that color. Impossible to determine if any malice lurked there. Was it sadness or just bone tiredness beneath the heavy brows? A bare streak in one side of the beard, a scar? The brown eyes and the blue caught for a second. Damn! was I staring? Her curiosity had caused her to carelessly inspect him.
She never knew her family to be cruel or even aggressive, always practical and cautious. The stranger was far outnumbered and absolutely in their territory, no reason not to allow him to rest and tell his story. Cody and his wife Ashley, their friends David and Shawna lived in this house that was actually the hub of the bonded group. Across the street lived Sarge and Pat and their two sons. Even after David and Shawna had first one daughter and then another, the friends wanted to continue to live in the cabin. As the daughters grew, they added an extra room. All of the residents of the three homes had traveled hundreds of dangerous miles to reach this lofty sanctuary. They worked together to survive and created a life here that none of them were inclined to give up.
On occasion, Bubba, the twenty-six year old son of Pat and Sarge would stomp and bluster around and say to Cissy and her brother, “I'm getting out of this place. There's a whole big world out there. I wanna know what's going on. I got to see—don't you want to see?” Bubba's rusty mop of hair topped off a young man that was in the process of maturing. He wasn't shy about speaking his mind and his mouth often worked much harder than his back. They, like the rest of the family usually shrugged off his proclamations. So far, he hadn't gone away. Cissy noticed that every day he appeared more attached to the youngest daughter of David and Shawna.
Nearly all the family's eldest were present and looked toward the interloper. Cody, who was their accepted leader, said, “So, mister. What's your story, what brought you here? We've all been here for a lot of years, it's not the usual for a traveler to come walking up our road.”
“Like I told the lady,” he dipped his head toward Cissy, “the dog and I have been walking about three days. We came from...”
An ear assaulting soprano yapping from the front porch stopped the telling. Barks from bass to tenor harmonized. Cissy and the visitor crunched together as they both tried to move to the entrance. She clapped her hands, “Shut up!” muttered, “dirty old dogs.” The pack immediately quieted to low moans, obeying her implicit command. The newcomer reclined as serenely as a sphinx on the weathered planks. That indifference had obviously aggravated the tiniest bitch of the canine herd beyond her patience. She continued to sniff and bristle her fluff of hair.
“Peaches...” the low smooth voice seemed to be right in Cissy's ear. She moved aside.
The extravagant wet tongue slurped the small tense attacker and left her sitting on her haunches with a spiky new hair-do. Cissy didn't feel like girlish giggling was the thing to do right now and turned away from the stranger and the family.
Taylor moved back to the table, took a sip of the now cool milk. He rubbed his hand across his beard, his expression hidden, “Sorry.”
Cody and Sarge from across the road, scrutinized the man, didn't speak. Cissy's father said, “We need to have your story, but first I've got to know—why did you name that goliath Peaches?
By this time, the women of the family had relaxed a bit and she could see her mother's soft hearted perusal of the man. When Cissy first met her future family, a tiny fur ball of a dog, named “Girl” had actually been the cause of them coming together. That dog traveled over hundreds of miles with the newly formed family and was more attached to Kevin than any of the other three. The fearless petite barker on the porch was one of many descendents of Girl. Dogs were guardians, companions and there was hardly a one of the family that didn't have a real appreciation for their value.
Emily said, “Are you hungry? How 'bout a biscuit with egg?”
“I'd appreciate that,” said the man. He looked through the dusty screen door to the porch, “When I found the dog it wasn't much more than a pup. Of course, he was bigger than any puppy I'd ever seen. Anyway, he wasn't in very good shape, dirty and skinny as spaghetti. He had uncovered a rusted old can of peaches, gnawed and dug at it until he punched through. His muzzle all sticky and covered with peach syrup, he didn't even growl when he saw me.” The teller shook his head and the hair brushed his shoulder, “I believe that if I had reached down for a peach, he would've shared. You wouldn't want to be bit by those jaws though. He's saved my ass more than once.”
Jeff said, “Okay, one mystery solved.” He looked from one man to the next of the family, “Why don't you eat that biscuit and then we'll hear the rest of your story.”
Cissy wasn't sure why, she felt a bit relieved. Her father and the other men of the family were not usually the shoot first, ask questions later type, though she had often over the years been given that advice. It was a good thing for the most part. She wanted to know more about this man. While the big dog might be gentle, she was far from convinced that the owner was of the same persuasion. Sometimes she felt that she would be ashamed if her family knew her long buried and deep motives for being distrustful and cautious. She wasn't an innocent, some threats were not negotiable. An intuition told her that this undefined as yet person was very aware of that fact of life.
***
All that listened began to follow the tracks of Taylor. On the day that the lights went off, never to come back on, he was just a boy of 8 years old. His family had settled into the housing on the Colorado Springs military base a couple of weeks before. He was completely fascinated by the awesome mountains that surrounded the new home with their snow covered tops. Heck, he'd never even seen snow before, never where they used to live. Dad had promised to take him hiking on those mountains and the thought of it made all kinds of wild thoughts go through his mind. Today though, he wanted to get inside. That show was on the Discovery Channel about bears.
His father was a lieutenant in the Army, his mom took care of the family, the house—it seemed she took care of most things to him. His fourteen year old sister mostly took care of herself; her hair, her makeup, not her clothes. She nearly wore them out, changing in and out of them and throwing them in piles on the floor. When the lights and everything else went dead, he heard the whiny voice from her favorite seat in front of the mirror in her room, “S—T!”
