Oh well. He had taken an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies “foreign and domestic.” He had not taken an oath to follow the orders of the President or even the Governor of Texas if they were acting unconstitutionally. Everyone had to choose which side they were on, and Bill Owens had made his choice.
Bill continued, “A guy on the cul-de-sac over from me is a cop.
He said FEMA was a bunch of idiots. Their inept bureaucracy is getting tons of people killed. The Feds were in a complete panic and started seizing state and local vehicles and even some private ones. There are rumors the Feds are trying to take guns, but I can’t believe they would be that stupid.”
Oh God, Grant thought. It’s happening.
“The San Antonio cops had enough,” Bill said. “They are actually going out and repo’ing back vehicles the Feds took. Our sheriff was on TV reminding people that the Texas Constitution guaranteed their right to keep and bear arms and that his deputies would not be taking guns from law-abiding citizens.”
Thank God. Grant’s theory that plenty of cops would resist unconstitutional orders was panning out so far; at least in Texas.
“On top of running interference with the Feds,” Bill said, “the cops are trying to keep up with all the crime. They’re dealing with refugees stealing, and then homeowners shooting refugees, on accident or sometimes on purpose. Our home-grown criminals of all races are going on rampages. My neighbor said the Mexican gangs were attacking people in revenge for the treatment of the refugees. He thinks the gangs here are coordinating with their mother ship drug gangs in Mexico. It’s a royal mess down here.”
This was exactly what Grant had thought would happen, although the strong response from the Governor of Texas surprised him a little. This was getting creepy. He was scared that he could predict what would happen. It might sound cool to know what’s going to happen, but it isn’t. It’s terrifying, especially when what this is what is predicted.
“Have you seen or heard any actual shooting?” Grant asked. “Nope,” Bill said. “Not yet. But there’s plenty of shooting on TV, though. Everyone is on edge.”
“Now doesn’t sound like a great time for us to come down,” Grant said.
“Nope,” Bill said.
“You can come up here anytime you want,” Grant said. “I’ve got the cabin for you. I might need to use it myself but we would make room for you. Any chance you could get out and get up here?”
“Nope,” Bill said. “Travel is impossible now. The roads are choked with people trying to go north. Gasoline is running out. I’m surprised it lasted this long. People are buying up all the food and other supplies. I haven’t even tried to go to the gun store, but I imagine those shelves are empty. I’ve got plenty, though, so I don’t need any of that. I think we’ll just wait it out in our neighborhood. We have some good old boys here who know how to take care of business.”
It was silent for a while. Both men were trying to take it all in. They couldn’t believe they were having this conversation.
Finally Bill said, “We’ll help anyone we can as long as it’s safe. But hungry and scared people, even women and children, will do crazy things to get food. We have to take care of ourselves first and others second. We can’t help people if we’re dead. And I don’t plan on being dead.”
There was a noise on Bill’s end. “Hey, I gotta go. Roberto says I need to come over to his place.” Grant vaguely remembered Bill referring to a neighbor of his named Roberto. “See ya, man. Be safe up there.”
“You too,” Grant said.
Click.
Chapter 35
Reality Check
Grant felt so alive; more alive than ever. It was a combination of excitement, thrill, fear, restlessness, and a need to do a thousand things at once. He knew this was the beginning of the most important time in his life. The decisions he made now would keep him and his family alive or get them killed. The stakes could not be any higher. He was ready for what he thought was coming, but he knew that things never turned out exactly like it is predicted they will. He knew there would be awful things ahead. He knew.
He needed to get Manda up to speed. She would be invaluable in convincing her mom to do things she didn’t want to do.
Grant pulled into the Cedars. What a contrast from his cabin. His neighborhood was a pathetic collection of grasshoppers. Pathetic. After talking to Bill, Grant was envious of Bill’s Texas neighborhood. Down there, they were pulling together, prepping openly, and having a neighborhood defense plan. He couldn’t see that happening here. One of the reasons he was so thankful to have the cabin was that he knew how vulnerable they were in Cedars. His neighbors were oblivious.
Grant clicked the garage door opener and saw that Lisa was not home. Good. He could talk to Manda without having to whisper.
Cole saw him come in the house and said, “Hi, Dad. How was your day?” Cole was working hard on being conversational with people. He would ask the same handful of questions like that, along with “What does the weather look like outside?” He was doing well. He was working so hard. For Cole, talking and listening to people was the hardest thing in the world, so he had to force himself to be conversational because he wanted to be connected to people. God, Grant loved that little guy, though he was thirteen now and not so little. But he talked like a three year-old so it was still easy to think of him as a little kid.
“I had a bad day, little buddy,” Grant said. “But I’m home with you so I’m having a good day now. Thanks for asking. How was your day?”
Cole thought a while. “It was fine, Dad.” He was grinning from ear to ear. His dad was home. It was impossible not to love this kid. “Awesome, little buddy,” Grant said as he hugged Cole. “Is your sister home?”
“Why, yes, Dad,” Cole said. “She’s upstairs.”
Grant went up to Manda’s room. She was listening to her iPod.
“Hey, Dad, what’s up?” Manda asked. She had no idea what had been happening. Grant envied the innocence of being a kid.
“Manda, our little plan might need to be activated,” Grant said with as little concern as possible. “Not immediately, but long term.” Grant was trying not to scare her.
She slowly pulled the iPod headphones off, looking very serious. She wasn’t scared. She looked calm and confident. Like a grown up.
“OK, Dad, what’s the situation?” she asked. That was a pretty mature thing for a sixteen year old to say.
Grant described the stock market and, more importantly, the bond rating. She had seen the news about the California and Mexico situations, but thought that was far away. She instantly understood why the bond rating and other crises were a problem. Grant told her about his phone call with Bill Owens.
“I don’t expect the refugee problem to be affecting us all the way up here,” Grant said. That was downplaying his concerns, but he didn’t want to scare her unnecessarily. “The Federal Government is freaking out right now. They are losing control of Texas and probably California, Arizona, and New Mexico. This is a dangerous time because the feds might try to overreact.”
Manda was taking it all in. He had never seen her so focused on what he was saying.
“I don’t think we need to bug out right now,” Grant continued. He didn’t really believe that, but he was trying hard not to overreact so he told himself things like that. “Maybe we never need to. But we need to do as much now as possible, in advance, so we can leave on a moment’s notice.”