“What’s a liability?” came a voice from the backroom. Scott Tillman emerged from the open door leading Matt’s dad. He was wearing his reading glasses which suggested he’d been doing paperwork.
Matt went over and shook the older man’s hand. “I’m trying to pay in cash but apparently the town decided to go to a barter system. Whose crazy idea was that?”
Tam snickered, and Mr. Tillman smiled slightly. “My wife’s. Catherine felt that moving to a barter system before the US economy collapsed and the dollar became worthless would at least keep the local economy fairly stable. The rest of the City Council seemed to agree. Didn’t you hear about the meeting?” Behind Matt Tam made a choked noise, like she was trying not to laugh again.
Matt shot her an annoyed look over his shoulder. “No. But I tell you what, I’m going to be at the next one if you’re making these sorts of decisions.”
“I’m sure we can work out an arrangement, Scott,” his dad said, then glanced at Matt. “This is all stuff you need, right son?”
He nodded. “Well yeah. If I’m going to volunteer for the roadblock I’d like to have a clean gun, plenty of ammo and extra mags, and a reliable holster.”
“You’re volunteering to defend the town, eh?” Mr. Tillman asked. “Well then tell you what, we can set you up on credit for now and next time you come around we can talk about bartering.”
Matt rubbed at the unshaven stubble on his chin. He hated owing anyone anything and did his best to avoid debt, but at the same time this stuff could save his life in the future and his money was useless. Besides, he had all the stuff he’d bought at the store up in Orem, as well as his other possessions. He should be able to find something to pay the debt off. “All right. That would be great, thanks.”
Mr. Tillman nodded and got behind the counter beside his daughter, taking a cheap pen and clipboard from beneath it as he began looking over Matt’s purchases. Under “Matthew Larson” written large and underlined in its own column he began making a list of all the goods.
As the older man worked Matt watched him in confusion. “Um, the tally’s right there on the register. Why are you writing everything down?”
Tam shook her head at him, and his dad chuckled. “Tally up with dollars?” Mr. Tillman asked. “We’re not on dollars anymore, so it has to be the goods themselves we jot down so we can guess at their value later. The dollar value is just a place to start.”
“Yeah, but in a barter system the value of the stuff I’m getting can change at any moment. Especially the longer we go without getting supplies.”
Tam shrugged. “Taking credit presents its own complications I guess. We’re still feeling this all out as we go but we’ll do our best to give you a fair deal.”
Matt wasn’t happy about it. The Tillmans were the most honest people in town, but even though he trusted them it was uncomfortable being in a situation where nothing stopped them from talking up the value of the goods when it came time to settle.
“Well just so long as you know what you’re getting into,” he said as he picked up the paper bags Tam loaded his things into. “I think I can manage bartering, since I’m probably one of the few people in town with any real negotiating experience. I was selling cars to pay my way through college, remember.”
Mr. Tillman glanced past him out the store’s big window, to a couple parked vehicles in the parking lot with empty tanks. “I know. I won’t hold it against you.” His daughter laughed.
Matt finally smiled too, appreciating the humor of the situation. Of course he’d also appreciated the humor of it while trying to sell cars with gas prices climbing steeply all last year. “Thanks again. I’ll be back when I’ve got the time, depending on what Officer Turner says and what my family needs from me.” He turned to look at his dad, who’d come to stand beside him. “Breakfast is probably done by now.”
His dad waved him on. “I’m going to stick around and help Scott in here. If you get some free time maybe you can swing by too and see what needs doing. Bring your new friend Sam if she wants.”
“Ooh, a new friend?” Tam asked, brightening. “And a girl. Does that equal girlfriend?”
Matt felt his face reddening. “We just met,” he protested, backing through the door. “I’ll, um, let Mom know you might miss breakfast Dad.” With that he turned and hurried away.
Back at home he came into the kitchen to see that his mom and Sam had prepared an enormous breakfast. At first glance he was dismayed at their irresponsibility, but then he realized that with the power out the food in the fridge was probably already going bad, and what was in the freezer wouldn’t be far behind.
As they ate he let his mom know what her husband was up to, then quizzed her on what he’d missed at the meeting. Sam was an active participant in the discussion, genuinely seeming to care what happened in the town. To Matt’s surprise she even agreed with the decision to turn away the refugees, although he’d still been on the fence about it in spite of being willing to help Officer Turner.
“I know it’s a bit hypocritical since I’m basically one,” she admitted. “But we saw how the food situation is up in the cities and it sounds like it’s only a bit better down here. If all those people come around looking for a meal any hope the town has of surviving goes down the drain.”
“Well I agree with just about everything you said,” his mom answered. At Sam’s quizzical look she smiled. “Except that you’re not a refugee, you’ve got a home right here.”
Matt had expected Sam to protest, but to his further surprise her eyes welled with tears and she went around the table to hug his mom. “I’ll find ways to pull my weight, I promise. You can’t know how grateful I am.”
She abruptly turned to Matt, businesslike. “Speaking of which, your mom mentioned you were going to go see about helping at the roadblocks. I want to come and volunteer too.”
“Sure,” he said, pleased at the chance to spend more time with her. Although he didn’t know how he felt about her being in a potentially dangerous situation. He cleaned the last bites off his plate and stood. “Should we get going?”
The dark-haired woman nodded and hurried to grab her shoes. While she was doing that Matt retrieved the holster he’d purchased from the bags still near the door and looped it on his belt, then holstered his Glock. Sam gave the gun a curious look as she finished putting her shoes on, but she didn’t comment on it.
Together they set off north along Main Street to the edge of town, where his mom mentioned that the policeman and town volunteers were setting up the first roadblock. On the way he pointed out a few features of Aspen Hill and named the neighbors who lived in all the houses they passed. Sam seemed interested in the information, but he couldn’t help but notice her eyes constantly darting to the mountains to the west.
“This has been my favorite thing about living in Utah,” she admitted when he asked her. “I love having mountains on my doorstep. Back in Provo-Orem I’d go up to Rock Canyon on weekends to hike the trail. I even tried rock climbing with friends a few times, although I wasn’t very good at it.”
Matt had always appreciated the beauty of the mountains himself, but he hadn’t really thought about them since they’d always been around. “There’s some nice lakes up there,” he offered. “I’ve been fishing a few times with my dad and the Halssons.”
“Halssons?” she repeated.
“My friend Lewis and his dad. He’s the cousin of another of my friends, Trevor Smith, and Trev was up at the university with me.” Matt made a face. “He warned me about leaving Orem after the attack and even offered to let me come along when he left, but I assumed things would get back to normal before too long, or at least wouldn’t get bad as quickly as they did.”