"Quiet down, please!" Jericho Mayor Gray Anderson yelled, tapping the wooden gavel on its matching wooden stand to call the town hall meeting to order. "And please take your seats."
The sun was just beginning to set in the west, its golden rays shining through the windows of the meeting hall. The town hall meeting was packed with standing room only around the outside of the room and people standing several rows deep into the hall. The windows of the room were open barely letting in the cooler air from outside. People were talking loudly in groups, some of them obviously concerned and curious about what was going to be the only topic for tonight's meeting: the last review of the town charter before the vote next week. The reception to the charter thus far was mixed, even after nightly sessions to go over the details of how the plan would work and Jake and Eric spending hours walking out to farms and visiting people at home to go over the charter and get their input and support. Jake had been feeling more like a politician lately, making him appreciate what his father used to go through at every election.
Jake walked to the front of the room. Gray and the rest of the town council were seated at the table at the front of the room. He passed Heather, Gail and Mary sitting together near the front of the room. He noticed that Ted was sitting next to Heather. Jake took a place off to the side to stand next to Eric as Mayor Anderson tried to get people to settled down. Glancing about the room, he saw many familiar faces except for a few that were noticeably absent. He knew that Stanley and Mimi weren't going to be here tonight as they weren't going to be back from their honeymoon until tomorrow. He could have used Stanley's calming presence tonight, especially to help talk with the farmers. He was surprised that Emily wasn't here, as she usually attended the weekly meetings. Colonel Hoffman had asked if they wanted their new military liaison, Lt. Brady, present tonight but Jake had suggested that that wouldn't be necessary. They needed to do this on their own.
Gray tapped again with the gavel, the sound echoing loudly. "Come on now, we have a lot of business to discuss tonight. Everyone settle down please."
Slowly, people began to quiet down and a few more took their seats. Finally, it was calm enough and many pairs of eyes were now looking at Gray, or looking at Jake and Eric and the town council, a group of four men and one women, people elected every two years to help with the running of Jericho. They were due up for re-election this fall but thankfully all of them had supported the town charter, a couple of them reluctantly. If it didn't work, there was a lot more riding on it than a few people's political power in Jericho... the town's very survival could depend on it.
Gray began to speak at least once the room was mostly quiet. "I call this Town Hall Meeting of Jericho to order, on this day, June 19, 2007. You all know our only topic for tonight. Any other outstanding issues will be discussed after the vote next week. If it can't wait until then, talk to Eric or a deputy and we'll address it on a first come, first serve basis."
Jake was glad to see Gray taking charge tonight on the charter. The mayor had been hesitant to buy into the idea at first, but with the government demanding supplies and with the level of unrest and problems in town rising as spring turned into summer, Gray had realized that they needed something to help them make it through the rest of the year, if not longer. Jake and Eric had been doing most of the work on the charter thus far, though in recent weeks, Gray and the town council had finally stepped up to take ownership of it.
Gray picked up a thick document off the table in front of him and waved it in the air before setting it back down. "So our topic for tonight will be the last discussion on the Town Charter of Jericho 2007, Final Draft 2.4 which has been posted outside the mayor's office for final review for the last week. I'm sorry we've not been able to make many copies for everyone to read, but the final copy will also be posted at the high school and community center."
Jake looked over the crowd, noticing how divided they looked. Many of the business owners and teachers were seated in the chairs, usually with their spouses, while many of the farmers were near the back of the room. They were usually a quiet shy bunch but Jake was encouraged that there seemed to be a good number of them here. Most of the people present tonight had the most to gain from the charter, including teachers, nurses, sanitation and utility workers and most importantly, the many volunteers such as border patrol and those helping coordinate the distribution of rations and goods. They would be the easy votes. More difficult would be the votes from the farmers and business owners, especially those who could trade outside of Jericho. But in the end, everyone in Jericho needed to eat and get medical care and benefited from law enforcement and keeping strangers out of town. The charter would help with those and Jake hoped that people would recognize that. The lack of fuel and manpower was a problem everyone shared, farmers, businesses and volunteers alike. With the charter, people would have more motivation to work to help out each other, as they would get credit for it that could be reimbursed for other services they needed. And likewise, businesses would get the labor they needed. Between it all, Jake hoped that it would be enough to keep the town working and able to harvest and process enough food to get them through the long months of winter as well as help provide for better manned law enforcement and border patrol.
Gray continued, glancing about the room. "Any final questions, concerns or points requiring further clarification you have on the Town Charter, now's the time to bring them up. I know many of you have not attended all of our discussion meetings we've been having the past few weeks, so now's a good time to ask questions. All right, let's start it off. Questions you might have, any points needing clarification, etc."
Jake knew that many people were busy, but yet the attendance on some of the discussion meetings hadn't been that good despite all their attempts to get people involved in the planning process. Many people had offered good ideas that had changed the drafts of their document, many of it based on decades of careful accounting of the farms and businesses, as well as the ideas from the books on tenant farming he and Eric had gleaned from library books. For the past month, Jake, Eric and the town charter committee had often been out visiting with people, talking to them before and after church, and at the schools and larger businesses, talking about the charter and soliciting input into its creation.
"How many units of work am I going to get for working on the border patrol?" A man asked. Jake recognized him as one of the refugees that had come to town with Roger. He didn't recognize everyone on the border patrol now, especially since some of the ex-military men had stepped up to handle the boot camp and ongoing operations.
"The work unit charts are posted outside the mayor's office on the bulletin board. They will stay up there and be revised as needed." Eric answered.
"Who's going to make these revisions? How do we know you're not just going to change them on the fly?" Mrs. Carmichael asked. Mrs. Carmichael had been suspicious of the charter, despite her husband's support of it.
Gray replied. "Any revisions to work units or trade units will have to be approved by the charter committee. We will keep an eye on how things actually work when we put this into practice, so there may be a number of adjustments as we get started, but all changes will also be posted. Any requests for adjustment will have to be submitted in paper with the reasons why and reviewed and if needed, made by the committee. They will only be made once a week, not on the fly."
They had a few accountants using the working computers in City Hall to track and calculate the work units using a computer spreadsheet program. Long term, one of the computer programmers in town was working on writing a better program for tracking everything, but that was going to take time.
A woman carrying a small child in her arms called from near the back. "How are we going to get paid for child care or schooling?"
"You get units of work or goods that you can trade to others for services. Each week, a list of trades and work units will be sent to City Hall for tracking and calculation. Reports will be posted outside the mayor's office this week or available on request as time permits." Eric answered.
Jake finally jumped in. "So work in the schools teaching children or at the med clinic or even work at utilities or at the plant will account for something and you'll be able to cash in your units of work to buy foods and supplies and credit at the med clinic as you need it. Since we don't have cash or other things to trade, you'll be able to use your credits for rations or services from others."
"And how are we supposed to keep track of how much a credit a person has? It's not like phones are workin'!" Terrence Bath asked. He owned the hardware store. He had stayed in business due to trading with other towns for supplies. Heather and Ted were hoping to start supplying him with metal goods once they had the metallurgy part of the wind turbine plant working.
There were a few laughs at that.
Ted's group of friends were working on fixing enough computers and networking them using old equipment that they hoped to have the businesses on Main Street online in a shared network by the end of July. The rest would take longer but they planned to extend their network out to the med center and several other government offices and businesses on the outskirts of town. For now, the plan was to use paper for tracking the numbers.
"As we get started, you'll have to go on the weekly printed list that will come out from City Hall each week. This list will be provided to all those businesses and farms providing food and other goods. There will be a bit of a honor system for that, but as each business provides a weekly update, the totals will be tallied and those abusing the system or going over their credit will have to talk to the town hall committee, or worse, end up doing community service to repay what they owe."
Jake hated having to add in a discipline section to the charter, but the committee had insisted. As much as they'd like to believe in the good of people, there were always some that pushed the envelope, intentionally or not.
"And what if you don't do nothin'? " said a quiet voice in back. "This is going to be public? I don't want my neighbors knowing I'm a slacker."
There was a murmur of concern and a few chuckles.
"Then this is the time to prove to them that you aren't." Jake said. "We are all going to need to chip in to make this work and help everyone make it through this fall and winter. No one wants to go through what we did last winter, do they?"
Jake remembered the long, cold months where they barely had enough food to survive. People had died from the cold and malnutrition had been a problem. He didn't want to scare people into voting for the charter, but he knew, deep in his heart, that this was probably the best chance to make sure they had enough hands to harvest the food and keep the rest of the services in Jericho working so that they wouldn't have a repeat of last winter.
"What if you can't work?" An elderly woman asked.
"There will still be base rations to everyone who needs them as well as services for those that really do need them." Eric answered. "They will still be tracked and those will count against the town credits. But anyone that can work is strongly encouraged to. There will be a list of jobs posted weekly for those that need help, especially the farms. You'd be surprised where you might be able to do work, simple things like babysitting, paperwork for the charter or even folding clothes down at the med center count."
There was going to be a lot of work that needed to be done, especially out on the farms for things such as preparing fruits and vegetables for processing. His mother and some of the other women in town had drafted up a list of many of the tasks where people could work, many of them could be done by just about anyone, even the elderly and the young. They had made a policy that children under fourteen could only put in so many hours of work and all children were required to attend some school, even through the summer since they had missed many hours in the winter.
"What about this percentage that comes off the top?" One of the farmers, George Brown asked that from near the back.
"Ten percent of all work credits or trade good credits will go toward the town government to help with services such as police department, as well as the border patrol and for taking care of those unable to work." Eric replied. Some of that credit would also go to help support the med center and schools.
"A lot of good that seems to be doing us lately. You still haven't stopped Jonah Prowse from breaking down my fence when his crew passes through to avoid your road blocks." A voice called from the back hallway and a number of people agreed with him and voices were raised with murmurs and heated discussions.
"Quiet down!" Gray called, tapping his gavel again.
Jake shifted uncomfortably on his feet. He didn't want to give away that he was working on taking care of Jonah Prowse. The town charter was his baby, from its infancy to the twenty five page document that he and Eric and many others had spent endless hours defining and refining. He spoke up, a bit more forcefully. "Look, we're trying to get to the bottom of fixing all those things, but its going to take time. This charter is the first step toward that. If everyone has a way toward helping each other out and getting credit for it, people will be more likely to work together and harder, and will be able to trade for goods and we'll be able to pay for better law enforcement."
"Maybe we should just get the military to help with that. They seem to be doing a better job anyway." Said another voice.
Jake groaned inwardly. He had stopped a lot of the outside organized groups, but Jonah's group was the big one. But people still didn't have confidence in Jericho's government that they had a handle on things. The deputies and Eric were still overrun with complaints ranging from theft, to disputes over property lines, to stealing plants from vegetable gardens.
"If the military does that, they will take over everything, the running of schools, how you run your farms, what time you have to be off the streets at night, do you really want that?" Jake tried to keep his voice calm. He didn't want to scare people, especially with everything he knew and had heard about what the government was doing in other towns. He reminded himself to calm down.
A few people shook their heads.
Eric spoke up. "Then lets give this charter a chance, see if we can make it work. It's better than doing nothing like we have had up until now. That and we'll be in a better position to trade with other towns instead of everyone doing it on their own."
Clarence Jackson, who owned one of the larger wheat farms west of town, asked. "And what do we do if the government comes back and wants more from us? We barely have enough as it is."
They had already sent part of their winter wheat harvest and several shipments of salt to Cheyenne as the government requested. They had yet to see anything in return and people were well aware of that.
"Then using the charter system, we'll be able to track what resources we do have and tell the government that we can't afford to send anymore." Jake replied. "If we do have extra, we can also trade it with other towns for things we do need."
"But why should someone get credit working in the plant when those wind turbines are just going to be traded away to other towns?" Another man asked. He ran a dry cleaning business in town and had had to shut down his business due to lack of customers.
Jake knew that there was some resistance in town to the plant making wind turbines when farms desperately needed the manpower. Many saw it still as a commercial venture. Heather's plant had also been using services and skills from the auto shops and other small businesses in town for special materials needed for the production lines they had been constructing.
Heather stood up to answer that one. turning around to face the speaker and most of those in the meeting hall. "The first wind turbines are going to help supplement power for the rest of town as well as outlying farms. Any turbines we make for trade will count as credits that will go both toward the workers in the plant as well as to the government budget to help for trading for goods we can't get through normal means, such as medicine, fuel and products like fertilizer, glass, and plastic." As Heather sat down, Jake noticed Ted squeezing her hand and whispering something in her ear as he smiled at her affectionately.
Jake reminded everyone. "We also haven't been charging you for electricity, gas or water up until this point. Your ten percent will also go toward keeping these services up and running."
"How are we supposed to give you ten percent of everything and pay Dale Turner a percentage as well? That's a good cut of what we make." Will Carter asked. He was one of the farmers who had been struggling to keep his farm operational.
"Under this system, you won't have to pay anyone but us the ten percent." Jake answered, staring at the back corner where Dale Turner and and Skylar Stevens were standing together. Neither looked happy, but Dale hadn't liked the charter at all from what rumors said. Several of the men that worked for Dale stood near them.
"Tell that to Dale and his thugs. He's holding us at gun point to agreements made years ago with Gracie Leigh. And we're not getting anything back that we can't get elsewhere on our own nowadays." Will Carter scoffed and there were nods of agreement.
Jake knew that the farmers had had agreements with Gracie Leigh to give a percentage of their crops in return for discounts on seed, fertilizer and groceries. Dale's little agreement routine was still going on and had mostly been under the radar thus far though lately more and more farmers had been filing complaints that Dale or his men would come to collect their goods at gun point. Jake knew he was going to have to do something about that soon, but if the town charter passed, that would put an end to Dale's little racket. Dale would have to buy into the system with his business and the farms he was running or he would be cut out. That was part of the rules of the agreement.
"Old agreements will be null and void if this passes." Eric stated. "And we will enforce that."
There was a positive buzz about the room. Obviously, that idea was a plus for the charter. Jake wondered just how many people Dale had been harassing or if anyone else was running some sort of similar racket in town.
Bradly Morris, the owner of the stone quarry outside Jericho, asked. "And how will town goods be traded? Will we be on our own still?"
Gray answered that one. "We will set up a special independent council to assist with trades made outside of town if you want their help. Everyone offering up goods for trade will be a part of the end negotiations. Common goods like salt, ore and farm goods will be reviewed by the council. You can trade on your own as long as we keep track of it, or you can let the team we are putting together help negotiate for you. We have several people set up that are ready to handle many of these deals and have good connections for trade."
Jake knew that Russell from New Bern had been a big part of that, working for Gray and others in trade deals. Jake saw Russell standing in the back of the room. He hadn't seen much of the man in the past months. Russell had moved to Jericho permanently with his little girl a few months ago. The man had good relationships with several other towns as well as trading posts throughout Kansas and the surrounding states. The only place he couldn't go was Black Jack, so he sent other men there instead. They tended to shy away from questionable trading centers, however, and Black Jack was becoming one of those.
The next half hour passed with additional questions and clarification from those in attendance and everyone answered them to the best of their ability. There were questions on how food would be tracked and distributed as they had been distributing food so far from the church. They were planning on moving the food center to an old warehouse off Main Street where it could be stored and even refrigerated using the rebuilt freezers that they were moving into place. They were planning on setting up similar distribution centers for other goods, such as salt, wood, and metals in other parts of town.
In the end, several people stood up to voice their support for the charter or against it and their reasons why. Local merchants including Mary stood up and voiced their support for the plan, expressing their need to keep their businesses functional. Most of those in the service side of things were more supportive since they had the most to gain, such as payment for their services including a rightful share of rations. Farmers and businesses that still produced tradable goods were the hard sell, but Stanley and Gray both had been negotiating with both groups to convince them that this was in the best interest of everyone, especially if they didn't have any fuel to help with the harvest and moving of goods.
"And what will we do if things get back to normal again?" It was one of the last questions asked.
It was one of the questions that often came up. There were many that still expected things to return to normal, especially after the military had come. But as the weeks had slowly passed and as news trickled in from outside that the rest of the country was still in bad shape, people had come around to realizing that they did need to stand on their own. The government had bigger problems to worry about and Jericho was in relatively good shape compared to many other towns.
"We'll play it by ear. If things do return to normal again, then we can phase out the town charter with another vote." Eric explained. "And let's all hope and pray that things do get back to normal."
The meeting had lasted nearly two hours before people ran out of questions and Gray adjourned the meeting, encouraging people to read the entire charter and still come to the nightly meetings at the high school or to come see them in City Hall if they still had questions. People slowly began leaving. Jake lost sight of Heather and his mother, but walked alongside Mary and Eric as they exited the meeting room.
On their way out the door, Jake caught sight of Dale Turner and Skylar Stevens downstairs with a small group of farmers arguing. He couldn't hear what they were saying due to the voices around him. He heard Eric stopping to answer a question behind him. As soon as Jake started heading down the stairs, Dale saw him and hushed the conversation with a hand and Jake heard the young man say that they would talk about it later.
"Dale, what's going on?" Jake asked before Dale could leave.
"Nothing, I was just talking with a few of the others that don't like this charter idea at all." Dale stared at him defiantly.
"You can't make everyone agree to this. This is why you are voting on it." Skylar piped up.
Jake tried to contain his anger wishing he could knock some sense into these two naive teenagers that probably shouldn't be on their own. These two had been a nuisance for months, something he had been trying to avoid dealing with. Maybe that was a mistake. He may have let Dale get too powerful and full of himself and secure in the little kingdom he had been building. Again, Jake wished his father were here. He would have been able to help Dale more than Jake had the time and patience for."That's true, but you know the risks if you do not agree to it. No town support, no food, no med center, no law enforcement unless you pay for it. You will be on your own."
"I've been on my own for months. I don't need this town's support." Dale stuck his chin up with more confidence that he probably had.
"You say that now, but what if someone gets hurt? What if you need power?" Jake asked, trying to keep from yelling. There were still people coming down the stairs and a few people slowed near them, listening in on their conversation.
Dale replied, "I have a generator and have been trading for fuel. The turbine plant owes me for the machinery parts I was able to trade for. I'm first up to get a wind turbine once they start making them to sell as well as the windmill generators. We'll trade for whatever else we need."
Jake knew he and Skylar had been taking her percentage of the salt to sell to other towns. Gray wasn't happy about it but without a working court to dispute Skylar's right of ownership, his hands had been tied. People were already upset that the mine's salt was being taken by the government as well as traded for goods that some found questionable such as materials for the wind turbine plant. Heather had told him about the deal she had had to make with Dale to get the parts they were going to need for the wind turbine generators. They would need metals, wires and conductors that they couldn't easily manufacture for a while yet. It would allow them to produce wind turbines in weeks instead of months.
"And I don't see anything different with this town charter than what I've been doing. If you refuse to let me pay the med center or farmers for things I will need, that's blackmail."
"Unlike what you've been doing to the other farmers all this time?" Jake argued vehemently. When Dale gave him a doubtful look, he added. "No, it's the honest truth. Forcing them at gunpoint or threatening their families is not the same thing."
"Gracie had deals with all these people. I'm just holding them up to their agreements." Dale stated.
"Agreements that became null and void when she died and when the bombs happened and you no longer had anything worth giving them credit for." Jake knew how the old credit system worked. Gracie kept track of tabs at her store. Farmers who had to rely on irregular income often kept a running credit at the store, or exchanged goods for groceries or other goods Gracie sold. Though some people still used the store for trading, that had largely diminished especially since they had switched to using the church for distributing rations. The church's community center had now become a trading center for selling and trading goods. He was hoping that would move to the old warehouse once they got it ready.
Dale stared at him. "You're just jealous because I've been making this work all on my own."
"No, Dale. I've been worried about you and Skylar, that the two of you are getting in over your head and might not be able to get yourself out if something bad happens." Jake answered honestly. It was something he was all too familiar with. He had spent most of life thus far screwing up. He didn't want to see Dale fall into the same trap. From what Jake had heard, Dale had a few questionable men working for him as well was getting involved in the trade of illegal goods.
"We can take care of ourselves," Skylar retorted. She had remained mostly silent throughout this argument, but had grown more and more angry and impatient looking as time passed. "Come on, Dale, let's get out of here."
She grabbed Dale by the arm, but the young man gave Jake a confused look as he looked over his shoulder on the way out. Several of Dale's hired hands followed them. People began filing past, assuming their heated discussion was finally over. Jake noticed a few nods and smiles of approval in his direction, however.
"And don't be trying to convince anyone else that you're going to protect them any better than we can," Jake called as they left. "If you influence anyone else's vote on this, I will hear about it."
After they left, Jake paced around the small foyer of City Hall trying to calm down. People came down the steps and some said a few parting words to him before leaving out the door. A handful of people were actually reading the charter posted on the bulletin boards they had had hung on the walls around the first floor of City Hall specifically for the charter. He saw Ted come down the steps deep in a conversation with Harry Carmichael about one of the production lines at the turbine plant. Ted and Harry both nodded at Jake as they passed by.
Finally, he heard Heather's familiar voice as she came down the steps with his mother. His attention perked up at the sound of her voice, a subtle thrill going through him. Eric and Mary were right behind Heather and Gail. Heather was talking about the turbine plant and how most of the workers were already enthusiastic about the plan so far. Jake knew she had been out campaigning for the charter for weeks along with all of them.
"Well, how do you think we did?" Jake asked Gail. His mother often had a good feeling for how the people were feeling about town.
"You did good, but not sure how many are still really listening and taking this seriously yet," Gail replied.
"I guess we'll find out for sure next week," Mary said.
The official vote for the Town Charter was set for next Tuesday. All those of legal voting age, eighteen and older, were allowed to vote. Dale had requested a concession be made on his behalf as well as that of Skylar Stevens since both of them were business owners and not yet eighteen. Gray had reluctantly agreed and asked that the voting rules be modified for this vote only.
"I don't know, maybe they just need proof that this is really going to work, that we are trying to improve things and make this be beneficial for everyone," Eric suggested. "A lot of the farmers are still reluctant to sign on, despite all of Stanley's hard work convincing them."
"Well, it doesn't help that Dale Turner has been trying to turn them all against it." Jake complained. He felt a soft hand in his and felt Heather standing next to him. She offered him a smile of support and squeezed his hand. Sometimes all he needed was the feel of her next to him to make things not seem as bad. Her presence and support lifted his spirit.
"Is there anyone he hasn't tried to extort goods from?" Eric wondered aloud. Jake knew his brother had a long complaint list about Dale's so-called business practices. Gray had asked them to keep it quiet, leery of raising attention about Skylar's share of the salt mine as well as wary of making them look bad for being unable to put a stop to it yet. Dale had a group of about thirty men working on his farm and some of the other farms he had been acquiring lately. He had been trying to maintain Gracie's old store agreements as well, though they only had worth of mouth complaints about how he was going about enforcing them. There was no legal way to stop it, especially if no farmers were willing to come forth and request that it stop. The town charter might finally give them that power.
"Come on, let's go home." Gail said heading out the door. "I've had enough politics for tonight."
Eric gave Jake a knowing smile. They knew his mother hated when they got into their long discussions about the town. Gail had a standing rule that town business was not to be discussed at the dinner table and she often put a stop to it at the house unless it was important. Eric and Mary left them to head back to Mary's apartment over the tavern and Gail, Jake and Heather walked the rest of the way to the Green house together.
As they had arrived at home, Gail headed inside and Jake stopped with Heather just outside, her soft hand still in his.
"Wanna go for a walk?" He asked, looking up at the night sky. It was a warm summer night and the barest sliver of a moon was setting in the west. They both had dressed up for tonight's meeting and he appreciated the cute short sleeve top Heather wore. It gave him an appealing look at her cleavage.
"Sure." Heather gave him a knowing smile. They often talked about town business during their time alone. She was a good listener and often had good advice for him on how to deal with difficult matters.
"I'll leave the light on for you." Gail called from the door.
"How did things go with Bobby O'Neil?" Heather asked as they walked down the street. They often went on walks that ended up in the park at the end of street. There were park benches outside the children's playground where they would often sit and talk for hours, especially since the weather had started warming up.
"It took some convincing, but he's going to do it." The idea of using Bobby to spy on Jonah had been his, but Heather had offered up the job at the plant which had given him a good bargaining chip.
"Good. You're getting rather good at this negotiating thing." Heather pointed out. And he had been doing a lot of the negotiating for the charter lately, helping finalize the rates and other rules with those on the charter committee.
"Well, I had his back pretty hard up against a virtual wall." Jake admitted. He didn't like playing the bad guy to get what he needed. He remembered the terrified looks on Bobby's wife and children's faces.
"Are you sure about this? Taking down Jonah?"
He had been talking to Heather about it for the past week. She hadn't been surprised when he brought it up, but he knew she was worried about it. "No, but it's gotta get done, by me or the military. If we can do it with a minimal amount of casualties, that will be better."
"Minimal amount of casualties?" Heather echoed back at him. "Now you're starting to sound like a military man."
They had reached the park and Heather led him over to their favorite park bench. It gave a beautiful view of the night sky and was mostly dark except for a few dim street lights and house lights around them. He sat down alongside her, putting his arm around her shoulders. Heather laid her head on his shoulder and relaxed against him. She felt soft and warm and smelled wonderful. He wondered if she had showered after coming home from the plant tonight.
"You know, all kinds of things could go wrong. " Heather said, still talking about Jonah. "He has mortars and God knows what else there now. Emily said she heard that he had gotten hold of a tank and-"
"Ssh," Jake whispered softly against her hair as he squeezed her hand where their hands lay entwined on his thigh. He knew how Heather was when she was worried. "It will be okay. We're taking all the precautions that we can. With Bobby's help, we'll be able to find out where all his firepower is and his schedules. Plus, I will have body armor and I won't be with the squads going in. I'm still a civilian."
"You will be careful on this, right?" Heather asked after several long seconds of silence.
"I will, I promise." He said. He felt his own voice rumbling in his chest where her head rested against him. Her head was just above his heart. Her hand stroked his thigh, nearly distracting him with other thoughts.
He knew she was a worrier. It was one of the first things he had learned about Heather. Though she didn't always say anything, he would see it in her eyes when he would leave to go on another of his missions with the military or when he was going out to meet Hawkins. She would often get very talkative and offer suggestions and alternatives when she was worried. While he found it adorable when she did that, it also amazed him that someone cared and worried about him so much. She made him feel needed and with the things he was doing, for Jericho and the surrounding area and his work with Hawkins, he knew that he was doing things that did make a difference and would make things safer for her and the rest of those he cared about.
If only it didn't take so long. Hawkins had said that these things took time and he was right. Jake had never been good on patience. With Emily's help so far, they had been able keep tabs on the status of their searches and interviews in and around Jericho. Hawkins had been able to get a job working for a company that transferred goods for the government but that only gave him limited information and access in Cheyenne. The military had scaled back their search for Hawkins over the past two months when they couldn't find an solid leads on where he may have gone. Lt. Williams received his promotion and had been up in Cheyenne for the past week. Jake had almost got him to admit that he was looking for the package when he talked to him at the wedding, but it wasn't enough for him to have anything to share with Hawkins yet. Now, Emily was going to have to keep working on getting close with their new liaison, or even better, possibly get a job up in Cheyenne within the government. Lt. Williams was supposed to work on that for her.
The news in the past weeks from the ham radio network called the Underground wasn't that promising either and Gray Anderson had asked them to limit who found out what they heard. Most of the news seemed to be about the Cheyenne government and what they were up, usually military operations securing towns and old military bases and their recruitment for the army they were building. They mentioned how some of the western cities were holding up and the news was rarely good. The Mexican and Canadian borders had been closed since last year, yet people were still able to cross into Canada due to the lack of enough resources to guard the excessively long border. But then again, come winter time not many people were going to be wanting to be in Canada due to the cold weather and lack of food and limited power. The Eastern government had moved across the Mississippi River and were starting to take over towns and military bases. The Cheyenne government was starting to move its own military to do the same in the territory it controlled.
Also in the radio reports there were news about the kinds of crimes going on and places to avoid due to them. Slavery was prevalent, especially in California, Nevada and Arizona. Las Vegas had been slowly turning into a cesspool of even worse gambling, sex trading and illegal trading, especially weapons. Illegal drugs, especially heroin and marijuana were highly tradable and had become a form of currency for anyone able to get a hold of them. Gangs had stripped homes, businesses, stores and manufacturing plants for anything that could be sold and traded. There was a serious problem of goods damaged by radiation as well as diseases such as cholera, dysentery and E coli spreading due to tainted food and the lack of sanitary conditions. Refugee camps were in terrible condition though many of them were being hosted in college campuses and schools. As people left the cities and towns, they were starting to stake out farmland in the west and sell it to the highest bidder. Property rights were set by whoever could defend the land that they were on. What couldn't be bought were being taken by force, sometimes even by the military.
The news about the rest of the world and Eastern government came in smalls snippets that were always prefaced by the warning that none of it could be substantiated. Many of the things that Hawkins had told him had been true, that the Eastern government had been slowly trying to recover and rebuild in New York City and Columbus, Ohio. The former United States capitol, Washington D.C., including the Capitol, White House and Supreme Court had been destroyed. They said that Andrews Air Force base had only taken partial damage by the nuclear bomb, but had been hit by radiation. The Navy was being appropriated by both governments by whichever port they called home. Many of the surviving military bases around the country had been consolidated into local government meeting places as well as a gathering place for refuges since they could be defended better than cities.
Jake was grateful that Jericho was mostly secluded from all the happenings outside of town. It was depressing to think about.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Heather asked, lifting her head to look up at him.
"You really have a penny?" He teased her. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen a coin. Well, maybe the ones they used to refill the jukebox at Bailey's, but those were just recycled to keep the jukebox playing.
"I have a whole jar of them at my house," she answered.
"That's a lot of thoughts," Jake often shared his thoughts with Heather, with the exception of what he was really up to on his trips out of town and what he was doing with Hawkins. He knew that bothered her, so he often had to be careful about how much he told her at times. "Nah, I was just thinking about everything, the country and how things have gotten so bad. I would have never thought that we would be so on our own for so long."
"Well, we took a lot of things for granted," Heather said.
"Yeah. And we shouldn't have. I just hope this charter will pass so we can try and become better at being on our own."
"I think it will."
"You think?" Jake wasn't so sure, especially after all the questions and the way Dale was behaving. But he was never as good at reading people as Heather and his mother. "I wasn't so sure after all those questions tonight."
"They were good questions and people were interested. They just needed clarification and those who hadn't been to all the meetings needed to see what it was all about. You did good in answering their questions, you all did."
"Thanks," Jake replied, rubbing Heather's arm. Her support and praise meant a lot to him, though lately, he had been worried as she had been a bit distant for the past week. She was likely still upset about how he had had to treat her at the wedding. Or it could be that they both were too busy.
"And you need to talk to Ted about the news from the Underground when you can."
"What about?
"Nothing urgent, just things about the government you might be interested in."
"Want to fill me in?"
Heather shook her head. "You have enough to worry about with Jonah and the charter. This will wait."
That was one thing he was learning to appreciate with Heather. She was careful not to overwhelm him too much with information. Emily used to be at him nonstop with every single issue or matter whether he thought it was important or not. Heather seemed more likely to share the responsibility for what was going on with Jericho with him. He hated having to keep the things from her that he did. But it also worried him that she internalized too many things. In that, they were both a lot a like.
Heather was smiling up at him, her lips drawing enticingly close to his. She stopped inches from his own lips. She whispered softly, her breath warm against his face. "Enough talk about business."
Jake chuckled and he met her lips with his, nibbling softly, her lips parting invitingly. He kissed her, loving her taste and the feel of her soft lips against his.
Heather pulled away briefly, getting up to quickly climb onto his lap, her arms wrapping around his shoulders as she kissed him again. Her thighs and rear were soft against him, but he felt her thigh muscles clasping on him and he groaned as her hips came closer to his, pressing suggestively against him. Her chest met his and he felt the softness of her breasts. He ran his hands through her silky hair and down her back, pulling her tighter against him. She shuddered as his hand stroked down her spine. She moaned softly in her throat and against his lips as they continued to kiss, tongues meeting, teasing and exploring. She tasted like heaven.
Jake had been enjoying their little make out sessions over the past several months. He had been trying to take things slowly, wary of her lack of experience and her bad experience in New Bern, but lately it had been Heather who had been more aggressive. He loved it. He knew that most guys often jumped into bed with a girl after a few dates, but he was finding this slow build up of passion between them delightful and intriguing. He wanted her, badly at times. He was becoming quite used to cold showers. But he wanted to do things right. He wanted them to be together because they were meant to be, not just because they would be good in bed together. It was getting harder to maintain his discipline, especially with Heather's intriguing mixture of innocence and eager passion.
Not long after they had started their relationship, Heather had confessed to him that she was a virgin and while he was not surprised, he was also aware of the responsibility that required from him. He and Emily had lost their virginity to each other in the back of his car when he was seventeen. It had been a terrible experience for both of them but things had gotten better after that. He wanted Heather's first time to be better than that and for that, he was willing to wait until she was ready. Heather had said she had been waiting for marriage and the right guy, but seeing how much things had changed lately, she was willing to see how things went. Jake found he respected her more for that. He didn't believe that there were women out there that still thought like that, but Heather was unique in many ways, to her strong beliefs in what was right and moral, from the way she dove headlong into tackling problems, to how she was able to fix most things that men would find a threat to their manliness, to her positive outlook on life. And her dragging him to church on Sundays reminded him that there was more to a relationship than hanging out or being good in bed together. A relationship took work and commitment and Heather was teaching that to him. That and patience.
As he kissed her back with equal passion, he felt his worries and tension slipping away until there was only the two of them in their own little world. He was enjoying her forwardness tonight, but he wondered why she had been more aggressive lately. Their passionate kissing slowed until Heather pulled back to wrap her arms around his neck and shoulders hugging him hard as she rested her head on his shoulder. He held her for a long time, inhaling her familiar scent and memorizing the feel of her body pressed against him. He was getting used to this. Yes, very much so.
(To be continued...)