Chapter 11: The trip, Bonita Springs and a zoo, the sheriff, and winding up basic.
Wednesday, August 15th, 2018, 8:00 AM.
Jimmie and Goodnight took the floo from the Woolworth Building after checking out of their hotel, to Platform Thirteen and Three Thirds at Penn Station, which was underground. When they stepped out onto the platform, the young Potter couple gaped at the huge black steam locomotive sitting on the tracks in front of them, which was belching out steam and smoke that looked just like the Hogwarts Cannonball, except for the color. On the long black boiler was painted a golden cannonball that looked to be flying through the air, and behind it, in gold lettering, it was named the "Wabash Cannonball." The engine, numbered 765, now belonged to MACUSA, and they had given a copy of it, the number 763 from the old Wabash line, to the Ministry of Magic after the war. It was a class "S-2" 2-8-4 "Berkshire" type steam locomotive built for the New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad at the Lima Locomotive Works in Lima, Ohio. The CEO had been a wizard, and a banker by the name of Mr. Seney, who had started the line out of Cleveland, Ohio.
The train consisted of the locomotive, the tender, a passenger car, a restaurant car, and a club car at the moment, which were also painted black. Above the windows of the Pullman cars, and in white block letters, was the word "Wabash," and below the windows in the same white block lettering, but smaller in size, was "Cannonball." MACUSA, who purchased the trains from the N&W railroad when the steam days ended, used it for tourists when not in use by the Congress itself, or when the Ilvermorny students traveled to and from school.
As the young married couple walked through a cloud of steam, they spotted the Graves at the entrance to the passenger car, and made their way toward them.
"Morning Uncle Felix and Auntie Deb," Jimmie said with a smile, "and you, too, Markie!"
"Wotcher, everyone," Goodnight greeted.
"Good morning, Mr. and Mrs, Black," Dave said, as he shook Jimmie's hand, while Deb hugged Goodnight. Mark did the same, by shaking Jimmie's hand and giving Goodnight a one-armed hug like his father.
"You younguns ready for camp?" Dave asked. All three young magicals groaned. "Now, don't be that way, as it'll be like summer camp, except with more exercise and learning!"
"Dad," Markie deadpanned, "we know what your idea of 'exercise' is."
Here, David roared out with a laugh, as Debbie took in the three young magicals standing before her. "If Destiny and I could make it through this, then so can all of you!" All three nodded at this statement.
"Remember," Debbie said, "we'll be traveling south of Naples to Bonita Springs, where we'll deboard, eat lunch, and catch a bus much like the Knight Bus in the UK, and from there, we'll head toward Everglades City, and to the small town of Chokoloskee. From there, it's a surprise, and we'll head to camp!"
"Never heard of the place before," Jimmie stated.
"Chokoloskee," David explained, "is an island connected by a causeway like the keys. It was settled long ago, and 'inhabited by Native Americans for at least 1500 years before European explorers first recorded visiting the island. It was briefly visited by Seminoles and the United States Army in the 1800s, and the current settlement can be traced back to 1874.' It has quite the history with us."
Jimmie nodded at this, just as the train's steam whistle blew.
"Well, it's time everyone," David remarked, as he looked at his wristwatch, "so let's hop aboard."
The five boarded the passenger car at the front, and David and Debbie took the first cabin, which was reserved for MACUSA officials. Here, David waved his hand down the aisle, "You three grab a compartment, as there's enough for all twenty of you recruits. If you need anything, then come and get me or Deb. Also, there's food and drink in the restaurant and club cars, so enjoy the trip!
"Oh, yea," David said, as Mark, Jimmie, and Goodnight started down the narrow aisle, "there will be an announcement for when to buckle up as we leave the underground."
The three young magicals took a compartment that was three down from the elder Graves and entered, where they took a seat after Jimmie and Mark unshrank their three magical trunks, and placed them on the overhead rack.
All three, today, were wearing casual clothes, with Jimmie wearing blue jeans and a white dress shirt with trainers. Goodnight was dressed similarly, but she also wore a white sweater, and Mark was wearing a light sports jacket over top of a tee shirt. Once seated, they stretched out just as the train gave out a loud hiss, a whistle, lurched a bit, and slowly started rolling away from the platform into a dark tunnel.
During this time, the three talked about what they had learned during their orientation, and about the massive amounts of potions and inoculations that they had to take after their physical examinations. Magical Malaria, Dragon Pox, and several other magical diseases were no joke.
Just as Jimmie was about to discuss the Wizengamot show the day before, the conductor's voice echoed out through the train. "Buckle up everyone! We're almost out in No-maj land."
Buckle up meant buckle up on the Cannonball trains, which the Potters and Mark knew only too well, so they snapped their seat belts closed. Just as they finished, the train left the underground tunnel, and they were on the main above-ground rail line. Here, a song started playing throughout the entire train, just as the engineer pushed the steam throttle forward, and the train launched itself like a cannonball, thus, sitting some back in their seats, while those on the opposite side of the compartment were being restrained by their seat belts from sliding into the floor.
.
.
From the great Atlantic ocean, to the wide Pacific shore,
From the queen of flowing mountains, to the southbelt by the shore.
She's mighty tall and handsome, and known quite well by all.
She's the combination on the Wabash Cannonball.
.
She came down from Birmingham, one cold December day,
As she rolled into the station, you could hear all the people say,
There's a girl from Tennessee, she's long, and she's tall,
She came down from Birmingham on the Wabash Cannonball.
.
Our eastern states are dandy, so the people always say,
From New York to St. Louis, and Chicago by the way.
From the hills of Minnesota, where the rippling waters fall,
No changes can be taken on that Wabash Cannonball.
.
Here's to Daddy Claxton, may his name forever stand,
And always be remembered around the courts of Alabam.
His earthly race is over, and the curtains round him fall,
We'll carry him home to victory on the Wabash Cannonball.
.
Listen to the jingle, the rumble, and the roar,
As she glides along the woodland, through the hills, and by the shore.
Hear the mighty rush of the engine, hear that lonesome hobo's call,
You're traveling through the jungle on the Wabash Cannonball!
.
.
"Yeehaw!" Markie shouted, and slapped his knee causing Goodnight and Jimmie to laugh. "There's a spot of history behind this, about where this song originates." Here, Markie rattled off the first part:
.
.
"From a rocky bound Atlantic, to a mild Pacific shore,
"From a fair and sunny southland, to an ice-bound Labrador,
"There's a name of magic import, and 'tis known the world throughout,
"'Tis a mighty corporation, called the Great Rock Island Route."
.
.
"That's about the magical in mention," finished Markie.
When Jimmie looked outside at the end of Markie's explanation, they were already leaving New Jersey for Pennsylvania, as the land whizzed by at a blazing fast speed. This was not the last time that he would hear a steel resonator guitar either.
Bonita Springs, 1:30 PM
The steam locomotive had careened down through the Keystone state, the Mountain State, Virginia, both Carolinas, the Peach State, and into the Sunshine State, where she finally came to a rest along an isolated track, which was surrounded by palms and palmettos, though one could see a park on their right, and a parking lot and small zoo to their left. Goodnight also pointed out a couple of banyan trees at the zoo, which had Spanish moss hanging from them. She was trying to decipher what kind of tree had been taken over by the banyan, which was a parasite tree.
Here, Jimmie and Markie shrunk down their trunks and placed them in their pockets, where they left the compartment and met up with the elder Graves to deboard the train.
From the ballast siding, they walked along a concrete sidewalk into the parking lot, but their bus hadn't arrived yet. This forced Dave to have to call on his secure cell phone, where he found out that they were running an hour late, as the roof air conditioning had to be fixed on the old 1957 GM PD-4104 bus, but it was on its way.
This led to Debbie talking everyone into a quick tour of the small zoo called the Everglades Wonder Gardens. Inside, they looked at a multitude of tropical birds, from Macaws and Parrots to free-roaming Flamingos and Red-Billed Ibises, which the witches in the group fed with food given to them by the zoo. Jimmie and Goodnight also noticed the Peacocks, and they had the white ones like those at Malfoy Manor. Here, while inside, Jimmie, Goodnight, and Markie looked at a stuffed Black Bear and a Croc. They also studied a croc's skull. Outside, however, they were introduced to real Alligators, or Gators (Gay-tuhs in Mark's dialect), along with a few Crocs, from young to old, and it was during feeding time. They also looked at several snakes, and some rare turtles, or tortoises and terrapins before heading out, where they saw their bus waiting in the lot.
Here, the group made their way over to the bus, where the door opened, and out stepped a bow-legged man wearing jeans and brown leather cowboy boots, who was probably in his sixties. He was wearing aviator sunglasses, a white short-sleeved shirt, and a southerner's Stetson straw hat. The Potters also noticed the toothpick that the man was chewing on, as well as the Sheriff's badge on his chest, and the bright nickel S&W .357 magnum in the holster on his right hip.
"'Bout time you got here, Mo!" David exclaimed.
The Sheriff took the toothpick from his mouth, and laughed exposing a missing lower front tooth, as a slapped David on the back, and asked in a southern drawl, "Fresh meat fo' da grinduh?"
"Sumpin like tha'," David replied. "Ready to eat, Mo? The company's uh payin'!"
"You betcha!" Mo said as he glanced around at the area. "Where to?"
"Why don't we take this lot just down the street to that Mexicali restaurant, wha' was it, Maria's? McKnight said they had good food."
"Aw righ'," Mo drawled in his Alabamian dialect, as he locked the bus' door, "but Lester, be warned, as you'll have me fawtin' in da outhouse all nigh' long!" This caused half of their crew to snort or snigger, while the other half looked appalled, especially the three from France. "By da way, McKnight is already down 'ere at da docks gettin' everythang ready."
Markie, who noticed those that were appalled, leaned over toward Jimmie and Goodnight, and whispered, "Northerners," as if that explained everything.
From here, the operatives led the recruits up the street a short distance, and into the restaurant. Inside, Jimmie and Goodnight were quite pleased, as it reminded both of the inside of an old English pub.
After everyone had dined, and were full, especially after drinking about two Corona Extras each, they all trooped out of the restaurant. The sun was just right, where it struck the highly polished aluminum panels on the side and front of the buss, and it almost blinded them.
However, Mo, who Jimmie found out was named Sheriff Morgan Walker while he dined with them, who was also a wizard, and an operative unlocked the bus and took his seat behind the wheel. Everyone boarded, leaving the elder Graves to board last since they took a head count.
Some quickly put their carry-ons in the overhead racks and took a seat in the red reclining seats on either side of the aisle. Jimmie, Goodnight, and Markie walked back to the middle of the bus, where there was a section of facing seats, and took those on the right-hand side, with Mark sitting across from Goodnight and Jimmie.
Here, they were joined by a younger athletic African-American recruit, who introduced himself as Dewayne Thompson, who was from Maryland.
Dewayne studied Mark for a bit, and then asked, "Don't I know you?"
Mark, when he noticed, did know the young wizard. "Yea, I'm Mark, and you were about three years ahead of me at Ilvermorny. I was a Wampus Cat."
"Yea, man, I remember you now," Dewayne said, "I was a Thunderbird. Great times, man!" Here, Dewayne gave a fist bump to Mark, and then Mark introduced him to the Potters.
"Where are you living at now, Dewayne," Mark asked, "still at Baltimore?"
"No, man," Dewayne replied, "I moved down to New Orleans to help my aging grandaddy in the store. He has a magical shop on Bourbon Street."
"Really?" Jimmie asked, which was just as Mo looked around at everyone, as he slammed the bus door shut. "Buckle up cupcakes, and hold on fer da ride!"
Everyone started to quickly buckle up, as the big diesel in the rear of the bus roared to life. Just as Mo stuck another toothpick in his mouth, he laughed out and tromped down on the accelerator.
The bus shot out of the lot like a bullet, and it was indeed like the Knight Bus, where you had to hold on for dear life. This also stopped many conversations short, as the bus zipped south out of Bonita Springs on the Old 41 Road.
Jimmie did his best to look at his wristwatch while holding on with one hand, where he noticed that it was now 3:45 PM. Here, they hooked a hard left onto Bonita Beach Road and then turned south on I-75, which they took to Golden Gate, where they left it for Collier Blvd. They shot along that southward, where they picked up Rt. 41 to Carnestown in the middle of the Everglades. There, they took Route 29 to Everglades City, and then the causeway over to Chokoloskee. The bus didn't slow down until it suddenly stopped at the marina, and in front of two airboats, where they saw Case Officer McKnight and Johnson in Bermuda shorts, with no shirt, while drinking a beer. They both gave a huge wave and a grin to everyone on the bus.
"Oh shite," Jimmie muttered when he saw McKnight.
"What?" Markie inquired.
"McKnight is half crazy, dude," Jimmie explained. "Fun as hell to be around, but dangerously crazy. We're about to be put through the wringer!"
"Aw, now Jim," Mark said as he stood, "he's not that bad, as we've even partied around the man since we were young! He's been to both of our homes in Jamaica."
"Come on, husband of mine," Goodnight said, "and let's start our adventure."
The four made their way off the bus with the sixteen others, the elder Graves, and Mo, where they walked over to the airboats. Here, McKnight told everyone to put their luggage on the front airboat, and board the rear one.
The rear airboat was a huge flat-bottomed aluminum craft, with a V-8 motor turning an airplane prop. It held five rows of seats, which could sit five each. Everyone was given a life jacket and told to sit, as McNight started the huge airboat up. Mo started the other, and CO Johnson rode with him.
As they cruised out of the marina, Jimmie started looking around. In the distance, all he could see was one small uninhabited island after another, and they were everywhere, and as far as one could see.
"Where in the hell are we?" Jimmie shouted over the roar of the boat at Dave.
"Welcome, everyone," David said, as he popped the top on another Corona beer, "to the Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge. This is part of a 99-mile-long waterway that begins at Everglades City and ends at Flamingo at the southern tip of the Florida peninsula. It's made up of many keys, where the islands are high spots on a submergent coastline, and others were produced by mangroves growing on oyster bars.
"This is the old home of outlaws, fugitives, moonshiners, bootleggers, and smugglers. Drugs come through here, too, especially Mary Jane from the Caribbean.
"We are heading to our own protected island, which is about a mile long, called Jack Daniels, which is right on the Gulf. It's about nine feet above sea level, covered in mangroves with a few palms, and it makes up Camp X. There's a security shack at the dock, an office with a classroom and small hospital, an obstacle course, a firing range, and two dormitories, both male and female."
The last statement hit the Potters, as they wouldn't be sleeping together. It wasn't co-ed.
"Monsieur," one of the Frenchmen spoke up in broken English, "vhat about demolition training, et précision driving on un obstacle course?"
"That's done at a site on the mainland, which we'll portkey to just outside Everglades City. It's out in the swamp, where we'll also be doing some twelve-mile marches."
Jimmie noticed that about half of them looked horrified at the thought, and he wondered how many of them would wash out.
Wednesday, August 29th, 2018, 5:00 PM
Jimmie left Goodnight behind, who was playing cards with a few witches that she had befriended, including his Auntie Deb. He made his way past their dorm, which was a white wooden structure, with a tin roof that was built up on eight feet high posts, and over to the beach, where the sun was sinking low in the west.
They had made it through "basic," and he was still a little stiff, but they had all put on a lot of muscle, though they had six to wash out. McKnight said that they "couldn't cut the mustard." Here, he sighed as he looked out at the Gulf of Mexico. He had finally learned the truth about history, but especially modern history that had its roots at the end of the Thirty Years' War, which changed the entire Western establishment. That was when the Westphalian system had come into being, and nationalism was first founded with the Dutch. He also found out how banking and lending, along with taxing the public had much to do with that. That was how despots afforded wars if they could find a low-interest loan.
That history later led on to the American Revolution, where again, a monarch was replaced with a nationalist system, which some called Federalism. Next came the French Revolution, and the fall of the Holy Roman Empire just after that with Napoleon, creating the German Federation. Next came the Italian Revolution in 1848. Of course, his own country had shackled the monarchy with the Glorious Revolution before the Yanks. Finally, Russia succumbed in 1917.
Now, Jimmie understood the truth, in that everywhere fell to nationalism, and the problem had always been corrupt despots, as well as authoritarian political philosophies and laws after that. It was all "left-wing," but there was a right and left inside that, and this made up modern-day politics. Now, he understood what his father was talking about during the Wizengamot just a little over two weeks earlier.
There was the Aristotelian, or that of Aristotle's school of thought, for a limited government and natural rights like the Greeks, and that of Hobbesian, or that of Thomas Hobbes, which was an all-encompassing "big brother" nationalist government known as the Leviathan, where the states and people didn't have much control or rights. He found that it didn't matter what political philosophy it was called - it was all nationalism, and if you wanted to be free, you had to fight the Leviathan! Federalism, Socialism, Communism, Fascism, or Nazism; they were all nationalistic, no matter what they claimed, and all five political movements were led by authoritarian despots. That was why his father was complaining about the World Federalists as well.
Jimmie shook his head as he walked along the white sandy beach, where he saw a few Bottlenose Dolphins swimming offshore. Here, he remembered reading from his textbook about Hobbes: "The company of the exiled royalists led Hobbes to produce Leviathan, which set forth his theory of civil government." He was a royalist, which explained Hamilton in the US, as well as the others like him. "Civil my arse," he muttered. Feckin dictators, Jimmie thought, and don't get him started on what he had learned about the many wars of the west, from the Americas to Europe, along with all the oppression by these very despots, and the damn genocide!
Jimmie caught himself here, as he was becoming upset, and his magic was lashing out like his fathers was want to do. There was driftwood floating all around him, so he shut his eyes, and took a deep breath, where he heard the wood fall with a muffled thump upon the sand.
Finally, he continued his walk, and remembered studying interrogation techniques in the "U.S. Army School of the Americas," (or the SOA, which was just east in Miami) "KUBARK Manual." Well, Jimmie thought, its official title was the "Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual," which was used until September 2006, and then superseded by the Human Intelligence Collector Operations course. However, black ops stuck with the first one and used those dark techniques in "national emergencies," which made Jimmie shudder. There's that word, national, again, Jimmie thought.
Oh, well, Jimmie thought, as he turned, and headed back toward the office where he would open himself a cold beer, and hunt down Markie. Maybe he'd like to play a few hands of poker, as they were heading off for diver training tomorrow for two days, which he and Mark were already qualified for, just not combat and demolition diving. Here, they were headed to the Keys, and down to Key West where the Graves home was located, which was the last island in the chain where they would be trained at the wizarding section of the Special Forces Underwater Operations (SFUWO) School on Fleming Key just off the shore.
As Jimmie made his way up from the beach, and past the mangroves, he heard McKnight playing swamp and delta blues on his steel resonator slide guitar. Hot damn, Jimmie thought, as tonight would be a blast with the CO playing 'Worn Out Shoes' and 'The Ballad Of Curtis Loew.' That, a hot supper of BBQ chicken, and a good night's rest was exactly what he was needing. He'd had it with the gnats, mosquitoes, leeches, rattlers, cottonmouths, crocs, and the gators close to the main shore, and that damn swamp they had to wade through.
Here, Jimmie laughed out at the Frenchman who had encountered the cottonmouth swimming toward him, and how he cried out "sacrebleu," before he washed out of the program. Goodnight called Jimmie "raffish" for laughing about it all.
A/N: The reason behind explaining the history of the US south in the last chapter, was that this is where Rowling obtained her ideas for the Death Eaters, with the Kl**'s masks and cloaks, etc. The Wizengamot would have caught that insinuation. They also have origins in WWII Germany as well.
