Memories

The jingling sound of metal on metal woke Jordy with a start. He peered out from under the fallen pile of brick and rotting wood that probably used to be the outside wall of a house. This small pocket underneath the debris was his shelter last night. The sound was moving away from him but that didn’t mean anything. He had almost been caught once by assuming that no more noise meant safe to come out. It didn’t, not any more. He stayed where he was, breathing through his mouth and searched the lightening gloom of predawn for the source of the noise. Raiders? Travelers? Trader? If it was a trader, he could use some supplies.

The last of his jerky was washed down with the last of his clean water last night and none of his snares had been successful. He sat and waited for a full 20 minutes after the sounds had faded before ever so slowly moving to leave his hide. He stopped and waited again for a few minutes before moving aside the bricks and planks he had used to cover the entrance to this temporary cave. That’s when he saw it, a slight gleam of gold catching the very 1st morning light. Moving the lowest brick aside he saw that the gleam was part of a gold chain. He pulled the bit he could grab and, to his surprise, unearthed a chain complete with locket out of the dirt. It was heart shaped and had a small hinge on one side that told him there would be a picture in there. He hesitated, then with a flick of his thumbnail, opened the locket.

“JORDY!” his dad yelled, “It’s time for baseball practice! You dressed? Got your glove and cleats?” Jordy hopped up from his desk where he was putting together a balsa wood catapult for science class. He reached under the bed, pulled his cleats and glove out and ran downstairs. As the screen door banged shut behind him, he heard his mom “Love you! Hit a home run for me!”

As they drove up the road towards the ball fields Jordy’s dad was cycling through the radio stations. Bad pop…country…country…gospel…oldies (to Jordy that is. To his dad that was “real” music. News radio… rap “wait” his dad said “what was that about a volcano in Yellowstone?”

“Oh” said Jordy “yeah we learned about that in science class. There was supposed to be some big huge volcano underneath Yellowstone Park and that’s why there were all those geysers and things”

The radio settled back onto the station “ -re saying that there is fairly significant seismic activity and local residents are advise to prepare for evacuation orders.”

“Wow” Jordy exclaimed “Are they having earthquakes and stuff?” he asked his dad. “Shh, maybe they will repeat it.”

“Once again we have had a warning from United States Geological Survey that they are detecting alarming indications of significant seismic activity centered under Wyoming in the Yellowstone Park area and reaching out into the Pacific along the upper West Coast. Officials are not issuing evacuation orders yet but are saying that there is fairly significant seismic activity and local residents are advised to prepare for evacuation orders.”

“Does that include us dad?” Jordy asked, looking up at his dads face which had gone oddly still. “What?” his dad said “Sorry, hmmm I don’t THINK so, Colorado Springs is pretty far away from there and we have the Rockies in between us and Yellowstone so I think we will be fine.” Jordy was starting to ask another question when his dad said “Whup! Here we are! You ready for some ball? I think you guys are going to do well today.” Any worries Jordy was starting to feel were gone and forgotten by the time practice and the inevitable game of Pop Up was over. Sitting back on the bench seat in dads truck Jordy let the cool air coming through the window dry his slightly sweaty face and he started to drift off when the Emergency Alert System tone went off on the radio.

“This is an Emergency Action Notification. All broadcast stations and cable systems shall transmit this Emergency Action Notification Message. This station has interrupted its regular programming at the request of the White House to participate in the Emergency Alert System. The President of the United States has issued an IMMEDIATE evacuation order of all areas surrounding the Yellowstone National Park. This area includes Wyoming, Idaho, Northern Utah and Northern Colorado. Tune in to your local are stations to receive further instructions. This is not a drill.”

The two of them sat in silence for a long moment then Jordy felt the truck accelerate as his dad stepped on the gas pedal his face a mask of worry where just moments before had been smiles.

Jordy snapped back into focus, realizing he had been crouched there for some time staring at the locket. He eased out of the hole and gently placed everything back as closely as he could, gently blowing some loose dirt over the scrape marks he had left. Hopefully no one would notice and he could rely on a hideout in a hurry. Crouching down to lessen his silhouette he eased along the line of bushes and scrubby trees between himself and where he thought the noise had come from. As he approached what looked like a natural clearing he got down on his hands and toes and slowly leopard crawled the last few feet until he could see out from behind a small sagebrush without being seen. Slowly, ever so slowly he reached up and ushed aside some taller blades of grass and looked out at a small wagon up on a jack with a tire laying on the ground beneath it. The wagon had been fashioned out of an old Ford long bed pickup. Just the bed attached to a frame with a bench seat stuck up in front pulled by two swaybacked horses cropping at the sparse grass while they waited. Slightly away from the truck/wagon was a small frame with a pot set up over an equally small grass fire. As he looked out Jordy realized he couldn’t see the owner of said wagon. Alarm spiked through him like a rocket but it was too late. He felt the tip of a knife pressing into the hollow behind his left ear and a low-pitched voice said “See anything interesting? Don’t be getting any ideas about theft or something worse. I heard you coming for the last little bit so I seriously doubt you could sneak up and surprise me.’ He felt a hand take his belt knife and then his boot knife.

“Alrighty young fella why don’t you sit up nice and slow and introduce yourself like you have some manners” the gravelly voice said from behind him. Jordy pushed himself up slowly to his knees and turned around. A shock of gray hair raggedly cut off above the collar of what Jordy saw was a very worn but still recognizable US Army camo jacket with the name Stewart above the pocket. Very brown eyes in a really weather-beaten face set deeply above a crooked nose stared back at Jordy’s unremarkable washed-out blue ones.

“And just what were you thinking about doing to a poor helpless traveler?” asked the man.

“I WASN’T sneaking” replied Jordy “I was just being cautious”

“Hmm, ok for now. You don’t exactly have the look of vicious killer about you. But I ask you again what were you planning?”

“I was hoping that you were a trader to be honest” said Jordy “I was looking to trade for some supplies”

“Were ya now?” said the older man “Well today might, MIGHT be your lucky day. I have a few things I would be willing to barter for if the price is fair. Not much but some. Come down to my truck and lets talk”. The man got up, brushed some leaves off of his knees and stepped around the bush heading down towards his wagon. He didn’t make a sound Jordy noticed with amazement as he broke another small twig following the man. He stopped next to the tire and waited on Jordy. “Tell you what: he said “I will make you a deal. You know how to replace a tire?” Jordy nodded yes. His dad had taught him one summer when he was finally strong enough to lift the tire off the ground. “Great, here’s the deal. YOU change that tire while I make lunch. If you can do it right, I will share. If you can’t, I will still share but you won’t get nearly as much. Deal?” he asked, holding out his hand. Jordy shook it “Deal.”

As Jordy started to change the flat the man started to throw ingredients into the partially water filled pot. “Hope you like soup” the other man said “because you’re getting soup.” Jordy smiled slightly and kept working. It had been a long time but he was remembered what to do. “Let’s see” he thought “tire on and snug against the axle, now the lugs…. what did dad say?..oh yeah star pattern to tighten, then lower the jack and retighten. HA I remembered” Jordy lowered the jack and retightened the lugs then straightened up to find the man looking at him.

“Did I do it wrong?” he asked. “Nope, just right. OK let’s eat” he said passing Jordy a bowl full of watery soup that had actual vegetables in it. Wait was that…IT WAS… Chicken!” he couldn’t help it, he looked up and asked “where did you get chicken?” …. “Uhhh it WAS chicken right?”

The man chuckled “Yes, it was chicken. Ran across an old farm two days ago. Still had a mostly intact henhouse and a couple of pretty decrepit but still kicking chickens in it. How the hell they lasted this long I have NO idea.” He broke off and his head snapped around. He stared at the tree line south of them. “Get down!” he hissed pushing Jordy back towards the wagon “get underneath this and stay hidden”. He spun around, grabbed something off the seat of the wagon and disappeared into the trees behind them. Jordy twisted around as he fell backwards and saw three men in ragged leather come out of the tree line. He quickly crawled underneath the wagon and peered out from behind the newly changed tire. Dammit I should have run back into the trees. It was too late to run he realized and his heart sank as he reached down and felt the empty spot where his knife should be. “Mr. Stewart” hadn’t given it back. His heart sank when one of the three crouched down by the tire and whispered loudly “come out come out wherever you are” All three laughed evilly. Jordy got ready to rush them and hopefully get away when one of them grunted and fell to a knee. “Help” he said weakly has he tipped over. The other two men cursed and started for the trees when another arrow zipped out and into a ribcage. Scrambling out from under the truck Jordy went to grab the third as Stewart burst through the tree line in a full sprint, broken bow hanging from one hand. As Jordy grabbed the last man he felt the knife go into his ribs. Looking back he realized the 2nd man wasn’t dead yet but got one last blow in before he was. As he fell to his hands and knees the locket slipped out of his pocket and fell onto the ground. Then he realized he was laying on the ground too. All he could see was the locket. He reached to open it one more time but it was so far away. He heard Mr. Stewart from a long distance say “Aww Damn kid.”

Mom looked up and smiled… “Welcome Home” she said.