Reunion

Reunion

Six months ago Wade had assumed that if his High School had a 40th reunion that it would be held on ZOOM, head shots only. Instead, thanks to science as exemplified by Pfizer and Moderna, and the wisdom of his generation which had over a 90% vaccination rate, he was in a rental car on his way to one of the several subset reunion parties in the home of one of his high school classmates.

At the moment he was stopped at a red light waiting for it to change to a green light so he could proceed to her house. All he had for directions were the xeroxed handwritten directions that were thrust into his hands after they left the football field where his class had been presented during homecoming activities to a stadium of football fans who could care less.

Instead of having an address that he could plug into WAZE for driving directions, his directions said "Go out Germantown Road, go past the cemetery, go past the pond on the right, and turn right just past the Shell Station. Go down this road for a half mile and you will see the cleared field on the left where Sheldon pastures his bull. Turn left just past the pasture where you see the Purina sign. My house is the only one on the right. You can't miss it. It will be the one with all the lights on and all the cars. See Y'all. Shelly”

Wade found the house, parked his car, and joined the party. He drank, glad handed, and reminisced with his former classmates and their spouses and significant others.

It was interesting to find out what his high school classmates had been doing these past forty years. Shelly had become a physician and had married Sheldon who had cattle, lumber and gravel interests built on inherited acreage. Robert had become a career Air Force pilot and after retirement had flown for Delta. Katie owned the local drug store, and Billy Ray owned and ran the lucrative concession at the lake.

At first glance it would look like Wade might be the least successful at the party. However, a glance at his Rolex and his bespoke attire would tag him as something more than a retired civil servant. When asked about his career, he described a life as a bland bureaucrat, then when they glanced at his watch, he added, " Oh, I bought that with the money I saved by not smoking."

But unlike the others, Wade was also working. As a semi-retired operative he had been asked to check out rumors that Sheldon, his host's husband, had bragged on-line about assaulting the Capitol on January 6, and the FBI was scouring the nation to locate and arrest those involved.

Many of his classmates were aware that he had worked with the federal government, but they seemed accepting of his legend of working exclusively for the Public Health Service. When they brought up conspiracy theories about Covid-19 and current Health Officials, Wade echoed their anger and distortions, and offered to get them another drink to lubricate their commiserations.

Late into the party, Sheldon, Shelly's husband, told Wade he had something he wanted to show Wade. Feigning tipsiness, Wade followed Shelby to the old barn out back. "Whatcha doing Sheldon, gonna show me your prize bull?"

" Well, he's something alright, but this is something else, something better.

The inside of the barn was a fortified stronghold, and inside was a vault that a major bank would be proud to own. He showed Wade his arsenal. Automatic rifles in boxes, walls of ammunition, grenade launchers , pistols, bayonets, fragmentation grenades... enough to arm a small revolution.

"You got a lot of fine looking weapons there, Sheldon."

"Yeah. I'm pretty proud of my little collection. Wish I had had some of it with me when I visited the Capitol. Maybe next time."

"Well. Hell. Sheldon, you and Shelly should have called me so we could get together while you were there."

"Not on that trip, Wade. Me and a couple of my buddies were there trying to make the acquaintance of some of the socialists in the Capitol, but they didn't want to be found."

"So, a wasted trip, huh?"

"Oh. I wouldn't say that. We left something to remember us by."

"Well, that was some day, man."

"Yeah. I wouldn't have missed it for anything in the world."

"With that, they returned to the party with Wade saying, "Very impressive, Sheldon, very impressive." Wade had recorded every word.

Less than two weeks later, with a warrant in hand, the FBI arrested Sheldon for destroying property and trespass at the Capitol on January 6. They also found among his armaments weapons stolen from a nearby army base which added a charge of receipt of stolen property.

Having done his part, Wade was back in Maryland, relaxed in his reading chair, a Laphroaig scotch sprinkled with water in his hand, and a copy of Brad Taylor's new book, ”American Traitor”, in his lap.

"Hmm," he thought as he opened the book, "seems appropriate."