A Place to Call Home - Eleven

Eleven

Carrie woke up as the sun was barely peeking over the horizon but she wasn’t sure what had woke her up. She laid very still and tried to figure it out. She didn’t hear anything…no wait she did hear something. She thought it was her own breathing but it was still low and slow; like someone was still sleeping.

And now that she was more awake, she was very warm on her left side. She slowly turned her head and looked down.

Snuggled up on top of her blanket was a ball of fur.

That would be black fur.

Black fur with a distinctive white stripe.

Carrie froze. Make that two bundles of black fur with distinctive white stripes.

Oh crap! What am I going to do? If I jump up, I’ll scare them and they will spray me for sure. Maybe I can slowly slid out of my bedroll. Man, I sure hope they don’t stink it up.

Very slowly, Carrie began to move to the opposite side of the skunks.


So far so good. She finally extracted herself from the bedroll and slowly got to her feet and backed away from the whole shed. Poor things probably were cold last night. No wonder I slept so good, they kept me warm also.

She stood a good ways away from the shed and her bed roll waiting not too patiently for her guests to wake up and leave. It didn’t look like they were in any hurry. So now she had to make a decision. Should she attempt to go back and get her shoes and back pack so she can at least change her now wet socks and put on her shoes or should she try to wake them from where she was….?

Carrie finally decided to make a grab for her shoes but leave her bag since it was up in the feed box and seemed to be safe anyways. She would just change her socks later. The slow grab she made for her shoes went well. So she hopped over the gate and ‘took care of business’ and then began to gather some more wood. She was hoping that the noise of her tossing the wood over the fence would wake her bed-mates and send them on their way.

But noooooo….. they slept on. So she tossed a couple small marble sized pebbles at the wood of the shed. Did that work? Nope!

She was getting exasperated! So she decided to sing. For some reason the song “the Old Grey Goose” popped into her head.

“go tell aunt Rhody
the old grey goose is dead


grandpa found her dying
in the millpond on her head


the gander won't eat now
gander won't eat now
because his wife is dead


let's pray for the babies
pray for the babies
because their mama's dead

Carrie was watching the small bundles and they looked like they were finally stirring, so she sung a bit louder:

“somebody go tell aunt Rhody
go tell aunt Rhody
the old grey goose is dead


somebody go tell aunt Rhody
i want you to go tell aunt Rhody
go tell aunt Rhody
tell her that the old
grey goose is dead


lord, now go tell aunt Rhody
children, go tell aunt Rhody
want you to go tell aunt Rhody
tell her that the old
grey goose is dead

The finally began to wiggle around and yawn and stretch, so Carrie finished up the song:


“everybody go tell aunt Rhody
now, now, go tell aunt Rhody
now, now, go tell aunt Rhody
go tell aunt Rhody - tell her
that the old grey goose is dead

As she finished up the last chorus, they scurried away and she breathed a sigh of relief. She didn’t waste any time packing up and hitting the road. She wound up the radio again and slid it into the fanny pack with the headphones coming out. She only put in one ear piece though, remembering what Rhonda had said. She nibbled on a granola bar and sipped out of a bottle of water as she made her way back to the highway.

Carrie figured she was about five miles from the next town and this was supposed to be a fair sized town. The map said it had about 5000 people in it so she figured that there should be a grocery store where she could get some more travel food. She was going to keep it simple but had two twenty’s stuck in her front pocket for her purchases.

…mounting tensions. The UN has again issued a statement that no tolerance would be given for failure to turn in firearms.

….is this correct? Really? ok… ladies and gentlemen please stand by for just one moment…it seems the president is going to speak…one minute? Ok. It will be just one minute. We do not yet know what the president is going to say… he’s …what? Ok, ladies and gentlemen it seems the president …ok, here is the president…

Good morning my fellow Americans. I come before you this morning to discuss several serious matters.
I’ll be brief. First of all, let me be clear and let me be specific; this country is in dire economic straits. I also promised you change and now that change is happening. I signed two executive orders this morning at 8am. Therefore, first due to the resistance the UN is having with the collection of firearms and due to the fact that we all know that firearms promote violence, I’ve combined all United States law enforcement agencies into one agency. This new agency, the National Security Agency, will fully cooperate with the UN it this grand endeavor to rid our great country of these vile weapons of death. In light of the NSA, all state laws and constitutions have been suspended in order for one set of laws to be enforced, thereby lessening the confusion and any conflictions. The UN has issued a mandate that all resistance to this weapons retrieval will be met with deadly force since only those wishing to harm others will want to keep their firearms.

I’ve also signed another executive order which deals with the redistribution of the wealth, just as I promised in my campaign. As you know, there are those in this country who have taken from the middle class and poor, they have ridden in their private jets and gone on their vacations that have cost thousands of dollars. We’ve had CEO’s who went and partied when their company was bailed out by YOU the people. It’s time that YOU the people, got your money back. Therefore, as of 8am this morning, all bank accounts of citizens with more than $100,000 have been frozen. All excess funds over this amount have been seized and will be redirected into a general fund which will provide for those who have had problems with paying for their housing and buying food. These funds will allow the poorest of us to be able to provide for their families and then we will all be truly equal!

Rest assured that your government is working hard and earning its pay to shape these great changes and make our country even greater! Let me be clear, this action will pull our economy out of the rut we’ve been left in by the previous administration, to an even higher and better standing.

Finally my fellow Americans, it is my sad duty to infor ….”

Carrie turned the radio off. She didn’t understand what he was talking about with his fancy words but it didn’t sound right to her. And there was nothing she could do about it anyways. She was on the outskirts of a town and she pulled her maps out in order to see the best way to proceed. There was a small convenience store/gas station just up at the next corner so she headed that way. As she approached the door a car whipped into the parking lot by the gas tanks, squealing their tires by slamming on the brakes.

Carrie slipped into the store and made her way back to the sign that said “restrooms”. When she came out, the small store was packed with people buying all kinds of stuff and complaining about the gas lines.

She felt like she had stepped into another world and it scared her so bad she stepped back into the bathroom and bolted the door.