The Face of Freedom. Benjamin Vance

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СКАЧАТЬ it was just a friendly stand off until I gave him some jerky. Then he thanked me by showing me his genitals.”

      “Oh hell!” she screamed, “You saw Hercules!”

      Her scream of excitement brought everything to a halt camp-wide. Several men started to slowly walk their way with obvious menace in their faces. He placed his hand on his belt … the one attaching his pistol to his chest. The looks on the faces changed to, “What the hell do we do now?”

      The listening post lady quickly assessed the situation and loudly confirmed he was the walker and had come to talk to them. Then he noticed skepticism enter their faces; not what he was expecting. She added, “He saw Hercules last night and fed him some jerky!” There was no change in their demeanor.

      Then out of the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of a man exiting a small cabin to his left. All eyes turned to the man and several made an opening for him to come through. When he saw the walker, he immediately flashed a broad, apprehensive smile. As he got closer, he held out his hand in the way of a politician. The walker took his hand, but was ready for the pull he knew was coming. Instead, he held his ground and the man succeeded in pulling himself off balance a bit. He covered the faux pas by loudly welcoming the walker and announcing to everyone that they were glad to have him visit their humble camp.

      He looked at the lookout lady and said, “Julie, I thought you were supposed to be on watch ’til three?”

      “I know Daddy, but the walker came up to my post and somebody had to show him in. If we had phones out there I could have called!”

      “I know too baby, but we have to take this mission seriously. How about you going back out there and keeping watch ’til three. Then someone will relieve you and you can eat.”

      “I don’t need to eat. I was just delivering him to the kitchen. He’s hungry you know, and he saw Hercules last night. I knew he was still alive. He fed ’im some jerky … okay I’m going!” As she turned to go she flashed the walker a big smile and glanced at her father, “Good to meet you Mr. Walker. Hope you find some signs of intelligence on this planet.”

      Then off she went, purposely exaggerating her wiggle for everyone she knew was watching, hoping to embarrass her father. The gentleman then introduced himself with apologies for his daughter and said, “Howdy, I‘m Ridge Parker and that was obviously my daughter Julie Parker. I … am a state representative for the district we are presently in.” Making a wide sweep with both arms, “Our little group, known hereabouts as the Mother’s Sons of America, got its name from the founder in 1969, a man by the name of Ben Maltin. He thought it was a cute name. I think it’s repugnant, but it stuck and everyone remembers the MSA guys. We try to run a tight ship, especially on the weekends. It’s sort of like a National Guard unit. Everybody has a uniform and tries to do their best to uphold American values and traditions. We have fun too. Let me introduce you around.”

      Ridge was successful in remembering about half of the names of the members. They eventually migrated into the mess hall and sat among gawkers and doubters. The food was good and the walker complimented the cooks, who were obviously members and wives of members, and appreciated his comments. He thought, “A few allies at best.”

      5.

      Representative Parker was a nice enough man for a politician. He was a New Jersey transplant and Julie and her older brother had been born in Montana. She seemed like a nice kid even though she had a chance to be rather spoiled. Parker wasn’t an ideologue, but had a few solid opinions about what his mission was and where the MSA was going … nowhere really! The bunch came to party and play soldier and Parker was the policeman that kept them in check. He was not their sole leader. Who was … was anybody’s guess? It was Thursday and he would have to wait until Saturday evening to address the whole bunch. However, as the word of his presence spread, he suspected the leader would come out of the woodwork. That night, he surely did.

      There were many more for evening meal than had been there at noon. Julie was in attendance at her father’s side. She looked scrubbed and beautiful. She reminded him of Linda and he imagined she could have been his daughter. Her mother was on the way according to Ridge Parker. Just about dessert time a broad man who wore the plastered expression of a used car salesman came through the mess hall doors with a beautiful woman in tow.

      They were both dressed in well-tailored camoflage outfits. Hers was a bit more tailored than his. She announced her purchased breasts with a cute lace camisole which was also camoflage print. She had a pink pistol attached to her belt. This was probably the real leader of the band, and his trophy-wife. He greeted the congressman first, then Julie with a predatory smile; then the walker. His wife was introduced as Isadora Lazenby. She nodded to everyone with an absent smile and a druggy condescension. His name was Ralph Lazenby. He smiled a lot.

      The name rang a bell with the walker, but only vaguely. Ralph made a point of going to every table and greeting everyone. He got smiles and many stood to shake hands. Yep, he was the force behind the MSA, if there was one. Whether he could take them in the right direction or not was debatable.

      Just after the Lazenby’s were finally seated, Mrs. Parker came in. Her name was Altrise, and she was as beautiful as her name. She was about ten pounds overweight, but it was distributed well and Parker beamed with delight at her presence. She kissed Julie and her husband and apologized to “Mr. Walker” for being late. She waved at everybody, including the Lazenby’s who chose to sit close to the opposite wall. Ralph waved back and Isadora (Isadora for God’s sake) smiled and wiggled her fingers in the general direction at something unseen and unimportant.

      About twenty minutes later Ridge Parker stood up and tried to get everyone’s attention. He succeeded with the condescension of the Lazenby’s. Parker started with an obviously practiced political rhetoric, “My fellow MSA’ers, thank you for coming tonight. Also, thanks to our wonderful cooks (sparse applause).”

      It was obvious to the walker, and any casual observer that many of these people weren’t sure of their alliances. He continued with, “We are privileged this evening to have many more of our members than usual for a Thursday evening. Obviously, we have a new guest. He will identify himself only as the walker (smattering of quick embarrassed laughs and comments). He comes from our friends down around Helena. I understand he took the shortcut over the White Fish Mountains and it only took him two and a half days. And ... Julie tells me he met our old mascot Hercules (light applause and cheers from some of the kids). In any case Mr. Walker will be here for a couple of days.”

      Turning to the walker with a smile and then to his audience, “I hope he will enjoy our hospitality while he’s here. He’ll address our entire group Saturday night. In the meantime I hope every one of you can find it in your hearts to make him feel welcomed. His message has inspired others and maybe it will help develop cohesiveness within our group and a sense of cooperation with other groups like ours. I hear there are many others around our great nation who think like us and have the best interests of our country at heart. While knowing he will save his most important comments for the entire group on Saturday, I hope I can request Mr. Walker say a few words to our group tonight?”

      He turned to the walker with his biggest pleading grin. Julie looked at him and he could see the “Please don’t embarrass my father.” on her face. He stood up to a smattering of applause and a few sneers from those seated with Lazenby.

      “I have been called the walker. My name is of no consequence. What I try to do is my calling. There are more groups like yours than any of you can imagine. Each group is filled with secrecy and СКАЧАТЬ