A Rather Bread And Butter Chapter

 

Standing on the porch were two guys. They didn’t look happy.

“Are you Doug Simpson,” asked one of them. We had seen them in town. But not together.

Doug stood back, asking them in and said, “yeah, that’s me. What’s up?”

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His First Case

One by one the two young men stepped into the house. One was not very tall and a few years older. He had short dark blond hair and seemed to be the one who wanted to talk. He introduced himself as Neil Larson.

The other guy was tall and dark, tan with black hair and a little beard. He looked the angriest of the two. He stood with his hands jammed down into his jeans pockets. He said finally that he was called Carl Garcia.

“What’s up,” said Neil, “is this. I have a fifteen-year-old daughter, Linda, who survived, though my wife did not. I have raised her by myself since she was just a little bitty thing. Now she looks close to grown, but she is still a kid. The trouble is Carl here thinks she is old enough to go to him as his wife or whatever. He has just about got her convinced to run off with him. The trouble is that I doubt they could even survive on their own. I barely have control these days. I made her promise to sit tight for a few days while we try to sort this out.

“Now, Denise down at the store said to come and see you and that you could help us by being a kind of final decider, since we can’t agree among ourselves. We have decided, Carl and I, to go with what you decide since Denise said the Lights that we see sometimes said that you were going to be the guy to judge between people now’days. Carl isn’t happy but he said he would at least come and talk.”

Doug asked them to come in and sit down since it’s friendlier to talk sitting, he thought. Carl perched on the front of the recliner seat and Neil plopped down at one end of the sofa. Doug sat on the kitchen chair in front of the desk.

“So, Carl,” said Doug, “I figure you have a side in this story. What is it?”

He ran his fingers through his long black hair, his eyes snapped around the room and he said “well yeah. You see Linda and I have been planning on going to live together for most of a year. She says she’s ready, and shouldn’t she be the one to decide? Not her dad!”

I looked over at Doug from where I was sitting in the kitchen helping Lou sort beans or something. I don’t remember. Doug looked at me with his eyebrows raised. I had been listening to this conversation surreptitiously.

Even I could see that Carl was no more than about 18. Even I would worry about him taking charge of my teenaged daughter if I had one.

Doug crossed his arms and frowned down at his feet stretched out before him. He thought for a few minutes before speaking.

“I’ll tell you what Neil and Carl. I do have an opinion, but it’s just one man’s opinion until I have the agreement of our community that I may make decisions that have any sticking power. I know the Lights said that I was going to be the head guy, but I can’t just go with that. Everybody has to at least assent to the deal.

“I want to call a meeting of everyone who wants to have a say on this. I think the day after tomorrow in the parking lot down at the Novus store at noon would be a good place and time to gather the people. That gives us the rest of today and tomorrow to get the word out. Then if a majority of the people who show up agree that I can make official decisions, I will tell you what I think would be best in this case. How about that? Can you deal with that?

“I can ride down there today and post a big notice on the window so everybody who goes there will see it, and I will talk to Denise and have her spread the word. Also, we can just make sure we talk about it to anyone we happen to meet.”

Neither of them looked delighted. Neil said OK. Carl grunted in a sort of affirming manner. They agreed they would talk to Linda about it, and hopefully she would see the sense of it. They were escorted to the door, and they went on their way together.

Doug said “let’s write Roops. He can talk to whoever he talks to. I’m sure he sees a few people everyday downtown. Besides, he would hate like hell to be left out of this! He might even come down and vote.

If I am expected to do this gig, I want it to be official.”

We located a large sheet of paper in the desk and hand printed a sign to the effect that there would be a meeting to take a vote on whether Doug Simpson should be the local judge, in matters needing a judge, two days hence at noon in the Novus store parking lot. We rolled up the sign and hopped on our bikes and rode up into town and having taped up the sign went in and told Denise what we were up to. She was pleased to help if she could by mentioning the meeting to any customers that she spoke to.

When we came back out there were three people reading the sign. Doug did a little meeting and greeting and asked them to please attend. He patted the two guys on their shoulders and spoke nicely to the lady carrying a wooden basket, with a big smile. It almost looked like he was campaigning!

We carried on at home. We made meals, we gardened, we all took care of Gabe. Lou cherished her chickens. Bubby oversaw it all and made commentary. OZ and Doug spent time with the computer. Doug was picking up typing pretty well. So was I. Jen and Lou hadn’t really gotten into it yet. We were searching for news of the rest of the country and even the world. The sources were few.

On the appointed day we dressed as nicely as we could, all four of us adults. Jen thought it would be ok if we all went and took Gabe with us, along with Bubby. We decided that OZ should stay home, and he had no opinion about that. He had things he wanted to do.

We had to hike, but that was ok. It was only the same old two miles into Milltown. We only had two bikes. We started out at about 9am. Gabe could walk some, but he mostly needed to be carried and we all took turns putting him up on our shoulders and he loved that. He had never been off the home place before and all this was exciting to him. It was a nice overcast dry day, so the walking was easy.

We arrived at the parking lot at about 11am. There were already about sixty people milling around and gossiping and popping into the store to buy drinks and cookies and stuff. Doug went around introducing himself and making sure people knew that he wanted their approval before he took on the job of local judge.

At noon he stepped up on the top stair of the entry into the store and called the meeting by basically yelling at the crowd that it was time to pipe down and vote. It seemed like there were nearly two hundred people out there then. He said we would do it by a show of hands. It was a very simple procedure. He asked the people who wanted him to provide some kind of authority over the community to lift up their hands and leave them up while I counted. Jen counted too, just to make sure we got the same total. I counted 168 for Doug. Everyone clapped and it was settled. There was a lot of cheerful banter and laughter. It was almost like a large party. More snacks were purchased, and everyone talked until the afternoon grew long. Roops voted for of course and could be seen schmoozing with group after group.

Bubby kept his trap shut and just observed and took a nap in the bus stop shelter.

When people started to wander off and the crowd thinned way out, Neil and Linda and Carl could be seen waiting together for a word. Neil had voted for, and I wasn’t sure about the young couple. They had blended into the crowd. We had not met Linda yet, so introductions were made all around again. Linda did look older than 15 and she looked tense to me. She was taller than her dad and a natural blond. Jen and Lou sort of gathered around her and tried to cheer her up with some chitchat, and showed her Gabe who was getting sleepy. Babies were still rare, but there were a few coming up.

“Shall I tell you now what I think,” asked Doug, since we were all in the same place at the same time. All three said OK, they were ready.

“Let’s go over here where it’s quieter and we’ll talk,” Doug said.

What he said was this, “I believe that Carl and Linda could marry in one year if they agree to live with Neil after the wedding, until they are a few years, like two years, older. Or, if they want to go off and live alone without his support they should wait until Linda is 18, and they should spend the time until then learning to do something practical that would make them of use, and they can have their own home away from Neil.

It's a practical choice I think.”

Neil and Linda with Carl left for home and a decision to make, since they had decided to abide by Doug’s ruling, which was really just good advice.

I wondered if we would ever end up having some sort of enforcement. It seemed like a very remote idea at that time. I hoped not.

Doug and Jen with Gabe, Lou and I, with Bubby, all gathered ourselves up and started the return hike. It had been an interesting and pivotal day. I could see that things were changing, for the better I hoped.

Soon, Lou and I would be dealing with similar issues, but without the animosity, and we would probably just stay with the household we were already part of!

All of it: In the tenth year of the pandemonium.docx