Chapter 2

[Janice – Flying West]

A week later, we reassembled, loaded up, and left for the west.

Our first stop from Pintlala was Jackson, Mississippi. It was a frequent stop when flying. There were no people in the area based upon our prior stops at the airport and many flights with Cessna's over the last few years. Tom and Vic used Alabama and Mississippi as their training ground for flyers. With a smaller Cessna, you could land at any of the many small airports and request help if you had trouble.

We quickly topped off and headed toward Dallas with Mike flying his Otter in the lead. We flew into Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport that afternoon taxiing to the general aviation area, as was our habit. We had seen only possible signs of human habitation on our way over. Upon landing, we searched for and found good fuel topping off the tanks of both planes. It was time to explore.

Mike and George had an idea about that. They had loaded a small generator in their plane. They pulled it out and took it to an area with trucks. They found a few with keys and charged the batteries and cleared the fuel putting in fresh gas. They went through five to get three that would run but we had motorized transportation. Things would be much easier.

We had a few hours of daylight left and some wanted to explore. Lois and Mel would stay with the children except for Charlie and Bobbi. We left them with guns and set out in our rejuvenated SUV's. We could maintain contact with HT's. We left the airport and headed for Grapevine, a nearby suburb. We posted circulars everywhere. We had brought three reams of five hundred flyers each. We left about twenty where normal scavengers in the area would see them easily. Being motorized made looking around easier and faster.

We had found the grocery stores distressingly undisturbed. We left our flyers but I was wondering if anyone would ever see them. We gathered some wine and some canned goods. There was little else we needed or wanted that we found.

We pulled back in at the airport and drove out to our planes and our shelter for the night and parked. We locked the doors of the SUV's and took the keys. It was an old habit and one we didn't plan to break. We went inside to find Mel and Lois working with the children to prepare a supper. As I came in, I said, "If you have the food, we brought the wine."

Mel smiled and was given a kiss by each of her spouses and a hug from Charlie and Bobbi. She never wanted to go on our exploring missions but she was also perhaps the coolest, best shot in our marriage after Robby. At our homes, she hunted with the best of us and had made shots that even Robby and Bennie thought were little short of miraculous. She was no push over. Her hand-to-hand skills were good, too. She looked like she was soft and cuddly but we all knew better. I think the kids would think of talking back to Bennie or Robbie before giving her any lip.

Supper was being cooked and Robby opened a couple of bottles of wine for us to share while we waited. After supper and some talk, we all retired to our makeshift beds for the night. As had become a habit on trips, I always slept close to the door with either Robby or Bennie. We three were the lightest sleepers and would hear any sounds out of the expected. I noticed that Mike and Jen were on the other side of the door that night.

It was a little after five when I woke. I didn't move waiting for a repeat of whatever sound woke me. I opened my eyes to see Bennie's eyes staring back at me. Both of us had heard it. I silently rose and put on shoes and gun belt. Bennie did the same. We started for the door and I realized Mike was watching. I held my finger to my lips and then cocked my finger and pointed at him. He nodded. We opened the door and slipped outside. We were looking around carefully. If both of us heard something, it was real and should be investigated.

We were in the shadow of the building still looking around when I heard it again clearer. It was the sound of metal on metal but to our left not close to the planes. I pointed and Bennie nodded. With me in front, we began to work our way toward the source of the noise. Bennie touched my arm and I froze. I waited and heard the noise again to my left and slowly started that way. Bennie took the safety off his rifle and followed me. My pistol was still in its holster but loosened and ready. We saw two figures crouched over to our left doing something. I looked over at Bennie and pointed. He nodded.

I moved forward and right to different cover and quietly said, "Good morning."

One of them looked up and said, "Hello, were you in the planes that came in yesterday?"

"Yes, we were staying here tonight. What are you doing?"

They both stood with their hands in plain sight. The same one said, "We were going to start a little fire waiting for you to wake up. However, I didn't expect to meet someone as lovely as you. Donna will not appreciate not having come with me."

"Who is Donna?" I was more dressed than usual to sleep. I was wearing panties with my tee shirt.

"She's my wife. I'm Jerry Baxter and he's my brother, Paul."

"Where's Donna? Why isn't she here?"

"She is at our farm with our kids. If you are friendly, I'm supposed to invite you for breakfast. We live north of here and have a farm. Paul's wife is with her, too."

"That sounds nice ... I'm Janice Cook-Thomas-Sullivan and one of my spouses, Bennie, is out checking the area."

At that moment, Bennie came up behind them and said, "Hi." He used his friendliest voice. I could tell that it still scared the two half to death ... As I have written before, when you're well over six feet tall, heavily muscled, and have a voice from below the bottom of a well, you have a tendency to be intimidating even when you're not trying.

Paul managed to get out a strangled "hi" in return. After gulping, he said, "I guess you provide the muscle for Janice."

He chuckled, "Janice can beat me bare-handed. I do help lift things for her."

Jerry said, "Yeah, small mountains, I would guess." He chuckled still a little uneasy.

I said, "Why don't you join us in the hanger? We'll get organized and follow you to your place."

Bennie said, "Paul, I'll help you with the horses while Jerry follows Janice."

"Okay, Bennie." He held his hand out and he and Bennie shook hands. Jerry came up to me and offered his hand. I took it and gave him a good, firm shake.

"Come on, Jerry. We'll wake the rest up." Jerry walked with me into our sleeping quarters. "Wake up, everyone! We have guests!"

Mike, Jen, and Charlie were all three dressed and standing at the door with rifles. They relaxed. If I had said friends, they would know there was trouble but guests or company were both safe words. I really couldn't imagine someone bad coming in without a lot of shooting and other noise first. However, it was good to have a few code words just in case.

Jerry's rifle was still slung over his shoulder and he kept his hands out and visible until our greeters relaxed. He shook hands with Jen, Mike, and Charlie and was told of their relationships to me. Instead of organizing breakfast, we organized for travel. When Bennie and Paul came in, we were ready to go. Bennie gave me the high sign that he thought all was well and nodded and looked at Melissa. She was talking to Jerry and saw me staring at her. She gave him a pat on his shoulder and turned toward one of our children and gave me a partial thumb up sign as he spoke to her. The others picked up on that and relaxed a little more.

Jerry came up to me. He said, "You folks are amazing. You are married to four?"

"Yes, that's rare but it works for us."

"You met Mike and Jen and George and Lois?" He nodded. I continued, "Jen's parents are the only multiple partner marriage of their parents and it's just three, one man and two women. The women were good friends living together in Preservation and, at that time, there were more women than men. Then Jim came along. It's worked for them. Both Preservation and Protection actively permit plural marriage as long as all parties involved are in favor and have no reservations about the relationship."