Chapter 35

Gerome went to The state wildlife office to meet Michael Williams. They were headed for a tour of the nesting area of the endangered Mississippi Sandhill Crane that morning. He and the professor drove two cars to the first site. There were only two known nesting sites in the whole state so the tour was expected to be over quickly.

Gerome was tasked with two different jobs that morning. He had been told by Lucinda to record the images of the land with no cranes visible. He was also charged with recording the GPS coordinates. We were going to need those if we entered into any negotiations.

Gerome took his mission seriously. He was trying to prove himself to the rest of us. I’m sure he couldn’t help being intimidated by Lucinda’s athleticism, or Mary’s classic grand southern lady charms. Why Tommy and I intimidated him was a little harder to understand. Sure we were both retired law enforcement officers, but we were also old. The operative word in our descriptions was retired. The unspoken words were old and worthless.

Gerome spent his morning with the professor, while Lucinda was left to clean her small Gym. The thing the locals of the Vicksburg area appreciated most was how clean Lucinda kept her gym. The floors and windows were clean, but so was the language inside the walls. If you cursed, became verbally abusive, or touched another customer outside the ring, she was very likely to order you out. If you chose to give her shit, there was always Gerome and at least half a dozen other customers to evict you, forcibly.

Lucinda had the only MMA approved cage in the area, as well as a traditional ring for boxing. She swore MMA had saved her ass a few times, but more importantly it helped her cope with her demons. The four of us were all about fighting demons, so we all understood.

All the men believed that the women came to the gym in groups. They came in to ride the stationary bikes and watch the MMA guys go at it. It was after all cheap entertainment.

Gerome was part of its case of characters. He practiced even though he was a novice. He also helped Lucinda cleanup up around the gym. In addition he also did odd jobs for pocket money.

Gerome was still finding himself according to the his family. He was what he was to me. He probably appreciated that he didn’t need to make excuses to the four of us. We all took Gerome for just who he was. We appreciated him as a bit of a Geek and that he worked out in Lucinda’s gym. It didn’t hurt that he was always willing to do odd jobs for us.

We also steered other jobs to him, just to make sure he was taken care of as well. He was a master at preparing videos of weddings and parties. He repaired computers for local pawnshops and rebuilt some computers for several ‘Tommy’ type businesses. According to Lucinda those jobs kept him in Bran Muffins and coffee. Now and then he also set up recording equipment for legal depositions. We all tried to help him stay busy whenever we could.

After he finished filming the crane site, with my drone, he set the coordinates on a county map. He did that so that we could all use it while working out our plans. The work he had done would allow us all to work at the same time, but in different places.

‎”Gerome you don’t get seasick do you?” I asked.

‎”Not at all why?” he asked.

‎”I thought that when you brought the drone back, we could go up river to the part of the nesting area nearest the creek. That creek eventually flows into the Mississippi river system,” I suggested.

‎”Okay but I’m not sure that creek is deep enough to navigate a boat up there. I took a look at it when the professor and I walked the site. It’s pretty small, but maybe we can make it,” Gerome guessed.

‎”Well, if we can’t make it, we can mark that threat off our list. It will be nice to start eliminating some of these. The professor seems to come up with something new hourly.” I suggested.