Chapter 115: Getting Ready to Get Ready

At breakfast the next morning Martin gave Mike directions to the house we had rented. " You might want to pick up a some food that you can eat room temperature," I suggested. "It wouldn't be a bad idea to dress warmly."

"Nice plan, but I'm not going to be the one who sits there. I am not part of this little band of Mercenaries. I'm the camera man, I don't get involved in the day to day operations." Mike said with a smile. He really was being nice about it.

"So, if you won't stay until they turn the power and heat on, then I will have to. Since the show is about me, you will have to stay there to film me doing nothing. Mike that makes no sense at all." I suggested.

"Yes, but whatever shit you are planning today, I won't miss filming it either," he replied still smiling. "Besides I can get some shots of you there being all domestic." he addded.

"Good luck with that. Alright, I'll do that, if after you drop me at the house, you go buy a Mr. Coffee and a pound of Columbian coffee?" I informed him.

"Done," he replied.

"Here," Martin said as he handed me the burn phone. Put your phones in the box and I'll mail them to Maxine's house."

I knew that I would have to make a trip to the post office to get the package, since there was nowhere for the mailman to leave it at the apartments. It didn't seem like anything worth mentioning to Martin, so I dropped my phone into the box. "Wait, I need to make a call first. I quickly called Cheryl. "When a package for me arrives, please put it in your apartment until I get home. That is if the mailman leaves it. He might or might not leave it." I said into her voice mail I did not give her my burn phone number. It would have been an operational security breech.

Martin dropped me at the house, while he went into the next largest town with a WalMart. There he shopped from a list we worked out the night before. Mostly it was stuff like blankets, those big thick airbeds, folding chairs and a card table finished the furniture options. There were cheap dishes and kitchen knives that kind of stuff as well.

"If we stay more than a week, this is going to be a miserable vacation honey," I said to Martin when he returned at almost noon. "What took you so long?" I asked.

"I asked a few questions the next town over. Hayseed has a really bad reputation around here. I told them I was thinking about opening a restaurant here and everybody I talked to said, "Don't."

"Wonder why they feel that way?" I asked. Of course I knew why. If the Atwood brothers were any indication of how the rest of the town worked, it was like Dodge City in the 1800's. It might be different crimes for different times, but it seemed to be wide open real estate.

"Beats me, I doubt we are going to make much of a difference, but it sure as hell can't Hurt," Martin said.

"Well we can try to put a couple of the outlaws in the poky for a while," I suggested. "Every little bit has to help some." I suggested.

"Not as much as we would like, but I grant you it would be an improvement," Martin replied.

"I had the house pretty much set up as much as it would be half an hour after Martin returned. The electric power was turned on by computer, so it was up and running first. I left Martin in the house while Mike and I went to the store for clothes for me to wear.

I bought two skirts and three sweaters from the same Walmart, where Martin had bought the household items. The skirts and sweaters were for when I needed to be Sister Maxine, the Lords Messenger. I didn't think I would need to be her too often so I bought just the small number of outfits.

I was surprised that I had not gained any weight since my road trip with 'Marty the bike pedaler'. I had been a 10/12 when I arrived in Aster but was down to a size 7/8 when I bought the skirts. My ass was still wide or I might have been even smaller. Of course my top was still small but even so the sweaters were a size 10 so that they wouldn't be sexpot tight.

There was no need to call Martin, since I had to go back to the house to change before we visiting Haymarket. With that in mind I drove straight home. We had time to get to Haymarket before the town shut down for the night. I didn't like that I felt a little shaky about calling Marshal Hall of the GBI. I can always call him later if we get stumped, I decided.

When I got to the house I found that the house was warm and Martin had the coffee made. Life appeared to be good. Since I tried on the skirt and sweater at the store, the outfit fit me as I wanted it to.

"Very conservative," Martin said. "You could pass for a lady, if I didn't know better." I was sure that Mike was eating up that kind of statement. It would make for good TV. Slightly more than a hint that I might not be just an upstanding crime fighter.

"While you were in Haymarket, did you notice a cafe?" I asked Mike.

"There is one just inside town. It looks like an old white house, but there is a big sign out front." Mike explained.

"Good we are going to need a place to eat tonight, and we need to find a place to start pumping the locals for information." I paused a moment. "I have no idea how you are going to film us without getting noticed." I added.

"I'll work out something. I have some new tricks, remember?" he asked.

"Whatever," Martin said with a look of pure contempt.

"Well I'm curious. How are you going to manage it." I asked.

"I'm going to try to plant a small digital high resolution camera in the restaurant when we go in. Then recover it when we leave. Not only is it good resolution, it is also time lapse. It should be a really cool effect."