Chapter 9

[Preservation - In Missouri]

We waited for more news about Dave being broken up about his wife's death. A few minutes passed. Mel came on sobbing. "Charles is. Charles is dead. Dave is, too. We're coming in."

Pam and I looked at each other. A young woman came into the room. I said, "Monitor the radio. One of the Bradley's is coming in. We're going in to meet them." We left for the garage area. We went armed. I think anger showed on both our faces.

When we arrived, the machine gun was manned and people were there to help. We gathered a few on the way there. One of the teenagers was watching and yelled, "There's a Bradley coming! Lions are chasing it!"

I yelled, "Ready the doors! Get 'em up and then back down as soon as the Bradley is inside! Shooters, be ready! Lions are following!" As soon as the door went up, we were charged.

The fifty was going constantly until the Bradley was too close. The other riflemen were shooting to take down lions. As soon as the Bradley cleared the machine gun, it started shooting again while the door came down. Only one lion made it to the doorway and it had been wounded. The fifty ruined it and blew it back outside.

Once the door was down, Pam rushed to the back of the Bradley as its door came down. Melissa fell into her arms crying loudly. One of the other two survivors came to me. He said, "Charles saved us. Dave was going to drop the door and Charles stopped him. Dave shot Charles. When he did, Melissa turned and saw what happened. She shot him before he could drop the door or do anything else. I'm sorry. Charles was a good guy."

I went inside the Bradley and pulled Charles' body into my arms and carried him slowly from the machine. I was crying when Pam and Melissa came to me and we went to a corner of the garage and I sat down still holding him while we cried together. Their arms caressed me and caressed Charles' body. We wept for the partner lost to our marriage.

After a long time, I eased Charles' body to the floor and stood slowly. I said, "You two stay here with Charles. I'll be back. We need to finish this before we lose more people." I went into the Bradley and found that someone had removed Dave's body from it. I was glad. I'm not sure I would have been gentle to the killer of my spouse. I teared up again as I had that thought. Charles and I had kidded that we were both husbands and neither of us wives. We had settled on the word, spouse, to describe our relationship.

The other two men who had been in the Bradley before came in. One said, "Mr. Robby, what do you want to do? I want to do something."

I said, in a low voice, "I think we need to get a couple of others and go kill lions. Charles would have wanted this finished."

They both nodded gravely and the same one said, "I know just the guys to go with us. They're good shots and level headed." I nodded and he left.

He returned about five minutes later with two men, one who was the young man who had protected the woman with a chair and the other was Darryl. I smiled at him. He came up and gave me a hug and whispered, "Charles was a good guy and so are you. Thanks for a chance to go with you."

The man who had talked did so again yelling outside, "Jack, after we button up, open the door. We're going to finish this."

I heard, "Okay, Darryl."

We pulled out of the garage without incident and began to shoot as soon as we had targets.

The lions seemed to be backing off from the armory and I realized that it was around four in the morning. We took out about ten more before all of them had faded into the woods. Out of targets, we headed back to the armory and met the other Bradley coming around a corner. We went along together and entered the garage.

It was very quiet when we entered the garage from the Bradley's. There were three covered bodies to one side. Pam came up to me and said, "They can bury Dave and Carol just about anywhere, but what can we do about Charles?"

I thought for a moment and said, "There are two choices. We can find a spot here or load a Bradley with fuel and make a run to Protection. I would have to do some figuring on fuel because we would return. We might even bring some help."

Pam said, "I like that idea and I think that will be Melissa's desire. I'll talk to her. She's still emotional though I think killing Dave might have helped in a harsh way. She's lying down now. She doesn't know it but I think she may be pregnant."

"That would be great!" I exclaimed.

"We'll see. It's early yet. I would like to get her home to talk with Abe and have George examine her. Go and give her a hug and then do your figuring. It would be just the three of us with Charles and maybe one other person though I doubt it."

I did what she suggested. My numbers came up with about three hours by car and about two hundred miles. I would have to figure what I could expect from a Bradley. I went into the garage's office to find specifications. I took a bit of looking but I found what I wanted. The maximum cruising speed was about forty miles per hour and a range of just below three hundred miles. That meant we could make the trip in about five hours but would need to get fuel in Protection or somewhere or we could run out before making it all the way back. That was not a possibility I wanted to contemplate with the lions still a force in the area.

I was talking this over with Pam and she reminded me that we had lakes of both diesel and gasoline in Protection left over from fighting the Memphians. We hadn't taken vehicles because horses, though slower, gave us more mobility than a Humvee or anything else. I brightened up at that and started planning the trip and what the folks here could do in the interim.

When finished, I went to Darryl and told him my plans for the trip and instructions for the armory until we returned. He thought it a good idea. We decided to present it at supper. I was planning a three or four day round trip. I alerted Pam and Melissa that we would leave the next morning unless something came up.

At supper, I talked about our plans. No one objected. We would leave in the morning. This evening and while we were gone, everyone would stay in the armory and strengthen it from lions trying to break in. It was quiet. I shot a few more eyes but there were no incursions by us or by any lions.

In the morning, we carried Charles' body into the Bradley, topped off the fuel, and moved out toward Protection. It was a quiet trip. We stopped at Abe's telling him what happened. Pam asked that we have a service for Charles tomorrow morning. Abe gave us startling news! Melissa was pregnant with a son! Melissa didn't even know she was pregnant! Abe's pronouncements could be scary, particularly because they always were true.

From there, we went to George's home and gave him a full report including our request to Abe. Jane and Judith cried with Pam and Melissa over Charles' death and over our son to come. George insisted upon examining her. He confirmed that she was pregnant though couldn't comment upon the sex of the baby this early. He also insisted upon examining Pam but she wasn't pregnant though was in good physical condition. It was my turn next and I was given a clean bill of health and was told I wasn't pregnant either. I said that that was a relief. The comment brought more laughter than it deserved. Abe had said and George also said he would spread the word all over the community.

We drove home from there. By suppertime, we had more food than we could eat in a week and Doris had come over and took over handling food and people with help from one of Abe's wives, Claire. They organized everything including people not allowing anyone to overstay yet giving everyone a chance to weep with us. Abe had Amos and Arnold take Charles' body and prepare it for burial in a wooden casket. He had other men dig the grave. Claire and Doris stayed the night and helped watch over us as we slept in the master bedroom.

The next morning, we awakened to the smell of breakfast. Pam and Melissa are good cooks but Doris and Claire had years of experience honing their skills and the smells indicated that those years had been well spent. We piled out of bed, dressed, and went to the kitchen to find them giggling to each other as they brought the food to the table. I pulled up an extra chair and all five of us sat down to a wonderful meal. After we finished, we were sent back to our bedroom to dress a little better and more formally. We sobered up realizing why. We did and came out to receive approvals from both Claire and Doris. They escorted us to church. Abe, Alan, and Amos met us there. Amos escorted us to a small room that I didn't know existed. It was usually the bride's room, which explains why I hadn't known about it. We sat together and Abe, George, and his wives sat with us. Angela and Claire began the music leading the congregation in singing the old hymns of American Christendom. We left the room and came to the back of the church. Judith and Jane went in and sat down. George held us while Abe and Alan went to the front of the church. George escorted Pam and I escorted Melissa to the front and the three of us sat down with Melissa in the middle.

With Claire at the piano, Angela sang an old hymn, "Softly and Tenderly," which brought tears to everyone's eyes. She sat down with Claire and Abe stood and came to the pulpit. He started, "Charles was loved by many and died as he lived, caring for and protecting others. We named our community Protection for a reason. We care and we care enough to protect others. Charles' life epitomized that to the end."

Abe said more but I didn't really hear him as I thought of Charles and how I loved him and would miss him. I vowed to myself to be sure Melissa knew she was loved every day and I knew Pam was probably thinking the same thing. I later learned that I was correct. Persons from Memphis spoke of kindnesses from Charles during those difficult days. George was the last to speak about how Pam and I had found Charles and Melissa and shot them. Then he told that we later all fell in love and married. He said that we demonstrated marriage to us all. He then said, "Now, it's up to Melissa, Pam, and Robby to go on and to all of us to remember Charles."