Flintkote
Copyright© 2020 by Old Man with a Pen
Chapter 73
“How the tanks got to Pentwater, I have no idea. How Stalin got there? He came on the boat with the refugees.”
“I was out with my go-kart east of town near old US31 ... they call it Monroe but it used to be the only way to Pentwater ... I would have liked to see Old Pentwater before the developers ... but I’m too late. Mom ... That’s Auntie Surprise ... lets me roam, I think she’s hoping someone will take me. ‘I’m chipped, you know. So she knows where I am.”
(Tyche Selene Flintkote is NOT chipped. The rumor was started by the Ludington Animal Shelter Vet when Tyche had her family of 8 cats tagged, vaccinated and chipped. Murray, the Bengal, is her constant companion. Murray is fierce in her protection ... she shares her banana splits with him.)
“I was seeing if I could steer by the video screen from the viewer on the camera on the airplane. The drones are ok but I’m practicing flying. The area between Monroe and Madison ... they were former Presidents, the fourth and fifth ... is elevated and broken with a low spot halfway.”
She took my pen from my pocket and drew a recognizable map of the lakeshore where there are no docks on the waterside and the bluffs inside the highway. I’ve been stationed here 10 years and never noticed either ... the bluffs or the waterfront. She was using the palm of my hand as her drawing board. She started little clumps of dots. “Failed cherry orchards,” she said.
“I noticed the first tank.”
“How did you know it was a tank?”
She looked at me like I was an idiot ... and suddenly ... I was. I squirmed.
“It’s ok ... Now you know what’s like.”
SHE’S FOUR!! She’s not treating me like she’s four ... she’s treating me like I’m the kid and she’s the adult ... and she IS. What is she?
“I’d modified my little plane to make her a dive bomber. Scooting around in the sky is fun ... but Midway ... the movie ... something to do that needs skill. First it was bouncing a hardwood dowel off a floating piece of board ... then I found the dynamite. Whee! So I studied on the computer. Ooo ... what I found was wet. Baggies ... ziplock baggies ... diatomaceous earth and aluminum cigar tubes ... I rolled my own.”
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