The Gatherings by D.A.Sanford - HTML preview

Someone had to try

We have now been here quite a few years. This is now the fifth or sixth year of the gatherings. It is the spring gathering and things are going well when we notice a group of seven men marching in. The one in front is dressed in a formal looking suit the remaining six are dressed in military looking uniforms but they do not match each other.

All of us are almost laughing. The one in the suit stops and calls halt. Those six just stop. There really is no precision to them.

“I am here to collect the back tax on these gatherings.” He appears to be dead serious. His army, which should be at attention are just stopped. I need to see if this is an entertainment group or have they just fallen off the edge.

I confront the man. “Collect the tax? By what authority do you think that you can just walk onto my land and demand?”

He puffs out his chest and says loudly, in a very serious manner, that his authorization is from the newly formed government of the country. I ask who is in charge of this country. He answers that he is. I start to laugh.

“And this is your army?” pointing at the six.

“Only a small part of it.”

I tell him to shove it and drag his presidential ass off my land. “Take your army with you!”

He now gets mad dog serious. “You cannot talk to me like that. Men execute this traitor.”

Those men are not listening. All they see is rifles and pistols pointing at them. Men, women, teenagers of all ages, even some children are armed. He is livid and now he reaches into his coat.

With that, shots are fired. I drop him and the six go down. None are alive. We drag them off to the now bone pile but not after searching them. On the suit guy, besides his pocket pop gun, a derringer, was hand written papers that I supposed he thought looked formal saying that he was duly elected president. I just shook my head as we dumped them.

A few days later, there was a group of men that came to our home. They were asking us is we saw seven men come through here. One would be in a suit. I tell them that we have.

“What do you want with them?” I ask.

“They went into our community while we were on a hunt. Collecting back taxes. They broke into some of the houses and stole items. The strange thing is that they were taking things that actually were of no value now. The reason we are looking for them is that they took food. That is for the community to share. They need to be found and ….”

I stop them right there and motion for them to follow me. I show them to the bone pile but do not tell them that most of the bones were from a plane crash. Pointing to the one in the business suit, I tell them,

“They marched in here while we had our spring gathering for trading demanding back taxes. I told him to drag his ass off my land. I will state that everyone at the gathering is armed. That is for mutual peace.”

Pointing to the bone pile, “We have had crooks and thieves. I personally have executed them as land owner. That suit reached for his weapon. Stupid move but he got irate. That is why all seven are down there.

Now we have a gathering in the spring and in the fall. All open boxes but anything you want to trade is welcome. I invite you to come.. You can send someone here as soon as the snow clears and the last of summer to find out when.”

That was the formal portion, I ask him how much food did they steal from them. He said that it wasn’t a lot but it was enough for us adults to cut back on what we eat for a while so the children have enough to eat.

It was all I needed to hear. We go back to the home. There are ten of them so I figure that twenty pounds of food per person will be good. They are besides themselves when we bring out vegetables, meat and such. It was almost twenty pounds per person.

“This is how we run. Because you put the children first, we give you this food to help you. Not a hand out but what you owe us is show up for the fall gathering and bring us twenty pounds total of something. That will be your trade repayment. We invite you to come. Ask people in this area about us. We are fair but just. Cheating, stealing, stabbing and murder you will join the bone pile just like those seven. Just remember this, We don’t threaten, we promise.”

There is some more talk and then they leave, pleasantly burdened.

Jonus says, “Another group for the fall gathering. You don’t miss a chance.”

“You are right. Someday we will find someone that will bring a milk cow. I would like some butter. Soon we may need that milk for supplement to mother’s milk.” I look at Chelsea starting to show.