American Exit Strategy: Book 1 (28 page)

Ryan was distant. He had signed up for the Texas Air National Guard. He was headed to Kelly Field in San Antonio the day after Christmas. He had to be here; he couldn't abandon his mom before Christmas, but mentally, he was already at Kelly Field. He knew a fight was coming and he wanted a front row seat.

CHAPTER 38

"Happiness depends more on the inward disposition of mind than on outward circumstances."

-Benjamin Franklin

Karen walked into the work shed situated back near the creek.

"What are you working on?" she asked.

"A doll house for Mandy and Carissa." Matt answered. "There are no toys at Walmart. If I want to give them anything, I will have to make it."

"It’s adorable." Karen said. The doll house was a mess. Karen was not in the habit of saying she liked something if she didn't. She was brutally honest most of the time. This time, she was still being honest. The house was a mess, but the thought and the time that Matt was putting into the project was adorable to her.

Christmas was only three days away, so Matt was determined to get the doll house finished today. He was never scared of trying something new. It usually didn't turn out as grand as he pictured it in his mind, but you could never say he didn't try.

The days of the Barbie Dream House were over. When the dollar started crashing, Walmarts all over the country began to close up. 98% of everything sold at Walmart was imported from China. The loss of value in the dollar meant they could no longer purchase China's cheaply produced products. Walmart’s costs began to sky rocket as the dollar plunged. They tried to increase prices to keep up with the rising costs, but consumers simply could not pay the new prices. Inflation was running rampant and those who still had jobs spent every last dime on food and housing.

Grocery prices had more than doubled since the October riots. Gas was now $15.00 a gallon. The ration cards were still the law, but they were no longer needed. Few people had money to buy more that the 5 gallon allotment.

"What could I make for the girls?" Karen asked.

"Janice is making corn husk dolls for them. Why don't you make some dresses for the dolls?" Matt suggested.

"Oh, that’s a great idea. Can we go over there tonight so I can get the measurements?" Karen asked.

"We need to conserve gas. Let’s walk over there first thing in the morning.  I wouldn't mind catching some news online at Adam's while we are there." Matt said.

He had never gotten satellite, phone nor internet. The companies had quit sending out servicemen to connect new service or repair outages. Many customers had stopped paying their bills due to economic conditions and the communication companies had to lay off most of their workers. The local phone company was still operating. They provided service for paying customers, but if you had an outage, you were on your own. When folks had outages because of line trouble, they just did without and closed their accounts. It was the same story with satellite and cable providers all over the country.

Water and electric utilities were still in good repair except where  rioting and fires had destroyed critical infrastructure.

The next morning, Matt and Karen walked to Adam's farm. They had found a short cut through the woods that got them there in twenty minutes.

When they arrived, Matt and Karen noticed the gifts beneath the tree. They were all wrapped in bright, colorful store bought wrapping paper. Matt suddenly realized how far things had gone. To see that wrapping paper and know that it would not be on sale after Christmas this year made him consider how his country had just crossed over into uncharted territory.

Karen pulled Janice to the side to secretly get the measurements of the dolls. Matt asked Adam if they could catch a few minutes of the news. The local channel Matt got played world news at night for half an hour, but 30 minutes could not adequately cover the quantity and  magnitude of the ongoing economic meltdown.

The guys made a pot of coffee and went to the living room. CNC was reporting on the chaotic conditions popping up in some of America's big cities.

Cleveland, Chicago, San Diego, Buffalo, Newark and several other large municipalities had taken bankruptcy over the past few years. They had followed the Detroit template in reorganizing. The president had come up with a massive bailout called City Protection Relief or CPR to fund bankrupt city's police and fire departments. Funds for that program dried up in November, and the municipal patients flat lined.

To cut costs in several of the bankrupt cities, police officers had been fired. Those who wanted their jobs back had to come back on the force with no benefits and work on salary, which meant no overtime pay and a minimum of 50 hour per week. The decent cops left the cities. The only ones who stayed were the ones who had some method of supplementing their income. Drug protection, extortion, and cash "discounts" for speeding tickets were among the top forms of supplemental income.

With the lack of a sufficient or honest police force, pockets of those cities had erupted in horrific violence. Gangs were fighting for control of larger and larger parts of the cities. Thugs were no longer content to sell crack on the corner. They were pulling home invasions in the affluent neighborhoods and staying in the captured properties.

Karen and Janice stayed in the kitchen to chat.

"Do you think you would want to make the cake for the wedding?" Janice asked.

"I would love too!" Karen said. "Are Shelly's parents coming to the wedding?"

"As long as the gas pumps are still pumping, Mr. and Mrs. Simpson intend to come. They are in Louisville, it’s really rough there." Janice answered.

"Shouldn't they try to sell their house and move out if they can?" Karen asked.

"They think this is just temporary. They think everything will sort itself out and go back to normal." Janice said.

"Are they delusional?" Karen asked.

"Shelly told me they voted for Howe, and they think he is going to get everything back together when he gets in office. So yes, I guess they are delusional." Janice said.

"Some people just believe whatever they are told." said Karen.

"That’s what got us into this mess." Janice replied.

Janice went into her bedroom and came back holding a long white dress. "I made this for Shelly. I’m going to give it to her for Christmas."

"Oh, it’s beautiful! She’s going to love it. Does she know about it?" Karen asked.

"No, I took the measurements from her clothes." Janice said.

"So she’s going to think she doesn't have a wedding dress until the day before the wedding." Karen said.

"I'm mean, ain't I?" Janice said with a smirk.

The two laughed and continued planning the wedding. It was nice to have the wedding to keep their minds off of the problems of the country. It was something that felt normal in a world that wasn't.

CHAPTER 39

“There is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet an enemy.”

-George Washington

Pastor John Robinson walked to the pulpit. He prayed and then addressed the congregation.

"Folks, I know this Christmas is tough. I know that many of you really made a sacrifice to be here tonight for the Christmas Eve service. Many of you have not been able to attend regularly because of fuel prices and other hardships brought on by the ongoing economic collapse. I am proud to see so many of you tonight. This is the biggest turnout we have had in weeks. It shows that you have remembered the true reason for the season."

Pastor John went on to read the Christmas story from The Book of Matthew.

After reading the scripture, he continued "We just read in Matthew 2 that Jesus' father had a dream where an angel told him to take Jesus to Egypt to escape the evil King Herod who had vowed to kill him.

Folks, in three weeks, Anthony Howe will be taking office. He has vowed to disarm us. As you have heard Paul Randall say, you don't build a police state unless you intend to use it. I anticipate that once arms are no longer an issue for Howe, that he will then attack our right to worship. I have no intention of being herded into a cattle car peacefully while a criminal occupies the White House and breaks the law of our land.

God provided for Jesus' family to bug out to Egypt through the gifts of the wise men. One of the gifts they brought him was gold. That sustained them during their exile in Egypt.

God has provided for us as well. We have converted what liquid assets the church held into gold so that its value could be preserved. We have also purchased an adjacent farm next to the property that was left to the church by Howard Young. We have already begun building rudimentary living quarters there. We have stockpiled some amount of food, weapons and ammunition.

We have decided that the two farms will be the place where we draw our line in the sand. After much thought and consideration, we think it is far more defendable than the church property. We think the terrain is much easier to use to our advantage. We also think it’s wise to get out of Boise. We expect that cities will be primary targets for arms confiscation.

I think all of you know our range master, Albert Rust. Albert is also the commander of the 12th Battalion of the Idaho Free Militia. Albert is going to say a few words. Albert come on up."

Albert walked up to the pulpit and stood by Pastor John.

Albert began "Folks, I know Christmas Eve is not the best time to be talking about militias and strongholds, but it is the time when we have the most people here at one time.

I came to Pastor John and volunteered to take the leadership role for our tactical response to whatever Howe intends to do in January. I wanted to make sure that Pastor John was free to continue being our spiritual leader. We will need his guidance more than ever.

I have also spoken with the 29th Battalion out of Coeur d'Alene and the 35th out of Lewiston as well as our friends in the 43rd Battalion out of Moscow. They have all committed to come to the base camp which we have decided to call Young Field in honor of Howard Young who donated the property. The number of militiamen totals just over 600.  I will be at a table in the back to take volunteers for those who would like to sign up for the Idaho Free Militia.

As a side note, the Militia was offered positions to stand alongside of the Idaho National Guard. We declined because of the differences in what we considered appropriate rules of engagement.

I will say the governor of Idaho has committed to resist any Federal troops on Idahoan soil. He affirmed his commitment to defend the Constitution and more specifically, the Second Amendment. However, the governor has said that his orders to the National Guard will be fire only when fired upon. The Idaho Free Militia commanders had previously decided that federal troops invading Idaho was an act of aggression sufficient for lethal force. The Militia’s orders are fire on sight. Please keep this in mind when you decide if you are ready to join.

Of course, we should all continue to pray for peace, but if the enemy will thrust violence upon us, we have no other choice than to defend our families, our freedom and the law of our land, which is the Constitution.

Thank you so much. Merry Christmas."

People began to clap. It started low and rose to a roaring standing ovation. There was much to do; much training, and much preparation, but in their hearts, Liberty Chapel was ready.

CHAPTER 40

"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."

-Ephesians 5:31

Matt and Karen went to Adam's for Christmas morning breakfast. They enjoyed a feast of grits, biscuits, scrambled eggs, country ham, redeye gravy and homemade strawberry preserves.

After breakfast, everyone went into the living room to open presents. Gifts were a bit sparse, but Janice made sure everyone had something to open.

Janice handed a beautifully wrapped box to Karen. Karen opened the present carefully to keep the paper intact. There may not be anymore Christmas paper for a while. Perhaps it could be reused.

"It 's Risk!" Karen said. Janice had bought several board games to give as presents before Walmart had closed down. She anticipated that these items might become scarce.

Matt opened the box Janice handed him. "Monopoly" he said.

Janice said "I know that is probably not what you asked Santa for, but I figured if we ever lose television and internet, we will need some form of entertainment."

"That was a great idea Janice." Matt said. "We love them."

Shelly opened her box and found the beautiful wedding dress that Janice had made. She gasped with surprise. She began to cry as the emotion overwhelmed her. Shelly grabbed Janice and held her tight. She was finally able to say "Thank you so much."