10 Pound Bag Ch. 101-105

Rule #13: Every person is entitled to one day of rest each week. Exceptions occur only on a village level basis.

You get a day off unless something urgent is going on. The hard reality is that planting and harvest season don't really care if you're tired.

Rule #14: Every person will contribute to Village projects as directed by the Council.

The answer is 'Yes, you will be helping to build that.' We have no room for slackers right now and everyone needs to roll up their sleeves.

Rule #15: These Rules may be changed or amended by edict from Mr. Narrater.

This would last until the situation stabilized. Right now, we remained on war footing and would stay that way until we were strong enough to be secure. So I got to out-and-out change things as I decided they needed to be changed. I wished I could start with a pure democracy but I knew that would fail without the proper infrastructure. We were going with 'this is Narrater's land and Zachariah Ebenezer Narrater is in charge.'

For now.

**** Chapter 104 -- Waking up alone ****

I was alone in the trailer, in a bed I'd never slept in. It was a strange feeling and threw me for a minute. The modern conveniences were nice though. I decided to save the shower for the end of the work day, so after a quick cleanup, I went out for coffee. I had a quiet word with Matilda, Michelle, and Sonya, to remind them that this was Memorial Day weekend back in the future. We'd have to have some sort of private ceremony to celebrate our lost future families.

After breakfast, the council gathered for a quick morning meeting. I pointed out that summer solstice was approaching and it was to be one of our four major holidays, so we needed to prepare a festival. Then we got down to today's business. Timmons was going down to the landing to wait for his boat to come in. We sent a scout down with him for security and company. Kordi was also sent along, so she could fetch us when the boat arrived. Pete had a scout who loved to fish, so he was the chosen one for that mission. With that sorted, we moved on to the rest of the day.

The livestock would be good for a couple more days in the pasture before they started to stress that resource. At that point, they'd need to be driven out to the prairie to graze. The producing cows, pigs, and work animals would stay here. Today, we needed to clear the path to the Landing so we could move our goods quickly when they arrived. I'd take the men to work on that; Pete and his guys had their own business to attend to. Michelle would get the women organized while Sonya, Mouse, and I worked in the office.

School for the kids today was to be short classes on the letters, math and language. Then Mary would start teaching the basics of weaving, braiding, and the like. Meeting over, responsibilities delegated, and time to get to work, all before the clock struck seven.

I saddled up Lunch and led our team of men out to what would become Rulo Road, or just, 'the road,' in conversation. Street names became just another item on our growing 'To Do' list. We had the mules in traces and several other pack animals with travois, to remove brush and debris. We also had every single lumbering or clearing tool I owned. The boat was bringing more tools and, hopefully, it was bringing them today.

We went to work to widen and level the slight path we had been using. We only had a couple of axes, but we cleared the brush and smoothed it as best we could. Our limited tools minimized what we could do immediately, but I expected that to change quickly. We had almost made it the few miles to the bluff when Kordi came bursting up to meet us. The boat had come in and it wasn't even noon yet.

I told everyone with tools to keep working. The rest of us took the pack animals and went down to greet the boat. I was eager to find out what Patrick had managed to accomplish.

**** ****

The boat was successfully moored and they were prepping for offload when we showed up. They had tied her up parallel to the beach so they could run out their loading ramp directly from the main cargo house door. While the men finished the prep work, I took a minute with Patrick and Timmons for a quick welcome and to issue immediate instructions.

I wanted to feed everyone first and then turn to tasks for the afternoon. There would be a celebration, of sorts, tonight. Tomorrow was Sunday, our designated day of rest. We drew up that simple plan and gathered the men to head up for our midday meal. We picked up the road team as we went by. The group headed back in a column of about two dozen men. We left two guards behind; we'd bring them food on our return.

Matilda was ready for us. How that woman knew these things was still a mystery to me, but there was a huge pile of wraps waiting for us on the table, dead in the middle of the village. Making enough food for fifty-plus people, while making it easy and tasty, is quite a chore even in the modern age. Doing it all from scratch, over a fire, is a flat-out wonder.

Michelle had moved the table and benches away from the compound to keep the mess minimized. It was a good decision; it made me realize we had a need for a village common and large hall in the very near future. In my mind, the term would always be a town grange but a quick bit of research later would prove me wrong. We did need a grange, but we needed a town hall where we could all gather. It certainly wouldn't be a church of any sort, in my town.

Regardless, this was late May and not the moment to fuss over such things. I stayed busy, meeting boatmen and starting to get to know everyone else on a casual basis. Sonya stayed at my side, reminding me of names and noting all of my interactions. I started to understand that my minor gaffes and erroneous decisions would become part of the historical record. It seems that I had firmly implanted myself into a role that I absolutely detested.

**** ****

Politics aside, it was a simple working lunch, and we had a boat to unload. Food pile vanquished, all of us men trooped off to unload the boat and complete the basics of the main road. We now had a work crew of more than twenty men, much more than one man could organize and supervise. Timmons and Patrick had the boat crew in order. I appointed Isaiah and Schmitt in charge of the land crew. Isaiah kept the majority of the guys going on the road crew and Schmitt was responsible for sorting the incoming goods.

Things still went slowly up on the road crew, until the tools were finally off-loaded. Suddenly, we had an axe of some sort for every man and we set them free to clear the course. Those guys had been frustrated by the piecemeal progress up to that point, but once we had a dozen or more axes singing, we had a clear path in short order.

Of course, we still had to clear and clean all of the fallen trees. Still, the morale had improved considerably with the opportunity to simply let oneself go a little and take it out on a poor tree. A short conference had been held and the team followed the caution to leave the stumps fairly tall; they were easier to remove that way. We'd just avoid them until they were gone. My rubberstamp approval made everyone happy. I climbed back on Lunch and continued to pretend to be useful.

With the trees down, the focus was turned to removing them and clearing the brush. Patrick had obtained additional traces at Fort Dickenson, so we actually ended up with four teams pulling and the rest clearing brush with hatchets, machetes, and scythes. The progress was actually incredible; I spent so much time dealing with little decisions that I was surprised when I saw the first boatman traipsing gear up the newly widened trail.

Sunset was hours off, yet this crew had chewed up almost three miles of virgin forest to create a crude road from my homestead all of the way to the Landing. We still had a lot of work to do on it, but it was a start, and our log pile was growing nicely.

The boatmen's lodge was to be built at the top of the bluff ,with an overlooking view of the Landing and the river. Timmons wanted his house on the opposite side of the road, where there was actually a small knoll and a much better view. The trading/warehouse would be built next to the boatmen's lodge. All of their tents went up in those areas; the supplies that were staying in town were cached there. The rest of the cargo was hauled up to the village. The pack animals simplified that task considerably.

At that point, we turned to party preparations. Tonight, we would party a little and the next day was our day of rest. Monday morning would arrive soon enough.

**** Chapter 105 -- Going to a party ****

That song kept running through my head as I dressed for the gathering. It was Cheap Trick's poppy but hard rocking song, "California Man." I always got the words wrong, but I didn't care. It was all about mood. The song was upbeat and all about having fun and that's what I wanted. It took me a stupidly long time to remember that I could just turn it on and jam to it, here in the camper, but I finally pulled my head out of my ass and played it. I played it loud.

Goin' to a party,
meet me on after school.
Well we're goin to a place
where the jive is really cool.

And if the band stops a playin'
There's a jukebox down the hall.
And with your blue dress on, your folks all gone.
You're sure to give the guys a ball.

I was dancing around, half dressed, when Michelle joined me in the camper and we rocked out together. That woman could play a mean air guitar. We had a hell of a lot of fun for being sober and fully clothed.

Sadly, I had to stop the session there and get on with business. I could have happily spent the evening running through upbeat songs and acting silly, but I was grown up now and I had responsibilities. Once the music went off, Sonya joined us and we went over all of my talking points while I finished dressing. I was to wear all of my regalia tonight. My 'Barbarian Chieftain Throne' was being set up as we spoke. I had to wear the buckskin shirt with all the coup hashes as well. To make matters worse, Sonya had found my medals and ribbons from my jarhead days and attached them, also. I looked like the leader of some two-bit banana republic down in central America. So basically, I bitched the entire time and they simply ignored me; fair trade all in all.

I was led out to my chair. It was sitting smack dab in the middle of the palisade gate, with tiki torches of some sort on each side to provide light as the day waned. The poor dogs were already waiting for me and preparations for this event were almost complete. There was a fire going about fifteen feet in front of me and a bench that I was told that I would stand on, to address the crowed. Thank the heavens, there wasn't a 'party superstore' around or the scene would have been even more absurd. I was instructed to sit in my chair and practice what I was going to say because everyone was on their way now.

To make matters worse, I was hungry. As in, really hungry and getting hungrier by the minute, as the smell of the foods started to reach me. The entire process was torture and a prime example of why 'Zach E. Narrater' was not interested in politics. The pomp and circumstance annoyed me and public attention made me cringe.

It was Matilda who turned up with my bottle and a beer. I was handed a mug of the good beer and a second with a measure of bourbon. The bourbon lasted about twenty seconds and was quickly followed by almost half of the beer.

Then I simply sat there and smiled as instructed, while the crowd formed.

My anxiety must have been apparent. I soon felt my left and then my right hands each taken in a silk soft and reassuring grip. Michelle was on my left, looking beautiful and young Mouse was on my right simply radiating. They were both dressed with outfits and makeup to the nines. Their soft caresses and occasional sweet words did soothe me. When the time came, I was ready to speak. Well, actually, I was ready to play my first card.

I stepped up onto the bench and looked out over the small crowd. Five dozen people is a lot when you are the one standing in front of them. I saw Patrick and Holder off to the left and got the thumbs up from Holder. So I started. I started by taking a healthy sip from my beer and holding it aloft.

"I bet you all wonder why I'm standing here drinking a beer and you are not. Well, folks, over to your right, you will see that we have a keg of beer and a cask of wine. Please fill your cups so we can toast each other."

With that I stepped down and smiled at Michelle. She was flabbergasted. I had arranged this little side show quietly, all on my own. I had managed to keep both Sonya and her in the dark. I felt the thrill of a small victory. I simply wished it could have been better beer. I reflected that maybe St. Louis would offer better options.

Matilda refilled my cup from a pitcher which seemed to be full of our good beer. Someone had thought that through. There wouldn't be a bunch of bottles lying around, stirring up questions. I took my beer, lit a cigarette, and thought about what would come next. Meanwhile, I watched people fill their cups.

Everyone brought their own cup and plate to a gathering like this. Nobody had a bunch of spares lying around, and paper plates simply didn't exist. So every man, woman, and child brought their own to any gathering, often even when just going to a friend's house for a shared meal.

As the line began to dwindle, I stepped back up on our impromptu dais. I could see Mouse over with the Pawnee to translate and Fabiola Timmons was ready to translate for the boatmen. All eyes were on me.

"A toast! A toast to all of us! For the hard work to make all of this happen. A toast to a village called Rulo!"

We got several 'Here, here' replies and almost everyone raised their cup. Of course, there would always be that ten percent; get any group of people together and there will always be that ten percent.

"So, welcome to our land and we invite you all to stay and build a life here. Building from nothing isn't easy, but I think all of you know that already. We have visitors tonight, so let us recognize them first.

"Chief Petalesharo of the Pawnee has agreed to help us through the summer. He also has agreed to take us on a buffalo hunt. With any luck, we'll have plenty of meat to last us the winter. I hope you like buffalo." The last brought some laughter.

"We also have Thomas, his wife Martha, and their lovely princess Daisy. They have a large farm nearby and have been very helpful to us since we've arrived. Thomas, anything you'd like to say?"

I expected him to simply shake his head but he spoke out, "Two things. Winter is hard so get ready. And don't try to sneak up on Zach. You might get dead."

Laughter rang out all around and I had to smile and point to Brin. Bringing the focus back to myself, I quickly started on the main points.

"I, Zachariah Ebenezer Narrater, have claimed all of the following land. Land west of the Missouri river, south of the Little Nemaha and north of the Big Nemaha river. Ending to the west at the head of the Little Nemaha river.

"Thomas and Martha have a claim they had settled long before I arrived and that claim remains theirs but we do hope they will join our town and consider themselves part of us. Regardless, they remain our friends, and any person who is an enemy of Thomas is an enemy of mine.

"Each and every person here will get an equal amount of land. This includes the boatmen. That land will be apportioned as appropriate and granted on the summer solstice of next year. The land will be fully deeded over on the fifth summer solstice after that.

"Tomorrow is the first day of June. Summer will be here soon, which means winter is coming and we will need warm houses for everyone. I know many of you want farms of your own, but because winter approaches so quickly we won't build houses on farmland until next spring. Everyone will stay here for this first winter, so we can keep everyone safe and warm. As you can see, we have a lot to do this summer and cannot afford to mark out land while we prepare for winter. You will all receive official promissory notes which can be converted on the first day of summer next.

"If you decide to stay and receive these grants, each of you over the age of eighteen must swear an oath to obey the following rules:

Rule #1: All persons are equal and have the same rights.

Rule #2: Religion is a private matter between a person and their chosen deity. Religion is confined to private property and shall not be used in any manner to limit Rule #1.

Rule #3: You will not kill or assault other citizens.

Rule #4: Full citizenship can be obtained at the beginning of the eighteenth year or any time after by pledging an oath to these rules.

Rule #5: You will not steal, defraud or over-charge.

Rule #6: You will not bear false witness, spread rumors or in any way publicly injure a citizen with communication.

Rule #7: You will not commit adultery.

Rule #8: Family and partnerships are defined by those involved and can only be entered into by adults.

Rule #9: Obey the Seven Year Rule.

Rule #10: All voices will be counted.

Rule #11: A person is responsible for the spawn of their loins.

Rule #12: All people within our borders must pledge or leave. Invited guests are excluded from this rule.

Rule #13: Every person is entitled to one day of rest each week. Exceptions occur only on a village level basis.

Rule #14: Every person will contribute to Village projects as directed by the Council.

Rule #15: These Rules may be changed or amended by edict from Mr. Narrater."

There. The situation and rules were stated. Time to grab some food and prepare to answer a shit ton of questions.