About our Saturday trip East.
It started early Saturday morning when the phone rang. I was sleeping next to my wife, and the phone was ringing away. I waited for her to move, but she just laid there. I thought she must want me to get it, so I picked up my head and looked at the clock. Through the blur I saw 5:13, damn who is calling this early on a Saturday. I sat up and put my arm over my wife, and stretched out my other hand to get the phone. Clutching the phone in my hand I rolled back to my side of the bed. With my head resting on the pillow I said, “hello.”
“John, this is Ray.” I didn’t recognize the voice, and had to think. Still in a half-dazed sleep I was thinking Ray. Who the hell is Ray?
“This is Evelyn’s great uncle Ray.” I had never talked to him on the phone before, as a matter of fact I never met him. All I knew was that he lived back east some ware, and worked for the government. He went on and said, “Now listen close! The government has put a plan in to place that will take over everything, and I mean everything! Their going to brake down the supply chain, and use it to control all the people.”
I sat strait up in bed, and Evelyn opened her eyes and looked at me. Then in a sleepy voice asked, “who is it?” I waved my hand at her and listened intensely to what Ray was saying. “In two weeks you won’t be able to get anything unless it is through the government. This Wednesday is the day it all comes down, but it is happening now. All the people that work in warehouses are seeing the lowest stock levels ever and some might be putting the pieces together. Now go get all the money you can out of the bank. Use credit cards or what ever you can, and stock up the best you can. Don’t go to any big city like Portland or Seattle. It might already be starting to happen there. Good luck you guys.” Then I heard a click and the phone was dead.
I was sitting there looking at Evelyn with a bewildered look on my face. She asked, “what is wrong?” The guy on the phone said he was your great uncle Ray, and was rattling on about some crazy stuff.
Why didn’t you let me talk to Him?” she asked.
“Because he hung up,” I replied. “He was talking crazy anyway, something about the government shutting down all the supply chains, and not being able to buy anything.”
Evelyn sat up in bed and gave me a look I had never seen in all of our years of marriage. A strange feeling came over me, and it was not good. She looked straight in my eyes and said, “tell me exactly what he said!” I told her the best I could what he said, but I hadn’t had any coffee yet and was not wide-awake. Evelyn jumped out of bed and tour off her nighty, by the time her feet hit the floor it was off. Turing back and looking at me as she pulled some close from the drawer. She said, “get dressed John! We got to go!”
I got up and walked over to the dresser, and pulled open the sock drawer. I slowly pulled out a pair of socks, and felt Evelyns hand on the collar of my night shirt. Then with a jerk she pulled my head so my face was right in front of hers. Then in a stern voice she said, “listen to me John! This is no joke. This is the call I never wanted to get, but it came and now we have to deal with it. My great uncle Ray works for the government. I don’t know what he dose, but he has been doing it fore thirty years. If he didn’t know something he would have never called. This isn’t about the Christmas presents he sends every year, or the cards he sends me from around the world. This is about something he told me when I was about 13 or 14 years old. He would take me on a fishing trip every summer. It was about that age when I asked what he did for the government. He told me he could not tell me about his work, but he would tell me this. He got a serious look on his face and told me. Evelyn when you grow up and are living on your own. If I ever call you day or night, and I don’t care if it is two in the morning. You do just as I tell you. Now promise me you will do that.”
She let go of my shirt collar and said, “now get dressed were going to Tri- City’s. I’m going to go get the SUV, and you better be getting in by the time I back it out.
Will that is how this trip started, and now we’re going down the highway. With me thinking what the hell am I doing.
We were going down highway 97, and I could see the Columbia River. The wind was blowing a good clip, and the river had white caps rolling like waves at the beach. I knew we would be bucking a head wind most the way up the river. The last thing I wanted was to be jerking around on an empty stomach, and I knew that going down Interstate 84 would be that way. I told Evelyn I needed a cup of coffee before we get on the freeway. She told me we would stop in Bigs and get something.
She pulled in to the truck stop, and parked by the door. I looked at the parking lot for the trucks, and there was only about ten trucks parked in the lot. I thought this is strange there should be three or four rows of trucks, but I didn’t want to think Evelyns uncle was right. I thought there must be another reason. I went into the store and walked back to the coffee counter. There was a funky sign that said, “out of coffee decaff only.”
I went up to the counter and asked, “what is up with the coffee?”
The young kid behind the counter told me that they ran out, because their shipment didn’t come in. he went on to tell me that the manager sent someone to The Dalles to buy some, but it would probably be an hour before they had any. Then he told me that they had some at the Quickie Mart across the street the last he knew. I turned to look for Evelyn, and saw her coming to the counter carrying some sweet rolls. I told her that they were out of coffee, but they had some across the street. She paid for the rolls, and we went across the street. Telling me that she never heard of a truck stop running out of coffee.
I went straight to the coffee counter, and poured a cup. I was snapping on the lid and watching Evelyn. She was putting chocolate flavored creamer in her coffee. I took a drink, and gave her a smile. Then told her you better stock up on chocolate when we get there. She snapped on her lid, and told me I’m more worried about things like toilet paper and soap. I shook my head and went up to pay for my coffee.
We were on the freeway-heading east, and I was thinking about this whole thing. I gave some thought about the truck stop, and why there were only a few trucks there. Truckers have radios I thought and would tell each other about the coffee. Then there was Evelyns uncle. How much could I trust what he said? I was not sure about that. Evelyn seamed so sure, but I thought it was just over the edge for me. That is ok I thought I have two hours to calm her down.
About an hour down the road my coffee was gone, and I was wide-awake. I thought about saying something. When it hit me like a slap in the face. I had only seen Evelyn pass one truck. I asked how many trucks have you seen? She told me only the one I passed and one going the other way. I stared at her for a minute. Then asked do you think your uncle was right, and it is already happening?
“I did not talk to him you did,” she said. “All I can tell you is that if he called to warn me about something. I would bet my life on it happening, and not think twice about doing what he told me. Another thing I have been thinking about is getting things home.”
“What do you mean?” I asked,
She took a deep breath and said. “We cant fit very much in our SUV, and if we buy enough toilet paper to last a year. That would fill up the backend and not leave room for anything else. I never thought about what it would take to last a year without shopping.”
“Damn! A year! What are you thinking about? I asked.
“You know I was thinking this might be the beginning of the mark of the beast. She replied and went on to ask, “what do you think it would mean if you could not buy anything unless it was through the government.”
My head was spinning, and I could not keep a straight thought. I never gave the whole God thing much thought, and always thought if it was true. That all the God people would disappear, and that would be the sign this was your last chance. I thought about what I knew about this kind of thing, and came to the realization I knew nothing about it. I never read the bible, and didn’t even know what it said about this kind of thing.”
I asked Evelyn if she really thought this might be the beginning of the mark.
She said, “I don’t know, but are you willing to take a chance with your life to find out?”
Evelyn turned off on to interstate 82, and headed north. I knew we were only about 15 minutes away, and told her to stop at a phone booth. I need to look up a U-Hall place, so we can rent a trailer. As soon as we got in to the first populated area she took the exit, and found a phone. I looked up U-Hall and made the call. After getting directions we were off to get a trailer. After we got the trailer. We went to the bank and drew out the max $300. We would use the debit card, and credit cards to buy everything. This would leave us with some cash.
We went to Cost-Co first, and got one of those big flat carts. Then went strait to the toilet paper. I looked and saw there was 36 rolls to a case. Ten cases would be 360 roles, and that would be about a roll a day for a year. I thought that would be more than we would ever need, so I stacked them on the cart. We made three trips into the store, because we didn’t want anyone to know what we were doing. About $800 later we were off to another store.
We spent the rest of the day driving from store to store. We were buying things by the case a little at a time. By 4:00 we were starved, and the back of the SUV and trailer were full. Our bank account was down to $60 and one credit card was maxed out. Evelyn looked at me and said, “we have a little left on the other credit card. I think we should use it to get something to eat. You know one last fling kind of thing. I have some friends that live a little ways from here. I was thinking we could invite them, and tell them what is going on. They might think we are crazy, but at least we could try.”
She called her friends and we setup a meeting place. We drove there and picked out a table. Then waited for them to show up. I looked up and saw Tom open the door for his wife Sue. Evelyn gave a wave, and they walked over to the table. Tom sat down and asked if we heard about the guy in the CIA. We told him no, and he told us they just heard about it on the radio on the way to the restaurant. This guy got all pissed off because he didn’t get a promotion, so he hacked into the personal records of all the top officials. Then took all the names and phone numbers of their family members. He spent all night calling them and telling them some crazy story about the government. All the government agencies have been flooded with calls all day about it. They say he called over 300 people maybe more. Anyway they said he was still making calls when they arrested him.
A strange feeling came over me as I looked at Evelyn. I saw a tear start to run down her cheek, and knew she felt like a fool. I looked over at Tom and said, “we just went an bought a years supply of stuff. You know things are so uncertain these days. We thought we should prepare for what ever is to come. That is why we asked you here. We wanted to know what you thought?”
With a big smile Tom said, “welcome to the club. We have been doing that same thing. It is just that you never know if you should tell someone about it. You know it is just as scary being prepared, as it is to think about all that is going on these days. What I mean is you never know who you can trust and who you cant, but when it all comes down we’ll know then.”
Sue looked at Evelyn and said, “chin up girl it is nothing to cry about. It is not that hard, and I have learned a lot about storing things. I’d be glad to help you any way I can.”
Well there you have it, and you know how the trip went. Were back home now trying to find places to put all this stuff.
Hope you liked it.
With love from our home to yours, Wacko and family.
