It happened in Church – October 19, 1962
Chapter Twenty Nine – Everyone’s busy but John
Saturday, October 27, 1962 (continues)
“Excuse me, Speaker John. My name is Isabella. I’m a Sixth. In the Catherine contubernium. And our leader Ryan said that I should speak to you directly about a matter of some interest concerning weapons.”
John was in no mood for more problems. Isabella was well developed for Sixth. Could she be ‘functioning’? But it’s about weapons. “Yes, Miss Isabella. How can I help?”
“My dad is a history professor and he’s studied the aboriginal people. And, their weapons. One, well several, fascinated him. Boomerang, spear, and the throwing stick. What I thought we could use was the atlatl. It’s sort of a short spear on drugs. My dad had several. He made them and showed me. We’d go to the park and cast them. He told me not to fool around with them because they could kill. He told me that the Aztecs killed metal armored Spaniards in South America because of the force that they carried. I didn’t believe it until I missed a target and accidentally split a small tree. I don’t understand how, but my Daddy said they developed more force at longer distances.”
John was stunned. “Hold that thought right there.” He wanted the Staff to hear this. He’d never even heard of an ‘attilla’. He called for Sam and Brian. They had to get runners. He brought Isabelle to the office. He stuck his head in the Store Room and Sam, Brian, and Brother Kevin were still debating where the bad guys weren’t. “Guys come here. You have to hear this.”
Isabelle was sketching one for John. It looked like a stick with a hook and a featherless arrow with a notch. John asked her to repeat her tale. The trio was incredulous. John started “Now I don’t know about you fellows, but I’ve never even heard of such a thing.” Sam said “If I can’t have a bow and arrow, then I like this for its silence.” Isabella chimed in “It’s not silent; it makes a zip or whoosh kind of sound.” They laughed; John explained “To us, anything quieter than a gunshot is silent.”
John continued “Now, Miss Isabella, tell us why you think this is important.”
She was obviously getting use to speaking to powerful (in her eyes) men and spoke confidently. “Well, in my outings with my Dad, there’s this club that plays with them.” (John doubted her father would like the terminology ‘playing’.) “I’ve seen small children, like our Firsts, hit targets that were three car lengths away with enough force to go thru an archery target. They had contests. My dad put one through a deer target, not a real deer, at the end of a football field. One of the events was to build one from scratch. I won my age group. In target shooting, I was third at half the football field. If I can have some metal krat lids and some wood from the pallets in the store room, I can make one and show you.”
The staff was stunned. From the mouths of babes. John could envision instead a group of defenseless children, a small army of dart throwers. That would surprise the bad guys no end. It might even be an offensive weapon. Like Sam’s bow and arrow, kill silently at a distance.
Sam chirped up first “I like it. It’s silent. It gives us a surprise weapon. We can do it now during shelter time. And, if it doesn’t’ work, it didn’t preempt anything else.” “It works Master Sam. I promise you it will work.” Implored Miss Isabella.
“Comments, Staff?”
Brian said “I vote yes. I suggest that we form a rump team around her. Roy needs to see this. And, TomT is pretty dexterous. Jody saved everything. My only question is, assuming it has a head like an arrow, how does one secure the head to the dart’s shaft?” Isabella didn’t even have to hesitate “When you form the head correctly there’s a shank. My technique is to use thread, string, fishing line, whatever’s handy to wrap it tightly to the shaft and then melt a little wax on it to secure it.” Jody heard her name and joined the group. She added “We have the candles from Church. And, we can get thread for the albs.” John made a decision “CoS Brother Kevin, can you and Jody help Miss Isabella make one of her creations? If it is as it seems, we could have a small army of dart throwers by Exit Day. I’d prefer a Roman Legion, Marine Company, or just a mob of good old boy hunters. But an army of atlatlers, would be nice.” Isabella was thrilled.
In the space of an hour, they had one made and five darts.
Brother Kevin came and got John saying “Boss, you are not going to believe this.”
As they entered the Supply Room, John heard a quiet zip and a sound like someone splitting fire wood.
Isabella was demonstrating it in the supply room splitting boards on the pallet that was leaned against the wall. She had taught Jody, Brother Kevin, and TomT all how to use it.
Jody said “Hey Boss John, this is so easy, even you could use it.” And she proceeded to put one thru an empty krat can at fifty yards. She continued “It like throwing horseshoes upside down.” He could not figure the picture but it seemed like they were having fun with it. And, boards were being split for more darts.
It was a nasty little weapon. And a great addition to their arsenal.
+++++
Dinner was the usual krats and water. But the great buzz was about the mural. It was to be five panels across the long empty wall. Everyone was to sign their name in two spots the night before we left for Vermont. Everyone was looking forward to tonight’s entertainment. There was a rumor some one was bring their goat to the show.
+++++
Benjamin led off. “Good evening, I am Benjamin, a Second, from Saint Ernin. I’ve been taught to be a good listener. A good listener does the following: Attends. Observes Reflects, and Thinks. You attend by being in the conversation; not mentally absent. You observe by seeing the speaker’s words and their effect on everyone. There are four ways to reflect: paraphrase, feelings, meaning, and summarize. And, then you must really think about what the speaker is trying to communicate. Are you a good listener? Have you been a good listener? If so, can you teach my lesson? Thank you for listening.” John was surprised at the crowd’s applause. Entertaining, but entertainment?
+++++
Jody was up next. John was curious what she had to entertain with. She was only recently showing a sense of humor.
“Good evening Classmates. I’m Jody, an Eighth, in Saint Hilda’s contubernium. And I am here to tell you about my treasure chest and my goat.”
“The ‘treasure chest’ is any goal, or that which you consider success. It’s a magic chest. I write down what I want. I put it in my chest. And, shazaam before I realize it I have ‘it’. My goat helps me achieve whatever I have put in my treasure chest. By simply putting a plan in writing, my subconscious mind goes to work on it. And good things begin to happen. By assigning specific times for the actions, objectives, and goals a better use of time emerges. By checking off each task, I develop self-esteem and confidence that I’m getting ‘it’. Whatever ‘it’ was. Sometimes I get so many good things, I forget all about the original ‘it’ I wanted. But finally, it’s my goat that bumps me over the top to my goal. That GOAT is an acronym for encouragement (Go On And Try). What is the worst that can happen? You fail, you look like a fool, and you’re embarrassed. Edison said ‘I don’t fail. But I now know 10,000 ways how NOT to make a light bulb.’ Everyone thinks you’re a fool anyway so what do you lose. And no one ever died of embarrassment. So whatever you want, write it down, put it in your own treasure chest, and borrow my goat any time.”
The place went nuts. John thought it was funny, cute, and true. Where had Jody been hiding all this wisdom all this time?
+++++
Brother Kevin stood up and announced if everyone would turn around but stay back Miss Isabella had a demonstration of her own device to show us. She was standing by the office door and on the other side of the shelter were three pallets. With an empty krat box in the middle. Brother Kevin said “For any who are interested the Shelter is 40 feet across. Miss Isabella, the range is yours.”
She took a slight step forward. Everyone heard a zip, followed by the sound of wood splitting. By the time their eyes traveled back to her there was another zip, wood split combo. If they kept their eyes on her, she’s step and bring her arm forward in a ‘cracking a whip’ motion. In a few seconds, maybe five, she put three darts into the three boxes splitting the wood behind them. She gestured back to Brother Kevin. “And, that ladies and gentlemen is Miss Isabella playing out newest secret weapon the atlatl. She invites you now to inspect the results and she’ll answer questions. We are adopting this weapon as our new light infantry tool and we’ll all be learning how to use it to defend ourselves. Good night all. See you for breakfast.”
The crowd was amazed and there were a lot of questions. Skeptics had a hard time pulling the dart out of the wood. Made believers out of many.
+++++
Master John called the Staff Meeting to order. Centurion Sam reported he had a preliminary Outpost Plan ready for John’s inspection. CoS Brother Kevin reported that the atlatl demo had exceeded his wildest expectations. He felt that they could easily produce 40 devices and 200 darts by Exit Day. He also felt that he could have everyone trained by Exit Day. We really didn’t understand this weapons potential. Isabella could accurately hit a target and split the wood behind it at 70 yards. It would definitely kill an unshielded man. G1 Personal Marie reported that she had done three squads. There was a potential of 30 home visits which appeared to be to 20 unique locations. Brian had the lists and was considering the geography. She was, at this pace, expecting two days to complete a preliminary, and two more days to revisit the sheets. G2 Intelligence Brian reported that they had a list of possible bad guy bases which was given to Sam for recon. Further he was reinterviewing people about where they lived with an eye to the geography. For example how was 125 and 127 Vermilyea Avenue connected and to what else were they connected. He’d try to connect the dots into localities for a reduced number of trips. G3 Training Roy reported that drivers were easily ahead of schedule. Riflemen were now up to 30 but we still only had fifteen rifles. He anticipated that everyone would be a shooter by Exit Day. G4 Logistics Jody reported that they we below there expected consumption rates with water and krats. She anticipated at the current rate we’d have 5 fill tanks of water, and about 1,000 crats and 2250 krats. In a day or two they’d have all the atlatls and darts one could want. She was running low on palates for the kids to practice on. Those things were dangerous. Some one could put an eye out. G5 Morale June reported that the mural would be done in plenty of time. She was deliberately slowing them down to keep it going for a while. She was running low on ideas. John said that they were doing an excellent job. For the fist time, in along time, he felt they were on plan. He urged them to be alert for any opportunity such as the atlatl. “We can’t know what one little thing will makes us or break us. So let’s look at all the little things and borrow Jody’s goat as needed. Thanks and good night.”
+++++
John coded Marie to hang back. To which everyone started laughing, and Jody said “OK everyone lets give the King and Queen a little privacy. But remember you two; I don’t have a priest in my pocket, so no making princes and princesses yet.” To the great amusement of all. Brain said “Hey Boss, be a sport take her to Decon1. Some of us have work to do here.” Marie said “Come on John, let’s inspect the Plant. Some folks can take all the romance out of a walk.” They only made it to Decon1. The Fire Team turned the lights out so they knew they wouldn’t be making a video. We’ll just leave the reporting that there was some ‘kissey face and pressy body. But no mortal sins were committed. The Fire Team logged that portion of the Shelter secure about 20 minutes later. The gossips noted that Marie was flushed but appeared intact. John just looked confused. They strolled to their ‘campsite’ coding sweet nothings privately by hand holding.
+++++
Brian and TomT were burning the midnight oil. Brian making stick diagrams of building complexes. TomT making darts. Brian thought maybe, trying to impress, TomT had the hots for Isabella, Jody, or both. June tried to hang around, but she was sleepy and need to preserve what little reputation she had. Brian was driven to find one path that would traverse all 30 buildings. He was really seeking a method to do it. Since more data would arrive tomorrow. Eventually he fell asleep staring as squiggly lines all mashed together.
Chapter Twenty Nine – Everyone’s busy but John
Saturday, October 27, 1962 (continues)
“Excuse me, Speaker John. My name is Isabella. I’m a Sixth. In the Catherine contubernium. And our leader Ryan said that I should speak to you directly about a matter of some interest concerning weapons.”
John was in no mood for more problems. Isabella was well developed for Sixth. Could she be ‘functioning’? But it’s about weapons. “Yes, Miss Isabella. How can I help?”
“My dad is a history professor and he’s studied the aboriginal people. And, their weapons. One, well several, fascinated him. Boomerang, spear, and the throwing stick. What I thought we could use was the atlatl. It’s sort of a short spear on drugs. My dad had several. He made them and showed me. We’d go to the park and cast them. He told me not to fool around with them because they could kill. He told me that the Aztecs killed metal armored Spaniards in South America because of the force that they carried. I didn’t believe it until I missed a target and accidentally split a small tree. I don’t understand how, but my Daddy said they developed more force at longer distances.”
John was stunned. “Hold that thought right there.” He wanted the Staff to hear this. He’d never even heard of an ‘attilla’. He called for Sam and Brian. They had to get runners. He brought Isabelle to the office. He stuck his head in the Store Room and Sam, Brian, and Brother Kevin were still debating where the bad guys weren’t. “Guys come here. You have to hear this.”
Isabelle was sketching one for John. It looked like a stick with a hook and a featherless arrow with a notch. John asked her to repeat her tale. The trio was incredulous. John started “Now I don’t know about you fellows, but I’ve never even heard of such a thing.” Sam said “If I can’t have a bow and arrow, then I like this for its silence.” Isabella chimed in “It’s not silent; it makes a zip or whoosh kind of sound.” They laughed; John explained “To us, anything quieter than a gunshot is silent.”
John continued “Now, Miss Isabella, tell us why you think this is important.”
She was obviously getting use to speaking to powerful (in her eyes) men and spoke confidently. “Well, in my outings with my Dad, there’s this club that plays with them.” (John doubted her father would like the terminology ‘playing’.) “I’ve seen small children, like our Firsts, hit targets that were three car lengths away with enough force to go thru an archery target. They had contests. My dad put one through a deer target, not a real deer, at the end of a football field. One of the events was to build one from scratch. I won my age group. In target shooting, I was third at half the football field. If I can have some metal krat lids and some wood from the pallets in the store room, I can make one and show you.”
The staff was stunned. From the mouths of babes. John could envision instead a group of defenseless children, a small army of dart throwers. That would surprise the bad guys no end. It might even be an offensive weapon. Like Sam’s bow and arrow, kill silently at a distance.
Sam chirped up first “I like it. It’s silent. It gives us a surprise weapon. We can do it now during shelter time. And, if it doesn’t’ work, it didn’t preempt anything else.” “It works Master Sam. I promise you it will work.” Implored Miss Isabella.
“Comments, Staff?”
Brian said “I vote yes. I suggest that we form a rump team around her. Roy needs to see this. And, TomT is pretty dexterous. Jody saved everything. My only question is, assuming it has a head like an arrow, how does one secure the head to the dart’s shaft?” Isabella didn’t even have to hesitate “When you form the head correctly there’s a shank. My technique is to use thread, string, fishing line, whatever’s handy to wrap it tightly to the shaft and then melt a little wax on it to secure it.” Jody heard her name and joined the group. She added “We have the candles from Church. And, we can get thread for the albs.” John made a decision “CoS Brother Kevin, can you and Jody help Miss Isabella make one of her creations? If it is as it seems, we could have a small army of dart throwers by Exit Day. I’d prefer a Roman Legion, Marine Company, or just a mob of good old boy hunters. But an army of atlatlers, would be nice.” Isabella was thrilled.
In the space of an hour, they had one made and five darts.
Brother Kevin came and got John saying “Boss, you are not going to believe this.”
As they entered the Supply Room, John heard a quiet zip and a sound like someone splitting fire wood.
Isabella was demonstrating it in the supply room splitting boards on the pallet that was leaned against the wall. She had taught Jody, Brother Kevin, and TomT all how to use it.
Jody said “Hey Boss John, this is so easy, even you could use it.” And she proceeded to put one thru an empty krat can at fifty yards. She continued “It like throwing horseshoes upside down.” He could not figure the picture but it seemed like they were having fun with it. And, boards were being split for more darts.
It was a nasty little weapon. And a great addition to their arsenal.
+++++
Dinner was the usual krats and water. But the great buzz was about the mural. It was to be five panels across the long empty wall. Everyone was to sign their name in two spots the night before we left for Vermont. Everyone was looking forward to tonight’s entertainment. There was a rumor some one was bring their goat to the show.
+++++
Benjamin led off. “Good evening, I am Benjamin, a Second, from Saint Ernin. I’ve been taught to be a good listener. A good listener does the following: Attends. Observes Reflects, and Thinks. You attend by being in the conversation; not mentally absent. You observe by seeing the speaker’s words and their effect on everyone. There are four ways to reflect: paraphrase, feelings, meaning, and summarize. And, then you must really think about what the speaker is trying to communicate. Are you a good listener? Have you been a good listener? If so, can you teach my lesson? Thank you for listening.” John was surprised at the crowd’s applause. Entertaining, but entertainment?
+++++
Jody was up next. John was curious what she had to entertain with. She was only recently showing a sense of humor.
“Good evening Classmates. I’m Jody, an Eighth, in Saint Hilda’s contubernium. And I am here to tell you about my treasure chest and my goat.”
“The ‘treasure chest’ is any goal, or that which you consider success. It’s a magic chest. I write down what I want. I put it in my chest. And, shazaam before I realize it I have ‘it’. My goat helps me achieve whatever I have put in my treasure chest. By simply putting a plan in writing, my subconscious mind goes to work on it. And good things begin to happen. By assigning specific times for the actions, objectives, and goals a better use of time emerges. By checking off each task, I develop self-esteem and confidence that I’m getting ‘it’. Whatever ‘it’ was. Sometimes I get so many good things, I forget all about the original ‘it’ I wanted. But finally, it’s my goat that bumps me over the top to my goal. That GOAT is an acronym for encouragement (Go On And Try). What is the worst that can happen? You fail, you look like a fool, and you’re embarrassed. Edison said ‘I don’t fail. But I now know 10,000 ways how NOT to make a light bulb.’ Everyone thinks you’re a fool anyway so what do you lose. And no one ever died of embarrassment. So whatever you want, write it down, put it in your own treasure chest, and borrow my goat any time.”
The place went nuts. John thought it was funny, cute, and true. Where had Jody been hiding all this wisdom all this time?
+++++
Brother Kevin stood up and announced if everyone would turn around but stay back Miss Isabella had a demonstration of her own device to show us. She was standing by the office door and on the other side of the shelter were three pallets. With an empty krat box in the middle. Brother Kevin said “For any who are interested the Shelter is 40 feet across. Miss Isabella, the range is yours.”
She took a slight step forward. Everyone heard a zip, followed by the sound of wood splitting. By the time their eyes traveled back to her there was another zip, wood split combo. If they kept their eyes on her, she’s step and bring her arm forward in a ‘cracking a whip’ motion. In a few seconds, maybe five, she put three darts into the three boxes splitting the wood behind them. She gestured back to Brother Kevin. “And, that ladies and gentlemen is Miss Isabella playing out newest secret weapon the atlatl. She invites you now to inspect the results and she’ll answer questions. We are adopting this weapon as our new light infantry tool and we’ll all be learning how to use it to defend ourselves. Good night all. See you for breakfast.”
The crowd was amazed and there were a lot of questions. Skeptics had a hard time pulling the dart out of the wood. Made believers out of many.
+++++
Master John called the Staff Meeting to order. Centurion Sam reported he had a preliminary Outpost Plan ready for John’s inspection. CoS Brother Kevin reported that the atlatl demo had exceeded his wildest expectations. He felt that they could easily produce 40 devices and 200 darts by Exit Day. He also felt that he could have everyone trained by Exit Day. We really didn’t understand this weapons potential. Isabella could accurately hit a target and split the wood behind it at 70 yards. It would definitely kill an unshielded man. G1 Personal Marie reported that she had done three squads. There was a potential of 30 home visits which appeared to be to 20 unique locations. Brian had the lists and was considering the geography. She was, at this pace, expecting two days to complete a preliminary, and two more days to revisit the sheets. G2 Intelligence Brian reported that they had a list of possible bad guy bases which was given to Sam for recon. Further he was reinterviewing people about where they lived with an eye to the geography. For example how was 125 and 127 Vermilyea Avenue connected and to what else were they connected. He’d try to connect the dots into localities for a reduced number of trips. G3 Training Roy reported that drivers were easily ahead of schedule. Riflemen were now up to 30 but we still only had fifteen rifles. He anticipated that everyone would be a shooter by Exit Day. G4 Logistics Jody reported that they we below there expected consumption rates with water and krats. She anticipated at the current rate we’d have 5 fill tanks of water, and about 1,000 crats and 2250 krats. In a day or two they’d have all the atlatls and darts one could want. She was running low on palates for the kids to practice on. Those things were dangerous. Some one could put an eye out. G5 Morale June reported that the mural would be done in plenty of time. She was deliberately slowing them down to keep it going for a while. She was running low on ideas. John said that they were doing an excellent job. For the fist time, in along time, he felt they were on plan. He urged them to be alert for any opportunity such as the atlatl. “We can’t know what one little thing will makes us or break us. So let’s look at all the little things and borrow Jody’s goat as needed. Thanks and good night.”
+++++
John coded Marie to hang back. To which everyone started laughing, and Jody said “OK everyone lets give the King and Queen a little privacy. But remember you two; I don’t have a priest in my pocket, so no making princes and princesses yet.” To the great amusement of all. Brain said “Hey Boss, be a sport take her to Decon1. Some of us have work to do here.” Marie said “Come on John, let’s inspect the Plant. Some folks can take all the romance out of a walk.” They only made it to Decon1. The Fire Team turned the lights out so they knew they wouldn’t be making a video. We’ll just leave the reporting that there was some ‘kissey face and pressy body. But no mortal sins were committed. The Fire Team logged that portion of the Shelter secure about 20 minutes later. The gossips noted that Marie was flushed but appeared intact. John just looked confused. They strolled to their ‘campsite’ coding sweet nothings privately by hand holding.
+++++
Brian and TomT were burning the midnight oil. Brian making stick diagrams of building complexes. TomT making darts. Brian thought maybe, trying to impress, TomT had the hots for Isabella, Jody, or both. June tried to hang around, but she was sleepy and need to preserve what little reputation she had. Brian was driven to find one path that would traverse all 30 buildings. He was really seeking a method to do it. Since more data would arrive tomorrow. Eventually he fell asleep staring as squiggly lines all mashed together.
Chapter Twenty Nine – Everyone’s busy but John
Saturday, October 27, 1962 (continues)
“Excuse me, Speaker John. My name is Isabella. I’m a Sixth. In the Catherine contubernium. And our leader Ryan said that I should speak to you directly about a matter of some interest concerning weapons.”
John was in no mood for more problems. Isabella was well developed for Sixth. Could she be ‘functioning’? But it’s about weapons. “Yes, Miss Isabella. How can I help?”
“My dad is a history professor and he’s studied the aboriginal people. And, their weapons. One, well several, fascinated him. Boomerang, spear, and the throwing stick. What I thought we could use was the atlatl. It’s sort of a short spear on drugs. My dad had several. He made them and showed me. We’d go to the park and cast them. He told me not to fool around with them because they could kill. He told me that the Aztecs killed metal armored Spaniards in South America because of the force that they carried. I didn’t believe it until I missed a target and accidentally split a small tree. I don’t understand how, but my Daddy said they developed more force at longer distances.”
John was stunned. “Hold that thought right there.” He wanted the Staff to hear this. He’d never even heard of an ‘attilla’. He called for Sam and Brian. They had to get runners. He brought Isabelle to the office. He stuck his head in the Store Room and Sam, Brian, and Brother Kevin were still debating where the bad guys weren’t. “Guys come here. You have to hear this.”
Isabelle was sketching one for John. It looked like a stick with a hook and a featherless arrow with a notch. John asked her to repeat her tale. The trio was incredulous. John started “Now I don’t know about you fellows, but I’ve never even heard of such a thing.” Sam said “If I can’t have a bow and arrow, then I like this for its silence.” Isabella chimed in “It’s not silent; it makes a zip or whoosh kind of sound.” They laughed; John explained “To us, anything quieter than a gunshot is silent.”
John continued “Now, Miss Isabella, tell us why you think this is important.”
She was obviously getting use to speaking to powerful (in her eyes) men and spoke confidently. “Well, in my outings with my Dad, there’s this club that plays with them.” (John doubted her father would like the terminology ‘playing’.) “I’ve seen small children, like our Firsts, hit targets that were three car lengths away with enough force to go thru an archery target. They had contests. My dad put one through a deer target, not a real deer, at the end of a football field. One of the events was to build one from scratch. I won my age group. In target shooting, I was third at half the football field. If I can have some metal krat lids and some wood from the pallets in the store room, I can make one and show you.”
The staff was stunned. From the mouths of babes. John could envision instead a group of defenseless children, a small army of dart throwers. That would surprise the bad guys no end. It might even be an offensive weapon. Like Sam’s bow and arrow, kill silently at a distance.
Sam chirped up first “I like it. It’s silent. It gives us a surprise weapon. We can do it now during shelter time. And, if it doesn’t’ work, it didn’t preempt anything else.” “It works Master Sam. I promise you it will work.” Implored Miss Isabella.
“Comments, Staff?”
Brian said “I vote yes. I suggest that we form a rump team around her. Roy needs to see this. And, TomT is pretty dexterous. Jody saved everything. My only question is, assuming it has a head like an arrow, how does one secure the head to the dart’s shaft?” Isabella didn’t even have to hesitate “When you form the head correctly there’s a shank. My technique is to use thread, string, fishing line, whatever’s handy to wrap it tightly to the shaft and then melt a little wax on it to secure it.” Jody heard her name and joined the group. She added “We have the candles from Church. And, we can get thread for the albs.” John made a decision “CoS Brother Kevin, can you and Jody help Miss Isabella make one of her creations? If it is as it seems, we could have a small army of dart throwers by Exit Day. I’d prefer a Roman Legion, Marine Company, or just a mob of good old boy hunters. But an army of atlatlers, would be nice.” Isabella was thrilled.
In the space of an hour, they had one made and five darts.
Brother Kevin came and got John saying “Boss, you are not going to believe this.”
As they entered the Supply Room, John heard a quiet zip and a sound like someone splitting fire wood.
Isabella was demonstrating it in the supply room splitting boards on the pallet that was leaned against the wall. She had taught Jody, Brother Kevin, and TomT all how to use it.
Jody said “Hey Boss John, this is so easy, even you could use it.” And she proceeded to put one thru an empty krat can at fifty yards. She continued “It like throwing horseshoes upside down.” He could not figure the picture but it seemed like they were having fun with it. And, boards were being split for more darts.
It was a nasty little weapon. And a great addition to their arsenal.
+++++
Dinner was the usual krats and water. But the great buzz was about the mural. It was to be five panels across the long empty wall. Everyone was to sign their name in two spots the night before we left for Vermont. Everyone was looking forward to tonight’s entertainment. There was a rumor some one was bring their goat to the show.
+++++
Benjamin led off. “Good evening, I am Benjamin, a Second, from Saint Ernin. I’ve been taught to be a good listener. A good listener does the following: Attends. Observes Reflects, and Thinks. You attend by being in the conversation; not mentally absent. You observe by seeing the speaker’s words and their effect on everyone. There are four ways to reflect: paraphrase, feelings, meaning, and summarize. And, then you must really think about what the speaker is trying to communicate. Are you a good listener? Have you been a good listener? If so, can you teach my lesson? Thank you for listening.” John was surprised at the crowd’s applause. Entertaining, but entertainment?
+++++
Jody was up next. John was curious what she had to entertain with. She was only recently showing a sense of humor.
“Good evening Classmates. I’m Jody, an Eighth, in Saint Hilda’s contubernium. And I am here to tell you about my treasure chest and my goat.”
“The ‘treasure chest’ is any goal, or that which you consider success. It’s a magic chest. I write down what I want. I put it in my chest. And, shazaam before I realize it I have ‘it’. My goat helps me achieve whatever I have put in my treasure chest. By simply putting a plan in writing, my subconscious mind goes to work on it. And good things begin to happen. By assigning specific times for the actions, objectives, and goals a better use of time emerges. By checking off each task, I develop self-esteem and confidence that I’m getting ‘it’. Whatever ‘it’ was. Sometimes I get so many good things, I forget all about the original ‘it’ I wanted. But finally, it’s my goat that bumps me over the top to my goal. That GOAT is an acronym for encouragement (Go On And Try). What is the worst that can happen? You fail, you look like a fool, and you’re embarrassed. Edison said ‘I don’t fail. But I now know 10,000 ways how NOT to make a light bulb.’ Everyone thinks you’re a fool anyway so what do you lose. And no one ever died of embarrassment. So whatever you want, write it down, put it in your own treasure chest, and borrow my goat any time.”
The place went nuts. John thought it was funny, cute, and true. Where had Jody been hiding all this wisdom all this time?
+++++
Brother Kevin stood up and announced if everyone would turn around but stay back Miss Isabella had a demonstration of her own device to show us. She was standing by the office door and on the other side of the shelter were three pallets. With an empty krat box in the middle. Brother Kevin said “For any who are interested the Shelter is 40 feet across. Miss Isabella, the range is yours.”
She took a slight step forward. Everyone heard a zip, followed by the sound of wood splitting. By the time their eyes traveled back to her there was another zip, wood split combo. If they kept their eyes on her, she’s step and bring her arm forward in a ‘cracking a whip’ motion. In a few seconds, maybe five, she put three darts into the three boxes splitting the wood behind them. She gestured back to Brother Kevin. “And, that ladies and gentlemen is Miss Isabella playing out newest secret weapon the atlatl. She invites you now to inspect the results and she’ll answer questions. We are adopting this weapon as our new light infantry tool and we’ll all be learning how to use it to defend ourselves. Good night all. See you for breakfast.”
The crowd was amazed and there were a lot of questions. Skeptics had a hard time pulling the dart out of the wood. Made believers out of many.
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Master John called the Staff Meeting to order. Centurion Sam reported he had a preliminary Outpost Plan ready for John’s inspection. CoS Brother Kevin reported that the atlatl demo had exceeded his wildest expectations. He felt that they could easily produce 40 devices and 200 darts by Exit Day. He also felt that he could have everyone trained by Exit Day. We really didn’t understand this weapons potential. Isabella could accurately hit a target and split the wood behind it at 70 yards. It would definitely kill an unshielded man. G1 Personal Marie reported that she had done three squads. There was a potential of 30 home visits which appeared to be to 20 unique locations. Brian had the lists and was considering the geography. She was, at this pace, expecting two days to complete a preliminary, and two more days to revisit the sheets. G2 Intelligence Brian reported that they had a list of possible bad guy bases which was given to Sam for recon. Further he was reinterviewing people about where they lived with an eye to the geography. For example how was 125 and 127 Vermilyea Avenue connected and to what else were they connected. He’d try to connect the dots into localities for a reduced number of trips. G3 Training Roy reported that drivers were easily ahead of schedule. Riflemen were now up to 30 but we still only had fifteen rifles. He anticipated that everyone would be a shooter by Exit Day. G4 Logistics Jody reported that they we below there expected consumption rates with water and krats. She anticipated at the current rate we’d have 5 fill tanks of water, and about 1,000 crats and 2250 krats. In a day or two they’d have all the atlatls and darts one could want. She was running low on palates for the kids to practice on. Those things were dangerous. Some one could put an eye out. G5 Morale June reported that the mural would be done in plenty of time. She was deliberately slowing them down to keep it going for a while. She was running low on ideas. John said that they were doing an excellent job. For the fist time, in along time, he felt they were on plan. He urged them to be alert for any opportunity such as the atlatl. “We can’t know what one little thing will makes us or break us. So let’s look at all the little things and borrow Jody’s goat as needed. Thanks and good night.”
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John coded Marie to hang back. To which everyone started laughing, and Jody said “OK everyone lets give the King and Queen a little privacy. But remember you two; I don’t have a priest in my pocket, so no making princes and princesses yet.” To the great amusement of all. Brain said “Hey Boss, be a sport take her to Decon1. Some of us have work to do here.” Marie said “Come on John, let’s inspect the Plant. Some folks can take all the romance out of a walk.” They only made it to Decon1. The Fire Team turned the lights out so they knew they wouldn’t be making a video. We’ll just leave the reporting that there was some ‘kissey face and pressy body. But no mortal sins were committed. The Fire Team logged that portion of the Shelter secure about 20 minutes later. The gossips noted that Marie was flushed but appeared intact. John just looked confused. They strolled to their ‘campsite’ coding sweet nothings privately by hand holding.
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Brian and TomT were burning the midnight oil. Brian making stick diagrams of building complexes. TomT making darts. Brian thought maybe, trying to impress, TomT had the hots for Isabella, Jody, or both. June tried to hang around, but she was sleepy and need to preserve what little reputation she had. Brian was driven to find one path that would traverse all 30 buildings. He was really seeking a method to do it. Since more data would arrive tomorrow. Eventually he fell asleep staring as squiggly lines all mashed together.
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Reinke Faces Life 
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