The Gathering Part VI

Hutch

"So then what happened?"

"Well, Weatherly jumped me. You know, I hadn't made the connection between the name on the general store and the captain up until that moment. He had out his pistol and he tried to shoot me with it. I dived out of the way and-"

"And cracked your head on a tent pole." Starsk blurted.

I felt my face flush involuntarily and spared a glance toward Darcy, who was grinning at me. "Yeah...something like that. But anyway, all of Weatherly's men were set to trounce me. Weatherly had me tied to the branches of that tree and they were going to turn me into a human pinata."

"And then General Grant came..to SAVE the DAY!" Starsky shouted, louder than necessary, and drawing the attention of a couple trying to eat their dinner in relative peace.

I moved Starsky's glass of beer a little further away from him and continued the story. "Now General Grant, he came riding up on a white horse, followed by a wagon full of supplies and ammunition. He had General Johnston with him, that was my general, and they pointed their guns at Weatherly and his goons and told him, "Surrender or be shot.""

"He wasn't really gonna shoot 'em." Starsky whispered to Sadie, burying the comment somewhere behind her right ear. She didn't seem to mind, and even giggled.

"No, but the threat worked. Weatherly was so surprised to see Grant, and the men he had with him, he took off."

"To warn the town."

"Right, to-"

"That we were coming."

"Starsk…"

"To SAVE the DAY!"

I sighed and decided that Starsky had already heard the story enough times, and turned my full focus on Darcy. She gave me a patient smile and waited, the perfect audience.

"Weatherly took a few guys with him, but most of the men didn't like what they'd seen him try to do to me. That wasn't what they'd been coming to the gatherings for. When Grant showed up, with Johnston at his side they fell in with the plan. Since we knew that Starsky had gone for the police-"

"To save the day..." Starsky slurred, lips pressed against Sadie's cheek.

"We figured our best bet would've been to sit tight and wait. Except that Weatherly knew too much. We were losing the element of surprise-uh-uh Starsk...my beer."

"Oh, sorry." Starsky who had settled drunkenly into the embrace of Sadie, took his foot off the table, narrowly missing spilling my beer a second time, and blinked at me. "So then what happened?"

"So then we decided that the plan should go on ahead, but faster. We sent the cavalry to the town so that they could help with the evacuation once we hit the place. All the men were ordered to use blanks only until we were able to clear the town of people. Then we were going to riddle the town with bullets."

"Riddle me this-"

"No, Starsky, riddle, pummel, destroy."

"So then what happened?"

"I'm gonna tell ya. After we got the cannons set up, and let me tell you Darcy, there is nothing more majestic than a cannon crew that knows what they're doing. Smooth, efficient, time tested. Those men could put out two rounds a minute without even trying. We started to let the town really have it. The civilians started screaming, tearing around, running from the buildings. Our cav guys were there, heading them out of town and into the woods toward safety. In less than ten minutes the only people left in town were the bad guys. All holed up in the Justice Hall."

"Truth and Justice for Hall!" Starsky added. "Hey, tha's not right."

"We let loose. There were bullets flying everywhere. You couldn't hear a thing after that first volley. Bullets were bouncing off bullets, tearing through trees, turning curtains to swiss cheese. We made those buildings as unlivable as possible and then some. But...we didn't touch the Justice Hall."

"Why not, Hutch?" Darcy asked, her hand tightening in mine under the table.

"Because we wanted to take them alive. And the longer we hid in those woods tearing up the town, the more shotguns and pistols we saw flying out of the windows of that hall."

A high pitched whistle came out of my partner, much like a bomb falling from a great height, that ended with an explosion sound. He kicked his foot up at the explosion, once more almost upsetting my beer.

"Starsky, please, quit interrupting."

"So then what happened?"

I sighed and continued my story. "Well I picked some likely men, made sure they had loaded weapons, and we made a team entry into the building. The marshal, his name is Todd Jones by the way, and the rest of his cronies were all there, unarmed. Of course...they thought they were just going to be run out of town and sat there begging us to save their lives. The boys in blue and gray took over, shackled all of them together and I introduced myself."

"And then you and all those boys came back to the camps." Sadie said, continuing the story.

"Well, not all the boys. We had to leave a few behind to keep the prisoners from getting ideas. But most of the men returned to camp and finished packing up their belongings."

"An'they disappeared into th'mist, never to be seen again."

"That's Brigadoon, Starsky."

"They went to Bridjadoon?"

"We decided, the generals and I, that there wasn't much point in all of them being detained by the police. Running the risk of losing their hobby because some delinquent ex-con decided to set up shop nearby. The two armies just...moved along. General-uh-Wyatt Sumner promised to look us up-Starsk...Starsky."

"Hmm?"

"Wyatt Sumner promised to look us up once the gathering was over this year."

"Oh thas'nice."

"And then you came to get us." Sadie said, bright pink in the face. Starsky's head had disappeared below the table and I sighed, kicking his foot. Starsky reappeared, dragging his bad ankle toward his chest, suddenly as red in the face as Sadie had been.

"Behave, Starsky."

"You know we heard the battle from the camps." Darcy said. "When the lull came we were practically holding our breaths waiting to see who had won."

"It wasn't much of a contest." I said, smiling. "We brought you ladies back to the town so that Starsk here and the rest of the cops would be able to find us without having to search all over that field."

"And then we lit a fire in the justice hall." Darcy said.

"And we cozied up to it." I added, grinning, close enough to smell Darcy's perfume.

"And wrapped a warm blanket around our shoulders." Darcy purred.

"Very warm blanket…" I said, close enough to smell the chap stick on her lips.

"And mm-"

"Ow-mm! Starsky-"

Blue eyes sparkled at me from across the table.

"Behave...Hutch."

Author's Note:

First, the idea for this came from my love of the hobby of civil war reenacting. From 2005 to about 2013 I dressed in a wool uniform, disguised myself as a male soldier, and went out with the men of the 5th Kentucky to fight for our rights.

Reenacting itself began soon after the end of the war, but as a remembrance march at the major battlefields. Veterans gathered to honor their fallen comrades and remember the battles they had survived. In the early 1930s, on one such anniversary, a man with a recording device was present and recorded older veterans doing what is known as the Rebel Yell. This recording can be found reproduced on Youtube and is something of a treasure for reenactors and historians alike.

In the 1960s the hobby had a resurgence with the advent of the 100th anniversaries of the battles. Given the frequency of communes in the 60s and 70s, it occurred to me that it was entirely possible for there to exist a group of reenactors or living historians who turned a normal weekend reenactment into a month long event.

I will, however, stress that modern reenacting is plagued with stringent rules that would never allow the events in this story. To the detriment of anyone taking pictures, all events usually have an ambulance or fire truck standing by. Some battles even require the participants to be searched for live ammunition. Makes for a safer reenactment of course, but it takes away from the authenticity.

Finally, a name briefly mentioned in the end is that of Tom Yost. A friend, former police officer, and reenactor, Tom was my mentor while he was alive and is dearly missed.

If I'm permitted, I dedicate this story to his memory.

Thanks folks!