Options Are Good by Jerry D. Young Read Free Book Online Page B

pleased.
     
    “I’m a fairly early riser anyway. Being away from home I tend to get up even earlier.”
     
    “I’m rather that way myself. Always wanting to check things out before really needing to do anything. Been getting up early all my life. Have to, working a ranch.”
     
    Bandy smiled when Ana-Bella came into the study a bit later to announce that breakfast was ready. She’d been in a robe earlier, but had changed into a nice skirt and blouse, suitable for the day’s activities.
     
    Bandy asked to help do the cleanup after breakfast, but was again ushered out of the kitchen. It turned out just as well, for Angus Longhammer, his wife June, and their two children showed up shortly after Bandy got back on the computer, with Bob watching ESPN, being a huge football fan, there in the study.
     
    There were quick introductions, and June joined Magdalene and Ana-Bella in the kitchen. Fifteen year old Desiree asked for and received permission to go out to the barns to get in a ride before Thanksgiving Dinner. She apparently knew her way around, for neither Angus nor Bob offered to take her out.
     
    Angus, Junior, sixteen, and the spitting image of his father, in features and in size, stayed with Angus, Bob, and Bandy in the study. “Junior, we have a few things to discuss,” Bob said before Junior could sit down. “I was going to turn down the sound until the games start.”
     
    Junior looked first at his father, and then Bandy. “It’s about the… problem… I’d like to stay.”
     
    Bob looked a bit reluctant, and Angus even more so, but Bandy, seeing the intense look on the young man’s face quickly said, “I don’t mind. Everyone is going to need to be brought up to speed. I have a feeling that Angus might have some sources of information we might not be privy to.”
     
    “Just call me Junior,” Junior said. “Everyone does.” Bandy nodded.
     
    “I don’t know, son,” Angus said softly, not wanting to hurt the boy’s feelings, but not sure he was up to being involved in what they would be talking about.
     
    “Dad, I know some of what is going on. That Colin… I don’t like him, and I don’t like the way he and a couple of his group look at Mother and Desiree. I liked getting the shooting practice at first, but they talk really coarse, and are very disrespectful of women.”
     
    Angus’ eyes narrowed. “They said things about them?”
     
    “Crude things. Colin laughed it off when he saw me get upset, saying it was just guys being guys. But I think, given the opportunity, they would more than likely hurt them both, if you know what I mean.”
     
    “We know what you mean,” Bandy said.
     
    Angus was livid. He knew his family was at risk, due to something he’d done, but Junior’s comments really brought it home. “I am not going to let anything happen to them, Junior.”
     
    “I’m not either,” Junior replied. “I’d rather be in on it from the beginning. One of the militia guys’ brother is in a couple of classes with me. He’s just like the others, and is always in trouble, but he likes to tell me what the group is doing and how they are going to take over when the… well… when things get really bad. Like in a war or something.”
     
    “Bob, do you mind if…”
     
    Bob cut Angus off. “He’s almost a man. He does probably need to be in on this. I’m not so sure about Desiree or June…”
     
    “You know Magdalene is going to know everything you know and do,” Angus said with a laugh. “And Ana-Bella is like her mother. And they are both like June. I’d like to keep it low profile around Desiree, but I’m not sure we can.”
     
    “Sir,” Bandy finally said, “I think everyone at risk should be made fully aware of the risks. They will need to be on guard against all sorts of things. Not just in the distant future, but now, before anything major happens.”
     
    “She’s only fifteen!” Angus said the fear visible in his face.
     
    “But she’s