299 Days: The Collapse

Chapter 57 The Mailroom Guy (May 5)

The protestors didn’t just plan to attack state offices. A few of them, the most rabid left-wing union organizers, planned to go after WAB’s building, too. They had always hated WAB and now it was payback time. Besides, the cops couldn’t stop them, so why not trash the place?

WAB’s office building was beautiful. Nestled in the historic district of Olympia, it was a former brick mansion of a timber baron from days past. It was on the registry of historic buildings. The former mansion was a brick building with two huge trees in the front. Inside, the building had ornate woodwork. The office was majestic and grand.

A few hours before the protests hit, Tom Foster had sent the WAB employees home. He wanted to stay there because he felt like the captain who had a duty to go down with the ship, but that would be stupid. He knew these protestors would be vicious. Having grown up poor in Detroit, he understood violence.

As noon approached, the last people in the office were Tom, Brian, Ben, Eric, and Carly the young intern. So was Jeff Prosser, the mailroom guy.

Jeff was an interesting guy. Most mailroom guys are. Either they are in a band or are working on a book. Either way, they’re interesting. Jeff was a part-time WAB employee and was a full-time farmer. He had a small farm out in the sticks, about ten minutes from Olympia. He was a country boy, and really smart.

Over the past few weeks, Tom noticed that Eric had been getting more agitated and angry. He really hated the government. Everyone understood why and agreed that things were bad, but Eric was taking it personally. Sometimes Tom wondered if Eric would go off and attack someone. That afternoon, he came into Tom’s office where Brian, Ben, and Jeff were and began to say some disturbing things.

“This is it, guys,” he said excitedly. “It’s on,” he said, referring to the next wave of protests that would coming in a few hours. He started to yell. “Now’s our chance to smash these assholes in the mouth. Beat them down. They have destroyed this country.” He looked at all of them for support. They just stood there. Smashing mouths? That seemed a little over the top. Eric was scaring everyone in the room.

Eric went on, “I’m going to mix it up with these protestor shit bags. Who’s in?” No one said anything at first.

Tom said, “You should go home, Eric. I hate these people, too, but you’ll be outnumbered…”

“I’m sick of being outnumbered!” Eric yelled. “I’m sick of it. The libs should be afraid of us. We outnumber them!” He stormed out of the office.

Ben said, “He’s just a little amped up with all that’s going on. Let’s get on with this and go home.”

Jeff closed the door to Tom’s office. Carly was a few offices away down the hall. Jeff liked Carly but he didn’t know her well enough for her to be hearing what they were there to talk about.

Jeff handed each of them a piece of paper. He and Tom had worked out a plan a few days earlier when it looked like things might be going bad.

“Here are the directions to the Prosser farm,” Jeff said. He had a few extra copies and tore them up. “I’m not real interested in the protestors finding these and coming out,” he said.

Brian asked, “You have enough space for three families?”

“Yep,” Jeff said proudly. “We have a big old farmhouse, and a guest house. No problem. Just bring yourselves. Any extra food and guns you have would be welcomed.”

“What about gas? I’d rather not have gas cans in my car with my kids in there,” Ben said.

“Got you covered,” Jeff said with a big smile. “I have 500 gallons of diesel in my farm tank. I use it for the tractor, but it also works in my diesel pickup and Jeep.” He paused and grinned, “Of course, it’s dyed off-road diesel so it would be illegal for me to use in a vehicle off the farm.” He was referring to pink-dyed fuel for off-road use that was not subject to the highway fuel tax and therefore couldn’t be used in vehicles that went onto the highway. Given what was going on right now, worrying about a law like that seemed so silly.

Brian said he wasn’t sure his wife would like staying out at a farm. “Remember, this is only temporary. Maybe a day or two until the protests calm down. No offense, Jeff, it’s just that my wife is a city girl and probably won’t react too well to this farm thing.”

“Understood,” Jeff said. “No problem. We have games and things for the kids to do. We’ll have your kids feeding the horses. I’ll even give them a little hoe and they can be junior farmers. I have little straw hats from when my kids were little. Your kids will love it.”

Tom looked at the clock. It was almost noon. “We all have each others’ cell phones for last minute questions. Let’s get out of here. See you guys tonight at my place. Thanks again, Jeff. We owe you big time.” Tom had the feeling that this was the understatement of a lifetime.

“Hey, I’m just glad to have company,” Jeff said. “This will be fun. I’ll turn you city boys into farmers in no time.” It was obvious that he was thrilled to be doing this; the mailroom guy was finally the center of attention.

Ben said very emphatically, “No one knows we’re going out to your place, right?” He was asking Jeff and everyone else. “I’m serious. No one—I mean no one—outside your immediate family can know where we’re going. I have a bad feeling about these protests. These people really hate us and there are tons of nut jobs out there.” They all nodded.

As Tom was watching Ben, Brian, and Jeff leave his office, he had the strange sensation that they were all going into exile. But, of course that’s not what we’re doing, he thought to himself. It’s just a few days on a farm, right?