(DOC) Rumors of War

“Hey, how was work dad?”

“Auh, I’ll be glad when I’m back on days. The only good thing is that there’s no traffic coming home. I just got off at three.”

“Damn, you made time alright.”

“I save forty-five minutes driving then I get home and can’t do anything with it ‘cause everything’s closed. I couldn’t pick up beer on the way home.”

“That sucks. There’s two more Coronas in the fridge though.”

“Sold. So what’ve you been up to?”

“I’ve been watchin’ the news all night. Did you get a chance to listen to the radio?”

“No, what happened?”

“A big friggin riot is what happened. They shot Hillary Clinton and John McCain… Bill caught one too but he’s alive. They’ve got nobody to inaugurate tomorrow so it’s up to congress, and Frist announced late yesterday that they’re gonna appoint Bush until they can have a special election.”

“What about term limits!?”

“Nope, the constitution says you can’t be elected for more than two terms.”

“W-o-w, this is huge.”

“Oh, I know. And it gets better. Bill was on TV before the damn bullet even came out of him saying he should be appointed, and then after it came out that they were appointing Bush he started calling it a coup. Like an hour later the protests started, and next thing you know they’re burning down Los Angeles.”

“That’s such a bunch of crap. I’ve got no love for Bush but Clinton is must be out of his #in’ mind to go on TV and call for a riot like that.”

“Well he didn’t go that far.”

“The hell he didn’t. A former president can’t just go on TV after the new president gets shot and call it a coup and not know that people are gonna react, especially when its his wife. People have to assume he’s in a position to know more. This could turn into a civil war!”

“Maybe it should.”

(…)

“That’s easy to say now. Do you wanna get shot because Bill Clinton wants to be president again? I don’t. I like things just the way they are; if I wanted to be in a civil war I’d move to Somalia.”

“Well I don’t like the way things are. I don’t want a war either but someone’s gotta lay down the law to these motherfckers. You can’t spend 8 years building a secret police force and taking away peoples rights just because your party runs congress and you sure as hell can’t just be president for life and keep on doing it.”

“Hey, I listen to George Noory too and I am suspicious of the government, but we’re not talking about the Patriot Act or about president for life, we’re talking about two of the worst presidents in my lifetime starting a civil war because they can’t decide who should run the country for a couple of months until there’s another election.”

“You can’t just block out the big picture and say we’re not talking about that. This is exactly what people have been saying would happen. I don’t know about you but I’m not gonna take it.”

“What do you mean ‘not gonna take it’? You want to go be part of the riot?”

“No, I’m saying that when they send the National Guard to Palm Springs they’re gonna have to come down the I-10, and if they kill even one person before they move on Palm Springs, I’m gonna be there to get some payback.”

(…)
(…)

“Son you’re a grown man and you I’ve always told you that you can be whatever you want to be, but you better be sure about it. When you decided you don’t want to be a construction worker and wanted to go back to college, I could help you out with that, but if get into a gun fight and decide you made a mistake there’s nothing I can do about that.”

“I don’t need you to bail me out you know. I could have gone to school without your help.”

“I didn’t say you did. I said that you’re probably going to get shot or go to jail. And that’s a choice you’ve got to make.”

“I can’t help noticing you’re not trying to stop me.”

“That’s not how I do things.”

“Or maybe you know I’m right and you’re afraid to do it yourself.”

“We’ve talked about that before. This isn’t what I was talking about though. I collect guns for a reason, and this ain’t it. When the Chinese are marching through the street then you come get me.”

“Sounds like a plan. You take care of the Chinese… I’ll handle the white dictators.”

“Whatever. Lets just turn the news on and see what happens first. It still could work out.”

“We’ll see.”

(…)

“…Angeles in chaos. Just minutes ago Marines from Camp Pendleton arrived to break a standoff between police and armed demonstrators outside the office of actor and newly elected Republican congressman Mel Gibson. No shots were fired. Volunteers working late in the office became trapped along two police officers who responded to the initial call when demonstrations elsewhere in the city turned violent and more protestors began arriving at the office with weapons…”

“Still think it’s gonna blow over dad? They’re not even waiting for the Guard; straight to the Marines. It’s a test. If nobody says anything about it they’ll be throwing the regular military at all of the rioters; they know our own guardsmen wouldn’t stand for it. They’ve gonna bring in red-state boys to deal with us.”

“One week Tom. If it’s still getting worse in one week, I’ll go with you. It has to blow over.”

Originally posted by The Vagabond

“Sounds like a plan. You take care of the Chinese… I’ll handle the white dictators.”

Rich...very rich

Really good entry Vagabond......it also made me ponder some what-would-I-do? questions. Maybe not so far-fetched in this day and age......

Very nice. Easy reading. Makes you stop and wonder.

Loved it my friend. We can always count on you to deliver when the contest is really tight. That was an excellant story.

wupy

Thanks for all the comments guys. I just hope I can make my second one come together in time. I felt like this one was awfully close to my usual. I wanted to do something less typical as well.

excellent writing as usual void very good story and very scary premise.