'In the beginning, everything seemed just has it had always been. The depression was easing off, people were finding jobs, times seemed good.
Nobody had any idea what was coming, nobody that is but my brother Brandon.

Brandon was always the conspiracy theorist of the family. He could not hold down a job in good times or bad and he was always living with one family member or another but he could always tell us how the government was planning social upheaval. We never paid him any mind because frankly we thought he was overly paranoid. We would regret not listening to him.'

DECEMBER 23 2014. 8:34 am Uvalde T.X. One Year before N-Day.

In the news today the US Christmas sales are looking good and economic indicators continue to show strong signs of the depression leveling out

"Brandon, could you turn that off and give me a hand wrapping these gifts?"

Brandon turned off the TV "Sure, it was only fluff news anyways. Nothing of any real interest anyways."

"You spend way too much time watching that thing anyways. You should get a girlfriend." Lake said.

"How do you know I don't already have a girlfriend?"

"Because your nerd friends online don't count. You can't sleep with your computer... Well maybe you could but I would not want to see the messed up squid babys from that union."

"Ha Ha very funny you should go into comedy." Brandon sardonically replied. "So are you gonna pop the question to Harley, for Christmas?"

Lake winced "Not yet. I just wanna make sure I have enough money set aside so we can have a good home with some money set aside for a baby. Speaking of money have you found a job yet?"

Now it was Brandons' turn to wince. "Not unless you can get me on at Ace."

"Not yet, Tony still ain't hiring. Did Jack in the box call you back?"

"Nope."

Brandon looked off into no where for a moment wrapping presents. He felt guilty living off of his brothers good grace. He had graduated four years ago but their was no money for college and in the depression economy the best he could manage was seasonal work and odd jobs. His brother Lake understood the situation but still held hope that Brandon would find something stable and make something of himself.

Lake tried to change the subject "Mom and Jenna should be here soon. I gotta tell you I'm a little nervous about hosting the family dinner here this year."

"And dad?" Brandon asked.

"He should make it in sometime tonight. Mom said he was passing through Dallas when he called last."

"Good deal."





[edit on 12-9-2009 by titorite]

We have always had Christmas at Mom and Dad's house.....every year as far back as I can remember. Mom and Dad moved to Uvalde several years ago after Mom retired, but Dad still drives a truck all over the country. He and Mom can only stand each other for about two weeks at any one time anyway.

Brandon and I finished wrapping the presents, and busied ourselves around the house. It was only a few minutes before Mom and Jenna showed up.

"Hey Mom"

"Hey sweetie, I'm so glad you and your brother could make it this year"

"Where's Jenna?"

"She's still out at the car trying to get presents together, can you go and give her a hand Lake?"

"Sure"

It was particularly cold this year.....not like last year, I wore shorts on Christmas Day! Typical Texas weather.....if you don't like it, just stick around 15 minutes or so and it will change! It was nice to have cold weather at the holiday's, it made Christmas feel like it should, so I was not complaining.

"Need a hand with those sis?"

"Well of course, unless you just want me to leave yours in the car!"

"Ha Ha, very funny.....see if I get you anything next year!"

We still had a couple of hours before Dad was supposed to be there, so we got busy making dinner. It was the first time in a while since we had all got together for a real family dinner. Brandon, my Sister, and I all lived in El Paso, Texas. After Mom retired, and she and Dad moved to Uvalde, all three of us stayed behind and decided to try and make a life for ourselves.

I got a mediocre job, nothing to really write home about. Brandon, well let's just say that he has always been the wanderer. Mom and Dad were not real happy with the career path that Jenna had chosen. Jenna had been mixed up with the wrong crowd since high school, and never really got away from them. Once Mom and Dad were out of the picture, Jenna took a job at a strip club in nearby Las Cruces, New Mexico. She made decent money there, with the college crowd and all, but I always worry about her. She was putting herself through school to be an RN (not unlike many other girls). She really enjoys helping people, and figured it would be a way to give back. I will be glad when she finishes, so she can get away from that club!

Dad arrived right on cue, and came in ready to eat.

"Man, it is crazy out there! The roads are in terrible shape, but our fellow Texans seem to be driving crazier than usual! So what's for dinner?"

"Sterling, you have not even said hello to your kids yet!" Mom said.

"Sorry bout that guys, guess I let my stomach over rule my manners. How is everyone?"

We sat down to eat, and talked all about the usual things that families talked about. I knew it was coming....then, just as if he had read my mind, Brandon started to talk.

"So, has anyone heard the latest about the Stephenville UFO?"

Dad immediately piped in, "Brandon, I am really not in the mood to hear about some hair brained UFO story that you read about on the 'best' cutting edge UFO and Conspiracy site that is on the web. Seriously, when are you gonna give that stuff up?"

"Dad, it's something that I enjoy. Besides, someone has to keep up with UFO's, and the Government!"

Now he had Dad's attention. "And what is it exactly that you plan to do with all the information that you gather?"

"You never know....some of the stuff I have may come in useful one day. Just drop it Dad, we can talk about something else."

The rest of dinner was uneventful, and we moved on to opening presents early. Like alot of families this year, it seemed that we had a little more money, and with that came other parties and other places to be on the actual day of Christmas. So we, like many other families, were having an early Christmas.

Mom and Dad got me some new survival gear, I really loved the outdoors and hiking. that was another thing that living in El Paso offered me. i always had somewhere to go hiking.....either the desert mountains, or the forests not too far away in New Mexico. I got Brandon some book on 'the secret shadow government'....right up his alley. He loved it. Jenna got the usual, clothes....and more clothes. We all pitched in (except for Brandon of course) and got Mom and Dad a brand new flat screen TV for the house.

After all the festivities were over, we all helped with the cleanup and said our goodbye's. The three of us were headed back to El Paso, and Mom and Dad would be left to their ritual solitude that they enjoyed so much out there in the country. I had my girlfriend Harley to get back to, as well as friends and co-workers parties to get ready for. Jenna had to work right after the holiday's, and Brandon had to get back to what he does best......being a conspiracy nut and a government watchdog (now, if he could just get paid for it!)

Looking back now, that was one of the last times we really sat as a family in a world that was still intact. Little did we know it, but things were changing in the world.

We would all know about it......soon enough.



[edit on 13-9-2009 by desertdreamer]

[edit on 14-9-2009 by desertdreamer]

It was the last New Years party we would celebrate in a normal world. My Boss River was hosting the party for her crew. She was a great woman with a big heart. Always taking good care of her guys.

December 31 ,2014. 8:30 pm El Paso T.X. Rivers House.

"This is a good Party River". Lake complemented.

"Thanks Lake" She replied in a deep feminine voice. "Wait till we get to the Fire works."

"Your crazy, aren't you worried about the cops?" Lake asked.

"Nah ,They're to busy with their DWI check points. They aint gonna waste time to enforce some BS Fireworks law. Hey come on this is a party lighten up"

River clinked bottles with Lake and laughed. It was a new years eve party and her crew was in high spirits. They had recently landed a new contract a contract at Fort Bliss laying the foundations for 20 new barracks and a new mess hall with a promise for more work if they finished on time and budget.

"So hey uh, you think we might be able to hire on another hand? My brother Brandon has a good strong back." Lake asked.

River gave him a dour look. "Maybe... Lets see how it plays out first. Were still just barley scraping by. Just be glad I can pay you boys on time."

"Fair enough I just had to ask."

"I know, Hey why don't you give me a hand with this" River started pulling out some fireworks out of her hallway closet handing Lake, a few large tubes.

"Holy Moly River, your gonna get the whole neighborhoods attention!"

"I know. My old man got em in Juarez. Hey Hunter, " River Yelled "can you keep the kids in the living room for a minute me and Lake gotta go do something in the back yard."

They set up the festive artillery in the back yard.

snipped by request

[edit on 22/9/09 by masqua]

*snip*

[edit on 22-9-2009 by mf_luder]

River had more fireworks in the back yard than I had ever seen in one place! As I was helping her sort through them all, and get them setup for all the kids to watch, I started looking at all the different types she had. It looked like she had all the yearly regulars that I remember seeing when I was a kid. She had roman candles, flowers, snakes, sparklers, smoke balls, and an assortment of bottle rockets.

"Well, it sure looks like you have outdone yourself here River" Lake said.

"Thanks. But you aint seen nuthin' yet!" River replied.

"Oh realllly......what else have you got?" Lake asked.

"I have all the normal stuff for the little kiddies, but did you honestly think I would forget about my crew and all the other adults here? I aint old yet Lake, I still like to have SOME fun" she said.

Lake looked over towards River, and she motioned for him to follow her. He followed her into her garage. When they got in the garage River started moving a bunch of stuff around, basically clearing a spot in the back of the garage. Lake started noticing what appeared to be some sort of door in the floor. Sure enough, hidden under normal everyday garage stuff was a door leading under the garage....at least that was what it looked like to him.

"Hey, what is this? Some kind of secret room?" he said laughing nervously.

She said "Maybe.....I don't just let everyone in here you know. So keep it under your hat, okay?"

Lake agreed. He was really curious now. He wanted to know what was down there. As River opened the trap door, a small bit of desert dust went in the air. There was no light, and it appeared to be a small underground storage area. You could not fit your body in it, but you could reach down in it. And from the looks of it, you could store a fair amount of stuff in it.

"So what do you have in there? let me have a look" he said.

"Uh-uh....nope. No way Lake. I know we are friends, and that you work for me, but I just can't let you in on this right now" she said.

"You have to promise me that you will not tell ANYONE about what I am doing and what you are seeing right now"

"Okay River.....calm down. You don't have to get all worked up about it. So your stashing fireworks under your garage....big deal" he said.

"Yep, that's just what I'm doing hon, exactly." she said.

She pulled out several boxes and handed them to me. She put all the garage stuff back over the top of the trap door, and we went back outside and into the back yard. She had all kinds of HUGE stuff to shoot off! Stuff that I had never really bought before. Stuff that a city would shoot off for it's own fireworks display. The big daddy's in the box were the aerial shells, and the aerial repeaters. The repeaters were basically an all in one fireworks show. The aerial shells were what everyone loved to see. They were 1-3/4" shells and used mortars to shoot them off. They were loud, and were very cool!

The night went off without a hitch, there was only one visit from the cops. They wanted to know if anyone in the area had been popping fireworks. I almost fell out! Every fiber in my being wanted to scream out to them and say "DUDE, it's New Years Eve! EVERYONE has fireworks!". It appears that our artillery shells were the loudest in the neighborhood> Go figure...

As the night came to an end, and everyone started home, I asked River about the trap door in the garage again. It had got the best of me....I really wanted to know what it was REALLY for.

As we cleaned up I asked "So, River, what's up with the secretive hole under your garage?".

She said, "Lake, I like you, but I am just not sure I can let you in on the whole secret just yet."

"WHAT SECRET" I asked.

"Another time Lake....another time. Please don't ask me anymore. Everything is fine.....another time my friend." she said.

Morning brought a headache and the stale smell of gunpowder on his clothes. Lake had sat up for the better part of an hour after getting home, wondering just what the heck River was talking about.

“She’s probably just rattling my chain”, he said to himself.

He started to move a little now, trying to come alive and join the world of the living.

“What time is it?” he said to himself.

He looked at the digital clock; it said 10:30 AM.

He heard a bunch of noise coming from the kitchen, and thought to himself “Brandon must be up”.

Lake got up, wrapped a towel around himself, and headed to the kitchen. He found Brandon searching through a bunch of papers that were on the table. Standing there, he began to take stock of what was going on. Brandon looked like he had already been up a while. He had some rough looking jeans on, and a shirt that said “The CIA killed Kennedy”. Typical, he thought.

“Brandon, what are you looking for?” Lake asked.

“I can’t find my field notebook. Have you seen it?”

Lake replied, “Yeah, I saw it in the bathroom the other day. Thought it would be good reading while I was sitting on my throne, but it just turned out to be extra paper when I needed it the most”, laughing the whole time.

“Ha Ha, very funny. Seriously, I need that notebook. Have you seen it?”

“Yeah, it is on the coffee table in the living room, under the pizza box that you did not throw away”, Lake said.

Brandon headed to the living room to get the notebook. Lake was wondering what he was up to, and why he was already dressed and headed out the door. This was not typical behavior for his unemployed brother. Usually, he would not even be off his favorite conspiracy theory site (Above Top Secret) until at least 1 PM. Brandon was a good brother, but sometimes he was a little bit too far out on the fringes of society Lake thought. The fact was, Brandon was a very meticulous individual. He had all kinds of files and notebooks on all kinds of conspiracy theories, NWO, cover-ups….you name it. He was very organized, and did not half-step on anything he did. He just took a little getting used to.

“Found it” Brandon said.

“Where are you headed off to?” Lake said.

“I am headed over to a buddies house, and we are going to compare notes on some things we have been investigating”.

“Oh yeah, like what?” Lake said.

“Not much, just some NOW crap, and some Texas Militia stuff”

Lake perked up, “Militia?”

“Yeah. We have been hearing of a couple of different militia’s really starting to make a name for themselves here in Texas. We have been seeing something on the news lately too about that one candidate that everyone seems to like, hat was his name?”

“Wesley Temple” said Lake.

“Yeah, that’s the guy. Somehow he may be involved with one of these militia’s….not really sure how just yet though”.

“Sounds interesting. Better than your normal aliens are controlling the NWO, yada yada…..”

Brandon fired back “Hey…..watch it! I have it on good authority that the NWO is going to start taking those small toilet paper squares out of the military MRE’s!” He was grinning when Lake gave him a look of disgust and utter disbelief. “Gotcha” he said.

Brandon told Lake not to wait up, that he would probably be late.

“You be careful” Lake said.

“Don’t I always?” said Brandon.

Things were moving right along. Elections were coming up soon; it looked as if River may have a new contract lined up, which meant more work and possibly a job for his brother. Things were going well.