Into Winter

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Back at the Farm, Kim ran out to the bunkhouse after Sandra left and instructed two ladies to bury the guards, while Brenda made some snacks and tea. Kim joined her and they sat at the kitchen table discussing Sandra. They had never seen her so upset, not even when Jade tried to topple her regime a few months back. And the nasty cut and bruise on her face didn’t seem to faze her a bit.

The ordeal with Jade had lasted a few hours and Sandra was once again back in control. However, Robbie would be more difficult. He was far away, and it would take a while for her to find him if that was her plan. Even longer to deal with the problem.

“I think Sandra’s gone off the deep-end,” Kim said, as she spooned some sugar into her glass.

“I think so too. It looks like she’s going to kill Sean. I don’t know what happened at the Airport, but Robbie, Florence, and Beka have put her into a tailspin.”

“There are way too many people dying around here for me,” Kim stated and took a sip. “If we rub Sandra the wrong way one day, we could end up on the chopping block too.”

Brenda swallowed her bite and rinsed it down. “You’re reading my mind, girl.”

Kim and Brenda sat across from each other, both staring at the other. They nibbled their finger sandwiches and sipped their teas, but both sat quietly.

It may take weeks, if not months before Sandra can find Robbie and deal with him, Kim thought. That’s a long time for her to be on edge. She could shoot me for looking at her differently, or burning a slice of toast.

They finished their snacks and got up to clean the dishes.

“I’d like to see Robbie again,” Kim said, out of the blue.

Brenda rolled her eyes. “Damn, he was hot wasn’t he?”

Kim smiled. “I wonder what Sean looks like. No one can be as good looking as Robbie, but I’ll bet he’s easy on the eyes too.”

“He’s a neut,” Brenda reminded Kim.

“So were some of the other guys I’ve been with. It just takes a little more to get them going, but when you do…”

Brenda smiled. “I guess all of us around here who have been with Robbie immediately fell in love with him. Can we see him again? You know what we’re thinking is crazy, don’t you? If Sandra gets wind of anything suspicious around here, she’s going to bury us. I hate to see Sean die for no good reason, but he can’t protect us, can he?”

“I don’t know,” Kim replied, her forehead wrinkling in thought.

Their ears perked up when they heard a car door slam. “I’m going to do some laundry,” Kim said, sliding back in her chair.

“And I’ll get started on dinner.”

Brenda heard the front door and moments later Sandra appeared at the entryway to the kitchen.

“You working on dinner?” she asked, slamming her keys down on the table.

“Yes, ma’am,” Brenda replied, without looking over while she put her apron on. She couldn’t help her lips curling up into a smile.

It wouldn’t hurt you to miss a meal or two.

“I’m going to take a shower and get cleaned up. Where’s Kim?”

“She’s in the laundry room,” the smile fading quickly, but it returned when she looked over to see Sandra’s fat ass disappear around the corner.

Just over an hour later, Sandra joined Kim and Brenda at the kitchen table for dinner. With everything that had been going on the past few weeks, Sandra put everyone else out in the bunkhouse. She only wanted her two most trusted ladies by her side and in her house. She always slept with her door locked and her pistol on the pillow next to her so she could sleep better.

Brenda and Kim sat eating quietly but keeping an eye on Sandra while she picked at her food and muttered to herself. Sean, Robbie, Beka, and Florence’s names came up often, along with ‘bastard’, ‘son-of-a-b***h’, and ‘kill’.

“Meatloaf was a little over-cooked,” Sandra grumbled. She got up. “I’m going to bed,” she added, on the way out.

Kim and Brenda didn’t say a word except ‘yes, ma’am’ as Sandra left the room. They took nervous looks at each other, then got busy on the dishes and cleaning up.

Over-cooked meatloaf? Kim thought. Sandra’s not going to be satisfied with anything we do. Sooner or later, we’ll pay for the slightest mistake or error. We’ve got to get out of here.

Brenda took the trash out to the container on the back porch, then she and Kim headed to their rooms.

“Want to stay with me tonight?” Kim asked.

Brenda grabbed a pair of panties and a nightie out of her dresser and followed Kim to her room. They took a shower together, each giving the other a good back scrub. After primping in front of the mirror a while, they crawled into bed, but it would be hours before they finally fell asleep. They had a lot to talk about.

“Do you think Sandra will really kill Sean?” Brenda asked.

“I don’t know, but we need to warn him,” Kim replied. “She was certainly mad enough an hour ago and she’s still steaming, but she’ll cool down. I think she’ll consider her options for a while. With all that’s been happening here at the Farm, she’ll be busy here for a bit.”

“I certainly hope so,” Brenda said. “We need time to plan our escape. If we go off half-c****d, we’ll get caught and we’re dead. So, how are we going to get out of here?”

“We can take one of the tractors with a forklift. We’ll put a pallet on the forks and say we’re going to the ice plant for a load of ice. That we’re going to butcher a couple of the calves from the milk cows. I think that’ll take care of the curious. I think it takes about an hour to get to the Bayfront by tractor. All we need to do is avoid Sandra.”

“So, when are we doing this?” Brenda queried.

“Let’s see what Sandra does in the morning. If she’s calmed down and attending to business, we may have time to plan a successful escape. If she’s still acting crazy, I think we need to take the chance and just run.”

“And how are we going to get out of here once we warn Sean?” Brenda asked.

“Maybe on Sean’s boat. We can go out to the Intracoastal Waterway well out of sight, sink the boat in deep water, and swim to shore. No one will know where we went.”

“Do you know how to drive a boat, Kim? I know I certainly don’t.”

“No, but I bet Sean does. The plan will depend on Sean being on the boat, so we’ll need an alternative just in case he’s not.”

“But Kim, it will be suspicious for us to go out on the boat during the middle of the day. And we don’t even know which boat Sean might be on.”

“Robbie said Sean was on Sonny’s boat. I don’t know his last name, but there can’t be but one ‘Sonny’ down there on a shrimp boat. Someone will know which boat he’s on and even if they’re suspicious, that won’t be a problem once we’re on the bay. We’ve got to watch out for Marcia though, Sonny’s wife. She’s one of Sandra’s spies and they have a teenage daughter, Lola, I think. Unless they’re shrimping, I think Lola will keep Marcia home. They won’t be hanging around the boats for no reason.”

“How did you find all this out, Kim?”

“I keep my ears open,” she replied, with a smile, “and I remember stuff.”

“And if we run into Sean, Sonny, and Marcia at the same time?”

“I think that is always a possibility,” Kim replied. “If we do, we’ll have to deal with that when the time comes.”

“It would be great if we had a foolproof plan. All I can see is a plan riddled with so many holes that we’re both going to die a miserable death if Sandra gives us no choice but to leave immediately.”

“Have a little faith, Brenda. If Sandra is calmed down in the morning, maybe we can have the time we need to do a few trial runs.”

“How long do you think it’ll take to iron out a good plan?” Brenda asked.

“My best estimate would be a couple weeks at least, with all the other stuff we have to do around here, but will Sandra give us that much time?”

“Are we doing the right thing?” Brenda asked, tears beginning to form in her eyes. “This is so sudden and the plan sounds crazy at best.”

“I know, Brenda.” Kim put her hand on her arm and gave it a squeeze. “If we stay here, we will work ourselves into an early grave. That is if Sandra doesn’t kill us sooner. We had Robbie to look forward to for months and we had fun. But now that he is gone, we have nothing to look forward to. No one can replace Robbie. No one!”

“Or maybe Sean will surprise us. He may be a hunk too. If we can get to Peaceful Valley, we’ll have the freedom to do what we want. Maybe we can even have Robbie again.”

Kim smiled at that prospect. “We may have to work hard, but we will be free. And our babies will be free. If we have sons, they won’t be castrated by Sandra. They can live full lives.”

Brenda changed her position in bed so she could see Kim a little better. “How far along are you?”

“About four months,” Kim replied.

“Yeah, me too. I hope we’re making the right decision.”

“If we can get out of here, and if we can make it to Peaceful Valley with Sean without killing our babies, it will be the right thing to do,” Kim said.

Brenda sighed. “We better get some sleep.”

“And fix Sandra a big breakfast without her asking.”

Brenda giggled. “Right!”

Brenda and Kim were hard at work in the kitchen when Sandra walked in.

“Smells good,” she said.

Brenda handed Sandra a cup of coffee. “Bacon is ready and eggs are in the pan.”

Sandra sat down and sipped her coffee, while Kim put several slices of bacon on her plate. Kim retrieved a bowl of fruit from the fridge, cut up just like Sandra liked it, and set it in front of her. Brenda slid four eggs onto their boss’ plate and a couple on hers and Kim’s plates. Kim added a few more strips of bacon to Sandra’s and grabbed two more bowls of fruit for themselves.

They were all quiet as they ate. Kim kept one eye on Sandra, but she never looked up or said a word. The girls ate slower than Sandra, so they finished their smaller portions at the same time she did. When Sandra pushed her plate back and wiped her face with her napkin, Kim got up and gathered the dishes and carried them to the sink.

No mistakes; keep Sandra happy.

Sandra sat finishing her coffee watching Brenda and Kim clean up. They avoided eye contact with her.

Sandra downed the last of her coffee and pushed back in her chair. “I’ve got work to do.” Without another word, she headed toward the front door.

Brenda and Kim stopped what they were doing and watched through the window as Sandra went out to the barn.

“Well, it looks like she’s going to work, and not after Sean,” Brenda said.

Kim nodded. “We’ll keep an eye on her every day. As long as she’s tending to her business, we’ll continue to work on our plan.”