I have a poker tournament in less than twenty minutes. I could make some serious money. It’s the, 2016 Extravaganza. I won a satellite entry into the tournament.”
“Listen to me. Pack some things and leave now. Get in your car and come here. This is serious.”
“Karen, is this one of your jokes? Because if it is…”
Karen cut her off. “No joke little sister. I don’t know what’s going to happen but you need to come here. Being close to the city will not be good at all. We still have internet and phone service, but some places are down. I think the government’s shutting down communications. Please, Rita, just leave now.”
Rita blew out her breath, opened the vertical blinds, looked at the other trailers in the park. “I don’t see anything going on here, Karen.”
“Maybe not yet, but you will. That’s why now is the time to leave and come here.”
“I’ll come tomorrow. I’ll ride my motorcycle.”
“Another motorcycle? Where’s your car?”
“I traded it for the bike. Its a green and silver color. Nice bike.”
“Tomorrow could be too late. Leave now. I’m telling you…”
Rita listened to the quiet phone line. “Hello? Karen?”
She put down the phone and walked into the computer room, tried the computer but she had no internet access. She walked quickly back in to the bedroom, opened the folding closet doors and retrieved a black and yellow travel bag, spread the mouth wide and popped the bag open with her fist.
The distance from Black Diamond, Alberta, to St. Victor, Saskatchewan, was about seven hundred kilometers. That was Rita’s guess anyway. She glanced at her watch, past noon already, quickly eyed her motorcycle now packed and waiting. She had already decided to head south on Highway 2 down to Fort Macleod, across to Medicine Hat, then cruise east on the Trans-Canada Highway into Saskatchewan before turning south again. Open gas stations might be a problem though. Only one thing to do that she knew, and that was to get moving and find out.
Rita rumbled into Fort Macleod after an uneventful trip, though she thought the traffic was heavier than usual. Nothing crazy was happening, even as she stood pumping gas beside a mini van crawling with spoiled obnoxious children who seemed to relish making their mother a nervous wreck. Nothing that a good slap across the ass wouldn’t cure, she thought.
Inside, while waiting to pay her fuel bill she listened to people all talking at once, talking like excited parrots when a snake is on the tree hiding somewhere on the branches, its skin the color of the leaves. Rita did learn one thing. The phones weren’t working and all sales at the counter were cash only, which only made the frazzled mini van driver even more frazzled. Rita took pity on the woman and paid her bill in cash. The woman almost cried, looked for a pen to get Rita’s address, but Rita gently told her to forget it.
Back on the highway the traffic ran heavy both directions. The afternoon was one of those typical prairie summer days. Dry and hot. Too hot for a leather jacket, but she wasn’t going to remove it and expose her pistol tucked away comfortably in its shoulder holster. She wished she knew more about what was happening. What did that guy say back there? Something about the Army and the police. Some deserting, some siding with the government. Now the phones and the internet were being disrupted. Surely someone must have internet, she thought. Someone on satellite? Or could they control that too? She was mad at herself for knowing so little about this stuff.
By the time she reached Medicine Hat, she needed fuel like so many others. She passed two busy stations and stopped at the third busy station, her thinking being that they were all probably busy now. She wished she had a place to carry spare gas, but her motorcycle was packed pretty full as it was. Going through one turn earlier had caused a slight front end shaking that told her she had a load on behind her. She sat on the cement walkway for a few minutes in a shady area around the side of the station after the motorcycle was again fully fueled, drinking from a tall plastic bottle of ice tea, still not taking off her leather jacket. Fighting the urge to strip off all her clothes it was so damn hot today.
“Excuse me.”
Rita hadn’t seen the young woman walk up from behind her and was startled slightly. She looked up at the woman’s face. “What’s up?”
“You’re not by any chance going to Saskatchewan are you? One guy said he was driving there, but I think he’s one of them. I don’t want to ride with him.”
Rita stood slowly to her feet, she was a few inches taller than the young brunette. “One of them?”
She nodded. “Yeah, he’s one of them. I have to get away from here. I know what they do to women.”
Rita narrowed her eyes. “Where are you going?”
“My folks have a place at Thompson Lake, but I don’t know where safe is anymore. At least I’ll be there with them instead of here. This city is simmering right now. Passing the law to enforce Sharia is going to cause a war and I don’t want to be here when it starts.”
Rita knew where Thompson Lake was, right on the way except for a short detour off Highway 13. She looked at the woman, her one hand held bag and the sleeved sleeping bag sitting at her feet. “What’s your name?”
“Sarah Smith.”
“Well, Sarah Smith, I’m going pretty close to Thompson Lake. I’ll give you a ride. You can wear my helmet. We’ll just have to chance the police if they see I’m not wearing one. My name’s Rita Royale.”
Sarah smiled, felt relief wash over her. “Thanks Rita Royale.”
“You’ll have to hold my bag on your lap. I can strap your bag behind and the sleeping bag on the windshield. That should work.” She hoped.
“Aren’t you hot in that jacket?”
Rita looked at her, paused, glanced around. She removed her jacket, the feeling wonderful, quickly unstrapped her holster, looked to make sure no one was watching and placed it just inside the opening of her travel bag. She unthinkingly cupped both breasts from underneath and lifted them gently, adjusting their position under her sweat soaked black t-shirt. She smiled at the look on her new friend’s face. “I need to eat something soon.”
“I know a place just outside the city. Almost outside. They serve good food and I think it should be a safe place to eat.”
“Are things really that bad now?”
Sarah just looked at her. “Don’t you follow what’s going on in this country?”
Rita grinned. “I guess I don’t. I play poker all day long. Nights too, mostly.”
“At the college I go to, at least half the students made a public declaration and joined Islam in a big outside demonstration. I heard that’s happening in most schools and universities across Canada. I’ll never submit to that cult. They call it a religion, but its a political movement to take over the world. They’re doing a good job of it too. They’re evil. Even a couple of my girlfriends joined. They’re going to be sorry they did that.”
Rita thought about this, looked at her. “Maybe we should get moving now.”
The pair were soon back on the busy highway, still in the city of Medicine Hat. It was stop and go traffic, the heat wafting up from the pavement and the v-twin engine pumping fire with every stroke. Rita’s gun and jacket were on Sarah’s lap, the riding cooler even with this slow moving parade of vehicles and exhaust fumes. Something was going on three cars ahead, something blocking the intersection. Rita shut off the engine of her air cooled motorcycle afraid it would overheat idling. People were beginning to leave their vehicles to see what the hold up was. Rita and Sarah dismounted and walked a few feet from the bike.
“Its them.”
Rita glanced at Sarah then back at the noisy parade, some marchers carried the flag of