Rita Royale. Terry Jr. Anderson
came and stayed with Rita for a few days after Christmas and the pair spent New Year’s Eve playing poker with Karen and her new man, Benjamin Brown from cow town. Rita cleaned up all the peanuts they used as poker chips. Her luck was still holding, she thought. The two dollar coin with the missing center still carried its magic.
Bill Alexander arrived home in late January, the year 2017 now. He took a bullet in his good leg in Saskatoon and after recovering limped home to St. Victor. He said the fight was going slowly but surely. Saskatoon should be clear of savages soon. At least he hoped that would happen. More and more people were joining the militia now. People were finally waking up to what the end result would be should they lose this battle for freedom. He also heard that ships and planes carrying Islamists from the Middle East were landing in Halifax and other cities and being shipped west to help their struggling comrades. Bill figured a big fight was coming down the pike. Luckily more and more conservative American states were helping to arm the resistance with modern up to date weapons and heavy armament. With any luck they’d send the savages back to the Middle East in bags, slices of Canadian back bacon shoved up their dead muzzie asses. That’s what Bill would do anyway. He hated them more than ever, though his fight was over, unless they came to his little valley, then he would gladly die fighting the evil bastards, he said, as he held Buddy purring in his arms.
About the first of February Rita moved into a suite in the big brick building owned by Mark and Andi. She did it to give Karen some space with her new man, and for her own space as well. And for those times when Sarah visited her.
Rita didn’t see Sarah again until about the middle of March. The snow still lingering, though the days were warmer now. She came in a small car. Came to get Rita and go and sign up with the Western Militia. Rita made her wait a day first. She still hadn’t made up her mind.
They sat sipping coffee, the day early, the dim light sneaking in through the windows, still light enough too see each other clearly.
“You have to decide, Rita.”
“Alright. I’ll go with you.”
Sarah smiled, squirmed on her chair. “You and me fighting the savages together. I can’t wait.”
Rita just looked at her. “And what if you had to shoot your old girlfriend? Could you?”
After a pause she replied, “Yes, I think so.”
I wonder, thought Rita. She doesn’t know what pulling the trigger leads to. “I’ll go with you, but I hope I don’t have to shoot anyone.”
“Do you think we will?”
“I think I don’t know what will happen.”
The pair left St. Victor in the afternoon, made their way to Moose Jaw slowly on the snow covered highway, bare in spots, slippery in others. It was late afternoon when they reached the city, the light dim, the skies cloudy, threatening. After passing through the main gate of the military base they drove to a building and parked.
Sarah sat still behind the wheel. Looked at Rita. “Well, I guess this is the place we sign up.” She watched two military men walk out of the building.
“I want you to go back home now. I’ll go in alone.”
“No. I’m coming in too.”
“Sarah, listen to me. This isn’t for you. If you go in there and sign up for a year, or two years, you will never be the same person. I would hate to see you become someone else.”
“You’re going in.”
“Yes, but that’s different.”
“Don’t you want to be together with me?”
“We won’t be together. The minute you sign on the dotted line, you belong to them. They will likely place us in different locations.”
“You don’t know that.”
“No, I don’t know that.” Rita stared at her pretty face, glanced out at the growing darkness. “Go home to Thompson Lake and look after your folks. I’ll come visit when I can.”
Sarah’s eyes glistened. “Why are things so hard all the time?”
“I don’t know. I do know you, though. I don’t want to you become someone else. Someone like me.”
“But I like you, Rita.”
“I know you do, Sarah. I like you too. Just the way you are now. I might not like you after you’ve killed a few people. You won’t be the same after doing that. You’ll lose the thing I like the most about you.”
Sarah sniffed, wiped her eyes. “I don’t want you to go in either.”
“I have to, Sarah. I’ve known this day would come. Now I have to face up to it.” She thought about old Joe Redbone’s words. Words from so long ago now.
“If I do what you ask, will you promise to come back to me? You have to promise.”
Rita studied her face, her innocent face. “I promise. I’ll come back just as soon as I can.”
The pair hugged each other for a long few moments until Rita gently pushed her away. She exited the car with her bag and rifle, closed the door, looked at Sarah one last time, smiled, turned and walked into the building.
The first person Rita saw when she walked inside was the face of Colonel Gilbert Knowles. He glanced at her as they walked toward each other in the hallway. He thought she looked familiar.
“Hello Colonel.”
He stopped walking, studied her face, her short cropped blonde hair. “Don’t I know you?”
She nodded. “We met in St. Victor one evening.”
“Ah. I remember now. Rita Royale.”
“I came to sign up.”
“Good. I want you on my team. Come with me and I’ll get you squared away.”
She walked with him along the hallway, glanced at the older man, at a blue crest on his arm that said simply, Badger Troop. She asked. “How long do I sign up for?”
“We’re asking for a year’s commitment at minimum. Two is preferred.”
Rita looked at him, said nothing, kept walking. They soon entered an office. The man behind the desk looked up, snapped to attention when he saw the colonel.
“Relax, Corporal. This is Ms. Rita Royale. I want you to sign her up and place her under my command.”
“Yes sir.” He looked at the attractive slender woman. Those green eyes. “Right away, sir.”
The colonel looked at Rita. “The corporal will take care of you. He’ll show you to your quarters. My office is just down the hall, Rita. If you need anything come and see me.”
Rita felt like she was in some strange dream world. She nodded. “Thank you, Colonel.”
He smiled, left the office.
Private Royale spent the next few weeks training hard with the others in her squad. They trained six days a week. She was the only woman in the squad, but the other men soon came to accept her as one of them as she never shirked her duties. Always tried her best no matter what was asked of her. They also liked having a gorgeous older woman around, as they were only in their early twenties. Rita was very easy on the eyes. The only person older than Rita in the squad was an American everyone called Sergeant Gill. He had left the U.S. after his time in the Army. He wanted to fight against Islamists and Sharia and everything the bastards stood for. He’d been to the Middle East and knew what they were. He called them the evil cult bastards. He reminded her of Bill Alexander in some ways. She also thought he was quite good looking.
The nights were the worst for Rita. After a hard day she would lay on her bunk in her own dorm thinking about how she would get through the next year. If she would. The dreams still came, though some nights she was so tired they