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Nowadays - Chapter VI

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  • Nowadays - Chapter VI

    Nowadays - Chapter VI

    I'm less than thrilled with some of the downright nasty comments that I got.

    Chapter VI

    When I was nine my dad gave me a pellet rifle. Some cheap BB gun that my mom thought I’d bust an eye out with. When I was twelve, he gave me a .22 rifle. Back then a kid in the Upper Peninsula could spend a lot of time out in the woods shooting rocks and squirrels and no one would give him any crap about it. I guess today it’s gone back to being like that. When I was 19 I joined the Army, they gave me an M-16 and then I was really hooked. If it has a trigger and makes noise, I wanted it.

    It doesn’t matter how screwed up things get in the world…you look at your Somalia, your Haiti, your Zimbabwe, every craphole country around the planet that you see on TV. People are starving, people are dying, but even in the middle of all that crap people still want guns. Why? I don’t know, I’m not a shrink. But if I had to guess I’d say it’s because a gun makes you feel like you have some control over your environment, over your life, and over your problems. It may be a false hope, but when you’re starving to death maybe it’s better than nothing. So, in some ways, I sell hope.

    I spent the last fifteen years selling guns and ammunition. This is nice country around here, or it was, for deer and ducks. I sold more shotguns than any dealer in this region. I even got a special one as an award from the wholesaler for being number one in sales. Beautiful piece with my name engraved on it, little gold touches here and there. Totally freakin’ worthless.

    Don’t get me wrong, any gun is worth something. I’ve been in this business long enough to know that no matter what beat fencepost you’ve got sitting on the rack, maybe something that was an antique when Patton was still in diapers, some guy is going to walk in and think it’s exactly what he’s looking for.

    In the last five years or so my market changed significantly. Bread and butter stuff were things like shotguns for duck hunting, bolt action rifles for deer and woodchucks, and .22 rifles for the kids. Stuff like ammo and scopes made up the other half of my sales. Every so often I’d get some clown that spent too much time with his nose in some gun magazine who would come in and want the latest and greatest…and screw the price. More than happy to help them out. I had some pretty weird stuff come through here over the years. Night vision scopes and other freaky stuff. Then a few years ago it was more and more handguns, military rifles, and tons..literally tons…of ammo. I used to sell one AK-47 for every ten deer rifles, maybe one handgun for every five shotguns…now those numbers were changing. I’m not stupid, I see my market shift so I shift with it. That’s how you stay in business. Your customers want something you get it or they go to someone who will and the next thing you know the landlord is showing people your store and talking about leases.

    One day my doctor walks in. We’re shooting the breeze, talking cars and politics, and out of the blue he says to me “The wife and I are worried about the direction things are going. We want you to help us put together a large purchase for us and some friends.” I heard the words ‘large purchase’ and pretty much ignored the rest. I’m not going to say exactly what he ordered because I’ve learned that people that buy certain things want to keep that sort of information from prying ears, but I will tell you that when the trucks, and there were more than one, were unloaded it looked like something out of my days in the service. Rifles, shotguns, pistols, ammo all stacked almost up to the freaking rafters. I knew he was rich, he’s a doctor…but still, that was some serious freaking money. I know ‘cause Im the guy that wrote the invoice. I asked him what he thought he was doing and how could he afford that. We stepped into my office and he closed the door and he said that he had been doing a lot of research and was convinced that bad times were coming and that a bunch of his relations were putting together a ‘safe place to sit it out’. He said that he didn’t know what was going to happen but that he’d talked with many people…smart people…in and out of government and that they told him that there might be some problems coming. Then he asked me how I wanted to be paid. I told him he could just write me a check. He laughed. He said his days of writing checks were done…it was all cash or gold. I laughed at him and asked him if he’d robbed For Knox. He gave me this look and started to talk in a voice that Im guessing he saved for guys who had some really bad crap like brain cancer or something else that gave them only a week to live. It was scary. I’d known him for years and now his voice sounded like someone handing down a death sentence. “Look at all this”, he said pointing at the invoice I’d written him. “I’ve spent my entire life operating on science. On fact. On information. There is absolutely zero room for wishful thinking and maybes in my world. I’m spending over a hundred thousand dollars with you because I am that convinced that sometime soon…maybe a year, maybe five years, but soon…something is going to happen, or a series of things, and things on this list are going to be hard or impossible to get. Other things too…food, gas, medicine, power, machinery, everything we take for granted. “ And he opened up his briefcase and started counting out bills. Stacks of hundreds like some sort of drug deal you’d see in a movie. He counted out about three-quarters of it and then took out a little plastic cylinder, popped the end off and started counting out coins. Gold coins. He counted out a bunch of them and stacked them neatly next to the bills. I remember it like yesterday, he said “After I leave here you can take these coins and get the cash if that’s what you really want, but I think you should hold onto them. They’re going to be worth a lot more to you later than the cash will. And if you don’t mind some advice, take a look at whats going on in the world and whats coming out of Washington. You might want to start positioning yourself to be on top of things when it all comes apart. Do some research. Doctors orders.”

    I told him I would and together we packed up his purchases into the trailer he had on his truck. It took him five trips and he refused to spread them out over the week. He wanted all his stuff and he wanted it now, as if at any moment the Russians were going to invade or something like that. When we were finally done I turned off the OPEN sign, locked the door and went back to my office. I looked at the cash and gold as I tucked it into the safe. And this shows you what a freaking idiot I am…I didn’t think “Wow, this guy just spent over a hundred grand..he must know something I don’t. I better check into this.” No, that would have been the smart thing to do. Instead I thought “Wow, this guy just spent over a hundred grand..I wonder if there are more like him out there I can make money off of.” And that’s how I became the unofficial armorer of the fringe crowd.

    Word got around, I guess. At first I’d get one or two people every week come by and ask me to order in things for them. They’d stand around and wait if there were other customers around, and then they’d beckon me over to the far end of the counter where no one else would overhear them. I need a few things, they’d say. They didn’t say they ‘wanted’…they ‘needed’. Where I used to sell a pistol to someone, these people would want two or three of the same pistol, a couple dozen magazines, spare parts, the works….and I was more than happy to make the sales. Then they started coming in more frequently, and from all over the state. I didn’t second guess customers about what they wanted or why they wanted it. If a guy said he wanted a dozen AK-47 rilfes and two hundred magazines all I said was “They’ll be here Thursday. Cash or plastic?” I guess that sort of…acceptance, I guess…was uncommon.

    I started getting more and more people wanting more and more things in stranger and stranger quantities and styles. I was getting in .22 ammo by the truckload and selling it by the case. Made no sense to me, why so much .22 ammo. And then one of my customers pointed out that it was the most common cartridge in the world and yet you couldn’t make it yourself. I bought a 28-foot trailer full. Gradually I became something of an expert on the subject of guns for the end of the world. A guy would come in and ask for Gun X, we’d get to talking and I’d explain that while Gun X is a fine piece of work Gun Y is more common, has more parts available, has a better reputation for durability, and that sort of thing. Pretty soon guys from all over the state would come in and ask me in hushed tones about which gun was best for ‘the end of the world’ or ‘the coming revolution’ or my personal favorite, ‘the zombie apocalypse’.

    Nowadays my customers are a completely different crowd, and I should have expected that. The guys who were buying the cases of ammo and guns wouldn’t need my services these days. Theyre all set. My customers now are people who didn’t get the memo and are feeling a little undergunned. It’s a dangerous world out there right now, right? I mean, between the crap that’s been going on in the world, that stuff on the coasts, the shortages, and all that other stuff you wouldn’t believe how it’s got people freaked…and rightly so. Truck drivers getting hijacked for their loads, warehouses being looted and robbed, doctors being held up for their drugs, grocery stores being looted, it’s unbelievable. We’re like a Third World country some days. So they come to me…the truck driver, the doctor, the shopkeeper, the pensioner…they come to me and ask if I can sell them some peace of mind.

    It is so freaking hard to get anything these days…food, medicine, fuel….well, guns and ammunition are ten times that in terms of difficulty. First off, the demand by government and military is so high that hardly anything leaves the manufacturers docks. The stuff that does trickle out is almost always aimed towards the most common user. Let me give you an example..last week a guy comes in here. He has a buncha chickens and he’s having problems with coyotes and dogs. He’s got some old .22 auto that they stopped making thirty years ago. Can I get him a magazine for it? Yeah, sure…I’ll just pick up the phone and call the factory and have it FedEx’ed out here. Except the phone doesn’t always work, the company has been closed since all this started, FedEx cant get fuel to fly planes and here’s a baseball bat and a flashlight – good luck. Contrast that with the lady who came by last week. Her and her boyfriend take turns guarding the family business…a tank farm where they distribute heating oil…she needs some magazines and parts for her AR-15. No problem, I’ve got boxes of that stuff. Why? Because every National Guard Johnny, cop, video game geek has one…so parts and mags aren’t too hard to come across. Same deal for ammo. I had to turn away some poor grandma that came in here yesterday. Someone tried to break into her house and while she has her husband’s old pistol, she has no ammo for it. No problem, I said, let me see the pistol. She reaches into her purse and pulls out this ancient .30 Luger her husband brought back from the war. No chance in hell Im going to have ammo for that one, but if she had something like a 9mm or .38 Special I’d have been able to do business with her.

    If theres anything I’ve learned from this it has been that my doctor, whom I haven’t seen since this whole fire drill started, was right. He bought guns that were the most common kinds…so he could find parts and magazines everywhere. He chose calibers that were common as grass…nothing that had to be ‘special ordered’. I’ll bet that he’s probably trading his skills for .223 and 12 gauge ammo these days. Not that he’s going to need the ammo…not with all that stuff he bought from me. But youd be surprised what a box of .22 ammo or a box of .44 mags will buy.

    Someone flipped me some crap the other day, asking me why I’m selling guns at a time when people need to be working together and helping each other. Can you believe that? I’m all about helping my fellow man but not when my fellow man is helping himself to my stuff. My customers didn’t spend their lives working fifty hours a week, travelling away from their families, sacrificing and planning, just to have the product of their work taken by some useless sack of crap who never worked a day in their lives. Five years ago would you have felt safe walking down a dangerous street at night? Of course not. And that was when there was plenty of money for cops, people weren’t starving, and the criminal justice system sorta worked. All that stuff and people still got robbed. How can you possibly think its any safer now? You know, if I sell a product that takes another human beings life my only concern is that the human being who died deserved it. The world is coming apart, people are trying to survive the best they can and they should have to worry about someone kicking in their door and taking their food? Screw that. Times are tough, and they don’t look like they’re getting better any time soon, and when times get tough you’ve gotta get tough too. There’s no room for half-measures.

    How do I sleep at night? I sleep great. When I’m hungry, I have food. When the wind howls at the windows in the middle of the night, I’m warm. When the dogs start barking at something in the dark, I’m safe. All of that I owe to these chunks of steel and wood sitting on the rack. My doctor tried to warn me and I should have listened, but I listened enough to have at least a bit of a headstart on things. Never charged me for that bit of medical advice, either.

  • #2
    Originally posted by Delgado View Post
    Nowadays - Chapter VI

    I'm less than thrilled with some of the downright nasty comments that I got.
    Please e-mail or PM me with the details. The site staff won't tolerate this kind of business either on the boards or behind the scenes.
    Last edited by Grand58742; 09-16-2011, 02:01 PM.
    Experience is a cruel teacher, gives the exam first and then the lesson.

    Comment


    • #3
      must be behind the scenes comments all the posts on the threads related to the story "Nowadays" have been complimentary. Grand will get this taken care of.
      "It's a trap!!!!" -- Admiral Ackbar

      Comment


      • #4
        Delgado- I've been enjoying the story and put 5 stars on the first chapter. I need to get caught up on the last couple chapters. Excellent work.

        Feel free to forward any PM's to Grand or myself and we will take care of it.
        Boris- "He's famous, has picture on three dollar bill!"

        Rocky- "Wow! I've never even seen a three dollar bill!"

        Boris- "Is it my fault you're poor?"

        Comment


        • #5
          Just started reading this and it is great!

          What is going on with the nastiness? I hate to sound like a tinfoil head (but at least here I'm in good company ;) ) but is this an effort by forums that dont have a fiction forum to sabotage this one?

          I mean, if you dont like what somebody is writing, you dont have to read it!

          There is got to be more going on that. Its not like you can be annoying or distracting because you have your writing turned up way to loud.

          I find it quite frustrating that I cant use the tactic that was very effective when some fools in my unit almost cost me my opportunity to compete in the National Guard shooting competitions. I told them if there stupidity ended up costing ME, I would be visiting them on my off time......
          Last edited by Grand58742; 09-16-2011, 04:41 PM. Reason: Watch the language...

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          • #6
            I really like this series. Don't go.

            If you must go, leave a forwarding address.

            Comment


            • #7
              Delgado- i say it again, I LOVE your approach to story telling! Whether you keep posting here or not, PLEASE KEEP WRITING! An appreciative audience will find you!
              "Only DEAD fish swim WITH the stream!" Malcolm Muggeridge

              "The American Revolution was a beginning, not a consummation." Woodrow Wilson

              Comment


              • #8
                Is this CRAP EVER GOING TO STOP!

                can anyone tell me why the wrighters get this stuff. The ones that keep doing it NEED TO GET A LIFE! Someware else. PLEASE GO AWAY. AND DONT COME BACK.

                Delgado your stile is different and different IS GO! Liking your story vary much, Thanks

                Firestorm
                KNOW YOUR RULES OF ENGAGEMENTS AND LIVE BY THEM !

                Comment


                • #9
                  Dude ! You gotta stay and finish just to spite them. If you leave.......THEY WIN. Let ADMIN. take care of it, and keep on writing these pieces. You can't please everyone, but everyone else seems to like your pieces, myself included, so that should tell you what is what.
                  I have read enough fiction pieces to be able to state this for the record.......your style sets you apart from the mediocre by a far cry. Seldom have I seen a work that holds your attention as well as this one does. Although it is a work of fiction, it is well grounded, because of the fact that each one of these scenes could very well be played out in real life, given the right circumstances.

                  Being preparedness and survival oriented, the majority of pople that post and read on these forums, could very well see these sorts of things happening. It is a shame that any incinent would kill any up and coming writers creativity, but the fact remains, that there are those that would do what they thought was right, even though they could not be more wrong in their actions. For whatever reason, they have decided that if they don't like something, it must be stopped, and they feel that they are the correct ones to do it. Wrong again.
                  I agree with RunAndGun...if they don't like it, nobody is twisting their arm to read the pieces. They need to just move on and agree to disagree.

                  I know that this is just my opinion, and others have theirs, and we don't all see the same thing in the same way. That is what makes this country so great. I again plead with you to stay and finish what you started. I am in the process of writing a book myself. I had started to write this sometime back, but as I got into it, something happened that left me second guessing if it was the right thing, and I just about gave up. Then something happened that showed me that I needed to finish what I started. I have changed the make-up of the story a bit, and to tell you the truth...it was due to reading your works. It does not copy the style you have set yours in, but it is a completely different style from what I started with, and I truley believe that it is vastly better than my original piece.
                  Please...don't give in to petty minds. Finish it for those of us that really enjoy what you are doing.
                  "It has been said that preparedness and being prepared promotes fear. This isn't true.......being UNPREPARED is what promotes fear"

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    This very good don't others dictate to and how your own story should go,they don't have a clue or they would be writing themselves .
                    i too have given a 5 star rating .

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      A pox on those who berate the writers here. I for one will continue to support this site and it's cadre of excellent writers.

                      Keep it coming! Damn the idiots! Full steam ahead!
                      I am a free man!

                      I always was.

                      I always will be.




                      I have always advised my children not to mistake having manners and being polite as being a sign of weakness. An individual with strength and confidence in him/herself will naturally be mannered and gracious to others.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Have we still got folks posting negitive comments to Delgado???
                        Stand up NOW as you will find it much harder to do once you are in chains, and if you die on your feet, you can take comfort in the fact that you traded the gift of life for the privilege of FREEDOM!

                        Shooter

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by shooter View Post
                          Have we still got folks posting negitive comments to Delgado???
                          There were never any negative comments posted in this thread or any of his other chapters.

                          As for PMs or e-mails, I sent him both a PM and an e-mail requesting clarification on this matter so we could get to the bottom of it. But he hasn't replied to me yet.
                          Experience is a cruel teacher, gives the exam first and then the lesson.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            I think folks have seen that we don't play around with the BS negative comments and the rude comments pushing the authors for more. It's NOT just something we do for Grand cause he's a moderator. We try to protect ALL the authors that post here from that sort of rude, welfare mentality, demanding a-hole BS.

                            It's ridiculous that people who CALL THEMSELVES survivalists and "preppers" would even exhibit the welfare mentality/demand more liberal BS, but unfortunately that's the way the world is.

                            This isn't a short term thing, we expect people to be civil with each other here now and in the future. Your not going to "get banned" for not posting a certain number of times daily or whatever, but you WILL get banned if you come here and act like a rude a-hole and act like a ghetto queen demanding more. I don't have time for crap like that and I don't expect any of the staff to have to deal with it.

                            These writers are here giving you what you want FOR FREE. Be patient with them and give them respect or you'll be shown the door, period.
                            Boris- "He's famous, has picture on three dollar bill!"

                            Rocky- "Wow! I've never even seen a three dollar bill!"

                            Boris- "Is it my fault you're poor?"

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Very good. Thank you.

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