Bill and Lisa King had been coming to RP since their college days at the University of Arizona in Tucson, only four hours away. When they were dating, they would come down with friends and party on a stretch of beach known as Sandy Beach; now home to over one thousand condo units, and further north, a new homeport for cruise ships, recently built by the Mexican government. Even when they moved to Chicago for Bill’s job and later his current business, they still traveled to RP, even buying a home there that would one day become their place of retirement. Until then, they and Sally would enjoy it when each was able to, like now.
Like most Julys, they figured that they would be among only the few ‘crazy Americans’ who didn’t care about the heat and wanted to celebrate July 4th on Dorado Beach. Sandy Beach was bloated this time of year with Mexican tourists who flocked from mid-country locations, taking advantage of bargain travel packages sponsored by the condo complexes, whose units were offered for rental. Most Americans didn’t care for the excessive heat during July through August, and often flocked to the cooler temperatures of the mountains or California beaches. However, most Mexicans, who had holidays this time of year, didn’t care, as they would rather experience hot temperatures on the beach than inland. Beach home communities south of downtown RP rarely saw many visitors during the full heat of summer, especially their community of Playa Dorado.
Their beach house was modest by American standards. It was built of excellent materials and had many modern conveniences, but it lacked one thing that would seem so common and essential to most Americans. It was not connected to city electricity. Instead, it was outfitted with the latest solar cells, battery storage units, and a special A/C unit that ran so efficiently that if they were careful with their power, they could actually survive during the summer. With their pool, lots of shaded areas, and the warm ocean waters, they could enjoy their place even in summer. It was for these reasons that the Kings loved their piece of paradise.
Often, when Bill and Lisa came down, their next-door neighbor Max Thompson, as well as some of their other neighbors, would join in their many activities. To afford the Kings privacy, since the beach was always open, Lisa’s rule was, when the curtains are closed, we want privacy. When they are open, it means, come on over. Besides being their neighbor, Max was one of Bill and Lisa’s best friends and certainly their favorite in Mexico. In fact, Max was like one of the family. This feeling carried over to their kids who all called him “Uncle Max.” Max was the one who convinced them to buy in Mexico after renting the house on the other side of him some 20 years ago.
Max also looked after their home, making sure everything worked properly and that workers did what they were supposed to. One summer, he even fought off a couple of drug dealers who tried to occupy the house. He never said how he did it, only that they would never be coming back again to bother the house. Bill knew Max had an in with the local police and maybe even the Federales, but he was always somewhat afraid to ask, honoring his friend’s secrets, of which there were many. With his connections, it was also not surprising that Max knew everything that was going on in Rocky Point.
Max was also a survivalist, but not the camo-wearing, ready to go crazy at any moment kind of survivalist that most of the media envisioned. He was known as a “prepper,” as in someone who prepped for the end of the world or for society’s eventually collapse. Shortly after meeting Max, Bill later understood Max was buying supplies and storing up for the end of the world that he knew was right around the corner. Bill never knew where he kept everything, as his house didn’t look that big. Nevertheless, almost every time they were down, Max had just returned from a trip where he bought 1000 MREs, or some sort of water storage tank, or 1000 batteries in hermetic enclosures. As far as he could tell, Bill was the only one Max shared this information with, including his end of the world theories.
Right after they built their beach house, at a party they hosted, Max shared over margaritas his concern about the coming zombie apocalypse. He heard of a new strain of the SARs virus and was sure it would manifest itself into something far worse than reported, turning every one into brain-eating zombies. Then, a few years ago, it was electro-magnetic-pulse or EMP bursts from nuclear bombs, blowing up in the atmosphere and taking out all electronics, computers, power supplies, etc. Max was so sure of this, he even rebuilt his garage and a couple rooms of the house so that they had something called Faraday cages around them. This would supposedly block out all the nasty effects of an EMP burst. Somehow, Max even convinced Bill to do the same with one of his rooms when Lisa and Bill built an addition to their house, now their garage and office, two years ago. They both reasoned it would be the safe thing to do for their computer equipment, especially for Sally and her needs. At least that was the excuse he remembered using on Lisa to convince her of the need to do this.
Bill was not sure where Max made his money, but he was certain he had a lot of it. Not only was he buying top of the line stuff, he owned the home on the double lot across the street, and he was pretty sure he owned more property elsewhere in Mexico and in the states. Although he couldn’t remember Max actually saying this. Even more of a mystery was Max’s past. Bill knew that he was in the military at some point, as a chaplain, and that he actually saw some combat in Iraq. However, Max never regaled about his military exploits, so he never asked. The only time that Max was ever loose enough with his tongue to reveal some of the disconnected tidbits of info they had collected over the years was when Max drank a margarita or two with the Kings. Then, like one more piece added to a giant colorful puzzle of thousands of pieces, they would understand a little more about their friend. However, this was rare, and as far as Bill knew, Max never drank margaritas anywhere else, or any other alcohol for that matter. Defensively when asked, he professed to love only Bill’s margaritas made in one of those Margaritaville blender/ice shaver machines he had given to Bill as a present on Bill’s 50th birthday.
Only once or twice, when he was sitting out on the patio or on the beach, did he observe Max drinking a beer, never more, but he never appeared inebriated nor revealed anything new about his past to Bill or Lisa then, and certainly nothing to anyone else Max would converse with. In fact, Max never really spoke to any of their friends about any of his past or anything personal. Whenever asked about something even remotely personal, Max would adeptly pivot the conversation to something else. Once Bill asked about this, and Max simply said, “I’m embarrassed talking about myself.”
It was because of their daughter Sally that Bill loved Max. He always looked after Sally when she came down to the house, treating her as if she were his own daughter. He respected her privacy and even when the curtains were open, he never went over unannounced, except for one happy exception. Once, apparently, Sally was in a very loud and heated argument with her former fiancé Dylan, who thankfully she since broke up with. From Sally’s retelling, Max pretended that he didn’t know she was there and that he came over to drop off cleaning supplies in their absence. Opening up the front door, while knocking loudly, Max came in to find Sally’s fiancé about to make an aggressive move as if to strike her. Acting embarrassed, Max made a point of hugging Sally, and shaking Dylan’s hand so hard that he later claimed it was broken. She drove him back to Tucson that same day. Later, Sally thanked Max for his intervention, and most recently for helping her to realize Dylan was a loser.