Down the Hole

by Sally Six

  Inside the house, the food was warm enough for the kids and Penny to eat. Nancy wouldn’t let Penny help any. She said that there wasn’t really enough room for the two of them in the kitchen anyway. They sat down at the dining room table as Nancy served. She loved having the kids in the house. It had been a long time since they had little ones here. After they were finished eating, Penny helped Nancy clear the table and take the dishes to the sink. Nancy then shooed Penny off to keep the kids company while she did the few dishes. It wasn’t a simple matter anymore of just turning on the faucet. Nancy had cold water in a five-gallon container with a pour spout and a pan of warm water on the wood stove. She took some from each and then some water in a different pan to rinse the dishes.

  Nancy got a deck of cards out of a cupboard for the kids so they could play Go Fish at the table. Then she and Penny sat down to talk on the sofa. Time went by as they talked about what was going on and what they both thought it meant for the future.

  Pretty soon the men were coming back into the house through the kitchen door very glad to be out of the cold and snow. They had taken their boots off on the porch and had knocked the snow off them. They were bringing them to sit by the stove to dry. It had taken them two hours to get it dug and make a hinged top to support the straw that they could lift to get to the foods.

  Gus seemed to be doing a bit better and had lost the scowl.

  Gus decided he needed to sleep on some of the things he was thinking about. “I’m heading to wash up and head to bed.” He told everyone. “Goodnight”

  They all said goodnight to him and he headed up the stairs. Paul was glad to see Gus seemed to have snapped out of it. He had been worried about him. A little hard work never hurt it seemed. He felt awfully tired too. He had thought his day was done before dinner and that extra work had really taken it out of him.

  Nancy looked up and thought a minute. “I forgot to do something,” she said. She went to get the extra five-gallon container that was on the back porch.

  “Paul, can you take this up to the bath room and pour some in the large pitcher sitting on the dresser in there?”

  “Yeah I sure can. No problem.” He took the container from her and headed up the stairs.

  He saw Gus was in his robe and just about to go into the bathroom as he got to the top of the stairs. “Here wait Gus, Mom has the water for the bathroom right here.”

  Gus stopped and waited for his dad to bring the water in and saw him pour it into a pitcher that had been her grandmothers. The pits to everything was that there was no flushing the toilet much until they brought more water in. Thank goodness they still had the old outhouse. Paul’s father had put the outhouse up when he and his sisters were small so they didn’t run into the house constantly. It sure was a cold way to go in the winter. Gus cleaned up and used the water from the bowl to flush the toilet this time. At least, this would make things a bit easier at night and in the morning bathroom wise. He finished and went to his room and laid down. It had been a long day and his mind was racing with the news.

  Paul had gone back down stairs to say goodnight to his company. He found that Nancy was making up the cot in the sewing room and the kids had their sleeping bags from the truck. Tom must have gone back out to get them while he was upstairs with Gus. The bags were hung out over the sofa to warm up. The company began to settle in for the night. The Wilsons said their goodnights and went upstairs to clean up and get ready for bed.

  Penny said goodnight and went to the downstairs bathroom. The kids and Tom waited their turn.

  All cleaned up in the downstairs bathroom and the sleeping bags all warmed up, Tom got the kids settled in and helped them say their prayers and soon they were both fast asleep. Tom lay in his sleeping bag for a while thinking what this new life would mean to them all. The ride to his parents tomorrow and as he was thinking sleep took him.

  Chapter 8

  The Cache

  Lewiston, Idaho same day:

  Titus was still at work. He was set to get off at 3 PM today. He loved the shorter days and still getting paid for a full eight hours. He was a helicopter repairman and had been since he got out of the Army two years ago. It was nice to have a few perks with the job besides flying one once in a while and helping with the tours of the valley. He loved that part of the job. Titus headed home at a few minutes after 3:00 PM thinking a shower and a pizza in that order sounded great. He turned on his radio like normal, but there seemed to be some sort of news on so he stuck in a CD to listen to instead.

  By 3:40 PM, he was done with his shower and was calling in a pizza order to the pizza place 8 minutes away, Papa’s Pizza. He liked extra cheese, extra sauce and extra pepperoni. The pizza guy said it would be there in 25 minutes. Titus went about doing his dishes from the day before and a few odd chores.

  Things seemed to be looking up. He was getting his bills paid off and he had found a really nice girl to date. He had talked to his brother, Andrew, and he was going to move in at the end of the month which would help both of them. It didn’t seem to make sense having a two-bedroom house all to himself anyway. They could split the bills and Andrew was always short on cash with his temporary jobs. One good thing was that Andrew had gotten on at Potlatch Lumber and would make full time soon.

  Titus then heard the pizza guy’s car pull up and saw him through the window. It was one of those buy one pizza get two. He loved that $12.99 and two pizzas even with the extra toppings. After paying the young man and making sure he gave him a tip, he made himself a salad to go with the pizza. He headed into the living room where he had sat one of the pizzas. The other was on the kitchen counter for the time being. Titus sat down to a nice warm pizza, salad and a glass of 7-up. He loved the peace and quiet as he ate. He was living on the outskirts of Clarkston, Washington with very few neighbors that were bothersome. He had about five acres to ride his 4-wheeler around on. His brother, Andrew, had one also so they would be able to ride together and also have a bit of fun building a few dirt ramps. They used to do the same with their bicycles when they were growing up.

  Speaking of four-wheeler’s, his needed a little work before he could ride it again. The clutch seemed to be sticking. Maybe he best do that tonight while it was still light. The light in the garage was fine to see to park in, but just not good enough for working on things. All done eating he went into his hallway by the kitchen and took down his work coveralls. He also took his bottle of in-sta glove and poured some on his hands. It helped keep his hands somewhat warm. At the same time, he pulled his stocking cap off the hook and went out to work on the four-wheeler.

  All the tools that he needed were right on the back of his pickup in the large toolbox that sat behind the cab of the truck. Titus had the four-wheeler and trailer parked a few feet from where he had pulled in tonight. He didn’t always use the garage. It was used mainly in the winter so he didn’t have to scrape off the windows. It seemed like it was getting there now.

  Titus set to work and was just putting the last screws in when his cell phone rang scaring the bageezess out of him. His heart went back down into his chest as he unzipped his coveralls to get to his cell phone that was clipped onto the waist of his jeans.

  Titus got to it on the forth ring and saw it was his brother, Thomas. He opened the phone,

  Titus said, “Hello Tom.”

  Titus heard. “It’s me Fred, Uncle Titus.” Then Fred went on to tell him, “getting times here” which made Titus’s heart race for he knew what that meant. Fred also told him that nukes were flying and it was all over the news.

  “Okay Fred. Thanks and good luck. I’m on my way.” He hung up the phone.

  Titus thought “DUH” on me I should have listened to the news after all.

  Titus’s mind was whirling. “Should he put four-wheeler back on the trailer and haul it with him or no maybe not. Wait I will anyway.” By this time he was talking to himself out loud. He then picked his cell phone back up and called Pricilla his girlfriend. She didn’t answer her
phone so he left a message to get to his parent’s house up by Anatone if at all possible. He hurried and started the four-wheeler and ran it up onto the trailer. Then backed his truck up and hooked it up. He ran into the house and started for his closet to get his BOB bag and Gore-Tex clothing that he had from being in the army. It was all in a duffle bag and he had his winter army boots on. He grabbed a pair of tennis shoes and his other boots along with a few other clothes stuffing them in the duffel too.

  Titus took his 30.06 out of the closet and the duffle with his ammo in it for both his guns. He grabbed his 357 magnum out of his dresser drawer and strapped it on. He then hauled his two duffels and his BOB bag out to the truck and put them in the back. He returned to the house and started to fill some of the pop bottles with water that he had saved along with his two – 1/2-gallon canteens. Then he took those to the truck. He had noticed he hadn’t put away the pizzas yet. So he took a couple of gallon bags out and threw the pizza slices in. He threw the plastic bags into paper grocery bag with other things out of his cupboard. He ran out to his garage after he put that in the truck and got his case of MRE’s, camp stove, sleeping bag, tent and a tarp. Matches and that kind of stuff were already in his BOB bag. He didn’t have to worry about those little things. He was just finishing up when he started to hear a siren. It got closer and closer and soon he heard and saw the police car come to a stop in front of his neighbor’s house. Yep it was Les alright the new Asotin County Sheriff. Les must have heard what was going on too because he had never seen Les move that fast before. Titus hopped into his truck, started it and headed out like a bat out of Hades towards Asotin and for his parents’ place.

  Titus looked at the clock on his dash. It was 5:24 PM. He was going through Asotin via the short cut. He wondered how much time he had until the crap hit the fan. He and his two younger brothers had set up a meeting place at the old deserted Olson farm about two miles on the left on top of the grade. He made the turn to the right and headed up the grade. He was flying around the corners and hairpin curves as fast as he dared.

  At 5:35 PM his truck engine cut out. As he drifted to a slow stop going uphill, he tried over and over to restart it.

  EMP was the only thing he could think of. No other reason for his truck to just quit.

  He drifted over to a turnout on the right side dug out of the mountain. He pulled into it.

  He set the emergency brake as he came to stop. Titus got out and went back to the 4-wheeler. He hopped up onto it, stuck in the key, turned it and nothing. “Well that’s just great.” He said out loud to himself. Here I am well over three quarters of the way to the top.

  “Well only one thing I can do,” he said to himself. “Time to hoof it.”

  Titus started to notice that it was much colder up here and got some things out to put on warmer clothing. He went back over to the truck and looked over his things. “Darn it,” he thought. “Let’s see BOB bag, 30.06 and both duffels. It’s not that far to the old farm. Good thing I’m in decent shape.” He then looked and decided that pizza may be the last store bought one he gets in who knows how long. He stuffed it into his BOB bag and strapped on his two canteens.

  “Okay wait. I can’t let this stuff stay in the truck saying, ‘take me, take me.’” He then took his camp shovel from his BOB bag and went over to the right side of his truck. He slipped his stuff back off. He went two feet over into the mountain side started to dig a hole to bury the rest of his stuff.

  He decided on a hole about four feet deep and three foot wide would do. He didn’t have a lot, but what he did have was important.

  It was fully dark by now. It was getting harder to see what he was doing. Forty five minutes later, he had a good hole and deep enough so he could cover his things and still have a place no one could tell that something was buried there. He looked up the mountain side above where he dug and counted posts from the fence where the mountain was dug out 14 posts in from the beginning of the turnout. He went to his truck and got out the tarp. It was a 12 by 12 tarp. He unfolded it and tried to get the middle in the hole and pushed it down. He then began to unload and carry his things over to the hole. When he was finished, he folded the tarp over by the ends and then the sides.

  Hopefully that would keep out any moisture until he could get back here to reclaim it.

  After 30 minutes, everything was buried and covered back up. He then sprinkled some loose rock and dirt over and spread it all out and down the side of the road.

  He had about 6 inches of dirt over the tarp. He left it as much like he found the ground as he could. He turned around to make sure a large area looked the same. A light snow was falling as he finished. That helped brighten his disposition that his things wouldn’t be found. Since there was no traffic, he hadn’t had to worry about someone coming upon him while he was burying his things. Titus brushed himself off. Put on his BOB bag which was a large camp backpack to which he had tied his sleeping bag. He then slung his rifle on over his head and one shoulder. Next he hooked one canteen on a shoulder and the other hooked to his waist. Then picked up his duffel bags. He looked up the road and around up the mountainside. The last hairpin curve was one quarter of a mile away. It was the next curve and then about a mile or so to the top.

  “Well it’s not getting any lighter or warmer out here. I best get to it.” He started his trek up the rest of the grade.

  He reached the top with only setting the duffels down once because his hands were cramping up.

  “Only two miles to go and I can camp out in the Olson’s old barn for the night.” He said to himself.

  The house was Swiss cheese as far as the weather went, but the barn was still in rather good shape yet. It would at least keep the wind off. It was a gradual incline with a few hills going up the State Road towards Anatone, but nothing like the Grade. It was snowing harder up here. The further he went up the road, the colder it got and the heavier it was snowing.

  Thank goodness for his Gore-Tex winter gear. He was glad when he got to the driveway of the old Olson place. The house was about 150 feet off the road, but the barn was even further about halfway down a hillside from the house another 250 feet. When he got to the barn, he unlatched the door and stepped inside. He walked four feet ahead and set down his duffel bags. Then he leaned his rifle up against the duffels and his backpack. He opened a side pocket on the left side of his backpack where he knew he had a couple of long lasting candles and matches. He lit a candle. The barn looked the same as it had last year when they came up here to bury a cache of supplies and look the place over for steadiness. The thing that had really saved the barn is that years ago it must have been used for storage. They had replaced the old roof with metal. No one had done anything with the place for years after that. They figured that they wouldn’t do anything for years more and it would be a perfect meeting place.

  There wasn’t much to the barn. It was a small one about 20’ by 30’ with left over bales of hay or straw on a wooden platform at the end of the barn. The platform was 12’ by 30’ and ran the length of the barn. The hay was deceiving because in the middle they had cleared a spot for sleeping and sitting or whatever. All he had to do was move a couple of bales, step over one and then replace the ones he had moved after he was in. First thing that he did though was go back to the door and close the wood slide on the inside. Now the only way someone could get inside was to knock or break down the door. Then he went over and moved the two bales that he needed and went back for his duffel’s, rifle and backpack.

  He put his things on one end of the hay enclosure and moved the bales back into place. He wouldn’t have to worry about digging up the supplies for about three days. He wouldn’t leave for five days if his brothers didn’t show up. He would wait as long as he could for them. That was one thing they had decided on. If one of them didn’t show up after five days, it was time for any of the others to get to their parents place.

  He was one hungry and tired puppy after that walk with so much of his stuff. He pulled o
ut a slice of squashed pizza and ate that while taking sips of water from one of his canteens. Then he spread out his sleeping bag. He slipped his 357 out of its holster and laid it beside him. With his rifle on the other side in case he rolled over. Then he blew out the candle beside him. Before he knew it, he was sound asleep.

  Chapter 9

  The Warning

  Lewiston, Idaho other brothers same day:

  Andrew was having a pretty good day. It was a fast one any way. It was now 2 PM and he got off work in two hours. He was going over to his younger brother Aaron’s tonight for dinner. Aaron’s girlfriend was barbequing chicken tonight. He had been getting pretty tired of his own cooking. He rarely made it up to Dad and Mom’s any more for dinner. So this would be a very nice break. He was still working part time temporary for the City of Lewiston Parks Department and part-time on the callboard for Potlatch Lumber. He was sure hoping to get on full time at Potlatch next year. An hour and half later, he had finished cleaning the bathrooms at Airport Park, raked the ball fields and was on his way to the shop to clock out. This should be the last time this year raking the field as co-ed softball was now over.

  Andrew was a good looking young man with short brown black hair like his fathers and blue eyes. He was 5 foot 11 inches tall and weighed 172 pounds. He had a great set of dimples that the girls really liked, but as yet he wasn’t serious with anyone. He didn’t do a whole lot of dating. He wanted a good serious relationship that would lead to marriage, not just a fly by night one. He saw what that had done to many of his friends with jumping into a relationship without really knowing what the other person was like and getting to serious too soon. He had been raised differently from his friends around him. He knew that for sure. This fact had also kept him from making some of the very big mistakes that his friends had made.