by Chris Hechtl
----------
When Hayden felt disconnected with Bret, she conspired with Terri to get some alone time. She convinced him to skinny dip with some loving support. When they were in the water, Terri casually walked up and stole their clothes.
He grumbled about the theft, trying to wade ashore as Hayden laughed behind him. “Come back you little witch! Okay, you can come back! This isn't funny anymore! Or at least bring me back my clothes,” he said. “Her, she can do without them,” he said. Hayden smiled and laughed at him and then started to horseplay. He ended up trying to pin her but a shrewd leg sweep tripped him. She pinned him to the ground, fingers twining with hers. “You were saying?” she asked with a smug grin. There was only one way he knew of to wipe that smug smirk of her face. Well two, but he didn't want to be killed for tickling her so he kissed her. She grinned, and they made love on the water's edge. Their adventure lead to them rolling into the water, which made Bret sputter and Hayden giggle into hysterics.
“Great, I'm outside, naked, with a horny pregnant lady,” he mock grumbled. “Very horny,” he said, looking at her as she approached him with lust still in her eyes. “Help, help,” he said. She purred a chuckle but then tugged him over to her.
“Come 'ere,” she said with a throaty growl. He chuckled as her lips devoured his again.
They got some good natured ribbing when they got back to base wearing grass skirts and ferns. Bret was a bit put out; what they had done was dangerous. It was a funny prank but ….
“Talk about Adam and Eve,” Terri teased with a leer. She wolf whistled as he angrily took his shorts away from her. She giggled with other women at his vibrant blush as he put them on. Apparently they had taken the opportunity to mend the clothes they'd stolen in his absence.
“Nice tushy, I see why you wanted to land him,” Terri said to Hayden.
“He's mine, all mine,” Hayden said lovingly, coming over to her uncomfortable mate. She grabbed his tush hard enough to make him squeak and go on his toes. The girls snickered again. “Right, dear?” she asked with a bite in her tone.
“Yes, ma'am,” he gasped out.
“Good answer,” she said with a grin. He caught Terri's sad look but turned his eyes on his mate.
----------
When the walls of the cabin were finished, Bret switched tasks to the outer buildings. He roughed them out in a couple of days with their help and then taught the ladies how to thatch roofs. The women were lighter so they could go up on roofs of the cabin and outer buildings, though he wouldn't let Hayden do it, nor did Terri. Hayden was reduced to sending up material to the girls to use from the ground.
They had built the outbuildings along the wall, using the wall as part of the structure to make it easier on them. The cabin, farm buildings, tepee, the two lean-tos for guests, and other structures were starting to crowd the area he realized, but he couldn't help it. He agreed with the girls. They were not going to use the garden area, not when the shoots were sprouting.
At Jenise's timid request, they built an outhouse shed over the midden pit. They didn't like to thatch that roof due to the smell but at least the small building was easy to do, though a bit wobbly even with diagonal supports.
“Obviously lashings and notches aren't going to work,” Terri observed. She shook the building, making Jenise jump in alarm.
“Don't do that!” she scolded.
“Sorry. But …,” Terri waved a helpless hand.
“It's the best we've got with the tools and stuff here. When we have nails, we can do more,” Bret said simply. “For now, something is better than nothing.”
“True.”
“As for the thatching …,” he shrugged as he brushed off some of the straw. It wouldn't last long he knew. “It'll work for now. It may not keep all of the wet out, but again ….”
“Something is better than nothing. Gotcha,” Terri said with a nod.
“It'll keep at least until we can make shaker or slate shingles,” he said.
“And that will be when?”
“Some maybe now, but most likely next year. Break's over,” he said, waving them back to work. Terri groaned but got to her feet and moved out.
----------
A few days before the meeting time, they made improved sledges to drag grain and other goods they had harvested or made back to the shore. The little luggage wheels Terri had carried were a help around camp, but Bret was dubious about them on the trail. He made another mental note to work on the trail when he had the time. He sniffed. When he had the time, he thought with a snort. He added trying to carve or cut a piece of wood into a wheel to that list. It was starting to get to be a long list he thought wryly.
When they returned to the shore they met Lori and Jim. “I've got the old good news, bad news routine,” Jim told them.
“Oh?” Bret asked as the girls hugged.
“Yeah,” Jim sighed. “We had to abandon the meadow village project when the herds left the area. Some headed south, others …,” he shrugged.
“Damn.”
“Yeah, and there were bison too,” Jim said grimacing. “And some sort of cow if you can believe it, with big ass horns,” he said.
“Ouch. I'd hate to have to wrangle it on foot.”
“Yeah, tell me about it. Miguel talked about making some sort of corral, but if they got in there, they'd just ram their way out again,” Jim said. “Or jump out,” he said.
“If you built it right now,” Bret mused “or built it so if they did ram it, you could rebuild it. A knock-down method. It'd suck to lose stock but ….” He shrugged.
“Yeah well, they are gone now anyway. But I'll put that in my back pocket to mention to the others later,” Jim said.
“So, where are you now?” Hayden asked. She sat on a rock and took her shoes off to rub at her feet. She picked out a small stone and tossed it into the water.
“Well, that's the other part of the bad news,” Lori said, looking at Terri and Jenise. “We're now in a cave about ten miles away.” She turned and pointed across the lake and beyond the crash site. “That way. South. We tried to follow the herds but …,” she shrugged.
“Gave it up.”
“Yeah. And since we need shelter …,” she shrugged again.
“I gotcha. Long hike though,” Bret said, shaking his head.
Jim sniffed, rubbing at his calves. “Yeah. You could say that.”
“We're pulling the materials out of the meadow village slowly to rebuild,” Lori stated. “We're, um, unsure about winter now though,” she said, looking at the two women.
“I would be too in your shoes,” Bret said. He looked over to Hayden who was biting her lip. He frowned. He had taught the ladies a bit about safe tubers and safe herbs and other plants. They had a pair of small truck gardens in the compound and another outside that kept getting raided.
“We've got fuzzy bunny slippers,” he said.
“Made with real bunnies,” Terri said, wrinkling her nose. “And mittens. We're still working on them though,” she said.
Lori nodded.
“I've been setting better traps to catch squirrels, minks, and rabbits but well …,” Bret shrugged helplessly.
“It looks like you're doing okay,” Jim said, eying some of the clothes the girls had on. The trio had taken to improving their spare clothes from the leather that constantly came in. Terri had her own copy of the tools Bret had made for them to use: awls, needles, and other things. They had also worked on ways to improve their leather tanning methods too. “Rabbit isn't all that great compared to venison but meat is meat,” he said.
“Unfortunately I haven't caught a live one yet,” he mused.
“Squirrel? Why would you want to?” Jim asked. “There isn't a whole lot of a meal there. A lot of energy to get such a tiny thing.”
Bret shook his head. “No, rabbit. I'd love to get a few more.”
“Ah.”
“Try a box trap,” Lori said, wrinkling her nose as she crossed her arms.
/>
“I did. It doesn't work. The little shits dig under it or chewed through it,” he said with a shake of his head. “Miguel and I were lucky to catch that warren with the net. The only surefire way to get one is with a snare. We can't count on him literally falling on his ass and netting them like that every time, though I wish it'd work out that way. Despite his aching rear end.”
“Oh.” That got an amused chuckle. He shook his head, smiling a little.
“If you can find it, pick kudzu fruit and other things but be careful of tubers and mushrooms,” Bret warned. “I showed Terri and Jenise on what to watch out for he told them.
“Yeah, I know some mushrooms are poisonous,” Jim said.
“As a cook you should know that,” Bret said with a nod of approval. “The problem is you can't really tell until you start getting sick a week later. By then it's too late. It's best to avoid them all together.”
“Potatoes are poisonous, at least the wild ones.” Lori commented. “I was a waitress,” she said with a hand up briefly.
Bret blinked at her in surprise at hearing that from her and then nodded.
“The poison is cumulative. But they can be bred to a safe version. Eventually. If you cook it, a lot of the poison leeches out,” Bret said. She nodded.
“And let me guess, you’re planning for that,” she laughed at his expression. The others looked to him in their own amusement. He shrugged.
Lori shook her head as she came over. “European potatoes are poisonous. American are clean,” she said.
He raised an eyebrow to her. Jim did as well. “Really?” That might fall in with the observation about corn. Speaking of which, they never did bring that up.
“Apparently.”
“We'd have to test it. Feed it to something and watch I guess, there is no sense risking a person. In the meantime, we have had plenty of apples. Bushels.”
Lori nodded. “I've picked a few.”
“Pick more. Lots. Save them if you can. You can make all sorts of things. And worse comes to worse, use them as bait for game.”
Lori sighed wistfully. “I wish we could make jams and stuff. Tarts. Pies,” she said, licking her lips.
He nodded. “Have you saved any seeds?” he asked. She shook her head. The woman pointed to the trees then shrugged. He turned and pointed too. “We've kept our seeds and planted them. Now that it's summer we're getting a lot.”
He took them out, and they picked the fruit area clean in a day, bringing back bushels of fruit. “What are we going to do with it all? Lori asked hopefully. He snorted. She eyed him. “No, seriously. I mean it,” she asked. “If we tried eating it in one go and we'd end up sick like Wes did.”
He nodded. “True, but we're not. We're going to store what we can. Maybe cook it into something that will store longer. Believe me. I wish we had glass,” he sighed. “If wishes were fishes, we'd all be full.”
“But we don’t.”
He shrugged. “No we don’t. No metal either, so canning is out too. But I might be able to make some barrels or something sometimes. We'll see.”
“What have you found here?”
“You name it: apples, peaches, plums, berries, potatoes, maize corn, zucchini, asparagus, cucumber, pumpkin, tomatoes, nuts, squash, grapes, pecans, strawberries, sugar beets, beans, pears, oranges, lemons, pomegranate, avocado, and limes.”
Her eyes went wide. “Quite a haul.”
“Yes. We have to compete with the local wildlife, and the take isn't like it is back home. Back home there was fertilizers and such,” he explained. She nodded. “I am dumping some waste near the fruit trees to help them along, but not much. I can't remember what they need the most of.” He grimaced. She nodded again. “And we are being careful to save the seeds in leaves and carved bowl containers,” he explained. “So we can plant groves where we want them to grow in the spring like I told you. You should do the same where you are at,” he urged. She blinked and then nodded.
“Why do you use the flint knives?” the woman asked him. “You've got that. She pointed to his belt knife. “And I know you have a Swiss army knife too.” He looked down at the knife, put one hand on it, and then shook his head.
“I … when it's gone, it’s gone. I've got a small sharpening stone in the handle, but when the blade wears out, it's worthless so ….”
“So you use the cheap stuff since you can replace it.” She nodded. “Wise.”
“Well, it is not made in China, and it's not exactly easy to make.” He looked at the knife. The handle was made of pieces of wood wrapped in shrunken leather. “But, well, it works,” he said shrugging. He had made different blades for different tasks. “This one is used to skin and clean hides,” he explained, taking it out to show her. He then put it to good use. She wrinkled her nose at the butchery, but her medical training included a strong stomach for such matters.
He had gotten lucky and caught a deer by accident. It had bolted at the sound of people nearby and tripped itself up. It had gotten caught in a hedge. He had wanted to take it alive, but the damn thing had been insane so he had to put it down with a rock.
He'd been surprised by the range of animals on the planet or whatever it was. He'd scouted a field nearby; there he had spotted bison of all things. Moose were in the forests. So were mountain lions and bobcats. Most of the area was populated with North American species. He had yet to hear a wolf howl, but he wouldn't be surprised if soon they did. “You noticed the animals are all from North America, right?”
“Like most of us?”
“Yeah.”
She nodded. Lori told them about how the gang had found a beaver pond and tried to kill the beavers. They'd gotten wet by the angry animals tail slaps. “They are just too good. Spears didn't work. The water was stirred up, and we couldn't see them until they surfaced,” she said. Bret snorted. “The one time one of us got close Bill had nearly gotten bit. So, no beaver pelt coat,” she chuckled. They laughed along in sympathy and amusement too.
“I made a bunch of stuff: hand tools, handles, and some nifty silverware, well, wooden ones,” Jenise said.
“Really?”
“Silverware?” Jim asked dubiously. “We're sort of at a barbeque level, but silverware?” He turned to look at Bret. “Priorities?”
“Silverware.” He crossed his arms and nodded. “Good practice, good trade good, and it taught her how to whittle with her flint knife, which she also had to make,” he said, looking at the girl. She wrinkled her nose at him and then wrung her hands a few times, flexing her nimble long fingers. “She got nicked a few times,” he paused to cock his head to let her show the cuts off. “But they were cleaned. Now that she knows the basics she can use that knowledge to make other things.”
“I see,” Jim said. He pointed to her. “I need a soup spoon and a spit fork and other stuff,” he said.
“Give me a list,” Jenise laughed.
“We're going to build off the first cabin to expand it,” Hayden said. Bret nodded. The basic cabin and other buildings were going to be expanded. They would need to make another for the guests who apparently planned to come and stay with them from time to time or in case they had the group turn into refugees. He winced internally at that unhappy thought. More mouths to feed in the worst time of the year. Not good. He realized his simple mountain cabin was turning into a small fort or town.
“Oh, did I tell you we found cotton?” Lori asked, looking over to them.
“No, you didn't,” Terri drawled, leaning on her walking staff.
“Well, you did now,” Hayden replied with a smile.
“There isn't a lot. A small field. We pick what we can and hand spin it into thread in our spare time by the fire. We don't have a lot but …,”
“Cotton is good for everything. Cotton rope … blankets … but it takes a lot. And it takes a lot of labor to harvest,” Bret warned.
“Lordy, do we know,” Lori said, rolling her eyes. “Which brings up the subject ….”
Bret held up hi
s hands with a chuckle. “Wait, stop. No, the answer is no. I can't make a cotton gin. Just a wee bit beyond me,” he said.
“Darn,” Lori said with a smile.
“There were hand pickers,” Hayden said with a frown. “Helen may know something.”
“She does. They look like combs.”
“Which are basically forks,” Bret said, turning to Terri and Jenise.
“Forks …,” Jenise was the first to get it. “Forks!” she said, eyes wide. “Like we can carve them right! We can make forks too. Glue from boiled hooves like you said ….”
“Exactly.”
“So, add another trade good to the list,” Lori said with a triumphant smile.
“I imagine you'll be using the majority of it yourselves,” Bret said. “But if you have a surplus, sure,” he said when she frowned.
----------
Doctor Henderson came on a trade mission in the early fall. It was obvious from the moment they saw her that her eyes were locked on one person. She wanted to check up on a rather pregnant woman as well as do a health and welfare check on the others while she was there.
Bret snorted but he knew how incredibly valuable the doctor's services were and how much he and Hayden would value her input … not just for the camp but to put some of their minds at ease about the pregnancy. He was getting nervous though he did his best to hide it.
When they got back home, the quiet woman looked around, clearly admiring the camp. Once she settled in, he put her to work making poultices and other things that could be stored and used later. She was amused but went along with it.
The girls giggled about Hayden's pregnancy. The three ladies enjoyed their time together, chatting as they caught up on news. Doc was amused by the camp and nodded in approval about the layout. She did make certain they cleaned the water in the bowl he used to dress wounds. It was also important to use boiled water for it. She teased him a bit about pitch sap as she checked over his half-healed cuts and bruises over.
Running a farm was rough on any day; when you reduced people to a primitive state, it was even harder on them. Jenise hadn't risen to the bait to return to the main group's fold, but Terri had. Jenise smiled politely when Doc inquired about how she was doing but shrugged it off.
