2nd Earth: Shortfall

by Edward Vought

  They also went around to everyone in the family and wrote down everything they could remember about themselves. We are keeping the same information on all of us. I think they call studying family trees, genealogy. This way we will at least leave a record of at least one small group, who is trying to get civilization back where it was, only this time maybe we can eliminate the wars and the poverty. So far we are doing well with everyone being equal, and everyone doing what they can for each other. I joke around, but I am very glad that Ken has joined us, he helps out in so many ways, and is a heck of a nice guy as well. I only have to read three stories tonight to get all the little ones to sleep. Dayna always teases me and tells me if I would tell the girls some of my war stories, they would probably fall asleep much quicker.

  17

  We are getting a very nice herd of dairy cows. We all take turns milking them, which can be a real adventure when you haven’t done it before. We always have plenty of butter and cream for ice cream, plus milk for anyone who wants to drink it. We have even learned to pasteurize the milk by heating it in some large vat like kettles that we also found in the barn. The pasteurizing, although somewhat primitive, helps kill the bacteria and other things that could hurt us that may be in the milk, in its raw state. Our neighbors are also starting to put together a herd, for now though we have plenty of milk and other milk products to share. Our chicken experts, Jenny, Samantha, Rachel, and Jessica went over to the neighbors back in January and helped them get their chicken coop full, and have helped them learn pretty much everything they have.

  Dan, Don, and Andrew, our bee and honey experts, have really taken over that chore. During the winter they took it upon themselves to build several dozen bee hives that look like wooden boxes with lids on them. Then they set them up near where the old ones were and in a couple other places around the farm, mostly near the edge of the woods. The book they have told them if they could find the queen bee in an existing hive, and transfer her to the new hives, the rest of the hive would follow. Actually, even the ones that they didn’t transfer a queen to are now full of bees making honey all the time. They are also our best hunters and keep the freezers full pretty much all the time.

  Dayna finally corralled me into painting the house. I don’t feel too bad though, because all the other husbands got drafted to do the same thing. We are painting each house a slightly different color. There was quite a bit of minor repair work to be done before we could paint them, but they are really starting to look nice. We have also done quite a bit of landscaping and the yards all look great, or at least show signs of looking great, when the grass is fully grown in and the weeds are totally gone. We changed the carpeting in all of our houses and in our neighbor’s houses as well. We found a warehouse full of carpeting that is still in very good shape. Our wives picked out what kind they wanted and we put it in for them.

  The puppies are starting to sleep in some of the others houses as well. They are big enough to be separated from their mommy, but they still like to be with at least one of their brothers or sisters, so they kind of make their rounds with the children. The mother, Princess, follows the children everywhere they go. It’s a good thing, because those twins along with six year old Karen, can wander off quicker than anyone I have ever seen. Princess keeps them around the house so that they can be found quickly. If they are not in sight, she will bark when one of the women call them to let them know where they are. Usually all you have to do is look for the largest concentration of puppies and they will be there.

  All in all we are about as happy as we can be. No one regrets leaving the city and no one has ever complained about the work we have to do here. Actually, with as many of us as there are, no one has to do a tremendous amount of work. There are at least two or three friends that do every job and we always take turns doing the harder jobs. Today I am painting the peaks on the house when I see a military type jeep coming down the main road and turn onto the smaller road leading to our homes. There are three men riding in the open jeep, and they are wearing what they are apparently trying to pass off as military uniforms. The only ones in the yard are some of the women and children playing, but from up here I can see our men getting into defensive position.

  The women gather the children and take them to the houses while I get down and walk across the yard to meet the men before they can come too far into the yard. They pull up when I am standing in the driveway between them and the yard and the driver gets out smiling. He tells me today is our lucky day.

  “Lucky for you we were just driving by this fine farm and noticed that you are living here. How many people are living on the farm by the way?”

  I tell him our whole family, but don’t mention any numbers.

  “Well sir I can see that you have a lot of women and younguns running around. Have you ever given thought that someone may try to take all this away from you, or may abduct some of the ladies? That’s why we’re here, the Colonel is a security specialist and we are his deputies. For a fee we could move in here and protect you from that sort of thing happening.”

  For one thing his Colonel is wearing an army master sergeants shirt with blue jeans for pants. Not exactly regulation uniform, he acts like he is gracing us with his presence when he gets out of the jeep. He is looking around like he is sizing up the place. I tell them we don’t need any one to protect us, so they can be on their way.

  “Don’t be hasty friend, my associates and I can give you that feeling of comfort that comes from knowing you are safe.”

  He pats the revolver he has in a holster on his hip, and starts to say something about people coming that are not as nice as him. He doesn’t get to finish what he is saying. Our guys think he may be going for that gun and step into view with their weapons trained on the three men. Now seeing twenty-five men staring at you over the sights of a rifle aimed at you can give you religion real quick. The funniest part is when Ryan and Ken come tearing into the yard in the military jeep that they fixed up with an M60 mounted in the back like an old TV show that Ken used to watch the reruns of. Those three raised their hands so quick I am afraid they may hyperextend their elbows.

  They all say they meant no harm and will be on their way. First I ask them if they have found many settlements or groups like ours in their travels. They say not really, in fact ours is the best looking and most prosperous looking they have seen and they have been through several states. The ones they have seen, which are not very many, are generally small groups and most of them still living close to the cities. We tell them there are other farms if they are willing to work, but they prefer to move around so they leave. I think Ryan’s disappointed that he didn’t get to shoot them with his M60. With all the excitement over for a while anyway we go back to work painting or whatever we were doing. At supper we all get a good laugh over the Colonel and his men, we hope they find what they are looking for.

  The days go by and I finally do get our house painted to the ladies approval. I have to admit that no one would ever think this is the same place we came to back in October. Our next project is to paint the barns as well as finish putting in the crops we can, as we can.

  I am painting the peaks on the biggest barn we have, when Dayna comes out and tells me she has a group on the CB radio in the house who wants to know where we are located. I have been so intent on what I am doing that I haven’t been looking around, but when she tells me that I look toward the road and see several cars coming toward the road that leads to our farm. Dayna rings the bell, to alert everyone that company is coming. The cars pull into the yard and we can see that it is a mixture of men, women and children in the cars. I climb down from the ladder and meet them. I have to admit they are polite. No one gets out of the cars yet. I come up to the open window on the drivers’ side of the first car.

  It is a neat looking man, about ten years older than dad and Frank. In the passenger seat is a woman, who looks like she could be his wife, and in the backseat are three adults and two children. The adults, or young ad
ults may be more accurate, are two women and one man. The children look to be between four and six. I’m not a very good judge of ages whether it be adults or children. I can see they are not very comfortable so I tell them they can get out and stretch their legs if they would like. Dayna, Robin, and Melissa come out to meet them, which violates every rule we have about strangers. The look they give me tells me they know they are breaking the rules and to go ahead and stop them, if I think I am big enough. I would rather get shot than get into an argument with all three of them.

  Just to give you an example, last week when I finally finished painting the house I called the ladies out to have them inspect it. They walked around the whole house like they are seeing it for the first time, then decide they want the shutters a dark brown instead of white, which by the way, is the color they told me they wanted them first. I told them I would paint them brown the very next time they need painting. The look they gave me sent chills down my back, but I stuck to my guns and told them I was definitely not going to paint the shutters brown now. They quietly walked up on to the porch and when they got just inside the door Dayna asked me, very politely, if I would set up the ladder so she could go up and start painting the shutters again. The children were playing on the porch with two of the puppies, but stopped playing long enough to comment to each other.

  “Daddy’s in trouble,” that was Tammy, “Again,” that was Tina. Karen and Kathy agreed with them, then went back to playing. I tell Dayna she can’t climb a ladder being five months pregnant. She told me she doesn’t have a choice, because the shutters don’t look like they thought they would and now they need to be painted brown. I give up. I tell her I will paint the shutters brown if that’s what will make them happy. They all kissed me and went back in the house smiling. I sure wish they would have noticed that the white didn’t look right before I finished painting them all though.

  Well back to our company, I have to quit daydreaming like that. The people get out of the cars and we can see the relief in their faces. The cars are all crowded, there appears to be about thirty people in the group. I warn them not to make any threatening gestures because we have men stationed around to shoot first and ask questions later. Some of the young men smile and ask me if I really think that old bluff will work. With that, I whistle and six men step out from beside the buildings, where they have been watching everything that is going on. They are all heavily armed and believe me they know how to use those guns they are carrying. The smiles leave the young men’s faces and the older gentleman assures us they have no intentions of harming anyone. He says they heard what they think was messages we gave to other groups by way of the short wave radio.

  He says they would have answered and talked to us, but their radio would only receive signals, they couldn’t send any out. They did take our advice about using generators and changing tires on vehicles so that they could use them. He is looking at all the trucks and other vehicles we have in the yards and along the barns. He is not missing much. He is looking at the freshly painted houses and the barns, which are in the process of being painted if the women don’t change their minds about the colors again. Between you and me I do have to admit that the shutters look much better brown than they did white. Don’t you dare tell the girls that, now they think they owe me a favor and if they find out I agree with them, I will never hear the end of it.

  He asks if we have some water we may be able to spare for the children. Now the girls are embarrassed because they have been talking to the women from the cars and haven’t offered them a drink yet. All discipline and order just goes out the window, all the women and children have to come over and meet our guests. With the weather turning warmer, we have started using five gallon water jugs that we keep full of cold water and ice in case anyone wants a cool drink. The ladies ask our guests if they would like a flavored drink, the children drink quite a bit of the flavored drinks. We found about fifty tons of different flavors sealed in plastic containers, we tried it and it tastes great. It is a big hit with our guests as well, I tell all the men to stand down, they already have, but I think I should at least make it official.

  While the women and children are talking or playing, the puppies are a big hit and love the attention as much as the children love them. I take the apparent leader along with dad, Frank, Tim, and Billy and show him and some other interested people around the farm. The leader introduces himself as Doctor Donald McEvoy, he says he was a practicing physician when the war happened that changed everything. They lived in Erie, Pennsylvania until they heard our message and took our advice. They rounded up everyone they could find and came down looking for somewhere to live. It was by pure dumb luck that they found us, they knew we weren’t really in South Carolina because of some conversations they overheard on the short wave, but they didn’t have any idea that we were here either until they heard a CB conversation and recognized Tim’s voice, not more than fifteen minutes ago.

  Tim says he is guilty. He was talking to Ryan and mentioned the main road name that runs up to the small road that we live off of. The doctor says they were coming up to that road when they heard that and decided to follow it to see where it would take them. They are not very religious people, although Dr. McEvoy says he thinks Heavenly Father led them to us so that we can help each other. We are not going to argue with them because we have discussed why Tim, Ken, and I were chosen to come to this time and place, wherever it may be. Even though we have no way of knowing for sure, we do feel that we were led here by some divine hand, perhaps to do exactly what we are doing now.

  We show our guests pretty much everything we have done since we came here. They are impressed to say the least. They just shake their heads when we tell them about using the windmills to generate electricity and converting our houses over to use electricity for just about everything. Primarily because it is free and we will never run out as long as the windmills function properly, and our storage batteries last. The fields of wheat and the other crops starting to sprout are very impressive as well. They ask if it is too late this year to plant crops and still get them harvested in time before winter. They are like us, used to the snow and cold of the northeast, if anything being from Erie they are used to much more snow than we are.

  When they see the chickens we introduce them to Jenny, Samantha, Rachel, and Jessica who are responsible for our excellent chicken and egg part of the food chain. They tell them they could easily show them how to get started the same way we did. When they see the milk cows they ask if we are able to get milk from the cows or if they are just for meat. Dayna must be psychic because she asks them if they would like to sample a glass of ice cold milk to see if we milk our cows. Dr. McEvoy and his wife say they would love some, but if the children could have some they can go without. We assure them we have plenty, in fact we have to make butter and ice cream sometimes to keep the milk from going bad. They say in that case they will be glad to have a big glass of milk. They don’t just drink the milk they savor every swallow like some might drink a glass of vintage wine.

  We show them our area for butchering meat, we just happen to have half a steer hanging ready to be cut up, and we have a smoke house full of pork that is close to being ready. We have found that we all enjoy smoked pork chops, and other cuts that we tried smoked, so we smoke much more now than just the bacon and the hams. We go back to the meeting house so that everyone can meet each other. The ladies have some fresh baked bread and some ham cut up for sandwiches, or honey to just spread on the warm bread and eat it that way. Some of the adults are a little shy about eating the ham until they taste it, then they decide it is okay after all. We have to remember that these people are like most of our family. They have never had fresh meat until recently, and even milk is totally foreign to most of them, just like it was to all of our people except for Tim, Ken, and I, and the older people of course.

  The children eat like they are starving. We ask Dr. McEvoy if they have enough supplies to last them for a while. He is embarrassed and
says that’s the one thing they couldn’t make room for on the trip, and they ran out of food yesterday. They were hoping to find a town where they could get some food today. We tell them we will make sure they have food whether they stay or not. He says that brings up a very interesting point, he asks if we can talk outside. I call our council together and we go outside with Dr. McEvoy and a couple of the other men and women from their group. First off they thank us very much for the excellent food and for being so friendly. Naturally we tell them it’s our pleasure, we believe that we are supposed to help those who have less than we do, or just need something we have.

  They smile and say it’s time to cut the small talk and get down to business. Dr. McEvoy is their spokesman.

  “Mr. Gorman, may I call you Jon?”

  I tell him of course, we’re all friends here.

  “When we first met I said that we could help each other, I’m afraid the only thing that we could offer your family would be medical advice or help. You are the most self sufficient group of people I have ever seen. You are doing what many societies have tried to do and failed miserably. You have taken, how many, sixty some individuals and brought them together as a family that works together for the good of each other.”

  I assure him it was nothing I did.

  “I didn’t bring this group together. We came together as a group because we all realize that as individuals none of us will survive for very long. Most of our family has already tried that and knows it doesn’t work. Each of us has unique talents and interests that we bring to the table, right down to the young children that you see running around. They want to help with any project they can. Sometimes we take them fishing so they can catch fish for a meal. Can you imagine how good it can make a four or five year old feel to know that they contributed to the whole families’ meal? Everyone will tell those children what a great job they did as well, no one has to tell them to thank each other or praise the others contributions. We do it because we honestly love each other and want each other to know how important they are to the family. There is no leader here. This is our council at this time. That will change so that everyone has a voice in what we do as a family.”