One Man's Island

by Thomas J. Wolfenden

  “But how is it all the electric things work?”

  Tim went on to explain about the Faraday Cage built into the house, and how everything here was ready to use when they found it.

  “Just walked in and turned on the light switch,” Tim said. They went into the huge kitchen and dining area, and Tim put on the Mr. Coffee machine and made a pot of coffee.

  “This is just amazing. So this place was just sitting here?”

  “Not only this place. There are forty more homes just like it going back into the forest about three miles. There’s a communal well that runs off solar, and it puts out thirty gallons a minute.”

  “Unbelievable!” Izzy said.

  Tim took out two mugs from the cupboard when the coffee was finished, and poured them each a cup.

  “Would you like cream and sugar?”

  “Yes, please,” Izzy said.

  Tim went to a huge refrigerator, opened the door and produced a gallon jug of milk.

  “Surely that’s not…”

  “Real milk? Sadly no, it’s powdered. I wish I could find a real cow!”

  They fixed their coffees, and Tim grabbed a small pouch off the table next to an easy chair in the living room, and they went back out on the porch. Tim took the pouch, pulled a meerschaum pipe out, and filled the bowl with tobacco, tamping it and then lighting it with a wooden match. They sat down on two chairs and looked out over the meadow.

  “Every night at dusk, a huge heard of elk come down and graze here,” Tim pointed to the far side of the clearing.

  “It’s very idyllic,” Izzy commented.

  “It is. Far cry from where we’ve come from. I was very happy to find this place. Apparently it was designed and built with the survivalist in mind, very rich survivalists. Each home came fully stocked with five years’ worth of food for a family of five, fully furnished with all the appliances you could imagine. The place even has a full basement with a fallout shelter, stocked wine cellar, and arms room. The starting price was $8 million a pop,” Tim said.

  “So you just walked in and made yourselves at home? How nice!” Izzy said, shaking his head.

  “To tell you the truth, I’d have never have known it was here if it wasn’t for someone we met in Nebraska,” Tim said, then proceeded to tell Izzy about the chance encounter they’d had with Dawn Redeagle. He didn’t, however, elaborate on the whole conversation of the Hopi prophecies and Robyn’s belief that he was somehow some kind of savior.

  As they talked, in the back of his mind, he was still wondering where he’d met Holly before. Her beauty was enough to have been seared into his brain years ago, but he still couldn’t place it. Then it hit him. He remembered the pursed lips in a red gash across her face, the dark visor of the pilot’s helmet, and the wisp of red hair curling out from under it, and he laughed, interrupting what Izzy had been saying.

  “What’s wrong, Tim?”

  “I just realized where I met your companion, and when she finally realizes who I am, she will not want to stick around,” he said with a laugh.

  “Why’s that?” Izzy asked with raised eyebrows.

  Tim went on to explain the incident in Iraq, so many years ago, and when he was finished, Izzy let out a big whistle.

  “That, young man, is an incredible story. I don’t know what I’d have done in your position.”

  “I heard later she was pressing for a courts martial, but my battalion commander had it squashed. I’m fairly sure that when she figures it out, I’ll be persona non grata!”

  “Yes, I’d be gearing up for it. I’ve seen her go off before,” Izzy said. “It’s the temper of a redhead.”

  “Oh, I’m expecting it any moment now,” Tim said, leaning back, taking a sip of his coffee and puffing on his pipe.

  “NO! You’ve got to be kidding!” he heard someone screech, looked over at Izzy, and winked.

  “Here it comes!” he said, and sat back and waited. He heard a door slam, heavy footsteps on the wooden staircase, then again across the living room. Then the screen door exploded open and Holly came out and stood there staring at Tim. Her feet were firmly planted on the ground, hands on her hips. Her face was as red as a beet, and it looked like she would explode at any moment.

  She just looked at him for several seconds, and then through clenched teeth asked, “Well, did he live? The soldier, did he live?”

  Tim took the pipe from his mouth and took a deep breath. “No. He died in a burn unit in Germany five days later. I’d promised his mother I’d take care of him.”

  She looked at him for a few more moments, and her eyes teared up. She took a few ragged breaths then stormed off across the meadow into the tree line on the other side. Tim looked over at Izzy, and shrugged.

  “In hindsight, I wish I could have done things a little differently, but at the time, all I was thinking about was my soldiers, and really didn’t care about the consequences.”

  Izzy nodded. “Hindsight is always twenty-twenty.”

  “That it is,” Tim said, as Robyn came out the door and looked at him.

  “I swear I didn’t say anything. She just got this look on her face all of a sudden and ran down here,” she said. “Where’d she go?”

  Tim pointed out to the far tree line and she ran off in that direction.

  “Hey! Aren’t you forgetting something?” he shouted after her.

  “Oh yeah!” she said, running back into the house and coming out with an M4 carbine slung over her back.

  “That’s better,” he said, and watched her run off into the trees on the far side of the meadow.

  “I hope she’s not going to shoot Holly when she finds her,” Izzy said, and Tim laughed.

  “No, I taught her never to go anywhere without it. Just for protection. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

  “I hope she’s alright,” Izzy said.

  “I’m sure she will be. Robyn will talk to her. That kid is smart, a lot smarter than me. You saw all those books in there on that huge bookshelf?” Tim said, leaning toward Izzy. “She’s read them all, twice. I think if we could give her an IQ test, the results would come back ‘one at a time, please’.”

  “Really, you don’t say?” Izzy said, sipping his coffee.

  “And you saw all those antennas on the roof? They’re hers. She’s a ham. We were driving through Utah on the way here and she saw this house with all the antennas, and she wanted to stop and check it out. We found all this old ham equipment. It was all stuff from the fifties and sixties, all vacuum tubes, no printed circuits at all, so it survived the EMP. I told her about it, and she lugged almost everything in the house out to our camper. Only took her a week to figure it all out by reading the manuals, and now she’s doing over a hundred words a minute in Morse code. There are about seven people she’s contacted all over the world, and has this huge map on her wall pinpointing them all.”

  “Vacuum tubes, that’s interesting. I recall a story I heard while I was at the Academy,” Izzy said. “This young Czechoslovakian pilot had become disillusioned by Marxism-Leninism and decided to defect to the West, bringing with him a brand new Mig-17. When the CIA got hold of it, they were laughing at how antiquated everything was, the vacuum tubes and mechanical avionics, until one of them had a flash of insight and remembered a study about EMP, and realized the Soviets did it on purpose.”

  “Yeah, I’ve heard the story myself. The CIA were caught with egg on their faces, and had to figure out a way to harden all the electronics.”

  “But Robyn can now do a hundred words a minute in code?”

  “Yes, so fast I can’t keep up with her. Morse was never my strong suit.”

  “That is impressive!”

  “Everything she wants to learn about, she does, rapidly, and it sticks with her.”

  “But she forgets her rifle?”

  “She does it all the goddamn time,” Tim said with a laugh. “Come on. I’ll get dinner ready.”

  They went back inside and Tim prepared the roast and all
the fixings in the gourmet kitchen.

  “So, she’s found that many survivors?” Izzy asked, seated on a barstool along the kitchen counter.

  “Yeah, I was impressed by that too. But there’s little communities growing now in Europe, Russia and in Japan.”

  “I wouldn’t have thought that civilization would have bounced back so fast.”

  “I didn’t think so either, but there it is. Driving across the country, we did see signs of other people, but only came into contact with a few, and those I’d have rather gone without meeting,” Tim said, sliding the roast into the oven. “I know this is a little soon to be making this offer, but you guys are welcome to stay as long as you want.”

  “I appreciate the offer, Tim. I’ll discuss it with Holly. It would really be up to her, and I think she still may be a bit upset with you. But it is very tempting,” Izzy agreed, looking around the spacious kitchen.

  “Well, the offer stands. We’ve got plenty of room and it’s been so long since either of us has had anyone to talk to outside of each other. You think it over, okay?”

  “We will, Tim. We did have other plans, but they might be able to be put on hold for a while,” Izzy said after a moment of contemplation.

  “Other plans?”

  “I’ll let Holly tell you the details. She knows of an island in the South Pacific. That’s where we were headed.”

  “An island did you say?” Tim asked. There goes that island again.

  “Is anything wrong, Tim? You just got this strange look on your face.”

  “No, just had a thought is all. Nothing is wrong.”

  “You look as though you’ve just seen a ghost.”

  “I’m fine, Izzy. Dinner is going to be a bit. Do you want to freshen up? I’ll show you to the spare bedrooms and get you a towel for a shower if you want.”

  “I dream of a hot shower!” Izzy said with a huge grin, following Tim up the stairs and to the bedroom. Tim showed him where the guest bathroom was and handed him a fresh towel.

  “We’ve got plenty of hot water. Take as long as you’d like,” Tim said, and left him to his shower.

  He went back downstairs and out to the porch, picked up his pipe and lit another bowl. He sat there for quite some time, and after a while, two figures came out of the woods hand in hand like they were best friends. When they got to the porch, Holly came over to Tim and leaned on the railing.

  Robyn gave Tim a look that said, ‘you’d better be nice, Daddy!’ and walked into the house.

  “Tim… I…” Holly said, and Tim cut her off.

  “Holly, I think I need to apologize.”

  “No, Robyn and I had a really long chat. She told me the story.”

  “I had no business scaring you like that. It was a spur of the moment thing, I was just—”

  “You were protecting your men. I understand,” she said. “I was just so scared… I peed myself,” she said, and Tim stifled a giggle.

  “It’s not funny!” she said angrily, but the smile on her face belied her feelings.

  “No harm, no foul.”

  “Friends?” she asked, extending a hand.

  “Friends!” he said, taking it and holding on just a little too long, looking into her green eyes. He looked away then and dropped his hand. “Izzy is up taking a shower. Why don’t you get Robyn to show you where everything is, and you can get cleaned up before dinner. It should be ready in about an hour.”

  “Alright then, I’ll do that,” she said, turning to go. She stopped when she got to the door, and turned back to him. “And thank you for inviting us here. You didn’t have to.”

  “Yes I did,” he said, puffing on his pipe. She turned and went into the house, leaving Tim with the image of her emerald eyes, and a feeling came over him, one he’d not felt in a long, long time. He brushed that from his mind, entered the house, and went to the kitchen to work on supper. Robyn was there, shucking the corn, and she smiled as he came in.

  “So, I take it you and Holly had a nice little talk?”

  “Yeah, she’s really nice, Daddy!” Robyn said with a wink.

  “I’m sure she is,” he said, checking on the roast and putting a pot of water on to boil for the corn. “I should have roasted it. It tastes so much better that way,” he added, pointing at the corn.

  “Stop changing the topic, Dad. She was really upset. But I told her how you were just taking care of your troops and it wasn’t personal at all.”

  “Well, we made up.”

  “Did you kiss?” she said, giggling.

  “No! Now bring me the corn, young lady!” She brought over four ears of fresh corn and dropped them in the pot of water.

  “Did you really call her a ‘Pompous British Fuck’ over the radio?” she asked, and Tim let out a big laugh.

  “Yeah, I did.”

  “You didn’t add that part when you told me the story a few years ago!”

  “It was selective editing,” he said. “Now go wash up. Dinner’s almost ready.”

  “Yes, sir!” she said, walking away.

  “And don’t—”

  “Call you sir! I know! You work for a living!”

  Tim got out the dishes and set the table, then going went down to the basement, returning with two bottles of white wine and put them in the fridge to chill. They were already cool, but he thought it’d be nice to have it really cold for dinner. He wasn’t a big wine drinker, but he knew you chilled whites, and red were served at room temperature. The thing that always confused him was whether it was white with red meat and red with fish, or the other way around. After about forty minutes, he pulled the roast— a big one thankfully— from the oven and let it stand while he readied the potatoes and corn. He’d even gone to the greenhouse for some fresh lettuce, tomatoes and carrots, and tossed a salad. When everything was ready, he called out. All three came downstairs together. Robyn had changed out of her ACUs, and was now wearing Wranglers and a tank top that showed off her nice figure. She was a far cry from that skinny little kid he’d met so long ago. Izzy was dressed in jeans also, and a golf shirt, but Holly still had on her flying suit that Tim thought she filled out rather nicely. She had showered, and her long, naturally wavy hair spilled over her shoulders and almost reached her buttocks. He caught his breath as he held her chair for her.

  “Thank you,” she said, sitting down. “This is unbelievable!”

  “Yes,” Izzy agreed. “It’s like I’ve died and gone to heaven!”

  “I simply loved the shower! I didn’t want to get out! I dreamed for so long to wash my hair like that.”

  “Well, as we say here in America, me casa, es su casa.”

  “It’s like nothing ever happened here,” Izzy said, taking huge helpings of everything. When they all had plenty on their plates, they dug in and ate without conversation. Izzy finished a mouthful and swallowed, looking over at Tim. “You’ll have to excuse us. We haven’t had this kind of meal in a long, long time”

  “That’s quite alright. There’s plenty, so take more if you’d like.”

  “So this is elk?” Holly asked. “It’s delicious!”

  “Yes. I’ve got more of that, some mule deer and some wild pig too,” Tim said. “But we won’t cook that for you, Izzy, if you don’t eat it.”

  “Oh, that’s alright. I’m a JINO.”

  “JINO?” Tim asked.

  “Jew In Name Only. Izzy Ginsberg loves his ham sammiches,” he said, and they all laughed.

  When they were done eating, Tim poured everyone another glass of wine and sat back down.

  “Well, I’ll say it again and the offer stands. You two are welcome to stay as long as you want. There’s plenty of room, plenty of food, and plenty of wine! At least this place wasn’t set up for Mormons, it has a pretty impressive wine cellar.”

  “Izzy did tell me of your offer, and we will take that into consideration, Tim,” Holly said. “We may stay for a bit, but we did have someplace we were headed.”

  “Izzy told me about the is
land. You two weren’t planning on flying that contraption across the Pacific, were you? ”

  “No, we were going to California to find a boat.”

  “Something like a sailboat?”

  “Yes. We are going to find a sailboat and find an island in the South Pacific that Holly had visited,” Izzy said, and Tim got a weird look on his face again, but it quickly passed.

  “An island you say?” Tim asked, sitting up, and setting down his wine glass.

  “Yes, it was rather nice. I had to land on it shortly before everything happened. My copilot and I were taking a C-17 from Diego Garcia to Honolulu for an airshow. I was to leave the aircraft there and fly out commercially to Colorado, where I was to be an exchange officer for two years. We had just refueled in flight with a US Air Force KC-135, and about an hour later we had electronics difficulties. Half our avionics went out. We had to land somewhere, and this US Navy EB-3 Hawkeye vectored us into this island that wasn’t on any of our charts.”

  “Where exactly was it?” Tim asked.

  “It was east of Micronesia someplace. The Marshall Islands I think. Anyway, when we landed, it was dark and we couldn’t see a thing, but this Navy lieutenant met us and told us all about the island, how it was secret and hush-hush,” she said, putting down her wine glass. “The place is called Volivoli, and apparently there’s a stockpile of food and equipment, medical supplies and everything to last a Marine Division a whole month. We were there three days, and it was so beautiful! It had snow white sandy beaches and palm trees blowing in the breeze,” she said, with a faraway look on her face.

  “So we figured we’d set sail for it, and live out the rest of our lives there. I figured if there was enough food and medical supplies to last a division of marines a month, we’d be set for life there,” Izzy chimed in.

  “Wow, Dad! That sounds like one big adventure!” Robyn said, finishing her wine, and getting a little giddy.

  “Yeah, it does,” he said, thinking about the island again, and why that dream always came back to him. The one where he was the eagle soaring above an island, sensing danger, and not being able to do anything about it.

  “Anything wrong, Dad?” Robyn asked.