After they finished their lunch, they made the decision to snowshoe out to the main road to see how deep the snow really was. They packed their backpacks with some survival gear, some food and water and their rifles. Once they had their snowshoes strapped to their feet, they began the mile long hike. As they walked, they soon realized that the snow was only a foot of so deep out in the open, however, anywhere the wind could pile up the snow the drifts were as high as five feet. The going was slow, none of them were experience were snowshoes, but they all managed. As they got closer to the main road, they could hear the sound of machinery running. It sounded like an airplane. As they stood looking down the road, they realized that they could see a cloud of snow rolling from the road down into the valley below. They soon realized that a huge yellow truck with a snow blower attached on the front was moving up the mountain highway. They walked back a few yards off the road, not wanting the driver to bury them in snow if he did not see them.
Within ten minutes, the truck moved up to where they stood. The driver saw them and stopped the snow blower. Then he backed up a few feet and climbed down to the surface of the road. When he walked around to the front of the truck, the clan walked up to him and shook his hand. As they all talked, the man explained that he worked for the county road commission. He said, “It took us over a month to modify our three snow blower trucks so we could reach the pedals and steering wheels. I now have hydraulic hand controls to operate the truck and blower. I can steer the truck with a small steering wheel that operates a hydraulic valve that turns the original steering wheel. With the modifications made to our plow trucks, we now have the ability to open up this mountain road in hopes that some folks who live up here can get down to Hillsburg for medicine and supplies if they need them. I will remove the snow from your access road if you wish, since I am already here.”
As the huge truck turned east onto the road leading up to the Mountain House, the driver began blowing snow off towards the south. Randy had explained that there was nothing in the center of the yard between the barn, house and garage and that the driver could blow the snow towards the east, down into the river valley.
As the driver began clearing the road, the clan removed their snowshoes and walked behind the big truck. The truck moved very slowly, feeding the heavy snow slowly into the blower, not wanting to damage the expensive machine. When the driver finished his task and turned the truck around in the yard, he shut off the blower and the truck. When he climbed down, Randy offered him some coffee and some hot food. The driver accepted the offer.
As they all sat at the kitchen table and listened to the truck driver’s stories about life in the city and what he had heard on a local radio program, Jenna said, “We have not turned on the radio. We would have to run the generator and we are nervous about running out of gasoline.” The driver looked into her eyes and said, “I may be able to help you with that. If you have gasoline cans and a hose, we could siphon twenty or so gallons of gasoline from my truck. There is plenty in the tank to get me back to Hillsburg. I planned to turn around somewhere in this area and begin blowing snow from the right hand land on the return trip. The county will never miss the gasoline. When I return tomorrow, I could give you another twenty gallons if you have the resources to safely store it.” Randy said, “We could certainly use the fuel. We need to cut more firewood from the forest behind Jenna’s barn. The fuel will insure we can continue to heat this house until the snow melts. I have two empty fifty-five gallon drums that I can use to store the fuel.” The man looked up from his slice of apple pie and said, “I know you, Jenna. You own the farm on the east side of the highway. Just two miles down the road from here. We went to school together.” Jenna looked into the man’s eyes and instantly blushed. The man said, “Sorry. I did not mean to embarrass you.” Jenna looked into the man’s eyes and said, “Now I know who you are. We made love in the boy’s locker room during the homecoming football game.” The man giggled and said, “You do remember me.” Jenna heard a giggle to her left. She turned her head towards Britney and said, “Yes, us old people had overactive hormones in our high school years just as you kids do today. I am certain some young man got into those pretty panties of yours during your high school years.” Britney took a deep breath and looked towards her father. She smiled and said, “Father, you know I am your little girl. I would never shag a boy in the locker room.” Rodney looked into his daughter’s eyes and said, “No, you shag them in the living room in front of the fireplace while your little cousin watches.” The blood went out of Britney’s face and she turned white. She looked at her father and said, “I am very embarrassed right now. I had no idea you found out about that night in my life. Father, I had no idea that Sally watched.” Rodney said, “You were seventeen years old and I really did not want to confront you with that bit of knowledge at the time.” The truck driver said, “I did not mean to cause hard feeling between any of you. I was just trying to figure out who Jenna was.”
As they truck driver put on his boots and heavy clothing at the front door, he looked at Jenna and said, “I will plow out your driveway as I pass by. I will clear the snow as far along the north end of the barn as I can.” Jenna said, “We cleared the yard and driveway before the snow came so you should not hit anything.”
As the driver moved his truck up close to the garage, the men set up a drum and began siphoning gas from the tank on the truck into the drum. As they filled the drum, the driver said, “I still have seventy gallons in the second tank. I suggest that you completely fill that fifty-five gallon drum of yours. The county bean counters have no idea how much fuel these plow trucks consume when we have not plowed this highway in over a month. The fuel will not be missed.”
As the man climbed up into the truck, Randy climbed up the ladder to the open window, shook his hand and thanked him for plowing the driveway and for the fuel. When he climbed back down and stepped up to the porch, the clan waved at him as the truck driver headed down the road. Then Randy said to the clan, I think we should take the tractor down to Jenna’s farm and see if we are going to be able to get at the firewood. With the road cleared, we might be able to sled the wood up to the barn and then load it into the trailers. We won’t know until we get down there.
As they all loaded into the trailer hooked to the back of the tractor, they wrapped themselves up in wool blankets to keep warm. Even Randy wrapped up in a blanket as he drove the tractor along the freshly plowed road. The plow truck had cleared both lanes on the highway down towards Jenna’s farm. As they got to the entrance road to the farm, the found the winding driveway already plowed. Randy went slowly in the driveway, there was some ice under the snow and the driveway sloped a little towards the ditch. When they got to the barn, they realized that the plow truck driver had cleared the entire loop around the property and then worked his way back out the driveway. Jenna giggled and said, "Being a naughty teenage girl seems to have paid off.”
When they arrived at the first woodpile, they realized that there was two foot of snow covering the logs. They all quickly shoveled the top layer of snow from the wood until they freed the top layer of logs. They found the logs frozen together, but Rodney found a large pry bar in Jenna’s toolshed. With the assistance of the pry bar, they easily freed up the top logs. As they loaded the heavy ice laden logs into the trailer, they realized that they would only be able to take twenty logs on the first trip. By the time the trailer was loaded, everyone was cold and wet. Robert said, “I will drive the tractor for the first few minutes while all of you warm up, then we can switch every few minutes so no one gets frostbite or hypothermia.”
Once they had the first load of logs unloaded in the barn, they parked the tractor for the night. They had spent the entire day trying to get the first load of wood to the barn, but without the county snow blower operator helping them, they would still be plowing the driveway with the blade on the tractor. As they walked towards the house for the night, Jenna said, “I am wondering how long it will be before we ca
n make a trip into town. It sounds like the city is slowly recovering from the resizing. We might be able to get some supplies and have our power restored in the near future.” Randy said, “I would love to get the range running so we could cook without using the fireplace.” Jenna said, “When it warms up a little, we can cook outside in the fire pit. We could even cook one of those pigs that we saw running the river bank last fall.”
As they ate supper, they decided to return to Jenna’s farm in the morning and get two or three more loads of wood. Randy said, “We need to stack the logs so that the air can get around them and allow the wood to breathe. The cold dry air will eventually evaporate the snow and ice from the wood. Once it is dry, we can spend some time bucking it up into fireplace size logs.”
Chapter 8 – The First Thaw
The clan was again planning to gather more firewood; the task seemed endless. They still had five or six full cords in the barn, but if they wanted to burn dry wood, they needed to continually gather it and stack in in the barn in advance. The winter was not over and the cabin would need heat. They also needed the fire in the fireplace to cook their meals. They had burned most of the cut wood at Jenna’s farm, but now decided to return to the farm and cut some of the dead oak trees that stood along the small trail. There were four trees that had died a year or so ago and they would make excellent firewood. They would have to use the four-foot long two-man crosscut saws to cut down the trees and cut them into manageable size logs. The work would be difficult, but with all of the clan working together, the task was doable.
Britney and Jenna would remain at the Mountain House. Jenna would like to have joined the clan and help cut wood, but she wanted to keep the smokehouse fire burning to finish smoking a deer that Robert had killed earlier that week. The curious deer had come out to watch the guys cut wood and Robert had harvested the animal. The deer had remained fat and healthy through the worst of the cold snowy winter and the meat would feed the clan for many meals.
When the others had loaded up the trailer with the saws and some food and water, they began the cold trip down the main highway to Jenna’s farm. As they rode in the trailer, covered up in blankets to keep warm, they sang and laughed together. The sun was out and the temperature had warmed up just above freezing. The snow that hung on the trees began to melt and the birds sang their songs welcoming the upcoming spring.
Back at the Mountain House, Britney was cleaning out the fireplace. She had let the fire die down after cooking breakfast and was now shoveling the coals out into a metal bucket. She would then pour the coals on the place where they had cremated the bikers. The place had no other purpose and it was far enough from the barn that if a fire started there it would not cause any problems. Once the bucket was full of ashes, she sat them in the snow by the front porch. When she walked back into the house, Jenna walked up to her and said, “If you feel you must wear the clothing I have sewn for myself, at least have the decency to wash them and return them to where you found them. I am tired of finding my clothing lying on the floor in the bathroom where you left them lying about.” Then she turned and huffed over Britney’s careless attitude. As she walked away, Britney said, “What is the matter with you today. We have always shared our clothing. Why are you mad at me this day? I intended to pick up my stuff after cleaning out the fireplace.” Jenna spun around and walked up to Britney. She put her nose against Britney’s and said, “I am tired of your childish behavior. You seem to think you are special around here, but you are not. You are just a spoiled brat.”
This time when Jenna turned to walk away, Britney grabbed her by the hair and pulled her back towards her. Jenna screamed at Britney to let go of her, promising to kick her ass if she did not let go immediately. Britney pulled on Jenna’s hair hard and pulled her to the floor on her back. When Jenna sprung back up, she landed a fist into Britney’s eye. Britney responded with a punch of her own and knocked Jenna back down to the floor. Jenna slowly stood up and turned to face Britney. She stepped up another step closer and Britney swung on her. Jenna side stepped the punch and landed a second punch on Britney’s face, this time causing her nose to spill blood onto the floor. That pretty much ended the fight. Britney ran for the bathroom to stop her nosebleed and Jenna wiped the blood from her rapidly swelling lip and chin. Britney’s ring had done its damage on Jenna’s jaw and lip.
When the clan returned to the Mountain House with a full trailer of wood, they unloaded the snow covered logs and stacked them in the barn so they could begin to dry.
When they finished fueling the tractor and closing up the barn doors for the night, they walked into the house and began taking off their boots. Kathy spoke softly and said, “There is blood on the floor.” She quickly pulled off her other boot and then went looking for Jenna and Britney. Kathy found Britney in the kitchen cutting up some meat for supper. She was obviously upset about something, but she would not talk to Kathy. When Kathy found Jenna, she was sitting in the bathroom holding a towel to her face. When Kathy tried to enter the bathroom to check on her, Jenna pushed her back out and slammed the door shut. Kathy was instantly pissed and headed to the kitchen to confront Britney. When she stepped into the kitchen, Bonnie was holding a wet towel to Britney’s face. Bonnie looked at Kathy and just shrugged her shoulders. Obviously these two had been fighting, but the reason was unclear at this point. Bonnie and Kathy returned to the living room to remove the last of their winter clothing and discussed what had gone on while they were away. Bonnie said, “I will bring my daughter to the bathroom door and we will get to the bottom of this right now.”
When the girls all stood at the bathroom door, Kathy spoke to Jenna and said, “Jenna, either you come out here right now, or I will break this door down and drag you out. You know I can do it, so just come out and save this perfectly good door from becoming splinters.”
When Jenna opened the door, Kathy moved the towel away from Jenna’s face and looked at her cut lip and chin. Then she turned to Britney and looked at her black eyes and badly swollen nose. Kathy said, “Come with me. I want you both to tell us what happened and why you took out your frustrations on each other. There is a perfectly good woodpile in the barn that needs sawing and stacking. In the future I suggest you take out your anger on the woodpile not on each other.” Kathy pushed both women to the kitchen and sat them down on opposite sides of the table. Then she sat down and said, “I am waiting for an explanation. I cannot imagine what possessed you two idiots to beat on each other. We are clan, family if you will. We do not hurt each other, not physically nor verbally. I am waiting for your explanations.” Kathy crossed her arms and sat patiently waiting. Finally, Britney began to cry. Jenna reached across the table and tried to put her hand on Britney’s hand, but she pulled back. Then Jenna said, “I am sorry that I yelled at you and made you so angry. I had a bad morning and took it out on you. I am truly sorry. Britney wiped her eyes with the wet towel and looked up at Jenna. She giggled and said, “I am sorry that I pulled your hair and punched you. I should not have hit you just because you yelled at me. I could have just walked away until you calmed down. I too am sorry for hurting you.”
Kathy and Bonnie got up from the table and returned to the living room. Bonnie got out a towel from the kitchen and wiped up the blood on the floor. Then they sat down on the fireplace hearth and talked to the guys for a few minutes, hoping the girls in the kitchen would work things out and settle the issue. Bonnie explained to the guys that the girls had a little fight but they had worked things out, so it seemed.
During supper that night, Britney and Jenna were very quiet. It seemed that even though they had apologized to each other, the hurt feelings persisted.
When everyone came down for breakfast, Britney sat at one end of the table and Jenna at the other. They avoided eye contact as much as possible, yet they seemed to sneak peeks at each other’s injuries. The cut on Jenna’s lip was still seeping blood and her chin and face were quite black and blue. Both of Britney’s eyes were black and blue
and the right one was partially swollen shut. Her nose was very red and bruised. It also looked as if she had a cut on her lip just under her nose. As they all ate their breakfast and discussed the work they planned for the day, Jenna asked, “Can I help with the wood gathering today. I need to keep my distance from Britney today and give her time to forgive me for yelling at her.” Britney looked up into Jenna’s eyes, but did not speak. She just returned her attention to her oatmeal.
Bonnie decided to spend the day with her daughter at the Mountain House. She told Kathy that a day of hard work might give Britney time to think about her actions and her feelings. Bonnie smiled and said, “I think she needs some motherly wisdom about how to control her anger.” Kathy giggled and said, “I will have the same discussion with Jenna. I can tell that her anger over Britney’s borrowing of clothing has not been satisfied. I fear this fight is not over just yet. There may be a conclusion to the war before a peace treaty is declared and signed.” Bonnie hugged Kathy and said, “We will compare notes when you return.”
It was almost dark before they finished unloading the last load of wood. They would spend the next couple of days sawing and splitting the wood. They had easily cut five full cords of wood and that would certainly make life a little easier later on. They would continue to cut a tree or two every chance they got for the next few weeks. They all realized that when the weather warmed and the frost in the ground went away, trying to get the tractor into the woods would be next to impossible.
Universal Mass Page 5
