Once the guys had purchased some ammunition for the larger caliber rifles, they each replaced their worn out fixed blade hunting knives. They had worn their knives thin from thousands of strokes on the sharpening stones. Robert also purchased a new knife for his wife, Kathy. Her father had passed his hunting knife down to her when she began camping many years ago. She had worn the knife faithfully whenever she was outdoors, but it was now time for a replacement. Robert knew she would not part with her old knife; she would simple put it in her nightstand beside her bed for safekeeping. The knife, being from her father, was very precious to her.
The girls found a new shop that sold baby and children’s’ clothing and sewing supplies. Jenna purchased some heavy denim material to make pants for Timothy and Britney found material to make pants and shirts for Donald. Bonnie purchased thread and needles along with a good pair of scissors to cut the cloth. They also found a bolt of fleece to make blankets. The entire bolt would make dozens of blankets. Then they returned to the thread section of the store and purchased more thread. It would take a few rolls to sew up that many blankets. They also found a bolt of black merino wool on the shelves. The price was a little high, but the owner gave in to Bonnie’s haggling over the price since they were purchasing so much material. By the time they finished shopping in the store, the girls had spent all of the money they had with them.
When they met at the gas station, the girls placed their purchases behind the back seat of the club cab pickup truck. When Rodney commented on the amount of material they had purchased, Bonnie said, “We would have bought more material to make clothing, but we ran out of money and had to leave the cotton for underwear behind.” Rodney looked at the other two guys and said, “I need new underwear. Can we come up with some more money for the cloth and still have enough left over for dinner?” Randy asked how much the cloth cost and then checked their finances. They guys pooled their money and then passed it to Bonnie.
Just as the girls walked away, the sheriff drove into the gas station. When he started filling up his cruiser with gasoline, Randy walked over to him and struck up a conversation. When the sheriff finished pumping his gasoline, he stepped inside to sign the invoice and then walked out to the pickup truck to look at the two bears. When Randy lowered the tailgate on the pickup, the sheriff stepped back a few steps and said, “That is one powerful smell there, and two very large bears. I would have thought all of the bears would be small after the resizing. I have not heard any stories or other animals remaining full size.” The sheriff walked over to his cruiser and called dispatch. He requested they contact the fish and game officer and have him come by the filling station to look at the bears.
The guys took care of Timothy and Donald while the girls returned to the clothing shop. When the girls stepped inside the shop, the owner met them at the counter. She asked what she could help them find and Bonnie asked if she was about to close. The lady said, “With the state of our economy, I often stay open late, especially if I have customers. Please feel free to shop as long as you wish. I will continue cleaning. If you need my assistance or have questions on prices, please feel free to yell at me.”
While the girls continued their extended shopping trip, the DNR officer showed up to look at the bears. He checked both of them and asked why the guys had shot them. Randy explained that the bears had attacked the children, severely injured Kathy and killed James. The officer stood listening to the conversation and said, “What name did you say the man killed went by?” Randy gave the officer James full name and then explained that James parents were killed awhile back in a train derailment. The two officers both remembered James and his parents. They expressed their sorrow over James death and then the DNR officer moved his truck up behind Randy’s truck. They all helped slide the two bears into the bed of his pickup. He said, “I will take some pictures of these beasts and then send them off to the other local officers so they can be on the lookout for more of these oversized bears.”
When the girls paid for their goods and left the store, they realized they had shopped for forty minutes. When they returned to the gas station, the guys just laughed and helped them load the bolts of material into the truck. Randy spoke to the gas station manager and asked if they could leave the trucks in his parking lot while they walked to the restaurant for supper.
As they walked through the front door of the restaurant, they realized the place was very busy, but there were still some empty tables. The man who greeted them quickly moved two tables together and got them seated. He moved a highchair to the table for Donald and found a booster seat for Timothy. Once the waiter had them seated and he had taken their drink order, they had a chance to look around. The restaurant was quite old, but well maintained and extremely clean. The owner had covered the walls with old antique tools, hunting gear and old kitchen utensils. There was a sterling silver serving set in a glass door cabinet that Bonnie thought might be worth a small fortune to the right buyer.
When their food arrived, the steaks were thick and perfectly cooked; the cook had wrapped the baked potatoes in tin foil and cooked them until they were fluffy inside. Within a few minutes, everyone was very quiet; the only sound at the table was the clicking of forks and knives as they enjoyed their first store bought meal in almost a year. Randy had ordered a fried chicken dinner for Timothy, knowing he would not eat much of the beef. He and Rodney sat on each side of Timothy and took turns cutting beef and chicken into bite-sized pieces. Other than cutting up his meat, Timothy was incredibly self-reliant and could fend for himself. When he did need help, he was quick to ask his father for assistance.
Timothy was growing up much too quickly to please Jenna. She wanted her son to remain little forever. She and Randy had often discussed how much responsibility Randy placed on the boy, but she also realized that Randy allowed Timothy quite a bit of free time to do as he wished without any adult interference, unless the child got totally out of line. Randy spent many hours at night reading to his son and helping him write the names of every clan member and his home address. The boy was good with his numbers and could read most books that Randy put in front of him, only stumbling on the large complicated words. It was a lot for a small boy to learn, but he soon was able to manage the task. If one of the men asked Timothy for a certain tool, the boy could usually get it right. If he did not get it right, the guys would take the time with him to insure he could do it next time. Jenna just shook her head over what the men, especially Timothy’s father, expected of him. The boy could even remove the breast meat from a partridge without using a knife. He could step on the wings and pull gently on the legs, twist the neck just right and presto, two clean partridge breasts ready for the frying pan. There were partridge everywhere in the north woods and they tasted like turkey when cooked properly. Timothy was very pleased with himself after Randy taught him how to clean his first game bird.
As they drove back up the mountain to their home, the men discussed loading up the large caliber rifles and taking a scouting trip around the mountain trails to see if they could find any more of the large animals, or at least some tracks. Kathy said, “I am very glad that this broken arm makes me exempt from shooting that .30-06 rifle again. The last time was quite enough for me. I would shoot it to protect human life; but otherwise, I am not willing to be on the receiving end of that rifles buttstock. I was black and blue for three weeks after shooting that mule deer.”
When the guys finished breakfast the next morning, they pulled their backpacks over their shoulders, strapped their .22 pistols around their waists, shouldered their modified large caliber rifles and headed down the trail towards the riverbank. They figured that the wet soil around the river was the ideal place to find the tracks of any large animals that lived on the mountain. All animals needed water and would have to visit the river within the last seventy-two hours. As they walked, they soon discovered bear tracks and hundreds of other animal tracks, but nothing any larger than normal. After they had walked for most of the morning
, they stopped along the river for some lunch. They sat on the warm rocks and looked out across a low flat chunk of land that held dozens of rabbits the last time they visited the area, but now the land was completely flooded. The beaver had built two large dams and created their own little lake. As the men sat eating their food, they soon saw five beaver swimming with tree branches in their mouths; they would most likely use the branches to reinforce their dams and houses.
After they finished their lunch, they decided to hike up a goat trail until they got to the ridge that ran north and south, parallel to the main highway. They had not walked the ridge since last summer and hoped to find some partridge feeding on wild berries and mushrooms. By the time they reached the ridge, they were all huffing and puffing from the steep climb. They took a few minutes to lean against some birch trees and rest. As they stood quietly talking, they heard the sound of something breaking branches as it moved through the forest. Whatever was coming towards them was quite large. Robert was the first to identify the animal that was advancing on them. He whispered, “There are ten or more moose moving through the woods. They are normal size, but they are walking in the dry leaves and making a lot of noise.” As the men watched, the moose stepped out of the thick underbrush and onto the trail a short distance from them. The animals sensed the men’s presence and stopped for a moment to look at them before turning and walking down the trail in the direction of the Mountain House. They guys all took a deep breath and tried to calm their nerves. The sound of the herd grunting as they walked and the dry leaves where they were walking sounded just like a huge black bear. They were elated to see the moose move out of the forest instead of an oversized bear.
The men walked north on the trail for three or more miles before deciding it was getting late. They needed to begin the trip back home before darkness set in. None of them wanted to be in the woods after dark now that they knew full sized predators roamed the forests. Even with the large caliber rifles they carried, they understood that they might lose their lives trying to fight off a pack of full sized wolves, coyotes or a large black bear in the dark.
When they finally arrived at the Mountain House, they placed their rifles in the gun rack and walked back into the mineshaft. The smell of cinnamon permeated their noses and made Robert’s stomach rumble. The girls had made cinnamon apples to go with the evening meal. As they all sat down at the table, Jenna explained that she had discovered a place in the back of the mineshaft where a different colored rock formed a vein. She explained that the rock in the vein looked to be quartz, but when she dug some out, it looked like there was gold embedded around the edges. She laid the small rock on the table for everyone to look at. When Randy picked up the piece of quartz, he said, “Looks like gold to me. We can crush it down and try sorting it out in a gold pan. It could just be pyrite, which is sometimes called fool’s gold.”
After they finished eating their supper and cleaned up the kitchen, Randy pulled Jenna into his arms and kissed her, then said, “Show me where you discovered your gold.” Jenna giggled, but took hold of his hand and escorted him to the back of the mineshaft, back where they had built shelving for food storage. As they walked, she explained that she had moved some cardboard containers of oatmeal and her flashlight reflected off the shiny yellow minerals embedded in the milky white quartz. Jenna moved more of the oatmeal boxes out of the way and shined the light on the rock wall. She moved the light along a seam in the rock. Randy could see the glitter of gold and soon realized that the yellow material looked exactly like the gold he had dug out of another seam he found behind the garage. That seam did not go far into the rock, but he mined over five ounces of gold from it. The quartz he was now looking at ran vertically in the rock wall and ran from the floor up almost to the ceiling. Randy said, “Let’s dig out a little more of this quartz and add it to what you already have. I will crush the quartz and then put it in the crucible. If it is gold, which I suspect it is, it will settle to the bottom of the ladle so we can pour it out into a mold.”
Jenna followed Randy out to the garage and helped him carry the wooden crate with the smelting equipment into the house. They sat the crate beside the fireplace mantle in the living room. Randy sat a small burner on the hearth and then put a cast iron pot on top. The burner and pot looked as if it was very old and well used. He then dug down into the wooden crate and located a pestle and mortar, then carefully sat it down on the hearth. He wrapped the quartz in a piece of heavy leather and carefully broke up the quartz with a small hammer until it was just little bits. Jenna worried that he was destroying the gold, but when he opened up the piece of leather, she could see the yellow metal along with the white quartz. Randy poured the broken material into the pot, filled the stove with fuel and then lit the burner. As he pumped the plunger on the stove, the fire intensified and then began to make a very loud sound. The flame mixed with air from a tiny air pump that Randy turned with a short handled crank, which caused the temperature of the flame to get much hotter. Within a couple minutes, the cast iron pot was extremely hot and the quartz and gold began to smoke. After about ten minutes, Randy scooped out the bits of quartz and Jenna could see molten yellow gold in the bottom of the pot. Randy poured the molten metal into a one-ounce mold. After the mold cooled for a few minutes, they realized that there was just enough gold to cover the bottom of the mold, but Randy explained they could keep adding to it.
Jenna asked if they should begin mining the vein of quartz and gold and smelt it down. Randy said, “I have plenty of gold already stored away. I think it is time I explain to my wife that I am extremely wealthy. I have been mining gold in these mountains and panning placer gold from the creek for years. I have enough gold smelted and stored away to support us for many years. You must have noticed by now that I have no job, yet I always have money for the things you and me and the clan need.” Jenna giggled and said, “I hoped you would one day explain that to me, but I was not certain I wanted to know where the money came from. I have never found a meth lab on the property and I am quite certain you do not have a marijuana grove hidden somewhere in the mountains, yet you always have plenty of money.” Randy said, “Come with me and I will show you where I stash my wealth. It is time I entrust my secrets to my best friend and wife.”
Randy took Jenna by the hand and walked with her into one of the back bedrooms. He closed the door and stepped up close to her. She giggled and said, “Do you intend to make love to me here on the cold wood floor?” Randy laughed and said, “I don’t think so. Instead, I will show you where I hide my money, but you must promise me that you will keep my secret. I have no desire for anyone other than my wife to know about what I am going to show you. Do you promise?” Jenna giggled and said, “Pinky swears.” She held out her little finger and Randy locked his little finger with Jenna’s. She said, “I promise that I will not reveal the secrets you show me to anyone without your permission.”
Randy walked to the back wall of the room and kneeled down on the floor. He pushed down on a six-inch long floorboard and then used his fingers to lift out the board. Jenna saw a round black metal ring hidden under the board. Randy lifted up the ring, slid his finger into it and slid a square section of the floor towards the wall. Then he pulled the floor section up. A two-foot wide section of the hardwood floor swung open on hinges. He fully opened the door and rested the latch side against the outside wall. He turned to Jenna and said, “I have always hoped no one would discover this hidden room. I tried to conceal it as best I could. Now that I have you in my life, I feel comfortable letting you in on this secret. I should have shown you this room a long time ago, but I had no reason to come down here in quite some time.” Randy turned on his flashlight and climbed down a metal ladder. When he put his feet on the concrete floor of the cellar, he lit a lantern and invited Jenna to join him.
When Jenna’s feet hit the floor, she turned around and discovered a man’s cave. Carefully crafted oak shelving and cabinets lined two of the walls. Three huge five-foot tall safes
stood against the south concrete wall. A built in desk and bookcase adorned the north wall. Jenna could tell that the walls were made of poured reinforced concrete. Randy had built the ceiling from corrugated metal then poured reinforced concrete on top. The access door was the only place that fire could enter the cellar. It was a perfectly constructed survival shelter.
When her eyes finished scanning the construction of the room, she looked into her husband’s eyes and said, “You have spent a lot of time and money to construct this man cave, but I am uncertain of its purpose. You built the Mountain House into the side of a mountain and it is very secure and fireproof. What purpose does this room serve?”
Randy laughed and said, “Let me show you what all I have stored in this room you call a man cave. He began opening cabinets and showed her hundreds of boxes of ammunition. Then he opened another cabinet and showed her the many knives and hatchets stored there. When he unlocked the first safe, she saw that it was full of rifles and shotguns. The middle safe contained pistols and hundreds of tiny bars of gold. The third safe was full of paper money and coins. By the time Randy finished showing his wife the currency and weaponry he had stored away, she laughed and sat down in a rolling desk chair. It was then that she realized that the shelves over the desk contained radios and radio testing equipment. A large toolbox beside the desk had labels on each drawer to show the contents. More shelving contained plastic drawer cabinets with hundreds of transistors, resistors, capacitors and other electronic components. It appeared that Randy was capable of building and repairing his own radios. She swiveled her chair around and asked, “Are these radios capable of talking to other ham operators?” Randy said they were and explained that he had an antenna in the rafters of the barn. He went on to explain that he had buried a conduit between the man cave and the barn to contain the transmission line. The radios were very capable of communicating with other ham radio operators’ worldwide.”
Universal Mass Page 15
