Universal Mass

by Coleinger, Ronnie

  Later that day, when the guys returned to the barn to begin panning the gold to remove the impurities, Randy uncovered a machine that he called a Blue Bowl gold concentrator. Randy explained how the machine worked and that they could completely remove everything from the black sand and tiny gravel that they had washed out of the sluice box mats. Randy explained that the floater gold and tiny specks of gold would not be so easy to gather up in the concentrator. Over the course of the next six hours, the guys managed to run all of the black sand through the bowl the first time. Randy had heard the excitement in the guy’s voices as they watched the amount of gold quickly increase as they put it in a tin pan. There was still some water mixed in with the gold, but that would easily boil off when they put the pan on top of the wood stove in the kitchen. The overflow of the Blue Bowl concentrator ran down into a small sluice box with very fine textured mats. Those mats would trap the tiny specks of gold and the guys could deal with them later. The only gold that Randy worried they might have missed was the floater gold. It was very thin and moved easily with even the tiniest movement of water. Sometimes the floater gold would not amount to much, but sometimes it was very cost effective to retrieve. Randy commented that he often times simply put the metal gold pan on the stove and evaporated the water, leaving just the tiny floater gold in the pan.

  When they finished cleaning up the blue bowl and all of the gold they had retrieved was in the tin pan, they headed up to the house to dry it over the stove. The pan was ten inches in diameter and three inches deep. The gold they had retrieved in the last two days was almost an inch deep in the pan. Randy suspected that they had about a quart of gold.

  When Randy sat the pan down on the stove, the girls immediately gathered around to see the precious metal. When the gold was dry, they weighed a Pyrex quart size-measuring cup and zeroed it out on the scales before pouring in the gold. Britney tapped on the glass until the gold was level in the container and then checked the reading on the digital scales. She had already heard the evening news and had listened carefully for the price of gold. She did the math and converted the ounce weight of the gold into troy ounces. Then she multiplied that value by today’s price. Randy was standing behind her while she did the math on her calculator. She turned and looked up into his eyes. He smiled and said, “You did the math correctly. The gold in that container is worth $35,428.00. We will check the gold price again tomorrow and then check the trend. If gold is climbing, we will hold it and sell later. If it is dropping, we will make a group decision on when to sell. We can also melt the gold down and pour it into bars, which we can put in the safe for now. Someday, gold may be as precious as life itself.”

  As Randy’s words sunk in to the clan standing around the kitchen table, they all heard the sound of thunder rumbling across the mountains. Jenna giggled and said, “I thought you guys said it was snowing when you came in. That sounds like a thunderstorm to me.” Randy said, “I believe it is called thunder snow.”

  As they all relaxed and took turns washing up for bed, Kathy sat down beside Britney and asked, “Have you heard anything about the devaluation of the dollar and the Euro on the news?” Britney thought a second and said, “There was a story a week or so ago about that. The reporter seemed unsure if the current monies of the world would be worth a fart in a whirlwind in the near future. Some seem to think that precious metals and gems will be the only form of currency in a few years. The United States may have to revert to the original gold standard system where we back every dollar with gold. The problem is that the rich of this world will quickly buy up the world’s supply of gold, leaving the rest of us to do without.” Randy looked up from his book and said, “I hope we are not part of the rest. I suggest we keep on mining and hording gold as best we can. We can spend our paper money and coins and keep our precious metals hidden away. The other thing that will soon become precious is ammunition. I would like to continue purchasing all of the .22 caliber ammo we can. In addition, the .30-06 rounds will soon disappear from the gun shop shelves. I have thousands of 7.62x63 NATO rounds, and my rifles will safely shoot either round. With that said, I will still buy .30-06 rounds if I happen to run across them at a reasonable price in one of the gun shops. We can also barter for some of the things we need. Fresh vegetables will sell like hotcakes in the city. We can also begin selling off the things we no longer need. We have three farms setting idle. If you have things that we no longer need, we can take them into the city and sell or barter with them”

  The guys gathered around the kitchen table and discussed their plans to venture up into the mountains to the gold mine. Randy had sealed the entrance to the drift with the frontend loader so no one could find it and the bears would not turn it into their home. If the weather let up and only moderate snow was in the forecast, they would head up to the mine in the morning. They could hear the sleet hitting the metal stovepipe on the roof. If the weather did not clear by morning, they would spend the day splitting firewood in the barn instead of working in the mine.

  When they woke in the morning, the fresh snow that fell last evening now had a thin coating of ice on top. The guys had no desire to work outdoors; falling and breaking a bone was definitely a possibility with all the ice. As they sat and ate breakfast, Randy said, “I could break out the smelting gear and we could melt down our placer gold and cast it into one ounce bars.” Everyone wanted to help with the gold. Jenna said, “I am feeling better and I would like to begin caring for the animals again. I should be able to manage on my own.” Bonnie said, “I will help you for another few days. I still don’t want you lifting bales of hay or bags of feed until you are fully healed.” Jenna giggled and said, “Yes ma’am.”

  As the gold melted in the pot, Randy added a mixture of borax and sodium carbonate to help separate the impurities. Once the gold was ready to pour, Randy moved everyone back and then put on some heavy gloves. When he finished pouring the gold, he had five, five-ounce ingots and six, one-ounce ingots. He then left the remaining dribble of gold in the crucible. When the others stepped up to where the molds were cooling, they began to comment on the purity of the gold. Randy explained that the gold was not likely twenty-four carat, but very near. Britney asked how long it would take to cool the gold so they could remove it from the molds. Randy explained that it would take only a few minutes once they dipped them into cold water. Rodney looked at Randy and then asked, “Will the molds have to be dried in the oven before they are usable again? I have heard that they will crack if there is any moisture left in the metal.” Randy nodded and said, “I will put the molds into the oven and heat them to 250 degrees along with the crucible. Most likely, the molds would be okay if some moisture remained in the metal, but there is always a chance the moisture would turn to steam and explode some of the molten gold out and onto human clothing or skin. That would be very unfortunate, very unfortunate indeed.”

  By ten o’clock that evening, they had cooled the molds and removed the gold from them. They carried the still hot gold bars into the kitchen and placed them on a stainless steel worktable. They planned to leave the bars there for the night. In the morning, they would put all of the gold into the safe. They would remove some of the cash and coins from the safe to purchase supplies. If they were cautious with their purchases, the cash would last them for years.

  When they began crawling into their beds for the night, Melanie decided it was time to wake up and play. Randy moved the rocking chair from the living area and placed it beside his bed. Then he placed his blanket in the chair and placed Melanie on top of it. He moved the chair up close to the bed so she could not fall out and then crawled into his bed. As he gently rocked the chair while lying in his bed, he soon realized that the whimpering child had fallen asleep. In the future, he would remember the rocking chair trick whenever the child was restless.

  Jenna was the first one up and moving around that morning. She had put the coffee pot on and then changed Melanie’s diaper. The child was still very tired so Jenna put her back d
own on the blanket in the rocking chair where she had slept all night without waking. Jenna could not believe the child was not starving and screaming her head off, but she wasn’t. Jenna crawled back into bed and soon fell back asleep. When she woke, she realized that Randy was kneeling down beside her bed. When she spoke to her husband and talked baby talk to Melanie, she pulled the blankets back and allowed Randy to place the child in her arms. As she moved Melanie to her breast, she realized that the child was quite hungry and she sucked much harder than she normally did. Jenna looked up at Randy and said, “She sucks so hard, it almost hurts.” Bonnie sat up on the edge of her bed and said, “If she is sucking to hard, make certain the entire nipple is all the way into her mouth and she is latched up. Otherwise she will just suck on the end of your nipple and have to work harder than necessary to get any milk to flow.” Jenna put her hand on the back of Melanie’s head and gently pulled her mouth against her breast. That forced the child to take a deep breath and she sucked Jenna’s entire areola into her mouth. Jenna spoke to Bonnie and said, “Thanks, Bonnie. That has been the problem all along.”

  That evening, just before Robert went to bed, he walked out into the living area and looked out the south facing windows. The sky had cleared and there were millions of stars shining brightly. When he returned to the mineshaft and crawled into bed, he said, “The storm has passed and the sky is clear. We might want to get up early and try plowing our way up the trail to where the gold mine is located.” After a few minutes discussion, the guys decided to attempt to work the mine. Britney lay quietly for a few minutes and then asked, “Would having a girl join you at the mine ruin your mining adventure?” Before anyone could answer, Kathy asked, “Would two girls on the trip become a nuisance?” Randy spoke first and said, “I don’t know about the others, but I think we could use all the help we can get. Just plowing our way up the trail will be difficult. Having extra hands would make life a little easier. We may have to spend the night in the mine once we are there if it gets too late to return home. I suggest we each pack a light backpack so we have warm clothing and sleeping gear. We can melt snow for water and harvest meat to feed ourselves.” As they all talked, Britney asked if Jenna and Bonnie would be okay for a couple of days. Bonnie said, “With the tunnel to the barn so we don’t have to venture outdoors, we will manage just fine. If you guys can push a couple bales of straw down from the haymow before you leave, we can manage the rest. Besides, the boys are good help with the animals and they do a great job helping with the plants.”

  Randy set his windup alarm clock for five o’clock in the morning. They would pack, eat some breakfast and be ready to begin the trip once it was daylight. It was too early in the winter for the bears to have hibernated, so they would try not to move around the forest in the dark. They agreed that the guys would carry the large caliber rifles to protect themselves from any full sized bears and the girls would carry the .22 caliber rifles to provide food.

  When Randy’s alarm clock began to ring, Melanie began to scream. Randy quickly picked her up and realized the child was soaking wet. He carried her to the bathroom and changed her into a dry diaper and dry pajamas. When he wrapped her in a warm blanket and put her to his shoulder, she snuggled down against his chest and began to suck her fingers; she was making a smacking sound as she sucked. When he sat down in the rocker beside his bed, hoping Melanie would return to sleep, Jenna said, “I am awake. I will give her some breakfast and then put her back to bed. She most likely will sleep for another three hours.” Randy moved the rocking chair up close to Jenna’s bed so she could put Melanie to bed there if she wished.

  The guys dressed and then headed to the kitchen to make breakfast. By the time they had things well under way, the girls came out to join them. The boys did not want to be up so early in the morning, but their ravenous male bellies overpowered their desire for sleep when the smell of bacon cooking permeated the mineshaft. When they sat down, Randy put three thick pancakes, four strips of bacon and two hard fried eggs onto their plates. Then he poured each of them a glass of goat’s milk. He buttered the pancakes with goat’s cheese and then poured a generous helping of maple syrup onto their pancakes. When he stepped back from the table, the boys sat looking at their plates in awe. Timothy looked up into his mother’s eyes for approval, but what he saw instead was concern. Neither of their mothers had ever allowed them to eat this much breakfast, not ever. Jenna said, “I hope you enjoy this breakfast your father has prepared for you, but I must warn you that neither of you will be eating like this in the future. A little saturated fat is allowed in a growing boy’s diet, but the food presently on your plates is totally unacceptable.” Randy looked at Jenna and said, “A growing boy needs a hearty breakfast.” Jenna walked over to her husband, stepped up so she was facing him and said, “I will not stand by while the males in my family all die from heart disease. You, being a medic in the military, are quite knowledgeable about how saturated fat in this quantity can clog a person’s arteries. I would hope you would spare your son and Rodney’s son from the same death you two are certain to die from.” Jenna turned and headed back towards the bedroom. Randy said, “Enjoy your breakfast, boys. I suspect all of us males will soon be eating the same food as the rabbits.”

  ***

  Two weeks later, the guys decided to move the tractor back to the farm before the next snowstorm stranded it at the mine sight for the winter. The continuous snowfalls had forced them to plow the trail between the Mountain House and the gold mine every few days. They now needed the tractor to plow the driveway at the Mountain House. They had the new truck set up to plow roads, but they did not want to use it for the heavy work of plowing the access road. They hoped to use the plow on the truck only if they needed it to traverse the main highway during a snowstorm. The truck was sturdy, but not easily repaired. They had spare parts in the barn to fix most everything that might break on the tractor, but repair parts for the truck were expensive and not always readily available. Sometimes they had to wait up to a week to get the parts they wanted shipped in from one of the larger cities.

  The clan had done pretty well in the new mine. They had concentrated around 128 ounces of gold. They smelted the gold into one-ounce ingots; knowing that anything larger would not be salable in the city. With the ever-increasing price of gold, they figured they had enough stored in the safe to last them for a few years. They decided to close up the mine and try to camouflage it with brush and tree trimmings. They tried to make the worksite look as if someone had harvested timber there instead of gold. The lush forest would quickly return the trampled earth to its natural beauty when spring came around. When they left the site and headed towards home, the snow had begun to fall and they struggled to walk the six miles with their heavy backpacks. Their snowshoes simply would not stay on top of the cold powder dry snow that began to blanket the mountain region.

  When they stepped into the front door of the Mountain House, the girls were all tending to the plants. The travelers all dropped their backpacks and began shedding clothing. Their coats, pants and boots were soaked from the snow that had melted on the outside and were wet on the inside from their sweat. Jenna and Bonnie stoked up the fire in the fireplace insert and gathered up five blankets. Then the travelers stripped down to their underwear and sat down around the hot stove. Bonnie brought them cups of hot coffee and towels to dry their hair. Britney was visibly shivering and Kathy moved up against her and wrapped her arms around her to share some heat. Jenna sat down beside Randy and asked, “How long have you all been traveling?” Randy said, “About seven hours. We stopped once to rest, but other than that, we continued to walk. The snowshoes were useless in the powder snow. Actually, we did quite well until we hit the open meadow and the wind began to blow. Then, since we were sweaty and because the wind chill factor dove down to scary levels, we could not get warm no matter how hard we worked. At one point, we discussed going into survival mode. We discussed creating a shelter with our tarps and hunkering down for the
night, however, we were unsure if we could get a large enough fire burning to keep us warm through the night, so we kept on moving.” Rodney looked into Randy’s eyes and said, “I am glad we continued on. I am uncertain if we would have survived the night if the wind had continued to blow.” The girls could tell by everyone’s expressions that they were truly concerned about their chances for survival in the storm. Kathy said, “I am a survivalist and understand how to deal with the cold, but today tested me almost to my breaking point. I do not intend to test Mother Nature again for a while. I am uncertain if she intended for me to die this day in the snow, but I will not push for an answer.”

  Bonnie said, “I suggest we put some food and hot coffee on the table and get some nourishment into your bodies. You will never warm up without proper nutrition.” When Randy stood up, he was shivering. Jenna said, “I will get more blankets. Everyone, let’s go sit in the kitchen where it is warmer.”

  After a few hours, they had all warmed up. They decided to spend some time hanging up their wet clothing and gear so it did not mildew or rust. They needed to leave the wood burning insert in the fireplace burning at a low heat during the nights to insure the plants did not get to cold. They had worked out a schedule to check the fire three times during the night. Actually, they took turns checking both, the wood stove in the living area and the stove in the mineshaft. The outdoor air temperature was running around thirty degrees or lower at night, so running the stoves was necessary. They figured their wet clothing and gear would be dry in the morning now that it was out of the backpacks and hung up on the hooks behind the door. They put their backpacks and boots on the fireplace hearth where they would certainly dry during the night.