by A. American
She returned with a cheesecloth and large bowl. We dismissed the kids to go back to the sprinkler and I held the cloth over the bowl while Danny poured the juice through it. Once the bucket was empty, I twisted up the cloth and started to wring it out.
“I thought you said it would burn your hands,” Danny said.
“Only if you don’t rinse your hands soon after handling the juice. Or if you’re working with the juice for a long time. Then it will burn you. This will only take a minute.” With the juice squeezed from the cloth, I went out the door into the yard.
“Where are you going?” Danny asked.
“To spread these seeds around the pond. Maybe we’ll get a bearing vine to grow here!” I called back.
I walked around the pond and spread the seeds and skins in large handfuls. Naturally, the kids followed me and ended up splashing around in the pond, chasing minnows and tadpoles. Edie fell forward into the tea-colored water and I had to fish her out. But she was laughing; and before I knew it, all the kids were in the pond. I managed to fish them all out and herded them to the back to the sprinkler.
As we walked back, Little Bit grabbed my hand, “Daddy, daddy! We need to feed Ruckus!”
“I’ll do it, baby. I’m about to head to the house anyway.”
“Can I come and feed him?”
I patted her head, “You stay here and play with your friends. I’ll take care of it.”
She smiled in the way a child can go from one thing to another in the blink of an eye; and then she ran back to the swirling kids running through the spraying water. I went back into the kitchen to see what Kay was doing with the juice. Thad was there when I came in, working on some of the pork and getting ready to make some sausage.
I slapped him on the back and asked how it was going. He smiled and looked over his shoulder, “Now the work starts.”
“Well, we got more work coming.”
Thad’s brow furrowed, and he asked, with a hint of suspicion, “What’d you do now?”
“Well, I bought a couple of cows. Heifers that are going to calve.”
His eyes went wide, but before he could reply, Kay asked, “Cows? Where did you ever come up with cows?”
I told them the story of seeing the cows while I was picking the grapes and seeing the ranch hands watching over them.
“So, in a day or so, they’re bringing two cows out and then we’ll have four.”
“What’d they cost?” Thad asked.
“I said we’d give them a pregnant sow and three other hogs. That and three hundred gallons of diesel.”
“They gonna trade two cows for that?” Thad asked.
I nodded, “Yep.”
“That’s going to be amazing!” Kay shouted. “We’ll be able to milk them for a long time.”
“That’s a lot of work,” Thad replied.
“But it’ll be worth it,” I replied. “We’ll have all the butter we need, not to mention milk and anything else we can think of.”
“You said they’re bringing them here? Gonna deliver them?” Thad asked.
“Yeah. They’re bringing them in a stock trailer.”
“Where you planning on putting them?” Thad asked.
“I was thinking in the field across the road there. What do you think?”
“In the graveyard?”
“I don’t think anyone over there will mind.”
“Oh, Morgan, that’s just awful,” Kay snapped.
Shrugging, I replied, “Am I wrong?”
“No,” Thad said, “you ain’t wrong. How you planning on watering them?”
“Same way we do the pigs. With the tanker. Just pull the trailer over there and fill a stock tank.”
Thad nodded as he chopped the pork. “I think that’ll work. But if they’re going to be here in a couple of days, we need to get a tank set up over there for them.”
“We do. I’ll see if I can find one.”
“I know where one is. I’ll get it with the tractor and fill it up.”
“You’re my hero,” I replied. “When I grow up, I want to be just like you.”
Thad laughed and shook his head. Kay laughed too, adding, “Morgan, I don’t think you’ll ever grow up that big.”
I looked Thad up and down and said, “What? He ain’t that big.”
Thad cut his eyes to the side and said, “What’er you talking about little man?”
It got all of us to laughing. “On that note, I’m out of here. I have a mouse to go feed.”
“How is that little squirrel doing?” Kay asked.
“Just fine. I think his eyes will open in a few days.”
“When they do, bring him over. I want to see him.”
As I was heading for the door, I said, “Will do, Miss Kay.”
Ruckus was in his shoebox sound asleep. But as soon as I picked him up and put the dropper to his mouth, he was wide awake. Baby squirrels are funny. They push against what they’re feeding from. I guess it stimulates milk in the mother. So, he was pushing against the dropper as hard as he could. You don’t have to squeeze the milk out, they’ll get it! And you have to be careful not to let them take so much they aspirate it. Not only will they choke, they could develop pneumonia.
So, when Ruckus started coughing up milk, I took the dropper away and let him get it up. Wiped his little face and finished feeding him. Then I dampened a cloth with warm water and wiped his butt. They gotta poop and I ain’t about to lick it like his momma. With the mouse fed, I put him back in the box and closed it up.
Mel still wasn’t back, and I had free time, so I checked on the vinegar. It was certainly vinegary and tasted about ready to me. I got the crock through the plywood door, only thing I had to repair it with, and onto the back deck. Going to the shed, I grabbed an empty bucket and looked for something to strain it with. I found a little pool net, the sort of thing you dip leaves from your pool with and set it on top of the bucket and slowly poured the contents of the crock through it.
I had to stop a couple of times to clean the net; there were a lot of fruit skins and they quickly filled the shallow net. Once it was all filtered into the bucket, I tasted it again. Definitely vinegar, and I estimated there was a little over two gallons. Satisfied with the product, I set it in a corner and poured myself a glass of tea and headed for the porch to wait for Mel and the girls.
I was on my second glass of tea before the Suburban rolled into the yard. As soon as they got out, I could tell it was a hard day for them. They looked hollow, spent. I stood up and stepped down off the porch. Taylor walked towards the house with her shoulders slumped. As though every step took considerable effort.
As she approached, I said, “Hey, kiddo. How’d it go?”
Without looking up, she replied, “It was terrible. I’m really tired and want to go to bed.”
“You don’t want supper?”
“No. I’m not hungry.”
“You alright?”
“I’m fine,” she muttered as she opened the door and went into the house.
As Lee Ann walked up, she asked, “What’s for supper? I’m starving.”
“Miss Kay is working on something over there.”
Adjusting the H&K slung over her shoulder, she replied, “I’m going over there now. I haven’t eaten all day.” Mary was standing behind her and said she’d go with her.
As they trotted off towards Danny’s house, Mel walked up and stopped in front of me. Her head was hanging, and I leaned out and wrapped my arms around her. “How bad was it?” I asked.
Her head rocked against my chest and she said, “It was terrible. The children, the women; it was horrible.” She stepped back and wiped a tear from her eye.
“Well, you don’t have to go back if you don’t want to.”
She shook her head. “No. It wasn’t easy, but I’ll go back. We all need to do our part.”
Stepping beside her, I put an arm around her. “You hungry? You want to go get something to eat?”
“I’m tire
d and all I want to do is go to bed, but I do need to eat something first.”
“Ok, let’s go see what Kay’s cooked up.”
She rubbed her face and said, “I need to go feed the Ruckus.”
“I already did. Let’s get you something to eat.”
She patted my chest, “Thank you, baby.”
We found a loud gathering on the back porch. The kids were sitting together, eagerly eating from their bowls. Aric and Fred were sitting with Jess and Doc. Mike, Ted, Dalton and Wallner were all sitting together. Kay and Sarge were sitting together, and when she saw us, Kay got up, saying, “You two sit down and I’ll get you something to eat.”
Mary poked her head out of the kitchen window and said, “Just stay there, Kay. I’ll bring it out.”
Mary came out of the kitchen and Mel and I sat down at a table with Lee Ann. Mary set bowls in front of us and she and Mel talked for a minute about the trip to town. As they were talking, I looked into the bowl and asked Kay, “What is this?”
Acting apologetic, Kay replied, “Oh, it’s a goulash of sorts. I’m sorry, it’s not very good.”
“Nonsense!” Sarge barked. “It’s fantastic!”
I sampled the concoction. “Damn!” I shouted, and Kay looked over. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Kay. This is really good!”
“Well, thank you, Morgan. I’m happy you like it.”
We finished dinner and collected Little Bit, said our goodbyes and left for home. I checked with Lee Ann, but she said she wanted to stay and wasn’t ready to go. Mel was tired and not very chatty during dinner. I could tell she just wanted to go to bed. It was uncomfortably warm for this time of evening. It felt as though a low-pressure system had moved in and pushed a lot of humid air with it. It was going to be a hard night to sleep.
“Daddy, did you feed Ruckus?” Little Bit asked. She was holding my hand as we walked to the house.
“I did,” I replied with a smile. “But he probably needs to be fed again. You want to feed him before bed?”
“I do, I do!”
“Can you help her?” Mel asked.
Squeezing her hand, I replied, “No problem, babe. I know you’re tired.”
When we went inside, Mel kissed Little Bit goodnight and headed into the bedroom. I told Little Bit to sit at the table and I went into our room to get the shoebox. Mel was getting undressed and I grabbed the box and left the room without bothering her. I gave Little Bit the box, much to her delight, and went into the kitchen and mixed up a little formula and filled the dropper.
“Here, baby.” I said as I handed her the dropper. “Be careful. Don’t squeeze it, just let him suck it out.”
“I won’t,” she replied with a large smile as she cradled Ruckus and cooed baby words at him.
I left her to feed the mouse and went into the kitchen and brewed a pot of tea. My jug was nearly empty and running out of tea was a cardinal sin as I saw it. As I was mixing sugar into the tea, Little Bit announced Ruckus was done. I told her to put him in the box, which she protested, but finally did as she was told, and I sent her off to bed.
“You going to tuck me in?”
Rubbing a hand through her hair, I replied, “Of course. Go brush your teeth and get in bed and I’ll come see you.”
While she brushed her teeth, I went in to see Taylor. She was wrapped up in her blanket, despite the heat in the house, which was nearly unbearable to me. I sat on the edge of her bed and patted her leg. “How you doing, kiddo?”
Without rolling over, she replied, “I’m fine.”
“I know today was a rough day. But I’m glad you went. As weird as it sounds, it was good for you.”
“It didn’t feel good to me. But, I get what you mean. I learned a lot about where we are. How good we have it. It was horrible though.”
“I’m sorry you had to see it. But, I’m happy you don’t have to live it. Know what I’m saying?”
She was quiet for a long minute. Then she replied, “I do, dad. And I’m thankful.” She rolled over and sat up. “It’s easy to forget, you know, that as bad as things are, they could be worse.”
“Things aren’t that bad.”
“Really, dad? It’s like a million degrees in here.”
I lifted the blanket and dropped it, “Get out from under this rug.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Sure, we don’t have AC. But if you think about it, that’s about all that’s missing.”
She laughed, “Are you out of your mind? That’s all that’s missing?”
“Ok, maybe that’s all that I’m missing,” I said. “Think about it. What is life about? Is it spending most of your life working your ass off to make someone else a bunch of money? Or is it doing whatever you want, to pursue your personal desires?”
“There isn’t much we can pursue though. I’d gladly go to work at McDonalds for minimum wage.”
I smiled. “I guess I can see your point of view. You’re young and not yet disillusioned. Or should I say, haven’t had the opportunity to become disillusioned yet. You know, I worked for many, many years trying to take care of you, your sisters and your mom. Where’d it get me?”
“I remember you spent a lot of time away from home. You were gone a lot.”
“See, that’s what I’m talking about,” I replied, pointing at her. “I spent all that time away from home. All those years, I could have been doing something else. It’s a dichotomy I guess.”
“What’s a dichotomy?”
“It’s a comparison of two things that are opposite of one another.”
“Oh, like today compared to how things used to be.”
“Exactly,” I replied.
“Well, that’s certainly a dichotomy.”
“I’m in bed, Daddy!” Little Bit called from her bedroom.
I laughed and patted Taylor’s leg. “Get some sleep, kiddo. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Goodnight,” Taylor replied.
I exited her room, leaving the door open to help circulate some air. It was miserable in the house. Little Bit was in her bed with the sheet pulled up to her chin. It made me smile and I leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Goodnight, kiddo.”
“Eskimo noses!” She shouted.
She was such a bright spot in a world short on light. I leaned in and rubbed noses with her. She giggled and pulled the sheet up over her head. I tickled her and she giggled and squirmed. “Goodnight, baby girl. Love you.”
“I love you too,” she replied between giggles.
“Get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”
I turned the light off as I left and grabbed a quick cold shower to help cool off before going to bed. As I was toweling off, I heard Lee Ann come in and I threw my robe on and stuck my head out. She smiled and gave me a little wave. I whispered goodnight. She disappeared into her room and I went to bed.
CHAPTER 6
The guys in the burned-out MRAP called on the radio to say they saw a large truck pulling a trailer coming down the road. Sarge had put two-man teams into the scorched hull on rotating watches of four hours. We hadn’t seen anything more out of the motorcycles, but the old man was very particular when it came to security. Hearing the call on the radio, I hopped on a four-wheeler and headed towards the bunker.
The truck was parked when I got there. Wallner and another Guardsmen were talking to Janet and one of her ranch hands. Getting off the ATV, I offered Janet my hand, which she took with a firm grip. “How are you doing?” I asked.
With a bright smile, she replied, “Great. It’s hotter than hell. But I’m good.”
Sarge pulled up in a Hummer with the three muskie queers. He got out of the truck and walked up with a smile and said, “You must be Janet.”
Holding her hand out, Janet replied, “I am. Good to meet you.”
Sarge took her hand and shook it. “I hear you have a couple beeves for us.”
Janet looked surprised. “Most people don’t know what that word is. I’m
impressed.”
“Well, when you been around as long as I have, you pick up on a couple of things.”
Mike came strolling up with a cheesy grin on his face. Looking at Janet, he asked, “Well, to what do you owe the pleasure of meeting me?” He lowered his glasses and made a show of looking her up and down.
Janet laughed. “Nice try, Sport. But high school was a long time ago.”
“Not for you. Couldn’t have been. Last year, tops.” Mike replied with a big smile.
“Teddy!” Sarge barked. “Get his ass out of here. The grownups are talking.”
Ted grabbed Mike by the back of his shirt. “Come on, Mikey. We got shit to do.”
“Alright, I’ll see you later,” Mike replied with a wink.
Janet looked past him to Ted and said, “Thank you.”
Ted shrugged, “No big deal. Every animal needs a handler.” He tugged on Mike’s shirt again and said, “Come on, Milo.”
Janet laughed, and Mike looked over his shoulder, “Who’s Milo?”
“Planet of the Apes, sweetie,” Janet replied.
“What?” Mike asked.
Ted pulled him away, saying, “Come on, let’s get you a banana.”
Mike’s mind switched quickly, “You got a banana?”
“Now that the wildlife is gone,” Sarge said, “let’s get down to business. You got a couple of heifers in there for us?”
Janet folded her arms and replied, “You got some hogs and diesel for me?”
Sarge turned and pointed down the road at the tanker. “There’s the diesel. The hogs are in a pen not far from here.”
She clapped her hands, “Great! Where do you want the beeves?”
Thad rode up on a four-wheeler and Sarge pointed at him, “There’s your man. He’ll lead you to the pasture where you can unload them.”
“Alright, let’s go.”
We rode down the road to the pasture where Thad opened the gate and the truck pulled through. While they were getting the cows unloaded, I took a minute to ride the fence. It hadn’t been checked and I didn’t want our new livestock getting away from us. Which made me think about someone stealing them, or worse, shooting one and taking only what they could carry and leaving the rest to rot. We’d have to keep an eye on them.
