The Slow Road

by Jerry D. Young

  Jasper traded for gasoline mostly, with a few manufactured goods that would help him maintain the family’s lifestyle. One of the things he’d never got that he’d always wanted was a James Washer with ringer for washing clothes when there was no power to run the regular washing machine.

  What he did have was wash tubs and a couple of large cast iron kettles he’d acquired over the years. Like he’d never seen a tarp he didn’t like, there was never a large wash tub that didn’t catch his eye, begging him to take it home. So he did a little research in his computer files and found the article about washing clothes with a rubber plunger.

  Until he could make an improved one like the one in the article, the regular plunger would have to do, after sanitizing it. Monday was wash day, and Jasper helped Millie get the water heated in the cast iron kettles and transfer it to the wash tubs where she presoaked, then washed, washed again, rinsed, rinsed again, and finally wrung out and hung the laundry on the clothes line she’d always used more than the propane fired dryer, in order to save money.

  Greg was more than willing to do his share, so Millie just had him add his clothes to the pile and they went through with the family’s. Of course Jasper and Millie offered the use of the system to Alvin and his family, but Alice declined to use it. Alvin was always on the lookout for fresh clothing for every member of his family, as they would only wear something until it was dirty and then throw it away rather than wash it the old fashion way.

  Millie had no compunction against going through their continuing discards to find things that her family could use now, and in the future.

  The war had been over for almost a year when Jasper ran into a Minister without a flock passing through the city on horseback. He’d stopped at the trade camp to try to find some food in return for labor.

  Jasper took pity on him, and trusting in his instincts, took Minister Jacobson back to the homestead for a hot meal, comfortable bed, a wash, and washed clothes. Greg met him and took a real liking for the man. Greg offered permanent housing and a hand with his food needs if he would stay in the area and set up a church.

  The timing was good, since his mare was about to foal and he wanted a safe place to stay until mare and foal could travel, so Minister Jacobson took Greg up on his offer. Jasper contacted all the former members of his church he could find and they soon had a going church with more than thirty families attending, a third of which had belonged to the same church Jasper and Millie had before the war.

  Along with the church, the community wanted a school for their children. Millie, with her experience home schooling volunteered, and soon was holding classes three days a week at the large, abandoned house that Greg had scouted out for such use.

  Greg had stocked up on well supplies just before things went bad, due to the call for irrigation wells for Victory gardens. He put one down at the new school, and another at the church, with Jasper’s now expert help. Jasper helped to build out houses with pits for each, too.

  All the church members contributed what they could, but Jasper and Millie basically kept the Minister fed, with others helping him with other non-spiritual needs.

  It wasn’t long after the church and school were going well when FEMA showed up in the city. It wasn’t the FEMA of prewar. That political entity had essentially collapsed of its own weight in the early days after the war. These FEMA members were census takers; address, birth, and, death, registers. They took an informational survey to determine what was needed in the areas and reported it back to St. Louis, the new national capital. For whatever reason, it had escaped nuclear devastation, and was much nearer to the physical center of the nation.

  As things slowly started getting better, the jackals that preyed on human misery started coming out of the woodwork. Like everyone else at first, they’d scratched to survive, looting and killing when they saw no other way to obtain what they wanted.

  Jasper had constantly warned Greg and Alvin about their salvaging operations. They were going to eventually run into someone that wanted the stuff more than they did, legitimately or criminally.

  It happened a week before the second Christmas after the war ended. Jasper heard vehicles coming at high speed and shooting about four in the afternoon while he was out tending the animals. He carried the Savage all the time now, and had it slung when he heard the commotion approaching.

  Jasper could never figure out why Alvin led the gang straight back to his home, and Greg was already unconscious when Alvin made the decision, so Greg couldn’t tell Jasper either. But bring the gang to his house, Alvin did.

  Jasper got to a point where he could see what was going on as Alvin stopped Greg’s truck and ran into his house, shooting over his shoulder. Two Jeeps, looking like rock climbers from before the war were right on Alvin’s tail. Two men jumped out of each Jeep and ran into the house after Alvin.

  Jasper had a family of his own to think about and carefully made his way forward to try to help Alvin and his family. He was too late for anything but shoot the two attackers that weren’t already dead.

  Alice, Christine, and Shania lay dead on the floor, with Alvin dead as well, lying on top of Alice. Two of the attackers had died as they entered the living room from outside, shot by Alvin before he died. Jasper didn’t hesitate. He shot both of the other men where they stood.

  He checked all the bodies for life before he went back out to check the vehicles. All were definitely dead. In all his years of hunting and dressing out meat had Jasper had never seen so much carnage.

  When he went out to Greg’s pickup, he found Greg slumped unconscious against the passenger door. He had dried blood on his face, but he was breathing. Jasper checked him carefully and found a bullet crease on the side of Greg’s head. It was where the blood had come from, and was what had caused the loss of consciousness. There were no other injuries apparent.

  Jasper ran to get Millie and the first-aid kit. Millie didn’t ask what was going on. She just helped Jasper get Greg to the house and began to tend to him. Jasper ushered the children out of the way. They knew the tone of voice and hurriedly made their way to the living room and picked up school work to begin working on it.

  He had to be sure. Jasper checked all the bodies one last time. They were dead. Jasper finally thought to check the back of the truck. Lumber. Eight foot two-by-fours, a couple of dozen of them And sheets of half inch plywood. Also twelve. And three old fashioned pitcher pumps in relatively good condition.

  It was apparently what Alvin and his family had died for, and Greg had been injured for. Jasper went back to check on Millie and Greg. Millie said, “I cleaned the wound. If he comes out of it, I think he’ll be alright. Just depends on how much the brain was jostled when he was shot.”

  Jasper nodded. “Okay. Do what you can for him. I’ve got something to do.” His trusty rototiller and shovel allowed Jasper to dig two shallow mass graves. One for the attackers, one for Alvin’s family. They were all buried near the north hedge, just as the original family had been.

  It was the next day, after Greg had regained consciousness that Jasper took the time to check out the two Jeeps. They weren’t to his taste in any way, but seemed to be in excellent shape. He considered them spoils of war and hid them both in Greg’s garage. It would only be fair for Greg to get one if he wanted it, but Jasper intended to get everything he could out of one of them in barter.

  It took three weeks for Greg to get back on his feet. He was apologizing to Millie and Jasper for most of that time. When he was able to get around again he went along with Jasper’s idea of Jasper getting one of the Jeeps to use as barter goods.

  He decided to keep the other one and sell his own truck, since he could use Jasper’s much more efficient pickup if needed, and could get around with much less gasoline in the Jeep. Jasper let Greg get rid of his truck first, waiting for several weeks before he tried to get what he wanted out of the Jeep he kept.

  Greg drove it down to the trading park for Jasper and Jasper set up for the long haul
in bartering. Greg disappeared, getting in another of the few running vehicles and leaving with the owner.

  It wasn’t until that late evening that Jasper finally got what he wanted for the Jeep. It took five families going together to get the Jeep for shared use. Jasper wasn’t concerned about their individual equity in the Jeep. He just wanted what he wanted.

  The families had spent all day gathering the barter goods after the initial contact had been made and Jasper stated his wants. It wasn’t exactly as Jasper wanted, but it was well within the limits Jasper had placed on the deal mentally.

  There was a real PV solar set up with deep cycle batteries and a Trace 115 volt inverter so they could run one or two appliances at a time at the house.

  There were five small pigs. Two boars and three sows, with assurances that they had all come from different places so there would be genetic diversity when Jasper started a breeding program. They wouldn’t grow so fast that Jasper couldn’t get a pigpen and small barn built for them before they outgrew the small enclosure he’d already made in anticipation of such a trade.

  Lastly there were seven good mountain bikes with extra parts and tires. Jasper wanted five for the family, one for Greg, and one for a spare, plus the parts to keep them going for years. He suspected the bikes might have been scavenged from a bicycle shop, since they were essentially new, and due to the quantities of the spare parts and tires. No one, except perhaps Jasper himself at some point, would have had all of it, especially available on short notice.

  Jasper had everything loaded in his pickup, and was ready to go when Greg showed up again. He was smiling when he walked over to join Jasper at the truck. Jasper noticed the shiny Sheriff’s badge pinned to his jacket. He lifted his eyes to meet Greg’s.

  “Been talking to Old Judge Harper,” Greg explained. “I told him I thought we needed some law enforcement to prevent what had happened to Alvin and his family, and a few other people around here. He agreed. Since none of the real deputies survived, or the Sheriff, Judge Harper appointed me as Sheriff until we could hold elections.

  “He even said he’d pay me a salary for a year in gold and silver if I can find someone that would take it for food and other necessities.” Greg looked at Jasper hopefully.

  “I’ll talk it over with Millie,” Jasper said. “You sure you want to do this? You know those guys probably weren’t alone.”

  Greg was very serious when he spoke. “Jasper, thanks to you, and the Lord, I’ve been given not one, but two chances. I want to make sure other people have a chance to survive all this.”

  “Okay, Greg. As long as you’re sure. You’ll get my support.”

  “Thanks, Buddy. Let’s get you and your new brood back home. Looks like I’m going to be able to have some pork ribs again, one of these days.”

  Jasper smiled and put the truck into gear. Just maybe life would return to that norm.

  The End

  THANK YOU FOR READING

  “THE SLOW ROAD”

  By

  Jerry D. Young

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  MEET THE AUTHOR

  Jerry D Young was born at home, in Senath, Missouri July 3, 1953. At age 5 the family rented a small farm house on an active farm 40 miles southwest of St. Louis. While the family weren't farmers, they lived something of a homestead type life, raising a milk cow, sometimes two, and calves, a pig or two, chickens, and the occasional goat. Along with the stock, a large garden helped to feed Jerry's three brothers and two sisters for several years. Fishing and hunting contributed to the pantry, as did foraging the wild edibles on the property.

  At the age of 14, the family, minus a brother and two sisters that were now adults and on their own, moved back to Senath. Having been encouraged from an early age to read, Jerry was a regular patron of the Senath Branch Library.

  A love of a good story was born within him, and shortly before graduating high school, for a lack of stories that he liked at the library, he began to write short vignettes, and started taking notes for stories that he wanted to tell. Jerry eventually began to write in earnest and now has more than 100 titles to his credit including Prep/PAW stories, Action/Adventure, and a few of the romance type stories that first got him started.