The Journal: Crimson Skies: (The Journal Book 3)

by Deborah D. Moore

  “I can’t help wondering where your men are though. I suggested to Pete to come at noon yesterday,” Mark said, puzzled.

  “Oh, I told my brother Adam to wait until today. I knew Art might need the extra day here. Little did I know I would need it too,” Claire responded.

  Mark had finished fixing the cast to Collins’ broken leg when Lenny and Adam arrived. The guys helped him stand and he practiced with the crutches.

  When Claire told Adam about the tumor, he gave her a long, brotherly hug.

  “I’m so sorry, Claire. I know how much you wanted a baby,” Adam said. “I’m sure Alise would welcome your help when our baby arrives.”

  “That brings up a thought,” Collins said, sitting down in a chair. “What kind of office hours do you plan on keeping? We have three other women that are expecting babies, and I think it wise for have you look at them.”

  I could see Mark was having a hard time suppressing a grin.

  “I was thinking along the lines of Mondays from noon until four o’clock at the clinic next door,” he answered. “Of course if there are any emergencies, all you need do is come and get me.”

  ~~~

  “Oh, that hot shower felt wonderful,” I sighed as I towel dried my hair. It was the first thing I did when we got back home. Tomorrow would be plenty of time for Amanda and I to go back to the hospital and clean up. Right now, Mark and I needed some rest.

  “I can’t wait to sleep in our own bed!” Mark stated emphatically.

  Outside, the thunder boomed and more rain fell.

  “I’m really glad we harvested the garden when we did. All this rain would have made it impossible to get in there now and we might have lost much of the crop,” I said.

  “Which brings to mind, Allex, what do you intend on trading with Collins? Our food won’t last much longer if we barter it away.”

  “I know. I intend on keeping the trade goods limited to what we can replace or don’t need. Maybe a hen and a rooster, so they can start their own flock. Or a keg of beer, though that will be Eric’s decision. I’d like to start with a couple of pounds of rice. They seemed to really like that.”

  “A couple of pounds won’t go far with twenty people.”

  “True, but I don’t want them thinking we have an unlimited supply, even though we still have hundreds of pounds sealed in buckets. So just a small amount to start with, then maybe some dried beans or a box of pasta. We need to earn each other’s trust first. Besides, we don’t know yet what they have to offer in return.”

  “I thought it was for hunting and fishing rights?”

  “For now, maybe, though eventually the deer will come back to this area, and I think in the spring we should release these fish we have in the greenhouse, that’s the reason we collected them.” I stopped myself from saying more. It was John who helped collect the fish, not Mark. My love for both is blurring my memory.

  CHAPTER 23

  October 8

  With expectations and trepidation, Mark opened the clinic at noon. Our new hours would last until four o’clock.

  “Do you think anyone will show?” he asked me nervously.

  “You mean the pregnant women from Mathers Lake?” I chided him. “Mark, sweetheart, they will or they won’t. I didn’t feel any deceit from Collins, but all we can do is wait. Since you did promise these four hours every week, we will be here.” I busied myself with wiping a thin film of dust off of everything.

  At one thirty, there was a car pulling into the drive. Pete got out from the driver’s side, followed by three young women, one who looked barely in her teens. I picked up a clipboard and greeted them.

  “Pete, it’s nice to see you again. How is the arm doing?” I asked.

  “Much better, thanks. I was wondering if the doc could look at it and maybe take the stitches out. They itch.”

  “Sure, Pete, come on in,” Mark said, coming out of his office. “These ladies will need a few minutes to fill out some basic information anyway.” The two men disappeared into the exam room.

  “I’m sorry, we only have one clipboard, so you’ll have to take turns,” I said. “It won’t take long, I promise. This is only basic stuff the doctor should have, like you name, age, how far along you think you are. He’ll fill the rest in, so he can monitor your pregnancies.” They all looked scared. “By the way, I’m Allexa, Dr. Mark’s wife and nurse. I’ll be with you the entire time, so please don’t be nervous, all he wants to do is help.”

  They seemed a little more at ease as they wrote on the forms I had created on the computer with Mark’s guidance.

  It only took ten minutes for Mark to remove Pete’s stitches, and probably not that long. I’m sure my husband was asking plenty of questions.

  “Tess, we’ll see you first,” I said, and the youngest stood. Her chart said she was only fourteen. This was a new world; girls became women overnight.

  Mark took her blood pressure and listened to the baby’s heart.

  “Would you like to hear?” he asked her.

  “Really? Oh, yeah!” Tess grinned. I fitted the second stethoscope into her ears, and Mark moved it around as he did his. Tess giggled with delight.

  “Do you have any questions, Tess?” Mark asked, giving her his full attention when he finished writing on the new chart.

  “I… I know I’m kinda young, Doctor, and my Mom says I’m not really fully-grown yet. Do you think I’ll have any problems delivering?” she asked, suddenly looking scared and even younger.

  “I don’t know, Tess. Much will depend on genetics. This baby is both you and its father. If he’s a big man, maybe, but we will monitor you carefully as the time draws near,” Mark said, trying to reassure her.

  The next two exams, with Alise and Chloe, were equally quick and well received. Chloe was nearing term and very relieved to have a doctor near. When everyone stood to leave, Pete approached us.

  “Mr. Collins wants to know if this Friday would be a good day for all of you to come to dinner at his house at two o’clock.”

  “Tell Mr. Collins we would be delighted to come. And inform him there will be nine or ten of us,” I replied.

  ~~~

  “Why did you say there would be nine or ten of us?” Mark asked.

  “I want him to know that not all of us are coming. Strategy, my dear, strategy.”

  CHAPTER 24

  October 11

  “Thank goodness this land line still works!” I said to Jason.

  “Yeah. Eric tests it every day, calling Rayn.” He poked his brother in the ribs.

  Eric shrugged. “What can I say? I really like her.”

  “Jason, stop teasing your brother!” I had to smile. I dialed the private number Colonel Andrews had given me.

  “What a pleasant surprise, Allexa. What can I do for you?”

  “We’ve been invited out to Mathers Lake for dinner tomorrow and I was wondering if you and a few of your men would like to go with us? Oh, and Rayn, too,” I added when I got a panicked look from Eric.

  “I think we can use the break. This storm is still sitting on top of us and creating all kinds of havoc.”

  “I’m still hearing distant thunder and seeing flashes of lightning, though I thought it would have moved off by now. What kind of problems?”

  “Fires mainly, and isolated flooding. The rain isn’t hitting us directly, or it might help put out the fires. Seems it’s raining inland, but moving downriver right at us.” Jim sighed on the other end of the line. “What few firefighters that are left are being hampered by flooded streets, so whenever the lightning starts a new blaze, they can’t get to it. They’ve managed to contain most of it, though that’s about it. What time is dinner and how many men do you want me to bring?”

  “Dinner is at two o’clock, and I think six personnel will be sufficient, but,” I hesitated, “can you bring some new faces? Besides Rayn, of course.”

  “Ah, you want to keep Collins thinking there are more of you than there are, right?”


  “I can’t fool you,” I laughed and hung up.

  ~~~

  “Fires? From the lightning? Wow, I guess we really lucked out that this storm passed us with no real damage,” Jason said.

  We all sat around their kitchen table discussing tomorrow’s events.

  “Well, the Colonel did say they had them mostly contained, so maybe it isn’t all that bad,” I said.

  “Fire can get out of hand in a heartbeat,” Mark commented. “And then no matter how many people are fighting it, the fire will win.”

  “Let’s get back to our situation, okay? Besides the Colonel, there will be five new faces, plus Rayn. Jason, do you and Amanda want to come with us this time? And what about the kids?”

  “Yes, I’d like to go,” Amanda was quick to say. “It would be nice to meet someone new.”

  “I think we should leave the kids here. I don’t like the idea of possibly putting them into danger or maybe in the midst of a hostage situation,” Eric said. “Once we feel these people out in a social setting, maybe next time.”

  We all agreed the children would stay home, with Ken, Karen, Joshua, and one of Jim’s soldiers.

  October 12

  “I’m glad you could make it, Allexa, Doctor,” Art Collins greeted us, balancing on the crutches Eric had loaned him, his casted arm resting in a sling attached to the crutch.

  “Thank you for the invitation, Mr. Collins,” I said looking around at his spacious house. “Nice place you have here.”

  “Thank you, I designed it myself ten years ago.”

  “Ten years ago? You mean this is your house?” Mark asked.

  Collins ignored the implied accusation. I think we all assumed he was a squatter and had taken over the nicest house.

  “Please, have a seat and allow me to explain our situation here,” he said, being a polite host.

  “Before we do,” Mark interrupted, “would you mind if I checked over Claire’s incision? Somewhere private of course.” I helped Claire stand and she led us to one of the guest rooms.

  “That’s starting to heal quite nicely, Claire,” Mark observed, when she lifted her baggy shirt. “The swelling is already much less. Come to the clinic in another week and I’ll take the stitches out.”

  “Thank you again, Dr. Robbins. I actually feel better. I didn’t realize I was feeling bad, sick-like, until I started to feel better. Could the tumor have been poisoning me or something?”

  “Anything’s possible, Claire. I am quite pleased that your health is improving.” Mark flashed her a sincere smile.

  When we rejoined the group, Collins was passing out mugs of warmed cider.

  “I should probably start from the beginning,” he began.

  We all sat on the comfortable furniture. The overstuffed couch was a pleasant plaid pattern of greens, blues, and beige, with the side chairs in a matching deep hunter green. The end tables were a sturdy heavy dark oak. It was all nicely appealing.

  “I know you think I just showed up and took over here, grabbing the nicest house on the block,” he smiled ruefully. “My grandfather was Anthony Mathers, hence Mathers Lake. He purchased this land a hundred years ago. He was young, but he had great vision. There is a cabin on the other side of the lake that is the original homestead. When my mother Lilly married Abe Collins, Gramps gave her this side of the lake and half of the land, three hundred and twenty acres. When he died, she inherited the rest.”

  “Your grandfather bought a whole section of land? Wow,” Jason remarked.

  “She and my father sold much of it to the Resort at a good profit, and kept the lake and a hundred acres around it. I grew up here, roaming the woods as a child.” He smiled as some pleasant memories seemed to intrude on his dissertation. He took a sip of his cider before going on. “When Claire and I married fifteen years ago, they gave it to me, and retired to Florida. I was fresh out of graduate school with a degree in architecture. What better way to practice my new profession than to build our own home?”

  Just then we were interrupted by a young man whispering something to Collins.

  “Ah, dinner is ready. I will continue as we eat.” He stood, leading us into a formal dining room. “With so many of you attending I’m afraid most of my extended family will be dining in the kitchen. There isn’t enough room at this table, big as it is. My mother loved to entertain and often had this table filled with friends every weekend. I’m not as gracious of a host as she was. I never have been - I like my privacy. But I love this table so I brought it here after she passed. It reminds me of her.”

  The table was set with a simple setting, and did include cloth napkins. Although it was a lovely touch, there were few paper products available, and many of us had fallen back on the old ways out of necessity. There was a platter filled with sliced turkey, and another with what I found out was smoked goose. A basket of corn muffins sat on either end of the table. We have bread, they have cornbread, and I found it to be a treat. There was a bowl full of corn on the cob, cut into thirds to stretch the servings, and a bowl of steaming stewed apples.

  “I certainly hope the rest of your family is eating this well, Mr. Collins. It looks and smells wonderful,” Mark commented, spearing a slice of goose.

  “No one here goes hungry, though we certainly don’t eat this elaborately every day,” he answered. “I understand you have children, Allexa. May I ask why you didn’t bring them? We have four here under the age of fourteen; they were looking forward to some new playmates.”

  I heard a few snickers around the table, and Mark coughed, trying to suppress his laugh.

  “Oh, I did bring them, Mr. Collins,” I said with a straight face. “The two young men sitting to your left are my sons. However, we did leave the two grandchildren at home, well protected. They’re ten and twelve and we didn’t know if they would have anything to do here during our visit. Perhaps another time they can come too.” I smiled and made eye contact, letting him know there were more adults back in our community, and that our children’s safety was of high priority.

  “You wear your age well,” he said. He munched on some cornbread and then set it aside. “I won’t bore you with all the details of our lives over the past five years, but this is an intentional community. Over the years I kept building small homes here as a retreat of sorts, and carefully selecting those I felt would fit in. My group is of the beans and bullets mentality, though I should have listened more to my wife and stored more beans, not to mention rice. That was a real treat, by the way.

  “This spring we did plant an extensive garden. We realized we were really short on certain supplies, so we raided the Resort and took every bit of food we could find. I think raid is a harsh term – there wasn’t anyone there, and hasn’t been since the first quake.

  “My friends are all of the survivalist mindset, though I prefer to call ourselves isolationists. We only want to be left alone, although we are well prepared to defend what we have.”

  “Well, I can understand that. We want to be left alone too, but we also understand there are times when that isn’t practical, like when someone gets injured,” I replied.

  “That has been made abundantly clear,” Collins laughed. “And I now agree, which is why I invited all of you here today. I would like to make amends for my rude treatment before, and see what we can do about setting up some kind of trade.”

  “I’d like that,” I said, smiling warmly, as the same young man came by and quickly removed our empty plates.

  “Doctor, have you thought more about your ‘terms’ for medical treatment?” Collins asked.

  “I’ve been working on it. I think one of the terms for an overnight stay at the hospital of more than one night is food. It needs to be either replaced or furnished,” Mark stated.

  “That’s more than reasonable. If you like, I can make up a box to replace what Claire and I ate,” Collins offered.

  “Not necessary. I would say this meal more than took care of what we provided. And personally speaking, the smoked g
oose was excellent,” Mark complimented. “I think too, that I’m going to limit my services to mainly injuries or other physical issues, like maternity care. If someone gets a cold or comes down with the measles, there’s nothing I can do to help anyway, so that person would need to be cared for at home, also to limit exposure to others.”

  “Another reasonable term. What about payment?” Collins got right to the point.

  “I was thinking of service for service. What you might have to offer, I don’t know, so we can let it coast for now,” Mark answered.

  “Mr. Collins, if you don’t mind, I’d like to know how you rode out the ash fall. Did you even know about it?” I asked.

  “Oh, yes, we knew. One of the members here, Nathan, is a Ham operator. His set up is quite impressive and because we considered all possibilities, his equipment has its own solar array for power. From the first rumblings, he monitored several channels collecting information. We grouped all of our members into three housing units to ride out the ash. I feel incredibly fortunate that we were spared. Barely, but spared,” Collins paused. “I understand Moose Creek didn’t fare as well.”

  “I think I’ve thought of a service that you could provide for us that will pay your debt to me,” Mark smiled. “We have a Ham radio and tower set up at one of the houses in our compound, and no one knows how to use it. Will this Nathan be willing to teach one of us?”

  “I can guarantee he would do that! I think I’m going to like this barter system,” Collins laughed. “Now, what can I trade you for some of that rice?”

  ~~~

  “I must admit that all went better than I expected,” Jim Andrews commented over a finger of iced vodka once we arrived back home.