by Ron Foster
“Ok if I am going to stay here and try to play Daniel Boone to help feed us all, I got to know a few things. First off, I already put all my cards on the table in regards to how long I can hold out and what kind of supplies I got. Now, you tell me how long you think you can last with just what supplies you got on hand?” Farley asked.
‘You ask some hard questions, Farley! That’s a reasonable one though seeing that it appears that we are going to be sharing the same lifeboat so to speak. Ok, I will give you an honest answer, I don’t really know. It all depends on how much we cut down or you and I are willing to share together to stretch it all out. “Charlie said wrinkling his brow at Farley over this uncomfortable conversation.
“Let’s say then that if neither one of us shared anything with each other and your boy didn’t catch any fish and I don’t shoot any deer… Then how long do you think your family could survive on it’s own with only what you got on hand right now this minute?” Farley questioned.
“Since you put it that way, and I might add that was a kind of dastardly way to put things, I am guessing we have a month and a half, maybe more? Hey you don’t happen to like Jalapeno peppers, do you? I got three industrial sized cans…” Charlie began before Farley cut him off and said that he didn’t like them and don’t be counting jars of pickles neither because there was no way he could live off those except for an occasional few on the side with a dinner.
“Look here; do you remember your military training about becoming a P.O.W? (Prisoner Of War) Never mind, I forgot the Air Force don’t go into that type of training with everyone. The survival rule is that you try to make your escape as early as possible because that is when you’re most likely the most well fed and physically fit to survive the rigors of evasion. In our case the whole S.E.R.E. (Survival, Evasion, Escape, and Resistance) scenario takes on different attributes and different meanings. For example, my wanting to go foraging now and learning the lay of the land while resources are more common and less likely to be already looted in some areas. If you waited to tell me someday that you only had two weeks worth of food supplies left and I could have been gathering supplies during those two previous weeks my need to take risks or have an unequal return for my efforts now increases because I waited.” Farley said trying to get Charlie’s moratorium on pilfering lifted.
“Another point to consider in my favor that I want to bring up is that if I clean out every abandoned house close by to here of food supplies, the chances of a some roving band or individual looking for supplies venturing this way is reduced and they will hopefully change direction towards what appears to have not already been gone through by others. It also leaves a message about how many survivors are in an area. Eventually, if folks haven’t done so already, everyone becomes a forager or looter depending on how you look at it, well the truth is just out of necessity.” Farley said studying the man for signs of understanding that if something is inevitable then dealing with that aspect becomes a priority to consider early on in a disaster.
“I see your points and they do have some merits but like you said it’s all about when timing comes into play. I would say within 2 weeks of the grid going down that the folks around here have already been through every known empty house in their area and have already begun venturing out farther a field with their scavenging efforts. That means you would probably be endangering us and your life for nothing. That scenario also increases the odds of desperate people meeting desperate people willing to fight over the same goods, so your chances of a violent encounter increase now and decrease later.” Charlie said sticking to his guns on the need to stay low for now without voicing any Buddhist or otherwise beliefs about trying to live a peaceful life.
“I got to disagree with you on that, Charlie, and here is why: a person, that is most people, have not reverted to higher degrees of savagery and out and out lawlessness yet. They still retain their humanity and they are able show compassion as a virtue to be upheld in times of trouble. Oh yea, on any given day you have your 5% of folks that are just plain rotten or evil and your other 10% we will call opportunists that are increasing in numbers and most likely skills daily but they have a habit of sorting themselves out in petty violence or be being taken out by the law abiding types to keep their numbers lower than the rest. You got to look at things now like wolf packs or tribes that follow the law of the jungle or survive on supply and demand. If a wolf pack meets a bear unexpectedly, they are going to harass it. They are not trying to kill it for food, or attack it because they hate bears in general; they just want it to move on and not compete with them for game or worrying about it harming their cubs. They don’t want to have to get very close to it either because even if they received only a minor wound from not observing the necessary caution the animal deserves they would greatly decrease the packs and their own survival rate by not being able to hunt well. With tribes of people it’s similar, you have a territory, you protect your territory, and you expand your territory when a neighboring tribe is weak or becomes assimilated. See Charlie, if one tribe has good hunting grounds for themselves that are productive, others want them so they can grow strong and prosper like the current occupants. On the other hand, because their territory creates a bounty it gives the tribe strength to fend others off or have surplus to trade and make new alliances to help guard their borders. This is also how news travels and the politics and reputation of a region get set up.” Farley explained beginning to layout his plan of action he thought they should undertake.
On the whole human beings want to be good, but not too good, and not quite all the time.
“So in essence what you are saying is that if Becky and her boy and you decide to stay here we are forming ourselves a little tribe of sorts? That’s not much of a tribe, Farley.” Charlie said stating the obvious about two old men, two young boys and two unarmed women’s chances of survival against even one of these big country families known to exist around here.
“That’s the thing, we appear to be the poorest tribe in the county to ourselves but no one even knows we exist yet and in actuality we are the richest in resources we need to protect. We only need to keep folks away from us so they don’t find out what an easy mark we are and if we do go up against anyone we just got to make sure they worry about if we are worth the effort. Getting back to the bear and wolf analogy there is one creature in the woods that is much smaller than them but they all fear, do you know what that is, Charlie?” Farley asked.
“I know where you are going with this, I was stationed on Elmendorf Air Base in Anchorage, Alaska right before the great earthquake and tsunami devastated it in 1964. You’re talking about a wolverine, right?” Charlie said remembering the awe he had experienced when he first found out one of these over sized badger like creatures was known to chase both wolves and grizzly bears off a kill. Nothing wants to mess with a wolverine.
“Well, like a wolverine, I want our presence known but I don’t want any direct confrontations with anyone but if one does happen I am going to growl and snarl and be as tenacious as that little beast and I expect the same out of you all. We can indeed live around the bigger predators in the same territory and have respect. I never heard of wolves or bears trying to steal from a wolverine- that animal has a particular way of marking their territory which I will explain to you later. In the meantime as a tribe, we just look poor and not worth getting hurt over.” Farley said thinking about a quote:
“He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.” George Orwell
“So what weird ideas you got, Farley, to make this magical appearance of strength you’re talking about? Evidently the threat of military law hasn’t had any effect on you or others busting in here.” Charlie said not really liking how this conversation was going but grateful to have this crazy old bastard on his side.
“I am going to start by picking me out one of them cabins you got and posting a sign on the one next to me. I am going to say a man with attitude lives ther
e” Farley began before Charlie said wait a minute.
“Next to you? I don’t get that; why not nail it on the one you are going to live in? For that matter, why not put a sign on all of them?” Charlie said confused about Farley’s intended actions.
“Because it’s like this, coming down here I checked out that first cabin before moving to the next and so on. If one of those had a no trespassing sign on it I would be watching it first and foremost and keeping an eye on it might distract me from the others. If you got 10 cabins and only one beware sign with a deer skull or something on it what would you be looking at and thinking about?” Farley said with a smirk.
“You are a devious man, Farley!” Charlie said chuckling.
“What else do you have planned?” Charlie asked, interested in this form of psychological warfare Farley proposed.
“Every man has to have an angle and figuring out the other mans’ is just the beginning. I saw an Arc welder in that shed we were just in and I am going to get you to help me move it up to the gate and weld that sucker shut from the back and then weld the lock on in the front. No more easy access for light fingered fools like me!” Farley said grinning.
“Damn, I thought of welding it but I don’t know how to use that machine. Why weld it in the back and not the front where it’s obvious?” Charlie asked.
“Just to mess with somebody’s head, it will take them long enough to get the lock off the front and then they will be kicking themselves for not thinking about the back and still not getting access. You aren’t going to be able to get in that gate even if you had a cold chisel and a sledge hammer time I am done with that.” Farley said chuckling.
“So how do we get in and out of here? Use one of the old service roads?” Charlie questioned.
“Oh yea, but first I am going to take those danged government warning signs off of the few I saw and weld the rest of them gates and booms shut. Those signs are why I knew I was close to this place; maybe I leave one up and an official looking quarantine sign or something but in the mean time I want them to just look like abandoned logging roads or hunting camp accesses. I could fell a tree at each end of this road and try to deny access to folks even traveling this way but I need to study that for awhile longer. We got to be able to move around regularly for a bit and have more than one way to escape route out of our burrow if you know what I mean.” Farley said regarding his benefactor with glee that he was regarding Farley’s plans with enthusiasm and appreciation now of his woods and war lore.
“Sounds like a pretty good plan, Farley, we still got lots of daylight left and I can show you which roads are serviceable and which are not. This place only has two main gates if you want to call them that; one is on the other side of where you came in from and it is for employees when we have a security shutdown. The other couple roads you saw were for fire truck access or like you said for a timber crew to move equipment. About that tree cutting thing you mentioned, you know about dropping them down on the roads leading into and going away from here? I want to hear more.” Charlie said contemplating being just cut off from the rest of the world and trying to ride things out. He sure would feel safer at night with that option regardless if Farley thought they should start up food forays before it was a dire emergency.
“Those women folk probably got cursing us for being over here the second we left. I think we got our drinking a beer together and talking things out down to a fine art by now and I don’t want my boy tussling again with yours so I guess we better head back.” Farley stated cutting the conversation short and wanting to head back...
“Yes, I imagine you are right, we better start heading home. I guess we both dread popping the question on everyone staying back there but it sounds and feels right if we can over come all the objections we anticipate.” Charlie said.
“It sounded a lot better before you said “Popping the question” I didn’t have any marriages in mind and was thinking something like alliances but you know there is some weird connotation to this all that the ladies will think of that we haven’t been studying.” Fraley warned.
“I guess you got some of them gray hairs on your head from wisdom instead of foolishness!” Charlie quipped and the two arose from their comfortable beer drinking seats to go try to explain the new law of the land to the assembled ladies and lads.
“I hope this don’t turn into the bitch fest from hell, no pun intended but one of those gray hairs of mine tells me that the women folk after bossing them two boys around already have decided plans for us we don’t know about yet.” Farley said having a slight understanding of feminine wiles and machinations regarding his fate when he wasn’t in the room to observe or defend himself.
“I say that they are either out for each others blood being catty or that they are getting along famously dreaming up something that will cause us a whole lot of sweat. Either way I don’t suppose they are thinking about us getting in agreement the way we have.” Charlie stated with a smile.
“Yea, I am in a quandary about how to approach the subject of us all staying together but I guess honesty is the best policy and I will just lay it all out on the line with Becky regarding my invite and your wife’s hopeful agreement.” Farley said dreading the next conversation and possible confrontation.
“You are not as wise as I thought you were, Farley, you already said Becky tried to get you to talk to her about her staying somewhere close to you so the ball is in your court. Men don’t pick up women; women pick up men so your course in her opinion might be all ready set. Your job is to not ass up and spoil whatever that means before agreeing. I know you are going to elaborate on her having her own house, etc. and that the commitments you are making now mean nothing other than a measure of survival to you but to her it means another thing, safety and security and everything that the softer sex feels about such propositions of nesting.” Charlie advised for Farley’s consideration.
“I already told you I am not trying to get into her pants, but you are right. Hell, I have seen 80 year old women still talking about perverts chasing them regardless of the facts in the matter so you are correct in your assumptions she is going to think I have sexual over practical expectations. That’s a given and then when I say hell no she is going to think I don’t find her attractive or something and then I am in Dutch about another whole matter entirely.” Farley fumed.
“Exactly, also consider the kid might have some opinions if you ever do hook up but in your circumstances I don’t think he would object much but you never know.” Charlie advised.
“Look I can handle me; you handle that darling wife of yours who I think will give you a harder time than me and her will.” Farley countered.
“Oh, you got that right but Miss Feng is an Asiatic lady of the first color, she will raise hell publicly on all matters concerning her family but in private she agrees with me more than you might ever know or think.” Charlie advised.
“No offense intended, but I still remember her passing you with that golf cart.” Farley chuckled and then stifled himself from throwing out further barbs.
“We got a lot to discuss and talk about with the families, are you ready to get the show on the road and head that way?” Charlie asked.
“One other thing, how many of them golf carts you got around this place?” Farley inquired.
“We got three, one’s in the shop and don’t drive for some reason and the other is locked up in the tractor shed that I don’t have a key to for some reason and I haven’t tried busting in there yet.” Charlie said thinking that was probably when Farley was going to say he wanted to do next with that reaving axe of his.
“Well, since your house is the only one that has power if you decide to use the gas for that generator you got, that means our houses are dark and that won’t fly good for very long. I can rig lights for two cabins and a fan if those batteries are still good for the one you have in the shop.” Farley offered.
“Now that’s sharp, maybe you could rig something for yourselves to run one o
f them small refrigerators in the cabins.” Charlie speculated.
“I have some small wattage solar capability but if we can find any signage powered by solar panels on the road or maybe on a house somewhere we can expand a system or maybe even power one of those carts.” Farley said speculating.
“Let’s load up and go tell the ladies our good news.” Charlie said and the pair got into the truck and went to tell the ladies about what they had decided today that would affect them forever.
The End.
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Old Man photos c. Patricia Ann Lambert 2015
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