They filled in the trench, leveled the pole and packed dirt and stone into the hole to steady it. Time, rain, frosts, would pack the earth fully and the pole would stabilize on its own, but a good base was necessary to make sure it stayed straight and level as it did.
They were down at the bend of the stream where the second bridge was. This was the last light, at least for now it was. They had several more and enough bulbs to keep them working for many years, or, Aaron thought, as James was known to say, they should still be here when Jesus comes home.
For the last two days they had put in over thirty of the lights. Each pole was about thirty feet in height, they sunk four feet of that height into the ground, so the light sat about twenty-six feet from the ground. They had two ladders capable of reaching that height to change out lights. Aaron had tried it twice, it was a breeze. Jake and Conner were not so enthusiastic about climbing thirty feet into the air on a ladder anchored against a swaying pole.
The power house was up and running. It had taken Janna and Conner most of the last two days to calibrate the wheel and then adjust the software. They had then gone zone by zone and tied it all together. They were still working on it now.
As they had run the main conduit, they had run off to the stone houses close to the cave and the four barns farther down the valley, and what had looked like a mountain of wire when they had bought it back by truck, was now more than half gone: But, Aaron reminded himself, very Little wiring remained to be done.
There were large underground, water proofed junction boxes that tapped into the main line every two hundred feet, so if they needed to add a building or someone wanted to build a house it would be easy enough to do and they had plenty of wire left to do it.
They had added a few extra lights: Two for the cemetery park area by the pool. One each for the men's and the women's bathing areas, which, even with the discovery of the hot springs and the showers Dustin had promised, were still popular bathing and swimming areas. And one near where they intended to build a long open gathering building where they could all get together for dinners and picnics in the summer.
Aaron had drawn the plans for the building. It would be a hundred and sixty feet long by forty feet wide. It would be completely covered and include a raised area for a band and dancing as well as numerous picnic tables scattered throughout the rest of the area. They had taken one of the big stake rack tracks, journeyed into the re-forested pine forests a few miles east of the cave and cut all the logs already. The trees were huge, straight pines. They were now blocked and waiting for the sawmill to catch up with all of its orders: Probably some time around April of next year, Aaron thought, which would work out good.
He and Jake began to walk back toward the power plant.
“So how's little Jake?” Aaron asked.
“He's a handful, but Lilly's already talking about another one,” Jake said.
“What's it feel like,” Aaron wanted to know.
“Jake smiled. “Like heaven. Like... Have you ever been sitting, relaxing, just watching the world go by, and you realize that your life is exactly the way you want it? Perfect? No complaints? Sun is shining and nothing at all is wrong?” Jake asked.
Aaron laughed. “Maybe once or twice. I look at Amy sometimes and I get that feeling.”
“Well, that's what it's like every day. No bullshit either. I thought about it the other day, and I thought, well, maybe I'm weird. I have everything I want. All of it. When I hold him and he looks at me, he gets this look on his face and then he smiles at me. Makes my heart skip beats, almost cry, every time! Every day, Aaron... I couldn't want more than what I have. In the old world I hated to go to work. I hated to go home from work. I hated to go down to the corner bar on Friday nights. Sometimes, I think, what the hell there was of that old life to like? No wonder I hated it.”
“It's not just little Jake, it's Lilly too: This place, but little Jake capped it. He made it all I need,” Jake finished quietly.
They walked along. Indian summer was waning. The hardwood forest at the end of the second valley was a perfect riot of color. The trees that climbed the slopes of the surrounding mountains were already dropping leaves, some trees were bare. The ducks and the geese that had used the pond almost from the first day of its creation were gone. Probably somewhere over Alabama or Mississippi, James had supposed when Aaron had bought it up a few days before.
The air held a promise of snow. It was still too warm for snow, but you could tell it was coming and soon.
The wind mill turned in the light breeze as they walked past. It was up, wired into the grid, but only able to charge batteries as of now. There was some problem with the software that would not allow it to change over and contribute its power to the main line. Janna and Conner were working on it.
They had put the wind mill on the spine of the mountain, just where it plunged back down into the valley eventually ending at the second El. It caught the winds from all directions all day long. A second windmill was being built on top of the mountain right by the lookout. It was one that they had built themselves after seeing how simplistic the design really was. It was hooked into two huge generators they had bought back on the last trip. And a third windmill was already up and running in the open field just below the peak. It simply pulled hot water from the mineral pool. They had welded a thick steel tank from scrap metal, sunk it to the bottom of the mineral pool, and then run a cold water line in from the stream. The windmill pushed the cold water to the unit. The pressure and the heating of the water allowed the heated water to be distributed: The main cave, the clinic, and a few close by places in the valley. It supplied potable water for cooking and showering. It also dropped a line into the barn that Josh and Shar had built in the third cave. The same windmill provided the pressure to pump cold water to all the same places.
The showers that Dustin had promised for the mineral pool had been put on hold when a closer examination of the pool had discovered a small fissure half below and half above the water line that passed into a second room twice the size of the original room. They had widened the hole to examine the room more fully.
The water in the second room was not as hot as the first area, but it was a matter of degrees only, and more than hot enough for bathing. The thinking was that they should open up the second room by cutting a new entrance from the main tunnel. It would mean cutting through about three feet of rock, but James was sure it could be done. When finished it would allow a separate area for the men and the women. There had already been a few embarrassing late night encounters. Dustin felt if he added the showers now it would only add to the problem. So he had turned to the problem of being able to reach each other.
He had decided on the FM radio band. The individual units were easy to house in almost any area: As long as they were charged they could receive a call. He had simply left it to Conner and Jana to build software to make it perform more like a phone system. Small FM antennas had gone up in several places through the valley to act as relays. They had already used them to talk to the settlement at the state park, so they would have plenty of range for their needs, and they could be mobile with a mobile unit on the same frequency. They were both wearing FM units that were tied into the system, and the base units had been installed in several places, although they were not yet working.
The two men continued on past the barns and came upon a herd of Moose that tended to stay close to the small woods that hugged the side of the valley and extended up to the mountain ridge. The sociable animals trotted down to watch them as they walked past and headed for the power plant.
~
Amy rubbed the body lotion across Katie's stomach. They were both stretched out on Katie's bed.
“Okay, vitamin E and aloe, and Jessie said it really will help with the stretch marks,” Amy said as she worked her way down, over Katie's hard stomach and onto her thighs.
“Your stomach is hard as a rock, Kate.” Amy said. “Mine is hard, but not that hard.” Amy worked a
t rubbing out the large muscles of Katie's thighs, rubbing the cream into her skin.
“You're the best, Aim,” Katie told her.
“I don't mind. Besides when I have twins you'll be doing the same thing for me,” Amy said and laughed.
“Hey, I would now if I could move. Do you realize that the only positions I can take for any length of time are on my side, sitting straight up and holding my belly, or putting a pillow under it to take the weight?” Amy nodded.
“I can walk okay, once I get up and moving,” she laughed. “I can't lay on my back anymore. Even right now. A few second ago they were kicking me so hard they made my boobs shake.” She paused as Amy snorted laughter. “Hey, for real. And do you know what Conner did?” Amy shook her head and tried to control her laughter.
“Laughed, same as you, Aim, same as you. Boobs shaking like bowls of jello, those two going at it like it was a kick boxing match, and him laughing so hard he cried.”
Amy let her own laughter roll out.
“Et tu, Aim. Et tu?” Katie asked.
“I'm sorry,” Amy managed. “But it does make a funny picture.” She bent forward and kissed Katie. “I'm sorry. I love you, Baby.” She told her.
“You better,” Katie told her. Because I don't know what I would do without you, Aim. I really do love you.”
Amy stopped and looked at her.
“Do you think I feel any different? I don't. I have you. I have Aaron. The baby is coming. That's my life. My whole life right there. You mean as much to me as Aaron, Kate, and that's the truth,” Amy told her. Her eyes glistened.
“Are you going to cry, Aim,” she asked.
“I don't think so. I don't know... Hormones, I guess.” She raised her eyes from her lap where she had watched her hands twisting. “I know what I feel.”
Katie reached over and pulled Amy's arm to her, Amy along with it. “I love you as much as I love Conner. I couldn't give up either of you, and I wouldn't. I just wouldn't do it.” she said.
Neither of them were shy about nudity with each other as Katie was now: As Amy had put the lotion on her skin it seemed to make more sense, but as Amy curled into her side now it made them both more aware of Katie's nudity.
Amy didn't seem to know what to do with her hands, she finally rested them against Katie's breasts. “I've been wondering when we would talk about this,” Amy said.
“Me too,” Katie admitted. “It's not sexual... Is it?”
“I didn't think it was,” Amy said. “But then I thought, well, things sometimes change... Sometimes they change... Maybe this has changed... Maybe it's being pregnant? Hormones? I don't know, Kate. I don't.”
Katie smoothed her hair as they talked, sweeping it away from Amy's forehead. “I don't either,” she said., “What I don't want is to lose you... Or Conner... Or... Any of this. The way our lives are.”
Amy looked up into her eyes. “I don't want to lose you and you can't lose me.” Her hand stroked the side of Katie's stomach. “I don't think any of this will change... Our lives, no matter what happens with us,” Amy said.
“Really?” Katie asked.
“Really,” Amy said. She raised up on one elbow and kissed Katie fully on the lips.
~
Beth held the reins loosely the way that James had taught her as she rode the horse down through the valley. This horse seemed better tempered to her than most of the others, still she was careful. She had been thrown twice already with other horses that she had thought would be no problem.
This mare was a dappled gray, and already showing signs of being pregnant. James had named her Zelda. A strange name to Beth, old fashioned, but she answered to it. Beth had taken to calling her Zelli, and she seemed to take to that too. She moved briskly down the valley at a fast walk, clip clopping her steel shoes as she crossed over into the upper stretch of the valley. A rifle hung in a scabbard off one side. Everyone was armed, no matter where they went, it was second nature now. So when she saw a quick blur of golden fur launch itself toward a small calf about a hundred feet ahead of her, she pulled her rifle from its sheath and into her hands immediately.
The gray came to a stop on its own. The calf bawled and changed direction quickly, which caused the mountain lion to slow and shift directions. Beth and her horse were downwind, the lion, she decided, didn't realize they were there. The horse, in fact, might not be aware of the lion either.
The lion dodged back toward the calf, and that was when Beth fired. The big cat seemed to roll into a ball and tumble to a stop. It rose to its feet, shaking its head violently from side to side as it tried to regain its balance.
Beth sat in the saddle. She had been prepared for the gray to bolt. Prepared to miss. She looked at the lion as it sank back down to the ground and its head swiveled toward her. She was surprised she had hit it. She was so surprised that when the cat suddenly gathered itself and leapt at her, she almost didn't fire.
As it was she was late, but as it also happened the cat was all but done up. It stumbled just as it launched and fell well short. By that time Beth had regained her composure and fired again at the cat that had been less than ten feet from her at that point. She hit the cat in one eye. It landed loosely and didn't move again.
Time froze and then suddenly leapt forward. She remembered to breathe, drew a deep breath and looked around.
The calf had bolted back to the herd some three hundred feet away. The cows were facing her, horns out, obviously alarmed, ready for trouble. The big gray snorted and then side stepped, not liking the smell of the dead lion so close. She looked back down the valley toward the barn she had just left minutes before. James and George Dell came out of the end of the barn, looking hard in her direction as they did. George threw his hands up in a what's up posture, and Beth raised her rifle and motioned them to her with one arm, yelling Lion as loud as she could.
~
James bent down and with George on the other end, lifted the huge mountain lion up onto the bed of the flat top wagon. George was in awe.
“I can't believe you did that,” He said.
Beth blushed. “It wasn't that big of a deal. I just did what James and Josh showed me to do.”
“You're about a hundred pounds, that lion is close to two fifty I'd say,” James said. “That's a big deal.”
She blushed again and shifted uncomfortably on the big gray.
“The gray didn't run off? Even when you fired?” James asked.
“No... In fact she stood stock still, flattened her ears a little. I was surprised. I remember thinking she'd run, throw me. I was thinking to hang on to the rifle if she did. I guess I was readying myself for it, but she didn't. She sat still,” Beth said.
“She has to have been used for hunting before,” James said, He walked the length of the horse, patting her down as he did. “If she's used to a gun.” He walked back to the wagon and looked back down at the lion. “What are you going to do, Beth? We're going to take this up to the cave so everyone can get a look... I guess then I'll have Jake skin it.”
“I'm going to give her a run,” Beth said patting the gray's neck. “She's nervous. I'll let her have her head and run it off. Then I'll spend some time rubbing her down. The day's almost done. That will finish it,” she told him.
James laughed and shook his head.
“See you back at the cave?” George asked.
She smiled down at him. So that was how you got a boy to notice you, she said to herself. Just shoot a lion. Works every time. “Later on,” she agreed. She turned the horse and walked it away. A few seconds later she turned her toward the El, leaned forward over her neck, and let her go. She thundered off down the valley as James and George watched.
~
Sandy was working at her computer, finishing up a database she had started. Herbs, medicinal plants, what they were going to try to grow and what they actually might succeed in growing. She typed:
Chamomile: Stomach aches. May have an accumulative effect.
Licorice: He
lps to reduce coughing. Helps produce flem.
St. John's Wart: Mood booster, anti depressant.
Echinacea: May prevent cold from taking hold.
Garlic: Inhibits cholesterol. Lowers blood pressure.
Valerian root: Sleep aid.
Clove oil: Tooth Ache. Antiseptic. Expectorant. Can help with vomiting.
Red Pepper: Mixed with oil and rubbed into skin to relieve pain.
Willow Bark: Half teaspoon for pain relief in a tea, also wintergreen
Ginger: Powdered, to treat and relieve pain.
Lavender: Oil form, mix a few drops with oil to relieve muscle pain.
Sunflower seeds: For pain relief. Eat a handful of seeds.
Rosemary: 3 teaspoons in a tea to relieve pain.
Feverfew: 1 to 4 leaves per day to fight pain, headache, migraines.
Parsley: Ground up into a wet, stiff mixture. Apply to skin to help with bruising.
Ginseng: Fatigue and depression fighter.
Tomato juice: Hangovers with peppers or vegetables, cleans blood.
The phone on the wall rang, two short trills: Stopped, then rang again. She sat looking at it and then finally reached over and plucked the handset from the wall charging station. She said nothing.
“Sandy?” Janna's voice in her ear.
“Uh, yeah,” she answered.
“Shocked?” Janna asked.
“Yeah... Well, sort of, yeah. It's been so long since I heard a phone ring... Or answered one, for that mater. Sorry about that. I forgot what to do,” Sandy admitted.
“Well, Dear, the phones are on. Your number is 23 there at the clinic. Your home is 15. Some time later today I will have a printed list for everyone who has a phone,” Janna told her.
“It sounds so clear... Like you are right in the next room,” Sandy said.
“It's all F.M. As long as those hand units are charged you'll get your calls. Conner and I just turned it all on,” Janna said happily.
“Okay,” Sandy said. She had no idea what else she should say.
“Bye, Dear, I'll see you later,” Janna said. The phone clicked and then the dial tone came up. Sandy listened to it for a few seconds and then placed it back in the wall holder, charger unit. She shook her head.
Earth's Survivors: box set Page 129
