“About four hundred last time we spoke,” Dustin said. “Alabama Island, I mean. We keep in touch.”
“Maybe eighty or so is about the biggest... Those are long time settlements, I mean before the dead rose, the earthquakes: Old-timers like me. I didn't think as many as a thousand or more could be sustained.”
“Can't be too readily,” Conner agreed. “We have people out there looking for supplies all the time...”
Josh turned to Sharon. “Shar, why don't you put the word out that Rollie is here. It's not like we get visitors every day.” He turned to Rollie. “Rollie, why don't you plan on spending today with us, at least today... Meeting all of us, most of us... Eat a couple of good meals before you head out again,” Josh said.
“That sounds good to me,” Rollie agreed.
~
The Nation called the day off shortly after Rollie arrived. A huge community dinner had been planned for the upcoming community meeting that night anyway so they had just thrown in a celebration too.
The sledge was loaded with electrical appliances. Furs, skins, bolts of cloth, coffee, sugar, salt and hundreds of other items that were either in short supply or had been long gone in the Nation. There were several flat screen television-monitors and it looked like he had bought along the entire inventory of some video store.
The televisions appealed to only a few people, but once Bonny and Lilly mentioned they would be very useful for teaching in school they had decided to take all of them.
“Plus,” Chloe had added to seal the deal, “It would be nice to have large community get-togethers to watch a few movies too.” That had appealed to nearly everyone. Several people began to name off movies they wished to see again.
The wagon was reloaded with a couple of sides of fresh beef. Bags of rice, beans, and a small generator. Josh threw in a pair a large horses, both mares that had been broken from wild stock and the old man was happy.
Lilly walked up to Rollie. “Do you think you'll come through again?” She asked.
“Sure I will,” he told her. “I like to trade. It's what I do. I'll be back this way eventually.”
“Good,” Lilly said with a smile. “I have a wish list.”
Rollie pulled a tattered notebook from his pocket. “Shoot,” he said.
He wrote as Lilly talked. School Books. Educational videos, maps, blackboards. How-too books, cloth, and several other items. Things she had thought of before the OutRunners had left, but that there had been no room for. Before Rollie could put his notebook away, Steve, along with Sandy, Susan and Roberta Teals were dictating their own wish lists of medical supplies and equipment they would like to have.
Katie and Amy both came out to meet Rollie for a few moments, babies on their hips, before they went back to working on the clinic.
“You folks got a nice place here... Might be if I put out the word, you'll have a lot more visitors,” he said. He seemed to be asking permission.
“Don't worry about that,” Aaron told him.
“Yeah, as long as they're friendly they'll never have a problem with us,” Conner agreed.
“We monitor VHF radio,” Dustin told him. “This spring I'll be setting up a better relay antenna on top of the mountain... Won't be hard to do either. That will give us a lot more range. If others have good antennas we could talk back and forth. Even now, without it, we can talk to Alabama Island and several others closer by.”
“Alabama Island is close to eight hundred miles we think. That is a good distance,” Conner said.
“With the new antenna we should be able to double that... Some additional relays on nearby ridges,” Dustin added.
“Dustin is our whiz kid,” Aaron said to Rollie's speculative half smile.
“If it can be done he'll do it or figure out a way to get it done,” Conner agreed.
“I believe that,” Rollie said as he shook Dustin's hand. Dustin blushed deeply, but the smile remained on his face. “I think there are people who would pay for that expertise... Or try to steal it,” Rollie said. “Be careful, young Dustin. Be careful.”
Dustin blushed deeper. “I just know a few things,” he said.
“Yeah, a few million things I'll never know,” Jake said and laughed.
“Thing is, I'll listen” Dustin said. “I'll monitor six, which is what we normally did before we got the phones working.”
“Phones?” Rollie questioned. “Like, the phone system?”
“No,” Dustin said seriously. “Just our own phone system. Too much damage has been done to the lines outside to make them work again.”
“Say I want to call Chloe out in Long Valley,” Lilly expanded. “Or I want to call up here from the school. It works nice,” she finished.
Rollie nodded. “I do not doubt it.” He laughed. “I will have some stories to tell, that's for sure.”
“Well, it's a while before dinner,” Jake said. “How would you like a little tour?” He asked.
“Jake, I would like that,” Rollie agreed. “Place sounds much bigger than I thought.”
“Just wait until you see,” Jake said.
~
“Now that's a big dog,” Rollie said. He stood back, hands on hips, and watched Angels six puppies running around the barn. Rain had been visiting the puppies when Rollie had come by to visit the barn and had noticed her with the puppies.
“They're wolf-dog puppies,” Rain told him.
“Wolf-dog puppies, is that right?” Rollie asked. “I had me a dog up until a few months back.”
“What happened, mister? Did he move away to some place?” Rain asked.
“No, Sweety. He was an old dog. He … He went home to Jesus,” he told her.
“Oh,” Rain said. “You mean he got really old and died?”
“That's it exactly,” Rollie agreed.
“Well, we got lots. We got these and we got mister Josh's puppy dogs too. They're not wolf-dog puppies, but they're pretty big.” Rain told him.
“Oh,” Rollie said. He looked at Jake.
“They're some sort of really large sheep dog crossed with a Malamute, maybe a wolf, and what looks like a Newfoundland too. Big... Monsters.”
“We're going to cross-breed the two litters, hoping for bigger dogs yet,” Sharon said.
“We have lion problems,” Conner said. “Big ones, up in these mountains for generations, probably.”
“The dogs seem to be about all we have to get them on the run,” Jake said.
“Would you think of turning loose of one of these fellas?” Rollie asked.
“We can work that out,” Conner agreed.
“Mister, Rollie?” Rain asked.
“Yes,” he answered.
“Well, you're not gonna take Poopsey, are you?”
“Poopsey is your puppy?” Rollie asked.
She nodded solemnly, and pointed at one puppy that seemed to be the runt of the litter.
“He was the littlest... Little... The smallest one, but I got to feed him a bottle and he's getting pretty big now.” Rain told him.
Poopsey was busy dragging a chunk of firewood around the straw covered floor, that was nearly as big as he was.
“No, Rain,” Rollie smiled. “I won't be taking Poopsey,” he promised her.
She smiled. “I like Poopsey. He's gonna be my doggy.”
~
Rollie was impressed by the power plant, the flour mill and the saw mill.
“You could probably do a lot of trade with horses and lumber, not to mention the beef and flour,” Rollie told them.
“It's not something we ever considered,” Jake said. “In fact, until recently it wasn't something I would have been involved in deciding at all. We lost the man that usually took care of this part of the community.” Jake finished.
“James, the man that lead us to this place,” Conner added. “It's been rough without him, but Jake is doing the job... Was Jame's right hand man anyway, so he knows what we need, where we're going and how to get us there.”
; Jake blushed and then cleared his throat. “I don't know about all of that... I guess we're struggling a little, James was a big deal to us...” He seemed to think a moment and then continued. “Beefalos. We are raising and crossbreeding. Bigger, more meat. Some beef too, but the focus is continuing the Beefalo breeding we have started. Josh and Sharon have been full speed ahead with that.” Jake pushed his hat back on his head. “Next year, fall, plenty of flour. Until then we're limited and to be honest the quality isn't there. Most of what we have now is store foraged or wild wheat we harvested before the snow fell. Lumber we can cut to demand, I believe. Horse we are breeding and training too. Have a few people who were really interested in getting that off the ground.”
“Most of the world runs on horses now,” Rollie said.
“We have thought about that. It's come up more than once,” Aaron agreed.
“One of the reasons we are breeding. Some of our best thinkers, Aaron included, believe we will fall away from motorized vehicles over the next few years and come to depend on horses completely,” Conner added.
“Most places are there already,” Rollie agreed.
“Well, trading is not something we ever really considered,” Jake continued, “but I have to say I can see the advantages. We have a committee and we pretty much vote on policy. In fact, we ought to head back now because there is going to be a meeting before dinner... A good place to bring this up. It would be good for you to sit in, Rollie. See how we do things here,” Jake finished.
~
A huge platter of fried rabbit graced the table. Rice with a bean sauce added to the meal. They were still cooking with either milk fat or rendered animal fat, but they were hopeful that they could produce corn oil or sunflower seed oil this coming spring. They intended to plant heavier, going outside of their own fields in they needed to.
There were several pies, more than a few cakes and cookies too. Fresh bread along with fresh churned butter rounded out the meal.
Rollie leaned back from the table and patted his belly. “I can't remember the last time I ate that well... Years... Years back, anyways,” he said.
Katie and Amy, Lilly and Annie next to them laughed.
“We talk about how we used to eat compared to how we eat now,” Katie agreed.
“In the old world we wouldn't have been caught dead eating food like this,” Lilly agreed.
Once the tables were cleared Conner bought the meeting to order, which really only amounted to standing up and the room went silent.
“Everybody has had a chance to meet Rollie. The man that bought us coffee,” Conner said. “I mean the real, high test stuff too, not the stuff we've been getting by on.”
A low rumble of laughter greeted his remarks. A few Thank Gods too.
“So, we did some trading, and we're going to talk about that in a few moments, but first this is what we traded for, and I say it because everything we have here, except our own personal property in our homes, belongs to all of us. We pretty much bought the whole wagon-load.” He read from a list he had pulled from his pocket, and continued until he reached the end.
“That's it except a few explanations: The flat screens and the movies, there are six of them, and thousands of movies. We thought three of the flat screens would go to the school. One for the clinics bed area, because if you got to stay there it can get pretty boring pretty fast.” He smiled and looked from Katie to Amy and then Lilly. “One in this room so we can show movies on a Friday night or a weekend, and the last one we'd put out in the larger gathering area we're going to build this spring. That means a few things,” he paused.
“First, Aaron says we should easily be able to close in about half of the main cave area. We can have two large doors, midway down, that we can open in nice weather, and long shutter like windows we can do the same with. So, we will have a large closed in area that can be used for larger gatherings summer and winter, and still be the main meeting and sleeping area for newcomers. Now, if we do that we'll need more lumber, so we'll plan a trip for sometime in the next few weeks to get lumber, and we'll start a second shift at the lumber mill, as long as the water holds out, and that will get lumber cut that can start to dry. And once we're done that's the place that last flat screen will go,” Conner said, “And I'm for it, so what do we say?”
“I say yes. Sounds good to me,” Chloe said.
“I say yes. Makes sense,” Josh agreed.
“The mothership says aye,” Katie said.
“So does the other one,” Amy agreed.
“Guess I have to go along with my own idea,” Aaron said.
“I like it,” Bobbie said.
“It'll be great,” Lilly agreed.
“All right... Before we vote on it, anyone else got anything to add?” Conner asked.
A few hands went up and Conner pointed to Debbie.
“Will there be an opportunity for us to get more of them?”
“Televisions?” Conner asked.
“Yes,” she agreed.
“I didn't see many when we were out there.” Conner looked over at Rollie.
“Absolutely. I know where to get them. If anyone wants one just tell me before I leave and I will bring it the next time I come,” Rollie said.
Conner pointed to George Dell whose hand had also been up.
“I had the same question,” he said sheepishly.
Conner nodded. “Okay, that brings the question on the floor to vote: Construction and another trip outside.” He paused as the council answered affirmatively and then passed it to the floor where it passed with a low roar of yes.
“Okay, and trading,” Conner said. “I know I can see the advantages here. Not just in what we can get, but to open a form of trade with those outside of here.... Rollie thinks others will come to trade and I would bet that is true. It may bring some trouble with it, and we'll have to be ready for more visitors too, but overall I think it's worth it.”
“We can't live in a vacuum,” Lilly added. “I'm for it.”
“Growth is necessary,” Katie added.
“Growth is change,” Jake said. “Everything changes. I'm for it too.”
A few moments later the trading resolution passed unanimously too. Silence fell and stayed.
“Okay, so, we'll talk about the rest now.” He paused, took a deep breath and then continued. “ We,” he turned and pointed at the few remaining people around him that had come from Watertown, “came here and built this place. James... Janna...” He sighed. “A few others. There is no easy way to deal with this. We've lost the guidance of James. He had the vision for this place, and that original vision took a hard hit with his passing.” A heavy murmur ran through the crowd. Conner raised his hands and it ceased. “It didn't die though. There are many of us that joined that dream as it began to come to fruition and we're still here. We'll continue on with it.”
Several Hell yes remarks greeted Conner's words and a heavy murmur of approval rippled through the crowd.
“Okay... Other new business. We had to make some replacements to the council. This may have been able to wait for a vote if it had not been so many. Bonny, Bobbie, Jake and Chloe.” He looked around at the crowd. They remained silent. “I'll take that as no objections,” Conner said into the silence.
“What about the others?” Someone asked from the crowd. The question was picked up and echoed several more times before Conner once again held his hands up and a conditional silence descended.
“Gone,” Conner said. “No one knows... Middle of the night. Missing supplies, missing weapons. They didn't go through Parkland, so they probably hiked out to the south... Quicker, maybe, with the snow.” He shrugged.
“Nobody seen them go?” Dick Wollencroft, a newcomer.
“Dick, none of us saw them. I can't believe no one saw them, but that may be. I only know that no one has come to us with any information. I haven't heard a word from Parkland... From our other outposts either.”
“What about our OutRunner team,” Lisa ask
ed.
“Nothing yet,” Conner said.
“I have received a few calls that could be them... If it is I'll have to wait until they're closer, but they are using a little code we had set up, five long clicks, two short, over and over a few times a day... I'm ninety-nine percent sure it's them, but we'll have to wait a little longer to be positive. Parkland will probably hear from them first. They had time to get a tower up before snow flew too hard,” Dustin said. “If they hear then we'll hear from Parkland.”
“Who was with them others?” Josh asked. “I mean who all was with them? Them ones that left.”
“Jessie, Janna, David. Bob Jenkins, Ally Sims... That is all we know about,” Conner said.”
“So, those folks are no way being allowed back into here, are they?” The woman asking had been here a while, but Conner could not bring her name up in his memory.
“Jackie,” Amy said. “They left, we don't even know why entirely.”
“They planned to take over,” Aaron said quietly. “They had planned to try to take over the Nation. I don't know the how of it or even the why of it, but that is what they planned.”
“Aaron is right,” Katie said. “I think we reacted to that as best we could, confronted them, and I guess a few others confronted them. It became volatile enough, quick enough that we scheduled this meeting to deal with it.” She raised her hands in the air. “They decided to leave rather than discuss it. That says something too, I think. I also think I can't say that they can't come back. That is a community decision.”
The murmuring in the crowd grew louder quickly. Conner raised his own hands.
“What do you want to do?”
“Vote,” came the reply from several sources.
“Then we will,” Conner said. “Okay, I for one say no, they can't come back. They set themselves up to use subterfuge to take the Nation, this committee or any other that might replace it, apart... Did they intend to use force?” He shrugged. “I don't know, but they went as far as they could with words. I think the next step might have been force. They didn't respect the work, the effort, and I can tell you that James came to me and spoke to me about it before he died. He had nothing to do with it, and wanted nothing to do with it. So if you heard his name mentioned as being part and parcel with that group that was untrue... I say no.”
Earth's Survivors: box set Page 211
