by Ron Foster
“I don’t know how you can sit back here all the time on that worn out seat” she said complaining about the blown almost poking out springs in the bench like affair.
“You find me someone who can hand sew upholstery worth a durn and I will fix them up someday, meantime just throw one of those sleeping pads on it and be done.” Dixon declared as he shut and locked the heavy steel door in back of him.
Back at the traders circle Snowdoun began to expound upon his culinary talents and talk about what was cooking in the Dutch ovens...
“This here is an old timey chuck wagon recipe. There is no milk or eggs in these biscuits I am making because just like now there was often none available out on the range that was handy. Many Dutch oven cooks have argued that water makes a lighter biscuit than milk anyway. I use vegetable oil as a shortening, but the original chuck wagon cooks used some lard or bacon grease.
Biscuits made with bacon grease are especially delicious and are well worth trying if you are not too concerned about your arteries at the moment.
Dutch Oven Biscuits
4 cups all purpose white flour
4 level tsps. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
water
Line a 12 inch dutch oven with foil. This is optional, but it helps in cleaning and the foil makes for a nice serving dish freeing up the pot. Remove foil lining and place oven and lid (separately) directly on campfire or hot coals for about five minutes to heat. While the oven is heating, thoroughly sift together your dry ingredients. Add oil and enough water to make a thick dough. Handle or mix as little as possible. Lightly flour a board and pat the dough out on it to about 3/4 inch to 1 inch thick. Cut biscuits and place them in foil lining with sides touching. You can go ahead and squeeze and crowd them in. You can use anything for a cutter. I usually use an empty 8 oz. tomato can or a 15 oz. can. Styrofoam cups (I use 8 oz. ones) are great, too. Remove the oven from the fire using a Dutch oven hook and place liner with biscuits into it. Using a pot hook, remove the lid from the fire and place it on the oven now. Spread a shovel full of coals on the ground, putting the oven on top of them. Spread another shovel of coals on top of the oven lid. Do not place the oven back into the fire or the main bed of coals, as bread is delicate and can easily burn. You will have to check your biscuits after the first five minutes, and then several times throughout the cooking process. If they are cooking too quickly, remove some of the coals. Sometimes you have to move the oven itself off the coals for a few minutes. Biscuits are done when golden brown. Makes from 10-12 biscuits.
“Well that certainly sounds like you got campfire cooking down pat and from the taste of this biscuit I say its better than an oven baked one!.” Tracy said relishing the taste of some hot coffee in the morning along with the joy of something good to eat.
“Did Dixon tell you that since you are working for him you had to take the dose?” Brock said his eyes all a twinkle with mirth and gleefully messing with the new strangers.
“Dose of what? Is it some kind of medicine?” Bruce asked bewildered by Brock’s comment and beginning to become a bit anxious about possibly being around sick folks that wanted him to take some kind of medicine.
Snowdoun laughed out loud hard in a sort of hooting tone and said that they shouldn’t worry and that Brock was just having fun with them. He explained that there was no dose required unless they wanted one and was sometimes a morning tradition around here when setting up a new trade post.
“You see my friend I am not only this kitchen buses cookie but I am kind of like a grand pa medic also. When folks are needing tonic or patching up well then it’s my job to see to it and get her done. That is until we can find us someone more knowledgeable than me to see to them if I can’t see my way to do them some good. I got me this here special elixir everybody gets a taste of once in awhile for general health. See on the historic Oregon Trail pioneers used vinegar for numerous reasons, one of which was to bring Vitamin C into their diets and they would make "lemonade" with it. Brock don’t fancy it much to choke down despite the sugar I put in it because he still has trouble with the smell you see, but I actually find it a bit refreshing. What you do is..
Vinegar Lemonade Tonic
“Mix 1 to 2 Tablespoons of Apple Cider Vinegar into a 12 oz. glass of water. Stir in 2 Tablespoons of sugar or to taste, and Drink Up!” Snowdoun said motioning towards a half gallon jug of the stuff he had already mixed up next to some disposable Dixie cups.
“I might want to try that later after we get the stump lighter wood gathered up. I don’t want to spoil the taste of this fine coffee at the moment.” Tracy said still not sure what that stuff might taste like but knowing she needed the vitamin C, couldn’t be worse than pine needle tea she reckoned and sugar in anything was rare these days.
“Have yourself another cup of Joe, if it’s one thing we got around here it is lots of coffee surprisingly enough. We run into another trader a week ago and he hit the mother lode of that fine morning brew somewhere. Had a little dried milk too but we are sort of saving that. Those biscuits you just ate though I made up with some of that rarity in them.” Snowdoun stated before Brock warned them about getting him going on reciting his recipes any further or they would be there all day.
“We got some dried milk in our gear, well actually it’s baby formula, do you think that would work?” Tracy asked speculatively and hoping her small contribution would get her and Bruce some more substantial food.
“I don’t see why not, we can experiment some if you like when you get all your chores done later. I will donate the flour and such.” Snowdoun said relishing the thought of adding to his culinary talents of making do with a new interesting ingredient. He could call them stick to your ribs baby biscuits he mused and thought about how a high calorie and vitamin biscuit was just what he needed to come up with these days.
“We tried making some bread on a stick with it and it worked, well sort of anyway. Would have worked a lot better if I hadn’t got too close to the fire with it.” Bruce said.
“The guy that told me how to do it awhile back said that you should slowly roast it like a marshmallow, the trick is turning constantly until golden brown. He also stressed patience is your friend here but I guess I didn’t listen well enough; if you try to hurry things up by holding it too close to the embers, the outside will quickly burn, leaving the inside gooey and undone.” Bruce declared.
“Bruce my boy, baking bread on a stick is a tradition that goes back at least a century and being proficient in this skill don’t take long to learn. But come to think of it I’ve run into a surprisingly high number of men in my lifetime who have never roasted a hot dog on a stick. That awful fact to me and to my way of thinking is a crying shame to miss out on such a wonderful experience. That’s because though there are as many ways to cook a wiener as there are to skin a cat, fire-roasted is unarguably the tastiest one that I have ever found. We can makes up a batch of biscuits and stick them in the Coleman oven though for better results than me trying to teach you the finer arts of stick cooking at the moment though. It works on hot coals or on propane. All stick foods by the way cook best over a bed of hot coals, rather than stuck directly in flames. So you need to sort of plan to build your campfire about an hour before you’d like to eat. It’s all about timing and giving the kindling and logs time to burn down into embers. We got us plenty of coals for that oven already made so we will use them. Speaking of stick cooking, you ever try your hand at bacon? I ain`t got none of it, wish I did, I am just asking. No? You don’t need a frying pan to whip some up in the morning, that’s a thing lots of people don’t know. Just wrap a piece around a stick (if the stick has a couple nubs for traction, all the better), and hold it over the fire. Bacon burns and chars easily, so while you’ll be eager to get that delicious strip in your mouth, take it slow.” Snowdoun said and then set about getting his guests to help him cook.
Coleman Oven folds flat for transport.
(Author Note: Good recipe in the back of this book for Soda biscuits that works well in one of these things)
Tracy stayed in Camp to help Snowdoun for a few minutes and Brock showed Bruce where the tools were so he could get started on the stump lighter chopping and collecting.
Brock told Bruce that if they wanted to stay on as KP duty when he got done to help wash pots and pans today and do a few other small chores around camp that they were welcome to do so in exchange for board only and no pay, however on the bright side the temporary job included three hot meals a day with meat as the main entree. There were plenty of woods for them to find themselves a place to bed down in if they were staying the night. He also warned them to remember the rule about no approaching the bus after sundown at all and not getting near it no matter how well everyone seemed to be getting along.
Tracy and Bruce agreed whole heartedly to the notion and Brock then set off to tell Dixon that they had themselves a couple hired hands for awhile that seemed alright in his judgment.
That the two strangers were desperate and pitiful looking went unsaid but their hearts seemed in the right place and he doubted they would try to steal or were some kind of planted stooges or spies from some other group thinking about robbing them.
It was hard to not be extra wary of armed strangers in the camp but that was how it was these days, just something you sort of had to live with as an uncomfortable norm. Everyone these days openly carried some kind of firearm if they had it. Bruce had an old lever action 30-30 rifle and his wife carried a .22 rifle. They were short of cash and short of ammo and would remain in that condition for quite awhile it seemed.
Brock started to explain to them about not approaching the trade bus with a weapon but Dixon hadn’t set out the rules for the day. Depending on the crowd they would sometimes make folks leave their guns in the common area if the sides of the bus were to be open for trading. People argued less about prices etc when unarmed and you always had to think about robberies. There were always at least two heavily armed people in the bus ready to man the gun ports and whoever was working the crowd tried to not get too bunched up in with them to make easy hostages should someone be fool enough to try to over take the camp.
.
3
BATH HOUSE BLUES
“We love to expect, and when expectation is either disappointed or gratified, we want to be again expecting.”
Samuel Johnson
“How is that young couple working out for us?” Dixon asked from the open un-shuttered armored bus window.
“To tell you the truth I would say that they are about slow as molasses and weak as rainwater from hunger but they catch on quick. Nice enough folks though and Snowdoun is taking a liking to them and showing them the ropes. I am going to keep them on payroll for the three days maybe if we remain here unless you are thinking of leaving the area sooner?” Brock declared trying to anticipate Dixon’s actions.
“Go a little easy on them folks, they looking so poor their Sunday supper has probably only been fried water. Business sucks as you well know but I got a batch of shine that needs cooking off so we might as well stay around here awhile. Those two know anything about why more folks ain`t showing up to trade?” Dixon asked.
“No, I already asked them. They ain’t really from anywhere around here and couldn’t tell me much about what is going on in this area. Bruce said they were trying to get to his Aunts house from about 8o miles away and when they arrived here they found her dead laying on the couch and the house had been pretty well scavenged. They are almost out of gas so that’s why they walked up here this morning. I told them we didn’t have any extra fuel and were hoping to pick some up ourselves soon. We are sitting on over a half tank so we are fine for awhile but you tell me long before we dip under a half tank if me and Baggins need to go out raiding for some.” Brock said referring to their scout’s sidekick who helped him go forage for gas. They called it raiding for lack of a better term to apply to what they were doing. Landon the scout kept his eye peeled for likely places that might have vehicles with gas still in them. Then when needed Baggins and Brock would drive the “master key” on over and they would siphon off whatever they could find. The vehicle they named the Master Key was an old tow truck and there was pretty much no place they couldn’t get into with that old boom wrecker pulling hard on a warehouse door.
A many a wrecker robbery had been carried out by them with that truck as well as it’s use in unscrambling some vehicles on the road to get to or at things. Due to lack of a better word for scavenging gas they called it raiding because they always went armed to the teeth and weren’t above doing very much at all to get some fuel. They went out after gas and they were coming back with gas or not at all and you could take that to the bank. Simple as that. It was their life’s blood at times it seemed and a constant worry.
“I just soon trade for gas or get lucky and find an aid station with it but you know how it is.” Dixon stated flatly.
For months now the game of getting gas got riskier and riskier. You never really knew what you were running up on or who might have had prior intentions or claims to it. Also there was a risk of running afoul of local law enforcement or National Guard who had the duds to be doing the job but were most likely deserters or imposters. It was always hard to say if they were working or just wanted what you were stealing. That was a big gray area these days that could soon turn blood red by misunderstandings or intent.
I mean what do you do if a couple squad cars start pulling up in your direction after you just pulled a garage door off the hinges with a tow truck? Well they might represent legitimate law but again they most likely were a bunch of cop buddies banded together to get what they wanted for them and their families. Either way, nobody was risking even thinking about going to jail during these hard times or being robbed under color of legitimate or stolen uniform by a rogue cop or criminal.
At least one sniper was on duty while 2 people entered was the final modus operandus arrived at by trial and error. If a warning shot didn’t stop the threat, the follow-up shots hopefully would. Raiding for gas wasn’t anything to be taken lightly and the task had so many inherent dangers to it that the repercussions of it were generally limited to just win or lose unless a draw could be established by someone safely retreating on a disputed scavenge or claim.
“Most pig headed or stubbornly stupid people not willing to negotiate or retreat were gone already, dead from ignorance and widespread violence. If you were still making it out here you have hopefully learned the art of growl softly and move on your way quickly and avoided any kind of altercation if you could. You tried avoiding people mostly but on the other hand something in your genetic makeup or circumstances eventually made you seek out other survivors to contact. Not all places were badland areas operating in a world without rule of law. (WROL) many places had an ad hoc disciplinary service watching over a community or town, be it elected officials or just like minded armed citizens performing community service. The problem was though that nobody knew the rules from one house to the next and everyone was always in fear of everybody else.
“We will make Shillers crossroads in a few days, I am pretty sure we got gas coming by for trade but you can never tell. Farley said he was going to be there but you never know what fool plan he was working on for himself and that group he represents. If him and that Chinaman pull it off without getting themselves killed though, we got us one hell of a business and caravan startup going.” Dixon said maneuvering around for a better look at the cook fires and thinking about Farley’s scheme to maybe try to steal a couple armored trucks from the abandoned Brinks truck location he had been scoping out.
“Cookies got the hired help doing more talking and listening to him and his yarns than working as usual, I see. That’s ok nothing much will be happening around here today for them to need to be doing or working on, it looks like. Considering that we have been through here trading before a time or two, Landon said he is doing some door t
o door selling along with delivering the mail that David sent. Last time Landon came back by a few minutes ago he said he only had two more stops left and no more than 3 chickens to show for all his troubles and scares. He did say he had a pig farmer up the road wanting to go half’s with us though. He said we could work something out on shares or barter to get us some pork and that he is supposed to come by around 3 this afternoon to discuss the details.” Dixon said shifting his shotgun away from his chair and rising to stretch.
“That sounds great! Been wanting me a pork chop or something for a coon’s age it seems.” Brock said happily. (Coon’s age means a very long time. Coon is slang for raccoon).
“You tell that couple about taking the dose? They looking like they might have a touch of scurvy from not getting enough vitamin C in their diets.” Dixon said looking over towards the fire once more.
“Yea cookie spoiled all my fun by offering them the sweetened version of that vinegar lemonade of his. They are nice kids by the way, have been real respectful. What you going to offer the hog farmer?” Brock asked with a grin.
“I dunno I ain`t seen him yet. But I can assure you I will convince him that whatever it is we will be trading for will have him thinking he is riding a gravy train with biscuit wheels and whatever it is I am offering is about as scarce as bird crap in a cuckoo clock though.” Dixon said chuckling and looking forward to the encounter.
