by Stalter, D
“It’s on my right arm, but yeah. She needs Karma to come visit her. Why is she even here? She doesn’t help. All she does is cause trouble. You should send her packing.”
“I can’t send her packing,” Allison said softly. “She wouldn’t make it out there. I couldn’t live with myself knowing that I signed her death warrant.”
“So, you let her stay here and stir up trouble? You realize that she is making life tougher for those of us that work hard to make our lives better?”
“Yes.” Allison sighed. “I know, but I don’t know what to do about it. If she didn’t have Kelly, I think I could ask her to leave. But Kelly is a good kid. I can’t sign her death warrant by throwing her mother out.”
“Simple. Let Kelly stay.”
“Kim won’t leave without Kelly. What mother would?”
“She might. Ask her.”
Allison finished wiping the dirt off the hot stove and turned to look at Sherrie. “So, you think I should tell her that she has to leave, then ask her to leave Kelly with us?” She shook her head. “That’s not going to work. Think of something else.”
The music started back up. Mary walked across the room and picked up a large flat cake. She asked Denise to follow with plates and forks. As she set the cake on a table close to the group, Don and his sons switched the song they’d been playing to the “Happy Birthday” song. The group broke out in song.
James cut the cake and Will handed out plates. Low moans of pleasure filled the common room as people dug into the cake.
Jaden savored every moment of opening gifts; of which there were many. As well as Allison’s gifts of clothing, bracelet and game, she received more clothes, a pair of new shoes, two decks of cards, some candy (which she promptly passed around), and, from Greta, a compound bow.
Eyes wide, she thanked Greta. “I love this!”
“You’ve done so well in our archery class that I knew this would be perfect for you,” Greta said. “I’ll teach you how to take care of it. I don’t know if you noticed, it even has sights on it. You’re going to be even better with this than you were with the recurve. You’ll be bringing home dinner in no time.”
“Thank you!” Jaden jumped up to give Greta a hug. She turned to Allison. “Can we play that Guesstures game?”
“Ask around and see if we can get two teams. I’ll play.”
In the end, they had two teams of six with several adults volunteering to help the smaller kids and the remainder gathering around to enjoy the fun as an audience – and beer and wine running.
As the game progressed, players dropped out and others took their place. Allison found herself sitting next to Don and his wife, Jean.
“I don’t want to forget to tell you that Phil asked me to see if you could make him up some of that wound salve,” Don said.
“Phil? You’ve talked to him?”
“Yea, we usually see him a couple times a week. He walks down from his place. He says he’s patrolling to make sure there aren’t any ‘bad elements’ around, but I think he’s just lonely and wants someone to talk to. Actually, I think Riley and Will were down visiting him earlier today. I know they like to check on him and make sure he’s okay.”
“Aww. He’s a nice guy, but I don’t think I could stand to be around him too much. He’s just too overboard. Please tell him that I’ll try to get some made up this week and can give it to you one morning when you bring milk.”
“I’ll tell him. Thanks.”
It was late when Don and his family finally said their last ‘goodbyes’ and climbed on to the ATVs for the short trip home.
Allison cuddled on the couch, wrapped in a soft throw, with her hands wrapped around a cup of hot chocolate. James had settled next to her, his cheek resting on her head.
Will and Riley were partners in the Guesstures game, and Allison had never seen a less suited pair. She found herself smiling as she watched them argue.
Riley was frantically trying to make Will say the words he was gesturing.
“A pig in a poke,” shouted Will.
Riley rolled his eyes and kept gesturing.
“Two hoots tutu,” Will shouted as the timer went off.
“You are the stupidest partner,” Riley roared. “Everything out of your mouth is stupid!”
He looked around at the giggling group. “I guarantee the next thing out of his mouth will be the stupidest thing in the world.”
Will grinned. “Riley,” he said.
Chapter 12 Allison
The next morning was bright and crisp. Thin layers of ice dotted the potholes that had formed in the road.
The sound of Don’s ATV coming across the back pasture with fresh milk was the only sound to be heard. When the ATV pulled up, and Allison saw that it was not Don, but his wife, Jean, she remembered that Jean had said she would stop over and show them how to make butter. Allison called out to Mary reminding her.
Sherrie joined them in the kitchen as Jean described the process of butter making. In less than ten minutes, they had a ball of butter sitting on a plate.
“It’s that easy?” Sherrie whispered. “Boy, we’ve been missing out!”
She glanced over to the stove. “I have to go get some firewood for the stove. We’re almost out.”
Jean lifted the platter of butter and said, “The hardest part is the shaking, and when you know how good the butter is, it doesn’t seem hard at all.”
She held up the liquid that had been strained off the butter. “This is pure buttermilk. Add some flour, a little bit of baking soda and a dash of salt, bake it for 45 minutes and you have a nice bread.”
She looked at Allison. “I don’t know how much time you guys have or even if you are interested, but I brought some yeast to show you how to make more yeast if you’ve got the time.”
“How long will it take?”
“It’s actually a long process, but it’s not hard. I have the instructions right here if you want to try it on your own sometime. If it works, great. But if you have problems, I’m just across the pasture.”
“Let me get a notebook so I can copy those instructions.”
“No need,” Jean said. “This is a copy.”
“Thank you. I’ve got plenty of notebooks. Do you need a couple? Eventually, paper is going to become pretty scarce and that’s something that will be hard to make.”
Jean smiled. “Thanks, but I’ve got plenty of notebooks.”
“You seem to have plenty of everything,” Allison said with a laugh. “Someday I want to know where you are hiding that magic wand.”
Jean chuckled. “We were ready. That’s all. I’ll get out of your hair now and let you get on with your day.”
A squelch broke the silence. “Team One to Base.”
Allison hurried to the radio. “Base here.”
“I’ve got a little girl just turned off the highway on her bicycle. She coming our way. Wait! There’s someone on a horse chasing her. Hang on.”
Allison looked up at Jean and Mary. Her eyebrows rose.
The radio squelched again. “Okay. I have the girl on the bike. The lady on the horse said that she saw the little girl riding down the highway and was trying to catch up with her to make sure she’s okay.”
Allison pressed the talk button. “Where did the lady on the horse come from?”
After a minute, the radio squelched again. “She says her name is Vickie Lummus. She was visiting her sister, Nelda Tripes, when the flare hit so she’s stuck here. She was out riding when she saw the girl riding south on the highway and wanted to make sure everything was okay.”
“I know Nelda and I know she did have a sister spending a few weeks with her sometime around when the flare happened,” Jean offered.
Allison pressed the ‘talk’ button. “Can you send them to the bunkhouse?”
“They’re on their way.”
Jean looked out the window. “Do you mind if I stick around to see how Nelda is doing?”
“I hope you will stay. I�
��ll get some milk on the stove so we can have some hot chocolate.” She turned to Mary. “Would you mind going out and telling her that she can put her horse in the front pen?”
Vickie Lummus was middle-aged with a wide smile. She dismounted and went to the little blonde-haired girl on the purple bicycle. The little girl looked away, avoiding conversation.
Allison stepped outside. “Hi,” she said. “I’m Allison. Please come in and have a mug of hot chocolate.”
Mary offered to take the horse’s reins, but Vickie shook her head with a smile. “Not necessary. I’ll just drop his reins. He’ll stay.”
Gathered around the table, Jean asked Vickie about her sister. “Nelda and I went to school together. We were pretty good friends.”
Vickie nodded. “Nelda’s mentioned you several times. I knew you lived in this area, but I didn’t know this was your place.”
“It’s not. My place is behind here. I was just visiting with the neighbors.”
“So, what brings you two here?” asked Allison.
“I was just out for a ride on Abe. I don’t usually go as far as the highway, but I saw what appeared to be a little kid riding a bicycle down the middle of the highway all alone so I thought I should make sure she was okay. I didn’t catch her until she turned onto your road.”
She took a sip of her drink. “I have to admit I was a bit nervous to come face to face with armed guards. Have you had troubles here?”
“Not a lot, but there’ve been a few times we were happy to have them and avoid a nasty surprise.”
“I’ll bet.”
Jean leaned forward and said, “How is Nelda holding up?”
“Well, when it first happened, I was surprised that she just shrugged and started to work. She had a generator that she brought out. She’s got a fenced in area behind her garage that locks. She put the generator in there and set up sound suppressors. We didn’t know what had happened until the following day. One of the neighbors stopped by to check on us.”
She took another sip. “Nelda has plenty of food put away and the neighbor brings us fresh milk and meat a couple times a week. We spend most our time playing cards or reading. Does anyone have any idea how long this is supposed to last?”
“We’ve heard at least twenty weeks, but I think that’s a little optimistic,” Allison said.
Vickie nodded. “Has anyone been into town?”
“We have. Most of the people from town took a chance with FEMA. FEMA took them down south where the flare hadn’t done as much damage. There are still a couple hundred people in Princeton helping to guard it and FEMA has set up at the motel on the north side of the interstate. They will transfer you to a camp in the south if you want.”
“I’ll make sure to tell Nelda, but I’m pretty sure she’ll want no part of that.”
Jean laughed. “If she’s still the Nelda I knew, she won’t.”
They’d been ignoring the little girl. Allison hoped that she would relax little when the pressure was off. Now she turned to her.
“What is your name?”
The girl turned her head and looked away. Green herbs filled every square inch of space in front of the large window.
“Do you like my herbs?” Allison asked. She stood and picked up a pair of small shears, clipping off a tiny bit of peppermint. She brought it over to the table and held it in front of the girl.
“Go ahead,” she said to the girl. “Smell that. If you like it, we can stir a little into your chocolate. Peppermint is awesome in chocolate.”
The girl sniffed. A smile broke out on her face.
“Would you like me to stir that into your chocolate?”
The girl nodded.
Allison squeezed the small sprig and then dropped it into the drink, stirring it with a spoon.
“Now taste it,” she said.
The girl lifted the mug to her lips and drank. She kept the mug to her mouth until it was empty. Then she set it down on the table and whispered, “Can I have more?”
“Of course!” Mary jumped up to fix it, making sure to add a fresh sprig of peppermint.
“Do you have a name?” Allison asked.
“Of course, I do. Everybody has a name,” the girl snorted.
“Will you share it with me?”
“Fonda Bohm.”
“Hello, Fonda. Where were you heading on your bicycle?”
“Home.”
“Is home in Princeton?” Allison felt like she was playing a game of twenty questions.
“Yes.”
“Were your parents riding bikes with you?”
Fonda frowned. “Of course not. If they’d been with me, I wouldn’t have been alone.”
Allison shook her head. Just my luck to come head to head with a child smarter than me, she thought.
“Okay, where are your parents?” Allison asked, trying a different tactic.
“In Princeton.”
“Do they know you’re on your way?”
“No.” Fonda let out a sigh. “The phones don’t work anymore.”
The door from the stable opened and Sherrie stepped in carrying a sling full of split wood. She set it down by the wood stove and turned. “Do I smell hot chocolate?”
Her eyes fell on the new comers. “Fonda? Is that you?”
“Hi, Sherrie. We didn’t know where you went. Uncle Dave said that your brother was there and you probably left with him, but I knew you wouldn’t go with him.”
Allison stood with her mouth open. “You know Fonda?” she asked Sherrie.
“Yeah. She’s the niece of my next-door neighbor in Kasbeer. What’s she doing here?”
“She was riding a bike down the highway towards Princeton when Vickie saw her and stopped to help. By the way,” she said looking at Vickie, “this is Sherrie. Sherrie meet Vickie.”
Sherrie smiled at Vickie and then turned back to Fonda. “You were at your uncle’s when the solar flare hit, weren’t you?”
“What’s a solar flare?”
“When the power went out.”
“Oh, yeah. And then he wouldn’t take me home. I kept asking him to, but he said it wasn’t safe. So, I’m taking myself home. It’s okay, I know the way.”
“But, honey, we don’t even know if your parents are still in Princeton. Most of the people moved south with FEMA.”
“What’s FEMA?”
“The government people,” Allison said.
“No, my parents wouldn’t go with government people. My daddy hated government people. They wouldn’t go.”
Allison looked over Fonda’s head at Sherrie. “We can’t send her to Princeton on her own.”
Jean spoke up. “I can have Don radio Frank and he can let us know if the Bohms are still in Princeton. She’ll be fine here until we determine where he family is.”
Sherrie looked at Fonda. “Is that okay, honey? Will you stay with us until we find your parents?”
Fonda looked from face to face. “Where would I sleep?”
“I have an extra bed in my room, if you want.”
“Okay. How long will it take to find my mom and dad?”
“We might know by tomorrow. Let us try, okay?”
“Okay. But I’m not waiting much longer. I need to get home.”
Sherrie held out her hand. “Come on, I’ll show you our room.”
When they had gone, Allison turned to Vickie. “Thanks so much for your help. I can send someone with you to make sure you get home safely.”
“The only thing I worry about is crossing the highway. Once across there, I have fields and timber and Abe can outrun anyone who might want to hurt me.”
“I’ll have the security team make sure you get across the highway. Is there anything you and your sister need? I could send a few things with you?”
“No, but thanks. She’s a farm wife. She’s got plenty put away. And the neighbor has been amazing.” She turned to Jean. “I’ll be sure to let her know that you are doing great.”
Jean stepped forward and
gave her a hug. “Please tell her I send my love and if there is ever anything you guys need, we are here.”
“Thanks.” Vickie returned the hug, zipped up her coat, and slipped out the door.
Chapter 13 Allison
Jean was back within a half hour. The ATV raced across the pasture between the farms. She pulled up next to the door of the bunkhouse, gravel sliding under the wheels as she applied the brakes.
The door slammed open and she rushed in. “Allison!” she called.
Allison and Mary emerged from the storeroom.
“Allison! Don called Frank. Frank is on his way with little Fonda’s parents.”
“Really!” Allison beamed. “I fully expected to hear that her parents had gone south. This is wonderful news! I’ll go get her.” She climbed the steps and tapped on the third door at the top of the steps. It swung open to reveal Sherrie. Fonda was sitting on a bed, her feet just barely touching the floor. Her face displayed exhaustion. Her mouth and eyes drooped.
“Fonda,” Allison said. “We found your parents. They are on their way to pick you up.”
The girl jumped off the bed and threw herself in Allison’s arms. “Thank you!” she whispered.
The Chief of Police’s car pulled in to the driveway. A tall man jumped out of the passenger seat and scrambled to open the back door. A dark-haired woman wearing a heavy coat with an apron poking out from beneath the hem practically fell out of the back of the police car. Together they rushed towards the bunkhouse.
Fonda slammed the door open and rushed to meet them. She was scooped into her father’s arms and Allison felt tears sting her eyes as she watched the reunion.
The dark-haired woman drew back from the group hug and mouthed “Thank you” to Allison.
“Please come inside,” Allison said to the group.
Fonda clutched her father’s hand and pointed at Allison. “That’s Allison,” she said. “She’s the boss.”
Allison smiled before turning to the bunkhouse and calling for Mary to put more milk on the stove for hot chocolate. “Don’t forget the peppermint for Fonda,” she said.
She indicated the chairs around the table. Fonda’s father took a seat and pulled her into his arms.
