‘You might be right about that, the mind’s way of surviving, and let’s face it, so far we have beaten the odds, and now here we are, endeavoring to persevere.’ She stood up abruptly, calling Ant to heel, ‘and on that note, we should go in, Ruby is making us a cup of tea.’
Josh cracked a smile, ‘Ruby’s coping mechanism.’
Georgia laughed. ‘You noticed!’ Then she took on a more serious tone, ‘but we could learn a thing or two from her, she’s way older than the two of us put together, and half the time I think she is senile, but then she does something like stitch you up like a pro.’
‘Yeah, got to be grateful for that, though it sure hurt like hell.’
Then as Josh made to stand up, Georgia stopped him, putting her hands on his shoulders and looking him in the eye. ‘I need you to promise me something Josh.’
‘What?’ he asked, frowning slightly as he met her direct gaze.
‘I want you to promise me that you won’t ever take your own life, no matter what, we’re your family now and it would destroy Rebecca for one thing, destroy the rest of us too.’
‘Nah,’ he shrugged, ‘I won’t kill myself.’
‘Swear it,’ Georgia said,
‘Okay, I swear that I won’t ever take my own life, no matter what.’
‘Good,’ Georgia said, as she turned to head back to the house.
Even so, the weapon talk would have to wait, Georgia decided as she opened the front door, and they stepped inside. Although he had promised he wouldn’t do anything stupid, she was not sure she was quite ready to trust him with a gun. Not just yet.
They had only just sat down, and Ruby was pouring the tea, when the front door banged open and Millie and Badger came flying into the kitchen, followed barely a minute later, by Lola and Rebecca. Both with flushed faces, perspiring profusely as they dragged Lola’s weighed down backpack into the kitchen, trailing twigs, and tangled tendrils and vines. Ant barked excitedly, pausing for a moment to curiously sniff the other two dogs, then racing back to Georgia, standing on her back legs to be picked up.
‘I reckon we have enough apples for a while,’ Lola panted, as she propped the bulging and now somewhat bedraggled pack against the kitchen counter.
Georgia raised her eyebrows. ‘Wow impressive, Ruby said you had gone to fetch apples, I had no idea there would be so many. Did you have to go far?’
‘Yeah,’ Rebecca gasped, quite a ways, we tried to carry the pack between us, but we couldn’t lift it, and we didn’t want to leave any behind, so we ended up having to drag it all the way back.’
Ruby set two more cups on the table, ‘and half the garden too, by the looks of it.’ She sounded gruff, but her eyes twinkled as she picked up the teapot. Lola dumped an armful of fist-sized bright red apples on the table, then sat down.
‘They are really juicy and sweet, here, try one.’
Josh promptly grabbed one, before it had a chance to roll off the table, and bit into it with a loud crunch. ‘Mm, really good, you should have one, Ruby,’ he said, holding one out to her.
She held up her hand. ‘Not right now, I can’t bite into them like you can, but if Georgia agrees, I will take all the bruised and damaged ones and make apple sauce with them, if we get anymore jars that is.’ At this last part she gave Georgia a pointed look.
Georgia grinned at her, ‘Of course I agree, and as for the jars, I am still looking for those.’
Rebecca slipped into the seat next to Lola, pressing her glasses to the bridge of her nose, as she shyly smiled over at Josh. He caught her look, giving her a slow teasing smile. ‘Not just pretty, but strong too, I like that.’
Lola nearly choked on her tea, and poor Rebecca turned scarlet at the compliment, not quite knowing where to look.
Ruby gave a loud cough in the back of her throat. ‘Young man, I will remind you that she is only thirteen, so there will be none of that at my table.’ That’s Ruby, never one to beat about the bush.
Now it was Josh’s turn to color. ‘Sorry, ma’am, I didn’t mean anything by it.’ Ruby glowered at him, and then satisfied he looked suitably chastised, she went back to stirring sugar into her tea. The clinking teaspoon the only sound in the kitchen as they pressed their lips together, exchanging amused glances, no one daring to speak.
Except for Rebecca, who was mulishly gnawing at her bottom lip. All of a sudden, she leapt to her feet, the chair scrapping back, her unexpected reaction startling them all. ‘I am nearly fourteen and I am sick of everyone treating me like a child.’ she said, to no one in particular, and to all of them. She sounded suspiciously close to tears, but before anyone could respond to this sudden outburst, she ran out of the room. A few seconds later, they heard the back bedroom door slam.
Georgia sighed inwardly. She really had to talk to her about that! She had to stop slamming doors! One day, one of the dogs could get injured, not to mention the damage it did to the door frames.
‘Should I go after her?’ Josh asked.
‘No!’ Ruby, Lola and Georgia exclaimed in unison.
He sat back, hands up in front of him. ‘Wow that was a pretty definite no, so I guess I won’t be doing that then.’
‘That,’ Georgia said, ‘was Rebecca being Rebecca. Best to leave her be, one of us will go and talk to her in a bit, when she’s had time to calm down.’
‘I vote you do that Georgia,’ Lola said, ‘I haven’t got the patience. Personally I think there’s nothing wrong with her that sending her out to fetch a switch won’t fix.’
‘I know Lola,’ Georgia laughed, ‘but the days of corporal punishment are over and…’
‘Not so sure about that,’ Lola said, ‘seems to me law and order has all gone to hell, and it might be a good time to bring a little good old fashioned discipline back into the scheme of things.’
‘I agree,’ Ruby said, ‘spare the rod and spoil the child I always say.’
‘Well as tempting as the idea sounds, I think I will, how should I put it, yes, I will take that under advisement.’
Lola burst out laughing. ‘Meaning you’re going to ignore it?’
‘Exactly,’ Georgia said as she desperately tried to look serious and failed. ‘Anyway changing the subject, when are the Apaches due back?’
‘Not sure, they said that if they couldn’t find any rabbits, they would go over to the next cove and get some ducks.’
Josh chuckled. ‘Seriously? You telling me that those kids…,’ he came to an abrupt halt as he saw the expression’s on Georgia and Lola’s faces.
‘I thought you guys were pulling my leg.’
‘No, those two are our hunters,’ Lola explained quietly, ‘and I reckon if it hadn’t been for them, we would probably have starved to death by now. But I am surprised you didn’t realize. They caught the rabbits, Ruby stewed for us a couple of days ago.’
‘I did not know that.’ Josh said, a look, suspiciously close to awe transforming his face.
Georgia leaned over, reaching for the teapot. ‘Well, they did, mind you I can see how you didn’t know, for I think you were still in bed recovering last time they went out.’
‘Anyway,’ Lola said, ‘if they bring back ducks, I reckon Josh can learn to gut and pluck them.’
‘Sure thing, happy to do anything to help.’
‘Oh you are so going to regret that,’ Georgia said, as the corner of her mouth quirked up, ‘gutting wild duck has to be the worst smelling job there is.’
‘Yeah,’ Lola nodded happily. ‘It takes forever to get the stink off your hands.’
‘Don’t look so worried,’ Georgia laughed. ‘You’ll get used to it.’
‘Yes,’ Ruby agreed, ‘I’m told you can get used to anything, except hanging.’
Georgia stood up. ‘Well, maybe hangings, and Rebecca’s outbursts,
‘Ain’t that the truth,’ Lola said.
Georgia pushed her chair in. ‘And speaking of Rebecca, I guess I better go and have a talk with her.’
Chapter Sixty Three
By the time Jamie and Deedee had returned, with four rabbits (much to Josh’s relief), it had already begun to grow dark and the candles had been lit. So it was quite late by the time the seven of them finally sat down to eat, with Deedee perched on the office chair, as there were only six kitchen chairs. Millie, Badger and Ant sat underneath the table waiting hopefully for titbits to be passed down to them, even though they had already been fed the offcuts, and had rounded bellies to prove it. Rebecca had finally regained her good humor (thankfully), and all was as it should be. Once they had eaten and Jamie and Josh had come back with buckets of water so the dishes could be washed, she shared her good news.
She had at first held off telling anyone until the Apaches were back. But then everyone was so busy with all that went in to preparing the meal, running around doing small chores and bathing in the lake, that she had decided it could wait till after supper. After all, no one seemed particularly interested in how her day had gone.
She told them all about the sheds and the bicycles, and the oxy-acetylene bottles, everything except her discovery of Mr and Mrs Jenkins bodies. She also left out what she had learned about the existence of a committee, and how they had to register. She would leave that till a bit later, for now she just wanted to talk about positive things.
Everyone stopped what they were doing, and Georgia could tell they were as excited as she was. When she was telling how she hid the Oxy-acetylene bottles behind the old tires, Deedee put her hand up, ‘What’s Oxycellatine?’
‘Oxy-acetylene,’ Georgia corrected, ‘is where fuel gases and oxygen are mixed so you can weld metal together. Something we will really need when we come to join one of the bikes to the trailer. You’ll understand more once we shift over there and I can show you.’
‘So what are the bikes like? Are the tires any good?’ Josh asked.
‘I think they are mountain bikes, and they look in pretty good nick, hardly any rust on them. Don’t know about the tires, though I am sure I would have noticed if they had been bald or anything like that.’
‘That’s good, how many gears?’
Georgia had to think for a minute, ‘I’m not sure, I just remember seeing those wires running down, though to be honest, I don’t really know a lot about bikes.’
Rebecca, who had been in the process of putting a bowl down on the floor with the last of the rabbit stew, straightened up again, the dogs whining indignantly up at her, as the treat was whisked out of their reach. ‘Well for what it’s worth, I don’t think mountain bikes will be any good, for starters the seats are way too uncomfortable. There’s no way you are going to get me on one!’
‘That’s fine,’ Lola said smiling sweetly over at her, ‘you can always start walking now, who knows you might get home before Christmas, personally I’d rather have a bruised tushie, than walk.’
‘It will be okay, Rebecca,’ Georgia said hastily, ‘we can always figure out some sort of padding, because if it works out, everyone will be taking turns.’
‘Even me!’ Deedee beamed.
Rebecca muttered something inaudible under her breath, finally putting the bowl down before the dogs. Georgia decided to let it go. Instead, she looked round at the others. ‘So, all going well we really could be home in a matter of weeks!’
Ruby who had popped out of the kitchen for just a minute came back with her plastic bag of curlers. She pressed them into Georgia’s hands. ‘You’ll have to help me with back ones. I can’t seem to manage them.’
As Ruby settled into her chair, Lola leaned towards her. ‘Isn’t that great news,’ she said, ‘we are going home soon.’
‘We what?’ Going home? But we are home. I’m not sure Bertie would want me to just up and leave, and what about Josie and Lexie?’
Georgia did her best to hold in an exasperated sigh that threatened to escape. She had known Ruby’s relative lack of muddle-headedness had been just too good to last.
‘Yes, going home,’ she said, ‘this is just a holiday rental, remember?’
‘Oh,’ Ruby said, ‘I knew that, but it’s just so sudden, are you sure?’
‘Yeah,’ Rebecca said, ‘she’s sure, and anyway we have to get home soon, because Dad will be wondering where we are.’
‘Dad doesn’t care where we are,’ Jamie said, as he shoved a dishcloth into her hands. ‘It’s your turn to dry.’
‘But Lexie…,’ Ruby began again,
‘He does too care,’ Rebecca snapped, and Georgia felt like tossing all the curlers in the air and pulling out her own hair. Seriously, all she cared about, was getting them all down to Bethel; ghosts, unaccounted for husbands, and absent fathers aside. She stared at Rebecca, Did she really believe her father would be waiting for them down there or was she just stirring?
‘Then where is he?’ Jamie asked.
‘He’s with his trollop,’ Deedee said in a very matter of fact manner as she carefully hung a mug on a cup hook.
An ungodly hush fell upon the kitchen. Rebecca wheeled round and glared at Deedee. Josh looked really confused, Lola actually giggled, and Ruby opened her mouth to say something, but Georgia held up her hand.
‘Nobody say a word. Not one word.’ She took a deep breath. ‘Right,’ she began, ‘Nathan may well be with his ‘trollop’ as you put it, Deedee, but trollop is not a very nice word, so I suggest you don’t use it again.’ Even though the woman probably is a trollop! ‘And Ruby, as for Lexie and Josie,’ here she took another deep breath, ‘I am sure they just want you to be safe and happy, so in answer to your question, yes, we will be going home, just as soon as we can. Now, I am going to get some fresh air.’
With that she put down the last of Ruby’s curlers and walked out of the kitchen. Someone else could put them in! She was too tired to deal with all of this. As she shut the door behind her, she heard Josh, who had clearly not being paying close attention, ask, ‘who’s Nathan?’
To which Deedee replied, ‘Jamie and Rebecca’s dad, and Georgia’s husband. He ran off with a floozy and didn’t come back.’ Well at least she hadn’t used the word trollop again, but it left her wondering where on earth Deedee had come across those words.
She sat outside in the darkness, on the front steps, the damp night air cooling her skin and her temper. She shouldn’t have snapped at Ruby like that, it wasn’t her fault she was so damn confused, but stress and overall exhaustion was making it harder and harder for Georgia to stay calm at all times.
Her mind was a constant whirlwind of trying to be one step ahead of any disasters that could possibly strike; the never ending planning, and worrying, and all the ‘what ifs’. That stupid squabbling in the kitchen hadn’t helped. It had truly shocked her that Rebecca still harbored hopes her father was coming for them, and the unexpected twist of pain in her heart at the mention of Nathan’s name had left her shaken.
Though, uppermost in her mind was, as always, food, or rather its scarcity. They now had to have enough food for seven people and three dogs. Their stocks were down to practically nil. (Though they did have plenty of apples.) Tea was being drunk as though they had an endless supply, as was the coffee, and their sugar and powdered milk supplies were rapidly dwindling. It left her wondering if any of them really understood how precarious their situation was.
All of that was going to have to stop, she decided, and all of them were going to have to concentrate their efforts on gathering more food supplies. Presently only Jamie, Deedee and Lola were hunting or fishing. While Ruby couldn’t participate in that, she now did most of the cooking, somehow creating real meals out of very little, and with her motherly ways, cementing their sense of family unity. It was, Georgia felt, a very fair exchange.
Her mind turned to Josh and Rebecca. Rebecca had clearly been struck down by puppy love, and while she was not quite sure how Josh felt about Rebecca, she sided with Ruby. He had been flirting, but there was no harm in that, as long as she was careful to make sure they were never left alone too long. They were, after all teenagers raging with h
ormones, and unchaperoned, anything could happen!
However, raging hormones and teenage angst aside, those two needed to start pulling their weight. Next time the Apaches went out hunting, Georgia decided, Josh could go with them. Then once she felt confident to let him have the rifle, he could go out on his own.
As for Rebecca, she needed to stop throwing tantrums, slamming doors and get over her no kill policy. Either that, or work a little harder on her foraging skills. They had that book of edible plants and there had to be more than just apples, cat-tails and nettles growing in the area. Of all of them, Rebecca was the only one who was doing as little as possible. Yes, she had helped Lola bring the apples back, but that had been more as a result of Lola’s southern cussed determination than Rebecca’s willingness to help. Perhaps Lola was right and she was being too soft on her.
Then there was the very real problem of moving the ride on mower’s trailer. It was all very well finding the workshop, but unless they found a way to transport the trailer, they were virtually back to square one. Actually, she realized, all the other issues had to be put on hold until the trailer situation was resolved.
That had to be their first priority. But how to move it? There was no road access to the house, pulling it up the hill was out of the question, it was far too steep and even if they managed that, it was still a hell of a long way through the woodlands to the nearest road. They had barely managed to stretcher Josh across the rugged landscape.
That only left one possibility, and that was over water. Somehow they would have to rig up the two canoes into a transport platform, and hope it didn’t sink under the weight. Then they had to work out how to get back to the Jenkins place without being seen by any committee supporters.
Survivors of the Sun Page 60
