“Once they’ve learned their own way, then all you need to do is be there for them when they ask for help.
“We didn’t know what happened when Fairbanks stopped being. We lost contact with our kids. Maybe we’ll hear from them again. Maybe not. But we know what they are capable of.” Sam hesitated, picking at something under his fingernail. His eyes misted over. “So we waited. Then you came along. And now we have another family. A new chance to help make tomorrow just a little bit better than today. The best thing we can do in life is prepare for tomorrow, while living today.”
“Living today,” I repeated. “Surviving today, maybe.” I was feeling down. I was afraid. Afraid that my health had gone the wrong way and that I was putting my family at risk. I had helped them survive today just to expose them to greater risk tomorrow. My stomach rebelled, I started to gag, and then I threw up more bile. Sam sat with his hand on my back, just being there for me. He saw the blood.
“I see,” he said simply. “Let’s get you to Colleen and see what she thinks.” He helped me up, and we walked toward the stables.
JUST A LITTLE THING
“Alcohol consumption?” Colleen asked. I shook my head and held up my hand with the zero sign. “Any cases of stomach or esophageal cancer in your family?” I shook my head again. “Stress?” I forced a laugh. She knew what my to-do list looked like.
“I can’t tell you what you have for sure, but we’ll treat it as if it is acute gastritis. We’ll change your diet a bit and then give you a heavy dose of antacids. And stop worrying about everything for Christ’s sake.”
“What if it isn’t gastritis?” Even with Colleen and her set of skills, we were in a bad place if we needed more in-depth medical treatment.
“See? More unnecessary worry. If it is something where you need surgery, I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do. So we’ll treat it as if it isn’t serious, because it can’t be. We’re going to treat it as if it’s acute gastritis because that is what it must be.” Colleen was firm on this point. She punched me in the chest.
I’m sure she had been a great mom. I should have felt more relieved. We had experienced the loss of our friends, but not our family. Look at what Colleen had gone through. Sam and Martha were bedrock. Amber ran the community.
Together we were making our lives mean something. Still, I expected that the others battled their own demons as I was battling mine.
“Listen. You saved us all. But you don’t have to do it every day. We can help you to help us. Tell Madison what you’ve got. I’ll announce it to the others and put you on light duty. Isn’t that what you military types call it?” I nodded.
“Big tough men, all of you. Get over yourselves.” With that, she punched me in the arm and whisked herself away, leaving me sitting in the ad hoc horse stable. It made me proud to think she thought that about me. I didn’t like seeing people suffer. I liked laughter and people having a purpose. Maybe helping our small community survive was more important than anything I had done in my previous life. By surviving each day, we earned another day to try for something a little bit better. We all carried the weight of the world on our shoulders, but it looked like what would fit in our own two hands. Maybe that wasn’t such a big weight after all.
Sam had joined Madison and the twins in feeding carrots to the horses. I expected that the horses would eat our entire crop if we let them. As I watched them from the doorway of the stable, Madison looked at me. She knew something was up. I couldn’t believe my initial plan was to not tell her. I waved her over. Sam waved, too, and then pointed to the twins and nodded. He would look after them.
“My stomach’s pretty upset. Colleen said I have gastritis. Too much stress, so I’ll be hanging out on the recliner, watching TV.” I took a fake step away. That earned me a punch in the back. “Hey!”
“I’m talking with Colleen to find out what’s really going on.” She wasn’t amused by my attempt to paper it over with humor.
“I threw up blood. I feel like garbage.”
“I told you that you were driving yourself too hard. We are fine. We were fine hundreds of gallons of gas ago. We were fine ten cords of wood earlier. We were fine with one winter’s worth of canned vegetables. But no, twenty cords, a freezer full of beans, no place to put any more moose. What else do you think you need to do?”
“Sit back and watch TV?” My voice came out weaker than I had intended. “We will spend the next six months having fun and relaxing!” I proclaimed boldly. She smiled.
“I’ll be lucky to get you to relax for six days.”
THE BIG RESTOCK
Martha served up a fabulous lunch, but Colleen and Madison wouldn’t let me have any of the tomato sauce – too much acid. I had bread and some peanut butter. I had a big salad. I drank water. And I chowed a handful of Tums.
Colleen made her announcement regarding my light duty. Everyone agreed. They said nice things about me. I felt much better. My stomach felt better, too.
I slid my chair over to Sam and Martha’s table and waved Jo over. “What do our supplies look like?” I knew the answer to the question, but I wanted to hear it out loud.
“Almost out of everything that we didn’t grow or kill ourselves,” Jo responded.
“When I was on the west side of town last week, the Fred Meyer grocery store lost half its roof, but it was mostly intact. The caved-in part was alongside the grocery shelves.” I let that sink in. “It’s been almost a year. If we wait too long, dry goods will go to waste. The summer wasn’t too hot, so maybe we didn’t get too much spoilage.” I was being selfish as I really liked a good meal. I liked fresh-baked bread. I liked coffee. I liked a lot of things from the before time. And they were there for the taking.
“You thinking a grocery run?” Jo was getting excited. She had been hired as a cook, but was a chef at heart. She could see the supplies in her mind. She was thinking about enlarging her culinary repertoire.
“I think we can do that. If it’s okay, Chuck, I’ll manage the food run. You can stay here and watch things. I haven’t been into the city yet. I think it’s my turn. We’ll be there and back in less than a day.” Sam was excited about a store run, too.
“Sam, the coffee aisle is outside the collapsed section of the roof.” I waited as his ears perked up. “It looked untouched.”
“Now you know why I have to go,” Sam said with a laugh. “I think we’re running low.” Jo heard us and shook her head, holding her hand out, showing that we were stocked with cans of coffee above her head.
Sam put together three teams driving all the vehicles, with the horse trailer and one flatbed trailer. They cleaned the trailers and truck beds and then gassed everything up. They would head out first thing in the morning. I asked that they keep spacing of maybe half a mile between the vehicles. I didn’t know if any bad guys were watching. A convoy might trigger an unwanted response from a Russian helicopter.
Madison watched me closely to make sure that I wasn’t going along. She wasn’t going either. She would stay to work with the twins and keep me out of trouble. Amber was staying. Felicia was staying. Chris wanted to go, but he usually didn’t speak up. So I asked him directly, and he confirmed that he would go if they needed him.
When we were on the run from the Russians, we took almost everyone from the Community for a short stay in our neighborhood. Outside of that, these people had been here for almost an entire year. Yes. Anyone who could go, should go. Everyone deserved a shopping trip.
I briefed everyone on the radiation threat, that they shouldn’t spend any more time outside than they absolutely had to. They should wear scarves or something over their faces while outside to reduce the risk from contaminated dust.
They could stop by our house on the way and get the Geiger counter so they could be more certain of the threat. I also asked that they put more gas in the generator and reserve tank, then fire it back up. Then we could stay a few more days without the freezer thawing. Lucas told me that he’d take care of it.
And thinking. I was always thinking about the details of an operation. Before Sam left, I had suggested that he bring along some materials that they could use for bracing fallen beams and such and levers to move material out of the way. That might give them a little better access. Who knows, that last bag of flour might then be within reach. Or more likely, that bottom row of canned coffee was right there!
Before they’d left, Sam had quipped, “If I see decaf, I think I’ll leave it. I don’t ever want to think that I’ll be so desperate for a cup of coffee that I’d be willing to drink decaf. I’d rather have a cup of Martha’s tea.” He looked around quickly to make sure she hadn’t heard him. “Don’t tell her that....”
WE STAYED THE DAY
We stayed the day together at Chena Hot Springs. My list of things to do was minimal and supposedly light, but nothing was easy.
We fed the dogs, which was an exercise in complete chaos. Although we would put out enough moose meat and dry dog food (we had taken the Dog Musher’s complete stock earlier in the summer – I’m sure he would approve) for all the dogs, they all went after the first scoopful. I poured and jogged while Madison threw the strips of meat into the makeshift trough. They eventually spread out, but it was quite the ruckus.
Abigail told us we were down to less than fifty dogs. Natural selection, adventurism, whatever the reason. The remaining dogs were both loyal and hearty. She kept them in shape, using the wheeled sled to keep them familiar with the harness and their role in pulling the sled. Some of the dogs no longer liked to pull, so they weren’t hooked up. There were plenty who did though. The twins wanted to learn dog mushing, but they needed to get bigger. Abigail suggested that if we found children-sized dog sleds, she could rig a team of two or three dogs for the twins to learn to drive.
That was an interesting concept. Dog mushing at three years old. What would have been unfathomable a year ago made sense now, and practical sense.
The twins tried to help feed the dogs, but were mobbed, knocked down, and beat up as the hungry animals ripped the moose meat out of their small hands. At least no one was bitten. That happened the last time that they’d helped deliver the meat, but that taught them to be a little more respectful of what the dogs could do.
Then we went to the greenhouse and worked there for a bit. Felicia had everything under control. She gave us easy things to do. We didn’t have to plant anything, just water and pick the ripe vegetables. The Community had trimmed back on what they planted. Now, they had only three or four heads of lettuce ripen each day as opposed to a hundred a week when guests were still coming. Same for all the other vegetables, although with the horses, maybe they would need to ramp up production. The horses could eat a hundred heads of lettuce a week, along with the peppers, green beans, and anything else that would grow. But I’m sure Colleen had already thought about what the horses needed and put in her order.
Nothing to worry about. Maybe another soak in the pool. This time, we took the twins with us.
It was very nice to relax. Felicia, Amber, and Martha were the only ones left behind besides us. Martha promised to make us lunch.
Amber was doing laundry. Everyone changed their own sheets, but they didn’t have to launder them. They piled things up and, as part of the work groups, people rotated through doing the laundry. They could do it all in a couple of loads, so people looked forward to getting this duty. It only took a few minutes’ worth of work over the course of two or three hours.
We spun up the DVD player and watched the old animated Disney Pinocchio. The twins loved it. That made it a timeless classic. Next up would be Snow White, the original color animation. I was glad that the resort had these on hand. It always made for a nice visit.
It also gave us time to think about how we were raising them. Movies represented a time to relax, maybe even learn to dream. The rest of the time, they were learning and doing. They were listening as we read and even trying to read for themselves. They were learning to build, even if it was only with their Legos. Light duty for me meant light duty for them, too.
Look at how far we had come as a family. I couldn’t imagine anything different or better. Maybe we had done what we could, but we needed the twins to grow up, be responsible. We never knew when they’d have to fill in for one of their parents.
Life was dangerous, though probably less dangerous than before, when they could have been run over in a parking lot. The dangers now were fewer by orders of magnitude. We weren’t exposed to disease, although I wasn’t sure about the mosquitoes in the summer. Who knew what they had gotten into?
I couldn’t control that any more than I could control a wolf pack. Address it, and move on. We hadn’t seen the wolves since they had attacked the Dog Musher. I think my 45-70 had made an impression on them!
The movie credits rolled, and the twins cheered. Everyone loves a good story. I scooped them both into a big hug. If they were to tell their story, it would be a good one, wouldn’t it?
“Let’s see what’s for lunch.”
THE HAUL
It was a huge relief to hear the convoy pull back into the parking lot of the resort. They were honking their horns to get our attention. They hung out the open windows, yelling and cheering. We went outside, clapping and hollering.
From my initial impression, I couldn’t see what they hadn’t taken. It seemed like they had emptied the store. From fifty-pound bags of rice to small jars of pickle relish. They even had packs of tortillas.
I have to say that I was very happy to see case upon case of various salad dressings. I liked the fresh vegetables, but they needed a little extra something. I guess I was old school that way.
Lucas made a beeline for Amber, while Sam went to Martha. Everyone hugged. There is nothing like the pure joy of a successful hunt. They had gone on an adventure, to help themselves, to help us all. They had taken a risk going to town, but they’d won a victory for the Community.
Darren and Becca held hands, looking through the horse trailer. People had their personal favorites. I wondered what they had their eye on.
“Jerky,” Darren said as I looked questioningly at him. He pulled a pack out of his pocket and offered me a piece. I looked over my shoulder for Colleen. I didn’t see her. I took a piece. Jerky was timeless. I chewed it, savoring its salty goodness.
“What are you eating?” Colleen had materialized in front of me. I hadn’t realized that I had closed my eyes. I could only stammer. I kept chewing, so I could put the last piece in my mouth. Too late. She ripped it out of my hand. Madison appeared right behind her and glared at me.
“I, I, I....” I was at a complete loss for words. Darren shrugged. Some dog came running by and took the jerky right out of Colleen’s hand. He took off, chased closely by two other hungry dogs.
Jo took over and saved me from further embarrassment.
“All right, people! Let’s get this unloaded. We have a feast to prepare!” We lined up to pass boxes and bags into the storeroom. “Not you!” Jo shouted, pointing at me.
“I’m just getting the twins. That’s all. Everyone stop yelling at me.” I leaned down on one knee to scoop up the twins, but instead, got a face full of Husky. Then Phyllis jumped in, too. I herded our two dogs and the twins into the dining room. We needed some music. This was a celebration.
I put on Led Zeppelin, their first album. I had all their albums on my phone, which I always had with me, although it was only on when I used it to play music.
My wallet was in my pocket, too. I wrapped my hand around it. It had a comforting feel. When this one wore out, what would I do? Probably sew it up and keep it going until it could go no further. The same thing I expected from myself.
WINTER
Winter came a full month after the great raid on the grocery store of Fred Meyer. We had gone back to our house and weren
’t doing too much. We spent a lot of time playing outside with the twins. Since we had power, we used our blower to clean the leaves off of our driveway and out of our yard. I put my chainsaw to good use, knocking down a couple trees that we might have problems with in the winter. I didn’t care if any trees fell into power lines. That was a concern for a different era. The here and now depended on the integrity of our home and, secondarily, access to the road.
And at some point in the distant future, I would have to cut and split firewood.
Unless we moved to Chena Hot Springs. I knew we didn’t want to make the trek to Canada while the twins were still small. We also liked our home as it was, but were we so resistant to change that we maintained our home when the Community could use our help? We would have to talk about it. Our equipment would start breaking down. We’d run out of gas. We wouldn’t be able to maintain our home. Why wait until we had no choice? What kind of message did that send to our fellow survivors, our friends?
Colleen, Sam, and Martha had all moved to the Community. With each person, the Community became stronger. With the first child born, the Community would become a real place where children could grow up.
Which brought out something I was afraid of, that the twins would be denied the opportunity to find someone to share their lives with. I wanted more children to be born, and then they would have choices, assuming nothing else changed between now and when they hit that age. That was a long ways off. For it to come to fruition, we’d have to do as Sam suggested. Plan for tomorrow; live for today.
I checked the snow machines, oiled them, charged the batteries, and took each for a test drive. Everything was in good working order. The belts were in good shape. Although we’d ridden them one hundred miles every weekend last winter, they weren’t hard miles. We didn’t drive them over rocks or into gullies. We kept to the roads, and that kept our snow machines in good shape.
Run (End Times Alaska Book 2) Page 8
