“Once?” she laughed. “Likely he doesn’t remember the other times. He was kind of young back then.”
Both majors paused, waiting for her to explain. When she didn’t, Hogan asked, “Is there something we should know about the sergeant?”
“In time perhaps, but not now.” She stared off into the nothingness of her mind. “Father Constantine will be holding a short memorial service for the colonel and Perkins this afternoon. I won’t order you to, though it would please me if you both stayed for it.”
“Of course,” Kopley stated. “And if I may make a suggestion, Colonel, I think it would be wise for us to have regular communications, just to stay informed.”
“I agree, perhaps once a week?” she suggested. “We can set up a schedule later.”
CHAPTER FORTY
“Do you have your team selected, Eric?” Allexa asked, watching her son finish emptying the back of the step van. There wasn’t anything of value there, only a few empty boxes.
“Yes, Rayn and Tony are coming with me, and three of the new guys. It will give us a chance to get to know them,” he said. “And don’t worry, Mom, with the new bridge in place it will take us less than an hour to get to the subdivision. I figure two, maybe three hours there, and an hour back. We’ll be home by dinner.”
“Only three hours there?”
“If you recall, you and I went through those houses thoroughly, and put most of what was usable in the living rooms. All we need to do is load up.”
“I hope we didn’t miss anything.”
“I’m planning on an hour to re-scout. With Rayn and Tony as fresh eyes, we should catch anything you and I overlooked,” Eric reassured her.
“Who’s watching Alan while you’re gone?”
“Sister Lynn has him while Emi is in school. That nun loves Alan.” Eric laughed. “I’ve even seen her crawl around on the floor with him.”
“Just be careful, son.”
“Don’t worry, Mom, we’ve got more firepower right now than you and I did.” Eric looked pensive as he rubbed his arm that wasn’t quite healed. “Okay, I’ll be extra careful.”
Allexa watched her son drive away with Rayn and a new guy, followed by the Humvee Major Kopley left behind manned by two of the new soldiers and Tony.
***
Needing something to do, Allexa washed and pressed the two military shirts, Jim’s and Perky’s, and hung them in her closet as a reminder that even the bravest, strongest, and most well trained men sometimes got caught by surprise, and that could get them killed.
Still feeling restless and fatigued by the adrenaline dump from the past few days, Allexa pedaled her bike around the town, checking on the new recruits. All seemed to be fine. The young men were walking their bikes instead of riding, and chatting with the residents as they made their rounds. It was good to see them getting to know the town.
Passing by one of the bungalows on a side street, shiny disks caught her attention, twisting and sparkling in the sunlight. She stopped to admire them, until she saw they were gold and silver canning seals, strung together. She wheeled up to the house and dropped her bike on the parched lawn.
“Hello, Ms. Smeth!” the young woman said, coming out onto the wooden porch. “You like my sun catchers?”
“You’re using canning seals…” Allexa replied, her tone threatening under her breath.
The girl took on a scared look. “I had to find a use for all those used and bent seals that come off the canning jars.”
“Used seals?”
“Oh, I would never use new ones. My gosh, they’re too valuable to us.”
Allexa quickly realized how she had jumped to a wrongful conclusion and backed up. “Could you make me one or two? They’re very pretty, and might even be good for keeping the birds away from the strawberries.”
The young girl let out a sigh of relief. “I would be honored, ma’am.”
Allexa picked up her bike and went home, tears streaming down her face at having realized how close she came to verbally attacking the innocent girl.
She sat in her glider chair next to the birdbath and wept. The stress on her was worse than she thought and she had to find a way to deal with it. Before, what seemed a lifetime ago, she would sit in the hot tub and soak away the tension.
Without the big tub, Allexa decided to try the next best thing, and ran hot water in the bathtub. Even though it was a large garden tub, it was still much smaller than what she was used to. Submerging her shoulders and the back of her head eased the tight muscles in her neck. She lay there and tried to empty her thoughts, trying to remember what else she did to alleviate the stress that would arise. Work.
***
Dressed again in jeans, a khaki military t-shirt, a light jacket with Jim’s silver eagle on the right collar, and her weapon strapped around her waist, Allexa once more took her bike and went to the office. The day was unusually bright with full sunshine and she tried to enjoy the warm weather.
“Anything of importance going on, Tom?” she asked, entering their joint office.
“All is quiet,” he said. Glancing out the dusty window that overlooked the parking lot, they both saw the arrival of a pickup truck with several people riding in the back.
“I don’t recognize them,” Allexa stated. “That could be good, or bad. Let’s see what they want.” The two stepped out of the building, trying to look welcoming.
Tom opened the conversation. “What can we do for you?”
“Allex?” a short woman said, elbowing her way in between the taller men.
“Sherry?” Allexa said with a smile and took a step forward. Tension surged as everyone reached for their weapons.
Sherry turned back to her group. “Chill, guys. I know her.”
“I haven’t seen you since…”
“Yeah, since the first earthquake, I know. A few of us in Midway that lived on one of the back roads combined resources. Being preppers we were already stocked for the winter, but being together made security easier and it actually helped stretch our supplies. Then old man Henry showed up needing some help and we joined up with his farm, Long Reach, that backs up to the Brook Trout River. That place is really self-sufficient and we all hunkered down. There are twenty of us now,” Sherry explained, and then looked at Allex’s clothes in confusion. “Allex, I didn’t know you were in the military.”
Think fast, Allex, think fast!
“When martial law was announced I thought it best if I came out of retirement to help the community,” she lied smoothly.
“What brought you out and seriously, what can we do for you?” Tom joined in without a moment’s hesitation.
Sherry eyed him and raised her eyebrows at Allexa.
“Sherry Frazier, I’d like you to meet Tom White, the mayor of Moose Creek,” she introduced them.
“Mayor? What happened to Anna?” Sherry asked.
“Sadly, she died in one of the flu sweeps,” Allexa said. “Sherry, what brought you here?”
“All the traffic on 695 got our attention. I don’t know if you remember, the farm is six hundred and forty acres, an entire section, and sits back from 695 a couple of miles. We can’t be seen or heard, however, artificial sound really travels and we can hear a great deal. With all the back and forth traffic, and Moose Creek the only thing at the end of the road, we figured the town had at least some resources.” She looked slightly embarrassed and a little defensive at the same time. “We’ve come to see if you had any gas we could barter for.”
“You’ve gotten by all this time without gas?” Allexa asked.
“No, the farm had a great deal stored. It’s been used up cutting and splitting wood for the wood stoves, and now we’re out, with no way to cut wood. The tractor we have is diesel and saved for baling hay for the animals.”
“I think we can spare some for a trade,”
Tom said. “What do you have to barter?”
“The farm has a half dozen cows and a bull, so we’ve got some, but limited milk and cheese. What we really have a lot of is pork.”
“You have pigs?”
“Yeah, and they breed like rabbits,” Sherry laughed. “We brought a couple of hams to trade for five gallons of gas. We put the last few ounces in this one truck to make it here. I doubt we can make it back unless you help us out.” She pulled her lips into a straight line, preparing for the rejection of her offer.
Allexa stepped closer to Sherry. “Of course we’ll help. Go on over to Fram’s and I’ll get the pump key.”
After the pickup left, Allexa and Tom went back inside. While Tom rummaged through his desk for the keys, Allexa watched out the window, smiling.
“This could be exactly what the town needs, Tom. Nearby allies who need what we have excess of. And don’t forget, Midway is still as much a part of our township community as Art’s compound.”
“That’s true. Do you want to handle the negotiations?” he said with a smirk.
“I think we can do that together, although we should agree beforehand what we’re willing to give up.” She thought for a long moment. “This time I think we should be generous. They took a big risk to their security coming here and we need to reassure them they did the right thing. I’ll be right back.” She took the keys and walked across the street.
***
The six residents of Midway stood around the parking lot. One five gallon gas can sat next to a pump.
“Tell you what,” Allexa said, “fill your truck first, then all the cans. When you get back to the farm, send the other trucks to fill up. Leave us with what you feel is fair payment.”
Allexa went inside the store and turned on the power to the pumps. Sherry followed her inside.
“I told them this was a good idea. Thank you, Allex,” Sherry said, fighting tears.
“What I would like, my friend, is for you to stay and work out details with us. When the other trucks come back, you go home with them. You are safe here. Fair enough?”
“Fair enough. Let me go talk with them.”
***
“There are four hoop houses that have kept us fed all this time. That plus hunting, fishing, and butchering,” Sherry added.
“How big are the hoops? What are you growing?” Allexa coaxed.
Tom sat silent, letting Allexa handle pulling the information out.
“They’re actually pretty big and all linked together with closeable air ducts. It lets the bees fly freely between them for pollination,” Sherry said, obviously feeling comfortable with the new situation. “One hoop is all root crops—potatoes, carrots, onions, beets. Another is tomatoes and beans; one is all greens—different lettuces, kale, chard. That one is in constant rotation since lettuce grows so quickly. We’ve tried to keep crops together that harvest at the same time.”
Allexa’s eyes lit up with the thought of lettuce.
“Anything you personally might want, Allexa?”
“What’s in the fourth hoop?” She didn’t want to seem too anxious.
“Fruit trees. Peach, cherry, pear, plum, and apple, with blueberries and strawberries in raised beds along the outside where there isn’t as much head room, and that’s where the hive is. Henry moved some trees into an empty hoop when he heard about the ash cloud.”
“Smart man. He must be very proud that he’s managed to keep so many fed for so long,” Tom spoke up.
“Yes, he was. Sadly he had a heart attack and died last summer. He managed to teach us a great deal before he passed though.” She looked down at the table. “I will admit that we are struggling a bit to keep it all going. He did the work of three of us!”
“I can’t speak for the people personally, but perhaps we could even barter labor,” Tom suggested. Sherry visible let out a sigh of relief.
“Can we see what you brought to the table?” Allexa smiled. “Pun intended.” Two large coolers held hams and pork roasts. The remaining cooler was filled with different lettuces and various greens.
“Dibs on some of the lettuce!” Allexa said gleefully.
Tom was stunned. “You were going to trade all this for only five gallons of gas?”
“Actually, we were going to offer one cooler, and go up if we had to,” Sherry confessed. “Getting all the trucks filled and the gas cans too is worth it to us, and I think it’s a show of good faith on both our parts.”
“How often do you think you will need this much gas?” Tom asked hesitantly.
“Would maybe once a month be okay with you? Although there isn’t any place to go anymore, except for here, the trucks are used a lot for hauling things around the farm.”
“Deal!” Allexa jumped in, knowing the military delivery trucks were punctual. “Let’s get these coolers over to Marsha at the Inn so you can have the empty coolers when your men come back for you.”
***
Allexa snagged one of the new recruits to unload the heavy coolers from the back of Tom’s old sedan and take them into the kitchen.
Marsha’s eyes widened at all the fresh food.
“Put it all into the walk-in coolers and I’ll be back in a little while to discuss the distribution with you,” Allexa said to the stunned cook.
***
Allexa parked the big blue car next to the township building, and spotted Tom across the street at Fram’s with two unfamiliar pickups.
“Your ride is here, Sherry.” She turned to the short, spunky woman by her side. “I’m really pleased you decided to come here. I think this trade thing will be good for both of our communities.”
“I think so too, Allexa, and it was really good to see a familiar face.” They shook hands, and then hugged.
***
Allexa rode her bike back to the Inn while Tom locked up the office then joined her there.
Marsha had spaced out the meat in the cooler so it was easier to see the amount, as well as the greens.
“For our negotiating skills, and township wages,” Tom grinned, “we are going to pick first. After that Marsha, divide it as seems appropriate, and since you are now feeding our security staff, set aside some for them. Allex, you go first.”
There were eighteen heads of various lettuces, so she took four, plus a small bunch of kale. She looked at the hams longingly.
“Just this once I’m going to be selfish and take one ham and one pork roast. Can you cut each in half, and then cut one in half again? I’ll keep the half for a family dinner and give Eric and Jason the quarters.”
“I think that’s more than fair, Allex. It’s hard to say how this would have gone down if you and Sherry hadn’t recognized each other,” Tom stated.
***
At home, Allexa sliced off a thick piece of cured ham and put it between two slices of fresh bread. She added a thin layer of her own mustard and a lettuce leaf and took a bite. She moaned aloud, thinking things might get back to normal after all.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
The white step van pulled into the parking lot at the Nuns Shoppe and the Humvee parked next to it. Rayn jumped out first, eager to check on their son while Eric followed her to talk with the nuns.
“Allexa told us you were going for more supplies, Eric. What have you found for us?” Sister Agnes asked.
“This van is packed full. There are clothes and toys and linens. There is also something I want you to take charge of.” When he returned he carried the long wooden box and set it on the counter.
When he opened it, Sister Agnes said, “Oh, my! What am I supposed to do with all this jewelry?”
“Keep it safe. My mom didn’t want to take it, but I didn’t feel right about leaving it,” Eric said. “There may come a day when we need something like this to barter with and I think it’s better off here, with you.”
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“I will put it somewhere safe, Eric.”
“Oh, and don’t tell my mom I took it, okay?” he said sheepishly.
“My lips are sealed,” Sister Agnes said with a smile.
“I need a little favor, Sister. When you go through that box, if you find a plain gold band, let me know. I would like to give Rayn a real wedding ring.”
***
The men formed a line and kept the items moving into the store until the van was nearly empty.
“There are a few things that we’ve set aside for certain people, though I would say you have ninety-five percent of our haul,” Rayn said, balancing Alan on her hip. The baby pulled at her sunglasses and tried putting them on his face almost poking himself in the eye. “We looked for things we felt would be really useful, like winter jackets and coats, boots, things like that.”
“This is a treasure trove! Sister Margaret is going to be delighted to sort through all of this.”
“We weren’t certain about sizes, so we took everything,” Eric said.
They dropped Tony off with the other recruits at the Inn, and Eric and Rayn drove the van back to their house to finish unloading.
“I thought you said your mom didn’t want a fur coat?” Rayn questioned when she saw the extra fur.
“She doesn’t. But she’s getting one for Christmas.” Eric grinned. “Let’s take these towels and blankets over to her now and let her know we’re back. You know how she worries.”
***
Allexa put away her new bath towels, and hung a couple of plush kitchen towels over the rack by the stove. The vibrant colors perked up the room immensely.
The Journal: Martial Law Page 20
