by Geo Dell
“We wanna do it,” Ronnie said, “but...”
“We were wondering what you were going to do,” Patty said. She looked at Candace and then Mike.
“I think it's good,” Mike said. “But I won't go anywhere Candace won't. So I can't commit until she does.”
“She does,” Candace said. “I wanted my man and my best friend too. I got what I wanted.” She smiled.
“We're going,” Patty squealed, launching herself at Candace.
“I can't believe it. We'll get to raise our kids together,” Candace said, every bit as excited as Patty.
Mike and Ronnie stood back, arms folded across their chests and watched as the two hugged, squealed, and congratulated each other.
“Dude,” Mike said.
“Dude,” Ronnie repeated grinning.
“Don't you two pick on us,” Patty said. Her eyes were bright.
“Wouldn't think of it,” Mike said.
“Me either,” Ronnie said.
“Sure you would,” Candace said. They let go of each other and turned to the men.
“You're sure?” Candace asked Mike.
“Yep,” he said.
“You?” Patty asked Ronnie.
“Yes, ma'am,” Ronnie said.
“Yes!” Candace said and grabbed Patty again.
“Yahoo,” Patty said as they jumped up and down.
“Yahoo?” Mike asked.
“Old cowboy thing,” Ronnie said.
“You,” Patty slapped Ronnie's shoulder softly, then pulled him to her and kissed him.
“And you too,” she said giving Mike a kiss on the cheek.
“Come here,” Candace said. She kissed Mike and then gave Ronnie a kiss on the forehead. “I guess we're pretty happy,” she said.
“I guess you are, Babe,” Mike said and kissed her back.
~
At midday, Mike and Ronnie left Candace and Patty, who we're still going through the two smaller mom-and-pop stores, finding all kinds of surprises, and headed over to the garage area. Molly and Tom were finishing up bumpers on the last of the trucks, while Bob was helping to remount the last two tires on the last of Jeff's Hummers.
“Ronnie and I want to take one of the pickups down the road a bit, Bob,” Mike said.
“Sure,” Bob said. “Anyone but that one,” he pointed at the one Molly and Tom were working on. “But that one will be done in an hour or so if you want to wait.”
“Nope,” Mike said. “One of the ones outside will do just fine. Can we take you with us, or are you really busy?” Mike asked.
“Can if you want me. Sent Tim and Annie off to spend some time alone. We're almost done. There's really nothing left but that bumper and a test drive, and Molly and Tom can take care of that.”
“Good, we need your opinion,” Mike said.
Bob put some muscle into the last lug nut he was tightening and then handed off the lug wrench to Jeff.
“Jeff, you want to come along?” Mike asked.
“Let me finish these lug nuts, and I'll be right along,” Jeff said.
A few minutes later the pickup truck pulled out, followed by the hummer, and headed down the road following Jan's general directions.
About a mile down the road, Mike spotted the old partially collapsed barn and pulled down off the broken pavement and headed towards it. He stopped the truck and backed around, facing the road.
“Stiff, but it walked right down off the pavement like it was nothing, and in two wheel drive no less,” Mike said.
Bob and Jeff walked up “What have we got here?” Bob asked?. He looked over the barn, picking up on the faint clucking sounds coming from the interior.
“Guess you found Jan's chickens,” Bob said.
“Yep, and that's what I wanted to talk to you about... chickens. I don't know anything about them,” he said, “or cows, or horses, or... What else is there I should know about, Bob?” Mike asked.
“Um, well, what for?”Bob asked.
“For everything. All of it, because me and Candace, Ronnie and Patty are going in with you on this wilderness idea. We talked it over; we're going to do it,” he told him.
Bob's face lit up, “Really?” he said.
“Really,” Mike said. He looked over at Ronnie. “Watch him in case he starts jumping up and down,” he said.
“Did you tell Janet?” Bob asked.
“Nope. Thought you would, should,” Mike said. “But I was wondering if chickens can travel. If, since we will need chickens, we should take these,” he said.
“We could,” Bob said, “but we'd probably lose an awful lot of them, we got quite a way to go. Plus, they'd stop laying almost immediately.”
“Why?” Ronnie asked.
“They don't like change, noise, different, and anything else that upsets their normal routine,” Bob told him. He paused. “We're going to have to change our direction of travel,” Bob continued. “If we're going to the place I picked. Who all is going?” he asked.
“All of my people want to,” Jeff said. “I was going to get with you about it myself. But, well, this seems to be a good time for it.”
“I can't speak for anyone except the four of us, but, Sandy and Susan made it clear they want to go as well,” Mike said.
“Tom and Lilly also want to go,” Bob said.
“That leaves Nell and Molly and Tim and Annie,” Mike said.
“No, Tim and Annie said they want to go to,” Ronnie said. “And last I knew Nell wanted to, so really that's all of us, except the little ones. That's twenty-four people. Wow,” Ronnie said.
“We should discuss it further tonight,” Mike said.
“So animals, how are we going to do it, Bob?”
“Well, to be honest, I hadn't thought quite that far. But I've been thinking cattle trucks,” Bob said.
“What's that?” Jeff asked.
“They're just big trucks with a stake rack. You can run twenty cows up in one, I wouldn't try it with horses, but we need that kind of space. I think we'll have to drive them, cows and horses together. They graze with each other, they should herd with each other,” he seemed to be thinking out loud.
“You lost me, Bob. Drive them in trucks?” Mike asked.
“No. Drive them on the ground, as in cowboy style. I don't think we'll be able to get those trucks as far back as we want to go. It's pretty wild country, but even if we did, we have no fences. We have no homes. We have crops to plant. It would be better to go with what we need, seed, food, tools, get ourselves established this year, get a crop in the ground. Next year we could come out and get horses, cows, other animals. Or, drive them in with us and, well, turn them loose. Most of them will stay near us, some would go wild pretty quick though.” He shook his head slightly “We're going to have to sit down and talk this out... all of us... and also make sure everyone wants to go,” Bob said.
“If we kick it open, we'll probably get some more good feedback,” Ronnie said.
“That's the best way to do it,” Jeff agreed.
“I like both ideas. Maybe we could take some animals with us then come out for more in the Spring? Most likely by then there will be a million and one things we need anyway,” Mike said. “But, yeah, we can't discuss it like this. Everybody needs to be in on it.”
“Well, we can't take these chickens with us, but it's early, I bet we could get a bunch of them ready to eat,” Bob said.
“Never did that before,” Jeff said. “How's it go?”
“Me either,” Ronnie said, looking a little nervous.
“Ditto,” Mike said.
“Well, gotta learn some time,” Bob said. “Ain't hard.”
~
By the time the four men had gutted and plucked the feathers from twenty chickens, it was well after noon and all of them were covered with blood and feathers.
“Let's get these back to Jan,” Bob said. “Then we'll get down to the stream.”
“I second that,” Mike said. He was trying to blow a small downy feather o
ff his nose, reluctant to touch his nose with his hands which were blood sticky, and looked themselves to be feathered. “Hey, didn't Janet say there was a well here somewhere?” he asked hopefully.
A few minutes of searching found the water where it bubbled up fresh and cold and ran down into the trough. They all got cleaned up before they left.
~
Janet gratefully accepted the chickens when they handed them over to her.
“I had thought of that as well, but I couldn't find two men willing to take me down there,” she said.
Bob kissed her on the cheek. “We saved you the drive,” he said.
“Why, Bob,” she said, embarrassed.
“Everybody's going,” Bob said, “With us. They're all coming with us.”
Janet grabbed Bob's face between her palms and kissed him hard, pumped one fist in the air and said, “Yes!”
“Jan,” Bob said, surprised. Then they both laughed and hugged. “We are going to talk it over tonight. We're not sure of Molly and Nell. Other than that, everybody else is in... including Jeff's people.”
“I'm so happy,” Janet Dove said. Her face glowed. She couldn't have smiled wider if she tried, she thought.
“Thought you would be,” Bob said.
“Go get some clean clothes and get cleaned up,” Janet said. “I'll take these from here,” she said indicating the chickens.
When they reached the stream, after stopping off to pick up clothes, Tom was just getting there himself.
“How did it go?” Bob asked.
“Come out good. That Molly can work. We left everything there. Didn't know what we'd do with most of those tools anyway,” Tom said.
“Yeah, the best place for them,” Bob said.
“The rest of us have decided to go,” Mike said.
“With Bob?” Tom asked.
“Yep,” Mike said.
Tom exhaled. “That's good news. Everybody?”
“We don't know about Nell and Molly,” Mike said.
Tom nodded, “They want to go. It is all Molly and I've been talking about as we worked. She's so enthusiastic. As for Lilly and I, Lilly got me to look at it harder, she's... Well, that will come later, I guess, but I was thinking about safety... For her,” Tom said.
“That's not fair, you can't almost spit it out and then not say it,” Ronnie said.
“What,” Tom said.
“Like you were about to say something, but decided not to,” Jeff said.
“Yeah,” Mike added.
“That's it exactly,” Tom said. “That's me. It's not a secret; we just haven't told anyone is all. Lilly is... Pregnant,” Tom said.
“Wow,” Ronnie said. “Fast work, Bro,” he clapped Tom on the back.
“Congratulations,” Mike said.
“It's not mine,” Tom said. “I'm only saying it to say it. She was pregnant when this happened. She was afraid I wouldn't want her, but I do. And the baby... well, I'm pretty excited about it,” he smiled hugely.
“All right then. Congratulations, Tom,” Bob said slapping him on the back.
“Hey, the first one,” Mike said. “That's a big deal.”
“Awesome,” Jeff said.
“Hey, it's our future,” Ronnie said.
“That's why I wanna go... for Lilly and the baby,” Tom said.
~
The Dog showed up just before dinner with a companion. She was every bit mutt as The Dog, and very nervous around everyone.
Everyone ate with gusto, slipping bits of chicken to the two dogs, and fussing over Angel, which somebody immediately named her.
“It's not right,” Mike said. “Angel here shows up and gets a name immediately and The Dog is still The Dog.”
“Yeah, but he's The Dog,” Janet said laughing. Everybody joined in.
“The Dog probably wouldn't know what to make of a new name,” Tom said. “Probably thinks The Dog is his name.”
“Well, it is,” Lilly said. “It is his name. Angel and The Dog. Now The Dog has somebody too.”
~
Dinner passed by quickly, and Mike broached the subject that had been on their minds and that they had spoken of earlier.
“Some of us talked today about going with Bob and Janet. By some of us I mean, Ronnie, Patty, Candace and myself, Tom and Jeff. We decided to go, Lilly,” he looked at Lilly, “had already told Tom she wanted to go. If I have it figured right, we have it figured right, the only ones who didn't say for sure yet are Nell and Molly, but,” he held his hands up, “this is for every one of us,” he looked to Jeff's group. “Those of you who have been here, those of you who just got here.”
“We thought we'd ask everybody where they stand right now, but, if you still haven't made up your mind, that's fine. It's a way away yet. We have some traveling to do, which were going back to tomorrow, I'm told. So, I thought we'd all answer, and there's an awful lot to discuss. And since it will affect all of us, we should all talk about it. Bob will do that, but first, we've got some other news. Tom... Lilly?” Mike grinned hugely. It had been all he could do not to tell Candace. Tom spoke to Lilly, and she had agreed to tell everyone.
Lilly flushed. She seemed to think for a moment and then spoke. “Tom and I are going to have a baby,” she said. Cheers went up everywhere. Everybody hugged Lilly and shook Tom's hand. The Dog and Angel ran around between their legs, jumping up and down and barking, joining in the general mayhem.
Lilly explained again how it was not Tom who was the baby's father, but her boyfriend before everything had happened. But it didn't dampen anyone's enthusiasm.
Sandy made her promise to let her know if she felt any way out of the ordinary, and then began to prescribe vitamins and exercise, sounding exactly like a doctor. But, Mike thought, in this world, she was a doctor.
The topic shifted to the forever wild area, what they would need to take with them and what they would need to do once they got there.
“We've got to figure out how to get cows, horses, chickens and pigs there in reasonable numbers,” Bob said. “We talked a little about driving them in. Like a cattle drive, old fashioned cowboy stuff, and we talked about trying to drive them in, in cattle trucks, if we could find or build something that can work.”
“Bob?” It was Arlene. “I've done a little ranching, worked on one for a while out of college. I know a little about it. You're talking some real work rounding up cattle and horses, teaching some others to ride horses to keep them moving. That's hard work for real cow hands. Really hard to imagine regular folks getting it done easily.” She smiled, clearly nervous, but also in familiar territory.
“Now, cattle trucks will work, so will horse trailers. We just have to make a few trips is all. We can catch them and turn them loose once we get close to where we are going. There's no way to get the kind of fencing up that we need,” she said. “Not now, but late fall or next spring we can. They'll winter fine on their own for the most part. Oh, and I definitely want to go,” she added with a surprised chuckle.
“Oh, stupid,” Bob said. “First things first. Does everybody want to go? Is there anyone that doesn't want to go?”
Nell raised her hand. “We do want to go, we talked it over last night and again this afternoon. We want to go.” Molly held Nell's hand as she spoke.
Another spontaneous cheer went up, and The Dog and Angel went chasing around and barking once more.
“That is really it then,” Bob said. “Well, I liked what Arlene said. I didn't know we had an expert.”
Arlene laughed. “I'm no expert,” she protested.
“To us you are. Hell, to this world you are,” Bob said seriously. “So, go ahead. I didn't know about horse trailers that would take more than two horses,” he said.
“Oh no, they got horse trailers that will take as many as 10 horses in safety. That is the key. Now, with a cow, they crowd together and it makes them feel safe. With a horse, they have to be separated or they'll just keep on pushing, maybe kicking too. A cattle truck is easy to find. Any t
ruck dealer might have a few, but we'll be coming into beef cow country soon, and I'm sure we'll find more then. We could make a couple of trips, although we'd have to get gas, or we could get us 8 to 10 of those trucks, put the horses in and bring them in,” Arlene said.
“Are they a hard drive?” Tom asked.
“Not too,” Arlene said. “Standard shift, mostly, but a few automatics. I guess we'll be driving so slow it won't matter much.”
“You know, almost the whole of the north west side is flat lands. Mountains to the south and to the east. Once we get them past that, there isn't anyplace they can go. They can winter, and next year when we have a place for them, we could round them up. We might lose a few, and there are probably wild horses in there to, so we could gain some, but it'll work,” Bob said.
“That sounds good,” Mike said.
“Easy even,” Ronnie said.
“Oh, squash that. It ain't going to be easy at all. We have to catch them first. Cows? Not a big a problem. Horses? Oh brother. Thankfully it hasn't been long, and we shouldn't have too tough of a time of it,” Arlene finished.
“That's good enough for me,” Lilly said.
“Yeah.”
“Me too.”
Several others spoke out loud while they were nodding.
“Well, we'll need other things as well. Janet is going to start a list. We'll all add to it. We'll start now,” Bob said. “What else can you think of that we need or should take?”
“Books,” Janet said.
“Medicines,” Sandy said.
“Carpenter tools. Hammers. Levels, and saws. Oh, and nails,” Ronnie said.
“Hand plows, saddles, stuff like that,” Arlene said.
“Why not some solar panels?” Tim said. “We could use them to keep a few lights running, maybe a refridgerator, monitor a CB maybe. They're easy to hook up and use, and they work pretty well,” he finished.
“Good,” Arlene said. “Good.”
“Some cast iron wood and coal stoves. That is if they still make them,” Lilly said.
“We talked about hybrid seeds today, so trying to find a store somewhere along the way would be a smart thing to do,” Mike said.
“Maybe load one of those metal buildings on a truck. There's nothing to them when they're apart,” Ronnie said.
