Shatto's Way

by Roy F. Chandler

  She began by encouraging families to beautify the barren-looking village. Flower beds were planted and potted plants began appearing. Walkways were lined with stones, weeds were pulled, and lawns were encouraged. Although far from manicured, Shatto's Way almost overnight lost its gold camp atmosphere and began to look like a permanent community.

  Toby wasn't quite sure how it had come about. Hanna did not outwardly impose her will on anyone and gave no specific directions. He wondered if she possessed a sensitivity to women's hungers that he lacked? He decided it was more than that, however, because men and children also joined in the beautification. In fact, he found himself filling in a boggy spot that he had walked around for months.

  It was Hanna who encouraged the beginning of small cottage crafts that were soon engaging most households. For a time, Toby feared additional interests might detract from progress on more essential projects but they didn't seem to. If anything, the arts, crafts, and constructions brightened free time making everyone more agreeable and ready to cooperate.

  Evenings by the fire became show-and-tell occasions with shy but none the less proud ladies displaying pineneedle baskets, original crockery, or sketches and paintings. Men produced carved whistles, and two jokers raised a sort of totem pole with recognizable sour faces supporting a fat and clownish Toby Shatto. Amid appreciative laughter, Toby solemnly identified each figure and allowed that, except for his own, they were good likenesses. He then ordered the pole permanently erected near the cave entrance—the carvers to do the hole digging.

  The totem pole amusement was an outgrowth of Hanna's influence across the community. While the pole was frivolous, it indicated a lightening of spirits and renewed interest in perhaps nonessentials that, while not survival oriented, invigorated the quality of life at Shatto's Way.

  Imaginative preserving became almost a competition with families "putting up" wild berries and fruits as well as those cultivated. Hanna initiated a ladies' chorus and some men formed a barbershop quartet. Those groups regularly fostered more impromptu singing with everyone joining in.

  Hanna's cheese-making project quickly assumed serious proportions. Begun to determine if the village could make more than simple cottage cheese, the "Cheesery" quickly mastered the basics and moved from experimentation to the production of assorted cheeses for village palates.

  With everyone already as busy as fleas it seemed improbable that anyone could find time to advance their education but right under Toby's nose, Hanna gathered a small group to discuss worthy books they were reading, then another to study creative writing to improve the diaries and memoirs she was encouraging them to write.

  During the winter, when outside work eased a bit, everyone seemed to be learning about something unfamiliar, and it was usually at Hanna's instigation.

  When he wanted a level head on a committee, Toby found Hanna among the best, but he had to be careful that he didn't overuse her lest some of the men feel threatened by a woman's presence.

  Despite social upheaval, Perry County families still believed in separation of responsibilities, and Toby and Hanna were sensitive to their neighbors' expectations.

  Often Toby believed a particular woman was best suited for a task, but he approached such assignments with caution because the family unit was unquestionably his community's backbone now and the cornerstone for their futures.

  If an act truly strengthened a family it was one thing but radical departures for social equality's sake he avoided. As Rome had not been built in a day, neither would their new world's primary values, but Toby worked at it, and Hanna's insights made possible directions that he would have overlooked and improved on others he had begun.

  Only half in fun, Hanna organized her "Pfoutz Valley Rangers." Numbering a dozen, they uniformed by wearing identical hen feathers in dark green knitted watch caps. Hanna included only young, vigorous women who were interested in shooting, maneuvering, scouting and patrolling, and land navigation. By spring, they were second only to John Freet's security unit in combat know-how.

  A few people were dismayed by the Rangers' military maneuverings but most admired their skill and perseverance. John married one of them and encouraged his men to share their expertise with the squad. Toby thought the Rangers outstanding. He saw to their proper arming, and without conscious volition, counted them a strong branch of his community's security.

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  Strolling along through the village, Toby paused, as he always did, at the old house to talk to Glenna Holman Kretzing James. Dallas Kretzing had died . . . when was that? Early in the fourth year probably, widowing poor Glenna for the second time. Yet, even before a reasonable interlude, the often irascible Doctor Bernard James had begun courting her and shortly thereafter demanded that Judge Shatto join them in marriage. Judge Shatto! That was another one he found difficult to swallow.

  The new couple renovated the old Shatto place and settled in. The old building suited them much as they suited the community. Again Glenna had chosen wisely, as Doctor James proved a surprisingly gallant and devoted husband. Amazing woman, Glenna.

  Bernard James did little doctoring these days. He taught an occasional class, and favored patients were seen in an office room in their home. Like an old fire horse he had to answer the call, but the furnaces were banked and he most often enjoyed the dignities of elder statesman.

  Over the years the doctors had spared the community a lot of grief. They had insisted on inoculating everybody against anything they had serum for. Before the expected plagues began their march, Shatto's Way was well protected.

  Whooping cough, measles, mumps, diphtheria, and pneumonia, of course—all swept the land. Chicken pox, rheumatic fever, polio, and finally the scourge that man believed he had forever buried appeared, smallpox—impossible because it had not been seen world-wide for more than a decade—roared through the holocaust survivors. The doctors speculated that smallpox samples retained for scientific study had been accidentally released to return mankind to the horrors of old. The young died quickly, for vaccination had ceased long before.

  Without modern communications, the disease spread faster than word of its coming. Without inoculation and hospitalization, the toll was devastating, but Shatto's Way was spared.

  Cholera had always lurked in polluted wells and cisterns, and it too struck with particular vehemence that crept even into their village. Rigorous quarantining was enforced and probably helped, as did the chlorine dumped into every body of still water for miles around. But, it was good care in a clean hospital that saw those smitten through their ordeal.

  During each wave of sickness the medical facility did its best, but they did little free. Wisely, they stuck to their demands for payment, and remarkably, their patients produced it.

  Toby doubted they would ever run out of aspirin and the like, but astoundingly, rare medications appeared as well and the hospital pharmacy prospered.

  Nature hadn't been too cooperative either during those first years. In retrospect, it was startling to examine the journals and note the almost endless runs of gray and overcast days. Those who knew about such things claimed the atmosphere was burdened by particles from nuclear explosions, vast forest fires, and mighty volcanic eruptions. Sunrises and sunsets were truly marvelous as light filtered through in multiple colors, but asthmatics and emphysema victims suffered. At times the ash blocked the sun, and crops had shorter growing seasons.

  It was long before they found that the cooler climate had decimated crops in Canada. Even later it was announced from New Washington that the Soviet Union had fragmented into a dozen nations, each struggling to survive the famines induced by cold summers and bureaucratic bungling.

  The Americans realized belated satisfaction from that as well as the trumpeting that claimed Communism was dead. Toby Shatto "harummphed" a little doubtfully. Vast, unknowable Communist China hadn't been mentioned at all.

  After the Governor's War, more reasonable politicians assumed positions of power. To a man, the
y steered clear of Shatto's Way, although a few condescended to forward their various proclamations and proposals into such hinterlands.

  It was another year before the young Colonel appeared in his three-wheeled staff car escorted by uniformed motorcyclists. They displayed American flags, halted well beyond the security lines, and approached on foot and unarmed. Not until he was invited to do so did the young soldier commanding signal his men and machines into Shatto's Way where their alcohol engines were, closely examined by Toby's mechanics.

  Toby thought Colonel John Speck was probably a year or two younger than himself. He was sincere in his approach but in no way patronizing. If anything, Colonel Speck's respect for their accomplishments was almost embarrassing, although Toby suspected Chop and more than a few others believed they rated every bit of it.

  At least Speck did not beat around the bush. He stated right off, "Mr. Shatto, I've been assigned by the military command responsible for this area to approach your community with our proposals for cooperative sharing of information and initiation of standardized methods of administration and justice.

  "The fact is, Mr. Shatto, we are making our first efforts to draw this country into one again. There will be differences of course, but under the same constitution and hopefully profiting from past mistakes, we can build a new and better United States.

  "This time we will be one with the former Canadian provinces and our southern neighbor, Mexico. All of North America will stand behind our flag, with all the rights and privileges Americans so long enjoyed."

  Then he leaned back, grinning widely at his own pomposity and grandiose exclaiming, "Well, at least that is where we are heading, Mr. Shatto. Right now all we are attempting to establish are Committees of Correspondence that will exchange views and promote our ideas."

  Toby nodded noncommittally and stuck in, "That'll be a little difficult with no postal service or telephone. Colonel Speck."

  "And that is where we have it over our forbearers, Mr. Shatto. We will not attempt to re-establish the old. For now we will go directly to satellite communication."

  At Toby's astonishment, he nodded solemnly, "Oh yes, they are still up there, Mr. Shatto. At least enough of them for our purposes.

  "There are dish television antennas sitting unused all across the country. Our plan is that you move one or more to your community and focus on the satellite we have chosen. That will give you reception from our sending stations. As soon as we can, we will provide you with a transmitter so you can fully participate in our nation's planning."

  Colonel Speck leaned forward, his features tight with the intensity of his thoughts. "Mr. Shatto, if self-sufficient communities like your own begin talking together, we can all profit. Some out there have no viable medical service, and very few have progressed to alcohol engines.

  "Your expertise can give them a hand up." He relaxed a little, and looked a bit knowing.

  "On the other hand, a community in Tennessee is doing marvelous things with a small generator adaptable to water power or methane fuel. I know you would be interested in that."

  Toby was, but he was more concerned with the organization he was being asked to support. Colonel Speck was more than ready to expound on that.

  "We are Washington-based, of course, Mr. Shatto, and we derive our right to proceed as we are—our roots if you will—directly from all that is left of our federal government.

  "However, rather than trying to resurrect old corpses, we are starting anew with the intent of avoiding old errors and minimizing new ones.

  "For example, political areas will probably be realigned. If Pennsylvania is chosen as a state name it will probably end somewhere in these Allegheny Mountains because it was always poor economy and poorer politics to have Pittsburgh in the west answerable to Philadelphia's seaboard needs." He sighed, "Of course both of those cities are rubble but they are rebuilding astonishingly fast.

  "Turn Americans loose and they will rebuild the world, or at least that is our hope. At any rate, that explosive talent to expand must be encouraged and directed immediately lest we become a clot of city-states warring and feeding on each other."

  There was more, a great deal more, and it made sense to Toby. Eventually they would be drawn into whatever evolved and it would be wise to be part of the information net and be in position to act on whatever seemed appropriate. He had to admit he would enjoy exchanging views and information with others and they could profit from it. Those generators Colonel Speck dropped as bait interested him too.

  Toby somewhat reluctantly accepted responsibility for establishing a more formal code of justice than they had needed, with the realization that law enforcement would inevitably become necessary. As a tight little community, he had been able to rule, but with farm restorations he lost absolute control and soon disputes would arise and crimes would be committed.

  By the power vested in federal authority he became Judge Shatto, with control of the former Perry County and as far beyond that as he could reach. His marshals were drawn from his security guards, and for the first time since the establishment of Shatto's Way, the problem of payment rose to face them.

  Money? They had almost forgotten about it. Did that mean taxation? Of what, and payable in what form? Toby called meetings to grapple with the problems.

  Being Judge was immediately painful, and Toby wondered if old "Hanging Judge" Roy Bean of frontier fame hadn't gotten so mean because of the constant wrangling and obtuse reasoning he encountered. Sometimes Toby thought he ought to take up regular "Stringing up" as Roy Bean had. It would certainly make things easier. Then he would remember the misery of only a year or so before and the fears and dangers of the Governor's War and he knew it was a lot better than those not so distant times.

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  Chapter 28

  From even a few years distance, the Governor's War was hard to put into perspective.

  Although they had weathered the first full winter it had not been an easy time. There had been too much crowding with an uncertain future, but they had conserved all that they could.

  Bitter weather descended earlier than any remembered and no amount of clothing seemed enough. Work went on because their lives depended on it but the tree-cracking cold made everything harder.

  Before spring thaws, tempers were short and even the most tranquil itched to be out of doors and into the plowing and planting that would ensure their futures.

  Travelers increased with the spring and many who came from the south bore tales of Colonel Vance Kellog's conquests.

  From his base near the old capitol, Kellog launched sorties into the countryside. His men took by force what was not offered and were ruthlessly careless in slaying even the geese that laid the eggs.

  Foragers from the Colonel's ragtag army ranged a day's ride from the city, but generally they chose the east and south where the richest farms beckoned.

  Other strongholds had developed, not unlike Shatto's Way, and one by one Colonel Kellog reduced them and looted all worth taking.

  The attacks were invariably the same. Supported by his horde of scavengers, the Colonel appeared at the village edge on his armored ear. He demanded immediate surrender. If there was refusal, his machine-gun-equipped vehicle led his army's assault and the community was quickly overrun.

  What followed was never pretty. Like armies of ancient times, Kellog's men were rewarded in rape and pillage. There was no attempt to control bestial behavior, and the Colonel merely waited outside the town until his Lieutenants had rounded up the major share of whatever they deemed valuable. The ruins and survivors were left as object lessons for others toward whom the Colonel might turn.

  It was hard to realize that such atrocities could go unpunished. To a people raised in safety and steeped in the certainty of right triumphing over wrong it seemed that God—or someone—would surely strike the monster down. Unfortunately, God was busy elsewhere and as the Colonel had the guns, none could stand against him. The carnage continued.

 
Someday, Colonel Kellog would come for them. Toby knew it as surely as he had sensed the lesser threat at the Kin Kora killing ground.

  What to do about it was not as easily discovered.

  It was obvious that they could not march on Harrisburg. Even if they stripped the community he would be lucky to muster one hundred men. Kellog usually marched with three hundred armed men, and if challenged within his own nest he might raise that many more.

  Could the people of Shatto's Way fade guerrilla-like into the mountains and harass the enemy into retreat? Not unless they forfeited most of what they had.

  Might they dynamite a rock fall hiding the mine entrance until the invaders could be driven off? What of their village, their shops, their fields, and of course, the medical facility? And, what would stop the Colonel from coming again?

  Without spies in the enemy camp they could not even know when the enemy might come. Yet infiltrating a mole among the Harrisburg outlaws was not really within their capabilities. Far more important was knowing what they would do when the time did come.

  During the winter, travelers appeared with proclamations announcing that Colonel Vance Kellog had surrendered his military rank and had assumed the mantle of Governor of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth. To Toby's thinking all that proved was that Governor Kellog had wider aims than had Colonel Kellog.

  Still, the man had taken another step toward securing his position. No longer a military dictator, he now posed as an elected administrator. The facade would fool few at this time, but who could tell about tomorrow?

  Governor Kellog had begun small, battling for survival within a ruined city. He had iron fisted the surviving populace into submission and branched forth into the countryside that he needed to supply his hungry and restless troops.

  Now he sought wider fields under the guise of a legitimate title and office. Toby could worry about such a man, and he did.

  In early spring Shatto's Way received the first of a series of couriers from the new Governor. He carried a message, but he also had hungry eyes, and Toby suspected he had been sent more to evaluate their worth and strength than to deliver a letter.