The younger woman crossed the kitchen floor and gave her a quick hug. “Well, you don’t have to talk to yourself any longer. I’m here to help.” She glanced into the nearly empty pantry, then at the neat kitchen. She noted the gas lantern and candles on the table and the bucket of water on the corner of the counter. A basin was in the sink, holding the lunch dishes to be washed.
“It looks like you’re pretty organized”, she observed.
“Yes, we are lucky.” Her mother-in-law answered. “We have lots of propane for the stove, so we can cook and heat water. Dad opened up the old well and hooked it up, so we have cold water to the kitchen sink.” She indicated the pail of water. “That’s used water for flushing the toilet.” She opened the door to the attached garage so Monica could admire the jars of vegetables and meat she had preserved.
“The garden kept growing, so we have canned peas and beans, and there are lots of potatoes and carrots.” Monica nodded in appreciation.
“I canned all the meat from the freezer.” Irma laughed. “Luckily I still had all my old canning jars. I hadn’t used them in years, but couldn’t bear to throw them away. And my old cookbooks reminded me how to preserve foods. We had lots of cabbage too, so I used all the salt I could find to start some sauerkraut. Not really an Italian dish,” she smiled ruefully. “But it’s one of the most nutritious meals you can have.”
Monica’s nose wrinkled. She wasn’t sure about sauerkraut.
“There were advantages to growing up on a farm. At least we know how to survive these days.” Irma’s eyes filled. “Do you know what happened?” she asked shakily. “All of a sudden life stopped, and nobody has any idea why. There’s just a bunch of silly rumours.”
“I think we have heard the same rumours”, Monica gave her another squeeze around the shoulders.” aliens, North Korean bombs, Russian weather disruptors…who knows what really happened. All we can hope is that it will be fixed before winter.”
Irma shook her head. “All my work canning the food won’t be worth anything if it all freezes.”
She turned decisively and marched to the stove. “Nothing we can do about that now. Let’s just have a nice cup of tea and a visit. Later we can worry about winter and heat and all that. Right now, I want to hear all about your trek to get here, and how little Jack is doing.”
CHAPTER SIX
On the front porch, Tony and Jason sipped the last two bottles of beer. Tony had a twenty-two lying casually across his lap.
“I’ve been saving these for a special occasion.” Tony raised his bottle in a salute to his son. “And I guess this is as special as it gets.”
His smile faded as he gazed across the front yard. The cars still sat in the driveway. There was no sound of traffic going by. No radio playing in the background. The forest that he had loved all his life now looked dark and threatening. “Truth to tell, son, I’m glad you’re here for a number of reasons.”
Jason started to interrupt, but Tony held up his hand to stop any protests. “I’m happy you are safe and I get to tell you how worried we were, and how much we…” he hesitated, trying to find words that he was not accustomed to saying out loud.
“How much I love you.” He glanced up, uncertain how his words would be received. These words he hadn’t said to his son, since he was a baby.
Jason had his head down, staring at his half-full beer bottle. “Thanks, Dad. That means a lot.” He looked up and Tony saw that he had tears in his eyes. “I had a lot of time to think in the last couple of weeks, locked up in an apartment, and then walking for days. I remembered how much fun I had here when I was growing up, and how I always felt safe and loved. You don’t have to say it, because I always knew it.
And Dad,” their eyes met momentarily, “I love you too. And now that we have that out of the way, no more mushy stuff. It looks like we have a lot of more important things to worry about.”
His voice dropped to a whisper. “Those two boys who were following us are in the driveway. No! Don’t look.” Tony’s head instinctively turned towards the road. “They’re hiding behind the shed.”
“They’re probably as hungry as you were,” Tony said softly. “Why don’t we call them over and see what they want. How old do you think they are?”
“Probably about fifteen.” Jason stood up and raised his voice. “Hey, you boys,” he shouted. “Why don’t you come and say hello instead of hiding like a couple of criminals?”
“Come over here.” Tony joined in. “I’ll bet you’re hungry.”
The door behind them opened and Irma stuck her head out. “Who are you shouting at?” she demanded. “The baby’s sleeping.”
“Or he was,” as a wail rose behind her.
“It’s those boys.” Jason pointed. “We want them to come in and tell us what they want instead of sneaking around.”
Irma stepped out and stood behind Tony. “Do you think they want to steal something?”
“No, I think they are hungry. Come in, Boys,” he shouted. “Hot soup on the table in five minutes.” He stood up and set the gun to one side.
Slowly, two lanky forms appeared from behind the shed. One of the boys was blond, and the other was dark, but both were dirty and very thin. Hesitantly, with their hands held in front of them, they approached the three people at the front door of the farmhouse.
Irma watched them come with a compassionate look in her eyes. She stepped forward and held out her arms as if to hug them.
“Come on, boys.” She encouraged. “You don’t want to hurt anyone do you?”
Tony spoke more gruffly. “What do you want?” He stressed the word do. “Are you hungry?”
They both nodded diffidently.
“Well, come on then. Mother, why don’t you bring something out here for them. They both look too dirty to eat in the house.”
Four pairs of concerned eyes watched as the two scruffy boys wolfed down a can of soup and a loaf of Irma’s fresh bread. Nobody spoke, the boys because they were busy chewing and swallowing, and the adults because they were waiting to hear their story.
Finally, after a last mouthful of water, their ‘guests’ put down their spoons and leaned back in their chairs.
“Thank you.” Said the blond boy. “I don’t know when I have been so hungry.”
“Me too.” His darker companion agreed. “I’m sorry we were so rude, but I couldn’t seem to stop.”
Irma stood and began to clear the dishes from the picnic table. “That’s okay, boys. We understand.” She was clearly disturbed by their appearance. They were both so thin that she felt sure their dirty jeans were going to fall right off. She tried not to wrinkle her nose as she leaned closer to pick up the empty bread dish. They both needed a good bath too.
Jason cleared his throat. “Why were you following us?” he asked brusquely.
“We thought you might have some food.” The blond boy admitted. “And then we saw you didn’t, so we just stayed with you because we had no place else to go.”
Standing behind him, Irma patted his shoulder. “It’s okay,” she said softly. “Where are your families? And we should know what to call you. I’m Mrs. Baldini and that’s my husband,” indicating Tony with a nod. “And that’s my son Jason and his wife Monica. They are the ones you scared so badly by following them.”
“I’m Tom. And this is my friend Adnan.” Adnan ducked his head shyly. “And we’re really sorry for scaring you. We’re neighbours and we both thought if we went into the country, the power might be on and things might be better.”
Tears began to fill his eyes, but he shook them away with an obvious effort. “There’s no food left in our houses and we both eat a lot, so we told our moms that we’d try to find something and bring it back.”
Adnan picked up the story. “That was a week ago, so I’m pretty sure they have given up on us by now. It’s really hard in the city. At first, the Red Cross had stations set up for people to go to, but pretty soon they ran out of food too. And nobody wanted to volunteer
because they needed to look after themselves. All the stores have been broken into and looted, there’s nothing left on the shelves, so if you weren’t the first ones there you got nothing. Some people are selling cans of food and things like candles, but you need money or something of value to trade, and our families don’t have either.”
Tony asked kindly, “How many people in your families did you leave?
“I have my mom and little sister…she’s five” Tom answered. He ran a hand through his shaggy hair. “Adnan’s mom has four little ones and his dad is sick so he can’t get up.”
“Sick how?”
Adnan stared at the tiled floor. “He fell at work and broke his leg. Plus, I think he’s depressed. If there is no work, there’s no paycheck and he hates my mom having to go to work.”
“How old are you?” Monica asked.
“We’re both fifteen.”
“In grade ten?”
“Yep.” Adnan and Tom both nodded. “When there was a school to go to.”
Jason reached over and patted both boys on their shoulders. “You did the right thing by going to look for food. But you’ve probably figured out we’re too far away to help them now.”
“We could give you something to take back,” Irma said doubtfully. “But it took you a week to get here, so it’s a week back. Anything we gave you would be all gone by the time you got there.”
“Yep.” Tony nodded. “You forget how far a hundred miles is when all you have to do is jump in the car. You boys will have to stay here until this power thing is straightened out.” He looked at his wife. “Where can we put them, Mother?”
“First we put them in a tub.” She wrinkled her nose. “Then I suggest they sleep in the attic. Monica and Jason need his old room, and the other bedroom only has a single bed. They can make beds with some extra blankets. And it’ll be warm up there next to the chimney.”
The boys hung their heads. Tom said, “Thanks, but we should go home. Our moms will be so worried.”
“You can go if you want,” Jason answered. “But you know how hard it was getting here. Things won’t be changed there.”
“You stay here with us,” Irma said kindly. “Maybe this’ll all be over soon. Your moms would want you to be safe.”
She looked at Tony. “Why don’t you light a fire in the fire pit? I hate to waste propane heating water and there are five people here in desperate need of a bath. Jason, come and fill that old tub, we can heat the water in that and then you can either dunk yourselves in that or carry the water up to the bathroom. Your choice.” She eyed the two boys. “I think we can find you some shirts and underclothes that fit. You can wash your jeans later.”
Tony gave the boys a wink. “Better listen to Mother,” he said. “She’s the boss around here.
When the newcomers had all had a much-needed bath, and beds had been arranged, the family met in the kitchen for supper. Baby Jack held court from his father’s old high chair at the head of the table. Happily, he banged his spoon on the tray while his parents and grandparents smiled indulgently.
“This is delicious. Thank you, Mrs. Baldini.” Tom politely folded his napkin and placed it beside his plate. “It’s been a long time since I had meat.”
“Me too.” Jason patted his stomach. “You outdid yourself, Mom.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed it.” Irma passed around the teapot. “Now that you are all clean and fed, I’d like to hear how things are out in the world.”
“It’s a nightmare,” Monica spoke first. “You are so lucky to be out here. For the first couple of weeks, people went along, almost as normal, waiting for everything to get back to the way it was. Then as time went on, the stores were empty, the food depots closed, there’s no transportation, no communication. People are getting desperate and we could see it was time to get away from there.”
Jason nodded and grimaced. “The trip out here was a real eye-opener too. When everything quit, bam, there were thousands of people on the roads and highways. We stuck to country roads as much as possible, but even there, there are abandoned vehicles all over. At least on the back roads, people drive slower, so most of them were okay, just stranded.”
“Did you talk to anybody?” his Dad asked.
They both nodded. “A few people came out to talk to us, looking for news. And at night if we saw a farmhouse we asked if we could stay there.” Jason looked at his baby son. “It’s still warm out, but we wanted to get Jack inside if we could. We shared some of our food the first few times, but then it was all gone, so we just walked until we got here. The last two nights we slept outside.”
“What about you two?” Irma asked the teens. “Were you able to find shelter?”
They shook their heads. “We raided a couple of gardens,” Tom admitted sheepishly. “And once we asked someone for food. But mostly we just followed Jason and Monica and stayed out of sight.”
“Not very well.” Jason laughed. “I spotted them on the second day and I knew they were behind us.” He glared at the boys. “It’s a good thing you didn’t try to steal from us. You might have been hurt.”
“We saw where you left the wagon,” Adnan said. “But there was nothing in it except some blankets and pictures.”
“It just got too hard to pull.” Monica looked sad. “I wanted to bring the pictures, but at the end, it all comes down to what helps you survive. But I don’t know why you didn’t keep the blankets. Sleeping on the ground they would have come in handy.”
“How are people coping on the farms?” asked Tony.
“About the same as you.” Jason reached over and lifted Jack from his chair. “Most farmers have the wherewithal to live through tough times. After all, we managed without electricity or motorized vehicles for thousands of years. It’s the city folk who fall apart.”
Irma stood up and began to clear away the used plates. “Enough doom and gloom for today.” She announced. “I know you are all exhausted so it’s off to bed with you. We’ll have lots of time to visit.”
“And boys,” she stopped with a handful of dishes. “Don’t forget to say your prayers and thank God for your good fortune in finding us.”
They both ducked their heads as they moved towards the stairs. “We will, Mrs. Baldini. Good night and thank you.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
From the window, the softly falling snow was beautiful. Fluffy white flakes floated slowly to the ground, sticking to every tree branch and fence post. Later, when the moon rose, the whole yard would be transformed into a sparkling fairyland.
Monica shivered involuntarily, as she watched the world turn white. The thermometer hanging outside registered minus ten Celsius. Winter was truly here. She glanced down, checking that Jack was not too close to the heater.
She was so thankful that her father-in-law was such a packrat. Searches of the shed and the old barn had unearthed a treasure trove of useful items. One of them was an old steel barrel that with the help of some stove pipe and a metal saw, had been turned into a wood-burning stove.
Tony had flattened the top of the barrel so they could put a kettle or pot on top of it. A door had been fashioned from an old piece of steel that he had found. The flue consisted of a circle cut out of a water pail, welded to a steel rod, and inserted into the stovepipe. Connected to the old brick chimney, it kept the living room and the upstairs toasty warm. All they had to do was keep the fire burning all day and all night.
Sighing, Monica opened the steel door and added another log. She poured hot water into her cup. They had used the last tea bag, a week ago, so now it was plain hot water to drink. She took a sip, thankful for even this small comfort. She couldn’t imagine what would have happened to them if they hadn’t left the city.
She saw Tony and Adnan approaching the back door each carrying an armful of split wood. Their breath formed tiny crystals in the air. Quickly, she made her way to the door and opened it just wide enough for them to enter.
“Cold enough to freeze a witch’s tit, hey Adnan?”
laughed Tony, as he made his way to the wood box in the corner of the living room.
The boy nodded and agreed. They both removed their snow-covered boots and set them on the mat in front of the door.
Monica sighed and began to mop up the trail of water they had created.
Taking off his heavy coat Tony commented. “The boy is getting pretty good with an axe, for someone who had never seen one before.”
“I’d seen one.” Adnan protested. “On my games pad and on TV.”
They all laughed. Tom and Adnan had both worn blisters on both hands while they learned to wield an axe. “Where is everybody?” the boy asked as he dropped to the floor beside the baby.
Monica waved her arm vaguely. “Mom is upstairs having a nap before supper. Tom and Jason decided to walk over to the Johnson’s and check on them. They figured that it was warm enough, but I don’t think they counted on the snow.”
She turned away, trying to hide her troubled face. “They’ve been gone a long time.”
“It’s early yet,” Tony comforted. “It gets dark so early these days we forget it’s only four o’clock. They left at two, and it takes a good hour to walk, so they’ll be along by supper time.”
“Which will be in an hour?” Irma said as she came down the stairs. “I didn’t mean to sleep so long. Tony, can you light the lamp in the kitchen?”
“Of course,”, he left the warmth of the living room and followed her into the kitchen. While it wasn’t fully dark yet, the sun had been obscured by the heavy snow and the kitchen was shadowy and cold. He walked with sure steps to the table where another of his “treasures” rested.
“The oil for this lamp is nearly all gone,” he observed. “We’ll need to go back to candles pretty soon.”
“Yes, I know.” His wife pulled a paper bag of potatoes towards her. “The propane isn’t going to hold out much longer either, and it's only December. There could be a lot of cold days between now and spring.”
He came up behind her, set the lamp closer to the sink, and put both hands on her shoulders.
The Incident | Book 1 | They Called It The Incident Page 4
