The Event Series (Book 1): Life After the Meteor

by Thomas Larson

  There were many other types of muffins. But one by one the knight decided against them. Some were too strange flavored. Some were unpleasant to the eye. And some were simply awful sounding.

  Finally there were only two types of fluffy muffins that the knight had not discounted. The first was a blueberry muffin. The knight had fond memories of the times that he and the princess had gone to pick fresh blueberries. He thought that this was the perfect muffin for his beloved. He was about to order one from the bakery maid. But then he saw the tag on the last muffin tray. He knew at once that this was the type of muffin he would bring his princess.

  The Unshiny Knight bought the muffin and rode on toward the princess's castle. He smiled and sang to himself as he rode. He made up the song as he went along.

  I found the perfect pastry,

  For my love, it's tasterly. (It is not a great song)

  Honey, just as sweet as she is,

  I know it because of her kisses.

  There are raisins mixed in for fruit,

  And bran to keep her healthy to boot.

  As the knight arrived at his princess's castle she was at first surprised by the muffin. She hadn't expected it. She was even more surprised by the flavor. But after she heard why he had picked that flavor she knew that he truly did love her.

  The knight had picked that particular flavor because it was the healthiest kind in the Shoppe. And he wanted to keep his fairy princess as healthy and beautiful for as long as he could.

  But just in case she didn't buy that particular story he also had bought a blueberry muffin, a chocolate chip muffin and a maple walnut muffin. The knight remembered an old family saying "when a scheme is half baked, don't let the muffins fall as they may."

  There were also a number of old letters that I had sent her, and some photographs of the two of us, and the three of us. I moved the box under my bed. It was in some ways like she, and our love was still there.

  It was mid-afternoon when I finally was in any shape to walk back into the sunlight. I was just in time for the return of Margo and friends.

  Lance said “Delaney wants to visit us a little more, but is not quite ready to join our little community.”

  I was so busy with things of my own I paid no attention to what everyone else did or was doing during the day.

  Sept 16th

  We had about six Zoms show up this morning; they hit the wire from the north east, it was a quick kill and burn. As I have stated, the last few weeks have been kind of a loss to me because of losing Anne. I don’t think I ever really showed in this journal how much I loved her or how important her presence was to me. I should have gone with her on that trip to Hinsdale; I might have made the difference.

  Margo and I spent most of the day just working on the cottage, getting it winterized and ready. I have already noticed that the nights are getting to be a little on the cool side. I worked on getting sheets of clear plastic over the window and on insulating the walls. Many of us have put an artificial ceiling in with insulation on top. That should also help. We are about 90% done with the cabin. While Margo and I worked on the cabin we talked about all kinds of things.

  I asked her, “What do you think about Delaney killing John.”

  “I’m good with it, it was a necessary thing,” she said rather matter of fact.

  It was not the answer I expected. “In what way?”

  “He was evil. He had done evil things and had to pay for it, same as my father, he was going to do something terrible and you stopped him. ”

  I had to think about that one a little. She was right in that Brandon was an imminent threat and had to be stopped. But I could not make the connection that John’s behavior toward Alyssa was any longer an immediate threat. But then as I thought about it, we were in a different world, and what would we have done if we actually could prove he did kill her. Would we just say, “Okay John, just don’t do it again?”

  No, we would either have to terminate him or exile him, which would be pretty much the same thing. So in a lot of ways Delaney made the choice and did the deed for us.

  We finished the cabin winterizing in time for dinner. I was thinking that we need to get a few people to give us a hand and we could get Cyril and Arcelia’s unit ready. A work party of four or five of us could knock in off in about a day. But there was going to be a problem, not so much the setting the building up but more the keeping them warm.

  Cyril has been anemic for a while and is very susceptible to cold. So even when we got it all done and if we can keep the unit at like 80 degrees he is probably going to still be complaining that it is freezing. There is not much else we can do. The other aspect is that as he is so cold, well, his hygiene could go out the window. This is not going to be good.

  I talked to Matt about the cabin re-fit at dinner and he said that he would have some help and we could take care of it tomorrow.

  Sept 17th

  It was a mystical morning; there was a fog on the lake and with the trees turning. It was just beautiful. There was a little nip in the air. I thought back to one of the trips that Anne and I took so many years ago. We were in the mountains of Montana (Glacier National Park) and there was a similar pond. I remember that the glacier run off made the water was so clear and a beautiful shade of blue. Miss you girl.

  We got going on Cyril and Arcelia’s cottage and had it pretty much finished by the late afternoon. There are still a few things that need to be looked into. In thinking about it there was an idea of putting a hot tub in there for Cyril so that he could keep warm but I was not so sure that was a great idea because knowing him he would be in there for hours at a time and with his heart issues and blood pressure, it is likely we could find him floating like a boiled sausage. “Doc” Barkley (aka the Major) pretty much confirmed this not to be a good idea.

  I have not mentioned it much but Nick is back into full cooking mode and he is really doing a great job. Between the crops we have put away, a little of the old world foods (canned and otherwise) and the fresh meat that the huntresses are bringing in we are good.

  He and I talk a lot about the loss of loved ones. We have helped each other over this hurdle, or perhaps a better way of saying it is that we are helping each other over it. Talking about it is sometimes very painful, but it is like cleaning a serious wound. You have to scrape away the scab and dead flesh to get the new skin to grow. The chats do that scrapping and allow for the healing to take place.

  Sept 18th

  Delaney showed up this morning with a small pig that she had killed and turned it over to Nick. He would have to the gutting, but it was going to be worth it. The first thought was that we should have a pig roast. But then we started thinking long term and wondered if we could smoke it and cure it, or would it be cure it and smoke it. We could make some bacon and ham out of it but the pig roast won out in the end.

  There was a moment of awkward when someone suggested that we have Anne research how we would go about it.

  It was Matt and Henry who actually already had the answer of the how to do it, it was just something, one of many things that we had not made the time to put together. So while Nick and Grace butchered up the pig, Henry and Matt made a little smoke house to cure the parts we wanted to prepare.

  Lance spent every moment he could hanging out with Margo and Delaney, but it was not so much to be with Margo. When Delaney was asked if she wanted to take a hot shower, I can imagine what was running though his mind.

  It was the first hot shower or bath that she had taken in about 8 months. And Jan and Margo made certain that she had all the soap, shampoo, and girlie things that she needed. It was almost like it was a spa day for her. The three of them laughed and giggled. Grace also stuck her nose in and ended up doing her hair. By the end of the “girl’s time” you could hardly tell that this girl had spent the last 8 months in the woods, camping and surviving alone.

  She walked over to Lance who was waiting near the flagpole and asked him what he thought. The only thing he
could get out through the stuttering was “Awesome”. The fact that she did that seems to show that she might be interested; talk about apples and oranges though.

  I include here a little information on butchering a pig and also how to cure/smoke the parts. Some of the extra parts that are not listed are simply used to make sausage or a sort scrapple.

  Wet curing involves the immersion of the meat in salty water brine. Meat is submerged in the brine for around 3-14 days, during which time the meat needs to be kept submerged, and the brine mixture agitated periodically to prevent separation of the ingredients.

  Ham can also be preserved through the smoking method, where it is placed in a smokehouse (or equivalent) to be cured by the action of smoke. This one is a little trickier because we are working from best guess on time in the smoker and the temperature. Henry seems to think it is just a couple of days; Matt seems to think a little longer.

  Sept 19th

  As the hams began to cure, a thought came up about the prospect of an issues that I had certainly never considered. During the winter we will be really limited in fruits and vegetables. That does not sound like much but that could mean is that there could be nutritional issues. The question is about things like Vitamins C and D. We no longer can just run down to the Piggly Wiggly or Stop and Shop to pick up a gallon of OJ, or milk. And then without fresh fruits and vegetables we could be looking at fiber issues.

  I know I sound like an 8 year old, but we could be faced with poop issues. It is actually kind of funny when you think about it. But it should be considered. The plan was that we should head to one of those Vitamin Centers or General Health Shops and load up on whatever we can in vitamin and nutritional supplements

  I hate this idea, I really do, I am really worried that if we send a team into a local mall or a shopping center it will not end well. We could lose people, more people. And yet in my heart I know that it is something that needs to be done. We just need to be careful.

  They did not invite me to go on this trip. They told me I have already done so much over time, but I can see another reason why, I am not happy about it, their reason that is. I think they feel I have lost my edge, that if it got to be a hot zone I would not be able to act or react to the situation. I think they are wrong, I am fine, but I will not push this for now.

  The team is actually going to be made up from the Hinsdale folks. They had a better idea of what was where and will be able to get in and out quickly. It does make sense, and they have been through as much as the rest of us. Armand, Joseph, Michelle and Ethan made up the team and they will head on out early tomorrow morning. They will take the Hummer and one other truck and grab all that they could.

  The Doc, Major Barkley really wanted to go, but he was talked down from it. He is too valuable. It is kind of funny that some folks have just by their nature become too valuable to send out on these missions. Charlene (nurse, medic), Lance (tech), the Doc (duh), and Nick (nutrition, feeding the masses), each have become so specialized and such a key player that they’re pretty much irreplaceable. That is not to say that there are others who are just as specialized, but those specialties include certain risks. The flyboys and Steven are going to have their own dangerous things to face. Henry and Matt with their farming skills are also very valuable. We all have our spots.

  I am going fishing.

  Sept 20

  The scavenger crew was off early to raid the health food stores and pharmacies. The drug stores have pretty much been stripped of their medical items long ago but no one ever considered the nutritional items until now.

  The weather today was just one of those beautiful early fall mornings with the crisp air, the haze rising off of the lake and the leaves are really colorful this year. It may be just that we have been so busy in our hurried little lives and failed to notice how beautiful nature was, or it could be just the location and the amount of rain we have received this year.

  The Three has said that we will have a group meeting at the end of the month to talk about the winter preparations and what we need to get done in final tweaks before the snow flies. I think we are in good shape overall but the announcement has put all of us in to thinking mode of what else will be needed or what we did not plan for.

  Delaney came into camp about noon time and brought some of her stuff to start getting set up to live. No sooner did she set foot in the camp and Lance was out of his tech cave and following her around. We have assigned her to move into the “girls” dorm. I am not sure how well that is going to work, the girl of the wilds moving in to the hen house but we shall see. After dropping her stuff off she and Margo went out to do some hunting. Although I think it was more a little bonding of the huntresses. By mid-afternoon they were back with a few rabbits and a woodchuck.

  Later in the afternoon the scavenging crew was back with a truck load of items from vitamin A to Zinc and lots of stuff in between. Apparently there was also a bookstore next to the vitamin store so they checked that out. They brought back a number of books on survival, and holistic medicines. They also brought back a number of books for reading pleasure. They added Game of Thrones, Asimov’s Foundation Series, Lord of the Rings and a number of other assorted classics as well as some not so classics to the small collection of reading material that we had in our “library”. Actually it was a good idea because it could get very boring come January.

  Delaney left about 7 PM. She is going to move the rest of her stuff in tomorrow and will be officially one of us.

  Sept 21st

  It was another beautiful and crisp morning here in “Camp Happy”. We have not been seeing the number of storms and rainy days that we saw back in August and July but it also seems to me to be a little cooler for September. I don’t know, without any statistical data it is difficult to tell where we are weather wise.

  I am still not certain that with all the activities of the spring with the burning of the cities and subsequent fires that we have not truly made a climate change. I am not talking about the man-made one that used questionable and tweaked data to create a money making redistribution of wealth, but a true environmental change. Perhaps this entire event has been the Earth / Gaia trying to heal itself by cleansing itself of the human virus that has for so many years been making her ill.

  I know it sounds far-fetched but it is a thought that has been in my head for a long time. Perhaps come winter while we are trapped inside I will put together the entire idea in the way of an organized theory. Of course when I do that it will be more a subjective opinion because we no longer had the ability to gather broad based data.

  At lunch I noticed that there were some quiet discussions taking place between The Three, Lance and Doc. I have no idea what it is about. I have been kind of kept out of the loop after Anne left us. No wait, after she was killed. I need to face that reality head on and not keep candy coating it, not that you can really candy coat such a thing. But I have been less relied on for a while now and I am not sure if it is because of her death and a fear that I am no longer playing at full capabilities. It may be just my imagination, I will have to do a little discreet inquiry.

  Later on in the day I was able to find out that the radiation levels in the area were up. Most of the camp is blissfully ignorant about it but the levels have been up for a week or so and there are the beginnings of a concern about it. The idea of getting area readings again has been floated and the flyboys are starting to prep their planes. Tomorrow the planes will fly out toward the west in several different directions and try to get some readings.

  Had a nice talk with Anne tonight, she still listens well.

  Sept 22nd

  The radiation levels are still on the high side but it is not a real danger unless it becomes a long term issue and then we will need to move. But before anything like that we need to find the source. My gut feeling is that somewhere in New York or Pennsylvania there is a nuclear reactor that has melted down and that is the source. That would be a bad thing and means it is time for us to either mov
e west, beyond the facility, or maybe try to move further north. I think we would have to get west of the Mississippi to truly be out of harm’s way and that could be a big challenge.

  We had a couple of Zoms on the fence line today; it has been a while since that has happened. But they were quickly dispatched. Overall it was pretty boring.

  Sept 23rd

  I think we are officially into autumn now, it was either yesterday or today. I can keep track of the date, and pretty much the day of the week but some of the holidays and special days, not so much.

  I have noticed that I am becoming more and more isolated from the group as time goes on. Part of it is certainly me; I do not want to push myself onto folks. The youngers are all kind of hanging out together, and we all have our stuff to do. Unfortunately, I do not have a specialty like some of the others, nor do I have a project. Henry and Matt are making the smoker / curing station and shed. Nick has the food stuff, Teckla and crew are The Three, Frank seems to find building projects and there is the Fly Boys and Stephen. But me, well there is nothing. I need a task. I am sure that not having Anne around is not helping my mindset, and Margo is off with Cody and Delaney.

  I think I will go fishing……again…… maybe this time I will catch one.