The Event Series (Book 2): The Gospel According to Matthew, Margo & Lance

by Thomas Larson

  June 4th

  (Margo) Teckla and Tay are heading back to the horse farm today; they had set it up with Paula and Karen to feed them while they were gone. We have four horses in the barn and when they got back from the farm today Karen said that a couple more were hanging in the area. This was way cool, I want to head up there and ride, I need to talk to Tay about doing that. I spent the afternoon sitting in the sun sketching horses.

  The Major, Fred and Ron have come back from Rome today. That created a little flurry of activity and questions. They have a kind of agreement of mutual aid with Rome. We will help each other out and have a trade program. They have a scavenging rich area and will exchange things that they have like a nice supply of propane for some of our food. They also have a decent team of medical personnel and a small clinic that is much better than what we have. Although the Major and Charlene do a great job, Rome’s facility was a place where some surgery could be done at. The down side is it is about five hours away by truck.

  We are seeing more fresh vegetables, greens mostly, at meal time. We have also begun to take the sheep out to a pasture about a half mile from the camp. We are still worried about the mountain lion that is out there somewhere, but so far he or she hasn’t caused any problem, and we take turns heading out and playing sheep herder.

  (Lance) Not a lot to report today, kind of a same shit, different day kind of thing. Only interesting part was that at the Fire Pit tonight, Ron told us that he was planning to move out to Rome with Karen. It was kind of a surprise, but not really, he hasn’t been all that happy here over the last few months and after all that he and Karen had been through with the Hunters and such; I can kind of understand it.

  (Matt) Crop status is good, so that is a load off. The weather has been good, warm, mostly sunny but we have gotten a gentle rain on a regular basis.

  Mom and Tay are out at the stable and working with the horses. It appears that they have actually found the stables that Camp Romanica used for their riding programs.

  Ron stopped by to visit with me this morning. We had a long talk about a lot of thins, but mostly it was about his faith. He is or has become very devote in his beliefs in God. He leans toward the traditional Christian take, and that is good. The key that we (Tanya and I) have found is that it’s not so much the format as the content. The core belief, the idea of the universal goodness is the important link; you could worship the sacred turnip, as long as the turnip represents goodness. He is heading the right way.

  “Matt, I think I am heading the right way, with Him, with God, but I have another issue I want to talk to you about,” he started, it was kind a shift in gears.

  “Okay”

  “Matt, Karen, Karen still has some things going on with that head shot she took,” he continued. “She is doing okay, but there are some headaches and blurred vision that are still affecting her.”

  The surprise was that he told me about what was going on with Karen. She seems to have some medical issues that are or could be serious in the long run. He and the Major had told the doctors up in Rome about them and those doctors felt there might be some things that they could do to help her. But it would require her to be up there for a while.

  “So you are thinking that you are moving up there with her,” I said looking at him intently.

  “Yeah, but I wanted to talk with you about it first, for a couple of reasons, okay, a lot of reasons.” He added.

  I was confused, why me?

  “Matt, you are the spiritual leader of this group, and have a strong voice in those kinds of things. I have dissed the group, or parts of it, and I have dissed you. First, I am asking your forgiveness for that.”

  “Ron, you were fine, you were learning, growing, we all are learning and growing. It is a different world now. But if it helps, I do forgive you. You, we are okay.”

  “Thank you, now, let me ask you this, am I doing the right thing moving to Rome?”

  “What is in your heart, what does the little voice in your head say?” I asked.

  “That I should, that it is best for her, and also for me.”

  “Then why are you asking me, unless you are not sure.”

  “No, I am sure, but I feel kind of bad about leaving you, I mean the community, we are a family.”

  “Yeah, that’s true, but even in a family there comes a time for members of the family to move on, to wed and seek a home of their own. Isn’t that sort of what the Bible tells you?” I offered.

  “True, I, true, I just don’t want people to think I am running out on them, like I did in the winter.” The anxiety in his voice was quite loud.

  “Then and now, different times, and really, it is all part of the path that has been put down for you. I think the clan, the family will understand, and approve. But if it will help, I will show support for you.”

  “Matt, that would mean a lot. You are a good man, and you have Tanya, she is so good, such a good person. It is what I want, it is what I want to give Karen.”

  I spoke up in his behalf at Vesper’s, kind of did a little sermon like from the Bible scripture thing about a man leaving his home to take his mate and moving on.

  I thought about it after and as Tanya and I settled in for the evening I asked her.

  “Tan, are we married?” I asked.

  “Yup, in our eyes we are, in the eyes of the family, the clan, we are. I bet in Chris’ eyes we are.” She answered.

  I smiled, and cuddled with her. “You’re right.”

  June 5th

  (Margo) Ron and Karen are going to spend a little more time with us here at camp. There are a few things that they want to finish up and to take care of. But I get the feeling that there is almost something else going on there. I am not sure if they’re not sure, or if they have some plan going.

  Lucy and I went out for a run this morning, Nothing happened;

  The meals are getting better with fresh veggies coming on line and the winter stores being finished up.

  I drew the mountain lion today, or at least what I thought it would look like.

  (Lance) Back to our simple little lives, and I think I like it. The adventures out at Rome were exciting, but I like quiet, and the routine.

  Roofs are done, next project, finish the solar array. That should give us electric power with no need for the generator. That will help with the propane issue. We need to get out and find another tank truck if we want to keep the hot showers going. I am still spoiled in that regard. It is not too bad in the summer doing a cold shower, but come winter time it is just plain painful. Ah, first world problems in the new world.

  (Matt) Ron came by this morning to talk with Tanya and me. He wanted to ask a favor, but also wanted to talk about the family. The first request was easy, he wants us, Tanya and I to do a bonding ceremony for Karen and him. Bonding ceremony, wedding, you know what I mean. He liked what we had done back on the day that Fred and Jan got married. I told him that we would do something for him, but that it would likely be a little different than the traditional Christian thing. He was good with that.

  Then we talked about the second thing.

  “Matt, have you, ever considered or thought about moving?”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “I have been looking at this camp, and yeah, we have some crops, and a place to stay, and really it is a nice place. But have you ever thought about moving into a city, or ….” He began

  “Fort Stanwix?” I sort of cut him off.

  “Well, yeah, it has some pretty good defenses.”

  “That’s true, but for me, I like where we are. It’s away, we’re alone but not really isolated.” I counted.

  “Yeah,” he said thoughtfully.

  “What are you thinking that Tanya and I should go, or are you thinking that the entire community should move there?” I asked.

  “I think that the entire community should move, or at least those who want to.” He said.

  “Ron, I know that Karen needs to go there, and live for
a while. And that will be the best thing for her, and for you, you need that but I am not sure that we need that. Why are you dumping this in our laps?”

  “Matt, you and Tanya are a powerful voice here, and if you support it I think that it might sell.” He said, rather passionately.

  “Ron, first, I am not sure that I am the one who should be approached, this is really a matter for The Three, and then to the family. You might find some who would go for it. I think that Stephen and Heather might go for it, with the baby and all. But there are others who are very happy here.”

  Tanya, who had remained quiet until now spoke up. “I can only speak for myself, but I like, no love what we have here. I am not sure I would enjoy being closed in like that.”

  Ron shook his head up and down. “I see, and I guess that is why I came to you first. I felt you would give me an honest take on what I was thinking.”

  “As I said, think that there may be some who would join you, I am not sure who, but it is certainly something you could toss out to The Three or if you want try to sell at Fire Pit,” added Tanya.

  Ron smiled, “I will, and thank you for your thoughts.”

  After Ron left, Tanya and I talked. We knew where he was coming from, but I am not certain it was the security, I think there was a feeling that he was trying to help us, and that if just he and Karen went to Rome, Stanwix, he would be out of his element, not fit in.

  He did not mention it at Fire Pit, but he did announce that he and Karen were going to get married in a few days and asked that the entire family be witness to it for them.

  June 6th

  (Matt) The days are longer and longer, the crops are growing nicely and should give us plenty for the winter. The sheep are getting out to the pasture and there are a number of soon to be mommy sheep in the pack. I’m just kind of puttering around right now with no growing projects to work on at the moment.

  I watched a Red Tail Hawk sitting in a tree today, watching over our fields at the old ball field. He or I guess it could have been she, was just looking, watching, waiting. Then he took flight, circled a little and dove, I don’t think the rabbit even saw him coming.

  (Lance) After the events of Stanwix, it just seems that life has become very boring, or maybe it just seems so, but we haven’t seen any Zoms in a while, and we really live a nice way here. I think that after seeing things at the fort, and if you were to compare, here is a good place to be.

  Nick taught me a new move today, the Double Water Fall he called it. It uses both the blade and the scabbard to sweep the opponent off his feet and then finish him. It is not easy to master, but I will work on it.

  (Margo) Code, Lucy and I went out for a run this morning. It was a great morning for it, but if the day goes like the last couple it is going to be very hot this afternoon.

  This afternoon I found a shady spot and did a few sketches. I played with the idea of drawing the little lizard guys, I am not sure they would be happy with the outcome, to me, they are not pretty creatures.

  Vespers today, just family being family, oh wait, Ron and Karen are going to tie the knot. That is kind of cool, I wondered if she was preggers. Maybe, I will have to check the Grace News Network, she has a way of knowing things, personal things about people.

  June 7th

  (Lance) Some days it is just hard to write about stuff, not that the topics are hard, I mean this is my personal journal and it won’t be looked at unless like I am dead or something.

  I guess in today’s case it is just nothing happened that seems noteworthy. I mean how often you can say…”Oh, did a run this morning, did katana practice, feel the weather is nice,” you know what I mean.

  (Matt) Tanya and I met with Ron and Karen today to go over some of the details for their wedding. I have tried to keep it as traditional as possible and they were very appreciative of that. We picked out a few of the scripture readings, pretty much the standards you hear at every wedding, the one about what is love, without love just clashing cymbals and a man leaving his family to make his own family. We all know them.

  I asked them if they wanted to use their own vows and they did but were kind of at a loss for what to say. Tanya suggested that she could work with them on it this afternoon after lunch.

  It was a hot afternoon and we had thunderstorms in the evening, we moved Vespers into the dining room. It was a full house and it turned into more just a social fest, which was what it was always meant to be. In the end we did a little singing, I am not sure who started it but before long we were all singing silly kids songs, in rounds, Three Blind Mice, Hickory Dickory Dock….it was fun, and we were pretty bad at it.

  (Margo) Code and I took the bicycles out to the horse farm today; I wanted to see how that was going. We spent much of the day there. I talked to Tay and Teckla and they have 7 horses in the barn now. There may be one or two more out there but they are not sure. They introduced me to a couple of the horses, to let them get used to new people. I was thinking back to before the meteor I would go to summer 4H camp and always took the riding classes that they had. I want to ride again.

  Maybe we could start a riding program; it would be good to have some of us able to mount up. I started to suggest it to Teckla, but she stopped me and said that they had already started to plan it and give them a week or so.

  I spent some time in the afternoon sketching “Lemon Drop”, I am not sure that was what the horses name was, but that was what I called her.

  Code just hung out, he was not as enthused as I was but he hung out. We were back for dinner and it is looking like it is going to storm.

  Grace is a whack job. Near the end of Vespers tonight she starts singing, kid’s songs, and next thing, we are all doing it, in rounds. Row, Row, Row Your Boat? It was fun, and funny. We do not have many good voices in the group.

  June 8th

  (Margo) A run this morning, just me and Lucy, Code was working on the solar thing with Lance and Mark. Del was not in the mood to tag along, and I could find no one else to run with.

  Lucy seemed a little more wary, alert today, I am not sure why, but that made me perk up. Nothing happened, but as we were running along the part of the trail that had the rock ridges and caves I felt like I was, we were being watched.

  The rest of the day was wicked hot, so not much movement. In the afternoon a few of us found ourselves in the lake, it felt good. It almost felt like we were actually in summer camp….if only.

  (Matt) It is Sunday, and Tanya and I held a little sunrise service in the dining room before breakfast. It was a non-denominational type “Thank you for all we have, and this day”.

  In the afternoon Ron and Karen came over and we worked out the vow thing and finalized the wedding ceremony. They have put together some nice vows, music choices and readings. But I will save those details for next Saturday when it actually happens.

  After lunch we saw a bunch of the tribe splashing about in the water, it looked very tempting.

  “Tan, want to hit the lake? The water looks great.”

  “No” she said, kind of tersely.

  “How come?” I asked, I found it kind of odd, she was usually not so short.

  “I just don’t! You can go, but stop picking on me!”

  “Okay, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pick on you”, I said while thinking that was odd, I was kind of at a loss.

  A few minutes went by, we were still sitting in our cabin, and finally she softly muttered, “I can’t swim.”

  “I, oh, I just.”

  “Yeah, country boy, you just thought everybody knew how to swim, and everybody just lived like you did.” She said.

  It hit me, she was a downtown girl and like the campfire and some of the other things we had talked about over time I forgot, she grew up different from me, she had a different life.

  “Tan, I’m sorry, I didn’t think, I just assumed, and well you know, assuming makes an ass out of me.”

  She laughed a little, “That is not exactly how the saying goes, but close en
ough. It is just that I’m a little afraid of the water, we never did much in the way of the pool thing, and my Grammie, she won’t let us near the water.”

  “How come?” I asked.

  “It was her husband, Tyrone, he was fishing by the Housatonic River, and fell in, and he couldn’t swim, and drowned. After that it was the water’s fault and we were kept away of it.”

  “I see, I guess I could teach you, it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to learn a little, to be comfortable, just in case.” I offered.

  She looked at me for a minute; I could see the wheels turning. “I think I could try, but can we do it when there are less people around, I, I would be embarrassed.”

  I wrapped my arms around her, “Yep, it would be good, and maybe if you get comfortable enough we can do a late night full moon skinny dip.”

  “You sir, are a pervert!” She laughed and hugged me back.

  (Lance) Spent the day sweating like an Eskimo on a Caribbean cruise, but the solar panel array is done and wired. We have a new source of electricity. Actually, we are pretty good on electric power now. That is no longer a concern for us. Now if we can work on propane supplies and try to figure out how to make some diesel or biofuel, we could be back into full mobility and daily, yes friends, daily hot showers, but one step at a time.

  Del was a little quiet today, and kind of into herself, I think it may be the heat.

  June 9th

  (Lance) I took the day off today, well, sort of, it is not like we have real jobs, but I just didn’t do much of anything. Del and I hung out, she seems a little tense, but I am not going to push it.

  (Matt) Another scorcher of a day, I am guessing high 90s, and the humidity was up. Checked on the fields this morning and all seems okay with the corn and beans and the large crops. But it appears we still have a little issue with the herb and tomato area where the old ball field was. We saw a couple of rabbits running into the woods as we drove up.

  This afternoon I got Tanya down by the water; we got her into the water up to her waist and just let her get comfortable with it. I showed her a little bit of the swimming motion, but she is still not quite ready for that.