by D Stalter
Riley said, “It would be worth checking in to.”
“Oh, no!” Phil said. “She’s a bit of a hermit. She doesn’t like strangers. The neighbor had to take me over there and introduce me otherwise she never would have talked to me. You can’t just walk up and ring her doorbell.”
“I don’t think her doorbell would work now anyway.” Amusement glinted in Will’s eyes.
Phil’s brows knitted together. “Oh, yeah. I guess you’re right.”
Will finished bandaging the fat man. “OK. What are we gonna do with you? We need to be moving on, but I’m not comfortable leaving you here with Phil.”
“Oh, we’ll be fine. Phil here and I will get along great. I’ll help him clean this place up. We’ll be fine. Don’t worry about us.”
Phil grinned. “Great! I’ll show you all my concealments and supplies. You can have the spare room at the top of the stairs.”
Will pressed his hand to his forehead. “Phil. Phil. You don’t understand. This guy is a scammer. He’s sucking up but as soon as you turn your back, he’ll shoot you and take your stuff.”
Phil’s face fell. “Oh. Right. And what did you mean when you said you need to be moving on?”
“We have to go. We weren’t planning on staying here anyway, and now that you’re home and we have things to do, we need to move on. I just don’t know what to do about this guy. I’m afraid if we left him here, he’d kill you as soon as you turned your back. We can’t take him to town and have him thrown in jail. I think they’ve got their own problems.”
Phil hopped from one foot to the other. “I got a jail!”
Riley turned from the sink where he’d been looking out the window. “You’ve got a jail?”
“Yeah, west of the house. Come on, I’ll show you.”
They followed him out the back door keeping the fat man between them. Phil led them into the pine trees west of the house. Twenty feet in, a dead-fall hid a trap door. Phil tugged on the handle and the door raised. Narrow steps led down to a metal door. Phil flipped a light switch and swung the door open. They stepped inside a single room which measured about ten feet by forty feet. A single mattress lay against the far wall. A table and a single chair were situated about half way back. A porta potty sat near the doorway.
Will shot a grin at Riley. “This’ll do.” He gave the fat man a push.
“No way!” the fat man screamed. “I didn’t do anything. You can’t keep me in here. Phil, my friend, don’t let them do this. Phil, I’m your only friend. Don’t let them lie to you. Come on, Phil. You have to trust me. We’re buddies.”
The door slammed, stopping the tirade.
“Don’t trust him,” Riley said. “He’d just as soon kill you as to talk to you.”
“Do you really think he’d do that?” Phil looked from Riley to Will.
“I know he would,” Riley said. “He told us the same story he told you about not knowing Wilson’s plans, but then he slipped up when he said that they were going to get rid of you. They were going to kill you and take this place and all your stuff.”
“I should just go kill him. How long are you guys going to be gone?”
“We can come check on you in a week or so, but we aren’t coming back to stay.”
Phil’s face fell. “But I need partners. I need you guys.”
“Sorry, buddy. You’ll do OK. Maybe some of the neighbors will want to get together.”
“I don’t think so. None of them like me too much.”
“Tell you what. Next time we are in the area, we’ll stop and check on you.”
“What do you want me to do with that guy in the cell?”
“We’ll toss some food and water to him. Enough to last a week. We’ll stop in and deal with him when we get back here.”
He looked at Will. “Let’s go get some food and water and then grab Sherrie and Benny and head out.”
They buried the bodies at the edge of the corn field behind the shed. Phil followed them back to the jail.
Riley bent to lift the door. “Ugh! This thing is heavy. Can’t build good things out of lightweight material, I guess.”
Will shook his head. “All you ever do is complain. You’ve been complaining since this thing started.”
“What are you ragging about?” Riley turned to face Will. “You’re the one who’s been complaining. You’ve been complaining since day one.”
“No, I haven’t.”
“Well, you’ve been complaining since the day Benny said he was tired of soup. Yeah, that day. You’ve been complaining since that day.”
Phil shook his head and pushed past them to open the door to the cell.
As soon as the fat man saw Phil, he started blubbering. “Phil, buddy. Don’t let them do this. We’re friends, man. I just want to help. They lied to you. We can be partners. Just you and me, buddy.”
Neither Will nor Riley were ready for what happened next. In a blink of an eye, Phil pulled his pistol from his waist and shot the fat man.
“What the...” Riley screamed putting his hand to his ear.
Will shook his head and laughed. “It scared you. You jumped a foot.”
“Did not. I tripped.”
“Nothing here to trip over. You jumped.”
“Did not.”
“Did too.”
Phil dropped to his knees and vomited.
“Aww, man! Let’s drag that body out and get it buried and then get the hell out of Dodge.”
Day 4 Allison Works With Jaden
Allison knelt on the floor of her living room. A metal shelving unit filled with plants soaked up the sun in the window she knelt at. Jaden stood next to her gazing at the greenery.
“These are all herbs?”
“Yes.” Allison nodded. “All herbs. Don’t expect to learn them all at once. We’ll start slow and go over them again and again. One day, you’ll be able to pick the best herb for what you need. Take a look at the herbs on this shelf. Tell me what you think of them. Can you describe them?”
“Well, the leaves look like a pine tree.”
“Very good!”
“So they look like a pine bush.”
“Yes, they do. Can you tell that there are two different types of herbs on this shelf?”
“No.” Jaden scrunched her forehead and then blurted, “Yes! These are greener than those. Aren’t they the same thing?”
“Nope. They sure look alike but the darker one is rosemary and the lighter one is lavender.” She pointed at the rosemary. “Go ahead. Feel it. Just gently rub a piece between your thumb and finger.”
Jaden did as she was told.
“OK,” Allison said. “Now, smell your fingers and tell me what you smell.”
“It smells like Christmas. Like a pine tree.”
“Good!”
“We can use rosemary both topically and internally. That means we can put it on our skin or eat it. To put it on our skin, we usually make what’s called an infusion. I’ll show you how to do that soon. We might use it topically to increase circulation and to treat muscle and joint pain.”
Allison smiled when Jaden pulled out her ever-present note book and pulled the cap off her pen.
“You won’t need that, sweetheart. I’ve got a whole notebook full of notes. I’ll want you to make a copy of the notebook – if you’re willing to, of course.”
“Yes! Please!”
“Okay. So let’s just use today as a quick lesson without note taking. We can incorporate the notebook into lessons later. Anyway, topically rosemary helps with treating muscle and joint pain as well as increasing circulation. Now, I want you to use your other hand to gently rub the other herb. The lavender.”
Jaden did as she was told. “It’s softer.” She lifted her fingers to her nose and sniffed. “Oh! I like it! It smells soft and smooth. Just like it feels.”
Allison grinned. “Lavender is most known for calming and relaxing people. We could use it to treat anxiety or for headaches or just for helping us get to
sleep at night.”
“Oh!” Jaden sniffed her fingers again. “I haven’t been sleeping very good. Would this help me?”
“Before we go, let’s cut a little bit off for you and we’ll make a little sleep pillow. You can tell me tomorrow if it helped.”
She lifted the lid on a box sitting on the bottom shelf. She drew out a small patch of cloth and a needle that was already threaded. She handed it to Jaden. “Do you know how to fold the cloth and sew a pillow?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Somehow I knew you did.” She drew out a pair of scissors and clipped a few springs from the lavender plant. “Just sew these into the pillow and take it to bed with you tonight. You can carry it in your pocket today. It won’t hurt anything. If you need to, you can rub it to help release the oils and the scent.”
Jaden finished the pillow and held it up for Allison to inspect.
“Very nice!” Allison said.
“And it won’t hurt the plant to cut pieces of it?”
“Nope. It actually helps the plant. If we didn’t prune it, it would get all scraggly and wouldn’t be as healthy as you see it here.”
“Cool!”
“You know… Let’s finish up here. We can find some time in the next few days to start your training. I have no doubt you’ll soak it up as fast as you do everything else. I’ll get my herb notebook out for you to copy.”
Allison - 2nd Run-In With Rich
Mary and Allison finished stacking the dirty breakfast dishes next to the sink.
“After I finish these, I have the rest of the day free. How about you take a couple of the kids berry picking and I’ll start canning.”
“Sure.” Allison nodded. “I can take the two Wolff girls. They’re a little older and can help manage the younger kids if I also take the Jones and the Harris girls.”
Mary flapped the towel at Allison. “Get going. I’ll get these washed and put away and get set up for making jelly. I’ll be ready when you get back.”
Allison stopped and donned a holster with her Smith and Wesson Bodyguard before gathering the children and handing them three buckets each.
“Cool! This looks like a Halloween bucket,” eleven year old Sasha Wolff said with a laugh.
“It is. I stop at Walmart after Halloween and after Easter. These things are 50 cents each after the holiday. They come in handy around the barn.”
She found James working with the guy who was planning to build a heater from the compost pile. She smiled and nodded at the man. She thought his name was Matt but didn’t want to be embarrassed if she was wrong. One thing she’d have to pick up is names.
She asked James to keep Bella with him until she got back from berry picking.
The berry patch was on the south end of the property. A steep hill rose to meet the road. Across the road sat Rich and Judy’s old farmhouse.
Allison pointed to the top of the hill.
“I don’t want anyone to get to the top of this hill. I’m not comfortable with the man that lives there. We should be able to get plenty of berries down here.”
The kids split into groups of two, a bigger kid partnering with a smaller. Allison started filling her last bucket, keeping an eye on the kids all the while. She was bent over behind a bush, picking berries from close to the ground when a loud voice startled her.
“Hey! You kids! Get away from my berries.”
Little Abbey Harris dropped her bucket with a squeal and darted close to Allison.
“That’s right. Leave the berries. Just set your buckets down and get out of here. If I ever catch you near my berries again, I’ll shoot you.”
Allison stepped out from behind the bush with her hand on the butt of her pistol.
“Whose berries?”
Rich’s eyes grew wide. His face slightly flushed. “Damn it, bitch! You are trying to starve me. You don’t want to come between a man and his survival. These are mine now.”
Allison turned to the kids. “Run back to the house and get help.”
The kids scattered in the direction of the house. They were barely forty feet away when they started screaming, “Dad! Help!”
Rich turned to walk away.
“Stop.” Allison’s voice was low and firm.
“Fuck you!”
The pistol slid out of the holster. Rich kept moving. Allison pulled the trigger. A bullet buried into the ground five feet from Rich who spun around.
“You stupid bitch! You tried to shoot me.”
“No, I didn’t. If I’d have wanted to shoot you, I wouldn’t have missed. But I need you to stop and listen. I won’t have you scaring the kids. You’ve always been a bully. Just because you were able to bully your way through the old way of life, doesn’t mean you can bully your way through now.”
She heard the approaching ATVs but did not turn around. “Do you understand what I am telling you?” Her eyes burned with hatred. “These are my berries. Not yours. I’m the one who cleared this patch. I’m the one who paid for the plants. I’m the one who tended them. They are not yours. And you will not try to bully your way to take them.”
“If that’s the way you gotta play, bitch, I’ll play your way. But watch your back. Next time, I’ll see you before you see me. Then I’ll make sure to put you in your place.”
Allison pulled the trigger a second time. The bullet kicked up dirt barely a foot to Rich’s left. He flinched.
“Hey, Allison,” a voice called from the ATVs. “Don’t waste bullets. Either shoot the bastard or let him go.”
“Get!” she hissed. “Don’t ever step foot on my property again.”
He turned and scrambled away. He tripped over a dead log and sprawled on the ground, then flipped himself over and crawled on his hands and knees until he got to the road. Allison heard him muttering the whole way.
Only when he had crossed the road to his own property did she turn around and walk to the ATVs. James sat on one, his shotgun balanced on the handlebars.
Allison raised her eyebrows. “I’m glad you didn’t shoot that. No way you would have missed me.”
James grinned. “It was what I had with me. I didn’t want to stop and swap out. Anyway, John already had his rifle with him.” He nodded at the second ATV. “I just wanted to get here as fast as I could.”
“Aww! I’m so touched you were worried.”
“I wasn’t worried. I just didn’t want to miss the show.” He scooched forward to make room on the seat behind him. “Mount up, Mi’lady.”
“Help me gather these buckets of berries. They aren’t all full, but we can’t afford to waste any.”
The barn was quiet when they returned. Mary had the breakfast dishes washed and put away. She was sitting at the counter next to the sink with the four girls who’d been berry picking. Their mothers were standing behind the girls with their hands protectively on their shoulders. Mary’s soothing voice was low. The girls nodded and smiled at what she was telling them.
Allison set the buckets of berries on the counter.
As Allison made her way to the back of the shop to join the group of men and women at the tables, Mary stood up, clapped her hands and said, “OK, girls, lets learn how to can berries. First, we have to sort and wash the berries. Let’s sit here to do it. Dump the buckets.”
The girls dumped the buckets on the counter and Mary leaned over showing them how to sort. She grinned when she saw both little ones pop a berry into their mouth.
The back door swung open. Don stepped into the shop carrying a large ice chest. His muscles bulged indicating his load was heavy. He set the chest on the table, flipped the top off, reached inside and handed Allison a beer. “You get the first one.”
Cheers broke out around the tables as hands reached towards the treat.
Greta raised her can high in the air. “Here’s to ice cold beer that I thought I’d never drink again.”
A dozen arms reached out to touch cans with hers. “Cheers!”
Allison gazed at the smiles around the
tables. Faces wore relaxed grins as members of the group chatted about how far they’d come in such a short time.
With a sigh, she pushed herself away from the table waving away Don’s offer of another beer.
“Thanks anyway, but I want to watch Mary teach the girls how to can. I’ve never canned before.”
Mary stood in front of the wood stove. Two pots were sending steam into the air. Allison slid into a chair next to Jaden. “What’d I miss?”
Mary turned and smiled at Allison. “We’ve sorted the berries, removed any bad-looking ones, taken out the stems and put them in cold water. That helps to firm them up.” She pointed at a big bowl sitting on the table.
“Since berries are an acid food, we can safely can them using the water bath method.”
Allison stood. “Let me go get a pen and paper. I want to take notes.”
“No worries. I’ve got all my recipes in the pantry.”
“If you don’t mind, can I make copies of your recipes? It can’t hurt to have an extra copy just in case.”
Jaden leaned forward. “I can make copies if you want.”
“That would be such a great help! We can keep your copies in a different place. That way, if Mary’s copies are ever lost, we have a backup.”
Mary nodded. “I agree. We’ll find time to sit down and make the copies.”
“Now, I've got my canning jars in the water on the stove. Anytime I do a boiling water process, I need to let them boil for ten minutes to sterilize them and I have to keep them in hot water until I use them. I boiled them while I made my syrup.” She used a jar lifter to lift a jar out of the boiling water in the back burner and set it on a towel next to the stove.
“Using this fat funnel, I ladle the fruit into the jar. I want to keep my ladle low and pour slowly because I don't want to add any bubbles to the jar. I'm going to fill the jar to about 3/4 inch from the top.” She carefully added the berries to the jar.
“OK then. In this pot, I've made a light syrup by adding 3/4 cup sugar to 6 1/2 cups water. I've heated it until the sugar dissolves. That took four or five minutes. If I want my syrup a little thicker, I'll cook it a little longer. When it cools, it'll be thicker.”