The boys reined in the horses immediately and I slid off from behind Calvin, telling Dad that it was okay, it was just me. “Fine,” he said to me then turned back to the others. “Now get out of here like I said.” To punctuate his demand, he shot a round into the air over the horses’ heads. It was all Bracken and Calvin could do to get the horses back under control before turning them to leave.
Before kicking his horse to gallop away though, Calvin looked down at me and asked, “You going to be okay?”
I smiled at him wanly and said, “Sure. Thanks for the ride.”
By the time the horses had left the yard, Dad had gone back inside. I skirted the house and instead of going in, headed for the woods. I was seething at the way Dad had treated my friends, and I was determined to not even stop in to talk to him or Mom.
Spook was waiting for me at the edge of the woods to escort me home. We made it there just before sunset, and I was satisfied to see Fern waiting on the porch for me. Her relief and loving embrace made up for the cold shoulder I had gotten from my parents earlier.
Chapter 24
Secrets
The most exciting things Calvin and I found at the town market were two old CB radios. They had been stuffed away in an old metal military footlocker in someone’s basement, and not knowing what to do with them, the owner sold them to us for some smoked ham that Calvin had brought to trade, along with some of the medicinal herbs that I had brought. Calvin said that they had probably been protected from the CME by the metal locker and that he was sure he could get them to work again.
We made plans for Calvin to ride over to the cabin with a manufactured excuse of some sort the next week. He promised to have both radios working by then. For some reason, without even conferring on it, we both wanted to keep our budding relationship a secret. We knew we couldn’t keep it from Fern though, nor did I want to. She was unlikely to tell anyone, and I know she didn’t disapprove. Anyway, she had already guessed it before I went to town, keen observer that she was.
After an excruciatingly slow week, Calvin finally showed up on the appointed day with the working CB radios and the buckets and oar I had needed to make an off-grid clothes washing machine. He said he was going to make it for me but decided I might enjoy making it together. It seemed he already understood me better than most people.
He had told his parents that Fern needed the washing machine and that he would be home before dark. He didn’t want to lie to his parents about where he was going in case there was some sort of emergency. I admired that about him but also that his parents cared enough to want to know. Mine never did. I suspected that Lauren and possibly even John would guess the real reason of Calvin’s visit, but he said they never mentioned it.
We spent the afternoon building the washing machine and going over some plans I had come up with for some inventions. Calvin seemed impressed and had some ingenious suggestions to improve them. We made a list of materials I would need and discussed how I could get them.
When it was time for Calvin to leave, I walked with him leading his horse up the old road to the highway, bypassing the hog farm altogether. We stood and talked on the shoulder of the highway for several minutes before the sinking sun forced him to leave. Just before he mounted his horse, he took my hand and stared into my eyes.
“Taylor, I’m glad we met again. I really enjoy spending time with you. Nobody else gets the way my brain works.”
“I know what you mean,” I said with a silly giggle. I was suddenly and inexplicably shy.
“Anyway, thanks for being my—” he paused, trying to figure out what we were to each other at that point. In the end, he decided to play it safe, “my friend.”
I smiled and froze as he leaned his head closer for a quick kiss on my cheek. I could feel my cheek burning both from the excitement of the brush of his lips and from embarrassment, since I had never been kissed by a boy and I didn’t know what I should do next.
I didn’t need to worry though, because Calvin jumped up on his horse, said goodbye, and galloped off.
Chapter 25
Preparations
Weeks passed before I saw Calvin again. We stayed in touch with the CB radios, talking every night around midnight when Fern and most of the members of Calvin’s household were asleep. Right before Christmas, Calvin told me that some soldiers had visited their farm, checking for radiation from the CME and warning about marauders that were terrorizing people in the area, particularly those on farms without close neighbors. It was sweet when he said was worried about us, but I didn’t think anyone could find us back in the woods like we were. But still, I had an uneasy feeling and decided to keep Grammy’s pistol loaded and nearby just in case.
When I took the gun out of its hiding place in the loft, I rediscovered Irv’s journal that I had stowed away with all my treasures when I first came to live with Fern. After much emotional vacillation, I decided I was ready to read it. After reading the first page though, I wasn’t so sure. The pain and anguish that Irv had poured out on those pages in his simple, concise manner were almost more than I could bear. Each phrase gave life to the feelings he had kept buried within him and hidden from those who loved him. If he had only told someone, Grammy or the school counselor maybe, they might have been able to get him some help. At least before PF Day, the day that made helping other people virtually obsolete. I could only read the first couple of entries before I put it away.
The next day I told Fern about what Calvin had said about marauders. She agreed that we should be extra vigilant even though it was unlikely that anyone would find us in the woods. Still, there was the old gravel road coming off the highway and leading almost to the cabin, which anyone might choose to follow. We were both glad to have Spook guarding our front door, either outside on warm nights or just inside the door on cold ones.
I showed Fern how to use the washing machine, although I told her I would do the washing most of the time. We didn’t have much to wash since we didn’t change our clothes as often as people did before PF Day. The biggest challenge was after we had run out of toilet paper and had to use pieces of cloth instead. In the summer, we gathered and used the soft leaves of the lamb’s ear plant, but in winter they weren’t available.
During the short days of winter, I worked on my inventions, first of which was a gravity-powered light so Fern would have something better than candlelight to read her new books by in the evenings. She had been rubbing her eyes a lot, and I concluded that the strain of trying to see in the dim light was bothering her. I had read about the idea in a science magazine at school the year before. It’s a simple concept, using parts from an old microwave or other electronic devices. The trick was to find parts that had not been tied to the power grid on PF Day, because all those were fried by the sun’s smack down. After playing around with it for a few days, I finally got my gravity light working, to Fern’s amazement and delight. I gave it to her for Christmas, and she showered me and Spook with love and delicious food.
Another invention I worked on that winter was one that we wouldn’t use for several months, a solar-powered fan made out of parts from an old computer to help cool the cabin in the summer. I also had plans to make a solar heat producer to help heat the cabin in the winter so we wouldn’t have to burn so much wood, thereby reducing Fern’s coughing, but I had no way to get the needed materials to the cabin. Calvin said he would try to find the large sheet of glass, plywood and other pieces of wood, black paint, and empty aluminum cans I needed and deliver them with the horse and wagon. I didn’t know how we could repay him for the materials and his time, but he said his parents would insist he do it for us for free anyway, so not to worry about it.
Calvin and I also talked about some ideas for defending our homestead against marauders. We agreed that Spook was the best defense we had at the moment, but what if something happened to him? I told Calvin about Grammy’s gun but when I admitted I didn’t know how to use it, he was adamant that he needed to come over and show me how.
Chapter 26
Invasion
As the nights grew longer and colder after the winter solstice, Spook wanted to stay in the cabin at night more often than not. He wasn’t happy about it though, as he couldn’t guard the property as well, and he got overheated when he slept downstairs by the front door, which was too close to the Buck stove. I began taking him into the loft with me and sleeping with the window cracked open, as much for my comfort as his. This made him somewhat happier, both because he could sleep by me and because he could see and smell a little of what was going on outside. Still, it made him nervous to be cooped up and not be able to patrol the homestead as he usually did at night.
One night after Calvin and I had talked on the CB radios and I had just blown out the candle by my bedside, Spook jerked to attention and started a low growl at something outside the window. I tried to see what it was that had gotten his attention, but there was very little light coming from a new moon. The hair on both our necks stood up as a dim, man-shaped shadow passed by in the yard and disappeared into the trees. I grabbed the gun and pointed it out the window, my hands shaking like an addict in withdrawal as the adrenaline coursed through my veins. After several minutes of no further movement, we calmed down a bit, but had trouble going to sleep for hours afterwards.
The same scenario played out for several nights in a row, until I started to think it was a strange recurring dream or some kind of dementia. For a while I though that maybe the mental illness that haunted Dad had come to roost in my brain, making me have paranoid delusions of ghosts invading our sanctuary. But Spook’s reaction was all too real, and I didn’t think a dog could share a mental illness with its human companion. So I didn’t take any chances, keeping the gun at my side and being careful not to stand in front of the window when the candle was lit. In fact, I tried not to light the candle at all; I felt safer in the dark so no one on the outside could see me.
I didn’t mention our ghostly visitor to Calvin because I didn’t want him to worry nor did I want him to think I was crazy. I didn’t tell Fern for the same reasons, although I knew at some point I might have to. Every night before bed, I checked the locks on the doors and windows to make sure no one could easily get in, and Spook and I remained on high alert for a couple of weeks.
The strain began to show, and Fern noticed how tired both Spook and I were in the daytime. At first she thought we were both sick but then figured out that we weren’t sleeping. At her insistence, I finally told her about the ephemeral form that had been haunting us nightly.
In her usual straightforward, practical way, Fern insisted we confront the man—she refused to believe it was a ghost—and warn him away from our property, with the gun if need be. She knew how to load and shoot a gun, although she had never used this particular kind before. Nevertheless, after looking it over for a bit, she was able to load it, and we were ready to do some ghost-busting.
Chapter 27
Confrontation
On a dark and cloudy night in January, we slipped out the back door with Spook on a makeshift leash. We clung to the shadows of the wall as we watched for the intruder. After what seemed like hours of waiting, he showed up, and it was all I could do to keep Spook from growling or lunging. Fern immediately shined a big battery-powered spotlight, which she kept for emergencies, right into his face, at the same time yelling, “Stop! What are you doing trespassing in my yard?”
My heart clinched and I almost gasped audibly when I saw who it was. Dad. I pressed myself against the wall in the hopes he wouldn’t notice I was there.
Dad shielded his eyes, trying to see who was spotlighting him. When he didn’t answer, Fern yelled again with a strange accent, “I said whatcha doin’ here? Answer or I’ll shoot!” She moved her hand into the spotlight to show him the gun. She cocked it so he would know she was prepared to use it.
Dad put up both hands over his head and answered, “I’m just here looking for my daughter. Is she here? Who else is with you?”
Shrewd as Fern was, she knew not to expose me. Instead she said, “Me and my dog are out here, aren’t we, Spook?” At the mention of his name, Spook stepped forward and growled a little at Dad. “My grown son’s asleep in the house. Went to bed early with a headache. If I have to shoot this gun, it’ll wake him up and, boy, will he be mad.”
“What’s your son’s name?” Dad said suspiciously.
Without hesitation, Fern said, “I don’t see as how that’s any of your business, but his name is Jack and he’s one mean and ornery cuss. You don’t want to mess with him. He’d just as soon shoot you as talk to you. Now git off my property before I let my dog go and wake up Jack by shootin’ at ya!” I could barely suppress a giggle at Fern’s fake accent, which made her sound like an unfriendly hillbilly.
Dad wasn’t similarly impressed but apparently decided it wasn’t worth the trouble to put her words to the test. He simply turned and said over his shoulder, “Well, if you see a teenage girl, tell her her mother needs her.” I gulped, wondering if what he said was true and what exactly it might mean. Then he said something that turned my heart to ice. “Tell her her good-for-nothing brother needs her too.” As he walked off into the woods, headed toward the hog farm, he muttered, “That ought to get her attention.”
I knew that Dad was not in his right mind at that point. Even though I was worried about my mother, I was sure that Dad wasn’t telling the truth. Either that or he didn’t know what the truth was anymore, as evidenced by the remark about Irv.
I was relieved that he was gone, but I had a feeling that it wouldn’t be the last time Dad would haunt us.
Chapter 28
Solace
Calvin and I met several times in town that winter. He also rode his horse to our cabin a few times. The winter was unusually mild for our latitude, which made survival much easier and traveling more enjoyable. In town, we always met in the square, shopping the various booths for parts for our inventions. It was amazing to see the people of the town come together and help each other forge ahead in this new grid- and technology-free world.
On February 12th, Fern baked me a cake from a boxed cake mix that she had been saving in the food shed to celebrate my 15th birthday. She had arranged for Calvin to come over and surprise me. He brought me a beautiful bracelet that he had traded Skylar something for. Fern gave me a lilac seedling that she had dug up somewhere—I suspected the hog farm, but she wouldn’t reveal her source—and had hidden in one of the cold frame garden beds. She said we would have to keep it in there until the soil warmed enough to plant it in a permanent place under the loft window so I could smell its fragrance every night in the spring. It was the best birthday I could ever remember.
By the end of February, we were finally able to gather all the materials for the solar heat exchanger, and Calvin delivered them to the cabin in the horse-drawn wagon. We put it together the same day, and the heat it produced on sunny days was enough to warm the cabin to 60°F without burning any wood in the Buck stove. We also made a solar water heater so water could be heated outside in the summer and we wouldn’t have to use the stove to heat water in the tank that was attached to the stovepipe of the Buck Stove, thereby keeping the house much cooler.
In March, Fern and I made cold frames for some of the raised garden beds out of some old windows I traded for in town, so that we could start growing crops in early spring. Placing the windows on top of the garden beds allowed the sun to keep the young plants warm and protected from the still-chilly nights of March and April, extending our growing season by two months and increasing our yield accordingly.
In May, Calvin introduced me to a new boy in town. His name was Ben and he was an orphan from Kansas City. Calvin said he had lived with them for a couple of weeks but had decided that farm life wasn’t for him and moved to town. He now lived with three college students, Doug, Dakota, and Matt, in an old abandoned Victorian house at the edge of town.
I liked Ben and talked to him often when Calvin had to do thi
ngs with his parents in town. Ben had an underlying sadness to his eyes that no amount of laughter and camaraderie could disguise. All he would talk about, however, was the horrors of trying to find water, food, and shelter in the big city and how fortunate he was that his three friends had found and rescued him. He was obviously in awe of the guys and gushed gratitude when talking about them. They in turn treated him like their little brother, at times gently teasing him and at all times watching out for him. I felt a shard of ice in my heart every time I was around them, thinking of my big brother Irv, but I was happy that they gave some solace to poor Ben.
I had an overwhelming feeling that there was more to Ben’s sadness than he told me. I was sure he had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder like lots of people in the United States and many parts of the world had now, but it just seemed there was something more. I surmised that his parents must be dead since he was with the guys instead of them, but he apparently didn’t want to open up to me yet and talk about them. He kept saying he didn’t want our friendship to be all about death and despair. We both had had enough of that.
Chapter 29
The Guys
During the summer, Calvin told me his mother wouldn’t let him ride to town without someone going with him because of the growing threat of marauders, so that meant he couldn’t come to the cabin at all without letting our secret out. He wasn’t quite ready to do that and neither was I. In his absence I started daydreaming about him and silly things such as how nicely his blond hair contrasted with my dark hair and how he was the perfect height for hugging, even though we hadn’t done that yet. I should have been thinking about how intelligent he was and how suited we were to each other intellectually, but no, biology overtook me that summer and I suddenly got all girly.
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