When Britney returned home and told James about the baby, he could not believe that Jenna and Randy had delivered the child at home. Being a city boy, he assumed that they would go to the city and have their baby in the hospital. Britney tried to reassure her husband that women had been having babies at home for centuries and that there was little danger. James wanted no part of it. She realized that if she ever wanted to have a home birth, she would most likely have to recruit some outside help, probably her mother and Jenna. She was not letting Randy anywhere near her naked body. It was just the principle of the thing.
Chapter 11 – Shorter Days Begin as Predicted
Britney had been listening to a news broadcast on the old Zenith radio receiver that James had found in the city a couple of weeks ago, when James walked into the room and invited her to go with him down to the city. She turned off the radio and stood looking at it for a moment. The radio cabinet was made of old growth oak veneer and was very heavy. When James first spotted the radio in a second hand store, he realized that someone had built a wood frame that supported a removable solar panel. There was a twenty-foot long cord attached to the solar panel so it could be located in the sunshine to charge the small battery that operated the radio. When James brought the radio home, he sat it on the kitchen table and took the back off. He soon found the reason that the radio no longer worked. He would have to pick up a replacement vacuum tube on his next trip into Hillsburg.
The truck was running low and all of the gas cans were empty so he and Britney headed down to the city after lunch. When they drove into the gas station, he filled all of the containers and forked over twenty dollars for the forty-five gallons of gas. The new tube for the radio only cost him thirty-five cents.
By the time he turned his truck onto the gravel road leading to his farmhouse, he realized that his truck needed some oil. The oil pressure gauge was showing only twenty pounds of pressure. He slowed down and babied the truck to his farm. Then he dropped off Britney at the house and drove the truck out to the tool storage room. When he raised the hood and pulled out the oil dipstick, he let out a sigh of relief at what he saw. The oil level was in fact low, but not so low as to damage the engine. He added oil to the crankcase and checked the level again. When he started the truck, the oil pressure gauge was still reading very low. He now figured that the oil pump was failing. He decided to jack up the truck and try changing out the oil filter cartridge that was inside of a metal canister. When he had the filter out on the bench, he realized that a chunk of the paper cartridge had deteriorated and come loose. He returned to the truck and saw that the missing paper cartridge was stuck over the exit tube. He carefully cleared out the line and then replaced the filter canister with a new element. Then he put some oil in the canister and replaced it on the truck. This time when he started the engine, the oil pressure gauge popped right up to forty-five pounds.
As James was wiping the oil from his hands and tools, Britney walked into the shed to see how he was doing. As he explained about the plugged filter and his concern over the lack of oil pressure to the engine, she stepped up to him and kissed him on the lips. When she stepped back, she said, “That kiss was to remind you not to beat yourself up over things you cannot control. The plugged filter is not your fault. All you can do is fix the problem and continue on to the next problem life throws at your feet.” Besides, I like greasy dirty boys that can work on trucks. I would love you right here on the front seat of this old truck if supper was not waiting for us.” James asked, “Is the supper on the table or on the stove?” Britney saw the grin on her husband’s face and said, “On the table.” She picked up a horse blanket that hung over the post and headed towards the truck. She stripped her clothes off and dropped them to the ground. When she kicked her panties off her toes, James began stripping down. Britney giggled when his shorts hit the floor and said, “I think this will be a quickie. I am very ready for you.” Once Britney was lying on the seat, James wasted no time in making her squeal and beg for more.
Britney climbed down from the truck and used an old rag to clean her body. Then she quickly dressed and kissed James one last time. While James pulled on his clothes, Britney pulled the door open and screamed when her father’s presence startled her. Rodney laughed and said, “Daughter, I am sorry to have startled you.” When he stepped inside and found James just buttoning up his shirt, he said, “I think I am here about ten minutes to early. I think I almost interrupted some husband and wife private time.” Britney’s face turned bright red and James said, “Wife, you do not have to be embarrassed. Your father certainly understands that you forced me to have sex with you even though I pleaded for you to leave me alone.” Britney turned on her husband and stepped up close to him. She reached down and squeezed the bulge in his trousers. When she let go she said, “Father certainly understands that it is not his precious daughter that is the sex pervert.” Just as the words left her mouth, Jenna stepped into the tool shed with Timothy in her arms. She looked around at everyone and said, “Did we come visiting at a bad time?” Britney stepped up to her and said, “Actually, all of you showed up just about right. Any sooner would have caused all of you some embarrassment.” Jenna began to giggle and said, “Some spontaneity in life makes for a healthy relationship.” Rodney walked over to the door and said, “I believe this latch on the door would work to prevent any further accidental surprises.” Britney stepped up to her father and hugged him. When she stepped back, she said, “The possibility of being caught is half the excitement.” Britney heard her husband giggling over her words.
Britney walked over to Jenna. She took Timothy into her arms and snuggled him to her as she cooed and talked baby talk to him. Jenna asked, “So when are you two going to make one of these tiny wonders?” James laughed and said, “We were working on that just before all of you arrived.” Jenna said, “Did you finish or do we need to come back later?” James laughed and said, “We are done for now.” Britney’s mother stepped close to Britney and picked some straw from her daughter’s hair. Britney’s face turned bright red for a second time. Bonnie just giggled over her daughter’s reaction to getting caught making out in the shed.
When they all went into the house, Britney and Jenna added some extra food to what Britney had already cooked. When the meal was ready, Britney sat everyone down and poured them each a cup of coffee. When she sat down, she looked around at her friends and family and said, “It is nice that you all came to visit. We all live so close, yet we are all so busy we don’t take the time for each other.” As Britney passed the plate of chicken, she looked across the table at James. He had a smile from ear to ear and Britney was not certain of the reason. She suspected he was grinning over almost being caught making love in the tool shed. Britney smiled back thinking about how much she loved the man she had married.
When they had finished eating and had cleaned up the kitchen, they all moved into the living room. James made another pot of coffee and cut a pumpkin pie that he had baked a couple days ago and had stored in the cold storage room. As he served the pie and coffee, someone commented that Britney had certainly learned how to make perfect pie crust. She giggled and said, “I have a confession to make. James is responsible for this wonderful pie. He cooked up one of the squash from the cold storage room, cooked the squash just perfectly and spiced it to perfection. He also made the crust. He makes the best crust around; except for my mother, of course.” James said, “Of course.”
As Britney held little Timothy in her arms, she suddenly wrinkled up her nose. Then she stood up and cradled baby Timothy into James arms. He took one smell and said, “Thanks, chicken.” James stood up and said, “Jenna, did you bring any more diapers for this child?” Jenna said, “Yes, I will change him.” James said, “I can do the changing, if you pass me the required supplies.” James took the child into the bathroom and placed him on the counter. As he cleaned up the soiled child, he folded a cloth diaper and worked it into place, then pinned it in place. When he picked up the tin
y boy, he snuggled him and watched the child giggle and try to follow James finger as he moved it around in front of his face. Jenna washed out the dirty diaper and placed it into a plastic bag. As they returned to the living room, James passed the giggling child to Bonnie.
It was now dark outside. The time between sunrises was now only seventeen hours long. As winter approached, daylight hours were always shorter, but with the shorter days and the shorter daylight, it was getting difficult to complete the chores before it got dark again. Hunting for deer and turkeys was getting difficult because the animals did not comprehend that the days on planet Earth were getting shorter, they worked off the clocks buried deep within their brains. Robert had killed a large mule deer, but he had to bait the animal up the trails he had cut through the forest. He shot the deer just as it was light enough to identify the animal as it walked along the trail. Britney had killed three turkeys, but she too had to bait the birds up close to the forest behind the barn and shoot them just before they roosted for the night.
The astrophysicists had predicted that planet Earth would begin to have shorter days as the speed of the planet increased. James had tried to explain to Britney how it all worked, but she gave up trying to visualize how galaxies, planets and black holes worked, let alone how they influenced the resizing of all living entities on planet Earth.
As everyone sat in James and Britney’s living room, James turned on the old Zenith radio receiver that Britney so cherished. Britney had found a news channel that broadcast all of the world news twenty-four hours each day.
The first item the reporter discussed was that millions of city dwellers from the largest cities were packing up what little they could carry and bugging out into the suburbs where they could live off the land. For the city dwellers, trying to cope with the lack of transportation, the empty store shelves, and the thugs roaming the streets and stealing what they could from those who already had little or nothing, was impossible. Those that were moving from the cities were taking up residence in the forests or killing those that had already set themselves up to survive. The roving bands of thugs were targeting farmers who raised animals and crops to feed their own families, often times killing anyone who resisted them.
Then the reporter began discussing how a company in England had begun producing small trains using the existing railroad tracks to begin moving freight and passengers around the country. An American company was following suit and soon would have the first of their reduced size trains ready for delivery to one of the large railroad system; again using the existing train tracks that covered many thousands of miles across the American landscape.
The station went off to a commercial, but soon returned to the programming. The reporter then turned his attention to the next story.
Since the world’s engineers deemed mass air travel to be highly dangerous, they proposed that they confine most passenger travel to surface vessels. One company was working on some reduced size cargo carrying vessels, but even that was extremely dangerous. The engineers proposed that they operate the ocean fairing vessels by remote control, but most of the world’s satellite communication systems had begun to fail. The satellite failures were due to excessive bombardment by space debris as they now traveled at speeds of over five times their design. The increased rotational speed of the planet Earth was dragging them to their demise. Without the satellites, even remotely controlled ocean going vessels would prove highly unlikely. The lack of GPS signals and the difficulty with compasses reckoning true north was also proving to be a real threat to advanced ocean and air travel. Trying to maneuver a heavily laden vessel on the high seas that only measured three hundred feet long was a fool’s mission. Trying to have resized humans operate a full sized cargo vessel was equally dangerous, especially without proper GPS and compass coordinates.
The reporter moved into the next story. He was on a roll and moved into a story about how a few of the clothing manufacturers had reconfigured their manufacturing plants and were now producing quality clothing and footwear to fit the resized population. Most of the manufacturers were shipping their good into the larger cities. The people who lived in smaller communities or lived in the suburbs were not finding any of the new clothing in their local stores. The reporter explained that even if the resized clothing did become available in the smaller cities, most of the population could not afford to purchase them. The clothing produced overseas and shipped into the United States were so expensive and of such poor quality, that few people wanted anything to do with them.
When the station returned for their commercial break, the reporter explained that the station engineer had just listened in on a disturbing ham radio conversation between two individuals that were discussing the recent volcano activity in the Yellowstone National Park. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) had sent a team of geologists into the park to investigate the earthquakes that were being felt over a hundred miles away from the epicenter. When the team returned, they reported that a caldera at the park had begun to rise and was spewing toxic gas, small amounts of ash and they could see red-hot lava boiling up out onto the surrounding forest. The discovery, along with the continuous rumblings beneath the earth caused the geologists and USGS great concern. Yellowstone was the largest active volcano in the North America. The scientists around the world were now concerned that the increased rotational speed of the planet would cause further volcanic activity and might possibly begin to cause increased activity with plate tectonics worldwide. The discussion about the ham radio message sparked a discussion over how the loss of working satellites would hamper observation of what was happening at Yellowstone National Park. The scientist would have loved to observe the volcano from space, but only two satellites remained functioning and they were under the control of the United States and China’s military.
Britney turned off the radio and sat back down on the fireplace hearth. They began discussing the threats to their survival by other humans, Mother Nature, and the hardships of three independent families trying to eke out their survival from the land. That night, they all decide to return to the Mountain House and prepare to survive as a clan. There was little need to cut wood to heat three homes when there was plenty of room at the Mountain House. There was little need for the men to have to hunt and fish alone in the forests when the three of them could work together. They soon agreed that moving back to their own farms was a mistake that they would soon correct. Existence without the support of the clan would become more and more difficult as time passed, especially as human survival became more and more difficult.
As they discussed returning to the Mountain House and how they would add security to the tiny piece of land, Randy said, “Jenna and I began making the cold storage room a little larger. As we dug back into the mountain, we dug towards the north and broke through into an old abandoned mineshaft drift. The miners dug the shaft from east to west. At one time, it was open at the east end and overlooked the river below. I can see where the miners dumped their tailing over the bank and onto the riverbank many years ago. The evidence that there was ever a mineshaft penetrating the side of the mountain is almost impossible to see unless one looks very carefully. I have lived here in these mountains for many years and never realized why that section of the forest was all new growth cedar. The cedar trees have taken root in the tailings and little evidence exists. The mineshaft is the length of two football fields and about six feet high, tall enough for one of the miners who worked in the mine to stand upright. The roof supports are old growth cedar posts and they will last another hundred years or more as long as they remain dry, as they are presently.
As they all walked out onto the front porch and sat down to drink their coffee, Jenna explained her and Randy’s plans to move most everything into the mine and turn it into a safe house. A place where they could live comfortably if the land came under attack by bands of thugs from the cities or is Mother Nature made living above ground difficult or impossible. Jenna looked at Randy and said, “You must all u
nderstand that if the volcano in Yellowstone continues to spew out ash and deadly gas, we could find living above ground difficult and maybe even impossible. The mine provides us an opportunity to live in relative comfort. The temperature inside the mine will remain somewhat constant. We would have to figure out how to vent a cook stove and we would most likely need some heat during the winter months. I personally am not one who would like living below ground, but I am a survivalist and will do whatever is necessary to secure the survival of my friends and myself. I suggest we all work together and move back into the Mountain House before the snow flies and hunting season begins. Once we are back in the Mountain House, we can begin stocking the mine and insuring it is livable. As things stand right now, we have no idea what hardships we will have to endure in the coming months and years.”
Britney stood up and went inside the house. When she returned she sat back down beside James and said, “If we are going to make this move, I would like to offer you all a reason to begin doing so in the very near future. It seems that the man I married has gotten me pregnant. I am sorry to have to speak those words to my parents, but I hope they will forgive me.” Then she giggled and said, “Wait. I am married. I can shag my man whenever I wish.” James said, “That will teach you to lie out in the sun on your stomach on that red blanket. How could a man possibly resist snuggling up against that sun warmed bare butt?” They saw Bonnie jump up from her chair and jump off the edge of the porch. Then she spit out her mouthful of coffee onto the grass and begin coughing, trying to clear the liquid from her windpipe. When she could once again breathe, she looked up at her daughter as she wiped the snot from her nose and said, “Daughter. I cannot believe you could do such a thing. I raised you better than to flaunt your bare body around for all to see.” Britney said, “I only flaunted it for James and the ploy worked. I discovered two things that warm afternoon. I discovered how to get my man’s attention when he seems too busy to even acknowledge my existence and I found out that I can easily get pregnant from that position.” Jenna giggled and said, “You could have just asked. I could have explained from experience how well that position works for conceiving a child.”
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