Universal Mass

by Coleinger, Ronnie

  The following morning, Randy sat alone at the bar and ate his breakfast. Jenna had come down late. She had her backpack with her and she sat it down beside her chair. She ordered two eggs over easy and wheat toast. As they ate, Jenna said, “The man I stayed with last night goes by the name of Jim. The last name on his credit card is Smith. I could not determine where he was from, but I think he is from the deep south by the way he speaks.” Randy listened to Jenna and then said, “Do you plan to stay with him another night, or should I have the manager deliver a cot to my room?” Jenna looked Randy in the eyes and said, “I think I should return to your room. Jim and I are not very compatible. We do not agree on much and I certainly lost my cool with him when he tried to put some rolled up money into the pocket of my shirt this morning. I seem to be naive to the ways of men in the big cities. I think it is best if I stay within eyesight of my best friend for the remainder of this trip. By the way, thanks for being my best friend.” Randy patted Britney’s hand and said, “I will have a cot sent up to my room when we return this evening. Shall we take your backpack up to the room where it will be safe for the day?” As they walked past the front desk, Randy talked to the gentleman behind the counter. He said he would have the maids set up the cot when they cleaned Randy’s room so it would be ready when they returned this evening.

  When they finally arrived at the hydroponic show, they took seats towards the front of the seating area. There were seats set up for forty or so people, but only twenty or so had arrived. When the organizer of the show stepped up to the microphone, he explained that almost half of those scheduled to attend had cancelled due to the heavy snow and extremely icy conditions outside of the city. He explained that most of the major highways and all transportation with the exception of the Northeastern Train out of Chicago had shut down service. Only those distant travelers who had traveled early to the city could make it to the show.

  Many of those gathered at the show had no idea how far south the winter weather had advanced until they listened to some of the stories from travelers out of the deep southern states like Georgia and Mississippi. One man explained that New Orleans had recently received over twenty inches of wet heavy snow and had no snowplows to move the stuff off the highways. They simply had to wait until the sun melted much of it away before they could venture back out on the roads. A traveler from London England, who was now living in New York City because he had no way to get back home, explained that they had some of the worst winter weather he had ever seen. During radio conversations with his relatives back home, he found out that much of Ireland, Wales, England and Scotland were floundering in snow and ice. He said that many of the countries citizens were starving and had begun seeking shelter within the larger cities. England’s Parliament had begun building huge heated hydroponic gardens. He had come to New York City to see some of the hydroponic gardens within the United States and hoped to take some knowledge back to his home country if he could ever get back there.

  As the director began working with his guests, he began splitting them up into smaller groups. He explained that there were five large growing rooms within the city and he wanted each group to spend a day at each of them before the formal classes began.

  When he tried to split up Randy and Britney, Britney asked the director to allow them to remain together since they needed to compare notes to improve their own successful hydroponic garden when they returned home to the mountains. The director quickly made a couple changes and honored Britney’s request. He also asked a dozen or more questions about the size and layout of their gardens and inquired about their success growing vegetables and fruit. During the conversation, Britney invited the man to pay them a visit at the Mountain House and he had quickly agreed. By the time the smaller groups were ready to board busses to their intended growing gardens, the director and his staff began passing out sandwiches and cold drinks for his guests to consume during their bus rides.

  By the end of the third day, Britney and Randy were both quite happy that they had attended the show. They had both learned a lot, not only about hydroponics, but also gardening and plant selection in general. They now had good notes about which plants to pollinate and which plants to leave alone. They also had hundreds of ideas about supporting plants over the hydroponics so they would self-pollenate simply by gravity and a tiny jiggle during their daily care.

  On the evening of the eighth day, the director finished with his final classroom session. He explained that it normally took two more days before they finished the presentations and classroom work, but with the reduced class size, they had finished early. He then explained that he intended to take them to a new hydroponic farm that occupied over forty acres of growing rooms. He explained that they had installed two huge coal fired heating and power generations systems for the gardens and that they hoped to harvest over six hundred bushel of tomatoes within the first year of operation. He went on to explain that they were also growing potatoes and that the first crop was about to be harvested and they should arrive just in time to help pick a new crop of strawberries.

  Britney was beside herself when the bus stopped outside the main entrance to the farm. The buildings were huge and all connected by walking tunnels so that the staff did not have to open outside doors and expose the crops to cold drafts as they moved around the facility. The staff carefully regulated the temperature of each room at seventy-five degrees Fahrenheit during half the day and sixty-two degrees during the dark portion of each day. They would have liked to raise the temperature during the day to eighty degrees, but the extra cost of fuel to heat the facility was prohibitive.

  They toured the facility until half past seven that evening. When they finally entered the hotel restaurant for some food before returning to their room for the night, they saw on the television that heavy earthquakes were once again jolting California. They listened to the newscast all during their meal, all the while wondering what fate the people of the state were suffering.

  As they showered and crawled into their beds, Britney asked if Randy had called Jenna since they first arrived. He said he had not, but would contact her when they were prepared to head back home. Britney wondered why Randy had not contacted his wife during the week, but decided to stay out of his personal life. There was already enough conflict between the two women and Britney did not want to create any more battles between them. Britney had often considered moving her and her son, Donald, from the Mountain House to live in Hillsburg, but she held out hope that one day she and Jenna could work things out and settle their differences. Since Randy and Britney had open-ended tickets for the train, the clan had no idea when they would return. Randy would have to call ahead to let them know their time of arrival. He and Britney might have to spend an additional night in a hotel if the weather was bad and the clan could not get down the mountain to pick them up.

  When Britney and Randy woke in the morning, they took turns in the bathroom and then headed down to the restaurant for breakfast. As they ate, they discussed some changes they wanted to make to the growing beds and the hydroponic gardens in the loft. They had learned how to grow hydroponics vertically so they could grow three times the quantity of vegetables they were presently harvesting. They had also discovered better light bulbs for growing fruits and vegetables while visiting the forty-acre farm. The wavelength of the light from the new bulbs provided for shorter ripening times and for some of the plants, shorter gestation periods. The new bulbs were full spectrum fluorescent lamps. They also discovered they needed to lower their lights so they were closer to the plants. The staff at the farm hung their lights within a foot over the top of the plants. As long as the plants did not get warm from the lights, they could hang them quite close. They had already learned to lower the room air temperature and turn off the lights for at least ten hours each night to allow the plants to mature and to trigger production.

  The train transfer in Chicago went well, but the trip into the mountains was slow and unnerving for the passengers. For part
of the way, they had to follow along behind a slow moving snow blower like engine that cleared about two feet of wet snow from the tracks. At one point, the snow blower stopped for about twenty minutes to clear a log from its blower. A tree had fallen onto the tracks and the engineers could not see it buried beneath the snow until it was too late. A six-inch diameter section of the tree jammed in the blades and the engineers had to saw it into sections to remove it. Full sized humans could have easily sawed and removed the limb, but the resizing of Earth’s human population made once simple tasks quite difficult.

  By the time the train pulled into the station in Hillsburg, it was two o’clock in the morning. Randy had called the hotel manager before they left Chicago, but they expected to be at Hillsburg, shortly after supper. As it turned out, by the time Randy and Britney knocked on the door of the hotel, the manager was asleep. They had knocked six times before she answered the door. When she recognized the two weary travelers, she quickly invited them inside and got keys to their rooms for the night. She sent them off to bed with a promise from Randy to settle with her when they woke in the morning.

  Around seven in the morning, Britney could sleep no longer; she was anxious to get back to her home in the mountains. She was also worried about her son, Donald. The boy did not want her to leave for New York and had cried when she left. She hoped he had settled down and not caused anyone any problems while she was away. He was a good boy, but he could be quite demanding at times. Britney giggled to herself as she thought about Bonnie pulling the boys ear until he gave in to her wishes. She understood quite well how her mother’s ear pulling could return a child to their proper frame of mind.

  She had no more than sat up on the edge of the bed when someone knocked on her door. She got up and looked through the peephole. When she opened the door to Randy and asked him to step inside where it was warm, he said, “I talked to Jenna a few minutes ago. Robert and Rodney are on their way down the mountain to pick us up. They will be here in about twenty minutes. I would have given you more notice, but the guys were waiting to hear from us and left home as soon as I told Jenna we were in the Hillsburg Hotel.” Britney giggled and said, “I am ready to be home. I will dress and be ready in fifteen minutes. I can wait until we get home to eat breakfast if you can.” Randy said, “I too am ready to be home. I will knock on your door when the guys arrive. Take whatever time you need in the bathroom before you leave. The guys can wait a few extra minutes for us if you need more time before you travel.” Britney smiled and said, “I will be okay this morning. I took care of business last night before I went to bed.” Randy nodded his understanding and locked Britney’s door as he closed it and headed back to his room.

  Britney was watching out the window when the guys drove up in the plow truck. They had the chains on all four tires and that alone told Britney that the trip home would be a treacherous adventure. She hated slippery roads, but icy winter roads were part of living in the high mountains. She considered the icy roads better than dealing with hurricanes and scorching summer temperatures. Britney loaded the two backpacks into the truck while Randy paid for their rooms at the office. When Randy climbed into the truck beside her, she whispered, “I am so excited about being home I could cry.” Randy laughed and said, “I understand your excitement. I cannot wait for a hot cup of home brewed coffee and two fresh hens’ eggs over easy.”

  It took them over an hour to climb the mountains and park the truck in the garage. They all four joined in and removed the tire chains and hung them up to dry so they could inspect them for damage later. Britney always struggled lifting the heavy chains up high enough to get them onto the hooks on the wall. Even with the steps and three-foot high wooden platform they had built, their miniature size made every task difficult. Just as Britney had gotten the chains high enough, Rodney slid them onto the hook for her. She took a deep breath and said, “I seem to have gotten out of shape during my time away from home.” Rodney just laughed and said, “I seem to think that might not be true. You have always been quite capable of outworking most males, and today, most likely, is no different.”

  When the four walked into the front door of the Mountain House, the clan greeted them with open arms. It took almost ten minutes of hugging and talking before they all finally settled down and walked into the mineshaft to cook up some breakfast. The clan had fed the children, but the adults had waited for Randy and Britney to arrive before fixing breakfast. As they all worked to prepare the meal, the children sat at the table and listened to the stories of New York City, the train rides, the hydroponic farms and the many vegetable gardens they had visited. Britney commented that she had met some great people. When Rodney asked his daughter if she had found any nice guys during her trip, she said, “I found a lot of very nice people and some guys that I would love to have warmed my bed.” She looked into Randy’s eyes and realized he had no intensions of commenting on her rendezvous in the hotel with the man who wanted to pay her for sex. She smiled and said, “I have one more thing to say about my trip before I begin eating this wonderful breakfast all of you have prepared for us. I want to thank you, Randy, for taking me to New York City with you and protecting me from my own lack of good judgment. I will always remember this adventure, especially the steam locomotive ride.” Then she looked into Jenna’s eyes and said, “I would also like to thank you, Jenna, for allowing me to go in your place. I know you would like to have been there and I am still not certain why you did not join Randy. Whatever your reason was for allowing me to go in your place on this trip, I want to thank you. I learned more about growing vegetables and fruit from this trip than I could ever have dug out of books. Seeing how the professionals grow the food that supports their families and their communities, first hand, brought home the fact that we can survive in this resized world we now find ourselves living.”

  As Britney lowered her head and began to spoon in some oatmeal, Jenna saw a tear run down her friends cheek and drip into her cereal. Britney tried to cover up the remaining tears, but Bonnie handed her daughter a towel to dry her eyes. When Britney looked up into the mother’s eyes, Bonnie said, “I am guessing by the tears that you enjoyed yourself in New York.” Britney giggled and said, “I even met a man and spent the night in ….” She realized what she had almost said and tried to backtrack. Bonnie said, “So the trip was more successful than you have told us about. I think there is more to this story that needs telling.” Bonnie turned towards Randy and said, “I guess I will have to bribe the story from my daughter’s traveling companion.” Randy looked at Britney and said, “What happens in New York stays in New York.” The corner of Britney’s mouth turned upwards into a smile when she realized that Randy would never tell anyone about her foolishness. Jenna said, “I agree with my husband. We sent two friends to New York and they returned as better friends. The details of what they saw, heard, and did while visiting there is forever locked into that friendship.” Randy looked into his wife’s eyes and said, “Thank you, Jenna. Your understanding is comforting.”

  When the morning meal was over, Randy and Britney unpacked their backpacks and washed their clothes. While they hung their wet clothes on the clothes line in the living area, Britney said, “I would like to begin changing the growing beds in the loft to vertical tiers. Would you help me design and build them so they will be strong and hold up under the heavy loads? I would not want to put a lot of time into building them and then have them turn out to be junk.” Randy agreed to help her with the project and said, “I would also like to involve the others with the upgrades. I think we need to teach the rest of the clan everything that we learned while in the city. Having everyone onboard will make life much easier in the long run.” Britney quickly agreed that he was right about the involvement of the entire clan.”

  During the evening, as they all ate supper, they turned on the radio and listened to the evening news program. Two weathermen were discussing the deepening and southerly advancement of the bitter cold air and heavy winter snowfall. Much of
the population of the northern states of North America were packing up and moving to warmer parts of the continent. The freight companies no longer shipped foodstuffs, heating oil and propane or gasoline by truck into the mountains. Everything moved across country and especially into the mountains by train. Often times, the tanks at the gas stations were empty days before another shipment arrived. The shelves of the grocery stores were often times bare for two or three days before the next train rolled into town. Hillsburg had faired pretty well over the last few months, but now they had begun to feel the pinch, as the time between trains got longer and longer. Usually, the delay was due to weather, but sometimes the products simply were not available to fill a train car. Partially filled train cars were not profitable and the railroads simply would not send the trains up into the mountains unless they stood a decent chance of making a profit.

  The weather forecasters predicted the global winter to continue into the distant future. Much of the world’s population would perish if the winter weather continued its steady southerly advancement.

  Chapter 20 - The Courtship of Britney Colebank

  Britney and her son, Donald, were staying in Hillsburg one week out of three to help the city develop their greenhouses and hydroponic gardens. She had met a man while working there who had two young children. His twenty eight year old wife had died moments after the resizing when she slid out of her sky diving harness and fell five thousand feet to her death, leaving him in charge of their twin baby girls.