Post Grid: An Arizona EMP Adventure

by Tony Martineau

  “I'm no preacher, like Dennis, but maybe you need to be less strong for Jess,” Rich said.

  Jose stood with a puzzled look on his face and thought about what was just said.

  “I don't think so,” he said. “It's the boy's mother we're talking about.”

  “Exactly. Your being strong makes Jess think you don't care about his mom or him.”

  Jose frowned in thought. Maybe Rich was right. Maybe he was hiding his feelings from himself and Jess. Somehow it was easier to bury himself in all of the work around the small ranches. He could deal with feelings later. Jose raised his gaze, set his jaw, and went about starting work.

  The men's first task was to service and reattach the gearbox to the windmill. The gears changed the circular motion of the spinning wheel into the up-and-down motion of the pump pole. The pump pole, pump rod, and cylinder—the actual pump—needed to be serviced and reconnected too. Rich and Jose laid out the big tarp, then began ripping apart the gear box.

  “Hey, Mijo,” Jose said as he saw his son coming up the path toward him. “I'm glad you are here. Maybe we can teach you something about the workings of a well and a pump.”

  “Sure, whatever,” Jess said, looking down at his feet, trying to amplify his disinterest.

  Jose furrowed his brow, but then let it soften. Maybe he could couch it in a way that would capture Jess's attention. “You know, son, a well pump is similar to a pump on a car or on a plane, for that matter.”

  Jess looked up, expressionless, waiting to hear what his dad would say next.

  “They all work on the principle of compression and expansion,” Jose continued.

  Jess bunched up his lip on one side of his mouth, put both hands in his jeans pockets, and walked slowly toward Jose and Dennis, still silent.

  “Look here,” said Jose, “we've got these parts laid out on the tarp, you know, the way we do with the SUV...” He didn't have to say anymore. Jess silently took the pieces from Jose and arranged them. He carefully drew an outline of each part and then made notes, on the tarp itself, about its placement and information they would need to get it back together. Jess put every nut, screw, and washer next to its corresponding part and drew arrows to show its placement. Soon, his frown had faded and he was joking and talking with the other men.

  ****

  The morning went smoothly and by the time the sun was getting high in the sky, Jose noticed Emma and Kelly out in the garden hoeing weeds, planting rows and harvesting vegetables. It wasn't long before Emma called, “Lunch in an hour.”

  Dennis stopped his task and stood upright, stretching his back. “Jess, help me fold the empty half of the tarp over the well pieces. We'll have to secure it all the way around with rocks to keep stuff from being blown away.”

  “As long as some stupid old cow doesn't come by and walk on it, it should be good when we get back,” Jess said.

  Dennis said, “Jess, your dad and Rich have agreed to stay here this afternoon and get this pump further along. I'll need your help if we're going to get all the food supplies hauled and stored.”

  “Stored where?” Jess asked. “The house seems pretty full.”

  Hey, Rich, does it freeze here in the winter?” asked Dennis.

  “We get about ten to twenty nights a year in the thirties, but I know where you're going with that,” Rich answered. “There's a cave up here a bit where we can put away the groceries. That should keep them from freezing and they will be harder to find if any thieves come calling. I'll show you.”

  Rich led the band further up the canyon. To their left was a small path that looked like it was made by deer or other wild animals. They made their way through some low bushes until they were at the canyon wall.

  “It's right in here,” Rich said, pointing to a hole at the base of the cliff. “It opens up pretty good once you get inside. We'll have to send two people in when we bring the supplies up here: one to pass the goods through that hole and the other to stack 'em. We can take turns. The work will be pretty slow going because whoever passes will have to lie on his back. I have some stuff in there already. I'll take a quick inventory before we put in anything new.”

  “Cool,” Jess said. His eyes lit up and his voice became animated. “Can I go in?”

  “Not now, son,” Rich said. “You'll get your clothes all dirty. You'll have plenty of time in that ol' cave later. You'll be begging to get out of it,” he said with a chuckle.

  “Do you think we should keep some food at the house as a decoy stash?” Jose asked.

  “Not a bad idea,” said Rich. “It will be easier to use, too, if we store it closer to the kitchen. We don't want to be making regular trips up here to get stuff either. Our tracks would be too fresh and we would put wear on the trail.”

  “Let's get down to lunch,” Dennis said. “The girls are probably wondering where we are.”

  ****

  Emma and Lynn had a small lunch on the table when the men got back. The kitchen smelled heavenly. Emma scooped the last of the canned corned beef out of the frying pan when everyone sat down. A big salad and a bowl of green beans rounded out the meal.

  “I'd have liked to have had a big batch of biscuits for lunch too,” Emma said, “but I don't want to be using all of the propane for baking. It's too hot to fire up the wood stove in the house yet. The lettuce grows faster than I can pick it though, so have a big helping of greens.”

  “We live in Arizona, the land of sunshine,” Dennis said. “I'll build you a rocket stove and a solar oven when I get a chance. I would have liked to have had some biscuits myself.”

  “I made a rocket stove at camp, remember, Dad?” asked Jess.

  “That's a great idea, Mijo. It won't take us fifteen minutes to build if we can find some bricks.”

  “Oh, I've got some bricks at the side of the house, but it's not just the oven,” Emma said. “We seem to have plenty of oil, but we're pretty short on shortening.” Everyone chuckled. “It would be easier to make biscuits than bread, but without shortening the result would be pretty dissatisfying. Speaking of bread, Lynn told me that she usually bakes two loaves of bread and makes meals for the Sabbath on Friday mornings. We still have two loaves of bread, but we'll have to be thinking about when we should start making more. Our bread baking will have to be cut way back to save our flour stores. I hope we get more flour this afternoon from the trucks.”

  “Lynn is a great baker of challah,” Dennis said, smiling.

  “What's challah?” asked Jess.

  Dennis looked over at Jess. “It's a braided egg bread that represents the manna that fell from heaven every day but the Sabbath. A double portion fell on the sixth day so that no work had to be done gathering manna on the Sabbath. We don't cook on the Sabbath, so we make meals in advance.

  “Lynn and I did a little more preparation for tomorrow's meals,” Emma said.

  “Where's Kelly and Jared?” Rich asked.

  “Oh, they'll be right along,” Emma said. “Kelly is doing Jared's dressing change. Jared thinks he will be able to make it to town for the divvy this afternoon. I sure am pleased with how well his shoulder is coming along.”

  Kelly and Jared joined them directly. Everyone found somewhere to sit in the crowded little kitchen. The men told everyone how the well was going and that they expected to have it back together by evening if all went well. Everyone asked Jess and Lynn about what supplies they could expect to find in the barn down “in town” as they called it now. Dennis told everyone about building a solar oven.

  Lunch was over in a flash. Jose and Rich went back up the trail to work on the windmill. Emma went with Dennis to hook Buckskin to the donkey cart. After the horse was harnessed, everyone else was ready to go to the divvy.

  “Kelly, get my nurse bag there by the front door, would you?” called Emma as Kelly and Jared headed out the front door.

  “Lynn, Jess, let's get a move on,” Emma shouted and the two ran out the front door, letting the screen door slam behind them. The kids ran
to the cart and scampered onto its bed as Kelly helped Jared along. When they reached the wagon, Rich helped Jared up by having him step onto his clasped hands. Kelly pushed him from under his good shoulder as Jess pulled him awkwardly onto the wagon. Dennis put both of his hands onto the deck of the cart and hoisted himself up. Emma drove the flatbed contraption. Kelly observed quietly, amazed at how easily they had fallen in together as a group.

  The cart bumped down the road. Dennis watched with a smile on his face as Jess and Lynn laughed each time they were thrown into the air. Kelly happily sat glued to Jared, steadying him.

  The wind rustled through the trees, water trickled down the stream bed in a fine ribbon, and the sun shone brightly, as it often did in Arizona. Emma pulled into the rutted driveway that led to the Johnson ranch. Dust swirled up from the path where every wheel and foot made contact with it. All of the Sunflower families were there, from what Emma could tell. Most came on foot, some by bicycle, and there were a few carts pulled by horses. There was even one doctor's buggy that the King family had spent countless hours restoring for use in Old West parades. That investment was certainly paying off now.

  Emma's clan dismounted the cart from every side like ants exiting a hill. Jess ran toward Mr. Johnson and a few of the other men that were standing near the door to the red, good-sized pole barn.

  “Hi, Mr. Johnson,” Jess said.

  “Hi there, boy,” Bill said. “I was just telling old Cliff here how I hoped you were coming today. You sure were a great help out there on the road. A nice young man.” Bill switched his attention to Emma. “Where did you come up with such a fine-looking group?”

  Emma grinned in pride. “Bill, I'd like you to meet my daughter, Kelly. This is Jared, and you know Dennis. He's Lynn's father.”

  “Why, yes, I do and it's nice to see all of you. Dennis, you have a fine daughter. She's a hard worker and strong too.”

  “Thank you sir, I quite agree,” Dennis said, putting his arm around Lynn's shoulders. Fatherly pride showed on his face, and Lynn beamed, keeping her gaze on her father.

  Bill turned to face everyone gathered around the barn. “Our nice young men went to Fountain Hills and brought back piping,” he said, pointing to the pile of PVC and coils of flexible tubing on the ground next to him. “Everyone in need, please meet here tomorrow morning at 0800, or as close as you can figure it, so we can make a plan and get it installed. We should all go in,” Bill said, making a sweeping motion toward the barn.

  The crowd proceeded toward the small door to the barn. There were no windows, and each person was momentarily blinded by the darkness. The floor was dirt and a dusty cloud rose from it as more and more people entered. Bill moved to the far side of the barn and pushed open a door, twice his height and ten feet long, suspended on rollers. Light flooded in, illuminating the entire barn. Pallets and stacks of goods were piled all around the perimeter. Gasps escaped from the neighbors who had not seen it before.

  After a few minutes, when all had had a chance to take in the sight, Bill addressed the audience. “Now folks, a lot of good people have collected what we could find from the trucks on the roadway. We took what we thought might be useful with the intention of sharing it among those in our little community. Each family that was able sent someone to help. It is not our intention to split hairs about how much work was contributed. We want our hamlet to stay a tight-knit group. This means we will be divvying up our finds by the number of people in each family. Everyone gets an equal share despite what they may have contributed to finding this wonderful collection. Those who weren't strong enough to scavenge will be expected to contribute in other ways. We all have skills and it's time to put those skills to use.”

  He paused, glancing around the group to see if there were any objections. When no one appeared concerned with the allocation of goods, he continued. “One-of-a-kind items will be shared by the community. After all is said and done, we'll get working on a barter system so you will have a chance to trade items you don't think your family will use for items that others may want to trade. If anyone has a particular need, now is the time to speak up.”

  “We're going to need some blankets,” Janet Nickels called out. “We usually use this place in the summer and weren't prepared to spend the winter here. If this power outage is permanent, heat will be a problem too.”

  “Okay,” Bill said. “Anyone who can give the Nickels a hand, please meet them out by the corral fence after the meeting.”

  “Anyone else?” Bill asked. The room was quiet, so he proceeded. “Now, I think that most everyone is here. Anyone know if we're missing anybody?”

  “Charlie Best isn't here,” Bill's wife, Patty, said. Charlie was the diabetic that lived over the creek and kept to himself.

  Ted Matherson spoke up. “I think the Branhams packed up and left yesterday for town.”

  “Anyone else?” Bill asked. The gathering fell silent. “Well, if that's all we have for missing persons, I'll turn the floor over to Dennis. He'd like to make an announcement.” He stepped aside as Dennis moved forward.

  “Thank you Bill, and thank you all for your generosity in accepting us into the community. My daughter, Lynn, and I will be holding a Bible study session tomorrow at ten in the morning. Normally, we would be at synagogue then, but one has to adapt to current conditions. You are all welcome. We'd like this to be a nondenominational service. We're just interested in meeting with others who choose to take time for the spiritual realm.”

  “What do you plan on studying tomorrow?” Patty called out.

  “We put some thought into this today and after some discussion, we finally agreed that the place to start should be 'in the beginning,'“ Dennis said. “Any takers?” Several folks spoke up and said that they would like to come.

  “Let's have it here, where there is plenty of room,” Patty said. “The boys could drag a few bales of straw in. We could turn it into a modified classroom.”

  “We'll see you here at ten tomorrow,” Dennis said.

  Bill retook the floor. “Okay, let's get busy. The Branhams leaving throws my count off. The way I have it figured, that leaves us with twenty-four souls. Let's leave their portion over there,” Bill pointed to a corner. “We can trade from their items, which will mark the beginning of our first general store. The count of every item is on each stack of goods. We'll start here at the front and work our way around, dividing everything. If it doesn't divide evenly, put the remainders on the Branham's pile, or should I say the store pile. If everyone will help, we can get this stuff hauled out to the driveway in no time.”

  After sorting the goods, Emma's group had the cart loaded with an eclectic mix of foodstuffs in cans and boxes. There were only three five-pound bags of flour. There were a few hardware and cooking items as well. The loaded cart waited in the driveway. Emma realized that even though the pile was large, so was their group.

  Emma said to Lynn, “I think we should go by Charlie's house and check on him. He's a diabetic. We'll let the others get Jared back to the house. I think this has all been a little much for him.”

  Jared protested, saying he was fine, but Kelly could see he looked tired. With a little rearranging of the load, everyone found a place to ride and headed back to the house.

  As they walked, Emma took the time to teach Lynn about diabetes and insulin. Lynn listened intently as the pair made their way down the road.

  “So you mean he will die without the insulin and you can't make any for him?” Lynn stressed the word die in that whiny teen voice she could put on.

  “That's right, but maybe we can get some insulin and other drugs before then. The government should have stockpiles somewhere, I suppose,” Emma said wistfully, with little conviction.

  “I hope you're right,” Lynn said a little breathlessly. “I was worried about food, but I guess others have it worse. I thought insulin had to be refrigerated?”

  “It should be, but it's not as fragile as some would make out. If it's kept at room temperatur
e, the manufacturer states it will last for twenty-eight days. I have a feeling it's actually quite a bit longer. Insulin does have preservatives in it, but when the proteins start to break down, it will become less and less effective.”

  A few minutes later, Emma and Lynn walked up to the gate in front of the Best house. Charlie's old dog stood slowly, stretching, then wagged his tail and let out a few happy barks from the porch.

  “Charlie?” Emma called.

  Mr. Best appeared at the front door. “Howdy, Emma,” he said in his methodical voice. Emma had never known him to talk any slower or any faster. He was dressed in a T-shirt and overalls. His greying blond hair was on the longish side.

  “We didn't see you at the Johnson's and thought we should stop by.”

  He came fully out through the screen door and settled into a lawn chair on the porch, putting a hand on his dog's head and patting it. The dog panted with what could be described as a dog smile on his face.

  “Well, I ain't dead, yet,” Charlie replied with a forced chuckle.

  “Bill was planning on using his wagon to get your share of the scavenged food to you,” Emma said.

  “That's very kind of him, but I'm pretty well set. Other folks need that food more than me. Just let Bill know he can divide up my share with the rest of you.”

  “That's mighty kind of you, but you don't know how long this might go on.”

  “Like I said, I'm well off. Let's leave it at that.”

  “I'll let Bill talk to you about it. Is there anything we can do to help since we're here?”

  “No, I've got things under control. Thanks for offering.” Without any further fanfare, Charlie rose and went into the house, leaving the dog where he sat.

  “Pretty rude, don't you think?” Lynn asked.

  “No, that's just Charlie's way,” Emma replied. “Likes to be self-sufficient.”

  They started their walk back to the barn. “That's the Branham's place over there,” Emma pointed to a red house across the creek. “We'll have to see if they're back up here in a couple of days, or if they have gone for good.”