by Ron Foster
He sat in the van for a few minutes trying to decide if he would just go on about his business or touch base with the pair before wishing for a cup of coffee reminded him he had not loaded up his rocket stove last night.
“Damn, you are one dumb soldier.” Farley admonished himself before thinking did he want to walk over and get it or drive over. Might as well drive over, he decided and fired up the van and put it in gear.
Farley looked at the empty cabin he had parked next to more carefully in the light of day. It wouldn’t take much for him to break into it if he needed to. Maybe he would go look at the original vacation cabin up the road he had been traveling towards today and see how that part of the lake looked to him. He would have coffee with Becky and Jeremy and share some of his powdered eggs for breakfast before heading out. Their gas problem could wait a bit and if he happened up onto some gas because of luck or fate, then he could decide then what to do with it.
Things didn’t seem so clear to him in the light of day and he felt a bit remorseful to be leaving his new friends so soon even if one was a bit crazy. Hell, we are all a bit crazy now.” Farley thought as he admired the sun rising on the lake.
It was the light, Farley, it was the light that brought hope he muttered to himself. A single candle in a room can bring hope and chase away the gloom and depression darkness can bring on. For that little family over there he was the light, he couldn’t just drive off and abandon them, well not just yet anyway, he fumed in confusion.
Conflicting emotions were furrowing his brow as he pulled up into the driveway and saw Jeremy was already up and tending the rocket stove and the boys’ welcoming smile disarmed him and he was happy once again.
“Morning, Jeremy, how are you doing today?” Farley said settling into a lawn chair after he observed the boy already had the kettle on.
“I am doing well, how you feeling? You and Momma stayed up late last night.” Jeremy said before offering Farley a cup of coffee.
“I am doing fine, Becky up yet?” Farley said before she announced she was through the screen door and came out to greet him.
The first few minutes of small talk were a bit tense as the joviality of last night was hard to get back after the apologies everyone felt necessary to fit in this morning but it soon resumed after Farley said he had eggs and canned bacon for breakfast.
“I have never heard of canned bacon or seen it in a store; I can’t even imagine what it looks like or how you would cook it.” Becky said.
“You don’t have to cook it, it’s already done. It’s pretty neat actually; it rolls out magically on a roll of paper that keeps each slice separate. Damn stuff is expensive though and I only have a couple cans.” Farley said going to get it.
“I need to give you some more money, Farley, for all you are doing, that 20 bucks Jeremy gave you can’t even begin to cover what you have given us. How much you figure we owe you?” Becky said as Farley looked over at Jeremy who was sheepishly busying himself with the fire all of the sudden.
“Damn kid has set me up again!” Farley thought before reassuring her it was his pleasure to share his goods and besides he had drank up all her vodka last night.
“We going squirrel hunting today, Farley? He is going to teach me how to trap them and make something called fricassee, momma.” The boy said excitedly.
“Damn, I did mention something about that yesterday, Jeremy. I will show you a couple ways later on to catch a few but I was thinking I wanted to go see about that house I was telling you about 15 miles from here. It had a lawn mower stuck in the shed and there should be some gas around for it, I am guessing. The neighbors had a boat house also but they weren’t normally staying there, could be they are now, though.” Farley said looking at the crestfallen boy.
“You aren’t staying around until we leave? I thought we settled our differences last night?” Becky said dejectedly.
“Oh we did, we did, it’s nothing personal or against you all, not in the least. I just figured I would make a day trip out of it and depending on what’s over there, I may or may not spend the night.” Farley explained.
“I will be back in a minute.” Becky said rushing towards the house.
“You upset Momma again, Farley.” The boy said looking towards the house.
“Sorry, damn it I didn’t mean to, guess I could have chosen my words more carefully but I didn’t even consider I might set her off.” Farley said looking towards the house.
“Well you did and you did it twice today as far as I can tell. You didn’t even notice she had got up early and put on a bit of makeup for you today.” Jeremy said accusingly.
“Shit, I was going to get around to complementing her. I really did notice but I didn’t know how to bring it up.” Farley said before the screen door opened and Becky came out carrying the lantern Farley said they could use until they left.
“Yea and it was the first time in weeks I could see in that bathroom mirror good. Here you go, Farley, I am not mad at you, everything is o.k.” Becky said attempting to hand him the lantern.
“I am not leaving for good and you all will be needing that, matter of fact go ahead and keep it. You will need it where you are going also and the batteries should last a long time if you’re careful.” Farley said before catching himself and regretting saying anything about the batteries running out that might cause Becky more despair.
“That reminds me, I got some spares I can give you to go with it.” Farley said thinking he could just rely on his rechargeable batteries and portable solar panel.
“That is awful nice of you, you don’t have to do it, you know. I got a little bit of money I can give you for them.” Becky said a bit worriedly.
“Oh, I don’t need any money up here, let’s have ourselves another cup of coffee and discuss our plans for the day. Jeremy, there is hope for you yet; you can make a good cup of coffee.” Farley said with a smile and everyone settled down to hear Farley’s plans for the day.
“I figured I would go do a scout over that end of the lake, there are less people that might be around over that way and I might want to move over there one day. You see I got in mind putting me in a bug out garden soon and I need to settle on where it’s best to do it at. Then of course we got your gas situation to consider so I thought I might look around for some while I was out. Keep your home fires burning on that Rocket Stove and I’ll be back.” Farley said.
“What is a bug out garden?” Jeremy asked.
“Oh, that’s a term us preppers sometimes use to describe a garden you put in with survival seeds. Bugging out just means leaving your home and going somewhere you think might have better chances for your survival to live at for awhile.” Farley said regarding his audience.
“So are you bugging out of here, Farley?” Becky asked, regarding him.
“No, I told you I am just going for a scout; tell you what, I will be back this evening regardless, o.k.?” Farley said as Becky and Jeremy brightened up.
“Can I go Farley?” Jeremy asked.
“You might need me to help you.” The boy said trying to wheedle an invitation out of him.
“I got more gas than you do, we could use my car.” Becky said trying to get in on the adventure.
“Whoa, whoa! When did this trip turn into a picnic? I told you all I would be back this evening and there is no way I am leaving my preps here unattended.” Farley said, frustrated.
“Oh, I didn’t think about your stuff not being protected. I just thought it would be nice to get off this place for a bit.” Becky said soothingly.
“We could still be of help to you maybe.” Jeremy said hopefully.
Farley eyed the two for a minute and said what the hell, everyone could go but they needed to have a little talk about it first. He explained how the roads weren’t safe anymore to be just traveling about on and that he had no legal claim on the place that he was going to and had just stayed there once and it had belonged to a friend of a friend he didn’t think would be coming to the lake b
ecause of their age but that there was no telling if it was occupied or not.
He chose his words carefully so as not to upset Becky any more than he had to but he didn’t beat around the bush either in regards to how bad things had got in the city and that he didn’t have any home to go to anymore except for what he was considering. He elaborated a bit about his homesteading dreams and prepping realities but these things didn’t seem to discourage the pair from wanting to accompany him today.
“What’s that old weird saying? “Hung by my own petard” Farley thought before agreeing to let the pair travel with him today. I got grief of my own and now I am taking on others, he groused.
“I got a bream still on the stringer down at the dock. Won’t make much of a meal for 3 but I could cook him up before we leave. I hate to waste even a fish that small.” Becky said waiting on Farley to tell her what to do with it.
“I saw some coon tracks on the shore. Instead of messing with the squirrels today, I will teach Jeremy how to trap a raccoon, maybe. They taste pretty good if you get the fat off them and parboil them a bit.” Farley said.
“If you catch him and clean him, I will cook him.” Becky said surprising her son that she didn’t turn her nose up at the idea.
“You wouldn’t happen to have any barbecue sauce around here would you?” Farley said and when she said she did Farley advised her that they were in for a treat if they got lucky.
“Come on, Jeremy, I will show you how to make a quick and fast set for old Mr. Raccoon. You will get to use my survival axe also; you’re going to like that one. I need to use the saw on it.” Farley said going to his van to get it.
“You got an axe with a saw on it?” Jeremy said incredulously.
“It’s a lot more practical than it sounds, hang on I will show it to you in a minute.” Farley said digging around in his gear before finally coming up with the tool called a Lil Trucker and handing it to Jeremy for examination.
“Now what we are going to make here is something called a deadfall. Basically, what we are going to do is make a trigger that will drop one of those heavy rocks they are using for landscaping around here on the critters head, killing him instantly. There is a bunch of different ways to accomplish this task but since I am in a hurry I am going to make what is called a split stick deadfall.” Farley said and set about doing so.
The idea is that a stick is cut in two pieces and a bait stick, usually smaller is in between them. The two sides of the stick are balanced vertically.
When the bait stick is moved, the structure falls quickly and the prey is injured or killed.
In my opinion this is the easiest deadfall trap to set up and deploy.
Trap constructed by Murray Yazer
This is a close-up of how the bait stick fits into a notch between the two end-to-end vertical sticks. The notch can be square, as in this case, or rounded.
You see this jimping on the back of my knife? It can help in shaving magnesium and getting sparks from a ferro rod. They can also be used to catch and hold the wire hanger on a cook pot to raise or move it but today I am just going to cut a light notch in a piece of wood and use it to wear a square slot into it.
Buy a custom knife from someone who actually takes pride in every single piece, and ACTUALLY makes their own knife rather than just market it. Silver Stag!
Trap constructed by Walter Muma
A side view of the meeting of the two vertical sticks, showing the bait stick going through the notch between them.
“Hey mom, come check out the trap me and Farley made!” Jeremy yelled up to the house where his mom was doing dishes after heating up some water.
“Now that’s pretty cool, you’re an interesting fellow I must say, Farley. Raccoons are pretty smart do you really think we have a good chance it’s going to work?” Becky asked.
“Sure it’s going to work, Mom. We tested the trigger and everything.” Jeremy said complaining and almost pouting that his mom could doubt that it wouldn’t.
“I think it will do fine, but like I said, Jeremy you can’t always tell when that raccoon is in the area. This might be his normal range or he might just be wandering through and not be back around for a few days. We will see most likely tonight and there are other critters around here that might go after that fish, depends on who smells the bait first, might be a possum gets in the trap first.” Farley explained.
“Oh, I say it’s going to be a raccoon!” Jeremy said enthusiastically.
“I think that boy has a taste for raccoon, I been telling him different ways of cooking them and I said he could have the pelt. I probably got just enough salt to cure the hide for him.” Farley stated.
“You going to make you a coon skin cap like Daniel Boone?” Becky asked, kidding in Jeremy’s direction.
“No, but I still would like to know how it’s done.” Jeremy said exasperated.
“I have been kidding him a bit about wearing one of those and I think he is tired of getting his tail twisted about that.” Farley explained, chuckling.
“How about a possum hat? I think you would look better in one of those.” Farley said needling the boy a bit more who just groaned back him.
“All kidding aside though, when you all get where you’re going, put some of your winter clothes in the car. That way if for some reason you have to leave your home in a hurry you will at least have a jacket or something to put on, lots of fires going on these days and for the most part the fire department can’t respond to them. I don’t know what the situation is like in Mobile, but Montgomery lost water pressure within weeks of the grid going down.” Farley advised.
“That’s a good idea, I wouldn’t have thought of that, thanks Farley.” Becky replied deep in thought.
“Winter is another reason I want to look at that cabin up the road. It has a cast iron wood heater in it. I never tried heating a house with just a fireplace like in your cabin. Lots of things for me to have to consider.” Farley said as they walked back to the porch.
“I guess we are ready, you leaving your wood stove here or are we taking it with us?” Jeremy asked.
“Good question, if it’s cooled down enough I guess throw it in the back of the van. That would make me feel better; I don’t want it wandering off anywhere while we are gone.” Farley decided.
“I wonder what those country boys are up to today.” Becky said ominously.
“No telling but we got to drive right past them. I doubt they are going to bother us but if they do, prepare for me to be hauling ass. You sure you still want to go?” Farley asked.
“Yea I am sure, your description of them just makes me a bit nervous.” Becky said.
“Well, I got to clean off a place on my back seat before we can take off. I got a bunch of gear crammed into that thing.” Farley said walking towards the van.
“I will ride in back.” Becky offered.
“Let’s see what kind of room I can come up with, might leave some clothes or something here until we get back. Gimme a few minutes.” Farley said and set about rearranging his load.
About 10 minutes later, Farley loaded everyone up and started on their way. He told Becky he was keeping his rifle handy up front with him in case he saw some game on the road and didn’t mention anything about watching out for two legged predators. Farley drove by the pickup boy’s house and saw one sitting on the porch and he just waved and kept on going. The man waved back just like someone would have before the disaster hit but Farley could tell he was studying the van pretty hard.
“Well that was painless, o.k. Jeremy, now we are going to find out if you can really read a map, which way should we go?” Farley asked getting out onto the main road.
“Looks like you got to go about 5 miles and pickup the county highway to go towards where you wanted to go. You got about 3 side roads you’re going to pass along the way there.” Jeremy said studying the better map his mom had of the area they were using.
“Sign says that there is a bait store 2 miles up ahead, now that�
��s the dangdest thing I never thought of, check this out Becky, why wouldn’t a bait store be open on the lake after the electric grid went down? I mean one of the old fashioned kinds that raise their own worms and crickets and catches baitfish? Not one of those kinds that don’t have anything more than a refrigerator to keep worms in and a wooden crate full of crickets out front?” Farley said, contemplating.
“Maybe because nobody has money to buy worms?” Jeremy offered seriously and then everyone saw the humor in that.
“Well, you got a point there my friend but as long as there is money or barter people are going to do business. Now whether or not folks will be thinking it is worth their while to sell worms during the apocalypse remains to be seen.” Farley said with a grin.