by N. C. Reed
“Enough,” Gordon cut her off, his voice firm for all that it was soft. “The time to have raised these thoughts and objections was before all this was done. We have one day and some change before we have to start buttoning up. We didn't meet here to discuss changes in our plan. We met to discuss holes in our preparations. Things we may have thought of today that we've overlooked.”
“And last minute things we'd like to do,” he added. “Your mother and I are going to bible study together tomorrow night and then I'm taking her out to dinner. Likely be the last time I get to do it. Rest of you will likely think of something you want to do as well. Don't ruin all that we've done by running your mouths in the wrong company. All it will do is lead to people being hurt, and some of them will almost certainly be us.”
“Bees,” Leon said. “We need bees. Angie and I was talking yesterday. When the sugar is gone, then honey and maybe molasses will be all you have for sweeteners. Got any molasses?” he asked Gordon.
“We 'll have to raise sugar beats for that,” Gordon mused. “I 'll have to try and get some tomorrow. May need a road trip. Kids, can you still use your internet?” he asked the twins.
“Yes,” they replied.
“See can you find me some sugar beets to plant then,” he smiled. “Non-GMO, too, since I'll need them to re-sprout.”
“Yes sir.”
“We also need as much information as you two can find and print off or save to disc or whatever it is these days on how to break the beets into molasses and sugar,” Gordon continued. “And while you're at it, see if someone close around sells bees, and dig up what you can on care and keeping of bees. If we can get some starter colonies then we can grow them over time and spread them out.”
“We're on it,” Deuce promised, scribbling notes to himself as Leanne did the same.
“We 'll have it for you in the morning,” Leanne promised.
“Anyone else think of anything today?” Gordon asked.
“I actually did this yesterday,” Patricia sighed as she produced a sheaf of papers. “These are prescriptions. One each for every member of the family for everything from antibiotics to painkillers and everywhere in between. We need to visit several different pharmacies to fill these,” she told them as she passed them around. “Just in case this isn't happening, I might be able to stay out of prison and keep my license if no one at that office notices that I did this.”
“So, for my sake, take them to large pharmacies in larger cities. Box stores, groceries, department stores and the like. They're all generic so we should be able to pay cash. Just tell them your insurance doesn't cover it. Most don't without a huge copay.”
“That's a lot of ground to cover,” Alicia noted. “Why not let them take some with them to Murfreesboro today?”
“I told you I was waiting for the last minute to lessen the chances of my going to prison,” Patricia told her sister-in-law. “I really would like to avoid that if I can.”
“Any reasonable person would,” Gordon nodded. “Alicia, Ronny and Angie will take care of those,” he decreed. “Avoid Peabody and head into Columbia I guess, or maybe somewhere else. Your call. Just try and get it done without getting in trouble.”
“While you're there you can brainstorm anything we might have missed,” he finished.
“We can check for more canning supplies and fabric,” Angela nodded. “We really can't have too much of that.”
“Meantime I'll take Gordy and go wherever I have to in order to get sugar beets for planting next year, Lord willing we all make it that far. Robert, you should look to getting your radio equipment squared away and laying in whatever supplies we may need for that and our phone system. Wire and what have you, or wireless thing-a-ma-jigs. Whatever. You want to make sure your stuff is here where we can get it put away before we get hit. Clay that will leave you and Lainie to get the bees if we can find any.”
“We can do that,” Clay promised and Lainie nodded her agreement. Robert just nodded.
“What about me?” Abby sounded indignant.
“Abby, I'd like you to stay around the farm tomorrow,” Gordon requested. “You're of age should something happen here, and the twins need someone here with them while they do their work. We won't have much more time for using that internet to get information.”
“Also, we have got to start getting some organization around here,” he sighed. “You're used to doing that kind of thing with the state, so I'd like you to start trying to get a handle on what all we have and how much. Not the stuff we've took into the houses but the stuff in the barns and over at the Troy place. The twins can likely help with that, too, but it would be you I'm depending on to see it done.”
“I can do that,” she nodded, partly mollified at hearing her assignment. “But Thursday I want to be going and doing. Might be our last chance.”
“Agreed,” her grandfather promised. “Anything else?” No one said anything.
“Then let's adjourn and get some rest. We've got one more full day and part of another and then things are liable to get a great deal more difficult.”
-
“Have you thought about what things might be like?” Leanne asked her brother as the two of them worked to find supplies for their grandfather and the others.
“What do you mean?” Deuce looked over at her. “After the wave? It 'll be boring, that's for sure,” he sighed.
“No, I don't mean the loss of electronic stuff,” she waved that away. “Not even the net, which I will miss,” she sighed dramatically. “No, I mean what things will be like around us. What will happen. What can happen, anyway. Have you thought about that?”
“I haven't really had the time,” he admitted.
“You know a lot of people are going to die, right?” she asked softly.
“The wave isn't harmful to us,” he objected.
“Think Leon,” she told him flatly. “No more transportation, no more shipping networks, no more internet or phone, not many automobiles. There are people that depend on medicines to live that are going to die when they don't get them. And they can't get them if the pharmacy can't get them shipped in.”
“Oh.” It was obvious her brother had not thought that far along this particular path.
“Then there are the people in nursing homes and hospitals and home health care that need oxygen to survive,” she went on. “When the power goes, so will the oxygen. In some cases, the machines will be shot too, I guess, but we know the grid can't take it. Most hospitals have generators that would keep the power on, but they will probably fail because of the wave. Even if they don't, the systems they support may be compromised. Regardless they will eventually run out of fuel. And then the oxygen stops.”
“And they die,” Deuce nodded slowly.
“And they die,” Leanne was stoic about it. “And then there's disease. Systems won't work. People won't be able to get clean food, assuming they can get food at all. Sanitation will falter and then fall by the wayside. Disease will spread, and there won't be much in the way of antibiotics to cure them. And think about injuries; a broken leg might be a death sentence now. No X rays, no scans, no flying or driving to Nashville to have an expert look at a serious injury. How many people that might otherwise have recovered will die because of illness or injury for lack of modern medical care and medicines?”
“I get it, Leanne,” Leon held up a hand, as if by doing so he could somehow prevent the scenario she was describing.
“That isn't the worst, I'm afraid,” she said softly.
“I don't think I want to hear the worst,” her brother admitted.
“Probably not,” she agreed. “Probably not.”
-
“You think your brother is right?” Lainie asked as she and Clay walked to his (now their) house.
“I think in spirit he is,” Clay nodded. “I tried to figure out how to warn people but I never came up with anything. How am I supposed to explain it? Hell, look how you reacted even as close as we had become,” h
e shrugged.
“I thought we agreed that never happened,” her voice was tightly controlled.
“Far as I'm concerned,” he nodded. “Just using it as a reference. If that was how you reacted, how will people who remember me as a trouble making teen and haven't seen me in ten years react when I come up to them and tell them why I came home when I did?”
“Well, when you put it like that,” Lainie sighed.
“Exactly,” Clay nodded. “I do have it in mind to give a few people a warning tomorrow,” he admitted. “Real friends from back in the day. Try to help them protect themselves and their homes. And, I have one other idea that I have to run by my dad. Something that might buy us a little good will later on. Maybe.”
“What is it?” she asked.
“I think I'm going to invite my friend Greg Holloway, who is a deputy sheriff, and Dad's friend Tobias Peyton, who is the Sheriff's Investigator, out here on the night in question, and store their cars where hopefully the wave won't get them.”
“Won't that let them know that you were aware of what was going on before hand and didn't tell anyone?”
“Not if we play it off as guess work and worry, maybe,” Clay shrugged. “I ain't quite got that part worked out just yet,” he admitted.
“Well, no more work tonight,” she told him firmly as they reached the steps leading up to the door. “It's time for a shower and some down time.”
“I can get behind that,” Clay nodded. “Problem will still be there in the morning.”
-
“We're going to have problems, Gordon,” Angela sighed as the two of them prepared for bed.
“You think?” Gordon replied with a raised eyebrow. “Robert wants to take responsibility for everyone, Alicia doesn't want us to do anything for anybody, Patricia insists on seeing patients without thought of what her loss would mean to us. Ronny at least is showing sense.” He looked at his wife of more years than either cared to think about.
“How odd is it, dear, that the one child we can depend on absolutely in this situation is the one who couldn't wait to get away from here? And then ruined his life to get back.”
“Gordon,” Angela looked at him as if he were a sad case indeed. “When have we ever not had it odd?”
-
“I have to be able to see patients,” Patricia said as she and Robert prepared for bed.
“I understand how you feel,” he nodded. “But think about this; if we didn't have any warning and lost our cars, what would you do then?”
She looked at him blankly, signaling that she had not considered that.
“Look, I'm not in disagreement,” Robert held ups his hands. “I wanted to tell everyone, remember? But if this plays out the way it looks right now, then Dad is right about one thing; a working car will make you a target, plain and simple. You will have to wait until we can establish some safety before you can get too far away from the house. It's just not going to be safe.”
“People depend on me, Robert,” she said flatly.
“Including me, Gordy and Abigail,” he shot right back, and his wife literally rocked on her heels at that not so subtle reminder. “We depend on you too, Patricia,” he continued. “So do and will the rest of this family. Mom was right about that you know. We have to put our own needs first. And that means that you don't get to risk yourself out running around trying to help people who will only complain and blame you when you can't.”
“What's that mean?” she demanded.
“Say someone calls, or sends a message,” he grimaced as he made the correction, “that they think they have a broken leg? What are you going to do about it? What will you do when a child is sick and you don't have the medicine they need? When a diabetic needs insulin you don't have to give them? Who do you think they will blame for that?”
“How is this different from you wanting to warn others?” she asked, even as she thought about the phone call she had gotten Monday from Kyle Freemont.
“I want to warn others so they can make their own preparations, not take ours,” Robert explained. “I'm not advocating we take responsibility for them, just arguing that we should have warned them of what was happening. I still think we should, but I'm not going to go against the rest. We have to stick together in this if we want to survive. And I'm thinking about the future, too. We have to work to make sure there's a future here for Abby and Gordy. You and the kids are who I'm responsible for, and the rest of the family after you three.”
-
“The nerve of the Old Man!” Alicia fumed as she and Ronny sat in their kitchen over coffee. “Talking to me like that.”
“You're right,” Ronny nodded. “It should have been done years ago,” he said calmly. It took her a minute to realize what he had said.
“What!?!” her outrage turned on him, though it bounced off without effect.
“You need to grow up,” he told her flatly. “And now is a good time for you to be doing it because in two days we're going to find ourselves in a mess. A nightmare that we won't wake up from. Have you stopped to think about the scenario the kids have painted for us?”
“What has that got to do with-”
“Everything,” he cut her off, his voice firm. “Everything. You think people are going to look at us, still having working things like cars and radios and not hate us? You think all those nice people at church will still be nice when they realize we're better off than them? And what happens when someone in Peabody gets hungry and remembers all us farmers out here that 'control all the food,'” he made air quotes.
“I can tell you what will happen,” he didn't give her a chance to reply. “They will be out in the rural areas stripping them like locusts, that's what. If we aren't careful there won't be a cow left on this place or a speck of grain to feed them.”
“You can't let people go hungry,” Alicia objected.
“I can if it takes food out of my children's mouths,” Ronny assured her. “I agree with the Old Man one hundred percent. No one will get a thing from me that might deprive one of my children of what they need to survive. Period. And if we strip this place feeding people today, what do we feed them tomorrow? Hm? Cows don't grow on trees. We don't have breeding stock, there won't be any more cows. We don't have seed, there won't be any more grain. It is just that simple. I am sorry that people will go without. I am. But there are limits to what we can do. Feeding the town of Jordan goes beyond what we can accomplish, never mind Peabody.”
“So, you need to face some hard facts before we wind up in a world of shit,” he told her flatly. “Because nothing will be allowed to threaten my children. Nothing.”
-
“Bunch of whiny ass children,” Leon muttered as he walked into his house.
“Hi Mister Leon!” Janice Hardy's voice startled him. He had forgotten that Brick and the girl were staying with him.
“Hello, gal,” he managed to sound reasonably nice. “What are you up to?”
“I fixed you something to eat!” she grinned and spread her arms toward his dining table. Normally the table was piled with papers, books and assorted whatevers that Leon was working on at the moment, or felt as if he might be inspired to work on at some point.
None of which was now littering his table.
“Girl,” he said cautiously, “what did you do with the stuff on my table?” He tried to keep his tone conversational so it didn't alarm the flighty teen.
“Oh, I took a plastic tub that was empty and organized all that,” she waved toward a clear plastic storage bin that was full of papers. “It's all alphabetized and grouped. All you have to do is flip through the files until you find what you're looking for.”
“You read all that?” Leon asked with a frown.
“Well, I had to know what to put with what,” Janice looked a bit uncertain now. “I can barely remember what it was, though,” she promised.
“It wasn't a secret, girl,” Leon assured her. “I was just surprised that you had read all that while I was gone.�
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“Oh,” she smiled again. “Okay. And it wasn't much. I just wanted to help you ‘cause you've been so nice to me,” she bubbled. “Now come and eat!” she ushered him to the table. The plate held a small minute steak, two ears of corn, a serving of cut green beans and two rolls.
“You did all this?” he asked.
“Oh, shucks no,” she laughed. “Those rolls were already made. Heat and serve you know? All I did was warm them up. I cooked the steak in butter, and used two pieces of bacon to flavor the green beans. I didn't know how much salt you use so there's only a pinch of salt on anything. You can season it to taste,” she smiled brightly.
Leon tried a bite of the steak and found it delicious. Everything else was just as good.
“Girl, I think you've got a good future,” Leon smiled at her. “I surely do.”
-
“Sugar beets,” Leanne reported promptly the next morning at breakfast. “Sorry Grandpa, but you 'll have to go to Chattanooga to get them. We can't find anything closer. The good news is that it's on the edge of town, on our side.”
“That's something,” Gordon sighed.
“I 'll drive, Granddad,” Gordy offered and the older man nodded.
“Bees,” Leon was next, passing a sheaf of papers to Clay. “There is a bee keeping club with a web site. We're currently downloading a copy of everything they have ever published about bee keeping and have also bought e-books of the instructional books they recommended. These are five places within one hundred miles that offer starter colonies.”
“I sense a 'but' coming,” Clay sounded weary.
“None of them are close to each other,” Leon nodded. “The two that are closest are about twenty-five miles apart but the best two,” he pointed to two names, “are in Manchester and Shelbyville.”
“In opposite directions,” Clay sighed. “Of course, they are. What do we need to get?”
“From what we can read, we need two colonies from each one,” Leon told him. “Three would be even better if there's room because some will almost certainly perish, either from the move or from the winter. But these keepers have the bees that are most beneficial to our gardens and crops. We thought we'd try to kill two birds with one stone.”