by D. Gideon
CHAPTER 10
Saturday, September 1st
Snow Hill, Maryland
“If you needed chicken Miss Dotty, you should’ve just come to me,” John said. He lowered himself down onto the tailgate to sit with Dotty and Teddy. “You’ve bought chicken and eggs from me before.”
The jars were all loaded up, cushioned from the road with a few moving pads.
“I didn’t think of that, John. I was a little flustered,” Dotty said.
“Senior brain,” Teddy said, earning himself a light punch in the arm from Dotty. He’d already read her the riot act for leaving the truck running with the keys in it. She’d pointed out that he wasn’t griping at John for leaving the keys in his truck.
“John didn’t have boxes with ‘RAW CHICKEN - ICE PACKED’ printed on the sides where everyone could see,” he’d snapped back, and John had jumped in with a chicken joke. He’d kept that up until they were done loading, and Teddy hadn’t been able to keep growling at her.
“Let me ask you kids somethin’,” Teddy said. Dotty rolled her eyes at John and the big man turned his head to hide his grin. “Y’all feel like this is somethin’…different?”
John turned back, face serious now. “What do you mean, different?”
“Well the only time I’ve seen the sky lit up like that was when I was stationed in Germany, and once when I took Hannah on this silly cruise to Alaska she’d always wanted to go on, the year before the cancer took her. I ain’t never seen it here,” Teddy said.
“The Bible speaks about things like that,” Dotty said, looking down at her hands. “And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, fire, and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come.”
“Spare me, Dotty. You know I ain’t got no use for Jesus, and he ain’t got none for me. Those lights in the sky ain’t no sign, they’re normal…they just ain’t normal here,” Teddy said.
“Jesus didn’t take Hannah from you, Teddy. Cancer did,” Dotty said. Teddy frowned and looked out over the small loading area behind the building.
“All I know is that the Perdue trucks were supposed to show up last night at nine sharp to pick up almost twenty thousand broilers, and they didn’t show,” John said.
“Maybe there were lines down across the highway, like there are on some of the roads here in town?” Dotty offered.
John shook his head. “I took a ride up there at midnight. Highway was clear all the way there and back. The trucks were sitting in the parking lot, and the place looked empty.”
“Lotta transformers blew out last night,” Teddy said. “Could be they just lost power and couldn’t pull up the schedule.”
“The drivers have schedules on their tablets, but they get a printout of the schedule at the beginning of the week, for backup. I swung by the Baker farm and the White farm this morning. They were supposed to get pickups last night, too. Same deal. Trucks didn’t show, last night or this morning. And they’ve never been even an hour late, even in an ice storm.”
They all sat quietly for a minute, thinking.
“How long does it take to replace a transformer?” Dotty asked.
“Depends on if they have any sittin’ in a warehouse,” Teddy said. “If they do, maybe a day, two at most.”
“How many do you think they keep around for emergencies like this?” Dotty said.
Teddy snorted. “I don’t think they plan on emergencies like this. I think every transformer in town blew out last night. And how many we got here in Snow Hill? A few dozen? They might keep that many for repairs, but if the other towns blew out like ours did?”
“There’s no way they’ve got enough on hand to replace every transformer in every town in the county,” John finished. Teddy nodded.
“And all the lines that are down, that’ll take a week or two to hook back up,” the old man said. “If they don’t have to replace ‘em. One of ‘em out by my house looked like it had done sagged right down to the ground in the middle. I doubt they can just take up the slack in that line and hook it back up.”
“So even if it was just Snow Hill, between the transformers and the broken lines, we’re talkin’ about what…two, three weeks?” Dotty asked.
“I’d say that sounds about right,” Teddy said. John nodded in agreement.
“Then what we need to do is find out if the power is out in the nearby towns,” Dotty said.
“After I drop these jars off at the farm, I’m headin’ down to Pocomoke to see if the Wal-Mart’s open,” John said. “You’re welcome to come with me, Miss Dotty.”
“I can’t, John. I’ve got all that chicken to can, and then I need to start on what’s in the chest freezer. Thomas wrapped it up in blankets last night, and we’re planning on juicing it up every few hours with the Miller’s generator if he can get that running. Don’t think it’s been out of the shed for three years, though. But either way, I’m gonna be canning like crazy.”
“Tell you what, then,” John said. “After I see what jars I can buy down there, I’ll swing by your place and let you know if they’ve got power.”
“You do that, and I’ll feed ya lunch,” Dotty said. “No chicken, I promise.”
From inside the shop, they heard the jingle of bells.
“Gotta go,” Teddy said, hopping down off of the tailgate. “John, you swing by here and tell me what you find out, too.”
“Yes, sir,” John called after him as he disappeared into the store room.
“And bring me some of Dotty’s lunch!” Teddy called back.
Dotty and John chuckled.
“John, why do you need so many canning jars?” Dotty asked, looking over her shoulder at the full truck bed.
“I’ve got over 19,000 birds at the end of their life cycle, Miss Dotty. If those trucks aren’t coming, I’ve got to butcher and preserve as much of that meat as I can, or else I’ll be pushing them into a mass grave by next Friday. Even if we can, smoke, and salt every one we’re able to, we’ll still have thousands and thousands dyin’.”
“But what if you start all this butchering and the trucks come to get them?”
John shrugged. “Perdue’s contract gives me a 4% leeway. That many birds in a house, even free ranging for a few hours each day like mine do, you’re gonna have a lot of ‘em die off before they reach harvest age. They break each other’s necks, peck each other to death, get caught up in something and wring their own necks…even hawk attacks get some now and then. I’ve had 400 die off in this run, so I’ve got 400 more I can butcher before Perdue has a problem with the amount they pick up.”
“Well…how about instead of butchering them all, you let me buy a few from you? If the power’s gonna be out for a few weeks, Abe won’t be able to keep the generator running that long. I’d love to have my own source of fresh eggs.”
“You don’t want these birds, Miss Dotty. They’re commercial broilers, not egg-layers. They won’t even live long enough to start laying. In a few days, they’ll all start dying from suffocation. They get so heavy and their breasts get so big that they literally cut off their own air supply. That’s why we’ve got to harvest them as soon as we can.”
“Oh,” Dotty said. “But wait…I’ve bought eggs from you before. Where did those come from?”
“Oh, those are from Charlotte’s flock,” he said. “Fool woman wasn’t satisfied with having three commercial houses holding twenty thousand birds each. No, she wanted birds she could watch, and play with. She keeps ‘em just behind the house.”
“Well…could I buy a couple of those? Maybe trade you something for them? I’ve got some more of that blackberry jam you like so much.”
John tilted his head and squinted up at the sky. “Blackberry jam, huh?”
“Yep. Fresh canned; started pickin’ ‘em second week of August,” she said.
“Those birds are Charlotte’s babies,” he said. “I’m treading dangerous grou
nd, here. Let me think for a minute.”
She stayed quiet while he thought, his fingers tapping against each other as if he was counting.
“It’s just you and your boys at the house, right?”
“Well right now it’s just Thomas and me. Corey’s at college.”
“So a family of three-“
“Well if you’re talking family, it’s six and a dog,” Dotty said.
John gave her a confused look. “How’s that?”
“The Millers, next door. They’re part of my family.”
John looked surprised. “Seth Miller? The contractor?” Dotty nodded.
He thought for a moment more. “Miss Dotty, you got a chicken coop?”
Dotty blinked. “I hadn’t thought that far ahead. I don’t have one, but I could keep them on the back porch. It’s screened in.”
“That won’t do once it starts gettin’ cold,” he said. “Plus you don’t want chicken poo all over your porch. I’ve got an old chicken tractor sitting out behind my barn. It was Charlotte’s first, and she outgrew it pretty quick. It’s been sitting out there in the weather for a few years, so I’d have to check if the wood is rotted, and I know the screens need replacing. It’s gonna need a good cleaning, too.”
He sat for another moment, then snapped his fingers.
“What are you and Thomas doing tomorrow? You busy?”
“Well I’ve got church in the morning, but after that I had just planned on more canning,” she said. “Thomas would just be helping me with that.”
“They gonna run church with the power out?”
Dotty chuckled. “John, Pastor Bill would have a service outside in the pouring rain. Ain’t nothin’ stop him from speakin’ the Word.”
John nodded and adjusted his ball cap again.
“Okay. How about you have Thomas show up at my place at first light? He helps me butcher the chickens, and we’ll come get you after church and bring you out there, too. You guys help me out for a couple of days, and I’ll give you that old coop and half a dozen birds.”
“Half a dozen? We can’t eat that many eggs-“ she started, but he held up a hand.
“One will be a rooster, a young guy that’s started picking fights with Charlotte’s head honcho. We were gonna cull him once he got up to full weight. Two of ‘em will be old girls that we were also gonna cull come winter. Now, they still lay, but not real regular-like and they only got about a year left in ‘em. Then I’ll give ya three pullets that won’t be up to laying age for a few more weeks.”
“That just sounds like an awful lot,” Dotty said.
“Well, once the pullets are laying regular, you can cull the old gals or keep ‘em around, your choice. If you want to grow your flock come springtime, they’ll be great at sittin’ on eggs for you and hatching them out. Keeps you from having to buy or make an incubator.”
Dotty eyed him. “What’s one of those chicken tractors cost? I know it’s more than a regular coop.”
He flapped his hand. “You don’t worry about the cost. You two come out and help us, and that’ll be more than enough. Butchering a few hundred chickens is hard work.”
“Well I ain’t never been afraid of hard work, John.”
“It’s settled, then. You’ve helped my marriage, too; Charlotte had agreed we had to cull her flock down for the winter but she’ll be a lot happier when I tell her I found a new home for some of ‘em instead.” He grinned and held out his hand.
Dotty took it and shook, and he hopped off of the tailgate. “I gotta get inside and pay for these, and get you a roll of screen for that tractor. Hey—Teddy’s closed on Sundays. You think I could talk him into comin’ out and helping butcher?”
Dotty slid down and watched as John closed the tailgate. “I think if you tell that old coot there’s gonna be food involved, he’d walk through waist-high snow to get there.”
John laughed. “Well in that case, I wonder if he’s got some hungry friends?”
“Doesn’t hurt to ask,” Dotty said. “I’ll close up back here, and then I’ve got to get home and start canning. You go ahead and pull the truck around to the front.”
“Will do. Thank you again. You don’t realize how many favors you’ll be doing me tomorrow. You’re good people, Miss Dotty.” He walked around his truck and opened the door to the cab.
Dotty pushed the tire chock out of the way of the store’s back door and stopped, frowning. John saw her expression and froze halfway into the driver’s seat.
“What is it?”
“I was just thinking if you come back from Pocomoke sayin’ the power’s out down there too, then it’s liable to get real bad around here. Us good people are gonna have to stick together, favors or no.”
CHAPTER 11
Saturday, September 1st
College Park, Maryland
We woke up late, but as promised, the cafeteria was serving lunch. It was almost their normal fare, with the exception of there being a lot of hot breakfast food included. When I asked, the server behind the line told me they were trying to cook and serve all of the refrigerated items so they could save the generators’ fuel for the freezers. They’d only have to turn the generators on every few hours to keep those cold. Their industrial gas stoves were still working, for now. Standard blackout procedures, she said. I took some comfort in the fact that at least the school had some kind of plan for loss of power. We each came back to my room with a couple peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and some fruit. Chloe passed us on the way in, and just snorted and shook her head when she saw what we were carrying. She wasn’t the only one that noticed; we agreed that we needed some kind of sack or bag to carry them in when we went to dinner and got more.
While the guys were busy trying to clean the glass out of their room, I tried to help Mel pare down her things to what she would actually need. She gave me hell, saying that the back of the Suburban was big enough to fit all of her stuff into and she needed her collection of urban fantasy books unless I wanted her to go stir crazy. In the end I relented, and simply helped her sort her things into different rolling suitcases and bags grouped into “Life or Death” and “Luxuries”.
“Listen, Rip, I get what you’re saying about necessities. I do. But I am not leaving this stuff behind for some asshole to break into our room and steal,” she’d told me while pointing at the three suitcases holding her ‘Luxury’ items. “If shit goes south, I’ll dump them. Hell, I’ll even throw them out of the truck and hit people with them. But as long as I’ve got room to take them, you bet your ass I’m taking them.”
I couldn’t really argue with that, and actually started wishing I’d left one of my 5 gallon buckets empty so I could pack my own luxury items—not that I had many.
The water I’d saved came in handy. Corey hadn’t had a chance to fill his buckets, so we used them to wash up. We’d pour a bit of water into each, take them down to the bathroom, and use one to soap up and the second to wash off. The guys went down to their floor, while Mel and I used the bathroom on ours. I went last, and as I was walking back down the hall with a towel wrapped around my hair, the empty buckets in one hand, and my shower bin in the other, I heard a girl’s voice come from one of the rooms with the open doors.
“Hey, there goes another one! Look. How are they taking showers?”
I quickened my pace, but the girl came out into the hall and called to me.
“Hey. Hey you, with the towel.”
I stopped and turned. “Me?”
“Yeah.” She pointed up at my towel. “How’d you take a shower when the water’s cut off?” Her roommate stepped into the doorway behind her, eyeing me suspiciously.
“Oh. Uh,” I scrambled for an answer. “We had a case of water bottles in our room. I just dumped a few into these buckets and used that. Gotta do what you gotta do, right?” I tried a smile, but she seemed unconvinced.
The roommate crossed her arms. “You took an entire case of water bottles from the lobby? They only let us have two each.�
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I blinked. “They’re giving out water downstairs? I didn’t even know that.”
The roommate’s eyes narrowed. “Sure you didn’t.”
“No, seriously. My roommate’s a big water drinker, so she gets those big packs at Wal-Mart.”
“You’ve got a whole case?” The first girl said. She started walking towards me. “That’s awesome. Can I borrow like six or so? I smell like last night’s frat party. Know what I mean?”
“Yeah, me too,” the roommate said. “We’ll buy you another case. Which brand does she get?”
Shit. “I don’t even know, guys,” I said. “I didn’t look at the labels, I just grabbed some and emptied them into these buckets so I could wash up.”
“We’ll see when we get them,” the first girl said. “No biggy. I’ll walk with you. Which room are you in?”
Double shit. I did not want these girls going to my room and seeing the water I had. The whole floor would know within minutes and it would all be gone.
“But I used the last of them,” I said. “She washed up and I washed up, and they’re all gone now. We’re going to have to go out today and get more.” I brightened as if getting an idea. “Hey, you guys should go get some, too!”
The first girl stopped, disappointed.
“That sucks,” she said. “Hey, let us know when you go out and I’ll toss you a few bucks to get us a case too, okay?”
I nodded, as if trying to buy something at Wal-Mart when the cash registers didn’t work hadn’t even occurred to me. “Sure thing,” I said.
She started walking back to her room. The roommate still stood there, eyeing me, doubt written plainly across her face. I shrugged in a “sorry” gesture, and started walking again. I tried not to look like I was hurrying.
I hadn’t even considered that seeing us walk around with water would cause trouble. Luckily, we’d be leaving tonight and I wouldn’t have to worry about it again. I did resolve to keep our room door closed, though.
Josh came back sometime in the early afternoon, mumbling about women and their need for shoes. He’d gone through the same struggle helping Stephanie pack that I’d had with Mel. Luckily for him, though, Leandra had shown up and had simply started going through Stephanie’s bags, tossing out her makeup, all of her different hair dryers, straighteners, and curlers, and to Stephanie’s horror, her many high heels.