Allison's Secret (Book 2): The Accord

by Stalter, D

  Jaden and Mary were just picking up the bowls of goulash to serve when Kim’s door opened. She stepped out wearing a loose dress that reached her ankles. Allison thought she heard a collective sigh of relief from the women in the room.

  Kim hurried down the stairs. “Let me help serve,” she said.

  Allison handed her the plate of rolls. “Ask each person if they want one before you give them.”

  “I know how it’s done,” Kim uttered over her shoulder as she carried the plate towards the table.

  When everyone had been served, Allison was happy to see that no wives had been threatened by Kim’s actions. Kim herself had found a seat at the single men’s table. Her daughter, Kelly, sat with the Wilcox family.

  Mary waited for a lull in the conversations before announcing. “Anyone who doesn’t know the man sitting at the table with Don’s family, please meet Phil. He’s a neighbor. He’s brought us fish for supper tonight.”

  The room exploded in excitement.

  “Fish?”

  “I love fish.”

  “Can I help cook?”

  “Who said that?” Mary demanded.

  “Me.” Jax Funderburg stood. “I do a pretty mean fish fry.”

  “He does,” his girlfriend Karen said. “He can’t boil water but give him fish and it’s a miracle.”

  Mary grinned. “Meet me in the kitchen about four-thirty.”

  “I’ll be there.”

  The door opened, letting in a cold blast of air. Riley stepped in. He brushed the snow off his shoulder and head. Will followed.

  “Wow! The snow is really coming down out there,” Riley announced. Children leaped from their chairs to look outside.

  “Can we build a snowman after lunch?” they cried.

  Karen smiled. “I’ll come help,” she said.

  “Did you save us any lunch?” Will asked.

  “On the counter. Help yourself.”

  “Hey, Will. Hey Riley,” a voice called from the back of the room. Will spun around.

  “Phil?”

  “Yeah, it’s me. I brought you guys supper. Of course, I am trading for medicine. Come sit with us.”

  “Did you leave your place unguarded?” Riley asked.

  “Well, if anyone tries to break in, they’ll have to get through all the booby traps. Good luck with that is what I say.”

  He looked at Will. “Hey, after lunch you guys want to come back with me. I can show you all my booby traps. They’re pretty cool.”

  “Can’t,” Will said. “We’ve got a class this afternoon. Everyone is learning how to build a snare.”

  “I can do snares,” Phil said. “But maybe I could learn more. Can I stay?”

  “You sure can. Maybe you can teach us a thing or two.”

  “Oh, I doubt that. But I’d love to stay for the class. I’ve got a family that stays with me, but they still aren’t much company. We all usually sit around and watch movies all night.”

  Kim had turned in her seat to look at Phil. “You have movies?” she asked.

  Phil looked back at her. “I do. And, I have a 60 inch television. What’s your favorite movie?”

  Kim bit her lip. “Maybe something with Jessica Chastain.”

  “I have Zero Dark Thirty, The Help, and Jolene.”

  “Really? Can I come watch movies? How far is it?”

  “Not too far. You can come any time you want. I have lots of room. You can stay if you like.”

  Mary shot a look at Allison, but she was occupied at the sink.

  Karen helped the kids bundle up after lunch and they left the common room laughing. The Funderburg twins were trying to form teams to build the biggest snowman.

  The men moved tables and Rolly gathered supplies to demonstrate snares. When Allison looked up from the dish she was washing, she was surprised to see many women settling in to watch the demonstration.

  She was even more surprised when she saw Kim. Kim sat next to Phil, her head close to his, speaking softly into his ear. Phil’s face was red. He jerked back and stared at Kim. His mouth opened and closed. Then he grinned and nodded.

  Bill and Nelda Jones were sitting at a table near the front of the group. Nelda raised her hand. “These snares that you’re making. Are they for animals or people?”

  Rolly looked up. “The snares I’m making are for animals, but they could be easily adapted for people. Why?”

  “I think it’s a good thing to know how to bring home food to put on the table, but unless I have no choice, I’d rather not be involved in killing people.”

  “I’ve killed people,” Phil said. “But he was bad. Wasn’t he, Riley? He wanted to torture me to get me to show him my hidey holes. I had to kill him. Then I puked on my shoes. Didn’t I Riley? Man, I’m glad you guys were there that day. You probably saved my life.”

  Riley looked at Will, grinned and shook his head.

  “You saw it, didn’t you Riley?” Phil wasn’t going to give it up.

  Riley turned in his seat. “Yes, Phil, we both saw it. You did kill a bad guy, but there are women here and some of them don’t appreciate the details of that sort of incident. Let’s move on to learning to build a snare.” He turned back to face Rolly who stood with his mouth open, one hand raised in the air holding a fishing line.

  Phil leaned sideways in his chair and whispered into Kim’s ear. She lifted her hand and squeezed his arm.

  The door slammed. Excited children tumbled in to the common room covered in snow. Karen, her face red from cold, slid off her mittens and began helping the littler ones take off coats. Jaden jumped up to stretch the rope so that coats could be hung to dry.

  “Hey, Don,” Karen called. “It might be a good idea for you to head home. It’s really starting to pile up out there.”

  “That bad?”

  “It’s getting a lot worse awful fast.”

  His family gathered their things. “Phil,” Don said. “Bundle up. I’ll drop everyone off at my house and then run you home. Hurry.”

  Phil looked at Kim. She answered the question in his eyes with a nod.

  He smiled, then picked up his coat and followed Don’s family to the door.

  Chapter 19 Allison

  Jax proved to be an expert when it came to fixing fish. He gave Mary a list of seasonings he needed and she brought jars of dried seasonings out from the store room. Allison reached across the table and looked at the labels.

  “Do you want to use fresh herbs instead of these dried ones?” she asked.

  “If ya got ‘em.”

  “I’ve got some of them.” She pushed three jars back to Mary and retrieved the small shears from a plastic tote under the counter. Moving back to the large window, she chose three pots. She carefully snipped a bit from each one and laid them out on the counter. She picked up a knife and expertly chopped each herb into tiny pieces.

  “I love how you do that,” Jaden breathed. She’d come up behind Allison while she was cutting the herbs. “It always looks like you are going to cut your fingers off, but you end up with tiny bits.”

  “It’s all in learning to curl your fingers. It takes practice. You’ll get it one day. I’ll bet you’ll be better than me.”

  “Maybe,” Jaden said with a grin. “I can only try.”

  “Look out the window,” Allison told her.

  “Whoa,” Jaden said, standing on tiptoes to peer closer to the window. “That’s a lot of snow. How much is there?”

  “I’ll bet there’s a foot out there. And, it doesn’t seem to be slowing down. This is going to be a big one.”

  “I hope our security team is okay,” Jaden commented.

  “They’ll be fine. Will knows what he’s doing. If they need anything, Will’ll make sure they get it.”

  “Riley does most of the stuff like that,” Jaden offered. “Will does more of the tactile stuff.”

  Allison frowned. “Do you mean tactical?”

  Jaden wrinkled her nose. “Yeah, I think I do. Some of these words are ha
rd to learn.”

  “You’re learning just fine.” Allison laughed. She quickly sobered. “I just wish you didn’t have to know some of these words.”

  After supper dishes had been washed and put away, and every group member had complimented Jax on his cooking ability, Allison said good night and waded through snow that came half way up her thigh. It took almost ten minutes to make it the fifty feet to her door.

  Bella trailed in the path she made though the high snow, but even she struggled. She held her head high but occasionally not high enough as her whole head disappeared under the fluffy, white powder. Allison was happy when Bella chose to shake the snow off before they stepped inside. Allison followed suit, getting as much snow as possible off before entering.

  James was not in the house when she finally kicked off her boots and brushed the remaining snow from her pants. James had obviously been in at some point because there was a stack of logs next to the fireplace and a fire was burning brightly.

  She thought about opening the door to the basement and calling down to see if he might be chatting with the guards, but the shift that was scheduled to go out at midnight was most likely asleep. She decided not to bother them.

  Instead, she stopped at the bookshelf in the living room and selected a Dean Koontz book before padding down the hall to the bedroom. Bella curled up in her foam bed next to Allison and was soon snoring softly.

  Allison was dozing, the Koontz book laying flat on her chest. She heard Bella’s tags jingle and sat up as James entered the room.

  “Hey,” he said. “Sorry I woke you.”

  “I was reading,” she replied. “Where have you been lately? I don’t see much of you during the day and you’ve been coming in late at night. Is there something going on?”

  “Uh, no. Nothing. I’ve been spending some time with the security teams.”

  “Where were you today?” She closed the book and set it on the dresser next to the bed. The solar light that she’d been using to read tipped over and threatened to topple to the floor. She quickly grabbed it before it could hit the floor and wake up the security team sleeping below.

  “Where was I today?” James asked.

  “Yes, where were you today?”

  “Well, I was there for breakfast. I sat with you. Then I went to Don’s. After that, I came back here. I brought wood in earlier and you weren’t even here yet. Where were you?”

  “Please don’t turn this back on me. You know exactly where I spend my days.” She watched him shift his weight from one foot to the other. “You know,” she finally said. “I don’t want to fight. I just haven’t seen much of you lately and wondered where you’ve been. I miss the time we used to spend together.”

  James’s eyes darted from Allison to the foot of the bed where Bella lay watching. Tears formed in his eyes. “I miss you too,” he said. “I just wish things could go back to the way they used to be.”

  “Me too,” whispered Allison.

  “Hand me the light, please. I want to go get a drink before I come to bed.”

  She picked up the solar light and reached across the bed to hand it to him. “Good night.”

  Chapter 20 Allison

  “Allison,” Jaden called.

  Allison had just made her way through the narrow path dug in the snow to the outhouses.

  “Yes, dear.” Allison shook the snow from her jacket and hung it on a nail inside the doorway.

  “You keep telling us that it’s important to drink herbal tea this time of year. Well, I made myself some chamomile tea, but I forgot and it’s been steeping for four hours. Is it still okay to drink?”

  Allison smiled. “Well, you just made a proper infusion. It’s going to be quite strong, but medicinally more potent. It’s perfectly fine to drink. Why did you choose chamomile?”

  “Well…” Jaden drug the word out. “You said that chamomile is a good herb to try if you have heartburn or gas. I kinda have a little gas today and my tummy doesn’t feel normal.” She rubbed her stomach. “I feel fine,” she said. “Just a little off and gassy. I wanted to see if it would help.”

  “Good for you,” Allison said. “It’s going to be a bit strong. You can water it down a little, if you want. You might also want to put some of Don’s honey in it to sweeten it. How are we doing on the honey supply, anyway? I thought we were starting to get low.”

  “Don brought more. He said he’s got plenty to get through til next year when his bees start giving him more.”

  “Okay,” Allison said. “Do you remember the precautions for chamomile?”

  “Yep. Pregnant women should not drink chamomile tea. People with asthma shouldn’t drink it. People who are allergic to some flowers like ragweed might be allergic to chamomile. Don’t drink it if you are taking blood pressure medicine. It might lower blood sugar so diabetics shouldn’t drink it. Uhm. I think that’s everything.”

  Allison clapped her hands. “Very good. You just missed one.”

  “I know what I missed. Don’t operate heavy machinery cuz it might make you sleepy.”

  “Yay!” Allison clapped her hands again. “I’m so proud of you!”

  Jaden sipped the tea and made a face. “Eww! That’s strong!”

  “I’ll bet. Just remember how good it is for you. You can do it.”

  Jaden drained the mug and made a face with her tongue out. “That’s a big nope from me. I can say with conviction that I do not like chamomile. It tastes nasty.”

  “That’s why we added honey to it.” Allison laughed.

  “I miss sugar.” Jaden frowned. “I really, really miss sugar. I don’t know why we can’t use some of our sugar for special occasions – like tea.”

  Allison nodded. “I hear you. I do. At some point, we will run out of granulated sugar, but if we can make it last long enough, we’ll be able to come up with a replacement. Both Rolly and Bill say we can tap many different trees for syrup and they will be experimenting with that this year. For now, we have lots of honey so we use that when we can to make sure our granulated sugar lasts until we can come up with a replacement or until the world gets back on it’s feet and we can buy sugar.”

  Jaden used the side of her hand to wipe the counter before carefully walking to the trash can to dump the crumbs. “You said we were going to have an herbs class for the whole group. How come we never had one?”

  “Well,” Allison said. “In the beginning, we had so much work to do to put this together. We needed to make sure we had enough food to get through until we could start harvesting more next year. We needed enough wood to keep us warm and to keep the stove working. We had so much planning to do. But now, we are starting to have a lot of free time. I’ve got some lavender that we can cut and dry. I want anyone who wants to learn to be able to see the process from start to finish.”

  She walked to the window to examine the herbs. “I also have some more chamomile that we can dry. So perhaps we will have a short class on cutting and drying herbs this week. Then another short class on storing after the herbs have dried. Will that work for you?”

  “Yes, but aren’t we going to teach them what each herb helps with?”

  “We can. Since we’ll only be cutting and drying two types of herbs, let’s start with those. Can you think of how we want to teach?”

  “Well, I could make up a sheet for each one and we can hang them somewhere so people can look up the information after we give the class.”

  “Well, then. That’s going to be your part of the class. You make up the sheets and then after the class is over, we’ll post them for reference.”

  “Thanks, Allison.”

  That afternoon proved to be the best time for the class. Gray skies had led to light snow, which turned heavy. The men gathered in the arena after lunch. With the outside temperature hovering at 30º, the arena was plenty comfortable with heavy shirts covered in sweatshirts. They had moved hay bales to use for seats and propped 2 X 12’s against more bales to use for knife throwing contests.

>   The women gathered in the common room. A few had baskets of clothes. Sewing supplies were spread out on a table and a few women were showing others the correct stitches to use for different mending tasks. Bell Wilcox, still sporting a few bandages from the attack on her family, demonstrated darning on a sock.

  Allison approached Karen. “What did you have planned for schooling today?” she asked.

  Karen looked up from the pair of old jeans that she was cutting up to use for patches. “I didn’t have much planned. We haven’t done reading comprehension lately so I was thinking that we might all enjoy curling up with a book for an hour and then talking about what we’d read. It helps me learn how well they understand what they read when we discuss it.”

  “Jaden would like to help me with an herbal class. Is that something that you think would be interesting for the kids?”

  Karen smiled. “Definitely! Let’s do it.” She stood up and addressed the group. “Allison and Jaden are going to do an herb class in place of our regular schooling. There’s no reason we can’t continue mending while we sit in on the class, so don’t put away your mending.”

  Bell beamed. “This group is such a godsend. Had you not rescued us, there is no way that we could have learned all that we need to know. We had plenty of food to last several years, but there is so much we had no way of knowing and no way to learn.”

  Allison smiled. “It’s going to be a short class today. Just enough to get your feet wet. We’ll try doing short classes every week. But, just so you know, we are lucky to have found you. I’ve heard from several people that you have mended clothes for them. You have a needed skill and we appreciate it.”

  Bell nodded. “Thank you,” she said.

  The children gathered near the white board at the back of the common room. Jaden stepped out of the room she now shared with Bell’s daughter, Beth. She walked straight to the white board and cleared her throat.

  The room became quiet. “I’m going to be helping Allison give the herbal tea class. I have two sheets of paper. One has information about chamomile and the other has information about lavender. They both tell you what each one can help with. For instance, this morning I was a little gassy…”