by Ron Foster
The couple conferred a moment and then the man hollered back no, they would be right on over and Tina said ok.
“Shit, you all help me hurry up and at least get them boxes cleared off the top of the van.” Travis said as Slim and Tina rushed to help him.
They had gotten most everything off the luggage rack and carried into the house, when they saw a blue car turning towards their driveway.
“I will go meet them.” Tina said as Slim and Travis warily looked at the car’s occupants. The long guns were leaned against the porch by the front door but the people looked harmless enough and Tina was already on her way over to them as the man rolled down his window and hollered hello.
“Hi there! I am Tina. “she said as the man introduced himself as Sam and his wife Joyce.
“We saw you and your fish fight!” The woman said smiling and starting to exit the car.
“That was kind of a one-sided fight! I thought it was just a big fish at first but don’t laugh at me… I HATE eels!” Tina said with a chuckle.
“I don’t like them either!” The woman agreed but said they could be quite tasty if prepared correctly.
The man was eying Slim and Travis nervously but he good naturedly laughed with the ladies about their eel aversions and went to shake the men’s hands.
“Looks like you all have been out foraging.’ Sam said eying a box or two of napkins and the still loaded van.
“Yea we been out scavenging a bit. Want some napkins?” Travis said disarmingly.
“That depends, how much you want for them?” Sam asked.
“Oh, we got plenty; you can have a couple rolls of paper towels too. You are going to need some hand wipes messing with that eel.” Travis said smiling.
“Ha! Excuse me boys but that was the most entertainment that me and Joyce have had in a long time. Thanks for the eel by the way guys. You all never tried eating one before?” Sam asked.
“I have had one smoked one once before, tasted to me like salmon!” Slim said.
“Well that one I am going to salt cure but if you fix them right they are pretty good. I don’t feel right about just taking all those napkins and paper towels off you for nothing though. Are you going to be around this end of the lagoon very long? I could split that eel and give you half of it back to you or if you going to be around awhile it takes me about three days or so to preserve one.” Sam said.
“Well we got some friend’s that we need to go check on but we will be back.” Travis said non-committedly.
“Me and Joyce sure were surprised to see you all over here; this house has been for sale for a while.” Sam said meaningfully.
“Hope you don’t mind but we sort of just bought it.” Slim said thinking about his antics of taking the for sale sign down and watching the man’s reaction.
“Didn’t think anyone was buying much of anything these days but that ain’t my business.” Sam said evidently not believing much about Slim’s buying the property line.
“Hey Joyce look here they are giving us some napkins and paper towels too!” Sam said as she and Tina approached still laughing and making small talk about the eel.
“I know! Tina already told me we could have some. Thank you.” Joyce said evidently already having been offered a gift by Tina who just shrugged.
“I was telling these men this place has been vacant and for sale awhile but it’s good to see a friendly face over here.” Sam said with a knowing look towards Joyce.
“Are you all moving in permanent or just passing through?” Joyce said carefully.
“We are moving in for an extended time but we will be coming and going a lot. We got some inland friends to see about and help while we got the gas to do it.” Tina said taking over the cat and mouse conversation.
“We haven’t talked to anyone inland or from the city for some time now. Are things still pretty bad there?” Joyce said inquiringly but calmly mentally working out what kind of strangers she was dealing with.
“We haven’t been to city around here yet; we have been staying on a big creek at a fish camp and living kind of primitive lately. How are the conditions around here?” Tina asked.
“Well primitive also, but not like you described. No around here it is kind of a ghost town, that is unless you are near the water and there are still lots of folks trying to hang on here and there. You got plenty of fresh water? We got a pool we might be able to share with you if you got a means of purifying it.” Joyce said shocking her husband for her to give up such a revelation so soon in the conversation.
Noting his discomfort Tina assured them they had brought enough jugs of water with them for now and let that part of the conversation drop for a time.
“I will put these boxes in your car if you want.” Slim offered trying to speed up their departure.
“I am going to put them in the trunk.” Sam said quickly and hurried to open it as Slim picked up the two boxes and began carrying them in that direction.
“We can get that, no sense bothering yourself.” Sam spluttered trying to keep up with Slim.
“No worries, I got it. Tina go in the house and get them some paper towels.” Slim called back finally seeing why Sam was so nervous about him getting next to his car. Between the front seats sat a pistol handled shotgun. 12 gauges by the look of it and there was a mighty wicked looking machete lying in the trunk.
“That would have been good for fighting that eel with.” Slim commented as Sam quickly moved it out of the way and under an old blanket.
“Tried that once and lost my eel! I went to kill a little one over on my dock and chopped his head clean off and the body slid across the deck and back in the water.” Sam said relaxing and laughing about how he would tell them all that story one day.
“That eel is just hanging in the water down there. We need to go fetch it before the crabs or a fish gets it. Travis said you could just cut the line and you can keep the hook.” Slim said enjoying the conversation but wanting the man to hurry up and leave so they could get back to pilfering that restaurant supply trailer.
“I got my fish pliers on my belt if need be, that thing didn’t swallow the hook, did he?” Sam asked thinking he could just unhook it from the line slime or not and had brought a wash cloth with him for just for that purpose,
“I don’t think so; I mangled his head and jaw pretty good with that rock. It was kind of big for the purpose you might say.” Slim said laughing.
“Sounded like you were driving him through the deck! Ain’t they some ugly devilish things.” Sam said in regards to how adrenaline pumped up Slim seemed to have been when attacking that eel.
“Suckers have got some wicked teeth I know that.” Slim said as he told everyone that he and Sam were going down to the pier to get the sea snake looking thing.
“Mind where you step! There is eel slime everywhere.” Tina cautioned and resumed talking to Joyce about who might be now mutually known folks at the Marina she had met.
“We don’t go up there much. No need to, we don’t have nothing left to trade. Well that eel maybe could be traded once we get it salted good but we normally find it safer and better just to stay close to home and ourselves.” Joyce said nervously.
“When we get back I want you to tell me something about that salt preserving process. We don’t know it and I can see how we are going to need to learn it if we are going to survive around here.” Tina said.
“Sure Honey, I can tell you how to do it, but it takes some practice. Particularly when you are preserving eels, you see you can cure the skin separate also sort of like if you wanted to make an eel skin wallet but curing the meat is different. Tough eel skin makes good a good crab bait. Anyway, salt draws out the moisture you see. This helps by drying out the fish and creating an environment where microorganisms can’t function and the fish are preserved. Most of the methods I know of preserving fish will use salting them in one form or another. Now if you find any pickling salt by some slim chance in your foraging efforts we need to talk. I always
use pickling salt if possible because it contains no iodine or additives to keep it from clumping and it generally is of a finer grain than other types of salt. In a pinch you can use Kosher or sea salt, but they will not perform as well. Now as for table salt that has iodine in it, I can almost guarantee it will turn everything dark and can influence flavors. Table salt like that should be avoided in all but survival situations for preserving but we are in one now, so if that’s all you can get by all means get some.” Joyce said as Slim and Sam came back carrying the dead eel.
“Wrap that thing it up in that wet towel we brought and throw it in the ice chest until we get home Sam. When you coming back Tina?” Joyce asked and then looking at everyone for an answer.
“I am not sure; maybe we will be back in a few days. I will look for you and Sam fishing over there and give you a holler. Tina offered.
“You meet Mr. Webster yet?” Joyce asked.
“No who is Mr. Webster?” Tina asked.
“Why that’s your neighbor over there with the car in the driveway.” Joyce said pointing.
“He keeps to himself and we don’t see him much, but as far as I know he is still living over there. Sam when was the last time you saw Webster?” Joyce said.
“I don’t know been a week or so I guess. We saw him fishing last Friday evening, didn’t we?” Sam said.
“That’s right. He never has been none too friendly but we used to see him around at a restaurant or bar or something and say hello. We were sort of wondering if the fireworks were going to begin when we saw you moving in next to him.” Joyce said as they all looked over to the neighbor’s house.
“I don’t think he is going to take too kindly to understanding your squatter’s rights but if you leave him alone I guess he will probably leave you alone.” Sam said to everyone’s watchful worried gazes.
“He is not the kind to you know show up with a gun and start hollering he is going to shoot us is he?” Tina said nervously.
“Oh lord no, I can’t see him doing anything like that but if and when he does talk to you it most likely won’t be very nice. Just keep your distance from anything that is his and I imagine you all can suffer living near each other alright.” Sam said speculatively and really not too sure about the accuracy of his advice.
“We will keep an eye out for him, thanks for the heads up about him. We have been honking the horn coming in and out so it ain’t like we are trying to hide anything from anyone.” Travis said.
“Yea we heard you honk the horn, keep on doing that when you come and go. There are a few other families around here surviving that you might see out and about and not surprising anyone these days is a good idea. Don’t loot on this street you’re on and you will avoid any confrontations. Folks living around here are all armed pretty good.” Sam cautioned.
“Maybe you can introduce us to the other houses someday?” Tina asked hopefully.
“Someday maybe we will see. Keep in mind other folks are watching you now whether you see them or not.” Sam said pointedly and watching them closely or their reactions.
“We are just getting by the same as everyone else is and living day to day. If you got any rules around here then go ahead and tell us so we don’t mistakenly break any.” Tina began before Joyce reassured her everyone tried to get along with each other the best they could under the conditions except for the old recluse Wilson of course who had always been known to be some kind of a hermit.
“You ought to put you up a sign that says occupied or quarantine or something in front of your place and let folks know you are living here. That way most likely nobody will steal your stuff or move in when you’re gone. I see you took the old for sale sign down. Nice touch by the way taking it off the market that way, but if you mark a house as occupied with a prominent sign you take the mistake out of somebody thinking its unoccupied when they might be searching for food. Now some folks are of the mind that anything goes these days and think putting up a sign out front is stupid and are scared it draws unwanted attention but for me it attracts the right kind of attention. See to me and Joyce’s way of thinking we are announcing to the world “Hey! Don’t think about hitting this place it has folks living inside. Avoid it and the houses next to me please.” That way if we have a sign posted and sees someone sneaking up to the house we know that their intents are bad and they have been already warned to stay away!” Sam advised.
“We tried to get everyone on our street to do it but lots of folks didn’t want to put the signs out.” Joyce said with a frown.
“Well I got a box and a magic marker” Tina said thinking about how they could do it.
“That will work for now, but I would take it as an honor and a trade of sorts in payment for all those napkins you gave us. I would love it if you let me paint you a sign on top of that realtor’s sign you got laying over there.” Joyce said who also an artist of sorts and explained that she would use house paint to cover the old sign and some of her picture oil paints for the lettering.
“Why that would be a wonderful trade or house warming gift for us. Thank you, Joyce, how nice! I guess we are officially neighbors now.” Tina said giving the old woman a quick hug and doing the same to Sam who wasn’t used to such signs of friendly affection and felt awkward.
Slim and Travis shook the man’s hand since it looked like the women were all in for the thing and stood around for a moment looking over at Wilson’s to see if maybe he would come out after seeing these newcomers met by someone he knew.
It wasn’t happening, not even a curtain stirred to show them that this little lagoon parlay had even been seen by Wilson let alone acknowledged. Slim was edgy and didn’t like it and he was having a hard time being patient while wanting to get back to packing up as much of the trailer as they could carry and heading back to the fish camp.
They would be days early getting back but it seemed it couldn’t be helped. They needed to get what they could off that trailer before some other scavenger come along and helped themselves. Travis needed to go maybe find a store somewhere that carried padlocks and they could maybe lock that trailer back up for appearances sake. That action carried its own hazards and he guessed they weren’t worth the risk or the time to do. It would require them to keep riding around and burning fuel for one thing and for another any store he could think of that may still have padlocks in it was probably looted down to the bare walls by now and not a very safe place to be going around.
“Hey Sam is anyone selling any gasoline around here?” Slim asked.
“Not very often is it offered and what is offered goes for a hell of a price. Make sure if you buy any it ain’t watered down from condensation build up in a storage can or breaking down too bad. I got 5 gallons in a boat tank that has been sitting around a couple of years maybe. I think it’s still good if you want to try it, I would mix it with good known gas though.” Sam offered.
“Dang two years? No thanks, you couldn’t find any better gas around?” Slim said incredulously.
“I ain’t real sure how old it is. It was in a neighbor shed and I don’t remember him mowing his lawn for that long so I was guessing it was for the lawnmower that he never used. You could probably get some fuel at the Marina; I think they want 10 bucks a gallon for it though.” Sam said scratching his head.
“We ain’t got that kind of money. Maybe I will see a U-Haul truck or something that I can siphon hose off of before having to pay such exorbitant prices.” Travis said not really worried about the gas situation at the moment but pondering where a covered RV storage yard might be that might be a jackpot for siphoning.
“Can’t help you on that one. We don’t go nowhere outside the cul de sac except maybe the marina. me and the wife’s car both had full tanks of gas day one so we don’t think too much about it.” Sam said.
“Well be careful and holler at us when you get back. Oh, yea what kind of sign do you want?” Joyce said.
“I guess a black and white one?” Tina asked questioning.
“
No do you want quarantine or occupied on it?” Joyce said.
“How about both?” Tina asked smiling.
“Makes sense to me, might keep some folks away.” Joyce said with a grin and her and her husband got in their car and left before the eel spoiled in the heat of the day.
7
Homecoming
Travis got the house all locked up and they headed back to the trailer they were salvaging.
“Those were some interesting folks. Darn it I totally forgot to ask them did they have a padlock we could use!” Slim said from the backseat.
“I didn’t even think of that! You think we should go back and ask them Travis?” Tina said.
“No, we haven’t actually been formally invited over to their house yet and I am already half way back to that trailer. Let’s not worry about it, that trailer has survived this long I guess it will survive a bit longer without anyone else discovering it. On the other hand, people are out looking for supplies every day and us putting a lock on it probably ain’t going to slow them down anymore getting in to it than it did us. Stick an “its mine” sign on it and be done with it, probably would do about as much good as a lock on it.” Travis stated logically and chuckling about the sign Joyce was making for them...
“No one has bothered it none yet it appears.” Tina said as they drove up on it.
“Let’s hit it and get it then!” Slim declared and bailed out of the van as soon as it stopped and headed for the truck anxious to be back digging around in it again.
They foraging party spent the better part of an hour half sweating over and sorting out a load to bring back to the fish camp with them. The truck from the angles they looked in at contained mostly paper goods but they had scored a bunch of buckets of hushpuppies mix and a few other things that pleased them. The van was packed to the gills. You couldn’t see out the back of it, the floor boards and seats had all kinds of different crap on them including a bunch of jars of black and green olives nobody liked and they happily psycho babbled at each other all the way home how much they should be worth as trading material.