“You do need to eat and drink plenty of water,” Elna said. “It’ll help you get your strength back. You lost a lot of blood.”
Selene applied the poultice, and Elna bandaged the wound. When they were done, Selene carried the remaining food items back to the kitchen, leaving Elna and Malin alone in the bathroom.
“From now on, take it easy,” Elna said, putting the first aid supplies back in the kit. “No more fighting, if you can help it.”
“I’ll try,” Malin said, lightly running his fingertips along the bandage. “Kind of depends on the weirdo out there. I’m not going to let him attack Selene.”
“There are plenty of people to handle him,” Elna said.
“Can you imagine being married to someone like that?” He pulled the sleeve of his jacket back down.
“No, not really,” Elna said. “I’d like to think I would have kicked his butt a long time ago, but it’s probably different when you’re in the middle of it.”
Malin grunted and leaned back. He had a pensive look on his face. As Elna put the first aid kit back in the cabinet, he sighed and said, “I hope Garret’s wrong.”
“About what?” Elna asked.
“Claire,” he replied. “Having second thoughts.”
“Well, I don’t know how trustworthy your best man is,” Elna said. She found Tylenol and ibuprofen in a drawer and shook out a couple of each into her hand.
“I don’t believe everything Garret says, that’s for sure but he said that there are text messages. I didn’t know that they were ever in contact with each other.” He took the pills from her and tossed them into his mouth. She handed him a small cup of water, but he’d already downed the pills dry. He drank the water anyway and crushed the paper cup in his hands. “Yeah, he made it up. He said that about the texts because he knew he wouldn’t have to prove it. That’s what I choose to believe. Assume the best about people until you’re forced to accept the worst, that’s what I always say.”
“Good,” Elna said, giving him an encouraging smile.
She marveled at how wrong her first impression of Malin Weber had been. He was a nice guy, possibly a wounded soul. And he looked so much better now that he’d lost the gelled hairdo. When he looked up at her, she couldn’t maintain eye contact.
Too bad he’s taken, she thought, then quickly drove the thought from her mind.
While Malin rested on the couch, Elna’s father brought out some crackers, cheese, and wine. They all enjoyed a snack in front of the warm, crackling fire. Even Garret seemed, for the moment, to fully relax, sitting cross-legged on the floor with his back against the wall.
“We’ll have to watch for signs of infection,” Selene said, leaning close to Elna to speak.
“Yeah, it was a deep cut,” Elna said. “It’s definitely a risk, and we don’t have access to antibiotics.”
“You don’t have much left in the kitchen,” Selene said. “We’ll need more herbs for treating wounds, especially garlic and ginger.”
“We can scour the garden tomorrow,” Elna said. “Assuming it survives the storm. Pop always grows a bit of garlic, and we have a few ginger plants as well.” A thought occurred to her then. It was such a simple thing that she hadn’t considered it until then, so preoccupied with more complicated solutions. “You know, we can always plant more. There are seeds in a shed out by the vineyard. It’s a long-term solution, but given enough time and care, it could provide plenty of food.”
At one point during the evening, Pop went to check on the pots they’d left on the veranda, but he didn’t find them. Either the wind or Dominic had dragged them away. Elna stood at the door and stared out into the rainy evening, as if she could spot them in the distance. They were nowhere to be seen. Neither did she see any moving shadows in the gloom.
“We still have the water storage tank,” she said, as her father closed the door and set the deadbolt. “But it won’t last. We’ll need to set up a system for collecting water that can serve our needs going forward. We have to make long-term plans, Pop. We can’t just react to everything. We need a permanent water solution, we need to build up our food stores somehow, and we have to be ready for Dominic in case he returns.”
“I just don’t have answers for everything,” he said with a world-weary sigh.
“You don’t have to,” Elna said. “I’ve got some ideas. But they’ll hold till morning.”
Her father hugged her. “You just tell me what to do, Principessa. I trust you.”
Principessa. That was a nickname he hadn’t called her in years. She smiled, but it was bittersweet. The world of her childhood was gone now. Gone perhaps forever.
9
Despite the debris that was cast about, a few broken trellises, and the shattered window, the island looked and smelled fresh in the aftermath of the storm. In the morning light, everything was clean and bright. If not for the fact that a violent creep was hiding out there somewhere, Elna might have enjoyed her walk with Malin and Norman.
“It’s a shame to have all that water falling on us and not be able to store it somehow,” Norman said. “It’s like nature said, ‘You need fresh water? Here you go!’”
“We can certainly collect more rainwater in the storage tank,” Elna explained. “I was thinking of constructing some kind of funnel system around the top hatch. However, it doesn’t rain that often on the island, so the best solution, the best long-term solution is desalination.”
“You know how to do that?” Norman said. “I’ve seen desalination plants. They’re pretty huge.”
“I think I know a way to do it,” Elna said. “I thought about it all night, and I believe we have the equipment we need. We need a large pot, aluminum foil, rubber tubing, duct tape, and a glass jar. I’m pretty sure we have all of those things in various places.”
“And you know how to make it work?” Malin said. He was nursing his wounded arm, keeping it curled against his belly. “Like, you just lay there in bed and figured it all out? I’m impressed.”
“It’s been a while since I’ve read about it,” Elna said, “but I think I can recall the basic concept. The idea is to put the salt water in a covered pot, set it over a fire, then let it heat until it turns into water vapor. You collect the vapor, and the salt gets left in the pot. Voila, potable water!”
“Can it really be that simple?” Norman said.
Elna conceded that Norman’s doubt was reasonable. She’d never actually tried it before, but there had to be a first time for everything.
“Just keep your eyes open as we’re strolling around the grounds,” Malin said. “D-bag is out there somewhere, unless the storm washed him away.”
“It would serve him right,” Norman muttered. “What do you figure he’s up to right now?”
“Hopefully, clinging to a piece of driftwood,” Malin said, “and heading off in the general direction of Japan. But realistically, he’s probably hiding somewhere on the island, trying to figure out his next move. It sounds like he’s a persistent guy. We need to keep an eye on Selene. We shouldn’t leave her anywhere by herself.”
“I don’t suppose he’ll take the hint,” Norman said, “figure out his ex-wife doesn’t want him anymore, and move on with his life.”
“He kicked in a window instead of knocking on the front door,” Malin said. “That’s not a sign of a stable type.”
“Doesn’t make sense to me.” Norman shook his head and gave a disgusted look. “If someone doesn’t want you, why do you want to keep coming around? Have a little dignity, man. Doesn’t he know he’s embarrassing himself?”
To this, Malin merely shrugged.
It was a timely warning. Elna was so caught up in her little project that she had trouble thinking about anything else. When she was on a mission, it tended to consume her. She tried to keep an eye open for Dominic as they moved about the grounds.
In the end, she found everything they needed for the desalination project in various locations: aluminum foil and a pot from the kitchen,
rubber tubing and duct tape from the shed near the water storage tank, a glass jar from a shelf in the small greenhouse beside the garden. The hard part was getting seawater, which required another hike down the road to the eastern shore. She filled up a couple of large buckets, and Malin and Norman hauled them back up the hill.
Too much work, she thought. We’ll need to find an easier way to transport the water.
She needed a heating element, so she decided to use the fireplace. It was a large enough space for a Dutch oven to hang from a hook. She retrieved the hook and set it over the coals. They’d fed the fire periodically throughout the night, and there was still plenty of heat.
Malin and Norman tried to help her set up the desalinator, but she mostly did it herself—she had a very specific design in mind, and it was easier to make it herself than to explain it with precision. The water-filled pot was covered in aluminum foil, with a small opening for the rubber tubing. She put duct tape around the opening both to hold the tubing in place and to seal it. Then she ran the tube into the big glass jar and sealed it in place with more tape.
“Man, how do people come up with this kind of stuff?” Malin said, watching her from the hearth. “I don’t understand how your mind works. You should be a scientist.”
“To be fair, I didn’t come up with the idea,” she replied, though the compliment both embarrassed and pleased her. “I adapted it from stuff I’ve read in the past. We heat the water in the first pot, it evaporates, runs through the tubing, cools and condenses, then pools in the bottom of the jar. Salt and sediment are left behind. In theory, at least. We’ll see. Something about it feels off. I’m not sure what.”
She stoked the fire, added another log, and got it burning. After a couple of minutes, she heard water boiling in the pot. The glass jar began to fill with steam, and gradually the steam became condensation. From there, it was a long, dull process of waiting for the condensation to pool in the bottom of the jar. Malin finally lost interest and began to wander about the lobby, but Norman stood patiently behind Elna and watched. Selene was on the couch with Sniffy, but she seemed lost in thought.
Finally, when a few inches of water had collected in the bottom of the jar, Elna decided to test the results. Using a towel, she removed her contraption from the hook and set it on the hearth. Then she disconnected the rubber tuning and carefully removed the tape from the neck of the jar. She held up the jar, showing it to Norman and Selene.
“Seems like it worked,” Norman said, with an encouraging smile.
“It’s not a lot,” Selene noted, “and it took a long time.”
“We have propane tanks,” Elna said, thinking out loud. “I could set up a burner and keep the process going throughout the day. Of course, I would have to find an easier way to transport a large amount of seawater up the hill.”
Garret had wandered over behind the couch, arms crossed as he watched her.
“Well, let’s see how it turned out,” she said, bringing the jar to her lips. She sniffed. “It doesn’t smell like seawater. That’s a good sign.”
She took a swig and instantly tasted a salt tang. She spat it back into the jar and set it on the hearth.
“No good?” Norman said.
She shook her head. “Reduced the salt content but didn’t eliminate it. I don’t understand. The science is sound. What did I do wrong?”
“I bet you have to let it boil longer,” Garret said, gesturing vaguely toward the fireplace. “Restrict the steam better and give the salt time to settle.”
Oh, what do you know? Elna thought, fighting an urge to scowl at him. I’d rather not take advice from you of all people.
“Possibly,” she said, instead. “It’s worth a try. I’ll run a few more tests.”
But her father came down the hallway then from the tasting room and beckoned her. “Elna, I need your help. Can you come here?”
She showed him the jar. “I’m kind of in the middle of something, Pop. Something important.”
“Let someone else take over for a while,” he said. “You’ll have plenty of time for experiments.”
“Yep, I’ve got it covered,” Garret said, coming around the couch and approaching the fireplace, a thoughtful look on his face. “I’ll continue the experiment. I’ve got some ideas.”
“Perfect,” Elna’s father said, turning and starting back down the hall
Seething, but unwilling to argue in front of the guests, Elna set the jar down and rose. Selene gave her a sympathetic shrug. As she moved after her father, Elna glanced at Garret. He was already settling himself in front of the hearth, reaching for the pot.
She waited until they reached the tasting room to say something to her father. “I’m trying to figure out how to make clean water. That’s kind of important, Pop. Garret is just going to mess it up.”
“Sorry,” he said over his shoulder, approaching the back door. “I didn’t mean to intrude. You can get back to it in a little while.”
He opened the door and stepped outside. When she followed him, she realized he was headed for the small fenced garden behind the kitchen. It wasn’t much, just enough to grow their own herbs, tomatoes, garlic, and peppers. Most of their food came from the mainland. At the moment, being late autumn, there wasn’t much growing, and the fierce rainstorm had battered the plants.
“You made that kind of awkward back there,” Elna said. She couldn’t keep the sharpness out of her voice.
“I know you like your little experiments, but I’ve got something on my mind,” Pop said, crossing his arms. “It’s about food. This garden won’t be nearly enough to feed us long term, so I was trying to figure out how we could grow more. We might have to clear some of the vineyard and replace it with other plants, but that brings up the issue of water. Instead of spinning my wheels, I figured I’d bring you into it. I knew you’d be good at thinking about this sort of thing.”
Water is exactly what my “little experiment” was all about, she thought.
“We have the water storage tank,” she noted. “Of course, it won’t last long with a garden of any significant size, not to mention the need for drinking and bathing. We should use the little greenhouse, of course, to protect some of the plants.” She stooped down and picked up the rain-ruined bits of a tomato plant.
“Level with me,” her father said. “I didn’t want to ask this in front of the others. Can you make desalination work? Is it just a wild idea, or can you actually do it? Our survival depends on it.”
“I know,” she replied. “I’m sure I can make it work, if Garret isn’t in there messing it up right now.”
“How do we get the water up here from the shore?” he asked.
“That’s my next project,” she said, tapping the side of her head. As she considered the problem, she turned and glanced toward the vineyard, to the blue storage tank in the midst of it. “I wonder if we could repurpose the water pump somehow? Not quite sure how to make it work without the generators, but…”
“Would you work on it?” her father said.
She sighed. “Can I get back to my desalination project first?”
Her father patted her on the back—a sure sign that he was about to gently refuse her request. “Let Garret work on that one for a while. He needs something constructive to do. Focus your effort on the water pump.”
Elna had to take a moment to collect herself. Let Garret take over her desalination project? He was practically a caveman. Wringing her hands, fighting her mounting frustration, she finally managed to nod. “Okay, I’ll work on the water pump. Who knows, maybe Garret will accidentally prove useful.”
She started to walk away when he said, “It’s up to you, Elna. You’re the smartest one on the island. Can you juggle all of these responsibilities?”
“I think so,” she replied.
“Are you sure? I know I’m asking a lot. I don’t want to put too many expectations on you.”
She glanced back and saw him staring at her with his eyebrows raised.
Does he doubt me? she wondered.
The possibility was so surprising she stared at him open mouthed. Before he could say anything else, she walked away.
In the end, she returned to the lobby to recruit Malin and Selene for her work on the water pump. They seemed more than willing. Elna was actually surprised to see Garret huddled over the desalination rig, carefully—almost delicately—taping the rubber tubing back in place. She heard water sloshing in the pot.
Wonders never cease, she thought. Maybe he’ll surprise us all and be more than just a loudmouth.
As Malin and Selene followed her out into the vineyard, she explained her plan.
“We’re going to create a source of water,” she said. “Either we pump it up out of the ground, or we transport it up from the shore, but we’re going to do it with absolutely no electronics or reliable power source.”
“Is that possible?” Selene asked, setting Sniffy down to let her dog roam the vineyard at the end of his leash.
“It is,” Elna said, her mind already going through the possibilities that she almost missed the look Selene gave her.
Turning to look at Malin, she couldn’t help the smile when he clapped his hands together and asked, “So, where do we begin?”
10
Elna followed the hose that they’d run from the water storage tank toward the back door of the guesthouse. It was threaded to the outlet of the freshwater pump, which was, in turn, housed in a small plastic-lined box set in the gap between the tank and storage shed.
“What are you thinking?” Malin asked, following her as she pulled the hose out from under various kinds of debris that had been whipped about by the storm.
“We can round up all of the hoses on the property and run them as far toward the shore as they’ll go,” she said. “Believe it or not, they might actually reach. If not, I’ll figure out something else. Then we just have to get the pump working.”
Island Refuge EMP Box Set | Books 1-3 Page 8