‘Oh my God,’ she said, ‘this is amazing.’ She drew out the word amaaazing.
Josh hooted, ‘I reckon so, and it sure beats walking!’ Eventually they slowed and turned for home.
‘Steering is not that bad either,’ Josh said, as they wheeled the bikes back into the workshop.
‘So how did it go?’ Jamie asked.
It was amaaazing,’ Josh said, mimicking Georgia.
‘Can I have a go?’ Jamie asked.
Georgia nodded. ‘Yes of course, go with Josh.’
While they were away, she walked down to the dock. Lola and Deedee had been doing the laundry and had strung up a makeshift line.
‘Just finished,’ Lola said, as she caught sight of Georgia. She hung a pair of jeans over the cord. ‘Deedee’s just taking a dip.’
‘Looks like she’s having fun,’ Georgia said, as she gave her a wave.
‘Yeah she is, she earned it. I had her scrubbing jeans with handfuls of gravel. Works pretty well, although, real laundry detergent would have been nice.’
‘So where’s Rebecca and Ruby.’
Lola wrinkled her nose. ‘They’re up at the house, sorting out the food, and setting up the kitchen ready to start canning. We found a box of mason jars under the sink and there’s gas, not sure how much though. Poor Becky is as white as a sheet, even though we opened up the kitchen windows, but surprisingly she is not complaining.’
‘That’s excellent news about the gas. How many jars do you think?’ The day was getting better and better! They had gas, jars and Rebecca was not bitching!
‘I didn’t stop to count them, but I reckon about two dozen or so, as well as a whole lot of jelly jars. They were still looking for the lids when I left.’
‘Well, let’s hope that Jamie and Deedee actually catch something when they go out, might pay to send them out early. Also I’m thinking it might be an idea if you and Rebecca go fishing. Catch us something for supper, enough for the dogs as well. Now we have jars we should keep all the game for canning.’
‘Yeah, Rebecca and I already talked about that, and she wants to look for blackberries, not just for the fruit, but for the leaves.’
‘She does?’
‘Yeah, Ruby seems to think that you can make a decent substitute for tea using dried blackberry leaves.’
‘Who would have thought?’
‘So how’s it going up in the engine room?’
‘We just took the bikes for a ride, it was great, no problems. We are ready to move onto stage two. Jamie’s having a turn now.’
‘Stage two?’
‘Yes, attaching the bikes to the trailer.’
‘Heavens, sounds like you are nearly done.’
‘Not really, but the finished result is getting closer. Which reminds me, any luck on finding more water containers? As soon as the Spyder is ready, I want to be able to test it out with a full load.’
‘No, not yet, but I am planning to go further afield first thing tomorrow. Hopefully we will find something then.’
‘Sounds good,’ Georgia said, as she turned to walk back up the hill. There can be no better feeling, she decided, than when a plan starts to come together!
Chapter Sixty Eight
August 29th, Day 50
Georgia woke with a feeling of dread that crawled up and down her skin, making her instantly alert. An impending sense of disaster, of something vital forgotten or overlooked. She peered around the barn in the half grey light of pre-dawn, her heart racing, but everything seemed just as it should be. Ruby asleep on the couch, Lola, Deedee, Rebecca and three dogs sprawled on the bedding next to her. But still anxiety clutched at her insides.
She hastily tugged on her jeans, and caught up her shotgun, as everyone continued to sleep serenely. Hurrying over to the barn door, she slid it open a crack and peered out, surprised by the chill in the air. Down by the dock, the river mist hung heavily over the still waters, the silence was only broken by the occasional croaking of frogs. Nothing moved, and nothing seemed to be out of order.
She slipped out the door, and cautiously tiptoed over to the workshop, to where Josh and Jamie would be. They had relieved her and Lola just after two.
‘Josh? Jamie? Are you there?’ She called out softly. After all she didn’t want to startle them and get shot!
She heard a soft creak, and then Josh’s shadowy form appeared in the doorway, ‘Yup,’ Josh said, ‘we’re here, is everything okay?’
‘I don’t know, just feeling really uneasy.’
‘Huh, it’s been as quiet as, nothing out of the ordinary, but if you like, I can take a quick look around outside, you wait here.’
‘Would you mind?’
‘No problem, be right back,’
‘I’ll go with you,’ Jamie said, following Josh as he moved silently round the building and disappeared out of sight. Far off in the distance a cockerel crowed.
Georgia went inside the workshop, rubbing her arms nervously as she waited. Had something woken her, or was she picking up on something subconsciously that was bothering her? Maybe it was just her anxiety getting out of hand. Things had been going so well over the past few days and that in itself was frightening. It made her edgy when things were going too smoothly.
And everything was right on schedule. The Spyder was close to being finished and last night Jamie and Deedee had come back with half a dozen dead rabbits for canning. Once the Spyder was completed and they had more water containers they would be ready to leave. Apart from that, everything was indeed coming along swimmingly well, and Lola and Deedee were going to look for more of those today.
She thought back to the night before, trying to pin down the source of her unease. Nothing out of the ordinary there, apart from the rabbits, but that had hardly been of any import. When Deedee had held up the bundle of rabbits, proudly showing off their catch, Georgia had been startled by the unexpected sight of their soft white fur. She had taken a half step back. White rabbits? Georgia had wondered if they had been someone’s pets, snatched from a nearby hutch, but decided she didn’t want to know. Somethings were best left unasked. She had done her best to hide her disquiet, instead patting Deedee on her back, congratulating her.
Rebecca, of course had asked. In response Deedee had rolled her eyes, and pointed out the blood smeared fur where the arrows had pierced the pelts. ‘Hardly going to waste the effort shooting them, if I can just pick them up and break their necks, now am I?’
Rebecca had turned pale, and when Georgia had given Deedee a warning look, Deedee had simply shrugged her shoulders. ‘I was just saying that’s all.’
Rebecca, fueled by Deedee’s matter of fact tone, had lost her temper, yelling ‘you’re all just savages,’ before running out of the barn. Georgia had sighed inwardly, suspecting that she had been included in that summing up. At the same time, she had felt a sense of relief that for once, there wasn’t a door that could be slammed. She shook her head, no, nothing stressful there. That was all normal.
Josh and Jamie appeared in the doorway, startling her out of her reverie. Josh gave a low chuckle. ‘Didn’t mean to make you jump, it’s only us, and we checked the whole property, everything is in order.’
‘Yeah,’ Jamie agreed, ‘nothing happening.’
‘Perhaps it’s like a fey feeling?’ Josh said after a moment, ‘except the other way round.’
‘What do you mean?’ Georgia asked, not following him.
‘Well, it’s sort of an elated feeling you get, and you think everything is going to be great, and then you die. It’s an Irish expression, but in this case you’re expecting the worst so I reckon it means something really good will happen.’
‘Oh,’ Georgia said, not entirely sure how to take that.
‘But you’re not Irish!’ Jamie said.
Josh laughed out loud. ‘You saying I don’t I look Irish?’ Then before Jamie could reply, he said, ‘nah, I’m not Irish, but it’s been whispered that my grandpa was an Irish man.’
‘Fan
cy that,’ was all Georgia could say, she was still getting her head round the whole fey thing. Perhaps he was right, perhaps something really great was about to happen. Like waking up and discovering the last six weeks or so were just a hellish nightmare. That she had been in a coma and would regain consciousness in a hospital bed, with crisp white sheets and doctors peering down at her. If only!
Feeling a little more at ease, she left the two of them and went to wake the others. It was still very early, but they had a lot to do today. They breakfasted on leftover fish pie. Ruby had done them proud the day before. She had made short-crust pastry using flour and water, and a little olive oil she had found in the pantry. All of them had practically been rendered speechless when she and Rebecca had carried up the four pies, and set them out on the picnic blanket. Though the crust was a little dry, the white sauce filling, thick with succulent pieces of fish, definitely made up for it. It was, Georgia decided, the best meal they had eaten since leaving Tom’s house, and probably the best meal Josh had eaten since Three-eighteen.
She still couldn’t get her head round the fact that he had managed to survive only on food he had scavenged from motor vehicles and the like. It was no wonder that he had been so skinny.
Once the dishes had been washed down by the dock, Ruby and Rebecca headed back to the house, to begin the canning. Georgia followed them a short while later, determined to check on everything. She still felt somewhat uneasy. She refused to think about the two corpses in the house, but as she stepped inside the back entrance, she could not stop herself glancing down the corridor at the door leading to the front room. Noticing as she did so, that someone had used at least half a roll of packing tape to completely tape it up, effectively closing up any gaps. Though there was still a faint buzzing coming from the other side of it, the odor was gone. Replaced by a strong smell of bleach and air freshener. So Lola had been right, this part of the house was no longer a health hazard.
As Georgia entered the kitchen she was relieved to find that the kitchen was fly free and smelling as clean and fresh as the corridor. Rebecca was on a step ladder, pulling pots out of high cupboard and handing them down to Ruby.
‘No flies, that’s good,’ Georgia said, by way of greeting.
‘Yeah well, Ruby had me swatting flies most of yesterday afternoon,’ Rebecca said as she hopped down. ‘And she made me scrub the floor twice.’
‘As I recall,’ Ruby said, tying on a frilly apron, ‘you were the only one complaining about the flies and the kitchen being so unhygienic and it rather sounded to me like you were volunteering.’
Georgia laughed. ‘Poor Becky, but you have to admit it was worth it. So clean in here now, you could eat off the floor.’
Rebecca shuddered, ‘I don’t think so.’
‘No, you are probably right.’ Georgia agreed. After what had happened in this house, she doubted the floors would ever be clean enough.
As Ruby smoothed down her apron, she looked impatiently over at Rebecca, ‘Instead of standing around like a lost lemon, why don’t you go and fetch me some vegetables to go in the stew.’
Rebecca looked startled. ‘Um, what should I get? Dandelion leaves, or nettles, or what?’
Ruby did not answer her immediately, instead she began rummaging through a kitchen drawer, speaking to herself. ‘Bother, I know I saw them in here somewhere.’ She pulled open another drawer, then suddenly turned to Rebecca as though she had only just realized she had spoken. ‘Nettles? What are you on about? You do talk nonsense sometimes, just fetch me some potatoes and carrots.’ She pulled out several plastic bags, then thrust them towards Rebecca. ‘Here take these with you.’
Rebecca looked over at Georgia with a bemused expression, no doubt hoping she would say something, but Georgia just lightly shrugged her shoulders, and silently mouthed, ‘Just humor her.’ Clearly this was not going to be one of Ruby’s good days. She made up her mind to send Deedee down to keep an eye on her while Rebecca was out foraging.
Ruby went over to the stove, and using a box of matches, stored on the window sill, lit the gas. She turned, ‘Oh, and while you are about it dear, see if there are any parsnips.’
‘It’s not like I am going to a grocery store,’ Rebecca muttered to herself as she pulled open the kitchen door.
‘What was that dear?’ Ruby called after her.
‘Nothing, Nan, just saying I’ll be back soon.’
‘Such a sweet child,’ Ruby said, as the door banged closed.
Georgia couldn’t help but raise her eyebrows. ‘So, shall I send Deedee down to help?’
‘No, I can manage dear, you run along now.’
Georgia went off in search of Deedee anyway. Ruby had probably already forgotten that she had declined the offer of her help. She had obviously forgotten everything else. Hopefully she still remembered all the intricacies of canning.
She had barely rounded the house when Deedee came flying down the track towards her, Rebecca already half way up the slope, turned to stare at her.
‘Oh, there you are, Lola said I had to come and find you, you have to see.’ She was breathing heavily, which was unusual for Deedee.
Georgia felt all the unease and anxiety of dawn, swoop back onto her, knotting up in her stomach. She just knew something bad was going to happen. ‘Why what’s happened?
‘We saw through the binoculars, hurry.’
Together they ran up the hill to where Lola was waiting.’ She looked really upset. ‘Here, use these, over on the other side of the lake, near the crest of the hill.’ She pointed emphatically. ‘That direction.’
Georgia adjusted the focus, zooming over the magnified landscape, not seeing anything but branches, and…. ‘What am I looking…,’ she began, then she caught her breath. ‘What the hell?’
There was a line of people making their way over the top of the hill, as she shifted the binoculars back and forth between the trees, she could see they formed a fairly long procession. Then she noticed something that made her catch her breath. They were chained by the ankles and alongside were men carrying what looked like assault rifles. ‘Oh Fuck!’ she whispered. Even from this distance she could see the shackled men were in shocking condition. They were underweight and filthy, their clothes little more than rags, and as she watched, one of them stumbled, and fell. His fellow captives frantically tried to pull him to his feet as the guards came at him, striking him with the butts of their weapons.
‘What’s going on?’ Josh asked, coming up behind them.
‘Georgia felt sick. ‘Here see for yourself.’
‘Do you think they are prisoners?’ Lola asked, adding, ‘I mean, from a prison, perhaps being moved for some reason? Maybe they are being taken to Warsaw. They are headed in that direction.’
‘The bridge is in that direction too,’ Jamie pointed out.
‘I don’t know,’ Georgia said.
‘They’re not from a prison,’ Josh said, ‘I reckon those guards are slavers’
‘Seriously?’ Lola asked.
‘But slavery has been abolished,’ Rebecca said.
Nobody even bothered to respond to that inane comment and Georgia felt horror and panic taking over. ‘What makes you think they are slaves?’
‘Because I never heard of a prison with mixed sex inmates, and it’s not just men who are wearing shackles, there are women and children too.’
Children? Georgia felt her hands growing clammy. She closed her eyes momentarily, taking in slow deep breathes. She was already imagining their group rounded up and shackled. Millie, Badger and Ant kicked to the side or worse. All hopes of reaching Bethel shattered as they became part of that long crocodile of slaves, their freedom stolen away from them. That it had come to this, that people had reverted back to taking slaves, was terrifying, and… They had to get the hell out of here, now!
Jamie seemed to read her mind, he came over to her, putting his hand on her shoulder. ‘It’s okay, Georgia, if they are headed for the bridge it will take at least a week for
them to reach this side, and they won’t come over the water. There are too many of them and not enough boats.’
What Jamie said, made sense, and for all they knew, they were not even headed this way. It would, she reasoned, be kind of pointless, there was nothing here. Even so, they needed to be extra vigilant, and she needed to get the Spyder finished and…,
She rounded on the others. ‘Okay, Deedee, you go down and keep an eye on Ruby, make sure she doesn’t burn the place down. She looked over at Lola. ‘Get the rifle, see if you can find water containers, and take Rebecca…,’
‘I can’t go with Lola,’ Rebecca interrupted, ‘remember, I have to get greens for Ruby.’
‘Yes I know, but you can do both, and Jamie, you go with them. Josh and I will get over to the workshop.’
As the others scattered, Georgia scooped up Ant, tucking her under her arm, as she called Millie and Badger to heel. What they had just witnessed was horrifying, but at least it was not an immediate threat. They still had a little time, Georgia reasoned, desperately trying to remain calm and rational. They all had jobs to do, and as long as everyone did their part, everything was going to be fine.
Chapter Sixty Nine
Four hours later the Spyder was ready. At first she had planned to run struts from the seat posts back to the trailer, leaving a gap of about twelve inches behind the back wheels of the bikes. That way she could rig up a system whereby they could release the drop bar whenever they needed to brake.
Josh had taken one look at her scratchy diagrams and shaken his head. ‘This is never going to work. Aside from the fact that the front axle is freewheeling, the moment you drop the bar at any sort of speed, it will dig into the ground, and the whole thing will jackknife and flip over.’
Of course the moment he had pointed that out, it became glaringly obvious. She felt a rush of disappointment and frustration followed by gratitude. She had spent hours working this all through in her mind, and Josh had taken less than thirty seconds to see why it would fail. And thank God he had. Thank God he was with them, that his father had serviced big rigs and insisted he come after school to learn, and help. If not, then at best she would have connected it all up, only discover it didn’t work. At worst they would have been speeding down a hill and…. It didn’t bear thinking about.
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