by A. American
“I’m going to muck out the pig pen; need some fertilizer for the garden,” Thad said.
“Need a hand?” Danny asked.
Thad nodded, “Can always use a hand shoveling shit.”
“You’re going to spread pig poop on the garden?” Taylor asked.
Thad smiled, “Make’s the plants grow big.”
Taylor grabbed her stomach, “I don’t think I can eat stuff from the garden now.”
“You get hungry enough, you’ll be surprised what you can eat,” Thad replied.
“You guys keep your eyes open,” Danny said as he collected the shovels.
“We will, don’t worry,” Fred replied as she ducked into the bunker.
Danny and Thad headed for the barn. As they walked, Thad said he an idea he wanted to run past Danny.
“What is it?”
“I want to try and get water hooked up over here,” Thad replied.
“That would be nice, but we don’t have enough solar panels and batteries.”
“We don’t need power.”
Danny looked over, “How are you going to pump the water?”
Thad smiled, “Gravity.”
Skeptically, Danny replied, “Okay.”
“I found another one of those big tanks like we have on the fire trailer. I also found some large poles, like telephone poles. I figured we could use them to make a platform about ten feet high to set the tank on. Fill the fire tank from the well and use the pump to push it into the tank on the platform. Running water.”
“How would we get the tank up there? They’re not super heavy, but we couldn’t lift it that high by hand.”
Thad winked, “That’s the easy part. We’ll use the tractor to pick the tank up. Chain it to the bucket and I can set it right up there.”
Danny thought about it for a moment. “All we’d have to do is run some pipe to each house and tie it in. That much water would have some good pressure.”
“Exactly; we could flush the toilets, use the showers.”
Danny smiled, “Be some cold showers.”
Thad looked up. “You kidding me? I’ll take a cold shower. I already sweat like a crooked politician on election-day. Besides; sitting out in the sun, it will heat up some.”
As they walked, they talked about the project some more. Thad said there were enough poles for the four corners; they’d just need some cross-bracing. Danny suggested pulling some of the treated fence posts from around the neighborhood. A couple places there had almost new posts. They agreed the platform would need to be made from posts as well to support the weight.
“After we’re done with this little task, let’s go look at the poles and tank,” Danny said.
Chapter 13
We stood in the middle of a beautiful grassy field. Cecil climbed up onto the hood of the Hummer and looked around.
“What do you think?” I asked.
He hopped down off the truck. Kneeling down, he pulled up a clump of grass and dug out a handful of soil. He sifted it through his fingers as he studied it. “It looks good. Real good.” Cecil stood up and looked around the field again. “We’ll have to bush-hog this grass first. Then we can disc it and get some hands out here with rakes to pull as much of this damn Bahia out as possible. But I think it’d be a good spot.”
“There’s plenty of acreage. We could probably plant every seed we have right here,” I replied.
“We could use another tractor up here for a day or two,” Cecil said.
“Thad’s got one. He could bring it up here and help out getting the ground broken up.”
Cecil nodded, “That would be great. It’d really help.”
“Let’s get you back to town Cecil. We’ll get Thad up here in a day or two so you guys can get started,” Sarge said.
“Roger that Top. Let’s ride,” Cecil replied with a smile.
We rode back to the armory and dropped Cecil off. I went to look for Doc and check out the field hospital that would serve as our clinic. Word of which was already spreading as a line was starting to form in front of it. It wasn’t ready for patients yet, but would be soon. I found Doc inside with the other medical staff setting up equipment. Mary was stocking a shelving unit with bandages and other items. She waved and smiled when she saw me. I waved back as I walked up to Doc.
“You good here for a few days?” I asked.
“Yeah, we’ve got our work cut out for us for a couple of days at least.”
“Alright, let me know when you need a ride home.”
He grabbed a couple of large bottles and handed them to me. “Here, take these with you. Give them to Tyler and tell him and Brandy to take two pills, three times a day.” He then handed me a handful of filter masks, “And wear these when you’re over there. As soon as I get back I’ll check on them.”
I looked at the bottles, “Are these going to help them?”
Doc shrugged, “It all depends really. But it’s something. Don’t make contact with them. Set the bottles on the porch and let them pick them up, got it?”
I nodded, “Got it Doc, thanks. I’ll see you in a couple of days.”
Outside the tent I found the engineers that were setting up a generator to power the clinic.
“When you guys are done, tell Sheffield to call me and I’ll come up so we can talk,” I said.
One of the guys nodded, “Sure thing. We’ll be busy for a day or two.” He stabbed a thumb at the generator, “These things always have issues the first day or two.”
“No worries, thanks.”
I found Sarge at the Hummer. He was loading some large sacks into the back.
“What the hell is that?” I asked.
“Flour,” Sarge said as he dropped a sack into the truck.
Looking at the bag, I replied, “No shit? Where the hell did that come from?”
Sarge turned, “They brought it in on the choppers this morning. Look at the label.”
I checked out the bag and was surprised to see it read Product of Russia. “Holy shit, the Russians are helping us?”
Sarge shrugged, “It’s their flour; don’t know how we ended up with it. But there’s a lot of it, so I’m taking some with us. We can give it out at the market.”
“That’s good, it’ll make people happy for sure. I want to go by Mario’s place on the way in and check on him. We can leave them some and drop some off at Gena’s too.”
Sarge nodded and got in the truck, “Get your ass in the turret; let’s ride.”
Sarge headed out of Eustis and I directed him to Mario’s. It seemed as though things were calming down some. People were out everywhere tending to their daily tasks. The search for food was constant and unending. I had a good view from the turret of the truck as the hot noontime air rushed around me. With the end of the rain came the steam bath that always followed as the sun burned the moisture off.
As we passed through Umatilla I was happy to see the body had been moved. The rain had washed most of the blood away, and there was nearly no evidence of what had happened. On the other side of town I directed Sarge to turn onto Keene Road. We rode past the old Lakeview Terrace retirement community. From where I sat it looked pretty bad. The once-manicured lawns were now overgrown and weed-choked. It made me think of all those people and how they were doing now. Though the logical conclusion wasn’t very pleasant.
I was saved from playing the thought out any farther when Sarge pulled into the drive of D&J Apiary. The place looked deserted, so I told Sarge to lay on the horn. The gate was shut and we couldn’t get in. Hopefully they’d hear it and come up. The horn sounded in long blasts and we waited. Sarge would give it a couple of honks and wait, then give it a couple more. After about fifteen minutes I saw a side by side coming towards the gate. As it approached I waved.
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Mario built a very successful apiary with a lot of sweat equity. He got his start from his grandfather who also worked bees. Mario took those lessons and poured himself into the work. With the help of his wife Shelly, they’d developed a bit of an empire in the bee business. Not the biggest, but certainly a large and profitable concern.
Being smart with the success they’d achieved, Mario and Shelly updated their infrastructure. New warehouses and processing equipment. Heavy equipment was also on the list, loaders and skid steers as well as tractors and trucks. They had a lot of resources. But the smartest and arguably the most impactful upgrade was the solar system. The entire facility was powered via a large distributed solar system. Installed so that the loss of power in one section would not affect other areas, it was an expensive and hugely beneficial addition to their operation. More so now than ever because they had power all over their compound.
Mario rolled to a stop on the other side of the gate and leaned back in the seat. “I’m surprised to see you here. What can I do for you fellas?”
I climbed out of the turret and Sarge got out as well. “Just came to check on you, haven’t seen you in a few days.”
“We’re processing some hives and haven’t been out,” Mario replied. He took a small controller from the dash of the ATV and hit a button. The gate swung open and he walked out to meet us.
Shaking hands, I replied, “That’s good to hear. I was worried about you after the shooting at the market in Altoona.”
“Yeah, we weren’t there for that, thankfully.”
“I was hoping so, and when we didn’t see you guys I was relieved,” I replied.
A radio on Mario’s hip crackled, “Who is it, Mario?”
He picked up the radio and replied, “It’s Morgan.”
The tone on the reply changed, more cheerful. Oh, bring him up to the house. Lunch is ready.
Mario looked at me, “You guys hungry?”
“I’m always hungry and never turn down a meal,” Sarge replied with a grin.
Looking at him, I replied, “Especially a free one.”
Sarge jerked his head and smiled, “That’s the best kind!”
Mario laughed, “Follow me up to the house. Shelly’s got a nice lunch ready.”
“That’s good; we’ve got something she’ll like,” Sarge replied as he climbed back in the truck.
We followed Mario through the gate that closed automatically behind us. A nice paved road led us past the honey house where the delicious golden substance was extracted from the heavily loaded frames. Continuing, we passed the equipment storage area and then the property opened up into a large grassy pasture. A tractor sat in the center of the field with numerous round bales of hay scattered throughout.
Pulling up to the house, we got out and were greeted by Shelly from the porch.
“Hey guys. Hope you’re hungry!”
Sarge patted his belly, “Yes ma’am. I’m always hungry!”
As we walked up on the porch I looked at Mario’s garage and asked, “You still have that deuce-and-a-half in there?”
“Oh yeah, it’s still in there. Don’t have much fuel now for it, but I’ve still got it,” Mario replied.
His comment surprised me. As part of his preparations Mario had some rather large fuel tanks filled and ready to go. “Really? You’ve used that much fuel?”
“We’ve used quite a bit, but someone also got in here weeks ago and stole a couple hundred gallons.”
“Damn; did you catch ‘em?”
Mario shook his head, “Not yet. But if they come back I will.”
As I followed him into the house, I replied, “Let me know if you need any help.”
Inside, Shelly had food set out on the kitchen bar. She pointed us to seats and we sat down.
“I’m sorry all I have to drink is water,” Shelly said, “but I do have ice for it!” She said as she set a glass of ice water in front of Sarge.
Sarge picked the glass up and admired the ice cubes, “That’s great!” He took a long drink, closing his eyes as he did. Pausing for a moment, he drained the glass before setting it back on the counter. “Wow that’s good. A cold drink on a hot day; I’d do unnatural things for a glass of ice water most days!”
I looked at my glass and commented, “How are you getting ice?”
Mario jabbed a thumb in the direction of the warehouse, “There’s an ice maker in the warehouse, so we’ve always got ice. One of the perks of the solar power.”
“Your system’s big enough to run stuff like that?” I asked.
“I only run the ice maker during the day and shut it off at night so we can use the battery power for other stuff. It’ll fill the chest in a couple of hours, so it doesn’t need to run long.”
Shelly set out plates of barbequed pork, shredded and covered in sauce. It came with a side of large round fried disks. I picked one up and looked at it asking, “Are these tomatoes?”
Shelly nodded, “Mmhmm, fried green tomatoes. You like them?”
A smile spreading across my face, I replied, “Oh yeah!”
We ate lunch and chatted about the general state of things, small talk really. It was nice to be eating with friends as if it were just an ordinary afternoon in another time. When we finished, Sarge rose to his feet and began collecting plates. Shelly protested, “Just leave those, I’ll get them.”
“No ma’am,” Sarge replied. “You fed us a good lunch; the least I can do it clear the dishes.” She smiled and didn’t protest any further.
Looking at her, I asked, “You don’t have any tea?”
Shelly shook her head, “No; we put a lot back, but it went faster than I thought it would.”
“I think we can help you out with that,” I replied.
“Really?”
“Yeah, we got some from the base. I’ll bring some by.”
Mario smiled, “That would be great. I’d love some tea.”
“I also have an idea on your fuel situation. I can’t offer you any of that but there is another way we may be able to stretch your fuel out,” I said.
Mario rested his elbows on the counter, “Well, I’m all ears. Do tell.”
“You still have some fuel, right?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Mario replied.
“There are transformers sitting around all over the place. They’re full of mineral oil. We could double your diesel supply by adding the same amount of mineral oil to it. Your truck would run fine on it,” I said.
“Really? I knew you could do that with vegetable oil, but mineral oil?” Mario asked.
“Sure. You could pour paraffin into the fuel and it would burn that.”
“We used to filter old motor oil and pour that right into the tanks of the old trucks. Lubes the injectors real nice,” Sarge added with a smile.
“This is different. Mineral oil isn’t a lubricant, it’s a coolant. So you couldn’t pour it into the crankcase and lube the internals. But it does burn, and will extend your fuel supply,” I replied.
Shelly looked at Mario, “That would be great. The Mule runs on diesel too. That would give us a lot of fuel.”
“How do we get it?” Mario asked.
I laughed, “That’s the tricky part. Most of the big pad-mount transformers have a drain on them. Pull the plug, and out it comes. But it’s mounted low and as soon as the plug comes out, so does the oil.”
Mario thought about that for a minute. “I’ll come up with something. There’s got to be a way to get it out.”
“I’m sure we can come up with something. The stuff burns in oil lamps too, and would give you something else to sell,” I added with a smile.
“I’ll think on it for a while and figure something out,” Mario said. “We really could use it if it works.
”
Sarge stood, “Mario, Shelly, thanks for the lunch, but we’ve got to get on the road.”
We all headed out to the porch where I told them we had something for them.
“Grab a big container of some kind,” I said to Mario.
He looked at Shelly with a typical husband’s look of where is it, and she disappeared into the house. Mario followed us out to the Hummer.
“What’cha got?” He asked.
Sarge pulled one of the bags of flour out and dropped it at his feet. “We got you some commie flour!”
“Some what?” Mario asked.
I laughed, “It’s just flour. We thought you guys would like some.”
Mario brightened up, “Sure we would. Where’d it come from?”
“We got it from the Army. The sack says it came from Russia,” I replied.
“With love,” Sarge added with a smile.
Shelly came out and looked at the bag, “Oooh, flour. That’s awesome.”
Sarge opened the bag and poured several pounds into the large plastic container she’d brought out. Once it was full, Shelly capped it and thought about the potential of this gift.
“This is great. I’ll make us some bread.”
“Yeah, thanks a lot,” Mario added.
“We’ve only got a little to give out; just wanted to make sure you folks got some,” Sarge said.
“Hang on a second,” Mario said as he disappeared into the house.
I smiled, “I know what he’s going after.”
Shelly smiled, “Ya think?”
Mario came out with a quart jar of honey and handed it over. “How’s that for a trade?”
Looking at the gold liquid, I replied, “Hell of a trade!”
“Let’s get together in a couple of days and talk about this transformer thing,” Mario said as we were getting into the truck.
Giving him a thumbs up, I replied, “Will do.”
We headed out with full bellies. As we drove out, I looked out over Mario’s place and thought about what a tremendous resource he was. We definitely needed to work with him more to make sure he had what he needed to keep his operation going. If we helped him, he would be able to help us; and that was the only way any of us would make it. As we passed the market in Altoona, I saw it was back to business. People were manning their stalls, and quite a crowd was there trying to make a deal one way or another.