by A. American
Sarge stopped in front of Gena’s house and tooted the horn. I extracted myself from the turret and climbed out as Dylan came around the side of the house. He smiled when he saw us and waved.
Sarge waved, “Hey Dylan.”
“Hey fellas, didn’t expect to see you guys today.”
I pulled one of the sacks out, “We brought you something.”
Dylan looked over, “Oh yeah?”
“Go get something to put some flour in,” Sarge said.
“Flour, really?”
“Yep, courtesy of the United States Army,” Sarge said proudly.
Dylan quickly headed into the house. He returned with Gena and a large tin with a Christmas theme printed on it.
“We thought you guys could use some flour,” Sarge said when he saw Gena.
She was looking at the sack, “That’s what Dylan said, that you got it from the Army.”
Dylan set the tin down and I started to pour flour into it. “We’ve got a little, just wanted to make sure you got some.”
“That’s awful nice of you to think of us,” Gena said.
I looked up, “We’ve got to look out for our own.”
“We sure appreciate it,” Dylan replied.
Gena wandered off while we were talking. Once the tin was full, I tapped the lid down on it and set it on the hood of the truck. Sarge asked if they’d seen anyone around, and Dylan said no, that it had been quiet. He asked about the helicopters he had seen a couple of days ago, and we filled him in on the story.
Shaking his head, Dylan replied, “I’m so sorry to hear. I don’t think I ever met him, but I’m sorry to hear you lost a friend.”
“Thanks. It was a bad day,” I replied.
Dylan shook his head, “We could hear it, all the shooting. It sounded like D-Day or something.”
“It was for us at the time,” Sarge replied.
Gena returned with a sack full of fresh yellow squash. Setting it on the hood, she said, “Since you have some flour, you need some squash for frying up.”
“Aww, you didn’t have to do that Gena. The flour is yours, no trade this time.”
She smiled, “I know. But you take this. We’ve got plenty.”
Sarge smiled, “If you insist. I love fried squash.” He picked up the bag and set it in the passenger seat of the Hummer.
Gena grabbed the tin of flour, “This is a lot of flour. I’ll make some biscuits.”
“Biscuits would nice!” Dylan nearly shouted.
Sarge nodded, “Yeah they would.” He looked at me, “Have to see if Kay can whip us a batch up.”
We said our goodbyes and loaded up into the truck. Dylan and Gena stayed in the yard waving as we drove off. I had to smile because she was holding that big tin. Being as small as she was, it made the tin look all the bigger. It’s a short drive from Gena’s to our place, and we were approaching the bunker in no time. Something was going on, some kind of project from the looks of it. I could see the tractor out and drag marks in the dirt road near the bunker. What the hell are they up to?
Sarge rolled to a stop by the bunker where quite the crowd was gathered. Getting out of the truck, I looked at Thad and asked what was going on.
With his usual smile, he replied, “Public works.”
Staring back, I replied, “Huh?”
He pointed down the little dirt road where one of the large IBC totes was sitting. “We’re building a water tower.”
As soon as he said it I understood what they were doing; it made a lot of sense. Nodding, I replied, “Going to pipe water into the houses?”
“Yeah. Thad had a good idea. We should be able to get water to all the houses over there. Everyone will have running water,” Danny added.
“About damn time!” Sarge barked. “I was beginning to wonder what kind of operation you guys were running around here.”
I looked at him, “What? You never suggested it.”
“Just because I didn’t say it doesn’t mean I wasn’t thinking it!”
I waved him off, “Oh whatever.”
I looked around the bunker, then at Danny. “Where are the girls?”
“I think they’re out checking snares. They made some squirrel snares a couple days ago and are out checking them.”
I smiled, “Do they ever get tired of hunting them?”
“I showed them how to make that pole snare you created out at the river. Let it hunt for them,” Danny replied.
“It’s a good idea,” I replied, then looked at Thad. “What’s next on this project?”
He grabbed a set of posthole diggers, “Time to dig.”
“Holes for the tower legs?” I asked. He nodded. “You going to dig them by hand?”
“You got a better idea?” Danny asked.
I looked at them like they were crazy, “Uh, yeah. Why don’t we get a posthole auger and mount it to the PTO on the tractor?”
Thad and Danny looked at one another and started to laugh, “I don’t know why we didn’t think of that,” Thad said.
“I’m sure we can find one around here someplace,” I said.
Thad shook his head, “I know where one is! That’s the worst part!”
“While you idiots sort this out I’m going to get this stuff unloaded and visit with my house guest,” Sarge said.
Looking at him, I said, “You scared of a little hard work?”
Sarge bristled, “I ain’t scared of shit! Least of all, hard work. I can lie down right beside it and go sound to sleep.”
Thad started laughing. I shook my head, “Somehow I’m not surprised.”
I laughed, “I’m sure your guest is looking forward to it.”
“I am the host with the most!” Sarge shouted as he got back in the truck.
Danny was shaking his head, “I pity the poor guy.”
Thad looked at him, “You have no idea.”
“You want to go get that auger?” I asked.
Thad nodded, and Danny said he’d go help. While they went off to round it up, I headed over to Tyler’s to drop off the antibiotics. I put the mask on as I approached the house. Things like this scared me. You can’t see a damn virus. The bugs float on the air and I felt like I was entering some kind of contaminated zone. I set the bottles down in front of the door before knocking and stepped back. Brandy came to the door and I was shocked; she looked like hell.
“Hi Morgan,” she croaked.
Trying not to let the shock show, I replied, “Hi Brandy. How are you guys doing?”
Tears welled up in her eyes, “Tyler’s not well and I don’t feel too good either.” She turned her head and hacked.
Pointing to the bottles on the porch I said, “Take those in with you. You guys need to take two pills three times a day. Start right away and make sure you don’t miss any. They should help, and hopefully turn this around.”
With much effort, she bent over and picked the bottles up. The act of leaning over as she did, sent her into a coughing fit that sounded harsh. Her lungs seemed almost to rattle and produced a lot of sputum. She covered her mouth and excused herself. After a moment she returned to the door.
“Thank you Morgan.” She looked back over her shoulder, “The kids aren’t sick. Can we get them out of here? I’m afraid they’re going to get ill if they stay here with us.”
“I’ll have to talk to Doc and see. We’ve got more doctors in town now, I’ll see if they can come out here and take a look at everyone. If they say the kids are okay, then we’ll move them out and take care of them.”
She nodded, “Thank you.”
“Go in and get those pills into Tyler. Do you need anything?”
“The kids are hungry.”
“I’ll get you some food over s
oon. We’ve got some flour now, maybe I can get you some bread.”
She attempted to smile, “That would be nice.”
I said goodbye and headed for the house. It was horrible to see her like that. Doc had been tending to them, and this was the first time I’d seen them since sending them home. I felt bad, like I was sending them off to die out of sight. But I also knew if it hadn’t been done, many of us would probably be sick. We were just lucky it was only them at the moment.
My house was empty so I went to Danny’s. Sarge was there unloading the sacks of flour. We carried the open bag into the house where everyone was hanging out. Seeing the sack, Kay asked, “What’s that?”
“Flour!” Sarge announced as he dropped the bag onto the floor with a dusty thud.
Kay jumped to her feet, “Really!” She came over and unrolled the top of the sack and looked in. “This is wonderful!” The she paused and said, “If I had an oven I could bake bread.”
“We have one,” I replied. She looked at me for more. “I have an oven we can set on top of the kerosene stove. You can bake in that.”
Her eyes brightened, “Oh that would be wonderful! I love to bake.”
“Can you imagine the smell of fresh baked bread?” Mel asked.
Smiling, Bobbie replied, “I can already taste it!”
While everyone was going on about the possibility of the bread I went back out to the truck and got the squash Gena gave us and the honey from Mario and Shelly. Taking it inside, I set it on the counter.
“Maybe we can have some fried squash tonight too.”
Key picked up the jar of honey, “Oh, I can make honey-crusted bread. It’s so good.”
That got everyone going even more. Sarge excused himself, saying he had things to attend to. Thankfully, he didn’t elaborate on what exactly those things were. I followed him out to the truck.
“Let me know what he has to say,” I said as he got behind the wheel.
Sarge nodded, “I will.” Jabbing his thumb over his shoulder he asked, “What do you want to do with the rest of this flour?”
“We’ll take it up to the market tomorrow and distribute it. I think they’re going to use it in town to make bread, and give that out there. We’ll just give folks the flour and let them use it as they will. Maybe take one bag up to Umatilla and give it away there.”
Sarge nodded, “Sounds like a plan to me. I’ll holler at you in a bit.”
I slapped the door of the truck, “See you in a bit.”
Going back inside, Mel, Kay and Bobbie were in the kitchen. They were already washing the squash and getting it ready for tonight’s dinner. Looking out the kitchen window, I saw Little Bit circling a tree and looking up with her rifle in her hands.
“She out hunting?” I asked Mel.
“Yeah, she really likes it. I told her to stay in Danny’s yard.”
The reply was funny to me. Back in the day, Mel was decidedly against squirrel hunting. She’d raised many of them from babies, bottle feeding them. In those days, there was no way in hell she would have allowed such hunting around the house. Now it was just part of life.
“She’s pretty good too,” I replied. Looking at Kay, I asked, “You really think you can make bread?”
Looking shocked, she replied, “Of course I can! We have some yeast; and now that I have flour, we certainly can.”
“We need a loaf made for Tyler and Brandy. I want to take them one and some of the honey as well.”
“How are they?” Mel asked.
I gave a little shrug, “Honestly, she didn’t look too good. But Doc sent some antibiotics home with me, and I gave them to her. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
“I feel so bad for those poor children,” Kay said. “All cooped up in that house with their sick parents.”
I nodded, “I know how you feel. I’m going to get the docs from town down here in a day or two and have them check them out. If the kids are okay, we’re going to take them out of there.”
“That would be good. Where would they stay?” Mel asked.
“I don’t know; we’ll figure it out.”
“They can stay with us. We’ve got plenty of room,” Bobbie said.
I was surprised by her comment. She and Danny never had kids, and it was by her decision. So her volunteering to take them in, came as a bit of a shock. I told everyone I had to go, gave Mel a kiss and headed for the door. As I went through Danny’s gate, I saw the girls in the field across the road with Mike and Dalton going through some drills. They were really serious about being trained, and worked hard at it. It was both exciting and scary to think about, that they would be able to defend themselves and be an asset to the community. Scary, because they would want to be part of things, not content to sit around if something kicked off. I just hoped for all of them that nothing did.
Ian and Perez were at the bunker when I passed it. Perez was sitting on the top of the bunker smoking a cigarette. I laughed inside at him and asked, “How many more of those things do you have?”
Perez shrugged and blew a smoke ring, “I don’t know. Couple more cartons.”
“You know you could probably trade those for anything you want, don’t you?”
He held the butt up and looked at it, “This is what I want.”
I laughed and shook my head as I walked off to find Danny and Thad. They were at the site of the water tower construction. Thad was sitting on the tractor, and the auger was already buried in the ground. A pile of dirt was growing around the top of the hole, and Danny was raking it back with a shovel.
Examining the hole, I said, “We’re going to need to widen it by hand.”
Danny nodded, “Yeah; but it’s still easier than digging the whole thing by hand.”
Once the auger was buried to its top, Thad raised it out of the hole. Danny grabbed a set of diggers and set to work cutting the side of the hole out and removing the dirt. Thad pulled the tractor up and started on the next hole. The process was repeated until all four holes were complete. It went rather quickly, and in an hour we were standing around talking about raising the poles.
We discussed several options on how to get the job done. We settled on lifting them by hand and using a small pole to apply pressure to the top and assist. We rolled the first pole towards the hole and positioned the butt over it.
“You get on the end, Thad,” I said with a laugh.
“It’s always the big end for me, ain’t it?” Thad said as he straddled the pole. Looking over his shoulder at Danny, he asked, “You ready?”
Danny had the push pole, and he nodded that he was ready. Thad hefted the pole, I knelt down and helped lift, straining as it was so damn heavy. Once it was off the ground, I got under it and put my shoulder to it. Thad and I grunted and heaved, and the pole slowly rose. Danny got the push pole against the top and added some leverage to our efforts. Once the butt was in the hole, it got a lot easier, and practically fell in the hole. Danny leaned against the push pole, and it fell the rest of the way to the bottom. We all stepped back while catching our breath. It was crooked, but it was in there.
“Only three more to go,” Thad said with a smile.
“Wasn’t as bad as I thought,” Danny added.
“For you!” I shouted. “I thought that damn thing was going to squash me!”
Thad laughed, “I wouldn’t let it squash you……… all the way.”
I chuckled, “Gee, thanks.”
“They aren’t going to stick themselves; let’s get it over with,” Danny said.
We got back to work, repeating the process. While it was hard and heavy work, it didn’t take all that long, and we had all the poles up in a little more than an hour. We leaned on the hood of the tractor looking at the caddywhompus poles. They’d get straightened out later. For no
w, we were just glad to have them in the ground.
“I don’t know about you boys, but I think that’s enough for the day,” Thad said.
“Yeah, I need a break anyway. I think Morgan and I are on watch tonight,” Danny said.
“Probably,” I said. “I think the ladies are making some bread for tonight.”
Thad’s eyebrows went up, “Bread?”
“Yeah, the Army sent some flour in with the delivery today,” I replied.
Thad rubbed his chin, “Miss Kay gonna make some bread?”
I nodded, “That’s what she said. Was pretty excited about it too.”
“I wish we had some peanut butter,” Danny said.
Thad’s hands moved towards his mouth as he closed his eyes, “Oh man. A big ole PBJ with strawberry jam oozing out the sides.”
“Yeah, and a glass of cold milk,” I added.
Thad jerked his head, “Alright! That’s enough. Man that sounds so good!”
“I’m going to head home and get cleaned up,” Danny said.
We all agreed we’d had enough for the day, and headed home. I walked with Danny as we walked. We chatted about the water tower project and how it would really help everyone, and take some pressure off his place. Everyone has been taking showers there because it is the only house with sufficient power and water to accommodate them.
“We’ll still be eating dinner there though,” I said with a chuckle.
“I don’t mind everyone around at all. It’s kinda nice actually. It’ll just be easier for everyone to be able to shower at their house when they want.”
“Not to mention using an indoor shitter,” I added.