Sinagua Rising: A story of survival after a worldwide catastrophe

by R. G. Andersen-Wyckoff

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  As the last rays of sunlight peeked over the western hills, the men had all made it back to the village. Bud and his group were the last. After brushing away their tire marks coming back to the trailhead, they then pulled the old barbed wire cattle fence across the trail, threw some brush onto the trail and then headed home. The men were all sweaty and covered with dust, but satisfied they had done a good job.

  As they headed to the restroom building and then to some hot water buckets Michael had thoughtfully prepared, they were aware of some tantalizing smells coming from the kitchen, which made them speed up the cleaning process. Before long, as dark descended over the village like a cloak, for the moon had not yet risen far enough to give them any ambient light, all the Duwanians, old and new, met together in the Meeting Hall for their first meal together. The newest editions, with eyes wide in anticipation as the wonderful aroma of garlic and spices wafted into the hall, were given places of honor with Bishop and Carly and next to their newest friends, Kiera and Trey. Jackson and Belle, the Labradors, sat quietly and patiently in one corner hoping for a share of whatever they were smelling.

  Before the food was served, Bishop got everyone’s attention.

  “Before we find out what Michael and Maria have cooked up for us, I wanted to say a few words.”

  “Hear, hear,” intoned Bud.

  “Thanks for the encouragement, Bud,” Bishop responded.

  “We are so glad to have Tess, Manny, and little Javi join our family and we hope they’ll be as happy to be with us as we are to have them.”

  Everyone applauded, included Manny and Javier who really didn’t understand what it was all about.

  “Though the circumstances are difficult,” Bishop continued, “it has pointed out to us how vigilant we need to be to protect ourselves and our village from outsiders who might wish to do us harm. We have taken precautions tonight and we will need to continue to do so for the foreseeable future. We will not be able to come and go as freely as we have this past week and will need to take defensive measures when we do go off the mesa.

  “However, tonight we are secure in Duwa and in our fellowship together. We still have some hard work ahead of us to get ready for the rains and for winter, but we have six more hands to help us get ready,” he said, with a nod to Tess, Manny, and Javi.

  “So, let’s join hands, as we often do, and thank the good Lord for bringing us safely through another day and for whatever it is that Michael and Maria have prepared for us that smells so good. Amen,” he concluded.

  “Amen,” said the group almost simultaneously.

  “Amen,” echoed little Javi, using a word he had so often heard before when he went with his parents and siblings to the Catholic Church in Camp Verde.

  Everyone laughed. And then Michael, Maria, Olivia, Mattie, and Kathleen brought out large bowls of steaming hot spaghetti and bowls of sauce made to Michael’s secret recipe: containing tomato sauce, olive oil, garlic, chopped onions, basil, oregano, small canned mushrooms, and a touch of tabasco sauce. Then came long trays of fresh biscuits. It was the kind of meal that even the Cucina Rustica would have been proud to serve. A rousing, though garbled, cheer for the kitchen staff was led by Jack and Travis. There was clapping and cheering but no standing as most were already chowing down.

  No one left the table hungry and there was nothing left in the bowls. Once everyone had had their fill, some of the men with big appetites used the remaining biscuits to sop up the last of the spaghetti sauce. Well sated, some moved to the couches and stuffed chairs that had been placed at the far end of the Meeting Hall, while others helped to clear and clean the plates, glasses, silverware, and cooking pots and utensils.

  The adults discussed the activities for the next day, side-stepping any negative thoughts about security, and Tara and the children gathered in the Westin tents with Chloe to play some quiet games. The two dogs soon joined them, having finished the spaghetti and sauce that had been placed in pie tins for them. They had licked the tins so clean you could hardly tell they had been used. But, Carly made sure they went into the soapy hot water, too.

  Jack sat in the corner with his headset on listening to the shortwave. He indicated there were no new messages, just a rerun of the President’s previous message, and more reports from the bigger cities of the chaos, death, destruction, and anarchy that was gripping their communities. All breathed a sigh of relief that their little community, Duwa, was literally, above all that.

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  As all retired to their respective tents, Bishop and Carly could hear Jessie talking with Tess, Manny, and Javi. Tina and Jaime were there, as well. Jessie was telling them that they had been separated from their family, too. She told them about a frightening encounter with a Scorpion, without telling them the details, so as not to frighten them. Manny said something to Jessie in Spanish that Bishop and Carly could not understand, but did hear Jessie’s reply: “You must always speak in English. This is an English-speaking village and, though some can understand Spanish, they have accepted us into their homes and we should never dishonor them by appearing to have secrets. We should be proud of our Mexican heritage, but that is behind us now. We are Americans and Duwanians and we should respect our new home and our new families by only speaking English.”

  “Okay,” replied Tess. “I understand. Do you understand Manny?”

  “Yes,” he replied. “It’s just like in school where we had to speak only English so we would learn it well. But, I don’t want to forget Spanish so I can speak to Mama and Papa when I see them again.”

  “You won’t forget it, Manny,” Tess replied with tears in her eyes.

  “Do you understand, Javi? “ Tess asked the little boy.

  “Si,” responded Javi.

  “No,” said Jessie and Tess together, “you must say ‘Yes,’ not ‘Si.’

  “Yes,” said Javi with a mischievous smile that turned up the corners of his mouth. It would take some work but he would grow up speaking English because that’s what everyone else would be speaking to him.

  “It’s time to go to bed,” Tess said. “Thank you, Jessie, for your help and friendship. And thank you Tina and Jaime. I hope we will become good friends.”

  Teresa, Tina, and Jaime left for their rooms. The Amado children climbed onto their cots, wrapped themselves in their blankets and were fast asleep almost before their heads hit their pillows. Tess’s arm was stretched across Javi, as much for her own comfort as his, as she quietly cried herself to sleep.

  Bishop and Carly were touched by what they had heard, and both had tears in their eyes for the difficulties that both the Escalantes and Amados were faced with. They both said quiet prayers that they would be strong enough and caring enough to provide the love and strength that these young people would need for whatever lay ahead.◘

  Chapter 24

  Anticipation and Preparation

  The dawn broke with a smoky haze being carried on the light southerly breeze, as it had on the previous mornings. The sun could still shine through but the haze was an ever-present reminder that something was still burning down toward Phoenix. The songbirds greeted the dawn but the larger birds were still obvious by their absence.

  As had become their custom in just one short week, the Duwanians awoke with the dawn, did their morning ablutions, and headed for the Meeting Hall.

  The smells from the kitchen excited the nose but all knew it wasn’t the smell of sweet rolls this morning. As they walked past the field kitchen, Michael and Maria gave each of them a breakfast MRE consisting of a cheese omelet, a sausage patty, some hash brown potatoes, and a fruit cup. Pitchers of Tang were already on the table when they entered the tent. Maria gave each of the younger children a half-serving, knowing they wouldn’t eat a full one.

  Michael explained that they all had to learn not to expect freshly prepared meals each time, but to use the MREs and dehydrated foods, as well. “That way,” he said, “the special meals wil
l be just that much more special.”

  When everyone had arrived and been served, Bishop got their attention with a soft whistle. They had become used to having Bishop bring them up-to-date on any news or the activities that lay before them for the day. Today was no different.

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  “As unaccustomed to public speaking as I am,” Bishop began, which elicited a laugh from the group, “I’ll begin anyway. First, some really good news. Colby told me that when he was out in Woods Canyon clearing his ATV tracks, he spotted fresh signs that cattle were out there too. For years, a local rancher has had grazing rights in Woods Canyon so it’s good to see that he still has some cattle out there. That means that when our food stores begin to dwindle we’ll have access to some beef, in addition to deer and elk, assuming we can locate the beef. We should all keep our eyes pealed when we’re down in the canyon and maybe we’ll be able to spot their favorite sheltering and grazing areas.

  “For obvious reasons, I recommend that we confine ourselves to projects up here and not venture down to the Ranger Station, or beyond, for a day or two, until we give the bridge happenings time to settle down. Jason has volunteered to man a lookout post to keep an eye on the bridge. I expect, if we’re going to have any response from our friends in Rim Rock, it will be today.” Bishop was being careful not to say things that might upset the children.

  “With Jason watching our back, so to speak,” he continued, “the rest of us can put our full attention to the projects that need to be done as quickly as possible; namely the water system and Travis’ new greenhouse. Jack, what kind of help do you need with the water system?”

  “Well, at least for today, I’ll only need Philip and Matt,” responded Jack. “In fact, I can get started with just Philip but there’s another water related project I think we should put Matt on.”

  “What’s that?” asked Bishop.

  “When the rains come, and they will shortly,” Jack continued, “the areas in the Duwa Valley that don’t have tents over them will turn to slippery mud. I think we need to catch as much water up at the head of the valley as we can by enlarging the old Sinagua cistern area and then plant the winter wheat seed we brought back from Casey’s Corner in the uncovered parts of the valley. It might take a while to take hold but, when it does, the wheat will give us some plants to better hold the soil and will give us some wheat to harvest this fall. But, before we can do that, we need to run the tilling attachment to the backhoe over the area to break up the soil as best we can. I won’t need Matt and the backhoe until later today or tomorrow, so that would be good use of his time and the backhoe until I need him.”

  “I think that’s a good idea,” Bishop stated. “Does anyone object to Matt doing that?”

  There was no response and Matt was nodding his head in agreement.

  “Okay,” Bishop began again, “my wife tells me that since we have the curtains and other materials we brought up from our homes in the Village, two or three of the ladies should begin making the more permanent curtains to divide our living spaces so the blankets and sheets we’re currently using can be used for their intended purposes. Since we only have three sewing machines, she has suggested that she and Celeste and Kristen, our best seamstresses, take on that project.”

  There was a general nodding of heads.

  Carly said, “Thanks, Bish. All we’ll need is a generator to hook our sewing machines up to and we’ll take it from there.”

  “There’s no reason they can’t use the generator we have here at the Meeting Hall,” suggested Michael. “Maria and I won’t be using it until lunch time and having the long tables to lay the material out on should be helpful to them. Maria and I need to continue cataloging our food inventory, Bishop, if you don’t mind.”

  “That’s certainly an important task, Michael, so you two go ahead with that,” Bishop replied. “Now if Tara and Teresa will agree to keep the children occupied, the rest of us will work with Tanner and Colby to get the large kiva cleaned out. Any questions or things I’ve missed?” Bishop asked. Hearing none he said, “Okay, Jason, you take one of the ATVs, your rifle, some water, and a radio and head on up to your post on the mesa. Everyone else, take water bottles with you and let’s get moving. We’ll see everyone back here when Michael tells us lunch is ready. We’ll send someone to relieve you, Jason, so just take some Power Bars with you and we’ll stay in contact by radio.”

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  Within a few minutes they heard the sound of the backhoe starting. Bishop helped Matt put the tiller attachment on before joining the group clearing the kiva and the pueblo units. The ground was quite hard as he made his first pass down the valley so he placed some boards across the top of the till and then put some small boulders on the boards. The extra weight helped the tiller to dig in. Matt knew it would take at least until lunch time to get the valley ready to plant the wheat seed.

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  Meanwhile, Jack found everything he and Philip needed to lay out the water system, in Colby’s equipment trailer: a transit and pole, some three-foot wood stakes, a small sledge hammer, and a roll of orange surveyor’s tape.

  He set the transit up on the top of the promontory where he had determined the water storage tanks should be placed in order to gravity flow the water down to the kitchen, restrooms, and the bathing facilities he knew they would have to begin building next spring. In the meantime, the new system would provide water to the field kitchen and restroom trailer.

  He sent Philip to the point of the mesa just above the pools from which they’d draw their water, with a 12-foot piece of PVC with orange streamers tied to one end. When Jack spotted Philip’s streamers through the transit scope he knew he had been right: the promontory was at a slightly lower elevation than the part of the mesa above the pools. Once the water was pulled from the pools and into a storage tank, it could then flow by gravity to the storage tanks at the village. They each had a two-way radio set to a different channel than the others, so they wouldn’t interfere with emergency communications.

  They then began the task of plotting the most direct line the PVC water line would use and marking the line with stakes and surveyor’s tape. Matt would then be able to dig a ditch along the marked line in which the PVC pipe would be laid and then covered. In this way the line would not be prone to freezing during the winter and insure the village of an ongoing water supply—as long as the pools had water.

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  When Colby and Tanner surveyed the rooms of the pueblo and the large kiva, they found that the work the women and children had done the previous couple of days clearing the debris was impressive. The rooms were almost clear and needed only to be shoveled and raked to level the floors. The kiva, however, still had a fair amount of debris to be removed, especially at the west end, closest to the pueblo. They decided the men should wield the shovels and rakes and the women and older youth should continue removing debris from the kiva. Tanner requested that he be called if anyone came upon an artifact. Despite the survival mode he knew they were now in, he couldn’t turn off his archeologist’s curiosity. As it said on his tee shirt: “Archaeology is not what you find but what you find out! “ And he still had lots of questions to be answered about Tuwalanki, now Duwa.

  Clearing out the debris from the kiva and the portion of the pueblo rooms they had already cleaned yielded no major artifacts. Tanner attributed that to the long period of time over which pothunters had had access to the ruins. Miscellaneous potsherds, flint and obsidian flakes, a broken arrowhead and partial scrapper gave evidence only to the fact that the pueblos had been occupied. There was no way to date the finds or identify their users other than the designs and composition of the pottery, which attributed them to the Sinagua period.

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  Jason had ridden the ATV to the same spot on the mesa that Tara had been stationed the day before. He could sit on the ATV and see the bridge clearly. The problem was that the seat on the A
TV didn’t have a back, so there was nothing to lean against, and that was uncomfortable. He got off and walked around, but he soon tired of that, too. Then he made himself a seat on the ground with his jacket and leaned back against the oversized front tire of the ATV. That was much more comfortable. He put his water bottle, radio, and binoculars on the ground beside him and settled in. His rifle lay across his lap.

  The excitement of his responsibilities got his adrenaline running and he was alert and kept a sharp eye on the bridge off in the distance. The morning sun had climbed and started its move across the sky and soon made looking continually at the bridge difficult. He had to pull the bill of his cap down to help shade his eyes, but he still had to squint to see the bridge. The combination of the sun and the embers of the adrenaline soon made him tired and he found himself fighting to stay awake. He got up and walked around, drank some water and ate a Power Bar; and then he sat down again. He dozed.

  He didn’t know how long his eyes had been closed, not long he told himself, when he heard a noise off to his left. It was loud enough to startle him and he grabbed his rifle, now fully alert.

  “Don’t shoot me,” came a voice from just beyond the nearest juniper tree. “It’s me, Kathleen. I thought you might like some company.”

  “Sure,” replied Jason. “I can always use company,” he said in his most contrived masculine voice, hoping she had not seen him sleeping. “How did you get here?” he inquired, thinking what a dumb question. She obviously walked. It’s only a half mile if you follow the road and a lot less if you cut across country from the village.

  “Silly,” she responded, “I walked. Or maybe I flew on my magic broom,” she said with a chuckle.

  “Well, anyway you got here is fine with me; I can use the company and I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather have here,” he said almost sheepishly, having lost a bit of the bravado he’s mustered when he first saw her.