Calamity in America

by Pete Thorsen

  This was really the first time I actually saw all the supplies, or at least all the useful items that Tony amassed. All of it was very organized and there was a lot of stuff. When I asked, he took me around to the other houses where he had even more stuff stored for future use. This all took some time and by the time I saw everything we went and made supper to share.

  “Where did you get all the stuff?”

  “Most of it was from right here. I had plenty of time and I went through and searched each house, shed, and garage. At first I just inventoried stuff then, instead, I started moving things and sorting things so when I wanted something in particular I could just go to the house that contained those kinds of items. I also searched all the vacant houses within about a twenty mile radius or so from here. At first there were some places that had people living in them and those places I left alone. But through the years more and more of the people either moved away or something happened to them. I would check the places that had people living in them once or twice a year. I never approached and talked to them, instead I would just carefully watch the place from a safe distance for awhile, just to see if anyone still lived there or not.”

  “Why didn’t you approach those other people living nearby? You could likely have traded items with them.”

  “I did not really need anything more to survive—and as you know, approaching anyone is a very risky business. I just thought the risk far outweighed the benefits.”

  “I guess I can understand your reasoning. I’m just more into the group thing I guess. But that may be because that is all I have known since this began all those years ago.”

  “I was really used to being alone and was content with it staying that way.”

  “We just lived different lives. Didn’t you get lonely?”

  “Not really. At first, after my wife was killed, I was very angry and I wallowed some in self pity I guess. After the anger faded I just grew hardened I guess you might say. Maybe I have mellowed out some the last year or so. When beggars showed up here I tried to be very humane in my treatment to them. I shared food and some knowledge with them. But I admit I never offered any a place here. In fact, even as I helped them I made it plain that they would have to move on.”

  “My arm is almost ready for the splint to come off and stay off. I will hopefully regain the strength in that arm quickly. I suppose you are anxious for me to be on my way also?”

  “You have fought with me to protect this place and you have earned the right to stay if that is your wish.”

  “Thank you. But that is not exactly what my question was. Do you want me to leave?”

  “I have come to totally trust you. Something I doubted I would ever do again. There are things I have not yet shown you but that omission has nothing to do with trust but more just never having the opportunity. That trust is another reason I offered you the choice of staying here.”

  “And I trust you. I maybe trust you more than any one else I have ever known. You have always treated me with kindness and respect. But I am interested to know whether you want me to leave or to stay?”

  “That is not my choice to make for you. I have thought that you would want to join a group and be around other people in a situation like you had before. I would like that you make a choice that makes you happy.”

  “You’re impossible.”

  He just looked at me like he had no idea what I was talking about. I decided to change the topic.

  “It is warmer now. Warm enough that you might be more comfortable with a shave and hair cut. I often cut hair for others where I used to live. I would certainly cut yours if you would like me to.”

  “I usually just leave it go. But you are right, it would be cooler if it was cut. Maybe tomorrow I will take you up on that offer.”

  With that we separated for the night and we both adjourned to our separate places.

  I lay in bed for some time thinking about the future.

  Chapter 18

  Beth and I were very lucky to make it through that attack mostly unscathed. My throat was still sore but it would heal I’m sure. I had surprised myself when, on the spur of the moment, I told her she could stay here instead of moving on when she healed up. I had never thought about her staying here. I guess I thought she would never want to when it would only be the two of us. Beth was used to living around many more people. She had certainly earned a place here though. Without her help I would very likely have died in that attack.

  I had just never really thought about her staying but we did seem to get along well together. And I was telling the truth when just after the attack I said we made a good team. After living alone for so long I didn’t honestly know how it would be having another person living here with me. But it has been about six weeks now since she arrived and there has been no friction between us and I have to admit, sometimes it is nice to have someone here with me.

  We ended up with a lot of gear and a fair amount of food from the dead attackers. We could always use the food and some of the gear might come in handy. Strange how now I think “we” instead of just “I.” I shouldn’t get in that habit because Beth will be taking off the arm splints very soon and I’m sure it will not take much time for her to get her strength back in that arm. Even now with the splint still on she uses that hand and arm a fair amount lately. Once she is fully healed she will almost certainly move on looking for a group of people to join and I will be back to living alone again.

  Last evening Beth said she would cut my hair for me. In the years living alone I only ever cut it back some when it got too long. The same with my beard. I have plenty of disposable razors that I have collected but never used. Maybe I should try shaving once and also have her cut my hair. Just to see if I like it better that way. I can always grow both back again.

  It took some effort to use a scissors to cut my beard as close as I could and then shave the rest off. My face feels really weird now. I can feel the tiniest of air movements against that now-bare skin. It will take some getting used to, that’s for sure. Well now for the next step. I walked over and knocked on Beth’s door.

  “If you have time maybe I will have you cut my hair.”

  Beth said nothing. She just stared at me. And stared some more.

  “I sorry for staring but you look so different without that shaggy beard. Of course I’ll cut your hair. Give me a minute to find a scissors.”

  “I brought a couple with me so you would have a choice to use on me.”

  She still just kept on staring at me, even as we walked out a ways and I sat on a large rock.

  “It’s pretty warm already today. Why don’t you take your shirt off so you don’t get it full of hair.”

  That seemed like good idea so I removed my shirt and sat back down on the big rock. I think I was at a good height for her to work on my hair. She walked all around me a couple times before she started cutting my hair. Before leaving her place she had run inside and grabbed a hair brush, a comb, and a hand towel. She was snipping away with the scissors for quite some time. She would stop occasionally and use the comb or brush. Eventually she started to use the comb to hold the hair as she was cutting. The pile of hair on the ground was quite impressive by the time she stopped.

  She used the hand towel to sweep away the loose hair from my neck and shoulders. Then she just looked and looked and stared at me.

  “Are you done?”

  “Yes. I’m done. It would be nice to trim some with an electric clipper but for now I’m done. You look, ah, way different now. How does it feel?”

  “My whole head feels really weird without the hair and beard. But I’m sure I will get used to it. Be a lot easier to keep clean and it will be a lot cooler now.”

  She had never taken her eyes off me. It was kinda making me feel uncomfortable.

  “Do I look okay? Is my head covered in warts or something?”

  “I’m sorry I was staring. It is just such a transformation for you. You look so different. And yes you look perfect
ly fine. Just so different.”

  “I need a hat.”

  That made her laugh. It nice to hear her laugh and see her smile. We walked back to her place together. She still looked at me most of the way back. At her place I just said goodbye so I could leave and go back to my house. I went into the bathroom and looked at the mirror. I could hardly recognize myself at first. Then I realized that I looked just like I did so many years ago before everything had changed.

  Even though I had washed my hair earlier I washed it again to get the little pieces of itchy hair off my head and shoulders. I then found a hat and, grabbing a day pack, I left for the rest of the day on a hike.

  When I came home again just before dark I saw Beth outside cooking. I stopped over just to say hello. Then I saw that she had taken the splint off her arm and she was freely using her left hand as she was working.

  “You took your splint off!”

  “Yes it was time. Like you must have noticed I have been using that hand more and more as the time got closer to taking off the splint. I will still go a little easy on it for a bit, but I will be exercising it as much as I can with normal work. When it feels stronger I will start practicing with my bow again.”

  “Your arm looks normal.”

  “Yes. And it feels and works normal. I had been taking the splint off just about every day to wash that arm. You obviously make a good doctor because I think my arm will be perfectly fine after you set it.”

  “I’m glad it worked. I was afraid to touch your arm at first when it was broken.”

  “I can hardly imagine that you would be afraid of anything.”

  “I’m just a regular guy.”

  “I don’t think so. You eat yet?”

  “Yes I ate on the trail. You go ahead.”

  I could plainly see that she had only made enough food for herself but I have no doubt that she would have shared what she had with me. I watched her and we talked a little. She said that she was going to visit one of the camps tomorrow and asked if I wanted to come with. I said yes then I bid her goodnight.

  Walking home I wondered about why she wanted to visit that particular camp. It was one with a windmill and it had a large storage tank that I did not use. I had diverted the water so it would just run out on the ground where I could easily catch it in a bucket so it was much handier for me. It had been a little bit since we had been to that camp but I could think of nothing special about it. It was fairly close so it would not be much of a hike tomorrow. She had never before asked to go to a particular spot and always just followed my lead wherever I went. It sure made me wonder.

  Chapter 19

  I had made my decision and now there was plenty of work to do so this morning. I would be going out to one of the out camps that had a windmill and lay out what I wanted us to do. I would have liked to do my project here in the community but it would just not work out as well in many ways. When Tony knocked on my door I was anxious and ready to go. When we left I was in the lead for the first time even though I had told him where I was planning on going today.

  I didn’t stop along the way and we made good time to the camp. When we got there I just walked around some and then opened the discussion.

  “I see cattle used to use this a lot, are there still many cattle that come here?”

  “There are still many cattle around yet, but only occasionally do any happen to wander here. I keep the windmill shut off so there is no reason for any animals to come here any more when there is no water.”

  “Does the big tank hold water?”

  “Yes. Or at least it did the last time it had water in it.”

  “You have a bunch of garden hose stored in one of the houses. Do you have the fittings so a hose can be hooked up to the big tank?”

  “I think it already has a hose bib on the outlet line.”

  “Here’s what I want to do….”

  I proceeded to tell Tony my plan for the area near the windmill that had been heavily used by cattle. First we had to burn off the growth that had sprung up in the last few years since the cows quit trampling it all down. Then we had to work up the ground to prepare it for a garden. Today we would start the windmill to begin filling the big tank. We would bring garden hoses out here and then burn it off. With hoses and plenty of water it would be easy to keep the small fire from turning into a wildfire.

  Soaking the burned-off ground with water from the tank would make it much easier to work up. We would have to gather some fencing from nearby and fence off the garden area. We could keep deer from the garden that way but I doubted we could stop rabbits and rock squirrels. We would need to set a few poles in so we could put up some sun-reducing fabric. I saw enough of that at the community so I knew we had plenty.

  The full water tank would make it easy to keep the garden watered. If we could find enough soaker hoses we could even spend time away from the garden and let the soaker hoses keep it watered. If not, at least one of us would have to come here every day or two to flood the garden with water. There would also be quite a lot of weeding to be done the first couple of years in the new garden.

  I had the seeds that I had brought with me so that would not be a problem. I saw plenty of garden tools back at the community so there was no problem there either. This RV was still in fine shape here so camping at this spot would cause no hardships to us.

  I picked this spot because the windmill and tank would make for easy watering of the garden. The many cattle that had spent considerable time here had enriched the soil and, though it had been several years, the soil would very likely be way better here than any random other spot we would pick for a garden.

  After I was done explaining my plan and the reasoning for this spot I stopped and waited for a response from Tony.

  “So you are staying?”

  “Yes. I’m staying.”

  “I had tried gardening before and it didn’t pan out.”

  “This here is fertile ground and the windmill will provide plenty of water and make watering easier. I have a fair amount of experience growing a garden down here in the heat. I am confident the garden will be a good producer. I would like your help with the garden but that part is up to you.”

  “Sure. I’ll do whatever I can to help. You might have to teach me though.”

  “I would appreciate the help and I’ll teach you everything I know about gardening. It will work.”

  “It would be nice to eat regular garden stuff again. So when do we start?”

  “Today we need to turn the windmill on and pipe the water into the big tank. If the outlet for the tank is open we have to close that of course so we can get this big thing filled up. All spring and summer we will be using quite a lot of water. Next is hauling what we need here from the main camp.”

  “Well let’s get at it then.”

  First, Tony double checked to make sure there was already a garden hose setup on the outlet end of the tank drain, which there was, so that was ready. It was a simple job to make the windmill water go into the big tank again. There was enough of a breeze so the windmill started up when we turned it on. Water was soon pumping into the big tank. We watched it for a time and there were a couple of leaks in the piping we had redone but Tony said he could easily fix that on the next trip when he returned with what he needed. For now, a little leaking would cause no harm. We would have several trips to make back and forth from the main camp anyway.

  We hunted our way back to the main camp and had quail for the main course of our supper. The next morning we started gathering and finding all the supplies we would need to take out to the garden camp. We used the two carts again so we could move stuff in just one trip. It was too windy today to burn off the area and the big tank was far from being full anyway but there was plenty of other work to do.

  While Tony worked on the piping to stop the leaks I laid out exactly where and how big I wanted the garden. Next, we used one of the carts to carry the steel fence posts and loosely coiled barbwire that we salvaged from the
nearby old fences. We had brought a post pounder and took turns pounding in the steel posts. The wire we left off the “new” fence until much later, after the garden was done and plants would be starting to grow. The posts would not really get in our way while we were doing all the work getting things ready, and with them in we could easily see where the garden would be.

  The wind died way down late in the afternoon and we then burned the garden area off. We had two garden hoses ready just in case but the small fire was easy to stop from spreading and we had no trouble with the burn. We wanted to get the burning done because Tony predicted that rain was coming and he was proved to be correct with very light rain starting sometime during the night. We stayed in the RV at the garden camp that night and woke up to a continuing light rain.

  We were in no hurry and stayed inside the RV most of the day rather than just being out and getting wet. The next morning it was not raining but it looked as if it would start again at any time. We packed up and made a quick trip back to the main camp where Tony had lived. The last mile or so on the way back the rain started up again and by the time we got home we were both soaked to the skin and cold.

  Tony went to his house and me to my motor home. Once inside I stripped off the wet clothes, dried off, and donned dry clothes. By the time I was dressed again it was starting to get a little warmer in the RV because I had lit two of the top burners on the stove when I came in. I was still cold though and made a cup of very hot juniper berry tea which I sipped as I watched the rain continue outside.

  I was satisfied with the work we had accomplished at the garden camp and with the area burned off the rain would help soften the ground and we could start turning the soil for the garden. This working up the ground just using hand tools would be a major task and would not be completed very quickly. It was still too early to plant the garden anyway, but I wanted to get the soil worked up as soon as possible.