“That, we can do,” said Rachael. She waved her hand, and Tom got up to get the water.
“He’s a good kid,” she said.
“I’m not a kid!” echoed from the kitchen.
“What the hell do you figure the odds are of you showing up when you did?” asked Curly.
“No idea, about the same as winning the lottery I guess.”
“Yeah, thanks. And Tom, thank you too, it might have been better if you’d gone to town for help, but I understand why you stayed. We had no way to know if they’d be back.” Curly took the water and sipped.
“Shouldn’t be a problem now, Travis will have a couple more folks come stay with you. Right now, you’re their best source of produce.”
“I knew the Aquaponics was a good idea. I just never expected this,” he gestured with his good arm, a broad sweeping motion indicating the entire world.
“Nobody expected this.”
“You did, or something like it.”
“I didn’t expect it. I sort of thought about what might happen and acted accordingly.”
“Same thing.”
“Yeah, well…” Jack looked away, somewhat embarrassed by Curly’s praise.
Tom returned with the water.
“Hey Tom, we’ll stick around for at least a day, maybe longer, I’ll leave it up to Rachael. Why don’t you and I chop some more firewood? You’ll need a lot of it, and this crusty old fart won’t be much help for a while.”
“Hey! I resemble that remark.”
The joke caught Rachael off guard, and she snorted a laugh. Jack smiled, used to Curly’s cantankerous dry sense of humor.
“Did the Sheriff say when the extra help would get here?” asked Tom.
“No, he needs to find a couple of volunteers. In the long run, I think you’ll want maybe six or eight. I know Travis is trying to get some folks moved closer to town.”
“We can’t move all this stuff, there’s no way,” said Curly.
“No, and that’s part of the reason for the extra help. Travis wants to be sure you have enough people to keep everything running without killing the two of you.”
“That would be nice. If we had someone else, one of us could have gone to town for help,” said Tom.
“Curly, didn’t you have a couple of ranch hands? What happened to them?”
“Charley and Dave, yeah. When the power didn’t come back on, and the trucks didn’t work, they rode back to Burney.”
“Damn. Double damn.”
“What?”
“Well, they know a lot about the place, and we could have used them… And they know too much, and we don’t know who they’ll tell.”
“Charley’s married, he had to go. Dave has a girl down there. They went home every weekend.”
“Okay. Burney might do well anyway. It’s not a big town as things go. They’ve got a fair number of ranches so…”
“They said if things didn’t get fixed soon they’d come back. If they do, Charley will bring his wife. Dave, I don’t know.”
“Why were they working all the way up here?”
“Charley wanted to start up in Aquaponics, so he came to learn. He got Uncle Curly to hire Dave as a wrangler for the Buffalo, and kind of general handyman.”
“Okay. Damn…”
“What?”
“Well, I just think I should stay until Travis finds someone willing to come out and help.”
Tom nodded. “I’d appreciate it. It’s hard to get much done, between taking care of Uncle Curly and trying to keep an eye out.”
Jack, Tom, and Lexi spent the following day trying to get caught up on unfinished tasks. Travis showed up a day later with a young Mexican couple. They had a five-year-old girl with them.
“Hey Trav, is this our help?”
“We’ll see.”
Jack gave him a questioning look. Travis responded with a jerk of his head signaling Jack to follow. They wandered off toward the Buffalo pens.
“Okay, what gives?” asked Jack.
“Luis and Marisol Pina, and their daughter Angelica, really nice folks and in need of a place to stay. Luis was working for the Zaddiks, an old retired couple. Mr. Zaddik blended his herd with the Q-Bar and moved to town. They were pretty isolated, and with no power, he was falling behind. Some folks at the Q don’t much care for Mexicans. So, I figured I’d see if Curly would take them.”
“Don’t—Shit, they obviously don’t get it yet. Well, we can go ask Curly, but I already know the answer.”
“And?”
“Curly was married to a Mexican woman, she died of cancer about twelve, thirteen years ago. He’ll be happy to have them.”
Travis sighed. “Good, I could have found them a spot in town, but out here Luis is less likely to run into anyone from the Q. I don’t think anyone realized it was an issue until I brought them out there. Mitch’s top hand has issues. Mitch damn near fired him but, honestly, Mike would be hard to replace, and he’d likely have taken a couple of guys with him.”
“Not that it matters anymore, but is Luis legal?”
“Born in Redding, never been over two-hundred miles from home.”
“Huh, so it wasn’t just an illegal alien thing.”
“I’m not sure Mike would know the difference.”
“Ah. So he’s good at what he does and not much else?”
“That’s about the size of it.”
“Well, I think they’ll be okay here but let’s go ask Curly, it is his place.”
“Fair enough.”
They headed back to the house and broached the subject with Curly.
“I suspect I know why you’re asking,” said Curly.
“Yeah, it’s a problem with—“
“Don’t. I don’t want to know. It’ll just piss me off. Send them in, tell them to take the big room upstairs. They’ll have to move my stuff down to the den. If both Charley and Dave make it back, then we may need help to build an addition.”
Travis looked from Curly to Jack, “Who’re they?”
“Used to work for me. When the power had been out—I guess it was five days? Anyway, they took their horses and headed home to Burney. Charley asked if he could bring his wife back if things stayed broken. I told him yes, Dave too.”
“So you don’t need Luis and Marisol?”
“Hell yes, we need them, even if both of the boys come back with families. The cows will be calving in another five months. If we don’t lose any, the herd will go from sixty to near ninety. We will need to talk some neighbors into moving or taking down fences. And, I want to about triple the aquaponics. So yeah, we need them.”
Travis smiled. “That’s what I like to hear. A plan to not just squeak by but to grow. You let me know if the neighbors give you trouble, and I’ll deal with it.”
“With food in short supply? They’ll be ready to cooperate—Oh, crap! I haven’t heard a word from Reggie since this happened. You maybe better check on him. Damn. I… ah shit, I just forgot.”
“What? Why?”
“He’s diabetic.”
Rachael looked up from the magazine she’d been reading. “We need to go check now. I’ll get my stuff.”
“Right, I’ll send Luis and Marisol in, and you guys can get things organized. Rachael, I’ll meet you outside.” He paused then looked at Curly. “Which house?”
“Take Tom, he knows.”
Rachael returned about an hour later. She wasn’t happy.
“Didn’t make it did he?” asked Curly.
“No, he’s been dead for a couple of days at least. I’m surprised he was living on his own, with his feet he must have had a hard time getting around. He probably has had no heat in that place in a week. He’d piled every blanket in the house on the bed so he could stay warm.”
“Rachael… I’m sorry,” said Curly. “It’s my fault.”
“No, Curly it’s not. I wish his last days could have been more comfortable. He was going to die without drugs no matter what. It looks like he had an automatic renewal
from one of the mail order places. He still had some left. I don’t think it was diabetes that got him, I believe that it might have been a heart attack.”
“Yeah, well I should have checked on him. Damn it!”
She massaged her temples with her thumbs attempting to ease some of the stress. “There are a lot of people who won’t last more than a few days past the end of their prescriptions. Others may hang on for a long time but wish they didn’t. Travis, I put the insulin in Curly’s cooler outside. It’s nine days’ worth. It’s been kept at ambient temperature, but I don’t think it froze, and it sure didn’t get too hot. The Doctor will want it, and he should probably use it before his refrigerated stuff.”
“I’ll let him know. It’s too bad we had to get it the way we did. I guess I’d better arrange for a team to visit everyone we haven’t seen since this started. We’re so used to having people call when they have a problem, it just never occurred to us go check.”
Rachael patted him on the shoulder and wandered back into the kitchen to see if Marisol needed a hand.
Travis, Tom, Jack, and Luis headed over with shovels to bury the old man. When that task was done Travis headed back to town. Tom, Jack, and Luis started moving Curly’s bedroom to the den on the first floor and the Pina’s few possessions to Curly’s old room.
THE BOYS CAME in from working when Rachael yelled that dinner was ready. The aroma of spices used in Marisol's cooking enveloped Jack as he stepped through the front door. They headed for the table until Lexi cut them off and sent them to wash up. Marisol had cooked an excellent Mexican dinner, the best Jack had ever had.
Despite the day’s events everyone was in good spirits. They talked about plans for the ranch, and an extension to the house if Charley should return. Tom thought Charley should just take Mr. Weaver’s place. Curly pointed out that would mean having to cut enough wood to heat two locations. Having just spent the better part of the last two days cutting wood, Tom had a rapid change of heart.
“He can have my room. I’ll sleep out here.”
Everyone laughed, even little Angelica, who was snuggled up in her father’s lap.
“We need to hit the road again, first thing in the morning. As much as I love to visit, and as much as I appreciate the smoked fish, and the wonderful dinner, we’ve lost a week since we got to Adin. According to Henry, they’ve got snow up north already. I’m afraid we might have to abandon the bikes before we make it home. They’re not going to do us any good in the snow.”
“Oh my, I didn’t even think about that,” said Rachael.
“It’s easy to overlook. If we’re lucky, we’ll get across the Columbia before it becomes an issue, although it might be a problem by the time we get up near Burns.”
“Where were you planning to cross the river?” asked Tom.
“Normally, I’d have said Umatilla, but with no idea how things are going, I may skirt east, find some spot to cross the Snake then head back toward Coulee City. We should be able to cross somewhere around there, then follow the road north and west. I’m not sure there are any good options.”
Jack frowned, staring at the ceiling.
“Any which way I look at it, those rivers are going to be choke points. I’m hoping most of the troublemakers will have moved off the roads by then. If the towns aren’t too worried about immigrants and raiders, getting through might be a bit easier. If we don’t hit snow, we’ll be there in a few weeks. Most of the people fleeing cities will have either found a place, or….”
“Yeah, no food, no shelter, no useful knowledge… Gonna be a lot of dead people,” said Curly.
Jack just nodded. It wasn’t a pleasant thought. If it were like that everywhere, there would probably be a hundred million dead, maybe more by the time things became routine. Worldwide the number would be huge. Many of the people who were considered destitute, accustomed to living on two dollars a day, would be fine. At least as long as they weren’t dependent on food imports. It was the wealthy city dwellers who were going to get the worst of it. The slum dwellers would be a close second.
When morning came, Jack and Rachael busied themselves with packing the bikes. Lexi had taken the radio to check in with the men at the radio shack. Marisol was in the kitchen. Tom and Luis were already out moving the fence line.
The bikes were ready, and breakfast was on the table when Lexi returned with news. Three men had been shot out at the Weavers Q-Bar-7 ranch for rustling cattle. No one knew the men or where they’d come from, and since they were dead, it would remain a mystery. The ranch hands were still out rounding up the twenty missing cows. She said Travis was sending another four men out to the Weaver place for a while. There was no way to know how many rustlers there were, or if they’d come back.
With breakfast done, they mounted up and headed north. The first day was a lot of hills, and the dogs had spent most of their time on foot. Jack decided to camp outside the church at Canby. The pastor greeted the tired travelers as they parked their bikes in front of the church.
“You must be the young folk who stirred up the folks in Adin.”
“Well, I wouldn’t call it…”
Dr. William Franklin waved him to silence. “It’s not a condemnation, we all needed a bit of stirring. Half my flock was just waiting for someone to make it all better. I tried to tell them. Apparently, the word of a stranger makes a bigger impact in matters of the world.”
Jack nodded, “It’s not uncommon for people these days to look to the outside for information and help, it’s the way we’ve been living for the last fifty years or more.”
“Yes, well, if there is a silver lining, attendance has gone up precipitously, and I don’t have to compete with the TV and the phones.”
“When the weather is mild, we have no fear of being alone, but when the storm comes, and thunder rattles the windows; when the rain threatens to wash away the ground, and the wind seeks to tear away the roof, then we find shelter in community.”
The pastor nodded, “And who said that?”
“I’m pretty sure it was me,” Jack said with a smile.
Jack could see the pastor saying the phrase over again in his head and wondered if he’d said something he shouldn’t have.
“If you don’t mind, I think I’ll steal that for a sermon. I borrow most of my best work and asking for forgiveness is second nature. I believe this is the first time I’ve asked for permission.”
Rachael chuckled, “Who knew he was a poet.”
Jack shrugged, “Would hardly call it poetry.”
“Well, you folks get settled, and you’re welcome to join us for dinner. We’ve been doing group meals in the kitchen here, and the school. Several groups have gone off hunting, so while we’re crowded, it’s not overly so.”
“We’ve got enough food. We don’t need to be an extra burden on your resources.”
“I thought you might feel that way, but the folks here would like to repay you for your help.”
“What help? We just got here, and we’re leaving first thing in the morning.”
“Adin sent some folks up with news, so we’ve been busy putting up greenhouses and planting. Thanks to you we know a lot more about what’s going on than we did a week ago.”
“Well, that’s really Adin, not us.”
“In a way, the folks from Adin said most of what they know now came from you and your help with the radios. It turns out one of our locals is a Ham radio enthusiast. He got his old radio working well enough to talk with Adin.”
“Oh, well, that’s good news. But…”
Rachael reached up and touched Jack’s lips. “Shush. Just go with the flow. We don’t have to eat a lot, just be courteous.”
“But I was…”
“Hush. Sorry pastor, he’s just naturally self-reliant, he doesn’t mean to be rude.”
Jack shook his head and then shrugged. Fine, he thought, if they want to use up their supplies for no reason, I suppose it’s their choice. Rather than argue the point, Jack pulled gear
out of the trailers to set up the tent. Lexi had already fed and watered the dogs and was now busy repacking her new backpack.
They went to the dinner, and Jack spent most of the evening discussing the town’s plans. He’d never intended to be the expert they treated him as. There were plenty of skilled individuals, enough to teach and keep the unskilled from making the situation worse. Eventually, they’ll either all be useful, or… Well, I guess that would depend on how tolerant people were of sharing, now that their lives depended on the work they got done.
The following morning, Jack and the girls got off CA-139 and headed into the Modoc National Forest about a mile before reaching Alturas. They stopped for lunch near the Big Sage Reservoir then continued north looking for the turn off that would take them east toward Goose Lake. Four hours of pedaling later, they found a good place to camp near the south end of the lake. At their current rate, they’d reach the Goose Down Inn tomorrow, late afternoon.
They stopped a few miles south of the Inn. Jack wanted to go in early, hoping to avoid any unplanned encounters. Lexi found an abandoned house with unlocked doors, so they set up camp on the garage floor. Jack set up the stove in the garage to keep any light from spilling out and letting anyone know they were there.
“Jack? What’s Wrong?”
“Huh?”
“You seem… sad.”
“Hmm. Long story.”
“We’ve got nothing else to do tonight.”
After eating, they spent the evening sitting in the dark listening as Jack picked up his story that had ended with meeting Rebecca.
14
GOOSE DOWN INN
—TWELVE YEARS EARLIER—
Jack followed the Parks Department truck down a long asphalt driveway that ended in a large circular drive with a big oak tree in the middle. He pulled into one of the marked parking spots and stripped out of his riding gear. As he walked toward the entrance, he saw a woman in her early fifties come down the steps and head in their direction.
“Hiya, Aunt Judy.”
“Rebecca dear, why don’t you introduce me to your friend.”
“This is Jack. Jack my Aunt Judy.”
Solar Storm: Homeward Bound Page 18