Solar Storm: Homeward Bound

by Vincent Keith

  THE FOLLOWING EVENING Eli hosted a small party with Jack, the girls, Aaron, Art, and Brian O’Neal. The windows were open to let some of the heat from the wood stove escape. Dinner was over, and everyone was in the living room.

  “Command agreed to send another team down to provide some stability for Pendleton. The General made it clear he wanted an elected Constable inside six months. He’s afraid to make it longer, and says it will feel too much like marshal law.”

  “Tough thing to balance,” said Eli. “A company of military police might work, but it’s not a good use of soldiers.”

  “Funny, that’s almost exactly what the General said.”

  “I think that’s asking a lot given how beat up the town is. Six months isn’t all that long to put a society back together under any conditions but now?” Jack finished the last of his coffee and went to the thermos for more.

  “True. But I know the Captain they’re sending. He’s a good guy Eli, I think you’ll like him. You’ll get pulled into an advisory position, and he’ll want you to bring a half dozen others with you. You ought to give that some thought.”

  “Great, more work.” Eli chuckled. “No good deed goes unpunished. So more Rangers?”

  “No. 1st Special Forces Group, Airborne.”

  “Huh. Wouldn’t that be a job for the Oregon National Guard?” asked Jack.

  “Generally yes, but the teams they’ve put together so far are all in Portland trying to keep a lid on things. I think it’s a lost cause, they don’t have enough people for the job. I know they have contractors doing nothing but digging graves for the bodies they’re pulling out. They don’t have quite the problem that Seattle has, but it’s bad. I don’t imagine the other cities are in any better shape.”

  “Yeah, well, it’s one reason I got out of Spokane,” said Jack. “I knew if things went to hell the cities would be the worst.”

  “Right now, I’d say the city with the least trouble is Salt Lake City,” said Brian.

  “Utah… Oh, sure, the Mormons have always been ready for something like this haven’t they,” said Eli.

  “I think Command wishes a lot more folks had been preppers. Early on there was some talk about arresting them as hoarders. Thank God that went nowhere. At least out here in the West… Well, maybe California. We’ve still had no word out of anywhere south of Redding, so it’s hard to tell what they’ve done.”

  “I’d bet nothing good,” said Jack.

  Rachael punched Jack on the harm. “Why do you pick on California so much?”

  Jack looked at her, brows raised. “Seriously?“

  Rachael sighed. She understood Jack’s views well enough by now to know exactly why, the thing that surprised her was that she mostly agreed.

  “Anyway, I’m glad it’s not something I have to worry about on a big scale. I need to get myself and the girls home, then worry about the rather sizable group Henry and I have adopted.”

  “Yeah, Jack—”

  “No, I’m not complaining,” said Jack, waving off Brian’s concern. “I’m happy as hell your folks and their friends made it. I’d have never made the offer way back when if I’d had any reservations about it. Henry and I always knew we’d be taking in a lot of people. Fortunately, old Ray found the project so much fun he couldn’t leave it alone. It was his money that paid for the extra supplies. I’m still not sure how much we’ve got, and Henry won’t talk about it on the radio which is probably wise.”

  “So, Jack—how did you end up involved in all this anyway?” asked Aaron.

  Jack groaned. Lexi giggled, then said, “You never finished your story you know.”

  “Go head Jack. I’ve been kinda wondering myself,” said Brian. “We’ve never really had a chance to catch up, aside from email, and you know how that goes.”

  “Yeah. Well, after the funeral—”

  “Wait. What funeral?” asked Aaron.

  “Oh, jeez.” Jack stopped.

  “My sister,” said Brian. “She and Jack were planning to get married. What? Must be about ten, almost eleven years ago now.”

  “Oh. Ah… I’m sorry guys. I…”

  “It’s fine Aaron. It’s been ten years. Maybe you should give them the whole story Jack.”

  Jack recounted his last twelve years, glossing over quite a bit of it since Lexi and Rachael had heard it.

  33

  GRAND OPENING

  —TEN YEARS EARLIER—

  With the deal for the property completed, plans moved forward. Jack gave the floor plans and sketches for the house, shop, and garage to Ray’s engineer. He would do the engineering, create the blueprints and submit them to the planning department. Ray gave him the name of a well driller. While Jack was waiting for the driller to get back to him, he did the drainage tests for the septic system.

  Approval for the well and septic system arrived. Jack and Henry had used a surveyor’s transit to lay out the pads for the shop and garage. They marked the locations of the drainage trenches and the underground wiring. With that done, they staked out the foundation for the house so the excavators could get to work.

  Jack placed the house at the top of the rise, forty-six feet above the river and twenty-four above the road. This location would have the best drainage, and with the basement fourteen feet down, proper drainage was critical. Both Ray and Henry were old enough to remember the Cuban Missile Crisis and had grown up living with the threat of nuclear war. People today didn’t give it much thought, proving once again, a man could, given sufficient time, get used to anything.

  It was Ray who’d suggested he put in a tunnel and use a pre-stressed concrete slab for the roof of the basement. Even with the increase in terrorism, Jack couldn't believe someone would use a nuke. But basic game theory suggested that planning for the possibility was the prudent choice if it was possible and affordable. The extra cost, with Ray’s people doing the work, wasn’t a showstopper, so Jack agreed.

  The plan was to put in the basement, with a ladder for direct access, and to use the tunnel for stocking. The basement would have twelve inches of concrete for a roof, buried under five feet of dirt, with the house above that. He had the storage he’d wanted and if the unthinkable happened a fallout shelter.

  While he was waiting for the last of the permits, Jack borrowed one of Ray’s shop buildings. It was big enough to swallow his little shop three times over. Jack made cardboard layouts of each piece of equipment he would have in the shop. Once he’d marked the dimensions of his shop, he asked Eugene to come over and give him advice about the placements. They taped out the locations of walls and laid the various templates on the floor. Henry arrived with beer and sandwiches, set up a small table with some folding chairs, and started a pot of coffee.

  Jack had added two additional workbenches so he could have multiple projects in the works without having to pack everything up. Eugene assured him he would have plenty of opportunities to leave various projects unfinished while he waited for parts.

  “You’ll get used to it. There are a lot of parts you’ll need to get from the manufacturer and most of them are slower than molasses.”

  Things might have gone faster without the beer, but the food and beer made the job more fun. Jack appreciated their experience in real world project logistics, or as Henry called it, “Juggling problems, demands, and wasted time.”

  Once the permits came through, he had the power company install the power meter and service box that would later be transferred to the shop. Ray came over with his concrete guy to inspect the areas for the pads for the shop and garage. It only took Ray a few hours to level the spot and dig the drainage ditches. With the ground ready, Jack built the forms for the foundation, which would extend three feet below grade and a foot above except at the doorway and the garage door.

  With the concrete forms completed, Jack laid out drainage and plumbed in the water lines for the sink. The in-floor electrical, all of which needed to pass through the foundation wall went in next. Then came the rebar and o
ther hardware necessary for connecting the structure to the foundation. As usual, there would be a delay of several days while he waited for the county inspector to certify the work before the concrete could be poured.

  When the foundation was complete and the forms removed, Jack started on the preparations for the concrete slabs that would make up the floors of the shop and garage. The in-floor electrical, drainage, and radiant heating added a significant level of complexity to the process and Jack nearly missed the next scheduled inspection. Missing it would have set him back by a full week or more.

  Steve and Ashley arrived just in time to watch the concrete pour for Jack’s shop and garage. When Ray heard that Steve and Ash were staying in their camper, he insisted they move into his spare room. Ray had a huge log home, just over 6,500 square feet, and lived alone. He said the company would do him good.

  When the snow came, it came hard. The first snowfall of the year dropped almost fourteen inches. Jack’s metal building contractor had just completed the shop and garage, and they were finishing up the gutters and downspouts when the first flakes fell. The buildings were now complete shells with everything he would need to make them functional. It would be another two months before the concrete was ready for the epoxy sealer after which he could begin the process of installing equipment, tables, and cabinets.

  Ashley had her architect send the plans for their house, which she’d had designed a few years back before they’d planned to move out of California. She was showing them to Ray one evening and noticed the frown on his face.

  “Ray, what’s wrong?”

  “Darlin, I’ll tell ya, you’re just not going to be happy in this house the way it is. Might be okay for the suburbs, but we ain’t in the suburbs.”

  “Why? I don’t see any problem, it’s just like one of our friend’s houses.”

  “Sure and you didn’t have a foot of snow for most of the winter, and the Costco wasn’t nearly two hours away. You probably had dinner delivered or went out to eat more often than you cooked. Am I getting warm?”

  Ashley looked at the plans, then at Ray, then over at Ray’s kitchen. “So you’re saying we’ll be doing a lot more cooking at home since there are only a dozen restaurants, the closest is 30 minutes, and none of them deliver this far away.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “You think I need a bigger kitchen?”

  “The kitchen is fine, but I think you need a lot more storage, and a larger pantry. You’ll probably want a mudroom to keep your work clothes in so you won’t be tracking dirt all through the house. I’ve got a few other ideas, and I’m sure Henry will have more. Why don’t we get everyone over for dinner and we can talk about it?”

  “Ray, that’s a fantastic idea.”

  Ray had everyone come early so they could go over plans. Ray and Henry found several things that would cause the Sarchielli household trouble. They changed the layout of the kitchen and pantry. A new mudroom extended the kitchen entrance. And a walkway between the garage and the mudroom provided cover from snow so they could go between the house and garage without having to shovel.

  Jack got a call from Marty while they were going over plans.

  “Hey, I’m in Spokane, and I’ve got a choice between hopping on a plane and heading home or coming for a visit, got an opinion?”

  “Marty! What the hell, Spokane? Man, a little warning would have been good. I could have met you at the airport. Make sure you get a car with chains, the roads up here are all covered.”

  “Don’t worry about the car, I’m in the process of picking up a truck I ordered about a month ago. I knew I’d be coming up and I wanted to surprise you. I figured you’d be pissed if I came to Washington without visiting.”

  “That’s great…Wait, you bought a truck here? Why?”

  “I wanted to get started on the building process. Annie is coming up next week so we can walk the property and figure out where everything needs to go.”

  “But…I thought the plan was to wait a few more years.”

  “It was, but we’re both in the mood for a change so we’ve decided to shake things up.”

  “Okay…” Jack paused trying to get his mind up to speed with the rather abrupt change. “That’s great news. I’m over at Ray’s with Henry, Steve, and Ash. How long do you think it’ll take to get here?”

  “I’m assured I’ll be on the road in about fifteen minutes. So… what? Two, maybe three hours?”

  “Better plan on three and a half, it’s really coming down out here. Do you have Ray’s address?”

  “Yep, I can find it, you guys going to be there for a while?”

  “My guess is we’ll be here late.”

  “Okay, see you in a bit.”

  Jack clicked the phone off and went back into the room. “That was interesting.”

  “What’s that?” asked Ashley.

  “Marty’s on his way over, he should be here around four.”

  “If he doesn’t have a place to stay,” said Ray, “he can use one of the guest rooms. Hell even if he does, we’ll cancel it, and he can stay here.”

  “Are you sure Ray? He said Annie is coming up next week so they can start laying things out. I guess they’re changing plans, and they’ll be moving up sooner than we thought.”

  “Yessir, I figure the more, the merrier. It’s the slow season for me, and since we’re working on the Sarchielli place, we might as well work on their house at the same time. I’ll give Chris a call and have him come over tomorrow.”

  “Who’s Chris?” asked Steve.

  “Chris Evans is my architect. Works with Ron Scheen.”

  Ray could see the questioning looks from Ashley and Steve. “Ron’s my engineer. He did Jack’s blueprints and got everything through the planning department. Between the two of them, you’ll have a house that works better than any you’ve ever lived in. If either one of them signs the plans, you’ll get approval and sign-off by the planning department same day. It’s worth it just for the time and frustration you’ll save.”

  “Ray, what the hell do you use an architect for?” asked Jack. “You build roads.”

  “Yessir, but before that, I built houses and commercial buildings, and someone had to design this place. Could’a done it myself, but Chris was just starting out, and the price was right. I’ve been using him ever since.”

  “Jack, what type of place do you think Marty wants to build?” asked Ashley.

  “Oh, well that’s up to Annie, but it’ll have a big kitchen, and they’ll share an office if it’s large enough. Moderate sized bathroom, master bedroom, at least one guest room, probably two. I’d figure on about twenty-eight hundred square feet unless Annie’s tired of having people over for dinner. But don’t hold your breath because I don’t think that will ever happen. Marty will want a shop building, and they’ll want a two-car garage, maybe three. Oh, she’s also a neat freak. That house will be next to spotless within an hour of any messy activity.”

  “Mayhap, I should have Chris plan to meet with her instead.”

  Jack laughed. “It would save a lot of time. Marty is just going to nod and agree with whatever she wants in the house anyway. The shop is his, so is the garden. The garage, well if Annie had her way, it would have a tiled floor with radiant heating. Marty may go for the heating, but he’ll win on the tile.”

  Marty arrived a bit after four and everyone came out to admire his new truck. The snow was falling again, so they weren’t out for long. Marty canceled his reservation at the motel and put his stuff in the loft. A quick phone call to Annie had her making plans to fly in on Monday.

  IT WAS the first time she’d been in a log home. It was warm and had a feeling of comfort she’d never experienced in the tract houses of Southern California or Colorado. The design also fit the property with its sparse pine cover. Marty liked the style but was less excited about the efficiency of the idea. As usual, he dug into the engineering issues of log construction. The reason Ray’s place was so cozy was the use of th
e twenty-inch diameter logs. Based on calculations, Marty figured he’d need a minimum of sixteen-inch logs to match the insulation value of standard construction.

  “Yessir, that’s about what I calculated which is why I went with the twenties,” said Ray.

  “As much as we like it, I just can’t see paying the premium the larger logs would require.”

  “Nope, and if I didn’t own a company that makes log homes I wouldn’t have done it either, at least not here. Maybe on the other side of the Cascades where it’s milder, and the thermal mass is more efficient.”

  “You own the company? I thought you did roads.”

  “One of my companies does. Got one that builds commercial buildings too.”

  After walking the property with Chris, they disappeared into Ray’s office for the better part of two days. By the end of the year, everyone had their plans either approved or at least submitted. Ray had his septic subcontractor do the necessary tests and permits, and the well driller came by and sank both wells on the same day.

  Marty hired one of the local loggers to clear the three lots he purchased. He and Steve went through and selected logs for milling, logs for firewood, and logs for building fences. The milled logs would be used for building the barn.

  Marty planned to use his first lot for the house and a vegetables and herb garden. The next would be for the barn, chicken coop, and stock pens. The end lot would be reserved for pasture. Annie wanted goats to try her hand at goat cheese. Discussions with some goat owners had them redesigning the layout a bit and changing the fences for the goat pens to steel and barbed wire which the goats hopefully wouldn’t eat.

  The families grew closer over the winter and began plans to share resources to save everyone money. Ray had grown to like everyone so much he chipped in with used tools and a couple of old tractors. He also hired a couple local high school kids, Jenny and Karen, to help Annie with the canning, and Henry with his buckets of grains, beans, and rice.