by Eric Vall
“Just a little excited there, Rolly?” Tara teased.
“I don’t know why he would be excited,” Anna laughed.
“He must really want some more fresh vegetables,” Paige said.
“Aw, come on guys, be nice,” Bailey said. “I think it’s cute that you’re excited to see Betty again.”
“I’m not very good at hiding it, am I?” Rolly asked as he blushed.
“No you’re not,” I chuckled. “But that’s okay. Nothing wrong with being excited. Plus, you getting to know her better will only help make trading easier.”
“Things have to go well first,” Rolly said.
“I don’t think you will have any issues,” Anna said.
“Yeah, you’re a sweet guy,” Bailey said.
Rolly sat there in silence as he looked between all the girls at the table. He opened his mouth to speak several times but always just stammered and looked away.
“It’s okay,” I said as I put a hand on his shoulder. “Just know that we’re rooting for you.”
“Thanks, guys,” he managed with a smile.
“Everyone finish up and get to work,” I said before I finished my tea and stood up. “If anything urgent comes up, I’ll be in town this morning.”
“While you’re down there you want to see if you can find any flour or baking stuff like we talked about?” Anna asked.
“Yeah, I’ll poke around a bit,” I assured her before I turned to Rolly. “Once you finish your drink there, meet me in the courtyard. You’re coming with me today.”
“Will do, boss,” he said as he nodded at me.
“Alright, I’ll see you guys this afternoon,” I said. Then I headed out, crossed the courtyard, and prepped the beaten up blue pickup truck for the trip down the hill.
I had just finished cleaning out the back of the truck when Rolly joined me.
“So what are we doing today?” he asked.
“Looking for big hot water heaters,” I said. “Think you have something in your shed that we could use to cut them free if we needed to?”
“Yeah, I have a couple nice hacksaws that would probably do the job,” he said.
“Grab em,” I said.
“I’ll be back in a moment,” he said. “Anything else I might need to grab while I’m there?”
“Maybe some wrenches,” I said. “Also if you have any old towels, they might come in handy.”
He nodded, gave me a thumbs up, and jogged off.
While Rolly was gone, I grabbed us some bottles of water and made sure I had a flashlight for the trip. Then I hotwired the truck and waited in the driver’s seat for my companion to return.
A couple minutes later the grey haired handyman ran back towards the truck with a small work bag overflowing with towels. He tossed it into the back and jumped in the cab.
“We ready?” I asked.
“Let’s do it,” he said.
We rolled off down the hill and parked in front of the first set of houses. I got the truck as close to the houses as possible so that we would have to travel the shortest possible distance with the water heater once we yanked it out of the house.
We got to work checking the houses. While each of them had a hot water heater, we were only interested in the largest ones. The more water we could have moving through our system at a time the better.
The first house had a tankless system, just like with the school, and I hoped that it was not the start of a trend. Thankfully, my worries were put to rest after we searched the second house. We found a large, grey, seventy-five gallon, gas hot water heater in the basement. It was almost perfect, but the gas line that fed into the heater didn’t have a shutoff valve.
“So what do we do about that?” I asked as I pointed to the gas line.
“We need to find out where the gas comes into the house,” Rolly said. “There’s usually a shutoff valve there.”
“You think you can figure out where that is?” I asked the handyman.
“I could take a look, but I can’t promise I’ll find anything,” he said with a shrug.
“If you can’t find it, then we’ll move on to the next house,” I said. “There’s no use risking our lives for a water tank.”
Rolly nodded and headed off to search for the main gas line.
I sat there for a couple minutes, but the handyman didn’t return. Just as I was about to leave the basement and search for him the door at the top of the stairs opened.
“Found it,” Rolly called down to me, “The gas should be turned off now.”
“Is there a way to check?” I asked.
“Pull the line off and see if you smell anything,” he instructed.
“Is that really the only option?” I asked.
“It’s the only one I know of,” he said.
I shook my head and took a deep breath. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Rolly, but gas could be stupidly dangerous, and I didn’t want to blow myself up today. I turned my attention to the tank and carefully removed the metal gas line. Thankfully the room didn’t fill with the stench of natural gas.
“We’re good,” I yelled to my friend.
Rolly stomped down the stairs and joined me in the basement once more. Together we unhooked the tank, emptied the water onto the ground, and hefted it up the stairs. By the time we got it into the back of the truck both of us were out of breath.
“Could you imagine trying to carry that thing while it’s full of water?” I asked between rapid breaths.
“I can’t imagine trying to move an empty tank any bigger than this one,” Rolly said as he smacked the side of the large metal tube. “It’s a good tank though. Looks pretty new.”
“Yeah, the paint hasn’t even started to chip,” I said. “Come on, we still need to find a couple more of these things.” I smacked Rolly on the back in a friendly fashion as I passed him and headed for the next house.
“Of course,” he wheezed. “We couldn’t need just one.”
We had to search several houses before we found another one with a hot water heater large enough for our purposes. Most of the homes in this neighborhood had forty or fifty gallon tanks, but after finding a seventy-five gallon tank they felt too small. In one of the larger two-story houses we managed to find a second seventy five gallon tank. Unlike the first one this was an electric system.
Without the added complication of the gas, Rolly and I started to take it apart right away. Most of the process was easy, but seventy-five gallons of water took a while to drain.
“So I’m thinking of taking one of the girls up to the cabin tomorrow,” I said as we waited.
“Oh yeah?” The handyman asked.
“I want to take advantage of this moment of peace we fought hard for,” I explained.
“Now would be a good time for a little trip,” Rolly agreed. “Do you know who you are going to take?”
“Not yet,” I said. “I have been thinking about letting them draw straws for it.”
“Have fun with that,” Rolly chuckled.
“Thanks,” I said with a grin. “We are only going to stay up there for a day, and when we get back, we will head straight for Betty’s farm.”
“If it makes it easier, I could take the truck and head out for the farm that morning,” Rolly said. “You and your lucky lady can just meet me at the farm later that day.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” I said. “You should take one of the girls with you though.”
“Yeah, I figured we would all just load up and roll out there.”
“We don’t need that many people at the farm, and we really need to get our garden stuff done before summer,” I said. “And somebody has to keep watch.”
“I suppose so,” Rolly said.
“Don’t worry, I’ll fill the girls in on the plan so you don’t have to be the bad guy,” I teased.
“Much appreciated,” Rolly chuckled.
Once the tank was empty, the two of us hefted it outside and into the truck. Somehow it seemed lighter tha
n the first one, but that didn’t mean we were any less out of breath once the job was done.
“Let’s try to find one more,” I said.
“Alright, but let me catch my breath first,” Rolly wheezed before he chuckled.
An hour later we found a third, seventy five gallon water heater and put it into the back of the pickup truck. The mangled machine sagged under the weight of the metal tubes, but it survived the small trek back up the hill.
I pulled the truck right up to the shed and offloaded the tanks there before I parked it with the other vehicles in the small campus parking lot.
“Now I wish I was the one going to that cabin,” Rolly said as he climbed out of that truck. “That hot tub would feel real nice after moving those heaters today.”
“I would offer to take you with me, but it would mean waiting a little longer to visit Betty again,” I said with a grin.
“Nevermind,” Rolly said, “I’ll stay here.”
“That’s what I thought,” I chuckled. Then I headed off to find the girls.
It didn’t take me long to find Paige, Bailey, and Tara all hanging out together at the garden. All three of them worked together to fill the ground with even more seeds. Almost the entire garden area was covered in small mounds of freshly moved dirt.
“We were victorious!” I shouted as I ran towards the women.
They looked up, startled, but then broke into a fit of laughter.
“What are you talking about, dork?” Paige asked.
“Rolly and I found some nice hot water heaters in town,” I explained as I got close, “And I'm not a dork, I’m just enthusiastic.”
“You keep telling yourself that,” Tara teased.
“Well, we’ve been doing good here too,” Bailey said. “We didn’t have much luck with the traps today, but that just meant we had more time to work on the garden after we boiled up some water.”
“I can see that,” I said. “Well done.”
“You guys ready to finish this greenhouse?” I asked.
“Hell yeah,” Bailey said. “I can’t wait to get it full of plants.”
“I don’t think I’ve seen you this excited about something for a while,” Paige said.
“Oh I’ve seen her get excited about something,” Tara said as she brushed the dirt off her pants.
“What?” Bailey asked as she furrowed her brow in confusion.
“Tav’s dick,” The platinum blonde girl said with a smirk.
“I really should have seen that one coming,” Paige said as she shook her head. She tried to look mad, but I could still see a little smile.
“Me too,” Bailey muttered as her face went bright red.
“Stop embarrassing the poor girl,” I said as I tried not to laugh.
“Alright, I guess I have to go take over guard duty anyway,” Tara said. “Try not to miss me while I’m gone.”
“I don’t think that will be a problem,” the blonde hippie said.
“We’ll see,” Tara replied as she flashed us all a smile.
I couldn’t help but watch as the platinum blonde walked away. Her sexy ass looked amazing in those tight jeans, and it bounced with every step she took.
“Come on,” Paige said with a smile as she nudged me. “We have a greenhouse to build.”
Chapter 4
That afternoon, after we finished the greenhouse, we then moved a few tables into it from the cafeteria. The interior felt nice and spacious, even with the tables, and it had already started to warm up.
“This will do nicely,” Bailey said with a large grin.
“What sort of stuff are you going to grow in here?” Paige asked.
“I don’t have a list or anything,” Bailey said, “but I was thinking I could grow some mushrooms in here.”
“We aren't talking psychedelic mushrooms are we?” Anna asked.
“Of course not,” the hippie frowned. “My goal is to use this greenhouse to help us produce more food. I don’t even want to waste space on pretty stuff like flowers.”
“Well, if you need any help let us know,” I said.
“I will,” she assured me.
After we were done in the greenhouse, the girls and I went upstairs and started to sort through our enormous stash of guns. There were still plenty of munitions not on the list that Anna had given me the day before and having a complete inventory of our gear would help me decide what to get rid of by trading.
“So how many guns do you think we should give to Betty?” Anna asked as she inspected a little snub nose .38 revolver.
“I think her and her grandkids will be more interested in the ammo,” I said as I set aside another National Guard M16. I didn’t think we needed to keep many of them for ourselves. They were serviceable, but most of the AR-15s we had were of better quality. We also didn’t need a lot of automatic firepower. We would all be much more accurate with our current semi-auto options.
“How much ammo can we part with?” Paige asked.
“I figure we can give them half a dozen of those .40 caliber pistols and half the ammo we have for them,” I said. “None of you guys are currently using a .40, right?”
“Right,” Bailey said. “We are all using 9mm or .45 as far as I’m aware.”
“I think Rolly has been carrying one of those .38 revolvers, but yeah, no one is using a .40,” Anna confirmed with a nod.
“Good, then we’ll start with that,” I said. “Make sure the pistols are unloaded and toss them into a bag with the ammo.”
“What sort of rifles should we bring them?” Paige asked.
“Tomorrow go through what we have and pick out the guns we don’t have many of,” I said. “The less ammo types we have to keep track of the better.”
“We can do that,” Paige said with a nod.
“If you find something you like don’t be afraid to set it aside though,” I said.
“Sweet,” Bailey said with a grin. “It’s still weird to me how much I enjoy guns.”
“It’s hard not to like something so awesome,” Anna said.
“They are pretty impressive once you learn how to use them,” I said.
“Also, they make you feel super badass,” Paige grinned as she shouldered one of the many AR-15s and aimed at the ceiling. “Too long.” She set it in a pile with other similar rifles and picked up the next gun.
“That’s true,” Bailey said.
I stretched, stood up, and walked over to the window. The world outside had started to grow dark while we had sorted through the firearms.
“Let’s pack it in for the night ladies,” I said.
“Already?” Anna asked as she raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah,” I replied with a nod. “These guns will still be here tomorrow, and I’m starting to get hungry.”
Bailey stood up, slung her rifle over one shoulder, and wiped the grease off on her pants. “I’ll go get some dinner going.”
“Much appreciated,” I said.
Then, without another word, the blonde hippie slipped out into the hall.
The rest of us cleaned up, gathered Rolly and Tara, and headed down to the fire pit. We stopped along the way to pick up some alcohol to enjoy with our meal. The group decided to mix it up a little, and we grabbed a bottle of gin and a bottle of rum.
Our food was almost ready by the time we made it outside, so we opened the bottles and started to pass them around while Bailey served up plates of spiced rabbit with a side of canned tomato soup.
“Did you manage to find any flour or baking mixes while you were in town?” Anna asked me as we all started to eat.
“Sorry, not today,” I said after I shook my head. “Taking care of those water heaters took all morning.”
“Guess I’ll have to make a trip down there one of these days,” the redhead said with a shrug.
“Would we have time tomorrow?” Paige asked.
“There is a chance that some of you might have time tomorrow, yes,” I said. “How’s the garden coming along?”
>
“I think all we need to do now is water what we planted and keep it free of weeds,” Bailey said.
“We’ll make watering the garden one of our morning duties,” I said.
“Could we hook up a hose to the pump or do we need an actual watering can?” Paige asked.
“You’ll probably want a can,” Rolly said. “The hose would work, but only if you had someone back at the pump working it while you watered.”
“That might speed things up though,” Paige pointed out.
“I’ll leave the specifics of watering the garden to you guys,” I said. “I really don’t care which method you use as long as it gets done.”
“I’m glad our supply of water isn’t finite,” Bailey said.
“If it was we wouldn’t be planting a garden,” I said.
“Oh, yeah, I guess I hadn’t thought of it like that,” the blonde hippie said with a shrug.
“Things are going well though,” I said. “We have plenty of food, all the water we need, and more guns than our group could ever use. That’s why I think it’s about time we got to take a little break.”
“Didn’t we just have a break?” Anna asked.
“A different kind of break,” I said. “Tomorrow I’m going to take one of you ladies to the cabin. Any volun--”
“Oh me, me!” Tara interrupted as she raised her hand up into the air.
“Holy shit, settle down there, Tara,” Paige groaned.
“Sorry, I just really want to go,” the platinum blonde model whined.
“We all want to go,” Bailey said.
“I probably can’t go with you, can I?” Anna asked. “Since I already went?”
“Not this time,” I said.
“Damn,” she muttered. “I guess it’s only fair.”
I nodded. “That’s something to keep in mind, whoever goes with me tomorrow won’t be going back until I’ve taken the others.”
“I still want to go,” Tara said.
“I do too,” Paige said. “I have been dying to use that hot tub since you told us about it.”
“We all want to use the hot tub,” Tara scoffed. “I want to bask in the electric lights and put my bare ass on those silk sheets I heard so much about.”
“They are some really nice sheets,” Anna said wistfully.