Poor Mandy looked sad, with her little backpack, and holding a small fishbowl that I knew must hold Sharkie the goldfish. “Mandy, did you bring Sharkie to visit me?” Her little face lit up, and she began to tell me all about Sharkie, and then to tell Sharkie all about us. I took her by the hand as we went into the house, with Marcie and Grace following behind. We went up the stairs to the bedroom that had once belonged to my boys. The twin beds were still there. “Mandy, would you and your Mommy like to use this room? If you look out the window, you can see the horses and cows!” Mandy was almost vibrating with excitement as she set Sharkie’s bowl down on the dresser and ran to the window. Grace looked at me, smiled, and mouthed, “Thank you”. I was glad I had already put clean linens on the beds in anticipation of people coming. I turned to Marcie and told her, “Let’s let these gals settle down. You and Frank can have the room next door.”
While we were putting her things away in her new room, Marcie told me that Grace and Mandy were outside in their yard when the shooting happened, and it really scared them both. Marcie also told me she called work and told them because of all of the violence, she was not going back. I asked her how the Director of Nursing took the news and she smiled and said, “I think I learned a few new cuss words today!”.
After we finished stowing their suitcases I showed them where the bathroom was and where I kept clean towels, and then we all went back downstairs. By now, I was starting to feel like my home had turned into Grand Central Station. Everywhere I looked, there was activity. Marcie brought Grace and Mandy over to sit with the Flinn girls, hoping that talking about the animals would help settle Grace and Mandy down after all the excitement at their home. While people were sitting around chatting and starting to relax a bit, I called Tom over and asked if he and I could meet in my office in a few minutes. I needed a few minutes of quiet and some organization to settle my own nerves a bit. Tom said he would be right there and I grabbed a cup of sweet tea and headed into the house.
I love my little office. I’m not sure if it was originally built to be an office or a bedroom, but it sat at the front of the house just off the living room with a bay window overlooking the pasture. A few years ago, I removed the standard door and added a pair of glass french doors. The walls were covered with bookcases and a small desk sat in the middle of the room. There were a couple of comfortable chairs in one corner, and an overstuffed chair in front of the desk. The desk chair was my favorite. It was a big old-fashioned leather chair that had been my grandfather’s. When I sat in the chair, I could close my eyes and feel his presence in the room, making me feel safe and happy. I sat down at the desk and opened my laptop. Just then, Tom entered and shut the french doors behind him.
“Is all this commotion getting to you?” he asked. I nodded, and said I just needed some quiet time for the two of us to go over a few things and get organized for tomorrow. He nodded, and settled down into the chair in front of the desk.
“OK, first question. Can the boys move in yet? I do not care about a certificate of occupancy from the city- I really don’t want any inspectors from the city out here anyway. If the wings are ready, I’d really like the boys to be here.”
“Yes, just about everything is done. They may want to do some additional painting and decorating down the road, but essentially everything that is needed is completed. I can have Jose and Tim help them move on Sunday if they are okay with that. They can use my big old box truck to move the furniture.” I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. That was a huge relief to me. One of my worries after seeing signs of troubles in the city was not having the boys, and especially Gabby and Stacy, in a safe place.
“Thank you, that takes a weight off my mind. I’ll let the boys know so they can start packing. Next, I think we need to make a shopping list and get more of the things we are going to need. We probably ought to consider going into Asheville to get stuff, as I'm not sure we can find what we need in Riverdale, and I don’t want the folks in Riverdale remembering us doing all this shopping, anyway. We should probably plan on going Tuesday. We can take your box truck, my Jeep and trailer, and maybe a pick up with a trailer. I am thinking we probably need a few people along to ride shotgun and keep an eye on our vehicles while we shop. Do you agree?”
“I think that is a wise idea. We need to get so many things. Why don’t you work on a list of food, clothes, and such like that while I work on a list of mechanical and farm things we will need. I know you got fencing, and with the new animals, and the other ones yet to get here, we will probably use it all up fixing pasture and corral fencing. We will also need more to enlarge the chicken coop, and probably ought to get materials to build a second rabbit hutch; it won’t be long before those critters outgrow what they have.”
When Tom mentioned fencing, it reminded me about seeing the fences down at the north end of the farm. I mentioned to him about the ATV tracks and campfire remains that I found, and his brow furrowed in concern.
“That is definitely not good. Let’s have Frank look at it and give us some suggestions for creating a better security perimeter. Even though it is quite a ways from us, we don’t need to have squatters coming onto the back side of the farm. That could get dangerous. I’ll talk to him and see what he recommends we do about that. I am thinking that Frank is probably our best choice for being over security with his Marine and law-enforcement background. Bill should probably be his back-up.”
“Thank you. I agree with you about Frank and Bill. I am making a list of things to get delivered over the next few days. Once the diesel tanks are hooked up, we’ll need them filled. I have a load of firewood coming Monday, but I am thinking we will need a lot more than one load. I'll call my firewood guy and see how much he can get us. Remind me to mention to the others that if they have firewood at their places, they may want to start pre-positioning some of it here. We can keep it separate for now in case nothing happens, but that would be one less thing to worry about in case everyone needs to come running.”
“Next on my list is clothing. We need to be sure everyone who will be staying here has warm winter clothes that are rugged enough for farm life. The kids probably ought to have clothes in larger sizes to allow for growth, too. Everyone will need good foot gear, especially boots. They’ll also need rain gear. On your mechanical stuff list, add work gloves. We will need tons of those over the coming months I am sure. We also need to add socks and underwear. Probably thermal underwear, too. And hats and warm gloves. They also need to consider bringing summer clothes. I’m not sure how long something like this would last, but I suspect if it is as bad as we are thinking it may be quite a while.
“Clark is making a list of what will be needed for the animal hospital, and we will probably be able to get most of that Tuesday, too. I’m not sure if he will have to be present to get prescription stuff, or if he can order it, and we just pick it up for him. I’ll ask about that.” I jotted a few more notes on my laptop to be sure I didn’t forget anything.
“Tomorrow, I want to get James and the girls together to see what we will need for our human infirmary. I know we are going to need a couple of obstetric kits – between Stacy soon and Maria not too long from now, we’ll need them.” Tom looked at me with his eyebrows raised. “Maria is pregnant? How did you know? Did she tell you?”
I laughed. “Tom, I'm an old nurse and a mother. I knew she was pregnant the first time I saw her! But, yes, I did ask her and she confirmed it. She is not due until the end of March. So, that means in addition to OB stuff, we need to add baby gear – clothes, cribs, strollers, etc. to our lists. I also think we might want to consider putting James and Samantha in charge of setting up the infirmary. Samantha has a really good head on her shoulders, and she pays attention to details. I don’t think she’ll let her doc miss anything. I think we also need to have them teach basic first-aid to everyone and make sure we have the supplies and equipment we need for that.”
“Next on the list. Let’s make Chuck over the armory. I know lots o
f us are comfortable with firearms, but he does it professionally. We need to get inside the armory set up with work benches, lighting, and storage shelves and racks. That will be Chuck’s assignment tomorrow. I think we will need to do another lumberyard run this weekend for materials to build that shelving. We are also going to need shelving inside the conexes to hold everyone’s storage. Can we put Marty and Jose in charge of getting the supplies and building that shelving? Oh, and they probably ought to check with Gabby and Stacy about colors and pick up some paint and painting supplies for inside. Also, let’s remember to add to your mechanical list that we need a lot of padlocks with extra keys so we can secure the conexes.
“We need to think about housing. We could put everyone into the house, but that will make things cramped. I know we have a few folks with RVs. Let’s see if they will bring them over. We can get them set up within the perimeter of the berms, and then people can decide who wants to live where.”
Tom agreed that was a good idea, and told me that he had an RV, but that Jose and Maria were currently living in it in his side yard. “That’s great! Do you think they can just move it over here tomorrow? That way, we’ll have time to get them set up and comfortable over here, you know, make sure water and power are hooked up and all that stuff. They can have first dibs on where they want to park.”
“I know the Flinns have a really nice RV, and Marcie and Frank do, too. Let’s check the paper Sunday and see if anyone is selling used RVs that we might be able to get. That will give us room for expansion in the event we have others join us.”
“So, then, here is our to-do list for tomorrow: hand out the assignments we’ve got listed here, finish getting the diesel tanks installed, spread the gravel over the internal paths – I don’t think we need to go all the way back down the driveway to the road, because once the SHTF, we are not going to want anyone to know there is a driveway there! We need to get our lists put together, get the kids and Maria and Jose moved over here, and start working on firewood. Tomorrow morning, maybe some of the guys could build a lean-to next to the firewood shed to store the additional firewood. If anyone wants to keep their wood separate, I’ve got some big tarps in the barn we can use to cover them. Oh, add more tarps to your shopping list, as well as more rope.”
I heard the clock chiming nine o’clock, and suggested to Tom that we go watch the news. We went into the living room, and found several people already there with the same idea and the news just starting. I thought to myself that I need to take a deep breath and not start yelling at the TV; I don’t want to scare my company. As usual, the lead story was centered on a tweet made by the president. I feel sorry for the man, because no matter what he does, it is never good enough for the liberals. This tweet was regarding immigration. I think he is absolutely right that if we are going to bring people into this country, they should be people who can acclimatize to American society and bring in needed skills and abilities. I am really tired of this country being a dumping ground for all of the people other countries don’t want. I’m sick of people coming here for asylum, and then trying to change our way of life to be just like the country they were claiming asylum from. Of course, our president does at times use rather colorful language, but I’m at the point I am even okay with that simply because I know it upsets the snowflakes. I am usually pretty open-minded about things, but lately the political correctness that surrounds us is really getting on my last nerve!
The next story was definitely newsworthy – not! An actress was claiming that a famous movie star tried to kiss her on set in 1986, and now she is claiming it was sexual harassment. After that, we watched a segment on why Oprah should run for president – really?? – and another on life hacks of using tin foil to clean silver. There was a brief mention of Kim Jung Un making more threats, but those threats were discounted as just talk. The stock market dropped over 1,000 points today – not enough to trigger a circuit breaker, but enough to make it news-worthy. The local news mentioned the shooting of Frank’s neighbor, and said the man was still on the run. The homeowner was in the hospital in critical condition. Of course, this led to a panel discussion on gun control. Naturally, a criminal who would shoot his neighbor while stealing from him would certainly follow the gun laws, right? I could feel myself getting worked up. I took a deep breath and tried to settle down. The last story was probably the most significant to me. Sam’s Club and K-Mart were both closing their stores in Riverdale at the end of the week. I looked at Tom and he looked at me, and we both shook our heads. I felt like this was the beginning of the economy’s death march. I reached over and turned the TV down. “I don’t know about anyone else, but tomorrow morning will be here sooner than we think. I’m headed to bed.” I said my good nights, and left everyone sitting in the living room, still talking.
My sleep that night was very restless, punctuated with half-dreams about the economy, invaders trying to steal what we had, and worries about my friends who were not yet staying on the farm. I woke up around 5:30 when my rooster decided I’d slept long enough. Since there was no hope of going back to sleep, I just got up and took a quick shower. When I went downstairs, I was surprised to see Chris and Jon sitting at the kitchen table talking quietly. “Where are the girls?” I asked.
“They are in the back room sleeping,” Jon answered. “Mom, I need to talk to you. I was going to talk to you last night, but there was so much going on, so many people here, I decided to wait until today. I need to tell you I lost my job yesterday. Carl is closing the Riverdale store and is consolidating with the store in Ash Falls. He told me I could move there and keep my job, but that’s 55 miles from here and I don’t want to go that far away. Because of that, I wound up quitting. Carl wasn’t happy, but he did say he understood. He said he does not have the cash to pay me my final wages, but if I wanted, I could have a piano and a couple of guitars instead. I accepted the offer – you know Gabby plays the piano, too, and if we are facing the end of the world as we know it, I want my kids to still grow up in a world where there is music and art and love and the good things in life.” Poor Jon looked miserable, with a sad expression and slumped shoulders. I felt like there was more to his story, and I prodded a bit.
“Is everything else OK? Is Gabby OK?”
Jon’s face collapsed and he looked like a twelve year old whose world was falling apart. “Mom, Gabby is pregnant. We just found out yesterday morning, right before I lost my job. What are we going to do? How can I support a wife and child with no job, and no prospects of a job? We don’t have a lot saved up, and I just don’t know what is going to happen.”
I went over to Jon and put my arms around him. “Jon, it will be fine. You have a home, you have family who love you, and we will all stick together and make it through whatever is coming.” Suddenly, it dawned on me what he just said. I’m going to be a grandma again! Boy, we were having a pregnancy epidemic around here, and I love it! “Wait a minute! I want details! When is the baby due, how is Gabby, what does she need, what can I do? Zombie Apocalypse or not, I have my priorities and grand-kids are at the top!” Both boys started laughing at me for my exuberance at the thought of grand children. I started laughing with them, and hugged both my boys. It is so good to have them both here.
“You boys have a lot of work to do today. You are going to go to your apartments and start packing everything up. Sunday Tim and Jose will be over with Tom’s big box truck to pick your stuff up and move you into your new home. You’ll need to be back here today at 1:00 for our meeting. You’ll probably need to stop at the You Rent’em store to get boxes and tape – use your credit cards to pay for that, not cash if possible. Jon, you’ll need to make arrangements to get your piano and stuff today. See if Carl will loan you his delivery truck – we really don’t want his other employees coming out here and seeing everything we’ve done, and there will be plenty of people to help move the piano. Do you need help packing? I can ask Marcie and Janet to help if you think it will make things go faster.” The boys both agreed
Marcie and Janet would be a big help. I swatted them both on their butts and told them to get out of here and get busy.
They both stood and saluted and, giggling, said, “Yes ma’am, Major Mom!”
Chapter 6
The front yard was crowded on Saturday afternoon when we started our meeting. I was amazed to see that not only was everyone here, most people had note pads in front of them. Almost everyone brought some kind of folding chair, and I saw a table behind the crowd filled with snacks.
“Let’s go ahead and get started, folks. Tom and I put together some notes last night of things that we need to do sooner rather than later. In order to save time, we will print out our notes and distribute them later rather than reading them now. The first thing I want to do is a well check. Is everyone doing all right? Is everyone still on board with what is going on?”
Marcie called out, “Not only are we good, but when we are all together, I think we are great. Just seeing the purpose and determination of everyone helping to get ready makes me really proud to be part of this group. I think that no matter what happens, we have a great shot at coming through this with flying colors.” The crowd applauded and there were a number of shouts of agreement. I smiled at my dear friend – her words were sincere, and reinforced my belief in what we were trying to do.
“I am getting really worried about things based on what I’m hearing on the news, what’s going on in our community, and the things we are all seeing all around us. I want you to know that the invitation to come here is not predicated on the total collapse of society. Whenever you feel like you’ve had enough and it is time, you are welcome to bring your stuff over and settle in. My opinion is the economy collapse is inevitable, and the sooner everyone is here, the sooner people can get settled and we can establish some routines to get us back to whatever passes for normal life these days.” There was a bunch of chatter and I could see people nodding agreement.
Premonitions (Book 1): The Farm Page 8