Premonitions (Book 1): The Farm

by Anderson, Diana E.

  “So what do we do about it?” asked Marcie.

  “I don’t think there is anything we can do, except continue to monitor what they say and continue to do what we can here on the farm to ensure our safety and make sure our folks have quality to their lives.” answered Tom. “At first, I thought I was being a bit overboard, but I do believe that this kind of nonsense from the government confirms that this is worse than we thought and will last longer than anyone expected. We cannot let our guard down, and now, instead of just protecting ourselves from the bad guys out there, I think we also need to be prepared to protect ourselves against whatever the government is planning as well.”

  “I agree with you,” I answered. “I think we need to do everything we can to insulate ourselves from what is going on out there and focus on things on the farm.” Marcie and Patty nodded agreement.

  Frank added, “We need to insulate ourselves, but we also need to monitor closely what they are doing. Something is up and I don’t trust them a bit.”

  We decided that we would ask Father Dan to write down any further statements from the government and see of he could get any independent corroboration of things they were saying. Was FEMA really distributing food and water? It would help to hear from other HAM radio operators if anyone has actually seen food distribution. Was there any evidence that the government was trying to “restart” our economy? Were there any independent reports of other government actions? I wish we had contacts in the military to see if we could find anything out. Patty said she had been trying to contact her son, as he missed his last scheduled call. She assumed he and his team had been sent out on a mission.

  “As soon as I can get hold of Mark, I can ask him – but I don’t know when that will happen” she said sadly. Patty stood up and reminded me we were both on dinner duty, so we excused ourselves and headed to the kitchen.

  I have always enjoyed cooking, and usually, I could put together a pretty decent meal. I was fascinated with dinner duty in the kitchen, though, because it was amazing to watch our chefs put together meals for our large group that were tasty, nutritious, and did not waste a drop. Maria was the lead chef for dinner tonight. She planned pork and chicken enchiladas – a favorite with our group – so she assigned me to grate cheese and Patty to help with the tortillas. Maria was making homemade tortillas, and I was fascinated watching her grab a piece of dough, roll it into a ball, and place it in her tortilla press. In the space of a few minutes, she made a huge stack of tortillas. As quickly as she made a tortilla, Patty would take it, dunk it in a shallow bowl of enchilada sauce, and then pass it to Grace and Amy, who filled it with one of two fillings, and placed it in a pan. As pans were filled, my job was to sprinkle the grated cheese over the top of each pan. The pans were then put into the oven to bake. I loved eating enchiladas, but it was the first time I saw them being made. Once all the enchiladas were made, pitchers were filled with ice water, and several serving bowls were filled with homemade fried tortilla chips.

  Once dinner was ready, we carried everything out to the buffet table in the pole barn. The wood stove was burning, and it was almost warm in the barn. Maria sent Grace to ring the dinner bell, and we began to serve dinner to the folks who were arriving. As usual, the night security team ate first so they could relieve the day team. It was good to see people lined up to eat with nobody in a hurry, nobody pushing or shoving, and everyone in good spirits.

  The government announcement was an active topic of conversation at dinner. Some people believed that it was understated so people wouldn't get too upset, and others were angry and felt as Frank did, that there was some kind of cover-up going on. Slowly, the conversation turned to the loss of power and the many things that would entail.

  After dinner, the usual team reports were given and Zoe updated everyone on the progress in the Piggy maternity ward – we now had 47 healthy little piglets! She reported that the two pregnant cows were due to give birth next week. She also announced two hens had gone broody, so we would probably have some baby chicks soon, too. I could see that made Mandy really happy. Oh, goody, more chicken names for me to forget!

  Finally, Frank stood up and said he needed to talk about security issues related to the power being off. He said we needed to keep our noise down whenever we could, and asked that we not use the generators unless it was an emergency, because even though the generators were insulated, the noise might carry. He also said we needed to think about how much light we gave off. We needed to remember that lights meant we had “stuff,” and if people could see our lights in a landscape that was otherwise dark, people would come here looking to take our “stuff.” He suggested we find fabric or curtains or something dark to put up in windows at night to block the light. He suggested we remove the bulbs for any outdoor lights or use really low voltage solar lights that would not be seen from a distance. I told Frank I had several cases of these solar landscape lights put away in the barn for this very reason. Chris and Marty volunteered to put some out tomorrow.

  After the announcements, Chris asked me to come see Stacy. She was sitting at the table looking very pale. I asked her what was wrong, and she said she thought she was having contractions, about ten minutes apart. I asked her if her water broke, and she said she didn’t know. I laughed and told her when it happened, she would definitely know. I called out to James, Lionel, and Maureen, and waved them over. “I think we have some business for you!” Maureen ran to get the wheelchair, and I went to make sure the infirmary was ready. Fortunately, there were no windows in the infirmary, so I didn’t need to worry about the light from the windows. I plugged in the little incubator and grabbed one of the OB kits and set it on a small table next to the examination table. By the time I had this done, Stacy was arriving with an entourage of people – it seemed everyone wanted to be there for the birth. Stacy looked at me with a look of sheer terror, so I used my best drill-sergeant voice and said, “If you are not the doctor, nurse, father, or grandmother for this baby, please leave now!” Of course, most of the women on the farm were nurses, so I had to rephrase it to say all nurses except Maureen, please leave! That made everyone laugh, but soon the room cleared out. I helped Stacy get into a hospital gown while Maureen was scrubbing up. When she was ready, Maureen then came over to check to see how dilated Stacy was.

  “Good news, Stacy, you are five centimeters dilated, and about thirty percent effaced. That means you still have a while before the baby will be born. Let’s get you comfortable. Have you and Chris ever been to any childbirth classes?” Stacy shook her head no.

  “We were supposed to start them a couple of weeks ago, but we never made it.”

  Maureen smiled. “Not to worry, I can talk you both through it. Chris, come over here and sit next to Stacy so you can see her face. Now, when your next contraction starts, take a deep breath and let it out. Then, breathe like this until the contraction is over.” Maureen then demonstrated how to breathe. “Chris, your job is to keep Stacy calm and help her with this breathing, OK?”

  James and Lionel walked over. “Stacy, we’re going to hang around, but I think Maureen is running this show for now.” The two physicians asked Maureen some questions about the baby’s position, and then asked Stacy some questions about her health history and her pregnancy so far. Luckily, James had already started a medical record for Stacy and done a physical a couple of weeks ago, so he was already a little bit familiar with her care. Maureen finished getting Stacy’s vital signs and then went to the desk to chart them.

  The next couple of hours seemed to creep by. I traded places with Chris a couple of times to let him get up and walk around. Stacy was an incredible patient – constantly happy, even when she was terribly uncomfortable. I am about as far from a maternity nurse as you can get, but even I knew the value of a good back rub, and when Stacy got too uncomfortable, I’d rub her back, and she’d relax a little. In between contractions, we would all chat about things like possible baby names and that also seemed to help Stacy and Chris both stay
calm and relaxed. Through it all, Maureen was incredible, performing her nursing duties in a subtle and professional way. I was extremely impressed with my friend’s skill at managing this labor.

  Finally, we were at the crucial point: it was time to start pushing. Stacy was a champ. I thought Chris would faint a couple of times, but he hung in there, holding onto Stacy’s hand – at times, it seemed for dear life! Dawn was just breaking when John Henry Armstrong was born. He did not need to be stimulated at all and let out a loud howl! Good lungs, I thought! Once I was reassured that mom and baby were fine and I had a chance to count fingers and toes and admire his thick head of jet black hair, I stepped out to let Stacy and Chris have their time alone to bond with the baby. I have to admit, it was a pretty emotional time for me – Baby John looked like his daddy, and I thought to myself that my late husband John would have been proud to see his namesake. I tried hard to keep myself under control, but it was hard, and more than a few tears escaped my control.

  Tom and Marcie had been hovering near the infirmary waiting for news, and when I came out in tears, they both thought something bad happened. I quickly set them straight, and told them my tears were “Grandma tears” and that everyone was fine.

  “Well, are you going to tell us if it’s a boy or a girl, or is that a Grandma secret?” Marcie asked.

  “John Henry Armstrong is all boy, a whopping nine pounds, eleven ounces and 22 inches long. He has lungs like a drill sergeant, and if you measure growth potential in babies like you do dogs, he’s gonna be a big one – his hands and feet are huge!” I know, I sounded like a proud grandma, maybe because I WAS a proud grandma! “Stacy and Chris are doing great. Come on, let’s go tell everyone!”

  We hurried over to the pole barn, where it seemed many people were waiting to hear news. There were cheers when I announced the birth of the newest member of our community. Jon and Gabby left to go to the infirmary – he needed to see his brother and check out his nephew.

  “It figures he would name his kid after dad and grandpa – we wanted those names! Now we’ll have to figure out something else! He is always ahead of me at everything!” Jon teased. I reached up to ruffle my son’s hair and thought again how blessed I was.

  After accepting congratulations and providing reassurances to my friends that everything really was fine, I headed to my front porch and sat in one of the rockers. Tom stood next to me and asked, “Well, Grandma, how do you feel?” I answered him with one word: tired! He just laughed and went inside. A few minutes later, he came out with a hot cup of tea and a plate of toast and eggs. I did not realize it was already breakfast time (no wonder so many people were in the pole barn so early in the morning). I ate my breakfast, thinking how grateful I was that everything went so well. It may be the Zombie Apocalypse, but my kids had two doctors and a maternity nurse present, and no hospital delivery could have competed with the care that was given last night. Yes, in spite of everything else going on in the world, we were truly blessed!

  Chapter 16

  Stacy stayed in the infirmary until Saturday morning, when Chris helped her and the baby over to my living room. Ensconced on the couch and surrounded by pillows, Stacy and Baby John were being treated like royalty. Everyone had to come in and visit, and all of the nurses took turns reminding people to wash their hands before coming close to the baby. Paranoid Grandma that I am, I put out one of the half-gallon jugs of hand sanitizer and made everyone coming into the living room use it. Lionel had examined John last night, and pronounced him completely healthy. Maureen and James reassured me that Stacy was fine, and that she had been able to successfully nurse John throughout the night. That was another worry I had that was taken away. After a little while, I could tell Stacy was getting tired from all the visitors, especially the kids, so I ran down to the basement and grabbed a big bag of empty plastic grocery bags.

  “OK everyone, the pecans have dropped from the trees, and we need to go pick them up.” I guess that was not as much fun as watching a new baby, so I tried again. “We can’t make pecan pie or pecan cookies if we don’t get the pecans off the ground!” That seemed to work a little better, and the kids followed me out the door and over to where the biggest pecan trees stood. I handed out the bags, and showed the kids what good pecans looked like. I told the kids that I had a chocolate bar for the person who filled up the most bags before dinner, and that was all it took to have a mass of giggling kids picking up nuts. A few of the adults also took bags and joined the kids. It looked like we had a pretty good harvest, as the bags seemed to be filling up pretty quickly! I had to run inside once to get more bags, and gave Janet the heads up that we were probably going to be canning nuts over the next few days. That reminded me about adding onto the roof over the back deck, so after I delivered the bags, I went to find Marty and Jose. I took them out back to show them what we needed for the back porch, and they said they would get right on it.

  I saw Tom and Tim standing by the side of the house, and they waved me over. Since power was still out, Tom decided it was time to disconnect from the grid and hook the rest of the solar systems up. I asked why they needed to disconnect from the grid, and Tom explained that he was concerned that if the power came back with a surge, it could possibly burn out the solar system. I asked how we would know if the power came back on if we weren’t connected, and Tim showed me a small red light he was wiring into the electrical hook-up. He explained that all power on the farm comes in through this one location, and by disconnecting it, nothing on the farm could receive power from the grid. The little red light was wired in so if the power came on, it would light up. What a great idea! Tim said that after he got the light wired in, he was going to build a little shelter to protect the light from the elements. I left the two men to finish their electrical tasks and decided to go visit my grandson. On the way, I wanted to stop by the barn and check on things out there. Zoe and Phoebe met me at the door and took me over to see the piglets. The sows all looked relatively calm – at least as calm as mamas can be with 47 little pink squirming future pork chops climbing all over them!

  We were headed over to check on the pregnant cows, when suddenly, we heard the clanging of the bell at the house. It was not the one time “dinner is ready” bell, but rather the “battle stations” alarm. I helped Phoebe and Zoe get the rest of the animals into the barn as Maureen, Clark, and Sarah came running. As soon as they were at the barn getting the rest of the animals, I took off for the house. Tom met me on the porch.

  “ATVs on the north side just cut the fence again. Bill and Frank grabbed the security team and took off to intercept them.” Tom was out of breath, and I could tell he had been running. “Frank says to stay here and guard the house. We’ve got all the kids, Stacy and the baby, and Maria and Gabby in the basement; looks like Clark has the barn secure, and the infirmary is getting ready, just in case. Jon is in the OP and Chris is headed up there with him. Lisa and Jer are in the front foxhole, and Marcie and Jose are in the side foxhole. Everyone else is accounted for.”

  I took a deep breath, and went into the house to grab my HiPoint. My battle station was here at the house. Tom joined me on the porch, having run to grab his own rifle. “Now we wait!” he said. Suddenly, we heard several shots.

  “I didn’t recognize the first shots, but the second sounds like Frank’s AR,” I said. There was a flurry of additional shots, and then a loud boom, which I hoped was one of the toe poppers and not someone shooting a shotgun. Then, silence for a few minutes. Tom’s radio came to life suddenly, and we heard Frank’s voice. “We’re all okay” he said. “Stand by.”

  Time seemed to stand still while we waited to hear more from Frank. Finally, after about twenty minutes, Frank came back onto the radio. “We’re good here, but we’ve got a couple of bodies to take care of. Tom, can you bring the tractor out here so we can bury these idiots?”

  Tom responded back that he was on his way. “Not by yourself, you’re not,” I told him. “I’m going with you.”

 
Tom got on his radio and asked Chris to come cover the house, and we headed out to the tractor. We grabbed a shovel and some supplies to fix the fence again and headed out. It took us about fifteen minutes to get to the north fence, where we found Bill, Frank, and Chuck. All looked okay, but somewhat shaken up. On the ground were the four guys that had trespassed before. There were four ATVs sitting right inside the fence line. Frank must have seen the shocked look on my face.

  “We got here and these guys had already cut the fence. We told them to stop, and the leader pulled out his rifle and fired at us. I’m not sure where these guys learned to shoot. The first shot hit a tree. Two of these guys had handguns, which they held sideways like gangsters on television. They fired without aiming and didn’t hit a thing. They ran off to the side away from the leader, and Bill and Chuck went after them. The fourth guy got off of his ATV and stepped on a toe popper. It blew his foot off and he bled out without firing a shot. Chuck and Bill dragged the two they shot back here. Now we need to strip these guys of anything they have that we can use and bury them. Here is as good a place as any for a cemetery for bad guys.”

  “These guys were such bad shots, and didn’t know anything about strategy or tactics. It was almost like shooting fish in a barrel,” observed Bill, and Chuck nodded his agreement as he started gathering the intruders’ weapons. We stripped the bodies down of anything we thought we could use, including belts, boots, holsters, pocket knives, hats, and jackets. We gathered up their backpacks and tossed them, along with all the other stuff we salvaged, onto the back of the ATVs.

  The guys made quick work of digging a hole and pushing the bodies in. Tom and I used the supplies we brought to wire the fence back together, and then we replaced the barbed wire on top. Fortunately, this time they just cut the fence and did not knock down any fence posts, so it was relatively easy to fix. Before we all left, Frank checked the game cameras, and both were still working.