Even though everyone is very excited, no one is speaking above a whisper. It is starting to get dark out, so we decide that we will come over again in the morning, to start the process of cleaning the building. Later we are discussing the building, and whether or not it is right to use it for a meeting house. Gary and Sara are visiting with us this evening. Sara says that the building was a Mormon church before the war. She recognized the name, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on the outside of the building, and picked up a copy of a book called the Book of Mormon while we were inside the building. I have known a couple of Mormons in the other world, but never really learned much about their beliefs. The one belief they had early in the history of their church is the practice of plural marriage. The only reason I remember that one is we found something about it in a history book, and we practice the same belief. Anyway, one of the guys in the unit Tim and I were in was a Mormon. He was always telling me I should join his church. Then they could call me Gorman the Mormon corpsman. We would all get a good laugh about it.
To get back to Sara, she says that she had several good friends who belonged to that church, and they always told her that they built their meeting houses with the intention of being used seven days a week. They believed that your religion isn’t somewhere you go on Sunday or Saturday, it’s the way you live your life. She says she thinks that if the people who attended that building could talk, they would tell us to use the building, but don’t abuse it. Knowing the people of that faith that I did, I tend to agree with her. In the morning, we ask some of the others who came from the other world, and they all agree. We start this project as all the others. The first order of business is to bury the remains of the people in the building. We mark the graves the best we can from identification in wallets or handbags, and try our best to keep families together.
This part of the project takes longer than usual, because there were a large number of people here. The inside of the building will require very little work compared to the houses we have found. There is some mold and mildew on some of the interior walls, but some bleach and a good coat of paint takes care of that. The churches front yard apparently went all the way to the road. It looks like they probably had a row of pine trees across the front, and over the years they just kept growing and multiplying, until they covered the entire front of the building. We consider leaving the woods as a kind of cover, but decide that the cover could work against us, if someone decided to attack us while we are inside. The young men are clearing the woods in front, and are putting gravel down on the road leading in wherever it is needed.
When all the bodies are buried properly, the women go to work cleaning the inside of the chapel, and all the rooms in the building. We found the parking lot in the back of the building, with all the cars still parked there. We also found a kitchen in the building, which makes all the women in the family happy. This way when we have an activity here, we can bring the food already cooked, and warm it up when we need it. This building must not have been powered by a windmill, but it does have a propane generator that we are able to get running, so we have power. Even resting on the Sabbath, we have the building ready for our Thanksgiving dinner. We find enough tables and chairs under the stage that we only have to bring a pickup truck load from the farm. The women have been cooking for two days, to make this meal the occasion that they want it to be.
The young men brought home six very nice wild turkeys, and the hams from that huge hog are smoked to perfection. We have white potatoes and sweet potatoes from our fields along with corn and green beans. The ladies fixed several dozen pies and cobblers for dessert, and everyone eats until they have to stop, or their stomach will burst. At least I do, and the others are eating just as much as I am. It’s a good thing we started early, because after the meal, everyone who wants to say what they are thankful for gets the chance. We even have a microphone so everyone can be heard. That may not have been a good idea, because everyone in the building is crying by the time we are done. We are looking forward to celebrating many more great occasions in this building. There is still a lot of work to be done, including changing the electrical over to windmill, but it will definitely be a labor of love.
Now that we have room for more friends to join us Bob, Trevor, and Blake are getting itchy to go look for some. When they announced they were anxious to get started again, we had to tease them and ask them how their wives were going to fit in that little jeep they have. After our wives smack us, we ask them which vehicle they would like to take on the trip. They really like one of the small buses we found up in Minneapolis, so we help them load enough supplies for about a week, and they take off. We went over the map with them of where we have been, but we all know that most of the people left are nomadic, so just because no one was there when we went through, doesn’t mean they will not be there now. Those guys and their wives have become pretty good mechanics, and are carrying a portable generator to use when they need gas. Bob even made sure to show Jenna that he is taking along the hand pump she gave him, in case they need to siphon gas from other vehicles.
While they are gone, we are using this time to plow the fields at the new location, and we are continuing to work on the church building and the grounds. Mike finally got to go into the city, where he found what he was looking for. He was able to find what used to be a manufacturing facility, with sheet metal forming and cutting equipment. They also found many different sizes and sheet metal of different materials, as well as hundreds, if not thousands, of feet of bar stock. Before they brought what they wanted home, they cleaned up enough space in one of the barns to build a small metal working shop. Luckily we setup windmills to cover the barns separately from the houses, because when Mike is using certain power equipment the lights in the other barns dim a little. Many of us have been taking turns helping him and James manufacture new vanes for our windmills.
We were even lucky enough to find some epoxy resin paint, to cover and protect the vanes from the elements. Jenna and James say that they don’t think the vanes need it, because of the way the molecular structure in the material has changed. Mike and Morgan who have worked extensively with different metals agree that this material is much different than what they are used to. I don’t mean to start any trouble when I suggest that we can’t really be sure about what caused the difference in the strength of the metals, because this is a different world, even though it is very similar that could be one of the major differences. All four of them look at me like I just grew a second head or something. James finally says he thought about that when they first came to this world, but dismissed it. They are now walking past me like I am not even here, headed for the door. Now they are going back to the manufacturing facility where they got the material, to see if they can find any certs for the material we have. Don’t ask me what they are talking about. I’m just repeating what they said.
Dayna is coming toward the barn to see when I will be home for dinner. She gets here just in time to pass the four of them getting into a car, and heading for town. She knows me pretty good, because she asks me what I said to get them all wound up like that. They walked past her like she wasn’t there as well. I explain what I said, and she says no wonder they are upset, they’re nuts. We laugh and head for home, where it is warm and I have little Timmy waiting for our nightly wrestling match. He is almost two now and lets me know when he doesn’t think he is getting enough attention. Tammy and Tina, the twins, are almost seven but they still like to roughhouse with Timmy and me. We almost always have a houseful of children and their parents, I never know exactly who is going to be there, but I always know we are going to have a good time.
I lose the wrestling match by the way. Robin was the referee tonight, and she always cheats for the children. My shoulder was a good half inch off the carpet, when she slapped her hand down saying that Timmy pinned me. Besides Tina was helping him and Tammy, and he didn’t even tag her hand. After the treat that they earned by beating me, the children all head off t
o bed. Dayna wonders out loud whether or not the others found what they were looking for. As if on cue they all walk through the door and join us in the living room. Jenna continues on to the kitchen to see what we may have to eat in the refrigerator. Morgan who had sat next to Mike on the couch gets up and joins her. They find some left over roast pork, so they cut it up and make some sandwiches for all of them. Mike takes a bite of his sandwich and asks if we have any barbeque sauce. We have recipes for ketchup, mayonnaise, and even mustard, but we don’t have one for barbeque sauce.
Mike and Morgan vow to make several gallons of barbeque sauce tomorrow. They remember why they stopped by, and tell me that my hypothesis was not correct. Mike and James take turns explaining that the material certs, the chemical composition of the metal, are pretty much the same as they were in the other world. Both Mike and James worked extensively with metals and had to specify the chemical composition of the material. They say however that they did find a device to test the hardness of the metal and compared the hardness of the metal against what the specifications call for. This tells them that the fallout from the neutron bombs definitely reacted with the metal, and probably all the building materials within a certain radius of the explosion. They talk some more, but most of what they are saying is beyond me. They get up and excuse themselves, thanking me for questioning what they were accepting as fact. They say they will see me bright and early so we can finish those vanes for the windmills. The girls remind Mike and Morgan that they are going to make barbeque sauce tomorrow as well. They even volunteer to let them use our kitchen.
We do not complete the vane project today, but the barbeque sauce project is a complete success. Something tells me that by this time next week, we will have at least a half dozen different recipes of barbeque sauce in the groups. For example we all agreed that the sauce is good, but we also want to try the same recipe with more honey to sweeten it. The days are flying by heading toward Christmas. We are all busy working on projects and as we get close to completing one project, we find two more that we have to do. With five days to go until Christmas we have cleared as much of the woods out from the front of the church as we want to, and have completed the gravel road around the new settlement. All the houses are fixed up to where they are livable, and have happy occupants living in them. We are continuing to search for more places to settle, within a reasonably close proximity of the others.
The young people have been busy cutting firewood for the new settlement, and have a very nice supply ready for winter. Luckily it has held off so far, but we are hoping for a white Christmas. Our hunters have been bringing in plenty of meat for the holidays, and just in case we get some inclement weather. The women and some of us men have put several dozen quart jars of beef, pork and venison up so far this winter. With four days left until Christmas, we are all wondering what kind of luck Bob and the others are having finding people to join our settlement. Today after helping set the windmill in place, and helping run the wiring to the church, I get home about an hour before suppertime. I no sooner get my coat off, and start getting comfortable when Teddy, Jerry, and Steve, along with Nickie, Mickie, Paige, Hope, and Mandy come in and tell us we have to come and see what they found. Actually the girls are the ones who shout it out, the boys were going to drag it out for a while.
Since it is getting close to dark we decide to drive, if the young people didn’t say this is important, it could have waited until tomorrow. We go about a half mile past the church, when the young people tell us to stop right here. There is nothing, but woods, we can’t even see a game trail into the woods anywhere near here. The girls jump out of the truck followed closely by the boys and show us a very dim trail that leads into the woods. Once through the overgrowth we can see that there was once a small road leading back deeper into the woods. We go barely a hundred feet when we see what used to be a very neat small farm. The road doesn’t go any farther than the two houses that are sitting there, with a single good sized barn about fifty feet beyond the second house. We take a few minutes to check out the houses and the barn and they all look just about like the ones we live in. The houses both seem to have five bedrooms and are well built. There do not appear to be any bodies in the house.
We find a mailbox that has fallen down outside, and Dayna seems to remember the name as one of those we found in the church. It is almost dark, so we head for home to tell the good news to the others. In the morning we meet at the new farm, and discuss the best way to use this new property. We decide the first order of business, is to get the road in cleared enough to at least drive in, and then see what we should do from there. Today is Saturday so we do all we can, which is just about what we wanted to accomplish, figuring that we will come back on the day before Christmas and start cleaning the houses, so someone can use them.
On Sunday we hold our church service in the new church building. Many of the young people have been asking if they can come over here to play basketball or volleyball sometimes. We can see no problems with that, as long as there is some adult supervision. Robin is always telling Teddy and Nickie that they can do anything they want to, as long as they have adult supervision. They always turn red, which makes Robin and the other moms extremely happy. We know we should not be working on the Sabbath, but we also know we may not get a better time to set up the tables and chairs for our Christmas celebration. We are planning to have a group meal on Christmas Eve, and leave Christmas day for the families to be together and to visit. Knowing us we will wind up back here on Christmas to visit with everyone anyway, but so far that’s the plan.
We are really starting to worry about our friends who are out looking for others. We have even considered sending out a search party for them, but we have no idea where they may be. We discussed a rough area where they were going to look, but as we all know when you are looking for others; you never know where you will wind up. We all remember them in our prayers when we turn in on Sunday night hoping that they will make it home in time for our Christmas Eve celebration. During the night I have some disturbing dreams in which our friends have come under attack and can’t get back to us. In the last dream I had, I could see that they were holed up in a building, in the city that is about seventy miles to the southwest of here. There were several armed men keeping them from being able to leave.
When I finally wake up, I can remember all the dreams I had, as clear as if I was actually living them. I am telling Dayna and Robin about the dreams when Teddy knocks at the door asking if he can talk to us. He comes into the room and recounts a dream he had that matches the one I just had exactly. We have to hurry downstairs to answer the door before Sara and Gary kick it down. Tim is right on their heels with Charity and the baby. Sara tells me we have to go kick some butt, because our people are being attacked. Tim agrees with her, and Ken and Dan along with Carrie and Cassie make it unanimous a few minutes later. The fact that we all saw the same things in our dreams is a pretty convincing argument, but all we have to go on is the dream. We decide that the worst that could happen is we drive to that city and find nothing. In which case my wives inform me they have a list of items I can probably find there for Christmas presents. If it is true, our friends will definitely need our help.
It only takes us a few minutes to get everything ready for the trip. There is no shortage of volunteers when the others find out where we are going and for what purpose. Robin doesn’t want Teddy to go, but he tells us he will simply wait until we leave, then he will follow on a motorcycle, so we may as well let him go. That young man is getting to be too much like me. Robin, Dayna, Melissa, and Becky tell me they will all kick my butt if anything happens to Teddy. In the van that we are using to get there, I tell Teddy what a pain in the neck he is sometimes. He just smiles and tells me that Gramma Horton is always telling him how much like me he is. He says that Grampa Gunny always says the same thing, except he doesn’t say pain in the neck. He refers to another part of the anatomy. All of my good friends tell him that Gunny is absolutely right.
The trip to the city seems to take forever. We all saw the same buildings in our dreams, and we know exactly where they are. We drive to a place a couple of blocks from there, and decide to go in on foot. On the way here, we discussed the best way to handle this situation. The women at home all asked us to at least try to handle the situation without killing anyone. They reminded us that after all even the attackers are Gods children, even if they don’t realize what they are doing is wrong. I am going to try to establish high ground, big surprise there, and the others are going to work their way into position to come up behind the attackers. That is if there are any attackers, so far all we have to go on is our dream.
Teddy is going with me. There is an old church with a tall steeple, less than a block from where we think our friends are. We get to the church, and work our way up to the highest point we can get to and still have a view of what we need to see. On the way up we hear gunfire so we are pretty sure of what we are going to find. The scene is exactly like we saw it in our dreams. This is hard to believe, we can see the buses parked outside the building where we saw our friends pinned down, and we can see the attackers working their way around the buildings across the street from there. I am telling the others what we are seeing. They are working their way around to get behind the attackers. It doesn’t look like it is going to be too difficult to end this fight.
I get a very big surprise when I hear a familiar voice come back over the radio, telling me I am underestimating them. I can see the man talking into the radio in the building, so I take aim at him with my .50 caliber rifle. Before I pull the trigger I remember what the girls asked for, and I tell the man that I can kill him and all five of the people with him, before he can set the radio down. I ask them to please surrender and they can walk away from here. He laughs and says he doesn’t believe me. They are in a very secure position. The man is sitting on a chair with the front legs tipped up. I tell Teddy to shoot one of the legs out from under the chair, just to show them that we can do what we say we can. Teddy takes aim and we see the man fall to the floor as quickly as we hear the report of the gun.
2nd Earth 2: Emplacement Page 18