by Pete Thorsen
The winter was pretty normal for the area. Everyone had been warned that roads would not be plowed so have what you needed on hand before the snows came. Throughout the winter a couple people used snow mobiles to check on everyone to make sure things were OK. Spring finally came and everyone breathed a huge sigh of relief. Friends reunited after being apart during the long winter.
Everyone was anxious to start their gardens again so they could enjoy fresh vegetables. When the weather started to warm Del took the remaining meat from their ‘iceboxes’ and Deb canned it so none would go to waste. They had used a little of Del’s LTS food but more just for variety rather than need so they still had stacks of food in storage. Also with the warmth of spring and the melting of all the snow came the arrival of the military.
A small convoy of the Army rolled into town one day in the spring and finding one of the old notices of the food pantry being at the hospital they went there. The military men looked long and hard at the severely shot up vehicles that were still parked in the parking lot. And they approached the entrance with caution to be met by one of the nurses, who just happened to be carrying an AR rifle and she looked like she knew how to use it.
For a second things got tense but the young officer raised his hands and quickly stated they came in peace with no demands at all, only bringing news. The nurse only said news would be welcomed and please continue but she also never lowered her rifle an inch. The officer told the nurse that the military was only out to get some vague idea of the population and the state of the country.
There was no longer any martial law and communities seemed to have handled most things on their own at which point he nodded in the direction of the shot up vehicles. In a few cases he said the military had broken up large gangs that had tried to have their own kingdoms and though there were no doubt individuals and small gangs were still traveling around, all the big gangs were now gone.
The nation was starting to rebuild but it would be a very long slow process. He said the plan in place right now was for the military to only contact and communicate with the communities that remained. Also their orders were to urge those that could, to grow as much food and livestock as possible to help those in desperate need throughout the country.
Army units would try to pass through contacted areas at infrequent and random times to collect excess food and livestock for distribution to others. This was not a demand or a tax or anything of that sort. It was asking those that could to share with others that had little.
So far from those he had talked to he thought the generosity of American citizens would provide plenty of food for all citizens who were left alive. In some cases the military would also be transporting people to fertile areas that had low current populations so they could support themselves and later help support others. Everything was to be only volunteered, nothing was ordered or demanded. Everyone was told to support themselves either through work that could be traded for food or to grow that food themselves.
There were no free lunches. Only the strong had survived so mostly those still alive after the winter could take care of themselves. Food would be distributed to help some get back on their feet and to those that were working hard on rebuilding necessary infrastructure. This included power plant workers, refinery workers, coal miners, distribution truckers, train engineers, and others that were deemed vital to the benefit of all the nation’s citizens.
These workers were trading their labor for food so many could again live more normal lives. The overall loss of life in the United States was devastating. The nation’s population was a small fraction of what it had been. This was also not only the case in the United States but throughout much of the world. Things would be rebuilt but it would be a very slow process.
As things started to come together deliveries of fuel would be parceled out to communities along with other needed supplies that could not be grown or made at home. Things would get better and some semblance of ‘normal’ would return to the people of this nation.
At some point a form of money would emerge to replace the bartering and trading that was happening now. This would likely start with silver and gold coins as that was already going on in some areas already. Do not fear the military. We will leave you now as it appears you are not very trusting and I can fully understand that as we have all went through very hard times. Thank you for not shooting us and at some point in the future you will likely see us back or others like us.
I promise we will never hurt you or make any demands of you. Then he said good day and turned to leave. The nurse then called to stop him.
“We have a little food right now that we could share with others. It won’t be much but it may help a couple of families for a short time. Please wait a few minutes and we will bring some out to you.”
“Thank you ma’am. Anything you could give would likely save a life or two. We will wait out here. I understand your reluctance to let us inside.”
Others inside the hospital had heard the exchange and a cart and some cardboard boxes were found and loaded. The food was carted out and left on the sidewalk and after a few trips the same nurse again spoke.
“That is all we dare spare at this point. We all want to help other citizens and our country. Thank you for all the information you gave and we all hope and pray you can save all the lives that hang in the balance.”
With that she stepped back behind the doors and troopers came forward on command and loaded the food into one of the trucks. They then all waved and left again.
Chapter Fourteen
In May Deb’s milk cow had a calf and shortly they were again having milk with their meals. The garden was in and they had expanded it some with the hope that they could give some of the produce to others. When their dried meat got low Bill and Del hunted and dried more. They both decided that they might drive some distance away and shoot more so they could bring a fair supply up to the pantry.
Del had brought home several more large bags of salt so they had plenty for awhile. Two of the local ranchers had brought up a couple cows and asked Del to butcher and dry the meat then just bring it to the pantry for distribution to those in need, whether they were living here or in other parts of the country.
One of the carpenters in the area made many crates that would hold chickens and left them at the pantry for chicken farmers to use to transport their extra chickens when the time came. All the canning jars and lids had been removed from all the vacant houses and stored at the pantry.
People had been warned to be very careful when opening jars so many lids could be reused for canning. Many people got together and built a fenced area broken up into sections near the pantry so when the time came animals could be temporarily held in the pens for pickup. Gradually food supplies were built up at the pantry to impressive levels while everyone kept enough back for their own families and some reserve besides.
The food stored at the pantry was separated as to what was to remain and what could be given out to the military when they returned. These two amounts were stored in totally different areas so if the troops were allowed to carry it out they would only see what was offered and could take it all.
The military came twice during the late summer. The first time they only took what was offered and left. The second time they had a larger convoy and unloaded many items and even had a tanker truck unload some fuel at one of the stations. This time at the request of the locals the military stayed for a couple days so word could go out to everyone and live animals could be brought in to be shipped out.
Everyone learned that many parts of the country now had electrical power and the areas of power were expanding almost daily. The large cities were for the most part vacant as life there was just too hard. There were a couple of exceptions of course. Places where electric power had never went down and the riots had not burned the whole city down.
Some of the nuclear power plants had never shut down along with most of the hydro electric dams which had continued to provide electri
c power to surrounding areas. This helped the people in those areas tremendously. Pipelines were again pumping oil and some refineries were again in operation.
Natural gas would again be pumped through the pipe lines as soon as devastated areas could be bypassed. Overall things were really looking up. Not that everything was fine as it was not but no one (or hardly any) were still starving and the infrastructure was getting put back in place.
It was slow but it was a steady ongoing process. They were told that the response to donate food was a tremendous success just like here. That was a huge benefit so many could concentrate on the rebuilding and not have to worry about if their family would starve. Everyone thought the news was great. And everyone was looking forward to having electric power again.
On Eve and Del’s first anniversary the electric power was restored to their area. It was a great anniversary present for both of them. With the electric power they tried the TV and radio and found a couple stations on both. All that was on the TV was old reruns or news stories and it was luckily mostly the news stories.
They could now see how great the devastation really was in the United States and even some from other countries. Most cities were unrecognizable from the aerial views provided by the news stations. Huge areas of cities were completely burned. Large areas of the west had burned from wildfires that had to just burn themselves out.
But you could also see a garden next to just about every house from the air. And there were plenty of stories of farmers harvesting crops and getting the land ready for next years planting season. This winter the major highways at least, would be again be kept plowed open.
In the area around Del Norte several of the smaller roads were plowed a couple times during the winter. The military stopped and dropped off goods a few times during the winter and when the snow plow went past their home many would make the trip in to town mainly to get any news or gossip. In January the satellite internet came up again and Del could hardly be pried away from his computer.
Del’s computer use was joked about constantly in their household. One day Eve told Del that if he was going to spend all his time on that computer the least he could do was start looking up baby names. That got his attention in a hurry.
He actually stepped away from his computer and went to his wife. She just stood there smiling. Del didn’t really know what he was supposed to do at that point so he hugged his wife and started kissing her until she laughingly told him to stop. He guessed he did the right thing that time.
The End
A Midwest
Homestead
By
Pete Thorsen
Formerly Published
Under the Pen Name
Jack Forester
Originally Released
On Kindle November 2013
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, except that brief selections may be quoted or copied for non-profit use without permission, provided that full credit is given. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is entirely accidental.
Chapter One
Lee Schmidt drove home from work tired. It had been another ten hour day, at least he had remembered to call his wife Meg so she knew when to expect him even though she didn’t get mad at him when he didn’t call her. She knew that those times when he forgot to call her it wasn’t because he was being mean or didn’t care or any bad thing it was only that sometimes when he was working he focused maybe a little too hard on the job and excluded everything else. She had seen that many times when he was working at home too. When he was working and she wanted to call him in for a meal she sometimes had to physically touch him to get his full attention rather than just tell him to come in to eat.
At least Lee was working pretty close to home because he was only working on a remodel job up in Foley, Minnesota. It was a quick easy trip down highway 25 then just west to their place near Duelm. They had twenty acres there with a new house that he wasn’t quite done building. He had built it himself and was almost done with just a few cosmetic things like a few pieces of trim left yet.
They had already moved in to the new house and sold the old trailer house they had been living in while he was building the house. It was not a grand big house to impress people; it was a small three bedroom rambler or ranch style with a walk-in full basement. It had taken quite awhile to build because neither Meg nor Lee wanted to get a home loan on the place. Meg’s grandmother had left Meg the twenty acres in her will when she had passed away four years ago.
Lee and Meg had been married only a year at that time but both had known what they wanted. Both had full time jobs and had been renting a small cheap apartment and saving as much money as they could. Lee worked a construction job and Meg was a secretary in a fairly large office in St. Cloud. Neither job was real high paying but both liked their jobs and both were well liked by their employers.
Neither Meg nor Lee had family, kinda. Lee grew up in Minneapolis until his junior year in high school when his dad fell when working on their house and got hurt bad. He was in the hospital for four weeks and then passed away. Even though they had health insurance it did not pay it all and his mom ended up selling their old house to pay bills and then they moved in with his aunt in Foley. His mom died shortly after the move from just giving up he thought. He stayed with his aunt and after his mom’s funeral he inherited all the money they had left, about five thousand dollars. Lee bought an older but trustworthy pickup and got a construction job on weekends and sometimes after school. The only good thing that happened to him was he met Meg and knew right away that she was the one.
Meg had a family and they lived near Foley. When she was in her last year of high school she met Lee and she also knew right away that he was the one. For whatever reason her family never liked Lee, though he never gave them any reason not to like him that he knew of anyway. Actually Meg and Lee never even ‘went out’ very much and neither were drinkers or into drugs.
When they graduated and announced that they were going to get married, Meg’s family forbid her to get married to Lee. But they did marry and they moved into a tiny one bedroom apartment. Meg had worked part-time during high school and had an older car that seemed to run good. After graduation she got a full-time job in St. Cloud.
Then her Grandmother had passed away and left the twenty acre parcel of land to Meg free and clear. Her parents had always assumed the land (which had a fair value) would be theirs and were shocked that Meg got it. For a reason that only they knew, they blamed Meg for what her Grandmother did. It was the last straw they said and basically disowned her. She now had no contact with them at all.
When Meg got the land, Lee borrowed a backhoe and put a septic tank and drain field in himself. He paid cash for the pipe and tank but he used the company name he worked for to get them at discounted prices. Then he pounded down his own shallow well (it was only thirty feet deep including the point) so he had water and sewer. That met the qualifications for the electric company and they put electric in to the place.
Lee and Meg then bought an old ugly trailer house and moved it to the place to live in while Lee built their house as time and money allowed. That was four years ago and now they had the new house to live in. Just in time too because it seemed like the economy was taking a nose dive. Many people had lost their jobs or had large cuts to their hours or pay.
So far both Lee and Meg had no work problems. Lee was now a foreman and while they didn’t have any large commercial jobs lined up the company he worked for was keeping him very busy on residential jobs. The office where Meg worked hadn’t been affected much so far by the down turn in the economy.
Both Meg and Lee were making pretty fair money now with Lee getting the foreman
job a couple years ago and while Meg’s official title had not changed, she had gotten steady raises as her company recognized how valuable an employee she was.
Lee and Meg still had many plans for improvements at their place but the money situation was always holding them back. But they had done a lot and would continue to do everything they wanted just a piece at a time.
Their home used propane gas for heating, cooking, and heating water. But most of the actual heating was done with a large wood heater in the family room. Through work Lee got a lot of scrap wood and had friends in the tree trimming/removal business that he met through his construction job and he got free wood from them on a regular basis.
He had a huge pile of wood on the property because he had started collecting wood soon after moving to the property and never had a wood stove in the trailer so it just kept piling up. At this point he knew they had several years supply of wood on site. Lee smiled every time he looked at the wood because it was like money in the bank, only better.
If needed he knew they could sell some of the wood to raise cash but he did not think it would ever come to that, at least hopefully anyway. He sawed and split and stacked all the wood as they got it so he would not fall too far behind on the job. It looked better and kept better that way also. Their wood stove was just a simple one that required no electric and had a flat top that was suitable to cook on. The spent ashes from the stove they spread in their garden because the ash was really simple potash and was a common component of fertilizer.
Their house had poured in place concrete walls in the basement which was fairly common. Not so common was the fact it had poured in place concrete walls for the house itself. Their house was partially earth sheltered because it was cut into the modest south facing hillside. The front had a rock face and the sides that were exposed had a mixed-in colored stucco finish to never need painting.