One of the nicest things Tansy thought they found in their never-ending outings was a cauldron-like black cast iron pot. It was heavy and sat a full foot and a half deep with four cast iron legs that could be sat on thick flat stones above a deep fire pit dug into the ground. After scouring it, Tansy rejoiced. She would be able to make stew in larger amounts, instead of using the many small pots she had to accommodate their healthy appetites.
Gratefully, she hugged each of the men, promising to make an apple pie. No easy thing, making a pie from scratch took on a whole new meaning in their present lives. Right down to making and grinding their flour. Tansy added crushed walnuts and other nuts to the mixture of flour, knowing nuts contained oil, fat and protein. They worked hard every day and needed more calories in their diet to compensate for any weight loss. When cooking, she chose the richest pieces of meat with a healthy chunk of fat left on it to add flavor. The leaner meat was to be used for the pemmican.
Sugar was a thing of the past and using honey or syrup as a sweetener was a special treat. Tansy hoped she had enough so that they could give the syrup to the children once again drizzled over the first snowfall. She knew it would be a long while before the sap ran again. Not having any shortening or cooking spray had Tansy trying fat or butter. With just one goat, Tansy dared not risk experimenting on making cheese; Rose and the smaller children were in need of its milk.
Their mine began to look like a home; orderliness and imagination worked well to accommodate their new needs to survive. Aidan discretely made a partition and sectioned off a small space for himself and Emmy. Tansy at first worried about the risk of two babies but realized the worries would never end. Why agonize about things she had no control over? Clint continued to romance her in his own special way and Tansy found herself deeply ‘in like’ with him. She admitted he was a very special man and she couldn’t envision her life without his presence, but she wasn’t in love with him.
She found Cord’s wit, though callous at times, humorous and amusing and she formed a deep friendship with him. The more time Tansy found herself around Ethan, the more she craved intimate contact; he was sweet and kind, never demanding or expecting when she felt so unsure. Her feelings were conflicted though, and she seemed unable to get past the loss of her beloved husband.
Chapter 20
The snow began to fall sporadically and in small amounts. Rose was showing and to everyone’s delight she allowed each to feel the flutters and kicks of her unborn child. She seemed radiant, much to everyone’s happiness. Her appetite had increased and though she was still a very petite girl, she looked healthy and smiled more often, as did her brother. It was with happiness they noted the boy’s adult teeth begin to protrude from under his gum-line and apparently were undamaged by the previous assault. Both children were gaining confidence as their trust of the others grew. Their fear of the men in the mine lessened until it was nonexistent.
* * * *
They were all busily involved in storing and preparing a moose the hunters had found and killed. At first, they were disgusted when Aidan sunk his fingers into an eye-socket and pulled out a white thick substance he licked off of his fingers. He seemed to be enjoying himself so much the others ventured a taste. It was the first moose they’d caught and killed.
A huge bull had been injured during a storm and the hunters took full advantage of his semi-helpless state. The enraged bull had been fearsome. His antlers beyond impressive, he let them know he was capable of wielding them with a master’s expertise. His effort were valiant and the hunters were humbled when his body gave one last shudder; he bellowed one last angry cry as he toppled to his side, dust and leaves kicking up, then settled to move no more.
Moose were massive creatures, requiring the combined strength of everyone at the mine to carry it back in pieces. They set a smoky fire going in the small little tunnel they seemed to be using continuously for drying meat now that winter had arrived. Every day the hunters were out trapping and killing what fresh meat they could find. Their lives revolved around hunting and storing. It was a constant worry whether or not they would have enough food to survive the winter. Aidan warned them they needed extra for spring. Although the plants would begin to grow, the animals were often thin and wouldn’t fatten up until they had the growth of the late spring bounty within them.
* * * *
One day when Max signed to Tansy a small cavern in the mine was growing ice, she became elated. The others caught her excitement. They could now freeze some of the meat. Large quartered sections of two Antelope, an ox, three gazelle, a few sheep, three cows, Emus, deer, elk and an entire kangaroo already lay within, skinned, in anticipation of the winter months. They wrapped the moose chunks in pieces of hide, tied securely with gathered straw stalks and placed them in their cave freezer at the very bottom of the mine near the exit. When the snow flew, they collected enough to cover over the meat. Tansy had taken the time to cut small pieces of meat she wrapped together in many bundles for stews. Her cast iron cauldron would be busy this winter, much to her delight.
Tansy cooked the tongue, liver, heart and a good size roast of the moose for dinner. She mixed cornmeal with milk and flour, dropped onto fat-covered rocks over the grill. From her baskets of dried vegetables Tansy boiled tubers, wild potatoes, cattail stalks and the collected roots from the previous day. Then treated everyone to apple pie cooked with small dollops of butter, sweetened with drizzled honey. They drank nettle tea from the numerous leaves Tansy collected, dried, chopped, labeled and stored with a variety of various others over the summer months.
* * * *
“I think maybe we should hunt again tomorrow,” Ethan said. He sat wearily after a particularly rigorous day, flexing his bunched muscles and stretching.
“But we jist got us a moose, the freezer tunnel below is packed full, the shelves up top are loaded. So’s all the baskets we got filled. That should be good for a while,” Clint said, just as wearily, rubbing at tired eyes.
“A while yes, all winter no,” Ethan explained.
“Ethan is right. We need to get another large animal just to be safe. I know we’ve dried a lot and stored a great deal, but we need to be sure we have enough, if only for peace of mind. We don’t know how cold it’ll get. The temperatures seem so extreme lately, too hot in the summer; hopefully, it won’t get too bitter or unbearably cold in the winter. Now that we can freeze the meat, it’ll be a lot easier to store,” Aidan said, then yawned.
“The snow could get intense at any given time,” Ethan said as he accepted the honey-sweetened hot tea Tansy handed him.
“I think Ethan and Aidan are right,” Tansy expressed, although she was feeling weary from freezing and preparing the moose all day with everyone and then cooking. As well, the children required attention. Furs were always in need of airing out. Linen could be washed in their tub but needed to be hung outside to dry, and then warmed over fires. In one of the smaller tunnels, they constructed racks especially for drying clothing and bedding. The fire they built inside burned with very dry wood offering little smoke but a great deal of heat.
Tansy looked at their drawn tired faces. Hunting large game, killing it, then preparing it whether for storage or to eat immediately, took a great deal of work. Shanie looked haggard and exhausted. Even in its wounded state, the moose had been hard to fell and Shanie was expected to contribute her share. She did her part, showing great effort and had the respect of the other hunters as well as the gratitude of those in the mine.
“I think Shanie should stay behind and one of you. Emmy and I should go instead,” Tansy suggested, though she and Emmy rarely hunted. Tansy found herself busy with too many other things and Emmy found the killing of animals distasteful, though necessary.
“No, Emmy can’t go!” Aidan declared, his head snapping up.
“I understand your protectiveness,” Tansy said. She wondered if Aidan was thinking they would be of no help, more of a hindrance.
“No, it’s not that. Tell h
er,” Aidan encouraged Emmy. Blushing, Emmy faced her mother. Aidan placed a reassuring hand on her slim shoulder.
“I think maybe Rose isn’t the only one who’s pregnant,” Emmy informed her.
Tansy felt she could have been knocked over by a feather. She felt a wide range of emotions. The first, terror for her child, then unreasonable anger toward Aidan, then finally, acceptance. After all, Emmy was a grown woman of twenty and not her little baby anymore. Her daughter wouldn’t remain celibate; Tansy wasn’t that delusional. Aidan was a good person, a caring human being. Tansy couldn’t have picked a more decent man for her daughter.
Tansy reached over and hugged Emmy. She stopped the tears that threatened then hugged Aidan as well. They would make fine parents, she was certain. Besides, she would be close by.
“You’re right of course, Emmy mustn’t participate,” Ethan said.
“I want to go,” a very tired Ricky declared. His eyes were barely open. He, Max and Michaela had helped with the moose. The other two children had already succumbed to their exhaustion, as had Rose. Lucky lay sleeping half under Michaela’s bed, his bulk too large to squeeze completely under any longer. Cord had tied a large piece of meat secured in a pack onto the dog’s back. He’d decided that since the animal ate, he should also be helpful.
“Sorry sweetheart, not this time,” Ethan told Ricky and lifted him into his bed. He kissed his forehead and the child was asleep in moments.
“I’m not that tired, Mom, I can go,” Shanie told her, though dark circles were prominent under the tired eyes she rubbed at.
“But honey, you’re worn out.”
“If you make me stay, I’ll cook dinner,” Shanie threatened.
Howls and threats followed that statement until Tansy was forced to concede, though she smiled inwardly. No matter how tired, her daughter possessed a spark of defiance and pride. Tansy chose to remain behind, but she gave them strict orders to watch her stubborn child. This seemed to be the most dangerous time of year. The animals, the storms and cold weather, all seemed to conspire to threaten their tenacious existence. Soon enough, all gave in to exhaustion and slept.
* * * *
The hunters chose to leave at first light. It would be a long day. They didn’t know how long they’d be gone, or if they would be successful.
“Perhaps one of us should stay behind,” Ethan said to Tansy. He was dressed warmly in a coat made from elk, the fur side turned in for warmth, fur leggings, thick-soled moccasins and fur-lined mittens, as were the others. The goat and Lucky were brushed daily and any excess fur was also woven in as an added insulator. Tansy made a flap of attached fur on the coat that could be adjusted at Ethan’s nose and mouth by using two pieces of bone top and bottom on the hood. It could be secured by a small loop at the end of the flap. They saved buttons and zippers from their old clothing, using them sparingly while they improvised. Tansy had taken twigs cut into small circular pieces. She cut off the hard outer bark, smoothed the various sized pieces, and poked two or three holes into them, making her own buttons to use on the clothing they wore indoors.
“We’ll be fine, Ethan. Don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to Ricky,” she promised while handing him a leather waterproof pack laden with dried traveling food, extra mittens and water.
“Hurry home,” Emmy said kissing Aidan. Aidan promised he would.
Tansy held Shanie closely after handing her the traveling pack she’d made for her, including extra moccasins and a spare tinder kit. The wine skin she carried filled with warmed water was packed inside her coat into a tight-fitting fur purse carrier to keep its contents from freezing. Tansy knew her daughter was an exceptional hunter, but with the cold violent winter storms that could blow in at any moment, and the wild animals, she was worried for Shanie’s safety and hesitant to release her.
“Mom, I’ll be fine, don’t worry,” Shanie said, disengaging from her mother’s crushing embrace.
“I get to worry. It’s in my mother’s contract. Watch my kid,” she half-joked, half-demanded of the four men.
“With my life,” Clint said. Tansy knew he meant it.
They left at a fast pace. The day was sunny, but gray clouds were moving in on the horizon. Snow was definitely on its way. Tansy kept busy with food preparations. They still had a great deal to do with the moose that had been set away from the fires in the cold tunnel to keep it fresh and workable. There was a fair amount left to freeze, dry, and make into pemmican.
Tansy extracted the bone marrow and tossed a large bone to Lucky. It had a good amount of meat clinging to it, and she knew he would be kept busy for hours. Tansy was grateful for the dog’s gentle temperament. If one of the children were to approach him while he was eating, he would simply move away or wait patiently for an adult to retrieve his bone and scold the child. She thought this behavior might have arisen from him and Cord sharing what they could scrounge so long ago. She then checked on the drying meat. It would be done later and would have to be stored away.
A large roast of meat was then set on the spit by the fire; Tansy found if she set it slightly to the side of the fire instead of directly over it, she could place a container down to catch the drippings. Tansy could use that to baste the roast.
After everything she could think of to do was done, Tansy sat beside Emmy and Rose drinking a liquid that vaguely reminded them of coffee. They tried eating acorns from oaks, but found them to be bitter. When boiled several times to leach out the tannins, after soaking them in cold water for a few days, the acorns were more palatable when roasted a coffee color and ground up. Aidan gave instructions to bury them in ash and sprinkle water over top. The acorns could be made into a flour that tasted very much like coffee. Skeptical at first, Tansy tried Aidan’s idea, and though not a brand she would have preferred, Tansy found it to be a nice change from tea. She also shelled some of the acorns and after baking, the acorns were again soaked in water, secured in the river before it began to freeze. After several days of soaking, she was able to make decent cooking flour.
* * * *
The snow seemed to be holding off. Tansy took that as a good sign. Dinner came and went with no sign of the hunters. As night settled, Mike cried for Clint, and Ricky wanted his father and because they were crying Max did as well, also needing the attention and comfort the men and Shanie offered. Soon Emmy was sobbing as the darkness increased to dead of night. After a quick comforting embrace with her mother, she excused herself to go to her own bed. Tansy remained awake, but tucked Max and Rose into her bigger bed together, knowing she’d not be getting any sleep until her family had returned home.
Tansy stood a vigil, waiting and pacing. Her only companion was Lucky’s huge brown eyes that followed her around the room. The wind had picked up, but still no sign of snow. The hunters had never stayed out past dark except when tracking the Komodo dragon, and especially never with Shanie in the freezing weather. Tansy was terrified for their safety. The thought of Emmy left alone with another pregnant girl, three small children and snow on the way was the only thing that kept her from going out to search for them.
Finally, near dawn, the heavy hide to the mine entrance was pushed back as snow began to fly, their door left unbarred in anticipation of the hunters’ return. A half-frozen Shanie stumbled into her mother’s embrace. Tansy began peeling off her daughter’s outer clothing and brought her to the fire. She handed her a warm bowl of thickened soup she’d made up for the hunters’ return, knowing they would need something to heat their insides after being out in the bitter cold for so long.
“What happened?” Tansy asked. “Why were you gone for so long? Why are you alone? Where are the men?”
“We were attacked,” Shanie said, her teeth still chattering from fear and cold. She gulped at the soup broth thirstily, downing it and placed the bowl aside.
“By what?” Tansy cried horrified.
“Not what, who.”
“People? Other people?”
“Yes, other people. We
hunted all day following tracks. Finally near dusk we came across a tiny herd of about fifteen head grazing and brought down a small bison before they even knew what hit them, but after we had it tied to poles and ready to go, a group of men came after us. They wanted the bison.” Then fearfully she looked at her mother, “And me.”
“Oh my God.”
Shanie began sobbing. She flung herself into her mother’s arms and cried. “It was so awful. One of the attacking men grabbed my hood, and when he saw I was a girl he tried to throw me over his shoulder; I struggled and screamed. I hit at him the way Aidan taught me, but he was so big I couldn’t get him to let go; I was so scared. I was afraid he’d take me away from you and Emmy and Mike. Rose’s story flooded my mind and I wondered what he would do to me. I cried out so loud, thinking I would die just from my horrible thoughts. We both went crashing to the ground when Clint tackled him. I’ve never seen Clint so violent. He was enraged, Mom; he stabbed the man through his heart with the knife you found him. There were five more, two were on Cord, and Clint dragged me to my feet and told me to run. I was too scared; there was blood everywhere. He threw me behind him and pushed hard so I was flung away from the fighting.”
Shanie cried harder. Tansy tried to soothe her, but her sobbing increased.
“A man went after Ethan and caught him by surprise, he tripped and fell with the man pinning him. Aidan knocked the man off Ethan and stabbed him in the throat so hard the knife embedded in the ground under him. I’ve never seen Aidan move so quickly or viciously, like moving death. One minute he was there, the next he had Ethan up and he was mobile again, off like a shadow.
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