Catastrophe in America

by Pete Thorsen

  “Let’s move by the door so we have some light and talk to each other OK?”

  I saw the little girl take Bev’s hand and we all walked to the front of the store where we could see the pickup and have enough light to see each other.

  I decided to let Bev do all the talking and I moved a little way away to ease the little girl’s mind.

  “My name is Bev and that guy is Art. What is your name?”

  “My name is Cindy.”

  “Are your mom and dad here with you?”

  “My mom and dad are dead.”

  The girl started to cry softly and Bev pulled her close to hold her.

  “I’m sorry. Are you all alone?”

  I saw her nod her head yes.

  “Art and I are all alone too. Would you like to come with us to live so we could all be friends?”

  “I could live with you?”

  “If you want to you can. I think I would like to have another girl to talk to instead of just talking to Art. We have a nice house we live in and I think there is enough room for you there too.”

  “I can run fast to get away if I have too.”

  “I bet you can but I think you would like living with us. Don’t you want to be friends?”

  After a moment the little girl nodded and started to cry again.

  “Let’s go back inside and pick you out some clothes and stuff to take back to our place.”

  At this I moved closer and gave the girl, Cindy my flashlight and watched Bev and her move back farther into the store again. I went to the truck and grabbed another light and went back to get the stuff I had dropped in the clothing area.

  After that I grabbed a few more items and then I just waited by the truck for the ‘girls’ to finish shopping. While waiting I rearranged the cab some to make room for our new passenger. They had to make a couple trips back and forth from the store to the truck to bring more stuff out before Bev said they were ready to go home.

  The ride home was uneventful and we went through the same routine of stopping to see if we were followed and then brushing out our tracks on the dirt road before going home.

  When we got home Bev took Cindy inside and I started unloading all of our new stuff. It was a full load and took me some time to finish putting it all somewhere. It was starting to be late afternoon and I went inside to make a decent supper for our new house guest.

  About the time supper was ready and I was about to find my two girls they came out to the kitchen. I could see that Cindy was feeling much better. She had all new clean clothes on (her old clothes were pretty dirty) and she now had clean hair that was all brushed out.

  “You have lights and water and everything here! Bev says I can stay with you for as long as I want. Is that true?”

  “Yes you can stay here as long as you want.”

  “You might not want to stay when you have to eat Art’s cooking.”

  “Cindy you just watch how much of this food Bev eats. I don’t know where she puts all of it.”

  “I’m hungry. I have not found hardly any food to eat. We had a secret place where we stored some food and stuff in case we had to run away but I ate all that we had there.”

  “Well we still have some food here but you have to eat it before Bev eats it all. Sometimes I only get a bite or two before she devours everything.”

  While we were talking the girls took seats at the table and I was putting food out for everyone. Cindy wasted no time and was shoveling the food in before Bev told her to slow down a little.

  Bev and I both took only small portions to make sure that Cindy had all she could eat. We had no problem cleaning up all the food so there were no leftovers. Before we started eating I had lit a lamp and set it on the table. By the time we were done eating it was dark except for the lamp’s light.

  “Why are you using a lamp instead of the regular lights?”

  “We only have electricity during the day when the sun is shining. At night we have to use candles or lamps like this one. The sun makes our electricity for us. We do not have running water at night either.”

  “Is that why you have pails of water in the bathroom?”

  “That’s right. At night we have to use the pails of water for washing or flushing the toilet.”

  “Is Bev your wife?”

  “No she just showed up here one day and moved into my house. In spite of her being kinda bossy I still let her be my friend and I let her stay here.”

  “He would probably die of a broken heart if I moved away. I have to constantly take care of him. I have no idea how he lived at all before I came to help him.”

  “That was good supper.”

  “Thank you. I’m glad you liked it. We will have to find a place for you to sleep tonight.”

  “While you were working Bev and I moved some stuff around and made room in the little storeroom for me to sleep. Is that OK?”

  “Well I was going to have you sleep in the barn but I guess if there is room in the house you can stay in here with us then. So yes it is OK.”

  “You’re funny.”

  We talked for some time while Bev and I washed the dishes (I had run water in the sink before the power went out for this purpose) but the large meal was having an effect on Cindy and we could see she was fighting to stay awake and finally she admitted it.

  “I think I will go to bed now if that’s OK?”

  “Sure it is. I will wake you up in the morning before Bev eats all the breakfast. Good night.”

  Bev lit a candle and went with Cindy to make sure she had everything for the night. Bev also gave her a flashlight so she would have some light if she needed it during the night. When Bev came back a few minutes later she told me about Cindy.

  “Cindy told me about her mom and dad. Her dad was killed months ago it sounded like and she and her mom then lived alone. Her mom kept her safe in the house while she was out scavenging for food and supplies. Apparently there were many bad men around for awhile anyway. Her mom had sealed shut the back door on their house and had put a second lock on the front door.

  She had also set up a secret place for them at another abandoned house with stored food and water for an emergency. One day when her mom came home two men must have followed her and when she had opened the door to come inside they had attacked her.

  Her mom had yelled for Cindy to run fast to the secret place and she had went out through the doggy door in back and the man chasing her had not been able to get the door open so had to run back through the house and use the front door.

  That gave Cindy enough time to get away. This had very likely been her mom’s plan the whole time to save her daughter. As she was running away Cindy said she heard one of the man scream and then a gunshot. She said her mom always carried a couple knives because she had no gun and must have stabbed at least one of the men Cindy thought.

  She had run all the way to the secret place and stayed there but her mom never showed up. After Cindy had eaten all the food that was stashed there she had went out and scavenged what she could to eat and drink. That’s why she was in the Walmart when we got there.

  She had hid right away when she heard us first come in but we had stayed there a long time and she said she had to move a little because her leg had went to sleep. That must have been when you heard her make some noise.”

  “Well she’s here with us now for the duration it sounds like with her folks both dead. She’s pretty lucky we found her. How old is she?”

  “She said she is seven.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  The next couple days were spent going through all the stuff we had brought home from town and getting to know our new little boarder. The addition of another mouth to feed would certainly tax what small amount of remaining food we had at home.

  Surprisingly we had brought home some food that we found in town. Baking supplies like plain flour, cooking oil, baking powder, and such we found in limited amounts likely because many people did not know how to use it or had no means to
use it after the power went off.

  There were still some condiments like BBQ sauce, salad dressings, spices, and some other similar type things that while not exactly food in itself it was still something. We took most of what we found.

  We had went to the library and took some books on gardening, wild plant identification, edible wild plants of the southwest, food preservation, American Indian life, and several other books that we thought might help us survive in the times ahead.

  After we had everything sorted out (and had done some reading in our new books) we decided to make at least one more trip into town. This time would be about like the last but we decided to find a trailer for the pickup so we could bring back a lot more with just one trip. Also this time we had Cindy who could help us watch for bad guys.

  We again left in the early morning hours for our trip. On the way in we all kept a lookout for a trailer and the third one we saw was not locked and did not have any flat tires. It was a covered trailer of about twelve to sixteen feet in length and would certainly hold a lot of stuff. On the list today was more clothing for all of us with several larger sizes for Cindy. Strong sturdy shoes for all of us and again several sizes for Cindy to grow into (might as well plan ahead). We also hoped to find three bikes for us with extra tires and tubes.

  When we went past a propane dealer I turned around and pulled in. We would need more propane and there was likely plenty here if I could figure out how to get it. In the office I found keys to the trucks and I looked at them to find one that had some propane in it already.

  While I was checking the trucks Bev found some manuals and such in the office and took them. I pocketed the keys to fit the truck that had some propane and we would stop on the way home and I would attempt to drive home the delivery truck while Bev drove our pickup with the trailer.

  This time we stopped at every store that might contain any food and we did find some additional baking supplies and condiment type stuff. We took a lot of freezer paper, all the zip lock bags, a very large amount of toilet paper, what medical supplies we could find and we thought we might use at some point. Soap of all kinds, toothbrushes and toothpaste, feminine supplies, two hair clippers, razors, and more went into the truck or trailer. The list was endless of the things we thought we could use either now or in the future.

  A new pressure canner with added replacement parts, canning jars and all the lids we could find and still we were not done. This time we did it a little different because we had found a standard two wheeled delivery cart and took a bunch of heavy plastic totes to put stuff in. I could haul a lot out to truck at a time with loose stuff in the totes and it was easy to load into the truck or trailer also. The totes also stacked nicely so I could completely fill the trailer all the way to the roof.

  Four bikes were found and loaded in the pickup. Three adult sized bikes and one smaller one for Cindy until she was big enough for a full size model were also put into the truck along with a single bed for Cindy’s use.

  We also swung by a school and picked up some school books for our new pupil covering many grades and subjects. Her education would have to continue no matter what shape the world was in.

  Finally there was just no more room in the truck or the trailer and with a stop at the propane place where I got the truck started and then I followed Bev back to our house taking our now normal precautions on the way home.

  It took us quite some time to go through all the stuff we had brought home on this trip. Much of it after sorting we left in the now clearly labeled totes. There was plenty of room in the barn to stack these loaded totes and the tight fitting covers should keep out any critters that might other wise be tempted to cause trouble.

  I left the trailer hooked up to pickup and the bungees and tarp for the pickup I left inside the cab. It was totally ready if we ever made another trip into town. And after a short discussion we did the very next day. We thought it best to get as much stuff now that we had the chance as we could. The trip went much faster and we again returned home with a big load. That would be our final trip rather than push our luck.

  The propane delivery truck I had parked and then went through the manuals and such that Bev had found at the propane place. Some were totally useless to me but one told some about the delivery process. It still was mostly trial and error to get the process figured out but finally I did and filled our tank which still had a lot in anyway. The delivery truck had an unknown amount of propane left in it but I suspected it to be plenty for us for quite some time (if I could get the truck running again).

  It was still too early to plant a garden but Bev and I read a lot in the books we had brought home. I used a shovel to turn the soil in the garden area (which was quite a project that took me over a week). We also read about what natural plants were in the area that we could eat and how the Indians had gathered and used some of them.

  The three of us took occasional hikes and we now tried to identify all the plants we saw on these hikes. When the Yuccas were blooming we gathered the flowers and ate them with salad dressing just like lettuce.

  We found many plants that we could eat the flowers from. But we ate a lot of meat because that is what we had the most of. When the Agave plants (locally called Century plants) started to shoot up their tall flower stalks we cut those stalks and cooked or fried them to eat.

  With the baking supplies we had brought home I was able to bake many different things for us to eat also.

  When it was warm enough (we thought anyway) we planted our first garden. We only used a fraction of the seeds that I had on hand but still ended up with a very large garden. A few of the seeds we had started in the house as suggested in the books.

  Even with the garden planted we still hiked around and added the wild things we found to our diets. And whatever wild things we found were appreciated because just because the garden was growing it would be some time before much of it was ready for consumption. The radishes and the lettuce were some of the first things we harvested from our garden.

  The solar panel’s power allowed us to water the garden and it took a lot of water to keep it all growing in this arid state.

  We hardly ever tried the radio anymore to see if there was a broadcast (there never was any). We did walk or ride bike out to the highway sometimes but we never saw anyone on it, at least so far. The desert where we lived was a beautiful place but harsh to live in if you were not prepared.

  Humidity was usually in the single digits and the sun was always very warm. A body required a lot of water in those conditions. Many people in this part of the United States likely had perished from thirst when the power had shut down.

  In the middle of summer we had the summer monsoon season and we got I would guess about a normal amount of rainfall. Often it rained very hard for a short length of time and then the rain would move on. During those times the ‘dry’ washes would often run full to the top of their banks for a short time.

  The dirt county road by my house washed out in one spot like it often did during heavy rains. You could still drive through that spot but had to take it slow if you tried it. We had no where to go but I did roll a couple of large rocks out of the way in case we wanted to drive through there at some point in the future.

  Chapter Eighteen

  As the summer progressed the garden produced more and more. Not everything we planted was a success and we sure did not expect it to be. We thought that some of the things we planted had a tough time dealing with the very hot Arizona sun even with all the water we used. We took note of what did well in the direct sun and what did not and next season we decided to have two separate gardens.

  This one we would replant with the things that did well in the direct sun and we would plant another garden in the shade of the barn for the plants that we thought cooked in the sun. They would still get morning sun but as the sun swung around they would be in the shade all afternoon.

  Even with our problems in the garden we still had a lot of produce and Bev and I learned
how to can vegetables. We canned a surprising amount of jars for later use. Even with the garden produce we did not neglect any wild plants either and picked and harvested everything we found as they came ‘in season’. There were many banana yucca plants in the area and we picked the ‘bananas’ from these. They were kinda like above ground potatoes and we used them as such.

  When the mesquite pods got ripe we picked a lot of them and ground them into flour using an old mill that we found in one of the antique shops in town on one of our trips. We coarsely ground them with a meat grinder (we now had three of them and one new electric one) then dried the grindings in the sun and ran them through the hand mill.

  The resulting flour was a little course but surprisingly sweet (it would make your hands sticky just like sugar does). We ended up grinding a whole lot of the mesquite flour because there were huge amounts of the pods on most every tree and very easy for the three of us to harvest.

  There had never been any close neighbors but I rode my bike so I could travel farther and visited many houses and located several fruit trees. When the fruit got ripe I would wear a big backpack and pick as much as I could carry on one trip.

  We canned some of the fruit and using a guide found in one of the books we had brought home I built a passive solar food dehydrator. It worked amazingly well on the sliced fruit and the result was tasty snacks that could be easily carried with on hikes and such. The dried fruit could be re-hydrated and used for cooking of course also but I seriously doubted any of it would last long enough to do that with.

  The dried fruit was so good that I expanded the area I rode bike to find more trees. A surprising number of homes had fruit trees and this was a huge find to boost our food stores. Many kinds of apple trees were the most common but I also found many apricot trees and some pear trees along with plum trees. There were also some pomegranate trees but we did not really know what to do with the fruit from them.