Post Grid: An Arizona EMP Adventure (32 page)

“Laundry is gonna take us all day,” said Jess with a frown.

“Hey, guys, looks like you're making progress,” Dennis called as he approached the pair.

“Yes, sir,” Jess said.

“I've been thinking. I know we are pretty busy around here, but in the next few weeks I think you should both start classes.”

“Classes?” Both teens spoke simultaneously.

“Yes, classes.” He smiled at their reaction. “Harvest will be over in a couple of weeks and we should have a little more time for some study.”

“But what do we need to study for now?” asked Jess.

Lynn echoed Jess's sentiments. “As soon as harvest is over, we will be right into planning the wedding and…”

Dennis cut them both off. “There will always be something to do besides study. The wedding is Kelly and Jared's, and you should have plenty of time off to help anyway. Everyone will help teach. Jose is good at math, Jared with law, Emma with medicine and I can teach some classes as well. Both of you were good students before all of this and I think you will enjoy your lessons now too. Now, back to work.” Dennis took off across the yard toward the gardens.

Jess grumbled something under his breath.

“School isn't so bad, Jess,” said Lynn, rolling her eyes at him.

“There has to be one kid in every class like you,” Jess said, mimicking and exaggerating Lynn’s famous eye roll.

****

The Wise clan passed the evenings reading one of Rich's English classics, playing and singing songs, and listening to news on the short wave broadcasts. During the night watches, the watchers did their best to find creative ways to pass the time and stay awake. Kelly relished her watch time with Jared.

Large handcart companies arrived daily in Sunflower and then moved on after camping overnight. Rich monitored their progress on the local Mormon VHF radio net. During the dance, he had talked to one of the ham radio operators at length, and he offered to relay emergency messages to and from handcart companies passing through Sunflower. He also learned of the Mormon radio nets held on HF frequencies, which were used to communicate over long distances. He began checking into the HF net covering Utah and the other states surrounding Arizona. Few radios had survived, but those that had were being put to good use.

A month or so after the first dance, Bill Johnson rode into the Wise farmstead mid-morning. He stopped his horse well away from the house and shouted up the driveway, “It's Bill and I've brought news.” He waited to be acknowledged and told to come on in by Dennis. Dennis called to Emma in the house, and the whole clan came running.

Bill stayed seated on his horse. “I've got bad news.” He removed his cowboy hat and set it on his knee. “Charlie Best has killed himself.” There was an audible gasp let out by those gathered.

Charlie was the loner, who Kelly knew was a diabetic. A neighbor had found a note on Charlie's door that morning explaining that he was nearly out of insulin. He had decided to kill himself by injecting all of his remaining insulin so he wouldn't die a slow and painful death. Sure enough, Charlie was found out in back of the house lying in a self-dug grave with his old dog, dead, beside him. Lynn turned away from Bill as he spoke. Emma took her in her arms and placed her forehead on her shoulder. Everyone was stunned.

          “
Baruch atah Hashem Elokeinu melech haolam, dayan ha'emet,
” Dennis recited softly. The words seemed to comfort Lynn and she whispered them with her father. “Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, the true Judge.”

          “Dennis, would you lead a memorial service?” Bill asked.

“Of course,” Dennis said. “Any death is a loss but a suicide is particularly tragic and wasteful.  It is Jewish custom to bury the dead as soon as practicable.”  

“Yes,” Emma said. “From a health standpoint, a quick burial may be best.  When were you thinking of having it?”

“Tomorrow,” Bill said hanging his head a little.  ”I've got some of the men working on a better grave now.”

“We should see about making a simple coffin,” Dennis said.  A burial shroud can be made from his sheets.  I would feel better if someone stayed with the body until the funeral.  The watching, or guard, of the dead is a sign of respect.”

“It's like when I was on the honor guard for a Civil Air Patrol funeral,” Jess said.

“Yes, exactly, an honor guard,” Jose said.

The next day, the people of Sunflower gathered at Charlie's house.  Many wept openly.  Dennis began the service by reading Psalms and then asked if anyone would like to speak about Charlie.  A few people spoke, mostly about Charlie being a good neighbor, but the underlying theme was the harrowing times.  Beatrice Banning, Emmet's wife, was barely able to control herself.  Everyone knew Emmett was an insulin dependent diabetic.  Just like Charlie Best, his days would soon be coming to an end.  Emmett sat stoically patting Bea's hand.  After placing the casket in the backyard grave, everyone with a shovel mounded dirt on the casket until the grave was full.  Silence hung in the air.  All that could be heard was the rustle of the leaves in the fall breeze.  
After the emotional service, t
he neighbors spoke among themselves but didn’t linger.

Emma and Kelly stood with the Wise clan on the front lawn of Charlie's house.  “I'm going to swing by Bea and Emmet's,” said Dennis. “They are pretty tender now. I'll see if they want me to visit in a day or two.”

“We're lucky to have you here, Dennis,” Emma said. “Kelly and I are heading over to see Chris Barnard and check on his heart problem.”

“Wait for me,” called Lynn.  ”I want to go too.”

“Sure, you can come. I was hoping you would take an interest,” said Emma. “I've been interested in herbal medicine for a long time because of my medical missions. It looks like it will come in handy now.” Emma addressed the men. “We'll take the three saddled horses. You can all ride the cart back. We shouldn't be long.”

“What's wrong with Mr. Barnard?” Lynn asked, pressing her heels into her horse's sides to keep up with Emma's taller horse.

Emma wanted Lynn, as well as Kelly, to understand what the problem was. “His heart doesn't beat strongly enough. It's called congestive heart failure. The medicine he takes now helps him get rid of excess fluid, which makes his heart work less, and he'll be running out of it soon if he hasn't already.”

“Will he die without it?” asked Lynn.

“Well,” said Emma, “I'm going to try some juniper berry tea with him and see if works to get rid of the excess fluid, just like his diuretic pills—I mean water pills,” Emma added for Lynn's benefit.
She paused for a moment, considering the process she would need to follow. “First,
we need to see how many pills he has left. If we start the tea now, maybe he can decrease his dose and make the pills last longer. Lynn,
why don't you write down what I do to make the tea? That way, his wife will be able to make it for him again later.”
 

“It's like playing with the chemistry set I got in third grade,” said Lynn. “Brewing tea and saving people, imagine.”

“Have you ever used juniper berry tea, Mom?”

“No, but one of my homeopathic books recommends it. I imagine it will take some experimentation on our part to get the dose right. There are other things we can try as well, but we'll start with this. I'm hoping we can use herbs to save him after his pills have run out.”

As the women approached the white picket fence, they saw a sign attached to it warning against trespassing. It read:
Violators will be shot
. Kelly spotted Chris Barnard. He stood on the side lawn, speaking with Bill.
“Hi, Chris,” Emma called.

“What can we do for you ladies?” Chris asked.

“I was hoping to talk to you about your heart medicine,” Emma said cautiously, hoping not to offend.

“Well, I'd appreciate that,” Chris said with a big grin. Lynn recognized the grin as part of his “nature,” the nature of patients Emma had been teaching her about.

“Do you mind if we all talk? Kelly is a nurse and Lynn here is an aspiring nurse.”

“Well, I'll be. How did a man get so lucky as to have three beautiful nurses looking after him?” Chris said. His belly laugh made all the ladies join in.

****

It was quite late the night of the funeral, but Kelly and Jared were still up, sitting in the living room, when they heard Rich yelling from outside.

“Come to the radio! Come to the radio!” His voice grew louder as he got closer to Emma's house. Kelly and Jared rushed out onto the porch.

As soon as Rich saw them he pivoted on one foot, turning back toward his place at a full run. Kelly looked at Jared, puzzled. They saw a light come on in Emma's room; she must have heard him too. The pair took off running after Rich, up the hill toward his house.

Rich was out of breath but already seated at his ham radio desk when they entered the house.

“I've got 'im,” he said. Rich turned quickly to Kelly. “I've got your dad on the radio! I've been talking to Utah for a couple of evenings now and the pieces just seemed to fall together. I'll tell you more later, but just talk now while he's on.”

“Dad, it's Kelly. Over,” the younger Wise spoke excitedly into the microphone. The rest of the clan arrived in the ham shack, wearing puzzled looks.

“Hi, Cowgirl,” Sam Wise's voice boomed into the room. “I sure didn't think I'd be talking with you tonight. I'm so glad you and Emma are alright. I was worried sick about you. I'm fine here. The ranch is pretty self-sufficient, you know. We have good water, big gardens and lots of milk and beef. How are you holding up? Over.”

“I can't believe I'm talking to you, Dad. Mom's right here, too. We're doing okay. I left most everything behind in Lehi, but I brought Hokey and Pokey. You know how Mom is. She's in pretty good shape with her gardening, canning, and cattle. We do have a very full house, though. There's a total of eight of us here. I won't take the time to explain except to say one of them is pretty special to me. Over.”

Jared stepped behind Kelly and put his arms around her shoulders as if Sam could see him through the radio.

“Well, I'll be. I'm glad to hear it. Tell your young man hello from me and tell him I expect him to take care of you as I would. I don't know what I can do to help from here. Everything is shut down hard. We don't dare travel yet. Over.”

“We know. It's pretty dangerous to travel here too. We are well armed and our numbers help.” The radio made a burst of static and then Sam's voice was broken. Rich took over the radio and tried to dial the frequency back in, but the signal was fading. Several more broken words were heard and then just static.

“I think we lost him,” said Rich. “I'll try to get him back.” He continued to work with the radio while all those gathered spoke amongst themselves.

“Wow,” said Kelly, leaning against Jared. “Richard, you are a magician just to get him for that long.”

“I'm glad your dad is alright,” said Emma.

“Who would have guessed we could reach him?” asked Kelly. “He sounds good.”

Everyone sat around Rich's living room for about half an hour, waiting to see if communication could be restored, but good radio propagation—the way the radio waves bounced off the atmosphere—had passed, at least for talking to southern Utah, and everyone was tired.

“Well, that was exciting, but I think we should all get off to bed,” Jose said. “I've got chores planned for these kids all day tomorrow.”

Jared stood and held out his hand to Kelly. She took it and he pulled her up from the couch where she had been sitting next to him. The evening air was chilly and Jared ran with Kelly toward Emma's house. Emma and Lynn walked leisurely, talking. It was good to know there were other people out there and some were even safe; at least for now.

Chapter 17

The night was cool and still. The moon was full; its light shone through the sheers of Emma's bedroom window. Maybe the moonlight was keeping her awake. Emma lay in bed thinking about the chores she needed to accomplish the next day: grazing the cows and horses, doing the wash, and canning carrots. Suddenly, she heard chickens screeching from the yard. Their pitiful squawks quickened and intensified.

“Coyotes!” Emma screamed, loud enough to be heard through walls. “Get a rifle!”

Lynn, startled, sat up in her bed as Emma reached the door to the hallway.

“Got a gun?” Emma asked, nearly knocking Kelly over as she exited her room.

Kelly turned on her heels and darted back into her room.

Emma collided with Jared in the doorway to the kitchen. Jared, still half awake, stepped back and let the determined lady pass, clad only in her night dress.

“I hope you've got a gun, it might not be coyotes,” Jared shouted after her. He went directly to the couch and pulled his .45 from under the cushion.