Post Grid: An Arizona EMP Adventure (33 page)

“We can't afford to lose a single bird,” Emma cried as she exited the kitchen door. “Shoo, get outta here,” she screamed as she ran for the coop.

Panicked by the melee and concerned Emma would meet gunfire, Jared, wearing only his briefs, sprinted to catch up to the old woman and what he hoped were four-legged coyotes.

Rich was headed toward the fracas at top speed. “Emma, don't shoot uphill. I'm coming down!”

Everyone in the clan was headed for the coop.

Rich got there just in time to see three coyotes headed into the night, each with a large bird in its jaws. He got off a couple of rounds but failed to hit any of the three moving targets. The rest of the clan joined him, one by one, out in the back forty.

“I wished I could have shot one,” Rich said in disgust. “We could have at least tried coyote stew or jerky in place of, or in addition to chicken.”

“Damn!” Emma said. “I thought that coop could withstand those mongrels.”

Rich walked up to the enclosure. “Looks like the fence was left open,” he said, swinging the gate to and fro, hinges squeaking as usual. “No signs of damage to the chicken wire fence, but this coop door has been dug open,” Rich pointed to deep claw marks in the plywood, “and there's hair caught all around the door too. Those damn mutts ripped those birds out of that hutch. They didn't have a chance.”

The heavy, metallic smell of blood hung in the air. Feathers lay strewn around the chicken yard and a disembodied wing lay in the dirt. The remaining six chickens, clucking softly, stayed on their roost.

“Stupid birds!” Emma fell to one knee and wept. Kelly walked to Emma, leaned her rifle up against the fence and laid a hand on her mother's shoulder.

Emma sobbed, “I don't know why I'm crying. Is it for the birds or for us? Maybe both.”

No one else said anything. Jose picked up the wing and exited the coop, rattling the lock to make sure it was tight. Everyone understood the loss; it put them farther behind on food production.

Emma stood up. Everyone stared at the moon silently, shoulder to shoulder. They were eight people fighting against nature, against mankind, against the world. Only the slightest hint of breeze rustled the leaves of the trees. How peaceful it was. Peaceful and daunting at the same time, just like every aspect of their existence.

Jess hung his head and started back uphill, alone.

Rich pulled Jose aside. “Your son gathered the eggs this afternoon.”

“I was hoping it wasn't him. What should I do?”

“Oh, I think he'll take it hard enough to learn his lesson. I don't think I'd say anything, but somehow I'd let him know I knew. The boy can't think he got away with it completely.”

The men, except Jared, went together toward Rich's place. Jared put one arm around Kelly's shoulders and the other around Emma's, and Kelly reached out and put her arm around Lynn. The four walked back to the house together.

****

Jared ambled into the kitchen and sat at the table. The legs of the chair scraped across the wooden floor boards, making a
clack, clack
sound. Breakfast dishes had been long since cleaned and sat in the drainer. There weren't a lot of dishes this day, since the meal had consisted only of pecans and oatmeal made from the horse's oats, confiscated from the barn.

“What's up, Jared?” Emma asked. She was preparing a rabbit to go into a crock with other vegetables, and then the solar oven.

“I was sitting in the living room when Rich brought the kids in for their literature lesson.”

“Rich seems like a pretty good teacher from what I could hear from in here.”

“Oh, I'm sure he's great, and the kids like him.”

“Where's Kelly?” Jared asked, looking around as if expecting to see her somewhere in the kitchen.

“She went up to tend the horses. She's been gone quite awhile,” said Emma, finishing washing her hands and then flinging a dish towel over her shoulder.

“I'm goin' up there.” Jared grabbed a plaid jacket from a hook next to the back door and exited, letting the screen slam as he leaped from the back stoop. As he passed Rich's house, he could see Kelly standing near the lean-to that made up the back wall of the corral. She had one foot up on the bottom rung of the split rail fence. He could imagine her chewing on a piece of straw like the cowboys in movies did.

“What's up, gorgeous?”

Kelly jolted around, face ashen. “You shouldn't sneak up on people like that.”

“I wasn't sneakin'. You were a million miles away.” Jared put his arm around her waist and pulled her tight. “Penny for your thoughts.”

“What do you think of this old trailer?” She pointed at one of the ATV trailers they had acquired on the highway a few months back.

“I don't think much of it, why? You have plans?”

Kelly looked at Jared. She played nervously with the collar of his jacket and bit her lip. “I think we should leave. I don't mean tomorrow and I don't mean without telling everyone, of course, but I've come to the conclusion that this arid piece of desert cannot support all of us.” Jared let her talk. “If we stay here we'll all die slowly. Anyone can see that we are using up our supplies faster than we can grow new ones. We lost those chickens last night, and we can't grow grain here.”

“We're still in the early phase. The cows will multiply and the garden can be replanted in the spring. We can plant corn—it's a grain. We got some at the feed store.”

Kelly pulled back, putting a little room between them. “That's just it. The cows will multiply, but slowly. Only the garden my mom has
now
can be replanted; there isn't enough ground for corn to make cornmeal. This is still the desert, even if there are trees down by the stream. The soil here is ground granite. It contains very little organic material and we can't drive to the nursery to get compost and fertilizer. It will take years and hundreds of man hours to collect and compost enough material to make it productive. We're all gonna die if we stay. We've gotta get to my Dad's.” She sounded logical, practical, almost matter-of-fact, but her heart was pounding. Saying the words out loud about leaving her mother flushed a cold surge of guilt through her veins. She carried on anyway; it had to be said.

Noticing a quaver in her voice, Jared took Kelly in his arms and pulled her toward his shoulder for comfort. She lay her head against him. “Maybe you're right,” he said. “We need to consider this carefully. I don't think it's going to be very friendly out there and it's like, what, three or four hundred miles of mostly desert to your dad's? Your mom and Rich are no spring chickens either.”

“Mom and Rich will never leave. My mom would never go to my dad's anyway. She's got Rich and there's ample food for the two of them.”

“You're talking about leaving her here?”

“If she won't come—and she won't—it's the only thing we
can
do.”

“Okay, let's say we have to go. How do you propose we get there?”

“Horse-drawn wagons, like in the old days. We can modify this trailer for the horses to pull. We can sleep in it, cook from it. It will carry everything we need to get all of us to Utah.”

“All of us? Who are you talking about?”

“Dennis, Jose, the kids, and us, of course. We will all have to go if Mom and Rich are to have a chance. It will be safer if all six of us go together, too.”

“We're going to have to give this a whole bunch of thought before pulling out of here, Kel.”

“I already have,” Kelly said, pulling away and turning her back on him.

“I can see that, but I think the rest of us should be in on the discussion.”

“I don't see any alternatives.”

“There's always an alternative. I think we should all get together and run the math,” Jared said, turning Kelly around to face him. “Figure out just how long the food will hold out.”

“It's six months. May, by my calculations, and if we lose any more chickens, less.”

“Come here,” Jared gathered Kelly in his arms.

Impishly, Kelly said into his collar, “Can we change the subject now?”

“Sure. We're not going to solve that whopper this minute. Maybe we could talk about something here and now. The horses look good?” Jared said.

Kelly lifted her head and looked into the corral. “Yep, a little thinner, but I'm thinking of taking them down to the Branham's place today. They had grass on their front lawn and it's got a little height on it now. Should be a good lunch for our four friends here.”

“I'll go with you. I'll look forward to it.” Jared smiled and raised his eyebrows.

****

“Emma, that was the best corn pudding I've ever eaten,” said Jared. “It's like sweet, buttery, gooey cake.”

“That's probably the only corn pudding you've ever eaten unless you're from the South,” said Emma.

“Well, that's true. I haven't had corn pudding before, but I've had cornbread. This is better.”

“Lynn helped me make it. It's just some corn meal, canned creamed corn, corn syrup and some onion from the garden. I usually put a whole stick of butter in it, but I had to use a little peanut oil this time. Lynn and I gathered the greens out in the yard.
And what do you think about the salad?” She glanced over at Jess, who had devoured his corn pudding but was pushing the greens around on his plate.

“It's good,” he said sullenly, still not taking a bite. He pushed his chair back and stood up, taking his plate toward the sink.

“I'll take that, Mijo,” said Jose, reaching for Jess's plate. Jess handed it over without speaking, then headed for the living room.

“You will turn Miss Lynn here into a fine cook,” said Jared. “Now, if you will excuse us, Kelly and I are going to take the horses over to the Branham's for their lunch.” Jared winked at Kelly.

“Jared,” Kelly interrupted, clearing her throat. “I thought maybe my mom and I would take them down.”

Jared looked at her, puzzled. “Sure.” He paused, a little stunned.

“But I'll make it up to you,” Kelly said, raising her eyebrows and nodding, asking for his approval.

“Okay then, another time.” His voice and mood had changed from jubilant to disappointed.

“Will you go with me, Mom?” Kelly asked.

“Why sure, honey. Have something important to talk about?”

“Well, as a matter of fact, I do.”

“Let me get some things. Lynn, can you wash up these dishes?” Emma didn't wait for a reply, but left the kitchen for the shoe rack by the front door.

“I'll go with you two,” Jared offered to Kelly.

Kelly stepped within a foot of Jared and gave him a curt head shake. “Please. I'll explain later.”

Jared waited for the door to close behind Emma before he asked Kelly to step out the back door with him. “I thought
we
were going to talk first?”

“No, I have thought about this and I think now is a good time to break it to my mom. Instead of us preparing to stay we
need
to be preparing to go and it will take us every second to get out of here in March. Really, we can't wait another day.”

“I thought you said that the food would last through May?”

“Yes, if we take it down to the last mouthful. If we go earlier, we will leave more for Mom and Rich to use until they can get the late summer crops in.”

“Why March then? Why not February?” impatience crept into Jared's voice.

“Weather,” Kelly said, impatient herself.

“Okay, but I think I should go to the Branham's with you for security.”

“No, thanks. Really, this is a talk my mom and I need to have alone. I have a history of leaving my mother. We still have issues. I left her every year to spend the summers with my Dad, I left to go to college and then the military. My mom was finally certain that I would be around, that I had come home to stay, and now this. Who knows if we'll ever see each other again. She'll be scared, sad, maybe even angry.”

“Just be glad you have someone who is worried about your leaving,” Jared said, his voice softening some. “Can we go out tonight, alone somewhere?”

“Sure, I promise.” Kelly smiled, noticing Jared's downturned gaze. She gave him a peck on the cheek.

Emma stepped out onto the stoop wearing her cowboy boots and a nice holster to boot. “Ready?” Emma asked Kelly.

Kelly glanced at Jared and then to her mother. “Sure, Mom.”

****

Kelly and Emma saddled up two horses to go to the Branham's house. The other two horses, without saddles, were led by their reins. It had been quite awhile since Kelly and Emma had been alone together and could actually talk,
privately
. Every waking minute seemed to have been filled with contemplation, planning, and execution of survival.

At first the ladies rode in silence down the dirt road, turning to follow the meandering canyon. The water babbled in the stream and the sun beat down, warming their skin. Kelly was lost in thought as she sat atop Pokey, feeling his back sway under her saddle and her shoulders sway in response. She was trying to compose the right words to tell her mother how urgent and imperative she thought this move was.