The Journal: Crimson Skies: (The Journal Book 3) (21 page)

“I’m sure Joshua will be delighted to get
started on the lessons,” I said, and then turned to Lenny. “He’s
one house down from mine, in David’s house. I’m sure you can find
it.”

When Mark and I returned home just after
four, the truck was still parked at Joshua’s, so we decided to walk
down and see how things were progressing.

I was extra surprised to see Emilee sitting
at the console, with the radio muffs snug around her tiny ears,
twisting a dial, deep in concentration.

“She’s quite the apt student,” Nathan said.
“She caught on to every nuance quite quickly. I’m impressed.”

“She’s doing better than me,” Joshua laughed.
“Since Emi was already here playing with Matilda and wanted to
learn, we agreed that it would be better to have two of us get
lessons right from the get-go.”

Nathan straightened up and stretched his
back. “I think three hours are enough for the first day. I’ll be
back tomorrow, same time, and we’ll do the next phase. If that’s
alright,” he had turned to us for that last confirmation.

“Sounds good to me, as long as these two are
up for it,” I agreed.

“Nahna! This is so much fun!” Emi shrieked,
sliding the muffs off her head.

“Don’t forget your homework, Emilee. You have
to learn all these codes before you can talk to anyone,” Nathan
reminded her, handing her a few sheets of paper.

October 16

Nathan showed up by himself to continue the
lessons on how to operate the radio. Initially I was a bit alarmed,
though we
are
trying to foster trust between the two
communities so I didn’t say anything.

At noon I walked down to Joshua’s to talk
with Nathan.

“Can you take a message to Mr. Collins for
me?” I asked him.

“I’ve got him on the radio now, Ms. Allexa.
You can deliver the message yourself, if you like. Just hold down
this button when you talk and release it when you’re finished. Emi,
please let your grandmother sit there and use the ear phones.”
Emilee was quick to respond, which told me Nathan was a good
teacher and she respected him.

“Mr. Collins, this is Allexa, are you there?”
I asked after sitting.

“Yes, I’m here,” he replied.

“Would it be alright for us to discuss a
trade agreement tomorrow? We’ll come to you; Mark doesn’t think you
should travel yet.”

“How about two o’clock? Would that fit your
schedule?”

“Yes, that would be perfect. See you then.
Out.” I handed the muffs back to Emi and stood.

“May I speak to you privately, Ms. Allexa?”
Nathan asked, and we stepped outside.

“What is it Nathan?” I hoped he wasn’t going
to defect and ask for asylum!

“I wanted you to know that most everyone at
the compound thought we were getting too isolated and we’re all
quite pleased your group came along,” Nathan said. “And even though
he might not admit it, I think Art is happy to have new
company.”

October 17

I carefully measured five pounds of rice and
scooped it into a new cloth bag. Since our favorite is the basmati,
with the second being long grain, I had selected the short grain
rice to use for barter. I know I was being selfish, but why give up
our favorites?

“Five pounds isn’t very much is it?” Mark
eyed the bag.

“No, it isn’t though it will give them a meal
or two, and tantalize them into wanting more. I want to see what
Art is going to offer in return,” I told my charming husband.

I tied the bag closed with a piece of string,
then put the rice bag in one of my cloth carryalls, along with a
loaf of fresh bread.

“Bread too?”

I smiled at him. “What I hope this instigates
are baking lessons. I think it’s important for us to share skills
as well as extra supplies.”

~~~

We arrived at two o’clock as agreed. Mark
parked the car facing out, a habit we all have developed.

“And who is this?” Art Collins said, hobbling
out onto the wooden porch. “Can it possibly be the little
chatterbox from the radio?”

Emilee bounded up the steps to greet him and
held out her hand.

“Hello, Mr. Collins, it’s nice to meet you,”
she said very adult-like.

Art looked past Emilee at us and grinned.

“Thank you for this most delightful
surprise!” he said. “Please come in.” He took Emi by the hand and
let us follow. She has a way of winning over the most stoic of
adversaries.

A swinging door bumped open behind Collins
and a golden retriever nosed his way out. When he spotted Emilee,
his tail went into full wag-mode. She reached down to pet him, and
he licked her face which got her giggling.

“This dog looks like Chivas, only bigger,”
she said, giving the dog a hug. “What’s his name?”

“This is Captain Morgan; Morgan for short.
Who is Chivas?” Art asked.

“She’s my dog, a golden retriever too, but
she’s still a puppy. Karen found her last spring and gave her to
Uncle Jason for his birthday but he let us keep her when he and
Aunt Amanda moved back home,” Emi stopped to take a breath. “Dad’s
been training her and she’s a good dog to have around. She got shot
a couple of months ago, but Dr. Mark saved her. He said it was the
first dog he ever did surgery on.”

Art smiled at Emi’s monologue. “Maybe someday
when she’s older you can bring Chivas to meet Morgan.” He looked up
at us, and it was obvious he was thinking of breeding the two
dogs.

“We don’t intend on staying long, Art, but we
thought you might want to meet another member of our group,” I
said. “Actually, she
insisted
on coming along, and she can
be very persuasive.”

“Are there any kids here, Mr. Collins?” Emi
asked, getting right to the point.

“Yes, we have a few. Would you like to meet
them?” He asked and she nodded her head vigorously. “Claire can
take you where they are having their lessons, if it’s okay.”

“I think that would be fine, as long as they
don’t go off anywhere. As I said, we don’t plan on staying,” I
answered.

Once Emi and Claire left, with Morgan right
behind them, we got down to business.

“Claire is obviously getting around well,”
Mark said, his eyes had followed the duo out the door.

“Yes, she seems better and better every day.
I still don’t like her doing much, though walking appears to be
good for her. Thank you again, Doctor.”

“You’re welcome. Now, I’d like to take a look
at your arm, see how the wound is healing.” Mark removed the
bandages from Art’s arm, touched and poked it a bit, then reached
for his black bag. He spread some antibiotic cream over the
stitches and re-wrapped it with fresh gauze.

“It’s doing well, I say we can take the
stitches out in a week, but the bones will need at least another
six weeks to knit. We’ll need to do a scan at that time to be
sure,” Mark finished, snapping the black bag closed.

“Let’s get down to business,” Art seemed
uncomfortable with the attention.

“Of course,” I replied, and I picked up my
carryall. “We brought five pounds of rice for a start. I know it
isn’t a lot, but we both know that rationing of irreplaceable
supplies is necessary. And as an extra incentive for our trading,
here is a loaf of fresh bread.”

“Real bread made with wheat flour and not
corn? This is more priceless to me than the rice!” Art confided.
“We had very little flour stored when the quakes hit. We thought we
had time, you know, more time, more
warning
to pull in those
extra supplies.”

“That’s one of the things that many failed
at, preppers and survivalists alike. Everyone thinks they will have
warning, because they
want
to believe that. In reality, the
worst situations come without any warning at all!” I shrugged my
shoulders. “I didn’t have all I would have liked, but I had all I
really needed.”

“So what do you want for the rice and the
bread?”

“The bread is yours, this loaf anyway,” I
smiled. “I think we could arrange one loaf every week. It will be
up to you how to share it. I had initially thought of offering
baking lessons, and I still could do that, but without flour to
bake, lessons would be wasted. As for what you would want to give
us in return for weekly bread, I will leave it up to you to make an
offer. Likewise with the rice, you figure it out what it’s worth to
you.”

Mark and I stood to leave. Collins struggled
to stand.

“You don’t have to see us out, Art. I’d
rather you stay off that leg,” Mark said.

“What direction did Emi go? We can find
her.”

We got to the building Collins had described,
only to be met with silence instead of the sound of children
playing that I was expecting. Claire was just coming out the door
and met us on the steps.

“Where is Emilee? It’s time for us to leave,”
I said.

“Oh, they decided to go for a walk and show
Emi the lake,” Claire smiled.

“We clearly said she was not to go anywhere
else! Show me where they went,” I said angrily.

Claire lost her smile. “This path leads to
the lake. The kids left only a few minutes ago.”

Mark and I hurried along the pine needle
trail, catching up with the group when the shimmering lake came
into view.

“Nahna, isn’t this lake beautiful? Jeremy
says they were swimming in it all summer! Can I go swimming?”
Emilee said, clearly not realizing how distraught I was.

“Perhaps another time, Emilee, right now it’s
time to go home,” Mark gentled his voice, a signal to me to calm
down. I met his eyes, and took a deep breath, letting it out
slowly.

~~~

In the car, I turned to Emilee who was
buckled in the back seat.

“Emilee Rush, you clearly disobeyed me and I
am not happy about that!” I said sternly.

“It was just a walk, Nahna,” she replied in a
small voice. “We didn’t go far.”

“That’s not the point! You were told to not
go anywhere else. We don’t know these people well yet and you had
us worried!”

“I’m sorry,” she said to her chest, her chin
tucked low. I could see the tears dripping onto her hands. I turned
in my seat to look forward, or I would start crying too.

October 19

“What are you doing here?” Mark demanded,
when Art Collins hobbled up our steps with the help of Adam. “You
can’t keep walking around like that and expect your bones to heal
straight!”

“I understand that, Doc, however, I felt my
personal attention was necessary in this case,” he replied,
settling into a kitchen chair.

“Can I get you a cup of coffee?” I asked,
wondering what was so urgent that he would venture out of the
security of his compound.

He looked at me skeptically. “You have
coffee? Thank you, I would appreciate that. As fond as I’ve gotten
of tea, I’ve missed coffee.” I set the cup in front of him, along
with the creamer and sugar. He sighed with contentment after two
spoons of sugar and a healthy dose of Joshua’s rich cream.

Mark and I sat side by side, waiting for
Collins to tell us why he had come here.

He got right to the point. “I feel a personal
apology is owed to you for the misconduct of my wife and the
children during your visit. Claire told me how upset you were when
you left yesterday and you had every right to be. Your request that
your precious granddaughter not leave the designated area was
completely reasonable, and for them to disregard that and go
wandering off to the lake was unforgiveable.” He paused for another
sip of coffee. “I did explain to them that we were trying to build
trust between our two groups and their actions have hurt us. I hope
not irreparably.”

“We had a similar discussion with Emilee,” I
said. “As a rule she is good at doing what she is told. I believe
she was so excited about being with other children that she lost
her common sense. She was as much to blame as anyone. I appreciate
that you have come to us about this matter. It says to me that you
have the same concerns about the safety of your children as we
do.”

“I would never have forgiven myself, or the
others, if anything had happened to Emilee at the lake. Sometimes
the children forget that not everyone can swim like they can,” Art
swallowed hard.

“That wasn’t my concern, Art. Emi can swim
just fine. I
was
concerned about her getting lost, or
injured or even… abducted,” I stated, leaving the veiled accusation
hang in the air.

Collins was silent for a long moment.

“I would never let anyone harm a child,
Allexa, not one of mine and not a guest in my home. Will you accept
my deepest apologies?”

It was my turn to be silent in contemplation.
Mark is my husband, but these children are of my flesh.

“Apology accepted. It tells me a great deal
about your character coming here,” I smiled. “More coffee?” The
tension in the air dissolved.

“Would you ask Adam to bring in my bag?”
Collins requested. After setting it down in front of him, Adam
stepped outside again. They definitely had a pecking order.

“As a further apology, please accept this
smoked goose, the one you liked so much, Doctor,” Art said with a
smile.

Mark looked at the package.

“I’m sorry, Art, we cannot accept this as a
gift. Your verbal apology was sufficient,” Mark stated. Collins
looked affronted, until Mark continued. “However, we will accept it
as payment for the rice we brought over the day.”

Collins smiled. “I like your style, Doc.”

So do I.

October 23

The temperatures had been holding at a
moderate fifty-five to sixty degrees, and even though the sky was a
smudgy gray with ash clouds, the day felt wonderful, even
normal.