The Journal: Crimson Skies: (The Journal Book 3) (4 page)

“Tell you what. Let’s not make any decisions
tonight,” I said. “We can regroup in the morning and discuss this
over breakfast,” at which point Mark gave a quiet cough. “Make that
lunch, around noon.” Everyone laughed and I blushed.

August 3

I felt the warm presence at my back, curling
around me, nuzzling my neck. I turned into the embrace.

“Good morning, wife,” Mark said with a sleepy
smile, placing a gentle kiss on my mouth.

“Good morning, husband,” I replied with a
heartfelt grin. A twelve-hour honeymoon wasn’t much, however, I was
optimistic that we had many years ahead of us to make up for
it.

An hour later I slipped out of bed and
started a pot of coffee, noticing how late in the morning it was.
While the coffee brewed, I started the generator to take a
shower.

“If that shower stall were bigger, I’d join
you,” Mark said seductively from the other side of the glassed in
enclosure, startling me.

“You’re insatiable,” I teased, turning the
water off. He handed me a towel when I emerged, then stepped into
the stall himself and turned the water back on.

There was now just an hour before everyone
would return for this conference on what to do. Last night before
everyone left, we forgot to discuss who would bring what if
anything, but sandwiches were always good to have. I opened two
jars of the recently canned fish to make a tuna-like sandwich
spread. I mashed the processed fish, adding some chopped onion,
homemade mayo, and a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce. Once more
it struck me that this might be the last of that pungent sauce and
I better go easy on it. I covered the bowl and set it in the
refrigerator, which had begun cooling when the gennie was started.
Mark’s pharmaceuticals and narcotics needed the cooling too, though
the air temperature was decidedly lower than normal, and soon
keeping things chilled wouldn’t be an issue.

Since the air was chilly for early August,
having dropped from yesterday’s balmy temperature, we all sat or
stood around in the house at the kitchen table instead of the
picnic table outside.

“Has anyone come up with any ideas?” I asked
bluntly.

“George and I have decided that we really
are
going to Marquette,” Anna announced.

“Why, Anna?” We’d become close over the past
year and it pained me to hear her decision.

“As much as we love this town, Allexa, we
can’t stay without food and supplies, and we’re almost out. The
garden we started was completely destroyed by the ash, and the
hunting, well, the animals are all dead,” Anna lamented. “I’ll
leave you in charge, if it will make any difference, but there’s
really no one left that we know of that will acknowledge any form
of Moose Creek government.”

“When are you leaving?” I asked quietly.

“We figure we’ll stretch it out a few days,”
she chuckled. “When we do leave, George wants to leave his rifle
and shotgun here with you. I do believe you were right before, when
you said all weapons would be confiscated once we arrived in town.
Why give them any more? Besides, we might want them back some day.”
Anna smiled wistfully.

“I’m going too,” Pastor Carolyn announced. “I
have no congregation any longer, so no reason to stay here.
Besides, I’m getting too old to stay by myself. Maybe I can do some
good in town in the few years I have left. Allexa,” her voice
quivered, “you’ve been an inspiration to the town. I wish more had
listened to you. I will miss you.”

A lump formed in my throat.

“Well, you aren’t getting rid of
us
so
easily,” Bob said, breaking an awkward moment. “Kath and I are with
you, whatever you decide to do.”

“Which brings up, Mom, what
are
you
going to do?” Jason asked. “Because you know we’re with you a
hundred percent, no matter what.”

I looked at all these faces, my family and my
friends, as they looked at me, waiting. What was I going to say?
Mark and I hadn’t discussed this last night and I couldn’t very
well make a decision without his input. We were now one.

“Mark, what do you want to do?” I asked,
turning to him as he sat beside me. “There are few patients for you
to attend to. Do you think you might get bored?”

“Actually Allex, I was thinking if I could
get some books on animal physiology I could be a part-time
veterinarian,” he responded. “And I could teach the kids biology
and anatomy.”

“You’ve obviously been giving this more
thought than I have,” I confessed. “I want to stay. This is our
home and I don’t like the thought of being run off my land.” I
turned to my two sons and their families. “If that’s okay with
you.”

They nudged one another and grinned.

“We were betting you would say that! Yes,
Mom, it’s okay with us,” Jason said.

I looked around the room. Joshua was hanging
around the back, near the door. Ken stood behind his wife, Karen,
who was sipping her fresh coffee and eating a quarter of a
sandwich.

“Joshua, are you leaving or staying?” I
asked, though I was fairly sure of his decision. Even at the young
age of twenty, Joshua was very mature and dedicated.

“Well, Miss Allexa, I have given it some
thought, and it didn’t take much to realize that if I left, Bossy
and Matilda would miss me. If I took them too, they would likely
get butchered for food,” he stumbled on those words. “So I’m
staying, though I would like to move.”

“Move where, Joshua?” I asked. I didn’t like
the idea of him moving further away, even to protect his
animals.

“Actually, I was thinking about one of these
vacant houses on this road,” he replied, shyly, looking down at his
feet. “I’ve only got five acres where I am, and I know I could
claim more. The truth is, I don’t like being so alone. I miss
Martha.”

“I think it’s a good idea for you to move
here, Joshua! I’d rather you were closer to us anyway,” I answered.
He looked pleased at this. “There are two places, one on either
side of here that might work fine for you. I’m sure that between
all of us, we could get you moved quickly.”

I hadn’t heard from David and Jill to my
south for several months. That property had a lot of cleared area
that might be suitable for grazing, plus a creek and an apple
orchard in need of care. I decided to ask the boys check it
over.

This was turning out better than I expected,
though there was still a matter of our law enforcement couple. I
didn’t have to wait long.

“I think this might solve a dilemma for us
too, Allexa,” Ken said.

“Yeah,” Karen interrupted her husband. “As
much as we like our house, we don’t like being so isolated from
everyone, not now. Quite frankly, Allexa, over the last six months
or so, we have come to feel like part of this family. So is there
one of the empty houses we can occupy?”

This confession stunned me. I’d always liked
these two, and I know that the hard times we’d shared tend to bond
people, but I didn’t know they felt this way.

“I know the perfect place.” I smiled,
thinking of the fairly new house on the other side of where I’d
like to put Joshua, past the curve. It was also the first house at
that end of the short road and would be the first line of
defense.

This line of thought brought to mind a book
by my friend Jim Cobb. In his
Prepper’s Long-Term Survival
Guide
, in the chapter on community survival he talks about this
very thing. I’d have to pull that out later and reread it - maybe
it would give me some hints on what more we could do to protect
ourselves.

“I’m really sad that you’ve decided to leave,
though I understand,” I said, looking at Anna, George, and Carolyn.
“Our lives aren’t going to be easy. Anna, if it’s alright with you,
I’d like to go with you to the township office to call Captain
Andrews. It might help me take the pulse of the city as to our
situation, and the reliability of the captain’s word.”

~~~

It was later in the afternoon, after everyone
else had left, that Eric, Jason, Joshua, Mark and I, walked down to
the house where David and Jill had lived. They had been silent all
winter until the situation with the Wheelers had come up, and then
they disappeared from our lives. I called out to them as we
approached the small house. No one answered and there was no sign
of their many dogs either. Eric took the front door, while Jason
took the back. Neither door was locked, and the place was indeed
vacant.

While those two checked for any signs of
leakage from the pipes, Joshua roamed from room to room, I checked
closets, and Mark walked around outside. After fifteen minutes, we
all met back in the front room, now much cleaner than the last time
I saw it and eerily quiet.

“No sign of any water leaks, Mom. In fact,
David had pulled all the breakers in the power box. He must have
drained the pipes too: there isn’t any water in any of the traps or
toilet, not even in the water heater,” Eric announced.

“The closets are empty of clothes, and so are
the cupboards. I noticed too that all the Ham radio equipment is
still here. Maybe we can figure out how to work it. It’s my opinion
they moved out and don’t plan on coming back.” I turned to Joshua,
“What do you think of the place?”

“I think it’s right cozy, Miss Allexa. I like
it. I’d like to look at those two outbuildings to see if they might
be suitable for Bossy and Matilda.”

“Mark, did you see anything interesting?” I
asked once the three young men had left to inspect the barns.

“It’s a nice place, Allex. There are fruit
trees out there that could use some care if they’ve lived through
the ash,” Mark replied. “Let’s take another look.”

~~~

There was a clearing in what should be full
sun that looked like it had been a vegetable garden at some point
in the past. It was close to the creek that the properties shared;
that could be used for supplemental watering. This was a well
thought out location, and it wouldn’t take much to get it
functional again, if we were we to have enough sun to start growing
things again.

“These are apple trees, Mark, and it looks
like a few cherries too,” I commented as we walked among the now
mostly leafless dwarf trees. “Eric took Master Gardening in Florida
and I took it too when I lived in Brighton. I still have my books,
so I think we should be able to help this orchard come back to a
productive life with some much needed pruning!”

Thoughts of apple pies, and cider and vinegar
were racing through my head!

“You lived downstate?” Mark said, eyeing me.
“I didn’t know that.”

“There are lots of things you don’t know
about me, dear. I’m not hiding anything though.”

We had come back around to the front of the
house where the other three were waiting for us.

“What do you think, Joshua? Think Bossy and
Matilda could live here?” I asked.

“Oh, yes, Miss Allexa! That barn is much like
what they have now and it even has a section that would be good for
the chickens. I think that other building could be fixed up to be
my own little dairy!” It was obvious that Joshua was excited with
the prospect of the move.

On the short walk back home, we discussed
getting Amanda over to give it a good cleaning and an airing out.
Jason would work on the generator, fixing it if need be, while Eric
and Joshua started moving any remaining hay and feed for the
animals before moving the animals themselves.

“With all of us involved, how long do you
think this should take?” I asked to no one in particular.

“Two, maybe three days,” Eric said, still
leaning heavily on his crutches.

“I really don’t have much to move,” Joshua
admitted shyly.

“I can help you pack up the dishes and
kitchen stuff you’ll need,” I offered. “What’s the matter, Joshua?”
I asked when I saw him wipe his eyes.

He swallowed hard. “I’m… I’m just not use to
everyone being so kind to me.”

“Do you remember what Karen said, about being
family? Well, I think you have been welcomed into being part of
this
family, Joshua,” Mark stated. “I understand being
overwhelmed with it. I’m feeling the same way.”

August 4

I met Anna at the township office around noon
to make the call to Captain Andrews.

“Anna, I want you to know how much your
friendship has meant to me these past months,” I said to her before
we made the call.

“The feeling is mutual. I know we haven’t
always seen eye to eye, though I do respect your views and
opinions,” she replied. “You have to admit that I was right about
one thing though…”

“What was that?”

“You and the doctor.”

“Yes, you were definitely right about us.” I
chuckled. “Now, let’s get this over with.”

I dialed 911 and told the dispatcher that
Captain Andrews was expecting my call. He hesitated oddly, before
responding with a sharp, “Yes, ma’am.”

The captain came on the line rather quickly.
“Andrews.”

“Captain, this is Allexa Smeth in Moose
Creek,” I said, turning on the speaker so Anna could hear the
exchange.

“I was doubtful that I would hear from you,
Ms. Smeth, and I’m delighted you’ve changed your mind.” His voice
sounded too cheery to me.

“Oh,
I
haven’t changed my mind, sir,
but I want to make arrangements for several others. The township
supervisor and her husband wish to come to Marquette, along with
our pastor. The pastor will need someplace to stay, and Anna and
George have family they can go to.”

“I see. It’s always helpful to us when we
don’t have to do a placement. When would you like me to send
someone for them?” He sounded disappointed.

“No need to send anyone, Captain, they will
drive themselves in on Monday,” I ventured, looking over at Anna
who nodded her head at me.