Vaxdemic Book 2 Chapter 13
Chapter 13
It feels good to finally be home. This winter was the longest time I’ve spent away from the house since I bought it. Going home takes on a different meaning now. Before when I was a programmer, it meant coming home to my dark empty house that contained nothing more than my computer and a few pieces of furniture I bought because sleeping on the floor got old. Now Claire greets me with a chubby baby I don’t recognize. Apparently, Brock felt the same way and buried his face in his mother’s shoulder upon seeing me. I guess the few hours he had to get to know me after he was born left little impression.
Claire was a different story. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her truly happy to see me till now. There was less force behind her smile and she almost pulled me into the house. Harold and Beth were sitting at the table when I came in. Harold was smiling pleasantly and Beth looked ready to launch into a story, but Claire handed Brock to the other woman and asked if she wouldn’t mind taking him outside for some sunshine. Beth gave her a knowing look and child in arm led her husband outside. I was worried what this might mean, until Claire “attacked” me. I guess absence does make the heart grow fonder.
An hour and a few teeth marks later I was unloading my luggage from the SUVs and saying goodbye to Matt and the others. I comforted myself in the delusion that I could just go back to farming and worry about nothing else, but life isn’t quite that forgiving. Word got around quickly that I was back, and until that moment I forgot that I was “nominated” to be mayor. Apparently, a number of people were anxious for my return. It wasn’t long before the first petitioner was knocking at my gate, then another, and another. After seven people I put a sign on my gate saying I would accept petitions in two days at the meeting hall. Signs work about as well now as they ever have and I had to inform several people standing inches from their answer when the next meeting would be.
Harold came with me the morning of the agreed meeting and I was happy for the support. Several more people had moved into the city over the winter and were trying to claim land already promised or assigned to others. Some had taken structures from neighbors and grafted them to their own making some truly horrible hodgepodge homes. One woman interrupted several others trying to get me to make ordinances against this or that, citing examples from almost every person there. I was hoping the petitions wouldn’t take long, but I ended up having to add a second day and schedule a third to venture out and address some of the problems in person.
My first problem was a man who had set up a boarding house for people who had not been issued land yet. The problem was he was requesting ridiculous prices for his efforts. He had taken most of the possessions of several of his boarders and was refusing to give them back. After checking my records, I realized I had never granted the man permission to use the land he was on, let alone provide this service. The dispute was settled by allowing the man to keep the establishment, but he had to return all non-perishable items he’d taken for his “services”. He would also have to lower his rates to something more manageable. One of his boarders requested land near the boarding house and immediately started a competing business. I’m sure I’ve not heard the end of this.
Another man had taken an unassigned plot of land next to his own and set up a small open-air market. This was a pleasant surprise. He made his official petition for the space to be made city property and be used as a kind of local farmers market, which many were already using it for. The workmanship was fine, and it was cleaner than most of the homesteads I had seen that day so I granted his request. It wasn’t till I was heading back and heard people grumbling about how the man just wanted the location near his home so his produce didn’t have to travel did I think I might catch flak from my decision. I hate bureaucracy, even more when I’m the bureaucracy.
Several people wanted to know what we were going to do with the hospital. Downtown is completely unusable. The hospital still stinks, but it’s different now. Less rot and more chemical. It’s also stronger. You can no longer see in the windows, and a strange mold can be seen creeping from the main entrance. Secretly, I’m happy what’s inside is decomposing. I tell everyone to leave it be for another year. Hopefully in the future we can simply seal it off and the smell will die down. No one wants to approach it, so I guess the problem will take care of itself.
Last of the problems I will mention here was scavenging rights. There are now over two hundred people living in the city. I have tried to group them fairly close together so power distribution will be easier. This hasn’t stopped them from traveling everywhere and taking everything that wasn’t nailed down, and then pulling out the crowbars. Every store is basically empty. Even the shelves and lights are gone. Some even have the wires and pipes pulled of the walls, and their doors removed from the hinges. The mall is a grim sight, a great hollow shell with nothing to keep nature out. There have been a few fights over who got to scavenge from where, but at this point there is almost nothing I can do. Every store has been picked clean. I simply had to tell the aggrieved there was nothing that could be done. I don’t feel like I’m winning many friends.
On the plus side, the man I allowed to set up his scrapyard and repair shop is doing great business. He has converted a few more cars to propane, but he’s getting far more work making wagons and carts. Most of them are for people to pull, but he’s started making more for horses. Some residence made it to the market up the highway and bought young horses. Most are too small to pull anything, but I’m sure I’ll see them put to work before the year is out. He thanked me for the great location by giving my own vehicles a check up free of charge. He tells me his brother has set up shop with some family members at the Speedy Gas, and are protecting the stockpile. As mayor it is my job to decide who has access, another thing I’m not looking forward to.
The weight of my nonpaid leadership is weighing on me. It was a great relief to get back to farming, even if just for a little while. Harold had already started some seedlings for me and we spent a few days getting the gardens in order. It’s almost therapeutic after listening to all the complaining to be able to just dig in the dirt with my silent friend.
Claire and Beth are getting along better. Brock loves the short round woman, who dotes on him. In my mind I like to think Beth is playing the role of grandmother. Claire talks about her companion often when we’re alone. I say talks because it sounds nicer than complains. It’s not that she dislikes Beth, it’s more that the two have very different ideas about things. Claire’s family wasn’t very religious, much like my own. Harold and Beth live their religion. A few years ago, I probably would have found this more annoying. Now, I’m just happy to have someone here. Beth however is insistent on a number of things, and somehow over the time I was gone had a few of her daughters come by to help “convert” Claire in to their way of thinking.
At first, I thought little of it. This was all temporary until the dam is fixed. As my time at home passed, I did notice a few things that makes me think Beth is winning. Claire now keeps the house absolutely spotless in fear the Beth will “find something” and clean it on her own. Claire also has a few new outfits that were gifted to her by Beth and her daughters. They aren’t Mennonite garb, but they are certainly modest. Every outfit had a dress, and I know this because Claire has complained about it several times, but I notice she still wears them.
The last most crucial thing which has convinced me Beth has the edge is Claire’s cooking has dramatically improved. I really don’t want to insult her cooking, but before I left, I had the feeling prisoners of war would have found it somewhat familiar. Now, I’m actually looking forward to meals. I made the mistake of complimenting her on her cooking. I get the feeling she may have caught a bit more meaning than I intended. Either way, she still clings to me at night like she’s afraid I’ll disappear, and it’s a wonderful thing I’m going to miss when I go back to the dam.
Unfortunately, it seems I may have my own little war with Brock’s unofficial grandmother as all my computer and research stuff and been removed from the house. It was all relocated to my arsenal house. I tried confronting her about it, but she pulled a Ruth on me and convinced me she did it for the children Claire and I would have. I told her we weren’t planning on any beyond Brock. She laughed at me and said, no children are planned, but they all happen. I suddenly remembered my wife’s attack on me the day I came back, and the subsequent attacks that have happened since. There is precious little to distract us aside from work, and that only lasts till dark. I’m glad we have Brock, but then I think back to Pastor Roth and his battalion of children and grandchildren. I fear this woman, and nature are conspiring against me.
Bob Stackey
March 24, 2024
Next Chapter