Vaxdemic Book 2 Chapter 5
Chapter 5
I think I may have bitten off more than I can chew telling Dean Saugus no. Not that we’ve heard anything out of him since the meeting. The problem is I’m not sure where to begin. Pastor Roth and Matt agreed to help me with whatever I needed to get started, both have been a help and a hindrance in their own way.
Let’s start with Matt. Seth wasn’t kidding when he said Matt knew a lot of people. In the two months since we turned down Saugus he must have brought over a hundred people by the farm. Most know why they’re there. I’ve met welders, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, and mechanics to the point they’re all blending together. We’re trying to assess who would be good for what. I concocted a few teams to help me get an idea of what we’re dealing with. Five of the men Matt brought to me I’ve assigned to the distribution squad. They have the job of mapping out the power grid coming from the dam. Luckily one of the was a lineman about ten years ago. Unluckily he only did the job for about a year, ten years ago.
Ten other men, I have made my gathering team. Basically, I’ve sent them to the industrial park to gather equipment and materials that might be useful. There are two commercial electricians in the group. The rest are mostly young men who have no idea what they are doing. The idea is the young men can pick up some of the skills by following what the electricians tell them to do. I made sure to tell the electricians to teach these guys as much as they could. It’s mostly going to be theory and cold practice since there’s no actual power.
There is one thing Matt provided that I was surprised and truly grateful for. He sent a mechanic, a very special mechanic. Todd Hunter, as far as I’m convinced he’s the mad scientist of mechanics. He showed up with a can of gas and took away my gasoline powered truck, then returned two weeks later claiming it now ran on propane. I was dumbfounded. I had no idea this was even possible. According to Todd, it’s not only possible, it’s something he’s been pushing for years. It turned out his family was heavily invested in a small natural gas company about 100 miles north of the city. He’s hoping once the dam is finished, we’ll be able to send some people to claim the rigs, then we could make our own propane. I’m going to have to take his word on that.
Now on to the Mennonites. Roth was overjoyed that I turned down Saugus. He left the day after the meeting taking Seth. Two days later he returned with five young men and loads of building supplies. In less than two days they threw up what they called a meeting hall over the foundation of one of the houses I’d already taken down. Over the next few weeks they brought tables, chairs and various other things to fill the new building.
They’ve also left me a guard, such as it is. Harold and his wife are taking up residence with us. I say with us, but that’s not actually the case. Faced with the prospect of staying under the same roof as Beth, Claire converted the house behind the greenhouse into a permanent guest house in under a day. Now Beth calls us her neighbors. Roth says this is for protection incase Saugus tries anything. Claire has been gritting her teeth at her new neighbor’s constant presence. Then she tried to use her pregnancy as an excuse not to visit. That’s when Beth’s real surprise was revealed. She was a mid-wife, and Pastor Roth asked her to stay and help Claire with child birth. My wife is bad at showing emotions, but I could feel her anguish from across the room.
Having Harold around has been a great help to me. He’s really handy with the crops and geese, and even brought me some new farm equipment. I asked him about his own kids, it turns out he and his wife are in their forties and all their kids are mostly grown. He left his oldest to take care of his own farm while he was here. I thought he was Seth’s age when I first met him. Maybe it’s because the both of them are a little plum, that it’s hard to tell Harold and Beth’s ages, or maybe it’s the way they live.
Harold’s presence isn’t just so I can grow bigger pumpkins. He’s here to help me run the farm so I can focus on preparing for the dam. I’ve been collecting books and computers from the library, college, and bookstores to find the information I need to get ready. I’ve acquired so much stuff I had to repurpose a lot of one of the eight houses within my farm’s walls into a study. I spend a lot of time there. It’s been hard finding the information I need. I’ve never missed the internet so much.
From what I can gather there are three main types of dams, impoundment, diversion, and pump storage. I’m pretty sure I can count the last one out since it works more as a way to store energy than generate it. At least I hope I can count it out. I’m pretty sure Smith’s Summit is an impoundment, since that is the most common type. But that leads me to more questions. If it is impoundment how has water been passing through it for over a year without attention? Is it just a spill way now? How much damage can be done if it’s not attended to? The area I live in is fairly mountainous and even though the city is technically in a valley I think we would be safe from flooding, at least, I hope. It's becoming clearer to me that I actually need to go to the dam. I talked this over with Matt and he agreed. We’ve set an expedition for October. I’ll leave Harold to tend the farm. Claire was not happy to hear I would be leaving so soon, and worse leaving her with Beth.
Truth be told they won’t be completely alone; the city has gained a few new residence. Todd, the grand mechanic has taken up residence a few blocks away. I think the several streets of cars was too tempting of a target for him. The teams I assembled to map the power lines and acquire machinery have also taken up residence a few miles away. There are even a few people who’ve return to their old homes or just homes somewhat close to my farm. I’ve seen little farms popping up when I ride my bike out to go hunting. Granted I don’t think there’s more than a hundred people living in a city that was home to tens of thousands.
This has all made Claire more than a little nervous. I wanted to do something to make her more comfortable but I couldn’t think of anything until one day Beth suggested I take her to the old Farmer’s market. It has been a long time since I’ve seen my wife truly afraid, but I saw it again at the mention of leaving the safety of the walls. She was completely against the idea, until I mention it would be just me and her and that Beth and Harold would be staying behind. She agreed as long as we could take the dogs.
In preparation for the trip, I gathered a few thousand rounds of ammo for trade. Mostly handgun ammo and shotgun shells. Harold laughed when I told him the quantity but refused to say why. Claire spent the rest of the week before Saturday training Bip and Bop, when she had free time. She refused to elaborate on what.
On Saturday I had to get directions from Harold on how to get to the market since the onramps were gone. It turns out all I had to do was make one turn on the same route I used to get to the tractor store and I would be on the old road that led to the market before the interstate was built. The roads are now almost completely covered in dirt, sticks, and old leaves. If your lucky you catch a patch of pavement here and there, but it’s just like driving on a dirt road now. In the time before everything shut down, this trip may have taken twenty to thirty minutes. Now with the sorry state of the roads, and the proliferation of the wildlife it took well over an hour.
The market was a mass of tents and cars, all surrounding what had once been a Mexican restaurant. There had to be several hundred people there. Claire tensed next to me. Abby, Bip, and Bop stuck their noses out the window at the new smells. The smell was almost overwhelming. It was an odd mix of farm and fair. Popcorn mingled with animal dung, and over it all was the unmistakable smell of human body odor. I suddenly had flashbacks to my days going to game conventions.
It didn’t take long to find parking since there was a near abandoned strip mall close by. I got out grabbing one of the backpacks holding the ammo, my shotgun, and let Abby out. Harold said everyone at the market came armed. Claire locked eyes with Bip and Bop and said, “Guard!” The two dogs lowered their heads slightly and watched. Claire grabbed the second smaller bag and walked around the truck to meet me after rolling down the windows. It turns out she’d been training Bip and Bop to be guard dogs. Claire grabbed my arm as we walked holding it to herself as she eyed the people we passed. She squeezed it so tight against herself I could feel the baby kick. It was an odd sensation, and it certainly took my mind off the crowd of people we were approaching.
I thought this was going to be a standard farmer’s market with produce and random knickknacks for sale. I was wrong. There was produce but there was also animals, cuts of meat, junk, hand crafted tools, batteries, guns of all shapes and sizes, homemade alcohol, matches, wood stoves and hundreds of other things. The wood stoves definitely had my attention. It would be nice to have a way to cook and heat that didn’t require power or propane. Claire seemed indifferent to the idea, but refused to leave my side as I engaged with the seller.
The man was very friendly. It turned out that he made the stoves himself, and had been teaching his two sons how, both of whom were taller than me. The man had apparently been casting the stoves from a mold he’d made from others he’d recover. I could have talked to the man about the process for hours, but Claire nudged me after about thirty minutes so I decided it was best to see what it cost.
“How much for the smaller one on the end,” I asked.
The peddler smiled at me, “I want to say twenty silver ounces.”
“I was told I could use ammunition for barter, do you accept that?” I asked a little nervous since I had no silver to barter with.
The man smiled broadly. “Of course, most people aren’t willing to part with their bullets, but if you want to, I won’t say no. What have you got?”
I looked up as I tried to remember what I’d packed. “I’ve got some 12- and 10-gauge buckshot and slugs, as well as 9mm, 45 ACP, and 44.”
The man’s eyes bulged in surprise and he laughed, “Planning on buying the whole market, are you? I’m guessing it’s all homemade. I can always use some more buckshot and I’ve been out of 45 for a while. How about 50 12-gauge buckshot and 200 rounds of 45?”
I felt a little confused. “None of it’s homemade, Their straight out of the box.” Everyone around me when silent. I could feel dozens of eyes staring in my direction.
After a moment the peddler said, “You have brand ammo?” He blinked in disbelief and said, “Make that 25 buckshot and 100 rounds of 45 ACP and I’ll throw in the chimney pipe for free. Neal, Josh, get up here and haul this stove for the gentlemen!”
Apparently, I was richer than I thought.
Bob Stackey
August 5, 2023