“Yes, sir, Mister…” She underlined the name on my questionnaire. “Dawcett.”
So much for not drawing attention to myself. She passed across a metallic-gold, bird-shaped sticker. The words “Rejas Fighting Eagles” were boldly emblazoned across it in black. “Just put it inside your windshield. At the top center in plain sight.”
I thanked her and left without another word, with Ken and Amber right behind me.
We remained quiet until we got into the van. Then Amber positively exploded. “What food do you have? What shelter? What gardening implements? What medical supplies? What right do they have to even ask those questions?”
I remained silent as I attached the Rejas sticker to the windshield.
Undaunted, she continued her tirade. “Do they actually think we’re so stupid that we don’t know what they would do with that information? They want our supplies!” She glared at me, then at Ken. “Tell me I’m wrong,” she challenged. “Go ahead! Tell me.”
There was nothing for me to say. As we pulled out of the parking lot, I thought about what she said. She was right. Unquestionably. The only possible reason I could see for the town government to be pinpointing supplies would be to create a communal stockpile, a noble gesture perhaps, but futile. There couldn’t possibly be enough to go around. Besides, by my estimations, anyone who hadn’t had adequate shelter over the last week and a half had a ninety-five percent chance of being fertilizer within another month. Personally, I doubted Chief Davis would be returning to work next Wednesday, or any day.
The town government evidently had good intentions, but we all knew where that road led.
I tried to calm her down as we drove back. “They’re just trying to help as many people as they can. You can’t blame them for trying.”
“But we’re barely going to have enough for ourselves.”
“And that’s still more than they’ll be able to say in Rejas in about a month. Think about that.”
The rest of the ride was grimly silent.
June 30
I found it truly amazing that chickens and goats could so totally wreck a home. Even more surprising were some of the strange things that goats would eat. I had always heard stories of them eating such odd items as tin cans or some such, but I’d never truly believed them.
No more. After seeing what those animals did to the inside of Amber’s house, I believed. They actually ate the carpet! Large patches of it anyway. And bits of wood paneling, cabinet doors, even sheet rock! Truly amazing.
The amount of animal crap was pretty impressive as well. Chicken droppings all over the furniture. Goat droppings all over the floors. All in all, the house was pretty well trashed.
After the time in the shelter, we had asked Ken and Cindy to stay on with us, at least until things stabilized. It took all of us several days of hard work to get the house back into serviceable condition. Even then, the kids elected to sleep outside in sleeping bags for four more nights to “get away from all the stinky smells.”
We had to scavenge sheetrock and cabinetry from abandoned homes in the area for our repairs. Plumbing was out for the time being, so we built an old-fashioned outhouse in back until we could figure out something else. Ken, with his contracting background, was a huge help in the repairs. He even spoke of rigging up a hydraulic ram system that would use the current from the stream out back to pump water into a raised water tank and feed enough water back into the pipes to give us at least a little water pressure again. I didn’t understand it, but he seemed confident.
“The ram will be enough to get us started, and we can add a water wheel to it later.” He snapped his fingers excitedly. “We can even tie a generator into the water wheel and get some current for lights, maybe more. Cindy’s a fair electrician. Maybe she can rig something up to get us more juice.” Lost in his thoughts, Ken turned away, apparently forgetting I was there. “Cindy!”
I shook my head and went back to the more mundane work of patching sheetrock.
On a darker note, the first of the inevitable profusion of deaths had begun to occur in town, with hundreds of people taking sick and dying. Messengers went out to anyone with any medical training, beseeching them to help out in the overburdened hospital. Since Amber had admitted to being a retired nurse on her “Assimilation Form,” she was one of the first sought out.
Chapter 8
Nouueaux venus lieu basty sans defence,
Occuper la place par lors inhabitable:
Prez, maisons, champs, villes, predre a plaisance,
Faim peste, guerre, arpen long labourage.
Newcomers, place built without defense,
Place occupied then uninhabitable:
Meadows, houses, fields, towns to take at pleasure,
Famine, plague, war, extensive land arable.
Almost three weeks after D-day, a pickup pulled into the drive. The same police officer that had manned the roadblock five days earlier stepped out. I had been working with Ken, pulling the remains of the soiled and smelly carpet out of the den when I heard the vehicle and saw him outside the window. I quickly stepped outside. I wasn’t trying to be polite. I just remembered that questionnaire and didn’t want him to see any of the food and supplies we had stacked in the kitchen.
“Good morning, Officer.” I wiped my hand on my jeans before extending it. “What can we do for you?”
“This where Amber Peddy lives?” he drawled, ignoring my hand. “I need to speak to her, if you don’t mind.”
I dropped my hand and my smile. In the most formal voice I could muster, I asked, “Could I tell her what this is about?” What I really meant was, “Do you mind telling me where the hell you get off swaggering up here like you own the place and demanding to see my mother-in-law?”
He caught it, but my businesslike tone left him no opening to call offense. He looked me over disdainfully, as if trying to determine whether or not I deserved a real answer. Evidently, I didn’t. “Sorry, Mr. Dawcett, but that really ain’t no concern of yours.” He started to step past me.
I moved in front of him, less worried about manners than about keeping him outside. “I’m sure it isn’t. But the house is a wreck right now, so if you’ll just wait right here, I’d be happy to run and get her for you.” Those questions kept running through my mind. What provisions do you have stored? What medical supplies? I simply couldn’t let him into the house.
He reached down and pointedly put his hand on his holster. The meaning was clear. “Mr. Dawcett, would you please step aside?”
I wasn’t about to, and it looked like it was going to come down to a more physical confrontation. I was close enough that I knew that he would never get the pistol out of its holster if he tried, and I had seen the way he carried himself. I was certain that I could take him without any difficulty. The problem was, with or without that attitude, he still represented law and order. Could I afford to make such an enemy?
Ken stepped out of the front door at that point, looked warily at our standoff in the front yard, and saved me from having to make such a decision. “Problem, Leeland?”
“Yeah. Officer…” I glanced quickly down at his badge. “Kelland seems to be very eager to speak to Amber. Would you mind getting her?”
“Sure thing.” Ken left quickly.
Kelland stared at me through his shades. He must have seen he wasn’t going to be able to bully his way past me, but now he was sure I was trying to hide something. So he tried a different approach. “There some reason you don’t want me to come in? Hot as it is, seems like that’d be the hospitable thing to do.”
“Officer Kelland, I don’t know what I’ve done to piss you off so much, but ever since the first time you saw me, you seem to have had it in for me. You were rude at the roadblock, and you were rude when you stepped out of your truck just now. Now I realize, as far as you’re concerned, I’m city folk, and I’ve got no business in your town. I also realize that ever since those bombs fell, everyone has been under a lot of stress. But I’ve got news for you, Amber is family, and technically, I’m her guest. So she’s the only one around here I have to please. And she’s the only one that can tell me to leave. Until that happens, my family and I are here to stay. That means that this is now my home.