“I will take the motorcycle over to the Stott’s. It won’t take much time,” Cooper offered.
Dranko nodded and then launched into giving directions to everyone on what tasks had to be completed over the next two days, to get crops planted and expand their food supply. When he had finished, Angela patted him on the shoulder.
“Can I just say again, how lucky we are that you stored seeds! I mean, who thinks about that?”
“People like me,” he deadpanned, but Cooper saw the trace of a smile that he was trying to hide creep onto the corner of his mouth.
Cooper decided to exploit the moment, “Let’s give Dranko a round of applause for saving our asses, now and tomorrow!” The room broke into hearty applause and Dranko lost his fight. A wide smile lit up his face for several moments before he managed to bring it back under control. He waved his arms to quiet them, which had the effect of making them redouble their efforts. Cooper stood and the others followed. Dranko turned red-faced at the ovation and hustled himself out of the room as quickly as he could.
When the front door had shut, the group looked at one another, smiling.
“Mission accomplished!” Cooper shouted and then everyone started laughing again. I embarrassed him and thanked him for his wise sacrifices and preparation. A self-satisfied smile lit up his face.
The high whine of the motorcycle’s engine pierced the otherwise peaceful forest walls as Cooper sped toward Miles’ place. Cooper was paying close attention to operating the bike, as he was not an expert. He enjoyed the thrill of riding in the crisp early morning air, as the wind buffeted past him. He had to fight the temptation to push his speed past what he could safely handle.
When he arrived at Miles’ house, he found him sitting alone outside. He barely looked up as Cooper drove the bike up to the house. He looked like he hadn’t slept all night.
Cooper dismounted, “What’s wrong?”
He looked up, haggard, “Bethany’s gone. She took my kids, too.”
Cooper’s stomach dropped to the ground. No question that Hodges knows our plan.
“I’m sorry, man.”
He shook his head, his lips tight, “It ain’t about me. She ain’t loved me in quite a while. I know that.” Miles paused, gazing intently at the ground. “It means something worse than all that.
“What do you mean,” Cooper asked.
“That woman is a survivor. War is coming. She went to the side she thinks is going to win.”
Cooper chuckled, “We’ll have to see about that. I guess the news I came over here to tell you isn’t news anymore.”
“What was that?”
“Calvin realized that the decision made last night was going to leak to Hodges well before tomorrow.”
Miles nodded slowly, “Yeah, I figured that out as soon as Bethany flew the coop. I’m not sure it matters all that much.”
“How so?”
“Hodges is a methodical man. He won’t do anything crazy until our meeting. The reason for that is he’s also a bit arrogant. He’s most likely to think we are going to get cold feet or that he can talk me into giving you up when we meet.”
Cooper thought for a moment, “I hope you’re right. We’ll be doing some work at Dranko’s to get seeds planted and the like, but we’ll be keeping a lookout too, just in case.”
Miles pursed his lips, “Makes sense.” He stood up slowly and reached out to shake Cooper’s hand, “So, I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Sure thing. And, I’m sorry about Bethany.”
He grimaced, “Yeah, it’s a damned thing. But, what are you gonna do?” He turned and went back inside his house, the door coming to a quiet close. Cooper remounted the motorcycle and rode back to Dranko’s place.
They spent the day at a furious pace. Clearing. Weeding. Digging. Planting. They needed to make use of every square inch of Dranko’s land for food. And, they did so. Dranko’s seeds came out of cans so that they would last for many, many years and displayed an amazing variety of plants.
“These are Heirloom seeds. None of that Monsanto Frankenseed,” Dranko had informed them when they were getting started with the seeds.
“What’s Heirloom mean?” Jake asked.
Dranko’s face lit up like a Christmas tree, “Oh, Heirloom are seeds that have been around a long, long time. So, we know they work and we know they are right for this part of the country, too!”
“What’s a Franken-whatever you said?” Jake pressed on.
Now, Dranko’s face grew grave, as if he was about to tell a scene from a horror movie, “Some companies have started to modify the seeds to make them better. But, they do some crazy things.”
“Like what?”
“Like make it so the seed won’t reproduce. That way, you have to buy the seeds every year from the company. They make more money, but it is unnatural.”
Jake’s face drew back in surprise and he visibly shuddered, “That wouldn’t be so good now, would it?”
“Nope.”
There had been another round of praising Dranko’s acumen when he distributed the hand tools for work. He had stockpiled not only extra sets of every tool that would be needed to run a small farm, but the quality of the tools was striking.
“I knew I was buying tools that needed to last a long, long time,” he responded when Calvin commented on them.
They had to stop working when the light faded from the sky. As Cooper rested his hands and chin on the handle of the hoe he had been working with, the smell of freshly turned earth wafted all around him. Sweet. Damp. Earthy. He breathed it in deeply. Already, muscles unaccustomed to such manual labor were sore. I know I’ll be hurting tomorrow. The smell comforted him. And, a day of solid, good work, always made Cooper feel good. He lingered for a while, before grabbing the hoe and heading back to the tool shed.
Dranko had to stop them from simply putting the tools back and calling it a day.
“We have to clean these tools every day before putting them away. And, when they are going to sit for a week or more, we are going to have to lightly oil them. We can’t let rust consume these tools.”
Calvin laughed, “You know, it is funny, is it not?”
They all looked at him.
“When you can no longer run down to the store to buy things; it changes everything.”
“It’s not a bad thing that one lesson we’ll learn is how to take care of stuff,” Angela intoned.
“Like our planet?” Julianne dared. Angela glared at her, but held her tongue.
“My daddy taught me how to take care of hand tools when I was a kid. I’m pretty good at keeping them sharp, if you want,” Buck offered.
“You are deputized as our Chief Sharpener, then,” Dranko said, smiling.
They finished with the tools, ate dinner, and then gathered by candlelight and kerosene lamps around the table. As expected, Dranko had his list of things they needed to discuss.
“We made good progress today on the planting. If Cooper, Julianne, Angela, Calvin, and Jake keep working that tomorrow, we should finish before we have to leave for the meeting.”
“What’s everyone else doing?” Cooper asked.
“We need to expand my chicken coop. I know a farmer down the road and I can trade for some more layers from him, I hope. Also, I want to build a rabbit hutch.”
“Rabbits, cool!” Jake sat up and exclaimed. Cooper reached over and put a hand on his shoulder.
“Not for pets, son.”
Jake looked up at him, “For what then?”
“Meat,” Dranko said flatly.
Jake leapt up, “Eww…you can’t eat a rabbit!”
Chagrined, Cooper looked down at him, “Yes you can.”