Story Nann

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Chapter 58

The mutt nearly turned himself into Butch-chow. Then Pretty shows up and I don’t know if it was pregnant dog pheromones or what, but that silent dog conversation would have been a hoot to overhear.

“Oh Butch, look. Isn’t it cute?”

“You got to be kidding me Pretty.”

“Butch … darling …”

“It’s a towel! It’s gonna drag dirt in the house and it is gonna put the food provider in a bad mood. It’s gonna ‘cause all of us to have to have baths. You know I hate baths!”

“Now Butch … just think … built … in … babysitter.”

Butch is lifting one leg at a time as Muttukus Maximus is trying to lean on him and smell him up. And wants to be smelled up too.

“Dammit, where’s the off button on this thing!”

“Butch! I want him. He’s cute.”

Then Butch looks at me as if to say, “You can’t make it through the day without me watching over you and now you bring home this drain bamaged squeaky toy with legs!”

I let Pretty convince him … and she did. Pretty always gets her way. I did say, “If you think the Mutt is something different, wait until you get a smell of what else I brought home.”

This time it was Butch. “Little people! Little people! Little people! Wanna lick ‘em. Wanna smell ‘em. Where’d you find them? Are there more?!”

I told the kids, “Sorry.”

“Does he bite?”

“You plan on sticking your hand in his food bowl while he is trying to eat? You plan on whacking him with sticks?”

“No!!” they both said.

“Then getting bitten is not something you need to worry about. He might play a little rough until everyone learns the rules. And he is protective so he may bark at you if you try and do something he doesn’t think you should be doing. He’s been known to grab your pants leg and try and pull you back. Otherwise he is pretty understanding. For a dog.”

The kids still took a while to get used to the bigger dogs though Pretty decided that I’d brought them home for her and Butch especially when she discovered Amy was a tireless ear and back scratcher and that she didn’t mind being licked and sniffed and instead gave squeals that were so interesting that Pretty just had to keep making her make those noises.

I wasn’t getting much information out of the kids. I don’t know if it was because they couldn’t answer my questions or because they’d been trained to “play dumb” about most stuff. They were 5 (Amy) and 6 (Dan) years old. Some of what I needed to know was probably beyond their ability to answer but there were some things that they should have answered, like their parents’ names.

I decided interrogating them was counterproductive and decided to make sure they were clean and fed instead. They had a change of clothes each in the drawstring pack. Luckily they were in Ziploc bags so someone cared enough to think. I also found some papers inside a Ziploc bag that gave me answers. Dan got agitated when I took them.

“Look Kiddo, I’ll give them back. I just need to read them so if someone asks me I can give them some basic information. Capiche?”

“Huh?”

“I mean did you understand what I just explained.”

“Oh. Just Tia Ziomada said those papers were important to help us find Daddy.” Another name but I didn’t bug him about it. It seems if I didn’t ask they shared. If I asked they clammed up.

“I think the same thing,” I told him. “So let’s make sure they get put someplace special. Hmmm. After I look at them, we’ll put them back in the Ziploc then back in your pack. Then your pack can go in your bed. Oh.”

“There ain’t no beds.”

I scratched my head and then started on a pot of broth and some applesauce. My first aid courses reminded me to be careful if someone has been on short rations for a while and from the look of the kids, I needed to be real careful.

While they ate – and they had manners which also told me at some point someone had cared enough to teach them manners – I pulled a couple of twin mattresses from the room where we had been putting things until they could be moved down to the cellar or sub-cellar. “I sleep here in the kitchen most nights because I work in here at night. We’ll see if this keeps working and if it doesn’t, we’ll work something else out. I’ll get you some blankets and stuff after we get you clean.

That meant pulling the hip tub out and warming a lot of water. I congratulated them on being mostly clean. “It is healthy to take care of your body. Now for your clothes. If you change into your other set I’ll set these to soak and wash and hang them on the line and they’ll be dry before nightfall.”

I was still in a quandary. Yep, I looked it up in the thesaurus and that is exactly what I mean. I had a dilemma on my hands. The codes I could use did not give me enough scope to report the situation. No code for “kid” or “child.” Also I was supposed to be a spotter for planes and things like that, not kids that pulled themselves out of the river. There was a code word for “salvager” or “enemy” but they didn’t work for the kids. It was not fun trying to figure it out without sounding like I was reporting intoxicated.

Spotted two small non-planes size five and six. In custody. Have their call signs and manufacturing details. Need advice how to proceed.

That was it, about as close as I was getting to anything. The kids were tired and after their baths – and weren’t they surprised when I gave them a small cornmeal cake with some honey on it – they willingly laid down with a now clean Mutt and Pretty to watch over them.

“Dan, I have to work outside. I’m going to trust you to stay inside for a while with the dogs. Don’t let Mutt make a mess. Stay out of stuff since it isn’t yours. I showed you where the bathroom is but don’t be gross using it and make sure it is flushed with the bucket of water in there. If you get thirsty, only drink the water in this pitcher because I’ve put it through a filter and there’s nothing gross in it. Cubby rules, just like if you were at a Scout meeting. ‘K?”

He nodded then asked, “Where … uh …?”

“I’ll be back and forth between the porch and the garden. If you get really scared, you can go on the porch and yell my name and I’ll hear you. But there’s nothing to be scared of. Not with Butch and Pretty … and, er Mutt … to protect you. You might want to just take five. You’ve had a lot of camping out and long hikes. You body needs to rest from that.”

I didn’t just have work to do, I had thinking to do. God sure does things that will come at you out of left field. It seems that’s about all my life has been for the last year. I’d turned 18 and no one had been here to notice. And it hadn’t made the difference like it was always supposed to. I suppose people are right, age is just a number. But the ages of the two little people in the house meant that I was suddenly the adult whether I was ready to be or not.
 

kua

Veteran Member
Glad I checked in just before bed. Adding small people to any situation is always interesting. I have great grand children their ages and I can just see them in a situation like this. You are handling them nicely.
 

Griz3752

Retired, practising Curmudgeon
:popcorn3:
I can't guess where this is going so, I brought popcorn & some Black & Tan - haul up a stump; clues are right around the corner & Kathy will back with a light soon (I hope - only so much popcorn)
 

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Chapter 59

“There’s four of them!”

“Shhh Amy. They’re babies. If they hear loud noises it might scare them. And … er … Pretty is tired and a little cranky.”

Dan added, “Yeah, like Momma was with Rafelito.”

Amy nodded in understanding, but I was clueless. An hour or so later the kids were outside on the porch with me as we picked through the baskets of pecans, black walnuts, acorns, and hickory nuts to sort them out from leaves and junk that we’d raked up with them. Amy was otherwise occupied with Mutt so I casually asked Dan, “So, who’s Rafelito?”

He sighed. “He went to Heaven with Momma.”

Uh oh.

“Oh. Should I not ask?”

He sighed like a little ol’ man. “The house fell down. Uncle Carlos said the bombs wouldn’t come because he knew people that knew things but Uncle Carlos doesn’t know nuthin’. When Poppy told him that Uncle Carlos … Uncle Carlos shot him. And then Abuela’s medicine didn’t work, and she and Poppy went to Heaven with Momma and Rafelito.”

“So you got stuck with your Uncle Carlos.”

He shook his head. “Tia Ziomada. She was taking good care of us and Aunt Concepcion and Aunt Consuela too even though they didn’t want to be there. Nobody mouths off to Tia Ziomada. She has the eye and God is watching. She decided. We were gonna go to a church and she was gonna find Daddy. Then when we got there she got real sad when some soldier lady told her some stuff. The soldier lady said Daddy is MIA because of some bomb in Florida and that there wasn’t any food going to the church because the people in the church had moved to a Safe Zone and didn’t take her because she wasn’t there when they left. Why do there have to be stupid ol’ bombs.”

Uh oh times a hundred.

“Beats me Dan. I tell you it’s like everyone needs a major time out in the corner doesn’t it?”

“Yeah,” he said nodding like that would be a great idea.

Amy had gotten off the porch and she and Mutt had been chasing a late season beetle of some type. I was just about to go check to make sure she hadn’t wandered back to the animal pens when she came tearing back around the house, up onto the porch and screaming that we had to save Butch. That some man had him. That Mutt was fighting him too.

“Get in the house. Now.” I said jumping off the porch with the Glock already pulled out and that’s when the world started spinning pretty fast.

# # # # #

“Is that really your Daddy?”

I couldn’t stop smiling. “That’s really my Dad. And the guy with him is Mitch, the one I told you about that looked after me.”

“Why’d they bring all the soldiers?”

“Yeah, well that part I’m still trying to figure out. You feeling better after all their questions.”

Dan sniffed, “Yeah. The lady doctor explained it after that first lady told us. She said they don’t know if Daddy is in Heaven with everyone else or not but they would keep an eye out.”

I sighed. “Sorry about that Buddy. They coulda said it nicer.”

“Ain’t no nice way to say that.”

“No. No I don’t guess there is.”

“What are they going to do to me and Amy? Send us back to Tia Ziomada?”

“Is that where you want to go?”

He shrugged. “We like Tia but she’s real old and works at a church and they don’t even call her by her name. They call her Sister Maria Zia.”

“Wow. That’s … different.” Another piece of info. Seems that “Tia Ziomada” might be a nun.

“Yeah,” Dan replied like he was used to thinking the same thing himself. “And Uncle Carlos might be there. And I don’t want him.”

I didn’t either. I told him, “Let me think on something. Okay?”

Obviously need to change the subject Dan asked, “Will Butch play with me? Or will he still want to be with Captain Mitch.”

This time it was me that said, “Yeah. Let me see if Butch will come keep you company so I can talk with Captain Mitch.”

Since the guy in question was lurking around the other side of the house and I knew he was listening in, I didn’t have to go hunt him down. And since Dan had a stick Butch was pretty happy to change companions, at least temporarily. Boy with stick beat standing around doing nothing any day. Especially as Pretty was not in the mood to play.”

Mitched rushed in with, “I … I didn’t mean to be away at all.”

I looked at him and he looked wonderful and awful at the same time. He was very thin. Skinnier than the kids had been when I found them. He was also really dark under his eyes and looked like he should be in bed.

“You should go lay down like Dad. I’ll pull out another mattress and cot and grab some blankets. It keeps trying to turn cool.”

“I … I’m a lot stronger than I was. I can help.”

“You will help but not until you don’t look like a haunt that hasn’t been out of the crypt for a few decades.”

He swallowed then straightened his back. “I spoke with Uncle John. He said he wants to speak with you first.”

“About what?” I asked innocently.

The look on his face was tragic when I’d meant it as a joke.

“Oh stop it. Dad already asked my opinion and gave his permission and just asked if we could keep it in check until he could talk to Mom about it. But he doesn’t think she’ll have any problems or throw up roadblocks. She’s already dealing with Dale and that girl Pauline that …” I stopped and sighed.

“It couldn’t be all of them Nann. Aunt Dina had to stay and help with that school they are running and help your Aunt Fran help Uncle David. He’s still weak from the heart attack. Dale needed to get back to his militia group. And I’m sorry they couldn’t get permission for all of them to move here. The new regs on the Buffer Zones are … strict.”

I shrugged, trying not to reveal emotions I hadn’t processed yet. “Dad says he and Mom and the rest of them are really doing well. The Mennonite community in Kentucky welcomed them with open arms. He also said Uncle Paul seems to not be such a jerk now that he’s found a place that he feels like he fits. I mean he didn’t call him a jerk but you know what I mean.”

“I do.”

“I do too,” I said playing up the permission Dad had given.

“Nann, that mouth. I don’t think I’m … I’m …”

“Are you sorry Dad said yes?” I asked in concern.

“No! That ain’t it. I … I’ve missed you.” He didn’t need to explain it, it was like I could see how much he meant it in just those few words.

I smiled. “Then what are you worrying about?”

“I’ve …” He stopped and then leaned on the house as we watched way too many soldiers set up a temporary camp down in the open fields below us. They were technically doing some kind of environmental check on where the bomber fell to make sure it hadn’t ruined the potential for planting crops there next year.

“You’ve what?”

“Nann, I never meant to be gone so long.”

“I know that.”

“There was supposed to be a regular patrol out this way checking on you and relaying my messages.”

“Oh well. So one hand didn’t know what the other hand was doing. Typical human mistakes. But the mistakes weren’t yours so don’t worry it to death.”

“You’ve … changed.”

“Is that bad?”

“Naw. You seem … older.”

“I turned 18.”

“That’s not what I mean.”

I sighed. “Unless it is a problem just let it go for a while. On my end all it did was make me appreciate you more. I swear you and Dad are going to give me a complex.”

“Uncle John better not hear you swear. And I sure don’t want to be the reason you’re doing it.”

I snorted. “That’s what I mean. I appreciate that you never forgot that stuff. And … I am older. And not just ‘cause the calendar flipped a couple of pages. When you were here I could still be a kid some of the time. That’s … over. It was the same way with Dale. Dale made it so I could still be the little sister, but he’s had to live his own life for a while now and seems to have … moved on I guess. He’s got someone else that is going to take up most of his time. That’s the way things are.” Those were some of the emotions that I was still processing and not ready to talk about just yet.

“I still want you to take up most of my time.”

I smiled. “I know. And I want you to take up most of my time.”

Carefully he said, “You know those kids are …”

I interrupted him. “What do you think?”

“Huh?”

“I want to hear what you think about the kids.”

“Doesn’t seem like there is much choice.”

“Is that how you feel about it?”

A little frustrated he answered, “Nann, look at me. I can barely bend over and tie my own shoes right now. The idea of taking care of a couple of kids scares the snot out of me if you want to know the truth.”

“They’re not that hard to take care of. They’re even willing to learn and be useful rather than just want to play all the time.”

“Yeah sure, the little girl is scared of me.”

“She’s not scared of you in particular. It’s just that she is five-years-old and small for her age. I’d like to bean Lt. Clark. Dundee nearly did. I’m glad she got reassigned and sent back to wherever she came from.”

“Why was she up here snooping around?”

“’Cause I think she and some Major Mendelssohn have some kind of racket going on and because I punked her and him when they were here cleaning up the planes that fell so they would stay away.”

“Turnbridge mentioned some ‘clankers’ or other you told.”

“So he really did get you my letter?”

“Yeah. Guy is just plain weird Nannette. What were you doing talking to him anyway?”

“Because he was the only one worth talking to and he reminded me of you and Dale just a little bit. He was the only one that gave me info that let me know what the soldiers were doing so that I wasn’t operating blind. And he isn’t weird … just goofy.”

Mitch opened his mouth to grump and then stopped. After a second he said, “Goofy?”

“Definitely. He was laughing as Butch and Pretty chased him up a tree the first time I met him. Said you’d warned him about the dogs but still found it funny for it to be the truth.”

Mitch nodded. “We met before the epidemic ran through the ward. He got thrown out of a jeep but was only there for observation to see if he had a concussion.”

“How could they have told if his brains were scrambled or not?”

Slowly Mitch smiled. “Yeah, that’s Turnbridge.”

“Yeah it is. So … about the kids.”

He sighed. “Fine. They can stay. No way I could live with myself if I sent them to one of the juvenile facilities. They’d wind up kibble. They aren’t allowing anyone of any age out of the Buffer Zones right now because of all the spot epidemics. Not letting people cross into them either for similar reasons and others … like spying and security precautions, keeping track of populations. I’m surprised Uncle John could get a pass.”

“God works in mysterious ways.”

Mitch gave me a cautious look then nodded his head in agreement. He got serious when he said, “You okay with Uncle John taking Dale’s truck? We’re going to be out of fuel for it soon anyway.”

I just looked at him and he finally caught that we needed to talk about things but for now I said, “You came in that little side-by-side thing. It will stay here, and Dad will take Dale’s truck and camper top. I need to write a letter explaining how I messed it up.”

“No you don’t. I told him and while he was sad … and who names their truck Pookie?! … he said the truck did the job and that’s all he really cared about. He’s got him a new truck from what I hear.”

I rolled my eyes. “Figures.”

“Got time for a walk?”

“Can’t go far. Dad is going to wake up, Pretty needs to be fed. The kids …”

“Yeah. But … just out to the garden, or what’s left of them? I need to … to hear some stuff from you.”

I stepped away from the building and waived Dan to come back. “Need a favor.”

He blinked at me but then seemed to puff his chest out a little. “Sure thing Nann.”

I smiled and said, “Don’t volunteer until you hear what the job is.” He could tell I was joking … sorta. “Look, Amy crashed and burned from all the crying. My dad is sleeping too ‘cause he is wore out from the traveling and then all the emotional stuff on his end. But Mitch and I need to go take a look at some of the stuff I’ve been doing while he was away and some stuff that still needs doing. Can you hang out near the front porch and keep any eye on things? You can have an apple if you want one, and you can even feed one to Butch if he starts begging … but you gotta make sure he doesn’t eat the apple seeds.”

“Where’s Mutt?”

“Sleeping with Amy and keeping an eye on Pretty.”

He nodded then ran off to get an apple from the basket on the porch and Mitch and I walked towards the gardens.
 

Griz3752

Retired, practising Curmudgeon
:popcorn3:
I can't guess where this is going so, I brought popcorn & some Black & Tan - haul up a stump; clues are right around the corner & Kathy will back with a light soon (I hope - only so much popcorn)
So, like I said, she came back, brought a light and, after adding more things to the pot, gave it a big stir and went on her way. What do you want to bet the 'walk to the garden' leads everyone down a new trail? And I do mean E V E R Y O N E.

I have to pick up the beer bottles and pop corn trash or she won't let me back in.

See all y'all in a bit.

Thank you, Miss Kathy.

G.
 
Last edited:

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Chapter 60

“Mitch, you should sit down.”

“It feels like that’s all I’ve been doing.”

“Not according to Dundee.”

“Aw, what does she know.”

I shook my head. “Enough to know you spent most days once you were allowed out of quarantine trying to get back here, trying to find Mom and Dad, trying to figure out why I wasn’t responding to your messages … want me to keep going?”

“Might as well sit if it will stop you fussing,” he said sounding very much like he had when I’d first come to the farm and he still hadn’t been able to see. Made me realize that Mitch didn’t do sick very well even though he might have had a lot of experience this year doing it.

“I’m not fussing. I’m glad you are home. Gladder than I can risk telling … or showing … right now. Maybe gladder than you can handle me being until we get some things worked out.”

“Things?” he asked cautiously.

“Yeah … Captain Decker. Things.”

His face turned puce it was so red. “Aw … don’t.”

“Are you ever going to tell me or am I going to have to figure it out on my own and embarrass you worse?”

“This is what you want to talk about after we been apart so long?”

I gave him a sly grin. “Let’s just say it’s one of a few things I think we need to talk about.”

He snorted but when he saw the look I was giving him out of the corner of his eye he grinned too and finally consented to enlighten me. “It really isn’t a big deal Nann. I graduated from college and enlisted before they started the draft. But by the time I started officer’s school they were so desperate that the incentive was that since I had enlisted instead of waiting for the draft, I came out a 1st Lieutenant instead of a 2nd. I wasn’t active duty long enough to make next rank so …” He shrugged. “But someone got nosey and decided I deserved a field promotion so now I’m a Captain. It isn’t a big deal.”

“Even I know you don’t get field promotions for just being a crossing guard. But based on the look on your face I won’t ask what it was. You either can’t tell me or aren’t ready to tell me. And before you start, yes I can live with it being that way. My next question I gotta know though. Does being Capt. Decker mean that you can be reassigned and have to leave?”

He sighed. “No. I’m … I’m on what they call terminal leave Nann. The docs say the migraines are permanent. They’ll stay manageable if I take care of myself but … they’ll always be there. And sometime down the future they … they might get real bad.”

“And how do they know this?”

“I had a full body scan when I was admitted. It was to see whether I was going to be triaged or not. They almost did. During my original injury they missed a piece of shrapnel that blew up my nose into my sinuses and stuck there. That’s what was causing pressure and started the headaches. They got it out but there’s still some scar tissue that is always going to be there unless I have major surgery and … given the way things are that just ain’t happening. I can manage the headaches. They’re concerned the scar tissue could grow, put pressure on the optic nerve. I … Nann the truth is I could go blind in that eye and the sight would never come back. As it is after they took the shrapnel out everyone thought I’d lost sight in that eye permanently. If I do lose sight in that eye … it’s gonna change things.”

“I suppose it would. For one I’d probably have to beat the woman off you because you’d look like a handsome pirate.”

“Nann! Girl, didn’t you hear what I just said!”

“Don’t yell, Dad could hear you and get the wrong idea. And yes, I heard you. And yes, I’m scared for you. But it hasn’t happened yet, and they apparently didn’t say that it was guaranteed to happen. And even if it does, you aren’t going to leave me because you didn’t leave me when you couldn’t see at all. You beat PeeDee Winters to smithereens and you couldn’t see at all. So, you won’t leave me. ‘Cause you know I need you, not just your dingety dangety eyeballs.”

“Nannette!”

I sighed dramatically for effect. “Yes, I know. My mouth. That’s just one thing I need you for. To give me motivation to be better on those days I might not be inclined to be ladylike.”

He stood there for a moment with his mouth hanging open then said, “You can be anything you want to be just as long as you keep being you.”

I smiled at him and that’s when the worst of my worries unknotted itself. We reached for each other’s hands at the same time and walked over to the ag well. He looked at it. “You know, I might could hook up a windmill to this thing like the one Dad fitted to draw water for the animals. Probably wouldn’t have the same draw as the pump had but … would certainly be easier than using a well bucket to pull water up with.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

He looked at our hands and I could feel some of the tension leaving him. “I know there’s things I’m not going to want to hear, but … I better. Starting with why haven’t you told anyone about the sub-cellar.”

I looked around to make sure no one was sneaking up to listen. Then I looked him in the face and said, “Because that is ours. Everything in it is ours. We’ll probably have to tell the kids about it but not until after Dad and the rest of them leave.”

“Now that I’m not understanding. Why not tell Uncle John?”

Picking my words with care I said, “Because you never have to unsay something that you never say to start with. And because …”

“And because?”

“Look, I know how this is going to sound but just let me try and explain.” He gave me a nod. “A lot of stuff has happened to us that we survived together. My parents are practical but they still sound … innocent. I know that’s not exactly the right word but that’s all I can come up with right now. If I could talk to Dale I could tell if that was really the way it is or if they are doing it to try and spare me. But since I can’t, I think it best we keep some things to ourselves. If they were going to live here that would be something different but they aren’t.”

“Are … you mad about them not coming here?”

“No. Not really. I’m still … processing it. It sounds like there have been a lot of changes for them. Lisa being sent off to work off her issues. Uncle Day-Day having a heart attack. Them starting that school to help out when the public school kicked the Mennonite kids out because not all of them had vaccines and the community saying if some got kicked out none of them would go. Dale and the crew creating their own militia and taking care of them since some of those people are conscientious objectors … or at least their religion doesn’t let them take up arms and fight the way a militia does.” Mitch grumbled. I told him, “I know. I don’t understand all of that myself. Our people are from hardline Primitive Baptists but even we don’t have a problem picking up a gun. I’m sure there are Mennonites the same way. Just accept them so long as they aren’t hypocrites. Dad says they took care of Uncle Paul when he was just about falling apart ‘cause Amy eloped with that guy then showed back up turned off and pregnant. He couldn’t reconcile his beliefs with his drive as a father to take her back in until a couple of those men reminded him that a prodigal didn’t just have to be a son and he should be praising God instead of letting it eat him up like he was.”

Mitch looked uncomfortable.

“More than you wanted to know?”

“Just kinda down a rabbit trail I wasn’t looking to chase.”

I sighed. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be but … let’s get back on track. I’m … I’m running out of steam.”

“So what is it you want to know?”

“You sure you don’t want to tell Uncle John about the sub-cellar?”

“Yes, I’m sure. There’s too much stuff down there that would cause questions about things I don’t think is smart to get into. Like stripping the Delray place. Dad won’t question working the bees from there, he doesn’t need to know about the other like the honey and ammunition. Same for the millhouse. And even if he doesn’t talk about it, what about the people in Kentucky? I don’t know most of them in their enclave … and yeah, that’s what Dad called it. And you’re calling it that too so Dale must call it that. But we aren’t part of their enclave. This place here is our enclave and just like I can hear there are things that Dad isn’t saying … and no I don’t think it is because of anything bad … there’s things we don’t need to talk about either.”

“Speaking of talking, I know we didn’t talk it out but … “

“But you want to send stuff back with him in Dale’s truck.”

“Isn’t this way we’ve been working so hard?”

“Yes. But it was for them coming here. If they get stopped for some reason between here and Kentucky it will be a lot easier for them to explain poor folks food than it would that expensive long term storage stuff. We can save that to share out in case next year’s crops don’t make. Or in case at some point they do have to come here. Do you have a different way of looking at it?”

He was troubled and I could tell. “No. And that’s one of the things that I didn’t count on.”

“What?”

“You not only understanding before I could even find a way to get the words out but being able to put things into words and not blame me because … because I thought I would have to convince you of what you just said.”

I didn’t tell him he was talking himself into a knot and just let it go. It wasn’t worth having a fight over because we already agreed on the point if not necessarily the reasons.

He looked at me and said, “There’s a million and one questions I want to ask but … all I can think about is that I never told you I loved you and didn’t know if I ever would get to say it. I couldn’t sleep sometimes it was eating at me so bad.”

“I wish you wouldn’t have let it. You may not have told me in words, but you showed me every day in actions. I never once doubted how you felt.”

“Even when I didn’t come back?” he asked, obviously upset.

“I knew you would come back.”

“But …”

“Mitch, you know those changes you said you’re noticing? The one thing that never did and never will is that I love you too. When I found out you were okay? That’s when my brain started working again. I was in a real spin there for about a month. Then I got better but … yes, this time apart has changed me in some way, but not about that. If anything it only made me believe it more. No matter what might have happened that was and won’t ever change.”

He dropped his head and if we hadn’t still been holding hands he would have gone down.

“Mitch? Please don’t make me tell you to go back to the house and rest.”

He sighed. “You don’t have to. I … I feel useless but I promise …”

“Hush. It’s like when I first got here and you needed time to heal. But I can guarantee that you ain’t gonna find that clapper to that bell.”

He looked at me and started snickering a little. Then smiled. Then laughed out loud. And I knew things would turn out all right. It might take some time and cold weather was coming and I wasn’t sure what all the soldiers being here was going to mean. But I knew that I could trust that the big stuff was going to turn out just the way it should.
 

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Chapter 61

“Tell me again Dump.”

“Oh Dad.”

“You saying you aren’t my little Dumpling?” Dad asked with a teasing smile.

I felt my face light up. “Dad I’ll be Grammy’s age and swatting kids with a broom, and I’ll still be Dump to you. Just … don’t teach the kids that. Hasn’t been all that long that even Mitch used to call me it and … and …”

“You’re out growing it.”

“Not for some people.”

He smiled. “You’ve changed. Dale won’t believe it. Neither will your mother.”

“Which part? That I’m half the person I used to be or that I’m more than they ever thought I could be?”

He looked at me like the barn owls sometimes do. Like he was seriously trying to figure me out. Finally he sat back with a sigh and propped his feet up on the stool I’d put there for him. “A bit of both I suppose. They are certainly going to be surprised how well you and Mitch work together. It was like watching two birds building a nest. You’ve got the touch with the kids and Mitch? That’s a young man Uncle Hy would really be proud of.”

I nodded at his honesty. “I think Uncle Hy and Grammy were already proud of Mitch. He was growing into who he has always been meant to be. There’s just been bumps in the road he had to conquer.”

“Mitch made out like he couldn’t have done what’s gotten accomplished without you.”

“And vice versa. We’re a team.”

“And that’s what you want?”

I chuckled ‘cause I knew what he was referring to. “Yes Sir. I know Dale’s girlfriends and my girl cousins have always wanted all the bells and whistles and whatnot but … all I’ve ever really wanted, and never really thought I’d get, is what you and Mom have. You balance each other out and you get things done together. No fuss, no muss. You’re better when you do things together. Whether it was the craft fairs or the book fairs. When both of you were there, they always turned out better. I bet Mom is anxious for you to get back home.”

He was quiet and then said, “Nann honey, I … I believe that place is indeed our new home.”

I looked at him and could read his mind. I told him, “The farm was always more home to me than it was to you and Mom … not even Dale felt the way I always have. Maybe I never imagined it being what it is right now. But I don’t begrudge you and Mom building a life someplace else.”

Thoughtfully, almost regretfully, he said, “My little girl has grown up.”

“Like Mom says, it was bound to happen sooner or later.”

This time it was his turn to chuckle. “You do have a good bit of your mother in you. You’ve been making much out of little.”

“What we’ve had wasn’t little Dad. It might not be what a lot of people would think much of … but it isn’t little.”

“And you’re sure you can spare it. I know what Mitch has said but I want to hear it from you. ‘Specially now that you are going to take on those two kids.”

“God sent them here to me. God will provide a way. It may not be the way that some people think things should go but I don’t think it is very smart to question God.”

“And that’s the way you see it.”

“Yes Sir.”

“All right," he said with a nod. "I’ll tell your mother that. I can hear her now sending up prayers to look after you. Dale …”

Knowing what Dad meant but wasn’t sure he should say I responded, “Will have to get over it. He hasn’t been around.”

“Not because he didn’t want to Honey,” he said a little reproachfully.

“Oh I know that. That’s not what I meant. It’s just, he had to get on with his life the same way I did. Who knows what kind of mess we would have gotten into had we not gotten a little separation. He … he didn’t want me to grow up too fast. But the way the world is right now? I’ve needed to. Everything else is just coming along with that.”

I had finally convinced Mitch to at least sit down and put his feet up. As soon as he did, he was asleep. Hard asleep. Dad told me things that Mitch hadn’t. Like how close Mitch came to dying – and more than just once – and how some of the medical people said he refused to give up and die because he kept saying he needed to get back to me. That choked me up. Dad also told me I was going to have to watch him over the winter so that he didn’t over do it and have a setback.

“Boy is hardheaded. He’s gonna wanna do too much too soon,” Dad warned.

“I can handle Mitch. I’ve already been down that road a little when his eyesight hadn’t come back. We worked it out. It’s how we became a team to start with.”

“He … confessed about PeeDee Winters. It … it just about broke me up. Dale too.”

“Nothing happened because Mitch was there. As far as the Winters go, their choices, their fate. Above my paygrade to be in the judge’s seat but I’m willing to take the witness stand, just don’t think it is necessary or needful. He’s gone. I’m not.”

“There’s your mother shining through you again. And you’re right. He reaped what he sowed. I just thank God it wasn’t any worse for you.”

After a quiet and contemplative moment he said, “Now why don’t you explain what you’ve been doing again. I think I was ninety percent asleep when you told me the first time. Start with what on earth all them tubs of dirt lined up against the wall are.”

I laughed. “They’re not dirt Dad, they’re acorns … and pecans, and walnuts, and hickory nuts. We got a little silly raking them up this morning. It was only the second time the kids had been helping me and I let them put everything in the tubs instead of cleaning them out first. I figured we could do it on the porch … but got a bunch of surprise visitors that turned my plans inside out.” He could see me smiling because I had the lamp on even though we had the house closed up for the night. I wound the lamp again then asked, “Did you get enough to eat? I can give you some of this apple butter that is cooking down with the left-over cornmeal cakes.”

“Dump it has been a long time since I’ve been this full. Dale is going to be sorry he missed it. That Pauline is a good girl but she’s still learning how to housekeep. How have you been getting along?”

“With the housekeeping? It is what it is. Grammy taught me things the same as Mom did but that was with modern conveniences. Without them things take longer and I’ve had to change things up a bit. There’s stuff that needs doing but I’ll get to it over the winter when I can’t do other things. And I plan on a major Spring Cleaning after the beginning of the year. It will be March or April though. I need to be able to have the windows and doors propped open. It is getting too cool to do that now. I don’t see an Indian Summer in our future, but I could be wrong.”

“The house seems … bare.”

Mitch and I had come up with a story for this though I didn’t enjoy the lie. “Uncle Hy and Grammy had been … I guess you’d call it preparing their estate. And with Grammy being diagnosed with diabetes I guess the medicine cost … a lot. More than Uncle Hy’s did. Some of the important stuff we moved down to the cellar as you saw. Do you want to take your's and Mom's stuff back with you?"

"I might take a few things that your mother has been missing. She'll be pleased that you were able to save it. Wish we could help out. Had no idea the old folks were in such straights."

I wanted to change the subject but didn't know how. So I answered him, "The money they made off the antiques will hopefully be there in the bank when the country gets back online. If not, Mitch says that we’ll just have to deal with it. He isn’t going to second guess Uncle Hy’s decisions.”

From the corner Mitch woke up just enough to add, “I didn’t know what kind of straights things were in until after Dad …” Both he and Dad cleared their throats. “Dad never would let me go upstairs. I stayed down here with him and Grammy. He didn’t want me tripping on the stairs he said.”

“Must have been a shock Son.”

Mitch was quiet, fighting his own guilt over the lie. “Losing Dad and Grammy was the worst shock Uncle John. If … If Nann hadn’t been here I’m not sure if I would have made it.”

“Well she was,” he said at the same time I said, “Well I was.” Dad and I looked at each other and said “jinx” at the same time then laughed. Then we made ourselves quiet down as Amy and Dan raised their heads up from the bed I’d made near the stove so they’d stay warm.

I walked over. “Sorry about that. We weren’t using our indoor voices … or manners,” I told them as I pulled another quilt over them.

Dan said, “It’s okay.”

Amy said, “Do it again.”

“Do what again?”

“Laugh.”

I looked at Dan and he said, “Everybody stopped laughing when the bombs came, and the food went away.”

Amy said, “Then the monsters came. Are there monsters here?”

“Nope. Any stinky ol’ stupid monster that even thinks about being dumb enough to stick their boogery nose around here? Butch will chew ‘em up and Mitch will stomp them to smithereens. Guarantee it.”

Dan chuckled tiredly and of course Amy followed suit and they were back to sleep after that.
 

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
Chapter 62

Dad and Mitch both had gotten their second wind. It wasn’t late, just dark as it tends to get later in the year, so I filled them in. When I got to what I’d been doing while he was away Mitch said, “That was a lot of work Nann. Part of me has known it would be but … I’m sorry you had to do it by yourself.”

I shrugged nonchalantly while secretly pleased that he acknowledged how much work I’d been doing. “Well I wasn’t going to let everything go to waste. And I needed something to do with my time besides talk to the animals.”

They both snorted as they thought I was exaggerating and making a joke. I’d have to explain to Mitch how much it wasn’t a joke, but not until after Dad left and that was going to be day after tomorrow. He only had a three-day pass and was dependent on (required to) having the military as an escort. They’d be finished with their “environmental review” and sample-taking at the two crash sites by then.

“Dad?”

“Hmm?”

“It would be better if you took dried apples instead of fresh. They’ll be lighter and take up less room. I can bag you up some fresh for traveling but I’ve heard the soldiers talk about how rough the roads are since they aren’t really being maintained right now.”

“I still say you and Mitch might need …”

Mitch stepped in when he could see I was getting frustrated having to repeat myself. “No Sir. Nann and I have been working this entire time for the family. We still are and will continue to do so. Next year we might need to figure out something, especially if I can’t get crops in the field and/or the government lifts its tax moratorium for the Buffer Zones. But this year, let us do what we planned, even if it isn’t the way we’d planned.”

From Mitch he could accept it. Fine. I’d run into that kind of testosterone poisoning my entire life, not like a war was going to stop it.

I explained what I’d been doing with the apples first. “Well you can see the cauldron of apple butter. We’ll have some at breakfast and you can taste test it. I’ve been using the apple press when the dryhouse was full. And it has saved some on feed.”

“Who all did you give the pulp too?” Mitch asked.

“Only the cows get what comes out of the apple press. The chickens and hogs get the peels when I slice them for drying. The cores go into the compost.”

Mitch leaned back. He didn’t say anything but I knew he’d been worried I was feeding the apple cores and seeds to the other animals. I let it go. He’d see me in action soon enough. All I did was add, “Do you want to take any cider with you Dad?”

“Better not because you’re right. The roads are bad. Anything breakable we are going to have to be real careful to pack tight. The apple trees where we are haven’t been too bad but they’re only the yellow kind. I do miss the variety that Uncle Hy planted.”

“I still want to send you back with some fresh apples. Grammy’s banana apples did really well this year, maybe some of them will keep for the road.”

“Those ol’ trees? I’m surprised they’re still amongst the living.”

“Uncle Hy found a source for them and had been planting a new row every year,” I explained. “Same for the Granny Smith’s. And most of the quince trees made as well except for one that had the fruit knocked off in that windstorm. Remember it Mitch?”

“How could I forget. I had to nail the wind vane back on the barn.”

Still thinking what could go and what we’d need to keep I said, “Dad? I’m not sure how many dried beans we can send back. We have to keep back seed and beans that I’m going to need over the winter.”

“Honey, like I said, anything is better than what I was expecting. I saw all the okra you have strung up. Did you have a bumper crop?”

“Just the opposite,” I said. Mitch seemed content to let me do the talking. “I barely got half a peck to eat fresh. Certainly not enough to can. What you see is what I’m drying to make sure to have seed for next year. How are peanuts up where you are at?”

“None to speak of. The legumes that were planted was mostly to turn under and put nitrogen back in the ground for planting. From reading what I’ve been able to lay my hands on, they should be able to plant peanuts in that area, they just don’t. They plant mostly soy beans, corn, and winter wheat.”

I looked at Mitch and he at me. When he realized I was trying to tell him that there were a bunch more than what were in the cellar he nodded.

He asked me, “How many you think?”

“Two hundred.”

“You sure?”

“Absolutely.”

Mitch turned to say, “You’ll take two hundred pounds of peanuts back with you.” After another quick look at me he added, “Try and hold some back and see if them Mennonites want to try a small field of them.”

“Now really. If I take all that you’ll have none.”

Throwing Dad off the scent I said, “I had to tuck them in the silo.”

Dad stopped. “In the silo?”

I did in fact have some peanuts in there because I’d run out of storage bags. “Yes Sir. I wasn’t sure of putting them in the cellar until I finished moving the stuff into the root cellar. You saw all the winter squash and pumpkins I have upstairs on the floors.”

Finally he nodded. “Fine. The peanuts and the dried apples.”

“I’ll bag up some of the other dried fruit and label it for Mom.”

“Now hold on here …”

I laughed, “Trust me Dad, the forest grocery store has provided well this year. Autumn olive berries, hawthorne berries, firethorn berries, lingonberries, highbush cranberries, and that doesn’t include the stuff that came in earlier in the year like the wild blackberries and blueberries. If it bothers you, I’ll go out and grab some persimmons and pawpaws to dry in the oven to show you we aren’t hurting. I’ll also send some dried mushrooms home … with instructions on how to use them if Mom doesn’t know. If I can figure out a way, I’m gonna send some muscadines to Mom. I’ll send some fox grapes maybe too if the deer haven’t gotten to the ones I’m thinking of. I’ll also send some powdered sumac so she can have something lemony in her tea.”

“Dump, Sugar, you know the last time we’ve seen tea?”

I looked at Dad then looked at Mitch who looked at Dad who said, “What?”

“Don’t you do what Nann does? You know, herbal teas?”

He gave me a look and then said, “You’re going to need to write it down or your mother won’t believe me. We’re drinking acorn coffee and whatever else we can come up with now that the milch cow we have the use of has gone dry.”

“Do you cut it with Dandelion root?”

He just looked at me and said again, “Write it down.” He said it again about the wintergreen, chickweed, spicebush, and some of the “teas” I made up for him to take to Mom. When I asked if he thought they could use some potatoes and sweet potatoes I thought his eyes were going to roll back.

“Dad?”

“Dump. Baby girl. Your mother was wondering where she was going to come up with the slips to have a garden with come spring. The potatoes have all been eaten, both Irish and Sweet. Even the Mennonites got into their seed potatoes.”

Mitch asked, “How are you on flour and cornmeal?”

“Those we have though it was a fight to keep it. School superintendent tried to start something, demanding “forward payment” from the farmers. Claimed it was for the children. Military put an end to it and said people could sign up for commodities, but they’d have to work a certain number of hours a week in exchange. People didn’t want to work for it, were surprised they were even being asked to.”

Mitch said, “Didn’t sound like they were being asked. Sounds like they were being told.”

Dad nodded. “That’s about right Son. Most of us have flour and cornmeal hidden in in the houses just in case they think about trying it again. It was too dangerous to leave it in the silos. How have you been doing.”

I let Mitch say what he wanted to. “We’ve been getting by.”

“You telling me the truth Son?”

“We’ll do alright now that I’m back and can help get the Indian Corn in. Dad always had some of it ground for Grammy. We’ll figure something out.”

“I’ve got the old grinder,” I told him absentmindedly. Then I looked ad Dad and asked, “What would or could your people trade for?”

“Sweeteners. Seasonings. Tea. Coffee. Chocolate is a big one people think they need but when it does come on the market most people start realizing it is just a want. That and coffee can sometimes be found but it gets sold by the quarter cup and is very expensive.”

I looked at Mitch and I could see his brain was already turning. I let the two men have their conversation and went over to stir the apple butter and seeing that it was finished I moved it to the back of the stove. I was going to put this batch in crocks and see if I could save it the old fashioned way that I found in Grammy’s books.

“Nann?”

“Hmm?”

“If that’s finished let’s get some sleep. Uncle John and I have some talking to do tomorrow. What are you going to be up to?”

“Well I’m not going far but first thing in the morning I need to cut some collards and turnip greens and get them cooked for lunch and dinner. What doesn’t get eaten I’m going to can. I also want to get some hen of the wood mushrooms as well. And I’ll see if Dan and Amy can help pick up some honey locust pods. I have something I want to experiment with those things.”

“Mmmm. Sounds good. But don’t go too far. We’ll need you to piece things out of the storage and get it packaged for travel.”

Dad looked at the two of us and seemed well pleased. His comment about us working like two birds building a nest isn’t really far off the mark.

I nodded to Mitch but was also thinking what else I needed to do. I’m going to put some of the Asian pears with the apples, and that I’ll see how many dried beets I have and if they’ll be worth sending. So much to do and so little time before Dad had to leave. I also needed to write things down for Mom, send a letter to everyone, figure out some way to tell Dale that everything is going to work out, maybe write a note to that Pauline, and just a ton of things. Including seeing if I can afford to send Mom some seeds for their garden or if it will make us short. As much as I would like to it might be better in the long run if I keep the seeds and just grow things here for them to come get on another trip.

Those were the things that needed to be done. But all I wanted was to sit with my Dad and Mitch and hear all that I’d missed and just … look at them and believe they were finally here. And not think about Dad leaving, or missing getting to see the others. Not worry about whether saying goodbye to Dad meant saying goodbye forever.
 
Top