S Ison - Russian Doomsday

She looked around. “I think we should find someone to deliver a couple more cords of wood. Though we do have woods around us, I think it would be a shame to cut them down. Not to mention that, as of now, we don’t really have axes or saws. Plus, we wouldn’t be able to use the wood until the following year,” Margo said, her mind wandering on things that need to be done.

“Yeah, you’re right. We can also store some in the basement. We can keep that solely for if the EMP hits and we have nuclear fallout. We’d have wood that wouldn’t be contaminated. Though I’m not really sure about what happens if you burn nuclear logs. But if it were winter, we could wait until the fallout dissipates but still keep ourselves warm. It’s difficult to think of every contingency. The more I think we get done, the more there is to do. It’s like doing a house renovation; you start with one thing, then something else needs fixing.” He laughed.

He’d let go of her hand, and she felt slightly bereft. She turned her head and watched a painted lady butterfly flit around the honeysuckle that bushed around the side of the cabin, its bright orange colors playing hide and seek between the green leaves.

“We just have to breathe, Pike, we just have to breathe. If we can do that, I think we’ll make it,” she said softly, and smiled at him. Her eyes etched around his handsome face. His pale eyes were bright.

“I can breathe now, finally. I don’t feel that overwhelming panic that’s been sitting on my shoulders. Would you call me a big baby if I cried?”

She laughed and patted him on the back. “I’ve been on the verge of crying all day. Every time I go to the barn or to one of the outbuildings, or into the basement. It’s hard to explain.”

“You don’t have to. I feel the same way. I think it must be like being on the Titanic when it was sinking. All they wanted to do was get to safety. You didn’t know if that big thing was actually going to sink, but something told you ‘GET OFF!’ And then you do, you’re one of the lucky few that gets on a lifeboat. And you sit there and watch the huge ship go down, taking all those other people with it,” he said, his eyes shimmering with tears. She could feel the sting of tears in her own eyes.

“Yes, that’s exactly it. That’s a perfect way to say it. At the end of the day, you might actually have a chance at living.”

Sayer and Joy walked around the cabin with wide smiles on their faces. Sayer had to admit, the kid had done a good job in choosing a home. The cabin was solid, well built. He liked the outhouse, and had looked down the hole. It was deep, and at the moment there wasn’t any smell. He suspected it may have been years since it had been used. It would be very handy to have: no compost toilet needed. It was fifty feet away from the cabin and over one hundred feet from the lake.

He looked around the forest and inhaled. The air was fresh, no car exhaust, no noise from boats… though he could hear an outboard some distance away. Noise traveled far on water. They’d found an old well that had been coved over with large stones. There was another, a narrow metal one, that had been dug and set up near the cabin.

“You think this well might still have water in it?” Sayer asked, indicating the stone well.

“I don’t know. Maybe we should spend a day moving these rocks and send a bucket on a line down and see how deep it is,” Pike suggested.

“Yeah, that would be so cool to have an old-fashioned well. It would also be a good source of drinkable water that you wouldn’t have to boil, and you wouldn’t have to depend on some kind of power to run it,” Joy said, excited.

“If it does have water, I think we should keep it covered at all times, just in case of nuclear fallout,” Margo said. She was carrying a basket of eggs she’d just collected from the chicken coop.

“Good thinking,” Sayer agreed. “That would really be crappy, having a great source of water only to have it polluted with nuclear fallout.”

A rooster suddenly crowed, and everyone turned. A white leghorn rooster came around the corner of the cabin, several hens following him. “Nice rooster,” Sayer laughed.

“We got them last week,” Pike laughed. “I built the chicken coop with help from one of the guys at work. We have that boy and seven hens, and one bantam hen. We went to a farmer’s market and they were selling all kinds of chickens, goats, and pigs. You name it, they had it there. Binx thought he could take the rooster on, but he found out otherwise. Now he just follows them around, eating their poop.” Pike laughed.

They watched as the dog, even now, followed several hens around, eating their droppings. “At least he doesn’t roll in the poop. Ewww,” Margo said, scrunching up her face into disgust.

“The lady there said that if we wanted our own chicks, we’d need a bantam hen: they brood the best,” Margo said, her cheeks flushed with excitement. “She’s already sitting on six eggs. We are excited that we might get some babies. We get about four or five eggs a day.” She held up the basket to show Joy.

“What kind of chickens are they?” Joy asked, her hand shading her eyes. Sayer smiled softly as he watched Joy’s face. She was so lovely.

“The rooster is a White Leghorn, we have two blue Cochins – they’re the really fat gray girls with big butts. There are three Gold Lace Wyandots – those are the pretty ones with black-edged feathers. Then we have two Speckled Sussex hens, they’re very friendly,” Margo said, grinning.

“Wow, you guys have really made this place nice,” Sayer said, very impressed. “You’ve not been here long, but from what you’ve told me, you’ve done a lot of changes and enhancements.”

“We also found some wild grapes growing, along with wild blueberry bushes and blackberries. There is a huge bramble cluster in the woods, spread around the property. I’m hoping I can try my hand at making jams and jellies next year,” Margo said to Joy.

“Oh, I have some wonderful old-fashioned recipes I can give you. You don’t have to use as much sugar either. I really love your place, and it suits you. It is very homey and peaceful. It feels like a place one wants to be.” She grinned her gap-toothed grin, her dark eyes crinkling into triangles.

“I brought you guys a housewarming gift, Pike,” Sayer grinned. “Can you help me get it out of the truck?” Both men walked to the old Ford truck and Sayer let the back tailgate down.

There were hand tools, shovels, hoes, a handsaw, a two-handled saw and an axe. Pike grinned at Sayer. “Oh man, this is awesome! These things were on my wish list. Thanks, thanks so much,” he said, his face glowing pink with delight. Seyer smiled and smacked Pike on the back with his broad hand. He liked the younger man.

“Margo mentioned it when Joy asked her what she thought would be a good housewarming gift.” He laughed and slapped Pike on the back again.

Sayer helped Pike take the tools to the small barn. The barn was the newest structure on the property. “I’ve been storing a lot of supplies out here, like paracord, plastic, nails, duct tape, tarps, and wood. I went around looking in dumpsters at building sites and dumpster-dived for the wood. Free is good.” Pike laughed and waggled his eyebrows.

“That’s a good idea! I wish I’d thought of that, I’ll start keeping my eyes open for construction sites. You never know what you’ll need, and the wood is new, even if cut in different lengths,” Sayer said. Once more he was impressed. They’d not been in the cabin long, but he could see that they’d been going at full speed to get to where they were so soon.

“I want to show you the solar equipment room. I think you’ll like it,” Pike grinned hugely, his eyes nearly disappearing into his cheeks.