Nathan Jones - First Winter

Like the rest of the town Trent had been storing up as much extra food as he could for the winter, and his family was digging into a quick meal as they rested from their journey. Trent had already gotten back to work notching logs, but at the cousins’ arrival he came over to help spread out the tarp and inspect it. Lewis didn’t mind doing it again, since in if the situations were reversed he also would’ve wanted to personally inspect it.

As they worked Lewis cleared his throat. “You serious about going after car glass, Trent?”

The man gave him a surprised look. “Well yeah. Our house could really use it.”

“It could also be a good way to make a living,” Lewis suggested. “Maybe not immediately but long term. Would you give us a chance to talk to you about it? Me, Trev, Matt, maybe a few others.” His cousin gave him a started look at that, since like Trent this was the first he was hearing about it.

Trent smiled wryly. “You want to go into business? What if I wanted to do it on my own, or just get enough for the house?”

Lewis shrugged. “It’s your choice. But I could read up on how to remove the glass easier. Or maybe we could get Chauncey’s help finding a mechanic to talk to. And you’ll probably want help hauling the glass, even if you just wanted enough for yourself. We’ve got our handcart, and the town would be interested in having extra even if we didn’t make a business of it.”

By reading up on it Lewis was referring to the terabytes of videos, music, and books he’d accumulated on portable hard drives, which he’d brought with him out of Aspen Hill. He’d done his best to include a massive variety of informational and instructional material, on every conceivable subject as well as general knowledge, in addition to the more entertainment focused files on the drive.

The slightly older man frowned. “I’ll admit, if I could sell glass it would help provide for my family, if not this winter then next winter. I’m guessing more people in Aspen Hill are going to want windows, and so will everyone else once the refugee camps start turning into more formal towns and cities.” He gave Lewis a careful look. “You’re willing to let this be my thing? If it’s a great opportunity I kind of expected you to go for it yourself.”

“I’d like to take part,” Lewis admitted. “Safety glass to use or sell would be really nice. But I’ve got other irons in the fire that I can focus on, and it was your dad’s idea.”

“What irons would those be?” Trev asked. Right, first his cousin was hearing of that, too.

“Stuff I’ve been thinking about. All early stage.” Lewis turned back to Trent. “Take some time to think it over.”

His friend nodded thoughtfully, and they worked in silence for about a minute. “Why do this?” he finally asked.

Lewis gave him a confused look. “It’s a good opportunity?”

“No. I mean, if all you’re interested in is having a bit of extra glass to use or sell, why push me to make a business out of it?”

“Because then you have a living, and Aspen Hill has a source of glass,” Lewis answered. “It’s a chance to benefit a lot of people, and if I’m not using it why not hand it off to someone else?”

Trent shrugged. “I guess that makes sense.”

Lewis smiled. “And that’s not all I can hand off. There are a few people in town who’re better situated to survive the winter, and one or two of them have asked me about putting in windows for their houses, too. But between our four houses we’re using up most of what we took from the Larson house. The rest of the windows are the town’s property, and not many townspeople took my advice and packed their windows with them. Between all that I can’t really help them out, and I doubt anyone else could, either. But maybe you could. They’d probably be willing to pay in food.”

The man cleared his throat and abruptly offered Lewis his hand. “Thanks.”

He returned it firmly. “What are friends for?”

There was a spring in Lewis’s step as he finished up the morning work, caring for his and Jane’s chickens and rabbits in their cages and their sheep in the pen, along with all the other chores allotted him by the family.

Normally that would just be the beginning of an exhausting day, same as every day had been since coming back from fighting the blockheads. Aside from when he’d taken a break for the trip up to the hideout four days ago, which had been exhausting in its own way. Not to mention increasing his workload afterwards catching up.

After morning chores he’d spent his days helping build and weatherproof shelters, chopping wood, gathering food and other necessary supplies, and taking the odd shift as one of Trev’s far lookouts for a couple hours, giving early warning of anyone’s approach. If he was lucky he might snatch a few hours for one of his other projects, most notably building a small one-room extension on his family’s house with its own connecting and outside doors, for him and Jane to move into.

Not only would the privacy be more than welcome, but he knew his wife was having a harder and harder time being around so many people with no space to herself when she wanted isolation. Which was why on top of everything else in the day, he did his best to find times when she was also taking a break and spend it with her off on their own. Often just being with each other without a word said, like they had when first going out on patrol together.

He and his wife tried join up to do whatever work they could, but unfortunately that wasn’t usually possible. The work Lewis was doing was the backbreaking sort: felling trees, dragging them around, digging holes, lifting logs while constructing cabins, things of that nature. Besides, with Jane’s skill hunting, trapping, and foraging, as well as her talent for reading the land to determine where game could be found, she was far more useful out there finding food.

Usually she brought Jim or Alvin or both with her, to help out carrying back any game she brought down, or to run back to a good radio spot if they were out of range and call for help if she’d bagged something larger like an elk. More importantly, she was teaching the two young men skills they’d need to survive.

But all that was for another day. Today his chores were done and he’d kept his schedule clear, so to speak. He was ready to go shell hunting.

He sought out his wife, who was finishing her own chores, and gave her a hand so she’d be done quicker. “Ready for another vacation?”

She grimaced. “I’m not sure I’d call the first one a “vacation”, spending the day pedaling up mountain roads then helping tow back hundreds of pounds of cast iron and elk.”

He just grinned wider. In spite of her complaint he knew she liked getting out with him on their own for longer than a few snatched minutes here and there. “But the parts in between were fun, right?”

Jane finally grinned back. “Unless you have a repeat performance in mind, I’m not sure whether to call this business venture of yours that might not go anywhere a vacation, either.”

Lewis blinked. He actually hadn’t considered this trip as another chance to enjoy some much needed intimacy, mostly since they weren’t exactly going to a secluded spot. Not that he wasn’t willing to entertain the idea: he really needed to finish their room sooner rather than later so they wouldn’t have to resort to things like this.

He cleared his throat. “Anyway I’ve already got Chauncey sending out feelers on the equipment and other supplies we’ll need. These days they’re guaranteed to be costly, but as long as today goes well the return on investment could be enough to make us rich all on its own.”