Nathan Jones - Shortage

“It is friendly,” she insisted, sounding frustrated. “I just… I’m not good at this sort of thing.”

“Fair enough.” Lewis hefted the pot again. “Probably too late to eat this warm, but you’ll probably want to get to it before it freezes. Should we go get you set up in your camp?”

A half hour later they left the two with their tents set up and a small fire crackling at the mouth of the long, deep overhang beneath the cliffs. Dense trees and underbrush covered the opening just beyond the fire, which would keep out most of the wind. Matt’s companions had elected to heat the food over the small blaze, probably a wise choice, so they left them with the pot as they picked their way through the dense undergrowth along the cliffs to the gap.

“Should we cover our tracks?” Trev asked, looking over his shoulder at their deep prints in the snow.

Lewis shrugged. “We’re not going to be here tomorrow, and those two don’t seem like the sort to share secrets. Anyway if we do decide to head back up here at a later date and the location of our hideout gets out, I hope anyone who comes for it is ready to brave a long trip through an extreme environment and two armed men just to get at whatever we might have in our little shoebox home.”

“I suppose.” Trev climbed the gap after his cousin and followed him up the gentle slope.

When they entered their hideout they found Matt sprawled on Trev’s cot sleeping, but he jolted awake as soon as he heard the door opening and sat up. “Well?” he asked as Trev and Lewis sank into the chairs facing him.

“We’ll sell the food and accept IOUs for it,” Lewis said. “But when we collect on the IOUs we get to decide whether to value the food at what it’s worth now or what it’s worth when we call in our debt.”

Their friend grinned. “That’s fair enough.”

Lewis held up a stern finger to silence him. “The town will also, to the best of their ability, return all non-consumables Ferris stole from us. I’ll draw up a list. And we’ll be moving back into our shelter with the assurance that it’ll be protected the same as the rest of the town. Finally, we trust you and Mayor Tillman, but it would still be nice to hear some assurances directly from her that none of our stuff is going to be “confiscated” in the future and that we won’t be kicked out of our home again.”

Matt shifted uncomfortably. “Um, about that…”

Trev frowned. “You don’t think the town will go for our terms? They seem pretty reasonable.”

“Oh no, they will!” his friend hastily assured them. “At least I’m pretty sure they will. I just, uh, need to tell you something about your shelter.”

Lewis’s eyes narrowed alarmingly. “You better not be about to tell me the town housed refugees in our shelter over the winter.”

“They didn’t, I swear!” Matt said, waving his hands. Then he shifted uncomfortably again. “Actually the town put refugees in our house, Jane’s group to be exact. Because, um, my family moved into your shelter.”

There was a long, uncomfortable silence, then Lewis nodded. “Okay.”

Both Trev and their friend stared. “What?” Trev asked.

Lewis’s lips quirked upward in a wry smile. “You think I’d have a problem with our friends staying in the best possible shelter? We built that place to be comfortable through the winter but we weren’t there to use it ourselves. I’m actually happy you guys moved in instead of someone else because I can trust you took better care of it.”

“We did,” Matt promised. “But now that you guys are coming back to Aspen Hill do you want us to move out?”

“And go where?” his cousin asked wryly. “You said refugees are living in your house now.” He shrugged. “Anyway there’s enough room in there for 10 people, and more people means it’ll be easier to protect.”

“Right. Only with me and Sam married over the winter that means three couples in there. And kids. I hope that won’t be too much of a bother for you…” Matt trailed off sheepishly.

Lewis dropped his face into his hands with an annoyed sound. “You know, Matt, a good friendship is built on giving as well as receiving.”

“Oh I know. Believe me, you guys are first on my list of people I’d donate a kidney to.” Their friend shifted uncomfortably. “Look, Mayor Tillman was talking about construction projects once it looks like we’ve got a long streak of good weather ahead of us. We’ll build ourselves some houses and get out of your hair.”

His cousin slowly raised his head to reveal a relaxed smile. “I’m just giving you a hard time. Why do you think the shelter has so many cots in it?”

Matt gave him a relieved look. “So getting back to the subject of food for sale, how much do you guys have?”

“We left about a year’s worth in the cache.”

Their friend’s smile slipped as he did the math. “For two people?”

“For one person.” Lewis shook his head. “Believe me, I wish it was more too.”

“Well we knew however much it was, it wouldn’t be enough,” Matt said heavily. “It’ll still help. My family’s got some seeds to plant once it warms up, including heirlooms from my mom’s garden, and others in the town are also waiting to plant. This might help us survive long enough to get to our first harvest.”

A somewhat heavy silence fell as they all contemplated insufficient food and starving people. Trev shook the grim thoughts aside. “You’re welcome to sleep in here. It’d give us a chance to swap tales: you can tell us about what’s been going on down in town and what you’ve heard of the outside world, and go on and on about the the bliss of marriage like I’m sure you’re eager to do, and we can tell you about trees and snow and the occasional rabbit and deer. Play your cards right and we might even bust out our recorder and harmonica and play you a duet.”

Matt snorted. “Does this place have room for three people?”

“Sure, we can push the chairs over by the door and tip the table on end and fold the legs. No cot, unfortunately, but we’ve got good sleeping pads and you’ll have the best spot in front of the stove.”

Their friend reluctantly shook his head and stood. “Thanks, but I already feel bad about ditching Jane and Tom to come talk to you. I should probably go camp down with them. You’re welcome to sit with us around the fire until it’s time to turn in, though.”

Trev shared a look with his cousin. “Well, I was just planning on hanging out here bored out of my skull like I’ve done every night for the last few months, but if you insist I suppose I can come hang out for a while.”

Lewis snorted. “For news of the outside world I’d sit in a stand of dead thistle.”

They banked the stove and closed and locked the hideout, then Lewis led the way back down towards the overhang. As they went Trev fell into step beside his friend. “So what’s the story with Jane?” he asked, trying to act casual but probably not doing a good job.

Matt grinned. “Sounds like she made an impression right off the bat.” Trev shrugged. “Well I think Chauncey said it best. Plenty of people have an engaging personality, but according to him Jane has a disengaging personality.”

That made Trev laugh in spite of himself. “Hey, he said that exact same thing about Lewis when we took his class!”

His friend smiled slightly, then got serious again. “I suppose you’ve got some similar personality traits, Lewis. But from what I’ve seen even though you’ve got no problems being alone you also don’t have too many problems being around other people.”

He waved towards the overhang. “On the other hand Jane is polite, professional, and definitely competent, but it’s obvious when she’s around other people that the only thing she really wants out of a social interaction is for it to end. She’ll answer any question or comment you might have, in as few words as possible, but she literally offers nothing to the conversation, and doesn’t seem to notice or care if the silence gets awkward. And the moment she can get away with it it’s back to solitude. Disengaging.”